Welcome

Goose egg for the week. I got home from Maui a bit after noon today. I was going to go out at 3 but passed out on the couch. Spent the only time I had to run sleeping. So 8 UNINTENTIONAL DAYS OFF! The vacation was like all others for me. It just doesn't feel like a good idea to go for a run. I don't like to stress out about getting a run in so I end up vacationing from everything. So I brought my stuff there and brought it all back unused.

Very excited to get back at it in the AM. Hopefully I can adjust to sleep quickly. It was a real issue for the group in HI. I don't remember it being that big of a deal the only other time I went eight years ago...

AM

Finally a run on the JRP with James and Adam. I was pretty hung over after a night of fathers day epics. 7 at 7:40 pace felt just fine. I was the one dragging this morning. I wanted to yak perhaps six times. I did after I got home.

Lunch

10 at 8:08 pace. I even did 6x1/2 mile in 2:45, 2:41, 2:43, 2:39, 2:48 and 2:39 over on Wasatch - effort was 10kish which should be low to mid 5:20s for me. Generally even effort but the slight hilliness accounts for the changes. Legs felt snappy for the first time in a while which I suppose was to be expected. Overall an easy workout - should've done 8 reps. I otherwise felt like going very slow and did all this with Adam H. Had heart burn maybe 12 times during the run. bleh

AM

Met up with James at West High. Adam was thinking of joining but he saw the rain and went deeper into his covers. James was doing 12x400 at 5k pace. I did 400 then 200 with him on and off the whole time and we finished with a hard 200. He hadn't done the workout with the 200 active recoveries (shorter rests) but high 80s seemed too easy (by my observation of his effort) so he dropped it little by little. I would guess he can do a flat 5k at 5:40 pace.

Lunch

Chile verde chicken chimichanga smothered in cheese, sour cream and guac with a very uncustomary coke. I am off. Hoping for a 45 minute treadmill session later.

DOES ANYONE KNOW ANYONE RUNNING THE AF HALF? Picking up my packet is a logistical nightmare Friday.

FRITZ!!

AM

James and Adam run at 5:30 from West High up to 11th and V. Did two faster miles on the onset of the downhill. 5:05 and 5:06 with 158 ft down per mile. Adam stayed with me and it is clear he had tons of speed. I felt pretty good not great. James held up really well getting more comfortable sub 6. Chilly but perfect running weather in the low 40s.

Lunch

2x2 miles at HMP down the mountain with a 1/2 mile recovery jog back up in between. Warmed up from the office up past ruth's a bit about 3.9. For the workout, splits were 5:00 (too fast), 5:16, 5:12, 5:21 (legs tiring out here). Each descent ended up being almost exactly 130 ft. According to analytical but unscientifc Josh, I should be running HMP at about 5:15 at 125 ft down so these ended up pretty much spot on other than the too fast first one.  Weather was mid to high 50s with a 5-10 mph headwind down the canyon (nice and cool; not inhibiting). Desire, temperature (mouth didn't dry up) and fresher legs were the difference between today and my failed efforts in prior weeks.

I considered stopping on the first one because I only needed 2x2 for the day and I'd gotten two in in the morning. I didn't want to compromise the AF Half on Saturday. I ultimately saw it through because it's a fun race not a goal race and I am still working on getting faster. I left my Garmin home accidentally so had to record it all on the Strava app and hold my phone the whole way.

Easy now 'til Saturday. Goal there is to compete. No time goal.

4pm run with Adam up dry creek. Cooler on the creek and a nice run. I could feel yesterday's workout in my quads a bit.

Easy early lunch run with Nate around research park/sunnyside. Averaged 7:43.

A goal was sub 1:10, A+ goal was sub 1:09. I didn't have a specific time goal but I thought those would be good performances. Stayed over at a friends in Orem and didn't get to bed until 11:30.

Warmed up two. The race started with the gun shot before they had us advance to the start. So maybe 4-5 seconds behind the start. Strange. Splits:

Mile Pace Drop Comment

1 5:00.8 174 good - maybe working too hard

2 5:18.9 118

3 5:18.2 70

4 5:08.9 185 laboring too much

5 5:02.6 271 have to force pace; tough to dip under 5

6 5:02.3 298 can't get any speed out of my legs

7 5:15.3 146 right quad starts pooping out

8 5:27.9 198 falling off pace; Walter has separated himself by 45 seconds maybe

9 5:47.8 86 parkway, forcing pace

10 5:50.2 80

11 5:55.3 55 Walter jumps out of the bathroom; I tell him I'm cooked; Scott helps for a bit

12 5:47.4 121 Trying to get in the 1:10s

13 6:07.6 24 Legs are done

14 :27.9 5:24

My watch said 1:11:31 but official time was 1:11:50. Elevation drop of over 1700 feet. Last bit was .08 or .09; all of the mile markers were slightly off.

I never felt great during the race and my quads were already blown by mile 7. Suffered through the latter half with a little boost from Scott Keate right after the hill in mile 11. He got my pace up a bit but I let up again after he dropped off. Thanks Scott.

Great weather and perhaps a mild tailwind down the canyon so good conditions. Congrats to Matt on a great time running solo and Walter for holding up reasonably well through the last 5.

More than a three minute downhill PR from last year's DesNews. Not satisfied but sometimes I want to bite off more than I can chew. This is the fastest I've run a 10k on up so my legs need some acclimation. I think the best I could've done today was about 1:10 flat. Won a pair of Altras for 3rd place.

Used all my UtahRunning.com gear and it worked well though my left foot got hot on the downhill and I picked up three blisters; one big one.