Phoenix rising

6.5 miles today.  Because it was my allergy injection day today I had to run before it to avoid dead arm.  I went to the fieldhouse and ran on the 200m track to avoid direct sun exposure.

my workout was as follows:

1 lap easy, then 1 lap faster, then 12 push ups, then repeat.  That cycle was done 24 times over 6 miles.  I'm trying to get my legs used to running while my upper body is tired. 

I'll also do a hike later today but that doesn't count as mileage!

Did 5.2 in Logan canyon with the miniature team I'm training for the half marathon.

I decided to do a "rabbit" run where I started slower and caught up to the faster runners, so my miles looked like this:

Mile 1: probably 8:30 pace, nice and slow to get behind.

Mile 2.25: I started catch up after mile 1: probably 7 minute miles or faster. I don't really know because I was catching up to the iphone we were using for distance and pace.

Then the way down:

1 mile at 7 minute pace followed by a 6:14 mile and a sub 6 mile (by now the iphone was behind me).

It was a good run to get used to turnover, and to teach my body that it can move a little faster.  I was a little tired from my run yesterday, thus the reason for two "intermediate" pace runs, but I think it worked out great and I'll definitely allow for a recovery run tomorrow.

Between 4 hours of sleep and 12 hours of work I got home hungry and exhausted which didn't help my run today.  I was planning 8 miles but just wasn't feeling it so I went with 5.  I needed an easy day though so that's ok I guess.

Ran up the canyon again today.  I had thought about getting home late last night to be in time for a 5k, but I decided that its never good to race tired and without preparation.

But it was 50 minutes, about 27 up and 22 back then cool down.  I love the canyon!

Ran to the porter Rockwell trail and then wanted to do a moderate workout to see my level of fitness but once there everything went wrong.  It started raining and partway through my workout this dog left its owners and started trailing me.  About a quarter mile later I realized it and set out to find the owners, who were under a tree exactly where they were before.  Then the dog wouldn't stop following me so the next 10 minutes were spent trying to get it to respect its owners.  Needless to say, my workout became easy miles.  So, dog owners, if you can't control it, don't leave it leashless!

6 miles easy.

run with parker and garrett today. Slower paced but good to see them again.  Sometimes running is about more than just getting faster, but remembering the good times with old friends.

6 miles today same as last Monday.  5.5 on a 200m track with one lap recovery, one lap faster and 12 push ups circuited through about 20 times. 

7 miles today.  I didn't care about pace or time I just wanted to  go out and see what felt  good.  Luckily it wasn't a bad pace, and the 7 miles went by quickly.

6 on the canyon river trail

Running is important, but my date tonight edged it out of the priorities list.

5 miles done at moderate pace.  I needed to get back up to speed after missing a day but didn't want to do too much as I had a long run tomorrow.  It went well and I felt good after it.

14 miles today in preparation for the half marathon. So glad I ran this far because it would have killed me to do the half without a run like this. It was around 95 minutes and I ran in rural logan and possibly into Idaho. 

.5 mile warm up, ran on the 200 m track

12 laps fast

8 laps

12 laps fast

8 laps

.5 mile cool down.

7 mile macys run today.

my friends wimped out on the 13 miler today and thus I was left as attrition.

I'll do five miles today followed by weightlifting.

Run plus 7 peaks

5 miles in anticipation of race.

Today I did the Smithfield Half Marathon.  It was definitely a change from my regular training and I was a little nervous as I hadn't ever raced a half marathon out of St. George and even those were four years ago.  They started the 5k and half together so I went out drafting some of the 5k runners until about a mile in.  The race took an uphill, but quickly went back down.  Probably the hardest part of this race took place from miles 2.5 to 7.  The course went up Smithfield canyon road and gained 2,000 feet there.  Very hard and it about got to me.  Needless to say I was excited to see the turnaround point.  I then went down the incline and had about a mile of slight uphill at the end.  I was probably doing 7 minute miles up and 5 minute or faster miles down. It was a very hard course.  I think a lot of people did other races this weekend as there wasn't a lot of competition.  I ran by myself the whole time.  But, its a great race if you want to challenge yourself.  Ended up with a 6:07 min/mile pace. 

7 miles faster than I meant to do them in.  I was just running fast, but was really sore, but still wanted to go fast.  I guess I can do a recovery run tomorrow.

6 mile recovery run

My legs just aren't recovering well from the half marathon.  I had some nagging pains in my left calf so I took it easy today.  I have to be able to do another race in 17 days so I think this is the best option.  Hopefully I'll be prepared for the next one and my body will be more used to racing by then.