Don't wanna be FAT!

Today was Penny's first run with me. She seemed to quite enjoy the run and didn't whine at all the whole run. She fell asleep and stayed asleep for the last 6 miles.  

I forget how much more difficult stroller miles are than normal miles.  I only averaged 7:38 pace, but I think it was at least a 7:00 pace effort.    

2.25 m. up w/ strides, 8 m. tempo on Clinton 4 m. loop, 2.25 m. down.   I wanted the second 4 m. loop to be faster than the first. I met that goal, but I wanted to average about 5:30 on the first 4 and then around 5:25 on the second 4.  I wasn't able to run that fast.  I guess I'm still working on getting back after the marathon.  Splits were:  5:34, 5:42, 5:35, 5:28, 5:31, 5:39, 5:31, 5:20.

I'm mostly glad that I still feel motivated to run hard workouts.  Usually after a big race like the Ogden Marathon was for me I end up going into a slump.   

2.5 m. up w/ strides, 10x1,000 meters w/ 300 meter jogging recovery (averaged about 1:35 for the recovery), 1.75 m. down.  1,000 meter splits were:  3:08.5, 3:08.5, 3:07.5, 3:08, 3:07.5, 3:10.5, 3:08, 3:07.5, 3:06.5, 3:07.5.  Rounded to the nearest 1/2 second.  

I ran this workout barefoot on the wet and soggy grass at Emma Russell Park.  Target was to run them at 3:07.5 (5:00 minute mile pace) .  I averaged a bit slower than that, but I was close enough to be satisfied with the workout.  

The weather was perfect this morning.  

I was really tight at the beginning of this run but felt better as I went.  Very nice temperatures out this morning.  AP: 7:05.  

Met up with Bret F. and ran from the wind surfer beach parking lot by Pineview Resevoir up to Lewis Peak on the Skyline Trail.  It was just over 9 miles each way with about 3,000ft elevation gain.  We averaged about 10 minute mile pace going up and then about 6 minute mile pace coming down.  It was a really good workout and it was good to have some company. 

11 miles easy. I felt real tight at the beginning, but things loosened up fine.  AP: 7:05.  Throw out the first 2 miles and AP was probably around 6:55.  

2.25 m. up w/ strides, 8 mile ab/tempo, 2.25 m. down.  I ran this on my 4 mile tempo loop in Clinton.  I haven't been feeling real well (cough and little bit of a sore throat) so I was just going to run this as more of an aerobic builder than a tempo.  I did well running a more relaxed pace for the first 4 mile lap, but then I couldn't hold back for the 2nd loop and ended up pushing harder than what was probably wise.  Average pace for the first 4 miles was 5:39.  Average pace for the next 4 miles was 5:25. 

9 miles easy.  AP:  6:50

2.5 up w/ strides, 3x1200 meters 300 meters jogging recovery, 2.5 down. I almost didn't do a run at all today. I had to get up early for work for the 2nd day in a row and I couldn't get myself to wake up super early two days in a row. Then I took the kids swimming in the afternoon because I got off work early. So I was tired before even starting but decided I would give it a go and do what I could. I was hoping to do more than 3 but something was better than nothing.  I did these barefoot on the grass at the park by my house again.  It was just over 80 degrees when I ran them at 8:00 p.m. so it was still very warm.  Splits were:  3:40, 3:42, 3:47.  

On a happy note, I got my first pair of trail running shoes that I have ever had in the mail today.  I found some Kinvara trail shoes on sale for $36.99 w/ free shipping and so I decided to give them a try.  I warmed up and cooled down in them tonight just to break them in a little before I do a big long trail run in them on Saturday.  I'm excited about them and I think I'm really going to like them.  If anyone else is interested I found them on 6pm.com that it where I buy all my running shoes.  

I had a rough night. My three kids decided to tag team it last night taking turns throughout the night screaming. My wife was sick so I had to step up my game.  When I woke up this morning I wasn't sure if I really liked being a dad to 3 small children or not, then I took Penny in the stroller on my run with me, because she was up super early and I fell in love with being a dad again right away.  She was being so cute and making the cutest sounds.  I really do love being a dad (most of the time).  The run was 9 miles easy pushing the stroller.  My legs are feeling strong and healthy right now.  AP: 7:32.  

Met up with Brett F. and Ken R. on top of the North Ogden Divide. We ran up to the top of Ben Lomand Peak and back down. The trail was still covered with snow near the top so we had to do some hiking rather than running for the last mile. We averaged about 10:00 pace going up.  

We started going back down and I was in the lead then Brett went blowing past me and set a quick pace.  After a while I caught back up and passed him, then Brett passed me back, then Ken passed both of us and they left me in their dust over the last 1.5 miles.  We averaged about 5:30 pace over the last 5 miles which was pretty crazy givin the technicallity of the trail.  It was way fun, but way risky. Probably the best rush I've gotten in a while.  

I was still feeling Saturday's run. My groin muscle on the left side was a little sore, something to watch. Good run. Very nice morning outside this morning. AP: 7:05.  

I mentioned yesterday that I had some groin pains, well today that pain was a lot worse.  So I decided to turn around .4 miles into the run and go back home and ice it.  Hopefully nothing a little rest and ice can't fix.  

Took it nice and easy this morning.  Groin felt a lot better than it did yesterday.  It was a little tender but it didn't get any worse throughout the run.  I will continue to ice it and will not run hard until at least Saturday.  AP:  6:51.  

The plan was to run 10 miles at 7:00 minute pace or just a little faster. Well I got into the run and the groin was feeling really good so this ended up being a good little 6 mile progressive run. The groin felt great the whole run, Yay!  Splits today were:  7:32, 7:08, 7:05, 6:12, 5:56, 5:58, 5:45, 5:34, 5:23, 6:29.   Nothing super tough or fast but a much better workout than the planned 10 at 7:00.  

We got out to the Fort Collins Colorado area late Thursday night to visit with the family of my wife's sister. I slept in a little bit and so it was quite hot on my run. I ran on dirt roads that had a lot of rolling hills. I wish I had some dirt roads to run on near my house, I really like running on dirt roads for some reason. This was a pretty good run. AP: 6:37.  

At 4:00 a.m. Penny my 6 month old woke up and after 30 minutes of trying to get her back to sleep I gave up and decided to take her on my run with me. I had been planning on doing 20 miles with hopefully 12 miles at around 5:40 pace. Needless to say I did not get the 12 miles at 5:40 pace in pushing the baby in the stroller. I did however get 20 miles in pushing the baby in the stroller on the dirt roads with lots of rolling hills. This ended up being a challenging run and I believe it was a great strength building run and strength building is what I would have been trying to accomplish with the 12 miles at 5:40 pace.  I was glad to have gotten the run in early too, because by the time I finished it was already really hot.  AP: 7:24.

Still in Colorado. Woke up early and went and played basketball with a group of guys with my brother-in-law. On the way home I had my brother-in-law drop me off at what we were guessing to be about 10 miles from his house and I ran to his house from there (I ended up having to loop around his neighborhood to make it 10). Between the basketball playing and the run I got some really good exercise in this morning. AP: 6:46  

Got home late last night. Got a late start this morning. I was feeling very tired and not loose at all. AP: 7:29

5 easy miles. Didn't get out yesterday because Penny has been sick and has had a high fever which means very little rest for me and Alisha. Got out late today for the same reason. Penny has me worried she had a temp of 104 this morning. Not too worried about the lack of running as I will get plenty of running in this weekend. I'm running on a Ragnar ultra team. My van has me, Bret Hales, and Fritz in it. We are running for the Wasatch Running Center. Should be a good time. Average pace this morning was 7:06.

Ragnar Legs 9/10 This first set of legs was by far my easiest. I just took it easy knowing what I had coming up. This was 5.97 miles with net elevation loss of 61'.  I started this run on Friday at 5:50 p.m.  AP:  5:48.  Weather was perfect for all three of my legs

Legs 21/22  Started this run on at 12:38 a.m. and finished at 2:47 a.m. it was 19.47 miles and had a net elevation gain of 515'.  My total average pace was 6:38, but I had to stop 3 times to go poop so if you took out the poop stops I averaged well under 6:30 pace.  Other than the G.I. problems I was having, I enjoyed this run.  I saw 3 shooting stars. 

Legs 33/34 (You've got to be kidding me and Ragnar)  Started this run at 8:50 a.m. and finished at 10:03 a.m. glad that I got to run this early in the day on Saturday.  This was 8.31 miles with a net elevation gain of 3188'.  This was just a relentless grind, but I went into it knowing it would be that way.  I decided not to kill myself on this run but to go out at a reasonable pace and enjoy the views and the beauty around me.  I ended up really enjoying this run and running a lot faster than I though I would.  My stomach felt great and the longer I went, the better my legs felt.  AP:  8:42.  

Overall the weekend was enjoyable and I think it was good for my training.  Great strength building stuff.  

I really enjoyed running for the Wasatch Running Center.  They hooked us up with some really nice gear.  I really liked being in the same van as Fritz and Brett Hales.  Those guys are studs!  Overall I think I enjoyed the ultra experience more than being on a normal Ragnar team. 

Payson woke up the whole house (and probably some of the neighbors) screaming for his mama this morning at 5:00 a.m. I was pretty mad at him because he woke up Penny and Mitchell. We couldn't get Penny back to sleep so I took her with me on my run this morning.  My legs felt really good.  I am really surpised at how little soreness I have after Ragnar this past weekend.  I enjoyed this run.  Penny loves going on runs with me it was really cute the huge smile she got on her face as soon as I started running and then a few miles later she was sleeping.  AP: 7:12 which is pretty darn good for being stroller miles.