The Life Of Riley

Feeling good.  After last week I thought my knee might once again take me down, but the last couple of runs have felt great.  Today I warmed up for a mile and then kicked up my pace to 8:34 and ran for 8 miles then cooled down for 1.3 miles.  If I can get my pace to an 8:30 for the marathon I will be happy happy.  At the rate I'm progressng I think that I may even do a little better then that.  In 4 weeks I have increased my feel good pace by over a minute and I still have 14 weeks to the race.  If I don't over due it, I think I will beat any goal I have yet dreamed of for my first full.  "Thank you God for another day."

A little incline tonight. Decided to put in a few slow miles as to not overdue my knee. Went 5 miles at 6 mph and put the TR on a 5% incline. I felt like there was no workout being acomplished for the first couple of miles but once I got warmed up it felt great. After 5 I had a good feeling about it and I burt a bunch of calories. I kind of liked the constant incline. Ususally when I incline it is only for a mile or 2. I'm happy for this day. Hopefully a long steady run tomorrow.

Killed It!  11 Miles.  9 miles at 8:20 and 2 Miles at 8:13.  I'm getting faster.

Ouch.  Today I beat my 1/2 marathon time by 3 minutes.  I did it in 1 hr 44 min, and the last time I ran SLC half I finished in 1 hr 48 min.  I finished a tenth short of the 13.1 so I figure I can add 1 minute for the last tenth to make me beat my last time by 3 minutes.  I ran from my house in Payson to Mom & Dad's in Springville.  I ran in new Asics I purchased yesterday.  They felt great minus I got a pretty nasty blister on the inside of a couple of toes on my right foot.  I will be sad if the shoes continue to cause these blisters, I really like the way they feel.

At only a 9:13 average pace, I did'nt break any speed records, but I have never ran more then 16.4 miles before so for me to have my first 20+ miler, I am very excited.  I will get the speed up over the next couple weeks.  "Thank you God for another day."

First 4 miles @ 7:30 pace.  I never thought that was possible for me.  I have never even ran 1 mile at 7:30 so to run 4 at that pace I am happy happy.  I finished off the last 4 miles at 9 min. miles and then cooled down for .3 miles.  Yesterday I got distance and today I got speed, now I only need to combine the two.

4.5 Miles at 7:46 pace.  Yeah, I'm getting my pace down.  Yesterday 7:30's and today just a bit slower but I'm still a little sore from Saturday's 20.  I'm doing what two months ago, I never thought possible.  "Thank you God for another day."

9 Miles @ 8:24 pace.  I used to log 8:24's as fast miles and now I am logging them as slow miles.  That for sure is an improvement.

7 Miles @ 7:31's & 1 Mile @ 7:19, never ran a mile under 7:30.  And then a mile and 1/2 at 8:34 for a little cool down.  I am running the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon on Saturday and I am shooting for 1 hr 40 min.  That is a big goal for me, not sure I will make it but if I don't it will give me something to shoot for on the next one.

Shamrock Half Marathon, a lot tougher course then I was expecting.  About 8 of the first 9 miles were inclined, someI'm guessing around 8%.  The first 9 miles I was shotting for 8 min. miles, I think I was off just a bit so on the last 4 miles, there was a pretty steady decline except for a couple of bowls we had to run out of.  I set my sights on a few people I had been pacing for most the race.  I started picking them off 1 by 1.  I was in 22nd place at mile 7 and I picked off 7 more racers from that point.  I got a couple at aid stations that I passed up and got a few more on some down hill sprints I did.  I ended up 2nd in my age group (30-39) and 15th overall. I ended up with 1:40.28 which is 28 seconds off my goal, but I made the goal before I knew the course.  Very happy with my 7.39 pace.  My best ever and on the toughest course I have ever ran.  All in all, I 'm happy to have done so well.  Now getting excited for SLC half.  It's all down hill, maybe I can get in the high 1:30's.

Nice and easy today.  Just trying to loosen up the muscles from yesterdays race.  The first 4 miles I did were about 8.40's with a couple of those being some pretty good incline up the mountain towards Elk Meadows, I then hopped a fence and ran a couple of miles along the canal on the dirt access road.  That was a nice change from the pavement.  The last couple of miles I ran with my seven year old Jaida.  She wants to do a 5k this spring.  She impressed me, she kept under an 11 minute pace for 2 solid miles.  She killed it.  She could do a 5k now, I can't wait to see her after she trains a bit.  Today is a great day...

Perfect running evening.  Started out my 8 mile run nice and slow, still a little sore from the race on Saturday.  After 4 miles I turned around and headed west back towards home.  The sky started to sprinkle enough to make everything just cool.  The sunset was incredibly promoted by all the low lying clouds along the mountain tops.  The last 4 miles I picked up the pace and enjoyed every second of the run.  Today was perfectly awesome.

Feeling pretty good today.  I have taken the last two days off due to a couple of blistered toes from the new Asic Speedstar's.  They feel good on but I have been getting increasingly worse blisters since the day I got them 3 weeks ago, so today I got a new pair of Brook's (Launch's).  I put 10.4 miles on them this evening and so far so good, I don't think they made the blisters any worse, I should no for sure tomorrow.  I think they are one of the ugliest shoes I have ever owned but if they keep the vile blisters at bay I will learn to love their looks.  "Thank you God for another day."

Oh yeah, I ran the fastest mile I have ever ran today, (6:19) YEAH!!!

I got my personal best and my goal of a sub 1:40:00 half.  Finished 3rd in my age group and 43rd overall.  The course was a little friendlier then last weeks Shamrock but I should of done a little better.  I started a little quicker then I should have.  I burned up a lot of energy during the first 8 miles and after the climb out of the river bottoms at mile 9 I started to lose it.  I lost my form for a couple of miles and had negative thoughts in my head about keeping up my speed, I lossed a couple of minutes between mile 10 and 12.  For the last mile I got out of my head and stood up and ran.  I knew I was going to be close to that 1:40 and I was not about to lose it.  I got my pace back to around a 7 minute pace and finished strong.  I'm happy with the race, all except for my performance from miles 10 to 12.  "Thank you God for strength."

Nice & slow today.  Just wanted to loosen up the muscles from yesterday's race.  Was only going to go 7 or 8 but I felt good and was enjoying the day so I zig-zagged the blocks coming back through the fields to my house and added a few extra miles. 

Tried a little speed work tonight.  This is new to me.  I have not done much sprinting since high school track.  I did a few 400m sprints and dropped back to 200m sprints with a slow jog in between to catch my breath.  I'm not quite sure if this is the correct way to do speed work but I definately got a different kind of work out then my normal running regimend.  When I got home I thought I was going to ralph.  I am interested to see how I feel tomorrow.  I'm not sure if this was a good or bad thing.