The Life Of Riley

Feelin' good tonight.  Took Tuesday off to let my body rest and last night I drove a friend to Mt. Pleasant so I did not have any time to run after I got home, but tonight I feel great and started out strong.  I got a new best pace for 5 miles (7:13's) I had never ran 5 solid miles under 7:23's before so I'm happy with that, I then slowed my pace down to 8:30's and ran 7 more miles to get to 12.  I feel good and my pace is improving a great deal every week.  I am half way through training for my first full and I have increased my 10-12 mile pace from 10:00 to sub 8:00's.  I am excited to see how much more I can improve in the next 10 weeks before Utah Valley Marathon.

New personal best for distance.  I ran 8:40's which when I started training was the pace I wanted for my first marathon.  I know now that I will be able to improve on that.  Now I'm shooting for 8:00's or maybe even better, we'll see.

Speed work tonight.  I ran my fastest mile ever (6:15) and then ran 400m & 800m's.  I got (2) of my 400m's at a 5 min. pace, and the others at 5:30's and a couple of 800's at a 6 min. pace.  I accomplished a little dry ralphing at the end so I guess I pushed myself enough.  I have rarely been able to push myself to ralph.  I did this on the Nordictrack while my 3 kids watched.  They now think dad has gone completley insane.

Rough running this evening.  The day was beautiful but my body is not.  I either have a bug or allergies are kicking my butt.  I can't breath very good, my throat is very itchy, my nose is seized, and my lungs are full of those little musinex boys.  I felt ok during the 3 mile run from my house to the track and I even felt ok while running miles 3 through 9 on the track, but the 3 mile run home kicked my butt.  I was coughing and my muscles started to really burn.  My pace dropped from 7.40's to around 8.40's on the way home.  My pace at the end of 12 was right at 8 minute average.  Not too bad for the way I felt but I think I may hurt tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and I hit over 500 miles for 2010 tonight.  That makes me happy :)

Houston we have a problem!!!  Tendon or muscle behind right knee is damaged!!!  The 12 miles last night must of done it in.  It bothered me a bit during the last three miles last night and was a little tender toaday at work.  I thought I might be able to loosen it up with a slow jog today so I went to the track and ran a couple of slow miles and it was not loosening up at all, in fact it was getting worse so I backed off at 2 and did some stretching.  I am wanting to go 18 tomorrow for my weekly distance run but unless some major healing takes place tonight I don't know.  I have signed up for SLC Half next saturday and I'm looking for a new PR so I don't need to inflame an injury tomorrow.  I will let the powers that be decide my fate...

Oh pooh.  Tendon & muscle in left leg did not repair last night.  No 18 miles today, I think I will really mess it up if I try to go.  I have decided to push my long run to tomorrow.  Hopefully if I give it another day & night of healing I will be good to continue training.

Good slow 8 miles.  After a terrible week last week being sick for 3 days and then blowing up a muscle or tendon in my lower hamstring behind my left knee, things are starting to look up.  Although I missed my 18 miler yesterday and finished out the week with only 19 miles, I am in good spirits and know I have a great week ahead.  I get to run the SLC half on Saturday and I'm hoping for a new PR.  It's been a little discouraging having a week like last week while trying to get ready for this run but I am hopefull that the few days of rest was good for my body in another way.  I am learning lessons everyday in running.  I have learned that when I am hurt that I need to rest my body not try to run through my injury, I only end up hurting worse and have to ultimately take more time off then if I just stop all together and let myself heal.  So far in the last couple of months I have had my right IT band shut me down, some terrible blisters on my right foot that hampered me for a week and now this left lower hamstring injury that put a kink in my training.  I guess injuries are just part of running.  I just need to be a little smarter and slow down my progression.  I think I have probably caused my injuries by trying to do too much too fast. 

I am back on track.  My left hamstring is still a little tight and the injury seems to of moved up a little from just above the back of my knee to almost the middle of the muscle.  I think I'v just strained the muscle a little while favoring the irritated tendon.  All-in-all though, I am healing and feeling good.  I averaged 8:20's tonight for 11.5 miles so I averaged a minute faster then the eight I ran last night and my leg feels better then last night so as long as I'm smart and don't push it over the next couple of days, I'm confident that I have a good shot Saturday for a new PR for my half.  Oh, and the blisters are also disapearing.  I am repairing!!!

Feelin' better every day.  Left leg pain is fading away.  Tonight I got my pace back to almost where it was before last weeks speed work injury.   I averaged 7:50's for my first 8 miles then I slowly backed off for a couple of cool down miles, overall just about 8:00's for the 10 miles tonight.  Lookin' forward to Saturday's Half...

Good run tonight.  This was my last run before the SLC Half on Saturday, I plan to take tomorrow off to rest my body.  I may decide to put in a few slow miles to stay loose but we'll see.  I am excited for Saturday to try for a new PR, I am shooting for around 1:36:00 or so, I would like to pace at least at 7:30's but 7:20's would be awesome.  I paced 7:40's tonight for the first 10 miles then slowed down to 8:00 & 8:30 for the last few miles to cool down a bit and not over do myself.  The Riverton Half, I finished in 1:39:12, I'm very confident I will beat that, I'm also getting excited for my first full in June, I feel like I'm exceeding where I ever dreamed of being at this point in my training.  Right now I'm thinking a 3:30:00 for my first full but if things keep going well, I may even shoot for the 3:20:00's.

Bitter Sweet race for me.  I was dreaming of a 1:35:00 or better and I just missed it, this is however a new PR time for me in the half, I beat my Riverton time by 2 minutes 5 secs.  They changed the course up a bit from the last time I ran this in 2008.  I was not expecting mile 12 to continue on up State Street so far.  Mentally I failed mile 12.  I was expecting a small incline and when it was more then I expected I went inside my head crying to myself and lost almost 2 minutes up that stretch.  I got out of my head at the top of the hill and picked my pace back up for the last mile but it was too late.  I couldn't make up the time.  I am happy though, I ended up with a 7:23 pace and that beats my last pace by 10 seconds.  I will get that 1:35:00 on the next run.  I have been able to increase my time by a couple of minutes each of my last 4 races, so two weeks til' Provo, It's nice and flat, we'll see how things go there.  "Thank you God for today"

Beautiful day today, too bad I had to run on the TM.  I was home with my two youngest while my wife took my daugther to dance so it was TM or nothing.  I got in 7 miles and my muscles got a little tight.  I'm still a little sore from last Saturday's race.  I felt great Sunday, but the r-calf and l-hamstring are a little wounded.  I am struggling a bit with allergies today as well, my breathing was labored more then usual but oh well.  I'm taking this week a little easier then last.  I am going for a 22 miler on Saturday so I want to get rested up.  It will only be my third 20+ mile run.  I'm excited but a little nervous.  I have only 8 weeks left until Utah Valley Marathon.  I am hopefull that I will be smart and be able to train injury free.  I have a tendency to always push myself harder then I should and I tend to over do it.  I need to stay smart and listen to those who have done this before.  Thanks to all you bloggers whom I have read your stories and learned from. 

I really struggle with this log entry.  I can't log these miles as marathon pace because they were slower then I want to run my marathon but I have a hard time with the phrase easy miles because they were anything but.  I felt great at 14 miles and then my muscles started crying a little, by 16 miles my left hamstring and right calf were scraming and when I got to 18 they were done.  I got the ice going and the IB 800 in me, I hope this works out.  I have 7 weeks until Utah Valley and I no I still have a lot of training to get in so that I can do as well as I want to.  I took most of this last week off from running due to the fact that I was working 12-14 hrs per day all week and was not getting time in the evenings to run.  I'm not sure if that hurt my training by not getting in the miles or if it helped by giving my body a much needed rest after last weeks personal best for me in both miles and a half marathon time. 

Changin' up the training.  No more over pushing myself.  Just going to have fun with it, I'm sick of hurting.

7.1 miles @ 7:53 pace.  I'm happy with that for today.

My body felt stronger tonight then any time to this point in my training.  I have refrained from pushing myself to the point of physical break down.  I have backed off from trying to go faster and farther every night to just a good solid steady run.  I feel great and I'm ready for the final 6-1/2 weeks of training before my 1st marathon.  I cruised 10.3 miles tonight at an 8:20 pace with a 1% incline on the TM.  feel great and I don't think I will hurt tomorrow.  That will be nice.

Oh, and I also passed the 600 mile mark for 2010 and I'm at 608.8 miles for the year.

Another run on the TM tonight with the kids playing around me.  I decided to change it up a little and do some incline work.  For the first 6 miles I ran from 3%-5% and then the last couple I dropped it to 2%.  My average pace for tonight was 8:34's.  I slowed it down a little for both the incline run and the fact that I'm shooting for an 18-20 on Saturday and I want to be somewhat rested for that.  I am heading to Rock Springs, WY in the morning and will be there through the weekend.  It will be nice to get some new scenery for my long run Saturday.  I just hope the weather cooperates.