The Life Of Riley

Went for a Sunday stroll down Springville Main out North towards Provo and then back home.  AP 8:44.  Pace was nice and slow today, I would like to get my 8-10 mile runs near 7:40 pace like I'm getting on my 5 milers.  Finished up the run with 30 minutes of weights and core exercises in the basement gym.  4 Sets Bench, 3 Sets Crunches and some Arm Curls.  Need to find more time to run.  School, work and family take all my days.

Up Hobble Creek Canyon to the golf course.  The trail was spotty with snow, slush and ice for the top mile of the trail.  Just as I turned around at mile 4, the rain and sleet started in for a bit and then let up as I hit the mouth of the canyon.  Head wind going up the canyon was a little cold but the wind at the back on the way down was the best of both worlds.  AP was 8:42, which was greatly improved on the way down, after tippie toeing through the icy terrain up top, the headwind and the incline up, I had a 9:22 AP for the first four miles, so it was nice to cut that down a bit by the time I finished.  I have decided to get some slower base miles in and see if that helps my overall performance.  I signed up for UV 1/2 today.  Courtney is going to attempt her first race in two years since her ankle surgery.  It will be a slow pace but hopefully we can get her foot back in the game.

Completed a short slow run and finished workout up in gym with 4 sets each of bench, ball crunches, weighted pull downs and arm curls.  All-in-all, I believe I will be sore tomorrow.  3 strong work outs in 3 days.  Will take tomorrow off from at least running to let legs rest.

I don't know if this was standard speed work form or not but it was fast for me.  I was not going to run but wanted to get my body loose for a weight session.  Thought I would run a couple of slow miles to get loose and after I ran the first mile in 7:12 I was feeling good so I picked up the pace on the return trip and ran a 6:40 pace.  Every time I run 1 mile at a fast pace it makes me respect those elite boys and girls even more.  How do they run a low 5 minute pace for even 1 mile little lone, 13.1 or 26.2.  I truly respect the elite runners of the world.

After 2 fast, headed to the basement gym and completed weight work out and core exercises.

4 sets bench - 135 lbs

3 sets curls - 65 lbs

3 sets ball crunches - lbs of me from torso up

3 sets pull downs - 70 lbs

push up burn out - 35

10 minutes of movement to cool down

Feeling more prepared everyday for the Spartan & Tough Mudder events that Zac has talked me into doing in May and July.  We may see me either hurt myself or make a fool out of myself.  Either way, I'm excited to try something new. 

Went up Hobble Creek Trail to golf course which is a usual route but today I added in 15 push-ups each time the Garmin vibrated a mile.  Ended up with 8.4 miles and 105 push-ups.  Spartan here I come.

First 9 miles by myself down Springville Main and out towards Provo and then back again to pick up Courtney and head up Hobble Creek trail to the reservoir and then back home.  Her ankle seems to be holding up so far in her training, hopefully it stays strong so she will be ready for Utah Valley.  Over 47 miles this week, that is my strongest week in almost two years since I trained for UVM in 2010.  Feeling good and healthy.