cheryl

My husband and I were in Deer Valley today at The Chateaux at a retreat for the firm he works for.  There are several bike riders in his firm, so a big bike ride was planned for today.  We started down at Kimball Jct., where the marathon starts, and then rode a bike loop around the area.  Several places we went were places I've run before during the marathon and half-marathons I've run up there.  We went about 20 miles, and then the real fun began.  We rode back up the road to Park City, then into lower Deer Valley, and then up Royal St. which lead back to The Chateaux.  They had warned me that Royal Street was all uphill, and they were right.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, I've run Royal St. before, except the opposite direction, donwhill, during the Wasatch Back Relay in 2007.  Anyway, I just plugged away for the 3.4 mile ride straight uphill.  It was tough, but it's like anything hard we do, we're glad we did it after it's over.

So I biked about 34 miles, several of them uphill, the last 3.4 very much uphill.  So how do I count this as mileage?  Sasha says we can count biking mileage in our running mileage as long as we have a fair conversion, which I think is 3:1.   So I'm counting what I did today as 10 miles.  Does anyone object?

I was still in Deer Valley this morning.  I debated whether to run up there or just wait until I got home.  I finally made myself get out of bed, saying I would only go an easy 30 minutes.  But as it usually turns out, once you get going you want to keep going.  I ran around the Silver Lake area there, then went to the ski resort and ran up and down some of the trails.  That was a lot of fun.  When I had to stop after 45 minutes to go to breakfast, I was sad.  Should have gotten up earlier.  I hope to put in more miles later on.

PM--I did manage to run some more.  I ran a little on the treadmill, then took my dog and ran on the canal road.   We both got some good exercise.  Managed to put in 8 more miles.

I put in the most mileage ever this week.  Now granted, I counted biking miles for 10 miles of it, so if you subtract that, I was around 47 running miles for the week, which is where I've been the past several weeks.  Hope to get to 60 one of these weeks.

I went on a bike ride this evening with my husband, you know, just a nice husband/wife thing to do together on a Sunday.  We went at least ten miles, so I'm giving myself credit for two miles of "running equivalent."

It's exactly two months until the St. George marathon.  Time to get serious!  I met with some of the group at Bingham at 5:45 and we ran south on 2200W. to 114th So., then up to Daybreak.   We saw how the temple is progressing up there.  We then ran back by 9800 So. to the high school.  I was feeling in my "mean speedwork" mood I guess and suggested running some repeats on the "hill" there in the Bingham parking lot, so we did 5 of them.  I wanted to do more but didn't want everyone mad at me.  I ran a lot of the run by Nancy and her dog Duke.  I think I ran faster just being by Duke because he didn't want me to get ahead of him and we kind of turned it into a race.  That was fun!  Thanks Nancy and Duke.

We met at Parkway Palisades today to run hills.  First we did a warm-up around the cemetery, then it was to our old familiar routes in the Parkway Palisades neighborhood.  We ran the two mile loop, and my time was just under 17 minutes.  Then we did our mile repeats on the hilly street.  My times there were 9:07 and 8:53.  I tried not to push them too hard and keep them at marathon effort.  If I can run the Veyo hill mile in 9 minutes, I'll be happy.  I don't think I've ever been under 9 for that.  Then Peggy and Debbie went to run some more miles, and at the time I didn't feel like it, but later I felt guilty about not doing the extra, so I ran on my treadmill for around 2 miles, so that's how I got my total mileage.  Felt pretty good today.  Last night I did some hamstring curls and for the first time in forever my left hamstring didn't hurt, so maybe I'm finally healing up there.

It was a bit of a  struggle to get going this morning.  Peggy and Debbie had made plans to run at 6:00am, I hadn't committed, so I had an easy way out.  I got out of bed at 5:15 and was sorely, sorely tempted to return to it, but I made myself get ready.  Once I was out and running, as is almost always the case, I was glad I had not given in to temptation!  We ran along the canal road for most of it, we added some street running in at the end.  I'm not sure of the pace, but I went for 1:12, so I'm counting that as 7 miles.  We did see Cheris, she was in the middle of a 13 miler and she looked good.  I'm glad I got the miles in.

We met with the group at 5:30am at the trailhead by 9800 So. and the Jr. River Parkway.  Jody from the blog was there for the first time, so to welcome her to the group, she got to drive us up to the top of 9800 So.  Thanks, Jody!  We then ran down; the idea was to practice downhill running, trying to get us ready for Top of Utah and SGM.  I ended up running with Jody and Cheris for most of it.  We went past the trailhead and ran up to 700 W., so we got a few hills in there also.  It was a fun run, much easier running down then up obviously.  The others there were Peggy, Lynette, Dean and Greg R. 

Later I took my 9 year old to the Rec pool.  I pool ran and did other exercises while he swam and played around.  This way I got in another workout but didn't feel guilty because I was spending "quality time" with my son.  I'm crediting myself with two more miles of running because I ran for about 30 minutes.

Treadmill day--I ran fast one minutes followed by a slow minute recovery,  total distance was 7 miles.

My 9 year old had football practice at 7:30am today, so I missed all the group runs because I wanted to be at practice.  After that I had my husband drive me up to around Suncrest, and the plan was for me to run home.  I figured if I stayed close to home I wouldn't put in the mileage, I would wimp out early.  So I took off at a slow pace and ran west to the Jordan River parkway and got on it at Spring View Farms.  I did the Jeff Galloway method of running some and then taking walking breaks.  Anyway, all went ok until I got to around 126th So. where there is a fork in the trail.  I knew if I went left where the trail would lead.  So I went right instead thinking I'd explore where that went.  That was a mistake.  It just kind of ended around 112th So.  I thought for sure there would be a dirt trail or something that would lead to 106th So., but I was wrong.  I went up into some neighborhoods trying to find a way to get to 106th So., but I couldn't find a way.  I finally wound up at 114th So., and headed east there to Wal-Mart Supercenter.  By that point I'd been running for almost 2 hours and had had enough, so I called my husband to come rescue me.  This was also about 12:30pm and it was hot and I was getting dehydrated I think.  Anyway, he came after I'd run for about 2:04.  I'm giving me 12 miles for that.

So the lesson learned here is, if you come to a fork in the road and you know where one way leads and you're not sure about the other, take the sure route--unless you have a lot of time to kill and don't mind getting lost and exploring new areas.  And always carry a cell phone when you're running alone.

Later, after doing my domestic chores for the day, I went to the Rec Center and pool ran for one hour.  That felt very rejuvenating.  I'm giving myself 4 miles for that--15 minutes=1 miles.

Happy running all.

We met at Peggy's house and ran 9 miles. Originally we planned to run 8, but when we got back to Peggy's we had run a little more than 8, so of course we had to go to 9.  My brain was programmed for 8 miles and it did not like going the extra, but maybe it was good to override the programming.  I think our pace was right about 9 minute miles.  Later I did a little pool running, so that's where I got the extra two miles.

So I must have been half asleep when I set my alarm last night because I set it for 5:10, and there's no way I could get to Riverton High by 5:30 because my morning routine is so intricate.  I showed up at the track about 5:55 and ran a few stairs to warm-up a little.  We had a pretty good sized group.  Jody joined us again, which I was happy about, plus we were privileged to have Walter join us for the first time.  We'd been stressing about Walter coming because we know how fast he is and we were wondering what workout would challenge him.  Fortunately, Peggy was in charge, so I didn't have to worry about it too much.

We ended up running some intervals on the track, but I didn't do very well; Walter lapped me at least twice.  I just didn't feel like I had much "umph" today (is that a word?)  We also ran about a 2.5 mile tempo, then did some more track stuff.  I was mad at myself for doing so poorly that I went home and punished myself by running 7 miles more on the treadmill.  Maybe that wasn't really punishment, maybe I was just feeding the addiction.  Those treadmill runs really get the endorphins flowing.  Man, it's great.....  (Read Walter's blog and comments if you need an explanation.)  Anyway, enough about that.  Let's hope I do better next time.  It was great being with everyone this morning.

I had a busy day with helping my daughter with some school stuff and then I had a dentist's appointment (no cavities!) so my running took a hit today.  I needed kind of a rest day because my ligaments hooking my hamstrings to my glutes were quite sore today (I bet some of you didn't even know you had ligaments hooking hamstrings to glutes.  The things you learn being a runner and dealing with injury.)  I still managed to get in a quality 4 miles.  Now for tomorrow and the three 5-k's!  I can't wait!!

I met with the group this morning.  It is now totally dark at 5:30am.  We had some new people join us like Kelli and Michelle N.  And Jody and Walter were there again.  I feel like Walter should be leading the workouts, not following what I say.  Maybe one time we'll let him be in charge, and then if we like it we'll put him in charge permanently.  Anyone who can beat Lance Armstrong in a race deserves to be the leader of the group.  Maybe he doesn't want to be the leader of our group, though.  Anyway, we did one of our classic workouts, three 5K's around the old So. Jordan 5K route.  My times were:  26:02, 25:01 and 24:17.  So at least I got faster on each one.  Last year about this time I was able to do this workout in 22:56, 22:43, and 23:22.  So I'm not as fast this year, so maybe a SGM PR is not going to happen this go around, unless something really kicks in the next month and a half.  On a good note, I went to the chiropractor and he said my problem muscles weren't quite as tight this time.  He even said he might try some hot laser on them to get things to loosen up and heal better.   I think that would be cool.  I did run a little more later in the day, to make my total 12 for the day.

When I woke up, I felt like a truck had hit me.  I was still recovering from yesterday's running.  So I thought maybe I would just take today off or maybe pool run only.  I ended up going to the Rec Center, doing a few exercises, looking at the pool, debating whether to pool run, looking more at the pool, and finally feeling like I could run on the treadmill, so I did four really good miles there.  It ended up being a nice run.  Sometimes it takes a while to talk myself into running.  That's why the group is so nice, we have a definite time and place to meet, and there's no hem-hawing around about it.

My 9 year old had to be at football practice at 7:30, so that messed up any early morning long run I wanted to do.  What I did instead was run for about 65 minutes on the treadmill, which was 7.5 miles, and then later I went for a casual 30 minute run on the canal road with my dog.  So I did not get in the traditional long run, but I got in some miles, so I guess some is better than none.

There are parts of Daybreak I've been wanting to run lately, just because there seems to be a hill every so often to break up the monotomy of running, so my group was nice enough to meet me and that's what we ran this am.  Those there:  Peggy, Michelle, Kris, Walter, Kelli and Kelli's hubby Scott, and Nancy M. ran with us part of the time.  I thought it was fun.  Thanks all for joining us this morning.  See you tomorrow for more hills!  We love hills, we love hills, we love hills (just keep saying that over and over when you are running up a hill.  I think it works.)

This PM I felt like doing a few more, so I put in 3 on the treadmill.  Not as much as Steve running 20 in the morning and then 10 in the afternoon, or Walter who ran with us this morning and then ran up Dog Lake this afternoon, but it was a little additional mileage.

We met at Parkway Palisades to run those hills we love so much.  We had a pretty big group today, so that was fun.  First we ran around a 2.5 mile warm-up, then it was to the street with the hills to do hill repeats.  I absentmindedly erased my times, but I think I remember.   The first was about 9:47, the second was around 9:10, the third was 8:46 and the fourth would have been about 8:35 if we hadn't stopped early to run hill sprints.  We did 3 1-minute hill sprints at the end.  It was all a lot of fun.

Peggy and Debbie met at my house at 5:45 to run 10 miles.  We did the up and back Glenmoor route that I plotted out many years ago when I was training for some St. George marathon, I can't remember the exact year, probably 2000 or 2001.  I used to dread doing that run but felt it was good because of the up and down involved.  It was much nicer today because of the company.  A ten mile run no longer intimidates me because of the higher mileage we've all been doing.  A twenty mile run still intimidates me.   Maybe, despite what I said to Peggy about hating 20 mile training runs and feeling all they did was wear me down, I need to do a few of them.  We'll see. 

PM--Ran 4 more on the treadmill.  Fun!! 

Our group met at Gardner Village to run around marathon pace.  As usual, I felt like the effort was a little difficult starting out, but then I worked my way into it, at least by half way.  We went to the 5 mile mark, even though I couldn't find the actual mark, it's just where I remembered it was, think that mile was a little long, then turned around and ran back.  My splits:

1- 9:52

2- 9:27

3-8:56

4-8:30

5-8:57

6-9:07

7-8:31

8-8:40

9- 8:38

10- 8:04

Total time:  1:28:46

Yesterday, we ran the 10 miles in 1:36:49, so this was better, even though yesterday was an "easy" day and today I pushed it a little more.  I guess my marathon pace as of right now is somewhere between 8:30-8:45, not quite the 8:00 I hope for, but we'll see what happens in the next 6 weeks.  I also spent 30 minutes on the stationary bike, so I'm giving myself 2 miles for that.

I put my treadmill on a high incline and ran slowly for 50 minutes.  That got me 4 miles.  I wanted to do more later but never got around to it.  Good luck to all Hobblecreek runners!!  I think we're going to see a lot of PR's.

I was sad I had to miss all the fun races this morning, but my 9 year old had a football game at 8:00am and I just felt like I should be there.  It was their first real game, and it was pretty exciting, they won on a last second touchdown pass.  How many Gremlin (8 and 9 year olds) games end on a TD pass?  They usually can't complete any passes, so that was especially exciting for all of us.

After, I was pretty pumped up, so I got on the treadmill right away and ran for an hour at a pretty easy pace, throwing in some harder intervals along the way.  That got me 6.5 miles.  I then rested for a few minutes, then ran again, this time faster, and got in another 4 miles.  I felt good about the running, but the miles probably aren't enough for a "long run" for a marathon coming up in 6 weeks.  Oh well, we do what we can, right?  Congratulations to all who had great races today.  This blog has helped everyone get faster and faster.

I warmed up for about 1/2 mile on the treadmill, then I met some of the group at the Jr. Parkway trail.  We headed out for an "easy" 10-miler (they're never quite easy enough for me, probably easy for everyone else.)  We ran on some roads with no lights, so we were trying to be careful, but then Kelli turned her ankle, and shortly thereafter I fell on some raised part of the road.  Besides banging my piriformis muscle, the muscle that's plagued me for a couple of years now, I was ok.  Kelli had to turn around with her husband, I kept running with Peggy and Cheris.  About 9 miles into the run, we hooked up with Kelli's husband Scott again.  When we got back to the cars, we had run 9.7, that was good enough for me, I needed to head for home to see my kids off to school.  I was ok after the run, I'm hoping Kelli will be all right also.  We need to run in better lit areas, or bring our own light.

 Later on, I rode the spinner bike while watching a replay of the men's Olympic marathon.  That guy who entered the stadium 3rd and then ending up being passed and finishing really slowly reminded me of how I feel and must look at the end of marathons.  He just had nothing left, poor guy.  I also did a little more running, so I think my total today was about 14 miles, that's including a couple of miles of bike cross-training.

I met with the group at Riverton High at 5:30am, and we ran "easy" around the neighborhood by the school.  Then we broke up into the track group and the road group.  The track just doesn't seem to agree with me anymore, so I opted out of doing the track and supposedly lead the road group, even though we got pretty spread out.  We had a pretty big group that wanted to run on the road.  Kelli and I ran together and had a nice chat, then we met up with Jody, Amy and Lisa, and we ran with them the rest of the way.  I used them for speed work, going faster to catch them, then falling back, then speeding up again to catch them.  So I got some speed work in that way.  Total miles for all that running, plus a small warm-up I did beforehand, was 8 miles.  Later on I did some stationary bike stuff plus ran a little more on the treadmill, so I'm giving myself 4 more miles for that.  It turned out to be a pretty good day.  It was fun to see all the people at running group today.

It was sleep in day.  I notice that others in my group were glad to not have to be up before what, 6:00?  As Kelli says, it's pretty bad when sleeping in is 6:00.  Actually, I made it to 6:30.  After piddling around the house, I finally got on the treadmill.  The plan was to run for two hours, speed did not matter, just make that time.  So I put on my recording of the men's Olympic marathon for inspiration and I made it to 1 hour 23 minutes.  So not quite 2 hours, but whatever.  That gave me 8.5 miles.

It was quite the day of running.  I met the group at 5:30am, then we drove up to the top of Glenmoor and ran down, trying to practice downhill running.  I ran with Kelli pretty much the whole time, which was fun.  I was happy to see our time was just under 48 minutes.  Now I thought the distance was 6 miles so I was happy because I thought I had averaged under 8 minute miles.  Then when I drove it later I saw the distance was only about 5.5 miles--so much for being under 8 minute miles.  Debbie and I ran back home, giving me 8 miles for the morning run. 

Now to get to Glenmoor this morning, I had driven my truck up and left it there.  The original plan was to ride my bike back up to get it, but then later I thought, hey, this would be a good way to get in a second run today, so I ran back up to get the truck.  I added some additional distance to give my total distance for that run 7 miles.  That gave me 15 miles for the day.  That is half of what Steve Ashbaker did the other day, so I still have a ways to catch him.  Now if I just had some reason to do this amount of running every day, I'd either get really good or more likely injured or burned-out.  It was fun for today anyway.

Not much running today, I'm resting up for the SL half marathon tomorrow.  I did get in 3 miles on the treadmill.

I ran this half marathon last year in 1:41:33.  I know that this year I'm not as fast, so I didn't expect that time again.  I was hoping to run it in 1:45 and to keep the pace at marathon effort.  I managed 1:46:55 and the pace never got terribly difficult but it still was probably harder than I could have maintained in a full marathon. 

The first 4 miles were uphill.  Last year I ran them in the low 9's or high 8's.  This year the first mile was 9:52, last year it was 9 even.  Pretty much every split was slower this year, I guess it would have to be for me to be over 5 minutes slower.  On the bright side, I was 9 minutes slower at the Ogden marathon relay this year than last year, so the gap between the two years is closing.  Maybe I shouldn't compare the two years, but I can't help it, so nobody give me any flak for that!! 

Anyway, I pounded it out.  When I turned the corner at the finishing street, who should I see but my trainer Steve Ashbaker.  Apparently he came there to help run me and anyone else he knew in.  Now for several miles of the race a woman had been consistently ahead of me by about 10 seconds or so.  Steve told me to draft off of him, then he had me sprint it in right at the end, so I passed that woman who led the entire race.  Was that nice to do?  I have a philosophy that all's fair in love and running, so I don't feel guilty about it.  My husband can't figure out why anyone would think it was wrong to pass right at the end, he thinks that's perfectly fine, so I've adopted his way of thinking.   It was nice of Steve to meet me.  In his blog he says I had my determined game face on.  That's really my determined agonized face saying get this torture over with as soon as possible!   I should probably think of smiling right at the end so nobody knows how much I'm suffering.

I then hurried off to watch my 9 year old play football.  His Bingham team defeated Alta, so at least for the Gremlins, Bingham was victorious over Alta.  Now if only the high school team could do as well!

I'm glad all my running friends had good long runs today (I've read all your blogs, all you who ran 20 miles and have already blogged.  And yours too Kelli.)  Good job all!  I know each and every one of you will set a PR at St. George or Top of Utah or whatever marathon you're running.  I don't think I will, so maybe Steve won't have to wear a skirt after all.