It ain't Chinese algebra!

First time I've ever ran on Sunday when I didn't have to (does that make sense?). Anyway, my buddy at work wanted me to run with him, so I said yes. He only wanted to do 2 miles, but what's the point in even putting on running shoes for 2 miles? I ran 3 miles while he was getting ready, then did 2 with him. Slow pace, nice and easy.

Total Time: 37:00

Pace: 7:24

Cumulus 8 (orange)

Great day for a run. After running yesterday, I didn't think I would lace em' up today. When I got a break around 2, it was perfect outside--just sunny and no wind (rare for this time of year in the afternoon). Ran easy with 1 mile warm up and then it was hills up, down, around, and over the "cove." Lots of hills. Not sure I ran as hard today on basically the same course I did last week, but I got a good workout and enjoyed the run. During mile 5 I did a quick 4000m (65ish) to at least do some speed. I need to get back on the track on Monday's, but these hills are still good.

Total Time: 47:33

Pace: 6:48

Speedster

6 mile tempo with a 1 mile warm up. It wasn't too cool this morning. I wore long sleeve shirt, shorts and gloves and was just right. Tricky this time of year to not overdress.
Awesome run. After the warm up, I stretched a bit and then started my watch. I headed to the HS track (1 mile there), then did 4 miles around the track. Sometimes I like doing tempos around the track because no sharp turns and ups/downs which don't reflect a true time. Anyway, I enjoyed the speed of the track. Mile 3 was 5:13 and mile 4 was 5:15. With 1 mile to go I left the track and headed home. Slightly downhill, so I just put it on cruise control. It felt easy and relaxed and I did it in 5:28. These times are nearly PR race times, so I'm very pleased with the effort and where my body is at right now. I just need to do a better job with the cross-training to improve even more.

Time: 32:39

Tempo Pace: 5:27

Speedster

Quality run, especially given the conditions. It was 20 degrees when I left the house, snowing, and 20-30 mph winds. Not ideal by any means. Not sure how long it had been snowing, but there was a layer on the ground. I dressed perfectly for the weather, so no big deal. 10 minutes into the run the left side of my body was numb from the snow/wind that was hitting me upside the head. Decided to head east so I wasn't running directly into the snow. Another 5 minutes and the snow had stopped, so rest of the way was just cold and wind, but one element was gone, so that was good.
I nearly slipped and fell around mile 2 going around a street corner but caught myself. At mile 4 I wasn't so lucky. I wanted to get off the slippery roads so as I was entering the H.S. track, on a turn and downward slope, I slipped and went down. Landed hard on my left hip (same one that I've had issues with for over a month) and left elbow. The landing stretched out my shoulder something fierce, but after getting up, brushing myself off and stretching a bit to see if I was okay, I went back at it. Did the next 3 miles on the track, then went back to the streets for more variety and hills. I feel like I ran tentatively for the rest of the run given the slip and my footing never really felt secure, but I managed to have a good workout anyway.
My overall time is a little off because of the fall/stretch/body check. Most miles right around 6:10per mile, other than the first, last, and mile 4 when I fell.

Total Time: 1:27:29

Pace: 6:15

Cumulus 8 (orange)

No running for me today.  My hip is black and blue from the fall on Saturday.  It hurts some, but the real pain is in the shoulder.  I hear a snap, crackle, and pop when I rotate it.  That has me slightly worried.

Needed to do something though, so rode the bike for 10 miles.  Better than nothing.

Pretty good run today. Cold (21 degrees), but I guess it's time to accept the fact that winter has arrived. My hip felt 90%, but the shoulder was somewhere around 80-85%. It didn't hurt so much, but my arm didn't swing as loose as it should have.

Started with 2 easy miles in 14 minutes, then got on the track for 3 x 1600m repeats with 400m rest between each. Here's the breakdown per lap:

Mile 1		Mile 2		Mile 3
Lap	Total	Lap	Total	Lap	Total
1:13	1:13	1:13	1:13	1:11	1:11
1:17	2:30	1:17	2:30	1:17	2:28
1:18	3:48	1:18	3:48	1:17	3:45
1:13	5:01	1:13	5:01	1:15	5:00

It was the first speedwork in over two months, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was shooting for anywhere around 5:00, so I can't complain. Wishing I could have gone sub-5 on the last one, especially with a fast first lap. Oh well....next time.

Finished the run with another easy 3 miles in 19:30

Speedster

14 miles on the bike.  So cold!!!

Training plan called for an easy 6 miles, but I wanted to go quicker. I planned on sticking with 6 miles, but it was easy to talk myself into a couple more once I got going. I love it when that happens. Ran a new course; north to the golf course and around the houses there. Some good hills. I'll try and incorporate this route into some of my other runs. Temps weren't bad. Pretty uneventful run, really. Slowest mile (first) was 6:23, quickest (5th) was 5:28. Happy to be done.

Total Time: 46:40

Pace: 5:50

Cumulus 8 (orange)

Note: I'm doing this entry from my phone, so I hope it works ok/looks normal.

I woke up to 7 degrees, and as a result, a strong desire to not run. I eventually sucked it up, dressed appropriately and braved the elements. I ran the WalMart frontage road (east), out 5 miles and back 5 miles, creating a great mix of uphill and downhill. My left hip felt strained again, but not from last week's fall. Rather, I think these shoes are finished. I'll try some new ones next week and see how I feel.

Total Time: 59:18

Pace: 5:56

Cumulus 8 (orange)

Good run with no major issues. It seems that with nearly every run the past 2 weeks, my legs have always had some sort of "issue." Nothing major, just never felt 100%, whether it was the left hip, right hamstring, left and right hip flexor, etc. I'm not saying my body was 100% today, but I made it through a speed workout and the legs felt fine, so that's promising. I started with 2.5 miles easy, then 10x400m with a 300m jog between each. I had some wind to deal with, but temps were awesome. Breakdown follows:

1	73
2	70
3	70
4	69
5	69
6	68
7	70*
8	70*
9	70
10	69

Great run today. It was one of those runs where you don't want to go but are very glad you did once you finish. I ran 1 mile easy, a 5 mile tempo, followed by 1 more easy mile. The tempo went great. I was shooting for 5:30 pace, but honestly would have been happy with 5:40-5:45. That was just the state of my mind when I started...not sure why. Anyway, here are the splits:

• 5:44
• 5:32
• 5:37
• 5:17
• 5:01

When I saw after 4 miles that I was at 22:10, I thought my goal of 5:30 per mile was out of reach. I pushed on though, and was very pleased with the final mile. I'm pretty sure this is a PR for 5 miles. Gotta love it!

Total Time: 27:11

Pace: 5:26

Speedstar

No run today. I was up at 6:00 and on the road shortly thereafter. I drove to San Diego for the Utah-Navy bowl game. Long drive, but it was all worth it when we had In-N-Out Burger for lunch, a $9 hot dog for dinner and a Utah victory for dessert!!!

"Who am I, sir? A Utah man am I A Utah man, sir, and will be till I die!
So fill your lungs and sing it out and shout it to the sky,
We'll fight for dear old Crimson, for a Utah man am I."

7 consecutive bowl victories.........Go Utah!!!

Another day of zero running.  Made it to Barstow at 2 am, slept for 4 hours, then up at 6 and on the road home.  Returned home to snow and work.  Bummer......

So I'm going to be bold and go ahead and say it......my best long run ever! When I got out of bed the temp was 7 (up from the overnight low of 0), so I waited to run until 1 when it was a sunny 20 degrees. I went in shorts, but dressed warm elsewhere. My goal pace was as close to 6 minute miles as possible, but I figured it would be closer to 6:10-6:15. From my house I headed straight north through the farmlands and backroads, thinking that there wouldn't be much traffic and I could stay off the snowy shoulders. Thankfully, traffic was minimal and the roads were dry once I left the main part of town. My first mile was 6:17 and second was 6:04. At this point I was pretty happy because I felt like I was jogging, maybe going just under 7 minute miles. A run has never felt so easy, so I was loving it. I just kept this pace on the pancake-flat course, out 7.5 miles and back on the same route. I normally wouldn't do this for a long run, but I've got to put in my splits because I was pleased with how even they were over 15 miles. Here they are:

Split	Total
6:17	6:17
6:04	12:21
5:53	18:15
5:58	24:14
6:00	30:14
5:55	36:10
5:59	42:09
5:55	48:05
5:58	54:03
5:53	59:56
5:56	1:05:52
5:51	1:11:44
5:52	1:17:36
5:52	1:23:29
5:58	1:29:28

Total Time: 1:29:28

Pace: 5:58

Red (36)

Great run Saturday, not so great run Monday. It was perfect weather all day long while I was at work, but as soon as I went at 4, the clouds, rain, and wind showed up. Oh well. I was supposed to do speed, but it didn't work out so well. I did 3 miles easy, then did 1 mile on the track. It wasn't speed though. Only lane 8 had been cleared of snow and the wind was rough as could be, so it resulted in 5:41, not much quicker than my 15th mile on Saturday. One more mile, then decided to leave the track and run some hills (speedwork in disguise, or so my H.S. coach would say). Felt like a worthless run as a whole, but I suppose it's natural to have a few every once in a while.

Speedstar 

I got what I wanted for Christmas! A 3 mile run! I wanted to go for more, but that's all time would allow. Broke in some new shoes. The jury is still debating on whether they like them.

Sinster (3)

Tempo Run today.  17 degrees and the roads were a mix of snow and ice, so not the best of runs, but not bad.  The run was a mix of easy, speed, easy, speed, etc.  Started with 2 easy miles, then a 2 mile tempo.  I did 5:35, then 5:21 giving me 10:57 and a 5:28 average.  Then I did 1 mile easy, followed by another 2 mile tempo.  This one was much better, ran in 5:13 and 5:03 (10:16, 5:08 average).  I finished off the run with 2 more easy miles.  Much better run then Monday, so I'm happy.

Speedstar 

I was supposed to run a long run today with slower times, but I felt great and it turned into more of a tempo run.  I went to my parents home in Hurricane last night so I could run in some warmer temps and avoid the snow and ice.  I'm glad I did.  It felt good to open up my stride and not worry about slick roads.

I started with 1 easy mile, then turned on the Garmin and went for the scheduled 10 miles.  The pace I was shooting for was 5:50, slightly faster than last weeks run.  I felt great and had no problem maintaining the pace.  Finished the 10 mile course and did 1 more easy mile.  Fun stuff.  My body feels strong right now, much better than I was last year at this time.

Total Time (10 miles): 56:31

Pace: 5:39

Red (48)

3 junk miles tonight after work. Really didn't want to run, but I had to do something to burn off lunch (one too many pizza slices). Treadmill at 5 percent incline, easy pace.

Sinster (6)

Strange thing happened to me this morning.  I got dressed and ready to go running, then stood behind my door and stared outside for nearly 30 minutes, debating on whether I should run or not.  I didn't really want to run, but rather felt compelled, like I was being forced to do it.  Usually when I'm forced into something, I resist, so there I stood for what seemed like ages, not sure what was going on.  Not sure if it was the cold, the scheduled work-out, or just running in general, but I wasn't having any of it today.  Until my wife opened the door.....  pushed me out..... and locked the door.  I guess that was her way of being supportive and knowing that deep down, I really did want to run.

I bagged the speed workout and ran hills instead.  It seemed like much more fun and about the same benefit.  I ran up, down, around, and through "the cove."  Many, many hills, but I loved it.  It's just what I needed.  I measured some of the routes I ran and the average increase was 160 ft in 1/2 mile.  Not too bad, or so I think...

Pace is irrelevant on such a course, but I'll put it anyway: 6:52 min/mile

Speedstar-I really need to trash these shoes, but I love 'em and can't seem to stop wearing them.