Week 12 - Thursday

After three unplanned days off, I'll be falling well short of this week's training plan. I am just going to have to deal with that. Anyway, I went to the gym after work for an interval run. With so much rest, my legs felt great as I started my run. Positively springy, like Tigger! So, I beat the springiness out of them with 7 miles of quarter-mile intervals at 6:18 pace.

It was good to get back in the saddle and I felt awesome afterward. Nothing like that feeling!

Week 12 - Monday-Wednesday

On the road for work. Long days+Mental exhaustion*Crabbiness=No workouts for three days.

Week 11 - Sunday

Ryan, Paul, and I met up with Brent, Rick, Todd, and Brian for a big 60 mile ride. We met at the Boise Depot at 8am. It was fairly cold this morning for a ride, 39 degrees and a strong wind blowing south and east. This was going to add wind chill, and since we were riding the Boise IM course, we'd be riding straight into this wind for a good portion of the ride.

We started off from the depot and onto the Federal Way bike lane. After a quick restroom stop a couple of miles in, we continue up to Gowen road and turned west. This was our first taste of the wind, but at this point it wasn't too bad. We continued on Gowen then turned south on Pleasant Valley. We wound our way through the route which included some big climbs, but we all rode pretty comfortably, drafting on occasion when the wind was at its worst. The most agonizing stretches were west along Ten Mile Creek Rd, and then again when we made our return trip north on Pleasant Valley. These two sections were really slow going.

I felt pretty good for nearly all of the ride in terms of leg strength, but the wind certainly made parts of it more challenging. By the time we reached Federal Way again, we knew the worst was over and we could see the barn!

The ride took 3 hours, 48 minutes and we covered 60 miles with an average pace of 15.8mph. Seems a little slow, but fighting that wind was a huge factor. It was great though to have such a good turnout and we all had a good time with smack talk throughtout the ride.

My legs felt used, but not dead afterward, although I was definitely glad I wasn't immediately following it up by running 13 miles! I got a sense of just how challenging that is going to be on race day.

Week 11 - Saturday

Holly and I had a CPR class this morning, so I didn't join the gang for today's long run. They were meeting at 7am for a 12 miler, but I planned to go out on my own for the same distance after our class.

It was about 3pm by the time I made it to the Greenbelt at Bardenay in Eagle. It was sunny but a little cool with a breeze out of the west. After a day off Friday, my legs felt great as I started off. I settled into a comfortable rhythm at a low 8 pace, although I regretted wearing a long- sleeve shirt. I continued along without seeing another runner at all until I got past Glenwood. I reached my 6 mile turnaround and was glad to get the breeze as a headwind to cool me off a bit. As I neared Glenwood again, I finally saw the first and only two runners I'd see on this run.

My return trip passed comfortably as well, and I reached Bardenay again. It took 1 hour, 38 minutes with an average pace of 8:11. My last mile was 7:45, which is good to end a run with your last mile being your fastest.

It was a good run, but with missing out on the group run and running at such an odd time of day, it was a lonely run!

Week 11 - Thursday

I headed to the gym after work for a swim and run combo. I had the pool to myself when I arrived, which is rare on a Thursday night. I was scheduled for 1500 meters, and within the first 500 meters I again began suffering from "leaky goggles" syndrome. I had to interrupt my swim three times to clear them, and it took me 37 minutes to complete 1500 meters. For my last few laps, a real swimmer started in the lane next to me and she absolutely smoked me. She made me feel like Orson Wells in jammers, so I was glad she hadn't been there to rub my nose in it for my full swim.

Once back on dry land, I headed up to a treadmill. I decided to do a 4 mile progression run. My legs felt the effect of yesterday's brick at first, but once warmed up I was fine and wound up having a really good run.

Looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

Week 11 - Wednesday

Ryan, Paul, and I met up for a ride/run brick this evening, planning on a 25 mile ride followed by a 4 mile run. The weather was perfect when we headed out from my place to meet up with Rick, who was doing a 35 mile ride, at Hero’s Park. From Hero’s, we headed to Chinden to take the usual Joplin route. Traffic was heavy on Chinden, but Paul and I made fast crossings with ninja-like precision. Ryan and Rick on the other hand, seemed to be waiting for a crossing guard to appear out of nowhere. Once they finally got across, we were rolling again.

We made great time on the way out, staying around 20mph on average. As we approached our turnaround point for a 25 miler, we decided to join Rick for the full 35 miles. This took us through Middleton, where we got chased briefly by a large dog no one saw coming. Paul was the one the dog targeted, but he narrowly escaped without becoming a chew toy. We continued through town and further north to the intersection of Middleton Rd and Old Middleton Rd at exactly 17.5 miles. We stopped briefly there for a drink and Gu, before flipping around and heading back to Meridian.

There was a front moving in as the evening went on, so we had a headwind out of the southeast on the way back, but it wasn’t too bad and the temperature was perfect. We got back to Meridian and split off from Rick at Ten Mile and Chateau. We got back to my house in 2 hours, 6 minutes with an average pace of 17.5mph. We then made our transition to running shoes. I asked Paul to hold up my bike while I opened the garage door to allow us to stash our bikes inside, but once inside I got so preoccupied with changing shoes etc that I left him out there holding it! He, uh, pointed it out to me though when I came back outside…

Once we were ready to go, we started off on our run with the usual log-like feeling in the legs. Better than last week though. Within a half mile or so they felt fairly normal. At the one mile mark at Tully Park, Ryan took off like a shot. I think it had something to do with running past all the softball players and spectators in his snug Tri shorts.

We made our return trip and arrived back in 33 minutes and an average pace of 8:22 for the 4 miles. Ryan’s was faster, but this is my blog, he can write his own, right? One where he pretends to arrive on time for stuff…

It was a great workout, and it was good to get another brick accomplished. I plan on doing those at least once a week for the remainder of the training plan.

Week 11 - Tuesday

I felt like I needed to give the legs a day off today. I should have had a 3-4 mile run and a swim, but decided to do only the swim. I got to the gym after work and hit the pool. For some reason, the water was much colder than normal. Not fun at first, but once I was warmed up it was ok.

Anyway, I swam a straight 2250 meter swim, no sets. My technique felt really good and my fastest splits were early in the swim. As I neared the end, I could feel some fatigue and my splits slowed a little. Without pushing too hard though, the swim took 60 minutes. I should probably start focusing more on gaining some speed at this point, I think my technique is fairly solid now.

I'm hoping the day off for my legs sets me up for tomorrow's ride/run brick!

Week 11 - Monday

Paul and I headed out on the Joplin route this evening for a 25 miler. The weather was absolutely perfect, high 70s, not a cloud in sky, and virtually no wind. I was a little concerned at first that my legs wouldn't bounce back from two tough days of use over the weekend. As we headed out from my place, I could definitely feel some fatigue, but regardless, we made great time on the way out and reached the turnaround point in no time. We even had safe passage past the "Lincoln Road Hound" that I've had some encounters with. He was out laying in the lawn and didn't even notice us fly by him.

We stopped for a quick drink at our turn before heading back. As we started off to the east though, there did seem to be more wind than we thought. It slowed us a little, but still made good time. I actually felt a little stronger on the second half of this ride than the first. We reached my house again in 1 hour, 28 minutes with an average pace of 17.5mph. It was a good workout and this sort of weather certainly makes road riding a heck of a lot more fun!

Week 10 - Sunday

I woke up this morning with some soreness in my hams and calves from yesterday's 20 miler. But the weather was supposed to be beautiful and Brent, Paul, Ryan and I made plans the prior evening at Robie for our first mountain bike outing of the spring. Technically we should have been logging road miles, but we all prefer singletrack to road riding.

The day started off with Ryan being late. Nothing new there. Plus, the beer-enhanced planning the night before lead to confusion as to timing and exact location for meeting. Clearly it was Brent not paying attention as he showed up a Camel's Back Park, while Ryan, Paul and I went to Fort Boise. By the time Brent joined us at Fort Boise, Paul realized he'd forgotten his helmet. This meant he edged out Brent for today's DF award. Ali was gracious enough to bring Paul his helmet, and we were finally able to getting going, probably an hour later than our planned start.

The weather was absolutely perfect as we headed out down Mountain Cove road. It felt great to be on dirt again rather than having side-view mirrors whizzing past our heads and Cujo trying run us down from every other farm house.

We rode past the Policemen's clubhouse and up to the lower end of trail 5. We planned on reversing that to trail 6 and cutting west to the juntion of Watchman and Three Bears trail. The climb up trail 5 immediately reminded all of us how fatigued our legs were from Saturday. However, the climb was manageable until we reached trail 6. Trail 6 is multi-use, so dirt bikes have thoroughly chewed up the singletrack, making it a sandy mess. This, coupled with the steep grade, made for a brutal climb and a few hike-a-bike sections. However, I kept everyone going with my awesome singing, which they all love.

When we finally reached the top, all of us were more than happy to be done climbing. We were rewarded with an awesome, long descent down Three Bears to the junction with Shane's trail. On Shane's trail, Brent had a tire blow after landing a bunnyhop, so we had a looooong stop as he replaced his tube. It took him so long, I think he must have been coveting Paul's DF award.

Once Brent was ready to go again, we quickly finished our descent via Central Ridge trail and back to Fort Boise. It was a great ride of about 12 miles, which left me ready to hang up the road bike for good if it weren't for this damn half ironman.

Week 10 - Saturday

We had a split group today due to the Race to Robie Creek. Brent, Paul, Loren and I were not participating in that race, so we met at 6:30 am at Municipal Park for our scheduled 20 miler. This was our fourth, and thankfully last of those before we begin to taper down toward race day for the Ogden Marathon.

We started off going east on the Greenbelt and crossed the orange foot bridge to the south side of the river. Just before crossing the bridge, we saw another doe. I never see these things on my own, but fortunately the other guys always point them out to me. From there we followed the dirt trail through the habitat reserve to Barber Park. We had to avoid the bridge construction by running through Bown Crossing and taking the canal bank for part of the route. From Barber we turned back west and followed the trail to the construction barracade before turning around and doubling back to Barber. From Barber we reversed our original route through Bown. This route was Brent's version of a rat maze! The first roughly 11 miles was full of brief stops for various reasons; shoe issues (Paul), dropped water bottles (Brent and Shane), and malfunctioning iPod (Shane).

We ran west on the south side of the river past BSU to Ann Morrison before crossing back to the north side of the river. I needed two restroom stops in the space of about two miles, dealing with GI issues that I seldom have to deal with on a run. Between these two stops and the others earlier in the run, I never settled into a comfortable rhythm. I was running with Brent most of this time, and our splits were all over the place. When we weren't dealing with stops we were maintaining low 8-minute miles, but several splits were much slower.

We continued west and took the dirt path to Veteran's Park and then back onto the Greenbelt briefly before making our turnaround at 15.75 miles just prior to the wooden bridge just east of Willow Lane's softball fields. I was getting really fatigued at this point, and I knew the last 4 miles were going to be a struggle. Brent pulled ahead of me for the rest of the return trip and I tried hard to just keep him in sight.

I finally reached Municipal again and had was able to finish the last two miles a little better at 8:25s each. It took me 2 hours, 55 minutes in total with an average pace of 8:34. This was a bit discouraging to me to finish the last of the big runs on a down note. Oh well, I logged the miles, right?

We all returned home for a quick shower and change before heading down to Fort Boise to see off Trever, Ryan, Kerry, Trina, and Lenae who were all running Robie. After the start of the race, several of us took the bus up to the finish and arrived just in time to see Ryan shortly after he had finished. He had a great race and notched a new Robie PR. We watched the others as they finished and everyone did a great job considering it was a very warm day for this race.

After everyone was in, we joined the party in the park for a beer (or several) and had a great time hanging out. It was a long, but fun day!

Week 10 - Thursday

I was feeling achy in the knees all day today following yesterday's brick training. That, coupled with knowing I have a 20 mile run on Saturday, made me decide on limiting myself to a swim only tonight. I headed to the gym after work for a 2000 meter swim.

After the first 250 meters or so, my goggles began leaking on both sides. Since IAC's pool is basically a concrete box full of chlorine with just a splash of water, this very quickly started to drive me nuts. I was forced to interrupt my swim a few times to dump my goggles, dry off the seals, and try to tighten things up. Each time I thought I had them fixed only to have them fill up again. It was bad enough I nearly cut my swim short.

Finally, about 1000 meters in, they finally sealed up. Of course, by then my eyes were on fire, but I finished the swim as planned. All the messing around though meant it took me 51 minutes to swim 2000 meters. Ugh.

Next, a day off on Friday and then a big run on Saturday!

Week 10 - Wednesday

With the weather improving today, Paul and I decided to get in an outdoor ride followed by a run to get a real sense of the bike/run transition. We when we decided to do this, the temperature was pretty good, maybe high 50s, and the wind was calm. However, by the time we met at my place, the wind had really picked up and was coming nearly straight out of the north. This was going to make the ride interesting.

I jumped on Janis and we headed out for the Joplin route. Once on Ten Mile, we were riding straight into the teeth of what was at least 25mph wind. This stretch was slooow going. Once we reached Chinden and turned west, it was a little easier, but we were getting hit on the right side and had to lean into it pretty dramatically to stay on a straight course. We fought along like this to our planned turnaround 12.5 miles out, and then reversed direction. Because the wind had a slight easterly slant to it, we got at least some push on our way back. The real push came as we finally turned south onto Ten Mile. At this point we were easily exceeding 20mph for the rest of the trip back to my place to end the 25 mile ride. The ride took 1 hour, 41 minutes with an average pace of 15mph.

Once there, we stashed our bikes in the garage, and intended to do a “quick” transition to a 4 mile run. Because I had gotten home too late to really organize things before the ride, it took me a few minutes to even round up my running clothes. The quick transition therefore took a good 5+ minutes. Still not long enough to have my legs adjust though!

From the first running steps, my legs felt like lead logs and my toes felt practically frozen from the cold temps on the ride due to wind chill. This make running feel incredibly awkward. These things nagged at me for about the first mile, and although it felt as if we were running in slow-motion, our pace was low-8, so we were having to intentionally reel that back a bit. I’ve heard from several sources that the key to a good transition to the run is a slow start until your legs adjust, so we tried to follow this plan.

After the first mile, I could feel myself adjusting into a normal, comfortable gait, and we let our pace naturally pick up again. The second half of the run felt good and we arrived back at my house feeling pretty good about the experiment. The run took 36 minutes with an average pace of 9 minute miles. Certainly slow by normal standards, but not bad for the first experiment. I can tell I will need to be doing several more of these, and at longer distances, in the coming weeks.

Week 10 - Tuesday

Nasty day outside. Cold and windy. I went to the gym for a run and swim. However, I got there without all of my swim gear, so I had a choice of heading home to get my stuff first, or just doing the run. I opted for the latter. Now I'll need to make up a 2000 meter swim later in the week.

I grabbed a treadmill and knocked out 4 miles at an 8 minute pace, and felt great. I'm feeling really confident with my running right now, the best I've felt in over a year. Hear me now and believe me later, I will be setting a marathon PR in Ogden next month!

Week 10 - Monday

I was scheduled for 25 miles this evening and had originally been planning to have to ride the trainer due to the weather forecast. It had rained off and on all day, but by the time I left the office, it was beautiful outside. However, I could see the promised storm to west. There was a fairly strong wind that seemed to be coming straight out of the north, but I couldn't bear the trainer and decided I had time to get in a ride. Like Bill Murray in Caddyshack, I told myself, "I don't think the heavy stuff's gonna come down for quite a while."

I decided to take the Joplin route yet again. I've ridden this one now so many times I've decided to name my bike "Janis". So, in the future, if I write about riding Janis, don't get the wrong idea. Especially if you're Holly.

As I started north toward Chinden, it was straight into the wind. I could see some flags along the way and the wind was definitely blowing southeast. At least I'd have it working in my favor on the return trip. For most of the ride out, it was hitting me on my right side. Better than head-on!

I reached my turn around in 45 minutes and grabbed a quick drink before reversing direction. I was hoping the wind would be at my back, but mainly it was now just hitting me on my left side. Nevertheless, I made pretty good time on the way back. As I got back onto Chinden, the wind made for a couple of scary moments as it whacked me in the side. I was down in my aeros and if I leaned into it, it would suddenly let up and I'd drift left. Not good given the traffic whizzing by me at 55+. I was riding with a new helmet-mounted mirror, so at least now I could see the cars/trucks that could flatten me without having to turn my head.

As I turned south onto Ten Mile, I finally had the wind squarely with me and I could open it up. I was back home before I knew it with a total ride time of 1 hour, 28 minutes and an average pace of 17.9mph. Not too bad.

I'm glad to have a day off the bike tomorrow. All this time in the saddle is wearing holes in a place you don't want to be wearing holes. A little condition I call "taint misbehaving".

Week 9 - Sunday

We were at Holly's family's for Easter this weekend. Since I had plenty of time before the festivities, I headed to Gold's in Twin Falls for a swim. I really like their lap pool and was looking forward to getting some swim work in now that I can breath through my nose again.

I had the pool to myself, which is rare. I was comfortable with my technique right from the start and wound up logging my fastest mile ever, 36 minutes!! I was really stoked about that!

After my swim, I changed clothes and did about an hour of weight lifting, followed by some core work, before heading back for a big Easter meal!

I had made plans with Paul for an evening ride once I was back in Meridian. We met at my house at 6pm and headed off for my favorite ride, the "Joplin route". It was sunny and about 67 degrees, with a modest wind that seemed to be coming from the north and east.

We made good time to the Middleton road turnaround, averaging about 21mph. When we turned back to the east, we had a head wind, but not too bad. We didn't press too hard into the wind, and rode comfortably on the way back. We got back to my house in 1 hour, 35 minutes, and averaged 17.2mph for the ride.

It was a nice evening ride. Starting to enjoy this roady thing after all.

Week 9 - Saturday

I was feeling waaay better after a few days of antibiotics and some rest, so I decided to go ahead and join the group for Saturday's long run. We were doing 10-12 miles this week, and it was the last long run before Robie, for those running that race. We were meeting at Glenwood and the Greenbelt at 7am. We had a good turnout, me, Holly, Trever, Paul, Ryan, Trina, Brent, Kerry, and Mark. It was a beautiful morning, overcast and about 4o degrees. Perfect running weather!

We headed off going west under Glenwood, across the bridge, and back onto the Greenbelt. Ryan, Paul, and I clocked the first two miles sub-8, but as we neared the wooded, winding stretch, I doubled back to run with Holly for safety (hers, not mine!). Our pack clipped along comfortably and not stretched out very far from each other. We reached the 5-mile turnaround point just east of Bardenay at Eagle road, and wheeled around to retrace our route.

The trip back went quickly and it was fun to be running with Holly, who was really running great. We met back up at Glenwood, a 10 mile out-and-back, and only Ryan went for the longer 12 miles. We all hung out and chatted for a while, until I started complaining about being cold and hungry. A great run today!

Week 9 - Thursday

Off again today, plus my normal Friday off tomorrow. Hoping to be back in action for Saturday's long run.

Week 9 - Wednesday

A recovery week in more ways than one. Taking at least a couple of days off completely while on antibiotics. Not Lupus after all.

Week 9 - Tuesday

This is a recovery week for me on my training schedule, and it came at a great time. I went to the gym after work for a short 1000 meter swim. I hadn't been in the pool for a solid week, so I expected I might be a little rusty technique wise. However, I felt comfortable and had good form from the first lap. My only issue was that I couldn't breathe out through my nose very well, which is a problem when you need to do just that under water. Anyway, I was done before I knew it in about 23 minutes.

After changing, I went upstairs for a short run. It was beautiful outside, but I wanted the convenience of getting a couple of miles done there and getting home. My quads were really fatigued all day from consecutive days on the bike, but they felt just fine with the change in muscles for a run. I got in a quick and comfortable 2 miles.

Last, I did about half an hour of core work and headed home feeling like I was getting away with something with this relatively short workout. I am expecting that with a lighter week this week, I should be feeling great by Saturday's long run!

Week 9 - Monday

I got back on the horse tonight for a 25 mile ride. The temperature was great, nearly 70 degrees and sunny, but that same wind out of the southeast that tortured me on yesterday's ride was still going strong. Plus, because I wanted to ride the "Joplin route", I would be riding with the wind on the way out and would have to fight it on my way home.

I left the house around 5:30pm and cruised easily at 20-25mph for most the route out, with the wind only occasionally shifting and hitting me sideways. I was as 13 miles before I knew it, just shy of Middleton road. It was a great evening and the farm country around me was beautiful. I stopped briefly at the turn just to look around and catch a drink before turning into the wind for my return trip.

Once I started off the wind was an immediate smack-down. However, I seemed to be more accepting of it today and just found a higher gear, dropped back down into my aeros, and settled in for a long slog home. Like running, road cycling alone leaves you plenty of time for your thoughts. I tried to occupy myself thinking through work and family stuff to pass the time along the way. I occasionally checked my speed and even into the wind was maintaining 14-15mph most of the way. Oddly enough, my legs felt stronger on this ride, even though they'd been used heavily the previous two days.

I got back into Meridian and cut through a couple of subdivisions to avoid traffic. I reached home at 26 miles in 1 hour, 33 minutes. My average speed was 17.3mph, which was better than yesterday's 15.3mph. Not bad with the wind I suppose. Still too slow for my target time on the bike leg of the race, but I still have time to improve on this.

Week 8 - Sunday

I had plans for a 40-50 mile ride today. I knew that was likely to be tough after yesterday's 20 mile run. However, I need to get some of these longer rides under my belt, and the weather was supposed to be nice for the first time in weeks. So Ryan and Todd met me at my place a little after 2pm, and from there we rode to Cherry/Ten Mile to meet up with Brent and Rick.

The sun was out and the temperature was good, but there was a strong wind blowing out of the east/southeast. We decided to take Black Cat south into the wind and ensure we finished the ride with the wind to our backs. We also decided to make the ride 40 miles rather than 50 based on time. I was more than fine with this.

As we headed south on Black Cat the wind was brutal. That coupled with a large hill to ascend within the first two miles did not start things off well for me. I quickly fell behind the others and knew I was in for a loooong workout. Brent graciously hung back with me, but Rick, Ryan, and Todd were flying. As they neared Columbia road a few miles later, they pulled off to wait for me and Brent to catch up. When we did, I had a volcanic eruption of profanity describing my feelings on road cycling, traffic, dogs, and wind. I also described my plans to post a Craigslist ad when I got back home, selling my bike and all the roady crap that goes with it. The venting did me some good!

After a quick drink we started off on Black Cat again and shortly after turned east on Columbia road. Brent and I continued together, with the jack rabbits well out in front of us. We followed Columbia into strong wind for 6 miles and turned south again on Cloverdale. After a mile on Cloverdale, we turned east again on Hubbard. We followed Hubbard for a couple of miles until it turned into Ten Mile Creek road. We followed this for a few miles until our 20 mile turnaround point.

After making the turn, the difference was immediate. We had the wind at our backs and were easily dropping gears and flying! We soon rejoined Rick, Ryan, and Todd, who had pulled over to check out a noise on Ryan's bike. After determining that it was ok, we headed off again, basically reversing the route we had taken out, although staying on Hubbard rather than Columbia. Brent and I stuck together, riding fast and comfortably, but still behind the others. The trip was uneventful other than a dog chasing Brent. Brent was already familiar with this particular dog, and it let all of the rest of us pass, appearing to wait for Brent before giving chase. I thought this was hilarious.

We made good time back into Meridian to the parking lot where we'd started. It took 2 hours, 52 minutes, and my average speed was 15.3mph. Slow, but I was in a much better mood at that point anyway. Funny how that works when you've had the wind to your back, and even more so once you're done. I guess I'll hold off on posting that Craigslist ad for the moment.

Week 8 - Saturday

We were scheduled for a big 20 miler today, our third so far in the run up to Ogden. I was a bit nervous about this one with my lingering head cold, but decided to just stay positive and give it a go. Trever, Loren, Paul, and I met Brent, Kerry, Trina, and Ryan at Municipal Park at 7am. Ryan was late yet again!

It was a little chilly when we started out from the park, heading west on the Greenbelt. I quickly realized I wouldn't be breathing through my nose on this run, but I otherwise was feeling pretty good. As we passed Americana we saw a doe just a few yards from us off to the right. I know there are some living in Kathryn Albertson Park, but it's still surprising to see deer in an urban area.

Loren and I ran together out front for the first 4 miles or so, and then Ryan, who had been hanging back a bit, decided to catch up and take his usual spot in the lead. The three of us ran together to the 10-mile turnaround point about two miles shy of Eagle road. Most of the first 10 miles were at just over an 8 minute pace. I was happy to be keeping each split below 8:15. As we headed back east, we passed the rest of the group nearing the turn and everyone looked to be running well. We weren't strung out very far from each other, which was great.

Ryan pulled ahead after the turn and Loren and I continued along together. I wasn't having any trouble maintaining pace at first, although I could tell my heart rate was running a little higher than normal. This made it seem like I was working harder than I should have been at this stage of the run. As we crossed Glenwood again at about mile 13, I started to really feel like I was laboring, but we held the pace until mile 15, where we took a brief Gu break.

This was where my wheels came off. Getting moving again was difficult for me. By mile 16 I had to take another break and Loren pulled away. I was really ticked at myself for stopping, and resolved there wouldn't be any more. I got moving again, and tried to settle into a slower pace I could hold. I must have looked awful to anyone passing by as I shuffled along. I was hot and had my vest and shirt unzipped Travolta-style, and I had a stream of neon green coming out of each nostril. You won't see me on the cover of Runner's World anytime soon!

With about 1.5 miles to go, I caught up to Loren again, who I think was having as much fun as I was by that point. I picked it up a bit for the final mile, and as I neared Municipal Park again I was happy to see Holly heading west after making the turn on her 14 mile run. I finished mile 20 in 8:17 and an overall time of 2 hours 49 minutes. This was two minutes slower than my last 20 miler, which was also actually 20.75 miles. My average pace for the run was 8:28, 15 seconds slower than the last one, and with all of that difference accumulating in those miserable final 5 miles.

That sort of pace will not get me a 3:35 finish at Ogden, but I know I have one more of these big runs in two weeks and intend to get back on track. As tough as this one was, once I was finished, I really wasn't too disappointed given the spotty training I've had for the last two weeks.

Oh, by the way, Ryan wasn't really late this morning. Just trying to rile him!

Week 8 - Thursday

Took the day off. Trying to recover enough to handle a 20 mile run on Saturday morning.

Week 8 - Wednesday

I went to the gym after work for a run/bike combo. I started off with an interval run session, which I intended to be a 5 miler. However, I was still feeling weak and quickly realized I didn't have the steam to do 5 miles of speed work. I settled for 3 miles and was glad to be done.

I then headed for the 6:30 cycling class. Our instructor was tough on us, which I suppose is what we're there for, but I felt pretty good throughout. I was sweating like a pig though, and felt sorry for the gals on either side of me.

Overall feeling a little better today aside from just a bit weak. Hopefully bouncing back!