Elite Jogging For Dummies

Between the change in daylight savings, and a long day of travel yesterday from the Westcoast, I didn't feel particularly rested this morning. Once I got out the door, however, the run was enjoyable. I headed up through This is the Place to the St. Mary's hood, around the golf course and return via TiTP.  

I had a work meeting at 7:30 this morning, so I had to get up pretty early (5:10) to get in the workout before heading into the office. It being Tuesday and all, I decided to take another crack at the Liberty Park tempo run. I warmed up 3.3 miles through the Avenues and downtown and then started the tempo run at 600 E/600 South and headed toward the park. The objective today was to run the second mile in under 6 minutes, which has been very difficult the last couple of times I did this. I don't know why, something about losing concentration. First mile 5:51. Second mile, in the park, trying to keep it together, sort of falling asleep, body feeling sort of sluggish, but 5:55, so I hit that mark. Then I felt sort of spent already, but with 2 miles to go. Third mile, another 5:51. For the last mile, I wanted to run 5:45, but ran 5:46. Then cooled down back to the Avenues and home for a total of 11 for the morning.

PM:  Three easy miles with Heather and Jack (in baby jogger).  The weather was great and I wore shorts.

I ran about a mile on my own and then hooked up with Josh and Megan for a 9 mile run.  I got to hear all about their Canyonlands races. Both were awesome. Josh was 7th overall in 1:13, Megan was 5th overall in 1:26.  Speedy!  After dropping those guys off at their house, I ran a little more to make it 11 for the morning. 

Although I am not going to be able to get in all the miles I would have liked today, I did have an enjoyable run this morning on the St. Mary's/This is the Place loop. It was 39 degrees out. One degree more and I would have worn shorts. But it was comfortable with light tights. I pushed a couple of hills, but otherwise not much to report performance-wise.

Tonight Heather and I are going to hear Michael Pollan at Abravenel Hall. The title of the lecture is The Omnivore's Dilemma: Looking for the Perfect Meal in a Fast Food World.

Eight easy miles this morning on the U/Avenues loop.  It started to snow a little bit after a couple of miles.  I would have been underdressed if it had turned into a blizzard, but things mellowed out after about 20 minutes. I enjoyed the clean feeling of the air moving in and out of my body.

Striders 10 Miler.  I knew that this would be a very different race than the 10k, and it was.  The first big difference was the field.  Adam RW and Walter both joined us, along with a guy Mike [I forgot the last name already].  They all beat me.  The other big difference was the solid race that Jon Allen ran today.  He ran smart and strong.

Heather has my watch with all my splits on it, so I can't give the full split report right now, but I remember a few. We went out at 6 min pace for the first mile, but Mike was already out front. I won't say anything else about him because I didn't see him much after that. He finished in 58 minutes. Adam was holding second, then Walter, then a pack of Jon, Cody, Ben and me.  Pace was esssentially conversational. Everyone knew from the 10k experience that the first 2 miles were not the place to try and shine.  Second mile was 5:21.  That's fairly quick, but it has a steep downhill. I think it was 5:12 at the 10k for me.  Nothing eventful through the 4.5 mile mark as everyone held their places more or less.  We hit the first big hill at 4.5. I thought I might make up some ground on the leaders, but didn't.  Plus Jon stayed with me stride for stride.  Time on the hill was 6:34 (compared with 6:29 in the 10k).  The next big hill begins just after mile 6. It's a relentless climb, essentially a full mile.  I was 7:11, I believe.  On that hill, the race really started to take shape.  Walter, Adam, Jon and I were within 20m or so.  Jon started to pull away.  I kept my pace but wasn't able to pick it up to follow.  Jon passed Walter, and then passed Adam.  He threw down a 5:02 for mile 8.  I ran 5:21--not enough to make any ground.  Around mile 9, I had Walter in sight and thought I could grab a ride to the finish, but he kept enough distance on me.  Mile 9 was 5:40.  Mile 10, which has a big climb, was 5:55. 

So, I was 5th today. But I had a really enjoyable race, had smile on my face for some reason most of the race. I think it was just the enjoyment of being away from the office and doing something completely different.  I ran hard today, but I can run harder.