Elite Jogging For Dummies

Easy run pushing Jack over to the VA campus. It's like taking a trip back in time over there.

AM: Limited time this morning so I only ran 8.5 on the U/Avenues Loop. I took the bus to work and plan to run home, but it's not likely to be more than 3 miles.

 PM:  I ran home from work, 2.5 miles.
 

First workout of the week this morning.  I figured I would run the same route as last week and try to get a comparison of the pace and effort from last week to this week. Warmed up four miles via the U and Federal Heights. I started the 5 mile Tinman Tempo just before the fire station.  Just after I started, the hydration pack I was wearing started to come loose and bounce all over the place. So I was trying to run 6:10 pace and manage this little problem. At about .5, I saw Adam RW jogging toward me. I was pretty annoyed with the little gear problem I was trying to fix while running at pace so I can't say I gave the friendliest of greetings.  Sorry Adam.  Anyway, he took off like a demon after he saw me. I did manage to run the first mile in 6:01, which was about 10 seconds faster than last week.  The second mile was down to the horseshoe and then up into City Creek about .30.  I slowed to 6:18 (last week was 6:17).  I tried to chat with Adam for a moment at the gate while still running at pace and he said he was doing mile repeats.  That's why he took off so fast.  The third mile is what I wanted to concentrate on the most this week. Last week I gave an even, honest effort and ran 6:47 up the canyon.  This week, I wanted to run faster than that while still not feeling like I was going to blow a gasket.  I ran 6:35 for mile 3 this week, which is an improvement in time, but it took quite a bit more effort.  On the fourth mile, back down the canyon, I could tell I had run harder on the uphill mile because it took me a couple of minutes to settle into a downhill pace that was quick but without much effort.  Fourth mile was 5:46 (compared to 5:51 last week).  The fifth mile heads out from the bottom of the canyon toward the Capitol. It's flatter, but I suspect it is actually a little downhill. They don't call it Gravity Hill for nothing.  Anyway, I ran 5:48 on that last mile (5:53 last week).  

 So, to summarize, I did make improvements in time, but it did require more effort.  I think the course tool would probably show this was equivalent to about 6:05-6:07 pace on a flat route, maybe a little faster but not much.  I have to remember that for these runs the point is not to focus on pace or splits but to fine tune the sense of relative effort over the distance.

After the tempo, I headed down Memory Grove, then down to 1st Avenue. While running east toward home I added 8 x ~ 100m striders.  These were definitely not fast, but they did push my form back together and keep me from getting sloppy in the final couple of miles after the workout.

Is it possible to run an out and back or loop course that is entirely uphill? I'll leave it to the GIS specialists among us to provide the scientific explanation, but it's basically how this run felt. Met up with sometime sub-bloggers J & M on 3rd Ave at 5:45--we headed up to TiTP and then up to Shoreline trail and then up Red Butte and then back up to the Shoreline Trail toward the JCC, and then down slightly and then back up on the new trail section back toward the University. And then maybe we had some downhill back through the U and the Avenues, but my memory is a little fuzzy. About half the run was on trail today.

 PM:  I ran home from work via a 2.6 mile route.
 

Workout this morning with Josh. We ran from 3rd Ave toward 15th E. After a four mile warmup, we ran 2 miles at Tinman tempo pace, 6:07 & 6:05. That's more Josh's pace than mine, but it felt fine. Then we cooled down for a few minutes as we headed into Sugarhouse Park to face our maker at critical velocity pace. The plan was 4 x 4 minutes at 5:25-5:35 pace.  First interval felt pretty good and considering it included the big hill on the northwest corner (we were running clockwise), not too bad at 5:38 pace.  We picked it up on the second interval, 5:28 pace.  Third interval, things started to get a little silly--5:22 pace (covered .75).  We paid for it on the last interval, which included the same hill as the first, 5:42. We were pretty cooked at that point. Still had five miles to run home.

On the way back on 15th East we heard a guy yelling for help from the front yard of one of the houses.  He was hidden behind some large shrubs. He continued to yell out for someone and we went over to check on him.  We discovered this very large man who, while pruning a large rose bush, had apparently fallen through or over a wooden railing directly onto said rose bush. It was sort of an "I've fallen and I can't get up" sort of situation. He more or less ignored our requests to help until his housemate came out to help.  As we pulled him out of the bush, there was a ton of blood rushing down his face underneath his eye from where the bush had cut him.  It was pretty nasty.  Seeing as we could apparently be of no further assistance, we continued our run.  A few moments later a German Shepard almost busted off of its leash in an effort to attack us. That was enough adventure for the morning.

Last night I had a massage from Mark.  That helped loosen things up, but I can't say I felt completely peppy this morning. That may have more to do with not eating enough last night than anything.  

 For the run, I headed up and around the U and once I got to 11th Ave decided to just keep going uphill and I ran up to the meadow and took in the view while I ran the loop.  Then the typical divebomb down through the upper Aves and the cemetery to finish the run.

Heather was gone for the night in connection with her cousin's wedding.  I didn't have Heather's usual Saturday morning help with Jack so I did the long run pushing Jack in the baby jogger.  I ran two loops of the U/Avenues/Memory Grove route.  This was by far the longest I have run with the baby jogger. It's not something I would like to do every weekend, but I suppose it's good to know I can do it when needed.