Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

I got up real late today and because of that I ran in the rain, which if I would have got up when planned ( 1 hour earlier) I would have just caught the tail-end of the rain.  I ran over the Yellowstone overpass back and forth 10 times sort of simulating hill repeats.  I didn't sprint up them I was just trying to get the legs used to running uphill than right back downhill.  Then I ran to faster miles (flat) at the end of the run  (6:26, 6:08).

Totals: 10.2 miles at an overall 7:07 pace in 1:19.

Eveining:

Did a 100m sprint.

Rained all night last night, but not on the run this morning. The temperature was 50 degrees with a decent wind that I ran into most of the way. It felt nice and cool. Great day to run when it feels this way.

I was up past midnight working on my father-in-laws router setup that got corrupted. They bought one of the small Acer web surfer notebooks for their house, but the wireless wasn't working because the router settings were corrupted. I reset the device and reconfigured everything.

The run was sluggish and I was just flat out tired. Not the best of runs. 12.21 miles at an overall 7:12 pace in 1:28. I need to start cutting the miles back this week because I don't feel fresh.

I might not be able to run the Provo marathon next week because of a work conflict now. I will know more this afternoon. We might have to update firmware on some critical system on that weekend (20 systems; Oracle/Registration systems). Very high priority, and my job has to come first before a meaningless marathon.

Evening:

Did a 100 meter sprint again this evening just for the fun of it.  I still haven't heard about the scheduling for our firmware upgrade date.  

It's our 15th Anniversary for the wife and I today.  It's been good years.

Run in the ran and wind a bit this morning.  It was a little on the cold side but not bad.  Very tired went to bed at 1am dealing with some DEFISTATING news that's awful.  It's really has shook me up.

Ran sort of a three mile tempo  (6:08, 5:33, 6:10) .  Totals 10.4 miles at an overall 6:50 pace in 1:10.  

Good news I can run the Provo Marathon now.  The firmware upgrades will happen at a later date. But the news I heard last night it's really meaningless to me right now.  In fact it doesn't even sound exciting or fun right now.  

Lunch:

I ran .3  miles in parking lots and stores to get an Anniversary present for my wife and roses which I brought to her work.

I had a great full body massage last night and I woke up refreshed, but my muscle were tired.

I took the first few miles easy then lowered below a 7 minute pace.  The last two miles I did 10 x 100m strides.  Splits for last two miles (6:17, 6:03).

 11.3 miles at an overall 7:05 pace in 1:19.

Ran 8.34 miles at an overall 7:13 pace in 1 hour.  I ran up to Satterfield Rd. and crest the top of the hill then ran back down.  I took the downhill miles easy (6:32, 6:22,  (flat to home for last mile), 6:42).  I'm running a 10k tomorrow as part of a 13 mile run, but I will not push the 10k I'll just have fun.  Both my girls are running the 5k and I might be able to caught my youngest and finish off the run with her.  It will be fun to see how well they do.

The 10k race this year was in nasty weather with a headwind and raining the whole way.  My plan was to take it easy since my main goal is next weeks marathon.

Compared to last year I really took it easy and was conservative but I did put in a few faster miles.

Miles	Type	Last Year	This Year	Comment
Mile 1	(downhill for .4 than uphill)	6:28	6:41	Just taking it easy watching the leaders just gap me.
Mile 2	(uphill then rolling)	6:16	6:38	Not really pushing it.  Wind still blowing.  Letting the leaders get way ahead.
Mile 3	(downhill)	5:31	5:33	Okay time to pick it up.
Mile 4	(Flat)	5:28	5:30	Passed two runners now in third and gaining.
Mile 5	(Mostly Uphill)	5:57	6:14	Still gaining with the wind pushing hard.  But I back off a bit.
Mile 6	(uphill)	6:14	6:29	I did want to push the uphill even though I was gaining on the leaders.  Very hard for me to not want to try and pass.

I really didn't push like I could have which is smart so that next week I won't feel drained. Bill Mandler had an excellent run and I chatted with him a bit on the first miles. On the way home Bill and I ran close to 3 miles together and than we split. Bill's a great friend and awesome runner. I ran a total of 6.3 miles on the way home from the race at an easy pace. I did win an asics fuel belt in the race raffle and I gave it to my daughter in exchange for a 32oz bottle of Hammer Gel.

My time last year would have won the race.

Ran 5.1 miles with the dog this morning at an overall 7:32 pace in 38.25.  He was pepped up today and ran the last two miles in (7:26, 7:01).  The weather was the worst I have seen it rain while running in a while.  We were completely soaked.

No running today.   I was originally going to take yesterday off but I decided to run the dog and he made it a good training run with the pace.  Although the weather was nasty like it was this morning.  I'm glad I didn't run.

 This weeks going to be bad for sleep and schedule.  My wife and I are studying to take the CDL driving test.

 Schedule:

Tuesday: I have to update firmware on systems so I will be at work till 1 or 2am

Wednesday:  Get up early and take the CDL written test after working to early in the morning.

Thursday:  Were going to drive to Nampa (265 miles) and take the Driving CDL test.

Friday: Drive to Provo and run the Provo Utah Marathon Saturday (thats if I got my registration in on time.  I just barely sent it).

 

It was a nice morning at 44 degrees.  I felt alive and warm.  I even wore my sunglasses because the sun had such a glare. 

I'm trying an experiment by completely depleting my carbohydrate intake the last few days and now starting to eat them again today.  I ran 11. 6 miles at an overall very easy 7:03 pace in 1:21.  I have to work tonight till after midnight so I may not get a run in tomorrow so I went a little longer today.  Legs felt fresh after day-off from running.  Weight right now is 135 pounds pretty low for me.

I got home this morning  at 2:30am from  work and was woke up around 8:50am by the wonderful phone.  I couldn't go back to sleep so I worked for an hour from home to make sure everything was okay on what we did last night.  Then I left for a run.  

Today I wanted to do a two mile MP run in my marathon shoes.  This is something I always do on a Wednesday before a marathon.  My confidence level for the Provo Marathon race is really low right now because of the lack of speed work.  Also, our family has had other priorities that have been more supreme than running a marathon.  Bad thing about doing mp miles  today is the amount of sleep I've been deprived of, and I was feeling worn down being up late every night this week.

I did a good 3 mile warm-up averaging around a 6:58 pace then I started the MP miles.

Mile 1:  6:06   (flat) Felt really good in a headwind the whole way.

Mile 2:  5:55 (flat with a .2 uphill and .1 downhill)  In the headwind and did feel like I was struggling so I guess that's good.  I had other things I was thinking about so I didn't really focus on how I felt.  The hill portion was challenging to stay on pace.

Mile 3:  6:31 (cooldown)   Was done so I thought. But the next mile I decided to do another MP mile.

Mile 4: 5:51 (flat)  This didn't feel difficult and I felt in control.  I was focusing on keeping my hands to the side with not much arm pumping.  I run faster this way.

Mile: 5  6:19 (flat cooldown)  Okay a little fast for a cooldown not sure but I felt I was running slower.

 This was definitely a confidence builder for Saturday and know I leave it in the hands of God.  I have trained hard and God will honor that when I call upon him.

Going to keep a food log for next three days just to have it for my history for intake three days before a marathon.

Breakfast:

Cereal Special K Corn Flakes and with some cooked Oatmeal in it with Skim Milk.

Lunch:

Lean Gourmet Santa Fe Style Rice 310 calories fat 8gm

Dannon Yogurt Light  80 calories  with a little bit of Cereal I mixed in it.

Oranges wedges

Snack:

Orange Wedges

Half an Apple

Dinner:

Rice, corn and chicken mixed with onions and garlic  (3 servings).

Tortilla and Biscuit

Ran up to Satterfield Hill from my house, and climbed it then turned around and ran back home. Very easy run for taper. 6.51 miles at an overall 7:19 pace in 47:42.

Did some sit-ups and push-ups at lunch as usual.

Breakfast:

Bowl of Oatmeal plain and blueberries with some crunched up Special K Original cereal mixed in. Also added a little bit and milk.

One piece of wheat bread.

Snack:

Half Sunbelt Fruit and Grain cereal bar Apple Cinnamon bar.

Half Apple

Lunch:

Dannon Yogurt mixed with cereal

Bagel with my special spread mixture (jam, oatmeal, honey, cereal, raisins)

The rest of the Sunbelt Fruit and Grain cereal Apple Cinnamon bar.

Few carrots

 Snack:

Apple and Orange

Dinner:

New York Burrito Gourmet Oriential Chicken Wrap (Chicken, Oriential sauce, White Rice, Pineapples, Tomatoes, Onions, Honey Mustard sauce, Ketchup)

Side of pears

Easy 3.1 miles in the morning.   Just enough to get ready for tomorrow's marathon.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal

Apple

 Gatorade

Lunch (Mcdonalds):

Two Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken Wraps

Apple

Gatorade

Dinner (Olive Garden):

Pasta

Salad

Two half Breadsticks

When I got up for the marathon this morning about 3am my wife and I had a great devotion (she got up with me). The scripture was perfect for today's event and I kept quoting them through the whole race.

Isaiah: 41:13 - For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Isaiah 35:3 - Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees.

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary [and] they shall walk and not faint.

These scriptures helped in the race.

I rode the bus with Jeff Shadley, Walter, Bill and we had a good conservation on the way up to the start. It was nice being with friends and enjoy the time before the start, and seeing other blogger's as well.

The plan was to run a 2:35 with Jeff and Walter, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for that since I had an Achillies injury 7-8 weeks ago. I originally thought I would do a 2:45, because of the lack of speed work. I had the endurance putting in two 100 mile weeks and three 90 mile weeks leading up to the taper. But also thinking this was my first marathon of the year, and 2:45 was a good goal to pursue. But, Jeff gave me confidence and I decided to go out to achieve a 2:35.

When the race started my legs felt dead and heavy for some reason and right off the bat I fell behind Jeff and Walter. I felt this way for the first couple of Miles.

Mile 1: (6:20)

(uphill mostly)-

Not feeling the energy in the legs.  I guess a warm-up would have been good.

Mile 2: (5:49)

(downhill mostly) -

Again, I do the same thing where I always fall behind the runners I'm trying to pace with.

Mile 3: (6:03)

(Rolling Downward) -

started running with a guy in his first marathon who finished at either a 2:46 or 2:49. Jeff and Walter are pulling further ahead. No chance for me to run with them at this point.

Miles 4-6: (5:52, 6:07 5:44)

(Rolling Downward the uphill Mile 6 Downhill) -

my legs started to loosen up a bit and not feel as heavy. I'm not sure why they were so dead. One reason could be because of no warm-up. Jeff and Walter at this point pulled even further ahead.

Miles 7-9: (5:42, 5:48, 5:54)

(Downhill)-

Legs seemed to have kicked in gear, but I could have pushed harder but felt I should be a little conservative considering I didn't know what my body might do. I took a Powergel at mile 9 and that was a booster.

Miles 10-12 (5:53, 6:07, 5;59)

(Mile 10 Flattens, Mile 11 mild uphill and Mile 12 mild uphill)-

I'll I can remember about these miles is the sharp turn at mile 11, and I was still feeling good. The legs were reacting well on the course and I was trying to get some kind of groove going.

Miles 13 (5:59)

(mild uphill)-

Finished the half at 1:18ish. The goal for a 2:35 was 1:17, but I didn't care at this point because of the way I felt at the start.

Miles 14 (5:55) 

(Partially downhill, but really good downhill, many turns. )-

I took a wrong turn here and lost 15 seconds and it seem to knock my thinking a bit because of that. But I reversed the thinking and thought of the scriptures from this morning and started quoting them. I also thought of my family at the finish line.

Miles 15-17 (6:07, 6:02, 6:14)

(mainly flat with short ups and downs and turns)-

Took another Gel at Mile 14 and a half, but there was no one at the aid station to wash it down at mile 15. For some reason they were down the road a bit from the cups. I wasn't too pleased, but I started quoting the scriptures again. I also started to see Jeff at this point and Walter I guess ducked into the portable bathroom which I had know idea until a while later. My goal was to get up with Jeff to pace together. A lot of turning in the course at this point. This was really a tough course I thought with all the turns.

Miles 18-20 (6;14, 6:11, 6:28)

(Mile 18: flat with turns.  Mile 19 flat with some short up and down and turning.  Mile 20 flat)-

at this point I was getting closer to Jeff. I really hated this part of the course with all the tunnels and sharp turns. It really just destroyed a consistent pace for me. I thought some of these were just a weird layout for a course and was really shocked and surprise and through me off-guard at times. But instead of thinking negative I started quoting the scriptures from this morning again. Mile 20 was flat and you started heading straight towards the downtown mall.

Miles 21 -23 (6:29, 6:31, 6:32)

(All miles flat)-

This was straight and reminded me of the last 6 miles of the Pocatello Marathon course. I caught Jeff I believe around mile 22 (Jeff let me know if I'm wrong). I wanted to pace with him so I took the lead hoping he would follow my back. But it didn't happen.

Miles 23-26 (6:32, 6:29, 6:27, 6:20)

(flat - last mile some uphill and downhill)-

Here I was basically just giving what I had left and cruised in to the finish.

Tough second half for this course. The downhill wasn't what I expected from looking at the elevation chart (but when are they ever accurate).

Pre Breakfast Marathon Meal:

Banana

Coffee with Cream and Equal sugar, and Torani Sugar free Vanilla Syrup (clean pipes out).

Special K Bar Strawberry (90 Calories).

Few bits of a bagel.

Up at the start about 20 minutes before I had 3 sports beans.

Did an easy recovery run this morning from Saturday's Marathon.  Ran 7.24 miles at an easy 7:25 pace in 53.42 minutes.  Legs felt good not really sore. But I know better and will keep it easy and not push.   I know I need to keep it simple the next couple of weeks and not go heavy, because I do not want to get injured after running a marathon. 

Very nice morning at 49 degrees and sunny.

Strategy:

Well I need a strategy for the next marathon.  I believe I need to work more on longer tempo runs than I've been doing.  Speedwork as well would help.  The big workout session I would like to implement in the training.  With the lack of training for speed this year God really blessed me last Saturday in the marathon.  I now need to sharpen the form and try to find that top-end speed.

Busy day at work.  I ran 10.34 miles this morning at an easy recovery pace at 7:25 in 1:16.  I needed to get back so I ran the last mile in 6:56.  Not really that sore after the marathon, but I can still feel the quads a bit sore.  

I ran a little longer today because I probably will not run tomorrow.  I have to work tonight to the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  I will have Wednesday off, and have a busy day of stuff around the house to do.  I need to do a dump run, Mow my yard and my grandpa's yard.

Evening:

I ran 3 x 100 strides after work test for an experiment.

I worked yesterday from 8:50am to almost 6pm.  Then I had to go back to work at 11pm that night to do firmware upgrades on our Dell Equallogic Storage Arrays and our printer server and web server.  We got done at 3:40am.

Did know if I would get a run in but I was able to sleep till 11:30am today and felt energized enough to do one.  Ran 7.25 miles at an overall 7:12 pace in 52:19 minutes.  Definitely still in recovery mode from Saturday's marathon. Don't know what the rest of the weeks going to hold because I might have to work late Thursday night into Friday morning depending on how things go.

Side Note:  The garmin is nice to track your distance and speed and also record it on the blog.  Because it makes it nice to see what you ran after and before marathon's.

Weight myself this morning and its the lowest I've been in a while 129 pounds.

Ran 12.21 miles at an overall 7:14 pace in 1:28. Still just recovery runs. I did have some faster downhill miles in there ( 6:43, 6:40, 6:36, 6:58). Did my Satterfield Hill Loop in a pouring rain. I was really cold the last couple miles of the run.

Gorgeous morning to run, and for the first day in a while it didn't rain. I was very unmotivated to run this morning. I was still tired and a little sore. I've gotten 8 hours of sleep the last two nights so that's been good, after not sleeping well since Saturday. I've done a lot of yard work the last two days, and last night I got up on a ladder and cleaned our gutters out. The soreness isn't bad, and I'm sure it's still effects from Saturday's marathon no doubt.

Question how much time should you take off after a marathon from running?

I ran 11.23 miles at an overall easy 7:14 pace in 1:21. I ran most of the run in a headwind. I was surprised about the pace because I felt dead the first few miles. Only run for today.

I'll probably take Sunday off or run the dog a couple of miles. This will relax me and get some juice back in the legs for Monday.

Evening

Ran a little tonight  just to shake the legs out.  Just up the block and back.

I got up at 7am this morning but never got out the door until 8am.  I was going to run the Pocatello marathon course, but since I'm running 5 miles of the Bone & Back Relay next week I changed.  My leg will go up 1200ft in 5 miles.

I ran 14.55 miles at an overall 7:01 pace in 1:42.  I did the Satterfield Hill loop, plus going up and down the side streets of Satterfield to get the extra hill work in.  I finished the run with a faster pace (5:55, 6:30, 6:34, 6:40, 656).  Very good run.  My back was sore this morning from falling off a ladder last night when I was  putting up gutter guards.  It's still sore when I bend over.

I ran with Barry this morning and we took it easy.  Barry is just getting over from being sick for three days.  Good return recovery run of 5.11 miles.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads.  Enjoy the day with your kids and God Bless You.

This morning it was a little chilly in a singlet and shorts at 41 degrees.  I ran up Pocatello Creek road until 5 miles from my house on Mckinley Ave.  Then I turned around and ran back.  Going back down is about a 4 mile downhill to my house but not a steep downhill just a slight downhill that you really don't notice.  There's no sudden drops or anything.  I decided to run this faster, one because I'm running the Bone Relay this week and my leg goes up 1200ft.  I know downhill will help your uphill running with a good stride turn over.  Two,  I got up late and needed to hurry to get to work.  Three, the most important reason I was actually motivated to do so.  Miles back (6:05, 5:57, 5:47, 5:47, 6:32)  totals 10.34 miles at an overall 6:45 pace in 1:09.

It was 37 degrees this morning when I started running, but I still wore shorts, but with a long sleeve shirt and gloves which I always wear no matter what (Yes Sam I'm a whip :-) ).  I like wearing gloves to wipe the sweat off the forehead.

I only got 5 hours of sleep last night because I stayed up till 1am working on a system to get ready to add security patches tonight.

Ran 11.12 miles at an overall 7:00 pace in 1:17.  Did the last two miles faster (6:25, 6:19) 

I worked last night from 10pm to 1pm installing and updating systems so when I got up this morning I felt it.  Plus were I fell off the ladder on the weekend, my back started hurting in the last mile of the run yesterday.  It's been hurting ever since, but not really too much when I run.

I ran 14.22 miles at an overall 7:04 in 1:40.  I ran around Red Hill twice to get some good hill work to prepare for Saturday's 1200ft 5 mile climb.  I fell in the run and cut my hands all up, but I won't get into that.  I did run a couple of miles in the 6:3ish range on a gorgeous 51 degree morning.

Evening:

Back still sore from my Friday night ladder fall.  Was going to run tonight but decided against it.
 

Very nice morning over 50 degrees and sunny.  My back was still bothering me when I got up, and I felt it for the first mile then I was okay.   But it bothers me the must when I bend down or get up.  Climbing 1200ft in 5 miles Saturday for the relay might be interesting on my back.

 This morning I did 12.21 miles at an easy 7:14 pace in 1:28.  My body was tired and my legs were dead half of the run.  I did do two miles under 7 minutes.  Tomorrow I won't do as many, and try to keep my legs fresh for my leg in the relay.
 

Ran an easy 7.34 miles at an overall 7.24 pace in 54.17 minutes this morning.  Ran done Garrett Way and Yellowstone and looped back home. Wind was terrible for the first 4 miles.

Did the Bone and Back relay leg 2. today for a team that needed a runner and that I didn't really know.  I had a friend that was associated with the team, but that was all I knew.  This leg went up 1,200ft and I was little nervous going in.  I was up till midnight that night, because a couple was driving in from Billings Montana to pick up our 15 passenger van that they purchased from us.  I thought I would be too tired for the event.  I had to be up at 5am, because the race was in Idaho Falls and it started at 7:30am.  My plan was to run my leg and hand off to leg 3.  Then run back the other way 10 miles to the start.  I wanted to do a five mile tempo on the downhill part after climbing to see what my legs could do after a climb.

We got to the start and to my surprise Jeff Shadley came up to me and conserved with me for a bit.  He gave me a very good description of the leg I was running.  Jeff,  it was perfect and my strategy worked well with your wonderful description.  The leg was easy and I was way to conservative. 

There was a nice headwind at the start so for the first mile I took it easy since this was just for fun.  I really wasn't into this race to compete but just to give the team a boost and maybe pickup a few positions in my leg.  I didn't know any teams or who was considered the best team.  Like I said I was into it for fun.

First mile went up 236ft and I did it at a 8:14.  I really didn't get a chance to warm-up.

Mile 2; (7:45) 164ft gain.  Still being conservative.  I did start passing runners on this mile.  Temperatures were not that bad but the wind was still a bit nasty.

Mile 3: (7:32) 245ft gain.  Passing more runners and was feeling really good.  Not really knowing the course I didn't open up my pace and I wish I would have.

Mile 4: (7:51) 320ft gain.  Felt good should have pushed harder but I was enjoying the run.  I probably passed 10 runners on this mile.  Two or three runners were walking.

Mile 5: (7:14) 307ft gain.  Thought I would push harder the last mile and passed probably 10 more runners.   My legs felt great when I crested the hill.  Only wishing I won't have been so conservative.

I believe I probably passed over 20 runners in my leg.

 After handing off the baton I headed back down and did a 5 mile tempo (5:41, 5:27, 5:36, 5:44, 5;39)  Then a five mile cool down to the start (6:06, 6:34, 6:50, 6:58, 7:09)

Then we spend the rest of the day looking for a RV trailer in Idaho Falls and Shelly.  If anyone knows of RV trailers around $8,000 in Idaho or Utah let me know this week.  Were looking for something around a 19ft to 21ft RV trailer.

4.3  miles with the dog at an overall 7:36 pace.

Evening:

Road an hour on the bike with the kids and wife.  I will count 2 miles.

Very tired this morning didn't get enough sleep over the weekend.  Last night I had some work issues that kept me up. But I got up at 6:30am and headed out the door after the morning devotion.

Very hot today.  I ran an uneventful 11.33 miles at an overall 7:03 pace in 1:20.  I threw in a  few 6:4ish miles. 

Ran 13.2 miles today at an overall 7:04 pace in 1:32.  I went down Hawthorne Rd. turned on Quinn Rd then Yellowstone st.  I went up Chubbuck rd. and turned on Bench rd.  Ran up near Satterfield St. and down Olympus Rd. back home.  

Temperature was 50 degrees when I started at 7am and by 8am it was 60 degrees.