El Burro Blanco

6 miles in the morning.

11 miles in the early evening.

It was a good start to the week.  The air was crisp and not a whole lot of traffic early this morning.  I couldn't ask for anything better.  I did the entire run at 6:55/mile pace.  I will do a little bit longer run this evening.  I got home and was feeling great.  My mindset on training has really improved.  I am focused on each workout and the importance of it.  Before I did some workouts grudgingly and didn't think much of them (i.e. intervals!) but now recognize each workout is only helping me out more.  I went up towards North Ogden again but took a different route.  I turned down a new street and found some great rolling hills.  I am trying to find more of these to help get ready for New York.  I felt good and did the entire run at a 6:09/mile pace.  A bit of a push but still felt controlled.  I am heading up to Logan tomorrow to do a big workout with Paul.  It will be nice to push one another.

15.25 miles in the afternoon and early evening.

I ran 3.25 miles after school with the cross country boys. It was an easy 25 minutes at 7:24/mile pace. I am excited to see how they do tomorrow at state. I then drove up too Logan and did a great workout with Cody and Paul. I let Paul draft off of me since I drafted off him the first time I worked out with him. We are even now! The workout was a fartlek: 10x2-minutes @ CV pace (roughly 5:05/mile on flat terrain) with 1-minute recovery jog between intervals. Afterwards, 10x20-second strides @ 3k-5k pace with 40 seconds recovery. I copied and pasted this from Paul's blog.  Hopefully you don't mind Paul!

Interval	Distance	Pace
1	0.40	5:04/mile
2	0.39	5:11/mile
3	0.39	5:10/mile
4	0.38	5:20/mile
5	0.39	5:06/mile
6	0.41	4:59/mile
7	0.40	5:05/mile
8	0.39	5:11/mile
9	0.39	5:06/mile
10	0.41	4:57/mile

It was a nice push because the faster times were going downhill and the slower times were going more uphill. I was glad to see flat road. The strides at the end felt alright. I was pretty tired. Nice, fun rolling hills in New York so this workout should help. The entire run was at a 6:37/mile average. It was a good workout for me. Paul and Stacy were nice enough to invite Katey and me over for dinner. Good Indian food and great conversation. Stacy is enjoying the blog and maybe converted Katey to join as well. If Katey joins, I'm afraid that Katey will vent on how crazy I am for running so much. She is a great support!

10 miles in the morning.

6 miles in the evening.

I got a good night's rest and woke up at 4:30 to get my run in before work.  My legs were a little tight but it was nice moving at a slow pace to loosen them up.  The weather was a little cold but perfect running weather.  The smell of rain also made the run enjoyable.  I did the entire run at 7:24/mile pace.  I will be at the state cross country meet later so I will get my run in late in the evening.  Hopefully the weather is alright.  The meet was cold and really wet.  5A had the bad course because it was really slippery.  The boys took 9th in state and the girls took 5th.  We had a 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride home due to a wreck.  I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep.  I got home and the weather was still freezing cold but I went out and did another 6 miles.  I saw my breath this evening.

5 miles in the morning.

9 miles in the early evening.

Another brisk morning.  I got 5 miles in.  I didn't wear my watch and wasn't too terribly worried about my pace.  Just trying to keep the legs loose.  I put the tight sleeves, long-sleeve shirt, gloves, and hat on and went for a nice 9 mile run.  I have been reading ChiRunning and wanted to try some of the things that it mentions.  I wanted to focus on my arms and the way they move while I run.  It says to keep them in closer to the body and really focus on staying relaxed.  I did this and noticed a big difference.  Running seemed to be more efficient today.  I did the entire run at 6:24/mile pace.  I wasn't expecting to go that fast but it is a nice push before a big workout on Saturday with Paul and maybe James.

2 miles in the morning.

9 miles in the afternoon. 

My right Achilles tendon wasn't feeling too hot this morning. It was quite tight and bothering me. I went home and took some Ibuprofen and iced it. I hope this isn't anything. I will be take it easy this afternoon with the miles and see how I feel afterwards.  I felt good this afternoon and went out for a nice 9 miler.  Katey rode her bike alongside me.  It was nice having conversation with her.  I did the rolling hills up into North Ogden.  The Achilles feels better tonight.

Katey and I went out too Fremont in the cold and windy weather to run the Kash4Kids 5K race that the SBO's do each year.  The wind was blowing about 40 mph and I knew it was going to be a slow race.  The top runner on the cross country team wanted me to pace him so we went out and ran together.  We were lucky to hit 7:00/mile pace going into the wind.  He drafted behind me which was fine.  I wasn't going out to set any records.  I ended up taking 1st and winning $20.00.  I gave it back to the kids since all the money from the race is a fundraiser for needy kids at Christmas.  Katey actually said she had a good time.  It was fun this morning.  I was worried about the weather because I knew Paul and James were coming down to do a 15 mile progression run.  Paul and James showed up and the weather was awesome!  It was a little cloudy but mostly sunny.  We did the rolling hills route up into North Ogden.  The pace was slow on the way up but we hit 5 miles at about 6:00/mile pace.  Paul wanted the rolling hills and we got it today.  It was nice having James running with us as well.  The conversation was great and with the weather it turned out to be a perfect day.  The snow came afterwards so we really lucked out.  The Achilles felt really good afterwards.  I am glad for a day off tomorrow to make sure I ready to roll for next week.  We averaged 6:24/mile for the entire run.