El Burro Blanco

I decided that I need a break today.  My legs need a cold bath and lots of Ibuprofen.  I am planning on taking this week easy and then starting up with the training more next week.  I had to do a lot of explaining to fellow teachers and students about the race.  I feel alright mentally but need to start looking towards another race right now.  I got Paul Pilkington's (Weber State's coach and former Olympian) number from a student teacher (Lindsey Anderson) that runs for him and helps coach at Weber State.  I am going to give him a call and see if he might help me in anyway to continue improving.  I think my next race or races will be in the Strider's series and then for sure the Ogden Marathon in May.  I want to do well with those races.  I have done of lot of races lately and am slightly burned out so I will revamp the training and shoot for those races at the start of next year.  

I decided to go out for an easy 3.75 miles this afternoon to loosen up the legs a bit.  My quads are a little sore but that is about it.  I ran around Ben Lomond High's track because I figured the soft surface would be good for my legs.  It felt good to get out of the house and run even for just a little bit.  I will slowly work my way back up this week and then revamp for next week.  I got home and did about 30 minutes of core exercises.  I will start focusing on this a little more.

I did 6 miles with the cross country team this afternoon.  We went over too Mt. Ogden park and did 8 x 400m repeats up a hill.  I didn't push it that much and it felt good to just get the legs moving again.  The cross country team is getting ready to go too the Foot Locker Championships in California in a couple of weeks.  It should be quite fun.  Another couple days of not to many miles and just simply recovering.  I don't have any soreness in my legs from the race and really am preparing myself mentally to get ready for more miles and training over the winter.

I ran with Nick Froerer this afternoon up along the east bench by Mt. Ogden.  It was a nice little trail run.  It was a little different scenery which was nice.  The legs felt fine and the company was great.  Another less mileage day tomorrow and possibly a 10 miler on Saturday.

I ran 4.5 miles with the cross country team this afternoon. I found out that I will most likely be coaching the long distance team for track. The coach is moving up too Idaho. I am pretty stoked about that. The run with the team wasn't to fast so I did an extra two miles at 5:45/mile pace. Overall pace for the run was 7:16/mile. It felt good today.

I had a long day due to a conference for work. It was a great conference and I learned a lot but the weather outside was perfect. I wished I was outside the whole day. I finally got home around 5 PM and the sun was basically all the way down. I didn't care and knew that I needed to get out and get some miles in. Katey decided to ride her bike alongside me. We went for a nice 10 miler up towards North Ogden. The first 5 miles weren't too fast but I pushed the pace on the way back and hit some low 6:00/miles. I ended up doing the run at 6:27/mile pace overall. The air was crisp and it felt good breathing in fresh air. I talked a lot with Katey today and decided to hit between 70-80 mile weeks for the next couple months. I will mainly try and get the miles in with a few tempo runs. I might do an occasional speed workout but am not going to stress too much about it. I plan on hitting 100+ mile weeks with more tempo runs and good speed workouts starting with the new year. I am really gearing towards running the Ogden Marathon in May. I think the next couple months are important. It looks like I will be running in the dark both in the morning and at night due to the time change. What a bummer!