Dave's Addiction

Vain attempt to get full 4x1 on the TM. I got the first mile at 11.9 but it felt like the third mile, So I did 5x.4 at ever increasing speeds from 12.5 to 13.0, and at the end I did .3at 14.0

Can't remember where I went on Wednesday, typical

Run up to the Spanish Fork reservoir and back down

Standard pre-race strides (flat, treadmill,hill)

I went in to this race with the attitude that I was unwilling to kill myself for the second time in two weeks to get a PR. I just wanted to see how good a time I could get while running at the limit of easy. Curtis was there so I figured it was an even chance to win, since he was only six days out from Mexico City. We started out briskly as usual and a few people kept up with us, but they dropped off after about a half mile and even curtis started losing a few feet. By mile 1 the footsteps were getting fainter and I had to concentrate constantly to keep from running at the limit. Even with holding back I ended up with a 5:02 which was kind of surprising. I dropped back even a little more but the hill got steeper so I ended up with 5:04, 5:04 and 5:01 for miles 2 3 and 4.

By this time I was actually enjoying the run, having settled into a perfect pace just short of lactic land. I decided to let that continue just  to see how things would go. The hill gets gradually less steep and my times reflected it - 5:11, 5:26, 5:20, 5:35, 5:27. I started to look back and couldn't see anybody. Not even on the long straightaways. I was starting to push a little further into the lactic to maintain the pace though because it looked like I might actually win if nobody caught me on the flat.

Mile 10 was 5:45, and now things got a little nastier with small rollers. I also stopped a moment to get a proper drink of powerade. I still couldn't see Curtis but the cheering indicated he was a little over a minute back and I was in his house now so I knew I needed to hurry. 11 was 6:01 even with the stop, so I was definitely into tempo land. 12 has the worst of the rollers and it was 5:53, and things were looking grim for 13 through the neighborhoods but I squeezed out a 6:07. I guess kicking back the whole time had made me a little lazy at the end. I stumbled around the track and across the finish line just after the 1:11 mark, Curtis was only 45 seconds back by then so I'm glad the race ended when it did :)

Easy gym route, I love holidays, no cars

Running around Spanish Fork with the last mile on the MMHS track, did an 800 and a 400 fast

And heeees back! I got to .55 in the 12.8 instead of the normal .72, but close enough.

Fun run around Spanish Frok

I didn't even know that part of Mapleton existed. Really fun trail run.

Run up and down the local canyon, ready for a day of tiling and excavation!

Running around Spanish Fork

Couldn't do another easy day so I did a kind of hard day, progressive run on the old progressive course

All right! I am back to where I was in July. 1 at 11.9, 1 at 12.2, 1 at 12.5, .73 at 12.8 + active recovery + .27 at 14.

Standard gym route

Solid uphill/downhill in the water tower canyon

Nice leisurely rin down South Fork to Orem Center street, than back to the canyon gas station. \A bit chilly on the hands.

Last easy 6 in Spanish Fork, kid is done with drivers ed

Speed day! Did a progressive from 9.2 to 12.1 over 30 minutes, but instead of 11.9, 12.0, 12.1 for the last three minutes I did 9.2, 12.0, 14.0.

Standard gym route

10 mile bike ride, really

Standard pre-race strides

This race was a chance to get out and race outside of utah for the first time ever, if you don't include Boston. I figured the altitude would give me an advantage, but I didn't count on the heat. It was 80 at the start as the sun peeked over the mountains! I was sweating before we even got underway. There would not be any skipping of aid stations today, I intended to stop at every single one and drink a full cup, even the one at mile 1.2. One other thing I noticed before the start - the volunteers were mostly missionaries! It was hilarious. Being Vegas and all I expected the sinners table at the aid station to contain whisky shots but it turned out that the joke was on the Saints part of the name. And it went all the way through the race too.

The gun went off and so did I. The first 5k+ was all downhill through a bike path/aqueduct system, and I meant to hold back but I got a 5:04 anyway. Sounds of pursuit vanished after 200 yards. It was a little challenging to figure out where to go, since the canal had lots of branches, but only one way was down so I kept going that way and it worked out. Miles 2 and 3 were 5:20 and 5:30 so I did manage to cool it a bit. With temps already in the 80s there was no way I was going to push it hard, and I took two cups at every station - one to drink, and one to pour. It seemed to work pretty well as I did not overheat until mile 11. Mile 4 had a small uphill in it - I got 6:07. Miles 5 and 6 were still a little downhill so good for 5:57 and 5:46. Then we hit the flat. And I mean dead flat, not even a single pixel up or down on the GPS track. It was an out and return on a dirt trail over Lake Mead, through some giant tunnels. These things were big, like 40 feet tall and 20 wide, and one was long enough that I couldn't see the trail in the middle of it because it got too dark. Both ways felt a little uphill, but the advantage was that on the turnaround I could see exactly how I was doing in the race. The second place guy was in range - about 1.5 minutes back. He had been running warmups for a bout an hour before the race though so I knew he was in beast mode and closing the gap. My only hope was the last 2.5 miles of gentle downhill.

Once I got back to the paved trail I tried to let the downhill monster out but it was over 90 by now and really hard to push. I was only able to get a 6:16 and a biker yelled that 2nd was sneaking up as he passed me on the road. I pushed even harder, but the downhill was really a long series of light rollers. I still managed to get a 6 flat for mile 12. He had closed to 15 seconds when we hit the last .3, a nice steep downhill to the finish. I dropped it to 4:17 and streaked through the arch. This race had two arches though - a devil arch and a angel arch. I wasn't sure which one to go through but I was going too fast at the end to make the slight turn to get to the devil one so I just took care of business. He had a great kick as well, but could not close the gap.

I won two boxes of cake mix and $100 to REI. Bet you can't guess what the cakes were :)

Gym recovery route

Run up and down Hobble Creek canyon

Gym route again