Dave's Addiction

So this is where all the fast people hang out :) I'll try my first race report.

I rolled out of bed at 5AM, downed the Gatorade and Chia seed, and blazed to the center of town to grab my packet at 5:10. Luckily this year was a lot warmer so taking an early bus wasn't an exercise in shivering. I use Chia to avoid having to eat or drink during the race, especially after stopping at an aid station in last year's Nebo Half let Dan Varga get an unbreakable lead on me.

The race started right on time, but I don't remember the first three seconds because all of a sudden there was nobody in front of me. The Garmin said I hit 16 MPH right away, but it felt OK and I slowed down a bit to be sure. I kept expecting the royalty to catch up but they were maintaining a short distance back and before I knew it we were passing Mile 1 at 4:53. My Garmin didn't beep until 5:00 though so I don't get to claim a new PB mile. I got passed by almost everyone that was going to pass me in the next two or three miles, most of them as we passed that first mile marker. After that it was a battle to keep speed low enough to not feel any lactic burn, at least until that last hill at mile 10 and maybe a little at the popup after mile 6. I kept a 2 and 2 breathing pattern until then, and once I got into the houses I went to max. I was getting pretty far into the house of pain but still managed to keep it under 6:10 pace for the last 5k, way below my normal 10 hard pace so a great personal run. I got passed by Toni in the last mile, gave him a fist bump since that's all I could do. Nice job Toni! And to you up and coming Masters race gods who passed me (Scott, Toni), I'll be ready for you in 2 years when you get there :)

My old PR on that course was 1:16:10 and I was hoping to break 1:15 so now I feel like Superman. The Nebo half can't come soon enough. And then my first marathon in St George.

New threshold record, 5:49 on the Springville course

Run up and back the water tower canyon. Legs not so great today, medium effort

Treadmill negative ramp 30 minutes, 8.9 to 11.7 with a 13.2 kicker

Hope to Hobble, trying to keep up with Scott. He's Fast. No soreness today though! A solid 20 with strides next week should cap off the St George preps

Could only do the 11.7 and 12.0 and most of the 12.3 MPH miles, had to switch to quarters on the treadmill. Only got .3 at 14.0. Felt a little weak from Saturday still, but not too bad

Tried to get recovery run, could not go slower than 7:10, was still super easy, made a 4:10 pace last quarter

Long Fartlek to get ready for 5k Monday

Nice run around Mapleton, not too much wind

OK, really 11.5 miles of biking, but who's counting :)

In honor of the BYU victory, ran to the stadium, touched the field, ran back

5k, Nephew on track team successfully stomped

12 mile bike, actually

Moderate 5:55 tempo, should polish me nicely for the Nebo half

Easy run to finish up for Nebo

Biking and running with daughter in her XC race

The most psycho race of the year, as usual. Couldn't find Tony, he was too hurt to run the race but ran up the canyon instead so it was looking like I could win it all. I started out with a goal to hammer the course, and I wanted to PR my mile time in the first mile of the half just to be funny. So I went right to 2 in 2 out max, and managed to tie it at 4:55. I kept hearing footsteps behind me though so I knew I had to focus hard and run the dude into the wall. I finally lost him around mile 3 and I figured as long as I kept up the ludicrous pace I could make it to the end. But Walter blew by me like nothing at mile 4, and I knew it would nuke my quads if I tried to match his speed. That was the last sub 5 mile for me - he got about 400 yards ahead and settled in. I gradually closed the distance for the rest of the race, but did not have the juice to seal the deal in the brutal mile 11 rolling hills. He ended up beating me by about 250 yards, and I beat the next guy by about 1.2 miles. Stupid fast 5K and 10K splits as usual at 15:30 and 31:19 and a 2 minute improvement from last year!

Calves are decently sore, will probably take Monday off  but no more breaks until SG.

12 mile bike, actually

First run since Nebo. all muscles healed except calves, very painful so I took it super easy (7:45). Going to try 10 hard tomorrow

Was going to try 10 hard, but muscles still hurting from Nebo

Negative ramp treadmill, still can't do last two minutes thanks to Nebo

Recovery complete! Now an easy 20 to polish off the SG runs

Still feeling the 20 in my hammies, want total recovery on all workouts now

95% recovery

Negative ramp on treadmill, almost full recovery on the high end

New record on 10 hard, 6:13 pace

Nice and easy, tomorrow is ultimate Fartlek

Spent all day chasing antelope, kept up mostly, made them tired. but not tired enough for Brad to kill

Treadmill 4x1, only got .8 on the 12.7 mile

Practice maintaining marathon pace over greatly changing gradients

Nice break before tomorrow's 8 hard

8 hard at 6:11

13 bike, really

Hobble creek downhill practice, looks like 5:45 is the pace!

Hard not to do the last mile, but I did 13.2 MPH for the last 2/10 of the third mile instead. Energy building quickly

Practice perfect MP, looks like 6:20

Negative Ramp, next run is from the convention center to the hotel on Friday!

8 bike, really

From convention center to Hotel

First marathon ever, next time I am bringing compression socks so my calves don't lock up for the last 5 miles. I should have been at 2:35. 

Mile 1,2 - I worked my way up to the elite corral and saw a lot of people - Walter, Brandon, Dan, Toni - it was totally cool. The race went off and everybody was moving super slowly. Somehow about 100 people had managed to work their way in front while I was distracted, but it was good because I needed a warmup. I slowly worked my way up to the fast guys that I thought were running my goal time of 2:38 and locked it in. The tailwind made it super easy, with miles 1 and 2 at  5:48 and 6:00, even with that dinky hill in 2.

 3,4,5,6,7 - 5:38 to 5:27. I found to my horror that the guys I was running with were targeting the high 2:20s, and even worse, I kept blowing by them on the steeper downhills while they caught up on the flatter bits. Nothing I could do, I was already at my slowest speed. Nearly not breathing (OK, 3 and 3 on the hard parts)

 I took the Veyo hill like a snail inching up a mango tree, in the mid 7s, but still ended up with 6:37 for mile 8. The rest of the hill up to 12 was 6:30 to 6:09 thanks to the tailwind. All I wanted to do was get to the top of the hill feeling fresh and I did it. Now it was time to fly.

 But I was not completely fresh, because I could not get below 5:48 on 13-18. I didn't get over 6 either, so I was OK with it. My salt capsule blew up at mile 15 but I still got most of it with a quick stop at the aid station.

Trouble started at mile 19. It seemed a little harder to get up the hill, so I slowed down so I could fly down the last part of the course and got a 6:29.

But not slow enough. Mile 20 sped back up to 5:59, but my calf started to twinge every time I went up hill even slightly. Finally in the middle of mile 21 I had to stop and massage it, but it didn't help. Only 10 second walk breaks at the aid stations gave me a respite, and it got worse quickly. I still managed a 6:18 for 21, but after that I got slammed into the 6:33-7:17 bracket and lost my shot at sub 2:40.

But all was not lost, my favorite thing happened at the end. Trent Jensen passed me in the last 200 meters and it was sprint time! I was fully locked up calfwise and moving 15 MPH anyway, but not quite fast enough to get him back. But at least I made him puke :[] I also had the odd coincidence of matching my bib number with my place.

If 6:36 is easy, and it was

3x1 on the treadmill, then .4 @13.4 to 14.0 to get ready for the 5K this weekend.

 Fully recovered from SGM, can't believe it. I had so much energy left over I only needed 1.5 hours of sleep Sunday night.

Worst 10 hard ever, must not be recovered yet

Bad attitude. Bagging it.

Only one of the top ten from last year had signed up, so I had hopes of winning this as I drove up. Then I saw Miles Batty and about 30 track team guys and hopefuls. Now my goal was to keep the lead pack in sight. At least until the south campus road. I started off smartly, ready to burn my excitement on the uphill and cruise the downhill, then take my punishment on the flat. Things went according to plan and the pack didn't get much ahead of me until the flat. My first two miles were 5:35 and 5:27, just where I was hoping to see them, but my third (slightly uphill) mile was 6:06. The last eighth was a shocking 4:47 and it's a good thing because I didn't realize there were two people within 4 seconds of passing me at the end. I still can't figure out how I can lay down a 16:36 5K in the middle of a marathon but can't break 17:30 on a flat 5K course. Oh well, distance normalized PR of 17:38 for me.

Best 4X1 workout in weeks, got the 12.7 mile at the end

Running around randomly in the dark

Solid tempo run, 5:51 on the easy course

Y run, trail (1900 feet gain and loss)

3 negative ramp in treadmill, 5 bike

Trail run from the highway to the top of Nebo and back. 1 hour 27 to the top, brutal wind and intimidating terrain. Fun!

Up and back, Hobble Creek (7:07, super easy)

Foot hurting a tiny bit, will rest

7 bike, really

Best 4X1 workout ever, got to 13.0 for the last minute and 12.8 for the last half mile

Run up Rock Canyon

Zombie 5K with my kid, it was hilarious

Up and down Dry Canyon, practice run for Saturday

Slow and hard, 5:59 tempo

7 bike, really

12 bike, really

Cold morning, the whole running store was there along with Brandon and a new guy from Portland. About 45 overall runners. I brought my black knight knitted cap, the one that scares the children and makes the teenagers queasy. It kind of looks like a knitted Where the Wild Things Are cap at the same time. Very toasty. We started a little up the road from the Orem gun club, headed around to Dry Canyon, up the canyon, over to Trail 51, then into some fifth dimension bypass through Narnia, then across some frozen meadows, then backwards in time, then back to the BST, then to the gun club for the finish. Seriously this race was almost more trailcraft than race but it was pretty well marked so I am thinking that no more than two or three racers will take more than the 12 hours allotted.

 The run itself was way fun, mostly due to the course. I started off in front for the first mile as usual, breaking briefly into the threes as I passed Derek. Him, Caleb, and Portland dude were able to return the favor on the first decent climb though and were well ahead once we reached Dry Canyon. The murderous half mile allowed 3 more people including Brandon to pass. I really need to work on my hill climbing. Serious calf work is coming my way this winter. Once we reached the trail 51 cutoff at mile 2.5 I was able to stop the bleeding and maintain distance. A short 3/4 mile later we were at the top and starting to go down, and I passed all three of them immediately. Unfortunately I didn't know about the fifth dimension thing and another 200 feet of climb. I was passed again :). But I passed yet again on what HAD to be the final hill and really opened it up, limited only by the sharpness of the turns on the trail. I almost missed the turn by the rockpile, but the rest of the whoop-de-doos and twisties were no problem. Another climb almost let the crowd catch up but that was a short one and then it was truly downhill to the road, and again to the finish. Last mile was a 5:10 pace and even at that speed Brandon was closing the gap, almost slipped to fifth.

19 bike in HobbleCreek canyon, really

Slide Canyon

6X8 hill sprints, OMG

LA freeway with a kick at the end

Intervals treadmill, still not all the way back on number 4

Hill sprints

Maple canyon run

Treadmill negative ramp

Ran with the fast guys after 45 minutes with Bill and Calvin, they started off slow on the Murdock canal but by their mile 8 (my 14) they were getting to a 6 flat so I dropped back. Awesome run

Treadmill intervals

Y mountain run

Hill Sprints

Treadmill negative ramp

LA freeway, to Rock canyon. Couldn't quite catch Tony as usual :) Last 3 miles tempo plus, 5:45 or so

Treadmill intervals, almost all the way back now

9X10 hill sprints on treadmill, most effective

Rock Canyon run

Treadmill negative ramp

Very cold run up Provo Canyon, thanks to Walter and Jen for keeping me from the dreaded DNF (or DNS) (or even DNR)

Ran to church

I'm back! Full interval workout with a 13.2 kicker

Tried to go to gym do do hill sprints, couldn't get in, humbug, did them outside anyway

Treadmill negative ramp

2 hours of snow shoveling instead of easy run, call it 4

Treadmill hill workout

Run to gym, 3 on treadmill, run to work, run to gym, 3 on treadmill, run home. Freak it's cold.

Fastest intervals ever. Woohoo! 13.2 for the last minute.