It's just that simple

Borah campus - 47:57

Another long day today, with a cross country meet this afternoon. I ate dinner and watched the BSU game so it was 10 p.m. before I got out. Just kept the pace at a jog and tried to get a few miles in. Last 5 minutes with Leo.

Nike Triax - 290.5 Nike Zoom - 277.5 Brooks -185.5

Run to Gold's + treadmill - 41:05

Decent run. Ran pretty easy because I was feeling some effects of serious allergies and/or a cold. Watched part of the VP debate while at the gym before I got bored of hearing the same answers regardless of the questions.

Nike Triax - 296 Nike Zoom - 277.5 Brooks -185.5

1.5 mile wo, 3 mile tempo, 1.5 mile wd

Unmotivated today and still feeling pretty tired. Convinced myself to do something kind of more up-tempo. Did a 3 mile tempo on the BK track in 6:00, 6:08 and 5:49 for 17:57. Didn't feel smooth or fast at all, but the consolation is that I at least got out and did something quality.

Nike Triax - 296 Nike Zoom - 283.5 Brooks -185.5

A.M. - Easy weights, core and stretching - 15 minutes at Gold's. Walked Leo while Emily was working out.

P.M. - Treadmill - 54:05

Stayed inside when the thunder and lightning storm was hitting. Ran really easy, except for 10-12 x 30 second pickups during the last half of the run to stretch the legs out. I don't know if I've ever gotten more sweaty than I did on this run. Disgusting.

Nike Triax - 303 Nike Zoom - 283.5 Brooks -185.5

A.M. - Polecat Gulch - 53:24

Ran easy with Mat. This is a great trail and the rain had made it nice and packed but not muddy. It was a great morning and the views were really nice.

P.M. - Neighborhoods - 26:40

Easy shakeout run at 7:35-7:40 pace. Went out at 9 p.m. because my legs were a little stiff and I thought it might help out. I felt better after the run.

Weights, core and stretching - 30 minutes. Good session at Gold's.

Nike Triax - 313 Nike Zoom - 283.5 Brooks -185.5

Cassia Park - NT

Ran to the park and back and did 2 laps of Indian running. On the run home, we ran the last 1/4 mile hard back to the school. Nice little workout for the team during the last week of the season.

Nike Triax - 316 Nike Zoom - 283.5 Brooks -185.5

PMI: XC Practice

We did a short warmup, some stretching, drills & strides, and then a timed mile. Our top guy and I did 5:36. I told everybody to keep it at 90% effort. Within a minute or two, everyone was recovered. Some people who started the year at 10 or 11 minutes for the timed mile are down to 7 or 8 minutes. Amazing how much progress you can make in a few weeks when your baseline is zero. It's been fun though.

PMII: Treadmill - 27:56

Ran a couple of extra miles at Gold's this evening. The achilles was sore and it was a boring run, but better than nothing.

A.M. - 15 minutes of easy weights, core and stretching

P.M. - Canals + neighborhoods - 45:55

Got out late tonight (9:15 p.m.) and it was chilly. Wore tights, long sleeves and a headband. Easy 13 minutes with Leo, then did 8 x 1:00 pickups with about 2:00 jogs between. Started at 5:40 pace and dropped to about 5:10 on the last few, for an average of 5:22. Felt pretty good.

Nike Triax - 322 Nike Zoom - 289.5 Brooks -185.5

Canal banks + Rosehill cemetery - 1:05

Didn't feel great today. Had a long day and was in the cold for a few hours at the city cross country meet. Nevertheless, I coaxed myself out for a longer, moderate paced run. Didn't feel particularily good on the run and the achilles was sore, but I got through it.

Greenbelt - 43:14

Steady pace with Jeremy Wallace. Basically did 2 laps of tomorrow's race course to figure out where it goes. I guess tomorrow's race is a small deal, but it's for a good cause and the organizers were kind of desperate to get runners, so I'll give it a shot. The windy, rainy conditions turned into a full blown snowstorm by the end of the run. Where did fall go?

Nike Triax - 322 Nike Zoom - 289.5 Brooks -200.5

Garden City Community Fun Run - 17:17 - 2nd place

Ran in a low key fun run this morning to benefit the Boys & Girls Club. We heard from one of the race organizers that not many people had signed up so we thought it would be nice to help them out. In the end, there was a better turnout than they expected, so they were happy.

It was a cold, but beautiful morning. Since my last race in May (Newport Marathon) I've averaged under 30 mpw and haven't hit many workouts. But my injury is coming around so the last few weeks have been getting better and better. Needless to say, I wasn't sure what I could do today. The plan was to be conservative and not blow up.

The pace felt kind of fast initially, but the first mile was only 5:38. The eventual race winner had led from the gun and already had a good 8-10 seconds on me. The second mile was 5:39 and I didn't feel like I was pressing enough, so I tried to pick it up a little the last mile. I ended up with a 5:28 third mile and a decent kick for about a 17:17 (don't know officially - could be faster. I forgot to stop my watch right at the line, I think). The winner was probably around 16:50ish.

All in all, I'll give myself a B+ for the day. My body held up well and I ran good splits, but I didn't race. That's ok for the first one out, though. I have 5ks the next two weeks that are a lot bigger and I'm looking forward to those. If I can get through the next few weeks without getting injured, I'll try to make a push for a January or February marathon.

40 minute cooldown to get some miles for the day.

Nike Triax - 322 Nike Zoom - 289.5 Brooks -207.5

Greenbelt - 1:31

Got started a little later than I wanted to this evening, so the last 3 miles were in the dark. Really great evening - the leaves were changing, it was nice and brisk and I even saw 2 giant great horned owls roosting in some cottonwood trees at about mile 9. The last couple of miles were tough as my body started getting fatigued and my achilles starting hurting. I did stop a few times to stretch and that helped a bit. Started at the DoubleTree and headed downstream. I managed to get about 20-25 minutes on the dirt section heading toward Eagle, which was nice.

Borah track - 33:02

Didn't get out until 10 p.m. - need to stop running so late. I did an easy, easy 4 mile jog with Leo to stretch out my sore calves. I did 4 x 100 easy strides at the track, but the rest was just mileage at 8-8:20 pace.

Nike Triax - 326 Nike Zoom - 289.5 Brooks -219.5

A.M. - 15 minutes of easy weights and core

P.M. -1.5 mile wo; 3 x (:30, :30, 2:00); 2.5 mile wd

Brought some of my 9th graders to Cassia Park to work out with Borah's team. We did a whistle workout with pace changes. It was tough, and kind of fun to see some of my former junior high runners putting the hurt on me. They have come a long way.  My 9th graders stepped up and ran hard, which was cool. Did a bit of fartlek on the cooldown when I remembered halfway home I'd left my keys at the park!

Borah xc practice - 23:25

Moderate pace with my 9th graders and some of Borah's kids. We ran on the canals and in the neighborhoods. Also did drills and 6 x 50m strides. Felt sore from yesterday and tired from lack of sleep.

Ann Morrison Park - 1:15

Ran at a varied pace while watching the high school city meet. Most of it pretty slow, although I did run some quicker stuff to get from point to point and cheer them on. Great fall afternoon again. It's been a nice week of weather.

Ann Morrison Loop+ - 44:43

Ran the loop easy (28 min) with Conrad and Aja after school on another beautiful, 70-75 degree day. When I finished, I ran back down to the greenbelt and did 8 x 1:00 hard/1:00 easy on the way down. Hard effort on the fartlek portion (made harder by dehydration).

Nike Triax - 326 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -235

Hulls Gulch to Crane Creek - 1:27

Great trail run on a awesome afternoon. Went up Hulls to the junction, and headed left to Bob's trail. Gained about 1,100' in the 4 miles up to 8th Street. Then went down Crane Creek and behind the golf course to Bogus Basin Rd. Started adding some time on the Harrison Hollow trails but I was getting too fatigued and sore so I called it a day.

 P.M. - 25 minutes of weights and core at Gold's.

Nike Triax - 326 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -246

Canal banks + Borah track - 35:02

My body was sore today from the trail run and weights yesterday, so I took the first part of the run easy. At the track, I did 2 miles with 8 x 100 strides on the home straights. This seemed to loosen my legs up a bit and I felt ok on the 10 minutes home.

Hiked 1:15 at Polecat Gulch with Jon and Emily.

Nike Triax - 326 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -251

Treadmill - 31:20

Really slow pace just to get in a few miles. Poor night of sleep, long day of work and I just felt kind of spent.

Earlier walked a couple of miles on the greenbelt with Emily. Should've brought the camera; the fall colors were spectacular.

Nike Triax - 326 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -255

Emily's Loop - NT

Easy jog/shuffle with Leo at 10 p.m. Very busy day. Leave for Cincy tomorrow a.m.

Nike Triax - 327.5 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -255

Stair running at hotel - 20+

Flew into Cincinnati. Had 2-3 hours before a group dinner/meeting. Delays in airport, long wait to check in turned into 25 minutes until dinner. So I ran 20 minutes up and down the stairs at the hotel (24 flights). I will say it made me sweaty, dizzy and my quads kind of trembly. Then after I busted down to the lobby, we sat and waited for 30 minutes before heading out to a long, slow dinner. I know, I should have run at 5 a.m......but I didn't.

Nike Triax - 327.5 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -257

Cincinnati waterfront - 28:35

At 8 a.m. from the hotel. Went past the Bengals and Reds stadiums on a nice running path along the Ohio River. Did 6 x 30 second pickups on the way back. Achilles sore - probably from the flight and stair climbing yesterday.

Run Like Hell - 17:30 - 12th place

This was a big, fun race with over 2,100 runners - many of them in costume. There were some pretty outrageous ones that would make it hard to compelete a 5k in, and then there were people like me (1970's running theme) who tried to dress up a little but still try to run reasonably fast. I think only one costumed runner (a dude wearing a wig) finished ahead of me. The Juno theme was well represented this year I noticed.

There was a mass start (tricky in the dark) and I spent the first half mile passing lots of people, including several Ninja Turtles carrying pizza boxes. Also had to dodge some traffic the cops didn't block off going down the first hill. Hit the mile in about 5:25, feeling really good. Turned into the cemetery and it got really dark. There were torches and flashlights on the course, but I was pretty tentative through here - lots of hills and turns. Hit 2 miles in 11:20 and was back on the roads shortly after that. Passed a few more people but then got way too comfortable and got passed near the end. Like my last 5k, I did not compete well at all. Finished feeling way too good and fully recovered in about 3 minutes. One plus was the polyester get up didn't chafe me at all!

Fun party after the race, but I had to get back to downtown Cincinnati through the ghtetto so I decided to start the 3-4 mile cooldown before it got too late at night. Hey, I'm from Idaho and get scared easily.

Later went out with some of the group and had a 4 a.m. night. Rough times Saturday morning.

No run. Walked around Cincinnati for a few hours. Achilles feeling way better than I thought it would. Flew home in P.M.

Canal banks + neighborhoods - 28:57

Ran right at twilight. Started out kind of easy, but felt better as the run went on. Hit the 3rd mile in 6:42, which felt nice and smooth.

Earlier walked 2 miles with Emily and Leo

20 minutes weights & core

Castle Rock + Military Reserve - 1:21

Started on the greenbelt and headed up the Castle Rock trail. Took the neighborhoods down to the reserve and did a few miles on the trails there. Great afternoon outside - beautiful fall colors and mid 60s. I could handle this weather all year. Would have liked to have gone farther but the achilles started acting up and I was also dehydrated and hungry. Need to fuel up a little better before longer runs.

Nike Triax - 327.5 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -281.5

3.5 mile wo, 4 x 1mile LT, 4.5 mile wd

Did this workout on the greenbelt. Started at Ann Morrison and went upstream toward Barber Park (had to detour becuase of construction a few times). Really fatigued and underfueled again today, but gutted it out. Miles were 5:51, 55, 59, 6:02 with about 3 minute recoveries. Warm down miles were slow and painful.

Missed last 2 days of running. Feeling really fatigued in the morning like I don't want to get out of bed, and then had 2 nights of classes in a row. Still should have run 30 minutes or something each night. Oh well.

Nike Triax - 327.5 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -294.5

Treadmill - 30:02

Fatigue continued today. Fell asleep after work and didn't feel like doing anything, but managed a short run on the treadmill at an easy pace.

Weights, core & stretching - 20 minutes

Nike Triax - 331.5 Nike Zoom - 300 Brooks -294.5