SLC Winter Series 10K

Final stretch of the SLC Winter Series 10K. Yes, it was cold!

I've had a less-than-ideal three weeks since running pretty well at the PF Chang's Half Marathon. After that race, I took a bunch of low intensity days and then was ready to jump back into a 5 week marathon-specific cycle. I went to San Diego the weekend after the AZ race, and unfortunately developed a mild quad strain during a 10 mile marathon paced run. The quad strain was probably due to compensating for a tight achilles tendon (something that I deal with intermittently, and the discomfort got a little more intense around the time of that half marathon). 

So, I had to scrap a couple planned workouts and long runs - instead I did a week of very light jogging and got in the pool every night. By last Saturday I tested my recovery with an 8 mile tempo, then came back a few days later with a 26.2K "simulator" tempo (a little slower than MP due to also being sick during this whole timeframe). I was happy to get in a couple decent workouts.

Over this past weekend I ran a local 10K - not an all-out effort (32:26 for 2nd place: Race Recap), not fast by my standards at all, but another solid workout in the bank. My quad seems to be healed, my achilles is getting better, and my illness is slowly going away. I only feel like I firing at 80-85% right now, but I'm optimistic I am get that number back up in the 90s before the marathon on March 2nd.

Andrea is helping me rehab and get my body back in fighting form - I'd be struggling without her help right now. She also ran in the 10K over the weekend (just as an easy training run)... but the good news is that she cracked the 40 mile week mark for the first time in about 6 months. Progress!

Start of the 10K. I'm hiding on the left.

Our Vizipro uniforms are BRIGHT!

Post race w/ the guys

Top 3 guys - Riley, Me, Matt. Riley and Matt are both running awesome right now.