Quick results from Mountain to Fountain 15K

I'm back from a pretty awesome weekend in Arizona. I took 4th place in the Mountain to Fountain 15K, running 45:53 (big PR!). I'll post a full recap and more pictures (and maybe some video) on this blog in the next couple days. In the meantime, you can read my report at Fast Running Blog. 

While I was down in AZ, I also took advantage of the nice 80 degree days - going to a baseball game w/ my parents and then spending an afternoon kayaking with my Dad. More pics from these adventures to come later this week as well.

Also of note - here is Andrea's interview for the Hungry Runner Girl blog. Definitely worth a read!

Odds and Ends

Some random odds and ends...

Here's the elite athlete press release for the 15K race in Arizona (race results here)that I'm running this weekend. Its a stacked field. I'm excited to get after it on Sunday morning!

I did a Q&A for the Hungry Runner Girl where I talk about running, ice cream, and... well pretty much just running and ice cream. You can read the whole interview by clicking here.

Andrea is heading to Brazil soon (next Friday!) for about 3 weeks (work trip). She'll be in Rio de Janeiro, Juiz de Fora, and Sao Paulo... so expect some cool blogs from her travels. I'm currently trying to translate Portuguese websites and find places for her to (safely) run. :-)

We are already planning our summer - finding the balance between racing and vacations! It looks like we're going to head up to Portland in June to run in the Portland Track Festival. It will be a great chance to run a fast 5K/10K (and maybe mile) at sea level, and the timing couldn't be more perfect, as the meet falls a week before the USA 1/2 Marathon Championships in Duluth. June will be a busy month of traveling for races! For July we're trying to plan a pair of 4-5 day trips - we have so many places we want to go that its hard to decide.

And finally, I want to share this documentary since its flying under the radar, but Andrea and I both really enjoyed watching it - Man on a Mission. Its a 55 minute film about Brother Colm O'Connell and St. Patrick's High School in Kenya. If you are really into running, you'll LOVE this. If you are even moderately interested in other cultures, you'll find this absolutely captivating.

A relaxing weekend in fake Switzerland

Timp is the most impressive mountain in Utah (in our opinion)

After a quad-pounding Emigration Canyon long run on Saturday, Andrea and I headed up to Midway, UT for some relaxation and hot tubbing at the Zermatt Resort. Thank goodness for group coupon websites making these kinds of little stay-cations affordable.

Midway is a really cool little retro-European style town, and the Zermatt resort is like fake Switzerland. As someone who lived in the ultimate fake-Europe town for 2 years (Vail), it was like going home! :-)

We mainly just relaxed and like I said, spent as much time in the hot tub as possible. I need a hot tub at home.

After going for a nice loop run around the town on Sunday morning, we headed over the Soldier Hollow (home of the 2002 winter olympic XC skiing facilities) to do some snow tubing. A fun, low-key winter sports alternative when avalanche danger for skiing is through the roof (as it is today).

Next weekend I am heading to Arizona to race the Bandidos 15K, and Andrea is likely headed to Brazil soon for work, so it was nice to get some R&R close to home before we start jet-setting again.

Classy Diet Dew

Napping at every opportunity

I need one of these at home

Hot tub / snow angel challenge

The indoor hot tub

Zermatt Resort

Brunch? Sure why not!

Mt Timp, viewed from Midway on the road to Soldier Hollow

We had a picnic on the astroturf fields in Park City and talked about how we need to convince
some rich people to let us spend the summer at their house in Park City

Taking it indoors

This has not been the most challenging winter for outdoor running, as I've mentioned several times. I've been using outdoor tracks throughout January and February, which is sort of crazy if you think about it. We live in north-central Utah for crying out loud!

However, March roared in like a lion, covering everything with snow and ice last night, and my workout today called for 6 x 1 mile @ 10K pace. Normally I am flexible with moving workouts around depending on weather conditions, but I really needed to get this one done today - I have a big race next weekend and this was a important workout that I didn't want to move to next week.

So I bit the bullet and broke my "no running indoors in the past 10 years" streak and went to the Olympic Oval at 5:30 this morning. I essentially refuse to run on treadmills or tiny indoor tracks, but we are fortunate to have an oversized (442m) indoor track near Salt Lake City. It has a mondo surface and is built around the perimeter of where they did the speed skating at the 2002 Olympics. Pretty cool to have a huge indoor track at 4,700 feet of altitude. It would be an awesome track to run some fast times, but I'm guessing they don't have big meets here simply because the altitude would make running fast 3K/5K times more difficult.

I got my workout in (details on my training log), then battled rush hour traffic on my way to work. I think today was also the first time I've driven on the interstate during the morning commute since moving to Utah - that was definitely more mentally taxing than mile repeats!

Normally I wouldn't devote a blog entry to a single workout, but I thought it was worth showing some pictures of the Olympic Oval facility - its a really awesome place, and good alternative to battling harsh outdoor conditions. Now, since my no-indoor exercise streak is broken, I'll probably take advantage of running at the oval more often. Better to get quality miles indoors than plod around on ice and snow.

Bird's Eye view of the oval and surrounding facilities

SLC Winter Series 15K

Off the start at the SLC Winter Series 15K

The final installment of the SLC Track Club Winter Series was held this past Saturday. Back in January I won the 5K in 15:20, then missed the 10K when Andrea and I were vacationing in Arizona. As I posted earlier in the week, training for Boston has been going really well, and I expected to throw down a pretty good time in the 15K - as I definitely get better as the races get longer!

Despite very windy conditions, I won in a course record time of 48:04. 

Here is a portion of my race report from Fast Running Blog (you can click here to read the whole thing), and then some more thoughts and the photographs that Andrea took...

Originally my plan for this race was to hit 10K in ~32 minutes, and then try to hammer the last 5K. But when my jeep was getting tossed all over I-80 on the drive over this morning, I realized that negative split plan wasn't going to happen. The wind (according to NOAA's station at the airport) was consistently 20-30mph from the NW with gusts around 40mph. And that means major headwind on the second half of the course. So I changed my strategy to "go out quicker and hang on."

My garmin decided to erase all the data when I plugged it into my computer, but I can piece together most of the splits. I ran the first 7.5K in ~23:32. All of the splits were either 5:02 or 5:03 for the first 5 miles. Pretty consistent. After the 180 degree turnaround we hit the hurricane, and the pace slowed down. I ended up running the second half of the race in 24:32, so I was bleeding 10-15 seconds per mile with the headwind. The splits were something like 5:18, 5:25 (totally lost focus!), 5:11, 5:14. I was very content to just average marathon pace on the way back. Finished in 48:04 (Average pace = 5:09/mile). 

As far as I can tell from looking at old results, the course record was 48:37, so I came in 33 seconds under that time, in less than ideal conditions. Last year at this race I ran 50:29 and was thrilled with that time... its cool how the spectrum of what I think is "fast" has shifted so much in the past year. 

A good effort this morning - I'm happy with how it felt, and putting it into context of the accumulated workouts and volume of training, its another indicator that everything is moving in the right direction.

The 15K in Arizona on March 11th is going to be a great test for me. Considering the competition I'll be facing there, I'm thinking I can run 2+ minutes faster than today.

According to the McMillan calculator, my time from the 5K (which was run in pretty much perfect conditions) would suggest I should run ~49:20 for 15K on that course (at our altitude). Obviously I'm a "bit" more geared towards the marathon at this point - as I came in well under that time on a solo effort (unfortunately my buddy Fritz wasn't having his best day, as we separated within the first half-mile of the race) and in windy conditions. The tailwind on the way out is nice, but the headwind on the way back definitely takes more away. Its like running all uphill for 7.5 kilometers! Considering the 3 workouts I did early in the week, and that I only cut back to 120 miles this week, this race was a nice confidence booster for me - it tells me that I am being smart about my training, and I'm absorbing the workload.

Next up is the Bandidos 15K (Fountain Hills, AZ) on March 11th. I'll be up against an incredible field of runners there. That will be my big test to see where I'm really at heading into the last cycle of training before Boston.

I'll also mention that I haven't restricted Andrea's access to the blog! :-) She is still working hard on bouncing back from a couple of annoying injuries - her commitment to PT and x-training is pretty inspiring to me (I don't think I could handle it mentally). We actually ran about 30 miles together last week, which was probably the most since Christmas - so that was pretty nice.

Fritz and I at the start. Walter (in red) finished 3rd overall and was the 1st master.

Finishing it up

Windy day!

A lot of "no-shows" due to the weather!

Saucony Mirage shoe review

I can usually tell whether I like a pair of shoes right out of the box on the first run - with the Saucony Mirage, my initial impressions have held up to be true after 500+ miles in my first pair. This is an excellent everyday training shoe!

I rotate through several pairs of shoes on a day to day basis. While the Kinvaras are great for easier recovery runs, I usually want something with a tiny bit more "substance" on long runs, fartleks, etc. Last year I did a lot of running in the Saucony Tangents. When that model was discontinued, I needed something to fill the void. When I first wore the Mirages, it became obvious to me why Saucony didn't need the Tangent in their lineup anymore, because the Mirage is a perfect (and much improved, in my opinion) replacement for the Tangent.

Saucony places the Mirage in their minimalism category. I agree with that - it is a very light and responsive shoe without any extra / unnecessary frills. There is a very subtle medial stability post, and it is a bit more cushioned than the Kinvara. As a neutral runner, I love the fit and feel while wearing the Mirage. In fact, it has become my favorite day-to-day trainer... and occasionally (when I'm not wearing my Fastwitches) it has served me well on tempo runs.

I think the Mirage is a great choice for someone looking to step down to a lighter shoe that encourages good running form, but still wants some lightweight stability and cushioning. The heel to toe drop is 4mm (like the Kinvara), although it has a more substantial, "grippier", (and probably more durable) outsole. The heel counter also offers a bit more stability than something like the Kinvara.

I have multiple pairs still in their boxes in my closet, if that tells you anything about how much I like this shoe.

And like the Kinvara, Saucony is making the Mirage is a plethora of cool color schemes. Check 'em out.

8 weeks until Boston

On the track in Sedona - February 2012

This winter has been all about running - the exact opposite of last winter (where we were still running a ton, but our lives revolved around skiing all day on the weekends). I'm now 8 weeks out from the Boston Marathon, and the excitement is really starting to build.

Here's a quick rundown of my training since Philadelphia. For the first 7 weeks, I primarily ran easy, built my mileage up, and threw in some occasional faster efforts starting around the holidays - just to give my legs a chance to "go" once in a while. Around that point (early January) I realized two things: 1) My body was fully recovered from the fall marathon season and ready to get back after it, and 2) In terms of skiing, this winter was going to be a bust! So I ended up deciding to run Boston.

For the next 3 weeks I lived in the 140 mile/week world (where I have gotten very comfortable), started mixing in some lighter workouts, then raced a 5K which told me I was on the right track. The last 3 weeks have been another 140+/wk cycle, topping out at 150 miles, and my workouts have gone really well. The majority of my hard days have consisted of tempo runs in the 5:10-5:20 pace range, long runs up to 25 miles and almost always with a fast finish, and then some shorter reps on the track (or roads) to keep the turnover. I've also started incorporating days where I do a tempo run in the morning, then shorter track reps at 3K/5K pace in the afternoons. With my ability to recover quickly between runs, this has allowed me to get in an extra track session each week without sacrificing a recovery day. The "winter" weather in Utah has been quite mild to this point, and it hasn't been hard to do quality workouts on the roads and even on the track.

Now I'll drop the volume a bit and start working in even more marathon-paced (and faster) miles. I'll race 3 times in the next 6 weeks: The SLC Track Club 15K on Feb 25th, the Southwest Spine and Sports Mountain to Fountain 15K in Arizona on March 11th (this will be a major test as I'll be racing against a bunch of elites who train in Flagstaff), and then a 5000m on the track against the college kids on March 30th (Utah Valley University Invitational).

In between these races I'll be doing a handful of marathon-simulation workouts, on routes that simulate the Boston course as much as possible.

Since I'm not shooting for the specific OTQ standard this time around, I have more of a goal "range" than time in mind. First and foremost, I want to break my PR of 2:21:46. But unless weather conditions are abysmal I think I can go a lot faster, as I'm already in much better shape than that. Sub 2:20 would be great, sub 2:19 would be even better. I think after the 15K in Arizona in 3 weeks, I'll have a much better idea of what I should be aiming towards. For now, I'll just keep cranking out the miles, tempos, and all that fun stuff - and keep the faith that I can put it all together on April 16th.

13 weeks of training since the Philadelphia Marathon on 11/20/2011

"Winter" in Sedona

Sedona, AZ

We've spent the past couple days in Sedona, Arizona with my parents... a little winter getaway. Running, hiking, biking, etc. Lots of fun! Rather than bore you with text, here's a bunch of pictures...

Walking to the trailhead from our place in West Sedona

Red Rock Country

The high desert in the winter... can't beat it!

This is apparently how they build cairns here - with chicken wire! I've never seen that before.

This place is a runner's dream world

Andrea lounging

Bike cruising

I took advantage of the weather and hit the brand new Sedona HS track for some intervals. Andrea shot some photos...

Quite a backdrop!

My parents and Jesse James came over to watch - just like the old high school days

HEAVEN in a box!!!

Slide Rock Park

Andrea and Jesse James sleeping on the way to Phoenix