Wednesday, July 25, 2012

July 22nd to July 28th

Sunday
Sierra, Rowan, and I went to the Bear Canyon Trailhead and I headed out on a nice run which the MSU team of 2001-2003 use to do pretty often. It is a nice loop heading up one side of the canyon and heading back on the other side after running to the Trail Creek Cabin. We did get a late start so it was definitely a little hot. Maybe 80 to 85 degrees by the time I finished. Afterward we went to Great Harvest for cinnamon rolls and then to Cafe M for coffee. It was a great time! (16.5/16.5)

Monday
Easy run in the morning with Dan of about 11.5 miles. (11.5/28)

Tuesday
Dan and I decided to do a little uptempo 20 minute run as a part of our run today. It was ok, not fast or hard, but just a little something different. (10/38)

Wednesday
Easy run of about 12 miles. (12/50)

Thursday
Easy run of about 13 miles. (13/63)

Friday
Easy run of about 12 miles. (12/75)

Saturday
Off

Thursday, July 19, 2012

July 15th to 21st

Weekly Summary
60 miles in 6 runs. Just enjoying getting out and running on a regular schedule again. This next week I will try to increase the mileage and have a little more structure.

Saturday
Ran up Sourdough aka Bozeman Creek Trail. I pushed Rowan for a while in the stroller and then turned him over to Sierra. The run was probably about 11 miles. (11/60)

Friday
Did not run (0/49)

Thursday
Easy run 12.5 miles (12.5/49)

Wednesday
Easy Run 13 miles (13/36.5)

Tuesday
Easy Run 7 miles (7/23.5)

Monday
Easy Run 6.5 miles (6.5/16.5)

Sunday
Easy Run 10 miles (10/10)

July 1st to 14th (two weeks)

After taking 7 days off I started to run again. Just easy runs, but I ran every day except one, I think. Dan Jackson and I have started meeting every weekday morning at 6am to run. It is fun running with Dan. It is pretty hard work though, because I am Dan's mentor and Dan needs a lot of guidance. Ha! J/K

June 24th to 30th

Tuesday - Saturday
Did not run. Actually did not run at all for 7 days. I ate a lot of junk food and I mean a lot. We left Eugene on Tuesday. I didn't watch one race or event while in Eugene. Sierra, Rowan, and I camped and took it easy while slowly making our way back to Bozeman on Saturday. It was great spending some time with the family on a road trip.

Monday
Steeple prelims at US Olympic Trials. It was raining during the warmup, but it pretty much stopped before the race. I ran 8:38 and did not make the final. I was in the second heat and saw the results of the first heat. I pretty much knew after the first heat that if I ran faster than 8:35 I would make the final because of the advancement rules. My heat went out pretty fast and I was in a good position through the first mile. I came through the first four laps at about 4:28 or so a little bit back from the lead pack of approximately 8. I tried to catch the back of the pack with 1200 to go and was making up some time, but with 800 to go I started to struggle. Just didn't have it. After the race I was as disappointed as I have ever been after a race. My first thought was I am never going to run any type of race again. Although I hadn't been training well, I had thought I could at least will myself to make the final. Obviously, even if I had made the final, my fitness wasn't where it needed to be in order to be competitive in the final. Regardless, to not even make the final was tough to handle. I wasn't visually upset, but inside I was totally distraught. As much fun as this season had been, I don't know if it was worth going through an ending like this. It felt so much worse than falling on the last barrier in 2008. Falling was a fluke, but this was just not getting it done and there was more of a sense of finality afterward than in 2008.

Sunday
We left Portland in the morning and drove to Eugene. We went to the football stadium and Sierra and I pickup up our credentials. I went for about a 35-40 minute run and then we went and checked into the motel excited for the big day tomorrow.

June 17th to 23rd

Saturday
Woke up early and started driving from Missoula. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene and ran for 30-35 minutes. Stopped again for another 30-35 minute run in Hood River in the afternoon. Rowan did great on the trip and those were our only two stops. We decided to spend the night in Portland. (8/53)

Friday
Easy Run of maybe 6 - 7 miles. Drove to Missoula in the evening after Sierra got off or work to start our long road trip to Eugene. (6/45)

Thursday
Mix workout of 2 * mile at tempo, 2 * 1200 at roughly 5K pace, & 4 times 200 at rep pace. The track was being used for a Junior Olympic Meet so I did this workout on the trail system with a GPS watch. It was ok, except I didn't run the 1200s quite at the pace. However, I was more concerned at making sure I wasn't pressing too hard at this point. (8/39)

Wednesday
Easy run of 9 to 11 miles. (9/31)

Tuesday
Decided to go with a race simulation today because the steeple at the American Milers Series went poorly after a break from racing. In order to hopefully stay sharp, I decided on two times 1600 over 5 hurdles at steeple height each lap and a 10 minute break between at sea level steeple pace. It didn't go well, which continued a trend of mostly poor workouts over the past 4 to 6 weeks. I ran the first mile in 4:34 and knew there was no way I could do another one. So, I switched the second mile to 2 * 800 instead. I ran these in 2:18 and 2:17 or something. This workout worried me, but I put it out of my mind as quickly as possible. I think I ran 4 miles in the afternoon. (11/22)

Monday
Easy run of somewhere between 10 and 12 miles. (11/11)

Sunday
Did not run. I only was able to get about 2 hours sleep after the late night at the track meet and the super early airplane/car rental drop off. Couldn't sleep on the plane and spent most of the day traveling.