A Lean and Hungry Look

Had an early breakfast to bid farewell to my sister and her husband, who are headed to UCLA for law school, so I brought my gear and ran in the VFFs on the grassy field by Extra Space.  With the rain and humidity, the temperature was downright pleasant for a midday run.  The scenery was a little boring, as it always is when one runs laps, but it felt good to put in some time in the VFFs.  All systems seemed to be in order.

10x1/4-mile intervals at Sugarhouse Park with 90 seconds active recovery between each.  Warmup (around 2 miles) didn't feel particularly good, as my back pain seems to have returned (same spot--just left of my tailbone along the top of my pelvis) and was causing a "hitch in my giddyup."  It started feeling a little better near the end of the warmup.  Splits were as follows:

1: 79 (5:17/mi) (AHR 156/MHR 167)

2: 79 (5:16/mi) (166/178)

3: 72 (4:49/mi) (170/177)

4: 77 (5:09/mi) (177/184) (this was up the hill on the northeast corner near the rose garden)

5: 77 (5:09/mi) (168/175)

6: 79 (5:15/mi) (178/182) (finished up the hill on the southwest corner)

7: 77 (5:10/mi) (173/181)

8: 74 (4:55/mi) (172/178)

9: 82 (5:28/mi) (175/185) (finished up the hill on the southwest corner)

10: 73 (4:53/mi) (175/181)

1-mile cooldown.  Solid workout--some of the best 1/4-mile splits I've seen in a long time.

Things are crazy at work, so I had to get up on time (5:00) this morning to sneak in my run.  It was dark enough that I wore my headlamp.  Still feeling some back pain.  Brooke got a card from a woman in her Crossfit class who is a massage therapist.  I may give her a call and see if she can help me resolve the problem.  It probably wouldn't hurt me to see her a few times before SG anyway.

Another early morning at work, so I had to skip my run. I brought my gear to run home from Extra Space, but I felt so wiped out that I couldn't stomach the thought of run 9.5 miles in the heat and humidity and 5:00 traffic.

12 easy miles with Maja in tow for the first 8.  After dropping her off, the pace picked up to a normal easy pace (around 7:20).  I'm shooting for 20 tomorrow to make up for missing yesterday's workout, so I consciously slowed myself down today.

Wanting to get some miles in but tired of fighting the cyclists in Emigration, I drove down to Liberty Park and ran south along 500 East to Vine Street, then wound around to 900 East, back to 725 East and out to Fort Union and back.  Very easy pace on the way out.  I picked it up on the way back, but still kept the effort pretty easy (running 6:30s).  I was pretty tired during the last couple of miles, but otherwise felt good throughout.  I took 6 Shot Bloks (3 over about 3 miles beginning at 8, then 3 more over 3 miles beginning at 14).  I just wish I could figure out a way to make them work when I'm at MP.  I choked once or twice when I was chewing them around Mile 15, even though I tried to eat them very slowly.  Still looking for my energy source for the race.