4 is better than 2

Easy run up at Jeremy ranch, I felt pretty fluid tonight, but I have developed a little pain above my left calf.  I think it is either gastroc or popliteal, I will watch it carefully.  It actually started yesterday after the long run, but it hurts mainly while walking.  Other than that, I feel pretty good and am not beat up at all.  I am looking forward to a solid week of training with some good quality.

8 this morning up city creek, the left calf was not good.  It started ok, but by the top it was not a happy camper.  Running down was not as bad, but was still a little tender.

5 pm  A nice easy cruiser run, wrapped the calf up which seems to help.  I felt ok, with no sharp pains just a little nagging.  I will have to see how things are this week, but I am hoping to get some good quality workouts in. 

Happy tax day everyone!!  To those who are paying uncle sam today, I share your pain.

7 miles in the morning on Jordan river trail, windy on the way out, but very nice on the way back.  Calf is still aching a little bit, but significantly better than yesterday.

4 miles in the evening - had to run a bit harder than this morning due to time constraints, but it was ok.  I had the wind in my face on the way out, but sailed on the way home. 

4am early - felt ok, a little groggy, but nice to get out.

6 am, I took advantage of a gap in my schedule to finish my running before the weather turned south.  It was incredibly windy and I felt completely flat, not what I would call a good day of running.  I am planning on a hard day tomorrow, I feel like the calf is ready, it responded well today with no residual pain.

Today was the day to get back at some speed work again. I have laid off running hard for a couple weeks minus a small set last week with Bob.  The plan was to run 4x1 miles at a moderate pace, not so hard I was hating it.  I must say that I had a terrible time getting motivated to run at all today, let alone run hard.  Master Motivator Michelle convinced me to do the set and see what I could do.  After a brief warm-up and some strides, I took off around the sugar house park for the first rep.  I felt fair, maybe a little out of synch, but moved ok.  5:40.  The recovery time was 2 minutes.  The second mile reverses the first and has the climb going up past Sizzler.  I still felt I was running comfortable and cruised in at 5:40.  I was pleased with the effort, but I also knew I would only do one more, just struggling upstairs.  The last mile was probable the easiest, I cruised easy through the first half and ran a bit more aggressive in the second - 5:33.  Pretty good set, just happy to have done something.  My heart rate did not rise as much as on past sets which was good, first rep heart rate only reached 159, an indication that my effort level was in check with what my heart was doing.  Hopefully I will start hammering some better sets next week.

4 am.  Just slugged, not much of a run, but I just wanted to move some sludge out of the legs.

6 pm  Felt much better, ran very comfortable on the Jordan River trail.  I will give the Salt Lake 5k a whirl in the morning to see what happens.   

I certainly had better expectations for today, but I will take what comes my way.I was a little stiff when I got up this morning but after the warm-up I felt pretty good. I really thought if the race went my way I could maybe break 17 today, and after the first mile I had some confidence. The start was fast, but I remained somewhat under control, I wanted to get out of the park without getting trampled. I felt comfortable through the first mile in 5:16. I certainly did not think I was slowing down too much in the second mile, but obviously I did - 5:43. I regrouped after seeing my time and pushed a little harder - there was no chance of catching anyone in front of me, but I did want a solid effort - 5:38. The last .17 was about the same pace. The garmin called my average at 5:33 per mile, which is better than I have run this year, I think I may be paying a little bit for Thursday's miles, but a race is a race. I will continue to look for steady improvement in my per mile averages and hopefully will get them back down soon. I ran 10 more after the race and cheered on many of the other runners. Great Job to all those bloggers who ran some outstanding times today!!

mile 1	5:16	5:16
mile 2	5:43	10:59
mile 3	5:38	16:39
.17	:57	17:35