Chris Rogers Training Log

Off - Scheduled day off. 

 PM... Did push-up pyramid to 9

Since this is the first workout day since Boston, I wanted to do a little speed work but not completely blowout my legs.

AM Run... [Q] 8.3 miles total (55:53). Warmed-up to Viewmont HS then 800m of speed builds (jog curve, stride the straightaway) prior to workout--total warm-up was around 2.65 miles. Decided on 5x800m with 200m recovery (~70 second slow jog). Workout went as follows...

800m #1 - 2:32

800m #2 - 2:35

800m #3 - 2:38

800m #4 - 2:37

800m #5 - 2:38

The first two intervals were quicker than they should have been--could have been because I had to deal with the Viewmont track team practicing at the same time. The effort really wasn't that difficult and I probably could have comfortably done three more 800's. Getting to 10 would have been doable, but tougher. Cooled down 800m @ Viewmont then same route home.  Light Stretch after.

PM Run... [E] 4.8 mile run (31:36).  Pace was a little quicker than I would have liked--probably should have worn a HR monitor to keep it easier.  Legs were tired after run--go easy tomorrow.  Stretch after.

PM Run... [E] 8.55 mile run (57:00). Well, so much for an easy recovery day. I ran the 8.3 mile Huntsman to City Creek loop with Kyle. We maintained a pretty steady pace until we turned back toward campus on 2d Avenue. We pushed the hills up 2d Ave--probably around 6:10 pace--definitely tough by the time we hit the U golf course, especially on the heels of a workout yesterday (even if it wasn't very long). Did 4 XC strides on soccer field after which tacks on about another .25--call it 8.5 for the day. Stretch.

Off for no good reason, other than I felt like it.  The beauty of slowly building up after a marathon.

AM... [Q] 10.9 miles (1:12:07).  W/u to Viewmont HS plus 800m of speed builds.  The weather was pretty decent during the warm-up and first set of 1200-400, but then started to get nasty in a hurry.  Rain/sleet/snow mix for most of the workout and wind picked up to about 15-20mph on the backstretch.  The workout was 4x(1200-400) w/200m recovery after 1200's and 600m recovery after 400's.  Considering how crappy the weather was, I was very happy with the workout and stayed right on my goal pace (5:20 pace for 1200's, 4:48 for 400's).   Workout splits were as follows...

1200 #1 - 4:00

400 #1 - 72

1200 #2 - 4:01

400 #2 - 72

1200 #3 - 3:59

400 #3 - 72

1200 #4 - 4:00

400 #4 - 72 

Legs could definitely feel effort on last couple 400's.  Cooled down 800m at the track and then c/d back home.  I was very pleased with the workout since I stayed right on the splits I wanted to hit--even more so because of the dreary conditions.

AM... [E] 11 mile run (1:11:16). Steady state run--pace was definitely quicker than I had planned, but I felt great! Hills up to Davis Blvd by St. Olaf Church were tough, but still pushed through them because I was feeling good. Need to go very easy tomorrow to be ready for workout on Tues or Weds. Need to be sure to only do one easy run or I'm going to start down the injury path again.

Since I run my calendar Mon-Sun, I'll just list my weekly mileage every Sunday...

Week of April 30 to May 6 = 50 miles (5 days)  Not bad for my second week back after Boston

AM... [E] 6.2 mile run (43:05).  Ran easy through Centerville to Viewmont Track.  Did 800m on track w/2x200m (34-34) just to loosen up a little bit.  Good job of keeping run easy and under control.  I'm not going to bring my shoes to work or I'll be tempted to do a second run w/Kyle.

PM... [Q] 7.8 miles (52:38).  Had planned on workout of 3-2-1 miles w/2:00 rest and decreasing pace.  Had absolutely NOTHING in my legs and couldn't hold a pace that should have been fairly easy.  Ended up only doing 2 miles (11:33) and 1.5 miles (8:36) and felt completely spent.  Looking back at my log, I'm an idiot b/c it was an attempt at my 4th more up-tempo/workout type run in 7 days--not a good plan.  I think the combo of the tough hill day last Thursday with the workout on Saturday definitely took something out of my legs.  I'll plan to take tomorrow off and do easy miles until Saturday--use Race for the Cure 5K as a workout.  After that we'll see if I do one more workout before the Ogden 1/2 Marathon or not.

Off--I wasn't planning on taking today off until yesterday's debacle of a workout.  Aerobically I was fine, but my legs absolutely would not go.  Maybe it was moving to the woodchip trail at Liberty Park from the track, or maybe the effort over the past 6 days.  Either way, I'm playing it safe so I'm not completely worthless at Ogden.

Lunch... [E] 8.1 mile run (54:05).  Even after day off, felt absolutely miserable.  It was warm, but not terrible.  My legs just feel absolutely toasted.  I need to get in a better habit of throwing the HR monitor on to avoid pushing to fast which I have a tendency to do when running alone.  On top of that, I've lost some weight in the last week or two and I'm down to 128-129--way too low for me.  Still planning on Race for the Cure 5K on Saturday, but may not race it--need to be careful so I can get my legs bounce back by Ogden.  I don't want another disaster like Moab this year.  Went to training room after and learned some lower leg strengthening exercises.

AM... [E] 5 mile run (37:25).  Wore HR monitor to keep things easy.  Tried to stay below 140 for most of the run, averaged 138.  I'm a little concerned that my HR was that high for such an easy run--maybe I'm trying to fight off illness and that is why my last 3-4 days of training have been so poor.  Still planning on Race for the Cure tomorrow, then a sort of "mini-taper" for Ogden.

AM... [R] Race for the Cure 5K 17:02 (5:29 pace). Was 4th overall, 3rd in Division. I knew that I didn't have much anaerobic capacity, but that didn't stop me from going out in 5:08--a bad idea. I basically trailed Steve, Nate and Darrell by about 10m and tried to maintain that contact for the first mile to not completely be out of the mix. I would have been smarter to stick to my original plan and just try to run 5:20 pace straight through. Based on my workouts if I would have tried to run even I probably could have held pace. Instead, by going out to fast I started going anaerobic fairly early on and just had to hold things together for the last 1 1/2 miles. Last two miles were 5:35 and 5:46--nothing special at all. I caught Darrell around 1 1/4 and we pushed together for another 1/4 or so until I surged ahead. Darrell caught me with about 1/2 mile to go and I just didn't have anything to push any harder. Was a good workout, but need to run smarter when I don't have any anaerobic conditioning. Ran 3 miles warm-up and another 3 3/4 cool down for a total of 9.85 on the day.

Off - Had to get up at 4:00am, to the airport, and meetings in Denver until around 9:30pm.  LONG day.

AM... [E] 6.4 mile run (43:06) in Denver.  Ran along a little stream on paved bike path.  Not a bad run overall, although I was a little tight since I didn't run Sunday on the heels of the 5K on Saturday.  Concentrate on getting some easy runs in this week before Ogden on Saturday--an easy week without any sort of workout leading up to Ogden was pretty effective last year.

Off - another crazy meeting day and also travel back to SLC.

PM... [Q] 6.7 mile run (43:27).  2.6 mile warm-up down to Liberty Park from Huntsman Center.  Then did one loop (~1.5 miles) on the woodchip trail at up-tempo pace (8:25).  Effort felt kind of tough and my hamstrings were tight, but I guess thats what I get for the sporadic running during the NCAA conference I was at.  Cool down back up to campus, which was much slower with the uphill.  Didn't feel very good overall, but hopefully a couple easy days on Thursday and Friday will loosen me up and get me ready to go for the Ogden 1/2 Marathon on Saturday.

PM... [E] 5.5 mile run (37:05).  Ran normal 5 mile loop through DT Bountiful.  Stopped at Viewmont HS on the way home and did 800m of speed builds.  My legs felt like crap for the entire run, and even the speed builds didn't do a whole lot for me.  Took my time stretching after and that seemed to help my legs feel a little better.  Hopefully the "dead leg syndrome" will go away for Ogden on Saturday. 

AM... [E] 4.9 mile run (34:04).  W Bountiful loop via Parrish Lane.  They're doing all kinds of construction on what used to be a great gravel road.  My legs still weren't great, but felt better than yesterday.  Spent quite a bit of time stretching after the short shake-out run since that seemed to help yesterday.  Again, I felt better after stretching, so may do so again tonight. 

 Kyle got into the 1/2 marathon, so he and I will run.  Not sure who else will be there--Darrell told me today that a new member of the Wasatch Running Center team will be there--Matt Harmer.  We'll see how it goes... my legs have to feel better than they have the last two weeks or I won't even break 1:14.
 

AM... [R] Ogden 1/2 Marathon (1:14:56) (5:43 pace).  Wasatch Running Center had a great day for those keeping tabs.  In the 1/2 marathon, WRC runners went 2-3-4 and in the full marathon WRC runners went 1 and 6. 

Kyle picked me up and we were out the door to Ogden by 4:00am.  Got there quicker than we thought, sat around for 30 minutes then hopped on the bus to the start line--we were out to the start by around 5:45.  The bus situation was MUCH smoother than last year, so props to the Ogden organizers for fixing that glitch.  Kyle and I warmed up an easy 10 minutes, then I tacked on another 6 minutes to stay a little bit loose.  At the start line I met Matt Harmer (a new Wasatch Running Center teammate), Scott Browning and Dustin Ence--its always nice to put faces with names--especially those of you on the blog who share such valuable training information.  Matt wanted to go out in the 5:20 range, Kyle and I wanted to be more in the 5:40 range, so we compromised and went somewhere in between.  With how my legs have felt the last two weeks and how poor some of my workouts have been, I figured if I was between 1:13:30 and 1:14:30 I could consider it a pretty decent day.

Out of the gate, the leader and eventual winner, Peter Vail hammered us.  He took off was up 20m in the first 1/4 mile, and we had no intention of following.  Instead, Matt, Kyle and myself packed up and worked together.  We hit the first mile in 5:33 and followed up with a 5:50 second mile--probably a bit of an overcorrection for the quicker first mile.  We settled in for the next couple of miles along Pineview Reservoir, when I realized I was in trouble.  My hamstrings started really tightening up around 4 1/2 miles--a problem I've had quite a bit of the last two weeks.  When Matt and Kyle started pulling away, I basically had nothing to go with them.  I tried to surge a couple of times coming down the canyon to make up ground, but they surged just as hard.  I could see the two of them trading off for a bit, and Kyle said after the race that Matt got away from him at about 8 or 9 miles. 

As for me, with how my legs were feeling I concentrated on trying to stay around or just below 5:40 pace to run at least somewhat respectable.  I was able to hang tough until we came out of the canyon and my legs had had about enough of running hard for the day.  My last three miles were completely terrible, even though I tried pushing a little bit harder at certain points to see if I could "liven up" a little bit.  That didn't happen, and my final time suffered as a result.  All in all though, it wasn't that bad considering how frustrating my training has been the last two weeks or so.  I'm thinking I need to get in for a massage this week to help me loosen up a little bit and get my legs back under me.  I'll probably take Sunday and Monday off before getting back at it.  All in all, the race was OK--the time wasn't that far off where I figured I would be based on my workouts, and aside from the last three miles I ran fairly smart and stayed mentally in the race.  After the race Kyle and I cooled down another 10 minutes.  Splits were as follows...

Mile 1 - 5:33

Mile 2 - 5:50

Mile 3 - 5:33

Mile 4 - 5:40

Mile 5 - 5:25

Mile 6 - 5:40

Mile 7 - 5:45

Mile 8 - 5:37

Mile 9 - 5:35

Mile 10 - 5:28

Mile 11 - 5:52

Mile 12 - 6:06

Mile 13.1 - 6:43

Off -- Legs were feeling crappy after Ogden 1/2 marathon and in general I was tired from getting up early on Saturday, racing and working on various house projects the rest of the day on Saturday.

Off... Another planned day off after the Ogden 1/2 Marathon.  Planning to just run easy for this week, then do one workout and the Salt Lake 10-miler next week.

PM... [E] 5.8 mile run (38:13).  Run from Huntsman to 11th Ave Firestation to H street and back.  Just went nice and easy--didn't worry about pace at all.  Quads still a little sore, but overall my legs felt pretty good.  Got in a good stretch after the fact.  Get in another easy run tomorrow and then maybe two runs on Thursday.

Had an insane day at work and then baby class at night... just ran out of time to get anything in today.

AM... [E] 5 mile run (35:31). Went out with intention of doing Bountiful HS/Davis Blvd loop, but my quads were still sore. They're fine just walking around, but as I get into runs they're still feeling the after-effects of Ogden. I don't know how all you downhill junkies do it--my legs just don't bounce back quickly from downhill runs. Good stretch with the rope after.

PM... [E] 5.75 mile run (37:32).  Another easy run... quads felt much better than this morning.  Slight soreness still, but hopefully some of these easy runs will help get rid of whatever is left.  Good stretch after. 

PM... [E] 8.6 mile run (55:40, 6:28 pace). I actually felt pretty fresh today even though it was warm and a course I haven't run before. I guess I usually tend to run faster when I don't know where the heck I'm going though--need to learn to control the urge to push when it isn't necessary. Did a loop out past the landfill around a small lake, through West Bountiful and back home. Not much of stretch after--had to pick up my parents from the airport.

AM... [E] 8.2 mile run (53:10, 6:29 pace).  Planned on running up to Bountiful HS, Davis Blvd then Viewmont HS.  Plan was to do 1 mile of speed builds (averaging out to marathon pace) at each high school.  Was able to do the speed builds at Bountiful, but apparently Viewmont is replacing their football field and the whole area is a disaster and fenced off--no more workouts at Viewmont for a while I guess.  Pace was pretty close to yesterday, and I felt more sluggish and legs were definitely tired after the uphills.  Overall, a pretty decent run, but should probably be sure to keep the pace in check tomorrow.  Good stretch after.

AM... [E] 10.1 mile run (65:02, 6:26 pace).  "Long run," or at least starting to build back toward log runs after  Boston and Ogden 1/2.  Pace was even quicker than the last two days, but the route is board flat for the first 5 1/2 miles.  Went along gravel road by Salt Lake, then up through Farmington looping back through Centerville.  My legs are starting to feel the mid-6:00 pace I've been pushing the last three days, so I need to make tomorrow nice, easy and slow(er).  Rope stretch after.

AM... [E] 6 mile run (40:17, 6:42 pace).  Easy run w/normal Bountiful/Main loop and tacked on distance to Porter Lane.  Pace definitely felt easier, though still a bit sluggish.  Hopefully the slow pace will help me bounce back a little tomorrow.  GREAT stretch after.

AM... [E] 8.3 mile run (54:42, 6:35 pace). Dropped my parents off at the airport, headed in to work early and ran the Huntsman/Sugarhouse loop plus a little extra. Felt great, and the weather this morning was absolutely perfect. Cool enough for a long sleeve t-shirt, but who can complain--I wish the 10-miler would have been this morning! Pace felt comfortable and didn't have any real soreness that I was feeling on Sunday. Hopefully I've finally got all of Ogden out of my legs. Good stretch after again.

PM... [E] 4.8 mile run (32:39, 6:48 pace).  Nice easy run around Sunnyside Park and FB Complex with Kyle--stayed on grass as much as possible since Kyle's calf has been bugging him.  Easily within conversational pace and a good second run for the day.  Can't beat the weather!

PM... [E] 5.6 mile run (37:45, 6:44 pace).  Another crazy busy day.  Had to get to work early and had baby class at night.  As a result, had to squeeze a run in between the end of work and class.  Wanted to go a little longer, but time didn't allow for it.  Run was similar to yesterday, tried to stay on grass and soft surfaces as much as possible.  Legs felt a little sluggish again.  Short stretch after.

Off... I only wanted to get in around 50-55 this week, and realized that with Friday and the race on Saturday I'd be creeping up to 60+ with a run today.