Turn your rut into a groove.

am--6 I took the old Swiss Days course backwards at a moderate pace--low 8:0Xs--from my house and back. This week has ended up being a pretty good week as I start to build miles again. It's also nice to get in some quality workouts w/ the XCers. 

pm--8 Did a bad job of waking up this morning. (I had a headache). So I took it easy today if taking it easy means finishing up a 5-7 page paper and starting a 10-15 pager. Anyway, I finally got out and ran up over the heights and back down through Green Valley to the in-laws'. The easy pace felt good. 

pm--7 Being the dumb guy that I am, I apparently haven't noticed that running and I have been on the outs. Nonetheless, it seems we both want to save the relationship. We've got to find ways to rekindle our love. And the best way to do that is to spend lots of time together, taking it particularly slow, focusing on cultivating those commonalities like the spectacular view of the Red Mountain and Snow Canyon that we shared this evening. As great as it went tonight, I bet we'll have to start over tomorrow. Here's to running and the eternities that we'll spend together. 

am--7.25 Barefoot warm-up, core exercises, and 6X1min, 8X30sec hills w/ warm-up and cool-down. Hard but awesome when it was over. Ran w/ the girls. They pushed and were awesome. 

am--8 w/ my cousin. Up to the Canyons and down through Green Valley and home. Pretty decent 8 for the day after hills. 

am--3.5 Run at region course w/ some clean up after.

am--13 My wife and the in-laws were running 12 this morning, so I thought, What the heck. We ran from the top of Snow Canyon, got hassled by a ranger at the bottom--BTW it's only $21 for an annual pedestrian/biker pass--and ran on into Green Valley. I hit the last 3 miles at 7:44, 7:30, and 7:18. After that the marathon seems a little more doable. When I finished I walked back a mile or so to meet my wife and brother-in-law as they finished and ran a mile on in w/ them. Great run. Maybe I'll get out this evening to make it an even 50 for the week. 

pm--4 Cruised out for a few easy miles w/  out the Garmin. This is my first 50-mile week in a  heck of a long time, and it felt pretty good.

am--6 A nice easy run. Body's a little tight from Saturday. It was nice weather out and a fun jaunt. Saw the SCXC team out to practice. They've got quite a few kids. It oughta be fun this year. 

pm--7.5 It was hard to get out and run tonight. Not only had I consumed gluttonous amounts of Mexican food tonight--I'm doing whatever I can to remember Spanish--I also poorly balanced my intake of life-giving water w/ my favorite diuretic. In the end I got out but felt the crappy fueling of the day. I'm sure my next running breakthrough will come w/ diet more than anything else. Paz. There's some more Spanish for you. 

am--6.5 Got up early to run down into the golf course and back home. I love running when the last run's still in the legs. Positive affirmation. 

pm--4 Got hung up in a meeting and missed the afternoon XC run. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. Shame on us. Anyway, I talked my marine neighbor into 4. We ran a pretty good pace and sped up to a Tinman mile at the end. He's signed up for the marathon. I think he'll do well if he can build up his single-run mileage. 

pm--4.5 Warm-up and some hot miles. I'll get used to it just as it cools down. The stomach was a little funny today. Maybe it was that PBH that I ate around 1:30. 

am--5 A nice little run up to The Canyons and back home.

pm--4.5 Another hot afternoon run. Half mile warm-up w/ 8 barefoot striders after. I'm growing to love striders. I'm excited to see how the kids run tomorrow. 

pm--5.25 I had what seemed like a long day. Went early to help w/ pre-region and then watched the PVXC kids run well, along w/ kids from all over. I have such an admiration for people who find running so early in life. After that, came home and watched my soccer team whip  up on Everton, ate a nice supper, and contemplated running. When I saw that the temperature was in the 80s, I knew I had to get out.

It was hard though. It seems like I'm going through a real slump. I notice a few others are as well, for various reasons, and it makes me wonder if the sport of running is switching over to a form of cloud computing, where everyone is hooked in together, so any ripple that goes through the runnersphere affects runners everywhere. Anyway, back from the cosmic. I knew I had to get out today. I went for a moderate run but feel like I could do more good w/ some 800s or a long run. I'm signed up for the marathon and don't know if I'll be in very good shape when it comes around.

After Utah Valley, I had roughy 6 down weeks. Getting back into it I have yet to build up the long runs. Nevertheless, I have been hitting a few good workouts w/ the XC kids. 6 weeks out from the big day, I'm wondering how I should handle things. I'm too OCD to jump into a training program somewhere in the middle. I don't seem to have very much time for long runs and the hard speed and tempo workouts have sharp teeth and just seem too big for me right now. What should I focus on? How can I use the next month and a half most efficiently to have a good STG? Or am I asking the wrong questions all together? Chime in anyone who knows. 

am--6 Got out w/ neighbor Greg and ran through Sunbrook. I actually felt pretty good this morning. 

pm--6.25 .5 warm-up before the kids ran pyramids then a 1.5 mile cooldown w/ Cass and Sierra. Went home, ate, let it digest and then out for 4.25 w/ AC on the iPod. I haven't listened to music on a run in a long time. It was actually kind of relaxing. 

pm--5.5  Short warm-up and 5-mile mall run w/ Cass and Stefani. The run felt pretty good today. 

am--7 Went 3.5 up Snow Canyon and then back down w/ neighbor Greg. This workout felt like it meant something.

pm--7 Hot run w/ warm-up and core exercises. We ran up into Green Springs and back to the school.

am--6 Just a nice run in the 70s w/ a few moderate miles thrown in. 

pm--4 .5 Warm-up, .5 barefoot striders, 3-mile ice cream run to AC. Another smoker today. 

am--6 w/ neighbor Greg. We threw in some faster pace, and it felt good. The temperature was awesome.

pm--5 2.5 warm-up, a few 800s w/ the kids--I need to suck it up and do more of these--and a 1.5 cool-down. 

pm--5 .5 mile warm-up and then core exercises. After we went out for 4.5 mile tempo run with approximately 2 miles at a comfortably hard pace. Towards the end of the tempo, I dragged a little, but overall the feeling was good. 

6 3 slow miles up the West Canyon Trail in Snow Canyon and 3 quick miles down. 

pm--6.75 I blew off my morning run then ended up running most of the long run w/ the kids after our standard warm-up and core routine. It was one of those days that I wasn't feeling it, but running anyway made it all better. 

am--10.5 w/ neighbor Greg around Santa Clara and up on Snow Canyon Parkway. It's nice to get in a double-digit run once in a while. 

pm--4.5 .5 Warm-up and 4 w/ the boys. It was fun running w/ those guys, great runners. 

pm--10.5 Did the reverse loop around Santa Clara w/ a neighbor who is training for the marathon. My stomach was funny and I had to make a pit stop at the Canyons. I'm glad I got out tonight. I've struggled to get long runs in, but I did manage to get 2 90-minute runs in this week, which makes me happy. Next week I would like to hit 60 miles and get a run of 16-20 miles. We'll see if life makes room. 

am--8 Up to the Canyons and down to the orchard and home again. Borrowed my wife's iPod and just enjoyed the relaxed running and the tunes. It was a bit smoky out. 

pm--3.5 Core exercises, 2-mile warm-up, and 1.5-mile cool down situated around timing the kids on their 800s. They ran awesome today.