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5.5 miles in 1:09:11 for a 12:35/mile pace and an average heart rate of 125bpm.

14.1 miles in 2:59:08 or 12:42/mile with an average heart rate of 126bpm.  Ran up Provo canyon and it was beautiful.  The Provo river was roaring and Bridal vail falls had more run-off than I've normally seen.  The big thaw is underway.

 It's been a long time since I've run this far and my legs started to wear down at the end.

7.3 miles in 1:31:05 for a pace of 12:29/mile at 125bpm.  77 degrees, overcast skies, but no rain yet.  My legs didn't feel like doing the fast running today after Saturday's long run.  Also, my weekly milage is starting to approach the point where I usually get injured and I need to be careful not to over train, even though I have more time this week.

5.53 miles in 46:46 for an average pace of 8:27/mile and average heart rate of 158bpm (169bpm max).  Cloudy and 72 degrees and 3 pounds of sweat lost.  I tried to go fast the whole time, but the first mile and the last partial were hard.  These were my splits:

9:12, 8:18, 8:17, 8:02, 8:14, and 8:56 pace for the last half.

 I was looking back at history and I had this pace back on June 13.  The lack of improvement is disappointing.  Nothing to do except keep trying.

I finally did it.  I broke the 12 minute barrier for low heart rate training.  7.29 miles in 1:27:03 for an average of 11:57/mile and average heart rate of 125bpm.  I also got 5 miles in a row under 12 minutes as follows:

12:18, 11:56, 11:54, 11:28, 11:51, 11:41, 12:14, 12:44

Now, my little secret:  The first mile and a half and the last mile and a half is mostly up hill.  Since I always end up where I start, you know what that means about the rest of the route.

5.48 miles in 1:05:54 for an average pace of 12:01 / mile and an average heart rate of 126bpm, (135bpm max).  Got a little knee pain after yesterday's run.  So, I opted out of the interval training today.

Brian is moving to Chicago today where he will start medical school.

7.29 miles in 1:30:38 or 12:16/mile with an average heart rate of 125bpm. (132 max)  That's my lowest max in a long time.  The air was fresh and the temperature was 66 degrees.

I've been ramping up the miles a little fast and I'm tired a lot.  Probably need to scale back next week before I go for the 50 miles a week plateau.

What a difference a day makes.  It was easier today than yesterday, until the last mile and a half when I started to feel the wear on my legs.  (I think that means that my lungs are in better shape than my legs, or I still weigh too much.)   I ran 11.49 miles in 2:16:09 for an average pace of 11:51/mile.  Average heart rate was 126bpm, (max 136).  Nine consecutive miles (2 through 10) were under 12 minutes.

The weather was incredibly good at 66 degrees and mostly clear skies.

Today, I did interval training.  I think it is my least favorite type of workout because it is hard and I must look ridiculous when I try to go fast and pitiful when I go so slowly.  My rule is to run about .75 miles as fast as I can and then trot until my heart rate gets down below 130bpm.  Sometimes that takes a while.  My first interval and my last one were at 8:37/mi and 8:10/mi respectively.  All the other intervals were under an 8:00/mi pace, my best pace being 7:30/mile

Overall, I ran 7.32 miles in 1:08:45  for an average pace of 9:24/mile and max pace of 6:27/mi.  Average heart rate was 148bpm with a max of 168bpm.

7.29 miles in 123:27 for an average pace of 11:27/mile at 124bpm.  Can't help but be pleased with that one.  Some days are better than others.  Before you know it I will look like a real runner.  First lap was 12:10.  Last partial was 12:01.  All other laps were in the 11s with the fastest mile at 11:02.

7.28 miles in 1:26:41 for an average pace of 11:55/mile, average heart rate 125bpm, max rate 132bpm.  Yesterday must have been a fluke.  You don't have to worry, Mark.  You are light years ahead of me.

One of my secrets is to lull my competition into complacency.

That was a long break without running and significant loss of training time.  But I'm back.  I've still got some minor pain in my left knee, but not enough to affect my stride, so I consider it to be OK.  Ceasing to run seemed to fix the problem.   Other than that, I used ice a few times when the pain was more intense.  Yesterday morning, when I couldn't even find the pain in my knee, I canceled my Dr appointment.  But, I had a little pain before I started running this morning.

 I don't know what caused the injury other than progressing a little too quickly with the milage.  Now I need to ramp back up again.

This morning's run was 5.35 miles in 1:05:52, 12:19/mile 125bpm, 130bpm max.  I'm feeling good right now.

5.52 miles in 1:06:54, 12:07/mi, 125bpm, 133bpm max.  Brand new pavement and stripes for bikers.

Today, Charles turned 19 and I burned some pancakes for his breakfast.  Last night, I taught him the principles of packing (planning, finding, organizing, and packing with an eye towards streamlining at all times) and we enjoyed a practice session before he beat me in chess.

4.62 miles in 53:59 for an average pace of 11:42/mi, heart rate of 124bpm with 132bpm max.  I'd say it was a good day with all laps under a 12:00 pace (last fraction was 11:59 and best mile was 11:24).

Hopefully, I can make it through 16 miles tomorrow without further injury.

17.3 miles up to Vivian park and back in 3:35:15 for an average pace of 12:26/mile.  The heart rate monitor went out of control.  Once I looked at it and it said 156 without making much of an effort.  Towards the end it was high again.  I decided to forget it and I sped up just to see the monitor go down to near 130.  But it felt like a low heart run all the way and I'll count it as such.

So far so good with the knees, but my legs are tired.

Happy pioneer day!

7.31 miles in 1:04:32 for an average pace of 8:50/mile, average heart rate was 155bpm, 170bpm max.  First mile was 9:58 and all other miles were under 9 minutes.

I figure I need to start running harder once in a while or I will end up with 11 minute miles for the marathon.

Fireworks in Utah are much different than Arizona, where we had to drive a long ways to the designated spot on July 4th, fighting traffic all the way.

In Utah, you can't really get away from them in the month of July.  It sounds like a war zone every night, but last night in particular.  We walked out our front door and saw fireworks going off from about 10 locations and two of them were within 2 blocks of our house.  The closest one was the most spectacular as it filled the sky over our heads.

We also heard a fire truck.  I wonder why.

Same route as Monday, but low heart rate:  7.29 miles in 1:29:15 (12:15/mi), 125bpm, 134bpm max.  For some reason, I had to go pretty slowly, especially at the start to keep my heart rate down.  Miles 4 and 6 were the only ones under 12 minutes, but none were over 13 minutes.

I ran mostly in the dark as the days are starting to get shorter again.

6.2 miles in 58:18 9:24/mile 6:21 max, 150bpm, 172bpm max.  I did interval training, which isn't my favorite and I almost didn't do it for fear of injury, but I feel really good right now and probably didn't overdo it.

As usual, I got my heart rate below 130 between intervals.  I hit the wrong button on the first interval, but these are the rest of them:  .50 miles at 7:32 pace, .83 miles at 7:32 pace, .83 miles at 7:41 pace, .54 miles at 7:42 pace, .69 miles at 7:50 pace, and .17 miles at 7:20 pace.

This was an easy day, but a good day: 5.85 miles in 1:02:25 for an average pace of 11:24/mile at 126bpm, 133bpm max.  Mile times were all under a 12:00 pace:  11:59, 11:20, 10:58, 11:00, 11:26, and 11:50 for the last half.

14.55 miles up the canyon and back in 2:52:55 for an average pace of 11:53/mile and an average heart rate of 127bpm.  Towards the end my legs got weak, my pace slowed down, and my heart rate went up.  I can't blame it on anything besides fatigue.  Perhaps I need to take supplements at that distance.