Bonus edition - June Boom

Alan over at Pounds Off Playoff issued a June challenge.  If I wait to post this next week, it will be too far into the challenge if you want to take it yourself.

I pledged to do the following in June:

• Work out everyday but Sunday (my rest day).  I will do at least 30 minutes and most days 60+.  I want to be ready for my 10K on the 4th of July.
• Log my food each day for the month of June.  I have been meaning to do this, but haven't yet.  I seem to do better when I log what I eat.
• I will be accountable each week in this blog.  (It continues to motivate me to do better!)

How about you?  Are you in?

Hang in there and I will too!

Record Setting Spring!

No it's not me I'm referring to, it's been Utah this year. As of Sunday, we have received more moisture that has ever been recorded. The records have been kept for about 150 years here so that says a lot.  The rain today will probably break the May all time record for precipitation as well.

This is how things looked this morning just before 10am.

You can see the snow up on the foothills.  Cascade is covered with snow.  Sooner rather than later that snow is going to melt too fast.

I check the forecast at places around the country where I have family and this is what I saw for the high today in each state:
MN - 86
AZ - 88
MI - 89
TN - 93
OH - 93
UT - 56!
Our high was colder than everyone else's low!  Facebook comments from friends and family that live in Utah.
"Looking at the ice slush on my deck and snow on the "G" of the mountain. Really?! You can stop anytime now."
"It is pouring! Yay! I love rain! Yee Haaa! S#@%!"
"Is all this snow ever going to melt I want to run up Timp..."
"Is this March 30 or May 30? I'm a bit confused."
"My car is covered in snow... 
Dear weather,Stop ruining my life. Or else."


You get the idea!  We'll get over it.  I hope!

I'm giving the family a big shout out this week!  We Skyped with a lot of them yesterday and many have lost weight!  Way to go!  I also got a chance to go on a bike ride with my several of my cousins on Saturday.  First time on the bike this year.  Thanks for a fun time!  Hang in there and I will too!

You Gotta Have Heart

I have been struggling with my training lately. I did some research on heart rate and from what I read I found that it is recommended to train in a specific heart zone. My Garmin supports this and so for the past week or so, I have been making sure that my easy and long runs have stayed in Zone 3. From what I read, it says to build up your base by staying in the zone. Even though it has been hard for me to slow down, it has been less of a struggle for me and I feel better during and after the run. My long run was a 5 miler and even though it was slow, I felt ok. I will make sure to train in the recommended heart zones.

Last Wednesday, I did intervals. I may be weird (goes without saying I guess), but I really like interval training. I did 8X400. Most of you know what that means, but for those who aren't sure, I warmed up by jogging a mile over to the high school track. I then ran 400 meters in zone 4 and then walked/jogged for the next 400 meters to recover. I repeated this 8 times. It's designed to help you with your speed work. I enjoy picking it up a notch for once around.

Another tool for speed work is tempo runs. In a nutshell, you run easy for 10-15 minutes, then ramp up slowly to a pace that matches your 10K pace for 15 minutes and then another 5-10 minutes of easy running. This helps build up your lactate threshold. Zone three is where they say your threshold level usually is and you can run for distance at this pace. By throwing in intervals and tempo runs, these help you run at a faster pace while running in Zone 3. My current schedule, alternates intervals and tempo runs every other week. The rest of the week consist of shorter easy runs capped of with a long run at the end of the week. I have used Hal Higdon's training schedules for 5K, 10K and half marathon. There are many other training schedules out there and each have their strengths. Regardless, a training schedule (or a coach if it is in your budget), will help you race successfully. I also find it fun to see my fitness, miles and endurance all increase along the way.

Do any of you have additional insights into heart rate training? What works for you? Please feel free to comment.

Keep up the great training everyone! Have to give a quick shout out to Bill H. who ran the Ogden marathon last Saturday. I then saw him out mowing his lawn! Twice!!! Todd - Nice mileage!! Gordon - keep up the great training. It will fun to race together in a couple of weeks. Hang in there and I will too!

Finding Your Inner Dean

I have enjoyed following Dean Karnazes as he ran across America in 75 days. It has only been a couple of months since I found out about Dean and I have become a big fan! I believe in finding a dream, making a goal and taking the steps to make it happen. We can do so much more than we think we are capable of! We just need to dream and do!

"Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip."

-Dean Karnazes

From the workout perspective, I feel like I am getting back to decent health. Finished up my antibiotics and the allergies have subsided. I am really paying attention to my heart rate when I am running. It has been going too high. I recently read that it is important to run in your heart rate zone and build the endurance base from there. So that is what I am doing. I just started a training schedule for a 10K. I registered for the Freedom Festival 10K on the Fourth of July. I need to build that base now and hopefully it will pay off down the road. This will also help me build a base for the half marathon in August.

Keep up the great work everyone! Hang in there and I will too!

The Perfect Storm

Finally broke down and went to the doctor about my allergies/colds and general fatigue. I'm glad I went because I came home with pills and nasal spray to help with the allergies, antibiotics to help with the sinus infection, and a B-12 shot to help with the fatigue. Guess I was fighting at least three things. No wonder I was tired! Making a slow come back. I did go running the day after and I was able to run further without walking so that was some serious progress.

The weekend found me camping with the Scouts. Our troop is quite small right now, but we should be getting some more boys in as the year progresses. Out trip this time was to Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. I wrote a bit about Lake Bonneville a while back. The Great Salt Lake is all that is left of that former mega-lake. In ways the island is barren. Mostly desert vegetation, but it has a ton of wild life to observe. We saw bison, antelope (you would hope so!), deer, cranes, hawks, quail and a lot of song-birds. There is an extensive trail system on the island and may beautiful overlooks. The boys enjoy geocaching as well and there were plenty of those to be found. About the only thing that was really unpleasant were the biting gnats! There were swarms of them. The good thing is that they would not fly if there was much of a breeze and went away at night. So we were good about 75% of the time. I am sure it is a seasonal thing as well.

Not too long after sunrise

Where the deer and the buffalo play

Great views

Long, gnat-filled, walk to the lake

Great job everyone! EMZ ran for 24 hours straight on a treadmill and covered 100 miles. How awesome is that! She raised a ton of money for a great cause! Mike is busting out the miles and posting some great paces all at the same time. Todd ran a great race and is making great progress in reaching his goals. Bill paced a half-marathon over the weekend and was in seconds of hitting the pace goal. Mr. Incredible does it again! Rachel gets the boys out with her and they are getting in some good mileage as well. Gordon is putting in some good reps on the bike and the treadmill! The rest of you are doing well! Keep up the great work! Hang in there and I will too!

Dragging the Line

I think we all reach a point that we hit a wall in our attempts to get more fit, get faster or go further. Regardless of what may be the cause, be ti an injury, sickness or fatigue, there are times when it might be all we can muster to get up the gumption to get the workout in for the day.

For me it gets frustrating when I can't point at any one thing in particular. Maybe it is fatigue or going in to my fourth month of serious allergies with a cold thrown in the middle for good measure. I am doing good to get the distance in and have had to walk frequently where I used to cover the distance running. These are the times to suck it up, try and figure it out and not give up.

On a positive note (and part of not giving up), I registered this morning for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon which is a popular local race. I am excited to get training for it in the near future. I will also register for the Freedom Festival 10K when that opens up in a couple of weeks. Last years 10K was my first race in a very long time. It's hard to see it happening now, but I am still going to try and race it under an hour so I hit one of my goals for the year. Two things that will be important for me to make that goal. 1) Lose some more weight, 2) Train hard! My goal for the half is just to finish under my finish time from my first half last year. I think that is possible!

The other big event for this summer is hiking King's Peak! That will probably happen the first weekend in August. The last of my Three Peak challenge.

Shout out to Todd, Matt and another unidentified runner that I saw this morning on my jaunt out. You guys looked great! Keep up the great training. Clyde! 204 miles!!!!! Way to go my friend! Bill thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration. You are a great runner! Hillary - I can't believe how good you are looking! Way to take off the weight! Same goes for Mike who is down below 200 and seeing his time drop and his distance increasing. Sarah proud of you! Getting in the exercise that you can under the circumstances! Rachel! Way to include the boys in your workout! That will be beneficial for them the rest of the lives! I'm sure I have missed someone, but you are all an inspiration. Thanks for the encouragement! Hang in there and I will too!