I feel like my blog has turned into an ode to how much I love Utah.
But seriously, I really love Utah.
Anyways… this is a running blog and I do have some running coming up. As a few of you already know, I am not running the Utah Valley Marathon due to my injury from a few weeks back. I am still coming back from the injury and my mileage is pretty low at the moment. Instead, I am hoping to do the half.
Despite my setbacks so far in 2017, I am hoping to have at least one really good race in the fall. I signed up for the St. George Marathon in October and will be going for a very significant PR there. I know that it seems early to say that I am going for a good time, but St. George is a downhill course that is known for shaving many minutes of marathon times. The race goes through some of the most beautiful parts of southern Utah and generally draws a big crowd.
Training for St. George will start in June, so I have a few months of base building and strengthening before I start. I want to have my ankle in tip top shape before I start, so I am keeping my mileage pretty low and doing a lot of cross training to make sure that I don’t aggravate it more. I also imagine that some upper body and core strength won’t hurt in making me a faster runner.
That being said, this was my training last week.
M: 4.3 miles at easy pace + 6 mile hike at Ferguson Canyon
T: 4 miles at marathon pace (8:55/mi) + Climbing at the gym
W: Yoga + Climbing at the gym
T: 6ish miles no watch
F: Yoga + 4 miles on trail 800 ft vert
S: Hiked ~7-8 miles
S: Snowshoed 8 miles
Total: 18 ish miles running + 22 miles hiking
Apparently I hiked a lot more than I ran this week. It might be that way for a little while since walking does not hurt my ankle at all. The snowshoe hike did not feel 100%, but everything else felt good. I’m excited to get my strength back, but I am definitely taking my time getting there. These are my plans for this week:
M: Off
T: 5 miles + climbing + yoga
W: 10 miles + yoga
T: Off
F: 5 miles + Yoga
S: 4 miles + hiking
S: 4-6 miles + hiking
Of course that mileage is all ankle dependent, but we’ll see how it goes. How is your training going? Have you picked out any races for the fall?
Sydney Update: She seems totally fine. She’s been a little needier than usual, but seems to be back to her usual self. I’m still kinda confused about what happened, but she seems much much better.
She Runs the Wasatch 
Wow, nice job! I’m always amazed at how you are able to go right back to your old paces after taking time off. When I came back to running after my layoff it was weeks before I saw a split under 10:00. I haven’t been able to run consistently this winter or spring and I think it is going to be a long road for me to get my speed back.
I start training for Chicago in June. I think our marathons are the same weekend! We can be virtual training buddies this summer!
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I do a lot of cross training and it often doesn’t end up on the blog. I go to the climbing gym almost every day and I hike a ton, plus i have a very active job (an exercise therapist). I imagine that that is why I keep my paces after time off.
I’m excited to see how your training goes! I bet you’ll do great. It’ll be nice to have some training buddies.
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I’m so glad Sydney seems back to normal! And for the record, if your blog turned into an I Love Utah blog, I wouldn’t mind!
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Me too. I was so worried that she had cancer or something, but she seems ok.
I mean, lets face it. This blog is definitely going to be an I Love Utah blog. Sometimes some running too. Haha!
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Somehow I’ve been missing your blog updates! I’m really sorry to hear about Sydney. We had a day last summer when Gizmo was just totally not himself one night — I ended up at the emergency vet until midnight after an already very long day.
And he was fine the next day & has been every since. Although he is 16 & I do need to wrangle him to the vet — I need to get them all there. I wish I could take them all at once (but then again, they go to 3 different vets!).
I am sorry about the injuries. UT is not actually my next goal race (and not my upcoming half, either) — I’m doing Wineglass in Oct, God willing, and that’s really the next one I’m targeting to work hard on.
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Awww Sydney, I’m so glad she’s doing fine now. This seems to be the year of cats doing weird things. Cecil had never experienced any signs of asthma before but then this year he was diagnosed with asthma. He only coughs maybe once a week for a few seconds and then is fine so he’s managing it well.
I love all of your Utah pictures! It seems like the move is really suiting you. Are you still doing “no electricity Thursday nights”? It may be too cold there for that?!
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