Per Aspera Ad Astra

Gravity Hill 5k

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Location:

Salt Lake City,UT,United States

Member Since:

Dec 08, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

13.1: 1:09:58 (2018 Des News)

26.2: 2:37:45 (2019 Mesa Phoenix)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy!

 

2019 Running Schedule

Feb - Mesa Phoenix Marathon (AZ): 2:37:45. Lingering flu didn't help, but I still got a PR.

April - Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon (UT). Mostly just going to be a training run. Finally got myself into the sub-4 club last year, so I'll just have fun with it this year.

May - Stillwater Half Marathon (MN). Goal race for Spring. Looking for ~1:12.

October- Chicago Marathon (IL). We'll see where I'm at in Fall, but probably will be looking for low 2:30s.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy, make improvements, maximize my potential.

Personal:

I am a bioengineering PhD currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah, where I design and improve neurosurgical approaches for treating movement disorders.


Summer 2018 update: I'm lazy about copying over from Strava, so find me over there for day-to-day runs until I eventually get around to copying everything over here.

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I figured that a good way to keep my mileage low would be to go hard.  Did 1.5 at a hair faster than the recent half marathon pace and it felt pretty hard (8:28).  No pain, just felt ever so slightly imbalanced.

 

I've been doing a lot of PT exercises.  After running today, I started into some upper leg and back workouts at the gym to try to strengthen all of the imbalanced stuff.  Squats, leg press, some back stuff that I don't know the specific name for, abs, etc, all at pretty light weight to keep from overstressing.  Also am getting bored with not having any current fitness goals other than rehabbing the injury, so I decided to gain back a little upper body definition.  Did some basic chest and shoulder stuff, which will undoubtedly leave me sore for a couple days since I haven't really lifted in a few years.  I was really into lifting at the start of grad school, but fell out of it.  I honestly wouldn't mind getting my old stronger body back, just with some extra running fitness.  I eat a lot better when I'm lifting, so why not?  I'm sure I'll fall out of it again when I get back to 80+mpw, but I'll have some fun for now. 

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More weightlifting.  Sore from the leg stuff, so just upper body today!

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Went rafting with Kevin and some others in the afternoon, gym was closed, so not much of anything.

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Upper body lifting, 1 mile at 5:30.  Felt pretty taxing. :(

 

I have a specific set of physical tests I have to pass before I'm allowed to return to training and I'm getting much closer to passing them (they have to do with the stability of my hip, upper legs, and back).  Another 2 weeks of hard work ought to be enough if I'm on the ball about my PT stuff.

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Lots of leg weights and some upper body stuff.  Somehow already a decent bit stronger than just a week ago.  I guess the muscular strength that used to exist can come back relatively quickly.  Let's hope the running comes back quickly when I get to do that again for real. :)

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A bunch of leg stuff at gym.  No running today.

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Some lifting and then did 2 miles in 12:27.  Hip felt good and I really wanted to do a lot more, but I forced myself to be sensible and stopped after 2.

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Upper body and leg work.

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Upper body work.

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Leg work and then 3 miles in 6:40, 5:59, 5:31.  Felt slightly imbalanced, but no pain.  Longest run in a few weeks and longest pain free run in roughly 2 months.  Pretty sad, but it's progress.  5:31 pace feels really fast right now.  Can't wait to get back in shape...

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Feel like more days of super short (1 to 2) running will help with strengthening.  Did .5 slow in 3:30 and then 1 fast in 5:14.  Running faster vs slower makes no difference for my hip, it seems, so I might as well keep the pace honest if I'm barely running.

Leg stuff and upper body also.  Maybe 10 miles this upcoming week? :P  Going to be a slooooow build. 

 

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Upper body in gym, then partied hard with Kevin. Hah.  Right leg is passing pt tests.  Now just need left leg to do so.

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City Creek, all on trails.  Felt good during the run, a little off afterwards, but still the best it has felt in like 2 months.

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Just a short little bit on a treadmill.  Keeping with doing most of my mileage fast, did the first .5 in 3:07 and then did a mile in 5:09.  Hip felt strong.

 

A bunch of weightlifting also. 

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Quick upper body workout, no run.

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2 miles in 12 something.  Did a really intense upper leg workout beforehand, so my legs are actually really fried tonight.  Still feeling like I'm having a hard time specifically strengthening this stupid hip, but I guess it's feeling better with the minimal mileage I'm running on it, so it's still getting better.  Who knows how long it will take to be running normally... hopefully not all that long!

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Race: Gravity Hill 5k (3.13 Miles) 00:18:21, Place overall: 1, Place in age division: 1
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I signed up for this race nearly two months ago, right after not getting into St George Marathon via the lottery, in an attempt to win a spot at St George.  I had a fresh injury, but thought it would go away much faster than it has.  By the time the race rolled around, I was one of only 2 people in the lottery for the marathon spot and honestly hoping I wouldn't get it, as early Fall is just seeming too early to run a good marathon at this point.  I am in horrendous shape right now after 2 months of having an injured hip that is finally coming around, but saw that the times last year were slow, so I figured I'd just try to run as competitively as possible without setting my injury back.

 

 (slightly net downhill, but a good bit of climb along the way for a 5k, so slower than just a basic flat course)

Jogged over to the start of the Gravity Hill 5k.  Stomach was feeling messed up this morning (probably should've woken up early enough to eat beforehand), so I went to the bathroom a couple times beforehand.  Started out and fell right in behind Susannah Hurst (U of U XC/Track runner with 16:34 PR, same as mine).  We stayed pretty close at a modest pace for the hilly first 2 miles, never getting more than 1 or 2 seconds apart.  My stomach was bugging me and my rhythm was off, not to mention that I'm never confident about my hip anymore, so I was content to just let her do the work.  I tested the waters a little bit with a non-commital pass at about 1 mile, but she reacted immediately, so I just sat back.  1.5 miles in, my stomach suddenly started to bug me like crazy and I threw up slightly, which is never fun halfway through a race.  Fortunately, it didn't slow me down and that was enough to settle my stomach, so I stayed right behind her.  We crossed 2 miles around 12:15 or 12:20, so while the course was really hilly up to that point, it wasn't all that quick.  Realizing that a) my hip was still feeling good and b) that she could probably outkick me if I waited too long, I started to throw it into overdrive at about 2.25 miles.  I passed her and, after 6:10-ish pace for the first 2 miles, I closed the last 1.1 at 5:20 pace, which was enough to hold off her finishing sprint by about 5 seconds.  I thought I had run a few seconds faster than I did (watch and finish line confirmed this), but official result is 18:21.  I guess it doesn't matter since the time is so slow.  I ran a few miles of cool down with Susannah to get up to 7 total for the day without any hip pain!!!  Winning and not getting chicked was good, but not having my hip explode on me was a lot better.  I'm feeling encouraged going forward that I'll be able to train for real pretty shortly.

 

 (Big overstride while running fast, one of the things I'm supposed to fix, according to the PT... Oops...)

Went for a 6 mile hike to and from Dog Lake with Holly and her sister Nala afterwards.  Hip was a little tender on the downhill, but I iced when I got home and it has been fine since then.

 

 

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Lots of leg work in addition to some upper body work. 

 

Later... easy 4 miles, threw in a 5:40 mile on a nice gradual downhill.  Hip felt good, but still iced afterwards, which I've been doing daily recently.  Feeling extremely hungry to get training again, so I just need to be sensible for a few more weeks while this resolves itself 100%.  I think I'm going to shoot for a fast fall half and take my time on subjecting myself to the beating of another full marathon.

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Running around the Avenues with Holly.  4th/D to B to 11th to K to 4th to 4th/D.  Just a little bit tonight.  Really want to be able to do more soon... Starting to feel really fired up to train...

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Squats and upper body at gym.

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To Des News finish line, around Liberty Park once, and back.  Hip was a little irritated by the downhill on the way there, but OK on the loop and on the way back.

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Spent some time up on BOSHO trail.  Hip didn't feel great on the last mile (downhill).  Did some hip/glute work at the gym afterwards.  It was 98 degrees when I went running and I didn't see a single person on the trail until the last half mile.

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Very specific gluteus medius stuff at the gym and a good upper body workout.

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Went up to Snowbird with my brother, who I just picked up from the airport.  Watched Sage, Anton, and a few other guys finish Speedgoat, and then went for a run.  Started at Alta (lower Albion parking lot, above the Collins area), ran on the trail up to Alf's, then took the winding trail on the East side of the main ridge, up to Cecret Area, up to the top of Collins, then over Germania, down into Mineral Basin, up to the Peruvian Tunnel, through the tunnel, and up to Hidden Peak.  We took the tram down (Brennan was hating the altitude at this point and I don't trust my hip for downhills as much as uphills), and then I jogged up to my car at Alta to bring it back down.

7.9x miles total, well over 3k' gain.  Nice and slow (I carried Brennan's DSLR in a backpack for him and he frequently wanted to stop to take photos).

 

  

Note that I did take 3 Ibuprofen before today's run, so I'm not sure that it would have been so pain free without the NSAIDS.

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Solid upper body workout at the gym.  My decline press max is 40 pounds more than it was a month ago.  Strength is coming back fast!

 

After that, went over to East High track and did 3 miles starting around marathon pace and working faster from there.  I didn't wear a watch, so I have no idea of the pace, but I imagine I averaged around 6:00 flat.  Hip felt good.  Looking forward to being able to do long tempo workouts again in the future rather than this 3 mile nonsense. 

 

Went to the salt flats with my brother later.  Holly had a lot of fun.

 

 

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Hiked some miles with my brother Brennan at Alta.  We were up close to dark, so we ran the last mile back downhill. Did some weights earlier in the day.

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A lot of leg weights and a little bit of upper body.

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Similar to Monday.  Got in a mile of running while hiking with Brennan near sunset.  Also had a great day of lifting... Got my decline press back up to 200 pounds.

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