Another tired 3 miles for my run

Even though my wakeup heart rate was 55 this morning, I was tired during my run. I ran/walked for 75 minutes (about 3.25 miles), going south from the East Pavilion in South Jordan and back. I ran for about 90 seconds and walked for about 30 seconds. After the first mile or so, I changed that to 70 seconds and 40 seconds. I walked a lot of the way back to my car, and when I did run, my running was for less than a minute and my walking was for more than a minute. I've been sleeping well the past few nights, and my wakeup heart rate is slowly coming down. However, my energy level is low. Part of my problem this morning was that I skipped breakfast and didn't go running until noon.

We've had night-time lows in the mid 20s (F), but the daytime highs have been in the low 50s. There was a 5-10 mph head wind during the first half of my run, and that might have contributed to my being tired. I think, though, that the main reason for my being tired is the lack of sleep I had for a couple of weeks. The four or five nights of good sleep have brought my wakeup heart rate down, but my energy level has remained low.

Did a tired 3 miles in my run

My wakeup heart rate was 58, not as high as the 60-62 I've been getting, but too high for me to do really well in my run. I labored through 3 miles. I've misplaced my two-phase timer that I usually use to control how long my runs and walks are, so I just run until I feel the first symptoms of getting tired and then I walk for a short time. Today my runs were 2-3 minutes and my walks 30-40 seconds. I didn't feel energetic during my run and was glad to stop at 3 miles.

There is a cold front going through Utah, and the temperature during my run was in the low 50s (F). The sky was overcast with a few sprinkles. Rain showers were forecast, but they didn't materialize. Utah County, south of Salt Lake County, did have rain. The temperature tonight will be in the mid to low 30s (F), possibly a light frost, and tomorrow night we'll have freezing temperatures for sure.

I've been getting my 7 hours of sleep during the past week, but my wakeup heart rate isn't coming down much. So, I'll continue getting to bed earlier and give mother nature more time to give rest to my body. After my body is rested, the wake up heart rate will come down. Apparently, a tired body needs more oxygen, hence a faster wakeup heart rate.

With the advent of cold weather, the ducks in the Jordan River are returning to the parking area at 10oth South, hoping people will take pity on them and feed them. During the winter there will be 30-40 ducks begging for food. During the summer there might be 2 or 3 ducks. Today I saw about a dozen ducks.

Did a rest run of 20 minutes

My wakeup heart rate was 65, due to lack of sleep a few nights ago. I had good sleep last night, but it takes a few days of good sleep to slow down my heart. The lack of sleep wasn't due to going to bed late. I just woke up and didn't go back to sleep. I did a light rest run of 20 minutes to loosen my legs.

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Ran a medium run of 90 minutes

My wakeup heart rate was down to 66, but I didn't feel especially energetic. I left home hoping to do a run of 100 minutes, but I cut it short a bit at 90 minutes because I was feeling tired. I could have pushed myself to do the last 10 minutes, but I decided that 10 minutes wasn't worth it. I need to rest for my long run of 140 minutes on Saturday.

I started at 100th South and hoped to go south and then turn around, but the tunnel under 106th South was flooded again. Last Saturday the water was mostly gone. Today the tunnel is flooded. I don't understand what is going on with that tunnel. I ended up running back and forth north of 106th to get my time in. The temperature was in the high 60s, and it was another beautiful, Fall day.

Walked yesterday instead of running

My daughter and her family came down from Evanston Wyoming (90 miles), and we visited three museums in Provo (about 25 miles). I walked about 1 mile going and coming from the museums, and I walked another mile or so inside the museums. I was on my feet for about three hours. The museums were at Brigham Young University. My daughter is home schooling her kids, and this was their field trip. We visited the art museum, the natural history museum, and a museum featuring dinosaur skeletons and similar things. It was all pretty interesting. While at the natural history museum, I looked carefully in the marsh exhibits for a long legged bird that was all black and had bird-like feet instead of duck-like feet, but I didn't see it. I've seen quite a few of them in the wetlands south of 10600 South.

My wakeup HR is still high, but ran/walked for 89 minutes

My wakeup heart rate was 57, still high but 4 points lower than yesterday. My wakeup HR has been 61-62 all week, even though I'm getting close to my 7 hours. I didn't feel energetic this morning but decided to go running anyway and to quit when I got tired.

I started at the East Pavilion in South Jordan and went north to the end of the trail. Then I came back to the East Pavilion and went about 1/4 mile south and back to reach 5.0 miles.

A couple of years ago, a new marathon and half-marathon were started, these races were held this morning. I found myself in the middle of the runners. There were runners everywhere. I noticed that most of those running the race were younger, thinner persons, but I did see a few older runners. I saw two or three really heavy persons. They were walking, and I hoped they walked the whole marathon (or half marathon), because they didn't look like they were in shape for either 26.2 or 13.1 miles. I saw one guy who looked like he was really in pain. He was a younger guy and was thin, but the look on his face indicated he was suffering. When I passed him, he was trying to stretch his legs, and when he looked at me, his face said "help, I'm in pain". I'll never know, but it would be interesting to know what type of training he has been doing. Most of the runners looked like they were doing OK. Quite a few of them smiled as they passed me, and some of them recognized me as an old person and said, "Keep it up". There was also a kids race, and I passed quite a few families doing that race. One girl, about 5 or 6 was running as fast as she could, and she kept looking back at her family. She had a big grin on her face that indicated she was proud to be running faster than her parents.

I'm glad to see a marathon and a half-marathon come to South Jordan. Doing those races will involve less driving than my going into Salt Lake City.

A nice 59 minute (3 mile) run

My wakeup heart rate was 57, 2 points higher than on Friday, the day of my previous run. I've been getting sufficient sleep the past couple of days, but I was sleep deprived for a few days before that. I've noticed in the past that after I've been sleep deprived for a few days, my wakeup heart rate goes up. Then, when I start getting sufficient sleep, there is a delay before my wakeup heart rate goes back down. So, after measuring my wakeup heart rate this morning, I didn't expect to have a really great run.

I felt pretty good during the run. Because of my relative high wakeup heart rate, I ran and walked at slow paces and just enjoyed being outside. The temperature was in the low 60s (F), but there was a south wind with 20 mph gusts. During the last 3/4 mile, I started to get tired, and I took a short rest with just 1/2 mile to go. After a minute or so on a bench, I finished the run, stretched, and headed home to mow my lawns.

There is a cold-front passing through tonight and tomorrow, and the temperature will be lower and light rain will likely occur. Starting with Wednesday, however, the rest of the week should be warmer and nice.

Ate too much before I ran

I left home hoping to do a 140 minute long run. Instead, I did about 70 minutes and ran about 3.5 miles. My wakeup heart rate was 55, 4 beats higher that it was on Wednesday.I ate breakfast of two Norwegian pancakes, and I had a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, thinking I would take a nap before I ran. I tried but didn't sleep during my brief "nap", and I got up and went running. I knew it would be cold outside, and I wore my nylon wind breaker. I also wore running shorts, which was a mistake. I should have worn long pants.

When I started running, I could tell that I had eaten too much, or the wrong type of food. I couldn't breath very well, and I had to run slower and take bigger breaths. In addition, it was raining (light) during my run, and I was cold and couldn't get warm due to my slow speed and a cold wind that was blowing. The temperature was in the mid 40s (F), not awfully cold for running but cold for slow jogging and walking. After I returned home, I took a hot bath to get warm, but I felt cold during the evening. In addition, my stomach didn't feel very well, but it's feeling better now as I prepare for bed.

All things considered, it was not an enjoyable day.

The best run/walk I've had in 3 years

I had a great 100 minute medium run this morning. I completed 6 miles in the 100 minutes. Typically, I've done about 5.2 miles in that time, and a few times when I was tired I only did 4.8 miles. This illustrates why I like running or walking for time rather than for distance. When I'm tired, I do less distance and when I feel great, I do more distance -- all for the same time.

My wakeup heart rate was 51, the lowest it's been since I had blood clots three years ago. I started from 100th South and planned to run back and forth for 100 minutes, but when I got to the bridge at 106th South, the water was almost gone, and I kept on going south until I reached 50 minutes. I then turned around and returned to 100th South. When I reached the parking lot, I still had four minutes left in my run, and I kept on going north until I reached 100 minutes. I then stopped and walked back to my car, the walk being my cool-down.

After I had gone about 0.75 mile, it started to sprinkle. I could tell from the dark sky that rain was coming. The rain did come, although it was a light rain, and it lasted for most of my run. There was a lot of wind, with gusts about 20-25 mph. The wind was from the south and was a head-wind until I turned around. Even with that head-wind, I was able to keep a relatively good pace using my 1:20 running and 0:40 walking segments. When I turned around, the wind was a good tail-wind, and I had to slow down my efforts a bit to keep from going faster than I wanted to. With about a mile and a half left, the wind and the rain stopped. However, half a mile later, the light rain started again, but the wind didn't come back. I kinda missed having that tail-wind.

When I left home, the sky was completely overcast, and the clouds covered the tops of the mountains east of the valley. The temperature when I left was 61 (F). I knew it would be colder than it has been, and I wore my long-sleeved Pearl iZUMi technical shirt. I only had that one layer, but I was glad it had long sleeves. While I ran south I was facing the wind. I could feel the rain drops on my chest (they felt like cool spots), but my back felt warm and nice, even though it was wet. When I turned around and was running with the wind, my chest felt warm and nice, and I felt the cool spots on my back. I was glad I wasn't wearing a cotton shirt; it would have been soaked, heavy, and clinging to my body. The technical shirt felt light, even though it was wet, and it was blowing in the wind. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s with a wet T-shirt and a brisk wind blowing are ideal conditions for hypothermia, but I felt warm and nice during the run.

I will be doing my long run (140 minutes) on Friday instead of on Saturday, due to a Halloween party we are having for our grandkids. If I feel as good on Friday as I felt this morning, I'll probably do 8 miles instead of the 7.1 or 7.2 miles that I've been doing.

The Jordan River still has a relatively lot of water, but the level is down from its peak in the summer. As I passed under 114th South, I noticed there was still water next to the pillars that support the bridge. At its peak during the summer, the river overflowed the path under the bridge, and I estimated as I passed the pillars that the level has dropped about 3 feet from its peak. The level will continue dropping as we go into winter, but next spring the level will start to rise. Water from Utah Lake enters the Jordan River via a large "gate" at the start of the river. The gate keepers increase the flow in the Jordan River during the spring in an attempt to lower the level in Utah Lake and thus give the lake more capacity to absorb the spring runoff of water from the winter snow without flooding homes near the lake.

A great 60-minute rest run/walk

I got to bed last night at a decent time, and after 7 hours of sleep I woke up with a wakeup heart rate of 53. I ran for 60 minutes and did 3.22 miles. I would have had 3.3 miles, but I took a long walking break in the middle of the run while I ate two small apples from an old tree near the path. The tree is loaded with apples, and I'll eat a couple each time I pass the tree. The tree, I assume, belonged to the farmer who owned the land. However, when South Jordan City got the strip of land that now contains the Parkway path, the tree ended up on the Parkway side of the fence.

I used a run/walk ratio of 1:20 running and 0:40 walking. That is 10 seconds more running and 10 seconds less walking than I was doing before the 5K race a week ago. The shade temperature was about 80 (F), and it was a great day to be outside.

Finished the week with a 2-mile run

I ran two miles in the early afternoon. I usually would have gone for seven miles, but I was tired. My sleeping pattern has really been messed up this week. I've only gotten 4-6 hours sleep each night, and my energy level has gone way down. My wakeup heart rate was 58 this morning. My problem has been staying up too late and waking up at my normal time.

I ran the 3:0 and walked the 0:30 for about half a mile, and then I decided to go back to the intervals I was using before the race last week. I did add a few seconds to my running, though. I finished my run doing 1:20 running and 0:40 walking. That is a 10-second increase in running and a 10-second decrease in walking from the intervals I ran before the race.