Gaining more than you lose

Met up with a big ol group of people for an Anns trail loop run. Scott, VH, Josh, Jun, Steam and Lily all made it out and we had a great time. Weather was fantastic, if not a little warm - What? Certainly doesn't feel like January. 

Fun time with a good group! Perfect way to start the year!

Ran BST in Draper with Scott and Jun. Talk about poop on a stick. I have been feeling so sluggish lately. I just couldn't run fast. I didn't feel tired or sore or anything, I just couldn't maintain a good pace. Craig and Scott just left me in the dust. I figure its got to be the extra lbs from big the holiday diet and meager running regimen. This next month will be focused on getting back to a good running weight so I can try and keep up. :) Knee was complaining quite a bit, so I'm going to try and limit my punishing runs a little bit and get that thing to heal up. 

Ran Dimple Dell with Jun. 

He was wanting to get 10 miles and I wasn't quite. I knew I'd be running slower so I told him to just run to the top and not wait for me. We ran together for the first mile or so and then he took off (immediately after he said he wasn't really felling it...riiight).  I ran to mile 4 and then turned around - I was feeling pretty good, but felt like 8 would be a good run. Just cruised back, only had to wait for Craig for about 10 minutes. Shorts and a T-shirt. Beautiful day!

Hit View Benchmark with Scott and Jun. We all cruised up Ann's trail together, then once we started hitting the steeper stuff I got dropped. I was really low on energy, hadn't really eaten yet, other than the protein shake I had on the drive over, so I think by stomach was busy working on that, using up all the blood my legs needed! Pushed the last climb hard, got to the top in about 48 min. Not my fastest by any means. Was expecting a bit of a slog down, but it ended up being pretty fast and easy. Super fun. Another short and T-Shirt day. Nice October 95th day.

Evening 5 miles on the BST in Kaysville. So fun to run in the snow again. A little slower going, but the trail was well traveled so it wasn't too bad. Was hoping for a couple more miles, but didn't want to run in the dark as temps were starting dropping quickly, so I turned around at the 2.5 mark for 5 in just over 50 minutes. 

Since I didn't really feel like I could get up early enough to make it down to run Lake Mountain with the boys (plus I had some work things I had to do), I was able to make it out for a quick jaunt in the Gully. Once I got through the tunnel I decided to go down and stay in the bottom of the gully rather than go up like we usually do. What a great surprise. The trail was super fun and winds around through trees and just gives you a lot of variety that the top section has NONE of. I had actually planned on turning around sooner, but was having so much fun I just cruised along. On my way back I was feeling pretty good and pushing the pace pretty well, and I saw a couple of ladies running up the trail towards me. As I got closer I realized it was Juns mom and her friend! I stopped and chatted for a minute and then took off. I guess ever since they joined us for the HPHM, they've been hooked to the trails! It was fun to see a familiar face. Legs felt pretty good, energy was great. I guess that's what happens when you take two days off! Ha. Finished a couple minutes under an hour. (I forgot my watch so just had to go off my cars clock).  

As I told Jun, I like "the day after running a 50K Craig". That puts him just at about my level! Ha. 

Even though the boys had run around Lake Mountain yesterday, Craig still showed up to work ready to go and hit View Benchmark. We also invited a friend from work to tag along. We kept it super casual and just had a good time. It was cold enough as we started, but as we got higher and more exposed the wind really picked up and was REALLY cold. At the top we spent just a couple of minutes and then blasted down - it was FREEZING. Like painfully cold on your face. Luckily it didn't last too long and we had a fun time just crashing down the sketchy terrain. Casual run back to the car, followed by a stop at Little Caesars for a nice recovery Pizza. 

Nice chill run with Jun on the Dimple Dell trail. Took the lower trail after 13th and just cruised along. Absolutely beautiful day out. Took us an hour right on the nose. 

Jun and I decided we'd try and hit the Grandeur loop today- with Jun not getting enough miles on vert on his legs this week and all. Tyler, who I had met running in the Buffalo Run 50K, the Legacy Duathlon, and the PET 50 miler, is preparing for the Buffalo 100, and so we brought him along to help with this training. We got to the trailhead just as Tyler was arriving, and I introduced Craig as the 3rd place PET runner and told him his time. He looked impressed but more importantly what I think he got what I was really telling him was - stay close to this guy and listen to what he tells you! We ran the first little hill together, and then just as we started hiking those two were already pulling away - which I was fully expecting.

I just got into my "I may not be fast, but I keep movin'!" power hike, and watched as Jun and Tyler slowly got further and further away. The whole loop is 10.6 miles, and HALF of your time is spent on the 2.3 miles to the top. It's a slog - but I like it because it absolutely kicks my butt and I know that I need to get better at it. It's also a great way to get an amazing workout without beating up your legs too much (was great for my knee). As I crested a little ridge a little ways before the summit, I could see those two just getting to the top - freak! I knew I had at least 10 more minutes. They were really moving!! I got to the top in about 1:15, where we took a couple of minutes to look around and take in the valley. What a nearly perfect day! Weather was awesome, the scenery was great. If the company would have been better it would have been just about right! :)

Once we started heading down it was immediately clear this was going to be sketchy and, within about 2 seconds I slipped on some ice and was on my butt. I hashed up my hand a little, and cursed myself for not putting on gloves before heading down. The next half mile or so (felt like more) was ridiculous, the trail was just a sheet of ice with a nice steep hill to your right. We picked our way forward, Jun just took off ahead (I swear he just floats sometimes). Tyler was wearing his road shoes, so he really had it rough - not that anything besides spikes can do much for you on stuff like that. FINALLY we got past the really sketchy stuff and were able to open it up and tear down the hill. Tyler was speedy going down, and we really enjoyed the cruising down.

Met back up with Jun at Church Fork, where he filled his bottle, and then we headed west on the Pipeline trail. I saw the two of them for all of about 2 minutes and then they were gone. I was settled into a steady 9 min pace, but I just wasn't feeling anything much faster. I finally came to them as they waited for me at Rattlesnake Gulch, and then we cruised on down to the road (again, they just flew down). Once we hit the road Tyler took off a bit, and I did a decent job of not letting Jun pull further away (even though he was down the road a little). Once we got to Wasatch Blvd, my legs were really feeling it, but I just kept trucking along - it felt super slow, but it wasn't terrible. I really pushed hard the last quarter mile or so to really make sure I sapped as much out of my legs as possible!

Once we got back to the office I summed it up to Craig this way - "Isn't it funny that I just had my butt handed to me and I loved every minute?" I think that's the part that's hard to explain to people that can't figure out why in the world we do what we do - you actually love that feeling that keeps most people from doing it!

Great day, dang near perfect weather, awesome course, and OK, great company.  

Jun ditched me at work today (for good reason), so rather than run around work I decided that I would stop by Mueller park on my way home and hit that up. I've only run it a few times, but I quickly checked to see what my fastest previous time was before I left. 1:11 last year around this same time. I knew that I wanted to beat that, and I knew that my real goal for this course would be under an hour - which is totally do-able on the dirt, but a little more of a challenge in the snow. 

Felt pretty good going up, but tight. I had done box jumps, lunges and other random crap to my legs yesterday, so they were sore in places they aren't used to! As I got nearer to the top, I thought I was closer than I was, and figured if I could hit the top in 35 minutes, I could easily get under an hour. So I pushed it hard thinking that the end was right around the corner, but in fact I still had at least a quarter mile more - I burned out a little too soon and ended up going pretty slow up the last little climb before the end. Got there in 38 something. Took a few minutes to hang out up there, it was pretty much the only spot on the entire trail that got any sun, so it felt nice.

Heading back down I kept trying to do calculations in my head, and figured at the very least, I'd like to split the difference between and hour and 1:11 - so like 1:05, 06. I really tried to push it going down, and in the snow it just seems like you can only go so fast! As I got closer I thought that 1:03 would be a solid time, so I really pushed hard the last mile and came up at 1:02:29 - almost exactly 9 minutes off my previous time! I'll take it.

My face was completely numb by the end! I guess that's where the Yule beard comes in handy!

Trail conditions were good, well tracked all the way up, a little sloppier though as you get higher.  

View Benchmark with Jun. Sloppy mess the first couple of miles, then thick, heavy snow on the upper part. The snow really drained me and I had a hard time running in the snow on some of the hills - Jun was floating along as usual. The way back down was fast and sketchy. We both finished with mud all up our legs and covering our shoes. Not my best outing on that course, for sure, but I had a great time anyway. 

Met up with Matt VH to try for a morning run, but after driving around for a bit in the pouring rain, we decided to just bag it. 

Later that day I decided to try out an Jillian Michaels iFit program on the treadmill - the same thing I used when I first started running, but at a much higher level. This one was called "Boot Camp" and was a pretty dang good workout. It pretty much consisted of switching between 7.5 and 8 mph on 9% incline for 40 minutes.Watched "Unbreakable" (for the second time) while I ran - hard to not push it when you're watching that! 

When I got done I heard water trickling and looked over to see water dripping into the basement. Great - so I immediately had to throw on a coat and hat and ended up spending about a half hour on a ladder in the snowstorm trying to fix where the water was getting in. I guess it was a good cool-down!

Did some weights & plyo later that night while my wife ran.   

Birthday morning run. Visiting my parents in Colorado, so took a quick run on a dirt path by their house. Great views of the flatirons. Mostly just little rolling hills, but I tried to keep a pretty steady pace. 240 vert. 8:18 AP. 

Went for a run with my Dad - he just started running last year when he purchased a pair of Altras and was amazed to find that many of his foot ailments from years past nearly disappeared. It was a nice, slow very casual run (for me) but it was awesome to run with him and see him push hard up the hills. I never thought I'd ever see him running 3 miles! We're trying to fill an entire team with just my immediate family (and spouses) for Ragnar so its been fun trying to get a lot of the non-runners to jump right in! 

At home with my son today and, as luck would have it, my wife actually got home while there was still some light outside! I threw on some shorts and a couple of shirts and headed out to the BST. Beautiful evening run. I started with a long sleeve and a light jacket, but it wasn't long before the jacket was unzipped and then a little later it was off completely. I didn't wear spikes, and luckily it was just warm enough that the really icy spots were a little soft so there was some traction. It was pretty slippery and slushy, but the Lone Peaks did just fine. Conditions didn't allow for much speed, and I was content to just keep it casual and enjoy. Running back the sun was setting and the pink and orange was cast all over the clouds and onto the snow. I love running in the snow at sunset! If you think you have to hit a TM or not run at all during the winter, you're missing a whole new world (queue Aladdin music...)!! 925 vert, 10 min AP 

View Benchmark with Jun and Scott. Started out nice and easy, those two had to stop to relieve themselves, but I kept going and tried to keep them back as long as I could. I was feeling pretty good and was surprised that I made it to the switchbacks before Jun caught me. Scott caught up a while later, I was having a really hard time keeping up a good cadence on the crusty hard (but sometimes soft) stuff. It really slows you down! Got to the top and enjoyed a few minutes taking in the view, not a lot of wind today, which was super nice. Really warm out.

The way down was super sketchy at first, you just never know what the snow might do with each step. We took it fairly slow, then picked it up a little as we got to the dirt road section. Scott was at the front as we hit the switchbacks, and kept a pretty nice pace going. When we hit the steep downhill, he just flew down! I'd never seen him go down that as fast as he did. He never let up on the pace as we all cruised down Anns. My goal was to pass Scott, but I didn't want to make a move too soon and then blow up, so I waited until the BST splits off from Anns above the tower, and then Scott let us pass amid a muddy mess of a trail. I was pushing hard in the low to mid 6's and it wasn't 10 seconds later that I came a around a slight bend and my plant foot hit a nasty patch of mud and just went flying out from under me! I went down with a squish and just lay there for a minute laughing while Craig snapped a picture of me. I was covered in mud. The best part was it was probably less than a quarter mile from the end! Ha. Gotta have a good fall every now and then.

Finished strong and laughing and then we hit up the Chevron for a drink and snagged a Hot'n'Ready for the drive back to the office. See Juns blog for pics.