Gaining more than you lose

Church Ball game tonight- since I didn't get a run into today I just tried to run hard the entire game. 

I feel like I should make a note that one year ago today I took that fateful step onto the treadmill that would result in a transformation of body, mind and soul that has changed me forever.

I will never forget that first "run" - a Jillian Michaels iFit program where "Jillian" is in control of your speed and incline, adjusting one or the other (or both) every minute. It was a meager 30 minutes of jogging and a lot of walking, with the incline changing throughout. While I never slowed it down or decreased the incline, a good part of that first run was spent holding on to the sides, and I think I even had to step off onto the rails a time or two. My breathing was heavy, I could feel my heart trying to leap from my chest as sweat poured down my face...it was near torture, but I had made a commitment to myself that today was the day everything would change. When the 30 minute program I was complete I looked down at the distance - a scant 1.65 miles!! (if my memory serves me). I was wrecked, I literally crawled up the stairs from my basement and then laid on the floor in my family room until I didn't feel dizzy and could actually breath.

This probably is not the "doctor recommended" way to start a workout program, but it did make me decide then and there that I didn't want to feel like this ever again (especially after running only a mile and a half!!).

While I've mostly left the treadmill for "greener pastures" outside, I still hop on every now and then to have Jillian kick my butt (on a much higher program now!), and theres not one run that I go on that I don't, at least for a second, think about that first run.   

I had my running stuff with me so driving home from work I was checking out the mountains and decided to stop off and run the Mueller park trail. Didn't hit the trail until just before 5, so I was in shadows the entire time. It was really cold, but the trail did not disappoint. I only saw 2 people right at the lower part of the trail, and then I had it to myself the rest of the time. The trail was packed really well, especially on the first half of the trail, it got a little less traveled the higher you went, and every now and then you'd run into some energy sucking snow drifts that you'd sink into. I always try to see if I can be light and fast enough to make it across the top, but it usually doesn't pan out.   

You gain about 1500 feet in the almost 3.5 miles to elephant rock. Didn't look like anyone had been higher than that in some time (at least since the last snowfall). Took me 40 minutes to get up and 30 to get down. Could have been faster on the way down, but was battling stomach stuff the whole way that slowed me down every now and then. Still came in a few minutes faster than my last run of the trail, which I pretty much attribute to the microspikes, which I didn't have the last time. 

What a day! Jun and Scott made the trip up to my neck of the woods and we headed on out to Antelope Island to give the 25K loop trail a go. Weather reports had chances of snow and overcast, and even as we were driving across the causeway it appeared that we were probably in for another cloudy day. Couldn't have been further from it - started off a little overcast with very little wind, however as the run wore on the sun made appearances with a blue sky to the west -we could not have asked for better running weather. We'd only wished we'd worn shorts! 

Started the run a little slower to warm up, then after the first mile Jun dropped it into gear and picked up the pace. I tried to stick with him as best I could, because I know that if I lose him he's hard to catch back up to! Had some good sub 9 min paces as we climbed up out of the valley. Dropping back in the White Rock bay valley we picked up the pace, ran past a big herd of buffalo on the valley floor, then began our way back up towards the Elephant Head turn off. That Lone Tree climb is about the only spot on the course that required any walking. We paused for a brief pee break and regrouped. We headed back down into the Split Rock valley, and Jun was flying! I stayed right on his heels, and at one point I looked down at my watch and saw 4:54 - it certainly wasn't for long, but it was fun to think that my legs could actually move that fast. I heard Scott yelling at us from behind, but neither of us could discern what was later revealed to us as some friendly advice for Craig. :)  

The trail starts to take you back up with a gradual climb, and then there are a series of switchbacks. This was very cool for me because when I had looked at the maps, I assumed these would be steep switchbacks that would require some walking. Not so, they were completely runnable, and since Craig had gained a little ground on me, it was cool because you can still have a few words as you pass by each other. Hitting the top and heading back along flatter ground, I fell into a surprisingly comfortable (for me) 8:30 pace. I could see Craig moving well a ways ahead of me (he really gained ground on the uphills) and then I noticed three people between us. So, of course I picked up the pace and decided that I needed to pass them before we got to where I knew Craig would be waiting, at the Elephant Head turnoff, where we had stopped before. I passed one guy fairly quickly, and didn't pass the faster 2 until just a few yards before I made it to where Craig was waiting.

The three guys left after a very brief chat, then we regrouped and chatted for a couple of minutes ourselves, and then headed on out. It was a little harder to go super fast down the Lone Tree hill, since its fairly steep and hard to get a good rythmn, but we got down quick enough and pushed through the valley, again with the three guys ahead in our sites. I did walk about 10 feet of the hill up out of the valley, and the back onto the flat stuff for a bit, where I passed 2 of the three guys as I tailed Jun by just a few hundred feet. He ran with their leader for a bit, then dropped him, then I caught up and chatted for a bit, they were also going to be doing the 50K and he was going for a 2nd loop today as well. He stopped to walk and let me go on my way. I tried to keep Jun about the same distance from me the whole time, and again I was surprised when I thought my pace was feeling slow I looked down and was about 8 min/miles. Trail started heading down and so the pace remained well under 8 minutes until the finish. Finished only about a minute behind Jun, and about 4-5 minutes overall behind him, all of which was him waiting that second time at Elephant head.

I felt great the entire run, no knee pain to speak of. Did get a couple of hot spots on the balls of my feet, so I need to figure out what that was all about. Simply an amazing run, with perfect weather, and my personal long though it didn't feel like it, which is even better. I was very happy to get the full look at the 50K course and am feeling much better about having to run 30 miles in less than 2 months! 

16 miles - 1:25:30 - 9:05 pace - 2000 feet  - See Jun's blog for pics

3.5 miles @ 5% on the TM...that's about as exciting as it gets.

Trying to get back in the habit of doing something everyday.

Hit up a quick 10 miles on the bike trainer while my wife ran on the treadmill - getting her started on training for the Wasatch Back Ragnar. 

Nothing too crazy -  20 MPH average, 131 Average HR. 

Met up with Scott and Jun for a lunchtime Wire peak fiasco. This was my second time doing it, the last time was dry but very windy. Today was snowy, so I threw on the spikes and we all had some trekking poles to help us up the 'hill'. I was able to run a little over a mile, and then it just becomes a slugfest as you work your way up. Craig and I were running together, and I couldn't see Scott for the longest time...then I realized that "some guy" up ahead of us was Scott! He had taken a cutoff to get ahead of us and I just hadn't noticed. A little ways up he waited for us to catch up and we continued on. Somehow I was stuck at the front pushing along, having no idea how fast I should be going - I was just going as fast as I could, probably slowing those two down :). Just near the top Craig and Scott both 'slingshotted' around me (Shake'n'Bake!) to finish 10-20 yards ahead of me. Got to the top in 49:11, about 4 minutes slower than my last time, but the conditions certainly weren't ideal, plus the last time Craig was leading, so I just had my head down following him and letting him set the pace. We chatted up top for a bit and took in the scenery, I do love that it just sets you right on top of the city, you can pretty much see everything. 

Craig and I bombed our way down with the help of our trusty spikes to keep us grounded, only once did I catch my toe on a rock and almost lose it...that would have been messy. Made pretty good time to the bottom. While we were waiting for the microspikeless Scott, my boss called me with some seemingly important issue that she really wanted me to attend to, so I had to head back to the office while Scott and Craig added the couple of extra miles that we had planned on.

Wire Peak - 4.4 Miles - 2170 vert

So after I got back to the office and got the non-issue quickly sorted out, I was really feeling kind of chapped that I didn't get the extra miles in that Craig and Scott had...I certainly didn't want to settle for 4.4 on the day, as good as those miles are. I figured since I was still dressed, I might as well run the loop by my office. I had initially planned on the 1.5 loop, but figured that was pointless so I did the 3.3. Tried to push the pace a little on tired legs, gotta get ready for the Buffalo Run!

Road - 3.3 - 7:52 AP - 135 Vert :) 

As always, see Juns post for pics.  

As usual, when we decided to do this run, I believe Juns words were something to the effect of "every step of this is runnable...". I 'm pretty sure he must have been referring to the summertime, for today that was certainly not the case. 

We started of in the shadows of the mountains as the sun was rising, and worked our way on the Draper BST over to Corner Canyon. The trail was fairly well traveled, and while the powdery snow was annoying (like running in sand) it wasn't too bad. When we got up to the Ghost falls trail turn off the tracks we had been following went down that trail, and not up further where we were heading. About 100 yards up, though, we could see some tracks appearing in the snow and after some debate decided to hike up to them and hope they were good. Well they were cross country ski tracks and they weren't good, but we continued to follow them anyway. At this point there was no hope of running, so we just hiked for the next few miles. Finally made it to the road by SunCrest and headed towards View Benchmark. Were able to run a good part of that trail, again only hiking the parts where we were breaking through the snow. Summited at just over 9 miles.

We headed back down after a brief break with no real idea where we were headed - we knew what trail we wanted to get to, just weren't quite sure how to get there. We found a road/trail they were building off a neighborhood and it led us right down to a trail that would take us down. We were following the trail of 1 or 2 snowshoers, and Craigs skinny butt was able to float on top of the tracks, so he could pretty much run the whole thing. I, on the other hand, kept breaking through to knee deep snow anytime I tried to run, so I just tried to hike fast to keep up. Some parts were quite fun though, as you plow down a hill in the deep snow. We made it back to the road a few miles south of the Draper Temple, and decided to stick with the road until we could hit the Coyote something or other trailhead. It was nice to be back on a well traveled, albeit mostly still snowy trail.

Back on the BST Craig started to pull ahead as my energy was certainly starting to go down. It was fun as we passed the 16 mile mark to know that every step I took was further than I had ever run. Craig made the mistake of telling me he was going to walk the big hill that hits with about 2 miles to go, because once he said that I knew I had to try and run it! :) He had a decent lead on me, but I was able to get fairly close on this hill as I slowly ran it. When I got to the top, however, Craig was already at the bottom and headed back out on the flat. Those last couple of miles were killer - mostly because the snow offered no grip, and just slid around everywhere - literally sucking the energy straight from your legs. I was able to run (very slowly) the remaining climbs. I could see Craig finishing as I had about a half mile to go.

This was a brutal, but super fun run, with at least 5 miles of deep snow hiking that we had expected to be running. While I felt plenty tired and worked, my legs felt good with no pain. 

18.67 - 3500 ft - 3:52:52

I knew that if I didn't get a run in this morning, it probably wouldn't happen. Ran an easy 5 on the BST. The trail was mostly dry so I didn't wear spikes, although there were a couple of spots that I really wished I had packed my spikes with me. The south side of the Adams canyon trail was literally like bobsled track, I had to crab walk down the steep rocky section (and good thing because I totally lost my footing), and images of swollen butt cheeks relegated me to carefully walking almost the entire part. Its especially tricky because you really have no shoulder on either side, one side goes up, and the other goes down, so if you slip, you could very well be rolling down the side of the mountain! Was just as bad, if not worse when I came back and had to go up it. There were a couple of spots like that, but overall the trail wasn't too bad. Next time I think I will pack my spikes so that I don't slip and I just like to see how good they do. :)

Happy Valentines Day everybody!  

Got out for a quick run in the Dimple Dell upper gully trail with Jun. The weather was so nice - I haven't run without a hat and gloves for a while! We ran further up to the Bell Canyon trailhead to go up to the reservoir, but the steeper trail was so icy and we didn't have our spikes so we decided to forgo that portion of the trail and just head back. No one likes swollen cheeks. Nice run to start the day. 

7.31 mi - 1:01:49 - 600 Ft - 8:27 pace 

4 miles with Jun on the lower gully trail. Felt good to shake the legs out, and I felt better the rest of the day. I love runs like that. Trail was lightly dusted with snow which made for a nice run. 

Took another trip out to Antelope Island with Jun and Scott, this time we also met up with a new friend Adam (Julies husband). We got out to the island fairly early, just a little after 7. We started from the paved road just by the fence line, where the 50 mile Buffalo Run trail will follow at about mile 20 or so. Since Scott and I are running the 50K, we won't be running this section, but Craig and Adam will be doing the 50m, so it was a good look for them and fun for us.

Running down the fairly steep hill right from the start, we all knew that section would be a pain in the butt at the end of the run. We ran together for a few miles and chatted a little, then we spread out a little. I tried to stay with Craig, and kept him fairly close for most of the way to the turnaround. We were making pretty good time, keeping it around an 8:30 pace. The trail was nice and dry pretty much the entire time, with very gradual inclines. We got to the Ranch at a little over 10 and half miles, my average was a 8:35 at that point, Craig had gotten there a couple of minutes faster.

After we regrouped, refueled, and released, we hit the trail heading back. Craig had mentioned that he was going to take it nice and easy on the way back, which by now I know means he's going to push it. I was right. I stuck with him for 2 or 3 miles as he was pushing 8 min miles, and I knew if I kept that up I'd probably run out of legs, so I slowed my pace down, and continued the rest of the run by myself - our whole group had pretty well spread out so we were all kind of running on our own. Craig continued to get further and further away, and I was keeping a fairly steady pace, so I knew he was cruising. He especially pulled away in about the last 5, but that was probably also in part to me slowing too. I passed a Buffalo just off the trail as I reached my personal distance (18.67) from last week, so it was nice as I took each step further past my longest distance. 

Craig ended up finishing a good 12 minutes ahead of me, just under 3 hours, at about the same time that I hit the 20 mile mark. Just as we thought, that last hill was a pain, especially as it had warmed a little, so it was nice and muddy as you finished. This was a great run, I liked the fact that we pushed the pace going out, so my legs were a little tired on the way back so I could learn to deal with that :). We also only stopped once, which pushes you just a little more.

Overall a fun time out on the island - we were happy there was no wind! 

21.37 miles - 624 feet - 3:14:52  - 9:07 pace  

Beautiful day for a quick 5 miles on the BST...although the trail really wasn't that nice, making for a not-so-quick run. Plus I couldn't find my sunglasses - bad day for that, as the sun and snow mix, while beautiful, left me half snow blind by the end of the run.

The snow on the trail was decently traveled, but was heavy and melting, so every step sunk you in a couple of inches, making it nearly impossible to gain any momentum to keep up a good pace. It was a very nice day though, so I just ignored the pace and enjoyed the scenery. 

Nice afternoon run with Jun on the Dimple Dell upper gully trail, with a little jaunt up the road to the Lower Bells trailhead. A bit gusty at times, but shorts and a long sleeve shirt were perfect. Negative splits the entire way. Felt really good just letting gravity pull me down the trail on the way back. Its nice running with Jun when he's already run 8 miles and a few thousand feet of vert today - makes it a little more even. :) 

7.27 - 1:00:05 - 8:16 average - 567 vert 

Well, I was planning on a lunchtime run with Jun, but apparently its difficult for him to pack a pair of shoes that actually match...in size. Yes he brought two different sizes of the same shoe. I suppose thats what happens when you have a kid that wears the same kind of shoe and are closER to the same size as you. I can't see myself having that problem for a few more years. 

I thought about just taking today off, but when I got home I decided I might as well go make a run of it. 5.5 around the neighborhood just skirting the mountainside. While I don't particularly care to run on roads, at least around here you can get an OK amount of vert in.

 5.5 miles  - 44:37 - 8:09 pace - 562 vert

Lunchtime run with Jun starting on the lower gully trail, crossing over 1300 E and heading up the upper gully trail as well. I only had some oatmeal earlier for breakfast this morning, and began feeling like I was running out of gas at about 4-5 miles in...Yeah, at least the last 5 were pretty much downhill. My legs actually felt good, no pain, soreness or even tightness, just no fuel in the tank to lift them up! I figure that its good to do that every now and then so you can deal with it when it happens in a race. :) Stopped by the Philidelphian and grabbed us some Philly cheesteaks to replenish the calories...So good. 

10.07 miles - 1:28:13 - 8:45 pace - 783 vert 

With the last three weeks including personal long distances for me, I decided that I'd take it a little easier with the weekend run (though my weekly mileage wasn't too far off last weeks).

I met up with my brother at Mueller Park in the morning and we hit the trail. For a little bit we were following one or two tracks, and then ended up breaking trail for the rest of the way. A little slow going, my brother hasn't a ton of vert, so we took it easy. Absolutely beautiful trail, with a light snow falling. I noticed that some branches seemed especially low on the trail, and realized that the trail was just that high, even from the last time I ran it a few weeks ago. At least 3 or 4 feet deep, which makes it really interesting if you venture off trail just a foot (I got hip deep in snow trying to catch a picture of my bro, ha - good thing he was there to help me out). It was really fun to feel the powder hit your legs as you plow along, especially on the way down. Saw a few more people near the bottom as I came down, a lot of people hit that trail, but many don't go very far up. When I got to the bottom I dropped my bottle and ran a quarter mile or so back up to catch up with my brother and then finished the run together. I had planned on running it twice today, but with the conditions and time it took, I was satisfied with the outing and the company. 

7.07 miles - Long time - Yeah that was slow too - 1700 ft vert 

I worked from home today and noticed that Jun decided to go out and get 10 miles without me, so I figured I'd better do more than my usual Monday 5. Ran about 2.25 miles from my house to the Kaysville BST trailhead, threw on the spikes and hit the trail for another 2 and a half out - a total of five on the trail. The sun was setting as I was cruising the trail, not pushing the pace much, just enjoying being out. I wish there was a way to explain that feeling to non-runners! Nothing quite like it. Got back to the road, pulled my spikes off and traded my sunglasses for my headlamp. Even though it was a little bit light out, I'd rather be seen than heard (thud!), and it was pretty much full on dark by the time I got back home. Pushed the pace a little on those two road miles, which helped pull my overall average down a little, since I had been taking it easy. Nice way to start the week.

9.43 miles - 1:27:44 - 9:18 Pace - 1000 ft vert