Gaining more than you lose

Took a ride with a friend in west Farmington, he got a new bike and wanted to test it out. I've been mostly running lately and hadn't really been on a ride since finishing the 72 mile Sanpete Classic in August - so it felt good to stretch those legs out a little - though they did feel a little heavy at times! 

Ran an easy two with Co-worker (jun) as he was on his final taper run before the Pony Express 100, then dropped him off and picked up the pace for another 5 around the streets. I certainly prefer the trails over the roads, but it is fun to see the pace pick up quite a bit.  

Since my friend got his new bike he's been itching to try and beat me on it (I had dropped him badly in the Sanpete Classic 72). We had also done the Willard Bay Triathlon earlier this year, and he wanted to see how our bike times would stack up to that now that we had been riding a bit more. He went out on the Legacy Parkway Trail and did 12.5 a couple of days ago and wanted to see if I could beat the time.

He got something around 36:15, so my goal was to beat 36 minutes, which meant that I would have to average close to 21 mph. Legacy is pretty much flat so I was able to keep the speed up, but was dealing with a crosswind the entire time (I did an out and back and was hoping for a tailwind when I turned around, but no such luck). The bugs were also absolutely horrendous, with my legs, arms and bike getting covered in dead bugs - now I know how the windshield must feel. I was, however, able to finish of the ride at 35:57, 20.9 mph average. I was pretty spent, and the Costco hotdog I'd had for lunch certainly wasn't helping!!

I've been running the BST in Kaysville for the past few weeks now, and had never been past the 4 mile mark (for 8 miles total). This is also the first 4 miles of the Wasatch 100, and I wanted to see where it connected to the Great Western trail and heads up the ridge. I knew that the turn off was around 4.7 miles, so I decided I'd go to 5 to make it a 10 mile run. While theres some decent ups and downs in my usual previous runs on the BST, it seems that right around that 4 mile mark is where it really starts to pick up in elevation, so that last mile ended up being a little slower than the rest, but the views were beautiful, especially this time of year. As planned, I only went up about a quarter mile on the Great Western trail, stopping to take in the scenery before heading back down. I stopped for a minute at the Fernwood parking area to refill my bottle, then finished the rest of the way feeling really good - despite this being my longest trail run to date. 

I wanted to see if I could, and how long it would take me to get to the top of Baer Canyon (of Baer Gutsman fame) and back down. The first 2 or so miles where fairly runnable, though after that, it became mostly hiking, running when any brief opportunity arose. I was a little strapped for time, so I wasn't sure if I'd keep going, but seeing the top so close I just kept hiking. From looking at maps of the trail, I knew there was a series of switchbacks near the top of the trial, and when I was below them I could see their faint cuts into the side of the mountain - I was looking forward to possibly running up these. As the first switchback came, however, it was overgrown and hadn't been used in sometime, and the trail just went straight up. This certainly made the route more direct, but it was just a grinding hike to the top. This dumps you out on Francis Peak Road, just north of Francis peak and the "golf Balls". I made it to the top in about 1:30. I spent a few minutes taking some pics and eating a Cliff Bar before heading on down. I screamed down most of it, having to slow down and take care in the very steep parts. I passed a guy near the bottom who asked me how far I had gone. I said "To the top", to which he responded "And all the way back down? You're crazy!" It felt kind of good to be called crazy. :)

My knees felt good all the way down, making corrections to my stride if they started acting up. I also felt good the rest of the day, but my quads were completely wrecked when I woke up the next morning. I've got the Vegas Ragnar this next week, so I'll be taking it easy anyway to get them rested.

I also decided I needed some proper trail shoes, as I've been running trails in my road shoes (Saucony Men's KilKenny XC3 Flat Racing Shoe), which are minimal even for road shoes, and don't offer much protection from sharp rocks that jut up and getchya. NB MT101s should be here Tuesday!

Hit an easy 22.7 on the bike with a friend. Quads were still sore from Saturday but it helped to stretch them out a little, though they were tired on the hills. Getting pumped for the Vegas Ragnar this weekend!

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas! Day One...

Stayed in Mesquite last night, since we were in Van 2, we were able to get some breakfast, do some food shopping and head out to exchange 6 for our first runs. I was runner 7, so I would be starting our van off. My first leg was 6.2 mile starting from Callville Bay (Lake Mead). It was about half uphill (600 feet or so) with a gradual downhill the second half (300 ft). I felt fairly strong, but it was warm, so I was happy when my van drove by and tossed me my water bottle (it was a non-support leg, so they couldn't stop to support me). That helped a lot as I was able to keep my head a little cooler and keep going. Finished off the leg in 52 minutes. We continued on supporting our other runners until our final runner finished his first leg at Lake Las Vegas Lowes Hotel. Then we headed to Henderson for some food and a little rest. The Cheesecake Factory was practically across the street from the next exchange, where I had an amazing Salmon, pasta, spinach and mushroom dish. Too bad our other van was way ahead of schedule, and I'd end up running way sooner than I had planned!

Second leg (leg 19) started a little after 10pm - according to our schedule I wasn't supposed to have to start until midnight. So, with a gut full of food, I started out on my 5.9 mile uphill jaunt. We were actually happy to get an earlier start, because then it meant that we wouldn't have to be running quite so late into the night. This run went well, all uphill (750 ft), though not as steep as the last run. It wasn't extremely well marked, so I had to yell at a few people when they made wrong turns (luckily I ended up being right!). Other than the nasty burps from dinner, I made it through that one pretty well at 53 minutes. The next runner had a downhill run to Las Vegas Boulevard (way south of Vegas), and then the next three runners were straight shots south down the boulevard. We then headed west where the last runner (my older brother, younger brother was running too), headed off the road onto a "dirt road" which looked more like a washed out creek bed, full of jutting rocks and boulders. This would have made a tricky enough run in the day, and here they were running it in the middle of the night. The "trail" was also about 100 yards off the road, so you had to park your van and then cross the desert to wait by the trail and hope you don't miss your runner. I heard more people cursing that trail while I was waiting!! Made it to Goodsprings at about 4am, then off to the next exchange to try and sleep.

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas!! Day Two...

After passing the baton in Goodsprings, we made our way to the next major exchange where I would be running in a few hours. It was in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of rocky desert soil to sleep in. I managed to snag about two hours of sleep in the van, strewn across two captains chairs. The sun came up and we got word at about 7:30 that they'd be here in an hour an a half. I figured I'd better get up and loosen up a bit. I walked around a little and thought I should eat a little something, so I grabbed a bagel and went to stand in line at the "Honey Buckets". Well, as I chomped my bagel, a piece of it seemed to get lodged in my throat, and I couldn't get it down. I could breath, it wasn't blocking that - its what I usually refer to as "Mashed potato choking", because it seems to happen with those a lot. Usually after a minute or two, the offending piece of food slides its way down. This time it wasn't, and I was starting to not feel so good. I ran over to the van and grabbed the first drink I could see, Gatorade - and tried to chug some to get it down. Immediately I get a gag reflex, because its so blocked. Everywhere I turn is a sleeping bag or a group people talking. I finally found an empty piece of ground where I began dry heaving. I didn't throw up (I hate throwing up!) but my body sure wanted that out of there! Any Gatorade I would try and drink, my body would send it right back out. I'm sure it looked and sounded awful to anyone around, but I really was just trying to get that thing out. Finally a little piece came out and that seemed allow the rest of it to go down. I was a little worried for a bit, because I had the longest leg of the race coming up, and didn't want to have to put that on anybody else on my team-they had their own last legs to do! Luckily the disaster had been averted - I was able to drink some fluids and use the honey buckets, so I was ready to roll. I sat in the van to stay warm until the other van showed up, meaning that the runner was probably within a mile of the exchange. I headed on up, got the exchange and started my 10.1 mile "Ragnar Leg". The first couple of miles were typical, had a few cramps, was tired, not feeling great, but once I got warmed up, I eased into a good pace and just worked my way up the hill. This one was a 6.5 mile 1300 foot climb, followed by a 3.5 1200 decent once you summit. I passed a lot of people walking really early on, even one guy seemed to be walking back to the exchange within the first half mile. I kept truckin', our van had big pirate flags on the back of it, so I could always see where my van was waiting for me up ahead, which was nice. The first time I passed the van, my brother said "Hey, watch out, you're about to get passed by a guy in a Speedo". Well great, I thought, just what I want to have to follow! Sure enough, a couple a minutes later he comes past me. I gave him a hard time about his speedo, and told him he better speed up, cuz I didn't want to have to follow that the whole time! He told me I wouldn't want to be around at the finish then, because he was going to wedgie himself as he finished! Well, despite my comment, and the view, I wasn't about to let this guy just fly by, so I kept the same pace as him, with him a little ahead for a couple of miles, when the hill started getting steep, and he couldn't keep it up. A mile and a half from the top, he broke into a walk and I motored on past. I sumitted feeling really good, happy that I'd gotten the hard part behind me, now I just had fairly steep 3.5 down. At least I could just let my legs follow along! I started off really fast, and actually had to pull myself back a little, because I still had 3 miles to go. I kept a decent pace going down, got passed by this little lady from a van we'd made friends with, and she just flew past. She weighed about a buck five, so that probably helped her float on down. A few minutes later, I hear an "On your right" and who else would it be, but butt cheeks himself, catching up to me on the downhill. Again, I kept pace with him, and as we come within sight of the exchange, still a good 3/4 mile away, he decides its time to show them cheeks off. Of course I gave him some crap, then I caught up to him and passed him - I did thank him for giving me some motivation to run faster!! I sprinted about the last quarter mile, getting down to a 5:12 pace, and handing off strong, jogging another half block just to slow myself down!

The rest of the runs took us through Red Rock, and we ended at the Red Rock hotel and casino, where we had a couple of rooms. It was nice to walk straight from the race to our rooms and to the pool and hot tub! It was also funny to see half the people at the hotel later that night hobbling around. It was a lot of fun, with some desolately beautful scenery, though it doesn't quite stack up to the Wasatch Back (although having less people sure was nice!).  We were certainly not in it to win it, and finished with a 31 hour time.

I had a great time and usually walk away from these Ragnars feeling a little inspired. You get to know people you didn't know before, you get to see them (and yourself) push themselves to do things they didn't know they could do.

Did an nice'n'easy 5 miles on the BST in Kaysville. Maiden voyage for my NB MT101's. They felt good, offering more protection from the rocks that my road shoes, but still maintaining a low profile. Ran through a puddle and between my socks and shoes, my foot was pretty much dry within minutes. Snowed a little on the run, and the contrast of the rocks, snow, trees and colorful leaves was gorgeous. 

No run today, drove 10+ hours after work until about 2am to Spokane, WA to visit family. Hoping to find a couple of good trails while I'm up here.

Played 3 hours of basketball last night, I was feeling it but still wanted to get some kind of run in. Pulled my brother in-law along with me for a 5 mile run on the Centennial Trail in Spokane Valley. It was rainy (didn't see the sun at all while we were in Spokane), but the run was awesome. While it was a paved trail (minus points for that...), it ran next to the river with lots of pine trees and other cover. We saw a bald eagle perched on a tree, the backdrop of pines in the trees made for a great scene. A whopping 100 ft of gain at just under 2000 feet of elevation - a coupla grand less than I'm used to, my lungs didn't mind.