Gaining more than you lose

Jun and I met up with Scott to run on Ann's trail to view benchmark. I led the way for the first couple of miles, and tried to keep a nice comfortable, yet (at least for me) fairly fast pace. Once we turned off Ann's Craig pulled ahead on the steep stuff as we continued up. I pushed hard on the steeper sections near the top and felt like I was about to blow up when I hit thesummit a few minutes behind Craig. I was feeling slow, but then looked at my time and realized that I was 6 minutes faster going up this time than I was the last - in 4 miles! We spent a couple minutes on top chatting, and then rather speedily ran back down to Anns. Once we got there Scott peeled off and ran back the way we came (had work or something...) and Craig and I continued north on Anns, met up with Potato hill, where we just bombed our way down. Hit the BST back south around by the golf course and then back to where it meets with Anns. We had run it pretty hard and so the last mile I was pretty wrecked. I had stayed with Craig the whole time down until he finally dropped me in this last mile. It was a great little loop. 

10.22 miles - 1:39:40 - 9:50 AP - 1975 Vert 

Met Jun this morning for a Saturday run, and while we weren't certain how far we were planning on going, when we were sitting in the car at the trail head we didn't feel like going far! We finally got ourselves out and moving, and I deliberately set us up with a VERY casual pace, and was happy to see that Craig was just fine with it. We motored up (casually) the climb and got to the '10K' turnaround point and didn't even stop - just kept on going. Went up Canyon Hollow and then dropped down and across and up the Ghost falls trail. Took a brief stop at the top - just long enough to become completely frozen - and then we started our way down Corner Canyon road. I was so cold all I could think about was the heated seats waiting for me in my car when we got back. Finally though, we ended up getting into a little sunshine which helped immensely. Cruised our way back to where we started, finishing up a beautifully casual run on a gorgeous day. Great way to start the morning!

 10.6 miles - 1:56:48 - 11:01 AP (Oh yeah!:)) - 1451 vert

Once I got home I spent the afternoon cutting up trees and loading them into a wood chipper! Our neighbor rented one and we just went around the block trying to get as many of the blown over trees chipped up as we could!  

What a perfect 10 mile loop. Jun and I started and the Red Rock trailhead on the BST and ran south, where we met up with Anns trail about a mile and a half in. Ran up Anns all the way until it met with Clarks trail, where we ran down that, met back up with the BST and ran back to the beginning. 

For the first two and a half miles my feet and calves were super tight and I just couldn't get any good speed going. Craig got a decent lead right from the get go. I picked up the pace after 2.5, but so did he, so I just couldn't gain on him. My stomach was really bugging me (that double double animal style was NOT the answer!), and so I just kept plodding along. Craig waited for me at mile 5, where Ann's meets Potato Hill, but today we kept going up Ann's until it met with Clarks. Again, I just had no speed in my legs. They didn't feel tired, I wasn't breathing hard, I just had no speed. That section of Anns was a lot longer than we thought (ended up being 2 miles) and it was all along the north side of the hill, so it was got pretty dang cold as well. He was waiting again for me at Clarks and we cruised down together for a couple of miles. I was able to run pretty well there, until my stomach hit again, which slowed me down, and then I turfed it. That jarred my knees up a little, but I just hopped up and "ran it off". At that point Craig opened up a good lead again and I didn't see him much in the last mile plus to the finish.

For how I felt I can't believe I even came close to eeking out a 10 min AP, but I guess the downhill helps with that! It was really cold, but we were dressed for it and it was a beautiful evening run...OK it was late afternoon, but the sun was setting, so thats evening to me.

10 miles - 1:39:25 - 9:57 AP - 1600 Vert 

7 miles on the BST - nice evening run. Felt pretty strong and fast on the way back - probably because I was alone and Craig wasn't making me feel slow by being a half mile ahead of me. Almost got run over by a couple of mountain bikers right near the finish, which I was surprised by because it was getting dark and they were just heading out. 

7.07 Miles - 1:03:27 - 8:59 AP - 850  

In Dallas this week for work. Went out and had a big ol' Texas sized rib dinner, and figured I better try to get a bit of a run in. Ran a rough 4 miles on the treadmill. Side cramps the whole time (duh), the TM had a TV on it, but no way to get sound. Watched a little Ridiculousness, so it wasn't too bad. 

4.5 on the hotel TM, nothing exciting. 

Jumped in the ice cold pool afterwards, which felt quite nice.  

Met Scott and Jun in Millcreek where we ran the pipeline trail. It was a little cold and windy in spots on the way out, but we also got a light snow falling which was very fun to run in. Saw a dude sporting the womens Lone Peaks - they must fit him better, or he likes the colors! 

Jun and I finished it off with a big ol' plate of wings at Wing Coop, yum! 

Had a churchball game later that night - I tried to sprint hard down the court each time and keep at it. I'm still amazed at how quickly I recover -when everyone was bent over breathing hard I felt just fine. I guess all this running helps with stuff like that! :) 

Hangin' out with my son most of the day - the weather was beautiful, but I just couldn't see how I was going to get a run in, and consigned myself to missing out on the day. Well, then Matt VH calls me up and starts asking me about trails in our area and it starts getting me all excited to run, so I kind of invited myself to go along. Luckily, he was game for some company. I had let my brother borrow my car, my wife was at work, and I was home with my son, so I was in a bit of a pickle...but luckily I had a brother that was willing to come pick up the munchkin, and Matt just picked me up at my house, so it worked out. 

We ran from Baer canyon over to the BST in Kaysville, it connects just above the 1st bridge. It's an OK route, has a big steep climb right at the start, but then its a cruiser from there on out. There is one section where you run above the shooting range, and its a little sketchy. Even though you know they're not (hopefully) trying to shoot at you, your pulse still quickens when you hear those shots go off an you can look just down below you and see people shooting in your direction! My pace quickened in that section!

Both of us had forgotten our watches, so we just cruised along and enjoyed the run. Ran to Fernwood and then back. It started to get dark on the way back, and that made it quite difficult to see, especially in the dirt sections. The snow would give you a little contrast, but the dirt just looked like a black hole and you couldn't see a thing (the 'glare' from the city lights below really made it hard). Surprisingly we made it to the end without either of us falling.

The trail was snowy. steep and slippery in spots, and we were both very impressed by the traction that our Lone Peaks provided. Good little route, especially if you want to tack on some extra miles without having to go up past Fernwood - and its even better if you can go when people aren't trying to shoot you. :)  

I haven't been getting out as much to run these past few weeks - between work travel, holiday commitments and just overall busyness - it's just been hard to get out. Combine that with all of the holiday treats and me neglecting to eat lunch before the run, it made for quite a grind. 

I met Jun at the Capitol and we ran up the Steeplchase course to Black Mountain. We ran together on the road and then Craig began to pull away as we hit the uphill trails. I was also trying to be very aware of my form and how it was affecting my knee, which made me go a lot slower. About a mile up the trail I had to stop and shed a layer - it was much hotter than I had anticipated! Craig was waiting a little further up and we continued on. He pulled away again and then I noticed that my left foot was starting to go numb. I've had that happen occasionally, but it usually just goes away. Today though, it just got worse and worse, until I felt like I was clomping down a 2x4 with every step. At the top of a hill I stopped and loosened my laces, as that is often the culprit. Felt better for a little while and then it came back. Craig was waiting for me at the top of the hill at about mile 4, where I took my shoe off and stretched my foot, and then put it back on really loose. That seemed to help a lot and I only felt a little numbness every now and then as we went up (not at all going down). 

I still was going really slow and just didn't feel like I had 'it' today. I knew Craig wanted to hit Black Mountain, and I could think of many valid excuses why I could just say I was going to turn around and cut it short. That's not how I roll though...Ha. My saying is that I may not be fast, but I will just keep going. It actually felt good when we got to the really steep climb up the ridgeline, I had been looking forward to a little hiking. It's a great workout and I figure it's got to help the knee get stronger. Right near the top (though I didn't know it was the top yet) my legs started feeling a little like jello and I was really starting to feel my energy deficiency. I was pleasantly surprised when I came to Craig sitting on a rock under a tree reading the summit log - we were at the top! Sweet. We chatted there for a minute and then headed back down.

The way down was super sketchy, as the snow was packed down and it was steep! Neither of us ate it, which was good, I came close, but only because I tripped over my own leg as I brought it forward! It would not have been a good place to go face first! Craig really hit the downhills hard, and I was being extra careful not to punish my knee too hard (seems to do fine on everything except the really steep stuff, up or down). When I got to the bottom of the first big decent, my quads were pretty hammered, and I was quickly running out of energy - and we still had 5 or so miles of quad crushing downhill left! Ended up getting slower and slower and just couldn't push anything much faster than a 9 min mile. Craig ended up waiting for me for like 12 minutes at the bottom! I thought for sure he was getting ready to come looking for me. We very casually ran the road section for a cooldown. I was feeling completely wrecked. 

I grabbed a JBC and a 32 oz Coke from Wendys, and almost immediately felt better. Nice...

 14 miles - 3:09:00 - 13:30 pace - 3750 vert