Gaining more than you lose

Group run up View Benchmark. Brought my bother along, Craig brought his, and RAD joined in the fun to round out the group. Weather was windy, but not really too cold. Took it nice and easy and kept the whole group together in the bottom section, spreading out just a little as we got to the top. Hung out up there for a few minutes in the wind and then ran a fairly decent clip back down. Felt good, it was fun to chat and run with the group and I haven't been on VB for a long time, so it was nice to be back. 

Insanity Asylum - Speed and Agility

Did a little 'race' in the gym with a couple of guys from work. I ran 5 miles while someone else rode 15 on the bike, and another rowed 9K on the row machine. It certainly helped make the TM somewhate more bearable. Had I done the row I probably would have passed out after about 5 minutes. 

PM - Insanity Asylum - Strength (50 min) 

Basketball game - played pretty respectably considering I haven't played in at least a year. I give credit to all that driveway hoops as a 12 year old. 

Went straight home and did Insanity Asylum - Back to Core. I tweaked my back a little in the game, so this was perfect - seemed to get everything back into position.  

Insanity Asylum - Vertical Plyo. I knew my upper body would get worked with Insanity, but I've been a little surprised with some of the soreness I've been getting in my legs from it...I like it!

6 miles, City Creek BST west side. Unbelievable weather - shorts and a T-shirt. Muddy in spots, but not as bad as I thought it might be. nice and easy up, pushed it on the way down. 

PM - Insanity Asylum - Relief 

Grandeur Peak with Jun, Scott, MattVH and my brother Aaron. Started nice'n'early at 6am, and it was considerably warmer than usual to start. Weren't super fast getting up, just found a steady gear and moved up the mountain. Jun and Scott pulled away about half way up, and put a nice little gap on me. Got colder the higher you got, with the wind picking up and the clouds keeping the sun from reaching us. Hit to top to find those two huddling behind a rock to block the wind. Scott kept trying to snuggle, and I might have fought it more, but it was warmer...:)

MattyV and Aaron came up shortly thereafter and we hurried down out of the wind after snapping a few pics. Top section had a couple of slippery spots, but it really wasn't too bad. Once we hit the switchbacks heading down, the trail was practically perfect. I had a blast just cruising down that trail, we didn't see a single person on it, which was a little surprising, but I think the threat of a storm was keeping people away.

Pit stop at Church fork and then we cruised on over to Rattlesnake gulch, heading up over Bambi hill. Steep climb for a little bit and then a long, fun, fairly steep downhill. I really don't know if you save any time going this way rather than going down to the road - but it is WAY more fun. This was probably one of the more brutal runs that Aaron has been on with me, and he did just great. 

Good times all around. 

After work run with Jun and MattVH up wire peak and down the other side. Beautiful night, I love that ridgeline run. 

City Creek BST. Fairly casual going up, pushed it a little bit (but not full throttle) on the way down. A little muddy and slick in places. 

Met up with Jun for a lunchtime run to the Avenue Twins. Started and the trailhead and worked our way up. A bit muddy down lower, but got better as we got higher. Feeling really slow on the uphills right now, overall time to the top was 54 min, which isn't my fastest, but certainly not my slowest either. Took a slightly different trail down from the peaks which put us on the BST for little longer. Found a nice pace and just cruised our way down. Love finding the time to get these in. 

First run with the Suunto Ambit, and I gotta say, so far I am seriously impressed.

Met up with Jun and Leslie at the zoo - 5am. Chilly start, but it actually got to be pretty warm. To City Creek and back. Was surprised by the climb up Dry Fork, but had a blast coming back down it later. Climbing legs were shot early on, this is the biggest week I've had in a while, with a decent vert day yesterday afternoon. Downhill was fine. Craig and Leslie hung around for me at the top of the hills. :) Great way to start the day and end the week!

Casual 5 miles up the BST from City Creek east before work. Took it easy, just wanted to wake the legs up and get something in today, Mondays seem to be hard for me to get time to run. 

Well that was just downright pleasant. Cold, but I loved it. Ran the avenue twins, took it nice and easy, and just enjoyed the run. It was sunny and cold, with a decent amount of snow the higher you got. Bone chilling wind on the saddle and the first twin, so I was expecting a very brief stop at the second one, but it was actually quite nice, so I ended up hanging out there for a bit just as the sun was setting. Felt really good and loved the sound of squeaky snow. I'm sure that will get old, but I'm loving it for now. Always weird how jarring the dirt seems when you get back on it, especially when its frozen. Last mile was pretty slow as it was dark and my stomach was hitting like a rock with every step.  

Met up with Scott for another run at the Avenue Twins. Weather was spectacular, if not a little hot! I was regretting not wearing shorts! We had a great time just chatting as we cruised up. Took a different trail down that Craig and I tried last week, it was some awesome powder and I had a fun time blasting down that. Met back up with the BST and cruised it on back. Hot lunch after!

Scott on the 2nd summit

After a couple of days hitting the avenue twins, I decided to amp down the vert a little bit, but didn't want to run the west side City Creek, since it's been so warm it would be a mess, plus to get 9 miles I would have had to run a few on the road...pass. :)  Decided to park and what I call the Dog Park trailhead at the top of I street. Connects you right to the BST, but you skip the first mile climb, so it saves you a few hundred feet of vert. Ran the BST to the top of Dry Fork and then turned around and came back. Still got about twice as much vert as I would have had I run the west side trail. Shorts and a long sleeve...what month is it again?

Olympus with Jun, Jeremy and my brother Aaron. This was both Aarons and my first time on this mountain, and its one that I have been wanting to do for some time. Took it pretty easy the whole way up, dealing with pretty warm temps most of the way - rough, I know. As we started up the chute the wind really picked up with some icy bursts, that had us quickly wanting the warm back! Absolutely beautiful on the summit. Clear skies, with fantastic views all around. Jun had to get back soon, so he took off and was nowhere to be seen within seconds. We had a fun time just slip sliding away our way down. Quad busting awesomeness. Broke my spikes about halfway down, so had to readjust a little until I got used to the change in traction. Great way to start the day and end the week, glad I've been able to use up this awesome December weather. 

I also just realized I haven't had a 40 mile week that hasn't included a race since JUNE!! Yowzaz. This week makes 2 in a row right around 40, so I am certainly happy about that. Good way to cap off the year. Hopefully I can get a few miles in next week as well - lots going on.   

Aaron Skiing his way down 

Lake Mountain with Jun, Scott, Jeremy, Aaron, Craigs friend Cameron and his cousin Mindy. This was pretty much a brutal slog from the get-go. Snow was falling and wind was blowing strong. It wasn't long before we were anywhere from shin to knee deep snow, breaking trail the whole way up. Saw several bucks and Scott and I even had a buck barreling towards us on the trail before noticing that we were on it and coming to a sliding halt. He stared for a minute then spun around and took off, it was awesome! 

Wind gusts got worse as we got higher, and the final push to the top was downright ridiculous. I couldn't feel the right side of my face by the time we reached the summit, but it was nice to get there! We blasted our way down, which was really fun (as usual). We passed some snowmobilers who were coming up the road and couldn't believe that we were up there. We high fived them and moved on. Craig and I took off a little ways ahead, and I only fell twice (one of which was getting up from the first fall!) despite Craigs attempts at making me fall more.

Haven't been on Lake Mountain since last winter, so it was loads of fun.  

Ave Twins with Josh and Scott. Started from the Capitol, and took it pretty easy from the start. the  trail hadn't been traveled since the new snowfall, and once we got above the BST there was no trail at all. We were breaking trail in above knee snow in no time. It was slow going, but it was so cool. There were deer everywhere, we think we saw some elk as well (they were far away, but looked too large to be deer). 

Not a lot of people out. On the way down we were singing our ultra version of "Time of our lives", when we passed a snowshoer who was probably wondering what was wrong with us. We sang extra loud when we saw her coming. Ha. 

Last day of the year run with my brother Aaron. Hit the BST in Kaysville to Fernwood and back. It's been a while since I've been on that trail. Snowy, but well packed. I broke my spikes a week or so ago on Olympus so I didn't have any, but it was actually just fine, maybe just a little slower.

Incidentally, since I bought the spikes from Backcountry I can just send them back (100% lifetime guarantee on everything) and have ordered a new pair. Easy Peasy. Love those guys.