Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I woke up just before 6:00 to go do an hour of intervals on the treadmill, but when I arrived at the Central City Rec Center I learned that the fitness room doesn't open until 6:30, so I went home and slept some more before going to work.

After work I went back to the rec center to run for an hour. By then my motivation had changed, and since I have no structured plan, I did what I wanted to, which was a 20-minute block of tempo-ish running:

-20 minutes at an 8:00 pace

-20 minutes at a 6:27 pace

-20 more minute at an 8:00 pace

My wife also ran with me, but not on the treadmill next to me because some weird dude with a fanny pack (it's not a lumbar pack if you wear it in front) jumped in and walked very loudly on the treadmill next to mine. Lame.

Anyway, I'm still not a runner, so my legs are killing me, the blister on the bottom of my left foot is growing, and my right nipple is ever so tender. To give everything a rest, I'll do some Nordic skiing tomorrow morning. Then I'll do some treadmill intervals on Wednesday to begin my mini taper for Saturday's 5k. I have no great expectations, but I should be able to break 20 minutes, hopefully by more than a little.

I drove up Parley's Canyon in the snow for some skate skiing this morning. Three easy laps on the Main+Mitten loop for a total of 6.3 miles. I'm not sure how long it took (I should invest in a stopwatch), but I wasn't skiing very fast. It must have something to do with my being tired, the new snow on the ground, and the lack of wax on my skis. I felt a little lightheaded halfway through the second lap, probably because I didn't sleep well last night, but it felt good to work my legs while giving them a rest from the pounding they get from running. We'll see how tomorrow's intervals on the treadmill go.

I was back on the rec center treadmills this evening for a little interval work. A quick 15-minute warmup at a 7:30 pace, followed by four 3-minute intervals at a 5:30 pace (the last two were at a 5:27 pace--soooo much faster) with 5-minute recoveries at an 8:00 pace. I finished it all off with 13 minutes at 7:30 and a 5-minute cool down. Then, it was off to cry about the blister on my right foot. At least I remembered to bandage my boobies, so today's run was free of the nipple-related chafing that has plagued my last two.

 Easy day tomorrow.

I did an easy run on the treadmill today to help the legs recover from yesterday's workout. I'm "racing" a 5k on Saturday, so I don't want to overdo it. Not that I ever want to overdo it, of course. It's just that now would be a particularly bad time to overdo so.

Also, I didn't wash my shorts after my last run, and they smelled really, really bad. Really. It was pretty embarrassing. So, I picked up a couple of new pairs of shorts tonight. Consider it a long-term investment.

I decided to run early this morning to give myself plenty of time to recover before the 5k tomorrow. I was on the treadmill again, so I put in about 30 minutes at a mellow 8:34 pace, with two 3-minute intervals at my 5k pace. That should be enough to keep my legs lively without wearing them out for tomorrow.

 Despite being the same model and size as my other shorts, both pairs of shorts I bought last night were too big, so I had to run in track pants. Boo to loose manufacturing standards.

My goal was to break 20 minutes this morning, so my time of 18:51 was a success. The funny thing is that a part of me is disappointed. I'm not new to endurance sports, and I'm used to being on the sharp end of things, so finishing nearly three minutes behind the race winner kind of annoys me. Obviously, I've only been running regularly for two weeks. And the last couple of months have pretty much been off months with very little structure (or volume) to my training. But I know that I could be running much faster than I am, even though  it's unrealistic to expect to do so so soon. Sometimes I get impatient.

My only real problem with today's race has to do with my choice of breakfast--Grape Nuts. Talk about a boneheaded mistake. I know better than to eat right before running, especially before a hard effort. And I also know that a 5K doesn't require much in the way of stored energy. But I didn't like the idea of running at 10:00 having not eaten since the night before, so I set my alarm for 6:30, ate some breakfast, and then went back to sleep for an hour. Normally, three hours is plenty of time to digest a meal, but Grape Nuts are about as digestible as lead. As I was warming up I could feel my breakfast sitting in my stomach like a brick, and I knew I was in trouble.

I went out too hot from the start, but I felt okay for a little more than a mile, after which I felt like I was going to poop, puke, or both. As you can imagine, I started going backwards pretty soon after that. From that point on, all I could do was settle into a manageable pace and hope that everything stayed in my stomach.That's no way to race, but I've learned my lesson, and I won't repeat the mistake.

Not only did I met my goal, my wife, Catherine, met hers, so we count this morning as a success. Next up is the 10K. My goal for that race is be able to run at today's pace or better, so I'd better stick with the training.

I spent the afternoon assembling bookshelves for our new apartment, and in the evening I went skiing at Mountain Dell. Conditions were good, and because I didn't start skiing till after 8:00, I had the place to myself. Me, my iPod, and a (disappointingly obscure) full moon made for an incredibly relaxing workout. I skied 4 laps on the Main+Mitten loop (total of about 8.5 miles) in a little less than an hour, and then I picked up a pizza on my way home to finish off a pretty decent day.

Day off.

Let's get this out of the way right up front: I like running on the treadmill. I don't know if this is frowned upon in the running community the way liking to ride rollers is frowned upon in the cycling community, but training indoors appeals to me, especially when the weather gives me a reason to stay inside. Training inside may not provide the sensory stimulation, etc. that training outside does, but it does allow for very precise workouts. And in my experience, those workouts can make you very strong and very fast. And that's very satisfying.

Needless to say, I was back on the treadmill this morning. I upped my mileage a bit and threw in some tempo work so that I can (hopefully) run faster in the 10K than I did in the 5K.

• 20 minutes at an 8:00 pace
• 15 minutes at a 6:00 pace
• 5 minutes at a 9:00 pace
• 6 minutes at a 6:11 pace and 9 minutes at a 6:30 pace (this was supposed to be 15 minutes at 6:11, but I quickly felt like I couldn't hold the pace and needed to slow down. I probably should have stuck it out)
• 20 minutes at an 8:00 pace

After a brief cool-down, I wound up with 10.5 miles in just over 75 minutes. Then I went home and ate a big bowl of Grape Nuts (after the run--that's the trick).

With any luck, I'll have new shoes tomorrow, but to give my legs a rest from the pounding I'll be skiing instead of running. I'll probably be at Mountain Dell, but TUNA is grooming the East Canyon road tonight, so I may take advantage of the opportunity to ski up Big Mountain on a freshly groomed trail.

I was happy to be back at the Evil Weight for this morning's weigh in, but that was where the good news ended. I was too cold and too tired to ski Big Mountain this morning, so I headed to Mountain Dell. I planned to ski two laps on Main+Mitten and one lap on the Big Loop; unfortunately, I wasn't feeling strong enough for that, either. It's too bad, because conditions were great. I ended up skiing one lap on Main+Mitten and another on the Lower Loop, about 5 miles total. I'm not sure why I felt so weak today, but I suspect that it's a combination of not having eaten enough after yesterday's run and not having gotten enough sleep over the past few days.  

After yesterday's shortened workout, I kept feeling worse and I was pretty out of it by the end of the day. I was worried that I had gotten sick, but so far there have been no symptoms other than fatigue and a bit of a headache. I still think it's because I haven't been sleeping well.

Speaking of which, I had another restless night, but I still got up early to put in my miles down at the rec center. I ran for 75 minutes at a mellow pace, and I felt pretty good the whole time. It seems like my legs are finally adjusting to the pounding. I hope they're ready to do some work tomorrow.

I recently read that setting the incline on the treadmill to one degree can mimic running on the road and take some strain off certain parts of the body, so I increased the incline for my run this morning. I couldn't feel any initial difference, but I seemed to fatigue more quickly during my intervals and, consequently, had to dial back my effort for the day. I'm not sure if the fatigue was because of the incline or because I did a long (for me) run yesterday and one day wasn't enough recovery. Either, way, I'll be taking it very easy tomorrow morning.

Today's run: 10 minutes at an 8:30 pace followed by 15 minutes at a 6:15 pace, followed by 5 minutes of recovery at just under a 9:00 pace. I only made it through 5 minutes of my planned second interval (same pace) before dialing it back to 7:00 for 5 minutes and then finishing the workout alternating between a 7:50 and an 8:30 pace. In the end, 8.33 miles in 62 minutes.

I ran five easy miles at an 8:30 pace this morning. It felt a little harder than I think it should have, probably because of all the birthday cake I ate last night (birthday cake . . . mmm). I ran 2.5 miles before stopping to take off my shoes. I figured that I should at least try running barefoot before the craze cools down (assuming it does, I suppose). My plan was to run the last 2.5 with no shoes, but after a mile my feet felt like they were blistering, so I put my shoes back on to finish the run. Maybe I should have gone completely barefoot instead of wearing my socks.

Cowed by the weather forecasts online, I abandoned my plans for a long day of skate skiing and instead opted for a long run indoors. And by long I mean 15 miles in 2 hours, which probably doesn't count as long for most runners. But keep in mind that that's longer and farther than I've ever run in my life. At least, in a single day. Hooray for me.

Naturally, the weather turned out to be much better than predicted, so I feel somewhat foolish for having spent so much time running indoors. Still, I'm happy with the effort. I started at an 8:30 pace and increased the pace by 7-8 seconds per mile every 10 minutes. After 90 minutes I was running at a 7:15 pace, which I decided to hold for only 5 minutes before gradually winding the pace down to end the run.

In the end, my average pace was about 8:00 per mile. But I wonder, did I get a better workout by starting slow and increasing the pace, or would I have been better off running at a steady 8:00 pace for two hours?

Today is a rest day, which is convenient, because I could use a rest, although my legs aren't nearly as sore as I expected them to be after yesterday's run.

I was fasting yesterday, so a tempo run was obviously not in the cards this morning. Instead I ran easy for an hour on the treadmill (of course, though I really should take my running outdoors). 

I haven't yet decided what my training will look like this week, but whatever I do has to ensure that I finish Saturday's 10K in less than 40 minutes. I think I'll do some tempo tomorrow, then take it easy on Wednesday and really easy (if not off) on Thursday. On Friday, I'll do some short intervals at my target 10K pace, which I hope will leave my legs ready to race the next day.

Because I felt better this morning after eating a lot yesterday and sleeping reasonably well last night, I did the tempo workout that I would have liked to have done yesterday.

• 15 minutes at an 8:13 pace
• 30 minutes at a 6:35 pace
• 5 minutes at an 8:00 pace
• 10 minutes at an 8:27 pace

My ankles/lower legs have been feeling sore since Monday. It's strange, because I can walk and run without problem, but I feel some tenderness when I'm standing or sitting around. I set out to do five easy (9:00 pace) miles on the treadmill this morning, but I could tell that my legs were not going to feel any better if I kept running, so I cut my workout off at 20 minutes and lifted weights instead. Tomorrow I think I'll go skiing at Mountain Dell, and depending on how I'm feeling I'll go for a short run on Friday. With a little rest, I hope to be good to go on Saturday.

The weather foiled my plans to ski this morning, but I wanted to spend at least one more day away from running (my ankle feels much better, but I don't want to push my luck). Instead of sitting around, I decided to spend 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer (and yes, it was as fun as it sounds). The computer says I went 6.2 miles. I'm not sure how it comes up with that number, and I know the machine is not the same as running, but I'm going to go ahead and credit myself with 5 easy miles today. It's my blog, and I'll do what I want.

Edit: My wife says that because the elliptical machine is not running, I shouldn't count any miles for today. Fair enough.

My calves are so sore from the elliptical machine yesterday. I guess I should have seen that coming. There's nothing I can do about it now, though, and my ankle is feeling much better, so I decided to run again this morning. I did 35 minutes at a very relaxed pace, with a couple of 5-minute intervals at my (theoretical and hopeful) 10K pace to loosen the legs up for tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, but I won't be eating Grape Nuts 3 hours before the start. 

Me and the Cap'n made it happen. Or did we make it happ'n?

Anyways, I learned from the 5K Grape Nuts fiasco, and when I woke up for a 6:30 breakfast this morning I feasted instead on delicious and nutritious Cap'n Crunch (with Crunch Berries, because you can never eat too many fruits and vegetables).

My original goal for the race was to keep it under 40 minutes. Based on my 5K time, the race calculator predicted a 39:20 finish for me, so I decided to shoot for a time under 39 minutes. Obviously, my actual time of 37:55 was much better than expected. Go me. Woo.

There's still room for improvement, though. If I had shown up early enough to warm up, and had the discipline to do so (jogging from registration to the start doesn't count), I probably could have run a little faster. Also, although I didn't go out as hot as I did at the 5K, I didn't hold back as much as I should have on the way out and I spent the return trip paying for it. Still, I only added one or two seconds per mile to my 5K pace from two weeks ago, and to me that seems like solid improvement. I'm looking forward to the 15K.

Today was a rest day, and I had plenty of non-running activity to keep me busy.

This was my first non-race run outdoors this year. The weather reports last week predicted nice weather for today, so I decided to take advantage of the holiday to get off the treadmill and onto the road. Unfortunately, today was gray and drizzly, but not bad enough to keep me indoors. I looped up through the Avenues, down past Memory Grove, around the state capitol and down to Beck Street before looping through Rose Park and returing (mostly) the way I came.

This was the longest I've ever run in my life, and my legs held up pretty well, although I ran into trouble in the last mile and a half. It wasn't the fatigue (although I was tired) as much as it was the strain of running downhill, which I haven't really done before. Living in the Avenues, I imagine I'll get used to it, but today it was agony.

I also had some trouble eating and drinking along the way. Meaning that other than a handful of Jelly Bellies after one hour and a can of Coke after 90 minutes, I didn't eat or drink anything. In the summer, I can use the drinking fountains along the route, but for now I'm going to need to figure out a way to carry my water if I want to finish strong.

All in all, it was a good run. I'm still new to this, but I seem to be progressing nicely, and I think my cycling fitness should be mostly transferable. It had better be, If I'm going to survive my plans for the next two months . . .

Yesterday's run left me more sore than I expected. Part of that may have been that I was running faster than expected (miles between 7:11 and 8:19, with a 7:42 average), but I think the main problem was the descent of 11th Avenue. To give my muscles a chance to recover and come back stronger, I ran a very easy 4.25 miles on the treadmill. I'll probably do some steady miles tomorrow, and if the weather allows it, I may check out the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on Thursday.

My legs are still a little stiff from Monday's run, so I decided to do an easy hour on the treadmill this morning to loosen them up. That, plus a 5-minute cool down, seemed to help. I was thinking of doing a trail run or some tempo tomorrow, but I may keep the pace mellow for the next couple of days. Right now, I think I'd rather go easy and be ready for another long run on Saturday than trash my legs with some speedwork now.

Today's run was a short one. I started at the mouth of City Creek Canyon and ran one mile up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on the canyon's west side before climbing a half mile up the switchbacks to where the trail comes out above some really big houses. Then, I turned around and ran back before finishing with a short run down Bonneville and around the capitol. 

The difference between running on the trail and running on the road feels a lot like the difference between cycling on the trail and on the road. Basically, you get to work much harder to go much slower. The uneven surfaces, the steep climbs, and, today, the mud (which I think added a pound or two to each shoe) all work against you. But it's a lot of fun. By this summer, I expect I'll spend more time running off road than on.

I took today off, hoping there's another long run in my legs tomorrow.

I set out this morning with the goal of running farther and more slowly than I did on Monday, and failed at both.

Today's route was supposed to be essentially the same as Monday's until I got to Beck Street, where I would increase the length of my Rose Park loop, adding a couple of miles to to the route's overall length. I also planned to run at a more leisurely pace than Monday's 7:42 per mile, because the point of these long runs is to build endurance, not speed. But I ran into the same problem that I did earlier this week; specifically, when I'm on flat or slightly descending roads I have a hard time keeping the pace under a 7:30 mile, even though I should be going slower.

Anyways, I felt good today and I should have been able to finish with around 20 miles, but as I came back up to the capitol I experienced what I can best describe as gastrointestinal distress. Yikes. Instead of pushing my luck (and risking a pair of soiled shorts), I ran straight home down B Street instead of looping east on 11th Avenue to Virginia. Even with my GI adventures, I ended up with 17 miles in 2:10.

Today was a rest day, and the first day of a rest week. I'll keep the intensity the same as I have for the past few weeks, but I'll cut the volume about in half, and I should be ready to rock for the 15K on Saturday.

This is a rest week, so I don't plan to run more than 5 miles daily until the weekend. Catherine and I went to the rec center this morning where I ran an easy 4 miles on the treadmill. My legs are a little sore from last week but otherwise fine.

I joined the volleyball team when I was a junior in high school. Our coach, Coach Nelson, was a former football strength-training coach, and he pushed us accordingly. Most of our workouts took place on the court, in the weight room, or on the track, but twice a week Coach Nelson would make us run The Hill.

Obviously, The Hill was a hill, and a beast of a hill at that. It wasn't that long, but it was steep (very steep), loose, and gravelly (most of us wore soccer cleats). There were 5 or 6 different turnaround points along The Hill. If we were running to the first point, our intervals would start every minute. Intervals to the top started every six minutes. The ultimate goal was to run The Hill to the top 6 times in one hour. Urvish and Cameron, who both ran cross country in the off season, did it my junior year, and Cameron did it again my senior year (Urvish had already graduated), but I don't think anyone else had accomplished the feat for as long as the volleyball team had been running The Hill. I don't think I ever managed more than 5 or 6 repeats.

The funny thing about The Hill was that it didn't seem like it should be so hard. And for one or two repeats, everything felt fine. But by the time you reached the top for the third time, you'd be "running" slower than you could walk (or walking slower than you could crawl), while your legs and lungs burned more than they would if you were sprinting.

I only mention this because I climbed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail up the West Side of City Creek Canyon this morning. As I approached the ridge above Ensign Peak, I took my second walk break and thought, "Wow, I've never really done anything like this." Then I remembered I had.

Running on the trail is nothing like running on the road. It's frustrating to be so slow in the hills, but I'm not discouraged. I ran faster and farther on the trail this week than I did last week, and I'll be even faster next week. Hills make you strong.

Unless you sprain your ankle on the descent.

This morning I ran an easy 5K on the treadmill and then lifted weights. I think my miles outdoors are starting to ruin the treadmill for me.

I ran three 5-minute intervals on the treadmill this morning, running at an 8:13 pace between. My idea was that I would alternate between hill intervals and 10K-pace intervals. After this morning's run, however, I think I may need to rethink my hill intervals in terms of pace, duration or both.

I ran my first interval at the same 8:13 pace I had been running but on a 10 percent incline. I finished the interval, but I was worried I might throw up. After 5 minutes of recovery, I ran a 5-minute interval at 10K pace with no real problems. After another 5 minutes of recovery, I started another interval on a 10 percent incline. Because the first hill repeat took so much out of me, I slowed the pace to 8:30. It wasn't nearly enough, and I abandoned the interval at 3 minutes.

I had hoped to run on steeper inclines to get the same effect as running faster on flat ground while improving my ability to run faster up hills. In theory, the idea is sound, but in practice I need to tweak the intervals a bit. The 5 minutes at 10 percent were much harder than 5 at 10K. The incline and speed I used today would be great for shorter intervals, but for 5 minute intervals I need to decrease the incline or my speed or both.

I wonder how slow I'd need to run to do 30-minute "tempo" runs at 10 percent.

I ran an easy 5K on the treadmill this morning and then lifted weights for a bit.

This race was the first at which I wore my Garmin (or any timepiece, for that matter), so it was the first time I could go back and see how my pace held up over the course of the race. Splits were as follows:

• Mile 1: 5:55
• Mile 2: 6:02
• Mile 3: 6:11
• Mile 4: 6:14
• Mile 5: 6:13
• Mile 6: 6:11
• Mile 7: 6:14
• Mile 8: 6:22
• Mile 9: 6:27

I was on pace for a 6:17 mile for the final 0.3 miles, although there's no way I would have been able to hold that for an entire mile by that point.

Looking at my splits, it seems like I was actually quite consistent. But unfortunately, I went out too hard at the start, which clearly cost me at the end, when I faced the wall and didn't exactly break through it. Lame.

Anyways, so ends the Winter Training Series.

Rest day at the end of a rest week. Back at it tomorrow.

I woke up an hour before my alarm went off, and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to go for an early run. I had planned to climb on the Bonneville Shoreline trail, but since I was up too early to count on the sun for the descent I decided to run on the road. I ran up to 11th Avenue via Virgina, then down Bonneville Boulevard for two laps around the capitol before returning the way I came. 

I ran the west side of City Creek again this morning, but this time I started from my house. At the ridge where the trail tops out, there are three successive peaks, each higher than the last. Today I hiked to the top of the first. (I would have run, but because the trail was so steep it was faster to walk. I'm sure plenty of runners could run it, but not me, not yet.) Average pace for the run was 8:32, but I was significantly slower on the way up (mile 4 was the slowest at 12:13). Total elevation gain was 1,503 feet.

My ankle and lower leg have been giving me a little trouble since yesterday's run. It's the same thing that happened a couple of weeks ago. What's weird is that it bothers me when I'm walking or standing around, but not when I'm running. Still, running doesn't seem to make it any better, so I'll go easy tomorrow and see what happens.

Easy run after work. From the office to Liberty Park, three laps and then back. Average 8:02 pace.

Yesterday was my first time running in Liberty Park for a while, and I remembered that I like it. So, this morning I ran over to the park, ran 4 laps and then ran home. It's much easier to keep the pace mellow and steady around the park than it is through the hills around the Avenues. Average 7:51 pace.

Because of the weather, I stayed inside this morning and ran on the treadmill for 40 minutes, using the incline to get some intensity. At a slow and steady 10:00 pace  I alternated between 5 minutes at a 1 percent grade and 5 minutes at a 10 percent grade. Instead of leveling the grade after the third 5-minute block at 10 percent, I increased the grade one percent each minute for 5 more minutes, finishing with one minute at 15 percent. I then cooled down for five minutes at 1 percent. 

A couple of days ago I think I mentioned that I like running in Liberty park. Today I decided to prove it by doing a long run there. I ran from my house to the park, ran 12 laps and then ran home. 

The advantage to a long run in the park is that the drinking fountain and the 7 Eleven on the corner make it unnecessary to carry any supplies. Even so, I didn't fuel properly, which is why I ended up running 12 laps instead of my planned 15. I may do some future long runs in the park, but I doubt I'll make a habit of it. 

Average pace was 7:40, which is pretty good, but I think I would have been better of doing 8:00 miles and staying out longer. Still, this is the longest run I've ever done. 

Today is a rest day, so I thought I'd reflect on my last six weeks or so as a runner.

As much as I hate to admit it, running is harder than I thought it would be. Cardiovascular system is certainly transferable--all my time on a bike over the past five years counts for something--but my legs are struggling to keep up. It's not that I was never sore as a cyclist (I was), but my body never felt quite as abused after a long ride as it does after a long run.

I'm also having a hard time figuring out the mid-run refueling thing. It's easy to carry plenty of food and water on a bike. For running, I tried using a lumbar pack with a bottle, but I hated the way it bounced around and rode up. I've since picked up a handheld bottle, which I think will be okay, but I miss jersey pockets and frame-mounted bottle cages.

It's easy to eat on a bike, too, and you can eat almost anything you want without stomach problems. In the winter, that usually meant gas-station donuts and hot chocolate. In the summer, Mt. Dew and Snickers. If I ate any of that in the middle of a run, I'm pretty sure it would wind up on the road a mile later.

And any fueling problems are exacerbated when running. Since there's absolutely no coasting, an easy run seems to burn way more calories than an easy ride. After three hours of running, I feel almost as depleted as I do after a six-hour bike ride.

Still, there's plenty to enjoy about running. For one thing, it's new to me, and I enjoy being at the bottom of the learning curve. Down here, improvement comes quickly and in large increments. Also, I enjoy the low-tech aspect. I always hated the time and money that went into maintaining a bicycle, and it seemed that no matter what I did there was always some mysterious noise or poorly adjusted component to drive me crazy. Not much can go wrong when you're running. I guess your shoes could give you blisters or something, but even an expensive pair of running shoes costs less than a set of bicycle tires and lasts at least as long.

Anyways, I'm rambling now. I guess that's what happens on a day off. Back on the trails tomorrow, weather permitting.

I took the day off from work today to spend time with Catherine, so while she was out for her long run, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. I ran a loop from my house, climbing up via Dry Creek and descending into City Creek Canyon. Conditions ranged from dry to muddy to snow packed, but other than a few sections where the mud forced me to walk, the entire trail was runable.

The route had less climbing than I thought it would and it turned out to be shorter and faster than expected. And it will be even faster when the trails are dry. I'm lucky to have it in my neighborhood, and I suspect I'll be spending plenty of time up there this year.

Total vertical: 1,648 ft

Average Pace: 8:23/mile

I enjoyed yesterday's run enough that I decided to run the BST again this morning. I ran the exact same route as yesterday, but in reverse, climbing out of City Creek and descending Dry Creek. Because the wet parts of the trail had all day yesterday to dry (and the parts that didn't dry had all night to freeze), conditions were better today than they were yesterday. 

Somehow, my Garmin decided that the route in reverse was 0.17 miles longer and had an extra 16 feet of climbing. It's possible that running on different sides of the road and choosing different lines on the trail accounts for the discrepancy, but I can more likely attribute it to GPS error. So it probably doesn't matter too much that I was 2 seconds per mile faster today than I was yesterday.

Having run the trail both ways now, I'm not sure which I prefer. But running from City Creek seems to hit you a lot harder up front with the climbing than running from Dry Creek, even if the difference doesn't look like much on the elevation profiles (both runs started from our apartment, near 2nd Avenue, not the trailhead).

Dry Creek to City Creek:

City Creek to Dry Creek:

Easy run for just over an hour on the treadmill. I had planned to hit the trails one more time this morning, but it rained yesterday and I assumed the trails would be muddy. They were probably fine, though. Maybe tomorrow.

I decided to hit the trails one more time before the weekend. This time I ran up the west side of City Creek canyon, I topped out at the second peak past the ridge, higher than I've ever run before, just as the sun was coming over the mountains. The climb still hurts, and I'm still running slowly up the hill (and walking the last two pitches), but I'm stronger every time.

Total vertical: 1,725 feet 

Average pace: 8:30/mile 

I was going to go for a short jog, but my right leg has been a little sore so I decided to take a rest day before my long run on Saturday.

My plan was to run the Canals Loop I saw on Crockett's blog, about 25 mellow miles through the southwest part of Salt Lake Valley. Catherine decided that instead of running in Liberty Park, she would come with me, run a 12 mile out-and-back, and meet me at the car.

From the weather reports I knew to expect worse weather than we've had for the past few days, but the last report I saw said high 30s/low 40s with some rain and snow. That seemed manageable, so I wasn't concerned when we hit the canal roads in the rain. And for the first 4 miles, it was very pleasant. I enjoyed running through the fields on the dirt road, and the rain kept me nice and cool.

Unfortunately, at some point during my fifth mile the rain started turning to snow, and before long it was really coming down hard. It didn't take long for my fingers to be frozen and worthless, and my clothes were too soaked to keep me warm. Catherine called and said she wanted to turn around, which seemed like a great idea to me, so I turned around and ran as hard as I could till I met up with her at about mile 6.

By that point it was clear that we weren't going to make it back to our car on our own, so Catherine called her sister for a bailout ride and I knocked on the door of the nearest house. Fortunately for us, the woman who let answered had just returned from her own cold and wet run, so she let us hang out inside and warm up until our rescue arrived.

I'm disappointed to have come up so short on my mileage, but no single workout can make or break your fitness. Sometimes it's necessary to simply take what you can get and then move on. Nine miles are better than none.

Rest day.

I didn't have time to run this morning, so I got out for a quick lunch run at Liberty Park. I ran four laps on the cinder track--you could probably call it interval work.

• Lap 1 - 8:32 (5:52/mile)
• Lap 2 - 10:52 (7:27/mile)
• Lap 3 - 8:39 (5:56/mile)
• Lap 4 - 10:49 (7:25/mile)

The hard intervals should have been shorter and faster or longer and slower, and I probably should have gone slower on the recovery intervals, too. My original plan was to run two two-lap intervals at a 6:15 pace, but I went out to hard and decided to go with it. I went out even too harder (don't bother calling me on that grammar) on the second hard interval, and I actually gave up at just over a mile. But after about 5 seconds of jogging I felt enough like a slacker to pick it up and finish the lap.

It probably wasn't the most effective workout, but it felt good to get out of the office on such a beautiful day.

I'm afraid I might have shin splints, and I should probably taper for next week's Buffalo Run 50K, so I'm taking things easy this week. Today I got up early and ran easy on the treadmill before lifting some weights. If the weather keeps getting nicer, I'll be able to start running shirtless, and I don't want to be unprepared :)

I did another short, easy run today. From my house to Liberty Park, two laps around the cinder track and then back home. Average pace 7:30.

Another day at Liberty Park. I ran to and from the park, plus two laps on the cinder track. I held an easy pace to and from the park, and ran both laps at 6:12. That was supposed to be a tempo pace, but I felt pretty cooked by the end of the second lap and decided to skip the third, which makes me think that the pace was faster than tempo. I determined the pace by plugging my 15K time into one of those online pace calculators, but I should probably go more by feel. After all, I know what tempo feels like. Then again, 6:12 was my 15K pace a few weeks ago, so maybe I just had a bad morning.

No running today, but it wasn't a rest day. I've been taking things easy because I've been worried about my shin, so today I went to the gym on my lunch break and spent 45 minutes watching basketball on the elliptical. (That is, I was on the elliptical and watching basketball on TV. I wasn't watching people play basketball on an elliptical machine. I'm not even sure how that would workout.)

If past experience is a reliable guide, my calves should be pretty sore tomorrow. But my legs feel pretty good right now.

A friend of mine called me last night about getting back on the bike. It sounds like his team could use a climber on their roster. I used to fit that description, and I still could if I wanted to. I thought I was ready to move on from competitive cycling, but apparently it doesn't take much to make me second guess. I was never afraid of stress fractures on my bike.  

This morning I ran up to the Dry Creek trailhead and took the BST over to City Creek Canyon. From there I ran the BST up the west side of the canyon before dropping down to Ensign Peak and continuing past the capitol and home. It's funny how little average pace actually means on a run like this. According to my Garmin, I averaged just under 8:30 per mile, but as you can see below, it's unlikely that I was ever actually running at that pace.

The run got off to a slow start. My head wasn't feeling as clear as I'd like it to, and my stomach felt a little rebellious. I decided to push on, hoping that I'd feel better as I ran, and while I didn't ever feel 100 percent, I did feel well enough to enjoy the run. In fact, I think I ran faster between Dry Creek and City Creek than I ever have before, although I think that was more because of the improved conditions (there was only a brief muddy section) than because of my improved fitness.

Of course, while I was faster on the first part of the trail, I was considerably slower on the second part. When I go up the west side of City Creek for my morning run, I can run up the 1.2 mile, 700 foot climb in less than 12 minutes. Today I shuffled up it in 14:14. But from the top is was almost entirely downhill back to the house, and I finished with just under 15 miles in just over 2 hours.

Total vertical: 2,600 ft

Average pace: 8:29/mile

Today is a rest day. After my run yesterday morning, my legs felt pretty trashed in the evening, but today they just feel a little stiff and heavy. They should feel much better after an easy run to shake them out tomorrow.

Less than one week till the Buffalo Run 50K.

I hardly ever remember my dreams, but I remembered one this morning. Unfortunately, I had forgotten most of it by the time I finished my run. Now all I remember is that it involved binge eating, a neurotic AT ski guide, a bizarro marine corps, and an unbeatable Nigerian hockey time. Sounds like a good time.

Easy run this morning. To and from Liberty Park plus three laps on the cinder track.

Average pace - 7:39/mile 

Anyone who checks this blog regularly has probably noticed a new theme in the past few weeks--running hills.

I was self coached for the beginning of my cycling career. The first year I did plenty of made-up workouts in which I would go as hard as I could for x minutes, rest, and repeat. Primitive interval work, really. My go-to workouts were 3x10 minute intervals and 60 seconds all out, 30 seconds off for 30 minutes or until incapacitation, whichever came first (for the record, incapacitation always came first).

This was my first attempt at training (as opposed to just riding), and I got much faster. But not as fast as I did the next year, in which I didn't do a single timed interval. Instead, I went nuts in the hills and mountains around Utah County. My go-to climbs were Squaw Peak, the Alpine Loop, and Creamery on 9th, a brutally steep stair-step climb from the creamery to Rock Canyon Park. (Fun fact: the Creamery on 9th is where my wife and I went on our first date. She doesn't remember it.) I would climb the Alpine Loop in about 45 minutes, Squaw Peak in about 25 minutes, and the creamery in about 8 minutes. I rode each climb several times per week and spent the rest of the time racing or putting in mellow miles around the valley.

Riding those three climbs all out, I built anaerobic strength (the creamery), developed my threshold (Squaw Peak), and put in plenty of quality tempo miles (Alpine Loop). Throw in at least one race per week and I had my speed covered, too. It was a nearly perfect plan, and it showed in my results. The best part was that there was no structure--I didn't really understand the principles that made my training work. I was just having fun.

Not understanding my training proved to be my downfall, however. The next year I tried to replicate the training that had worked for me the year before, but without understanding why it worked, I got things wrong and wound up burned out, overtrained, and much slower.

After a disappointing season, I found a coach and worked with him for the next two seasons. And for the most part, I was successful with him. I won races, I received my category 1 upgrade, and I earned a chance to ride with my team in the Tour of Utah. But each year I found myself mentally fried by the end of the season, and my performance suffered noticeably.

With my coach, the approach was very scientific. When I was training myself, I rode with a stopwatch or nothing at all. With my coach, I relied heavily on a power meter and an HRM. By myself, the terrain and perceived exertion determined my intervals. With my coach, every minute of every workout was prescribed before I headed out the door. In fact, in two years of coaching I think I only got to go out and go nuts in the mountains once or twice.

Interestingly, although I got into great shape with my coach, I never felt as good or climbed as fast as I did when I was self coached. I'm not sure if that's because I gained a couple of pounds, because I didn't practice my climbing, or because I lost power. But whatever the real story was, I never felt like I did when I was self coached. I think it's because all the structure of coaching made training feel a lot less like fun and a lot more like . . . well, training.

Anyways, I can't remember what point I was trying to make. I think it was to say that this year, I'm going to focus on getting out and having fun in the mountains while trying not to worry too much about intervals and training plans. Or something to that effect.

Squaw Peak was always my testpiece. My times to the top were a fairly reliable indicator of where my fitness stood and how I could expect to perform in a race. I think I'll try to use the climb up the west side of City Creek Canyon in the same way. The "offical" interval starts at the switchback where the trail leaves the canyon and finishes at the saddle on the ridge. It's 1.2 miles long and climbs somewhere between 600 and 700 feet (Garmin altitude measurements have been fairly inconsistent). Someday I'd like to be able to climb it in 10 minutes, although I'm not sure how realistic that is. Today I climbed it twice: once in 13:04 and once in 12:49. For now I'd better just worry about breaking 12 minutes and call it good.

Average pace - 8:12/mile

Total vertical - 1,902 feet 

Today was another easy run at Liberty Park. To and from, plus three laps on the cinder track. Catherine got up early this morning and ran when I did. The timing worked out well, and we both arrived back at the house at the same time. 

Average pace - 7:27/mile

I went to the gym with Catherine and ran on the treadmill this evening. I ran five miles at a mellow pace, except for three quarter-mile bursts at a 5:30 pace. 

The Buffalo Run 50K is tomorrow. I think I'll take today off.

This was my longest run ever by about 10 miles and nearly 2 hours, and I'm feeling it right now. We stopped by Catherine's parents' house in Bountiful on the way to the race, and I missed the freeway on ramp, a mistake I compounded by not doubling back, and as a result we made it to the race ten minutes before the start. I was lucky enough to make it to the bathroom and still get to the start with a minute to spare. 

I tried to stay near the front from the beginning, but I didn't want to dig too deep too soon. A few runners broke away early on and I didn't think about chasing them. Some of the other runners in the lead group gapped me and I thought about chasing, but I decided to let them go, too. It turned out to be a smart move, because I caught and passed most of them on the climb to the first feed zone.

Eventually, I wound up running with two others up the big switchbacks on the south end of the course, and I decided to stay with them because the pace felt comfortable. Just before returning to the second feed zone, one of the runners pulled out because of an injury. The other continued straight through the feed zone while I stopped to eat a gel and drink a few glasses of Coke, but I caught back up with him a mile or two later, and shortly after that I pulled away on a small climb.

I was feeling pretty good at that point, but as I approached lap 2 I didn't realize I was supposed to drop down to the start before starting my second lap. So, I continued straight ahead. I was still felling great at the second feed zone until the volunteers started congratulating me on leading the 50K and I started to suspect something was wrong. Shortly after that the real leader past me and I figured out where I had gone wrong.

At that point, I pretty much lost the will to run. I figured I would be DQed, and I was afraid everyone would think I had tried to cheat by cutting the course, so I decided to start walking until my wife, who was running the 25K, caught up with me, at which point I would finish my run with her.

But as I walked I decided I would try to finish the course. Instead of crossing the line, I would turn around at the feed zone, run back up the climb I had missed at the start of the second lap, and then run right back down to the finish, thereby covering the entire 50K course, although not exactly in the traditional sequence. I hoped that if I did that, the race directors would consider my time official and all would be well.

Of course, as I already mentioned, by then I had lost the will to run, and my legs were killing me, so the final miles were a miserable mix of walking and shuffling. Miserable enough that I considered not rerunning the part of the course I had skipped. But my brother-in-law was waiting for me near the finish, and he was willing to run back up the hill with me, so I turned around and ran back up before limping back to the finish. I think I ran back down the hill at the end slower than I ran up it at the beginning.

Anyways, I crossed the line with an official time of 4:32:37, and although it was a little out of order, I did end up running the entire course. (And I made a point of telling the race director and anyone else who would listen what I did and why, because I would hate for anyone to think my race was anything but on the level.) I wound up first in the 20-29 age group and seventh overall. My race was far from flawless, but whatever the official results, I think it was a pretty respectable first (mini) ultra.

Rest day today. Catherine and I took Tigger for a short walk on the trails behind the university this evening. My legs are pretty sore after yesterday's race.

My legs haven't been this sore for a long time. But sitting around doesn't seem to help me feel better any faster, so I went out for a short, easy run this morning before work. After about half a mile my ankles and calves loosened up enough for me to manage a legitimate running stride, and from that point all I had to worry about was how much my quads hurt. All the downhill on Saturday really did a number on me. Anyways, I expect to be feeling significantly better tomorrow and I hope to be ready for some real running no later than this weekend. 

Average pace - 8:36/mile

I bought my iPod Shuffle two years ago, and I still think it's one of the greatest inventions ever. Every time I rode my bike I clipped my Shuffle to the left side of my jersey, just above my hip. That way, I could easily reach the buttons and the headphone cable ran cleanly from the Shuffle to the center of my body and up to my ears.

When I started running, I realized that the Shuffle would bounce to much when I clipped it to my shirt, so I started clipping it to my waistband on the left side of my shorts. It was an adequate solution, but it always annoyed me that the headphone cable came out of the Shuffle away from the center of my body and therefore had to double back across the Shuffle before reaching my ears.

It took me until today to realize that the solution is to clip my Shuffle to the right side of my shorts instead of the left. Imagine that.

I had an appointment that interfered with running this morning and the wind messed up the air this evening, so I settled for some easy miles on the treadmill. My legs feel much better than they did yesterday, and I feel pretty good overall. I'm tempted to hit the trails tomorrow, but I'll probably give myself one more day to recover, although I do think I'll up the mileage tomorrow.

To and from Liberty Park, plus three laps on the cinder track. It was snowing this morning, and I was underdressed. My legs felt heavy and slow, but not sore. I'm trying to decided if that means that I need more recovery or that I need to throw in some intensity to shake my legs out.

Average pace - 8:15/mile

Last night I decided to run on the treadmill today, and when I woke up this morning I was glad I did. Stupid snow.

Anyways, I ran for one hour on the treadmill. Two 20-minute intervals at a 6:35 pace with a 5-minute jog between them.

On Wednesday I misjudged the weather and wound up running in the snow wearing nothing more that a short-sleeve shirt and shorts. Today, I misjudged the weather again and wound up running in relatively warm temperatures wearing long pants, long sleeves, long underwear and a hat and gloves. That happens a lot in the spring.

I decided to run up the west side of City Creek, which I could tell was a bad idea from the start. I didn't feel like myself on the run up to 11th avenue, but it wasn't until I started the actual climb to the ridge that I decided to change my plans. I was going so slow on the lower climb that I knew I'd be doing too much walking up top to make it worth the effort, so I turned around and followed the singletrack further into the canyon. I'd never been on that section of trail before, but it looks like it might go a long way, so I'll have to go back and check it out sometime. It's still a climb and it's still work, but it's nothing like the climb out of the canyon.

Anyways, today's relatively short and easy run kicked my booty, so I'll probably take it easy on my long(ish) run tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just split the day into two mid-length runs,

It's conference weekend, so I Catherine and I both decided to do two shorter runs today instead of one long one. I ran 7.25 miles before the morning session and 7.35 miles before the afternoon session. All easy, because yesterday's run convinced me I still need some recovery from last weekend. And all on the treadmill, because . . . well, just because.

Rest day today. After conference, my little sister and her husband came over for Easter dinner with Catherine and I. We ate ham and such, and then we played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal. I won the first two, continuing my long-standing winning streak, but then Kelsey won a round, then Catherine, and then Garth. Curses!

I've been feeling pretty tired and my head has felt a little cloudy for the past couple of days. After Friday's botched trail run I've been consumed with the idea that something might be wrong with me, to the point that I planned to scrap this morning's trail run in favor of some easy miles at Liberty Park. But it seems like I'm always afraid something might be wrong with me, and usually nothing is. My legs felt good when I woke up this morning, so I decided to hit the trails.

I ran the west side of City Creek. My time up what I consider the official climb from the canyon to the ridge was a little slow (but in the normal range) and I had to walk a couple of sections, probably because I ran the initial hills a little faster than normal. I thought about turning around and repeating the climb, but I decided it would be better for me not to. (Plus, Catherine started her new job today and I wanted to make sure I was home before she left.) Instead of repeating the climb, I took a short jog south on the ridge to the viewpoint above Ensign Peak before returning the way I came.

I usually take it easy on the descent, but since there would be no second climb today I decided to hammer it. I almost fell off the trail and into the woods on one of the lower switchbacks, but other than that I had a good time.

The splits on a climb and descent illustrate the effects of gravity nicely: 13:10 (11:04/mile) on the way up, 7:17 (6:09/mile) on the way down.

Average pace - 7:55/mile

Total vertical - 1,558 ft

I had an early appointment this morning, so I got up earlier than usual to run. Despite the snow that fell last night, it wasn't very cold, and the early time and the new snow made this morning's run quiet and pleasant.

Easy effort today. Two and from Liberty Park plus two laps on the pavement, with a few quick efforts thrown in throughout.

Average pace - 7:37/mile

AM: Short treadmill run at a steady 8:00 pace. Six 2-minute intervals on a 10 percent grade with 3-minute recoveries on the flat.