Back With a Capital Vengence!

Started my run at 8:30 pm and it was still 94 degrees although it felt much cooler than that. Did a little loop on the BST from Morris Meadows. No bodily complaints, I am still so stoked to be trail running!

I wore my HR monitor for the first time in years. My heart rate averaged 156, but it felt like 200! I think I need the feedback because I really need to remember how to run.

Rest Day! 90-minute massage and lots of stretching.

First morning run in a good 2 years, I am not a morning runner! Felt super sluggish the whole run, but felt great the rest of the day.

6 mile run holy crap. Ran out and back on dirt road, Montana and then jumped in the ice cold lake after. Happy 4th of July and Happy Birth Anniversary Gramps! 

Road bike ride alongside Lake Hebgen. 

Did not feel the least bit awful from my "big" run yesterday. Progress! 

Ran the All American Fun Run aka Sawtelle Stampede aka Van de Kamp family fun run in Island Park, Idaho. Considering this is my second 5K ever and my first in 10 years, I think I did alright. I ran behind Andrea huffin' and puffin' the entire race muttering nothing but the sweetest of thoughts under my breath. 5K's are hard. This photo from the awards ceremony about sums up the Sawtelle experience:

Last day in Montana. Easy run on the dirt road. 

50 minutes on the BST from Terrace Hills.

After a whopping 16 miles last week including a 6-mile run, 5K race, and the first time I have ran more than one day in a row, I think I need to dial back the running stoke a bit. Baby steps.  

Bike, dinner, bike, beer, bike, home. 

So much for stoke dialing backge, quite the Mt. Aire disaster this evening. I forgot how freaking steep (1991 feet in 1.75 miles) that mountain is and let's just say my uphill time was only 3 minutes faster than my downhill time, but I can't remember if I turned my Garmin off during the 15 minutes I spent hiding behind some trees because a gigantic bull moose (complete with HUGE antlers) wouldn't stop staring at me from the middle of the trail.

I am pretty sure my Chaco Flip-Flops would have provided more support than my new New Balance Minimus. How on Earth does Anton run so fast in those things? I have a lot of work to do! 

2.2 flip-flop miles. Had to stay way late at work, missed the bus, and then started walking towards home in the rain until I caught up with another bus. Lame day. 

Rode from home out to the Saltair. Besides entering many a No Trespassing gates, my favorite part of the ride was trying to find Amelia Earhart west of the airport and upon seeing Wright Brothers Tonya exclaiming, "Well we must be close!"

I am giving myself 8 running miles for this effort - 11 miles total and ~2700 ft gain!

Went up Big Water and turned onto the Great Western Trail and then got attacked my bees. My ankle was swelling up and it hurt like a son of a so I thought I better turn around because I didn't know how bad it would get since I have never actually been stung by a bee before.

By the time I got back down my ankle felt fine and I was crabby that I decided to go down so I just went back up. I took the new (to me) Red Pine Road and it thankfully dumped me back onto the Great Western Trail near the Wasatch Crest. I then bushwhacked to the top of what I thought was Murdock Peak, but when I got home and uploaded my Garmin it turns out I was nowhere near where I thought I was.

Ran the last three miles in a downpour and then iced my whole body in the stream since I was already drenched anyway. All in all absolutely freaking awesome day!

PM2: Shakeout bike. Sangria. Bike.

Nice early morning run with CR on my new favorite, Park City's Armstrong Trail.

I think I really need to mellow out on the running. I am just stoked I can do things! This has been my progression for the last 7 weeks: 2, 6, 7, 10.5, 12.5, 16, and 18 miles (with 14 miles in the last 2 days). Pretty exponential so I am going to take an easy running week and focus on some cycling and get my mountain bike out of the closet. 

Rest day. Yoga. 

Up and down Dry Creek from Popperton Park. Lovely evening with nobody out. Really, really loving my new Altra's.

I just realized today is 6 months with the "new" hip! Time to get crazy now :)

Missed the morning run so I gave Wire a go at 95 degrees after work. Hard! Was barely moving near the top, but a nice "Hello" from a rattler on the trail lit a fire under my bum to push me to the top. Down George's and then over to Red Butte for some music and beers up on the knoll (cheap seats). Lovely day, night - yay!

Another rest day complete with after work nap. 

Didn't feel like cycling or running up more mountains at 95 degrees so I decided to give the road a whirl. First road run of the year. City Creek 5K in 26:56. It actually felt good on the uphill, downhill not so much. AP: 8:41.

AM: Emigration ride. Really, really need to start getting up earlier to avoid the heat!

PM: 3 mile or so hike up Beartrap Fork to the Crest Trail and then down to Desolation Lake for the night. Not sure if I was physically ready for trudging 30 pounds up 2000+ feet. Let's just say there was lots of Stinging Nettle and swearing :)

Hiked up from Desolation Lake on unmarked trail, bushwhacked to Beartrap Fork Trail, and down 2000 feet to the car. Seeing as Fritz only gave this backpacking trip a 6 on the ultimate disaster hiking scale, I call this trip a success. Mostly because I think it will keep him from running the full Deseret News Marathon on Wednesday :) Flowers were pretty!

Same City Creek 5K run as last Friday, but a little bit faster. AP: 8:06 with the last mile in 6:51 just for fun :) Now back out on those trails!

Easy run on the BST from Morris Meadows. 

Hip flexor super tight all the way up into my abdomen all day today. Run loosened it up a tad. I think this is going to be normal for the first year after surgery so I won't get too worried unless it lasts for more than a few days. Good reminder to keep up the stretching and strengthening that I have been neglecting! 

Biked from home to South Temple and 700 East to see the first of the DesNews 10K'ers and then sped to the finish to catch the winners come in. Then biked back to South Temple to try and find Fritz, caught him at the corner of 1300 East and South Temple and followed him for awhile before speeding to catch him at the finish. Then hauled bum all the way up 800 East to catch Allie coming down Foothill, cheered her on at a few points, and then cruised to watch her finish for about 18 miles of riding in a 2-mile radius. Runners are awesome!  

Work, flew to Denver, no sleeping, rest day. 

Left my parents hotel to attempt a road run in suburbia Lakewood, CO. Hip flexor was too tight and painful so I turned around after about 8 minutes. Lame. Stretched a ton. 

Some hiking with my mum on Golden's Table Mountain. 

5 miles on the BST from Morris Meadows at 3pm - felt hot, tired, and overall crappy. AP: 11:31 and ~800 feet of gain. 

Last 4 weeks mileage: 16, 18, 19, and 8. Hoping to get back up to 16 or so this week without irritating the flexor.

AM: Intense hip flexor stretching, psoas releasing PT session. This is the first time in months that my SI joint has stayed in for over a week, but that comes with opposite sided hip flexor tightness. It is going to be one or the other type situation until I get my pelvis a little bit more stable. 

 PM: Ran to Smith's for popsicles and a birthday card via Lulu's warm-up (0.7 miles at 7% average grade). It has been 2 years since I've ran my BST warm-up; fun to see that other people like to run it as well!

Top of Dry Creek from Popperton Park. It is starting to get darker earlier. My 8:30 start had me coming down Dry Creek in the dark - kinda creepy!

Felt fabulous the whole way up. I tried to run with a shorter stride length to avoid pulling on my hip flexor. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, but it worked! Yay running! 

11 hour work day at job #1 followed by 6 hour work day at job #2 = rest day?