track fan

1:54:46

Pretty challenging uphill climb to get to the trails (but at sea level so easier than most of my runs in SLC).  The main trails are a little rocky, but pretty level (compared to runs like the Dry Creek trail) and wide - almost like roads (ones you would take cars other than your own on ;-) ). Beautiful!!  No matter what trail I chose I would run into some old (I mean pretty old, somewhere between 10th - 18th century) farmhouse or other ruin.  It was so fun I could not stop running, because I knew that just down the hill or around the mountain there would be something else to see!  I ran down to a pretty famous place called St. Baldirini that was a "county seat" from about 10th - 13th century.  The guidebook I got from the woman who owns our apartment was in Catalan so I can only understand about every 6th word or so (Catalan is a mixture of Spanish and French but just different enough from both to be difficult even if you are fluent in either of those languages, which I am not) - but I could find the dates and get a general drift of what they wrote.  Then I took some other paths for about 9 miles that were just plain fun - as I was finishing up my run I saw Dean (starting his) and so I ended up running a few miles with him, exploring.  Lots of hills!

54:50 - wanted to take it easy today because we are planning a hiking excursion this afternoon and it will be hilly!  Pretty much ran some of the same hills as yesterday, with some slight variations, it is so cool to be so close to the mountain paths!  Our apartment is right on the Mediterranean Sea (rocky, so not really a "beach" sea, but beautiful and clear so you can see right down into the bottom - and a wonderful blue-green color) where the Pyrenees meet. 

 
This afternoon we went up the the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes - we took a cab up and planned on hiking around up there and then hiking back down - we could have hiked both ways but it would have meant skipping our run in the morning because it would have taken about 4 - 6 hours to hike both ways.  It is pretty impressive.  Parts of it date back to at least 878 AD, and it was upgraded up until the late 18th century.  The road leading up the monastery from the port was 8k of very serpentine road ... incredible that they could build this high up so very long ago!  And it was huge (some pictures can be found at http://www.cbrava.com/santpereuk.htm).

After touring the monastery itself we took a very treacherous hike up even higher to the point of the mountain where the Castle of San Salvador is located.  The tour of the castle is not "tourist" at all it is basically a very rocky steep narrow trail on the tip of a 3000 ft mountain!  The trail leading up to the Castle is about 3/4 of a mile, but not recommended for the average tourist (a picture at the monastery shows a cartoon person falling headfirst down  off of a mountain along with several languages warning of the difficulty of the trail and strong winds -- almost discouraged me from trying it!).  But, despite the slow going (it took us about 40 mins to climb up to the top), and the fact that "getting to the top" was not the end of the difficulty (since there were no paved walkways in or around the castle either) it was well worth it.  You basically just got to climb around the old ruins of a 13th century castle - that has not been maintained, updated or excavated at all, and the view from the very top of the mountain was amazing!  A strong wind was blowing a rain storm (it rained pretty much every morning and afternoon) in and we decided to climb down and not spend too much time up on the top (as it was actually kind of scary) - but enough to look around and find the old entry way into the castle.  Then we hiked back to the town, had dinner and hiked back to the apartment (about a 8 - 10 mile hike for the day).

On the way back we saw some "dolmens" which are rock dwellings dating from 3000 BC to 700 AD -- pretty incredible.  There were so many of these types of things wherever we ran and hiked that it was overwhelming sometimes.  Sometimes it was hard to tell how old these things were -- could be BC or could have just been abandoned in the late 18th century (or even in the 70's!). 

1:09:28 - found another cool trail past a working farm that was obviously incredibly old.

Today we just enjoyed the beach, took a hike nearer to the apartment along the sea (again a pretty tough climb along the rocks), went into town and got some fresh bread and dinner and then hiked back home. We are almost regulars at the local "supermercado" (4 row supermarket).

1:18:46

Last run in the Pyrenees ... I found yet another trail that climbed a pretty steep grade then dropped into a lush valley.  I saw a half-dozen old dolmens -- amazing!  They are really small rooms made of rock (can't stand inside) with smoke holes on the top.  It looked like where I was running was once a "village" of some sort each one about 600 meters from the other ... there must have been some sort of water source nearby (though I could not see anything from the trail).  Water was pretty hard to come by up on the tops of the mountains ... though the rain probably created some nice brooks from the tops of the mountains.

Pretty sad to be leaving - I have not had internet or phone access since Saturday, and it is pretty nice.  I did lose my wallet on the way from Girona (on the train?) -- so I had to spend a little money on Saturday making long distance calls to cancel my credit cards, but basically I have not used my cell phone at all.

Today we take the train back to Barcelona and we fly back to SLC on Friday.  We probably won't run on Friday, it is a really really long travel day (about 20 hours) and it really takes a lot out of you - I am not looking forward to it really.  We flew in though Atlanta (with the longest flight being 10/11 hours) - we are flying to NY this time, nice because there is a break in the two flights (8 hours to NY + 5 hours to SLC) - but still a really long day.  We leave at 10AM Barcelona time and arrive at 4AM Barcelona time.  Despite the fact that I am sad to leave the Sea (and 6 days of no work) - I am already back to worrying about all the work I have to do, and the everyday stuff!

 Happy running bloggers
 

probably longer than 6 - but not quite 6.5.  54:58 - wanted to run 2 laps on the outside perimeter of Liberty Park, but they are doing construction there, so I had to run part of it on the inside grass lanes.

Nice weather for a run, little sunshine but still nice and cool.  Even the hills weren't too bad.

1:44:48.  Ran to Sugarhouse Park + 4 laps on the road and back (29:08, 12:22, 12:10, 11:42, 11:44, 27:39).  Felt pretty good (especially since I ran 1.5 miles less than usual for this route!).

1:06:39.  Liberty Park + 2 inner grass laps + 10 x 100m strides (1` recovery).

Happy Monday bloggers. 

1:26:06.  Ran from my office to City Creek Canyon and back on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Probably slightly longer than 9 miles, but not quite 9.5.  The trail part was hard (well, so were the hills up from Poppington Park!) - it has been a while since I have run on them.  Very pretty day today!

I have made an announcement - sort of - that some of you might have seen.  Dean and I will be moving to Tucson in October.  A completely unexpected turn of events from a professional standpoint - last January I was invited to give a talk at the University of Arizona.  Well, it was a suprise when a few days later they invited me to apply for a  position there - and they had an opening that was particularly suited for Dean as well.  We love living in Salt Lake, and I really like the people I work with, but my position is not a good fit for my background and interests.  So - we followed up on their invitation and after a lot of soul searching have decided to make the move.  I am going to miss Salt Lake City a lot - I really do love it here -- and, I will miss being close to my blogger friends (though I will now be closer to another set of blogger friends).

I will be trying to participate in a few local races before we leave -- and I hope I can spend some quality time with some of you before we actually move -- which I will remind you is not for another 4 months or so, so we have plenty of time!!

Have a nice day bloggers.

1:03:47.  Easy run up Dry Creek Canyon.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy these trail runs (especially downhill - the uphills are really hard!).

Today is my first day of doubles. I am giving my body one more chance to help me in my quest to IMPROVE my running! I want to add mileage but 55 mpw is the most my body (and my career) can take in singles - so I am going to add a couple of extra runs in the evening a couple days a week. I also seem to break down (mentally) when I get to the track so I am restructuring my training a bit to add more "fun" (ins and out) track workouts and adding more fartek and tempo training. Bad part of about doing this today is that I got about 2 hours of sleep last night, and feel pretty horrid overall. Stress does strange things to your body!

I am also admitting, publically, that I am also on a diet. I have lost 3-4 pounds and have about 3-4 more to go ... so far, it hasn't been too hard, I just have completely eliminated all snacks (even healthy ones) and am reducing my portions.

AM: 5.5 (49:29) - ran on BST towards Emmigration Canyon. Legs are feeling tired, probably because they are getting used to running the trails again. The short steep hills aren't bad, but the long steep grades are simply evil! I just keep thinking "stronger, faster".

PM: 3.5 (30:56) - ran same way as this morning, but almost a minute faster to the turn around. Legs felt good, but my body is pretty tired today (mainly the sleep/stress I think).

1:07:14.  This was a good run for me, it was longer than 7.5, but probably not more than 1/4 of a mile.  I ran to Liberty Park did a 1/2 lap on the outside on the grass and then moved to the inside loop when I hit the construction.  I did some of my Egoscue exercises this morning because I know it helps loosen up my lower back which in turn loosens up my pelvic muscles.  My right leg has been really sore lately ... mainly I am just tight.  Egoscue is a mixture between pilates, yoga and stretching - I don't do it more often because it takes so much time (almost 45 minutes to do my current menu) and I generally choose free weights and abs ... but I might have to rethink this.  

I wish I had more time ... watching the flocast video of Shalane Flanagan makes me want to do a lot more core and strength work ... http://track.flocasts.org/videos/coverage/view_video/249-workout-wednesday/64864-episode-7-shalane-f

Congratulations on all the great races bloggers -- and a special congrats to Kim on getting in SGM!!

1:49:23 - ouch! (54:03 out/ 55:23 back) We went to Jeremy Ranch Road today -- a little more than 6500ft elevation - no shade but a tad cooler because of the elevation gain.  Was probably about 85F but the sun was pretty strong.  Anyway, it is a dirt road about 7.5 miles long total, rolling hills but essentially downhill out and uphill back.  It is always a tough run, but really good for training.  Anyway, we drop water at 4 1/2 miles into the run (so we can get hit the water 2 times on the run).  Someone picked up our water!!  Not a good day to not have water - especially since we aren't really used to the heat yet (and at 6500 ft I get dehydrated a little easier).  Dean was smart and cut his run a little short to compensate.  I, being not as smart, did not.  I turned around at 1:04:05, probably a little bit past the 6 mile mark - at this point I did not feel too bad.  By 10 miles into it I was hurting.  I was so thirsty and hot ... I wasn't really afraid of serious illness (since it was only 12 miles), but I was starting to get stomach cramps ... luckily it was at this point I only had 1/2 mile to go ... Then I drank too much water too fast and threw up.  I feel much better now, though I still can't eat, I feel more hydrated and am back down to 4300 ft  ;-)   I guess we will have to hide our water better next time. 

Happy Sunday bloggers. 

56:21 ... slightly long 6 (includes detour to the restrooms!) Liberty Park + 2 laps on inside grass.

Still feeling a little sick from yesterdays run ... 

1:03:18  Since Brent and I did not meet up this morning I decided to work around the house this morning before I went to the airport (I had to leave at 8:30).  Now I am in Tampa (at the Southern Florida University/Moffitt Cancer Center) until Thursday.  After I got in this afternoon I waited until the sun went down and went for a run - hot and humid ... I had forgotten just how thick the humidity makes the air.  I did not find a pleasant place to run, I know there is a nice park around here with 7 miles of trails - but it is farther from my hotel than I had thought - I will have to try again on Thursday (I exchanged my Monday day of for Wednesday because of early meetings tomorrow).  Next week we will be at a conference in Davis, California -- lot's of trips this month.

Happy Tuesday bloggers.

1:19:58 - very nice run.  It rained most of the night (well poured would be a more appropriate description) - so it was pretty humid this morning.  My colleague that I am here with (actually he is a good friend as well, from my Vanderbilt days) gave me a ride to a cool park that I had heard had some nice trails.  It was great!!  the trails were dirt/sand with just a few ankle grabbers (tree roots mainly) - but over all a really nice running surface.  I was supposed to do 8 x 400 ins/outs (sprint the straights/ jog the curves) - I modified this workout for 'nontrack' and did 16 x :25 sprints with :50 recovery.  Much easier to do on a flat, sea-level run that on a hilly 4500 ft run ;-).

Today is a travel day -- and then I get one day at home and off to a conference -- I have to work on my talk on the plane today, I am actually getting a little stressed about it now, seeing that I don't have it fully developed yet and Monday is coming pretty quickly.

Have a good day bloggers.

AM: ~58 mins, ran very slowly -- after yesterdays workout and todays double I wanted to make sure my morning run is a recovery run ... felt really good!! I am excited, I feel that for the first time in almost 2 months I am getting back to form.

PM: 31:04, tough run on BST ... nice evening though.

 
My foot is upset ... I don't know what is going on but the arch on my opposite foot from my PF/achilles problem is very sore and swollen.  This is the second evening that it has basically swollen up enough that I can tell when I walk around, and it hurt on both runs today (not enough to make me stop running, but more than PF usually does - and that is quite a bit).  HMMMMMM ...

Anyway - no time to worry about it right now, I have to get ready for another trip tomorrow!  My talk is still not finished!
 

1:08:55.  A little shorter than 8 - but much more than 7.5.  Today was a really good run for me.  It was hot, especially in the sun, but I wanted to get a little bit out of my comfort zone and put a little pressure on the whole way. Ran to Liberty Park did slightly under 2 laps on the inside grass loop (13:11, 13:13 - a little faster than 8:47 pace) and then pushed the pace for 15  mins for 1+ a little loops (11:44, 7:49 pace about 1.7 miles).  Felt really good, I was not going top speed, and actually was shooting for 8:00 or so - just breathing a little hard, but not a struggle at any part of the run.  Pretty glad!

Foot hurt off and on ... need to ice it again before we get on the airplane!  I can't wait to run at sea level again - and it is flat flat flat there too.

Happy weekend bloggers -- congratulations to both the White and Blue WBR teams!!

Nice run around the UC Davis Arboretum - it was a 3.5 mile loop, I ran 3 loops and added on 15 mins to the Research Park area.  Pretty hot, but after Tampa and Jeremy Ranch Road it seemed a lot easier!  Nice to run at 52ft above sea level (there was a sign ;-) ). 

Our flight was overbooked yesterday so we got bumped to a later flight -- and did not get to our motel until 2AM (3AM Salt Lake time) - woke up at 8AM ... we have to register for the conference and I still have 9 slides to prepare before the opening mixer tonight!!  I spent 4 hours yesterday trying to convert some figures into postscript so I can put them in my presentation (I use a package called LaTex and I need postscript figures) .. ouch, and it is frustrating!!

Happy Sunday bloggers. 

1:20:43 ... ran on the Davis bike path to the end and then a loop around the Arboretum.  4 x 5` on w/5` recovery (my last one was with Dean and probably too fast!  I would guess I was running around 7:40 - 7:45 pace.

We went to a really cool Spanish tapas place night with about 10 of our friends from the conference - and then ended up stopping in a Karoke place -- it was fun (none of us actually sang!).

1:03:24 ... I am tired.  Too many long days, staying out to late and getting up too early!  It is nice to see so many old friends in one place, but I am ready to get home today.

I ran 2 easy loops around the Arboretum.  Legs feel fine, but my mind is tired.

My talk went about as expected - it was obvious I had not spent enough time on it ... I am sure it will get better then next couple of times I give it ;-).

Happy Wednesday bloggers.

AM: 56:58 (slightly longer than 6 miles) - ran two laps on the grass at Liberty Park. I took it really slow, partly because I am trying to make sure I have the energy to run again this afternoon, and partly because my body is just completely exhausted. All the travel has really started to wear me down. Thankfully, I was able to keep from gaining weight, I have not lost any more than I had before the past two weeks of travel - and as hard as I tried I could not eat as well as I had wanted. My goal for the rest of the week, and into next, is to try really hard not to get sick!

PM: 30:29 (3.5 miles or so).  Despite the fact this was a harder run than this morning (hilly loop on the Shoreline trail) I felt a lot better, though my body is tired.  Debated on going longer tonight, but decided against it -- maybe next week after I catch up on some sleep.

This weekend is going to be tough - I have to work all weekend, lots of deadlines. 

1:00:40.  Ran from Poppington Park to City Creek Canyon - it was closed so I ran down to the Capitol and then back -- meaning that this was a downhill out and uphill back ... I felt really tired on the way out, but after about 3 miles I felt a lot better and picked it up on the last couple of uphill miles, just for a little confidence boost. 

1:14:45 -- a little longer than 8, maybe by about 400/500 meters.  2 outer loops in the grass at Liberty Park and 1 inner grass loop.  One of the best runs I have had in over two months.  Probably because I finally got a really really good nights sleep.  I am embarrassed - but we got to bed really late because we were working on our sprinkler system until it got dark, so we ate late and consequently got to bed late.  So, I woke up at the usual time and fed the dogs and then went back to bed!!  I won't tell you how late we woke, but suffice to say it was the latest I have slept in 10 years!  My morning run was bordering on afternoon ... and it was a little hot.  But, despite the heat, my legs felt great, my mind felt great and I am happy ... though now I am behind in my work, still.

Happy weekend bloggers.

 

Whoohoo. Estimated time 1:50. Jeremy Ranch road - I am not sure exactly how far this was, because somehow my watch did not start after I got water (at mile 4) - so I am missing somewhere around 1/2 mile or so of time. Because of this, I was not sure when to turn around, so I turned around when my watch said 50:30 - turns out it was probably 2-3 mins later than I should have, so I am adding on an extra 1/2 mile (though it could have been more than a 1/2 mile more). Actually, for this run, neither time nor overall pace mean very much because of the difficulty of the run. Very hilly, 6500 ft, and coming back is both hilly and uphill and it is very hot (since we never seem to be able to get started before 11:30). Anyway -- no matter how "long" the run is, today I actually "beat" Jeremy Ranch Road. I pretty much didn't run faster than 9 min pace out (there are mile markers sporadically placed until mile 5) - and ran the last 3 miles at 8:30 pace (there are mile markers at miles 3, 2.5, 1.5 and .5). I was suprised and pleased! I wish I had the actual out-and-back times ...

Tomorrow is my off day and then next week I am adding on another day of doubles while increasing my mileage the other days -- it should be fun, I might see 60 coming my way pretty soon. Good thing is no travel until August!

Happy Sunday bloggers.

I forgot -- funny story about the run today.  About 1/2 mile into the run is an area Dean and I call "the bathroom".  It is really one of the few areas that is "easy" to find a private spot right off of the road, although right now it is so overgrown that it is hard to get back into the brush enough ... anyway, I went into the "bathroom" and within a couple of seconds was completely (I mean ALL over completely) covered with huge (not those bity little things) ants!  I actually screamed and ran back toward the road (in a sort of stage of undress) and in my haste came within millimeters of a snake!!!!  It was not poisonous - but hey - it was a snake!  If that doesn't get your heart rate  up what will?  Unfortunately, ants and one live and dozens mooshed snakes were all we saw in the way of wildlife today.