Like the canyon

Same route today as last Saturday only this week I did it backwards, starting at 27th street to Malan's Peak then Indian Trail over to the Ogden Canyon TH and back.  I also added a little more BST this week. (Note to myself: when the weather is bad, just get out the door, once your moving you dont notice it)

The reverse loop is either much tougher or I was way off today.  I actually ran faster this week, but suffered bad maintianing a run back up the climb out of Ogden Canyon.  Weather was off and on, mostly snow.  It was snowing hard as I was running over Indain Trail and there was 2-3" inches of fresh snow on the trail 1/2 way up Malan's.  I had to break trail on Malan's even though I got out late, around 10:45. Suprising no one had been up there, and I didn't see anyone on the up or back, which is odd, even when I run up there in the dark I almost always see a couple of people.  Beautiful up there today though, running through the fog and snow.  The great thing about the trails around here is they are rocky enough that even after a good soaking like today there is almost no mud. 

Malan's felt good, I always wonder as I start up that how it will go. Like a rock climb or boulder problem that you have dialed, but it's right near your limit, so you always wonder if you will pull it off.  Churned up it steady today though, kept the heart rate low and cruised to the top in 38:.40 Sick of the slushy snow mess through the top though 1/2 mile or so, it needs to melt out, please!  Everytime I run through there I have been sliding out and tweaking my lower back a little, I'm so dense though I forget until I get there and do it again, then I think "oh ya, that's why my back hurts" Dumb!

Feel so lucky to be able to get out and cruise over so much awesome terain in a relativly short period of time. Gotta love trail running, so minimalist, just me a gel in my pocket, a little water, shorts, shoes and a long sleeve shirt.  People I did see out today were in full winter gear carrying good size day packs.  Like I have said before, a year ago, one of these segments would have been my tough run for the week.  At the end of my run today I was coming up a short but steep little section on the BST, a section that, a few years and 50 lbs ago, when I finally decided to get back in shape, I always had to walk even though I was only 1/2 mile into what was then a tough 2.5 mile jog. Today I made the extra effort to really punch through that section hard, at mile 15.5 with over 5000 vert on my legs, just to remind myself how far I have come.   

Overall run, 16.25 miles, 5490 vert, 3:28.  got really powered down at the end of the last climb, hung on and maintained a run through 100% of the 16.25 miles.  It was so foggy on Malan's I didn't even take the usual sight seeing stop. 

Not alot of miles this week but managed about 11,500 vertical. 21,000+ for two weeks.  next week I'm backing off the climbing a little and trying to get in more distance.

Easy 7 on the BST north. 

Slight cold coming on, maybe allergies? Short run chasing my 2 yr old.

Took the Garmin out tonight to clock a route I have been running alot this spring but didn't have hard numbers on distance and climb.  Started at 12th street and ran north on the BST to what I call "dead end." Basically follow the BST until it ends at a small canyon and a stand of trees, run cross country downhill to the service road below, run North until the trail ends, run back to 12th staying on the upper BST trail. Its a perfect run for me, lots and lots of rocky technical sections (keeps the mtn bike rif raff to a minimum) with good up and down. 

Legs have been feeling pretty beat up from all the climbing over the last few weeks, started out nice and easy, ended up feeling good after I warmed up and had great speedy (for me) run.  12.65 miles, 2160 ft climb, 8:40 pace.  8 of the 12 mile-splits were between 8:15 and 7:40, last mile (flat/downhill) was 6:08.  Had a couple of slow miles up the hilly sections and through my first mile and a half warm up.  I feel really good about the speed given the technical trail and moderate effort.  I have really been working on running more relaxed over nasty terrrain, my knee is still only maybe 80% so I find myself running with the brakes on at times, but I finally feel it starting to come together. After 2 weeks of running up 20% + grade climbs most of the hills on this section  of trail are feeling pretty flat :)

YIKES! my wife just let me know a friend of ours has a VIP entry into the Ogden Marathon for me if I want it . . .. I said o.k. only problem is I havent run on pavement on purpose since the Ogden last year where I ran a blistering fast 4:01 ;) I think this one will be a no taper afair, I really dont want to take an easy week at this point.  Should be a good training run and a fun day.   

Totally unremarkable run on the BST.  South to the Beus Canyon TH parking lot and back. Legs heavy today, couldn't get in a rythmn.  12 miles, 9:12 pace, ended up with 1785 vertical. 

Of other note: I saw the legendary local Jaque Glidden out walking on the trail today.  I don't know how old he is, he doesn't look like he has aged a year in the 15 or so I have known him.  You would never guess it to look at him, but the guy is/was quite the hard man.  He held the speed record on the Grand Teton for years and years, something like just over 7 hours round trip, if you've done it in a day, you know how remarkable that is. There are still unrepeated routes in the Canadian Rockies that are Glidden FA's.  He was a professor at Weber State for years and used to issue a challange to any student in his class that if they could be him in a foot race he would give them an automatic A.  He never lost, as far as I know, even as he approached retirement.  Original ultrarunner I guess.  I always get ecited to see him out on the trails, makes me hope I can still be out there looking strong into my 70's or beyond.

Top of 27th to Malan's Peak to BST, to Indian over to Ogden Canyon, down Ogden Canyon to the BST north side, 6 mile out and back on the high trail to BST from Rainbow back to Taylor canyon, hands on knees hiking up to the Malan's overlook and a jerky shuffle back to the car on 27th. Ran 100% of the loop until I got back to Taylor Canyon, heading back up to Malan's overlook the tranny went out and I had no more uphill gear and was reduced to a slow hike.  Nothing left in the tank after that one. Stomache bad all morning for some reason. 19.8 miles, 5640 vert, 4 hours.  Week: 55 miles, 10500 vert.

7 miles for the 1st time on the North Ogden section of the BST.  Fun to get out and run through the foothills where I grew up.  I spent hours up there as a kid, funny how much smaller the world is as a thirty something. Things and places I remember as huge or really far apart are actually quite small and close together.  Lots of memories though, things I hadn't thought of in 20 years.  Slow run with lots of detours and stops.  Bad news is I had to limp back to the car for the last mile and half with sharp pain in my calf??? hope and pray its just a slight strain.  Felt it a little Saturday, was slightly sore through  Monday but nothing yesterday until the run.  ARRRHH!

Took the dog out for a very enjoyable 5 on the trails at sunset.

Took the dog and my calf strain out for a walk on the trails tonight. Things felt o.k., not anywhere near running yet though.  Marathon is out, no big loss as I wasn't really planning on it unitl a week ago anyway. I learned a few things on the walk. First, leave at home once in a while: watch, (especially the Garmin), music, expectations, outlined plans.  Second, take most of the time: a clear head, the dog, love of the trails and mountains.

The story of this race really began on Friday night for me.  A week or so ago I got offered a spot in the Ogden Marathon, but  I had completely written off running with my friend’s # due to a strained soleus/calf  that knocked me out on Monday.  So, driving home from work at 5:30 on Friday night my phone rings and it’s the girl I was going to get an Ogden Marathon entry from asking if I wanted her packet and number?. . . . .. Hmmm?? . . ., strained Soleus felt o.k. on my walk Thursday night??? Maybe?? . . . . My answer was  “let me get back to you in an hour or so.”  Got home,  and the packet and number were already there waiting . . .dang it! More pressure! I put on my shoes and went for a walk/run on the trails to see how things felt . . .after about 5 miles I thought  “not bad, a little tight, but I could probably pull it off. 

Me being me,  I hemmed  around about making a full commitment to myself all night.  Did I really want to risk further injury for a race I had no intention of running and have not really thought about much at all?  About 9:30 last night I got my stuff together, set it out like I was doing a long run and, still not totally committed, went to bed and set the alarm for 4:00 AM. 

Alarm went off, I thought naaah, hit snooze and went to sleep.  Then the thought hit me, “if I go to the finish to watch my wife’s friends run I’ll kick myself all day for not running.”  Got up, grabbed breakfast and my gear and I was out the door, hurt calf, no taper, poor diet and all.   I had no idea what pace I could run or what to expect really, I just haven’t run for speed or on flat, smooth ground for a long time.  A good fun, training run is all I kept thinking.

I got to the start pretty late and ran into my brother-in-law at the bathroom line.  I think they could put 1000 toilets up there and there would still be a 20 minute line.  We talked, the line didn’t move, the race start got down to 2 minutes,  then 30 seconds, then me running across the field as the train of runners poured through the start.  I stood at the start line banner for a minute or so and waited for a friend I knew was running and said hi and good luck to several friends as they went by.  I jumped in with my friend and we talked and ran slow for a ½ mile or so, I sped up a little, looked back and she was gone.  Bummer,  we have run together the other two times I have run this, the 1^st time she  literally pulled me to a 3:46 finish in my first, and off the couch, marathon. 

Story gets short from here out.  Felt good on the down hills at the start, no calf issues.  Running on pavement on purpose for literally the first time in a year sucked!  Sorry to you guys who like it, no offence.  I read on Davey’s report that he ran on the dirt shoulder when he could and sped up when he did, I had the exact same experience, only my experience was about 1:00 p/mile slower than his experience.  Splits for the first 8 miles were consistently between 7:40 and 7:50, which I was good with.

Mile 8-9 or so is where the story gets short.  My calf started to flare up bad after only a few miles on the flatter part of the course.  I thought,  first, “slow down”, second “stop at the next aid station and wait for you bro-in-law and run/walk at his slower pace to the half point where he had a car parked.”  By the water station it felt a little better so I kept going, then it would flare again, and I would think “ok stop” then “why not just get to the half.”  On and on like this for 4-5 miles. 

At that point, and for the rest of the race it was really in my head, I was worried about messing up my whole summer over one dumb, unplanned run.  My splits dropped immediately from high 7’s to mid to high 8’s.  Except for a few slow miles, that’s where they stayed the rest of the race.  My gate felt weird, between the knee I hurt skiing and now right soleus/calf strain, my poor left leg has had to carry my  injured right all year.  Most of my acceleration was coming from my left leg and I could feel my left hip and hamstring aching all the way through the rest of the run.  Oreo, on his marathon report, said about his ITB issues, “one leg says go the other says whoa!” Perfect description.   

I was hammered at the end.  Last two miles were rough.  Marathon’s are very hard for sure.  I’ll take 50 miles on dirt anytime, much easier.  It was good to run a couple of miles with friends along the way and see even more at the finish.  The weather was perfect, beautiful day.  I finished somewhere around 3:41, I forgot to stop my watch and haven’t seen my chip time.  I qualified the girl whose number I had for Boston, not that she would run, but she’ll have fun explaining that to friends and family for a few days.  I managed a marathon PR and hit the half at about 1:46 which is also an unofficial PR.  Given the craziness of it all, I am totally happy with how it went.  My calf is tight and a little painful and my left leg is going to be sore tomorrow, but it should all recover o.k. for Squaw Peak in a few weeks, I hope.  (oh ya, I’m OFF the wait list and in the race!)  If not , I’m sure I’ll be dumb/stubborn enough to be out there anyway.   

Easy 3 in the rain on the service road.  Things feel ok, no real muscle soreness, right lower leg a little funky still.

Nice 7 miles in one hour.  Amazing ot me how much faster 7 miles go by on the trail! yeehaa!  Perfect temps and weather. Amazing sunset run.  Legs are recoverd from Saturday, calf still a little tender.  arrrh!

Nice 5 at sunset again.  Enjoying what are prabably the last weeks of comfortable evening runs on the bench, it's gonna get hot someday.

12 the hard way today.  Yesterday I had the thought that I might be able to get to one of the local high peaks without crossing too much snow as it is lower in elevation and seemd to be, at least from the valley, mostly melted out.  With the weather last night and this morning I should have changed plans, but I dont usually mind a little weather and am getting a little burnt out on the lower trails and I need a good last long run before Squaw taper begins. 

I headed out a little late to let the weather calm down and when i pulled into the North Ogden Divide trail head it wasn't terrible at the start, just cold and very windy. No other cars there today, just me and the trails, nice!  I headed up the Lewis Peak side and was hoping to beable to run all of the initial climb, its very steep, but short a little less than 1.5 miles, it gains 1300 feet.  Most of that vert comes in the last mile. 

With in 10 minutes of starting the clouds moved in and it started to snow, hard! there was already about 3 inches on the trail of fresh from over night and it was acumlitaing more fast. Next came lightening, multiple strikes, lots of thunder and it was close.  Snow turned quickly to a heavy gropple and the wind was blowing it sideways.  I continued up and the snow got deeper, 4-5 inches of fresh, and lots of winter snow pack on the trail.  (It's the last part of MAY for (insert explative)!!.  I'm so sick of running in snow!) Toward the top of the switchbacks the trail comes out of the trees onto an open meadow, I told myself if the Thunderstorm had not passed when I reached this section I would turn around rather than risk it.  With in 30 yards of me getting into to open section a lightening strike light up the sky very brightly and a huge boom of thunder followed instantly.  I made a u-turn without even hesitating and headed down.  

Got to the parking lot, the lightening was fast and furious all the way down the trail, bright enough that it would startle me several times, never mind the thunder.  The worst of it moved through, so I crossed the street and headed up the Ben Lomond trail.  I knew the switch back section would be melted out, but beyond that there is multiple feet of snow still.  I ran the 2.5 miles up to the top of the switch backs in 2-5 inches of fresh snow and gropple. At the top, enjoyed the view of the very green Ogden Valley and very white snow on the mountains surrounding it.  Headed back the parking lot and repeated the Lewis Peak climb to my high point, headed down and ran half way back up the Ben Lomond side again.  Nothing quite as inspiring as running in circles.  By the last lap the snow was melting and the trail was an ankle deep river of muddy ice water, gotta love spring in the Wasatch!

I wanted a much longer/harder run today.  A little disapointed I didn't get more in, but I felt beat up today, legs are heavy and I am feeling kinda burnt.  Maybe its the weather?  I keep telling myself this is how I'm supposed to feel at this point, I should be tired, but I miss those fun, fresh leg days when running feels more like flying than pulling my heap up one more hill.  4 more days to put hay in the barn, then recovery/taper for Squaw, hopefully the spring will be back in the legs on the 5th.

Today, 12.5 miles 3740 vert 

Great run tonight! Malan's PR for both the up and the round trip!  I haven't run this thing hard since early last fall, and, guessing most of the winter snow would be off the trail, why not give it a punch and see wha these tired legs got?  From the trail head to the crossing on Taylor Creek bridge where the real climb begins I was 9:50, a good time for me here is 11:00-12:00.  I kept the pedal down up the ridiculous steep section to the overlook and hit that point at 15:50! (uusal push it time to here is around 19:00) I knew I was on serious PR pace. Legs were starting to feel a little heavy, but were holding up for as beat up as I have felt latlely.  Heart rate and breathing felt good.  From the lookout through the next switchback it doesn't let up at all and gets to the ridiculous steep right toward the end, climbing 1200 ft in a mile through here.  This is where it got nasty, first 2 inches of slush, then three, then top of ankle deep sections that were very slick, then solid snow/slush 4-6 inches deep and an inch of mud under it all.  This slowed me down a little and took more energy to plow through.  I topped out in 34:40, spent a few on top trying to take in the view and tried to fly down, I bit it a couple of times in the deep snow/mud section but still managed to make the trail head with a 51:43 moving time.  WhoooHOO! Not too long ago it took me 50 minutes to get to the top.  I PR'ed but felt much better than the last time I went for it.  Last fall I remeber sitting on top feeling like I was gonna pass out! and my run down wasn't fast at all.  Feels great to see improvement. 

Noticed this on a few blogs latley, so here is the Garmin junk! for the run 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34473301

No running today or yesterday.  Both my calf strain and knee are ticked about the hard effort on Monday.  Knee was really painful yesterday, hurt to even walk normal, calf is super sore today.  Knee feeling much better today. Whine, whine, whine! Cleaned the dust off my bike, put air in the flat tires and managed to remeber how to clip into my peddals for a good 1st real bike ride of the season yesterday.  Felt good despite the wind. 25 miles and no saddle time for 8 months = sore! 20.2  avg mph for 20 miles and had 5 or so slower through traffic.  Hope I can get in a few runs Fri/Sat before winding down for Squaw Peak 50 in 10 days. Geeze, that came up fast! 

What a weekend.  I can’t believe how antsy I feel.   Usually Sundays are spent in a happy, restful haze of exhaustion and satisfaction from a good week of effort and a solid Saturday run.  Yesterday was the first Saturday spent without significant physical activity in at least a year, last was probably the family trip to So Cal a year ago, and I can’t remember how long it has been that an easy Saturday didn’t occur on vacation.  I got out for a nice slow hike on Saturday, but wasn’t work by any means.   Some solid work in the yard took the edge off but has still left me with a weird combination of nervous energy and laziness.  Not really the taper I wanted going into my big race.

The culprit at the bottom of all of the inactivity is my knee/calf issue that flared up with a vengeance last Monday on my hard effort on Malan’s Peak.  I have noticed that my knee has been aching in direct proportion to the strain/pain I have in my calf.  The knee came first, which I’m sure led to a favored stride which led to the calf, which in turn affects my knee.  It was bad enough on Wednesday that when I attempted to trot with my 10 year old across the infield at his track meet (he’s making papa proud as a member of the Ogden City Track Club!) I couldn’t put two strides together without very sharp pain.  I went for a good ride on my road bike Tuesday and even that hurt my knee to push it hard. 

If you’d asked me Wednesday night, I would have said Squaw Peak was out.  Slowly things are feeling better.  I have made a self diagnosis that would make a witch doctor proud and come to the conclusion that my tight calf is pulling my lower leg slightly out of alignment (recent MCL strain from a ski injury has given me an abnormal degree of lateral movement ) and causing my knee to track poorly in the joint?? Like ITB knee issues but in the lower leg??   Deep, solid massage seems to take the edge off of both the knee and calf. 

Bottom line is it is frustrating that going into my focus race of the spring I may not make it to the starting line.  The only race I have really felt solid going into this year was Buffalo Run 50.  Red Hot was fresh off the ski injury; Ogden Marathon was run with this new calf strain.  I have an appointment with the Orthopedic on Thursday, if he says I’m not going to cripple myself by doing Squaw I think I’ll still give it a go, pain allowing.