Like the canyon

Good hardish effort up and back on Malan's.  Temp wasn't hot really, but humid as a Southern Lousianna trailer house. Soaked like I'd been in a lake when I got to the car. 

4.4 miles, 2200 vert , 50:03 RT

Easy 40 minutes cooling the legs off from yesterday's effort. Things felt ok, legs a little sore on the downhills, been a while since I have been sore. Kind of nice feeling.   

What is it about 3 seconds?  My Malan's RT yesterday was a solid 3 minute PR for the peak and back, but those 3 seconds are haunting me....why does 49:59:59 sound so much better than 50:03? HA! Stupid!

Hour or so easy pace, just to keep the engine turning over.  Feeling the spark a bit after a couple of weeks of slog.

Oh ya, better note that I went to the vodoo guy today, we'll see.  Lots of hocus pocus.  No sugar at all, in any form, for me for 24 hours......damnit! 

Sureal late evening run.  Got out just after the sun went down and cruiesed for an hour or so.  There were some weak thunderstorms dancing around the west side of the valley and over the mountains just south of me.  Pretty cool light show for most of the run. 

Legs just getting past the fatigue and soreness from Monday's effort.  I hanven't been sore for a long time like that, not even after a hard race, kinda crazy.  I think I'm in fourth overall on the Striders race, but I'm only a minute to 2 minutes behind guys that would put an hour or more on me in a marathon and 4-5 minutes on me in a 5k. I guess that's alright considering I have done absolutely no speedwork or even much tempo work at all this year. I know I left 30 seconds to a minute out there just given how poorly I felt overall, might have to give it one more go. Gotta get those 3 seconds back at least. Not to worried about placing as i am sure my number is dropping, as soon as the go fasties get a shot at it.....

First "trail run" with my 3 year old. The kid is toough as nails, shuffles the ups like a pro, cruises the flats and bombs the downs.  We go for hikes most evenings that usually involve about half running, but tonight he put the hammer down on me and we ran a good mile and half with a couple hundred vert in there.  Granted there was some stopping to climb boulders and throw dirt and rocks, but over all he nailed it!

 New Route for me in the local hills, in fact I’m calling my favorite route to date.  All areas I had been to before, though mostly in the winter, I had just never linked it all together.  I started in the pre morning dark at the Wheeler Canyon Trail Head and ran gorgeous single track up toward Snow Basin Ski area.  Once in the ski resort, I followed a combination of mountain bike trails and service roads up the top of the John Paul chair lift and the on to the peak of Mt Allen, from there I traversed the ridgeline south, hitting all the other peaks and high points along the way.   I felt good this morning and was excited to be able to run every step of the initial 4000 ft, 10.5 mile climb, all the way to the peak of Mt Allen.  I don’t know what it is about maintaining a run to a high peak, even a slow run, that makes the top that much more gratifying.  

Here are the details in pictures:

Looking up at the route from Ogden Valley.  Mt Allen is the peak on the right, I ran across the skyline, hitting Mt allen first, then Mt Ogden (highest, just left of Allen), Needles, DeMosiey, and Stawberry Peaks. The route starts below the low green hill in the foreground.

Running up the service road and looking up at DeMoisey Peak.

Still headed up, Mt Ogden and Allen with wild flowers!

View from the top of Mt Ogden looking down to the start.  The trailhead is right next to Pineview, the lake you can see in the distance.

Looking North from Mt Ogden back toward Mt Allen, the first peak I got to.  North beyond that is Lewis, Ben Lomond and Willard. Such an awesome place to be able to run everyday!  The service road I ran up is visible in the lower right, near the start shack for the Women's Olympic Downhill.

After leaving Mt Ogden, I traversed South to Needles Peak and then on to DeMoisey Peak, pictured here. The whole run  through this section is right on the ridgeline like this, just freaking awesome!

Looking South again from DeMosiey Peak toward Strawberry Peak.

Looking back toward the start/finish from Stawberry Peak.  The trail head is at the bottom of the canyon shadowed in the top/center.  Lots of sweet downhill run'en from here. 

Run stats: 23.5 miles, 5800 vert, time 4:50 (moving) Pace 12:15.

Exactly what I wanted from this run, to feel comfortable at an all day, 100 miler pace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104531591

Oh, and if you haven't seen this....pretty freaking incrediable!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFCjaKhbHMk&feature=player_embedded

Lewis Peak. 10.5 miles, 3300 vert. 1:45 RT, 1:00:20 to the peak.  Moderate to hard effort on the up took it pretty easy on the way down.  Mile or so cruise'en the trails with the kido when I got home.

Nice easy cruise up Ben Lomond.  Kept it in granny gear most of the way up, but still managed to shuffle all the way to the peak.  Glad this feeling easier as it's a good marker of improvement for me. As I was running tonight, I was thinking about how getting up Ben Lomond used to be an expedition involving multiple quarts of water, hundreds of calories, and several hours of running,walking, and recovering after.  Now it's a single bottle and couple gels in the pocket and and easy cruise.  Pretty fascinating how our bodies become adapted to the work we do.  Oh, and a new sight up there tonight.  Came around a corner on the way down and there was a guy flying 20 feet over my head in a paraglider.  He buzzed back and forth along the ridge for a mile or so of my run never more than 50 ft or so above me, looked like a great way to spend an evening.  Not for me though, that is the kind of thing that would go very wrong for me.

15.25 miles, 3850 vert, 2:45 RT.

Quick and easy roll half way up Malan's before heading to the hospital with my wife for the big induction!  Oh ya :) New baby boy born just before 11:00 PM, 7.14, healthy and strong.  Both mom and baby are doing well. :))

Snuck out for a quick out and back on Indian Trail while mom and baby were crashed out this afternoon.  Returned with an ice cream shake and lunch for mom. Giddy from the run and the new addition and probably a little punchy from 1.5 hours sleep. 

10 miles, 2500 vert.

Easy hike/run with the boys up Indian Trail.  Couple miles.

22 miles up Mt Ogden and around Snowbasin.  Felt ok on the 5000 ft climb, kept a run going up to just short of the peak where even walking gets a little tricky.  Forgot to take extra gels with me so I felt pretty hammered on the way back to the car but suffered through on about 300 calories.

22 miles, 5300 vert, 4:25. 

Running 7 of 8 days: 86 miles, 22,500 vert.

Easy 5 miles, BST, Hot!

Moderate paced 9 miles, East Bench, Hot again.

The Wyoming Circumnavigation once again! Bluh! If you ever get a chance to stop in Mid Western Wyoming, highly recommend a visit.  Oh, and the drive across Thunder Basin National Grassland, oh yea, quite scenic.  That said, the Black Hills of South Dakota are truly beautiful.  Got to see Crazy Horse, and Mt Rushmore at drive by pace.  Pulled in to the house we are working on out there just before dark, walked the job with the builder and my lead guy, went to dinner, went to bed about midnight, got up at 5:00 AM, did a few things, loaded up a big trailer and left for the 11 hour drive home by 9:00 AM.  22 hours of driving in about 30 hours. I think I've come up with a new sport, ultra-driving.  Sheesh! that wore me out as bad as an ultra race. 

No real running other than the short jog out to Martin's Cove on the way out.  Very special place and was quite lucky to have it mostly to myself. Never been there before, left with a new appreciation for my ancestors. 5 miles round trip or so.   

See Wednesday.....

Easy/moderate paced 5 or so. BST. HOT and DRY.  Legs felt like crap from two days of inactivity and too much sitting pressing a gas peddle.  Oh, and not eating for a meal for 30+ hours other than a crappy chicken gyro  on Wednesday night.  Lots of BST running this week, trying to stay close to home for the new little guy.   

 This is an awesome trial marathon/half in the local hills here above O-town.  Full has about 4600-4800 vertical feet of climb and is 99.9% trail.

Was debating were to run on Saturday and nothing was sounding too appealing.  Really need to get away for a nice roll through the Winds again or the Tetons, but not this weekend.  I knew this race was coming up, and in fact the RD asked if I could run an aid station again, but with my sporadic running this week and limited time, I wanted to be selfish and get a good run in. Never having run this race or even some parts of the course, I thought what the heck and signed up about 9:30 last night.  When the alarm went off this morning, I really didn't want to get up.  Sleep has been scarce for a week or so with the new guy.  Dragged myself out, drove very unmotivated to the start, sat in my truck for a bit wanting to close my eyes for another 10 minutes, finally walked over and got my number, talked to Phil L, who wasn't racing but headed up BL with his son, Talked with Shane the goat for a bit, hit the POP and walked up to the start. 

Here's the Highlights (and a few low-lights):

-In the 100 yards to the single track, no one wanted to jump in the lead so I did.  Not where I wanted to be, but there I was.

-Lead  about 2/3's of the initial 2800-3000 ft climb.  Had another guy with me that I thought was the goat, ended up being a kid named Pablo, who passed me like I was standing still and put a big gap between me and everyone else for a bit.

-I went out too hard and started to die a bit a the top of the climb, Came through the first aid at the saddle in 3rd, right with second place at 1:08.  

-Kept about a 30 second gap behind second most of the way across the ridge, when the goat came by like I was standing still and I was in 4th.  Second place was in third as the goat picked him off quick too.  The guy can run downhill!

-Got stung by 3 bees on the Lewis Peak section! What the hell? I think  I made up new curse words when the 3rd one hit me on the inner thigh!

-Tripped and stumbled on a root at one point, calf locked up so bad I thought I was not getting off the mountain.  Had to stop and stretch it out for a couple minutes.  On the subject, I don't think I have accumulated so many near crashes in all my runs all season, every mile it seemed I was stumbling around after nearly wrecking on some rock or root. Only hit the dirt once, right off the start, just as we hit the single track, not a biggy, no high speed crash, just hands on the ground.

-My asthma kicked in pretty hard through this one, especially after the bee incident(s).  Lots of inhaler hits.  Frustrates the heck out me this time of year, another month and it will mellow out.

-The decent off Lewis to Windsurfer Beach was a long hot, out of water for almost an hour grind.  Some miscommunication with the volunteers and no aid station at the top.  Silly me only took half a bottle at the top of the North Ogden Divide, thinking I'd fill up at the top. Nope.

-Total mental/physical break down on the North Arm trail section.  Walked a lot, complained to myself too much. Generally felt horrible rolling up and down, in and out of trees and weeds.

-Caught sight of 3rd place as soon as we hit the pavement section.  That, and the fact that I caught sight of 5th behind me, snapped me out of it and I ran the last half mile or so strong.

-Finished less than a minute behind 3rd and a minute or less in front of 5th.  Sheesh! gotta keep my head in the game!

Great race, awesome, tough course.  Might have to make it a regular, at least redeem myself as this one was not my best run physically.  My mind/body just wasn't ready to run hard for that many miles/vert.  Happy I ran it though, gives me something to think about going forward.

Shane the goat ended up winning again at 4:01

 Week (weak) 40 miles, 5500 vert or so.  Not what  I needed at this point, but was all I could get.

Nice little peddle tonight.  Legs were pretty worked over today from the fastish running on Saturday so I blew the dust off the two wheeler for the third time this summer and went out for a classic little ride I used to do all the time.  Up the Old Snowbasin road, which is about as close as you can get to trail running on a road bike.  Very pretty, lots of twists and turns, and the road is currently closed to traffic so had it all to myself.  Even saw a moose.  Rode up past Snowbasin and came down the Trappers Loop highway.  Can't believe I used to hit 60+ mph going down that thing.....Lost my nerve, sat up and rode the brakes when I hit 48 today, spandex and skinny tires + high speed = sketchy. 

Easy 4-5 miles, BST, Bluh, but it's run'en I guess.Legs not sore but still feel a little worked overall.  Not to complain, but kinda tired of the 90+ degrees and crappy air quality.  Need a little fall in the air.   

Easy 4 miles with a half Malan's.

Malan's. 4.4 miles, 2200 vert.

 Another awesome Wind River adventure run! I really wanted to go back and repeat a loop I had done last year and thought rather than go solo again, it might be fun to throw an invite out to a bunch a people and see who showed up. All told I think there ended up being 9 of us out there and the best part was no one but Phil had been in the area before, and he went for the first time on the Monday prior, liked it s much he came back for our Saturday run, bringing his 16 year old son.  We

We took off bright and early from Big Sandy trail head bright and early to a cold clear sky. We had a bit of a staggered start, with those who were moving slower leaving a bit earlier than the rest of us.  Worked out pretty well, as we all grouped back up for a bit on the climb up to Texas Pass, with Phil and Russ climbing under a big boulder looking for Phil's "walkman" he had dropped, yes he called it a "walkman" for those who are to young, they used to play cassette tapes and had big foam ear buds.  It was continually playing Star Wars theme music and was kinda funny to hear the Empire theme wafing out from under a boulder in middle of nowhere. 

The split up pretty fast from there, with BJ and Jon taking off at a good clip as they had to be home early and the others moving ahead slowly.  I hung back waiting for Shane and Cody to catch up from their photo taking binge. 

Shane, Cody and I topped out on Texas Pass, took some pics and I pulled out the map and dropped a little impromptu route change on Shane if he was up for it.

Shane and I ended up climbing off trail through another unnamed pass across a high plateau at close to 12,000 feet and down a death loose/steep scree slope. Dropping down to the shores of Washakie Lake and climbing up on more off trail terrain. Eventually meeting up with the trail and climbing over another big pass before descending back down to meet up with the original route. This was a tough detour and made for a long day.  Looking at the map, it didn't look as tough as it ended up being.  I think I will petition to Forest Service to name the first pass we climbed through on the route extension, Dumbass pass.

I think we all decided that the combination of beauty, route,  length, and difficulty made it one of the best adventure runs we had done. 

Here's the run in pictures:

Early in the moring, early in the run. Big Sandy Lake, mile 5 or so.

 Me treading lighly around the edge of Arrowhead Lake.  Lots more boulder hoping to come.

 Next two are as good as it gets. Trail into the Cirque of the Towers. BJ and I in trail runner heaven.

 Looking at Pingora from part way up the climb to Texas Pass.  Shane visiable in white, lower right.

Looking back down on Lonesome lake from about the same spot as the previous pic.

  Looking down the other side from the top of Texas Pass. Dumbass pass is the low spot in the skyline just left of center, across the valley.

Shane filling bottles full of fresh mountain water about half way up Dumbass Pass lookng back at Texas Pass which is the low spot between the two peaks right of center. Very pretty spot.

From the top of the pass looking down on Pass Lake.  Washakie Pass is the saddle at the top/center of the pic, between the two peaks.  Our route dropped us down to the lake, then back up over the pass.  Starting to ask Shane if this is what Hardrock is like.

Pic below is view to the East from the same spot.

This is looking back at the spot the last two pics were taken from.  It was taken about half way up Washakie pass.  Our route took us down the nasty scree slopes that come off the end of the plateau.  Shane said that was a little beyond Hardrock. 

Looking West from the top of Washakie pass.  Just a big descent and a bunch of miles back to the car.  My bonk was coming soon.  Glad Shane nursed me along back to the car. 

All in all a great adventure with good friends.  Shane is an animal and desrves the "goat" nic-name he has.  The guy just powers over everything.  Had a great soak in the creek at the end and a very bonky drive back to Rock Springs WY, where the 5 of us in my truck pretty much ordered everything on the menu and a side of bacon at a really good little burger place. 

27.5 miles, 6000 vert or so.

Easy 5 miles.  Felt a bit sluggish still from Saturday's run.

Ran my 13.1 mile loop up on the trails around Snowbasin  for the first time this year.  Last summer I managed a 1:51 for the 13 miles of rocky trail with 2000+ feet of climb.  I felt good about the effort and it was pretty much a red line effort for a good part of the run. 

Starting out toninght, I had no idea what to expect.  I haven't felt well for a couple of weeks, most of which I attribute to this  http://www.intermountainallergy.com/pollen.html.  I figured I'd run at a moderate to slightly harder effort and see how it went. Sure enough, the climb up East Fork and the freshly cut weeds on the side of the trail from the mountain bike race Saturday had me coughing like an old diesel truck. That, and the kid on downhill bike that almost Van Gogh'ed my left ear (caught air off a roller in front of me and his peddle went right past my head, not kidding) I didn't feel on the game at all, but kept on truck'en up the steady, long climb that is first 7 miles of this run.  I couldn't remember any splits from the few times I ran this hard last year, but when I crossed Snowbasin Road things seemed a little ahead of schedule despite the poor effort and lack luster feeling in my lungs. 

The downhill was fast thanks to the Forest Service grooming as of late.  Kept it pretty much sub 7 min pace for the last six miles, with the exception of the Icebox Canyon section, that was a 7:50.  Felt good about the last mile being a 6:18 split.

I hit the bottom at 1:46 for 13.07 miles .  The Garmin musta gone whacky, it had the vert at 2900, not so much, more like 2000-2200, always a little differnt. I pegged it pretty hard the last couple of miles, other than that the pace was just a bit above comfortable, but not a hard effort.  Good to improve, especially as sporadic as my running has been for the last month or so. 

Cruiser 7.5 on the bench, hot, dusty, crowed. Run is a run I supose. Getting to where I could run most of my loops up there blindfolded and not miss a beat.  I've taken to running on the opposite side of the trail I normally run on, just to dodge different rocks. With work and the new little guy, time has been tight lately so most of the mid-week runs have been pretty blah.

7.5 miles, 900 vert.