Elite Jogging For Dummies

No "running" other than a couple of 100m "strides" while snowshoeing in Park City. Beautiful day but cold! 

 I resolve to try to be a better blogger this year! Even if that means just logging my miles more faithfully.  I ran a fair amount in December (all things considered) but I just lazily never entered it into the blog.  

The new loop in the hood, 7.25. 

The new loop in the hood . . . in reverse. 

I ran north up to the neighborhood of my youth.  Did some strides in the snow.  Surprised I covered almost nine miles. 

No running today, I did a core workout at home, as has been my semi-routine the last few Wednesdays. Heather ran on the treadmill.

Easy miles with a couple of surges, in the cold, from Divas with 3 others.

From 9th and 9th in the muck and air scum.

Running on the high east bench, but not high enough to be out of the thick grey air.  It was o full of substance, however, that I didn't have to eat breakfast after the run. 

An out and back where I basically ran east, turned around, and ran west. It was perhaps a little bit more detailed than that, but only slightly.

Couldn't run in the morning, couldn't run in the evening. Thus, no running.

A run occurred, in Utah.

From Diva's with a group of eight or so. 

From 9th and 9th with a group of four.

In Los Angeles.  Beautiful morning. Staying in the Larchmont neighborhood with an old friend. I weaved around the neighborhood, ran up to Melrose and south to Rossmore, and through Hancock Park.  Fancy houses, let me tell you, very fancy.  In fact, much much too fancy. 

In Ojai, CA.  Drove up on Sunday and stayed the night. I ran through an equestrian park and hundreds of acres of orange groves.  The last couple of miles of the run were along the walking path that borders the town. It was 65 degrees. Top notch.

It was pretty wet this morning, nice mix of rain and snow.  Quite

different from running in Ojai, and not necessarily better.  I ran a

neighborhood loop; it was ok, but I feel like I'm sort of missing having

the U/City Creek/Memory Grove nearby.  Those big, car-free landmarks

help keep the runs interesting.

From Diva's, out and back with a group of 4.

From 9th and 9th with a group of 4, including a pal from Boise.

From Diva's, a nice loop through Holladay. Great temperature, pretty morning. 

I finally ran a route I've been thinking about for a while. I headed east up to Parleys Way, crossed Foothill Blvd, and headed south to the footbridges that would take me across the mouth of Parley's canyon and into Tanner Park.  If it were not for the 20 minutes of traffic noise in the middle of this run, it would be a real winner.  The nice descent back home after Tanner Park was great.

I ran north to the 'hood of my youth. I did 8 x 150m strides on the Beacon Heights field. In a couple of weeks I hope to be able to return to doing some workouts with the Black Sheep. The hamstring has been pretty resilient lately. The plantar fascia is not so good, but I feel like I can manage that, at least until it pops. 

Six miles in the 'hood, including about 1.5 miles in the local cemetery.  I did a short core workout after the run.

From Diva's, a nice loop through Holladay.

From 9th and 9th, a tour of Avenues and University neighborhoods.

Four miles on the treadmill. I was flying solo with the boys this weekend.  This is all I could scrape together during their afternoon nap.

Hey, anyone want a cold? I can share. It's not too bad yet. But it's my experience that the slower it comes on the slower it goes away.  So, I pulled back a bit on the miles and slept a little more this morning. 

No running today, or at least not as of this morning.  Trying to get a little extra rest to fight the cold. 

No running again today. The cold feels a little better; I have used much less tissue today than I did yesterday. And generally my head feels less like it's encased in an inflatable tube.

Got out a little late, only had time for 6 miles in the hood.

Six miles from 9th and 9th. 

At the cabin. No running. Gale force winds. Stayed inside.

Still at the cabin. Heather and I ran up Richardson Canyon on the snowmobile trail, wearing Yaktrax. Lots of climbing on the way up, beautiful morning. Clear and no wind. 

I'm really cranking out the miles, aren't I?  Late out the door, only had time for 5 miles.

I ran out and back to my old 'hood of my youth, which is turning out to be one of my more enjoyable runs from our rental house.  I actually did something resembling speedwork, or at least a "fartlek," on the snow covered school field and in the surrounding neighborhoods. Nice to move the legs. Cold! But not terribly awful.

Quite cold again, 16F.  Once again, I ran a completely different route than anything I've run before from the rental house. I'm rather surprised I haven't found a loop or two that I can settle into.  I headed east up to the entrance to Tanner Park (2.5 miles from home) and then south through Holladay neighborhoods, meandering back to the house. A lot to like in this route, but need to eliminate some needless meandering along Highland Drive.

From Diva's on 3300 South, we ran the north loop up to 1700 South and back.

I ran on the Pipeline Trail in Millcreek Canyon. I wore the yaktrax on the packed snow, and the headlamp to navigate the 6am darkness. Great to be on the trail early.

From Foothill with a group of six or so. We ran north, out and back to B Street on 11th Ave, and then added a bonus mile at the end. 

Another meandering run through the local neighborhoods. I'm beginning to give up on the idea of trying to settle on a fixed loop. So many endless neighborhoods; one change in direction and it ends up being a totally different run.

My first actual attempt at "speedwork" in probably six months. Along with three others, we cycled through a fartlek workout with intervals of 30 sec, 1 min, 1:30, 2:00, 1:30, 1 min; 30 sec, etc.  We ran these on the rolling hills of 15th East. I felt pretty good, but didn't push it much. I know better than to try to reach for that "other gear" on the first workout after a six month lay off. Hamstring feels good. Plantar Fascitis not so good.

For a while, I thought that the wind would be the most distinguishing feature of this run. Then I thought running alongside a raccoon would take the prize. Alas, it was slipping on a big patch of ice on the trail at Parley's Historic Nature Park that took top honors. I stayed down on the ground for a second because frankly, it hurt. Hip is kind banged up and I'm a little limpy while walking.  The irony is that the ice fall happened when it was 45 degrees out.

It was an icy morning with clear skies, fresh snow and a big moon. We ran from Diva's and did the north loop.

I was in the mood to run parts of my old pre-move routes so I drove to Steiner and ran from there. I headed north through the U campus, up to 11th Ave and then climbed up to 18th Avenue and headed out and back on the snowy meadow trail. I've missed running in that area. I somehow never really got tired of it during the nine years I lived in the Avenues.  Run ended up being a little longer than planned, but it was the right run for the day.

We ran a loop from 9th and 9th through downtown, Memory Grove, 11th Ave. and then zigzagged back from the University area back to 9th/9th.  Half the group ran 15. I ran 11 with the other half; not quite ready to push the increase in miles that much.

I found myself running the same east loop that I've run a couple of times before; it may be turning into an actual route that I can recall and repeat.  I ran in to Julie Thomas on the return route and we ran a mile or so, chatting about kids and running. 

Workout with the Black Sheep, my first in at least six months.  We met at East High, then ran Straley's "Savor the Hill" workout, which basically involves running hard up a hill, backtracking on the recovery and then surging up again, making a little more progress up the road with each progressive interval.  A good re-entry workout, but I have a lot cobwebs to shake out.

I ran the East Loop again, ran into Burke on the return. 28 degrees, no wind. 

Run from Diva's -- north loop.

Boy, it was a long night. It included, at ~3:15 am, yours truly scavenging the house to locate a binky for Luke.  Not only did I search the house, but also the car (to which I ventured in my socks (one of them of the uber-sexy Strassberg variety) . . . in the snow). After 20 minutes, finally found 2 binkies under the changing table. 

 Not surprisingly, I woke up late and ran 7 miles around the hood.

Lots of snow on the ground this morning, and lots of slop and slush on the streets. Iran with a group from Foothill Village to 11th Ave. and B, and back. The group stopped after this 10 mile slushfest. I decided to add a couple more miles because things had dried up a little bit and I was feeling pretty good. So, I ran just over 13 miles, which is my longest run in quite a while. I'll have to check my logs to find out, but it may go back as far as July, maybe June. It was worth the little extra effort. If you could run 13, you can run 15; if you can run 15, you can run 20, etc.

I ran the East Loop this morning. I'm not sure exactly where I shaved off a few tenths, but I did.

I ran the hills of Sugarhouse Park with a sub-group of the Black Sheep, the Blacker Sheep.  We also did some fartlek on the return back to Diva's (which was also our starting point). 

East loop in an hour. Mixed up the route ever so slightly with some good tweaks. I'm enjoying having a "go to" loop and not feel like Moses, wandering the desert.

North loop from Diva's with a group of four others. We did 3 x 1 mile surges at ~6:25 pace. Not so fast that it made me worry about aggravating anything, but quick enough to feel like a pick up considering how slow my miles have been for the last months, years.

East loop, in reverse. 

Left Diva's with a group of six or seven at 6am.  Most were running 10-15.  CK, on the other hand, was running 26.  Toured Holladay, recounted stories of past adventures to keep CK awake in his final miles.

I ran the north, out and back, route to the hood of my youth.

I enjoyed a run on the East Loop, through a foot of snow. No speedwork today.

The extra ten minutes I spent in bed this morning were well used as I figured out a new loop to try, via Wander Lane.  Good stuff. 

From Diva's, we ran the north loop.

From Diva's, we ran a variation of the Wander loop.

A longish tour of the SL benches, from 9th and 9th. 

East loop, plus a little add-on. 

Workout with the black sheep group at East High Track. After the 1.13 mile warmup and 800m speed changes, we ran 10 x 400m.  The first five were in the 86-89 second range. The second five were 83-85. Then an 800m easy in 3:16, followed by another 800m of speed changes, then .75 mile cool down. Good to be on the track again.

I ran from my office at 6am this morning.  I ran my old U of U/Avenues loop ("Ye Olde Loope"), but since I started from downtown, it was a little longer than my loop of old. 

North loop with 2 x 1 mile pickups; 6:26, 6:18. 

Easy south loop from Diva's.

Limited time this morning so I had to lop off a couple of miles from the run.  From Diva's with a group of seven or eight. 

North loop.

Semi-speed workout in Holladay with the Diva's crew. Spent most of the time chatting with CK.

Work work work, run, work.

No time for anything but a little run and a lot of work! 

Another long grueling day of work ahead, short four miles.

An easy four miles to stretch my legs before getting to the airport with Heather for a five night vacation along the Central Coast of CA -- Santa Barbara for three nights, then San Luis Obispo for two nights.  No kids.

Our first run in Santa Barbara, along the beach, from our hotel up to Shoreline Park and beyond. It's a beautiful run.

This was supposed to be a trail run on the Jesusita trail in the Santa Barbara foothills, but a deluge of rain washed out the trail and made it muddy and impassable within the first half mile.  Beautiful scenery, but not the run we were looking for. So we headed down the canyon near the SB Natural History Museum and ran up Mission Canyon, where a fortuitous slip through a fence put us into a beautiful grassy meadow with an incredible view and a nice bench to sit on and enjoy the moment.  Heather and I were out forever on this run, but only covered 6.5 miles.  Great day for it.

An easy 4.5 after wandering the beach in Santa Barbara where Heather discovered her passion for collecting seaglass.

Poly Canyon, San Luis Obispo, CA.  I ran here once in 2001 during a camping trip I was taking along the CA coast.  It was an epic run. I brought my camera along at the time and I have these pictures of me, shirtless at sunset with this giant grin on my face. It was one of those amazing runs. So, all these years later, I finally made it back to SLO.  It's sort of random that I took my wife to stay in SLO for two nights, but frankly, I sort of did it for the running.  So, I got to take Heather up Poly Canyon, which is just behind the campus of Cal Poly.  It's miles of rolling green hills with trails careening in every direction. If you are ever in the neighborhood (or even 200 miles from it), it's worth the trip. It's not always easy running, plenty of hills, but Heather loved it.

Epic run in Poly Canyon, San Luis Obispo.  This time Heather and I ran up to the top of a ridge with no idea where we were headed along the rolling grassy hills. It was wondeful and amazing up there, but a little muddy and not great footing. It's what the Scottish would call fell running, I believe. Heather was a trooper, no complaints. But how could you complain amongst such scenic wonder? It's like an amusement park for runners.  Miles of endless trails in every direction. And if you aren't always on a trail, that's ok too.

Easy run from Diva's with a group of three.

My first race after a long drought of not racing. When did I race last, you ask? It was the BAM Triathlon in August 2010, where I ran the 5k to cap off that race.  Why did I race, you ask?  Great question. Well, I guess I felt like my mileage has been decent enough that it was worth getting on the road and seeing where I was at. That's what I was thinking a couple of weeks ago when I signed up, anyway. Having been on vacation all last week, my motivation was not terribly high.  In fact, I didn't firmly commit to running until about 10pm Friday night. But once I decided, I was pretty much all in. I would run to my potential, whatever that might be.

Turns out it wasn't much.  I ran this race in 55:19 in 2007, 5:32 pace.  I knew I didn't have a chance to run that fast.  Maybe I could crack an hour. Maybe not!

I had a nice little warmup at the start but then had a long portapotty line to navigate. The race started slow, as it should, considering the first two miles have a big climb.  I was trading places with some folks. I ran with Kevin Tuck for a while, then he dropped me at the top of Little Mountain. I then ran with Allie Scott -- who is awesome -- until close to mile 6 or so. Walter jumped in and joined bandit for a while and they both dropped me . . . nicely, but still.  So I was just hanging out crusing down the canyon, watching my 6:20 splits reel off my watch. I was just taking the temperature of things, seeing how I felt.  I had plenty of cardio strength from my semi-decent fitness base, but no leg speed at all. I just have not had the hard miles to earn it.  That's the way it goes.

My wife and boys were waiting near the finish and it was great to see them. I was happy to cross the finish line feeling somewhat strong.  I hoped most of all to have some fun, and I think I did. It was enjoyhable to know I could go out and get my body to move somewhat rapidly down the canyon. I can't take it for granted.

The most symptomatic thing of my lack of real fitness is the soreness in my legs after the race. It's almost like marathon soreness, due to the downhill quad pounding in Emigration canyon. 

Four sore miles!

Another four mile run, still sore.

Legs feeling better, managed 6.5.

From Diva's, I ran with a group of four.  Leg soreness mostly gone.  Should be fine for a longish run this weekend.

I boycotted the weather. Running in the snow would only encourage it further.

Great run, for February.  South loop from Foothill Sbux with a group of six.  I lagged today, still getting my legs back from last week's race -- more evidence of how pathetically out of shape I am.

This cold I've had for several days, which started pretty mild, isn't getting any better. It's in my chest, which is unusual for me. I'm tired of the brain-rattling cough.  So the miles are commensurate with the overall feeling.

Still not feeling great. 

Easy.

Had to go to work super early. Again.

I got talked into a short run this morning.

A run on the south loop through Holladay.

A combination of factors meant it was a five mile kind of morning. I'm going to try to take the boys out in the jogger this evening if it's not raining.

 So impressed with Paul Petersen's performance at Boston.  Awesome, just awesome.

 PM:  In a remarkable burst of motivation, I took the boys out for a 3 mile run in the double jogger at about 7pm.  It was raining but we had fun.

Workout with the Black Sheep, my first in several weeks. A small group today. We did a ladder workout 400/600/800/1000/800/600/400 followed by 3 x 400m.  My times were generally slow, with 400 splits pretty uniformly in the 85-88 range. Really no leg speed at all, in fact.  The longer intervals were lungbusters.  I have a long way to go!!!!

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.  Plantar fasciitis in both feet, hurting worse than ever.  I don't know what's going on.  I have been mixing up my shoes as I've been waiting for a new pair to arrive, but they (Ascis DS Trainer) are more "stable" than the shoes I've been wearing and am waiting for (Asics Speedstar).  I wore the Kayano with inserts this morning in the hope that a super cushy ride would help, but it didn't. It just altered my gait and probably aggravated the problem. 

I tried to run again, and it's just not working. Right foot was fine, left foot is "unrunnable" without significant compensation in form and gait, and foot landing due to the PF.  Usually the foot warms up, but that's stopped happening these last couple of days.   I had to turn back after a mile, it was pointless.  I iced when I got home and that seemed to help.  Rolling out the foot now.  May try again tomorrow. 

Up at the Bear Lake Cabin, Heather and I ran a 7 mile loop around the trails and dirt roads at the bottom of the hill. 

Wow, back to injury mode.  I thought the foot was feeling pretty good, until I ran on it. It feels very weak and unstable and just generally painful. I'm going to try to lay off it this week. 

I swam 1200 meters at Fairmont Aquatic Center, my first swim of 2011. It felt pretty good for the first 800 meters or so, then my "form" fell apart. 

No running again--foot still a mess. I did a pilates core workout and an easy yoga thing compliments of on-demand exercise tv.

No running.  I went to Fairmont Aquatic Center and swam a mile.  It felt better than Tuesday.

No running. Again. I did a core workout at home.

I got antsy and decided to run two miles to test out the foot, which was feeling fine while walking around. It felt fine while running too. Then I remembered that even though it could feel fine while running, it might hurt for a while after running. And that's just what happened. Heel pain the rest of the day.

I swam a mile at Fairmont Aquatic Center.

I swam a mile again at Fairmont Aquatic Center. I did a few laps with the kick board, which is hard!

No running. Just rest.

I swam a mile at Fairmont Acquatic Center.  I mixed up the swim more than usual, adding more kick board and a few more drills, along with some "sprints" -- which are more like a mild jog to any decent swimmer.

A cold arrived to accompany my injury.  Rest only.

Finishing my first week of absolutely no running of any kind in a very, very long time.  The cold still lingering, more rest.

I ran .50 on the treadmill barefoot to get a sense of how my footfall may be contributing to the plantar fasciitis and to see if I had much pain after the run. I did have some pain that was consistent but not awful. The pain is on the outside of my heel, making me wonder if there is something other than the PF going on.

I swam 1400m at Fairmont.  I cut off a little from the swim as a concession to recovering from this cold. 

No running. No surprise. I swam 1700m at Fairmont.  Added more kick boarding and more "sprinting," which I've come to realize is probably a truly heinous sight.

No running.  I did a 30 minute "cardio" workout on the elliptical cross-trainer in the gym at our office. It actually wasn't bad and involved a somewhat reasonably similar approximation of a simulated emulation of a model of the running form. Did a little core workout after that. It was nice to sweat, at least. Also, there was no noticeable impact on my foot after doing this exercise. 

No running. I swam a mile at Fairmont. 

No running. I did a 33 minute workout on the elliptical cross-trainer. It seems to stress my foot just enough for it to be noticeable, but not painful.  

Law Day 5k.  Due to injuries, I couldn't really race but I did want to participate. So I pushed the boys in the double stroller and Heather ran along with us too. We finished in about 30 minutes. Jack wanted to get in and out of the stroller to run a few times, so there was quite a bit of stopping and all of that.  Not quite the 5k experience I'm used to, but it was fun to be with the family.  My foot did pretty well during the race, but predictably, hurt most of the day afterward. I'm planning to stay off of it for the next three weeks at least, then see where I am.  Until then, swimming, cross-trainer, etc.

No running, of course. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical cross trainer, with the HR target set at 150, which was no fun because the machine applied huge resistance the whole time and it was like trudging through wet concrete. Short core workout followed.

Swimming at Fairmont Aquatic Center.  I swam a mile, with a mix of drills and "sprints."  Seeing what actual swim athletes are able to do in the pool is highly discouraging, but I press on.

Another 35 minute workout on the elliptical cross trainer at lunch. HR target was set at 148, which was much better for developing and keeping rhythm. Time actually passed somewhat quickly.  Short core workout followed.

I swam a half mile at Fairmont. I was tired and running short on time, but I'm glad I went.  Still working on improving the foot, ready to turn the corner and start healing.

No running, no nothing today. Had a super late night last night after Luke bonked his face  on the headboard while jumping on Jack's bed, splitting open a big gash between his eyes, requiring trip to ER, plastic surgeon, stitches, etc.  Made it home with the boy at 2am. He's all good, back to being Luke shortly after the procedure was done. 

At lunch I took Jack to an "Itty Bitty Track Meet" at Fairmont Park.  They had four events for kids ages 3,4, and 5--broad jump, ball throw, 20 yd run and 50 yd run. Jack was in the 3 year old category and won first place in each event.  There weren't many 3 year old boys to compete against, but he did great and more importantly had a lot of fun. 

No running.  I went swimming at Steiner, where I was limited to 1200 meters because they were closing lap swimming at 9am.

 In the afternoon, I went up to Park City with my wife and boys. We went to the bike swap at Cole Sport. I picked up a new bike, a Felt F3. Nice bike!

No running. I took the bike out for a 10k spin in the drizzling rain, just to see how it felt. Felt great.

No running. Another short bike ride, 9 miles.  I headed up through Tanner Park and across the foot bridges to Foothill.  The bike handled great, really enjoying it so far and looking forward to a longer ride.

No running.  Planned to go for a ride on the bike, but rain, rain, rain.  I went to Fairmont and swam a mile. I have to say I'm losing some motivation in the pool. I probably need some real instruction to get rid of my bad habits and start figuring out how to do the things needed to actually improve.  

No running. I did another 16 mile bike ride with my work colleagues at lunch.

No running. No biking. It was raining again, so I swam a mile at Fairmont.

No running. I rode the bike north to my old house in the Avenues and up to 11th Ave and return through the U.  About 16 miles. 

Rest.

No running. Again.  I braved the cold air and rode about 19 miles, to

the mouth of Big Cottonwood canyon and back through the Old Mill area

and Holladay Blvd. A great little ride.

No running. I swam a mile at Fairmont--it felt better than it usually does. 

No running. I brought my bike to work and commuted home, just about nine miles.  I took a route up through the Avenues and the U.  On my way through the alley in Federal Heights, I was chased by an eager young dog, eager to press his teeth into some biker flesh. I got to test the sprinting capabilities of my new bike and managed to get away. If I were running, my escape may not have been as successful.

Wow, what a commute to work.  I drove my TR6 to Bailey's this morning for the annual inspection/emission test.  I managed to squeeze my bike into the passenger seat (after taking the top down, of course) so I could ride to work from Bailey's shop in Murray.  After dropping off the car, I headed west with the plan to connect with the Jordan River Parkway at 4500 South, for a nice, easy northerly ride into downtown. Not so! After about 1/3 of a mile on the trail, I hit a section where the river had flooded over the trail extensively, leaving absolutely no way to get around (without wading through waist deep Jordan River water).  So I turned back. I made my way further west to 1300 West and took that north to about 3300 south where I was able to get back on the Parkway trail. Smooth sailing for a while, until I got to about 2100 South where the trail passes beneath an overpass.  The river had flooded there too, leaving only the large boulders that run along the edge of the trail exposed.  So I had to portage my bike over these boulders, in bike shoes.  After this I was back on the trail, and continued north until 900 South, where I got off the trail at Jordan Park and headed up to 900 West to connect to 900 South. From there, it was a glimpse of Salt Lake's industrial side as I made my way into town.  It took me 52 minutes to cover the 12 or so miles, an ode to the various obstacles.  But it was a nice little adventure -- good to have this kind of thing every once in a while to remind one that you're alive and that the routine doesn't have to be routine. 

I rode the bike from my house up to the top of Little Mountain (at the top of Emigration Canyon) and back home, 29 miles round trip.  It was a nice ride -- tons of bikes out.

 Later that night I tweaked my foot again while giving a piggy back ride to a friend's 6 year old girl. I was running around, not thinking about the foot, and then suddenly -- ouch@!! I'm pretty convinced its a stress fracture now.

out and back ride, 13 miles, plus a flat tire.

Big Cottonwood loop, 17 miles, in one hour.

No running, no biking. I did make a trip to see the doctor about my foot. She (Dr. Cooper) agreed that I had chronic plantar fasciitis, but that didn't alone explain the pain on the outside of my foot, which is on or very near the bone.  My concern is it may be a stress fracture and she couldn't rule that out. She took an x ray, didn't see any sign of a SF, but it sometimes doesn't show up in an x-ray.  She offered three alternatives: 1) get a cortisone shot for the PF; 2) get an MRI on the foot to see what's going on (at a cost of ~$1,000); or 3) wear a walking boot for two weeks and see if that calms everything down, then re-evaluate whether to do the shot. I chose option 3, so I'm now wearing a big black walking boot. It sort of looks like something out of Star Wars.  My boy Jack thinks it looks like Batman's boot.  I will say this; for as ridiculous as it looks, my heel feels better in this thing than it has in at least two months.

Fortunately, I have the green light to swim and bike, but need to wear the boot pretty much all other times.

No running.  I took the bike out for a spin, riding the Old Mill loop, 18 miles. 

No running.

No running. Supported my wife Heather at the Bear Lake Half Marathon, where she finished as fourth woman overall! Go Heather! 

No running. I did a 21 mile bike ride on the East Shore of Bear Lake with my buddy Dave.

No running! Stomach flu bug came on Sunday night and kept me completely bedridden literally all day and all night on Monday. I must have slept 15 hours. Felt better sometime around 2am on Tuesday.

No running.  Since I had been ill, I limited my riding ambitions and I took a short bike ride from Garden City, UT to Fish Haven, ID -- about 21 miles round trip.  Great day for a ride, too bad the shoulder on the road isn't wider. It's sort of a scary thing trying to stay right of that white line. Most motorists are pretty good though.

 I just also realized I'm into my ninth week of "no running" other than a couple of miscellaneous miles.  I wish my foot felt better given so much time off.  I'm still in the walking boot for another week at least.

No running, no biking, no nuthin!

I rode 12.2 miles on the bike, not big miles, but I did do some tough climbs, including from Foothill Blvd up to the very top of 21st South, and on north to the H Rock trail beyond Carrigan Canyon.  I did take a couple of breathers on the way up, but it was nice to feel like my body was working hard.

No running. I rode the bike up to the top of City Creek Canyon at lunch -- nice ride, about 17 miles round trip. 

I guess I could fill in the "cross training miles" field to have some feeling of logging miles. I rode the bike on the Old Mill loop, but added a four mile out and back trip up Millcreek Canyon, just enough to make my lungs hurt on the first big climb in the canyon.  22 miles total. I realized that "cross training miles" still put me up on the mileage board, so I'll stick to not entering anything into the mileage fields.

No running. Old Mill loop on the bike. 48 degrees feels a lot different on the bike than running. I've got gloves, headband, windbreaker, etc. Running I would be in a t shirt, shorts. 18.40 miles

No running. Lunch time ride up to the top of City Creek canyon and back, 17 miles.

No running. I finally figured out how to add 1.5 miles to the Old Mill loop to make it an even 20 miles.  It added some climbing, but nothing wrong with that. 

No running (or biking). I had an appointment with Dr. Cooper to look at my foot again. The walking boot had relieved the pain enough that I can go "boot free" for now. I'm supposed to watch it for a week just walking around.  I can start to get back to putting some stress on it when I'm pain free for a week, but running will be in very small doses. I think I'm still a few weeks away from doing anything that resembles actual running. 

No running. I only had time for a short ride on the bike, 12 miles.

No running. 20 miles on the Old Mill loop on the bike.

No running. 19 miles on the bike, from Wastch Blvd to the top of Millcreek Canyon. Well, almost to the top because the snow got in the way a few hundred meters below the Upper Big Water trailhead. 

No running. 18.4 miles on the bike: out and back to This is the Place, where I tooled around on the hills for a minute, taking in some of my old running stomping grounds.  

No running. I mixed it up and went to Fairmont Aquatic center and swam a mile.

I ran a mile on the treadmill -- the longest I've run since mid-May.  My foot felt fine during the run, I tried hard to concentrate on my foot placement to avoid overstriking on the heel. The foot didn't seem to hurt any worse the rest of the day, which is a good sign I think. I'll try again on Friday.

Open water swim in East Canyon Reservoir -- the first of the year.  Water temperature was actually pretty nice, not chilly at all. When we arrived we saw some largeish wild animal swimming across the reservoir.  There were debates about what it was -- beaver, rodent, moose?  monster? Probably swam about a mile.

I ran 2 miles on the treadmill, again concentrating on my form and location of my footstrike. It takes a lot of attention and it's hard to just tune out like I'm used to doing  -- but then again tuning out and not paying attention to form may be a big reason why I've had so many problems with my foot.

No running. I did ride the bike from the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon up to the Brighton ski resort -- a 14.3 mile climb and a speedy 14.3 mile descent. 

I ran a mile on the treadmill -- no problems during the little run but the foot has some pain today. 

Open water swim in East Canyon Reservoir.  It was described by one in our party this morning as an "indulgence." I have to agree with that. But it's awesome to be in the water so early in the morning. 

20 miles on the bike -- then a doctor's appointment to look at my foot.  No answers. I've got an MRI scheduled for next Friday.  

23 miles on the bike.

20 miles on the bike -- including a short ride to the "top" of Red Butte Canyon. Well, at least up to the fence that prohibits further travel.

In lieu of the ability to run, my plan this summer has been to ride the bike up each of the big canyons here in the Salt Lake Valley (except Parley's/I-80). So far, I've ridden City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek and Big Cottonwood (and Red Butte,  the Pluto of the bunch).  That leaves Little Cottonwood.  Having driven up this canyon a hundred times or more in my life, I am quite familiar with its steepness and I've watched other cyclists suffer heading up.  Well, I decided yesterday afternoon to give it a shot. This was mostly out of fear because I had signed up for next week's Snowbird Hill Climb. I began at the bottom of the canyon, at the Orson Smith trailhead on the Sandy side.  It was about a mile to the bottom of the canyon.  From there, the first mile wasn't bad, the second mile wasn't bad. The third mile was awful. By this time (about 3:15 pm), the temp gauge on my bike computer read 110F.  The air wasn't that hot, but it was windless, and I guess the computer was picking up the road temp -- it was getting ugly! Between miles 3 and 4, I approached Tanner's Flat, which I assure you is not flat. I ducked into the shade for a few minutes to hydrate and call my wife, tell her my final wishes, etc. Then back on the road. It wasn't so bad from there up to Snowbird and then on to Alta, but I bet it would have really hurt if I'd not stopped at mile 4. The cruise back down the Canyon wasn't too bad. It gave me time to see how truly bad some of the climbs are -- it's just unrelenting.  Glad I did it though.

I ran two miles today, virtually no pain my foot.  Well, it's something. 

To my half-dozen loyal blog-checkers: I hope you can forgive my long absence from the blog. I would call it retirement, or semi-retirement, or simply a lack of running worthy of writing anything about. I could write about injury recovery, but it's tedious and really of interest only to me and not worth laboring over in writing daily.  I will say this, I've been in PT at Pinnacle for the last six or seven weeks and it's been the best thing I've done to treat my lingering chronic plantar fasciitis.  It's also been effective in treating this awful new hip flexor issue that somehow emerged in my long layoff from running since May.  It's improved enough that I'm running small amounts each week.  I'm basically running between 4.5 and 5 miles a couple of times a week and that's about right for where I'm at recovery wise. I still get a little sensation in the foot--I'm not totally issue-free, but it's nothing at all like what it was. The PT has given me some new tools to work with to fix my biomechanics and the way I land on my foot now is totally different than I did when I was causing the injury.  Running just a couple of times a week helps me to focus on form rather than exertion, and that's what I need. It's not an exaggeration to say that I've totally disassembled my running form and am in the process of trying to put the pieces back together. While at it, I've disassembled my walking gait as well and I'm trying to undo some habits that have created modest but significant structural imbalances in my body that have contributed to my inclination to injury. It's been a long road!! But this morning I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and it felt decent enough that I figured I could write a few words on the blog and let the world know I ran five miles on the treadmill and it felt decent.