Elite Jogging For Dummies

Six miles of skate skiing at Mountain Dell. I must be getting a little bit better because the hills that used to completely kick my butt now only partially kick my butt. I also don't have to stop at the top of every hill, which is a refreshing change. Still, it is very anaerobic. Also, I struggled a bit with balance issues at the start but seem to get better after a little bit of time on the skis. the thing I keep discovering more and more every time I ski is that the rhythmic aspect of skating is just as important as the power aspect. Being fit is not enough, there is a lot of fine motor skill that is required to skate well.

I managed to make it out the door at a reasonable time, 5:40 am, which gave me a little bit more time to get in a decent run. The weather was surprisingly warm this morning. In fact, my thermometer said 46° when I left. So it was my first run in shorts in 2009 (at least in Salt Lake City). I was breathing like a wheezing mule during the first 4 miles. After a pit stop I felt much better. 

workout with the black sheep. We met at 15th and 15th at 5:45 AM and ran over to the East side track. We did a very gentle workout on the track: 6 x 300m with 100 m recoveries followed by 2 x 800 m, hard on the straights and easy on the curves.  Then we did a bunch of drills followed by an easy run back to 15th and 15th. It was nice to be on the track for a few minutes and stretch the legs a little bit. I had occasional glimmers of the potential possibility that I may someday, perhaps, conceivably consider running fast again.

I ran a nice loop route is mourning the company up through Fort Douglas and over to TiTP monument. I ran up toward the mouth of Emigration Canyon and then back down Sunnyside before heading north through the University and the Avenues to home. 

I headed up toward Red Butte and ran the icy road up to the gate. I ran into a guy from Minneapolis who was in town for some computer training. He was running up the road as well. we started to chat on the way back down the road and I took him on a little tour of Research Park. we ran into Brian Kamm and Brian ran with us until we got back to the University, where our Minneapolis visitor headed back to his accommodations. I ran with Brian for another mile or so and chatted. Then I headed home through the University.

Very sluggish this morning, I don't know why. I was also pretty limited on time so it all came down to a short run. 

A 12 mile "long" run. I ran from foothill Starbucks with a group of 10 or so. We ran the lead route up to the fire station in the avenues and then down to the gate at the top of memory Grove and a little bit toward the capital. Then we turned around and ran the same thing back to Foothill. It felt good to run more than 8 miles and I didn't have any problems with the abdomen. Still, I feel horribly out of shape.