Elite Jogging For Dummies

Jack kept us up for an extended period last night and it was not a restful evening. I woke up to run and it was raining. So I went back to bed for a bit. I woke up and it was snowing. I prefer running in snow to running in rain, so out I went for a quick 6 mile tour. It was very slushy for the first 3 miles, but improved once I got off the trafficked streets. By the time I got to Memory Grove, the snow had stopped completely and it was a nice little tour back to the house.

 PM:  Easy run from home and up into Memory Grove with Heather and Jack, pushing the babyjogger.
 

Ok, 28 degrees on this brisk February . . . err . . . April morning.  The sky was clear and the conditions were actually pretty nice, so I won't complain.  I still feel a little bit of soreness in the quads from Saturday's race, enough to deter speedwork or a tempo run, but not enough to stay home.

I ran from home over to TITP and did a little meandering through a couple of trails before heading over to the St. Mary's hood and the golf course loop.  On the return, I headed back into the farflung reaches of TITP, with observation stops at the Original TITP monument (a smallish white obelisk built in 1921, see photo below), the pioneer cemetery, pond, Smith adobe, etc.  Lots to see. Then more easy running to get home.

It rained this morning, but seemed to finish up before I went out to run.  I didn't make it out until  6:30, so I gave the rain plenty of time.  I ran the Ensign Elem. loop with a little extension up City Creek Canyon before heading down Memory Grove.  The post-rain atmosphere made for ideal conditions.  The pace was easy.  No more soreness to speak of from the race.

AM: With Radda closed, we met at Blue Star Cafe at 2300 E/2800 So.. We had a group of 10 or so. Four of us split off for a little longer route through Holladay--Erik L., Aimee Larkin, Lisa Madsen and Johanna Nielsen. The girls were running strong today. My legs felt dead and I wasn't feeling particularly spicy.

We finished back at Blue Star, which was blasting some bad generic alternative metal band over the speakers. It lacked the Radda coziness. Next week, we're trying Grounds for Coffee at 2100 E/3300 So.

 PM:  After work, I ran from the office up Memory Grove to the horseshoe, turned around and headed back down, then on to 4th Ave. Stopped at Hatch Family Chocolate  and picked up a couple of sweets, then finished the .75 to home carrying the small bag.  Total of 5 miles.
 

This morning I had two thoughts for the run as I was heading out the door: 1) run 10 miles; 2) run a significant portion of it on a trail. As I headed east up 4th Ave, I decided to do the Cucina Loop on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, from Dry Creek Canyon to City Creek Canyon. It takes about 15 minutes to run up to the trailhead at the bottom of Dry Creek (it's a pretty steady climb to that point, though it's only about 1.6 miles). Then I vanished into the womb of Dry Creek. It was still a little dark, but no visibility problems. The trail was still frozen, which was good because I think it would have been muddy otherwise. At the first overlook above the switchback in Dry Creek, there is a great view of the city. I noticed that someone had etched a message into the now-frozen ground with large letters, reading "THIS IS HOW WE MANIFEST IMPERMANENCE." I agreed.

After the overlook, the trail rolls nicely, with only one notable climb and a couple of other little grunts. I descended into the meadow above City Creek and then dropped down through the upper Avenues, Ensign Elem., and the cemetery. I did some drills on the grass near the cemetery offices to finish the run: skipping, knees, carioca.

Long run this morning with the usual cast of characters--there were about 8 or so in the group.  We started at Foothill Village and ran a south loop out on Wasatch to the foot bridges over the freeway, then contining on Wasatch before dropping down to 33rd So. and a zigzagging return to Foothill.  I felt sluggish and just ran conversationally.  Back at foothill, this was the end of the first loop, just over 10 miles. Most of the group is not training for anything longer than this, so that was it for them.  Lisa Madsen and I continued on for the second ten mile loop, a northern route that covered much of my usual TTIP/Research Park/Federal Heights run.  I was feeling better on the second loop, but not as good as Lisa, who was running really strong. I told her she was "kicking my butt today." To which she replied, "I can slow down, if you want."  Ouch!! She's running Ogden and should do really well.  Sub 3:10 seems extremely likely, sub 3, a distinct possibility depending on the conditions and what kind of day she's having.