Elite Jogging For Dummies

I ran an easy five miles with my brother JD (of FRB blog fame) along the bike path paralleling Bear Lake--from the Pickleville Playhouse to Garden City Park and back. Nice easy pace and a good conversation.

Headed up to Steiner this morning for a little swim. After fiddling with my goggles and swim cap for the first few laps it was basically uneventful until I smacked my head into the head of another swimmer who was heading in the opposite direction in my lane.  She had started swimming with the assumption that we were splitting the lane. I had been the only one in the lane before she got in and was circling but she didn't wait to jump in before figuring out what I was doing.   It was a direct collision and it kind of hurt, but was more of a surprise. I thought I might have hit the wall at the end of the pool! She was ok as well but she terminated her swim at that point--I don't know why, I don't think it was because she was hurt.  Probably just because it was startling.

 Anyway, I ended up swimming about 1700m, and included some fast laps that felt pretty good.
 

Workout with the Black Sheep at Sugarhouse Park. The original plan was for the group to run on the new Highland High track,but the track is still under construction.  After spending some time trying to figure out track access, the choice was made to run on the road in the park.  We ran 3 x 3 minutes with 2 minutes of easy running.  These weren't so bad though the pace was hovering around 5:15.  We then ran 2 x 1 mile (plan was 3 x 1 mile but ran out of time).  The first mile was 5:34. The second mile was 5:31.  I felt pretty good on the second mile. I think I could have run another, but I don't know if I could have held the pace. 

Then we ran some cooldown and that was it. 

This was probably the closest thing to a "normal" run that I have had in a long time.  I had virtually no knee problems the entire run (although it has been a little tight since running).  I ran out and back to This is the Place Monument through the U of U.  I saw the U of U football team doing drills on one of the practice fields--lots of energetic yelling shouting and grunting.  I also saw a some officers from Fort Douglas out running and it occurred to me that both are, in a sense, preparing for battle -- as each of us is in our own way.  

 After reading plaques about pioneers, John C. Fremont, Etienne Provot and others at TiTP, I headed back home.  On the way I ran into blogger Eric, aka Phoenix, who was out riding his new bike. We chatted for a few minutes about cycling and triathlons and the possible benefit of doing something other than running all the time.  A few minutes later I ran into Adam RW as I was coming down the Legacy Bridge stairs.  I congratulated him on his TOU half and wished him well for the full marathon. So it was a sociable run.
 

I went for an early morning swim today in East Canyon Reservoir with the open water crew.  I definitely preferred the new wetsuit over the one I used up there last week.  I had more buoyancy and didn't feel like it was filling up with water.  This translated into being more comfortable overall in the water.  

We arrived at at the lake about 6:10 and it was still quite dark -- so dark that you couldn't see the first buoy that we were swimming out to. I had to stop and take off my goggles to get a good look.  The sun came up soon enough, though and it was a really beautiful morning. There is this strange sensation of being completely at peace with the world while also doing something fairly risky that is appealing about these early open water excursions. 

I don't know how many more weeks are left to get out there before it gets too cold. 

This morning I met up with Clyde, Logan, Walter and Adam at the Capitol at 5:30am.  Clyde and Logan just happened to be in SLC at the same time and it was cool to have a chance to run with them, particularly since I haven't been racing for months and months and haven't seen these guys since forever.  We ran on Gravity Hill above Memory Grove, out to11th Ave, up to Shriner's Hospital and then turned around and headed back down to the base of City Creek. Logan and Clyde wanted 20+ but Walter and I are mere mortals so we turned around at the 1 mile mark in City Creek. It was a very pleasant morning and it was nice to have the company.  Would be cool to cross paths with these guys more often.  If I could just figure out a way to spend a couple of weeks in St. George in January then it might work.
 

I met up with a group of six or so at Foothill Sbux and we ran to the mouth of Emigration Canyon where we picked up Megan and Lisa. From there we ran through TiTP over to 11th Ave down to the Firehouse, returning more or less the same way. It was a fun group and a good morning for a run. We returned to Foothill in time to get the car and head back to the mouth of the canyon to watch the Salt Lake Half Marathon roll through. Well, I should say we watched Josh cruise through in the lead with no one behind him that we could see.  Megan and I then quickly headed over to the finish to watch Josh cross the line. He finished in 1:12, a very solid time on this course and probably a CR.  Bob Thompson, whom I had not seen in a long long time came in second in 1:15.  I got to chat with him for a few minutes after the race and it was nice to catch up.  Josh had a solid race and this time is very impressive considering the first four miles are all uphill, and not just a little bit.