Clyde's Comeback!

Same run as yesterday. Again things felt pretty good. Same temps. Had to stop in B-hills for a potty stop. My stomach has been really unstable since the trip. I need to spend a couple days eating oatmeal, banannas and toast to help clean it up. But things like salsa keep finding a way into my diet.

47.2 mile bike ride. From here over to the bike shop and then with Jace and Ian out to Gunlock and back thru Kayenta. I road the new black Venge. There were multipul issues throughout this ride that ended up turning it into a nightmare. Seat post too high, poor nutrition and hydration, lack of prior riding... I just fell apart and ended up calling my wife to come get me. Second worst ride of my life next to Tour de park city.

Fields half marathon. It's the regular summer tempo loop extened around the park and bathroom in Washington. After totally tapping out Friday night I didn't know if i'd even run at all today. But by 9 a.m I felt like doing something. Plus it was my last day for 8 days to have Mik'L home so I even could go for a solo run. She leaves again to PHX and Orlando. So I just headed out nice and EZ. Had a potty stop at the 10k mark but other than that felt really good. No hip pain either. Happy after such a bad ride last night.

Really sick

sick still...

Treadmill miles. I'm trying to come out of this death grip of a cold. Being sick sucks.

More time on the treadmill. Not feeling great but a little better.... 65% of normal.

Pushed Halen in the baby jogger out and back into B-hills. Felt so so. Not totally out of the sickness thats for sure.

54.4 mile bike ride with Christie. She told me she'd be in town so we got together for a ride. Great temps and fun ride. Out to the airport, Sunriver, then up the river trail to the fields. Took a trip up dump hill and back up the Everest trail before coming back home. She's a total gamer and rocked the ride... kept me honest the whole time.

20 mph avg

6 miles on the treadmill while the boys watched cartoons. Hip was pretty achy for the first 2 but I had a good groove the last part of the run.

39.2 miles with Christie. Another stunner day here in  the STG. We only had about two hours to ride so looped Kayenta and called it a day. Didn't really have the drive today to push it... at all. It was nice to just cruise and enjoy riding- rather than trying to max out the entire time. 18.4 mph avg but there was a lot of traffic with stop and go throughout. Hip has hurt like crazy today. bummer... but getting to ride with good company was worth it. 

DC loop. Pushed Halen in the jogger and Bric came with us. Great run on a beautiful fall morning here in the STG. Kept the pace smooth but consistent. Bric ran great and Halen basically slept through it. Other than at the potty stop. Hope to get something going this week while Mik'L is home... gotta get in shape for the R2R2R on the 30th.

7 mile run this afternoon. I went out for 4-5 miles but it was just beautiful out. 70 F, calm and sunny- November 11. I felt pretty good too. So B-hills extended back through the secret st. Good run and I did it only an hour and a half after a steak footlong at Subway. That's a PR for me.

DC loop early. Felt good. Nice to bring the morning in with a run again.

43.8 mile bike ride with a big group from BixFix plus we were joined by pro rider Cameron Hoffman. Fun ride out through Kayenta and to the Y then back. Pace bounced around sometimes really slow while waiting for others to catch up and sometimes the hammer was all the way down. It was fun for me to ride right with Cam. Chit chatted throughout the ride and got some good pointers.

Big boys run. Just the Circle of Trust today. 38 F so temps weren't too bad. It was nice to run with the guys again after missing last week. Logan was angry but what else is new. Good times. I looked up Garth Brooks tickets at Vegas and the show is over... so no hard number on price. However my sorces tell me that they started at $300 and went up.
 

43.9 mile bike ride. Basically the same route as yesterday. Another ride from BikeFix and the pro Cameron Hoffman. Took it pretty easy for the first 20 miles but after that the group was down to 3 of us. Then it was hammer time from Kayenta up to the Y. Those guys wanted to ride out to the summit of Utah hill but I had to get home. So I laid it down all the way back. Solid effort. 20.3 mph avg for the ride.

Out and back to B-hills. Uptempo but not race pace. Everything felt good today and I got into a smooth flow. Planned on the DC loop but the trail was being resurfaced so I flipped it around and just came back. 67 min's for the run.

Nice run to bring in the daylight this morning around the summer tempo loop extended around the park. Kind of just put it in gear and stayed there the entire run. Which means I started a little faster than normal and then never really "took off" later. Ended with a 6:49 avg. Yesterday on my run my hip felt fine but then all day it hurt like crazy and through the night. But if felt pretty good running again today so I'll take it. I love running this time of year. Cold enough to see your breath and wear some gloves but not freezing. 35 F was the low. 

Nice long run this morning with Stephen Abraham Lincoln Hooper Pope Abercrombie & Fitch. Big loop around B-hills, LV, The fields, then back down the river trail to the DC. Steve and I basically got 20 in together then he had to jet. I extended back up above the river for a little extra. Solid run. 7:04 avg. We just kept it smooth but steady all morning then after I dropped Steve off I hit two miles at 5:40, and 5:30 respectively to get the legs going. Nice to see they'd respond at then end of a long run. Happy with the way the week turned out... now lets get through next week as a single dad and a teething 6mo old ninja.

Pushed Halen around the DC loop. Legs were a little sore in the hammies after Saturdays long run. But it felt like a good sore- something I havent felt in a while. Hip continues to hurt but not at the crazy painful level it did this summer. So I'm excited to turn the corner and start training again.... hopefully.

4 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. Tried to finish an episode of The Walking Dead and manage the kiddos while running.

5 miles on the treadmill. Chipping away at season 3 of the walking dead. I'm not into the Zombie thing but this takes my mind off the suck while running on the machine.

5 more miles on the treadmill watching more Walking Dead. I feel just like a zombie. My dang hip got tight today and is killing me... bad. This just one day after blogging about turning the corner. F my life.

60 min's on the elliptical. I tried to get on the treadmill. After just over 2 mins of limping and pain I gave up and got on the elliptical instead. It hurt too and this turned into a battle of attrition just to make it through the hour. Hip just hurts like crazy. Super bummer. Gotta get something going before the weekend and for sure before next weekend. It's like anything that can go worng will go wrong lately.

6 miles on the traedmill this afternoon. After being so jacked up this morning I decided to hit my hip with a little electric stimulation theroapy. It's not the best device (just a cheapo my mother-in-law got while in China). But it does kind of shock the area good and if nothing else provides the placebo effect. I used it a bunch before STG marathon and seemed to help then. So after a treatment session and some housework, kids and other. I got on the treadmill for another go around. I was determined to work through the pain so I started very slow and worked up even slower. In the end it felt pretty good and I was able to get a run in. I swear this thing is like a pinched nerve or something with it's Jekyll and Hyde BS.

More time on the machine. Hip was kind of achy for about 3 miles. Then at 3.5 Halen started to cry and I had to get off and feed him. After that the rest of the run was just ok. Just a few more days until get some help back here at the ranch.
 

Ok little run this moring. Got rained on from start to finish but tis the season I guess. Hit the summer tempo loop with a lap around the park in Washington. Then extended back around the LV park and schools on the way home. Hip was achy all night and early this morning. It sure wanted to act up on the run but... never really started to hurt. Saweet! Worked on keeping the form square and smooth all run. Got into a nice flow for much of the run. But never tempoed it. 6:45 avg for the run.
 

Long run in the rain again. Steven joined me for the first 20. We did the same loop as last week from the DC. Through B-hills over around the LV park. Then we came to my house for a potty break and some water. I took a little EFS here at about 6.3 miles into the run. Then we went through the fields over to the Washington park hitting just over 12 miles to there. Took a GU before heading down the river trails back to the DC. At about mile 14.5 or so Steven got all antsy and started hitting like 5:45-6:00 pace. I kept telling him I didn't want to go fast with the long run today but we just held that pace all the way back to the DC. I grabbed a couple bites of a bananna and some powerade and then went back to work around the Mayors loop. Basically kept the pace at around 6 min from there to the finish. So  for the last 10+ miles of the run it was kind of a 6 min pace tempo run. Which basically blows my mind because I sure didn't feel like I was going that fast nor did I think I could out there freezing in the rain. Pretty good little run. Could have done 1.2 more and easily hit a sub 3 hour marathon but I was happy to just call it a day once I got back to the car. 6:33 avg for the run.

B-hills this moring at daybreak. 32 F was just a little cooler than it's been and seemed bitter at first. But .5 miles into the run the temps felt fine. What wasn't fine was all the cars in B-hills that were driving without scraping off their windshields and driving right into the sunrise. 3 of them missed me by an inch and after the third my heartrate was pumping. I yelled some choice words back at the d-bag in the last car. I guess it'll take hitting a small child before someone decides it's time to remove the frost from their windshield. Ok done with the rant.

Run was kind of sort of. Hip really hurt at first and was kind of cranky throughout. My legs were also pretty flat, just didn't have much today. No real deep soreness from Saturday but no pop either.

DC loop. Another crips and frosty morning with a low of 32F. The high humidity aided in lots of frost everywhere agian. Maybe more than yesterday as both wood bridges were crazy slick. Good little shake out. Basically all the soreness in my calves and quads from Saturday is gone. Still fairly flat though.

8.6 miles tonight at the DC with 4 real miles of tempo and one kind of. This turned out to be a three ringed circus. Steve, Nate and I warmed up from the DC up to River Road. Then started the tempo on the inside river trail back down across the bridge and to the park by Man-o-war. I knew stomach issues were going to hinder the evening as I gobbled a big 3 cheese quesadilla only 2 hours prior. Sure enough about 2 miles into the tempo the tummy started to rumble. I tried hard to just get through it but ended up having to pull off the trail about 4 miles into the tempo. After the stop I really didn't get going like before. Tempo miles were something like 5:20, 5:25, 5:35 up above the river and across the bridge, 5:35, and like 6:00 for the last. I kept my gps all in one run so the avg for the night was 6:28 with 2 mile warm up and 2 cool down. Hit a second potty stop on the way back. Legs felt flat and I actually shouldn't have even did this but Stephen used Jedi mind tricks to lure me in.

Big boys run here from my house. Nice to get the crew together again after a long hiatus. Pace was slow and conversation good. I felt pretty hammered after last nights hard run and not very good/ no nutrition or hydro- so I'm glad this was more of a social run than a workout.

Out and back over to B-hills above the river. Got over there and saw all the Gobbler 10k race stuff going on at the DC. I didn't want to try and run through the mess so I just flipped around and came back. Kind of a sad run. Actually started crying about 1.6 miles in (first time crying on a run). My grandpa passed away last night and it's been pretty hard on me. He was a great man and the most important person to me from 0-13 years old. Basically all my positive childhoold memories stem from him. Just kind of sad. I was able to drive up to Richfield yesterday and spend about 4 hours at his bedside. Just he and I. It was a special time for me to say goodbye. A few hours after I left the hospital and headed home he passed.

Woke at 4:40 and couldn't sleep. So I just went out for a run. Very peacful out today with just a few cars here and there. Hip was really hurting last night and while laying in bed this morning. Got out running and it was "catchy" for about a mile but never bothered again. And now feels much better. So I'm glad I got out for the run just for my hips sake.

R2R2R tomorrow. Bring it!
 

Where to start with this bad boy? I had one of the best times of my life this weekend. It was amazing. Steve A and Walter organized a group and all the logistics. Brought Steves sweet RV to drive down in, hang out, sleep, camp, eat warm meals, warm showers, and heaters from the 17 F outside. Had some mechnical issues on the way down with 2 blown out tires. This kind of sucked because it took Steve out of the run the next day. The guy with the most invested didn't even get to go. That sucks but he's a rockstar, super level headed, funny and smart. So he was able to orginize a fix on our wheels while we ran. Plus get 23+ miles of running in between.

Anyways I didn't sleep very good at all the night before. Even though Walter and I got the big nice bed in the back of the RV. I was super restless with a thousand things going through my mind. So I was glad when 4 am finally rolled around and we woke to get ready for our 5 a.m leave time.

I decided that even though it was 17 F out that I'd still leave in shorts. Thinking that a: I hate running in anything else and b: I'd warm up fast as we dropped into the canyon. This turned out to be a great choice. Wasn't really that cold at the start and I quickly warmed up.

We had snow/ packed ice for only like a half mile or so then the trail was golden. In the darkness of the morning the group made it's way down. Headlamps bouncing up and down the trail. Steve ran with us at the start and we had a group of about 5 pretty close for the first couple miles. But when Steve decided to turn around our little group for the day turned into Walter, Chirsite and I. I had no time goal. No need to hammer it. So we just kept a nice, consistent pace. We kept Christie up front the set the pace and this turned out to be perfect. As she did an outstanding job but also kept Walter and I from getting too frisky when we "felt good". The pace basically never changed. We just worked our way through the canyon like little ants. By the time there was light enough to see we were around 8 miles into the run and temps were amazing. We all dropped a layer or two and were now rolling down the trail in short sleeves and shorts. This section all the way to Phantom ranch is the best running section of the entire trip. So we made good time but never got overworked. I read a report earlier in the week that said "Once you get to the river- you haven't even started". I tried to apply that today in every aspect of our run. Do as little as possible before then and get "up" for the uphills. The asent up South Kiabab is sweet and sour. You have to do it this way to complete the "loop" imho. But it's steep, wind swept, and not very pretty in comparison to the rest of the canyon. And it just doesn't break up like the other stuff. You kind of have to eat the whole thing at once rather than chipping it off from point to point. But we finally made it to the top of the south rim in 4:29. Not too bad really. When I ran it myself a couple years ago I really ran pretty strong and only did it in 3:45- and then I didn't start in the dark.

Once ontop we had to catch the shuttles over to where the Bright Angel trail drops in. This transaction isn't that painful and we were soon over at the lodge. I grabbed a king size snickers bar there and had a couple drinks from Walters coke. Both are highly recommended if your thinking of doing this run. I felt strong, happy and thankful to be at this point and ready to tackle the rest. It was super foggy on the south side. Cold foggy that stuck to the trees and bushes. This was the hardest part of the south side. I was just cold. Shivering and wet from my sweat. We needed to get moving so I could just warm up a little. We started our trip back across all feeling pretty strong... and that was good. But that wasn't the case for others in our group. As we dropped into the canyon we passed everyone else as they made their way up. First was Steven Abraham Lincoln Hopper Pope. I was pumped to see him. Because of logistics he hadn't come with me in the RV but had come over with Ben and John from here in STG that morning. Sucks we couldn't have ran it together but I'm pumped he got to do it. He looked good as we wished each other well and headed on. But after that each person in the group didn't have the same spring in your step look that one might need to finish such a task. But with each person in our group we wished them well. Gave them food and other supplies and then crossed our fingers that they'd all make it back across safe. 

Again making our way back down Bright Angel I was electrified at what I was doing. The beauty around me and for the energy in our little group. I knew then we'd make it and never worried about that again. There are a lot more hickers on this trail so we made our way past them, deer and a couple mule trains all the way to the river. I'd forgotten how far up the river you have to run to get to the bridge. This is a cool spot... it's just cool. I love being down by the river looking up out of the crazy deep canyon. We took some photos on the bridge and made our way to Phantom for the final pit stop before world war 3  and our painful "pull" up out of this mutha.

I got one more king size snickers at Phantom and refilled the bladder in my pack. Walked arond a little. Enjoyed the moment there with this little running team. It was a special moment just to stop and reflect on the mornings work. I was ready...

As we left Phantom and hit the "good" running trail. I had the hardest time. Maybe the time spent idle at Phantom wasn't that good? I really started to get a little mental for a mile or two. Never sore, tired or sick of it. But more delusional. But I kept running, following Christie's "old faithful" like march we entered our final leg. It was through these miles that my snickers and caffine kicked in and for the rest of the day I was agian alive. Felt fantastic. Could have grabbed a couple more gears and hammered it out of there. But Walter started to really struggle. I'd given him a 5 hr energy that turned his stomach to crap and he didn't look good. I didn't feel it wise to press on without anyone in our little group so we'd run a little then wait or go back to check on him. I really thought at one point that it was going to get super ugly. But it didn't. He rallied the best he could. We got him in some compression shocks, took his pack and made our way to the rangers station.

I decided early in the day that if we could run most of the day then once we got to the rangers station on the way back we could relax and do more of a power hike the rest of the way out. This took some pressure off. Becaue you didn't feel like you had to kill it anymore. If everything got bad... hey we could at least walk. Soon after that Steve again comes bouncing down the trail. Singing with headphones on (the guy is a gem. honestly one of the coolest people I've ever met). He came with more supplies. We fixed Walter up with some homeade thigh compression sleeves and kept moving. Christie and I left Walt with Steve and we kept our even pace up. I thought the whole day this part of the trip would just suck. I thought I'd be trashed, cold and dark. But we felt good, were having fun and it wasn't dark yet. In fact we didn't even use the headlamps on the way back. That was awesome! It was beautiful as we started to crest the rim and looked back on the heavy fog sitting on the canyon below. Honestly a heavenly image. Both Christie and I were tired but we both were super excited to have just finished such a great day.

She's a machine. The whole day. Just kept it together and pressed on up the trail. Walter and I would have struggled with out her. And in true Christie fasion she wanted to hit 50 miles for the day. I wasn't super thrilled about the idea but I'd never ran 50 before and we only needed like 4.6 more. So she and I went out and back on the road a couple times- around the parking lot and finally hit her 50.

We were done and it felt amazing. What else was amazing? Getting in a warm RV taking a hot shower and cooking a hot dinner right there in the rv next to the trailhead. While we waited for the rest of the group to come in. Walter and Stever weren't too far behind Christie and I coming out of the canyon. Then a couple hours later Steven Hooper and John B, came in. We loaded them up with food/ drinks and warmed them in the rv before they drove Ben's car back to STG. Ben decided to only do r2r and had his wife come pick him up. Right around 10 p.m Steve was getting dressed up to go out looking for the other 3 in our group who were still out on the trail. When we saw two head lamps and another silhouette with them. They made it! Everyone was in! I was so pumped and relieved that no one was still out there. In all 8 people with us did the full r2r2r. That's a great day. Each person leaving better off then when they entered.