Clyde's Comeback!

I can't believe how cold it got down here so fast this year. I'm sure it will warm back up but this morning it was 41 outside my house... That is January temps. 

I posted this on the discussion board but I'll also plug it here. I've decided to do the Utah Grand Slam next year. This would include running the Ogden, Des News, Park City, and STG Marathons. With the Top of Utah marathon being my alternate. I know this sounds like a lot and my plans had been to kind of kick back a little, but thats exactly what I plan on doing. Instead of running 100+ mile weeks all year in 2009 I'll most likely be doing 75-85 mpw with 60 mpw being the minimum. I think I can maintain some pretty good fitness and have a good shot a winning the Grand Slam and at the same time kind of relax during my weekly/monthly training. I'll have to race the marathons a little more cautious than in years past, but I should be able to run some pretty good races nonetheless.

So here we go. I swore off Ogden last year forever but I guess I'll be back. I still may go do another marathon in December or January but I wont know for sure for a few more weeks.

7.2 mile run today up around GS and finished coming home on the trail. Wowzzers is all I can say about this run. I left the house feeling like I was ready to run and the legs felt pretty dang good. Well by 2 miles out the only thing that kept me from walking was pride. I had planed on doing the 6.5 mile GS loop but by the time I got up to the top of GS I decided to hit the trail- this would make the run longer but... It  would get me off the hard road and maybe the dirt would feel better??? and more importantly I needed to get out of sight. I couldn't let anyone see me running in such a pathetic manor. Everything hurt and I was barley moving. 

So in retrospect this last week off wasn't such a good idea. Even if I would have just ran one mile each day last week it would have helped loosen things up and aided in recovery. I guess you live and learn. I'll never go cold turkey again right after a marathon. Even some walking or hiking each day would have helped.

So on that note I've got a long ways to go before the next race. Whatever that may be. I'm looking forward to working into the week and hopefully feeling better each day.

 (Adrenaline- 100)  

7.2 mile run up the trail and around GS. Same loop as yesterday only the other direction. Legs still feel like death on a stick but maybe just a little better than Monday. Today however I had a really sore left groin. I mean it hurt bad for the first mile and a half. Then things started to loosen up. 

What I should really do is go see April and get everything kind of smoothed out. We'll see how the rest of the week treats me.  

(Black Stratus- 194.7) 

Tonight I was going to meet up with a mountain biking club that I've been meaning to go ride with all summer but haven't due to fear of injury. So I checked to see where this weeks ride was going to be and made plans to be there. They said we were going to ride the JEM trail out above Hurricane and I thought I followed the map... Well I got out there and 5:30 came and went with no one showing up. So I jumped on the trail and did my own ride. I did just over 13 miles on different portions of the trail in a time of 1:17ish. It was a really good workout and the hips and legs were sore when I finally got back to the car.

13 bike miles = 3.25 easy miles 

5 mile church loop this morning. I ran and Mik'L came along side on her bike. I was really stiff this morning from last nights pounding trail ride. But on top of that I'm just waiting for the magical run to happen when I go out and things feel pretty good. I'm guessing I'm a long ways off that. I really need my hips adjusted. I think Stephen is good at that...

(Old Landreth- 436.5) 

7 mile run tonight with the running club. We met at the store and ran a trail root up above the golf course. The weather is just amazing. It was nice to meet up with the guys and just chill. 

(New Landreth-181.2) 

9 miles this morning up to the water tank and around industrial then home the long way. After I got warmed up (4 mile or so) I felt pretty good. However those first few miles hurt. My hammy is just about to break it's so tight. I'd really like to get rid of that issue before I even think about getting ready for a race again. 

(Red Stratus- 514.5) 

20.25 mile trail run today with 8 guys from the club. What an amazing run. This sits atop of my list of All time best runs. We started up above Angels Landing in Zion NP on a trail that I believe is called West Rim trail. Katy dropped us all off and we started down off the mountain right at day break. It was cool but we all opted to shed most of our cloths before we left the vehicle. A wise choice because after we got warmed up the extra layers would have become cumbersome. Basically from the get go the views were amazing all the way for the entire run. Deep, vast canyons with the fall colors to make it just priceless. The running part was good too. We just took it easy and had fun making our way down the single track trail. As we got closer to the end we started the big drop in elevation and realized that we were actually on the famous Angels Landing switchbacks that we made our way down and kind of pushed our way through the tourists who were hiking up. 

The entire run was a big elevation loss but there was some really killer up hills throughout that made us gasp for air in the 7,500 ft elevation. What a blast! A few guys took some little tumbles (Steven's was classic) and that made for some quality memories. 

After we got off the trail we hit the parking lot right at 15.5 miles and could have caught the bus down from there but we ran down another mile to Zion's Lodge and then some of the guys did jump on the bus while the Circle of Trust ran down to the park entry to make it a total of 20.25 miles. The distance was o.k but we pushed out the last few miles at Tinman pace or faster and I really didn't need that but it was all worth it for the run today. This one is a must for anyone!

(Black Stratus- 214.9)