5 cold and snowy miles in the 800's. It was early and sure quiet out. All the smart folk were still sleeping. I did sign up for the Pocatello 50 today. I am excited for that!
AM: 4 easy in 0 degrees. Learned yesterday that sitting for church meetings really tightens the hammy causing strain on the tendons. Guess I had better stop going.
PM: 4 more and things were really tight during and after.
Picked up the microspikes and headed out to the river trail. The trail was nice and packed until the single track then it got a bit lumpy. Great weather as I got to see the sunrise while at Spring Hollow before dropping back into the soupy cache valley. Leg got sore especially on the downhills. Still not better, but slowly improving.
T- 1:17:40 (9:43) 900' vert
* Weekly summary 34 miles 1000' vert (4 hours 46 mins running time)
2010
will forever be known (to me) as the birth of trail running. I began
the year in the infancy stages of trail running experience but by the
end I would like to say that I am now a teenager. A know it all and
constantly bragging about my exploits. Hopefully, (for everyone else’s
sake) I can now move on to the glory years of my 20’s and 30’s and leave
that awkward teenage stage behind. The
year began wonderfully with my highest mileage January on the books. I
fought through the nasty Logan inversion and logged some great base
mileage. February
brought Jon, Paul and I together for an epic pacing/racing experience
at the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race. Against all odds, Jon was able to
run his first 100 mile race without actually any running as training.
He even broke the record for the most potty stops of all time within 24
hours. A normal person would have been in the ER. I logged my slowest
20 miles of my life with jon at the tail end of that race. How we
remained friends after that is a mystery. In
March I ran my first official 50K. I made some major rookie mistakes
and sure paid the price. Ouch, that one hurt. I still want revenge on
that course. April
was packed full of miles with lots of focus on vertical and getting
ready for next months big 50 mile race. Jon and I even did a 50K in
training in virtually the same time as my race last month. May
was the epic Pocatello 50 Miler or should I say 50K as the blizzard
shut down the race at mile 33. I watched jon nearly freeze to death.
Good times! I heard that the race was cancelled 6 miles from where I
was to stop so I kicked up the effort and “finished” in a great position
against a solid field. I am heading back in 2011 for more punishment.
That is one race I will never forget. In
June, my favorite race Logan Peak 28 miler was held and for me was a
chance to strip Jon of his 2 year winning streak and course record. It
was a battle and since I won, I am happy. Joe put in a solid trail race
debut and nearly took the win himself. I love that race and will
hopefully be able to defend my self proclaimed title of “King of Logan
Peak”. July
was a month of some serious running. Jon and I ran the final 30 miles
of the Bear 100 course and man, it was a bear. I also took a trip to
Yellowstone and took advantage of the Lion Head Mountain and explored
new trails. 53 miles in 3 days with 10k’ vertical. The next saturday, I
became the course record holder of the N.U.T.S trail Half Marathon. I
also did the Tony Grove to the bottom of Green Canyon run that I have
been dreaming about for years. Unfortunately, Jon was not there to run
with me and will never forgive for running it without him. In fact, he
decided to quit his job just so he could run for a month+ exclusively on
trails. I am pretty sure he did that so he could beat me at El Vaquero
loco next month and reclaim the title of biggest trail running geek of
Logan. The last day of July (highest mileage month of the year) marked
the toughest race of my life. The Speedgoat 50K. It was unnecessarily
hard and making a wrong turn made it 2 miles harder. Sick race! 12K’
vertical. Never again....probably. August
was filled with glorious training runs with Jon and Joe. Stump Hollow,
Tony Grove to Logan River Aid via steam hollow (bear 100 course recon),
Right Hand Fork Maughn Hollow to Cottonwood loop, Deer Fence, River
trail, Wellsvilles ridge traverse, Beirdneau Peak to Mt. Elmer to Mt.
Jardine to Green Canyon, and Right Hand Fork to Tony Grove and back to
Temple Fork. All serious runs, but the cherry on top was El vaquero
loco, a 50K trail race that winds through beautiful mountains outside
Afton WY. That morning I saw the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen
while running. The race turned out decent as well with Jon beating me
by a good 5 mins, but me holding onto the title of “fastest trail runner
of the street” by a mere 5 seconds. September
was the last month of crazy trail running as I capped off my season
with a 4th place finish at Mid Mountain Marathon in Park City. Mid
month I did some serious running while marking the course for the Bear
100. Which leads me to my favorite event of 2010. The
Bear 100. Jon and I had been preparing for this race for a long time.
Although I wasn’t actually running the race, I was more excited for it
than Jon. I was so happy to watch him achieve his long time goals. I
got to run about a third of the race with him and enjoy the 100+ miles
of course recon with him beforehand. An amazing experience. The
Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in October turned out to be the neatest
trail run of my life. It lived up to all my wild expectations. So many
memories from this one to summarize. So, I wont. I will merely refer
to my Oct 11 entry in my running blog. October ended with Joe and I hitting some great high country trails before the snow flew. November
held some good trails runs, but the main event of the month turned out
to be the Thanksgiving day 5K turkey trot. Whatever inspired me to run a
short road race again after all that time in the mountains is beyond
me. The race turned out well enough (3rd place overall and and course
PR), but it also affected my 6+ weeks of running. During that race, I
somehow managed to bugger up my knee/tendons/muscles/who know exactly
and mess me up good. I am still working on healing from that issue and
hope to be back on the trails again real soon. In
all, it was an epic year with so many great memories that will be tough
to top. First step, get healthy then get out and find some more trails
to explore. * Stats
3035 Miles (58.4 miles a week ave)
~264,000 Feet Vertical Ascent (5000+ feet per week ave)
I guess if I can survive playing basketball and racquetball in the same week and not have the knee thing flare up worse, than things are improving. Decent overall run. Downhill doesn't feel too good, but uphill is fine.
Well, at least it was the longest run I have done for 2 months. It was great to put in a solid effort not only this run, but this week. I still feel less than 100%, but the knee is handling the increase in mileage pretty well. I will try and bump it up to 60 miles next week.
House to Green Canyon via USU. Super slick out as the rain/sleet was freezing on the roads. Nice and toasty 32 degrees though. I felt pretty tired the final 4 miles today, I have definitely lost some serious fitness. Better get at it.
T- 1:50 (7:35) 14.5 miles 600' vert
** Weekly summary 50 miles 2250' vert (6 hours 32 mins running time)
I got a massage for an hour last night and the timing was perfect. Yesterday, my hammy and calf were locked up good. She did a great job loosening it up. Unfortunately, it tightened up again this morning and the massage pulled on my alleged tear so that it was pretty unhappy today. Hopefully tomorrow things mellow out a bit. Oh, but I still feel the massage was beneficial.
House to Providence Star (5 miles) then along deer fence to Dry Canyon and then .5 mile up the canyon. Deer Fence had a fresh dusting of snow over a mix of ice and dirt. The footing was actually pretty decent. Dry Canyon was much icier and lumpier. I am pleased that I was able to maintain a decent pace on this hilly terrain. Slowly and surely and I coming back.
T-2:07:25 (7:58) 1500' vert
Weekly summary- 60 Miles, 3750' vertical, 475 Mins (7' 55")
Next week I will run basically the same thing, but will increase the long run and possibly increase the intensity on the harder days a bit.
Deer Fence Providence Canyon to Dry and back. Trail had about 2 inches of snow. Just enough to make it slippery. I saw elk, deer, a dead deer, a dog, a woman, more deer, and heard an owl. Almost hit a deer driving home.
I got pulled over by a Sheriff again today (during my run). Luckily I didn't run shirtless and carry a child with me on my run today. Or I would have fit the description of the suspect and been shot on sight.
Today I ran up to First Dam via Sumac Drive and was graced by the presence of Joe when I arrived at First Dam. It was a long anticipated reunion and was a very nice change from the lonely winter runs. We ran up the river trail (I stopped and put on my microspikes) and stopped at about a mile past Spring Hollow. The trail was pretty packed down low, but got pretty fluffy and soft at the top. The spikes did great. We turned around and I want back home the way I came and Joe hung with me for a bit to loop back to his place. A super nice long run to get the body ready for a beating in 3 weeks. I am happy to have slipped in a sub 7 min mile in there too. Wow, better watch out....
T-2:45:00 (7:51) 1150' Vert
**Weekly summary 63.5 miles, 3600' Vert 498 min (8'18")
Medium to Hard Effort today. I woke up ready to roll so I went with it. I was surprised by the first 2 miles at 7 min pace. Figured it would be a good day. It was until an ugly face plant happened coming down off the trail. My headlamp was still using batteries from The Bear 100 and they need to be changed. Today confirms it. I totally missed the huge rock in the middle of the trail. My gloves saved me.
