Nice and easy run up to providence canyon. I checked out a half a mile of the deer fence trail slushed my way up to the big star on the hillside. I would say the recovery is 90% there. No rush though. I am enjoying the easy week.
I slept in today so that I could avoid the nasty storm that hit us last night. It seemed to work as I only got snowed on a bit. It was super windy though. Glad I wasn't at Striders Half in that weather...again. I ran up to Providence Canyon then hit the deer fence trail over to Dry Canyon. The trail was about ankle deep in snow but it wasn't too bad. The trail up Dry Canyon was much deeper but since I only went up .5 mile, it wasn't too bad. I then returned home the way I came. 9 miles of road, 7 miles of trail.
Lundstrom Park in the wind and the rain. I went outside and noticed the downpour and went back inside to get a jacket (striders WRC jacket). I came back outside now properly dressed for rain and it had slowed down to a drizzle. Figures. I decided to wear the jacket anyway since it was still raining after all. In 2 miles, the rain had stopped and I was hot. I stripped off the jacket and tied it around my waist and didn't wear it again the rest of the run. Things did get pretty nasty up on campus though and I was soaked. I never got cold though, so I guess a jacket is just not necessary if you are working hard.
8 snowy miles. I wandered onto the Planet Walk and out past ICON. The PW had snow up to the ankles. Luckily, I wore my NB800's and they gave me plenty of traction for my 8 min/mile pace. Beautiful morning
Just wasn't feeling it today. The body is not adjusting to the bump in mileage yet. I did feel better after the first 8 miles though. Providence - Millville hills
2 miles with Jon before meeting Paul and Carson (it has been a long time since I ran with him). We ran on the BST from Paul's house over to Logan Canyon overlook then up Green canyon singletrack for a mile (Jon and Paul whimped out when it got snowy), hit some road then canal trail back to Paul's. Good long run with lots of time on the feet. 1700+ feet of elevation gain too so it wasn't easy.
PM: Med Workout with Jon. We met up a the fairgrounds and headed up to Providence Canyon. It was windy and warm, but the rain held off until we finished. We decided to do some trail running and hit the deer fence trail between providence and millville canyons. We started our 6 mile tinman(ish) tempo starting once we hit the trail.
6:39
6:33
6:10
6:21
6:17
6:01
The rest of the miles were cool down on back home. Good run, at least based on my tiredness.
PM: 7 (6.25 with Jon then did 1 lap around the fairground's grass)
After dinner, I borrowed my neighbor's distant relative's tiller to turn over my garden. It started right away, I used it for 5 mins, then shut it down for a minute. It refused to turn on again. Seriously. 45 mins of trying everything I could think of including taking a break to eat a piece of cake. No go. In fact, I pulled so many times I pulled the pull cord right off the tiller. Shoot. After having to drill out the 4 rivets and pry them out with brute force, I was able to tie the robe back on. Now, to find a riveter and some rivets. A few phone calls and a trip to millville to see Dan (and to borrow his tool), I had it all fixed. After fixing everything, I gave it a good dozen tugs without the stupid thing starting and gave the tiller back just as it got really dark. Project failure.
"Long trail run with Cody JON. We parked at First Dam and ran up the river
trail to Guinivah Malibu (trail is very passable the whole way),
averaging 8-8:30 miles. Then we ran up to the Wind Caves- the trail is
in perfect condition. It climbs 1000 ft in just under 2 miles, so we
averaged 11:50's up. Then we turned around and ran back to the start of
the river trail. Last week I JON bonked hard at mile 16- this week I HE felt
GREAT the whole way. We even had a few sub-7 miles towards the end. We
turned around again at Stokes parking lot and ran up 2 miles (onto the
singletrack), then finally ran back to First Dam. 20 miles in 2:48:31
(8:24 avg) with about 3000 ft climbing. The weather was gorgeous, the
trail was in great condition, I had a good time talking to Cody Jon, and I
felt fabulous TIRED. I can't imagine a better start to a day."
That about sums up the run.
Vertical 2600'
* First 80+ mileage week of the year.
81 miles - 4150' Vertical
I am working on the second Bus project at work and it is arguably a bigger pain than the first. This sign goes on a double decker in England. So far I am up to 23 hours of time at work in 2 days. Another full day tomorrow. I did make lots of good progress today, in spite of slipping out for a tad to watch Paul run his 5K at USU. Nice Job Paul!
One of the toughest big workouts ever and only 11 miles on the books to show for it. Which means that I loved it. I was able to escape work at a decent hour to meet Jon at first dam. We drove up to 3rd dam and ran up the trail to the wind-caves trailhead (1.75 miles). From there we ran up the wind caves right fork trail to the saddle (5050 ft to 7350 ft) in 3 miles (11:49, 13:27, 16:40). Brutal. Jon was not slacking either. We cruised down to the fork (7:52, 7:05) and headed back up the other trail to the actual wind caves (10:38 pace). Finally, we could stop climbing and go home. That inspired me to go fast and so I did. Now I am sore. (6:44, 6:59). The last 2 miles heading back to 3rd dam were not easy and not fast. But I was spent. Great workout. Thanks Jon
Jon joined me for a long nasty trail run that was designed to get us ready for the Pokey 50 miler in may. It the was the second longest run of my life and only a mile short of the Buffalo Run 50K+ I did last month. We started at Dry canyon and headed south on the shoreline trail (aka Deer Fence Trail) until we ran out of trail at BSF Canyon. After returning to the car, we drove a few miles to first dam to resume running on the north section of BST. We ran all the way to Paul's house to get some water and so Jon could use the head (again). I just waited and ate most of Paul's yummy grapes. The final section was tough but I felt surprising good. Yes, my legs were tired, but no more than a 20 miler would do. I was feeling frisky enough to hammer the last mile on the trail and blast my way down to the car (6:07 pace) for the last mile.
Great training run and one that should help with the nasty 50 miler before mentioned. Thanks Jon for the company and for keeping the pace very even.
I tried different foods today with the hope that my stomach would cooperate better than the Buffalo run. I went with Water, 3 S-Caps, 1 camelback elixer, 1 granola bar, 1 snickers marathon energy bar, 1 small power bar, 30 grapes, 1 bananna, orange juice, no gu, no gatoraide. No issues. I think solids are the way to go for me.
Boring Stats-
Dry Canyon to BSF 7.57 miles (1:08:46) 9:11 pace
BSF to Dry Canyon 7.57 miles (1:10:23) 9:18 pace
First Dam to Paul's 7.87 miles (1:09:49) 8:52 pace
Paul's to First Dam 7.87 miles (1:09:44) 8:52 pace
Overall 31 miles (4:37:57) 8:58 pace
149 ave HR
171 max (last mile)
3700' vertical
* I had about 9 mins to run one more mile to tie my buffalo run 50K race from last month. The vertical was almost identical with today's about 100 feet less than that race (according to sport tracks). I felt 100,000x's better today than during that race. (Not so) Funny how that works.
AM: 8 @ 8 min pace. Von's park out and back. -300' vertical
* bike commute 8 miles ( I decided NOT to count cross-training miles this summer so that I can better keep track of my running only miles)
OK, I lied. I am going to still do it. Its my blog and I can do what I want. I like to keep track of total effort and it makes it easier to see why I am always tired even if I am only running 60 mpw. Its that extra 50 miles of bike riding that is kicking my butt.
PM: Was planning on a big bike ride but the 30mph winds discouraged me. I decided to do a medium workout instead. Probably not a good idea either. The wind blew! I can still feel some major fatigue in the body from Sat. I feel like I am just breaking down at this point. I need to take a few easy days to regroup and renew the energy. Today's run was a total death march.
Providence canyon - Deer Fence - Dry Canyon (.5 mile up is all) - home via River Heights.