Today my body was feeling worn out and fragile so I stuck to the bike for recovery. Went up Providence Trail (from the house) for an hour and back in 30 mins. Loved it.
PM: Jardine Juniper with Joe (we even ran to the tree). Nice and easy as he is racing in 36 hours. Weather was nice, trail was in good shape except for the deadfall on the shady route section. It was great.
Stage 1 of my 2 Stage test to see if I can handle 50 miles in 4 weeks at the Pocatello 50. Things didn't look good today as all my training buddies were out of town. Ok, fine. I only have one. Joe. And he was busy running out of his head at the Provo River 1/2. nice work joe! Actually, a guy named Tim almost came, but got sick instead.
I drove through a rain storm (after it rained all night long) and parked at 6am sharp for my 25 mile plan. If I can handle this plus next saturday's run without re-injuring myself I think I can finish the beast of a race they put on in Pocatello. I stepped out of the car into a light misty rain and immediately another car with two guys pulled up. They looked like they were going running so I invited myself into their group and we headed up the trail. We played the who-do-you-know game and within one name we found that we had a mutual friend named Joe Furse. Go figure. The one guy missing from my group of training buddies. It was nice to have company for a bit but I quickly (in 1 mile) found myself ready to move on as the pace was not what I was looking for. I headed up to the tree slopping and slipping in the mud. Did I mention the rain we had last night? Well, it rained hard and the trail was a sticky muddy mess. Not all of it luckily, but enough sections that the pace was slow and my shoes were quite heavy! I made it to the tree (turnoff) in about an hour and headed back down the scenic route down to the turn-off to the Naomi wilderness before headed back up and to the tree (turnoff). Doing this, I would get the extra 5 miles I was looking for. 2.5 miles each trip down to the Naomi Wilderness turnoff. Confused yet? Jon and Joe are the only 2 who really know the route well enough to follow or care. After the second trip to the tree (ish) I went all the way down to the car slipping and sliding in the mud. Oh, it was also snowing this lap.
Lap 1 done in 2:04
Ate a quick bite and refilled my drink and headed back up the mountain. After about 2 miles I said hi to my new friends (I forgot their names already, Patrick maybe?) as they were finishing up their first and only lap (slackers) and once again, it was just me and mountain. No moose or deer or anything today. Lap 2 was the same course as Lap 1 but by then the sun had come out and helped dry out the trail a bit. That kind of evened out my pace. I was slow because I was tired, but easier because there was less mud on my feet. I kept things pretty chill for the final descent as I was feeling my ITB tighten up and complain and man, was I tired. Luckily it was downhill so I just flopped down the mountain and called it a day. Leg feels pretty good right now, but I am sure it will be sore tomorrow.
Lap 2 done in 2:04
Yep, even split. Final time was 4:07:58. I will take it. SportTracks shows 5000' vert. Pocatello is 52.3 miles and has 12,600' vert. So I got reasonably close to half that today. Hmm, it is going to hurt, huh? I can't wait!
10 miles on TOU course (millville section). I have been running so slow lately I have doubted I could even break 7 min/mile pace. Today's run was to work on that. It wasn't quite tinman tempo pace, but a steady effort. It took a few miles to get things rolling and I hat 7:30 or so until things started to click a bit better. A few 7 min miles in the middle section then I was able to finish the last 3 miles at 6:30 pace. Not great, but not terrible. Good thing I am not racing a road marathon anytime soon.
AM: Deer Fence Loop on the bike - Keeping things chill this morning since I am getting out again this afternoon - 12.5 miles in 62 mins (800' vert) Had a scary moment when I noticed the front fork lock on my bike was no longer locked. Luckily my tire stayed on. Who knows how long it was like that...
PM: Green Canyon with Joe. I was not feeling to hot but Joe was nice to me. I worked the downhill as hard as I could work on my turnover.
Today was the long-awaited recon trip to both show Joe all the great things about the pocatello 50 course and also to do a refresher for me as well. I was so excited for today and it lived up to the expectations.
We left before the crack of dawn and met up with Luke Nelson so he could provide entertainment and play tour guide. We left my car at City Creek trailhead (mile 17) for an aid station and then drove to the start/finish area. We began with the first leg of the course. 17 miles of singletrack, bushwack, and fireroad. We even had a 30:30 mile where we climbed 1300'. Ouch, that one was steep. On our journey, we learned all about what Luke has been up to including a show and tell where a moose attacked him. He was genuinely scared today for another one. It left quite a scar on his mind, but luckily not on his body. It was really nice to have Luke there to keep us entertained. Joe and I have run so much together we know all the stories. Plus Luke will say more than 3 words a mile (unlike Joe).
Leg 1 in 2:53 (7 mins ahead of my race split of 2010).
A quick bottle refill at the "aid" station and then we began another 5 mile and 2500' climb. 1000' of that climb came in one mile (27 mins or so). I was the slow one on the climbs today so I set the pace. It had me nearly red-lined, but that was what I wanted. A good solid effort. I was really feeling the pace and heat (it wasn't that hot but I am not used to it yet) and tried to keep up with fluids and fuel as best I could. Luckily, Luke showed us the safe (he thinks) springs to drink from and so we were never short of water. I was really having a blast and loving it. My ITB was getting pretty sore and tight for the last 6 miles or so but a quick soak in a nasty creek revived it once we were done. Now to let it rest and recover. Mowing my lawn as soon as I got home helped loosen it up nicely.
Leg 2 in 2:47 (same split as 2010 race).
Total Time 5:39:30 (running time) (10:08 min/mile) 7000' vert
I loved (nearly) every minute of the run and am so glad I got to do it. The highlight though was the coke and burrito (huge) I got at a mexican dive Luke recommended. Mmmm Amazing.
I am getting excited for the actual race (although I will try not to race any of it...only survive). Its 52.3 miles with 12,600' vert. Not for the weak minded. I am pretty sure Joe will come to his senses and change his entry from the 50K to the 50 mile any day now. He might as well since he already did the 50K. (Me waving my hand across my face like a Jedi and talking to Joe) "You will run the 50 mile and you will love it". "You will thank Cody a few days AFTER the race for his wisdom."
Got new tires for my road bike for my birthday (so I wouldn't get a flat anymore). I decided I had better be nice to my body for a few days to let it recover. Biking is the key to recovery. Only problem was my tube kept trying to escape out of the new tire. I only made it 3.75 miles before the first incident. I was able to make it home and fix it and head back out. It worked fine for 8 more miles before the same problem occurred. I was only 3 miles from home, but it only took 100 meters of tire rubbing against the fork before I got a pinch flat. Grrr. Once again, I was left stranded.
Oh, and my legs are still sore. They feel like I ran a 50K.
AM: Deer Fence Loop on the bike with a short stint up MY canyon. 13.5 miles (70 mins) 1100'
PM: Short run to see if I still can. I ran to my sisters house, ate a bowl of ice cream, ran home. Legs are REALLY tired, but the soreness is mostly gone. 3.5 miles
Things were almost back to normal with today's run. Still tired, but soreness is all gone finally. Leg was still achy but actually felt better on the downhill than the uphill (weird). Green Canyon is always a great route. Good times...
Man am I tired. I have not been nice to my body lately. I mean, I tried this week. Its a cutback week, but that doesn't keep me from punishing myself on a Saturday afternoon. I spent a sleepless night on a fathers/sons camping trip. We went to bed late, got up early, hiked all over then I dropped him off at home (it was a great trip) and I met up with joe for an afternoon of fun.
About the run...
We ran up a sweet trail. We hiked some. We lost the trail under snow drifts. We found the trail. We ran all but the snowy sections of North Syncline. We walked up the uphills. I sat on a rock and cried. Joe took a nap cause he was bored. A scary animal was stalking us (although we never saw it). I took lots of pictures. I suddenly felt better for the downhills. I love the mountains. I love the daffodils.. I am so glad I don't live back east in say....South Carolina.
T- 4 hours of movement. 5500' vert. 18.5 miles or so
PM: On a recommendation by Luke Nelson I drove up to Pocatello to go to his esteemed colleague Jenny something or other at Superior Physical Therapy. I went there to get an assessment on my legs. She ran me through a battery of tests to see all the mechanical and muscular issues I have. It took 1.5 hours to get it all sorted out. I thought the tests were very interesting and will likely be very helpful in correcting my problems (running related).
Some highlights:
My left leg is weak
My left leg is 2-3 cm longer than the right
I heel strike a bit too much
My cadence is good
My right foot splays out a bit
No major pronation issues
The big problems were my ratio of Extensors from right to left was 7%
My Flexors were 19%
My Abductors were 22%
My Adductors were 38%
So not very balanced at all. I have lots of exercises to work on it.
I decided that since I was in Pocatello, I might as well go run for a bit on their trails. I headed up City Creek Trail for 3.5 miles (then back of course). The trail is very windy and shady. Perfect. Got home late. Quite the night.
Nice and easy (and short) run with Joe to begin our taper for next weeks race. I couldn't believe how quickly we were done. I was just getting warmed up. Great run, especially the part down Steel Hollow. That trail is so awesome!
Start of the taper. Feeling great and I decided to go with it. New course PR by 4 mins. 1:04:00 (8 min pace) 1500' vert Gonna keep it short but brisk this week. Its amazing what an easy Saturday will do for the legs.
