House to Dry Canyon. 3 miles flat then 2 nasty miles (~8 min and ~9 min pace) then did 1 mile up Dry Canyon. 12:20 mile with HR at 170. Its about a thousand foot climb over the last 1.5 miles. At 6 miles, I turned around and flew down the canyon. 5:45 on the trail, then 5:37, 6:07 on the road before it flattened out. The remaining 3 miles were at 7 min pace. Legs are shot now.
T-1:30:40 (7:33) 12 miles 156
PM: 2 with the kids in the stroller. We went to the park.
I woke up this morning and couldn't even walk. I am so sore from the hill workout I did yesterday. Marathon sore. I put off the run until the evening to try and work the soreness out. It sort of worked. I did ok during the run once I got warmed up. I joined Jon for 7 miles on the Landfill loop and then did the Planet Walk by myself. I swallowed a pound of cotton while on the PW. Not a good time of year to visit the PW.
Up early to join Paul and Jon for an easy run. We did 7 with Jon, dropped him off then ran Paul home, then did the PW again by myself. Legs still very tender. Going down stairs or any hill is painful.
AM: Planet Walk 5 with strides. Legs still sore, but much better every day now. The scooter is broken, so I rode the bike the 4 miles into work (12 min).
PM: Rode bike home then rode out to Wellsville and Mendon by myself. Pushed it pretty hard. I was pushing close to MP or Tinman Tempo pace effort the whole time. ~25 miles at 20.5 ave speed.
Met Paul, Jon and Joe (after 300 invites he finally comes to a run with us) at PW but didn't go on it. Instead we did Landfill loop and checked out the dirt road at the bird refuge. I enjoyed my 8:20 pace before I met up with them. They forced me to wake up and get moving. Good to get out and enjoy the nice morning.
T-51:30 (7 miles) (7:21) 146
Rode bike to work and will ride home later, assuming I ever leave.
Utah Hemophilia Blood Run 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:17:00, Place overall: 3, Place in age division: 1
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
13.00
3.00
16.00
Utah Hemophilia Foundation Blood Run 5K -
3rd Overall, 2nd Male 17:00 (5:28) 179 ave 185 max HR
Yep, I got chicked. But I am getting ahead of myself...
I have a brother in law who is a hemophiliac and my wife is a carrier of the disorder, so I have some real close personal ties to the hemophilia foundation. I was planning a trip to SLC for a family gathering so I was able to fit in this race without a big deal. It is held in Highland (in Utah county). Nice area and it turned out to be a great day for a race. I got there and ran the course for an easy warmup. I was not feeling great due to the non-taper and the fact that this is the highest mileage week of the year for me. Not a lot of zip in those legs. I have done 0 speedwork in the last few months and was completely unprepared for this race. But, it is a 5K so at least it is over quick.
At the starting line I saw a few fast looking guys but 2 fast looking girls. One was MaryAnn (formerly of the Blog) and the other was a super skinny girl Lindsey Dunkley (33:11 at Des News 10K in 2008). The first mile was downhill and with the wind (there was a canyon wind this morning). I was in 5th place for most of the mile working my way up to 3rd by early in mile 2. Mile 1: 5:19 I was able to get past MaryAnn and into 3rd place but couldn't quite get up to the shoulders of the top two runners (Logan Petty the top runner for Davis High, and Lindsey). I was thinking to myself, who is this girl? Impressive. Mile 2 was not great and I was not enjoying the headwind we faced. I was slowly slipping back and losing contact. Mile 2: 5:42 Ugly. Mile 3 was back up the hill, but no longer into the wind so it evened out a bit. The two speedy folk kept pulling away and I was slowing down. I hit the mile 3 in 5:38 but the garmin showed .95 for that mile. So either short or I took the tangents too well. Is cutting through backyards legal? I will go with the short mile theory. The final bit was uphill too, but I was fighting the clock to break 17 min. I lost by .1 as my official time was 17:00.1. So, it was a good race based on time, but it was short so it was only average. Maybe I will focus on some speed work and run another 5K later in the season for a shot at a PR. But before that, I need to train with this Lindsey girl. Very speedy, but she ended up getting out kicked by Logan by 11 seconds. I know I will never hear the end of this from Jon. He LOVES it when I get chicked (it seems to happen all too frequently).
The highlight of the race though was the free massage at the finish. Not many 5K's have complementary massages. I won a plauque thingy for third overall and won a $50 gift certificate to 26.2 in American Fork. The raffle was stacked with a couple of hundred prizes. I walked away with $20 gift card for Ruby River Steakhouse (where my wife and I enjoyed a great lunch while grandma watched the kids!). Not a bad days work for a charity run.
After the race, I did a cooldown waiting for the awards and then drove to the mouth of the canyon and looked for running trails. I ended up on a dirt road that is basically the shoreline trail. It was nice to get off the roads and enjoy the trail. I did 4 out and back and called it a day. (7:45 pace).
AM: Young Ward Loop. Just took it easy this morning and cruised at a comfortable pace.
T-1:14:12 (7:14) 10.25
PM: Rode the bike to work, but had to hitch a ride home due to the inch of rain that fell in the half hour right when I wanted to ride home. Instead, I ran back to work to ride my bike back home. The problem arose when the clouds opened up when I was halfway there and drenched me. I turned towards home to bag it, but since I was halfway there I figured I may as well keep going. Luckily the rain passed quickly and I survived. 3.75 miles running 7.5 miles biking (convert to 2 running)
Did a warmup with Jon and Paul then did 2 at Tinman-ish pace 6:24, 6:16. They took off while I hit the Logan High track for some 1000's. I did 6x1000m at CV pace (~5:40 = 3:30-3:35 per 1K) with 200m rest. I had some serious stomach issues today and had to make two stops after the speed stuff. Looking back at what I ate yesterday, I think I know what the problem was (and it wasn't the brownies, I swear). After the 1K's I did a cooldown on the planet walk and headed home. 14 miles total.
I couldn't get myself out of bed at 5 to run with the boys so I slept in till 6. Wise choice other than the drizzle I ran through. It felt pretty good though so I can't complain. I ran up to the mouth of Providence Canyon nice and easy. Averaged 8 min pace for the first half and then let gravity do its thing.
PM: Drove home from work in a huge storm. It stopped about a mile from the house. I cancelled my bike ride and decided to try and get as many miles as I could before the storm hit. The wind blew but I never got wet. The storm missed me. I ran on PW then over to Logan High saw that some sort of a kid track meet was going on and ran into River Heights and Providence before heading home. My legs were lead and could quite get under 7 min pace (until I got a tail wind for a few miles). 10.5 miles
8 slow miles. I didn't time it but was probably barely pushing 9 min pace. I ran out and back to Young Ward via PW. We are going camping tonight. Hope it doesn't rain....
Last night my family and I went camping up at the top of Green Canyon. The weather was perfect, up until 2am then rain. And more rain. Bummer. We slept through it the best we could in our tent but it was pretty noisy. I got up early and ran down the canyon to meet Paul at first dam (6 miles away from camp). On the way I enjoyed a new section of muddy single track a half mile long. Now there is only one section a hlaf mile long where you have to run on the road. The rest of the 4 miles of canyon has singletrack. Sweet! Due to all the rain we have had and spring runoff, many of the dry washes were not so dry. I had 5 creek crossings on the way down. The last one I didnt' make it all the way over and had to dunk both feet in. About 2 miles later, I noticed a hot spot on my heel. My shoe had rubbed a hole right though my sock and now was rubbing off skin on my heel. I swapped socks and just pressed on. It ended up hurting the whole rest of the run, especially on the uphills.
I finally made it first dam but didn't see paul. He was in the bushes taking care of an issue. I thought that he was probably runninb behind and so I kept going towards his house. I soon ran into Joe and recruited him to join me and we ran out to about halfway on the canal trail then turned around. Soon after turning around, we saw Paul and he was heading towards us from first dam. He explained how I ran right past him as he was in the bushes and ditched him. Sorry, Paul. He headed home due to stomach issues while Joe and I ran back up to Green Canyon. He turned around at the single track and I continued up to our soggy camp. After taking down camp we made a quick retreat out of there and hit the warm showers. In all, it was a fun campout, but not quite ideal weather for half of it.
Phew, did I leave anything out? Quite the narrative. One more point I guess. This run has now convinced me that any green canyon run I do is cursed. I get the worst weather anytime I try to run there. Rain or snow every time. There, now I am finished.
Today's run was a test to see what my top end speed is. I ran 3.75 mile warmup on PW and over to Logan High. I did 6x400m with full 400m recovery. We (Sasha and I ) were interested in whether I could run 70 second quarters. So that was the goal. I went:
71.2
73.2
73.8
73.0
74.8
74.3
I didn't hit 70 seconds even though it felt like I was going all out. I felt fully recovered between each repeat, but I just couldn't go any faster. I checked my 200m split for each one and I was between 35 and 37 for all of them, so pretty even effort throughout. I bet I could get them down to ~70 with a large amount of speed work, but is it worth it? Maybe I could then break a 5 min mile (1600m actually). Hmmm....
Within a few mins of jogging, I was fully recovered so I headed out and ran the landfill loop and called it a day.
T-1:20:10 (11) (7:17) 151 178 max during the 400's
PM: 4 Miles pushing the kids in the stroller. First evening in a while where there was no rain or threat of rain.
I have been battling a blister on my heel ever since I got it on Saturday. Today it really ticked me off. I taped it and headed out but within a mile the tape was off and was rubbing against the open blister. Man did that hurt. I ran back home and came up with an idea. Duct tape. I used a huge amount over the heel then put a sock on, then taped the sock. No rubbing on the blister. Success. Wait, why is ankle hurting now? Yep, the tape rubbed my ankle and cut the skin there. Success? Nope, chalk it up as another failure. Its sad that a tiny blister is messing with my head that much. Time to move to plan C. Whatever that it, I have until this evening to figure it out.
8.5 miles 1:02:35 (7:22) 144
PM: 4 mile with the kids in the stroller. The blister killed. I tried newskin, band-aid, tape, sock, and more tape on top of the sock. Even tape on the shoe so the tape would rub tape. It was a failure.
Ditched the kids at home, and ditched the sock, tape and more tape. I added another coat of newskin, put a small bandaid on, no socks and tried it again. It hurt for the first house as the band-aid slid off then viola. Success. It bled, but no pain. So, I am running without a sock for a while now.
Up early today since I only have time for a single. Was not overjoyed to see the obnoxious rain. I figured that I would be alone (since Paul and Jon are afraid of the rain). I used the same setup as last night for the foot. NewSkin, no sock, Burns (they have a silky liner for the foot that doesn't rub like other shoes). It worked ok today. It wasn't real ideal since the rain was causing lots of grit to enter my shoe and rub the foot. It got quite irritated and bloody. It looks like a meat grinder got to it. I survived, but at what cost? I am not running on it until later tomorrow to see if it can heal up a bit. Maybe I will stick to the grass and run barefoot. I refuse to let a spot that is smaller than a dime take me out! I ended up running all over the valley with the first 6 in the rain.
AM: Rode bike to work (and will return later). Battle wound is doing much better. It didn't hurt to bike on it. I may be able to run tomorrow. Tonight is a big bike ride.
PM: Bike ride up to Sherwood Hills GC club house. Ave 15 out but 19.3 overall. Easy effort out, but hard back. 1:25:00 ~27 miles total
Ran into Jon and Paul at Planet Walk (go figure) and ran with Paul for a while. We headed out to the Relay start. Part of me was jealous. A small part. After dropping Paul off, I headed out to Logan High and did 8x200m between 35 and 37 sec with 200 rest. Rest of the run was easy. The blister is doing great, no pain or blood today.
We ran up the Franklin Basin Road 8 miles then turned around. Good gradual uphill the whole first half. 1500 foot climb. Great run and great weather. End of a tough week. Tough because it is hard to get in the miles while nursing a blistered foot. Should be better next week.
PM: Big Workout tempo with Jon. Long Warmup for 5.75 then hit the Providence Millville hills loop. Goal for me was 6:10-6:15 on the flats. Hilly course though so the times don't mean as much.
7:06 (big uphill)
6:11
5:59
5:55
6:07
5:55
5:50
Cool down to 14 miles. Good solid workout, was pretty tired after that one.
AM: Slow 6. Waited until the last mile to get the average under 8 min pace.
PM: Jardine Juniper trail with Jon. We kept a pretty good pace the whole way. Great run and can't complain. Fun stuff. Followed it up with 3 hours working in the yard. I am now exhausted. 1:27:00 (8:40) 1700 feet gain
Logan Peak Trail Race (28 Miles) 04:29:49, Place overall: 4
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
0.00
28.00
28.00
Logan Peak Trail Race
-Short Report
Awesome run, did really well. Shaved an hour off my time from 2 years ago. Beat Jon's course record by a half hour, and still finished 4th. Very happy with it though.
1st Jon Allen
2nd Ty Draney
3rd Corbin Talley
4th Cody Draper
All of us finished within 3 mins of each other. Gory details later....
T-4:29:49 (by my watch) (9:38 ave pace)
Longer Report...
My first attempt at this race was 2 years ago when it was in its first year and Paul and I decided to run it as a training run. We ran hard, but took long breaks at all the aid stations and at the top. We still finished 4th and 5th, but left me wanting more (ie, I wanted to do it much faster). I didn't get a chance to last year due to injuries so this was the year. My goal was to stay in the top 5 overall, but knew it would be a challenge due to the big names there. We had Jon Allen (course record holder from last year), Ty Draney, Karl Jarvis (ultra marathon extraordinares), and Corbin Talley (fast guy who now does trail races), and Leland Barker (3? time winner of the Wasatch 100 and trail running legend). Never mind the other unknown 70+ starters. Serious competition for us.
The race starts out at ~5000 feet up on the Logan bench. We all start up the hills in a comfortable uphill climb pace that lets us chat. We quickly settled into a group of 5 that turned into 6 within a few miles. We kept the uphills slow and easy to conserve energy for later. The course climbs to about 8000 feet by the time we hit Aid Station 1 (4.5 miles into it). My splits for the first section were: 9:09, 10:52, 15:21, 15:40, 15:44 (including stopping at aid 1).
The second section of the course takes you on the South Sincline trail which for much of it is a jeep trail that is rarely used. We kept together still as a group of 5 (Jon, Karl, Ty, Corbin, and myself). That really help pass the time. That and the views, they are awesome. This section felt good and some went faster on the downhills, but we all joined back up for the uphills. Other than a few snowy and muddy sections, this section was ideal. Splits were: 9:58, 7:21, 7:42, 12:48, 9:49
The third section is the big climb up to the peak. We left aid 2 in a group (still) and worked our way up the snowy ridge. One section was especially snowy/icy and I pretty much slid (on my shoes) down the whole thing. Once we worked our way to the top, we took a few min break and took some photos and admired the view before blasting the downhill. Our split at the top was 2 hours and 42 min. My time 2 years ago was 3 hours and 5 mins. Wow. On the way down, we followed the trail, but stayed on the ice as much as possible as it was fast to skid/run down. My feet got a bit wet here and was the beginning of trouble for me. I quickly focused on making it to the third aid station with as little effort as possible and put the feet issue out of my mind. We had some slow sections as we were forced to re-climb the ice fall that we slid down the first time. Corbin and Ty got stuck on it and couldn't climb up it without sliding back down. They soon caught up to us to resume our pack running (much more fun) Splits for this section: 12:09, 10:21, 14:38, 12:37, 7:50, 7:37
After Aid #3, we still had quite a bit of climbing then desending, then more climbing, then more desending (get the point?). Jon took off on a rather steep section of downhill, and my legs just wouldn't let me keep up. I slipped to 5th for a while and "clomped" down the hills. Jon says I run too loudly. Sorry Jon. During all that clomping, my foot slid around in the shoe and I felt a nice warm spot on the bottom of each foot. Great. I stopped to tighten my shoe and that helped for a while. At this point the order was Jon, Ty (both out of sight but not too far), Corbin, myself with Karl not to far behind. I focused on staying in contact with Corbin by running most of the uphills and going slow on the downhills to save the feet. By the last climb, I could see Jon and Ty about 100 yards ahead, but had lost sight of Karl (good, 1 down). The guys (Jon and Ty) blasted down the canyon and I never saw them again. I debated about stopping at the final Aid Station #4 for some fruit, but thought I could make up time lost by not stopping. Splits for this section: 10:33, 9:18, 6:37, 7:40, 10:59, 9:56, 7:47
The final section is a nasty downhill (the opposite of the first 4.5 miles of the race). My foot was done for and so I gritted my teeth and ran on my toes best I could. It is really hard to run on your toes on a steep downhill. I lost Corbin during this section and resigned myself to 4th, since I coudn't go any faster due to overworked quads and running on my toes. I did get a glimpse of him on Deer Fence trail (200 meters ahead), but he took off and went into his patented Corbin kick (we joked he was a 12 min 5K guy and I still think he is). Other than the nasty pounding my body took, I was still managing the last section rather well. I remember that 2 years ago, I was on a death march over the last 10 miles of the race. Things felt much better this time around. This year I survived the downhill and limped on in to the finish. Splits for this section: 6:56, 6:25, 6:12, 7:06, 7:18 (pace).
Split for the second half was about 1:50 mins. (2:25 in 2007)
After finishing, I took off the shoes to assess the damage. Not pretty. I had large 2-3 inch circle under my left heel that had split open and was oozing puss. The right foot had a smaller blister that had not yet popped. I ended up limping around for the rest of the day. I am not sure if I will be able to run for a while until this chunk of skin heals up. Oh well, it was well worth it. Still one of the toughest races around and by far the hardest one I have ever done. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to put themselves through massive amounts of un-necessary pain.
T-4:29:49 (9:38) 161 ave 182 max
7700 feet of ascent, 7700 feet of descent according to the course maps (Garmin had it at 9200 for both).
12 Miles on the bike with Keegan. Good to get some of the stiffness out of the legs. They feel like I ran a marathon on them. Blisters are improving. I can walk without a limp now.
My feet have improved, but have huge blisters encompassing the entire bottom of my heels. The blisters are closed, but have tender skin under them. It hurts to walk still, so I took off on the bike today. I went up BSF Canyon with Corey. We started off easy, but started to hammer the canyon. We turned around at an hour and returned in 50 mins. Tough ride, but it felt good.
