"Long Run" At least it is longer than I have been used to lately. Things were feeling good so I headed out for 12 miles. Providence Star plus a bit up the canyon. Both the dirt road and singletrack were a skating rink so I called it good and headed home. I was fighting a bonk pretty much the whole second half. The injury felt good though. T- 1:36 (8:00) 1100' vert I got home, ate some breakfast then rode the bike for 30 mins *********** 2011 Year Summary ********
2011 was on the surface, a pretty lousy year with regards to running. Sure, I ran 1720 miles but the big complaint was injuries. I spent 16,350 mins on a bike doing cross-training. That's 272.5 hours! So, injuries huh? Lets review... Thanksgiving last year - Knee injury kept me "resting" until mid January. Then began the crash course training for Moab Red Hot 50K+. I had only a month to get ready. Race day, things looked good (aside from the weather) and I had a decent day on the trails. I was pretty happy with how things went considering my lack of training. Little did I know that sometime during the race, my IT band had decided to become violently ill. I wouldn't feel the full extent of the damage until the next day when I knew I had a serious problem. It would take me until August to feel like things had finally been resolved. In the meantime, I spent the summer mountain biking. I was "ok" with that as the itch to hit the trails was lessened as I spent some serious time riding my bike on them. The tail of summer and fall was spent cramming in as much trail running as possible. I even tried a new sport, Duathlon. I raced the Hurt in the Dirt Duathlon I managed to finish in 5th place overall in-spite of a flat tire and a lack of running fitness. Things were rolling along nicely during these months and I REALLY enjoyed all I was able to cram in during these months. I ran some epic runs with Joe and even got to pace Bryce at the Bear100. I decided I would try for a fall 50K and attempt to lower my PR. I ran the Antelope Island 50K on Nov 5th. It was a success and I destroyed my PR set on a similar course on the same island. Post-race recovery went great and I was back hitting the streets and trails daily. That is until Thanksgiving. That day is cursed for me. I didn't run any crazy slope or over the top mileage, it was a standard saturday long run distance. In-spite of my "conservative" day I got injured anyways. It was a new injury for me. It felt like my butt/back/hamstring were all competing to win the "most horrible pain" award. Eventually my butt won and I was back on the injury reserve list. December was made manageable by the small investment in a stationary bike. I have never been a gym guy and decided that since I might be hurt all winter, I had better come up with a plan B. I have enjoyed the spinning, but as things have improved over the last 10 days on the running front, running is still way more fun. Even on the roads (I know...incredible that I would say that). That's enough about the injuries....on to the highlights... Birchcreek Canyon with Paul (awesome canyon with a great friend) High Creek Trail with Joe (epic wandering around in the dark..bring a MAP!) Syncline Trail Loop (only time I have run this NOT in a race) 2 Days of Wasatch 100 recon (some serious mileage and Vert crammed in two days) Wellsvilles with Joe (we didn't die in the thunderstorm!) Bear 100 marking and pacing (24 hours of quality time in the woods) High Creek Trail Round 2 with Joe (we made it this time!)
That is some serious runs for having an "off year". I guess I can't complain after-all.
I even saw 5 moose this year! 2582.5 Total "equivalent" miles 1243 Miles on Mountain bike 190 Miles on Road bike 1,860 mins on the Stationary bike 817 miles running on Trails 292 miles running on Roads
329, 065 feet Vertical Ascent (last year was "only" 264, 925) I can't wait for 2012!.........
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