Old Man Still running

I've recovered very well from my 104.39 miles at ATY 24-hour run on Dec 30.   I feel ready to go running again....except for a silly injury.  I tied my right shoe lace too tight and didn't notice it for about 40 miles!  Now I have a painful creaky tendon on the top of my foot.   I've had this kind of thing several times before, so I know it just heals with time off.  So, I'm probably sidelined for a week to heal up the foot.  But that is OK.  It is time to rest, recover, and send in race registrations for the new year. Besides, last month was a 400 mile month, my highest ever.  That is crazy.

Two walking miles.   Tendon still creaks but no pain.   Walking made it feel better.

Easy miles on a treadmill at 10:00 pace, a couple at 10-15% incline as I start to concentrate on climbing again.   Right foot still a little sore and left quad sore at the end of the workout.  But so far so good, back in the saddle.

8 treadmill miles....9 degrees outside.   Did a 6x10x10.   That is six miles as 10:00 pace, with 10 degree incline.   A good workout.   I'll work that up to a 10x10x10.   The treadmill thinks I did 3,200 feet of climb, but I never really believe that because it doesn't feel like I really went that high.   This crazy treadmill workout really helps get in hill shape.  Others who have seen this workout in the past think I'm nuts.

4 walking miles

8 degrees out with the brightest full moon we will see in another seven years or so.   I hit the treadmill at the rec center and did a 12x10x10.   That is 12 miles, 10:00 pace, with 10% incline.   I was very suprised how easy it felt.  Treadmill thinks I burned 2,500 calories and climbed 6,400 feet.

The hardest part was the boredom for two hours.  By getting up early, I can do the first hour almost half asleep with the lights out.  The time goes by fast.   The second hour was tougher, but not bad.  The quads feel strong from ATY, ten days ago.

Three tempo miles 8:00 pace at Legacy Center.

14 Treadmill miles at about 8:00 pace.   4 mile walk during lunch up above the capital building.

PM

Ran 5 tempo miles at Legacy Center.  5K in 21:09.  Felt fast and strong dodging all the walkers and runners on the track.  Met Clint from Eagle Mountain who has run in the Buffalo Run 25K each year.

AM.  Slept in.

4 walking miles during lunch

PM

7 miles at Legacy Center.  5K tempo run of 21:00.  The rest at 9:00 pace.  Inversion weather setting in.  I'm looking forward to climbing hills.   Warmer as you go higher.

Very sluggish and slow miles on the treadmill.  Quit early.   10 degrees out.  Longing for the hills.

4-mile walk during lunch to Warm Springs Park, the historic location of the warm springs that the 1847 pioneers discovered and enjoyed bathing in.  The springs were covered up around 1870.   Some nice historical monuments at the park.

PM

8 miles at Legacy Center, steady 8:00 pace until I got bored.  Felt much better compared to the morning.

6 degrees F out this morning.   I know it is warmer up in the hills, but this cold is brutal.   Just can't get motivated to pile on the clothes at get out when it is that cold.   8 more boring miles on the treadmill.  Sluggish at first but warmed up in a few miles.   Noticed that I need to drink a bunch more in the warm room, getting dehydrated toward the end.

4-mile walk during lunch in avenues west of captital.

PM

5 miles at the Legacy Center indoor track.  8:30 pace.  Last mile for the day was 6:42.  Nice.

4 F on the Utah Lake shore this morning as all of Utah is dumping its cold air at my doorstep.  The appears to be almost a 30 degree warmer temperature difference up on the mountain ridges.   The ice fog is pretty amazing.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning of the frost on the trees.  I'll also go out on the lake.  I see tracks of sleds or something, so I should be able to run in the deep snow if someone has packed it down.

15 boring miles on the treadmill

PM

Went out a mile and back on frozen Utah Lake.  Check out the photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5605845&l=2f42c&id=754525693

4 F on the lake shore.   Rambled 9 miles on the treadmill to the tunes of Allman Brother's "Ramblin Man."   Noticed that I lost about 5 pounds this week without really trying.  Thats OK, can help me get back down to racing weight.

Ran on frozen Utah Lake, ran from Saratoga Springs to Orem (actually Vineyard).  The rather deep crystally snow made it a tough workout.  Ice is solid away from the shores.  ATVs, duck hunters, ice fisherman are out on it.   A podcast of my adventure will be up on my blog soon at: www.crockettclan.org/blog

Well, this isn't really a race report, but I did run an incredible marathon adventure run on frozen Utah Lake, the largest fresh-water lake in Utah.  It covers about 97,000 acres (151 square miles) and is 23 miles long (north-south) and a has a maximum width of 13 miles (east-west.)   It is a shallow lake, with an average depth of 9.4 feet. 

I ran from Saratoga Springs to Bird Island (on the south end of the lake) and back.   During the morning I was totally enveloped in fog and had to rely on my GPS to make sure I didn't run around in circles.  It is difficult to decribe the amazing experience being out on the ice.  It makes you feel like you are running in Antarctica. The ice flows built up around Bird Island were awesome. 

Watch my youtube movie!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI3nWGC--D0

Near the end of my run I was entertained by Super Dell Schanze on his motorized paraglider with skis!   See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdBdrSQbM9M&eurl=http://dellschanze.blogspot.com/  He was swooping and skiing all over the lake.  It was a sight to see!   What a fantastic day and run.   I will post pictures and audio on my blog tomorrow at www.crockettclan.org/blog   You can also read/listen and see pictures from my run across the lake to Orem on Saturday.  See: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=135

Took a "zero day" and rested some more, just because I felt like it.   I also finished up my youtube movie on my Utah Lake ice adventure on monday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI3nWGC--D0

Seven easy miles at the Legacy Center and then watched my son at the swim meet there.  He's a captain on the Lehi High School swim team.

Five treadmill miles.   I stopped early because I feared I would slit my wrists because of boredom.  I'm sick of that stupid machine.  No more!

PM

Five miles with the dog on Utah Lake.   With warmer temperatures, the crystals have melted and the sandy snow now is packable snow, easier to run on.   The little dog just loves it out there.  She probably ran an extra couple miles just going back and forth. 

12 Treadmill miles at 8:00 pace.

14 degrees out and windy.  Wimped out again.  12 treadmill miles at 8:00 pace.

PM

Ran laps at the Legacy Center.  On Saturday I'll run in the Winter 5K at Great Salt Lake.   I hope to set a PR and break 20:00 for the first time.  So today I wanted to push and get my lungs working hard.   I felt good and strong, so I kept pushing for 5K.   My mile splits were 6:14, 6:37, and 6:43 for a 5K time of around 20:10.    That was encouraging for a training run.   Felt fine afterwards, still had plenty in the tank.

8 miles at the Legacy Center in one hour.   It was nice to see quite a few people actually running around the track.  Usually almost everyone is only walking. I'm still focusing on doing well at the 5K on Saturday.

Treadmill at 8:30 pace average.

I ran in the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series 5K held on the shores of Great Salt Lake along a frontage road.  The course is totally flat, so I was really hoping to break 20 minutes for the first time.   I've only run in five previous 5Ks.  This distance feels like an all-out sprint to me and can be pretty painful, but for some reason I do fairly well considering my age.

This time, I tried warming up a little more, running about a half mile before the start, hoping my lungs and legs would be ready for the crazy sprint.   I recognized a few fastrunning blog runners at the start.   The morning was beautiful and sunny.  The temperature was right around 30.  Air quality was a little poor, but I doubt it affected anything.

Off we went.   For the first mile, I kept Mary Ann Schauerhamer in my sights, but I knew she would leave me in the dust.   My first mile split was fine, a 6:06.   But then things started to unravel.   My lungs started to labor, and I knew I just couldn't keep up this pace today.   I realized it wouldn't be my day.   I was passed by several people and slowed to a 6:54 second mile.   That was discouraging, but I didn't quit.  I still pushed it as hard as I could and tried to get my breathing under control.   I hung on for dear life during the last mile.   I was thinking, "Why do I run this crazy distance?"   It felt like I was going to keel over and croak.  Pretty funny given that I would rather run 100 miles.   Mile 3 went better, 6:20, but the legs felt heavy.    I cruised into the finish at 20:23, which is 18 seconds off my PR.  

I felt disappointed, but gee wiz, just 23 seconds faster would have felt like a victory.  I lost those 23 during the second mle. This is just a silly distance.   Clearly I need to do more tempo runs if I want to do much better at this distance.  Also, I've been eating like a pig lately and am not down to an ideal racing weight.

To cheer me up, it turns out I was the Male Grand Masters Champion!  (50 and over).   That just means that I was one of the few old farts that didn't keel over and die before the finish line.   I came in 33rd overall out of about 210 runners, including some of the best in the state.  I received a nice little plaque.

I won't be running the 10K in a couple weeks.  I'll be running in the Moab Red Hot 50K+ which will be a total blast compared to this strange road stuff.   I'll probably run a 10K next Saturday.

 PM

4 easy miles out in the brilliant sunshine.   Lungs a little burned out from the morning.