Old Man Still running

At 4:00 a.m. I went out in 15 degrees in ran up Lake Mountain, climbing about 2,500 feet.  It is time to start reducing the flat miles and increasing the climbing feet.   My total miles per week will probably go way down from here, but it is time to start getting back in shape for mountain runs.   For the past couple months it was fun to pretend I was a road runner, now it is time to start acting like a mountain goat again.

The going was slow climbing up Israel Canyon Road.   At times it was like going up stairs int he snow.   Nearing the top the snow became softer and my feet started to break the surface.  The road is packed down from ATVs, but toward the top, fewer have gone all the way and the snow is softer.  So I eventually turned around and had to be cautious coming down near the top because my feet would sink in and try to twist my knees or ankles.  

There is a little bit of an inversion going on, because it felt a little warmer in the canyon.  Returning to the car in the foothills, I could feel the temperature dive down.   It was a nice two-hour run.   I'm sadly out of shape for climbing and I could feel it in my quads.   It will take a few weeks.

I couldn't push myself two days in a row out into the cold early morning.  At 4:00 a.m., I was on the treadmill for a very tough hill workout.   I ran for 90 minutes averaging 10:00 pace with an incline between 10-15 degrees, never below 10, holding on lightly to the front of the machine.  I think it did the trick.  I now have sore quads.   The machine thought I climbed 5,700 feet and burned over 2,000 calories.   It felt closer to about 3,000 feet.

A repeat of the treadmill workout from yesterday, a couple minutes faster and quads feel better today.   9 miles, 10:00 pace, 10-15% incline, 5,800 feet up (if you believe the machine), plenty of sweat and groaning along the way.

PM

Three miles at the Legacy Center indoor track.  I lost interest after three miles and quit.  Boring!

This morning I almost wimped out again and headed to the treadmill, but when I got up at 3:45 a.m., I had already had all my warm outside clothes ready to go, so I didn't have any excuse.  The temperature was 22 degrees, so not bitter cold.   OK, I sucked it up, and headed outside.  

From my house on the shore of Utah Lake, I ran up the foothills of Lake Mountain, into Lott Canyon until it ends on a high ridge overlooking Eagle Mountain and the Ranches.   This is a good touch climb, up about 1,500 feet.   My climbing gear felt pretty good.  The snow was packed down by some ATVs, until the last 1/4 mile which required me to do a little post-holing in the snow, but I didn't sink in too deep.

I had a great time!  My flashlight reflected off of the crystalized snow going up which presented me with an amazing light show.   Coming down, I always enjoy seeing the lights of the cities across Utah Lake.  

It was a good workout.   Treadmills just can't duplicate it.  I could tell my ankles needed the uneven surface to get in better shape for the mountains.  Also, the downhill run worked my quads well.   I've got a ways to go to get back into good mountain trail shape, but I'm well on my way.  It is amazing how you don't really lose it, that it comes back fast.

With the warm tempertures, the trails are slushy and muddy.   I did hill repeats running up and down Grandview Blvd up toward the explosives plant.

I decided at the last minute to head up to Ogden and test my elderly speed against the competition in Northern Utah.   The Striders Winter Racing Circuit 5K is held at Dee Events Center at Weber St. University and winds through hilly neighborhoods.  Hills is what this race is about.  

I arrived in time to drive the course which helped to set my expectations mentally because I didn't want the hills to suprise me and wanted to know when I should back off or open it up.   I then went back to the start and ran in the neighborhoods for a mile warm up and did some sprints and stairs.   I think my warm-up helped.

Looking at the results from last year, I thought a top-3 finish in my age group was very possible and a top-30 finish overall possible.

I toed the start line with 458 runners, a big event for the winter.   Off we went and I started off sprinting like crazy with the top-10 pack.   After a quarter mile, I found a more sane pace as my breathing became labored.   I didn't want to burn my lungs out like last week, so I concentrated on good breathing.   Next, we hit the long hill.   At first I was able to pump the legs fast and re-passed several runners, but then just fell back to a nice even pace and was again passed by several others.  My quads started to burn, a result of my hill workouts this past week.  At the top, as the downhill came, I kicked it into high gear for several hundred yards and cruised by about five runners pretty fast.  

Back on the flats and rolling hills, I again slowed.   I missed my split at mile 1, but at mile 2 I was at 14:19.   I hoped to be close to 14:00, so I was happy with my progress.   I noticed a guy about my age pass me.  It was Steve Haslam.   I was motivated to stay close to him. I passed him on the downhills but he passed me back on the flats.  On the last hill, he pushed ahead by about 50 yards.   I hoped to find a kick on the final downhill to catch him.   My third mile split was 6:30.   Not bad.   I tried hard to find a kick to catch Steve, but it didn't happen.   He finished 11 seconds ahead of me.

I finished up in 21:32, 34th overall among 458 runners.   I placed 3rd among the runners age 50+ (64 runners).   Not bad, I was pleased.   It was a tough course and it felt like I had a stronger race then last week when I finished in 20:23.

After I returned home, I went out and ran 4 fast miles with the dog.   I was very impressed that this little dog, less than a year old ran a 6:30, and 7:00 mile with me.  

Rainy and Snowy out in the morning.   I went and ran 9 miles on the treadmill, 8:30 pace at 12% incline.

I ran in the Moab Red Hot 50K+. This trail race is actually a little more than 34 miles. The course runs on various surfaces with plenty of sandy roads and hard slickrock. The scenery is spectacular, making it tough to always watch your feet.

I traveled to the race with a childhood buddy, Jim Kern, who would be running in the 33K version of the race. We were concerned about the weather because it snowing (flurries) and pretty windy before the start. But the day turned out to be fantastic for running.

I tried something really different during the race. I attempted to produce a youtube video as I raced. I ended up taking about 70 photos and recorded 23 audio segments. It probably delayed my finishing time by about 15 minutes total, but it was fun and I’m pleased with the results.

Watch the video. video can be found on facebook.

I finished in 6:19, which ended up being about seven minutes faster than last year. Oh well. Only three people older than me, beat me. Watch the video, I hope you enjoy seeing the entire race in 10 minutes.

Recovered from the Moab Red Hot 50K+ last Saturday.  See the movie I made of it.

Eight tough treadmill miles.  Much of it 5-10% incline without holding onto the front of the machine.  The quads and hips really felt it.   I need to really start getting serious about hill training.  I'm only half-way there.   My performance at the race Saturday was OK, but just wasn't where I want to be.   My next ultra will be Old Pueblo 50-mile in 17 days.  There are some serious mountain climbs in that race.   I need to push hard now.

I traveled up to Ogden (one hour away) to again run in the Striders Winter Series 10k.  I ran in it last year and knew that is has a tough hilly course.  To make it a little more challenging this year I think they took hoses to some portions of the road and laid down some slick ice....at least it seemed like it.  Fun stuff.

The first mile has a quarter-mile hill to get your heart pumping.  I went out with the top 20 runners to drag me up that hill and then I did my best to get my feet rotating on the long downhill.  My first mile splt was 6:34, not bad considering the hill.   For the second downhill mile I ran 6:27.  So far, so good.  But on next flat mile, my legs started to feel heavy and I was passed by a large group.  I just wasn't warmed up yet.  I clocked the second mile in 7:11.

Now the fun came, almost all uphill to the end.   Chad Carson was running very close to me.  He's an experienced and talented ultrarunner.  I ran several miles with Chad during the 2007 Squaw Peak 50.  He's a great guy.   He had already put in 16 miles earlier in the morning so was struggling on the uphills.  I had no excuse like that, but I thought my uphill strength felt pretty good.   I was finally warmed up and not red-lining on my heart rate and breathing.  My mile 4 split was about 7:50.   The toughest hill started at mile 5.  I kept a solid run going and caught a few runners.  Chad caught me at the crest of the hill.  I was determined to keep up and pass him.   I found my foot speed and cruised down the hill passing Chad and several more runners.  My mile 6 split was a slow 8:30.   It felt like I was doing much better than last year, but the clock didn't agree.   I finished in 46:21, ten seconds slower than last year.

I grabbed a donut and then decided to run the course backwards.  I knew my ultrarunning buddies Cory Johnson and Tom Remkes were sweeping the course (running behind the last runner.)    I recovered fast and enjoyed running up and down that crazy hill again.   I linked up with Cory and Tom at the last aid station.   We had a good time talking about our upcoming races and Tom made fun of the way I blasted fearlessly down the slickrock last Saturday at Moab Red Hot 50K+.  Both of them are in the movie I made at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8htsdXqtpSg 

Instead of walking it in behind the last runners, we did various loops in the neighborhoods.   I ended up doing about 5 extra miles. Turns out I ran up most of that crazy hill three times today!   It was great fun and I enjoyed being out running with the guys.   We reached the start/finish area just as the last runner was finishing.  As we almost got to the finish we spent about ten minutes helping a woman runner find her lost diamond earring that fell off in the home stretch.  We were successful in finding it.

It was a fun morning.  Thanks to John at Striders for his hard work on this race.

12 Tough 5-10% Treadmill miles.   Warmer this morning but trails muddy.   I need to check them out this evening and find some dry routes for mornings when it is above freezing.   I'm hoping for a high mileage week and then next week taper for the Old Pueblo 50 in Tucson.   But my focus is hill training more than miles.

With the trails muddy, I decided this morning to at least run a little outside.  I did a fast tempo run to and from the rec center, about a mile in each direction, and at the center did a tough hilly treadmill workout.

Tempo run to and from the rec center and then hilly treadmill pain doing 5-10% with 15% spurts.  Dripping in sweat, I ran fast home in 32 degrees, arrived before I was frozen.

Same routine this morning.  Ran too and from the rec center.  It was nippy 25 degrees in shorts, but it motivates me to run faster.  I also love the peace and quiet running through the neighborhoods as 3:50 a.m. in the morning.  No traffic, no people, no body stirring in the homes.   Did hilly treadmills with spurts of 30% inclines.  Brutal.

I traveled up to Great Salt Lake to run in the Salt Lake Track Club Winter 15K.  This very flat race starts at historic Saltair and runs east along the frontage road that parallels I-80.  It then turns around and returns to the start.

I was using this race as a nice long tempo training run as I enter my taper week for next Saturday’s Old Pueblo 50-mile race in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson Arizona.  My goals for today were to beat my last year’s 15K PR of 1:08:27 and win my old-fart age group of 50 years and older.

I arrived in time to do a warm-up run.  I never warm up for ultras, but I have discovered that warm-up runs are critical to do well in these short runs.   Rand Nielson called out a hello and we ran two miles together talking about our upcoming ultra race schedule.

Everyone gathered for the start and the start siren was sounded.   For the first half-mile, I tucked in behind Mary Ann Schauerhammer, the eventual winner among the women.   But after a half-mile, I had to back off into a more sustainable pace.   My first mile split was what I wanted, 6:29.  During mile two, a group of 4-5 fast young women passed me.  A tall runner also passed me and I observed that he tucked in behind a big runner and used him to draft.  I decided to try the same trick and joined in the train for awhile.  I finished mile 2 in 6:46.  Doing good.  

In my mind, I knew that last year my mile average ended up being 7:22, so I was determined to try to keep all my mile splits under that pace.   I finally had to jump off the drafting train and started to slow a little bit more.   I was being very careful not to burn out my lungs today, and so far I was being successful.

My mile 3 split was 7:06.  At the 5K aid station I grabbed a quick drink and was on my way again.  I finished mile 4 in 7:13, which was my slowest mile of the race.  The first-place runners came toward me and I was pleased to see that they were less than a mile ahead of me at that point.  

Then, something great happened.  I finally warmed up.   My breathing and heart-rate were under control.  I also noticed with all of the hill training lately that my quads were very happy to be pushed harder.  I kicked it up a notch and felt pretty good.   I reached the turn-around in 32:22.

It was fun now to see all the runners behind heading toward me.   I heard several “hi Davy” greetings being yelled toward me.  It looked like the next person in my age group was about two minutes behind me. I finished mile 5 in 7:09.   I then passed a couple runners.  Mile 6 was done in 7:01.  I was surprised, and now knew I could shatter my PR if I just hung-on.   I kept my focus and was determined to not get lazy at this point.   I was surprised to see that my 10K split about a minute faster than my PR!!  Wow, things were really holding together for me today.   I knew that there was only 5K left.

I concentrated harder to keep the same sustainable pace.  Mile 7 went by in 7:00.  Very nice.  Saltair came into view poking up on the shore-line of massive Great Salt Lake.  The waterline is far away from the building, as the lake level is more than 5 feet below its historic average level.

I was bound and determined not to fade at this point.  Mile 8 went by in 7:08.   I was in the home stretch.  Mile 9 was reached in 7:10.  I looked behind me and no one was catching me, but I still kicked it into gear telling myself to finish strong.   I crossed the finish, feeling great, at 1:05:15.    I had beaten my last year’s PR by more than three minutes!   Sweet.

I didn’t stop, I turned around and ran the course backwards until I found my buddy, Jim Kern about 1.5 miles from the finish.   We had a good time running together and I encouraged Jim on.  He finished in a little over 1:35.   I received a first place ribbon for the 50-54 age-group.