Old Man Still running

My Salt Flats 100 race report is at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=745

Recovery is astonishing.  It seems like I only did a training run.  All soreness is just about gone.  No blisters, no sore feet.  My Bondi B Hokas performed amazingly.  I'm almost ready to give credit to the shoes for the low impact to my body during this run.

My next race is Ogden Marathon, so I need to find a 18-day marathon training program.

Still being lazy.  Yesterday I ate the biggest breakfast that I have eaten in years and didn't feel guilty since I weighed 168.  It is fun being a pig for a few days.

Almost ready to run again.  Calves a little sore but ready to be worked.  Not sure that I'm very excited about doing speed and tempo work to get ready for Ogden.  Oh well.  Phil Lowry entered Ogden so I imagine we will be running together at some point.

Jay, the guy who won Salt Flats 100 is planning on going for the Fastest Known Time for a quad-crossing of the Grand Canyon in a couple weeks.  Amazing.  He did tweak his leg from the race, so we shall see.  He is one tough, fast 49-year-old.

Back in the saddle.  The afternoon sure was nice, went a did a little running in the Lake Mountain foothills on a trail I've only been on once that traverses between two canyons.  I did repeats and the headed home.  Legs are typical after a five day lay-off, sluggish but the more I run the better they feel.

In Cedar City for my daughters graduation from SUU.  Got up before dawn and ran up Cedar Canyon road a couple miles and then turned off on a random dirt road.  I really enjoy just running at times without a plan.  It turned out to be a road up Rock Canyon.  It faded into an ATV road but kept climbing and climbing.  Evenually there were just some foot prints and hoof prints to guide my way.  It joined with a very distict ATV road and kept climbing aournd "Big Hill" toward Hells Canyon.  After two hours it was time to head back.  Instead of going back the way I came, I followed the ATV down another canyon toward Cedar City.  Sunrise came.  It was so peaceful and I saw about eight deer along the way.  As I listended to a solf roar of the city waking up below it brought back memories when I was a boy in the 60s sitting my my grandparents back porch of their house, the highest at that time in the foothills above Provo.  I used to love the early morning and listening to the soft noise of the city below waking up as the sun started to hit the valley below.

I descended down a limestone ridge with redrock canyons on either side.  Very cool.  I existed the canyon at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course and ran back to the motel in time for breakfast.  It was a wonderful random run on new trails climbing about 2,000 feet with wonderful views.

Marathon training for my one marathon of the year.  Yuk.  How boring can it be trying to make the legs go faster on pavement?  Hit the treadmill.  9 x 7:30 x 6%

I'm still a marathon rookie.  Here is my glorious marathon history

3:44:00 2006 Deseret News

3:34:06 2008 Utah Valley

3:24:49 2009 Ogden

3:33:11 2009 Utah Valley

4:04:53 2009 Park City

3:24:15 2010 Boston

3:23:43 2010 Ogden

Treadmill again.   9 x 7:30 x 9%.   Felt easier today.  The idea here is to feel comfortable at 7:30 pace with a good incline.  The theory is that then I would feel comfortable with a 7:00 pace downhill at Ogden.

Saturday planning on running an out and back of the Good Water Rim trail above the San Rafael River with views of the Little Grand Canyon.  If anyone wants to join in, let me know.  Probably go down very early Saturday morning and start running at dawn.  Back home in the late afternoon.

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/index.htm

Went for a wonderful evening run in perfect running weather.  Wow!   I ran in the foothills of Lake Mountain.

The highlight was over on the North side near the Church Farm.  As I was running on a trail I had never been on before (an old wagon road), a huge hawk flew overhead carrying a very large snake.  Wow, I wished that I had my camera. I stopped to watch it and very soon, it dropped it.  It fell about 100 feet or so.  The hawk went on and landed about 100 yards away.   I went on, but when I came back I wondered if I would see it again.  I did!   It was up above a small ridge nearby just hang gliding in the breeze.  It wouldn't flap its wings at all, just glide stationary in the breeze with its broad wings extended all the way.   I stopped to watch it for about ten minutes as it would move back over to the area where it dropped the snake.  Perhaps it was hunting, but then it would go back and hang-glide again over the ridge.  It was a very inspiring sight to see.   Some guys on horses came by and I showed them what I was watching. 

Went out to the Ranches in Eagle Mountain and ran on the bike trails (used by both motor and mountain).  There are a bunch of them there the weave through the junipers and roll up and down.  Great run.  In the track below they are in the upper left.  I probalby only did about half of them in that area.  

Next I climbed up to the top of the ridge again on a motor cycle trail.  I've run that ridge many times in the dark, but in the afternoon the views are breath-taking looking across the lake to the snow covered mountains. 

While I was on top, I spied seven hawks near me, all hang-gliding in a bowl area below.  The currents took them really high up in the air and they eventually descended and landed on a ridge where I started my run.   I continued on and ran down a bike trail.  Lots of jumps and bridges constructed for the dirt bikes, fun to run on and very technical running.   Finally I ran on the west border of the Church Farm and took a picture looking toward my home, the lake, and Mount Timp.  Great afternoon run.

Went to the northwest corner for the San Rafael Swell, to the Little Grand Canyon.  Arrived in the late afternoon.  Set up camp down at the river and then ran up Buckhorn Wash Canyon to the Indian petroglyphs.  Returned and then decided to try to find a trail going up the San Rafael River (I hadn't researched it.)   Found on that is used pretty much exclusively by horses.  But it was a spectacular trail going through the length of the Little Grand Canyon.  Went past Kane Wash where all the horse tracks turned.  For there the trail was even better.  I had to turn back because dusk was coming and I was out of water.  Ran the last mile by moonlight.   Cooked up a nice feast and turned in for the night at my camp.

Pictures and details coming.

Detailed report here

Up at 4:00 a.m. at my campsite at San Rafael Bridge campground.  Broke camp, cooked breakfast and drove to the east end of the Goodwater Trail.   Started my run at dawn.  The Goodwater Trail is a single-track mountain bike trail that is amazing!  It is almost totally flat and follows the rim around the Goodwater drainage.  It winds like crazy and was a blast the scenery is spectacular.  I had dropped off stuff at a couple locations.  What is crazy is that you can look ahead where you will be, two miles away, but it actually takes you seven miles to get there because of all the crazy turns. 

As I was running, I decided that this would be a super place for a 50K.  What would really be fun about racing this section is that you can look across a deep canyon, about 100 yards across and see a runner a mile ahead or behind you.  You can continually see lots of runners because of its serpentine nature.

The remainder of my run I spend lots of time figuring what a good course could be.  The biggest challenge is finding a good start/finish area for all the parking that the BLM would accept.  I think I have a good solution.   After running the 15-mile Goodwater singletrack, I ran the dirt roads along the spectacular rim of the Little Grand Canyon.  Wow,  that would really be cool for a 50K --Little Grand Canyon Rim 50K.

After running as far as I could along the rim, I returned, went through the Goodwater single-track again for about 8 miles more and then bailed out onto the direct dirt road short cut to my car.  I took my sweet time on the run because I took a bunch of pictures and did lots of sight seeing.  I finished about 2 p.m. and then went and picked up the stuff I dropped.   It was an amazing adventure run. 

Photos and details later.

Treadmill....get out the kinks run.  Took three miles to get them out and then felt OK.  Winter is back.  Oh joy.  Watched the guy who comes in and does only six minutes of very easy weights over a 40 minute period, 30 seconds at a time with minutes of slow walking around in-between.  Never sweats but has to take drinks.  I don't get it.

I'm doing the Bill Rodgers two-day training program for a marathon.  I have only two days to get ready for Ogden.   The first day calls for speed work.  I need to wake my feet up and get them moving.  I did a whole bunch of speed repeats on the treadmill, up to 5:45 pace, being careful to stop before my quads got sore.  Tomorrow the plan calls for just an easy taper run.   Then I should be ready in my quest for a 3:15 finish.  See, this marathon training stuff isn't that hard.  You don't need a six-month training program.  This two-day training program is a winner. I've also been doing plenty of calf work with toe lifts.  Hopefully the calfs won't cramp up.   Looks like it will be cool weather....sweet!

Ogden Marathon would be my only road marathon for the year.  I'm not focusing on marathons this year like I did last year when I went to Boston.  The results kind of showed it.  If you get older, marathon speed drops off fast if you don't work hard at it.  I don't, and I'm not really interested in working at it, but it is always interesting to see what ulltra training can do in a marathon.

I met up with fellow ultrarunner, Phil Lowry and we rode the bus up together.  We had zero interest in standing in that huge smoke cloud at the start, so we did a slow run up the canyon, doing three miles to stay warm.  It was great fun to talk to Phil and watch the swollen creek roaring down the canyon.  It was so peaceful.  A deer even came out on the road ahead of us.

With that easy warm-up, we returned to the start and met up with many ultrarunners.  It was funny to see that almost all of us were wearing Hokas.  We all believe in them.  Most of us had the new Bondi B model that is also great for roads.  I kind of hated to see the race start because I was having so much fun talking to many friends.

Finally we were away.  Since this is my only marathon for the year, my strategy was to try to do well and let my heart rate and breathing decide how fast I would go. I wanted to take advantage of the downhills.  I knew my legs could handle them well, and they did.  I hoped to run each of the first 8 miles, each in sub-7 pace.  

I suceeded.  Downhill miles 1-8: 6:18, 6:50, 6:45, 6:44, 6:57, 6:57, 6:57, 6:59.  Those last few miles were close.  Each time I would speed up with 0.2 left to bring it under 7 and then try to carry that speed into the next mile.

Once I hit the small hills, it was a tougher. (miles 9-14)  7:29, 7:32, 7:51, 7:58, 7:59, 7:58.  Now I was trying to keep all the miles under 8-minute pace.  I hit the half marathon mark at about 1:34:30, about a minute slower than last year, but I wasn't worried because I knew I felt apart last year by mile 18 due to dehydration.  I hoped that wouldn't happen this year.

This year the conditions were perfect.  Cloud cover, cool temps, and a cool breeze in the face.  I also drank much better.

However, still, I felt apart.  I just haven't trained enough to hold that pace much further than a half marathon.  My legs were fine, but the heart rate and breathing were holding me back.  I think my blood pressure also went low because I was dizzy.  That has happened at times when running fast on treadmills.  I then check my blood pressure and it is pretty low.  My brother is also affected by it, so it probably is a genetic thing.  Oh well.

So, my speed dived.   I did manage to keep all the miles up to mile 23 in under 9-minute pace.  But none were under 8.  By mile 20, my ultrarunning buddies, Phil, Tom, and Chad had all passed me.  I tried to keep up but just couldn't find the foot speed.

So, I held on for dear life for the last six miles, pushed as hard as I could. I didn't leave anything out on the course. My slowest mile was mile 25, a 9:15.  I knew that nine-minute miles would just not cut it to come close to my PR from last year.  But I did want to at least run a Boston Qualifing time, and I did by about six minutes.   (I wouldn't go to Boston with this slow time.  If I was serious, I would train for a marathon and then go run one at sea-level.  But I'm more interested in running on the trails.)

So, I crossed the line in about 3:29:30, about 5:30 slower than last year.  I'm not sure about the time because they didn't have the times posted before I left. But this was the time from my Garmin.  Garmin showed the course to be long 26.4

I was a little disappointed but really, what should I expect?  Last year I was doing lots of tempo runs and ran Boston and several half marathons and shorter road races leading up to Ogden.  This year instead I ran a 100-mile race three weeks ago and a 54-mile run last weekend.  Not exactly your ideal marathon training. 

But this did get my attention.  I'm not a spring chicken at 52.  If I want to keep my performance up this year, I need to work even harder.  So this is great motivation to me to work even harder.

It was a fun day!  The best part is being with friends.

Not much soreness left over from the marathon, little right hamstring and left quad.   Calves came out great. 

Still disappointed in my race but can't shoot down the effort. It just made me feel old. As I look at my past road races, even Across the Years 48-hour run, I see an interesting pattern.  No matter how fast or slow I start, after two hours of running I slow to over eight minute miles, closer to nine-minute miles.  It has just got to be not enough long fast tempo runs.  Oh well, I'd rather train to maintain 10-12-minute miles for a very long distance.

The results were posted.  I was the top runner from Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  Should be happy about that, and in the top 15 from Utah County and none of those 15 are even close to my age.

Time to get back to work.  Focus now is on Bighorn 100 which is a little over three weeks away.  It may be the snow course used in '08 which still had just as much climbing but was faster because it has more dirt road.  I liked that course.

So, before that, I have Squaw Peak 50, which will be a revised course, easier and hotter. and the next week after that I entered Utah Valley Half.  Last year I won my age group there which was nice.  It won't happen this year.  Dan Kerns who placed 3rd at Ogden Marathon is in it.  He had a 1:27 half split.  I can't even begin to touch that.  Keith Barton is also in it. Keith will be running SP50, his first 50, so we'll see if he can recover in a week.  I've never beat either of these guys, so it should be competitive this year.

Hit the treadmill.  Hills.  6 x 9:00 x 15-18%.  Then ran 5 outdoors.  Plan to run some at lunchtime.

Hills on the treadmill.  Five miles with incline up to 25%.  Machine thinks I climbed 4,000 feet.  Then did a four-mile tempo road run on JRP as the sun rose.  Legs feel almost totally recovered from the marathon.

p.m. ran up and down Rose Canyon Road in Herriman

Ran up and down Rose Canyon during lunch again.   Pushed harder, got the six miles done six minutes faster today.

Went on an easy-paced run/hike up Yellow Fork up on top of the ridges, below the snow line above Herriman.  It was a beautiful afternoon.  I spooked a couple deer.   I followed a faint trail out onto a ridge and when it went away, followed game trails down.  It was great to be up there.  The higher you get, the single-track trails have water flowing down them, but it looks like things are starting to dry out.

Went at ran the 10K in Orem put on by Run 13. I PRed in it last year, so I wanted to try again.  It is a very fair course, not downhill, some uphills.  I was shooting to break 42 but didn't quite make it, but I was still pleased because during the last mile it felt like I had plenty of energy and speed in the tank.  Gene Moreland won the age group as usual.  I've never beat him, but I'm getting closer.  Also Lorzeno, who turns 50 next month always beats me but this time I came within 100 yards.  I'm getting very close.  

My splits were: 6:31, 7:15 (hill), 6:48, 6:54, 6:55, 7:09 (hill), 6:56 (last .2)   Pretty consistent. I finished 33 seconds off my PR.  16th out of about 180 runners.

The problem with Run 13 races, is they take over 1 hour to hand out the awards, so slow.  When I saw in the results that I placed, I groaned because I would have to stay around to get my medal.

I next went to run on the altered Squaw Peak 50 course on the BoSho Trail from Rock Creek to Spring Canyon and back.  Believe it or not, I've never run that section of the trail.  Well, except for a small section that I used to hike and play on as a boy, above my grandparents house in the mid-60s.  No BoSho trail then, just some motorcycle trails, and a trail that led up to the Y.  Back then there was a big stone cross near there that was called Easter Cross. Its long gone now.  No nice Y trailhead then and the houses were much further down the foothills.  Lots of memories as I ran by there.  I remember looking down watching them build Deseret Towers. So it was about 45 years since I've been up there.

As I ran between Provo and Springville, I remembered that in 1980 after my mission, at BYU I started running for a few months.  If you ran 150 miles during the first half of 1980, you got a T-shirt in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church.  My longest run was a run down 9th East and along State Street to Springville and back, about 10 miles.  I was so proud of that long run and I thought it was very, very far, that few people could do it.  Well, it took me 23 years to beat that distance.  So lots of memories on this run as I looked down at BYU. 

I saw RD John Bozung out on the trail checking things out.  I'm glad I ran it.  I took two wrong turns.   I'll give my feedback to John.  They are taking a faint upper single track section between Provo and Springville.  I blew by the turn on the way out.   On the way back I took a wrong trail near the Y trailhead.

Did a spectacular run in another lesser-known Utah gem.   I went to Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument - Little Death Hollow, Wolverine Creek, and Horse Canyon, a big loop with a side trip up out of the canyon and a side trip down to the Escalante River.  It was perfect weather, I got away from the rain and cold.  It was a spectacular run.   I ran through miles of slots canyons that are littered with petrified wood.

Details and pictures available: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=794