Old Man Still running

Final miles for across the years....recording them for 2014 miles.

Recovering well.  Still sleeping a lot, but the muscle soreness is just about gone.  However, the right leg....it feels injured but not broken.  It appears I've injured the patch that formed over my break two years ago...pretty much what I thought.  I went out for a short walk/jog and it all feels somewhat loose and some pain.   So, the big question is, will I see daily improvement or only weekly improvement.  No pain at all in the left leg.   If my right leg felt that way, I would already be running again.  Looks like there won't be much running for the next few weeks.   The pool is going to get some waves in it.

Feel totally recovered.  No longer the 9-hour sleep nights with vivid dreams or waking up with crazy pains.   I would like to get back running but the leg is in about the same state it was before ATY so I don't think I did any new damage.  But still mild pain.  It does seem to be improved because most of the time walking I'm pain free.  I may head in to my leg doctor to see what he things.  A funny large calcius bump seems to be the main source of pain now.  I've had it for years and asked about it but told not to worry about it but I seem to remember the doctor saying that they can at times cause problems.   During ATY it swelled up some and seemed to pull at the layer on the bone causing good pain.

It was time to test things out on the treadmill.   Not good.  Pain now goes to limping pain.  We're heading in the wrong direction. Everything else is just fine, recovered from ATY. So, Doctor appointment is set for the 23rd with my ortho doctor.   If there is a stress fracture it should show up on on an x-ray by then.   Rocky Raccoon is now very unlikely.  Looks like I probably ran 163 miles at ATY on a fracture explaning why I had so many issues.  Its nice to have high pain tolererance but it tends to get me into trouble.I'm still not ruling out a crazy shin splint since the shin muscle is visibly pronounced (but not sore).  But learning from 2012, once you have a fracture it causes lots of things to swell up, up and down the leg.

Progress.  Walking pretty much pain-free.  Throwing in some jogs is just a little painful.  I haven't really run for over two weeks now.  Still thinking about Rocky, but I'm more inclined to skip it this year and instead 100% heal up so I can train again.   Gaining weight.  Lost 7 pounds during Across the Years, but I think I've gained that back.  I'll probably start doing some power hikes.

Mostly cross-training with no pain.  Tried a couple miles of power hike-slow jog on 20-25% incline.  Went pretty well with a little pain toward the end.   Progress.   Afterwards, pain-free.   Not ready to try real running again and probably won't for awhile.

Good day.  Tough morning workout eliptical and 3 miles jogging at 20% incline.  Nearly pain-free, just a little, level 1 pain when jogging.  Afternoon went up Lake mountain with trekking poles.  Tons of deer up there.  Took the ridge trail to the top following tracks in the snow of deer.  Good to get up out of the gunk.  No pain going up, Just a little going down.

Chance of running Rocky increased to 30%.  We'll see.

Another good workout with careful uphill jogging, very little pain.   I think I'm now 50/50 probability to going to Rocky.  We'll see what the xrays and doctor says tomorrow.  

Went to the ortho.  Took x-rays.  Doctor looks at it, "yep, there is a stress fracture."  I made him show and explain.  But what he pointed to was a calcius lump that I've had on the bone for years. I argued that its been there for years. He found an xray from two years ago and we compared and could see a simlar lump.  He measured, but still thinks there is a stress fracture there.  Well, since I still have some weight-bearing pain, I'll believe him.  So no racing untill pain is gone.   I'll keep working out if no pain.  If this is a fracture, it is very small and hopefully will heal fast.  Its been about ten weeks since I started feeling the pain, so hopefully I'll be healed soon.   No Rocky Raccoon 100 next week.  My first true DNS where I lose entry fee.

Lesson learned.  Don't run pavement, espcially without cushion shoes like Hokas.

Good workout, figured out a good hard pain-free workout that will maintain fitness nicely until I can really run again.

uphill treadmill hiking and jogging up to 35% and eliptical.  4 hours in the crazy room.

Small improvements.

Went skiing for the first time in several years.  Skiing used to be my passion but I've been leary of it ever since tearing my meniscus while skiing in 2003.  But since I can't really run, I accepted an invite from my backpacking buddies, Carl, Brad and David.  These guys are featured in part 2 of the running memoirs I'm writing. http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=1331  I blame them for my switch to running. 

It was wonderful skiing Park City. My leg never complained.  Within about four runs, my confidence grew and by the end of the day I was attacking the moguls and powder like the old days.  Wow, it was incredible.  And of course so fun with my good friends.

But the major difference is fitness.  In past years when skiing I wouldn't be in good shape and would suffer, would have to stop and rest, and would be sore and wasted at the end of the day.   Not so now.  Being it nearly top shape, I never had to stop, was never sore, and enjoyed the entire day.   That is pretty staggering to think that at 55, I'm in better shape then I was in my early 20s.

Joined in with many Wasatch Wranglers to run up and down Lake Mountain.  I woke up at 6:45 and arrived at the start just as a large group left.  Oh well, I would end up catching up with most of them.  I first ran up this mountain in September, 2002.  For years, my prints were the only to be found on the mountain besides the hunters from their ATVs.  Today, I'm sure, was the largest group that have ever run up the mountain in one day.  Nearly 20 made it to the top and several did a double.   It was very cold on top.  The snow was about as deep as I've seen, and we had a great time bounding down the mountain.   I felt almost no pain going up, but coming down some and it was a little sore later in the day.  The soft snow really helped because I ran down pretty fast, just a couple minutes behind the fastest group.

Mostly cross-training miles.

The Lake Mountain run at full speed last Saturday set me back some.  I had soreness most of the week.

But the good news is that today I did a tough workout for 3 hours and was pain-free.  I even ran the treadmill nearly flat for a couple miles (Pain always worse on the flats).  My approach is to be very careful and if any pain starts appearing, I back off.

It feels like I've turned the corner and am healing.  Good workout with a couple miles treadmill running without pain.

Sick of eliptical.... Also ran two treadmill miles, up to 9:00 pace, a little tightness in the problem area but no pain. I'm 15 pounds above desired race weight...grrrr.  Time to start losing.  Would be a lot easier if I could run for a long time.

Continued improvement.  Good hard workout, stopped when felt a little plain.  Longest run since ATY.

I was lazy for the rest of the week, but this morning it was great to be out running again.  With a stress fracture, I've learned that the best way outdoors to ease back into running is to run golf course fairways.  So, I ran 18 holes of Talons Cove, starting at 4:45 a.m.  I'm leery about using my flashlight with all the homes along the fairways, wondering if someone will call the cops. But this morning I didn't need it, the half moon was out and I just ran by moonlight.  

After I finished my round, I went and ran up Israel canyon road, but before the canyon turned left and ran on the frozen power line road for about 2.5 miles and then descended to the Lake Mountain development, and ran the neighborhood streets back to my car.   I only felt a little soreness toward the end.  Good progress.

p.m. treadmill.  Stopped when the pain started.

Seems like I'm ready to go at it again.  I tested out running on pavement today with Altra Olympus and didn't have any pain for five miles.  The new shoes seem to be a winner, good cushion without the problems that Hokas had.   I'm anxious to try them on the trails.  I think I just about ready.  Being careful.  

Afternoon run on true trails.  The Olympus shoes worked great, looks like a winner.  All my complaints about Hokas are gone in this shoe.  I'm hopeful.

Treadmill

Tough treadmill.  Got to love watching people in the rec room.  This week a new guy, the "twitter weight lifter."  They guy is totally adicted.  After each set for a minute or two, his hand to go in in pocket, pull out his phone and I'm sure he was checking twitter.  Happened over, and over, and over again.  What is with this generation!  I work all day with computers, and happily don't want to be that connected so my smart phone isn't smartly used.   Another group is the ADHD workout ladies.  These ladies go from one thing to another and only spend a couple minutes on each machine, never getting their heart rate up.  The weight lifting is with such low weights it hardly does anything I'm sure.  But it is just funny to watch them circle the room doing things and chatting the entire time.

Tough treadmill.  

Ran with some Wasatch Wrangers up and over and around Lake Mountain for 50K.  Great fun, nice to meet new people.  It was nice to see so many people running my trails.  Nicely, the leg behaved well.  I think I'm ready to just ignore it and start working hard.  My speed and strength today was frustrating because I'm out of shape and 12 pounds over my race weight.  But I guess I should be happy.  What other old, fat, out of shape can got run 32 miles with a bunch of youngsters?

Spring canyon in Captital Reef NP.  See blog

Cathedral Valley in Capital Reef NP.  See blog

32 Treadmill during the week.

33 Treadmill in two sessions.  Finally after four months I'm again training with confidence, not worrying about the leg.  That was a long recovery.   Next Thursday, Pickled Feet 48-hour in Idaho.  I'm not in race shape, but we'll see what I can don.

Treadmill

I traveled to Idaho to run a newer race, Pickled Feet.  It is a fixed-time race but they also have a 100-mile division.  The fixed time divisions are 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours.   I ran the 48 hours.  My goal was to reach 150 miles.  I knew that would be tough because I really haven't trained very hard for the past three months due to the stress facture.  I'm also 10 pounds over my race weight.  But I gave it a good try.   There were only 15 starters in the 48 hour but there was good competition.  I hoped for a podium finish.

Things went well. The course was a 2.5 mostly dirt road smooth surface, pretty flat.  Not as fast as Across the Years, much slower because of the surface and small hills, but it still was pretty fast.   The weather was cool with some rain, at times pouring.  Things got muddy for a couple of the hours.

I settled into 2nd place right from mile 2 and never retook 1st place.  Jayk Reynolds was solid and held on to it.  He was always worried about me and kept checking the standings, but I knew I couldn't catch him if he didn't crash.  I just wasn't in good enough condition to put up huge miles.

But I did compete very well with two other runners, David and Sam.   I reached 50 miles in 10:31, so that was pretty slow, but I was steady.  Jayk reached that point in 9:15 which is closer to what I should have done.  I reached 100 miles in 24:37, not fast, but not bad.   At mile 105 I was so thrashed and in pain that I had to stop and rest in my car.  I had it all set up for sleep and it was nice an comfy.  But sleep never came.  As I interacted with Facebook friends, I learned that while resting I lost my 2nd place lead and would soon be in 4th place, so I pushed myself back out after about 1:45 rest. 

I eventually regained 2nd place and with nine hours to go had a 10-15 mile lead over David and Sam.  But David had the ability to kick it into marathon speed and he did.   I had 15 miles on him at the 150 mile mark but my bad leg was in pain and I was limping slowly along.  I did the math and realized he would catch me.  So, I groaned and also kicked it in gear and started to fly.  For ten miles, I ran just as fast as I did near the beginning of the race.  But at mile 160, I noticed my leg swelling, and I knew I had to quit with two hours to go.  I told David that I was stopping at 160 and knew he would catch me and he eventually did.   I did beat Sam by 10 miles so I got my podium finish.  I was pleased but it still eats me that David beat me by 2 miles.  If I would have kept racing, we both would have ended up near 170 miles and I would have held him off.  But I was really beat up and stopping was good.  For the last hour, they open up a tiny loop for you instead of the long 2.5 mile loop.  I walked another mile to finish with 161.14.

During the race I spent a total of about 4 hours resting in my car, but I never did fall asleep.  The rest did work great because after each rest, I could again run pretty fast.  I went a total of 62 hours without any sleep.  Ouch!

It was a great event.  I'll be back.

Treadmill.  Tried new Altra Repetitions.  So far, so good.

Treadmill and 8 miles on the JRP.  The bad knee cartiledge still sore toward the end.  But nice to be running pretty free just seven days after 161 mile-run.

Power walk with the dog

Lunchtime up City Creek

After work on the shore of Utah Lake.

Tough incline treadmill

Lunch up City Creek

p.m. trails around the development.

Run in the foothills above Midway

Beautiful long run all the way around the mountain range above Midway.  Ran on the dirt trail along Deer Creek Res, near the railroad tracks, then cut up and followed Deer Creek all the way to Cascade Springs.  Then took the road to Pot Bottom (Wasatch Course), cut up to the ridge road to Wasatch Mountain Park, and down the road into Midway.  This involved about ten miles of running on packed snow.  Great fun.  Only saw two guys on an ATV up there, but the didn't go as I as I did.

Nice afternoon run from Elberta to Eureka and back.  I did this run several years ago.  It is a nice steady 2,000-foot climb to Eureka and enters canyons, running by old mines and you can select your route on various old railroad beds that are now just used by motorcycles.  Nice because they keep the weeds back and provide a nice track to run on.  So many different routes can be used through those canyons.  At Eureka I used the gas station as an aid station and then ran fast, 90 minutes 10-miles back ot my car.  Great training.

Nice to have done a 100-mile training week.  It has been a long time.  I'm getting more convidence in my leg that it has indeed healed. 

Got up at midnight and by 12:30 a.m. was running on a trail around a hill about a half mile above my home.  The trail around the hill is almost exactly 1 mile.  I first ran by moonlight but as the shadow covered the moon fully used my light.  On the section where the trailed headed in the direction of the moon, it was smooth enough that I could just look up into the sky and observe the changes with each lap. 

I knew plenty of people would come out of their houses to get a look so I was a little concerned about them seeing my light on the hill and calling the cops about an eclipse alien, so I tried to keep it pointed down.   I was never bothered.

It was a cool experience!  I ran 13 miles.

As the moon started to appear again, I called it a night and went back home.  I still got about six hours of sleep last night.

Treadmill.   Feeling the different of increased training.  Starting to get into shape again.

Run on the shoreline of Utah Lake.  Pretty funny that I found a new area to run less than three miles from my home in a big undeveloped area on Utah Lake that has some old wagon roads.  It will likely be overgrown later on, but right now a good area to run.

Treadmill and JRP

p.m.  Speed work.  Went and claimed four Strava course records near my home, fairly easy.  One, I had to push faster than 6:30 pace.  That one was owned by elite marathon runners who passed through the town a couple years ago.  I should be able to claim dozens nearby.  Local runners will get mad at the old man claiming all their records.

Early morning run.  Ran all the way around West Mountain, the mountain on the south end of Utah Lake.  It is mostly flat.  Ran the first half in moonlight.  All rural, very nice. 4 hours.

p.m. Hills and tempo runs, claiming ten Strava course records during a 10-mile run.  Got every one I attempted.  Not terribly fair because in this section of town, I'm probably the only one that can push the pace on hills.   But still, that's about 12,000 people.

Back to back 100-mile weeks.  Thats nice.  Ready for Salt Flats next week.

Early morning run out between Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain by the ridge. Snagged three more Strava CRs, these a little tougher because some newer ultra runners run out there.  But generally it was easy.  Starting to taper for Salt Flats, but want to keep the legs loose.

p.m. 5 miles out by the Church farm, two tempo runs.

This was my third year running Slat Flats 100.  This year, three elite runners who signed up didn't start.  I wondered it the door would be open for mear motals.  I took the lead from start across the Bonneville Speedway on the Salt Flats.  My first miles were 7:44, 7:58, 8:12, 8:13, and then I slowed from there.  About mile seven I started to be passed.  By mile 20, eight runners were ahead of me.  But at mile 23 is a three-mile hill that rises about 1,000 feet.  I charged up the hill, passing all eight runners and was the first to the top at the aid station there.   I kicked in gear down the other side, clocking 8:15, 8:26, and 9:01, stretching my lead to about a mile by the time I reached the next aid station at mile 31.5.  The people including friends cheered, but they looked shocked to see me leading. I aarrived so soon that the aid station had not been totally set up yet.  After the next big climb my lead was about two miles.  I was very pleased with my hill strength.  I started to wonder if I could indeed win this race.   But reality set in on the next section, a nasty 10-miles of mud flats where your feet sink in a little.  I just can't run it fast, so a few runners caught up and passed me.  I hoped that during the night I could again run all the hills and catch up.  But it started raining and by 10 p.m. it pretty much poured all night into the morning, non-stop.  I was foolish and brought the wrong clothes.  I thought I had a good rain coat, and put it on at mile 80 but learned that it wasn't water proof.  The next 10-mile section was brutal and I froze in the cold 40 degree rain.  When I finally reached the 90-mile aid station, I had no choice but the plead to be allowed to warm up in a car.  They were very nice and it took about an hour for me to stop shivering and dry out most of my clothes.  I never lost my placing, because I had at least an hour lead on the next runners.  When they arrived, I took off with new energy and stretched a two-mile lead by the time I reached the 95-mile aid station.  But again, I was soaked to the core and had to again sit in a car for 30 minutes.  I asked if they had a poncho and they did have one of those cheap emergency ones.  But it did the trick.  The last 5 miles were brutal, pouring rain and at times 40 mph wind blowing from the salt flats now covered in water, looking like a lake.  I finished in 5th place out of 54 starters.  I looks like about 30 runners DNFed and there was at least a couple serious incidents, a possible air lift and a lost runner during the storm.  So, pretty brutal.   The 50-mile race the next morning could not be run on the course now buried in water and totally muddy elsewhere.  So they just run out-and-back on pavement in the storm.

This was my 61st 100-mile finish and coldest I have been in one.

Recovery run up on what I call Tickville Ridge.  Legs a little heavy but I still grabbed four Strava Course records on the way.

Its been at least three years since I ran a half marathon.  I thought I would give it a try on a pretty fast course that starts a mile or so up Provo South Fork and ends at Provo city center.  It had only been one week since finishing Salt Flats 100 in a respectable time, but I recovered very fast and Thursday the legs felt pretty good. So, why not get a nice long tempo run in.   I looked at the entrants and from what I could tell, thought I had a chance to win my 55-59 age group.  It looked like my competition would be Hal Amos who finished 2nd last year to Skip Morehead.  Skip wasn't coming.  I've never beat him.  I thought I needed to finish in around 1:30-1:32 to pull off the win.

We of course got up there very early and had to try to stay warm for more than an hour.  I hated trying to stand around the fire and eventually noticed the drop bag bus had people in it.  That worked but we were booted out with 30 minutes to go, so I ran up the canyon and back.

There were about 900 starters.  My first miles were 6:24, 6:35, and 7:00.  I was stuggling with my pace and breathing, but on the 4th mile, I seemed to warm up and my legs enjoyed pushing things a little harder and I ran a 6:43.  From that point on I generally stayed near the same group of runners, passing a few and got passed by a few.  Several would stop and walk at the aid stations, but since I carried my bottle, I ran all the way and could easily pull ahead each time.

I was surprised that even though I ran that 100 last week, the legs felt pretty good.  Around mile 7 my lower right shin started to hurt and that really spooked me.  That is my problem bone that keeps fracturing.  I slowed a little 7:11, and the pain went down and eventually disappeared.  My 11th mile was the slowest, 7:22.  I just lost concentration for awhile until I noticed on my watch that I was slowing down.  My consitency was good and I brought it home and ran 6:41 pace for the last bit.

I finished in 1:31:48, about two minutes off my PR, but still not bad considering all the factors.  I did grab my age group win and Hal Amos did get second, about three minutes behind me.   I was pleased and felt great at the finish.  No cramping, no sore muscles.

Ridge run

Today a picture of me appeared on the ESPN website.  I was contacted by an ESPN contributing writer doing an artlce on Grand Canyon R2R2Rs and he interviewed me.  His article appeared today.  http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/10870741/endurance-sports-grand-canyon-runs-beautiful-spiritual-problematic

Treadmill and two on JRP.

Couple runs, neighborhood speed work and dirt road hill work out near Hidden Hollow. During the last three weeks I've claimed about 50 Strava course records within five miles of my house. Some local runners have notices.  There are several that were pretty tough, but I still got them.  Nice motivation to push some segments hard during my runs.

Morning run around West Mountain at the south end of Utah Lake. This time I added a summit. I really love this run. Before sunrise, watching the reflections off the lake. At Dawn hearing the birds and ducks. Watching the sunrise. Seeing the ranchers and farmers starting their work for the day. And now I’ve found my favorite dirt road climb. The climb to the top is about 5.4 miles and 2,400 feet of climbing. It is a very steady climb with a smooth fast surface, very runnable in both directions. I was able to run most of the way to the top. I filled up on water twice at Lincoln Beach campground which is about half way around and also near the road to the top, so it all worked out well. Good training for Pigtails 150 in two weeks. It feels like I’m closer to race shape than I have been in 2.5 years. Last year was hampered with a hamstring injury and the year before a massive stress fracture. It is nice to be able to train hard.

Random Eagle Mountain Run

Treadmill, Fox Hollow Run, City Creek at Lunch

Eagle Mountain speed work

Lake Mountain foothills

Run around Tintic Mountains.  Started about 2:45 a.m.  41 miles.  Great fun.

I'm moving to Strava.  You can find me there as Davy Crockett

Went to Washington to run Pigtails Challenge.  This is a 9.4 mile loop course.  There are also 100 and 200-mile distances.  The 200-milers started the day before, the 100-milers the day after.  I'll write a blog post.  The course rolls, so there are short climbs along the way but the surface is fast, not technical. Sea Level altitude was amazing. It rained for about 5 hours or so during the day but no big deal, nice and cool. I wanted to push the pace for the first 100 to see what I could do and I was very surprised, heading for sub-20.  In fact I ran 82 miles during the day.  I did need to put on the brakes after mile 95 for a long stop of feet-fixing, just could delay it anymore and continue past 100.  So I didn't make the sub-20, but still did a 20:34 which would have been good for 3rd place the next day in the 100.  The last 50 was rough.  I took very long breaks, ready to quit, but after the breaks felt better and continued.  At about mile 135, I was pushing a longer uphill section hard, passing lots of 100-runners but bad pain hit my right knee.  I basically walked the rest of the way slowly, being very careful.  Up until that time I had been battling for 1st place with a younger guy for more than 100 miles.  But I had lost motivation and didn't care about placement.   We were more than 20 miles ahead of everyone else so I knew they wouldn't catch me.  My last 50 miles took me 19 hours, so 39:48.   I was pleased.  I finished in time to avoid a second night running and instead went to a motel.  The leg pain kept me up most of the night.  But a day later, it looks like I will be fine.   It was a great low-key event.  I've been enjoying going to the lesser-known races.

Recovery run along Church farm

Run up Deseret Peak, first time there.  Hit snow on the trail at 8,000 feet.  Covered trail at 8,500.  Took deer trails up a south-facing slow to a ridge at 9,800 feet.  Could see that the final accent to summit is still all snow covered.  Bushwhacked down over into the next valley, joined up with the trail the loops around to the north but hit snow in the trees again, so bushwhacked down another valley until hit a trail.   It eventually connected with a motorcycle trail that took me back to my original valley and then I ran up the road two miles to my car.  Good fun.  Love random runs like this.

Unsupported Squaw Peak 50 night run.