faster with age

     Just got back after a couple of weeks of bowhunting for Coues Whitetail Deer in Arizona. I was hoping to get in some running while there but I didn't get my deer until 2 days before the end. With the days so short this time of year it was hard to find the time to run. We have been having the coldest winter in 10 years with temps as cold as -20 deg. I finally got in 4 miles on the treadmill just before bedtime.

     6 miles

     6 miles on the treadmill. The 3 runs I have taken in the past 2 weeks have all been very uncomfortable. I took a shot to the ribs playing basketball 2 weeks ago. The pain hasn't gotten one bit better and sometimes seems worse. Sunday night my wife was on call at the hospital laboratory and got called in. Since we were having a blizzard and our lane was covered in drifts, I drove her in. While we were there I got talking to the X-ray guy who came over to chat. I told him about my problem so he took a couple of X-rays and found I had a broken rib. It was slightly separated on one side. 

    I ran 5 miles outside today. Some of the run was on some very slick packed snow but for most of it I could find strips of bare pavement to run on. Today was the first day I actually think there is some improvement in the rib pain. This was the first run where the pain wasn't constant. I took Ibuprofen about an hour before the run but that is all I took today. I have been taking 2 or 3 large doses a day. I think this is the first week this month that I have actually run twice. I'll have to shoot for 3 runs next week. 8:57 pace overall.

     Last week I ended up not running a single time. I woke up Monday morning with a bad cold and just didn't feel like it. Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't feel much better and Thursday I left for a snowmobiling scout camp [with my son] for the weekend. I finally got in 5 miles today. The rib is feeling a lot better when running.

     Played basketball for one hour.

     Ran 5 miles again. It was 32 deg and calm with a lot of sun. One of the nicest days this winter. I ran pretty slow with 6 or 7 short striders during the last 2 miles. 8:31 AP

     Did some cross country skiing.

     5 miles easy with a few striders during the last couple of miles

    basketball for 1 hour

     6 miles easy with a few striders. 8:35 AP

     1 hour of cross country skiing.

     6 miles easy. 8:49 AP

     Ran 5 miles. The temp was 29 deg and it was very sunny. it felt much warmer. I ran the first couple of miles pretty slow then did a few striders the last 2 miles. Last mile was 7:42. Overall pace was 8:28.

     Today was the second day in San Diego with my wife. The weather was great [mostly upper 70s]. We went deep sea fishing yesterday and caught a bunch of fish. I went out for a short run on the beach from our hotel this morning. I did a little on the sand but most of my run on the boardwalk [I don't know if you still call it that when it's paved]. There are always a lot of people running there. I'm not used to running around other people [except in races] and I seem to get a little competitive. You know:  pass other runners but don't get passed. What little running I have done lately has been slow so I started at around 8:30 pace then picked it up as I went. By the time I had gone almost a mile, I was running closer to 8:00 pace and out of the corner of my eye I could see a guy coming up on me. He was on the other side of the beach wall running in the dry deep beach sand. It's hard to run 10 min pace in that stuff! I couldn't let him pass me like that so I picked up the pace for a ways but he was still there. I dropped my pace more [into the 7:30s] and I guess he dropped back and I didn't see him any more. After a mile at this pace I see this guy again out of the corner of my eye. This time I maintained my pace and he went running right by me barefoot in that deep sand. Wow! He definitely had the look of an elite runner. Not too long after passing me though he turned out to the middle of the beach and stopped. I guess he was human. He must of been near the end of his run wanting to do a fast finish and used me as his target. I turned  back a little farther out then ran back in 7:35, 7:28 then the last 1/2 mile at 7:07 pace.

     I don't think I've run a mile under 8 minutes in the last 3 or 4 months so it felt good to run a few faster miles. Overall pace was 7:39

     Went out intending to do a 5 mile run but I stopped to chat with a neighbor for a minute and it ended up going much longer than planned. When I took off again I realized that I barely had enough time to get home and in to town to pick up my son from lacrosse practice. I figured I could finish the run after I got home but about the time we got home, 30 mph winds had started up along with wet snow.  I decided to bag the run. 

     We had a basketball game tonight for the church tournament. I got a good workout so I didn't feel as bad about the short run.

     Got out for a 6 mile run. Just kept the pace easy. 8:46 AP

     We won our basketball game again last night in the tournament, so we played tonight for the stake championship.We felt way over matched going into this one. They had 2 ex-college players that are in their early 30s that are about 6'4 and 6'5. and all but one of the rest of their team are very good players in their 30s.  Two of us are in our 50s and 2 in their 40s. We have one 22 yr old but he hasn't played a lot and isn't very good and two 30 year old's that are around 6'1 and 6'2".  One of our 30 yr old's was going to play D-2 college ball but blew out his knee and wasn't able. He was actually the best player on the floor but after him I would have to say every one of the rest of their team were better players than the rest of our team.

     The game started ugly and they scored 12 points before we got our first basket. I think it was 18 to 4 before they started to cool off and we started picking things up. By halftime we were only down 6. We really turned up the defense the second half and managed to put the game into overtime. We came out with the 3 point win in overtime! Waahoo!

     Our other 50 yr-old [today was his 52nd birthday] pulled his hamstring during the game so I wound up playing most of the game. After running the floor hard all night and playing extra hard, I felt like I got in a very good workout.

     7 miles @ 8:36

     This was the warmest day all year so far. Temp was in the upper 50s. First time this year to run in shorts and tee shirt. There was a slight breeze and on my way out it was a tailwind which made it feel like no breeze at all. I was sweating like crazy and felt way hot. Running back into the breeze felt much better. 6 miles at 8:15 AP

     Another warm day today. The snow is melting fast. Ran 7 miles easy pace. 8:48 AP

     Ran 8 miles tonight. It was getting dark when I left and completely dark by about halfway. We have a bunch of swans that have just moved into the area [like they do every spring]. I could hear flocks of them making all kinds of noise flying back and forth in the moonlight sometimes right overhead.

     Was planning to run 8 miles. I turned around at 4 miles and made it to about 5 1/2 then suddenly had a pain in my ankle. I stopped and stretched it for a bit but when I would start to run it would come back. I had to walk most of the 2 1/2 miles home. I tried running a few more times but it would quickly come back.

We made the trip down to Southern Utah for some camping and hiking. We drove down to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We set up camp along the Hole in the Rock Road then went on a very cool hike down into what is called Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon.     

     We took another cool hike that started out by dropping 1260 ft of elevation over the first three miles to get down to the Escalante River. Then we hiked down the river bottom for a mile. We had to ford the river 5 times before we came to a side canyon called Neon Canyon. We hiked up this narrow slot canyon for a mile until it ends at a huge cavern called the Golden Cathedral. It has a large emerald colored pool in the bottom and 2 huge round openings in the ceiling that the water pours through when it rains.  The water reflections onto the rock walls inside the cavern were quite a sight.

     My garmin read a total of 11 miles for the hike but we had an extra mile on the way in with some meandering we did to find the best routes. There isn't a trail for a lot of it. There are rock cairns sometimes to help guide you and it helped that I had programed some gps coordinates into my garmin that I had gotten from searching google earth before the trip. We never saw another person on the whole hike until we were almost back to the jeep. My son and I climbed the last three miles out of the canyon at a very brisk pace. It took us an hour and was a great workout.

looking back up to the rim where we're parked. It's a lot steeper than it looks.                                                                                                                                                                                 View of the river bottom.                                                                                                                                                            

                                                        One of the 5 crossings each way. Very cold water                                                                                                           Indian petroglyphs in the canyon bottom                                                                                                                                        Water reflections on the walls of the Golden Cathedral. Reflection below is after skipping a rock                                                                        

                                                         Dinosaur tracks

     6 miles treadmill. I was a little worried about my ankle. It ended my last run short and it hurt a couple of times during the long hike I did last Saturday. It wasn't an issue on this run.

     I ran up to the reservoir for the first time this year. Last week it still had a lot of snow and mud. There were still a few patches of melting snow that made some muddy spots but I was able to mostly get around them without getting too muddy. 8 miles @ 8:39

     Ran up to the reservoir again. This time there was a lot less snow and mud to get around. The reservoir is still covered with ice but it won't be for long in these temps. It was 64 degrees but I felt like I was overheating when the breeze was a tailwind. It's crazy how warm that can feel when you are used to the cold winter. By June and July, 64 deg will feel nice. 8 miles @ 8:36.

5 miles 8:47 AP

     Went on a bike ride for the first time this year. Very nice weather. I rode up past the reservoir and the ice is disappearing quick. The dirt road had just been graded which makes biking muck slower. I'd prefer the potholes over loose gravel. 16 mile ride.

    Just got out for a short 4 miles.

     I ran 8 miles up to the reservoir. Didn't have much energy and ran pretty slow. Especially the second half. The ice is completely gone on the lake and only a little snow left in some shady spots where it had drifted. 8:47 AP

     Ran 7 on the treadmill just before bedtime. 

     5 miles treadmill @ 8:31

     Most of my runs lately haven't felt very easy. Even running 9 min pace. Today's run felt good. The temps were in the upper 30s with no wind which felt perfect. I didn't feel very good for the first mile and a half running around 8:40 pace but started feeling better and dropped the pace to a little over 8 min/mile which felt much more comfortable than it has lately. I ran the last 2 in 7:54 and 7:27. That's probably the first time this year that I've run 2 miles in a row under 8. The 7:27 felt hard but at least I'm headed in the right direction.    8 miles @ 8:10 overall.

18 miles on mt bike

6 miles @ 8:31

5 miles treadmill

6 miles @ 8:31

8 miles@ 8:43

    7 miles in new shoes. These are a New Balance  MT20 lightweight trail running shoe. They are a very minimal shoe with just a slight drop from heel to toe. I really liked the feel of these but I do feel just enough difference that I probably won't wear them more than once a week to start with until my achilles and feet get more used to them. The soles [even though they are quite thin] are hard enough that I don't feel the rocks poking through much while running on dirt. I have been doing over half of my running in some New Balance MT101s which are a pretty similar shoe but with just a little more drop from heel to forefoot. 7 miles@8:25 pace.

     Ran 8 miles up to the reservoir tonight. I tried to keep my pace slow enough to keep my heart rate under 140. I had to run just over 9 min pace and averaged 138. When I'm in good shape it would be in the 120s at that pace but at least it's a lot better than it was a month ago.

5 @ 8:32

6 @ 8:10 pace

Started out to run 6. Ankle got sore after 4 and had to walk the rest of the way.

ankle to sore

Started to run but didn't make it very far before ankle got sore and had to quit.

Tried to run again. Ankle felt good but got sore 1/2 mile in so I bailed on the run and went 20 miles on the mt bike.

I was planning to run a local 5k here in town that I usually run but knew that my ankle wouldn't let me.My son ran 22:20 on a slightly short course with 0 training runs except for running 1 mile in gym class 2 weeks earlier. He ran that mile in 6:16. Oh to be young again. He was playing lacrosse until recently though so I'm sure he probably still had some fitness from that.

5 @ 8:47 ankle held out but got a little sore toward the end.

Went on a 4 day vacation to the Grand Canyon and a few other places. Did a lot of hiking but no running.

5.38 @ 8:48

5 @ 8:58

5 @ 8:47

5.5 @ 8:48

5.5 @ 8:39. First week in the last 6 that I got in more than 1 run.Whahoo!

6.5 @ 9:05

Mt bike 15 miles.

6 miles @ 8:49. Wow, 2 weeks in a row with 2 runs.

6 miles @ 8:47

15.5 miles on the mt. bike.

6 miles @ 8:36. 3rd week in a row with 2 runs whahoo! My ankle still feels like it could get sore again at the end of some of these runs.

6.25 miles @ 8:42

6 miles @ 9:08

15 miles mt. bike

6 miles @ 8:54. Wow, the first time I have run 3 times in a week since 11 weeks ago. I have worn different shoes all week and I think it has helped with the ankle problem.

6.25 miles @ 8:58 pace

20 miles on the mt bike.

7 miles @ 8:42 pace

15 miles mt bike

7 miles @ 8:39 pace. Wow! 2nd week in a row with 3 runs. I have only averaged 8.5 miles per week over the past 3 months and about all of my miles [what few there are] have been 8:40 to 9:00 pace. At the beginning of this run it felt hard to run 9 min pace. Toward the end I was feeling much better and decided to pick it up a bit. I ran the last mile in 7:36 which felt awfully fast but felt better than I expected.

7 miles @ 9:25. I was running in the heat and got a bad bloody nose. It took me a good 15 or 20 minutes to get it stopped enough to continue running. Good thing I had some toilet paper in my pocket.

Mt bike 20.22 miles

8.15 miles @ 8:37

20.42 miles mt bike.

Ran 8 miles today. I was at a little over 8:30 pace with a mile to go and decided to pick up the pace a bit for the last mile. Half way through the mile I was at 7:21 pace and I decided to see if I could pick it up more and finish under 7 min. I finished the mile in 6:55 [probably the first sub 7 mile I have run since the St George Marathon last Oct]. I guess I didn't run 6:55 pace for a mile more like 7:21 for a half mile then 6:29 pace for the second half. That 6:29 1/2 mile was hard. I can't believe I was running 1/2 marathons at that pace when I was in shape.

8:21 pace overall.

Left early for the Frank Church River Of No Return Wilderness for a 4 day 50 mile backpack trip. I went with the young mens group in our ward 14 to 18 year old boys. After a 5 1/2 mile drive [of which the last 2 hours was on dirt road], we reached the trail head and  backpacked in 7 miles to a lake where we set up camp. Gorgeous country with every bit of our hiking above 8,000 feet elevation and most around 9,000.

     This morning we took off on a 21 mile round trip hike out to Goat Lake and back. Since we were coming back to the same campsite we only took light packs with supplies for the day. I told everybody to pack a jacket before we left knowing that even though the weather looked nice it could change in a hurry and we would be a long ways from camp. 

     As we got closer to the lake, we wound up in 2 main groups. Some of the boys and leaders were a little slower and didn't know if they could make it all the way to the lake before turning back. One of our leaders had brought along a friend named Ben. He was 26 and just returned 3 months ago from deployment in Afganistan. He runs some and has done some Ragnar Relays.

     As we got closer to the lake he had fallen back from the group a bit. I know he already had some terrible blisters before we had started out that morning. We got to the lake and spent about 2 hours. The last 1 1/4 miles to the lake is a steep decent from 9,400 feet to 8,000 ft. It was daunting to look down at the lake at the end of that already long hike and know you'd have to climb all the way back out of there. So we were not surprised when the slower group nor Ben joined us. We were actually hoping they would turn back early.While we were at the lake we built a fire and cooked lunch along with a 16 inch cutthroat trout I had caught. While we were there a storm moved in and rained and hailed for about 40 minutes.

     When we all got back to camp that evening, We realized Ben wasn't with us. My son and I and 2 other boys had been in the lead coming back and had caught some of the slow group. When we discussed it later Ben had never caught up to them so we realized he must have been clear out by Goat Lake when he was last on the trail. We were all thoroughly exhausted and only had about an hour before dark. All we could do was hope that he came in.

     It got dark and he never made it. Then it started to thunder and lightning. It got colder and started to rain.  I knew he didn't have a jacket because that morning just after I told everyone to bring jackets I overheard him say he wasn't bringing one however there had been 2 guys [a father and son] on horseback that we had seen up on the rim overlooking the lake just after we had gotten down to the lake. They had just looked off the rim for a bit and then left before descending. When we were leaving the lake, my son and another boy who had climbed to the rim first, ran into this pair on horses who had come back down the trail to look for a poncho they had lost. They had seen Ben the first time they had come and he had taken their picture for them. They figure Ben had picked up the poncho since he was the only other person out there. They told my son where we could meet tomorrow to get it back. This information was now much more important than it was earlier when they first talked. If he had a poncho it could mean the difference of life and death. It would be tough to survive the night soaking wet in a short sleeved T-shirt with the temperature dropping below freezing by morning.

     Morning came and it seemed like winter with all of the frozen hail covering the ground. Half of the group had been up by the fire since 2:00 AM after the rain had stopped because there was so much water that it had just flowed right under a lot of the tents and soaked their sleeping bags.

     Me and 3 other leaders took off first thing to go back out and search for him. We left instructions with 2 of the boys to hike out to the trail head if they hadn't heard anything by 10:00. Two of the leaders went all the way to the lake hollering for him all the way. 

the other leader and me went most of the way out but spent time searching below cliffs and possible spots he could have fallen. We returned to camp pretty exhausted by about 4 o'clock having found nothing.

     They were able to contact a ranger already in the back country that had been camped about 5 miles away and had packed up camp and moved to where we were after being called. He had a radio so now we had outside communication. A helicopter came in and searched for a while until it got low on fuel and didn't turn up anything. 

     It was getting late and the 2 boys that had gone to the trail head hadn't  returned. One of the boys and I headed back down the trail to meet them. We weren't sure if they had flashlights . The ranger had held them quite a while in case they had questions so they were making the return trip later than expected. We were surprised to not run into them right away and the farther we got the more worried we became. We couldn't just turn back without finding them and I was afraid we may have to go the full 7 miles to the trail head.

     About halfway [3 1/2 miles in] we passed a fork that they could have taken. I started to notice 2 different shoe prints in the trail that I hadn't seen before the fork. They matched about what I thought the boys were wearing. I went back to the fork and took the other trail for a ways and determined the same tracks had gone that way. I hadn't seen a map and didn't know the trails in the area but there was a sign that said welcome lake the way they had gone, and there was also a fork by our camp that said welcome lake so I knew it was possible to get back that way.

     We hiked back to camp in the dark hoping to find them at camp. We got there and found them at camp in bed. Whew! for a while there I was worried about having 2 boys lost too. Somebody at the trail head had told them about the other route and they had decided to take it for a change of scenery.

     Another 7 mile hike just before bedtime was just what I needed.

     We woke up now for the second morning with ice on the ground and Ben still missing somewhere in the wilderness. Knowing he could be dead or alive and possibly never found in that vast back country. This is the largest block of roadless back country in the lower 48 states.

     Today was the day we were planning to pack out and needed to get boys home. It was hard to not be able to do something but with the search area 10 miles away it was all you could do on foot to just get there and back like we did the day before let alone do much of a search while you were out there.

     We were instructed to wait for a sheriff and some searchers that were coming in on horseback. They asked us some questions then headed in to search. They had no gear to spend the night and at their slow pace I doubted they would even make it all the way in before they would have to turn back. It didn't appear they could do anything we hadn't done yesterday. They told us the best bet was a National Guard helicopter with infrared heat sensing that would be coming in after dark.

     It was very hard to leave without him but we divided up his tent and gear and pack to carry out and left. When we got to the trail head, the member of our group that was his friend decided to stay behind where he could get updates. We piled 14 boys and men into the other 2 vehicles and headed home.

     About 20 minutes before we got home we got a phone call and got the word that a helicopter had spotted him and they thought they could get to him that night. They dropped him some food and supplies. The sheriff said they had no way to get to him on horseback and the helicopter had no place to land. They called in a National Gaurd helicopter that ended up winching him up with a cable.They took him to the hospital in Salmon and checked him out and released him.

     He later said that he had sat out the afternoon rainstorm on Thursday then had started off while the fog was still there. I guess he got disoriented with the fog and lost the trail. He had picked up the poncho lost by the horsemen and he truly believes that it saved his life. He said that it was the most spiritual experience of his life. It is just amazing that the only other people out there that day just happened to loose a poncho and that Ben happens to find it just before he gets lost. With all of the hiking I have done in my life I don't ever remember finding a poncho or raincoat of any kind. That can't just be a coincidence. He was truly being watched over.

     Not much to report about my running lately. Pretty boring all easy miles although today I sped up a bit and ran the 8th mile in 7:44. Overall pace for 8 was 8:58 so that shows you how slow the other 7 were.

     Ran 9 miles up past the reservoir at 8:22 average pace this morning. That pace was actually fast compared to most of my running lately. I picked it up the last mile and ran it in 7:19.

Left to go bow hunting in southern Utah

Returned from bow hunt in this evening. Didn't get any runs in while I was gone but did get in quite a bit of hiking.

An easy 8.25

Did some hiking in the mountains and ran about 2 miles of it.

got in 10 miles today up to the reservoir. It's seems like it's been a while since I did 10. AP 8:28

I haven't blogged in a while but I keep intending to get started again. I haven't been running very often [only about once a week] and only around 5 miles each time so there just hasn't been anything to exciting to write about. I ran twice last week for the first time in a while and going for 3 runs this week. Hopefully I can start adding mileage over the next few months and get back into some decent running shape again.

     I figured today was a good day to start blogging since I got a new PR this morning. The PR was for the coldest temperature run. I have run at -15 deg a couple of times. This morning when I took my son out to the bus, the temp in my jeep read  -24 below zero. The thermometer in the house read -18 and it always reads 2 or 3 deg higher than our vehicles when it gets real cold so the real temp was probably somewhere between.  The poor jeep was creaking and groaning and sounded like it wanted to break in half as we bounced down our dirt lane. My son commented that the windshield sounded like it was going to break. Of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity so as soon as I got back I threw on some warm running gear and headed out the door. I guess I dressed just right because I really never got cold at all. The sun came up after about 3 miles. Just went 5 1/2 miles total all on snow.  Averaged around 9:15 pace.  Had a good ice goatee by the end.

It was clear up to 20 deg today when I ran. About 40 deg warmer than the last run. Toasty. Just ran the usual 5 miles I've been doing. Today 3 miles of the run were on dry pavement with the rest on snow.  Ran pretty easy for 4 miles then ran a little faster the last mile with a few striders thrown in. 5th mile in 7:41 and overall pace 8:28.  It's sad how fast 7:41 feels right now.

5 miles again today. This is the first time running 3 times in a week since July. 8:28 AP

I guess I messed up and entered these last two runs on Fri and Sat instead of Thursday and Friday.

Today when I ran it was 30 deg and sunny. I think this is the first time in the last couple of weeks that we've got out of the lower 20s. Almost felt like T-shirt weather. Ran 6 miles about half on snow and half on pavement. Pavement miles around 8:15 and about 30 seconds slower on the snow. 8:26 pace overall.

Ran a very easy 5 miles. My heart rate is so much higher on these runs than it was when I was in shape. I ran 9:09 pace and my ave heart rate was 143. When I was fit my pace was around 8 min or even high 7s at that HR. It was usually below 130 running over 9 min. Hope to start improving quickly.

5 miles at 8:58

Nice christmas day run. 2 of the 5 miles on packed snow so a little slower. Last mile in 7:29. Overall ave pace 8:39.

2 of the 5 miles very slick and slow. 9:39 AP
 

six miles at 8:51. Last run of the year. Not a very good year for running. Hope to do better next year.