Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Another night with the hill routine at the gym. Today I dropped it all the way down to level 12. It's amazing how quickly the intensity drops off, because on that level the grade only goes between 3 and 9 percent. I settled into a mellow 10:00 pace and cruised for 40 minutes while watching The Godfather on AMC. Some say I should watch that movie. 

This evening I had the great idea that I would try to do my long run for the week at the gym tonight instead of tomorrow. I thought that the weekend would be much more manageable if Catherine and I both didn't have to do long runs on the same day. But I didn't make it to the gym until a little after 11:00, and although I still planned to go long, I was so sleepy that I just couldn't do it. At times I though I was going to fall asleep on my feet, so I called it after four (very) slow miles.

Now I have to run 12.5 miles tomorrow. I'll find the time somewhere.  

This was one of those days when I really should have stayed in. With the Buffalo Run around the corner, I know I should be getting more miles than I am. But after last night's run, I should have known better than to try too hard today, especially since my late Friday night meant I wasn't any more rested on Saturday. 

Anyway, I decided to try to run in Corner Canyon. My plan was to run my typical loop, with the extension up Jacob's Ladder thrown in for good measure. I wasn't counting on there being so much snow, however. By the time I reached the saddle at the top of Clark's I had already been forced to do a significant amount of walking, thanks to the snow pack. Too make matters worse, I felt beat. Exhausted, sore, hungry, whatever . . . I shouldn't have been running. 

I thought about turning around, but I figured that with Catherine pushing so hard these last few weeks, I had no reason to be a wimp. I started down toward Ghost Falls, but the snow was so deep that I decided to head down Canyon Hollow instead. Once I was on the Draper side, the trail was better. But I was still trashed. Eventually I made it back to the car, and I was glad I did.

I need more miles, so I entertained the idea of going back out in the evening. But ultimately I decided to invoke the "time > miles" doctrine and call it a day. Instead of running more, I took a nice nap. 

I fully intended to run five miles tonight, and I was on track to do so, but then I had to take a phone call and the gym closed before I had time to finish my last mile.

I ran in the Cardio Cinema tonight. I haven't done that for a while, but I should do it more often.  

I went in for a morning run today, something I haven't done in a while. The weather was nice enough that I should have gone for the trails. But I was hesitant after Saturday, and at any rate I left the house without any sort of cool weather gear, so the gym it was. Ten minute to warm up, followed by ten minutes on the 15 percent grade, followed by a few minutes of easy running and one last mile at 6:30.

There are a lot of people at the gym in the morning. 

I dawdled again tonight, so by the time I made it to the gym I only had time for four miles instead of five. Typical of me, unfortunately.

I got out too late for the gym tonight, so I ran my three mile loop from last semester instead. It was nice to be outside, and although it was a little sharp, it wasn't too uncomfortable. 

I was back at the gym tonight. I ended up going farther than planned because I wanted to see the end of the UFC match that was on TV. It ended with a KO less than a minute before the gym closed. so the timing was good. Muffin top got his clock cleaned by potbelly. 

This morning I went back to Corner Canyon. What a difference a week makes. It was still slow going--although several sections were dry and in great shape, there was also a lot snow, mud, etc. But it was nothing like last week's misery. I ran my usual loop up Hog Hollow, down Ghost Falls, and up Clark's trail. It took a lot longer than usual, but I figure that means I just got more out of it. 

In the afternoon Catherine, Elliott and I went for a short run on the local bike paths. It was a great way to spend time with the family and pad my mileage, too. Awesome.  

I went out for a very short run with Catherine and Elliott this evening. We wanted to check out a little bike path I've been seeing since we moved in here, so after dinner with the siblings we hopped in the car and headed over. It turned out to be a very short path. How short? Try 0.33 miles. We ran three laps, which was all we had time for before it started getting too cold for Elliott. 

I read Scott Jaime's blog for the first time in a long time yesterday and was interested to see what he had to say about treadmill workouts. I've been having trouble doing more than a couple of miles at a time lately, and I remembered that I need to throw in some sort of intervals to distract me and keep me going. I borrowed a concept from Jaime and, after a warmup, increased the speed by 0.2 mph every quarter mile. I'm sure I could work backward and figure out where I started and how long I went, but I don't want to. By the end of my five miles I was at 10.7 mph, and I was feeling it. Good run. 

I've overslept a couple of times this semester after problems with my cell phone alarm, so I've been thinking I should buy a backup clock. And since Catherine absolutely had to wake up early tomorrow to meet someone, I figured tonight was as good a time as any to do so. But it was late when I made the decision, so only WalMart was still open. Which was fine, because it gave me a destination for my run. The store turned out to be closer to home than I thought (just over 2 miles), but it was nice to run outside. For some reason, anything faster than 8:30 feels frantic to me indoors, but sub-7 outside feels pretty relaxed. 

Back at the gym tonight for a half hour run. For the most part, it was a mellow cruise on the flats. I also threw in 10 minutes on the 15 percent grade at a 12:00 pace, and that was pretty rough. 

More outdoors miles tonight. Only five, but it was nice. And more importantly, I've been able to maintain some sort of consistency this semester. The miles may be low, but at least my knee doesn't hurt. 

I was back to my mini loop tonight. I guess I'll make it up tomorrow. 

But maybe I don't have to. Because I'm an undertrained wimp, I emailed Jim Skaggs this morning and asked him to switch me to the 25K next week. I figure I've already proven to myself (three times!) that I can run a 50K without proper preparation. But I've only run a 50k once after a solid block of training. That time I won the race and set a course record (a soft record, but a record nontheless). Probably not a coincidence. 

Anyway, going forward I'd like to do less of the former and more of the latter. So far my knee has been holding up well enough under my light training load. No need to mess that up in one day. Instead, I'm going to run hard and enjoy the race. From there, I'll start slowly increasing my mileage. With any luck, my knee will cooperate and I'll be able to put in another honest race effort mid to late summer. Right now I'm thinking Katcina Mosa, Speedgoat, or Mt. Disappointment (in California), but we'll see how things unfold.  

I was planning to go outside and hit the trails today, but after spending all morning in the wind and cold with Catherine and Elliott at the Rex Lee Run, I decided I'd rather run indoors. So this afternoon we left Elliott with Catherine's sister and went to the Gold's in Sandy. I ran 12 miles and change: one at 10:00 on the flat, one at 6:40 on the flat, one at 10:00 on the flat, one at 10:00 on the 10 percent grade, and so forth. Not a bad workout. 

Forty minutes on the treadmill. I warmed up and cooled down with ten minutes on the flats. The core of my workout was 20 minutes on the 15 percent grade at 14:00. It wasn't very hard, so I think I should have gone faster. 

Flat miles on the treadmill. Five of them. 

Short and sweet--thirty minutes with the hill routine at the gym. That means 30 minutes undualting between 9 and 15 percent at a steady 10:00 pace. It's a good workout for a short run.

Easy run on my local loop. Race day is coming up, for better or for worse. 

Toady was my last day of my internship at the Supreme Court. I met Catherine at in Bountiful afterward, and we're spending the night with my grandma here so we won't have to drive as far tomorrow. Unfortunately, that means I never found time for a run.  So, goose egg for me.

It was ugly out there. The easiest way to put it is that I never felt strong. Even early on, before I felt trashed, everything felt forced. Uphill, downhill, it was all the same. I just didn't feel like a runner.

I'm not sure how I placed, since Catherine and I didn't stay around to see the results posted. I think I was seventh (and sixth man--ouch), but I'll update this when the official results are posted.  

Anyways, I think that about covers it. I'm sorry I'm not saying more, but I don't have anything to say. I was slower this year than I have been on the first lap of the 50K for the past two years, so that should be an indicator of the shape I'm in. The good news is that I can improve easily--all I need to do is run more, sleep more, and eat better.  

I left a book at school, so I had to drive to campus before the library closed at midnight. That did a lot to kill my motivation to run, and by the time I got out it was midnight and it was cold. Also, my foot hurt from Saturday, which was enough of an excuse for me to designate tonight's run ceremonial and quit after a mile. Go me. 

Elliott and I went out for a short run together on the bike path this morning. I felt alright. She slept the whole time. 

I've been behind on my blog this week, but the miles are up now.  

Elliott had a horrible night last night, and as  result all three of us spent a lot of today asleep. I eventually made it out for my run at about four, and on I day like this I normally would have gone for a couple of hours (it was beautiful out there), but since I had conference to go to I had to limit myself to one. I ran an out and back from Battle Creek to Dry Canyon, and it was great. I haven't been on that route for a while, but I'll have to make it a point to do it more often. 

I may get out tonight to make this a ten-mile day. But I'm not committing to anything.  

EDIT: I did get out for a few more miles. Technically, it was tomorrow, but whatever. Long live time travel.