Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

AM: Quick jog on the bike path around the neighborhood for about 2 miles.

PM: Good news! I think my knee really is injured. So, I'm going to take some time to cross train. If the weather stays dry I guess I can use this opportunity to put in some miles on the bike. If I remember correctly, my knee healed pretty quickly last year once I stopped trying to run on it. Hopefully the same thing will happen now so I can put in decent block of training before Speedgoat.

The downside to the injury (no, it's not all fun and games) is that I didn't get to run up Grove Creek tonight. Instead, I did the next best thing and spent an hour on the stair stepper at the gym. Hooray! 

More time on the stairs. My knee still hurts.

I had a pretty funny experience on my way out of the gym, though, which I wrote about on my other blog. That's right, I have another blog. Sometimes I write on it, too. But despite my best intentions, if you're hungry for Eric updates, you should probably look here first.

So, backing out of the Squaw 50 was the right call. First, I injured my knee. Then, the director changed the course because of the snow. And now, Catherine is in labor.

That's right, Baby is on her way a couple of weeks early. We went to the hospital yesterday because Catherine's blood pressure was pretty high, and the doctor said it was preeclampsia. She was admitted early yesterday evening and they induced labor shortly after.

So far it's been slow going. But the doctors think Baby could be here sometime tonight. Check back for details.

Say hello to Elliott Isabella.

Because of the preeclampsia, she's about 11 days early. And at 5 lbs, 6 oz, she's a tiny one for sure. Catherine was induced at about 6:00 Friday evening, and Ellie wasn't born until 6:28 this morning--more than 32 hours later. Needless to say, it's been a long weekend for all of us.

It was worth it.

Back at it today, although only for a (very,) very brief jog of just over two miles in the XC flats. After seven days of no running and six days of nothing at all, my knee does not feel nearly as awesome as I hoped. Other than that I felt great. We'll see where I go from here.

Baby is great. If I weren't posting this so late I'd throw in a picture or two.

16:31

Short PM jog on the bike paths. I took a detour on a little dirt path through the park near our house without thinking about the fact that it was dark and I had no headlamp and ended up having to slow down a lot to avoid breaking an ankle.

So. The quantity and quality of my blogging has gone downhill since Elliott came. That's to be expected. Unfortunately, I can say the same about my running. But I don't think that's as much about the baby as it is about other things. Or an other thing. Mostly my knee. After a week it hurts like it did right before I took time off. I may go see a doctor again, but I don't think a doctor will tell me anything new. It looks like I may have to get back on the bike and wait this injury out. It also means I may not be running Speedgoat. Again.

Anyways, today I had an awful run on an awesome route. Dry Canyon to Battle Creek, Battle Creek to Trail 51, Trail 51 to Dry Canyon. I had planned to go farther, but, as mentioned above, it was an awful run, so I decided not to.

As a side note, despite my relative inactivity, I seem to have lost weight this week. Which means my bad run could be at least partly the result of not eating enough.

Also, I think I'm in the worst shape I've been in in years.

Short PM run of two laps on my little bike path mini-loop. My knee actually felt decent, so I threw in a few pick ups or strides or whatever. Let's just call it fartlek and leave it at that. Ha--I said fartlek.

29 :25

Remember what I said about my knee feeling decent yesterday? Well, things are back to normal today.

I probably shouldn't have run today, but I left my house key in the house this morning and had some time to kill after work before Catherine and Baby got home. So I went to the track for a short run. Although I had time, I didn't have running clothes. So I ran in what I wore to work--cotton slacks, a T-shirt, and a (very) old pair of Converse All-Stars. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.

Anyway, despite hurting all day, my knee felt okay during my run. Not good, but not bad, either.

31:09

I got out for another short evening run today. Two laps around the Timpanogos Temple, and then back home via my bike path mini loop. There were barricades and road closed signs at every entrance to the bike path, but I ignored them all. I worried that I was on my way to becoming a cautionary tale, but I think the path was closed to keep people away from the river, which is impressively high and fast right now.

I seem to be settling into a groove in which my knee hurts during my run and bothers me a bit the morning after, but otherwise seems okay. It's not healthy, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse. Which is encouraging, in a way. I should go see the doctor again, and I will as soon as I figure out my schedule. But for now, if my knee won't get better, not getting worse is the next best thing, right?

Another very short run in the wind. I take back what I said yesterday--my knee is getting worse again.

No run today, because my knee is hurting. I should have gone out for a ride or to the gym to cross train, but I just didn't have the time or the desire. An injury can be a real motivation killer. I miss being in shape.

Since my knee is hurting now, and because it's been giving me trouble fairly consistently for more than six months, I decided that I should probably quit trying to force things and take a break from running. Last time I did that (almost exactly a year ago) I was healed and running in about two weeks. If that happens this year, bonus. If not, at least I'm back on the bike.

This morning was my first road ride (my first bike ride, actually) of the year. Cat 1 Eric I am not, but it still felt good to be out riding. I just rode a simple out and back through Lehi and out to Five Mile Pass. There was a lot of wind out there today, and as usually happens, it was in my face a lot more than it was at my back. Wind sucks, but I guess it builds character.

Those of you who read this blog looking for updates on Catherine: she's slowly starting to run again, and I think her blog should be active sometime in the next day or two. Go over and say hi if you get a chance.

Although I'd never ridden it from our house until today, it turns out that an out and back from here to the top of Suncrest is only 22 miles. That means I can squeeze in quick ride with a nice little climb in just over an hour. Perfect when time is limited.

I felt slow, but I'll be doing this ride a lot from here on out, so my legs should get stronger. 

I borrowed my brother's single speed and went mountain biking for a little bit this evening. Lambert park is the perfect place for no gears, because its never so steep that the trail becomes unrideable. Which isn't to say I rode everything. If I was a bad mountain biker a couple of years ago, I'm even worse, now. You'd be surprised at the type of  "obstacle" that can stop me cold. And it didn't help any that my brother's brakes suck. In fact, the last bike I rode with such crappy brakes was a cyclocross bike.

Still, it was fun. 

DEMON BABY!

Anyway, I got out for a run on the trails tonight. I'm still planning to shift over to riding so my knee can heal, but I want to keep running once or twice per week so I can maintain my running legs. As expected, my knee hurt, but I'm hoping that by riding primarily I'm on a two steps forward, one step back plan. In other words, I think I'll heal more slowly than I would if I stopped cold turkey, but I'll have more fun in the process. Maybe I can still do Speedgoat.

As for the run--I hit the trail at 9:00, so about half of the run was by headlamp. Up Battle Creek, over to Dry Canyon, back to the car via BST. The same route that's given me trouble on my last two weekend runs. No trouble tonight, though. I ran every step easily, and never walked once or even felt tempted to. Go figure.

Also, mileage is approximate, and I have no idea what my time was. Note to self--remember to charge the Garmin after each run. 

Another short road ride, finishing in just over an hour. It's funny how one hour seems so short on the bike, but not at all when running. Anyway, I've been fairly consistent this week, averaging at least an hour a day, so it's an improvement over the last while. It's a big change from the last few years, though. One of these days I'll dig a week out of my old cycling training logs for comparison.

As for the ride, I rode up AF Canyon to the cave parking lot, then flipped around and rode home via a loop through Pleasant Grove. I've heard the canyon is open to the top, so I'll head up that way as soon as I have time. 

More cycling. Another short ride, another trip up American Fork Canyon. This time I rode as far as the fork. I hear the road is open all the way through. If only I had time to ride the entire loop.

A couple of years ago, I set out for a scheduled 6-hour ride on a Sunday afternoon in early February. At the time I was living near Liberty Park, and my plan was to ride a loop up through Tooele and back through Lehi. But as I came around the south end of the Oquirrh Mountains, the head wind was so strong that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it all the way around the loop before dark, and winter is a bad time to be caught out in the cold. 

I passed a turnoff to Ophir, and because my photographer friend had mentioned the place before I decided to check it out and then retrace my route home. What I found was a beautiful little canyon with a beautiful little ghost town at the top (acccording to Wikipedia, there are about 28 people living there). I haven't been back since. Every time I plan to, something comes up. 

My most recent attempt was today. I asked a friend if he wanted to come along, but he ended up bringing a friend who was a bit slower. Slow enough that I didn't want to ride all the way to Ophir because that would mean getting back way later than I had told Catherine.

So instead we headed up a different canyon to Mercur, another ghost town. I was hoping to find another little gem like Ophir, but instead we found this:

Oh well--still a good ride. And as my friend said, we're probably three of about 100 people in Utah who have ever been to Mercur. 

Another ride up Suncrest and back, this time before school. I'm still slow, but not as slow. Maybe the wind was just favorable.

I decided to ride my bike to school this morning. It's a bit of a hassle, because I have to ride to the gym and shower, then ride to my sister's house to stash the bike, then walk to school to work. Things would be much easier if there were a safe place to leave my bike on campus. 

In the morning:

In the afternoon (with a killer tailwind on State Street):

One-way commute today. Catherine was in Provo this afternoon and needed me home sooner than I could get there by bike, so I left my bike at my sister's house and got a ride home. Probably a good call--a bike ride this afternoon would have been a wet one.

I've decided that even as I let my knee recover, I need to run at least once a week so I don't forget how. Unfortunately, this weeks run wasn't much, as I was only able to sneak out for two miles at midnight. Better than nothing, right?