Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

AM: Another 30 minutes on the elliptical, and I'll be back for more tomorrow. I'm starting to feel like I'll never get to run normally again. Catherine is planning to go for a trail run tomorrow. You have no idea how jealous that makes me :)

PM: Yet another 30 minutes on the elliptical.  

I had my second appointment with the PT this morning--icing and stretching, massage, some strengthening exercises and a battery-operated topical anti-inflammatory. My knee has been feeling much better over the last two days, and I think the cartilage issue has resolved itself. However, there's residual tenderness in my tendon that is easily exacerbated, which makes it easy to think this will never go away. But I just need to be patient, and I should be back to normal pretty soon.

In fact, the therapist told me to go for a run tomorrow on the wood chips at Liberty Park. I'm only supposed to run as long as it doesn't hurt, and I'm not supposed to go further than six miles, but it's a start.

Today I was back in the gym for an hour. I'm really starting to get tired of that place. I walked for 30 minutes and two miles on the treadmill at a 15-percent grade, then I hopped over to the elliptical for another 30 minutes. 

The therapist told me to run today, and I was looking forward to it. I was supposed to take it easy on the wood-chip track at Liberty Park, limiting myself to 6 miles, but after less than half a mile my knee was already hurting a lot more than I expected. My first instinct was to push through and run the full 6 miles because, hey, the trainer said I could go that far, but I realized that I would probably just hurt myself. So I pulled the plug after 1 lap, and that's where the responsibility ended.

I thought I'd go use the elliptical, but something about the thought of more time in the gym made me snap. Since the therapist had told me I could ride my bike as far and as hard as I wanted, I went home and pulled out my road bike and team kit for my first bike ride since sometime in January.

I started by riding out to Magna, then south on the Bacchus Highway past the copper mine and the wild horse and burro center and on into Herriman. I called Catherine to let her know I was on my way back. Since we were having dinner with her grandparents, she suggested that maybe I'd rather ride for a bit longer and just meet her at her grandparents' house that evening.

She was right--I did want to ride longer. So, Instead of riding home on Redwood I headed south to Saratoga Springs, then out through Lehi and American Fork before riding north through Alpine, over Traverse Ridge and up to Catherine's grandparents' house at Daybreak. 

Overall, I felt pretty good. Not as fast as I have been, but not bad at all. It's nice to know that running hills really does seem to maintain cycling legs. Of course, after so much time off the bike, I will say that my undercarriage is a bit tender and leave it at that.

I ended up with about 85 miles in about 4.5 hours. The downside is that my knee still hurts. It didn't interfere with my cycling, but I could feel that it was sore. I'm not sure if cycling made things worse or if I was just feeling the effects of this morning's run. Either way, I plan to go for another longish ride like today's on Monday and then talk to the therapist about it on Tuesday.

At this point, I can't take much more of the sitting and waiting. I only have six weeks till I start law school, and there will be plenty of sitting around then. I feel like right now my best choice may be to just ride through the pain for a month or so and maybe even do some racing. Once school starts I can take a month or so completely off to heal and focus entirely on studying.

I have mixed feelings right now. On the one hand, I want to be back out running the trails. On the other, I'm sick of the injury and it kind of makes me want to never bother running again. 

AM: It turns out that cycling isn't entirely knee neutral, at least not with my injury, but my knee doesn't interfere with my cycling, so I don't care. And it turns out that even after six months of running, I'm still very much a cyclist--I feel comfortable, fast, and sexy on my bike (although the last may simply be my skewed perspective).

Anyways, I rode a loop through Grantsville for 83 pancake-flat miles. My legs feel fine after Saturday's ride, reinforcing my belief that trail running and cycling use the same muscles. My sit bones are still sore, however--there's no cross training for that, and for the first few miles I could feel every little bump on the road.

3:56

PM: Catherine is thinking about riding a century later this year, so we went out for a 14-mile ride this evening. 

More miles on the road bike. Just an easy recovery spin tonight--17 miles in about an hour.

I went for another mellow ride this evening, heading up Eagle Ridge and along Bountiful Boulevard to get in a few steep hills. Just under an hour and a half. Afterwards, I ran a quick mile with Catherine. No pain during the run, but my knee felt a little tender after.

I joined Catherine and a couple of her coworkers on their lunchtime run today. From the Church Office Building up through Memory Grove to Bonneville Boulevard and then back. It was nice to get out and run, and it was great to see Catherine, but my knee did not like it at all. It's official--no Speedgoat this year.

After work I went to the gym. My plan was to hike on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a 15 percent grade. After a few minutes, though, I was bored, so I bumped the pace up to 5 mph and did a little running. Then I bumped it up to 5.5 for a little more than 16 minutes and finished with 5 minutes at 5.5.

The good news is that running on the steep incline didn't seem to hurt my knee at all. I think my game plan now is to keep cycling, with at least a couple of short runs each week. That way, I'll maintain my fitness without forgetting how to run, and once my knee heals completely, I should be able to pick up right where I left off.

I'm disappointed to be missing Speedgoat, but I'll make up for that by racing to win next year. 

I was on the road early this morning. I rode out to Redwood Road, then up through Bountiful into Kaysville and back the way I came. It was mostly a steady, moderate effort, but I did pick it up for ten minutes or so before the turnaround. A little under 40 miles in a little under two hours.

PM: Catherine and I ran an easy mile on the track at East High after seeing a movie with some friends. My knee felt decent.

AM: More miles on the road bike. I went over Suncrest and felt terrible the whole way, so when I took a nail in my rear tire shortly after I pulled the plug on the ride instead of patching the tube. Such is life.

PM: Two miles with Catherine. My knee holds up well on the short runs, so I'll start introducing more running to my schedule--gradually.

I went out for a morning road ride--up Emigration Canyon, down the back of Little Mountain and then back the way I came.

My knee seems to be feeling better. Not well enough that I plan to race Speedgoat or anything else significant this year, but well enough that I plan to start mixing some running in with my cycling this week, probably starting tomorrow.

PM: Catherine and I went to the track at Highland High after work for speedwork with the Salt Lake Track Club. I was supposed to do 3x1600, but because I was afraid of my knee (and because I've lost my edge in my convalescence) I wimped out after two. I was trying to go easy--my plan was to run conservatively in the 5:45 range--but I wound up with 5:19:xx (my fastest ever, go me!) and 5:33:xx.

I think I'd like to finish this week with about 15 miles, plus whatever I do on the bike.

I went out for an easy run with Catherine and a friend from church this morning. Although I felt some twinges coming down through Memory Grove, my knee mostly felt fine, though I wonder how much of that was because our pace was so slow.

Edit--We weren't running slow because of Catherine.

This is my last month at work before I go back to school, so I have some vacation time to burn. As a result, I have every Wednesday in July off, and I plan to use them for long rides (since my knee probably won't allow long runs). Today I rode a loop around the Oquirrh Mountains through Eagle Mountain and then Tooele. I had a bit of a bonk around mile 110, either because I haven't built up my range this year or because I was fighting a headwind from 5 Mile Pass to Saltair. Or both. Either way, I was fine after a couple of gels, and except for that and a flat tire at the very beginning it was a good ride. 

5:45

I went to the gym after work with Catherine and ran three miles on the treadmill. My legs are still pretty fried from yesterday, but my knee is holding up well.

Catherine and I ran up to Virginia Avenue and then over to 5th South for a preview of the Deseret News 10K course. My knee held up well enough, and now I'm at 15 miles for the week. Baby steps, right?

Catherine is getting much faster, and it's fun to be a part of. I think she'll have a great run on the 24th.

I was hoping to ride up Big Mountain with Fritz this morning, but I'm in the process of taking one bike apart and putting another together so I wasn't ready to roll today.

Since I couldn't ride, I decided to run. My knee has been holding up lately, so I thought it might be time to try a trail, so I headed up to Grandeur Peak. The climb, brutal as always, went well. I pretty much hiked the entire thing, steady pace, no stopping. I hit the summit in 61 minutes--almost 10 minutes slower than I did when racing, but not bad all things considered. 

After a breather at the top, I had to decide whether I'd head back down the way I came or run down the back side and continue the loop through Millcreek Canyon, and I chose the latter. The descent into the canyon is more gradual, so I thought it would be easier on my knee. Even so, I was cautious. My run was more of a jog, and I walked down the steep, technical parts to spare my knee. Even though I was running slowly, I missed a step in a rock garden and wiped out hard. First time for everything, I guess.

After the descent, I washed my wounds in the stream and continued along the Pipeline trail. It's dead flat, and I appreciated being able to cruise along without worrying about my knee. I hit the turnoff to the game trail that climbs over the ridge back to the trailhead, but I turned back around after about 100 feet. The trail is very overgrown right now, and since one of Catherine's coworkers has poison ivy, I was afraid to take my chances in the foliage. So I continued along Pipeline thinking I'd simply run out the canyon and back to my car on the roads.

Unfortunately, I missed a turn somewhere and ended up having to bushwhack my way down the mountain and through someone's back yard. It was slow going, but I eventually I made it back to the road and then to my car.

I wasn't wearing a Garmin, so I don't know how far I went, but the race loop is 10 miles, so I assume I did about that. At 2:35, it was very slow, even though I was taking it easy. Of course, it would have been quicker if not for the off-trail adventure near the end. For now, I'm just glad to be back on the trails.

Catherine and I went on a mellow bike ride this evening so she could try out her new bike. We found a poopload of pennies near 9th and 9th. Life is good. 

I get restless legs at night. Last night they kept me up until sometime around midnight, so I wasn't exactly ready to go when the alarm went off at 5:00 this morning. Even so, Catherine and I stuck to the plan and drove to Sugarhouse. She stayed in the park, while I headed over to the track at Highland High for some speedwork, which was really just a blend of jogging, walking, running fast and wimping out.

Anyways, my plan was to run 5 x 800, walking 200 in between. I ran two, the first in 2:33 and the second in 2:32 (I have no sense of pacing or how fast I should be going, so I just kind of wing it). Then I decided to finish with 400s, first one in 77 and the second in 71 (the first was so slow because I thought I was running an 800 until I finished my first lap and decided I was done). Then I ran another mile, hitting the first and third laps hard and the second and fourth easy.

After I finished on the track I joined Catherine at the park and finished with another mile or so. I don't know how much my unstructured workouts help, but I doubt they hurt, and I'm glad to be doing some running without knee pain again (knock on wood). 

Catherine and I got up early this morning and met Jun and his friend Jason in Millcreek Canyon for a run on the Pipeline trail. It's a great choice for an easy trail run, and the temperature was perfect, too. Unfortunately for her, Catherine had a few "issues" on the return trip (See her blog for more details). We've all been there, though, and back at the car we all shared a few of our worst trailside emergencies, like the time I had to squat on the lawn at Liberty Park by the volleyball courts (and yes, that's in plain sight, or it would have been if anyone were around). Interestingly, it's never been an issue on the bike . . .

A good day in the mountains. 

I took another vacation day today, and I had originally planned to go for another long ride. But yesterday my friend Jared emailed me about a mountain run up in the Cottonwoods, and since my knee has been holding up lately I decided to tempt fate and join him and our friend Jon.

We met at the Big Cottonwood park and ride and Jared drove us up to Alta. From there we ran up the road and continued on past the end of the pavement, eventually picking up a trail up to Catherine's Pass(?). From there we ran down into Brighton, then up past Mount Millicent, then along a ridge over Solitude and then back down to Alta.

For the most part, I enjoyed the run. And the scenery was spectacular--it's amazing to see what we have so close to town here. But once we hit the ridge along Solitude, there wasn't much of a trail, and I'm not really into that. Especially not the 3,000 foot descent straight down a loose slope when the trail Jared expected turned out not to exist.

Still, it was an adventure, and I'm glad I went. According to Jon, that's how all runs with Jared end, so next time I'll be prepared. We were gone for about 2:45, but I didn't have my Garmin so I'm not sure how much time we actually spent running. You can read Jared's report here.

After the run I still thought I'd make it out for an afternoon ride, but after lunch with Catherine I didn't have time for a meaningfully long ride before meeting her at the temple, so I decided to hit Grandeur Peak instead. 

I took it easy on the descent because my knee was giving warning signs and I was listening, but before that I had a great ascent. The weather was reasonably cool and my stomach was settled, and at my steady but not forced pace I actually beat my race time. 2.2 miles and 3,300 feet (according to SportTracks) in 50:32. That's not bad, although the fastest ascent I know of is 39 minutes, which is hard to imagine.

I went for an easy road ride this evening. Jared gave me the GPS report for yesterday morning's run, and it turns out we climbed about 4500 feet. Which means I climbed (and descended) nearly 8000 feet yesterday over 15 miles. No wonder my quads are trashed.

1:24

I went for a flat, easy road ride up into Farmington this morning. My legs are feeling better, but tomorrow could be ugly.

2:21 

I wanted to break 35 minutes this morning, but given my lack of running over the past month I really didn't think that would happen. So I'm pleased with this morning's result, even if I do still get beat by high school girls.

I didn't even bother tapering for this one since I wasn't sure I'd be racing until earlier this week. Thanks to some mountain running with some serious vertical on Wednesday and a not-really-short ride on the road bike yesterday, I woke up with some sore quads. In fact, I really didn't even want to get out of bed, although that probably had more with my alarm going off at 4:30 than it did with my sore muscles.

Catherine and I lined up as close to the front as we could without being too rude, considering our relatively late arrival. The officials said go, and we were off. No, I'm just kidding. I'm sure the people up front started running, but a few rows back everyone seemed happy to stay put, or shuffle at best. Fortunately, once I crossed the official start I used my madd trail-running skillzz to hop on the grass and find enough space to start running.

I think I went out too hard. Thanks to the descents, my first two miles were a little under 5:10 (the fastest miles I've ever run, actually), and the third wasn't much slower. I didn't blow up, but I did think it was best to slow down after that. I watched the group I had been running with slowly pull away, but I ended up passing several of those runners later while no one else passed me, so I think the decision to let up was a good one.

As I ran along the parade route on 2nd East, I started contemplating just how much I hate 5Ks and 10Ks. In fact, I hate them almost as much as I hate criterium racing on the bike, and for the same reason--I don't like going that hard. I don't like being dizzy and cross-eyed, I don't like searing lungs and I don't like feeling like my breakfast may come up at any moment (especially after I didn't even eat breakfast). I much prefer the slow burn of a 50K in the mountains. I'm not saying those are easier--they're just hard in a way that suits me better.

As I turned onto 9th south, not only could I see the finish, which seemed so close and yet so far, I could also see that I had a chance to break 35. You'd think that would have made me happy, but mostly it just annoyed me. If it was obvious I wasn't going to make my goal, I could have just cruised in and been happy that I was going to wind up with a PR regardless. But instead I had to keep on the gas all the way to the finish, and that hurts. Boo hoo.

Anyways, I crossed the line with what looked like 34:50 on the official clock and 34:38 on my stopwatch (actually, Catherine's stopwatch), which I started as I actually crossed the starting line. I'll update when the official times are up.   

After the race I rode up Big Mountain with Fritz. When riding with other cyclists, we mostly just cruise around. When riding with Fritz, apparently, we drive it pretty hard. I was drained, but it was a good ride, even though I couldn't find it in me to hang with Fritz for the final 5K to the summit. I hope to ride with him more in the future.

Edit--Official results are up. Chip time was 34: 35.1, gun time was 34:49.5.

Catherine and I went for an easy bike ride this evening. Today was a hot one, but it was very nice by the time we hit the road.

AM: Catherine and I dragged ourselves out of bed for an early run at Sugarhouse Park. I'm surprised by how much the 10K took out of me. I hobbled around the park for three laps before calling it quits. Catherine seems to be holding up better than me, but she's pretty sore, too, so not by much.

On the plus side, we stopped by Smith's on the way home and bought a couple of 12-packs of old-school Dr. Pepper, which we didn't even know existed until this morning.

PM: I rode my bike to work this morning (not much more than a mile) so I could take the long route home. I wasn't wearing a watch, but I was probably out for a little more than an hour. It really helps my legs loosen up.

Since I've been riding lately, I may as get myself into some sort of racing shape, just in case I decide to race again before the season ends. For the last couple of years, one of my staple workouts has been sub-threshold climbing on steep hills, so this morning I rode over Capitol Hill and then up to North Salt Lake to take advantage of Eagle Ridge and its many 12 percent grades. About 19 miles in about 74 minutes, with a little more than 2,000 feet of climbing made for a good morning ride. Unfortunately, I left my house key at home, so I ended up hanging out on the front steps for a while until Catherine finished her run.

This was my last day off before I leave my job on Friday. I started the morning with another run up out of Alta. I brought a camera this time, and my plan was to run the same route as last week, stopping along the way to take pictures. Of course, I got lost, so I made up the route as I went. Over Catherine's Pass and then down to the Brighton base area. From there I ran up past Millicent and through Solitude before climbing up to a ridge and descending some nice singletrack back to the car. 10 miles and 3,000 feet of vertical in 1:48 

In the afternoon I went out for a ride. My plan was to climb Big Mountain, but I was tired and unmotivated, so I wandered up to Wasatch, over to the mouth of Big Cottonwood, then down to 9th East and back home. About 32 miles in 1:42.

I was pretty tired this evening, but I decided to join Catherine on her run for another 4 miles to pad my weekly total.  

Racing tomorrow.

A quick clarification--when I wrote yesterday that I was racing today, I wasn't referring to Speedgoat. When I injured my knee, I rolled my registration over to next year, and there was no way to change that. What I meant was that I was racing my bike. And by racing I mean "racing."

Since Speedgoat was out, I planned to ride a local charity ride in the canyons with Fritz, but at the last minute I changed my mind and signed up for the Tour de Park City instead.

A little background--last year, the TdPC started and ended at Kimball Junction. The course was somewhere in the 170-180 mile range, and I won the men's 1/2 race handily on a long two-man break that started at the bottom of the Mirror Lake Highway and turned into a solo break in Kamas when my breakaway companion got a flat tire. 

This year, the TdPC followed mostly the same route but started instead in Coalville, shortening the course to 145 miles, and I believe I finished DFL in the men's 1/2 race after getting dropped like an anchor at the bottom of the Mirror Lake Highway.

Basically, my race this year was the exact opposite of my race last year. The difference, of course, was mileage. I went into this year's race with around 700 miles of cycling in my legs, almost all of it in the last three weeks. I went in last year's race with more than 10 times that--thousands and thousands of base miles, racing miles and everything in between.

The difference was obvious from the beginning. Last year I raced at the end of a hard training week, so I was tired, but my legs had snap. This year they didn't, and I could feel it almost from the start. As we rolled up Chalk Creek Canyon, every time there was a surge or a steep hill, I had to force myself to respond. My lungs were fine--I wasn't sucking wind--but my legs were only barely up to the task.

I made it through Chalk Creek and the dirt road that follows without any problems, and I was fine on the road to Evanston, too, although a poorly timed nature break forced me to waste a valuable effort chasing back onto the pack.  

Things were pretty mellow from  Evanston to the Mirror Lake Highway. At one point, a bunch of riders called for a nature break, and since everyone was stopping I though I may as well, even though I didn't really need to go. Of course, the pack decided not to stop, and I ended up towing everyone who did back up to the pack. Lame, and another effort wasted.

There was a feed zone right after we caught back on, and Catherine was there with a couple of bottles. I was happy to see her. 

Once the climb started in earnest, at about 90 miles, I went straight out the back. Granted, I didn't put up much of a fight, but I could feel that the miles had taken their toll on me, so I decided the best option was to simply ride my pace and see what happened.

I ended up waiting for two other riders so I wouldn't be alone on the descent. But I got dropped on the descent, so I wound up alone anyways. This happens a lot. It makes sense on technical descents, because I'm timid and I brake way too much. But I don't understand why I get dropped on straight high-speed descents. I'm spun out, and I'm as low as I can go, but I just can't keep up. It happened regularly at the Tax Day circuit race. It happened a couple of times at the Everest Challenge. It happened on Trapper's Loop at the Tour of Utah last year. And now it happened here. Maybe I should pick up some weights when I top out on climbs.

Another straggler caught up to me halfway through the descent, but by that point I was in survival mode and I just wanted to be alone inside my head. So I worked with him until we hit the feed zone in Kamas, where I stopped to talk to Catherine. I think the other rider thought I was pulling out and rode on alone, which is exactly what I wanted. I can be a jerk when I'm tired and cranky.

The last 25 miles back to Coalville aren't bad by themselves, but after 120 miles of racing they're awful. The rollers were destroying me, and the headwind around the reservoir didn't help, either. Still, I managed to keep my effort steady and I did make it to the finish eventually. The masters racers (who started 5 minutes after us) never caught me, so I guess there's that.

I finished in just under 7:15. Last year, I finished the longer and harder course in 8:03:35. Of course, times are irrelevant in bike racing and all that matters is placing--unfortunately, that makes things worse. Last year I won by nearly 6 minutes. This year I came in about 45 minutes behind the winners. Ouch.

Anyways, it was fun to race again (allowing for a liberal interpretation of the word "fun"), but I think trail racing may be a better fit for me. I don't think that's sour grapes, either. The nature of road racing simply means that it will never be as individual or private as trail running, and one of the things I love most about trail running is the individual nature of the sport.

Of course, after having been beaten so badly I can't help thinking about a return to cycling. I'm just not sure if I'm willing to make that kind of commitment right now.