Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Catherine and I went out for a nice road ride together, as is becoming our Sunday evening routine. My legs feel surprisingly un-sore, but my appetite is out of control.

I went out for an early run with Catherine this morning. We ran to and from Liberty Park, plus one lap, for a total of five miles.

My legs didn't feel too sore, so later in the morning I decided to try the BST for the first time since my injury. I took things easily, but by the time I was up on the ridge I could tell just how tired my legs really were, so I pulled out early and headed straight down Terrace Hills Drive. I had eaten not too long before the run, so in addition to the tired legs I had a sloshy stomach. To be honest, it felt almost exactly like the end of a 50K race. Maybe that's a training idea.

After feeling so tired yesterday, I thought I'd take it easy today. But then my friend Jon asked if I was up for a morning run on the Grandeur Peak loop, and I couldn't resist.

Jon started at his house, so I met him at the trailhead around 6:15. There are two trails to the top--the primary route, and a second trail that joins the main route about a mile from the summit. Neither of us had ever run the latter, so we decided to try it today. The trail is much more mellow at the bottom, but the climb to the main route is extremely steep and loose. In the end, both trails are about the same length, with the secondary route seeming to be only a few hundredths of a mile shorter.

Our pace up the climb was relaxed and conversational, but as the summit came into sight we realized that we could easily break an hour, so we ran the final stretch and topped out in 58:xx. I think it was 58:51, but I wasn't wearing the watch.

From the summit we ran down into Millcreek and onto the Pipeline trail. I decided to let things go and actually run the descent this morning. Seems to have been the right call--I had a blast, and my knee held up nicely.

We ran a few miles on the Pipeline together before Jon headed down Rattlesnake Gulch and back home. I continued along the Pipeline until I hit the game trail that climbs steeply to the ridge. Last time I skipped that section because I was afraid of poison ivy. After being assured that there was nothing to worry about, I decided to climb the ridge today. Unfortunately, I lost the trail for a while and ended up bushwhacking, a recurring theme in my trail runs. Other than plenty of welts from the brush and a brief run-in with what may have been an angry swarm of wood ticks, I made it out onto the ridge, down the treacherous descent on the other side, and back to my car. Not a bad way to start the day.

Once of the things I'll miss most about living in Salt Lake may end up being Grandeur Peak. I love going up mountains--whether running, cycling or skiing--and Grandeur is a doozy. In fact, I doubt there are many trails that offer a greater bang for your buck in terms of climbing. And I the view from the top is just a bonus.

I was sore and tired after yesterday's run, but I was still hoping to break 50 minutes. And I did, posting a 49:25, my fastest time by just over a minute. It's still slower than the leaders at the Fun Run, and about 10 minutes slower than the fastest time I know of. But it's a step in the right direction, and I'm sure I could go faster with fresh legs.

Now back to packing . . .

PM: Went out for a late-night mile or so with Catherine. It felt good to shake the legs out.

Catherine and I went for an easy PM run on the Pipeline trail. We saw a rattlesnake on the side of the trail on our way back. Actually we both heard the snake. I made eye contact, but Catherine never actually saw it. She was a little startled, though. As was I.

I decided to keep with this week's Grandeur Peak theme this morning. I left my car at the mouth of Millcreek Canyon (because I'm cheap and didn't want to pay three bucks to park at the trailhead) and then ran up to the Rattlesnake Gulch trailhead. I was feeling pretty worked on the climb up the gulch, but I feel better about that now knowing that the trail climbs a little over 600 feet in 0.7 miles, which is reasonably stiff. 

At the top of the gulch, I picked up the Pipeline. This was the easiest part of my run, and I felt pretty good as I cruised along in the high 7s and low 8s for a couple of miles until I reached the Grandeur Peak trail.

I've run down this trail many times but I've never run  up it, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Unfortunately, the trail kicked my butt and although I ran most of it, I ended up hiking more than I would have liked. From the back side, the Grandeur Peak trail climbs 2200 feet in 2.7 miles, which is certainly steep, but with the possible exception of the last half mile there isn't anything on it that shouldn't be runable. At least, not if you're feeling good. Which I wasn't.

I'll have to try it again sometime.

I left my car planning to run this as an out and back, but early on I started thinking about running it as a loop. At the top, I decided the loop was the way to go and I set off down the west side of Grandeur. Which, I don't think I need to remind anyone, is steep. Steep enough that even at a quick pace I was only running 11:37 per mile. The descent is tough, but I do like it, and I think it's a great way to prepare the quads for long descents late in a race.

On the fire road a couple of hundred feet from the bottom, I almost stepped on a rattlesnake that was out sunning itself. But it didn't rattle at me, so maybe it was something else, or maybe it was dead. Either way, it startled me. I hate snakes.

From the park at the bottom of the climb it was just under two miserable miles back to the car. Miserable because I was on a busy road, miserable because it was getting hot, miserable because I had rocks in my shoes and miserable because I drank a ton of water at the park and upset my stomach. But the miles went by quick enough and soon I was back at my car. I dunked myself in the stream, which felt great, and then it was back home to pick up the U-Haul and keep packing.

Ah, the packing . . . where did we get so much stuff?

PM: An easy mile with Catherine put me at 50 miles for the first time since my knee injury. Result!

My parents were in town this weekend, and while here they decided to ride the ULCER. (That's "Utah Lake Century Epic Ride." Easily one of the worst event names ever.) I rode the century a couple of times back in the day, but not since I started racing. And has hard as I try, I can't completely suppress my inner elitist at these events. But it was a lot of fun, and I was glad I got to ride with Catherine.

My parents were riding the 111-mile option, but Catherine and I decided to stick to 60, considering that Catherine has only ridden 4 or 5 times this year, with a long ride of 26. In fact, considering that I thought the 60 seemed a little ambitious. But it went great, we finished faster than expected, and Catherine discovered that not only does she like riding in packs, she's good at it, too. She also discovered that, no, she can't knock me of my bike and it's probably best not to try.

Catherine and I are still in the process of moving, in accordance with what a friend of ours calls the "20-80 rule," which states that it takes about 80 percent of the time to move the last 20 percent of your stuff. I call it "holy crap we have a lot of crap." But whatever you call it, I'm sure you're familiar with the fun of trying to move all of those last little things lying around that don't really have a home but aren't really trash, either. Good times.

Anyways, my original plan was to get up really early and run Timp this morning, seeing as we now live in Provo. But then I decided it would be a good idea to assemble the dresser we bought for Catherine at Ikea this weekend before I headed up to Salt Lake, so I planned to stop and run Grandeur Peak on my way to the old apartment. Then I remembered just how long it takes to assemble Ikea furniture.

Long story short, I put the dresser together in about three hours. By then I figured I didn't really have time for any kind of a long run, so I just drove up to the old apartment and ran the BST just like the good ol' days. After that I met Catherine at the tire place and then we went to grab lunch together. (Eating out frequently is a side effect of moving, and will continue to be until we unpack all the dishes.)

As I was dropping Catherine off at the office, some gut approached us for a couple of bucks, although it took him about 15 minutes for him to actually get to the point where we realized that was what he was after. Longest setup ever. I wonder how it works out for him.

1:21:52

In the middle of all the packing and the cleaning and the moving, a ride or a run on the trails is one of the highlights that I look forward to each day. This morning I set out for another loop on the BST, but as I headed up towards Dry Whatever I could tell something was off. My stomach was a mess, and my head wasn't really any better. I pushed on, mapping out a newer, shorter route in my head with every step, but by the time I hit the trailhead it was obvious that the only smart choice was to turn around and call it a day.

With so many new variables in the mix over the last few days, it's hard to say which one or which ones messed me up. I'm disappointed, but the only thing to do now is put this run behind me and move forward. Maybe I'll get out for another short run this evening. Maybe I'll just write today off and count it as recovery. Either way, I hope to feel better tomorrow.

38:51

Went for a morning road ride with a friend in Salt Lake. Out past the airport, then an out and back to Saltair. Mellow miles with good company.

Travel day, so not much time to run, other than a few miles on the Pinecrest trails with Catherine and her brother.

Two laps around Pinecrest Lake. The trail is pretty flat, but incredibly technical. I don't know if I've ever run such a rocky trail.

In the afternoon we hiked up to a place called Cleo's Bath with Catherine's family and took a dip in the mountain water.

I ran up to Cleo's Bath, took a quick dip  and then finished a lap around the lake.

Hiked back up to Cleo's Bath. Just Catherine and I this time.

Pleasant road run through the pines, followed by 8 hill sprints on the steep driveway to the cabin (8-10 seconds each).

Still here. Since Thursday, Catherine and I have been in a cabin at Pinecrest, nestled away in the Sierra Nevada about 30 miles east of Sonora. Catherine's great grandpa built the cabin back in the '30s, and it's still in the family, so this trip is a bit of a tradition for Catherine. And I'm glad I get to go along from here on out.

Of course, there's no internet in the cabin, which I hope explains my lack of updates over the past week. Now that we're back, I'll enter my miles and a few notes for the past days as soon as I get a chance.

We spent today in the car, but we managed to sneak in a very quick little run when we got home. Just before we left Tigger got his teeth on one of Catherine's bras and pretty much mangled it, so we decided to mix tonight's run with business. We ran down to the Provo Town Center to get a new bra at Victoria's Secret. Which meant I got to run home through the sketchy part of Provo (if such a thing exists) with a pink, lacy bag in hand. How many of you have done that before?

Anyways, orientation starts tomorrow, which means running will be taking a back seat. That doesn't mean I'm quitting--it just means my first year of law school takes priority. My plan for the next 8 or 9 months is to maintain as much fitness and speed as possible. That way, I should be ready to pick up right where I left off when summer rolls around again.

Today is the first day of our new lives, or at least our lives as they'll be for the next semester. Catherine was off to work a little after five, and I'm on my way up to class in a few minutes.

Before leaving, I managed to sneak in a quick run. Down to the mall, two laps and home. Four miles total, mostly easy with a faster 5:44 thrown in somewhere in the middle.

During this first year my training volume will be significantly lower than it has been, but I think I'll be able to keep it from dropping too low by running short doubles. A solo run in the morning, including any workout (hills, speed) I want to do, plus an evening run with Catherine seems like a workable plan. We'll see how it turns out.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be seeing much trail time outside of the weekends for a while.

26:55

PM: I ran a new route that I'm sure I'll run often, about 6.5 miles west through the hills and then back home.

46:07

After walking Catherine to the bus, I ran the same loop I did last night. I used the little Garmin ghost runner tool, so I ran harder than I would have otherwise and finished a minute faster than I did last night. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not.

45:08 

After Catherine got home for work we went out for two laps around the Provo Towne Centre. What started out as an easy four-mile run ended up as a nice little progression workout, with splits of 8:57, 8:32, 8:18 and 7:31.

I've decided that 10 miles a day should be manageable during law school.

33:23

I combined my west hills loop with the Provo Towne Centre route to create the extended west hills loop. (Hills in the road sense, as the elevation gain is just over 300 feet.) A good start to the day.

56:04 

At about 8:00 on Friday evening, I decided to run Jun's Quest for Kings marathon, despite being completely unprepared for the run or even for that distance in general. 

I woke up at 3:00 in the morning and was on the road by 3:30. After stopping at Smith's to buy bandages for the blisters on my feet and at McDonald's to buy breakfast, I drove up Provo Canyon and on to Wyoming via I-80. I knew I would have to drive past Evanston to get to the trailhead, but I didn't realize how far past. And I was surprised at how far it was from the highway to the trail--nearly 40 miles, mostly on dirt roads. King's Peak is pretty remote.

I pulled into the parking lot at the Henry's Fork trailhead around 6:30. Since the race was supposed to start at 6:00, I assumed I was well behind Jun, Scott and Aaron and doubted I would see them until they were on their way back down. I was dressed and on the trail by 6:45, and after a mile I came to the real trail. It turns out I parked in the equestrian lot, and the trail I started running on was just a path to get horses from the lot to the trail without using the road. No matter--the extra trail was nice, and I ran into two moose along the way.

Once I was on the real trail, I settled into a groove and kept the pace nice and easy. The trail climbed only gradually, but it was strewn with enough rocks to keep things interesting (fun on the way out, not so much on the way back).

At first I was concerned because I'd never been up to King's Peak and I didn't know if I was on the right trail. But after a couple of miles I ran into some backpackers who confirmed I was headed in the right direction, so I stopped worrying.

Other than a couple of quick pit stops, the first 10+ miles were uneventful. I ran the entire thing except for one 50-foot stretch that I decided to hike, and I hit the first pass in about 1:45. By this time I was starting to wonder which peak was King's Peak, but since there were less than three miles left, I thought 2:30 seemed like a reasonable goal for the summit.

At this first pass there are two options--one is to descend down into a small valley and around the pass, which adds distance and vertical to the course. The other option is a well-traveled shortcut straight over the pass. At Jun's suggestion (from the website) I took the shortcut, and soon I was climbing straight up a boulder field. I lost the trail quickly, and not knowing which peak I was climbing I had to guess what direction to go. I guessed wrong, but a few minutes later some hikers somewhere above me kicked a rock loose, which was my clue that I needed to head the other direction. I doubled back, and eventually I found what there was of a trail.

I soon came around the pass and onto another boulder field above a marshy valley. This is where things got confusing. I didn't know where I was going, and neither, it seemed, did anyone else. There were hikers scattered all over the place, and they all seemed to be following different routes to different peaks. As I picked my way through the boulders, I asked three different hikers which peak was King's Peak and I got three different answers. Eventually I abandoned the boulder field and the shortcut altogether and picked my way down to the valley, where I wandered around for a bit before finding the trail, which took me up to another small pass between two peaks.

At that point I had to guess which peak I was going to climb. I was concerned that I hadn't yet seen Jun and Aaron and Scott, either on their way up or down, and I was worried that I was way off course. Based on where the trail seemed to go, I chose a peak and started climbing. I was mostly picking my way through boulders because there was no clear trail, which did nothing to convince me that I was on the right path. And by the time I was within a quarter mile of the summit I still hadn't seen Jun and his crew, so I decided I was climbing the wrong mountain and I pretty much gave up.

Since (I thought) I was off course and on the wrong mountain, I figured there was no reason for me to finish the scramble to the summit so instead I sat down on a boulder along the ridge and ate some Clif Shots and Sports Beans while enjoying the view in both directions (and what a view it was). After a few minutes I decided to head back down, and just I as I was getting up I saw a couple of guys coming toward me from the summit who looked like they knew what they were doing. When they got to me I asked which peak was King's Peak, and they pointed to the peak I had been climbing up to. I asked if they had seen three runners up there, and they told me that there was just one.

Confused, I decided to head up and see if the runner was Jun, Aaron or Scott. I made it to the summit a few minutes later, but I didn't see anyone else so I turned right around. As I started my descent, I saw a guy sitting and eating a ways below the ridge, so I turned around and climbed down to where he was. It wasn't Jun and it wasn't Scott, so I asked if he was Aaron but he wasn't that, either. He was there for the race, although he had started at 5:00, and he said he hadn't seen anyone else on the trail. I started wondering if maybe the Forest Service had arrested Jun and Co., which would explain why I hadn't seen them.

I left the other runner to enjoy his lunch and began picking my way back down through the boulders. As I approached the saddle, I saw two runners--Aaron and Jun. They were surprised to see me. We chatted for a bit, and then I decided to get back on the trail. By then I was sick of boulder hopping, so I told Jun I was going to skip the shortcut in hopes that the longer trail would pay off by providing more runnable terrain. Jun advised me not to, and I wish I had listened.

The long trail was much longer and no better than the shortcut. And by then my knees and ankles were killing me, and I found myself tenderly picking my way through the steep descents and walking many of the climbs. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. With the time off my injury forced on me, I haven't been putting in the miles this summer. The last time I went for a run much longer than two hours was the Sapper Joe 50K, way back in May. Simply put, my legs were not up to the task.

By the time I got back to the saddle at 10 miles, I had been out for about 4:15. Which means, thanks to detours, frustration and bad legs, it had taken me about 2:30 to travel about 7 miles. That's unacceptable. But, as I already said, I guess it should have been expected.

As I started down from the saddle, I ran in to two guys who I assumed were from the BYU track team. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I got back to the business of finishing the run.

It was a death march. For a while I was able to keep myself under 9 minutes per mile, but after not too long my stomach hurt, my knees hurt and my ankles hurt. I slowed to a crawl, taking frequent walk breaks, and I think the last 6 or 7 miles passed in about 10-12 minutes each. When I finally reached the trailhead, more than 27 miles and 6 hours after starting, I was so ready to be done. I packed up my stuff, hopped in the car and drove to Evanston for a huge burger and fries.

So that's my report. The King's Peak trail is a beautiful one, and I'm glad I got to run it. But I showed up unprepared, and the mountain kicked my butt. I've learned my lesson, and I will return to avenge myself.

Three easy miles by myself in the morning, and three easy miles with Catherine in the evening.

Three laps around the mall (5.2 miles) by myself in the morning, three miles with Catherine in the evening.

AM: Ran the Slate Canyon loop (formerly known as the west hills loop) with small extension for a total of 7 miles. I left the house planning to run the extension, but I changed my mind halfway through the run. Then a police blockade on the road forced me to run it anyways. I wonder what that was all about. 

I'm still weighing in at less than I think I should in the mornings. I should eat more.

51:51

PM: Catherine and I went for an easy evening run up towards campus, 3.3 miles. Finished at J Dawgs and ate dinner as we walked home. Very nice.

I've been staying up late studying every night, so I decided not to run this morning. Instead I just went for an easy evening run with Catherine. Two laps around the Provo Towne Centre. We ran a little too soon after eating, but other than that everything was fine.

I ran two laps around the Towne Centre with some speedwork thrown in, then I finished with the Slate Canyon loop. I'd like to say it was a good run, but some GI issues made it otherwise. On the plus side, I've survived my first week of law school.

1:04:24

I was at the TOU half marathon with Catherine this morning, so I got out for my planned long run around noon. I felt awful immediately, so I cut it to five miles and decided to try again in the evening.

When I went out again, I decided to run up to the top of the Y for the first time. A friend had told me that the trail wasn't steep enough to be good training for mountain running, but I'm not sure if I agree. The technical aspect and the altitude aren't there, but the trail climbs 1,100 feet in less than 1.1 miles, which qualifies as brutally steep in my book. I'm sure I'll be running up to the Y quite a bit over the next year.

Interestingly, I got whistles and catcalls three times on my evening run, and I've gotten the same at least as many times throughout the week here in Provo. You'd think that just means all the women down here appreciate my sexy legs, but only guys have been whistling. For reference, I didn't get whistled at once during the entire time we lived in the Avenues. Make of that what you will.

"Dude, remember the time we yelled at that runner?"

"Ya man, his shorts were like, way short."

"I know, and you like, totally told him so."

"Dude, that was freaking AWESOME!"

[High fives all around.]

Catherine and I went out for a short, easy spin on the road bikes for the first time in a while.

In the evening we went to my sister's house with the rest of my siblings for cake and Guitar Hero.

AM: I've come down with a little cold that's been going around, so I feel a bit sluggish and I've got a fierce sore throat. Fortunately it doesn't seem to affect my running much and I put in some good miles on the Slate Canyon loop.

48:52

PM: Easy run with Catherine. One lap around the Towne Centre, 3 miles total.

27:18

AM: My cold made it hard to sleep last night, and once I fell asleep a false alarm from the carbon monoxide detector woke me up, so I was slow to drag myself out of bed this morning. But I felt a lot better once I was on the road and squeezed in 6.8 miles before class. Now if I could only get rid of this sore throat . . . 

47:00 

PM: Went for an easy run through Provo with Catherine.

32:03