Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I'm back. I haven't decided is this is a limited engagement or a long-term return, but I'm registered for the Saint George Marathon in October, and I thought I should keep a record of my preparation. If I use the paln I used for Ogden last year, today is day 1.

My goal is 2:45, same as it was at Ogden, but this time I plan to get it.

Of course, I'll be a little more flexible with my training this year. Having just finished four years of school, I'm looking to get back into shape and have some fun doing it, so I want to spend some time on trails rather than running intervals. Also, I plan to run either the Sapper Joe 50K or the Mid Mountain Marathon (or both) in preparation, so I'll need to get ready for that.

Todays run: 30 minutes, alternating between 5 minutes easy and 1 minute at about 5K pace. I went a little over and ended up running about 35 minutes.

I ran about five easy miles this morning, although my GPS never found a signal so I can't say for sure exactly how far I went. Maybe I'll drive the route this evening and update my post accordingly. 

Other than that, there's not much else to say about my run other than that it was nice and I felt fine. Hooray.

I started with an easy jog over to Provo High, where I did some 800s. It turns out the track is closed to the public now, but I just hopped the fence and was done before 5:00. 

5x800m with 200m recoveries. I was supposed to be going at about a 5K pace. Going by feel, that ended up being about 2:55 on average, which seems disappointingly slow. But I haven't run much at all since Ogden last year, and I haven't done any speedwork, so I guess that's what I should expect. Fortunately, there's still plenty of time between now and St. George.

Same run as on Tuesday. Out to 5th West/State Street, up into Orem and around the University Mall, past Costco (and Runner's Corner), back down the bike path along University and then home. I wore my GPS today and the route turned out to be a tenth of a mile longer than I reported on Tuesday, so bonus. Putting in the big miles this week, Krupicka style :-)

Easy miles on the Provo River Trail. A duck jumped out of the bushes as I ran past Walgreens and nearly gave me a heart attack.

Easy Saturday miles in a light drizzle.

I ran north along Carterville and then Palisade(?) until I could drop down to Riverwoods. From there I went back south on the River Trail along University until I hit the Chevron, where I jogged back over to Carterville.

Other than a few blocks on one of my regular weekday routes, I've never really run along Carterville Road. After today, I'm not sure why. It's got everything you'd want in a road to run on. It's quite, it's scenic, it's (relatively) uninterrupted, and it's lined with huge, shady trees (not that the last one mattered today). And, as an added bonus, there are tons of speed bumps to keep trafffic in check.

I think I'll make Carterville one of my regular routes.

Out of the blue, my ankle started to hurt last week on Monday afternoon. It didn't get any better throughout the week, but it felt much better after taking yesterday off, so I knew that the smart thing for me to do would be to take a litte more time off until it was completely better.

But against my better judgment, I decided to take advantage of the holiday to hit the trails. At the very least I was wise enough to consider the limitations of both my ankle and my current fitness, and I limited myself to a short run up to Rock Canyon Campground instead of up Squaw Peak or over the Slate Canyon - Y Mountain loop.

As expected, my ankle now hurts more than it did yesterday. But it was a beautifiul morning for a run, so I'm not sorry. At least not yet.

My legs feel pretty beat up after today's little climb and descent, even though my pace was so slow that the entire run took a little over an hour. It's kind of embarassing, really. There was a time (only a few years ago) when I could tag the Squaw Peak summit and be back to the car in under 90 minutes. 

Talking like that makes me feel and sound like a has-been :-).

As expected, my little trail run yesterday afternoon set my ankle back a bit. Even so, I was going to run this morning. I even got dressed and headed out the door, but when I started to feel trouble within a couple hundred feet, I turned around, the turned around again, and finally turned around one last time and went home. 

As impatient as I'm feeling, it's better to take time off now while my training is just getting started and there's more time to make up for lost time. 

I planned to run again this morning, but Nora had different plans and kept me up till about 1:00 in the morning. After that, there was no way I was going to wake up to run at 4:30.

Maybe Nora did me a favor--at the very least. I doubt the extra day of rest will hurt me.

Anyway, I'll be running again tomorrow, no matter how my leg feels when I wake up.

I ran a few easy miles this morning after taking a few days off to let my ankle heal and sure enough, nothing changed. Of course, although my ankle hurts after running, it doesn't seem to be hurting progressively more each time. So I've decided that I'm going to just try to run through it, whatever it is, until I get better or my body forces me to stop.

Bring it on, stupid ankle.

Four easy miles, out and back (heading east first) on the Provo River Trail. When I wake up in the morning, my ankle is stiff and sore, and it's pretty sore after I run, too. But while I'm running it's only a minor nuisance at worst, and usually it feels fine. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Today, unlike Monday, I did not oversleep, and that meant I got to do the longer trail run I've been wanting to. Specifically, Squaw Peak from Rock Canyon. Which isn't really a long run, but I guess it's all relative.

I hit the turnoff to the Squaw Peak trail, at just under two miles, in about 20 minutes, and I hit the summit, a touch over two miles later, in another 38 minutes. Which means I topped out in under an hour, something I didn't expect.

Of course, that means I was giving the trail too much credit or my fitness too little. Maybe both.

Anyways, I spent about five minutes at the summit and then ran back to the car in a bit under 40 minutes. As I was finishing, other people were just starting to get onto the trail, and the sun still hadn't come over the mountains. In a lot of ways, it was a perfect run.

After the run I picked up some donuts, which seems to have become a recent Saturday tradition, and after Catherine, Elliott and I ate them I went out for a short jog around the neighborhood with Elliott and Nora, because I enjoy it and Elliott enjoys it and I think Nora does too.

I usually run early in the morning--before 5:00. But last night Nora had a terrible night and I was up with her until about 3:00, which means that even after skipping my run so I could sleep an extra hour, I got less than three hours of sleep last night.

When I got home, I for some reason thought it would be a good idea to run before dinner, since I knew it would be a bad idea after. So I put Elliott in the stroller and went out to do mile repeats. Even though I hadn't properly eaten throughout the day, and even though I hadn't slept the night before, even though my legs were trahsed from Saturday's run, and even though it was over 90 degrees once the sun came out.

Anyway, the run went as poorly as expected. In fact, it was even worse since I don't know how to pace myself. My schedule called for 5 repeats at about a 10K pace. I decided that today's run would be self-deprecating rather than aspirationa, and I planned to target a 6:30 pace. But I ran the first mile in 5:40 (oops), and when I tried so slow down for the next I still ran it in under 6:00 (double oops).

I ran the third in 6:30, beause I was trashed, not because I got any better at targeting my pace, and half way through the fourth I pulled the plug.

By that point, I was trashed--bonked, dehydrated, whatever. Fortunately, I had Elliott around to keep my company, and we managed to limp the last few miles home.

At the end I felt a lot like I do at the end of an ultra. That's not a good wayt to feel after four miles on a bike path :-).

Six easy miles, out and back on Carterville. My average pace was just under 7:30, which felt mellow enough, but my legs are still beat up and I'm feeling some effects of yesterday evening, so it was not as easy a run as it probably should have been. 

The training plan called for 800s and 400s today, so I went for a run up Rock Canyon, which is pretty much the same thing, right?

Actually, I think I already mentioned it, but although I'm using the same training plan I used for Ogden last year, I'm using it very loosely. Basically, I use it as a guide for mileage and to tell me whether I should be running hard or easy on a given day. I'd like to run some sort of trail race in August or September before shifting to full-time road training. So for now, if the schedule calls for a track workout, or something along those lines, and I'd rather run off road, I'll just make sure to include some climbing and call it good.

Today's run was good. Short, but good.  

I overslept by a little bit so I only ran four easy miles instead of the scheduled easy six. That's what I was supposed to do tomorrow, so maybe I'll run today's six then.

This was yesterday's planned run. I felt pretty good. Probably better than I would have felt yesterday.

I went to bed at 11:00 last night, and about 3:30 this morning Nora decided it was time for us to have some daddy-daughter time. So when I started my run this morning, I was a bit more tired than I would have liked. But even so I had a pretty good time.

I ran the Slate Canyon to Y Mountain loop, which was one of my regular routes during my first year of law school, and is still one of my favorites. Back then, I could run the loop in something like 80 or 90 minutes. Today, it was a touch over 105. That's significantly faster than I was last time I ran the same route, for what it's worth.

My "accomplishment" today was that I was able to run ("run") every step of the Slate Canyon dirt road, even if I was moving slowly. And to be clear, I use the term road loosely. As rugged and ridiculously steep as that road is, you'd need a pretty specialized vehicle to drive up it.

I planned to walk the final singletrack pitch when I got there, and that's exactly what I did. It was still a beast. If I recall correctly, it climbs at a rate of 1200+ feet per mile, which puts it in the same level of steepness as the west route up Grandeur Peak.

The descent was fine. There'a  lot of debris on the trail up high because of winter avalanches, and a lot of hikers on the trail down low, because today is Saturday and eveyone hikes the Y. Both things slowed me down, but not as much as I slowed myself down.

I cut the warm-up portion of today's run short out of time considerations, but I did the entire workout, which consisted of five miles at goal pace, with the last quarter mile all-out. My pace was in the mid 6:30s, which is a little faster than my actual pace from Ogden but not as fast as I want to run at Saint George. For now, I think it's sufficient. But I think it goes without saying that I'd like to see that pace improve over the summer as I get fit and optimistic. 

Six easy miles on Carterville. Sometimes these easy runs don't feel as easy as they're supposed to. I imagine that wouldn't be the case if I didn't have to get up so early to do them :-)

Hill repeats near my house. After my run I headed to work, but along the way my car got totaled on the freeway.

I woke up with a sore neck, thanks to the accident yesterday morning. Fortunately, the bruise and cut on my shin from where I hit the underside of the dash aren't bothering me. 

Six easy miles on Carterville. That's become something of a routine for me. Maybe I should experiment with new routes, though. There's an incredible amount of dandelion fluff or something  piled up along portions of Carterville, and it can't be helping my allergies. 

More easy miles. I mixed it up by running a loop up into Orem by the mall. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful.

I ran the Little Baldy - Dry Canyon loop. I'm still losing time on the climbs, but I can feel that I'm getting stronger. What's really interesting is how much slower I am on the descents than I used to be.

Six one-mile repeats with quarter-mile recoveries. Average pace was somewhere between 6:15 and 6:20. Last time I trained for a marathon I was almost always on a treadmill, and I would have done these a lot faster. But right now I'm just focusing on effort rather than speed and these felt about right. I've still got 16 weeks to go, so I'm sure my pace will go up significantly between now and race day.

It's been a strange few weeks. And we've come to realize that we absolutely cannot be a one-car family, at least not as long as I'm commuting 40 miles each way.

Last night we went out resolved to come home with a new (to us) minivan. But our experiences at Velocity Auto and Karl Malone both reminded us just what a sketchy game the car market is. Not only did we have a bad evening, we ended up going home without a new car. 

One consequence is that I had to take the train today, and to catch a ride with my in-laws in Salt Lake I needed to catch the 5:50 train from Provo. But my bike was still at the station from the last time I took the train, and there was no way for me to get it last night. So this morning I woke up at 3:45, and instead of running my scheduled 6 miles, I ran 3 to the Frontrunner station to pick up my bike, rode it home, showered and changed, and then rode back down to the station.

I may go out and pick up a few more miles this evening. More likely I'll just call it a day and count it as a side effect of being a grownup. 

Five sets of two miles on, two miles off. The on intervals were supposed to be at a 3K pace, but I don't really know what that is or think about that (and I don't think my watch has a current-pace setting, even if I did care). So, I just run hard and call it good.

Easy miles. I'm still getting used to the squishy shoes. I think they're better for this kind of running, but there are some things about them that I don't like. Or maybe that I'm just not used to yet. I'll need some more miles to figure it out.

Easy run up the hill and past the mall.

Easy miles on the road--out to Provo Canyon on the River Trail, then back along Palisade and Carterville. I was going to go for a trail run, but I decided to get a little extra sleep instead. And by "decided" I mean slept through my alarm, apparently.

Not great. I overslept and had to run at night, which never goes well unless I get ready for it all day. Which of course I didn't. So after two intervale I was done and instead of doing more I just jogged it in.

Again I overslept, probably because I was up until almost midnight finishing last night's run. That meant I had only had five hours or so of recovery when I went out this morning. It went about as well as you would expect, and since I was already late I skipped the scheduled 7 and ran a little less. I thought I might go out for more this evening, but then I decided to skip it to see if I can get things back on track.

Overslept again. I thought I would try to make up the run in the evening, but that would have meant going out super late. So instead I decided to skip the run so I could get back on track tomorrow morning. 

Seven easy schedules. Back on track after what's been a pretty dismal running week so far. 

More easy miles. I've only had the Torins for a couple of weeks and already my beloved MR10s feel super hard whenever I run in them. 

Catherine ran the Lavender Days 5K this morning. Since that was at 7:00, it meant no morning run for me. I got out some time after 11:00, but as usual I felt terrible so I cut it short. And that's the end of a pretty lame running week.

Speedwork of sorts.

More miles, fewer than planned. But that's life.

At least I ran today.

Thirteen miles on the River Trail as a simple out and back. I've been feeling run down all week. It's not that I have no energy. It's that my ankles and lower back feel stiff and sore, making any running more difficult and less enjoyable than it should be. Really, I feel like an old man.

I was supposed to do three 1.5 mile intervals at a 10k-ish effort, followed by a shorter interval at a 5K effort. I did two just fine, but ran out of gas at the start of the third and decided to call it.

Easy miles.

Twenty minutes of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. On turned out ot be about 5:30 per mile, which tells me I'm not in the best shape of my life.

Even after a brief warmup and cool down, it was a pretty short run, which is fine since I overslept.

Easy miles.

Rest day. Scheduled, but probably not deserved given my lack of consistency over the past two weeks.