Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

My top running resolution for 2016 is to get back on the trails. Last year was a pretty bad year for running in general, but the worst part is that I probably had fewer than five true trail runs. I did try to incorporate some local trails into my road runs when possible, but it's not the same.

With that in mind, I headed out this afternoon to check out the Little Cottonwood Canyon trail. It was cold (16 degrees at the trailhead, according to my car), but it didn't feel to bad once I got moving. The snow on the trail was nicely packed, thanks to all the snowshoers, and I maintained a reasonable pace for the conditions and my condition. I'd never been on the trail before, so I don't know how far from the end I was when I turned around.

One thing I'd like to do is keep better track of where I run. I like to see maps and elevations for my runs, even though I don't actually do anything the information. To help, I've ordered a new Garmin to replace my ancient 205 that refuses to upload data to my computer. Since the new watch doesn't arrive until Tuesday, I carried my phone with me so I could use the Strava app. Unfortunately, my phone had frozen solid and died by the time I hit the turnoround. Based on what I recovered after getting the phone to a charger, it looks like it died after about 30 minutes and 1,000 feet of climbing. Good to know, I guess.

This was probably my most consistent week in the last couple of months. Consistent in the sense that I got out for a run every day, not that the timing of the runs was consistent. 

All of my weekday runs were on the road, but there were some interesting conditions. On Thursday morning the whole city was lightly glazed with ice. On Friday morning, I was up to my ankles in snow (things cleared up quite a bit by the time I went out for a second run in the evening.

I capped it all off with a midnight run on the Little Cottonwood trail on Saturday. I signed up for Speedgoat this week, and I'm going to need to run trails at night a lot to get the miles I need, which means I need a good headlamp. My sister in law lent me her Petzl Tikka RXP to test out, and I was impressed. There was more than enough light to run without hesitation, and that made the late-night run in the snow surprisingly pleasant.

On the other hand, my new Garmin Fenix 2 dropped the satellite several times, which left me unimpressed. Maybe I'm issing a firmware update.

Anyway, I turned around a little before the end of the trail. Once I started seeing pawprints in the snow, I started to get spooked, even though I knew they were probably from a dog.

Maybe I should run with bear spray, just in case.

Another week down. At one point, 35 miles would have been a bad week, but right now I'm happy with the consistency. Now that I've decided to race, I have a level of motivation and focus that's been missing for a long time. If only the time were there to match . . .

A cycling friend would always tell me it's better to be undertrained and rested than overtrained. I figure the same holds true for injuries--better to be a little overtrained than to get injured. With that in mind, I'm going to build mileage slowly. Of course, there's not a long way to go. I'll stick in the 30-40 mpw range for a couple of months, but I don't think I'll consistently be over 50 at any point this year.

Still only one run on the trails this week. But I bought a Petzl Tikka RXP after being happy with the one I borrowed last week. After two runs, it seems like a great lamp for trail running. It should make it a lot easier to get off road from time to time.

The one trail morning was this morning, when I ran the Little Cottonwood Canyon Trail again. I'm happy to report that the Garmin Fenix 2 did better this week. Last week it lost the GPS signal several times (which was disturbing for a new unit), but this week it held it the whole time. Same trail, similar condition, different times, new firmware. I'm guessing it was the last item on the list that made the difference.

After running I went skiing all day at Snowbird. My legs are now appropriately fried.

The rest of the week I spent on the roads around my house. I've been spending more time running up and down the short, steep hills that are everywhere. Hopefully it will prepare my legs for the heavy climbing to come throughout the spring and summer.

Our baby had a bad night on Sunday, which meant this week got off to a bad start when I missed my Monday run. I thought about going out late to make it up, but I decided that it would be better to sleep than to run.

After that, things were pretty normal. I ran twice on Tuesday. I spent most of my time running on the hilly roads around the house. And again, I ran the Little Cottonwood Trail on Saturday. I ran it a bit later (or a lot earlier) than I have before, so I was able to run in daylight. It made a huge difference on the descent. Not so much on the climb.

Next week I'll try to mix things up a bit by running in Corner Canyon.

I'm writing this a week too late, so of course I don't have much to say about this week--I've already forgotten most of it :).

I did do two runs on Tuesday--I enjoy getting out in the evening when possible, and sometimes it seems more practical to add a second run than to wake up earlier and run longer in the morning.

All week long I looked forward to a trail run on Saturday, but between the time I woke up to feed the baby and the time  got ready to run, it started to snow and several inches accumulated. So instead of running on trails, I put on my trail shoes and ran on the road in ankle-deep snow. I ran a loop around Dimple Dell, with a portion toward the end on the service road through Dimple Dell. It wasn't how I had planned the day, but it wasn't bad.

Not much to say about this week, other than that I'm slowly increasing my mileage while running primarily on the hilly roads around our house. Rather than doing a weekday double, I just woke up earlier on Tuesday and ran a longer run than usual. It was nice (the run, not hte early waking), and I'll probably do it more.

On Saturday, I didn't have time to go to Corner Canyon before my daughters' gymnastics classes, and I didn't want to go run Little Cottonwood again, so I just ran a 10-mile road loop. Thie evening I still wanted to run, so I added a few more miles. I think second runs on long-run day are going to be a key feature of my Speedgoat prep--much more practical for me than a single, super-long run.

Also, I had a birthday this week. I'm feeling old :).

Almost two years ago, shortly after we moved into our house, I ran into a guy named Vance while I was out running. Since then we've been saying we should run together, but it wasn't until this morning that we finally did. It went pretty well.

I've also been saying that I should start writing here again for a while. Since I crossed one thing off my list, I figured I may as well do another, so here I am.

It's been a good year of running but a bad year of racing. But I'm mostly recovered from the St. George Marathon and hoping to learn from my mistakes and do better next year. I'll post my goals here as I come up with them, but for now expect to see a lot easy runs in the 8-10 mile range, with some pseudo-speedwork and trail running thrown in for variety.

I went back to the office last night after putting the girls to bed and stayed there past midnight, so I slept in till about 6:00 this morning (I should sleep more -- I know) and went for a shorter run. I threw in a couple of  0.7 mile intervals at around a 6:00 pace. Why 0.7 miles? Because that's how long the local Strava segment is, and now I'm the king of Eastdell northbound :)

I'm finally starting to recover from St. George, and I've enjoyed running this week, but my high end is still missing. The 6:00 pace felt harder than it should have.

This morning I went out for my first long run and my first trail run since St. George. I started at Hidden Valley, took the BST to Corner Canyon, and did a loop up Anne's and over to Jacob's Ladder. I can tell I'm not fully recovered because I have no high end and I ran out of gas sooner than expected. But it was a great day for running and I was glad to be out.

I'm still trying to decide how much racing I want to do next year and which races to focus on. Both of my target races went poorly this year, so I know I need to do something to redeem myself :). Right now, I think I may go to California for the Catalina Marathon in March. If anyone knows anything about it, I'd love to hear more.

Easy miles, but they didn't feel that easy today.

I ran farther and faster than I did yesterday, and covered a lot more vertical, too, but somehow it felt much easier. I guess a better night's sleep can do that for you.

I ran some tempo this morning--two blocks of about 2 miles each. Nothing structured, of course. Right now I'm just looking to maintain my mileage and lay the groundwork for future training.

I decided to throw some trails in the mix this morning. Up La Caille gully and on to the lower Bells Canyon reservoir, then down past the boulders, which is pretty sketchy in the dark.

I ran a new loop this morning, essentially combining two shorter loops that I ran a lot earlier in the year. I was grateful for Granite Park and its reasonably clean bathrooms around the halfway mark, but other than that it was an uneventful run. Like Monday, it was an easy run that didn't feel so easy.

Hidden Valley to Corner Canyon via BST.

We had to be at a funeral in Layton at 9:00, so I was on the trail before 5:00 to make sure I had time to run, buy donuts, and get home to get the girls dressed. Because of all that, today's long run ended up being pretty short, which was fine, since I didn't feel great anyway. It was nice to have the trails all to myself, though.

Easy, uneventful morning run. I thought I was going to be running in the rain, but I got lucky and it stopped before I hit the road. Highland to Crestwood Park via Creek, then up past the high school (Brighton?) and home by way of Willow Creek Country Club and Alta Canyon.

Mid-week long run. Down to highland, than up and over Wasatch Blvd. back to Little Cottonwood Canyon, then down the hill and home. It's a good route, but I wish we had even one option for a flat run in the neighborhood.

Also, I'm 90% sure I'm going to register for the Squaw Peak 50 today. If I do, I might even run it this time. (Last time I registered, my first daughter was born on race day. It was convenient, because I wasn't ready to run 50 miles.)

It's been a pretty mild fall, but this morning was freezing. Literally--according to my phone it was 32 degrees when I headed out. The temperature didn't bother me (although I should probably start wearing something other than shorts), but it did make me feel like I needed to pee for the entire run. Nice.

I was up late, so I had a shorter run today. Not really intervals, but I did pick up the pace a few times.

Nice and easy. Up La Caille Gully to Wasatch, then down through Dimple Dell to 1300 East and then home.

I wore tights today for the first time of the season. My knees appreciated it.

Longish run on the BST from Hidden Valley, up Anne's to some park/parking lot on top of the ridge, and then back through a slightly different route. There were a lot of deer on the trail this morning, but I'm sure one set of eyes I say near the top belonged to a cougar. He should have headed down the trail to ear the deer and leave me alone.