Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Today was a rest day, and I had plenty of non-running activity to keep me busy.

This was my first non-race run outdoors this year. The weather reports last week predicted nice weather for today, so I decided to take advantage of the holiday to get off the treadmill and onto the road. Unfortunately, today was gray and drizzly, but not bad enough to keep me indoors. I looped up through the Avenues, down past Memory Grove, around the state capitol and down to Beck Street before looping through Rose Park and returning (mostly) the way I came.

This was the longest I've ever run in my life, and my legs held up pretty well, although I ran into trouble in the last mile and a half. It wasn't the fatigue (although I was tired) as much as it was the strain of running downhill, which I haven't really done before. Living in the Avenues, I imagine I'll get used to it, but today it was agony.

I also had some trouble eating and drinking along the way. Meaning that other than a handful of Jelly Bellies after one hour and a can of Coke after 90 minutes, I didn't eat or drink anything. In the summer, I can use the drinking fountains along the route, but for now I'm going to need to figure out a way to carry my water if I want to finish strong.

All in all, it was a good run. I'm still new to this, but I seem to be progressing nicely, and I think my cycling fitness should be mostly transferable. It had better be, If I'm going to survive my plans for the next two months . . .

Yesterday's run left me more sore than I expected. Part of that may have been that I was running faster than expected (miles between 7:11 and 8:19, with a 7:42 average), but I think the main problem was the descent of 11th Avenue. To give my muscles a chance to recover and come back stronger, I ran a very easy 4.25 miles on the treadmill. I'll probably do some steady miles tomorrow, and if the weather allows it, I may check out the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on Thursday.

My legs are still a little stiff from Monday's run, so I decided to do an easy hour on the treadmill this morning to loosen them up. That, plus a 5-minute cool down, seemed to help. I was thinking of doing a trail run or some tempo tomorrow, but I may keep the pace mellow for the next couple of days. Right now, I think I'd rather go easy and be ready for another long run on Saturday than trash my legs with some speedwork now.

Today's run was a short one. I started at the mouth of City Creek Canyon and ran one mile up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on the canyon's west side before climbing a half mile up the switchbacks to where the trail comes out above some really big houses. Then, I turned around and ran back before finishing with a short run down Bonneville and around the capitol.

The difference between running on the trail and running on the road feels a lot like the difference between cycling on the trail and on the road. Basically, you get to work much harder to go much slower. The uneven surfaces, the steep climbs, and, today, the mud (which I think added a pound or two to each shoe) all work against you. But it's a lot of fun. By this summer, I expect I'll spend more time running off road than on.

I took today off, hoping there's another long run in my legs tomorrow.

I set out this morning with the goal of running farther and more slowly than I did on Monday, and failed at both.

Today's route was supposed to be essentially the same as Monday's until I got to Beck Street, where I would increase the length of my Rose Park loop, adding a couple of miles to to the route's overall length. I also planned to run at a more leisurely pace than Monday's 7:42 per mile, because the point of these long runs is to build endurance, not speed. But I ran into the same problem that I did earlier this week; specifically, when I'm on flat or slightly descending roads I have a hard time keeping the pace under a 7:30 mile, even though I should be going slower.

Anyways, I felt good today and I should have been able to finish with around 20 miles, but as I came back up to the capitol I experienced what I can best describe as gastrointestinal distress. Yikes. Instead of pushing my luck (and risking a pair of soiled shorts), I ran straight home down B Street instead of looping east on 11th Avenue to Virginia. Even with my GI adventures, I ended up with 17 miles in 2:10.