Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

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.