Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I had planned to run at the gym this morning, but the weather looked good enough, so I decided to run outside instead. I got hit with a steady drizzle right away, which turned into rain a little later, but it was never uncomfortable. Just a little soggy.

1:15:46

I'm trying to figure out how to fit in longer daily runs without giving up any study time, so today was my second day of waking up earlier than I'm used to and getting it done. I ran past Seven Peaks and up to the Y parking lot, then over to Rock Canyon Park and then down to the temple for a couple of laps. I was way overdressed, because it wasn't nearly as cold as I thought it would be.

1:19:40

AM: Short morning run on the treadmill. I didn't have a specific plan, so I ended up running one mile on the flat, then two on a 15 percent grade (12:00/mile), then a final half mile on the flat. I wanted to go farther, but it's seemed like the outside of my knee (the tendon?) has been acting up a little the last couple of days and today I could tell it wasn't just in my head, so I cut my run short. I guess what I should do now is back off and use the elliptical or something for a couple of days.

Also, maybe I should retire the Launches.

PM: Catherine wanted to try a spin class tonight, so I decided to try it with her. It's a good workout, so I'll probably do more throughout the winter (after all, we may as well get our money's worth for our gym memberships). Still, the scene is weird. Kind of like a hot, sweaty, discotheque. But not hot and sweaty in a good way. And full of people who say things like, "Yeah baby, feel the burn!" Also, I almost broke my foot trying to do the one-foot pedal thingy. Which isn't surprising, since I hated that workout on a real bike.

After the class I ran a couple of miles on a treadmill. I haven't commented on the Cardio Cinema for a while, which is just as well. The quality of movie selection seems to be declining lately. Unless you're into chick flicks, in which case the movie selection gets better every day.

It's hard to say whether it's all in my head or not, but I'm really worried about my knee. I felt a few warning signs on Monday and Tuesday, so I decided to back off for a bit starting yesterday. This morning I went to the gym for some cross training. Unfortunately, my options were surprisingly limited. I wanted to use a stair stepper, but the local Gold's only has three--two ghetto, old-school contraptions in the Cardio Cinema, and one of those stair treadmills that absolutely terrify me. So I decided to use the elliptical. But the ellipticals are set up so that I bash my knee on them every minute or so. After about fifteen minutes of that, I decided I wasn't doing my knee any favors there, so I stepped on a treadmill. Instead of running, I set the incline to 15% and started walking. The first mile in 15 minutes was more work than I expected. I held that pace for a little more than 20 minutes, than I switched to intervals. Two minutes easy (19:00-20:00) followed by one minute hard (12:45-13:15). And those hard minutes were very hard. It's interesting, because I could run that pace for miles. But I guess at that speed, walking is much less efficient and much more difficult.

Anyways, I don't count cross training miles here because I only want to see my running miles, not fake equivalent miles. But I do count walking miles like today's, because I figure that hiking up steep hills is part of mountain running. If anyone disagrees, please call me on it.

According to the little computer display, I made it up Mount Treadmill once and then up to the first switchback on the second ascent. According to the readout, I climbed 2,376 feet over three miles, averaging 15:51 per mile.

I started with four miles on the treadmill this morning. One slow, one fast, and then a quick recovery before running three quarter miles at a 4:55 pace, with a quarter mile of recovery in between. My knee felt fine, I think. There was a point when I thought I was in trouble, but by now I really think it might be in my head--normal aches and pains amplified by my concern and attention. I'll probably try a longer run tomorrow and see what happens.

After running I spent 30 minutes on a stationary bike. Whoever designed those things with such wide seats probably never spent much time on a bike. Also, no toe clips. What's up with that?

The problem I've had all week is that I've been fixated on my knee, convinced that there's something wrong with it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to tell if the twinges are real or made up. So, this morning I decided to try the hit-it-and-see-if-it-breaks test. The good news is that my knee seems to have held up. The bad news is that the rest of me didn't.

There was nothing wrong with the route. I ran from the same trailhead as I have the last two weeks, but instead of continuing on the BST to Grove Creek, I ran up Battle Creek Canyon. That was my first time up that way, and it was worth it. The climb is stiff (2.2 miles, 2,000 feet), but the canyon is full of waterfalls. It may even be cooler than Grove Creek.

At the top of the canyon the trail hits the Great Western, which is part of the route we ran last week. From there, I basically ran last week's route in reverse, taking the Great Western over to Indian Springs and then running down Grove Creek and back to the car on the BST.

So, it sounds like a great run, but my body wasn't there. I think I can relate to how Jun felt last week, because I had nothing. I walked more than I should have up Battle Creek. By the top I felt like I needed a gel, but both of mine were frozen, so I chose not to eat. Bad idea. Plus, it was there that I realized that my beanie had fallen out of my jacket, so there was nothing I could do about my frozen ears. By the time I got back to the BST, my ears were frozen, my stomach was upset, and my lungs felt shallow. In fact, on the hills I felt like I was drowning. I don't have any reason or excuse--in fact, I was surprised because I felt so good last week and I took it so easy this week. I guess some days are like that.

Anyways, I continue to be impressed by the running options on the west side of Timp. I think next week I may try Battle Creek to Grove Creek, then halfway up Grove Creek to Trail 51, which will dump me out in the lower half of Dry Canyon. I'll take a broad guess on the stats and say 15-20 miles and 4500-5500 feet of climbing. Plus enough awesome to last a week or more. Of course, whether the run happens depends on several things, like my knee not blowing up, me finishing my writing assignment for school, and Mother Nature not dumping snow all over everything in the next seven days. If you're interested, let me know.

2:33:23