Run fast

60 minutes on the bike.  5 minute warm up then 11 x 5 (2 off, 3 on).  First 7 were at about 275 watts and last 4 were at ~305.  They about killed me.

I had to jog 1/4 mile yesterday because I was late to an appointment.  That was a very bad idea because now my hamstring is super sore....I am the worst at fixing injuries. 

50 mile loop going from Deer Valley, past Jordanelle, through Kamas, through Peoa, through Brown's Canyon and back through Park City on highway 224.  Perfect weather for a ride.

Road from home and met up with Adam H. at the bottom of BCC.  Good pace to the top and it is always a fun time coming down.  Legs were a little tired from yesterday but held up fairly well. Totaled 53 miles at about 16 mph.  The biggest achievement of the day was leaving the house before 8, which isn't common for a Sunday. 

cross training at the gym.  Now I am icing often to see if that helps the hamstring.

Bright and early SPIN CLASS!  I think this was my first class since last August or September. As usual it was hard work.  We did several variations of 7 minute threshold intervals with 1 to 2 minutes of rest in between.  It's probably because I am in a group setting but without a doubt I do a lot more high intensity training when I am cross training than when I am running.  I plan to change that once the hammy is fixed.

70 minute spin, 10 minute on stairmaster, .25 walking, .25 sort of jogging  

Spin class was a killer yesterday so I didn't feel energized this morning.  I will give it a go again tomorrow.

75 minutes of spin, 15 minutes on stairmaster, 1 mile rowing and 1/2 on the TM. My spin legs are coming back.

DR #1: said that I have been "negative blood doping" because my hemoglobin is 13.5 and hematocrit is 41. Not fair. I will be on 600 mg of iron a day for the next 4 months to see if I can fix it.

PT #1: actually met a PT who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He took a video of me running and had tons of great feedback on some easy things I can do to prevent injury and potentially get a lot faster.  It's crazy what you can see in slow motion.  This is the video we were comparing against http://vimeo.com/11574380 and the main difference is that I don't kick up my feet nearly as high as they do and that has a lot to do with my lack of flexibility in my quads and hip flexors. He basically kept wondering how I could run a marathon in the mid 2:20's with my crappy kick.  Should be an easy fix, right?  :)  He prescribed a bunch of tough hamstring exercises and stretching and said that I can start running again.  Of course he said just to start at about 10 minutes and work up but I think I can accelerate that if I do the exercises. 

5 miles on elliptical then RUNNING!  2.5 miles in about 17.5 minutes on the TM.  The hamstring didn't feel great but it also didn't get any worse throughout the run.  I really think my new stretching and exercise routine will help a lot with injury prevention and speed in the long term.  

I had a dream that I got to a starting line then realized that I didn't have on my racing shoes.  I ran over to find them and they were.gone.  Then I woke up.  Phew! 

51 miles and 4,900 ft of climbing to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon and back.  The headwind coming down the canyon made the descent super sketchy so I had to ride the brakes more than usual.  Looks like that headwind was also going up Provo Canyon which had to slow the times at UVM.  There was also a bad headwind going back north on Wasatch Blvd which made it feel like I was stuck in mud.  I much prefer hills than wind on the bike unless there are people to work with.  Congrats to everyone who raced today!

13.25 RUNNING miles from Highland High, up Emigration a bit and back.  Averaged just under 7s. I had to make up for not running the Half yesterday although it was probably 5 more miles than I should have run. Oh well. Hamstring felt good on the flat and downhills but a little achy going up.  The true test will be how I feel tomorrow.  2 miles on stairmaster and hamstring exercises at the gym afterwards.  Best part about running and not biking today is that it took about 75 minutes less time.  That also means 75 less minutes of exercise which means I am going to lose some fitness. :)

cross training then 2 miles on the treadmill.  Not as sore as I would have expected except for a little ache in the knee.

Early spin class (short threshold intervals and longer tempos) and 5 miles of cross training.  I fiigured 3 days of running in a row wasn't necessary.

JAAF run for the first time in....5 weeks or so.  It was good to be back out there.  I don't feel very efficient but I guess that goes with not running for 3 weeks.  Hamstring exercises at the gym afterwards.

Still working out some kinks but starting to feel more efficient.  Super steep trail run tomorrow to gauge assess the odds of still running the Steeplechase. Of course it's doable but I need to be able to run it fast.

Plumbing crisis last night so I spent the morning calling and meeting with plumbers.  First quote was $2,000, second was $850, and third was $250.  Something is inherently wrong with this picture but it just goes to show that you should always get multiple opinions any time you need something fixed, health issues included.

Started my run in the heat at 11:15, went east through Tanner Park, up to the top of Olympus Cove and back.  Pushed the pace on the steep uphills and downhills to condition the quads for the Steeplechase. 15 miles total, averaging about 6:40 and I will give myself credit for 3 marathon miles. With more time tomorrow I will get out on some steep trails.  I wore the split shorts for the first time in an attempt to remove the cycling tan lines.

10 miles, 6.5 in the hills above the zoo and 3.5 on the TM.  Basically the 2 extremes of running.  Based on effort and time this was more like a 15 mile run because my first 2 miles went straight up the mountain and gained 2,300 ft.  Just maintaining any resemblance of a running motion was the goal for those miles.  After I hit the peak at those weird white towers above the zoo I went down some technical trails on the backside.  Rather than continuing up and down trails and leaving my legs super beat up tomorrow I decided to do my last 3.5 miles on the treadmill.  At least for those miles I felt like I was moving.  

Odds of running the Steeplechase are now around 75%!!!  Odds of running of running fast are TBD. 

The trail run yesterday beat up my legs quite a bit.  I shouldn't be surprised considering that my feet haven't touched dirt since the Buffalo Run in March and I haven't run much in the last 3 weeks.  My lack of trail specific preparation will make for an interesting Steeplechase this Saturday.  The one thing I am certain of is that I won't be able to run on Sunday.

Light day of stationary bike, stairmaster and rowing 

Stairmaster then treadmill.  Starting to feel like a runner again.

Looped SHP then ran with the gang around Millcreek.  I think we talked about Ragnar more than the US Half Championship, which doesn't exactly make sense.  I guess Ragnar really is a big deal.

Basically a day off.  My PT "scraped" by hamstring and IT band with a metal rod.  It was great.

Most days at 7 there is a slight chill in the air but not today.  This means I might have to carry water tomorrow even though the race starts at 6.  The quads are ready to take a beating.

Sadly I missed the hugely popular, competitive and well directed Wedding Bells Relay 5k. It looked like a great time. Instead I ran, hiked, and crawled the Wahsatch Steeplechase, which is quite possibly my all-time favorite race.

After several weeks on the bike and only recently getting back to running I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out my 50 mile bike rides and climbing the canyons got the quads race ready and I improved my best time by 5 minutes and also set a new course record by 36 seconds. For a 33 year old race I thought that was nifty. The mileage chart below tells the story best, i.e. my pace ranged from 5:15 to 17:13 :), but I will attempt to add some commentary. I went out fairly conservatively and was in second place through about mile two. From there the leader dropped back and it was just me and Josh Steffen for next 3 to 4 miles.  We swapped the lead a few times and then right at about mile 6 I started to pulling away slowly. By that point my quads were sucking oxygen and I was barely getting any recovery on the flats. It felt like I was barely moving but I guess in a race like this moving at times is better than average. Having run this race before I decided to not even try to run mile 7 because the extra energy it takes to stay running isn’t justified by the slight gains in speed. Surprisingly I finished that mile in 17 minutes which I think is about 3 minutes faster than last time. This goes to show that while my quads were in much better shape this time around as result of my road bike climbs up the canyons. Someone is sure to disagree but in my opinion there is no better way to build quad strength than biking up hills. This seems like common sense, at least to me, because there is no other exercise that requires 100% of the effort and power to come from one muscle.

After I finished that never ending climb/hike I did my best to navigate and jump over and down the crags at the top of Big Mountain. That lasted longer than I remember so it was great relief to hit the aid station at the end. I grabbed some water and Swedish Fish and continued on my way. This is where the race gets fun.  Basically you get to lose 2,000 ft. in about 2 miles and you obviously try to do it as fast as possibly without falling off of the course. That section went relatively smooth this time around meaning I was only terrified of falling a few times instead of 10. This was a result of the dryer year and less vegetation which made it easier to see my footing.

Getting off the downhill at mile 11 felt great and from there it’s just a matter of holding on and letting gravity do the work. I put in some good splits on the miles down the City Creek Canyon road and held up ok on the later miles down the single track that parallels the road. I came off the trail in about 2:09 and knew that I had about a mile to finish, which meant I needed to run a sub 6 minute mile to break the old CR. Fortunately the bottom of City Creek and the road down Memory Grove are fairly steep so I was able to put in around a 5:45 mile.

After I finished I had no choice but to lay face down in the creek. This is bound to help my staircase descents tomorrow. The next hour was spent conducting surgery with my multi-functional bib pins on my new blisters and chatting with the racers about their war stories. Promptly at 10:30 (trail race directors don’t mess around) Butch gave out the typical trail race awards (trail shoes, headlamp, backpack, cool hat, and decorated bowl). And as a surprise I got a little cash for the CR. Not only are trail races and directors cool, they are also creative with their shirts.  Because last year's course had to be changed due to the snow pack, this year’s motto was “Back to Black”, i.e. back to Black Mountain. Cool logo is shown below.  

Congrats to Josh who finished 2nd and just over 2:20 in his first attempt. Unfortunateley the Utah running scene will be losing him because he and his family are moving to New Hampshire. On the women's side, an out of stater, Annie O'Donnell ran an impressive 2:41 (4 minutes off the course record) and Liz Butler was second with a 2:44.

Carl Swenson was the previous CR holder. As an Olympic Cross Country skiier and professional mountain biker, this was probably a race he entered last minute and just for fun.

Time	Distance	Split time	Elev. chg.
0:06:53	1	6:53	191
0:16:06	2	9:12	531
0:24:05	3	7:59	336
0:32:09	4	8:04	315
0:41:14	5	9:04	371
0:50:44	6	9:29	488
1:07:57	7	17:13	1,068
1:22:40	8	14:43	-56
1:30:31	9	7:50	-1,284
1:36:51	10	6:19	-549
1:42:06	11	5:15	-340
1:47:45	12	5:39	-237
1:54:03	13	6:17	-143
2:00:18	14	6:14	-218
2:06:54	15	6:35	-206
2:12:43	16	5:49	-221
2:14:29	16.3	2:21	-61

The heat intimidated me so I resorted to the air conditioned gym.  45 minutes on bike and some elliptical just for fun.

There was also a rare Rob siting while he was pounding out some miles on the TM.  Back in 2009 before I knew Rob I always wondered who that guy was who always wore a running singlet and who was typically running when I arrived and still running when I left.  Now I am fortunate enough to tell people, "I know that guy."

Besides chatting with Rob, the other exciting event at the gym was hearing an old favorite song that I haven't heard forever.  Bruce!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZarmRLa2p9Q

5 miles on elliptical.  Quads are better than yesterday but it still feels like they were hit with a hammer.

PM: road up Millcreek to get out of the heat and wind.  Quads felt better after the ride than before. There must be some truth to this active recovery concept.

Elliptical again.  Hopefully some running tomorrow.

Short workout at the gym because getting back onto the trails tonight at Alta.  The legs have dramatically improved since yesterday.

PM: first Wednesday run with Rob's x country team, Kevin and Jake.  Much preferred over working until 7.  I just need people to understand that leaving early to run is just as important as leaving to get home to the family. 

Decided to cross train to make sure all the running kinks are healed before I put in some real running miles over the next 5 days.

14 miles on the trails at dirt roads in Montana. Wore my Dynafit trail shoes again which I am starting to like. Nor bear sitings.