Slowly Getting Faster

I have felt sick for the last couple of days so I wasn't sure I was going to run today.  But since I have pretty much not run for the last 2 months (due to injury) I decided I should just buck up and go.  My little brother and I did 2.5 up City Creek and back.  I put in some extra distance by circling back to get him at the half way point and again at the end.  

I was mostly worried about my foot.  It hasn't hurt all week but sure enough this morning it was in hurting again. It never felt 100% but it didn't hurt very much and I was even able to run with pretty good form.  Toward the end I could feel the muscles in my foot getting tight again so I slowed down. I need to put in some slow miles again to get myself used to the distance before I try to get my speed back up.

 AP: 9:46  585 vert. 

I was sick of being injured tonight so after 20 minutes of biking on the spin bike in my garage I decided to just go for a couple mile jog and see how I felt.  It's my right leg that is injured, for some reason it is always my right leg, and initially it was tight near the ankle on the outside of the calf. That tightness mostly went away after about a half mile and then I just focused on keeping my pace slow and making sure my feet landed in proper form.

I agitated my planter facia last saturday and it has hurt all week as well.  each day over the past couple of days it has progressively felt better, and tonight it didn't hurt at all. I have noticed that my feet muscles are a bit more sore tonight than usual though.  I think it is the result of basically not running since December 22. I hope that if I take it east the next couple of days, slowly work my way back into the swing of things, I they will wake up again.  The problem with these zero drop shoes is that there is no forgiveness.  If I push too hard I will end up injured again.  So slow and steady will have to be the pace for the next few weeks.  

I went again this morning.  My leg felt pretty good.  I'm hoping that maybe later today my leg will loosen up even more and I can get back out for another couple miles. It feels really good to be running again.  

AP: 9:34  Vert: 366' 

Another 3 this afternoon.  I don't know if I should have gone again but I really wanted to and I ended up feeling good the whole time.  I did city creek (the road) this afternoon and despite the first half being uphill I was still 3 minutes faster than I was this morning. I'm going to keep taking it slow (pace wise and miles in a single run) until I'm sure I'm better. Going to try and get 5ish in tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. 

AP: 8:38  Vert: 284' 

I decided to do some off road.  I really wanted to hit either the BST that dorsimius talked about the other day or do a flag rock run.  I did neither because I realize I am still not 100% and didn't want to hurt myself again. Instead I took a single track trail up to the fire break from my house and then cut across the firebreak to Farmington canyon.  At the canyon I decide to run up the asphalt to the bridge, which turned into a run up ice and snow to the bridge. I only fell once, on black ice. Then I cut back across the firebreak, back down the single track trail, down to 300 east, across and up the steep hill on state street. My leg felt good throughout, which I am very happy about. 

 I wanted to run off road today for a couple of reasons: 1) because I haven't been able to for more than a month and I have been jonesing for the opportunity; and 2) because I recently acquired Altra Lone Peaks and I wanted to take them for a test drive. I like them a lot better than my old cascadias but I can see that they don't have a lot of forgiveness for poor form.  At one point I let my heal hit the ground (first I think) and it hit a rock.  I'm sure I did the same thing in the cascadias, but because those shoes have much more padding in the heal than the Lone Peaks I have never noticed before. I think that the requirement to maintain good form is a benefit of these shoes, but it is going to take some careful running while I get used to zero-drop on the off roads.  

AP: 11:11, Vert 934' 

I tried to go out again, but I probably shouldn't have.  My intention was to do an easy 3 but I stopped at 2.41 because I could feel my foot starting to have issues. I guess the bright side is that I stopped rather than hurt myself again.  My calves have been pretty stiff since this mornings run so they probably just needed to be rested.  Well, they get the rest of the night, if not the rest of the weekend.

AP: 9:15,  Vert: 116'

I've been wondering for a while how to get faster if I can't really push my limits in Zero Drop shoes. I'm sure the answer is I can push my limits, I just have to do it in smaller intervals than I was doing when I hurt myself.  That said, I still wanted a second road shoe; something I could go to when I wanted to do speed work that was probably not going to go so well in the zero drop Altras. I asked a very knowledgeable person, who suggested that I invest in a different type of shoe.  So that's what I did.  I love them!

I did a 3 mile loop around City Creek Canyon road and back.  I felt tired before I got out of my car but as soon as I started moving it seemed like I couldn't move slower than an 8:30 pace, and I couldn't even move that slow for very long.  I ended up doing the 3 miles in 24:02, which I thought was really good since half that run is uphill and I'm coming off an injury.  It didn't feel like I was pushing my leg hard at all.  My splits were: 8:18, 7:55, 7:45. At one point I hit 7:04 on the way back down, which is fast for me but didn't feel that fast.  

I knew I had to get a run in at lunch today if I was going to get one at all.  I need to be doing 2 a day, especially if I'm going to be doing these shorter distances, but since it is the day of love and my wife doesn't love running that isn't going to happen. I got 4 in up City Creek canyon in the Altra's.  I went a bit slower than yesterday but it was intentional.  I didn't want to push to hard and hurt myself.  Still I managed a sub 9 pace for the whole thing even with some steep hills. 

 The run around the canyon road isn't that bad but today, after going around the canyon, I cut down to memory grove and back up state street to the capital.  That hill is tough.  In fact, almost the whole run from state and north temple back to the canyon road is 6% grade or better. I need to be hitting that hill more often I think, it will prepare me for the grade on the mountain trails I hope to hit this spring/summer. The run felt great, the effort didn't feel forced.  All in all, this was a good run. 

AP: 8:49, Vert: 371 

Same route as yesterday with a little added distance at the turn around area and at the state street north temple intersection. I knew I wasn't going to get a second run in today either so I just went the 4 miles again. I made good time.  Splits were: 8:38, 8:14, 8:01, 9:01 and 1:37 for the last .19 (8:23 pace). I like that route, it has both mountain views and steep hill running all within a nice little area mostly devoid of cars. 

AP: 8:28 (20 seconds faster than yesterday per mile), Vert: 425' 

Same run as yesterday.  1 second faster per mile overall.  If it is going to stay nice I'm going to start hitting the trails. 

Same as yesterday with a little muddy trail added in.  I wasn't in the right shoes for that so I bailed on the trial and went back to the asphalt. Hitting some trail tomorrow before the asphalt though.  Should be fun. 

AP: 8:42; Vert: 470' 

Great Early AM run with MatthewVH up to Flag Rock.  I've been on that trial a lot in the past but it wasn't as nice as it is now. He is in much better shape than I am.  I struggled up some of those hills, mostly the one's made of dirt. The trail was virtually snow free, with a few short exceptions. I don't suppose that will last through the night. Matt was at the top a good 3 minutes before me. 

Map data ©2012 Google - Terms of Use

1 km

1 mi

View Details

Run #2 was up city creek with the lake to lake relay team. Just an easy 4 miles, but it wasn't really that easy after Flag Rock. Clearly I need to hit that trail more often.

Map data ©2012 Google - Terms of Use

Add Comment

I wanted to hit a trail again, it was so much fun on Saturday. I had to be in Salt Lake today so I went up the BST on the east side of City Creek.  I have never been up that trail before, aside from the very short adventure last week. It was very muddy all the way to the top, which slowed me down a bit.  I couldn't have run up all that fast, but I'm sure I could have moved faster than I did had it not been for the mud. I like the trail though.  

When I got to the top (by moms reservoir) I lost the BST.  I thought it turned south but from the map it looks like it keeps going up the mountain.  I'll know for next time. I was hoping to break 1,000' but I just missed it. 

Legs still stiff from Saturday but they are getting better. After I started moving I hardly noticed the stiffness. Not sure if I'm going to hit a trail tomorrow or the road, or both. I kind of want to go up either flag rock or centerville peak early and then hit the road in the afternoon.  I guess I'll play it by ear.

AP: 11:15; Vert 902'  

I'm calling this the Ensign Peak steeplechase. I started just outside of memory grove park and went up through City Creek Canyon to the canyon road, around the canyon to East Capital Drive and up East Capital to the peak. 

The trail from the base of the peak to the summit was a mess.  Completely muddy and required a lot of careful traversing just to stay on my feet.  At one point I broke off the main trail and took a side trail that I assume was created to avoid the mud.  It was good for avoiding mud but very steep, so I had to walk to the top of that.  I tried to move as fast as I could but it was still very slow.

My foot started getting tight on the way back down which worried me, so I slowed down quite a bit. My quads are still a bit tight, and have been all week.  I think they may stay that way until Saturday when they will get a rest. Foot is doing well now after I stretched it out. Rest it tonight and hit it again in the morning.

Time: 1:15:44; AP: 10:22; Vert: 1,406'

Not much time today and my legs needed a rest so I just did the City Creek loop at lunch. I went faster than a recovery run should have been I'm thinking so I need to slow down tomorrow for sure.  I don't want to push it and end up injured again. 

AP: 8:28; Vert: 397' 

Up to Flag Rock again last night with MattVH.  I stopped my watch at the peak and forgot to turn it back on so my milage time and elevation are estimates based on my total time out running and the elevation gain my watch reported for this same run last saturday. We actually went another couple hundred feet up the side of the mountain after we got to the peak so I think the elevation is probably higher than what I have listed. 

After last saturday my legs hurt.  I have been running lots of hills this week hoping that I will be in better shape for flag rock runs and I think it payed off. Last saturday I was about as slow as I was last night but I was completely exhausted.  Last night I felt great and could have kept going if there was anywhere to go and if it wasn't already pushing 11pm. I think I will hit another hill or two today.  

Flag Rock solo.  I followed the trail that continues up the mountain for a little bit and I am convinced that it cuts across the top over to the Steed Creek trail. One day I will follow it all the way and find out.  Today it was too cold. 

I made it to the top and back in 1:30:41, which is the fastest time for me so far. Plus this run got me to 30 miles again this week, which makes 2 weeks in a row of 30 miles. Next week wont break that mark, but hopefully I will be back to 40 or more miles a week soon.

AP: 12:34; Vert: 2,051' 

Not much time today but I wanted to get some hill work done.  With that in mind I went up East Capital Blvd to Ensign Downs Park.  Not quite the same vert as I have been getting with my trips up to flag rock, but I was able to push the pace on the road and get a bit more of a "workout" in.

AP: 8:57; Vert: 660'

Awesome trail run last night with MattVH.  Despite having snowed in the morning, it wasn't really an issue on this trail. I was also able to run farther than I have in the past up this trail, as opposed to needing to stop and walk, which is encouraging. Maybe by mid summer I'll be able to run the whole thing.

AP: 12:55; Vert: 1,907 

Map data ©2012 Google - Terms of Use

2 km

2 mi

View Details 

My legs felt really tired today. It might have been because I hadn't eaten anything since early in the morning, and I didn't want to eat and then immediately try to run, so I just sucked it up and ran on an empty stomach.  I'm glad I did.  About a 1/2 hour after I finished the storm blew in and it was snowing.  My time was slow but I probably needed a recovery jog anyway and I'm just happy I got some miles before it got nasty outside. 

AP: 9:03; Vert: 370'