Slowly Getting Faster

Avenue Twins from the Capital.  I felt like crap today.  Not sure what it is although I think it's related to something I ate last night. Stomach not feeling well most of the way up and all the way down.  Still, not too shabby of a time for not feeling good. 1:45:54 seconds, average of 11:09 per mile. Last time I went this way I managed 30 seconds a mile faster, but I was 2 miles shorter and those are the miles up to and back from the top of the peaks. So, all in all I think this was a good training effort even if I did/do feel like crap.  I hope this is gone tomorrow. 

This is not a good training run.  I received some bad news today and decided that I should take it out on the trail.  I also decided I should hit a trail I haven't done but have wanted to do for a while, Baer Canyon.  I knew going into this run that it was a steep run and the most of the run would actually probably be a walk, but what I didn't know is that the trail is beyond technical, it is ridiculous.

 It was pretty rocky heading up to the second stream crossing but it was still runnable in most places.  If you make it past the second stream crossing without soaking your feet, which I managed on the way up but not on the way back down, then the trail is even decent from that point up to the third stream crossing.  Both the second and the third stream crossings were fairly treacherous. Once you make it across the third stream crossing the trail is decent for about 200 feet then it pretty much just turns and goes straight up the mountain. Not only is it very steep at that point but the trail is over grown and very rocky. There are places that the grade isn't too bad but I still couldn't run just because of the conditions of the trail. I wanted to take this all the way to Skyline Drive but I lost the trail at 2.6 miles in and decided to turn back rather than keep post holing my way through the snow while I searched for it. My Garmin said that the elevation gain was 2,600+ until I turned off the the auto correct; then it said the elevation gain was closer to 2,900.  I split the difference at 2,700 because it seemed steeper than that and because the auto correct assigns an elevation to a location based on a geodetic reading that has been actually taken by someone.  Since I very seriously doubt anyone has been up that trail with the equipment necessary to take that reading I figured it was reasonable to assume that the auto correct was probably not 100% correct. 

I don't think I will be doing that trail again any time soon.  It seems like I can get all the elevation training I need on much better trails that will actually allow me to push my limits rather than carefully walk.  

No running today because I didn't have enough time and I seem to have tweeked my back.  I hope the back tweek goes away soon, I don't want another extended down time. 

Finally over my back pain MattVH and I took a trip up to Flag Rock.  We actually did the loop which was pretty sweet.  I like the north side trail quite a bit.  It's a pretty run through the trees.  I felt dead on the way up and had to stop and walk in a couple of places.  I think it was a combination of things. First, I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast except some licorice and candy nut clusters.  I thought that the cheap energy that these things provide would be enough to get me through but I was mistaken. Lesson learned.  I need to eat something substantial 3-4 hours before a run.  

The second problem today was not really a problem, just not something I realized until after the run was over. This route starts off by climbing 500' in a mile and a half.  The majority of the climb is up a pretty steep road. My fastest time up that steep mile and a half before today was about 30 seconds slower than we climbed it today. So I pushed up the first steep hill and then I was dead after that. Next time, space out the effort.

 I think I have a sort of mental block with that hill as well. I know its steep and I know its going to be hard and so I psych myself out on the hill either pushing to hard to just get it over, or going to slow and feeling like its a grind the whole way up.  Not sure how to fix this except maybe running it more so that it gets easier and isn't such a mental grind. 

once I hit the peak I felt dead but the trail down the back side is nice and smooth and pretty steep so I just let gravity do its thing.  With a few pit stops we were down in no time. I need to hit this more often.

The elevation on the actual loop is about 75' shy of 2,000', but I jogged up state street at the end of the run with my watch off.  It's about 200' elevation gain in a 1/4 mile so I counted 2,000 feet. I was able to jog all the way up state street and it felt relatively effortless. I didn't ever even contemplate walking, which is a first for my trips up that hill. I think it says something about the effect of hill training on the mountain as opposed to hill training on the road. 

AP: 13:07 

Class was canceled this morning so I thought I would take the opportunity to try and improve on my pathetic performance last night. I think I improved but my watch died about half way through so I don't know for sure.  I was on the peak in 49 minutes and I started my watch at my house instead of the bottom of the hill which tacks on a little bit more distance. I was also able to run almost the whole thing, even the countless switchbacks up to the top. So I think it was an improvement but I have no empirical data to support that claim. It was definitely better to get out while it was still cool outside. 

Matt VH and I did the Flag Rock loop in reverse today.  It was a refreshing change and much faster. As it turns out, the south to north approach is much more technical (i.e. rocky) than the other way around.  This slows you down quite a bit on the climbs.  The other way is a little bit steeper (528' rise per mile north to south as opposed to ~450' rise south to north) but you don't really notice it because the trail is so much nicer.  We made good time to the top - I got there in 43 minutes which is 6 minutes faster than yesterday and 16 minutes faster than monday. Matt was a few minutes behind due to a product delivery. 

From the top it was a quick cruise down the mountain and back to the start.  I felt so good once we got to the top I felt like I was flying down the mountain. Once we got back to the road and down the steep hills we pushed the pace a little bit and I ended up breaking a 6 minute mile for about a 1/4 mile, even reaching a 5 minute pace at one point. In the end, we made this trip 6 minutes faster than the other way around. I think this might become the standard route.  

I've got a perfect record going this week for trips up to flag rock and I wasn't going to let a little snow and rain ruin that.  As soon as the sun came out at 5pm I was lobbying my wife for the chance to get out there.  Due to operator error my Garmin report is basically useless so it's a good thing I did this route yesterday so I know the elevation gain and mileage. The one thing the Garmin can still tell me is my elapsed time, which today is 1:23:02 seconds. That's 2 minutes faster than yesterday but slower than I know I can do this route. The upper bench and the rest of the trail, all the way to the rock, was covered in 1-2 inches of snow.  It made the up hill a bit slippery but not bad.  However, the downhill was much slower than it otherwise would have been. Without snow I think I could take another couple minutes off this time. 

Painful toward the end but fun nonetheless. North to south double up to flag rock.  1st round with Matt VH and Dorsimus, second lap alone. More to come after a shower and some rest. 

The initial plan was to incorporate Flag Rock into this run, but that was only because I thought the distance was much shorter. As it turns out, not only is it long but it has some decent elevation gain as well. VH beat me up the hills - as he does every time - but my ego aside it was a good run.  Somehow I need to get faster up those hills though. 

2:01:55; 11:48 average pace 

Since I'm planning on running a marathon in St. George I figured I better start getting my pace dialed in.  After this run I think I would rather do this in the morning and something fun and mountainesc in the evening or afternoon.  

I did 5 miles as a 1 mile warm up then 4 x 1/2 mile @ MP (which I plan on being just under 7:00 per mile) with 1/4 mile recovery in between and 1 mile cool down. My splits for the 1/2's were 3:31, 3:27, 3:29, 3:30 (Average 6:59 pace). The pace felt good but I don't think I could sustain it for more than a mile or 2 at a time.  I need to work up to that before October. Many more of these types of runs to come I think. 

The real joy in this run was the progress I've made.  I last tried a speed workout on December 22 and ended up injuring myself bad enough that I was unable to run again for another month and a half. Today I think I could have done a few more splits if there was time. Not only that, but in December my fastest pace was a 7:15 average, which felt like everything I had.  Now in order to go 6:59 I have to dial back my speed so I don't over shoot the mark. There is something to be said for all the trails I've been running in the past couple of months I think.  If I can keep it up and get my pace dialed in I think I can beat a 3hr marathon time in October.  

I decided to try a trail I haven't run before.  I'm not sure I will run this trail in the same way again. It was slow due mostly to the technical terrain. It would be a good way to run to City Creek Canyon though, as the trail goes up over the mountain instead of across the BST.  The trail up and over is steep but not horrible in terms of rockyness, and if you took it this way into the canyon it would provide a lot more elevation gain on the way back. 

On the down side, I think I strained a muscle in my quad.  It was pretty sore most of the way back.  I may have to take another day off to make sure it heals.  

1:19:09; AP: 11:15 

Two things learned tonight.  First, I have a strained quad muscle and should have rested another couple of days.  Second, I am getting stronger even with a bum leg. 

My leg felt fine this morning and seeing all these posts about people doing awesome runs has made it hard to sit it out the last couple of days.  So when I woke up and everything was good I figured I needed to get at it again.  I originally planned on doing something like 5 miles.  Turns out I should have planned on doing 3. At the 2.5 mile mark I didn't want to turn around so I just kept pushing.  The leg felt fine so I didn't think anything of it. At the 3.5 mile mark the leg was sore and I was now an extra mile away from where I started. It was slow coming back.

When I got back I looked up the symptoms to my pain.  A couple sports medicine web sites all say the same thing: strained quad.  Turns out you should follow standard protocol to treat this, i.e. RICE, but you should also come back very slowly to make sure it isn't still hurt.  I should have looked it up before attempting to run 7 miles today. 

On the plus side, this run was up Farmington Canyon right in the heat of the day.  I know that doesn't sound like a plus, but the route as well as the conditions made me realize something: I am getting stronger.  6 month ago I tried to run this and it was everything I had just to get to the firebreak road from the pond. Today that section of the run didn't seem bad at all.  Not once did I consider stopping, even in the 80 degree heat. In fact, the only real slow part of this run was the last 1/4 mile of black top before it turns to dirt. I think that is the steepest part of that whole road. Once I hit dirt the grade seemed to decrease a bit and the running was a touch easier.  I think I'm going to run all the way to francis peak when my leg heals, which is something I hadn't thought I could accomplish. The breeze down the canyon was nice too, helped with the temperature.  However, even before I got high enough for the breeze to kick in the heat didn't seem that daunting.  I did drink 3 liters of water this morning before going so maybe that's why.

At any rate, I'm now out again for 72 hours - the website recommended amount of time to rest. And following that I guess I will be running flat and short for a week or so to make sure there is no injury.  Bummer. Better than not running I guess.  

Its been more than 72 hours so I thought I would see if the leg had healed.  It didn't take long to figure out it hadn't.  While I could have kept going, I figured I better stop so I wouldn't aggravate it again. I'm going to wait till monday and try again.  Looks like my plans for 26 miles next weekend aren't going to work out. Bummer.