Everything You Didn't Want to Know About My Runs

8 miles of mountain biking on the Big Water trail at the top of Millcreek Canyon.  Saw two moose, a mother and a calf, just off the trail by the first bridge.  I stopped and took a couple of crappy pictures with my phone.  Then I went to dog lake and then over to the Great Western Trail via the Little Water Trail--which is some intense downhill.  There were a couple of spots where I could not have stopped if I wanted to.  (I probably ought to get a bike with disc brakes.) 

The part of the GWT just after the Little Water junction is my favorite part of that trail so I went out a ways and then turned around and continued down the Little Water Trail.  More intense downhill.  My forearms are tired from braking so much. Apart from the stop to take a picture of the moose, I only stopped to turn around.  I've never been able to do that before up there. I also overtook a few riders at various places--which is something I haven't often been able to do.  I think of myself as a slow rider, but I'm getting faster.  It is a lot of hard work, but it is more fun to be in shape.

10 miles the morning after mountain biking--I couldn't ever quite get under 10mm, but that's OK.  (I need to get "Save it for the Race" printed in the inside of my contact lenses.)  Stacie decided to do her own schedule so we ran slightly different courses this morning.  She left before I did.  I wasn't sure how far or where she was going, so I didn't know if I would see her.  But when I got to Buttercup Park, there she was.  It was nice to see her.

New shoes.  They felt very soft and pillowy when I put them on.  But they also felt kind of heavy and clunky.  After three miles, they started feeling a bit rigid in the center of my feet.  I think five miles might be a bit far for a first run, but who knows?

Ran with Stacie at a nice, easy pace.

 Data...

Put 10 more miles on the new shoes.  I  tried to get in under 90 minutes, but it took me over 100--which put me slightly over 10mm on the average.  But I was running hard, so I'm logging these as fast miles.  Shoes felt better today, but this was a difficult run.

This was not a fast course.  Usually, I run my pace runs on a route that has steep, short uphills with long gradual downhill sections.  It's cheating, but it sort of matches the St. George Marathon profile, so I don't think it is necessarily wrong.  This course is kind of backwards from my usual route with more elevation change.  I drop down early, climb higher for longer, and then finish coming down.  I  believe this is better for my legs while being not so great for my ego.

Another problem was that I gave blood two nights ago.  I did double reds which meant they took a good chunk of my VO2 max.  (Now that I think about it, maybe I should have kept my donation so I could infuse it just before the marathon.  Wouldn't that be a scandal?  Get busted for blood doping just so I could finish in the top half of my age group.  At any rate, somebody is going to be receiving some high quality o+ some time soon.)  I was breathing a lot harder than usual for a medium run at that pace and my chest has been feeling all day like I had been mountain biking at high altitude instead of jogging around the neighborhood.  I can't help but think that that had to slow me down.

Incidentally, when I was being checked before donating blood, the guy reading my pulse said, "Are you a runner or a biker?  I don't get readings this low unless you are dead, or a runner."  I think I might be getting in pretty good shape.

Also, saw Lysa on her way up Newcastle while I was heading home--trying to survive my last mile.  Tomorrow should be interesting.  20 miles at about half the speed of smell.  Then an ice bath.

Data...

Twenty miles with Stacie.  I tried to keep up with her, but it was difficult.  Was very slow today and felt like I did running at the top of Guardsman in the Wasatch Back Relay--breathing hard but still not getting enough oxygen.  This time it was anemia instead of altitude.  (I donated a lot of blood Wednesday night.  I hope I can get all those red blood cells regenerated by October.  I guess I need to start eating a lot of red meat for the iron.)

We kind of stumbled upon the course of the Rivalry Relay as it went down Wasatch and into Draper, but didn't see a lot of runners.  We were passed by one girl who probably hadn't just run 15 miles like we had.  It was really starting to get hot at that point.  The relay must have been crazy hot as the day went on.

 I really hate the Porter Rockwell Trail in Draper.  It's not so much the trail as it is that I'm always running it on the last two miles of the longest run in my life.  There is this wooden dinosaur skeleton in somebody's back yard that is always mocking me as I stumble along the path.

Came home and took a 5 minute ice bath.  That was nice.  I kind of wish I was still in it, but I had to hurry and get ready and go to Sydney's soccer game.  Her team won, 2-0.