Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 9.7 miles. Woke up and the power was out. No big deal - in our place items such as headlamps and ice axes are always close by. We met up with James and Allie for the regularly scheduled JAJA run. This morning's edition featured a little bit of wind! After 6.5 miles I cut off from the group and headed up to work. The wind on Sunnyside and up the hill towards HCI was crazy... I was almost standing still at times. The worst part was the dirt blowing in my eyes and mouth. Not what I wanted for breakfast. In hindsight, we should have shuttled a car up Emigration Canyon and tried to break the 10-mile world record coming back down. I think we all could have crushed it!

PM - 4.3 miles down to Sugarhouse where Andrea picked me up. 

November was my best month of the year for perfect pushups (3025, barely beating June)... now I'm incorporating the Perfect Pullup back into the routine since my groin pull is finally healed. They are a lot harder.

AM - 7.3 miles up to work. Bet you can't guess what I have planned for this afternoon.

PM - 7.3 miles home. 

Last night our power was still out when we got home, which meant 6 quarts of ice cream were in serious jeopardy. Andrea and I decided the reasonable thing to do was eat as much as we possibly could for dinner before it all melted. I packed as much into a bowl as possible, posted up on the couch, and before I finished my second bite all the power came back on! Bummer - I put the bowl back in the freezer and ended up cooking a bunch of spinach... then of course ate a quart of ice cream later in evening... everybody wins!

8am tomorrow - JRP @ 3300S... easy breezy run. About 10 miles. Everybody is welcome! 

AM - 11 miles on the Jordan River path w/ Andrea, Emily J, Rob, Allie, James, and Bryan. There was just a little dusting of snow on the path... enough to make you pay attention so you wouldn't slip. Gotta get those snow/ice legs back under me. The sun came out and it was a really pleasant morning. Nice run... good conversations always make the time fly by.

PM - 4.4 miles, ran up to Smiths on 3300S and met Andrea so we could do our grocery shopping. Nothing beats an all uphill shakeout run.

AM - 8.6 miles. Ran 5.5 w/ Andrea, then added on another loop around the block. We were planning on taking the day off and going hiking, but the weather isn't too great.

Been refreshing the CIM results all morning... awesome runs by Fritz and Emily B! No OTQs, but a pair of very impressive PRs. Also saw on Greg McMillan's twitter feed that Bonnie ran a 1/2 marathon PR today. Good job today bloggers!

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 7.3 miles up to work.

PM - 7.3 miles home. It felt warm outside compared to the past couple mornings :-)

Anyone down for another group run and out for breakfast on Saturday morning? Something in the 10-15 mile range. 

AM - 11.3 miles. Andrea was up early to run w/ Devra so I started my run to work about 30 minutes earlier, and therefore had almost no choice but to take a longer route.

PM - 7.3 miles home. Left work a little later than usual and caught an incredible sunset as I was coming down the hill from HCI. Nice way to end the day. 

AM - 11 miles. JAJA run, then split off and headed up to work. It was relatively warm out this morning compared to the rest of the week.

PM - 7.3 miles home. After lots of harder workouts from mid-April to mid-November, I'm starting to enjoy this "down" period of just easy running for a while. Recharging the batteries. 

Saturday - 8am - Jordan River Parkway @ 3300S. Easy run... then breakfast afterwards if anyone wants to join us.

AM - 7.3 miles up to work.

PM - 7.5 miles home. Crossed paths w/ Rob on the way and ran a bit with him. We talked about running, surprisingly. 

Here's something cool - Sam Fox just finished running the PCT (~2650 miles) in 2 months. The promo video for the documentary being made about his journey features some nice Grand Canyon running footage.

AM - 13 miles. Ran on the JRP w/ the biggest Saturday morning crew yet - Andrea, Allie, Kelli, James, Rob, Chad, Adam, Kam, and Scott. As Chad pointed out, the turnout was better than the track races we've done! Perfect winter morning for running.

Afterwards a few of us went out to breakfast at Over the Counter. Rob was right - they make a solid omelet. Andrea, Emily B, and I stayed until noon rehashing our marathons, and talking about our plans for 2012. Fun morning. 

PM - 4 miles around the block. We have my department's xmas party tonight, which means I have to wear something other than sweats and stay up past 9pm. Should be fun though... hopefully we'll get a really fancy meal out of it. Black compression socks double as dress socks, right?

AM - 9 miles winding around Holladay. My legs have been begging me to let them move a little quicker, so I ran faster than normal for the second half of the run (5:45-5:55). It felt good to do something other than jogging. I'm sticking to my easy running plan for the remainder of the month, but I might throw in some strides or something starting this week just to get some turnover going.

PM - Andrea and I hiked up Mt Olympus (~7 miles r/t, 4200 feet climbing). The lower half of the trail was dry, then it got snowy and icy. Microspikes were very helpful (thankfully we brought them on Scott W's recommendation). As the day went on we could see the inversion in the valley building up. Nice to be up in the mountains... looking forward to actually getting some snow and going skiing!

I put up a little trip report with photos on the blog: Hiking Mt Olympus in Winter. A few below...

AM - 7.3 miles up to work. Early start this morning - hopefully that means I can leave work a little earlier and run in the daylight this afternoon.

PM - 11 miles home via Wasatch Drive / Parleys Trail. Finished before it got dark out and didn't even have to turn on all my flashing lights. On the downhills I noticed that my quads are a little stiff from the hike yesterday. 

AM - 9 miles, Sunnyside/Wasatch. Nice morning. 1/100th of an inch of snow on the ground.

PM - 4 miles. 

This interview with Cam Levins from Southern Utah University has been making the rounds. Talk about miles make champions...

Since its snowing today, I decided to compile some data from the Collins plot and project how much we will get this winter. Andrea tells me this is not a linear relationship :-) I'm really just trying to see if I can get Fiddy out of blogging hibernation... I have no choice but to assume I am correct unless he tells me otherwise!

AM - 11.3 miles up to work. Got the N'Sync christmas album going on my ipod and had a very enjoyable wintery run!

PM - 7.3 miles home. 

AM - 10.5 miles. JAJA run. Split off from the group after 7 miles and ran up to work. Allie made a custom map of the run using the latest satellite imagery.

PM - 7.3 miles home. 

Thought this was interesting - at the Fukuoka Marathon, race officials pull you off the course if you don't stay under 2:46 pace!

AM - 7.3 miles up to work. 

PM - 7.3 miles home. Ran the first mile easy down the hill and then decided to do a spur of the moment light progression run. Didn't have my garmin so I just went by feel... averaged about 5:35-5:40 pace for the last 6+ miles. Felt good to get the legs moving a bit.

Since the UAC doesn't have much to talk about right now in terms of snow conditions, this morning's forecast provided some information about exercise in the smog. I thought this might be worth sharing...

Smog Outdoor Exercise Guide:
First and most important, I check the Utah Air Quality Trend Charts each morning and concentrate on the top graph of PM 2.5 (the bad stuff). Those who live near the mountains can sometimes get lucky when the drainage air currents at night can push a pocket of fresh air out into the valleys near the canyon mouths. You can sometimes see that reflected in the trend charts.

Second, check the Meso West surface observations. When you see down canyon breezes in your local canyon. Since I live in Salt Lake, I check Parleys Canyon and the new weather station on the Utah Museum of Natural History, which sits at the bottom of Red Butte.

Third, get your exercise first thing in the morning because you will only have a short window of clean air at the base of the mountains before the daytime heating pushes it back up against the mountains. 

AM - 15 miles. Ran on the JRP w/ Andrea, Emily B, Fritz, and Rob. Nice run and good conversations as always! It is a shame that we'll be out of town next weekend because Rob and Fritz are planning a post-apocalyptic run on I-80 on Christmas morning :-)

PM - 4 miles around the block, nice & easy. 

AM - 17 miles. Ran about a mile w/ Andrea, then she had to stop, so I ran down Highland to 6200S, up the hill, then back along Wasatch Blvd. Dramatically different weather just a few hundred feet higher up on the bench - the sun is shining! Averaged a little under 6:40 pace for the run. When I'm not doing harder workouts, my easy runs end up getting a bit quicker. When I was about 50 yards from home, I took a bad step off the sidewalk and nearly broke my ankle. No residual effects... whew, got lucky on that one!

PM - 4 miles easy shakeout. 

AM - 7.3 miles up to work.

PM - 7.3 miles home.

AM - 13 miles. Met Bryan this morning, started at HCI and ran up Emigration Canyon, out & back. Good run. 

Noticed last night that my ankles don't look the same. The medial side of my right ankle appears to be a little swollen just above the arch, maybe from when I twisted it on Sunday morning? The problem is that I can't remember with any certainty which ankle I twisted! Luckily it doesn't hurt... I'm just going to keep my eye on it and stay on top of it with the ice / compression combo.

PM - 4 miles easy breezy. 

AM - 7.3 miles up to work. From up on the hill, you can definitely tell a storm is moving in... it should clear the gunk out of the air.

PM - 9 miles home. Added a little extra loop around Sugarhouse park because it was so nice out. Fresh air!

AM - 11.3 miles up to work. Very nice winter morning. And now the days start getting longer!!!

PM - 9 miles home. Left work a little early today, so I got to run in the sunshine! Did some basic drills when I got home (high knees, butt kicks, skipping, lunges, etc). Going to try and get in the (good) habit of doing these more often. 

Cool trailer I came across this morning - Iten: The Town of Red Dust. Try to watch that and not get fired up for a run! Its almost as good as the preview for the new Batman movie :-)

AM - 20 miles. No work today (University Closure Day for non-essential employees!), so I was able to sleep in, then do a long run before we fly to Tennessee this afternoon. Ran south through Holladay to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, back north on Wasatch Blvd to 3300S, then meandered down through the neighborhoods to home. That is a pretty good long run route (map) - some rolling hills in there to break it up. Averaged a little under 6:50 pace for the run.

Beautiful day out - clear, sunny skies... enjoy it! We're off to Knoxville now! 

AM - 14 miles. Really enjoyable, easy paced run through the farm roads and rolling hills near Andrea's house in Knoxville. I haven't run w/ Andrea all week because her hamstring has been acting up, so it was really nice to get out there with her this morning and see her feeling good - we ran 10 miles together, then I added on another loop.

On the plane yesterday I read a book that Rob Murphy let me borrow - Young at Heart... the biography of Johnny Kelley. What a great, inspiring story. Johnny completed 58 Boston Marathons, winning twice, and even notched a top-10 finish when he was 50 years old! Talk about longevity and consistency! I couldn't help but smile all the time while reading this one - definitely worth checking out. Johnny had an incredible passion for both running and life. Reading his story really makes you realize what a wonderful gift it is to be a runner.

I hope Santa is good to all of you today... Merry Christmas Eve!!! 

AM - 13 miles. Easy Christmas morning run... 10 miles w/ Andrea. Finished with form drills and 6 uphill sprints (walk back down).

PM - 9 miles. Shorts and sunshine! Great run, quick pace... felt like spring outside. Today was a low-key day at the North household... just the immediate family, so lots of time to relax... and run twice :-)

Merry Christmas!!! 

AM - 15 miles... 10 w/ Andrea. Caught the tail-end of an incredible sunrise and wished I had been out the door even earlier - but then again, we're on vacation, so its nice to be running in the daylight all the time this week. Andrea's loop of choice this morning had a ton of short but very steep hills, so I didn't feel the need to do any hill sprints afterwards :-)

PM - 10 miles... just cruising along on an old country road where I saw at least a half-dozen ponies, which totally made my day. 

[Neat article on Ekidens and Japanese high school running. Its really cool how competitive these races are.]

AM - 15 miles. Ran 10 w/ Andrea. The forecast called for 100% chance of rain this morning, so we were lucky to make it through 7 miles before the heavens opened up on us. After Andrea headed indoors, I kept going and it was an absolute downpour for the last couple miles. A hot shower and breakfast felt really good afterwards.

PM - 8 miles. It continued to rain all day, but stopped before I went back out, and I had another very pleasant run. 

Yesterday I read a good article written by Jennifer Pharr Davis. If you've never heard of her - she set the record for hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer. I liked this quote: “If you don’t fail at something at least once, then you haven’t set your goals high enough.” [Here is the article from Blue Ridge Outdoors]

AM - 15 miles... 10 w/ Andrea. Beautiful morning in Knoxville. Sunshine!

PM - 6 miles, shorts and t-shirt. And so ends the Tennessee holiday training camp. Flying back to SLC this evening. 

Anyone want to meet up for a New Year's Eve run this Saturday morning? If anyone has suggestions on where we should meet - lets hear them! Otherwise we could always do the standard 8am / JRP / 3300S? 

AM - 9 miles up to work. Sugarhouse loop variation. It felt really warm out this morning - I had my gloves off for almost the entire run, which is very unusual for me.

PM - 7.3 miles home. Pretty tired now, since I didn't get back until very late last night. Gonna hit the sack early tonight for sure. 

AM - 8 miles. Ran from HCI to the base of Emigration Canyon. On the way back I did a faster one mile effort (4:40) on roughly the first mile of the Leopards 5K course. It felt good to open it up a little bit. The idea was just to tell my legs that lazy jogging month is over. Its a shame that Running of the Leopards won't be on the circuit this year. I'll still probably run it, because I'm definitely not going back to Antelope Island that weekend! :-)

PM - 8 miles. I think there is an unwritten rule that when its this warm outside on December 30th, you have to hit the track! I wanted to see how my legs would feel turning over a little quicker, so I did 2 perimeter laps on the grass at Sugarhouse to warmup, then 12 x 200m on the track, averaging 33.6 seconds. Just kind of cruising along... the effort felt more like 35-36 second splits, so that is good - the neuromuscular coordination is still there. Today was my first effort(s) at running faster since Philadelphia, and I'm pleased with how everything felt.

Reached my goal of driving to work less than 100 days this year. Today was #98. Good thing I have statistics on everything. 

Tomorrow we're going to meet at the Jordan River Trail @ 3300S (usual spot - James Madison Park) - 8:00AM. My cell is 4802842666 in case anyone is running late... if you send me a text we'll wait for you.

AM - 18 miles.  Ran 12 on the Jordan River trail w/ Andrea, Allie, Devra, Emily J, Adam, Rob, and James... then I ran home from there. Another beautiful "shorts weather" morning. Felt very good today.

First run in the Saucony Mirage shoes... really like them. This is finally a viable replacement for the Tangent, and something I can alternate w/ my Kinvaras when I want something with a bit more support. 

I'll probably just do an easy 200 miles later this afternoon to get 6000 for the year :-)

PM - 4 miles shakeout. I decided that was a better idea. 

Here's some recommended reading for the weekend - Runner's World article on Desi Davila