Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 15 miles. Around Jackson and on the Elk Refuge. Andrea biked about half the run with me. It was chilly - wore gloves the entire time!

PM - 4 miles.

Did a short hike on the drive home... Ski Lake via Teton Pass. We ran most of the way down.

This is Gershwin, the horse that lives next door to our friends in Jackson.

And a couple from Ski Lake... not the most amazing lake compared to some of the places we've been the previous couple days, but it was still a nice hike...

AM - 14 miles. Gully x 2. Ran the first loop w/ Rob and Kramer, and then met the team for round two... they were doing a time trial, so Kramer and I paced the lead guys.

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike). Did a little "test" on the tempo loop to see if I'm ready for a real workout tomorrow - 2 x 1/2 mile in 2:27, 2:21 (~1/4 jog in between). Seems like the legs are ready to fire again. 

I put lots of photos from our Jackson trip on Wasatch and Beyond. Amphitheater Lake definitely goes very high on the list of "best lakes ever"... 

Jenny Lake, Hidden Falls, and Inspiration Point
Amphitheater Lake
Grovont aka "Mormon Row"
Jackson Lake

AM - 13 miles. LT Reps: 3-2-1 Mile (0.5 mi jog) in 15:09 (5:08, 5:05, 4:56), 9:48 (4:53, 4:55), 4:47. Tempo loop. 4 up (3.5 w/ Andrea), 2 down. Was targeting 15:30/10:10/4:55 so this was good.

PM - 7 miles. Horsepark loops. 

I'm purposely avoiding any longer AT-type tempo runs as "key" workouts for the time being. Just trying to focus on LT (or faster). I'm not really worried about the marathon specific type workouts (like the 10-12 mile tempos); those are easy for me to jump right into when the time comes, and I feel like I can wait until I'm about 6 weeks out (which is a long way from now), especially while I'm continuing to make progress at 5K-HM. I haven't done a true long run in about 4 months, so I'm planning to starting putting those back into the mix, starting this weekend, once every other week or something like that.

Best part of the morning was seeing this note on my laptop when I got back...
 

AM - 16 miles. Usual Wednesday run w/ Rob and the team at Alta, but Kramer and I stretched it out a little further today. I remember when 10 miles was a good run up there! Great to see so many guys working hard, pushing to stay up in the front as long as possible, putting in the extra loops at the top, etc. Enjoyed the run quite a bit.

PM - 8 miles. 6 w/ Matt in Draper, then another 2 w/ James on campus. Shoe testing. 

For those not fortunate enough to live in Utah, here's a couple photos of the upper section of the road in Albion Basin (~9500 feet). This is the flat part that we have all come to really appreciate. I took these when we were hiking a week ago.

AM - 10 miles. 3 x 1 Mile on Wasatch Blvd in 4:42, 4:42, 4:46. Tough headwind today (~25mph, which felt like it sort of negated the downhill advantage of these); the last one felt like I was trying a lot harder than when I ran 4:47 (flat) to close out Tuesday's workout. Still, accomplished the goal of the workout - faster turnover on somewhat tired legs - and bagged it after three reps to make sure I didn't wear myself down.

PM - 7 miles. Warmed up on the Alta HS track and did 4 x 200m in ~32s. Just enough to get loose and put the legs through a full range of motion. Then 4 miles w/ Spencer (shoe testing).

August 1st!

AM - 14 miles. Started w/ Andrea, then was carried along by the Goo Goo Dolls the rest of the way. Kept the pace very easy. Looking forward to getting back up to Jeremy Ranch tomorrow... its been a while!

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea (bike). 

AM - 20 miles. Jeremy Ranch Long Run. Great group this morning, probably 12-15 guys starting off together. Did the typical out and back for the first 15 miles, then Kotter and I added on 5 or so more. He wanted to do the last part on the roads around the golf course, not realizing that area is actually hillier than the dirt road (see below). I knew exactly what we were getting into and was happy to go along. Although I did slip off the sidewalk between 16-17 and took a solid tumble. Came directly down on the right knee and scraped it up a bit (and my hands!). Swollen now so today will require a lot of ice/pool time.

Felt great the whole time today. The last time I did a 20 mile run was MARCH! I'll start making these a more regular thing again next month.