running for my mind

12 - 4,303 ft. - 2:53 on feet

Met Matt C. at Fernwood and went up the trail to Chinscraper. Goal was to run and only drop to a hike in a few necessary spots and to push the effort more on the second half of the climbing. It was my first time up this particular trail, so I was not familiar with it. It was beautiful to catch the sunrise up top. 

The trail was significantly different than I had expected. It was more runnable than I had thought and had more changes in grade as well. Part way up it became really wet. The trail was fine, but all the bushes were soaked from last night's rain. These bushes had overgrown much of the trail to the point that the bushes on either side were touching in the middle of the trail anywhere from ankle height up to my shoulders. Didn't take long before I was really wet and for a few minutes I got a little cold. It was pretty neat to experience, but I would have liked it to be more clear as I felt at times the bushes were about to trip me as I blazed through them. I also was not able to push the effort on the second half as much as I would have liked because I couldn't see the trail through the bushes. I was just running and hoping to not hit a rock, root, or pot hole. I still feel like I made good time though.

Overall, I felt good on the run. My lower back / upper glutes were pretty tired by the end from the climbing. It was roughly 1:34 to the top. I continued on for a little less than a quarter mile so I could hit 6 miles. Back at the ridge, I sat and emptied a few rocks from my shoes and waited for Matt for a few minutes before descending down and ultimately meeting him at the bottom of the final pitch up Chinscraper. 

I woke at 3:45 and didn't eat anything before the run. I consumed about 65 calories during via an electrolyte drink in a 12oz handheld and also sipped on water from my pack. I was pretty hungry by the end, and would have consumed some nutrition had I been going farther.

six miles
1 - 452 ft.
2 - 726 ft.
3 - 832 ft. 
4 - 806 ft.
5 - 769 ft.
6 - 589 ft.

Everything the light touches, is our kingdom. -Mufasa PC:@runmehappy

A photo posted by runmehappy (@runmehappy) on Jul 1, 2015 at 11:53am PDT

11 - 1,235 ft - 1:50 on feet

Fire break road and BST out and back. Took a bit to get moving and feeling alright. Wanted to keep it pretty easy after yesterday's run, but also at a comfortable effort so not as easy as Monday or Tuesday. The early mornings have been wearing on me a bit and I look forward to getting a little more sleep/rest the next 10 days or so.

Met this friendly fella today...

 

🎶 "Trussst in me..." 🎶 -Kaa

A photo posted by james e clissold (runmehappy) (@james_clissold) on Jul 2, 2015 at 2:34pm PDT

7 - 239 ft. - 53 min on feet

Drove last night from Salt Lake to California. Arrived about 3 am. Pretty tired from lack of sleep and driving. Went out at 5 pm for 7 and was a sweaty mess within minutes. Hot sun and humidity are intense. Going to just try and work runs in for the next couple of days with the travel schedule. 

10 - 294 ft. - 1:20 on feet

Back Bay loop in Newport. After all the mountain running I have been doing, my lungs feel quite amazing at sea level.

PM - 10 - 12ft. - 1:32 on feet

Watched fireworks all around me as I ran down the beach and then back on the boardwalk. Incredible people watching, to say the least.

Recap about the week tomorrow. 

Happy 4th! It is one of my favorite holidays. 

This week went better than expected with traveling the past few days. I managed to keep the mileage up and consistent and I was able to maintain the same time on my feet as last week. Elevation was down but that is going to be the trend this coming week as well because we are staying at sea level. All things considered, I feel good.

Week Summary
6 days - 1 double - 4 trail - 2 road - 1 beach!
68.35 miles
9,399 ft. elevation gain
11:56 on feet

11 - 6 ft. - 1:33 on feet

Up the boardwalk and into the south end of Huntington Beach and back. Roughly 35% of this run is on the boardwalk in Newport. Fun and pretty to run on. Then, you are forced into the alley for a couple miles before crossing a bridge and ending up in south Huntington. Overall, it is a pretty ugly and dirty run. I wish the boardwalk was a couple miles longer.

Goal was to just take it easy today for 90 minutes. Going to try and get in 2 workouts this week. Likely tomorrow and Thursday...depending on vacation plans.

13.5 - 9 ft. - 1:36 on feet.

Same route as yesterday, just a little bit farther. Goal for today's workout was warmup, 20 minutes at lactate threshold or roughly my half marathon pace, 15 minute resting "jog" and then another 25 minutes at pace. Cool down a couple miles.

I was actually slightly anxious about this workout because I have not run any type of tempo run on the road since before Ogden in May. I didn't know how I would feel or really what pace to shoot for. I figured that somewhere between a 6:20-6:30 would be about right on the flats, but also worried that might be a little ambitious. I decided to start at about 6:30 and work into it. I figured I could get 3 miles in 20 minutes and then shoot for 4 in the second set.

It turned out well and I am pleased with it. I pushed the last mile below my half marathon pace to finish strong. Zero hamstring pain during. Now to see if it flares up later. That is the true test.

1st set - 6:30, 6:23, 6:19
2nd set - 6:18, 6:13, 6:09, 5:58

Not too long ago, during a conversation with a couple coaches (who were/are not coaching me), I told them I wanted to train for a certain mountain ultra. In unison they said "Don't do it. You will lose ALL your speed!" 

Happily trying to prove them wrong....so far.

13 - 8 ft. - 1:55 on feet

Up down and around Newport easy. First 9 miles pushing Olive in the stroller.

12 - 19 ft. - 1:30 on feet

Did not go as planned. I did not feel good walking out the door. I contemplated not even attempting the workout I had scheduled, but decided after my 2ish mile warmup to give it a shot anyway. Goal was 2-1-2 with 1/2 mile recovery jog in between. In the middle of the second mile of the first repeat, I felt my left leg just feel off. I was almost done with the first repeat so I stuck it out. However, I pulled the plug at .7 of the second repeat. I felt crappy and then my left leg started acting up. It just didn't like the pace and I was not willing to risk any type of injury. I ran easy the rest of the time.

2 miles - 5:50, 5:44
0.7 at a 5:26 average

Not judging my fitness by this at all. Just wasn't my day.

10 - 2,122 ft. - 1:50 on feet

Crazy change of plans due to Grey going to the ER on our vacation and she being really sick. Drove home all day yesterday. Glad to be back in the mountains.

Went 5 out and 5 back from the Wild Rose Park.

20.5 - 4,843 ft. - 4:17 on feet

Alarm went off at 3:15. Met Daniel at Big Mountain and headed north west for roughly 10 and then back. Legs were tired and I was feeling it. This week has been rough with travel and lack of sleep with everything that has been going on. Looking forward to tomorrow off and hopefully getting in a nap.

Big ascents on both ends of the out and back. Mile 1 had 780 ft. of gain and mile 11 had 960 ft.

Will post a recap of this odd week tomorrow.

All things considered I feel like it was a really solid week of training. I was supposed to be traveling all week but it was cut short. This actually made it possible to get into the mountains 2 days when I wouldn't have at all had we stuck to our original plan. I logged more miles and had more time on my feet. I got in one solid and fast workout and pushed a long run with decent climbs on tired legs and a worn out body. On to another week...

Week summary
6 days - all singles - 4 road - 2 trail
80 miles
7,007 ft.
12:41 on feet

9 - 1,550 ft. - 1:40 on feet

easy on Mueller

8.33 - 7 ft. - 1 hour on feet

This morning was thrown off so I had to improvise. I slept a little later because I thought I had to meet my first apt at 9 am. Plan was to go to the hills for a workout of 3x2 at a solid effort. As I went to leave however, Whit said she needed me home by 7:15 to watch the girls. That left me with just over an hour. No hills it was. Ran a workout on the parkway and will hopefully get out again later. Warmup, 2x2 miles, and cool down. Eased into the first and just tried to hold a solid effort.

6:26, 6:09  - - - 6:09, 5:57

10.25 - 1,657 - 1:42 on feet

Mostly easy up and down Mueller. My calves/soleus muscles are a little sore and tight from yesterday. Contemplating avoiding any more road speedwork for a while.

Mile  Gain
1        472    490    465    455
2        342    270    358    345
3        157    216    161    115
4        399    356    378    404
5        222              195    175

PM - 4 - 1,056 - 48 min. on feet

Hopped on the treadmill to shake out the legs a bit before going to bed. Got some heat training in. 93 degrees in my garage where the treadmill is. Loosened up and stretched afterward.

12 - 1,709 ft. - 1:53 on feet

30 min hill workout which consisted of 30 minutes up at roughly marathon effort and then 30 minutes down at a controlled pace but still running. Overall felt good. I didn't push it as hard on this workout as I did a couple weeks ago on a similar workout. I wanted to stay more near the marathon effort where before I was pushing the effort harder and was spent by the end of the climb. 

Up - 3.16 miles - 807 ft. - 30 minutes

Down - 4.13 miles - -1,086 ft. - 30 minutes

So, Garmin provides elevation corrections based on professional surveys for runs. If however your device has a barometric altimeter, those corrections are turned off by default. The above elevations are based on my device which has a barometric altimeter. Below are the numbers based on the surveys. Would be interesting to know which is more accurate. Quite the discrepancy. Also, all of my runs up until today have been based on the professional surveys because today was my first run with a barometric altimeter (Fenix 3).

Overall elevation - 2,425
30 min up - 1,021
30 min down - -1,447

Now I don't know which is more accurate or which to use for my weekly totals. I just went through a few of my past runs and when I turn off the corrections, sometimes the total elevation goes up and sometimes it goes down. So...who knows. My assumption is the barometric altimeter is more accurate than elvation based off of GPS (articles I have read support that assumption), but I don't know about how accurate the "professional surveys" are that Garmin is using.

8 - 1,224 ft. - 1:20 on feet

Easy up and down Mueller. Long run tomorrow. 

25.1 - 3,547 ft. up - 6,473 ft. down - 4:32 on feet - 10:51 avg.

3:15 rise again to pick up Daniel at 4. We drove up to Brighton and ran the end of the Wasatch course over to Soldier Hollow.

Wow! There is some beautiful country back there in the wilderness! Didn't see the lakes on the initial climb because it was still dark, but the sunrise that lit up Mineral Basin, Timp, and surrounding hills was incredible. The large aspen groves were so fun to run through. 

1 - 610 up - 16:24
2 - 413 up - 16:28
3 - 512 up - 207 down - 17:26
4 - 781 down - 12:37
5 - 289 up - 420 down - 15:34
6 - 240 up - 66 down - 13:11
7 - 52 up - 184 down - 10:16
8 - 69 up - 351 down - 11:41
9 - 7 up - 604 down - 12:28
10 - 702 down - 10:57
11 - 240 up - 148 down - 10:43
12 - 354 up - 89 down - 12:25
13 - 167 up - 233 down - 8:58
14 - 13 up - 253 down - 8:00
15 - 410 down - 7:36
16 - 79 up - 115 down - 8:28
17 - 72 up - 354 down - 8:57
18 - 98 up - 364 down - 10:49
19 - 558 down - 10:40
20 - 10 up - 240 down - 8:31
21 - 43 up - 171 down - 7:56
22 - 79 up - 52 down - 7:54
23 - 89 up - 30 down - 8:03
24 - 26 up - 52 down - 7:37
25 - 72 up - 92 down - 7:27

Weely recap coming tomorrow.

I felt like this was a solid week and things are coming together in the mountains. I got workouts in and a long run Saturday. Consistent higher mileage with a little more time on my feet. Elevation was up a bit as well from last week. This week is going to be an aggressive one with two midweek workouts and then a back to back on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to it.

Week Summary
6 days - 1 double - 5 trial - 1 road - 1 treadmill
Miles 76.68
9,694 ft - (12,620 ft of drop)
12:55 on feet

8 - 965 ft. - 1:25 on feet

East Mountain Wilderness Park out 4 miles and back. Nice cool(er) morning. There was an enormous rainbow out to the west that spanned almost the entire valley. It only lasted a minute or two, but was like no other rainbow I have ever seen. Reward of rising early and getting out there today I guess.

PM - 4 - 0 ft. - 36 min. on feet

Easy shakeout of the legs on the treadmill. 

10 - 1,407 ft. - 1:38 on feet

Workout of 3 x 15 minutes at a decent effort on rolling trail. I figured East Mountain Wilderness Park out and back would be perfect for this. It has lots of runnable up and down. Goal was to have the interval effort be just slower than marathon. I think I probably pushed it a little harder than that though. It was still very controlled and was a good workout. I felt really strong this morning. Roughly 5 minute active recovery in between. Nice to practice the transitions from up to down to flat etc and holding momentum and effort.

9.2 - 1,362 ft. - 1:43 on feet

Easy solo run. Lost in my thoughts.

8 - 1,923 ft - 1:21 on feet.

Revisited the 3 mile time trial this morning up Farmington Canyon and the singletrack. It has been a month since my last go at it. I was hoping to have improved over the last month. If not, what have I been doing? Turned out well. There was a head wind again, but maybe slightly less than last time. About the same conditions.

Right from the get go I knew my legs were feeling stronger. I figured I could keep mile 1 under 10 minutes. Miles 2 and 3 are then on the single track. Happy to have been faster on each of the 3 miles. I was not as spent at the end as I was last time either. All good signs. Now on to tomorrow's mid-long run and going back-to-back on Saturday with a long(er) run.

Mile - Today  -  June  -  Gain
  1       9:44       10:20     535 ft
  2       10:50     12:09     528 ft
  3       11:53     13:11     554 ft

15 - 1,814 ft - 2:28 on feet

Out and backs to go into tomorrow's run on tired legs. I just kept singing in my head "Pioneer children sang as they ran and ran and ran!"

Happy 24th to all the Utahns out there!

__________                  
|                   |                 _
| __        __  |___  ____/  \
|/    \__ /     \ |      /|  ___  | 
 \__/     \ __/          //       \\
 

26 - 5,761 ft. - 5:23 on feet

Alarm rang at 2:05 (and that was not even close to the worst part about this morning.

Lamb's to Brighton and back. More later, but short version is my headlamp all but died at mile 3ish. I went off route and was lost in thick bushes and trees. Ended up with slaughtered legs and running by the light of my phone for over an hour. Pulled out of the rut when the sun came up but then I rolled my ankle slightly. Was hesitant on the downs because of it. Still felt strong and it was good time on my feet with good elevation. Little bit glad that's over though. 

3 - 158 ft. - 28 minutes

Easy shakeout of the legs to get them warmed up and loose for a little stretching.

Another week has gone by and it was a good one for me. I got 2 mid-week workouts in with a big improvement on my hill climb time trial. Had a mid-long run Friday with a long run yesterday. Felt good all the way through the week. This coming week will be one of my biggest peaks and I am looking forward to it, with a little bit of fear of how Friday and Saturday will feel.

Week Summary
7 days - 1 double - 6 trail - 2 treadmill
83.7 miles
13,232 ft.
15:02 on feet
 

8.25, 1,211 ft. - 1:23 on feet

Easy warm morning up Mueller and back. First trail run in the Challenger and I am liking it so far. Hoping to run it on Saturday for 25. If it performs well on that, it will likely be the shoe I decide to race in.

Realized this morning that if everything goes as planned this week, I will run the most miles I ever have in one week and I will run the most miles in one month. In April 2013 I ran a 90.75 mile week and finished that month at 356. For me, it is even more relevant because nearly all my miles right now are in the mountains, which is requiring a substantial more time than road miles. Last week was by far the most training hours I have put in at 15 hours.

9 - 1,086 ft - 1:23 on feet

Started easy for 2 and then ratchetted down a few times to finish off at half marathon effort. All on the rolling hills just past Fernwood and back. Felt good to open things up a bit. Cooled down 2. 

I might not hit my highest mileage week after all. Only 60 minutes easy tomorrow and 30 minutes Thursday to get ready for Friday and Saturday. It will be a massive week regardless and July will still be might highest mileage month.

6.1 - 725 ft. - 60 min on feet

Easy out and back. Had to keep slowing myself down. My legs and lungs wanted something more moderate pace, but I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

3 - 502 ft. - 32 minutes

Easy little shakeout before tomorrow's and Saturday's adventures. Excited to test the hard work I have put in. I expect it to be tough, but am confident.

35 - 8,776 ft. - 8:20 on feet

Well...what to really say about this one. It was long. It was hot. Did I mention it was hot? I ran out of water and learned a few good lessons. I feel like I have told the story too many times now that I don't even feel like typing it out.

In short, things felt good until about 18. Then, I didn't feel well and was having a hard time keeping my core temp down. I ended up running out of water and my electrolyte fluid and did a lot of walking, especially the last 4-6 miles. I lost about 8 lbs over the course of the run. The last 4 miles were miserable. Finished and spent the remainder of the day trying to get fluids back in my system so I could hopefully run 25 Saturday morning. I was willing to not run at all or cut it short if I couldn't get feeling well.

Those first 40 miles of the course are my least favorite. I will have to be very aware on race day of the temp and how my body is handling it. It will be easier with aid stations. I don't know if I will ever do this run again self supported.