Training for a Belt Buckle

Did a nice easy recovery run this morning.  I ran up past my sister's former house and for some reason the 3 extra uphills only gave me one extra downhill.  It started getting icier after mile 5 and had to watch my footing and slow down then. About 6.5 miles the quads and hip flexors started hurting. At 7 I was out of energy. From 7-8 is almost all gradual uphill and I wanted to stop sooooo badly.

8.25 miles 1:35:02 total  Avg 11:31   Max 6:13

12:48/12:20/11:46/10:59/9:48/11:15/11:11/11:55

PM: after a nap, I started walking on the treadmill reading a book - 4 miles - but not counting it towards my running total

Happy New Year to One and All!

Went out running just as it got dark tonight. The temperature dropped nearly 10 degrees while I was out there.  After the first mile warmup, I started throwing some all out sprints for as long as I could in to the next few miles. I think I did 6 repeats. About 4 miles in the legs were spent, so just plodded along after that. Lots of snow melt out today. Luckily I balanced out stepping in a deep puddle with one foot with another puddle for the other foot a little later. Last 2 miles were pretty cold and the snow stung as it hit my face.

I ran 5 miles on the road this morning. I wish I had my yak trax on because it was very ice and slushy and snowy every where I ran.  The workout seemed twice as hard and I never felt like my legs loosened up. The downhill helped the muscles a bit, but I still had to run very slowly to not fall. The last two miles were in a headwind and felt very cold! The temperature also dropped 2 degrees while I was out there. 

Chickened out and came inside an ran the last mile on the treadmill.

Packing up the puppy now to head up north to show my sister how to weight lift and meet her new puppy and watch Spirit of the Marathon with her.

Leslie and I were discussing diet and fitness this afternoon.  I went and took the pre-tests in Jillian Michaels' book, Making the Cut.

Les - here are my initial results:

Pulse - 3 minute step test = 84 (excellent)

Pushups = 19 (above average)

Situps = 38 (excellent)

Wall Sit = 94 seconds (excellent)

Yesterday I did a lot of icing of both my knees since they have been aching a lot to be ready to do a treadmill endurance test for Sasha.

I got up about 4:45 to head off to the gym.  Weight pre-run 148.4. Drank about 10 oz water before heading to the gym. Ran 1 mile warmup at 4:30 mph pace. Potty stop and another 8 oz of water.

Set the treadmill for 6.6 mph and settled in. My heart rate the first two miles was about 159-161 most of the time. At the start of the third mile my heart rate started going up and I was feeling the pace. Heart rate averaged 161-163 during this mile. In the fourth mile I mentally wanted to stop the entire time.  I was tired and hot and thirsty.  Heart rate went between 163-165 and occasionally 166.

I stopped at the 4 mile mark. I was starting to feel faint, but did not yet have the roaring in my ears and black spots that usually precede this yet.  I am not sure if I was at the end of my endurance or if I mentally gave up.

I mile cooldown at 4:30 mph pace.

Weight post-run 145.6. Lost nearly 3 pounds of fluid during the run - plus the 18 oz I drank pre run.

Drank my protein shake, played with the puppy and am about to pack up my food for the day.

Tonight I will try to get in some upper body weight lifting and some time on the ellipticals or arc trainer.

PM: Met Leslie at Gold's Gym and we did the first day of Jillian Michaels' Making the Cut Program (45 minutes). I had absolutely no skill or grace at it.  .5 miles on an arc trainer as a warmup. 30 minutes hard on the ellipticals (2.5 miles) after working out.

I had great plans to go running and to the gym tonight.  However, while I was running errands after work my son called and mentioned he was at the house. So, I spent the evening with him cooking, visiting and watching him play Guitar Hero World Tour.  He took off to find friends near the end of Biggest Loser, so hit the treadmill at 9 p.m. 

I didn't really want to run that late because it will be hard to wind down and fall asleep - but I can always read Isaiah if I am desperate for a sleeping pill. I am trying to follow the concept of  'no excuses'.

5 miles - 57 minutes.

Hey - here's a suggestion for the running 6 days a week/2 miles minimum.  I think that anyone who is running a half marathon or longer can have a free day off the day before as part of their taper. Does anyone agree with me on that one?

Ran 6.5 miles after work. It's nice to see the sky staying lighter later at night. My time was nothing to write home about. The path next to Trax was extremely icy and I stayed in slush as much as I could to avoid black ice. Also dealt with some extreme lower GI problems and had to take some emergency VPBs (probably all this eating healthy).

OK - today has to have been the worst run of my life.  I had to force myself out of bed even though I had been having horrible dreams all night involving my son and his friend, my mother and a cell phone.  I never warmed up on the run. My body felt stiff and sore and cold and achy.  On the long uphill I was going between 15:00-16:00 pace and on the downhill I think I got to a blazing 11:00 pace.  I'm going to call into work for a few hours off and see if going back to bed with a mug of hot chocolate and my electric blanket makes me feel better.

On the positive side - I wore my shoes that I had screwed my La Sportiva hobnails into and did not slip once.  They were a good investment.

Just got an email that they cancelled Red Mountain!  Now I need some chocolate......

We at Red Mountain 50K sincerely regret to inform you running enthusiasts that our races will not be held this year due to multiple reasons---Economic slowdown perhaps being the primary reason.  We at Red Mtn Running have been committed to providing a "high quality race experience" put on " by runners for runners".  And we hope to offer a Southern Utah spring Ultramarathon or similar in 2010.  Thank you for considering our race, and to those of you who participted by running or volunteering your time and efforts, we  cheer you and are very grateful fo count each of you as friends.  We will be sending refund checks to you in the next two weeks.  Thanks again and look for us in the future.  Happy Running!
redmountain running

Ran on the treadmill tonight. Increased my speed and incline every half mile.  Tried to do a half mile at 8.0 mph.  Next time I will succeed. I was able to do about 1/5 mile, slowed down for a minute, then another 1/5 of a mile.

9.0 miles on the Porter Rockwell Trail with Leslie.

OMG - I had no concept I was being graded on the number of words.  Sheesh.

Ok - woke up early to meet Leslie in Draper for a long run. Leslie told me to meet her at a Chevron in an Albertson's parking lot. Well, Chevron was not inside the Albertsons parking lot - it was across the street. Leslie told me to meet her at 7:15. I was there on time with a smile on. Leslie was not. She was running late.  Leslie told me we were going to stash a car and do an 8 mile run that she liked. But - Leslie changed her mind and we ran from where we parked the cars.

We ran down a hill to the Porter Rockwell Trail. I have always wanted to try it and this was a good time to do so. The trail is nice - but it could use a few bathroom stops on it :) I made one of my own. ;)  Lots of little uphills and downs.  We tried to see how long it went, but turned around after an hour. 

Leslie and I discussed race options for the year. We want to get in a 50 miler come heck or high water.  I nagged Leslie about drinking, eating, training and breathing. Leslie called me Marion.

I am going to find the full length of the trail and we are going to try and organize a Saturday run for our group.  It also leads to several ways to get to the Draper Canal Trail - which is another trail we need to try.

Somebody commented on the hobnails on my shoes.  We saw Team in Training training - but we beat them to the punch.

Came home, showered, worked on Twilight's running training for about 5 minutes while waiting for my brother-in-law to pick me up and take me to the gun show.

Bought a holster. Took a nap.

Bye Bye

PM = 2 miles on the treadmill

Moved up to 7 miles daily today. I ran down 7th East to 90th South and up the big quarry hill to 13th East and 9400 South. Then down 13th east to South Union Drive, over to 7th East and home.

Avg: 11:50

13:14/12:24/12:21/11:12/10:59/11:26/11:11

Listened to Mind Body Mastery as I ran. One quote I liked a lot:

"If you think you are in a slump or moving backwards, maybe you are only backing up to take a running start at progress."

Everybody check out *JenJen*.  That is my daughter in Italy.

PM: Did Day 2 of Jillian Michaels 'Making the Cut' (except for two exercises I wasn't able to do in my home gym). Lots of leg work on this one - not fun after increasing my miles and lots of hills this morning. Stretched afterwords with a puppy attached to my foot by her leash. She kept wanting to lick my sweaty face.

Ate good today - with one exception (an eclair at work for a birthday celebration). However, I did avoid eating that 2nd eclair I wanted.  Dinner was very italianesque.  A whole wheat roll dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Followed by insalata caprese in a whole wheat pita.

YIKES! I just agreed to run the Buffalo Run 50 miler instead of the 50K.  Leslie - I am going to need you to pace me!  Think you can keep me on pace at the end?

PM - Planned to run outside, but my son was over and spent time with him.

Went to the gym and did 3.5 miles on the treadmill. I was planning to do more, but my stomach was really bothering me and the pain got bad and I couldn't force myself to throw up.

Rested for an hour and was going to run on the treadmill - but the 19 year old messed it up, so it took to long to get the belt working properly.  Oh well, I'll make up some miles tomorrrow.

Took me a half hour to drag myself out of bed this morning.  I've been too warm on some of my recent runs, so wore lighter weight gloves, a long sleeved running shirt and a vest on top. Guess what?  I am still trying to thaw out - I was so dang cold.  I've been bringing along a 'flask' with gatorade on my recent runs that I drink after an hour and that seems to help me not feel like I am dying the last few miles.

Flat course today.  Avg: 11:53 mph, Max: 6:44 mph - threw in 4 sprints in miles 2-6

12:07/11:52/11:34/11:22/11:25/11:19/10:47 (looks like I did some negative splits)

On the brighter side - all my bathroom trips the last few days have dropped 3 pounds since Monday.

My son was over last night and mentioned that I am looking great and he thinks this is the skinniest he has ever seen me.  Bless his pointed little head.

PM: Walked 4 miles on the treadmill at 3.8 mph with incline between levels 6-8.  I need to get more miles on my feet for the ultra and can put in hard effort walking without the stress on my knees of running. The plans are to still do my 7 miles a day of running and supplement it with walking in the evening.

Went over to Wheeler Farm and ran the trails during my lunchtime. It was sooooo nice to see the sun. Most of the trails were covered in snow and ice and mud, but I had my hobnail shoes on and experienced very little slippage.  I didn't have to slow down significantly on the ice and snow.

Avg: 12:06

11:48/12:26 (VPB)/12:05/11:51

Leslie - I am sure you will be relieved to hear I did not experience a wedgie with those tights today. I forgot to pack undies - so ran commando :-)

PM 1: .5 miles running to the vet and back with Twilight.

PM 2: Ran from my house to the Queen's Penguin Trail and then to 112 South and back.  I thought that was the end of the trail, but noticed that it crossed to the other side of Trax, so will have to see if it extends farther. The legs felt light and springy from miles 3-8. I finished mile 8 at 1 hour 30 minutes. Starting at nine it was uphill and the legs felt heavy - but that could be because I didn't eat enought before that.  It took tons of food to quit shaking from cold.

Avg - 11:25  Max - 8:24

11:47/11:36/11:05/11:24/11:42/11:12/10:47/10:30/11:04

4.3 miles on the treadmill while listening to Body Mind Mastery.  After dinner I plan to do day 4 of Making The Cut.

I was sad that everyone had so much fun running Painter's yesterday, so made my own half marathon today.

This was the first unofficial Queen's Penguin Trail Half Marathon.  Ran from my house to the start of the trail and then ran the entire distance of the trail. I found out it really ends at 12300 South and was at 6.3 miles, so ran a couple of blocks on the road until my turnaround time.

I have to admit it - Sasha's advice (actually 'following Sasha's advice') has really increased my endurance.

Total race time 2:28:58. I followed a process of walking 1 minute out of every 10 minutes. I never really pushed - because I want to do another 20+ miles tomorrow - and kept being very pleasantly surprised at my mile times.

Avg: 11:22  Max 6:51

11:55/11:44/11:19/11:22/11:21/11:27

11:25/11:05/11:19/11:03/11:35/11:01/11:00

OK - this is kind of freaky.  I just checked all my half marathon times and my 'training run' was a PR by 1 second.  2009 just might be a great year for jungle running.

Leslie, Odee and I went up to Park City this morning and ran the Jeremy Ranch Road from Jeremy Ranch over to Emigration Canyon (7.3 miles). Odee and I headed up the road for a bit, but he was worrying about his mom, so we turned around and met up with Leslie.  She had already run 5 miles this morning and was starting to get a bit tired, so I ran ahead and got the car and came back to meet them.  They were only a little more than a mile back when I finally found them.  

The plan was for Leslie to go to Wild Oats and pick up lunch for us and then come back and meet me while I got in more mileage. She assured me it would be all downhill once we got back on pavement. SHE LIED!  There was 2 miles of uphill with the last half mile looking worse than Veyo.  I crossed under the freeway and was about a mile down the frontage road when she found me.

Oh yeah - it was a balmy 8 degrees when we started running.  Luckily it warmed up to 32 degrees by the time we finished.

Naptime now - then onto the treadmill later.

PM - 2.25 miles walking on the treadmill to get my minimum mileage goal for the day.

Rest Day today.  My legs are feeling good - but it has been 8 days since I took a day off and I know my body needs one after the past 2 days of intense mileage.  Besides, this way I can admire the sunburn on my face from yesterday.

Balmy 16 degrees when I left - up to 19 degrees when I finished.  Lots of ice crystals on the road from the inversion fog.

I did hill repeats today.  First hill was about 1/3 of a mile long with a block long steep section. 3 repeats on that hill.  Then I ran the hill from Creek Road to 13th East (a little steeper) 2 times. One more long uphill on the was home plus some small ones in between.  Felt a little pulling behind the left knee at 6.5, but it eased up after a few minutes - so think it is okay.

Geesh - I ate healthy yesterday and my weight went up 3 pounds!

Treadmill time.  1 mile warmup.  4 miles at 6.0 mph. 1 mile cooldown.

5 miles on the treadmill. Finished a book called Living Successfully With Screwed-Up People. I wish I had read it years ago - but I probably wasn't ready to handle the message back then.

Ran & walked 4.8 miles to Leslie's house this morning.  It is almost all uphill - so walked the bad uphills.

We drove up to Park  and did 4.4 miles on slushy sloppy trails. Saw a neat fox that I took some pictures of will my camera phone.

Ran home from Leslies house - another 4.8 miles. I thought the downhills would be easy - but there was a stiff headwind from the southwest. I felt like I was walking - but was actually doing between 10.5 and 12 mph.

I'm tired.

Later - I forgot to mention that Leslie and I decided to run the Grand Slam this year since I was already doing Ogden, Park City and St. George and had been thinking of doing Utah Valley. Once she mentioned that Utah Valley was one of the official marathons - it was a no brainer.

Very welcome rest day.

Treadmill workout.

1 mile warmup

.25 at 8:00 pace, .75 between 5.0 - 5.5 mph

intervals 6 x .15 mile at 8:00 pace, alternating with .35 mile at 5.5 mph pace

1 mile at 10:00 pace

Brrrrrr.  It was cold outside.  I could tell the wind was from the north because my face and knees started getting really cold when I ran in that direction. Temperature is currently 16 degrees,, but feels like 9 with the windchill.

I decided that this week is going to be a cut-back/recovery week.  I can feel my knees and ankles and left heel. Not painful, but achy breaky. I'll take ice packs to work and ice them while I ponder queries.

Just got an email from Jim Skaggs. They moved the February 7th Antelope Island training run to February 14th - so I will probably go down to Provo and run the 5K on the 7th now.  Who else was going to run that day?

Tarzan - Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find where the Porter Rockwell Trail ends.  

Destination - Draper, Utah off of Bangerter Highway.  Mission start time:  5:00 p.m.  Tarzan headed south and west from Bangerter to see what she could see.  There was a lovely view of the State Penitentiary.  Some beautiful gravel pits.  Some drifting snow and some ice to run through.  Mission successful - trail ends approximately 2 miles later at Geneva Rock.

I found the end of the trail, then headed back to where I parked.  I crossed the highway and ran about 1/5 of a mile down the other portion of the Porter Rockwell Trail, then dropped down to the Draper Canal Trail for the rest of my run.  When I finally headed back west on the Canal Trail, I found that it ended right across from where I had left my car.

This would be another good alternate location to start on Saturday. It is only about a mile off the freeway - so let me know if you want me to change the starting location and write down directions.

I am excited.  Basically, I found tonight that I could head out from my townhouse, get on the Trax trail, run it to the end, get on Porter Rockwell trail, run it to the end, and swing back on the Draper Canal Trail and head over to the Trax Trail. I could easily put in 20-25 miles or more, with only about 3 miles total on side roads.

Used the foam roller on my back and legs.  Added some complexity with a small critter running up and trying to balance on my back, so had to maintain stability.

.4 miles running with Twilight.  She was excited to hear that she now has an official name - Tarzans Twilight.  Of course, I'm not sure I should have named her after me since I just gave her a tuna fish can to lick out and she just stood there and growled and barked at it like an enemy. (Maybe she was reacting to Kelli's suggestion that I get a big dog)?

Finished up my scouting expedition tonight.  However - I am shaking in my wet clothes - so it can wait until after my bath.

/*********/

Went back to Draper tonight.  I found that it is .3 miles from the Albertsons parking lot to the start of the Porter Rockwell Trail. There is a little park across the street from the start of the trail on 13th East - so we could meet there if  people want and not have to do the last big hill.

Here is mileage on the Porter Rockwell Trail from the start to the finish.This trail is a series of small uphills and downhills in the middle section

• .8 mile mark - 1st turnoff to the start of the Draper Canal Trail
• 1.75 mile mark - South Mountain bridge on 13th East
• 3.5 mile mark - Bridge over Bangerter Parkway
• 5.5 mile mark - end of trail
• 11 miles - out and back total

Here is mileage on the Draper Canal Trail. This trail is a gradual uphill from NorthEast to SouthWest

• 2.6 miles from start to finish 
• 5.2 miles roundtrip

There is 1/10 of a mile from the Porter Rockwell trail at both the start and end of the Draper Canal Trail.  The start is about .8 on Porter Rockwell and the end is at 3.5 on Porter Rockwell.  You could make a small loop of this - which is what I did tonight.

I ran on the gravel/sandy sides of the Draper Canal Trail to give me some trail mileage for my ultra.  This trail crosses 13th East right at the Stake Center where all the cars and buses meet for the Draper Temple Open House.

Also - each time crossing 13th East was pretty busy tonight.  Since a lot of it was buses, I think most of it is related to the temple open house.

Lots more energy tonight. I bonked last night because I had not eaten enough food today. It felt a lot easier today since I ate better.

1/2 mile running with Twilight.

I will do another 2 miles on the treadmill tonight while baking brownies for tomorrow.

I have 2 dozen cookies in my car for after the Porter Rockwell run tomorrow. Hope someone shows up or they go to other parties.

My feet were sore - so only ran another 1/2 mile with Twilight.  Guess Marion wins the competition.  It wasn't worth the pain for me to do another mile.

I ran .7 miles around the park in Draper waiting for Leslie and Odee.

We then ran together for 12 or so miles. My garmin quit working part way through, so I am taking Leslie's 11.2 miles and adding a bit to it for my off road running. We headed southwest once the Draper Canal Trail started (and after Odee decided to make me do a face plant - Thanks, big butt). Once that trail ended we headed out for the last section of the Porter Rockwell Trail.  On the Draper Canal Trail I ran on the edges to get some trail running time in and on this last section I ran off road and over piles of dirt to get some trail time in (probably about 5 miles or more on trails). It was pretty cold at Point of the Mountain, so we turned around at the end of the trail. Good thing we did because Odee was out of gas by the time we finished.  We ran the entire way back on Porter Rockwell (except for me and Odee taking a few adventures through fields).

Dropped Leslie off and fed her cookies.  Headed back to the South Mountain Bridge - 1.75 miles in on the PR trail.  I actually was feeling really fresh, so did some speed work and was impressed by my own speed (in all humility). It was a general uphill on the way out and I stayed between about 9:30 and 9:45 miles for the 1.75 miles.  Stopped and talked to a couple of people in between. On the way back I averaged between 8:30 and 9:30 miles for the last 1.75 miles of the trail.  Saw a lady on a horse walking a shetland pony and a goat. :)

I ran twice around the little park where my car was. That trail is about 7/10 of a mile.

Came home and put Twilight's new coat on her and we drove to a park and ran .8 miles - with some stop and sniff breaks.