Training for a Belt Buckle

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.

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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.