Summit junkie!

Crazy day. By time I was able to go for a run it was snowing hard, so I ended up at the gym again. First 3 at 8:30 and the last 3 at 7:45. 

Set a new PR today. 3 days in a row on the track at the gym. I hope to never surpass or repeat that for the rest of my life. 

I went to the gym to lift for an hour. Yeah yeah- arms n back. 

6 on the TM while I tried to clear out my DVR backlog. 

View Benchmark peak solo:

I finally got outside for a run. The weather looked perfect, so I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get out. I ran VB via Ann's trail and it was a total mess. SLOG! Ann's trail has a lot of snow, a lot of slush and a good amount of mud. After about a mile the snow was up to my knees and when I got to the turnoff there were no tracks, so I was breaking trail all the way to the VB trail. SLOW! There were a few occasions where the snow was up to my thighs. It was a total slog until I got the the VB trail where there was a solid track put in all the way to the summit and I was able to run most of the way up to the top. It took me 1:10 to the summit which is about 30 minutes slower than normal. I didn't even stop and just turned right around and ran down.

The run down was also pretty tough because the snow started to get really soft, so I was sinking a lot more than on the ascent. I said a lot of curse words, but it was easier than going up. I was able to keep a nice running pace until I got back to Ann's where I was slogging again for about a mile in the deep snow. The last mile was tough and I was just happy to finish, but it was good to get back out into the hills again.

No way I was going to run with this wind, so I went to the gym to run. My friend Nate was there so we ran the track together chatting about running and the time flew by.

I went to my first spin class ever this morning at the gym. It was a really good workout and I was dripping sweat everywhere when I finished.  We also did some upper body core work during the class. I'll be back.

Arms N Back

Weights at the gym for 50 minutes working upper body/core. I have a sore (or strained) ab muscle, so I took it a little easy on the gut. 

Antelope Island 50K with Jun, Jsh and Dorsimus:

I had the most enjoyable run out on Antelope Island with the crew. We started at White Rock Bay and our goal was to run the 25K course with the out and back added on for 19 miles and from there see how much time we had and hopefully get in a 50K. It was a touch cool at the start, but we were all wearing shorts and it was almost perfect weather for running. It was really fun for the first 5 miles just chatting with the fellas and running at a nice easy pace. Everyone pushed it up the hill to the Elephant Head aid area and I dropped to a power hike to save my legs. From there we dropped into the valley and we spread out for the first time. Jun took the lead and I tried to keep pace while Dors and Jsh were just behind. We were all running about a 7:30 pace and it felt easy.

Climbing out of the valley on the switchbacks was really fun and we were all moving well. We all ran the entire way up and that was the first time I have ever run that section without hiking. At the top I stopped to pee and Dors and Jsh never came, so I went back to see what was up and Jsh was cramping, so we slowed for a bit so he could stretch it out. There was a bit of mud and snow over the next half mile, but nothing to slow us much. It was really the only place we encountered any mud all day. Back at Elephant Head Jsh decided to go back to the car because of his cramps and sore ankle and we continued with the out and back to Elephant Head. On the run out I stopped to pick up an S-Cap and the other guys got a little bit ahead and I just tried to keep up. It was really fun and the views are incredible. At the turnaround I was still a little behind the guys and they slowly put some distance on me and I would be running by myself all the way back to the car.

My hamstring that has been bothering me started getting tight and I slowed down. After the Elephant Head aid area you run down a pretty steep hill and at the bottom I stopped to take some Ibuprofen. I was able to get back into a pretty solid pace, but the other guys were about a half mile ahead. I just cranked up my tunes and had a nice run back to the car. After a few more miles my hammy seemed to be getting a little better, but it was still tight. I made it to the cars (mile 19) about 8 minutes after Jun and Dors and I had to hurry and cram some food in as fast as I could. French toast, sausage, V8 and Pepsi. Mmmmmm. We left the aid stop and ran west around Buffalo Point. My legs were a bit stiff at first, but they slowly came around and felt a lot better.

Jun pushed a pretty solid pace and I really enjoyed the views going around the point. Incredible! The views all day were unreal, but I really enjoyed this area as I had never been over there before. When we came around to the north side we picked up the road and ran over to Buffalo Bay. Jun kept a solid pace and again put some distance on us. Matt wasn't far behind, but they dropped me a little there. We picked up the trail that goes south to the Ranch and ran that back to the fence where we turned and headed west again in the direction of the cars.

We hiked up the steeper hill there for a few minutes and hit our 26.2 point. At the top we decided to go to the top of Buffalo Point or I should say Jun decided that. Dors and I were looking up there and thinking it was really far and high up, but we thought we could give it a shot. The run on the road over to the point was awesome. We were all feeling great and we had a very solid pace. To get to the trail to the point you have to run up a very steep road and all three of us were strong all the way to the top. I kept running when we got to the trailhead and tried to catch Jun who was ahead. We ran about 3/4 of the trail all the way to the summit. Awesome! We were all feeling great. We hung out on top for a while and took some pics.

The run down was fun. We kept a strong pace all the way and even pushed it at times. When were were coming close to the cars we decided to take the longer route to get a full 31 miles for an ultra distance. When we got back to the parking lot I had to run zig zags and some circles to finally hit exactly 31, which I hit at the car door. What an incredible day with great friends. It was one of the best runs I have ever had. 5:28 minutes total time.

4 slow recovery miles. There was still some soreness in my quads and IT bands. 

3 easy miles around the hood. No big woop. 

Weights at the gym (upper body/core) for 50 minutes. 

Spin class again. Sweat-fest. 

Sloppy slog up Lake Mountain with Jun:

Jun and I got up early this morning (3:30ish) so that we could do a double of Lake Mountain. We met at 4:45 and were running up the trail just after 5 am. It was warm. After about 1.3 we hit our first patch of mud and we continued through it off and on with slush mixed in for the next mile. It was a sloppy mess. The last few miles to the top were on soft slushy snow and it was tough to get a quick pace, but it was a really good workout. 

We took a new route to the summit and on top it was pretty windy, so I didn't want to stay up there long. We post-holed back down to the road where I took a gel and then we had a SLOW run all the way back down to the dry trail. We still had a great time chatting the whole time and I'm glad we got out, but we scrapped the idea for a double because of the crappy conditions.

I tried to beat the storm so I got out and ran on the roads in Highland/Alpine/American Fork. It was breezy when I started, but not too bad. I ran north into Highland and eventually made my way to the Apline Hwy where I kept going north. The wind picked up and I even felt some sprinkles, but nothing that serious. When I hot to Kohlers I turned left and went west on the Timp Hwy. I had some great tunes and really picked up the pace. I was running mostly about an 8:30ish pace, but once in a while I would go into the 7's when I got a good song.

At 6000 W. I went south back towards my house. I had to pee and saw a POP in a new housing development, but kept running and figured it wasn't worth it because the wind was now blowing really hard and I just wanted to get back home. The wind was very strong at times and slowed me up some, but it was fun. 

I finished in 58 minutes.

Almost the exact same run as yesterday except it was more direct as I went straight to the Apline Hwy from my house instead of meandering through Highland. The wind was blowing and it snowed the entire run, but I loved it. The wind wasn't quite as bad as yesterday, but I did have to deal with heavy snow at times. I just cranked the ipod and enjoyed the run. 

The snow was pretty bad for the first 20 minutes, but it slowed a bit when I hit Kohlers. Today I hit the POP at the housing development and I was glad I did. It added 3 minutes of time. No big woop. The run was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the route a lot. 

Total time 1:00

Weights at the gym for 50 minutes. I have an ab strain of some sort, so I didn't do any core work. I just did 'arms n back' with a little chest mixed in as well. 

DD gully with Jun and Brent:

It was a fantastic day to get out for a run and we had a really good time. We started at 13th and ran up to the Bell Canyon trailhead chatting the whole way. Saw St8 at the TH and got to chat for a bit and then we went up to the reservoir. It was awesome up there. 

The run back down was just as fun. I really enjoyed it out there. The weather is getting good and I'm excited to get back up into the mountains on some dry trails.

Spin class at the gym with the ladies again. This is the third week in a row and I am the only guy going. It was a lot of fun and a great workout. I sweat all over everything in there. 

I'm super stoked to be pacing MattVH at the Buffalo 100 on Friday. It will be his first 100 and it should be a lot of fun out there. 

Pacing MattVH on the Buffalo Run 100:

I had an incredible experience pacing MattVS on his first 100. I met Dorsimus out there about 8:00 pm on Friday. We had to get out there early because they closed the gate to the island at 8:00 pm. On a hunch we decided to check the aid station near the fence (about mile 44ish) and remarkably Matt was just coming up to the road when we got out of the car. We walked with him for about a half mile and had a good chat. Then we went over the the campground a few miles away to cheer him on again. After that we went back to the start/finish to wait for him to come in. We got to chat with several runners and crews and eventually Matt came in looking good.

Dors went out with him to pace and I hung out in the tent helping other runners that came in. Eventually a friend of Jun and Dors (Tyler) came in looking like crap. He is 18 and this was his first 100. He couldn't keep anything down and had been puking and was dehydrated and cold. His Mom and supporters told him that 50 miles was good enough and they started to tell him to quit. I went over to offer some advice and tried to be positive with him. I spent the next hour with the aid station doctor talking with Tyler and his family. I told him to warm up, get some food and water down and try to get moving. Two of his friends showed up and offered to pace him the rest of the way. I thought her was going to give it another shot and I wished him luck and then went to my car to catch a little sleep. I found out later that Tyler never got back out and DNFd. I am sure it was a great learning experience for him.

I tried sleeping in the back of my car, but it was tough and I was restless. I finally dozed after about 45 minutes and I was able to get about 90 minutes of rest before Matt knocked on my window about 2:30 am. I got dressed and drove over to our meeting spot (the short out and back on the east side of the island). I waited for about 15 minutes and they finally showed up. Matt was still looking good, but I could tell he was tired and he said he needed to walk for a bit because his stomach was unsettled. For the next 11 miles we would walk for a few minutes and then run for a few. A couple of times we kept the pace going for about a half mile and before the Frary aid we actually ran for about 3/4 of a mile without stopping. We laughed a lot. I tried to joke around as much as possible and even though Matt was feeling like shite we were having a blast.

We tried to keep the aid stops as short as possible. We would try to get Matt everything he needed and then kept moving. We hit the ranch aid just before sunrise and Matt was getting cold, so he put on some warm clothes and I rubbed out his legs. We had the two aid station workers laughing pretty hard. So far we had not been passed by any runners, but about 10 minutes after we left the ranch we saw the first runner and he was looking strong. Matt started to bonk a bit over the next 5 miles and for good reason. He was over 85 miles in and had been awake for 24 hours. I tried to get him to run as much as possible and eventually the guy that we passed came into view. He obviously didn't spend much time at the ranch. I kept telling Matt they were coming, hoping it would motivate him to move faster, but I could tell he was just wrecked. He did pick up the pace just enough to stay ahead of the other runner to the Frary aid station. We stopped there and ate pancakes, sausage and Coke. Mmmmm. After a brief rest we got moving again. The sun was up and it was definitely getting warmer. About a half mile out of the aid and we could hear and see the runners high on the hill for the other races. There wasn't anybody within a mile of us, but I still tried to keep Matt moving fast. We joked and laughed some more and the next 5 miles actually seemed to go by pretty quick, at least for me, but I am sure Matt would disagree.

The 50 mile runners started coming into view and they looked fast and fresh. We saw Bryce and he was looking strong. I think he finished 7th in the 50. Awesome! There is a nice little hill after the fence line aid station and we grabbed some food and walked the hill. I could tell that Matt was really feeling it here. An older guy passed us and he was moving well. After you get to the top of the hill you make your way over to Buffalo Point. It seemed like Matt was really having a hard time and I just tried to stay positive and make him laugh. For the most part it worked.

At the campground aid (mile 96) we saw Matt's mom and Dad and I could tell that it lifted his spirits a lot, but I think he was looking forward to seeing his wife and boys. Going around the point was slow. I took in the incredible views that I didn't get to look at too much a few weeks ago because I was trying to keep up with Jun and Dorsimus. What an amazing part of the island. As we rounded the point I tried to keep pushing Matt as much as I could, but he was very fatigued. Eventually we saw a runner coming from behind and he was looking strong. He was closing the gap quick and I told Matt we needed to beat him in. The next 2-3 miles to the finish were the most exciting of the whole race. After prodding Matt for a few minutes he came to life and started to run. It was a 12 min pace and soon became 11. A few more minutes and we saw the 10's for the first time in hours. I would yell out our pace every time we broke another minute barrier.

The other runner seemed to be gaining for about a mile, but eventually our pace was strong enough that he wasn't making up any ground, but I didn't tell Matt that. I told Matt he was still coming and looked strong. It was fun to see Matt pushing it so hard at mile 99. We came to a pretty decent hill with less than a mile to go and I told Matt to hike it strong and he did and we ran hard on the dirt road back to the finish. I finally told Matt the hill killed the other runner and I could see the relief on his face and we both knew he wasn't going to get passed. One more quick walk break to catch his breath and then we ran it into the finish. We passed Faceless Ghost who had just finished the 25K and said hi and then Matt's wife and kids were there with posters to welcome him in. It was pretty awesome and I am just happy I got to experience part of it. Congrats to Matt for finishing his first 100 in under 24 hours (23:20).

Here is a link to some pictures I took of the race:

Pictures

Malan's Peak solo:

I had to go to Ogden for a family event and my legs were feeling pretty good after my 28 mile day yesterday, so I decided to do Malan's Peak. The weather looked threatening, but the temps were great. I parked on a residential street below the trail and started running up the hill. I really love this run and if I lived closer it night be my treadmill. The first 1.5 were really fun. My legs felt good and I ran a lot and only hiked the steepest sections. After that I started running into ice patches that slowed me down some because I didn't want to take a dive. The last .4 were actually snow covered, so that also slowed me as the snow was getting soft. I made it to the top in 49 minutes and I took a break to stretch and take in the awesome views.

The run down was fun, although I did have to slow down again to take it easy over the ice. My legs felt really strong the whole way and I just enjoyed blasting the ipod and cruising down. Awesome! The trails are drying up and it is time to get out into the mountains.

I lifted at the gym for an hour. I still have a slight strain in my abs, so I had to take it slightly easier than normal. Overall it was a really good workout. 

Avenue Twin Peaks with Jun:

What a fun day!!! With the dry trails and almost perfect weather it would have been a sin not to get out into the mountains today. Jun and I had a really fun run from the Capitol building up City Creek Canyon to the summit of the Avenues Twins. I spent most of the time trying to keep up with Jun and he pushed a pretty good pace the whole way. My legs were actually feeling pretty good on the way up and I ran more of the route today than I ever have. I even ran the steep hills that I usually hike, but I was still not able to keep up with Jun. He was looking strong out there all day. I made it to the top in about 57 minutes which is my fastest time up. We took a quick break and then pushed it pretty good all the way back to the car. My legs started to feel pretty fatigued by about mile 8, but I just pushed through it. We had a lot of fun chatting and enjoying the sweet temps and views. 

Awesome day!

AM- Spin class with the ladies. Sweaty mess.

PM- Weights at the gym for 30 min.

Wire and Red Butt Peaks with Jun:

This run was just what I needed today. It was breezy and cool at the start and I was hoping the wind wouldn't be too bad on top. We had a very moderate pace up Wire just chatting the whole way and enjoying the trail and the views. We were up to the summit in 49 minutes and we stopped to take in the sweet vistas and then we cruised over to the summit of Red Butte. The Red Butte ridge is very rocky, so we were not fast moving over that. We stopped again on top of Red Butte. It was a very casual run. We stopped a lot and just enjoyed the morning.

Instead of dropping down to the BST like we normally do we kept going on the ridge and then eventually dropped in Red Butte to run the loop. It was slightly muddy in a few spots, but not too bad. We had a very fun run back to the car. It was a decent effort with some good elevation gain. Check out Jun's blog for some pictures.

Mt. Wire solo:

Perfect day to run on top of a mountain. My legs felt fresh and I pushed a faster pace than yesterday with Jun. At the first saddle I took off my shirt and it felt great to be outside with the sun on my back. I was on the summit in 45 min and the wind was really blowing up there by time I reached the second saddle. The run down was fun, but the wind really picked up and the sun went behind a cloud that was moving in so it wasn't quite as nice, but it was still very enjoyable on the mountain.

I stopped by Fast N Easy for a Diet Coke and donut on the way home, but they were out of the good donuts. Ugh! DC was good though.

6 very easy miles on the road in my hood.