Summit junkie!

I didn't want to do too much today, so I did 30 min on the elliptical and ran 3 easy on the TM. Legs feel good.

I usually lift at the gym every Monday night, but since I had work off I decided to go in the middle of the day. Bad move. The gym was crowded and stinky!! oh man was it rank in there. I had a really good session for 50 min.

I rarely run on the days that I lift, but I just wanted to loosen up my legs a bit, so I did a fast (7:10) min mile on the track and then stretched for about 15 min.

I had a really fun morning on Lake Mountain with Jun and Nate. We were not sure what the conditions would be like, so we took snow shoes, which meant carrying a backpack. Not ideal, but not too bad either. It was cold when we started just before 6:00 am and we took it pretty slow for the first mile to get warmed up.

The snow started after about a mile and there was a really good 4X4 track that we followed most of the way up. We made out way up hiking fast, and it was fun talking about various outdoor plans and the time flew by. The snow got deeper on the upper part of the mountain and the 4X4 tracks eventually went away. We followed what looked like a snowmobile track, but it wasn't great. Eventually we decided to put on the snow shoes just before the saddle and they really helped.

The push up to the summit was fun. Usually we post-hole a lot right there, but with the snow shoes it wasn't an issue. Jun made it up first, with Nate and I a few minutes behind. It was so cold and windy on top, and my camera was so cold it wouldn't work. That was the first time I have carried it in a few months, and I only got one picture in the dark. We didn't stay long at all because it was so cold. Jun and Nate took off fast and I was still putting by water bottle back into my pack so they got a pretty good lead on me. Jun flew down.

When I got back down to the saddle I went about 5 more minutes with the snow shoes and then I decided to replace them with my micro spikes, so I took a few minutes to put on my ipod and change to the spikes. From there it was a fun run all the way to the bottom. I had a pretty good pace going the whole way (7:30-8:10) and when I finally came out of the canyon I could see Nate a couple of minutes ahead of me, so I tried hard to catch him. I ran a 6:45 pace the final 3/4 of a mile and I almost reeled him in, but he just beat me to the car.

2800 ft vert.

An hour of basketball with my work peeps. I didn't bring my gear, so I had to borrow some clothes from my dad. I was playing in some older New Balance shoes with zero tread. Other than the slipping and sliding, I had a great time.

I met Matt V at the Wire trailhead at 5:30 this morning. Our plan was to climb Mt. Wire and then either run the ridge over to Red Butte Peak or run the BST for some extra miles. It was cold, but not windy and we started off with a fast hike, and then ran to the steeper section of the trail, where we started hiking again. There was more snow on the trail than I was expecting, and it did slow us up some.

We had a great time making our way up the ridge laughing and joking. Our pace was good, but not fast. The higher we went the more snow there was and eventually there were only a few tracks to follow. We were sinking to our shins, and it slowed us down a lot. The few tracks that were there petered out and I was breaking the trail most of the way to the top. At times we were post-holing to our shins, and sometimes the snow would be more firm and allowed us to walk on top.

At the towers Matt got a burst of energy and took off running to the summit. I was about 20 yards back, and I just tried to keep up. The wind really picked up on the summit ridge and it was very cold. This was the coldest summit of Wire this year. We reached the top in 1:06 and did not stay long at all.

The run down was tough because the snow had a hard crust on top, but I was sinking to my shins with every step, so it was tough to get any sort of rhythm. Just below the towers I stopped to put on my ipod and I set my handheld water bottle down. After descending almost all the way back to the saddle I realized I didn't have it and quickly debated whether of not I should go back to get it. I had some things in the pocket, so I had to go back. This meant at least a half of a mile back up on the steepest section with the bad snow conditions. I wasn't happy. Matt took a break and then was going to follow me, but he didn't realize how high I had left the bottle. I was hoping it was at the saddle where I had stopped to make an ipod adjustment, but unfortunately it was almost back up to the towers.

Going back for the bottle did give me an extra mile and about 1000 ft more elevation, but it also took the extra time we had planned on for running the BST. After Matt realized how far I had to go he turned around and ran back to the cars. After retrieving the bottle I ran back down as quick as I could given the conditions. At the bottom of the ridge I ran into my friend Judy who had done the Wire X5 with us a few months ago. We chatted for a few minutes and then I ran back to the trailhead. Total time: 2:13. Even with the water bottle issue it was still a fun morning. I'm happy I got in a good summit run before the storm.

I wanted to do a long run today, but with the weather it wasn't looking good. MattV and I had discussed doing the Bonneville Shoreline trail in Draper, and we decided late last night to just go for it even with the snow. We met at 7:15 am and there was at least 8 fresh inches at the trailhead, so we were thinking maybe it wasn't the best idea, but we decided to just go for it and have fun.

We were the first people on the trail, so we had to break the shin to knee deep snow, which really slowed us down a lot. It was a fantastic workout though. We took turns breaking the trail, and with some good music I was having a great time. It was snowing on and off the whole time, but it never got too bad. We didn't see another soul until 4 miles in where we passed a lone runner. Once we hit the road that leads up Corner Canyon the running became a lot easier because there was a vehicle track most of the way up the road. about 3/4 of the way up the track stopped and we were pushing through the deep snow again.

We saw several deer on the mountain, including one that darted right in front of Matt on the trail. We took some time on one of the big hills to watch several that were moving up the mt.

At the Ghost Falls trailhead we stopped to take a gel and use the bathroom and after a few minutes we headed back down the road, making much better time. We settled in to a nice 8:00 pace which we held to the bottom. Back on the trail we were fighting the deep snow once again all the way to the car. Matt's knee and hip started bothering him a little so he had to slow down, but other than that it was a perfect morning. We both didn't even mind all the trail breaking and snow. This trail gives you a killer workout when it is dry with all of the ups and downs, but with all of the snow it was even better.

We had a fantastic time, and I enjoyed just about everything about this run. It wasn't as many miles as I had wanted to get in, but it felt like a much bigger workout than 10 miles. That gave me over 7K in elevation gain for the week.