Summit junkie!

6 on the TM while watching Deadliest Catch and the Masters. I was not happy with my miles last week, so this week I'm going to have to crank things up.

I lifted for a full hour at the gym. I worked my upper body/core. I went early and it wasn't nearly as crowded, although my buddy with the tight sweats that tends to get excited was there, and I also saw a young guy wearing knee high pink socks with light blue Keds (without the laces). Weird. If this is the new trend among the young folk I'm sorry, but I won't conform. Purple shorty shorts maybe, but pink socks? No way!

I also ran two on the TM just for fun (Yeah, I said I needed to crank up the miles). :) I wanted to try and run a fast mile for fun, so after a short warm up I finished mile one running 7:30, held that for another half and then finished the last half at 6:40. ugh. That didn't feel so hot.

I ran the Dimple Dell gully trail with Jun and Dorsimus today. The weather was almost perfect. The guys set a pretty good pace and I was just having fun and enjoying the run until 13th E. when it seemed like they really picked up the pace and I got a little behind. I turned on the ipod and tried to get into a good rhythm and that seemed to help.  I kept them in my sights and at the top of Dimple Dell I took a gel and then we pushed it up to the Bells trailhead, where they dropped me again on the uphill. I think the long legs give them an edge.

We took a nice break at the reservoir and then Jun set a blistering pace on the downhill. I could have kept up if I wanted to end up in a face plant, and I wouldn't have enjoyed that so I let them fly down while I once again brought up the rear, and I finally caught up to them at the first light on the street. From there we set a really fast pace back to the Dimple Dell trail. I was feeling really good and I think the next 4+ miles were in the low to mid 7's. That was fun! When we got closer to 13th it seemed like the boys were picking up the pace even more, so I told Jun he was a mother frumper for the pace and out of nowhere it picked up even more. My hip started to bother me, so there was no way I was keeping up on the other side (west) of 13th. After about a mile I had to stop to get a few rocks out of my shoes and I stretched a bit and felt a lot better. I did the last two at a much more reasonable pace, while the guys dropped me again, but I was ok with it. I finished a few minutes behind them and I was famished.

We finished and rewarded ourselves with pizza and coke. I can only think of a few things I would rather do on my lunch break. Awesome.

1225 vert AP: 8:41ish.

Mt Wire with MattV this morning. It was slightly cold with a little wind at the start, but I heated up fast. Very little soreness in my legs today and I am happy about that after yesterdays run. I did have a slight bit of soreness in my right hip, but nothing major. We didn't push hard going up, in fact Matt asked me if I was feeling ok because I was a lot slower than normal, so at the saddle I told him to lead an push the pace, which he did. He ran/power hiked to the towers and then ran to the top with me chasing. It felt good to push it hard across the ridge to the top. We were still rather pathetic (1:03) but that included all breaks too (Jun please read between the lines...details withheld for the benefit of other bloggers).

On the descent I put on some good tunes and sang along (with some air guitar mixed in) for Matt's benefit most of the way down. We had to take it easy from the towers to the saddle because it was icy, but after that we had a pretty good pace all the way down.

1:34 total time (pathetic) 2200 vert.

I climbed/hiked/ran to the summit of South Mountain Peak in Herriman. This is the mountain that burned last September and I was interested to see the changes since the last time I was up there a year ago with Jun. This is a short peak with only 1500 ft of elevation gain, but don't let that fool you. There is no trail and it is straight up.

I parked in a culdesac right at the base of the mountain and just went straight up. The terrain is very rocky with a lot of cacti, probably the most I have ever seen on a mountain in Northen Utah. The evidence of the fire was everywhere. Most of the scrub oak, bushes and trees were burned, and there wasn't a lot of vegetation, although I could see that some grass and plants were starting to grow. It was actually kind of eerie because there wasn't a lot of birds, bugs or wildlife and really nowhere really for anything to take cover. It just seemed quiet, except for the wind that blasted me once I was on the ridge.

The ridge was black from ash, and I tried to avoid it by stepping on rocks and snow and since the grade wasn't as steep I ran most of the way to the top in 38 minutes. I took a different ridge on the way down that is a little steeper but more direct, and I was back to the car in a little over an hour. I'll post up some pics later. This is a fun peak if you only have an hour.

A few pics: On my way up

Some burned trees on the ridge:

There is a radio tower that has fallen near the summit:

I woke up early to hit the gym to lift weights. I lifted (upper body/core) for 45 minutes.

I woke up early this morning to get in my run because I won't have much time the rest of the day. I did 10 on the TM while watching The Human Planet on Discovery. What an incredible show with amazing video footage. I did the first 5 at an easy 9:00 pace and then finished the last 5 at 8:30.