Hit the Dusty Trail

Ran at lunch today.  Felt really good.  Heart rate never went above about 125.  Ran about an 8:30 pace.

Just an easy run at lunch.

Wow, I’m glad that’s over.  I ran the Wasatch Front 100 Mile endurance Run over the weekend and it was an endurance run/walk/death march.  I did manage to finish and even finished a couple of hours ahead of my previous best time for this course.

Here it is by the numbers:

Start – Saturday 5:00 am

My Finish – Sunday 1:22 pm

Winning Time - 20:01

Highest elevation reached – 10,540’

Calories expended – approximately 15,000

Calories taken in – about 5000

What I ate – 12 Ensures @ 250 calories each, about 12-15 Gu’s at 100 calories each, numerous cups of Ramen noodles, some watermelon and cantelope.

Number of blisters – 6

Number of toenails I’ll loose – 1, I think

The race went really well up thru the 75 mile point at Brighton Ski Area.  I actually made it to Elbow Fork in Millcreek Canyon before the sunset and I’ve never been able to do that, so I was thrilled.  I got to the 75 mile point at Brighton Ski area feeling good, but once I left there at started up the mountainside, the same thing happened as happened two years ago.  I couldn’t breathe.  Let me clarify, I got a case of exercised induced asthma, plus a little pulmonary edema.  When I would take deep breaths, I could hear the wheezing.  Anyway, I managed to go the final 25 miles in about 11 hours.  In contrast, I did the first 25 in just under 6 hours.

What did I like about the race?  The aid stations and volunteers were wonderful as usual.  I was thrilled to be running as well as I was up to the 75 mile point.  The weather was perfect, warm sun with a cool breeze up in the mountains,  the night didn’t get too cold, around 38-39 degrees.  The beautiful scenery that most people never get to see because it’s too difficult to get to.  Watching the sun rise on the mountains Sunday morning.  What didn’t I like?  Getting chafed and blistered, but I’ll get over that.  Wishing I could have done the last 25 miles faster, I really kind of wanted to go under 30 hours.  The lack of sleep.  I took about a half hour nap and one of the aidstations.  It was enough to revive me and get me going again.  Will I do this race again?  I’m thinking not.  I’ve done it three times now and finished twice.  If I could figure out how to get rid of the breathing problems, I would try it again.  Besides, I told my wife I wouldn't do it again.  I’m sure I will be involved with the race, either pacing friends, volunteering, or what ever.  It seems as though once you get some of that Wasatch Mountain dirt in your blood, it doesn’t go away.

Well, my week off after my race has ended.  It was kind of nice to just take a week off, not worry about training etc.  My runing buddy Meghan and I went out to Antelope Island and just went for a nice run out the Split Rock trail.  We went on a faint animal trail that I know of since it was an open access day and found a nice place to to just sit and listen to the silence.  Very relaxing to just go for a run, not worry about time, training, intensity, distance.  Just go for fun.  But back to training Monday.

Ran at lunch.  Tried something a little different.  I've been reading a little about Dr. Phil Maffetone's training method.  He says train at a constant heart rate rather than mix your training up, expecially when building an aerobic base.  His recommended heart rate is 180-your age, plus or minus 5 given your current state of fitness.  So, 180-50 (age) + 5 (good aerobic base already) = 135.  So every so often I checked my heart rate during my run and ran based on percieved effort based on my breathing.  Turns out, the effort required to maintain that 135 bpm is what Ic onsider a marathon pace, just below a tempo run, but above an easy pace.  My breathing was still easy, but the legs were telling me it was a harder run.  I'm going to keep this up for 2-3 weeks just to see if there's any improvement in speed.

Ran to the train station this morning. Got a little bit of a late start and barely made the train. Nothing like a little incentive to make you run faster.

The run home was nothing special.  Kind of tired.

Ran out of time to run to the train station so I had my wife take me.  I ran from the Clearfield station to work, but at 2 miles, it hardly seemed worth it.  I did do the run ride run thing going home though.  I was better able to keep my pace up today on the way home.  got a major cramp in my calf as I turned the corner on to my street.  Brought me to a screeching halt for a minute while I worked it out.  The leg was still sore when i went to bed.  Guess I need to eat more bananas.

Did the run/ride/run thing this morning.  The transit police were actually checking for tickets this morning.  Something they rarely do, but I've heard they're going to step up.  Better make sure I have my pass with me, I heard it's a $320 fine if you don't have a ticket.

The run home took some effort.  I think I'm coming down with a cold.  It hit me all of the sudden around noon.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow about going for a run.

Suffered a minor setback late last week. I got sick. First cold I've had in awhile but it was enough to stop me for the past three days, but I felt pretty good this morning, so back on track, I hope.

Tried doing a littel interval work on the way home.  ran to the train station at a tempo pace, then 4 x 3 minutes threshold going home.  The rest going home was easy or a tempo pace for the last mile.

Ran pretty easy today.  Hip was bothering me for the first mile or so.

Did the run to the train station thing this morning.  We had a little frost on the ground.  Fall is in the air.

Had my wife drop me off at the train station this morning.  I ran from the station into work.  Then I ran all the way home.  I think every car was out to get me.  Due to people's inattention, talking on their cell phone, etc. I ended up slapping two cars and yelling at tow others just to get them to pay attention to pedestrian's.  I don't think I'll be running home anytime soon.  That 13 miles just wore me out, with all the noise, traffic, having to watch out for idiot drivers, etc.  Definitely not a good time.

Did some trail work with about 50 college students out on Antelope Island.  They were part of an intercollegiate service project.  We worked on a new trail that was cut a coupel weeks ago.  The trail is still very rough and needs to have water breaks cut, berms taken down, low spots filled, etc.  We managed to get about a mile done, and still have about 1 1/2 to go.  After the work, I ran the new trail and it's going to be so nice when it's done.

Ran in to work this morning.  Not too bad a run.  A little cool, but as I run along I encounter pockets of warm air.  Kind of interesting.  i also encounter the wind coming out of the Ogden Canyon every morning as I run down 17th street.  Now that it's dark the entire way in, I end up wearing my headlight.  As a shameless plug for one of our team sponsors (Wasatch Speedgoat Mountain Racing Team), it's a Petzl MYO belt light.  Nice and bright, people see you and it lights up the path you're running.  The battery pack fits nice in my Camelback pocket and the light itself fits very nice on the hat I wear.  No slipping or constant adjusting. 

The train wasn't at the station this morning when I got there.  Usually there are 2 or 3 waiting, but this morning it was running late and the other I think was on it's way to Pleasant View since UTA started service to that station this morning.  Anyway, we were running about 5-10 minutes late.

The run home was just another run.  Managed to keep my pace up some, but didn't push too hard.