Hit the Dusty Trail

Gorgeous fall day.  Ran from the Pineview trailhead to the top of Lewis Peak and back.  I was thinking it was a 16 mile round trip.  Wrong, 18.2 on the Garmin.  Trail was in pretty good shape.  On the north facing areas there was 4-6 inches of snow on the trail, but other than that, the run was pretty nice.  Could see my house from the top but my wife couldn't see me.  Lewis peak is the mountain directly behind our house and about 3 miles away.  Saw a couple other hikers a ways away, but no one else.  Just me and the trail.

So I was a little sore from yesterday's little jaunt up Lewis Peak.  I figured that the run today would be kind of slow.  I hit the trail after work for about 3 miles since I left my headlamp at home.  I felt really good.  I was actually able to put some effort into the run.  Since I didn't get the 6 in I wanted to, I hit the t-mill at home for anothe 3 barefoot at about an 8 minute pace.  That felt pretty good too.  Not a bad day.

Did a t-mill run tonight.  Had big plans to do some hill repeats, but ended up working late, so home I went.  Maybe tomorrow.

Did the run/train/run thing this morning.  Took a little shortcut to save alittle time since i was running a little late.

run home wasn't too bad.  Not a big fan of running down the roads in the dark, but I survived.

Hill repeats after work on the trail.  Glad I took my headlamp.  It definitely was interesting running that trail at night.  I was surprised at how many people were out in the dark.  Several hikers, a couple fo mountain bikers, and I happened to see fellow ultrarunner Brian Beckstead as well.  I think the temperature actually got warmer as the night went on.  Started out in the upper 50's but by the time i was done at around 7:30, it was in the upper 60's.  Pretty good breeze as well but a very warm one from the south.

Just a nifty little trail run after work.  Good stuff.

Went on an early run with Aric and Joel checking out a half marathon trail course they're looking at.  Look for the Northern Utah Trail Series (NUTS) next year.

Ran at lunch.  Did some tempo work.  About 2-3 miles at well under 8 min. pace.  Close to 7 at points.

Ok, it was a weird running day.  Had big plans to run/train/run.  I was late to leave the house, had my wife take me to the train station.  Ran the 2 miles to my office.  That was the morning.  On my way home, the southbound train was sitting at the station busted.  they got it going and it left.  I thought the next train in would go north so I got on it.  Ended up heading south towards SLC.  Had to get off at the next station then wait for the next northbound train.  Finally got to Ogden about 45 mintues later than I had hoped and ran home.  At least the run home was uneventful.

Did "hill" repeats on the t-mill.  5 x .6 @ 10:00 pace and 8% grade.  Wore me out.

Did a little night trail run above 22nd street.  Definitely different.  ran the first half with no headlamp, but had to turn it on coming back.  The mist made drops on some of the yellow leaves on the trail.  When my headlamp would shine, theylooked like gold flakes.  Very cool.  Scared up a skunk while I was out there.  It just took off scampering down the trail.  No spray.

Had big plans to go out and do around 7 on the trails.  Got on the trails and my legs had other plans.  Just didn't feel like it, so I did a few miles pretty leisurely, checked out some new trails and got off before dark.

Had the first training run on Antelope Island for next year's race.  About a dozen showed.  Ran the Mountain View trail from the trailhead about half way then turned around.  Weather was fine until the last couple of miles, then snow and wind.  Had big plans to do 30 out there today but the weather kind of stopped that.

Short little trail run north from Rainbow Garden with Joel.  Snow on the trail and 15 degrees.  Saw the Remkes brothers while we out.  They are responsible for constructing much of the new trail north of Rainbow, and a fantastic job they've done.

Ran on the t-mill tonight.  Boring, sigh!

Hill repeats on the t-mill.  2 @ .6 x 10 min pace @9%.  1 @ .6 x 10 min pace @10%.  2 @ .45 x 10 min pace @12%.

Maxed out the incline on the mill.  Maxed me out as well.  The really sad thing is, I now have over 600 miles on the mill in the past three years.  I'm such a weenie about getting outside when it's cold or bad weather,.

Went on the trails after work trying to get a few in before dark.  Ended up on the road because I ran out of light and didn't have my headlamp.   Ran on a new trail (for me) that was pretty cool.  Nice cruising, twisty turny, uppy downy.  Don't know my actual mileage, but based on my time and effort I figure around 6.5.  Felt good.

Ran into work this morning.  Uneventful, cold, dark.

Same thing this afternoon except it was still light when I started running.

Nice trail run after work before the sun went down.  Good times.  Managed to get back to the car before it was completely dark.

Just an easy trail run up on the hillside.

Kind of a weird running day.  Had big plans to go out to the island and run 30 miles.  Part of my running on the island involves doing my trail patrol thing and keeping an eye on and making contact with the publis.  So I made contact with a group of about 20 hikers.  Whenever there's a group of hikers, dogs are involved and usually off leash.  If you're on the island with your dog, it must be on a leash, not only for the dog's safety, but the safety of other people out hiking or biking (just in the past week while running I've been charged by two dogs that were off leash and not friendly at all), the safety of the animals on the island and the safety of the environment as well.  So naturally there were dogs off leash.  I made sure the people knew what the rules were, they put the dogs on leash and i went on my way, but not before calling on the radio a couple of other trail patrol and the park ranger on duty.  As usually happens, once we're out of sight, the dogs come off leash again, so we kept track of them just in case.  The front gate had informed us that the group had been reminded to keep their dogs on leash and this group was somewhat rude to the person at the gate.  So I go out on one out-and-back trail.  As I'm coming back I look down the mountainside and see not only two dogs off leash, but two people well off the designated trail.  Once again, the park rule is to stay on the designated trails not only for the person's safety, but the protection of the environment out there.  If people were allowed to go off trail anywhere on the island at any time, we would have no idea if someone got hurt on the far west side of the island, for example.  So I call the ranger on duty and let her know I'm headed down the mountainside to intercept these people.  Eventually the ranger and I both catch up and they are informed again of the rules and the reasons for them.  By now I'm sweaty and chilled and the momentum for running an additional 23 miles is gone.  I figure I'll just jump on the t-mill once I get home and do a few more miles.  So that's what I did, 7 on the trails, 7 on the mill. 

So those of you who run with your dogs, wonder.  Remember that your dog may be friendly to you and would never bite anyone, the person you encounter doesn't know your dog and your dog doesn't know them and are very capable of biting that person.  If they're a friendly dog and come bounding up to a stranger that's running, that person could end up tripping over your dog and hurting themselves and/or the dog.  If you're running you're prey and the dog is a predator.  So keep them on a leash.  BTW, I have 4 dogs and a host of other animals as well, so I don't hate dogs.  When they're off leash, you do not have control of them.  Ok, off my soapbox now.

Hit the trail after dark.  Always kind of creeps me out to run by myself on the trail at night.  In a trail race it doesn't bother me since there are others running the same trail even though they may not be close, but by myself is a different thing.  Makes me run faster I think.  Better training.  With only a headlamp to see by I have to really pay attention to foot placement as well.

Felt a cold coming on this morning so I immediately started taking those zinc lozenges, faithfully every two hours.  So far nothing worse than a mild cough and some achiness.  If this is a cold, it would really suck.  Two colds in three months is very unusual for me.  Still I felt a little lazy and just did some "hill" repeats on the mill.  6 x .3@12% and 10 min. pace.  Just short little stretchs in between, .5 warmup and .2 cool down.

Did some miles on the BST north of Rainbow Garden.  I've been trying to catch a cold but faithfully taking the zinc lozenges and throat spray.  I really think it has lessened the severity of the cold by quite a bit.  Having said that, I got achy during the last few miles of the run then got really chilled on the way home.  The same basic feeling I get after running 30-40 miles, only this was after about 6 miles.  Maybe I did too much.  Oh well, it was a good time and a great day except for the haze.

Ran the White Rock loop on Antelope Island.  Busy out there today.  Probably 2 dozen horse trailers in the lot and a bunch of mountain bikes.  Nice day for it.  Cool, not cold, no breeze.

Short little trail run with Aric and Joel from Rainbow garden.  6am start is a little rough though.  But. being done adn home by 9:30 is a good thing.

Did my run on the t-mill this morning.  Usually 20 on the 'mill isn't a big deal, but it was tough today.  I must still be feeling the after effects of my cold.  Everything aches after the run and I didn't go that fast.  Ugh!