Hit the Dusty Trail

Ok, got my first run of the new year in.  It's about time.  Just a  short one at lunch but it felt pretty good.  I've been sick with some sort of stomach issues the past couple of days and hadn't felt like doing much of anything.  Time to start working on the goal of 2500 miles for the year.

4 x .5 intervals on the 'mill.  ugh, speedwork.

Ran with Aric at lunch today.  Nice to have someone to run with at lunch.

Ran on the 'mill tonight.  Ran the first couple easy then bumped the pace up to a sub 7:30.  Ended up doing a 5K at 7:45 pace.  Happy with that at the moment. 

Six at lunch.  My cold weather running has reached a new low.  It was 25 at lunch and I was in shorts.  Not bad.

Up Farmington Canyon to the radar towers and back down.  Got out of the inversion for awhile.  Beautiful day, sunny, calm, low 30's, even at 9500'.  Plowed road all the way.  Wore my Kahtoola Microspikes and they were the perfect thing for traction on the packed snow and ice.  Pictures later at my blog www.ultrajim.blogspot.com

In Huntsville, AL for some meetings and managed to get in a run with fellow Speedgoats Rob and Kathy Youngren.  Took a short trail tour of Monte Sano state park, right outside their back fence.  Very cool.

Went on another run with Rob and Kathy.  This time a little longer.  Ran part of the Mountain Mist 50K course.  I need to go run this race.  Crossed a creek with a frozen waterfall that you could walk behind.  I wish I'd had my camera.  Very cool.  Finished up after dark but had our headlamps.  Lots of fun.

Ha big plans to run a bunch on the 'mill.  Gave up after 2.5, just wasn't into it.

Hit the t'mill again.  Started out kind of slow but as I went along I felt better and started bumping up the pace.

Tried something a little different.  Had big plans to go outside at lunch and ended up in a meeting instead.  So I hit the 'mill.  Started at 6mph (10:00 pace) and bumped the speed up 0.1 mph every .25 miles.  Ended up at 7:30 pace by the end.

Nice easy run at lunch with Aric.  Gorgeous day after this morning's snowfall.

Ran a few at lunch with Aric again.  Kind of nice to have someone to run with at lunch.  Makes me work a little harder.

Did intervals on the mill.  5 x .50 at 6:40 pace.

Ran out on the island.  Trails weren't in too bad of shape.  Most of the old now had melted or had been packed down by horses so footing was pretty good.  Took my new volunteer coordinator for the Buffalo Run out there.  She had never been on the island before. 

Ran at lunch. Very slow. Went boarding eysterday and my legs are tired and a little sore.

Ran at lunch with Aric.  Picked up the pace some.

Another lunchtime run.  A little cool but not too bad.  Kind of tired of running on the roads.

6 x .50 @ 6:35 pace on the t'mill.  I really dislike speed work, but it works.

Did a little trail run (finally) above 22nd street.  Nice packed trails.  Used my microspikes to good effect.  Lots of fun to finally get some trail running in.

Started at Rainbow Garden and went south to Beus Canyon, then back to Rainbow and north to Jumpoff canyon all on the BST.  Lots of snow, very little dirt.  Trails were well packed though.  Used my Kahtoola microspikes and didn't slip at all.

5.5 at lunch with Aric.  5.0 was at 8:30 pace.

Ugh!  I hate speed work.  3.5 miles the hard way, .5 at a time, all at 6:30 pace on the 'mill.

On the mill tonight.  Most of it was at a sub 8:30 pace. 

Lunch time run.  Too nice to stay inside.

t'mill run, blah!

Every once in awhile I need to run a 5K just to remind me how much I hate running 5K's.  Today was one of those days.  Hilly course but at least it was warmer than the last time I ran it two years ago.  No ice.  I also ran about 30 seconds faster and felt much better than the last time I ran it.  Overall, I'm fairly pleased with my time.

I actually got a late start and for the first couple hundred yards I was behind the police car that was bringing up the rear.  Guess I didn't leave the house soon enough.  So I had to plow my way through about 300 runners to get up to my 99th place finish.  Probably would have had a better time if I had been there for the start.  Oh well.  Next time I'll leave the house sooner.

Short run on the t'mill.  Didn't really feel like running.  Oh well.

Lunch time run.  Pretty nice day.  Sunny, a little cool.  Just ordered a trail running calendar from a group in New Zealand.  I have got to go there and do some trail running.  The pictures are stunning.

Interval night.  Yay!  4 x .5 @ 6:35, 1 x .5 @ 6:27, 1 x .5 @ 6:22, 1 x .5 @ 6:18.  All on the mill.

Ran easy at lunch.  A little tired from yesterday's intervals, but felt better as the run went on. 

Just a short run down to the credit union and back.

Mountain View trail on the island.  About a dozen of us having a good time.

Nifty 6 miles on the trails after work with Joel.  Finished right at dark.  The last mile was almost too dark to run.  Good times!

Interval night.  Oh boy!  Did a stairstep routine tonight.  .25, .50, .75, 1.0, .75, .50, .25 with a .25 in between.

Easy 5 at lunch with Aric.  Kinda sore from last night's interval work.

Had big plans to do a tempo run on the mill.  Quit after a couple miles.  Just wasn't into it.

Nice little trail run from Rainbow Garden north on the BST.  Snow gently falling.  Wonderful.

Second race in the series.  Thiss time I managed to get to the race on time and start with everyone else.  Tough course.  Couple of short but steep hills.  Some longer grinds as well.  Espcially between 4.5-5.5 miles. 

Splits

Mile 1 - 7:44 uphill start

Mile 2 - 6:59

Mile 3 - 7:39

Mile 4 - 7:55

Mile 5 - 8:50 start of the grinding uphill

Mile 6 - 8:47 still going uphill

Mile 6.2 - 1:33 (6:51 pace)

I'll take it.  Moved up 20 places from the 5K with the same number of runners (393 total).  Moved up a couple of spots in my age group as well.  Not my fastest time, not my slowest.  I think I was well over 50 minutes two years ago on this same course.

Easy run at lunch.  A little on the cool side with the breeze.

Ok, so I ran to work this morning.  Haven't done that in quite awhile.  Not a big fan of it since it's roads and much of the way there is no sidewalk or other means of avoiding traffic.  Even at 5am it's busy in places.  Still, I'd rather run to work than run home.  Much busier in the afternoon and people pay even less attention to pedestrians.  The afternoon run will consist of running to the train station and taking the train up to Ogden, then running home.  About half the running distance of the morning run.  Hoping to start running in at least one day a week, possibly two.  It is a good way to bump up to some serious mileage when I combine it with a long run on the weekend.

The run home pretty good.  Total time was 3:10 for both directions.

Just an easy three on the tmill.

Nice little trail run this afternoon.

Ran into work this morning.  Not too bad of a run.  Only had to throw my water bottle at one car, everyone else was paying attention.

Ok, run home wasn't exciting but was a little cool.  Still not too bad.  Felt better than I thought I would.

Had big plans to run about 6 on the trails after work.  They were so sloppy and slushy that I ended up walking a good protion of the 2 miles I did do.  Oh well.

Lunch time run with Aric.

Another lunch time run with Aric.  Nice day.  We managed to beat the incoming storm.

Ahh, lovely day for a trail run.  Had about 30 show up for the last Buffalo Run  training run on the island.  Perfect.  mid 40's, slight breeze.  All  sorts of people were out there.  Maybe 75 horses on the trail, lots of mountain bikers, hikers, etc.  Three weeks to race day.

Easy lunch time run.  I think spring is finally trying to make an appearance.

I hate speedwork.  6 x .50 @ 6:40 pace.  Yeah, slow for some of you, work for me.

Easy lunch time run with Aric.

Ran into work this morning. Not a good run either. Ever have those days where the run is just tedious and slow, you aren't 100%, maybe not even 90% but you're not sick, just blah. Well, this was one of those mornings. So, needless to say I'm not looking forward to the run home. At least I'll be taking the train half way.

The run home was better but still not great.  I'm pretty sure I've blown any chance of a decent time at tomorrow's Striders 10 mile  race with the 20 I did today.  Back to backs are good training for running when you're really tired and the legs feel like lead.  We'll see how tomorrow's race goes.

Not too bad a race.  Don't have the splits since my Garmin refused to lock on to any satellites.  Actually felt pretty good.  Thought  I went out easier than I did at the 10K but my splits for the first 4 miles were the same.  My time was 2 minutes faster than when I ran it two years ago, so I'm happy with that.

Seven wonderful miles on dirt, not snow, after work with the sun still shining and without winter cclothes on.  Hooray for spring!

Ran in to work.  Unremarkable.  Still dark when  I finally got there but I started a little early, around 4:45am.  The run home was a little iffy.  I didn't feel real good, light headed.  I tried to call my wife to just come and pick me up but she never asnwered her phone, so I ended up running all the way home anyway.  Oh well, good practice in perseverence.

Easy lunch run in really nice weather.

Another easy lunch run with Aric.  For those of you who run trails, stay tuned for theNorthern Utah Trail Series (NUTS).  Trail half marathon in July sometime along the shoreline trail above Ogden.

EZ trail miles

Dang, felt good to get back out after a week off.  Took the week off to get all the preparations done for the Buffalo Run last Saturday.  The race turned out pretty good again. 500+ happy runners and one happy race director.  For the second year it's the largest trail running event in the state of Utah.

Interval time.  6 x .50 @6:40 pace.  First time doing intervals in a couple of weeks.  I was a little worried but I did fine.

EZ lunch run

Race didn't start out too bad.  Sub 7:30 for the first few miles, but ny mile 9 I could feel my turnover slowing down and there was nothing I could do about it.  By the time I crossed the finish line I was down to around a 9:30 pace.  Oh well, good enough for 8th in my age group and 122 overall.  Not my best finish but I did move up in the age group standings to 4th.

Easy recovery run on the mill

lunch time run with Aric.  I must be getting old or he's getting faster because I have a hard time keeping up.  Probably both.

Had big plans to do intervals on the 'mill.  Got a couple miles in and decided to listen to my body and quit.  Good decision I think although I felt a little guilty about it.

ran to work this morning.  No exciting things happened, which is a good thing. 

Ended up working late so just ran up to the train station and had my lovely wife pick me up on the other end.

Ran most of the BSTM above Salt Lake.  Good time as usual with all sorts of friends.

On the mill after work.  sigh

Did three hill repeats on the trail.

Ok, this was a granddaddy run.  The third time I've done a rim to rim to rim in the Grand Canyon.  Took 18 hours.  Slower than I had hoped and certainly nopt my fastest time, but you know, it was still a good time.  Went with a couple of fellow ultrarunners, Brian Becksteda and Tara Tulley.  Neither had done this run before although Brian has done a couple of single crossings.  Started about 4am.  Three hours to the river.  We just took our time, took pictures etc.  Took a break at the Phantom Ranch, then headed out for the north rim.  The run up Kiabab canyon is an awesome one.  Right next to the creek for about 8 miles.  Took a short break at Cottonwood campground,  then started out again.  The trail turns up into a side canyon at the caretaker house and a couple miles after that is Roaring Springs.  This is indeed an awesome sight.  Water gushing out of the side of the cliff, and not just a little bit.  The trail here really starts to climb up towards the north rim.  Steeper and not as runnable.  When we were about 3 miles from the top, we encoutered snow, and lots of it. There was 4'-5' of it at the north rim trailhead.  Pretty much the last mile was done on snow.

Got to the north rim at about 1:15, so about 8:45 for a time.  I left the north rim at 1:30 with the goal of running as much of the downhill to the Phantom Ranch (13.6 miles away) as I could.  Took me 4 hours to go those miles.  Once you get to the caretaker house the trial becomes a cruiser.  Just the right angle for good effortless downhill running.  passed lots of backpackers on the way down.

Got to the rach about 5:30 and left with Brian at 6pm.  The goal was back up to the south rim in 4 hours or less.  This is a little more than 9 miles with 4800' of gain.  We were tired so making it in that time was going to be tough.  We got to Indian Garden in 2 hours pretty easily.  That's about half way up.  Once you leave Indian Garden, the trail gets steeper and we get tireder.  Still, we managed to do the last 4.5 miles in 2 hours, arriving at the south rim right at 10pm.  Tara got up to the top a couple hours later.

We had a great time.  I definitely recommend this run for any ultrarunner.  We saw a bunch of R2R2R runners on our trek, including quite a few from the SLC area that I know.  Everyone was having a good time.

The weather was perfect for it for me.  About 30 at the start and in the low 80's down at the Phantom Ranch.  Felt like the low 60's at the north rim.  It was defintely cool by the time we got back to the top, probably in the low 40's.

Fun, fun, fun and ready to do it again.

So I ran today for the first time since doing my GC run.  Nice and easy at lunch

Did a few hill repeats on the trail.  Didn't have time for a full workout.

Earth Day trail run with friends.  Pushed really hard for about 1.5 miles because I felt good.  Lots of fun but a little cool.

Nice day for a race.  Not too bad.  Not as fast as I would have liked, but the good thing  is I scored 2nd in my age group (50-54) and 2nd in my age group for the series.  Hardware is always a good thing.  At my age it isn't about the speed, it's about attrition.  I just outlasted the others in my age group.

Here's the splits:

Mile 1 - 8:18

Mile 2 - 8:03

Mile 3 - 8:12

Mile 4 - 8:16

Mile 5 - 8:11

Mile 6 - 8:27

Mile 7 - 8:23

Mile 8 - 8:35

Mile 9 - 8:45

Mile 10 - 8:32

Mile 11 - 8:13

Mile 12 - 8:18

Mile 13 - 8:27

Mile 14 - 8:22

Mile 15 - 9:06

Mile 16 - 8:40

Mile 17 - 8:56

Mile 18 - 8:44

Finish - 2:38:03

Fairly consistent thru the race except for mile 15.  I took a short walk break.

Did some hill repeats with Joel on the BST south of Taylor canyon.  Only had time for four of them.  Really wanted to do about 6 or so.  Oh well.  Very busy with mountain bikers and hikers.

Ran into work this morning.  Started out great, then after about the half way point i started slowing down.  Maybe still feeling the aftereffects of the race on Saturday plus hills last night?  Maybe my body is just getting old while my mind still thinks I'm 25.  Still, I'm on track to reach my goal of 2500 miles for the year.  In fact, I've run more miles so far this year than in any previous year.  Crossing my fingers that I don;t get injured.  Found out the uber ultrarunner Karl Meltzer broke his arm bad enough to require surgery last Saturday while running the Zane Grey 50 mile in AZ.  From what I understand he was climbing over a tree that had fallen across the trail.  Bummer.  Kinda screws his racing season all up.

So the run home was kind of windy. Ran up to the train station then called my wife to pick me up in Ogden.  The legs were like lead and I figured I needed some rest.

Three of us met at Rainbow Garden and took the BST north.  I really dislike the first mile since it's all uphill and gains about 400'.  It just didn't feel right last night.  Still, I gutted it out and made it up.  Once we got on the trail above the canal road things got better.  I was able to push the uphills and run at a pretty good clip on the downhills.  Met up with Tom at the turn and he ran back with us.  I was feeling really good now and led out with a pretty good pace.  Ran the entire distance back to the parking lot.  Something I've never been able to do before.  I usually end up walking a couple of the steeper sections.  Things just seemed to click on the way back and I felt really good.  Great run with some good friends.  Not much talking, just a train of four guys and a couple of dogs doing some good miles.  Can't beat it.

Ran south of 22nd street on the BST.  Got sleeted on big time.  That's just wrong when it's at the end of April.

Easy t'mill run today.  I helped some friends move yesterday and the going up and down stairs all day carrying heavy objects did a number on my legs.

Hill repeats with the NUTS group on the BST south of Taylor Canyon.  Nothing like dodging all the mountain bikes.

1450' gain

Trail miles north of Rainbow Garden with Aric.

Did a few miles on the trail north of north Ogden divide.

ran on the t-mill.  4.2 @ 7:30 pace.  Hoping to get somewhere around that pace at the marathon this  Saturday.

Ran another 4 at a 7:30 pace to gage my fitness for Ogden.  Felt pretty good.  If I can maintain that pace for most of the race, then a BQ will happen.  Not sure if I'm going to run Thursday and Friday or not.

So this is a short report.  I ran Ogden.  While one of the most scenic marathon courses, I couldn't help but wish I was on a trail instead of asphalt.  Nonetheless, I persevered and finished, just not with the time I was hoping for.  I wanted to be down around 3:30, but had to settle for a 3:47.  Sigh!

I could blame it on all sorts of things but it really boils down to not enough training and not enough consistent training.  That's the real reason, the excuses are, carrying a little too much weight, my sciatic was acting up a little, my joints hurt from the pounding downhill, yada yada yada.

Actually, the first ten miles were pretty good.  I was maintaining a 7:30 pace, then after that I couldn't manage a sub 8 at all.

I could bore everyone with the splits, but suffice to say that it was ugly.  Just about everyone I knew in the race finished faster than I did.

If nothing else, the race was a wake up call to get my act together and start training much better, especially with the line up of races on my schedule this summer.

Next up is the Timp Trail Marathon this Saturday down near Provo.  The course looks much more scenic than Ogden and added bonus, it's on a trail.  No time expectations for this one, just a good time for several hours doing what I like best, running thru the woods with complete abandon with a few of my friends.

A little recovery run after the marathon.  More like a hike with some short jogs thrown in.  Went out to Antelope Island wife my lovely wife.  She rode the horse and I walked/shuffled.  The legs are still trashed, but tomorrow I start hitting the hills and trails hard.  8 weeks of training before Swancrest and the mileage has to go up.

Hill repeat day.  5 x .55 with Aric and Joel.  1114'of total gain.  I thought it would suck pretty bad having run Ogden two days ago, but I actually felt not to bad.  Soreness from the marathon is pretty much gone.  Just a little tired.  One of the repeats was actually one of the fastest times I've done on that hill.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33685660

Ran into work this morning.  Kind of a struggle as I'm still a little tired from the marathon plus the hill repeats last night.  Still, it was a good thing.  Hopefully I'll feel a little better this afternoon.

Ran on some nifty trails at Wolf Mountain Ski Area.  Went with Aric and Joel to check things out for a couple of trail races later this summer.

Some trail miles with Aric north of Rainbow Garden.  1150' gain.  Legs are still pretty tired from Ogden, but since Ogden I've also put in 37 miles.  Includign a long run and some hill repeats.  No wonder I'm tired.

Timp Trail Marathon is a new race put on by Shawn Christian and Marc Collman.  The course is on the west side of Mt. Timp above Orem.

I had no expectations going into this race.  I ran Ogden marathon last week, took zero time off after that, jumped right back into training and thus had somewhat tired legs.  To say the weather was a challenge today is an understatement.  It rained at our house all night long and rained most of the way down to Provo this morning.  Not only that, but the temp was 40 degrees.....in late May.  What's up with that?  Since it was 40 outside, I knew that we'd be up in snow given that the race course went to a high point of over 7700'.  Even if this would have been a nice day the course would have been a tough one.  When everyone started at 6am, there was a light rain falling.  This rain continued to fall for the first couple of hours, then quit.  At times there was snow coming down on us as well.

The first half of the race actually kept us below the snow level, but at that point, the steepest climb of the day was there for us to enjoy.  Roughly 800' of gain is about .6 miles.  Keep in mind that if the ground was dry this would be a hard climb.  Now add in the fact that the trail was slick, slippery mud.  Two steps forward, one step sliding back.  Now we were up in the snow, about 2 inches worth.  The trails didn't have snow on them, just very cold muddy water and mud, lots of mud.  Did I mention that there was mud on the trail today?

After that inital hard climb, we cruised for a bit then started up a canyon.  The trail took us along steep cliffs where a slip over the edge would result in getting hurt really bad or death.  It was gorgeous though.  This is why I run trail races.  This climb up the canyon eventually took us to the high point of the course, a little above 7700'.  This climb was pretty steep as well, about 2000' in 3 miles. At the high point there was about 4-6 inches of snow on the ground.  The trails were still just had lots of mud and water.

After the high point, the rest of the course was pretty much downhill.  We did have a couple more short but steep climbs. 

After the last aid station at 21.5 miles, the course became a downhill cruiser.  By this time the sun was trying to peak out and the views became even more spectacular with all the snow up on Mt. Timp. 

Well organized race, good aid stations.  Beautiful and very tough course.  Just what I like.  I'll run it again next year.

One thing I did notice is that I wasn't nearly as tired and painful as I was after Ogden.  That road pounding just did a number on me.  Give me a trail  any day.

Here's a link to the course mapped by my Garmin.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34172537

Oh, did I mention that the course was muddy in places?

Hill repeat Monday.  6 people showed this week.  All of my repeats were sub 10 minute pace, not bad for this hill.  The last two I went anearobic the last .2 I think.  All I know is the last two hurt.  Kind of nice today.  With the iffy weather very few mountain bikes were out.  1572' gain.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34479556

Ran into work and back today.  I felt pretty good on the run in, a little tired but strong.  Only had to yell profanities at two cars.  One of these days that's going to get me in trouble.  The run howm was a little more tiring.  I would have gone just over 20 miles total but some hot babe in a Mercedes honked at me when I was about a half mile from home, so I got in.  Good thing it was my wife.

A few trail miles in the evening north of Rainbow Garden.  Sprinkled on us.  I'm so tired of the cold wet spring here in Utah.  I want some warm 80+ weather.  Oh, and sunshine would be nice too.  Supposed to be a great, tough, beautiful ccourse.  Lots of huge names in the ultra world will be there.

Holy cow!  What a day.  Race started promptly at 6am in a light rain and temps around 40.  The first few miles were uphill followed by some super sweet single track thru the forest and along side the mountains.  Cruising along with a small group at about a 9 minute pace was too much fun.  Even though I was wet, I wasn't cold at all.  Trail conditions were a little mudy in the first part but not too bad.....yet.  It's when we started descending to the first aid station that the trail got really bad.  Slippery mud everywhere.  You couldn't avoid the stuff.  It didn't help that the people in front of us had trashed the trail for those behind.  Such is the life of a mid packer.  After the first aid station we started climbing up toward Kinport Peak.  I had been told that there was a 1 mile bushwack that was super steep.  Well, the RD wasn't lying.  The bushwack had us going from flag to flag.  As we got higher, the wind got worse and the rain turned into a driving sleet.  It didn't help that we were on an exposed ridge and the wind was reaching gale force.  The sleet wwas falling heavier and heavier.  Sleet hitting your face at 40mph hurts, alot.  I thought I would get really cold going  up thru this but amazingly didn't.  I was in shorts, a long sleeve t, short sleeve t, beanie, winter gloves, and my cheap rain jacket.  The only thing that really got cold on me was my hands.  With the gloves soaked and the wind hitting them, pretty soon I couldn't feel my fingers and I was really worried about frostbite.  As a few of us were climbing together, we came across a runner that had started back down.  He was going hypothermic because he wasn't dressed t-for the conditions.  He had no hat, no gloves, wearing Vibrams, shorts and a short sleeve t.  Luckily, some of us other runners had some extra clothes adn we got him dresssed.  I gave him a rain shell with a hood that I had in my pack, somebody else had extra gloves.  Meanwhile, we kept climbing.  It seemed like forever until  we reached the top but it was really only about half an hour.  The conditions as we neared the top were near whiteout, we couldn'tt see from course ribbon to course ribbon.  Wiuth the wind driving from the left, we had a tendency to drift right.  This meant that we missed the course markings as they went left.  finally at the top a group us realized that wee were essentially lost.  We started down a 4 x 4 road because we saw footprints  in the snow.  After about a 1/4 mile of that we met  the group in front of us.  They had lost the course markings too.  One of the group was familiar with the course and eventually we were able to find the course and start back down the other side of the mountain.  This part of the course was on a 4 x 4 road, so following the route was easy.  As we got back down below the snow line, things warmed up some adn we were able to make some good time.  I forgot to mention that while we were on top in the blizzard, we did stick together and made sure the guy that  was going hypothermic made it down safely. 

I had decided after that little jaunt on the mountain that I was dropping at the next aid station.  I knew that we were going right back u that hill and wanted no part of that.  Just way too dangerous.  It was a search and rescue operation waiting to happen.  As it so happened, at that point the race directors  made the decision to pull the plug and halt the race.  So now the race became one of making sure everyone was accounted for and safe.  Meanwhile, I caught a ride back tot he start/finish and got into some dry warm clothes.  As people  were starting to trickle in a few of use decided that we needed to get some food going.  The plan was to have chili for everyone post race, but the people  in charge of that were nowhere to be found.  So we got the chili going, got out the rest of the food and started feeding cold, wet hungry runners.

the RD's definitely made the right decision to halt the race.  Conditions on the mountain tops were horrendous at best.  We later heard that Scout Peak, the high point of the course, had 6" of fresh snow.  Ultrarunners love a difficult, demanding course, we're masochistic that way, but we don't want a course where the chance of death is a real possibility.

So, kind of disapointed that I didn't get to finish, but certainly understandable.  I'll be back next year, the course looks like it would be stunning in good weather.

Here's a link to a  short article in the Pocatello paper about the race.

http://www.journalnet.com/sports/local/article_f3711a2a-6ba5-11df-a0b4-001cc4c03286.html

Easy recovery run from Pocatello.  1400' gain.

Hill repeat Monday.  Did 7 of them then added some extra miles for a total of about 15.  Good time.  Lots of people out on their semi annual trek on a trail so they can say they were out in nature.  2630' vertical.

Three laps around a mall in Dayton, OH, sigh.

One lap around the same mall, sigh again.  Just couldn't do it.

Some road miles in the OC around the block at my fahter-in-law's house.  The same route I used to run when I lived there and first started running.  Memories.

Don't know if this is cheating or not, but ran 5 in the morning then spent the rest of the day walking around Disneyland.  Wore my Garmin and actually recoorded 10.5 miles  there.  I figure about 2.5 was on rides,  the rest on foot.

Ran along the beach in Carlsbad near my mother-in-law's condo.  Not too bad running with an ocean view.

Did a few more miles around the Carlsbad area along the beach, thru town etc.

Hill repeat Monday.  Did 7 of them with a few other guys.  The repeats kinda sucked, but I know they work.  1765' vertical gain.

Short little run up to Malan's peak.  2100' vertical gain.

On the mill due to bad weather.  It really sucked so I quit.

Perfect day for running except for all the inconsiderate  mountain bikers.  Ran from 22nd street south and back.  1000' gain.

Pretty lazy miles from Kaysville to Fernwood and back.  Haven't run this section of trail in several months.  1000' gain.

Ran up the north Ogden divide trail.  Karen rode the horse.  1900' vert gain. 7700' gain for the week.

Went running up Farmington Canyon.  The gate at the top is still locked so no atv's, no dirt bikes, no people.  Blessed silence.  Beautiful green scenery and deep blue cloud free skies.  Perfect for a Father's Day run except for the damn "friendly" dog that came after me three separate times.  Told the owners that if it bit me I would kill the dog.  Guess I need to get me either a gun or some mace.  Mace would probably be the better option.

Ran up to Lewis Peak with Aric, Joel and Phil.  Started at North Ogden Divide.  3000' vert gain

Called in to work and spent the day being lazy except for my little run around lunchtime.

Ran into work and part way home.  kinda slow going in but I made it.  Warm run to the train station but i like the heat.

Great race.  Third time I've run it and the fastest yet.  I felt great the entire time.  Fueled good, drank lots, no aches or pains and blister free.  Oh, and this course has to be one of the most beautiful courses out there.  Don't know what my placing was but I'm thinking top 15-25 out of 100 entries.  7700' vert gain. 

Short little recovery hike up North Ogden divide trail.  Went with the wife, she on a horse, me leading the other horse.  1480' gain.

my brain had big plans to do hill repeats tonight.  Mylegs had other plans.  After the second repeat my legs told me to just go cruising on the trails.  So I listened.  Guess it was a little too soon to do hills after Saturday's race.  Oh well.  1000' vert gain.

Ran into work this morning.  Not too bad a run.  Little faster than normal.  So the run home was kinda slow but eventually I got there,  A whopping 450' vert gain.  How flat is that?

Little run at Wolf Mountain.  1500' vert

Went up to Malan's Peak.  Little cooler up there plus a breeze.  2375' vert

Made two runs today.  The morning run was along the BST north of Rainbow The second run was up at Cutler Flat.  Never been there.  Need to do some more exploring there.  1700' vert.  8000' vert for the week.

Ran along the BST south of 22nd street.  Felt  pretty good so I pushed it some.  1200' vert gain.

Ran from Rainbow Garden south along the BST to Beus Canyon.  then up Beus Canyon to the saddle just below Mt. Ogden.  Holy cow that was a tough climb.  Then down the trails at Snowbasin to the base area.  Over to the Maples trailhead, down the Maples trail to Icebox Canyon.  Thru there to Wheeler Canyon and down to Pineview Dam.  23 very tough miles.  Took a little over 6 hours including all stops and about 15 minutes at the Snowbasin base area.  Still some pretty good cornices at the top of Snowbasin we had to glissade down.  5500' vert gain.

Hill repeats.  Did five of the things.  Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be after doing 23 mountain miles yesterday.  1200' vert gain

Nice little trail run from Rainbow south to Strong's canyon and back.  1400' vert gain

Went out in the afternoon.  Pretty warm, in the low 90's.  Just did an easy run on some trials.

Did a run with a couple of friends up Ben Lomond Peak and back, then up the other side to Lewis Peak and back.  8500+' vert gain.  Saw an amazing sight.  About 40 mountain goats, including babies, from 50-100 yards away.  It was amazing to watch them scamper up vertical cliff faces like it was nothing.  Very cool.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39937791

17,800' vert gain for the week.  I think that's the most I've ever done in a week outside of a race.

Ran along the BST from 22nd street.  Still kind of tired from Saturday's run so it was pretty slow.

So I had big plans to go up to Malan's Peak today.  It was about 95 degrees out.  Well, about a mile into the run I was light headed, and a little dizzy.  I went for another 1.5 and decided to head back down.  I think either it was the heat or the fact that I was pretty hungry, een though I ate a snack before I left work.  Went back out for a few more miles around the house once the temps cooled off some.  Felt much better.

Tried another after work run in the heat on a trail.  This time I went north from Rainbow Garden.  Very exposed to the afternoon sun so I knew it would be hot.  Got a little light headed again, but by the time I got to around 1.4 miles I felt much better and completed the miles I wanted to. 

Pluses for running  in the heat.  I had the trail all to myself.  I saw exactly one mountain biker and one runner the entire 7 miles.  There was a reasonably nice breeze the entire time to keep me a little cooler.  Heat acclimation.  Minuses, it's dang hot out there.

Spent the evening marking the trail for the NUTS half marathon.  Didn't finish until 11:30pm.  It was a great night run though.

Took off about 45 minutes before the NUTS half started and rechecked the trail markings.  Everything looked good and everyone had a great time.  Cody Draper was the winner.

Went up Ben Lomond peak this morning.  I felt pretty good so I attempted to meet a goal that I've had for a few years.  Do the up rrun in under two hours.  My fastest time has been 2:05, so I knew I could go under 2:00.  I probably didn't push as hard as I should have on the lower part of the trail but by the time I hit the last climb (1.7 miles, 1000') I was panicked and really started to push hard.  Ever tried running hard uphill on a very rocky trail, while at 9000'+?  Yeah, by the time I hit the top I was pretty winded, but when I looked at the Garmin, it said 1:59:45.  I had done it, not by much, but it was done.  Needless to say, I felt pretty good once I caught my breath.  Spent the next 30 minutes watching mountain goats scamper around below the peak, then took my time on the run down.  1:38 down.  I'm sure if I pushed that part I could go under 1:30, but I'll save that for another day.  Right now I'm happy with the run up.  I think I may be ready for Swancrest now.  Doesn't really matter, the race is only two weeks away.  Taper is the order of the day for the next couple of weeks.  I hate tapering.  It feels like such a waste not being out running as much.

Ran a whopping 4.2 on the BST from 22nd street.  Nice and warm, about 95 degrees.  Went slow.  I hate tapering for a race, it feels like such a waste.

Had an awesome run up Wheeler creek to Art Nord, then up to Green Pond and back down thru Ice Box canyon.  Felt great.  Finished 20 minutes ahead of everyone else on the run

Went on a run on a trail near my sister's house in Oregon.  I've passed this trailhead numerous times and have always wanted to go up it.  Today I had the chance.  Went up to the top of Hardesty Peak, 4200'.  Came back down the Eula ridge trail thinking that it would be about the same distance back down.  Wrong.  What I was hoping for was a roughly 8-10 mile run.  I ended up with 14+.  No a bad thing since I was running thru some awesome old growth Douglas fir.  Some of these trees were 5-6 feet in diamter and a couple hundred feet tall.  Super quiet in the forest as well.  I only saw three other people the entire run.  I thought that was kind of unusual since it's a Saturday and there were several other cars at the trail head.  Oh well, no people is fine with me.  All in all a good run onb a trail I've been wanting to explore.

So my friend Aric tells me several months ago about this new 100 mile race in Montana called the Swancrest 100.  I checked out their website and saw all the warnings about grizzly bears and decided that I had to be a part of this race, especially the first year. What's not to like about running through the woods wondering if you're going to meet up with a large carnivore.

The other thing about this race is the controversy surrounding whether it should go on or not. A little background. Several months ago the race director approached a conservation group called the Swanview Coalition about helping out at the race, maybe running an aid station in exchange for a donation to their cause. No response except that a few months later Keith Hammer, the head of this nefarious group gives a 60 day intent to sue the forest service over issuance of a permit. Something about a commercial endeavor of this type needing an environmental impact assessment. This guy is a complete tool. Now I definitely want to run this race just because of idiots like him.

So the training commences, blah, blah, blah, and before I know it Aric and I are driving up to northwest Montana. It's a lot further away than I thought.  Also, sushi in Whitefish, Montana is not as good as sushi here.

The original thought was to just get a room Thursday night and Saturady night but the race director offered us the use of his floor, so we took him up on it. As usual I got about 2-3 hours of sleep before it was time to get up and get ready. Thank goodness this race didn't start until 7am instead of the usual 5am start for most 100's. We drove over to the finish area and caught the shuttle to the start, about 45 minutes away.

As we were waiting around for the race to start, a local couple came up to Aric and I and started talking to us, telling us how exciting this event was, could they bring us anything as they were going to be hiking up to one of the aid stations.  Just super nice people.

So, the race starts and I’m in the lead.  Definitely a weird feeling but no one else wanted to jump out in front.  I lead for about ¾ mile before the eventual winner took over the front runner duties.  After a mile on paved road, we turned on to a forest service road and not too much longer I was in about 8^th place, where I really belonged.  After about 10 miles we came to the first aid station.  Not too bad, don’t remember my time but I felt really good.  Then we hit the trail.  Talk about overgrown.  Shoulder high brush blocked our view of the trail itself, so there was lots of tripping over rocks and roots.  A couple hundred yards in we saw our first pile of bear scat. Yep, there really are bears in these here woods.  Good thing I had bear spray handy.  So pushing thru all this brush slowed me down to a walk for the most part.  After a couple miles of this, we came to an avalanche debris field.  We were warned about this in the prerace briefing but holy cow!  The course was marked with ribbons since you couldn’t see the trail at all.  Buried under several feet of broken trees, limbs, brush etc.  This section ended up being a climb over all this debris from ribbon to ribbon.  Really slowed me down.  Finally got past all that and began going up the hillside on a decent trail.  Switch backed up a couple thousand feet until I crossed a rdige and began actually running along the mountainside.  This began the story of the rest of the run, lots of ups and downs where you really couldn’t get a good running rhythm going.  Just as you’d get running you’d hit a steep enough uphill to force you into a walk.  Then there were all the rocks, just like around here.  As we got closer to the Napa Point aid station (19 miles) we encountered a couple groups of people.  First was a group out on what looked like an educational outing.  They cheered us on.  Next was a forest service ranger and a couple others with him.  I imagine he was keeping an eye on things given the noise that Keith and his group were making.  Then there was the ass Keith Hammer with some of his cronies.  Just watching.  They did step off the trail so we could pass and I did say hi to him.  As I was fueling up at the aid station he came walking out of the woods.  I later found out he had been writing down license numbers of cars and videoing the aid station.  Did I mention that he's an ass.

Ok, now we had a 24 mile section to the next aid station.  This was something new for me.  I’m used to generally less than 10 miles between aid stations so this required a different strategy.  I took four gel flasks, a couple of bars and a full hydration pack (70 oz).  We knew that there was water along the trail but I didn’t know where.  This section of the race was absolutely stunning.  For the most part we were on the ridges above the treeline, so lots of incredible views.  I could see several thousand feet into the valleys below, I could see all the way into Glacier National Park, over to the Flathead valley.  This was way cool.  We were crossing small snow fields and I filled my pack with snow from one of them.  About 5-6 miles into this section was an area of cascading water down the rocks.  I took a minute to drink, wash my face off and just enjoy the moment.  That was some good tasting water.  My mistake here was not refilling my pack.  I still had lots of snow in it but eventually I drank all the water and was left with just the snow.  The next 10 miles or so were kind of dry for me.  With no water in my pack, I couldn’t eat gels or anything else since I had no water to wash it down with.  Needless to say the eneregy level went down and I slowed down.  Eventually I came across a very small creek and was able to fill up, then eat some gels and get my energy back up.  About 3 miles alter I came into the Six Mile aid station.  At this aid station you had to make an out and back trek to the top of Six Mile peak.  I wasn’t looking forward to this as I was really tired, but out I went.  1 ½ miles later and 1000’ higher I was on top of the peak picking up a playing card to verify that I made it.  The view was definitely worth the trek.  This kind of rejunvenated me and I was able to hoof it down in pretty good time.  I got back into Six Mile, sat for a few, fueled up and bolted out for Quintonkin, six miles away.  By now it was starting to get dark and abouf half way I had to turn on the headlamp.  Parts of this were very runnable and I took advantage of this to try and make up a little time.  I came out on a forest service road that just went up and up for what seemed like forever, ugh!  At the end of this road was the Quintonkin aid station (52 miles).  By now it’s about 11:30pm, dark and getting a little cool, but not bad.  I stood next to the fire and tried to warm up, eat, and drink.  Just as I was getting set to leave, in comes Aric, so I waited for him and we took off together.  We had debated dropping here as we knew that finishing under the time limit would be next to impossible, but we decided to go forward and see what happened.  This was another long section without aid (16+ miles) and the first three miles were all uphill.  So up we went.  Eventually we were above treeline again, but now at night.  It was clear out so the stars were nice and bright and we had about a half moon to see by.  Going along the ridges here was fun.  Very rocky with some steep dropoffs.  I pushed a large rock off one dropoff just hear it go crashing down below.  It seemed like it crashed forever, must have been a really long ways down.  There were a couple of points where we stopped for a couple minutes to reat.  We were both getting tired and sleepy.  At one point I just laid down in the middle of the trail and took a five minute catnap.  This section also had eight miles of constant downhill and this started to wear on us.  Lots of trees across the trail that we had to duck under or climb over as well.  Eventually we arrived at the Broken Leg aid station (68 miles) and called it good.  With only 11 ½ hours left to go 32 miles, we knew that we’d time out.  Still, I felt pretty good, just really tired.

This was definitely a different kind of race.  With all the ups and downs, brush, and long distances between aid, I think this race is more difficult than Wasatch. 

Post race festivities were great, flank steak, potato salad, ceasar salad, local made huckleberry ice cream and a keg of beer. 

Only 20 runners of the 44 who started managed to finsh.  I will definitely be back next year with a better plan for finishing.

Technical details -

Shoes - La Sportiva Raptors, like them, good cush on the sole and plenty of grip

Pack - Nathan 70 oz. race vest

Food - 1st Endurance EFS Liquidshot.  I downed 6 of these flasks for a total of 2400 calories, I also ate some food at the aid stations.  I would estimate I downed 3000+ calories.  Need to eat more.

Just ran a few around the 22nd street trailhead.  First time since the race.

Went up to Wheeler creek.  Ran up to Art Nord, over to icebox and back down.  Felt pretty good and pushed it.  Got rained on.

North Ogden divide up to Ben Lomond, then over to Ispiration point.  Saw mountain goats and met a guy who has mapped all of the old mines on Ben Lomond and Willard Peak.  Very interesting.  Managed to PR the trip up to Ben Lomond.  1:59:09.  Almost 5000' of vertical gain.

Up Wheeler canyon to Art Nord, over to Ice Box canyon adn back down.  Kinda slow today.

Ran from 22nd street trailhead over to Strong's canyon, down to the lower trail and back to the trailhead.

did a little trail running locally. 

Did a little running in the Mission Trails Regional Park near San Diego.  Was down there on business.  Kinda cool place to run.  Wish i would have had more time to do some exploring.

I went into this year’s Where’s Waldo 100K with what I hoped was some good training.  This is the 5^th year I’ve run this race and I’ve had some good runs there and some horrible runs there.  Like any ultra event, so much depends on the day, weather, mood, etc. and less on training than shorter races (at least I think so).  Don’t get me wrong, training is good and more training is more gooder.

So three weeks ago I DNF’d at the Swancrest 100.  Nonetheless, 68 mountain miles has to be a good workout for a 100K.  I didn’t do a whole lot of running in between Swancrest and Where’s Waldo.  A little bit during the week, one 21+ mile run up past Ben Lomond a couple weeks ago and that was about it.  So I came to Oregon pretty well rested.

I think this is the 9^th year for Where’s Waldo and I’ve run five of them now.  I don’t know if anyone else has run that many, but I’m definitely a veteran here.

Course description-99% single track, 1% dirt road, no pavement except to cross a couple roads, just awesome, sweet single track through the forest.  Trail running nirvana.  Two peak climbs, one to the top of Fuji Peak early in the race and the other to the top of Maiden Peak late in the race.  Both provide spectacular views from the tops that make the entire run worth every minute.  The elevation isn’t too bad.  The peaks top out at 7500’+ with all of the race between 5000’-7000’.  Easy enough for me since I train that high, but people coming from sea level do struggle a bit.  Most of the trail is very runnable, just the three climbs that really force you into a walk.

So at 5am the race starts.  The first mile is one of the walking climbs.  Up a service road at the ski area for roughly a mile.  Not a climb I really like, but oh well.  I start out in my usual location, mid pack and go.  I forgot my headlamp but I knew that I’d be able to leach off other runner’s lights, so no big deal.  By the time we hit the trail it was light enough to see and start running.  The next several miles to the Gold Lake aid are primarily downhill so the running is sweet.  The crowd thins out a little and you can get a good run going.

So I hit Gold Lake at the same time I do every year, 1:22 into the race.  After Gold Lake we cross a road and begin the climb up to the Fuji Peak aid.  Much of this is runnable but there are some fairly steep parts as well.  I get into Fuji the first time at the same time I do every year, about 2:30 in.  I pretty much blew through this aid station knowing that I’d see them again in 2.5 miles after the climb up to the top of Fuji.  Felt good going up Fuji and spent a minute or two enjoying the view from the top.  I’d love to spend more time, but there’s a race to run, back down I go.  Got back into the Fuji aid, once again, at the same time I do every year.  I need to push harder early on in this race.  Spent less than two minutes here and headed out for Mt. Ray.  This section is primarily downhill, but there are some parts that are pretty rolling.  Got into Mt. Ray, you guessed it, the same time I usually do every year.  Still feeling very good.

I knew the stretch to Twins 1 was mostly uphill, but I figured I could run most of it.  About a mile or so after I left Mt. Ray, I hooked up with four other runners, and with me leading the pack we pushed pretty hard into Twins.  I offered to let someone else lead, but they were all good with me heading things up.  I was too because it kept me pushing the pace.  I got into Twins 1 a full 10 minutes faster than I ever have and I feel great.  I was in and out and dropped the rest of the pack heading for the halfway point at Charlton Lake.  I was kind of hoping for under 6.5 hours to the halfway and almost made it.  I hit Charlton at 6:38 in the race.  Once again, fastest pace ever for this section.  Dang, I’m on a roll today.  As long as I feel good, I’m keeping this up.  So, in and out of Charlton heading for road 4290.  Not my favorite section of the race, but it’s not too bad.  The way I felt through this section made me think that maybe I was slowing down, but when I looked at my splits, this was also my fastest time through here.  The section between 4290 and Twins 2 is my least favorite section.  You’re 37 miles in, it’s 7.5 to Twins, most of it uphill, during the heat of the day.  Ugh!  I was still feeling really good so I set a goal of getting to Twins at a 16 minute pace.  Usually I’m at about a 16:30 pace.  I rocked this section.  Averaged 15:20 and pulled into Twins 2 a full 10 minutes faster than I ever have.  I knew the next section to Maiden Peak aid was primarily downhill and I resolved to run absolutely as much of it as I could.  I was still feeling really good.  A little tired, but not sore, no stomach or hydration issues.  I rocked this section as well.  Averaging a full minute and a half faster pace than I ever have, I pulled into Maiden Peak almost 30 minutes ahead of my fastest time.

I was kind of looking forward to the climb of Maiden Peak.  2.5 miles with 2000’ gain and it gets steeper the higher you go.  Made it to the top without too much problem,then back down to the Maiden Lake aid station.  Time here wasn’t my fastest, but not too far off.  Left Maiden Lake after just a couple minutes feeling good and ready to rock the alst section.  Short uphill section, then 7+ miles of sweet downhill, my favorite section of the course.  Managed to do this section faster than any other time as well.

I crossed the finish line in 13:44, my fastest time ever on this course by 24 minutes.  I felt like I could have kept going too.

So what went right?  Virtually everything.  I fueled the entire race with First Endurance EFS Liquidshot.  This is the first time I’ve conciously gone with a liquid diet during a race.  I kept the fueling steady all day by taking a shot every 30 minutes or so.  The stuff works great.

Wore my La Sportiva Raptor’s again.  I like these shoes.  Plenty of traction, good cush, plenty of room for my toes.  I ended up with one minor blister.

Just to show the Engineering geek in me, I’ve pasted a spreadsheet analyzing my last four races.  The 2006 course was a little different and can’t really be compared.

Name

Start

Gold Lake

Fuji Up

Fuji Down

Mt Ray

Twins 1

Charlton

Rd 4290

Twin 2

Maiden Pk

Maiden Lk

Finish

Time

Year

(7.4 mi)

(5.0 mi, 12.4)

(2.5 mi, 14.9)

(5.6 mi, 20.5)

(6.6 mi, 27.1)

(4.9 mi, 32.0)

(5.2 mi, 37.2)

(7.5 mi, 44.7)

(5.2 mi, 49.9)

(5.1 mi, 55.0)

(7.5 mi, 62.5)

Total Pace

Clock time

Place

2010

Skaggs, Jim

5:00

6:23

53

7:30

50

8:07

49

9:11

50

10:37

46

11:34

41

12:39

44

14:34

40

15:36

40

17:18

40

18:44:45

13:44:45

Pace Per Mile >>

11:13

13:24

14:48

11:26

13:02

11:38

12:30

15:20

11:55

20:00

11:34

13:12

2009

Skaggs, Jim

5:00

6:22

48

7:30

57

8:06

56

9:09

56

10:37

54

11:37

55

12:42

50

14:45

55

16:09

60

17:54

56

19:33:44

14:33:44

Pace Per Mile >>

11:05

13:36

14:24

11:15

13:20

12:15

12:30

16:24

16:09

20:35

13:18

13:59

2008

Skaggs, Jim

5:00

6:24

61

7:32

58

8:08

57

9:12

59

10:47

59

11:48

59

12:56

54

14:58

50

16:08

47

17:41

42

19:08:07

14:08:07

Pace Per Mile >>

11:21

13:36

14:24

11:26

14:24

12:27

13:05

16:16

13:28

18:14

11:37

13:34

<td style="BORDER-BOTTOM

Comments From Bryce on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 23:53:22 from 174.52.190.220 Nice job out there Jim. That sounds like an awesome race course. No wonder you keep going back. Great to PR a course and still have energy in the tank. I'm with you on the EFS shot, it has made all the difference for me in training and racing, good energy and easy on the gut. From Jim Kern on Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 00:00:14 from 97.117.42.147 Congrats on a great race, Jim. I'll have to try the EFS liquidshot.

Sun, Aug 22, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Decided to take this week off from running.  maybe get a few things done around the house to keep my wife happy.  Plus I just need a little break while I evaluate what races to put on the fall calendar.  I have nothing scheduled so I'm looking.  OPossiblities include the Ogden Valley 50 mile (road, set a PR here last year), the San Francisco One Day (24 hour, one mile path, Golden Gate bridge in the background), or the 100 mile Endurance Challenge (Road, starts in Corona and ends up at Santa Monica Pier, I'm wait listed for that one).  I'm looking around for some others as well.

Mon, Aug 30, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 4.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 5.00

So I started running again after taking a week off after Where's Waldo.  Kind of nic to take a little time off but I'm ready to get back.  Next race on the schedule will either be the San Francisco One Day, the Ogden Valley 50 Mile, or possibly some other race around that time frame.  Thus I have to start running roads again.  I went out for 5 miles this evening adn it really kind of sucked.  I didn't realize how much trail running slows you down if you don't keep up on the speedwork and tempo runs.  I did a couple of 1/2 mile repeats but the pace was not very fast at all.  I've got about 6 weeks of training to get a little faster before either of these races.  Oh joy!

Tue, Aug 31, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.40

Another lovely road run thru the Ogden Business Depot.  Since I live close to there it's a nice place to run without worrying a lot about traffic.  Quiet streets, street lights at night.  Not bad.  Still slow.  Took me about 2 miles to get really warmed up but after that I felt better.  Maybe try running into work Thursday, we'll see.

Wed, Sep 01, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.80 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.80

Went running at lunch for the first time in awhile.  Still feeling slow, but not quite as bad.

Thu, Sep 02, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.80 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.80

did another road run in the evening.  It seems like it takes me about 1/2-1 mile to warm up to the point where the run becomes enjoyable.  Maybe I'm just getting old.  Once I get going, the speed picks up and I can move right along.  Kind of liking the roads as a change of pace from trails.  Hoping to get a little speed back in time for the San Francisco One Day or the Ogden Valley 50.  Would like to do well at either one of these.

Fri, Sep 03, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 4.60 0.00 0.00 2.20 6.80

Started doing hill repeats today.  Managed to do 4 of them.

Mon, Sep 06, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 19.60 0.00 0.00 0.00 19.60

19.6 on the roads, actually on the paved trails around the Ogden area.  Ugh!  I was shot after that.  Haven't ran that many road miles since the Ogden Marathon.  Took me a little over 3 hours.

Tue, Sep 07, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 0.00 5.90 0.00 0.00 5.90

Local run on the roads from my house.  Still seems like it takes me a good mile ot warm up, then I can go ok and actually pick up speed as I go along.  What's up with that?  Age?

Wed, Sep 08, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 4.00

Ran 4 x .5 intervals today.  Ugh!

Sun, Sep 12, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 8.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 8.00

did some east trail miels with Aric.  Started at Rainbow Garden and went north for 4 miles then turned around.  Felt pretty good.  I needed the run.

Mon, Sep 13, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 4.90 0.00 2.50 0.00 7.40

Did hill repeats.  5 x .5 at the usual location.  All were under 6 minutes, with most at around 5:45.  The first one is always the slowest.  Why is that?  Especially after a one mile warmup.

Tue, Sep 14, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 14.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 14.00

Ran into work this morning.  Decided against going down 1900W.  I'm getting to just hate that route due to the traffic and boredom.  Instead I just ran to the train station and ran into work from there.  Ran home after.  No issues.

Fri, Sep 17, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.90

Went for an early morning run since I have the day off.  Nothing special.  Have to take my wife in for knee surgery later.  Surgery went fine.  They thought it might be a torn meniscus but it wasn't.  That's a good thing.

Sat, Sep 18, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.30 0.00 1.50 0.00 3.80

Did 6 x .25 intervals, all between 1:35 and 1:38.  Haven't done 1/4's in years.  Just about the time they start to suck, you're done.  Still I as able to get the leg turnover going better than when I do 1/2's.  Maybe I'll stick with 1/4's for a while and do my 1/2's as hill repeats.

Sun, Sep 19, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 20.60 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.60

Long run on the local Ogden bike trail.  It was ok, I guess.  Much rather do the miles on the trail but it would take me longer.

Mon, Sep 20, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.10

Easy lunch time run.

Tue, Sep 21, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.35 3.00 0.00 0.00 5.35

Another lunch time run.  Tried to do a few tempo miles.  Pace was generally around 8:00.

Wed, Sep 22, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.80 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.80

easy lunchtime run

Thu, Sep 23, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 0.00 5.80 0.00 0.00 5.80

I think this one qualifies as a tempo run. Went with another engineer from work. He's much faster than I am.  Average was 8:16 and I'm sure this was slow for him.  I was working hard to stay with him.  Need to do more of those runs.

Sun, Sep 26, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 29.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 29.00

Previewed the 100K course on Antelope Island.  Here's the link:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50754529  I also posted some pics on the Antelope Island Buffalo Run fb page.  Sign up at www.ultrasignup.com

Mon, Sep 27, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.80 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.80

Ran a few at lunch.  Kinda tough, went with another Engineer from work.  He's a whole lot faster than I am.

Wed, Sep 29, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.40

Short run at lunch with Aric.

Thu, Sep 30, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.30 0.00 0.00 2.50 4.80

10 x .28 intervals.  All betwee 1:44 and 1:49

Comments From nevels on Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 08:46:09 from 155.74.2.253 happy birthday, jim may your day be filled with miles upon miles of ultra frivolity...

Mon, Oct 25, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

So I've really slacked off on writing in the blog.  Still running, just not recording it here.  Started swimming laps today for the first time in many many years.  Training for a half ironman xsometime next year and thought I'd get a jump on it.  Managed to get 400 yards before I called it quits.  And to think I used to swim 8000 yards in 2 hours in high school.  memories.  Started doing some lower body weights as well.  Found an interesting article in USATF Track Coach magazine about weight training for endurance runners.  Basically heavy weights and few reps for the first few weeks, then light weights and lots of reps for the next few weeks.  Squats, dead lifts, hamstring curls, calf raises, and power cleans.  Didn't do the power cleans.  Was going to go run at lunch but didn't make it due to a lunchtime meeting.  Oh well.  Also signed up for the Striders Winter Training Series again.  Scored 2nd in my age group this year.  We'll see how I do next year.  The goal is to take every race at well under an 8 minute pace.  We'll see how that goes, but along with the weights I've started doing intervals consistently and tempo runs as well.  That should help.

Comments From DonGardinero on Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 22:16:03 from 152.216.7.5 Hey man, I signed up for the Buffalo Run 50k. From ultrajim on Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 10:10:37 from 138.64.8.53 Awesome. I'm surprised at how many have signed up so far.

Tue, Oct 26, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 1.00 4.00 0.00 0.00 5.00

Tempo run on the 'mill. Actually went better than I thought it would. Managed to run 3 of the miles at a sub 8 pace. I'm happy with that.

Wed, Oct 27, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.75 0.00 0.00 1.25 4.00

5 x 400 intervals.  Kinda chilly but somehow I made it.

Fri, Oct 29, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 7.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.10

Awesome fall afternoon run on one of my favorite trails.  Also swam 500 yards and lifted weights this morning.  Oh, and I went to work as well.

Sat, Oct 30, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 4.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.50

Just a short little easy run on the 'mill this morning.  had stuff to do to get ready for the 100K next Saturday.

Sat, Nov 13, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 12.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.00

Ok, been awhile since I posted.  Ran with the first training run of the season for the 2011 Buffalo Run.  had about 12-13 people show.  Much better than I thought.  Weather was good and everyone ahd a good time.

Sun, Nov 14, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 11.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 11.00

Ran with Aric from Rainbow Garden north on the BST.  Actually ran to the end of the trail in North Odgen.  Kind of weird to just have the trail end abruptly like that.

Mon, Nov 15, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 6.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.50

Easy lunch time run

Tue, Nov 16, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 6.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.00

Ran again at lunch

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 4.00

Hit the 'mill after work today.  4 x 800 at 7:30 pace.

Thu, Nov 18, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 3.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 5.00

Did a tempo run on the 'mill at home.  Averaged about a 8:30 pace.  Last couple of miles were sub 8 though.

Fri, Nov 19, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00

2 mile warm up, weights on the legs, 800 yard swim.  I'm tired and it's  not even 7am.  Thinking about signing up for the Rocky Road 100 in So Cal in late Feb.  that would get me motivated to train.

Sat, Nov 20, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 5.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.00

5 on the mill because I'm a weather weenie

Sun, Nov 21, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 7.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.00

More time on the mill.  Nothing like being a hamster.

Comments From nevels on Sat, Dec 04, 2010 at 23:55:08 from 98.81.61.232 saw you won the lottery. congrats, and good luck... From DonGardinero on Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 01:11:52 from 152.216.7.5 Lottery? What lottery? From ultrajim on Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 12:14:47 from 138.64.8.53 Western States 100. 1500 entries for about 210 spots. I got one of them. thanks, I'll need it, I'm signed up for the slam.

Fri, Dec 31, 2010

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 6.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.00

So I did a New Year's eve run with a few friends.  Went out on some snow covered trails and had a good time.

Totals

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Total Distance 1231.39 338.27 84.68 22.85 1677.19