Journey from 238.5 lbs to 2:38:30

Ran 8 with Jody, Toni, and Melanie, Ran 2 more with Mel, then 4 more in Orem.  Nice and icy this morning.  Toe is 100%, still have splits in the callouses on my feet, mostly the grand canyon on my left foot, fortunately not much pain from that one right now.  Top of hammies still a little sore, but running seems to be fine.  Not feeling too much other tight spots at the moment.  Thinking of running around Suncrest on saturday.

Got a nice 10.25 mile run in the snow with Chad. Chad's crocs wouldn't stay on when we headed back, so he ran five miles in inches of snow, in his wool socks. Wool rules!  South on the JRT

Ran 6 miles with Wes, the Lindon Loop.  Legs would not get moving.  Very sluggish.  When I pick it up I feel a bunch of tight spots I need to work on.  Groin muscles still giving me problems.

Met at Smith's for a up suncrest and around the point of the mountain run.  Bill, skip, toni, nick, jonathon, jody, mike, travis.  The hill climb wasn't particularly fast, but felt pretty easy.  Jody, Toni, Mike and I went around the mountain, everyone else did an out and back and headed back to smith's.  We took it fairly easy coming down the 10% grade, I started to slalom down the road to try to disperse the weight distribution on my quads, and that seemed to help a lot on not trashing my legs coming down the hill.  On our way up the frontage road there was an oversized crane on it's way up the hill, so I started a little push up the hill and we ended up catching the crane and it's chase vehicles.  We headed back to Smith's for the 18 mile version so Jody could top off his water, gu etc. for the last of his 4 hour run.  I almost bagged it when we got back, but he said he was only going to do 6 more, so I went back out with him.  We had a nice slow out though Highland.  And started to pick up the pace the last couple of miles.  Was feeling pretty good by the time we finished.  Jody did 6 before we started.  Great day for a run over the mountain. 

Ran south on the JRT with Jody, Scott, Matt, Reed.   Nice morning for a run.  Felt decent, we did a couple of faster miles.  Some fast buttons got pushed this morning.

Ran with Matt in Lehi.  Legs still sluggish.

Ran on the BST in the Lone Peaks.  Trails were in pretty good shape, still a few pockets of mud.  First mile and a half or so I was very sluggish, not feeling right at all, but finally pulled out of it and started to push the pace a bit.  Pushing the pace on a trail run is always hard to judge, especially when I am doubling back on occasion, then it makes it hard to compare to previous runs.  But I felt like I was pushing the pace pretty good, considering trail conditions, they are still very chewed up from all the traffic while muddy.  1300 feet of ascent and descent in 9 miles.  

Ran from Orem soccer park with Jody, Melanie, Reed, Brandon.  Did a couple of 800's at a faster pace.  I think one around 6 min pace and one around 5:45 pace.  Right hip tightened up pretty good, not sure if it is just sore or if there are some issues starting up.

Ran south on the JRT with Matt, Reed and Chad.  We averaged a 6:54 pace.  Felt comfortable, other than some lingering tightness in the legs.  I think my weak hamstrings are causing some of my pelvis/hip/low back issues, so starting a new regiment of strengthening the hammies.  Hopefully that will help some things.

Ran south on the jrt with Jody, Toni, Melanie, Reed, Matt and Chad.  Matt headed back after a mile or so.  On the way back I did 3 miles at around 6:00 pace with the heart rate peaking at around 163 or so, going from memory, then slowed down for a mile then another 6 min pace mile with Toni.  Had to cut the run short this morning due to daughter's knowledge bowl.  So the faster pace was nice.  Felt more refreshed than I have in awhile, and the pace wasn't too difficult, just all the little injuries rear their heads during those pushes.  Hoping they don't turn into anything worse, particularly the foot inflamation and the ab strain.  And it would be nice if the right hip would work properly for more than a day or two.  But it was a very nice day to be out and run.  Isn't it always?

Ran the trail 51/33 loop from the gun range, up dry canyon, over a bunch of snow.  It was a blast plowing through the snow, post holing, through freezing mud puddles.  Great run.  

Ran 10.16 from Reed's house in AF through Alpine.  Nice run, did a few miles of pick pace, 6:29, 5:59, 6:18.  They all felt fairly easy. 

Ran with Wes at lunch, the extended Lindon loop on the canal road.  

South on the JRT.  

South on the JRT

Met at Get Fit in Alpine with Jody.  Ran 10, ended up on the dirt road behind cedar hills.  Trying to taper and get my legs working for next week.  Been fighting sharp left hip pain, and low back issues.  Go from being okay to hardly being able to walk with tons of sharp nerve pain.  Just hope it works enough to race next week.

Ran 10 on the JRT, taper week.

Ran the 8 mile loop through Lindon.  Had a nice 1 mile mud run in the middle.  

Ran the 6 mile Lindon loop with Wes, taper week.  44:41 for 6

Had planned to do 4, but after going to the chiropractor yesterday I decided to test out the working legs.  I guess it is a good sign when you have to keep slowing yourself down.  Ran the same 6 as yesterday in 40:41.  threw in a 6:35, 6:22, and 6:31 mile, on accident.  Hope the legs/hips/back hold together for Saturday.  Looks like saturday's race will be the battle of the buffalo run 25k all stars.  Lots of guys who have placed over the years seem to be in.  Will be a great race, great trails, looking forward to a nice run. 

ran 2 this morning to get and keep things moving.  Hoping things stay working for tomorrow.  

I have been looking forward to this race since I decided not to do the 50 mile version of it back in November, or whenever it was I decided to try for a faster marathon before I did the longer trail races.  I was going to do the 50 miler and count it as my 40 for 40, a few weeks early.  But not this year.

 Anyway, I signed up for the race late and was on the waiting list, but fortunately got in.  I noticed that the field this year had a lot of the past winner's and top placers in it from previous years, so I figured this would be a good test of where I am.  I figured Albert Wint would end up winning, which he has the previous times he has been in the race, and Kevin Tuck (a very fast 56 year old trail runner), who beat me at Timp trail half 2 years ago, and some other people that showed up on the list that I figured would make the race interesting.  My main goal was to have fun, run hard and beat Kevin.  I figured if I could stay with and beat him I was doing pretty good.  

This year they moved the start of the race up the hill to the main parking lot, which added almost half a mile to the course, which a nice uphill finish.  The course was long to begin with, and this just added some more pain at the end.  As the race started we took off down the hill and immediately someone took off out in front, and was dropping the crowd rather quickly, I figured that would be Albert, which was confirmed about a minute later as we went through the fence and immedately all went off course, we all forgot to turn left, and Albert was cruzing up the hill.  Kevin yelled at him as we all looped around the aid station set up there in the corner and headed up the hill.  I found myself in front of the pack and heading up the 2 mile climb that starts the race.  I was expecting Albert to blow by me again but he didn't.  I soon lost the sound of pattering feet behind me and about mile 4 as we started to catch the 50kers who started 30 minutes in front of us I finally heard Albert come up behind me.  He stayed right behind me until mile 11.  After passing the aid station at elephant head the trail narrows to mostly single track until you get back to the aid station, which is about mile 10 or so.   I had to continuously ask people to move to the side for miles up the switch backs and through all the trails back to elephant turn off.  I had figured that as soon as we hit the bottom of the steep hill and back to the wide trail Albert would take off, and that is what he did.

He took off, though not super fast, he had a minute or two lead, apparently he was kind of upset at all the runners we had to go around, which he has not had on the previous years he has run this race due to changing starting times last year.   I kept trying to push as best as I could since I had no idea how far behind me Kevin or anyone else was and didn't want to give up my position the last mile or two. So I kept going as fast as I could, hit the last little hill up to the finish and just dragged up that hill.  Of course I forgot to stop my watch so I had no idea what my time was until the awards ceremony.  I thought I had noticed that it hadn't flipped over to 1:55 yet, which I was pretty happy about.  I had hoped I could make it closer to 1:50, which I guess I would have been closer without the extra .4 or so of distance that was added, but still would have been short. 

 I had planned to only take a single 20oz bottle with me for this run, hoping that I had drank enough before hand and that it wouldn't get too hot for it to last the whole way.  And it did, barely, I could tell I was feeling dehydrated about mile 13, and started to finish off my water, better to be inside than carrying it around.  I ate a honey stinger waffle about an hour before the start, due to hunger, and a half pack of chews before the race.  A gold pack at 45 minutes, and half a gold pack at about 1:30.  Energy was okay, but could tell I was pretty drained the last few miles.  I had hoped with the mileage I have been doing that my stamina would have been higher at the speeds I was going.  Maybe for the marathon it would be without all that extra climbing thrown in.  My feet got trashed with blisters the last 5 miles.   

Ran in to Fritz after he finished and won the 50k.  He looked hammered, but put in a very strong race.  I think he did his first loop a few minutes faster than what we did ours in, which is awesome.  Nice work Fritz.   

It was fun to chat with everyone after the race.  Great time, good trails, love the island. 

Lap Pace HR  ele change

 1   6:33 168     +121

2 7:41   172 +354

3 6:50  171 +129

4 6:07 171 -69

5 5:58 173 -173

6 7:44 175 +149

7 5:18 175 -464

8  7:53 177 +159

 9 8:54 175 +310

10 7:41 173 +69

11 6:53 170 -7

12 6:15 170 -265

13 7:40 172 +111

14 6:31 168 -178

15 6:56 170 -78

16 6:30 169 -167

 .47 3:19 174 -10

Quads are kind of trashed from Saturday, so pretty hard to walk downstairs, and hurts to walk at all, so I figured I'd go try to run 10 with Reed and Scott.  The first mile was pretty painful at a 8:06 pace, but we were able to pick up the pace and ended the run at at 7:06 average with a 6:33 thrown in at the end.  Feels fine to run once I am warmed up, but still hard to walk.  My left knee, on the inside of the leg, I think from the sartorius or one of the other quads that attaches on the inside part of the leg is getting a little inflammed.  The knee is getting a little sore there.    

Ran a nice easy 6 with Wes on the Lindon loop.  Up is fine, straight is fine, down is painful .  

Ran 10 south on the JRT with Reed, Scott and Matt.  Nice to have the group back together for a run.  Legs still sore, knee is much better, spent an hour massaging it last night which seemed to help a lot.  Did a few, short sub 6 pickups for a bit the last mile to see how things felt. 

Did a 10 mile 1800 foot climb, mostly on sections of the timp trail half course.  33 and 51 still have snow on them in places above the rock pile.  Wore the Lone Peaks.  Very comfortable, though the calves were complaining a little, feet were happy.  

Ran 8 with Scott, Matt, Jody, Reed, and Brandon.  It is Brandon's birthday, so he was running at least 36k.  I decided to do some extra with him.  We then ran up to Bridal Veil Falls, from the soccer park, at which time I could tell I was very drained so I turned around as he headed up to Vivian.  I had a nice slow run down the canyon, trying not to strain my right quad any more than it was strained yesterday.  and I was tired and didn't feel like trying to run any faster.  The race, plus this weeks mileage and yesterday's climb certainly caught up to me this morning.

Ran 8 with Scott and Matt in Alpine.  Legs very sluggish.

Ran 6 in Lindon with Wes.  Still a little sluggish, mile 4 was at 5:46, headwind first 1/3, then aided 2/3.  Felt good to go fast, hips are not working properly, again.  Frustrating.   

Met Scott, Reed, Brandon, and Reed at Timp High school to run down to meet at runner's corner for their waffle run.  It was a nice 4 mile warm up.  We ran the next 9 or so at an avg 6:29 pace.  Ate waffles, ran like a 90 year old man for a mile until the body decided to start moving again.  Our fastest mile included a 6 min pace up a very steep long hill.  Was a nice push.  

This concludes my first month without missing any days running (Sunday's excluded).  It feels nice to be consistent, and not hurt enough any day to just get out and run.