running for my mind

5.35 - 3,252 ft. - 1:36 on feet

Up and down the west face of Grandeur. Nature's stairmaster!

10 - 7 ft - 1:18

Easy out and back on the parkway.

Took a few miles to loosen up the legs, especially my left leg. 

10 - 1,621 ft. - 1:30 on ft.

Up Mueller 5 miles and back. Nice clear morning alone on the trail...aside from the 2 deer.

 

A mountain sunrise can help you view things in a new light. #runmehappy

A photo posted by james e clissold (runmehappy) (@james_clissold) on Jun 3, 2015 at 6:51am PDT

8.8 - 4,061 ft. - 2:40 on feet

Up the Mill B North trail to Mount Raymond. One of the most beautiful views this morning I have ever seen in Utah. Pics coming later. 

10 on the parkway - 7 ft. - 1:18 on feet

Nice easy 10 to rest the legs in between climbing days. Yesterday up Mt. Raymond was amazing. The views really were incredible. I have posted a couple shots below. Going to likely go up Grandeur again tomorrow. This time I am going to go up the west side and down into Millcreek. Another 3,000+ will put me well over 10k for the week.

 

A photo posted by james e clissold (runmehappy) (@james_clissold) on Jun 4, 2015 at 8:10pm PDT

 

A photo posted by runmehappy (@runmehappy) on Jun 5, 2015 at 6:15am PDT

12.2 - 4,146 ft. - 2:36 on feet

With Daniel up the west face of Grandeur, down into Millcreek, one mile up Pipeline, back down Pipeline, trespassing, back to cars fast. 

Wrapped up a pretty big week. I will add up the figures later tonight. 

I am going to start using my Sunday log to post my week results. It will be good for me to go back to later to compare weeks as I build some stronger legs and lungs.

I felt good this week and feel like it was a solid effort for my first "official" training week in the hills. I am hoping to get some vert on the trails 3-4 days a week and be on the road 2-3 days. I am also contemplating working with a coach so we will see what he/she says about my goals and plan.

Week Summary
6 days - all singles - 4 trail - 2 road
56.35 miles
13,094 ft. elevation gain
11 hours on feet

8 - 2,072 ft. - 1:30 on feet

Mill D up to Desolation Lake. Excellent morning. The lake was surprisingly low, but the foliage is incredibly green right now. Saw 8 deer and 2 moose.

A photo posted by runmehappy (@runmehappy) on Jun 9, 2015 at 7:41am PDT

10 - 2,159 ft. - 2:00 on feet

From the Wild Rose Park in North Salt Lake up to Dude. Fun trail with a few steep short sections. Goal was to run all of the ups on the way out. Working on my climbing ability and hopefully getting faster. The wild flowers are in full bloom and it makes for beautiful routes this time of year.

Sometimes you just have to stop in your tracks and take it all in. #runmehappy

A photo posted by james e clissold (runmehappy) (@james_clissold) on Jun 10, 2015 at 8:51am PDT

10 - 1,558 ft - 1:37 on feet

Mueller up to 5 mile meadow and back. Took a couple miles to get in the groove but then my breathing became easy and it was cruise control. Felt yesterday in my legs a little and have a long run planned for tomorrow. I also have a slight sore throat coming on, so I am hoping I can get to bed early tonight.

I would like to wear my HR monitor on a run a week or so to just get the average. However, I can't find it so hopefully it turns up soon. 

24 - 5,073 ft. - 4:23 on feet

Upper gate of Millcreek to roughly 2.5 miles past Desolation Lake. 4.5 miles on the road, then dirt to Dog Lake, onto Desolation, up to the ridge, south on the ridge about two miles, AND back. 

It was a great way to spend the morning on my day off. Overall I felt good. Had 3 gels and a pack of chews along with roughly 45-50 oz. of water. Gel at 0:50 and 1:35. Chews at 2:15 and final gel at 3:05. Could have taken another before the end but I was feeling good so resisted. 

AM --- 2 - 256 ft. - 1:12 on feet

We camped up near Strawberry River with my folks and sister and her kids. It was a fun night but arguably slightly cold for Olive. After breakfast, we went on a hike up a beautiful trail. Grey did awesome. Her little legs don't cover much ground but she kept on going. It was good for my legs to just walk after yesterday. Surprisingly, I am not sore. (Note- not counting these 2 miles for my weekly miles)

PM --- 8 - 7 ft. - 1:12 on feet

Slow shake out on the parkway at recovery pace. I rarely run at night and it was gorgeous. Glad I got out. My knees were a little sore but they loosened up after a couple miles. I am pleasantly surprised at how I feel after yesterday's long run.  

Another week down and feeling good. I am actually writing this on Monday morning. I was pretty tired last night and thankfully we didn't have to go anywhere for dinner. We barbequed some good grub and relaxed a bit and then I climbed in bed at 7:30! Glad to get a good night's rest after quite a few early mornings this past week and then hardly sleeping at all when camping Friday night.

Week Summary
5 days - all singles - 4 trail - 1 road
(I took Monday off so only got out there 5 days this week. I knew I had a long day planned Friday, so I was still able to run a sufficient amount of miles and have good time on my feet for the week.)
60 miles
10,862 ft. elevation gain
10:42 on feet

9.5 - 1,674 ft. - 1:32 on feet

Met Matt at the East Mountain Wilderness Park and did an out and back of essentially 5 miles. They are the first 5 miles of the Wasatch 100 course. It will be a good go-to route this summer for some easy or recovery days.

8 - 1,937 ft - 1:22 on feet

2 mile warmup and then a 3 mile time trial up Farmington Canyon. Goal was to find something that was a steep yet "runnable" grade for 3 miles. I will revisit this time trial every few weeks to see how I am improving at my climbing pace.

Time Trial
3 - 1,848 ft - 35:40
The first mile is mostly on the road of Farmington Canyon. This morning, the wind was howling down the canyon in my face. I may have pushed this mile a little too much, but the effort felt good. It was hard to judge with the constant wind and the occasional gusts. (10:20). I started to get into a rhythm on the trail and felt like my breathing was in sync. My quads started to burn though and I was excited when I crossed the half-way point and then the two mile mark. (12:09). I was slowing down. That was expected with the trail and having to cross a stream a couple of times. The final mile was rough with a couple of steep climbs. I wanted to hike them out, but I just gutted it out and kept on "running." (13:11).

Overall, it was a good experience and a good first time trial on this section. The first time doing a time trial on a new route is difficult because you don't know exactly what to expect. Now I have a benchmark. I look forward to returning to it in a few weeks. Perhaps I started a little too fast, but once again it was hard to tell with the wind. My lower back was starting to hurt by the end too. It is something I am trying to focus on strengthening. I cooled down by running the 3 miles back down to my car.

9.68 - 7 ft. - 1:15 on feet.

Whit left out of town this morning so I had to sneak my run in on the parkway before packing up the car and seeing her off. Easy run and I felt good. I will head to the hills tomorrow for another easy run before the long workout on Friday night. If anyone wants to join in on the fun of the Friday Night Loops, let me know. - LINK HERE.

8.22 - 1,622 ft. - 1:18 on feet

Went out easy up Mueller. Felt good and was feeling pretty fresh. Was shooting for only 75 minutes because I have a big day tomorrow. Glad I have something in the tank for tomorrow. Felt nice to be solo on the trail. The temperature swung 10-20 degrees depending on the sun, shade, near water, etc. Ran a couple low 7s on the way down and felt smooth. New shoes are delicious!

PM - marking the course for tomorrow night  lots of starting and stopping as tying.

31.38 - 4,403 ft. - 5:50 on feet. 

Hosted the Silver Creek Evening Invitational at my folks' tonight and into the morning. We had a great turnout of 19 runner who collectively ran 81 loops for 282 miles!

 I had a goal of making a workout out of the run and not just completing. Goal was 9 x 3.4 loops. First three easy (36-38 min), middle three moderate (33-36 min), and the final three the fastest (29-32 min). I feel good about the workout and effort despite not running laps 8 and 9 faster. 

We were scheduled to start at 8:00pm but I had no idea how many people would show. We ended up having 19 runners throughout the night who collectively ran at least 81 loops for a total of over 282 miles!

I finally started running just after 8:30pm. As the organizer, I had to hang around the start for a while as people trickled in. I wanted to make sure that they knew the route and plan. I ran the first two loops with Leslie and Pete. The sun had not completely set, so it was good for everyone to see at least one full loop in the light. The loop starts with a climb on a dirt road, levels off and has a slight down, before climbing again. Aside from a few more rollers, that is the extent of the climbing until the final steep climb in the last .3 of the loop. We should have taken that first climb easier knowing that we had 8 more loops to go, but it is always tough to reighn things in at the beginning, especially when the sun is shining and you are just starting to get a feel for things.

We purposefully slowed up for loop 2 and then Pete had to take off. Again, we took loop 3 easy and I was feeling really good. To this point, we had taken short stops in between to grab some more hydration or nutrition and then to drop Pete so he could head home. 

First 3 laps came in at 32:43, 34:13, and 34:49 - So, all three closer to what should have been "moderate" pace and done during loops 4 through 6. However, there was no way to fix that now, so it was time to press on.

I ran the middle three loops mostly by myself. I realized I needed to be to the hairpin near 15:00 and to the first beaver pond at about 20:00. I had the downhill section from there to gain a little time if needed. However, the downhill is also the rockiest section and is tough to navigate in the dark. Loop 4 and 5 felt good and I was able to push the down and flats and still managed to run all of the ups. I hit my first down point on lap 6 near the top of the first climb. I hiked out the top section of the climb and gently rolled into a run again on the flat. I was almost a minute behind at the hairpin, but I pushed hard on the down and was back on track at the beaver pond. I started feeling good again and was ready to test the legs on the last three loops.

Middle 3 laps came in at 32:28, 31:07, and 30:56 - With the fatigue of the night setting in, I was pleased with these splits. In the grand scheme, they should have been slower, but it was time to push through and try and knock out the next three the fastest.

When I started loop 7, I quickly knew I was going to have to hike more of the ups and push the downs to make up time. I was almost 2 minutes back off of lap 6's time when I reached the top of the climb and was rolling onto the flat. I pushed and made up a minute by the hairpin and another minute by the beaver pond. My legs were feeling it, but that was the point of the evening. I started lap 8 right behind Leslie and Andrew. Leslie was one lap back by now but was still plugging on strong. I didn't catch them until the upper climb. I passed them and mentioned that I wasn't feeling great. I was going to really have to work to make up time. I circled down the hairpin and I saw Leslie and Andrew's headlamps up on the hill. Leslie yelled some words of encouragement and it was time to cruise. I was almost back on track by the beaver pond, but the rockiest section was still ahead and I felt like I was about at max speed for the conditions and the lack of light. I passed Chris right before "the trenches." It was good to see him still getting after it. As I was part way through the trenches, I hooked my left toe hard on a rock and instantly felt something pull in my left knee. It was something I had never felt before. All the possibilities quickly ran through my head and I was hoping it was nothing serious. I kept pushing the down, but backed off a hair as to not fall on any rocks or push the knee too much. I was still pleased with my lap 8 time and by now the knee was in quite a bit of pain. I decided to not push the final loop, but I wanted to complete what I had started. Leslie and I finished the final loop together nice and easy as a cool down and I was really glad to finish all 9 loops. My body was hurting and the knee was throbbing, but it hadn't gotten worse.

Final 3 laps came in at 30:48, 33:37, and 39:57. If I had not hooked my toe and hurt my knee, I think I could have pulled off at least one sub-30. I would have really had to work with how tired and fatigued I was, but I think it was in the realm of possibility. The bigger picture is more important. It was a great night and a great workout. Packed up after Davy Crockett came in from his 9th loop and I got back to my folks and in bed by just about 3am.

More tomorrow on the knee and how I am feeling post 50k in the dark!

8.1 - 1,113 ft. - 1:48 on feet

I went out at about 11am to sweep the course from last night to pull all the marker flags. Lots of starting and stopping that first loop. I finished another loop and gradually loosened up. My knee ached, but it didn't seem debilitating. I finished the last 3/4 of a mile at a good clip and was pleased how I felt. My muscles didn't really ache. I feel like I am recovering rather well from these longer runs. I am glad nothing more serious is wrong with my knee. I iced it on and off today 

PM - long soak in the hot tub massaging with the strong jets. I need to find a stack of Benjamins so I can purchase my own hot tub. It helps my recovery and training immensely. 

I feel really good about this past week. I had about the same elevation gain as last week, but got in more mileage and more time on my feet. Friday night was my longest run and I am pleased with how it went and how I recovered. On to another week...

Week Summary
6 day - all singles - 5 trail - 1 road
77.88 miles
10,756 ft. elevation gain
13:05 on feet

5 - 2,072 ft. - 60 minutes on feet

Whit is still out of town and I am chilling with Olive. So, I hit the treadmill this morning before the sitter showed up and I had to head to work. Took it nice and easy wanting 60 minutes at incline 5-10. It was some heat training as I think it was pushing 80 degrees in my garage. Zero knee pain. Happy about that.

9.52 - 1,673 ft. - 1:37 on feet

East Mountain Wilderness Park to post and back with Matt. Nice and easy. Had to stop for a pack of 4 dogs that were not looking too friendly. The owners said they were "cool" even though they were barking and coming at us crouched down and ready to pounce. 

9.42 - 1,545 ft - 1:20 on feet

Did a 60 minute workout and the above data is from the entire run. The workout consisted of 10 minutes super easy warming up, 30 minutes uphill at ~80% effort, 30 minutes downhill running controlled but not cruising, and 10 minutes of cool down.

I chose Mueller Park for this workout as it has some consistent up that would be good for the 30 minutes. I have run it casually but never pushed the pace. I felt alright and am happy with my times and effort on both the up and down.

up - 3.34 miles - 1,056 ft gain - 30 min - 8:59 average
down - 4.5 miles - 1,432 ft. loss - 30 min - 6:40 average

It was by far the fastest I have come down that trail. However, I felt smooth and was in control the entire time. 

9.6 - 1,794 - 1:38 on feet

The first 4.8 miles of the course gain 1,298 ft. A lot more rolling than I would have thought.

Took it nice and easy at a conversational pace. Ran everything, but slowly. Recovering.

13 - 1,555 ft. - 2:01 on feet

Goal was 13 in the hills somewhere with 2 at marathon effort at the end. I decided that along the fireroad and BST would be a good spot. Unfortunately, I don't know that area very well so I took a few wrong turns, ending up in someone's backyard at one point. I felt a little sluggish on and off and had a bit of knee pain that was more of a dull ache. Took one gel roughly 40 minutes in to see if I needed some calories because I didn't eat breakfast before. I felt better when I picked up the pace for the 2 miles at marathon effort. I decided to do these at miles 11 (74 ft) and 12 (135 ft) so I could have one mile of a cool down. It will be interesting for me to see how I feel on tomorrow's long(er) run.

22.22 - 6,201 ft. - 4:18 on feet

3:30 AM alarm to run Lamb's canyon to Brighton. 

Half a mile up the road of Lamb's my legs were already aching. I was worried it was going to be a really long morning. I quickly realized though that this was perfect. It would be a good long run on tired legs. When I run this section in a couple months, I will have 52 miles behind me. So, I pushed on. 

The goal for today was to run the majority of the route. There were bound to be a few climbs that required hiking but I wanted those to be as few as possible. I feel like I met this goal even though I hiked a hair more than I originally planned  the legs were sore from this week, especially yesterday's run. 

Overall, I am pleased with the run. We ran faster than I would have guessed we could have. I am pleased and look forward to another week of training.

Also, I spent the rest of the day working in the yard in 100 degree heat. Mowing, trimming, digging holes, and fixing sprinklers. Didn't finally sit down until 9:30 PM. Good heat training...I am spent!

I'll post a summary of the week tomorrow.

Another week down. They seem to be flying by. I can't believe it is the beginning of July this week. Which in turn, means my favorite holiday is this coming weekend.

I felt good about this past week of training. I maintained high mileage (a little less this week because last week I had the 50k event). I increased my overall vertical. And I got a long run in on the Wasatch route. The next two weeks will be interesting with scheduling because of some travel, but I look forward to them. 75 days.

Week Summary
6 days - all singles - 5 trail - 1 treadmill
68.76 miles
14,840 ft. elevation gain
11:54 on feet

7.25 - 1,484 ft. - 1:30 on feet

easy easy from wild rose.

goal was to not elevate the heart rate at all. there will be many miles covered in september at this effort. i may have chosen a steeper route than i should have for the beginning. that is alright though. it required some hiking to keep the heart rate down, but i was able to cruise easy on the flats and downs.

11.1 - 1,832 ft. - 1:58 on feet

Easy breezy up Mueller following a good sized group. Again, kept the heart rate down and just enjoyed the time on my feet in the mountains. Things are drying out and starting to die a bit. The green was great while it lasted thanks to one of the wettest springs in Utah's history.