Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Steel Days 5K

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Location:

Provo,UT,

Member Since:

Apr 07, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K - 17:11 (Cougar Run)

10K - 34:35 (Deseret News)

15K - 57:33 (Utah Running Club)

1/2 - 1:22:26 (Mountain View Trail)

50K - 4:22:31 (Sapper Joe)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub-2:45 at Saint George Marathon

Win the Antelope Island half marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'd like to run the Angeles Crest 100 at some point. And I'd still like to go sub-4 at a trail 50k. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912

Personal:

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<iframe height='454' width='300' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912/latest-rides/184689bbf831149f2053e60709730c07651232d3'></iframe>

I was a competitive cyclist for years. In 2009, after racing in the Tour of Utah, I decided I had plateaued as a cyclist--I could continue to improve, but I wouldn't break through to a new level. So, I started looking for a new challenge.


I thought that challenge would be mountain biking, but I'm a terrible bike handler. I married Catherine in January 2010 and a couple of weeks later I entered the SLTC Winter Training Series with her. A couple of weeks after that I decided I'd like to run ultras, so I signed up for a couple of 50Ks to get started.

Those first races came and went, with varying results. I was looking forward to running more and possibly pushing into the longer distances, but I injured my knee in June 2010 and I've never been consistently healthy since.

I started law school in August 2010, which meant less time for training. In June 2011, Baby Elliott was born, which meant even less time for training. But she's worth it. 

Baby Nora joined us in October 2013, with the same effect on training as Elliott (who, incidentally, is no longer a baby). 

I (finally) finished school in April 2014 and now I'm an evil corporate lawyer in Salt Lake. I have no illusions that I'll ever get back into the shape that I once was, but I'm perfectly at peace with that. I still have many goals to accomplish and many years in which to do it. 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Total Distance
96.10
MR10 (1) Miles: 80.60MT110 Miles: 15.50
Weight: 0.00
Total Distance
4.20

I have no memory of my alarm going off this morning, but I must have just turned it off when it did. Fortunately, Elliott woke me up a little later, so I still had time to go for a morning run. I ran a truncated version of my daily loop--not the first time I've run that route, but it was the first time in daylight.

I felt a little sluggish, but my pace and everything else were normal. It's so much better to run in the morning.  

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
8.50

Night run with Jun and a couple of others. We ran my old Slate Canyon loop, which I don't think I've run since November 2010. After a few delays, we were on the trail at 10:00. The pace was super mellow, and there were a few stops along the way, so we weren't back until after midnight. 

I had promised that the route would be good, so I was worried that it wouldn't live up to what I remembered. Fortunately, it delivered. Cool trail, plenty of vert, and great views, even in the middle of the night. The whole time I was talking up "the payoff," the point were you pop out of the trees and the view of Utah Valley opens up below you. It turned out to be every bit as awesome as I remembered it, and maybe even better at night.

We finished by running down the Y itself, which I've never actually done. It's amazing how big that thing is. 

MT110 Miles: 8.50
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
2.20

Easy, easy miles on the road. It was late, and my legs were surprisingly sore from the night before.

MR10 (1) Miles: 2.20
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.00

More easy miles, this time in the Cardio Cinema. Transformers was on (the third one, I think), but I had to leave right as they were gearing up for an epic final battle between good and evil. And what's the point of a movie like that if you can't stay around to watch when things explode?

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
5.00

Traditional Friday morning run with Catherine and Elliott. Splits may or may not be on her blog, if you're into that sort of thing. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 5.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
7.00

Catherine ran early this morning, so I knew I wouldn't be. Consequently, I stayed up way late last night for work Naturally, I was in no condition to run at any point this morning. Unfortunately, I never did get out for a long run. But I hiked past the Y and into the canyon with Elliott on my back and I went for a 4--mile road run immediately afterward. If you count the hiking miles, which I do, that puts me over 30 for the week.

 

 

 

 

MT110 Miles: 7.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

For some reason I had a hard time waking up this morning. And once I woke up, I had a hard time motivating myself to go out the door. But I got out anyway for a short 4 mile loop. My legs felt strangely heavy and slow, but otherwise it was a decent run.

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
4.20

Same run as yesterday, same struggle to get up.  

Yesterday Jun suggested that sluggish legs on Monday are the result of poor eating over the weekend. I agree. And as he mentioned, one solution (albeit one that interests neither of us) is to eat better over the weekend. Of course, another approach would be to eat junk all week--if you eat just as poorly every day, your legs shouldn't feel any worse on Monday than they would otherwise, right?

With that in mind, I had chocolate cookies for dinner last night. And my legs felt better this morning. I should start a coaching service. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
3.50

MR10 (1) Miles: 3.50
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
0.00

No rune today. I wanted to, but I also needed to finish my hours for the week at work. By the time I took care of that it was almost midnight, and although I've never had a problem with that in the past, I think the midnight runs are a bad idea and I'm doing what I can to get away from that. So I went to bed. 

Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
9.60

I wish I could figure out what I need to do to normalize my schedule. 

Anyway, I was too tired for a morning run today, but I made it out this evening for the same run I would have done. I ran my 10 mile loop, although I ran a slightly shorter variation because I was worried that the Garmin batter was going to die (actually, I just needed an excuse, and that was a convenient one).  

MR10 (1) Miles: 9.60
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
3.00

Three miles on the treadmill just before midnight. They should only show movies with subtitles or lots of explosions in the Cardio Cinema.

MR10 (1) Miles: 3.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

Morning run. Slow. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

Late night run. Also slow. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

I'm trying to break the night run cycle, so I got up early and ran this morning even though I would have rather stayed in. It was a nice morning, though, so I'm glad I got out.

Not much to report about the run itself. I ran the same loop I have been running, but I ran it in the opposite direction. Wild! 

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
4.20

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
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Race: Steel Days 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:22:22, Place overall: 999999, Place in age division: 4
Total Distance
5.10

This morning Catherine, Elliott and I ran the Steel Days 5K together. I always get worried about navigating the crowd with the stroller, but the opening stretch was four lanes wide at this race so I lined up in the front row. 

There's not much to say about the race itself. Elliott and I stayed with Catherine the whole way and we all finished together. Catherine pushed hard and scored a post-pregnancy PR. Elliott didn't work hard and might have even slept through the race :)

Afterward we ran two easy miles together and then went to Magleby's for all-you-can-eat French toast. It was a good morning.

MR10 (1) Miles: 5.10
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
2.70

I had to get up early this morning so I skipped the morning run. The meeting I was supposed to attend got canceled after I arrived, so the morning just turned out to be a waste.

I ran in the evening, earlier than usual, but kept it short in anticipation of the Deseret News 10K tomorrow. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 2.70
Weight: 0.00
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Race: Deseret News 10K (6.2 Miles) 00:38:23, Place overall: 98, Place in age division: 12
Total Distance
6.20

I've only run this race once before. The other time was two years ago as I was just coming off of a knee injury. But even with the injury, I was in much better shape and had been training much harder for much longer. As a result, I took the race pretty seriously and was pretty nervous as we lined up for the start. 

This year I had absolutely no expectations at the start, and as a result I felt remarkably relaxed. I guess the lesson is that the secret to inner peace is to lower your expectations. It's hard to be disappointed when you set the bar low enough. 

Anyway, the start was terrible as usual. Too many people and not enough road. Things thinned out early enough, though, and I ran into RAD as we ran along Foothill.

I tried really hard to settle into a sustainable pace, and I think I did a good job. I never felt like I was going so hard that I was going to explode, and my pace was relatively consistent throughout the race. But after about two miles my lower leg was killing me. I think it has something to do with not running much at all and then going out and hammering sub-6 miles down steep paved roads. By the end the pain was so bad that it was definitely slowing me down.

Despite the challenges, I finished just over 38 minutes, which I consider respectable, considering my training over the past year or two.

We hung around for a while and met several FRBers and saw Fritz win the marathon. We also ran into one of my old cycling teammates, Dave Clinger, who apparently is a runner now. (Google him sometime--he's one of the more interesting people I've ever met.) I hadn't seen him for about three years, so it was good to catch up briefly, and I was very glad to see that he seems to be doing well.

Anyway, the race wasn't really a triumph, but it was a fun experience, and we'll probably be back again in a year.

EXCHANGE OF THE DAY

Race announcer: "Those are some interesting shoes. What are you running in?"

Sasha: "CROCKS!!!!!"

MR10 (1) Miles: 6.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
1.50

Great, awful pain in my lower legs after the race yesterday. I ran .6 miles and then decided to walk home via a shortened loop. I think I'll be off until Monday. It's pretty bad, but it's not a long-term injury. I dealt with the same thing back when I was learning to run on my forefeet. 

MR10 (1) Miles: 1.50
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
0.00

I almost fell over when I got up this morning because my lower legs hurt so bad. No run for me today. 

Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
0.00

My legs are still sore, but they're feeling better. Still, I took another day off and walked to the park with Elliott instead. 

Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
0.00

I decided to take one more day off from running just to make sure my leg is healed when I I start back up on Monday. But instead of indulgin in my new sedentary lifestyle, I went mountain biking with my brother in Corner Canyon. I rode one of his bikes, a 6-inch travel trail bike (very different from my singlespeed hardtail), and we went up to Jacob's Ladder, down Upper Ghost Falls, and back up on some climb that I would have known the name of last year. Canyon Hollow, maybe. 

Anyway, it was my first MTB ride since December. I should ride more often.

Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
4.20

After almost a week off, I decided it was time to get back on track, so I got up and went for a morning run today. Unfortunately, my leg was hurting within the first quarter mile. I thought about turning around, but I decided to finish the run out ans see how things went. 

My leg hurt the entire time, so it was a slow run, but I don't think it got significant;y worse throughout the run, so maybe that means I can keep running through this. Not surprisingly, given the source of the pain/injury, my leg hurt more on the descents, and I even walked a short, steep drop right before I got back to our house. 

I'll head out again tomorrow. If things haven't improved at least a little bit, I think I'll take a couple more days off. We're going to Arizona this weekend, and I want to make sure I can run with Catherine and Burt, if the opportunity arises.

MR10 (1) Miles: 4.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
96.10
MR10 (1) Miles: 80.60MT110 Miles: 15.50
Weight: 0.00
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