Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Rest day. I don't feel too tired after yesterday's run, but my legs are destroyed. They're almost as sore as they were after the Buffalo Run 50K.

AM: Easy run at Liberty Park (6.1 miles). My legs are still extremely sore from Saturday.

PM: More easy miles at Liberty Park (5.3 miles). Still sore, but I got to run the last couple of miles with Catherine and Tigger.

AM: Still sore, still taking it easy. Easy run to and from Liberty Park, plus two laps on the cinder track. Six miles in 47:41.

PM: Short run on the treadmill. Four miles in 29:00. Varied pace, but it was mostly an easy effort.

AM: To and from Liberty Park, plus three laps. 7.5 miles in 57:00. I was hoping for one more hard week, but with Sapper Joe less than two weeks away I don't want to do anything to set myself back. Since I'm too sore to do hard workouts right now, I'm trying to make up for it with consistency. I hope to be ready for some hills tomorrow. 

PM: I ran up through Memory Grove and back down through the Avenues so I could stop at Smith's on my way home. 3.5 miles in 27:19. Afterward, Catherine and I ran the loop together in 34:00.

Catherine had to go to Saratoga Springs to conduct a focus group this evening, so I decided to go with her and run the Lott Canyon run from Crockett's blog. And naturally I got lost at the first opportunity. After bushwacking up the wrong canyon for a mile or so, I finally conceded that the trail I was on was not actually a trail. Once I admitted I had a problem, I was able to turn around and (quite easily) find the road I was looking for. Even with my detour, which added about 1.4 miles to the run, I hit the top in 44:19 (4.9 miles).

Without any more detours the descent went quickly. Unfortunately, I got lost again looking for the church I was supposed to meet Catherine at (Google Maps' fault this time, although I made things worse by not staying put). Fortunately, Catherine found me eventually.

Anyways, here's Crockett's route:

And here's my version, with scenic detours:

Just over 12 miles and just under 1900 feet in 1:37:58.

I went for a run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail after work this evening. I wasn't sure how far I was going to go when I started, but since I was feeling pretty beat I decided early in the run that I wouldn't be going long. The rain and hail that came later reinforced that.

I ran from Dry Whatever to City Creek, with a brief detour on the Black Mountain trail. (It was my first time on the trail, and in the next week or two I plan to hit the summit.) Anyways, I'm pretty tired right now. I'm looking forward to taking it easy next week.

1:42:xx

Catherine and I thought it would be fun to race today, so we looked up a few options online and decided to run the Utah Running Club 15K for three reasons: 1) we needed to go to Provo anyway, 2) 15K was about exactly what Catherine wanted to run today, and 3) the price (5 bucks) was right.

Unfortunately, it was just a tiny little event and I felt like a sandbagger. There were probably just a few more than 10 runners, and I'm not sure how many of those were even running the 15K (there were also 5K and 10K options). Oh well.

I was the first guy across the line and Catherine the first girl, and we both PRed. I didn't feel great, but I'm happy with my effort. I've been running a lot (for me) for the last few weeks, so it was encouraging to be able to run reasonably fast with tired legs. And this course was harder than the last 15K I ran, so I think it's a solid indicator that I've improved since then.

Still, I was a little uncomfortable at speed, so I think I need to spend a little more training time running fast instead of running up hills.