Tough getting up at 5:15 on Mondays!
We ran our 'standard baseline" run this morning at 5:30 that consists of 6.5 miles in the foothills. This route has multiple hill repeats (4 hill runs going up) that are tough! Especially when my legs are still tired from Saturdays run.
It's just a tad bit cold (understatement) at that time of morning.... still dark outside so we run with lights. The trails were mostly just frozen mud but there were multiple sections of the single track trail covered in snow... frozen snow. Not the type of snow enjoyable to run on.
One fun tidbit from this mornings run was at about 6:00, we were on the first part of the trail, still dark, and my headlamp saw up ahead of us a line of about 8 deer heading up the mountain (saw their shining eyes). Well, I followed the line of deer up the hill with my headlight only to see (again, shining eyes) the hill covered in deer. Probably about 25 in total. Then as we continued to run, we'd see 3 deer here, 2 there, and so on. At the end of the mountain trail in Lindon, it was getting light at that time, we saw another 10-15 deer covering another hillside. As Rich and I ran down the street road towards home, we saw 5 deer running down the street. Probably saw around 50 total deer on this mornings run.... pretty cool. Due to the recent snowfall, leaving the mountains covered in snow, and with the snow having mostly melted down by the homes, probably brought so many deer down to eat.
It definitely helped make it worth while in waking up so early.
Lace 'em up! Chainsaw
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
New Beginnings... wait that's a YW theme... um, let the run begin!
Just starting this blog as a record of my insanity (for my wife to use later in court) in my quest for the Bear 100 mile run. Maybe by going back, I might be able to answer the question that I get so much, "why am I doing this?". Frankly, at this time, I just don't know. I try and answer that question with a question of my own "Why not do it?". But I know this is just sidestepping their question that I simply don't have an answer to. Besides, I get a whole long list of reasons of why not's.
First, Kudos to my training/running partner, Rich Hart! I have been reading Ultra Running magazine for over a year and getting inspired by so many others, that when Rich (after his running a 100k last year, that I helped pace him for the last 24 miles) asked if I would do 100 mile with him, without hesitation, I said "YES!". I had just finished the Utah Valley Marathon last June (2010) and hurt my Achilles tendon at mile 20 (I wanted to run this marathon the year before, 2009, but hurt the same thing on the other leg/foot on my last long training run and had to back out). I realized that the pavement just beats the body up too much. I had so much fun running the 24 miles with Rich, and my body felt so good after, that I really got serious about running an Ultra on trails. Single track trails are so much fun and rewarding.
Rich and I have been training for over a month now, doing mostly core body workouts Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with Saturdays mostly having been in the gym on the treadmills doing 5 minute runs at a speed of 6 followed by 5 minute walks at an incline of 10 and a speed of 3, for anywhere from 1 hr up to 3 hrs., with other cardio activities on Tuesdays and Thursday... Okay, secret here... Rich has been running on those days and I've been mostly been taking those days off or playing racquetball or basketball. Rich just came up with our training plan leading up to the Bear 100 in September this last week, and oh my! Lions and tigers.... wait, sorry. Yesterday (Saturday) we ran 10 miles in the foothills through fresh powder snow... we left at 6:30 and were the first footprints on the trails/snow. It was a good workout, but very tiring... running that route up the hills is hard enough alone, but add a foot of powder and ouch! It really felt more like a 14 mile run and took us 2 1/2 hours. It was great to just lay around later and watch BYU take down San Diego State on the road... wow, what a game!
First, Kudos to my training/running partner, Rich Hart! I have been reading Ultra Running magazine for over a year and getting inspired by so many others, that when Rich (after his running a 100k last year, that I helped pace him for the last 24 miles) asked if I would do 100 mile with him, without hesitation, I said "YES!". I had just finished the Utah Valley Marathon last June (2010) and hurt my Achilles tendon at mile 20 (I wanted to run this marathon the year before, 2009, but hurt the same thing on the other leg/foot on my last long training run and had to back out). I realized that the pavement just beats the body up too much. I had so much fun running the 24 miles with Rich, and my body felt so good after, that I really got serious about running an Ultra on trails. Single track trails are so much fun and rewarding.
Rich and I have been training for over a month now, doing mostly core body workouts Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with Saturdays mostly having been in the gym on the treadmills doing 5 minute runs at a speed of 6 followed by 5 minute walks at an incline of 10 and a speed of 3, for anywhere from 1 hr up to 3 hrs., with other cardio activities on Tuesdays and Thursday... Okay, secret here... Rich has been running on those days and I've been mostly been taking those days off or playing racquetball or basketball. Rich just came up with our training plan leading up to the Bear 100 in September this last week, and oh my! Lions and tigers.... wait, sorry. Yesterday (Saturday) we ran 10 miles in the foothills through fresh powder snow... we left at 6:30 and were the first footprints on the trails/snow. It was a good workout, but very tiring... running that route up the hills is hard enough alone, but add a foot of powder and ouch! It really felt more like a 14 mile run and took us 2 1/2 hours. It was great to just lay around later and watch BYU take down San Diego State on the road... wow, what a game!
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