For the past couple weeks I have been thinking a lot about putting in smart miles rather than just lots of miles. Lots of miles usually just get me injured, plus I don’t have lots of time, so I’m trying to be strategic (and have even added biking to work once a week or so into the mix as a way to work on muscle strengthening and endurance without stressing my joints). Here’s some recent doings. Two of them were…
I like maps and I like drawing routes on maps that I can only dream of ever running. I draw them and then challenge others to run them. See all of them at The Professor’s Trail and Ultra Courses. The Big Baldy Vertical Kilometer Challenge is in my backyard and I tackled it this morning before work. Yowzers. The SW Ridge of Big Baldy (above Lindon, UT – in-between Dry Canyon and Battle Creek Canyons) is crazy steep. From the…
The loop up Grove Creek, up and over to Battle Creek via Chris Flat, down Battle Creek, and back over to Grove Creek is always a good choice. The first two miles up Grove Creek to the bridge have nice enough views. The next mile to Grove Creek Spring are steep, but gorgeous. The climb through aspens and meadows up to Chris Flat is gorgeous in all seasons. Chris Flat itself, even with short scruffy early-spring grass (not tall yet)…
Trying to put in some easy miles, keep fit, but not aggravate my sore injured hip and foot/ankle. Varied success. A couple of these felt great, a couple hurt. The last, the full Grove-Battle Creeks loop was magnificent and actually felt pretty good during and after. Thankfully, I haven’t turned my ankle any more. Hopefully things are on the mend.
What does one do after running a strenuous half-marathon? You go run some extra credit miles with a couple thousand feet of vert, of course! After dropping distance from the Zion 55k and winning (not really) the Zion Half Marathon this morning, I found myself with a free afternoon. I was only a few minutes from Zion National Park, still had a valid annual pass, and felt like I had a couple more miles in me. So, for extra credit…
This morning I accidentally won the Zion Half Marathon. Not really. But I was the first half marathon runner across the finish line. How did I accomplish such a feat? Its easy – just accidentally start 1 hour before you’re supposed to. Let me explain… I was registered to run the 55k. It was to be my longest run ever. I was a bit nervous (hip and foot/ankle were still tender) but excited. I had a good race plan figured…
I hadn’t run since Monument Valley, worried about some nagging continued hip pain and new foot/ankle pain. With only 3 weeks between 2 races, I thought it would be better to be under-trained than over-injured. However, this weekend my family went out of town (so I wasn’t needed at home), the weather was beautiful, and the San Rafael Swell was a’calling me! I put out an invite to the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers and others and was joined by a new…
Monument Valley 50k was my first ultra of the season (and my 3rd, following the Antelope Island Fall Classic and Bryce 50k’s last year). Perennially under-trained and quasi-injured as ever, I was a bit anxious for this one. However, this was to be a special race. It is run within the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, largely on trails and back-roads only accessible with Navajo guides. Moreover, the course allows access to the top of Mitchell Mesa which gives some…
Sometime, when you have a pile of midterm exams to grade and it nice outside, you throw them in a pack, run up a trail and sit down by a waterfall to mark’m up.
Barring catastrophic weather, bad falls, rolled ankles or other injuries, getting attacked by wild animals, etc., even the worst trail-run is still pretty great. The BST and squiggly wiggly trails above Orem/Lindon (especially between Dry Creek and Battle Creek) are kind of my treadmill. A little vert, a little technical single track, some flat sections to really open up and run. A bit of everything. The trails aren’t spectacular, although the sunsets, alpenglow, tall grass (in the Spring) are sometimes…