Daily Snow Hike

Today Katherine and I hit up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  It was 25° out and snowing.  It was very rough going as the trail was very uneven and very slippery.  We had to slow to a crawl in many places just to get up and down steep slippery sections.  I was feeling very stiff and achy.  I found myself cursing a week of sea level runs.  It was, however beautiful out and I'm sure it was very good training for my race as it could very well end up being similar conditions.  Not that I want to think about a.) running in conditions like that for 31 miles, or b.) how long it would take me to finish a race in those conditions!  It felt more like a snow hike than a run.  What did Katherine call it?  A snowy mountain adventure, I think.

  Katherine snapped these three photos while we crept along.  Killer icicles.

Making my way down a rather slick section.

Blue skies over the valley.

I snapped this one after we were done.  I have a snow mustache!

We called it quits early.  Honestly I'm glad we made it as far as we did!  

3.1 miles

56:48

18:19 pace (The answer to how long would it take me to run a 50k in these conditions?  9 hours 27 mins at that pace! Yikes!  Hope for sunshine!)

Training Week 6

This week was fantastic!  Running in the warm weather with new terrain and scenery has left me head over heels in love with running again.  It's a good thing too, because it looks like I have some seriously snowy runs ahead of me this week.  I missed one run this week, due to being on vacation and traveling, but I figure three miles isn't going to make or break me in the long run.  It's a good thing I got most of my mileage in though, or I might have gained ten pounds!  My right leg is still a bit stiff, but my father-in-law and husband picked me up a foam roller on Friday so I've been rolling and feeling a lot better. I see a lot of rolling and stretching coming up this week.

Week 6
Monday: Sleep in, eat cookies
Tuesday: 3.01, eat pie
Wednesday: Sleep in, eat cookies & pie
Thursday: 6.01 eat more pie and cookies
Friday: 13.5 eat cake & brownies
Saturday: Sleep in, eat more cake & brownies
Sunday: travel
Total: 22.52 perfect vacation miles

Previous Total: 119.39
Training Grand Total: 141.91

Beach Bum Run

This morning I headed out early and ran through the neighborhood, then decided to head to the beach. The beach portion of the run was spectacular.  I loved it so much I found myself grinning ear to ear.  At one point I threw my hands up and in the air and gave a whoop!  I couldn't help it!  It was one of those amazing runs that make me glad to be alive.  I ran on the beach for about three and a half miles before I realized that I had passed my turn around point and would be adding extra mileage to my run.  At first I was a little bummed because I thought I might have added about two to three miles to my run and even thought about getting a ride, but by mile eleven I was happy about it and kept on keeping on.  It turned out I only added one and a half miles, which isn't so bad.  I ran on the beach for about 7 of the 13.5 miles I ran.  I wish I could run on the beach every day!  

 

Good morning sunshine!  

 

Peaceful, quiet and oh so beautiful!  

 

Can you see my happiness? 

 

It warmed up so much that I took my (long sleeved) top off.   Many of the locals were wearing long sleeves, sweatshirts and coats.  I got a lot of strange looks. 

 

 I'll miss the sunshine and waves.  Time to psych myself up for some fun snow runs!

13.5
2 hr 31 min

11:11 pace

Daily Vacation Mile

 

The view that greeted me this morning as I headed out on my run.  I ran through the golf course again, this time looping more of the course.  It was stunning with the water and the palm trees.  The air was crisp and I felt great.  The nagging in my right leg didn't make a peep while I ran and I thoroughly enjoyed the change of weather and scenery.  I saw a few heron, lots of squirrels, birds and very few people.  Just perfect!

 

This guy was eating a fish!   

 

The house at the end of my in-law's road is impressive to say the least.  This, I'm not even sure what it is but we'll just say building for lack of a better word, drive through building in the middle of the driveway amazes me.  It's not even the main house, but is as big as my house!  Some driveway, eh? 

 

Gorgeous!  Tomorrow I think I'll do my long run since the forecast calls for thunder storms on Saturday.   Maybe I'll run down to the beach tomorrow.  Oh boy!

6.01 miles

1 hr 02 min

10:19 pace (Hooray for lower altitude!)

 

Christmas Mile

It is so warm out here in Florida! Pretty, too!  The sunrise was full of pinks and there were lots of really cool birds on the marsh. I ran on the golf course path through the marsh this morning. The perfect way to start Christmas day, forget I'm still stiff from that darn plane ride. I still managed to move along though!

3.01
30:34
10:09 pace

Traveling aches

After running twenty two miles total on Friday and Saturday flying all day on Sunday wasn't the best thing I could have ever done. I was pretty stiff after I got off the plane and for the first half of the day today. Luckily I'm feeling good now after some rolling on my rubz ball, ibuprofen and lots of stretching. The plan is an early morning Christmas run before the kids wake up tomorrow. The high is supposed to be 70° tomorrow, so I am looking forward to it! 

Training Week 5. Not the End of the World.

This week has been up and down, but luckily ended on a good note.  Today was my second back to back.  I met up at Katherine's house and we ran down to the Sandy Rail Trail for a seven miler.  It felt good, but my hamstrings were a bit mad at me.  Seven miles seems over really quickly after running 15! I'm so excited about the shorts I just packed for my runs next week in Florida!  Bring on warm Christmas runs!

Week 5
Monday: 3
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 15
Saturday: 7
Sunday: Marathon Plane Trip (not my favorite kind of marathon!)
Total: 31

Previous Total: 88.39
Training Grand Total: 119.39

End of the World Run

Today when my alarm went off at 6:35am, I felt insane.  Why on earth was I leaving the warmth of my bed with all of my family sound asleep to run in the dark and cold?  I checked two different weather reports.  One said it was 23, but "feels like" 17 degrees.  The other said 19 degrees and "feels like" 19 degrees.  Any way you slice it the temperature was cold.  I layered* massively, drank a little hot tea and headed out with Ozzy and a flashlight.  Almost instantly I was happy I was running.  Today was a great run!  Despite the dark and cold, or maybe because of it, I felt alive and ready for an adventure. I did 7.6 miles with Ozzy, dropped him off at home and headed back out.  Although Ozzy could probably run 15 miles, I cherish the solitude and wanted that today.  15 miles felt easy and I've felt great the rest of the day.  Now, hoping seven miles tomorrow will feel equally great!

After the sun was coming up, it was still pretty cold.

Love that sunrise!

15 miles

2 hr 45 min

11 min pace

*What I wore today

Ear warmer headband (I don't like hats, they're too hot and I have lots of hair)

My visor (because I can't run without it!)

Neck/face warmer to keep my cheeks warm

Long sleeved technical shirt

Short sleeved technical shirt

Pull over fleece

Powercore running tights

Running shorts over tights to keep my other cheeks warm

Ankle gaiters

Fleece mittens

I was just right and actually took of the neck warmer after only a few miles.  After the sun came up I was starting to get a bit too warm, but as my run was nearly over it was no biggie.

Missed Miles

The past two days my runs* have been like this:
Run to the grocery store
Run to the instacare for prednisone (lame lame asthma that made me miss a three miler)
Run to buy Christmas gifts
Run around like a chicken with it's head cut off wrapping, cleaning, preparing for our trip, etc.

I've had to switch my long runs around this week because of our travel on Sunday.  Tomorrow will be my long run (15) and then I have another back to back, so Saturday will be seven.  Sunday it'll be marathon plane rides.  Not my preferred marathon.

Now let's see if I can cross a few more items of my to do list and get to bed at a decent hour!  That run tomorrow will be an early one!

*Not actual runs.  Just running around! 

Daily Mile

Today I am tired of running.  There I said it.  Not that it will slow me down, but I'm just feeling like it's one more thing on my long to do list before we leave on Sunday for Christmas vacation.  It doesn't help that my right leg and foot have been bugging me.  Not hurting, bugging, just half a bubble off.  Plus it's cold out.  Today was super icy and cold.  I was happy to have Katherine join me, but her foot was bothering her too and she bowed out at mile two.  So, Ozzy and I lapped the neighborhood and got it over with.  I'm dreaming of warm Florida runs next week where I can wear shorts and not worry about snow and ice.  Hopefully that will renew my enthusiasm.   Now off to get tackle that list...

6 miles
1hr 7min
11:10 pace

Daily Mile

Well, my asthma is hanging on for dear life and today is crazy windy so I decided to hit the treadmill. In order to get it over with asap, I ran as fast as I could. I realize that I really am a slow runner because at this pace I almost died! But I didn't. So let's hope for no wind tomorrow.

3 miles
28:15
9:25 pace

"Training Week 4" or "Five and a Half Nails"

You may or may not know that I lost three toenails after the St. George Marathon last year.  I promptly went to Wasatch Running Center and got fitted for new, larger shoes.  That hasn't seemed to stop my toe ailments, though.  Last month you may have read how a ten, plus, mile run ended in a black toenail.  For a while now I've been suspecting one day I would lose said black toenail.  Well, today was the day.  I am now down to five toenails.  Yes, that is counting all the toenails on both feet.  You've only mentioned the loss of five nails, you might say.  True.  True.  I have no idea how the other one came to it's end.  And technically, I only lost half of that toenail, so I actually have five and a half toenails.  So much for my annual Christmas pedicure.

Toenail loss aside, this week was great.  I'm getting my breath back and have been able to train outdoors all week.

Week 4
Monday: 3
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6.13
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 3
Saturday: 12.35
Total: 24.48

Previous Total: 63.91
Training Grand Total: 88.39

Snow Run

Today's run was epic!  It snowed all night and continued through our entire run.  I met up with Katherine and her friend Shelby, who may I add is not a regular runner, and headed through town to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  We ran the Shoreline trail for a few miles before turning around and heading back home.  It was anything but a boring run.  Snow, ice, speeding cars, slushy puddles, wet socks, calf high snow on the trail, you get the picture.  We ended up with a little less mileage than we initially set out to do, but with the snow depth it was rather slow going.

Three ladies out on a mission!

Shoreline Trailhead

Epic!

Shelby and Katherine.  May I just take this moment to say what a badass Shelby is.  Girlfriend isn't a runner and thought that a half marathon distance in the snow sounded like a great idea!  She kept up and had a blast like a pro!

The "non-runner" powering uphill ahead of us.

It was a true winter wonderland!

Running Buds!

It was fun, hard, amazing, difficult and I loved every minute of it, however I think I'll wear my sunglasses next time.  Now I'm seeing stars*!  Hmmm...

12.1 (+ approximately .25 when I stopped my garmin & forgot to restart it)

2hr59min

14:47 pace 

*The stars finally went away!  

Daily Mile

I was due for a great three miler and today was it!  I felt great from the start!  Gotta love a day like today!

3 miles
30:09
10:03 pace

I saw this quote and it made me think of today's run. I have no idea who Pat Teske is, but the quote is great no matter who he/she is.

"Relish the bad training runs.  Without them it's difficult to recognize, much less appreciate, the good ones." -Pat Teske

Brutality to Bliss

Never ever ever stop a run because you feel crappy, before mile three. These are words I must live by. Yesterday I started off in search of a trailhead (The Orson Smith Trailhead) that I couldn't find. After thirty minutes of driving around in the van I found it. I was rather frustrated by that point and not in a happy mood.  Then, the first entire mile was uphill into the wind (the weather called for 31 mph winds, gusting up to 43 mph.) I had Ozzy on the leash because there was a biker up ahead of me and I didn't want him bothering him. I was feeling like the six miles ahead of me might as well be a marathon, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I kept reminding myself that I can't control the weather on race day and promised myself to run at least three miles, but by the time I got to mile two I was feeling much much better.  I was on a smaller section of trail that hugged the mountain a bit more and the wind let up considerably improving my mood immediately.  There were patches of snow, ice, mud, water and rocks on this part of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that I'd only ever run a couple times before.  By the time I hit mile three I was feeling like a champ and by mile mile five I was running in the eights! Fantastic!

6.13 miles
1hr 16 min
12:24 pace

This picture was taken, literally, on the run!

My very happy running buddy.

Yes, I was wearing shorts.  It was only about 48 degrees out.

Beautiful!  This is why I love trail running!

Nikki Kimball

Nikki Kimball is an amazing female ultrarunner.  This movie trailer about her is filmed mostly on Antelope Island during the Buffalo Run 50k that I will be running in March. Enjoy!

Daily Mile

Another delightful run on the treadmill. Watching a guy on an bike trainer sweat is not exactly my idea of a fun run, but listening to Ultramarathon Man on my mp3 player made me feel way better about my situation.  It was not over 100 degrees, nor had I already run 50 miles with 50 more to go.  Three miles on the treadmill isn't so bad, I guess. Plus, I didn't cough and that's certainly better than the alternative at the moment.  It's hard to believe I'm on training week four.  I don't feel like I'm training.  I guess that's a good sign.  I'm looking forward to a little more midweek mileage starting this week and another 13 miler this weekend.  Cross your fingers my asthma is under control by Saturday!  Let's go Qvar!

3 miles
31:11
10:24 pace

Training Week 3

That title should probably read "Training Weak 3" as this weeks training was a bit of a bust.  I ended up with a cold, which triggered my asthma and have been coughing up a storm!  (((boo!)))  Luckily I still have my asthma meds and have started back on them and hope to be cough free within a few days.  Today's run turned into two runs.  I got up and out at 7:45am this morning and started my run in the snow with temps in the low twenties.  About a half a mile in I knew that my lungs were just not going to cooperate in the cold and headed back home.  After lunch I went over to the (warm) gym and ran on the dreadmill *ahem* treadmill.  It actually felt good as I haven't run many miles this week.

Today's mileage

Blizzard Run
1.5 miles
19:30
13 minute pace (ugh!  I told you I was hurting!)

Treadmill Run
5 miles
56:10
11:14 minute pace

Today's total: 6.5

Week 3
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3.09
Wednesday: weight lifting
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Sick
Saturday: Sick
Sunday: 6.5
Total: 9.59 (I hope you were sitting down for that total.)

Previous total: 54.32
Training Grand Total: 63.91

Daily Mile

0 miles
0 minutes
0 pace

Impressive, right?  Ugh!  Today was very busy and I don't know if it's the air quality or what, but I'm having some asthma issues.  LAME!  So, I didn't run today, even though I should have.  Hoping to be hacking less tomorrow so I can get my five miler in.  I hope you still went running!

"No matter how slow I run, I'm still faster than my couch."
-Anonymous

Karl Meltzer!

Look who's on the cover of the December issue of Ultrarunning! Karl Meltzer, the same ultrarunner I saw out on Antelope Island on Saturday. Cool.

Daily Mile

Yesterday Katherine and I headed out into my neighborhood for a quick three miler. I have officially decided three miles is my least favorite distance. I often feel sluggish the first few miles and in distance running, that's okay because those miles are just a warm up and I start feeling good after several miles. A three miler often leaves me feeling like I don't much like running. Yesterday was no exception. I finally started to feel good at the 2.4 mile mark, and by then the run was nearly over. Oh well, I guess three milers are just a necessary evil. I suppose I could just switch all my three milers to five milers...

3.09 miles
34:28
11:09 pace

Training Week 2

Today was my first back to back long run,* and the end of week two of training.  When I woke up before my alarm at 6:40am I could hear the wind raging outside and did not want to get out of bed.  After peeling my tired legs out of bed and getting ready to go Ozzy and I headed out on a loop that is uphill for the first three miles.  Let me just say that those first three miles were B R U T A L!  Not only was I tired from yesterday's trail run, the wind was howling around me and my legs felt like lead weights. At mile two I was contemplating the sanity of my decision making skills.  Luckily, by the time I reached the top of the hill and headed back downhill, I was feeling pretty decent and by the time I hit mile six I found myself running at a 9:30 pace!  Honestly, I knew it would get better because the first few miles are always the most difficult, but I didn't know I'd feel that good! What a great confidence booster!  I can almost see the 50k finish line!

7 miles
1:22
11:42 pace

*The back to back run is when you run two long runs in a row.  The purpose of the back to back for ultramarathon training is to prepare you for running on tired legs that you will certainly have on race day.  The back to back goes like this:  Day 1 long run, Day 2 long run of approximately half the distance of the day before, i.e. Saturday= 20 miles, Sunday= 10 miles.

Week 2
Monday: 3.1
Tuesday: 5
Wednesday: weight lifting
Thursday: 3
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 13.1
Sunday: 7
Total: 31.2

Week 1 Total: 23.12
Training Grand Total: 54.32

Running with the Buffalo

Today was the second training run for the Buffalo Run.  The race director is kind enough to set up training runs each month before the race in March, starting in November.  I talked Katherine into going with me and we were planning on 14-15 miles total.  I picked Katherine up bright and early and we headed north.  When we finally arrived on the island and got out of the car, I was totally geeked out!  Karl Meltzer had just arrived and was heading out on a run!  Karl Meltzer currently holds the record for the most (30) 100 mile trail race wins ever!  So I was like a screaming Beiber fan, well minus the screaming or mob scene.  I quick grabbed Katherine, "Oh my GAWD!  Did you see who that was?!  That was Karl Meltzer!"  Once I quite geeking out we headed out on the trail.  

Check out the mane on Katherine!

Working hard and enjoying the view.

A little uphill at the seven mile mark.

See the trail?  Yeah, me neither.  Bushwhack time, baby!

This was Katherine's longest run ever.  She was a champion!

We were running along and all of a sudden Katherine let out a panicked "RENEEEE!"  I turn around to a buffalo charging down the hillside right next to us.  You could hear the drumming of it's powerful hooves.  It was intense and amazing.  Luckily, buffalo don't much want anything to do with humans and he just ran along towards his pals who were grazing next to the trail.  Then two of them started rolling around on their backs like playful puppies.  Quite an amazing experience!

Katherine and I ran along with another woman named Lori for the last half of the run.  She was quite nice and took the above picture of Katherine and I together.  Afterward the race director had hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps for everyone! What a great day!

13.1 miles

2 hr 30 min

11:27 pace