Saturday, March 3, 2012

Week of February 26th, running plus a restaurant review

Sunday - Went out to the island with Britta, Bj, and Curtis.  Had planned on around 15-20, but I wasn't feeling the love.  The other three ran ahead and I pretty much ran by myself kinda slow.  It was a gorgeous day to be out there though.  Sunny, no breeze, warm sun, cool air.  Saw lots of other runners out there training for the Buffalo Run.  Miles - 13.75

Monday - I was just going to hit the trail north from Rainbow, but Breein said something about speedwork and I thought "sure, why not".  So she, Shawn and I met at Rainbow and ran up to the canal road.  We figured we'd do about four 1/2 mile repeats along the road.  Naturally, on the first one we all took off way too fast and by 1/8 mile we were ready to quit.  The last three weren't too bad.  I managed to hold a 6:22-6:25 pace for them.  Needless to say, I was a little sore the next day, even though I've been doing speedwork pretty regular on the t-mill.  It's a little different on the ground.  Miles - 5.25

Tuesday - Met with the usual crew for our Tuesday run north of Rainbow.  Went to the canal road and back.  I just kind of took it easy.  Miles - 7.75

Wednesday - Hit the gym for some mill work at lunch.  Nothing spectacular.  It started snowing ahrd just before I left for home, so Ithought I'd try a workout I saw in Scott Jaime's blog.  He calls it a Kenyan cutdown.  The premise is that you start with a two mile warmup, then set the mill at 7mph.  Every .25 miles you bump the speed up by 0.1mph until you can't go any further, then cool down for a couple miles.  Well, I did a one mile warmup at 6mph then set the mill for 7mph.  Every .25 mile I bumped it 0.1mph.  I got up to 8.6mph before I shut things down.  I think I could have gone further.  We'll see next time now that I know what it's like.  It was tough and I'm definitely feeling it.  Miles - 10.0

Thursday - Did the usual t-mill thing at lunch at the gym.  Met with a few at Rainbow after work and went for about five.  Snowed hard for a time, plus we were pushing thru about 4-5 inches of fresh snow.  Not too bad.  Actually kinda fun running in the snow.  Miles - 9.0

Friday - Managed to get some t-mill miles in before work.  I figure with the race this close, I can't really take time to run after work, so the plan is to get up at my regular time, well maybe a bit earlier, go feed critters like I do now then hit the mill before work.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my usual lunchtime mill run in.  Oh well.  Miles 4.0

Saturday - The last official training run before the Buffalo Run was today.  We had a great turnout.  There must have been 40 people out on the island today.  We ran the 25k course, threw in the Elephant Head trail, then ran over to and around the Lakeside trail.  Great run.  The weather wasn't too bad.  A little cool once in awhile.  Miles 26.0

Total miles for the week - 75.75  Not a bad week at all.

I'm going to try something a little different.  Karen and I go out for dinner just about every Friday.  It's our little date night and we've been doing it for years.  We generally like to hit local restaurants instead of national chains.  The food is usually better and not as generic.  So, I think I'm going to try posting a review.  Here it is.

Soul and Bones - Washington Ave. Ogden
They advertise as having bbq and cajun food.  So we thought this could be interesting.  We used to live in southern Arkansas in a small town, so we're pretty well aquainted with good southern cooking as well as some cajun food.  We ordered the bbq catfish on flatbread as an appetizer.  It was actually pretty good.  Just the right amount of spice, nice crunch to the flat bread, plus they threw on some candied lime slices.  Next came the entrees.  Karen ordered the etoufee.  This is a bed of rice with shrimp and such on top.  She said it was pretty good, good flavor and not real spicy.  I ordered the two meat and two side platter.  For my meats I had their brisket and pulled chicken.  For the sides I had their black-eyed peas and collard greens.  I figured the greens would be a good indicator of how "southern" this food really was since we used to get them all the time when living in Arkansas.  The brisket had good flavor, you could tell it was smoked rather than just cooked.  The sauce was good as well.  Authentic southern bbq?  Hmm, not really but it tasted good.  The chicken was kind of non-descript.  Not much flavor to it and what flavor there was, was overwhelmed by the sauce.  That's all you could taste.  It was good sauce, but let's have a little more chicken flavor.  Collard greens.  These were pretty bland.  I'm used to collard greens being cooked with bacon and plenty of salt.  These had neither.  Not impressed at all.  The black-eyed peas were probably the most true to the south.  Good flavor with just the right hint of heat.  We did order a side of hushpuppies just to see how those were.  Pretty bland here too.  Lots of onion flavor, but not much else in the way of seasoning.  For desert we had a slice of the key lime pie.  Not impressed, I've had way better key lime pie, and for six bucks the piece sure wasn't that big.  About three bites each and that was it. 
On to the service, or lack thereof.  We were seated at 7:40.  The place was not full, there were empty seats.  It took about 10 minutes to get the beers we had ordered.  It took 25 minutes to get our appetizer, and a full 50 minutes to get our entrees.  Unacceptable in my book.  There was plnty of help around.  So, when we hit a new place, we always ask each other, would we go back again?  We both agreed that the food was good enough to warrant another visit.  However, if the service is just as bad, that's it.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Week of February 19th

Sunday - didn't do squat except drive home from Moab with Aric and Britta.  Roads got just a hair dicey going over Soldier Summit with the snow, but I've driven in far worse conditions.

Monday - The track at the gym was open since school was out, so I did that rather than the t-mill.  Got thru with two miles and quit.  The legs were tired and I didn't feel like it.  I figured I'd just hit the mill at home, but my lovely wife talked me out of it.  She said something about taking the day off and resting.  Sounded like a good idea to me so I did it.  Miles - 2.0

Tuesday - Did four miles at the gym at lunch.  Was still feeling a little tired but I also wanted to get in a little weight time as well.  Met with the crew at Rainbow after work and ran six more.  The legs felt much better today than yesterday.  Still a little tired, but not bad for having run 33 miles only three days earlier.  I'll take it.  Miles - 10.0

Wednesday - Went outside and ran at lunch.  Temp was in the 50's and sunny.  Kinda hard not to.  Still, I only ran up to the grocery store to buy a couple of items, then run back, so the miles were a little short.  Went to Rainbow after work and got in a decent run all by my lonesome.  Much as I like running with my friends, it's kind of nice to just do your own thing once in awhile.  Saw a couple of other runners and hikers out there, but pretty much had the trail to myself.  Finished well after dark so I got in some night running as well.  Miles - 10.25

Thursday - Went to the gym at lunch and did the traedmill thing again.  Met with friends at Rainbow for a pm run.  I felt pretty good so I pushed it pretty hard.  We went to the canal road and back.  Coming back I was really feeling it and went out hard.  I think I ran the thing at a sub 9 pace for most of it.  Yeah, that's fast for me on a trail, especially when there's a pretty good sized hill in the way.  It was a pretty good run I have to admit.  Miles - 11.75

Friday - Went to raqinbow again, but my legs were pretty tired from the past couple of days worth of hard runs.  Instead I just ran up to the canal road and along that for a few miles, then turned around.  just took it easy.  Miles - 5.0

Saturday - had big plans to go boarding today but the high winds completely shut down Powder Mountain.  Winds of 60 mph gusting to 80 were recorded.  It was kind of windy at the house, but really not too bad.  Didn't go on a run either.  Instead I did my housework then went and played in the shop for the rest of the day.  Got some stuff done too.

Miles for the week - 39.0 miles

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Week of February 12th - Moab Red Hot, first race of the season!

Sunday - Went out for a few trail miles in the morning.  Legs felt a little tired after yesterday's hard 5K.  Thought I would end up not seeing anyone out there.  Ended up seeing Matt and Sharon Klar and Bj.  Ran back from the turnaround with Bj.  Good run.  Felt good, not super fast, but good and steady.  Worked the uphills, took it easy on the downhills.  Miles - 9.1

Monday - Did my usual lunchtime run but ran the roads from work instead of hitting the t-mill.  When I do that I can get an extra mile in since I don;t have to drive up to the gym and back.  Nice day for the run too.  Low 40's and sunny.  Tried to sucker some people into running after work to no avail.  Maybe that was a good thing.  Ended up running north from Rainbow by myself.  Doing that allowed me to push as hard as I wanted, plus I didn't stop to chat.  The run felt great, I felt light on my feet.  My legs were a little tired, but I felt like I had plenty of reserves anyway.  Ran the fastest average pace I can remember for this chunk of trail.  Miles - 13.0

Tuesday - Only managed to get in a run on the t-mill at lunch.  Miles - 4.0

Wednesday - Didn't get any running in today.  Bummer.

Thursday - Got my two runs in.  The usual t- mill run at lunch, then went out north of Rainbow to the canal road.  Turned around there, and ran back until I met with the crew, then turned around again to get some bonus miles in.  Miles 12.75

Friday - Nothing.  Spent the afternoon driving to Moab for the Red Hot 55K.

Saturday - Moab Red Hot 55K.  Wow, gorgeous day for a little run on the slickrock.  Started out in the upper 20's, sunny, no wind unlike last year.  Warmed up to the low 50"s by the afternoon.  By about three miles I shed the hat and gloves and by mile 18 I shed the jacket.  How did my race go?  Last year I ran a 6:35, so my goal this year was to go under six hours.  I felt better trained and faster.  I intentionally started out slow.  What I've discovered is that when I bolt, my heart rate soars and doesn't settle down for awhile and people just pass me later anyway.  And that kinda sucks.  The actual race was pretty uneventful for me.  I blew thru most of the aid stations, stopping to fill my water bottle as needed, but otherwise relying on the 1st Endurance Liquid Shot I had with me.  Since I was wearing my HR monitor, I wanted to try a couple of things.  First, I wanted push some and see what my HR would get up to, and second, on the flats and downhills, I wanted to keep my HR rate up by going faster.  What I've found out during training is that I can push my HR higher than I thought and still run decently and for a fairly long time.  Typically when I'm running a trail, my HR averages around the 120-130 range.  What I wanted to do was keep it nearer to 140.  This means I run faster, which means a faster time, duh!  What I didn't know was how long I could keep up that heart rate.  I know that as a race progresses, my HR will go down as I get more and more tired.  By wearing my HR monitor, I could see this happen and hopefully keep the heart rate up.  Ok, enough of the HR crap and on to the race.  It was fun.  I had a great time the entire race.  The scenery was beautiful, clear blue skies, awesome red rock, cool people to run with, and best of all, lots of great friends and beer at the finish.  I could comment on my eating and drinking and all the other technical aspects, but in the end, it was fun.  So, did I meet my goal of sub 6?  Nope, I ran a 6:07, still 30 minutes faster than last year, almost a full minute per mile drop in the pace.  Still a mid pack finish (91 out of 200, and 27/71 in the masters age group).  I'm happy with that.  I wasn't concerned with where I finished, just that I have a good time and do well.
Here's the link to my Garmin stuff.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150993192

Monday, February 13, 2012

Week of February 5th

So how many of you can spell February correctly?  Or Wednesday for that matter?  Anyway, here's this week's rundown.

Sunday - Went boarding with Karen and some friends at Snowbasin.  Had a great time, got pushed to go down stuff I probably wouldn't have, so I stretched my limits a little.  Karen fell and hurt her back bad enough to call it a day at around 1pm.  We ate lunch then went home. 

Monday - Had an appointment after work so only had time for a lunch run othe mill. Managed to get in around four miles while watching the Science channel.  I could think of worse things to watch while running.  Miles - 4.0

Tuesday - Didn't get my lunchtime run in.  Instead I met with the McKay-Dee Sports Medicine Team about coming out to my race and providing medical support for 700 runners.  I think they're kind of excited.  Usually they handle marathons and shorter stuff.  This will be their first trail race and first ultra.  They were definitely curious about what goes on during a race spanning 100 miles.  After work I met Karen at Rainbow and we went close to eight miles.  I figured she would only want to go our usual six, but nope she decided to go further.  She was awesome.  Ran a negative split and our time was actually pretty good.  I think if I really pushed I would have only finished about 10 minutes sooner.  She can really rock a downhill.  I had to work to keep up with her on the downhill.  Miles - 7.8 (1454' vert)

Wednesday - Yeah, I know how to spell it.  Was going to hit the trail after work, but being the bad weather weenie I am, I decided that since it was snowing, I would hit the t-mill.  So I did some speed work during lunch.  3 x 1 mile at 7:20 pace, then jumped on the mill at home and ran a few while watching the movie "Unbreakable".  Cool movie, brought back memories of my Western States run last summer.  Got some inspiration too.  Added bonus.  Miles - 12.0

Thursday - Ran on the mill at lunch.  Fairly easy.  I think it was around an 8:20 pace for four miles. 

Friday - Ran at lunch on the mill again.  Hit the trail from 22nd street south with Alicia after work.  It's a horrible mess, muddy and icy.  We ended up doing a lot of walking and slippin' and slidin'.  Miles - 11.0

Saturday - Karen and I ran the Striders 5k this morning.  It's a tough 5k course, lots of uphill.  I managed to run my fastest time ever there in four years of trying.  Managed a 23:33, good enough for 75th place out of 484.  The speedwork I've been doing must be working.  Here's the splits:
Mile 1 - 7:32
Mile 2 - 8:12
Mile 3 - 7:17
Finish - 23:33
Karen did pretty good for her first road 5K. 31:59.3.  Good for 9th in her age group and 343rd overall.  And she was worried about finishing last.
Miles - 3.1

Miles for the week - 41.9

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Week of January 29 - Wasatch here I come!

Sunday - Had big plans to head out to the island and get in around 10 miles.  Got up and figured that wasn't happening.  Both ankles were giving me fits after the snowshoe race.  With the left one it was the tendon in the front of the ankle and with the right it was the usual achilles pain.  Not only that, but I was surprised at how sore my legs were from the race.  So, I ended up taking the day off and playing in my shop.  Always a good alternative.  Got a bunch of new hand tools for Christmas and spent my time organizing them in my nifty new rollaway.  Good times!  Miles - 0

Monday - The ankles felt much better today and I ended up going to the gym and hitting the mill for a few miles.  I had big plans to do a few more after work but my lovely wife wanted to go out for a celebratory dinner for her 2nd place 5k finish, so we did that instead.  Miles - 4.0

Tuesday - Hit the gym at lunch for some intervals.  8 x .25 at 6:22 pace.  Lovely day on the trails after work.  Pretty good group met up at Rainbow for a little jaunt north.  Karne met us there and I stayed with her.  We went about six miles at a nice easy pace.  The rest of the crew went a little further.  It was nice to get together with some friends for a run.  haven't done that in a week or two.  Miles - 9.5 (vert 950')

Wednesday - Hit the gym again.  Went at lunch just to do a few somewhat easy miles on the mill then did a little bit of core work.  Ended up doing about four at an 8:20 pace.  Had a meeting after work, so rather than hit the trail like I would like to do, I went to the gym again and ran some on the track.  My legs are tired.  Miles - 8.0

Thursday - Went running with the crew at Rainbow.  The legs were tired.  I had no uphill umph at all adn was dragging ass behind everyone else.  Oh well, I guess you have those days occasionally.  Miles - 7.8 (vert 1145')

Friday - Only had time for a gym run at lunch.  Not much but better than nothing.  Miles 4.0

Saturday - Had another official training run on the island.  I think 30+ showed up.  One of the bigger turnouts ever.  The weather was pretty much perfect.  Sunny, cool (mid 40's), trail conditions were excellent and so was the company.  After I did the Mountain View trail, Britta and I went over and ran the Lakeside trail for a few more miles.  Miles 27.3 (vert 1045')

Miles for the week - 61.6 Biggest week of the year.  Hope I can sustain it for a few months or increase it.

Ok, just found out I got into Wasatch for the 6th time.  Aiming for my 5th finish.  I think I'd better pick up the training pace a little.  Can't wait for September to arrive.  Love running that race.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Week of January 22

Sunday - Once again I took the day off.  Karen and I went up to Powder Mountain and did some boarding.  Great snow.  They got about four feet in three days.  Miles - 0.0

Monday - Did a couple of workouts today.  I hit the gym at lunch and ran four miles at about an eight minute pace on the mill.  After work I went to the gym again and ran five miles on the track.  Roughly the same pace.  Ended up being a tempo kind of day.  Miles - 9.0

Tuesday - Had some errands to run so I only managed to get in three miles on the mill.  Better than nothing I guess.  Miles - 3.0

On a dorkier note.  I looked over the weather data from my weather station for 2011 and here's the highlights.
Precipitation - 22.09"
High temp outdoor - 109.4 deg F on June 23 (erroneous, the temp sensor gets afternoon sun in the summer.  I need to correct that, probably closer to 102 deg F).
Low temp outdoor - +2.2 deg F on Feb. 2.
High temp indoor - 83.2 deg F
Low temp indoor - 53.3 deg F (must have been on vacation)
High humidity outdoor - 97% on March 7
Low humidity outdoor - 10% on July 3
High dewpoint outdoor - 70.1 deg F on Aug. 1
Low dewpoint outdoor - -10.4 deg F on Feb. 2
Maximum wind gust - 58.8mph on Dec. 1
I wish I had graphs because graphs are way cool, however, I'm having issues with downloading the data to my computer.  They don't want to communicate.

Wednesday - Another day on the mill, but at least I did some intervals.  6 x .5 @ 7:00 pace.  Miles - 6.0

Thursday - Another day where I couldn't get the miles in that I wanted.  Ended up on the mill again at lunch, then errands after work.  At least I pushed the pace some.  Miles - 4.0

Friday - Hit the gym at lunch again and did a few on the mill.  Then at last, some trail time after work.  Went north from Rainbow for about 2.5 then turned around.  Saw Bj and his new puppy out.  Cute.  Miles - 9.0 (943' vert)

Saturday - Ran the Kahtoola Bigfoot Snowshoe Festival race today.  I did the 25K.  Time was 3:29.  Yeah, on a flat dry road, that time would probably have been under two hours, but there were snowshoes on my feet, snow on the ground and about 2100' of gain. 
Still, it was a gorgeous day, sunny and cold, about 10 at the start and warming up to around 25 when I got done.  My lovely wife Karen did her first race ever today.  She ran the 5K and did awesome.  Came in 2nd place female and 1st in her age group.  When she saw who the 1st place female was, she said that she was not too far behind her and if she had known, she could have pushed it and taken first place female.  Still, not too bad for a first race.  Here's the Garmin plot  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145378238  Miles - 15.5 (2179' vert)

Miles for the week - 46.5
Vert - 3122'

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Week of January 15

Sunday - Did nothing running wise.  After the fun on Saturday I decided to give the legs a day off.  Instead I spent the day working on the barn and playing in my shop.  Miles - 0

Monday - Hit the gym at lunch for the first workout.  Since school was out, the track was open so instead of a t-mill run, I went for four miles on the track.  I kept the pace high enough for it to qualify as a tempo run.  I was feeling it in my legs going up the stairs at work this afternoon.  We'll see how the afternoon run there goes.  Probably slower.  Well, the afternoon run was actually pretty good.  My legs were feeling the noon run so I was a little concerned that after woork would just be slow and easy.  Nope, did another five miles at a tempo pace.  Now I'm really feeling the effects.  Oh well, that's how you get faster.  Miles - 9.0

Tuesday - Wimped out of an after work run on the trails.  Too cold for me.  Instead I did the track at the gym.  Only went five miles, but I did push it.  I feel like I'm getting faster than I have been for a few years.  Miles - 5.0

Wednesday - Did the gym thing twice.  At lunch I did four one-mile repeats at 7:30 pace with a .25 rest in between.  After work I came home and ran another 3.5 on the mill while dinner was cooking.  Dinner needs to cook longer so I can get more miles in.  Miles - 8.0

Thursday - Only had time for the gym today.  Did four on the mill at around an 8:30 pace.  Miles 4.0

Friday - Sigh, another mill day.  Did five on the mill at home at 8:15 pace, the last mile was at 7:45.  Spent most of the day at the winter outdoor retailer show.  Lots of cool stuff companies are trying to sell.  Miles - 5.0

Saturday - Yet another t-mill day.  It dumped rain all day long, then turned to snow.  Kind of glad I didn't go out in the stuff.  Hope I can get out some next week.  Miles - 10.0

Miles for the week - 41.0
Vert for the week - 0'