Sunday - Did some hiking along the south rim of the Grand Canyon with the others. Generally spent the day playing tourist and having fun doing that. Miles - 2.5
Monday - Spent the day driving home from the Grand Canyon. Sat on my butt for almost 10 hours, ugh!
Tuesday - Did a run north from Rainbow with Sharon. We went to the Polk Trail turn off and came back. Nice and easy. Felt good to get back out. I noticed that my legs weren't sore at all. Maybe a little tired, but the run didn't present a lot of effort. Went for my Pilates class after. Either the class is getting a little easier or I'm slacking, but it doesn't seem to take nearly the same effort as it did three weeks ago. Miles - 6.2
Wednesday - Took the day off. Tapering for Salt Flats in a week and a half.
Thursday - Went to 22nd street and ran up to inspiration point, then headed back to the trailhead to meet Karen for a run. We got in another few miles by running over to Waterfall canyon, then down to the lower trails and back. Nice little run. Miles - 7.25
Friday - Took the day off again
Saturday - Helped out with the Gib Wallace Trail 10K. Directed runners at one intersection, then went out on the course after to clear course markings. Miles - 5.84
Restraunt 1107 - This is a fairly new restraunt on the 11th floor of the Ben Lomond Hotel. I think it's been open a month or so. We heard about it from some friends who had gone there and thought it was pretty good. I think we were expecting it to be a bit more crowded than it was. We were immediately seated by a window overlooking Ogden, and just as the sun was setting. Very nice. Their menu selection is somewhat limited, only abut a dozen main dishes are listed. I got the chicken fusilli and Karen got the chicken catcitore. Mine was quite good, small pieces of grilled chicken sun dried tomatoes, broccoli, onions, all tossed with some olive oil and spiral pasta. Plenty hot too. Sometimes when you order a pasta dish, it's not as warm as it could be, maybe pasta cools off quickly. This was fresh out of the kitchen hot. The salad was a field greens with blue cheese, also quite good. Karen said she enjoyed hers as well. Service was good. One thing I kind of have a pet peeve about, especially in a higher end place is when the wait staff says "you guys", as in "how are you guys doing?". First, it's a low class move in a high class place, second, my wife is not a guy, far from it. So if any wait staff are reading, how about "how are you folks doing?" instead. It's a little more formal and doesn't call my wife a guy. Still, we'd go back, the food was good and it's a little something different than the usual Ogden fare.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Week of April 8th
Sunday - Didn't do squat. Had plans to run a few but ended up getting a mess load of yard work done now that spring is here. Felt good to get that stuff done.
Monday - Double day for me. Did some intervals at lunch, 4 x .5, plus a little extra, then went out for a few miles going north from Rainbow. I was kind of surprised there weren't more people out, especially mtb'rs. It was a pretty nice day. Miles - 10.5
Tuesday - Another double day. Went out for an easy 5 at lunch. Nice warm day, little breezy though. Did another 4.2 with Karen after work. Went to Pilates again. Miles - 9.2
Wednesday thru Friday - Didn't do squat except drive to the Grand Canyon on Friday.
Saturday - Ran the Grand Canyon for the 5th time. This time things were a little different. Usually there is gorgeous weather for the run. All week the weather forecast had been pretty ominous, snow, rain, cold. We drove the truck down since my car really sucks on icy snowy roads. Turns out we didn't need to. The roads were fine going down an coming back. Still, when everyone met in our room at 5am before starting down, it was snowing, the wind was blowing and the temp was about 28 degrees. There was about 2 inches of the white stuff ont he ground. Nothing like a little winter run in April. I knew that once we started down, the wind would ease up and the snow would go away, but I figured it would turn to rain. I figured that the snow level was around 6000' and once we got below that, the trails would be clear. Well, they were pretty much clear, but muddy. By the time we got to Indian Garden, the snow and rain had stopped. The temp was about 38 and we were doing just fine. At the river, the weather was actually not too bad. Probably in the upper 40's and cloudy. The further we headed up the North Kiabab trail, the more we could see that the north rim was completely socked in. As we climbed up from the caretaker house, the wind picked up and the snow started again. Several of us who had been to the north rim before elected to turn around at the bridge that's about 3 miles from the top. There was about 4 inches on the ground and it was cold, plus we figured that there weren't going to be any good views that day. The kind of cool thing about this year's run was that there were very few others doing a R2R2R. We counted six others and that was it. Needless to say, the trails were kind of empty. Anyway, we got back to the ranch, took a short break and headed back up the south rim. I had plans to see how fast I could go up Bright Angel tral to the top. Last year I did it in about 3:15, so that was the time to beat. It did rain on us pretty good for about 20 minutes as we came up thru devil's corkscrew, but after that, the weather was fine until near the top. I did well on the climb to Indian Garden. Felt good and going strong, actually running portions of it. Then I hit the steeper part after Indian Garden and that's when the wheels kind of came off. I slowed way down, but still wasn't doing too bad. We could see that teh south rim was still socked in with bad weather, and sure enough, about 2 miles from the top we were in snow again. One of the highlights was a herd of mule deer right on the trail that styed just in front of us. We could get within 30-40 feet and they would walk on down the trail. Very cool. As I got within about 1/2 mile from the top, the wind picked up. By the time I got to the top, it was blowing hard and snowing hard. Good thing our room was only about 100 yards from the trail head. I did manage to go from the ranch to the top in about 3:30, so not too bad. I did kind of bonk for the last three miles.
The next day was gorgeous, sunny, cool. We should have done the run that day. Oh well, we all had a great time. Several people that had never made the run managed to make it to the north rim (shin deep snow). I managed to get in 41.5 miles. So not a bad day or weekend. Time to go into a taper for Salt Flats.
Total for the week - 61.2 Total vert was probably around 17,000'
Restraunt review time - So while at the Grand Canyon, we obviously ate at the restraunts there. Friday dinner and Sunday breakfast were at the Bright Angel cafe. The food wasn't too bad. I don't remember what I had for dinner, but for breakfast I had one of their skillets. Couple of eggs on top of hash browns, bacon. Just the thing to have after an epic run the day before. Saturday dinner was at the Maswick Lodge cafeteria for pizza and beer. Pizza didn't really sound appealing to me, so I pretty much drank my dinner, OJ, chocolate milk, beer. I was good with that. Sunday dinner was at the Arizona Room. Karen and I had the rib eye steaks and I've had better. For a rib eye, there was way too much fat on this hunk of meat. It was cooked properly (medium rare) but the steak was still tougher than it should have been. Karen's was much the same. Others had good luck with thier steaks. Still, for the price I should have gone with the filet.
Monday - Double day for me. Did some intervals at lunch, 4 x .5, plus a little extra, then went out for a few miles going north from Rainbow. I was kind of surprised there weren't more people out, especially mtb'rs. It was a pretty nice day. Miles - 10.5
Tuesday - Another double day. Went out for an easy 5 at lunch. Nice warm day, little breezy though. Did another 4.2 with Karen after work. Went to Pilates again. Miles - 9.2
Wednesday thru Friday - Didn't do squat except drive to the Grand Canyon on Friday.
Saturday - Ran the Grand Canyon for the 5th time. This time things were a little different. Usually there is gorgeous weather for the run. All week the weather forecast had been pretty ominous, snow, rain, cold. We drove the truck down since my car really sucks on icy snowy roads. Turns out we didn't need to. The roads were fine going down an coming back. Still, when everyone met in our room at 5am before starting down, it was snowing, the wind was blowing and the temp was about 28 degrees. There was about 2 inches of the white stuff ont he ground. Nothing like a little winter run in April. I knew that once we started down, the wind would ease up and the snow would go away, but I figured it would turn to rain. I figured that the snow level was around 6000' and once we got below that, the trails would be clear. Well, they were pretty much clear, but muddy. By the time we got to Indian Garden, the snow and rain had stopped. The temp was about 38 and we were doing just fine. At the river, the weather was actually not too bad. Probably in the upper 40's and cloudy. The further we headed up the North Kiabab trail, the more we could see that the north rim was completely socked in. As we climbed up from the caretaker house, the wind picked up and the snow started again. Several of us who had been to the north rim before elected to turn around at the bridge that's about 3 miles from the top. There was about 4 inches on the ground and it was cold, plus we figured that there weren't going to be any good views that day. The kind of cool thing about this year's run was that there were very few others doing a R2R2R. We counted six others and that was it. Needless to say, the trails were kind of empty. Anyway, we got back to the ranch, took a short break and headed back up the south rim. I had plans to see how fast I could go up Bright Angel tral to the top. Last year I did it in about 3:15, so that was the time to beat. It did rain on us pretty good for about 20 minutes as we came up thru devil's corkscrew, but after that, the weather was fine until near the top. I did well on the climb to Indian Garden. Felt good and going strong, actually running portions of it. Then I hit the steeper part after Indian Garden and that's when the wheels kind of came off. I slowed way down, but still wasn't doing too bad. We could see that teh south rim was still socked in with bad weather, and sure enough, about 2 miles from the top we were in snow again. One of the highlights was a herd of mule deer right on the trail that styed just in front of us. We could get within 30-40 feet and they would walk on down the trail. Very cool. As I got within about 1/2 mile from the top, the wind picked up. By the time I got to the top, it was blowing hard and snowing hard. Good thing our room was only about 100 yards from the trail head. I did manage to go from the ranch to the top in about 3:30, so not too bad. I did kind of bonk for the last three miles.
The next day was gorgeous, sunny, cool. We should have done the run that day. Oh well, we all had a great time. Several people that had never made the run managed to make it to the north rim (shin deep snow). I managed to get in 41.5 miles. So not a bad day or weekend. Time to go into a taper for Salt Flats.
Total for the week - 61.2 Total vert was probably around 17,000'
Restraunt review time - So while at the Grand Canyon, we obviously ate at the restraunts there. Friday dinner and Sunday breakfast were at the Bright Angel cafe. The food wasn't too bad. I don't remember what I had for dinner, but for breakfast I had one of their skillets. Couple of eggs on top of hash browns, bacon. Just the thing to have after an epic run the day before. Saturday dinner was at the Maswick Lodge cafeteria for pizza and beer. Pizza didn't really sound appealing to me, so I pretty much drank my dinner, OJ, chocolate milk, beer. I was good with that. Sunday dinner was at the Arizona Room. Karen and I had the rib eye steaks and I've had better. For a rib eye, there was way too much fat on this hunk of meat. It was cooked properly (medium rare) but the steak was still tougher than it should have been. Karen's was much the same. Others had good luck with thier steaks. Still, for the price I should have gone with the filet.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Week of April 1, back at it
So, now that the 2012 edition of the Buffalo Run is over, time to get back with the training and writing down useless drivel for people to read when they have nothing better to do.
The Buffalo Run went really well I thought. Much better than last year's edition. There were roughly the same number of runners, although it was distributed a little differently. Roughly 710 showed up to run one of the four distances available.
This year I had the luxury of having the McKay-Dee Hospital Sports Medicine Team as my medical providers. There were doctors, nurses, sports trainers all in attendance. And they even had a crew out for Friday night while the 100 mile runners were running. It was also the warmest Buffalo Run ever. Major heat was the order of the day Saturday with temps hitting the mid 70's and sunny. We went thru about 150 more gallons of water than I thought we would, as well as about 250 lbs. of ice. There was plenty of buffalo stew for everyone and once again there were no leftovers. Once again, I was cleaned out of beer. That's a good thing. At least I got to have a couple of them.
Glitches? Yeah, there were a few that will need addressing for next year. The main one was the lack of enough people at the main gate for check in. At times the line got pretty long from what I understand. More people there and better organized for next year. The other little glitch was that a few people had a hard time finding drop bags. We got them back in time for the most part, but people had a hard time figuring out where they were. Next year I think we'll have a central roped off bag corral, attended by a volunteer. Good things? I rented a 40 x 60 canopy and it was worth every penny spent. It was awesome and beat the crap out of setting up my own canopies. Not sure I'm ever going to do that again. We had a new location for the start/finish. It meant an uphill finish for everyone, but it also meant we had much more room and didn't interfere with the day use folks.
So, on to the resumption of training. I did take the entire week of the race off. I had plans to run, but couldn't justify taking the time to so it when there's so much to do. Plus I didn't want to be up until midnight every night dealing with race stuff. I did run last week, but it was pretty sad. I caught a cold and it generally sucked. So I'll just start again with this week. I have two weeks left before I need to taper for Salt Flats. The plan is to hit it hard these two weeks, then start to rest and recover. We'll see how that goes.
Sunday - Had big plans to run 30 or so with Britta on the Bo Sho course. A driving snowstorm put an end to that after about 10 miles. We were all soaked and cold. Yeah, it sucked. Miles - 10.3
Monday - Just a one workout day. Ran Indian Trail from Rainbow with Breein and Shawn. Got a little cool as most of it is in the shade. Good news is, no snow. Generally took it easy but this run still gives you 3200'+ of vert in just under 10 miles, so my legs felt it. Miles - 9.84
Tuesday - Double workout day. My lunch run was a six mile tempo run on the bike path. Most of it was a sub 8 pace. The afternoon run was a nice and easy run with my lovely wife. We went about five miles going north from Rainbow. Saw some of the crew heading out as we were finishing. Tonight I also went to my first Pilates class. It was a men's class and it was tough. Who knew I was that unbalanced (not mentally, everyone already knows that). I survived and I'm actually going to do it again. It'll be nice to develop some upper body strength and better balance. Miles - 11.17
Wednesday - Now I'm really felling the aftereffects of the Pilates class. My upper body is sore, not terribly so, but noticeable. Went out for what I thought would be an easy 8 or 9 miles. At the turn I met up with Breein's husband Jared and a friend. I followed along behind and they worked me as I tried to keep up. Ended up falling further and further behind, but got a good hard run in anyway. Miles - 11.7
Thursday - Another double day. The lunch run was an easy 5.2. My legs are pretty tired from hitting the training hard. Need to keep it up though. After work I met with the crew and we made the trip from 22nd street up Malan's Peak. I was surprised at how much snow was still on the trail. Made for some slippery conditions as I wore my Quantums and the traction in those things suck unless the trail is dry. It was a little chilly as well. Miles - 10.9
Friday - Woke up to it snowing outside. By the time I got done feeding critters and heading to work, there was almost an inch on the ground. I need to put in a few miles today just to get the mileage up for the week. Was planning on heading out at lunch, but decided against it. Then, after work I called my lovely wife and asked if she wanted to go out for a run after work. Sure, so we went to Rainbow andheaded north on the trail. When we got up to the canal road we looked at each other and decided it just wasn't happening today. We did manage to get a couple of miles in, but then headed out for dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. That was a much better idea. Miles 2.0
Saturday - Went to Smokey Bear (Indian Trail trailhead) with Britta to go out for around 20 miles. The plan was to run from Smokey Bear, over Indian Trail, on to the BST, and down to Beus Canyon, then turn around. The day was gorgeous. We met the HUMR crew as they were coming down to Smokey Bear. They were doing a Rainbow, Smokey Bear, Malans trip. Well, not thinking about the previous day's snow, I wore my Quantums. Wrong choice for this run. Indian Trail was treacherous going out and very treacherous coming back. I couldn't get any traction at all on the snow. I must have gone down at least 6-8 times just on the way back over Indian. There were times when Britta had to basically push me up the trail. I felt like an idiot. Other than that, it was a great run. Got my miles in and all was right with the world. Miles - 19.0
I got in the miles I wanted for the week. I was looking for 70-80 and I managed. If I can get that next week, then I figure I'll be pretty well set for Salt Flats. Grand Canyon is next Saturday. Weather right now is looking kind of cool and possibly wet. That would be a change from previous years. Still, I'm looking forward to it.
Miles for the week - 74.91
The Buffalo Run went really well I thought. Much better than last year's edition. There were roughly the same number of runners, although it was distributed a little differently. Roughly 710 showed up to run one of the four distances available.
This year I had the luxury of having the McKay-Dee Hospital Sports Medicine Team as my medical providers. There were doctors, nurses, sports trainers all in attendance. And they even had a crew out for Friday night while the 100 mile runners were running. It was also the warmest Buffalo Run ever. Major heat was the order of the day Saturday with temps hitting the mid 70's and sunny. We went thru about 150 more gallons of water than I thought we would, as well as about 250 lbs. of ice. There was plenty of buffalo stew for everyone and once again there were no leftovers. Once again, I was cleaned out of beer. That's a good thing. At least I got to have a couple of them.
Glitches? Yeah, there were a few that will need addressing for next year. The main one was the lack of enough people at the main gate for check in. At times the line got pretty long from what I understand. More people there and better organized for next year. The other little glitch was that a few people had a hard time finding drop bags. We got them back in time for the most part, but people had a hard time figuring out where they were. Next year I think we'll have a central roped off bag corral, attended by a volunteer. Good things? I rented a 40 x 60 canopy and it was worth every penny spent. It was awesome and beat the crap out of setting up my own canopies. Not sure I'm ever going to do that again. We had a new location for the start/finish. It meant an uphill finish for everyone, but it also meant we had much more room and didn't interfere with the day use folks.
So, on to the resumption of training. I did take the entire week of the race off. I had plans to run, but couldn't justify taking the time to so it when there's so much to do. Plus I didn't want to be up until midnight every night dealing with race stuff. I did run last week, but it was pretty sad. I caught a cold and it generally sucked. So I'll just start again with this week. I have two weeks left before I need to taper for Salt Flats. The plan is to hit it hard these two weeks, then start to rest and recover. We'll see how that goes.
Sunday - Had big plans to run 30 or so with Britta on the Bo Sho course. A driving snowstorm put an end to that after about 10 miles. We were all soaked and cold. Yeah, it sucked. Miles - 10.3
Monday - Just a one workout day. Ran Indian Trail from Rainbow with Breein and Shawn. Got a little cool as most of it is in the shade. Good news is, no snow. Generally took it easy but this run still gives you 3200'+ of vert in just under 10 miles, so my legs felt it. Miles - 9.84
Tuesday - Double workout day. My lunch run was a six mile tempo run on the bike path. Most of it was a sub 8 pace. The afternoon run was a nice and easy run with my lovely wife. We went about five miles going north from Rainbow. Saw some of the crew heading out as we were finishing. Tonight I also went to my first Pilates class. It was a men's class and it was tough. Who knew I was that unbalanced (not mentally, everyone already knows that). I survived and I'm actually going to do it again. It'll be nice to develop some upper body strength and better balance. Miles - 11.17
Wednesday - Now I'm really felling the aftereffects of the Pilates class. My upper body is sore, not terribly so, but noticeable. Went out for what I thought would be an easy 8 or 9 miles. At the turn I met up with Breein's husband Jared and a friend. I followed along behind and they worked me as I tried to keep up. Ended up falling further and further behind, but got a good hard run in anyway. Miles - 11.7
Thursday - Another double day. The lunch run was an easy 5.2. My legs are pretty tired from hitting the training hard. Need to keep it up though. After work I met with the crew and we made the trip from 22nd street up Malan's Peak. I was surprised at how much snow was still on the trail. Made for some slippery conditions as I wore my Quantums and the traction in those things suck unless the trail is dry. It was a little chilly as well. Miles - 10.9
Friday - Woke up to it snowing outside. By the time I got done feeding critters and heading to work, there was almost an inch on the ground. I need to put in a few miles today just to get the mileage up for the week. Was planning on heading out at lunch, but decided against it. Then, after work I called my lovely wife and asked if she wanted to go out for a run after work. Sure, so we went to Rainbow andheaded north on the trail. When we got up to the canal road we looked at each other and decided it just wasn't happening today. We did manage to get a couple of miles in, but then headed out for dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. That was a much better idea. Miles 2.0
Saturday - Went to Smokey Bear (Indian Trail trailhead) with Britta to go out for around 20 miles. The plan was to run from Smokey Bear, over Indian Trail, on to the BST, and down to Beus Canyon, then turn around. The day was gorgeous. We met the HUMR crew as they were coming down to Smokey Bear. They were doing a Rainbow, Smokey Bear, Malans trip. Well, not thinking about the previous day's snow, I wore my Quantums. Wrong choice for this run. Indian Trail was treacherous going out and very treacherous coming back. I couldn't get any traction at all on the snow. I must have gone down at least 6-8 times just on the way back over Indian. There were times when Britta had to basically push me up the trail. I felt like an idiot. Other than that, it was a great run. Got my miles in and all was right with the world. Miles - 19.0
I got in the miles I wanted for the week. I was looking for 70-80 and I managed. If I can get that next week, then I figure I'll be pretty well set for Salt Flats. Grand Canyon is next Saturday. Weather right now is looking kind of cool and possibly wet. That would be a change from previous years. Still, I'm looking forward to it.
Miles for the week - 74.91
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