A Lean and Hungry Look

Back on the blog after a long hiatus due initially to injury (SI joint problems that lead to disappointing SGM in 2011, followed by neuroma in left foot, which continues to the present) and then to lack of interest in tracking my workouts and a decision to spend some time running only for enjoyment.  I'm back on the wagon now as I start training for Ogden.

Day 1 of Ogden training plan.  I'm planning to use the Hansons method this time, just to change things up and to keep my mileage a little lower.  Life is busier than it was when I last trained hard for a marathon and running falls lower on my priority list.  The objective this time around is to put together a solid block of marathon training and to make it to the starting line healthy, not broken down and emaciated like the last time.  I've taken up skate skiing in the past year or so and am finding considerable enjoyment in a new sport, so I may take the liberty of replacing a run workout here and there with a ski workout.  I'm hopeful that spending more time on an activity that uses hips and core (and having done so consistently for a couple of months in the lead-up to this training block) will help stave off the back problems.  We shall see.

I'm running in Hokas now, as that seems to be the only option that works with the neuroma.  While not a permanent or perfect solution to the problem, it is working for now, so I'll stick with it.

Easy loop (Walker-Holly Lane) at 6 a.m.  Green air quality so far today, but hard to imagine it will continue for long.  Headed to St. George tomorrow for a soccer tournament.  Can't wait to run in the desert behind the condo.

Health: legs are predictably sore after running sporadically for the past few months and skiing more, but nothing more than that at this point.  Need to keep an eye on my back and make sure to be consistent about working my core.

In St. George for soccer.  Ran back in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, my favorite place on earth to run (so far).  Ran on old SITLA road (now blocked to vehicular traffic) to entrance to Reserve, then continued on Millcreek trail to Middleton Power Line trail to Mustang Pass and back.  Final mile in 5:40 (downhill).  This is God's country.

Final day in SG.  Ran on SITLA road to Millcreek but veered off to the northeast on jeep trail that follows power line (parallel to Bone Wash trail).  Connected up with Bone Wash trail (deep sand) and followed it past turnoff to Elephant Arch until I hit the 3-mile mark and turned around.  Thought I had made it to Elephant Arch based on trail signs, but I talked to a couple of ladies on my way back who assured me that it was another 1.5 miles or so past where the Bone Wash and Elephant Arch trails diverge.  I'll have to try it again the next time we come down.

Was supposed to do interval workout today but couldn't fit it in.  I'll have to try on the treadmill in the morning (red air quality alert).

12x400m intervals (400m jog between each) on the treadmill in the basement.  Roughly 1-mile warmup and cooldown.  Since this was my first interval workout in well over 2 years, I didn't want to go crazy, so I set the speed at 10 (6 min/mile) for the first 8, then increased it to 10.5, then 11, then 12 (just for the final one).  Felt pretty good, although I was a little gassed by the last one at 5-min pace.

Injury Watch: Some pain in left SI joint, so I need to get going on some core work.

More treadmill miles with continued gross air outside.  Watched a surf movie on Netflix to keep my mind off it.

Injury Report: Didn't notice any back pain yesterday after the run and didn't feel anything this morning.  All appears to be well so far.  Hoping to motivate myself to do some core tonight.

I couldn't bring myself to run on the treadmill 3 days in a row, so instead I went skate skiing at Mtn. Dell (2 x Big Loop).  It was amazing how much I felt the effort in my core and upper body after only about 10 days without skiing.  Good reminder to try to balance my efforts a little more.

Injury Report: Other than feeling tired in my core and upper body, it felt great.  Although the conditions were icy (around 18 degrees during my ski after hitting 40 yesterday, which can make the course a little treacherous in places), I didn't fall and felt pretty steady.

Inversion is supposed to last for several more days.  Gross.

Easy loop around Holladay.  Avg. pace of 7:15.

Injury report: SI joint is not hurting, but is a little tender.

While at PCMC for Kaela's heart procedure (catheter ablation for AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia), I ran over to City Creek Canyon and back after they finished prepping for surgery and sent us on our way.  (Procedure went perfectly and she was home by 5:30.)  Red air quality day and I felt it.

Injury report: SI joint bugged me a little on the run and continued throughout the day.  Ugh.

Worried about the SI joint issue, I decided to do a kettlebell workout in lieu of intervals this morning.  Unfortunately, I threw my back out in the process.  I'm guessing I already had some inflammation and that the kettlebell workout was the perfect catalyst for throwing my back into spasms.  "Freakin' idiot!"

Injury report: I can barely walk today.  Nice.

First day after Tuesday's back disaster that I felt strong enough to do something.  Still worried about my SI joint, I decided to ski instead of run.  Since we got some snow this week, I decided to head to SR 65 by Little Dell.  Tried skating first, but the new snow wasn't packed down enough to make conditions very good.  Turned around after 5 minutes or so and went back to the car and switched to classic skis.  Went up to "Original Trail" sign and turned around.  I wanted to go all the way to the top of Big Mountain, but I had to leave for St. George and ran out of time.  Trail was pretty soft, but someone else had broken a classic trail up to my turnaround point, so it was great.  There was about a half-mile stretch where a moose had also found the trailbreaking helpful and had weaved in and out of the ski tracks, but other than that the trail was pretty pristine.

Injury report: Back didn't bother me skiing, although it was tight afterward.  (Driving 4 hours to St. George didn't help.)

I decided to try running for the first time since my back injury last week, but didn't want to risk reinjury by starting too hard and fast.  Quick 4-mile loop around Holladay with a stop at The Store to buy some bread to make lunches for the kids.  It's surprisingly hard to run uphill with a loaf in each arm.

Injury report: I didn't notice any back pain during my run but did get a couple of very brief twinges of some kind of nerve activity.  I'll pay close attention throughout the day before deciding what to do about tomorrow's intervals.  I did planks and some other back exercises following my run.

I woke up with a sore back this morning and then had to shovel snow, so I skipped my run and decided to ski after work.  Since we've had some snow recently, I thought the decision was even better.  I left work early after seeing the grooming report for SR 65 at 4:29 p.m. indicating that it had just been groomed to the top.  It was snowing pretty hard in the canyon and I was almost out of gas but I was not to be deterred...until I went to change into my ski stuff and realized that I had packed everything I needed except my ski boots.  Completely dejected, I drove home and had dinner, since I wouldn't have made it back before dark if I'd tried to go home for my boots.  On the bright side, I did not run out of gas--barely.

Injury report: Back is not exactly painful, but I can definitely feel where it was killing me last week.  I spent 15 minutes or so doing planks and other core exercises before going to bed.

Tomorrow is another day.

After last night's debacle trying to ski on the freshly groomed SR 65, I made sure to get up there before work.  I was surprised by how hard it felt until I realized (1) I haven't waxed my skis in about 6 weeks, (2) the temperature was around 5 degrees, which, when combined with the fact that there was fresh, ungroomed snow, made the conditions sticky, and (3) I hadn't been out on the skate skis for about 3 weeks.  Once I got into a rhythm it felt a little better, but I was still sucking wind all the way up.  As I was nearing my turnaround point for the day (Affleck Park), I saw another skate skier flying down the hill toward me.  I pulled to the side so he could go by but he stopped to let me know that there were a bunch of moose up the hill and around the corner.  That was enough to persuade me to turn around there.  The return trip felt much better.  Funny how gravity can do that.

Injury report: I didn't feel any back pain or even tightness while skiing.  The fact that it felt so hard may be enough for me to justify spending more time on the skis and less time pounding the pavement, at least while skiing conditions are good.  I'm starting to think that my body just doesn't like running fast the way it used to.  It seems like it does just fine when I'm running purely for enjoyment, but that the second I switch to training mode my back starts to rebel.  I guess I'll find out more as my marathon training progresses.

Skate-skied to the top of Millcreek Canyon.  Gorgeous day with snow falling and lots of powder on the portion above Elbow Fork.  Felt pretty gassed up to the Elbow but got into a groove after that.

Injury report: My back was thrilled with the decision to ski instead of run.  No pain whatsoever.

I had limited time this morning so I took Maja out for a short run before work but after getting the teenagers on their way.  Poor dog hasn't been running for a few months and has put on a few pounds and lost several steps in terms of fitness.  She gutted it out though and didn't slow me down too much until the final hill up Kentucky Ave.

Injury report: even though it was a slow, short run, my back (left SI joint and environs) is still bugging me a bit.  I'm having serious misgivings about training for Ogden, since the back seems to be okay only as long as I'm not actually trying to train for anything.

I brought my running gear to work so I could run home.  However, after checking the TUNA grooming report and finding out that SR 65 had been groomed earlier in the afternoon, I couldn't resist and took off early from work.  Skate-skied to the top of Big Mountain and back.  Conditions were pretty soft and the grooming ended about 1/2 mile from the top, so it was a little dicey at times, but it was fabulous.  It was my first time making it all the way to the top (I always run out of time), so the ride back down was pretty fun.

Injury report: My back loves skiing.  No pain or soreness.

Holladay-Holly Lane Loop.  Rainy and around 45 degrees.  Bizarre.

Injury report: Back felt fine during the run but tight afterward.  I was to stretch it somewhat with a deep glute stretch at work, which seemed to take care of the soreness for the day.  I'll have to experiment with that.

Still 45 degrees outside.  Since the snow has probably turned to slush in my favorite skiing spots, I decided to run again this morning.  Although it was an easy run, I felt sluggish in the final 2 miles.  Probably just one of those days.

Injury report: No noticeable back pain during the run.  I'll try to stretch it throughout the day to see if that helps keep the pain away.

Took my two little kids up to Brighton for ski school, then drove down to Solitude and skied up and back, with a couple of detour loops along the way.  Even at that altitude the temps were so high that it was like skiing on mashed potatoes.

I decided to run home from work and take the long way to add some mileage.  I thought it would be close to 7 miles, but nope--just over 5.  Ran straight up through Millrock to Wasatch, which was a painful way to start, but it's a great route after that.  Next time I may have to keep going on Wasatch instead of turning down 45th.

Injury report: It's actually Tuesday morning now and I've got some pain going down my left leg.  Clearly the back issues are not getting better.  Pain is minor but definitely there.