Logan joined me for a jaunt up Prov Canyon. Pace was conversational and fun. Legs felt pretty good considering my race. Think I am good to go. Tired, but no soreness anymore.
I did enjoy seeing Logan covered in dirt. He's a dirt magnet.
Great post-work run. Was on my own today, and ended up going really slow. My left arch was sore. Good old post-race niggles. Did 2 loops at the top to get to 11 miles.
Got up at 4 to meet with Bryce at North Ogden Divide to head up to Ben Lomond Peak (9712'). Along the way, we stopped to talk with no less than 20 other runners all heading down. Talk about an early start! They all knew Bryce. I felt horrible and luckily Bryce was kind and kept the pace easy. My stomach was really unhappy on the downhill. That made it rough. We hit the peak and back in 2:50 taking a few shortcuts. Bryce needed to bail but I decided since I was there, I should take advantage and check out the Skyline trail heading south from the divide. It was a steep 2.5 miles to Eyrie Peak (8136'). Out of time and water and most importantly energy, I called it a day and shuffled back to the car. I want to go back and run the Skyline Trail from Pineview to Mantua. Someday...
Took the family camping up Franklin Basin area. We ended up just below Logan River Aid on the Bear Course. Did some exploring, brat cooking over the fire, smores, then ducked into the tent trailer just in time for a brief rain squall. Woke up Saturday and I headed down the road to Franklin Basin Aid then ran the Bear course backwards to Tony Grove. I was just about to hit white pine lake when I saw Mike out running to join me. We half-heartedly planned on running as he was camping at White Pine. If I had run 5 mins faster we would have missed each other. As it was though, he joined me for 12 miles or so as we went over to Tony Grove and down white pine trail (before he headed back to camp). My family was there at Tony Grove ready to go hiking and playing at the lake while I was out running. They were kind enough to replenish some supplies before mike and I took off. I ended up running short of water since the water jug tipped over and emptied on the drive to Tony Grove. Other than being thirsty, a great (SLOW) run on very tired legs. I really should rest one of these days...
T-4:05 (10:13) 4000' vert
** Weekly summary - 66 miles in 4 days. 13,800' vert. Sure wore me out, but awesome!
Took the family to Lagoon today. Since it doesn't open until 11 and I was already in town, I took advantage and drove up to Snowbird and hit the Speedgoat course. Those were some hard-earned miles. Still, I was able to tag two 11K peaks and head down. Nearly all the run was on course, just out of order. Pretty nice to hit the "Ridge Trail" while relatively fresh instead of at mile 25. I finally made it home at 11:00pm after 11 hours at Lagoon. Had a blast (mostly).
The family is out of town for the week so decided to bag a prominent peak. I have hiked to the saddle only 500' below the peak numerous times but have yet to go to the top. Today, that changed. Route started at the first gate in Birch Canyon. Headed up the road 1 mile until the trail began. Headed up and up and up. Things started out very slowly and went progressively slower as things got rockier and steeper and more overgrown (the trail needs some love). The heat and the dead legs kept the pace very slow and things really didn't improve until the downhill. Oh well, it wasn't about speed. I got to hit some nice trails and see some spectacular views. I even saw my first moose of the season. A huge bull moose about 150 yards away. I didn't bring my camera today. Figures. Just image a black smudge mixed in some green trees. There's your picture.
T-3:10 (2 hours up, 70 mins down) ~15 miles 4700' vert
Have felt like I have been pushing my luck lately. Have some ITB niggles and my foot is still not 100% after Logan Peak. Had lots of energy today but saving it for tomorrow's long trail run. Must be healthy!
31 Miles - High Creek - High Creek Lake - Mt Naomi (9979') - Tony Grove - 7 sisters - Mt Elmer (9676') - Green Canyon
Mission accomplished! Joe and I have been dreaming of this link-up for years now. Today it finally happened. We even had Mike along for the ride too. It was all that I had dreamed about. Lots of climbing, lots of views, lots of sun, some pain and misery. Everything.
We started at 6:45 where the road turned to dirt at the mouth of Richmond?/High Creek? canyon. Some boring dirt road running for a few miles before we hit the trail. I was dragging until the moment I hit the trail. Don't know what it is, but a switch went off in my head and I suddenly had energy and excitement. Trails!
9 miles in we had made it to High Creek Lake (9000') -
Some hiking and whining ensued on the climb to Mt Naomi -
Me, on top of the Bear River Range.
Now for a 3 mile descent to Tony Grove. After a quick douse in the lake we were back moving (slowly now) towards Coldwater Springs and Mt Elmer. En-route, we got quite wet during a typical thunderstorm. Lots of thunder had me worried about our exposure on the 7 sisters, but it blew over quickly (we stopped under a tree to stay drier as we were getting quite cold).
(Above pic is of Mt. Elmer)
This next section became the crux of the run. Insanely rocky, deer trails, lots of hills. Perfect combination for slowness. Add to that, Joe was in a full bonk mode (due to lack of training). Poor guy, he sure suffered. What do you expect when you choose to honeymoon instead of run around the mountains?
This gave Mike and I time to pose for pictures and practice our ridge running technique.
Yes, Mike almost tripped and fell. So close...
We eventually made it to Mt. Elmer where Mike and I tagged the peak while Joe went on ahead.
This is a view from Mt. Elmer of the route we just took with Naomi in the center.
10 miles left, all we had to do was drop 5000 feet down green canyon and call it a day. We stopped at the spring at the top of Green to fill up and douse ourselves to combat the heat of the day (91 degrees). Mike and I quickly ditched Joe and cruised down the trail (every man for himself!). Joe ended up struggling to finish up and after 35 mins of waiting at the bottom, he finally showed himself.
Tired, satisfied, beat-up, but happy was the consensus of the group. One of the greatest routes around. Highly recommended.
AM: 7 - Deer Fence South to beyond Millville Canyon. Felt pretty decent all things considered. Didn't push too hard, but kept it honest.
T-59:20 (8:29) 800' vert
PM: 15.5 - First Dam - Wind caves trail - Beirdneau Trail - Green - BST - Loop. Family was still gone so figured why not? It was 98 degrees at the start. Yuck. My first mile (pretty flat) was 9 mins and things didn't get much better. It was slow and painful. I forget how awful that trail is above Wind Caves. Climbs 2K feet in 3 miles with hardly a trail for 2 of the miles. Kept an eye out for rattlers. Thankfully, didn't see any. Not much fun "running" up that trail. Luckily coming down the other side makes up for it. Gonna take it easy now. Maybe I will ride my bike tomorrow and give my body a rest. It needs it.
Final big workout before Speedgoat. Figured I could run some hills and tag some peaks all at the same time. Ended up bushwhacking for an hour. What a mess.
Route was up dry canyon left onto connector to North Syncline until I hit the spring. Dipped my shirt and hat and filled up. Retraced my steps until I hit the connector trail that goes straight up to Logan Peak. On Google Earth, the trail is clearly visible. I guess it hasn't been used in a few years. I was getting off trail every 50 feet. After a while, I got frustrated and gave up only to stumble on the trail heading back down. I gave it another go, but was soon bushwhacking again. I decided to just head to the ridge and guess what I found, the trail. For a bit.
Eventually I made it to Logan Peak tagged the tower and rushed over to Providence Peak. Big dark clouds were looming and it was getting really late. I figured I had 1 hour to get down in daylight. I moved as quick as I could along the ridge to Little Baldy. There was a trail for a while. Then more bushwhacking ensued. I almost cried for joy when I hit the South Syncline trail. Now racing the sunset I headed back to dry canyon and down it back to the car. Quite the link-up but I will probably not do that again until snowshoe season as the trail stinks.
Starting my taper today for Speedgoat 50K. Shaved a good hour or two off my typical long run. Still managed to see a biker, motorcycler, 2 horses (and their riders), 100+ sheep and one angry bee (my eyebrow is still swollen).
Speedgoat 50K (31 Miles) 06:59:22, Place overall: 51, Place in age division: 43
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
0.00
31.00
31.00
Speedgoat 50K
-6:59:22 (11,000' vert)
Not my best day. Glad I survived (I was wondering for a few hours). Report will follow when my head is not pounding (don't run a race like this while sick).
- Summary: Combination of a head cold, elevation, and a certain extreme endurance event caused my body to make me stop running. "The Central Governor" was saying STOP. I knew it was going to happen, I was only hoping it wouldn't be too bad. It was.
Right from the start I felt like I had already run a 50K. Legs were dead, but the breathing was out of control. Heart rate felt high, but shoot we are running up a mountain. What do you expect?
Photo of the first 8 miles or so.
I was in 15th-20th place at the top of Hidden Peak (Mile 8.4). 1:45. Right where I thought I should be. I was mixing it up with the top 3 ladies. The men were long gone (Sage Canady hit the top in 1:23). Just as expected they flew up the hill. Sage went on to set a course record in just over 5 hours. Insane!
Mile 8 (I am in Red) -
Yep, that's me. Thanks to my wonderful wife spectating and taking photos I have these pictures.
The next 3 hours were spent down here -
Some sweet singletrack downhill. Can't complain about that!
After the sweet singletrack, we had a short off-trail stint over a saddle then down a crappy ATV road full of rocks. This is where I realized my downhill skills stink. I was passed by Ruby Muir wearing 5 fingers (she ended up 3rd). She was gone. Very impressive. I was hanging with Stephanie Howe (eventual winner) for a while too (until it leveled off).
Turned around at Pacific Mine (Mile 15.5) @ 2:50. Still doing ok, but legs are slowing down. From this point on, I would not pass a soul and I would become roadkill for anyone nearby. It was the beginning of the end. The entire climb up to Baldy was a suffer-fest. Light headed, wobbly, dizzy, weak, couldn't breathe. It only got worse the higher I got. By the time I hit Larry's hole I was done. I ate and drank lots hoping to improve. I had completely given up racing and was merely moving just to survive. No longer with any pride, I no longer cared who passed me and how many did so. I had to stop to try and catch my breath a few times. What race? I am going to die. Who cares about a race? The final 750' climb in .4 mile (to 11,000') was a death sentence.
Almost there...
Made it!
Oh look, she's taking pictures, I will try to run again. Ouch.
I stopped to get a hug but secretly wanted her to carry me to the tram. She gave me some tough love and sent me on my way.
This is the route down off Baldy towards the tunnel under Hidden Peak.
Looking back at Baldy
Is Speedgoat Karl sponsored?
One more descent and climb to go. 12 mins down and 42 mins back up the ridge trail to hidden peak (again). The downhill hurt my body as bad as the uphill. I got passed by 2 people on the downhill. That usually doesn't happen...
The Ridge Trail
Ouch
Once over the final climb, I suddenly felt better. My lower back stopped hurting as bad, my breathing improved. I could run again. I was watching my watch and doing some math. If I hurried, I could break 7 hours. Things weren't looking too good for a while but once I dropped below 9000' I could breathe again and life was good again. I managed 3 sub 8 min miles to sneak under 7 hours. I even had time to slow down so my son could join me across the line. I didn't realize that my daughter had tried to run with me too. My fan club at the finish line got this great photo of the finish.
So happy to be done....
So, I figure I could run 6:30 on this course healthy with my current fitness. Slowing down 30 mins felt a lot worse than it was. I thought I was going to hit 8 hours for a while. If I even finished. There is only 1 time I have felt this bad in a race, ever. The Bear 100. So I am pretty happy with how things turned out. I survived! I think it made my cold worse though....
Day 1 of Backpacking the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming with the 14-17 year old scouts.
It started off with a guy (random stranger) having a heart attack? in the grocery store in Pinedale WY. We were 10 feet away and tried to wake him up until we realized he wasn't breathing and had no pulse. We were getting ready to start CPR when the police and paramedics arrived (less than 2 mins - very fast). They tried to revive him unsuccesfully and then carted him off to the hospital. We weren't sure if he made it or not until Saturday when we asked at the store and found out he died. Crazy start to the hike.
We hiked in 7 miles to Camp 1 but not before a few more incidents.
- I was not feeling well and caught the flu bug that hit my house last weekend. It hit me hard at mile 4.5 and I was shaking, freezing, light headed, dizzy, unable to move well, dry heaving, etc. Basically unable to go on. I received a blessing and had a quick recovery and was able to make it the 2.5 miles further to our camp location (with some help from the boys with carrying some of my pack weight).
- About 20 mins after that, a boy decided to check out the scenery at an overlook a little too close and slipped over the edge. He fell about 20-25 feet and only ended up with a gash in the leg and some bad bruising.
- Not long after that, we got interrogated by the ranger and was fined $150 for not filling out the proper paperwork we didn't know we needed. Ignorance is not bliss. I would later be able to undo the fine (see Friday's entry).
We made camp and called it a day!
I am counting my backpacking miles as running miles because they were dang hard. 55+ pounds is a lot to carry when sick and you only weigh 135.
- Today we took a long breakfast and eventually broke camp to move only 3 miles further inland to Seneca Lake. I was feeling much better today after puking up dinner. Ate and drank normal and regained strength.
