What a Week!

I don't normally review my week's activity as a whole, but this was an exceptionally fun week and I really feel like it was worth spraying about. So that I don't have to mention it in each activity review I ran every run this week in my Altra Instincts. If you haven't read my shoe review, do it. They were amazing considering everything I put them through.

Monday - 8 miles, 180 vert, 1:06:08
Conscious of the lower back issues and the pain that is radiating to my hips I was determined to keep my runs this week flat. During a lunchtime run I headed out on the paved Jordan River Parkway in Sandy, UT in a light wind and warm temps. I intended to just keep it casual and only picked up the pace to an 8 min/mile for the 2nd half of the run. Nice and easy.

Tuesday - 9.15 miles, 1930 vert, 1:39:31
It took less than 24 hours to completely fail in my commitment to keep things flat. Under the extreme threat of snow and rain (isn't it the end of April?) I went out with Matt and checked out a new loop in Draper. We ran up a newish trail to the east of South Mountain and wound our way up to the top of Suncrest. At the summit we took a connector trail to the dirt road heading up to View Benchmark peak. Summiting in high winds we went back the way we came to the saddle then ran over to South Mountain. From there we went down the north ridge heading west until we had to cut down the steep hill before going into the quarry. Then it was just a half mile back to the car. This was a brutal, but awesome run on some great cruiser trails.

Wednesday - 8.22 miles, 1400 vert, 1:14:00
This time with Matt and Scott we ran the BoSho from the Red Rock trailhead in Draper into Corner Canyon. From there up the Ghost Falls trail as the Clark Trail is closed. Going up was fun, but a bit tiring.Tuesday's hill-fest took it out of me. We then cruised down Corner Canyon Rd and back on the BoSho. We all hung very close together until we had about 1.25 miles left, then I turned it on and pushed hard to the finish. Matt almost caught me with .3 left, but forgot about the final hill, something I had saved up for.  I was able to push back ahead and finished 25 seconds ahead of him and another 2 min or so ahead of Scott. Two days of solid vert. Not great on the hip, but really fun.

Thursday - rest

Friday - 30.0 miles, 3350 vert, 4:56:30
I got a message from Scott early in the week asking if I wanted to go out to Stansbury Island and run the 10 mile mountain bike trail in three loops as he needed a good long run for the month. I've been out to the island a few times to climb, but hadn't ever made it out there to do a run. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We coerced Matt and Josh to come along. It didn't take much as both were itching to run some new trails and get in a longer run.
The trail is pretty simple; park on the west side of the island and immediately climb 800 ft in the first mile to the main saddle, then down 100 ft or so and continue on the crest trail for 3 more miles before turning down a small canyon all the way down to the valley floor and back around on dirt roads. The crest single track trail is extremely rocky and technical. Everyone caught a toe on several occasions, although Scott was the only one to actually fall to the ground. He almost lost his water bottle over a cliff.
We ran the first loop clockwise, doing the big climb first. We all stayed together this loop until we had two miles left when Scott fell back to take a couple of pictures. He stayed back until we got back to the car. Our first loop was in 1:32:00.

For loop two we went back around counter-clockwise. It was a good choice since we were able to run the flat 4.5 miles to an easy climb and then run the crest trail to the last short climb over the saddle and power down the big descent to the car. We lost Scott about 2 miles into the run and didn't see him again until we got back to the car, 15 minutes after we arrived. At mile 20 I still felt really good, but the long wait for Scott took it's toll and for the start of loop 3 I was tight.

The third loop was painful. We went back clockwise to get the big climb out of the way. It was on the climb that my hip acted up. I kept it in check on the crest trail, but it really started to hurt the last 3 miles back to the car. This was a much slower loop as the week's activities had really taken their toll. Luckily, Matt and Josh were as tired as me and were will to take it slow too. We lost Scott way back on the climb and were just hoping he wasn't too far behind this time. Three loops, 30 miles total, with a ton of good vert. The trail is incredible and really remote and rugged. I can't wait to go back.

Saturday, 3.1 miles, 40 vert, 23:13 
Salt Lake Running Co 5k
This is a free race put on each year by the Salt Lake Running Co. I signed up myself, my wife, and my son Tyler basically just to get the free shirt. My wife didn't go because she wasn't feeling well, so it was just me and Tyler. I know a 30 miler isn't a great taper run, but it would have to do. Back in my Altras and stiff in the hips Tyler and I settled into the middle of the pack at the start. He wasn't planning on running it hard, as it had just snowed and he knew I was tired, but once we passed the start line I knew it was ON. He was running so well it was hard to even keep up with my tired legs.

By the time we hit the turn-around I had caught back up and we ran together until a quarter mile left. Then I urged him to push on and drive to the finish. With 100 yards to go I yelled for him to drive with his arms and he really surged ahead, finishing in 23:10, more than 2 minutes faster than his PR. It was so awesome to watch him get a new PR and run hard. He's got real talent. My legs settled in after the first half mile and maintaining a 7:30 pace for the whole race felt pretty easy. I definitely felt like I had more miles in me, but I'm glad I didn't try. I'm pretty tired now.

Weekly Totals
58.49 Miles
6738 vert
9 hrs 20 min

What a week, huh?