j-lyn's corner

When I got a late night text that people were bailing from the steeple chase route, I figured, what the heck, I still have one running/carpool partner, let's see if anyone shows up. Just when I'm ready to spend a boring morning running the BST, Twinkies pulls up and says he actually knows where we're going. Sah-weet! That was the only good part of the morning.

As soon as I stepped out of the car I realized it was going to be a lot colder than anyone had planned for- We were all in long sleeves and there was a 20mph wind blowing and biting. I borrowed Jacob's vest, threw on some gloves, and we started. My legs were dead from the first run down to the trailhead from the capitol to the BST. I knew that was trouble if I was hurting so much on a slight road down hill. We proceeded to tag the twins (me trying to not climb too quickly to save some juice). I think we summited at 1:06, so not terribly slow. Coming off the first twin we see MVH with no headlamp or water. Maybe he should be M-WTH? haha. Right on for him. He tags the twins too and then catches us. Once we got on the big slog to summit (last 2 miles up?) the boys were power hiking at a pace I just couldn't come close too. My quads were screaming and I just felt trashed. I felt worse than I did at the Zion Traverse, and pretty comparable to my first 50. This is at mile 7 of a 20 mile run, and I felt like I had already run 50... Last week was still in my legs, as were the jump squats the day before.

So I felt bad watching the boys stop and huddle into their shirts (in the blowing snow...) like little turtles waiting for me. But I just had nothing to give. We got up little black, tried to go down the other side, I got cut up through the scrub oak, there was snow, blah blah blah we went back the way we came and for once in my life I didn't want to push the downhills, I was happy to just stay in line and take them slow.

Then Jacob and I ran 4.5 more. Then my sunglasses ripped out my nose piercing (which I got fixed) then my fam had a bunch of stuff and (other than a quick shower) I didn't get home til 4pm, then we went to Chuck E Cheeses at 5pm.... what a day!

Final thought: Just cuz someone has a nickname based on a disgusting processed food product it doesn't not mean they're slow, and likely it means the exact opposite.... 

Ran with Jim in yellow fork. How pleasant- no dogs, bikers, or other people. We went slow, talked trash, he gave me 100mile advice, I gave him nutritional advice. I stopped at the turn around and grabbed a bunch of trash to run out until my arms were full. (I had a couple boxes of recyclables in my car to add to). So Jim felt bad and started to pick some up too. Then when we were done he hurried off to go buy green juice. I think I'm being a bad influence on him lol.

Then I hurried to pick Ben up from a meeting place and we went to IronMan 3 with my coworker. Fun. 

recovery. realllllyyyyy didn't want to.

Well, it all started when we were looking for a trail turn-off we didn't find. Okay, the boys didn't find, I was convinced it was the clearly marked turn-off we passed...

But somehow, several hours later, we're near the base of the crags in Lone Peak Cirque deciding it's a good idea to ski/downclimb/bush-whack a short-cut to the trail that they're 90% certain is down there.

Several hours later with raw legs, we find said trail. Then we winced the rest of the day everytime we passed through overgrown trails.

10+ hours, 30ish miles (we don't know, everyones watches died), and over 9000 vert.

The good news is that with going so slow and bushwhacking the first 6 hours recovery time was minimal. I strained a gluteus something or other, which pulls on my ITB and SI and give me occasional shooting pains, but neither of those two things are injured. I had my gluteus massaged a few times. I may love my job, but I wonder about my poor co-workers... 

Yes, I am pathetic enough to count the hiking miles with the kids.

It's all about discrimination really. No mile gets left behind. 

10 with Neasts on DD. It was faster than my recovery pace but slower than my tempo. Either way, I enjoyed listening to Neasts clear her brains as we rattled on about random things in our sleepy state. I enjoyed listening, but didn't have much to add- I was sleep and exhausted and was doing my best just to try to keep up with her!

Met at 4:30am with 8 others to run Pipeline. Millcreek has never seen that many cars that early in the morning. It was a rather lovely party. Zac ran 10 and headed out (he's on a taper), but Leslie, Neasts, jun, MVH, Dorsimus, ScottW, and JimmySG all stuck around for a second lap.

I kept up with the front when I was up there, and hung with the back when I was back there, no real pace in mind, not caring about speed and just enjoying being carried by the others. Approx every 5 miles we'd stop for a minute or two and chat and eat, and I didn't record my stops, which were probably in the 10-15min range. Neasts brought Coca-Cola which was a heaven-send.

I left them at 18.8 (Or, they left me) and I went back out. I did the marathon around 3:57. Dropped my vest at the car, sipped some coke and choked down a salt and a bit of bagel and went out for the last 3 miles. Hit the 50k in 4:39. I was hoping to break my antelope island 50k time (yep) and my pony express 50k time (I think it was 4:24, so nope).  The last 5 miles I did 8 min miles.

The major difference for me on today vs my other to 50k times (apart from those being races with aid stations and today just being a training run) is that from last wednesday thru today (so in 7.5 days) I've done over 100 miles. I was happy that I was able to push a little bit towards the end on tired legs. I've been running so slow lately, and after the debacle last wednesday (and pacing Antelope) I just needed a confidence booster run to remind myself- hey, I can do this. There's hope that I can finish Bryce and maybe even run some of it too.

Recovery run tomorrow initiates the taper! Woohoo! It's almost like Christmas, except I get to sleep in! 

Ran 1700 vert gain (I thought this was a recovery run!) with Jim in yellow fork area. I whined and complained incessenantly for the first 3.5 miles. It all hurt and Jim was making me run. Then we hit the first patch of downhill and a view and I remember I liked running and I shut up.

We ended up pushing a little the last couple miles (8min miles) which for Jim is awesome! I was feeling alright and wanted to see him push, since with lung problems he hasn't been able to in a while, so I kept up. He gave me some confidence in myself for Bryce. Pretty sure he thinks I'm faster and better prepared than I am. Or at least he's good at lying. Either way, it's nice to know he really believes I'll do alright. 

Funny thing- we leap frogged with a couple mountain bikers for a bit til we split to do a longer loop. They did the 6 mile loop... and we beat them back to the cars (by a bit). BOOM. 

Paced a 1:56 1/2 marathon. I think we would've hit 1:55 but I had to pee and we had to stop and pour water from random jugs of water and flag down the pregnant sag wagon for a salt pill and some dried pineapple.

Shins hurt, not as bad as I expected, but they weren't happy that I ran on the road.

They'll get over it.

Not a bad day out with Logan peeps and a nice recovery day. 

A quick 6 miles to the deer fence trail head and on the trail. I've always thought of it as a "flat-ish" run... except that 900 vert.

Fields of flowers, cold air, and some music. Splendid. I picked my momma a bouquet and ran it back. Somehow it survived. 

Felt a little klutzy in the ultra-raptors. They kind of clank around on my feet... I'm just not used to the bulk and am scared to trust them.

Started at Big Willow with Neasts for another flat-ish run. I love the rockiness of that trail. Not too much nor too little... just right. :)

We were going to go for 10 but cut the run short... by a giant 1/2 mile lol.  You can tell she was breathing easier on the ups. What I can say? She can fly.

 Oh, and the night before I was near tears I was so tired and my husband was insisting I set an alarm to run and I was so hurt it was so mean. Ha. I was delirious with fatigue, evident by the 4 naps I took that day... 

FB rumor said that lake blanche was "damn near runnable." Hmm. Maybe I should pick up swearing so I can understand what that means a little bit better. Cuz apparently it means 1/2 mile of climbing on snowy/icy single track and hoping you don't post-hole to the point of no return in the empty spots behind the boulders.

Drama aside, it was an incredible morning and just what I needed. I was surprised at how much vert there was in that 3 miles up (I won't post it here, I don't want to discourage a certain someone from running it with me this weekend) but it was nice how runnable that vert was. The view at the lake was outstangingly gorgeous and worth every step. I needed that fun and adventure to soothe me mentally and ground me as I prepare for Bryce.

I then literally giggled the whole way down jumping off of boulders.

For the sake of time I finished off the last 6 miles at dimple dell just so I could get in the miles I needed before preschool got out.

Shins and achilles were screaming on every small incline. Baths and rolling didn't help. Massage tomorrow. 

Woke up and the achilles were so painful I could barely walk. I probably would've called the run off had I not woke up an hour before my running alarm and decided to just "get this recovery run out of the way."

It's been OVER A MONTH since I've done a recovery run without Jim. He makes me feel so much better about my recovery pace! haha. He sets a darn good recovery pace though. I was determined to have a real recovery run, where I feel better after than before. So I ran @DD going a leisurely pace, between 9:30-11:30. I think I ended with an average of 9:45? Who really cares. It was SLOW. I was hoping the achilles would figure itself out with all the squawking it was doing.

I took the lower trail that I haven't run since it was covered in ice and I fell and got injured a few months ago. It was pleasant and winding and rather enjoyable.

 I had a massage, she spent over an hour on my shins and achilles. I was told she'd never seen that many knots in a leg before "it's like a braid..." ha. Glad my knots formed a braid.

Several hours after the massage, my legs are starting to feel better and the achilles actually feel normal and not like a giant ball of tight pain. Good. I'm supposed to stretch them out again with an easy 2 miles tomorrow before I test them with longer distances this weekend. 

did an easy 2 on the paved path to test out the achilles. funny, I haven't seen 8min miles in a while... since I used to run on roads. easy and light.

 vert gain: oh wait. we don't track that on roads. 

it was bloody brilliant. up Blanche and back, dodging hail bullets and flying down the mountain. On the way up I felt like I had brand new climbing legs-- I haven't had these in over a month!  Thankfully Neasts kept me in check, don't want to wear them out when I'm just getting them back.

Then we added on miles on Mill B dodging real bullets. Yep, shooting isn't allowed in Big. No real dodging involved, they were gentlemen, offering us cocoa, but still... you shouldn't shoot at a trail.

Neasts wrote a much more entertaining summary: http://neasts.fastrunningblog.com/blog--nbsp-After-Millcreek-pipeline-tra/05-18-2013.ht 

We were going to go up to Mill D... except for that fresh blanket of snow and blizzard. ...Yeah. I suggested Blanche again and the guys complied. It was a slow hike up, their legs were dead, and I was enjoying the hiking training, something I feel like I've neglected training for my first 100. Then I bolted down.

Oh, and I went out only with a cup of (stevia sweetened) black coffee and a banana, wanted to see what my blood sugar would do (curious if it'd crash). It did, I had a bit of a low blood sugar attack, got all shakey and dizzy, ate a couple dates, wished I had some protein and instant sugar to stabilize myself, but kind of worked through it without the easy resources.

Sort of dumb to do that on purpose, but I figured it was an easy super slow day... In the last month I've had a hypoglycemia attack 3 times, the most severe of which was during the Zion traverse... and I thought maybe I should try go through this on the trail a few times on shorter runs just to figure out how to get through it in case something happens again when I'm out and don't have proper supplies.

SLOW and steady @ dimple dell. I really wanted to go back out to Blanche, but didn't want the achilles to get super tight (it already was tightening up again)

Wild Wire. Quite a crew too! Silly me told Leslie I'd try to pace off of her on the way up. TRY is the pertinent word. She flew up that! Women's FKT car to summit is now 35ish min. 2400ish vert in 2 miles... yikes! 

I only had green juice and eggs the whole day, and stupidly drank a soda and ate a banana on the way over. It was just asking for my blood sugar to crash. Sure enough a little over half way up I started the usual cold sweats/shakey hands/mild confusion. No biggie. Then my feet went numb. For some reason (confusion?) I thought taking my shoes off and putting them back on would magically resolve this. So I did so twice. My feet were still numb. Somehow managed to get up the darn thing in the 40-41 range (at that point I didn't really care....) Jim's been around long enough to know me and he gave me a gu which I eagerly sucked down.

Then I saw the crew starting down a diff way and I took off- fun time! I quickly passed the first couple guys and fell in line with Pete, who flew down the hills and I had a jolly time chatting with him and trying to keep up. 

slow in the clunky ultra-raptors @ corner canyon. I thought with a 6am start I wouldn't see too many bikers. Wrong! There was over 20 that I saw.

 I payed it forward by running down what I think was an "only bikes" trail. I tried to get up to where the Jacob's ladder turn-off is on the dirt road with the bathroom.... yeah, I must've taken 5 wrong turns. Oh well. 

photo shoot for trailandultrarunning.com

I emailed Craig, "Hey, do we actually have to run for this?"

"No. Maybe a mile tops."

...right.

 but it was a blast anyways. For some reason, hanging with those guys makes me feel just a bit less nervous for Bryce.

Moved quicker (but not pushing) @ Big Willow. Slept in and went late, like 10am, and had to dodge all the hikers. I scarred many of them by running in my sports bra. Since the last couple days I got my appetite back and ate enough to make up for the two weeks of not eating.... I'm sure it was an unpleasant sight. Oh well, at least I didn't have to see it!

 The shoes were slick and I couldn't trust my footing to move as I hoped. I started out super sluggish, but warmed up after 3 miles.

put on my race day outfit, including socks, shoes, headband, etc. aw, yah I'm cheesey. Couldn't toe the line in clothes that didn't have a bit of BO.

 I can take heart in knowing that I did 2 "easy" miles and they were both sub 8's. Shows my body is actually recovering. 

Now I have to pack. SOOO not ready to leave in the AM!