Summit junkie!

Got the kids to bed and went to the gym for some exciting TM miles. I did 4 at an 8:30 pace. My right ITB was slightly tight at the end, so I went home and stretched for 30 minutes. I picked up one of those foam roller-ball-thingies, and I rolled out my ITB, and also did some yoga stretches (thanks Missy and Kelli).

I woke up early this morning to lift at the gym. It was pretty crowded in there, but I had a great workout. I worked on my chest, arms, shoulders and lats. I felt like I could keep going for a while, but I needed to get into work, so I only lifted for 35 minutes.

I'll be climbing View Benchmark (high point south of Draper) later in the day. I'm not expecting it to be very difficult, but I think the views will be great and I am looking forward to it. If the weather holds I'll be climbing Wire/Red Butte again tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone.

**PM update**

Did View Benchmark after work. It took about an hour, and was really fun with excellent views. There was some deep snow near the summit, but nothing serious. FUN!

3 miles and 700 ft elevation gain.

I climbed Mt. Wire today with Matt Van Horn and Twinkies. We started a little after 7:00 AM. The forecast called for snow this morning, but it looked like we would have a nice window that would allow us to get up and back down without any precipitation. Based on the forecast the night before I was fully expecting to be driving to the trailhead in snow, and I was excited when I drove over the Point of the Mountain and I could see that the storm wasn't as big as I was expecting. There were still some threatening clouds, but I knew we would be fine.

Twinkies and I started off running, with Matt hiking. It was cold and windy, but I heated up fast. Once on the ridge, Twinkies took the lead, and Matt was still a good distance behind. The ridge was very windy, and I was very thankful for my windstopper fleece hat and jacket. It took about 30 minutes to negotiate the main ridge and we were pounded by the wind the entire time. It was COLD.

I stopped a few times to shoot some video and pictures, and my hands would be numb within a minute. That ridge is really exposed, and I was feeling bad for Matt because he didn't have a hat on.

Twinkies had a pretty good lead on me, while Matt lagged behind me. When I finally made it to the top I could see that Twinkies had continued on and I don't blame him at all. That was one of the coldest summits I have ever been on in my life. I waited on top for Matt for about 15 minutes until he finally arrived, and I was pretty much numb by then. After a few photos we headed back down the way we came. I knew we would never catch Twinkies, and both of us just wanted to get down as quickly as possible.

We ran/hiked back down and actually made pretty good time, and when we got back to the cars I noticed that Twinkies was already gone. It was a fun morning even though we had to battle the weather. I actually loved almost every minute of it.

45 minutes of core on my ball and 15 minutes of stretching. I rolled my ITB and stretched everything else.

I had another busy night and my routine was thrown off by house guests, but I did manage to get 4.5 on the TM at 8:30 pace.

I woke up early this morning to lift weights at the gym for 45 minutes before work. I worked my arms, chest, core, shoulders and back. I will probably try and get in some miles later in the day as well.

4 on the TM. I didn't feel like working out at all, but I forced myself to get in 4 miles. Things have been crazy busy this week, and I am looking forward to a fun trail run with Jun tomorrow (Friday) morning, although I am not looking forward to 3:30 AM start.

No working out today. I just stretched my legs and ITB for 25 minutes. I wanted to make sure I was fresh for the big trail run tomorow.

I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning to do a trail run with Jun. We met at the Chevron in Draper (South Mountain) at 4:15 and then left my car about a half mile up the road, near where we would be coming down off of the mountain. After we dropped my car we drove to the BST off of Wasatch Blvd. It was cold, but not bad when we arrived and we quickly got our gear ready and headed out.

The first 5 miles were on the BST, and there was a lot less snow than the last time we were on it. There are a lot of ups and downs, and after about 3 miles I could feel my ITB in my right knee getting tight. It has been bothering me ever since our run out in Eagle Mountain. I had to mess with my brace several times, and I could tell when it had fallen down some because my knee would really start to hurt. The morning was incredible, and the views of the valley and the night sky were great.

Heading into Corner Canyon it gets steep, so we did hike a few smaller sections on the steeper snow, and we did sink a little bit in some places, but not bad. The road eventually heads toward Suncrest, and we made our way to some houses, and after a short scramble up a really steep hill we were on the road that would take us right to the railhead to the summit of View Benchmark.

The run on the road was fun, but we did climb a pretty steep hill and my ITB was really sore. We had a great time and the conversation was great. The views were incredible, and we were both giddy about being able to do this amazing run. It was FUN.

We stopped at the trailhead so that I could take a GU, and I nearly gagged. I hate the texture. We also ran into a runner who was going on a short hike with his dog. I doubt he would have even imagined how far we had come, and he took off ahead of us.

The hike to the summit was fun, but my ITB was hurting a lot. The wind had also picked up and it was cold, although it didn't bother me at all. Jun got a pretty good lead on me and made it to the summit about 5 minutes before I did. It was cold and windy on top, so we didn't stay long. Just long enough for me to drop my pants for better access to the knee brace. COLD! I'm glad Jun didn't have his camera.

We descended from the summit, and headed down a nice road/trail on our way to the highest point on the ridge directly behind Draper. I believe this is called South Mountain. The run was hard on me. My knee was hurting and there was some steep up and down. Just before the final climb to South Mountain a herd of deer ran right in front of me on the ridge. It actually startled me for a second. They were close. The last push to the top was steep, and when I reached the summit I could see Jun about a half mile away on the ridge. He had run an out and back to pick up some more miles while he waited for me.

The hike/run back down to my car was steep! It was really hard on my knee, and I was really happy to get back down to the road. From there it was just under a mile back to my car. We had some Gatorade and water and Jun continued on back to his car. I finished with 13 miles and had an amazing day. This was probably the most fun I have ever had on a run. It was challenging, but had a little bit of everything, and it is definitely one I will do again.

My kids were at my moms, so we slept in for the first time in months. It was so nice. I got up and made it to the gym to do some lifting. I lifted for 45 minutes and had a really good workout. I was the only one in the gym for a while, but then this older guy came in to workout with me. He gave me some mild entertainment when he fell asleep on the ab-crunch machine (no lie) for about 15 minutes. It was funny, and I tried hard not to wake him up, but then I finally let the weights on the butterfly machine hit too hard and it startled him awake. Ha. Good times.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

30 minutes of ab work with my ball while watching TV.

I went to the gym to lift after the kids went to bed and I ended up working out with some guys in my neighborhood that lift on Monday nights. We had a great session (working biceps, triceps and chest). I also did several sets of pull-ups since it seems to be all the rage around here lately.

when I got home I stretched and rolled out my ITB.

7 on the TM while watching the Jazz/Warriors game. Today was very busy. My wife is working on a major project for school, and my kids were very demanding tonight. I'm lucky I was able to sneak in what I did on the TM.  These were all nice and easy miles 9:15 pace. I had a good groove and felt like I could have run all night. I just ran out of time.

I also stretched and rolled my ITB again. I am very sore from lifting yesterday, and I think I need to work out with my friends more because their workouts tend to be a little more intense than mine. I'm feeling it.

I had the weirdest dream last night that I was running the Salt Lake Marathon with some friends. The aid stations were all houses in my parents neighborhood, and they were being run by people that live in my current neighborhood. At one of the aid stops they were out of GU so I went searching around on the ground trying to find one that wasn't opened. I finally found one that was open but full, so I ate it. Ha. I also got lost at one point (why am I thinking about Eagle Mountain?) and the race director found me and gave me a map of the course. I finally got back on the right route and found my friends. We only had two miles to go and we were all tired and then... my alarm went off.

Hit the trail this morning with Jun while all of you were still in bed (4:30 AM). Okay, maybe some of you were up, but I did get up at 3:30 which still seems so wrong.

It was a perfect morning. We did the Mt. Wire/Red Butte run/hike for the 4th time this year. Yeah, it is that good. It was warm and we had a fun time talking all the way up Wire, and made it to the summit in 54 minutes.

After a brief break we ran over to Red Butte where we did run into some snow. There was a hard crust and we did punch through quite a few times, so it was a little slow and tedious. Once on the Red Butte ridge it was a fun run up to the summit. The run down is pretty technical, but once we hit the saddle we cruised at a nice pace back to the car.

Great Day!

I got up early this morning to lift at the gym. I was really tired and sluggish and it was hard to get going. I stayed about 50 minutes and ended up having a decent workout, but I am still trying to recover from waking up at 3:30 AM yesterday.

This was one of the busiest weekends I have ever had. My wife has an end of term project due for school today (Monday) and we ended up doing a few projects that we weren't planning, so the day just got away from us. I was busy running from one project to the next.

I did manage to sneak in 4 TM miles. I just couldn't bring myself to run on the road.

I had the busiest day of the year so far. My wife was working on her school project all day, and I had to take care of the kids and house. After lunch I gave the kids several options for the rest of the day, and they all wanted to climb a mountain, so I got everyone ready and we headed out to climb View Benchmark. We also decided to take the dog.

The hike was a lot of fun. My son, Alec (5 year old) held my hand most of the time, and I was holding the dog on her leash with the other hand. At times it was diffucult because my dog wanted to pull and bound away, and I had to balance Alec as well. He was so funny and asked me questions the entire time. About every minute he wanted to know how long until we were at the top. There were a few sections that were really muddy, and one near the top that was rather steep, so that provided some challenge with the dog and Alec both latched onto me. It was fun though.

Once the summit was in view the 3 girls got a burst of energy and all took off running to the top. The best part of the day was hearing them all scream WOOHOO, from up there. Alec and I were about 5 minutes behind them and he was also excited to reach the summit, and once up there he wanted me to show him where our house was and also grandmas and several others.

The hike down was a lot faster, and when we were almost back to the car we ran into two other hikers with dogs. My dog was overly excited and I think she scared the other dog owners a bit. She is strong, and looks a little like a pit bull and I think she makes people nervous. She is just playing and excited, but it can appear that she is looking for a fight. I assured them that she was just excited.

We got back to the car with only a few scratches and a lot of mud on the shoes, but otherwise everyone was feeling good. It took us a little over two hours round trip.

The kids were all tired, so we went home and grilled up some steaks and cleaned the house. It was a busy day/weekend, but we had a great time.

I went to the gym after the kids were in bed to lift. I ended up working out with a group of friends and we had a really good session for almost an hour. Worked chest, triceps, shoulders and did several pull ups and push ups. I think I will start working out with this guys every Monday.

I went to the gym last night and then stayed up and watched the Jazz game and I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 with the alarm set for 5:00. I woke up at 4:59 just in time to turn off my alarm. I was tired. The plan was to meet Jun at 6:00 at the Pipeline trailhead up Millcreek. I left my house a little later than planned, and when I arrived at the first Pipeline trailhead I parked and waited for 5 minutes, but figured they must be higher up. By time I got to the second Pipeline TH I saw a white car there (not Jun's) and I thought it could be them, but nobody was there. I waited for 5 minutes and then decided that the car was probably belonged to Jun's friend, so I headed up. (I only missed them by a minute or two).

After a short run up the trail it forks. I had never been on this portion of the trail before and left said to Grandeur Pk trailhead and the right went to Elbow Fork. I guessed that they had gone up, so I turned right and started heading up the canyon (They went the other way).

The temps were perfect and I had some great music on my iPod and I just enjoyed the morning. It was a fun run with only a few snow patches to cross and a lot of nice elevation gain. When I reached Elbow Fork (2.2 miles) I thought that I would run into Jun and his friend soon, but I wasn't sure if they had continued up the Pipeline, which goes up to Mt Aire or if they had gone up the canyon. I stopped and ate a Powerbar Tangerine gel, had some water and then continued up the Pipeline for about 5 more minutes. I thought that the guys had probably gone the other way, so I decided to just go back down.

The run back to the car was really fun. I had some Bob Marley in the iPod and I kept thinking that Jun was going to come running up behind me, so I looked back several times, but never saw them. The last mile my ITB got a little tight, so I stopped and stretched and it felt a little better. The total time was 1:30 and it was an incredible morning. I will definitely be back again to run more of the Pipeline.

I had to work off the Banbury Cross donuts I ate, so there was no way I was missing a workout today. 4 on the TM. 8:30 pace.

I just signed up for the Sapper Joe 30K on May 29th. I can't wait.

20 minutes stretching and rolling out my ITB.

50 minutes of ab work. I'm not sure if this was (as Burt would say) an 'ab ripper', but it sure did hurt. Feel the burn.

I just got the weirdest email from some guy wanting me to join his P90X yoga group. He sent me a few pictures of what I can expect if I join. I am very intrigued, but I just don't think this is my thing.

I hit the gym this morning before work and had a really good workout (upper body) for 40 minutes. I have been doing a lot more free weights and less machines lately and have really noticed a difference. Did 75 pull ups. I was worked.

I met Twinkies at the Centerville Peak trailhead at 6:00 AM this morning. Our goal was to climb Centerville Peak, although neither of us had ever been to the top. I finally got my Garmin, and it was fun playing with it all day. The first mile on the watch was an 18:00 mile, but considering the steep grade I am definitely ok with it.

Twinkies was fast and I was constantly trying to keep up with him. We were able to run a lot of the trail, but I had to power hike up the steeper sections. We never could figure out which peak was Centerville (Twinkies I think it was the first knob we passed to the left of the trail). Just after the 3rd mile we were in snow the rest of the way, although it has a hard crust, so we didn't sink at all. I was feeling kind of nauseated and a few times I felt like I was going to lose my breakfast, so I did slow down some for about a mile.

We decided to go all the way up to an un-named peak just under 9,000 feet. The last 500 feet were steep and windy and of course Twinkies beat me to the top. Once on the summit we took some summit jump shots and then Twinkies told me he was going to "bomb it" down and he did. We both ran all the way down and the steep run in the snow off of the summit was the best part of the day for me. I was feeling really good too.

It took me two hours to get to the summit and exactly one hour back to the car. Twinkies met me with about a half mile to go (he had run back up) and it was fun running back the rest of the way. We had an amazing time and it was the perfect way to start my Saturday.

A few pics: Twinkies climbing up the snow slope

Twinkies summit jump-

Me on the summit-

My quads were still sore from the run yesterday, so I decided to do 35 minutes on the elliptical and it seemed to help.

No workout yesterday. It was my daughters birthday, so we took her out to dinner and then she wanted to go bowling, so we didn't get back home until late, so I wasn't able to make it to the gym. That was ok. I ate waaay too much though.

I got up early and hit the gym. I have a few guys giving me some pointers about my workouts, so today I did some power lifting. It was a really good workout and I am definitely feeling it more than normal, so that is good. After I lifted I hit the TM for four easy miles at 8:30 pace.

Notes from the gym: There is this guy that has been there the last few times early and he is trying to push Maakoa, which is one of the many multi-level-marketing companies in Utah pushing energy/anti-oxidant supplements. He approached me during one of my sets and tried to tell me how much more fit I would get and how much better I would feel if I took this product. Inside I was laughing because this guy was the most overweight out of shape looking guy in the gym. haha. Anyway, I took his card and told him I would check it out online. I also saw him stalking 3-4 other guys.

I had an amazing trail run this morning with Jun on the Pipeline trail up Millcreek Canyon. That storm last night was crazy and it must have been really bad up the canyon because there were tree limbs everywhere, and going up the canyon there was a tree that had fallen across the road, and it was barely passable.

We started at 5:15 am with a slight rain, but the trail was dry. The temps were perfect and comfortable. We had a fun time talking and occasionally moving fallen debris off of the trail. We were doing just over a 9:00 pace most of the way. We did have a slight rain/hail/snow most of the way, but it didn't get bad until the last mile. This is a really fun trail with some excellent views of the canyon and the city once you get to Lookout Point.

At Lookout Point we took a break for a few minutes. It was just starting to get light and the views of the valley are excellent. On the way back I kept up with Jun for about a mile, but I had to stop for a bathroom break, and I needed to adjust my brace and I was never able to catch up.

By time I hit the last mile I was wet and the snow was starting to really come down. The trail was now getting muddy, so it wasn't quite as good as earlier in the morning, but it was still pretty awesome. I made it back with a total time of 1:30ish (I forgot to look at my watch because I was so wet) and I was into work on time. This is why I love Utah so much. There aren't many places that you can have that kind of experience so close to civilization. So fun!

3 nice and easy on the TM to stretch my legs. They are still a little sore.

I woke up early to lift at the gym. There were very few people there and it was a nice workout. I kept with my new routine of only using free weights, although I did warm up on the machines. I also did 6 rounds of pull-ups.

Pull-ups

-22

-15

-15

-13

-10

-10