Summit junkie!

Highland loop run solo:

I could still feel some slight sluggishness (is that really a word) in me legs from the Timp run on Friday/Sat so I decided to get in some flat miles. It seems like most of my runs lately have been in the early morning or later evening, so I also wanted to get in some heat training because I haven't done much of it this year. I started my run in the early afternoon and it was already 94 out there. Right from the start the heat sapped all of my energy and I just didn't feel like running in it. Ughslowtonso'sweathotashell!

It took me two miles to get into any sort of a groove and at times I felt like I was running hard only to see a 9:00 pace on my Garmin. When I hit Kohlers and turned west I actually found a bit of pep and soon found my pace dipping into the high upper sevens, but that only lasted about a mile. Hot, sweat, heat, slow!!!

I really need to run in the heat more because right now I just can't do it well.

AP: 8:51

Weights at the gym for an hour. Arms n back. Wasatch hunerd training doesn't get any better than this.

Shambles! Caution! Eating at Buffalo Wild Wings prior to a run is like guzzling nitroglycerin and detonating it a mile in. I took some clients out to lunch today and they wanted BWW. While there they decided they needed to try almost every flavor of wing. Well, I got caught up in the moment and ate way more than I should have and about a mile into my run I had a rodeo commencing in my gut. I spent the next three miles in gastric distress and I was actually proud of myself for going 4.5 miles before exploding. I'll stop with the details here. 

View Benchmark solo:

Because of the UGE fire burning above Alpine I wasn't sure where I would run this morning. My plan was to get up early and take a look at the smoke and decide where I could run without inhaling gobs of smoke. VB was totally clear and the rest of the Wasatch looked pretty socked in, so it was an easy decision. 

I wasn't feeling great for the first few miles which I think was due to the heat and the Buffalo Wild Wings hangover. Slug! By time I hit the VB trail some good music hit the ipod and all of the sudden my tummy started feeling much better. Maybe I farted. I cruised up to the VB summit and checked out the views. Mostly I was looking at the fire that is out of control to the east. As soon as I heard about that fire I knew it was going to be bad. That area is steep and full of timber and there is almost no way to fight it without Mother Nature stepping in. Hopefully they can keep it from going North to the Alpine ridge and the Lone Peak Wilderness area.

Luckily there wasn't much smoke on top as there was a wind blowing north and most of it was hovering above the Wasatch range. I got into a good groove on my way down and just as I got to the bottom of the gradual hill I ran into three runners coming up, which is odd because we rarely see runners up there, so I stopped to chat with them. It was a guy and two girls training for the Kona TRI. We chatted for a few minutes and they were asking me where the trails go, so I offered to run them up to VB and they thought that was awesome, so I ran back up to the summit with them and they totally loved it. We chatted and checked out the views and then ran back down to the VB trailhead together. They were really cool.

Back on Ann's I finally started feeling really good and pushed the pace all the way back to the car. My Garmin hit 9 miles just as I came off Ann's trail and I finished in 1:38. I was happy I was able to get out of my funk. Happy 4th everyone. Be safe out there.

Dimple Dell gully with Jun and Brent:

Rain rain rain! We had planned on a run up to View Benchmark, but the rain made us change our plans. It rained on us the entire run, but we had fun and it felt nice to be out of the heat for a change. We kept a very decent pace the whole way and finished it off strong. I think we finished in just under 9:00 pace for the run with 600 feet of climbing.

View Benchmark solo:

After work and it was hot! I made pretty good time the first two miles and I stopped to fill my bottle at the drinking fountain at the trailhead at the top of the connector trail. I was so sweaty, but once on the VB trail the wind picked up and it kept me pretty cool all the way to the top. I wasn't wearing a watch, so I don't know what my time was to the top, but I would guess about 46ish minutes. I actually got chilled because of the wind, so I didn't stay long at all. On the way down I stopped to fill my bottle again and then had a nice cruise back to the car. 

Draper Trails/View Benchmark with Rob Bladen:

I had a really fun run this morning in Draper with my good friend Rob. We met at the Equestrian park at 6:30 am and started there. We hit the Gasline, Ghost Falls, Clarks and Ann's to the tunnel and then around the mountain to the connector trail to the VB trail. Rob got right to it and kept up a pretty good pace most of the run. At times I was sluggish and he had to wait, but I felt pretty good for several miles and after the connector we continued on up to View Benchmark. I was tired, but it felt good to keep pushing. 

We went back Via Ann's to the BST and then back to the trailhead. My legs did get fatigued the last few miles, but my energy was really good most of the way back and we kept a decent pace. Total time for the run was 2:56 (including all breaks).

Weights at the gym for an hour working my upper body/core.

6.5 easy miles. I need to have more discipline when taking clients out to lunch. Today was Pat's bbq. It was incredible and I'm always up for a nice slab of juicy beef (just ask Jun) but I ate waaaaaaay too much of it and it haunted me throughout the entire run.

I'll be attempting the Triple Crown (The highest three peaks in Utah) in a day on Thursday with Jun and jsh. I have been on the summit of King's peak 9 times and I have been wanting to get the TC for about 9 years now. I'll post updates on Facebook if anyone is interested. It should be a blast.

Triple Crown attempt with Jun and Jsh:

Congrats to Jun for setting a new fastest known time on the TC posting an 8:29. Jsh and I were there to complete the TC as well, but we were not going after the FKT with Jun. I went to sleep the night before at midnight and was up at 2:30 am to meet Jun at 3:15. I was hoping the lack of sleep wouldn't come back to bite me later in the day. We picked up Jsh and then had a fun ride to the Henry's Fork trailhead laughing and joking most of the way. We saw an incredible lightning storm just before Ft. Bridger and then it rained hard for a few minutes and I was nervous about the conditions in the Uintas.

We pulled into the trailhead at 6:00 am. It was cool and there were a lot of cars there. We got all of our gear together and we were standing at the gate about 15 minutes later ready to go. After a few pics we all started our watches and settled into a nice 10:00 min mile pace. You might think that sounds easy but I can assure you it isn't. At 9500 feet running a 10:00 min pace feels like sub 8 and to make things more challenging the trail is one of the more technical that we run on. It is full of rocks large and small and it is very hard to stay off of them and after a few hours I'm always beyond annoyed at all of the rocks. After about 2 miles Jun slowly started pulling away. I wanted to stay with him, but my heart rate was already up pretty high and I didn't want to push it too hard, so I backed it off a bit and Jsh and I ran together to Elk Horn crossing (mile 5.3) where we stopped to take a quick break and cross the stream.

We pushed a slow pace into the Henry's Fork meadow and Jun was already out of sight. It was a beautiful morning and we had the entire place to ourselves. This really is one of my favorite places in Utah with high peaks, wild flowers, trees and a stream running right through the heart of the meadow. It was pretty awesome. At Dollar Lake we saw a few campers and they seemed surprised to see us running. We went around the Lake and tried to find the best route up the ridge to the Gilbert plateau. It was basically straight up the mountain and we just got right to it. Hard! The next two hours were by far the most difficult of the day for me. We were now over 11,000 feet and would be climbing to 13,400 in some of the most difficult terrain in the Uintas. After humping the ridge and gaining the plateau it is basically a massive rock pile with uneven tundra all the way to the top. Slow. We ran where we could, but it wasn't much. We were both feeling the altitude and it just seems to suck the energy right out of you. Slow progress.

We finally ran into Jun coming down off of Gilbert. He was moving well. We chatted for a few minutes and then he took off for the chute on the western spur and we got back to the massive pile of boulders that we had to negotiate to the top. I finally started feeling a little better a few minutes before the summit and Jsh was surprised that we were actually there. The summit of Gilbert really is isn't all that great. It is just a really big pile of flat rocks with a little rock shelter right at the top. We stopped for a break and snapped a few pics and then started the tedious slog back down to the chute that would take us back into the Henry's Fork meadow. It seemed to go on forever and both of us ran out of water. Luckily when we found the chute there was a spring flowing in the rocks and we took another break to fill our water and cool off. It was awesome.

We made good time down the chute, although both of us tweaked/banged our ankles on the rocks and a few curse words were said for sure. At the bottom we stopped again to dump sand from our shoes and I ate a bean and cheese burrito. The first half of it tasted amazing, but toward the end my tummy started to protest. Back on the trail and back into a running pace to Gunsight Pass. We stopped just below the pass so Jsh could fill one of his bottles in the spring there and it wasn't running very well. We noticed that there was a large black cloud now over Gilbert and moving south toward East Gunsight and also the pass. I was a little worried and as we made our way up the switchbacks it only got larger and darker. Uh oh. Just below the pass Boooom. Rumble. Thunder. Sheeet. We stopped to assess the situation. We figured we would wait a few minutes to see if this would burn off, but the clouds continued to build and we heard a few more shots of thunder. After about 20 minutes we both realized we were probably done. I did not want to get caught up on the plateau or on the Kings summit ridge in a storm. That would be terrifying. We waited another 25 minutes and finally decided we were done. Well, that blows. We were both feeling solid and would have made it for sure, so we were pretty bummed. We hiked back down off the switchbacks to get our legs back and then slowly ran back to Dollar Lake.

The clouds only got darker and there were several booms of thunder. It also started to rain and it would rain off and on the rest of the way back. We took our time and stopped several times to take shelter under trees from the rain. Back at Elk Horn crossing it was wet and there were several groups of hikers that all seemed rather impressed that we were running. A few of them asked us what we were doing and couldn't believe it. The run back from Elk Horn to the trailhead is and always will be the worst 5 miles of running anywhere. By then your feet and legs are trashed and the rocks are everywhere and the trail goes on forever!!! It is hell. We passed everal groups of hikers that were on their way back to the trailhead and one guy called us "showoffs", so naturally we picked up our pace and powered up a large hill. We kept it up for a few more minutes passing another group before we stopped for a quick break.

With just under two miles to go Jun finally caught up to us and he looked fresh and was moving well. We ran with him for a while but neither of us were in the mood to push the pace at all, so we backed it off again and he pulled away. At the finish Jun looked amazingly good and it was pretty awesome that he got back the FKT. We were bummed that we didn't get the Triple Crown, but I still had one of the most fun days of the year running with Jsh in an incredible place. The thought of returning to do Gilbert again is not a pleasant one, so I'm not sure if I will ever attempt the TC again. It has to be the worst mountain I have ever climbed. For only doing 25 miles I was pretty wrecked. This terrain and the altitude beat you up like nothing else. It is unreal. I feel like I just ran 50 miles. Congrats again to Jun. What he did out there is pretty incredible. I'll post up some pics later.

Lehi loop solo:

The main goal for this run was to shake out my legs after our run in the Uintas. I didn't want to push the pace at all and I didn't for most of the run. This route goes from my house north east to 1200 E. in Lehi. I love running this road because of the big hills. The large hill just before you get to Micron might be the biggest hill in N. Utah County and I love running it.

The pace was easy until I got to the big hill and then I ran fast (5:40) pace down the hill. It was fun. As soon as I started going back up I pushed pretty hard all the way to the top and my heart was thumping in my head. Awesome. I hit the Timp Hwy and then turned around. Stopped at the POP off the side of the road and then did a repeat of the hill. FAST, push up and I was totally out of breath at the top.

Easy cruise back home. Loved the cool weather.

Mount Wire solo:

Wire oh how I have missed thee. Your voluptuous hills, sheer curves, loose gravel rock, beautiful vistas and shaggy overgrown bush. I won't stay away that long again. You complete me.

PM: Weights at the gym for an hour. Sweat-fest.

Draper trails/View Benchmark night run with MVH, Jun and Mark:

We did the same exact loop that we (me Jsh and Jun) did a few weeks back on our night run, taking the long route up to View Benchmark. MVH had just come from running the Pfeifferhorn and already had 20 miles under his belt at the start. Animal. The first half of the run was really fun. I was feeling good and it was a lot of fun just chatting and laughing. On the way up to VB my tummy took a turn for the worse and I was feeling quite sick. On the way down from the summit my GI issues went from worse to horrendous. I'll spare the details. It was bad. At least I gave the guys something to laugh at for a few minutes. Oh and VH where were the wipes? First time in months he hasn't been carrying a 3 month supply. DRATS!

After the 'incident' I was feeling pretty good and really enjoyed the run until I took a hard fall on my hip with about 1.5 miles to go. I took it slow the rest of the way down. Overall it was a pretty fun night with a lot of laughs.

Neighborhood loop with Clayton:

One of my neighbors is just starting to get back into running, so we decided to get out on a run. He runs pretty fast, but usually only does 2-4 miles and he wants to start training for longer distances. We started off at a 7:20 pace and ran between 7:20-7:45 for most of the run. We just chatted about running the entire time and the miles really flew by. He wants to get out on some trails, so I invited him to do VB with me and he seemed pretty psyched to try it.

View Benchmark with MattVH:

Matt and I were going to run up to the Pfeifferhorn, but it was raining at the LCC park n ride and the conditions looked iffy, so we drove over to Draper to run up VB since the weather looked good over there. The first few miles were easy as we let our dinner settle and we didn't push it too hard. On the VB trail we picked up the pace a bit and ran it strong up to the summit. We decided to hit the sub peak to the west as well, so we cruised over there and took in the sweet view. Easy cruise back to the cars.

Mount Timpanogos with Jun:

One of the best runs of the year so far. I met Jun at Kohlers in Alpine at 5:30 am. The Timpanookee trailhead was packed, so we had to park 1/4 of a mile below the TH. We had a nice jog up to the TH where we saw probably 100 people getting ready to hike up the mountain. We were quickly running up the trail and lucky for us there wasn't a lot of people on the lower mountain, but as we got higher we started passing several groups. It was fun picking them off and making good time up the trail. 

Just before the upper basin we ran into Davy Crockett who was coming down from his first summit of the year and looked pretty good. We said hi and it was good seeing him back in the mountains after recovering from injury. In the upper basin we passed several more groups and Jun kicked it into high gear. I pushed up to the saddle and he was now about 5 minutes ahead of me. We got a ton of comments from hikers on the way up and down. From the saddle I tried to push it hard and I felt really strong on that section. It was fun actually seeing it because the last 3 times I have been up there it was in the dark. On the final push I really picked up my pace and hit the top in 2:02 which is a PR, but I really only pushed the last half, as we took our time on the first few miles chatting and taking pictures, so I know I can do it faster.

We chatted with a few people up top that were surprised to see how fast we had made it up and also we talked to a few girls that also ran to the top. After a few pics and signing the register we took off. Jun pushed the pace a lot and I ran with the girls and another guy (who did Wasatch 100 in 2010) back to the saddle where Jun was chatting with some folks. I was feeling really good, so I just cruised down the trail. Again more comments from hikers asking how fast we went up and telling us we were amazing bla bla. It was kind of fun though. My legs felt really fresh, so I pushed the pace a lot more than I ever have on this trail. It helped that we were doing it in the light and I felt a lot more comfortable, but I was just feeling good.

We probably passed at least 150 hikers on the mountain and several that we had passed on our way up. That was really the only thing that slowed us down out there. With a few miles to go Jun said I could go under 3:15 so I was pushing for that, but didn't quite make it. 3:15:15 total time. It felt good and we had a blast. I love that mountain.

Mt Wire solo:

It was really hot and humid out there today, so I was really sweating. I was feeling sluggish at the start and it took me about a mile to get into it, but I was able to push the pace more the higher I went. To the summit in 44:00 and I only stayed long enough to turn around and head down. 1:10 total time.

PM: Weights at the gym for an hour. It was sooooo hot in there tonight. I was sweating all over the bench. num.

View Benchmark peak with Jun:

Hot, muggy and sweaty out there today folks. We started from Coyote Hollow in Draper and ran up to View Benchmark. It was hot and humid from the start and I had sweat in every nook and cranny for most of the run. We had a good time chatting on the way up and both of us were feeling the effects of the heat. At the top of the connector trail we stopped so I could fill up my water and then we pushed it up to the summit of VB. We decided to hit the smaller sub peak to the west and I hiked the last of that because it is a steep and rocky motha.

Back down the VB trail to the drinking fountain for more water and then Jun took off fast back to the trailhead. I kept him in my sights until the last mile and then he put a decent gap on me. I was still running sub 8 most of the way, so he must have been moving well. We had a ton O' fun despite the heat.

View Benchmark solo:

Up at 4:00 am to hit the trails. Ran to the summit of VB. It was still dark when I started and one of the planets (Venus?) was incredible in the eastern sky. I also saw one of the biggest falling stars I have ever seen. So cool. I put in a really solid effort and when I finished I still had some time so I went back up two miles and then ran fast back to the trailhead. I didn't see another person on the trail.

View Benchmark and sub peak solo:

I really enjoyed this run although I saw more people on the trail than I ever have before.

Quick run to stretch my legs. From my house to the Alpine Hwy. Out 2.1 and back.

View Benchmark with Jun:

It was pretty hot out there today, but we had a really fun run to the summit of View Benchmark via Ann's trail in Draper. We chatted away the first two miles and didn't push, but the pace was still respectable. At the top of the connector trail we stopped so I could fill up my water bottle and then we ran a pretty solid pace all the way to the summit of VB running every step including the steep hills.

On the way down we stopped again to fill up my bottle, but other than taking the large rocky hill slow we pushed a fast pace all the way back to the car. My legs were feeling really fresh all day. The last mile Jun told me it was time for the real workout and he quickly passed me and ran a sub 6 pace back to the car. I tried keeping up for about 30 feet and then told him to screw off.

PM: Weights at the gym for 50 minutes.