Summit junkie!

I just wanted to stretch my legs, so I did an easy 3 on the TM while watching the NFL playoffs. I couldn't believe how much I sweat for only doing 3.

I got to the gym 10 minutes early because I thought I might leave a little early, but I ended up staying the whole 70 minutes and had an excellent workout. I lifted (upper body/core). So I have been lifting at the gym for 5 years now and last night we had a first. There was a dude wearing tight grey sweats in there that was spending more time texting than lifting, and after one long text session he emerged from the hall obviously more excited than he should have been for the gym. I almost dropped my weights I was laughing so hard. That was the only time I have seen him in there and hopefully the last. ha

Woodrow

One of the guys I lift with took a camera in there and was videoing some of the sets. He threatened to put them on Facebook. Ummm this should be interesting.

Well, I was going to watch the Jazz/Lakers game while I did the TM tonight, but by time I turned it on in the 2nd qtr the Jazz were already down 20, so I ended up watching the State of the Union address. I'm not sure that was much better.

This is why I love living in Utah, and why I love my job. How many people get the opportunity to climb a mountain on their lunch break? Probably not many. Mt. Wire was the peak for the day. Yeah, I have been doing it a lot recently, but I think this is the perfect training mountain when you don't have a lot of time.

The conditions were not great today. There was a packed trail up to the ridge and from there we had to break the trail all the way to the top. I started out, but Jun took over and finished it off. There were signs of elk all over the mountain, and we could tell that a herd had slept up there last night and we used their tracks at times.

The mountain was enveloped by fog most of the time, with brief glimpses of the valley for only a few seconds at a time. We made it up in 57:00 and after a few summit pics (see Jun's blog) we headed back down. We ran the whole way to the car and actually made pretty good time considering all of the snow. I need some micro-spikes. Great day!

2200 ft. of vert

PM update- I played an hour of basketball with guys from my work, and then also did 1 mile on the TM in my bare feet. I'm not sure I liked it much.

I was so tired tonight after the kids were in bed and I did not want to work out, but I forced myself to get some action on the TM. Nothing exciting. I started slow (9:30) and finished a bit faster (7:10). My legs are a little sore from yesterday. I am not sure if it is from Mt. Wire, basketball or the mile in bare feet. Maybe a combination.

I woke up an hour early this morning to hit the gym. When the alarm went off I didn't want to get out of bed and I even hit snooze once, but I'm going to the Jazz game later and I know I won't have much time to work out, so I got up and went.

40 minutes of lifting (upper body).

No extra excitement in the gym today.

I had an excellent morning running Grandeur Peak. I invited my friend Bill who is a pretty fast runner and he invited his friend who is also a very fast runner. On the way to the trailhead I found out his friend was Seth Wold, who has won the Ogden marathon a few times, as well as several other races. So MattVH would be meeting us at the trailhead and I was a bit worried about having these two fast runners join us because I wasn't sure we could keep the pace they wanted.

We started about 6:15 and the trail had melted out a lot since the last time we were on it. We started off running, but as soon as we hit the ridge it was a fast hike the rest of the way up. The conversation was great and we talked about running, races, trails and mountains. Bill was pushing the pace with me behind and then Seth and Matt. Once we got above the inversion it was a lot warmer and the views were fantastic.

When we were about 3/4 of the way up I could see some lights coming up the ridge, and I could see that they were moving fast. I didn't want to get passed, so I picked up my pace. I hit the summit first in 1:16 with Bill right behind me, and then a few minutes later the 3 guys made it up. They are all ultra runners that Seth knows and they were cruising. A few minutes later Matt and Seth made it to the top. I had a gel and some water and then we all took off down to Church Fork. The run down was a total blast! Probably the best run of the year. The trail was hard packed snow, but not very slippery. Perfect.

Bill made it down first, then me and then Seth and Matt a few minutes later. I was really impressed with Seth. Obviously he could have blown by all of us, but he spent his time hanging back with Matt. We then ran down the Pipeline trail to Rattlesnake Gulch and the views were sweet. At the gulch we went down toward the canyon road. The trail was very slick here, so the pace slowed a lot. At the canyon road we stopped to arrange our gear and then we took off on a fast pace down the canyon. Once we hit the inversion it got a lot colder right away.

The run down the canyon was fun and Matt did awesome. Once we hit Wasatch BLVD we turned North and ran until we hit 33rd South, where we turned right and made our way back to the trailhead. The conversation was great and it was an awesome day. That was such a fun loop. We finished in 3:05 (including all breaks). My only regret was not taking the camera. The views were so good.  Awesome!

3000 ft vert.