I need to wake up in the morning and run more often. I hate it. I feel sluggish and my stomach is off if I eat anything (a jelly donut today). But, getting back home at 9 in the morning having already banged out a great run does feel pretty amazing.
So nice, I did it twice. Battle Grove Loop. Always amazing. The Battle trail is in rough shape – high water and lots of erosion. Long stretches of the trail were literally underwater.
Nice jaunt up to the Taj trail. I have only done it once and was surprised by how much snow there still was at the top of the loop – lost the trail for a while and post-holed around. Still great fun.
I have lost a good amount of weight this year and on the trails I have noticed myself feeling stronger, getting faster, and breaking PRs. Here’s a few recent ones.
A few weeks ago I went out for a street run in the evening and accidentally got a 10k PR of 53:32.
This accidental PR made me curious, so the next week I went back out and tried to go faster. I did, clocking a 51:01 10k PR. I am really NOT a road runner – my fitness is so much more tuned to trails – so putting down mid 8:00 min/mile pace for miles on end is a real challenge. Or, it used to be. Again, with the weight dropped, I didn’t feel like maintaining this pace was as hard as it should be. I felt great!
A couple of days later I tried to crank out a flat 5k PR. My previous was 24:00 (last year’s Pima Turkey Trot) and I beat it by 30 seconds, coming in at 23:30 for a flat 5k. This one hurt a bit.
At this year’s Turkey Trot in Orem, I pushed again and shaved of 3 more seconds! Ha! 23:27 is my new flat 5k PR.
Curious about how this newfound strength would translate to trails, I have also recently picked a few old favorite routes and tried to bang them out faster than I have before.
I dropped about 7 minutes of my previous PR on the 10 mile out and back from the Indian Road Trailhead to Bridal Veil Falls.
I also redid a 6.6ish mile up the Lindon Squiggles / Crop Circles trails that I have done a few times. It felt so good. I cut 3 minutes off my previous PR. It felt great to clock 12-13 minute miles w/ ~300ft climbing per mile on the way up and then bomb the descent.
So . . . where should I go next? I have lots more old trail routes to revisit . . .
Lots of short runs lately, so I decided to see if I was up for a bit more mileage. A fellow professor joined me to run the Timp Trail Half Marathon course. We’ve had so little snow, I suspected most of the route was dry. I was mostly right – a couple patches of wet dirt, some mud, but not bad.
What was bad was my body. Not only did I get killer cramps in both calves and one quad, but one of my IT bands flared up. WHAT?! What is this? 2015? IT bands? Sheesh. In any case, it was a beautiful, but frustrating outting.
I suspected there was still a lot of color up in the hills. I was right. From a distance, the flanks of Big and Little Baldy looked like they were covered by motley patches of multicolored lichen or something.
I scaled back plans to bag Mahogany Peak (via Grove Creek) today, and opted for the Grove -> Battle Creek loop. It never disappoints. My still faltering health did disappoint though. After 3-4 weeks with little to no running due to the cold+sinus infection of the century, I can still feel my lung capacity lacking and overall energy lacking.
Thankfully, autumn has hit and the maple trees were blazing red. Grove Creek was a bit more tame, but the Battle Creek side was breathtaking. I can’t imagine how they would with some late-evening alpenglow on them! In any case, stands of maple at the top of Battle Creek, up towards the Big Baldy Saddle (and on the Dry Canyon side of Baldy, which I can see from my house) are at peak red right now. In another 2-3 weeks, the aspens will start to pop, golden yellow. I can’t wait.
I’ve said it before, but I really am pleased as punch with the easy access and quality of some of my backyard local trails. 3-5 minute drive to a trailhead and I can put in as few or as many easy miles as I want around the foothills. Add a canyon in for some elevation, or just putter around the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and countless offshoots. Here’s 3 recent ones.
I took another friend out for his first trailrun with me. Good times. I think he’ll get hooked.
I like this little 4.5 mile-ish route. Super close trailhead. A slow steady climb, a little squiggly descent, then back. Super fast and easy. For some reason, on this day, I decided to knock it out in the 102 degree hit midday, just to see if I could. I felt pretty good for the first mile, then the heat really started to sink in.
I went back and did the same route a week later, but at twilight. Faster, until it got dark and I had to pull out the flashlight.
It was 90+ and I knew that the BST from Indian Hills to Bridal Veil Falls would have almost no shade. 10 miles round trip. Sounds great, eh?
The Bryce 50k is coming up in 9 days and it is forecast to be hot, so I wanted to see how I fared in the heat. The trip to Bridal Veil was hot, but I had plenty of water. At the falls I took off my shirt, submerged it and put it back on ice cold. Nice! As I left to make the return trip I had a genius idea. On the way there I had drank both of the bottles of ice water in my chest pockets, saving the (almost) full bladder for the return. As I thought how nice the cold wet shirt felt and how it would probably be dry and hot within 5 minutes or so I looked down at the stream, looked at my empty bottles, looked back at the stream and then the light bulb went on. I filled both bottles up – not to drink, but to intermittently dump over my head, down my back, on my arms, down my chest, etc. It was genius and it seemed to keep my core body temp down. I did the return trip faster than the way out as well, and I was feeling great. I attribute it to the bottles of water. I think I’ll do this at Bryce. Have 2 empty bottles in my drop bag at mile 14. By that point it will be warming up. Then, take them with to cool me off. Refill at the mile 22.5, etc. I think it’ll be a good way to keep a bit cooler.
For the past couple weeks I have been thinking a lot about putting in smart miles rather than just lots of miles. Lots of miles usually just get me injured, plus I don’t have lots of time, so I’m trying to be strategic (and have even added biking to work once a week or so into the mix as a way to work on muscle strengthening and endurance without stressing my joints). Here’s some recent doings.
Two of them were deliberate attempts to put in smart miles.
On May 16, some quick miles to loosen up sore muscles after that Big Baldy madness.
Then, on May 23, I went up the crop circles trails above Lindon with the specific plan to work on slow climbing. This is a trail that has a nice long, but gradual, climb, then a downhill to complete a loop. I wanted to work on transitioning from aggressively power hiking climbs to slowly running them. I did the loop, then did it backwards, then went up and down the BST a bit. It felt great. I will add this on occasions to get some climbing in, but without the punishment of long downhills that sometimes stress my joints.
On May 20 and May 27 I took my next-door neighbor on his first two trail runs. He has been a hardcore hiker in the past (600 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, the entire Great Western Trail from Idaho to Arizona – the full length of Utah – twice) and puts in a lot of road miles. I convinced him to join me in the hills and I think I’m going to get him hooked!
The Dry Canyon -Altar/Rock Pile loop was great in the morning and things were looking so green!
Then, of course, taking him on the Grove Creek Battle Creek loop. Wow. It is so green up top!
The loop up Grove Creek, up and over to Battle Creek via Chris Flat, down Battle Creek, and back over to Grove Creek is always a good choice. The first two miles up Grove Creek to the bridge have nice enough views. The next mile to Grove Creek Spring are steep, but gorgeous. The climb through aspens and meadows up to Chris Flat is gorgeous in all seasons. Chris Flat itself, even with short scruffy early-spring grass (not tall yet) is something special. The first mile of the drop down into the Battle Creek drainage – until the split where you chose to go down Battle Creek or up to the switchbacks to the Big Baldy Saddle are full of meadows and so green. The descent down Battle Creek has some beautiful stretches but the trail is rough and steep with large rocks littering the path. Not “fun” running. And, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail back to Grove Creek once you get to the bottom is just a mess of ATV trails. Despite this, its all worth it for those 2-3 miles up top.
Today’s run apparently was my fastest for much of the route.
Trying to put in some easy miles, keep fit, but not aggravate my sore injured hip and foot/ankle. Varied success. A couple of these felt great, a couple hurt. The last, the full Grove-Battle Creeks loop was magnificent and actually felt pretty good during and after. Thankfully, I haven’t turned my ankle any more. Hopefully things are on the mend.
Barring catastrophic weather, bad falls, rolled ankles or other injuries, getting attacked by wild animals, etc., even the worst trail-run is still pretty great. The BST and squiggly wiggly trails above Orem/Lindon (especially between Dry Creek and Battle Creek) are kind of my treadmill. A little vert, a little technical single track, some flat sections to really open up and run. A bit of everything. The trails aren’t spectacular, although the sunsets, alpenglow, tall grass (in the Spring) are sometimes beautiful. Not too flashy, somewhat. Venturing up the canyons cranks up the beauty level, but when time is short I usually stick around the less-spectacular foothills.
They are especially plain this time of year, mostly dirty brown. The trails are in rough shape following the snow melts, lots of new rocks in the trail, rutted up from bikes and horses and runners going in the mud, etc.
Even so – it is still a balm for my soul. I can feel the itch if I don’t get out for a while. After 4-5 days with no dirt, I start to get really antsy. So, having these trail heads 5 minutes from my house is saving me.
Here’s to boring, but wonderful, local trails!
3 Cheers!
As is my custom, in the winter I start running lots of flat pavement in the name of convenience and trying to rest recurrent IT band problems (vert makes that worse). With some IT issues stemming from my New Years Revolution Run, I decided to hit the pavement. In previous years that is what CAUSED my IT band pain and also what caused stress fractures on my ankles. This time, it let to hip bursitis (I think). Woot woot! So… that means resting and not running as much + stretching and strength training.
I am considering dropping my yearly mileage goals and focusing on strength training more so I can run injury free. I sometimes feel like the push for weekly miles leads me to run when I have a free hour rather than hitting the gym. With little free time, I think “I can’t waste this hour at the gym, I need to get in my miles!” I wonder if more gym time (especially during the winter when getting time on the trails, which don’t seem to cause these injuries, is harder anyways). Plus, I don’t have to run in the inversion smog in the gym. Hmmm.
Its a bummer too, because I have increasingly been enjoying evening runs on the pavement. It is also so convenient to just pop out my front door and run for an hour with minimal gearing-up or driving to/from a trailhead. I am also getting hooked on the exhilaration of running flat and “fast.” Fast for me, at least. However, I looked back at when I started running in 2013 and my average pavement pace actually IS a lot faster than it used to be. Progress! Now I just need to learn how to prep my body to be able to do it injury-free.
Some fun (and freezing) road runs.
Some trails, which didn’t seem to aggravate the hip!
I was stranded in Springville for 2 hours while a kid was at a birthday party, so I hit the BST. It reminded me of the BST above Farmington and Fruits Heights.
Having seen some recent pictures of Grove Creek Canyon in the snow, I just had to hit it. Before work I trudged up to the bridge before work. Gorgeous.
In hopes of rehabbing my IT Bands and increasing my flat-terrain endurance and speed, I have stayed off the trails for a couple weeks. (I want to be injury-free and flat-fast for my fundraiser on January 1 – read about it here to help Syrian refugees). One treadmill run and 3 on paved trails around my house. The treadmill was horrible. The ones around my house were convenient and actually somewhat enjoyable…but I missed the mountains. It is entertaining to chase strava segment PRs when on the pavement. See the Strava links for all of them below.
Today, however, I just couldn’t resist. It had snowed an inch or two over night and then snowed another few during the morning and early-afternoon. I just had to get up in the snow. I started at the equestrian trailhead in Lindon, went up the squiggles to the swinging bench overlook, dropped down to Dry Canyon and across the BST, then looped the lower BST back to the car. For most of it I could tell that people had been up in the morning, a clear trail being broken already, but another 2-4 inches had fallen on top of their tracks. It was the best of both worlds. I had a trail broken and packed but a nice soft layer of fluff on top to play in. I overheated pretty quick, stripped off some layers, ate lots of snow, and bumbled about. It was glorious.
I have done a number of runs in the Orem/Lindon foothills on the side of the mouth of Provo Canyon, but not much on the south side of the canyon mouth. I remedied that this last week with 2 runs.
Starting at the Indian Hills trailhead I headed up the first mile climb and then another couple miles along the BST that travers up-canyon. The was ice in a few spots, but not bad. It felt great to be out. Once I turned around, my right IT Band flared up pretty quick and didn’t let up – getting especially bad on the last mile descent. More time on I the foam roller, I guess. Lots of tread mill. No hills.
On Saturday I planned to try out my new snowshoes for the first time up at Aspen Grove, if the snow was deep enough. Unfortunately, the anyone road was closed. About 10-15 minutes earlier, a oil tanker overturned, spilling 1,000 gallons of crude oil into the Provo a River. Very sad. Nobody was hurt. I’m glad I wasn’t a few minutes earlier or I could have been in the middle of it.
I wasn’t planning to run because of my knee, but decided to give it a try. I ran up the Sq*** Peak Road a bit, then dropped onto the Cactus Hill Connector and then to the top of Cactus Hill. The trail was untouched by human feet until the top of the hill. Just animal tracks on about 2 inches of fresh snow. So perfect. Down the west side of the hill there were a bunch of tracks from earlier in the morning, but once I headed back up canyon on the Smith Ditch a then BST I had taken on Monday, it was fresh tracked again. So beautiful. I bombed back down the road to my car. The knee felt *ok and it was so fun to be out on the fresh snow. But, for the next bit I need to keep it flat. Treadmill, I assume.
Really, I have it good. There is a trail head for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail about 2 miles from my house. The trail isn’t anything over-the-top spectacular, but its great. I am so lucky to have nice easy trails so close. Also, it is perfect running weather. 50s. No overheating.
A nice headlamp run up the Lindon Squiggles.
I made it about 30 minutes without the headlamp, but once I got up into some small stands of trees it got pitch dark. I forgot how creepy it can be up there.
Then, as I crossed the parking lot at Dry Canyon, a guy warned me about a rattler he heard near the trailhead. Sure enough, there it was in the middle of the trail. It was my first sighting this season.
Thankfully, the back pain from last month did not return and I was able to fit in a number of runs and hikes (not listed here, but on Strava) during the remainder of August.
I ran a bigger version of the squiggly wiggly. Lots of fun.
Some HOT BST action:
An awesome morning run up Grove Creek to Chris Flats. Bagged my first Mountain Goat sighting.
I even ran some pavement. Possibly the first time this year! Actually, it was kind of exhilarating to click off miles at a faster pace than I’m used to, but it was painful.
Plus, some nice blister pains during an attempted Big Baldy Summit. Woot woot.
With muscle relaxants doing their work, I was advised to try some easy slow runs. The Dr. didn’t have to ask me twice!
Thursday I hit the some Orem/Lindon BST. It was great to get out and move, but I did it in the heat of the day and the temps really got to me!
Feeling good, I tried a new place on Friday – up Provo Canyon and to Big Springs, on the backside of the Cascade Ridge. I went up the Big Springs / Shingle Mills Trail and down the Big Springs Hollow Trail.
Monday night I tried out some twisty mtn. bike trails above Lindon. It was a BLAST! Between all the twists and turns, there was a lot of flattish runnable terrain. I will definitely add this loop to my regular rotation.
Twice now, I have run a 7 mile loop from the Orem Gun Range > Dry Canyon > The Altar/Rockpile > Orem Gun Range.
I think it will be my regular treadmill run. It has it all. Runnable flat-ish rolling trails, a good steep climb, and some fun technical descents. The mile drop from the altar down to the fire break road is such a fun single-track. The grass is about chest high or higher so your immediate peripheral vision is just a blur as you fly down the trail – it feels like a video game.
Plus, its pretty gorgeous. I would only change the amount of loose rock on the back side when dropping down to the Altar. I may modify it, park at Dry Canyon and do the loop from there. That would leave more of the nice rolling BST for the end.
I am running my first ultramarathon in a couple weeks – the Bryce 50k (~31 miles). I have *almost run that far once, and it was slow. I have done a number of runs in the 20-25 mile range, but none have been races. Aside from 2 Ragnar relays, the longest race I have done was a 5 mile Turkey Trot back when I still lived in Nebraska. In any case, I have not trained very well and figured I should put in some longer distance runs in the next couple weeks.
Tempted by continually amazing pictures, I headed back up Grove Creek to the green valleys below the western slope of Timp.
I put out a post for a group run and one guy, Matt C. came. Great guy – great conversation. We headed up Grove Creek to Indian Springs, where I filled my 2 water bottles. Tasty tasty water.
I also accidentally stepped on this guy. 🙁
Then across to Chris Flats, beautiful as ever, and 1/2way down Battle Creek. There, we hit the turnoff to Curly Springs.
After climbing up out of Battle Creek canyon, I needed to pick up the pace and Matt and i parted ways – me pushing forward and Matt looking to drop a shortcut down to the BST.
I ran south to Dry Canyon, took that down to the BST, and followed the BST back to Grove Creek. 13.1 miles! It was fabulous.
2 easy run around the Orem foothills. The Orem Police gun range trailhead is just 2 miles from my new house, so this will likely be my primary set of trails. And, thankfully, there are a million of them. On top of the primary Bonneville Shorelines trail system, Mtn. Bikers have built a network of connecting trails. In any case, very close, very fun.
This last week my family moved from our beloved Davis County down to Utah County. I have really come to love the Davis County trails. Exploring them. Trying to promote them as many are sadly under-used. Apparently that will not be a problem down here in Utah County. Everything appears blazed out and well marked…….and spectacularly gorgeous! Here’s my last in Davis and first in Utah County.
For my last run in Davis, I hit Mueller Park. I had never run it before, favoring closer trails and one that weren’t dominated by mtn. bikers. Wow. That was a mistake. Otherwise, this would have been my #1 training trail. Nice slow gradual climb for 5 miles up to the meadow (you can keep going, but I didn’t) and bombing 5 miles back down. It was gorgeous.
That was last week. This week, for my first run in Utah County I hit the Grove Creek / Battles Creek Loop. WOWZERS!
My phone died, so it was closer to 8.5 than 5.5 miles.
Truth be told, I felt horrible heading up Grove Creek. A slow 3 mile bonk the whole way up.
When you finally climb out of Grove Creek Canyon, you are treated to a full panoramic view of Mt. Timpanogos…well…unless it is shrouded in clouds.
The valley above Grove and Battle Creeks is breathtaking, . You are at the foot of Timp, and it is a series of open grass and Aspen fields. I ran into some others who said it is nicknamed the “Scottish Highlands.” I was thinking “The Shire.” The traverse over to Battle Creek felt great – some flat! It is part of the Great Western Trail and constitutes the last bit of the Timpooneke-Chris Flat Trail #151.
The descent on Battle Creek was steeper than the climb up Grove, and a bit painful on my knee. Then, right as I was about to take the most gorgeous picture of some sideways sunlight streaking into Battle Creek Canyon and shining off the north-facing cliffs on the South of the Canyon…my phone died. Boo!
Back at the valley floor (Kiwanis Park), I took the BST back to my car.
As it turns out, the last few weeks have been more mileage than usual. It felt good to hit the trails more regularly. Also a few hikes with the kiddos. Here’s the highlights:
I came home early from work tonight, with an upset stomach. After a while, I felt better and was feeling quite restless so I decided to go hit the trails for a quick run before dinner.
My plan was to climb the south switchbacks that lead to the Farmington Upper Terrace. It is about 1,000 ft. elevation gain in about 1 mile of trail. At the top, a local trail building colossus, Ryan, had recently cut and flagged a new trail up canyon to the trail that comes down from the Francis Peak trail and meets up with the canyon road at the 2nd switchback. The first time I came down that trail from the Francis Peak ridge, I had thought, “It would be nice if a trail cut down canyon here to meet up with the Upper Terrace.” Apparently Ryan read my thoughts.
As I reached the trail intersection to head up Ryan’s new route, I joined the Trail Puke club. Many ultramarathoners have GI troubles during long races and throw up a lot. I haven’t ever had any trouble – and I haven’t really run any long races. So, I don’t think throwing up at 1 mile is the best way to get into the club, but I’ll count it. Afterwards, I felt much better.
I followed the trail up but about 1/2 way along, the flagging split into a high road and low road. I took the high road and it soon thereafter got lost in a thicket of scrub oak. I was tired and surprisingly sweat by that point, so I descended, running another couple miles along various BST branches.
It felt good to be out, but my ankles hurt. Stupid stress fractures. Stupid tibias. Stupid basketball!
I recently discovered that a fellow Western historian here in SLC trail runs and immediately set to planning a time to hit the dirt together. On a couple Tuesday mornings recently we have met at 6:00 AM and put in a few miles, talking about trails, races, and history. The company has been great and he hasn’t even seemed too perturbed by how slow I have taken some of the climbs. Seriously – I just can’t seem to muster much energy that early in the AM.
A couple weeks ago we started at City Creek, ran the BST west and north, then looped up to the 3 towers, down the backside to City Creek and back to the car. 7.7 miles @ 13:31 min/mile. Slow, but nice.
This week we started at Dry Canyon, followed it up to the very aptly named “Uncle F***er” trail climb to the ridge that leads up east to Black Mountain. We, however, turned west and followed it down, hitting the avenue Twin Peaks, then following the ridge to the BST. From there, Jed continued west to run back to his house. I turned east and followed the zig-zaggy BST back down to my car. I almost ran over a deer at one point (came around a blind corner and sent it and 2 others bounding up a hill). I have decided that I really like those stretches of the BST. 8.4 miles @ 13:32 min/mile. Slow, but nice. I also tried out a new higher capacity race vest that I plan to use for long self-supported runs. Nathan VaporWrap. So far, so good.
This week I strapped on my headlamp and put in a couple runs on the BST / Firebreak roads above Farmington. I enjoy running at night – but not on narrow hemmed-in trails with lots of obstacles under-foot. This makes the otherwise boring Firebreak road sections of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail system above Farmington the perfect option. With the temperatures cool, I don’t overheat, I feel great, and only occasionally psych myself into thinking I see glowing eyes watching me. Run!
On Monday I started at Davis Creek and ran north. It felt great, I didn’t slow down and walk at all – just kept on going (albeit slow at times) and I PRd on a bunch of segments. Great run!
On Thursday I started at the same place, but went south onto some trails and dirt roads I haven’t been on before. It was snowing and there was a THICK fog bank that my route kept on climbing into, descending out of, climbing back into, etc… When I got back to my car I couldn’t see it until I was about 10 ft. away – it was that thick. Also – I swapped out my Altras for something with more traction for the snow. Read about that here.
Here are a few recent outings:
A run up the newly worked on lower stretch of the Farmington Creek Trail by Ryan Lauck, up the first section of the post-parking lot single track, and then looping across the creek to explore the Aqueduct Trail back – a first. All with a coworker, Spencer, who just moved here and is quickly getting hooked on the trails.
5.0 miles in 1:33:34 @ 18:44 min/mile and with 1,170 ft. elevation gain
A night run on pavement. Zzzz.
4.3 miles in 38:00 @ 8:53 min/mile and with 0 ft. elevation gain
A night run up Centerville Canyon. Bad idea to do in the dark. Rough trail, LOTS to trip on and having to stop a few times to figure out where the trail went. Slow.
3.1 miles in 47:04 @ 14:58 min/mile and with 952 ft. elevation gain
A repeat of the 7 mile out and back from East Mtn. Park in Kaysville to Fernwood in Layton on the BST. I ran it faster than ever, getting PRs on all of the segments and even negative splits. I felt great! In my head I was thinking it had to be way faster than last time, but looking at the previous post it was only 2 minutes faster overall. Oh well – I’ll take it!
7.2 miles in 1:17:39 @ 10:50 min/mile and with 835 ft. elevation gain
It wasn’t even that hot today but I have sweat like this for a while. There are a few close-by trails here in Farmington that I have yet to explore so I picked one today. The fire trail 03 that goes south from just above flag rock down into Hornet Canyon.
I started at the Davis Creek TH and took the BST past Steed Creek and then up the south access trail to flag rock. This intersects with the ascent trail I usually take right below Eagle Rock. That part was bad and the nice rolling traverse over to the Patsy’s Mine cutoff felt great. Then the switchbacks. Baking in the sun. Ugh.
At the top I took the Centennial Trail up to where the fire trail turns. I wanted to see what centennial looks like, because it would be a very fun route to take to the top. Way overgrown. Bummer. I bombed down the fire trail 03 and soon found that it was more overgrown than I had heard. Lost it a couple times. To make matters worse, friends have been seeing lots of rattlesnakes lately and I wasn’t too excited about Bushwhacking. Luckily – no encounters – but I was nervous the while time. The lyrics to a Lateef and the Chief song about snakes lurking in the grass kept running through my head. (Read about they on my music blog, Desert Island Mixtapes).
The Hornet Canyon Trail was a bit of a let down too – lots of loose gravel skree. Doesn’t make for a fun descent. By the time I got to the car, it felt like I had gone a lot farther than 5 miles.
I blew through about 1.5 liters or water. I should have filled it with the full 2 liters.
I so enjoyed the BST on my way to Adams Canyon and back on Monday that I decided to put in some more miles on it. It is about 3.6 miles from East Mountain Park in Kaysville to Fernwood Recreation Site in Layton. It isn’t the most exciting trail, view-wise, but it is a great place to clock miles. Lots of gentle ups and downs, and few shorter steep climbs and descents – but nothing too crazy. I have decided that my Altra Olympus shoes are great for this kind of trail – not to technical. I think this route may be a go-to for me when I want to clock some trail miles, rather than bagging peaks, stacking vert, or exploring UP canyons, etc… Close to home, relatively easy miles.
For the first 3 miles I was feeling sluggish – but on the way back felt great. This might be somewhat due to the fact that there is more climbing on the way there, but I think I generally feel best from about miles 4-8 on most runs. The first few miles are hard, and once my legs loosen up and I get in a rhythm, it feels better. Good splits for me towards the end. I would love to get all of my splits at 10:00 min/mile or lower. Maybe I’ll add this to regular rotation and try to drop my time each run.
I ran through sunset and flipped on my headlamp for the last 2 miles.
Last winter a lot of the local Davis County trail runners were trying to beat each others’ times up and down Adams Canyon. I never made it up there and figured today would be a good day. I unexpectedly found myself at home a bit earlier than usual, and swapped a couple afternoon hours of work for evening hours and went on a run instead.
The Bonneville Shoreline Trail from East Mountain Park in Kaysville north was a lot of fun – there is some fun singletrack that I need to come back and bomb around on my mtn. bike. On my way up, I had sunglasses on, which dulls some of the colors on the trail. As I came up a climb (looking straight down) and opened up my gait to get moving again, I ran right over the biggest snake I have ever seen – I saw it mid-stride and hurdled right over. I circled back around and got this picture. No rattle – just a Gopher Snake. Over 3 ft. long!
The trail up to the waterfall was a bit more of a scramble towards the top than I thought, I don’t know how some of those guys posted such fast times coming down that thing.
With grey clouds in the sky, trails fresh and damp from overnight rains (no dust!) I started the day out with a quick climb up to Flag Rock. The south ascent is about 1,500 ft of climbing over 1.5 miles of trail. I was low on energy, but happy to be up there. When I got home to shower and head to work torrential downpours hit, so I got it in just in time!
On the 24th of July last year, I took a friend and co-worker on my 2nd ever trail “run,” and we hiking up Baer Canyon. It killed us, neither of us was in good enough shape to do it, and probably not coincidentally, he hasn’t joined me on another outing since. Until tonight! I took him up to Flag Rock in Farmington which is a short, but steep hike. It was a lot of fun – hopefully I can get him hooked. My ankle felt great, and IT bands weren’t too bad. I have been rolling them with the foam roller a lot.
3.7 miles in 1:11:01 @ 19:04 min/mile and 1,528 ft. elevation
With an official diagnosis of ankle problems, a fibula stress fracture, and a strong suspicion that running on pavement severely aggravates it, I decided to hit the dirt today and test out my theory. I started at the Farmington Pond, ran north on the BST to Shepherd Canyon, up to the Upper Terrace, and took that back to the car. Its a great loop. My left IT band hurt towards the end, but my ankle did not. Often the pain is delayed, really coming over the next two days…..and……no pain. The ankle felt great in the days after. So – I am officially swearing off pavement for now. And good riddance! I have also started taking vitamin D and calcium supplements, which the doctor said will help promote bone healing, growth, and strength. I doubt they are kicking in this quickly, but it can’t hurt – right?
4.6 miles in 55:18 @ 12:08 min/mile and 898 ft. elevation.
One of the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers organized a group run up city creek for early in the morning – something I tried out two times back in November before the winter (and injuries) really set in. I really enjoyed it then – getting an early run in, showering at work, feeling more awake at work than I usually do in the AM – it was great. My ankle was feeling ok so I decided to give it a shot. I trailed Matt Miller and Cory Hill down from Morris Resevoir and started back up the west side of City Creek. At that point – I no longer tried to keep up. I simply don’t have the climbing legs yet! I was exhausted. Moreover, my shins and right calf were really aching and the ankle was beginning to feel fatigued. I didn’t want to push it. I pushed up a ways and then turned back. Not my best run, but it felt so good to get out there. Unfortunately, my ankle has been more painful for the couple days after the run than after my last few. I probably need to cut back a bit. After the Zions Trail Ragnar in a couple weeks, I think I’ll go into the doctor and get an official diagnosis.
6.1 miles in 1:13:21 @ 11:57 min/miles with 1,199 ft. elevation
I was planning to rest my legs for a planned group run up City Creek Canyon Friday morning before work, but I just couldn’t resist tonight. It was in the low 70s, and beautiful. Moreover, I knew that I had a long night ahead of me cranking out some pages on a book manuscript that I owe to my editor by May 1st. I short little run seemed like a good way to clear my head before diving into a long night of writing.
Last fall, I did a number of runs up to Pretty Valley – a 800 ft. elevation climb over about 1 mile of trail south from the Davis Creek Canyon trailhead. I pushed hard and got PRs on all of the strava segments – so that was nice. My feet and shins took a beating on the descent though, and I’m glad it was only 2.5 miles. I need to rest these doggies!
2.6 miles in 31:30 @ 12:19 min/mile and 788 ft. elevation
It is actually really interesting to study the 3D rendering. The colors represent severity of grade, so the darker the red, the steeper the climb, the darker the blue, the steeper the descent. Green = nice and flat. This is a great visualization of why my legs felt so beat up – it was all climbing and descent, very little nice “running.”
Some people swear that one of the best ways to recover is to run more. I haven’t tried this before. But, as I was walking around the house cursing how sore and tight my legs felt this morning, I had the thought, “You know what might loosen these tight muscles up a bit? A run.” Crazy, I know. But I gave it a shot. The plan was to just to 2 miles or so, nice and slow, but I ended up doing about 4.5. I was exhausted and I could tell I was fatigued, so it may have defeated the purpose, but at least my legs don’t feel tight anymore. Followed it with lots of stretching.
Parked at Davis Creek Canyon, and ran the Bonneville Shoreline to where the BST access trail drops down to Farmington Pond – right at the big water retention pond. And back.
Also – I was joined by MVH, at least at the beginning and end. He took a detour at the start and then caught up with me as I was returning. I think he went a bit farther down the BST too – maybe all the way to Skyline. I waited for him at the car and we drove back eating delicious waffle wafer cookies. Yum.
4.7 miles in 48:52 @ 10:27 min/mile pace and 366 ft. elevation.
(I picked the BST because there wouldn’t be elevation, but I guess all the small ups and downs add up)
Oh oh – and I also tried out a pair of Altra Lone Peak 1s for the first time. Everyone here swears by the Altra zero-drop thing, so I picked up a hand-me-down pair and am going to try them out. Apparently it takes a while for your calf muscles and Achilles tendons to get used to them, so I’ll work them in slowly, alternating with other shoes.
The kids were in bed, the sun was on its way down, my ankle felt “ok” and there was a fresh 1 inch of snow on the trails above town, with a little rain/snow still spitting – what a perfect time to go for a run.
I strapped on my Montrail Badrock, which I had intended to be my snow/wet mud shoes but have hardly used and drove up to uber-rich neighborhoods above Fruit Heights/Farmington where there are a few trail-heads into Shepherd Creek and other canyons north. Knowing the sun would soon be down, I put on my headlamp and took off. The soft fresh snow gave a great cushion to the trail, and other than deer and bunny tracks, mine were the only feet to have touched the few hours-old snowfall.
I climbed, veered north and ascended a rocky ridge that overlooked the canyon just north of Shepherd Creek Canyon.
At this point, it became hard to distinguish which trails were actually trails, and which were just animal tracks in the snow. I pulled google maps up on my phone continuous and looked at the satellite images to try and gauge where I should go. I climbed the north ridge of that small canyon briefly, before crossing and bushwhacking my way back down the other side. The snow actually made the descent down what I assume were loose gravel slides nice and cushioned.
I could have done without the multiple rock outcroppings that looked like perfect perches for Cougars to be staring down at me from. Shiver.
I made my way back down to the car, by which time it was dark. Unfortunately, I had only clocked a mile. So, I crossed over to the south side of Shepherd Creek, took that trail up until a branch descends down to the creek. As it was pitch black, covered in snow, and I had never been there before – I decided it would be a good idea to try and get down to the creek, cross it, scramble back up the north side to the power lines and explore them back down to the original trail I had just descended previously.
Not the smartest choice, but it ended up going well. It was fun to get out in the dark – though terrifying at times – and great to run some fresh beautiful snow.
1.8 miles in 27:09 @ 15:17 pace with 870 ft. elevation
Over the past couple weeks I have been reading about active release massage and how it might be able to solve my ankle trouble. I have begun to suspect that the lasting pain on my peroneal tendon is from scar tissue that built up. Apparently, you can break up the scar tissue by massage it and so forth. So, along with rolling and stretching out the muscles that the tendons attach to, I have been doing it for the last couple days. Painful, but hopefully it will do the trick.
Today is was about 60 degrees and overcast. We had nothing going on this afternoon and I just couldn’t take it anymore – staring up at those mountains by my house, know that the snow was melted from all the lower ones. They were calling to me. Beckoning. Begging me to come run them. Taunting me even. So, I gave it a shot. This was the first trail run since a 4 mile run on the BST south from Farmington Canyon almost exactly 1 month ago.
I parked above Farmington Pond and took the trials north up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and took that north to the Shepherd Creek Canyon Trails. It felt great to be back on dirt, stretching my legs. I could tell that my lungs and legs were out of shape though. So, I have work to do. At Shepherd Creek I climbed up to the Upper Terrace and took that back south to Farmington Canyon. Whereas the BST was a mix of trail and dirt road, the Upper Terrace was all single-track. Delicious delicious single track. The switchbacks down into Farmington Canyon weren’t the best – lots of loose rock and gravel. I came up Farmington Creek a bit, bolder hopped over to the south Bank and then ran the Canyon pavement down to my car. All in all the ankle felt ok. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. My left knee, which I suspect is still the IT Band, flared a bit. I need to get serious about my daily stretches and rolling of the muscles. I need that under control for the Zions Ragnar Trail relay next month. About 4 weeks and counting!
4.3 miles @ 12:35 min/mile and 851 ft. elevation.
One thing I noticed a couple weeks ago when I went for a short 4 mile run on the BST above Farmington was that after taking a full month off to rest my injured ankle, I was OUT OF SHAPE. Actually, its scary how fast I had lost my lungs, legs, and overall endurance – not that I had much to begin with. My ankle is feeling a lot better, but I don’t want to chance reinjuring it. So, in hopes of keeping my overall fitness going, I jumped on my mountain bike today to head for the hills.
I made it about a mile from my house when I realized I had forgotten my water. Turned back, got it, started again. I had thought about driving to Farmington Pond and starting from there – saving my legs the 2.5 street miles to get there, but was too lazy to load my bike up in the car. So – streets it was. The climb up Farmington Canyon Road was slow and hard. Man, I’m out of shape. I was happy that I didn’t really have to stop at all, but I creeped along pretty slow as I climbed about 1,300 ft. straight with out stopping from the turn off onto E 600 N (from W 600 N), up to N 100 E, and from there up the Canyon Road proper. The steepest sections are the pavement climb up to the first switchback. After that the dirt road is harder to ride on, but not as steep – so it was a bit easier going. I didn’t make it too far up – only about 2.5 miles up the canyon. This made me wish that I hadn’t started at my house and had instead parked at the Pond. Oh well.
On the way down I quickly realized that my brakes were busted. I had adjusted them before leaving, but apparently didn’t do it right. That made for an interesting, and sometimes terrifying descent. They worked, but not well. When I hit the left turn off for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, I decided to get a little actual trail miles on. I grew up mountain biking on the trails of Galbraith Mt. in Bellingham, WA – some of the best trails in the world. The BST is a bit of a let down. And, getting run off the BST multiple times by 4-wheelers and motorcycles was not great. At Steed Creek, I hung a right and hit a short section of actual single track, then hit the streets and made my way home.
15.2 miles in 1:43, average speed 8.8 mph, max speed 32.9 mph, 1,693 ft. elevation.
Oh – and my ankle doesn’t feel aggravated. Phew! My legs are a different story.
This last month has been incredibly frustrating. Again, right as I was feeling good about running, an injury. As I posted previously, I injured and reinjured and reinjured my left peroneal tendon. So, in hopes of being able to come back 100% when the weather warmed and the trails cleared, I haven’t run for the last month. There have been some nice days too – weatherwise – so it has been frustrating to sit at home.
I parked at the Farmington Pond and ascended the trail up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail / Firebreak Road and took that to the Steed Creek Trailhead, which was conveniently exactly 2 miles away. I could feel my ankle being a bit tender, but not bad. I took it easy and didn’t push too hard. At 2 miles, I hit finish on my GPS, thinking I would just walk back. I ended up turning my GPS back on for the way back and walked/jogged. IT was in the 50s, but the BST is in full sunlight, and I got surprisingly hot and sweaty. I feel a real sense of forboding of the hot summer months to come…
When I got home I could feel some soreness, but nothing too bad. Time will tell. If I wake up tomorrow limping, I’ll know I hit the trails too soon. Fingers crossed.
2 miles @ 12:08 min/mile with 402 ft. elevation
AND
2 miles @ 11:45 min/mile with 97 ft. elevation
Spring Evening Above Farmington
Following on the smashing success of last weeks pre-dawn run up City Creek Canyon to Ensign Peak, I thought I’d go for a repeat. This time I took the trail on the SE side of the canyon, following it to the East and up to both of the Avenue Twin Peaks. Aside from a dog who brushed against my leg and freaked me out, the run up was uneventful. On the way back, I followed the north ridgeline (which looks down into City Creek Canyon on the backside) as far as I could. I reached the end of the ridge at a knoll and the trail kind of just stopped. I thought I might be able to descend and find something down on the City Creek Canyon side. Mistake. I ended up bushwacking back SW until I hit a small gulch which I followed back up to the main trail system.
7.5 miles @ 14.01 min/mile and 2,148 ft. elevation
In the gulch I did find these though. There are apparently quite a few spots up there with wrecked cars.
I was another fun run, but the last AM one I was able to do before winter set in.
SLC from the Avenues Twin Peaks
Fitting in a good trail run is tough when you have a family that A. Demands your time; and B. With whom you really want to spend quality time. The most obvious solution is to run at times when I would otherwise not be spending with family. Or, when I would otherwise be sleeping. I decided to try out waking up early and hitting a trail with a headlamp. I am 100% an evening workout type of guy. Waking up early to work out sounds miserable, and any time I have tried to institute such a policy, it usually doesn’t even make it to day 1. The alarm goes off and I balk. But, I thought that going on a trail run might just be FUN enough to get me out of bed.
I was right.
I awoke early, and rather than running a local trail, coming home to shower, and then driving down to work in bad rush-hour traffic, I decided to drive down to City Creek Canyon, near where I work, doing a run in the pre-dawn morning and then showering at work. I borrowed a headlamp from my neighbor, and hit the trail at 6:00 AM. I went up the trail on the NW side of City Creek Canyon, looped it West and eventually around to Ensign Peak and back.
7.2 miles @ 13:01 min/mile with 1,584 ft. elevation.
It was one of the funnest runs I have done.
I’ll have to say it was smashing success! I was showered and in my office by about 8:15 or so, feeling awake and energized.
Pre-Dawn Light over SLC
Awake!
Ensign Peak
One thing I was quickly realizing is that if I could strengthen my lungs and legs, I could go farther and enjoy more trails. I decided that I would try to regularly run the trial up to Flag Rock. It is steep and short, about 1,400 ft. in 1.5 miles up. So – great for training my climbing legs. It was a great run, much better than the first time I tried with sans water. 4.9 miles, 16:13 mile/min pace, 1,500+ ft. elevation.
A 3D rendering of the trail and elevation
Old Glory a’waving in the Wind
A few days before there had been a fire up on the hillside. It still smelled like burnt wood.
On the evening of 8 July 2013 I went up for my first trail run.
It was in the 90s, and the evening sun was beating on the exposed face of the Wasatch Range that I decided to ascend. I took the trail closest to home – a set straight up from Farmington to Flag Rock – an outcropping about 1,500 ft up from the valley floor with a large American Flag. I started “running” and quickly realized that my Nebraska lungs (and legs) weren’t prepared for the climb or lack of oxygen in the air. To make matters worse, about 1 mile in, I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. With the snake behind me, I figured I should soldier on, but was incredibly paranoid for the rest of the run. I even picked up a walking stick to use to ward off future snake friends, should we cross paths. I was a little freaked out. To make matters worse – I quickly realized that I needed water. I had a large bottle in the car, and had figured that the 3 mile hike/run wouldn’t require water on the trail. The 90 degrees quickly sapped by strength and the trail turned out to be 4.7 miles.
When I got back to the car I chugged the full 24 oz. bottle.
Though hot, dehydrated and freaked out about snakes – it was fun. And, I was immediately hooked. I got a great workout (the whole reason for trying to run in the first place) and got to be in the mtns. Win win.
On my way to the top, on the north trail. The entire time I was taking moments to crouch and hide in what little shade the scrub oaks provided.
The Flag
Me, dehydrated and red-faced.
