Upper Terrace – Professor on the Run

Upset Stomach + Upness = Upchuck

February 27, 2015 professorontherun

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.

Stone arch – sandwiched between the Upper Terrace and Ryan’s new trail

It felt good to be out, but my ankles hurt. Stupid stress fractures. Stupid tibias. Stupid basketball!

Successful Dirt Test for my Stress Fracture

May 10, 2014 professorontherun

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?

2014-05-10 Farmington Upper Terrace — I think its official. Utah has won me over.

4.6 miles in 55:18 @ 12:08 min/mile and 898 ft. elevation.

Exploring Francis Peak Trail

April 5, 2014 professorontherun

5.6 miles in 1:31:29 @ 16:23 min/mile pace with 2,270 ft. elevation

I had to work from home today (long story) and around 3:00 saw that the forecast for tomorrow was rain. Boo. I was planning on running tomorrow. So, I decided to swap out my last hour of work for an hour later tonight (or tomorrow) and squeeze my run in this afternoon.

I parked at the Shepherd Creek trailhead and decided to climb up the first mile or so of the Francis Peak Trail. It is about 1,500 ft. in a mile and my legs were burning. As I hit the split where the upper terrace cuts south and Francis Peak goes up, it started snowing. That was unexpected. There was still a few inches of old snow at the top as well. Knee-high post-holing at the top. Brr. I should have worn my super waterproof Montrails but alas, I had my brooks cascadias on. Got pretty wet.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (8) — Added bonus, some nice ridge sections looking down into Shepherd Creek Canyon to the left and Farmington city to the right.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (9) — Yes, I am running as slow as it looks I am.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (1) — Look. I’m on a rock.

At the top of the first section, there is a clearing which the lady I met on my way up (her husband is the trial chief for this section) said is called Quarter Rock – its a 1/4 of the way to Francis Peak.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (2) — Panorama looking East toward the rest of the ridges and peak on the way to Francis. I’d like to go all the way up when the snow melts.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (6) — Look. I found a pole.

From there, I took a trail that drops south down into Farmington Canyon. It was steep, and lots of loose gravel. I wouldn’t want to climb it. When I got down to the 2nd switchback of Skyline Drive, I took the road down to the 1st switchback where the pavement is. Looking back, I wish that I would have trekked West across the face of the Mtn., to hook up with the Upper Terrance. Looking on the map now, I think I could have done it and there may actually already be a trail that does, but I missed it. Bummer.

Instead of taking the pavement, I took the trail that runs north of it along the face of the hill. It was a rough trail – lots of loose rock, always at a sideways angle (bad for my left ankle) and sketchy in parts. Towards the bottom, however, I did get to admire the trail-building handiwork of Ryan Lauck. Seriously, this dude builds 5 star deluxe luxury trails. Check out these stairs and reinforced walls:

Not too shabby. When I hit the mine (below), I climbed straight up what must have been a deer trail to the Upper Terrace and took that back to Shepherd Creek Canyon.

4 March 2014 - Francis Peak Trail (4) — The mine.

At the bottom, I swung by the section of trail that I helped cut earlier in the week – looks great.

Overall it was a fun excursion. Lots of vert and not lots of miles, but that is ok because I got to explore some new places.

Back on the Trails! BST-Upper Terrace

March 30, 2014 professorontherun

Hello Dirt. These feet have missed you terribly. Please forgive cranky old-man ankle for not letting them come play much lately.

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.

Professor on the Run

The Trail-Running Autobiography of a History Professor Who Thought He Hated Running

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