Desolation Lake – LOTS more snow today than in this pic

I was able to get in a run with Karl today. It got a little bit old waiting for him on the climbs, but he seems to have some potential. I think if he keeps working at it, he might be able to get pretty good at this running thing. Ha!

Seriously though, it was very cool to get to run with my coach and see how it’s done. We got a great workout leaping up snowbank after snowbank then glissading down the other side and hitting the trail again without missing a beat. It was kind of like skateboarding, hurdles, freestyle snowboarding, and trail running all rolled into one. I loved it! What an amazing area to run. We ran on a piece of the Wasatch 100 course, which was great to see. Maybe a little preview for next year? Can’t beat a point-to-point 100 miler along a killer ridgeline. Meanwhile, I’ll get another taste of some fine Wasatch running in next month’s Speedgoat 50K at Snowbird Ski Resort.

Karl looks to be in great shape for his upcoming AT record attempt in August. I can’t wait to kill time at work following his GPS tracks. Keep an eye on the Where’s Karl? website, and check out the sweet ride!

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

He must have been a runner.

The plan of doing the Jemez 50 as a training run with minimal recovery needed afterward worked out well. 4 Personal Records in a span of 8 days sums it up for me. It’s not like I even feel that good. Still a few tweaks and nagging things that need to heal up before I can truly say that, but I’m feeling stronger by the day.

Last Wednesday I did a TT on a climb I’ve been working on for a few months. I took 2.5 minutes off my best time only a week and a half after Jemez.

3/20 – 38:04
3/26 – 34:02
4/09 – 34:51

5/28 – 31:17

My long term goal has been to break 30:00. I’m going to have to rethink that ’cause 30’s going down in flames!

Tuesday I ran 3 laps on a challenging 2.7 mile course with some good hills including a half mile grinder. The first two loops I went steady, then started harder on the third to see how it would go. Felt strong so I kept it up. I definitely worked hard, but I wasn’t gasping and staggering like I have been doing on my previous attempts. I ran smart and managed my effort on the hills. Broke 20:00 for the first time, taking 26 seconds off my record.

1/8 – 21:23
2/27 – 20:20
5/6 – 20:19

6/3 – 19:53

Wednesday was a tempo run, and I ran my fastest-ever split on a particular ~1 mile section of trail that I use for my last repeat.

Today was an easy run. Slightly rolling dirt path and a bit of wind blowing. I try to keep my heart rate under 140 on my easy days. When I first started running a year and a half ago, that would put me at an 11:30 pace for a 4 miler. Last winter I was around 10:15. A month ago it was 9:17. Today my HR averaged 139 and my pace was 8:47. For 8 miles on the same course. Felt like I could go forever.

Working with Karl has been the best thing I could have done at this stage of my running. I’ve learned so much, and am really starting to see great improvement. His plan for me has been spot-on. It’s been a lot of hard work on my part, too. I think I’ve hit every single workout since we began in the middle of February.

The best thing about it is I feel like I’m barely even scratching the surface. It’s going to be a fun summer!