Bike ride at Ogden River Parkway

Today's workout was a blast. Wes and I took his mountain bikes to the parkway to enjoy more of the trail that we normally don't reach while running. Instead of taking the bikes there, we decided we were close enough to just ride them to the trailhead. It was only about two miles away and downhill the first time around.

You can see my route in better detail if you click on it.

It was a lot of fun to really push myself and still stay focused as to not hit any other bikers or runners on the trail. There are a bunch of windy areas that you have to slow down for if you don't want to wipe out hard. I lost Wes early, but we agreed to meet up at the four-mile mark of the trail. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to reach it, but he wasn't there when I rolled in. I thought he must have pressed on, so I did too. After a while, though, I realized I would have seen him on his way back at some point, so once I hit the six-mile marker, I turned back. I finally saw him again with about one mile left until the trailhead. He said he looped around the pond at the four-mile marker (six miles overall), which explains why I didn't see him and kept going down the trail.

The two miles uphill on the way back was probably the hardest part. I was seriously feeling it in my lungs and thighs. But we made it no worse for wear. We immediately hopped in the car and drove to Quiznos to get some calories in our system. It was so effing good.

Total distance: 16.1 miles cycling

Four-mile run with Wes

Today, Wes and I went to the Ogden River Parkway for a run. I wanted to test my knee and see where I stand in the pain department. I've been using the foam roller on my IT band for two days now, so I'm not sure that will make any huge difference yet. We ran into Jessica in the parking lot before we got started. She just finished a 9-mile run, which is pretty impressive in my book.

Wes taking a Gu Shot before our run.

The run was tougher than expected in the cardio department. Running is completely different from swimming when it comes to fitness level. Swimming for almost four and a half hours last week still doesn't make me breathe as hard as I did today when I was running. My knee, to my surprise felt fine for the most part. I started feeling the usual discomfort and then pain by about 3.5 miles, so I didn't go for too long after that. Shockingly, I finished in 38:40, just a few minutes behind Wes. I don't think I've ever ran four miles that fast before. Maybe that's why I felt so winded. Perhaps I took it out a little too hard and need to slow down a bit.

It's still hard to say how much my knee can take. I certainly am not capable of running a half marathon on it right now, but I have two solid weeks to work at it before the Huntsville Half Marathon registration deadline passes.

Total distance: 4 miles running.

Rare weekend run

I joined Kelly and Jessica for a run at the Ogden River Parkway this morning. My knee hasn't been hurting so much, so I decided to give it a try. We got off to a late start, so it was already pretty warm outside when we hit the trail head. Kelly went ahead of us, because he was doing a 13-miler, which is a light run for his current marathon training standards. But Jess and I went nice and easy, stopping every one-half mile to do calisthenics such as push-ups, crunches, etc.

By the second mile I was starting to feel discomfort in my knee, as usual. By 2.5 miles it was starting to hurt, so we turned around. We were both getting kind of worn out from the sun already. I think it was in the mid 70s by 11 a.m. We stopped at mile-marker one and walked the rest of the day, so it wasn't a terribly long workout, but a decent one. Plus, it was such a nice day outside. I think the two of them are going to join Jen and I for a short hike tomorrow morning if the weather is this good again.

Total distance: 4 miles running

Latest exercise injury

Lately, I've been noticing some pain on the outside of my left knee after long runs. It usually doesn't hurt until later that night and during the following few days. It was still tender from the run I did with Wes on Monday, but I decided to give it a go at the Ogden River Parkway again today.

I went with Jen, Kelly and Jessica. Kelly was attempting another personal high of 12 miles and once again, I just wanted to see what I could manage. I was a bit nervous about Jen coming, because she doesn't run and quite honestly, hates it. I had to talk her in to coming, because I wanted to spend some time with her before I went into work. Anyway, Jessica and I kind of stuck together and we ended up leaving Jen in the dust. Kelly passed both of us after about 2.5 miles, which was where Jess and I turned around.

The discomfort started almost immediately, but it never really hurt so much that I had to stop. After five miles, Jess was pretty tired and I didn't want to leave Jen by herself anymore, so we all walked a half-mile back to the trail head together. I'm glad we stopped, because my knee was (and still is) hurting, but not so much that I couldn't walk. I did some research online about the specific pain I have and how it hurts the most when I walk down stairs, and the obvious answer online was my Iliotibial band. The good news, it's easily treatable with rest and ice, so I'm going to try one last short run before the end of the month and take it very easy in the running department during the next week.

Ughhh.. If it's not one thing (shoulder), it's another thing (knee). Looks like I will be logging a lot of time on the stationary bike in the near future with both running and swimming as alternate exercise options. That's the only form of exercise that doesn't seem to eat my body alive.

Total distance: 5 miles running

Another long run outdoors

After having a sub par workout week last week (other than my 8-mile run), I wanted to get a strong start this week. My friend Wes and his wife Dani joined me for a run at the Ogden River Parkway. I didn't have any lofty goals other than I want to run 10 miles this week. I also want to cycle 45 miles and swim one.

A small part of the Ogden River Parkway

 Wes has always been a fast runner, ever since high school when he ran track, so I knew I wasn't going to outpace him. However, not long after I reached my first turnaround point at Mile Marker 2, Wes stopped to walk with Dani and his dog. I suspect he stopped to keep her company and make her not feel so 'left in the dust.'

After I returned to the start of the trail (4 miles), I was still feeling good, took a swig of water and turned around. I hid my water bottle behind a pavilion this time so nobody would throw it away again. Wes, Dani and I crossed paths again and I told him I was only planning to go back to Mile Marker 1 and turn back around. When I reached it, I felt like I could keep going, but I suspected the two of them didn't want to wait on me, so I flipped around and finished the day with six miles in 1:00.12. It wasn't the long run I did last week, but it was a good start to this week's goal. I think they liked the parkway as much as I do and we are going to go back again on Wednesday.

Total distance: 6 miles running

New personal best at Ogden River Parkway

Today, Kelly and I planned on doing a long run at the Ogden River Parkway. He's still training hard for the Ogden Marathon, while I've been slacking off with no running events in the near future. The Salt Lake Marathon likely isn't happening and I haven't been lucky enough to win an entry to the Ogden Half during the weekly 'Love for Locals' drawings.

I kind of felt like this after my run, until I discovered someone mistaked my water bottle for garbage and threw it away.

Anyway, I decided running with him would help me get my ass in gear and boy did it work. He went for a new personal-best 10 miles and I just wanted to see how far I could go. Kelly ran a half before, but an injury kept him from running the entire thing, so this was his new non-stop running best. The parkway is nice because it has markers every half-mile, although sometimes its hard to enjoy the scenery, because if you aren't watching your feet you are liable to step in dog shit. That stuff was everywhere on the trail.

Once I hit mile-marker two, I decided to turn around, just in case I got too far out and couldn't pull off the long run back. Once I got back to the start, I took a swig of my water bottle and went back out again. I was pretty tired, but once I hit the fifth mile I kind of got over the hump. I decided I had it in me to run back to mile-marker two and go for an 8-mile run (my previous high was 6.25 miles). Kelly and I crossed paths on his way back to the start, because he went all the way out to mile three before his first turnaround. We met again about a half-mile after I hit mile-marker two and I gutted it out to the finish.

However, once I returned, my bottle of water was gone. At first I thought it was stolen, but then I had a suspicion someone saw it and thought it was left there as 'litter' and threw it awy. Sure enough, when I looked in the trash can a few hundred yards up the trail, there it was. Blast! Kelly came trotting in with his dog Luigi about 15 minutes after, pulling off his 10-mile run. Man that guy is a strong runner. He makes it look pretty easy although he admitted he was pretty gassed, too. We refueled with some Quizno's after some light stretching and celebrated our milestones.

Total distance: 8 miles running