Seven Summits Body – Fitness and Training

Tag: trailrunning

  • Taper Purgatory 6 Days Out

    Taper Purgatory 6 Days Out

    Of all the crazy things to do, with only a handful of days to go, I ended up with new shoes. I have been having trouble with my feet for a couple months now, from nearly-blistered hotspots to plantar fasciitis, to bleeding scrapes from the shoe itself. My Topo Athletic Ultraventure Pro (?) died a horrible death, and only about 100-ish miles into it. The plastic toe cap liner (protects from rocks) delaminated, and the edges curled under cutting my toes on the descent. I was going to wear them too. I took them in to where I bought them, Runners Corner in Orem, and the girl who ended up having to put her magazine down didn’t want to help, said there was no such thing as delamination, and wanted to know if there was something I wanted to buy. I declined much more gracefully than I would have liked to.

    @vk.trailrunner

    descending a steep loose rugged trail is pretty risky for some especially me #trailrunning #BrokenArrowSkyrace

    ♬ original sound – Charles Miske

    With only a week to go, I got talked into going in to Utah Run in American Fork. I have gotten a few pairs of shoes there, and appreciate the more inclusive and open-minded employees there. Hope we didn’t just jinx them. I ended up with a pair of Saucony Peregrine 11, which have sufficient curvature for my wacked feet, and tread that reminds me a bit of my old Salomon Crossmax I used to run in way back before Hoka.

    My own taper program, derived from modeling 2019 (Broken Arrow VK, at which I felt really strong) I had a couple miles on the treadmill with a few quick intervals/strides in store, so I did that on Friday in the new Peregrine, and the new Ultra Spire handheld as an experiment. It went pretty well, but I didn’t quite hit my target TSS from Training Peaks.

    @vk.trailrunner

    top of Green Monster, a classic route on #Strava taper week for #BrokenArrowSkyrace BrokenArrowSkyrace #trailrunning

    ♬ original sound – Charles Miske

    This morning, Saturday, I decided to run/walk/jog on one of my favorite trails nearby, Green Monster, a Strava route just a few miles away. I parked at the Murdock Canal parking and headed up Giddy-Up, a “hoof and boot” trail (meaning no mountain bikes, though there is a guerilla bike park about a quarter mile up it for the local kids in the hood), forked on the “Bench Road” (which is actually the BST-enough) and then up Green Monster for two laps. I did some sustained effort at 2500’/hr vertical, some intervals of strong power hiking at 3600’/hr and on the flatter sections, some intervals at 9:00 pace. On the return to the car I sustained a half mile-ish at 12:00 or less just to burn out the fat.

    Next time, let’s talk about the “Almost but not quite VK” next Friday, setting up HR zones in all the apps and stuff, and maybe some more fun things.

    Videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

  • Running in Foot Deep Powder

    Today was a great day for a trail run. I went trailrunning this morning at -1F (according to the weather channel). Accuweather had it at -13.

    Nothing like a little negative F to kick off the morning trail running
    Nothing like a little negative F to kick off the morning trail running

    I went out on the deck and it felt more like the weather channel had it at -1F so I dressed for that. It was snowing pretty hard and there was at least 8″ of new snow on the ground. I wore a minimum of clothing, in spite of the cold. It’s better to be slightly cold and dry, rather than dressed really warmly but sweat too much. That sweat will chill you if the wind hits it.

    Dressed lightly for a winter trail run at -1F
    Dressed lightly for a winter trail run at -1F

    I wore my Pearl Izumi Trail N2 with Kahtoola microspikes. I’m glad I did. The trail was really bumpy with icy spots under the powder snow. You couldn’t see under the snow so it was good to have the extra spike aggressiveness. I had thought of wearing my Hoka Stinson with the screws in the bottom.

    Winter Trailrunning Video on Vimeo:

    [weaver_vimeo id=”111698274″]

    I wore Salomon hybrid top and bottom. When I say hybrid I mean a thin athletic fleece with wind and water resistant panels. I wore the loose tights without a base layer. On top I had on an Arctyrex mid-weight base layer. That’s it for clothing. For socks I wore thick wool mountaineering socks. For gloves I had on bike commuter lobster mitts from REI for my hands. On my head I wore a buff, a mid-weight helmet liner, and a swag Salomon baseball cap I got at a race.

    The snow was light and fluffy and dry so I didn’t really need to worry about my feet getting wet. When I turned around at the 2.5 mile mark the wind was pretty cold on my chest. I had a thin insulated vest in the UD Pack, but in a few minutes I was warm again so it was worth waiting before I got it out. It ended up I didn’t need it.

    Winter Trailrunning GPS Track:

    [sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/11-12-2014-KeystoneGulch.gpx”]

  • Trailrunning Week in Photos

    On Monday I ran on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in Utah along the foot of the Wasatch Mountains East of Utah Lake near Orem Utah. I did 7.92 miles and 250′ vertical after my 7+ hour drive from Colorado.

    Bonneville Shoreline Trail overlooking Utah Lake. Local say BST.
    Bonneville Shoreline Trail overlooking Utah Lake. Local say BST.

    Movescount Stats for my BST Run on Monday
    Movescount Stats for my BST Run on Monday

    The next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday I did an Incline Treadmill workout and a couple Stairmaster Stepmill workouts. I forgot to bring my whiteboard home with my stats on it, but the Incline Treadmill was:

    Time: 30:01
    Distance: .548
    Incline: 30%
    Elevation Gain: 868.03′
    Average MPH: 1.095
    Average Pace: 54:46
    Vertical/Hour: 1735′
    Vertical/Minute: 28.92′
    VAM: 528.9

    Console Report from my Incline Treadmill workout on Tuesday
    Console Report from my Incline Treadmill workout on Tuesday

    If I remember correctly I got in over 2500′ on the Stepmill, and next time I’m in Utah I’ll get it updated here.

    On Thursday I went up to the Saddle on Mount Olympus, the iconic peak prominent on the East side of the valley near the large REI store. I tried going up the gravel chute scramble to the summit, but was going two steps up and three steps back so decided that a trip to the Saddle was a good workout and returned down. I’m glad I did. That first half mile down was really hard on my knees. 5.89 miles and 3700′ of vertical.

    http://instagram.com/p/oT5tfaqxWV/

    Movescount Stats from Mount Olympus in Salt Lake City
    Movescount Stats from Mount Olympus in Salt Lake City

    That same afternoon then I returned to Colorado in a thunderstorm with lightning bolts hitting the peaks around Avon and Vail.

    On Friday Morning I went out for a trip up Mount Royal, one of my favorite local steep ascents up the anvil-like prow overlooking Frisco Colorado Main Street. The trail was still under a lot of snow. It’s been a very cool wet spring here with lots of snow. An avalanche swept through the trees just left of the trail and covered an intersection and I ended up on the very steep avalanche debris and had to work hard to avoid postholing. When I neared the saddle I realized I was in the wrong drainage and tried to go over and through the trees but between the steep rough terrain and the deep snow between the pines I descended and then found the correct trail. I followed it up for a bit but then had to bail after postholing in steep wet slush like a snowcone. I did 3.34 miles and 1286′ vertical.

    Avalanche debris on Mount Royal in Frisco CO
    Avalanche debris on Mount Royal in Frisco CO

    Snowy trail weaving through the trees on Mount Royal by Frisco CO
    Snowy trail weaving through the trees on Mount Royal by Frisco CO

    Knee deep post holing tracks on Mount Royal snowcone snow
    Knee deep post holing tracks on Mount Royal snowcone snow

    Movescount Stats for Mount Royal in Frisco CO
    Movescount Stats for Mount Royal in Frisco CO

    I kind of felt like that wasn’t quite workout enough, and was going to go for a cycle ride that Friday Evening but decided to go for a second run up the Keystone Gulch Road, one of my favorites. I wanted to go pretty fast overall, in spite of my cold (got a cold from a traveling relative that really packed up my lungs and sinus) and sore knees from Olympus (actually since a pavement run a few weeks ago my knees have been a bit troublesome). I ended up with 1.46 miles and 120′ vertical.

    Keystone Gulch Road Fast Run on Friday Evening
    Keystone Gulch Road Fast Run on Friday Evening

    The next day, Saturday I set a goal of 10 miles and I was curious about the Aqueduct Trail going from a pond crossing about a half mile up the road around to The Ranches subdivision above the golf course and stables. That was a blast. After bushwhacking around some snow, I was on singletrack going very quickly for a while in the area before the houses. Eventually the track gently ascended a hill about where I thought you might cross over back on top of the ridge overlooking the Gulch but it was all under water. I skirted it slowly for a while but then decided it was going to go on forever and returned to the gulch road. I came across a couple of mountain bikers who reported seeing a bear along the singletrack on their way so I took out my earbuds and took off the sunglasses just in case. At the road I headed up to a little ways past the 2 mile marker, having to leap across a 2′ runnel of water crossing the road swiftly entering the creek. I returned to the crossroad trail head with 10.21 miles and 700′ vertical gain.

    Keystone Gulch 10 mile run from Saturday via Movescount
    Keystone Gulch 10 mile run from Saturday via Movescount

    The Aqueduct pipe and trail along the cliffs heading toward the Stables at Keystone Resort
    The Aqueduct pipe and trail along the cliffs heading toward the Stables at Keystone Resort

    Singletrack trail near The Ranches overlooking the River Run Golf Course at Keystone Resort
    Singletrack trail near The Ranches overlooking the River Run Golf Course at Keystone Resort

    I ended up with 29.368 miles and 6824.03′ of vertical for this week. Add in at least 2500′ of ascent via Stairmaster and that’s over 9000′ of gain for the week. In spite of my achy knees and stuffed lungs and head. It was a great week.

  • Trail Running Microspikes in Winter

    I normally only wear trail running microspikes, like the Kahtoola Microspikes while doing speed ascents on mountains, like Quandary or Grays, Colorado 14ers. The snow this year has been so soft, and the trails have been so slow, that I tried running in just plain lugged shoes, snowshoes [STORY HERE] and my spiked running shoes [STORY HERE]. A couple weeks ago the Spring Thaw finally arrived and after a couple of good damp snowfalls and a few days of sun the trails became more firm with a good surface for spiked running.

    Trail Running Spiked Running Shoes in Winter

    I was feeling really good on 19 February, so I took off up the trail with a target of something over 2.5 miles. I ended up with 2.6 miles on my spiked Hoka shoes. I was feeling so good that on the way down I did an interval of just cutting loose and came pretty close to a 5:00 pace. That felt awesome. If you love stats check these out, from Strava and Movescount.

    One difference between Strava and Movescount is that Strava doesn’t count standing still in the final calculation, whereas Movescount goes from watch ON to watch OFF. It adds in the dead time when you first start the watch and then when you finally roll in to the bus stop and dig through layers of clothing to turn it off. Not a major deal though.

    It was great to average 12:14 after averaging in the 15:00-17:00 range for the last 8 weeks. Did I mention that the snow had been deep and soft up to now? It was inspiring and I decided that I’d rest up a day then try again with trail running microspikes on over my non-spiked Hoka running shoes. Say what you want, but I do enjoy the recovery speed in these shoes.

    Trail Running Microspikes in Winter

    I went back to the trail then on 21 February after a day of rest and for some odd reason I set my target as a fast 10k trail run on the snow in the trail running microspikes from Kahtoola. Like I said before, I had worn them several times on the mountain trails on my ascents. I just had never tried for a less steep speed run in them.

    Trail running microspikes by Kahtoola on my Hoka One One Stinson EVO shoes
    Trail running microspikes by Kahtoola on my Hoka One One Stinson EVO shoes

    Putting on Trail Running Microspikes – the video

    For fun I decided to share this little video of putting on the trail running microspikes. I’m in a bus shelter near the trail head, just for convenience for shooting the video.

    I got onto the trail and began running. And I just kept on running. And running. It felt good. I enjoyed the traction and the extra few ounces on my feet from the trail running microspikes was almost negligible. I felt like I was going pretty quickly and that inspired me to just keep going to the turn-around point of the run near the bottom of the Santiago Express lift at Keystone Resort. This road is used by the ski patrol and maintenance crew for the Outback area of the ski resort. That’s why the surface texture varies quite a bit. When the snow is soft it’s shin deep snowmobile chop. When the snow is firm and packed it’s the corduroy snowcat tracks. Like that day.

    I felt good at the lifts so I took a chug of water and then took off back down. My goal on the way downhill was to let gravity help me to achieve a smooth even speed at about my maximum endurance level. I hung on hard for the whole downhill and it felt great. I don’t know for sure if the extra traction of the trail running microspikes helped, but I’m very happy with the 6.7 miles I ended up with. At a 12:19 pace. Here are the stats for you that are interested:

    The most fascinating thing to me is that in the 2.6 miles I was in Zone 6 (anaerobic pace zone via Strava) for 1:45. In the 6.7 miles I stayed in that zone for 9:30. Freaking amazing to me. In trail running microspikes in the snow. To go 2.5 times (two and a half times) as far and only lose 4 seconds per mile (12:14 vs. 12:19) proves that something I’m doing in my training is working. Gives me a lot to think about, for sure.

    Trail Running Microspikes by Kahtoola, Hoka running shoes, and UA gloves, drying out after my run
    Trail Running Microspikes by Kahtoola, Hoka running shoes, and UA gloves, drying out after my run

    Trail Running Microspikes in Action – the video

    Here I am holding a camera out away and trying for different angles without breaking my 8:30-ish pace or falling down and breaking me. I love the shadows on the corduroy snow the best. Then the trees blowing by. Enjoy…

    So, how do I feel about the trail running microspikes, now that I’ve had a chance to use them? For one thing I can feel them, even through the thick sole of these shoes. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When I picked up the pace I was moving fast enough to ignore them. I loved the traction. The weight is obviously irrelevant. I’m going to experiment with what’s left of the Winter going back and forth between the trail running microspikes and the spiked running shoes to see if I can refine my opinion. If you want to be alerted when I write more articles like this, please subscribe to the blog for updates. Thanks.

  • Training Log: Bonneville Shoreline Trail 12 Nov 2013

    Last night I went to bed with a crazy idea. To do a 5K PR on the BST, or Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Along the Wasatch Front of Utah we just call it the BST for simplicity. Everyone who runs or bikes knows it. Here in Utah County it’s pretty dry and barren for the most part. It’s made up of various jeep roads along the base of Mount Timpanogos here in the Northern part of the County. Further South it has a few more trees on it, down by Rock Canyon.

    Just after completing my 5K PR on the BST
    Just after completing my 5K PR on the BST

    I parked at a church near the Cedar Hills Golf Club, since they don’t mind much and the paved rec path is there to access the dirt road. I walked about a quarter mile to warm up, then hit the button on Strava [results] and my Watch. I monitored my progress closely, with the Pace View on the watch to make sure I stayed below a 10:00 pace, with a target of 32:00 minutes for my PR.

    There were a few steep but short hills and a few longer gentler uphill grades, and I had to walk a few times. Then at 1.6 miles I turned around and gave it a little more speed. My legs and lungs were sore and I came in at the starting line, about 3.2 miles and then tapered to a walk to let my heart rate decrease. When I uploaded the run to Strava it did in fact meet my goal at 31:25 for the 5K PR.

    Later I looked at my Polar results and my heart rate was over 160 for almost the entire return 1.6 miles. Awesome job, if I do say so myself. Below is the GPS track from Strava and then a gallery of some of my results graphs from Strava and Polar.

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    Map and Splits
    Map and Splits

    Pace Overview - Elevation and Pace
    Pace Overview – Elevation and Pace

    Pace Analysis - Splits
    Pace Analysis – Splits

    Pace Analysis - Smoothed
    Pace Analysis – Smoothed

    Pace Distribution based on Tempo
    Pace Distribution based on Tempo

    Polar Heart Rate (in the red zone)
    Polar Heart Rate (in the red zone)

    Polar Heart Rate Zone Displayed
    Polar Heart Rate Zone Displayed

  • Training Log: Squaw Peak 02 November 2013

    I was going to be in Utah for family business and had contacted fellow Team Seven Summits Quest member Jen Hamilton to see if she could do a run on it. She was planning on starting around 7, and I couldn’t be there before 9, so I thought we could hook up on the trail.

    Charles Miske and Jen Hamilton below Squaw Peak overlooking Provo Utah
    Charles Miske and Jen Hamilton below Squaw Peak overlooking Provo Utah

    I had two days of rest after my slow winter conditions run on Quandary, so I was hoping I could beat my last PR on Squaw. I took off from the parking lot and tried hard to run up the road, then gravel road, then narrow four wheel drive road up to the fork in the trail for Squaw, about 1.5 miles from the gate to the parking lot.

    Squaw Peak map with Splits
    Squaw Peak map with Splits

    I ran about a 10:00 pace for the paved section of road, then settled into about a 15:00 uphill walk with a few steep sections of slower walking, trying hard not to drift below a 20:00 pace. I figured with a two hour head start I might be running into Jen somewhere up the fork, probably on her way down. I looked at my watch and saw that I was running a few minutes slower than I thought I needed to be for a PR.

    About a half mile from the summit of Squaw Peak [photo by Jen Hamilton]
    About a half mile from the summit of Squaw Peak [photo by Jen Hamilton]

    The trail devolved into slimy mud over frozen hard dirt with some ice and snow in shady places. With the fallen leaves it was a bit slippery in places. I finally ran into Jen about a half mile from the summit as she was descending. We talked for a minute and I checked my watch. I felt like I was about four minutes off from a record, and after a couple minutes we decided to meet on my way down and I ran hard for the summit.

    Squaw Peak Summit
    Squaw Peak Summit

    I checked my watch and was a bit fuzzy, since I had started it at the car, and there was a couple minute walk to the gate before the Strava Segment started. I hung out for a minute, took a couple of pictures, then headed back down. It was a bit more slippery going down, and I fell once, but no damage, so I kept on. Jen was moving pretty fast going down, and I ran into her about a quarter mile from the fork to the road and we went down that last steep narrow dirt trough together.

    Frosty branches in the frozen mud
    Frosty branches in the frozen mud

    We continued on back to the car moving at a reasonably fast clip, but not running like I’d done on my last Squaw Peak training run. We discussed Elbrus Race 2014, possible gear selections and training methods, nutrition and her health and training goals.

    It wasn’t until a while later, when I synced my Strava app that I discovered I’d achieved a handful of PR’s on this one. I was surprised, but quite pleased. One thing I’d like to add here is that I was not using trekking poles on this run, so I was using my arms to pump hard on the way up. Not sure if it helped or not though.

    Strava Overview with PR's for Squaw Peak Run
    Strava Overview with PR’s for Squaw Peak Run

    I have been doing the Hoka Vertical Challenge on Strava too, which is one reason I’ve been doing a lot of vertical training this past week, instead of my usual runs on Keystone Gulch Road. I managed to top 4000 meters this week, which is a lot of vertical feet, especially considering that quite a bit of that was accomplished above 4000 meters on a Colorado Fourteener.

    Hoka One One Demand More Vertical Challenge 4000 meter achievement
    Hoka One One Demand More Vertical Challenge 4000 meter achievement

    I’m heading back to Colorado now, and not quite sure what my vertical achievement goal will be for Monday after a rest day on Sunday. It will be exciting though to make this training goal. Here is a collection of images about my training from Strava Reports:

    [map style=”width: auto; height:500px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;” gpx=”http://fps.dzl.mybluehost.me/website_031b6ccf/blog/wp-content/uploads/Squaw Peak 02 November 2013.gpx”]