New trees planted along the Parkway

I forgot to mention that during my run on Monday, on the 1.5 mile segment (round trip) that goes north from the 9900 entrance to the Parkway, I saw about 20 or so new trees that had been planted along the path. I'm guessing they are Cottonwood trees since Cottonwoods are native to the area. Right now there are a lot of Russian Olive trees along the path, but those trees aren't native. In about 15 years the Cottonwoods will be big enough that the caretakers of the Parkway can start to thin out the olive trees.

I also saw during my run today quite a few trees that had been planted along the path. However, these trees are on the other side of the fence, and the trees left the path and followed the fence away from the path. That is an open area that gets a lot of wind, and the land-owner might have planted them as a wind-break.

Today is the day for my weekly rest run -- did 2 miles

When I woke this morning, I didn't feel very energetic. My wakeup heart rate was 57. I hoped to run 5 miles but when I reached 2 miles, I could tell I was getting tired, and I aborted the run and drove home. I could have pushed fore 5 today, but then I would probably be tired on Wednesday. This way, I'll get extra rest today, normal rest tomorrow, and (hopefully) be ready for 6 miles on Wednesday. I did continue running 101 left-foot-steps and walking 66 lfs.

We had rain during the night, and the ground was wet when I started the run. However, by the time I returned to my car, the sky was clearing. There may be rain or snow tonight, though. The temperature during my run was in the high 30s (F).

Ran 6 miles again -- getting my body used to that distance

I was surprised when I measured my wakeup heart rate this morning at 54. I consider 53 my "normal" rate. This means that my body recovered from my long run on Thursday. I've been getting 7-7 1/2 hours of sleep each night, and that helps a lot.

I mentioned in my last post that I was considering making small weekly changes in the number of left-foot-steps before I walk. I was considering adding 2-3 steps each week. After thinking about it, I decided to do it differently, and I tried out my new scheme on my run this morning. My new scheme is to add 1 lfs on my Wednesday/Thursday run and another lfs on my Friday/Saturday run. The total for the week is the same both ways, but my new way smooths out the change during the week. I tried the new way this morning and ran 101 lfs and walked 66 lfs.

The weather during my run was cloudy with temperatures in the mid to high 30s (F). Most of the ice on the Parkway path has melted, and I only encountered three patches of black ice. When I first started the run, I carefully looked at each wet spot to see if it was water or ice, and they were all water. I thus gave up looking for ice and just ran and enjoyed being outside. Then, all of a sudden my two feet slid. I immediately stopped running and recovered my balance. I didn't go down. I started examining the wet spots again and found two more spots that were ice. I stopped and walked across the ice (these spots were pure ice with no snow on them).

As I did on Thursday, I ran the full 6 miles with no rest stops.

Extended my run to 6 miles

I ran 6 miles on the Jordan River Parkway this morning. The temperature was 27 (F) when I left home and in the mid 30s when I returned. My wakeup heart rate was 58. I thought it would be lower since I've been getting about 7 1/2 hours of good sleep night. Apparently, my body is still recovering from my snow shoveling a few days ago. I left home just before the sun came over the Wasatch mountains, and most of my run was in the sunshine. I only saw one walker (saw him at the beginning of my run) and one runner (saw her about 3/4 through my run).

Most of the Parkway path was clear, and it was a pleasant day for running. I wore my usual three layers, but I didn't wear gloves. Instead of gloves, I kept my hands inside the sleeves of my windbreaker. My fingers did get cold, as expected, but after I had gone 3 miles, they felt fine. It usually takes about 2 miles for my fingers to begin feeling better and 3 miles for them to feel fine. I wore my wide-brimmed hat instead of a knit cap, and my face and ears felt fine. In my previous run, I started running for 100 left-foot steps (I had been using 96) and walking my usual 66 lfs. During this run I continued the new number of lfs while running. I've been thinking that instead of increasing my lfs by 5 or so every 3-4 weeks, I would make a smaller increase each week. I may try 102 lfs next week and see how it goes.

Looking into the future, I should be running 6 1/2 miles by the end of the year, and I might be running 7 miles if things go well. My Monday/Tuesday run is capped at 5 miles as a rest run, and my Wednesday/Thursday run will be capped at 7 miles as a mid run. My Friday/Saturday run will be capped at 10 miles as a long run. Eventually, I'll move the mid run up to 90-10 miles and the long run up to 13+ miles.

Saw a "million" Canadian Geese in the Jordan River

During my run, I saw something in the Jordan River that I hadn't seen before. Over a mile of the river was full of Canadian geese! Usually the river has a lot of ducks. The sun was just coming over the Wasatch mountains when I saw the geese. On my way back, the geese were all gone from the river, but I saw a hundred or so of them on the lawn near the East Pavilion. Apparently the geese spent the night on the river and then left for the day. I think of Utah having cold winters, but apparently our winters are warmer that Canadian winters, warmer enough that the geese go south to Utah for the winter.

The following picture is from the web, but it shows what the geese looked like this morning as they left the river as I ran past them.

Lots of snow during the past three weeks

The Salt Lake valley has had over two feet of snow during the past three weeks (significantly more than we usually get in November). The first storm dumped about 15 inches of wet, heavy, snow on a Sunday morning. I spent almost four hours shoveling my walks and driveway. I took it slow and paced myself while shoveling, but I was really tired when I finished. The second storm dumped about 15 inches of light, fluffy, dry snow, and I was able to finish my shoveling in about two hours. I was tired, but not like I was the week before. I had enough energy left that I was able to help my neighbor shovel her driveway.

During the past two weeks, the low temperature during the night was about 0 (F), and the daytime high was in the mid 20s (F).

I don't like to run on ice, and I was glad that the cities quickly removed most of the snow from the Jordan River Parkway. I do have my ice shoes that I made last year if I have to run on ice.