April training

Despite our horrible weather along the Wasatch Front, April has been going very well so far. On Saturday the 2nd Matt Van Horn and I climbed Mt. Olympus and had a really fun day. There was quite a lot of snow after the stream crossing and I wore my micro-spikes for traction and they really seemed to help. From the saddle to the summit the gully was full of snow and there were some nice bucket steps most of the way up to the summit, with only a few sketchy areas, but nothing serious. Last week I climbed Mount Wire on Wednesday with Matt and then later in the day ran 6 more miles on the BST in Draper. My legs were really feeling it. Yesterday I had a really fun run with Matt Williams and Craig up the Dimple Dell gully from just past Jordan High school all the way up to Bells Canyon Reservoir and back (13.3 miles). We really pushed the pace and I finished in 1:55. The weather was almost perfect. This morning I got up early and hiked/ran Mt. Wire with Matt Van Horn again. We had a lot of fun, even though I was a bit sluggish. My legs felt really good considering the run yesterday, but my energy levels were a bit low. That makes 23 summits for 2011 and I am on target to hit my goal of 65 for the year. Some random thoughts: I have really noticed that I have been watching the weather a lot more than normal this Spring/Winter. Trying to get 65 summits can be challenging for several reasons, and it has been tough to find enough good days to get out with all of the crappy weather. I find myself watching the weather a few times per day and then trying to predict when the best weather windows for success. For the most part I have had a lot of success and I haven't been caught in much inclement weather so far this year. There was the one day on Grandeur a few months ago that Matt Van Horn and I only made it up the trail about 100 yards before turning around because the wind was so fierce and cold that going up would have been crazy. Other than that though things have really worked out. Other random thoughts: I have found that I have been eating the same things before most of my morning adventure runs/climbs and so far it seems to really be working out for me. This is what I typically eat before tagging a morning summit or going on a longer run: 1 proten shake (Whey protein mixed with milk). 1-2 boiled eggs. Depending on if I can stomach two. banana. I have found that if I am climbing a peak that will take me less than 2 hours, I don't need to take any gels or energy, and my 20 ounce handheld water bottle is sufficiant. If it will be longer than two hours I'll take a gel every hour along with a salt pill if I am sweating a lot. For longer runs I usually take a gel about every 45 minutes. This seems to keep my energy up. My gel of choice is Hammer raspberry or Montana Huckleberry. As many of my friends know I tend to have a bit of a weak stomach and I can usually get these down without much of a problem.