From Sept 2012:

"Red Rock Canyon - maybe the most beautiful run I've ever been on. Did the White Rock Trail loop twice, then Keystone Thrust, then a few miles on the Scenic Road to cool down. No description I can give will do it justice. Just, if you're out in Vegas, and can get a car - do yourself a favor and drive out there. I picked up a car at the airport rental place at 6:30 and was on the trail running at 7:15. And the trail and the scenery are absolutely unreal. Like breathtaking unreal.

 

Trail shoes probably would have been good, but I did it in my NB890s and was okay. On that White rock trail, of the 6.2 miles there's about a mile of that large pebble river wash stuff that was a little tough. Other than that, mix of gravel, packed dirt, regular trial type stuff. The loop took a little over an hour at a good steady run - some decent elevation change.

 

$7 to enter park, $17 to rent car, $4 gas, $35 taxi to and from the airport - but all completely worth it."

 

Altogether I got in 17 that day. I think one loop of White Rock was about 10k.

I did 8.75 miles, the White Rock loop plus Keystone Thrust.  It was pretty, if I had remembered to hydrate better  and not run hard yesterday I probably would have enjoyed it more.  I was a bit north of 10min pace for most of it, the trail was technical with a lot of loose rocks, especially Keystone (which seemed to end up going nowhere).  I'd hoped to see some wildlife but no dice, although lots of droppings from either bighorn sheep or wild burros.

 

I'm trying to picture you running that pace but for the life of me, I can't.

I don't think I've ever had my heart pounding that hard at that pace.  The term "running" is used very loosly on some of the sections.

I did enjoy the "who is this crazy bird" look from the hikers though.

Awesome. How about some of those rock formations? The most wildlife I saw was a jackrabbit. And yeah, Keystone is basically a mile to nowhere. Glad you got it in though, I miss that run. My buddy goes to Vegas all the time for business, and is always taunting me with pics from the trailhead.

I only took one pic on the run, I was getting kind of pressed for both time and water.  But yeah, the rock formations were neat.  Which was why I was hoping for so much more out of Keystone, I thought from the description that there was some magnificent geological feature at the end (I am a nerd and enjoy such things).  But the trail pretty much just ended on top of a ridge with nothing to see.

I really enjoyed the colors in some of them.  In a couple hours I will be headed back out there with the kids, so they can see Calico Hills and a couple other spots.

That's the kind of place I'd love to go in cool weather like now (screw summer!!) with a Camelbak and a couple handhelds...get in 3-4 hours on some of the lesser traveled trails.

Pretty happy with both my workouts this week:

Monday: 2 x 2 miles in 11:00 and 11:10 with half mile jog rest

Friday: Five mile tempo: 28:46 (5:45 average)

 

Still cant believe I have to take off about 5-7 seconds per mile to get down to my next goal pace.

Nice job.  You've been hitting the tempo's pretty well.

I'm planning one more "long" run tomorrow and then it's taper time for the half coming up.  Would like to do a 5k this weekend but I'm not having any luck finding anything that is close.  I don't feel like making a long drive just for a 5k.  Worse thing that happens is that I do a solo time trial through the subdivision instead.

Wasn't nuthin but an easy run but it was a good'un.

I went out for my normal noon-time run expecting to be all bummed out about having to run in the rain.  I get out there and it's overcast but just barely raining, if you can call it that.  More than a mist cuz there were actually drops.  First time in quite a while I could run wth no hat, no sunglasses and I also took my shirt off a few miles in.  It was about 57 deg, very very light rain, no wind and nobody out on the trail (cuz, yes, we Californians ARE a little weather-wimpy!).  My legs felt great and wanted to go faster but I kept dialing back because my next big workout is Sunday morning and that's the important one.  10 miles in 1:22 and threw in 5 X 15 sec hill charges.  Man it felt good out there today!  Reaffirmed my love for running, I needed it.

You ran in the rain? Good Lord! Don't do that! You could catch the flu or something.

 

 

You silly boy.

Been quiet lately. Too much going on.

Ran another XC workout in prep for the race next week. We decided to go 3x1k with a 1k active recovery between. Looking for <3:50. Hit each one with one at 3:40. Hard but gratifying. 5k waarm up @ 25 min and coold down @ 25 min. Especially after being up most of the night heaving and hanging out in the bathroom. 24 hour bug I guess but happy I could grind through.

Gives me some confidence going into Saturday.

I had my first 20 mile running week in...well, I can't identify it. It's pretty sad how much effort it took, but I'm excited that I actually saw quite a bit of improvement with a couple weeks of training. I suppose it was really something like 3 weeks if I include backpacking. I'll take it.

Sounds like you and I are on the same training plan. I just broke 20 miles last week also, for the first time since maybe last May.