Training in Montana

I wanted to start off the new year right, so I started on the treadmill with a goal of at least 6 miles, and then thought 7 would be good, but 8 was far so I then focused on 8. After 6 I felt great so my new goal became 10. The treadmill I'm using goes up to 99:59, so that was my final goal. I wanted to see what happened. Would the TM stop, turn over, or what? I felt tired after 9, so the last 15 minutes were a slight struggle but not too bad. Achilles felt good nearly the entire time. It was sore afterward so I'm not out of the woods yet but close to it. I iced it just now and it's feeling pretty good. Hopefully double digits will be normal for me once more. By the way, the timer turned over to 0:00. Good time for a cool down.

Question that I need some advice: registration for the Bighorn 30K/50K/50M/100M is this Saturday and the shortest races fill up quick. I'm turning 40 in April & want to do something cool to prove that I can do it. Do I run the 50K again or up my game and do the 50 miler? Or just do the 30K and focus this year on marathons?

3 TM miles at the Y this morning. I sort of wanted to run 13 yesterday for 2013, but that was a bit ambitious given my lack of long runs for the past few months. I ran yesterday in the late afternoon, and today in the morning, so that's 13+ in 24 hours. Good enough for me.

BTW, I can comfortably run up to 7.5 on the TM, although last night while running my 10 and watching the Rose Bowl and trying to talk to my wife I learned that 6.5 mph is a bit more than a conversational run for me. I must be a bit out of shape. 

Noon: Went to Boot Camp. I didn't push it incredibly hard and skipped the abs workout at the end as I was done. A bit too much in a 22 hour period, but a great way to start off the new year. 

4 TM miles at they Y this morning. Broken record. Watched a cool show on Modern Marvels about new types of aircraft. The US Military uses remote control toy planes to check on our enemies. These planes have foldable wings to fit into a regular backpack, and their cameras are HD with thermal imaging. Very cool. I want one for elk hunting.

Started at 5.0, then 6.0, 6.5, and 1 mile at 7.0. Achilles feels good.

A couple of friends just decided to do the Bighorn 50K so I'm going to join them. The training last year really gave me a good base for a fall marathon so I'm looking forward to it. Plus, after reading Crockett's blog it sounds like if you don't say "I'll never do this again" after an ultra you probably didn't push yourself enough. :)

Started feeling crappy Friday night so skipped my long run Saturday and layed around all weekend then slept in today till 10 am & stayed home from work. Still feel rough at 7:30 pm. Ugh. Wish I knew what I had. No fever just general malaise. Legs feel like 100 lbs.

Wahoo! Back to running. Felt better on Wednesday night so went to work Thursday finally. Took it easy that day as I wasn't sure how my body was. Ran today at lunch and felt great. Started at 5.0 to gauge my body, and no problems so up to 6.0 for a while and I got a big side ache, probably from hot chocolate I drank too late in the morning. Had to walk (and belch) a bit and then was able to run with no problems. Did a mini progression run the last mile, ending with the last 0.2 at 8.3 mph. Felt really good. Hoping for 6-8 tomorrow. Nothing too strenuous.

Noon: 6 TM miles in my basement with a fire in the wood burning stove. Thankfully the TM has a built in fan or I would have melted. I kept it pretty slow, starting at a 5.0 mph then at a 6.0 until 4 miles. Bumped to 6.5 for mile 5, then 7.0 for the last mile. Good run. Listening to an interesting book right now.

2:00: 4 miles outside in the snow. 13 degrees ambient temp; -2 with the wind chill. Wore lotsa layers and I was warm enough. For my sake, I wore calf compression socks, long johns, tights, and wind-proof pants on bottom plus normal socks with thick winter socks on top (shoes too big - perfect for winter). On top wore a short sleeve tech shirt, thick long sleeve zip neck tech shirt, thin long sleeve zip neck tech shirt, fleece vest, running jacket. Neck gaiter, thin hat, and ear warming headband. Thin gloves inside thin windproof mittens. I was a bit warm with no wind but with the wind it was perfect.

4 TM miles at the Y this morning. 5.0 for 1/2 mile, 6.0 for 1 1/2, 6.5 for 1, 7.0 for 3/4, 7.5 for 1/4. Felt good, no pain.

Yesterday walking down stairs my left achilles winked at me. Hmph. I thought it was over. Guess I need some more eccentric heel drops. 

5 TM miles at lunchtime at the Y. Very windy today, and it's starting to warm up so the snow is getting to the gooey stage. Not warm enough for slush, but not running weather. Very crowded at the Y. Glad I snagged a TM. Lots of sad people today.

Did a progression run, which is what I always tend to do on a TM as I just want to finish. Is there anything wrong with continual TM progression runs? Outside I tend to keep a pace pretty steady, so I'm not worried. Just wondered if the experts out there who happen to peruse my blog had an opinion. Started at 5.0 for 1/2 mile, then 6.0 for 1 1/2, 6.5 for 1, 7.0 for 1, 7.5 for 3/4 then up to 10.0 for the last 1/4. Felt great. Kept my body low and slow and just let my feet glide across the ground. Wish it were that easy to run 6:00 pace outside. 

Noon Boot Camp at the Y. Kicked my butt as I overdid it a bit. I used to go regularly and was in better shape with things other than running (abs, upper body, etc.) but I haven't been doing anything except run for a long time. So when I go I expect that I can do a lot more than I can. I'm stupid. Nice to do something besides just run, though. Need to start doing my pushups and planks again.

4 TM miles at the Y. Progression from 5.0 warmup for 0.5 to 6.0 for 1.5, 6.5 for 1, 7.0 for 1. Felt good.

4 TM miles, 4 outside. Didn't have time to do 6 outside like I wanted. No watch, but I was moving like I haven't for a while. Felt great.

4 TM miles this morning at home. It was my first time running early on the TM at home while the kids were asleep. I started about 6:15 am and heard no complaints after we woke them at 7, so I call that a success. It helps that we're all noise sleepers. We all need some kind of white noise to sleep peacefully: fan, white noise app on iPod, humidifier, etc. My wife comes from a long line of white noise sleepers. When her family goes anywhere, they bring along a collection of fans. One sister in law brings her 30" square box fan every where she goes. It's hilarious. 

Score one for white noise. My early morning TM run was a success. 

4 mile TM progression run, ending at 8.0 for the last quarter mile. Felt pretty tired when I woke up which is odd as I've gotten good sleep the last two nights and haven't run that much. Must be the white noise.

Ran about 1/2 mile before Boot Camp at Noon. The class is always brutal if I listen to the hard-core instructor, and today I listened pretty well. Feel a little beat up, but in a good way.

Rest day yesterday, did 4 on the TM at home this morning. Progression run from walking 4.0 to 8.5 mph for the last quarter mile.

Scout campout tonight & tomorrow, so will likely miss my Saturday long run. Hoping I can get someone to cover my duties for a couple hours, but we'll see.

Only a couple patrols came through my Klondike GPS station, so finally at 2 PM I got out on the road for a run. Needed to be back around 3 so didn't give me much time. Ran 3.5 miles down the same dirt road I ran on a couple years ago at the Klondike, with similar weather. 40s or so, which meant partially muddy roads in spots where the snow was melting. Tough to figure out where to run on a muddy road. Follow the tire tracks? The gravel on the side? The snow without slush? Such tough decisions. Good run, but I am so out of shape. Lots of hills on this one and my short time frame meant I pushed the pace and my legs and lungs were not enjoying it. Ran an 8ish pace quite a bit and that was exciting. Garsh I have a long way to go.

After running 7 on the roads I ran out on the lake as I needed to recover the clues I'd stashed earlier this morning. Not exactly sure of the mileage, but I think it's about 1.5. 

AP: 8:51 

4 miles in an inch of fresh snow. Very delightful. Need to run outdoors most of the time to get my legs back. Treadmill isn't cutting it - need my hill training.

Slacker. Shut off the alarm this morning, planned to run at lunch but didn't. Maybe today is a rest day. Again. Maybe I'll run at home on the TM tonight. Or not. It's all good.

Just looked at my running stats as it's been a while, and I haven't hit 100 miles in a month since September. No wonder I feel like my fitness isn't where it used to be! I had no clue that it has been 4+ months since I really ran. I'm kind of biding my time until the 50K training plan starts up, but I probably need to do more than that. It would be good to be in the 30 mpw category before hitting 50 mpw regularly. I'll get there. Just kind of tired of winter running, and I've hardly done much. Last year I did a lot of it and it seems like I was always getting sick after running more than an hour outdoors. Not sure how everybody else does it. Better clothes? Vitamins? General toughness? Probably the latter. 

Did a double workout of sorts today. Woke up and did 4 on the treadmill before work. At lunch I went to the gym and did 8 minutes on the stair stepper, then decided to hit Boot Camp. I did Boot Camp for 30 minutes then had to leave for a 1 PM meeting. I feel pretty tired, which is good. I think I might use the stair stepper a bit more to help me get back into hill work as I'll need plenty of that for the 50K. Lots of ups and downs.

Great treadmill session this morning at home. Bam kicked my butt through just a few lines, and point well taken. I need to up my game, and it needs to start now. I've been coasting for a long while now and it's making an impact on my fitness.

Did a nice progression run while watching the Batman with Heath Ledger. With the volume muted and closed caption on I missed some of the great intonations by the Joker but still a fantastic performance and worth watching again. I haven't seen it since the theater. I'll continue it tomorrow.

Started my run by walking at 4.0, then 5.0, then 6.0 until 2 miles; 6.5 for a mile; 7.0 for one; 7.5 for one; 8.0 for my final. Felt great. Starting to be sore from Boot Camp yesterday, but that's what I like.