Training in Montana

Started off the short month with a bang. Or at least a small whimper. 5 TM progression miles at home this morning. Watched more of The Dark Knight. What a great movie. 

4.0, 5.0 for 1/2; 6.0 for 1.5; 6.5 for 2; 7.0 for 1/2; 7.5 to finish. Weather's a lot warmer tomorrow, hoping for 10 outside.

7 miles this morning as I woke up without an alarm clock, but had to leave by 9:30 for our daughter's basketball game. Wanted to do 10 but no time. Maybe later but it's 4:30 pm now and I'm feeling tired so probably not. Ran up towards my Veyo hill and made it 3/4 of the way up before hitting 3.5 miles, so I turned around for home. Made it to the game and she made her first basket of the year! Wahoo.

AP: 9:01 

Couldn't wake myself up with the alarm, then had a meeting pop up over the lunch hour. After dinner, family night, and ice cream, I hopped on the TM for 1-3 miles at 8:30 pm. The side ache started around 1/2 mile, so I would walk a bit then bump back up to 6.0, then drop down to 4.0 to walk. I realized that I did it wrong. Ice cream is for AFTER running. Oops. I was just glad to get my feet moving. When I hit 2 miles and the side ache wasn't gone I stopped.

After failing to rouse myself yesterday I was motivated to wake up at my running time. Woke up, took care of business, and out the door 30 minutes later. Why in the world does it take me 30 minutes? 15 minutes of "taking care of business" then 15 minutes to dress? I putz around way too much. Decided to do my 6 mile route anyhow, even though I'd be a bit late back to the house for our 7 am scripture reading around the breakfast table. It worked. 

34 degrees out with not much breeze. I had on a short sleeve tech shirt, long sleeve 3/4 zip thicker top and a jacket. Turns out it was too much, although at least I wasn't cold. When I got back the sleeves of the 3/4 zip were dark with sweat. Part hard effort, part too many clothes. Could've gotten by with a long sleeve tech shirt. 

Headed out and after my first mile settled into a nice pace. Pushed it to get back to the house at a decent time, and on the way back pushed it pretty well. Felt good. I left my compression socks at work and I could feel my right shin giving a bit of a niggle. Interesting. I believe in my compression socks. I'm sure they correct my poor form. Overall, liked the run. Longer than I've done on a morning run in a while, and I'm looking forward to getting back to these 6+ morning runs. I need them.

AP: 8:28 

I went to sleep early last night but woke up exhausted. Nearly stayed in bed as I could not get my brain working. Finally inched my way out and got ready for a treadmill run as I figured the roads would be too muddy. Turns out they froze overnight so I could've run outside, but no worries. Hopped on the treadmill for 3, and felt okay, so when I hit 3 I went one more mile.

My right outer medial calf muscle is in pain. According to an anatomy chart it might be my extensor digitorum longus. It's where I get shin splints, and I aggravated it yesterday pretty well. Yesterday morning I popped a bunch of Ibuprofen to get rid of the pain and last night I had to pop more to go to sleep as just lying down was a dull ache in that muscle. I took a few more before work and it feels okay, but I could definitely feel it walking to work. Too fast too soon. Oops.

3 quick miles outside today before making breakfast in bed for my 7 year old daughter. It's a family tradition.

The shin splint/outer calf muscle felt fine during the run. I felt it on the walk from my car to work (1/4 mile) and now I'm wearing my compression sleeve and it feels fine sitting down. I'll just take it easy for a while. 

My Saturday is full, so I got up early and did 10 miles this morning, in honor of Sherry Arnold, the runner in Montana who was abducted and killed last January while jogging. Tomorrow is the 2nd Annual Run for Sherry. You can print your bib here: http://www.races2remember.com/PrintBib.php?bib=sherry. 

I'm surprised at how good I felt during this run. I got to bed an hour + earlier than normal so that must have helped, but today's route was up my "Veyo" hill and it's brutal. And I did it in the dark with a headlamp. I tell you what, running a long and steady uphill with only a headlamp is a mental challenge. I've run this hill quite a bit so I know the parts where if I can just get to a certain point then I know I can make it all the way. This morning I couldn't see those markers, so I just had to keep plugging along. It's a climb from 2.25 miles all the way to 4.25 miles, and in the middle is a and steep section. I love it as a challenge and as a hill that helps me in a race, and I know it helps in major ways.

Anyhow, enjoyed the run thoroughly and hope I don't crash during my day job. :)

AP: 8:41 

Very full day today, but did manage to wake up early enough for 1.5 miles on the TM before heading to the church to teach Scouts about how to be a citizen in our fair world. Our stake puts on a merit badge day every year and opens it to boys of all faiths from all over the Billings area, and we had about 300 or so Scouts there to earn a couple merit badges (even some from an hour away). Great day, and turned out to be some fun discussions. Amazing how smart and knowledgeable some teenagers are.

Calves are a bit sore from yesterday's run. Love it. 

5 miles outside; 20 degrees with a breeze, 7 F wind chill. I was prepared. Good run, calves a bit sore, especially my left gimpy achilles calf. My right gimpy shin splint calf has behaved the past few days. 

Yesterday morning I woke up early to run, took care of business, then decided my eyelids were not behaving, so I should listen to my body. I got another hour of sleep and was grateful. Then had a stupid meeting bleed into the lunch hour and I had way too much to get finished so I had to skip my planned lunch run. Rats.

This is a very busy week at work for me so I was happy for the early run.

AP: 8:36 

Got up early to get in a few miles before a literal all day meeting (If 7 am to 8 pm can be considered all day. I think it can.). I've been part of a massive strategic initiative project and today was the day to present the project recommendations to our 120 most senior leaders. I was a bit nervous about it, so it was nice/required to burn through some nervous energy on the treadmill.

The meeting went fine, and the presentation scored points with the right people, and the catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner was excellent. I think I gained 5 pounds. I'm looking forward to my planned 20 mile runs here in a few months so I can lose my winter fat. 

My big meetings this week are now over, and today is a no school day for my kids and my wife, so I got to run as far as I wanted without having to be back for breakfast and scripture study. It allowed me to sleep in a bit more then I would have, which was nice. Outside we had 2 inches of fresh snow and 25 degree temps with a 10 mph breeze, so a bit chilly but not too bad. I sure do love my neck gaiter which is new this year. Takes off the cold from my chin and it's amazing how much that mentally helps. 

Left my watch at home so no idea of times. It was nice to just run. 

10 beautiful miles this morning on my 10 mile loop. I haven't done this one in a few months and it felt great to do it. It's mostly downhill the first 3.5 miles, then up, up, up. I didn't stop at any time, and that excites me. A few weeks ago I really questioned my fitness so I bumped up my running and it's paying off. Still have a ways to go, but I'm on the right road to improve my 50K race. Forgot my watch, which was probably a great thing.

6 TM miles at Noon at the YMCA, in between two other guys who ran about the same distance. we ran stride for stride for about 50 minutes. That was interesting, and kind of fun. 

Did a progression run, started at 5.0 for a little bit, then 6.0, 6.5 for 2 1/2 miles, then 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, and ended at 10.0 for just a short little burst. Felt great. Ran at 2 % incline the first 4 miles. Did 7.5 at 5% incline for 1/2 mile. That was tough. Dropped incline to .5% and speed to 6.0 for a quarter mile after that to slow down my breathing.

Cold this morning, 14 degrees. No breeze but it was a facemask-over-the-nose sort of morning. I tested out my new 1/2 zip pullover loft jacket and it was pretty darn nice. A bit too warm in the arms (they were drenched afterwards) but my mid section was comfortable, and it has a butt warmer which was very nice in the end (buh dum dum). 

Did 5 miles at whatever effort made sense. After yesterday's workout I drained the tank a bit but not all the way. A good run. Got a nice effort up a hill at the turnaround point.

AP: 9:04 

4 down & up miles this morning. I just went to the eye doctor & had my eyes dilated so I can't read what I'm typing. If there are typos or something doesn't make sense, I ll fix it when I can see. 

So the other day I was thinking about my hill running, and my desire to do well with the 50K, and it dawned on me that the road I live on is a steep hill, but I never run it. Decided to run it today and it will become used more often. It's only a mile & a half to the bottom of the road, so I ran another 1/2 mile to make it a solid 4 on the turn around. Great paces down the hill, and nice and steady back up. It's at least 400 feet of climb in 1.5 miles with 3 solid stretches of up. I will make this part of my routine. Would be nice to end some long runs with this brutal uphill at the end.

AP: 9:01 

Planned rest day. I was thinking about getting up and doing 3 miles as a rest, but decided to sleep another 45 minutes. It felt good.

I know that running is back as a passion because I was driving home last night, up a pretty good hill, and I couldn't wait to get back running that hill. It's been a while since I ran really long. I'm looking forward to it. 

6 miles this morning in a steady brisk wind. 24 F temps, 17 mph wind, 11 degree wind chill. My hands got cold but the rest of me was okay. I need some new gloves with wind shields on the top and breathable on bottom. I just don't want to spend $30-40 on a pair, so I make do with a pair of cotton running gloves I got at SGM 2011 combined with a pair of thicker cotton gloves I bought at Harbor Freight. They work well on nearly every day.

Didn't feel completely fresh today, but not too tired either. Tomorrow's a busy day with the first kid bball game at 8 am so I'm not sure when I'll get my run in, but I'll do it. Might be a treadmill run in the morning. Happy to have hit the 20 mile mark on Friday. I think it's been a while.

AP: 8:42

12 TM miles at the end of a crazy day. Would have run them outside in the dark & wanted to, but would rather spend the time with my kids watching movies. Saw "Here Comes The Boom" and it's a surprisingly good show! Very funny, great action, & Selma Hayek is easy on the eyes. It ended with a tough 3 miles to go so we started Nacho Libre. Almost identical plot, chubby athletic funny front man, hot Latina he's trying to seduce. Fun shows.

The last 3 miles were mentally very tough, so I imagined myself 3 miles from home & ran my normal route back. Worked okay.

6.6 mph, 2% incline for just about all of the 12 miles. Good long run for now, good week for me.

5 miles this morning outside. 27 F with 13 mph, so 16 F wind chill. Not too bad really, but def needed the neck gaiter. Felt pretty good and loose. No idea of time as my Garmin's been doing weird things lately after I charge it. Batter was almost dead but I charged it a few days ago. What's up Garmin?

6 miles outside early this morning. 32 with 16 mph wind. What's up with the wind? I mean, seriously. It actually wasn't too bad, but is annoying. Decided to do 6 because I did 5 yesterday and I'd woken up early so I had some extra time.

AP: 8:36

Woke up early due to a morning meeting, and had some extra time so I ran an extra mile. Steady wind of about 15 mph at 30 degrees, chin/neck gaiter still needed into the wind. Looking forward to warmer temps this weekend.

Legs don't feel totally fresh, and they shouldn't as I'm increasing my mileage, but they don't feel rough either. On the return I was able to comfortably hit the high 7s in some spots but didn't push it.

AP: 8:34

Just noticed that I crossed the 100 mile mark for February, so I'm back at my arbitrary monthly minimum. I'd hit it very consistently except for injury months, but slacked off after my fall marathon. Glad to be back on the side of motivation. Also just hit 200 miles for the year, so life is looking up. At this rate I'll hit 1200 miles...and hopefully a whole lot more than that. 1500 would be nice.