Training in Montana

Looks like my Boot Camp days are over until July or later. I went, thinking I'd be fine, but the 20 miles from Saturday were a bit much and I bailed 10 minutes in and hit the TM. Went at a 7.4 pace which was a bit fast for my legs so after 2 miles I walked for a few then finished at 7.0. Good run, nice to finish the run when I could've quit after 2 miles.

6 TM miles at home before work. Small snowstorm hit last night, 2" snow and 10F this morning. I stayed inside. Legs felt good, I just ran.

6 TM miles at home before work. 5F outside this morning, so I stayed inside and watched some Law & Order SVU. Warmed up 1/2 mile at 6.0 then a couple at 7.0 and the rest at 7.4. Lots of sweat. I'm definitely ready to run outside the rest of the year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, although I'm certain it won't.

Was supposed to run 10 miles but I took my boys snowboarding instead. Had a great time.

Planned to run 20 but it didn't work out. My youngest son had Hunter's Safety field course at the local Fish & Game location right on a small lake. I ran 1.34 mile loops around the lake while he did the course, and got in just over 13 miles before we left. Tried to run at night on the treadmill but too much food caused a big sideache so I gave up a few steps into that attempt.

6 outside at Noon. Beautiful weather, shorts & short sleeve shirt. Ahhhhhhh.....

6 miles outside in the beautiful weather, 54-58F with nary a breeze. Ran up to the rims where I got a mile in before having to turn around. Much more fun running on a trail versus the same roads I've run for years. Next time I'll drive to the rims and get more trail mileage.

Downhill the last 2 miles and I pushed it. Felt good to go fast"ish". I'm not fast.

5 on the rimrock trail in 62-67F temps. Ahh....

6 outside before work. I think I felt the lack of outdoor miles as it was harder than it should've been and I walked for a few minutes at the turnaround. I never do that, but that was when my regular 6 mile route was outside. Lately it's been on the TM with no wind and no undulating roads and conditions. Need more of that.

10 outdoor miles this morning from home. Wind at back going down a steep hill = good. Getting up to the top of that hill previously with a 20 mph headwind = horrible.

AP: 9:01

4 Noon Y TM miles. Did the Hills workout which I've never done before and I'm not sure why. It's a great way to simulate outside a bit better and I know it will have a positive impact as I run outside more often.

6 miles in the dark from home with fine snow granules pounding into my eyeballs. It was actually really nice, and the white illuminates the night quite well. Legs felt much better than the past couple weeks, and I ran strong today. It felt great.

AP: 8:15

10 miles up my favorite hilly route this clear dark morning (which turned into a glowing Eastern sky). I felt fantastic for the first time in weeks. My first mile was 30 seconds faster than normal and I quickly got into a nice rhythm. It will be interesting to see how/if this impacts my 22 miler tomorrow.

AP: 8:16

Ugh. Worst long run I've ever had and I'm not really sure why. I've frequently done back to back 10 miles then 20+ the next day. Maybe I'm just not in as good as shape as I've been in the past. I drove 30 minutes to the only trail in town and parked at a different place than normal so I could have more trail time. Maybe that was my problem. Normally I've hit that parking lot 6 miles in, so my trail time has been only 6 more miles. This time I ran farther than ever on these trails. At 12 miles I was ready to be done. I walked a lot on the way back to the car. At 3 hours I took two salt capsules where I'd only been taking one each hour. I think that second one helped me as I felt a bit better the last 30 minutes and ran most of the time.

I was planning on 22 but I started late and I needed to pick up my wife at 2:30 to head out of town for the weekend, so I gladly cut my run a couple miles short. Bonking on a training run is new for me. I'm guessing this will happen a lot in the next 14 weeks as I try and get up to a 28 mile run. Right now that mileage seems like an absurdity.

AP: 10:15

4 and a quarter at Noon at the Y. 48 outside and overcast which was perfect conditions. Sure wish I could ever run a marathon in these temps. I went a bit fast the first couple miles, but I felt good. Nice to recover so quickly from the Friday death walk.

Had a great weekend with my wife down in West Yellowstone. The park is closed for a month but the cross country ski area in West is still open so we enjoyed that Saturday morning then went for a walk down the road in Yellowstone for a mile or so. She forgot her running shoes and the Dansko clogs gave her a blister after a mile. Bummer. Sunday we drove through the Gardiner entrance all the way to the Cooke City entrance and back. Saw elk, mountain sheep, and a wolf along the way. No bears or moose and no baby buffalo yet either. They are cute.

Undelay, undelay! I felt like Speedy Gonzalez this morning doing my 8 miles and finishing just after 7 am in time for family cereal & scripture. Legs felt really good. I probably shouldn't have pushed it like I did, but I got a late start and wanted to be back home with the fam. At times my legs were a bit fatigued but not very bad as it didn't take much effort to keep pushing. Kind of fun actually. I'll take it easy tomorrow, rest day Thursday, then an easy 10 Friday so my 22 this Saturday won't be the death march from Hades like last week.

AP: 7:48

6 miles this morning downtown with my friend Bill. It's amazing how quickly 48 minutes go by when chatting the whole time. I also learned that an 8 minute pace is not a conversational pace for me. But I don't mind talking in gasps.

AP: 7:58

10 miles from home this morning starting at 5:35 am. I haven't done a whole lot of headlamp running the past 6 months because I just plain don't like it. I'd much rather run a treadmill watching shows of my choice than watching a beam of light on the road ahead of me. So glad summer is getting closer.

Ran 10 on my secondary route and it was fine, although they recently regravelled the road and some places it is hard to find traction. I move side to side to find tire tracks and it's tough. But enough complaining. The weather was fantastic, 47 with a slight West wind, few clouds, and just after the halfway point it was light enough to ditch the headlamp. And I think I took it easy enough today that tomorrow's attempt at 22 miles should be successful. I am having doubts about completing the training for this 50 miler. It is brutal and I've already gone to bed early a couple nights this week. Not sure I can handle 11 more weeks of this.

AP: 8:40

"22" miles this morning in my new Cascadia 10s. They are like heaven. Love new shoes! Especially heavily cushioned ones. I knew it would be windy today but the bad doesn't hit till afternoon. Once I got 2 miles from home I ran into the nasty SW headwind again like a couple Fridays ago. Ugh. Nearly turned around at 3 miles but decided to power through another mile to get to a different route. Worked perfectly and had the wind at my back the next 5 miles to the valley floor, then no appreciable wind until the 19th mile. 

AP: 9:28

4.5 at lunch time from the Y. Nice and warm out, 65 with a decent breeze. Beautiful. Legs felt a bit rough but I just plugged along.

4 this morning from home. Beautiful morning. Internet said 55 but I think it was a bit colder in my neck of the woods as my gloveless hands were freezing. Ran mostly naked: no compression socks or calf sleeves, no iPhone, no headphones, no watch, no sunglasses. Just the essentials: shoes, socks, shorts, short sleeve tech shirt and headband. I just ran.

AP: pretty quick. Felt much recovered from yesterday.