Training in Montana

8 miles this morning around the river walk path in San Antonio.  Gorgeous. Hot though, 71F with high humidity. My shirt was drenched at the end. I would've been more dry running through sprinklers. Effort was solid. Running on the flat gives me new appreciation for the flatlanders. In the hills I 

can run a hard effort up but then rest on the way back. On the flat there's no rest. Did I mention the heat?  Mad props for those running in this junk all the time.  I'd rather run in sub zero temps.  Can't recall my AP. 8:30 I think.  Good run. Now time to sit on my rear all day and learn new ways to do my job. Hopefully get some pool time later.

Accidentally logged Friday's workout on Thursday, my rest (and travel) day.

10 miles this fine morning. 48 degrees sounded pretty nice, so I wore shorts, a short sleeve tech shirt, and thin gloves. Shoulda worn a long sleeve shirt. My arms were still cold for a while afterwards. Slight breeze while heading South, so cold on the way out, nice on the way back. My legs were pretty dead after traveling yesterday. I kept decent paces but nothing special. On the way back I picked it up just before mile 3 and finished with 3 sub MP miles. Last 3 were 7:21, 7:16, 7:06. Total time 1:21:xx. AP: 8:10. 20 miles tomorrow. The ramp up is here.

20 long miles this morning. I'm still pretty tired from traveling (early flights, etc.) so I slept until 6:45 and left the house by 7:30, both really late for me. It worked out fine. Temps were perfect, 45F and overcast skies with hardly a wind. Shorts, long-sleeve shirt, and gloves weather. More wind would've meant a hat but no wind today, which was fantastic. Headed up my normal Saturday set of hills. My body was definitely tired from the week and yesterday's 3 fast miles, so I took it slower than I have been, but I woke up at mile 3.5 which is in the middle of my hill. I like the challenge of hills. They make me happy. The plan today was to do 15 miles then go home and meet my wife as she wanted to do 5 with me on a route she's never done. I was feeling pretty rough by 15 but after taking a 10 minute break at home I felt refreshed. Changed my shoes, shirt, gloves, bandanna, and replaced my Nathan backpack for a water belt. We ran slowly down the hill from our house, which is 1.5 miles, then Kaylene had to head back home so we parted ways. I ran up a killer hill I've only done a couple times before. It is a brutal 600 foot climb over 1.25 miles that has a solid mile with zero flat spots. It was a great workout, especially after 16 miles. The rest of the way home is pretty tough on this route, which is why I don't normally do it, but it felt good to be hurting a bit after a long morning of running. Good training.

AP: 8:56. Good run.  

4 miles this morning as my training plan calls for 4 every Monday. I'm totally okay with that. Perfect weather. No watch, solid effort.

My weekend was a bit of a disaster on the home front. After traveling home from Texas on Thursday via an early-morning flight I ran 10 on Friday then 20 on Saturday. I was beat. Exhausted. Knackered. We didn't have many plans on Saturday so I did very little. Caught a short nap but not much. Sunday I got up at 7:30 and got the kids ready and we did our 3 hours of church and I was beat. Didn't help that it was Fast Sunday and I decided to fast. Probably shouldn't have after doing 20, but I felt up to the challenge. I was not in a horrible mood but not chipper either. After dinner I slept for an hour or so, and as we had nothing going on I vegetated the rest of the day then was asleep before 10:30. Not a positive day for a wife who isn't 100% supportive of my running habit, especially when I'm a slug because of a long run. Thankfully this week is a step-back week, and hopefully this big mileage weekend built up immunities so my future big weekends won't have as much of an impact on my body. This morning I feel great.

Noon: Boot Camp. I thought it would royally kick my butt after the long weekend, but I guess I rested enough as I felt pretty darn good. The exercises suited me also, as we ran in between each set of exercises. At the very end I had 15 seconds to sprint around the 1/17th mile indoor track, and I was pretty tired but the thought popped in my brain "BQ finish" and I sprinted the last 75 yards or so, finishing strong. I may have looked a fool rounding those sharp corners but I felt fantastic. 3:14:59....

8 miles in my new Brooks ASR 9 trail shoes. A good run, another banner morning. I love these cloudless mornings with the Eastern sky filling with reddish orange light until the sun breaks through to crown the day. Gorgeous. My legs felt quite sluggish from Boot Camp yesterday, but about mile 4 they started to wake up so the return trip went much quicker. Yes, it's down hill, but the legs were moving. Last 3 miles 7:14, 7:09, 7:14. I need to mix in more BQ tempo miles on my Saturday long runs, and now that I've got a couple 18+ under my belt I think I can do that. Only 10 this weekend, but next weeks are 22, 22, 24, so those should be perfect for getting in 8-10 miles of solid BQ miles.

I'm stoked about my shoes. I bought the Salomons wanting a stiffer trail shoe than the Brooks, but they didn't fit me right and gave me blisters with the second run. I called their customer service line and they had me send in pictures of my foot and the shoes and they warranteed them. I forwarded that e-mail to my local shoe store and they had me bring them back in and gave me credit for the shoes. I got the Brooks plus some sweet merino wool socks. I wore them both today and they felt great. Yeeha. I didn't want to waste $120 on shoes I can't wear and I'm glad I was taken care of.

AP: 8:07

6 miles on very sore legs, so I'll take it. No fast paces today but slow & steady wins the race. Or so I've been led to believe. It's unbelievable how sore my calves are from 2 minutes of calf raises on Monday. We did 1 set of normal raises + pulsing, 1 set of toes in + pulsing, 1 set of toes out + pulsing. And I don't recall the last time my calves felt this way. Glad I have my Bam-proof calf sleeves or I'd really be hurting.

AP: 8:32

8 miles this fine morning. It was a tough run. Not sure exactly why my legs are so tired after a step-back week and taking a day off yesterday, but I guess it all points to my Monday Boot Camp workout. Weird that it's still affecting me on Friday but that's my best guess.

Today I decided to go up my Veyo hill as I'll take a different route tomorrow. It was tough to do it. I really wanted to walk but knew I couldn't let myself walk so I just kept going. Slowly made it up the hill (not as slow as my mind thought I was going but slower than I should be running for a step back week after a day of rest) and chugged to 4 miles + then turned around. Got the pace up going downhill, of course, then kept it up fairly solidly. 3/4 of a mile later I hit a short nasty hill and I was worried it would do me in but I actually felt pretty good going up it and fought until the top. Just past the top is my 2 miles to go mark, and I determined to go with some MP miles. Hit mile 7 in 7:24 and mile 8 in 7:01. Happy with that.

AP: 8:11

 Found a new place to run today and I don't know why I've never been here  before. A great trail that's  right near downtown.  I only had 1:30 to  run ten and pick up my son from a birthday party and this turned out  perfect.  Had some good paces in the middle and last two miles sub 7s  so very happy. Also  this was a 3  pm run on a warm day so good heat training.

Paces: 8:27, 9:46 (pee break), 9:14 (uphill), 10:09 (tightened shoes), 8:15 8:03 7:44 8:14 6:49 6:44. AP 8:20 Total time 1:23:24

4 miles to start off a 50 mile week. Here's to hoping that everything goes well this week as my next 3 weeks have my long runs at 22, 22, 24 before a step back week then the 50K the following week. I'm not excited. Not at all.

AP: 8:23

Noon: Boot Camp. Sweatfest 2013, even in my St George Running Center singlet. I tried not to go too crazy hard as this will be a big mileage week, but the competitive juices get going when getting yelled at. Good workout.

Happy 12th birthday to my second son! I'm taking a half day as he wants to go to the shooting range to shoot his new .22 rifle. Should be a fun time. He passed Hunter's Safety and Bowhunter's Safety in the last two months so if he's unsafe there's no hope.

Woke up early to get my miles in so I could help my wife make his Birthday breakfast. It worked out great as I got home just after she woke up. I pushed it a bit more than normal as I had a curfew and I needed that extra push. Almost to the turnaround my stomach let me know that 4 miles more would be very sketchy, so I used the emergency wet wipe I had. Thank goodness for country roads and wet wipes. Ew. Still managed to finish in 1:04:xx and I'm normally above 1:05 so a good run. Would've been even better without the pit stop. Too busy to check my watch for splits when I got home.

Had a fun day yesterday with my son shooting guns. His new .22 a bunch of times, 15 shots with the 7mm-08, 2 shots with my 30-06, and 15 or so with my .40 handgun. I was impressed he shot the -06 twice as he moved quite a bit when he shot it. He's also flinching with the 7mm-08 so we'll need to work on that as last time out he hit paper every time but now that he knows the kick he only hit the target a few times. Practice practice practice.

Got out this morning for a beautiful run. 48 degrees, clear skies, and zero wind. After 3 hot days (92, 93, 86) the dirt roads are dusty. With no wind the dust billowed straight up and hovered over the road and settled into the low spots, staying for 10+ minutes. It was cool to see but nasty to run through. I ran up my Veyo hill to get some hill work in for the week. I did it fairly strong which made me happy. I'm turning into a decent hill runner. Not great, but decent and I'm cool with that. The last two miles I kept under marathon pace and I'll take it. It was a bit of a sprint to get back home as the last mile I hit some gastric distress. Barely made it home in time. Note to self: don't eat jalapenos the night before a run. I've noted that before but I forgot. 

Total time: 1:05:35 AP: 8:11

Rest day tomorrow, 10 on Friday, and 22 Saturday. I'll be in a mountain town Saturday for a Fathers/Sons campout, so I'll get up at 5 am and run up Beartooth Canyon 11 miles then turn around and head back to camp. I'll smell good I'm sure.

10 miles on my loop. I haven't run it in a while as there's quite a bit of road running and I've wanted dirt roads instead. I will hit this one a few more times before my race as I'd forgotten what a doozy it is. I'm feeling pretty tired right now and my normal 10 mile out and back leaves me energized.

Got up at 5, out the door by 5:30. It rained last night (cancelling soccer games) but thankfully ended long before midnight so the dirt roads weren't squishy. Temps were perfect, 51F with no wind, so shorts, short sleeve shirt, and gloves. This loop heads me downhill, so after my daily .75 to the main road I headed downhill where I normally head uphill. It's an undulating downhill with mostly down, but a couple of ups. I hit the valley bottom at 3.5 miles then it's climbing for the next 5 miles. 1 mile is on the main road, but then turned off that for the meat & potatoes on a gravel road. This leads to a brief killer climb then a couple miles of up and flat before another brief killer-er climb, followed by another mile or more of up before finally hitting some downhill once again. After writing this I realize why I'm more tired as this route is pretty unforgiving.

Overall a good run. AP: 8:42

22 tough miles this morning on the same trail I ran last Saturday. I just uploaded to Garmin and now I see why I struggled so much - gained 2400 feet elevation, lots of up and down, up and down. That's tough to do that up and down thing. I didn't realize we had a real trail like that near town so I plan to use it quite a bit especially when preparing for Bighorn. 

Tried to pick it up on mile 21 just to see if the legs would respond, and they did to some degree. Got to a 7:30 pace but then hit some undulating trails and gave up that extra speed in a hurry. On the flat I think I could've held it okay but on sandstone uneven surface and other up and down stuff it was a no go. Tough to finish it out but I held on and got it done. It rained a ton yesterday evening and then a ton today from Noon-4 so I got lucky and squeezed this in between storms. Sounds like I was a lot luckier than Ogden folks. 

AP doesn't really matter on a trail run, but since it's recorded: 9:46. Total time: 3:34:55.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/314573504 

4 miles from the YMCA at Noon. This morning at 6 I was way too tired to get out of bed so I listened to my body. I then considered doing Boot Camp instead of my run as 4 miles won't break me, but again listened to my body and I have two more peak weeks of running left and I need to conserve my energy for running at this point. Boot Camp is likely out until after the DesNews marathon.

I ran naked today so no idea of time but I'm pretty sure I had a couple miles in the mid 7s. It felt comfortably hard. My legs aren't stiff from Saturday's long run but they are definitely tired. I'll get some good sleep tonight so I'm ready for 10 tomorrow morning.

10 miles this morning up my easy 10 route. Temps 44F so I wore arm warmers and gloves and that was perfect. Legs not feeling fantastic the first couple miles, but not horrible either. At 1.5 miles I heard turkeys gobbling and there were two toms with feathers outstretched following two hens. 20 feet away from me. Wild turkeys are not keen on humans and normally you don't see them as their eyesight is so good. These lads only had one thing on their mind and it wasn't me. Fun to see them strutting around.

I carried on and kept up a decent pace all the way to the turnaround spot, then kept up a good pace most of the rest of the way. With four miles to go I decided to pick it up so I'd have at least 3 good MP miles and turns out I got four good miles in. With .2 to go the clock was nearing 1:21 and I wanted to be under that arbitrary time so I leaned forward and got the legs moving in the high 5s and finished strong. I was sweating like a horse afterwards. Nice dark signs of sweat on my shirt. My family thinks it's gross. I think it's the sign of hard work. :)

Total time 1:20:40, AP 8:04. Last 4 miles: 7:37 7:15 7:11 6:53. 

8 miles up my Veyo hill. Felt a little sluggish which is expected after 4 solid miles yesterday. I maintained a good enough pace for being a little tired. The wind made the temps quite a bit colder than expected which actually wasn't too horrible once I got warmed up. I still put a nice sweaty smiley face around my collar. 44F with 10+ mph Easterly winds. Hands are arms were very chilled afterward, even with gloves and arm warmers. I saw the two tom turkeys again, this time chasing 3 hens. Very interested males at this point of spring. Lucky for them spring turkey season ended last Saturday.

AP: 8:15. Total time 1:06:00. Rest day tomorrow, 10 Friday, 22 Saturday.

10 miles up my Veyo hill. Decent temps out after wicked thunderstorms last night. Had a few lightning strikes right near the house and we were properly freaked out, unplugged everything, kids huddled in the basement for noise (while Kaylene and I watched it from the upstairs windows). Thankfully ended not long after their bedtime so all slept well. Roads weren't too muddy as we had a few good winds in the night to dry things out a bit. Threatened rain after the first mile, felt a few drops, but then it went away. Whew. I was not looking forward to being Ogden soaked (those poor marathoners). Felt pretty good on this run. Kept it nice and steady, nothing too fast or slow, powered up the hills decently for semi-tired legs.

AP: 8:15. Happy Memorial Day to all, hope you all have a great weekend, and thanks for all those who have gone before us to give us the freedoms we enjoy. God Bless America.

22 tough miles this morning, up my Veyo hill (3rd time this week). Beautiful morning, started at 5:30 from home with cotton gloves and arm warmers which I wore until mile 9. I was struggling at the half way point then turned around and it was mostly downhill so that helped. Just before the 20 mile mark I know a good hill is coming and I'm dreading it for at least a few miles before. I hit the hill and I felt what a lot of ultra runners have said in reports: a change of altitude is a relief to the muscles, regardless of whether it's up or down. I experienced that as on the uphill my underused uphill muscles sprang into action and my downhill muscles took a break. It was still a tough hill and my pace was a minute more than normal (10:00 vs 9:00) but it wasn't as horrible as I expected. A quarter mile after this I hit my 2 miles to go mark and my first thoughts were to slog it home and just make it. I was tired, my legs were tired. I then had the proper thought: finish these last two miles strong, pretending that 3:15:00 is in sight. I picked it up and quickly got to 7:30 pace, so needed to drop that a bit to 7:24. I was somewhat successful in that first mile but figured out that I would get down to pace then zone out and my pace would go up 20 seconds. I started focusing on turnover and was able to stay consistent. My mantra become "turn-ov-er, turn-ov-er, turn-ov-er" and it fit perfectly with my breathing (one breath in, three breaths out). The mantra kept me going and the last mile was a really good finish. Last two miles: 7:34, 7:18. I'll take it.

 Another thing I figured out is that running on gravel for 18 straight miles makes the feet sore. I recovered pretty quickly after getting home. We had a busy day, it's currently 9:45 pm and I'm still going strong, no nap. I had a big plate of spaghetti last night for dinner and I think that made a big difference today but not sure.

It's odd. The elevation for today is only a climb of 1442 feet but I was going up most of the first 11 miles and actually moved up 1000 feet in elevation. Last week I got 2400 feet but only moved a few hundred feet in elevation. The undulating trails versus running on gravel roads is very different. Today felt a lot harder, but I was much more tired after the run last week. 

AP: 8:48. Total time 3:13:41 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/318015744 

4 miles this morning before our Memorial Day activities. It was tougggghhhh to get going. Woke at 6 on my own but too tired so slept a bit. Got out of bed at 6:45 and headed outside. Didn't wear a watch as I didn't care about pace. Kept it really slow the first mile as it was a big struggle to keep the feet moving. Woke up a bit with every mile, but definitely a recovery run. 

A couple hours later we had all four kids in the car and headed to the mountains, which is the town of Red Lodge. First stop was the National Forest area free shooting range. Just a spot where people shoot. Thankfully nobody else was there, so we set up our targets and unloaded a bunch of .22 rounds from the two rifles. Loads of fun.

After that we went on a solid hike to Basin Lake. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/319190396. 5.34 miles round trip, 1500 feet elevation climb. This is the first time as a family we've actually made it to a destination. All the kids are old enough now that they all walked it themselves, not even any whining, and it couldn't have been a nicer day. Gorgeous pics and a fun time had by all. Stopped at the Boxcar Cafe after for burgers and shakes. A fantastic Memorial Day. Thanks to all who have served, especially those who have given all for our freedoms.

Woke at 5:10 to do 10 miles. Couldn't do it, too tired, went back to bed. Set alarm for 6 am to do 5 miles. Couldn't do it, too tired, went back to bed. Brought the running gear to work, planning on doing 6-8 at lunch but then remembered my lunch meeting. Rats. Looks like I'll switch my runs up by a day and not have a rest day on Thursday. Body speaks, I listen.

Revised my runs by one day, so 10 today, 8 tomorrow, 10 Friday, schedule calls for 24 on Saturday but we'll see. I've got three runs this month of 20 or more under my belt so another 20+ won't make too big of a difference. I'd like to go far on a mountain trail but I plan to be camping with my family so anything over 10 will make me happy.

Today's run was on soggy gravel roads with threatening skies which didn't get me until 1/2 mile from home. It rained over 1/2 an inch last night, which is a lot for Billings. The roads are sufficiently packed down that I was able to run on decent surfaces most of the time but thank goodness for my Dirty Girl gaiters as they kept the sand and mud out of my shoes. I gave them a good rinse when I got home. Run felt pretty good, kept it nice and sustained, not trying to push it as I've got a few more solid runs in the next few days.

AP: 8:25

8 rainy, windy, and muddy miles. Not the trifecta I was hoping for. Ugh. The wind more than anything just sapped my strength and made it tough to keep going. I was more prepared for the rain today, with a hat and arm warmers, but the wind was just annoying enough to make it not-quite-miserable-but-just-about. Okay, that's a bit of a whiny stretch but still...

AP: 8:25. Scalding hot shower felt great. Not that I was frozen, but it still felt great.

P.S. I broke 200 miles for the month, which is a first and is 22 miles more than any previous month, and I plan on doing 10 miles tomorrow. I'm hoping May will catapult me to a good season of races.

7.5 on the TM this morning at the Y because the wind was brutal. I planned to do 10 but I got a wife text at 7.5 telling me that my son needed me to help with his bow tie for the 8th grade "graduation"/celebration. I promptly got off the mill and got dressed and met them at the school...where he was wearing his already-tied bowtie. Oh well. At least he knew I was there in spirit to help him, and glad he figured it out on his own (after we spent an hour or more the other night with YouTube trying to learn how to tie the blasted new knot).

My run went fairly well. I kept it slower than I would've on the road, but it felt like a similar effort. 2% the entire time, 6.0 for a warmup then 6.5 for a while. 6.7 pace for a couple miles, then 7.1 for one, 6.7 for a couple more, then 7.4 for a couple and was planning to hold it at 7.4 until 10 miles. Maybe next time.