Training in Montana

Bighorn 50K

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Location:

Billings,MT,

Member Since:

Jan 10, 2011

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

~~Longest Ultra: Bighorn Trail Run: 12:19:00, 52 miles, Bighorn Mountains, WY, June 20, 2015

50K: Bighorn Trail Run: 5:52:13, 32 miles, Bighorn Mountains, WY, June 15, 2013

Marathon: 3:25:01, Deseret News Marathon, SLC, UT, July 24, 2013

Half-Marathon: 1:37:00 (downhill), Deseret News Marathon Split, SLC, UT, July 24, 2013

10K: 44:07, Big Sky State Games, Billings, MT, July 2012

5K: 20:25, Big Sky State Games, Billings, MT, July 2013

Short-Term Running Goals:

Get back into running shape.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Not get super fat, and qualify for Boston before I'm 50 (April 2023).

Personal:

Started running seriously in March 2010. Married 22 years to a hot momma and we have 3 boys, 1 sweet girl, 2 dogs, 3 2 0 1 cat, and 6     4 5 6 3 5 3 1 2 0 chickens (until Spring 2019 when we'll start over). As of September 2018 I'm looking for work... yay. I'm on the local School Board.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Adrenaline 18 Lifetime Miles: 424.24
Cascadia 12 Lifetime Miles: 396.50
Adrenaline 18 #2 Lifetime Miles: 64.00
Altra Lifetime Miles: 50.50
Brooks 20 Lifetime Miles: 50.00
Cascadia Green/orange Lifetime Miles: 223.00
Total Distance
118.64
Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 77.50Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 20.64Brooks ASR 8 Miles: 20.00
Weight: 0.00
Total Distance
7.00

I knew we were going camping in an amazing area with great trails, leaving at 9:30 am, so the plan was to get up early, get in 14, then do 10 more on the trails at elevation. My alarm went off at 5 am and I was tired. I got up, used the toilet, saw the gorgeous day starting (after 5 days of rain), no wind, and I just wasn't feeling it. Set my alarm for 6 am, but at 6 I was still too tired, so I ditched my morning run plans and slept until 7. It still took me a while to get going, but eventually we got packed up and headed out the door. A couple hours later we were at an amazing place, East Rosebud Lake. My wife stayed at a cabin the night before with a group of teachers from the school where she works, and we joined them for lunch. It is gorgeous. I took the kids on a rowboat across the lake and back, then we hung out until after 5. I was dying to get out for a run and my window was narrowing. Finally we went back to our camp and I got dinner cooking and changed into my running gear. When my wife came back from a walk I took off, at 6 pm. I planned on going up to a lake 3.5 miles away and figured I could do it in about an hour. I took a headlamp just in case plus some food, a jacket, and a small first aid kit. Next time I'll throw in a small knife, a fire starting kit, and a space blanket. Not much weight but lots of just-in-case protection.

The trail was excellent, albeit really rocky. A few times I went too fast for the rocks and came close to spraining an ankle. Not a good idea 2 weeks out from a race. The start was 6200 feet and I could feel the difference in altitude. The trail was a great combo of up and flat, and climbed to 6800 feet when I got to the lake 38 minutes later. Great view, but no pics as I ran without a phone or mp3 player. The return took me 32 minutes with a total time of 1:10:xx.  

I wanted to do many more miles than this, but I'm okay with it. I got some altitude and trail training. And we had a fantastic weekend camping in a gorgeous part of the world. I am blessed. 

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 7.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
6.00

6 miles this morning from the Y as I dropped my son off for weight lifting at the school at 6 am. He really wants to make the basketball team....

Decent run, fairly windy but good temps. Tired legs the first couple miles but on the way back felt pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. That mountain running hit my legs pretty good, which is a bit crazy as it wasn't very many miles.

AP: 8:01

Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
10.00

10 miles on the rims, which is our killer trail above town. Great trail, lots of fun to run the ups and downs and over sandstone and on a single track and ducking under tree branches. Great fun, beautiful albeit cold morning. 42F which is chilly even for us, and my hands are just now warming up. Wore gloves and arm warmers and that was fine on the run, but afterwards I was a bit chilled. Hopefully summer will hit at some point.

AP: 8:52

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
6.00

6 miles this morning. Thermo meter showed 42F so I wore gloves and arm warmers again, but probably didn't need the arm covers. It was gorgeous. No wind, no clouds, bright sun at 6:35 am. Perfect running weather. I felt really tired when I woke up, dawdled for a while, and on my run I was convinced it would be a laggard run. Turned out to be a good one actually, and not sure why. The 3 miles up weren't terribly hard but I seemed to be keeping a decent pace. On the way back my legs were automatically at a 7:35 so I pushed it and the last mile it felt great to be running sub 7 so I let them go.

AP: 7:52. Last three miles: 7:32, 7:17, 6:57.

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
0.00

Rest day, which normally means absolute & complete rest for me (even though it would be a good cross training day), but as my son is now doing Cross Fit with the basketball team at 6 am most mornings, and I get to drive him, I hit the gym for a bit of cross training. I love run on sentences. I saw a friend at the Y and we both happened to hit the recumbent bikes at the same time and chatted for 30 minutes and I got in 8.5 miles of cycling. Time goes fast when you talk. I rarely talk at the Y. I then did some lunges to beat up my quads a bit before the race. Should've been doing this way more, but alas. Did 20 pound dumbells, 2 sets of 15 walking lunges. Then did my 25 pushups.

Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
8.00

8 miles this beautiful (and warmish) morning. 54 degrees, ah. There was a breeze so I could've worn gloves as my hands got cold, but it really was perfect. I'm concerned about my race being hot as I've had almost no heat training. Oh well. It's a trail run and it's more about scenery and finishing than being fast.

My legs are a bit sore from the lunges yesterday, but not bad. The perfect amount of soreness. I went up my Veyo hill and back and it was a good effort. A bit sluggish as all the training and not enough sleep has me worn out a bit, but overall not a horrible run. I'm pleased with it. Tomorrow is my last double digit day (and 17th wedding anniversary) and hopefully we'll get out on the boat and do some knee boarding and tubing with the family afterwards.

AP: 8:16.

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 8.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
10.00

Last double digit run of the training cycle, 10 miles on the Zimmerman to Indian Cliffs trail. Great fun. 954 feet of up, 988 feet of loss. Sadly that's just above what single miles look like on the 50K course, but at least I got some good up and down. If you check out the Garmin link the trail at the end (turnaround) is hugging the edge of finger canyons. A lot of fun to hug the side of the fingers. Nothing treacherous, but plenty of elevation change.

I had a nice nap this afternoon. I'm ready for a week of not doing much. 

AP: 9:18.  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324843186 - today

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/190110574 - 50K elevation splits (same route this year) 

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
4.00

4 miles at lunchtime, trying to get in a little bit of heat training. It just hasn't been warm here until the past few days, and I didn't think about running on the treadmill for some of my long runs. Oh well. I'll be dying the last 5 miles on a hot dusty road, but that's okay.

No watch today so no idea of time or paces, but based on my breathing and sweating I think I was between 5K & 10K pace for the last mile or more. I never felt strained or I would've backed off, but I wanted to get my HR up with at least some heat. Temps were between 70-73 so pretty similar to what I'll hit on Saturday (although on race day it will likely be mid to upper 70s). Gained a couple pounds over the weekend, probably will get a couple more before race day.... All the better to hit the trails with, right?

Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 4.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
3.00

3 progressive incline miles on the TM at the Y this morning. Started at 2.5% and bumped it up .5% each 1/2 mile, doing the last bit at 5% and 7 mph. A good workout that produced lots of sweat in a short amount of time.

Dayton, WY is currently calling for 73 degrees for a high on Saturday, which would be lovely. Bring on the semi-cool temps and some clouds.

Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 3.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Total Distance
2.00

2 progressive TM miles. 2 measly miniscule miles seems like such a waste. I guess I will be grateful for the 2 measly miles as there are plenty on the blog who currently are unable to even run 2 miles. I am grateful for my health (knock on wood). Last physical effort before Saturday, so I hopped on the TM at the Y to be as hot as possible and to make it as hard as possible. Started at 6.5 mph with 2.5% incline, at one mile bumped up to 4% and 7.0 mph, and at 1.5 miles I bumped it to 5% incline. That produced a nice amount of sweat for a short workout. It rained a good amount on the course last night and more is expected before Saturday so I will likely be running a bit of a bog especially the first 14 miles. Hopefully not, but the temps are supposed to be in the mid to high 70s which is much better than before and after the race.

I'll post a report on Sunday as we'll be camping in the Bighorns on Saturday night (but a friend will let me shower in their hotel room after the race, thank goodness).

Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 2.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Race: Bighorn 50K (31.069 Miles) 05:52:13, Place overall: 21, Place in age division: 7
Total Distance
31.00

Excellent race today. Net net I beat my desired time, shaved off 27 minutes from last year, and I felt great when I finished. Huge win for me.

We camped this year at Dead Swede campground (love the name), which is about 10 miles from Burgess Junction. When my friend picked me up at 6:30 it was 26 degrees. Yikes. I brought tights and other long sleeve stuff as I was pretty worried. By the time we got to the starting line the car said 41 degrees, so my worry lessened. I decided to start just like last year, with arm sleeves and thin gloves. Also wore headband, short sleeve tech shirt, calf compression sleeves, and wool socks. I've rarely worn my water belt lately but the last time I did it rubbed my hips so I decided to not risk it and I wore my Nathan hydration pack. A bit much for a 50K, but it wears well on me. I put in 40 oz of Heed at the start. At my drop bag (14 miles) I had a handheld I would add to the mix filled only with water. The hydration plan worked to perfection. Nutrition plan was a gel or other food every 45 minutes and 3 Endurolyte capsules every hour. I changed that to take 2 capsules every time I took food. I also had 4 gels with caffeine, two with 25 mg, two with 50 mg. I used the smaller ones before big hills and the big ones the last 6 miles. Worked well.

Started off at 7500 feet heading up the gnarliest hill of the race, 530 feet in 1 mile. Ran what I could, walked when needed, mostly following the lead of people in front of me. I felt pretty strong and was probably in the top 20 or so. Climbed up to 8500 feet with a few dips in there, then dropped 1800 feet in 3 miles. Realized I hadn't tied my shoes tight enough and was starting to feel a hot spot. Didn't stop to tie my shoes but should have (finally did a few miles later on the uphill). Hit Cow Camp aid station and ate a strip of bacon as I hadn't done that last year as I didn't think 6 miles qualified as a bacon run. It was good. Started climbing and was in the same strung out pack of 4 until the next aid station. Along this stretch I passed Davy Crockett and thankfully recognized him. Walked with him for a few minutes, and he was doing well at mile 80 and was having a good race. That was fun to finally meet him. Last mile to the aid station (and drop bag) was 437 feet of up. I ran more of the hill than last year, which was a goal. A lady in a long sleeved red shirt ahead of me "pulled" me up the hill. She was tough. Slowly jogged into the aid station, which was a small win as most people walked the entire last mile. I stayed way too long as the watch shows I spent 12 minutes there. Yikes. Felt more like 5 or 6. I changed shirt (tank top), socks, shoes, put on moleskin to cover my developing blisters on the inside of my heels, filled the handheld water bottle and put 20 oz of Heed in the hydration pack. The moleskin took forever as I couldn't get the paper backing off what I had with me, so I used what the station had. It worked well but I wasted 2-3 minutes on just that. By the time I got out of there I had seen my group of people all take off. I caught two of them before the end, but it took a while. Next time need to be quicker out of there. 

Took off up a road for a mile, climbing 337 feet. Walked a bit but mostly ran, passing quite a few people who had passed me during the stop, people I'd never seen as I'd been towards the front. Hit a single track for a bit, but it was just a way to get to another forest service road. Ran on that for a few miles and just like last year this was the longest part of the run. Boring, blah, blah. Ran in the mid to high 9s those 3 miles but I know I could've been around 9:00. Took my first caffeine gel in here to kick me up and it seemed to work. Finally hit single track again and my spirits lifted. Ran along a side hill, passing quite a few (100 milers were in here quite a bit now), and hit another hill, one of the last. A half mile after the top was another aid station and grabbed some Pepsi, pineapple, and 3 mini candy bars. Yum. Passing lots of 30K walkers now, which continued the rest of the way. A pain on single track but they were very nice and quickly moved. A mile or so after the aid station we hit the toughest uphill of our course. It's straight up for 1/2 mile or so and steep enough that I had to stop twice to catch my breath even though I was only walking. Finally hit a sideways trail and walked that to the top. This is now Tongue River Canyon, the reason that the race started (someone wanted to dam the canyon and they thought let's have people run the canyon to see how pretty it is), and 6 miles and 3400 feet later I would be at the bottom. My shoes weren't tight enough so I sat down and tied them tighter. Amazing how long that takes when you see the people you'd just passed now pass by again. 

I started downhill. A few really steep sections then following a cow trail on mostly flat pastures, then down, then sidehills, then down, but mostly down, down, down, down. A few miles into the canyon I passed the lady in red who pulled me up the first hill, and told her how much she'd helped me and to follow along. She didn't but only finished 6 minutes behind me. I finally got to the aid station that seemed as if it would never come, and refilled water bottle, drank some mountain dew and ate half a banana and was off. I forgot about the hills after this station as I thought the hills were done. Not big ones, but big enough. Next four miles had ups of 102, 42, and 78. It was actually refreshing to use different muscles. Finally hit the last major aid station, Marathon, at 26 miles. Refilled water bottle, grabbed a little food, and was off on the long boring part. Only a regular road the last 5 miles, and no shade after the first mile. Thankfully we had a steady headwind which kept me cool, especially with a wet singlet in front and back. By now I'd taken off my hat as it was making me hot and I kept my head wet frequently. This is a tough stretch. I did much better than last year, I think only walking 3-4 times for short stretches, and keeping under 11 minutes per mile. I knew that if I could be around 10 minutes that I would beat 6 hours. At the top of the canyon I thought I might hit 5:30 but I underestimated how slowly I could run on the steep downhill. It was mostly a 10:30 per mile on the steep parts as I had to put on the brakes most of the way. I need to figure out how to run faster downhill. 

Anyhow, I was doing okay but not great, passing a lot of walkers. Only two people passed me in these miles, but of course one was in my age group, just like last year. My 3 boys rode their bikes and found me with two miles to go and it was awesome. Also awesome was the girls on bikes who gave out Otter Pops with 3 miles to go. Fantastic. Hit the last aid station, topped up the water, and was off. I had caught up to the guy who passed me but he didn't stop and finished 30 seconds ahead of me. Without having water I'm sure I wouldn't have been that close behind him, so I'm fine with that. I saw my wife and daughter with 1/2 mile to go and that was a lot of fun. My wife ran along for a bit then traded my oldest for his bike and he ran with me the last quarter mile while she biked ahead to take pictures. All four kids crossed the line with me, 3 on their bikes and one running. Lots of fun. I felt great on the finish and could've kept going (but glad I didn't have to). 

On finishing, I was very happy with my race. I came under the time I wanted, I felt really strong, nothing hurt (for hours after I had zero pain with no medications at all), and I was with my family. We hung out at the park for 3-4 hours, but this year we were set up with a shelter, chairs, and some food. Next year we'll bring the cooler. As we were sitting there I saw a guy carrying a bag with Rob Rohde written on it. I called his name and sure enough it was Rob. He had to drop out of the 50 miler at mile 25, but his wife rocked her 30K. It was fun to meet yet another FRBer, so two in one weekend. After finally getting my drop bag returned we headed back up the mountain and camped again, then headed home Sunday morning. Fantastic weekend in the Bighorn mountains. Ready for DesNews (when I can walk again). Thanks for reading. You must have been really bored.... :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/328999969 

Brooks ASR 8 Miles: 14.00Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 17.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(8)
Total Distance
0.50

Dropped my son off at school at 6 am for his basketball Crossfit workout which meant I would be showering at the Y, so I might as well try and exercise my aching legs. 10 minutes on the bike, very easy, 10 minutes on the treadmill at 3 mph and 3% incline. Feels better to walk uphill right now.

I need advice from experienced back-to-backers. I'm running a marathon in 5 1/2 weeks. What can I do to actively recover from the quad-busting I got from Saturday's 8000 feet of elevation drop? I'm familiar with passive recovery, but I'd like to get back to running sooner rather than later so I can get in some quality workouts. Any advice is appreciated!

Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Total Distance
1.50

Y again this morning. 20 minutes on the bike, nearly 30 minutes walking on the treadmill at 3 mph and 3% incline. I bumped it up to 4.5 mph and ran about 20 steps before slowing down again. Man does it hurt. I can't believe that Crockett isn't even sore, and he did 100 miles of this crazy course. Amazing.

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 1.50
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
1.00

10 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes walking on the treadmill at 3% and 3 mph. Again tried running and it felt much better than the other day, but I'm still sore. I'll hold off on running again until my quads aren't sore. They are clearly telling me they need more time to rest. I've obviously been retaining water as my weight was 165 the past few days (and 162 pre race), but today it's about 163.5 so the water levels are lowering. Good news.

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 1.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
6.00

6  miles this morning and felt pretty good.  quads hurt on the downhill parts.  hoping that I can put in a full week of running next week.

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Total Distance
0.00

Thought I would do 5 today at lunch, but when I got to the Y locker room I decided to do Boot Camp instead. I think it was a wise choice. We warmed up with a run around the block and normally I'm one of the top people. I let just about everyone pass me today, and that was hard, but it was where my legs were. Mid way through the workout we ran around the block again and I was much faster, being warm, but had no oomph. To be expected, but it confirmed to me that my plan for this week of 42 miles was way exorbitant. Maybe 25-30 miles is a more likely plan, but even if it's less than that I'll still feel good about it. The legs are definitely still healing.

And on another note, the barn cat we got last year and forgot to spay (since we rarely see her), decided to give birth last night on the deck by our master bedroom at 11:30 PM. We knew she was ready to have her babies, but why couldn't she have done it during the day? Honestly. Anyone want a kitten?

Weight: 0.00
Comments(7)
Total Distance
6.00

I think my legs are (mostly) back. Boot camp yesterday was a good thing. Did my 6 mile out & back this morning, and the legs felt mostly normal, and I had some speed back without even trying. At the turnaround I was in the 7:30s without trying, and the rest of the way back was between 7:30s to 7:50s with no pain. A little stiffness and tiredness but no pain. Very encouraging.

AP: 8:24

Brooks ASR 8 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Total Distance
5.00

5 miles this morning, a bit warm and humid for 6 am in my neck of the woods, 65F and 63% humidity. Felt pretty good. Legs tired and sore from Boot Camp, still sluggish from the 50K, but getting better. Took it nice and easy. Paces on the way up were in the mid to high 8s, on the way down in the high 7s to low 8s.

AP: 8:40

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 5.00
Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
5.64

45 minute "tempo run" in the heat that probably wasn't really a tempo run. Warmed up for 1 mile, then did 3 miles at marathon pace, then slowed down until I hit 45 minutes. I forgot to look up tempo run before heading out the door, so I winged it. Based on my reading I should've warmed up for 15 minutes, did 15 minutes at a hard but sustainable pace, then cooled down for 15 minutes. Oh well, it was a good workout in 80F temps which is good heat work for me.

Pace for middle miles: 7:23, 7:20, 7:26.

Afterwards at the gym I talked to a guy who is a former Weber runner, Trent (last name)?. He lives in Billings, works as a lawyer, and he put together the winning Ragnar team with his old teammates. He said he's only in 6:20 shape right now so he was the driver and team captain, but they rocked a 5:45 pace so they could beat BYU's time from last year. He was disappointed BYU didn't show up with a team. Maybe in 2014.

Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 5.64
Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Total Distance
6.00

6 miles this morning. Feeling some niggles, so maybe doing too much too soon. Right outer calf muscle a bit sore before heading out, which is my shin splint spot that I haven't felt a niggle in months. Left hamstring a bit sore during my run, and I did feel it earlier this week and it's definitely a remnant of the 50K. Right bottom of foot sore, where the arch starts closest to the heel. My tempo run yesterday was probably a bit much. I'll roll things out tonight, take it slow tomorrow and take an ice bath afterwards.

AP: 8:35

Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Total Distance
0.00

No run today. Giving my body a couple rest days to heal up.

Weight: 0.00
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Total Distance
118.64
Brooks ASR 9 Miles: 77.50Brooks Adrenaline 13 Miles: 20.64Brooks ASR 8 Miles: 20.00
Weight: 0.00
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