Training in Montana

Well, my brain wanted to run today, so I found myself looking at the clock at 5:30 am, then at 6:00, and finally at 6:10 it said WAKE UP! So I did. Hadn't planned on running this morning so went to bed late. Woke up, got dressed, should've listened to the urge to go to the bathroom but didn't, and went for a run. Beautiful morning for a run - overcast skies, it had just sprinkled, and was 59 degrees with a slight breeze. Perfect. I ran slowly. About a 10:00-10:30 pace heading up the hill, and about a 9:30 pace coming down. Just after turning around to head home that urge became more than an urge, and I found myself on the side of the dirt road, thankfully hidden (although no vehicles came by). I'm thankful for lots of long grass as I had no kleenex or tissue or wet wipes. But wet grass strands apparently do a fine job.

My average running pace was 10:20 although I didn't stop my watch for the bathroom break or for a picture taking break so it was closer to 10:00. I feel great. I will now start running slowly more often than not, as that is most likely my key to increasing my mileage - run slower, longer. I'm going to try that. 12 slow miles on the docket for tomorrow.

Ran 9 miles by myself, then 2.7 with my family during our first annual Hall Family 4th of July Fun Run 5K. Only our 12 year old made it the full 5K. The 10 year old had his tonsils out a week ago so he drove the 4 wheeler around for water breaks, the 7 year old was wearing the wrong shoes and they rubbed his ankle bone, and the 5 year old did as well as she could. Mom and Dad ran with the younger kids so we did what they did. It was fun.

On my 9 miler, I ran 4.5 out and back. Ran up the main road from my house, a route I love but haven't done in a while. Was right at a 10:00 pace running up hill and probably 9-9:30 running back down. Forgot to use Glide on my rear and I'm paying the price today. Ouchie momma! That's one sore behind.

3 miles from my house. Went shirtless, so had to run down the road where there are no houses. It seems pretty steep, but it's only 370 foot drop in 1.5 miles. Decent hill I guess. Coming back up I kept it nice and steady but never stopped. It's a gravel road, and a poor gravel road at that, so the footing is always a challenge. I'm sure I ran 3.5 miles but only got 3.0 to show for it, with all the foot slippage.

Then went and had a great day with the family and ended with a killer fireworks show in Laurel. It really is an amazing show and we had great front row seats. A bit too close for most of the kids and we left early but that meant we also missed the amazing traffic jam.

Went to bed late with the fireworks last night so instead decided to try out some heat running. It was 82-84 while I ran today so I took along a water bottle full of gatorade. I don't normally for only 6 miles but thought it best with the heat and glad I did. The run was uneventful and felt pretty good. From mile 1-5.5 I chased another runner who happened to be doing the exact same loop I was doing, not a normal occurrence. Made me run a bit faster than I would have, but nothing crazy.

AP 9:16, splits 9:46, 9:39, 9:19, 9:05, 8:54, 8:51. Avg HR 145, Max 158. Up 195 ft, down 194 ft.

Woke up just after 6 so decided to go for a run. 65 and humid out, a bit odd for us. Nice slow jog, nothing eventful.

Thursday is my day off, but for the first time in a while I hit the gym and did some upper body weights. I've found that lower body kills me while doing decent miles, so staying away from that for a while.

6 MP miles today, uphill the first half. My marathon pace is an 8:15 so I tried to keep it close to that up and blast it down. I did pretty good up, felt good, slight breeze so perfect. Temps 65 and overcast. The downhill felt pretty good, but at 4.5 miles I was tired and done. My legs were beat and my HR was still too high for downhill miles. I pulled it back, telling myself to just do 8:30 the rest of the way. That trick worked. After a while of not thinking about it I pepped up and finished my last mile fast enough to have my average just under my pace. Saw a bachelor herd of muleys and then jumped a rooster pheasant. Hunting season is only one season away....

AP 8:11. Splits 8:35, 8:27, 8:32, 7:45, 8:02, 7:43.

9 miles for the 9th of July. Dropped C off at his football camp then headed to the Y and dropped off my stuff and went for a run. Man, running in town dragged on and on. Last year I did almost all my long runs in the same spot I ran today and it went forever. I guess it doesn't help that this is where I normally run at lunchtime and my miles are only 3-6 around the same areas. I'll stick to the rural roads around my house for long runs, unless I'm running from home into town. That makes it less painful.

I tried to keep at a 9:15 pace and nailed it - AP 9:14. Not sure of splits at the moment, but they were all pretty consistent. Felt good, ready for my 1/2 marathon next Saturday. Hope the weather holds and we get 50s for the 7 am start.

Ran 3 days this week at Scout Camp. It's mountainous so a steep down the first 1/4 mile then steady down most of the way. Today I went down for 1 mile then turned left and went up again for another 1.25. It's 1000 feet higher in elevation and having just gotten to camp I could tell a huge difference. The Grand Teton Relay next month is going to kick my butt I'm a afraid. It's way more than 1000 feet higher and I'm doing tough uphill legs. We won't win, but will be a good challenge.

Anyhow, on this run it dropped 708 feet and rose 734 feet. A decent climb per 2 miles. AP 9:46, Avg HR 145, Max HR 175.

Meant to do 7 miles but realized I left my troop in the lurch and wouldn't get back in time for morning flag ceremony so I cut it short and still didn't make it in time after showering. Oh well. Nice tough run. Dropped elevation until the halfway point, then all up hill. Fun.

AP 9:30, splits 8:54, 8:38, 8:45, 9:23, 9:28, 12:47 (steep hill & I walked). Total drop 766 ft, total up 728 feet. My thighs are sore.

Down and back up the hill. Made it in time to get my boys up & down to flags. Rained hard last night - very humid this morning.

AP 9:19. Splits 8:11, 8:39, 9:33, 10:34. Dropped 628 ft, up 581 ft. Did I mention sore thighs?

A nice simple run before the 1/2 tomorrow. Got out before 11 so wasn't too hot, but still in the 70s. Legs esp. thighs were still sore from all the hills at Scout camp so felt good to shake them out with a run. Weather should be in the high 50s low 60s for race start time. Wish it were 10 degrees cooler but oh well. And the race course is not the beautiful river-running-by course that it was supposed to be due to an oil spill but alas. I shall run as fast as I can. Shooting for a 1:45-1:50 time.

This was the 1/2 marathon for the Big Sky State Games, an event held every year in Billings. First, hats off to the race director. The RRCA-sanctioned course changed 2 weeks ago due to an oil spill next to the road the course normally runs on. Even with that this course was exactly 13.10 on my garmin and the race started at 7:00:01 (I was apparently a second late pushing the button). Water and Powerade at each aide station and great security volunteers stopping traffic for this small crowd of about 80 runners. Chip timer ended the race. 62 degrees at the start, not sure what it was when I crossed.

My goal for the race was an 8:00 mile. The course starts off flat for the first 2 miles so I just tried to get into an 8:00 pace, which was tough to do. I haven't done many pace races at that speed as my marathon pace goal is 8:15. Anyhow, thanks be to Garmin. I kept on track. Elevation hit from 2.5 to 6 and then some so I tried to keep a good pace on the ups. It wasn't a strong field but I managed to gain good ground on most of the uphill parts. My HR was up there for most of the uphills, about 171 when pushing it and I struggled to get good breaths but the ups weren't long so that worked. I started off near a runner I know and she's a 3:40 marathoner. I stayed behind her until mile 4 then passed her and kept in front of her the rest of the way. I was going back and forth with a few other runners as we were all about the same speed. One lady in pink was walking about every 10th minute but would then pass me after getting up to speed. I was holding pretty steady but thought I was 10-15 seconds off my pace as I didn't do a pace card - that's probably a good idea for the marathon. After the turnaround it was upill for a good stretch then a nice downhill. I ran down in the low 7s so that helped. A slight uphill followed, then the last decent downhill and I again made up time and passed some people. Of the 3 final water stations I drank one cup water and threw the other cup over my head. Felt great. I took some PowerBar gummies about mile 4 then slammed a gel about mile 8. I drank at every station except the last one and I felt good about my hydration and food. The final water station I drank at was about 3.5 miles so after that I tried to turn on the juice. Ended up in the 7s but I was hoping for 7:30s the last few miles. Wasn't able to do that on the relatively flat last few. With 2 to go I passed a couple people that I'd been looking at the entire race. They were on my tail but they must have drank at the last water station while I only took water and threw it on me and kept going. Thanks to the blog I remembered that water with 1 mile to go doesn't do anything. I powered through going as quick as I could and when I hit the 13 mile mark my watch was 1:44:30. Crap! I was hoping for a sub 1:45 finish. I just didn't have a kick in me today though. I went faster but only managed a 7:12 pace for the last .1 when I needed a 6:57 pace. Oh well. I felt like I did the best that I could and was very happy with the results of my first half marathon. I got a negative split of about 1 1/2 minutes. And, as there were only 3 people in my age division I placed and got a really nice medal from the State Games! I wore it around most of the day....

AP: 8:02, splits 7:57, 8:03, 8:06, 8:24, 8:16, 8:19, 7:54, 8:10, 8:13, 7:43, 7:56, 7:50, 7:41, 7:12 (last .1). Avg HR 164, Max HR 178. Can't believe I sustained that high of a HR for 1:45.

Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99634573

4 miles in hot morning weather for Montana. It was 71 at 6:50 am and warmer than that when I got back. Yuck. I don't know how the runners in St. George and other warm climates do it outdoors. I took this one nice and easy as a recovery from Saturday's 1/2.

AP: 9:38

Warm night & morning - thank goodness for A/C. It showed 77 degrees at 5:45 am so I ran shirtless today. I normally hate doing that as I normally think shirtless runners are dorks but with it being so hot and so early I didn't feel too bad, especially as I was doing 7 miles. Took a water bottle with Gatorade and glad I did. Mouth got very dry with the heat. Kept my pace today steady as she goes as yesterday I felt pretty tired, so wasn't quite recovered from the 1/2 marathon. I feel good today. I went out and back and the out part is all uphill so I was around a 9:30-10:00 pace there. On the way back I tried to keep it at 9:00 or under and even hit a little under 8:00 at some stretches. Legs feel good. A bit sore, but I like that feeling - just enough to remind me I'm alive. The run took just over 1:03 so not sure what my pace was - watch is at home.

Much cooler morning - started at 63 degrees, so left the shirt on :) Perfect temps and had a nice breeze on my way back home. Took it pretty easy on this run. My legs were a bit tired after 7 yesterday and I'm feeling my thighs today so I'm doing some good hill workouts this week. The plan has me hitting 37 miles for the week and I'm doing my best to hit that. Heading out of town for 10 days starting on Friday but planning to get in my 7 miles before driving to Jackson, WY, then doing my 15 miles in Jackson on Saturday. Going up 2500 feet should feel awesome on a long run. Hopefully my lungs can handle the change after less than 24 hours to acclimate. I'm getting excited about the Grand Teton Relay in a month. Now THAT will be a test of the lungs and elevation! Should be a great time.

7 miles before taking off for family vacation.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102611714

Nice long run in Jackson, WY from where we stayed near Snow King towards the Gros Ventre junction. It was a beautiful cloudless day and the Tetons looked amazing! Ran most of the way on a nice new path that runs next to the road. Last 2 miles or so on dirt as they are working on the path. Felt good. Glad I brought along 2 water bottles + filled a couple gel containers with gatorade.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102611701

Ran up Cache Creek a couple miles and back (Jackson, WY). Nice cold morning of 50 degrees. Hands were cold until the turnaround.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102611672

Skipped the run this morning. On vacation plus pretty tired from 37 miles last week.

Nice run this morning from Sunrise Campground in Logan Canyon. Ran up the hill towards Logan for a bit then found a nice nature trail and ran around it once, thankfully made it to a pit stop, then ran around it one more time and back. I'm acclimated as the 7800 feet of elevation didn't slay me.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102611661

Lagoon today. Not sure how many miles of walking, but it was lots. Thanks Kam for the Little Cheeser's Pizza and bringing two cute girls to hang out with my kids. It was a blast, but exhausting.

6 miles in South Jordan, our final stop on our trip. Nearly made it to the JRP but not quite. My throat is hurting so hopefully I'm not getting sick, but sure not feeling tip top shape today (hopefully just Lagoon recovery). Decent run, didn't make it out until after 10:00 so a bit hotter than I normally experience.

Looking forward to City Creek Canyon tomorrow with Kam. Wish I lived closer so could run with more FRBers more frequently, but I guess I'll just have to talk more Billings runners into joining FRB.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102611652

Met Kam for a run this morning and had a great time. Ran up City Creek Canyon and with all the conversation I had no idea how much elevation we gained. I was going to shoot for just over 12 miles so that I could get in 130 for the month, but then saw the time so turned around before I got yelled at. Busy day today. Baptism of 8 year old son then 20th HS reunion at Snowbird. So, we turned around, I got home by 9:15, and my lovely wife was still...in...bed. It was a benadryl night. Anyway, had a great run with an old friend and got to soak our feet in the cold creek afterwards. A fun way to start the day and seeing more old friends at night was fantastic. AP: 9:06. Other splits are in the link.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103359096