Training in Montana

Still tired from the weekend and the long drive home yesterday, but I had to get up and run. Did 4 miles near my house in muggy 72 degrees. Took off the shirt after a mile and it was the right choice.

AP: 9:06

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103359081

Didn't get to bed until after 12:30 and thought about skipping running this morning but we're going on Trek Thursday-Saturday and I'll miss 25 miles of running so I set the alarm and finally rolled out of bed 10 minutes after it went off and headed out. Nice morning, in the low 60s but was still warm so took off the shirt after a few miles. Went uphill and hit my favorite hard hill although I normally only hit it on Saturdays. Had a nice fast run back down to the house.

AP: 8:58

Because of Trek changed things up and did my 10 mile loop. Can't say that I've ever done this before work before, but it was actually pretty nice. Might be a wee bit tired today but it's worth it. Nice weather - mid 60s with a breeze. Not sure of my average pace but it was healthy.

5 miles this morning, and first time running since Wednesday. Weird to have such a layoff. It hurt as I bruised my tailbone on Saturday trying to do a cannonball into a river that I thought was 3 feet deep but was only about 3 inches deep, and landed straight on a rock with my tailbone. Ouch. It could have been much worse as it doesn't hurt to sit, but definitely a strained muscle. Running this morning was uncomfortable at times but not painful so I continued and it warmed up so I was fine. Not sure I can do the full 44 miles this week that my plan calls for, but I'll do as many as I can.

Slept in today. Went to bed late plus felt tired plus feeling the strain of my bruised/strained butt muscle. I felt it yesterday pretty good when lifting a few heavy-ish items that I put back into the Scout trailer. I guess my longest mileage of my plan week isn't going to happen. That's okay. I will go easier this week than planned so I'm ready for the Grand Teton Relay next weekend and my training plan doesn't get totally derailed.

Butt feeling much better today so I got out for 7 miles in a nice cool morning. Amazing how just a one day layoff can help the body so much. I'll keep watching the strain and lay off as needed butt hopefully it's nearly mended. Whew! I was worried it might be a long healer. On another note, hands were cold at about 1.5 miles. Excellent. Fall is just around the corner!

Not sure of average pace as I stopped to tie my shoe and forgot to hit Start... oh well. Nice morning for a run - kept up a decent pace, likely in the 8:50s overall.

Got out for 8 this morning. Supposed to be pace miles so I did my best to keep up the pace but I am tired and I ran an uphill course today so I'm happy that I was able to keep an 8:37 pace (down from my 8:15 MP). Slowest was in the 11's up the steepest hill, fastest was 6:30 heading down the hill. Going backpacking tonight with my 10 year old boy so likely won't get in my 18 miles tomorrow. 2 weekends in a row of missing my long run? I'll have to find a way to at least sneak in 10 miles tomorrow. My butt was feeling pretty good. Hopefully lifting the backpack on/off won't strain it more, but oh well - he's way excited. Should be fun.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105896440

Evening, backpacked 6.8 miles up 1894 feet, topping at 9000 feet. Felt good. Only struggle was the few times I carried my 10 year old son's backpack for 1/2 mile at a time. Did that a few times. Beautiful spot! My new favorite. It's only 6.3 in there but we took a little detour of 1/2 mile.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/106299689

Active day for me. Backpacked back to the car 6.3 miles. For the last 2.6 I carried my son's backpack also and booked it. Averaged 18 minute miles carrying both packs - my son had to run to catch up every now and then. Dropped 1650 feet - I can feel it in my quads and hammys, carrying about 50-60 lbs that fast. It was good. Finished up in Red Lodge at the Boxcar burger joint and shared a large strawberry shake, cheeseburger and fries with Connor.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/106299676

Had to get my long run in, so after coming home and cleaning up headed out for 12 miles. It was tough. Temps were 86 when I started, but it felt much cooler than that. Ran shirtless and that was tough to handle all the crap from people out on a Saturday night. Was going to run to the pool to meet the family but that closed at 8 so I ran into town and met them at a park. Tough run, but glad to see what I have in me. Today felt like a marathon day. I think I'll be less sore after St. George than I am today.

AP 9:31, splits 9:35, 8:32, 8:22, 8:45, 9:03, 9:49, 11:19 (water break), 9:39, 10:40 (stop light), 9:44, 9:14, 9:26.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/106299667

Had a hard time waking up today, so slept in until something woke me at 7:05. Got up aiming for 5 miles, but at 2 miles my iPod dinged at me so I stopped and saw a meeting reminder for an 8:00 conference call which I'd completely forgotten about. Who does Monday 8 AM meetings? Hoofed it back home as quick as I could and thankfully the call had problems starting so I joined as normal. Not sure of my AP but it was healthy on the way home. A warm morning, my muscles still tired from the weekend.

5 sluggish miles this morning. Apparently I'm still tired from the weekend as yesterday I couldn't get up, and today was tough to wake up and tougher to keep running. I stopped a few times and walked but I kept going. Nice and cool temps - perfect.

AP: 9:36? Can't remember.

Grand Teton Relay, runner #9. Passed/killed 2 people on this leg, running up 539 feet from 7200 feet elevation to nearly 7500 feet. Felt good, was lucky and didn't get the heat that earlier legs had, and I pushed it up the hill as much as I could. Tried to keep my HR to about 165.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108573466

4 AM run: Leg 21, 4.15 miles. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108573452. I thought it was a 3.6 mile run but the maps were updated and I failed to see that it was now a 4.3 mile course. It was odd as I ran 2 miles on mostly flat & booked it, then had to jump in the van for 0.5 miles to avoid a busy highway, then get dropped off and go the rest of the way up a steady incline. I was expecting 3.6 so to see the "1 mile to go" sign at 3.1 was tough to stomach, especially in the dark, and I could see the van brake lights 1 mile up a hill. Yuck. It seemed almost as tough as the previous run. I think I only got 1 kill. AP 7:48.

1:30 PM run: Leg 33, 3.01 miles, up "The Pass". http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108573440. This was the toughest uphill of the course, up 1166 feet over 2.9 miles, which is the last 2.9 up on the infamous Teton Pass. It was brutal. I quickly killed a girl after the transition, and my next kill was in my sights. I thought I was keeping a steady pace but apparently I went out too fast. I passed the guy just after 1 mile and I thought I would put a steady gap between us, but I heard his footsteps way too close behind me and he passed me after 1/4 mile and then he gapped me. I walked a few times, as walking was almost as fast as running, but I kept going and made it to the top. We actually got to run downhill the first 1/2 mile of the pass on the Jackson side, and that was fun. I had a few seconds at a 5:35 mile trying to catch somebody. Overall, a good run, and a great relay. AP 11:37.

5 miles in 90 degree sunny temps. Yummy. I was too tired to get up this morning and run so did it at lunch. It wasn't too horrible and I only lost 1 pound to running so life is good. AP 9:28, including a water break and some stop lights.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109846810

8 miles this morning before our little girl started Kindergarten! I'm so horrible with judging my morning runs against the clock. I always think I'll have more time than I really do. This morning I had figured it out correctly that if I left by 6:15 I'd be fine, but about halfway through I started freaking out that I was going to be 20 minutes late, so started cruising back at a 7:00 pace, which is my 5K pace. Thankfully my real brain kicked in and informed my stupid brain that it had fabricated 20 minutes and I'd be fine. Regardless, I ran back home at just over an 8:00, about MP, and felt pretty good. A bit fast for a Tuesday and this is going to be a long running week, but I'll take it slow tomorrow.

72 degrees at 6:15 AM (what the crap?) so ran shirtless and carried water and life was good. Had a warm 10 mph wind at my side and that really dried out my mouth so I was very glad to have water. Legs felt fine from yesterday and the weekend, so I'm looking forward to my first 20 miler on Saturday since July of last year.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109846801

5 miles in my new singlet/tank/whatever you call it. Finally broke down and bought a running tank top and then it ended up being a decent morning. I'll use it Saturday for my long run. I figure it's better than shirtless but pretty close to the same amount of cooldown factor. Got all the kids off to school today, so we now have one in middle school and the other three in elementary. Crazy. I'm not pausing to think about the implications of this - it just is what it is.

AP: 8:45 or so. Forgot to stop my watch for a minute or two.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109846792

5 MP miles. It's all uphill at some point from my house, so I decided to do the tougher pace workout and force myself to finish uphill. Headed out and it's uphill the first .75 and kept it under a 9:00, then hit downhills and stayed in the high 7's for most of that. At the turnaround my average pace was a 7:45 so I worked hard to keep it near that. Did well, and even though it was tough and I wanted to walk, I kept going and the last .7 was able to coast home, running in the high 7's but it felt easy. 68 degrees out when I started.

20 mile run tomorrow - here's to hoping that my body lets me have a good run.

AP: 7:59, Avg HR 157.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109846785

My first of two 20 milers. Got up at 5 & freaked out when my Garmin wouldn't turn on. Thank goodness for the internet. Worked after a soft reset. Left my house by 5:30, and headed up the hill and then on 4 miles of dirt road over to the next major canyon, Duck Creek. No cars until I got to the Yellowstone, then lots of cars with workers getting there for a 7 am shift to clean up the oil spill from last week. Sorry for the spill, but a huge boon to our local economy.... Ran into town and stopped at a gas station for a pee break & more Gatorade. I'm sure my sweaty $2 was appreciated. Ran on back roads to Dylan's football scrimmage, where they have showers as it's an indoor facility. Had to get an extra mile after passing the facility so go that in then made it back, got some money from Kaylene, bought a quart of delicious chocolate milk from a gas station then enjoyed a lovely shower. Legs felt great right after, but by 2 PM they were hurting so took an ice bath and a nap and feel much better.

AP: 9:06 (including pit stop); 8:57 Avg Moving Pace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109846778

5 miles this morning in a cloudy 72 degrees, but thankfully had a slight breeze. Legs still sore from Saturday's run, so felt great to stretch them out. GPS took a while to catch satellites so not sure of time or average pace, but it was healthy. Started out slow, high 9's and finished in mid 7's (downhill). Felt good.

Wildfire in the area, so awoke to a nice smoky morning. Could see the hills glowing last night, and a bit this morning. Don't enjoy the days getting shorter, but I do like being up before the sunrise. Ran downhill to start, kept a nice 8:30 or so pace - that's starting to feel like a good pace, especially on a slight downhill. Turned around earlier than normal as I wanted a bit of a different route. Overall, tried to keep it slow and mostly did 9:30s uphill. Felt like a good easy run. Sunrise was gorgeous - no clouds, so a broad expanse of orange and red along the Eastern hills.

AP: 9:14

Beautiful morning again with a blanket of clouds over the valley, made for a gorgeous extended sunrise. Did my 5 miles, this time a bit of up and bit of over on a dirt road. A mom and her twin fawns didn't seem to know what to do with me - they kept running ahead of me next to the fence, but for some reason wouldn't cross over. I turned around just as they decided to skedaddle across the field instead of risk crossing the road. A wise choice.

AP: 9:11. Felt like a nice run. I like doing 5 miles every time. I think 5 or 6 will be my new standard for a short run once the marathon training is over. That will help me stay in the high 30s to low 40s as my weekly average.