Training in Montana

Ran 4 miles from home after work. Fairly warm out but not horrible. I am just not in very good shape anymore and it's very humbling. Without hard work small efforts become hard. I'm ready to get back into some hard work.

On a side note, my Cascadia trail shoes are super comfortable. I think they might be my footwear of choice if I could wear anything everywhere. Not sure how good they'd look with my shirt & tie at work but maybe I can find out.

Boot Camp. Hadn't been in a while. This one was tough and kicked my butt. Should be plenty sore the next 5 days... perfection!

5 miles at lunch. Amazing how much fitness gets lost in a few months. 7:45 pace is way harder than 7:15 pace was back in April. Sheesh. Decent run, and just past the 4 mile mark I (correctly) did some math and if I pushed it could hit under 40:00 for the run. Nothing like arbitrary time standards to create motivation. I pushed it and must've been in the mid 6 range for the last while as I got my last mile down to 6:55 pace. My new watch only shows the average pace for that mile so no idea what I was running at the end but it wasn't very conversational. Or conservational.

Same route as yesterday but early morning before work. 44F is downright chilly without gloves. My hands were like ice. Not a bad problem to have, but I wish I had brought my gloves. Felt great to be out less than 24 hours after running and I had a nice rhythm this morning. It helps that it wasn't even close to being hot. For 5 miles I beat 40 minutes by 13 seconds without even trying. Cuz that's how I roll.

AP: 7:59

Nice run on the Crow Reservation. Had a ward campout and I slept in until 8:15 and headed out by 8:45, running East towards the Pryor Mountains. Twin track rough road with lots of cattle marks from muddier days, lots of cows on the road that I chased away, and had to cross through three gates each way. Just when I reached the mountains and the run started getting really interesting it was time to turn around. I knew I wasn't in shape for a 15+ miler. Feels good to get some miles in the past 3 days and hope to keep it up.

Yesterday I realized how good I felt all day with a morning run under my belt. It should motivate me to get up and run instead of just trying to fit it in. I was hungrier all day Friday and I think morning running has been one of my key ingredients I had forgotten about. 

Boot Camp at Noon was brutal with a capital brute. In between sets she has us stop and "rest" which means do something awful. Today the first two were running around the block which of course I enjoy, but the third was lunges 1/4 of the way, then running down and back, lunges again. Oy. I really should start incorporating lunges into my weekly workouts.

 This morning from home. Yum.

AP: 8:12

Short run this morning with my dog. Her shock collar hasn't worked for 6 months and she's finally figured that out so I headed out for a run and she showed up at my side. It's the first time she's ever run with me and did well for a 56 year old dog (8*7) with a bum knee. She's not in very good shape so I stayed on dirt roads and kept it short. I think she slept the rest of the day.

Trail run with a friend from the YMCA. Thick frost this morning on my car windows, 30F with 92% humidity. Nice brisk morning. We had a nice run. My friend is younger and in better shape and I was huffing and puffing behind him. It was a nice 45 minute run. The showers at the Y were really warm as was the dry sauna. Ah....

After getting sick over the weekend then missing work Monday and Tuesday I finally got back to the gym today. Knew I'm still weak so hit the TM. Ran 1.5 at 6 mph then walked for a bit then ran again and bumped it up and up, finished last bit at 10.0. Felt pretty good.

I'm still not really feeling it, so I did the Y TM this morning and ran for .5, walked for a bit then bumped up the incline to 10%, then bumped it to the max 15% and walked then ran at 5 mph for a couple minutes. That's a nice workout. Then back to regular incline and running, then tried to run at 8.3 mph and did it for 1/4 mile but that didn't feel good, so slowed, then quit at 2.5 and walked more while watching the morning news. And a show about old lumberyards. And SportsCenter. I would like 3 large TVs at my house. It helps with my ADOS (attention deficit...oh shiny!).

Noon Boot Camp. Lots of lower body/quad workouts so I should be sore until Friday. Ah...

4 miles this morning. Beautiful morning, fairly warm at 60F. We're having a hot spell this week in the low 90s for highs. Wild weather swings. I've been dying for an exercise fix and got one yesterday at boot camp and today with a short run. I need a race....

4 miles this beautiful morning. Had a decent pace. Thinking about a 5K on 10/4 and I'm not well trained for it so halfway through mile 3 I decided to pick it up for a while. My watch is only pace per mile, not current pace, so not sure what I was hitting but I brought it from 7:45 to 7:05 so I was moving. After hitting mile 3 the pace reset and at one point was at 6:05 so I guess I was moving quicker than I thought, but a slight downhill so not that impressive. Not long after I hit the brakes and coasted in for my last mile. Overall, my fitness is nowhere near PR for a 5K but I think I can be just slightly over 20 minutes. I hope.

AP: 8:04

Noon: Boot Camp. I need to step it up in all aspects of my fitness so I hit BC for the 2nd time this week. The soreness should last me a while as my quads are still very sore from Monday.

4 miles this morning from the Y. I am not ready for a solid 5K. I've run so few miles since April and hardly any fast miles. My legs are not solid. I ran a slowish first mile, faster second mile then ran a 5K paced 3rd mile in 6:32. I could barely hold on. There's no way I can keep a pace close to this for 3.1. I'll decide next week whether to run it or not.

10 Saturday morning miles on my normal route. I love running up hills. On the flat I'm lethargic but a hill starts and my engine revs and I power up it. I may not be fast but I can keep going. I need to turn that strength into a focus on ultras and that's where my mind has been lately. I might do that 5K but it's 50/50 right now. Glad to hit double digits once again and be above 20 mpw, as pathetic as that is.

Noon Boot Camp. Brutal. Sweaty. Very tired afterwards.