Training in Montana

3 fast TM miles at Noon. My speed ain’t what it was, but it’s coming back better than it has been. 

4 Miles outside, brisk temps at the start. 

AP: 7:41?

6 for the 6th. At this rate I’ll hit ultra distance later in the month.... Hadn’t done my 6 mile route for a while, and it formerly was a nearly everyday thing. Nice to see an old friend again. Dark at the start, so headlamp, and cold so gloves and hat, but I ditched both at the halfway point as I was overheating. Left Achilles is sore, and has been more months (or years) but I’m starting to worry about it again. I need to find some exercises or something different so it doesn’t progressively get worse.

10 afternoon miles in town from the Y. Afternoon miles and in town miles are much harder than morning country miles.

AP: 8:30 

3 TM miles during Noon at the Y. My legs are tired from Saturday. Not sure if it was the pavement, the late afternoon run, or both. Probably the latter. It was windy outside today and I wasn't feeling it, so did a TM run while watching The Flash, S3 E7 about Killer Frost. Nice little change in that series. My legs felt rough but not leaden, so I bumped it up and up and finished the last with 1/4 at 9.3, 1/4 at 10.1. That was some good turnover. 3 years ago I finished 16th in the Turkey Trot here in town, and I'd like to see if I can post another good time this year. We'll see.

4 morning miles.

Ran 5 miles in semi-cold and quite dark, then came home to lock our chickens in their pen (one wandered far yesterday, but made it home fine) and a porcupine was heading into their pen. Not on my watch! I dispatched it with a nearby 2x4, then bagged it up and put it in the garbage. Not going to allow my dogs to be too curious and get needles in their noses... that’s painful and expensive to remove.

4 cold morning miles. Got it done and felt fine the last 1/2, tired before that.

7 miles in the foothills of Helena, MT. We were there for our last Fall soccer weekend and I got in a nice run. A bit chilly, very dark, and overally just really nice.

Ran at lunchtime. Windy from the West! Tough running into the wind on the out, then tough running with the wind on the way back. No wind resistance = no cooling down. When I hit 4.1 miles and stopped, my headband was literally soaked in sweat and sweat was pouring down into my sunglasses and on the ground, being propelled by the wind. It was bizarre! I remember reading race reports of the 2011 Boston Marathon when Ryan Hall had the wind at his back on the return, and him saying how overheated he got because of a lack of wind resistance. I finally experienced that - very weird feeling.

3 miles from home. Got out late so went a bit shorter than normal. Good temps, no hat needed.

I was rudely awakened Wednesday morning at 5:30 am by an ambulance tech in the bedroom of my home. Apparently I had a seizure and my wife couldn't rouse me so she wisely called 911 and I got to ride in a red and white bus to the hospital. After tests they found abnormalities in my EEG in the right front temporal lobe, consistent with a seizure and with short term memory loss (which I've been having the past few months). Put me on an anti-seizure drug which has caused massive drowsiness so I was out of work for a while. It's now Tuesday 10/24 and I'm finally back to work, but haven't been out exercising since 10/17. I plan to ease back into it, but we'll see. Kind of a pain for life to get real and kick me in the butt.... Glad I have my health, or who knows how bad this episode might have been?

1 mile walking on the TM, felt great. Ran at 6.0, 0% incline, for less than 1/4 mile and it felt awful - legs very heavy. Hopefully more and more walking will get me back into running sooner rather than later.