Training in Montana

4 morning miles from home. Good run, 36F but not too windy, very hot at the end, return miles in the 7s.

AP: 8:04

3 quick miles in South Jordan while at my sisters house.

4 morning miles in South Jordan before driving home. 34F. Warmed up first two, steady uphill, ran faster on the return. 

AP: 8:06

6 cold miles in my winter gear, 24F with not much wind. After a couple miles my winter jacket was too warm so unzipped it most of the way the rest of the way. Felt good, but had a couple phone calls during the run so had to walk a few times. Need to run earlier! :)

AP: 9:03, but last mile was 7:06.

4 TM mid morning miles at the Y, progressive run, last .15 at 5:42 pace. I 

4 TM miles at the Y. Planned to do 6, but legs were tired. Likely ran too fast or could've gone farther. Weights and pushups and planks after. 

8 morning miles from home. 34F, not bad until winds picked up last 2 miles. Cold but not horrible those miles. 

4 windy miles from home. Did 2 half miles fast. Not sure I’m up to speed.

6 morning miles from home. Good run, did 5K pace for 1/2 mile X 3. Tough to maintain a below 6:20 pace, I'm worried for a sub 20:00 Turkey Run, but I'll give it my best shot. 

6 morning miles. A bit windy, but love the new mittens - bought Gordini Stash Lite running mittens and they will be heavenly. It was warm this morning, 44F, so sweaty hands, but they will be great for 30s and below. 

4 morning miles with the headlamp. I'm not looking forward to a long winter of headlamp running, but it beats the treadmill. 

Last miles in the 7s.

Busy day from 7 am-11:30 pm so no run. 

6 nice and easy miles from home at 9 am. Nice weather (for MT), and a good return after a 2 day break.

6 miles from home with a stiff breeze which made it much colder than it should have been. New mittens were nice but backs of hands  cold 🥶 from the wind. Hopefully ready for a Turkey Day PR. 

Short run to stretch the legs. 

Annual Thanksgiving Day run in Billings - my favorite 5K anywhere, as it's fully flat through downtown Billings. I missed my PR, and might have had a chance to hit it if I had started at the front. A couple things went wrong: 1) I forgot to put on my race bib, and the gun went off as I was jogging back to the start line. I was about 90 seconds behind the leaders and weaved through the crowd the first 1/2 mile, which slowed me down significantly. The good news is I was never passed during the race. The bad news is I likely lost 30 seconds and more, as I also added some distance by weaving. 2) I forgot to start my watch at the start line, so I never knew my exact time - that threw me off.

No need for me to recap the race, as overall I just wasn't feeling a PR. In looking back, maybe I could have gotten one, but I don't know. The 5k is mental and I'm more of a long distance guy. I did finish 30th out of 2000 people, but most were walkers and joggers. The mile is an easy race - I liked that. Didn't come close to my 5:48 from 5 years ago, but still fast enough for 8th and 1st in Masters. Sadly, it's no longer the RRCA Montana Mile championship - I was hoping for a 3 time win in the Masters category! :) 

6 slow miles this morning from home with sore muscles. Nothing too special, weather wasn't warm, but wasn't horrible. 

Planning for 10 this morning, but I wasn't feeling it and knew it after 1/2 mile, so I cut it short at 1 and turned around. After getting home walked 3 miles with my wife down our country road. Love where we live. 

Started my new job today and I didn’t know what to expect so I decided not to run. I should have. 

Ran the Lupine Hillcrest loop at Noon. Legs were very rested so I ran up the steep hill as hard as I could, and it was a strong effort, 560 feet total ascent. On the return loop, the wind started gusting so bad that I had to walk a few times as it was blowing strong directly into me and it was hard to move forward.  

AP: 9:05

4 noon miles from home, which will be my new normal. Get up early for an early morning meeting, work until lunch, go for a run, shower, keep working.

6 noon miles. Legs felt good after the tough Tuesday uphill, and I was in the 8s going uphill and the 7s downhill, total time just over 49:00.

I’m now on billable time and I could only work 5.5 hours today, and a weekend snowstorm was coming soon, so at the last minute I decided to run my 10 at lunchtime. Cold, not horrible, but a good run. Drenched in sweat during and after as my windbreaker doesn’t breathe, but I was dressed right. 700 feet ascent & descent.

AP: 8:32