Training in Montana

4 miles outside! Gorgeous weather, 50F and nary a breeze but plenty o sun.

3 miles outside before heading somewhere. Legs sore after. #wimp

A quick morning run on icy roads in low 20 temps.

After three late nights trying to fix my brakes, finally got in a run at lunch. TM at the Y, and I felt really good so ran faster than normal. Did the 3 in just over 23:xx, and it was fun to have some quick turnover once again. 30 sit-ups after.

3 sssllllloooowww miles from home this morning after yesterday’s faster effort.

6 Miles!!!!!! Wahooo!!!!!!

4 miles early at the Y after dropping off my 14 yr old for his first day of middle school basketball practice. Legs definitely felt the extra miles from Saturday, but I warmed up after a while and finished the last mile going at a good pace, and just like last week, the last 1/4 was quick, and the last 0.1 was 10.0 mph. Legs felt great, form looked great (there is a big wall of mirrors in front of us, below the 4 TVs), and I felt really good going fast. I won't overdo it, but sometimes I get impatient on the TM and I'm glad my legs responded (eventually).

4 fairly quick miles this morning as I left later than normal and wanted to do 4 instead of 3 or 2. It felt good, in all ways. Legs felt good, only 37 degrees with very little wind, no clouds, gorgeous morning (check my FB page if we're friends on that platform), and just overall felt great. I'm very encouraged, and looking forward to building out my training schedule for the Bighorn 50K. I haven't done the 50K for a few years now, and excited to get back to it. No marathons or ultras in 2017 makes Russ a sad boy. But 2018 is a new year.

2 miles on the TM then 10 minutes on the stairstepper at the Y early this morning after dropping off my boy at Basketball practice. Legs a bit tired, so took it easy.

4 TM miles at the Y this am, and went faster and faster as I was getting bored and ready to be done. Then headed to the PT for my 2nd appointment for a torn labrum. Getting an MRI this afternoon on the shoulder to see if it's torn. I hit my deductible a couple months ago, so better do it before the year is over....

6 TM miles at the Y with my family. Went faster in the beginning than I should have, so backed off, but finished the last couple miles quickly. Felt good, and very sweaty.

4 TM miles at the Y during lunch. Fast, slow, fast, slow, fast. TM running is something I want to end quickly, but always glad I did it.

4 morning miles before work. Dark, headlamp, windy, so wore facemask, but didn't need it the entire time. Felt okay, but haven't been doing much hill work so I should run outdoors much. Maybe once Spring hits.

4 TM miles at Noon at the Y. Legs felt good with 30 hours rest. Started at 7.1, increased every mile to 7.6, 8.1, 8.6, then @ 3.5 miles to 9.1, 9.6 @ 3.75, and 10.1 @ 3.9 miles. Mirrors at the Y allow seeing your form, and I was able to keep a solid form the entire time, so that's encouraging. No incline yet on my TM sessions, when in the past I've always done 2% incline on the TM. With just getting back to running more I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. Maybe soon.

As for 2018 races, I'm planning on another Bighorn 50K in June, and considering a BQ Saturday Marathon: Dreyer Last Chance in Chicago 9/8, or Indianapolis marathon on 11/3. Fargo would be nice in May, but I doubt I'd be up for a BQ - I'd much rather get ready for the 50K then do a race after that. My current 26.2 PR was a month after my Bighorn 50K PR, so there's a connection. Maybe I'll do the Deseret News Marathon in July again, and if I get lucky with cooler weather (fat chance) maybe I could get a 3:21. Hmmm...

Noon TM Miles. Yum.

5 snowstorm headlamp miles this morning. I even pulled to the side of the infrequently used highway I run on to allow the snowplow to go past as the driver slowed down significantly to avoid sending rocks or mush my way, which was very thoughtful. We don't get the large Utah flakes here, just the small pellet-type snow, so it wasn't too hard to see. Had some wind, so wore my nearly-clear sunglasses to avoide the driven snow and that worked pretty well. Used my new micro spike look alikes and I think I like them well enough, but I'm not sure. They were only $39.99 where the Katoola brand is $69.99, and while the cheaper ones have the same length spikes, they don't have any directly under the ball of the foot, so pushing off is a challenge. Thinking I might go spend the extra $30 to upgrade. The store said that wouldn't be an issue.

10 cold miles from home during 11 am and 1 pm. Bright sun, no clouds, temps were 9 to 11F, with up to -4 windchill. I felt rough physically as this is my biggest mileage week in a while, and my miles have been mostly TM with no incline. Need to get back to 2% incline as that makes inside or outside difference negligible.

I walked a lot, so 20 minutes slower than I normally have run this route, my normal Saturday 10 mile route. 

Happy to have figured out my cold winter weather attire: double everything. Double gloves, plus hand warmers, double pants, and lots of upper layers. My bro gave me a North Face climbing gear pullover which was perfect. I had a warm running hat, a neck gaiter, and that’s normally all I wear. I would have frozen. 1/4 way in I pulled the NF hat over my head, zipped it up all the way, and it goes right to my nose. It saved me. Yay! Very tired today though, so that wasn’t good. Need to figure that out, impacted my family too much. I was a grumpy Gus...

6 miles on the Layton rails to trails. I love those straight, flat, trails.

6 miles on the way to, and on the Jordan River Trail and back to my sisters house off 2200 West.

6 Miles this fine warm winter morning (40F) to and from the JRP.

Mt Olympus. Yikes. And I went over 100 miles for the month. Yay!

I went up and down the Mount Olympus trail in Salt Lake. Going up I ran less than 1/2 mile on the 3.25 mile trail. It was fairly steep, quite icy in spots, which required microspikes, and so glad my friend warned me of that. I went to Scheels and instead of spending $70 on Kahtoola MicroSpikes, I went with an off brand that were comparable for $40. I will be taking them back and spending $30 more on the name brand. They worked okay, but not great. I haven't uploaded my Garmin yet, so not sure of exact paces, but from mile 2 to 3 it took me 52 minutes while climbing up. Holy moly! That is slow. It was steep, lots of elevation gain, but still - that's ridiculous. I am not in great shape. When I got to the top it's a saddle with great views, but not the very top of Mt Olympus. I decided that I'd already taken plenty of time (over 2 hours) and needed to get back to my family.

I then bombed it down the hill, running as fast as I could, which in icy trail running often isn't that fast. This downhill section is when I realized I needed the namebrand microspikes. The ones I had are made of rubber (not the metal spikes of course) and going downhill made the top parts slide down my foot. The Kahtoola brand are mostly metal, and originally I thought that seemed like overkill, but now I realize that metal doesn't have any give in it, and going downhill they will stay in place the same as going uphill. Anyhow, I knew bombing it down the hill would trash my quads, and what do you know - it worked! I'm writing this on Tuesday, ran the trail on Saturday, and I'm still struggling to walk downstairs without wincing. The first day after the run I had to support myself to sit on the toilet seat, which is always a pleasant joy after a quad buster. (I just looked at my friend's Strava from this run a while back, and now I know why I hurt so bad, and why mile 3 was so slow. Elevation gains: mile 1, 840 feet, mile 2, 909 feet, mile 3, 1650 feet. Total gain/total loss = 3399 feet. Yowzers.)

Check out the elevation gain - way crazier than I thought, even as I was doing it!

Happy running and Happy New Year!