Training in Montana

4 miles from the YMCA at Noon. This morning at 6 I was way too tired to get out of bed so I listened to my body. I then considered doing Boot Camp instead of my run as 4 miles won't break me, but again listened to my body and I have two more peak weeks of running left and I need to conserve my energy for running at this point. Boot Camp is likely out until after the DesNews marathon.

I ran naked today so no idea of time but I'm pretty sure I had a couple miles in the mid 7s. It felt comfortably hard. My legs aren't stiff from Saturday's long run but they are definitely tired. I'll get some good sleep tonight so I'm ready for 10 tomorrow morning.

10 miles this morning up my easy 10 route. Temps 44F so I wore arm warmers and gloves and that was perfect. Legs not feeling fantastic the first couple miles, but not horrible either. At 1.5 miles I heard turkeys gobbling and there were two toms with feathers outstretched following two hens. 20 feet away from me. Wild turkeys are not keen on humans and normally you don't see them as their eyesight is so good. These lads only had one thing on their mind and it wasn't me. Fun to see them strutting around.

I carried on and kept up a decent pace all the way to the turnaround spot, then kept up a good pace most of the rest of the way. With four miles to go I decided to pick it up so I'd have at least 3 good MP miles and turns out I got four good miles in. With .2 to go the clock was nearing 1:21 and I wanted to be under that arbitrary time so I leaned forward and got the legs moving in the high 5s and finished strong. I was sweating like a horse afterwards. Nice dark signs of sweat on my shirt. My family thinks it's gross. I think it's the sign of hard work. :)

Total time 1:20:40, AP 8:04. Last 4 miles: 7:37 7:15 7:11 6:53. 

8 miles up my Veyo hill. Felt a little sluggish which is expected after 4 solid miles yesterday. I maintained a good enough pace for being a little tired. The wind made the temps quite a bit colder than expected which actually wasn't too horrible once I got warmed up. I still put a nice sweaty smiley face around my collar. 44F with 10+ mph Easterly winds. Hands are arms were very chilled afterward, even with gloves and arm warmers. I saw the two tom turkeys again, this time chasing 3 hens. Very interested males at this point of spring. Lucky for them spring turkey season ended last Saturday.

AP: 8:15. Total time 1:06:00. Rest day tomorrow, 10 Friday, 22 Saturday.

10 miles up my Veyo hill. Decent temps out after wicked thunderstorms last night. Had a few lightning strikes right near the house and we were properly freaked out, unplugged everything, kids huddled in the basement for noise (while Kaylene and I watched it from the upstairs windows). Thankfully ended not long after their bedtime so all slept well. Roads weren't too muddy as we had a few good winds in the night to dry things out a bit. Threatened rain after the first mile, felt a few drops, but then it went away. Whew. I was not looking forward to being Ogden soaked (those poor marathoners). Felt pretty good on this run. Kept it nice and steady, nothing too fast or slow, powered up the hills decently for semi-tired legs.

AP: 8:15. Happy Memorial Day to all, hope you all have a great weekend, and thanks for all those who have gone before us to give us the freedoms we enjoy. God Bless America.

22 tough miles this morning, up my Veyo hill (3rd time this week). Beautiful morning, started at 5:30 from home with cotton gloves and arm warmers which I wore until mile 9. I was struggling at the half way point then turned around and it was mostly downhill so that helped. Just before the 20 mile mark I know a good hill is coming and I'm dreading it for at least a few miles before. I hit the hill and I felt what a lot of ultra runners have said in reports: a change of altitude is a relief to the muscles, regardless of whether it's up or down. I experienced that as on the uphill my underused uphill muscles sprang into action and my downhill muscles took a break. It was still a tough hill and my pace was a minute more than normal (10:00 vs 9:00) but it wasn't as horrible as I expected. A quarter mile after this I hit my 2 miles to go mark and my first thoughts were to slog it home and just make it. I was tired, my legs were tired. I then had the proper thought: finish these last two miles strong, pretending that 3:15:00 is in sight. I picked it up and quickly got to 7:30 pace, so needed to drop that a bit to 7:24. I was somewhat successful in that first mile but figured out that I would get down to pace then zone out and my pace would go up 20 seconds. I started focusing on turnover and was able to stay consistent. My mantra become "turn-ov-er, turn-ov-er, turn-ov-er" and it fit perfectly with my breathing (one breath in, three breaths out). The mantra kept me going and the last mile was a really good finish. Last two miles: 7:34, 7:18. I'll take it.

 Another thing I figured out is that running on gravel for 18 straight miles makes the feet sore. I recovered pretty quickly after getting home. We had a busy day, it's currently 9:45 pm and I'm still going strong, no nap. I had a big plate of spaghetti last night for dinner and I think that made a big difference today but not sure.

It's odd. The elevation for today is only a climb of 1442 feet but I was going up most of the first 11 miles and actually moved up 1000 feet in elevation. Last week I got 2400 feet but only moved a few hundred feet in elevation. The undulating trails versus running on gravel roads is very different. Today felt a lot harder, but I was much more tired after the run last week. 

AP: 8:48. Total time 3:13:41 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/318015744