Training in Montana

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