Training in Montana

I was home with a sick girl yesterday so didn't get a chance to run. Got out this morning and did my 6 mile route. Started off faster than normal as I got started a bit late, and I felt good so kept up the pace. A 16 mph SW breeze so it hit me in the face quite a few times and running on country roads is great when there's no wind, but nothing to break up the wind when it's cruising. I was overdressed as the temp was 40 - could've worn shorts. Overall, a good run.

My 2012 goal is 1800 miles, which is just under 35 per week. I can do it running 6 days a week, which is another goal. If I average 5-6 miles 5 times a week then hit 10 miles for my long run I will get there. Hopefully this will help me get some big PRs and get closer to that elusive BQ time.

AP: 8:02 

Got to bed late last night so turned off my 5:30 alarm and got up at 6:15. Read scriptures for 10 minutes (NY Resolution) then headed out for a quick run. I need to convince my wife to go to bed earlier as it helps me do the same. She's working now & getting up an hour earlier than before so I figured she'd always be tired & hit the sack early now, but she's an election hound and stayed up watching the Iowa returns. Interesting stuff.

5.5 miles in shorts. Wish it weren't so windy, but the tailwind home was nice.

Did planks as we read scriptures as a family. 3 X 60. It's hard to read aloud while doing a plank, but I powered through. 

AP: 8:05. 

6 windy miles. Not too cold out - 30 but with a 10 mph wind. I'm so tired of the wind! Weather man says the wind is what's keeping the warm weather here. Bring on the cold and get rid of the wind! It's such a harder effort. It's making me stronger though, right? Did my normal 3 miles out and 3 miles back. I sure like running uphill on the out and downhill on the back. Makes me feel stronger.

1 X 60 plank while reading scriptures with the fam. 25 pushups. 

Anyone in Billings want to go for a 12 mile run tomorrow? Oh, that's right. I'm the only one in Billings on FRB. Sniff, sniff. I did get one other guy to join but he didn't even last a week.

AP: 8:16  

My 8 year old made a New Years Resolution to run 1 mile a week so I took him out 1/2 mile then came back home and dropped him off then headed out. Decided to do a tougher run today to get prepped for my 50K in June. No time like the present? Anyhow, headed down my road, which is a big downhill, then had to regain most of the elevation to get to the main road, then dropped back down the same elevation on the main road, then headed up again on a busier road, which leads to a long steady sustained climb on a loose gravel road. Footing stinks but it's a good road with good scenery. It was a tough run and as I did it in the afternoon my fueling was off. I should've eaten half a bagel before going as I was Jonesing for some carbs most of the way. Brought along a couple delicious English candies I got for Christmas plus my traditional jelly beans. Starburst dual flavor beans are awesome. Will have to buy me a few bags at Easter.

AP for 10 miles: 8:49. Splits 8:04, 9:22, 8:55, 7:50, 8:56, 9:33, 9:10, 9:38, 8:39, 8:07.

That was a tough run - a few hours later I was exhausted. Finished at 4:30 pm and jumped in the long hot shower as I was chilled. Then just hung out at home as I was absolutely tired. Not sure I'll do that one again for a while - ruined my evening. 

6 TM miles at the Y this morning. Felt pretty beat up after my Saturday run - lots of up and down - so took this one easy the first 4 miles. After a .5 warmup at 6.0 jogged at a 6.7 & 1% until 4 miles, then dropped the incline & upped speed to 7.6, at 5 miles bumped to an 8.6, and ended with a 1/4 mile at 6.0, and the last .10 at 5.0. It was a crowded TM section with 5 guys surrounding me, mostly older guys, and I felt stupid speeding up like that and in the mirrors saw them looking at my speed then at each other and making some comments. It's all good - I wasn't trying to one up someone, this is just how I like to end my workout. 5 minute cool down (1 minute at 4.5, then 4.0, etc.).

2 X 60 planks, 1 X 60 situp toe touches, 25 pushups. 

When I run at the Y in the mornings I also get dressed at the Y as my work is just across the street. Alas this morning I forgot my towel and most importantly my underwear. Hmph. Called my wife and figured out where to meet her, so I only got 2.5 miles in before I had to drive halfway across town and meet her, but it beat driving all the way home. Oh well. I might hit the Y at lunchtime to either do a weights class or finish my miles.

Morning: 6 TM miles at the Y. Remember my towel and undies. Yay! Progression run as normal, doing most of my miles at 6.7, then moving up from there after 4 miles.

1X60 plank, laying down toe touches, bicycles. 15 pushups. 3X10 curls and legs (trying to fix that tricky adductor muscle).

Lunch: Apparently I'm afflicted with demons as I had a better-than-normal workout this morning, but the Boot Camp bug bit me at 11:55 so I headed over and killed myself for the better part of an hour. Good workout. Lots of the NYR crowd has doubled it since I last went in December. My legs are going to be screaming tomorrow.

4 TM miles at the gym during lunch. You know, I don't mind the TM so much anymore. I keep getting sick when I run outside and I'm tired of the wind. In the gym I sweat a lot but other than that it's mostly positive. We've got new large TVs to watch, always something good to watch, and I can force myself to run a certain speed without having to glance at my watch to see if I'm keeping pace. I will get back outside next week but I'm kind of enjoying it.

Did most of my run at 7.1, bumped to 8.0 for 1/2 mile or so, then decided to mix in some speed work in the middle of a workout. Ran at 10.0 for a quarter mile, then rested at a 7.0 for .15 miles, then back to 8.0. The last quarter mile I did at a 10.2, maxing to a 12.2 for the last few strides. Man, I wish I could sustain that speed. It's fun to have that kind of turnover and I can't imagine doing that for an entire race but would love to. Maybe in my next life?

Did 1X60 plank during scriptures this morning and 25 pushups before my shower. After the TM I did 1X60 plank, L side plank, R side plank. Ah. Love shaking uncontrollably for the last 15 seconds. 

6 TM miles this morning at the Y. Had a fan next to me so that was nice. Got to watch HLN with Robin Meade. She's a good reporter.... And SportsCenter. And some show on the History channel about a shipwreck off Greece that's related to the Titanic sinking. Hmmm.... All very interesting. As for running, I did boot camp 2 days ago and now the soreness is in full swing. I did the first 4 miles at 6.7, then boosted it up a bit, ending with a sprint. Worried about being cold when I do my long run outside tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to overdress and wear the extra clothes around my waist. This little cold isn't much but I'd rather not get a cold with each long run. I have been taking my vitamins this week, finally on a daily regimen so we'll see if that makes a difference.

1X60 Plank, Bicycle, Lying down toe touches. 15 pushups. Glutes very sore from Wednesday's Boot Camp. 

8 outside miles this morning. Finally figured out to bring my windbreaker and tie it around my waist for the return trip home. Put it on with 2 miles to go and it was a life saver. It was nice to run the last mile or so warm with no chills. Here's to hoping that makes the difference in me getting another cold.

Decent run, fairly tired from the week & from muscle work at Boot Camp so I took a few walking breaks but felt good after 3 miles and no more walking. Would've gone further but I needed to finish roofing the shed we built this summer. Nearly got it done but rain out of nails. Rats. Guess I'll have to wait until another nearly perfect Saturday....

AP: 8:53

6 TM miles this morning. 

1X60 Planks, Bicycles, Toe Touches. 25 pushups. 3X10 curls & PT-style squats.

Just now signed up for my first trail run - the Bighorn 50K. Also booked a camp site at Dead Swede, which is at the top of the mountain. Really looking forward to this. A friend has done the 30K the past two years and says it's a great event. 

6 TM miles this afternoon. I really don't mind the treadmill anymore, but I'm sure that will end. When it's butt cold out I'm okay getting on there. I'm also worried about getting sick as it's happened quite a bit in the past 12 months after a long cold run.

My adductor (groin) muscle is getting worse and worse. After I warm up it's fine but it's taking longer and longer to warm up before I don't feel the twinge. Should probably go see a PT for some more help.

After warming up did a 6.7, then a 7.1, then 7.6, then 8.1, then 8.6, then bumped up and up until the end. I love doing that. I ran for 0.10 of a mile at 5:00 per mile pace. I CANNOT believe that people can run that fast for a mile, let alone an entire marathon. How cool.

AP: 8:20 

6 TM miles at lunch. Kept it at a 6.7 and 2% until mile 5, then up to 7.1 for 1/2 mile, 7.6, then finished last quarter mile at 12.1.

2 X 60 planks, 1 X 60 bicycles and toe touches.

AP:  8:55

6 TM miles very early at the Y. Haven't woken up this early to run since the marathon, but got in my run then headed back home to swap cars & get everyone off to school after shoveling my walk & a family I home teach. I normally forget about them but I'm doing a much better job. He's sick and may not make it to spring so I better serve while I can! He and his wife are awesome.

First 4 miles at 6.7 & 2%, then 7.1 for next mile, and bumped up every half mile and sprinted at 10.0 for last 0.10. Ran next to a woman I've seen at the Y before and she's getting ready for the New Orleans marathon in 7 weeks. I'm so jealous. Need to find me a money tree. 

6 TM miles this morning. Kept it slow and steady the whole time as it's Friday and I'm a bit tired. I am way less tired than last week, though, in which I did a Boot Camp session, so that's interesting. After warming up for 1/2 mile ran the rest at 6.7 and 2% incline. Felt good. Was hungry at about 2 miles but kept going and energy returned.

1X60 plank, 25 pushups. After showering I was getting dressed and was literally the only person in the locker room. Another guy came in and used the locker 3 away from me. What in the world? He must use that same locker every day, but dude - it's a locker room. Move.

10 TM miles this morning at the Y. Did the first 4 on a mill with no fan - the fuse was blown so wouldn't turn on. At 4 I went to a newly vacated one in the prized spot - right next to a fan, and my favorite mill. The next 6 went very well. Did most of the miles at a gentle 6.8 with 2% incline, and finished the last couple at 7.0 with 1% incline. The MP3 player died with 3 miles to go but thankfully with the new large TVs it's easy to read the closed captioning. I saw the plays of the week twice on SportsCenter and learned how to tell if people are lying based on their facial expressions. Bill Clinton, not lying at the '92 DNC, lying about "that woman". Susan Smith, lying about her children, Marion Jones lying about doping. Very interesting stuff.

In other news, it's warmed up significantly in Billings. We hit 42 (jumped from 11 at 7 am to 31 at 8 am. That's nice! Maybe the roads will clear off soon and I can run outside shortly, but no TM madness yet. Ran 42 or so miles this week, all in the mornings at the Y. Kinda liked it. 

6 TM miles. This is starting to be a bit too routine, just like the boring Deja Vu Bowl coming up in two weeks. I had to run to get rid of the angst from Romney losing South Carolina and both the Ravens and 49ers losing, plus my 13 yr old losing his game Saturday. What's up with all these losses in my life? :)

After a warmup of 1/2 mile I kept it nice and steady at 6.7 and 2% incline. I've got to get my groin muscle checked out. It hurts when I cough and there are lots of Google results for "groin hurts when I cough". Who knew? It could be a few different things but really all I want are some exercises to build up this muscle/tendon/whatever and get the pain to stop. It doesn't hurt once I warm up, but lately it's been hurting just sitting down. Annoying. 

Just like my morning cup of Joe, I ran 6 TM miles today. Except I don't drink coffee and I don't drink anything in the morning. But other than that, it's kind of enjoyable. Ran a bit faster today as I needed to make it to the Elementary Geography Bee where my 5th grader was a finalist. After a 1/2 mile warmup ran at 6.9 and 2%. After 4 miles bumped up to a 7.6, then an 8.1 at 5 miles and progressive on up until I ran the last 0.15 at 5:49 pace. That's fun.

My son made it to the final four (he answered one of two questions right, which six kids didn't do) but missed his third question so he sat down and my wife and I left to go to our jobs. A good morning.

Total running time 51:35, AP 8:35. 1X60 plank, bicycle, toe touches. 3X10 curls, squats.

Got to the Y a bit later than normal plus wanted to get in some other exercises so cut the run short.

1X60 plank, bicycles, toe touches. 3X10 curls & squats. 25 pushups.

My son's BBall practice was pushed to 7:30 start so I got up early for a run at home, something I haven't done in the morning for a few weeks. 27 degrees with 10 mph or so wind. Dressed fairly well for it - wore the windbreaker which is a cheap one so it doesn't breathe too much, but it does break wind (and so do I - frequently). Felt pretty good, nice to be on roads although treadmill is a bit easier. No undulation on the TM, just nice and steady. Heading out this afternoon for the Boy Scout Klondike Derby. It's always a good time. Planning on getting in 10 miles before lunch.

AP: 8:25 

6 warm miles in the wind this morning. The out was directly into the wind but because I couldn't get away for my long run on Saturday while at the Klondike, my legs were fresh. I was running about 45 seconds faster per mile than I expected to be running. After the turnaround the wind was at my back so I was able to go fairly quick with a lower effort.

1X60 plank & bicycle, 25 pushups.

AP: 8:07 

A big ARGHHHHHHH to the wind this morning. It was a sideways wind most of the way, but my route has me running every direction, so if it's windy it's a pain for long stretches. The West wind this a.m. got me right as I left the house, then for good long stretches. My longest stretch is North-South so at least it was only rocking my side, but still. A treadmill is much nicer than wind. That being said, having it at my back was nice. I went even faster today even though getting out of bed was tougher. I wasn't trying to go faster so it seems upping my mileage is really making a difference. I'm excited for some races this spring. I hope to do a 5K and 10K before my 50K, then will do a July half. I think I'll do the local marathon in September, even though it's on a Sunday and I don't normally run on Sundays. It's here in town, we have late church, and there won't be any travel costs involved. That being said, I'd like to do St. George again, and it's only 2 weeks after the local marathon. A friend of mine does both every year, but she's crazy. I guess if I get into St. George I'll do it again. It is an awesome race. Or should I bother trying to get into St. George and just save my travel money? Decisions, decisions.

By the way, 141 miles, my 2nd highest monthly total to date, and I wasn't training for anything and my longest run was 11 miles. I'm liking this. I would've had my highest total to date if not for the Scout event on Saturday, so I'm feeling good.

AP: 8:02 

The wind gods heard my pleas and chilled out this morning. There was very little wind this morning and it was a nice break. I tried to run slower today and I achieved that by a bit, but my legs felt good. I am looking forward to testing them out. Just found a 10K or Half in March that I'll try and do, schedule permitting. That will be a nice test of fitness. I think I'll do the 10K as I don't have a time for that distance.

1X60 plank, bicycle, toe touches. 3X10 PT-type squats (groin still hurting).

AP: 8:11 

Noon: talked myself into doing Boot Camp. What was I thinking? It was a great workout but now I'm really tired and know I'll be sore tomorrow, and even more sore Friday. My new theory is that my groin problem happened because I stopped Boot Camp and I'm not doing enough exercises to strengthen the adductor muscles. I think I'll try Boot Camp once a week and see if that does the trick. All the squats and lunges today have to help. I couldn't do a few of the exercises because the groin hurt. What a pain. (Pun intended).

Slept in a few minutes so only time for 5 miles. I thought I'd be incredibly sore from yesterday's Boot Camp, but it will hit tomorrow. I felt pretty good on the run so I kept the pace up, although sometimes I didn't mean to - I was running much faster than I thought I was. I tell you, treadmill running really helped me with getting an efficient turnover. I'm sure I still have lots of areas for improvement that I could be coached on, but for being self taught I feel pretty good.

AP: 7:52 

My wife headed out today on a girl's weekend to the mountains so I stayed home from my run and helped her get ready. THAT is true love.

At lunch I went to Boot Camp. Pretty good session, kicked my butt. I haven't done a Friday Boot Camp for a long time as the last time I did Friday my Saturday long run really suffered. Seeing if my fitness has improved enough where I can handle a hard workout then run long. I'm shooting for 15 miles tomorrow. Anyone want to join me? 6 AM at my house. Dirt roads most of the way! Gorgeous views. 

I planned on 15, but I'm doing 15 next week for the Sherry Arnold Virtual Run (http://www.shutupandrun.net/2012/01/virtual-run-for-sherry-arnold-february.html). Hopefully the FRB community can support this. I'll put something on the discussion board - others who read this please share it on your blogs.

My legs are not so fresh anymore. After hitting Boot Camp on Wednesday & Friday my legs are beat. I knew it would wear me out but wanted to see how I'd do. I did just fine! Tired, but made it through. I took the hard route, up my Veyo-type hill. I stopped once before hitting the hill, stopped at the top of the hill, and stopped another mile after that to eat. I hit 6.55 miles in 1:01:36 and was hoping I'd be faster back home. Of course I was - the up was almost 1000 feet. Cruised nicely back home, except for one killer hill with 2.5 to go. It's my least favorite hill near me because it comes after a nice long downhill, then I go down again only to regain a bunch of elevation before I can go back down again. My breathing was very shallow - my throat was cold (it was in the low 20s) as I had unzipped my 3/4 zip shirt partway for heat. Guess I pushed it a bit too much up there, but in the cold I can handle it. That was my undoing in St. George was pushing it in the heat and my body said "Um...you haven't trained us for heat. Slow down dude." Anyhow, the cold is my friend.

Made it home and I was a sweaty sucker! Amazing how much sweat could accumulate in the low 20s. It was a gorgeous sunny morning so the sun on my black clothes probably kicked the internal temps up a bit. Anyhow, good overall run.

AP: 8:43. Splits at the link below.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/147140107 

Slept really poorly last night so didn't get up and run. Hit the Y at lunch time for Boot Camp. Pretty good upper body workout, some legs, not much cardio. The headband wasn't soaked, so I didn't do enough cardio...

6 miles this morning in a light snow with a breeze. Running with a headlight in the snow is a new experience for me and it was way too Star Wars-ish. Not as bad as driving at night in a snowstorm, but still made my eyes screwy. Pace was quite a bit slower, mainly due to tired legs. Add on a couple extra layers as it was 19 degrees, single digits with wind chill, and I felt like I was running with chains on. It was mainly boot camp fatigue, but in a good way. Hitting the  weights will help me out in the long run.

And a huge Happy Birthday to my sweet 6 year old girl, our youngest.

AP: 8:47 

6 miles in a windless 19 degrees. It was so nice! Wind would have made it miserable. Legs still a bit tired, pace quite a bit slower than last week, but muscles getting stronger.

My 6 year old daughter got her ears pierced last night. I had warned her ahead of time that it would hurt, but not to worry, and that she would cry, but the pain wouldn't last long. I have video of the first ear getting pierced and she got that look on her face of "What did YOU just do to me?" then started bawling. She was really close to not having the other ear done but I finally talked her into it, and it wasn't near as bad. A sweet experience.

AP: 8:42 

6 windy miles. I was happy to get a 1 day wind reprieve yesterday as today was 20+ mph. I first only had on tights and a couple shirts as 39 is balmy, but retreated inside to change and put on my windbreaker pants and jacket. They worked like a charm and each cost $10. Okay, the jacket I could do with getting a windbreaker that breathes, but it still does the trick, but the pants are excellent. I got a good night's sleep last night and I could tell, plus I wore fewer clothes and that seemed to up my pace. I bought some new shoes yesterday - trail version of my Brooks Adrenaline. They were comfortable and good stability. I figure I'll need them for my 50K in June. Overall, a good run.

AP: 8:24 

6 miles in cold and wind. The wind shifted so it was at my back heading out, which is odd. Sure helped my speed up the hill though. On the way back thankfully it shifted to be more sideways, but it was enough for me to put on my balaclava the last couple miles. Actually wasn't too bad out and I was dressed appropriately. I sweat like a horse inside my windbreaker, but better than having wind come through and chill me.

Tomorrow is the Virtual Run for Sherry Arnold and I'm hoping to do 15 miles in her honor but not sure how I'll fit it in around 4 basketball games. I'll do my best. 

AP: 8:14 

15 miles today for Sherry Arnold, the teacher/jogger who was killed in early January in Northeast Montana. Running for a cause was awesome - it made the miles fly by. The day started off at 3 degrees so I was glad I decided not to do an early morning run as we had a crazy day of 4 basketball games. I threw the clothes in the truck figuring I'd squeeze in 15 at some point. I had a large window in the afternoon and after putting some new podcasts on my mp3 player I headed out the door, delayed but determined. After 50 steps I turned around and grabbed my jacket - glad I did as it is so nice to come in warm the last couple miles. It had warmed to 24 degrees but overcast so I wasn't sure how to dress. I ended up wearing my tights under my wind pants and after 1 mile I was dying. I stopped, moved to the side of the country road, put my jacket on the 1" of snow and stood there in my stocking feet and removed the tights, just after a truck passed me. There are few cars on this road and of course I found one. Put the tights by a telephone pole and headed back out, feeling much better. On top I had a long sleeve tech shirt, a 1/4 zip lightweight pullover, and a heavier fleece 1/4 zip pullover, then a reflective orange vest with a Sherry Arnold bib pinned on front. It was a good choice on top - I was sort of chilly into the wind but not bad, and I knew I had the jacket in case. I took an easier route and it was a good choice. Still 800 feet of elevation over the course, so not a total walk in the park, but no killer hill so it didn't feel nearly as bad. I really enjoyed it. My niece had state swim meet so I called my Mom & Dad at about mile 6 to find out how it went and spoke to both of them for 10 minutes. That was fun - I don't normally talk to people on my runs. I'm primarily a solo runner. I don't mind running with others but have only done it 3 times. Not many people around! Speaking of not many around, on my 15 miles I was passed by how many cars? Wait for it. Wait for it. Four! I love living just outside of town.

Not sure what else to say, but prayers go out to the family of Sherry Arnold. She realized a lot of our worst nightmares, of going out on a morning run and never coming home. I hope and pray all the FRB folks have many years of safe running and cycling ahead of them.

AP: 9:00; total time 2:15

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/148898180

I slept poorly again last night (so weird - I sleep great all the time, but the last two Sunday nights I've slept awfully) so I slept in and headed to the Y at 11:30 for 6 TM miles. All the TM were full, mostly by walkers. Hmph. Really? Go walk elsewhere peeps! I hop on an elliptical just to do something, and notice a TM just behind and to the right is almost done. Stupidly I don't go ask her - I wait for her to get off. Just as she's getting off I grab my stuff, hop off, turn around, and some girl swooped in and stole the TM. Argh. I gave her a bit of the evil eye, got back on the elliptical, surveyed the other 11 TMs and decided they weren't going anywhere soon. Headed downstairs where 3 other TMs are holed up in a private area but they were all full. Hmph. Since Boot Camp now started in 20 minutes, I went to the indoor track (17 laps = 1 mile) and ran faster than normal to blow off some steam before BC - I think I got 1.5 miles during, probably another 1/2 during class. Wow, this was a killer class. My triceps got hit so hard I was unable to do more reps at a few stations, and my legs are wobbly from all the leg work. I judge my workouts based on the bandanna sweat level, and this was a dripper: sweat was dripping off the back of the bandanna, where it ties together. I'll be feeling this one all week, but I think I'll sleep great tonight.

6 TM miles, well at least I think so. Some bonehead tripped over the cord at around 2 miles and unplugged me. Maybe it was more than 2? I have no idea - hadn't been paying that much attention. The Y recently added TM to the workout room so that caused everything to shift and now my favorite row (the one with a fan on the wall) has the power cords exposed. It's happened twice now. Grrr. I complained downstairs and hopefully they'll fix it. Anyhow, that was annoying. Ran at 2% incline the whole way, the first few miles at 6.7 (after a short 5.5 warm up) and the next couple at 7.6, then the last half mile in the 8s and higher.

1X60 plank, 25 pushups. 

5 frosty miles this morning. Slept in a bit so couldn't go the full 6. My legs were very tight - Boot Camp on Monday really beat up my hammies and gluts so they felt a bit leaden. Powered through and finished fairly strong on the downhill.

BTW, went to the Dr. last week for my groin/adductor problem. He did an x-ray just to be sure, but it was "unremarkable" so he put me on Prednisone for a week to see if it's more muscular/inflammation and it appears to be working as it's not been nearly as tight when I start running, and I don't feel the twinge as often. It still hurts when I cough or sneeze, but not as bad as before. Not sure what my next steps are. I think he wants to do a CT scan or MRI next but the pain hasn't been bad enough to warrant an expense like that. Any thoughts?

AP: 8:33 

Went cross-country skiing with my wife and 13 YO son, who both had the day off so I took a PTO day to accompany them. Had a good time but my son isn't over a sickness he's had for the last month so we called it a day early and took him to the Dr. Also went and test drove a Toyota Tundra full size to replace my Chevy Silverado. Man, it was nice. A bit too rich for my blood so I'll buy some new tires, fix a few things on my Chevy, and save some dough before buying a new one. 

6 miles in mid 30s this morning with some light snow. Very nice. Did some easy cross-country skiing yesterday with my wife and son so the legs were fresh. They're still sore from Monday's beat down at Boot Camp but I could tell they were feeling better. On the way back I pushed it the last 2 miles especially, and kept my splits under 7. The last 1/2 mile I was gulping air, but was also at a 6:30 pace which is way faster than I normally can run. I'm hopeful that my next 5K race, whenever that might happen, I can post a sub 7 race. That would be cool.

Oddly, I couldn't get to my running blog last night or all day today until just now. Went into Crockett's blog and it opened then logged in from there. Don't know if something was wrong, but I need to donate $ or something to support the site as I was missing it all day! (Heard back from Sasha that the site did go down & he's been hard at work to get it up & running. Thanks! Donate $10 by clicking the PayPal button below.)

AP: 7:55

Splits: 9:16, 8:26, 9:08 (stopped to take out rocks in shoes), 7:18, 6:48, 6:34.

10 mile loop. I ran faster today than normal on my long runs and it felt good. It helped that yesterday I ended fast, so picking back up today felt normal. After the first mile it's downhill for the next 3 and I kept being surprised at how fast the watch said I was going - mid 7's. I kept it up till I hit the bottom of the hill, then I was surprised that even on a steady up I was right around 8:04 until the steep uphill started. In a marathon I want to do right around 8:00 so that's encouraging. Good run today, 

AP: 8:18 (a few miles of good uphill and a 2:15 walking break). Splits 8:56, 7:30, 7:37, 7:30, 8:57, 9:23, 9:34, 8:41, 7:38, 7:13. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150505562 

6 TM miles plus a cool down at lunch time. Bought new a new singlet at Target, and found out about mile 5.75 that the seams in the armpit are a bad idea. Good to know before I take it out on a long run once it gets warmer. The run felt pretty good. No direct fan, but at least the Y turned up the volume on the FM transmitter on the History channel. Interesting show about the people who work at the White House. Currently there are 420 staffers with an annual budget of $60 million. Seriously? I think the Pres can handle a wee bit less than that.

AP: 8:11

1X60 plank, bicycles, toe touches. 25 pushups. Lost a few pounds sweating today.

6 miles this morning, 29 degrees, a fresh skiff of snow, and 10 mph SW winds. Not a bad morning as I got a nice tailwind coming home. Legs felt strong, glad I didn't do Boot Camp this week. Maybe every other week I'll go kill myself at BC and then have tired legs for a week. It has to help somehow.

AP: 8:04 

6 miles including hill repeats. Kam inspired me yesterday to do tempo/hill/etc. at least once per week. Hump day seems a good day for it. Just after my 2 mile mark there's a 1/4 mile downhill section that I only hit on my long runs, and it's a pain in the tail. Today I ran down the hill, then back up it 4 times. A couple times I did shorter repeats, which is probably a good strategy (Galloway recommends it) but at least twice I went all the way up, keeping good speed and sucking wind. Both of the full hill runs I hit the top doing about 7:30 pace and I feel really good about it. I timed my distance just right as I got in my 2 miles doing hills where I normally just get in 2 miles. After the hills I upped the tempo and finished the last two miles in 6:50 and 6:55. My last two are downhill, but anytime I can do them under 7 I feel really good about it. Boston, you're in my sights...

AP: 8:16 (had a 2-3 minute delay trying to figure out a blinking tail light and forgot to stop the watch) 

1X60 plank, 25 pushups. 

Slept in a few minutes today so cut back the run a bit. Skiff of snow once again, and a nice wind this morning. Thankfully the 60 mph gusts hit yesterday afternoon, so my morning runs went right between the storm. I like running with a skiff of snow as it's interesting to see what critters have been out in the past few hours. My legs were pretty tired after yesterday's hill & tempo run so I walked a few times. I was able to keep a pretty good pace and coming home kept it in the high 7s. Not bad.

For record's sake, the top of my left foot is hurting. It started yesterday at work but I wasn't sure if it was just my shoe. Turns out it isn't. Feels like the pain is about an inch above my big toe joint on the top of the foot. I could feel it on the run and wasn't horrible. Tightened up a bit between finishing & heading off to work. I'll try and ice bucket it tonight after the pinewood derby race (so glad for it to be over - only 2 more years & my 3 boys will be done!).

AP: 8:19

6 miles outside with a decent West wind. I was zapped today, not sure why. Maybe it was the late-night Cafe Rio pork burrito (one opened in Billings yesterday - yum!) or something, but I stopped and walked before hitting one mile, and felt like it at two miles but kept going. Running into the wind from mile 2 to 2.5 wasn't that fun either, but I survived it. Ended up with a decent pace but nothing spectacular.

I didn't get a chance to ice my foot last night and I can feel it with every step of the left foot. Thankfully I've outgrown the 2nd left foot. When I push off I feel a tightness at the top of my foot, in the middle, straight above the big toe. It's only a 2 on the 10 pt pain scale and it doesn't really hurt when I run, but I can feel it. It started on Wednesday so I don't know if running hill repeats and pushing off uphill tweaked a tendon or ligament or what. Should I run my 10 mile long run tomorrow or not? I should be able to ice it tonight. I'll probably run tomorrow, but not sure that's the best idea.

AP: 8:28 

I had a Boy Scout Merit Badge day today and I had to be there, but I wasn't going to be involved with the boys during the morning & afternoon sessions, so I planned to run in the morning. Someone didn't show up to teach Citizenship in the Nation and one my boys was in there so I started teaching it as I had the requirements on my iPod and thankfully someone who actually knew what they were talking about finished it off, but I was stuck in there until lunch. After lunch I had a BBall game to go to and after that I didn't have time. The weather turned awful with 40+ mph gusts so I bagged my long run. Argh! I hate having to miss my Saturday run. Oh well. Hopefully next week will go smoother.

6 miles in 12 degree temps but with no wind at all so it was actually pretty pleasant. Wore my fleece neck gaiter and I was comfortable. My left foot started feeling better yesterday, I'm guessing because I didn't run Saturday or Sunday. On my run I felt it on every step, and now today it's hurting more when I walk. Hmph. I asked a PT friend what it might be and he wasn't too optimistic. He said there's nothing at the top of the foot that typically hurts. It "might" be a ligament, but he leaned toward a possible stress fracture. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

AP: 8:16 

At lunch I couldn't resist the temptation to go to Boot Camp. Maybe every other Monday. It was brutal. It's always tough but definitely tougher the mornings I run my normal distance. Hopefully I won't be sore until Saturday like I was last time. 

Foot hurts after running & doing Boot Camp yesterday. Resting it for a while - not sure how long. I still haven't iced or anything, but activity definitely hurts it. After not running Saturday or Sunday it felt pretty good Monday morning, but I was almost limping to work today from my car. Not quite a limp, but I could feel it and it sort of hurt. Argh. How long do I rest it and/or at what point do I go see the Dr.? I need to do the elliptical - maybe tonight. Thanks Peg for the elliptical!

After reading about stress fractures on an Ortho website, I think I might have one. I scheduled an appointment with the Dr. today, well his PA as he wasn't available until Friday but she'll consult with him. I really hope it isn't this but it's been a week now with no change and if it's a SF then it will be 6-8 weeks of no running, and my 50K is 16 weeks from this Saturday, so that will give me only 8-10 weeks to ramp up. Boo. Hoping it's not a SF.

My 2 weeks of no running started today so I hit the Spin class that I've avoided for 3-4 years. It was pretty good. The last time I went to it I pushed myself too hard and about passed out as I could barely breathe. This time I took my HR monitor and that helped me regulate what I was doing. It's my cheap one and it only works correctly for 30 minutes it seems so I'll take my Garmin next time. I got the HR up to 170 during one of the "hill climbs" and that was a bit much. Felt a little heart flutter so I backed off for a while. I probably need to start doing more of the spin class as it works out totally different muscles. The guy leading the class does it Mondays & Thursdays and I've noticed how his classes are packed while other classes have 4 people in them. I think I'll go when he teaches. Great workout, sweat fest for 50 minutes, and my calves are good and sore. I guess I'll hit the elliptical tomorrow plus some upper body.

After finishing I did 10 pullups. I need a pullup bar at home. And not the toddler underwear type. 

2 elliptical miles. Man, those things are slow! I worked my butt off and did 50 minutes on the machine from hell, but thankfully had some interesting shows to watch. And I don't recall anything I watched, but it passed the time. I wore my Garmin HR monitor and kept the HR above 130 most of the time, got it up to 158 or so on the toughest parts. Good enough I guess. The elliptical HR monitor was always 10-20 bpm faster than my Garmin. I'll trust my watch.

Went to Bozeman Saturday & Sunday for a 7th grade basketball tournament. Did the elliptical for 30 minutes, worked up a great sweat. Kept the HR around 155 most of the time. Would've liked to do more but wasted away the afternoon chatting with other parents instead of doing something valuable. What was I thinking? "Ah...this feels nice to sit around and do nothing." Was a fun weekend. Really miss my long runs. Was thinking about hitting the rec room again at 10:15 pm after putting the kids to bed as we didn't get a suite so nowhere to hang out. My wife said the dreaded words: "You're obsessed." No, I'm not, I said in my defense. I haven't done my long run for 3 weeks in a row now and I'm losing all that I've worked on. I also lost the argument so went to Wal-Mart after gassing up the car....

60 minute sweat fest at spinning class. The instructor took a video of his ride yesterday out towards Molt and projected it on the wall for us - that was cool. I don't know why there aren't fans going like crazy in that room. Aren't we simulating bike riding where you - um - ride bikes outside and it's windy by nature of the speed you go? Yeah, don't understand that. Someone did turn on one fan but it was in the back of the room and I only got whiffs of breeze. It was so sweaty...that when I rung out my bandanna in the sink I had to ring it out four times before I didn't get a solid stream of sweat. Yummy. I remembered my biking shorts this time and my body was thankful for the protection.

No workout yesterday. Didn't wake up early, didn't think about it at night, but I did play Modern Warfare 3 with my boys & that was fun.

Today I got up and hit the elliptical at home. I need to wake up earlier to get a full hour in. I got in a 31:30 workout, 1.5 miles, and I was sweatin' with the oldies. I like that the elliptical has a built in fan but I could use a tornado from front & behind to stop sweating. My tech tank top was soaked.

The foot is still there but not hurting like it was. I'm pretty sure that if I start running, though, it will be back to square one. It's a bummer just waiting to learn more. 

Spin class today. The normal guy had the day off and the replacement isn't near as good so it wasn't as fun, but I still got a good workout in. About 15 minutes in I had to swap bikes as mine was squeaking with every turn. 

This not running thing stinks! I'm not nearly as motivated to workout, and after reading Camille Heron's bit about SFs maybe doing all my cardio isn't that important, although I don't want to lose what I've gained. Hopefully I can get this fixed and keep on running this year.

3X10 curls, tricep dips. 1X60 plank, 10 pullups.

Spin class today after a 3 day layoff because I was being lazy. This instructor is tough but fun. We did a big 'ol simulated hill climb and it kept going and going and going. 50 total minutes and all but a few of those minutes we were climbing. I have to wear my HR monitor so that I control myself otherwise I'll die from going too hard. I kept it mostly in the 155 range but the last 2 minutes pushed it pretty hard and sprinted to the top of the hill, HR at 173. That's up there and my breathing was ragged. Great workout - should be a nice sleep elixir tonight.

10 pullups, 3X10 curls & triceps, 1X60 plank, 10 pushups. I guess 10 was the number of the day?

50 minutes on the elliptical (names I'd like to call it are not appropriate for this blog). It wasn't too bad, really. This one was a new fangled one with a touch screen and I didn't like it. Give me the basic red LED lights that tell me the intensity that's coming up and how long I should expect the intensity to last. And let me set the level myself. This one I set the "average" level so it would adjust up or down based on the average. Bull! I want to know exactly what I'm doing and what to expect. Especially when I'm stationary. Grrr. Anyhow, I powered through for 50 minutes of it, even thought at times it felt like an eternity.

2X60 planks, some bicycles and toe touches; 3X10 curls, triceps; 5 pullups. 25 pushups this morning while waiting for the shower to get hot.

Mileage! Woot woot. It's been 2 weeks since I saw the Dr. and my foot's feeling great so I hit the TM for a few miles. I noticed that others when starting back up have done high inclines so the first 10 minutes or so I did a 4% with only a 5.0 speed. I bumped up to a 5.5 then dropped to 3% and 6.0 speed for the rest. I think the foot feels good, but I won't know until tomorrow I guess. I think I felt a twinge of something walking down the stairs to the locker room but I don't know if it was in the same spot or just my feet saying Hello. My fitness felt great and it was odd not to be a sweaty mess like I have been on the spin bike or elliptical.

2X60 plank, 1X60 side planks, 50 crunches, 3X10 curls & triceps, 7 pullups (couldn't make it to 10 after everything else). 

No watch as battery was dead but it was about 3 miles. Not sure of pacing but it was probably around 9 minute miles. My foot felt fine, my groin injury was present. Hours later my foot is fine, but I can feel it where it was sore so I'm going to lay off running for another while. I'm thinking I should find a sports doctor to check my groin (insert jokes here). It seems to be a sports-related groin pull and I think a sports medicine group would be more likely to have seen these types of injuries before and hopefully prescribe some sort of non-invasive treatment. I can run with the groin problem but I don't want it to keep getting worse to where it affects my running.

Anyway, back to more cycling and elliptical. Should I go get a foot xray to see if it is a stress fracture? Or is that just a waste of money and if I give it 2 more weeks off will the pain be done? I'd hate to keep laying off for a short time and re-injure the foot when I should be laying off 6-8 weeks for something more serious. However, I am able to hop on one foot just fine so I don't think it's a SF - maybe just a stress reaction? I don't know, but I wish I did. I just want to run and improve. 

30 minutes on the elliptical at home this morning. A shorter time than I wanted but I struggled to roll out of bed sooner. Still, got in a good sweat fest while watching Sportscenter.

3X60 planks, 3X25 pushups. 

I miss running. Had a crazy day yesterday so no time to workout. This morning while driving I saw our local Marathon Olympic trial qualifier on her long run and I was so envious. 

While watching March Madness today I challenged my 8 yr old to 100 situps & pushups. He took me up on it so we did 10 pushups then 10 situps then would pause and then continue. After 30 he gave up but I kept on. I then did the "kid sit on you and do a pushup" challenge. I could do it for all but my oldest. He's about 95 pounds, 10 lbs more than #2, and that was my breaking point. 

I followed up the 100/100 by doing 3X60 planks. Those were the toughest planks I've ever done. At 10 seconds into it I was shaking on each one but I held it and loved the shake. I might be sore tomorrow. Looking forward to spin class & getting a great sweat fest.

Sweat fest at spinning class. I really need my own personal fan. Don't people cycle so that they're always air conditioned? That's part of the allure for me, but being stuck in a sweaty gym with no air when we're simulating air is just messed up. That's part of the treadmill problem also. Running outside with no wind generates a breeze. Anyhow, good class today. Nothing too exciting but I kept my HR between 150-155 most of the time and got a good cardio workout.

Afterwards did 10 pullups, 3X10 curls & tricep dips, and 5 more pullups. Did 25 pushups this morning at home.

I planned to workout at lunch today but a friend twisted my arm to go to lunch with him at our new Cafe Rio and I chose lunch over workout. It was a tough choice but he's a good friend. Taco Tuesday so got the coconut shrimp tacos. Yum.

This morning I did 40 pushups while waiting for the shower. 40! I am a beast. Haha. 30 in a row was my previous best and I just kept going. I could've done 41 but I stopped at 40. That was about it. I've come a long way!

I also made an appointment to see the Ortho on Friday to look at my foot & groin. All the docs at this clinic are sports medicine physicians so hopefully she can get me some answers. 

Wife's birthday today plus I'm in charge of Scout court of honor tonight so no chance for a workout. I got in 30 pushups this morning. That will probably be it. Maybe I'll do some in my office. 

Spin class today for this lazy butt. Good aerobics only twice a week just isn't cutting it! It's been a busy week. Great sweat fest today and kept the HR close to or above 160 most of the time - high for me. She pushed us really well. I failed to mention originally how varied/crappy her music choices were. We started off with Justin Bieber's "Baby" - really? REALLY? Yuck. Then went to better choices, but weird. From Rolling Stones "Jumping Jack Flash" to some country ballad crap where I almost shot my dog, truck, and wife. Weird weird eclecticism. I like variety, but crap is crap. I think I was sweating just from the worry we'd hear Bieber again.

3X10 curls & triceps with 25 lb weights. 5 pullups palms facing, 3 pullups palms away. 1X65 plank. 30 pushups. 

20 minutes on the elliptical as I just couldn't pull my butt out of bed sooner. Nearly started a sweatfest but then had to quit. 

30 pushups before showering. Seeing the Dr. today for my foot & adductor problems. 

Did 3 miles this morning. Chilly 36 with a pretty decent East wind. I felt the groin/adductor the whole way but not the foot. I'm guessing the foot will start to hurt again in a few days.

Came home & did elliptical for about 25 minutes, followed by 1X60 plank and 45 pushups. A new record for me. I'm happy to be running again. Hopefully my foot will be fine now and I can ramp up my training for the 50K that's only 10-11 weeks away. 

3 miles this morning. Foot feels good. Sad that due to my long layoff my pace heading up hill felt a minute faster than it really was. No worries. I'm not going to focus on pace for the next X # of weeks - just getting in some good slowish miles so I can build back up. It's weird having my legs be a little bit sore in the "new to running" type feeling. I haven't felt that in many moons.

3X60 planks, 30 pushups. 

3.5 miles this morning. I love wearing shorts again. I really bumped up the mileage this morning - gave it an entire extra 1/2 mile. I was feeling it. I think I'm ready for my 50K now.... Surprisingly the foot feels fine. I've been running almost exclusively on the shoulder and maybe that's helping. On the way back I ran on the road for a mile and I started feeling something so I switched back to the shoulder. I'll keep that up and maybe I can boost my miles back to normal soon.

1X60 plank, 30 pushups. 

3 miles this morning. 37 degrees with almost no breeze = shorts. Ah. I said it earlier this week but I'll say it again - I've lost about 1 minute per mile! Crazy how fast it goes. My effort up a little hill just before the 1 mile mark felt like it did before the injury, but is a solid minute per mile slower. Same on the way back home. Before I'd be flying on the dirt road in the low 7s or faster and now it's the low 8s. Don't get me wrong - I want to take it slower for a while, but the perceived effort is similar and the speed is much lower. I knew it would happen and anticipated it but it still is very weird.

1X90 plank, 30 pushups. 

4 easy  miles this morning. 41 with a wind so wore tights, and it was a good choice. Needed to go to work early so got up an hour earlier than normal for my run and the stars were out! Gorgeous. As much as I dislike running in pitch black with a not-so-bright headlamp, running in a cloudless night with stars all around is enchanting. I love it. By the time I got home the sunrise was ramping up and had chased away most of the stars.

AP: 8:45 (finally looked - didn't want to know). I hope to not get much faster for a while. I could sort of feel my left foot doing "something" during the run but hours later I don't feel much so that's a good sign.

1X90 plank, 30 pushups. I almost bought me a Perfect Pullup bar at Wal-Mart last night as I want to be like Jake. I might do it. I also looked at the Perfect Pushups but I think I'll just stick with the normal no-equipment-needed kind of pushups. 

3 easy miles, AP 9:05. Had some crazy dreams last night. All I know is I'm staying away from Subway and Hospitals as bad things happened. Then again, I was playing Modern Warfare 2 just before going to bed, but having crazy dreams after that is probably just a coincidence not a portent of things to come. Right?

1X110 seconds plank, 30 pushups. Planks are much easier when not looking at the seconds tick by, like I normally do. Lately I've been doing them during family scripture reading and I just wait for the clock on my iPod to change to the next minute, or wait until my kids read a certain verse. And they are not the fastest readers in the world when trying to pronounce Book of Mormon names like Morianton or Amalickiah. Makes for good planks. 

Squeezed in 3 miles in between the all-day Scout show and a basketball team party at our house. 80 degrees out and windy at 5 PM, and I was hustling as my wife was heading home with the kids and I really wanted to time it so I'd meet her at the start of our road on my way back. I timed it perfectly and I forgot my watch at home. A good run - I was hoping to try 6 today but had a campout last night and didn't feel like getting up at 5 AM as we went to bed a lot later than planned. The leaders I camped with had some hilarious stories. It was a good night.

Good run, no foot problems (knock on wood). It seems like running on the soft stuff is making a big difference. As soon as the grasses and weeds start growing the shoulder that I run on will be buried in weeds so maybe I'll have to drive the mower on the shoulder for a couple miles...that should be fun. 

Only 3 miles again today but I'm ready for more. I'm getting my groove back! I took it nice and slow on the first mile and pace is still slower than I'd like but I'm okay with that. Closing in on my 1.5 turnaround point I picked up the pace and on the way back was in the 7s for quite a bit. It felt good but not strained. Looking forward to getting some nice runs in while in St. George later this week for Spring Break.

AP: 8:10

1X90 plank (or so), 10 pushups (was running late). 

Ran at lunch today from the YMCA. I haven't run this routes in many moons and I missed my dirt roads and shoulder. It took a bit for the GPS to start up so my first mile is off, but most miles were in the low 8s to mid 7s. I pushed it but it was feeling good so I kept going. I definitely can tell my fitness lost a lot, but there's a lot still there. Ran on the grass as much as I could to protect my foot. Overall, good run. Beautiful weather - temps about 55-60.

Ran 5 miles with my 22 year old nephew while in St. George. Youth stinks. He barely runs and I was huffing and puffing to keep up with him. I wish I would've figured out running at his age. I knew I liked to run but didn't know how to have a plan and be smart about it. Rats. It was a good run. After a warm up first 1/2 mile kept the pace around 8 minutes per mile up the river trail. The last mile I picked it up and we sprinted in to the end at a 6 minute pace. Slight downhill, but felt good. He was pleased that we tied, but I was pleased just to keep up with him.

4 miles in St. George. It was cool-ish at 47 degrees so wore a long sleeve tech shirt & gloves. It was mostly the right choice. My legs were tired from yesterday and from having a 3 week layoff. I wasn't sure I'd get to 4 miles but at the turnaround another guy was coming the other direction so as soon as I turned around I thought he'd pass me and I must have upped my pace. He never did pass and I got to around an 8 minute pace and held it most of the way back. Overall a good run. Nice to run on tired legs every now and then.

AP: 8:32

3 running miles with Peg in St. George, then 5 brutal hiking miles in Zion National Park. Took two of my boys & their cousin to the top of Angels Landing. Awesome hike, scary at parts. Since 2004 six people have fallen to their deaths on this hike. It is crazy the last 1/2 mile. Fun though. After getting to the bottom my right outside calf muscle was aching - the normal spot after a long run. Went & soaked in the river and felt better, then took some vitamin I after getting home and all pain went away. Ah.

Did 4 1/2 miles in Smithfield before driving back to Billings. It was fairly chilly for shorts but not too bad. Ran up towards Smithfield Canyon and turned around just before entering the canyon. Hit some great speeds for a few seconds on a steep downhill section. Overall, a good run. No pains during or after.

AP: 8:10 

5 miles this morning in 29 degree temps. Hands were a bit cold and I was glad for my beanie to cover my ears. Felt good after getting lots of sleep on vacation. I found a 50K training plan last night and I'll do my best to follow it over the next 10 weeks. I'm not too far off this 12 week plan so maybe I'll do okay.

Went to the PT after my run to check out my groin problem. He'll do some research but he thinks it's a lower abdominal issue that's affecting a spot in my groin. I always thought adductor but he doesn't think that's it. Gave me some low intensity workouts to target the lower abs and he wants me to call him on Friday. I'm looking forward to beating this lifelong issue that continually crops up. Hurts like the dickens when I sneeze.

AP: 8:11 

Slept in today. It felt good. 

Found a 50K training plan and added the miles to my Outlook calendar so now I have to do them. Has me running 10+ on Saturday and 8-10 on Sunday as a recovery run. My Saturdays are 14, 16, 18, 20, 10, 22, 22, 24, 10, then the 50K. Yikes. I think I'll break up some of those runs up throughout the day as it's all about hours on feet, not continuous miles. Different way of thinking for an ultra. One site said to expect 2 hours more than my most recent marathon, so 5:45 is what I'll probably do. Yikes! That is a long time to run. I'm looking forward to it though. 

6 miles in semi wet conditions. It rained a bit before the run and a smidge during but not too bad. Went pretty slow, felt pretty good. My right outer calf muscle is bugging me as it has in the past. It normally only hurts after 10+ miles but started after the Angel's Landing hike Saturday and was throbbing a bit last night even not running. I rolled it out before bed & took some ibuprofen. It twinged again during the run so I rolled it before work. Hopefully it will calm down quickly.

AP: 8:42

10 trail miles, my first trail miles as a runner. Ran around an area called Phipps Park which is a Folf course outside of town. The trail heads up on top of the rims to the highest point in Billings, of which there are many on the same plateau. Ran with a friend of ours and we did a few loops around the plateau to get the 10 miles. Ran really slowly as she hasn't been putting in the miles. Side note - she's a Cross Fit user who's trying to see if she can do a 50K on low mileage. She did the Bighorn 30K the past two years and is now increasing the race mileage while decreasing her training mileage. I've shared my opinion so now that I've done that I'll just run with her on some Saturday runs before the race and cheer her on during the race. I hope she does okay but that will be a long walk. She knows it might not go well and she also knows the 100M runners won't be done until early Sunday, so she has plenty of time to finish... More power to her. Needless to say, our miles were very slow, averaging a 12:30 or so and our 10 miles took 2:06. I had a blast though. Ready to cheer on some Boston runners on Monday.

Couldn't wake up this morning so I ran at lunch time. Nice 51 degrees with 12 mph wind. Perfect for Boston - too bad it was in Montana. Too bad it wasn't so. I felt great on this run. My training plan says I need a longish recovery run the day after my long run, but I feel weird about training on Sunday so I didn't do it. I'm going to switch up my plan and do my "recovery" run on Fridays, the day before my long run. Not perfect but it will work. That being said, as I took yesterday off I was interested to see how my body felt after my first long run in a while. It felt great. I ended up pushing my speed faster than I should have but it was fun. I did feel something a few times in my left foot where it hurt before but it went away so hopefully no damage. I ran on the grass as much as I could, but that is probably only 1/2 mile each way. Rambling report but there you go.

AP: 8:00 

3X10 curls, tricep dips, chest. 3X20 PT exercises for my groin/lower abdominals. 

4 miles this morning. 48 degrees - pretty nice. Kept it nice and easy on the out, pushed the pace on the way back. At 1.5 miles out my lower back started cramping - weird. Never felt that. Must've been the weights from yesterday? Stopped to do a few stretches and it went away after a bit. Odd.

AP: 8:40. 

6 miles this morning, 36 degrees. Ran the first mile with my 10 yr old son (10:38) out 1/2 mile & back home then turned around and did 5 more. Felt pretty good, especially with a warmup already done. Pushed the pace a bit and was laboring but it was a solid push.

AP: 8:43

My back was acting up all day yesterday. Had my wife dig into it pretty deep last night - should be bruises now. Feeling better. I guess I did too much with weights on Monday. Oops. 

Did 10 miles this morning before work then headed straight to a meeting. I had to stand in the back of the room most of the time. Felt pretty good. Trying to fit in 16 tomorrow but I have a Boy Scout campout. We'll see.

AP: 8:42 

Did a nice long run this morning while on a Scout campout. We camped at a guy in our ward who has an awesome campout spot on his 20 acres that he allows any group to use - Scouts, family reunions, wards, etc. I'd never run from here before. Got up at 5:15 and got dressed and took off. It was raining on the tin roof of the cabin (my brother and I slept in the small 1 room cabin while the boys slept in tents) and I was worried about getting soaked as I didn't have any rain gear. I went for it and it turned out great. I got rained on a bit in my 2 hour run but not much. I also had forgotten a bandanna for a headband but I made it.

We were on the Crow Indian Reservation so I was a little worried about running on back roads as I didn't know how people would be. Thankfully it was early enough that nobody was awake. I got some beautiful views today running in the shadows of the Pryor Mountains. Gorgeous. Low clouds, slight rain, entire valley was misty, so the orange/pink hues of the early sunrise diffused across the valley. It was amazing. Most of the roads were great with enough gravel to not pile mud on the shoes but the last 4-5 miles I stopped for lots of mud removal. I didn't stop my watch enough today so my AP is much lower than it truly was, but regardless a good run.

AP: 9:45 

Went to the river with my family after dinner and played around a bit. Beautiful day - 80 or so. I had a home teaching appointment nearby so instead of making the family stop what they were doing and driving me there I decided to walk. I hadn't run those roads in a while so I figured it would be 1 to 1.5 miles. Turns out it was more like 2.5 as it took me over 30 minutes walking fast. Great chance to stretch my legs after a long weekend.

4 miles on a warm morning. 52 at 6 am - nice! I felt a bit sluggish from a lot of miles this weekend but stretched out the legs a bit and they were fine. 

AP: 8:38 

6 miles this morning. Pushed the pace, still hard on the uphills. Lost a few minutes over my previous fitness.

AP: 8:20 

6 tired miles today. Legs felt dead the entire way. I'm not surprised as I haven't been getting enough sleep plus I pushed it yesterday. Walked a few times & powered through the run.

AP: 9:06 

Taking the day off yesterday from running was awesome. My body was tired. I was still exhausted last night and could've gone to sleep before 10, but didn't. Ended up having a hard time going to sleep but I didn't worry about it as I knew I was laying down and still resting. Got up at 5:15 for my long Friday run and somehow didn't get out the door until 5:45. What up with me? I am so slow sometimes. Heard the wind howling and knew a storm was coming in. Checked the radar and sure enough, we had rain all around us. Brought my rain jacket along and glad I did. Wore shorts & t-shirt as it was 54 degrees. Should've gone with long sleeve shirt as it was windy and the temps were dropping. After 2 miles of getting pelted sideways by rain I put on the jacket and wore it for the remainder, and it was nice to have. The wind was brutal. Planned to do 10 miles, but at the 3 mile mark I knew I had a mile or more straight into 30+ mph gusts and with my late start knew I couldn't afford it. Turned around and ran North/South more than normal, but I did get in 9 miles. Was going to turn around and only get 8 but had the umph to keep going so I did. Got home later than normal but it all worked out okay. Supposed to have rain all weekend so tomorrow's 18 is going to be awesome.

AP: 8:50 

18 miles today, 9 yesterday, and all of them in wind gusts of 30+ mph. Ugh. Today there was no rain for me, but a lot of wind on a very exposed country road. I went out knowing that the wind would suck, so at least I was prepared. It was 39 degrees but 27 with wind chill so brought 2 pairs of gloves and after 3 miles I wore both pair for the remainder of the run. I didn't know if I'd go 18 outdoors so I took off seeing if I could go out 9 miles. If it was too bad I was going to turn around at 5 and run the rest at the Y. I was stubborn and kept going as the last couple miles had a little bit of wind break. Anyhow, it was probably the gnarliest run I've done to date. By the time I got home I was pretty wasted. I think my 18 was probably more like the effort for 22-24 as I used so many muscles trying to stay upright in the wind.

AP: 9:32. Elevation gain 1235 feet. I walked a lot today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/172695226 

4 easy miles today. Legs are very aware of the killer weekend workout. My body was too - I was exhausted Saturday and Sunday. My wife asked if I had any workouts of 18 miles leading up to my race. I don't want to tell her I have 4 more that are MORE than 18. A 20 this weekend, then a dial back to 10, then a 22, 22, and 24 before tapering. Hmm. Not sure I'll find any pity for being exhausted in future weekends. Hopefully my body will toughen up quick and get me some fast recovery.

AP: 8:47

I was supposed to do 8 this morning but I just couldn't wake myself up. I nearly skipped the run entirely but finally rolled out of bed at 6:15 and was able to get 4 miles in. The same miles as yesterday but the legs felt better.

AP: 8:26 

Rest day

6 miles early this morning before a big meeting. I love Montana from Spring-Fall as being further North we get lots of light. Winter stinks, but summer rocks. It was light at 5:30 when I started my run and the sun peeked over the horizon about 6 am. And it's only the first week of May. Buh bye reflectors & blinking lights.

Ran at a decent clip today, the day off yesterday helped greatly.

AP: 8:18 

10 miles early before an early morning meeting. Gorgeous this morning. Light enough when I started at 5:25 to not need a light. Had a blinker on my tail just in case, but didn't need it. Sunrise at mile 4 was beautiful as I was heading West and saw the sun hit 3 mountain ranges in the distance. It's a nice stretch of road. I was shooting for an 8:45 pace to keep my exhaustion level low and did well on the 5 miles out but quite a bit quicker on the back. Overall, I liked my pace and felt good. Supposed to do 20 tomorrow. We'll see what the day brings. I'll try and do 10 in the early morning but not sure how that's going to work.

AP: 8:34 

AM- 12 miles before having to take my oldest to a Scout thing then help a neighbor. Hopefully will get 8 more in tonight.

AP: 8:28 

PM - nada. I had a crazy full day and didn't finish until 10:30 PM. I thought about heading out for a night run, but my wife would've called me nuts and I didn't want that. Plus I was exhausted. Mowed a friends lawn, took a full pickup load to the Goodwill, loaded up the truck at Home Depot with sheetrock, 2X4s, OSB, and insulation, then headed home and moved 1/2 of the garage to the middle to insulate & sheetrock (the other 1/2 is done). Got all of it done that needed it then built shelves 8' long and 8'6" high. It's only taken 4 1/2 yrs to build garage shelves. Have a bunch more shelves to build now. Thanks brother for your help! It's nice having my brother live in town. He's smart.

4 miles this morning, fairly chilly. 37 degrees with 14 mph wind so high 20s with wind chill. Wore my windbreaker pants & jacket plus my thin skull cap on my head plus gloves. The clothes took the chill off for the first mile then after that I got a bit sweaty. My legs were tired from Saturday. Hopefully from going up and down a ladder all day and not from only going 12 miles. I took it nice and slow the first two miles then a bit quicker on the return journey.

AP: 8:51 

8 miles this morning and I felt good. Shorts, long sleeve shirt & gloves helped and only a slight breeze. The pace was much improved from yesterday and I wanted to see what I could do on the way back. I pushed it and the last 3 miles were 7:30, 7:23, and 7:00. It was a controlled push. I know I'll feel it tomorrow when I do a slow 6, but I'm glad I could shift the legs into a higher gear as it's been a while.

AP: 8:07 

6 miles this fair morning. Temps in the mid 50s but a 14 mph wind made the bare hands the perfect chilly. I could feel soreness in my calves from yesterdays efforts but not much. I also think/hope that I've found out why my right outer calf shin-splint-type soreness sometimes - it's due to my stride. My left leg never has soreness, and that foot doesn't bend much when I run. My right foot tends to bend and do a long push off. I've tried recently to get my right foot to mimic the left with a real short motion and it seems to be doing the trick. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow on my rest day.

AP: 8:27 

8 miles, same route as Tuesday. Apparently I'm fairly consistent as Tuesday's time was 1:04:54 and today's time was 1:04:59. I actually thought I was faster today on the out, but I guess not. Again I pushed it on the way back and my final 3 miles were 7:25, 7:25, and 7:07. Those times were faster on Tuesday but I didn't have it in my today. Overall felt good about today and my overall fitness level. 

AP: 8:07 

10 miles in my step-back week. A nice 10 mile loop. It's fast downhill the first few miles, then a steady climb back up on a loose gravel road for the next 5 miles then the last bit fairly fast home. I worried about getting home on time as our "Woman's Run" was this morning & my wife & daughter were leaving at 8 am. Pushed myself and never stopped to walk, where I normally walk at least twice on this route.

Afterwards had a crazy day. Helped my brother prep his yard for sod, so lots of raking and rock throwing, etc. for a couple hours in the heat. Then headed home for a birthday party for my 11 yr old boy. He had 10 friends over for an airsoft war and hot dogs over the fire. In between helping I put up some more sheetrock & shelving in the garage. When that was done (8:30 pm) I headed back to my brother's to help lay sod. We got 3 pallets put down, ending at 11 pm. Boy howdy, was I tired. Still feeling it today from the back and the legs. Another good hard working weekend.

AP: 8:22 

4 slow miles this morning. Legs are trashed from helping my brother put in sod on Saturday. That is a beastly task! Happy Birthday to my 11 year old son. He had an awesome birthday party on Saturday. Boys love to shoot each other with airsoft guns while amped up on Mountain Dew.

AP: 8:44 

8 miles on my 8 mile course. I pushed it more than before and really pushed it the last 4 miles. I'm doing 8 tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be sore but this was fun.

AP: 7:58

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/178450222 

Same 8 mile route as yesterday and the past couple weeks. My legs were dead from pushing it yesterday and I never really could get going. It was a struggle all the way home.

AP: 8:36 

Great article today about Levins, the runner at Southern Utah. Amazing mileage.  

10 miles up my much-steeper-than-Veyo hill. I used to call it my Veyo hill in prep for St George but I've come to realize that it makes Veyo look like a blip. It is beastly. I felt rested today and made it up the hill without stopping, and kept it at a 10:20 or so pace during the toughest climb. Going back down that hill I was doing a controlled 6:15 pace and when I've pushed it in the past I can do 5:30 or so, and I'm not fast. Needless to say, it's good hill training. Chased some cows around today - they are really dumb animals but taste delicious (they were on the other side of the fence - no need to run from me boys & girls!). Overall, felt good and hopefully I'm ready for tomorrow's 22 mile effort. I'm taking the Boy Scouts camping tonight but there are 3 of us leaders so I'll ditch them in the morning and try and get my run in before breakfast is over.

AP: 8:47 

22 miles today while camping with the Boy Scouts. Afterwards I couldn't imagine going 10 more, like I will in 3 weeks. Then again, I did 10 yesterday so between the two days I HAVE gone 32 miles so that makes me feel better.

I wore my Nathan backpack for the second time and I like that I can carry all the fluid I need for a 3:30 run. I filled it to 60 oz which I quickly realized was too much so I sucked in and spit out a bunch during my first 1/2 mile. I headed towards a town called Absarokee running on the shoulder of a fairly busy 60 mph highway. After 3.5 miles there was a turnoff to a local reservoir and I took that, guessing that it was the same road I'd been on at the reservoir and it would have gravel after a bit. Turns out I was right. After 3 more miles of pavement the gravel began. Awesome. I was pretty tired, probably because I've not been getting enough sleep, but I trudged on. My splits are decent. I also climbed a total of 850 feet but I didn't realize it so that surely slowed me down as my times coming back were much better. It was a great place for a run, beautiful morning, good cool down after, and made it back by 9 am and breakfast was just getting cooked so perfect timing. I'm glad for country roads also as I had my second morning constitutional on my run. And of course, the wet wipe I've been carrying for over a year didn't get transferred to my backpack so I used long grass to wipe. Thank goodness it rained last night and the grass was wet. What a pain. 

I hope everyone did well at Ogden today. 

 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179874266

4 rough miles this morning. Legs aren't very sore from the weekend, but definitely tired. I need more sleep tonight. Last week was my highest mileage week ever, and this week is supposed to add 2 miles, next week 2 more before my taper. We'll see.

AP: 9:07 

10 miles this morning. I had a tough time getting to sleep last night even though I was exhausted, and I worried all night that I would be too tired to run. Alarm at 5:15 had me feeling rough, and I felt that way until I started running 20 minutes later. As soon as my feet started moving I felt great and knew I'd get at least 9 or 10 miles in. I did my normal 8 mile route and planned on tacking extra onto it. It's a fairly flat route for where I live (only 400 or so feet in elevation change) which is good for tired legs. I left late so I only did 4.5 out, knowing that I could tack on some towards the end. When I got to my road to turn back home I did an extra .5 out and back to get the full 10. I was a bit late getting back but the family woke up late so all was good. I didn't miss breakfast or scriptures with the family.

AP: 8:34 

8 miles on tired legs. Haven't been getting enough sleep lately and not sure when I'll remedy that as this end-of-school-year thing has lots of meetings and events. I stopped to walk a bit between miles 2 & 3 then was pretty good the rest of the way. I think the lack of sleep more than anything has me looking forward to a) Thursdays (mid week rest day) and b) The Race. I think I'll take it a little easier for a while before my September marathon. Maybe 50 mile weeks are a bit much for me. Hopefully with time I'll get used to them.

AP: 8:31 

Ah - I love my Friday runs after a nice rest day. My legs are always fresh and I'm more refreshed after sleeping in the day before. 10 miles on my easy route. I kept the pace nice and steady and it helped that it was fairly cool: 39 degrees with a 15 mph NE wind. Glad I wore my hat & gloves & tights. Overall, I enjoyed this run. I didn't push it too hard but I didn't go too easy either. I probably pushed it a bit too much before 22 miles tomorrow, but those will be slow miles.

AP: 8:20 

Yup, went too hard yesterday. It didn't help that I woke up to 3 inches of snow and ran in slush and a foggy mist the whole way, but it was a tough run. I walked quite a few times as I just didn't have it in me. I planned on doing 22 but it was too cold to be out for 3 1/2 hours so I turned around at 7.5 and did 15. Hoping to get more miles in at the Y or outside if this fog/mist junk clears up. At least it wasn't windy! The hot hot shower afterwards felt great.

AP: 9:19 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182161424 

I'm feeling burned out. I skipped yesterday and only did 5 today when 10 was called for. I was exhausted all weekend long, and the same happened in previous weekends, and I'm sick of it and my family is too. An exhausted Dad/Husband every weekend is not cool. Part of it is that I haven't been sleeping enough but I've still been getting up early to run. Part of it is that my mileage has increased a lot over my normal mileage. And last I checked I'm the oldest that I've ever been. I'm supposed to have my highest mileage week this week before a 2 week taper but I think I'll back off most of my runs this week. I am not looking forward to my 50K and that's unusual for me. If I'm not looking forward to running I'm too tired and need to back off. It's too bad that my race is just a few weeks away, but c'est la vie. During my run this morning I was questioning why in the world I was signed up for it and if I could switch to the 30K. I don't think I'll do that but it is tempting...

AP: 8:36? 

6 miles (supposed to be 8). Kept it slow mainly because my higher gear is missing right now. I think I'll find it next week or so. Beautiful morning chasing deer and wild turkeys.

I won't run tomorrow so my monthly mileage is set. This is by far the most miles I've done in one month - at least 30 more than my previous high.

AP: 8:49 

Amazing how one day off running often makes all the difference in attitude. Most of yesterday I was feeling more enthused about running so I decided I'd try to do 10 miles today and 14 tomorrow. I got to bed at a decent hour, got up early, and I kept it a nice even pace this morning and felt good all the way. My AP ended up faster than I thought it would be, and that's a good sign that it felt nice and easy but was a decent pace. Hopefully I'll feel the same tomorrow morning.

AP: 8:41 

14 miles in under 2 hours. Just barely. The last 200 yards I was sprinting with all I had to get under 2 hours, and I made it by 3 seconds. That was fun. Just before turning off the main road heading back home I was just over 1:53:xx and my simple math said if I did a 6:xx mile I might beat 2 hours. I'd been doing 8:30-9:00 miles this morning with no plans for speed work, but I turned it on and just before I got to my house I was racing the clock. My last little kick clocks in at a 5:08 pace. Pretty sure I can hold that for about 100 yards downhill, like today. That was fun and nice to see I had a good kick on my 24th mile in 24 hours. 

AP: 8:34

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/184834552 

10 miles in 75 degree temps at 5:30 am. What in the world? A South wind blew in early this morning and brought high temps. Crazy. It was cooler at 8 am than it was at 5 am. Weird. Running into a warm breeze uphill is difficult. My mouth got dry frequently and I was running slowly. Thankfully after 2 miles it calmed down as I changed direction. I went up my Veyo hill, which I should have been doing a lot more the past few months but I kept forgetting that I should be challenging myself so I would chicken out on weekday runs. Wimp. :) I got in a nice run this morning and didn't stop up any of the big hills, I just slowed to a steady pace and kept going. That will help me in my 50K. I do plan on walking a lot of the biggest hills but slow and steady pace is the goal. Only one more 10 miler before the race, and I'm looking forward to the break.

AP: 8:51 

6 miles at a good clip. I normally carry water for 6+ but I didn't today. Not sure if it sped me up or what, but I was sure happy to get home and get a drink of water. My mouth & lips were so dry I was burping dust. :) No, a good run today. Amazing the difference a week of reduced running can make. I feel good, normal tired level, and while I'm anxious and nervous about 32 miles (at one time???) I'm excited about it. Going camping this weekend with my wife for our 16th anniversary then camping again next week for my race. 

AP: 8:11 

8 lovely miles. Wednesday night I played a little soccer game with the Scouts/Young Men and it was a blast. I was very glad I didn't hurt myself the week before my race. I was also surprised how out of breath I was on the short runs around a shortened soccer pitch. Both yesterday & today my legs have been really sore from that little soccer stint, and on today's run I really felt it. Crazy! Getting old sucks. It was a good reminder that I need some faster workouts as my fast twitch muscle fibers have apparently disappeared. I haven't been doing Boot Camp or any other cross training for months now and I need to get back on that horse.

I had a good run this morning, tired and sore legs notwithstanding. The last 2.5 miles my legs finally woke up (the gummy bears I took at mile 3 definitely helped) and I was cruising. I saw a 7:05 pace somewhere in there, much faster than I thought I was going, and a 6:45 towards the end. I shouldn't have gone so fast to conserve energy for tomorrow's long run but no worries. One last long run then my race. Tonight I'm heading camping with my wife to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. Two nights camping in our favorite campground on earth, should be great. And I'm really looking forward to a nice trail run in the morning.

AP: 8:26 

12 trail miles, my first "real" trail miles ever, and I loved it. Ran up a trail that I've been on a number of times with my family and my frustration is that we've never made it to anywhere - just pittered away at this rock or that rock, fished in the stream, etc. We've always had fun but I'm a destination guy and we're not a good destination family. In the past we've made it maybe 1.5 miles up the trail and today I made it at least 6. It was awesome. Friday night it rained all night long, literally, and must have quit just before I got up to pee at 5:45. It was too light to pee outside so I walked down to the nearest vault toilet (love that name for a stinky poop infested place) and on the way was amazed at the low clouds and fog all over the surrounding mountains. Gorgeous. Got my stuff on and took off about 6:15. On the trail I got drenched as the ground was soaked and every blade of grass shared their burden with me as I brushed past. I was glad for my dirty girl gaiters, for gloves, and for the first bit for my arm warmers. Lots of slippery rocks, a few spots with 40 feet of 3+ inches of water that I had to find another route around, and just fantastic.views. 

After the run I had breakfast and took a long nap then returned up the same trail with my wife as she wanted to make it to Sioux Charley Lake. It's about 4 miles each way, so I got in about 20 total miles. After the hike and making dinner on an open fire we went for a drive and realized we could pick up the Heat/Celtics game 7 if we were on a mountaintop. We drove from top to top until the game was over. What a game!

AP doesn't matter for a trail run, but total time was 2:26:59. I lost satellite for a while so I'm not sure of the real distance but 12 is pretty close. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/187615509 

I kept my streak of no Monday runs going - didn't realize it's been 3 or more weeks in a row of taking Sunday & Monday off. I guess my body has needed it because it's felt great. Did a short run today, barely broke a sweat. Weird to only run this short of a distance. I'm getting excited about my race. Printed off the race packet, have the clothes washed, hopefully have everything else in order. Should be a long fun hard race.

2 measly miles, but the last ones I'll run before Saturday. Getting packed, think I have everything ready. It's a bit nerve wracking never having done a trail race but from everything I've read this is an A+ race and with there being a 100 miler in the mix the aid stations should be fabulous.

My oldest son came down with the stomach flu today, coming out both ends (nasty) so hopefully I'll avoid it. He hasn't been sick like this in years, so wouldn't it just be my luck.... Here's to hoping. 

Driving the two hours to Sheridan, WY to register I saw the Bighorn mountains looming and thought I was in big trouble. They are massive mountains and I've done zero of my training in the mountains. I live at 3600 feet and this run would get up to 8500 feet. I also hadn't done near enough hill training and although I live on a hill and run hills every time I run, I hadn't focused on hauling down hill, which I knew would happen. After registering, my wife & kids & I went to eat at a local restaurant and it was fun to see all the other runners. They all look the same. I thought I don't fit the bill, but after seeing pictures of me before the race I'm surprised to see that I look like them. Weird. Our hotel was near the start of the race, a 60 minute drive from Sheridan, so we headed into the mountains and it is gorgeous. A steep rise, but beautiful. Saw a nice herd of elk near the hotel and I stopped to dream for a while. Ahh...love that view. My friends were up for the race (she talked me into it) and they were going to pick me up at 7:00 am, so I got to bed about 10:30. It was a rough night. I normally wake up only once or twice at night, and the first time I woke up it was 12:30 am. Crap. Our 11 yr old was sick with allergies and he was coughing and moaning most of the night. Great. At 3:30 he woke up and puked. Sweet. I was just counting my blessings that it wouldn't hit me as we knew our house was infected a few days earlier. I slept decently from 5-6:15 and was happy for the late start...for now anyhow. Driving to the start we saw 3 moose and that was cool. Parked the car at the parking spot then walked down with 2 other runners and 2 of their family members, good friends of ours. It wasn't cold but a little breeze. I wore my arm warmers and brought thin gloves in case as I've read about being on top of mountain passes and being frozen out.

The 50K course starts at the 30K start, but goes the wrong direction for a 14 mile starting loop. After a brief wait we were off, straight up a hill. I quickly learned the nice part of ultra running: walking. A few people ran the hill and the other 200+ walked, and we walked a long way. I passed a few people in a few spots but quickly realized that was stupid. I then walked quickly and felt a spot in my left calf, a spot I've never felt before. That told me to back off a bit, and I did over the next few miles. About a mile & a half into it I came up on an older guy wearing an older Big Horn Trail Run shirt and I quipped that this probably wasn't his first, and it was actually his 18th. Turns out that it was a 60 year old named Rick Spady and back in the 80s he was quite the man in ultra running - set course records at a bunch of 100 mile races (Leadville, Wasatch?) and he sounds pretty amazing. Ran a 2:36 marathon in his younger years. We ran together the next 8 miles and I enjoyed it. I lost him about mile 12 and turns out I only beat him by 8 minutes. After that I didn't run with anyone else. Back to the run. We started at 7500 feet and in 2.5 miles had climbed 1000 in a beautiful forest setting with frequent meadows to see the valleys around us. Amazing. At about 5 miles we dropped down into a valley that I knew we would have to climb out of to get back to the starting point. Running downhill we were on chunky grass for a bunch and that was the toughest surface of all. My ankles were none too happy. We got to the bottom of the valley and we were now on the 50 and 100 miler route the rest of the way. The first aid station was cooking bacon and made wraps out of it. I bet it tasted great to those 100 milers who had been running since 11 am the previous day. The next 6 miles would bring us back to the start, and there were quite a few spots of walking but I felt pretty good and from this point on I don't think I got passed by a 50K male until the very end. Most of the time when others walked so did I, but a few times I would keep going. A lady ahead of me in a neon green sports bra ran when most people walked and that kept me going. I shadowed her for quite a few miles. Turns out I should've continued to follow her as she finished 10 minutes before me. That last bit was tough, but I'll get to that (if anyone is still reading). At the starting aid station I got my 1 drop bag and changed shoes, socks, and shirt. It felt great to have clean socks and shoes on as mine were pretty dusty and dirty from some muddy creeks we went through. A worker made me a PB&J, I filled my water bottle with Heed, and was off. I forgot to dump the arm warmers & gloves from my pockets so I carried them the entire way. From this point we went to a gravel road for the first time and followed that for a bit, then back to single track. Another climb was one of the last of the day. For a while I ran in a non contact group. A girl in orange at the front, a guy & girl together behind her, then me behind them. At this point I was keenly aware that I was half way done, and I was feeling tired and was more than 3 1/2 hours into it. I remembered that I hadn't taken my electrolyte capsules every hour like I had trained a few times with. It just isn't part of my standard regimen. I try and take gu every 45 minutes but forgot about the electrolytes. After popping a few I started feeling better in 20-30 minutes and I knew I'd be able to finish decently. At this point it was a gentle downhill single track through sagebrush, moving around the sides of a valley. After a good stretch we hit an uphill part where again I didn't have any guilt at walking. At the top of this the girl in orange had been passed by the guy & girl behind her, and she stopped to take a picture. I asked if she wanted to be in it and she did and we ran near each other for a bit but didn't talk too much. We hit an aid station then a nice run into another valley, then a killer, killer uphill. There was no running for anyone up this stretch, which was just a way to get us out of our valley to move into the final valley. I was feeling it at this point. We then moved fairly gently downhill with a few steep downhill stretches, but again hit some single track which really was just cow tracks along a fence. After this it was nasty downhill for a couple miles. I mean, can't-stop-even-if-you-want-to downhill in parts. It was fun though and I just ran it as fast as I could. My paces probably were slow but I was cruising. I felt something funny on my feet, especially my right foot, on the inside of the foot just above the heel. I thought it was my sock so after a bit I stopped to check it out. No, it was a big blister forming from the downhill running. The last aid station had a sign that said next aid station in 2.83 miles but that had to be a misnomer. Maybe it meant at 23.8 miles? I don't know but I thought I would never see it. After lots more downhill all out running I finally got there and put some duck tape around my right foot and it helped a lot. From there it was only 4 miles out of the canyon then 5 miles on a dirt road to the finish. It was getting closer! Between this & the next aid station I was passed by the 3 top males in the 50 miler. They flew down the canyon! The 2nd place guy ends up being from Park City. It was starting to get hot and I took my shirt off before the next aid station, then got someone to spray sunscreen on my back. The shirt off helped, but it was hot. I switched to water only in my water bottle so I could spray water on my head, plus the Heed was making me a little queasy. From here to the finish sucked. The downhill running was over, it was hot and sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. Ugh. After hitting the road I walked a lot. I had been told it was 5 miles from the last aid station but I really didn't know. I kept trying different things to get me to run. "Run the next 1/2 mile, then walk." That worked pretty well. Some angel of a man had his rock music blaring and had his hose out ready to spray us down (with 3 signs telling us what was coming). It was awesome. I had him spray my head really good then turned around and he soaked my back. It helped so so so much. I then was able to run for quite a ways although I'm sure it wasn't as much as I thought. After another mile or so was our final aid station and again they had the hose out so I had them soak me again. Pure bliss. We were told it was only 1.75 miles more and I thought that was easy, I could run that. I was able to run a lot of it but I don't know for how long (garmin data looks like 1/2 mile). It felt so hot. I was cursing our late start at this point. One 50K man passed me early on the road, and he was looking solid. It was clear to me that he lived in the heat and sure enough, lives in California. Anyhow, with a little more than 1/2 mile to go we hit pavement and I knew I could run the rest of the way. Ran up onto a bridge, the crossing guards let us go through, and after rounding a couple more corners I was at the park. Maybe 1/4 mile later I was through the finish then saw my family there and was so happy to be done. They do great finisher gifts here and this year it's an Asics long sleeve shirt with an embroidered "Bighorn Mountain 50KM Trail Run Finisher" in the top right. Sweet shirt, wearing it now.

Immediate thoughts were that I'll never do this again, that I'll stick with road races. A day later I think I'm still in the same frame of mind. I'm 99.99% certain I've removed any desire to do a 50 or 100 miler. That just seems totally nuts after this experience. I love the mountains and I love hiking and backpacking, and I guess I'll stick to those activities except for the training trail runs. It was a good experience but very tough. I'm happy with where I placed and quite amazed by it, really. I think over 200 were registered for the 50K and 165 finished. I finished 40th overall, so top 25%. I'm very happy with that. My quads are ultra sore today and will likely be even worse tomorrow. I definitely need to work on my downhill running before my next downhill race. I'm looking forward to a short break then all out training for the Montana Marathon September 16th. My wife wants me to qualify for Boston. I'm hoping for 2014 to get to that point.

Sorry for the marathon post. Actually, more like a 50K post... 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/190110574 

My kids wanted to take brownies to our friends who recently lost their father (my 6 yr old daughter is so sweet sometimes) and I wanted to walk the 1/2 mile each way to get my legs moving. The kids rode their bikes and were way ahead so I attempted jogging. It hurt pretty good but I could do it. I ran 1/2 way to their house and 1/2 way back. The way back is a gentle decline and it hurts so much more going downhill, even slightly. Yesterday after the race I could go up and down stairs normally but now a day later I'm relegated to backwards stair use at the house. Sure glad someone told me about that trick - I'm too stoopid to figure that out on my own. Speaking of stoopid, did I just run 32 miles? What in the world????

So incredibly sore in my quads. I look funny walking, my knees buckle every now and then, and I'm walking gingerly. If you don't know me you wouldn't think much of it, but I walk fast typically and I am not moving fast at all. At home my kids say I'm doing the Moonwalk down the stairs. A couple times I've gone down the stairs face forward and it was painful. The quads are sore to the touch, just like I've been beaten. Fun! This is how they get stronger, right? What a beating they took. Mentally I'm in a better place than previous races. I can look at a running magazine cover and not be sick. I can't open one yet, but I don't want to throw them all away. 

4 days after the race the quads are feeling better. I could walk down the stairs this morning without wincing. I can still feel the quads with every step I take but I look pretty normal now. How much time off before I run again? Not sure - at least a week, then I'll see. I thought SGM was bad for being a quad buster, but this took the cake by a mile. Or six.

Today I thought about running, but I didn't. Even considering returning to something which so recently wrecked my body is a great sign. Maybe tomorrow a mile with my kids.

I was thinking about my thinking (metathinking) and while my body still hurt after the recent race, I loathed even considering running. I didn't want to look at running magazines (which I normally love to read), didn't even want to put away my running shoes, didn't want to consider my next race or the next time I would run. It didn't matter. I was in pain and when every step required effort, all my conscious thoughts went to making sure I didn't fall flat on my face. As soon as the pain turned the corner, my thoughts turned again to running. I haven't yet picked up a running mag, but I probably will later. I thought about running again today, I'm starting to formulate a plan to get ready for my September marathon, and I ordered some new low weight shoes for my upcoming 10K. Funny how the mind works. Maeslow's hierarchy of needs for sure.

PM: 2 miles with my 8 year old son. He's going to run the 5K in next month's Big Sky State Games, so he's amped to get some miles in. We stopped every 1/2 mile to give him a break. I'm proud of the little guy! My legs felt okay. Quads were a bit sore but everything else felt good. I enjoyed the slow pace.

AP: 11:07 

9 days after the race I finally felt like running again, although it was more "sort of" felt like it than it was being excited about it. My legs are still a bit shot from the downhill. It was so warm this morning - 72 degrees when I got back at 7 am. This is so odd for us to have warm morning temps. I headed out with no goals in mind, other than no walking. It's not that walking is bad, but I knew I could do a measly 4 miles and I did. My quads aren't hurting by any means, but I can feel them. They are still a bit mushy and not ready for big miles. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow, but not more than 6.

AP: 8:28 

Got to bed late so had a rough time waking up. Was going to do 4, but 3 is awfully close and it was a nice little workout. My legs felt good and I was going much faster towards the end of the first mile than I normally do, and after that I was in the 7:30s going uphill, which is a great time for me. I pushed it a little bit to the turnaround point and beyond, hitting low 7s. Just before 1/2 mile to go I heard my legs screaming a bit so I slowed quite a bit and coasted in the rest of the way. It was nice to have some legs back and I'm looking forward to trying some faster paces in the next few weeks as I prep for a 10K on July 21st. Last week I bought me some really lightweight shoes (5.5 ounces) for some speedwork sessions and for 5Ks and 10Ks. I haven't tried them out yet as I live on a gravel road and I don't even want to attempt to run in them on gravel. My kids think they're pretty cool though, which is something I rarely hear from them.

AP: 8:05 (9:07, 7:35, 7:37)

Well, I took BAM's advice for one day anyhow. Last night as I was at the store I bought me a new bag of Skittles Jelly Beans as I like to use them on my long runs. At $1.88 per bag they last me for weeks of long runs and work just as well as anything else and taste great. It got me excited to go do a long run. On the drive home I thought that in the morning I'd go on a nice 10 mile run as that's been my traditional fare the past number of Wednesdays. I realized 10 is a bit foolish on legs that 10 days ago ran an ultra, so then I thought 8. And not just any 8, but the 8 up my gnarly hill. I set the alarm for 5:45 but didn't get to bed until after 11:30 so I didn't know if that would happen. At 5:44 my wife took our bandit daughter back to her own bed (how does she sneak in?) and I promptly turned off my alarm as I was not ready to face the day. Finally rolled out sometime after 6, hit the knees for my morning prayer, and after mumbling a few words of gratitude (not very effective at the time) I stayed kneeling and found a pillow on the ground for a few minutes of more rest. I finally got out the door 20 minutes later and only had time for 6 miles, so that's what I did. Still went the same way as my monster hill, but I only hit two mini hills going that way and turned around just at the mouth of the monster. I'll be back.

AP: 8:32 

Thursday was a planned rest day and Friday I just couldn't wake up and didn't have time for a workout after that. Phooey. Today I did my first real track workout ever - 8X400M with 400M jog in between. Woke up a bit late once again before having to take my boy to a one day football camp, but I did get in 4 miles at a nice pace (9:25, 8:24, 7:54, 8:04) AP 8:26. I didn't want to push it too hard. Took my 11 yr old to camp and my 8 yr old and I went for a 1 mile jog. Then measured off 55M and had him sprint it - he lasted 4 times. I wanted to get in my track workout so drove to a different track and I did my workout while my 8 yr old figured out how to do the long jump. He wants to do it in the upcoming state games. My paces: 1:27, 1:30, 1:35, 1:35, 1:29, 1:30, 1:28, 1:29. I was shooting for 1:30 and it's tough when you're not used to the track! I lost focus on #3 and 4 but then got it back and got more into a rhythm. Got home and my legs were a bit tight so I jogged 2 more miles to loosen them up & it worked well.

I wore my new XC Nike shoes that I got to run 5K and 10K races. Not sure if they'll work or not, but they were $40. They only weigh 5.5 oz so I'm hoping my feet will like them. My right foot was hurting afterwards and most of the day but not too badly so hopefully. My right posterior calf is hurting as it sometimes does after long runs. I must not have been paying attention to my foot form as that normally cures that problem.

Overall, I feel like it was a good workout and I look forward to more of these as I prep for a 10K in 3 weeks (my fourth one but first one in 7 years) and my September marathon. I'm reading McMillan's training philosophy and I definitely need these workouts to get my fast twitch muscles engaged and also to train my body & brain that I can actually run fast. It's hard to switch gears from the Ultra training I just did of long and slow to faster and longer. We'll see how this experiment goes.

Last thoughts (long post today) are that stretching out the miles over a long morning was awesome. I might give thought to trying a double workout once or twice a week to boost my mileage without killing myself. I didn't feel near as tired as I expected I might after doing 11 miles 2 weeks after my race. 

After my Saturday track workout I felt some soreness in the calves, which was awesome. It's nice to be sore. This morning I wanted to go 6 and push it a bit. I wore my HR monitor and after the first mile I started pushing a bit. It's nearly all uphill until the turnaround and I pushed it, especially the last .75 to the turn which I normally slow down on. My HR got up to 173 and stayed there, which is close to my 185 max. My pace was around a 7:30 with a slight uphill. I pushed it to the turn and when I headed back it was staying in the high 160s which was okay but higher than I wanted. I thought I would try and keep my pace between a 7:00-7:30 all the way home but my body wasn't having it. I'd just had a hard workout on Saturday and no need to burn myself out on day 1 of the week, so I stopped and walked for a bit until my HR came down. I still got an 8:05 mile even when walking for a stretch so that felt good. I tried to keep around an 8 the rest of the way but the legs got used to going faster the past few days and my last mile was a 7:35. A good workout. 

AP: 8:14, overall time 51:02. I'm shooting for a 44:00 10K on July 21st which I might be able to do, but not convinced of it. If I had more speed work under my belt I'd feel more confident that I could hold a 7:05 pace but I'll do my best.

At the end of both of my last races I tanked because it was too hot and I was undertrained in heat. I wilted. I normally wake up in the wee hours of the morning to get in my runs so I can avoid the heat. I'm now changing that philosophy and embracing the heat by trying to do at least one noon run once per week. I picked a doozy of a day to start this approach. It was 88 by 11 am and I left about 11:45 not knowing the true temp, but that it would be over 90. Went with a tank top today instead of my normal shirt and it was a good choice. Learned that a tank top is way better than shirtless as it keeps the sprinkler water in. I missed the sprinklers until mile 2 then didn't miss one, and they saved me. Drenched myself in some good rainbirds at mile 4 and that lasted for quite a while. My goal was to keep an 8 minute pace once I got going so that I could test myself in hot temps with a decent amount of mileage. 

Question to anyone who wants to answer: To get in some good heat training how long do I need to spend in the heat? How hot is good enough to get my body used to it? Anything above 70? Above 80? 

Paces: 8:45, 8:06, 8:09, 8:08, 8:02, 7:52, 7:51 (0.2). AP: 8:10. Temp: 95-99 degrees, 15% humidity. 

Traveled to Utah yesterday to celebrate the long weekend. Did a nice short run this morning before heading to Lagoon, then the rains came and we'll do Lagoon tomorrow.

AP: 8:18; paces in the low 7s on the way back. Felt great.  

Did a nice run on the JRP this morning before heading to Lagoon. Parked at 4800 South and headed South. Turned around just after hitting the golf course. 

AP: 8:29

Ran this morning with Kam and Matt (Twinkie) from near Kam's house, up to the BST, down to the backside of Lagoon, and through Farmington back to Centerville. A great run. Matt had to turn around after an hour so Kam and I continued on. It was nice running with other people especially as they're both faster than me so it pushed me quite a bit. My paces were faster than I would've run by myself on a long run but I wasn't sore at all that day, and only a bit sore the next day. And after getting done Kam made me chocolate milk and his wife made us Belgian Waffles that were to die for. Plus, got to meet all of their children - great kids. Thanks Kam & Tami!

AP: 9:15

4 miles this morning. First mile warm up, second mile a bit faster, third mile started picking up the pace to 10K pace and last mile I kept it moving to simulate the race. 

AP: 7:56. Splits 9:12, 8:06, 7:43, 6:43. 

At Noon I went to the Y to do Boot Camp, but it didn't last long. I did a warmup outside around the block then started on my first station and I could do the stair climbers with my hands & feet on towels, but I couldn't do the pushups without my lower abdominals hurting badly. It's much better than it was a few months ago but not fixed. So, I left and headed upstairs to the stretching room. Did 3X20 of my lower ab exercises (not much, but that's what the PT ordered), 3X30 crunches. Then went to the weight room & did 3X10 curls, chest press, and tricep dips with 25 lb weights. Finished with 3X5 pullups. 

Tired, slow legs this morning. Yesterday's push at 10K speeds really affected them, I think also combined with my long run on Saturday. I thought about cutting this run short but glad I powered through as I need to push myself on days when I don't really feel like running. I kept it slow so pushing didn't need to mean injuries, just perseverance. 

AP: 8:53 

Dragged myself out of bed at 5:45, hemmed & hawed for a while, nearly put in the contacts, then decided to go back to bed. I need more sleep. Not sure why I'm so tired, but I guess I'm not fully recovered from long days from last week's vacation. Meh. I was looking forward to a longish run but I'm still tired after an extra hour of sleep so I know I made the right call. Hopefully more sleep tonight and do this run tomorrow.

Nearly didn't get out today but glad I did. I really overdid it with my 14 mile run on Saturday, lots of late nights & early mornings last week, and my Monday fast run + weight lifting. Way too much as I've been exhausted each morning and that is not the norm. I'll keep plugging away but I'm tired of being tired. It sucks getting older! I was feeling so great on Monday, so figured I'd get back to the gym as so many of my FRB compadres can do double workouts and this one wasn't all that taxing. I'm still sore, though, so I guess it was. Geesh. I'm ready for the body swap movie where I can jump into a younger, fitter person's body. Anyone want a middle aged graying man's body? 

Decent run this morning once I got out the door (3 seconds away from going back to sleep before deciding to chin up and do it). The cobwebs fell off after the turnaround but it was a struggle until then. Coming back down was still a struggle but my paces were good, at a 7:30 or so and I felt like I was a coasting. Nice to have a bit of a silver lining.

AP: 8:44? 

So after all that belly aching this morning I went back to the gym at lunch time. I'm sore in my neck & shoulders and I wanted to lift weights to help the soreness go away. I've heard it helps, although not logical. We'll see if it works. Did my PT ab exercises 3X20; 3X50 crunches; 3X10 curls, chest press, triceps; 5 pullups, in that order. I was tired so didn't push the pullups although I could've done more. At present I can't do planks or pushups without feeling pain in my lower abdominals so I'm doing other exercises. 

Woke up 1 minute before the alarm (how does that happen so frequently?), stayed in bed for 5 more minutes, then rolled out and got started by 6:10. I'd been wanting to do an 8-10 miler this week and I finally felt awake enough to do it. Last night after dinner I took a 20 minute nap and it made all the difference. Amazing how such a short amount of time can turn around my week.

Still felt a bit sluggish while running so I took it easy, but the paces got faster in certain spots without even realizing it. Just before mile 6 there's a downhill where I go faster and I normally catapult that speed into the last 2 miles. Today I realized I needed to back off, which I did, so I took the last 2 miles easier than I normally would have. Tomorrow I'd like to do some speed work with a longish run.

AP: 8:30 

It was our family's opportunity to clean the church this morning so I got up a little earlier (although still a sleep in for a normal Saturday), wrote a note to Kaylene that I would meet her there, and headed off after putting some clean clothes & food in the car. It was a tough run this morning. 75 or so at 7 am and mentally just a tough one. I did 8 yesterday so that probably had an impact, but part of it is running on roads which I normally drive. I typically do my long runs on gravel country roads with few indicators of distance and it's great for the psyche. This one wasn't horrible but a much tougher not-quite-10-miles than I would have guessed. I was happy to change into dry clothes at the church and cleaning went much quicker than we expected. I had a nice nap afterwards also then changed out the rear brakes on Kaylene's car saving myself some $. The whole family then went to the Billings Mustangs baseball game, and had a blast. $3 to get in and watch quality rookie league baseball. I love where I live.

AP: 8:28 

Stupidly set the alarm for 6 am when I didn't need to wake that early, so I promptly turned it off and went back to sleep. Woke at 6:50, much more reasonable, but then piddled around a while before getting out the door. Only went 3 miles as time was short. Felt okay, but legs still a bit tired. I need to take it easy this week so I have rested legs for Saturday's 10K.

Forgot to start my watch so not sure of pace. Somewhere in the 8s. 

I finally picked a marathon training plan, Hal's Intermediate 2 plan, and I'm jumping in at week 10. The schedule said to run 9 miles today so I did. The schedule has me doing 19 this Saturday and 20 the next but both of those days are taken up with a 7 hour drive to Scout Camp so that will be tough to do. I guess we'll see.

It rained last night quite a bit so it was 93% humidity this morning. Only 61 degrees, but the air was rich. My singlet was drenched with back sweat only halfway through my run. I took it off with a couple miles to go and it felt much better. My headband was a 4 wringer this morning, with copious amounts of sweat wringed into the sink. Awesome. Legs felt pretty good in spite of only getting 6 hours of sleep last night. Need more sleep tonight to make up for it.

AP: 8:33 

PM - Did 1.5 with my kids, 2 of whom are doing the Big Sky State Games 5K this Friday. They haven't put much into it but hopefully it will keep them inspired. 

4 miles this morning before work. First mile gentle, second a little faster than normal, third I tried to keep 10K 7 minute pace but wasn't there and fourth I coasted in with a 7 minute pace ending. Overall felt pretty good, especially considering I did nine yesterday.

AP: 8:12 

I ran the Big Sky State Games 5K with my two youngest boys, 11 and 8. I didn't register as I'm doing the 10K tomorrow and I wanted to run with my boys. I thought I'd be running with my 8 yr old but my 11 yr old really struggled tonight so before the 1/2 way point I told the youngest to run ahead and I'd catch up to him. Not long after that those plans were scuttled as the 11 yo said he thought he might barf. Uh oh. Guess I can't leave a puking kid on the race course so I stuck with him. He was frustrating though. He gets down on himself easily and you see it all over his face and he doesn't handle pain very well. Everytime I'd try to give him a pep talk "You're tough, you're strong - use a mantra and say it to yourself" he'd actually do worse. Awesome. With about a mile to go I gave up talking to him as I didn't want to say something I'd regret and I realized it wasn't helping him and I just ran, about 5 yds ahead of him pulling him along. With 0.25 to go he yelled out "Dad!" and I looked back and he was stopped. I told him it wasn't very far at all to go now and that he could run the rest of the way and he did. When we got to the stadium (the race was the beginning of the opening ceremonies, with Olga Korbut as our MC) they called his name on the loudspeaker and I bowed out to let him run the 2/3 lap by himself. I'm proud of him for finishing, but he's down on himself for not doing better. I'll work on that one. He was promise as a runner. His younger brother rocked it! His goal was to finish in 30:00 and before I ditched him I had him on a 10:00 pace or quicker. He finished the last 1/2 all by himself and did it in 30:03! Great job wee one (he's tiny). He missed out on an age group medal by 2 seconds, but I think the kid must've started at the front as my son never saw him ahead of him. Bummer, but also exciting. He's got fantastic promise and now wants to do a 10K. "I wasn't even tired - I could've kept running" he said. Great kid, always positive.

Ran the 10K today for Montana's State Games. It's always a small field. Course was nice, along a river for most of it but some rollers also. Tried to keep a 7:00 pace and got close to that so I'm very happy. Had to leave before awards but I'm pretty sure I placed in my age group which means I get a really nice medal - they're nice and heavy. Now I'm heading off to Scout Camp so I'll see you all in a week.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/201516813 

Turns out that I won my age group and got in the top 10 males. Just goes to show how nobody shows up for this race. Other races around town get some competitors but not this one. Guess I'll have to keep doing these! 

 Scout Camp is on an island in Flathead Lake, a large lake in North East Montana. We got here Saturday evening and spent Sunday heading to church then doing swim checks, getting registered, etc. I got up this morning and headed out for a run. I wasn't totally sure of the trails or where I'd end up but needed 5 so the first few loops were all over the place, running near other troops camping, etc. The GPS marking is awesome - a true maze of running. I finally found a great trail, 1.25 miles starting at the lodge, heading South to the shore, then around the shore back to my campsite. It included 4-5 ducking low under trees, but was a marked trail. Not very used, but marked with marking tape. Beautiful. I saw two of the three fawns on the island.

AP: 11:09

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204403697 

I needed 10 miles today so set out earlier to run my island loops. Gorgeous. Very warm on the South side of the island with a warm wind blowing. I don't recall anything particularly momentous about today but love the slow pace and the soft trails.

AP: 10:47

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204403680 

5 miles this morning. I don't tire of the island loops as it's so gorgeous and the terrain is so varied. There are groomed trails for part of it, ducking under trees, stepping through and over branches on the ground, running through rocks, and up some hills. Very fun.

AP: 11:15

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204403656 

Rest day, much needed.

20 mile run today as tomorrow is a travel day with no running. A group headed to Wild Horse Island from 9:15-11:15 which was a bummer as I wanted it to be 3+ hours. I decided to get up at 5:25 and run 10 miles then do 10 on Wild Horse. I did a bunch of loops on Melita Island and ended at 9.4 miles before the flag ceremony, showered & changed into fresh running clothes and had breakfast with all the Scouts, then headed to Wild Horse Island with my hydration pack and 1 Liter of Gatorade and some Montana Huckleberry gu. Yum. Wild Horse was great. On my first loop I ran right into a group of wild horses. I was nervous so deferred to a paint horse who came up to me. I started to get some jelly beans to feed him but thought better of it. He showed me his teeth then I turned to run away and decided to just blast through. The horse had followed me, just like a puppy dog, but when I turned and ran he ran away from me. It was cool. A few minutes later I saw a nice herd of bighorn sheep 1/2 mile away on a hillside. I wished I had binoculars. I hit the trail again and ran past the scouts who were doing their 5 mile hike and headed up a steep hill. Why, I don't know. It was a stupid thing to do on a 20 mile day. I got to the top, saw things just a bit higher, then turned back around. Passed the scouts again and headed on a loop back to where the boat dropped us off. I then did another loop around and almost to the start point a thunderstorm started up with lightning nearby. I kept going but upon meeting up with the scouts again learned the boat would be delayed as it must wait 30 minutes after lightning or thunder to travel on the water. Hmph, but helped me get my 20 miles in. I had to run backwards and forwards on the trail to stay close to home but get in my miles. I was happy to be done but I felt good. At mile 14 I felt pretty tired and remembered that the last time I felt like this, at Bighorn 50K, I popped some endurolyte capsules. I took 3 and felt better in 20 minutes. I need to use those more on long runs. 

AP: 11:23

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204403628 

4 miles today. I caught a cold at Scout Camp and I felt really run down Saturday and Sunday and a bit down on Monday. It's now in my chest but not too bad, and I'm thankful for albuterol inhalers. I ran today at 11 am as I stayed up too late watching the Olympics to get up early this morning. It was hot: 85 degrees and I sweated like a horse. Awesomeness. I felt rough and walked before I hit 1 mile but then continued on and felt better as I went. The last mile I averaged a 7:41. Thank goodness this week is a step back week as that perfectly fits my sickness.

AP: 8:35 

5 miles this warm morning. Just after turning onto the main (paved) road I got the crap scared out of me by 2 little fawn who were hiding 3 feet off the road in the tall grass, and when I ran by they sprang up and scrambled out of there. I didn't even scream, which makes me proud. They're about the size of a 4 month old yellow lab so they're decent sized. I couldn't figure out what the figures were in my peripheral vision then quickly turned to look and saw it was two cute spotted baby deer. Fun stuff. Nothing else eventful in my run.

AP: 9:15 (neighbor stopped to talk to me on my last mile and I forgot to stop the clock) 

Got me some new shoes last night, the Brooks Adrenaline 12. My foot's narrow and Brooks makes narrow in one color each year, and this year it's blue. It's a pity as they've got some great colors in the Adrenaline. Oh well. The shoes felt great this morning.

The schedule called for a 6 mile marathon pace run and as I'm just getting back to feeling well I wasn't sure if I'd actually be able to do that. I also ran on my normal 6 mile course which is an up on the way out and a down on the way back; not exactly the best marathon simulator. At 1/2 mile I wasn't feeling up to it, but just a bit later I noticed my paces up hill were much faster than normal (8:30) so I figured there was a chance. I pushed it in the spots where I could, backed off on the tough ups, and I got my marathon pace goal. I think I can do this next month. I think I can hold an 8:00 pace and get a 3:30 time. I'm going for it anyhow.

AP: 7:57 

P.S. I'm listening to a book about WWI right now and it's fascinating. "The Guns of August". The author does a great job of building suspense about a contest which we already know the end result. It's very long as I'm only 1/2 way through and have been listening for the past couple weeks. Great read. 

10 miles this morning, on a downhill then uphill loop. The down felt good but strained and the up felt rough. Yesterday's marathon tempo pace run wore me out a bit. Now off to shoot prairie dogs which are infesting a farmer friend's field.

AP: 8:56 

5 miles this morning. It was a bit rough - guess I should stop staying up until 11 to watch the pre-recorded Olympics. It was tough to get going this morning so I kept a pretty slow pace. Finally felt the legs coming back about mile 4.

AP: 8:58 

10 miles this morning on one of my "big" weeks: 50 miles is the goal. I got to bed earlier than normal but still not early enough as I slept another 30 minutes after my alarm. Thankfully awoke at a decent time so I could get in my full run and not be too late to work. Fairly warm out with a 15 mph wind, the first time I've run in wind in a long time. I felt pretty good and wanted to keep my paces slower than normal as I hadn't done a midweek 10 in a while during a work week. Going out the paces were slow but steady with a few low 8s in there. On the way back I had 3 miles in the high 7s, but didn't feel rushed. Overall a good workout.

We're heading to Jackson, WY on Friday to buy a boat so I'll make Friday my rest day, do my 10 marathon pace on Thursday, and get in 20 miles before the guy meets us with the boat at 10 am. I'm hoping I'm not completely exhausted when we take the boat out on Jackson Lake. Looking forward to being a boating family! The trip to Scout camp and being on the water made me remember how much I enjoy the water and I want my family to enjoy that as well. Should make for some great family outings. It might screw up my running in future years, but if that's the sacrifice I think I can do it. 

AP: 8:29 

I didn't set my alarm as I wanted to sleep in a bit. Got out of bed at 6:30 and realized 5 miles wouldn't be possible, then I remembered that I could run at lunch! I completely forget that's an option as I zone in on running before work. Went back to sleep for 45 minutes and enjoyed that then ran at 11 am. It was about 80 degrees out and climbing but not too bad. My pace was naturally 8:30 or better but I wanted to be slower than that as I have a 10 mile marathon pace scheduled for tomorrow morning. I forced myself to slow down although that was tough. Hit one set of industrial sprinklers halfway through and that was fantastic. I felt pretty good all run, and I'm hoping the same will be true tomorrow.

AP: 8:46 

Excellent marathon pace run this morning, my longest MP run ever, and fastest pace of a long run ever. I wanted to do this effort on a fairly flat elevation so I drove into town this morning and ran from the Y. I headed backwards along the September marathon route, out 5 and then back. It was a very warm morning, 74 degrees at 6 am, so I used the sprinklers liberally. TGFS might make a good runner's bumper sticker. I never felt bad during this run, and in fact I struggled to keep my pace as high as 8:00 mm most of the time. I naturally paced around 7:40 for much of it, so would back off. A couple times in the last few miles my pace crept to an 8:15 so I'm not sure what that will mean in the actual marathon but I'm encouraged. 

Splits: 8:02, 7:53, 7:58, 7:53, 7:57, 7:54, 8:01, 7:53, 7:55, 7:48. AP: 7:55

"20" miles today in Jackson, WY, running out to the airport and back. Gorgeous views of the Tetons from miles 4-10. We drove to Jackson Friday morning, heading through Yellowstone via the Cody, WY entrance. Got stopped a couple times for bison crossings, which is always fun. We aren't the lucky family to ever see bears while friends seem to see a bear everytime they drive through. Hmph. Anyhow, woke up this morning at 5 and left the house by 5:30, which was pretty dark especially owing to a massive Eastern cloud cover. Headed out towards Yellowstone via an awesome path that's now finished. It goes from town all the way to Grand Teton National Park, next to the highway. Not very crowded this morning - only was passed by a couple bikers on the way out. I was shooting for a 9 minute pace as we had a full day and I didn't want to be exhausted and rob my family of my attention. I kept that fairly well on the way out. I was planning on turning around at 10, but at 9 miles I passed by the airport which is 1/2 mile off the road, and I realized my bowels weren't going to make it another 10 miles back to town and there's no privacy to squat by the road. So, I headed to the airport and made a nice pit stop there and changed out bandannas and got a drink of water. On the way back I pushed the pace a bit as I needed to be back at 8:30. I think I kept some 8:30s in there which felt good, especially considering I'd done 10 at 8:00 two days ago. 

Overall, I felt good on today's run. I felt good all day with no leg pains and no exhaustion. That 50K prep really got me over the hump of being exhausted after a long run. I guess my next step will be getting faster on my long runs, but I'll do that during the winter/spring.

AP: 8:57

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209657982 

5 miles at 11 am in 75 degree temps. Plenty hot, and a good part of my heat strategy. My legs felt pretty tight after Saturday's 20 but they loosened up after a mile, then I found some speed. I wasn't planning on running marathon pace but I did and faster than MP the last 2. It felt good. I think I need more faster paces like this more frequently. 

AP: 7:56. Splits 8:36, 8:01, 8:00, 7:44, 7:18.