Training in Montana

I knew we were going camping in an amazing area with great trails, leaving at 9:30 am, so the plan was to get up early, get in 14, then do 10 more on the trails at elevation. My alarm went off at 5 am and I was tired. I got up, used the toilet, saw the gorgeous day starting (after 5 days of rain), no wind, and I just wasn't feeling it. Set my alarm for 6 am, but at 6 I was still too tired, so I ditched my morning run plans and slept until 7. It still took me a while to get going, but eventually we got packed up and headed out the door. A couple hours later we were at an amazing place, East Rosebud Lake. My wife stayed at a cabin the night before with a group of teachers from the school where she works, and we joined them for lunch. It is gorgeous. I took the kids on a rowboat across the lake and back, then we hung out until after 5. I was dying to get out for a run and my window was narrowing. Finally we went back to our camp and I got dinner cooking and changed into my running gear. When my wife came back from a walk I took off, at 6 pm. I planned on going up to a lake 3.5 miles away and figured I could do it in about an hour. I took a headlamp just in case plus some food, a jacket, and a small first aid kit. Next time I'll throw in a small knife, a fire starting kit, and a space blanket. Not much weight but lots of just-in-case protection.

The trail was excellent, albeit really rocky. A few times I went too fast for the rocks and came close to spraining an ankle. Not a good idea 2 weeks out from a race. The start was 6200 feet and I could feel the difference in altitude. The trail was a great combo of up and flat, and climbed to 6800 feet when I got to the lake 38 minutes later. Great view, but no pics as I ran without a phone or mp3 player. The return took me 32 minutes with a total time of 1:10:xx.  

I wanted to do many more miles than this, but I'm okay with it. I got some altitude and trail training. And we had a fantastic weekend camping in a gorgeous part of the world. I am blessed.