Training in Montana

6 frigid miles this morning (20 degrees, 10 mph wind = cold). The cold snap should go away soon. Yesterday we got more snow and broke the record for the most snowfall ever in Billings. Close to 100" for the season. Of course it's all melted off an on and we have 0 snow on the ground now but the mountains are doing mighty fine.

Yesterday was a family day. My wife and kids all had the day off from school so I took the day off as well. I was planning on running 10 miles and got dressed and everything but I just couldn't get out of door so I stayed home. Went to the Y and swam and shot hoops, went to the new city library, then went to a movie. The boys saw Divergent and the girls saw the Muppets. Fun, fun day.

This morning I headed out the door and it was chilly. Like winter chilly. Having fresh legs was very nice. My 3 miles up were a steady 9:52 first mile, then picked it up a bit to 8:29, 8:14, then the turn around and 3 miles downhill. 7:20, 7:11, 7:02. I'm excited by those paces because I'm just running off feel as I don't have my Garmin and my phone with GPS is hidden from view. The computer voice tells me each mile how fast the last one was, and that's nice to get some feedback.

Yasso! 8X800s at the HS track during lunchtime. Nice temps of 43 degrees with a 7 mph wind. They were comfortably hard, goal of 3:15. My garmin is dead so just used a stopwatch, but I think they were: 3:14, 3:11, 3:19, 3:14, 3:15, 3:15, 3:14, 3:13. 1/4 mile walk/jog in between each. As you can see I was spot on for the first one, then a bit quick, then a bit slow. I finally figured out my 200 yd splits and kept better on time. The 4th one I was 4 seconds slow after the first lap, so I turned on the jets and made my time. This is a pretty awesome workout. Dreaded, but fun.

Ran back to the Y for a 1/2 mile cool down.

10 supposed pace miles on a run from home into work this morning but my phone was so far off that I had no idea how many miles I actually ran or the pace. I measured my route just now with MapMyRun and it says 10.5 miles. Total time 1:21:06, so average pace 7:43. Hmph. I thought I was running MP but I had no way of knowing. I should've worn my regular watch as I know the mile markers through mile 5. Next time.

Regardless, a good workout. My birthday is in April and I'm asking for a new Garmin 110. I tried to replace the battery in my 305 and I broke off a prong that's needed for the top of the watch to make contact with the base. Oops. Oh well. It lasted me for lots of runs and many good miles. The GPS watch is a marvelous invention.

My last 20 miler.  Didn't quite get to 20 due to time but no biggie. I wore the wrong shoes for road running and got a nice blister in my left big toe crease. It was painful the last few miles. Beautiful weather,  wore shorts and short sleeve tech shirt and still sweated like a horse. Ah.

My plan was to make a big loop I've never done which would give lots of elevation gain and be hard. My legs were tired & sore from yesterday so I was not interested in speed. First 3 miles are downhill, then a steady up for 3 miles then a big up for 4. I got to mile 10 and the wind naff picked up dramatically. The prospect of running uphill another 400 feet and into the wind another 6 miles before turning around was not positive. I was beat. Called my wife and learned she was heading to town so I had her bring a change of clothes so I could meet them there. Good call. Ended up on roads 8 miles more than planned, however,  and I was wearing trail shoes.  

I made it to town but was slow the last few. I nearly stopped and walked but decided to power through and it was good training for race day. 

AP: 8:33. Blister is feeling better a few hours later.