Training in Montana

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.