Training in Montana

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.