Training in Montana

4 miles this morning before our Memorial Day activities. It was tougggghhhh to get going. Woke at 6 on my own but too tired so slept a bit. Got out of bed at 6:45 and headed outside. Didn't wear a watch as I didn't care about pace. Kept it really slow the first mile as it was a big struggle to keep the feet moving. Woke up a bit with every mile, but definitely a recovery run. 

A couple hours later we had all four kids in the car and headed to the mountains, which is the town of Red Lodge. First stop was the National Forest area free shooting range. Just a spot where people shoot. Thankfully nobody else was there, so we set up our targets and unloaded a bunch of .22 rounds from the two rifles. Loads of fun.

After that we went on a solid hike to Basin Lake. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/319190396. 5.34 miles round trip, 1500 feet elevation climb. This is the first time as a family we've actually made it to a destination. All the kids are old enough now that they all walked it themselves, not even any whining, and it couldn't have been a nicer day. Gorgeous pics and a fun time had by all. Stopped at the Boxcar Cafe after for burgers and shakes. A fantastic Memorial Day. Thanks to all who have served, especially those who have given all for our freedoms.

Woke at 5:10 to do 10 miles. Couldn't do it, too tired, went back to bed. Set alarm for 6 am to do 5 miles. Couldn't do it, too tired, went back to bed. Brought the running gear to work, planning on doing 6-8 at lunch but then remembered my lunch meeting. Rats. Looks like I'll switch my runs up by a day and not have a rest day on Thursday. Body speaks, I listen.

Revised my runs by one day, so 10 today, 8 tomorrow, 10 Friday, schedule calls for 24 on Saturday but we'll see. I've got three runs this month of 20 or more under my belt so another 20+ won't make too big of a difference. I'd like to go far on a mountain trail but I plan to be camping with my family so anything over 10 will make me happy.

Today's run was on soggy gravel roads with threatening skies which didn't get me until 1/2 mile from home. It rained over 1/2 an inch last night, which is a lot for Billings. The roads are sufficiently packed down that I was able to run on decent surfaces most of the time but thank goodness for my Dirty Girl gaiters as they kept the sand and mud out of my shoes. I gave them a good rinse when I got home. Run felt pretty good, kept it nice and sustained, not trying to push it as I've got a few more solid runs in the next few days.

AP: 8:25

8 rainy, windy, and muddy miles. Not the trifecta I was hoping for. Ugh. The wind more than anything just sapped my strength and made it tough to keep going. I was more prepared for the rain today, with a hat and arm warmers, but the wind was just annoying enough to make it not-quite-miserable-but-just-about. Okay, that's a bit of a whiny stretch but still...

AP: 8:25. Scalding hot shower felt great. Not that I was frozen, but it still felt great.

P.S. I broke 200 miles for the month, which is a first and is 22 miles more than any previous month, and I plan on doing 10 miles tomorrow. I'm hoping May will catapult me to a good season of races.

7.5 on the TM this morning at the Y because the wind was brutal. I planned to do 10 but I got a wife text at 7.5 telling me that my son needed me to help with his bow tie for the 8th grade "graduation"/celebration. I promptly got off the mill and got dressed and met them at the school...where he was wearing his already-tied bowtie. Oh well. At least he knew I was there in spirit to help him, and glad he figured it out on his own (after we spent an hour or more the other night with YouTube trying to learn how to tie the blasted new knot).

My run went fairly well. I kept it slower than I would've on the road, but it felt like a similar effort. 2% the entire time, 6.0 for a warmup then 6.5 for a while. 6.7 pace for a couple miles, then 7.1 for one, 6.7 for a couple more, then 7.4 for a couple and was planning to hold it at 7.4 until 10 miles. Maybe next time.

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.