Training in Montana

10 miles in 75 degree temps at 5:30 am. What in the world? A South wind blew in early this morning and brought high temps. Crazy. It was cooler at 8 am than it was at 5 am. Weird. Running into a warm breeze uphill is difficult. My mouth got dry frequently and I was running slowly. Thankfully after 2 miles it calmed down as I changed direction. I went up my Veyo hill, which I should have been doing a lot more the past few months but I kept forgetting that I should be challenging myself so I would chicken out on weekday runs. Wimp. :) I got in a nice run this morning and didn't stop up any of the big hills, I just slowed to a steady pace and kept going. That will help me in my 50K. I do plan on walking a lot of the biggest hills but slow and steady pace is the goal. Only one more 10 miler before the race, and I'm looking forward to the break.

AP: 8:51 

6 miles at a good clip. I normally carry water for 6+ but I didn't today. Not sure if it sped me up or what, but I was sure happy to get home and get a drink of water. My mouth & lips were so dry I was burping dust. :) No, a good run today. Amazing the difference a week of reduced running can make. I feel good, normal tired level, and while I'm anxious and nervous about 32 miles (at one time???) I'm excited about it. Going camping this weekend with my wife for our 16th anniversary then camping again next week for my race. 

AP: 8:11 

8 lovely miles. Wednesday night I played a little soccer game with the Scouts/Young Men and it was a blast. I was very glad I didn't hurt myself the week before my race. I was also surprised how out of breath I was on the short runs around a shortened soccer pitch. Both yesterday & today my legs have been really sore from that little soccer stint, and on today's run I really felt it. Crazy! Getting old sucks. It was a good reminder that I need some faster workouts as my fast twitch muscle fibers have apparently disappeared. I haven't been doing Boot Camp or any other cross training for months now and I need to get back on that horse.

I had a good run this morning, tired and sore legs notwithstanding. The last 2.5 miles my legs finally woke up (the gummy bears I took at mile 3 definitely helped) and I was cruising. I saw a 7:05 pace somewhere in there, much faster than I thought I was going, and a 6:45 towards the end. I shouldn't have gone so fast to conserve energy for tomorrow's long run but no worries. One last long run then my race. Tonight I'm heading camping with my wife to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. Two nights camping in our favorite campground on earth, should be great. And I'm really looking forward to a nice trail run in the morning.

AP: 8:26 

12 trail miles, my first "real" trail miles ever, and I loved it. Ran up a trail that I've been on a number of times with my family and my frustration is that we've never made it to anywhere - just pittered away at this rock or that rock, fished in the stream, etc. We've always had fun but I'm a destination guy and we're not a good destination family. In the past we've made it maybe 1.5 miles up the trail and today I made it at least 6. It was awesome. Friday night it rained all night long, literally, and must have quit just before I got up to pee at 5:45. It was too light to pee outside so I walked down to the nearest vault toilet (love that name for a stinky poop infested place) and on the way was amazed at the low clouds and fog all over the surrounding mountains. Gorgeous. Got my stuff on and took off about 6:15. On the trail I got drenched as the ground was soaked and every blade of grass shared their burden with me as I brushed past. I was glad for my dirty girl gaiters, for gloves, and for the first bit for my arm warmers. Lots of slippery rocks, a few spots with 40 feet of 3+ inches of water that I had to find another route around, and just fantastic.views. 

After the run I had breakfast and took a long nap then returned up the same trail with my wife as she wanted to make it to Sioux Charley Lake. It's about 4 miles each way, so I got in about 20 total miles. After the hike and making dinner on an open fire we went for a drive and realized we could pick up the Heat/Celtics game 7 if we were on a mountaintop. We drove from top to top until the game was over. What a game!

AP doesn't matter for a trail run, but total time was 2:26:59. I lost satellite for a while so I'm not sure of the real distance but 12 is pretty close. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/187615509