Training in Montana

Ran 4 miles from home after work. Fairly warm out but not horrible. I am just not in very good shape anymore and it's very humbling. Without hard work small efforts become hard. I'm ready to get back into some hard work.

On a side note, my Cascadia trail shoes are super comfortable. I think they might be my footwear of choice if I could wear anything everywhere. Not sure how good they'd look with my shirt & tie at work but maybe I can find out.

Boot Camp. Hadn't been in a while. This one was tough and kicked my butt. Should be plenty sore the next 5 days... perfection!

5 miles at lunch. Amazing how much fitness gets lost in a few months. 7:45 pace is way harder than 7:15 pace was back in April. Sheesh. Decent run, and just past the 4 mile mark I (correctly) did some math and if I pushed it could hit under 40:00 for the run. Nothing like arbitrary time standards to create motivation. I pushed it and must've been in the mid 6 range for the last while as I got my last mile down to 6:55 pace. My new watch only shows the average pace for that mile so no idea what I was running at the end but it wasn't very conversational. Or conservational.

Same route as yesterday but early morning before work. 44F is downright chilly without gloves. My hands were like ice. Not a bad problem to have, but I wish I had brought my gloves. Felt great to be out less than 24 hours after running and I had a nice rhythm this morning. It helps that it wasn't even close to being hot. For 5 miles I beat 40 minutes by 13 seconds without even trying. Cuz that's how I roll.

AP: 7:59

Nice run on the Crow Reservation. Had a ward campout and I slept in until 8:15 and headed out by 8:45, running East towards the Pryor Mountains. Twin track rough road with lots of cattle marks from muddier days, lots of cows on the road that I chased away, and had to cross through three gates each way. Just when I reached the mountains and the run started getting really interesting it was time to turn around. I knew I wasn't in shape for a 15+ miler. Feels good to get some miles in the past 3 days and hope to keep it up.

Yesterday I realized how good I felt all day with a morning run under my belt. It should motivate me to get up and run instead of just trying to fit it in. I was hungrier all day Friday and I think morning running has been one of my key ingredients I had forgotten about.