The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

3 miles easy early morning

3 miles easy after the kids went to bed

Worried about this day since I knew all week it was coming.  Early tempo run in the morning 10 miles on the treadmill at 5:40 pace.  Real surprised that this went well!  Aside from some strange looks at the gym..

Spent the day at the lake with my girls and finally taught my son how to waterski!

Interval workout tonight.  3 mile warmup, 10X800, 4X400, 1 mile easy.

Dry Canyon hike with the girls

Finally started on my yard today, 5 years after I built the house.  This may have something to do with the third letter from the city I received.  Pick-axed sidewalk and stair trenches and planted trees.  All day.

Short night run

3 morning, 3.5 night

Very lucky today to get in a run with Rob on the Gulley!  Way busy day...

Short trail run, easy pace

Incredible run today on the connector canal heading into the north trail system of Phoenix.  104 degrees, just brick oven running, and I loved every minute.  So hot I didn't have any sweat on me at the end.

UVM destroyed me today.  Great week of taper with some easy running in Phoenix yesterday and was real encouraged by how smooth it felt.  But last night staying at Walter's house I could feel a pretty sore muscle in my hip, the first indication that the 7 marathons so far have been too much.  I warmed up before the race and could still feel it but it dissapeared with some Ibuprofin.  It was exciting to see so many familiar faces today at the race and I was stoked for some good competition.  This was a new course to me and I was surprised at the downhill start.  The first three miles were fast and didn't really feel like it.  I could see the wind was beginning a shift though and started tucking in behind the first group.  I took a turn around mile six and felt a sharp pain just above the hip.  I backed off to a pace of 5:50 hoping to feel it work out.  Somewhere here Sasha and Scott came up along side me and Sasha said to tuck on in behind them and take a rest, which I did for a mile or so, but by the time the little rollers started I knew that I had to back down even further.  It was getting pretty painful so I walked through the 8 mile aid station and asked a spectator if anybody had some Ibuprofin.  Sweet!  Someone did, and I took the max dose of six and started walking.  No way I was DNFing today and doing some calculations I figured I could walk the rest mixed with some running if possible, in about 4:30.  I walked a lot today, more than any race I've done and what saved me was Seth Wold catching up about mile 17 or 18 as I was walking.  He waspacing the 3:05 Boston qualifier pace and had lost all his runners due to the wind.  I started running again at the 7:03 pace and talked with him for the next 4 miles.  It felt pretty good so I told him I was going to drop a minute a mile and sub 3 it.  Within a half mile that freaking muscle was like a hot poker and I fell back in with Seth all the way to 24.  Then it was just a limp for the last two.  No idea what position was or place.  After the finish I called up my aunt on shift at the ER and headed up for an unofficial visit.  We talked to the Doc who decided it was a stabilizer tear, which is actually not a bad place to rip something if you must, and only about 30%.  That means I have some time off, maybe hop back into a triathlon in July.  But I did finish today!

Nice off day.  I spent two hours on the phone with my brother, a Sports PT in Idaho Falls, working through some ideas on where to start with running now.  Pretty excited actually since some of this is stuff I have been ignoring.  Specifically sleep.  He had a really good article on effects of even one hour of REM on recovery with athletes.  Starting a program this morning of lifting and water running, actually more intense than what I have been training so far.  I have to take a few videos of form for analysis.  Form from jumping off a box which shows what my knees and hips do when I land.  Just starting on this, I have a lot of reading material to start, but good to hear some stuff that makes sense.

Have not done this yet, but won't have time to post later.  1 hour water running focusing on range of motion.  3 series of jumping excersizes and leg lifting.  150 pushups, 150 situps, pull up series.  Side lifts on right hip injury.

Ive been a little consumed with news on Levins and his double wins at NCAA.  His coach has some interesting angles on mileage.

1 hour pool runing followed by the lifting exersizes.  I have decided to take this recovery serious and follow an aggresive receovery with someone else's ideas instead of my own.  this is the third workout of that program and yesterday I couldn't even complete the workout.  I though I was in shape...  My workouts will be focused on everything but the bad hip stabilizer and abductor on the right side, but a lot of flexibility stuff for those too.  Whats up with all the jumping exersizes too?  Crazy.  Some other surprizing things that came back are:  I have to lose 11 lbs, I have to be able to do 25 consecutive pull ups (I can do 15),  My vertical leap is pathetic, I have amazingly weak hamstrings, I need to schedule and work towards a hard race in six weeks.  

1 hour running in the ocean off Manhatten Beach, LA.  I didn't do the lifting stuff today out of simple lazyness.

Another easy run in the pool day.  This stuff is killing me..

Morning running in the pool at the gym while the kids played.  Range of motion is back pretty much to normal with this hip thing but still hurts a bit with normal walking.  Sunday will be th first run and hopefully some training begins!

Very easy 3 miler in Phoenix in the morning.  Great to be able to run but still not going to able to train.  On the flip side I did my first yoga class today and was surprised how awesome it was! 

Slow hour of running in Phoenix but it felt good!  The kids have really enjoyed Phoenix for a few days and are mad that we are leaving today.  I would have thought they could'nt stand the heat.  I'm excited to fly up to Denver with them for a few days of altitude running.  I'm thinking some slower running on trails would be good for some hip recovery but the altitude would compensate for the fact that I have to be slow...I hope to have enough time tomorrow to run the Decalibron, trail slang for an 8 mile loop starting at 11,000 feet that hits four 14,000 foot peaks.

2 loops of Decalibron in Alma, CO.  Each loop is a 7.5 mile trail with four 14,000 foot peaks that you reach.  The trailhead is at 11,000.  Some real cool running and slow going with the hip!

40 minutes elliptical, 40 minutes of pool running.  This really sucks in the summer!

One hour pool running fast tempo

One hour pool running

One hour pool run in morning

One hour pool run in the evening

Great race for me this morning.  I have been running in the pool for two weeks now, with one trail run, after that hip problem in the UVM marathon.  I have felt like recovery was going well enough to get some speed in and squeaked into this half marathon.  My strategy was to run 5:20s the first six miles and call it a day if it hurt too much.  The first mile was about 5 on the dot.  Walter was running with me and we probably were going a bit too fast but it was fun..We dropped off the last group of runners I think about two miles in and then I finally found a good rythm.  My Garmin was reading some distances wrong and was beeping lost reception a few times so I didn't trust the info on splits that I was getting, but I did check times at the mile markers.  5k was 15:26, 10k was 31:37.  Coming out of the canyon the course did an immediate 90 which I missed onto a bike path but the officer yelled at me and I ran back to it.  Leveling out felt like I was walking but the next two miles were 5:38 on the GPS which was what I wanted.  I was shooting for just under 1:10.  About mile 10 we were on the main road heading through American Fork and a van pulled up along side me and a lady was yelling at me.  I ignored her but she became more persistent so I ran along side and she yelled that I had missed the turn.  Crap.  I turned around and headed back up the road.  I saw a guy in a lawn chair reading a book which I assumed was the turn and starting to try and catch back up.  I passed the third place guy in a few minutes and then could see Walter up ahead about two blocks.  Just could'nt catch him, not enough gas in the tank.  I did begin narrowing the gap, but just could'nt close.  As strong as he ran today i think he would have caught me either way, stupid wrong turn or not.  Next time he gets to lead.

Absolutely happy with this race.  No hip issues at all until hitting the level ground.  Maybe six vitamine Is helped with that...I headed over to Liberty Park and ran with Rob M for an hour enjoying the heat.  So awesome to be out of the woods with that injury!   

Flew into San Jose, CR on the redeye getting in about 6am this morning.  I read Scott Jurecks book on the flight that Rob loaned me.  Absolutely loved this book.  If I had the determination that this guy did, I would change my diet and live much healthier!  He describes running exactly as I see it.  Otherwise very boring flight.  As usual, I couldn't understand a word of what the Costa Rican Air Traffic control said.  How anybody survives flying in Central America is a mystery.

For three days now I am planning on long slow trail running.  Yesterdays race gave me confidence that I can start mileage again.  I don't plan on running faster than 8 minute miles anywhere, but I'm going to get some distance on soft surfaces.

Got to the hotel, slept 3 hours and picked up a rental car.  It took a $1,000 deposit.  Son of a *&%$!  On the walk-around the antannae, hub caps, and emblems were missing.  Otherwise a new car.  When I asked the agent about the missing things he showed them to me behind the desk.  Since they would just get stolen anyways, they take them off for the rental period. :-)  I stopped several times along the way to explore, there is just too much to see here.

When I got up to the Arenal Observatory Lodge it was dark already.  Old Smithsonian Observatory, very Spartan.  No TV, no AC, but clean rooms.  I threw my stuff on the bed, grabbed a headlamp, and went for a run.  The lodge is at the end of a 5 mile dirt road and I swear everything was chattering out there.  Eyes all over whereever I turned my head.  Freakin howler monkeys yelling back and forth across the road.  It was all I could do to keep running.  I found the trail after 3 miles and things got much harder.  Nothing here is flat, worse than the Grand Canyon running I've done.  Bats all over flying inches from your face and something real big crashing through the forest.  It felt real good to be back at the hotel!

I split today up into two runs.  One long run and one short steep run.  I was hoping to summit Arenal today inspite of all the crap about it being closed.  There hasn't been activity here for several years outside of continuous small eruptions and lava flow.  I had a fair idea of where the old summit trail was.  I got up early and stepped out of the room.  The volcano just floored me.  Spectacular, and right there!  It was huge.  I hadn't seen it the night before since I got in so late.  I sat on the sun deck overlooking the lake, visiting with a french family and had a huge breakfast.  Years ago, the locals were known for dressing up as park rangers and leading "unofficial" expeditions up the summit.  I thought I'd give it a try, but the desk clerk was pretty much scared about the whole thing even when I offered him $50 US to find someone.  Too many people die, he said.

Not much time to write here, but I spent some time reviewing the geological site before this trip and activity was non existant, sleeping stage.  Winds were from the East so I decided to run the trail from the west and come up the east side.  After only an hour of running I had the great luck of runing into the park rangers, or polizi, clearing a trail section.  They were major pissed off.  I though I was going to jail and briefly considered outrunning them.  Briefly.  To make a long short, they took my camera and GPS, and told me I could ask at the station in the morning for them.  Anyways, I went back down the way I came.  Pretty much doubting by now that I could have made it anyways since the trails were insane and off trail running seemed to require a machete.  The plants grow on the trees here for heck sakes!  So I decided to run a circumnavigation of the volcano which turned out better anyways since I got some dirt road time and then joined the road to La Fortuna for a lot of the distance.  I caught a tourist bus back to the lodge and grabbed my stuff for the afternoon run.  I stopped at the Supermercado for six bags of ice which I put in the trunk of the car on hotel blankets for a makeshift cooler.  This saved me for the next two days since I always had cold drinks and food.

After a few hours break, and lunch, I decided to run the old trail system on the west side of Arenal base.  It was pretty much overgrown but I soon came across the Cerro Chato trail that is daily maintained by the private owners.  This climbs pretty much straight up the volcano and down the crater rim.  Amazing trail!  I couldn't run it at all after a mile and had to hike it, mixed with running when I could.  When I came down the crater rim the lagoon in the crater was amazing!  There were frogs, fish and birds everywhere so I assumed the water was pretty safe and tied my shoes on my water pack and swam across.  Man did that feel good!  Then it was a simple matter of running back down.  Best experience in a long time!  About 8 mile round trip.  Then it was time to get everything in the car and head up north into Nicaragua for the last few trails.

Arrived at Lake Nicaragua in the evening and took a fishermans boat across to the island.  Tonight was a summit run up Concepcion, nothing hard, just unfamiliar and still uneasy from the trail running in Costa Rica at night.  This was much better, mostly open lava rock climbing.  Very good on the hip and legs since it was slow going and like a three hour stepper!  This trip has been some of the best "me" time I've had in a long time.  No miles faster than 8 minute pace, most around 10 to 15.  Long and slow, and it felt great. 

Back in the rental car for a 5 hour drive, much faster at night!  Arriving in San Jose with enough time for 4 hours of sleep at the crew hotel.  Met the crew again, briefed and back into the air.  Flew right over the tops of Arenal and Cerro Chato on the way out and looked down at the crater lagoon that I swam across the day before.  On the top of a volcano.  Unreal.

Ran the boring "down to the Wendys" loop at home today before work.  Pretty sore from the last three days and averaged about 8 min miles today.

Man, two weeks without the kids has sure been different. They are with their mom for a summer break. Lots of time to work and run!

Long overnight in Orange County, CA.  I did two hours of surf lessons at Huntington Beach Surf School and then a really nice long run down Huntington, Newport and Balboa Beaches.  I felt much better today after some real sleep and for the first time in three weeks did not have the tightness in the upper hip muscle.  This seems to be working out!

Easy 7:43 pace and way stoked about how well this run went!

Early morning run before work in Kansas City.  Long easy distance again, 85 degrees at 6 in the morning! 400% humidity.

Corn field are pretty...

Just noticed that this could be the most miles in a week I've ever ran.

Got invited to Bear Lake with Walter and his fam and spent the day there.  Awesome!  Came back and got my last good run done for the week.  I've been tired of hearing so much lately about being careful about running too much and keeping your mileage down when you are master runner.  I had to take this week and burn that fear out for myself before starting to train for Twin cities in the fall.  Getting a hip muscle tear was no help for that either.  I think injuries happen, and it's hard to quantify why, but I have found for myself it's not about the time you spend running each week, it's about how you recover and pushing too hard when your body may be on the edge.  Sometimes it's a roll of the dice.