Like the canyon

Easy 4 miles with a few strides mixed in (I think?).   Ha, don't know that I have ever posted that I did "strides" before, I think I know what those are?

Moderate paced and very unremarkable 9 miles below Snowbasin.  Bike race held on these trails a week-and-half ago left a mess.  Picked up 20-30 gu wrappers, pulled 2 plastic trail marker signs from the race, pulled dozens of flags (the wire kind with the pink flag on top and flagged trees).  C'mon people!! It's great to have a race on these trails, but sweep'em when you're done!

9 miles, 1250 vert, caught a toe on a rock or root at least 10 different times. (dropped a few sweet words about the 8th time!)

3 mile hike/jog with the dog.  Knee is sore from the clumsy runn'en yesterday.  I'll give a few days.

Got out for a good 7 miles tonight.  Body is starting to feel human agian after the hard efforts last week.  Actually running tonight rather than shuffling along. Amazing how long it takes to recover from an all out effort or two. Felt about 80% tonight, ran moderate with a few pick up's (fartlek) mixed in.  Had to put in the word "fartlek", another roadie word like "strides"that I don't really know what it means, but I figured Lilly might say "fartlek this" which I thought would be hilarious. :)

***NOTE TO ME** I think the mistake I made, which seems minor, was the couple of miles I logged running barefoot while shagging golf balls on the beach at Bear Lake on Sunday.  Usually this is my total decompression day, no physical activity, no stress, lots of rest.  A couple of miles in deep soft sand, while not a major workout, meant I didn't get the deep rest my body needed.  That and the Oreo shake, cheetos, Diet Coke o.d., chocolate chip cookies, bad Asian food on Saturday night, potato chips, and what ever other junk I could scrape up (Geeze now I'm sounding like a few brothers that hang out on this blog :) )

7 miles, 850 vert, moderate, knee tweaky, but not as bad

Last hard effort run before the Bear 100 in less than two weeks.  I have taken it pretty easy all week, felt flat from last week and my knee was tweaky from running like a clutz early in the week, which clumsiness was probably the result of feeling flat from the week before, funny how its all related.  I still managed some runs, though nothing approaching a harder effort. 

Plan today was to get a solid run up Lewis Peak, then take it easy on the way down.  Figured it would be some good vert and an hour or so tempo pace with a easy 45 minutes to finish.  Felt great up the initial climb, fully recovered legs, but still have the congestion going on a little.  PR pace to my first split at the end of the flattish section on top of the switchbacks, PR pace to the high point.  Wasn't really planning a PR run, but as I rounded the last corner to the peak, my watch was just over 57:00  (PR is 58:15) I gave it all I had up the last hill and pretty much dove to the top hitting stop at 58:10. PR! barely!  I was gasping for air though, gotta get past this slight cold in the next two weeks.  ( I'm sure its a cold now as the pollen counts are way down). Took it very easy on the down, taking almost as long to get back down as the up. 

This is the last hard effort before Bear. All running form here on out will be at a for fun pace.  Proabably just cruising with no watch and not too many miles, maybe a few pick up's here and there to remind my legs that they aren't on perma-vacation. 

Bear training is done!!!!  Lots of highs and lows over the last 6 weeks.  I really feel like I put in all I could given the amount of time I had available to train and the load my body would take. I am feeling strong, I have PR'd all of my usual test/training runs in the last week and a half. Everything feels healthy except my knee, but I know how to deal with that.  Just gotta recover and enjoy a few easy runs over then next 13 days. Trick is going to be believing in the work I have put in and knowing it will be there race day, even with the let up for the next two weeks.   

As for the Bear,  dead last or a strong finish, doesn't matter to me.  I'll take what my body has to give, and I'm going to ask it for 100%.