Old Man Still running

I've finished my race report for the Moab 100. You can read it at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=143

I'm ready to start running again. My appetite is back and I feel fine. Tomorrow morning I'll try to get out on the trail.

It was my first time running since my 100-miler last Saturday. Snowing and cold, I hit the treadmill at the rec center. Tim, who is there almost every morning, commented, "I thought I wouldn't see you here until next winter." I frowned, looked outside, "It is next winter." After two miles on the dreaded machine, my right knee started to hurt. It feels like some minor cartilage bruising in my bad knee from the 60+ miles of pounding on the slickrock last Saturday. I'll need some more time to let it heal. Walking is not a problem, but running causes the pain.

I ignored the alarm clock at 3:40, but did roll out of bed a half hour later without any good excuse since I was wide awake. It was 28 degrees out and a bring waxing moon was setting to the west. I did an eight mile loop out to the Lake Mountain ridge. There were puddles here and there that reflected the moonlight ahead of me. The moon set and I pushed the uphills a little harder than usual, thinking about how hard I pushed them last weekend at the Moab 100. My knee started to hurt again around two miles, but I ignored it and it was just an anoyance, not a problem. By the end it didn't hurt. Great. Looks like I'm back at it and look forward to doing to tought training. Next long race for me is a 50-miler in two weeks in Fruita, Colorado. I believe it will be similar to the Moab runs.

4 miles in the evening with the dog.

Out running at 2:30 a.m. this morning. The moon was wonderful and for some long stretches I was able to run without a light. This morning I again ran the 18-mile "hand-gun" route (called that because the map of it looks like a gun.) I ran clear out to Eagle Mountain city center. It was peaceful and pretty uneventful. While running north through Cedar Valley, there was a mild head-wind that made it chilly on the hands so I ran without a light and hands in my vest pockets. It was 38 degrees when I left and returned to home, but in pockets I could tell that it was below freezing because there was some frost here and there. I only took one water bottle filled with water, and no food. Toward the end I was getting pretty hungry. I did the run 12 minutes faster than last time, 3:20. Home before 6:00 a.m. I had a very nice nap on the bus heading into work in Salt Lake City.  It feels like I have fully recovered from my 100-mile run 10 days ago.

3 miles walking during lunch and 4 miles running with the dog before dinner.

Zero day, rest day.  Nine hours of sleep.

Woke up at 3:40.   Poked my head outside and saw a slight drizzle coming down.   I decided to head to the rec center to wimp out on the treadmill.   However....   My electronic key worked fine getting in, but I set off the alarm and high-tailed it out of there.  The problem is that the alarm is reset to for day light saving time, but the electronic access isn't, so they are an hour apart.   All winter I could get in there at 4 a.m., but now it looks like 5 a.m. is when the alarm disables.   Oh well, just another reason to keep me away from those dreaded machines.  

So, instead, I put on another layer and decided to run on the Jordon River parkway, starting at Utah Lake.   This is a paved trail.  With the rain, the real trails would be a muddy mess, so this would be better and I was glad to be away from the streets and homes.   I didn't have to use a flashlight because there is nothing to trip over.  I was enjoyed running in the dark along the Jordon River.  This is a popular running route, but of course at this time in the morning, I had it all to myself.   I reached the point where they are constructing a new huge bridge over the river, for the eventual new parkway to the freeway.  I dodged the fence (noticing that many have done this before me....worked my way across the contruction area, and dodged the fence on the other side, and was back on the paved trail.

One fun feature of this run was that I kept startling wildlife.  First, I heard a huge noise on the river.  It was a flock of geese that I startled.   Next I head a big noise in the brush, probably a deer, but couldn't tell because it was dark.  I next noticed some big critter running in front of me on the trail.  I was hoping it wasn't a skunk, it wasn't.   I crossed under Lehi Main Street SR 73, crossed the Willow Park, and continued along the river until I reached 9600 North.   Then I turned around and headed back.  

As I reached the construction zone, I knew I would need to turn on my light, but the chain link fence across the trail arrived sooner than I expected.  I bounced off the the fence....boing!   Thankfully, the fence wasn't tight, just a temporary fence, so I did actually bounce and didn't get hurt.  Pretty funny.    I crossed back over and made it back to my car.  I ran the 10 miles in about 1:45.

I had a good time running in the dark.  When my work moves to Riverton later this summer, I look foward to long runs into to work along this route.

Stayed home with a cold/sinus infection.  Usually a long run cleans out the head, so for the morning, I went did an 18-mile run, similar to my "hand-gun" route, except I didn't run across the Church farm because I would have been run off by the workers.  I rarely run this route in the light, so it was a different experience.  While in the wilderness between Saratoga Springs and Eagle mountain, I was surprised to run into a female runner.  She was wearing a Salt Lake marathon shirt.  She shouted, "Its nice to see someone else running out here."  I replied, "Yes, I rarely do."  In fact I don't think I ever have seen another runner out there.  But that isn't too surprising because I'm usually out there between 4-5 a.m.  The run was pleasant and pretty uneventful.  It became a little warm out in the middle of Cedar Valley, but then cooled as I climbed back into the foothills.   The run felt easy.  I was out for 3:10.  

I ran in Mary Ann's April Fools 10K on the Provo River Trail.  Well....kind of, not really.   Dumb, me, I didn't double check the website and didn't know the start time had been moved up two hours.   So, when I arrived at 10:30 a.m., Mary Ann was cleaning up.  She felt bad, but had no reason to.  She encouraged me to go ahead and do the run since the course was still marked and she would put me in the results.  Why not, I agreed.   It would be interesting to see if I could push myself hard enough alone.  Since I had already run 11 miles this morning, I didn't have high expectations.   I thought I would run well over 45 minutes.  I didn't push the first mile too hard because I didn't want to burn my lungs, but it probably was about a 6:45 pace.  The second mile was 6:55.  I was feeling good and wasn't pushing it too hard, dodging some walkers and joggers along the way.  I reached the turn-around at 21:31:02, which I knew was almost a minute faster than last month on the course, on a 43:02 pace.   "OK", I thought, "let's push it harder and see what I can do today."   The return is a gradual uphill all the way.   My legs felt surprizingly great, to I pushed ahead.  I had a mile split of 7:06 and then a lazy mile split of 7:22.  After that I kicked it into gear and finished strong with a 43:47.   I was pleased.  If I would have had competitors to push me, I'm sure I would have done much better, but I still was almost a minute faster than last month on this course.   So, I got everything I hoped for, a nice tempo run in great running temperatures and a much better time than expected.

Here is what I did earlier in the morning.  

With a storm coming in today, I decided to go punish myself on the treadmill for a little while.  I did 7 miles mostly at 10% incline or higher.   I did tough spurts up at 25% incline.  Ouch.  Felt good afterwards.   When I went outside to my car, the dawn was approaching and it felt warm at 45 degrees, so I decided to put in 4 more miles along Utah Lake.   The geese and birds were really making a racket in the rushes along the lake.   I noticed a big flock of geese overhead in formation heading northwest.  All of a sudden, something spooked them.  They fell out of formation and were flying in all directions making distressful honks.   They kept doing this for a couple minutes but then finally calmed down and resumed their journey.  Pretty cool.   The cold air was a bit nippy on my bare arms, so I pushed the pace pretty hard to stay warm.    It has been a good week of running, 83 miles in five days this week.

Four mile walk with the dog, scouting out my tomorrow morning's crazy run route.

This morning, I did something pretty crazy.  I ran a marathon before dawn, making it into work at the normal time.  Right above my house is a ridge that the locals call Rattlesnake Ridge because of so many rattlesnakes that like to make their homes in all the cracks in the cliffs.   Around that ridge is a pretty flat dirt road that loops around the ridge.  The loop is about 1.035 miles, very close to a mile.   The loops are fairly smooth except for an area that is being crowded by new development.  They have dumped some mounds of rocks as they are constructing roads a little lower.  So the trail through that section is a little more technical, with some rocks to trip on.  The entire loop has about a 50-foot elevation climb/descent.  

From my house the approach is 0.7 miles with a 250-foot climb.   So, to get a marathon in, I would need to do the approach, run 24 loops, and return home for 26.24 miles.   I was up for the challenge and hoped to finish it in about 4:15.   It would be a challenge because it  would all be in the dark and include a total of 1450-feet of climb/descent.   4:15 seemed to be a good goal to get it done without pushing too hard.

I left the house a little after 1:30 a.m.  My wife is out of town so no "you are crazy" comments would be forthcoming.   I took up with me three bottles of fluid and some Reeses for some energy along the way. 

A nice moon was out to light my way.  I decided to alternate the direction of each loop, which would help me keep track of the numbers and help my legs to have some variation.  I felt funny about using my bright flashlight much up there at this time in the morning, for fear of attracting attention from the overly ambitious Saratoga Springs police, who have their offices less than a half a mile from my loop.  I could just see a police cruiser coming up there and then having to explain my crazy adventure.   So, for the first 12 miles or so, I ran almost entirely by the moon-light.  It slowed me down somewhat, but was a great challenge.   It was neat to look down to the neighborhoods lighted below.

After 4 a.m., I was more confident about turning my light and started to for a least a half a loop.   On the west side of the ridge, which is usually very quiet because you can’t hear any noise from the homes or roads below, I heard a strange roar of an engine above me.   I was very surprised to see a truck driving down from the ridge.  Someone had spent the night up there.  Last evening, I noticed a young man rappelling of the cliff up there.  It must have been him.

By 5 a.m., the homes and roads below were waking up as more cars were on the roads making their way to work.  I only had a few more loops and I pushed the last loop pretty hard.   I finished the 24^th loop, gathered my stuff and headed home.   My finish time was 4:17:47 for my early morning trail marathon.

climb 9:06
1 8:56
2 9:15
3 9:06
4 8:59
5 9:29
6 9:40
7 9:59
8 9:37
9 9:53
10 9:56
11 10:06
12 9:57
13 9:34
14 10:14
15 10:30
16 10:38
17 10:06
18 11:17
19 10:14
20 10:45
21 11:53
22 11:31
23 11:12
24 9:29
return 6:28
total 4:17:47

Another zero day.  This is a taper week for me because I will be running in the Desert RATS 50-miler in Fruita, Colorado on this Saturday....more desert slickrock and dirt road running.  For 50 or 100-milers, I have found it really does not help at all to run very much during the week before a long ultra.   I ran that marathon distance training run on Monday morning, at that is really plenty.  I had no soreness at all from that run. The only thing that normally helps during my taper weeks is a few easy miles to keep the muscles happy so I don't feel those phantom taper pains.

After this race, I'll need to figure out my training strategy for my next two races.  First Ogden Marathon, and then Squaw Peak 50.  Both are totally different, requirely radically different training.   I'll need to hit the hill training hard for SP50, but also need to do tempo/speed training for the flats of Ogden.   It should be an interesting challenge.

Another zero mile day today.  That is four in a row!  Gee and some people think I'm always running.  Tomorrow is race day in Fruita, Colorado.  The weather looks like it will be very similar to my other two desert races this year, perfect weather.  High around 63, low around 36 at start time.  Partly cloudy. 

I've never run this Desert RATS 50-mile race before, but I have heard that it is fun one.  Looks like most of it is on tough mountain bike trails which some good single track.  I'm taking two of my sons out with me.  They will bike around and have some fun while I race.

I do plan to race (as opposed to just finishing).  It will be tougher, since I don't know the course, but I think I'm ready.   I hope for about a 10:30 finish which would probably be a top-15 finish out of about 60 starters.  I also hope to win the 50+ age group since my buddy Todd Holmes won't be there.   But running with mostly Colorado runners is tough.  They are fit and fast, and have altitude on their side.  There is also a 25-mile race going on at the same time with about 150 runners.   My planned 25-mile split time (4:40) will probably rank about 40th among those runners.   After completing the 25-mile loop, we will have to do the loop again in the opposite direction.

Full race report now at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=145

I finished the Desert RATS 50 in Fruita, CO in 10:46:16, 24th overall and 1st in the old foggie 50+ age group.  It was a wonderful run.  The temperature was great (high about 65), but I still became badly dehydrated at one point. I need to do more afternnon training.  I also took a wrong turn and wasted 5 minutes or so.  I had a great time.  Two of my boys came with me and mountain biked while I ran.  Home in the evening.  It was a fun Saturday.   The course was easier than expected even with the 8,000-foot elevation gain/loss. My full race report will come in a few days.

A few quick details.   This race is run on mountain bike trails above the Colorado River.  The terrain is similar to Moab but with less slick rock.  The 50-mile race runs concurrently with a 25-mile race.   The 50-milers run the loop twice, the second loop in reverse direction.  About 40 miles of the course is smooth single-track.  There is about 8000-feet of climb during the two loops, most on four long climbs from the desert floor up to the plateau.   On the first climb I was frustrated that I couldn’t keep up with the top 30 runners, but once at the top, I was able to blast by a long train of 20 runners who just didn’t have the technical speed on the downhill.  Because it was on single-track, the only way for me to pass them was to go "off road" and do a slingshot sprint around 4-5 runners and then swoop back in line.  It felt like I was racing Nascar.  I eventually passed them all and and had "clean air" in front of me to run as fast as I pleased.  I reached the first check-point (mile 5.9) at 53 minutes.  That was nine minutes faster than planned, so I now understood why I was having trouble keep up.  It was just too fast.   The next 12 miles or so was a blast, rolling trails on a shelf above the Colorado River.  I discovered that I struggled to keep up with the runners around me until the trail became more technical, then I had speed about 50% faster than the others and could catch up or press ahead.   At mile 9.2 I made a blunder and took a wrong turn out of the aid station.  I recognized my mistake after a few minutes.  I probably wasted about 6 minutes and fell behind about  one-half mile from those I was running with.

The elite front-runners came running toward me at the 21-mile mark.  They were eight miles ahead.  Amazing.   I finished loop one (25 miles) in 4:42, just two minutes slower than planned.   By mile 30.9 I was back up to 5-minutes ahead of my planned pace.  But then the afternoon became warm and the climbs were tougher.  I spent the next couple hours picking off runners ahead of me one-by-one.  I pushed very hard from miles 34-37 to pass a couple runners.  In doing so I became pretty seriously dehydrated.  I noticed heat-stroke symptoms.    Chills, light-headed, not sweating.  I quickly took action, took two electrolyte pills and pushed the fluids.  I backed off my pace significantly.  I had built up a big lead over anyone behind me, so no one caught up to me, but I took an extra 10 minutes off my pace to recover.   Within a half hour, I felt much better.   It was only about 60-65 degrees, but I just wasn’t drinking enough and taking in enough electrolytes.  Also, I just haven’t trained much in these temperatures so far this season.

During the final huge climb at mile 45-46, I was really lazy.  But then I recognized Milada Copeland from Utah, hot on my tail, less than 3 minutes behind.   That woke me up and I started to push much harder.   Once on top, I knew that no one would catch me during the last three-miles to the finish.  It was mostly downhill and I still had good downhill speed.     I finished in 10:46, which was 16 minutes slower than my goal.  I knew where I lost those 16 minutes (6 minutes from wrong turn, 10 minutes from dehydration episode).

I still haven't bounced back from the 50-mile race on Saturday.  That is a bit unusual for me.  Oh well, I'll keep resting.   I still feel a little drained, have sore quads and calfs, a sore foot and not a great appetite.  I should feel better tomorrow.  

On Saturday I plan on running in the Bonneville Shoreline Trail marathon, a yearly free event that most of the local ultrarunners run in.   It is a lot of fun.  Hopefully the weather will be OK.  Come join the fun.  See: http://www.users.qwest.net/%7Ecirnielsen/bstannouncepage2.html

My race report is up at: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=145

Feeling much better, but nursing a sore foot.  I believe this is just a very low ankle/foot sprain, hopefully not a stress fracture.  The pain has bugged me for a month or so since twisting the ankle one morning, but it never bothered me much while running normally.  I never felt it during the race on Saturday, but a day later it started to hurt.  The pain does seem to originate near the base of the 5th metatarsal, a common location for a stress fracture.  No swelling, no bruising.   I'll continue to lay off and hope that I can run on Saturday.

I ran in the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon, a free but very challenging marathon-length run held in the hills above Salt Lake City.  Much of this runs on a trail established above the ancient Lake Bonneville Shoreline.  This race attracts many of the top ultrarunners in the state.  Karl Meltzer, one of the best in the world came to try to beat his course record.

I drove up with Mark Ellison and we both were concerned about the rain falling as we drove up.  It could be a very wet, muddy run this year.  This would be my third run in the event.  I never push hard during this race because I have always run a very long race just the prior week.  The same was true this time, since it is just one week since my finish in the Desert RAT 50.  The race start up above the homes about 7^th East.

We arrived just in time, said some quick hellos and were off.   Karl quickly took the lead and I joined in with a group of about eight runners trying to keep up.  Within only 100 yards, my left foot slipped a little in the mud, causing it to twist just a little and I again felt the bad pain in my foot that has bothered me this past week.   That confirmed things in my mind.  It was a foot/ankle sprain on the lower outside of my foot, under the ankle.   I had twisted it badly about six weeks ago, but it hasn’t been much of a problem until this week.   Today the pain was bad enough that I knew it would be a concern.    I slowed down a little, let a couple people pass, but when we hit the downhill into City Canyon.  The mud was slick, but I pushed away caution and let gravity take me.  I could see that those who were trying to brake, were slipping.  I just blasted down as fast as I could.

Once down at the bottom of the canyon, we crossed the road and headed up the shoreline trail.  As it started to climb, I backed off a little but tried to keep the pace strong.   The foot wasn’t bothering me too much.   Eventually the climb became intense and most of us started to power hike.   Once up above all the homes above the capital, the trail started rolling and I could kick the speed up a notch.   The feet were wet from splashing in puddles.  As some descents arrived, I was disappointed to discover that I could not push the speed hard any more.  The foot pain held me back.   I was again passed by a couple runners.  Once over the saddle near Ensign Peak, the road turned into some shoe-sucking mud.  Everyone started to slow and I felt sorry for those behind because we were really tearing up the best routes.   Finally the road headed down and I started to catch up to some runners, but just couldn’t push it hard.   Then the huge climb came.   I really couldn’t push a trot up the steep hill because when I push huge pressure on the toes, again the foot hurt.  I just power-hiked the best I could and kept my position.

As we climbed higher and higher, we entered the clouds.  It was very cool but a bother because I could no longer see the runner ahead of me.   Soon  buddy Brent Rutledge from Lehi, caught up.  It was great to see him.  We had not run together since last September.   He pushed on ahead and I tried to keep him in sight through the fog.   I finally caught up to him as we crested over the top of the mountain, ready for the steep descent back down into City Creek.   Brent stepped aside, “Go ahead, you are faster on the downhill.”  I encouraged him to keep up and he did a pretty good job staying within about 100 yards.   I blasted down as hard as I could and soon passed a woman runner who was being cautious in the mud.  Near the bottom of the canyon, I tripped over a rock, caught myself, but felt bad pain in the abs that made be slow to a walk to quickly recover.  

Once on the flatter trail, still descending down the canyon, I could tell my foot was not happy at all.   I slowed more and eventually Brent caught up again.  I cheered him on and complemented him on his great downhill speed.   I debated in my mind for awhile, but I knew that I would have to cut my race short and stop after the western loop of the course.  The foot pain wasn’t calming down, only getting worse.  It wasn’t worth it.   So I slowed down some more, and headed back up the other side of the canyon.  Mark caught up, I told him the news and retrieved his key to the truck.   I complete my 10.6 mile loop of the race in about 2:16 with about 3,100 feet of climbing.  I knew I was making the right choice to instead heal from this injury and call it a day.

I drove to the next aid station behind the Huntsman Cancer Institute and had a great time for the next three hours helping at the aid station and talking to the volunteers and all the runners as they came through.  It was great fun making fun of the runners covered in mud.   When Brent came into view, I decided to make it look like I too just arrived at the aid station.  He exclaimed, “How did you get ahead?”   I replied, “Oh you must have taken a break or something.”   I encouraged him to make a fast stop so we could run together.  We left the aid station and I continued to kid him about how I was ahead of him.   But then as we climbed, I broke the news that I had really dropped out seven miles back.   Ha, ha, great joke.   When the trail leveled out, I discovered there was no way I could keep up, the foot was hurting too bad, so I bid him goodbye and hobbled back down to the aid station.   Mark later arrived, and he was struggling because of allergies.

A triatholon was also being held on the trail near the aid station.  The mountain bikers were riding very fast on the trail.  But when the back of their pack arrived, a few started to stop at our aid station and taking drinks and stuff.  We just played along.  We had so much stuff at the aid station it didn’t matter.  A few asked if we were part of the race after they partook, but we just laughed and said we would send them a bill.

After Brent and Mark both return, I drove back to the finish and enjoyed watching runners come in and talked to so many.  It was great fun to socialize with this great group.   Karl Melzer was there.  He did finish in a course record time of 3:47.  That is amazing.  I still haven’t broken 6 hours on that course.  Brent came in about 5:40 and Mark in about 6:20.   It was a little disappointing that I didn’t finish the entire course, but it had been a very run morning.   Thankfully the rain stayed away during the race, but it was one of the muddiest years for the race.   Everyone’s lower legs were caked in mud.

Well it looks like I will have to hit the pool for the next week or so.  Pool running, swimming, etc.  Booooooring.....keep me away from sharp objects, I may slit my wrists.

Well, the foot is very sore today.  I could hardly walk, and can’t without a big limp.   What is strange is there is no noticeable swelling and no bruising.   The source of the most pain seems to be what is called the peronial tendons.  One common cause is “running on uneven surfaces.”  Hmmm…OK, I do that just a bit. “It can result from running on sloped surfaces or running in shoes with excessive wear on the outside of the heel.”  Yep, I checked the shoes, they are worn out, probably 500 miles, outside heel worn. Caused when “foot and ankle are rolled inward,”  Yep that happened pretty bad about a month ago or so.  I didn’t appreciate this wise crack:  “In general, older people are at a higher risk of developing the condition.”   Older?  Come say that to my face.  Let’s race up Timp and see who is old.  Treatment, “Cease any activity that is likely to hinder the rehabilitation process.”  Ya, ya, ya, I know.  “It may take 6 weeks or longer to recover.”  Yikes, don’t say that!   How to prevent this from happening again, “When running, choose level surfaces and avoid rocks or holes.”   Pretty funny.  Next thing you will tell me is stick to running on roads.  It’s not going to happen.

You have got to love the psychology of an injured runner.  We have visions of never being able to run without pain again.  We see someone jogging in the neighborhood and get very jealous.  We worry that just a few days without training will get us out of shape.  All are silly thoughts.  Healing will take place, just be patient.

The foot a little better today.  Yesterday it times it felt like I needed crutches.  Today, I still can't walk without a limp, but healing is taking place.  Running isn't even an option.  I made an appointment with the podiatrist for Thursday.   Its been almost three years since I've seen him.  He'll at least get a kick out of hearing about my running and looking at my toe nails.  But I bet by Thursday most of the pain will be gone....hoping.   Once I can rotate it without much pain, I'll start hitting the pool.

Afternoon... can walk without a limp now!  My doctor visit Thursday will help rule out stress fracture and hopefully rule out ruptured tendon.   What I have learned is that one week of rest won't heal this.  If I go back out on the trail after just one week, I'll set it back again.

Hit the pool this morning.  Half hour of pool running with hand floats, half-mile swim in 20 minutes and then hard kicking on my back for 10 minutes (great for the hamstrings).   Frustrating, because I wasn't tired and it didn't feel like much of a workout.  I guess I will have to double the time.   I'm walking without a limp but do feel pain.

I hit the pool at 4:00 a.m., well, not really, I had forgotton my pool running hand floaties (they look like dumb bells), so I drove home, got them and came back at 4:15 a.m. I had the entire pool to myself until 5:50 a.m.   The pool at Saratoga Springs is a private community outdoor pool but is a large 25 meter pool with six swim lanes.   It is heated by thermal heating from the springs so they don't worry about the cost of heating it, thus it can get too warm for hard swimming.   This morning it felt like it was about 92 degrees, a bit warm.   It actually helps me somewhat by adapting my body to hot-weather running.  The pool is open year-round.  I've have swam in it when it has been below zero outside. (It is cool too see your hair freeze solid).

I first did 40 minutes of pool "running" in the deep end, doing mostly a cross-country ski type exercise with both arms and legs.   To keep me from being total bored, I rigged a mini radio on the strap of my goggles and listened to Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN radio.

After that I did a one-mile swim (64 lengths) in 44 minutes without stopping to rest.   Not blazing fast, but very good for only my second day swimming in over one year.   I was surprised that it felt pretty easy.  Obviously my cardio fitness is already at peak, so that isn't a problem, but I thought my upper-body and shoulder strength would be a problem and it would take my quite a while to work up to a mile. Not so, it went very well.

One reason my pace isn't that fast is that I have quite a bit of drag in the water.  I choose to wear knee-brace sleeves while I swim.   With all the kicking, I have found that my knee caps get loosened.  When I go back to running, that becomes a problem as the knee caps slide around.  So the sleeves keep the knee cap tight into place and I can kick as hard as I want.  But it does create lots of drag making me slower.  Also, I'm not doing flip-turns.  As my upper-body strength improves, I'll add those in.  But it isn't about speed, it is about workout.

I've never been a great swimmer, but swimming does seem to be in my family genes.  All my kids have been on the high school swim teams, being good enough to be captains of those teams.  I had a daughter to placed very high in the state.   I was on a swim team for a couple years when I was 10-11 years old, but didn't really excell.   I'm just better than average and can swim very far if boredom doesn't kill me.

The morning was was fantastic as I finished up.   I heard and saw a couple geese honking overhead.  I looked out across the lake and could see Venus rising before the dawn glow.  It really is an impressive sight at the pool in the morning.

The foot continues to improve.  Tomorrow I will see the doctor.

Hit the pool at 4:05 a.m.   Did 50 minutes of pool running and then did a one-mile swim.   The pool was blazing hot this morning, at least 96 degrees.  For whatever reason they have trouble regulating the pool temperature and at times it climbs high.  It is extremely difficult to swim hard and long in a pool that hot, but I got the mile done.  Talk about heat training!  It felt like I was training for the Badwater race in Death Valley.   I did the mile in 48 minutes, but about six of those minutes were spent on the pool deck cooling my body temperature down in the 36 degrees morning air.  I finished up the workout by doing about ten minutes of tought deep kicking on my back, really working the hamstrings.   I returned home really feeling like I had a hard workout.   My body temperature was messed up for awhile.

I went to the podiatrist. My self-diagnosis was correct. I have a peroneal tendon strain on the outside of my foot. He took an X-ray and there is no stress-fracture. The doctor gets a kick out of listening to my running history. A young college intern was with him today and the kid couldn't belive what I was saying, talking about 100-mile races. The doctor as a former runner gets it and knows I understand foot-care, injury recovery, etc. He says I really need six weeks of recovery. He gave me a boot to help the tendon rest and an ankle brace to use once I start running again. I mentioned the marathon in 16 days and didn't realize that I said, "its only a road marathon." They both laughed, pointed out what I said. He said that was up to me, but I would likely be hurting after it, setting back the healing. But he quickly said, "I know you understand how to care and treat things like this." So, my plan is to still run in the Ogden Marathon, but I won't enter Sapper Joe 50K which is the following week. Instead I will volunteer for it if they need it. That will give me three weeks of more recovery until Squaw Peak 50.