Old Man Still running

I'm still cautious and concerned.  Unsure if my workouts are helping or hurting.  Since I still see good week-to-week improvement, I believe they help.  I have crazy fears that as I run the leg will just bust in half.

I ran treadmill, 10 miles at 10:00-8:00 pace, all at 10%.   By far the toughest treadmill run post-injury.  All felt good afterwords.   Pains just rotate around the leg to different spots.  Wish they would go away, but I suspect they will be there for many more weeks.

I'm still planning on "running" Cascade Crest 100 in 11 days.  But my attitude is that it will just be a supported adventure run of undetermined length.  I won't race.  I won't care if I DNF.  I will just enjoy the Pacific Northwest trails, where I grew up.

More tough treadmill

Ran the steep last three miles up Butterfield canyon to the pass and continued up for awhile on the road up to West mountain.   Nice hill training.

Things going OK.  My other knee is a problem.  The knee cap is bruised underneath, not tracking well, especially on downhills and is pretty sore.   That is a chronic problem for me at times.  Need to tighten up the quads and might need to tape up the knee cap a little if it really is painful.

More tough treadmill, a little sluggish today.

Tough treadmill and running to and from rec center. 

One lady who is there every day puzzles me.   She is really skinny, 100 pounds and she does a tough 90 minute mostly cardio workout every day but doesn't seem to be training for anything, no running, but pounds the eliptical and does high incline power walks.  I was pretty impressed until I noticed that she weighs herself before and after each workout....probably obsessed with gaining weight.

Went up Timp early in the morning. With the trailhead parking lot closed, I just parked where the Great Western Trail crossed the Apline Loop, and then had an enjoyable, easy 0.8 mile to the trailhead. Others were doing creative parking on the road.

I set off at 2:40 a.m. There were still plenty of kids on the trail. My uphill strength was much better, but I still held back to keep the leg pain down.

Above Scout Falls there was a large groups stopped in the trail that just wouldn't move aside untill I asked them to please step aside. A guy grabs me and points to a moose about 20 feet off the trail. I just saw, "nice" and run on ahead as the college kids were still in panic. I startled the moose and it moved away. Others ahead of me also mentioned the moose when I passed.

I pushed it pretty well and reached the summit in about 2:20. There were many groups that I passed on the last stretch to the summit. In the summit hut were a bunch of kids shivering with emergency blankets on. I let them know that they were sitting in the coldest place on the mountain and if they just sat 20 feet down on the east side, it would be warm. Then I just turned around and started running down.

First I guy almost at the top saw me running and asked, "Are you OK?" What a strange question. I guess I thought I must be in distress because I was in such a hurry to get down. I replied, "I'm great, how are you?" Then a little further down, a guy asks, "Why are you going down?" I'm sure wondering why I was going down before sunrise. I replied, "Because it is time to go home." As usual, in the basin I met the groups that I passed near the start. They are always amazed and ask, "Did you make it to the top?" My answer is, "Yes, that is the only place to go."

Thankfully there were not as many hikers on the trail because of the closed parking lot, but there were still plenty of groups that I had to get around. I reached the trailhead in 3:59. Not bad. It feels like my fitness level right now would have allowed me to go about 3:30, but I still have to slow down at times as the leg pain goes up.

I probably pushed it a little to hard this morning. But I will taper now and just rest, letting the leg further heal up. I doubt very much that I will go very far at CCC100 next Saturday, but I'll still go to have some fun and visit old friends from my highschool years.