M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 10.85 miles in 1:26:27, 7:58/mi, HR 159, w/ 3.2 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 8 x 90 sec Hill Repeats, 3.42 mile cooldown, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Returned from 3 jam-packed days of driving to attend daughter's college graduation.  Wonderful weekend but no time to get any workouts in, so essentially a 3 day break.  1000+ miles of driving was probably the worst part of the whole adventure and I had the tightness in my calves today to prove it.  Legs were energetic but stiff.  Repeats went well overall...the last couple were really tough and legs got wobbly towards the end.  Glad to be back outside running after a short hiatus.

LM warmup (10 reps), 14 mile trail progression run in 1:48:34, 7:45/mi, HR 158, 2500' elevation change, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Clouds gave way to sun for much of the run, warming things up nicely.   Ran the 3 hills route, which is really 2 hills on an out and back with the turnaround at the top of hill #2.  Anyway, the hills are steep and provide both the uphill practice I need, but more importantly the downhill practice I need more.  Feel like I did better at not leaning back on the truly treacherous downhill, but legs were definitely being used to brake so that I didn't faceplant at a ridiculously out of control speed heading downhill.  So the legs were wobbly by the last 6 miles of the run.  I started pushing the pace on the return, or rather pushing the effort, which means the last hill was taken a bit more aggressively, which meant I was breathing harder but not going much faster.  Anyway, the first and last miles were road miles and once I hit the final mile, I clocked a 6:39, which definitely counts as moderate.  So my tired legs were beat up some more after yesterday's hill repeat workout.  The beatings will continue until morale improves.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.08 miles in 1:00:41, 7:30/mi, HR 159, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 2 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Sunny and warm (60F+).  Hamstrings are a bit stiff and quads a bit sore, but the legs wanted to go today.  Probably the weather.  Hill sprints felt good...typical tough first couple and tired legs for last few but the middle ones were solid and leg turnover felt as good as its ever been.  

Thinking of going to run part 1 of the White River course this Saturday so I can see how hard these hill climbs and descents are going to be.  It'll probably make for a long day, since it's a couple hours there, a 26+ mile run in who knows how long, and a couple hours back, followed by the removal of our old malfunctioning dishwasher and the installation of a new one.  Part of me want to go run the Capital City marathon instead, but that's just the pizza memories talking.   

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.01 miles in 1:06:06, 7:20/mi w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 3 Tempo miles in 6:53 (uphill), 6:31 (flat), 6:08 (downhill), 3 mile cooldown.  1 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Sunny and warm (67F).  A bad run I won't be able to forget soon enough.  Forgot to grab my HRM strap...would've been nice to see what my HR was doing during the bad times.  The warmup was okay, nothing special.  Felt a bit tired during the strides/drills, but nothing too off-putting. Then the tempo started and within about 2 minutes I knew something wasn't right.  Initially supposed to be 5 tempo miles, 1 uphill, 1 flat, 2 downhill, & 1 uphill with 2 180s, I barely made the crest of the hill when I had to take the first of the unscheduled breaks for about 10 seconds or so.  I had my breathing under control, but my legs were weak and feeling weaker by the step, my shoulders were quickly getting tired and I just didn't feel quite right.  Off I went on the flats thinking things would improve but then didn't.  The legs were getting more wobbly by the stride with both quads and hamstring complaining loudly, and I still didn't feel quite right.  Considering that I ran a 6:31 on the flat when 2 weeks ago I averaged in the low 6:10s over 4 miles, I'm guessing something wasn't right.  After another 10 sec rest break just before the 2nd mile mark, I decided to just try to get thru 3 miles at tempo effort, whatever that might be and to pack it in.  The downhill was a bit kinder, but I still had a lot of trouble not dropping to a walk throughout.  Even the last 3 cooldown miles were tough.....I'll admit to 2 short walk breaks on that section.  Arrived back just in time to make a sudden bathroom pit-stop, which made me realize my blood had probably been getting diverted to my gut for some reason.  Not sure what I might've ate that would've done this.  Found myself feeling queasy for a couple of hours afterwards too...took a S! Cap to see if perhaps I was needing some electrolytes (after downing a Gatorade G2 immediately after the run) and that did seem to help.

So, I'll chalk this up to warmer weather than normal, not being fully recovered from the past several days workouts, possible electrolyte imbalance, and perhaps something I ate.  Fortunately, the ability to run 4 miles at Tempo pace is wholly unimportant right now so I can probably let this go without too much residual guilt.

My saturday plans have changed.  Decided to try to find some info on the trails I'd intended to run (White River 50 course, part 1) and discovered they're all listed on the Forest Service's website as "Snow".  The one snow gauge I could find in the area said it had 80+ inches of snow currently.  Wow.  The more reading I did, the more I realized the chances of running those trails before mid-June are slim to none.  So I went and found another really nasty route up near Ashford that gains 4200+' over the course of 24 miles.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.57 miles in 50:34, 7:41/mi, HR 151, & stretching.

Warm and sunny (67F).  Legs still feeling dead tired.  Saying I got 8 hours sleep last night is being generous....Dianna's got a horse show this weekend and was up late packing and then early doing more packing.  I really hope the legs will be recovered for a long hilly run tomorrow. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 31.5 miles in 4:25:00, 8:24/mi, HR 156 & stretching.

Sunny and warm (68F).  Long hilly trail run with 3400' of climbing/6800' total elevation change.  Decided to try running to Elbe, WA and back over the connecting forest roads, which would give me two significant climbs of about 1700' each and a place to get some more fluids at the halfway mark (Elbe gas station). Wasn't sure how far it would be exactly.....mapped it out at around 15+ miles one-way, so this would be a long run.  Even in the cool morning, the sun made things quite warm to start and it only got warmer.  Made it to the turnaround point in about 2:10-ish, took a short break to refill the water bottles and down a G2 and a "cheese croissant".  I'm not sure why they called it a croissant, but it beat the GUs I'd been consuming up to this point.  The return trip was very tough....the initial climb was at about a 10% grade which reduced me to frequent walk breaks in an attempt to let my pounding heart settle back into my chest.  The sun beating down didn't help matters much.  Fortunately, the truly steep parts didn't last forever and once I got to the top it was literally all (mostly) downhill from there.  Unfortunately, my legs didn't care much and were pretty much shot so my downhill paces maxed out at around 7 min/miles early on and got worse from there.  The last 5 miles or so were back on the pavement which my feet and legs didn't appreciate much.  Out of water with 3 miles to go, I limped home in 4:25 on the nose. 

The WR50 course is 18.5 miles longer and with another 5300' of climbing/10,600' of elevation change.  Today hurt.  That race is going to really, seriously hurt.

So I've got my very own personal 50K course and I now own the record.   I think I'll reward myself with a nice nap.  It could very well be in the chair I'm sitting in right now.  I'm not at all sure I'm going to get to the dishwasher installation today.