faster with age

     Happy new year!!  

     Ran 5 easy recovery miles this morning at 9:03 pace. Everything felt pretty good after yesterdays tempo. My back was a little tight to start out but loosened up and felt ok.

     I ran 3 m this morning in the blowing rain. I had planned a bike ride but had a hard time getting motivated to ride in that strong wind with rain.

     PM  I almost wimped out on my bike ride today but finally got out there and did it. The rain wasn't as bad but the roads were very wet and slushy. I did 19 miles. 4 miles on pavement and the rest on gravel roads covered with melting packed snow and ice and mud. We had about 18 inches of snow on the ground and after the last couple warm days and the rain it's about half that. I was getting covered with mud and slush and getting soaked and just wanted to get the ride over with but realized I wasn't cold and I was getting as great workout in the tough conditions and it became fun. I even went 4 miles farther than planned. It's amazing how your attitude can change everything. I jumped a flock of 60 or 70 sharptail grouse and that was a neat sight. With about 6 miles to go the wind switched and started blowing from the north and a wet snowy sleet started blowing sideways and would sting my face. Luckily the wind was at my back most of the rest of the way which made it a great ride. . I got hame soaked and totaly covered with mud. Great fun! Glad I got out.

     This morning I didn't run until 9:30 but the temp was only up to 10 deg. It was sunny and calm so it wasn't to bad. I went 11 miles at 8:19 pace.  That's my first run over 8 miles in a month so I took it easy. My back felt good. My hip pain keeps hanging around but has been manageable.

     It's been cold. Yesterday when we got home from church it was a sunny 2 deg. Last night when I went to bed it was -15 deg and dropping. I was thinking at the rate it was headed that I would be running in the -20s this morning, which would be a pr [I've run at -12 or -13 a few times] but during the night the clouds moved in and it warmed up 15 deg. to zero. I put on an extra layer [a thin fleece] and realized right away I had overdressed. I had to take off my sweatshirt and a tech shirt which left a light tech shirt and the thin fleece. I wasn't sure why I felt that comfortable until I turned back at 4 miles and realized I had been running with a bit of a tail wind. Running back into that wind changed everything and I quickly had to put the sweatshirt [that I had tied around my waist] back on.  My thighs got pretty cold coming back into the breeze which seemed to get stronger. I should have worn 2 layers on the bottom. I think I got the best ice goatee for this year so far. I ran 8.5 miles at 8:13 pace.

     Much warmer this morning at 18 deg. I ran 4 miles in the snow which kept the pace slow at 9:03.

     Went 15 miles on my bike and it was pretty slow going also.

     My lingering injuries seem to all be doing quite well. I feel like I'm ready to begin a good training cycle for a fast half mar.  Problem is I only have until next week. I did get in a good tempo last week and hope to get one more in this week if I can find a non snow and ice covered stretch of road. Oh well, I guess I'll just go down and have fun and not push too hard or worry to much about my time.

     The temprature around here has been like a yoyo latley. It was in the upper 30s today. I wanted to do a tempo run today but the roads were snow covered this morning. In the afternoon it had mostly melted leaving my 2 mile stretch of pavement wet with some slush but the footing was good. I ran 2 miles in 7:41 and 7:19 Then went 8 miles at 6:57 pace. Pace for all 10 was 7:04.

     This morning I ran 5 miles at an easy recovery pace. I felt real good and almost no back or hip pain after yesterdays harder run. 8:38 pace.

     This morning I did 19 miles on the mountain bike. There's not as many slick places left but the ones left are bad. Had a cold strong north wind I was riding directly into it the first 5 miles which made it nice coming back. The mud was frozen hard which helps.

     PM   Ran 4 easy miles 9:05 pace.

     I ran 13 miles at 7:51 pace. I tried to keep the pace comfortable and it felt that way until the last 3 or 4 miles I could tell I haven't run this far since the SGM 3 months ago. I picked it up on the last mile to 7:18. My back felt great. My hip was a bit sore but never got any worse.

     This morning I ran 7 miles at 8:34 pace. Another warm morning at 34 deg but a strong wind. I ran around 9 min pace for the miles into the wind and ran my last mile in 6:45 which felt much to hard for HM pace even with the wind at my back for most of it. It's interesting how I had to dress the same this morning while I was running into a strong wind at 34 deg as I was last mon at 0 deg without wind.

     Went 15 on the bike. Another warm day with a lot of mud and slush.

     It was back down to 15 deg again but with no wind so not to bad. I ran a 2 mile warmup at 8:24 pace then did 3 miles of fartlek. I started with 1/4 mile at 6:28 pace with 1/4 recovery. Then 3x1/2 mile at 6:45, 6:46, and 6:35 pace each followed by 1/2 mile recovery around 8:00 pace. Then 1/2 mile cooldown. The sun was starting to warm things up a bit and I wanted to keep running but figured I had better keep it short with Painters 3 days away. Overall pace for 5.5 mi. was 7:46

     Another cold morning. I went 15 miles on the bike. There's not many icy spots left and I was able to get around most of them. With the mud all frozen up the bike rolls along a lot easier.

     It was a perfect morning for running and I really like the course. I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of myself for this race. I've been dealing with a few nagging injuries that have kept my mileage low. I have only averaged running 27 miles a week over the last 3 months. I've been adding to that with around 13 converted biking miles a week. Luckily things have been feeling better and I was able to average close to 40 miles the last 3 weeks and got in a couple pretty good tempo runs [still well below what I would have liked]. I ran this race last year in 1:34 and it was the only 1/2 marathon I had done. I felt confident I could beat that and had a goal of 1:30.

     For the first 5 miles I was averaging around 6:47 pace. It felt very comfortable and I was tempted to speed up but I wasn't sure what to expect in the later miles given my lack of mileage so I played it safe. Around mile 5 I started getting a pain on the side of my right knee that I soon recognized as IT band trouble.I had a lot of trouble with this on the same knee 3 years ago while building mileage for my first marathon but I hadn't had a hint of trouble with it the past 2 years. I don't know why it struck then expecially after only 5 miles. I was wearing some Brooks ST racers that I have only worn a few times in a few short races. They are a control shoe and I am a neutral runner. My other shoes are all neutral. I did run a 10 miler last week and a 5 in them this week without any problem so I'm not sure if the shoes could have contributed. It continued to get worse and at around 7 miles I stopped and stretched it which seemed to help. The discomfort came back fairly quickly. I stopped again and stretched it at the aid station around 8 miles. Up until that point I had felt very comfortable [other than my knee]. I pushed it up the climb into the subdivision to try and make up some time and pass a few of the runners that had passed me while I was stopped. This was the first time I started feeling some discomfort [other than my knee]. I had only run more than 8 miles 3 times in recent weeks the longest one being 13 so I kind of expected this. I was able to keep my pace up and stopped and stretched again at the aid station that is around 11 miles. I picked up the pace again and picked it up some more when I thought I was getting close to the finish. I guess I left home Thursday before getting the E-mail about the course change at the end so when I could see the finish up ahead I started my kick. I passed several runners in that stretch and wondered why nobody seemed to be picking up the pace until I crossed the bridge thinking I was within yards of  finishing and saw the route to the finish had an orange fence blocking it and I wasn't done. Running your kick at the end of a race and expecting to be done then knowing you have to dig in and find some more to keep going really sucks. I had no idea how far it would be so I just tried to maintain a decent pace for what seemed to go on forever [It was actually .35 farther]. When I finally passed the 13 mile marker I took off again and still had a good kick left considering.

splits

1 -6:49

2 -6:49

3 -6:28 some downhill

4 -6:47

5 -6:54 uphill

6 -6:39

7 -6:46

8 -6:52 stopped and stretched

9 -6:53 stopped and stretched and uphill

10-6:39

11-6:52 stopped and stretched

12-6:43

13-6:28

.22-1:14 [5:36 pace]

     My garmin measured the course at 13.22 and everybody else I taked to with garmins got 13.17 to 13.31 so I'm not sure what's up with that. Mine has never been off that far before but the course was certified. I went back over the new finish afterward with my garmin and figured the course was .35 mile longer than last years finish. So last years must have been a lot shorter than everybody thought.

     I was happy with the race. I was first in my age group and beat last years time by 7 minutes if you figure in the extra distance [I would have finished around 1:26:20 with last years course finish]. I look forward  to doing a race properly trained some day. I seem to be making a habbit of cramming at the last minute and this has probably contributed to some of my problems.

     It was fun getting to meet some of the bloggers and hope to see you at some other races. We went to Zions and did some hiking the next day and it was beautiful. The IT band was a bit sore expecially on the downhill but not too bad.

     Hiking in Zions park.

     Rest

     1 easy mile IT band felt fine

     I'm planning to not run much this week to make sure my IT band is settled down from the race. It was sore all day Saturday after the race and a bit sore on Sunday while hiking in Zions but has felt fine since. I ran 1 mile yesterday and everything felt fine so I ran 2.5 today at 8:26 pace and everything felt good. I was planning to keep my mileage low for the next 3 or 4 weeks anyway.

     PM 15 miles on the bike.

     Played basketball last night and tried to run the court hard to get a good workout. Everything felt good and my legs felt very fresh. It seems to be better on the IT band because it's not as constant as running. This morning I ran 2.5 miles again making sure I quite before my ITB gets a chance to heat up. I feel recovered from the race but don't want to risk it. 8:23 pace.

     Ran another easy 2 1/2 this morning on ice. It started raining yesterday and through the night but the temperature was below freezing so everything is covered with ice. They even closed school due to the ice on roads. I hate rain in the winter. I like snow. Rain is great the rest of the year. I guess I shouldn't complain about any moisture we get. I have screws in the bottom of one pair of my running shoes and it works quite well on ice. I'm still being cautious with the ITB. No way I'm doing a bike ride on this.

     After taking Sat. and Sun. off I figured my ITB would be ready for some longer runs this week. I quit after running only 2 miles because it was starting to get sore. I'm not sure why it would be worse than last week unless a lot of extra stretching and exersises I have been doing for it has aggravated it. It was 12 degrees this morning and very windy with new snow from last night so I wasn't to excited about a bike ride [mainly the wind]. So I did 30 min. on the eliptical which didn't bother the ITB.

     Last night the IT band on the same side that's been giving me trouble in the knee area got quite sore up in my hip area [which is not the same hip nor pain I had a few weeks ago]. I woke up and couldn't even sleep with it and had to take some ibuprofin. It's been a little sore there since late last week but just got a lot worse. I've barely done any running in the past week so I don't know why this is getting worse. I've been doing a whole lot more ITB stretches this past week and also doing some self massage on it. I wonder if this has brought some of it on. None of the stretches are new to me, but I've been doing them maybe 4 times a day compared to once a week and sometimes missing a week or two in between that I was doing them before. I did the eliptical yesterday also [which I haven't done in a while] but I wouldn't think that would bring it on. I did a 15 mile bike ride today and it felt good until near the end when it got a little sore. I'm going to have to really be cautious the next few days and take it very easy on my stretching and see what happens.

     No running today. I'm not going to run the rest of this week and maybe some of next week. I'll do a little cross training but probably keep that to a minimum. My ITB [hip] was a little sore this morning but nothing like yesterday morning when it was painful to walk. It actually is feeling real good today. I haven't done any stretching yesterday or today and think I'll wait until the pain is gone and then start back up more gently. It's a good time for me to take 3 or 4 weeks extra easy anyway. I don't have any races planned until May.

     Another rest day. Last night I played basketball and got 0 pain from the hip or anywhere else for that matter [other than a spot on my calf that took a knee from somebody]. And I played hard too. I'd have never thought basketball would be good X-training for a running injury but I guess the ITB flares up more after a repetative motion done over time and basketball has too much stop and go. Everything feels good today other than the calf and just a slight sorness in the ITB [hip] first thing this morning but it was much less than yesterday morning.

     Hip and everything else is feeling pretty good. I started lightly doing some stretching again. also adding some core and pelvis strengthening exersises along with some foam rolling.

     Rest