faster with age

     14 miles at 7:48 AP last mile 6:56.

8 miles at 9:02 AP

     Left for Arizona at 4 AM and arrived at 8:30 PM to bow hunt for Coues Deer [a miniature Whitetail Deer that live in Southern Arizona, Southwest, New Mexico, and northern Mexico]. It was late by the time we got camp set up. No time for a run.

     Daylight is so short this time of year that I couldn't find time to run until after dark when I got back to camp. The elevation at our camp was at 7000 ft and the road was a steep grade in either direction. I went uphill for 3 miles climbing around 500 ft, then back downhill to camp. I felt good on the run but tried to keep the effort easy especially on the downhill to have plenty left in the tank for a good workout tomorrow. 9:01 AP

     After hunting all morning I got out after noon to run. I drove 10 miles down the road from camp where there was about a 2 mile stretch of road that wasn't as steep. I had planned to run a 2 mile warmup followed by 10 miles starting at around marathon pace and working down to half marathon pace by the end. 

     I started out on my warmup and there was just no pop in my legs. I decided to do 4 warmup miles and see if I started feeling more energy. I didn't feel any better after the warmup and decided to try the faster pace anyway and see if I could snap out of it. I went out just attempting to run 7:00 pace and it was just way more effort than it should have been so I just bailed on the workout finishing that mile in 7:14 then just ran another 3 miles slow to make it 8 miles total at 8:41 AP.

      I was a little baffled at my lack of energy for this run. I expected that my pace would be a little slower because of altitude [maybe 10-15 seconds/mile] but after not running Wednesday and only going 6 yesterday, I thought I would feel fresh. All I could figure was the hiking I had done yesterday and this morning and maybe the steep run last night had taken more energy than I thought.

     I got a chance at a nice buck this morning and made good shot that put him right down. Coues deer are considered to be the toughest deer to take with a bow so I was pretty stoked about getting one. I decided not to run today after yesterdays run went so poorly.

     After bailing on my attempt at a workout last Fri, I decided to make another try at it. After getting my deer last Sat, I now had more free time to run during daylight [although I was still busy hiking into new areas to scout out places to put tree stands for my hunting buddy to hunt from and checking trail cameras we had already set out].

     I drove the ten miles back down to where there was a 2 mile stretch that was less steep [still hilly] than the roads around camp. Right away I could tell that it wasn't happening again. I couldn't get my warmup pace much under 9 min without pushing it and it was only slightly uphill. I just decided to go 7 miles at whatever pace my legs defaulted to which was a slow 9:24 AP. 

     I was a little baffled at my lack of energy again after 2 days of no running.  I was doing more hiking than this mixed in with my training back in Sept getting ready for St George and it didn't affect me this much. The altitude [7,000  ft at camp but a little less where doing this run] is just a little over 2,000 ft higher than home. I was running earlier this year while on a hunting trip at similar altitude and at Yellowstone at 8000 ft and felt like it only affected me slightly. I had carried my deer out of the bottom of a canyon [where I had left it to cool quicker] the night before. It only weight 80 lbs dressed and it was just over 1/4 mile to camp at the top but it was pretty steep and worked my legs different than they are used to. I suspect it affected me more than I thought along with the altitude and hiking thrown in.

     Decided to make a 3rd try at the workout. I started earlier in the morning before any hiking. I could tell right away things were going better. I started with 2 warmup miles in 7:51 and 7:36 that felt easier than 9 min pace yesterday. I decided to just do an 8 mile tempo rather than 10. Splits were 6:52, 6:53, 6:46, 6:47, 6:56, 6:48, 6:34, 6:14. I ran the tempo part back and forth on a 1/2 mile stretch where the hills weren't to bad. I was very happy with that run especially figuring in another 10 to 15 seconds/mile for altitude. Amazing what a difference a day can make.

     Did a run out of camp in the dark. I ran 2 miles up the steep grade before turning and running back down. We are a long ways from anything out there and there was only one vehicle that went by on the whole run. It was a local rancher passing through that stopped and wanted to shoot the bull about deer hunting for 15 minutes. I felt surprisingly good on this run after yesterdays hard run. 8:39 AP

     5 slow miles back at home. 23 degrees and very windy. 

     5 miles in pouring rain with a stiff wind. The weather has been crazy. Completely soaked by the end.

     Another 5 easy miles. This time no wind or rain and a warm 40 deg. What happened to winter? I decided not to run the half down in St George this weekend. My wife and I usually enjoy the short winter vacation down there where it's warmer, but no one could cover for her at work. It's about a 7 hour drive from here and after being gone 10 days until last week I decided to skip it this year. 

     It was pouring rain in the morning so I decided to wait to run since it was supposed to change over to snow in the afternoon and I like running in the snow. But when it changed to snow the snow was so wet that it just covered the road with 3 inches of slushy wet snow. Since I don't plan to do any races for a while, I did something I don't do very often and just skipped it.

     After deciding not to do the half last week, I kind of slacked a bit in my running taking a slight break. I'm planning to start getting the consistency back this week but will still probably keep it easy. 8 miles at 8:22 AP

     6 miles at 8:32 AP

     6 easy miles at 8:25 AP.

     1 hour of basketball.

     So, this was the week I was going to get back to consistent training. Mon through wed went as planned but then Wed night my son was getting ready to leave for a winter snowmobile camp in the morning and I was invited to go along and take the place of a couple of last minute cancelations. I couldn't pass that up. We snowmobiled back into a nice lodge where we stayed [wouldn't really call it camping] with tons of untouched powder all around to play in on the snowmobiles. I did bring some running gear thinking I might be able to run on the packed snowmobile trail, but riding all day in that deep mountain powder takes a lot out of you especially when it's the first time out for the year and I'm not in shape for it. I was too exhausted to feel like running. So now I'll do better next week for sure :-)

     6 easy miles. 8:50 AP

     Last night my right hamstring/glute started to get sore. Not sure whats up with that since I've barely been running and it felt fine yesterday. I went out to run anyway and it quickly got worse so I decided to bag the run.