faster with age

     Another 8.5 miles today at an easy pace. I ran a little later today and the temp was in the lower 70s. It always seems to feel a lot warmer than that the first few times of the summer. I had about a 15 mph headwind that came up the last couple of miles and was very welcome. The mud had dried enough that I was able to run up to the reservoir. I don't know how many killdeers I saw running along just in front of me trying to make me think I was about to catch them as they led me away from their nests. 8:43 AP

     Ran 8 miles today. First 4 miles progression from 8:18 to 7:37 then went into some fartlek running 1/2 mile fast then 1/2 slow 3 times. The first 2 were into a quartering 15 mph crosswind headwind and I ran them in 3:03 and 3:00. The 3rd one I had turned a corner so the wind was more of a crosswind tailwind but it was uphill and I hit 3:07 on that one. They were all 3 a pretty hard effort. Last mile in 7:30. 7:33 AP overall.

     I didn't get out until about 20 minutes after sundown for this run so it got pretty dark on the way back. The temp was at 50 deg and it was dead calm. It was a very nice run. I just kept the pace comfortable and it was so peaceful out. 7 miles at 7:30/mile AP

     Got out late again tonight about 1/2 hour after sundown for 8.5 miles. Another perfect evening with temps in the mid 50s, calm, and peaceful. I didn't plan on pushing the pace at all again just keeping it comfortable. It was completely dark after 4 miles so I never really looked at my garmin. Just ran what felt good. My first couple of miles were in the 8:20s but after that my pace was from 15 to 20 seconds faster with each mile. miles 6,7,and 8 were 7:24, 6:58, 6:42. I was wearing my New Balance 101s. A very minimal trail shoe without much heel rise and fairly light. I've been running in these once a week and always seem to run a little faster in them. Last 1/2 mile was on a dirt road with a few potholes so I ran it slow since it was dark. 8 miles @ 7:44/mile 

     Another late PM run today but this time I finished just before it got completely dark. It had rained about an hour earlier so it was nice and cool. It rained lightly during the run a couple of times but was quite nice. I meant to run the whole run very easy [around 8:40 pace] but saw a couple of my neighbors riding their horses up the dirt road about 3/4 mile ahead of me. I had 2 miles to go before my turnaround and couldn't resist seeing if I could catch them first. I always seem to speed up to catch slow moving tractors or people going slow on bikes or anything I think I can catch and pass. I ran a 7:18 next mile and the first half of the next mile about the same pace. I caught and passed them and got too my turn around about 1/4 mile ahead of them. I then slowed it back down for the rest of the run. 8.25 miles @ 8:25/mile

     15 miles this morning at 8:04/mile up around the reservoir.

     I finally got my alfalfa in today. Between waiting for the ground to dry between rainstorms and other delays it seemed to take forever. Just as I finished this evening it started raining hard. Perfect timing except I hadn't run yet. I thought about going out in it but it was really coming down and I just didn't have the motivation. I just about bagged it all together but the rain finally stopped and I got out at 9:30 for a short one. I just ran 4 easy miles and threw in a few 10 to 15 second strides the last mile. During one of the strides something burst out from the thick ditch bank on the edge of a field and ran across the road 5 feet in front of me. It was dark enough I couldn't tell what it was but it sounded to heavy to be a cat. Then it ran across my neighbors driveway and triggered a motion sensor light and I could see it was a big old raccoon. I don't know if I've ever seen one run that fast. I must have startled him worse than he did me.

     We got about another 1/2 inch of rain this morning so I waited and did a PM run. It was nice out with the temp at 61 and a light breeze. I went out for a 4 mile out and back twice on my only stretch of pavement without going out to the highway. First four was a progression. 7:54,7:37,7:15,7:00 for an average pace of 7:26. Then 4 miles of tempo not shooting for any particular pace just run a comfortably hard pace. I ran 6:33, 6:31, 6:20, and 5:59. for an average pace of 6:20. The first 3 miles were what I wanted but there was nothing comfortable about the last mile. The last 3 miles were in 18:50. That's 6:16/mile pace which would be a 19:25 5K. I felt real good about this workout. 6:53 ave pace overall for 8 miles.

     Ran 8.5 recovery miles up to the reservoir. Nice day. 8:23 AP

     I didn't run until noon today and I can sure tell I'm not used to running in the heat. It was 65 deg when I got out and 72 at the end. It sure felt hotter than that. The slight headwind at the end was very welcome. I did the same run as yesterday but threw in a few strides the last 2 miles. Overall pace was 8:28.

     Went out for 15 miles this evening. It was raining this morning and off and on throughout the day and looked like it could rain again when I left but it held off and was beautiful running weather again in the mid 50s. The sun even started to shine just before it went down with a couple of miles to go. My goal on this run was to not push the pace at all and just run what felt very comfortable all the way. Most times on longer runs I start to speed up a lot as I get closer to the end and feel more worn out by the time I finish.  Not sure why. I guess I'm just smelling the barn and wanting to be done. Tonight I was hoping to finish feeling more like I had just run 8 or 10 miles. I kept having to make myself slow down toward the end [especially the last 3 miles]. I think I accomplished this pretty well and at 14 miles I still felt pretty fresh. During the last mile my legs started to feel a bit more like they do at the end of a longer run but not bad. Overall pace was 8:17.

     Ran 9 miles this morning. Just took it nice and easy and enjoyed. 8:49 AP

     Ran 8 miles today with 6 miles tempo.  I ran a 4 mile out and back twice basically the same run I did last week except I ran 6 tempo today and kept them a bit slower especially the last 2 where I got a little crazy last week. Averaged 6:59 first 4 miles 7:40, 7:12, 6:32, 6:34. I stopped about 2 minutes to get a drink and take a rock out of my shoe then 6:37, 6:38, 6:37, 6:35. It was 72 deg with 6 or 7 mph wind. The first 2 miles of each lap were tailwind and the last too were headwind which was welcome because it felt so much cooler. Average pace for 6 miles tempo was 6:35. Overall ave for 8 was 6:48.

     9 miles up past the reservoir this morning. Kept a nice easy recovery pace. 8:39 AP.

     Started out this morning with 5 miles at 7:58 AP which included the highway hill for the 2nd and third mile 6:48 mile down and 8:45 back up at a little harder than medium effort. Over the next 5 miles I ran 5x1/2 mile hard with 1/2 easy recovery between. The 1/2s were 3:00, 2:59, 2:54, 2:54, 2:53. I wasn't trying to run each one faster they just came out that way. Finished off with 1 cool down mile. Overall pace for 10.5 miles was 7:33

     Ran 5.5 miles after dark. I was hoping to run a few more but we got home late so I just ran short and easy and called it good. 8:23 AP

     Ran 16.25 miles this morning. Temps were nice in the 40s to start and 60s to finish. I ran up past the reservoir and out the canal. I put my water stashes back out for the summer and drank a little at 6 and 12 miles. I kept the pace comfortable throughout. With 2 miles to go I noticed my overall pace was at 8:02/mile. I had to resist the urge to pick up the pace to catch and pass the 8 minute guy. It wouldn't have used that much more energy to pick the pace up by 15 seconds/mile, It was more of a moral victory to see if I could do it. I managed to resist and keep the effort even and finished the run at 8:01 ave. pace.

     8.5 miles in the morning at 8:37/mile in the morning before heading out for Yellowstone Park.

     We camped in Yellowstone Park last night and I got up early for a run. The temp was in the lower 30s to start and calm. The sun came up and warmed things into the upper 40s by the time I finished the run. Very nice. I ran to fishing bridge and back which ended up being 10 miles. The elevation is close to 8,000 ft but I didn't notice it much. Maybe a little on the uphills. Average pace was 8:18. During the day we did quite a bit of hiking. Some of them had quite a bit of elevation change. One of them started at the rim of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and descended 75% of the way to the bottom of the canyon to a viewpoint  below the crest of Lower Yellowstone Falls. Gorgeous view. The last half descends down steep enough cliffs that they have an iron stairway. My son and I ran down the very steep steps. On our way back up we started to take the steps quickly taking 2 at a time. This was fine for a while but my quads and butt started to burn like crazy and I was soon reduced to a quick walk taking every step. It was quite a workout. 

     We stopped for lunch at a picnic area that we had all to ourselves. After we finished lunch and started back down the short road to the highway there was a Grizzly feeding  along the edge of the road. We turned the car around and filmed him out the car window at anywhere from 15 to 35 yards as he made his way along the side of the road and right back past where we had just finished eating. Really cool! We saw 2 more Black Bears later that day. One of them had 2 cubs.

     Another night camping in Yellowstone. I was planning to run again early but when I woke up at 5am I could hear the rain coming down on the tent. I hadn't been getting near enough sleep the past few nights and I lost my motivation to get out of my warm bag and I slept in. The rain cleared out early and it was a beautiful day just like yesterday at around 70 deg. We drove away from camp in the morning to try and spot some wildlife. We saw lots of buffalo and elk and other animals but no bears or wolves like we were hoping. As we were coming back to camp here is a huge male grizzly bear about 100 yards from our tent moving in a direction that appeared he had just gone right past our camp. We saw another female grizzly with 3 cubs that evening.

     We got back home after midnight last night I was up at 4:30am but was too busy all day to find time to run. I hated skipping 2 days straight and I decided I was going to run right after I picked up my son from playing basketball at the church at 10 pm. When I got to the church they talked me into one quick game that turned into another then another until it was 11:30 when we finally left. So 2 days without running.

     It was nice and cool this morning at 4:30 am at 43 deg. Unfortunately I didn't have time to run when it was nice. I finally got out at 6:30 pm when it was 84 deg. I figured I could have gone later after it cooled but I wouldn't be able to go until after 9:30 and I wanted to get to bed earlier. I felt really beat before I left but after I started running I felt better. There was a bit of a breeze that kept the heat from being too unbearable. I ran up past the reservoir and after 4 miles I felt good so I decided to do a workout. for the next 6 miles I did a fartlek run going 4 minutes hard 2 minutes easy.  I ended up with 7 faster segments that totaled 4.33 miles at 6:17 ave pace. They varied from 6:10 to 6:25 pace each depending on hills and wind direction and the two min easy parts were around 8:30 pace. Overall pace for the 6 mile workout was 6:52. overall for all 10 was 7:21 AP. I dunked my shirt in the reservoir at the turn around and that really helped with the heat.

     It was 40 deg this morning at 5 am. It was about 7:00 before I was able to run and the temp was still in the mid 40s. I ran 16 miles at 8:09 pace up past the reservoir and out the canal. The temp was 65 when I finished. We are supposed to hit mid 80s later today and maybe 90 tomorrow. It's amazing it can cool to the 40s after an 85 deg high. Really nice morning and nice run.

     Ran 8 miles up by the reservoir. Another nice cool morning [upper 40s] but we are supposed to get over 90 today. Yesterday I ended up working out in the sun all day and probably walked another 4 miles [some jogging] in hip boots. Not the greatest for recovery from my 16 mile morning run. I felt trashed last night and this morning so I went extra easy this morning. 9:07 AP.

     Went over to Weston canyon this morning to get some uphill and downhill running. There's a 3 mile section I like to run that's a nice gradual grade [around 300 foot climb]. I had planned to do a workout. After a warm up mile I started a tempo run but could tell I just wasn't feeling it today so I just kept the whole run easy and ran 2 miles less than planned. I haven't been getting enough sleep and I think it's catching up to me. I also lost about 4 pounds on Monday and haven't gained much of it back yet so I may be a bit dehydrated. Either way I don't think I have been recovering well from my last few runs. I've got to focus on getting enough sleep and eating and drinking like I should. 8:12 pace overall for 8 miles.

     8 miles midday at 78 deg. I've been up every morning at 5 am to move wheel lines and hand lines for irrigating. It's made it so I usually haven't been able to take advantage of the nice cool mornings in the 40s and 50s. Our cool rainy spring has gone strait to hot and dry. 8:32 AP