faster with age

Did a 5.5 mile run at 8:38 pace. My legs felt beat most likely from being on my feet for 5 1/2 hours last night. It's rodeo weekend here in Preston which is about the biggest event of the year. We went to the parade and then the carnival until midnight. I think running 15 miles is almost easier for me than just being on my feet that long. My wife can outlast me I think.

I decided to demo a new road bike and rent it for tomorrows race. I picked it up and did 5 miles just before dark. It felt great compared to mine.

  This Biathlon is in Preston which is small but it gets about 80 people each year mostly from Logan and around Cache valley. It has a 5k run on an out and back course then a 14 mile bike out and back also. Last year I finished in 1:01:30. I was Hoping to go under an hour or even better under 59 min.

I started on the 5k with a 6:04 first mile. I have a habit of getting behind someone thats going the pace I like then getting to comfortable and not realizing they have slowed. I checked my garmin about .25 into the 2nd mile and my lap pace for that mile read 6:38. I was hoping to stay below 6:05 so I picked it up and finished mile 2 [which included the 180 deg turn] in 6:10. This course is a bit long. I've checked it a couple times with my bike computer and get 3.14. My garmin said 3.15. I finished the last 1.15 at 5:54 pace going by my garmin. I averaged  6:03 overall pace for the run [18:45 for 3.1]. I finished 6th in the run. I felt very good with this run and had plenty left at the end for the bike. It's probably my best 5k [being on an out and back course] even though I didn't give it everything.

My transition took 1:22 .On the bike I was only passed by 3 riders. I passed 4. One of them was a guy that had passed me earlier. I averaged 22.5 MPH and finished in 37:15. The bike I rode made a big difference. At least 2 minutes faster than my bike. My finish time was 57:41 good for 4th place individual and was only beat by one team. Unfortunately the best triathlete in Cache valley [Keith Anderson] is in my age group. He took first overall so I didn't even win my age group. I was very happy with this race and was able to hold off a few cyclists that are much better than me by getting a big enough lead in the run and then maintaining enough speed on the bike to keep from getting caught. I would have been very happy with a sub 59 time so I was very happy with 57:41 nearly a 4 min. improvement over last

Went for a 25 mile bike ride before I had to return the bike.

    We left for the SLC airport at 4:30 this morning to fly out to Pennsylvania. We flew into JFK airport and then drove to our destination. We didn't arrive until about 10 PM so I no time to run. This was the first time in months I've taken 2 days in a row off from running.

    Last night we arrived at an old farmhouse in Pennsylvania that my wifes parents own on a 150 acre farm. It's not really a farm anymore because the trees have all grown back and it is now a forrest again as are most of the other farms in the area. It has been in my wifes family since 1870. It is a beautifull area with woods, forrests, ponds, blueberry patches, and lots of wildlife. It is my favorite place to run. The terrain is very hilly and if your not going up your going down. Not much is flat. It's not a good place for people who get carsick to ride in a car as the roads are also windy. There is a lot of shade. I was really looking forward to the 65 or 70 miles I was planning to run while we were there.

    I slept until about 9:30 to catch up on lost sleep the last 2 nights and didn't start my run until about 11:00. The temperature was about 70 and with lots of shade it was nice. I felt very good running. The elevation is only about 2,000 feet which is high for Pen. After 2 days off I had plenty of energy. I did 13 miles total. I did the first 5 at 8:09 pace then the next 5 at 7:27 pace. I did the 11th mile in 6:54 and 12 in 6:22. I felt like going a lot farther but I had a 20 miler planned for thursday and wanted to be fresh for that. Overall pace for 12 was 7:38. I was doing a 1 1/2 mile cooldown just running along easy enjoying the scenery looking around rather than watching where I was stepping when I tripped on a rock that was sticking up out of the dirt road I was running on. I was going down hard and thought I was going to cut up my knees up for sure but I brought my right leg forward fast enough to catch myself and only my hands it the ground but as my leg came forward so fast I felt my hamstring  tear. I knew it had to be bad and could not believe what had just happened. As I hobbled the 1/2 mile back to the farmhouse my first thoughts were worry that I might not be able to run anymore while I was there on the farm. That was disappointing enough without thinking that it might keep me from running the TOU half in 2 weeks or even SGM in 8 weeks. I had been training so hard and everything seemed to be going so well. I had no nagging injuries bothering me and I felt like I was still improving. I iced it down and took a bunch of ibuprofin and hoped maybe it would be like sprained ankles I have had a couple of times that hurt like crazy but aren't too bad by the next day but after a couple of days it seemed just as bad as the day it happened. I couldn't even walk without favoring it or even push my son on the rope swing and running was out of the question. While sitting it felt like a big lump under my leg but I never got any bruising. One wrong steep or twist and I would get shooting pain as bad as when it first happened. I tried riding a bike and couldn't. I was getting very dicouraged and realized that even if I am able to run SGM that I will probably won't be running much the next 4 or 5 weeks which was going to be the peak of my training before a 3 week taper to SGM. All the fast finish long runs and downhill mar. pace  runs I had planned for so I could really peak for this one seem to be out the window. It is hard knowing that I am the fittest I have ever been and all the work that went into getting there could just go away and I can't do anything about it. I just have to remember there are plenty of worse things that happen to people that make this seem insignificant. It is just temporary and will heal.

    On the positive side after the 3rd day I found I could ride a bike. At first it was a bit painful and I had to take it easy but as I rode farther it actually felt better. It has now been 8 days we got home from our trip yesterday and it is feeling a lot better than it was. I can  run about 5 steps.

I  was really hoping for a big improvement this morning but just rolling over in bed hurt enough that I knew it wasn't going to happen. I limped along on a 1 1/2 mile walk with my wife and son and a nephew catching little red newts in the morning. We caught over 100. My hamstring was quite sore and I probably shouldn't have gone but hey, we're on vacation.

   No improvement today. If  I take a wrong step or twist wrong it hurts as bad as when it first happened. I tried getting on a bike today but just sitting on the seat was painful. I couldn't run 2 steps. It started really sinking in that this could take a while.

   Still in Pensylvania I tried the peddle boat on the pond at the farmhouse and the pain wasn't to bad. Later that day I tried the bike again. It hurt a little but I could do it. I just had to go easy so wife and I went for a ride. The more I rode the pain went away. I had a lot of energy after no running or riding the last few days and it felt good to push hard. It is one hill after the next out there so I would hammer on the uphill then turn and ride back down then back up and try to catch my wife by the next hill. We went 9 miles. When we got back to the farmhouse I left and went for another 11. It was great to find out I could still ride.

   Still at the farm in Pensylvania, I can't run at all so I went on a 32 mile bike ride. This is on a very heavy schwinn mountain bike on a lot of big hills. On the downhill in the highest gear you spin out at about 20 MPH. Mine, at home, spins out at about 30 MPH.  22 miles of this ride was on an old railroad track that was taken out and turned to a nice dirt and gravel bike path [it's the only place you'll find thats somewhat level]. It runs through the forrest for 2 miles at a time without crossing roads or any sign of civilization and I hardly saw a soul. As I was zipping along silently I supprised a bobcat right next to the road. I got a good look at him from 20 feet. This was a lot longer than I normally ride and on a slow bike I had pushed pretty hard and my quads started to get  fatigued after about 26 miles. As I was almost back I turned onto the farm about 3/4 mile from the farmhouse and there was a blackbear standing in the road about 80 yards away. He watched me as I road about 20 yards closer then he bolted into the woods. That is the first bear I had seen there but I regularly see tracks. So I had seen both a bear and a bobcat on the same ride. Awesome!

   We finally got the new computer set up so I'm trying to catch up my blog. I just need to find a bit more time.

      Last day in Pensylvania. Still can't run 3 steps. I went on another bike ride just before we left the farm. I rode from the farmhouse to the top of Elk mountain ski resort which I think is the highest mountain in Pensylvania. It was a dirt road to the top and it got too steep to ride on 3 different stretches  [at least on the heavy schwinn bike I was on]. I think I maybe could have done it on my mountain bike but it would have been a killer. The stretches that I pushed the bike I was able to do a fast hike, almost run, leaning on the bike supporting my bad hamstring side. I was going hard enough to keep my HR around 165. Probably very good cross training without hurting the hamstring. I pushed very hard because my time was limited and I was pushing to complete round trip in under 1 hour. I really pushed at the end and finished in exactly 1 hour to the second. It was only a little over 10 miles but I'm converting it to 5 miles because one hour at that intensity deserves more than 3.

    That night we left for Newark

     This morning we caught a bus near our hotel room out to New york city.  We spent the day touring  Manhatten. We did a lot of walking. We spent most of our time in the Natural History Museum. That's the second time we've been through it and there's just never enough time. I think all the time on my feet was harder on my hip on the good leg from favoring the hamstring a bit.

    That night we caught our flight and arrived back in SLC around 11:30.

    Got home this morning. I went on a 32 mile mountain bike ride. The longest rides I had been doing offroad before last week were 20 milers. This was the second at 32 miles and my quads got pretty tired again. I'm going to do a lot of biking while I can't run but I worry that increasing my biking too much in just one week could cause other problems.

    12 miles bike offroad.

     I've tried running a few times but my hamstring tightens up bad after about 5 steps.

     I went on another offroad bike ride. I rode the second half hard keeping my HR above 160 on most of it. 20 miles total in 1:13 my second fastest time on that route. 16.3 MPH ave.

     Rode the same route as yesterday. I thought I would be tired after yesterdays hard ride but I felt good and rode almost as fast.

    Today I could run about 50 steps carfully keeping the hamstring relaxed before it would tighten up. I did it 3 or 4 times throughout the day. From reading on the internet I learned that my hamstring tear is a grade 2 out of 3 grades. It's good to keep it moving without hurting it. I've been irrigating since getting home and that causes me to walk about 3 miles a day which is probably good for the hamstring but it's causing a sore hip on the opposite side from favoring it. I'm starting to get a normal stride back though.

     I'm trying to keep from losing too much arobic fitness by riding but I'd probably have to be riding over 200 bike miles per week to equal what I was running. Since I have been only riding about 40 miles per week, that isn't reasonable right now. I did about 94 this week offroad.

    We spent the day at bear lake. I tested the hamstring and running in bare feet on the packed sand didn't feel to bad.  I ran a little less than 1/2 mile up to a restroom then back just slow and trying to keep the hamy relaxed. It didn't feel to bad. Probably 10 or 11 pace.

    This morning I ran 1/4 mile twice at about 10 min. pace. Hopfully I might be able to start running a few miles soon.  I went on a 40.4 mile ride on my mountain bike. 20 miles of it on dirt. 14 miles of the highway part was a 3 mile climb from Treasurton over the pass then 4 mile desent to the bear river just south of Thatcher. Going down the Thatcher side I had a tailwind and was cruising at 30 to 35 without much effort. It was almost as much fun as the climb back up with a headwind was work. I had to fight a headwind all the way home. The wind got a lot stronger halfway through my ride. I didn't get much tailwind on my way out but a lot of headwind going back. I was trying to somewhat simulate a long run and I kept my HR ave above 150 for 2 hours of the ride and averaged 148 HR for the whole ride which took 2:38. 15.3 MPH ave. Thats not to impresive on a road bike but with the wind and hills and 20 miles of gravel road it was a lot of work.

    The last 20 mile run I did, 1 week before my injury, I ran in the same amount of time with a 140 HR  at 8:13 pace. So cardio wise this should have been comprable to running 20 at sub 8 pace. I hope.

    Under the circumstances I decided to convert to running miles using 10 min. per mile.

    PM  I did another slow run for 1/2 mile.

    It's been 2 weeks since my little accident and 2 weeks of no running. I decided to try a little more this morning and ended up running 2.5 miles taking 1 minute walk breaks every 2 or 3 minutes of running. 10: 25 pace. It felt pretty good. It did start to tighten up a bit just before each walk break but didn't seem to be to bad after the run. I may try a little more tonight if it still feels good.

    Then I went for a 20 mile mt. bike ride offroad. It felt pretty good after yesterdays ride and just wanted a good recovery ride. I actually ave. the same MPH as yesterday but my HR averaged 135 after yesterdays at 148. It was all about the wind and the 2 big climbs yesterday.

    PM   I wasn't feeling any pain from this mornings run so I went for another. I feel a slight pain while running and feel like I have to stride carefully. I went 3.2 miles at sub 10 min. pace. Whahoo! I did walk breaks of 3 min. running 1 min. walking. I don't think I could go much faster or much farther between walk breaks but I could probably do more total distance but decided to play it safe. The last thing I need now is a step backward in my recovery.

This morning my hamstring was a little tight from yesterdays runs. I took off slowly to see if it would loosen up a bit but after 1/2 mile I realized it was harder to run because of more sorness than yesterday so I slowly ran the 1/2 mile back and decided not to run today. I decided I'm only going to run when the pain is better than or at least no worse than the run before. The hardest part of this recovery for me will probably be patience especially when I'm still thinking there's a chance at SGM. Every day that I can't run is frustrating. I went for a 15 mile ride on my mountain bike.

    PM   went for a 12 mile bike ride off raod.

   This morning I went for 20 on the mountain bike. I tried running again but after one mile I decided to rest it again. It felt better tuesday and I guess I did to much.

    This morning the hamy felt a bit better so I went for 2 1/2 miles running slowley and taking walk breaks every 3 or 4 minutes depending on how it felt just trying to keep the discomfort to a minimum. It's been 5 or 6 hours since the run and it sill feels good.

    I went 26.5 miles on the mountain bike and did kind of a progression ride. I did the first 9 easy at 137 ave HR. The next 9 harder effort at 147 ave HR. The last 8.5 at 156 ave. HR which is a tempo  effort for me. 10 miles were on pavement 16.5 on dirt.  

ave. MPH 16.4

    This morning I should have been running TOU half. It's one I had really been looking forward to this year. I was thinking it was realistic to run it around 1:23. Instead I'm running 3.5 miles at a 10 1/2 min. pace still needing to take walk breaks. This is basically the third week of  practically no running. Sub 3 at SGM is pretty much out of the question now [the race predicter had me at about 2:53].I'm just wondering if I will even be able to run it. It's a bummer when I think about how well things were going and it really wasn't even a running injury just a split second that changed everything.

    Went 6 on the bike. 

    This morning I ran 5 miles. The hamstring did pretty good. I walked 4 times and ran a 9:50 pace. Last week while running I would get pain halfway down to my knee. Today I didn't get that at all just a burning up higher in my butt area that didn't get much worse during the run. That was definitly the biggest improvement I have seen so far.

    I went for 15 miles on the mt. bike. I woke up last Sat. morning with a sore hip flexor most likely from going from 40 miles a week on the bike to 140 much to quickly not to mention the upped intensity on a lot of the rides to try and match what I would be doing if I was still running. I took it easy on Sat., rested Sun., and went easy again today. It was still sore Sun. but feels pretty good today. Hopfully I will be able to replace a lot af that riding with running  soon.

    PM 1 mile

    This morning I thought I'd run a slow 5 miles again but a little after the first mile I started having some of the pain I was having last week in the hamstring. I didn't have any pain there yesterday so I finally decided to call it off after a little more than 2 miles and had to walk back. I could have kept running but I just don't want to chance going backward with this injury. I then went 24 miles on my mt bike offroad.

     Yesterday I was proud of myself for ending my run when I did because my hamstring was feeling a lot better all day. I was thinking about how good todays run was going to be. Then last night while irrigating I was pulling on a pipe that came loose when I wasn't expecting it and caused me to twist and step awkwardly. I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring where I must have reinjured it a bit. This morning it still hurt just to walk on it as much as it did 2 weeks ago before I started any running again. So no running this morning. I went 20 miles on the mt. bike at medium hard intensity.

    Today I still had a little soreness from the reinjury 2 days ago so I decided not to run again. I went for 20 miles on the mt. bike. I'm hoping I can run a little tomorrow. Our temps have been a little crazy. Yesterday morning I had ice on the alfalfa when I went out to move the wheel lines. It damaged some of our squash plants in the garden but luckily not the tomatoes. This is awfully early for frost and our last frost this spring was June 11 which is extra late. Not much of a growing season this year. It's hard to belive it could be 32 deg in the morning then up tp 80 deg 6 hours later.

    I had an encouraging run today. I went 3 miles at 8:47 pace. Pain was very minimal and felt fine afterward. In my previous runs since the injury I have had to keep the pace around 10 min. to avoid pain so the pace was good. I took one short break in the middle.

    One positive to come from this injury is that it's got me in the best bike shape I've been in. I rode hard today on the mt. bike and beat my pr on my favorite 20 mile 15 miles of dirt, 5 miles blacktop course by 3 1/2 minutes. It took 1:09 and averaged 17.4 MPH. For me that wouldn"t be to bad pace for a mt. bike on a paved course with that many hills. My HR ave. was 150 for the first 5 miles and I kept the ave. at 164 for the rest of the ride as high as 173 on a couple of hills. Hopfully this type of workout will  keep my V02 max from disapearing to much. 1 more mile cooldown.

    I took my son bowhunting this morning. We hiked about 4 miles. My hamy seamed to handel the hiking ok. I noticed it a bit when stepping over logs. After I got home I ran 3 miles with one walk break. I couldn't go quite as fast as yesterday without discomfort in the leg. 9:30 pace.

    PM  we went back out elk hunting for the evening and hiked about another 4 miles a lot being on pretty steep rugged terrain. All the hiking today should be some good cross training and wasn't to tough on the hamstring but I needed to be very carefull. By the time I got back I was glad to be finished as it was starting to ache a bit but it feels ok now. Hopfully after resting it sunday I'll be ready for a little better run on Monday.