faster with age

     It rained a lot of the night and through the first half of the day. I just about went out in it but decided to wait and run in the afternoon. I went out around 3 o'clock and now it was 77 deg and with the sun burning down on all the wet alfalfa and cornfields I run past, it was very humid. I was kind of wondering why I had picked this over the downpour this morning. I ran 10 miles and actually felt like I had better energy than I did before Saturdays race. Kept the pace fairly easy. 8:13 AP

     I was looking back at my bike training over the last 3 weeks to get ready for the biathlon. I thought it was interesting that after doing my first 2 rides easy, the first ride that I pushed the pace hard my heart rate only averaged 137. On another ride 5 days later I pushed the pace as hard as I could going up a long hill and was able to get my HR to 160 but only for a few seconds and I was about ready to puke. The next week I did a hard ride on the actual biathlon course and was able to average 148 HR. 8 days later at the race I averaged 162 for the whole bike portion and was up to 170 on a couple of the hills. My speed was much faster with the higher HRs. I was kind of amazed at how fast the progression was. I wish I would have started earlier. Another 2 or 3 weeks probably really could have helped. There's always next year.

      Ran another 10 this morning but got it done early while it was nice and cool. I felt good on this run and was tempted to pick up the pace but after 2 races last week I think I'll keep all of my miles somewhat easy this week. 8:12 AP

     Ran 10 miles this morning. My back was a little tight and sore to start. I ran the first couple of miles around 9 min pace. Things loosened up and felt better after that. 8:25 AP

     Another 10 miles up around the reservoir this morning. My hip was a bit sore on Monday probably from the 2 races last week so I haven't done any faster running this week. Hip seems to be doing good. 8:12 AP

     An easy 7 miles this morning planning on 20 tomorrow. 8:41 AP

     This morning at 5:30 when I should have been starting my 20 mile run, my son and I headed out to scout for deer. It was a nice 49 degrees. By the time we got back and I got out it was around 8:30. It was still nice [about 64 deg] when I started but with the sun getting up high and no clouds it quickly felt much warmer. I have a water stash 6 miles out. I wasn't that thirsty on the way out but on the way back [at 14 miles] I was very ready for a drink and looking forward to it for a couple of miles before I got to it. I ran the first 4 miles at 8:04 ave, the next 3 at 7:46, next 5 [8-12] at 7:33 pace, next 6 [13-18] at 7:24 pace, last 2 at 6:55 and 6:43. I ran up past the reservoir and on out the canal. On Saturday mornings there are often people camped at the reservoir and I like the smell of campfires and cooking breakfast lingering in the trees as I run through. Most of the canal has a nice 2 track along it that stays beat down enough from the  water master driving it, which makes it nice to run on, but there is a 2 1/2 mile section that doesn't seem to have had any traffic on it yet this year. It has a lot of grass from knee to belly height covering the old 2 track that makes the running tough. I have to be careful not to roll an ankle. The temp was 73 when I finished but I would have guessed it was 80. It always feels warmer when the direct sun is that high. Last 2 marathon pace miles felt hard. Hard to imagine keeping that pace for 26 but overall it was a good run. Overall pace for 20 was 7:34.

     10 miles on reservoir road. Kept the pace easy. 8:46 AP

     Another 10 miles up past the reservoir this morning. I was thinking about doing a short tempo during part of the run but my legs were feeling slow so I just kept the pace easy again. I might still not be 100% recovered from last Saturday. Recovery seems to come slower as I get older. Did 5 or 6 strides of 15 to 20 seconds each during the last 2 miles. 8:28 AP overall.

     7 miles 8:48 pace.

     Went overt to Weston canyon this morning to get in some up and down hill running. I parked at the reservoir 3 miles up the canyon and ran 2 miles warmup at 8:07 pace. Then I ran the 3 miles down the canyon at 6:38 ave pace. Got a drink of water then ran the 3 back up at 7:43 pace. Then 3 back down at 6:22 pace. I actually felt better the last time down. my back was feeling a bit tight and it just took a few miles to get loosened up. Yesterday I had to dig up a 10" irrigation mainline to make a repair. The backhoe does most of the work but there is still a lot of manual digging in wet heavy clay mud that sticks to your shovel. I think that is where the back soreness came from but it feels ok now. I ran another 2 cool down miles 1 up the canyon and 1 back down to make 13 total. Then I rode my bike [that I had stashed] the 3 miles back to the top. The canyon climbs about 350 feet in those 3 miles so not too steep but a nice grade. I had a coyote run across in front of me and saw a few deer and a couple of blow snakes. Nice cool morning but it did get a little warm at the end when most of the shade was gone. Pace for the 9 mile workout was 6:54. Overall pace for all 13 was 7:15.

     The temp was 43 deg this morning when I went out to move pipe. We keep the windows open at night and it was 53 deg in the house. My back was a little sore while I was out moving wheel lines and I was going to take some ibuprofen before my run but after eating breakfast it felt a little better so I went without. I ran 10 miles at a nice slow recovery pace. I could definitely feel yesterdays workout in my legs but as long as I kept it slow it wasn't too bad. I don't usually watch my heart rate while I'm running and try to keep it in different zones but today I tried to keep it under 130. Overall pace was 8:52/mile. Heart rate 128 ave.

     Spent last night at my parents house in Sandy. Did a 10 mile run in the morning out 13th east to the park in Draper where the Draper days 5k starts. It was exactly 5 miles to the restroom and drinking fountain in the park. I made use of each and then back. I was surprised how many runners and bikers where out. I'm not used to seeing anybody on my runs.

     In the afternoon my wife and I took my brother from Texas over to watch the 4th stage of the tour of Utah. It's called the toughest stage race in the United States. It has a lot of the top racers in the world with quite a few of them fresh off the Tour De France. My brother is now in a wheelchair with MS. When he was 20 he was on the 7/11 cycling team that was the first US team to ride in the Tour De France. He and his team mate Frankie Andreu were the only 2 on the team that didn't get to go to France because they were the newest additions to the team. My brother [after being one of the top 2 junior cyclists in the country] was diagnosed with MS about that time and left the team to serve a 2 year mission. After returning he was not able to train at the same level and was not able to get back on the team. Frankie went on to ride in the tour many times including on all of Lance Armstrongs winning teams. Lance came to the same 7/11 team just after my brother was gone and just before it became the Motorolla team. It was awsome to watch and I enjoyed getting my brothers perspective on what was going on. 

     It was an 11 lap race through the streets of salt lake on a 7 1/2 mile loop so we got to see them about every 16 or 17 minutes. We spent the first half watching from Capitol circle where they were coming downhill at 40 MPH and making a right then quick left turn without slowing a bit. It gave me chills the first time they came by so fast. The support vehicles had tires skidding and squealing around the corners to keep up. It was quite a production with dozens of lead cars and support vehichles and dozens of motorcycles and a helicopter filming the lead group. About halfway through we went over to the finish line by the capitol and saw the last few laps and finish from there. It was awesome.

     Didn't have time to run in the morning before it got hot so I was planning to run late after it cooled a bit. I got busy trying to change a CV joint axel in my jeep cherokee. It was being a real pain and nothing was going right and it ended up taking me until after dark to get finished. Then I had to move pipe in the dark. When I started moving pipe I got a weird pain in my hip and back out of nowhere. It was the same hip that bothers me sometimes but total different pain. It seamed like it came from some of the awkward positions I was trying to pull and pry from while working on the jeep. Decided I better forget the run.

     My back and hip pain woke me up a lot during the night and was more sore this morning than last night. I had a hard time even putting on my hip boots to go out and move pipe. I took 4 ibuprofen and it helped but didn't go away completely. Just after noon, I went for a 20 mile ride on my mountain bike. I rode pretty hard and averaged 16 MPH which is pretty good for me on this course which is mostly dirt with several big hills. A couple of them are steep enough on dirt to slow you to a crawl in a very low gear. It was feeling a bit better this evening and I ran probably 1/2 mile while moving water lines. I'll try running tomorrow and see how it goes.

     I took some more ibuprofen before going to bed last night and my hip/back felt normal this morning. I was wanting to get in a 20 miler the first part of the week but wasn't sure how my back would do so I ran 10 miles up past the reservoir. I felt great when I got home so I ate a banana and got a big drink and headed back out for the same 10 mile run again. I kept the pace easy and felt better than normal for the end of a 20 miler. It probably had something to do with the fact that my pace was 45 sec/mile slower than the last 20 I did 1 1/2 weeks ago. My back and hip felt great on the run and still feel good now. 20 miles at 8:18 AP

     My back was slightly sore this morning but not bad and my hip felt fine. I think the hip pain yesterday was coming from my back problem. However if it's not one thing it's another. Last night out moving water lines I had to do more walking than normal and I started to get some soreness in my lower shin on the outer side. It wasn't as sore this morning while moving pipe but still not good. I started a run afterward but after 100 yds decided I better not risk making it worse. I don't think it's anything that's going to be to big of a problem but didn't want to risk making it worse. We just got the 2nd crop of hay in and we haven't had any rain lately so there's a lot of irrigating to do right now and it's not the best thing for recovery.

     Since I couldn't run for the 3rd day this week, I got on my mountain bike and went 30.3 miles. This route is 1/2 pavement and 1/2 dirt with about 1000 ft of climbing in the first half. It took just under 2 hours. I might try running a few miles tonight if I can. 

     I think I have tendonitis in the tendon that runs up my shin about 5 inches above my foot. It got quite sore again last night moving pipe. The motion of pulling my foot up hurts and there is a bump from the swelling there. I'm a little worries now because I had something similar happen to my wrist and it took weeks to heal. The only thing that seems to cure tendonitis is not using the tendon. It isn't that bad just walking normal but when I'm out moving pipe it aggravates it more I think because I'm walking faster and there is more resistance as I bring my foot forward through the alfalfa. I tried to be much more careful this morning out in the field and it didn't seem to be quite as bad. I'm heading for southern Utah for a few days to go bowhunting so at least I'll get a break from the pipe moving. Hopefully I'll be able to hike ok and maybe get in some running.

     Opening morning of the bow hunt in Southern Utah. I was worried about whether I would be able to hike without aggravating the sore tendon in my leg but after resting it yesterday and lots of ibuprofen the swelling was gone and there was no pain at all. I did about 3 hours of hiking and never felt a thing from it. Got the opportunity to stalk in close to a really nice buck but wasn't quite able to get close enough. 

     I always do some afternoon runs while  I'm down on these hunts and this year I just found out that a long time friend and hunting buddy had just taken up running. He just ran his first race [a half marathon] a couple of weeks ago. He ran a 1:49 off of only 6 weeks training at age 56  and is already signed up for another in 3 weeks. If he keeps with it he'll be kicking some but in that 55-59 age group. So it was nice to have somebody to run with. We both wanted to get in some downhill so we drove up to the pass above camp at just over 9300 ft elevation and ran just under 7 1/2 miles dropping 1800 feet to 7500 feet where we left a vehicle. I wanted a few more miles so I ran another 3 1/2 back up to camp gaining back another 700 ft. Pace going down averaged 8:04. Back up averaged 8:11. I felt good after until that evening when I was out hunting it was killing my quads to go down something steep. I guess I better get some more downhill in before St George to get the legs conditioned for that.

     I did a 5 mile run from camp today on the same dirt road as yesterdays run. Some parts of the road are pretty rocky. Started out going up the canyon easy. When I turned to go back downhill I could still feel the effects of yesterdays run in my quads. Run had just under 500 ft elevation gain and loss. Today I was around 9:30 pace on the uphill and around 8:15 on the downhill. Overall pace was 8:52.

     Came close this morning to getting in on some nice bucks but didn't quite get a shot. I headed home in the afternoon and didn't get home until late. Didn't get in any running.

     10 miles at 8:27 AP

     All of the issues that I had last week seem to be better. I was only able to run 2 days last week but I don't think it set me back too much since they were both key workouts with a 20 miler and a good downhill run plus I did get in some bike miles on my off days. 

     I decided I felt good enough for a workout today and wanted to get in a good marathon pace run. I planned to do some 4 mile intervals on the only 2 mile stretch of pavement I have to run on without getting out on the highway. When I started my run they were just putting out signs at each driveway and lane that said the road would be closed for 1 hour for re oiling. Just my luck. They hadn't started yet so I just started and hoped I could get finished before they started. I started with 1 mile warmup then started the first interval slower progressing to MP after the first mile. I took a 3 minute break for water and stretching after the 1st and 2nd interval. I tried to keep all the miles after mile 3 between 6:45 and 6:50

1 -7:49

2 -7:43

3 -7:16

4 -6:48

5 -6:46

3 min break

6 -6:48

7 -6:44

8 -6:45

9 -6:45

3 min break

10-6:45

11-6:48

12-6:47

13-6:44

14-6:32

The 5th mile on the last interval was going to be a cool down mile but I felt like keeping the pace and let myself pick it up a bit on the last 1/2 mile. Average pace for 12 MP miles was 6:46. Overall pace for 14 was 6:56. I felt real good about this workout. It was hard but not terribly uncomfortable but I didn't feel like I could have kept that pace much more than 1 more interval let alone 3 more to get in the full marathon distance. But then again doesn't  race pace always feel like it will be too hard during training. And I even finished before the road work started.

     Started out on my run this morning with the plan to go 8. My left hamstring felt tight. I've had trouble with my right side but never left. It didn't seem to want to loosen up so I bailed on the run after only 1 mile. Rode 20.5 miles on my mt bike instead.

     I hadn't felt a thing from my hamstring since yesterdays run until I started my run this morning. I had the same soreness/tightness as yesterday but not quite as bad. I ran 4 miles easy with 1 mile down the big highway hill and 1 back up. The discomfort stayed the same throughout the run but decided to cut it short again. 8:44 pace.

     Went for 20 miles on my mt bike again. It was 6 PM and 92 deg.

     My hamstring felt much better this morning but still not 100%. I ran 7 miles and it felt no different at the end than it did within the first 1/2 mile. 8:48 AP

     PM  After dark I ran another 5 miles starting at 8:31 first mile and progressing down to 7 min last mile. 7:46 AP

     This morning I decided to run some hills so I ran out to the highway hill which is exactly 1 mile. Then I ran the 1 mile to the bottom then back up 3 times. I tried to keep the pace fairly easy with the first 2 downhills  in about 7:15 each and the 3rd in 6:44. The 3 uphill miles averaged about 8:56 and were a bit more effort than the down miles. My hamstring didn't give me any trouble. Hopefully I can get back to normal training this week after missing 7 planned running days over the last 2 weeks with 3 different injuries coming on. Luckily each one got nipped in the bud and seem to be feeling better now. 8:04/mile for 8 miles.

     The bowhunt here in Idaho opened this morning and I headed into the hills here near home. I had 3 1/2 miles to hike on a trail back into the area I wanted to hunt. I got away a little late so I was in a hurry to get where I wanted before it got light. I was running when I could and power hiking when it was to steep. I was wearing a 28 pound pack and carrying my bow which made it tough. The trail climbs 1600 ft over that distance up to about 9,000 ft. elevation. Most of the climb about 900 ft is in 1 mile stretch and my calves were really burning by the time I topped out on that part. It took a little over 50 minutes going up about 14:30 pace. I left the trail and hiked down into some basins than I wanted to hunt. I ended up dropping another 700 ft and covering another mile over the next couple of hours while hunting before climbing back up to the trail. I ran the 3 1/2 miles back to the trail head in about 30 minutes [8:40 pace]. It was pretty tough running the steep downhills with the extra weight. I went about 9 miles total but just counted the 7 on the trail. I probably should count the mile hiking back up to the trail. I was hustling up that steep hill and breathing as hard as a 7:30/mile pace. I did come close to getting opportunities at 2 different big bucks but couldn't quite get close enough for a shot.

     Ran 8 miles this morning. My legs felt pretty beat up from yesterday. I think that steep downhill with the extra 30 pounds was something my legs weren't used to. A lot of it was steep enough that I had to run with a galloping type stride. Quads were sore. I kept the pace today pretty slow at 9:20.