faster with age

    Ran 5.25 miles. Just wanted to keep it easy and comfortable around 8:30 pace but my pace ended up being a little faster than it felt and everything felt good probably because I haven't run since saturday after I made the hamstring sore again. It felt good today and I felt like running a couple miles around 7:00 pace but resisted the urge because I felt the risk of reagravating the hammy outweighed any possible benefit at this point. Average pace ended up at 7:59 for 5 miles. I'll probably do one more easy run tomorrow and either take fri. off or something very short.

    Ran 4 miles this morning at 8:35 pace. I felt fresh and ready to go and felt like going faster. My back, calf and hamstring all felt great. I'm not even going to attempt sub 3 Saturday after my hamstring flareup last Sat. I plan to keep everything above 7 min. pace closer to 7:25 pace. Under the circumstances I would be very happy with 3:15. My PR is 3:24:59 so lowering that by any amount would be good. I plan to go out very conservative and if my hamstring is doing good late [and my legs in general after my lack of mileage latley] I might try to pick it up a bit. I have really only had 2 good training weeks in 9 weeks of only 44 and 48 miles running and about 55 miles total for the other 7 weeks combined. I am glad to just be making the start line and wasn't very sure that would happen until last week. 3 1/2 weeks ago I was considering canceling for gauranteed entry next year so I already feel somewhat successful. I'm not planning a run tomorrow we have about a 7 or 8 hour drive. Hope to see and meet some of you there.

    The wind and the rain turned out to be the story of the day. I went into this race figuring I would be very happy with a 3:15 finish after tearing my hamstring badley nearly 9 weeks ago. I wasn't sure I would make the start line until the last couple of weeks. In the past 9 weeks I only got in 2 good weeks running in the 40s mileage wise and 1 week in the 20s. I did do a ton of biking though while I couldn't run. I only did any MP miles the last week and a half before marathon week.

    The race started very dark in the rain with a driving headwind that never quit. I enjoyed the rain and temperature but definatly could have done without the headwind.  I decided I was going to just start out at a pace that would be good enough for 3:15 and after the halfway point see how I felt and go from there. The pace felt very easy to me the first 10 or 11 miles and it was tempting to pick up the pace but I resisted. In an MP run one week before the race, my hamstring tightened right up to the point I had to quit running and I didn't want to risk that happening today. As I got close to the half I started feeling the effects of my low mileage a bit and the pace quit feeling so easy. I crossed the half in 1:37:06. Pretty much on target.

     Around miles 14 and 15 my hammy started to tighten slightly, but worse than that was my quads starting to get sore. My hamstring never got any worse but my quads seemed to get worse with each mile. With about 4 miles to go my calves joined the party and started to compete with my quads to see who could cause me the most discomfort. I still felt like I had plenty of energy but my legs sure were hurting. I just tried to maintain the pace the best I could for those last miles.

    Here are my splits :

1-  7:09

2-  7:18

3-  7:01

4-  7:06

5-  7:10

6-  6:54

7-  6:53

8-  8:09

9-  7:55

10- 7:44

11- 8:01

12- 7:38

13- 7:13

14- 7:26

15- 7:02

16- 7:03

17- 7:25

18- 7:32

19- 8:05

20- 7:17

21- 6:58

22- 7:34

23- 7:26

24- 7:14

25- 7:32

26- 7:28

26.2-6:32 pace

With my lack of mileage the past few weeks I was expecting sore leg muscles I just didn't expect it to start so early in the race. I was training toward a sub 3 before my injury but all in all I was quite happy with 3:14 considering all the conditions. It was an 11 minute PR for me so I guess I can't complain.

    We spent Saturday night in Mesquite. Did some swimming in the hotel pool in the morning. It felt good on the sore muscles. Also did some walking and enjoyed nice Buffets with my wife and son Sat. night and Sun. morning.

Rest . Quads and calves are very sore.

    I did a 15 mile mt. bike ride this morning. It felt good. I was planning to take it easy but it felt good to ride some of it aggressive and felt I could have gone a lot farther. My calves don't feel much like running yet. Maybe tomorrow.

    Ran 3.5 miles this morning at 8:42 pace. Everythings feeling pretty good. Could very slightly feel the hamstring but now that I have no pressure to push things to get ready for the marathon I think it will quickly heal the rest of the way.

    Went fishing all day.

    Went for a 7 mile run this morning. It was 34 degrees and snowing calmly it was really nice. I even wore shorts. Everything felt quite recovered after the marathon. I could still feel something slight in my calves and hamstring. I wouldn't call it pain but just a slight reminder of what they did a week ago. I guess winter is about here.  I was suprised how much higher my HR was on this mornings run. I don't know if it's because I pretty much took this week off from running and cycling or that I am still recovering from the marathon.

8:28 pace

    Yesterday morning it was 19 degrees and I had to kick on the furnace for the first time this year.

    This morning it was 19 deg. but no wind so not to bad. I ran 10 miles up around the reservoir. It was nice with the sun coming up and shining on all the cottenwood leaves that are turning yellow and  the steam coming off the lake and nobody else around. I ran the first 5 at 8:24 pace and the last 5 at 7:33 pace [last mile was 7:06]. 7:58 pace overall.

    I'm feeling pretty recovered from SGM. I could still feel some very slight soreness in my calves the second half but I didn't even feel a hint of anything from my hamstring. There are still certain moves that cause pain in my hammy but hopfully it won't be an issue while running anymore.

    Went for a 20 mile mt. bike ride this morning. Temps in the 20s. A few miles of my route were just graded which makes for slow going with the loose gravel.

    Ran 10 miles at 8:09 pace. I didn't run until 9 o'clock and the temp was up to 34 and sunny with no wind. Ideal running weather. Wore shorts and had to lose the sweatshirt after a couple miles. There's probably not to many of these mornings left before winter.

    20 miles on the mt. bike this morning. 29 deg. at start with no wind and a few snowflakes. About 6 miles of my route got graded yesterday and the lose gravel makes for a lot more effort. There's not much traffic so it takes a while to pack it back down. One advantage in the cold is cold water in the water bottle. When it's over 80 degrees even a frozen waterbottle gets so hot it's almost nasty after an hour or two.

    I feel pretty recovered from the marathon but I still want to be carefull at least for another week. I think I'll keep running every other day [like I did recovering from my injury] for just a bit longer to be safe.

     I went for a 15 mile bike ride with my wife. Nice weather. I've got a pain in my right hip that started Wednesday night that hopfully is nothing but it reminds me of a pain I had in my left hip 2 years ago that I had to battle for months. I really hate skipping a run but I decided the possible risk outweighed the benefit of even a short run. I may end up skipping tomorrow also but I'm going hunting and will be doing a lot of hiking. Hopfully by monday this will be nipped in the bud. I guess I jumped the gun in thinking I was completely recovered from the marathon.

     No running again.  My son and I went deer hunting in the morning and did 3 1/2 hours of hiking. Then our pheasasnt hunt opened at noon and we did another 2 1/2 hours. I'm guessing we covered less than 10 miles but I felt much more worn out than running 10. My hip seems to be slightly better [all the hiking probably wasn't the greatest for it but it didn't make it worse].

     This morning I ran 6.5 miles at 8:30 pace. My hip felt good running other than a slight soreness the first 1/4 mile. I felt real good and was tempted to go farther and faster but resisted the urge. I wanted a little more workout so I went on a 15 mile mt bike ride.

     Mt. biked 20 miles.

     This morning it was 17 degrees. A bit chilly after the last 2 nice mornings in the 40s. I ran 8 miles at 8:22 pace. My hip is feeling better. It really doesn't hurt much when I run but afterward it is a bit sore doing some simple moves like getting out of the car. As long as it continues improving I think I'll keep running easy every other day and biking in between.

     This morning I went 30.5 miles on the mountain bike. The temp started at 18 deg but warmed to a nice sunny 43.

     Ran a relaxed 10 miles this morning at 8:33 pace. 24 deg. and calm. As of last weekend I had gained 5 lbs in the 2 weeks since the marathon. I hadn't been eating more overall but probably a bit more junk in combination with the reduced mileage. This week I have increased the training time back up a bit and I've dropped a couple lbs back off already.

     Ran 1 mile out to get the newspaper this morning. Was going to do some more later but never got the chance. My hip still isn't 100% so the extra break might be good anyway.

     Yesterday I had a stomach virus. Spent the day in bed and couldn't eat. I felt better this morning and was able to eat breakfast so I went for a 6 mile run. I felt a little weak but the cold air felt good and running felt good as long as I went easy. 9:02 pace.

     Went on a 20 mile mt. bike ride this morning.  I didn't go until about 9:30 and it had warmed into the 40s. Nice morning with no wind. All the leaves have changed. It made for a nice ride. I'm still feeling the affects of Sundays stomach problems a bit but much better. It was a quick way to loose the rest of the weight I'd gained the 2 weeks following the marathon although not the preferred method. I just went at a moderate pace it took just over 1:20 I rode by a pheasant hunter and was a bit jealous on such a nice morning. My son just got his first pheasant and was quite excited about it. He had several chances last year and was usually to slow to get a shot off. Now that's all he wants to do. 

PM ran 2 miles with my son at 9:36 pace.

     I went for an easy 6 miles this morning at 8:16 pace. I can't quite seem to shake this hip problem.  I would like to get my running mileage back up around 60 a week for 6 or 7 weeks before the Painters 1/2 mar. in January but I don't want to start building back up until my hip is at least improving. It's kind of an odd pain and I'm not sure if I even need to worry about it because it dosen't hurt when I run or walk but the days after I run I will get a sharp pain from making just the wrong move. It seems to be expecially bad after sitting a while. After a long ride in a car I will get a very sharp sudden pain when I go to get up. Stretching the area seems to make it worse. It feels better on my non running days. I'm cutting the mileage of my runs lower this week and if I see no improvement I may not run at all for a few days or a week.

PM    Ran 3 miles with my son at 10:08 pace.

     30 miles on the mt. bike this morning. 26 deg. to start and a sunny 42 to finish. very calm  except a stiff headwind climbing up the canyon to Thatcher summit made for a lot of work and slow going but fast back down.

PM    ran 2 miles easy.

     This morning I meant to run 6 miles but wasn't paying attention and wound up with 7. I've been keeping my runs shorter this week and my hip seems to be getting a little better. Kept it easy again at 8:32 pace.