faster with age

     Morning run 12 miles. Temps were in the 40s to start which felt good but did get up close to 70 by the end. There were still a few muddy spots from yesterdays rain which builds up on the shoes and makes them heavy.  Pace 8:10

     PM   Ran 2 miles in Five Fingers at 7:54 pace then switched to shoes and went 3 more at around 8:45 pace.

     Mt biked 30.33 miles. 17 miles on dirt roads and a 2.5 mile 600 foot climb. I finished in 1:55:19 which is a fast time for me on this route. It usually takes me an hour or more.

     PM    5 easy miles around 9:00 pace.

     Ran 8 miles this morning starting at 8:30 pace progressing to around 7:30 pace. Overall pace was 8:04.

     PM   ran 3 miles at around 9 min. pace. Felt sluggish.

     I'd like to do the Cache Valley Biathlon in June that I have done the past couple of years and it dawned on me that it is 2 weeks from Saturday and I've only been doing 1 or 2 bike rides a week and they have all been easy on recovery days. That just leaves the rest of this week and next week, if I don't want to do much hard riding the week of the race, to get in some intensity. I did do a bit more intense ride than most on Tuesday but I wanted to get in a good one today. I went on my road bike since that's what I'll be racing on and went 25 miles pretty hard. I expecially pushed it on the last 15 and tried to keep it at a tempo effort. I got my best time for that route which has 3 large climbs. Then I rode another 11 at a much easier pace for 36 miles total. I felt very good until the last couple of miles then I suddenly hit a bit of a wall. I guess I was getting close to that 2 hour mark which is about 40 min. longer than most of my rides.

     Ran 10 miles progressing from 8:28 first mile to around 7:40 pace for later miles. I felt a little fatigue from yesterdays hard workout but not as bad as I expected. Overall pace for 10 was 7:57.

     PM   ran 3 miles in Five Fingers.  My feet don't seem to be getting any more used to the gravel in the Five Fingers so today I avoided the gravel sections of the road as much as I could.

     I was planning to run 12 or 13 miles but my hip [that I have had off and on troubles with] was a little sore after running yesterday and a bit this morning so I decided maybe an extra day off [from running] would do more good than running. I went 26 miles on the mt. bike with 10 miles at moderate intensity, 7 miles harder and 8 really hammering.