faster with age

     It was a nice cool morning in the upper 40s. Perfect running weather. I took off hoping to get in at least 10 and possibly 12 if everything felt ok. I seemed to have no soreness from the race and felt really good. My mileage has been inconsistent and I was hoping to get some decent mileage the next few weeks. I resisted the urge to pick up the pace and just kept it easy. I felt so good I ended up going 14 at overall average of 8:13 pace. My thinking was that I was making up for no long run last week. Now I'm kicking myself for running that far right after a race of that distance. About the time I finished up my right hamstring and glute got sore and were sore the rest of the day. At least I didn't pick up the pace on the run. 

     During the run, I went past a camp by the reservoir. I saw a couple of pitbull cross dogs as I went by on my way up. They were eating and didn't appear to ever see me as I ran by and the people were still asleep in the tent. On my way back as I approached, the guy was out taking down the tent. I was looking for him to spot me so he could be ready to control his dogs if needs be but he never saw me. One of the dogs was nearby and saw me this time just after I was past but it didn't bark or pursue so I figured they weren't agressive. As I got a little farther down the lakeshore I saw a couple of young kids fishing with the other dog. There were a lot of trees and brush so they never noticed me until I was quite a ways past. Then this other dog spotted me and took of at a dead run up to the road and then after me. He was not barking so nobody even noticed he was gone. I'm thinking oh great! if this dog is agressive there will be nobody to call him off and the only people within any kind of earshot were little kids. I'm not afraid of dogs for the most part but this situation was getting my adrenaline going. I already had a lot of distance on him and he had a lot of ground to cover so I continued at the pace I was going hoping he would give up and go back. I was starting to look for a big stick or rock and was about to stop and face him as he approached but about then he stopped so I just kept running and he turned and went back. I was probably never in any danger but the unknowns of the situation was a bit spooky.

     Hamstring felt a bit better today but I decided to play it safe and skip the run. I went for a 30 mile ride on my mt bike. Climbing the canyon to Thatcher summit I had a strong headwind which made for a tough climb. Medium effort for most of the ride but really hammered the last 5 miles.

     Tried an easy 5 mile run to see how the hamstring/glute? felt. I kept the pace easy and it felt fine on the run. Later that day the soreness came back while doing anything that required much walking.

     A big zero for today. I figured I had better take another day off from running but was hoping to get out on the bike. Very busy day and didn't make it out. Hopefully tomorrow.

     Still having hamstring soreness. It seams as though just moving irrigation pipe each day is keeping it sore and re straining it. I thought I could at least get in a good bike ride today but my day started at 5:30 am and the first chance I would have had was 10:00 pm and I don't have a light for my bike. I had really planned to get in some good training this next couple of weeks with some good speed work thrown in to get ready for the Des news 10k on the 24th but now it seems I've had to shift gears and do nothing.

     Hamstring is feeling a bit better but I still don't want to risk a setback by running. I was hoping to get in a good 50 mile my bike ride but once again my day started at 5:30 am and it was 8:15 pm before I got a chance to ride. Since I only had a little over an hour I decided to make the most of it and ride hard. I did my favorite mt bike loop that's 20.2 miles. I finished in under 1:10 which is a PR for me on that route which is 7 miles of pavement and 13 on dirt with some of it quite bumpy and quite a few hills.