faster with age

     I felt very good this morning and just did a nice easy 8 miles. I would have liked to have gone 10 but I had to get back to get my son off to his first scout camp and I didn't quite start my run early enough. It was a little warmer morning at around 60 deg. but not too bad.

8:11 pace

     PM   Ran 6 very easy miles after dark. Just ran what felt very comfortable without looking at my pace. The temp at 59 felt very good. It's amazing how much cooler it felt than this morning when the sun was shining at almost the same temp.

9:17 pace

     Took a longer mountaint bike ride this morning. It was 45 deg at the beginning this morning and almost needed a sweatshirt but a very nice morning. I did the loop that takes me across to Treasureton where I hit hwy 34 then over to the Bear River then the 14 miles down the Onieda Narrows to hwy 36 Then back up 34 to Winder Res road then across and back home for a little over 48 miles [about 70% on dirt roads]. Beautiful ride down the narrows. While riding past Maple Grove Campground, the trees were filled with the smells of campers cooking breakfast. It made me very hungry.

     PM   Ran 6 easy miles mostly over 9:00 pace. Did 4 or 5 15-20 second pickups the last 2 miles. 8:50 pace overall.

     I went out and did some up hill and down hill tempo miles this morning in Weston canyon. After a 1 mile warm up I ran 3 miles down the canyon at 6:31 ave pace. After a 4 min break I ran the 3 miles back up at 7:24 ave pace. Another 4 min break and then back down at 6:23 ave pace. I picked up a headwind the  last 3 miles. Then I rode my bike [I had stashed] back up. Overall pace for 9 miles was 6:45.

     Woke up with a sore back this morning. We had our first church softball game last night and the other team didn't show so we took turns at batting practice. It's the first time I have swung a bat all year and since it wasn't a game was swinging for the fence every time. I landed a lot of them right at the fence but couldn't quite get one over. I guess I should have known this wouldn't be the best thing for my back. I took some ibuprofin and went on a 30 mile mt bike ride this morning and it's feeling a lot better now. I guess we'll see how tonight and tomorrow go.

     PM   Went for a 6 mile run just under 9 min pace. It was 91 deg at 6 pm when I left after being 47 deg this morning. That's not unusual here in the summer. 

     Ran 10 miles slow.

     I wanted to get out early for a 17 mile run but I had to spend a couple of hours moving irrigation pipe first thing so I didn't get away until 7:30. It was still 55 deg which was great, but quickly warmed until it was 78 deg by the time I was done. Good thing I have some water stashes along the way. I averaged just under 8:30 pace for the first 3 miles then picked it up a bit and averaged 7:46 pace for the next 9 miles. With 5 miles to go I picked up the pace a bit more and averaged 7:10 for the next 2 mi. The last 3 I ran in 7:02, 7:05, and 6:47. Ave pace for last 10 miles was 7:22. Overall pace for 17mi was 7:40.

     That put me over 90 miles for the week which is a big jump but it was mainly a jump in biking miles. They rescheduled  the Cache Valley Biathlon for Aug 15th so I figured I'd better start upping my cycling mileage now. I'm supprised I felt as good as I did today after the extra cycling this week and I didn't have a lot of energy on yesterdays run so I was pleased with how today went.