faster with age

     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.