faster with age

    This morning I ran 4 miles at a little over 9 min. pace. I took 3 breaks about 1 min. each. Hammy's feeling pretty good but I think I over did it a bit sat. with all the hiking. and running. So I took it extra easy.

    I rode 25 miles on my road bike. My mountain bike routes were muddy with all the rain. That sticky mud can clog your chain and gears to where the wheels won't even turn. Just ask me I've done it. So I stuck to the pavement. I caught a break between storms and only got rained on a bit for about 10 minutes.

    We had another light frost this morning. I had to break out the gloves and sweatshirt for this mornings bike ride. I went for 20 on the mt. bike. My route was mostly dry with just a small amount of mud. I think I will try running every other day this week and see how it goes.

    Yesterday afternoon I put my hamstring through another test. I inadvertantly stuck my elbow right into a large wasp nest with 60 or 70 visable wasps nocking it so it fell to the ground. I started getting stung right as I saw what I had done and got swarmed. I think I came out of the blocks about like Usain Bolt and sprinted for saftey. It  hurt my hamstring but felt ok after 15 or 20 min. so I hope I didn't do to much damage. I got stung about 8 or 9 times between my elbow and wrist.

    This morning I ran 5 miles. I have had a dull ache in my hamstring the past few days up high in my butt. It never got any worse as I ran and felt nearly the same in the last 1/4 as it did in the last. The lower part of my hamstring [halfway down] felt fine. That is where I was getting the pain when I first started running after the injury I felt like going farther, but running until it gets worse is what I normally do so I'm forced myself to stop before that. I ran a 9:03 pace and didn't need any breaks. Then I went for 20 miles on the mt. bike.

    This morning I did a 50 mile mt. bike ride. My legs felt a bit tired from the start. Yesterday I intended to take it somewhat easy but felt good and rode harder than I should have. Near the end of yesterdays ride I had a neighbor following me in his truck. Of course I had to speed up and rode hard for 1 mile keeping it between 22 and 23 MPH on the level into a headwind on my mt. bike. My quads were burning by the time I was done and I'm sure that is what I was feeling today. I didn't think a 1 mile sprint, less than 3 minutes, would make that much difference the next day. I went over the pass on the way to Thatcher down to where the bear river enters the Oneida narrows then took the dirt road that follows 7 miles along oneida reservoir to the dam then another 7 till it hits pavement again at the highway. I did 34 miles of the ride on dirt roads and never passed another vehicle other than a few that were camping. It was a georgeous ride. My hands and arms were getting fairly tired by the time I was done from all the bumpy offroad riding. It took 3:14/ 15.5 MPH overall ave. No running today. Taking the Webelo scouts on a 3 mile hike later.

    Todays run was awsome! I have some hope for SGM again! I was considering canceling for gauranteed entry next year. My recovery the past 2 weeks has been at a standstill [partly due to reinjuring my hamstring early last week]. I was still running 3 or 4 miles at 10 or 11 min. pace with 1 min. breaks once or twice per mile. It has been almost 5 weeks since my injury and it's hard to even call what I've been doing running. My Wednesday run was encouraging at 5 miles but if I tried to run faster than 9 min. pace I would get discomfort in the hammy. This morning I ran 7 miles. I ran the first mile in 8:53 and I pretty much felt normal other than a slight discomfort in the butt area but even that was less than it has been. I told myself I didn't want to risk going any faster but every time I checked the garmin my pace was gradually picking up without me feeling like I was running faster. Everything felt fine so I went with it. By mile five I was at 8:11. Mile 6 at 8:03 and mile seven was 7:56. Overall ave. was 8:23. My running and stride just felt more normal than it has since the injury. I felt I could have run farther. It has been several hours since I finished my run and it still feels great. This is the first run that resembles a normal training run [ even though it would just be a recovery run ]. I know there is a long way to go but today I can see more of a possibility of making the start line. I won't have a taper since there is nothing to taper from. Instead I'll still be building mileage those last 3 weeks. After today I feel confident I should be able to run 10 or 15 miles by next week. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though. Running every other day seems to be helping so I'll probably skip running tomorrow.  

    I did 20 miles on my mt. bike and took it easy.  I felt pretty good after yesterdays 50 miler.

    My hamstring felt great today after yesterdays run but I'm going to rest it from running until Mon. and just run every other day for a few more days. I went on a 15 mile mt. bike ride and then another 15 this evening with my wife. We were just getting home and 5 bucks [ One real nice] were running across my alfalfa field. I hurried into the house and watched them drop off into a ravine. I grabbed my bow and took off after them still wearing my cycling clothes [ shorts and a red shirt] not the normal bowhunting attire.  I put a stock on them as I was being eaten by mosquitos. I ended up 22 yards from the biggest one needing him to take one step in either direction. He turned and walked strait away unaware  that I was ever there. The only direction I couldn't get a shot. I never could get close enough again. Oh well it was exciting.