faster with age

    Went on a 5 mile run at 8:44 pace. I felt pretty good other than the slight back pain I ran with for 2 or 3 months earlier this year was there again. Hopfully this won't get worse. Kept the run easy. Using lots of ice. It's amazing how months of good training can disappear after 4 or 5 weeks away from it. I ran up and down 1 mile of 6% grade one time during the run. down in 7:57 back up in 8:45 which was the only hard mile I put in.  Felt like MP effort on that mile.. Hammy felt fine. It seems to let me run all the easy miles I want without problems but I know it's not all recovered because there are some motions that are still quite painfull. 

    Went for 10 miles on the mountain bike. may do more later.

    I did the long bike ride again today one last time before SGM. 56 miles on my mt. bike. 36 on dirt and 20 paved. I went a little farther than last week. I went at a pretty hard pace the whole ride expecially the last hour and a half. The ride took 3:25. Ave 16.1 MPH. I felt pretty strong the whole ride not like the last 2 weeks when I tired out in  different sections. I don't know how much this will help in the marathon but I figure keeping my HR up pretty good for 3 1/2 hours should help since I can't do it running yet. My back is still a little sore and with yesterdays easy run and no run today I'm hoping not to risk making it worse.

    I went over to Weston canyon this morning to try some hill running. My wife dropped me off at the top of a 3 mile stretch of the canyon that climbs about 480 feet, not to steep, then parked the car at the bottom while she walked up the canyon. I didn't plan to go to hard and just go with how I felt. The first 3 miles downhill I averaged 7:22 pace.  I ran back up at 8:25 pace [a little harder effort than down]. I headed back down and picked up the pace a bit. It felt ok so I went with it. Last 3 miles 6:49 pace. My back was a little sore mostly downhill but not bad. My calf tightened up a bit again seemed to be from the uphill. My hamstring had the same slight burn throughout but did get more intense at the end of the faster downhill but felt fine afterward and still does. My calf and back are still a little tight. That is by far the fastest I have run in the 6 weeks since my hamstring injury. Pace for all 9 miles was 7:32. I haven't averaged faster than 8:20 on a run post injury [ although 2/3 of the run was downhill]. The last three felt ok but no way felt like I could go 26 mi. at that pace but considering I did  3 1/2  hard hours on the bike yesterday I guess I can't complain. I think it was a real good workout as long as I didn't make anything worse. I guess I'll know by tomorrow.  It seemed odd to finally put down some miles that weren't in the easy column.

    We made a trip to Jackson Hole for a couple days. My wife had a confrence to attened for her work. My hamstring and calf felt fine today after yesterdays faster miles but my back is bothering me again. I brought my mt. bike on the trip and went for a 20 mile ride on the backroad of the elk refuge.  Later I ran 1 mile on the treadmill at the hotel.

    This morning I went for another 20 on the mt. bike. I road at a tempo type effort most off the way. The sun wasn't up when I left and there was ice on the cars. I took off in shorts figuring I would be plenty warm enough after 10 or so minutes like running but the wind created from riding kept my legs quite cold until way after sun up. My back felt a bit better and I was planning to run after but my son wanted to hike to the top of the snow king mountain at the ski resort. It gains about 2000 feet in 2 miles. We hiked up at a pretty brisk pace. I wore my garmin and my heartrate was about like it would be doing 8:45 pace. Probably good cross training. We went back down very quickly mostly at a light run. I never did get a chance to run the rest of the day. Hope to get in a decent run tomorrow. Whatever my back will allow.

    I went for a 12 mile run this morning. My back was a little sore to start but after about 2 miles it was fine. The first 4 miles I ran at 8:24 pace. Then I picked it up and did 7 1/2 miles at 7:27 pace. For right now this may be my MP. My HR is noticeably higher at this pace than it was pre injury. I was running about 6:50 pace at the same HR. I felt a slight pain in my calf throughout that didn't get much worse but I have a feeling it may be a bit of an issue in the marathon. My hamstring also started to get a bit of discomfort the last few miles like it got at the end of wednesdays run. Last week I ran 44 miles after 14 the week before. This week I was hoping for 55 or 60. With my back acting up I wound up with a grand total of 27 miles for the week. I feel very unready for SGM in 2 weeks. My back feels pretty good right now but I suspect tomorrow it will be sore again. Overall pace for 12 miles 7:47