faster with age

     This morning I ran my last big workout before St George. The plan was to run 17 miles total with 14 at goal marathon pace. I've been dealing with injuries for the past 5 weeks and it has been 4 weeks this Wednesday since my last MP run. I've only run 1 mile since then at GMP. Most of my miles have been in the upper 8s because anything faster seemed to aggravate things [especially my hip flexor]. I wasn't sure if this run would be a good idea or not so my plan was to just start and if anything started hurting I would bail on the rest of the workout. This was the same workout I did 4 weeks ago except 3 miles farther. The plan was to run a 4 mile course 4 times then add a cool down mile at the end and start with 2 warm up miles.

     First 2 warm up at 7:33 pace then started MP

     3 and 4 at 6:56 and 6:54                   6:53 overall

     5-8:      6:50, 6:47, 6:50,6:45            6:48 overall

     9-12 :   6:46, 6:48, 6:48, 6:55           6:49 overall

     13-17:  6:41, 6:44,6:45, 6:39, 6:43   6:42 overall

                                                             6:47 overall for 15 MP miles

     I took a couple of minutes for a drink between each interval. I felt real good on the warmup but near the end of the 4th mile my legs were feeling tired and this didn't look good for the rest of the workout. I noticed my heart rate was running about 3 to 5 bpm faster than the last time I did this workout and the pace was seeming harder. It was a bummer knowing I had dropped some fitness. the second and third intervals actually started to feel a little better. The wind started to blow harder at around 10 mph and was a headwind for the last 1 1/2 miles of mile 3 and 4 of each interval. I was surprised to still feel ok on the last interval and really pushed the 16th mile which was 3/4 into the wind in 6:39 then started my cool down mile. After 1/4 mile at 7:30 pace I felt good so I sped up and made it another MP mile in 6:43. My hip felt good with only a slight discomfort around mile 15 that went away. I expect it to be a bit sore tomorrow. I'm pretty happy with the run. I think I've lost a little speed since the last one but I think my endurance is as good or better. I actually felt like I could keep going at that pace for a while but not 26 miles. Overall pace for the 15 miles was 6:47 [right at GMP] Overall pace for 17 was 6:53.

     My hip has been feeling pretty good since the run yesterday with only slight discomfort. I even took my son back out after elk last night. We hiked almost 5 miles total back in where we got into the bull last Friday. We spotted a different bull [6x6] but didn't have enough daylight left to go after him.

     I decided to play it safe today and not run so I went on a mt bike ride. 3 miles into the ride going pretty fast down a hill on gravel, my seat suddenly broke off. I stopped and gathered up the pieces [a bolt had broken] and rode the 3 miles back home standing up. I found another bolt and made the repair and went back out for 20 miles to make it 26 miles total. I came across 2 different large blow snakes [one 5 ft and one 4 ft] that were stretched out sunning themselves on the gravel road. I stopped and shooed them both off the road before they got run over. 

     Everything felt good today but I still wanted to keep it a bit of a recovery effort. I ran 8 miles including 1 trip up and down the mile long highway hill. 8:11 AP

     Another easy 8 miles this morning. 8:41 AP

     Pm Went out hunting again with my son and ended up hiking 4 miles. We called in a spike bull that came right in and walked out at 25 yards broadside with one bush covering the bottom 2/3s of his body and my son at full draw. It needed to take 2 more steps for a clear shot but just stood long enough that he finally had to let the bow down. When he finally stepped into the clear I let out a cow call to try and stop him but he just turned away and ran.

      I had to make a trip down to Salt Lake and was gone all day. No chance for a run.

     I got out for a run just before dark. My back was a bit sore from some of the things I was working on the day before being bent over a lot. I started and didn't have much energy. I was running well over 9 min pace for the first couple of miles. After 3 miles things loosened up a bit and I picked up the pace a little. Last 2 miles were under 8 min. Total run was 8 miles at 8:35 pace.