faster with age

     I ran 8 miles this morning after not running since thursday. My hip was a little sore throughout the run. Probably from the stress I put on it packing out meat last week after not being fully recovered from the marathon. I guess I should run marathons that aren't during hunting season. Last year I had to pack my elk out 1 week after TOU. My calf is still improving and felt completely better for the first half of the run but I felt it some the second half especially the last 2 miles where I did 5 or six short striders. 8:26 AP

Ran another 8 miles this morning. I ran the first 1/4 of each of the last 2 miles at 5:58 and 5:53 pace. It felt way hard. My hip felt better today to begin with but was worse at the end. Probably because of the faster pace the second half. 7:54 AP

      Went hunting in the morning and put on about 5 miles of hiking in steep terrain.

     I'm planning to run a 5K next week and then another the week after that. Since I haven't run anything at 5K pace in almost 3 months [2 days ago I ran 2x1/4], I figured I'd better do some. I went to the track to run 5x1,000. I started with a 3.5 mile warmup at 7:45 pace. The 1,000s were 3:46, 3:53, 3:50, 4:37, 3:47. I lost count and went an extra 200 on number 4. Average pace for these was 6:09. I ran 400 recovery between each at around 2:10 each. This workout felt pretty hard. I was hoping to run at least that pace in next weeks race but I guess we'll have to see what happens. My hip and calf felt pretty good. Overall pace for 8.5 was 7:12.

     Somehow I got my days mixed up and put Thursdays entry on Friday. I guess I'll post Friday and Saturday here

     Friday: I didn't get a chance to run early in the day. We went up to Pocatello to visit my stepdaughter so I did my run up there. I headed up Pocatello Creek Road then onto Saterfield Rd. I didn't realize how steep it was going to climb. Not really what I was looking for on a recovery run so I just kept it extra easy. I'm not used to running in traffic and kept thinking about Kory getting hit here last year. It was dark by the time I finished. 7 miles at 8:55 AP.

     Saturday: Service project this morning. A good sized group of us spent most of the day cutting and hauling wood. I try to be careful with all the lifting involved with these kind of things. I never know how my back is going to take these activities. I didn't get a chance to run until after dark. I was very unmotivated but already skipped one day this week. Back was a little sore but not too bad. Ran 6 miles.