Wheeler Farm Loops

Went up to Solitude, with no goals other than to ski around and find a cool viewpoint...

While snapping some photos, I remembered the day Andrea and I skied a great line off that ridge (Stupid Chute, left of center) and realized it was exactly two years ago today. There was SO MUCH snow that winter. 

I'll try running again at some point. Not today, though. I don't really feel like it. That's like 6 days in a row... definitely the most downtime since I got serious about running again.

Spent a lot of time thinking about my March/April training this spring during my solo travels over the past couple days. For two marathons in a row, I had something "big" planned just about two months after the marathon. And two times in a row, I'm not even going to make it to the starting line of that second event. When I look at most (but not all) of my best performances, I've had a very large chunk of "old school" base training come first, before I started jumping into workouts. I didn't do that this time, and forced the issue because the 25K was on the horizon. Instead of letting it come naturally, I pressed too hard, tried to force the fitness, and I paid the price. Sometimes you get away with it, and sometimes you don't. I should have backed off a few weeks ago when my workouts were consistently a little subpar, and I knew I was a little off. The best I can do now is learn from my mistakes and not repeat them three times. 

AM - 5 miles. Ran a bunch of short loops from home, so I wouldn't have to walk far if I felt a twinge. It never happened, so I'll cautiously take that as a good sign. I've only run 3 miles in the past 6 days, so you would think some healing took place during that time (especially since I stopped running last week before it hurt, just when I had a sense that something was wrong).

I was flipping through Trail Running magazine last night (yep, I have a subscription because the photos are usually really cool). The latest issue devoted several pages to "should you smoke weed while running?" I could have written that article in one word! 

AM - 7 miles. Felt about the same as yesterday.

PM - 1.5 miles w/ Andrea. Yeah, I'm going to count that as a run. 

AM - 8.5 miles. Snow flurries!

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 10 miles. Nothing hurts and I don't have any obvious structural weaknesses.

Here's a tip*: If your significant other goes to great lengths to help you with PT/rehab while you are recovering from an injury, don't use the "Bill Rodgers never had to do this crap!" argument to try and get out of it. You will not win the ensuing discussion.

*This is definitely not based on personal experience :-) 

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 10 miles.

I've decided I'm going to continue to lay low for a while. No harder workouts for the time being, and I probably won't race again until Duluth. Rather than the 1/2 champs being the "peak" race of the season, its going to be more of a rust-buster to see where I'm at, and hopefully a stepping stone towards some of my other goals for the year. This approach might not be totally necessary, but I don't want to fall into the same trap I did over the past month - pressing too much because an important target was approaching, and then get absolutely nowhere (or take a couple steps back). I'm just going to focus on building up my mileage and getting healthier... and in June I'll just see how fast I can run off primarily base training. An e-mail exchange with a friend from Saucony and some good talks w/ Andrea this week have reminded me that if I keep pressing for short-term goals, it will be hard to accomplish some of the other things I want to do. So, back to easy miles.

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 8 miles. Broke the one hour barrier.

PM - 5 miles.

Andrea and I went up to Alta today and skied with the other people who primarily ski there once its closed down for the year. Skiing in shorts is the best. Hoping the snowpack can hold on for another month!