Seeking a better country...

1.25 episodes of 24.  It was so hot outside, I figured I may as well multitask while sweating.  3@7:30 and 2@7:00.  I won't revisit my confusion about the relative speeds of my treadmill and real running, but tonight gave me pause once again.  Time for ice cream...

AFTER last night on the treadmill, an outside run was in order.  It was pretty warm.  Then the wind started blowing mega-dust off construction sites and I went blind.  Then a gust almost blew me from the freeway overpass onto I-15.  Despite these travails, I made it home.  61 minutes, but I cheated for one drink pit stop.  On the other hand, I got held up picking my way through road construction in the dark, so things even out.

While running the following plan occurred to me for TOU.  Between mile 5-6 this really seemed like the TRUTH.  Any feedback would be helpful.  It's a pretty simple plan.  Miles 1-20 in 138-140 minutes.  Then run the final 10k in 45-48 minutes.  This is a long way off negative splits, which seem reasonable on this course.  

Soccer field laps.  I vowed to ignore the garmin until 10 songs elapsed.  By then I was at 5.7 miles, loafing along.  I never picked things up.  This is the part of training where I break down mentally.  I can't convince myself it isn't too many miles.  My left calf was cramping/sore from mile 2 to the end.  65 minutes

I'm headed to Great Basin tomorrow.  I gotta do 6 miles, take the truck to the dump and finish packing before 9.  Wheeler Peak on Friday, 20 mile run on Saturday, church and Lehman cave on Sunday.  I better get to bed. 

I cut it to 10k.  Temps were great, right around 60.  I'm excited for fall.

Hiked Wheeler Peak with my mom and daughter.  My daughter had a hard time keeping up, but we slowed things down, and made it up and back in under 6 hours.  She was very proud.  I was proud.  I tried to soak my feet in Lehman creek but it was too cold.  I settled for compression sleeves.  This was a great warmup for a 20 miler the next day...

Getting near the top...

I didn't get up very early to beat the heat, because I wrongly forecast the weather.  By the time I ate some Trix and cinnamon rolls, it was around 8.  I left Lower Lehman campground, then ran to the cave visitors center for a drink.  After that, I headed up the Baker Creek road, so I could have less running east straight into the rising sun.  This was a good move, as it cut 6 miles off the end of the run on a Nevada State road.  So I out and backed up to the final campground, and even found some single track between the upper and lower sites.  The extra long splits occurred when I picked my way to the creek to soak my shirt.  Evaporative cooling was my friend.  I got back to the downhill road out of the park and that's where the fast miles were.  I got to the bottom, and stopped at the park Visitor's center to soak the shirt, and did six out and back miles on the 478.  There were grasshoppers flying and lizards scurrying everywhere.  I saw no snakes.  The final miles were tough.  I was very wiped out from the hike on Friday.  Finally, I decided I was training for a marathon and needed to quit being such a baby; I held a reasonable focus, breathing every 4 steps and ceased with the walking every .7 miles.  

My mom picked me up.  I had a yoplait and Dew.  (the store didn't have choc. milk)  We got back to the campsite, and I crawled into the creek.  I gutted it out for those agonizing minutes before numbness sets in, then enjoyed a nice glacier bath for 15 more.  It took 30 minutes to feel my legs afterward, but the plunge definitely did it's job.  We dragged the littluns up to the Bristlecone Pines (3 miles) after lunch and a nap.   

For Trap, the splits.  7:31 7:21 9:37 9:24 10:20 12:29 (creek) 8:08 8:29 7:06 8:47 (creek)  6:45 7:26 6:53 7:02 8:51 (visitors center) 8:12 8:13 8:09 7:59 7:41