Running in the Rockies

AM: 16.20 in 10:47 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 157, Max heart rate:174. Min elevation:8,043'; Max elevation: 8,712'; ~1,700' loss/gain. Left around 8:30 this morning and it was already warm. Only brought Nathan handheld water bottle and probably wasn't enough. Wore the compression sleeves on calves and the R calf/shin felt pretty good the entire run. Some soreness in R quad from graston on Friday. Oddly, on some downhills the L quad felt a bit tight. Beautiful run even if a bit warm, definitely need to get out the door earlier next weekend. Saw a bunch of runners out on Magnolia looking strong- wish I looked that strong. Maybe someday. Sat in cold water bath afterwards (we are turning our hot tub into a cold tub for the summer-looking forward to chilly water after long runs). Beautiful day in the mountains.

AM: Early morning PT apt. Stretching and lower back/SI adjustments, then strength, then graston. Ouch.. Legs are already tired! But no soreness from long run yesterday, so that is good. Had planned on an easy 8 afterwards, but as I was walking back to the office to drop my bag off I noticed that there was some wonkiness to my left shoe.. I thought maybe I had stepped in gum or something. When I inspected the shoe I saw that the shoe was completely separating from the sole at the heel through the mid-foot section! What?! Ugh- these are the Asics Cumulus shoes that probably only have ~250 miles on them and are the 'ideal' shoes for my foot strike/gait. So, I am trying to super glue it back together right now- probably will not work, but feel like I have to try. Run will be put off until this evening since I didn't bring a another pair of running shoes down today. Sigh. 

PM: 5 on trails with L and B pups, then 3 more on roads alone. Total: 8.17 mi in 12:06 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 144; Max heart rate: 168. Avg elevation: 8,500'; 1,160' gain/loss. Lots of stop and go on trails with pups today. Met a few bikers and a couple people walking their dogs. Kept B pup on leash the entire time, and L pup when on and off a few times. He did not listen very well when we met people hiking with their dog- totally left my side to go say hello even though I was telling him to stay and/or sit. Ugh. I've got some nincompoops for dogs. Good thing I love them. In other news, my new Brooks Cascadia shoes were super comfortable. 

AM: 5 on trails with pups in 12:11 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 142, Max heart rate:167. Avg elevation: 8,500'; 800' gain/loss. Drizzled a bit at the start of our run, nice and chilly and saw a rainbow. Gluts and quads are super sore from the strength training at PT yesterday. I think I am actually walking a little funny they are so sore. Made it tough to run this morning, but I managed a slow steady pace. B was on leash and L was on and off depending on if he was staying near me or running up ahead and then not coming back when called. Such a stubborn boy. B kept lagging behind, so there was some stopping and correcting going on this morning. Will be nice when I can just run with them and not worry about them not coming back or pulling me off my feet. Someday.. maybe. Foam rolled and stretched afterwards. 

AM: 10.15 in 10:00 avg pace along Boulder Creek Path. Goal was to keep heart rate around 145. Ended up with Avg heart rate: 153, Max heart rate: 168. Got to work on keeping the heart rate down! Much easier to run in Boulder though. Min Elevation: 5,244'; Max elevation: 5,764'; ~500' gain/loss. Ran in the new Brooks Cascadias and things felt pretty good until I hit about mile 2 on the concrete (~8 on the run). The front part of my R foot started to feel numb. Soaked my lower legs in the creek afterwards. The icy cold snowpack melt runoff was painful at first, but felt nice after a couple minutes. The creek is running pretty high and water started going over the spillway at Barker Reservoir on Monday afternoon. 

PM: PT apt. more graston and added a 'cookie' to the R shoe under my arch. Hope this solves some of the problems. He said I probably shouldn't do long road miles in these trail shoes. Ugh. Wish I could find a 'good' shoe. More glut/quad/hamstring strength training afterwards. Still sore from Monday's workout so I am sure I will be hurting for the next few days (in a good way).

AM: 5 on trails with pups in 12:44 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 140, Max heart rate: 160. Avg elevation: 8,500'; 770' gain/loss. Might as well start logging these runs as part running and part dog training time. We stopped at least a couple times each mile for correcting/teaching. Met a guy on the trail early on and L pup was not listening to me at all (was telling him to sit and he refused)... and B pup was going crazy barking and trying to jump up on the guy (luckily I had her on leash). He said he would pet them but they were not calm.. Ha! Calm is not in their vocabulary. Sort of embarrassing though. L pup did pretty well heeling but ran off at one point, so he went back on leash. I stepped on his paw as he was running sporadically in front of me- he yelped and it broke my heart.. but no serious damage done. I almost kicked B in the head as she tried to jump on top of L and fell on the ground in front of me.. luckily, I have reflexes like a cat.... not really, but I managed to avoid her all the same. Silly pups and the things we put ourselves through to make them happy.

Yesterday we came home to a 1.5' deep hole dug into the ground right next to our concrete footer for our deck. L pup was filthy, so it was obvious who the culprit was. He knew right away he was in big trouble.. all I had to do was give him the evil eye and say 'Bad, bad boy' and he slithered away like a snake refusing to look at me or the hole. Hopefully he learns- we can't have him undermining the deck. I think eventually we will put down a flagstone patio there so that the pups don't dig and lay in the dirt all day while we are at work. Anyways...They are passed out in the sun now. Legs are super sore and tired from the strength sessions this week. Foam rolled and stretched. House cleaning on the docket for the day as we have friends coming into town for the weekend. Looking forward to spending some time with them and catching up.

AM: PT apt. Lower back adjustment and stretching. Made another insert for my road shoes. She said it was okay, but not great and we may want to consider orthotics when I get back in August. Definitely do not want to do stability shoes as they would not work with my feet, but the difference between R and L may benefit from custom orthotics. We shall see. 

 Afterwards ran 6.18 in 9:23 avg pace along Boulder Creek Path. Had to remove insert at mile 4 because a blister was forming, unfortunately I think I got a small one- hopefully it heals quickly. But before I removed the insert, my knee felt great, so I think adding a little more support under my arch may solve a lot of the knee/hip problems. Goal for run: 145-150 heart rate. Avg heart rate: 148, Max heart rate: 161. Min Elevation: 5,350'; Max elevation: 5,748' ; 390' gain/loss. Beautiful morning. Perfect temperature. Now off to spend the weekend with good friends.