Winning Back What I Lost

I wanted to get out and get a feel for what I'll be facing come April.  I've never really done any hill training since I started running.  This neglect, more than anything, led to my disappointing times in the Sun Valley 1/2 and the Mesa Falls Marathon.  Both races had significant climbs that sucked the life out of me and I never really recovered. 

Anyway, what I found out was that I'm nowhere near ready to take on the huge climb to Aldape Summit.  I parked my car on Shaw Mt. Road about a mile below where the pavement turns to gravel and ran an out and back.  There's still quite a bit of packed snow and ice on the dirt road, as well as mud where the ice and snow have melted.  This made the climb even more difficult b/c I had to pick certain lines to avoid sloshing through the mud and/or sliding on the ice.  The packed snow was easiest to run on, both uphill and downhill.  At least 4 other runners were getting their licks in and, curiously, quite a bit of automobile traffic going to the Summit.  Temp was just above freezing w/ bright sunshine.  Total net elevation gain in the 2.75 miles was right at 700 feet, or a little more than 1/3 of the net gain in the first 8.4 miles of the Robie Creek course!  Yikes! 

If there was one bright spot it is that the downhill portion was quite enjoyable even w/ the braking for the ice, snow and mud.  My legs felt great and I felt like I could go longer if I didn't have to return to the office.  If I continue to build my base cardio back up by dropping more weight and increasing my weekly mileage to 45+mpw I think I'll be ok.   I'm planning on doing some 1 mile hill repeats later on in the week.

T/M workout: Slow, easy recovery run after yesterday's hill training.  Treadmills were packed this morning and I had to wait a few minutes for one to come free.  I told myself that I would go super slow this morning but my type A competitive personality won't allow it when I have people running on both sides of me.  It shouldn't matter to me either way but it does for some reason.  I'm feeling a little run down w/ the beginnings of a sore throat.  I only got about 4-5 hours of decent sleep as I tossed and turned all night. I've got two sick kids at home but hopefully I can ward of their sickness at least until I get out of town tomorrow through Friday.  

Early AM T/M Tempo Run:  Warmed up for a mile then 4 miles at 8:27 pace and 1+ mile cooldown; my legs are starting to come back; I didn't have a heart monitor on but I could tell that I was just below threshold; last week I did this for 3 miles and it wiped me out; this week I could have gone longer than 4 if I didn't have to be a responsible adult and go to work.  Weight= 185 lbs

Went to the chiropractor yesterday and he used some weird hammer-like electric device to loosen up the swelling and popped my ankle back in line for me.  My neck was pretty out of whack too.  He's a pretty cool guy and told me about his new workout routine called Crossfit.  Apparently, there are Crossfit gyms popping up all over the place.  I checked out their website and it looks interesting.  Looks like they do a lot of different plyometrics as fast as they can which gives it a cardio component.  He claims that his buddy trained for and completed a marathon doing nothing but Crossfit.  He didn't say what the guy's time was though.

Traveled to Vegas yesterday afternoon for a conference.  I was hoping to get outside w/ the nice weather here but my hotel is just off the strip in a neighborhood w/ alot of traffic so I decided to hit the treadmill instead.  I got 2 workouts in, mostly because I had already lost my quota on the blackjack tables by 8 o'clock.

AM:  4 miles on alternating incline between 1.5% and 2.5%; 1 mile at 4.5%.

PM: 5 easy miles @ 1%.

Back home in Boise; Long, slow easy run, well except for the stomach problems that had me running for the toilet at the nearest Jackson's;  I don't know what it is about longer runs but I inevitably get the runs; I even brought what I thought was sufficient water so I don't think it was dehydration; it's got to be something else, most likely my diet.  Anyway, the good news is that I felt that I could longer but for the stomach discomfort- legs and lungs felt better than they have in a long time.  First 40 mile week since last summer and I only ran 5 days.  Weight- 183 lbs.