Winning Back What I Lost

Registered for Robie Creek 1/2 marathon today.  The field filled up in less than an hour and to tell you the truth I wasn't real optimistic about 15 mins into the open registration period.  After about 20 mins of hitting the refresh button I finally got in.  The powers that be switched to active.com this year due to the enormous problems they had w/ online registration process the past couple of years. 

Temp run on the T/M.  Warmup, 6 miles at 8:30, and cooldown.  Legs felt great after a day off.  Did some strides at 7:24 toward the end.  I think my conditioning is almost back to where I was last summer.  Weight= 181 lbs.

Lunchtime hill training on the Les Bois 10k Course.  I could tell that this was going to be a tough day even before I started.  I had a bit of nausea and stomach pain even before I started and my legs were a little sore after yesterday's long tempo run.  I should have done a recovery run today and hit the hills tomorrow but I'm getting anxious to build up my hill strength with less than 2 months before Robie and a month to the Les Bois 10k.  This time I was armed with my Garmin to get an idea of what type of climb this course offered.  I didn't run the full 3.1 miles out but the roughly 2.5 I did run revealed approximately 700 feet of elevation gain w/ an avg grade of 6.4% and a maximum grade of 20% just before you hit the top of Trail #5.  I'm not quite sure where the turnaround is on this course having never run it and there's no race map that I can find anywhere.  If one doesn't turn off the main trail from the shooting range onto trail #5 then it actually kinda levels off as it heads north and begins to descend.  I plan on contacting the race director and get a race map. 

Lunchtime run from Municipal Park past Warm Springs and back.  Beautiful weather w/ sunny skies and temp in the mid 40's.  I ran in shorts and even shed my long sleeve micro for the first time in a long time.  Didn't get into a groove until the second mile or so.  Average pace of 8:38 for the middle four miles w/ a warmup and cooldown mile.  Right knee pain is returning.  I used the foam roller for the first time in a long while last night and it seems that it will be a regular routine for me once again. 

Lunchtime run:  Another hill training session (5.3 miles).  Tons of people out running in the Ft Boise area of the foothills w/ bright sunshine and temps nearing 50 degrees.  Parked at Ft Boise Park and this time I ran all the way up to the end of the Les Bois course and back.  I contacted the race director and he graciously sent me a google earth map of the course .  I started about 1/3 mile from the starting line so the math comes out OK I think.  Contrary to what I had previously thought, the course doesn't descend after the 2 mile mark but rather continues to climb, albeit not as steep, at "only" about a 5% grade until you hit the Trail 26 marker which is the 3.1 mile turnaround.  Between roughly mile 1.5 and the 2 mile mark it varies between a 12 and 15% grade!!  This, as far as I can tell, is roughly equivalent to the last half mile before Aldape Summit on the Robie Creek course which should be a good prep given that the upper end of the Robie Course is still kinda sketchy w/ ice, mud and snow these days. 

PM:  Weight training on lower body at the gym (leg press, leg curls, squats, lunges); followed that up w/ 30 minutes of hill training on the TM, alternating 1 min hill intervals of 3, 4, 5, and 6.4% incline.  Starting to get a sideache again.

Nice easy lunchtime run on the GB at 8:55 pace including warmup and cooldown.  Legs are a little bit sore after yesterday's two workouts.  I'm not sure if I'll get my run in tomorrow b/c I'll be at Tamarack w/ the family- if I do it will be late- so I wanted to get a few extra miles in this afternoon.  I'm always wary of being away from the office too long though so ended up settling for 7.  I could have eked out another half mile to a mile if I ran harder but my heart wasn't in it.  Maybe someday I'll be able to squeeze in another couple of miles in the same amount of time?  Probably not. 

Returned late this evening, around 9pm, from an overnight family outing @ Tamarack Resort.  Succumbed to the pressure of gradually increasing my mileage and hitting my 50 mpw goal by the end of the month.  Ran @ a nice and easy conversation pace (9:15).  Temp wasn't that cold (29 degrees) but there was a very cool breeze hitting my face on the way home.  Felt like I could go 12-14 but it was getting late and I have to get up early tomorrow.