Rhett

First run of 2021...and first run in a while. 
 

I've been rehabbing a lower ab strain I got a couple weeks before the Thanksgiving Day half marathon I ran. I only have run once since that race and that was a bad idea. I've done a lot of walking and other cross training over that month+. 
 

Today I did a very easy 5 mile trail run. I still felt some soreness but am feeling pretty good about 6 hours later. I'd say it's about 90%. I hope I'm able to gradually work back into running without reagrivating it. 

I woke up and the ab felt pretty good but I decided to give it a rest after my first run yesterday, so I cross trained. 
Core. 10 minutes jump rope. Lower body. 2 miles weighted vest TM walk. 30 minutes bike trainer. 

20 weeks

Weekly Review

It's the first week of the year and time to think about what 2021 has in store. My big race for 2021 is a 50 miler I have planned on May 22nd which is the day of my 50th birthday. Registration doesn't open until January 15th, so I'm still hoping to get in. I am also planning on running the local half marathon at the end of March. Also I am registered for the Big Bear Marathon in early November which I didn't get to run last year because it was canceled. Finally I am considering doing a triathlon in Palm Springs in October. All of these races I'm hoping to do with Blake.  That is way more than I usually do in a year, but post 2020 I'm just excited to race again. 
 

Last week I continued a lot of cross training in an effort to heal my ab strain. It seems to be improving. I even did 1 run nice and slow. Afterwards I had slight discomfort but not bad. I plan on building my running up slowly and continuing a lot of cross training. 

138 days

AM.  3 easy slow miles.  My calves were a little sore for some reason, maybe the jumping rope or calf raises.  Lower ab felt pretty good, only the mildest of discomfort.

PM. Core. 10 minutes jump rope. 1 mile weighted vest TM walk. Lower body. Hot tub. Foam rolling.

137 days

AM. 3 miles easy. No calf tightness today.  Lower ab is getting close to 100%, at least running at an easy pace.

Lunch. 2 mile weighted vest walk. 

136 Days

3 easy miles a bit faster today.  Unfortunately my body already is revolting against my training.  On the second mile, my right glute tightened up but I was able to run through it.  Now it is sore if I stretch my hammy.  With 0.17 miles left my left calf tightened up so I walked that last little bit.  I can tell it is a bit wonky but not bad.  I may not be running tomorrow. 

135 days 

AM

Both my hammy and my calf were very sore all day yesterday, more than I thought they would be. I good nights sleep helped though and while the are both tender to walk on the pain is gone. I'm pretty sure I couldn't run on either so I rode the bike trainer this morning for 30 minutes which didn't aggravate either. 
 

PM

Hot tub. Foam roller. Light stretching. Already feeling a little better. Far from 100% though. The Not sure what tomorrow will bring. 

134 days 
 

Yesterday I was trying to figure out what I was going to do today with my calf and hammy still on the mend. I had planned on an 8 mile trail run before the injuries, so I decided to still do it as a hike with my 20 lbs vest. I loved it!  So much so that I think I am going to incorporate long hikes wearing the weighted vest into my training going forward.  First off, I know I'm going to be hiking a decent amount of the 50 miler. Second, just getting used to time on my feet is really important since the race will be an all day affair. Finally it gave me a chance to play with my nutrition since it takes a lot longer to hike than run. 
 

After the hike I did some core work and light stretching then sat in the hot tub for 30 minutes. I'll probably do some foam rolling later today. My calf and hammy let me know they weren't ready to run but I don't feel like the hike cause any delay in recovery. 
 

Next Friday is registration for the Jemez Mountains 50!

133 days

The hammy was a bit more sore this morning after the fast long hike yesterday so I went on a nice easy walk with Doone this morning which was about 2 miles. Then I did some foam rolling followed by core work and finally 1 hour on the bike trainer. My calf feels great although I haven't attempted to run on it. The hammy is sore but I could probably do easy running on it. Luckily tomorrow is Sunday so I'll have another day to rest it. 
 

Oh and as part of my core work I usually do one set uf pull ups to burn out. I did 15 today! That's the most I've done in one set in years. 

19 weeks 

Weekly Report 

I was all excited to get started on my training for the Jemez 50 miler this week. I planned on running 3 miles each morning with a longer run on Friday and doing cross training in the evenings. It was all going great until day 3 when I strained my right upper hammy and my left calf both on the same run. Now that is impressive. I don't think I've ever gotten the double injury on the same run and especially when it was only a 3 mile run at an easy pace. After thinking about it, my upper hammy was probably tight from doing straight leg dead lifts and then when it started bothering me I probably compensated weirdly and caused the calf injury near the end of my run. Anyways, that completely altered my training for the rest of the week and I walked and cross trained instead of running. I did realize that long power hikes are probably very beneficial for 50 mile mountain trail prep, so I will probably keep that as part of my training going forward. 
 

This week I am hoping to do 4 miles each day with a longer hike/run later in the week. Tomorrow morning I will see if my injuries have healed enough to go through with that plan. Here's hoping. 

131 days

AM.  I woke up a bit before my alarm this moring and felt really good, so I got ready and decided to go downstairs and run on the TM so I could play it safe with my injuries.  I built slowly into running and never ran fast but was starting to get into a nice rhythm as I hit two miles then Doone came in and said Tally was on the phone, so I stopped to talk with her.  We talked for about 45 minutes and my muscles got cold to and my time was running out so I decided to walk one more mile on the TM before calling it a morning and getting ready for work.  

I only got in 3 miles instead of 4, one of which was walking, but I got to talk with Tally and I didn't aggrivate any of my injuries!  I could tell that my left calf did not want me to push it much and I still have some issues with the right hammy, but at least I ran!!!and walked. :)

PM.  Core work while watching the college football national championship, then moved to the bike trainer for 30 minutes.  Alabama sure wooped Ohio St.

130 days

AM.  4 miles nice and slow on the TM.  My hamstring is getting close to normal.  My calf is still being a bit fussy but definitely improving. I was pretty excited that I made it 4 miles.

Lunch. Morning patients ran long so only had time for 1 mile walk. I opted to go without the weighted vest in hopes of healing. 

129 days

AM. As expected I woke up with some tightness in my lower left calf so I went with my plan to skip today's run.  Instead I did core then 40 minutes on the bike trainer.  I probably could have run, but I really want to do a long hike/run on Friday so I decided it was best to skip this morning's run. Tonight I may do some weighted vest walking on the TM though.

128 days

AM. Last night I decided rest would be best so I didn't do anything.  This morning I was feeling pretty strong and energetic but my left calf was still off a bit.  I warmed up extra and did some mild active stretching and then ran on the TM slowly.  It doesn't hurt to run on, but there is just this little sense of tightness that I don't like so I kept it slow and finished at 4 miles.  Now to see how it feels tonight before I decide what to do tomorrow.

PM. Calf was a bit wonky all day so I just sat in the hot tub tonight and did some foam rolling. Tomorrow I'm going to adjust my plan from mountain repeats up and down Crossman Peak to a long power hike wearing my 20 lbs vest which will still have some vert. I think that will be easier on my calf and still get my some time on my feet. 

127 days 
 

AM. I got up and loaded my pack for a 3 hour effort, put it on along with my 20 lbs vest and headed out the door without much of a plan except to hike trails.  As I walked from my house to the trail I looked up and saw the ridge line of the mountain that peaks at table top and wondered if there was a way to start at the very south of the ridge and end up at table top where the ridge like stops ata cliff. I was actually able to find a way to do it and most of it on some sort of trail albeit scetchy in places. It was slow going in some spots so I wouldn't slip and die but it was really fun and my goal of time on my feet was accomplished.  I ended up totaling 10.3 miles in 3 hours 15 minutes with 2000 feet elevation gain. My calf held up well although it's still not quite right and everything else felt great. 

126 days 

Yesterday afternoon and evening I was marveling at how good my calf felt and this morning it felt great too so I embarked on an easy trail run. As I slowly ran over to the trail I was getting excited that my calf wasn't hurting and then before I even finished the first mile it tighten up again and I was relegated to a nice hike/jog for the rest of the run. It was slow but it was nice being out on the trails for a second day in a row. After returning home I hopped on the bike trainer for 40 minutes and then did my core work. I did 16 pull-ups in one set!  Maybe I can work up to 20. 
Unfortunately my calf is sore to even walk on. I'll get the day off tomorrow on Sunday though. 

18 week 

Weekly Report 

Its been a week of battling my left calf injury and the injury won. Saturday morning it was feeling so good I figured I could run normally on it again. Well, I was wrong and reinjured it during the run and now it feels worse than when the injury first happened. All that being said I'm surprised I was able to get it n 27 miles of kinda running/weighted vest walking/hiking this week along with some cycling and core work. 
 

To get over this stupid injury, I'm going to have to quit trying to run on it for the whole upcoming week. I am still going to try and get 5 miles weighted vest walking in each day with a longer trail hike on Friday. I'll also do the bike trainer, core, and lower body weights minus calves. Then, next week hopefully I'll be running without injury for the first time since November. 

124 days

AM. My calf was a bit sore still when I got up this morning, reconfirming my decision not to run this week.  I did some core work followed by 40 minutes on the bike trainer.

PM. I went to a church soccer night with my boys tonight. I love playing soccer even more than I love running, but I used all my will power and just walked while they played soccer so I wouldn't injure my calf again. I found a nice steep hill to walk up and down and got in 3 miles while they played soccer. Walking hills is a good aerobic workout. 

123 days

AM. 3 mile weighted vest walk going up and down a steep hill near my house.  Calf felt perfect and still does.  Is it only Tuesday? I still have 6 more days until I run again. :(

Lunch: 2 mile walk

PM: Core. Lower body. 30 minutes bike trainer.  Hot tub.

122 days

AM.  5 mile weighted vest walk this morning.  Calf is doing great.  It is so tempting to try and run but I know I need to be good.  I can do it!

121 days

AM. I thought about doing another weighted vest walk this morning, but I didn't want to take any chances on aggrivating my calf because I am refereeing my first high school soccer game tonight and I will neeed to be able to run.  Fortunately I am the assistant referee so it won't be as much running as the head ref.  I think I'm going to be fine, but I won't know until I have to sprint down the sideline to keep up with a play.  Anyways, I decided to do core work and then did the bike trainer for 30 minutes and followed that up with some time in the hot tub which is always feels great in the morning. I'll try and remember to run my GPS watch during the game tonight to see how far I run.

PM. Assistant soccer ref. 2 miles of easy sprints over 40 minutes. One team was way better than the other so not a ton of back and forth. My calf held up pretty well but by the end I was glad it was over. Any more and I may have injured myself again. Hopefully it feels ok in the morning. The I got rubbed after. 

120 days

I was a bit worried about my calf this morning when I got up after reffing the soccer game last night. I could feel a little something there when I got out of bed but no pain, so I proceeded with my plan for the day. I gathered all my gear and fuel and put it in my pack and drove to the base of Crossman Peak. It was an unusual day in Havasu... cloudy, windy, and cool. Within the first quarter mile of climbing I was hiking in the clouds with very little visibility. From the base to the top it is 1.77 miles and around 1700 feet elevation gain, so it is pretty steep the whole way. I power hiked up using my trekking poles and kinda ran down slowly. I did it 3 times totally a bit under 11 miles.

My calf seemed to hold up the whole way. I'm reffing another soccer game tomorrow, so hopefully it feels good tomorrow. 

119 days

AM. I haven't done the Saturday morning rides with the group the last couple months because I hate riding in the dark. The sun is starting to come up earlier now so it was only dark for the first tiny bit today. First day back and we did a climbing day and after having climbed Crossman Peak 3 times yesterday my legs were already tired. It didn't take too many climbs before my legs were completely fried but I pushed on as best I could. We ended up doing 32 miles with a bit 2700 feet of climbing. Also I forgot my gels so I rode without much fuel, just the sports drink I had in my one bottle. I definitely had a bit of a bonk today. 
 

Lunch. After getting home from the ride I quickly showered and ate then headed off to Kingman to ref a high school soccer game. When I got there my quads were pretty sore. Luckily I was the assistant and one team dominated the other 11-1 so there wasn't a lot of running down the sideline to keep up with play. The times I did though my calf was good and my quads ached. I only ran 1.5 miles doing the game which I am grateful for. 

17 weeks 

Weekly Review 

My decision to quit running for the week was definitely the right call. My calf feels great today and I'm hoping that as I resume running this coming week, I will be over it. Although I didn't do any traditional running this week I still managed to cover 27 miles walking, hiking, weighted vest hiking, refereeing, and downhill jogging. The crazy thing is, I feel like I got in a serious week of training and my quads are still a bit sore from the back to back mountain hiking/jogging with the hard bike ride yesterday. I also got in core work 3 times this week and ride the bike trainer twice. I'd really like to squeeze in some swimming but the only time I seem to have available is early in the morning and it is so hard for me mentally to swim when it is dark and cold outside. 
 

This week was supposed to be a recovery week after my first 3 weeks of building miles. Instead I'm back to the beginning so I'm hoping to run 3 miles a day with a long run on Friday and maybe some weighted vest hiking on Saturday. Of course I'll try and squeeze in 3 core workouts, a couple lower body weights, and some cycling as well.

117 days

AM. I did a nice easy but hilly 3 mile run this morning.  I was able to run the whole way without my calf quitting on me, but I did slow down a few times because it was feeling off.  

PM. Core. 
Looks like tomorrow will be a snow day!

116 days

Snow Day!

I know what you are thinking. A snow day in the middle of the Mohave desert at 500 feet elevation? Well not exactly. I work in our Kingman office on Tuesdays and Kingman is at about 3000 feet and it snowed hard enough to close down all the roads this morning, so we closed the office for the day. There was snow on the mountains surrounding Havasu though which is very rare.

After getting some work done that I’ve been procrastinating, I did some core core work then headed out on the trails with no real plan but to run easy and have fun. I found a new trail and was enjoying the run when I stepped on a rock wrong coming down a steep decent and sprained my ankle. It hurt real bad at first but I walked it off and finished the last mile of my run gingerly. I’ve sprained my ankles many times so they don’t swell too much anymore when I do it, but it aches pretty good right now. I’m sure it will be sore for a few day but I should be able to run on it still.

115 days

AM. This morning my calf felt the best it has since I hurt it, but my ankle was a bit painful from spraining it yesterday. Maybe that is why I didn't notice the calf. Anyways, I kept it short and easy yet hilly this morning for 3 miles.

PM. 1 mile TM walk. Lower body. Core. 30 minutes bike trainer. 

114 days

AM. 3 more easy but hilly miles.  Calf is close to the point where I don't need to worry about it anymore, but not quite 100%. I have another high school soccer game to ref tonight as the assistant again.  Saturday I get to be center ref!

PM. Assistant referee. 2 miles +. Good thing my calf is on the up and up because tonight's game was a nice competitive back and forth game. Looking at my data it looks like I got in about 15 sprints. It's like getting paid to do your sprint work and getting to watch a soccer match at the same time!

113 days 

My goal today was to get about 4 hours on my feet. I'm not in good enough shape right now to run for 4 straight hours so I took a route that required some very technical hiking that is not runnable. It was a rare cloudy drizzley morning in Havasu for the first hour of my adventure which made the rocks slippery but I managed to do ok. Then then sun finally came out as I was getting to a more runable part of my run. I was enjoying running when all the sudden I hit a rock and went flying shoulder first into a big rock. The side of my head glanced off it first. I'm lucky I didn't slam my head right into it. I laid there for a few seconds and tried to get up but everything hurt to bad. So I laid there a little longer and finally forced myself up and tried to walk it off. The outside of my knee hit something too and I couldn't walk normal at first but it gradually got better and I got back to running. I finished my run right about 4 hours and covered 19 miles with about 2800 elevation gain and a bunch of scrapes and bruises. I posted a picture on Strava. It doesn't look good and it feels worse. I did enjoy the adventure though. 

112 days

I was still feeling beat up from yesterday's fall when I awoke his morning, so I passed on the Saturday morning group ride. We had a young men's breakfast at my house at 9:00 and I would have been pushing it to get back in time for that anyway. I finally decided I was feeling good enough to ride in the afternoon and headed out around 3. I ended up getting in a solid ride of 33 miles and averaged 18 mph. 

16 weeks 

Weekly Review 

I've all already done my first 4 week cycle of training and all I feel like I've done is dealt with injuries. Hopefully I've put the injuries behind me and can now focus on running. This past week I think I can say I am over the calf injury. Unfortunately the lower ab thing which I researched and is called pubalgia has come back a little. It's not as bad as it was and with some stretching and specific exercises hopefully it won't get bad again. 
 

This past week was a recovery week but I ended up running 37 miles which is the most I've done so far this year. I didn't feel like I pushed anything fast though. I also cycled twice, did core work 3 times and lower body work once. 

Blake told my about some Oregon Project exercises specifically for runners that I will try out this week. I also hope to get in 5 easy miles per day plus a long trail adventure on Friday. I'm going skiing with Cade so that will take the place of my Saturday bike ride. Should be a fun week!
 

110 days

AM. It was a beautiful morning today.  51 degrees, calm, and still.  If every morning was like today, I would be in running heaven.  Also, today was my first pain-free, niggle-free run since November!  I did 5 easy miles on my hilly course then did some core work some of which came for the Oregon Project videos that Blake told me about.  Hopefully by adding in these exercises I can continue to run injury-free.

PM.

I went out and played soccer with the Spanish group from church tonight. I was able to contain myself and kept my effort level way down and didn't hurt myself!  For me when playing soccer that is quite the accomplishment. I still covered about 2 real easy miles in the hour and a half we played. Afterwards I did some stretching while watching TV. 

109 days

AM. 25 minutes bike trainer. 25 minutes core. 
 

PM. 5 miles on the trails in Kingman after work. Unfortunately my pubalgia was a bit aggravated from playing soccer last night so I took it easy. 

108 days

AM.  Pubalgia still aggrivated this morning so I did a weighted vest hill repeat walk/easy jog.  Ended up doing 15 hill repeats hiking up and jogging down for a total of 600 feet elevation gain and 5 miles. After that I did my Oregon Project exercises.

107 days 
 

AM. 40 minutes bike trainer. Oregon Project core work. 

106 days

AM. Goal for today was to spend 5 hours on the trails. It was a bit windy but otherwise a nice day. I ended up getting in just under 25 miles with 3300 feet elevation gain on pretty technical trails. 
 

PM. After finishing the run, showering, and getting a bite to eat, my son and I took off for Brianhead for a ski weekend. We got here in about 5 1/2 hours. My legs tightened up a bit sitting for that long so I did my Oregon Project core work for the day and now they feel much better. I'm super excited to ski tomorrow!

105 days

i spent the whole day skiing with Cade. We had a blast. He has become a really good skier and is pushing me to be better. I wasn't sure how my body would feel today after going 25 miles yesterday. On the first run of the day my right knee hurt but then it loosened up and I had no other issues the rest of the day. 

15 weeks 

Weekly Review 
 

I feel like I had one of my better training weeks of the year this past week. I only logged 42 miles but 25 of it was on one really good trail effort. Everything was at a super easy pace though as I am still babying the lower right pubalgia strain. I've found some exercises that seem to be helping with it though. The week culminated with a wonderful day of skiing with Cade. I did do my Oregon Project core work 5 days this past week as well which I'm hoping will help keep me healthy. Thanks Blake for telling me about that. 
 

I'm hoping to increase my daily mileage a little bit each day and may mix in some strides after one of the easier days to get a start back into increasing leg speed gradually. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on my long day. I need to come up with something new. 

103 days

AM.  6 hilly but easy miles followed by OP core work.  Everything felt really good this morning.  I hope it all feels just as good tomorrow.

PM. I didn't feel well when I got home from work so I didn't do anything but relax tonight.

102 days

AM.  Slept in hoping to get feeling better. It definitely helped.

Lunch.  3 mile walk.

PM. I ran on the trails in Kingman after work totaling 6.5 miles then made the hour drive home and wanted to get in my OP core work but my legs had stiffened up so I walked for half mile on the TM and then did it. 

101 days

AM. Before bed last night I was watching a Utube vlog about not increasing mileage too fast so this morning I decided to sleep in a bit then just do some weighted vest walking hill repeats. I did 2 miles then my OP core work

PM. 2 miles on TM then some pull-ups and push-ups. 

100 days!

Really only 100 more days to pepare for my 50 miler on my 50th.  That doesn't sound like a like.  If I can stay healthy during that time, I think I'll be ready.

AM.  30 minutes bike trainer.  OP core work.  8 x 200 m strides with 200 m walk recovery.

99 days

AM. I wanted to explore some new trails so I did some research on some local trails and found Dead Burrow Canyon which looked intriguing. I drove to the start and headed out on the adventure with some vague directions that somehow got me to and through the canyon. It was really cool, one of those things you don't expect out in the middle of nowhere. After successfully navigating through the canyon with some scrabbling involved, I started looping back towards the start but I had only been going a little over an hour so I found another trail that took me away from my car and just started exploring. There were times I wasn't on any trail and I climbed up and over a bunch of ridges and through a bunch of washes. Somehow I ended up navigating back to my car having covered about 15 miles in 3 hours with 2000 feet elevation gain. 
Oh, and I did see a lot of burrows. No dead ones though. 
 

98 days 

I got up early, had some breakfast, then got all my bike gear together. I met up with the group. Craig was ready to go so we took off without much chatting and rode hard and steady for the full 36.5 miles with 2300 feet elevation. 
When I got home Doone was heading out for a walk, so I went with her.  We did 2 miles. It was a nice cool down from my ride. Than I did my OP core work. 

14 weeks

Weekly Review 

I've had this ongoing lower right abdominal pain for a few months that gets better for a day then worse then mild then severe. I would have sworn I have pubalgia, aka sports hernia. It totally feels like a muscle issue, but I've been watching videos trying to figure out what to do to help it and I came across a sports doc who said it may be a nerve problem from compression of my lower vertebral discs. Seems weird but he suggested I pull on the skin where the pain is and do the movement that causes pain. I did it and the pain decreased by a good 90%. Now if this was a muscular problem that wouldn't have done anything. Anyways so I've been working on lower back decompression exercises and sure enough, I feel a ton better. I'm excited to run tomorrow morning and see how it feels. 
I had a good week of training with a little increase in my daily mileage, but I only got in a 15 mile long run so my total for the week was 3 miles less than last week. I did however get in a long hard ride on Saturday. That felt good 

This next week will be the 3rd week of my second 4 week block so I will increase mileage a little more each day and try to get in a longer run on Friday before I start my recovery week the next week. I did my OP core work 6 days and will continue to do that. I'll mix in some bike trainer during the week and my even play soccer tomorrow night if my lower ab thing feels ok. 

96 days

AM. 7 hilly miles at easy effort.  My lower righ ab thing felt really good today!!!! I won't say it was 100% but probably 95%.  I'll take that as long as it doesn't flare up again.  Maybe I will get to 100% soon.  Here's hoping.  ThenI did my OP core work. I'll probably go play soccer tonight.

PM. I played soccer tonight and had a lot of fun. The good news is my lower ab thing gave me very little problem. The whole decompression thing is working!  The bad new is I pull my left hamstring sprinting for a ball. I did play for about 90 minutes so I'm going to give myself 2 miles for that. Unfortunately I won't be running for a few days. 

95 days 

Just as I suspected, I woke up with a stiff and sore hammy so I opted to sleep in and rest it. 

Lunch. I walked for 2 miles during lunch at an easier pace than normal as to not aggravate my hammy. 

PM.  35 minutes bike trainer followed by a 3 mile TM walk and then some OP core work skipping the exercises that stress the hammies.

94 days

AM. My hammy is already feeling a  lot better but not good enough to run on.  Wednesdays I usually do weighted vest walking hill repeats anyways, so that is what I did for a total of 5 miles and 800 feet elevation gain. I'll do some more walking tonight along with my OP core work.

PM.  2 mile TM walk then OP core. 

AM.  I started on the bike trainer for 25 minutes to warm up my legs and then was going to try and do some strides outside.  I started with a very slow jog and immediately knew my hammy was not ready to run yet so I bailed and went back inside and did my OP core work.

92 days 

Rovey's Needle. I had a patient tell me about this cool rock formation south of town that looks like honeycomb so I decided to go find it today. I found pretty good directions on Altrails and was there after 2 miles of running and scrambling up dry waterfalls. The rock structure was one of the neatest things I've seen out in the desert around here. Then I found some jeep roads to continue the run. After about 7.5 miles my hammy started hurting pretty good and I decided to continue the adventure hiking. After about 4 hours I realized I didn't have much idea where I was. Luckily I had thrown in extra fluid and calories into my pack so I knew I would be fine for about 6 hours and I just started heading in the direction I thought I should go. I kept trying to find my footprints to follow but I definitely made a few wrong turns and had to double back. Eventually I could se Rovey's Needle but the roads kept winding and it seemed like I wasn't getting any closer. I kept plugging along and at about 5:30 hours starting getting a little worried but then I eventually made it back to Rovey's Needle a little before 6 hours on the trails. I drank up the last of my fluids and hiked out the last 2 miles confidant I was going to make it. I arrived back at my truck about 6:30 hours from the time I left. It's a good thing it was a cool morning or I would have run out of fluids way earlier. 

91 days

AM. 45 mile group ride with my new bike. It definitely helps to have a quality bike. 
 

PM. Center referee boys varsity soccer match. 2 miles. Good hard fought game. Hammy was sore so not a lot of fast running to keep up with the play. 

13 weeks 

Weekly Review 
 

I had my highest mileage week of the year, 48 miles and I put in some good miles on the bike as well, 2 bike trainer days and one long ride of 45 miles. It was a good week for week 3 of training cycle 2 since next week will be a recovery week. If I hadn't pulled my hammy on Monday it would have been better, but maybe that injury is just what I needed to keep me from pushing too hard this week. 
 

With this upcoming week being a recovery week, I'll cut back on my daily mileage to around 5 miles a day, but still get out for some sort of longer adventure on Friday. Saturday I'll keep my ride shorter as well because I'm in charge of a youth hike at 9 am so won't have time to go long. I'll definitely spend my extra time each day doing my OP core workouts and stretching and rolling. Then the next week I should be ready to start ramping it up again. 

89 days

AM. It's recovery week so I was going to sleep in a bit, but I woke up early anyways so I got up and did a little stretching before my run then set of for an easy but hilly 5 miles.  My left hammy tightened up on me about 3.5 miles in so I cut the run short and walked home totalling 4.4 miles.  Then, I sat in the hot tub for about 20 mintes.  That felt good.

PM. Rest. Went to bed early. 

88 days 

Lunch. 2 mile walk. 
 

PM. I went up to the Hualapais for the first time in a few months. There was still a lot of snow up there making it difficult to run on the trails but I made the most of it with hiking and running where I could. I did 5 miles with 1800 feet elevation gain peaking above 8000 feet. When I got home I did my OP core work. 

87 days

AM.  4 mile hill repeats with weighted vest running up walking down. Then OP core workout.  Hammy felt a lot better today. Still not 100% but probably 90%.  Lower ab issue still hovering around 95%.  I wish it would completely go away. Its been with me since early November.

86 days

AM. It was crazy windy this morning!  I headed out for a nice easy trail run.  Did 5 miles.  Hamstring took another step forward since yesterday.  I'm going to upgrade it to 95%.

PM. OP core workout. 

85 days 

I "ran" Crossman Peak up and down 5 times for a total of 18 miles and almost 9000 feet elevation gain. The fifth time up was a struggle.  Going up was mostly power hiking.  
 

84 days 

AM. I only had about 90 minutes to ride this morning with the group but I made the most of it and rode hard with a little over 1200 feet climbing for 26 miles. Then I was in charge of a youth hike. It took us 90 minutes to go 2 miles. I can't believe how bad of shape some of those teenagers are in. Maybe they need to get outside and moving a bit more. 

Weekly review 

12 weeks

Good recovery week. Overdid it Friday with too much elevation gain. Then did a hard but shorter than normal bike ride Saturday so quads are sore. Didn't do as much core as I wanted. 
 

Back to more miles next week. 

82 days

AM.  My legs were still sluggish and a bit sore from Friday's run this morning so I kept it nice and easy and as I went along my legs seemed to feel better and better. 8 miles.

PM. 2 miles playing soccer and I didn't even injure myself this time!!!

81 days 

Lunch. My last patient of the morning canceled so I had extra time and did a 3 mile walk. 
 

PM. I ran the Monolith Garden Loope or at least attempted to. About 3 miles in my hammy started giving me grief. I tried to run more but it wouldn't let me so I walked back for a total of 6 miles. I'm frustrated with it. I guess i didn't escape soccer last night without aggravating it. I'm just going to have to stop playing soccer if I want to be healthy for running. 😡

80 days

AM. It's frustrating that I keep injuring my left hammy playing soccer and now I can't run.  I have come to grips with it though and am going to stay on the bike for a few days.  I did my OP core work this morning then rode to bike trainer for 20 minutes.  

79 days

AM. OP core workout. Then rode my bike to work. Work is only 3 miles from my home but I took a ride on the way and ended up doing 21 miles. 

PM. Since I rode to work I had to ride home as well. I took the 5 mile route on the way home. 
 

I really enjoyed riding to and from work today. I'll have to do that more often. With my hammy still sore, I'm going to do a long ride tomorrow instead of a long run. 

78 days

OP core workout. Then a 5 hours ride on a picture perfect morning. I made it 81 miles with almost 5000 ft elevation gain. 

77 days 

I had a lot going on this morning so wasn't able to get out for a run until about 2:30 this afternoon. My legs were tired but not sore from my ride yesterday. I decided to make it a run/hike desert adventure. I did a lot of climbing and hiking on non-runnable trails which was fine since it was a sunny warm afternoon and I didn't feel like just running. I ended up doing a 3 1/2 hour adventure that was almost 16 miles and had about 2400 ft elevation gain. I drank all 120 ounces of electrolyte fluid I had and was still parched when I got home. 

11 weeks

Weekly review 

The week ended up being very different than I thought it would be. Monday night I injured my hammy again playing soccer so I ended up cycling a lot this week. I rode 106 miles plus did the bike trainer once. I did get in 35 miles running also. I thought I'd get around 50. Maybe this upcoming week I'll get over 50. I tried to refocus on my core work as well but only did it 3 days. I really want to do it 6 days a week but something always comes up. 

75 days

AM. 10 easy miles through SARA Park. It's starting to warm up. I'm going to have to start taking water with me even on my early morning runs. Legs felt really good today!!!!

PM. OP core workout while watching college bball. 

74 days

Lunch. About a 1 1/2 mile walk. It was insanely windy. 
 

PM. 8 mile run on Monolith Garden Loop. It was still windy but not as bad as lunchtime. 

I did my OP core work while watching the BYU/Gonzaga game.  The Cougs gave them their best shot, but the Zags are just really, really good this year.

73 days

AM. I did my OP core work then rode to work this morning. 20 miles.

PM. 5 mile ride home then sat in the hot tub for a while after dinner. 

72 days

AM. I woke up with plans to do a 6 mile run followed by 2 miles of 200 m sprints.  I took the run easy and was feeling good but on the last couple miles, my right calf started feeling off so I decided not to do the sprints at the end.  Now my right calf definitely feels mildly strained.  I wish I knew why these calf issues keep popping up suddenly.  I didn't even run yesterday. Anyways, I'll monitor it and see how it feels tonight and tomorrow morning before I decided what to do tomorrow for my long effort.  Maybe I'll have to bike.

PM.

71 days

I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I got up today so I started with my OP core workout and then checked the weather. It looked beautiful outside and I had the whole day with nothing planned so I decided to do a BRICK workout. I haven't done one of those in years since I did my last triathlon. I first rode 50 miles pushing hard then had the world's longest transition, probably 30+ minutes, then headed out on the trails and did a 20 mile run. I was surprised how good I felt all the way to the end and whatever was up with my calf yesterday didn't bother me at all today. 

10 weeks 

Weekly review 

Since I knew I was going to be traveling all day Saturday, I tried to squeeze a lot in 5 days. I ended up running 45 miles,  biking 75 miles and getting in 4 core workouts. The best part is, I felt great at the end of it. I think my slow build up in miles both running and cycling is paying off. 
 

Tomorrow I can sign up for the Jemez Mountain 50 miler I'm planning on doing on my birthday. Hopefully I get in. 
 

I'm not sure what this week will bring as I will not be doing my normal routine since it is spring break. I don't have my bike and there are absolutely no hills here. Probably just a lot of flat running. 

68 days

I spent the morning and early afternoon running and playing on the beach with my boys. I'm going to give myself 2 miles for that but I'm sure I did more. Then I went on an actual run and logged 8 very flat and very humid miles. 

Registration for the Jemez Mountain 50 opened today and I was able to sign up! I'm very excited for this race. 

67 days

Another day of running and playing on the beach with my boys (I'll take 2 miles for that.) Then I did 4 easy miles running on the sand right by the water were it is packed hard. 

66 days 

10 mile morning run on the beach. It was super foggy. Then I got in at least 2 miles with all the beach activities with my boys. Unfortunately we were playing soccer and I hurt my groin again. I'll be able to run, it will just hurt. 

65 days 

As expected, my groin really hurt this morning so I kept the pace nice and easy but still got in 10 miles on a really windy and cool day. 

63 days

Yesterday was a travel day so I didn't get in any exercise. I got up for the Saturday morning group ride this morning though. Not many showed up. It was just Craig and I. He is such a strong climber. Whenever he decides, he turns it up a notch and drops me on the long steep climbs. Luckily he shows me mercy and waits for me. We ended up doing 45 miles with around 2500 feet elevation gain. 

9 weeks 

Weekly review 

This past week I was with my family on South Padre Island in Texas. We had a great time playing and relaxing on the beach. I did squeeze in a run each day and was very active each day playing in the beach, but it wasn't my usual 3rd week of a training cycle, so I'm going to do a hard week this upcoming week and then do my recovery week the next week. 
Going forward, I am got to run based on time instead of distance. I'll still record what I've done in miles but I'm hoping the change in mindset helps me keep my pace nice and easy. I figure when I do my 50 mile race I won't be going fast and by keeping my pace slower I hopefully will prevent injury. I'll start with 90 minutes tomorrow morning and see how it goes. I also want to keep building on my cycling where I do want to try and get faster. 

61 days

AM. The plan was an easy 90 minute run and easy it was.  I was just going at a nice slow pace right from the start, but a few miles in my right calf just didn't feel right, so I slowed down even more.  I had to play with my running form.  I found that if I switched to a heal strike I felt better,  so I ran the second half of my run with a serious heal strike.  I feel like I didn't do any damage and hopefully tomorrow it will be fine.  I hadn't run since last Thursday, so I was very surprised that I this popped up again. Anyways I only did a little over 9 miles in my 90 minutes today.

PM. I am feeling exhausted tonight and my calf is a bit tight so I just did some foam rolling and light core work while watching hoops. 

60 days

Lunch. I had a little longer lunch than usual so I was able to get in 3 miles walking. 
 

PM. 7 miles on the Monolith Garden Trail after work. My calf didn't feel perfect but it felt better than yesterday so I'll take that as a good sign. And, I didn't have to alter my usual running form. 

59 days

AM.  I'm trying to mix it up, so I did a weighted vest hike/jog this morning on the trails. I climbed up on the ridge going up a different way than usual and got a bit lost trying to navigate getting back down.  It was nice morning adventure.  Ended up getting in 6 miles with over 1000 ft elevation gain.

58 days

AM. I rode my bike to work today...30 miles.  It was a bit windy so half of the ride was tough.  Hopefully it is not to blustery on my way home this evening.

PM. 5 mile ride home uphill and into a strong headwind. 

57 days

I wanted to get in a long run at elevation today, so I drove to the Hualapai's fir my run. The ground was covered with fresh snow and it was still snowing hard when I got there. I thought twice about heading out into it but decided I needed to train in bad conditions since it could be snowing on race day. Luckily I had checked the forecast last night and had the appropriate gear with me. I did 15 miles out and then back on a very hilly Jeep road that with a max elevation just over 7000 feet and a minimum elevation just under 6000 feet. My Garmin says I had a total of just over 8500 feet elevation gain during the 30 mile run and boy did it feel like it. I was spent when I finished. It snowed almost the whole run which took 5 hours 26 minutes. It was like running in a snow globe!

56 days

I decided not to join the Saturday morning group ride fearing that I would push too hard and injure myself after yesterday's 30 mile run in the mountains. Instead I got up and did some church things in the morning then went out to lunch with my family. I was feeling really good so I decided to go out for an afternoon ride with no specific plan. Luckily I took my credit card, because I felt great and just kept riding but hadn't brought enough fuel. I stopped about halfway at a convenience store to load up and ended up riding 52 miles. 

8 weeks

Weekly review 

I am finally starting to feel the rewards of my training effort and like I will be ready to run my ultra on May 22nd. I got in 55 miles running this week with a 30 miler at altitude with a lot of elevation gain. I also cycled 87 miles this week doing a 52 miler the day after the 30 mile run and feeling strong. Today was m not feeling any real soreness or tired muscles. It will be interesting to see how my legs feel tomorrow morning when I actually run again.

Now that I got in a nice solid long week I will do a recovery week this week.  It works out perfectly since I'll be up in Utah skiing with Chase on Friday and Saturday  

54 days

AM. I ran to work nice and slow at a recovery effort this morning going up and around to get here. Did 11 miles with about 1000 feet elvevation gain.

PM. 3 miles probably a little too fast but still easy effort on the way home from work. 

53 days

I slept in this morning to better recover from my double yesterday. It felt good. 
 

Lunch. 2 mile walk during lunch. Legs felt solid so I'm excited to get up in the mountains after work to play on the trails and get in some vert. 

PM. A little over 7 miles up in the mountains maxing out around 8300 ft with 2300 feet elevation gain. It was a lot of fun but the trails were still icy and slippery so I had to take it slow. 

52 days

AM. 27 mile bike ride to work on a windy morning.  The wind made for some really fast segments on strava, conversely it made for some really slow ones also.

PM. 5 mile ride home from work.  I haven't actually done this yet at the time I'm writing this, but I'll have to get home and the 5 mile route is the one I'm going to take.  Hopefully the wind will still be blowing out of the north like this moring and I'll be flying.

51 days

To update yesterday's ride home from work, it was blowing out of the north still.  There is a 3 mile strava segment that is a nice gradual climb that I've been trying to improve on that heads south, so I took advantage of the north wind and posted the fastest cycling time up that segment yesterday! Kind of cheating, but whose to say the previous fastest wasn't on a day with a strong tailwind. 

AM. 5 miles on the trails with my weighted vest with 685 feet elevation gain, done at a nice and easy effort that I like to call my jog/hike.  The next 2 days I'll be skiing with Chase!!! So excited to spend time with him and to ski.

50 days

Skied all day with Chase. Unfortunately on my first run of the day I took a fall and did something bad to my left knee. I still skied although in pain the whole day. I can hardly walk tonight.

49 days

I could walk better this morning but still not well at all. I decided to give skiing a try anyways and found that I was able to ski almost pain free. We skied pretty hard today mostly doing black runs once I got confidence in my knee back. Afterwards me knee actually felt a bit better to walk on...weird. 

7 weeks 

Weekly review 

The beginning of last week seems so long ago. I put in some good miles the first 2 days, then did a solid cycle Wednesday, and finished up Thursday with some weighted vest trail work. I was feeling great heading off to ski for the rest of the weekend. Then tragedy struck on the first run of the trip when I got my knee twisted up while skiing on a little trail through the trees. It all happened so fast. I was just scooting along and the next thing I knew I was going down one way and my leg was turning the other way and I felt a pop with a sharp pain on the outside of my left knee. The first thing I thought was, "I just tore a knee ligament and I'm not going to be able to run. " Then I laid the for a few minutes trying to gather myself and asses the pain. I butt slid through the trees until I got to the main run and then put my skis back on and went for it. I got really light headed a few times over the next 20-30 minutes. I think my body was in a bit of shock. Eventually I was able to ski anything that was groomed but it was not my normal level of skiing. That night I could barely walk and I was scared I might need surgery. 
 

Saturday morning it felt a lot better although I still couldn't walk very well. We went skiing anyways. To my surprise, skiing didn't seem to bother it much so we got back to skiing my aggressively and by the end of the day I was even skiing some moguls. That night I was walking even a little bit better and I was starting to feel better about hopefully not needing surgery. Assessing it now that the initial pain had come down significantly, I'm thinking I either tore the meniscus in the knee or I sprained my LCL. I'm hoping for the latter because I read up on it and an LCL will usually heal itself and sometimes rapidly. 
 

Today I'm walking even better, but my knee just doesn't feel stable and when it doesn't stay lined up exactly right I get a shap shooting pain on the lower outside of the knee. I'm hoping with a good night's rest it will feel even better tomorrow. I'm guessing I'll be able to cycle without much problem, so I'll try that tomorrow and then if I'm really lucky, maybe some light running or hiking Tuesday. Send me and my knee positive vibes. I could use them. 

47 days

AM. I woke up in the night because I was thirsty and my knee hurt a little worse than it had been at the end of the day yesterday, so I decided I better not push it today.  When I got up in the morning it still hurt to walk so I rode my bike trainer.  To my delight I was able to cycle pain free.  I rode for 65 minutes. Now I know it will be ok for me to get out on my bike and ride.  So grateful I;ve been riding a lot so it will be a natural transition while I wait for my knee to heal.  I dug up an old knee brace and have been wearing it all day.  It really makes a huge difference. I'm walking almost normal.  Maybe with the knee brace on I'll be able to run.

46 days. 
 

I wore my knee brace all day and it really helped. During lunch I went up to the Hualapai's and walked. At first it hurt especially going downhill, but then the knee warmed up and felt pretty good. I walked 2+ miles. Baby steps. 

45 days

My knee still hurt to walk when I got up this morning, but I had planned to ride anyways.  I did a 28.5 mile ride.  It was such a beautiful morning today...64 degrees, no wind, and clear skies.  I really enjoyed the ride.  The ride seemed to warm up my knee as well, so I'm going without the brace at work today and seem to be moving around really well and without pain.

44 days

My knee didn't hurt to walk when I got out of bed this morning!!! I still get a very sharp pain when I step out of perfect allignment though.  At this point, I'm pretty confident I have a tear in my LCL which is good, because from what I've read, it will usually heal on its own.  I rode 33.5 miles on the bike today. It was another gorgeous day in Havasu.  I'm so glad that I have been cycling and that cycling doesn't cause any pain to my knee. I'm thinking about doing a weighted vest walk tomorrow morning to see how my knee responds.

43 days

I wanted to see how my knee would do walking up and down hills so I put on my weighted vest and went for a walk. Mostly my knee felt pretty good but when I would start either an uphill or a downhill, I would feel it, sometimes with a sharp pain. I did 4+ miles. I'm not too optimistic about running on it though. 
 

Then I spent the day on the lake with my family and my sister and her family. I did some knee boarding which surprisingly did not seem to hurt my knee at all. I really, really, really hope I'll be able to get back to some running next week. If not, I'll just keep cycling. I wonder if I can jump rope?? Maybe I'll give that a try. 

42 days

I rode with Craig this morning. He always pushes me harder than I would ride solo. We did 55.6 miles with about 2500 feet elevation and averaged 18.7 mph.
 

My brother in law John has convinced me to sign up for LoToJa with him, which is a 207 mile bike ride from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY. There is a lottery, so I don't need to stress it until I find out if I get in. 

6 weeks

Weekly review. 
 

I was not able to run at all this week because of my knee which I a pretty confident is a partial LCL tear. I'm not going to go get it looked at because they are just going to tell me to rest it and in time it will get better. That is unless it is mostly torn,in which case it needs surgery and, well that would bite so I'm just got to go wit, give it some time. 
 

Fortunately, cycling doesn't bother it and I was able to put in 4 solid rides this week. I really feel like I'm improving on the bike, which is great since I want to do a full Ironman next year. I walked 2 days last week, the second time with a weighted vest. On flat ground, I'm mostly pain free. When I have steeper up or downhills, it's not quite a good. I kneeboarded on Friday. That was a blast and didn't hurt my knee, but trying to kick in the water to get to the rope or back to the boat was a serious no go, so I guess swimming is out for a while. 
 

Pending on how my knee feels tomorrow morning, I may put on my knee brace and try to slowly run on my TM. If that is a fail, I think I will see if I can jump rope. If that fails too, it will likely be another week of biking and walking. 

40 days

AM.  Yea!!!!!! I put on my knee brace and gave running a try on myTM this morning and did not have any issues.  I ran 7 miles.  Well acutally I walked a decent amount to warm up and cool down, but while I was running my knee gave me no problems.  I then hopped on my bike trainer and rode for 30 minutes.  All in all, I am super excited to be running again.  It was a great morning.

39 days

AM. I rode the bike trainer for 40 minutes this morning and focused on keeping my core engaged with my hips rotated forward. I've been reading about proper cycling form. I figure if I'm going to ride 200 miles, I better have decent form or I will fall apart. 
 

Lunch. 3 mile walk. 
 

PM. I ran up in the mountains after work maxing out just over 8300 feet with a little over 2300 feet elevation gain during an 8 mile run/hike. I had to be careful with my knee. I wore a brace and used trekking poles, but it was still a bit painful and unsteady. I'm super happy to be up in the mountains out on the trails again though!!!

38 days 

AM. Weighted vest Wednesday!  I walked with my 20 lbs vest and did 10 hill sprints along the route totaling 7 miles. Sprinting uphill with the vest on definitely taxed some muscles as my legs are a bit sore this afternoon. 

37 days

AM.  It was a beautiful day in Havasu!  I rode to work getting in 35 miles before getting here.  It was a good solid ride.  

PM.  Only one way to get home, since I rode here, I'll be riding home a much shorter 5 miles.

36 days

I headed up to the mountains for my long run today. I packed my knee brace in my hydration pack but decided to try and run without it. To my delight, my knee felt pretty darn good...not 100%, but a ton better than it did when I tried to run up there just 3 days ago. 
I ran just over 25 miles with somewhere between 5400 ft and 7400 ft elevation gain. (My Garrin and Strava gave me the 2 different numbers.) All I know for sure is that it felt like A LOT of climbing and the max elevation was just over 8300 feet. It was a fun adventure. 

35 days

The wind was gusting from 25 to 35 mph today. At times I was getting pushed all over the rode. It was a bit sketchy. Going into the wind I had to go to my smallest gear like I was climbing a mountain, but it was flat. It was really slow going. But then on the way back, I was flying!  47 mile total ride taking 3 hours. Definitely slower than usual. 

Weekly review 

5 weeks 

Man, 5 weeks from race day, I can count that on one hand. That is a little scary considering I couldn't even run last week because of my knee. The great news is my knee seems to be mostly better. There is still some random pains, bit it is not stopping me from running. In fact, I ran 50 miles this week. Friday's run was the only one I wasn't stepping gingerly with each step, but it was the most important run of the week. I also cycled 87 miles and rode the bike trainer 2 other times. 
 

I will have 3 more hard weeks then 2 weeks of tapering. I'll probably do a very similar week this upcoming week as what I did this past week, just with more miles. 

33 days

AM. I ran from my house to the top of Cherry Tree. It a a constant 4% + climb for about 6 miles and then I turned around and ran back. My knee was a little off at first but then warmed up and seemed fine.  I just took it nice and easy. It ended up being about 1200 in elevation gain and I averaged 8:26 per mile. 

Now about an hour later my knee is not feeling great.  Hopefuly it will loosen up and be fine by tomorrow.

32 days

AM. 17 mile spin on the bike trying to keep the cadence high and to pedal in circles. 
 

Lunch. 2 mile walk. 
 

PM. 10 miles with a total elevation gain around 3000 feet and max elevation 8300 feet. Considering all I did today my legs felt strong. 

31 days

Today is a recovery day after yesterday's hard day, so I did a 7 mile weighted vest hilly walk this morning.  I was tempted to run the hills, but I stuck to the recovery day and only walked.  

30 days!!!

Race day is only 1 month away.  It's hard to believe.  I don't feel like I am totally ready yet, but I do feel like I am headed to peaking at just the right time as long as I can stay healthy. 

AM.  21 mile ride on a windy moring.  Then I had to take my truck to the shop for a recall on the airbags, so I put my bike in the back and then rode from the shop to work another 2 miles. I'll then have to ride 2 miles back during lunch to pick up my bike, so I'll end up cycling 25 miles today.

29 days

I did a 30 mile run in the Hualapai mountains with 8840 feet elevation gain and a maximum elevation just over 8300 feet. It took 6 hours and 5 minutes. I was definitely ready to be done when I finished and very tired of all the climbing and descending, but that is how the race is going to be. I really hope with a nice taper and some race day magic, I'll survive the next 24 miles.  That's a lot further!

28 days. 
 

My legs felt really good this morning with no soreness except a slight strain in my left calf. I'm hoping that by Monday that will be fine. If not, I'll cycle until it is. I rode with Jason and Craig this morning. Since they did a 100 mile bike race last Saturday, and I ran 30 miles yesterday, we took the ride easier than usual. We ended up riding 28 miles. 
 

I need a nap this afternoon. 

4 weeks

It's definitely feeling real now, and I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by the corse. I've been reading past race reports, and almost every report talks about how steep some sections are both going up and down. And then knowing the elevation gets up to 10500 feet also scares me a bit since the highest I've been able to train at is 8300 feet. Hopefully that is close enough but another almost half mile higher is significant when it comes to oxygen levels. 
 

This week was a solid week of training. I ran 61 miles with a long run of 30 and I cycled almost 70 miles. I'm feeling pretty healthy except for a slight calf muscle tweak from the long run. It's not soreness. I actually didn't have any even the day after the run, it's definitely a little tweak but it's so mild I think I'll be able to run tomorrow morning. I'm going to be very careful with it though and if it is giving me any trouble, I'll abandon the run and cycle. 
 

This week will be my last high mileage week before I start my taper. I'm hoping to repeat what I did this past week just with a little longer on each effort. 

26 days

Let's start with the most important thing.  My calf did not bother me while running today!  I did an easy effort running up to the top of Cherry Tree gaining a little over 1100 feet over 6 miles, then ran down and back the longer way for another 8 miles, totalling 14 today with an average pace of 8:22.  Considering I ran 30 with crazy elevation gain on Friday, I was very happy with how easy today's run felt, and once again super stoked that my calf didn't bother me.  

25 days 

AM. 22 miles cycling. It was actually kind of chilly this morning. 
 

PM. I wasn't able to walk during lunch today like I usually do when I'm in Kingman on Tuesdays because it was cold and rainy. After work though I braved the cold and rain and ran on the Monolith Garden loop for 11 miles. I couldn't go up the Haulapai's because there is currently a fire up there and everyone but emergency personnel have been evacuated. I'm grateful it rained all day in Kingman. I hope that helps get the fire out. 

24 days

Recovery weighted vest walk Wednesday

After totalling 25 miles running over the last 2 days, I needed a recovery effort today.  I put on the 20 lb vest and did a hilly walk for a total of 9 miles and 820 feet elevation gain.

23 days

AM.  I rode to work today, getting in almost 30 miles on the way here.

Lunch. 1 mile walk.

PM. I'll be riding home tonight for 5 more miles.

22 days

I couldn't go to the Haulapai's because of the forest fire, so I ran locally. Unfortunately it was the hottest day of the year so far and I had my last super long run planned. I therefore got up early and started running around 5:00. I ran from the road up Crossman Peak and back twice and then once up past Bison Falls and back totaling 35 miles with 8000 feet elevation gain. When I finished it was 93 degrees. Good thing I started early because it got up over 100 for the first time this year today. 
 

Considering how warm it was, I was vey pleased with how it went. 

21 days

Legs felt really good this morning when I headed out for a ride. It was a nice shake out ride to recover from yesterday's 35 mile run. I got a flat about 20 miles in so I stopped an changed it. Then at mile 28 I got another!  That's terrible luck. I was I little less than a mile from home at that point so I took off my bike shoes and walked home. The bottom of my feet hurt by the time I got home. Maybe that will toughen them up and help me prevent blisters on race day. 
 

3 weeks

Weekly review 

I made it to taper!!!!  And (Knock on wood.) I'm feeling 100% healthy. I was a bit worried Friday heading out for my 35 mile run because of the heat. Hopefully it is a nice cool day on race day. I ended up getting in 71 miles running and around 80 miles cycling this week for my longest training week. Now I'm going to start backing off on the miles this week. I think this week will look a lot like my week 2 weeks ago but with 20 mile run on Friday instead of 30. 
 

I got a massage gun this week which I've been using on my legs at night while I watch TV. So far I love it. It's easy to use and I get a nice deep tissue massage. My hope is that I'll stop having my random calf injuries by using it regularly. 

19 days

I ran up to the top of Cherry Tree again today and straight back down for a total of 12 miles and about 1200 feet elevation gain.  I had a little pep in my step today which surprised me coming off my 35 miler with 8000 feet elevation gain a few days ago, so climbed those 6 miles and 1200 feet under 9 minute pace today.  Then I headed down getting faster and faster with each mile.  The last one being 6:36.  It felt good to let my legs fly this morning as most of my running has been at a slow pace in preparation for the 50 miler.  Hopefully I didn't set myself up for injury going too fast though.  I'll have to be very careful with my pacing the next few days and keep it nice and slow.

18 days

AM.  I headed out for a ride on a beautiful morning and 3 miles in I hit some gravel on a turn and went down hard.  I sat there for a few minutes and everything went black for a while but then I got myself together and rode home in pain.  It hurts to breathe and feels like I broke a rib or two.

Lunch. After suffering through a morning of seeing patients, I went for 2 mile mile walk.  It was uncomfortable at first, but the pain eased a bit as I walked.

PM.  I decided to give running a try.  I would run slowly a bit until the pain was too high, then walk a bit until I felt better. I did that for 8.5 miles.  It really hurt, but I'm, glad I did it.  

I have a doctors appointment in the morning.

17 days

I went to the doctor this morning.  Good new!! I don't have any broken ribs, just dislocated with strained cartilage.  He popped the ribs back in and told me to ice/heat/ice/heat the ribs where the cartilage may have a tear until it feels better.  He said not to exercise for a week, but we all know, I'm not going to do that.

16 days

I woke up feeling a little less sore.  When I went to bed last night I was hurting pretty good.  Maybe if I just sleep all the time it will get better.  I didn't exercise this morning so I get a couple extra hours of sleep.  That was nice.  Maybe I'll try and get on my bike trainer tonight and ride a little, probably in an upright seated position.  Look Ma, No hands!!

PM  1 hour bike trainer 

15 days

Since my ribs still aren't healthy enough to run, I decided to hike today. I did 10 miles with over 4000 feet elevation gain. I was going to go farther but as I hit the 10 mile mark I just didn't feel like walking anymore so I called it a day. 

14 days

My ribs are starting to feel a lot better. I went on. 2 mile walk with Doone, then rode the bike trainer for 2 hours. 

Weekly review 

2 weeks

Its really weird being 2 weeks out from race week and just finishing a week without much running. Monday I had one of my best runs in a long time, then Tuesday morning I went out and crashed my bike, jacking up my ribs to the point where I couldn't breathe or move without serious pain. I still tried to run Tuesday night but it was miserable. Wednesday morning the doc popped my ribs back in place and that helped a lot but I still couldn't get up from a prone position or do much of anything. Each day things improved though and I got in 3 hours on the bike trainer and was able to do a 10 mile hike up and down Crossman Peak twice without much discomfort. 
 

I am going to test out running tomorrow morning. I think I'll be fine as long as I keep it slow. This week will likely be a higher mileage week than last week even though I'm tapering. Last week was a forced recovery week before starting what my normal taper would be this week. 

12 days

Exciting news today!!!! I signed up for St. George 2022 Ironman this morning.  It will be my first full Ironman.  It is on May 7, 2022 so I have almost a full year to prepare.  Good thing, because it scares me!

AM.  10 miles nice and easy.  My ribs did pretty well, not perfect, but good enough to give me confidence I'll be able to pull off my race in 12 days.

PM. 30 minutes spinning easy on the bike trainer. I'm hoping to heat adapt by spinning on the bike trainer in the evening when temps are higher. It was 96 degrees tonight. 

11 days

AM. 30 minutes easy spin on the bike trainer before heading off to Kingman for the day. 
 

Lunch. 2 miles walk. I hear the Haulapai Park is open again so I'm going to head up there after work for my run. 
 

PM. 6 miles up in the Hualapai's. I had to stay in the lower section of the park. They said the trails will probably be closed until September. 

10 days

Wow, 10 days!  Crazy how fast time goes when your preparing for a big race.  I've done the training, but now I need to get my head wrapped around the event and all the logistics.

AM.  5 mile weighted vest hilly walk.  I have gotten to really enjoy my weighted vest recovery walking.  It was a beautiful morning today.

PM. 30 minutes spinning on the bike trainer in the heat. 
I have get blood drawn fasting tomorrow during lunch for my annual physical, so I'll be sleeping in tomorrow and taking the morning off. 

9 days

I tried to sleep in a bit this morning but mostly just laid in bed awake for a while. I finally got up and did some massage with the massage gun and headed off to work. At 1:00 I was able to have my blood drawn for my annual physical and then I could finally eat. I was starving so I pounded some Chipotle then headed back to work. It was a really busy afternoon and I didn't get home until late. I was wiped out though so after dinner I sat down on the couch and promptly fell asleep. I then did some more massage with the gun and some core prior to bed. 

Apparently today became a rest day. 

8 days

I got up in the mountains around 7000 feet and did my final longish run before race day. I got in 12 miles with almost 2500 feet elevation gain. I was happy with my effort maintaining a decent pace considering all the climbing. 
 

I'm feeling ready to roll with my main niggle being my ribs. Hopefully in another 8 days they won't be hurting anymore. 

7 days 

More exciting news today!  I found out today that I got drawn from Lotoja with my brother-in-law John. On September 11 we will be riding a little over 200 miles from Logan,UT to Jackson Hole, WY, so after my race next Saturday I'll be changing my focus from running to cycling.  That's 2 big upcoming events I found out about this week. I gotta stop signing up for these things. 
 

1 hour spinning on the bike trainer at the hottest part of the day to get heat acclimated so hopefully next Saturday will feel cool. 

Weekly review 

1 week

It's race week!  I love the pre-race feeling of race week, nervous yet excited, happy to be getting extra rest but missing the training, checking the weather constantly, making packing lists, and feeling lean and mean. I'm happy to report being as close to health as ever before a big race. My ribs are improving still and won't effect my race unless I start coughing a lot. My legs feel great though. 
 

This past week I got in 35 miles finishing with a 12 miler in the mountains. I also rode my bike trainer 4 times for a total of 2 1/2 hours. 3 of those rides were in around 100 temps, trying to build my heat tolerance. 
 

This week will be nice and short with a rest day Friday and the big race, 50 miles on my 50th birthday Saturday!!!!
 

5 days

AM. I got in a nice little 6 mile run with a litlle over 500 feet elevation gain.  I kept the effort on the hard side of easy.  It was a good shake out run to start off race week.

PM. I thought about a spin on the bike trainer but decided to just relax and do some core, stretching, and massage tonight. 

4 days

AM. 15 minute spin on the bike trainer to get my blood pumping for the day. 
Lunch. 2 mile walk. Felt nice. 
PM. 3 1/2 mile mountain hike with almost 1000 feet elevation gain. 

3 days

AM. 45 minute spin on the bike trainer.  My left calf felt a little tight last night so I decided to just ride today and give my calves a break.  It's feeling pretty good right now. Tonight I'll just do some core, stretching, and massage.

2 days

AM. 4 mile hilly tune up run. Everything felt good!! Now I just have to show up and run the race. We'll be taking off early this afternoon and heading to Albuquerque tonight. Then tomorrow Doone and I will head over to Los Alamos. 
 

1 day!!!!!!

Its race day eve!  I'm feeling healthy, fit, lean, and ready to race. 
After sleeping in this morning, I ate a large breakfast then went down to the hotel fitness center for a quick easy 15 minute spin on the stationary bike followed by some stretching, then massage with my massage gun. 
 

I'm just chilling in my room watching sports center right now. Soon I've got to pack up and we'll head to Los Alamos. We're in Albuquerque now. 

Race Day... Jemez Mountain 50....miles or kilometers?????

All started off well.  I felt 100% and strong.  It was a beautiful morning.  I ran nice and easy.  I stayed with my hydration/nutrition plan that I had practiced in all my long runs leading up to the race.  The climbe up the black diamond ski slope at mile 16 was killer.  It took a full 30 minutes for one mile and that was without stopping.  Then I got to desend. I did wipe out once but didn't hurt myself too bad.  I was still feeling good and taking it easy through 25 and then around 26 all of the sudden I got nauseous.  I sat down for 5 minutes and gathered myself and then continued on.  The next 8 miles were brutal climbing out of a canyon with the sun beating on me.  I ran out of water at mile 31 and still had 3 miles to go to the aid staion.  I was walking slowly and threw up a couple times.  I finally made it to the mile 34 aid staion and hoped to sit down for a while and gather myself and continue on, but the nausea just got worse and I couldn't stop throwing up so after an hour and a half at the aid station, I called it a day.  Doone was able to drive and pick me up at the aid staion and we went back to the hotel where I continued to feel nauseous and throwing up for aboout 6 more hours, then I was suddenly fine. 

Sunday morning I woke up feel super hungry but otherwise fine.  My legs are not sore even a little bit.  I'm just perplexed as to why this keeps happening on race days when I training I ran farther, faster, using the exact same nutrition/hydration with no problems at all.  It's very frustating.

I did go 55 K for my 50th birthday!!!

After a cou[le days off, I was itching to get back to exercising.  I went to the gym this morning and swam for 35 minutes.  Ended up doing 1600 m at a nice easy effort.  That was my first time in the pool in quite a while. 

25 mile bike ride this morning. This was my first ride not on my bike trainer since I wiped out and messed up my ribs. I had a little PTSD at first but it felt good to get back on the roads. 

34 mile solo bike ride followed by 3 mile run then a 1600 m swim a couple hours later. 

33 mile group ride with a little over 2000 feet elevation gain followed by 3 mile run. 

Weekly review 

After a coup days rest I got back at it with a swim Wednesday morning which felt great to do again. I also swam Friday afternoon after biking and running. In total I swam 2 miles, biked 90 miles and ran 6 miles this week. It was a good recovery week and a good start back to training for the next thing. 
 

I have a bunch of challenges I've planned for this year that I am 50. The first was the 50 mile run on my birthday that became a 50 k run. The second I accomplished today. I ate 0.50 gallons of Bluebell ice cream in under .50 hours. 😀. It took me 25 minutes 57 seconds and boy did I feel terrible when I finished. The last few bikes were way harder than I thought it would be. But challenge #2 was a success!!! Tonight and tomorrow I may feel like it was a failure. I didn't puke but I felt just about as bad for about 45 minutes as I did last week when I Pulled out of the race because of nausea. I definitely would not recommend eating half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. 

22 mile ride trying to focus on high cadence and did some one leg drills

3 mile easy run. 
 

Happy Memorial Day 

AM. 1600 m swim

Lunch. 2 mile walk

PM. 4 mile mountain run

Almost 24 miles cycling with 2300 feet elevation gain. Began the ride with some single leg peddling. 

20 by 100 m swim repeats restarting every 2 1/2 minutes.

4 mile easy run right after swimming.

1700 m swim nice and easy at aerobic effort followed by 52 mile bike. It was toasty out there. I had to stop twice to refill my bottles and drink a little extra while stooped. 

26 miles solo. No one else  in the usual Saturday group was riding this morning. 
5 mile run that was much faster than I expected especially right after the ride. Guess I was feeling good this morning. 
2 mile walk with Doone. 

IWeekly review 

It was a solid week of training. I'm mostly focusing on cycling with just enough  swimming and running to maintain fitness in those areas as well. I rode around 125 mile, ran 20 miles, and swam a little over 3 miles. 
 

I got some really nice bike shorts this week and boy do they help the backside feel better during a long ride. The were pricey but when I'm riding 200 miles in one day will be worth every penny. I'm trying to work on keeping my cadence above 90 rpm. It's starting to feel more natural. 
 

My swimming is slowly improving. Good thing I have 11 months to get better at it before my IM. I do like how I feel after swimming. It's definitely good for he upper body as well. 
 

Running has almost been an afterthought, but yesterday, my five mile run after cycling was very encouraging. I had just finished 26 miles on the bike and it was getting hot outside but I knocked off that run feeling really strong.  That makes me excited. 
 

I started meeting with a sports nutritionist his week. She says I am not eating enough carbs or calories so I am working on eating more. Maybe by simply training with more carbs and calories in ,y system I will be able to overcome my race nausea I get. At a minimum I may improve my ability to train harder and thus be more fit. We'll see. 

Next week will probably be very similar to this past week.  I'll try and increase my bike mileage some though.

30 mile bike.  It was actually cloudy this morning!!  It was so nice to not have the sun beating on me.

AM 2000 m swim doing 200s restarting every 5 minutes

Lunch 1 mile walk

PM 22 mile ride up Hualapai Mountain Rd. It was over 3000 feet climb in just over 11 miles. It was crazy hard. Then the descent was crazy fast with a max speed of 59.7 mph! That was scary. 

10 mile run this morning.  My quads were and still are a bit sore from the climb on the bike last night, but felt pretty good.

24 x 100 m swim restarting every 2:30.

Then 4 mile easy run through Rotary Park.

It was a really nice morning.

27 mile bik through Snow Canyon 

2 mile hike. 

4 mile run to start the day. 

Weekly review 

Since I was out of town Thursday night through today, I had a bit of a recovery week. I ended up running 21 miles, swimming 2400 m, and biking 79 miles. It's crazy how a 3 day trip can throw off all my nutritional and exercise habits. It's probably good to change it up a bit, but it will be nice to get back to a more normal routine this week. 
 

32 mile bike this morning before it got too hot.

Rest day

31 mile bike 

Rest

98 mile bike in hot, hot weather. 99 degrees at the start. 115 when I finished. 
I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went especially in the heat. I didn't know I could drink that much and keep it down. I figure I put down about 300 ounces of fluid and I still lost 6 lbs. Most of my calories were liquid calories. I did take in 5 Muir energy fruit packs also. 

My only run of the week. 7 miles on my TM. I forgot home much I enjoy running on my TM with ac and a fan and watching sports. I guess it's that time of year in Havasu to get back to the TM. 

7 mile TM run in 52:59

25 mile bike with 3000 feet elevation gain after work in Kingman. It actually rained on me for a few minutes during the ride. That was a nice change from the dry hot summer. 

7 miles on the TM. I was going to go 10 but my legs where tired. 

100 mile bike doing the Alpine Loop twice plus a little more. It was beautiful up there. The Alpine Loop circles Mount Tumpanogas. Tomorrow my boys and I are going to climb it. 

Hiked Mt. Timpanogas with Chase and Cade.  Had a blast.  It was a beautiful day. 
15 miles and a serious climb. 

24 mile easy ride to loosen up the legs after the weekend's long adventures. 

25 mile ride after work in Kingman with 3000 feet elevation gain. 

7 easy miles on the TM before work. 

73 mile bike. The first 45 miles were with Mitch. It was nice to have some company. 

7 miles pushing the pace a bit in the TM. Felt strong. 

32 mile bike

26 mile bike with 3000 feet elevation gain. 

7 mile TM run

7 mile TM run

90 mile ride starting about 2:30 am to beat the heat. It was still hot though...102 when I began. 

25 mile bike. It was an obstacle course out there after the storm yesterday. 

5 mile morning run.

15 mile evening bike up the mountain in Kingman 

I spent all of last week rafting the Grand Canyon with Cade, Lane, and my parents.  It was awesome, but exhausting.  It took me a few days to recover from it, but today I felt good and it was nice to get out for a quick ride. 

24 miles.

50 miles on the bike. It's going to take a few day to get my cycling legs back. 

5 miles on TM, nice and slow. It felt good to get in a run. 

25 mile bike

5 mile run in am

15 mile bike after work

5 mile morning run

21 mile bike

TM 7 miles 

I left my house at 4 am with plans to ride 100 miles. Not long after starting a storm started blowing in. It then started raining, then pouring, forcing me to take cover under the awning of a bar. I was soaked and the roads were flooded it eventually calmed down enough to ride but the storm zapped my desire to ride so I headed home to a warm shower having only ridden 23miles. 

I finally felt like my normal self today for the first time since I returned home from the Grand Canyon rafting trip 2 weeks ago.  

35 mile bike.  Felt great.

5 miles easy in am

15 mile bike up hualapai mtn rd.

Rest day with a little core work.