Rhett

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.