Monday

Last week was about 54 miles (4 runs and a 3 mile hike) .

I got out on a lot of good trail that tended to go up and down.
Sunday was a 20 mile day, 2 runs. I did a 2 hour mid morning on a very rolling trail
and an easy hour run later.

I like the set-up. The later run was good at getting my legs loosened-up.

The other benefit is that I got in (what I would call legit 3 hours) at the end of January. Now that is a kind of standard for the long run though I need to build that to 4 hours this month. But more than that, I will put in a lot of ~2hr runs in the local hills where I can get 2 -3k vert. I'm not really feeling speed work right now (have no real desire to race) so I'm psyched to go long and pretty easy (if a lot of climbing is easy). Plus, I even put a little interval into the long run Sunday and my hammy (same one from months ago - mechanics!) was a little tight. I just want to get strong. And since I'm training for an ultra distance, I need aerobic development and strength more than anything.

Besides, with the trail, I'm getting a chance to turn things up here and there, so there's always a little turn-over mixed-in.

My instincts (which i trust religiously) say go nice and long.

And my calendar conscience says listen to your damn instincts!

Friday

Big blog break. Life has been a little chaotic. Some good, some not so good. The running is being tracked on Attackpoint. I make notes over there on each run.

I had a little plan designed (with help from a couple of very credible endurance folk) to get me "to the promised land," or at least in a position to think about such grandeur. Unfortunately, last week various things prevented me from getting after that with any consistency. I've had a little niggle in the left foot, ankle for a few weeks. Had it at Boney Mt. (I wore a compression sock for 2 straight days and nights and then wore it during the race.) Ridiculous. I'm not usually that hypocondriachical. But I am. The sock actually slid down. Ha ha ha.

That niggle became a strain of some kind to the outside of my calf. I've gotten it once before and have heard others talk about having that. Was pretty sick of that soreness (that I'd had for a few weeks and seemed to actually be getting a little worse).

Last week, it was my son's birthday. Of course, this is good times, but very busy. Between wanting to wake with him, a full day including a bunch of kids at a sick amusement park pizza joint (chuckie cheese on steroids), etc., I had a hard time getting after some quality work.

So, with the party and a little injury, I took a few days off. The time off was great timing wise with all the crappy food and cake laying around. Anyways, I was back at it on a little tempo that has been on the plan (though my warm-up and cool-down was too short) and things felt good. Really good. The two days off to rest the leg were money.

Then, work got nuts. I am teaching and still trying to do some side work. Well, some of that came in. It was stressful since I'm not all that experienced. One project was a real struggle, but the other one went pretty well. Regardless of the success (or lack there of), pretty stressful.

All of that hurt the running. One night I was up until 3:00am working. Uhhhhhhg.

Then, a few nights ago I stayed up until 2:00 watching tennis live in Australia. Uhhhhg.

So, not the most ideal set of circumstances.

What's been really troubling on the last few hilly trail runs (with some grossly steep hills) is the HR. Sure, the hills don't really give us a clear picture of fitness, but I have been GASSED. I mean, even some of the hiking has been a tough go. One of those days was after 4 hours of sleep and poor eating.

The bottom-line is my HR, in a very sober almost monotone voice, is saying you suck.

Today's run was the final straw. I hiked the steep hills or anytime my HR went over 150.

I ended with 2:16, 2300ft., avg. HR 148. Bravo. I am in no shape to race. I need to pop some LSD and just get lost out on the trail. Today's run gave me some great ideas for long days with lots of vertical. Even if I'm hiking those ascents, I'd rather do that than anything else.

In a later post I'll reflect on my viewing of "Touching the Void." Wow.
It got me super stoked to run the Grand Canyon and more.

Wednesday

Good morning. French press baby, and lots of it! Best part of FP (not Facebook you crazed high school reunioners) is I can drink this world class coffee anywhere. . . in my kitchen, on the South Rim before take off. . .

Easy run today. On a full stomach. . .

What's science say about running in the morning?
I'm sure there's some fine print on every training manual that reads something
to the affect of "get your ass out of bed early and run before the day does some
weird trip on your body and you just aren't very fresh, empty, rested, etc."