Winning Back What I Lost

Easy, slow run.  Probably my last this week due to so many things going on this holiday weekend.  Going fish all day tomorrow.  Wife's birthday on Saturday, etc, etc.

1030PM:  Interval run: 5 series of 2/3M @ easy pace followed by 1/3M @ 7:30/mi pace. 

1230PM: 4.97M jog on the greenbelt during lunch.  Felt like throwing up during the entire run.  No energy. 

10PM:  Short evening run w/ 2M slow and 2M at moderately easy pace (8:40/mi pace).  First two-a-day in a quite some time.  Feeling the pressure of an upcoming half marathon on Saturday that I'm not remotely prepared for. 

1030PM:  An evening of soccer followed by a 5M progressive run (8:44; 8:14; 8:12; 8:05; 7:53) & cooldown.  No wind tonight for the first time in weeks.  Very nice w/ temps in the high 60's.

1030PM: Got a massage today to work out some of the kinks.  Been quite a while since my last massage and I'm still pretty sore; easy jog for my last workout until the half on Saturday morning.

This used to be one of my favorite races.  It used to be a well organized race on a flat and fast course during a time of year when I'm usually in pretty good shape.  The only thing that held true this year was the course and even that was mitigated by the heat.  We started on time, 730am, outside of Boise Hawks Stadium and it was already in the low to mid 70's along the Boise River.  By the time I finished it was in the low 80's.  Probably the warmest race I've ever run in. 

I went out slow, realizing that I hadn't put in the miles this year to be able to approach last year's 1:37 PR.  It was a good strategy considering the heat.  That said, I felt pretty strong all the way through the race and had more than a little left in the tank to make my last mile my quickest.  In hindsight, I probably could have pushed it more during the out portion of this out & back course on the Boise River Greenbelt.  But I just wasn't in to the pain today and it was a nice change of pace to not feel totally gassed, or hurl like I did at the finish of my last race.  All in all not a bad race considering the heat and my relative lack of conditioning.

Here's a screen shot of my Garmin which had the course short, @ 12.88 mi, which is not a rare occurence for my Garmin for some reason:

Easy recovery run.  Hammies and right knee a little tight so I took it very slow.  Finished a little quicker w/ the last 1.25M @ 8:20/mi pace.

10PM: Felt better today.  Still a little sore in the hips but otherwise pretty good.  Finished up the last 3M @ 8:20/mi pace &  8:31/mi pace overall. 

George Steinbrenner died today.  All day I thought about what I could do as an homage to the fearless leader of the empire.  During my run I looked for a stray dog to kick or a birds nest to knock down.  No luck.

10PM: Easy run.  Visited the chiro today to get my neck, hips, and ankle adjusted.  Neck feels much better but my hips are even more sore today.  Makes it hard to get any turnover. It's not extremely painful- more of a dull ache.  I've experienced this post-adjustment residual soreness before and it usually takes a couple of days to feel right again.

10PM:  Easy run past Mt View HS and down Overland and home. No run yesterday.  Meeting had me up early to travel to Portland and I returned home late.  It was a hot one today and it didn't cool down much even after the sun went down.  Still 85 degrees at 1030PM.

10PM:  Long, slow run with the temp in the low to mid 90's at the beginning and mid 80's at the finish. Had to stop once at Maverick for a gatorade.  Running in the dark is always a little spooky to me but a long run late at night is especially awkward.  I'm really not a morning person, mostly because I like to stay up late, but I may have to become one because it's just getting to darn hot to run at night. 

My two visits to the chiro this week are already paying off.  Dr. Rae popped my left ankle and the bones in the forefoot back into place and the pain is almost gone.  I wish I would have gone back to him sooner. 

630AM:  Easy, slow morning run.  Much cooler in the morning.  I'm going to try to run in the morning as much as I can until the end of summer.  Need to start getting to bed earlier though. 

630AM:  Day 2 of the transition to morning runs.  Got a little more sleep last night but it didn't feel like it.  Ran at what should feel like a slow pace but I was laboring more than usual.  I had a massage yesterday and the masseuse worked on my left heel some more.  She opined that it felt like plantar fascitis and based on my symptoms (stiff and painful in the morning, painful when stepping on uneven surfaces) it is possible.  I always assumed that the pain in the heel was from the swelling and blood collecting in my heel and not being absorbed into the bloodstream.  She was able to push a lot of the inflammation out and it continues to feel better than it ever has since my ankle injury over a year and a half ago- which is a good thing.

630AM: 1M warmup; 3.5M Tempo @ 7:38/mi; 1M cooldown.  Stretched the legs and lungs out a bit.  Need to work at even pacing.  Ran considerably faster the last half of every mile just to get at the target pace.  Not a very efficient way to run. 

630am: Had a couple days off due to insomnia and a busy schedule.  A very good long run for where I'm at with my fitness.  Didn't push it, just tried to keep my form intact, relax and maintain a better knee lift throughout the run. I started to fatigue in the last couple of miles as it warmed up outside but it felt good to push through and finish relatively strong.  I'll be backpacking in the Sawtooths on Monday through Friday which is sort of a workout in and of itself considering that I'll be hiking uphill at 8k to 10k feet with a 60 lb. pack. 

8.5M hike from Queens River Trailhead to Browns Lake w/ 70 lb pack.  3k feet of elevation gain.

3M hike from Browns Lake to Diamond Lake and back.  No pack.

4M hike from Browns Lake to Johnson Lake in 70 lb pack. 700 ft descent followed by 900 ft of elevation gain up High Pass then a 400 ft descent to Johnson Lake.

Johnson Lake(8200') to The Hole Lake(8400') to Glacier Lake (8600') and back to Johnson Lake.  400 ft elevation gain from Johnson Lake to Glacier Lake and back.

Return to Trailhead (5200') from Johnson Lake (8200').