Monday, March 30, 2015, 5:33 pm

6.5 mi,  ft gain, 1:27:30. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

For the most part, my leg muscles felt good today. My ankles have been a little creeky for a couple days after long runs recently, but they warm up fairly quickly. The muscles just behind my shins on the inside of my lower legs have been sore after hard and long runs too.

Again, starting out today, I wasn’t nearly as stiff as I had been a few weeks back. Of course I was a little sore and slow, but not bad. I took it easy and stopped to check things out quite a few times. I saw a bright green and spotted frog on a stick over some water in a ditch, then a brown spotted frog in another ditch up a ways.

We went out to the seasonal ponds briefly for a look around and a splash for the dogs. Then we went out to Olney Creek for some more doggy play time. They enjoyed it a lot.

Lately I’ve noticed that if I’m feeling particularly sore or stiff, I feel better after I stop for a little while. Feeling better is nice, but having to stop to do so sucks. I need to figure out how to relax better.

From there, we went out to the hills. We took the left through a clearcut just before the road forks, then out that way for a while before turning back.

I ended up going a little farther than I had originally planned. I was feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, that didn’t last on the way back. My lower legs got pretty sore. I tend to push myself a bit when I’m coming up to a mileage milestone or end of a period of time, like the end of March and nearing 250 mi for the month.

I’ve been practicing trying to relax more while running, which helped with my lower legs a little bit. I did pretty well keeping the pace easy and my HR low. The stopping helped quite a bit with the latter.

Average HR 112 bpm.

 

Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 4:49 pm

11.01 mi, 823 ft gain, 1:48:20. Through Town to WFSP RR Grade, Solo. New Balance MR 10v2.

Feeling a little better today than at the end of yesterday’s run. Still a bit sore just behind the insides of my shins. I worked on conscious relaxation a lot during today’s run.

I started with the thought of sticking to the roads, going about 6 mi or so. But once I got around toward WFSP, I wanted to get a little bit of trail action. I still kept it easy and stuck to the RR Grade. I did very well keeping my HR low again today.

I only saw a few people on the trail. One was an older gentleman running down the trail. He didn’t appear to be dressed in running clothes though, so I think he was maybe just in a hurry to get back.

I went up to the restroom at the Greg Ball Trail junction, made a quick pitstop and then headed back. Going downhill was harder to keep my lower legs relaxed. Just like yesterday, once I got going, today was about hitting 250 mi for March. It doesn’t actually matter, and it’s sort of arbitrary. I’ll end up taking it easy to start April, which will more or less even out the extra effort ending March.

Anyway, I shot a short video to maybe post on YouTube after I turned around. Once I made it back to the TH, I stretched out for a moment, then started for home. The road wasn’t too bad, even though I  was tired and sore. I thought about speeding up to get home more quickly, but managed to keep it mellow. I opened up my stride for the last 200 yds or so to stretch out a bit.

I felt pretty awesome going into the Bridle Trails 50k back in January, and that was only a week and a half after my December push. So maybe more consistency would be helpful instead of going long and hard then short. I don’t know, and it’s probably too close to Capitol Peak 50 Mile for that kind of change to make much difference. Currently, the plan is to recover during the week, go long one more time this weekend, then taper/recover for the 50 miler. Whatever I do, I decided today that I’m just going for the finish and not racing. It might be tough to hold back come race day. I tend to get wrapped up in the race atmosphere.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 5:24 pm

3.12 mi, 35 ft gain, 25:02. Along the RR tracks, with Sigurd. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Legs were kind of tired, but not sore today. I think I may just need a longer stretch of easy days for a while. I’d like to get one more long run in before Capitol Peak, but I don’t know.

I left Vida home since she’s still limping a little bit. Sigurd was really excited to go. I probably ran a little faster with him than I would have with both of them, but I kept it pretty easy at first.

It was nice and sunny when we started. The plan was to go 4-6 mi. But about 1.3 mi in the sky opened and it started pouring cold rain and hail. Fortunately, the hail didn’t last long, but the rain was pretty cold. I wanted to get at least 3 mi, so I sped up and went to just over 1.5 mi then turned around.

I kept the pace up the rest of the way home. The rain stopped about 0.6 mi from home, but I was absolutely soaked and wanted to get home, so I kept the pace going. Going faster kept me warmer, and my legs handled it ok. They were definitely tired though.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Thursday, April 2, 2015, 5:48 pm

5.62 mi, 50 ft gain, 52:03. Along the RR tracks and service road, with Sigurd. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I left Vida home again, still limping a little.

My right hamstring was kind of tight starting out. I was kind of tired again today. I tried to keep the pace easy like I started with yesterday, but Sigurd got me going a little faster a couple times. I managed to hold back pretty well, though.

I  ran along the RR service road on the highway side, then through the park between the highway and RR tracks until a little over 1 mi. Then we hopped over the tracks and ran on the service road on the river side.

We ran out passed the gate for the service road out to Startup, then out to a little over 2.5 mi and turned around. On the way back, I heard a train whistle off in the distance from the west. It was getting closer. Initially, I sped up to try to get back to the tracks and possibly over them in case the train was going to stop in town. It was an Amtrak passenger train, though, and it was really moving. It went by well before I even got back to the gate. So we slowed back down.

Somewhere between 3.5-4 mi or so, my legs were getting pretty tight. I was having trouble staying relaxed, so I stopped briefly for a couple times and let Sigurd pee. The stopping seemed to help my legs a bit.

I sped up a little bit for the last couple hundred yards to stretch out the legs. They were about as tired as when I started, but I still felt better overall by the end.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Friday, April 3, 2015, 5:36 pm

6.34 mi, 252 ft gain, 48:20. To WFSP & Back, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

All these little aches are getting annoying. Otherwise, I felt pretty good. I kept the pace up, but I felt like my range of motion has diminished a little bit. I guess I need to work on flexibility more.

I warmed up fairly quickly, then sped up. At first, I tried to keep my HR below MAF threshold. Once I hit the hill on the other side of town on the way up to Wallace Falls State Park, I stopped worrying about it as much. I ran more by my breath rate.

Once to the park, I got a quick drink from the water fountain, which they just recently turned back on. Then I headed back for home. I found myself speeding up several times and pulled back a little. I sped up a little more over the last mile or so, and even more over the last few hundred yards.

I definitely need to work on flexibility, and should probably work on my form as well. I don’t think my back kick is going high enough. I finally washed some of my other running clothes and wore a pair of shorts from Road Runner Sports. They were some of my favorite last year, but today I had some chafing issues. It wasn’t bad considering I wasn’t running for very long, but going much longer than I did today could be a problem.

Average HR 145 bpm.

 

Saturday, April 4, 2015, 6:31 pm

8.02 mi, 1419 ft gain, 1:28:57. Olney Falls DNR rd, solo. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

I had wanted to go long again this weekend for the last time before Capitol Peak 50 mi, but the muscle aches behind the inside of my shins hasn’t quite recovered enough. I’m hoping it’s at least partially a problem of worn out shoes. Two of my Superior 1.5s have over 600 and almost 500 mi on them and my MR10v2s have just under 500 mi on them as well. Fortunately, I was able to find some MR10v2s online for a decent price, I only have around 150 mi on my current pair of Superior 1.5s and I have another pair still in the box. I went with the Lone Peak 1.5 today in hopes that the extra cushion might make a difference. I’m not sure if it did. It might have if I hadn’t hammered the downhills so hard.

I still wanted to get a little climbing in, but still keep it relatively easy. I stopped several times for photos and to look around a bit.

I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go when I started. I got to about 3 mi and decided to keep going, same thing at 3.5 mi. A little after that, I took a right down into a clearcut to check that area out in hopes that I could find a good spot for a view of the sunset. I found a couple decent spots. I also found some tarps and stuff strung up from an old camp. Due to weathering, I think it’s been there for at least a few months.

I took a couple sunset photos and headed back. I ended up hitting some of the downhills pretty hard. I think I may have been over-striding a little bit. My knees were a little sore Sunday morning.

I didn’t have a light with me. I may have gone longer if I had. I made it back to the car with plenty of light to spare, though.

Average HR 132 bpm.

 

Sunday, April 5, 2015, 6:42 pm

11.12 mi, 1885 ft gain, 2:07:29. Olney Falls DNR Rd, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

My lower legs felt a little better today. I decided to go back to the same spot again. I brought my headlamp and a handheld water bottle this time.

I stopped for photos and to look at stuff a number of times again. I planned at least 6 mi, but possibly more. Once I got going, I mostly felt pretty good, so I kept going. I kind of wanted to go farther, but decided not to.

I saw several deer on my way up. One up high on a hill over the road around 3.5 mi. There were a couple more a little less than a mile later. About 0.25 mi passed the first trail from WFSP I saw a couple hikers.

A little over a half mile later, I saw 2 deer in the road. They let me come up to about 20 yards. I had my camera out to try to get some photos. I took a few, then tried to get a little closer. We started playing red light, green light. They’d start running up the road, and I’d run after them. One ran farther up the road than the other. The closest one would stop, angle off the side of the road like it was about to take off into the woods, but it didn’t. I stopped and we stared at each other for a little while. I snapped a few more photos. Then we did it again, running up the road and stopping. I think we did it about 4 times. It was really cool.

I was trying to get up to another view point for the sunset when I stopped to play with the deer. Once they finally took off into the woods, I sped up a little to try to get to a spot with an unobstructed view. I ended up going a little past 5.5 mi before I turned around. I got a couple photos.

Not too far back down the road, I went off trail on the uphill side for a short pit-stop. There were game trails all over the side of the hill there.

I took it a bit easier on the way down than yesterday. I didn’t pull out my light until about 3 mi to go. I could still see well enough, but I didn’t want to chance it.

At about 2.5 mi to go, I saw something shining on the road in the light of my headlamp. I got a little closer and turned it on burst mode. It was a tiny owl standing on the road. I tried to get a photo, but I couldn’t get close enough, and it blended in just enough with the road that the light wasn’t good enough for a decent photo. It flew down the road a ways then landed. It was almost like with the deer again. I tried to get closer. It let me get about 10 yards away then flew down the road again. The next time it flew off into the trees down the hill.

I love wildlife encounters like I had today. It’s one of the reasons I love trail running.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 51.7 mi, 4993 ft gain