Taper Time!!!! Bad Shoe Luck & Another Race

As expected, it was tough getting the miles in over the last week because I was traveling for work.

Monday was complete chaos because I was supposed to board my plane at 5:10 am.  Mitch woke me up at 4:30!  We live about 20 minutes from the airport and I still had to check my bag and get through security.  Thank goodness for our little airport because I made it just before they closed the door. Thank goodness for Mitch too because 1. I wouldn't have woken up on time at all and 2. he drove me to the airport so I didn't have to find parking.  The rest of my day was dedicated to work and then dinner/drinks with a broker.  I didn't run at all.

Tuesday was my best day.  We finished visiting potential clients fairly early so I had plenty of daylight to work with.  My hotel in Independence, Missouri connected to a 15 mile bike trail.  I am leery of running alone in strange cities, but this trail seemed inviting and I didn't want to run the treadmill if I didn't have to. 

 

I got a great ten mile run on this trail.  The elevation is less than 1000 feet above sea level (easy breathing) and the trail is relatively flat.  It runs along a canal through tree covered sections as well as open glades, under the occasional busy street, over little wooden bridges and by an old railroad trestle.  It is such a diverse trail and I loved it.  I didn't take enough pictures though.

 



After too much food and beer on Monday, I opted for big salad for dinner at On the Border.  It didn't taste as amazing at is looked, but it was okay.  I appreciated the evening to myself so I could run, eat and then work on emails until late into the night.

Wednesday and Thursday were short runs on the treadmill at my hotel in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  I didn't have much time so I tried to make the best of it and add some speed play to my quick workouts.  I flew home on Thursday and didn't get in until 11pm.  I was so tired on Friday that I didn't run.

I came home to a new treadmill which I'm excited to get some miles on when the weather turns cold again and new trail runners that I ordered before I left.  I already run in the Altra KingMTs and they have about 500 miles on them.  They've been great for some of the worst terrain I've had to run on.  Sadly, these will be going back to Altra because they are considerably smaller than the first version.  Now that I've seen them I'm not sure I like the updates they made to the tongue either so I might wait until I can find a store that sells them before I get another pair.

This has been my luck lately with shoes.  I had the same thing happen with the Topos I bought for road running.  They were way too small and I had to send them back and replace them.  Now I don't think I can wear them for longer runs at all after my experience this weekend.

Saturday was my final long run before heading in to the taper.  If you're not familiar with this lingo, the taper is the last weeks leading up to a race when you cut your miles back and allow your body to recover from the high mileage peak training.  I was going to run 18 miles, but it didn't happen.

I did the road from Molt to Phipps Park, which was just over 13 miles and planned to change my shoes and finish on the trails.

This is what running roads in rural South-Central Montana looks like -

It will look much prettier when it turns green.  I can't wait!  Brown is not my favorite color.

I chose this road as an opportunity to see how my chosen shoes would do on a long downhill.  This was a mistake because I've done something to my Achilles.  I didn't notice it when I was running, though I could tell at the end that I'd pulled my calf muscle on that leg so I didn't do the trail section of my planned run.  I ended with 13.3 miles for the day.  By the time I got home I could hardly walk with the fire in my Achilles.  I have been icing it, soaked in Epsom salt and rubbed it down with Hammer Balm.  When I woke up it felt better but it didn't take long of standing on it before it started to hurt again.  I'll be taking today off and see how it feels tomorrow.  I didn't want to run the marathon in my Brooks wear-test shoes.  I LOVE them, but my toes jam against the front of the shoe on the downhill which is going to be problematic at my marathon.  But I would rather lose a toenail than suffer an Achilles injury.

Thankfully it is taper time so I am not worried about going easy for the next 3 weeks.  I'll run when I feel I can do so without hurting myself.  As far as training, the "hay is in the barn."  There isn't much I can do to improve my fitness between now and Revel Mt. Charleston.  I've done the training and my results will be based on the last 29 weeks of preparation.  It has either been enough for a BQ or it hasn't.

On another note, I've signed up for a small 5K locally.  I don't run races here in Billings very often but I couldn't turn this one down.

Next weekend we head out to Lewis and Clark Caverns to run an 8k event.  Next week's post will be late since we will be out of town for the whole weekend but hopefully I'll come back with some awesome pictures.

First Race of the Season, Spring has Sprung & My Weak Link

Last weekend was Run to the Pub - the kick off race to our season.  We finally got a decent break in the weather and we didn't freeze to death.  I will be posting a race recap and review later in the week so stay tuned.  Spoiler alert:  We finished!

I felt pretty good for that run consider the mileage I put in during the preceding days.  I did a 20 miler the day before.  I had never done this route.  I basically ran from one end of the city to the other and then back tracked to my office where I'd left my truck the day before.  The snow and ice made it challenging and seemed slow.  I don't know if I'll do that again.

 

 

I took the Monday following the race off from work and since I would be flying out for work on Tuesday, I hit the roads for my Tuesday Ten on Monday instead.  Spring weather is finally here!

 

I bought a new pair of shoes - Topo Magnifly 2s.  I wanted something that is low drop (zero) and wide in the toe box with a little cushion.  I tried on a pair of the Altra Torin's, which I have loved in the past but the current model had way more fluff than I wanted.  The Topos are very nice, but I'm not sure yet if they are going to work for me.  I'm suffering from pain in my right foot and at this point I'm unsure if that is a result of these shoes or the sandals I wore for 3 days while traveling.

PS.  Somehow I already have a sock tan line.  How is that possible?

After my ten-miler, I took myself on a date to the 406.  The restaurant has been open at least a couple of years now, but this is only the second time I have been there.  I was highly unimpressed the first time.  This apple-brie grilled cheese was pretty decent though and the beer was delicious (sadly I can't recall what kind it was).  Sometimes it's just nice to go on a lonely date, but it was entirely unnecessary since I would have to do it a couple of times while I was traveling anyway.

I went to Oklahoma City on Tuesday.  I knew it would be difficult to get in my training, but it was my goal to do it regardless.  Unfortunately, traveling is my weak link.  I eat terrible and work too late in to the night and I didn't get much running in at all.

I did get a running tour of Bricktown on the first night.  I ran from my hotel to the canal trail and through downtown, along the canal again at the Botanical Garden before heading back to my room.  I loved the trail along the canal but construction areas made it so that I couldn't easily get from one side to the other.  I do love this city. 

This is the Botanical Gardens (can you see the trees growing inside?).  From the front it looks like a space shuttle capsule. The canal trail goes under the building which is pretty neat and the canal is full of enormous Koi.  I took a picture, but it didn't do them justice.

On Wednesday and Thursday I should have run 9 miles each day but I was up until after Midnight working both of the preceding nights.  Getting up early just didn't happen. So I got a quick mile on Wednesday and 4.5 on Thursday using the hotel treadmill.  My view from the treadmill was kind of cool but nowhere near as awesome as running the city.

I've listened to the audiobook version of "My Year of Running Dangerously" by Tom Foreman a few times.  It's really good book and the author reads it himself.  He's very engaging to listen to unlike many of the audio books I have downloaded on my Audible app.  The first several chapters of the story is about how he and his daughter decided to do a marathon together and his training adventures while working as a busy news anchor.  This guy worked 100 hour weeks, traveling all over the place, running on strange streets and on strange trails (even after dark without a headlamp) and always managed to get in his miles. I need to be more like this guy.

I took Friday off because I had to finish preparing for my final work meeting while in OKC and then my travel home wouldn't get me in to Billings until 10:00 pm. 

Then I ended up taking Saturday off as well.  My right foot has been bothering me quite a bit this week.  I opted to work on getting out kinks so I did some hot/cold therapy - switching back and forth between ice and heating pad and massaging it with a golf ball and Tiger Balm. 

It feels much better and I am heading out for 18 miles shortly. 

I'll be home for a week and it's hell week on my training schedule.  I have 3 days of 10 milers in the middle of the week and a long run of 21 miles on Saturday.  There are no rest days over the next two weeks.  I will need to evaluate if that is a wise strategy for me as I put on the miles.  I have another week of work travel coming up too.

Four weeks until Revel Mt. Charleston.  I feel really good about my endurance, but I'm not overly confident about my speed.  I'm perfectly capable of maintaining the necessary pace on down hills but I haven't had enough training on extended down hill to know if I can maintain the speed as long as needed.  My training has been very hilly with plenty of ups and downs so I'm hoping that will translate in to a solid base over all.  For better or worse, the time is near and I'm excited to be going to Vegas regardless.

BTW... I'm still working on Mitch, trying to talk him in to letting me do Javelina Jundred in October.  It's more the traveling logistics that are complicated (and expensive) than anything else.  If you have any great suggestions on how to get all your 100 mile gear for a HOT weather race to a location 1200 miles away and still be somewhat frugal, I'm listening.