Monday, March 16, 2015, 6:40 pm

5.45 mi, 415 ft gain, 1:03:44. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Another day taking it sort of easy. I went out to look at the the seasonal ponds to see if the water had gone up at all, maybe a couple inches.

Then we went back out and down the newly cleared road opposite to the one I was just on. It was opened up, but not extended any farther than I’d been down before.

We stopped off at Olney Creek for a little bit before heading out to the hills. I wanted to go up a little, but not too much. I took one of the earlier spur roads looking for a good sunset view. I found a pretty good one.

I let go a little on the way down the hill. It was a pretty good run.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 5:13 pm

8.11 mi, 278 ft gain, 59:40. May Creek Rd CW around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I haven’t had much of a plan for my running lately. I don’t really like not knowing what I’m doing, but sometimes you have to play it by ear.

The foam roller hasn’t been working for the twinge in my hamstring or glute, so I took one of the dogs’ tennis balls and rolled around on it last night. I woke up this morning and my glute was sore. It loosened up a bit on today’s run, though, so I guess it’s working. I had trouble getting it to work on my hamstring. I couldn’t get enough pressure to go deep enough. I might have to get a proper massage.

Anyway, my legs felt ok today. My right shoulder is a little better too. My starting pace was a little better than it’s been recently. I went a little faster once warmed up as well. At first, I tried to keep my HR below 147, but I also wanted to make it 8 mi in under 1 hr. I kept pretty much the same effort until just past Reiter Rd, where the road starts to go downhill. It’s mostly flat or uphill until then.

I took advantage of the downhill to make up some time for the warmup and uphill. I ended up having to speed up more for the last 1.6 mi or so. There was a train going though the crossing for my street and I was going to be a little short of 8 mi, so I ran up Gunn rd a little bit. I didn’t have to go far before the end of the train was in sight. The train was going quite slow, however, as it was getting ready to stop in town for other trains to pass.

I still had to wait very briefly for the train to go by. It was still slowing down. Once it passed, I took off down the road. I was going to beat 1 hr, but now I wanted to make it the little bit extra home under 1 hr. I picked it up again for the last 0.25 mi and made it.

It was a good run. I almost felt like taking the dogs out for a short run, but I decided to give them a break again today. Vida seems to start limping seemingly out of nowhere when she gets up from lying down in the evening, especially from the floor. And Sigurd did something to his left rear leg earlier today jumping up at a tree with a squirrel in it. I didn’t see anything, so he must of just landed wrong, but he yelped and wouldn’t put any weight on it for about a minute. I got him to lie down, took a look and felt over his leg. I didn’t find anything. Then he got up and was moving around like nothing happened.

According to Strava, I had my second fastest 10k during today’s run at 45:00. I’ve never actually raced a 10k, so I don’t know of what I’m capable. Maybe I’ll add that to my goals next year.

Average HR 147 bpm.

 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 4:03 pm

7.57 mi, 969 ft gain, 1:36:19. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Another stiff start today. The tennis ball doesn’t seemed to have worked. The tight spot in my right hamstring has been there for probably going on a year, now that I think about it. It wasn’t as bad until the last couple of months though, and it wasn’t a problem at all while running until then. I’ll keep stretching and try to get a massage soon.

It took almost 2 mi to warm up. By 3 mi the hamstring and glute had loosened up too, though they seem to be better going uphill than downhill.

Once I got out to the first clear cut, about 0.75 mi in, I took my shirt off. It was sunny and warm enough for me, probably only the low 60s. It was nice to get some sun. We went out to the little hill to start, then out to Olney creek and let the dogs play in the water. Then we went partway up the connector hill, taking the right a little before the switchback. I saw a garter snake back in the deep shade of the woods. I was just wondering when I’d see my first snake of Spring about 10 minutes earlier. I got a couple photos. It had a scar about where I’d consider it’s tail and body to meet.

After going up the short, steep hill out there and a short wander in the woods, we went out the road they cleared right at the switchback. It went a little ways out, but there wasn’t much interesting out there. Then we continued up the connector hill.

We went out to the little swampy area. There were tiny tadpoles swimming around, no larger than 1/4 in long nose to tail. They even appeared to have started growing hind legs. Then Vida decided to lie down in the water.

On the way back down the hill, I tried to get the dogs to go into some clear water to rinse off. They proceeded to go through the mud climbing out of the water. So I took them to another water hole just a little ways down the road I saw the snake on. There’s no mud around that hole, and it’s a bit deeper, so they got rinsed off fairly well.

Average HR 120 bpm.

 

Thursday, March 19, 2015, 5:26 pm

6.75 mi, 576 ft gain, 1:07:13. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Not quite as stiff starting today. I’m getting tired of the hamstring and glute thing. Later in the run, I lengthened my stride a bit to stretch out and noticed that my strides seemed to be a little uneven. More stretching, a massage and maybe a sports DR or chiropractor if it doesn’t get better soon.

We went out to the two seasonal ponds. The water was up a little bit. Then we went out a little ways up the mountain, up to the intersection by the older rock pit.

On the way back I wanted to check out the roads going out into the clearcut down on the flat from last summer/fall. At the end of one of them, I kept going along the tracks left by one of the big tree cutting machines. It makes a decent trail. It went over to a second road in the clear cut. No such luck with tracks past the end of that one. I checked out one more short road after that, then continued around the loop to finish out.

The far corner of the loop has a little bit of a hill. Nearing the bottom of the other side going this direction, there’s often water in the ditch on the side of the road. Vida loves to jump into water. The mud at the bottom was just as deep as the water on top. I was hoping to make it back to the car without her getting filthy, which she loves to do. Fortunately, there are several more puddles on the way back, and I got her to go into one and mostly rinse off.

It was a pretty good run. I drizzled a little at times, which felt nice. I kept it pretty easy. My legs didn’t feel that great, though not bad either. I opened it up for a couple short bursts later in the run and didn’t have any problem with the speed.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Friday, March 20, 2015, 4:46 pm

11.31 mi, 2466 ft gain, 2:02:29. WFSP woody trail to upper falls (11), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Legs felt a little better today than they have, and I felt better overall as well, not nearly as fatigued. I also didn’t have much hamstring or glute discomfort for nearly the entire run.

It was a little cloudy and looked like it was threatening to rain, so I went with my Baleaf long sleeve compression shirt and gloves. I rolled up the sleeves pretty quickly and took the gloves off shortly after that. The rain didn’t come until well after I got home.

The roads on the way to the park went ok. I had a bit of a hard time keeping an easy pace going up the trail. My HR was a bit higher than my breath rate would have suggested, but I guess that can be expected going uphill. I haven’t really paid that much attention to my HR on extended climbs, and I haven’t been using a HR monitor for that long, so I still have more to learn.

I spent a minute at the top, then ran up to the DNR road above. I went partway down the road to look at the new bridge. It looks done, but I didn’t get that close.

I made pretty good time on the way down. Apparently, it was my 2nd fastest time of the year, according to Strava. I didn’t really go that hard, but I haven’t done a hard effort down yet this year either.

The road on the way back home never goes as well as the way there. It wasn’t bad, though. I finished the last

Average HR 148 bpm.

 

Saturday, March 21, 2015, 3:43 pm

9.32 mi, 3832 ft gain, 1:58:26. Wallace Falls Double (12,13), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

I felt pretty good today. I wanted to run at Wallace Falls, but I didn’t want to run the 3.2 mi there and back, so I drove. It wasn’t too busy. I even got a parking spot in the lot.

I took one handheld water bottle with a baggy of 5 dates in the pocket and my UD belt to hold my phone. I sort of tried to keep the effort under control, but didn’t really do that great of a job at it. At least I didn’t go hard. My breathing wasn’t that labored, but my HR was higher than I wanted. Oh well.

The trail was in good condition, and most of the other people were friendly. I made it to the upper falls in about 32 min, spent a couple minutes up there, and headed back down. I made the round trip in about 57-58 min. I got into my car and refilled my water bottle before heading off for round two at just over 1 hr.

I got some comments and looks on my second trip. I was about 1-1.5 min slower on the second trip. I spent about the same time at the top before heading down again. My second time going down was faster, and my fastest down time for 2015 according to Strava, just over 23 min. I finished the whole thing in just under 2 hrs, which was what I was shooting for.

I seem to have a pretty good sense time and pace. Maybe that’s why I didn’t try harder to go more slowly.

Average HR 155 bpm.

 

Sunday, March 22, 2015, 5:15 pm

7.04 mi, 811 ft gain, 1:37:29. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

I was more stiff than I expected from Saturday’s Wallace Falls double. I warmed up by about 2 mi. The rest of the run was pretty good. I still took it easy, though.

I had to make a couple pitstops, so I checked out a couple side roads just a little ways. One past the seasonal ponds and another on the other side of Olney Creek. I got some sunchokes on Saturday and had some with dinner. They don’t quite agree with me, lots of gas and stuff. I don’t remember having this trouble when I had them before. It’s unfortunate, because I really like them. Extended cold storage and very long cooking times supposedly help some.

Other than that, the rest of the run was good. I got in some decent uphill after that. It was too cloudy for a sunset view, and it started to rain just after I turned around at my high-point. It wasn’t too hard and didn’t last very long.

Average HR 115 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 55.6 mi, 9347 ft gain.