Monday, April 27, 2015, 7:02 pm

3.12 mi, 136 ft gain, 51:12. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

Today was pretty rough, though not as bad as I expected. My left knee is pretty sore on the inside where I smacked it against a rock from a fall when I went up the Lake Isabel trail. My achilles attachment points are pretty sore too. Other than that, my legs are tired and generally fatigued. Overall, I felt a little better than after the 7 hour race in September.

I took it quite slow, not that I could have run much faster even if I wanted. We went out to Olney Creek. The dogs splashed around a bit. On the way back to the car, we went out the road in the clearcut towards the little hill. We went far enough to break 3 mi by the end of the run.

Average HR bpm 111.

 

Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 6:48 pm

3.19 mi, 28 ft gain, 30:56. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I was a little better today overall, but not much faster. There was a little bit of doms, though. I’m surprised my muscles weren’t a lot more sore.

I took my normal route around town. The first mi was about 10:20, second at 9:18, third at 9:05. I really had to use a restroom by the end, so I managed to speed up for the last bit, going 7:49/mi pace.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 6:53 pm

3.23 mi, 310 ft gain, 50:19. Reiter gate #1, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

I was better today again. My mental state wasn’t quite as good, though. I tend to go through a rough patch with motivation and emotions related to running for a few days up to a week or so after a tough race.
I don’t like being stuck doing short, easy runs. I wrote a little about that during my taper. It’s the same during recovery. The physical pain, discomfort and soreness suck too. But I think the biggest factor is my body not cooperating. The pain and discomfort would be tolerable if I could still move like normal. Being limited to less than I know I’m capable, and less than I’m used to doing is tough. I sometimes wonder whether it’s worth doing at all if I can’t perform up to my personal standard. It’s tough to moderate my expectations, even knowing how recovery normally goes and how long it takes.

Anyway, I didn’t want to run on asphalt and concrete, so I took the dogs out to Reiter. I stuck to the flats. Once out to the fork at the edge of the powerline cut, we went straight on the road into the woods instead of up the hill the other way. I wanted to see where it went. After a side trip on an older, partially overgrown loop, we followed the road out to where it meets May Creek. The road appeared to continue beyond, but there was no way to cross without getting wet, which I didn’t really want to do. I’ll check it out another time. Then we went up another fork in the road, which ran into the creek again upstream a ways. There was a little more uphill than I planned, but it wasn’t bad.

On the way back, there were two guys walking out towards the creek. Vida ran up barking, then backed away. Sigurd barked a little, but was more interested in the beer can one of the guys had in his hand. That it was beer didn’t matter to Sigurd. He’s always curious about things people carry.

I’m looking forward to being fully recovered and new adventures.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:34 pm

4.57 mi, 38 ft gain, 42:36. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt like going farther today. I thought about turning around at 20 min, but decided to go a little farther to the next road. I went a little faster today. Starting to feel a bit better.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Friday, May 1, 2015, 7:05 pm

6.3 mi, 65 ft gain, 1:08:24. RR access rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I wanted to go a little longer today and to get off the roads. I went for the railroad access roads instead. Gravel is better than asphalt and concrete. I wasn’t fast, but it was nice to go a little longer.

I had to make a brief pitstop, I waited until I was passed the gate a ways and found a spot in the woods. Shortly after I got back on the  access road I came across a deer up ahead. It ran ahead a little ways then jumped off the side onto someone’s driveway and into their yard.

I was a bit more tired than normal by the end. There’s definitely still fatigue from the race left in my muscles.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Saturday, May 2, 2015, 6:50 pm

4.64 mi, 204 ft gain, 59:10. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Out into the woods (well some woods and some clear cuts). A little better everyday. I still took it easy.

We went out to the seasonal ponds. The dogs played around a bit, then we went to Olney Creek. More playing around for the dogs. Then we finished out the loop and headed back for the car.

Average HR 111 bpm.

 

Sunday, May 3, 2015, 6:22 pm

11.16 mi, 823 ft gain, 2:01:09. Through town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs were still a little tired, but definitely getting there. I wanted to go a bit longer today and maybe get on the trails a little, so I headed for Wallace Falls State Park.

I’m getting kind of tired of the roads, even on the way to the park today. I kept it fairly easy. My time to the park was maybe a minute or two slower than normal. I got a little water, signed the register and headed out.

I went up the railroad grade. I saw a couple people in the first mile or so. It was nice to do a little climbing and get out on the trails, even if it was railroad grade.

I made a pitstop at the restroom at the end of the trail, then headed back. Going back wasn’t bad. The legs were still more tired than normal but felt fairly good. I feel like I’m getting back to normal with today’s run.

I’ve started to notice that this particular pair of shoes has a little bit of a manufacturing defect. The seem inside where the footbed meets the upper and lower around the outside is slightly raised in places. It’s not too noticeable on short runs. It becomes kind of apparent on longer runs, though. Maybe that’s why they discontinued the model.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 36.2 mi, 1576 ft gain