126!

8+ miles Saturday with Misty, Amanda and Greg in Barton Creek.  It was all power hiking.  Greg and Amanda have been dating for several weeks.   He seems like a great guy and is really easy to be around.  I'm really happy for Amanda!!

Today Misty, Amanda and I did the Barton Creek super highway from Zilker to HOL with a short detour to visit Rick's Spot.  We mostly ran today.  It's so neat to watch Misty and Amanda improve and groove on their running.  They have a couple of 10k's and a half marathon planned the next several months.  

This was a great month of running and power hiking for me.  I finished with 126 miles for the month.  For several years I did my running diary/log on a word processor program and can't find my logs from '11.  I do however have all my months from Jan '12 to present on my blog.  This month is my highest mileage month in that time!  What a great feeling this is.  My feet or my running aren't anywhere near right but I have hopes I can continue at my current pace.  A few of the major factors involved are my switch to Hoka running shoes.  What a find they've been for me.  The other factor is running with Misty and Amanda.  They are both on fire with their running lately, and Amanda and I have got a good thing going usually running/ power walking 2 mornings a week while Misty has her crazy bootcamp 3 mornings a week.  I ran or power walked 16 days this month which means I was busy at least half the days this month.  In the past sometimes I've just updated my mileage without posting a run but I'm going to at least do a short post so I can keep a thorough track of my running days each month.  That's what made the difference.  Next month I'll be able to move to more running and less power hiking.  A lot of my power hiking lately has been due to helping Misty and Amanda get familiar with the Powerline loop so they feel comfortable going it alone.  They've got it down now so I'm free to get back more to my thing!!  I'm trying my best not to compare where I'm at now to 7 or 8 years ago when a 126 mile month was fairly routine.  Upward and onward.....

64 full pack miles!

pulled up

Shan, Mark, Sam and I all started the Thursday morning run but only 3 of us finished together.  Sam pulled up about halfway with a calf ailment that seemed to come on pretty suddenly.  Sure hope he can get that squared away.  Sam, Mark and I have Pandora's marathon next Saturday!!

48 miles with full pack for Guadalupe Mtns training!!

brushy creek

4 miles at Brushy Creek this morning with Misty and Amanda!!  Good times!!

powerline

11 miles in Barton Creek yesterday.  Misty, Amanda and I did all the Travis Country side of the cedar chip/ powerline loop together.  When it came time to cross the creek and head back to the HOL I continued on east and then doubled back via Shan's trail and then did a reverse powerline hitting Barkley too.  Everything seems to be gelling nicely.  Excited about continuing training and planning for Guadalupe Mtns!!

44 miles with full pack.  Yesterday I was totally maxed on fluid.  100oz bladder, 20oz bottle in bottom sleeve of pack and 22oz hand bottle!!

happy

Nice, easy 7+ with Misty this morning at Townlake.  We did the Lamar/ Pleasant Valley loop in 1:47.  Misty set the pace running quite a bit of it.  She thinks today was the most she's run in at least 10 years!!  She's very happy!!

33 miles with full hydration pack for Guadalupe Mountain training

100oz

Early morning 4 miler with Amanda and her crazy hound!!  I wore my pack with 100oz of water in it.  Good Guadalupe Mtns training!!

hurting

1:09:54 this morning.  17 seconds off our FKT (fastest known time) for the Pleasant Valley/ Lamar loop!!  Wow, was that a tough run.  I blabbered on for the 1st half and could hardly even grunt out a yes or no the last 3+ miles.  My whole body was Lactic Acid Central!!  That last few miles when I was hurting so bad I just kept telling myself that runs like this morning are what makes runners stronger.  Lets hope it does because it hurt bad!!

tactical

Lots to catch up on here.  Misty and I did a 4 mile version of Forest Ridge Saturday afternoon.  We mostly power hiked it.  I was a bit hungover from Kelsey's wedding the day before.

Yesterday I did 21 miles in 4:24.  I had some very tactical "no bailout" planning that worked perfectly.  I started at the E. Riverside entrance to Townlake at the far eastern end of the boardwalk and went towards Longhorn Dam first.  By doing it that way I was going to end my run at the car instead of any loops or refueling at the car that might tempt me to call it quits for whatever lame reason. I maintained a pretty even 12 minutes per mile pace until I got to the Greenbelt.  From there I slowed dramatically.  I didn't want to have a repeat of rolling my left ankle like the previous day.  I misjudged my distance on the Greenbelt and took a break at Ricks Spot and used that as my turn around place.  When I got back near the Spyglass entrance I checked the bladder in my pack and decided I should head up to the store to replenish.  I got a Vitamin Water and Snickers, poured the drink in my bladder and ate my candy bar and was back on the trail in no time.  By the time I got back to Townlake I realized my mileage was going to come up short of my 20 mile goal.  My mind went to work then.  The inner voices were battling back and forth about whether to continue toward the original mileage plan or find a reason to justify quitting.  When I got back to the car I was at mile 17.  I could continue 1.5 miles and turn around but instead I did the whole Pleasant Valley/ I-35 4 mile loop.   What a beautiful day to get outside and get a good long run in.  My feet were hurting pretty good the last few miles but I gutted it out pretty good.  Towards the end I reminded myself that to continue being an endurance athlete a person has to beat themselves up pretty good once in a while to remember the pain.

doggie

4 miles with Amanda and her crazy doggie this morning!!

breathing

Amanda wasn't feeling it this morning so I ran alone in the 'hood.  For some reason it's psychologically difficult for me to look forward to heading out the front door for a run.  I've always kind of been like that.   Looking back to '86 when I first really started running as an adult I would much rather have made the drive to McAlister Park (it wasn't much of a drive) as run from my apartment even then.  So when Amanda bailed on me this morning my first instinct was to go right back to bed but I didn't.  I got dressed and got out in the cold and got in 5 miles.

Mark L has told me on several occasions about his working on the proper breathing technique and how much it's helped his running.  After I got going this morning I figured I'd give it a try and wow did it ever work.  It's pretty strange running along and actually focusing on the proper breathing technique but I can definitely say that it worked.  I'm definitely sold and am going to practice it during my workday from now on!!

relief

I did 2 Ken's loops Saturday morning.  First one was with Misty and Amanda, the 2nd one was solo.  Misty and Amanda are really getting into the trail thing so we're on a mission for them to learn the trails for themselves so they won't need me.  The switchback portion of Ken's can really be confusing if you're not familiar with it so Misty lead the way so she can see it for herself.  That's the only way to learn it.  I had planned on doing 3 total loops but cashed it in after the 2.  It seems that's my MO when starting a bit later than normal and mixing in someone else's plan too.  Oh well, it worked out for the best.

I've been procrastinating on getting my suit out and to the cleaners for Kelsey and Josh's wedding next Friday.  Well, I pulled it out and it had a gaping moth hole in the back of the suit jacket.  I totally panicked.  I have a black sport coat and some other dress slacks and immediately began trying to piece something together.  It was not working out and didn't want it to feel half assed so I went over to Jos. A. Bank and pulled the trigger on a brand new suit.  I didn't want to spend the money but it's done now and I won't have that worry for a long time to come.  I also went over to Steinmart and got a new pair of slacks and nice long sleeved shirt for the rehearsal dinner Thursday evening.  I've gained a few pounds and couldn't really fit into any of my slacks.....and I really needed to have another business casual out fit for nice occasions.  It's a relief to know I'll be looking good for the big occasion!!

dude

4 miles this morning in Cedar Park with Amanda.  When she arrived at our meet point this morning the first she said was, "it's cold"!!!  I told her that my weather app said 33 in Austin.  She said her car gauge said 26!! When I got home I turned on the TV and the weather dude said it was 25 in Round Rock.  Amanda's car was right!!!

pals

Me and my old pals Sam V and Mark L had a good 7+ mile run at Townlake this morning!!  We ran it in 1:13:56.  I'm really happy with that considering I'm still getting back into after a month long layoff.  Shan injured her back gardening.  It's a rare thing her missing a Thursday morning due to injury.  She thinks she'll be back next week.

looking up

Amanda and I got in a good 4+ miles early this morning.  She's really gotten stronger since we started back up a few weeks ago.

I'm super happy with 48 miles in January with only 2+ weeks of running.  Things are looking up!!