So it goes

Last weekend I ran a bit I think my week total was around 23 . My foot is still a mess . Ordered some new shoes yesterday,  Altra Lone Peak . Running  Warehouse has the cool Shoefitr you can put in the shoe you are currently wearing and the shoe you would like to buy and it will compare the fit . It looks as if the Lone Peaks might just be wide enough where I need it . Should be here tomorrow  , keeping my fingers crossed .

Late last week and through the weekend I had some health issues hopefully nothing note worthy other than I feel like crap , hate getting old and taking medication . I have 10 days of medication then a wait and see hoping that fixes it kind of thing . I haven't done anything this week and just haven't felt great not bad enough to not run but just bad enough to give me an excuse . I will get off my ass and run after work today .

I will try and get back on a regular training cycle this running week - Thursday-Monday and actually keep track of what's going on .

Some random pictures from the Lost Sierra race course , great race,  well run and super pretty in Sept . they offer a 50k and a shorter distance , last year it was 15 miles

Top of the single track around mile 10 on the course

 

View looking West from the top of Mills Peak

 

 

Sierra Buttes from the Pacific Crest Trail

 

 

Silver Lake connector trail on the West side of the course

 

Sum it up , March

So I ended March with 150.06 miles which were mostly slow but I feel pretty good about with a few exceptions .

I don't remember if I ran on the 26-27-28 , I know this isn't much of training blog when I can't remember what I did last week

Friday March 29 - Good Friday - Took a half day off work and when I got home I ran 7.75 down to the Pond which is now dry through some really deep sand .

Saturday March 30- Went up Peavine again with intention of going down the back side a couple miles so Brian could see that part of the 50/50 course . I had underestimated the carnage that the week before had done to my feet . I think the mileage was right at 17 , ended up with my entire left little toe a blister . I had stuck a mole skin over the blood blister from the week before on my first metatarsal but it was swollen from the sandy run the day before . I didn't realize how bad and painful it was and spent the whole run trying to run on the outside of my left foot , causing the blisters on my little toe . Even more scary limping on my left foot took a toll on my right knee...again . Love the Tailwind and the Vfuel kept my energy level steady no gel crashes , felt good metabolically .

Sunday March 31 - Easter Sunday - It actually started raining and rained most of the morning . I was just a few miles short of my 150 mile goal so I stuck my swollen bloody feet into my Hokas and did those last few miles .

Monday April 1- Had the horseshoer out and decided to see if a couple days off would reduce the swelling in my foot and let the blisters heal a bit .

Tuesday and Wednesday April 2-3 - Great excuses , had to pick up hay , my foot still hurt , really I just didn't run .

Thursday April 4 - So far I have walked the dogs 2 miles will try and run when I get home . Right now my Brooks Trance 9's , my road shoes , are the most friendly on that painful joint . I also ordered a couple things that might help  . Keeping my fingers crossed I can do a 20  Saturday and 10-15 Sunday .

40

I know I missed a week in there . I do believe I'm the only one reading my blog so that's ok .

Thursday March 21 - 2 miles at lunch 2 miles when I got home

Friday March 22- 2 miles at lunch 2.65 when I got home . That was Brian's first run in 2 weeks , he did continue to ride his bike the last two weeks letting his knee calm down .

Saturday March 23 - was a group run going up the Silver State 50k course which I am in no way ready to do and Brian isn't really either . We did 15.5 going up Peavine from Hoge Rd to the top . We went to breakfast and with perfect timing pulled up just as the group got there . We didn't really run with them , that group was very fast we just ran the same trail up pretty far behind them . Stopped at the Pond of course there was no brass to speak of , we did pick up about 70 shells after going about 100 yards Brian decided he didn't want to run another 10 miles with pockets full of shell casings . Brian ran with the Tailwind which he really liked I did plain water so I had some for Ray . Normally there is a lot of water this time of year but there was very little . I used the Vi fuel and I like it .

                             Hoge Rd trail head , looking up at Peavine in the center



Sunday March 24 - We did our easy 10 out into Bedell . We used to call it easy because it has very little elevation gain is run on rolling fire roads with no rocks to speak of . What has now changed is the sand , it is 6"+ deep in some places . By about 5 miles you realize how much it is stressing your feet and ankles with it shifting under each step . I do feel like it has some benefits .

Monday March 25- Did 6.5 on our neighborhood roads ( dirt ) with Ray who was tired .

My running week total was 40 miles .

I'm pretty happy with the Saucony Xodus , they did well on the very rocky downhill on Peavine . I did get one blister but it has more to do with the changing joint in my foot rather than the shoes . I need to protect it to avoid this in the future . Everything feels ok after 40 miles , granted only the Peavine run was hard but it has been the hardest for me so far . I am still so slow .

Lent is winding down , this year I did give up more than usual - all sugary sweets ( soda , candy , cake , pie , cookies ) all bread and all cheese . I really only miss the soda and would have killed for a coke on Saturday . I did make some changes to eliminate some more sugar , in my shakes I am using yams instead of bananas and kefir instead of yogurt . I do feel like too much sugar causes inflammation in the body and with my arthritis and aversion to drugs eating differently was my best option . Not saying it's for everyone but even cutting out a few things if you have joint pain might help .

In like a lamb

March 7 - Ran a couple miles up the road when I got home from work

March 8 - Ran 3 fast on the treadmill at lunch and a couple down the road when I got home

March 9 - 8 on the trail and my Garmin 305 which has been on life support gave me some strange message then quit . I was able to revive it again but it had to be reset .

March 10 - Off,  Brian did something to his knee and became very discouraged . I didn't run I had loads of yard/horse work to do anyway

March 11 - 8 on the trail

March 12- 3.5 fast on the treadmill at lunch 2.81 down the load when I got home

March 13 - 3 fast at lunch on the treadmill

March 14-15 off

March 16 - 8 on the trail .

Still weak running uphill . I'm trying to run more of the Church Hill each time we go up,  it's a mile . I can run about 1/2 of it right now very slowly and of course can run down it fine . Struggling with how slow I am right now too . It's somewhat discouraging but I hope as things get better I can speed up a bit .

Wild March hair

I wonder why I even bother on days like today,  the wind is gusting into the 30 mph range , to style my hair then walk outside ...

February 25 - March 1 I don't remember what I did

March 2 - I have been able to run comfortably but not pain free 7-10 miles . Saturday was a beautiful day and I wanted to run 13-14 . We did one of the easy flat trails from home , it easy to add additional mileage by just turning down a different road in the desert . We did just that and ended up going just 13 . I had planned on going out for 2 more at the end of the day but started doing horse stuff and before I knew it it was feeding and dinner time .

March 3 - We decided to run on the Halo Trail in spite of a storm , it had been very dry and I thought the trail would hold up ok . We met Joe for his first run this year , he was wearing only shorts and a running shirt , it was 40 degrees and sleeting . Brian and Joe took off up the trail which was sticky but not horrible . I ran where I could still not strong enough for true uphill running so I try to hike fast . As we got higher the weather was a bit worse and the trail deteriorated into a slippery mess . I ended up doing 5.6 miles the guys did 8 . Joe did not get hypothermia . The clay was packed on my shoes I scrubbed them then put them on the shoe dryer . The next day it was baked into the treads , I used a hoof pick to clean it out .

March 4 - We did just 8 into the desert , stopped to pick up brass at a couple shooting sites . That was the end of Brian's run week he had an all time high of 50 miles , we figure Ray had @55 miles , he was tired as well .

March 5 - I did 3.25 on the treadmill at lunch , that gave me 30 miles for the week . Feels ok not great hopefully it will stay stable and improve . I will do a 40 mile week starting March 8 adding to my long run until it's a real long run .

March 6- Typical March wind with side ways snow I will numb my mind on the bike at the gym the next two days . Next week we add the bike in a couple nights a week once we have more light we can do a 10 mile loop we call the easy 10 on rest days from running

Half way through Lent , hasn't been too hard at all . I am feeling better , have lost some more injury weight . I have modified my shake as well to cut out the sugar . I had been using bananas for sweetness but now I'm using yams . In my lunch shake I was using yogurt now I have switched to kefir cutting out half the sugar . I feel more stable though out the day without the weird metabolic swings . Morning shake is yams , spinach , chia , Udo's oil , Amazing Grass Superfood , an orange & water , rice protein  . Lunch shake is yams, blueberries , kefir , hemp oil Amazing Grass Superfood , rice protein & water . Most is organic , I told Brian once I go to all organic in my body he'll be in trouble unless he can get certified organic .

Lost ...not really .

We decided to head a different direction yesterday to explore new trails and options . This is an area I had ridden quite a bit ...15 years ago . I remember the big climbs but thought it was only @6-7 miles so thought this would be good for me to build some strength . Brian could run the hills I would hike , he could do dog miles , running up then down to catch me up again and repeat as much as he could . It started out as an easy 1.5 miles to the first hill which was a good sandy ATV/horse trail it goes up , then up to a not so good rocky steep ATV /horse trail finally topping out on a ridge that has a good ATV  trail across the top . From there you can add many miles of up and down each side . Our plan was to go along the top to a trail back down into our valley  .

Pretty slow climb to the the ridge but a nice view to the north east of Pyramid Lake

 
slightly to the west Tule Peak

We continued along the ridge,  some rolling terrain slightly rocky to the south through an area that burned last summer after a lightning strike but with nice view of the Carson Range to the south west Peavine on the right Mt Rose to the left in the distance

We continued on the ridge looking for the trail back down into the valley on our side ...couldn't find it . We could see the road down below so we picked what , from the top , looked like a good drainage to follow down . Not a good choice it was very steep and involved some boulder scrambling and just was more than I was really up for . We crossed the point of no return,  I was not going back up . It was probably a mile then strangely it was a very good well used sandy ATV road that we knew lead to no where .Left my knee a little more sore than usual , really happy with how grippy the Saucony Xodus 3's were though some super technical stuff .

It was a long yet scenic 7.25 miles of mostly hard hiking and very little running . I'm going to head back up on my ATV and find the real down , it will make a nice loop with some decent climbing
1,200' in 1.5 miles up to the ridge .

Saturday was an easy 5 , Brian wasn't feeling well . Last week was easy 10 miles on the bike , just walking the dogs a couple miles each day seemed to do the trick to calm it down again .

4 months

4 Months today - some random thoughts

I don't know what I expected and I'm not sure if I'm doing well or not .  I am about where I hoped to be,  I guess I had hoped to be pain free or have little to no pain too . I still have a good amount of pain on the medial joint line which I guess is where I no longer have meniscus . I do have some tendonitis pain across the front of my knee and on my left knee which also has some medial joint line pain ( had the meniscus repaired on it in 1992 ) . I seem to have pain no matter what I do but some things really make it hurt including carrying anything over about 10 pounds . Makes life difficult,  I still have and care for 6 horses and that involves lifting and carrying heavy things .

I feel like I have been conservative with increasing my running . The last 3 weeks I have done a long run of 10 miles , pretty easy dirt jeep roads little climbing overall elevation profile makes it almost level . I have been hiking up and down steep hills at the dog park and feel more comfortable with steep downhill . So far these activities haven't really caused any problems while it doesn't feel much better it doesn't feel worse . I can step up the porch steps normally although I wouldn't attempt a full staircase , it's only 2 steps .

I know everyone is different and recovery is personal . I do wish there was some guide line for how much you should be doing at a given point in time . No one would give me any direction except to tell me don't run any more . Not helpful .

Yesterday- I did the 10 mile loop ended up being slow Brian was having GI distress and the last 3 miles felt only like walking . This weeks weather  looks like treadmill and the stationary bike at the gym .