Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark loop w/ Andrea (bike).

PM - 5 miles, exact same thing as this morning.

Spent the day skiing at Brighton. Fun. Headed back down once the legions of drunk snowboarders crossed the tipping point of annoying-ness.

AM - 10 miles w/ Andrea (bike). 

PM - 8 miles. Horsepark loops. Andrea rode the last 6 laps w/ me. I drove one mile away from home to keep the entire run on soft surfaces. 

I'll be really glad when she can run again, but its been nice to have Andrea bike along a lot recently. At least we can do that together. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for her, I rarely break 7-8 mph.

AM - 3 miles. I was going to do roughly the same run as last Tuesday (~13 with a progressive fast finish) but my hamstring got tight so I just stopped and walked home. Nothing good would have come out of giving it a shot today.

Super lazy day, did absolutely nothing. Didn't even try to run today. My hamstring actually feels OK, but I don't trust it (if that makes sense). This issue goes back to the race on Saturday. When I made a little surge and passed Brett later in the race, I felt my left hamstring lock up just as we turned on to 600E. It wasn't painful, but my drive/power was gone... similar to what happened in the last couple marathons I've run (although this time it was the left side... my "good" hamstring!). It didn't bother me on Sunday, but at the very end of my afternoon run on Monday I felt a slight twinge. Stopped immediately. Started the run yesterday and felt the twinge again after a few miles. Stopped immediately. So the good thing is that I haven't blindly pushed through and turned what might just be a minor thing into a major thing. 

I did a bunch of rehab stuff w/ Andrea and really tried to work it on the foam roller. I haven't been able to make it hurt, and it feels normal. Still, I'm unsure of what to do going forward from here, because I don't know if its a real injury or I'm just over-reacting. The smart move is to continue to lay off for several more days, maybe a week, before giving it a shot again. I've already decided I'm not running the race in Nashville this weekend.

The 25K Championship is hanging over my head. But if we're being realistic here, I'm not in shape to reach my goals there. A weak sauce 5K doesn't bother me (I thrive off them!), but running a 1:07-high half marathon (on a downhill course) doesn't exactly bode well three weeks out. My fitness just isn't where I need it to be right now to compete for a Top 10 finish in Grand Rapids. I still feel like I have the potential to go to Duluth in June and run a PR there, so I'm trying to shift my focus to what is the best approach to make that happen. That may mean laying low for a while... I may still go to the 25K... I'm not sure yet. It might be wise(r) to spend the next couple weeks focused on addressing some of my imbalances/weaknesses with my PT coach (Andrea), dropping a little excess weight, and getting my mind laser sharp again. Right now its a little dull.

Took the advice of a couple wise folks and went up this way with my skis...

To do this...

Skinned up 6 x Milli Express at "all day" pace. Each climb is ~1110 feet, so I got in a solid 6500+ feet of vertical (I'm throwing around that word like I'm a trail runner!). The average time for the up was 26:30. That's right about 2500 vertical feet per hour, which is a decent clip on skis. Its been a while since I put in a day like that on the planks... I'm guessing the last time I did over 7K was when Andrea and I skied Lone Peak.

I needed that, mentally. Not sure it was great for my hamstring, but surely it didn't make it any worse.  My hip flexors, on the other hand, were tired!

Andrea and I attempted to go for a run together this morning. We made it about three-fourths of a mile before mutually pulling the plug and walking back home.

Skied for a few hours at Brighton, then broke out my road bike. Was going to head up to Little Mountain but I realized that my brake pads probably haven't been replaced since Lance was riding for USPS and since I don't like to go faster than 20mph, that could have been trouble on the way down. So I just meandered around and practiced clipping in and out of my pedals so I don't look like a total moron the next time I go for a ride with Andrea and Amiee.

The snow right now, when timed properly, is as close to CO/CA corn as we get in the Wasatch. The only thing that even compares to light powder is perfectly timed, consistent, smooth corn snow. Its so fun when you hit it just right.

I love this time of year, when 99.9% of people have put away their skis for the year, and you have the whole place to yourself....