On The Loose: Feb. 10th to Feb. 16th

Monday, 2/10, Neighborhood Exploring

15 miles, 1:56

A day out exploring the neighborhoods of Missoula. Consensus: never take a shoveled sidewalk for granted. It was kind of weird running, going smooth on cleared sidewalks and then occasionally hitting a stretch of snow a foot deep. It was like a weird form of interval running.

Tuesday, 2/11, Intervals w/Run Wild Missoula

11 miles, 1:39

Ran up to the Runner's Edge for another night run of intervals on Kim Williams. We did 2 sets of 4 x 800s, with 90 second rests between 800s and a 3 minute rest in between sets. I felt a little slow, but ended up running in the 2:50s on slushy/icy ground. Amazingly, I guess there were a half dozen hardy souls who showed up last week in negative degree weather, while I stayed home and stayed warm.

Wednesday, 2/12, Kim Williams/Milwaukee/Bitterroot Trails Tempo Run

13 miles, 1:28

I combined a bunch of short out and backs from the 0 mile post to do a long tempo run on the trails (now that they're mostly ice free). This was also a bit of exploring for me, since I hadn't been north or west of the 0 mile post, and the Milwaukee Trail seems like it gets far enough west in town that road running is a good possibility, maybe even working out a loop or getting on some roads west of the Bitterroot River for future runs. I'd have liked to go a little faster, maybe 6:40 pace, but 1:28 is pretty good for me with snow cover.

Thursday, 2/13, North Hills Slushy Running w/Jed and Jimmy

13 miles, 1:47

Same route, same time, same distance and time covered as last week. Except this time it was 50 degrees warmer and we were running through slush. My feet kept sliding on the hill heading up to the saddle, and trying to keep my balance was a little exhausting. Some of the puddles in town were ankle deep, and there's still plenty of snow to melt.

Friday, 2/14--Off

Saturday, 2/15, Blue Mountain Road/Mullan Road w/Thomas

20 miles, 2:38

I got my first taste of the Missoula Marathon route today, running along the Clark Fork River. 20 miles is still feeling like a really long run right now, which is a little worrisome if I want to do a 24 hour run in 6 weeks. I suppose I should get at least one run over 4 hours in at some point.

Sunday, 2/16, Pattee Creek/Deer Creek Loop

18 miles, 2:18

A nice mix of sun, light snow, and some slush. I was able to wear shorts, too! Coming down Deer Creek was a little icy, but the only bad section was just before the University on Kim Williams. It was also REALLY windy by the golf course in east Missoula, but only for half a mile or so.

90 miles, 11:46

Last week was the big freeze, but this week was the big slush fest. A lot of road running and puddle hopping, and running without any traction device but, usually, carefully. Some days were a little exhausting, but even at the end of the week I was able to recover pretty well from a 20 mile outing. I think I'm getting back into shape for longer runs, but next week will still be a mandated recovery week (for the Snow Joke half marathon on Saturday).