[mountainmilers] February 2015 Progress Report

From: Terri Rashid <terri@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "mountainmilers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <mountainmilers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 18:38:38 +0000
February was a decent month of running for me.  I logged a total of 295 miles, 
which is excellent, compared to last year's 125.  But I did not get in as many 
long (over 17 miles) runs as I did in January, especially after the first week 
of Feb.  In January I had 9 long runs, including 2 over 30 miles.  This month I 
only had 6 long runs, and only 1 over 30 miles - although that run, at 36.6 
miles, was my longest run of this calendar year.  3 of my long runs were  
between Feb 1-5, so from Feb 6th through the 28th, I only had 3 long runs.  
There were some good reasons for that though.  The first full weekend in Feb I 
had relatives visiting - some of whom I had not seen since I was in grade 
school.  The second full weekend we were up in Montana for skiing, so only 
short runs on the treadmill there.  I have run/hiked every day of the year so 
far, with only 1 day (Saturday - Feb 7th - when relatives were visiting) having 
less than 1 mile of running, though I had over 6.1 miles of hiking across 2 
hikes that day.

I had my first cold of the winter season right as my relatives came into town, 
and lasting for a few days.  It was probably just as well that my runs were 
shorter then, and our group hikes were definitely not strenuous.  
Unfortunately, because of the early warm weather in February, my seasonal 
allergies kicked in right as I was getting over that cold.  (Feb 10th & 11th 
were when I really started noticing it!)  I picked up some medicines right 
after our ski weekend and they control the worst of the symptoms, but based on 
my running times and HRs for the last two weeks, I suspect that my lungs are 
probably not delivering as much oxygen as usual.  Fortunately my next event is 
in March, in Montana, and I feel fairly confident that the pollen will not be a 
problem there at that time.  :)

This month culminated in my first event of the year, the Phoenix Marathon.  
This was not a goal race for me, so I didn't really taper.  I did my 36+ mile 
run/hike Friday of the weekend before, plus an 11 mile run/hike on Sunday, an 
8.7mi on Tuesday, and then a mini-taper with some shorter runs until the 
weekend.  I noticed my HRs were really high on my last 2 miler on Friday, so I 
guessed that my Saturday marathon would be a little slow.  I averaged 11:48 
pace at the marathon, which is OK for me, for a flat training run, but since 
this is a net ~970' elevation loss course, I was a little disappointed.  Rick 
on the other hand had a new PR for the marathon distance, so that's great!  We 
had fantastic overcast and cool weather, although a bit of a stiff headwind on 
many sections.

This month I signed up for my first ever multi-day stage race, the TransRockies 
6-day run in Colorado in August.  (120 miles, 20,000' ascent) Info here:
http://transrockies-run.com/gore-tex-transrockies-run-event-info/route-stages-maps/
I am *very* excited about that event!  I'm entered in the solo division, so I 
don't need to worry about trying to keep up with someone else.  I am still 
hopeful that there will be some other people running around my pace so that I 
can have some periodic company on the trails.

March looks to be a bit challenging in terms of quality ultra-training.  Our 
weather right now is rain & snow, plus periodic high winds, with more rain 
forecasted for tomorrow.  I am on the road for the next 12 days after that, and 
other than a half-marathon in Bozeman, MT near the end of that time, I will be 
confined to short treadmill runs for those trips.  :(  I hope to be able to get 
right back into my usual longer distance trails runs when I return in the 
middle of the month, but I am not sure how well that will work after two weeks 
of short running.  I have the Crown King Scramble 50K at the end of March, but 
that is definitely planned as a supported training run, so no taper needed 
before then.  Two weeks later I have the Zion 100K (Friday, Apr 10), so CKS 50K 
will probably be my last really long training run before I need to taper for 
Zion.

I hope you have some exciting events or trail destinations planned for 
Spring/Summer 2015 - it's right around the corner!!  :)

.Terri
[mountainmilers] February 2015 Progress Report

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