I planned on doing a 2 mile warm up then the tabata workout I read about in trail running, and know about from crossfit, but the 2 miler turned into a little more than a warm up and the tabata kicked my butt!!

2 miles in vibrams, 7:07, 6:49

the tabata workout consists of 20 seconds of sprinting 10 seconds rest, repeated for 4 minutes, a total of 8 20 second sprints. Try it, it's tough. real tough. But according to a study which I can't site off the top of my head it produces tremendous results in a short amount of time (the study was 6 weeks), increasing both aerobic and anerobic capacity.

6.25 miles, 7:04 pace, vibrams

Ran a 10k plus a little today on the dirt track in vibrams, felt strong, working on speeding up my cadence.

Elkhorn 50 mile Race Report (kind of)

Well I started the Elkhorn 50 miler in the Elkhorn mountains outside of Helena, Montana. The first 15 miles went very well I was running strong, going faster than I should have been for a 50 miler with 12,000 feet of gain, but all was going well. Then I took a wrong turn, before I knew it was wondering through cow pastures, jumping over fences, climbing under fences, walking up on an empty cabin in the middle of the woods, getting starred down by large angry cows that were standing in between myself and the road I though I need to go down, climbing hills to get a better look around, then wading through a forest of lodge pole pines and jumping over dead trees while being shot at (only partially joking here) until I final found my way back to the start/finish after 3 hours of wandering off course. An adventure for sure!

Not a big deal though. I realized at about mile 10 that a hilly 50 miler isn't the best training for the flat 100 miler I have coming up anyway.

Spanish Peaks Hiking Report

Sometimes it's the path of mistake and uncertainty that turns out the best. The plan was for Jill and I to go on a two day, 23 mile backpacking loop in the Spanish Peaks, about 45 minutes south of Bozeman. Jill found the hike in a book, we had the directions printed out and hit the trail early Saturday morning. about 45 minutes into our hike we came to a junction which the directions sited as being mile 3, our first clue something was wrong, we surely hadn't already gone 2 miles, but we took the trail to the left, leaving the green Meadows dotted with yellow and purple flowers and were swallowed up by the green forest.



We came to the next junction at 4.5 miles marked with signs indicating the which trail the different paths lead to, but none of them lead to the trail we were supposed to be on, again we chose the path to the left, staying on the same 407 Spanish Peaks trail. We left the flat forest floor and began a climb that would weave in an out of the forest, past lakes and streams for another 4+. With the change in elevation came the change in trail surfaces, from mostly dirt single track to mostly rock single track. Not really notable aside from the fact that I was wearing my VFF's. The plan was to start in VFF's and switch to my cross country flats when my feet start to hurt, but upon arriving at the trailhead I realized I forgot my flats, and I surely wasn't going to wear my hiking boots, so it was VFF's or nothing.

About 4 miles into the climb we reach the next trail junction. By this time we were certain we weren't going to complete our predetermined look, but the mountains were beautiful, and we decided to follow the trail where it leads us. Neither one of us had been in the Spanish Peaks before and didn't know what to expect. With it's green Meadows and tall grey jagged peaks, we both agreed it reminded us of Glacier National Park. The thing I love about hiking in the mountains that I can't get while hiking or running in the forests of the Midwest is the uncertainty of the views that lay ahead. You never know when you're going to pop out into a break in the trees and be greeted with a sprawling view of the mountains and valleys as far as the eye can see, and once you get above tree line, every climb is made with anticipation of what lies beyond.

We again decided to take the trail to the left, which from looking at it seemed to lead over a mountain pass but wasn't clear where it went from there. As I reached eye level to the top of the climb I caught a reflection of the sun in the ground above me. As I took a couple more steps, gaining a couple feet in elevation I could see an alpine lake about 10 feet in front. It was pretty cool to just walk up a mountain and be greeted by a pristine lake with no forewarning.

The lake was just sitting on a break of two mountains about about 7000-8000 feet in elevation the pass was about 100 yards long, and was we followed the trail to the other side of the lake and got our first glimpse of what was beyond, we found our selves staring down into a lush green valley, equipped with a fast network of streams green grass and wildflowers making up the colors of the rainbow. It was such a vast contrast to what we had experienced the last 4+ miles of our hike. We went from rocky mountains to lush green valley in the time it took to butt slide down a 100 yard snowfield.

We followed the trail throughout the valley about a mile before deciding that there could be no better place than this to camp for the night. So we set up our tent, the only residents in the mountain enclosed valley. Well...there was one other resident. A very curious deer that kept making wide circles around our camp site, always coming back within 20 or so feet of us before eating some grass and making another loop. This went on for a couple hours before he finally went to bed for the night.

the next day we made our way out of the valley, climbing up the fallen rock to the side of the snowfield we had sled down, past the lake, down the mountains, through the woods, into the Meadows and back to civilization. Another successful Montana summer weekend.

3.1 miles, 9:04 pace, roads barefoot.

Not only do I have to worry about the sprinkler systems when I run on the sidewalks around my place, but now I have to deal with the tiny pellets of fertilizer the lawn care companies leave scattered all over the sidewalk. Landminds to tender bare feet. Nice little run today. the feet felt good. Achilles still sore when I start but loosens up after a few minutes.

Jill and I will be going on a two day 20 mile backpacking trip this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post.

8.2 miles total RHR:54

4.7 miles, to and from work (took a detour which added a few tenths) VFFs

3.5, trails, XC flats


put in some slow miles today. my legs are a bit weary. I think I'm at the point where I've gone from no training to a moderate amount in a short time, and the training I've done in the past two weeks hasn't had enough time to set in a make me stronger yet, so I'm running out of steam. I should start benefiting from my increased training in the next couple weeks and hopefully things will start continue to progress.

10.6 miles, roads, 6 miles barefoot, 4.6 miles VFFs, RHR: 56

I'm starting to try a new variation of training. Multiple runs per day of short distance. I'm doing this for a few reasons, 1.) it fits nicely into my schedule. I can run before work, run to work, run home from work, then run in the evening. 2.) I'm hoping that forcing the body to get up and go multiple times a day will improve my recovery time when I increase the mileage further. 3.) I'm hoping the short runs will help me transition into barefoot running more safely, allowing me to perfect my form and toughen my soles, instead of trying to go too far too fast. 4.) I'm always looking to change things up and see what works and what doesn't. So I'm going to try to get in at least three runs per day 2 or 3 times a week for a little while and see what happens.

I had a pretty good day of Barefoot running today. 6 miles total, which is the most I've ever run barefoot in a day. On my runs to and from work I noticed a significant reduction in discomfort from last week when running the same path. There were only a few spots that are still a little shaky. my final barefoot run this evening was a little rough, my soles were a bit sore, but it's nice to no the limits, and I still haven't developed any blisters or any other foot damage.

I've been having trouble with the nutrition side of things as I start to increase my miles. Since I haven't been doing much running for a while, I've been eating less and I need to consciously work increase my caloric intake to make up for the extra calories burned.

I've got some tired muscles from my increased mileage but my body feels good. my only ailments are my left achillies which gets sore after I get back from runs, and needs to be stretched and warmed up before the run, then it feels fine, and the balls of my feet which are a bit brusied from barefoot, but are getting stronger.

3.1 miles, 8:49 pace, roads, VFFs

2.2 miles, 10:33 pace, roads, barefoot, run to work.

2.2 miles, 10:40 pace, roads, barefoot, run home from work.

3.1 miles, 8:42 pace, roads, first half VFFs, second half barefoot.

Things to watch: sore left achillies