A little recovery time...

I followed up the fun of the American Canyon 50K with a week of nice and easy runs without a focus other than simple recovery, working out the kinks of last Saturday's nice effort. Looking for some variety and a bit of varied terrain, I visited some trails I had not been on in a while due to snow-cover. I started with some rolling hills between Goni Road and Centennial Park, visited the gradual and steady climbs of Ash Canyon, and finished with some muddy trails north of Virginia City.

We had a big Carson Area Runners group for Saturday's cruise in Ash Canyon. I went a bit faster than my target but it was such fun running with the group; we were even joined by some cross-country guys from Carson High.

I also visited Kevin at Ascent Physical Therapy to work out some kinks and begin some long-term maintenance. Because he is also a local race promoter (Winter Trail Series) and pretty avid runner himself, I thought he might bring good insight to keeping the engines in good condition. So far, I'd say, it seems like a very good idea. Kevin's scar-tissue tooling was brutally successful -- I got some bruising from that helpful torture. His initial evaluation was interesting and ended highlighting that my right-side hamstring  response (and long ago injury) to my ever-so-slightly titled gait might be influenced by my left leg being slightly shorter than my right. We very cautiously added about 4 millimeters of drop to my left shoe (a small wedge) to see if the hamstring changes its response. I'm a little concerned about altering my gait at all so we will be monitoring this closely. My runs since then, adding about 4 millimeters of heel-to-toe drop to my left Bondis, have been very comfortable. Good, so far. But does this really amount to a big difference on varied trail terrain when the legs are constantly working at different "lengths" and strides?

Now begins the move toward the Buffalo 100. The training schedule looks mean and I'm looking forward to getting into it. The weather's been beautiful lately, but the forecast is conspiring a return of the snow. Here goes.

Week Summary 2/17/2013

Tuesday

Ash Canyon Shorts: 3.0 mi (+453 ft); 10:38 pace

Thursday

Goni Hills East: 6.4 mi (+1,055 ft); 11:19 pace
Saturday
Ash Canyon and V&T: 11.2 mi (+1,258 ft); 10:15 pace
Sunday
Seven Lasso: 6.0 mi (+718 ft); 10:45 pace

Weekly Totals: 26.6 mi (+3,485 ft); 4:43:07 on trail