June 22nd- June 28th

"Motivation is like weather: it shifts. Some days it’s bright and warm, other days it vanishes without warning. And if you depend on it, you’ll always be at its mercy." -Unknown

Seemed like a great quote for this week.  Getting a little burned out and unmotivated.  Just trying to get to the taper in one piece which starts after this week.

Monday:

6:45 AM: 8.2 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 9min pace. Easy miles, first 4 with Veronica showing her Aspen Alley then dropped her off to get some more miles on some new trails I have not been on yet and get in 6x20sec hill sprints. Hill sprints hit a little different at 11,000ft.   Did find the Skull Tree and this little lake on the new to me trails I explored today.

--  Heading back down the hill for home late this morning.  Need to get some laundry done, restock on a few things and spend a day or two with Paula.  Plan on heading back up here on Wednesday afternoon.  Got home to another postcard from JT.

-- Finished book 18 this evening as well.  Trying to get 24 done as quickly as possible to hit my yearly goal before I dive into a 2000 page book I have been sitting on for a few years and will take a while to read.

Tuesday:  

6 AM:  12 miles w/ 2500ft of vert averaging 9:10pace.  Run up Green via Bear Canyon. Run was to have 2 x 15-20mins moderate hill which I did on the way up taking a break between the sets to use the restroom at the junction with Bear West Ridge then went moderately hard to the summit of Green. On the way down I did do some faster downhills than normal for some short sections just to beat the quads a little bit. Great morning out there!  Love getting a run like this done by 8am.

Wednesday:

6 AM:  7.4 miles w/ 1500ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Favorite little loop off of South Mesa trailhead then adding on a few other small loops to get over an hour. Super chill today, I can feel yesterday in the legs this morning and tired.

 

9 AM: Walk 1.6 miles with Venus.  Cool enough still outside to get her out for a bit since Paula is at the office today.  Planning on heading back up to Alma this afternoon until Sunday late afternoon.

Thursday:  

 7 AM:  10 miles w/ 2400ft of vert averaging 11min pace.  Easy cruise from Alma up to about 12,500 on Loveland Mountain and back. Did use poles again today to keep getting used to them before Hardrock. Rained most of the time so was also a good test of the rain jacket. All good on that front. Seems the flowers are finally starting to come out more, seems a few weeks late to me, so it was very pretty this morning.

10 AM: 40mins lifting about 30mins after running.  Did take a short recovery.  Easy leg day at the Alma gym. Light squats, RDL, calf, leg press, and hamstring curls. Mostly just going through the range of motion with light weight. 

Friday:

7 AM:  7 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 8:45pace.  Easy loop from Alma heading up Aspen Alley and down Kite Lake Rd. Lots of stops here and there just because, tired today. Today was to be a recovery jog anyways. 

9 AM: 45mins easy upper body lifting right after my run.  Just one lift for each of the major muscle groups: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and core.

-- So next year's main race is already set in stone.  Been putting this off for 2 years in a row due to other opportunities that popped up.  Last year I put it off due to Western States 100 and this year because of Cape Town Marathon.  That is done, no more putting it off.  If you have any desire to walk/jog some miles with me next year at Tahoe reach out and I will put you on the crew/pacer list to watch me suffer.

Saturday: 

7AM:  18.7 miles w/ 5500ft of vert averaging 15min pace.  Decalobronma again... running from Alma and doing the 4 14ers that are part of Decalobron and then running back to Alma. Love the route, nice mix of uphill running, hiking, and downhill running. Sort hits everything you need to do for Hardrock. Broke my 4th set of poles today as well. Not buying anymore of the Leki poles, they just cost to much at $200 a set and break to easy. Heading to Silver Plum for tonight so I can shuttle Paula and her friends around tomorrow to Jones Pass and they can run the Devil on the Divide 22K course.  She does so much for me this is the least I can do for her plus I can play around up there too, such awesome trails up on the CDT in that section.

Sunday:  

8AM:  12.7 miles w/ 4300ft of vert averaging 13min pace.  After shuttling Paula and her friends over from Herman's Gulch to Jones Pass so they could run to their cars as a point to point run, I just did a bunch of out and backs on the CDT from Jones Pass. Drove the truck up to 11,600ft (tree line) and spent most of the run above 12,000ft on the divide. This section is so nice, not technical at all. Kept it super chill taking photo breaks ect... Time to taper now.

Total Weekly Numbers

Solid last week before the taper with most of the miles above 11,000ft.  Just starting to feel somewhat normal and fit on trails again after focusing all of June on trails but at least we got there before Hardrock after almost 8 months doing only road runs.  Speaking of Hardrock, a fire in Ouray broke out yesterday that is super close to town.  In case you don't know Ouray is about the halfway point of Hardrock and is one of the critical aid stations in the race.  I am really hoping that Hardrock is not cancelled but if they don't control this fire in the next few days I am guessing it will be cancelled.  I am putting the odds at 50/50 right now.  Guess we will see in the next week or so what they decide.  If it is cancelled I may start looking for another race to do in July or August so I can justify all this trail training I have put in.... which is sort of bullshit that I said that, I don't need to justify anything, I love the process and training more than the races anyways so I take that back.

June 15th- June 21st

"You're going to be in a relationship with yourself for your entire life. So you should probably learn how to make it a good one." - Mark Manson

Seemed like a good quote since I am basically isolated at the cabin for the next few weeks.  A lot of truth in that quote.

Monday:

6AM: 9.4 miles w/ 2200ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Chill run from Alma up to about 12,300ft on Loveland Mountain and back. No poles today, first time since the 1st I have gone without them. Really trying to get used to them again. Felt good this morning, had this all done before work at 8am.

--  Heading back down the hill for home this afternoon.  Need to get some laundry done, restock on a few things and spend a day or two with Paula.  Plan on heading back up here on Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday:  

6AM:  7.8 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:25pace.  Back on the front range for 48 hours.  Good jog playing around the trails off South Mesa trailhead. Tired today but was moving well. Basically do a figure 8. 6x20sec hills at the end as well.

4:30PM: 50mins VASA lift class with Paula. Leg day so lots of back squats today.

Wednesday:

 -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Finally weighed myself after a few months.  I thought I gained a bunch, just felt that way but actually lost a few more.  Go figure...  164.4lbs @ 7.6% bodyfat

6AM:  12.5 miles w/ 1900ft of vert averaging 7:40pace.  

Workout was:
20 min warm up

3x10 min up hill tempo's with run down recovery for eccentric loading

20min cool down

Started at Eben Fine Park and did the hill workout on the Chapman road... super flat legs today, it was a struggle to the point I even walked a few times up the hill for a short break in the middle of an interval. Just wiped out this morning but got it done. Ran out of water as well. Did not realize until I got back to the van that it was 80degrees at 7am. WTF?? Heading back up to Alma this afternoon.

 

Thursday:  

6AM:  9.5 miles w/ 2200ft of vert averaging 10:45pace.  Easy run from Alma up to 12,300ft on Loveland Mountain and back again. Testing out some new poles again since I have broken 2 sets in the past 3 weeks. LOL... One of the reasons I went back to town the past few days was to get another set of poles and of course to see Paula. Legs are sore from yesterdays workout which surprised me. Love getting runs like this done and working by 8am.

3PM: 50mins lifting at the Alma gym.  All upper body and basically just one lift per each major muscle group.

Friday:

6AM:  7 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Easy loop from Alma heading up Aspen Alley and down Kite Lake Rd. Lots of stops here and there for photos ect... just exploring a little. Today was to be a recovery jog or day off anyways. Tired today and did fall once when gawking at wild flowers and seemed to tweak the right knee that I have been having issues with a little bit again... over it.

-- Had plans to head to Leadville this afternoon to do my long run on Mount Massive and Elbert tomorrow but not sure if I want to leave the cabin.  Just might stay around Alma, will decide later today I guess.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  10.5 miles w/ 4300ft of vert averaging 18min pace.  Never went to Leadville and stayed local.  Also cut the run short, legs felt like shit the whole time, knee bothering me again, and low energy. Basically went back to the 3 hours I had originally on the plan verses the 7+ hours I was thinking about doing. Not sure what’s going on, just tired all the time and lacking motivation for the last few days.

Mostly just a 3 hour hike mostly all above 12k. Getting Silverheels and playing around on the ridges.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 10.4 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 20min pace.  North Star Mountain with Bryan from the Boulder Track Club. Mostly just a hike with some short jogging here and there. Forgot how much of a talus field North Star is. Legs were all scrapped up and broke my 3rd set of poles this month which I have had for only a week on this mountain. Need to start staying on the trails more instead of these type of mountains full of scree. Good morning otherwise.

Total Weekly Numbers

Not quite the week that I wanted this week but at least a lot of the miles were above 10,500 with a bunch over 12,000ft.  Would have had another 10 miles and 3-4k of vert if I would not have cut Saturday short.  Trying to listen to the body some instead of grinding myself into the ground.  Need to lay down one more really solid week of training this week before heading to the taper.  Getting there.  So far in June I am sitting at 215 miles w/ 59,500ft of vert.  Going to try and get that to 285 miles and over 80,000ft of vert before the end of the month.  Let's see what we can do.