April 8th- April 14th

“Bravery is a deep breath in the face of frustration when all you want to do is walk out and give someone the middle finger. It's the courage to approach situations with an open mind and a welcoming heart. It's being a bridge-builder, a door-opener, a life-changer. It's a reservoir of good intentions, compassion, and a generous heart that welcomes second chances and new beginnings.” - Athena Perez 

Monday:   

1 PM:  Bike 10.75 miles in 50mins.  Easy gravel bike ride around the neighborhood just to move the legs some and hopefully help the quads work out all the soreness. Super chill and even stopped at Starbucks for coffee as well.

3 PM: Walk 3.2 miles in 54mins. Easy walk with Venus just to keep things moving like the bike ride. Had to make her slow way down for the quads were painful to walk fast. LOL... so nutso.  Hopefully they feel better tomorrow and I can try jogging.

-- Some cool photos from RUFA-Moab came out today that I downloaded online.  I love Moab...

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  8.75 miles w/ 1000ft averaging 9min pace.  Easy loops at Flatiron Vista, Dowdy Draw and Springbrook. Been a bit since I have been over there and it is only of my favorite areas for easy trail running. Need to keep that in mind for the easy days going forward.  Super chill for the quads are STILL SORE as hell but at least not to the touch like they have been the past few days.  Could not run fast at all downhill, more like a slow hobble downhill. 

5:30 PM: 3.4 miles averaging 8:30pace.  Easy lap of Marshall Mesa to get in some easy miles while Paula was running with her friends. Super chill even stopping to talk to a gym buddy I ran into for a while. Awesome evening out being in the low 60s.

Wednesday:

--Fasting today... have a colonoscopy tomorrow so no calories or eating today... first time and going from averaging 3500-4000 calories a day to pretty much 0 will be interesting.  I feel sorry for Paula, sure I will get cranky at some point.  Weighed myself now as the fasting starts and tomorrow after all the crap I have to drink cleans me out just to see the change, that could be interesting.

7:30 AM:  9.5 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy miles over at Davidson Mesa this morning. Super chill.... Still got some minor soreness in the legs but much better than the last 2 days.

3 PM:  1 hour lifting at the gym.  Just lifting, not Crossfit today.  Went to open gym hours just for a change of environment and to get my mind off food and wanting to eat.  Little bit of everything over the hour.  Followed with 20mins in the hot tub at home, need to use this more for the legs feel a lot better afterwards.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Starting weight before the fasting and being cleaned out was 173.6, weight this morning before heading to get the procedure done is 165.4..  8.2 pounds lost in 24 hours.. lol... guess we are all full of shit.

Total day off... had plans to go to the gym and just do some easy movement but decided I could use a full rest day.  Actually slept a lot of the day away after being up most of last night.  Back on track tomorrow.

Friday:

7 AM:  8 miles averaging 7:50pace.  Starting at Costco, ran the bike path up to Davidson Mesa for a few miles then back. Few out and backs to get the mileage up to 8 which was my min mileage I wanted for today. Started out a little slow and sluggish due to yesterday but rebounded towards the end of the run. Now we are getting back to normal programming. Quads are finally not sore anymore from the weekend, knees are still a little grumpy.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  9.4 miles averaging 7:45pace. Same route as yesterday for the most part with a few changes up on Davidson Mesa. Getting the run done early so that I can go join Paula for Gravelanche ride in Boulder later this morning. Trying to fit it all in.

10 AM: Gravel bike 36 miles w/ 1600ft of vert in 2:40.  Gravelanche Ride from Sports Garage in Boulder. Something they put on yearly to celebrate the day they opened. This year it will be 30 years, longest opened bike shop in Boulder. Had no idea. Had a blast, we stayed with the group through mile 17ish then got tired of stopping all the time so we took off and rode the original route. Guess the group changed the route on the fly and made it shorter due to wind.  Paula and I did the complete route.  Few hundred people were there and they even feed us lunch afterwards.  Great morning.

Sunday:  

7 AM:  10.5 miles w/ 3000ft of vert averaging 12:30pace.  Easy lap from NCAR across Mesa, up Amp to the top of Green Mountain then down Bear Canyon back to NCAR. Used this route a lot when training for Hardrock the first time 2 years ago. It is perfect training for the direction Hardrock is going this year, up the faces and down the ramps. This loop is the same. Will be doing this 1-2 times a week if I can.

2:30 PM:  7.5 miles averaging 8min pace.  Broke my long run into a double today so that I am a little bit more fresh in this coming week. This was somewhat of a recovery week after the Moab race. Way of making it a little bit easier but still getting in some miles. Some HOT easy miles over at Davidson Mesa this afternoon in 80 degree weather. First 80 degree day this year and I surely felt it....

Total Weekly Numbers

Not a bad week considering it as a "recovery" week and took Thursday completely off.  This coming week will be a little bit of a mini-taper week for the 50K on Saturday.  No real goals except to cover the distance and keep adding mileage to get ready for Hardrock.  All training and racing points to July... LETS GO!!!