December 2nd- December 8th

"Life is like a trumpet. If you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out." - WC Handy

Monday:   

6:30AM:  56mins in the garage gym

Warmup: Rowing, Crossover, and mobility

40 Pullups- broken up as needed

4 Rounds
10 Band Pulldowns (green)
10 DB Pullovers 40lbs

4x10 Barbell Rows @ 105lbs

3 Rounds
10 GHD weighted hip extensions 10lbs
10 GHD hip extensions
10 GHD Situps

4 Rounds
10 DB Bicep Curls 20lbs
20 DB Crossover Bicep Curls 20lbs
10 DB Hammer Curls 20lbs

4x1min planks w/ 30sec recovery

6 PM: Spin class for 11mins with Paula at Vasa.  Left knee was really bothering me so bailed so that I would not be limping around like I was on Saturday after riding.  Weird that riding bothers the shit out of it and it swells up but running is okay.  I would rather have that then the other way around.

Tuesday:  

6:30 AM:  52mins in the garage gym

Warmup: Rowing, Crossover, and mobility

DB Shoulder Press
12 @ 35lbs
10@ 40lbs
8@ 40lbs
6@ 45lbs
4@ 50lbs

4 Rounds
10 DB Lateral Raises @ 15lbs
10 DB Front Raises @ 15lbs

3 Rounds
30sec Plate Upright Rows @ 25lbs
30sec Plate Steering Wheel @ 10lbs

4 Rounds
20 Single Leg V-Ups
20 Bicycles
20 Ball Russian Twist 10lbs
20 High Plank Knee to Elbow

3 Rounds
10/10 ATG Split Squats
10 DB Seated Good Mornings @ 40lbs

2 PM:  8.1miles averaging 7:10pace.  From Home Depot in Louisville up to Davidson Mesa for 1.5 laps plus Harper and back. Did 6x30sec strides throughout the run, first 2-3 were clunky then they got faster and so did my easy pace. Need to do these more often.

Wednesday:

7 AM:  52 mins in the garage gym

Warmup: Rowing, Crossover and mobility

30min EMOM
40sec Single Unders
40sec Hanging Knee Raises
40sec Devil Presses 25lbs
30sec Russian KB Swings 55lbs
40sec Butterfly Situps
--rest to the top of the next min--

3x10 Single Calf Raises 25lbs

3X10 Tib Raises w/ 10lbs

2 PM:  WORKOUT WEDNESDAY!!  8.5miles averaging 6:55pace.  Done at the open space by the house. Workout was 15mins easy warmup then 5x4mins @ 10K pace (6min pace or quicker) with 2 min floats for recovery followed by 15 min steady state (7:20ish pace). Was dreading this workout like I always do but after the first interval things clicked into place. Felt pretty good overall but of course now as I am typing this I am wiped out. One more brick in the wall for next year.

Thursday:  

Took the day off work and drove all the way up to Eldora at 6am to do my first uphill ski of the season.  Of course when I got there I realized that I forgot my helmet.  I promised Paula that I would not ski without a helmet so I turned around and went home instead.  Sucks....

10 AM: 5 miles w/ 1300ft of vert in just under an hour.  Easy lap of Mount Sanitas heading up the ridge and down Lion's Lair. Did take the road back to the trailhead the last 1.5 miles due to Sunshine Canyon trail being a sheet of hard ice. The new Speedland GL:SVTs are quite the shoe!

2 PM: 3 miles averaging 7:50pace.  Easy dog jog around the hood and open space with Venus to get her out a bit.

4:30 PM: 1 hour at VASA.  Studio Red class at VASA with Paula. This is basically a 1 hour HITT class with many different movements. Might actually go to this more often if VASA does a deal for New Years.  Parked my ass in the massage chair for 20mins afterwards as well, need to use these chairs more.

Friday:

7 AM:  1 hour in the garage gym

Warmup: Rowing and Mobility

DB Walking Lunges
4x40 @ 15lbs

Back Squats
12 @ 125lbs
10 @ 135lbs
8 @ 145lbs
6 @ 165lbs
4 @ 175lbs
2 @ 185lbs

Barbell RDL
12 @ 115lbs
10 @ 125lbs
8 @ 135lbs
6 @ 145lbs
4 @ 155lbs
2 @ 165lbs

3 Rounds
20 DB Box Step Overs @15lbs
20 Box Jumps

2 PM: 5.5 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:20pace.  Out and back from the Coalton Trailhead up the hill and back. Had plans to head over towards Superior as well up that hill too but work blew up while I was out here and had to bail back home.

Saturday: 

9 AM:  4.7 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 10:30pace.  Easy lap of Anemone from Ebin B Fine park to make up for cutting yesterday short and to distract myself from all the lottery stuff going on this morning with Western States and Hardrock. Towards the end of the run my phone started blowing up. Considering that I had a 25% chance of getting back into Hardrock and only 3% to get into Western I just assumed I got back into Hardrock. NOPE! WE ARE WESTERN STATES BOUND!! WHOOOOO!!!  Also did get drawn in Hardrock as well at number 32 on the waitlist, to far down to make it in but did get drawn for the 4th year in a row.  LOL.  Photos below are from Daniel on the Speedland team that was at the Western States lottery draw in CA.  Thanks bud!!  Of course I am dropping out of the Tahoe 200, it is 2 weeks before Western States and that is not going to work.  I don't just want to finish Western States, I want to give it my best effort.  This will most likely be a one and done for me.

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 13.5 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 6:55pace.  Joined the Boulder Track Club for the Sunday longer run out on the dirt roads by the Boulder Rez. You can imagine that motivation was high so stayed with the front group.  Starts out pretty mellow at 7:30ish but just keeps cranking up as we go along. The last half mile was under 6min pace. Of course I was wiped after this run but to be expected. Not only was I the oldest person there by at least 10 years but it has been a bit since I have done this with them. Thinking I will be including this more on my build up for Western States, thinking maybe every other week or so.  These runs helped me run 2:43 at Boston a few years ago, they should help a lot for Western as well.  Just have to be careful not to over do it.  No photos this morning, to much of a hammerfest for my fitness right now.

12:30 PM:  5 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 8:45pace.  Paula went to run with her friends from South Mesa trailhead so I tagged along and did my own thing heading up the road to Eldorado State Park. Was planning on doing 20 miles total today but with how fast this morning was I needed to split it up some and run the rest super chill on trails. Not quite 20 on the day but close enough.

Total Weekly Numbers

Solid week of quality runs.  Between Workout Wednesday and Sunday's long run I can feel it.  Have some work to do over the next 5 months in the build up for Western States.  I have not been this motivated since the first year I got into Hardrock.  Will share my goals for Western in a future post, still pondering them to see if they are doable or not.