December 29th- January 4th

"Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose.  Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready.  When an opportunity comes you can grab it." - Julie Andrews

Monday:

7 AM:  9.3 miles averaging 7:25pace.  Easy laps at Davidson Mesa before heading to PT to get the calves and hips needled. I know I will be to sore afterwards to run so made sure I got it in early before the appointment. Started out super cold out (15 degrees) but once I got moving it was nice and got to cruising well.  Think the work from last week is starting to absorb some.   

-- We are mostly off work this week as well but do plan on working a few hours on Monday, Tuesday and Friday so that I can roll over more vacation time into next year.  There are some big plans for next year I will need the vacation time for.

Tuesday:  

10 AM:  10 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 7:25pace.  

Workout done over on the steep hill by Link Lake off of Stern Lake trail.

20 min warm up

2 sets of 8x1 min hill reps with easy jog down recovery and 4 min jog between sets.

20 min cool down

That got rough pretty quickly. Ran out of time due to an appt. we had so cut the cooldown a little bit short. Paula went along and did her workout of 6x2mins so it was cool we were both out there grinding together. Could feel the calves from needling yesterday (sore) but did not hinder the workout in any way. They are cramping a little bit afterwards though. Box has been checked today.

--  Got a hold of my grandma's recipe for her molasses cookies from my mom over the past week and passed it onto Paula's friend Erica who loves to bake.  Needless to say I got 4 dozen molasses cookies back, and they were spot on... THANK YOU!!  Next up I need to get my grandma Mika's cinnamon roll recipe.  I don't want these recipes to get lost over time.

4 PM: 53 mins leg day at VASA

Leg day at VASA..

Warmup: Arc Trainer and mobility

Hack Squats
4x10 @ 140

Sitting calf raise machine
4x20 @ 160

Leg curl machine
4x10 @ 100

Single leg extension
4x10 @ 40 each leg

Tib raises off a box
4x10 @ 15 each leg

Single leg RDL
3x10 @ 25 each leg

Toes up Jefferson Curls
3x10 @ 35

Hip Adduction machine
10 @ 100
10 @ 130
2x10 @ 160

Wednesday:

9 AM:  11.5 miles w/ 2500ft of vert averaging 10:30pace.  Easy lap of Green via Bear Canyon. Last summit of the year today. Felt super slow today but the fact it was under 2 hours of running time surprised me, felt much slower. I always consider a sub 2 hour on this route to be decent for sure. Legs are smashed after this run especially after yesterday too.  

Followed this up with 20min in the hot tub. 

Don came up this afternoon from South Denver to spend New Years Eve night with Paula and I.  Went to a great dinner at 740 Front Street followed by cocktails at Nora's Speakeasy.  Both are places you need to go to if you have not been yet.  And no, I did not partake in cocktails, I was the DD.

Thursday:  

9 AM:  6.5 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy run with Don around Louisville with 8x10sec hill sprints in the middle. Both are wiped from being up to late last night.  This was to get in our mileage before heading over to the Louisville track to watch people take on either a mile time trial or beer mile to start the year.  So entertaining, lol...  I put up cash for anyone that could break 5mins for the time trial or 6:45 for the beer mile.  Had a few try with Dylan getting a 5:05 and Taylor getting a 5:22 in the mile time trial and no one was even close in the beer mile.  Great way to give people a reason to suffer a little bit more and great entertainment for me with the puking.  HA!  Had about 25 people show up.  Photos and videos below are not in order for they came from about 5 different phones.  Happy New Years!!!

Friday:

10:30 AM:  9.7 miles w/ 2700ft of vert averaging 9:50pace.  Done over at Shanahan parking at NCAR then running the Mesa trail over and back for the warmup and cooldown. This workout was much harder than it looked for sure, pushing hard uphill for 5 mins sucked, lol.. Of course the second half of the workout was a slower pace than the first half as it started to wear on me a bit. Great strength workout!

20 min warm up

5/4/3/2/1/2/3/4/5 min hill reps with easy jog down recovery

20 min cool down

-- followed this up with a 2 mile walk with Paula and Venus around the hood, need to join her more often this year verses switching turns walking Venus back and forth between us.

4:30 PM: 44 mins in the garage gym

Warmup: Skierg, Mobility, and Crossover

Seated DB Shoulder Press
3x10 @ 35

3 Rounds
10 Lateral Raises @ 20
10 Front Raises @ 15

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

3 Rounds
20 Single Leg V-ups
20 Bicycles
20 Russian Twists @ 25
20 High Plank Knee to Elbow

Saturday: 

10 AM:  11 miles w/ 750ft of vert averaging 8min pace.  Easy miles in Marshall Mesa and Dowdy Draw trails making one big loop.  Super nice out there today and just cruised for an hour and a half.  Thought about a lap of Green up Bear Canyon like I did earlier the week but decided to keep it more mellow after yesterday's hill workout.  Trying to follow the plan which can be hard when you are not working, always want to do more especially when the weather is no nice outside.

-- Another 2 mile walk with Venus when I got home as well since Paula was recovering from her long run this morning as well.

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 14.4 miles w/ 1500ft of vert averaging 8:35pace.  Easy run on Mini-Mags in Bailey with Don and Connor.  Super chill pace with the wind whipping away up there with some 50mph gusts.  Of course, since it was the first Sunday of the month, we had to hit up breakfast at the VFW right afterwards.  $12 for all you can eat, can't beat that.

Total Weekly Numbers

Another solid week in the books with about 6 weeks or so until Black Canyon 50K in Phoenix.  Shooting to try and break 4 hours but we will see what happens training wise and job wise over the next 6 weeks.  Still trying to figure out if the marathon on May 24th is a go or not, Paula and I go back and forth on that front but no matter what we decided we are in for Tahoe 200 and then Hardrock 4 weeks later so it will be an epic summer either way.  Not looking forward to heading back to the office tomorrow after being home for almost 2 weeks but time to get back to normal life and routine.