September 7th - September 13th

"All your life, you will be faced with a choice.  You can choose love or hate... I choose love." - Johnny Cash

Had to do a Johnny Cash quote..... just seemed right this week with Great Uncle John's funeral.....

Monday:

6 AM: 15.3 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:20 pace.  Happy Labor Day!! Easy long trail run before heading to Uncle John's funeral at noon. Super chill hitting up Marshall Mesa, Springbrook, Gashawk, and Flatiron Vista. Really liked this big loop I did. May do this again in the future, good route for Javalina training if you have that coming up.  I am doing the 33K night run there on Halloween night.  Can't wait.

-- Spent the rest of the day at the funeral for my Great Uncle John and visiting with family.  If we could all count on living to 92 years old like he did.  He was still sharp in the mind, the body is what gave out.  And yes that is my grandma, how many 50+ year olds can say they still have a grandparent alive, blessed.  Uncle John was her older brother.

Tuesday:  

6 AM:  11 miles averaging 7:05 pace.  Workout Tuesday. Little flat today due to longer run yesterday but all good. Not the best turn over on the 2mins and did dry heave at min 10 of 15 so stopped for a second, lol... but got back to it. One of those mornings but got it done!

20 min warm up

5x2 min fast/2 min easy can be on flat or uphill for the fast intervals. think an effort you could sustain for 45-60 min of hard running
jog 3 min
15 min at 50k down to marathon effort

20 min cool down

4:30 PM: 1 hour Leg day in the garage gym with Paula. Lots of Squats, RDLs, and Lunges.

--  Started 75 Hard today as well.  Pretty sure I will not make it all the way through but needed some structure around eating, working out and daily activities for a bit.  Having that structure seems to make things less stressful for me.  We will see how it goes, should end the day of Fatox 100 in Nov if I decide to do it all the way through which is one of the reasons for jumping into doing the challenge.  Don is also doing it with me as well.

Wednesday:

 -NOTE:  Weight check in:  169.8lbs at 7.7% bodyfat.  Up 5 pounds since Hardrock 6 weeks ago but the bodyfat % did not jump much.  Feeling bloated and fat was another reason I jumped into the 75Hard challenge again.  No real goals on body weight, just want to feel good again when running, lifting, ect.  Just feel like a slob right now and guessing that is mostly due to my diet the past 6-7 weeks which has not been good, lots of pastries. 

6 AM:  9.4 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy cruise from work around Link Lake and back adding in what was needed to hit 75mins or so. Started out super chill to warm up and just flowed into the run. Thought the legs would be more worked from yesterday than they were which is good.

2 PM:  46mins Garage gym session doing Chest, Tris, and Bi's...  yes Venus is a garage gym dog.

Thursday:  

 5 AM:  7.5 miles averaging 7:55pace.  Dead legs today, probably from all the weed pulling I was doing last night. Still have days more of that crap to do. LOL... Otherwise all good. Not going to Imogene, to much to do at the house to get it ready to put on the market hopefully by Oct 1st. Will do the Denver 5K instead but not sure how hard I will race it due to how the legs and turn over have been this week.

Friday:

6 AM:  5.5 miles averaging 7:35 pace. Easy first run from the new Medtronic building. Moved in this morning. Super chill heading east on Rock Creek turning around at NoCoast. Also did 4x20sec strides at the end. Those felt awkward but should get better.

1 PM: 1 hour doing Shoulders, Back, and Arms in the garage gym this afternoon. Did not feel like going to VASA.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  Walked 1 mile.  Easy warmup walk with Paula before getting ready for the 5k. Just trying to loosen up some.

8 AM: 9.75 miles averaging 7min pace.  This is the warmup, 5K in 17:51, and the cooldown all together. 5K went better than expected. I honestly did not think that I could break 19min yet alone 18mins. I honestly thought I would be in the low 19's. Ended up 4th overall and of course won the age group.  I trashed myself doing this so hopefully I gain some fitness from it and not just putting myself into a hole. Fun morning before going and spending 6 hours the rest of the day at the rental house pulling weeds which are now done, filled the large 96 gallon trash can with just weeds from the rock areas around the house.

Sunday:  

6 AM: 14.6 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:15pace.  Had Paula drop me off at the Coalton Trailhead in Superior and ran to the Fowler Trailhead in Eldo Springs where she was doing a hike with friends. Nice to do a point to point run for a change verses a loop or an out/back. Fun to run from the plains to the mountains. Dead legs today and HR was about 10 beats above normal for the effort I was putting out, guessing that is all from yesterday's effort. Going to get fit again at some point. LOL

Total Weekly Numbers

Finally a good week overall, of course there was a lot of bumps in the road this week but I would take this type of week anytime.  Next week should be a bigger week as well.  Not only doing my normal training but then add on 25-30 miles of pacing overnight at Run Rabbit Run 100 in Steamboat next weekend as well.  Can't wait to get up there and see the leaves.  LOVE THAT RACE!  Not as much as Hardrock but it is up there.  Speaking of Hardrock, some news on what I have been working on for them should be coming out this month sometime.  Can't wait to share this once they share it first.