July 6th- July 12th

 "Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies." -Howard Hughes

Monday:

7 AM: 7.25 miles averaging 7:15pace.  Two laps of Davidson with Taylor and Sean. They were doing a progression and I just did a few miles of steady state in the middle keeping around 6:45ish pace. Felt good to move the legs a little bit again. Still trying to figure out being swollen to the point my joints hurt. My hip gave out a bit after the run today. Little concerned.

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  7.8 miles averaging 7:45pace.  Super chill jog out the front door doing laps around the open space. Did not have time to drive anywhere this morning and figured is really is no difference than a flat jog somewhere else. Joints still stiff but visible swelling is gone today. Did the hot tub right after the run too. Did hot tub last night and think that may have helped. Also went and got needled in my problem areas this morning to loosen things up, doing everything I can. Heading out around 2pm to drive halfway to Silverton.

Wednesday:

10 AM:  5.1 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 9 min pace.  Made it to Silverton early this morning and got out on a jog right after arriving.  Easy jog on the Rainbow Trail from the high school, basically the first few miles of Hardrock. Even walked some of the hills to keep the effort low. Doing okay..  Also checked in and got my bib.

Thursday:  

8 AM:  2.4miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 15min pace.  Super chill shakeout jog/hike with Chris and Maggie up the Mushroom trail in Silverton. New trail to me, need to explore this more in the future.  Feeling pretty good today and ready to roll tomorrow I think.  Rest of the day was going to the race meeting and just chilling the fuck out.

Friday- Sunday:

6 AM:  102 miles w/ 35,000ft of vert averaging 19min miles.  HARDROCK!!!!  I waited to long to write this blog post so a lot is lost in my memory.  Got home on Sunday and started a new job on Monday so the last 2 weeks have been a blur to me.  Day went so much better than I thought it would overall.  I did have my low spot on the first day like I normally do but this time it was more physical than dealing with heat, low energy, or mental like in the past.  Basically I fell many times going down Grant Swamp as did every other runner but it seemed to lock up my hips for a bit.  I had to basically walk all the way to Telluride where I planned on quitting since I was falling over just walking on flat ground with poles, my right leg kept giving out.  I would just be walking and boom, on the ground, so weird.  Got to Telluride and decided that if nothing else I could at least walk to Ouray.  By the time I came off of Virginias pass and starting down Camp Bird Road I was able to jog again with no issues.  The human body is so so weird.... from that point it was game on.  Cruised basically to the finish without to many other issues besides the smoke that everyone had to deal with to end up 11th overall and 9th male along with a PR of 32:27:55.  Could not have asked for more from the day.  Of course this never would have happened without my crew and pacers of Paula, Don, Donnie, Darian, Dan, Logan, George, John, Rebecca, and Tasha as you can see in the photo below.  Such a great group of friends and I owe you all, THANK YOU!!  I am beyond blessed to have you all in my life.   I think I got these photos and videos in order somewhat, they came from lots of different people so I tried my best.  

Total Weekly Numbers

One of the best races I have had against world class runners.  I guess putting in one month of mountain training up high on top of months of marathon training works.  I honestly did not think that my training was going to work, I was expecting a 38-40 hour finish.  Noted for the future, guess fitness is fitness no matter how one gets it.

June 29th- July 5th

 "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." - Willie Nelson

Trying really hard to have positive thoughts this week but have been failing.  Between the smoke down at Hardrock, the lack of communication from Hardrock around the fires, and how my body feels the second half of the week I am about ready to throw in the towel on Hardrock this year.

Monday:

6AM:  5.3 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Lap of Mount Santias before work. Felt really good this morning which surprised me after a bigger week last week.  Ended up PR'ing this loop without trying that hard to do so in just over 50mins. Just got into that flow state today and felt great.  It is officially taper time now.  Looking at the schedule for the week it does not feel like it is taper time, the only real difference is the long runs on the weekend are shorter, the rest of the week is still pretty high volume considering.

4:30PM: 50 mins lifting.  VASA lift class with Paula. Kept it very chill and light.

Tuesday:  

5 AM:  11.5 miles w/ 900ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Run with Dylan and Taylor around Marshall Mesa and Dowdy Draw from the Marshall Mesa trailhead. Flattest run of the month. Don't think I have done a run all month that was under 1000ft of vertical, LOL... Even though the legs did not want to turn over quickly at all, it felt great just to actually run verse hike up/run down that I have been doing all month. Heavy legs after this run.

-- Another post card from JT, he is on a roll lately.

Wednesday:

6 AM:  8 miles w/ 2700ft of vert averaging 13:45pace.  Easy effort lap of Shadow Canyon again this morning. Felt pretty darn good overall and was actually one of my faster average paces on this route this month while not pushing that hard. I'll take it.  Starting to get smokey on the Front Range.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Forgot this week... 

6 AM:  9.8 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:30pace.  Somewhat of a workout day. Plan was 90 min easy with 30 min moderate uphill in middle.

Parked at South Mesa trailhead and ran to the start of Springbrook and back on Dowdy Draw trail for a warmup then did the 30min hill up Homestead and Shadow Canyon trying to keep the heartrate around 145-150 most of the time. Was a good workout this morning and very happy with the effort.

--  Went and got the feet cleaned up and ready for Hardrock this afternoon, only lost 1 nail during it.  LOL...  Then when I got home had a nice surprise on the porch for me, love these guys!

Friday:

7 AM:  7.5 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Stopped on my way back up to Alma to run what we call Mini Mags outside of Bailey. Just super chill 30mins out and 30mins back. Had Paula and Venus with me and my dumb ass left the key fob on the seat while I used a porta potty only to come back to Venus locking herself inside the van while Paula and I were outside. WTF!!! She jumped on the key fob on the seat and locked it. Thank god there was a lock smith eating in the cafe in Bailey we were parked  that unlocked it for free. Talk about a story we will always remember.

Saturday: 

8 AM:  10 miles w/ 2400ft of vert averaging 11min pace.  Super chill jog from Alma up to 12,500ft on Loveland Mountain and back. Basically the same run I have been doing a lot of the days that I have been in Alma. Hung out in Alma and Fairplay with Paula and Venus for a few hours before heading back home. Super swollen today, it started last night and can not figure it out. To the point that my shoes are tight and my joints hurt.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 9 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 8min pace.  Easy run with Dan from Coalton trailhead to Rocky Flats and back. Super chill and it was smokey as hell outside too. Still struggling with being super swollen.

--  Little bit of goofing off in the garage today as well.

Total Weekly Numbers

Not a bad taper week.  Super worried about being swollen the second half of this week to the point that my joints are a little bit achy and my shoes are tight.  Still dealing with it on Monday morning as I am typing this up.  Wondering if it is from the smoke in the air is causing some sort of inflammation response in my body.  That is the only thing I can think of right now.  I am about 50/50 on if I will even drive down to Silverton on Tuesday afternoon, if it is from the smoke,  going down there will just make it worse... sigh... not sure what to do anymore.