October 14th- October 20th

"Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein

Monday:   

-- Finished book number 23 of the year last night.  Only one more to go to hit my goal for the year.  Targeted: Beirut  . Super interesting for it talks basically how we got pulled into the Middle East back in the 1980s and have not left since.

9 AM:  Airdyne in the garage for 1000 calories and/or 23 miles which took 1:17.  Done in a heat suit, 5 layers on top, all wool except the down jacket on top, and 2 layers down low. Will do this again on Thursday or Friday with more layers... that sucked.

1 PM: Walk 3 miles in 48mins.  Dog walk around the hood with Venus. 

3 PM: 40 mins lifting in the garage gym.

Warmup: Rowing and Mobility

Lifting the garage. All upper body. Bench, Shoulder Press, Back movement, Biceps, Triceps, and one Core movement. Little heavier today than normal. Will do legs Wed after they recover some from Saturday, quads are still sore.

-- followed this with 20mins in the hot tub... going all in this week with heat training.

Tuesday:  

9:30 AM:  6.3 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Lap of the Costco loop in Superior. Out on the dirt roads behind Costco and back on the Dirty Bizmark trails. Little quicker than I was expecting today but I'll take it.

1 PM:  Walked 2.6 miles in 43mins.  Easy dog walk around the hood. Same route as the past few days.  

-- Right into the sauna for 30mins right after the walk.  Will stretch and do the hot tub later this evening before bed.

Wednesday:

6:45 AM:  7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Easy 2 loops of Springbrook from Dowdy Draw Trailhead with 6 or so pickups in the middle of the run. Great morning out there! Heart rate band was not working correctly so may have pushed a little to hard in the middle but oh well.

1 PM: Walked 2.6 miles in 41mins.  Dog walk around the hood, same loop as we have done the past 6 days.  30mins in the sauna directly afterwards.  

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Was expecting to be back over 170 due to my snacking before bed the last week but instead I am down almost 2 more pounds and body fat dropped too.  So damn weird, I have been tracking my food and have been over my daily calories by hundreds of calories everyday but still dropping weight.  Guessing it is due to the increase in my metabolism from all the heat training.  Just a guess.  Anyways logged in at 167.8 lbs and 7.4% body fat.

7 AM:  7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:45 pace.  Exact same route as yesterday starting at Dowdy Draw over to two loops of Springbrook and back.  Little quicker today and heartrate strap was working.  Tried to keep in in the 130's for most of the run.  Felt super good after the first warmup mile.

Came across this guy this morning.... 

1 PM:  Walk 2.6 miles in 41mins.  Same dog loop around the hood we have been doing for over a week straight.  

3:30 PM:  Easy 40mins Easy lifting in the garage gym. All legs and core focused. Lighter than normal with the race being just over a week away.  

Followed this up with 30mins in the sauna.

Friday:

7 AM:  6.25 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:20pace.  Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead straight west up the hill to just past the gate and back. Pushed a little bit on the way back with mile 6 being at 5:55pace. Feeling good.

9 AM:  35mins lifting in the garage. 

Warmup: Rowing and mobility

4 RFT: 17 mins 40 secs
4 rounds of:
Row, 500 m
5 Strict Pull-ups
20 Deficit Push-ups
20 GHD Sit-ups

-then-

3 rounds
20sec calf raises
10sec hold up
20sec calf raises
10sec hold up
30sec recovery

9:45 AM: Airdyne in the garage for 10 miles or just over 30mins.  In a heat suit, 5 layers on top, all wool except the down jacket on top, and 3 layers down low. Went directly to stripping off all the layers into 30mins in the sauna... that was worse than earlier in the week.  If all of this does not get me heat acclimated then I am at a lost.

2 PM: Walked 2.6 miles in 42mins.  Took Venus out on our hood loop before the rain is supposed to come in.  Funny how 60 degrees I was freezing and had to wear a jacket.  Hope that means all the heat training is working.

Saturday: 

Morning:  3 miles of jogging between the warmup and cooldown with The Great Trailhead Foot Race 10 miler in the middle at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood.   10 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 6:20pace.  Went out hard and hung on for 1st overall. Figured I would get caught but 2nd never got that close with them finishing over 3 mins behind me. Goal of this race was just to keep the HR around 150-155 as much as possible. Of course it climbed into the 160s on the uphills and went down into the 140s on the downhills but the average was just what I was shooting for at 154. Hopefully I did not burn any matches that I will need next weekend for Javelina.

The 3rd place kid in this photo is 14 years old and ran the 10 miler in 1:08... Mind blown!!!

3 PM: Walked 2.6 miles with Venus around the hood loop again followed with 30mins in the hot tub.  Gotta keep that heat training up.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 8:15pace.  Easy 2 loops of Springbrook from Dowdy Draw trailhead. Lots of runners out getting it done this morning. Used to being here in the middle of the work week when I usually only see 1 or 2 other people if any at all.  First 2 miles were a little rough from yesterday but did loosen up and got to rolling.

1 PM: Walked 2.6 miles around the hood loop with Venus.  Followed that with 30mins in the sauna.

Total Weekly Numbers

This was the last week solo, Paula gets home late Sunday night.  We will only see each other on Monday because I am leaving for AZ for a week on Tuesday which sucks but we are going to Red Rocks on Monday night to see Hardy, super pumped about that.  Been a solid taper/recovery week, probably did to much and raced to hard on Saturday but oh well.  Really wish I had another 4 weeks to get ready because I feel like I am finally hitting my groove and I am going to go destroy all this progress by running a 100 miles next Saturday which will put me in recovery mode for at least a few weeks causing me to start this process all over again.  The shit we do......

October 7th - October 13th

"You're going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter.  So enjoy yourself.  Do something positive. Project some love. Make someone happy. Laugh a little bit. Appreciate the moment. And do your work." - Naval Ravikant

Monday:   

7 AM:  5.5 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead straight west up the hill to the gate and back. What I have been doing a lot on Mondays. Awesome morning out there and did not see another person, perfect.

-- Got right into the sauna for 45mins when I got home then headed to the office all day to do interviews for a new member of my team.  

-- had plans to ride bikes this afternoon as well but by the time I got home from the office I had nothing left in me.  Let the day go and moving on.

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  11.4 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Mini Threshold run. Started at Dowdy Draw trailhead did about a 2 mile warmup over to the Springbrook loop where I did 3 loops then an out and back up to the top of Dowdy Draw and back to the trailhead. Tried to keep the HR over 140 on all of the 3 loops but that was hard on the downhill. Usually between 145-151 on the uphill and around 125-130 on the downhill. Might be one of my better runs since coming back a few months ago. Super jazzed after this run.

1 PM:  53 mins lifting in the garage gym.  10 mins on the rower then basically just a bunch of chest and arm movements followed with some achillies and core work. Tried benching 210 and failed again. I really want to put up 225 before I turn 50 in a year.

Followed this up with 30mins in the sauna.  Going to try my hardest to do at least 20mins a day until I leave for Javelina.

Wednesday:

6:45 AM:  9.5 miles averaging 7:35pace.  3 easy loops of Davidson Mesa... how I am defining easy is keeping the HR under 130-135. Went over for a short period of time but otherwise right on track. Good to see what used to me my normal paces come back, just in time too.  You may have noticed that I have not been going to Crossfit but just lifting in the garage instead.  I honestly think that is playing a role in my improvement the past 2-3 weeks with running.  Might not go back until after Javelina.. we will see.

5 PM:  6.3 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy mileage from Costco doing the loop of the dirt road and back on the Dirty Bizmark section.  Just padding the weekly mileage some.  Super chill with lots of wind this afternoon a did spit rain a little bit. Legs of course are tired but still an okay overall pace keeping the HR down.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  169.4 lbs @ 8% bodyfat.  Down 2 pounds which is surprising for I have been eating like an asshole before bed snacking lately.  Yes it is all considered clean food but still, calories are calories.  

7 AM:  6.25 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Easy out and back on the Mesa Trail. Little hiller than what I need to be training for but wanted to do something new today since I am replacing the bike I had planned with this run. I am worried about crashing on the bike again like I did last week so pondering on cutting the bike out until after Javelina. 

10 AM:  45 min dog walk with Venus... She says that Halloween is coming.. Guess so..

- After the walk spent 35 mins in the garage gym lifting.  Mostly shoulders, back, calves and core.  Followed that up with 20mins in the sauna.  

So yesterday Paula flew to Texas to be with her dad while he was in the hospital.  He has been in and out over the past month but seemed to be more serious this time so I encouraged her to go.  She got to spend one last day with him for he passed this morning.  My heart is broken for her.

Needless to say Javelina for me is on the fence.  It all just depends on the funeral and all that stuff.  Being there for her is way more important than doing  5 x 20 miles loops in the desert of AZ.  Still training and doing what needs to be done to get ready but with the caveat that there is a chance I don't start.

Friday:

7 AM:  9.4 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Dowdy Draw trailhead over to do 3 laps of Springbrook then back. Threw in some 6x20sec pickups at about 6min pace to loosen things up, did half of them uphill and half downhill. Averaged about 10sec per mile quicker than last week at a lower HR. Almost wish I had another month to keep building before Javelina since things are going so well lately but last long run is tomorrow and the taper will be in full effect.

1 PM:  Walk 3.3 miles in 50mins with Venus.  Had to get away from work so took a long walk around the hood.  Perfect fall day today.  30mins in the hot tub.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  17 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 9:50pace.  Last long run before the taper. Started at Eben Fine park and went up Flagstaff and looped around to the summit of Green Mountain before focusing on the downhill all the way down Green and Chapman Drive before finishing back up at Eben Fine park on the bike path. Wanted to get those quads some what toughened up for the 100 in two weeks. Might do one more hard downhill session this week if I can talk someone into driving me up the canyon so I can pound down it.

1 PM: Walk 2.7 miles in 43mins with Venus followed by 30mins in the hot tub again.

Sunday:  

7 AM: 8 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 9:20pace.  Since the taper has officially started and needed to keep it really easy I headed up to Caribou Ranch outside of Ned to explore some trails that I have never been on before. Really cool little network, I would come back here again. Would be some fun loops to do tempo runs on at about 8500ft. Quads and legs are shot today from yesterday.

10 AM: Walk 2.5 miles in 40mins with Venus.

1 PM: 45mins in the garage gym.

Warmup: Rowing, Airbike and mobility

40-30-20-10:
40-30-20-10 reps of:
Row
Push-up

Rest 5 mins

Air Bike Calorie
GHD Sit-up

-- 25 mins in the sauna directly after the WOD.

Total Weekly Numbers

Finally time to taper which basically started on Sunday with only 8 miles.  Hopefully I did enough to at least make it possible to get under 24 hours at Javelina in 2 weeks.  One way to find out.  Paula is still in Texas until Wednesday then she flies to Indiana to run a trail marathon next Saturday before returning home next Sunday.  I plan on leaving that Tuesday to start the drive so we won't seem much of each other this month.  So this is a week of really just focusing on recovery doing all the heat acclamation things I need to do to get ready.  

September 30th- October 6th

"There is no way around hard work.  Embrace it." - Roger Federer

Monday:   

10 AM:  Easy 5K on the rower in the garage in 21:50 followed by about 40mins of lifting in the garage.  All upper body lifts to give the legs more time to recover from the weekend, plus the knees and hips are stiff.  

2 PM:  Biked 10.8 miles w/ 500ft in 46mins.  Easy cruise around the hood to get in my 45mins of cross training today. Legs did not really have any power for the uphills but whatever, that will come back as I recover from the weekend.

-- Followed the bike directly with 22mins in the sauna.

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  9.4 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 8:10pace.  Dowdy Draw trailhead over to do 3 laps of Springbrook then back. Threw in some 6x30sec pickups at about 6min pace to loosen things up, did half of them uphill and half downhill. Felt really damn good today.. was surprised on how good I felt today. Could have easily kept going but I guess I have to work too.  

-- 30mins in the sauna in the afternoon

Wednesday:

6:45 AM:  8.5 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Easy cruising over on the Dirty Biz trails from the Coalton Trailhead. Couple of out and backs hitting all the hills from that trailhead. Cut it about 5-10mins shorter than I wanted due to having to get on a work call but a great run otherwise.

3 PM:  Garage gym 50ish mins.

-- 2K row in 8mins followed by mobility work.

Heels Elevated Back Squat
Sets
10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs
10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs
10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs
10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs

Romanian Deadlift :
Sets
10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs
10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs
10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs
10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs

Weighted Single Leg Calf Raise :
Sets
10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs
10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs
10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs
10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs

GHD Hip Extensions :
Sets
15 GHD Hip Extensions
15 GHD Hip Extensions
15 GHD Hip Extensions

Russian Twist :
Sets
20 Russian Twists | 25 lbs
20 Russian Twists | 25 lbs
20 Russian Twists | 25 lbs

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  171.4lbs @ 8.8% bodyfat.  Little bit of an increase which does not surprise me.  Been eating more than normal with the increased volume and recovering from the 50K last weekend.  Need to cut out the Quest bars before bed and that should help.

7 AM:  7.9 miles averaging 7:45pace.  Easy cruise over at Davidson Mesa for an hour with 6 strides at the end on a slight downhill at Harper to get the legs moving at the end. This was a make up for the run that I skipped last night due to an upset stomach.

10:30 AM: 45mins in the garage gym

Warmup: 2K on the rower and mobility

3 RFT:
3 rounds of:
40 Dumbbell Snatches, 35 lbs
40 GHD Sit-ups
40 Row Calories

-- did not time it but took longer than I thought it would. Will be repeating this one for sure.

-- followed this up with 20mins in the sauna and 1.5 mile dog walk

3 PM: Biked 17 miles w/ 1000ft of vert in 1:10.  Was supposed to be an hour and half ride but crashed again and threw in the towel to ride home and clean out all the road rash.  At least this time I was on dirt when I went down, going faster which caused me to slide instead of a blunt force trauma, and I landed on the other hip and not the one with the torn labrum.  Just a bunch of road rash on the left arm and left hip, I will live.

Friday:

6:30 AM:   10 miles w/ 1400ft of vert averaging 8:20pace. Loops of Springbrook and Gashawk trails from Dowdy Draw. Warmed up for about 20 mins then pushed just a little bit for a while hitting around 150 HR on the uphills. Just enough to get a little bit of burn going in the muscles. Did not want to totally blow my legs since I have a 50K tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to suck. 

Saturday: 

8 AM:  20.25 miles w/ 4200ft of vert in 3:43.  Suffer Better 50K in Stauton State Park. Well that was a shit show for the most part. Was doing great, feeling great, jogging along jumping between 5th -3rd place when about mile 17 the lungs started spasming and I could not take a deep breath without coughing up a lung. Freaked me out for this has never happened before so at mile 20 aid station while in 3rd I pulled the plug just to be on the safe side. Could it have cleared up? Maybe, but since this was just a training race for Javelina 100 in 3 weeks I decided not to take a chance. I need to at least make it to the start line of Javelina if nothing else since I did not even make it to the start line of Hardrock this year. Still a good training stimulus today so it was still a net positive.

-- Photo is before things went to shit.

Sunday:  

8 AM:  16 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:50pace.  Meet Don and Brandon in Bailey to get some miles on what we call Mini Mags. You may remember me training on it a lot the last 2 summers. Anyways just a dirt road the rolls between 8,000 to 9,000 feet. Figure this was a very safe place to test the lungs after yesterday. If anything went wrong Don could easily go get the car and come pick me up. All went great! Not sure what the fuck happened yesterday? Just a reaction from being so tired? Who knows. Great morning out with these two and followed up the run with brunch at Cutthroat Cafe in Bailey, my favorite place to get breakfast.

--  Here is a little teaser on the inserts in some Speedland shoes that should be released in the Spring.  Can't show and tell you quite yet about the actual shoe but it will be awesome.

Total Weekly Numbers

Another solid week in the build.  Some efforts in there and still good mileage even though the 50K fell short.  One more larger week before the official start of the taper but in a way you could say the taper sort of starts now since the coming week should be less mileage than the last 3 weeks.  Still feeling good overall and starting to really focus on the sauna the next few weeks to get ready for that AZ sun.

September Recap

 Solid month of building... almost 300 miles of running which is what I try to get the month before running a 100, I was close.  Have 2 more bigger weeks before the taper for Javelina.  Almost there, just have to hold it together.

September 23rd- September 29th

"There is no way around hard work.  Embrace it." - Roger Federer

Monday:   

6:30 AM:  5.6 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:50pace. Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead west up the hill and back. More of a mini progression run with every mile being a little quicker ending at 6:35pace. Felt better than expected after yesterday's slog-fest.  

--25mins in the sauna when I got home.

12:30 PM:  Biked 10 miles w/ 500ft of vert in 45mins. Easy cruise around the neighborhood from the house. Super chill but still averaging a little quicker than normal. Such a great day out there!

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  8.8 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:30pace.  Another lap of Springbrook and Gashawk from Dowdy Draw this morning. Felt so good and moving so well that I got through the loops quicker than normal that I added on a mile of out and back just to fill in the time that I was supposed to be out running. Super pleased on how things are coming along right now.

4 PM:  40mins Lifting in the garage.

Warmup: Rowing and Mobility

Superset 1
Dumbbell chest press 3x10
Dumbbell Row 3x10

Superset 2
Goblet Squat 3x15
Romanian Deadlifts 3x12

Superset 3
Dumbbell bicep curls 3x10
Dumbbell tricep extend 3x10

3 Rounds
20sec calf raises
10sec hold up
20sec calf raises
10sec hold up
30sec rest

3x15 GHD Situps

-- 25 mins in the sauna right afterwards.

Wednesday:

6:45 AM:  8 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy 2 plus laps of Davidson Mesa after dropping Paula off at the airport super early this morning. She is heading out to help at USA Adventure Racing Championships on the East Coast. Felt good today, just cruised keeping the HR under 130 for the most part. 

10:30 AM:  40mins lifting in the garage.  Shoulder focused with 3 sets of pull and 3 sets of push lifts. Then a small core afterwards. Just needed to get something in but did not want to get sore with the 50K this weekend.

-- Followed this up with a 2 mile dog walk and 20mins in the sauna.

--  Planned on racing Cyclocross again this evening but between work blowing up and the fact I have a 50K training race this weekend I pulled the plug on it.  Guess I am starting to grow up which I don't like.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Forgot when I got up this morning.  All good and probably don't want to know anyways.  Had a binge episode yesterday for the first time in about a month.  Not sure what triggered it but it happened.  Back on the wagon today.

7 AM:  21 miles w/ 1100ft of vert in 1:28.  Easy spin on the gravel bike around the normal hood loop I ride all the time. Awesome morning out there! Started out cold but was perfect by the middle of the ride.  Almost got hit by a car only once so it was a great morning!  

Followed this up with a 2 mile dog walk and 20mins in the hot tub.

--  Heading to Fairplay late this afternoon to hang out tomorrow and run a 50K in Buena Vista on Saturday.  Should be interesting, have not gone that far since April.  Should be a good training race for Javelina in 4 weeks.

Friday:

7 AM:  6 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 8:15pace.  Shakeout jog from Java Moose in Fairplay up Beaver Creek Rd and back. Little bit of a climb heading out and downhill coming back. Tried to keep the HR under 135. Ended at Java Moose to work until about noon. The leaves are popping up here right now!  Not a bad Friday...  

-- Heading to Buena Vista (30mins away) mid-day to check in for the 50K run tomorrow and find a place to park the van.  Spent the afternoon working from another coffee shop in BV. 

--Finished book number 22 on the year, yeah I was bored in BV and read pretty much all evening knocking out the last 100 or so pages.  Interesting read...  Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  30 miles w/ 3800ft of vert averaging 9:50pace.  West Line Winder 50K in BV.  Really well put on race by Calab but that is expected. Just look at his other race Highlonesome 100, that has turned into one of the best 100s in the state and think his 2 50Ks he held this weekend will be the same. I have done a lot of racing and running in BV and saw some new to me trails which is cool.  Anyways a good day until the wheels fell off around mile 26-27 but that was expected since I have not gone that far since last Spring. The whole goal was to treat it like a training run for Javelina and keep the HR under 140 most of the time which I did with an average of 133. The wheels fell off in the way that my stomach was not to happy the last few miles, no puking but could have.  Stomach just was not processing the liquids for a bit.

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 11.25 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 8:40pace.  Easy cruise with Don from his house as an out and back on some dirt roads. Sore and legs somewhat shot of course but that was expected. Was not as bad has I had built up in my head, thought the body would have been worse. At least the weather and views were on point!

--  The drive home from Fairplay over Kenosha Pass was nuts... took me 3 hours to drive home and looking at Google Maps throughout the afternoon I could see that it just kept getting worse and worse.  Glad I passed over it about 11am verses 3pm.  https://youtube.com/shorts/Ldl1NmVohyc

Total Weekly Numbers

Awesome week of building... 2 more peak volume weeks then the taper.  Almost there but I can feel my running coming around which is nice.  Have another 50K planned this coming Saturday at Staunton State Park, approaching the same way as BV,  just a long supported training run.  This 50K has the same amount of vertical in 30 miles that Javelina has in the whole 100.   https://raceroster.com/events/2024/88453/suffer-better-8th-annual-fall-trail-runs

September 16th- September 22nd

"Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had." - Earvin "Magic" Johnson

Monday:   

6:30 AM:  5.5 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:30pace. Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead west up the hill and back. Was not planning on running today but got home from Steamboat and had a pair of the Agravic Speed Ultra's waiting on the front porch. Had to take them out and those are some fast shoes! Might be using these for Javelina, or at least for some of it.

4 PM: 1 hour at Crossfit

Warmup: Rowing and mobility

Row 250 m TT : 43.3 secs
Intervals
Row, 250 m | 0:43.3

then

FT: 19 mins 46 secs
Row, 200 m
Plank Hold, 30 secs
Row, 400 m
Plank Hold, 1 min
Row, 600 m
Plank Hold, 1:30
Row, 800 m
Plank Hold, 2 mins
Row, 1000 m
Plank Hold, 2:30

Tuesday:  

6:30 AM:  8 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:45pace.  Mostly easy lap of Springbrook and Gashawk trails from Dowdy Draw trailhead. Did go a little harder in the uphill on both trails with a HR between 145-150 then below 140 for everything else. Good little uphill tempo in there. Great morning out there.

Wednesday:

6:45 AM:  8 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:50pace.  Same route as yesterday in almost the exact same time. The difference is yesterday I felt like I was pushing in the middle part and today at the same pace I did not feel that way. So weird but that is running, the body is different day to day. Saw about 20 turkeys and a huge elk on Gashawk. I have never seen an elk down here this close to Boulder, usually they are more in the high country.

10 AM:  1 hour at Crossfit

Warmup: Rowing, mobility and drills

Deadlift : 5-3-3-1-1-1 : 4230 lbs
Sets
5 Deadlifts | 255 lbs
3 Deadlifts | 285 lbs
3 Deadlifts | 325 lbs
1 Deadlift | 365 lbs
1 Deadlift | 375 lbs
1 Deadlift | 385 lbs -- Post back injury PR...  Have not put up this weight since before I herniated my disk 2 years ago.  Super pleased!

-then-

21-15-9: 5 mins 57 secs
21-15-9 reps of:
Deadlift, 50% 1RM | 195 lbs
Push-up
Lateral Burpee Over Bar

5 PM:  Biked 8.5 miles in less than an hour.  First 4 miles were the warmup so I knew what I was getting into.  The last 4.5 miles were Back 2 Basic Cyclocross #4. One of my worse races in a while. First lap went well even though I had dead legs from the other workouts today. Second lap I wiped out around a corner that made me slow way down to finish the lap. On the third lap I was getting my confidence back and was picking it back up when I threw my chain and it got jammed in the hub of my back wheel. I could not pull it out, spent 3-5 mins trying. Finally called it quits and walked over to the bike mechanic where he had to take apart my whole rear hub to get the chain out, so I made the right call. Still got in some training I guess and still had fun. Next week is the last one of the Wednesday night races which sucks. Hard to do the weekend races when training for Javelina.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  169.4 lbs w/ 8.5% bodyfat.  Down 3 more pounds or so.  I have not been under 170 since before Hardrock last year.  Super pleased and feeling really good overall.  Thinking it has to do with not eating any of the crap I normally eat while I am doing this 75 Hard challenge again.  If I get down to 167 or lower I will consider upping my daily calorie intake.

6:45 AM:  8.3miles averaging 7:15pace.  2 and a half laps of Davidson Mesa. Did this run as sort of a mini progression run with each mile being a little bit quicker than the previous with the last mile being under 7min pace. Did it as a test for my hip and calf. Last month every time I went faster than 8min pace one of the two would act up. That did not happen today, all was good. Think we are all systems go for the last 3 weeks of hard training before the taper of Javelina.

9:30 AM: 20mins in the sauna

3:45 PM: Biked 21 miles w/ 1100ft of vert in 1:27.  Easy lap of the hood per normal. I thought I was going slower than normal on this route but was surprised to look at the data afterwards just to discover I was actually a little quicker than normal at a lower RPE. Interesting...

Friday:

7 AM:  9 miles w/ 2100ft of vert averaging 9:55pace.  Fowler trailhead for a lap of Rattlesnake Gulch then a loop of Gashawk back to the truck. One of my best runs yet since coming back. Felt so good and the vert was more than I expected. Very pleased I was able to do 2k of vert being under 10min pace without pushing that hard. Shit seems to be coming around finally.

2 PM:  50mins in the garage gym

Warmup: rowing and mobility

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
Dumbbell Bench Press, 40 lbs
Elevated Goblet Squat, 25 lbs
Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 25 lbs
Reverse Lunge
Push-up

3 RFT:
3 rounds of:
10 Single Leg RDLs, 25 lbs
10 Jefferson Curls, 35 lbs

3 Rounds
10 single leg calf raises 25lbs

3 Rounds
20 crunches
20 plank pikes
20 plank side to side
20 flutter kicks 4 count

-- followed this with 25mins in the sauna...  gotta get that heat training in for Javelina!

Saturday: 

7:30 AM:  20.2 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 8:05pace.  Easy loops on the Rock Creek and Lake Link trails from the Kings on 287 by GZ's house. Each loop was 8 miles then added an out and back to get to 20. Went better than I expected today, have not done a real run over 20 miles since April. Yes I have covered more than 20 miles in a single shot but it was mostly hiking with Bronco Billy during his Colorado Trail FKT. This route is close to the same as a loop at Javelina which is 20 miles & 1500ft of vert.  Hopefully things are setting up nicely for Javelina.  Plan on using this loop a few more times the next few weeks.

Sunday:  

8 AM:  14.5 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 8:30pace. Today was a slog-fest of sort... legs had no turn over at all and it was raining buckets all morning. Delayed as long as my mind would allow me too before heading out. Rain stopped about 5 miles in which meant I was then dressed to warm but all good. Ran Marshall Road from Superior to Boulder than back on the bike path doing a lap of Davidson and Harper Lake on the way back.  Had no turn over so just jogged it out until I hit over 2 hours. Been a long time since I have done back to back longer days like this as well.  Hopefully the next 2 weekends of back to back long runs feel better than today's did.

Total Weekly Numbers

Solid week of training this week.  Super pleased I made it through the week with nothing really bothering me but heavy legs and being a little tired.  Need to get in 2 more solid weeks like this then we can taper and get that Javelina finish.  Finish is what matters, I need that Western States qualifier to keep building tickets for that lottery.