June 15th- June 21st

"You're going to be in a relationship with yourself for your entire life. So you should probably learn how to make it a good one." - Mark Manson

Seemed like a good quote since I am basically isolated at the cabin for the next few weeks.  A lot of truth in that quote.

Monday:

6AM: 9.4 miles w/ 2200ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Chill run from Alma up to about 12,300ft on Loveland Mountain and back. No poles today, first time since the 1st I have gone without them. Really trying to get used to them again. Felt good this morning, had this all done before work at 8am.

--  Heading back down the hill for home this afternoon.  Need to get some laundry done, restock on a few things and spend a day or two with Paula.  Plan on heading back up here on Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday:  

6AM:  7.8 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:25pace.  Back on the front range for 48 hours.  Good jog playing around the trails off South Mesa trailhead. Tired today but was moving well. Basically do a figure 8. 6x20sec hills at the end as well.

4:30PM: 50mins VASA lift class with Paula. Leg day so lots of back squats today.

Wednesday:

 -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Finally weighed myself after a few months.  I thought I gained a bunch, just felt that way but actually lost a few more.  Go figure...  164.4lbs @ 7.6% bodyfat

6AM:  12.5 miles w/ 1900ft of vert averaging 7:40pace.  

Workout was:
20 min warm up

3x10 min up hill tempo's with run down recovery for eccentric loading

20min cool down

Started at Eben Fine Park and did the hill workout on the Chapman road... super flat legs today, it was a struggle to the point I even walked a few times up the hill for a short break in the middle of an interval. Just wiped out this morning but got it done. Ran out of water as well. Did not realize until I got back to the van that it was 80degrees at 7am. WTF?? Heading back up to Alma this afternoon.

 

Thursday:  

6AM:  9.5 miles w/ 2200ft of vert averaging 10:45pace.  Easy run from Alma up to 12,300ft on Loveland Mountain and back again. Testing out some new poles again since I have broken 2 sets in the past 3 weeks. LOL... One of the reasons I went back to town the past few days was to get another set of poles and of course to see Paula. Legs are sore from yesterdays workout which surprised me. Love getting runs like this done and working by 8am.

3PM: 50mins lifting at the Alma gym.  All upper body and basically just one lift per each major muscle group.

Friday:

6AM:  7 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Easy loop from Alma heading up Aspen Alley and down Kite Lake Rd. Lots of stops here and there for photos ect... just exploring a little. Today was to be a recovery jog or day off anyways. Tired today and did fall once when gawking at wild flowers and seemed to tweak the right knee that I have been having issues with a little bit again... over it.

-- Had plans to head to Leadville this afternoon to do my long run on Mount Massive and Elbert tomorrow but not sure if I want to leave the cabin.  Just might stay around Alma, will decide later today I guess.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  10.5 miles w/ 4300ft of vert averaging 18min pace.  Never went to Leadville and stayed local.  Also cut the run short, legs felt like shit the whole time, knee bothering me again, and low energy. Basically went back to the 3 hours I had originally on the plan verses the 7+ hours I was thinking about doing. Not sure what’s going on, just tired all the time and lacking motivation for the last few days.

Mostly just a 3 hour hike mostly all above 12k. Getting Silverheels and playing around on the ridges.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 10.4 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 20min pace.  North Star Mountain with Bryan from the Boulder Track Club. Mostly just a hike with some short jogging here and there. Forgot how much of a talus field North Star is. Legs were all scrapped up and broke my 3rd set of poles this month which I have had for only a week on this mountain. Need to start staying on the trails more instead of these type of mountains full of scree. Good morning otherwise.

Total Weekly Numbers

Not quite the week that I wanted this week but at least a lot of the miles were above 10,500 with a bunch over 12,000ft.  Would have had another 10 miles and 3-4k of vert if I would not have cut Saturday short.  Trying to listen to the body some instead of grinding myself into the ground.  Need to lay down one more really solid week of training this week before heading to the taper.  Getting there.  So far in June I am sitting at 215 miles w/ 59,500ft of vert.  Going to try and get that to 285 miles and over 80,000ft of vert before the end of the month.  Let's see what we can do.

June 8th- June 14th

  "Fatigue, discomfort, discouragement are merely symptoms of effort." - Morgan Freeman

--  Seemed like a great quote for this week with all the changes happening between life shit and getting up high for a while.

Monday:

6AM: 5.3 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 11:30pace.  Super chill lap of Mount Santias before work. Tired from the weekend but all good.  Had 2 hours planned today but needed a little bit of a down day with the bigger weekend I just had so moved the workouts a round a little bit this week verses what was planned. 

4:30PM: 50mins VASA lift class with Paula. Leg day with lots of back squats. Went super light at 95lbs and worked on full range of motion to build this wonky knee back up. Feeling better and better every day!  No pain in the knee during the squats today, first time in a while. 

Tuesday:  

6AM:  8 miles w/ 2800ft of vert averaging 14:15pace.  Easy jog up Shadow Canyon yet again today. Great way to get in serious vert in a short time frame. Felt like I went easier but was moving faster than last week so that is a plus. Feeling okay and chugging along in this training. Did see 4 huge male elks grazing on Homestead, 3rd time I have seen them in the same spot over the last week.

-- Nice surprise at work today.  They bought out the In-n-Out semi out for us.  Work does this about once a year, one of the small benefits I guess.

Wednesday:

6AM:  8 miles w/ 2800ft of vert averaging 13:45pace.  Another day and another lap up Shadow Canyon. Quickest one yet by 4 mins since I started doing this route over a week ago. Think I am finally starting to find my trail legs after all that flat running I have been doing the past year. Also knee is getting better by the day, did not feel it at all today and I am starting to trust it more and more every day.

4:30PM:  50mins VASA Lift class with Paula, might be the last one for a bit since I am heading to Fairplay tomorrow night to get ready for Hardrock. All upper body tonight.

Thursday: 

7 AM:  9 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 16min pace.  Took the day off work today....  Easy run up South Boulder Peak and Bear Peak with Donnie early in the morning before heading down south to help Don move some heavy stuff. Super chill and great to catch-up with Donnie, it has been to long. Heading up to the cabin this afternoon as well to start getting acclimated for Hardrock.

Friday:

9 AM:  8.5 miles w/ 900ft of vert averaging 8:20pace.  First run of camp at altitude at about 10,300ft heading up to 11,000+.  Easy run on dirt roads that turn into a double track that heads up Loveland Mountain. Super chill today to get used to the altitude some. Going to take a week or so to get used to it I think. No headaches or anything, just felt super sluggish and slow.

--  Some exciting changes on the life front happened today which I will share next week, need things to be finalized all the way first before talking about it.  

Saturday: 

7 AM:  18.8 miles w/ 7200ft of vert averaging 14min pace.  Decalobronma as Don calls it. Basically the Decalobron which is four 14ers outside of Alma but instead of starting at the trailhead 6 miles up the dirt road at 12,000ft you start and finish in Alma at 10,400ft, so add the ma to the end to get Decalobronma. LOL... will probably do this at least one more time before Hardrock. Super slow today due to the nasty winds up there. They were so strong that it actually knocked me over between Bross summit and Lincoln summit. Crazy, probably in the 50mph with 70mph gust but did die down as I was coming down of course after the 4th summit. Made for a challenging day above treeline. Overall super happy with this first real high long run on challenging terrain. Of course, broke another pole. Second set in 2 weeks... sigh....

--  Finished book 17 of the year, only 7 more to hit the yearly goal of 24.  Found a book called How of The Hardrock.... If you get it for free it is worth reading, I would not buy it.

Sunday:  

7AM: 13.7 miles w/ 3700ft of vert averaging 12:20pace.  From Alma up to the summit of Loveland Mountain and back. Came back a different way than I have in years past just to explore some and loved it. Might start coming back that way every time. More runnable and less loose shit to run down, more of a dirt road most of the way instead of loose crap on a double track. Only took one bottle with me for just under 3 hours of running, misjudged how long it would take. Spent a lot of time above 13,000ft taking breaks, taking photos and just chilling so was actually out there for about 5 hours but on only running for about 2:45 of it. LOL.

Total Weekly Numbers

Been a hell of a week.  Busy as they come between training, work, helping someone move and getting up to Fairplay to start the altitude camp to get ready for Hardrock.  Was surprised that I got in this many miles and vertical this week.  I thought it would be more a challenge to get over 60 miles and 15,000ft.  If I can get 2 more weeks of this I should have a decent shot of finishing Hardrock without super focused training all spring like I have in the past.  Yes the only goal this year is to finish, in the past my A goal was to get as close to 30 hours as possible which got me a 34 hour and 36 hour finish.  This year is just to get it done for finish #3.  Plan is to head back to Boulder on Monday afternoon/evening to do laundry, spend a day in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday morning then head back up here Wednesday afternoon/evening for another 5 days.  Think that will be the plan for the next few weeks.  Home Monday night through Wednesday lunch then up high the rest of the week.