Monday, April 15, 2024

April 8th- April 14th

“Bravery is a deep breath in the face of frustration when all you want to do is walk out and give someone the middle finger. It's the courage to approach situations with an open mind and a welcoming heart. It's being a bridge-builder, a door-opener, a life-changer. It's a reservoir of good intentions, compassion, and a generous heart that welcomes second chances and new beginnings.” - Athena Perez 


Monday:   

1 PM:  Bike 10.75 miles in 50mins.  Easy gravel bike ride around the neighborhood just to move the legs some and hopefully help the quads work out all the soreness. Super chill and even stopped at Starbucks for coffee as well.

3 PM: Walk 3.2 miles in 54mins. Easy walk with Venus just to keep things moving like the bike ride. Had to make her slow way down for the quads were painful to walk fast. LOL... so nutso.  Hopefully they feel better tomorrow and I can try jogging.

-- Some cool photos from RUFA-Moab came out today that I downloaded online.  I love Moab...








Tuesday:  
7 AM:  8.75 miles w/ 1000ft averaging 9min pace.  Easy loops at Flatiron Vista, Dowdy Draw and Springbrook. Been a bit since I have been over there and it is only of my favorite areas for easy trail running. Need to keep that in mind for the easy days going forward.  Super chill for the quads are STILL SORE as hell but at least not to the touch like they have been the past few days.  Could not run fast at all downhill, more like a slow hobble downhill. 


5:30 PM: 3.4 miles averaging 8:30pace.  Easy lap of Marshall Mesa to get in some easy miles while Paula was running with her friends. Super chill even stopping to talk to a gym buddy I ran into for a while. Awesome evening out being in the low 60s.

Wednesday:
--Fasting today... have a colonoscopy tomorrow so no calories or eating today... first time and going from averaging 3500-4000 calories a day to pretty much 0 will be interesting.  I feel sorry for Paula, sure I will get cranky at some point.  Weighed myself now as the fasting starts and tomorrow after all the crap I have to drink cleans me out just to see the change, that could be interesting.

7:30 AM:  9.5 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy miles over at Davidson Mesa this morning. Super chill.... Still got some minor soreness in the legs but much better than the last 2 days.

3 PM:  1 hour lifting at the gym.  Just lifting, not Crossfit today.  Went to open gym hours just for a change of environment and to get my mind off food and wanting to eat.  Little bit of everything over the hour.  Followed with 20mins in the hot tub at home, need to use this more for the legs feel a lot better afterwards.

Thursday:  
  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Starting weight before the fasting and being cleaned out was 173.6, weight this morning before heading to get the procedure done is 165.4..  8.2 pounds lost in 24 hours.. lol... guess we are all full of shit.

Total day off... had plans to go to the gym and just do some easy movement but decided I could use a full rest day.  Actually slept a lot of the day away after being up most of last night.  Back on track tomorrow.

Friday:
7 AM:  8 miles averaging 7:50pace.  Starting at Costco, ran the bike path up to Davidson Mesa for a few miles then back. Few out and backs to get the mileage up to 8 which was my min mileage I wanted for today. Started out a little slow and sluggish due to yesterday but rebounded towards the end of the run. Now we are getting back to normal programming. Quads are finally not sore anymore from the weekend, knees are still a little grumpy.

Saturday: 
7 AM:  9.4 miles averaging 7:45pace. Same route as yesterday for the most part with a few changes up on Davidson Mesa. Getting the run done early so that I can go join Paula for Gravelanche ride in Boulder later this morning. Trying to fit it all in.

10 AM: Gravel bike 36 miles w/ 1600ft of vert in 2:40.  Gravelanche Ride from Sports Garage in Boulder. Something they put on yearly to celebrate the day they opened. This year it will be 30 years, longest opened bike shop in Boulder. Had no idea. Had a blast, we stayed with the group through mile 17ish then got tired of stopping all the time so we took off and rode the original route. Guess the group changed the route on the fly and made it shorter due to wind.  Paula and I did the complete route.  Few hundred people were there and they even feed us lunch afterwards.  Great morning.



Sunday:  
7 AM:  10.5 miles w/ 3000ft of vert averaging 12:30pace.  Easy lap from NCAR across Mesa, up Amp to the top of Green Mountain then down Bear Canyon back to NCAR. Used this route a lot when training for Hardrock the first time 2 years ago. It is perfect training for the direction Hardrock is going this year, up the faces and down the ramps. This loop is the same. Will be doing this 1-2 times a week if I can.



2:30 PM:  7.5 miles averaging 8min pace.  Broke my long run into a double today so that I am a little bit more fresh in this coming week. This was somewhat of a recovery week after the Moab race. Way of making it a little bit easier but still getting in some miles. Some HOT easy miles over at Davidson Mesa this afternoon in 80 degree weather. First 80 degree day this year and I surely felt it....


Total Weekly Numbers
Not a bad week considering it as a "recovery" week and took Thursday completely off.  This coming week will be a little bit of a mini-taper week for the 50K on Saturday.  No real goals except to cover the distance and keep adding mileage to get ready for Hardrock.  All training and racing points to July... LETS GO!!! 















Monday, April 8, 2024

April 1st - April 7th

“Fear is the silent destroyer of dreams.” - Gary Haugen

Monday:   

10 AM: 1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Running, mobility and drills

AMRAP 25 mins: 15 rounds + 5 Strict Pull-ups + 8 Push-ups
25:00 AMRAP:
5 Strict Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
Run, 200 m

-then-

10mins of core work

-- 2 total miles of running in this workout today.  Was surprised when I did the math...  This was all at 6min pace or faster.

6 PM:  1 hour at Spin class with Paula at Vasa.  Cycling computer said 15.5 miles so going with that. Was a bit of a sweat-fest night as we focused on climbing most of the class.

Tuesday:  
7 AM:  9.25 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:25pace.  Combo of the Costco loop and Davidson Mesa. Another nice loop that I put together that I enjoyed a lot. Run was 30min warmup, 20mins at a steady state, and then cooldown back to the truck. Was able to keep the steady state of the run between 6-6:30pace at about 145 heartrate. Super pleased with that.


2 PM: 8.2 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 8:30pace.  Running donkeys with Bob over at Rocky Flats. Little rough going out for it seems they have not run together much over the winter but the 4 miles coming back we were rolling. Most likely was just me verses the donks but I regress.  Good to get to run Sugar Ray again and look forward to racing him a few times this year I hope.  Great to catch up some with Bob, been to long.




Wednesday:
10 AM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Rowing, mobility and drills

Every 2 mins for 20 mins: Snatch : 2225 lbs
Every 2 mins for 20 mins:
5 Snatches | 65 lbs
5 Snatches | 75 lbs
3 Snatches | 80 lbs
3 Snatches | 85 lbs
3 Snatches | 90 lbs
3 Snatches | 95 lbs
1 Snatch | 105 lbs
1 Snatch | 115 lbs
1 Snatch | 125 lbs
1 Snatch | 130 lbs

-then-

10 mins RemReps: 106 reps
In 10 mins:
50 Dumbbell Snatches | 40 lbs
50 Dumbbell Lunges | 40 lbs
max rep Row Calories | 106

3 PM:  7.5 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 8min pace.  Easy miles doing an out and back on the big hill by Key Bank on the Dirty Biz trails. Super chill today for the legs are trashed today from the past few days. Feeling the achillies too which pisses me off. Thought I was finally past that. Prob to much of a quicker pace the last few days that triggered it between the 200m runs at the gym on Monday then the tempo and pickups that running with donks require on Tuesday. Over it.  At least it was a great afternoon weather-wise. 
Thursday:  
 7 AM:  9.25 miles w/ 2200ft of vert averaging 10:40pace.  Easy loop of Sanitas and Anemone trails again. Super chill for the legs are still trashed but feeling much better today. Just felt I had no real power uphills today but at least things did not hurt like they did yesterday. Could feel the achillies but was not limping or changing my stride so much better as well today. I really love this route. Such a great mix is steep uphills and runnable trails.




--- Planning on making my way to Moab this afternoon to train for a long weekend.  Shooting for Grand Junction or Fruita tonight then Moab tomorrow for a few days.  This is why we bought the van, for trips like this.  Just load up and go with no real agenda.




Friday:
6 AM:  1 hour at the gym.  Easy lifting at the Fruita Rec Center covering all major muscle groups. More light weight and focused on movement to be more of a mobility workout than lifting workout. Felt really good after this.

9 AM:  9.25 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Easy jog on the Pollock loops and side trails outside of Fruita. Just exploring and taking an easy. Such a cool area and need to bring Paula here in a few weeks when we plan on coming back to the area.  Got done right as the wind was picking up.




-- Headed to Moab after grabbing lunch.  The winds have picked up a lot and driving that high profile van with a sidewind is a bitch....  Of course had to have my pre-race dinner at Milt's and found a place in town where other vans were also hiding for the night... yes they don't allow this in Moab but people do it anyways.



Saturday: 
8 AM:  Running Up For Air 12 Hour- Moab.  37.5 miles w/ 18,000ft of vert in 11:37. 

Hell of a race... so much vertical. Not a lot of running was involved today, to steep going up and to technical for me to run down at a fast pace. More like just slowly jogging down the slick rock trying not to eat shit. The course was basically 0.9 mile up with 980ft then 0.9 mile down. Got in 19 laps total which got me 2nd place. First place dude was bombing the downhill all day. He ended up with 22 laps, not even close. Legs are totally shot after this effort, might be regretting this for a few days.





Sunday:  
11 AM: Walk 2.8 miles...  Easy hike from the visitor center at the Colorado National Monument to try and flush out the legs a little bit. Such a cool place and can't believe that in all the times I have been to Fruita that I have never driven up here. Need to plan a long run here sometime to really explore.




2 PM: Walk 1 mile... Easy break in the drive home stopping in Glenwood Springs to check out Doc Holiday's grave. Been wanting to stop here for years but never took the time. Check that off the list.



Total Weekly Numbers
Hell of a busy week... very pleased on this week even though I am having issues walking normal this morning.  Quads are sore to the touch, gotta love DOMS.  That makes 6 nights in the van so far in the first 3 weeks.  Guess I will get getting good use out of it.   This next week is going to be more of a recovery week for I am sore as hell today (Monday) which will be just an easy movement day and I have an out patient procedure on Thursday which will be a day completely off.   Then it will be back to normal programming next week.














Monday, April 1, 2024

March 25th- March 31st

  “It's your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, that determines how your life's story will develop.“ – Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  

Monday:   

Finished book number 12 on the year today.  That puts me halfway to my goal of 24 for the year.  Sure I will drop off at some point as the weather keeps getting better and I just want to be outside which is not the case today, as it dropped 6-8 inches of snow overnight.

Another rest day... trying to catch up with missing 2 days of work last Thursday and Friday. Not sure how I am going to be able to take a week off at any point.  This is crazy because I keep maxing out my vacation hours which is 300 hours, once I hit 300 I quit earning which I am trying hard not to have happen.  I was maxed out at the beginning of the year and lost out on about 30 hours of vacation when the calendar rolled to 2024.  At least taking a few days off lets me earn it back on April 1st but then will be maxed again.  Basically I have to take 2 days off a month just to stay even.  First world problems I guess.  Will try to take off a bunch this summer, fingers crossed. 

Tuesday:  
10 AM:  1 hour at the gym.
Warmup: Airbike, mobility and drills.

7 RFT: 9 mins 34 secs
7 rounds of:
7 Box Jumps, 24 in
7 Power Cleans | 85 lbs
7 Push Press, 50% 1RM | 85 lbs
7 Pull-ups

-then-

20mins of core work.

2 PM: 8.5 miles w/ 450ft of vert averaging 7:35pace.  Easy out and back on the Costco loop. Hard to get motivated to go after not doing anything for 2 days but felt damn good after the first few miles. Just cruising...  

Wednesday:
7:30 AM:  12 miles w/ 1800ft of vert averaging 8min pace. Easy laps of the NCAR road yet again while waiting on trails to melt out. Kings up to NCAR then back down to the start of the neighborhood then back up 2 more times. Good runnable vert... more mellow this time than last week.

1 PM:  48 mins in the garage gym

Warmup: Airbike, mobility and front squat warmup sets below
5x95
5x115
3x135
1x155
1x175
1x185

Front Squat : 1 Rep Max :
Sets
1 Front Squat | 190 lbs

Barbell Calf Raise : 12-12-12-12-12 : 8100 lbs
Sets
12 Barbell Calf Raises | 135 lbs
12 Barbell Calf Raises | 135 lbs
12 Barbell Calf Raises | 135 lbs
12 Barbell Calf Raises | 135 lbs
12 Barbell Calf Raises | 135 lbs

Side Bends : 5x15 : 25lbs
Sets
15 Side Bends
15 Side Bends
15 Side Bends
15 Side Bends
15 Side Bends

Sandbag Carry : 4x 50 m : 100lbs
Intervals
Sandbag Carry, 50 m
Sandbag Carry, 50 m
Sandbag Carry, 50 m
Sandbag Carry, 50 m 

2:30 PM: 30mins in the sauna... need to get back to doing this 2-3 times a week


Thursday:  
7 AM:  9 miles w/ 2300ft of vert averaging 10:40pace.  Easy lap of Mount Sanitas and Anemone trails. Got to catch the sunrise and just put in some easy vert. Little bit of snow/ice on the top part of Lions Lair which no traction is needed but everything else is clear. Great morning out there!



4 PM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Airbike, mobility and drills

FT: 9 mins 37 secs
20 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
18 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
16 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
14 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
12 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
10 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
8 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
6 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
4 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks
2 Kettlebell Swings | 62 lbs
2 Wall Walks

-then-

20mins of core work

Friday:
7 AM:  8.6 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  From Costco jumping on Dirty Biz trails to Marshall Road to Cherryville and back on the 36 bike path. Not a bad loop at all! Might be doing this one more often. Super chill today not pushing at all which was the goal of the run.


Saturday: 
8 AM:  13 miles w/ 3800ft of vert in 3:30 (16min pace).  The normal Bear/Green loop. Bear Canyon trailhead- Fern- West Ridge- Green- back via Bear Canyon. There was no trail broken coming off Bear on the west ridge so had to break that. Was post holing a lot to just over my knee in a lot of spots. Took forever to get off of Bear. LOL.  Great inversion today though!



Sunday:  
8 AM: 20.5 miles w/ 3600ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Starting at Sanitas trailhead did the loop up to Gold Hill and back stopping for an Easter cookie and coffee before heading back. Went up the Poorman/4mile way and down Sunshine. First time going up that way and actually like it a lot better than the normal route of straight up and down Sunshine that I have been doing. Another inversion day too.  Legs are feeling the week.



Total Weekly Numbers
Just the week I needed.  Seems I have been struggling getting in the miles lately that I want but not this week.  That was even with Monday completely off too.  Was just to tired on Monday from the adventure race last weekend and travel that I thought it would do me good for a day completely off but with that I missed my cycling mileage.  Oh well.... Also cut back on the gym a bunch too this week which I think allowed me to get more miles in.  Just not as tired.. Gotta keep this rolling...

















Monday, March 25, 2024

March 18th- March 24th

  “Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off” ~Steven Pressfield

Monday:   

10 AM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Rowing, mobility and some drills.

10 RFT: 12 mins 24 secs
10 rounds of:
10 Row Calories
10 Push-ups
1 Rope Climb, 15 ft

-then-

20mins of core work

2 PM:  3 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy neighborhood cruise to shake out the legs that feel like shit after the weekend.

6 PM:  1 hour at spin with Paula at Vasa.  Bike computer said 16 miles so we will go with that.


Tuesday:  
7 AM:  9.1 miles averaging 7:35pace.  Easy miles at sunrise over at Davidson Mesa and Harper Lake. Davidson was only about half clear from snow and Harper was mostly clear so most of the miles were at Harper, only one lap of Davidson.



Wednesday:
9 AM:  50 mins lifting 

Garage gym session between work meetings

Warmup: Airbike and mobility

Deload Back Squat
Sets
5 Back Squats, 40% 1RM | 155 lbs
5 Back Squats, 50% 1RM | 165 lbs
5 Back Squats, 60% 1RM | 175 lbs

Split Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift :
Sets
10 Split Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts | 60 lbs
10 Split Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts | 60 lbs
10 Split Stance Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts | 60 lbs

Push Press
Sets
5 Push Press, 40% 1RM | 70 lbs
5 Push Press, 50% 1RM | 85 lbs
5 Push Press, 60% 1RM | 110 lbs

Skull Crusher
Sets
10 Skull Crushers | 57 lbs
10 Skull Crushers | 57 lbs
10 Skull Crushers | 57 lbs

Ez Bar Curl
Sets
10 EZ Bar Curls | 57 lbs
10 EZ Bar Curls | 57 lbs
10 EZ Bar Curls | 57 lbs

Standing Calf Raise
Sets
15 Standing Calf Raises | 95 lbs
15 Standing Calf Raises | 95 lbs
15 Standing Calf Raises | 95 lbs
15 Standing Calf Raises | 95 lbs

1 PM:  12 miles w/ 1900ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  3 1/2 laps of NCAR road. Just cruising today in the awesome sunshine. Super stressful last 24 hours. Almost skipped this run due to stress and motivation but happy I got out there and got it done. Actually one of my better runs on this route, go figure.  First photo with the new phone as well, takes awesome pictures.

Thursday:  
  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Nope.....

8 AM:  16.5 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 7:55pace. Easy modified lap of the Bismark starting and ending at Costco in Superior. Half was on the road and half was on the trails depending on the mud closures. Did the whole thing without fluids and regretted that decision the last 20 mins or so but was glad not to carry it as well. Did take one gel halfway through just because. Solid morning out there.

--Leaving this afternoon to head to Kansas for the 12 hour Extreme Break Up Adventure Race in Manhattan.  Should be an interesting weekend.  Paula and I are a coed team of 2.  This will be my first one and she is relearning how to navigate.  Why I got in a longer run yesterday and today due to all the driving we have in front of us.




Friday:
Slept at a rest area about 5 hours from home on I-70 last night.  Love just being able to pull over and go to sleep whenever verses having to find a hotel room.  Spent the morning finishing the drive to Manhattan Kansas finding a coffee shop in some small town along the way where I think I had the best cinnamon roll I have ever had.  That is a tall order from me since that is one of my favorite things to eat and I am always comparing them.



Noon:  4 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy shakeout jog around the park that the race tomorrow starts and finishes in. Just filling time until we can check in at 6pm.  We then drove to a state park about 10mins away to crash in the van for the evening and start trying to plan our route for the race tomorrow.  In adventure racing you have to plan your route and navigate to all the check points verses just turning the brain off and following markers like I do when trail racing, there are also no aid stations either.  Throws a little wrench in planning that you have to work through.



Saturday: 
7 AM:  Extreme Break Up Adventure Race  44 miles total in 8:58.  Fun times doing the Extreme Break Up Adventure Race. Paula and I were a coed team of two and no we did not break up afterwards.  I would say that there was about 10-12 miles of treking and about 32-34 miles of cycling overall with having to navigate the whole time to find the 30 plus check points through out the area. Ended up 4th overall in the 2 person coed team but if we did have a couple of the navigation errors. We prob would have been second otherwise.  We lost about an hour plus on them. Part of learning. She has not navigated in about 15 years and this was my first one. We easily had the endurance on the bike and run to hang with the best of them just not the navigation skills yet that they had.  Lots of stories came out of this of race which I am not going to write out on here, guess you will have to meet us for a drink to hear them. Guessing there will be more coming later. We will see.  Did not take a lot of photos due to racing but did pull out the phone a couple of times.







Sunday:  
Total rest day. Did not have it in me today to do much after yesterday and all the driving home the last 24 hours. Wiped and went to bed early. Might try and make up the planned 50 min jog on Monday or not.

Total Weekly Numbers
Solid week overall considering the travel and the race over the weekend.  We had a blast in our first trip in Sherman and looking to plan another in the next 2 weeks somewhere just to go train and play.  We drove Sherman about 1100 miles this weekend or about 14 hours of driving.   Also snowing still as I type this on Monday morning so trails are going to be shit all week which always makes training more challenging.  We got about 6-8 inches so far overnight.