March 30th- April 5th

"How many times have you noticed that it's the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?" -Mister Rogers

Came across this during the week from Mark Manson... Good food for thought.

Scarcity dictates what’s meaningful.

When you are alone, a relationship feels meaningful.
When you’re in a relationship, time to yourself feels meaningful.

When you are overworked, time off feels meaningful.
When you have plenty of downtime, work feels meaningful.

The scarcity never gets solved, it simply changes form.

Monday:

9:30 AM: 12.4 miles averaging 7:35pace.  Easy miles around Davidson Mesa yet again. Realized yesterday that I lost my local legend which does not surprise me since I have been running more by work lately. I did enough loops yesterday to tie it then the dude went out and then he added 7 more loops to get ahead again. Think he just declared war. Added 4 more laps today, going to focus over there for a few weeks and see what happens.  I find it somewhat entertaining.  Also coming up to 1000 clock wise loops of Davidson according to Strava as well.  Sitting at 976 laps after today.

2 PM: 50mins lifting weights between meetings- leg focus but super light, legs are trashed today for some reason.

-- Another postcard in the mail... board is filling up faster this year than previous years it seems.

Tuesday:  

9 AM:  10.1 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 7:20pace.  Easy cruise from the house up to HWY 128 then back a different way. 4x30sec pickup through out the run, did most of them down the hill to really work on turn over getting under 5min pace on a couple of them. Overall feel okay even though the legs are a little sore but they are better than yesterday so that is good.

--20min hot tub in the afternoon

-- Had a surprise visitor last night and today.... always good to see Dad and Sherryl. 

Wednesday: 

9:30 AM:  10.6 miles averaging 6:40 pace.  Over at Davidson Mesa yet again. Took back the clock-wise Local Legend as well during this run, let see if the dude goes to take it back, I only took it by one just to tempt him. HAAA... Anyways, not a bad run but not the best. Stomach was a mess from eating out big dinners the last 2 nights with my dad being in town which is why I went to Davidson Mesa, bathroom every lap if needed.  Basically bounced between 5:40 and 6:15ish after warming into it the first few reps. I actually enjoyed this format a lot.

20 min warm up

10x30 seconds fast/2:30 moderate (think 5k effort on fast and marathon effort on moderate)

20 min cool down

5 PM:  50mins VASA Lift class with Paula- full body again today but different lifts.

Thursday:  

 9 AM: 11.6 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 7:30pace.  Easy big loop from work between meetings this morning. High gravity day today, felt slow and sore but the average pace was what is expected, all part of the process. Plan on hitting the hot tub when I get home from work later this afternoon so see if that will help bring the legs around some.  I have also been eating like shit all week so cleaning that up some should help as well.

--  Finally got my hands on the Puma R3 Elites which has been a challenge to find in my size.  Grabbed this shoe because everyone says it is a 3% increase in speed over other supershoes which if it is true is bonkers.  Now I have 2 pairs to choose from for Cape Town, Puma R3 Elites and the ASICS MetaSpeed.  The hard part is to figure out which one will help me get the best time possible.  I did start with weighing them both below, I was expecting the R3 to be lighter but I was wrong as you can see.  Will try one of them on Saturday's workout, just have to decide which one to try first.

Friday:

 -NOTE:  Weight check in:  167.6 lbs at 8% bodyfat.  Not surprised I gained a little with all the eating out and crap I have been eating earlier this week.  Time to get back into the routine again.  Have to quit the before bed snacking I have been doing so much of lately.

9 AM:  8.6 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:20pace.  Easy cruise from work with Taylor who joined me for the first 45mins then finished out the hour solo adding in a bunch of 20sec pickups. Never seen sub 5min pace on the pickups before so that was cool to see on the watch.

Saturday: 

8 AM:  18 miles w/ 500ft averaging 6:40pace. Done in the Colorado Tech Center by work because there is no traffic over there on the weekends and easy to make loops to keep my bottle in the van to refuel through out the run without having to carry anything.  Took in a 30g gel and a 40g gel along with one bottle of Precision w/ 45g in it for a total of 115g of carbs in 2 hours. Need to work on getting more in I think.

Workout was:

3-4 miles easy

10 miles of 1 mile at marathon effort /1 mile at 50k or a lil slower effort

3-4 miles easy

Ran the warmup and the 10miles of in/outs in the Puma R3 Elite (photo w/ 6.5oz shoe above), hell of a shoe.  At what I consider my marathon effort I was about 15sec faster per mile than in the ASICS MetaSky Paris that I ran CIM in last December.  I still want to try the other ASICS shoe (MetaSpeed) I have just to compare sometime in the next week or two but think I found my shoe in the R3's.  Did take them off and change into the Mount to Coast H1 for the 4 mile cooldown and felt like I suddenly got a flat tire.  LOL... such a drastic difference. 

Rolled over 1000 miles in 2026 already, fastest I have gotten to that milestone I believe and got another postcard in the mail, JT is on a roll lately.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 12.6 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 7:13 pace.  Joined the Boulder Track Club today for the first time in a while. Training just has not be meshing well with what they have been doing. Wore the new RX;LDVL since they were doing a trail run through Marshall Mesa/Dowdy Draw/Mesa trails looping back. LOVE this shoe. I trained and ran Western States last year in the prototype and it is really cool to see it now hitting the market. Ran much quicker than planning today and felt really good considering the workout I did yesterday.

-- Right after I got home Paula and headed over to get some photos in the new RX:LDVL's for a post on Instagram for Speedland.  You can find that here but below are a few of the shots she took.

1 PM: Biked 17.6 miles w/ 1100ft of vert..  Easy MTB around Rocky Flats and Stanley Lake from the house with Paula.  Much needed date to spend some time together doing something fun and active.  As you can tell from the photo below she hates trying to keep up with me on the hills.  HAAA....  First time I have been on my bikes in 2026, so sad...  20mins in the hot tub afterwards as well.

Total Weekly Numbers

Another solid week laid down in the buildup.... 6 weeks to Cape Town so shit is getting real and I can definitely feel the fatigue starting to build somewhat but I have also noticed that my recovery from the hard days aren't as taxing as they were last month.  Means fitness is building....  Going to throw my hat into a local half marathon next Sunday just to see where I am at, of course I am not tapering so I will be going into it fairly fatigued, so the time I do will be what it is and I shouldn't really draw a lot of conclusions from it but my brain will try too.  

March Recap

  "You can't just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing.  To succeed, stay out in front of change." - Sam Walton

Little bit different approach in the build up to this next marathon at the end of May.  More miles and marathon pace work than I have done in the past but still trying to keep some trail running and vertical in there so when I switch to training for Hardrock at the beginning of June my body is not totally shocked and sore from the hills.  Anyway a very solid month this month... just need to keep this rolling!  At almost 1000 miles on the year already, I will roll over that milestone later this week.

My Girls

March 23rd- March 29th

"A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have." - Irish Proverb

-- Lucky to have the friend group that I have.... will always cherish you all.  You all know who you are.  

Monday:

11 AM: 8.7 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:30pace.  Easy cruise from work around Link Lake and back. This is becoming my normal hour'ish run from work and also really the only way to get some hills around work too.  Legs little tired from the hills this weekend but otherwise good.

5 PM: 55mins VASA Lift with Paula this evening with a leg focus..  lot of RDL's

Tuesday:  

Finally had time early this morning before work to look through all the Salida Marathon photos from 2 weeks ago.  Looks like I am barely running but still ran the best time I have there... 

11:30 AM:  7.8 miles averaging 7:40pace. Super chill jog from work over the lunch hour. Legs are trash today, probably a combo of all the vert from the weekend and lifting yesterday. Hopefully they will come around for tomorrow's hard run.

-- Had me an visitor outside my office window at work today.

Wednesday:

--  This was in my inbox this morning... only 60 days to go... fuck I feel like I am not even close to be ready.

10:30 AM:  14 miles averaging 6:45pace.  Workout Wednesday done over at Davidson Mesa over the lunch hour.

20 min warm up

15k at marathon pace working down to finishing the last 4-5k at half marathon pace

20 min cool down

One of the worse workouts I have done in a while. Just could not keep pace and the HR was super high for the pace I was going. Also stopped a lot when the HR got to high to let it come down. Did not realize it was over 80 degrees until after I was done so guessing that was a huge part of my problem plus the wind coming from the west. Paces where so much slower heading towards the hills (west) into the wind (constant 10mph with 20mph gust). Basically the Inner Bitch won today... nothing else to say.

5 PM:  50mins VASA Lift with Paula... upper body today.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  166.6lbs w/ 8% bodyfat... gained a little bit but not surprised since my miles were down a little bit last week while also eating like an asshole for 4 days while in San Fran.  Still right were I want to be, around 165...

9:30 AM:  9.8 miles averaging 7:35pace.  Easy cruise from work mid morning before it got to hot out again. Learned my lesson yesterday, it was still 70 degrees out when I got done which is way better than over 80 that it was yesterday. Legs are pretty shot today but whatever, onwards.....  20mins in the hot tub in the afternoon when I got home from work.

--  This evening a bunch of us went to "The Cutoff" down in Denver. Soooo good!!!!  I just love that they are making a movie about the back of the pack instead of all the elite front runners.  These people are the true heartbeat of the sport.  

Friday:

7 AM:  Treadmill 5.2 miles averaging 7:15pace.  Metabolic testing to see my resting calorie burn and also what my burn rate is at different running paces. We started at 7.5mph (8min pace) and worked down to marathon pace which was 10mph (6 min pace).  Spent 4mins at every 0.5mph increase for measurements.  This test breaks down the burn into how much fat verses carbs you are burning as well at each pace to see where that crossover is. I don't have the results yet but did see some raw data. It was interesting because I crossover at an easy pace but my fat burn rate stays about the same no matter how fast I am going, I am an even fat burner at about 50% all the time verses those who end up dropping to 10% fat/ 90% carbs. That somewhat explains why I don't need as many gels and carbs during a marathon.  More to come on this once I get the results back next week.  If  you are interested in this let me know and I will pass on the information to Dina.

10 AM:  6.5miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 8:45pace.  Lap of Flagstaff from Chapman shortly after the metabolic testing this morning. Took the whole day off just to burn some vacation time since I have to much right now. Testing of the new Nike ACG Ultraflys, these shoes are awesome.... Not sure they will be a Hardrock shoe but about any other 100 miler they would be at the top of the list.

5 PM: 50mins VASA Lift with Paula... today was full body.  Pretty active day today, tired tonight.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  10 miles w/ 2100ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Some miles over at White Ranch solo while Paula was running with her friends. Been a bit since I have been over here and always forget how nice the trails are here once you get up the hill a little bit. The first - to 2 miles are not that great but everything on top is fantastic! Took the new Ultraflys out again and they were awesome, maybe they might be a Hardrock shoe after all, more testing to be done.  Went for a treat after the run and  finally found the best cinnamon roll in Denver  after years of searching, Mr. Biscuits in Wheatridge.

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 20.2miles averaging 7:15 pace. Laps at Davidson Mesa to make fueling easy and Taylor joined me for the first lap. Legs were tired today from the past 2 days of trail running and vert, well that is why I think they were tired. Just cruised and worked on fueling for the most part keeping a bottle and gels at the trailhead for each lap, 2 bottles of 45g of carbs each, 1 Beta Fuel, and 1 Precision for a total of 160g of carbs. Then 60g carbs and 20g protein drink right when I got done. Little bit of a gut training day. Pretty tired after this one but not wasted.

-- Speaking of shoes, I came across these in my size at Boulder Sports Recycle this afternoon for $55 a pair and they are all brand new.  More new shoes in the stable.  HAAAA!!  I will have to put up a photo of all the running shoes I have, it is somewhat silly.

Total Weekly Numbers

Finally an awesome week of training in the bank.  Little tired and sore this Monday morning as I am typing this but that is just part of the process.  Have another 90min jog on tap this morning.  Building is going well right now, tired but well so just rolling with it. Don't have any other travel plans on the schedule for the next 6 weeks so it is time to buckle down and get as fit as possible.  LFG! 

Food for thought I came across this week..

ONE THING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

Your life simply reflects what you’ve prioritized.

What you've achieved tells you what you were willing to suffer for.

What you failed at tells you the opposite. 

March 16th- March 22nd

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” – Simone Weil

Put down that phone.... I have been really intentional of not being on social media as much as I used to be the past 6 months or more.  Thinking of taking it up another notch.  Right now it is blocked during the workday 8am to 4pm Monday thru Friday.  May start blocking it at night too only allowing myself on there in the mornings when I am drinking coffee or maybe during the weekends too.  Have to give this more thought on the best approach.  Tired of all the bullshit AI stuff among other things.

Monday:

10:30 AM: 8.7 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:40pace.  Easy lunch time cruiser from work over around Link Lake and back hitting up all the small hills around work. Still tired and sore in the legs, especially the quads but a lot better this week than I was after Black Canyon which has the same amount of downhills. Progress for sure!!

5 PM: 50mins VASA lift class with Paula--  Legs but kept it light, still recovering from the weekend some what.

Tuesday:  

2 PM:  10 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:25pace.  Easy afternoon cruise from work at the hottest part of the day. It was 70 out and felt so damn hot today. A few 20sec strides thrown in about halfway to help my legs remember how to turn over a bit. Can still feel the marathon a little bit in the quads but that is about it.

Wednesday:

9 AM:  13 miles averaging 6:25pace.  That one got me after interval 5... I was dry heaving some and the rest periods kept getting longer and longer after 5 through 8 but got it done.  Pacing was better than I was expecting I could hit, I thought I would struggle to hit 6min pace but guess I was wrong.  First half mile of every rep was in the 5:30s then got slower has the heartrate got high... might have to take bi-carb before one of these one week to see if there is a difference.  Another brick in the wall.

20 min warm up

8x1 mile at half marathon effort (start these at marathon effort and work into it if feeling tired) 60-90 sec rest between each

20 min cool down

5 PM:  50mins VASA Lift class with Paula…. Upper body day

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  165.4lbs w/ 7.9% bodyfat.  Been a long time since I have been 165lbs... might have to keep an eye on this so I don't drop much lower.  Over 10lbs lost in the past 8 weeks.

6 AM:  4.1 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Quick shakeout jog before heading to the airport to fly to San Fran for the weekend. Just an easy cruise around the open space next to the house.

-- Hell of a travel day today.  Took FOREVER to get to the hotel about 20 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Spent over an hour in TSA line at DIA, then they lost my luggage in San Fran but I did find it about an hour later in a different terminal, then it was about 90min wait to get my rental car, and finally, the normal 40min drive was doubled to the hotel.  Just one of those travel days where nothing went right.  Just have to roll with it, not a damn thing I can do about it.

Friday:

8 AM:  10 miles w/ 2100ft of vert averaging 8:45pace.  Went to the start of the Big Alta 50K and took off about 15mins before them to get up the trail some and take some photos and video. Then ran out to mile 5 on the course and turned around. What awesome trails this race is on! I think I may come back next year to run the 50K and also maybe the 28K.

-- Spent the rest of the day exploring around San Fran getting back to the hotel about 11pm.  That is a late night for me!  Hit up Christi Fields, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf and did the tour over to Alcatraz.  What an awesome day!  Also got to visit a little bit with Tom (Bob's brother) since I parked my car at his house and took a Waymo around the city. 

Saturday: 

11 AM:  11 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Started at the finish line of the Big Alta 100K and ran the course backwards until I could find a hill that would work good for this workout below. This hill and the heat (80ish) kicked my ass. I spent the rest of the day licking my wounds and being unproductive at the hotel.

20 min warm up
4x8 min hill reps with run down recovery think 10k uphill effort
20 min cool down

Sunday:  

5 AM: 4.3 miles averaging 8:30pace.  Easy treadmill miles at the hotel early before leaving to fly home.  Ended up having to sit on the plane for over 2 hours before we could take off.  Another challenging travel day getting home.  I don't have anymore travel planned right now until my marathon at the end of May.

Total Weekly Numbers

I thought I was going to have a bigger week mileage wise this week but at least I got a bunch of quality work in both in speedwork and hill work, so guess that will have to do.  Looking back I guess it was not a bad week considering I did run the marathon pretty hard last weekend then rolled right into this week with no days off.  Don't have anymore travel plans as of today until the marathon at the end of May so time to buckle down and grind for the next 6 weeks or so.