May Monthly Recap

 “Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.” - Will Rogers

Much better month than in April overall.  Lots of racing this month pushing speed a little bit, pacing Cocodona 250 and some decent vert as well even though that could have been better.  The next 4 weeks will be key to getting ready for Hardrock.  Going up to Fairplay tomorrow to be at 10,000ft for as much of the month of June that I can.  I will have to come down some for sure but will try to do most of my training this month up there.  Going to be a blast!  Thanks again to GZ for giving me this option!  It is a game changer for sure.  LET'S GO!!

May 22nd- May 28th

“Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday:  

9 AM:  Walk 2.75 miles in 47mins.  Easy dog walk around the hood.  Watching Venus until Wed morning so there will be more walking the next few days, should be good for recovery from Jemez on Sat.

6 PM:  Walk 1.6 miles...  Dog walk after dinner.

Tuesday:  

9 AM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Rowing, mobility and drills

10x 2 mins  213 reps 

10 rounds, 2 mins each, of:

12 Push-ups

8 Toes-to-bars

max rep Row Calories

4 PM:   Walk 3 miles in 46 mins followed by 30 min sauna and a cold plunge.  Long dog walk with Venus... last day I have her.  Pick up Paula at 7:30am tomorrow morning.  Also back to running tomorrow too.

Wednesday:

9 AM:  4 miles averaging 7:45pace.  Easy neighborhood jog after my morning meetings.  First mile was rough but then I settled in nicely.

1 PM:  55mins at the gym followed by a 4min cold plunge.

GIDDYUP 2.0

How to: https://youtu.be/XV5ypk19jZg

Core (30 reps or 15 per side):

Crunches

Oblique press

Hollow rock leg raises

Side Crunches (elbow to leg lift)

Glute-bridge clams (optional w/ band)

Curl crunch

Russian twists

Bicycles

Bent knee side planks

Planks 2 min

Legs (30 reps or 15 per side):

Air squats

Side Lunges w/ arms overhead

Bulgarian split squat

Runner arabesque w/ high knee hold

Step back lunge w/ high knee hold

Figure 4 squat

Calf raises on a step

Wall sit 2 min

Added

Nordic hamstring curls

Single Leg Step-ups

Band work- side to side and front/back

Thursday:  

  

-NOTE:  No weight check... got up early and headed to Leadville to run with Bob and the donks this morning.

8 AM:  5.6 miles averaging 8:20pace.  Donkey jog in Leadville w/ Bob.  Drove up early this morning to take Sugar Ray out with Bob and Yukon so that I can get to know the donk somewhat before we race this weekend.  Sugar Ray is so much easier to run than Action Jackson was back in the day.  This weekend will be interesting.  Was back home by 12:30.  More driving than running but worth it.

4 PM:  1 hour at the gym

Lots of airbike action today.

Warmup: Airbike, mobility and drills

7 mins RemReps: 

In 7 mins:

75 Assault Bike Calories

max rep Burpee Box Get Overs, 36 in | 20

Rest 3 mins

-- then --

In 7 mins:

75 Assault Bike Calories

max rep Burpee Box Jump Overs, 28 in | 21

Rest 3 mins

-- then --

In 7 mins:

75 Assault Bike Calories

max rep Burpee Box Jump Overs, 24 in | 20

Friday:

7 AM:  7.1 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Easy loops from the Fowler trailhead.  Lots of stopping to take photos of the flowers this morning just cruising a long at an easier pace.  Great morning and ready for the holiday weekend!  FYI-  did you know that if you take photos of flowers with the IPhone it will tell you what type of flower it is?  AMAZING!!!!  If you want me to show you how to do this just ask.  

Saturday: 

11 AM:   Georgetown Burro Race- 8.6miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:40pace.  Bob talked me into racing burros again this weekend and got me hooked up with Sugar Ray.  One of the easiest races I have done effort wise with a burro.  Sugar Ray runs like a dream.  You just get behind him and keep up.  Ended up 2nd just behind Bob.

Sunday:  

10:30 AM:  Idaho Springs Burro Race 5 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 8:50pace-  Day number 2 of racing with Sugar Ray.  Bob and I took off in the lead with Tracy.  By the top of the hill it was just the 3 of us and everyone else was mostly out of sight.  Bob and I bombed down to the finish where he was first and I was second again.  Good times.... another $250 payday.

Total Weekly Numbers

Somewhat of a recovery week from the Jemez 50K last weekend.  Was short on the long runs I was supposed to do this weekend due to signing up for the Burro Races.  I planned on jogging after the races to get in the total distance but that never happened.  I should have known better.  Oh well... some good intensity over the weekend so that should make up for the lack of distance.  Bolder Boulder 10K and Murph tomorrow.

May 15th- May 21st

“It's always too early to quit.” - Norman Vincent Peale

Monday:  

8 AM: Walk 2.75 miles.  Morning walk around the hood.  Wanted to get a walk in before it starts raining again.  Over it.

2:30 PM:  Walk 2.4 miles.  Afternoon neighborhood walk to take a break from work and before lifting in the garage.

3:30 PM:  30min garage gym session followed by 30mins in the sauna

Warmup: Crossover Symmetry

Bench Press 10x10 : 

Sets

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

10 Bench Press | 95 lbs

Strict Pull-ups : 5x5 

Sets

5 Strict Pull-ups

5 Strict Pull-ups

5 Strict Pull-ups

5 Strict Pull-ups

5 Strict Pull-ups

GHD Hip Extensions : 3x15 : 

Sets

15 GHD Hip Extensions

15 GHD Hip Extensions

15 GHD Hip Extensions

L Sit : 6x 20 secs 

Sets

L Sit, 20 secs

L Sit, 20 secs

L Sit, 20 secs

L Sit, 20 secs

L Sit, 20 secs

L Sit, 20 secs

Tuesday:  

 

7 AM:  1 hour at the gym... one of my favorite workouts... went full send this morning... sure I will regret that but oh well...

1 PM:  7.5 miles w/ 400ft of gain averaging 8min miles.  Neighborhood jog from the house.  Mixture of road and crush gravel paths around the lake.  Actually a great route but did down pour on me the last 1.5 miles which was chilly due to not having a shirt on.  Kind of blew my wad at Crossfit this morning so this was more of just movement than training.

4 PM:  25 mins in the sauna followed by the new ice plunge I put in the garage gym for 4 mins.  My setup was only $90 verses the one at the gym that was $5K.  The one at the gym stays cold without ice but you can by a lot of ice for $4900... Giddy Up!

Wednesday:

Finished book number 13 this morning.... trying to get back on the reading train again after a few weeks of not having the urge to read.

9 AM: 6.9 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Easy miles on the Dirty Bizmark from the Coalton Trailhead going over and back on the hill.  Was running faster than I thought at certain points which was nice and I had to pull myself back some.  Awesome morning in the sunshine.

Thursday:  

  

-NOTE:   No weight check this morning, had to get up at 3:00am to take Paula to the airport for an early ass flight..

 -- A day totally off.  Venus came to hang with me all day until the dog sitter could arrive since Paula is out of town.  Just a couple of short walks throughout the day but that is it.  Really pondering if I am done with ultras today for some reason.  Really don't want to go this weekend.  Lots of other thoughts about racing anymore.  More on that later I guess.

Friday:

7:00 AM:  4 miles averaging 8min pace followed by 15mins of stretching and a cold plunge.  Easy neighborhood shakeout jog before hitting the road for New Mexico at 9am.  Super chill.

Saturday: 

5 AM:  32.3 miles w/ 6200ft of vert in 6:40ish.  Jemez 50K- Was signed up for the 50 miler but dropped down due to massive diarrhea the 15 miles or so.  Something I ate the day before while traveling was not sitting well.  Was tempted to drop but wanted a finish considering how far of a drive it was to get here.  About mile 20, the butt calmed down but around mile 28 the legs locked up and walked it in the last 4 miles like I was the Tin Man... I am totally lost on why this happened and honestly have thoughts of dropping from Hardrock and being done with ultras.  Will be doing a lot of reflecting this week.  One thing that I did come up with is since the Dirty Thirty 50K is no longer around as of this year, this 50K just may become the yearly replacement for it if I keep running them.  I liked the race that much.

Sunday:  

6 AM:  Walk 3 miles in an hour.  Could not sleep waking up at 5am.  So not to wake up Donnie I went for a walk for a while he slept in some before driving the 6 hours home.  If I come back next year I will build in a few extra days to explore the area for sure.  Stiff as shit this morning.

Total Weekly Numbers

Not a great week and not a bad week.  If I would have known I was only going to do a 50K I would have ran more this week and not tapered as much.  Need to do a lot of reflecting this week to see what my future holds for the rest of the year....

May 8th- May 14th

“Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got.” - Art Buchwald

Monday:  

10:30 AM:  1 hour at the gym.

Warmup: Airbike and mobility

4 RFT:  14 mins 44 secs 

4 rounds of:

Walking Lunge, 100 m

50 AbMat Sit-ups

3 PM: 3.4 mile walk followed by 30mins in the sauna.  Easy walk around the neighborhood to move some this afternoon then jumped in the sauna... getting back to the grind.

Tuesday:  

 

7 AM:  9 miles w/ 1800ft of vert averaging 9:40pace.  Easy to moderate trail jog on the Mesa trail from the South Mesa Trailhead.  Felt really smooth and good today even though my legs are sore from all the lunges I did yesterday.  Think things are starting to look up some.

4 PM:  1 hour at the gym.

Warmup: Airbike and mobility

7 mins RemReps:  145 reps | 74 and 71 

In 7 mins:

50 Assault Bike Calories

max rep Burpees | 74

Rest 5 mins

-- then --

In 7 mins:

50 Burpees

max rep Assault Bike Calories | 71

--that one hurt... sweat-fest.....

Wednesday:

-NOTE:  No weight check this morning, forgot and need to get back in this habit.

9 AM: 7.75 miles averaging 7:50pace.  Easy jog from Costco in Superior over to Davidson Mesa for a lap and back.  Raining the whole time so no tunes or hearing aid.  Just me and my thoughts which is scary.  First 2 miles were rough and slow but then loosened up into my groove.  Legs are pretty shot from the past few days.  Been a while since I have been at Davidson Mesa, used to be my daily run.  They have cows grazing there now which is a first.

4 PM: 1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Airbike, mobility and drills

7 RFT: : 12 mins 12 secs
7 rounds of:
7 Deadlifts, 60% 1RM | 185 lbs
21 Double Unders
14 Dumbbell Push Press, 40% 1RM | 40 lbs
21 Double Unders

--  This came out yesterday.  Some new photos for Build PT in Louisville where I get all my PT work done and bike fit stuff.  They also do strength classes for runners and bikers.  Great place!  Guess the photos we took will be on the new website once they launch it.  Without their help I would have struggled to start Hardrock last year and they got me running again quickly after my gnarly back injury last fall.

Thursday:    

-NOTE:  Finally did a weight check after about a month.  171 lbs at 9.1% bodyfat.  Better than I was expecting considering the travel and all the junk I have been eating.  Should get down to 165-168 by Hardrock so not far off.

9 AM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Airbike, moblity and drills

AMRAP 12 mins: 8 rounds + 50 m
12:00 AMRAP:
Run, 200 m
10 Pull-ups

-rest 2 mins

AMRAP 12 mins: 6 rounds + 150 m
12:00 AMRAP:
Run, 200 m
20 Push-ups

-rest 2 min

AMRAP 12 mins: 7 rounds + 125 m
12:00 AMRAP:
Run, 200 m
30 Air Squats

--- ended up with 2.8 miles of hard running in the rain in this workout...

3 PM:  5.4 miles averaging 8min miles.  Treadmill run at Vasa... pouring rain outside all day.  Saw in the Denver Post that we got 18% of our annual rainfall in these 3 days of rain.  Fucking crazy.

Friday:

9:30 AM:  10.1 miles w/ 2000ft of vert averaging 9min pace.  Road from Boulder up Flagstaff Mt to the high point and back.  Still raining like a bitch but overall felt great.  Rain jacket was to hot, sweated through everything under it so it was kind of pointless.  Would have just been better to wear a wool long sleeve.

4 PM:  1 hour at the gym followed by a cold plunge.  Just a lifting day and no cardio WOD.

Warmup: Rowing, mobility and drills

Every 1 min for 30 mins: Clean & Jerk : 4490 lbs | Rx'd 240 lbs

Every 1 min for 31 mins:

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 135 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 145 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

1 Clean & Jerk | 150 lbs

Saturday: 

9 AM:  1 hour at the gym

Warmup: Running, mobility and drills

FT: Partner Wod 21 mins 52 secs
Partner Wod
Run (Together), 800 m
-- then --
60 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
60 Box Jumps, 24 in
50 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
50 Box Jumps, 24 in
40 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
40 Box Jumps, 24 in
30 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
30 Box Jumps, 24 in
20 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
20 Box Jumps, 24 in
10 Wall Balls, 20 lbs
10 Box Jumps, 24 in
-- then --
Run (Together), 800 m

11 AM: 13.6 miles w/ 3700ft of vert in 3 hours.  Easy jog with Donnie up Bear to Green then back via Bear Canyon.  The water is FLOWING down Bear Canyon.  The honey pot is in for a little bit.  Nice waterfall coming down to it, it is usually just a trickle. 

Sunday:  

9 AM:  5.6 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 8min pace.  Easy jog on parts of the Dirty Biz that I knew it would not be muddy.  Was looking for runnable hills.  Super chill and starting a mini taper for the race next weekend. 

Total Weekly Numbers

Solid week this week for the most part.  LOTS of gym time to go along with running a decent amount.  Super sore by the end of Saturday's long jog which is why Sunday was more mellow.  Using Jemez 50 miler next weekend as a long training run so somewhat of a taper week.  

April Monthly Recap

 “The only bad workout is the one that didn't happen.” - Unknown

To many workouts were missed this month mostly due to messing my feet up on the backpacking trip in AZ with Don to scope out the first 37 miles of Cocodona 250.  My blistered feet made me take off way more time than I would have liked but it is what it is.  Gotta get back to some solid training in May and June if I want to be successful at Hardrock.  Time to get to work.

May 1st- May 7th

“There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.” - Louis XIV

This week Paula and I are crewing and pacing the Cocodona 250 while trying to work as well will make it  more of a photo dump than anything for the blog post this week.  

Monday:  

6:45 AM:  5 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  From the house up the trail with Joe after sending Don off on the start to Cocodona 250. Going to be a busy exciting week!!!!

Tuesday:  

 

Midnight: 22 miles w/ 2000ft of vert in 6:23.  Pacing Cocodona mile 71 to mile 93.  Rough night tonight for Don but he did get through it.  Sleep monster kept coming out to play.  The hot sun all day up to mile 70 wiped him out overnight.  Hopefully tomorrow night will go better.  Here are a few shots around mile 85-87 I took after the sun came up.  I am wiped after this, I have been up since 3am on Monday morning so went on almost 30 hours before I could take a 2 hour nap this afternoon.

Wednesday:

-NOTE:  No weight check this morning 

11 AM: 17.2 miles w/ 4000ft of vert in 7:10.  Pacing from Sedona (mile 163) to S. Hill (mile 180). Little slow moving but to be expected having that many miles on the legs with that much climbing. Most of the gain came in a 3 mile section from mile 7 to mile 10 of this section where it was like climbing the backside of Hope. Such a pretty section though, glad I got to see it in the daylight.  More photos today since it wasn't during the night.

Thursday:    

2 PM:  22 miles w/ 4200ft of vert in 9:30.  Pacing Cocodona 250 from mile 228 to the finish over Mount Elden.... little slow going but that is expected at this point in the race.  The climb to the top of Mount Elden was similar to doing Shadow Canyon in Boulder, about 2 miles and 2200ft of vert.  Hard way to end a 250 mile run.  Coming down the backside to the finish, a bunch of miles were bush wacking with no trail markers so we had to follow the GPS watch which made things even slower.  Such a great week helping Don finish this thing!!

Friday:

5 PM:  Just a short walk around the rental house in Flagstaff.  No run today.  Was supposed to race a 50K this morning but was midnight when I finished pacing last night and 3am by the time I went to bed.  No way I made the race start.  We spent the day exploring Flagstaff.  I could live here.  Did see this guy at the pizza joint we went to this evening, do you know who it is?  Yes, I am a fan boy..... 

Saturday: 

---- Drove the 13 plus hours straight through to get home. Did not stop to jog like I should have. Just wanted to return the van to JT and get home.

Sunday:  

9 AM:  5.6 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 9:50 miles.  Easy trail jog from NCAR on the Mesa trail along with some connector trails.  Just out jogging and stretching out the legs.  Actually was a very good run, legs had some pop in them which I was not expecting.

Total Weekly Numbers

What a hell of a week of travel....  Thanks again JT for loaning us the van, it was perfect and really made me want to get one.  Thanks for having us along Don, it was a week of memories that I will never forget.  Overall not a bad volume week, if I would have ran the race on Friday and done my run on Saturday it would have been a 110 mile week but this is good enough considering how tired I was by Sunday afternoon.  Next up: Jemez 50 miler in 2 weeks......