December 15th- December 21st

"Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are." - HG Wells

Monday:

Looking at my total numbers on the year early last week I had the thought that I would shoot for 3500 miles covered by foot by the end of the month, but that disastrous week last week pretty much made that impossible.  Guess we will just see where the cards fall.

3:30 PM: 6.4 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Getting back to it. Today was rough, especially the first 3 miles. Funny how time off is good to let things heal but sure is hard to if you take more than a day off. Everything hurt if that makes sense verse feeling like it was natural. Anyways 2 easy laps of Davidson Mesa mid-afternoon not looking at the watch at all.

-- Finished book number 24 on the year this evening so at least I hit that yearly goal of at least 2 books per month.  They are all listed on the Books Read page above. 

Tuesday:  

7:30 AM:  8 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Easy loops in the open space by the house. Needed to stay close to a restroom, it was one of those mornings and did have to bail about 1.4 miles in for it. Maybe that stomach bug is still there after all. Legs felt somewhat sore today as well but that will go away with time.

3 PM: 50 mins Garage gym- light due to first leg workout in a while, don't want to get to sore.  Back to lifting more often.

Warmup: Airbike, Crossover and mobility

Walking Lunges- Body weight
3x30

Box Back Squats
3x10 @ 135lbs

Barbell RDLs
3X10 @ 115lbs

3 Rounds
20 box step overs
10 box jumps
-- 20 inch box

Single Calf Raises
3x10 @ 35lbs each leg

Hex Bar Deadlifts
3x10 @ 155lbs

Wednesday:

11 AM:  7.75 miles averaging 7:45pace.  Easy run over the lunch hour at work. Windy but not too bad yet. Just cruised and the HR did spike when heading into the wind and the pace slowed some but no worries. I was expecting it to be much worse than it was this morning.  Of course as I type this in the evening it is howling out there.

4 PM:  40mins in the Garage gym

Warmup: Skierg, Crossover, and mobility

3 rounds
10 DB Incline Press @ 40lbs
10 Bench Dips

3 rounds
10 DB Flies @ 22.5lbs
10 Hand Release Push-ups

3 rounds
10 Ez-bar narrow chess press @ 57lbs
10 Ez-bar Skull Crusher @ 47lbs

3x1min planks w/ 30sec rest 

Thursday:  

9 AM:  7.75 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Groundhog day run... exact same run as yesterday but a min faster without trying. The wind was a little bit less today than yesterday so that always helps. Legs are still sore, mostly hamstrings, but manageable.  Sandwiched in between meetings this morning.  Wanted to get it out of the way before that wicked wind returned around lunch time.

Friday:

Skipped the run and weights today. Felt super run down and sore today for some reason and work was popping off. Was stuck in the office from 6:30am until 4 in mostly back to back meetings. Just was not up for it after work today.  Just a mentally and physically fried today after being in job interviews most of the day.

Saturday: 

6:30 AM:  11.75 miles w/ 2300ft of vert averaging 11min miles.  Easy cruise with Don, Noel, Taylor, and Veronica up Lookout Mountain, across the top then down Apex then the bike path across Golden back to the cars. I really like this loop a lot, been years since I have done it. Started out good but did take a Superman fall when going across the top of Lookout on the way to Apex landing on my chest and face, lol... basically a slog back to the van after that. Everything felt out of alignment if that makes sense. Did jack up my left shoulder some, but it feels better now so hopefully no real damage.  

On a side note, there was no power in Golden when we started this run before sunrise but if you look in the photo below as we started going up the trail you can see Golden is dark while the Coors plant is lite up like a Christmas tree.  They must have their own power source.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 13 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 6:55pace.  Boulder Track Club Sunday run yet again. At least they keep me honest and I am not just out there jogging slowly all the time. Legs are trashed somewhat from the hills yesterday, super sore quads from the downhills, so the first 4ish miles were a little rough to keep up but then I settled in nicely until mile 10 when I had to pull off to use the restroom and lost contact with the front group. Just finished out the last few miles solo jogging it out. Good to get back to this. I think going forward I am going to do what I did this weekend, longer hilly run on Saturday followed with a faster run on Sunday. Try and hit all the paces over the weekend.

Headed up to Evergreen afterwards to look at a possible wedding venue... This is becoming a challenge finding a place that can accommodate the people we want to invite in the budget we have in mind.   Might just have to pair it down a bunch... 

Got this email this evening...  Clicking through the National rankings for the 50-54 age group in the marathon in 2025 (first photo below) That's 24th in the World and 1st Nationall, WTF!!    Mind is blown..... Wish next year was not all ready packed full of events otherwise I would really consider going to the World Championship overseas... maybe 2027 since this still qualifies me then too?  

Total Weekly Numbers

Not a bad week getting back to it.  Funny how sore I was by the end of the week but that should pass over the next few days as the body gets used to being used like it was meant to be again.   The next few weeks I only have like 3-4 days of work and the miles/vert should go up during that time frame to round out the year.  

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!  Paula and I wish you the best Christmas ever!  Yes someone figured out there are special treats in her stocking.