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.