October 12th- October 18th

"Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time.  No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom." -Sandra Day O'Connor

Seems like a good quote for what I have been going through in a new role at work.  Still feeling like am a fish out of water flopping around.

Two things to think about that I came across this week:

1. Your body is a lagging indicator of the food you eat. Your knowledge is a lagging indicator of the information you consume. Your happiness is a lagging indicator of the people you care about.

2. “The information you consume is the soil from which your future thoughts grow.” – James Clear

What choices are shaping your future self?

Monday:

6:30 AM: 9.1 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:40pace.  Easy loop up the hill from work over to Link Lake then back on Rock Creek trail. Was able to find a road right by work to do my 4x30sec hill strides on that will be perfect going forward as long as they are under 45secs. Felt really good today considering the miles I put in over the weekend.

4 PM: 1:03 Garage Gym session with Paula- Chest and Arms

Tuesday:  

7:30 AM:  13.2 miles averaging 6:55pace.  Workout was:

20 min warm up

3 sets of 1k/800/400/200 with 2:30 rest between each interval and 4 min between sets.

1k-10k effort
800-5k-10k effort
400-5k effort
200-3k-5k effort

20 min cool down

Good workout, liked this one but was longer than it looked. Had to cut the cooldown short to get back to work for a meeting. Used the open space trail next to the house that has a surface like Davidson Mesa but is only a 0.56 mile loop, almost perfect for this workout. Felt solid and did not push to hard, just enough I think.  

3 PM: 50mins Garage Gym session- Legs... Had someone ask me for an example of my leg days.  Here is what I have been doing the past few months.  I do make changes every 3-6 months to my programming but this is what it is currently. 

Box Back Squats: 1x10reps then 5x5 reps

Barbell RDLs: 1x20reps then 5x10 reps

Trap Bar Deadlifts: 4x10 reps

Calf Raises: 4x20 reps

GHD Hip Extend: 4x10 reps

Barbell Box Step-Ups: 4x16 reps

Ab-Wheel Rollouts: 4x10 reps

-- Truck also died this morning, would not start.  Sounds to be the starter which is really normal for a truck with 194,000 miles on it.  Pretty much one of the very few things I have had to do on this truck besides brakes and tires in the 11 years I have had it.

--  Headed down to Red Rocks this evening to catch Shaboozey with Don and Brandon.  Really good concert but man it was cold out there this evening, raining and 48 degrees.  He is worth seeing at least once, he is very talented.  Did not get home until after midnight which if you know me is 3 hours past my bedtime.

Wednesday:

Noon:  10.25 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 8:05pace.  Easy jog from home (worked remotely today) doing a large figure 8 around the neighborhood. Done later in the day because I slept in this morning because of a late night at Red Rocks last night watching Shaboozey. Pretty damn tired today and of course no pop in the legs due to workout, lifting legs, and concert yesterday. Packed in a lot yesterday. Today is just a chill out day.

Thursday:  

7 AM:  9.25 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Ran the hiller loop from work heading up to Kings on 287, over to Link Lake and back round via Sterns. Did 4x30sec hill strides towards the end on the road hill by work, little quicker than last week. Started out slow but felt good about halfway through the loop. No one else but me was out there in the cold rain, not surprising.

11:30 AM: 1 hour work gym session between meetings- Shoulders and back with some leg extends and curls since I can't do those at home on leg days.

Friday:

7 AM:  12.4 miles averaging 6:55 pace over at Davidson Mesa again..  Progression Friday- Workout was:

20 min warm up

2x20 min at 50k down to marathon effort with 5 in jog between each

20 min cool down

First 20mins was a little rough but settled into it after about 10-12min and the second 20mins felt smoother and was a little quicker. Overall the legs felt a little flat but otherwise all systems are a go.

--  Went directly to work right after the run and found this in my email.  Shall we try to run it back in 2027?  I think I just may but in Tokyo this time instead of Cape Town... Looks like 2027 might be another epic year.

  

4 PM:  2.25 mile walk with Venus in 38mins.

---  Also something that Paula and I have been working on since last March for Dale, race director of Hardrock, was finally announced!  Super pumped about this, I have been putting a bug in Dale's ear for a few years now on how Hardrock needs to do a live lottery like Western States, sure many other people have as well.  Just honored that he trusted this to Paula and I.  Come on out!!  I will be leading the 7am trail run, there will also be shorter distances starting at 7:30 and 8.  

Saturday: 

9 AM:  9.5 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:10pace.  So jumped into a 5 mile trail race, I know I should not have but took Paula down there so used it as part of my run which was supposed to be 30-60mins easy. Easy 2.3 or so warmup, 5 mile race in 31:32 for 3rd, then rest was cooldown. Of course I had no pop in my legs and could not go with the first 2 when they passed me around mile 2.5 but did almost catch up to 2rd towards the end as he faded. All 3 of us were within a min. Felt like I needed to do some racing again, I feel like I have lost some of my racing confidence. Hopefully I get that back before FatOx and XC Nationals.

3 PM: 2.1 mile walk with Venus in 38mins followed by 20mins in the hot tub.  Got 2 weeks to get my heat tolerance up before Javelina 33K.

-- They just keep on coming, the board is about to fall off the wall because there are so many on it.  LOL.... LOVE IT... Another from JT.

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 19.3 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:05pace.  First 13.4 with Boulder Track Club being pushed then added on a loop around the Rez from Tom Watson a lot slower solo. Those guys push me every week for sure. Was not sure how the body was going to feel considering the efforts I have done the last 2 days. Did pull the plug after going around the Rez instead of adding on another 13mins to make it an even 2.5 hours because the legs were throbbing some. Now I just need to absorb this work some how. Eating a shit ton between yesterday and today.

Total Weekly Numbers

Super busy but yet solid week of training as well.  Really could not have asked for a better week.  Just need to string 2-3 more of these training weeks together and we are good to go.  Did an open house this weekend as well on Saturday morning while I was racing, only 4 people showed up and 2 were neighbors, tough market.  No luck yet, sigh...  Have a week to decide if I am going to Tokyo or not, leaning yes of course but just a little bit of a $ thing with already having Tahoe 200, possible Chicago marathon and maybe a trip to Europe on the calendar in 2027.  I need to quite trying to make each year more epic than the previous, right?  Or not??  Anyways will have a decision to make this week.

I can totally relate to this after this week....