October 5th- October 11th

 "We all have our time machines, don't we.  Those that take us back are memories... And those that carry us forward are dreams." -HG Wells

Most days I’m up between 4 and 5 AM. It’s my favorite hour because nobody bothers me. The routine is almost always the same: I come downstairs, grab coffee, let Venus out to go potty and then enjoy a few moments of peace, quiet, and reflection before I head out to run or head to the gym to lift depending on weather. Over the past couple of weeks it’s been hard not to notice that every morning is just a touch darker than the one before it. I’ve been thinking about how this subtle shifting of the seasons serves as a good reminder that change of any sort, whether it’s in training, your career, or some other area of life, usually isn’t all that dramatic. It’s unfolding gradually and often imperceptibly in the background until one day you wake up and realize that you’re not where you were a few weeks or months or even years ago. Life’s changing all the time whether we notice it or not, but unlike the seasons, we have some ability to influence it.

Monday:

10:30 AM: 9.5 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Easy out and back on Rock Creek trail from work heading east. Super chill for I can really feel the work I did this weekend. Just a slogfest, everything is okay just tired. Hopefully rebound by tomorrows workout.

4 PM: 50mins- Garage gym session- Chest and arms

Tuesday:  

 -NOTE:  Weight check in:  164lbs @ 7.9% bodyfat.  Seems I lost all of that weight I gained 2 weeks ago when on work travel.  Like I said back then it was probably mostly water weight and inflammation.  

6:30 AM:  11.6 miles w/ 450ft of vert averaging 6:55pace.  On the work treadmill so I can be more consistent with the pace. Felt pretty good overall and of course the HR was a little lower than it would be outside due to the treadmill doing some of the work for me. Kept the efforts around 6:15-6:20ish pace and the treadmill was at 1% the whole time.

20 min warm up

8x3min fast/2 min easy think 1hr effort on fast

20 min cool down

4 PM: 58mins Garage gym session- Legs

-- Today is our anniversary of our first date 5 years ago, yes I am a dork that tracks those things.  Love you Paula!

Wednesday:

5:30 AM: 55mins Work gym session- Back, Shoulders, and Arms.  Trying to get this done before my first meeting of the day at 7am.

12 PM:  6.6 miles averaging 8:40pace.  All the time I had today, work blew up today. Was going to skip all together but had to get out of the office for at least a little bit. Jumped into the run club at work and just chilled with them for about 45mins then when they stopped got in a little bit more solo. Pace was at their pace so easyyyyyy..... Wish I could have gone longer but came back to 10 missed messages and 52 emails, WTF! Can I go back to my old job? LOL... sorry bitching some.  I should have ran more this morning instead of lifting and done 2 shorter runs since I could not get out for the full 90-100mins that I had on the plan today.  Hot tub in the evening with Paula when I got home.

--  Time qualifier registration for the 2027 Chicago Marathon opened up today, yes I put my name in.  I have always wanted to run Chicago and having the 2:37 time I am almost 30mins faster than the time qualifier so I should get in.  Will find out in the next 10 days or so.  After running Cape Town I made the goal to try and do all 9 of the Major Marathons before I turn 60, I currently have 2 (Boston and Cape Town).  

Thursday:  

11 AM:  11.1 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Medium loop from work over a longer lunch hour.  Felt like a slogfest in the heat today even though the pace was okay and it was only 80 degrees out. Mental training day for sure. Been trying to run more in the heat anyways to get ready for Javelina 33k and Fatox in Phoenix, figured it would do me good in the long run.

--  Rebecca is starting the Moab 240 tomorrow morning at 6am!  LETS GO RBA!!!!!  Wish I could be there to help crew and pace but between work and putting the house on the market I just could not pull it off this week but will be tracking her until she is done which hopefully be right around the time I post this on Monday morning.  Tracking is here: https://trackleaders.com/moab240-26 ...

Friday:

7:30 AM:  9.2 miles averaging 6:45 pace. Done at Davidson Mesa.  Progression workout which was: "1 hr progression run. start off easy and work down to finishing around half marathon effort. Can add on 10-15 min east at the end if you would like"

Took about 2 miles for my stomach to calm down (bathroom breaks) but after that felt good! Basically just a progression up to mile 7.5 then jogged it in as a cooldown.  Got down to 5:50ish pace at the end of the 7.5 miles.  Funny how the jog is much quicker after a workout than it was before the workout. Liked this format a lot.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  13.25 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 7:35pace.  Easy loop of Dirty Bizmark with 4X30secs quicker in the second half of the run. Beautiful morning with the perfect temp this morning. Legs and energy were better than I was expecting once I was able to get going, delayed more than I should have this morning.

10 AM: Walk 2.2 miles in an hour.  RMOC Corn Maxe meet with Paula, Erica, and Rey

Sunday:  

7:30 AM: 18.2 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 7:05min pace.  Run with the Boulder Track Club out on the dirt roads between Lyons and Boulder Rez. Ran the first 15 miles with BTC just hanging on the best I could without blowing up and then added on 3 solo on the end on single track by the Rez. that I call my cooldown since those 3 were slower than the first 15 miles. Took in 3 gels (96g carbs), a bottle of Hyperlite (75g carbs) and a bottle of Skratch (20g carbs) for a total of 191g of carbs in two hours. Also took in another 30g right when I finished to help with recovery. Trying to take in more on the longer runs going forward to help with gut processing and recovery.

--  Went straight to Westminster right after my run this morning to catch Paula and Erica finishing the half marathon they were running this morning too.  Good work ladies!!

Total Weekly Numbers

Another really solid week this week on all fronts with the exception of having the house up for sale.  Only got 3 showings in the first week of it being on the market, it is a slow market so fingers crossed.  Training wise it seems I may have turned a corner finally and might actually be ready somewhat for Fatox 100 in November after all.  Just need to string together 4 or 5 more weeks like this and we should be good!  Now if I could just get an offer on the house.  LOL...

--  This is how we entertain ourselves at home... LOL...