“I hate crowds, I love people.” - Song "Bugs" by Jesse Welles
Monday:
11 AM: 9 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:40pace. Worked from home today so an easy neighborhood cruise up to HWY 128 and back. Quads are still sore from Friday's lift session, damn. Hopefully that resolves by tomorrow, might have to skip legs or at least reduce the lifts this week with Javelina this coming weekend in Phoenix.
--- Forgot in last weeks post, was selected to be on the Ultraspire running team. That will help save me some $ for Tahoe next year. I was planning on getting a bunch more of their gear for Tahoe, now hopefully it will be free or super cheap.
Tuesday:
7 AM: 12.7 miles averaging 7min pace. That was a long workout, longer than I thought it would be. Also tougher than it looks on paper but a lot of fun. Did it over at Community Park in Louisville on the grass for the spikes part, most of the rest was on the Coal Creek Trail. Workout was:
20 min warm up
4x15-20 sec strides in spikes
5x3 min on the grass with 2 min slow jog between each (intervals at 10k effort) in sprikes
take spikes off
2x8 min at at 1 hr effort or just faster with 4 min jog between each
20 min cool down
First time ever in XC spikes and I did not stab myself so I will take that as a win. The 3 min intervals on grass are a lot harder on the grass then on the dirt trails, did not expect that. Heart rate was much higher. May need some more practice for sure before Nationals. Also was worried about my Achilles but it held up just fine today, throbbing a little bit as I type this but manageable.
2 PM: 2.2 mile walk with Venus in 36mins. Needed to do that walk, legs are throbbing a little bit from this morning.
Wednesday:
6:45 AM: 1:03 Lifting at VASA - Shoulders and Back
Noon: 10.5 miles w/ 650ft of vert averaging 7:45pace. Easy neighborhood cruise. Little shorter than I wanted to do by about 10mins but close enough, had to get back to work, just trying to balance it all today. Super chill, never really even looked at the watch just ran easy by feel. Legs are a little wiped/sore from yesterday which does not surprise me. That was a new stimulus for me.
4 PM: 2.4 mile easy walk with Venus while taking a work call.
-- Also got this email today... looks like 2027 is coming together. 2 major marathons in 2027, I just may have all of them done before the age of 55, that would be awesome. This would put me at 4 out of 8 once completed. Running a fast time for my age has its privileges, I got to skip the lotteries for both Tokyo and Chicago. Might also put in for New York with a time qualifier too, still deciding on that one.
Thursday:
Travel messed up my schedule today and did not get out to run this afternoon like I wanted. Had to run back to airport to pick up someone else up that cut into my running time. Oh well, taking one day off this month won't hurt anything. Few photos from today.
Friday:
9 AM: 7 miles averaging 8:50pace. Javelina Hoka shakeout run plus a few more solo in the rain. Joined the shake out run for 4ish miles then right when we finished the rain started coming down. Did another 3 miles just lapping the village the whole time in the downpour until Paula was ready to go back to the Airbnb.
Saturday:
6 PM: 19.25 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 7:45pace. Raining the whole time but at least it was not coming down hard until after I was already done, just a light drizzle the whole time but was soaked, warm but soaked. Took off hard being the 2nd person on the single track so I would not get stuck in the conga line. Did have to stop at the first aid station to put my rain jacket away and that is where I lost 3rd overall, got passed as I was packing up the jacket into my belt. Just maintained the rest of the way to the finish with no real issues besides rolling my ankle in washouts across the trail a few times. I was almost caught by the 5th place at the line, got her by less than 5 seconds. I had no idea she was coming because of all the different races and people out there, thank goodness! Awesome night out there and went better than I was expecting.
Sunday:
NOTHING-- Had 90mins easy planned but hobbling bad today... left achillies is really stiff and can't really bend my ankle today. Feels like I am walking with a boot on my ankle or in a cast. Not going to try and jog on that and make it worse.
Total Weekly Numbers
My girls....
