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. 

March 9th- March 15th

 "The bounty of nature is also one of the deep needs of man." -Lady Bird Johnson

Seemed like a good quote for this week.  I needed that trail time in Salida this weekend.  Way to much road running the past 6 months or so, starting to wear on me a bit.

Monday:

1 PM: 8 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy afternoon cruise in the afternoon with Taylor from work before going to PT. Not actually a hamstring issue I have been dealing with but an abductor issue caused by super tight quads. Needled the shit out of my quads and the problem abductor. Right into the hot tub when I got home, that made me sore.

--  Another postcard for the board arrived today as well.

Tuesday:  

11:30 AM:  10.9 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:15 pace.  Hopefully last manual entry in my online workout log, new watch should arrive tomorrow.  Had to visit a supplier in Longmont this morning so did loops around Lagerman afterwards. Workout was 40mins of 50K pace in the middle which I took at around 7min pace for a flatter trail.  Felt okay for the most part.  Still trying to figure out how I am going to approach the Salida Marathon this weekend, most likely will just be a long easy supported run.

5 PM: 53 mins VASA Lift Class with Paula- Leg day.  Lots of RDLs.

Wednesday:

9:30 AM:  11.4 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:30pace.  New watch day!!! Whooo!! Anyways long loop from work between meetings this morning. Just cruising and not pushing. Legs still a little sore from the needling on Monday but much better than yesterday.  

Heading back in to get more blood work this afternoon, good times....  Love getting old.  

Thursday:  

9 AM:  7.75 miles averaging 7:45pace.  Easy cruise from work... holy shit that wind just kept getting worse and worse... glad I got out when I did, looks like it is increasing through out the day.  Legs are dead today, or at least felt like it.

5 PM: 50mins VASA Lift with Paula, upper body

Friday:

  -NOTE:  Weight check in: 168.4lbs w/ 8.4% bodyfat.  Been a bit since I have been under 170.

10 AM:  4.3 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Shake out jog...  Very tired legs today… felt awkward on trails, couldn’t find a rhythm. I can tell I’ve been doing too much road running. All good… I’m thinking tomorrow is just gonna be a long run and not a real race, but we’ll see in the morning how the body responds and how it plays out.

Saturday: 

8 AM:  26.4 miles w/ 3800ft of vert averaging 8:30pace.  Salida Marathon- 16th overall and 1st in 50-59 age group. Also a PR time for this race by about 3 mins which surprised me. I did not go out hard with the intent to race. Just went out moderate for the first 8 miles settling on the single track. When we hit the 5 mile climb up a dirt road at mile 8 I started grinding some and basically pushed until mile 24 where I started dry heaving on the last climb up S Mountain, HR got to high. LOL... just cruised it in from there. Basically it turned into a progression run with a 2 mile cooldown.  Super happy with today.... my previous PR is from 10 years ago at the age of 40.  

Had plans to say until Sunday morning then drive home early but the weather forecast changed on me and decided to head home shortly after the race.  They were calling for 4-10 inches of snow with 70mph winds on the mountain passes I had to drive over to get home... not doing that in the van.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 7.4 miles averaging 8:35pace.  Super chill recovery jog on the treadmill at VASA. Windchill outside was 0 degrees and it was icy. Considering how sore I was, I did not want to risk falling so treadmill it was.

Paula and I spent the afternoon with Don and Tasha checking out the Legos exhibit at the Denver Museum.  If you can make it there before it leaves, DO IT!  So cool!!

Total Weekly Numbers

Not a bad week overall with a trail marathon thrown in the mix.  Seem to be recovering better this Monday morning as I type this than after Black Canyon last month so I will take that as a win.  Was supposed to do the Big Alta 100K next weekend in San Fran but I am pulling out of it.  Not quite the stimulus that I need to get ready for the marathon in May and I don't want to lose 2 weeks of training trying to recover from the 100K.  I am still making the trip and spending the weekend at sea level training instead of racing.  Actually really excited for the trip and have a few things I want to do there that I never had time to do on past trips.  Hopefully another solid week of over 70 miles with efforts this week... Starting to feel like I am getting on a roll.

March 2nd- March 8th

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.'" -Mister Rogers

Monday:

9:30 AM: 11 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 7:50pace.  Easy loop from the house that had trails and road. Across neighborhood and the dog park to Indiana, up Indiana, down 128 and back home via Simms and Walnut creek trails. Used to do a bunch of different variations of this loop a lot when I worked remotely 100%. Kept it chill pulling back the reins now and again.

4:45 PM: 51 mins VASA Lift class with Paula... Lots of front squats and all leg work.

Tuesday:  

--  My dumb ass forgot my running shoes today so the normal run from work will not be happening today.  What I get for cleaning out the van for Paula to use in OK this coming weekend.  Sign.... Will try to leave work early today and finish the day at home sneaking in a run this afternoon.  We will see if I can or not as the day progresses.  I had the perfect window this morning between meetings... damn it.

2 PM:  9.4 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Took off after lunch to finish the day working from home and sneaking out for my run. Neighborhood loop from the house. Sluggish today but felt better after the hill strides to finish out the run. Like they woke my legs up some even though they were not very fast.

Wednesday:

7 AM:  15.6 miles averaging 6:35pace.  That was not as rough as what I built up in my mind before hand. LOL... anyways did stop a few times during the intervals to pee or at the end of the loop to get a drink, put a bottle and gels at the start of the loop.  Ended up taking a gel before each 5 mile interval and went through a bottle of Precision, total carbs during the work out was 105.  During the cooldown my left hamstring locked up, stretched afterwards a little bit but still bothering me as I am sitting in the office typing this.  Feels like a Charlie horse in it the belly of the muscle.  Hopefully it will feel better before this afternoon's run otherwise I will cut it and move it to another day.

20 min warm up

2x5 miles at marathon effort with 3 min rest between each

20 min cool down

3:30 PM:  Cut the afternoon run to let the hamstring loosen up some.  Instead did 20mins in the hot tub followed by 45 mins in the air boots in the evening before bed.  Will do the same for the next few days.

Thursday:  

6:30 AM:  8.2 miles averaging 7:50pace. Easy cruise from work around the Tech Center and Stern's Lake. Super chill to test the hammy. Even did not stretch before because I was worried that stretching might aggravate it. I would give it a C or B- as a grade, much better than after the workout yesterday but not 100%. Just like someone is pushing in the belly of the muscle.  Followed up with hot tub in the evening again.  Paula left today for OK in the van to do a 12 Hour Adventure Race in Tulsa.

Friday:

-NOTE:  Weight check in:  169.6 lbs w/ 8.2% bodyfat.  Have not weighed myself in months so wanted to see where I was.  Been a bit since I can remember seeing a number under 170.

10 AM:  8 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy cruise around the hood from home since I am working from home today. Nice and snowy/icy out, snowed about 7 inches throughout the day. Fell twice in the first mile on slick concrete, re-tweaking the hammy a little bit so just took it slow the rest of the run. My watch quit talking to my HR monitor and is getting worse. I ordered a new watch that should arrive on Tuesday sometime.  Still happy with how long this watch has lasted, 5 years of me abusing it. 

Saturday: 

8 AM:  13 miles averaging 6:35pace.  Kept it on the road today due to the 7 or so inches of snow we got yesterday. Assuming everything is muddy today. Workout is:

20 min warm up

8x1 mile at marathon effort or just under with 1 min rest between each

20 min cool down

This got a little spicy for me today for some reason. Kept it all on the road by work where I knew there was a one mile stretch I could just go back and forth on. The miles bounced between 5:50- 6:05 pace... Hamstring held up.

1 PM: Walk 2.3 miles around the hood with Venus since Paula is in OK doing a 12 Hour Adventure Race this weekend.

2 PM: 6.7 miles averaging 7:25 pace.  Make up double from Wednesday when my hamstring was bothering me. The point was to do this on the same day that I did efforts which I did this morning as well so figured it was a good day to make it up. The 30sec fast was not as fast as I wanted but did pick it up. Just did not have super good turn over during them for whatever reason. Tired legs and windy outside this afternoon.  Hot tub again afterwards.

20 min easy
10x30 sec fast/30sec easy
20 min easy

Sunday:  

8 AM:  16.25 miles w/ 900ft of vert averaging 7min pace.  Watch finally quit working this morning so ran with no watch. Tried to use my bike computer but kept hitting the buttons in my belt turning it off. Manually entered the time and distance from someone else's watch. Legs were rough today, tired. Could feel yesterday's efforts but otherwise good. Probably would have been under 7min pace for the whole thing if we would not have pulled up the last 3 miles, we were cranking for most of it but I honestly did not know until the end when we pulled up, no idea on HR. Good morning out there today, better than expected.

2 PM: Walk 2 miles with Venus again... feels good to walk after the hard run this morning.

Total Weekly Numbers

Much better week than I thought it would be considering the hamstring strain I have been nursing a lot of the week which is still there.  Of course missed out on a couple of weight room sessions this week but that is fine, those are just on there for maintenance anyways. Next week will be a little bit lower in the 70 mile range I think with the Salida Marathon on Saturday, will do a mini taper.  Plan is just to use it as an easy long run right now.  I signed up for it as part of the Tahoe 200 build up since I moved that to 2027 it will just be for fun, so I say now... always hard just to do a race for fun and not actually race when I pin a bib on.... sigh.  Last thing I want to do is blow up my marathon build up with Salida and the Big Alta.

February 23rd- March 1st

"Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be.... when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am."- Arthur Miller, in "Death of a Salesman"

Monday:

10:30 AM: 9 miles averaging 7:35pace.  Easy lap from work heading east and coming back around. Tried to keep it super chill because can really feel the weekend on the legs still, tired and little sore. Was surprised on the average pace, felt like I was moving much slower than that (never looked at the watch).

Tuesday:  

Something that I came across when reading some articles this morning about recovery.. so true.  "What I appreciate about his take is that he cuts through the noise by reframing recovery not as a metric to be optimized, but as a relationship to be understood. “Herein lies the core issue,” he writes in Part Two. “Recovery isn’t a property of a number. It’s a relationship between the athlete, their past, and the demands they’re about to face. Wearables can contribute information to that judgment. They can’t make it for you…By all means, work to understand the cost of stress on your mind and body. But remember that the goal, especially in sport and fitness, is adaptation to the training stress you’re intentionally imposing on your physiology. Does anybody really want the gold medal in HRV?”"

2 PM: Missed my run today... work just got to crazy and could not break away like I normally can.  Also ate like shit all day as well... I have a HATE/LOVE relationship for free donuts at work... only ate 4 of them... damn it.

5 PM:  Out of guilt of missing my run today hit up the gym by going to VASA Lift for an hour.. today was leg day which was a lot of front squats and lunges... Hope I don't regret this tomorrow.

--  Found another cool photo from Black Canyon 50K.  

Wednesday:

8:30 AM:  11 miles w/ 700ft of climbing averaging 6:40pace.  Workout Wednesday!! Was supposed to do this yesterday but could not get out of work so moved it to today. Figured it was better to miss an easy run than what I look at as a key workout. Wind kicked up on the last 2 intervals so super happy I started when I did verses later in the morning.

20 min warm up

4x30 sec fast/30 sec easy
8x1k in 3:30-3:40 with 2 min rest between each

20 min cool down

Been really struggling lately with motivation for some reason and not wanting to run. I think it is because I feel judged all the time and is an effect of social media. I think I need to get back to just training solo again for 90-95% of the time and not have people run with me as much as I have been the past few months. I seem to do better solo with my mindset lately...

 --- Hard to see the rainbow in the photo but it was much more vivid in person.

5 PM:  50mins VASA Lift upper body lift class. Today was mostly back and doing different types of DB Rows.

Thursday:  

9:30 AM:  10 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 8min pace.  Easy jog from the parking lot at the dog park by the house (worked from home today after taking Paula to DIA) and ran into Rocky Flats using the new connector trail and bridge over Indiana. Such a really nice trail and was shocked I got some vert on this run as well. I was expecting it to be flatter but was pretty rolling once I got into Rocky Flats. Legs are shit today but not surprised. Windy as fuck out there today as well, into the wind outbound (heading west).  Just started a book last night about the history of Rocky Flats so this seemed like the run to do.

3 PM: Walk 2 miles in 30ish mins... Paula being out of town means I have daily Venus duties...

---  Gave in and got a long massage tonight that Paula scheduled for me to see if I can workout some of the kinks in my legs, mostly my calves and hips like usual.

Friday:

9 AM:  12.3 miles averaging 6:35pace.  That was a rough one due to the wind. Basically half of it was into the wind/slight uphill and half not. Could not keep the pace going into the wind but tried, HR got high (over 160 which is high for me). Did stop every lap during the efforts to take a gel and a swig of carb mix, stops at mile 1.3ish, 4.5ish, and 7.25ish of the 8 miles. No gel on the last stop, just a swig. Feeling good to get this done, tired but pleased. Of course the wind started dying down some during the last mile of the cooldown. Duhhhh.... LOL

2 mile warm up

8 miles at 6:05-6:10 pace

2 mile cool down

2 PM: Walk 1.7 miles in 26mins... Venus walk since Paula is still out of town.

5 PM: 51mins VASA Lift class- tonight was full body.  Lots of RDL work and chest work.

Saturday: 

8 AM:  9 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 8:35 pace.  Easier lap of Betasso trails with Taylor and Veronica.  First few miles did not feel easy but once I was warmed up it I was all good.  Finally a day without the horrible winds we have been having all week.  It was the perfect morning up there, 50ish degrees, sunny, and no winds... Looking forward to more days like this in the coming few months.

-- 2 mile Venus walk again today... Paula gets home tomorrow night but have been enjoying the short walks this week.

Sunday:  

10:30 AM: 16.4 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:35pace.  Had to go down south to be there as support for my buddy as he dealing with is soon to be ex-wife. He going through a nasty divorce and he is trying to put the house on the market so had to see her again.  I went to somewhat neutralize her bringing her parents.  Nothing happened and she did not bring her parents, thank goodness and I stayed a block away while they had their meeting with the realtor.

Easy loop around Littleton from his house after they were done. Combo of crush path trails and roads to make the big loop. Started out with very stiff legs but did loosen up throughout the run per usual. Started feeling it towards the end though. Good week getting back to normal training again.

-- easy short walk with Venus when I got home, cut it short because it started raining.

Total Weekly Numbers

Back to somewhat of a normal week this week.  Did miss Tuesday's easy run due to work BS and by the time I could get out I was too mentality weak to make myself go in the strong afternoon winds.  The rest of the week I dealt with the winds even though I did have thoughts of bailing to the treadmill on Friday's 8 miles at marathon effort but Matt made the comment via email, "What if it is windy in Cape Town?".  Point taken...  Venus is not impressed in the photo below......

February Recap

 "Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up." - Rev. Jesse Jackson

-- Something more people need to take to heart in today's world.......

Not the month I wanted but the month I was dealt.  Pretty far from hitting 300 miles in February like I wanted too.  Body just needed more time off this month than I expected, especially after Black Canyon 50K.  Took me a bit to get going again after that race.  Also had to take some days off due to going a little bit over the red line in training as well.  Such a balance at times, think that is just part of getting older.  Live and learn I guess.  Will shoot for 300 miles again in March but there are some races in there as well that may or may not help me reach that goal, Salida Marathon on the 14th and The Big Alta 100K on the 21st.  Guessing that after the 100K I will be a piece of shit for a week so the numbers might be down yet again in March.  Of course these are not ideal for a marathon build up in May but I signed up for these when I thought I was doing the Tahoe 200 in June and Cape Town was not even a thought yet....