Week Summary 2/20 - 2/26

Monday              

AM: 5 miles, Recovery, Treadmill

PM: core strength/stretching

Tuesday

AM: core strength/stretching

PM: 11 miles, Intervals, South Platte Trail

I love running, but I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this workout. But aren’t you supposed to add in a little speed work leading up to a race?? The Salida marathon is in 3 weeks so I figured it’d be a good idea. I warmed up for 3 miles, then did 4 x 1 mile repeats with a 1 mile cool down between each. I tried to keep an even pace throughout the workout and I think I did ok… 6:03, 5:42, 5:58 and 6:02.

Wednesday

AM: core strength/stretching

PM: 13 miles, Aerobic, South Platte Trail

I felt good despite a tough workout yesterday. As I was finishing my run some guy flagged me down. He ran out of gas and needed help pushing his car a few hundred yards to get it off the road. I got in a nice crossfit workout then cooled down for a mile.

Thursday

AM: core strength/stretch

PM: 5 miles, Recovery + Form, South Platte Trail

Jogged an easy 4 miles and finished up with some striders to focus on form and leg turnover.

Friday

AM: core strength/stretch

PM: 11 miles, Tempo, South Platte Trail

I warmed up for 3 miles, picked up the pace for 6, then cooled down for 2. The goal was to run the middle 6 at around a half marathon effort, which ended up at 6:33/mile.

Saturday

AM: 20.5 miles, 3100’, Green Mountain (Lakewood)

After getting in some high mileage runs the past few weekends, I was hoping to run something a bit shorter and faster. However, the snow on Thursday made “fast” almost impossible. The weather was amazing and I was running in a t-shirt by mile 3. I paced myself well and managed to increase my pace for each of the 3 laps of Green.

Sunday

AM: 12.5 miles, Aerobic, Cherry Creek Trail

PM: 2 miles, Recovery + core strength/stretching

I met up with Brandon to run in the morning and then went out again in the afternoon for a lap around Glendale with Jess.

 

Recap

Time: 13:43

Miles: 80.6

Vert: 3,639

This week was exactly what I was looking. I didn’t get in the volume or vert that I have in the past, but I managed to get in a little more “speed” work and stay healthy. I’m going to try and get in a similar training schedule this upcoming week and then taper a bit for Salida. I know that Salida isn’t my “A” race, and a lot of people may just treat it as a tough training run, but I only get to race a handful of times a year so I’m not going to go overboard the next couple weeks. I want to go into Salida feeling fairly fresh.

Week Summary 2/13 - 2/19

Monday              

AM: 5 miles, Recovery, South Platte Trail

PM: core strength/stretching

Tuesday

AM: core strength/stretching

PM: 10 miles, Aerobic, South Platte Trail

Wednesday

AM: core strength/stretching

PM: 10 miles, Aerobic, South Platte Trail

Thursday

AM: core strength/stretch

PM: 8 miles, Tempo, South Platte Trail

Warmed up with 3 miles, followed by 4 at tempo pace, then a 1 mile cool down.

Friday

AM: 5 miles, Recovery, Cherry Creek Trail

PM: 5 miles, Recovery, South Platte Trail

Wanted to put in a real easy day in anticipation of a hard workout tomorrow morning.

Saturday

AM: 31 miles, 8000’, Mt. Falcon

Same run as last weekend…5 laps up and down Mt. Falcon. I had company for most of the run. The first 4 laps were with Kyle and Drew. The last one I ran into my mom and brother who were out for a hike with the dogs. I felt like crap during the last hour. As soon as the end of a long run is in sight, I tend to stop paying attention to my hydration and calories. Sometimes this happens with a couple hours left and I end up bonking towards the end. Definitely something I need to work on.

Sunday

AM: 5 miles, Recovery, Cherry Creek Trail

PM: core strength/stretching

Recap

Time: 14:42

Miles: 79.6

Vert: 8,548

Fairly uneventful week. I treated this week kind of like a recovery week, except for the Saturday long run. After a few big weeks I was starting to feel a bit fatigued. Cutting back 20% this week seemed to help. Only 3 weeks ‘til Salida. Can’t wait! I’m planning on adding in a bit of speed work over the next couple of weeks, and then a taper week before the first race of the season.

"Hiking", The New "Walking"

I was out today for long run with Kyle and Drew. We planned on 31 miles of tough, hilly terrain. So it was inevitable that we were going to reach a point, physically, where we wouldn’t be able to run anymore. The funny thing was that we referred to it a few times as “hiking.” Let me assure you that “hiking” is no faster than walking. But as ultra runners it just sounds more bad ass to never have to walk…I mean we are ultra runners after all. 

Hiking is acceptable, and sometimes even encouraged, on difficult terrain.

Let’s be honest, it’s even allowed late in a race on the easy stuff.

And sometimes “hiking” is all you can do. But that’s fine. Slow progress is better than nothing.

After all, running ultras isn’t about being fast. I think the winner is usually the person who can eat the most calories and get the fewest blisters...just one more reason I love this sport.

Week Summary 2/6 - 2/12

Monday              

AM: 6 miles, Recovery, South Platte Trail

PM: 4 miles, Recovery, South Platte Trail

Tuesday

AM: core strength/stretching

PM: 13 miles, Aerobic, South Platte Trail

Ran on the South Platte Trail during lunch, a run that I do a couple times a week. I love getting out on my lunch break. I find it difficult to run with any kind of intensity during the dark, early hours so I’ve been holding off and going mid-day. It’s also a nice way to break up the work day and stop staring at a computer for a bit.

Wednesday

AM: core strength/stretch

PM: 13 miles, Aerobic, South Platte Trail

A couple that was walking on the trail stopped me to point out a bald eagle perched on top of a telephone pole. Pretty cool.

Thursday

AM: core strength/stretch

PM: 12 miles, 1300', Hill Repeats

Warmed up with 3 miles, then proceeded to do 6 miles of repeats on the biggest hill I’ve found close to work. It’s pretty weak…only a third of a mile, but It’s about a 10% grade, so it definitely gets the heart rate up on the climb and I can pound my quads on the way down. During the 3 miles back to the office I tried to bang out a couple fast miles on tired legs. Felt decent. I’ve been tempted to use the treadmill more during the week to get in more climbing, but I’d rather get outside when at all possible. I’d also be missing out on the downhill.

Friday

AM: 6 miles, Recovery, Cherry Creek Trail

I actually got up early to run, since I had plans for lunch and dinner with Jess immediately following work. As hard as it can be to get out of bed, it is nice to get a run in early. Watching the sun come up while running is a nice way to start the day.

Saturday

AM: 31 miles, 7900’, Mt. Falcon

With the snow storm last week, I was really excited to actually run some trails, as opposed to trudging through snow. Mt. Falcon has become a somewhat regular trail for me due to its proximity to Denver. I did 5 repeats from the parking lot to Walker ruins. 3.1 miles and ~1,600 feet of climbing. Then I bombed back down and repeated a bunch of times. The climb isn’t crazy steep. It’s all run-able (at least for the first few laps). But it’s one of the Denver’s best trails that I know of for climbing. However, I do want to get on some steeper stuff to work on my hiking for Hardrock.

Sunday

AM: 15 miles, Aerobic, Denver

I got out for a nice loop on the Cherry Creek Trail, Cheeseman Park, City Park and Wash Park. As much as I love the trails, I do also enjoy getting around the city on foot.

Recap

Time: 16:10

Miles: 100.5

Vert: 10,100’

This was a really solid week for me, and the third consecutive week of 90+ miles. I spent 4 months (Oct-Jan) building a solid base and it’s been fun to start increasing the mileage and staying healthy. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself… The past few years I’ve focused on triathlons which meant a lot of time on the bike and not much time running, so I never really had a great base or any consistent running routine. In the next month I’m hoping to focus less on the mileage and more on climbing/elevation gain. Hardrock just scares the crap out of me and I know I need to work on my climbing.