Saturday - got a crew over to watch the marathon trials. Afterwards the snow was heavy and flying. GW and I got out with Kara. It was ridiculous conditions and I got a bit cranky after getting walloped by plow snow spray a few times. 7.6 miles.
Sunday mid AM - ridiculous amounts of snow but the path was sorta plowed.
8.1 miles. Finished the week with 56.8.
Monday 9 miles, moving well - averaged under 8s but had some breaks with the crossings, etc. Ticked through 300 on the year.
Sunday night played with Spare Change over at Boco Cider. Tight stage but fun joint.
Finished January with 260 ish miles. I have had a couple of months in the 240 range in 2023, but this was my biggest month since July of 2021. I am not professing that this means something huge - like I am suddenly fit again or re-committed to running in a way that is particularly grand, but I do recognize the accomplishment as a stepping stone.
I started the week in SFO (M-W). I got out Monday night with LF and we ran around the Bay. I got 7 miles. I had eaten entirely too much Mexican at lunch and thought that was going to be a problem (yes, that kind of problem) but I managed. LF is simply fitter and faster than me and I was dragged into a 7:30ish paced run. I realized how I need to simply do more of this stuff and stop making excuses into the 8:30 runs.
I got out Tuesday AM for a gorgeous sunrise run to Coyote Point. Wow. 5.2.
Tuesday afternoon - joined LF for the afternoon run club at the company I was working with. 5.3 miles.
Wednesday AM - got out for an easy 6.3 out to Seal Point on a very windy AM. Traveled back home in the afternoon.
Thursday AM - back with the Broomstock crew. 8.2. Syd was in town!
Monday late - ran over to the gym, got in a lift with GW - this felt good to get a bit of that work. Ran for another bit post. 5 miles. Achilles feels like garbage. Smokey - but the temps were dropping from the 90s as the weather was blowing in
Tuesday AM - rain/snow mix. Yes - a mix of that given it was in the 90s yesterday. Good news is that it knocked the smoke down. 4 miles with GW along the paved sides of the Ditch.
Tuesday PM - 5.1 miles during practice. Lots of snow.
Wednesday PM - 5 miles during practice. I need to get back to some good habits.
Thursday AM - trying to reboot the brain to get past the concern about the Achilles. 5 miles with GW and a few of the athletes. Felt nice actually. The Achilles was crap but it felt good to start the day this way.
Friday - 10 miles around practice.
Saturday - 10 miles in the afternoon - post meet.
Sunday AM - 10 miles out of Commons, Braun joined for a little over the first half.
Monday AM - tired, definitely feeling yesterday's effort. Kept it super easy - 6.3 miles with the team. Achilles was fairly hot last night but none too bad this AM.
Monday ending up being a rather unproductive day. I mean, I went through the motions, but I was generally not on par for the game.
I also broke my right pinky toe. I walloped it against the exercise bike accidentally while walking around barefoot.
Tuesday AM - 9.5 miles, strides at the end. Joined up with SB, GW for some work before practice. Slipped on the Hokas to get a bit more protection around that broken toe. Easy and slow.
Wednesday AM - 12.2 miles. 6 x 5' on 2 to 3' active recovery on Ridgeview. Not bad, not great. Got work in, just didn't crush it - the hills were a good kick in the mouth. Jogged over to practice afterwards and did a longish cool down. Legs were fairly toasted post this.
Thursday AM - 9 miles easy.
Friday AM - out of Founders Park in Superior. Met the team over there for a trail run. Headed up over the mesa towards Coalton and back. 8 miles with strides.
Saturday AM - 20 minute warm up over to practice, got the kids going then the preliminary strides. 10 x 150m on 250m rest. 28 low to start and then most 27 low, a few 26s and finished with a 25. Jogged around a bit while JZ finished a workout. 8.3 miles.
Sunday afternoon - paddled at Dillon in the AM, then back down to the Front Range. Headed out of the lot on 93 up into Springbrook, etc. Achilles was lousy and I was worked. 12.5 miles. Some vertical but not as much as I liked or as long as I hoped for.
Fair week. Felt more under the training this week versus on top of it. 1900 miles on the year as of this week over 230 runs (and just through 200th day of the year).
Monday AM - week 2 of practice has started ... I did 30 minutes with GW prior and then another 30 as the kids rolled out. Easy easy. Felt pretty good though. Achilles is a bit of a whiner but I get over it.
Tuesday AM - 1/2 an hour with GW and SB. She had some fartlek in there but I floated back on the ups. Easy day for me. Another half an hour with the team as they started and then some strides. 8 miles.
Wednesday AM - 10 by 1 minute on Eagle Hill. Was certainly in the box for the last 3. Ran over to the school afterwards to get practice rolling. 10.3 miles.
Thursday AM - easy 8 with SB, GW.
Friday AM - easy 5 with SB, GW for part of it. Strides.
Saturday AM - warm up then four miles at 6:30, 6:27, 6:26, 6:27. Never felt great - sort of one of those runs that felt like 15-20 seconds faster than it actually was. But got it done. Finished with four 200s, 38-40. Longish warm down as a part of practice. 11.6 miles.
Sunday afternoon - paddled up at Horsetooth with TZ in the AM. Late in the afternoon I made it over to Green and went up the front. Most of it was a hike. Came back down via Greenman, cut over to Flagstaff and then came back via Crown Rock. 7.3 miles. Saw a flock of wild turkeys. So wonderfully quiet up in the OSMP when you go at the right time.
A slightly shorter week on whole but fair quality.
Monday AM - first day of practice. Limited size groups, face masks, screening questions and temperature taking. Fun stuff. Easy easy ... 6.1 miles.
Tuesday AM - jogged over to high school and ran with Braun on her warm up. Continued jog with Greg and AG as the kids headed out. Strides at the end. 9.1 miles.
Wednesday AM - 50 second repeats on Eagle Hill. Maybe a C+ or a B-. Meh. Got it done but never felt on it. Jogged over to HS after to run with the team. 11.4 miles.
Thursday AM - 8.2 miles, made up of jogging over to the school, getting in some with Braun, Parker and Greg before practice, some with the squad, and then a jog home. Easy.
Friday AM - cooler morning with some raining spitting at the start. Met up with Greg and Syd and agreed to run with Braun on her tempo for 15 minutes. Then jumped into practice. 8.5 miles.
Saturday AM - JZ and I took a jaunt up to Mosquito Pass and then pushed on to Kuss Peak. 7.3 miles with over 2k of climbing - just some exposure to 11.5 to 13.5k of altitude.
Sunday - another run up at altitude (10.2-10.5k). 10.5 miles, with about 1100 feet - so a bit more of proper running (v. the slog/hike yesterday). First four with JZ.
Good week on whole - 60 plus miles, 6k feet of climbing, with most of it coming on the weekend. Gonna need to shift a bit more to hills and altitude while also trying to keep in touch with the basics now that Pikes Marathon is a go (until it is not a go, right?).
Monday - already could feel the heat starting to build a bit at 7:30. 5.7 very easy with G and IW. Strides
Tuesday AM - with GW and SB (she had her own workout). I did Eagle Hill again, same as last week but this time on the stretch from the bottom pipe to the top. Coincidentally, this is almost a quarter mile exactly, and about a 100 meters longer than from the trash can to the top. The additional section actually adds on a little downhill at the start to roll it, and then some additional uphill, Seven reps, hitting 86.x to 90.x - which is about the same pace as last week, and I guess around six minute pace going up hill. It was typical - a bit of work for the last 15 seconds on the first and more like the last minute towards the end. 7.5 miles. Glad to beat the heat again.
Wednesday AM - 8.5 miles easy. Ran into NE and jogged with him a bit.
PM - ditchin', 3.7 miles. Warm but sort of like saying cold in January.
Thursday mid day - legs felt horrible. Started run as a front blew in and so I was fighting the wind for a bit. Never felt great but managed 7.5 with strides.
Friday - had intentions of doing 5 x mile at Stonehenge (so two laps on that is a mile) but knew I had enough after 4 today. I was working even after the first. Really - just no legs today. 6:07, 6:14 (starting at the bottom) , 6:12, 6:08. GW popped in with me for a few sections. Obviously a bit tougher than the track. Was glad to get it done in the AM, and to beat the heat. 10 miles. Tough one today.
Saturday - not too bad for wear. EZ 7.3 on the Ridgeview Commons loop.
Sunday AM - 12.3 over at the Rocky Flats NWR with GW and SB. Started super slow (near nine minute pace) but eventually warmed up and ended up averaging about 8:06 pace for the run.
Another week in the books. Not a great week - sort of felt a bit tired all week, so it might be time to shift some things up. Life is gonna do that anyway as we are kicking around traveling to work again and opening things up for XC coaching.
Still no word on PPM, but I am wondering what the heck it would be anyway if they had it.
Music has been a bit on a back burner. I forced myself into doing a stream on Friday night. Need to get back on the horse a bit as the lack of regular practice is showing.
Monday AM - Eagles had the day off today because of King Day but we still had practice. 10.2 miles all told. Got in some miles with Ian, Greg, Braun and Marissa.
KZ headed to Germany for a semester abroad.
Tuesday AM - 4.2 slow wake up miles. I start the liquid diet and the "bowel prep" today.
Tuesday afternoon - 6.8 miles with 8x70" hills on Main. Good work for me. Flying with the Eagles.
Wednesday AM - 3.8 with Greg. I was pretty tired from the workout yesterday and also not having had solid food for a day. But good enough for easy stuff.
Wednesday PM - a bit sluggish post the colonoscopy so I kept it light. 4.4 miles.
Colonoscopy was a non issue as far as the prep and the procedure. In a weird way, if you can get past the entire thing of not eating solid food for 25 hours and that you'll empty out on the toilet with a fair amount of frequency ... well, you actually feel pretty good. The procedure itself was fine. I was knocked out pretty quick and woke up without issue (no pain, bleeding, etc). It turned out I had an 8mm polyp. That was easily removed and sent off to pathology for analysis. I should know if it means anything in a week.
Thursday AM - 5 degrees. 5.5 with Greg
Thursday afternoon - a super easy 5.3 miles.
Friday - 10 miles. About 20 minutes tempo. Ticked over 500 miles on the year.
Saturday - 15.1 miles with Greg. Did the first half with him and Braun and the second half as a part of Eagle practice. Averaged 7:40 pace. Not bad. I screwed up by not eating anything ahead of time and was regretting it as I could smell breakfasts wafting up from places we ran by.
Sunday - traveled to Melbourne FL. Nice little shift to 79 degrees and some humidity. Got a total of 8 vertical feet over a 10 mile run. Easy aerobically but legs were a bit tired.
75 plus on the week, with a fair long run and the workout earlier in the week. Not bad given the medical fun I had mid week. 72 runs on the year so far over 528.8 miles (meaning the average run is 7 and a third miles). It is my fourth week of seventy or better in a row - something I don't think I did in 2019 at all. I have the Okpik snow cave course this weekend and so I think the travel week and that will bring that streak to an end.
Thursday night I played the mic at Rails. I ended up going on much later than I thought I would and this got in my head a bit. Lessons from the mic still. New band name might have to be the bad haircuts.
I played "Preacher's Daughter" by RCPM, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell, "Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me! and "Banditos" also by RCPM. A guy played drums on Preacher and that sort of messed me up a bit too because I wasn't expecting that. Earlier in the night, a guy named Pete - who I had never met - asked me to play on his set. It was basic blues tunes but it was pretty cool to do a few tunes with him. As the place shut down, Brent had me play his Gibson Les Paul goldtop and as we screwed around I did "Midnight Train To Memphis" with Aaron and Brent, "Better Now" and then "Copperhead Road".
So a weird night ... you just don't know what you are going to get pitched ... you have to roll with it. Like I see with people racing - you expect a certain something, get pitched something different and if you are tied to expectations, you can get all mucked up. I got a bit mucked up. And that is just not necessary.
Oddball week of training for me. But I think inching fitness forward.
Monday - 10 miles. Just crunched it out in the AM solo. Felt sort of tired.
Tuesday AM - a few with TZ and then a little less than a handful on my own. 7.3 miles. Legs were feeling a bit beat.
Tuesday PM - with Greg and Syd, out and back towards the J-Pond. 5.8 miles at a respectable easy run clip.
Wednesday AM - got talked into going for a run with Greg the night before. Met up and did 400s. I really didn't want to do them but figured that is exactly why I should do them. I thought I'd be moving at 90 plus pace but managed 85 for an average. I am clearly uncomfortable at that speed and doing "track work" so 8 x near 90 seconds (on 200m rest except after #4 where it was 400) on the oval was as good a workout for above the neck as it probably was below it. 6.4 miles
Wednesday mid day - met up with Bob and Shad over at Davidson Mesa for a couple of loops of that. 8.1 miles at a fair clip.
Didn't run with the team at practice but did an hour in the weight room. Pretty well trounced post that.
Thursday AM - slow wake up jog of 4 miles before calls started for the day.
Thursday afternoon - I was dragging but plugged through 6.1 miles.
Friday AM - I was to head out the door at 5AM to catch my flight to SFO to SIN. I seriously considering getting up at 4 "just to get a few miles in." I succumbed however, and didn't do it - rationalizing that I'd get little benefit out of it other than ego.
Of course, heading to Singapore means a lost day on the week because of the international date line. And given it takes about 26 hours of near continuous travel to get to it ... well a day is lost. I left the house at 4:45, flew the 2+ hours to SFO, made a short transfer there and then did the 16.5 hour flight to get to Singapore - or at about 8:30PM on Saturday wheels down.
After checking in, etc ... I got out for a little jog. It was only 7AM mountain time so why not?
You might think with a day of rest, I'd feel great. Coming off the plane always leaves me a bit wonky, and feeling a bit uncoordinated. And running in 85 degrees with 85 percent humidity makes it more like a swim for me. At some point, I can feel the challenge even with breathing that water laden air.
Sunday ... was up early and so I headed out along the river path. Beaut of a run. I was hoping to beat the heat but the humidity had me soaked anyway. 10.3 miles getting cooked.
Was able to successfully cool off however in a post run pool soak.
63.7 miles on the week on six days and 9 runs. Good workout on Wednesday and then worked it a bit with a bit more volume on the front of the week.
I'd be remiss in this post if I did not mention the passing of (who I think of as) the greatest rock drummer of all time - Neal Peart. I got turned onto Rush as a 12 year old. First being exposed to "Moving Pictures," I quickly picked up all their albums to that point. And I fell for all of it. The big anthems of "2112," the fantasies of Dionysus and Apollo, the star journey to the black hole "Cygnus X-1," and being lost in the "Subdivisions." It (along with Led Zep) drove me to the guitar. I still love their music (and I still covet a Gibson ES-335 just like Alex). Neal was the the brain behind it all, and while I can occasionally fathom copying a riff of Mr. Lifeson - the things that Neal did on the kit still blow my mind. This is the best read I have come across on the guy.
Wandered around a bit in the afternoon with Tom and checked out Chinatown and a few other places in the city.
Wandered around a bit in the afternoon with Tom and checked out Chinatown and a few other places in the city.
