18.1 miles. I was definitely feeling it a touch in the front of this run. My miles have not been big I am feeling the how they have been a touch bigger than what I have typically managed this year. I have had a few long runs in, but it is different when there is a donkey in the mix, or if it is a slog of a climb up Pikes.
Every year I pretty much tell myself that once I get through Pikes I am going to take a break. That pretty much never works, so I am not going to even say it this year. The days are still long enough, and the heat starts to break. I enjoy getting out and running. It might be the tie back to HS, running in September. I definitely draw a bit of motivation from my kid’s XC, watching the summer track wind down, hearing results from late summer mountain races, and yes – thinking about next year. I know not doing anything that will hugely impact next year of course, but I will take it when I can.
I was tossing out mid to low eights easy on the way out, but then I guess I got a smell of the barn and they came back down to mid sevens easy on the way back.
84.6 this week, in singles. And less vert here in the flats of Colorado than the rollers of NJ.
Boulder 100? 85 miles in a week this time of year is semi-serious business.
ReplyDeleteOr are you just laying a nice base right now for that epic Pikes/Leadville double next year? :-)
ReplyDelete"Getting the smell of the barn" = best line ever. Made me chuckle with a mouthful of cereal.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I say the same after Pikes every year as well, take some time off, it will be good for me, but if anything, I feel relieved that it has passed and enthused and free to do whatever I please, which equates to getting out every chance I get (not that I get the volume or consistency you get). The cooler days and awesomeness of Fall make that nearly impossible. Over the holidays would be a great time to take a break, but with all the Monster Cereals, bite size candies over Halloween, Thanksgiving pies, Christmas treats, taking time off then is not an option either. Not to mention, running in the snow and solitude is awesome. Then, before you know it, it is the start of a new year and time to start thinking about getting after it again.
ReplyDeleteJeff - absolutely. Won't be long before Homie has carved that perfect track down Green in the white stuff.
DeleteWyatt - I'd consider the Boulder 100, but I will be in Europe at that time. I have actually given a small amount of thought to running my own thing to see how that would go.
ReplyDeleteDavid - barns smell good. At least compared to me ... particularly as I get older. Why we lose sight and hearing as we age is clearly a flaw in design. If we could lose smell, now that would be an enhancement.
coconut oil!
DeleteI will however miss the solitude some of us enjoyed last fall for several months. It inspired me to get out there more than I ever have the last few months of the year ;).
ReplyDeleteIt would be really weird if I now said let's go enjoy some of that solitude together.
DeleteIt's interesting but every year at this time, after Leadville, I always say I want to "get healthy." Most people look at me like I'm crazy--I just ran 100 miles! But I feel like that kind of training is so one-dimensional. So I reduce my mileage a bit and do other stuff like weights, push-ups, etc. I'm not at all convinced that running 100 miles and going 26.2 miles up and back down Pikes is "healthy." I think you can run 20-30 miles a week and be very, very healthy. The life of an ultramarathoner isn't necessarily healthy.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Fitness, whatever that might be, is something we can sort of measure. For folks like us, it is some clock over some distance. To determine if you became more fit, you just have to cover the same distance in less time or greater distance in equal time. Done.
DeleteHealth however is not a singular measure. Fitness is an aspect of it, but I think when we get to the points of 100 milers, or even tenths of a second on a mile, health is probably forgotten.
But what is health? Not injured? A good BMI? A good BP? Being able to do a 100 push ups? Strong hips? Able to run a 6 minute mile? Or pole vault 8 feet?