Thursday - 8/27 - 25.0 miles

Got in to Denver last nite and drove to Breckenridge, the base camp for mine and Tim's inaugural Rocky Mountain Foot Challenge.

Started today on Peak's Trail, a 6 mile trail to the Colorado Trail. We sort of started on a false trailhead which took us about 2 miles right into a house. We turned around and went back to the trailhead to figure things out. My head was splitting from running at altitude already. After a short break, we found the true TH and started again. With 4 miles behind us, I didn't think we would make it all the way to the Colorado Trail (6 miles away + 6 miles back + 4 we'd already done = 16m). But we were running pretty good and feeling good and reached the Colorado Trail (6m @ ~ 11.30) before we knew it. If we had stopped there and made it back would have been 16 miles. As it were, Tim decided to keep going to Frisco, 4 more miles. This was all downhill so we ran at a pretty good clip. Made it into Frisco, total distance = ~15 miles). We ate a quick lunch and then back on the trail for Breckenridge. The first 4 miles back was pretty brutal for Tim, who was having severe knee pain. I was actually feeling rejuvenated after lunch. We made it to the CT with 6 miles to go. I decided I was going to test myself and see how much of the last 6 miles I could run with as little rest/walk as possible. Some knee pain of my own crept in about 3 miles from the finish but I was still able to make it back to the TH from CT in just over 67 mins, ~11+ min pace. With 25 miles under our belt on day one, we limped back to the room to rest. Even as I write this, I find it difficult to believe we did 25 miles.

Monday - run 5.0 miles

Week Goal - 45+ miles

Ran 5 miles tonite even though I'm a bit under the weather and didn't feel like it. I'm glad I did. I felt good which was the exact opposite of how my legs felt yesterday. Is it possible that I can recover that much with one easy day? Hmmm. Anyway, on my last 1.15 mile loop (of 4) I decided to see what I could do. Came it at a 6.31 pace. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or not. This is the fastest mile I've run since I've been back and technically it was a tad longer than a mile. But, I would like to think a straight mile time would be closer to 6, if not under. That may be a stretch, I don't know. Oh well, a good, solid 5 mile run.

I want another 5 miler tomorrow before I'm off to Colorado for 3 days on the trails. I'm hoping for around 12 miles average for each day.

Week Total - 30.2 miles

Not a bad week, but of course, not what I had planned. A slow start threw me off. Three good days Thur-Sat salvaged what could have been another pitiful week.

Saturday & Sunday - run 7 & 3 miles

Sat) Ran 7+ miles, again with no watch. Parts of the run were mentally tough to get thru. But OK.

Sun) Legs felt very tired today. I woke up knowing that my long run would have to be scratched. I just didn't have it in me. Ran 3 miles, slow.

Friday - run 6 miles

Easy run with no watch. I would guess around an 8.30 pace, maybe slower. Very comfortable, but not sluggish. A run this easy a few months ago wouldn't have been comfortable due to it being so slow and sluggish.

Heading out to Colorado Wednesday for 3 days of trail running. Starting to think about gear and getting excited.

Thursday - run 8.5 miles

I got to run immediately after school today. It started raining right before I ran. Both factors played into my 7.20 1st mile. I was so liberated in knowing I had plenty of time to run and the rain cooled things down and was exhilerating in itself. I ran 5 miles at a 7.46 pace. Stopped hydrated/walked for about 12 mins then ran 3.5 more. Three loops that I ran in negative progression. My last loop (~1.15 miles) was a 7.21 pace. My pace for the last 3.5 was 7.50. Total mileage pace was 7.47. This was probably my best run in the last 18 months. I was probably anaerobic most of the way but I was not uncomfortable at all (except for my wet feet - the rain stopped after about 1.5 miles, after that, it was kind of miserable being wet and humid).

Wednesday - run 2.0 miles

Ran from home this afternoon for 2 miles with the last 1/4 in 1.21. I was trying to lesson the load for tonite, the plan was to run 5 today. Before I was able to get out the door for the remaining 3, we got a huge storm roll in. No running tonite.

Tuesday - run 3.5 miles

Not a good run in mileage or pace, but considering I started at about midnite I'll call it a success. I've got to figure out how to get my runs in. The days of zero miles (yesterday) and the days of very low miles (today) aren't going to get me anywhere. Days like this once a week, I can manage. Two to three times per week like the past 4 weeks aren't good.

Week Total - run 20.5 miles

Well, at least I broke 20.

Sunday - run 9.5 miles

I ran 4.5 miles at 8.09 pace (solid) and walked/hydrated for 0.7 miles. Then another 4.6 miles at 8.41 pace (not bad either) and walked/hydrated for 0.3 miles. Jogged back the last 0.4 miles. Overall pace for the 9.1 miles running was 8.25, which is steller for me, especially after the low mileage the last couple of weeks. We'll say it has been good recovery time. Time to ramp it up, though.

Saturday - zero miles

Can I set my default title to "zero miles" to save me some time? JK, I knew the chance of running Sat was going to be slim. We had Luke's birthday party and it took me all day of working outside to get ready. The good news is that in addition to an awesome party, I lost 1.5 lbs, too.

Friday - run 5.6 miles

Intended for this run to be about 8 miles but my IT band started hurting so I called it quits almost immediately. It's the first time it has hurt since I got the foam roller. The problem, at least as I see it, is that since I have not been running, I've also not been using the foam roller. I think the roller is something I will need to do daily regardless of whether I run. It was looking like the run was going to be a good one. Well, it was a good one, just shorter than expected. I did a couple of intervals, 1.4 @ 7.00 and 0.7 @ 6.52 with some recovery jogs at about 8.40 pace.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Zero miles Tuesday.

2 miles Wednesday.

Zero miles Thursday.

And the difficulty of finding the time to run while I'm in school.

Monday - run 3.5 miles

Ran the 0.7 mile loop that I ran Friday nite again (I'm liking it) but without the intervals. I ran each 0.7 mile lap (x5) with a negative progression. The plan was to make each one under 8 minute pace. The first one was 7.48 with each one quicker than the previous and finished with a 7.20 pace for the last lap. Really good run. The big negative was that I wanted to run 5 miles, but got started too late so cut it short.

Week Total - run 16 miles

Even less than last week!

Saturday & Sunday - zero miles

And the roller coaster that is my blog. So optimistic about salvaging a decent week after a slow start and then nadda. Too many family things going on Saturday to get in a run and b/c I was planning my long run on Sunday, I was O.K. with that. I intended to run 14 on Sunday nite. I layed down with Luke at about 9 PM and promptly went to sleep and woke up at 2 AM.

Friday - run 7.7 miles

And in one fell swoop I almost doubled my weekly mileage and quite possibly (too early to say) salvaged a decent week. Before I went out the door I read a sentence from Once a Runner that said "... a true runner runs even when he doesn't feel like it." Lately I haven't felt like running. Tonite's run went quite well. I did intervals, 5 x 0.7 with 0.7 recovery laps in between. I did negative progressions and ended up with my last one at 6.36 pace. The temperature was very pleasant tonite which leads me to believe that at least part of my problem getting out the door the last 2 weeks has been b/c of the heat/humidity. I tend to always want to run during the hottest part of the day and I feel like crap while running.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday - run 3.8 miles

Zero miles on Tuesday, 1.6 on Wednesday, and 2.2 on Thursday. As of Thursday, I have run a total of 8.4 miles. The week is looking erily like last week's debacle.

Monday - run 4.6 miles

Two laps at the trail. I hadn't planned on running the trail today but I couldn't risk having a bad day. And I usually run well at the trail. Something medieval in it for me. Under a 10.00 pace. No rest between laps. I actually ran my last lap faster than a guy I past on a mountain bike.

Week Total - 17.2 miles

Pathetic and unfortunately, quite normal. It is in my nature that everytime I reach a milestone in my training, of any type, that I do not build on it. Usually, I quit for months/years at a time. That will not happen this time. This past week was a blip only. It will not happen again.

Saturday - run 7.2 miles

Very slow. Natalie says it is because it is so humid out. Hopefully she's right.

Thursday & Friday - zero miles