Month: November 2017

Summary Nov 20-26

On By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, Dum Assery, fitness, Hours, Life, Mountain Porn, road running, Running, Slogging, Snow, Stand Up Philosphy, SummaryLeave a comment

Monday Nov 20, REST

Usual scheduled rest day, did some walking around, standing desk working, light stretching, and tons of foam rolling/R8 abusing.. you know, the usual crap

Tues Nov 21, 10.3 Miles, 312′ 1h15m

Very controlled effort at the rez, keeping things consistent/autopilot-ish. Threw in 4x30s fast with 2min recovery in the last 3 miles, for a little extra stimulus.

Wed Nov 22, 11.3 Miles, 476′ 1h26m

Plan was for 4 miles easy, 12x1min fast, 1 min easy, and 4 miles back, so I decided to start the run from my front door and head towards the reservoir to hit the intervals on the cushy gravel before heading back to the house. Overall I was feeling pretty soggy out the door, but perked up when it came time to put in “the work.” Return trip was plagued by some mild heartburn, and some seriously waning motivation so I basically jogged it in, slowly removing some more rubber from the bottom of my shoes

Thurs Nov 23, 11 Miles, 1493′ 1h42m

Martha dropped me off at the TH for Sanitas so that I could out and back the swoop (lion’s lair) and run back home within the prescribed daily distance. Caught a dude on his deck near Wonderland Lake blasting “Alice’s Restaurant” so I had to join in for chorus while I passed. Overall things felt really controlled/easy, and definitely warmed up the oven for some Thanksgiving consumption.

Fri Nov 24, 6 Miles, 420′ 50m

Super casual out the front door jog on the Foothills trail. Kept things deliberately easy/ controlled before driving to Crested Butte for the weekend.

Sat Nov 25, 15.3 Miles, 2014′ 2h38m

Martha found what looked like a pretty chill trail out the front door of our Crested Butte rental, so that seemed like the best idea for some higher altitude trail running. I didn’t however plan for the terrain being either ice covered, or shoe-sucking mud for the entire route, so after knotting my fists for a while I decided that it would just have to be an adventure, and that I might as well enjoy the scenery while I’ve got it. After slogging through the day (and forgetting to eat the gel I carried) i was pleasantly surprised at the overall pace — it almost looks like running!

Sun Nov 26, 12 Miles, 2264′ 2h2m

Front Door>Wonderland Lake>Goat Trail>Red Rocks>Sanitas via Swoop>East Ridge>Goat>Dog Park>Home. Threw in 4x 30s uphill striders before leaving the Sanitas Valley and cruising back home. Legs are feeling pretty solid after a big week, and even the late-run strides felt pretty reasonable.

Summary: 66 Miles, 6978′ 9h55m

Overall a good week. My legs have felt really solid through the increased distance, and intervallic work. I’d like to get a bit more vert, but that was mostly a symptom of time/location, and I’m pretty confident that next week will be ripe for some more climbing, and speed-work while keeping the volume similar.

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Looking North (Sanitas)
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Crested Butte (Pic: Martha Scheler)
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More CB (Pic: Martha Scheler)
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Summary Oct 30-Nov 5

On By siegmunaIn RunningLeave a comment

Monday Oct 30

Proper rest day. Feeling pretty lethargic from the weekend and/or the early AF alarm clock

Tuesday Oct 31, 10 Miles, 420′ 1hr 13m

Pretty cold start to the day — first time busting out the Mandex for the season. Ran to the reservoir and back from my front door with 10x30s strides on the way back (1min “easy” for recovery) before flying to CA for work. I keep forgetting that East generally = downhill and West generally = uphill, meaning that I was running my intervals on a slight incline.. good for the lungs, but not the most ideal for turnover/speed development. Also, JA texted later in the day to bust my balls for actually going for a “real” run (AKA sub 7:30 average) instead of hanging out as a mountain goat

Wed Nov 1, 7.5 Miles, 118′ 56m22s

Super boring/Super casual hotel jaunt. This particular place happened to have a paved cycle path right out back which lead to… well somewhere I suppose. Sea level feels amazing, but strides and flight legs feel a bit soggy

Thurs Nov 2, 10 Miles 177′ 1h13m

Again out onto the cycle path from the hotel. Sea level running seriously feels like heaven, which means I must be acclimating. 8x30s fast with 30s recovery this time around, which felt unusually strong/graceful (as opposed to the first few weeks of feeling like a baby giraffe). Also 7:1x pace feels like complete and total autopilot right now, which is pretty sweet.

Fri Nov 3, 5 Miles, 394′ 40m22s

Out the front door foothills trail type thing. A little run down overall from traveling this week, so it took a few miles for my legs to fall into autopilot pace. For the most part everything feels strong, if not particularly quick today

Sat Nov 4, 11.4 Miles, 3855′ 2h20m

Chat>Green>Bear>Chat via Greenman, Bear/Green, Fern, and Mesa. Snappy-ish ascent up Greenman to tag Green in a 2nd PB split of 54:24 without really pushing on the ascent (note: I’ve never tried to run up this route for time). Hung out on the summit talking to a few hikers for a couple of minutes before a handful of guys came up greenmail after scrambling the 2nd flatiron. I joined them for the descent of green/ascent of Bear (1:39:34 split) before we descended Fern over to the Mesa trail. Other than noticing my quads on the gnarly descent down Fern, I’m beginning to feel like I’m firing on all cylinders.

Sun Nov 5, 10 Miles, 1558′ 1h33m

Spent the gloomy morning inside watching Shalane Flanagan put on a tactical clinic at the NYC Marathon before heading out the door on some pretty lazy legs. I’d been talked into checking out the Lions Lair (AKA Swoop) route up Saints from the Centennial TH, so I ran from my front door to the TH, figured out some small navigational snafus (my own idiocy) and headed uphill. Legs felt pretty good, and I hit the summit in 1:05:17 from my front door. I continued down the northeast side of the mountain towards Wonderland Lake before pushing out the prescribed 4x30s strides and calling it a day. Legs were feeling less snappy than I would have hoped, but everything felt comfortable/controlled.

Summary: 54 Miles, 6522′ 7h56m

Overall another solid base/economy building week. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m laying the groundwork for long-term goals, and to not compare my efforts to folks at different ends of the training cycle. After all, it’s all about the process right now.

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Dat Sky Doe
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I’m becoming hipster AF apparently….

 

Summary Oct 23-29

On By siegmunaIn RunningLeave a comment

Monday Oct 23

Rest day. Feeling pretty tired, slow day at the office followed by some All-Terrain Yoga at Rayback.

Tuesday Oct 24 10 Miles, 312′ 1h14m

Double Boulder Reservoir Loop with 10x20s Strides thrown into the second round. Really enjoying the views of the Flatirons as well as the foothills while stretching my legs out on some cushy gravel. I also had a chance to “talk to animals” well… prairie dogs after the work portion of my session finished — they didn’t have much to say, but maybe they’re just shy.

Wed Oct 25, 7 Miles 974′ 1h7m

Front door jaunt up Hogback Ridge and back via the foothills trail. Easy recovery-like effort with a bit of climbing, and lots of soft-ground. I keep forgetting that the climb up hogback is kind of a bitch, but the views over the plains are pretty sweet.

Thurs Oct 26, 10 Miles 410′ 1h15m

Front door road session to the reservoir and back. I was looking for something that would be moderately compassionate for the 6×20 strides I had planned, as well as something that would accommodate my relatively small window of time between work/social engagements. Forgot that it’s a net uphill return to my house, which explains the not unsubstantial positive splits post strides. Also dealt with some wicked headwinds,  but still better than waiting for the afternoon snow to set in.

Fri Oct 27, 6 Miles 384′ 48m17s

Very moderate effort out my front door to the Foothills Trail/Wonderland Lake. Everything felt solid/effortless overall, if a little bit sleepy.

Sat, Oct 28 14 Miles 3799′ 2h42m

NCAR>Bear Peak>Green Mountain>NCAR. Caught some folks who were participating in the BTR trail marathon right as I was beginning the proper ascent towards Bear. Ran pretty hard uphill both ways while taking it pretty relaxed on the downs, both as a result of last week’s digger, and the volume of snow/ice up high (really just not feeling risky). Overall ascent times were better than the previous week (excepting snow covered sections) and legs are feeling increasingly resilient.

Sun Oct 29, 11 Miles 2808′ 2h2m

Chatauqua>Gregory Canyon>Green via Greenman>Mesa via Bear Canyon>Chat plus 4x30s uphill striders, and some light yogging back to the Tonka. Quads were feeling a little testy this morning, and generally unwilling to crank uphill for the first 1200′ or so. Second half of Green felt pretty good until the ice patches (risk/return doesn’t look very good regarding higher altitude ice at speed) where I slowed a bit due to obvious traction concerns. Pretty relaxed effort off the cone of Green, and once I got to the cushy single track I opened things up a bit into honest-fun territory (faster than a casual jog, slower than a race with some surges on the more fun sections of trail). Took it really easy through Mesa, and then hit my strides pretty hard at the end. Upon checking my local ascent spreadsheet I found that my run up Green was actually my 3rd best time on the route despite the general malaise, so that’s definitely a positive showing.

Summary: 58.1 Miles, 8688′ 9h10m

Another encouraging week. I’m beginning to feel some of the impact of consistent running economy work–basically everything is starting to feel easier/more fluid, and like I’m actually beginning to lay down some foundational work for 2018 (as opposed to grinding myself out).

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So Stoked.

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