Monday Nov 27, REST DAY

I’ve got to admit, I’m seriously (or is it spelled srsly nowadays..) beginning to enjoy the structure/reliability of having a day a week set aside as non-running. It’s both a welcome rest for the ol’ pins, but also serves as motivation through the longer weekend outings.

Tuesday Nov 28, 10.3 Miles, 308′ 1h14m 

Drove over to the Boulder reservoir for some double-loop action with 4x30s strides alongside the prairie dogs. I really can’t stress enough how pleasant it is to be able to consistently run on (relatively) flat dirt roads. “Casual” pace is becoming quicker and better flowing all while recovery between striders seems to be picking up.

Wednesday Nov 29, 10.4 Miles, 292′ 1h15m

Another day another dollar  set of loops at the res. This time around El Jefe instructed me to run “10×2 mins fast with 1 min easy.” Over the last 6 weeks or so, we’ve been gradually increasing the hard work and gradually decreasing recovery periods, so I can’t say I didn’t grumble his name in vain at least a few times during the middle intervals. By the time I was finishing however, I was surprised at how quickly it seemed to have gone, and how well my legs were responding to the workload (my lungs are another story right now). Afterwards I had a session with Ginna to release some knots in my legs and keep things running smoothly.

Thursday Nov 30, 12 Miles, 420′, 1h30m

One of those days where you’re convinced that someone switched the coffee supply over to decaf, so even getting out the front door took a lot of mental chutzpah. My calendar said 10-12 miles, so I figured an out-and back route to the res would work out well, and give me the option to either go whole-hog, or take the lighter number.

Friday Dec 1, 6 Miles, 381′ 48m18s

Foothills path North straight from my doorstep. Very casual effort by design/in preparation for the upcoming weekend abuse.

Saturday Dec 2, 16.2 Miles, 5548′ 3h32m

Chat>Gregory>Greenman>Green>Green/Bear>Bear>Fern>Mesa>Bear Canyon>Green/Bear>Green>Chat. Essentially I was looking for the most vertical inducing ridiculous route I could devise from the TH at Chautauqua, so the Green>Bear>Green attempt seemed like the best option. This sort of routing is of-course not recommended unless you’re prepping specifically for a big-mountain event (which I’m not right now…) and was essentially my last-hurrah of ill-advised mountain running until Mid-April of next year. That being said, shit was this fun!

Sunday Dec 3, 12 Miles, 804′ 1h32m

Certainly a more balanced route! I decided to check out the East Boulder trail in search of some sweet cush, and moderately graded hills. I was pleasantly surprised at both the quality of terrain and abundant opportunities to talk to animals (hey cow, I like your brown fur… say hello to your mother for me…). Legs felt a little soggy from Saturday’s grinder, and I spent the rest of the day lounging around, and then wrapping up the week with a couple of komuchas and beers at Rayback

Totals: 66.9 Miles, 7753′ 9h53m

Another solid week in the books. We’re beginning to increase both the fast work as well as the overall volume in preparation for 2018 (schedule coming soon), and after 2 hard weeks I’m actually looking forward to this upcoming down/recovery week before hitting the grind again.