Week Ending April 14, 2012

Well, now that I have been training consistently for a few weeks, I am feeling pretty good and am ready for my first real race on the season on Saturday.  I ran a double on Sunday, which was basically 11 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.  Monday was a 10 mile loop around Big Johnson reservoir.  Tuesday was a workout day after an easy 4 in the morning.  My last workout was uphill, so I stayed flat for this one.  I ran a 3 mile warm-up, then 7 x 1200.  I ran a nice long cool-down afterwards.  At this point in the season, all of my workouts are geared towards Mount Washington.  I have done a lot of uphill workouts and a lot of long runs on hilly terrain.  My first race, Xterra Cheyenne Mountain Trail Run, is on Saturday, and it is going to have a lot of climbing in it.  I will quickly find out whether I am in race shape or not and if I am prepared for Washington or not.  Because this race is not all that important in the big picture, I am not tapering or anything like that, and will simply train through it.  It rained on Wednesday and I ran a long run in the rain.  I did not dress very smart (long sleeve cotton shirt) for the rain, especially when it started pouring 55 minutes into my run (and 55 minutes away from home).  I don’t mind running in the rain at all, but this sucked.  It was pouring, then it stopped, but the wind was blowing pretty strong, and I started freezing.  I had a very cold, wet run and could barely move my fingers by the time I got home.  Thursday was much better:  4.5 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon.   I ran 10 on Friday, the day before the race.  Saturday was a 24k trail race at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  I ran pretty well.  Apparently I was not too sore because I ran an easy 4 miles in the afternoon.  Before the race, I saw an advertisement for a trail race again next weekend.  I talked to a girl who is running it next week, and I think I might go too.  I know I am coming back to this park for a 25k trail race in two weeks.  If I run all three, which I am thinking about doing, then I will simply race myself into shape.  109 miles for the week. 

Race Report: Xterra Cheyenne Mountain Trail Run

The Xterra trail race at Cheyenne Mountain State Park was my first real test of the season.  I would quickly find out if I was in shape or not, and more importantly, find out if I was in climbing shape or not.  It was a pretty small race (60 people) and I know most of the other good runners in the area.  I did not see any of the big names at the race so I basically assumed I was going to win the race before it even started.  Bad assumption.  The race was a two loop course (repeat the same loop twice) which climbed, climbed, climbed up to the high point of the northwest side of the park and looped back down to the start area.  The gun went off and I started conservatively in a pack of three until we started climbing.  From then I hammered.  I wanted to climb hard and see what kind of shape I was in.  I felt great and was surprised there was a guy hanging on to me step for step.  I decided to surge a little and he stayed with me.  “Who is this guy?”  I thought to myself.  I am arguably one of the best climbers in the country and here was some guy I’ve never seen before climbing with me step for step.  We reached the high point and started descending.  I sprinted as fast as I could knowing most people can run downhill faster than I can.  Sure enough once we got off the single track and to an aid station, I grabbed a cup of water and he ran right by me.  A few minutes later and back on the single track he was already out of sight.  Wow he was fast!  I was hoping he was only running the 12k and would turn to the finish after one loop.  Nope.  Tim Bergsten (pikespeaksports.us) was taking photos near the end of the loop, and as I passed him I asked “Who is that guy?”  Tim said he didn’t know and was going to ask me the same thing!  Besides climbing hard during the race, my other goal was to run negative splits.  I didn’t come close.  My second lap was 4 minutes slower than my first lap.  Lack of motivation was a big problem.  I didn’t have anyone pushing me up the hill, didn’t have anyone pushing my down the first part of the downhill, I couldn’t catch the guy in front of me, and nobody behind me was close to me.  I met the winner, Marshall Thomson, after the race.  He’s a skier from Crested Butte who has only recently started trail running.  He wants to get into the trail and mountain running scene and is a going to be a force if he sticks with it.  Colorado is already loaded with talented trail runners and he welcome addition to our arsenal.   I was happy with how I climbed the first lap, and I was satisfied with my race overall.  I know I need to work on my endurance and my downhills (I always need to work on downhills).  I think I might run the Big Mountain Trail Run next week. 

Week Ending April 7, 2012

The week started with a double on Sunday.  I wanted to run 14-15 miles in the easiest combination possible and thought about doing 10-5 or 7-7.  I settled on 8 in the morning and 6+ in the afternoon.  Monday was a date with the treadmill and an uphill challenge in preparation for Mount Washington.  I wanted to run 4.5 miles at 10-11% grade and 7.5-7.6mph.  Unfortunately I was not feeling very good.  I ran 2.25mi at 7.5mph and 10% grade before I had to call it quits.  I ended up running 5 miles on the treadmill all above 7%, but did not hit the workout I wanted.  Easy recovery run on Tuesday morning and about 12miles in the afternoon.  I did basically the same route again on Wednesday.  Thursday was a big mileage day as I ran 10 in the morning and then went to Cheyenne Canon in the afternoon.  I ran a great loop there which included a lot of climbing.  I ran easy Friday morning.  I went to Pike’s Peak in the afternoon and ran an uphill workout.  After a 3 mile warm-up, I ran 10 x 3:00 up Barr Trail.  It was nice up there and I didn’t find any snow.  I did get cold on my last few intervals (being tired didn’t help) and was glad to go back down to warmth after my workout.  Saturday was a long run in Cheyenne Canon again.  I climbed the same route as Thursday and made some other loops during my 2-hr run.  104 miles for the week.

Week Ending March 31, 2012

I continued running big miles this week getting back into ‘training mode.’  I went to Cheyenne Canon for an uphill workout on Sunday.  I ran 11 x 3:00 uphill repeats.  Monday was a long run up Barr Trail for an hour before I turned around.  Tuesday and Wednesday were both doubles with a medium distance in the morning and short, easy runs in the afternoon.  Thursday’s workout was a short, but good one.  I ran a 3 mile warm-up and then did five sets of 400m then 1200m (8000m total).  I felt pretty awful during the workout, but got a second wind or something during the last set, and totally crushed the last 1200.  Friday was another long run on Barr Trail and Saturday was a double a lot like Tuesday and Wednesday.  Overall this was a really good week.  I got two solid workouts in and ran a lot of miles.  104 miles for the week. 

Week Ending March 24, 2012

I flew home from the Florida Keys on Sunday and did not run. I spend my last night in Key Largo on the beach and pulled an all-nighter. It was pretty cool to look out into the ocean, stare at the stars, and watch a boat or ship slowly go by every once in a while. Monday was the first day of me getting my ass back into shape and I ran a double. I ran doubles for four of the last six days of the week and averaged 15 miles per day the six days I ran. My second treadmill workout of the season was run on Wednesday. I hate the treadmill, but in preparation for Mount Washington, I want to hit the treadmill at least once every two weeks or so. I ran a 4 mile warm-up, then put the treadmill at 10% and 6.4 mph. I increased 0.1mph every quarter mile until I was at 7.9 mph and 10%. The first few quarter miles were not difficult at all, but by the time I finished it felt like I was sprinting uphill. Overall, this was a very good week of training and I’m glad to get back into the swing of things. 90 miles for the week.

Week Ending March 17, 2012

What a great week! I cannot complain about scuba diving in the Florida Keys. The temperature was in the 80s all week, the water was aqua-blue, and the diving was fantastic. My running kind of sucked though. We had to be on the boat at 8:00am each morning and the sun did not come up until after 6:45. That makes it hard to get in a long run in the morning. Plus, the Keys are very narrow and the only road to run on is US-1. My first run on Wednesday was down the shoulder of the highway in the dark, which I did not like, until I found a neighborhood. Once in the neighborhood, I had time for a quick workout before getting back to the scuba place for diving. I ran roughly 1600, 1200, 800, 400, which is a pretty weak workout. It wore me out though. The humidity and heat got to me even though I was running early in the morning. I ran again on Saturday (St. Patrick’s Day). I had time for a little longer workout and ran (approximately) 2x 1000, 1400, 600. I got 6000m of work in compared to 4000 on Wednesday and felt okay. 15 miles for the week.

Week Ending March 10, 2012

This was one of the worst weeks I have had in a long time. Between being very tired and getting ready to go to the Florida Keys, I was very stressed out and did not run much. What can be so stressful about going scuba diving in the Florida Keys? I am taking 11 high school students on a spring break trip. I am very organized, have the trip well planned, and did not think I had anything to stress about. Apparently just thinking about the trip and wondering if I checked all details stressed me out. Each day this week I came home from work and had to crash. I wanted to run, but was exhausted and took a nap instead. I ran 12.25 miles on Monday and did not run again until Saturday. My thought process on Saturday was “I might as well go hard because I haven’t run in four days and probably won’t run much next week.” So I ran 10 x 3:00 uphill intervals. With warm-up and cool-down, this was a 14.5 mile day. 27 miles for the week.