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.