Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Weekly Summary April 2-8

Monday- 13.2M, 1,700Ft Climbing; A wonderful run from campus up to Gregory Canyon this south to Mesa and then up Bear Canyon.  What was wonderful, was the cool, damp weather while I ran on the trails.  Felt nice to feel some moisture after such a long dry and even hot few weeks before. 

Tuesday 800 Repeats- 15.5M, 400Ft Climbing; Did 8 X 800 meter repeats with a quarter mile jog between.  The weather was very challengign this morning with a few inches of new snow, some decent wind and pelet like snow falling pretty much the entire run.  My pace for the 800s were between 5:33 and 5:48, which considering the day, was a good effort.  I plan on keeping this workout going for the next few weeks leading up to Leona, sort of a tempoish pace repeat day to keep the leg speed. 

Wednesday- 7.2M, 600Ft Climbing; Easy run in the AM around Wonderland lake
PM- 8.1M, 500Ft Climbing; Easy run up the bike path and into Boulder Canyon. 

Thursday Green Time Trial- 15M, 3,500Ft Climbing; My first time trial up Green in at least a month.  I biked a mile towards Chautauqua and ran from that point.  Last time trial up Gregory-Greenman-Green my goal was to break 40, which I did by just a bit.  Today I was hoping to be closer to 37 minutes as I'm in better shape and there isn't snow the whole way up.  While I believe I am in great trail ultra shape, I have been focused on a more leg speed oriented training regiment over the last few months with my focus races (Bandera and Chuckanut) being "flatter" and less emphasis on ascending strength. 

Getting started after a few mile warm-up, I felt pretty good on the first few streches of Gregory, I imediately feared I might be in trouble at the last mile.  At my first split at the Greenman Lodge I was just under 15 minutes, which is as fast or faster than I have ever been.  At this point, I changed my goal of 37 to getting close to my PR... which I only knew was 36 "something".  Things continued to go well all the way just past where the amphitheatre trail comes in and things get steep.  While I believe I kept record pace through this point, two things hit me in the last half mile or so: Tuesday's leftover slick snow and my lack of fast steep mountain running.  The few inches of snow honestly sucked for footing and I honestly lost at least 20-30 seconds.  To the post I ran 36:47.  I was certainly hurting, as I gave my all the last mile as I felt I was in range of my PR.  I didn't find out my best time was 36:04 until I got home.  Pretty sure without Tuesday's snow I would have been within 20 seconds of my PR.  A little more hill work and some good trail conditions and I think I can get into the low 36 range next week. 

Friday- 9M, 550Ft Climbing; Easy run from home.
PM- 6M, 400Ft Climbing; Easy run up Boulder Creek.

Saturday Long Run- 25M; 5,500Ft Climbing; Met up with a great crew of runners for a fun loop around the Boulder front range.  Scott Jurek, Kendrick Callaway, Dane Mitchell (5th at Chuckanut), Jim Rebenack (10th) and one other guy (totally spaced his name, sorry man!). 
We ran up Flastaff, then hit Green down the West ridge to the road, then on some trail over to Walker Ranch, to the climb up and then into Eldorado Canyon, up Old Mesa Trail and then Mesa trail with some circling around to get to 25 miles.  We held a pretty good long run pace on this fun group run.  Always nice to hit the long run with a great crew. 

Sunday Long Run- 25M, 1,250Ft Climbing; Dane Mitchell came over to North Boulder Park for a flatter, faster long run.  We ran to the trail at Forest and 4th down to the trails around Wonderland Lake, under Hwy 36 to Boulder Valley ranch and then all the way around Boudler Reservoir and back.  I was certainly a bit tired from the day before and we ran good long run pace the whole time ranging from 6:50 to 8:00 with a 7:15 or so average pace.  Great run. 

Synopsis- Solid week of training.  I'm really happy with this week's training.  One faster leg turnover day, a good split for my timed run up Green and then two back to back solid long runs over the weekend.  I was tired over the weekend and Monday, but very happy with the training.  

124 Miles
14,400 Feet Climbing

      

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