Weekly Summary for 1/9 to 1/16 FELIX ALLEN-EMERSON HAS ARRIVED!!!

Monday
AM :35; 4.08M; 296Ft; 142Avg Hr;  Easy run to wonderland lake and back, I think the new snow might have been why my HR was so high.

THE SUB 7 PACE RECOVERY DAY!

PM 1:24:19; 12.01M; 568Ft; 145Avg Hr; Did a rare Boulder Creek path run from work.  As I have been running hard on the trails lately and average 8:30-13:00/mile pace so often, I wanted to see some 7:00/mile splits.  This is when a GPS watch is dangerous… once this idea settled into my thick head, there was no turning back.  The first mile was in the 8s (before the idea settled) but after than it was 6:40s to 7:00 every mile.  The run wasn’t supper flat and there was a decent amount of slick packed snow from the plows on the path.  The HR should have been in the 130s for this recovery day, but then again it was good for my ego to get under 7:00 pace for all but 1 of the 12 miles. 

Tuesday

AM 1:53; 9.75M; 2,911Ft; 144Avg Hr; What was supposed to be a Green Time Trial day turned into a super fun snow run up Green.  Aaron  was late… punk, I took off and ran up the backside/ranger to Green and down Bear.  I no kidding, had so much fun playing in the snow.  Sunday and Monday’s storm was not windy, so the trees and mountains were postcard beautiful.  It was slow as heck, but I didn’t mind and had a smile on my face most of the way.  Met up with Aaron, as he finally got out of bed and knew I would be coming down Bear.  We had fun and I had my first total fall on the trails.  Today was great fun, but not an amazing workout (Avg Hr of 144 shows that), but I don’t fret about hitting splits, etc… training for ultras, I’m having fun!

PM :38; 5.34M; 254Ft; 139Avg Hr; My affection for running 7 flat on the BC bike path was still live and well, but at least I got under the 140Hr.

Wednesday

AM 1:41; 12.06M; 807Ft; 130Av Hr; E-run from home, wonderland lake, N.Boulder trails and back home.  On this run I turned a corner with regards to being able to run the amount of volume and intensity I have thrown at the legs and not feel so flat on my easy recovery days.  The last couple of weeks I have been feeling pretty tired and running pretty slow on the E-runs. 

PM :31; 4.27M; 73Ft; 137Av Hr; E run from work to Kitteredge Fields for 3M barefoot.  It is unbelievably nice that the turf fields are plowed during the winter.    The CU Buffs distance guys were on the fields doing an easy run as well at the same pace… felt crowded passing each other every 3 or 4 minutes. 

Thursday LAST NOT DAD RUN!

AM 1:50; 13M; Flat; My hands down best speed session this morning on the indoor track with Aaron.  4M warm up, 2M cool down. 8 x 600M with a 400M jog recovery followed by 4 x 200M with a 400M jog recovery.    

600Ms= 1:52, 1:52, 1:52, 1:53, 1:52, 1:52, 1:50, 1:48.  1:51 Avg; appx 4:55/M pace

200Ms = 33, 32, 31, 29. 31 avg; appx 4:08/M pace

I’m thinking one more week (5 under the belt) with this workout and then some longer intervals. 

PM My foot was sore from speed this morning so I didn’t run. 

Went and listened to Anton, Scott, Geoff, and Dave talk about running at Sherpas in Boulder, when I got home Maggie went into labor... apparently this motivated Felix to make his appearance!

Friday

PM :33; 4.02M;  What started as a fresh air jaunt on zero sleep, turned into a short 2 mile run in the dark to Levi’s house to tell him the birthing story!  I couldn’t wait to get back to Felix.

Saturday

AM :31; 4.04M; 171Ft;  I hoped to do a 2hr run, but it just wasn’t in the cards as I was exhausted from no sleep Thursday night and the 2 hour interval sleeping Friday night.  I ended up just running the 4 miles home from the hospital, got the house picked up for the family home-coming and biked back to the hospital.  I certainly couldn’t of done the PP50K!

NEW GREEN BACKSIDE PR!!!

PM 1:38; 9.5M; 2,923Ft; 152Av Hr;  Tonight was my first experience on how a baby can take a long time to transport…  It took nearly 90 minutes to get out of the hospital and once I got home, I had a hard time prying myself away from Felix.  I had to get back up green after literally having it displayed in our hospital room for the last two days (as seen in new picture at the top of my blog).  I drove to REI to get a headlamp so I could run in the dark and then headed up Green from the parking lot at 6:30PM.  I made it up to the Gregory Canyon trail head in 6 minutes and 9 seconds just jogging… this should have been a sign that I was ready to roll, but I thought nothing of my minute faster than usual jog up to the trail head.  I started to jog up the canyon a few meters without taking a split, then thought, well, I might as well, ran back and took the split.  After a few minutes of easy jogging I decided I might as well get a decent time since it was the first time the snow was actually fast going up Green this winter.  As I got maybe a third up Gregory, I finally committed to the pretty outrageous notion of testing my thoroughly sleep deprived body on my first ever headlamp Green ascent.  Low and behold at the only place I ever look at my watch (green mtn lodge), I was over a minute faster than my best time.  The irony continued and I charged all the way to the rocky tip of Green Mountain via “the backside”/Ranger trail route in 33:28.  I couldn’t believe the time.  I was hoping to hit a low 35 PR or MAYBE, a sub 35, but 33:28 was a bit shocking.  My legs are no longer sissy road-running toothpicks.  My grin and happy thoughts literally lasted all the way down Bear Canyon across Mesa to the huge skunk by the bridge at the Gregory P.lot and down to the car.     

Sunday

AM 3:56; 23.33M; 4,872Ft; 140Av Hr; Had a fantastic long run where I met up with Jacob Rydman, visiting from California, at the parking lot of Chautauqua Park after running from home, up panorama, flagstaff, green mtn lodge, 5 minutes past the lodge (ran out of time for a summit) and down Gregory.  I showed Jacob the famous Frontside, Amphi, Saddle Rock, 1^st Flatiron(??), steep way up Green per his request… too many names.

Jacob was doing well despite running with Anton and Scott the day before at the PP50K, wearing Microspikes that were a bit too big and not to mention running at 6-8K feet when home is at 250ft in Caly!  We cruised down my favorite trail in the park, Bear Canyon, where we saw Hommie (he said he is going to make it to Tuesday's workout!) to mesa and back to the parking lot.  Jacob and his buddy headed to lunch and I cruised 7 miles at 6:50-7:15 pace with 3 miles at Kitteredge barefoot.  While not as much climbing as some of my other long runs, I felt awesome and daydreamed about upcoming races.    

Totals are a little flatter, faster (good thing), and about 15 miles short due to the day and a half I didn’t sleep, was at the hospital and playing with Felix!

Miles 101.4

Climbing 12,721Ft

Time Running 15:11

This was a very special week as I witnessed my super star wife birth our son Felix Allen-Emerson Schlarb.  She did so phenomenally well birthing him 100% naturally.  Maggie never once complained, she never was discouraged, she never thought of using drugs and she did the whole thing in 7hrs, where the average first labor is 10-20hrs.  The nurses were amazed at her calm and how well she did.  My week running, where I nailed a great speed workout and got a surprise 2+ minute PR up Green’s backside, hardly registered in comparison to meeting Felix.