Great Week With a Disappointing Finish

Monday

AM 1:31; 11M; 130 Av Hr; Elliptical; Sunday at the end of my long run, my Achilles started to bother me… Tuesday Marcus Allen checked it out and there was no sign of any stress to the area and then Wednesday I realized it was most likely just dry skin where my sock ended and my shoe rubbed my skin.  With the extreme dry lately, this chaffing makes sense.

I had to get a picture of this unique scene biking home...

Tuesday

AM 1:17; 10.63M; 499Ft;  142Av Hr; Season opening tempo… and it showed!  I have decided to reserve Tuesdays for tempo and speed on flat(er) terrain.  After a solid long run and big first week back, my legs were not spry and my lack of any speed work since last year made a direct impact on my 5 mile tempo pace.  My tempo route is slightly up hill from the start to about 4.5 miles (300ish up) and uses a little bit of the trails of wonderland as well.  Average pace was 6:23 with my heart rate hovering around 160.  A good first tempo.  On the track I believe it would have been just under 6 min/mile pace.

PM Took the second run off under the false pretense that my  Achilles was needing a break.

Massage with Marcus Allen; We worked on my hips, which are really tight and need some regular attention.  Looking forward to the efficiencies of loosening these critical joints. 

Wednesday

AM 1:31; 11.24M; 890Ft; 137Av Hr; Wonderland recovery day. 

PM :32; 4.24M; 48Ft; 144Av Hr (General Mobility!);  Barefoot at Kitts field followed by some General Mobility/Strides.

The First Flower in our rock yard this spring!

Thursday

AM 1:56; 12.02; 3,129ft; 147Av Hr; NEW GREEN MTN MIDDLE ROUTE TT RECORD!  Met up with Levi and Aaron for a time trial (TT) effort run up the middle route to Green Mtn.  After a month plus away not doing any timed ascents, I wasn’t expecting much of a performance today.  Warming up to the trail head, I actually couldn’t recall my times up the middle route and guessed a ludicrous 34 or 35 min. time.  Mile splits went: 11:56, 9:23, 13:04 and 1:51 for the last bit for a total time post to post of 36:04.  My legs and body felt pretty good on this TT.  Normally for TTs my calves burn, my mouth waters and tastes acidic and I nearly pass out and fight off dry heaves at the summit.  This morning, only my quads caught fire and  while I was spent, I didn’t feel as bad as normal on top.  After I got home, and checked the FKT link, I realized my old best time was 37:51… a minute 47 besting!  Levi came through in 40:05, which is a big best time for him (and as fast as I could run the route Pre-2011), Aaron rallied through with a 45:06 best time too.  Overall an encouraging day for all!  GZ ran the next morning and posted a new blazing best of 43:17. 

PM  :26; 3.5M; 120Ft; 133Av Hr; Easy run around the hood.  My watch ran out of juice on the way home.

Friday

AM 1:41: 12.04M; 1,207Ft; 138Av Hr; My new “hillier” Wonderland route today. 

PM In anticipation of Geoff’s long run Sunday, I took the afternoon off.

Saturday

AM 1:27; 10.15M; 1,649Ft; 147Av Hr; Easy run on trails North of Eldorado Canyon, into Eldorado Canyon and back.  I only ran 10 miles today in prep for Geoff’s long run Sunday.

 PM  Went for a hike on the trails I ran this morning with my little brother, Jaxon and my Dad.  At the end of the 6 or so miles, where my brother and Dad ran back to the car, a muscle below my calf became really tight and sore.  I iced it in S.Boulder creek, but it still wasn’t happy. 

My brother Jaxon on our hike

Felix's feet were sore, so he enjoyed his first icing with Dad!

Sunday

OFF; After an “emergency” visit to Marcus Allen Saturday night, it was determined I shouldn’t do a 40 mile, 10K+ climbing, one way trail long run.  While not running afforded me the opportunity to spend the day with my family and not to mention the fact the weather went from 80s Friday to windy and snowing Saturday, I still couldn’t help staring off at the flat irons with a longing and depressed stare. 

74.82 Miles

10Hr 21 Min

7,542Ft

A great week with a disappointing finish.  I got my first tempo in this year and a new best time on Green.  In hindsight, had I done the long run Sunday with Geoff, Scott, Joe and Dakota, I would have been at 115 miles for the week with two workouts… a touch more than I should do right now.  My calf muscle is totally healed, but I couldn’t avoid the nasty cold Maggie had last week and have been forced to taking Monday and Tuesday totally off.  I hope to be back running easy tomorrow. 

Regardless, I have enjoyed having my family here and the extra time to be with them and Felix!

I really enjoy the smooth tunes from The XX and the video for their Islands song is pretty powerful...