Weekly Summary for 4/11-4/17

Monday
AM 1:39; 12.03M; 901Ft; 148Av Hr; Flatter Wonderland Trail E-Run.  Still feeling weak from the cold I had.  Av Hr was pretty high.  Great to see the return of the Great Western Meadow Lark to my Wonderland trail runs!

Tuesday
AM 1:17; 10.41M 530Ft; 150Av Hr; 10 x 90 seconds on, 2:30 jog on the Boulder Creek Bike Path.  This was my first day feeling relatively “back” from my nasty cold.  Taking the side trails up the west end of the bike path I averaged a humbling 5:50 something pace on my 90 second repeats.  Was happy to see low 4:50 pace on the way back. Low 5:20 average pace for 15 minutes of hard on the less than flat west end of the bike path Good to be running fast.     

Massage:
My body-work with Marcus Allen was Saturday this week.  We discovered I need to do some hip strength work.  

Wednesday
AM 1:44; 12.07M; 1,180Ft; 141Av Hr; Hillier Wonderland trails.  Good to see the Av Hr down from Monday’s similar run.  Saw 32 deer in one area grazing next to the trails.  Really enjoying being back on the trails.  


Thursday
AM 2:09; 10.86M; 2,840Ft; 144Av Hr; Snowy Time Trial run up Bear Canyon to Green Mtn.  After a surprise 5” snow, I was excited to run in the fresh pow with Aaron.  I was breaking trail up Bear Canyon all the way up and then down Green Mtn.  The snow was very wet and there were many trees and bushes bent over and across the trail.  At least a half dozen times, I had to either crawl under trees, or go off the trail.  On the way up I also had to just stand and guess (didn’t stop the watch) where the trail went.  Aaron fell down into the creek scratching his ankle and arm.  When I saw him on the peak he was bloody… not to mention how ridiculous it looked that he was in shorts, T-Shirt and a baseball cap.  To his defense, it wasn’t that cold, but I would have been.  There was at least 10” of un-cut pow on top of Green.  The character building push up Green (one of the most challenging) took 38:47.   

PM :34; 4.2M; 130Ft; 149Av Hr; Easy run on the bike path with general mobility.  Av Hr was higher due to the general mobility.  

Aaron on the way down Greenman

Serious Pow at Green's summit

Aaron sporting "Rocky Mtn Spring Running Gear" 

Friday 
AM 1:46; 12.28M; 1,247Ft; 137Av Hr; Hilly Wonderland Trails.  I continued to feel better every day this week.  On my third time at this distance, location, appx time and gradually more climbing (900ft, 1100ft, 1200ft) my Av Hr went from 148 to 141 to 137.  

Saturday
AM 3:24; 24.01M; 2,487Ft; 149Av Hr;  Long run from Heil Ranch parking lot, to the top of the “overlook”, Wild Turkey trail, to Picture Rock trail and then about a mile into Lyons.  After a bad week of sleep with Felix, Friday night was the worst, maybe 4ish hours of sleep.  The bad sleep combined with getting over the cold and a decent week of running made this long run pretty challenging.  The first maybe eight miles of trail on this run are pretty technical, not steep, but technical with a lot of rock and loose rock.  I tried out Aaron’s Gregory hydration pack on this run along with taking 3.5oz of EFS liquid shot.  The pack, the EFS and the weather were perfect, but I was pretty tired.  Once I got to the end of Picture Rock trail I ran a little over a mile on a bike path and then on the side of the road.  The plan was to go 12.5M out for 25M total… after a quarter mile on the side of a road, I felt horrible and settled for 12 out and a nice stretch.  Miles 10-14 were very tough being out in the open and road… amazing how not being on the trails in the forest compromises me mentally.  Once back to the forest I was OK, until the last 2 miles where I was ready to be done.  In my tired haze, I managed to drop my ID and CC when I took out my camera for a picture.  Two separate people found my cards.  I am really impressed and thankful for these awesome people.  They both contacted me via email… I think the blog made this possible??  As I do after all my runs, but even more so on Saturday, I was very excited for my Ultragen recovery drink while I stretched by the trickle of a creek.   

Near the start of my long run at Heil Ranch

Old car along the picture rock trail

Glory meadow looking towards the pass 

Sunday
AM 2:01; 14.31M; 1,673Ft; 141Av Hr; Boulder Creek Bike Path, Boulder Canyon Rd, Boulder Link Trail, Betasso Loop Trail.  After not being able to join some friends for this classic Boulder Mtn bike ride, I decided to do it as a run today.  This will make a great alternative to a Wonderland run.  I also finally figured out what the huge building/complex was up in the hills of Boulder… Betasso Water Treatment Plant. 

Mystery solved.... Betasso Water Treatment Plant

14:34 Total Time Running
101.1 Total Miles
10,988 Total Climbing
144.9 Av Hr

The week started with a compromised body that was still battling off a cold, but finished well with some solid training.  I didn’t keep track of mileage during the week, nor plan on finishing with 100.1 miles… I thought with just one double and a conservative long run I’d maybe break 90, not 100.  Cool.  Av Hr was high this week due my body fighting off the cold.  Climbing was a bit less this week.     
I’ll keep Monday and Tuesday regular, but do a mini-taper Wednesday-Friday in prep for the Cheyenne Mtn 50K next Saturday.  I won’t be in the kind of shape I’ll be in for the summer, but I’m still confident Saturday’s run will go relatively well.