Weekly Summary 7/11 through 7/17

MRAPs.  Early AM is the only time I can get a pic without Army guys hassling me...

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.  These bad boys are huge and make the old school Hummers look silly.  That apparatus in the front is to defeat IDEs before the vehicle comes through.  There are quite a few things the MRAPs do to prevent IDEs from killing our troops.

Monday-
AM 1:12, 9.17M;
Planned on running a few miles on the treadmill in adition to 7 on the dirt this morning, but both gyms had lines for the treadmills. I will have to run directly to the gym (at 5) to get a couple miles climbing in. I'll do some climbing on my second run today on the treadmil.
Nearly ran under 9 minutes for the first mile. I have promised myself to continue to run by feel, but still it bothers me to run that first mile so slow on the flat sea level dirt. My recovery runs are speeding up though overal.

PM :30, 4M, 1,090ft;
Easy run on the T-mill at 5% grade, 1090ft of climbing.

Felt really good this afternoon, but was tired and in bed at 8:30.

What I think I saw....  Scan Eagle UAV

Getting Snatched-Up... Still don't understand how this works!

Tuesday-
AM 1:24, 11.3M;
After a relatively good night of sleep, I felt pretty good warming up this morning. 
On my warm-up I pass the flighline where I frequently see aircraft flying to include UAVs (unmanned air vehicles), this morning I saw a very unique UAV that I have never seen before. This UAV had no propeller (like a Preadator) and no landing gear. It's fuselage was similar to a Preadator with the bulbous front, but the wings were swept back and had winglets. The UAV approached the runway and made no noise what so ever. I was confused by how it was powered and also how it would land with no landing gear. I assumed it was either going to have the landing gear pop out late or just do a fly by. I looked away for just a moment and when I looked back, the UAV was dangling from some sort of line attached to a very tall crooked crane like a fish out of water. The crane proceeded to lower the UAV to the ground. This whole occurance stopped me in my tracks. I have no idea how the UAV was "caught" by this "hook" or rope or magnet. Crazy. The UAV, from my quick estimations, had to be at least 15' long by 15' wide, but it could have been smaller or bigger as it is hard to tell how large something is that is flying by you, but regardless, I can't understand how this landing scheme works out.

Anyways, I proceeded to warm up and do general mobility with three strides at the end. Just like my last speed workout 2 weeks ago, I did 400 meter repeats with 600 meter recovery jogs 10 times based off my Garmin's interval workout feature.
My goal today was to run a 5:05 to 5:07 average. Last time I had a 5:10 average.

Splits:
5:17
5:06
5:06
5:00
5:08
4:50
4:56
4:57
4:52
4:40

Average pace: 4:59

A little windy on the way out (as seen by the splits), at my back on the return.

Very happy with this workout on the mixed terrain. Next speed workout, I'll do 12 x 400 meters.

Cooled down 2.5 miles.

PM :29, 4M, 1,090ft;
A very rushed 4 mile easy run on the treadmill at 5% grade, 1,090ft of climbing.

Wednesday-
AM 1:15, 9.51M;
I didn't sleep to well as it was really hot in my room... as in sweating while laying in bed. Not sure what is up with my AC. Felt OK on the run, certainly flat from yesterdays two runs. Still working on the last part of my morning recovery run loop... I keep getting turned around.

PM :26, 3.5M, 924ft;
A very sweaty (gym was crowded and I had to run in the hotter room of the two rooms) 3.5 miles at 5% grade, 924 total feet climbed.

Thursday-
AM 1:14, 9M; 1,425ft; 
It has been a stressful last few day for me combined with a great week of training thus far. My sleep was relatively good and I was excited to hit the pit, but I certainly was feeling grogy and I wasn't exactly feeling excited to get the workout started.

Did general mobility after warming up to the pit along with 3 strides. I stuck with the same format for the workout: start on top of the 30' steep hill, run down, up the 12ish foot hill, then the 50ish foot road out of the pit. I ran "harder" down on even intervals, doing 15 in total and finished the interval on top of the 30' steep hill.

My goal today was to run 15 intervals faster (40:05) than last time.

Splits "out" ranged between 1:11-1:18, running "back" splits were between 1:18- 1:33. 1,425 ft total climbing.

I made my goal with a total time for 15 intervals coming in at 39:42. On the longer up hill section of each interval I felt like a didn't have a gear I normally would have. The lack of the next gear at today's workout I blame partially on a big week and stress, but also that I'm only on week 3 of solid training. Hope to see that gear soon.


PM :29, 4M, 1,056ft;
Did this afternoon run at 12:30... 6hrs after my hill workout due to work schedule and a Shakra Khan (spelling?) concert in the gym that will close the treadmills at 3pm.

I felt surprisingly ok for only a 6hr recovery, this weeks training and doing a hard hill workout this morning. SOAKED head to toe from this run.

5% grade, 1056 ft of climbing.

Friday-
AM 1:20, 10.24M, 580ft;
This morning I did a 2 mile run over to the gym where I did a 2 mile run on the treadmill at 7:24 pace and at a 5.5% grade to get a little extra climbing in on this recovery run. I'll make this my regular routine for Fridays.
Did another 6 miles around Speicher for a total of 10.24. It was a bit windy out today. The legs were noticeably sore from the Pit yesterday, but my energy levels were pretty good.

Saturday-
AM 2:28, 21.47M, 1450ft, 146 AV HR;

Last night my neighbor was in his room and listening to music as I was trying to go to bed. 8pm is really not too late to be listening to music and in the note I left him, I told him I went to bed at 9pm. I turned on my clock radio to static, put in ear plugs and tried to fall asleep, I was close but couldn't pull it off. At 9pm, my neighbor courteously turned off the music and shorty there after, I fell asleep. 3:48am came quick and as usual, I hit the snooze once. I was in the dark and running with my Nathan water pack, reflective belt, sunglasses, 50oz of water, ID, 3.5oz of 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot and toilet paper at 4:05am.

The plan was to meander in the dark over to the gym, if it was open, and run 4 or so miles at 5.5% grade on the treadmill then make my perimeter loop run back to the start. Luckily the gym is indeed open 24hrs a day and after a mile warm-up, I did 4.56 miles at 7:42 pace at 5.5% grade with 1,355ft of climbing on the treadmill.

I then began my journey around the base at about 10 minutes to 5am. The legs were feeling flat, energy ok, but certainly not feeling peppy. As I got a few miles the energy levels were ok, but my legs felt "not there" as they did last Saturday.

I was a bit nervous about my estimations for this long run, the total time it would take and not being late for my ride to breakfast and work. The pace was pretty good, but it wasn't feeling as "easy" as last week.

I came to the transition point where I go from buildings, roads and fences to the open desert... my favorite. I was really looking forward to this. From here I had a cross wind for a few miles on the open plains then a 90 degree, turn and then the wind was at my back for about 5 miles where I effortlessly ran just under 7 min mile pace. On the final turn I was feeling great and decided to try and keep pace under 7min miles and inadvertently ran a 6:44. The last two miles I kept if more relaxed but the pace still was just under 7 pace. So the last 7 miles were sub 7... I received my heart rate monitor in the mail (thank you Maggie!) and wore it for the first time today. Average heart rate was 146, max 165, which is pretty good considering a little climbing, a big week, 6.5hrs of sleep and legs that felt heavy and a bit sore.

Splits:
1) 9:04
2-5) 7:40avg, 1,355ft climbing on treadmill
6) 7:40
7:) 7:40
8) 7:33
9) 7:20
10) 7:45
11) 7:11
12) 7:10
13) 7:12
14) 7:14
15) 6:57
16) 6:58
17) 6:54
18) 6:54
19) 6:59
20) 6:44
21) 6:59
22) 6:55 (.79M)

Average pace: 7:22
Climbing: 1,355 + 95 = 1,450ft
Avg HR: 146BPM

Sunday-
AM 1:25, 10.65M, 560ft, 127 AV HR;
After a good night of sleep, crazy dreams and forgetting to turn my alarm on, I was running through the desert a bit late at 5:40am.

The body was slow and tired, with a 9:23 first mile. Ran over to the gym after 7 miles for a couple miles of treadmill climbing: 2 miles at 7:30 pace, 5% grade, 560ft of climbing then back to my room. 127 average HR, 140 max... pretty happy to have my average under 130BPM.  Looking forward to see where my heart rate is for all my runs next week.

What I call the "Pink Marshmallow Plant"

SUMMARY:

 The end of week 3.  Things are going well running, better than I would have expected actually.  I'm running more miles, ran sub 5 min/mile pace for my speed workout on the dirt, reduced my total time for my 15 hill repeats, ran further, faster, with more climbing on the long run and did more climbing on my afternoon runs.  Pretty happy.
I've been doing some goals setting with the help of my massage therapist, Marcus Allen, who placed in the top ten at a marathon in North Carolina last weekend.  I plan on doing an ultra in mid to late August... in Iraq.
 The family is doing well.  My father in law and mother in law, Patrick and Ginny, are in Boulder visiting Felix and Maggie.  The family is out hiking in the mountains, staying up in Vail and Aspen and having a great time.

Total Miles: 96.8
Total Feet Climbing: 8,175
Total Time Running: 12:22