Week Ending March 15

Mon - Off

Tue - 8 miles on the mill. 57:30

Weds - 8 miles (1,700 feet). 1:12. Horsetooth/Audra Culver route. Ran the Horsetooth trail section (700ft, 1.1 mile) at 85% in 8:39, which was just 18 seconds slower than my fastest attempt just over a month ago, during which I was full out. Felt in control the whole way, but still had to stop at the top for 10 seconds or so to catch my breath, but certainly could have gone faster, probably beating my time from last month. Encouraged by that. Will take another full-on shot a couple of weeks before SDU Fruita in April when I want to go under 8 minutes.

Thurs - 6 miles (600 feet). 48.30. Milner Mountain Loop. Easy effort.

Friday - 1 mile jog. Wanted a longer easy run here, but after the course recon fiasco was happy to get anything in at all.

Sat - Salida Marathon (3,500 feet). 3:24. Third.

Sun - Off. Wanted to get out for an easy effort to work out some of the lactic acid, but never found the time.

Total: 51.2 miles (5,800 vertical)

Wanted to get a few more miles in, but a decent week on balance. Picked up a few nutritional lessons from the run in Salida, which I hope to apply next month at the Spring Desert Ultra. I also realized that I need to get more long tempo runs done in the coming weeks, in addition to shorter intervals. Didn't feel as sharp as I wanted to in Salida, but was happy with how comfortable the climb felt. Not quite sure how I am going to improve my downhill form without risking injury. Guess I'll just live with it for the time being.