Week Ending September 20

Mon - 8 miles easy (1,650'). No watch. Felt ridiculously tired on this run.

Tues:
- Noon. 6 miles easy. No watch. Soderburg to Arthurs and back. (Vas)

- PM. 6 miles track. Two mile warm-up, then 6x800 (2:43, 2:35, 2:40, 2:41, 2:40, 2:37) and one mile warm down. Still feeling pretty tired, but managed to put in a decent effort.

Weds - 10.5 miles easy. 1:28. From Soderburg to Lory Visitor Center and back. Still feeling tired, but better 20 minutes in. (Vas)

Thurs:
- Noon. 8 miles easy (1,650'). No watch. Finally feeling like the fatigue fog is starting to lift ... for now. (Vas).
- PM. 6 miles easy. 50:00. Soderburg to Arthur's and back. (WCs)

Fri - 11 miles easy. Soderburg to Lory Visitor's Center and back. No watch. (WCs)

Sat - 13 miles (2,500'). 2.5 mile warm up, then 10.5 up and down Jelm. (CLs)

Sun - 6 miles recovery.

Total: 75 miles (5,800')

Running a hard downhill hurts - the next day. My original plan for Sunday was to get up early and knock out 20 miles on Blue Sky before the family was out of bed, but I woke up to my alarm feeling very stiff, so promptly turned it off and rolled over. The rest of the day I was running errands/doing chores thinking about maybe getting the run done 'later'. With an hour of sunlight left, I finally found some motivation and got out for a six-mile recovery run. A bit disappointing, but I really don't think I would have gotten much out of going long, other than the need for more recovery time through the week.

So with three races that I want to run hard coming up over the next five weeks (Blue Sky, Silent Trails, Dublin) I have decided to start my taper for Dublin this week, which means I'll be focused on recovery and key workouts and not sweating the mileage. Highly unconventional to start a marathon taper five weeks out, but with this crazy run of races that I have set up for myself, I see no other option.

Blue Sky is shaping up to be quite the race, and out of the three is the one I am most focused on. However, at Silent Trails I would really like to give Michael Huntington a good race in our tie-breaker in the Laramie Triple Crown (unless someone else shows up and beats us both). I'm still planning on giving the sub-2:40 a go at Dublin, but at this stage think it's a long shot, with 2:42/43 being a more realistic goal.

However things play out over the next five weeks, it's already been a great season for me and if I can eek out a win at BS or ST, or meet time goals at Dublin, it will be gravy.