Week Ending July 18

Mon - 5 miles fartlek (1,000') with hard effort on the ups. Horsetooth/Falls.

Tues - 8 miles steady (2,500'). Twin Sisters. Took my parents on a loop up to Estes, down to Lyons via Hwy 7 and back home past Carter Lake. In Estes, I left them to enjoy Lily Lake with Alistair while I set about tackling Twin Sisters (11,413). From the TH, it is 3.7 miles and just under 2,500' to the summit. From the parking lot, it is probably 4 miles each way. Never really pushed the envelope, but didn't lolly-gagging either, just a good steady effort up and down. Always good to get above 10k and even better to get above 11k, as if I didn't get enough of that in the San Juans a few days prior. Felt like I had good flow and foot-eye coordination descending. I love that feeling. 43 up, 29 down.

Longs/Meeker from Twin Sisters summit.

Weds - 8.5 miles (2,200'). Horsetooth/Adura easy.

Thurs - 8 miles (1,800'). Towers TT w/short warm up. 31:41. Steady the whole way. Despite the heat, we had a record turnout on Towers with 32 runners pushing themselves on the hill. Feels like we've got some good momentum going here on the FoCo trails with the trail running group.

Fri - 6 miles easy on valley trails.

Sat - 6 miles easy on valley trails.

Sun - 14 miles (4,000'). Barr Trail Mountain Race with short w-u & c-d.

Total: 55.5 miles (11,500').

Another moderate week on the mileage front, and that is just fine. Feels great to be pushing a few runs and not worrying about hitting mileage goals - just getting out there and running hard every other day and enjoying the trails. Got some elevation in with a trip up Twin Sisters on Tuesday and Pikes on Sunday. Felt good both times on the aerobic front.

The next two weeks, I'll be looking to get up into the 70-, maybe 80-mile zone, but will continue to be focused more on performance than mileage as I try to build some power and speed for Pikes. Will definitely need to get some longer runs in though to be sure that I'm not losing too much endurance.

Up on Longs today and more RMNP fun planned for the next few weeks. With the WS pressure off, things are definitely setting up for some fun summer runs up in the high country. So much to run, so little time.