Week Ending Nov 20

Mon - 7 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Sdoerberg - home long.

Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. Cemetery work out with the cemetery gang: mile, 800, 1.5 mile, 3x800. 3min rest between first four intervals, then 20 sec between 3x800. Tough workout. I was able to hang on at a decent effort for the most part, but definitely faded on the 3x800 at the end on short rest: 5:16, 2:34, 8:09 (5:18, 2:51 (ugh!)), 2:41, 2:36, 2:42.
PM: 7.5 miles (1,400') easy. Two laps of the Reservoir Ridge route in the dark with a fading light. Easy, easy.

Weds - 7.5 miles (1,800') easy with Sam. Horsetooth summit - Wathan - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hill tempo. HTH5MO@B. Chilly out, but little to no wind made it bearable. Driving down and jogging out I was feeling supremely unmotivated after a sleepless night of Stella wake-up calls. Out super easy with Pete, Sam, Slush, Celeste and Lisa in 41:45, with the thought to come back at a steady rather than hard effort. Coming up the north dam hill, I was largely able to stick to that plan, then Sam decided to notch up the effort and I couldn't resist tagging along, 10 meters adrift. Bridged the gap through mile two and then pushed past going up the hill on mile three. As usual, Sam blew by me and my short, stubby legs coming down Monster Hill and then it was off to the races for the last mile down to Maxwell. Was happy to keep Sam within 10 seconds by the finish, which popped at 30:20 (6:04). Splits went: 7:45, 6:14, 5:56, 5:34, 4:51.
PM: 7 miles (1,700') Towers steady. Started out conversational with Slush until Herrington and then opened it up a bit as I was feeling surprisingly smooth despite the morning session. Beautiful evening out, and probably 25 degrees warmer than 12 hours earlier. Well over 20 of us on the hill, which is pretty impressive for mid-November. Up in 34:02.

Friday: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Audra - Southridge back up to Rock - Rock - Soderberg - home long.

Saturday: 18.5 miles (6,300') hills. Double Round Mountain. Bit of a sketchy drive out to the Round trailhead with an icy downfall during the night. Trail conditions were decent enough though, with not much more than a skiff of snow, with some ice hidden in places underneath. Ran most of the first climb at a pretty casual pace with Dakota and Slush, then soloed the descent and subsequent ascent/descent. Just managed to sneak under an hour on the first summit (which required an absurd sprint through the last 200 meters), then right on 59 mins for the second climb. Both descents were slow (45, 43) due to the sketchy underfoot conditions, and I was generally feeling tired and a little bonky second time up. Good group out: Kristel, Justin, Toto, Pete, Celeste, Ziggy, Steph, Chris, Pete and Dakota.

Sunday: 27 miles (6,200') long. 4:22. Out with Ryan for an elevation-gain fact-finding mission. Ran the full 25 miles of the May race route, which my Highgear altimeter clocked at a whopping 5,800 feet (11,600' for the full 50). This thing really is going to be a ball buster. After yesterday's Round Mountain session, I was feeling pretty worked towards the end, but by and large was able to maintain a constantly steady and comfortable pace the whole way around. The 25 miles took almost exactly 4 hours, so we're thinking anything under 3:30 in the 25 mile and 7:30 in the 50 mile will be pretty stout, with the 7:30 being the tougher target in my opinion. Ryan thinks we should name the race 'Relentless 50,' as the climbs just keep coming, but we already have a name (and almost a website). Registration opens within the next couple of weeks.

Total: 102 miles (22,700')

Another big weekend in the books. Not sure I can remember my last 6,000'+ double weekend. I certainly didn't feel stellar on either run, but by the same token I was able to run through both runs at a steady effort without feeling a great deal of deterioration, which has me feeling pretty strong if not particularly sharp. Just grinding 'em out and hoping to have some good fitness for Bandera in January.

Thinking I'll put in a mini taper for the Turkey Day race just to rest things up a bit and not get too carried away on the volume front. The summer racing season is still a long way off and I'm no spring chicken. Got to take care of all the moving parts.