PM: 8.5 miles (800'). Out and back from Bluesky TH to Arthurs TH. Legs feel remarkably good post Salida.
Tues - AM: 9 miles intervals. Jane's group for a cemetery session. On tap was: mile, 2x800, mile, 2x800, 1.5 mile. All on 2-3 min recovery. Post Salida, my legs have been feeling next to no soreness, but a full-on effort would certainly have been a poor decision for this morning. Went at a hard tempo effort with Chris M instead and held up pretty well once the legs were in gear: 5:27, 2:40, 2:38, 5:21, 2:41, 2:39, 8:12 (5:27, 2:45). 2.5 mile w-u, .75 mile c-d, then champagne and cake to celebrate John Lonsdale's retirement from 34 years of running Foot of the Rockies, Fort Collins' first running specialty store.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy Horsetooth summit. Up Rock, down Audra/Southridge. Another gorgeous day. Nice and easy.
Weds - AM: 8.5 miles (1,800') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. Nice and casual with neighbor Mike. Shorts and T.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop super easy.
Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hills steady. Five mile O&B on Centennial. Came back in a steady ~34 to leave something in the tank for Saturday. Mike, Slush, Celeste and the wunderdog.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
Fri - Noon: 8 miles (2,100') easy Horsetooth summit. Up Southridge/Audra, down Wathan - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Nice easy cruise on a breezy, but warm day. Park packed again.
Sat - 10 miles race. Sharin' O' the Green 5k (16:46) with 6 mile w-u, 1 mile c-d.
Sun - 37 miles (7,500') long. Had a really fun morning running a lap around the reservoir - the long way - with Burch, Pedatella, Tiernan and Kosick, in addition to meeting up with other friends along the way. After a week of really warm weather, the trails were essentially clear, which made the outing all the better. We went easy to steady the whole way around with a few lingering stops on top of Horsetooth and Arthurs, in addition to the Lory Visitors Center. The morning was capped off with a great spread of food and beverages at the May's house.
Route went: Platte Dr - 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls - H'tooth TH - Soderberg - Southridge - Audra - H'tooth summit - Westridge - Mill Creek - Howard - Westridge - Arthurs summit - Westridge - Timber - Lodgepole Drive - Centennial - Reservoir Ridge - Foothills Trail - Pineridge - Platte Dr.
 |
| Heading around the south end of the Reservoir in the early miles. Horsetooth to the left of Zeke's head. Kosick, Tiernan, Clark, Pedatella. Pic: Burch |
 | ||||
| Top Horsetooth: Clark, Pedatella, Burch, Tiernan, Kosick. Pic: Erskine |
  |
| All four of us will be at WS100 this summer. Pedatella on pacing duties and the other three racing. Tiernan and Burch are strong right now. Prediction: all three in the top 10. Image 2: Under Horsetooth on Westridge. Pics: Erskine |
 |
| Top Arthur's: Clark, Stevenson, Tiernan, Slush, Kosick, Lynn, The Erskine. Pic: Burch |
 |
| From top Arthurs. About half way around the Reservoir on the west side. Pic: Burch |
 |
| Refueling at the Lory Visitors Center. Pic: Erskine |
 |
| Finish line. Pic: Alex May |
 |
| Fail. Pic: Erskine |
Total: 115 miles (19,000')
We were treated to an early taste of spring this past week, which made for a great week for running, capped off with a full morning on some of my favorite trails on Sunday. Next FCTR outing is the Spring Round Up on April 7: 30 miles, 10,000 feet, one summit (of Round Mountain). Mark your calendars.
.png)
115/19k! I think the countdown to WS has begun. Do you suppose Kilian is a good slackliner?
ReplyDeleteClark, Tiernan and Burch, all top-10 this year. I just wrote it down.
ReplyDeleteAnd, the other seven?
As always great getting out to run with you - thanks for dragging me around all day!
ReplyDeleteMy garmin said ~6200 for the day. Quite a bit lower than you and Pete said, I guess that explains why you FoCo guys always seem to be racking up such huge vertical...
Rob - Of course he is.
ReplyDeleteAndy - That's a good question and the reason we run these things. I'm hoping you'll be ready to try and grab one. Interesting field this year, with lots of variables to ponder, but I'm not going there just yet.
Nick - yeah, maybe. It was somewhere between 6,500' and 7,000' I think, so we'll just round that up to 8k'.
If we are going to start rounding may as well just call it 10k...Now that you are an RD you need to start inflating course elevation like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteSo should probably just round Quad Rock up to 20,000' then.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDeleteKilian, Wolfe, Kaburaki, Olson, Sharman, Koerner and Roes if he's running. Not in that order. None of us is allowed to put AJW on the Top 10 list this year, because nobody ever does, so that way we can keep the streak and karma alive.
ReplyDeleteBrett - no Roes, no Koerner (both doing HR1000, but you can go ahead and replace them with one of Sandes, Bragg, Mackey, Riddle or Wardian (among a long list of other top-10 contenders).
ReplyDeleteOK, I like both those lists, but there will be no snow, we'll be running the Real Course, and I just heard today it's going to be 2006 temperatures all over again. You guys remember what that was like?
ReplyDeleteOh wait, only Hal remembers 2006 and he called it a day with a burger at Michigan Bluff (and Hal can bring it with the best of them). Get ready, this year will be hard (unless the place burns down)
ReplyDeleteAndy - we'll see what late March and April bring in terms of snow, but certainly things are looking good right now for a snow-free year. As to your long range weather forecast, I think that guarantees that we'll be running under overcast skies in 70 degree weather.
ReplyDeleteHeat or no heat, it's 100 miles against a bunch of dudes who want to win. It's already a given in my mind that it will be monumentally hard and painful ... and that's why we keep coming back ...
Great points! I just think we're "due" for some heat this year since it's been so long. And, indeed, that is why we keep coming back.
ReplyDeleteNick - highly likely I'll get out to Robinson late-April or first week of May, I'll give you a scouting report May 11:)
ReplyDeleteNick, thanks for a stellar training day. I do hope you come up and do some training in the elks this spring or summer. You always have a place to stay. Zeke
ReplyDelete