Three Weeks Ending May 27

Week Ending May 13

Mon - AM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - AM: 11 miles track. Hit the track early with Mike and Slush for 3 x 2 mile @ 10k pace. Was hoping to run 5:20s, but settled in at 5:30 pace and knew early that's where I was for the morning. Had to work a bit for these: 10:58 (5:29, 5:29); 10:57 (5:29, 5:28); 11:01 (5:32, 5:29).
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Noon: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg. Could have run all day it was so nice out, but much to do.
PM: 3 miles (700') easy. Bench loop.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 (1,000') easy. With Celeste on Bluesky.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with FCTR.

Fri - AM: 13.5 miles (3,200') easy. Marking Quad Rock course with DBow.
PM (1): 5.5 miles (1,200') easy. Marking QR course.
PM (2): 3 miles (500') easy. Marking QR course.

Sat - Off. Quad Rock race directing all day.

Sun - Off. Traveling all day.

Total: 72.5 miles (10,700')

Week Ending May 20

Mon - Off. Traveling all day.

Tues - 10 miles easy on roads in La Palma (to lighthouse and back on south side of the island with Geoff and Joe).

Weds - 8 miles (2,500') easy. Trail run to Pico de Bejenado in La Palma; awe-inspiring crater views and an all-star cast of characters to enjoy with.

Photos: Ian Corless

PM: 4 miles easy jog to watch 100 meter fun on volcano scree. Major crick in neck from flight prevented my participation.

Thurs: 8 miles easy on roads with Max, Geoff and Dakota. 

Fri: 4 miles (1,000') easy with Marcus, Ian, Wolfepaw, and Ian on last few of Zegama course. Trails seemed benign enough. Two days later they would be carved up with rain run-off, and sloughing off the side of the mountain in places. Major false sense of security from this run.

Sat: 6 miles (600') easy with Dakota and Nikki in Segora.

Sun: 26 miles (9,000') race. Zegama Marathon.  Not my best day. More to come on this.

Total: 66 miles (12,100')

Week Ending May 27

Mon - Off. Traveling all day (chose not to run a mile around Madrid airport with Joe).

Tues - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Totally dead legs and below zero energy. Ughh.

Weds - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Not much better than Tuesday.

Thurs - AM: 18 miles (2,100'). Warmed up a couple of miles on valley trails, than met Mike and Slush for a loop around Lory: Timber - Westridge - Howard - Link - East Valley. Then tempo'ed an out and back to Arthurs TH from the visitors center on Lodgepole, tacking on a mile cool down at the end to take me through to the 8:30 Quad Rock debrief with Lory rangers. Good to be back running with hometown trail friends. Felt much better than Tues and Weds.
PM - 6.5 miles easy. FCTR social run.  

Fri - Noon: 11.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Legs still a little achy, but felt smooth nonetheless.

Sat - AM: 27 miles (8,900') hills. Early morning start with Sarah, Kyle and Mike from Garden Gate TH to top of Crosier (9,250'), then down middle trail to Gravel Pit with Mike, and up Dunraven Glade to the Signal/Donner TH to meet up with Pete. Hoofed it up to Donner Pass with a summit of Lookout Mtn (10,626') thrown in for good measure. Had planned a Crystal summit too, but that would have been an extra 7 miles and ~2,000 feet of gain, which I wasn't really feeling and Mike definitely wasn't, so we turned around and headed back to Dunraven TH, getting a ride off Pete back to Garden Gate. Outing was slowed a good bit by some pretty significant downed-tree carnage on the Donner trail, but nothing that couldn't be skirted, ducked or hurdled. Ended up being pretty clammy out, which is all good training for WS. Slow and easy today with some hiking on the last grunter from Miller Fork to the Bulwark Ridge intersection.

Sun - AM: 11 miles (4,700') 14'er. Camped Saturday night near the South Elbert TH with the family and some FoCo/Boulder/Springs trail running reprobates. Up early for a jaunt up Mt Elbert (14,443') before a day of playing in the mountains with Dana and the kids. Little to no pop in the legs after Saturday's outing, but still managed a running cadence for at least a majority of the uphill. Summit to myself with little to no wind. Laced the descent. Killer start to the morning. I have to say, that for being the highest mountain in the state, Elbert is quite an unimpressive lump of a peak with a thoroughly anticlimactic summit (which is to take nothing away from the fantastic sea-of-summit views). 
PM: 3 miles (700') bits and pieces with the family around Blue Lake under Quandry Peak and then on the Colorado Trail by Breck.

Total: 92 miles (21,500')

Been super busy the last three weeks, which has impacted the training volume considerably (not to mention the blogging output). One more week of mileage before I begin tapering for Western States - or at least I think that's the plan. Back to Leadville/Minturn next weekend for a last crack of the mountain whip.

Quad Rock and Spain/Zegama reflections in the blogging pipeline once work and other commitments are all caught up. But here's a sneak preview: Quad Rock A-, Zegama C+.