Week Ending March 10

Mon - AM: 6 miles easy (800'). Milner Mountain loop.
PM: 5 miles easy (1,100'). Falls loop.

Tues - AM: 10 miles intervals. Workout was mile, mile, 1,200, 1,000, mile, mile. All miles except the first were supposed to be fartlek, but I ran a comfortable pace throughout for the most part. Miles ranged from 5:45 to 6:30 with shorter intervals at a similar intensity. Decided to just get some mileage in at marathon/50k pace to save a little something for the weekend's action in Salida. Long cool down with Mike. Really cold to start, but warmed up quickly once the sun hit.
PM: 6 miles easy (800'). Milner Mountain loop.

Weds - Noon: 7 miles easy (1,900'). Horsetooth north summit via north gap. Just a beautiful day out.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles steady (1,400'). The usual 5 mile out and back with the crew. Mike, Jen, Mary, Celeste and Ziggy this morning. Let Mike go on the way back, keeping things nicely under control at something akin to marathon effort. No watch.
PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop. Bumped into Burch at Horsetooth Upper as he was finishing up. Talked him into jogging a Falls loop with me, chatting a bit about the competition at Salida.

Fri - 3.5 miles jogging once we got to Salida.

Sat - 27.5 miles race (4,000'). Salida Marathon. 3:07:58, 2nd. Another good early season indicator, with a six minute PR on this particular course, and a minute or two faster than my previous PR on the slightly faster 2011 course. Got to be happy with that. Tanked a bit mentally with six to go, but regrouped and got back after it to finish strong. Just a really fun morning of racing. Wish they could all be like that. More details to come, but first got to give a big shout out to Josh Arthur - the winner from Crested Butte - who ran strong all morning for a very well deserved win. Burch had told me earlier in the week about his Collegiate Peaks 25 mile record-busting run from last year, so I knew he'd be there or there abouts if in similar form, which apparently he was. He didn't quite show the same form over longer distances last year, but I'm thinking 2013 might be a big year for Josh. Watch this space (the interwebs, that is...) and stay tuned at Quad Rock/Leadville/UROC this summer.

Sun - 5 miles. Jogged out to the start/finish, then did the 2 mile fun run loop and jogged back through town. Felt really good all things considered, with very little soreness to speak of.

Total - 85 miles (10,900')

Another good week in the books, with a solid and encouraging race at Salida. I've really been working hard to keep things under control until now, with Salida the planned for green light. It is now officially time to get seriously serious about getting 100-mile fit. Three months of intensity coming up.