Week Ending July 14

Mon - 6.5 miles (800') easy. Out and back to Arthurs TH from Soderberg on the Valley Trails, including a jaunt on the new - and some might say, unnecessary - connector to Sawmill. Felt good to stretch the legs a bit and get them running. Certainly a bit of general fatigue residing in the upper quads still, in addition to some lingering soreness, but on the whole a good comfortable run.

Tues - 5.5 miles at the track. Workout was 800, 3 x 1,600. Didn't wear a watch for this one as I was there to no more than stretch the legs. Ran with Jen Malmberg and Slush for most of these at or around 6:00 min pace, but tagged onto Ben as he lapped us going into lap two of the last mile and ran the last 3/4 at approximately 5:20 pace with him.

Weds - 5.5 miles (500') easy. Jogged super easy from Bluesky out to Shoreline and back on Nomad. Felt a little bit of stuff in there from track/WS, so made this a true recovery-paced run. #CouldHaveHikedFaster.

Thurs - 10.5 miles (1,200') easy. Ran Bluesky/Indian Summer at a casual effort with Sarah and Lee in the early AM. Humid out. #GoodVT100WeatherTraining.

Fri - 4 miles easy. Jogged easy in the midday heat on Blue Sky.

Sat - 13 miles (800') easy. Jogged a full out and back on Redstone Canyon @ 16 hour 100 mile pace with Abby and Wesir. Super casual. Still just the slightest bit of something residual in the upper quads, but nothing that a nice easy pre-VT100 week won't take care of. Feeling about as good as could be hoped for at this stage. #Getting(Moderately)ExcitedForVT100.

Sun - 6.5 miles (1,600') easy. Nice easy cruise up to Horsetooth north summit on the standard route via Southridge/Audra, then down on Rock trail, with Tony S. First summit in weeks; good to be back and even better to see some familiar faces out there. Legs felt fantastic.  

Total: 51.5 miles (4,900')

This was a good compromise week. I felt like it was important to get some consistent, yet mainly casual, mileage on my legs to get back into a good running rhythm for Vermont, while also being disciplined by staying out of the hills to avoid overexertion and to allow the recovery process to continue. Through the first half of the week, there was definitely some residual fatigue and soreness in the pins, but by the weekend I was starting to feel really good. For my Sunday AM jaunt up Horsetooth I felt absolutely nothing but energy in my legs. All systems appear to be go for Vermont. A nice easy few days upcoming and I'll be eager to get things under way.

Lon Freeman, Justin Angle, Brian Rusiecki (last year's winner), Chad Ricklefs, Pedatella, and the Sharmanator are some of the names I recognize off the start list, so I think it should be a good little battle up front. Sharman seems to think he's taking the CR down, so we'll see how that goes for him. I'll be on the lookout for body parts from mile 75 onwards.