Week Ending April 6

Monday - noon: 7 miles (1,800') easy. Bumped into Danny at the TH and ran to the summit with him. Took a really hard digger 100 yards from the parking lot on the way back down, picking up some impressive-looking trail rash in the process.
PM: 5 miles (1,500') easy. Snuck out for an early evening summit. Got bit in the butt by a rabid-looking dog right at about the same spot that I took the earlier digger. Ho hum. Saw genuine fear in the eyes of the dog owners as I let them know exactly how I felt about being bitten by their dog. Mad Englishman. "Oh, he gets nervous around runners!" Really? Then get him on a proper leash.

Tuesday - AM: 10 miles intervals. Workout was 5 x mile (steady, fartlek, steady, fartlek, steady w/fartleks clockwise). Really, really didn't want to do the workout this morning, but forced myself out the door and down the hill for an extended warmup at City Park. My legs were still a bit sore and fatigued from the weekend, so I knew this was gonna be a grind, but you still got to get 'em done. Ran with Chris Mc for all of these and struggled through: 5:26, 5:30, 5:19, 5:33, 5:22.
PM: 5 miles (1,500') easy. Total wobble-fest getting up and down the hill this evening.

Weds - Noon: 7 miles (1,800') easy. I woke up feeling a little dinged, so bailed on a planned morning run with Danny. Got out for a super gentle run up the hill at lunch, hiking in spots, and then eased down carefully too.
PM: 5 miles (1,500') easy. A few hours later and I felt like a runner again, literally bounding up to the summit.

Thursday - PM: 7 miles (1,800') easy. Long day at the office desk, so wasn't able to do much until late in the day. Took things nice and easy, despite feeling bad about missing my usual Thursday morning tempo session. Feeling just a little fragile in various spots right now, so I need to be careful.

Friday - AM: 11 miles (3,200') easy. Met up with the Dentist at the upper Horsetooth lot for a double summit (86 & 87). Beautiful weather, good company and quiet niggles made for a most pleasurable run.

Sat - AM: 26.5 miles (5,900'). Quad Rock preview run (88). Had a good 50 or so runners turn out for this one, which was great. Ran at a comfortable effort with Ryan Smith and Mike Oliva all morning, with a slight pick-up on the Timer descent. Fun times.

Top Arthurs, with Mike and Ryan

Eric with a pack of Marlboros tucked into his hat, just in case he ran out of gels. 

Opening miles on the Lory Service Road.

Sun - AM: 7.5 miles easy setting up the last Tortoise and Hare course of the season.

Total: 91 miles (19,000')  

Okay, so this is a weekly recap from eons ago, but it was sitting here on the drafts page of my blog waiting to be published, so I figured I'd send it out there and then see about getting this website caught up a bit over the coming days. 

It's been a very busy last few weeks, with a trip to Japan, a 50 mile RD'ing gig, a heavy 9-5 workload and then the usual madness of being a parent and husband. Japan and RD'ing are now in the rearview mirror, so I guess I've got a bit more time to get caught up.  

This recap is from three weeks prior to UTMF100. I plan on putting together a report from that amazing trip (along with a Sonoma 50 recap) in the next couple of days. The race wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but the trip itself was off the charts thanks in large part to my amazing hosts, Takashi and Rae Fukuchi. 

Team Altra in Japan. 

Not many weeks until Western States 100. Time to get in shape.