Week Ending December 5

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

Tues - AM: 8 miles intervals. 2.5 miles w-u, 1.5 mile c-d. Cemetery workout. Mile, 800, 880 x 2. Started out stiff as a plank from the weekend. Probably need a good 30-40 minutes to warm up for these, but it's a struggle to get up early enough to get more than 15 mins in. Went super easy on the first mile/800, then upped things a bit once warmed up, but still couldn't get any 800 turnover: 5:36, 2:41, 2:35, 5:14, 2:36, 2:37.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,200') easy. A lap and three-quarters of Reservoir Ridge in the dark on the FCTR social run. This is a terrible route to run in the dark - loose rock everywhere.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

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January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')
November 377.5 (67,400)

Total: 4,028 miles (684,400')
Avg: 366 miles (62,218')
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Thurs - AM: 9 miles (1,100') easy with Slush and Celeste in blinding sideways snow on Centennial. Didn't bother upping the tempo at all coming back. Just ran and got it over with, although once we turned and got the tailwind, it was really quite pleasant.
PM: 8 miles (1,800') Towers. There was some waist-deep drifts in places lower down on the hill and the rest was good old-fashioned trudging in heavy, slippery snow. Ran every step, but still couldn't break 50 minutes. Nonetheless, a great workout. Nine of us out, which given the torturous conditions wasn't half bad.

Fri - 0 miles

Sat - 0 miles

Sun - 0 miles

Total: 43.5 miles (5,500')

Dana has been out of town all weekend, which has meant no running for me the last three days, but that's okay. No Hardrock either, and that's okay too. Glad I signed up for Western States now, I suppose. With no Hardrock, I move on to plan B, which I just made up. I think plan B is going to include a crack at Leadville, in addition to a few other bits and bobs that I've been thinking about for July.

Pieces coming together for the Bob Graham Round, which is now just a couple of weeks away. I've got commitments from some awesome UK-based runners on the pacing side of things, which is apparently a necessity for an official round. Terry Conway, the winner of this year's Lakeland 100 and current Lakeland CR holder, has been kind enough to offer up his services, so I'll probably look to take advantage of that for a few of the early sections, then Clive King - a BGR vet - will likely be picking up some of the tail-end slogging, and then I think I have some pacers ready to run the middle sections thanks to the networking skills of club secretary, Morgan Williams. I am somewhat blown away by all the offers of help from people I have never met, but also highly encouraged to discover that the U.K. trail/fell/ultra community is as supportive and close knit as it is over here in the U.S.

Finally, if you got lucky in the Hardrock lottery and you're looking for an awesome training race, then consider the Fort Collins Quad Rock 50 in May. The unrelenting up and down nature of the course makes it an excellent Hardrock simulator. Pete and I are really excited to be showing off the Horsetooth/Lory trails here in our backyard. We think we have a pretty special course and we're determined to make this a kick-ass, showcase event for Front Range trail running, so come on out and join the fun. Registration opens on Wednesday.