Week Ending May 1

Mon - Noon: 7 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles intervals. 2.5 mile w-u, 2 mile c-d. Last session of the fall/winter season for Jane's group before we reconvene in two weeks at the CSU track for the famed Tuesday Night Track workouts. Anyway, workout was mile, then 4x800 in the cemetery: 5:29, 2:42, 2:42, 2:40, 2:38 on two mins rest. Feel like I've lost a step or two since Feb, but to be expected as the focus shifts to the hills.
PM: 7 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long.

Weds - Noon: 11.5 miles (2,500') easy. 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Straight shot from home to top of Horsetooth with Pete. Home long way. Legs finally feel like they are getting into the uphill groove. Need to start getting into extended climbs and stop messing around with rolling climbs. Always feels better that way.

Thurs - AM: 12 miles (3,800') hill repeats. Pete lit up the bat sign for a punishing hill ladder workout on the Horsetooth hiking trail. Slusher and I responded, but also spotted on the trail were Victoria, Ashley, Rob, Dennis and Mike. From the intersection with Soderberg, the workout went 3 x 1/4 (+185' each), 2 x 1/2 (+380'), 1 x 3/4 (+550'), 1 x 1 (+680'). After the first three quarters I had to push through some pretty serious burn, but got 'em done: (2:42, 2:41, 2:38); (5:42, 5:38); (8:40); (11:28). Finished out with a summit of Horsetooth on what was a clear and beautiful morning, then home long with Mike and Dennis.
PM: 6 miles easy. Social run with FCTR. Ended with a timed downhill mile. Failed to start my stopwatch, but pretty sure I went 3:58 or so.

Fri - PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long.

Sat - AM: 28.5 (9,600'). Greyrock 4 Spot. Another hair-brained idea from Pete. Three full ascents of Greyrock, and a fourth to the meadow. The original plan was a full six pack (which Pete completed), but because of time constraints, I had to cut it down to four summits. I ran out of time again on the day, so had to forgo the final 2 miles of scrambling to and from the summit. Ran the first summit in the dark with Sam, where we almost got blown off the mountain, then picked up Slush for the second summit, soloed the third and fourth, running the final descent with Brian K. Felt good all day on this Hardrock simulator, with my climbing legs feeling a whole lot better than they have for the last couple of weeks. But then I always find sustained climbs easier than rolling type stuff. Good turn out from the FCTR crew, with Pete, Sam, Bard, myself, Victoria, Steph, Kristel and Ashley turning up at 5, and then Jenn, Cherilyn, Laura, Slush, Brian K, Brian W, Alex A, Greg, Aaron and Chris H all being spotted throughout the morning. There was even a guest appearance from Ryan's bride Meg who was out for a hike.
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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')

Total: 1,641.5 miles (214,150')
Avg: 410 miles (53,538')
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Sun - 10.5 miles. Jogged a stiff 6 miles on the Poudre bike path, then paced Sarah over the last 5 miles of her half marathon, which she rocked (1:25). The 6:30s felt surprisingly comfortable given the effort the day before, which was nice as I was bit worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up. Had fun watching my dad run with Alistair in the kids race after the marathon.

Alistair in orange hitting the straightaway, dropping his granddad in the process

Checking out the competition.

Closing it out.

Total: 107 miles (23,000')

Good week. Got a little confidence back on Saturday after cruising the Greyrock workout with relative ease. I never felt particularly tired and the climbing was easy. Prior to Saturday, a lot of my hilly runs have been big old slog fests, so it was a very pleasant surprise to feel the glide back in my legs. More importantly, there was no real recovery to talk of. After a few easy miles on Sunday morning, my legs felt great and ready to go

May is hopefully going to be a big month with lots of climbing and, of course, lots of quad-pounding descents. And then, if the sun ever comes out, there'll be the miserable midday layered sweat runs to prepare for the heat in the Western States canyons. But first will be Jemez, the defense of my crown, and hopefully a stab at Kyle Skaggs' record.

Fortnight Ending Feb 20

Week Ending Feb 13

Mon - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Off

Thurs -5.5 miles easy. 4 x 800 @ 6:00 on the mill. Should have stayed well away. What was I thinking? Felt like I really tightened up my hamstrings on this run.

Fri - 4.5 miles easy on the bike paths.

Sat - 4 miles easy in New Orleans with Mock.

Sun - 27 miles. New Orleans Marathon. 2:36.

Total: 50 miles (1,800')

Essentially a rest week with a hard weekend effort.

Week Ending Feb 20

Mon - 4.5 miles (900') super easy. Legs were predictably sore after the marathon, but not too bad. Hiked some of the icier sections of trail, but was able to jog reasonably comfortably.

Tues - 6 miles (900') easy. Valley trails. Pretty big slop factor on the valley trails, which slowed things down nicely. Calves still pretty sore.

Weds - 12 miles (2,800') easy. Horsetooth - Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - home. Out with the Montrail crew (Dakota, Ryan and Geoff) for an easy cruise. Legs getting there slowly, but certainly still sore in the calf department. Thankfully, both Ryan and Dakota were getting ready for Red Hot this weekend (Dakota won, Ryan 3rd), so everyone was on board the easy train with me.

Ryan, Geoff, Dakota and Me on Horsetooth Summit.

Thurs - Noon: 8.5 miles (2,000') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey - Towers - Herrington - Spring creek - Soderberg. Nice out again, although still a few stretches of ice. Opened it up in places, but largely mellow. Calves still a little sore, especially on the downs.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the trail running group. Turned my ankle quite painfully in the dark on the moderately technical singletrack on the west side of Pineridge. I really should invest in some new headlight batteries.

Friday - AM: 6 miles (700') easy. Milner Mtn w/long way home. Foot was pretty painful from yesterday. Almost bailed on the run - hope this is nothing too serious.
PM: 2 miles. From Discount Tire on Mason Trail. Turned around after a mile as my foot was hurting way too much. Praying this is not a stress fracture.

Saturday - AM: 10 miles (1,400') easy. To 5 mile on HTH course with Fort Collins Running Club. Probably would have bagged this run had I not been leading it. As it was, I cut a planned 10-15 at AR50 pace from the start of the run. Foot felt better than yesterday which is an excellent sign, but definitely not out of the woods yet.
PM: 2.5 miles (800') with Alistair to Gem Lake in Estes. Foot hurting again.

Sun - 19 miles (4,000') easy. 38e/Shoreline to Sodeberg, then Valley - Arthurs - Overlook - Well Gulch - Timber - Arthurs tag - Arthurs down - Mill Creek - Loggers - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls - home the long way. Foot was still painful at times during this run, but was sufficiently less painful that I'm pretty sure it is no more than a strained tendon (knock on wood). Should be pain free in a couple of days. Anyway, trails were a mix of dry dirt, mud, ice, snow and crunchy frost. Tough conditions with some serious luge runs in a couple of the gulleys and on Mill Creek, but great to be out working some hills on a longer run again.

Total: 77 miles (14,200')

New Orleans was a focus race and I feel like I came up a bit short, which is always disappointing, but as I've already said, it was still a significant PR so I'm happy enough with the result. Was talking to John Lonsdale, owner of Foot of the Rockies, earlier in the week and told him that at least now I feel like I have the ability to run a 2:29 if I can ever find the motivation to prepare for a road marathon again. Toying with the idea of taking another stab late season, but seems a tad unlikely given the mammoth summer I have on tap.

I had planned on getting right back into the training this week after a couple easy days Monday and Tuesday, but my weekend plans were scuppered by a turned ankle from Thursday night. Thankfully, what I had originally feared was a stress fracture appears to be no more than a strain, so I've pretty much given myself the green light. Up early tomorrow morning to take advantage of the Presidents Day holiday with a 30+ mile run, which will build on 19 from today. Going to call that the official kick off for Western States, Hardrock, UTMB training.

Good to see Fort Collins put up four of the top 10 in the men's race in Moab yesterday (Dakota (1), Ryan (3), Sam M (7), Pete S (8)), with Scott S bringing home the master's win too.

Week Ending Jan 30

Monday - Noon: 7.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Gentle cruise to mark the beginning of the taper.

Tuesday - AM: 10.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group at City Park for an early morning interval session. Cold as all get out again, but at least no wind. Anyway, the workout went: mile, 1,200, 1,000, mile fartlek, 1,200, 1,000, mile. Jogged three miles with Slush, Sarah and Celeste to warm up, and actually felt kind of spry from the get go - which is rare. Intervals went: 5:28, 3:58 (5:19), 3:18 (5:18), 5:22, 3:51 (5:09), 3:16 (5:15), 5:31 - w/ 3-5 minutes rest between.
Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - AM: 6 miles (500') easy. Valley.
PM: 6 miles easy. Bike paths.

Thurs - PM: 10 miles (1,800'). Towers TT. 29:26. Ran three with Eric B to warm up, then, after setting off 32 runners before me, headed out for what I figured would be a close-to-PR effort - if not time, given that it was pitch black out and there was likely ice on the trail. With the lack of depth perception that comes with running in a bubble of headlamp light, I stumbled my way across the Swan Johnson connector, but still managed to get to Towers in a very easy 2:45, which is just a hair over PR pace. I decided then to take the plunge and commit to a hard effort. At Stout I was still on PR pace at 8:43, and by Herrington I had gained a few seconds with a 16:43 split. Up to this point, the track had largely been snow and ice free and it remained that way past Mill Creek (24:45), but beyond Westridge, it was pretty icy and treacherous. Going around Kyle at the crest of the last grunt, I took a digger, landing hard on my knee, which cost seconds and energy, and then I slid a few more times before the summit. However, I still managed to top out in a reasonably controlled one second PR (29:26). Still way off Sam's 28:50 FKT, but probably pretty close to it had there been a dry track and sunlight. Looking forward to a spring assault, but for now I'll take this as a sign that I'm in great shape and ready to go hard in New Orleans.

Friday - Noon: 8 miles (1,650') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home.

Saturday - AM: 8 miles (900') easy. To Indian Summer on Bluesky and back. It was so nice out, I found myself scanning for snakes ... in January.
PM: 5 miles (1,600'). Hike to Horsetooth summit with Alistair.

Sunday 15 miles (1,500'). Frost Giant 5k/10k double. Certainly wasn't going to be laying down any PRs, but felt like I got the workout I was after, which was a tired 10k effort. Warmed up with 3.5, raced 3.1, cooled down with 1.75, raced 6, cooled down with 1.75.

Total: 80.5 miles (10,550')

My legs felt great all week, which is really encouraging considering this is the first week of the taper. I still plan on cutting back significantly next week and again the week of. Probably won't run much more than 75 miles over the next two weeks, so I should really be raring to go come race day.

Great to see Andy Henshaw busting out an impressive 2:26 in Miami this weekend. He looks to be in great shape for Mad City where I predict he'll get the spot he wants on the US 100k team. Andy beat me by less than a minute at the Salida Marathon last year, which means I should be ready to rock out a 2:27 in New Orleans ... or at least I think that's how it works.

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