Week 3 - 11,850' (29,250')

15 - 1,000' up/down on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
16 - 1,850' up/down on a mix of trails - lotsa snow.
17 - 1,900' up only on the treadmill.
18 - 1,400 up/down on Shut In. *
19 - 3,800' up only on treadmill.(129,138,139,140,141,145) **
20 - 1,900' up/down on Shut In. ***
21 - 0' **** (3 miles flat)

I was suprised how strong I felt this week and decided to go with it a little as well as do a some experimenting and comfirming some numbers on my perceived efforts.
* = Wore a HR monitor on this up/down run keeping my HR the same for the up and the down. I wanted to see 2 things here 1) How fast I need to run downhill to keep the same moderate HR as when I'm going up and 2) Note the difference in time between the ascent and descent. Results - Although my HR jumped around alot, especially coming down I did manage to see an average of 140 for the ascent and descent. I ran 39:31 up and 26:37 down.
** = My staple treadmill run is 3 miles at 12% grade mostly to just get in some quick/easy vert. I decided to go for 4 miles on this one and also wear a HRM to see what was going on. The 3 @ 12% feels like a very even effort so I wanted to see if that was what the HRM thought as well. This run was going so well I decided to do a 5th, then a 6th mile without much of an effort change. I do think that a 7th mile would have started to show some bigger differences though.
*** = Planned on doing my staple 1,400' run this morning, but again felt strong so I did an extra rep on a .65/500' hill that averages about 15%.
**** = Heading to Florida this afternoon and will be there F-M. This will be a great opportunity to do some faster flat stuff with a little more turnover and stride length.

Side Note - Received a MP3 player for my birthday and love it. Tried it on the trail for the first time today and as much as I enjoyed listening to the music I felt very unaware of what was around me. I kept turning my head and looking around all over. I quickly realized how much I use my ears out on the trails to have a constant awareness of what's going on around me. I wouldn't say I'm paranoid, but I certainly feel alot safer having all 5 of my senses working togather while I'm out on the trail. The MP3 player will be a great listen for the treadmill.