Week 8 - 15,915' (100,050')

50 - 1,750' - up/down on Bad Fork and Shut-In.
51 - 2,530' - up only on treadmill.
52 - 1,750' - up/down on Shut-In with a Power Ladder. *
53 - 2,150' - up/down on Bear Hollow Rd and a side road that was .9 / 650'.
54 - 1,900' - up/down on Shut-In.
55 - 1,400' - up/down on Shut-In.
56 - 4,435' - up only on treadmill @ 6%/6.2mph - (129,37,38,39,41,43,42,42,42,43,48,51.) **
I felt a strength this week that I have not felt in a very long time. I purposely held back a little bit on days 54/55 so I would have a better idea of where I stand on my Friday TT (treadmill test). Perhaps the strength has come from my new compression shorts that have been making me a little leaner and sleeker. Sort of comando-like.

* = Headed out on this day looking to go for about 80-90 minutes pretty moderate. Right away though I noticed a bounce in my step that I hadn't felt in quite a while. After about 45 minutes and still feeling great I decided this would be a good day to work on a little power. So I went to my favorite .5/440' hill where I could go all out on the ups and walk downhill for the recovery and not run out of hill. So I went :10,:20,:30,:40,:50,:60,:60,:50,:40,:30,:20,:10. I did the whole ladder in 16 minutes which is 7:00 of all out and 9:00 of recovery. Total vert on the reps was 550'.

** - After last weeks 12 miles at 6%/6mph I knew I had to step it up a little. I did not want to use the term too easy last week without uping the pace first to know for sure, so I'll say it now - Last week's TT was too easy. After a 1 mile w/u at 12% I got right into the task at hand. Making the jump from last weeks 6mph to this weeks 6.2 mph is a :20 difference in pace. I figured this was going to be tough and expected that 9-10 miles would be where I was at. Instead the 6 mile section, miles 5-10, went perfect with no change in HR or PE. I took this as a sign that another mile should be done. A little spike in effort on that mile, but not enough to stop, so a 12th mile was decided on to be the last. Another spike in HR and PE, but I was just where I wanted to be. My goal is to take this Friday TT to 15 miles @ 6%/6.2mph over the next 5 weeks and feel comfortable through the whole run.