Week 25 - 7,000' (308,680')

Need to do a little catching back up here and get back on my vertical posting schedule.
The last big run I had was Sunday June 12th, I went about 2.5 hours with 3,500' of vert. About 30 minutes into the run I rolled my ankle pretty good, but, as usual, I kept running and within a few minutes all was well. However the next moring as I went out to do an easy run on the roads my ankle was in pretty bad shape and a little swollen. Called it quits after about 15:00 when it just seemed to get worse and not loosen up. The next few days were the same and the ankel wouldn't loosen up on an easy walk, so decided to give it a full weeks rest.
Got back at it this past Monday and the ankel felt about 90% and is now back to 100%.
So, days 164-170 = 0'
And, days 171-175 = 7,000'
The last 5 days I ran the same 1,400' up/down portion of the Shut-In Trail. Monday I felt like total garbage, couldn't believe how hard that run was after taking a full week off. I had run everyday for the first 6 months of the year so I guess my body did not like that abrupt change. It wasn't until Wed. that my legs started coming back to me and today I actually put in 30:00 of 1h/1e on the up ortion of the run. Nothing zippy, but starting to feel good again and getting my HR elevated a little definately helped.
The week off was a good test of the metabolism shift I was able to make the last 6 months. Seemed to drop a little weight even during the 7 days of inactivity. Appitite was a little down adjusting to the inactivity instead of the ravage devouring I used to crave. I really do contribute this shift to just getting out and doing something everyday; just like when I was a kid. Sure there was the growing factor involved as a kid/teenager, but there are still overweight kids/teenagers, so I truly believe that, for me, it's a result of everyday activity.

No Mt. Evans for me.

Something abruptly came up and the choice to cancel my trip to CO and run the Mt. Evans Ascent was a no-brainer.
Thanks to all of you who followed my training and offered words of encouragement through the training - very much appreciated.

Days 155-163 = 14,000'
Year to Date = 301,680'
As far as running goes, I'll keep at it. It's great therapy and allows me to be healthy and a great example.
The fitness I've gained through the training won't go to waste. It will allow me to do some great exploring on the trails.

I think the single biggest reason I was able to train well this year is because I didn't look to make time to run. I let the time come to me. When the time was available I went running.

Week 22 - 8,900' (287,680')

148 - 1,000' on a mix of pavement, dirt and woodchips. A 7.5 mile progression in 3/2/1.5/1 increments.
149 - 1,400' 1hr. on Shut-In. This was suposed to be a long run, but bigger/better priorities took over. This is pretty much the first scheduled training run I've missed during the 8 weeks of Evans specific I've been doing.
150 - 1,400' 1hr on Shut-In.
151 - 1,400' 1 hr on Shut-In
152 - 850' on rolling dirt. 9 mile progression. See this post.
153 - 2,350. 3x1mile, then 4x800 all on 400 AeT recovery. See this post.
154 - 500' on neighborhood streets.
Felt pretty good this week, mostly because of the skipped long run. I have a pretty hard long run scheduled for this Sunday, so I'm looking forward to a little more fatigue setting in before taper time.
I recovered very well from the Wed/Thur back2back runs and felt like I could have done alot more today. I'll save it for Sunday, though, and really make the most of, probably, my last hard/long run before Evans.

More Back2Back Baby!

Just finished my favorite part of the week with my back2back quality runs.

Yesterday was a 9 mile progression on a nice rolling dirt road. This was done as a 3x3 with the last 3 done at or near Threshold. Felt strong and ready for tomorrow.

I was well warned ahead of time that today's run would be a tough one. But still had to experience it for myself to understand. When Lucho says it's one of his favorites it's not because it's fun and feels good - it's because it only feels good when it's over.

On the treadmill at 5% was 3x1 mile and 4x800 all on 400 recovery, but the recovery was done at just 15-20 bpm's below LT.

The screen on my treadmill went out so to keep things simple I just decided to pick 8mph for the miles and 800's and 6mph for the 400's and keep the incline at 5% for the whole run.

I went into this thinking that if I made it through the 3x1 miles it was in the bag - no problems. The first mile was a little tough, still warming up, 2nd felt pretty good, strong. The 3rd I had to work a little, but knew I had it w/o putting myself into any difficulty before the 800's.

The 1st 800 was good, the 2nd was a little tough and I knew that the last 2 were going to be harder than any of the miles and they were. The last 2 800's of this workout really hurt. Without the full recovery these last 2 really snuck up on me and pushed me as hard as I've been pushed this year. Great session that I'll definately use again!

Week 21 - 10,000' (278,780')

No BS on the shoe review I wrote on the Tecnica Diablo Sprints. I've been wearing these shoes daily on dirt roads as well as some rough single track and they are as good or better than the first week I wore them. They even look a little better with some dirt/mud on them.

141 - 1,400' - Shut-In.

142 - 1,400' - Shut-In.

143 - 2,000' - 15 mile hill fartlek - ~8:00 pace.

144 - 1,700' - Dirt Road - 7 x 3:00 on 6% - average pace 7:40.

145 - 1,400' - Shut-In.

146 - 1,600' - Dirt Road - 8 x 3:00 on 5% - average pace 7:13.

147 - 500' on neighborhood roads.

Not much to report this week that I haven't already said in the previous post.

I'm still feeling it and ready to go. Expect to put in some pretty good runs next week on 2 days of recovery training. Not looking forward to the taper, I'll need to find something to keep me busy - I think I'll take the kids swimming as much as possible and get some fun water time in as well.

Hot&Humid - Past vs Present

After reading GZ's post and discovering some mold growing on my shorts around the same time I decided to share this photo. It's been quite hot and humid here already - way too early, and highs will be around 90 the next 10 days. Looking forward to spending 4 days in CO above 8,000'!
Those little dots you see in the photo is some sort of mold/fungus growing on the back of my shorts where the shirt over-laps. Pretty gross, but not as gross as delicious single track. I hang these 9 year old bad boys up after every run, and even wash them once in a while so not sure what's causing this. Most likely it's a Hop Fungus caused by my Dale's Pale Ale sweat - it has been a staple hydration/recovery the past few months ;-)

The past few weeks I've been working my way up to a peak and have naturally reflected back to times when I've felt fit and ready to go. It's been a while since I've been where I'm at right now - atleast as far as how I feel the the effort I can hold for a duration. Can't really compare speed since I've trained specifically for the ups, but...
That said, I've been thinking alot about where I was in 2007 hoping to run BTMR and PPA as well as I could. Kind of knew we wouldn't be in Woodland Park long so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. I trained hard and on my own with the very little knowledge I had specific to running. I did manage to get quite fit. Early July I ran the PPA course right near the 3:00 mark and when my race goal was to break 3:00 I thought I had that in the bag then, like the amateur I was, I set a goal of 2:50. WRONG! Then a week before BMTR I decided to TT the course and ran close to the 2:00 mark - another race goal time done in training. The following weekend I made it about 15 minutes into the BMTR and pretty much bonked. Then managed to injure my achilles determined to to go as hard as my heart could even though I could barely move. So a month after that I still had achilles trouble and kept trying to get faster. I ended up injured and over-trained trying to do the PPA, and I knew I had nothing to give. I went as easy as possible to BC, then mostly hiked to the Summit. I trained hard and did alot of good things, but couldn't finish it off - same reason I was always a defender in soccer!
That was the Past.
This is the Present.
At the moment I'm dying to go - I want to train until I can't run anymore - I want to feel the pain as hard as it will come, then enjoy how great it feels to stop. But, because of the past failed experience and the guidence of Tim, I'm doing things the smart way. Well, let me re-phrase that - I'm listening to Tim - I'm only smarter now because I'm listening ;-)
My point is that I know I can get myself far along in training, but I have no idea how to fininsh it properly and prepare for race day. In the past I've never know when "the hay is in the barn." I just figured the barn always had room for more hay. At the moment the barn is almost full, when that day comes I won't try to force anymore in this time.

Week 20 - 10,100' (268,780')

134 - 1,400' on Shut-In.

135 - 1,400 on Shut-In.

136 - 2,500 on dirt roads - See this post.

137 - 500' on neighborhood roads.

138 - 1,400' with 7.5 mile TT RedLine Training.

139 - 500' on neighborhood roads.

140 - 2,400' Roads/Treadmill with 3 mile progression and 10x:30.

This week was more of a transition into going easier on the easy days and harder on the quality days and I felt as strong as ever. Going pretty light between quality days I felt like I wanted to race the quality days. I feel like I can go pretty hard every other day right now.

Mondays 15 miler was just a load of fun and simulating race effort is exactly what I need right now as I'm am just itching to go.

Wed. was a TT Redemption day. Since this 7.5 TT kicked my ass last week I was given another chance this week to go hard and practice holding that RedLine. My LT is right at about 155 and my mile split HR's for this run were 139,152,155,153,154,160,159,163. This is a nice rolling course, never flat dirt road that takes alot of effort for me to hold the redline as I'm constantly going up/down. I'll be seeing 5:30's on the descents then about 10-15 seconds into the ups I'll experience that feeling that I just went over the line, then slow down just a bit to find that line again. - lots of concentration needed on this.

Friday (today) I just felt like an animal! I did a nice 30 minute w/u around the rolling neighborhood streets, then got on the treadmill for a 3 mile uphill progression at 6% grade. Mile splits for this were 8:00, 7:30, 7:00 (22:30). After a 30 minute c/d back on the streets I felt like I had just been teased by that 3 mile progression so I set the mill at 12% and 9mph (6:40) and did 10x:30 with 1-1:30 rest between. I'm feeling much more relaxed now and ready for a busy afternoon and evening at work.

With Evans just 4 weeks away I have far exceeded where I thought I'd be right now in training, but also feel like I'm just starting to tap into some unknown potential. I've been saying for the past 5 years that if I could get back to the weight I was at 5 years ago I'd be a better runner than I was 5 years ago. Well, my body has responded and I'm only a few pounds off from that weight. It's like I'm "double dipping" right now. The body is shedding unneeded weight which is making me faster and more efficient and I'm getting in some great quality sessions which is doing the same. I'm benefitting from both happening at the same time right now and haven't felt this good in a long, long time. The key now is to keep this up for the next 3 weeks, then make sure I feel like this on race day!

2x3 miles on 800' climb (5%)

This is my new favorite run - the perfect mix of volume and quality.

Started today with a 3 mile w/u, then got right into a
3 mile, 800' climb at Evans Effort - 25:21(8:27).
Followed that with 6 miles relaxed then hit the same
3 mile climb with my Evans Finishing Effort in 24:31(8:10)
to finish off a nice 15 miler.

Here area few shots of where I've been spending my quality days. This is a pretty steady 5% grade that allows me to work on uphill speed.

Week 19 - 10,600' (258,680')

127 - 1,400' on Shut-In.
128 - 2,000' on dirt roads.
129 - 500' on roads.
130 - 1,900' on Shut-In.
131 - 1,000' on dirt roads - w/7.5 TT - bad day!
132 - 1,900' on Shut-In with 8x:30 on some steep single track.
133 - 1,900' on Shut-In.

Wed/Thur Endorphine Rush

As I just wrote that title I wondered why a shoe company hasn't named a shoe The Endorphine yet? I just might need to name my dream Pub with treadmills in it where drink specials are offered with vertical done on the mill called The Endorphine.

Yesterday was my first bad day of running in a long time - can't remember the last one I had. A 7.5 mile TT was scheduled and I felt like shit from the start - I could hardly move and was too stubborn to just jog it out. I suffered immensely for 5-6 miles before I bonked and finally let it go and jogged it in. Did what I could to keep positive thoughts through this, then had a nice chat later on with Tim which was a big help in keeping the positive thoughts and boosting confidence. Ate ALOT of speghetti last night and this late morning - my favorite with some olive oil and a generic tomato sauce with mushrooms.

Ran nice and easy for about 45 minutes this morning before going hard on 8x:30 on a steep climb of about 50'/rep with a :45 recovery jog back down. Looks like the spaghetti has cleared up the bad day and hope to be ready for some more hard work on Sunday.