Getting Serious?

A lot of training, racing, and fun has occurred since my last post.  I entered 2 races, the first one was a 10K which I ran easy the first half and then put the gas on in the second half, and still knocked 2 minutes off of last years time.  I also entered a 15K and knocked 10 minutes off of last years time and was still recovering from a Grand Canyon run I did a few days before.  The fitness is paying off in many ways.

Weekly mileage is now creeping up into the mid 60s, with a variety of running including fartlek, threshold, and long runs.

I did a long back to back last week with no problems which means I am almost there.  This week Joel and I are finally on the same schedule so are planning a bunch of runs together.  We started with an awesome run this morning up Schultz Creek trail with Aaron, Eric, and Scott.  Tomorrow we are doing a trail fartlek, followed by a real easy 6 mile run with NATRA on Saturday, and then the biggy of the week is a 20 mile long loop over the San Francisco peaks, starting at 8000 feet, climbing to close to 12000 and then back to start.  This should be in the neighborhood of a 4 to 5 hour run and test our endurance.  Joel and I are coming together in our training both physically and mentally, which will make for an awesome week at TR.

I also took a trip to southwest Colorado to get some sustained running in above 10000 feet.  Based just out of Silverton, I ran an 8 mile easy run with 1500 feet of climbing, and then a 10 miler the next day with close to 3000 feet of climbing, its a whole different game when you are climbing above 11000 feet.

The vistas in that area are incredible and rejuvenated my running for the homestretch of training.

My oldest son went with me and allowed us some fun times, hiking, rock climbing, sitting in the hot springs, and the daily waffle cone.

I usually update Mike about my weekly progress, this last week I was at 61 miles and 9 hours of running, to which he replied "Great, now we can get started for real".  Yikes!  Except for the occasional solo long run, the training has been fun and I feel that I will be more than prepared for a great race.

mw

Long, Long, Long Weekend

In more support of the notion that I finally have a handle on my knee problems, I finished my first back to back to back long run weekend. I started off with a very early 12 mile warm up on Friday so that I could get to work on time. Then Mark and I ran 15 pretty hard trail miles on Saturday. We ran into some friends at the top of Elden and shared some awesome miles before heading back to the trailhead. I followed that up with another 15 miles on Sunday, though those were much easier miles than our Saturday run.

I've been feeling pretty good, generally, and had no trouble psyching myself up for the weekend. I was looking forward to it. This weekend was about just experiencing what it's like to run on tired legs. I've got harder weekends ahead of me, but this was my first touch. In addition to the massage, stretching, and strengthening, I've really been focusing on how lucky I am to have this opportunity.... the power of positive thinking I guess. I'm just out there enjoying myself, soaking it all in.

Next up, I leave for Hawaii at the end of this week. In addition to simply enjoying my time in paradise, I've got my trail runs planned out. I'm also signed up for the Kona Marathon which happens to be taking place the last weekend of my vacation. How can I not run it? We'll see how I feel, though. I may drop to the half if it's not feeling right. I'll be in Hawaii for vacation and my first priority is relaxation. But then again, running is relaxing..... Aloha!

jea