Weekly Update: 6/20-6/26

With a trip to Vegas at the end of the week, I had to crunch 40 miles in before heading out. It turned out to be a fun week as I continued doing some easy runs at Teller Farms and getting up super early to hit Mesa for my long run on Friday before work. Now, for the digits.

Monday - 6.5 mi (1:03, 787 ft) Easy run at Teller Farms

Wednesday - 7 mi (51:10) Speed work w/4 x 1600m (7:15, 6:30, 6:59, 6:23)

Thursday - 6.5 mi (1:02, 787 ft) Easy run at Teller Farms

Friday - 20 mi (3:52, 3450 ft) Long run on Mesa Trail, with a little mix of Doudy, Spring Brook, and Community Ditch. This was the first time I've hit the trail well before the sun rose, 4:50 a.m. I saw about 7 deer near the Doudy trail and the the sunrise hit the flatirons from Community Ditch. The run itself felt great as I kept the pace really mellow with some gas in the tank to run a bit quicker toward the end.

Weekly Update: 6/13 – 6/19

Applying my latest theme of running new places to keep things fresh, I stepped it up by adding Teller Farms to the roster of easy run destinations. Aside from simply beautiful scenery, Teller Farms offers undulating hills through the prairie along with some nice unexciting stretches for recovery. Hills are the biggest reason I began doing easy runs here because I think it’s important to give that set of muscles some attention before the weekly assaults on the Mesa Trail. Along with new easy run locales, and having had such fun on Bobolink last week, I thought it’d be cool to run my tempo there too. I was right. It was a blast. This week’s 37 miles has got me itching to get into the 40-50 ranges. I can almost taste it.

Tuesday – 6.5 mi (56:30) Easy run at Teller Farms – Being an evening run, my typical abdominal cramps flared up for the first few miles, but subsided allowing me to enjoy the rest of the run.

Thursday – 7 mi (52:36) Tempo run on Bobolink – The legs felt really fresh throughout the run allowing me to really put the hammer down for the five miles in the middle.

Friday – 6 mi (55:56) Easy run at Teller Farms – I took it easier than I had the previous easy run and I was totally fine with that as I enjoyed my stellar surroundings. The rain from the prior evening had left the whole area green and moist and the cool morning air only appended to the beauty.

Sunday – 18 mi (3:23) Long run on Doudy to Spring Brook North & the full Mesa Trail – I made sure to start much earlier than my last long run on the Doudy/Mesa trail system. So, I headed out from the trailhead at 6:30 a.m. and from then on, the run was quite fun. I made sure to keep it conservative on the ascents, but got up to 7 to 8-minute paces on the flats and descents. I was fortunate enough to run with an older man (maybe late 50’s) for a little bit and chat about the weather, before he cut me loose to wrap up his shorter run down Skunk Canyon so he could spend the rest of the day celebrating his Father’s Day. Not only do I hope I can run regularly when I’m his age, but to do so as fast as him – the guy was really cookin’.

Weekly Update: 6/6-6/12

This week was an easy week for running, so I decided to not run the usual areas, but instead run the Bobolink section of the South Boulder Creek Trail. The out-and-back is a touch over 7 miles and it's completely flat with great views of the Flatirons and mega-huge cottonwood trees. In terms of running, everything mechanically felt great and I just concentrated on doing slow, easy runs. Mellow little week for sure. The weather was great too.

Tuesday - 7 mi (55:07) - Bobolink. Ok, supposed to be an easy run, but there was this woman in front of me who was at my pace on the way back and I hate trailing people, so I turned the knob to 11 to pass her and cruised pretty quick for the last 2 miles. Oops.

Thursday - 7 mi (59:48) - Bobolink. I was reluctant to get up to run because I was exhausted from work the day before. It had been raining all night and it continued to drizzle for most of the morning. I dragged my ass out of bed and hit the trail early. It was awesome. I love running in the rain because no one else is around and it's super cool (temp wise, that is).

Saturday - 7 mi (1:02) - Bobolink. This was a proper easy run where I really had to make sure I kept it mellow. The whole run was peaceful, cool temps, and quiet trails.

Sunday - 7 mi (57:58) - Bobolink. Got a late start to the day and hit the trail at noon. It was 85° and sunny. Though, unlike that last few hotter runs, I didn't feel totally exhausted.

Weekly Update: 5/30 - 6/5

Tuesday - 6 mi (54:18) - Easy run on Twin Lakes loop.

Thursday - 7 mi (54:12) - Temp run (7:30's) around Celestial. Really good run. Like last week, I had plenty of steam left to continue at this pace. Hopefully this means I can start ramping it up more.

Friday - 5.3 mi (45:37) - Easy run on Twin Lakes loop. Ok, I need to start getting creative with these easy runs, because I can't hang with this loop anymore.

Sunday - 17 mi (3:15, 3,550 ft) - Long run w/3 miles on Doudy Draw Trail and 14 miles on Mesa Trail. Leaving the trailhead at 8:30 a.m., it was already 60°F and hazy from the Arizona fires - I knew it was going to suck for the better part of the run. Ended the run at 11:45ish with 85°F of solar madness beating my sensitive ass. Great excuse to sit in the South Boulder Creek and freeze the legs in the 30° water for a while.