Hello Singletrack: Weekly Update: 10/10-10/16

10/11 Tuesday - 12 mi (2:23, 2,200') Sobo/Mesa 6x hill repeats from S. Mesa TH - I got the weird idea to run repeats up the south side of Mesa before continuing on. I guess I was still so excited about all the vertical I had done on Green over the weekend.

10/13 Thursday - 15.4 mi (2:39, 2,600') Sobo/Doudy/Spring Brook/Mesa (to bottom of Bear Creek Canyon) - Nice long jaunt before work. Temps were nice.

10/14 Friday - 9 mi (1:23, 800') Sobo/Mesa - I added an additional day of running to the week, so I broke up what would have been a 14 miler into this run and the welcomed Saturday run up Green Mountain.

10/15 Saturday - 5.2 mi (1:27, 2,400') Green Mtn via Gregory/Ranger - I snapped quite a few pictures on this one, which lead to the slower time. It was worth it though as the autumn colors are still fairly vibrant. Nice temps too - mid 40's.

10/16 Sunday - 20 mi (3:21 PR, 3,450') Doudy, Spring Brook, Community Ditch, Mesa - This was pretty much a perfect run, with respects to both overall quality and time (a PR on this particular route). I don't know if such a high quality run should be attributed to the much cooler temps than my previous 20 milers, or if this was the result of an overall increase in fitness on my part. Maybe a mix of both.

My footwork was on point the whole way through, meaning I didn't stumble, trip, or land on talus in a way that would make the ball of my foot scream with agony. I was more attentive than I had been on most of the runs this week.

My energy was strong throughout as well. I paid close attention to when I ate GUs and drank water, avoiding doing so on ascents and spacing my intake intervals by an hour and fifteen instead of every forty five minutes. This resulted in zero cramps all morning and more efficient utilization of the sugars ingested.

Comparing this run to the last time I ran this route back on August 19, I was a full fifteen minutes faster and I wasn't pushing myself any harder than on that particular day. Again, this speed may be due to the cool temps, but when I ran this on Aug 19, it was much earlier in the morning and likely just as cool. The one difference in my training now rather than before is the recent inclusion of more frequent Green Mountain ascents, which I believe are positively affecting my overall endurance and leg strength. Also, this was the first week of five running days rather than my usual four. I'm tempted to infer that running everyday provides a benefit by not allowing the legs to fully recover, thus keeping them constantly "warm" in a sense.

Whatever the case my be, things are shaping up nicely for the Moab race and I am purely focused on moving up in the standings compared to Blue Sky.

Weekly Totals:
Miles: 62
Climbing Feet: 11,450'
Time: 11:14:10

These are some shots from Tuesday's run up Mesa.

(Tuesday morning up Mesa - can't wait to turn the clocks back)

(Coming back down Mesa on Tuesday. I was laughing at how amazing the sunrise was.)

(Cross-sectional view of the Flatirons)

(Inadvertently took this nightvision-style pic of some dear near the trail)

My enthusiam of running up Green prompted me to make a picture mission out of Saturday's run. The following are the aforementioned pics up Green Mountain from Gregory trailhead.