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.

Weekly Update: 5/23 - 5/29

A lot of easy running with a dastardly long run on the Mesa Trail to end the week. I've started to trim down my runs per week to four rather than five, giving me more time for recovery. My left knee didn't hurt all week, which I think is a result of fewer run days.

Tuesday - 6 mi (51:18) - Easy run around Twin Lakes loop. Started running this counter clockwise to mix it up a bit and seemed to help.

Thursday - 6 mi (47:05) - Speed work (3 x 1600m @7:30's) around Celestial. Ended strong and felt like a could throw another one in.

Saturday - 6 mi (52:57) - Easy run around Twin Lakes loop. Ok, starting to get bored with this run - even counter clockwise.

Sunday - 14 mi (2:42, 3,250 ft) - Long run on Mesa Trail. This being the second time running the full trail and with last week's haunting experience, I entered with trepidation. Kept a conservative pace up the first ascent, which helped reserve some juice for the SOB ascent on the way back. Ran the whole thing without hiking, pretty jazz. The cool weather helped.

Weekly Update: 5/16 – 5/22

This week has been an arduous one in that I’ve been dealing with a continued left knee problem. For the past couple of weeks, it seemed to be fine with the right amount of stretching. Though, this week’s pain is somewhat different. It feels like a crunchy joint issue and I can’t really tell if it’s still an iliotibial band problem or a patellofemoral-type deal. In any case, I regretfully abandoned my long run toward the end of the week to give my knee a chance to rehabilitate. In all, this week was weak in mileage, but strong in recovery. So, with any luck, I’ll be able to jump back into my normal routine next week.

Monday – 3 mi (23:15) – Easy run around Celestial - Though, it became rather spirited toward the last half. It was fun to let the feet fly.

Wednesday – 5.3 mi (49:00) Easy run on Twin Lakes loop – Took this one really easy. I haven’t been running my easy runs at a truly easy/slow pace, so this was a nice departure.

Thursday – 7 mi tempo run (52:32) Celestial Loop – Out of the gate, I felt strong so I made my warm-up mile quicker than usual (8:16) followed by rather silly increases (7:30s on avg). I ended this run feeling strong, which for speed/tempo runs, this hasn’t been the modus operandi.

Saturday – 2 mil (18:24) Easy run Twin Lakes loop – This was meant to be a 6 miler, but my left knee was feeling terrible. The outer side was truly painful, sadly reducing me to a walk. The day prior, my knee was somewhat achy, but I felt confident in being able to put mileage on it. That notion was obviously an over-confident one.

I may not skate as much as I once did, but I’ll always be a skateboarder. Let me leave you with arguably one of the most endearing skateboarders of all time, Rudy Johnson….”Dude, like, dude, like, like, bro….”

Weekly Update: 5/9 – 5/15

This week was my first easy week I’ve had in a couple months, which I desperately needed. My legs have been quite tired and the rest of my body in general has felt a tad lethargic. A trip to Moab prevented me from committing to my usual weekly running schedule.

On Thursday, my sister and I headed out to mountain bike around the White Rim with her group of cycling friends. Upon our arrival, a surging river washed a section of the trail out, preventing us to safely ride the full trail. So, we succumbed to finding a cozy place to camp in Bartlett Wash and from that point forward the commitment to ride 100 miles was officially off the table. In the end, I rode various trails, some of which were beyond me, but nonetheless I had a great time. I brought my running gear in hopes of sneaking in at least one run during the trip. I did just that.

Tuesday – 7.3 mi (1:00:50)

A.M. – 5.3 mi (44:00) – Easy run on Twin Lakes loop

P.M. – 2 mi (16:50) – Easy run around Celestial in my new Adidas Mana 5s

Wednesday – 4.1 mi (34:40) Easy run on Twin Lakes loop

Sunday – 14.6 mi long run (2:23) Mill Canyon, Moab – On the last day of my trip, I got up early and left Bartlett Wash up Mill Canyon Road to the Monitor and Merrimack trail just outside Moab. I had ridden this trail with my sister the day before, so I was relatively familiar with the route. It was a great departure from the Boulder area trails I’ve been running lately. With the crisp morning air and the shade from the tall canyon walls, it made for a refreshing long run. I took it slow because Moab is a relatively foreign landscape to me (running wise) and it was, well, my easy week.

Weekly Update: 5/2-5/8

Yet again, this was another high-mileage week @ 35 miles and 3,250’. I forwent the tempo run that I should have done in order to tack on some extra miles. So, I took it easy for most of the week with longer mellow runs. Sunday was a biggie.

Tuesday – 5.3 mi (46:43) Easy run on Twin Lakes loop – Sort of felt a little funky for most of the run.

Wednesday – 5.3 mi (43:51) Easy run on Twin Lakes loop - Happened upon a bald eagle sitting high up in a tree over the west lake. It was pretty much amazing.

Friday – 3.5 mi (29:33) Easy run on Twin Lakes loop

Saturday - 7 mi (1:03) Easy run on Bobolink Trail – I tagged along with Mehri for her long run, which turned out to be an all-out race toward the last half-mile. That girl sure can cruise. Once again, the cows were out in full force and I will not be getting sick of them any time soon, that is unless they continue to procreate in such close proximity to the trail.

Sunday – 14.2 mi long run (2:50, 3,250’) Mesa Trail – This was my first time running the full Mesa Trail and it was awesome. During the past three weeks, I’ve been running a loop comprising of the Mesa Trail, South Shanahan Fork, and Big Bluestem. This got me well acclimated to the climbs and terrain, but it was all within a 6.5-mile loop. Feeling confident to run the entirety of the trail, I set out to do just that this time around. I have familiarized myself with the first half (starting from Eldorado Springs) of the Mesa Trail, but I had no idea what to expect from the second half. There were hills…..big hills. Plus, the weather is certainly heating up as it was about 50°F at 7:30 a.m. when I left the trailhead. Had it not been for the water bottle, I surely would have experienced a calamitous series of events halfway through the run.

With that, I leave you with another Ween tune (excuse the fact there aren’t better visuals).