Cut-back week! I’m on a mission to do a better job of implementing some lower-mileage weeks in my training this year, and this felt like a good time to execute on that goal. Overall, as the title of this post suggests, I’d say that this week was good…not great. I got in three really solid workouts, but none of them felt especially fantastic, and all of my other running felt super bleh.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 2 x 2 workout with warm-up and cool down (8 miles)

Julia and I met at Sloan’s Lake Park (halfway between our houses) for a workout. The plan: 2 x 2 miles at ~7:00 pace and 4 x 400s, plus a warm-up and cool down. We both got out of our cars less than enthused for the whole thing, and I’m pretty certain that had we been by ourselves, we both would have bagged the workout and run easy instead. But, that’s the thing about accountability: when two people have a plan, it’s a lot harder to back out of it than if it’s just you.

So, after a two mile warm-up that went by too quickly, off we went on the first set. The fast miles felt…fast. They were a little less comfortable than I would have liked, but we still felt under control. I kept a pretty sharp eye on my watch the whole time to make sure we stayed on track. Before we started the second set, I thought it would be a good idea to just stick to the 2 x 2s and not do the 400s; we were both still cooked from the previous weekend and I knew just finishing the main workout would be a win in and of itself. Luckily Julia agreed, and I think we were both rejuvenated at the thought of just getting the second set done. Our third interval felt by far the best to me and the last one felt the hardest (no surprise there). We averaged 6:56 for the miles, and I was super glad we’d muscled through and got them done. Considering we were both desperate for a bathroom on the cool down, not doing the 400s was definitely the right call.

Wednesday: November Project + after-work run (5 miles)

Ugh. Nothing went right exercise-wise for me on this day. I drove to NP instead of running as a means of keeping mileage down, and I just felt sluggish and off during the workout. I think I almost tripped three different times just jogging up stairs. We did a “dog bone” workout including push-ups, abs stuff, box jumps and mountain climbers, and while I ordinarily like these circuits, I just couldn’t get into it. Oh well.

Things didn’t improve much after work. I’d planned to do a super easy, podcast jog with Mona in the afternoon. Basically everything went wrong. My podcast app kept freezing (?), my stomach felt awful, Mona wanted to chase every dog/goose/human we saw, and the 9:30 pace we were running might as well have been a 7:30 pace.

Thursday: PlayGldn at Dino Ridge (7.5 miles)

Another Thursday, another trek to Golden for a great run with the crew. I wasn’t totally sure how the hill repeats would feel, and I wasn’t very optimistic after Wednesday’s disaster. Regardless, after I got started, I felt decent enough to push a little. Again,  it was good…not great. I was happy that I felt better than the week before, although I’ll say that those ups and downs at Dino never get much easier.

Friday: Rest

I had good intentions of going to yoga on Friday, but it was too pretty after work to not be outside. So, I took Mona on a long walk (while podcasting, always) and did a Jasyoga video while making dinner. Adam was gone for the weekend, so I had all the time to myself to stretch, relax, etc. I took full advantage of that on Friday night, and I was trying to simulate race-prep mode for the hard workout we had planned on Saturday.

Saturday: Long run with 8 miles @ HMP pace (13.1 miles)

Another lovely example of Julia creating workouts and me saying, “Okay then!” The plan was to do a 3 mile warm-up, 8 miles around 7:10 pace, and a 2.1 mile cool-down. There were a bunch of NP friends doing their own long runs on the Cherry Creek bike path, so there were lots of friendly faces to see. After our short group warm-up, Julia and I took off for our 4″out” fast miles on the moderately uphill portion of the path. Admittedly, I didn’t feel too great on the warm-up, so I already had a sneaking suspicion that this workout would take a lot of work.

Oof, and a lot of work it was! Neither of us felt great right from the start, and factoring in the slight uphill during the first half of our fast miles, we both kept our heads down and focused on one mile at a time. Luckily, we were still hitting the splits without a lot of difficulty, they just didn’t feel great. We took a short break at the halfway turnaround point, and then headed back to the start with a little more gusto than before. The wind was at our backs and we were no longer fighting an incline, which all around made the second half of the workout better than the first. However, within the last mile, I was hurting. Both my hips were aching and my stomach was no longer on board with running fast. All in all, not the greatest run in terms of ease and strength, but it was really good for mental preparation and continuing to grind when things don’t feel optimal. We averaged 7:08s for the half-marathon pace miles and 7:30s for the run overall.

Sunday: Recovery run (5 miles)

My goal for the week was to not run over 40 miles, so an easy five miler to round out 39 miles total sounded just perfect. I slept in, lounged around, and finally made it out with very few expectations for this run. Surprisingly,  I felt pretty darn good! I wore my watch but kept it on the time-of-day mode and just focused on running super easy and relaxed. Running slow felt awesome and to my surprise afterward, it didn’t even end up being that slow.

Thinking I’ll do another Jasyoga video today before gearing up for a big week next week!

Total: 39.3 miles

Highs: Hitting splits and getting the work done despite not feeling optimal

Lows: Both my hips ached a bit last week, which they haven’t done since the middle of February. Planning to roll as much as possible this week!

Roman numerals just feel right for blog post titles recently. Going with it.

I’m typing this while a snoring doggy is snoozing away in my lap, and frankly I feel about the same. This was a big week! It was mostly all good, and I’m happy with the momentum that seems to be building.

Here’s how training went over the past 7 days:

Monday: Lookout Mountain (9 mi)

After last week’s weather fiasco, I really wanted another go at Lookout for the full experience. Luckily, the weather was positively perfect last Monday; crisp, clear and still. Thanks to good ole’ DST, it was much darker on the way up the road than it has been recently, but the sun rose on the way down and it was gorgeous! Julia, Meaghan and I all agreed that this jaunt more than made up for the week before. And bonus…I felt super strong and fresh. I was encouraged by this run, as I’ve been trying to get stronger on hills, and it was overall a great start to the week.

Also, I wore a new pair of shoes (Saucony Freedoms) and I loved them! They are super lightweight but also sturdy and good for all-around wear.

Tuesday: Long Fartlek workout (9.5 mi)

I read about an awesome time-based workout on the Picky Bars blog (designed by Lauren Fleshman, no less) that I was itching to try out. I’ve never done an interval workout that’s based on time instead of distance, which is what really piqued my interest. Here’s what was on tap:

10x – 3:00 on, 2:00 off (10 minute warm-up, 10 minute cool-down)

For the “on” intervals, my goal was to run around 10k effort, which I thought was probably around a 6:45 pace. I managed to wrangle Nina to do this workout with me, which I was so thankful for because it kept me honest to stick to the plan and not skimp! Nina did 7 of the 10 intervals with me, and overall we stuck closely to the prescribed “on” pace and enjoyed a nice easy jog during the “off” 2 minutes. I felt good through about 7.5 intervals, and the last 2.5 were tough! I had to muscle through them, but I felt very satisfied and comfortably wiped afterward.

When I finished, I texted Julia that the workout really compounded on itself; I felt really good at first and the fatigued just gradually settled in. Great workout!

Wednesday: NP5280 + run to/from (8.2 mi)

I was ready for an easier day on Wednesday after hills on Monday and speed on Tuesday, so I took it pretty easy on my run to and from November Project as well as at the workout. My stomach also felt kind of terrible when I woke up, so I was wary of it throughout the morning.

We did a couple of sprints around the Capitol Building which were fun, as well as a stairs + push up + sit up workout that acted as my lone strength work for the week.

Thursday: Dino Ridge hill repeats (7.5 mi)

I slept approximately 3.5 hours on Wednesday night, and had I not already been awake when it was time to get up to run, I would have bagged the whole thing. Not exactly setting things up for success.

I really wanted these hills to feel good, but deep down I knew I was probably in for a not-so-great run, which I was unfortunately right about. My legs had zero gusto! I was happy enough to just be out there with the PlayGldn crew under a beautiful sunrise. Hopefully next time I’ll have a little more fire.

Friday: Rest

 

I think I had less than 4,000 steps on Friday. Taking rest days very seriously over here.

Saturday: Mt. Bross – March 14er! (6.2 hiking miles)

Oh man, Adam and I were about as close as you can get to not doing this one. We were both so tired from the week, and generally a 14er day didn’t sound super appealing to me. But, I knew there wouldn’t be much more time to get in a 14er for the month of March, and as we’ve said so far throughout this “challenge,” we want to at least give ourselves a chance to succeed at it. So, on Thursday I made a dog boarding reservation for Mona “just in case,” and somehow that was enough of an inspiration to muster up the energy to go.

It was so fun! We decided to hike Mt. Bross, which is a mountain ordinarily done as one-of-four in the summer months (Democrat, Cameron, and Lincoln are the other three). Admittedly, Adam and I have poked fun at Bross for just being kind of a walk-over, ant hole of a mountain that you happen to do when you do the others.

However, after doing this peak on its own from an alternative route, my respect for it has greatly increased. We didn’t follow a standard trail due to avalanche safety precuation, but the route we did create for ourselves was super steep! We hiked the east-facing side so it was nearly all dry above treeline, and we both wore t-shirts for most of the hike. It was lovely but also a bit alarming considering it’s technically still winter and there was hardly any snow. Anyway, we were up and down in about four hours and it was overall a great day.

Sunday: Long run (16 mi)

The adventure of Sunday’s long run started before we even put our feet on the pavement! The plan was for a group of us to run Magnolia Road in Boulder which is an iconic 16 mile, high-altitude rolling dirt road. The weather was ideal, everyone’s schedules synced up, it seemed too good to be true. And unfortunately…it was. On the way into Boulder, we noticed that there was smoke billowing out of the foothills and wondered if there was some kind of fire. Sure enough, Meaghan called me minutes later and told us that the road up to Magnolia was closed. We tried to keep the group momentum going and opt for another Boulder option, but it was frankly too smoky for anyone to safely run outside.

My car (Adrienne and me) weren’t on any time restriction necessarily, so we decided to follow Julia and Meg back to Golden so we could copy-cat Dan on the long run he’d done the day before near Golden Gate Canyon State Park.

And it turned out as the best happy accident! The run was so beautiful, challenging and all-around awesome. The climbs and descents seemingly never ended in the best kind of way, and you truly felt completely isolated from any nearby city. Loved the run, the company, and loved how (mostly) good I felt! My legs were feeling the mountain climbing from the day before, but I still felt strong and capable throughout the 16 miles we covered. Near the end, I was flirting ever so slightly with the threat of bonking, but it never happened and I ended feeling exhausted in the best kind of way.

Longest run since December, too!

Total (running and hiking):  56.6 miles, 7,826 feet of climbing

Highs: 14er and awesome long run. My kind of perfect weekending!

Lows: Bad sleep throughout the week, poor stretching/rolling/recovery regimen. Will do better this week!

 

 

 

 

Well look at that…three blog posts in three weeks! According to my TimeHop app, this hasn’t happened in a long time. Speaking of which, I’m shocked at how much I had (or at least thought I had) to write about back then! I used to run alone so much during the early blog days, so I suppose I had no other outlet for all my running-related thoughts. Now that I have training partners (teammates!) to share my runs with, I think I’m just left with less to say online. I positively prefer the way things are currently; running friends are the best.

Last week was finicky, but overall good. I began the week thinking that I’d have a lower-mileage/down week, but then I got into a bit of a groove and just rolled with my new “normal” mileage (40-45 mi). I did do a shorter long run, on trails no less, which made my weekend a lot less pound-inducing than usual, which I’m happy about.

Monday: Lookout Mountain attempt + easy after work (10 mi)

Monday was wild! I headed to Golden to run Lookout Mtn. road with the Monday crew, which ordinarily would have meant about 9 miles with 1,200 ft. of gain. It was a crisp, bright, and calm morning…almost eerily so. Meaghan even commented about how “weirdly calm” it was out. Well, within a few minutes we turned a corner and were hit smack in the face with a massive headwind and snow! It was so fast-moving and strong that we had no choice but to turn around, which all of us did without any hesitation. Even after so many years of living in Colorado, the craziness of our weather patterns never ceases to amaze me.

After work, I decided to add on some miles for the day with an easy jog with Mona! It was super cold out and I was feeling less-than-stellar, but I was really glad I went afterward and Mona hit a personal distance record! Proud dog mama.

Tuesday: Full rest day

Wednesday: November Project + run to/from (7.5 mi)

I wanted to take Wednesday a little easy since I was planning a speed workout on Thursday. However, NP got sneaky and did a workout that kind of necessitated sprinting and races plus some body weight exercises. It was super fun and the vibe was strong, but I was wiped afterward! My hip flexors were super stiff the whole day following, and since I actually tried to do my burpees with correct form for the first time…I was sore from those too.

Thursday: 8 x 800s + warm-up and cool-down (9.75 mi)

Track Thursday! There’s an NP group that’s been going to the South High School track on Thursdays and I’ve been itching to join them. It’s infinitely easier for me to go to the track when there are others around rather than just going on my own, so I jumped at the chance to recruit people to join in.

800s are my default track workout, partly because I really like them, and partly because I’m too lazy to figure out my paces at other distances.

Ideally I wanted to do eight, but I decided six would suffice if I was feeling overworked. The goal was to run around 3:15s for each interval (6:30 pace) and for them to feel like work but not entirely out of my comfort zone. This is a little embarrassing, but I only recently discovered the Garmin feature that shows average pace for a single rep instead of just current pace. Game changer for intervals! I checked my watch every 200 meters or so to make sure I was staying in range of my goal pace. After four intervals, I was feeling a little cooked already but decided to keep going and try for the eight I’d planned on. Splits:

3:13, 3:10, 3:13, 3:13, 3:12, 3:13, 3:11, 3:10

Needless to say, I was psyched with that consistency! I jogged a lap between each one and including the run there and back home, I ended up with a little over 9 miles for the day.

Friday: November Project hill repeats (7 mi)

NP was at my favorite Friday location: Little Man hill at Hirshorn Park in the Highlands. I normally love to run the hill repeats hard at Little Man, but after the workout day before I was more than happy to just cruise up and down while socializing instead. I jogged a few miles beforehand too, which I was thankful for since my legs needed some warming up!

Saturday: Green Mountain (10 mi)

Oh sweet, glorious trails. I’ve been wanting to take advantage of the dry March trails, and since I also didn’t want to do a very long run this weekend – the standard 10 mile loop at Green Mountain was calling my name. Before heading over there, I drank coffee and ate breakfast over an hour (very pleasant) and registered for my third Pikes Peak Ascent! The Ascent might be my favorite race of all time, so I was positively giddy after submitting my registration and was brimming with excitement to run some trails as a celebration.

The combination of my good mood and the foggy 40 degree weather made for an A+ run! The trails were ever so slightly damp, which meant the traction was perfect, and as much as I love the sun, the humid and cloudy air felt so good after how dry it’s been otherwise.

I decided to push a little bit on the final descent, and I ended up running the whole loop faster than I ever have before! It was really encouraging and I rode high all day afterwards.

Sunday: 6 mile hike

I planned on not running on Sunday and just doing whatever felt good, which ended up being a hike with my family (Mona included). It was lovely out and a great, easy way to move on an otherwise sluggish DST day.

Total: 44 miles

Highs: Green Mountain unicorn run and speed consistency on the track

Lows:  The forced bailout of Lookout Mountain was disappointing, as was my continued inability to implement a regular at-home stretch/strength regimen. Trying harder this week!

Goal for this week: Take some darn photos!

 

 

 

 

I don’t really have a countdown yet in my head for Colorado Half-Marathon prep, so we’ll just call this officially week 2. This week started slow and picked up a lot of steam at the end; I had nearly chalked it up to a dud, but then two awesome runs made all the difference. Isn’t that how it always goes, though?

The best part of this week, aside from those two key runs, was that I finally, finally, felt like myself again. I feel like over the past two months I’ve been running in a “walking-on-eggshells” fashion. I’ve been hyper-aware of aches and pains, I’ve been fearful of doing too much or going too fast, and generally I’ve just been a little overly-cautious most of the time. Not that having caution is a bad thing at all, but it’s not a very enjoyable way to constantly be feeling with running. But this week, I felt strong, controlled, and like I was actually in a groove again. A great feeling, especially on the onset of spring.

My goal for this week was to run 45 miles, which I managed to do in only 5 days of running – meaning 2 rest/non-running days. While I would love to comfortably run every day, my body responds well to two days off from running, especially when I’m in the midst of coming back after a break (which I still feel like I am right now). Not to mention, I freaking love rest days.

Here’s how the week shook out:

Monday: Easy (7 mi)

I ran 4 miles around Wash Park nice and easy. I was a little creaky from the cross-country race the day before, but it felt nice to get some blood flowing. After that first loop, I swung by home to pick up Mona for a few miles with her. Two birds with one stone; I love running with her!

Also,  I decided to go rogue and do squats and abs after my run. I felt super smug about it, but then I was so sore from the squats all week. Note to self: even air squats will bite you if you don’t do them regularly.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: NP + to/from (7.5 mi)

It was pretty cold on Wednesday, and after a few weeks of moderate weather and nicer mornings, I resolutely decided that I am DONE with the cold. My muscles really don’t love sub 25 degree weather either, and running in the cold is just all around achey. Hugs were still had, kumbaya.

Thursday: Dino Ridge hill repeats! (8 mi)

Real talk: Doing hills with the PlayGldn crew is a humbling experience for me. Hills have never been a strong suit of mine, and these Golden kids are a bunch of fasties – especially when it comes to moving up and down anything. The first time I met them all for the 0.7 mile repeats at Dinosaur Ridge, I sorta got my butt handed to me. All that to say, I wanted a little redemption on Thursday! We had a big group of runners, and somehow the combination of the lighter morning, the beautiful weather, and the larger crew netted out to a super kickass workout for everyone! I haven’t had that much fun running in a long time; everyone was working hard and encouraging one another – it truly felt like running with a team. I finished with 8 miles total and 900 feet of climbing all in a 7:46 average pace. Not to mention, I felt super strong! I had a runner’s high the entire day after.

Friday: Easy (8.6 mi)

I am really trying to use recovery runs for just that…recovery. Still getting in miles while soothing my tired muscles from the day before. Luckily, I actually felt pretty good after our fast workout from the day before, and a run around both Cheesman Park and Wash Park seemingly flew by.

Saturday: Long run (15 mi)

I’ve been piggy backing off of Julia’s half-marathon training, which has worked out well for me for a number of reasons. Not only do I not really have to think about what to do, I always get in a good run, AND I get to run with friends. Win, win, win!

On Saturday, Julia, Meaghan, and I teamed up again for a 5-5-5 mile workout on Cherry Creek trail. Jules wanted to run 5 easy, 5 at her goal half-marathon pace, and 5 more easy for 15 miles total. Meaghan ran 5 ahead of time to get 20 total for the day, so we all had our heads down for the task at hand. And it went so well! The 5 fast miles went by so quickly, and the sub 7:10 pace felt much more do-able than expected. Probably the easiest that pace has ever felt in a workout, which was super encouraging. Good miles, strong women, and coffee in the sun with our men afterwards. Great morning!

I also took an Epsom salt bath afterward and walked Mona in the afternoon – both of which encouraged some good recovery for my legs.

Sunday: (Active) rest day!

Sunday was going to technically a rest day, but I’m not really counting it as one since I did yoga and hiked! I went to a 75-minute flow class which was good, not great, but a nice way to start the day after sleeping for over 9 hours. Then in the afternoon, Adam and I took Mona on a hike up Lookout Mountain trail. It was 5 miles total, and while I love hanging out with the two of them, it was admittedly a little frustrating just how many people and off-leash dogs there were on the trail. PSA: unless you are at an off-leash designated dog park, keep your leash on your pooch!

Total: 46.4 miles (running only)

Highs: The literal runner’s high from Dino Ridge and feeling super strong on Saturday’s long run

Lows: Realizing that winter isn’t gone, and we’ll still have darkness and cold for another month (at least)