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!