Busted! After 7 consistent weeks of blogging in a row, I fell behind and now I’m in need of playing catch up! That means my rambling will be minimal. Let’s get down to it.

edited to add: my rambling is not minimal

WEEK 8 (4/10 – 4/16)

This feels so long ago! Thank god for Strava and the iPhone notepad.

Monday: Rest! Perfect, blissful rest

Tuesday: 10 mile Tuesday on Green Mountain!

The best weekday run of the summer is back in the rotation! Julia and I ran our standard 10-mile route on Green Mountain and were #blessed with dry trails and a gorgeous morning. We ran super easy and it felt really good effort-wise. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed this run, my stomach had a mind of its own. I had to pull over on the side of the trail (first time for that on Green) where there were zero trees and a measly little bush. After we finished I had to go again, and I was pretty much off an on the toilet for the rest of the day. TMI, but this is unfortunately a theme recently. Luckily it all mostly calmed down by that evening.

Wednesday: November Project + run to/from (7 miles)

We did “100, 100s” at NP, meaning 100 leg tosses and 100 push ups split up over the course of 10-15 minutes or so. Considering this is the most “weight training” I’ve done in months, I was horribly sore, specifically my abs, for the entire rest of the week. It was a gut-punch (literally) of a reminder that it would be who of me to throw around my body weight every once in a while. I ran easy to and from the workout as well, which was intentional because I had speed work planned for Thursday!

Thursday: 3 x 2 miles + warm-up/cool-down (9 miles)

 

I debated about what to do for my speedwork all week and decided to up the ante a little on a workout Julia and I did a few weeks ago: the notorious 2 mile interval. Only this time, I would add a set. Scary! My plan was to run these between a 6:50-7:00 pace (goal race pace? TBD) and hope that I would be able to remain consistent effort-wise throughout the whole thing.

Full disclosure, I had a super bad night on Wednesday and when I woke up Thursday morning, I almost didn’t run at all. Then I thought, “Okay, I’ll just run slow and easy,” and eventually I decided, “Well fuck, I’ll just try.” Yep, sometimes you need to swear at yourself to get your butt out of bed. So what if I was dehydrated and tired? Was I going to die? No. Was I incapable of moving my body? No. There was no point in not trying, so off I went. Admittedly, I thought that just doing a 2×2 would suffice.

After a 1.5 mile warm-up, I started the intervals and felt…good? Dare I say it, I actually felt great; smooth, in control, and focused. I realized during my first set that doing speed work under not-so-perfect conditions is actually ideal race prep, especially for later in a race, so I was hungry to finish the whole thing. I recovered with two minutes of standing rest between each set, and I felt like I could actually feel the physiological benefit of this recovery period. My legs would flood with lactate toward the end of the intervals, and by the time I started the next one I felt fresh again. Cool stuff! Anyway, my last mile was rough, but otherwise I’m pleased with how it all panned out:

Splits: 6:49, 6:50, 6:47, 6:49, 6:45, 6:50

Faster than I planned, and I’m not sure what it all means for goal race pace. Maybe I’m just getting better at two mile repeats? Who knows.

1.5 mile cool-down, bada-boom.

Friday: Easy podcast jog (7 miles)

My legs were wrecked from the day before, but that’s the point of recovery runs, right?

Saturday: Dino Ridge Relays! (9 miles)

The long awaited Dino Ridge Relays! Mike Bell and Julia planned a fun partner race/relay inspired by our favorite Thursday-morning hill. A bunch of us teamed up to tackle the 2.2 mile out-and-back course, which we’d each complete twice. Do I need to tell you Julia was my partner? She was. I went first and third, she went second and last, and I had some big time apprehensions before we got started; my stomach was super off and I was concerned about lingering fatigued from Thursday’s workout.

Shockingly though, I felt fantastic! Right out of the gate, I felt like I was somehow floating uphill. I was going faster than I’d ever run up Dino and felt the best I ever have. Crazy what a “race” environment will do for you, eh? Before I knew it I was turning around to head down and I had a great time cruising. Once finished with my first lap, my lungs were super wheezy, but the little rest I had while Julia was running helped a lot and I was rearing to go by the time she got back. My second climb didn’t feel quite so spritely as my first (although looking back my splits were almost identical each time up), but I hammered away on my final downhill. Glancing down at my watch I saw a 5:45 pace looking back at me while descending, which was scary and exhilarating! I loved doing this relay, and I had a lot of training confidence afterward.

Side note: I inhaled a bagel and cream cheese immediately following my second lap and proceeded to be absolutely starving for the rest of the day, no matter how much I ate. Dem hills!

Sunday: Long run (14 miles)

I wasn’t super amped to do a long run, but I wanted to get one in since I hadn’t really done one the week before and it felt a little incomplete without one. So, I set out with very little expectation other than to try and run 14 miles comfortably. We were in Colorado Springs so I was gifted with my standard no-frills bike path that requires little thinking and ample Pikes Peak viewing. While I swear there was a headwind both ways, this run was decent.

Total: 56.3 miles, highest for this training cycle! 2,450 feet of climbing all from Green and Dino

Highs: Tie between my Thursday workout and Dino Ridge relays. Nice to feel fast on both flats and hills.

Lows: My stomach was generally a mess this week. Abnormal, Crohn’s-related feelings which were not fun.

 

WEEK 9 (4/17-4/23)

Monday: Rest! Best.

Tuesday: Green Mountain! (10 miles)

The best thing about being lazy and blogging about two weeks at once is that I don’t need to remind you what Green is. Another ten-mile loop, no bathroom emergencies, good times. I truly love this run; it’s a rough wake up call (4:30 am for me) but it’s always peaceful and pretty, plus nothing makes me feel more badass than 10 miles on trails before work.

Wednesday: November Project + run to/from + afternoon run (12 miles)

Stomach issues again! We did a workout that I love but I had to miss maybe 10 minutes of it to make a mad dash to a nearby bathroom. My go-to Panera had closed unfortunately, so I headed into CorePower yoga knowing they had a bathroom available. The girl at the front desk looked at me like I was a martian when I asked (begged) her to use it, but ultimately the crisis was averted. Annoying! The rest of the workout went well as did my hobby jog there and back.

I doubled-up and ran again in the afternoon with Mona. I wanted to also listen to a podcast but I’ve realized that the combo of the dog, her leash, and the spi=belt I need in order to carry my phone is just too much. So I just sang her praises and told her how good she was the whole time instead.

Thursday: Rest

I had to look this up because I’d forgotten that I look two rest days last week! Sweet!

Friday: Little Man hill + park loop (8 miles)

Little Man hill repeats is my favorite November Project workout so I was amped to run some ups and downs with my peeps. I did a little 4 mile park jog ahead of time to get 8 miles for the day and then drove over to the Highlands. The boys had a little bit of an alternative workout planned with a new hill route and a few exercises, but I just ran the hill portion instead since I really just felt like running and I’m also not great at switching a plan once I have my heart set on it. Working on that…

Saturday: easy run (8 miles)

Ugh. I fully intended to do my long run on Saturday (which was also my planned big workout for the week) but I woke up and knew it was a no go. My stomach was super off, I had a headache, and it was already getting a little too late. Once my out-of-whack ailments subsided a bit I cut my losses, planned to do my long run Sunday, and headed out for an easy jog instead (podcast included). This run was terrible! I felt like I’d never exercised a day in my life and generally everything felt crunchy and sore. Blah.

Sunday: Long run with 10k at tempo (15 miles)

I was feeling rather discouraged by the week (and my stomach) so I committed myself to having a good run on Sunday. I needed it! I was a little intimidated by the paces I had planned out, but I’ve found that when I go into a run mentally resolute and determined to make it happen, it always manages to work out.

I headed to Waterton Canyon which is a great option for a non-technical, no-climbing “trail” run that’s out of town but not super far away. I wanted to run here because it was dirt and it would give me a long gradual decline that would simulate the course a bit at the Colorado Half-Marathon. While there’s no real hills, the 6 miles into the canyon is ever-so-slightly uphill (~250 feet of gain total), making the way back optimal for practicing some “downhill” tempo running. The run into the canyon felt fine if not a little head-windy. I listened to a Runner’s World podcast to keep my pace easy (apparently I run with headphones now?) and sipped Tailwind consistently. Before I knew it I’d hit the 6.2 mile mark and it was time to head out – fast! My aim was to run around a 7 min/mile pace and stay as comfortable as possible given the slight decline.

I ran the 10k out of the canyon in 42:30 seconds (6:51 pace) and was both super pumped and wiped! My lungs felt great and my endurance was all there, but my legs definitely got tired toward the end. Which shouldn’t be entirely concerning considering 1) it was the end of another 50+ mile week, and 2) it was technically a 10k PR for me! I did a 3 mile cool down to round out 15 miles for the day.

After, I promptly treated myself to a burrito and an epsom salt bath. Hay in the barn!

Total: 53.1 miles, 2,100 feet of climbing

Highs: Successful long run with paces I don’t think I could have hit even a month ago

Lows: Lots of general lethargic feelings plus continued stomach woes

 

Side note: The wizards of WordPress let me know that last week’s training recap was the 300th post on this blog! Kind of exciting. I may neglect this site more often than not nowadays, but I did feel a little pride in just how much content and work I’ve put into it when I realized this milestone. Here’s an lol-moment with my first post here!

Onto training. Quick refresher: I’m currently training for the Colorado Half-Marathon on May 7th. It’s in Ft. Collins, it’s moderately downhill, and with any luck it will be a fast race to kick off the summer. I’ve retired from spring marathons for the time being, so training for a half felt like a happy compromise.

Monday: Easy run (8 miles)

Woof, this did not feel easy. Technically I had a rest day the day beforehand so I expected this to feel okay, but it was one of those runs that started off bad and just went south from there. Thinking about it afterwards, I realized my “rest day” the day before was hardly one at all. I did 75 minutes of yoga and over 5 miles of walking, which wasn’t very conducive to true recovery from my harder-effort long run on Saturday.

The rest of the day didn’t go much better. I had a bad sinus headache and both my lymph nodes were super swollen. Allergies! I had originally planned on doing a track workout on Tuesday, but considering the aforementioned ailments, the pending forecast of snow, and my obvious lack of recovery, I bagged that idea without any hesitation.

I spent the whole evening doing lots of foam rolling and legs up the wall.

Tuesday: Rest!

As stated, a morning run – specifically a track workout – was not happening on Tuesday, which I could not have been happier about. We woke up to snow everywhere, and after weeks of sun and blooming, it was kind of rough to see such a site out the window in the morning. I patted myself on the back for proactively being non-weatherproof.

I thought I’d do an easy run when I got home since the weather improved a bit, but it was still a little touch and go with snow showers. I got home, wavered back and forth about running while chowing down on goldfish, wavered some more, and instead decided to put on sweatpants and call it a day. I baked banana bread and a batch of these pb&j bites that Adam and I can’t get enough of.

Wednesday: Three-peat?? (13.1 miles)

There was zero “plan” to run exactly 13.1 miles on Wednesday. In fact, the only plan was to go to November Project and not feel as terrible as I had on Monday. It was really cold on Wednesday morning (~26 degrees) so I was a little worried about slick roads from the precipitation the day before, but it turned out okay. The NP workout was “climb the mountain” which is a pyramid circuit of stairs and body weight things, and I felt pretty good throughout.

During the day, the sun and blue sky came out, melted all the lingering snow, and all of a sudden it was spring again! I got home and had to get on the phone with Century Link (which I never, ever recommend), and since I knew I would mainly be on hold for a while…I plugged my headphones into my phone and headed out on a little jog. Wednesdays have kind of turned into my optional “double day,” I suppose. Anyway, I ran for 4 easy miles and was literally on hold the entire time.

I decided to be a good runner and take an epsom salt bath a little later on. Adam was about to get home from work later than normal so I decided to wait and say hi to him before getting in the tub. He walked in, saw me still in my running clothes, and immediately recruited me to come run his one mile for the day with him to keep up his run streak. I couldn’t say no to helping my dude out. So, the hot water waited for approximately 9 minutes, and I managed to log exactly 13.1 miles for the day. How d’you like them apples?

Thursday: PlayGldn (8 miles)

We stayed up late on Wednesday, so the early morning call to head to Golden came a bit rudely. But, remembering my FOMO from the week before, I headed west with the promise of a good sunrise and good people. I decided to make the hill repeats my workout for the week, so I decided to try and work hard-ish despite my desire to instead perform DGAF-frontz (Mike Bell – TM). Overall, I felt decent. I worked about 75% effort, specifically on the ups, and while it certainly could’ve been better, I called it a win.

Friday: Easy run (3 miles)

I was a bit confounded with what to do on Friday. I kind of wanted to take another rest day, but I wanted to go to NP, but I didn’t want to do body weight exercises. So when Julia suggested running a few miles during the NP workout instead (after the bounce and before the finish/photo) I was all game. It was a nice little shake out with my buddy on a lovely morning. We finished it up with some suicide relays and lots of hugs with the tribe. Happy Friday indeed.

Saturday: Green Mountain (10 miles)

I wanted to save my legs a little for pacing duties at Sunday’s half-marathon, so a 10-miler on Green Mountain sounded just right for a sunny Saturday morning. I also wanted to test out my new trail shoes, the La Sportiva Bushidos, which I’m hoping will be the perfect hybrid trail-runner/14er-hiker shoe I’ve been pining after.

*Edited to add: two runs in the Bushidos, I love them! Lightweight but sturdy.

Meaghan is tapering for Boston and was looking for a similar medium-long run, so she joined me on the loop. After my last unicorn jaunt on Green, I was hoping for a similar floaty experience; alas, it was a bit of a death march. My whole body felt achey (specifically my back, hips and hamstrings), my energy was super low and I just didn’t feel like I could make my legs move at all. Luckily it was a gorgeous morning, albeit a little hot, but it was great to be on the trails and hear all about Meaghan’s plan for Boston.

Afterward, I felt super thirsty and drank two Nalgenes of water before I had to pee. Might explain my lackluster feeling a bit, huh? I spent the rest of the day drinking many beverages, stretching and generally relaxing.

Sunday: Platte River Half Marathon spectating and pacing (11 miles)

Race day! Even though I wasn’t racing, I felt like I had skin in the game with so many friends going for it at the Platte River Half. I ran this race two years ago and had far less-than-favorable memories from it, so I was exceedingly thrilled to be on the other side this time. I arrived at the NP5280 cheer station location right at 8 am (race start time) and looked like a child who’d lost their parents. Multiple volunteers asked me if I had either a) misunderstood where the start line was, or b) needed to know where the relay hand-off was. No! I’m just here for my friends!

I decided my best course of action would be to just jog over to mile 8 where I intended to pick up Julia for some shared pacing through the back half of her race. I found a great spot just before the mile 8 marker where I could see people coming from a couple hundred yards away. It was really fun cheering for the front of the pack, although several of them had their super-serious faces on and didn’t exactly love my emphatic chants. But then I saw a happy, familiar face. Dan! He was in the top five and looked relaxed as could be. You should go and read his own race recap. I also saw Jim, Tyler, Danny, and then…Julia! She looked strong and under control, and I was ready to help out however necessary. She wrote a race recap that far exceeds any description I could give, so I recommend reading that here. In a few words, her legs and brain were in it, her stomach was not. The worst! She fought hard and I, as always, was proud to run alongside her. I was reminded that the last few miles of this race aren’t the best for running fast; rolling cement, one steep hill right at the end, and a stretch where you run right next to the interstate. Bleh.

Anyway, I ran into the finish area with Julia and cheered with the whole gang as we watched more NP runners finish their races. It was so much fun and I was reminded how inspiring it is to witness the grit of runners, specifically of friends, as they fight hard for their goals. I was pumped up! Afterwards, I did a 180 and retraced the course back to where I’d parked my car (about 3.5 miles backward).

Totals: 53.3 miles, 2,317 feet of climbing

Highs: After Tuesday, I thought this was going to be a wash week of training. I’m happy I managed to pull off another 50+ mile week without a lot of wear and tear and having some fun along the way.

Lows: My hamstrings and glutes both continue to be super susceptible to getting uber tight and rickety. Maintenance of the little things is proving to be crucial!

 

Mother Nature reminded us this week that while the flowers might be blooming and the grass is getting greener, winter’s not quite over yet. Throughout the week, it was pretty rainy and gloomy and everything from the foothills to the 14ers received a solid covering of snow. As anyone here will tell you though, “We need the moisture,” and it couldn’t be more true. Luckily, training still went pretty much as planned. I’m getting excited though for more shorts-and-tee shirts only runs!

Monday: Lookout Mountain (9 miles)

Back at it with the Golden girls! We did the standard jaunt up and down Lookout, and not one, not two, but all three of us had to use the bathroom at some point. Happy Monday? I always enjoy starting the week off with this crew and this run, but I also didn’t sleep well at all the night before (ugh, again), so the rest of the day was kind of miserable. I felt like I was getting feverish all day and even had two coworkers tell me I looked clammy/pale. Compliments, I’m sure. No idea what happened there, but maybe I’m getting too old for early mornings following short nights.

Tuesday: Easy around Wash Park (7 miles)

I hadn’t actually done my standard 7-mile Wash Park loop in a long time, and I was happy on Tuesday to indulge in a super relaxed run after sleeping in a little. While nearly the entirety of Denver hangs out at this park on the weekends, on the weekdays in the early morning I like to think it belongs to the runners (and walkers). There’s a lot of “regulars” out there and we all kind of recognize/know one another; it’s like a quiet, comforting little active community.

Wednesday: Clovers at November Project + after work dog jog (12 miles)

Clovers again! At the end of every month, we run a course of stairs and straightaways at November Project and everyone is supposed to count their laps and try to beat their previous PR. It’s one of the best NP days of the month as everyone is super energetic and encouraging, plus it’s our hardest and best workout.

On Wednesday, my goal was to get over 17 clovers. My PR is something like 17.3, but considering that it was kind of wet out and I’ve only run over 17 three or so times, it felt like a good goal. I slowly ran the two miles there as a warm-up, and when I got there I was surprised at just how much the prospect of rain had scared people away. It was a small group! This is actually a good thing for clovers, because it makes it easier to navigate around the tight turns. Anyway, off we went and I was feeling great! I felt relaxed but also really strong, and I was actually thinking early on that I might be able to pull out a real PR. I was cheering on people and knocking out laps one after another and on one 90 degree turn…splat! I slipped on the wet brick and took a pretty decent fall, landing first on my elbow and scrapping up my knee. A few people stopped around me (I think it looked worse than it was…) and after a minute or so of assessing that there wasn’t any permanent damage, I continued on. I remained a little more cautious about my turns throughout the rest of the workout (two other people fell too!), but as we approached the end and I realized that I was nearly at 17 clovers and I’d lost a minute when I fell, I was kinda pissed. It felt like a wasted opportunity considering how good I’d been feeling beforehand, but…safety first. I finished with one section of stairs short of 17 clovers, and later on realized we’d only been allotted 33:30 of the normal 35:00 time window. Dang. Next time I’ll be ready to bust a move!

My elbow pain lingered the longest following that fall, in fact I can still feel it a tad 4 days later, but ultimately I got lucky.

I decided after work to double up on the day and take Mona out on a little run. This went better than the nightmare of a run we had the week beforehand, but man…my stomach is not into running in the afternoon. Wearing the hands-free leash around my midsection doesn’t help anything out either, so I might need to be a little more strategic in planning my lunches on days where I do these afternoon jogs. It was nice and slow though, and it’s a good way to get in some shake out miles without a lot of wear-and-tear.

Thursday: Rest!

I really, really wanted to go to PlayGldn, but it had been several days of running in a row and I was ready to sleep in. I had intentions to go to yoga but instead just did a long walk with the dog instead after work. Real dog > downward dog.

Friday: Easy run with Adam (8 miles)

Adam and I decided to take Friday off work (like, three weeks ago) in order to have some scheduled time to hang out together. I’d been looking forward to our day off for a long time and obviously scheduled a “group” run for the two of us to get everything started. Unfortunately, Adam really wasn’t feeling great on Friday morning, but he muscled through and we ended up taking the whole run pretty easy for both of us. Fortunately for me, this meant that the 8 miles weren’t especially taxing on my body and throughout the rest of the day I had kind of forgotten I’d run that morning. That’s probably the way recovery running is supposed to go, eh? Anyway, the better parts of the day included a long delicious breakfast and a long delicious (?) trip to REI where we were both patient enough to leave with new trail running shoes that should be good for both mountains and smooth single track.

Saturday: Long run with progression finish (17 miles)

I had been watching the Saturday weather like a hawk all day Friday and didnt’ really know if I’d be able to do my long run. It had sprinkled rain all day Friday, and it was supposed to turn into consistent snow throughout the night and through Saturday morning. I was really hoping to run long on Saturday instead of Sunday, but before I went to bed on Friday night I decided I’d need to make a game time decision upon conditions in the morning. I naturally woke up around 6:30 on Saturday morning feeling very refreshed, peeked out the window and…no snow! There was a bit of precipitation in the air, very Seattle-ish in fact, and I quickly made the decision to go for it. I took my time a little waking up, drinking coffee, and outfit planning – all of which got me in the long run mode. I haven’t done a long run alone in a long time actually, and while I missed my crew I was actually excited for a solo effort along with some tunes.

I headed for the Highline Canal trail and the plan was to do a second-half progression. I wanted the first half to feel easy and consistent and to make it hurt in the second half by gradually cutting down my pace every mile. I’ve never done this workout during a long run before, but in my limited experience with progression runs it’s important to be very patient. Go too fast one mile, then it’s going to be even harder to go faster the next mile, on and on. The point of the progression is to practice accelerating on tired legs, which is really good prep for race day, or you know…so I’ve read :).

Anyway, off I went on the easy miles with my earbuds in (throwback!) and I felt fantastic. It was 34 degrees when I started which is actually my ideal running temperature, assuming I’m dressed correctly. I was clipping off very even 7:55s and feeling like I was holding back a lot, which was encouraging. I wasn’t paying a ton of attention to my watch during the first half but every time I glanced at it I had to slow down to save some steam for the second part. I was feeling great though and kept picturing running into and striking up a conversation with one of the Broncos’ players who live in the area (okay, mostly just Peyton Manning). Alas, only a bunch of regular rich people :(.

I stopped briefly at my halfway point and calculated (in my head) how I ought to go about my progression miles. Since I had 8 of them to do, I couldn’t get too ambitious right away, so I decided that shaving off 5-6 seconds per mile would be perfect and land me right above 7:00/mile by the end. I switched the screen-face on my watch to show lap pace so I could keep close tabs on my speed, and off I went with a fresh Pandora station blasting (Pitch Perfect radio, FWIW). Right off the bat, I had to keep reeling myself in pace-wise, which ended up being the trend almost every mile. Stay patient, stay patient. This workout got a little scarier every mile, which was actually kind of entertaining. One mile would beep on my watch and it was time to kick it up, but just a little bit. Overall, it was a great practice in control and making small adjustments, as well as staying in the current mile. Forewarning: this required a lot of watch stalking and like I said to Julia later that day, it’s actually a good workout to do by yourself. I’m really happy with how the progression miles went, and I was definitely fighting for those two at the end:

7:48, 7:43, 7:37, 7:30, 7:25, 7:17, 7:12, 7:06

One cool-down mile and I was toasted, which was exactly the goal. Admittedly, it was a little intimidating to think that the ending pace of that progression is where I’d like to be half-marathon pace wise (comfortably…), but this was also supposed to be a tired leg, race-simulation situation at the end of a 50+ mile week. Calling it a success.

Sunday: Yoga + long dog walk

I slept in for real today, took Mona on a big park loop and eventually found myself indulging in a Core Power class. I don’t go to CP regularly because of cost and general time availability, but I do enjoy it on the off chance I decide to go. My hips and hamstrings certainly appreciated the love, and it was a super sweaty and satisfying class overall. Good Sunday!

Total: 53.6 miles

Highs: I was able to run over 50 miles including two non-running days and a lot of slower miles, which meant that I didn’t feel overly exhausted at the end of the week. My two workouts this week were clovers and my long run, and while clovers didn’t go exactly as planned, I felt pretty fit during both harder sessions.

Also! I was way better about foam rolling and stretching at night this week, which I think were really helpful.

Lows: My sleep has been relatively poor recently, which is really counterproductive to training and my overall demeanor (I’m a mean tired person…).