Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Week Ending March 16

Mon - Noon: 7 miles (1,800') easy. Ran up Horsetooth with Danny on a pair of pins that felt super spry. Gliding.
PM: 4 miles easy. Jogged for half an hour on the Mason Trail while Alistair was at soccer practice.

Tues - 10.5 miles intervals. With the Salida Marathon coming up on the weekend, I kept this one light. Workout was: mile, 800, 800, mile, 800, 800, 2 mile. Splits: 6:18, 2:54, 2:50, 5:57, 2:57, 2:50, 11:58. Had planned on getting out for a bit of a jog in the afternoon, but the weather was so cataclysmic I didn't force the issue.

Weds - 7 miles (1,800') easy. Jogged out a casual Horsetooth summit on my lunch break.
PM: 6.5 miles (800') easy. Snuck out for a twilight spin on the Milner Mtn loop, enjoying the killer south-side views of Horsetooth; perhaps my favorite vantage point.

Thurs - AM: 7 miles (1,800') easy. Jogged a super easy Horsetooth summit in place of my usual Thursday AM tempo session in a continued bid to give the legs a break before Salida.
PM: 8 miles (1,800') easy. Pushed out an easy effort up Towers in 34:30, which was surprisingly fast given the distinct lack of effort. Always a good sign. This was the first daylight Towers TT of the year, which brought out a solid 25+ runners.

Fri - AM: 7 miles (1,800') easy. Super easy Horsetooth summit with Danny before heading out to Salida in the afternoon.

Sat - AM: 28 miles (3,800') race. Salida Marathon in 3:06. This was my sixth running of the Salida Trail Marathon, on the slowest iteration of the course, and low and behold I managed to pick up a PR. Ran pretty much in lockstep with Josh Arthur the whole way round, which was probably the main reason I was able to stay solidly on the gas for the duration. Gave up the win in the last mile, being out-kicked by five seconds, but hey, a PR at the age of 39. Yeah, I'm not complaining.

Collegiate Peaks money shot across the Arkansas Valley. 
Sun - 6.5 miles (1,500') easy. Jogged a few super light miles with Abby on the Columbine/Rainbow trails under Methodist Mountain at the northernmost terminus of the 250-mile Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. I was nursing a pretty serious hangover, but the gorgeous weather and mellow pace helped soothe matters.

Total: 91.5 miles (15,100')

Kind of a balancing act this week. I wanted to keep on the mileage while also giving my legs a bit of a rest before heading out to Salida to race, so I basically bagged the workouts for the week. Unfortunately Sunday was a bust due to an overzealous Saturday night, so I didn't quite hit the triple digits I wanted, but I think I'm big enough and wise enough now not to sweat such trivialities. Three years ago I would have made sure to find the extra 8.5 miles.

The race itself turned out to be a two-man affair and while it was moderately disappointing to not pick up the win, running a 90 second PR on my sixth crack at the course has to be considered a win. If nothing else it is a result that has given me a renewed sense of purpose with my training heading into the spring. Despite the fact that I'll be racing as a master come June, I still believe that I've got the tools - on the right day - to bring home that damn Western States Cougar. Rule number one: you've got to believe.

6 comments:

  1. If it makes you feel any better, I couldn't run until Tuesday after the Saturday night party.

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  2. Nice job at Salida, Nick! If I hadn't given all my home brew to JT, I would have had one left to pass on to you when we spoke ;-) One was a nice Stout for St Patty's day :-)
    I couldn't run on Sunday because I couldn't walk!

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  3. Money!

    You're a humble guy. I take these little signs of optimism out of you as assurance that you are ready to break new ground. Go get 'em pal.
    jer

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  4. Congrats on the PR, sure counts as a win in my book. The older we get, the smarter we have to get with our training, sounds like you're on track for great things.

    p.s. Thanks for the words of encouragement the other day, I realized I set the bar too low.

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