Catching Up

Thought I was going to get to this on a slightly more frequent basis but over a week has passed since last blogging. I guess that makes sense?
Not sure how people that blog on a daily basis find the time, unless of course they do it for a living.

The last week has had it's ups and downs but generally moving in the right direction. My birthday was on Tuesday so heading out to my coach, Steve Jones old haunt "The Toad" tonight to celebrate with friends and to also welcome home, the Godfather of the BX training group, Pete Julian. If you don't know the name, Pete was a top US elite runner, put on the 2007 U.S. Cross Country Nationals in Boulder, was head coach at Metro State and now head Cross country and distance coach at Washington State University. Good bloke.

Training Week July 5th - July 11. 62 miles + 2 bike rides

Mon: 2hr 30 MTB ride at Heil Ranch (picture rock trail) with good friend Ramin Razavi. Ramin is once again close to expert/pro bike shape so this was an easy one for me.
Longest ride I've done in some time and toughest, or rather most technical terrain I've ridden in quite some time. Very rocky and felt like my suspension wasn't working correctly. Arms got pretty tired and by the time I reach the tail end of the last climb I was pretty much done. Final descent was wicked though and put a smile on my face to finish.

Tues: A.M. 4 x 5 min hard efforts w/ 2.5 min recovery.
First real hard session for at least 6 weeks so didn't blast off to crazy. Ran with Johnny Tribbs and kept up for first two repeats but he pulled away a little on the others with his superior fitness and conditioning. Tough session but felt good to get back in the game.
Jonesy commented something about this being the first day of marathon training!

P.M. Warmed up w/ BoldRunning group in Denver (Wash Park) than ran 25 mins alone. Second run often feels good.

Weds: 10 miles from work on usual Boulder 10 mile route.
Weather was nice and overcast for great running conditions. Made me feel right at home and had a great run to boot. Had to be careful not to pick it up too much.

Thur: A.M. 30 mins easy on Coal Creek to Superior and back.
P.M. 25 mins easy + 45 mins w/ BR group at the Rez. Group was doing HM race pace for 20 mins so I felt fine joining in. Actually felt good to get some extra miles in at an easy pace since I was feeling a little tired.

Fri: 70 min easy bike ride.
Should have done a little more but got home from work later than planned and only had time for 70 before heading out with Heather, the Keils and Vail + bird tot he downtown Louisville Street Faire. What a great event! If you've never been try it. Every Friday eve of the summer: http://www.louisvilledba.com/street_faire.htm

Sat: A.M. Hills - 6 x long hills, or around 90 secs. 25 min C/D.
Going from stop sign at bottom of Gillaspie to intersection at Greenbriar.
First hill workout since early spring and felt a little strange to be doing hills in the middle of summer. Can't recall ever having done that but that's marathon training for you I guess.

P.M. 30 mins easy.

Sun: 1hr 45 mins long run.
Started from Marshal Road at 7:30. Glad to be starting early although generally I don't like Sunday runs to start earlier than 8am. Worth it in the heat though. Only lads were Troopy (Australian Olympian, Lee Troop) and local pro Jason Hartman (winner of '09 Twin Cities Marathon). Pace was just a tad too fast for what I felt like running but good to run with others and get dragged along. Was getting hot by half way so was glad when we finished. Also, thanks as usual to Jonesy for being our water boy (ha, handed out water by the former world marathon record holder. something sounds wrong with that!). I've realized that these pro boys are onto something with regular water stops. I used to push through without, thinking it would make me mentally tougher but now I really see the benefit of hydrating as you. Helps maintain the effort on the run and recovery is much quicker.