The Connection Runners

Fortnight in Review (9/18-9/30)

It's been about 2 weeks since RRR, and as bad as I wasn't feeling at that time I'm feeling that good now. The weekend of Sept. 18th was a great trip up to Steamboat, so I'll start from the day after RRR.

Sunday - 9/19
Nothing. I drove from Steamboat back to Boulder, but I did so via Fort Collins. I'd never been through Walden or over the pass that is west of foco (even though I had lived there for 2 years). It was a really nice trip and I saw a huge moose. I was driving along and saw this moose so I pulled over, got out, and took some pictures. It made me feel like a tourist, but since it was only the 2nd time I've seen one in the wild, it was kinda a big deal to me. Here's a pic of it:

(there is a moose...look harder)

Monday - 9/20
Nada. Feeling sore. Real sore. And tired. I took this as a sign that I should take it real easy for a bit.

Tuesday - 9/21
Gym. I decided that instead of hitting the trails, I'd try to get the rest of my body in shape. Which is short hand for saying I'm feeling like a wuss because I don't have any upper body.

Wednesday - 9/22
Nada. I decided that Wednesdays will be my day off. Work got out at 5, and I'll head down to Denver after that to hang with the GF, so that works out well.

Thursday - 9/23
Feeling back to normal so I went running with Dave. We went from Chautauqua to Mallory Caves and back. A nice little outing. My legs were sore on the downhills. I decided here that if I want to do the longer runs that I should start training on the hills more. Not that I don't do lots of hills already, but I should do hill-repeats. It sounds boring as hell, but I think I've neglected 'downhill' running. What I mean is that I really enjoy going uphill and never really liked going downhill. My uphill is pretty good (could use some work), but my downhill feels lacking.

Friday - 9/24
Ultimate Frisbee. Apparently I'm on the law school frisbee roster and didn't know it. I was talking with a friend he asked why I haven't been showing up to 'the games' because we had another today. My response: "What games?"

"For frisbee."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Check your email. I sent it a while ago."

"I didn't get an email. What email address do you have?" He didn't have the right email. Mr. young.steven.m@gmail, why didn't you show up to frisbee? common, dude.

Saturday - 9/25
Nada. So being able to run a long race does not mean you are in shape for ultimate. Everything hurt. On top of it, we lost. Bummer. I ended up volunteering at Community Cycles in the afternoon, so I had a nice bike ride over there and back home. It was definitely a good way to spend an afternoon.

Sunday - 9/26
Nada. I slept in and then did work all day. Not wonderful, but I needed to get this work done.

Monday - 9/27
Gym. Lifted and ran on the treadmill. Decided that if I'm going to be on the treadmill, which I think is one circle lower than any contemplated by Signore Alighieri, I should make it a fast run. It's not going to be fun no matter what you're doing on the treadmill, so I should just suck it up and run fast. Additionally, I think this'll help me get faster by making me more comfortable with sucking wind, which is always a good thing. I also figured that it'll be good to get used to doing this for the winter months.

Tuesday - 9/28
Ran. Very fast run around the neighborhood. I got home around 6, and reluctantly put on the running shoes. As soon as I got outside, I felt great. I had an awesome run. This was, upon looking back at the log, my first solo run since RRR. No pain, no tightness, no soreness nothing. I started wondering if I had gotten myself into a bad place in the weeks leading up to RRR - maybe not fully recovered from Leadville? Whatever it was, I realized that the 4 days off last week had really done me well. Good to know.

Wednesday - 9/29
Off-day.

Thursday - 9/30
Ran with Dave. Started from home, hit the trails behind NIST buildings, up McClintock, down Kohler and back home. Really bombed down the hill - had downhill running in mind. Felt great.

Reflections - this fortnight has been busy and while I haven't put many miles up I've spent a lot of time trying to analyze what went wrong in the week or two before RRR. I have lots of theories, but after taking a few days off and doing some activities that were not focused on running I feel like I've re-kindled my enjoyment of running. Additionally, I think I've resolved a few things: (1) hills, not necessarily miles; (2) treadmill is ok if I'm running fast and if I'm also lifting or doing something else (which isn't necessarily any fun); (3) running with other people can be a really good thing (I've decided that I'm going to meet up with some of the Boulder Trail Running groups next week to get hooked into the larger running community); and (4) after running a hund-o, it's ok to take a significant amount of time off and focus on other things so that when you want to run it's fun. I've been meaning to get a few good biking days in before the weather starts to turn. For some reason I've been itching to get on the mtb. Let me know if you want to go for a ride (or a run). See you out there.