I've totally dropped the ball on updating what my training has been. I blame Spain and the Spanish people for instilling a sense of laziness in me.
Maybe at some point I'll put how far I travelled (on foot) in Spain, etc. But I'll do the cliff notes version here with the last week and a half, which have been recovery from Leadville, having some real content.
July 20 - July 31: Somewhere in the middle of that (when I wasn't travelling) I did a 150 mile 7 day streak from Burgos to Astorga. It was awesome. I had
a little pain and swelling in my left shin. I don't know what that was about. I think it was probably from walking/running with a pack, which added significant weight.
July 31 - Aug. 4th: Seville. I did no running and spent a large portion of each day walking, followed by eating and drinking. The beer in Spain is pretty decent. It's nothing compared to our damn fine Colorado brews, but I won't complain.
Aug. 5th - Aug 20th: I don't remember much of this portion of the month albeit with a few exceptions.
Aug.7th Rick and I headed around the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. We started at 4th of July TH and headed up Caribou Pass, across some ridge, did some bushwhacking, and all that good stuff. I don't know how far we went but my spiffy new watch said we did around 11K of ascent/descent in the 4 1/2 hours we were out there. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but whatever. It was awesome to get back into the mountains and altitude. Here are some photos:
(Rick running the ridge down from the pass)
(mountain valley looking down from the pass)
Aug. 9th and 10th, I headed to Telluride to see Phish. It was a rad trip. Each day went a little something like this: wake and and head in to town, hunt down coffee, eat some grub, head back to camp, change into running clothes (viz., get made fun of from clearly being from Boulder), head into the mountains for a full afternoon run where you can get pictures like this:
shower and grab as much food as possible, then see these guys melt your face:
Yeah. It was pretty sweet.
Aug 14th: The weekend after that I biked Mt. Evans with Rick and Kat. This was the 3rd annual Cry-Baby Classic (what we call the ride we do up Evans). The weather was perfect, the company was great. It was mostly notable because it was Kat's first time biking up Mt. Evans and then we drank beer at the Idaho Springs Beau Jo's. I tried New Belgium's Hoptober beer...not great. Since when do waffle-makers put that much hops in their beer? They should stick to Belgium beer, of which there is a serious lack in CO. Here are more pics to make up for my lackluster descriptions:
(Rick and Kat at the top)
Sunday: 8/15/10
Ran to the Boulder Res. It was hot, but that's ok I wasn't racing. I went there to support Tay race her HIM. She did great and finished in just over 7 hours, I think. She was really feeling 'it' towards the end, but that's why she decided to swim 1.2 miles, then bike 56, and then run 13.1, right?
Monday: 8/16/10
Skunk/Mallory Loop. Felt good.
Tuesday: 8/17/10
Nothing. This is taper week.
Wednesday: 8/18/10
Ran up Flag from Eben G. Fine with Dave. Dave wanted to head up there. I think he said he 'needed to get in shape to pace me' or something. I told him not to worry. We made it to the top and hung out there for a bit to look at the big mountains to the west. It felt good and I was feeling strong.
Thursday: 8/19/10
Ran around the neighborhood in the am. Just wanted to get out and move. I figured I wouldn't do anything tomorrow, so why not? 4 or 5 miles on pavement at a quick pace is always a nice change, although it can less than exhilarating. Headed up to Leadville and set up camp.
Friday: 8/20/10
Nothing. Showed up in the town of Leadville for Med check in and pre-race lecturing. Listened to some Lifetime Fitness guy prattle on about how he sucks at biking and endurance sports. Then listened to him talk some more about how he's going to destroy ultrarunning by purchasing a race, etc.
Saturday: 8/21-22/10
Leadville!
Monday: 8/23/10
Nothing. I went to work. Stairs were no problem. A little soreness, but altogether feeling good.
Tuesday: 8/24/10
Nothing. Soreness is still there.
Wednesday: 8/25/10
Muscle soreness is gone, but a slight stiffness in my left knee when going down stairs. Went to the gym, lifted, did a few minutes on the elliptical figuring it'd be good get some exercise without joint pounding.
Thursday: 8/26/10
Nothing. No need to rush into anything.
Friday: 8/27/10
Gym.
Saturday: 8/28/10
Ran to the main gym on CU's campus to grab a pair of shoes that were in my locker.
Sunday: 8/29/10
Gym. 30 minutes of cardio: erg, bike, treadmill, followed by lifting. Everything felt good.
Monday: 8/30/10
Skunk - Mesa - Enchanted Mesa to Kohler - down Skunk. It felt good to get back on the trail. The left knee was tight, but not bad.
Tuesday: 8/31/10
Skunk-Mallory and back. It took around an hour and 10 minutes. The downhill brought out a bit of tightness in the left knee. Everything else still feels good. The knee shouldn't be a problem in the long run, at least I hope. There wasn't any tightness after the run, which is a good sign.
Wednesday: 9/1/10
Nothing. Went to Denver and just didn't have time.
Reflections: School/work started the day after Leadville, which has been good and bad. It's been good because I haven't had much time to run, so I haven't felt pushed to do more during recovery than maybe I normally would. On the other hand, I'm starting to feel antsy. I'm not sure if it's because I'm mostly done with my running schedule for the year, or if I'm feeling the post-race blues or what. Either way, I'm thinking about heading up to Steamboat for the RRR50 on the 18th. I'd like to head out to UT for the Bear, but after Leadville I don't think I'm mentally hungry enough to bite into another 100. RRR might be a good run, but it's a little soon too. So I guess I'll head up there no matter what. If I'm feeling good I'll be running and if not, they've got a volunteer. Either way it'll be good to be out enjoying the day. Cheers.