Mon - Noon: 6 miles (500') easy. Valley.
PM: 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - Noon: 4.5 miles (700') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 10 miles track. Temps dropped today and we got our first bit of snow of the season up at 6,000', but it was just rain in town. At the track in the dark, the weather was actually pretty pleasant. Dakota, Frank and David had already started their workouts, but they hopped in with Chris and I as we got started with the first set of 400s. Workout went 6x400, 4x800, 6x400 with 200 between intervals and 600 between sets. 1 mile w-u, 2 mile c-d. Goal was 75 on 400s and 2:40 on 800s: 77, 76, 74, 74, 74, 73; 2:39, 2:39, 2:40, 2:40; 75, 76, 75, 76, 74, 74. Felt sluggish and uncoordinated. Had to work a bit for the last three 400s, but got 'em done. Another trip to the oval successfully in the books, however, I still feel like a lumbering mountain jogger out there.

Weds - 8 miles (1,600') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Herrington, Spring Creek, Soderberg - home.

Thurs - AM: 8 miles (2,200'). Towers easy (39:00). Got out for the first real snow run of the fall/winter season. Two to three inches of soft pow-pow overnight so blazed the trail up Towers with five others from the FCTR group. Really quite nice out, but donned the ballet gear anyway.
PM: 8 miles easy with FCTR social gang in the snow around Pineridge.

Fri - 11 miles easy (2,400') with Aaron. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Southridge - Soderberg. Bit of crunch and slop in places from Wednesday snow, but beautiful bluebird day out. Cracked the whip on Aaron up the last couple of grunts on Towers.

Sat - 19 miles (2,000') w/ 2x6 miles @ tempo. 2:15. Jogged the 2 miles down to Redstone Canyon with Dakota from my house, then we went 6:30, 6:25, 6:22, 6:30, 7:00, 6:38, 6:36 up the hill, jogging the last half mile out and back, before going 6:22, 6:21, 6:16, 6:10, 6:01, 5:48 back down to 38e. Warmed down via Milner Mountain and took the long way up and around my neighborhood. Tough workout.

Sun - 12.5 miles (3,100') easy w/Aaron. To south summit of Horsetooth, then Westridge - Mill Creek - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Plenty of snow still on the ground. Beautiful out.

Total: 91.5 miles (13,200')

Another good week, although slightly heavier mileage and vertical than planned. Couple of strong workouts in there with another successful trip to the oval on Tuesday and a hard tempo effort at Redstone on Saturday. Rest of the week was mainly jogging.

Will look to put in another higher mileage week before backing off the week of the FoCo Turkey trot, a rendition of which I have yet to miss since moving to Colorado. I have seen an improvement over the 4 mile course each year I have raced, so to keep the streak alive I intend to treat it as a mini-goal race. Pretty confident that I'll go faster than the 22 flat I ran last year. I also feel like I may have my first semi-legitimate shot at taking down Top American in a road race, so want to maximize those chances by starting somewhat fresh.

Exciting stuff setting up for the North Face 50. There appear to be some legitimately fast road guys going up against 4 or 5 of the best endurance trail guys in the country, one or two of the better European ultra guys, and even the best mountain runner of our generation thrown in to the mix. The list is deep on all fronts, and really, it looks like a major toss up, which should make for some seriously good racing. Kind of wish I was heading out there, except it's in December (!) and I was done racing a couple of months ago. Still, it'll be fun to watch from the sidelines. As will the women's race, by the way, which looks to be almost as intriguing.

Predictions? No clue in the men's race, except to say that I think the winner will come from the ranks of the ultra specialists. I'm pulling for recent FoCo arrival, and training partner, Dakota Jones to register the upset. The women's race looks to be between Kami Semick and Ellie Greenwood, with perhaps Devon Crosby Helms, Meghan Arbogast and Tracey Garneau having an outside shot too. Having said that, there are a bunch of other ladies who could be in contention, in what looks to be a refreshingly competitive women's field.