Mon - 0

Tues - 10.5 miles (2,700'). 1:36. Horsetooth - Westridge - Spring Creek - Wathan - Horsetooth - home. Never run this particular route before, but it's definitely a great and relatively pain free way to get some good climbing done on limited miles. Felt great today, like really good.

Weds - 10.5 miles (2,700'). 1:41. As yesterday but slower. Wanted to at least try and save something for what I hope will be pie day on Thursday.

Thurs - 7 miles. 3 mile warm up, 4 mile race. Pie secured.

Fri - 10.5 miles (2,700'). 1:41. As Monday. Legs were complete molasses. Little bit sore in achilles/lower calf area. Ground it out.

Sat - 20.5 miles (4,900'). 3:29. Rock to Rock to Rock. Home - Horsetooth - Westridge - Mill Creek - Howard - Arthur's Rock trail to parking lot - East Valley - Mill Creek - Westridge - Horsetooth - home. This was a tough workout on tired legs, but I got it done safe in the knowledge that I've got an easy week coming up.

A new Horsetooth/Lory route for me, and it was all about racking vertical. Three climbs and three descents with 3-4 miles of rolling. The climbs go 1,200', 1,000', 1,500'. Went from my house into the park and then straight up on the Horsetooth trail (1,200') to the Westridge traverse for two miles of rolling, then the loose, rocky descent on Mill Creek into Lory and then up Howard (my favorite trail in Lory - killer reservoir/hogback views) to Arthur's Rock (1,000'). Straight down on Arthur's Rock trail all the way to the parking lot, and then short stint on East Valley to the Mill Creek connector for the 1,500' haul up Mill Creek and back down to upper Horsetooth parking via Westridge and Horsetooth hiking trail.

I figured about 19 miles out and back from the parking lot with a touch under 5k of climbing. I didn't bother hitting the peaks but with that added on, the run would be closer to 21 and probably 5,800'. For a legitimate FoCo R2R2R I guess you'd need to tag Horsetooth both times and Arthur's in the middle. Next time maybe.

Sun - 14.5 miles (3,000'). 2:18. Horsetooth Big Loop. Went easy on this one. Legs felt way better than yesterday, but still kind of sluggish.

Total: 73.5 miles (16,000')

Not quite sure why I decided to work in this four-week block of hills, but every run I've done in the last 28 days - with the exception of the turkey race - has involved at least 1,500' of climb, with a cumulative total of 55,000'. Partly I want to be fit and ready to race at the Ghost Town 38.5 miler in January - and hills are the quickest way for me to achieve that - but mostly I just enjoy the trails I run on and they happen to be very hilly ones.

So probably going to jump in and do the Xmas Classic 4 miler here in FoCo in a couple of weeks - see if I can beat my time from Thursday - and then gear up for the big Boxing Day run in Saltwood back home. Easy week upcoming. Hard work begins in January.