Mon - Noon: 8 miles easy. Glenwood Canyon to Readers Cove via Spring Creek - Mason - Harmony.
PM: 5.5 miles (600') easy. Milner mountain loop.
Tues - AM: 9.5 miles fartlek. Met Jane's group down in City Park for a structured mile repeat workout. First mile on the cemetery route, then 3 x mile fartlek with hard at 5k'ish pace and easy at marathon'ish pace, followed with final cemetery mile. Four mile w-u, half mile c-d. 5:42, 5:56, 5:44, 5:52, 5:24.
PM: 10 miles (2,300') easy. To Towers via 38e/Shoreline, then Towers - Westridge - Horsetooth - Southridge - home.
Weds - Noon 10.5 miles (2,400') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Southridge - Soderberg. Looked a little overcast, but totally benign when I set out, so went with a light outfit. Within 20 minutes, the temps dropped 20 degrees and I was in a full-on blizzard with hail then snow lashing me to pieces in the howling wind. My hands froze and my face felt like it was about ready to fall off, but I stuck with the plan and got around. Ouch.
PM: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.
Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') steady. ~ 1:11 for 10, then .5 jog. Met up with Sarah, Slush, Tim, John L and Dennis at Maxwell for an out and back to the 5-mile marker on the HTH course. Huge full moon out hovering above the Horsetooth/Lory foothills which was pretty awesome; however, it was cold (12 degrees) and the roads were icy which wasn't so awesome. Forgot my watch, but based on others' watches, it was approx 38 mins (7:40) to the turn and 33 (6:40) coming back. The hills on Centennial always make this a tough workout, but managed to push out a solid tempo effort coming back. Half mile jog at the end.
PM: 7.5 miles easy. FCTR social run @ Pineridge.
Friday - AM: 4.5 miles (900') super easy. Falls loop.
PM: 2.5 miles on the mill. Bored and tired so got off.
Saturday AM: 21.5 miles (1,500') MP workout. 2:45. Started from Maxwell at 6:00 am with a jog out to Spring Creek trailhead, then 2x4 miles @ marathon effort to College and back w/half mile jog between. Wind was blowing hard, so this workout was kind of a bust, but just tried to maintain an appropriate effort: 6:14, 5:57, 5:58, 5:54; 6:04, 6:08, 6:06, 6:21. Jogged the 1.5 miles back to Maxwell and met a large group from the Fort Collins Running Club for a jog out to the 5-mile marker and back on the HTH course over the Centennial hills (44 out, 45 back). Ran with Alex for the most part and enjoyed some good conversation. Wind really picked up towards the end of the run.
Tues - AM: 9.5 miles fartlek. Met Jane's group down in City Park for a structured mile repeat workout. First mile on the cemetery route, then 3 x mile fartlek with hard at 5k'ish pace and easy at marathon'ish pace, followed with final cemetery mile. Four mile w-u, half mile c-d. 5:42, 5:56, 5:44, 5:52, 5:24.
PM: 10 miles (2,300') easy. To Towers via 38e/Shoreline, then Towers - Westridge - Horsetooth - Southridge - home.
Weds - Noon 10.5 miles (2,400') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Southridge - Soderberg. Looked a little overcast, but totally benign when I set out, so went with a light outfit. Within 20 minutes, the temps dropped 20 degrees and I was in a full-on blizzard with hail then snow lashing me to pieces in the howling wind. My hands froze and my face felt like it was about ready to fall off, but I stuck with the plan and got around. Ouch.
PM: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.
Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') steady. ~ 1:11 for 10, then .5 jog. Met up with Sarah, Slush, Tim, John L and Dennis at Maxwell for an out and back to the 5-mile marker on the HTH course. Huge full moon out hovering above the Horsetooth/Lory foothills which was pretty awesome; however, it was cold (12 degrees) and the roads were icy which wasn't so awesome. Forgot my watch, but based on others' watches, it was approx 38 mins (7:40) to the turn and 33 (6:40) coming back. The hills on Centennial always make this a tough workout, but managed to push out a solid tempo effort coming back. Half mile jog at the end.
PM: 7.5 miles easy. FCTR social run @ Pineridge.
Friday - AM: 4.5 miles (900') super easy. Falls loop.
PM: 2.5 miles on the mill. Bored and tired so got off.
Saturday AM: 21.5 miles (1,500') MP workout. 2:45. Started from Maxwell at 6:00 am with a jog out to Spring Creek trailhead, then 2x4 miles @ marathon effort to College and back w/half mile jog between. Wind was blowing hard, so this workout was kind of a bust, but just tried to maintain an appropriate effort: 6:14, 5:57, 5:58, 5:54; 6:04, 6:08, 6:06, 6:21. Jogged the 1.5 miles back to Maxwell and met a large group from the Fort Collins Running Club for a jog out to the 5-mile marker and back on the HTH course over the Centennial hills (44 out, 45 back). Ran with Alex for the most part and enjoyed some good conversation. Wind really picked up towards the end of the run.
Sunday - AM: 23.5 miles (3,050'). 3:19. Horsetooth Resrvoir circumnavigation with Brendan, Dakota and Ryan. From my house to Soderberg, then Valley trails to Lory - roads around north end of reservoir to Reservoir Ridge TH - Foothills Trail to Maxwell - dam road (Centennial) to 38e - 38e home. Glad for the enjoyable company on this one as I didn't much feel like running long again after Saturday's 20+ miles, but my legs felt fine and the run went by quickly. Beautiful morning for what was actually my first circumnavigation of the reservoir. Was pretty surprised to see 3,000'+ of vertical gain on the morning, but I guess there are a couple of good climbs up and down the hogbacks on the east side of the reservoir, and then there's a good 800' in the last three miles to my house. Excellent way to finish off this block of training for NOLA.
Brief pit stop at Lory Visitors Center. Ryan, Dakota, Brendan.
Total: 118 miles (13,000')
So that pretty much concludes the work for the NOLA build up. I'll take the next three weeks to drop the mileage with my typical taper that will go something like: 75 miles, 50 miles, 3-4 mile daily jog, with an eye on maintaining some good quality marathon-paced workouts through the next two weeks. Feeling fit and largely healthy, so no excuses. Probably going to run the 5k/10k double at 7,500' next weekend.
So that pretty much concludes the work for the NOLA build up. I'll take the next three weeks to drop the mileage with my typical taper that will go something like: 75 miles, 50 miles, 3-4 mile daily jog, with an eye on maintaining some good quality marathon-paced workouts through the next two weeks. Feeling fit and largely healthy, so no excuses. Probably going to run the 5k/10k double at 7,500' next weekend.
