It's a Big Sky: Week in Review: March 19-25

Monday, March 19^th

AM—None

PM—9 Miles—1:40—2,200’—Flagstaff/Rangeview/Tenderfoot Loop

Legs felt like absolute crap up to the top of Flagstaff. A little ways into the descent on Rangeview I started feeling a little better. My legs finally started working somewhat normal on the Tenderfoot loop and I was able to cruise on the ascent up the jeep road to the Ute/Rangeview/Tenderfoot trailhead. Overall, not a very good run.

Tuesday, March 20^th

AM—9 Miles—1:28—1,650’—Flagstaff/Rangeview/Tenderfoot Loop/Jeep Roads/Creek Path

Tony Molina sent an email to the BTR list seeking a running buddy for an early morning climb up Flagstaff. Since that’s right across the street I decided to join. It was nice to finally run with someone who is around my pace. We took most of the ascent pretty easy, but then Tony took off on the final steep staircase on the climb and my spent legs from the past few days couldn’t keep up. We took the descent very casual and had some good conversation on the way. Looking forward to joining Tony on more runs.

PM—5 Miles—0:43—200’—Creek Path

I had my first acupuncture session with Allison Suddard around noon today to work on some aches and pains I’ve been having. My legs were still a little sore (especially my calves) after work. So, I decided to do an easy few miles on the trail beside the Creek Path and try to shake my legs out a little. They seemed to handle the run fairly well.

Wednesday, March 21^st

AM—None

PM—3 Miles—0:37—350’—Creek Path/Viewpoint Trail

My legs were still feeling the soreness from yesterday’s acupuncture session. So I went out for a quick two mile warm-up on the Creek Path before venturing up the Viewpoint trail. About a half mile up Viewpoint my left calf couldn’t take it anymore. So I turned around and went home. Rather disappointing outing.

Thursday, March 22^nd

AM—None

PM—12 Miles—1:29—300’—Creek Path

I decided to just stick to the flats after yesterday’s disappointment of not being able to run uphill. I ended up behind a doctor from Boulder Sports Medicine and ran his pace for most of the run. Ended up staying at a conversational pace throughout the run and averaged about 7:25 minutes/mile, which was pleasing since most of my upcoming 100 mile run will be flat or downhill’ish.

Friday, March 23^rd

AM—None

PM—14 Miles—1:50—300’—Creek Path

Another Creek Path run, blah…I’m getting really tired of the flat running, but I don’t really want to push my calf too much. Took a casual pace throughout the run. Rather uneventful…

Saturday, March 24^th

AM—12 Miles—2:27—3,600’—Flagstaff and Green Summits/Tenderfoot Loop

After three days of horrible running due to calf pain from my acupuncture session I decided to test things out by heading up again. I starting running up Viewpoint and to my surprise my legs felt relatively pain free. So I kept going to the top of Flagstaff. The summit of Green looked very tempting as I made my way on the Rangeview trail so I decided to keep going. I sat on the summit for about 30 minutes soaking in the sun. Ran into JV, his wife, and two girls on the way down.

PM—None

Sunday, March 25^th

AM—None

PM—18 Miles—3:03—3,650’—Viewpoint and Mesa Trail Out-and-Back

I decided to sit around the apartment until the weather warmed up a little. The idea of running an out-and-back on the Mesa Trail crept into my head since the only few times I’ve done it involved excessive post-holing. As I made my way up the first climb from Chautauqua I ran into Scott Jurek, Krissy Moehl, and a few others. We stopped and chatted/introduced ourselves for about 10 minutes or so. If running into top-notch runners like them isn’t motivation then I don’t know what is. I hit the South Mesa TH in 1:25 then began the long ascent from the TH. I resorted to hiking a few times on the way back, but still finished the roundtrip in a sub-10 minute pace.

Miles—82

Time—13hours 19minutes

Elevation Gain—12,250 feet

Definitely a little disappointed in my weekly totals. I had plans for a 115 mile week with 25-30k feet of vertical, but my Tuesday acupuncture session quickly changed that. Some bad calf pain left me seeking the flatness of the Creek Path for three days of running this week. I was eventually able to return to the mountains on the weekend, which was much needed. The warm weather has been great and should hopefully help with potential hot temperatures at my 100 miler in Zion this May. It also feels great to get out for a run and really sweat my ass off.

I have my second acupuncture appointment with Allison Suddard this Tuesday. Hopefully it won’t result in more horrific calf pain that causes me to hit the Creek Path. I’d really like to get in a 115-130 mile week of running.