Playing Catch Up: Weekly Running Reviews from April 30-May 27

Week in Review: April 30-May 6

Monday, April 30^th     

AM—None—Accidentally slept in

PM—14 Miles—2:25—3,000’—Flagstaff, Green, and Creek Path

I’ll admit it. I went out today chasing numbers. All I needed was nine miles to put me at 1,000 miles year-to-date and 14 miles to put me at an even 300 for April. So I decided to chase the numbers in style and summit a few mountains along the way. I couldn’t really believe how great my legs felt on the climb up Flagstaff and Green. I chose to take the middle route up Green (Ranger to Greenman to the summit) due to some high winds that I felt were unavoidable had I taken Ranger all the way up. I ended up running every step of the way from my door to Flagstaff to Green and back. This was the first time I’ve ever ran all the way up Green solo without stopping or hiking. It seems much easier to make the run with company. I took a casual approach to the descent (following the same route) in an effort to not break, twist, sprain, roll, etc. anything less than two weeks before my 100 miler. I ended up descending the backside of Flagstaff to Red Lion and took the Creek Path into town where I added on a few cool down miles. Once again, the frigid waters of Boulder Creek were waiting for me after the run.

Tuesday, May 1^st     

AM—None

PM—4 Miles—1:00—1,600’—Sanitas

My legs were extremely lethargic as I took the easy way through the Red Rocks area towards Sanitas. It seemed to take everything in me to get up and over this pathetic little climb. I stopped at the 4-way intersection, caught my breath, and began the short descent to the Sanitas TH. Once I began the climb up Sanitas my legs felt a little better—only a little. I ran into Rick about 3-5 minutes into the climb and talked to him for a bit. Once I got going again my legs felt recharged and I hammered out the rest of the climb with relative ease. I topped out in 22 minutes flat, which is pretty slow compared to my only other time I have for this route, but still faster than most people (I think). I took the East Ridge and Dakota Ridge trails back down and moved pretty slow the entire way. My pace grew even slower after slightly rolling my right ankle a few times on the technical terrain. Usually I make up quite a bit of time on the descents, but I didn’t really want to push it today with my race so close.  Another soak in the Creek to top it all off.

Wednesday, May 2^nd

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—0:49—1,650’—Flagstaff

When I got home from work today I was very tempted to take the day off from running, but I quickly changed into my running clothes and hit the door before I could get too comfy. From the start my legs had the pop that just lets you know the run is going to be fast. So I headed out with the intent of PR’ing the Flagstaff ascent and roundtrip. I hit Panorama Point in 11:14 (2 seconds off my PR) and felt great. There were a few instances on the ascent that my legs started feeling a little tired, but I kept pushing through and held a solid pace. I hit the beginning of the last big climb in 25:00, which gave me confidence that I was going to both PR and break 30 minutes. I hammered out the staircase, trying to keep my breathing somewhat in control. After the last road crossing I just gutted it out and finished off the last set of stairs to the top, which I reached in 29:55 (new PR by 48 seconds). My next goal was to turn around and hit the roundtrip in sub-50 minutes. There were a few times on the way down where I looked at my overall time and figured my sub-50 goal wasn’t possible. I hit Panorama Point in 42:30 and figured there was no way to get down in 7:30. Regardless, I just put my head down and picked up the pace as much as possible. When I finally hit the gravel road that leads to the Viewpoint TH I pinned my ears back and sprinted to the finish in 49:41 (another new PR and the first time I’ve broken 50 minutes on this 6-mile, 1,650 vertical feet route). This will likely be my last hard run before next Friday’s 100 miler. Soaked in the creek after the run.

Thursday, May 3^rd  

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Friday, May 4^th

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Saturday, May 5^th      

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Sunday, May 6^th   

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Miles—24

Time—4hours 15minutes

Elevation Gain— 6,250 feet                                                                                                                                                

Not very many miles this week. I decided that since I would be tapering anyways that I may as well take several days off to let my intense acupuncture session fully heal before heading out to Zion to try to run 100 miles. I hate tapering…

Week in Review: May 7-May 13

Monday, May 7^th     

AM—None—More Rest

PM—None—More Rest

Tuesday, May 8^th  

AM—None

PM—3 Miles—0:36—800’—Red Rocks and Dakota Ridge

Since this was my first run in five days and I’m mid-taper I decided to take it very easy and just get in a little climb at a slow pace. Nothing notable about this run.

Wednesday, May 9^th

AM—None

PM—2 Miles—0:16—100’—Creek Path

Still tapering…

Thursday, May 10^th

AM—None

PM—2 Miles—0:16—0’—Roads in Virgin, UT

After driving for 11+ hours I had to get out for a quick run to get my legs moving. Damn, it’s hot out here…Tomorrow will likely be brutal.

Friday, May 11^th  

AM—51 miles—13:59—5,600’—Zion 100 Mile DNF

Obviously, a pretty disappointing outing that ultimately resulted in a DNF at the midway point. Race report to be posted soon.

PM—None

Saturday, May 12^th      

AM—None—Recovery

PM—None—Recovery

Sunday, May 13^th   

AM—None—Recovery  

PM—None—Recovery

Miles—58

Time—15hours 8minutes

Elevation Gain— 6,500 feet                                                                                                                                                

This was my last week of tapering leading into the Zion 100 mile run. Even with the disappointment of the DNF at Zion I believe I learned more than I would have learned with a successful finish. Perhaps the DNF will serve me better in the long run?

Week in Review: May 14-May 20

Monday, May 14^th     

AM—6 Miles—0:58—1,650’—Flagstaff

Just a nice-and-easy run with somewhat lethargic legs.

PM—None

Tuesday, May 15^th  

AM—None

PM—10 Miles—1:57—3,200’—Flagstaff and Green via Middle Route

Felt surprisingly strong on the ascent and ran every step of the way (even the few steep sections on upper Greenman). Took the descent at a casual pace down Ranger.

Wednesday, May 16^th

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Thursday, May 17^th

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Friday, May 18^th  

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Saturday, May 19^th      

AM—None

PM—11 Miles—2:06—3,400’ –Flagstaff and Green via Middle Route, Down Gregory Canyon

I was pleasantly surprised at how well my legs responded when I called on them today. I ran every step of the way from my apartment to the top of Green. The steep stairs on Greenman don’t really seem too bad any more. Yeah, they suck, but they’re over before you know it.

Sunday, May 20^th   

AM—17 Miles—4:13—5,100’—Flagstaff/Green/Bear/SoBo and Back on Mesa

Since this was my first long’ish run after Zion I decided to take it pretty easy. So I joined the Church group for part of their outing. My legs felt like going a little faster than their pace so I would run ahead of them and stop to wait at trail junctions or summits. It took way too long to cover the distance/vertical than it should have

PM—None

Miles—44

Time—9hours 15minutes

Elevation Gain— 13,350 feet                                                                                                                                                

This was a very mellow week of running since I’m still recovering from my 51 mile outing and DNF at Zion. I had a post-run acupuncture session and a few days off to try to fully recover. Towards the end of the week my body was feeling pretty good.

Week in Review: May 21-May 27

Monday, May 21^st      

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—1:04—1,650’—Flagstaff

Pretty lethargic legs on this one. I ended up hiking most of the upper portion of Flagstaff since it seemed to take everything in me to keep my legs going at a running cadence. I took the descent really easy as well. This is the first time I’ve gone over an hour on the Flagstaff roundtrip in a LONG time.

Tuesday, May 22^nd    

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—1:02—1,650’—Flagstaff

Another rough day on the trails. I’m beginning to think that I’m not fully recovered from Zion. My legs have been feeling like crap the past few days.

Wednesday, May 23^rd  

AM—9 Miles—1:24—1,650’—Flagstaff and Down Red Lion

I met up with Tony Molina for a nice early morning run up Flagstaff. We took off at a casual pace. Eventually he picked up the pace a bit and my legs just wouldn’t respond when I tried to follow. We took the 5.5 mile descent on jeep roads pretty easy and coasted back into town. My legs felt slightly better than they did the past few days. I enjoyed the company on the run as well.

PM—11 Miles—1:37—1,350’—Creek Path, Red Lion to Flagstaff Road Out-and-Back

This was a fun little run in the rain. In an effort to not destroy any muddy trails I decided to head up the Creek Path to Red Lion and see what the jeep roads were like. The roads were pretty firm so I kept chugging along up to Flagstaff Road and eventually hit the top with about a 9:30 minute/mile pace for the 5.5 mile 1,350’ climb. Not bad considering I never pushed hard at all. I just coasted back down the same way and enjoyed the raining falling down on me the entire way.

Thursday, May 24^th  

AM—None

PM—4 Miles—1:01—1,650’—Sanitas

Legs felt like absolute crap on the way up-and-over Red Rocks. When I got to the Sanitas TH they felt a little better. On the ascent I probably “ran” 30-40% and power hiked the rest. Honestly, it probably would have been faster if I just power hiked the entire thing when you consider how slow my running pace was. I took the descent super easy since my legs didn’t really feel right. I didn’t think pushing the descent was a bright idea with all of the ankle-breaking terrain. Some days you just don’t have it…

Friday, May 25^th  

AM—5 Miles—0:38—300’—Creek Path

This was just an easy run up Boulder Canyon to where the Creek Path ends near Four Mile Canyon. With an acupuncture session in the afternoon and the drive to Frisco after that I only had time to sneak out for a quick run this morning.

PM—None—Acupuncture

Saturday, May 26^th      

AM—None

PM— 8 Miles—1:39—1,800’—Meadow Creek in Frisco, CO

My parents were in the area visiting for the week and decided to stay in Frisco. So I spent the weekend with them and naturally brought my running gear. I headed out from Frisco at 9,100’ and made my way up the Meadow Creek trail for about 4 miles up to 10,900+ feet. I wanted to top out at 11,000’ at least, but the trail started a descent/flat section for the foreseeable future and I told my parents I would be back in ~1.5 hours for dinner. So I headed back. I had some stomach problems on the descent (altitude induced maybe, but not sure?) so I would run for a bit, stop and let my stomach settle, walk a bit, then run some more, and repeat. This type of running did allow me to take a lot of photos, though. It was noticeably harder to breath/run at this altitude, but with more exposure through the summer I think I’ll be ready when Leadville rolls around…

Sunday, May 27^th   

AM—None

PM—13 Miles—2:35—3,600’—Flagstaff/Green, Down Bear Canyon, and Back on Mesa

Definitely not the 20-25 mile run I intended. When I got to the Green Mountain Lodge I ran into Peter, Jorge, and a few others who were gathered for Fred Ecks wedding. So I decided to stick around a bit for the festivities. After about an hour and forty-five minutes I grabbed a few cookies and started making my way up Green. By this time I was starving so I decided to just descend down Green Bear and Bear Canyon where I would ride Mesa back. I took most of the run pretty easy.

Miles—62

Time—11hours 2minutes

Elevation Gain— 13,650 feet                                                                                                                                                

Hopefully this was the last recovery week after Zion. My plan is to be back at essentially full training volume next week. We’ll see if that happens. I didn’t get as many miles in as I hoped with my parents in town visiting, but it was worth it to see them. I did get my first dose of high country running in this week, which has me wanting more already. I’m looking forward to getting pretty high (figuratively) this summer in preparation for the Leadville 50 and 100. Should be the beginning of a great summer of running.

And now, loads of photos...

Getting pretty high on my first high country run of the summer in Frisco, CO

Stream crossing on the Meadow Creek Trail in Frisco

Meadow Creek Trail

Felt like I was running Tough Mudder or something...Only thing missing was a bunch of drunk, fat frat Chads...

Peak One (I think) lurking behind the Aspens

I can't seem to take enough photos of Aspens

Looking down at Frisco on the way down the Meadow Creek Trail

Scoping out Leadville so I know what to expect later on this summer

Obviously, the best named restaurant in Leadville...

Some of the mountains around Leadville. I sure do hope that the 50 and 100 mile races tag a few of these.

April Totals and April Year-to-Date Totals

April Monthly Totals:

Miles—300

Time—52hours 09minutes

Elevation Gain—47,400 feet

Not a bad month considering I took 9 out of 30 days completely off from running. While I may have lost a bit of the consistency I gained in March I feel that the off days will be greatly beneficial in the long run. I began an acupuncture regimen this month, which led to several of the off days for recovery, but has significantly reduced some of the nagging aches and pains I was experiencing with March’s high mileage and vertical volumes. During April I drastically reduced the weekly vertical volume both as a way to incorporate some flat, fast running and a way to train specifically for my upcoming 100 mile race, which only has about 8,000 feet of total vertical gain. Even with the low mileage, April still provided some high quality runs that should go a long way in preparing me for the Zion 100 on May 11^th.  

                                                                                                                                                                              

Year-to-Date Totals:

Miles—1,005

Time—202hours 51minutes

Elevation Gain—224,950 feet

Still, not overly impressive due to extremely low mileage in January and February. I’m hoping for some quality months of running through the end of the year to come in around my goal of 4,000 miles for 2012. My average pace per mile should start to drop as well with the dry trail conditions. The first few months yielded some REALLY slow miles from postholing and what-not.  

Green summit

Week in Review: April 23-29

Monday, April 23^rd    

AM—6 Miles—1:12—1,650’—Flagstaff

My legs were still pretty spent from the huge bonk during Sunday’s run. I was probably still operating on a bit of a calorie deficit as well. So I ended up power hiking the few sets of stairs on the way up and took the descent really slow.  

PM—6 Miles—0:47—150’—Creek Path

Just shaking out the legs a little on this one. Held a turtle pace throughout. I ran into Jason Schlarb as I neared my apartment. He was on his way to soak in the creek so I decided to join him.

Tuesday, April 24^th   

AM—5 Miles—0:43—150’—Creek Path

Just another uneventful shake out run.

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Soaked in the creek for 30 minutes. Water felt noticeably warmer than last night.

Wednesday, April 25^th 

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—12 Miles—1:32—300’—Creek Path

I decided to stick to the routine I’ve developed since starting acupuncture a few weeks ago and did a flat 12-miler on the Creek Path. Held a slow, easy pace throughout and kept from pushing too hard. I had a bit of pain in my left calf throughout the run, but it slowly dissipated. I ran into Jason Schlarb about 1.5 miles into the run on his way to get a massage to work out a kink or two before running the Leona Divide 50 Mile this weekend. With the exception of a fly fisherman, I had a nice soak in the Creek after the run. 

Thursday, April 26^th   

AM—5 Miles—0:40—300’—Creek Path

Legs  felt surprisingly good compared to most of my early morning runs. I decided to start breaking in a new pair of 110’s for my upcoming race in Zion by taking them on the Creek Path up to where it nears Four Mile Canyon. Followed up the run with an eye-opening early morning soak in the Creek.

PM—17 Miles—2:56—2,850’—Modified Mesa Out-and-Back with Towee and Big Bluestem

I met up with Ryan at the Chautauqua TH for a Mesa Trail out-and-back. He’s thinking about going out to Zion to pace me so we wanted to make sure we mesh well together on the trails. Pretty much the entire run was a mellow pace. We diverted off Mesa to take Towhee down to the south TH. I had some, uh, stomach issues on the way down Towhee that proved to be a nuisance. On the way back we veered off to Big Bluestem and North Fork Shanahan before rejoining Mesa. We rode out Mesa pretty easy all the way back with the exception of picking up the pace on the last big climb heading north (the staircase coming from a creek crossing about 1.5-2 miles from Chautauqua). I cooled down with a run on 6^th street back to Eben G. Fine Park and soaked in the Creek.

Friday, April 27^th 

AM—2 Miles—0:18—50’—Creek Path

Wasn’t really feeling it this morning. Could be that I only ate a few spoonfuls of almond butter for dinner last night after running 17 miles, who knows? I got about a mile from my apartment and decided to turn around, call it quits, and save my legs for the evening run. Had another nice early morning soak in the Creek.

PM—12 Miles—1:35—1,650’—Flagstaff

My legs felt pretty good going into this run. A little lethargic, but good overall. I took the climb up Flagstaff really easy (partly because I have a big outting planned for tomorrow and partly because I don’t think my legs would have responded if I had tried to push the ascent). Once I hit the Rangeview Trail I started picking up the pace a little. I took the backside down from Flagstaff and hit Canyon at Red Lion before cruising the Creek Path back into town. Once in town, I added a three mile out-and-back and then hit my favorite soaking spot in the Creek.

Saturday, April 28^th     

AM—24 Miles—6:55—6,050’—"Run" to Nederland

Today I decided that I wanted to spend a lot of time on my feet and moving. I didn’t really care how this was accomplished so I pretty much just ended up hiking all the way to Ned. Overall, I would say that I ran less than 15-20% of the route, which took me up Flagstaff and Green, down Flagstaff Road, through Walker Ranch, down Lakeshore Drive, CR68, and Magnolia, and on some random trails (Dot Trails, perhaps?) to finally ready Ned. My legs felt noticeably peppy all the way to the summit of Green, but deteriorated very quickly. Maybe this was due to not eating breakfast? Maybe it was due to already logging some decent mileage early on in the week? Who knows? I used this deteriorated state-of-being to stray away from my plans of an out-and-back run to Ned, which I hoped to finish in about 7-8 hours, and instead just make the hike there drag on for about 6-7 hours. Mission accomplished. Before reaching Peak-to-Peak highway I ventured off into the woods on some seemingly random trails. A wise man once told me that if you want to find new and exciting trails you have to get out there and get lost sometimes. He also said that he takes a map, compass, and plenty of water and food. I had none of these and it looked like a storm was rolling into the area. I just kept heading down and eventually reach civilization. Once in Ned I stopped at my favorite coffee shop for a chai and made my way to Wild Mountain for some beer and BBQ before hopping on the bus back to Boulder.

PM—None

Sunday, April 29^th   

AM—12 Miles—1:50—2,000’—Creek Path and Sanitas

Even though my legs felt pretty good this morning I wasn’t sure how they would respond after a few miles of running. So I headed up the canyon on the Creek Path for a five mile warm-up run. After hitting the warm up in an average pace of 7:15/mile I decided that my legs were “good-to-go” and headed up Sanitas against my better judgment. I felt like I was heading up the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and kept having to wait on the side of the trail for slow-as-hell mule trains to pass by on the way down. Every weekend warrior hiker in Boulder County (and beyond) must have decided to hike Sanitas today, which made for an unbearably slow ascent. The descent was pretty fun and borderline reckless as I bobbed and weaved around all of the hikers and darted down the technical terrain. It’s fun to zoom past slow hikers. I ended the run with a two mile cool down on the Creek Path where I ran into Dave Mackey and ran/talked with him for about five minutes as he made his way towards Flagstaff and Green. If I hadn’t already ran twelve miles I might have tried running with him to see how long I could hang on. Ended the morning with a nice, cold soak in the creek.

PM—None

Miles— 101

Time—18hours 32minutes

Elevation Gain— 15,150 feet             

                                                                                                                                                  

Not too bad of a week at all. My body certainly didn’t feel like I ran 100 miles this week, which I attribute to all of the post-run soaks in Boulder Creek (thanks for the recommendation, Jason Schlarb). I think soaking in the creek definitely made it easier to get out for a few early morning shake out runs this week. Typically it’s difficult for me to get my legs moving first thing in the morning, which makes it pretty easy to justify skipping those runs.

This will likely be my last big week before beginning my taper heading into the Zion 100 miler. I’ll probably get in a few 15-20 mile runs early on next week and then take a rest day or two after a Thursday afternoon acupuncture session. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to the next two weeks at all. I hate tapering. Hate it. With the exception of injuries, nothing else running related drives me more crazy than just going out and running a few miles a day and not really pushing myself all for the sake of tapering. Oh well…

Another Green Summit

Low end of the food chain (Walker Ranch)

Walker Ranch

Gross Reservoir

Some horses on the run to Ned

More scenery on the way to Ned

Week(s) in Review: April 9-22

Monday, April 9^th   

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—0:58—1,650’—Flagstaff

All-around horrible run. My legs felt like crap and I couldn’t get my breathing under control for the first 12 minutes or so. Justin and I rested at Panorama Point for a few minutes then he headed home and I headed up to Flagstaff. Finally, my legs started to get a little pep in them and I cruised up to the top. Given how questionable my legs felt, I took the descent SLOW.

Tuesday, April 10^th    

AM—5 Miles—0:41—150’—Creek Path

For some reason my legs just felt crappy this morning. I decided to get in a quick shakeout run on the Creek Path to bring some life into them. Didn’t really seem to work…

PM—18 Miles—3:18—3,150’—Viewpoint/Mesa Out-and-Back/Roads

This was the second day in a row of my legs feeling blah. I hit the climb up to Panorama Point in about 11:45 or so, which isn’t terrible, but it felt like I had to work much harder than usual. The descent down to Baseline/Chautauqua made me feel like a drunk idiot and immediately let me know that it was going to be a long run. Ran into Alex at the parking lot and did the out-and-back with him. Eventually my legs started feeling strong on the climbs, but I restrained myself and kept from taking off on these sections. We had a fox come within 5-10 feet of us on the next-to-last switchback heading up from the South Mesa trailhead (of course I didn’t have my camera). We rode out the rest of the run at a pretty mellow pace.

Wednesday, April 11^th  

AM—None—Tired

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Thursday, April 12^th    

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

Friday, April 13^th  

AM—None—Acupuncture Recovery

PM—7 Miles—1:14—1,700’—Flagstaff Summit and Rangeview

After a few days off I decided to take an easy run up Flagstaff to shakeout my legs a little before Saturday’s long run. Nothing particularly special about this run. I took the descent really easy at almost a snail pace.

Saturday, April 14^th   

AM—30 Miles—4:40—1,950’—Creek Path/Bobolink/South Boulder Creek Out-and-Back, Flagstaff

I went into this run wanting to cover 40-60 miles, but some pain in my left ankle told me I better cut it short at 30 miles when I stopped to refuel at the apartment. The first 21 miles were an out-and-back on the Creek Path, roads, Bobolink, and South Boulder Creek Path (all of which are flat and unbelievably boring). Most of my upcoming race is flat or a gradual descent with two climbs (from the elevation profile it appears that one is about like Green Mountain spread out over a few more miles and the other is similar to Sanitas). For the last 9 miles I headed up Flagstaff to get in a little climb. On the way up I ran into my roommate at Panorama Point and chatted for a bit. About 5 minutes or so later I ran into Jenny (Scott’s girlfriend) coming down Flagstaff and talked to her for a while. I eventually hit the four-way at the top and made my way down Rangeview with some surprisingly energetic legs. The last five miles or so was all downhill via the Tenderfoot loop jeep road to Red Lion and the Creek Path. I could have kept going since the pain in my ankle subsided after about 5-10 minutes of moving, but I didn’t see any point to risking long-term injury. My pace was really slow since I ran with the intent of covering a lot more miles.

PM—None

Sunday, April 15^th

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—None—Resting Left Ankle

Miles— 66

Time—10hours 52minutes

Elevation Gain— 8,600 feet                        

                                                                                                                                                  

Monday, April 16^th   

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—None—Resting Left Ankle

Tuesday, April 17^th    

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—None—Resting Left Ankle

Wednesday, April 18^th  

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—None—Resting Left Ankle

Thursday, April 19^th    

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—None—Resting Left Ankle

Friday, April 20^th  

AM—None—Resting Left Ankle

PM—5 Miles—1:06—1,650’—Sanitas via Red Rocks/Dakota Ridge/East Ridge

After taking way too much time off over the last week or so I decided to get back out on the trails and see how my left ankle/foot was feeling. As I made my way to Settlers Park I veered up through the Red Rocks area rather than staying on the Creek Path for a flat run as I had planned. It felt a little weird to be running after taking five days off in a row, but once I got to the Sanitas TH my body/legs felt pretty good. I didn’t intend to run to the top of Sanitas, but my legs felt great so I continued onward at a casual pace and topped out in 35:06 from my apartment. While at the top I felt as though Green Mountain was calling me from a distance. To my surprise, I was able to exercise a little self-control and not push on towards Green. The left ankle felt pretty good throughout the run today. I’ll just have to see how it feels tomorrow morning before hitting the trails.

Saturday, April 21^st    

AM—20 Miles—3:20—3,000’—Marshall Mesa TH to Eldorado Canyon, Old Mesa/Mesa

Not knowing how my legs would feel after all of the off days I decided to keep the run fairly flat and headed out to Marshall Mesa with my roommate. Even with the mellow pace it seemed to take me forever to get my breathing in check. When we hit Goshawk I finally started to feel in rhythm. The hike up Old Mesa was horrendous because I have the hiking skills of an overweight weekend warrior hiker. The running on the Mesa Trail back to Chautauqua was pretty effortless.

PM—None

Sunday, April 22^nd  

AM—16 Miles—3:36—3,100—Sanitas, Wonderland, Hogback, North Foothills

This morning I ran up-and-over Red Rocks to the Sanitas TH to meet Jason Schlarb and Dane Mitchell for run. We started off with a quick climb up the backside (they topped out in 19-something and I topped out in 20-something), which trashed my legs for the rest of the climbs on the run. Eventually, on a few mile out-and-back on North Foothills I began experience some stomach issues (likely from being severely dehydrated) and told them to go on without waiting for me. The issues subsided in about 20 minutes or so and I began running again. Not long after the dehydration/lack of calories really set in and I bonked pretty hard. So began the death march back to my apartment…

PM—None

Miles— 41

Time—8hours 3minutes

Elevation Gain— 7,750 feet                        

                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                               

Obviously the last two weeks weren’t too pleasing. After my Mesa Trail out-and-back on the 10^th I started experiencing swelling and pain in my left ankle. I didn’t recall any specific incident that may have contributed to this, which left me even more confused about things. After an acupuncture session and a few days off I hit the trails again only to experience the same pain to a slightly lesser extent. This led to five days in a row with no running as a preventative measure. After the off days and a few decent runs this past weekend my body is feeling pretty good for once. This coming week will be my last big push before I begin a voluntary reduction in mileage leading up to my 100 miler on May 11^th. 

Community Ditch Trail heading towards Eldorado Canyon

Looking back towards Eldorado Canyon from the top of Old Mesa