Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

AM - ran from auto shop back home. 7 miles, 7:04/mile average.

noon - ran from home to auto shop. Took a different route. 8 miles, 7:00/mile average.

Well, we're heading out to Colorado tomorrow morning. Will take the day off tomorrow, and will probably have a shorter run on Saturday, so this will be a "down" week, which I needed. Thanks Utah for a lot of good memories. Fortunately, due to the blog, I will "see" everyone about the same amount I always do!

8.5 miles easy, in Fossil Creek Park area.

13.5 miles, 6:40/mile average. Did some faster running in the middle, but it was too cold for me to really get going, plus I think I'm still feeling some effects of the move. Ran Fossil Creek Trail to Mason Trail to Spring Creek Trail to Power Trail, back home. Nice loop.

Ran through the Troutman Park area, then on Harmony to Shields, south to Tribley, then back on College. Lot of busy roads on this run, but it's good to explore the area. Averaged 6:58/mile for 11.5 miles. I wanted to do a morning run too, but Zoe was up half the night, and I ended up sleeping in. Still trying to find my groove with a new schedule and new setting.

AM - Power Trail in the dark. I think I'd rather run in the dark and cold than on the treadmill...Plus it's nice that Fort Collins clears all of the their paved trails after a snowfall; they are better than many roads. 6 miles, averaged 7:40/mile.

PM - Power Trail north to Spring Creek Trail and Poudre River Trail. 10 miles, averaged 7:02/mile.

Did a big workout today. Ran from work, and hopped on the Power Trail, north to Spring Creek Trail, and then west. From there, did a 4-3-2-1 workout at MP, 3-minute recovery jog between sets. The trail had a lot of twists and turns, plus a couple icy spots, but in general I was able to keep a good paces. Splits were (5:30, 5:31, 5:30, 5:25), (5:20, 5:23, 5:23), (5:28, 5:28), (5:27). Certainly not a world-beater workout in any measure, but it was good to do a "real" workout again, and I don't feel too much off where I need to be.

Cooled down a couple miles, and ended up with 16.25 miles for the run. Averaged 6:04/mile.

On another note, I surpassed my 2010 mileage today. Not sure if I'll get my all-time mileage high from 2007, but it will be close. Not bad considering that I haven't completed a 100-mile all year, it's been more about slow and steady.

AM - Power Trail south. 6 miles, 8:00/mile

PM - Random route, checked out some neighborhoods. 10 miles, averaged 7:12/mile.

Long run. Ran from our apartment to Fossil Creek Trail to Mason Trail, to Spring Creek Trail, out to the foothills, and back. Averaged 6:48/mile. Nice day, ran in shorts.

This was my first 100-mile week since October of last. Just have to do 3 more of them, and I'll feel pretty good about trials...

Harmony to Shields to Fossil Creek Trail, and backl 10 miles, averaged 7:11/mile.

Big Workout. Warmed up 3 miles on the Power Trail, then went over to the Poudre River trail, and did 1-2-1-2-1 (miles) at LT pace, with 2-minute recovery. Splits were (5:10), (5:08, 5:07), (5:26, patches of snow slowed me down), (5:07, 5:09), (5:01). Felt good, and it was a beautiful day. 16 miles total, averaged 6:15/mile.

AM - Power Trail, south. 6 miles, averaged 7:45/mile.

noon - random route. 10 miles, averaged 7:02/mile.

AM - Fossil Creek to Mason Trail, 6 miles, 7:55/mile.

noon -  Power Trail to Spring Creek Trail to Mason Trail. 10.25 miles, averaged 7:02/mile.

AM - easy 3 miles, no watch

PM - Big Workout. Fossil Creek to Mason to Spring Creek, and back, with 10 mile MP tempo. Tempo splits were 5:25, 5:18, 5:17, 5:23, 5:26, 5:19, 5:24, 5:28, 5:23, 5:19. 16 miles total, averaged 5:55/mile for the run.

am - Power Trail south. 6 miles averaged 8:00/mile.

noon - Power Trail to Spring Creek to Mason loop. 10.25 miles, no watch.

Long Run. Ran Fossil Creek to Spring Creek to Mason Trail, and back. 21 miles total, averaged 6:47/mile. Beautiful day, as usual.

114 miles for the week, a lifetime high. I think my previous high was 107 from a year ago. I will try to hit 120 next week, and then start backing off. Feeling good, aside from trying to ward off a cold with massive amounts of Emergen-C (all of my family has been sick this week).

Ran up to CSU campus and back. 10 miles, averaged 7:55/mile.

taking today off, as I'm still fighting against some sort of cold that my whole family has had. Don't feel too bad, but don't want to push the issue. At this point, health is more important that miles.

Still a bit under the weather. Running short and easy felt pretty good. Ran home for lunch, and back. Averaged about 7:15/mile. 5.5 miles.

Feeling quite a bit better today, but still took it easy and got some extra sleep this morning. Ran the Power-Spring Creek-Mason loop during lunch. 10.25 miles, no watch.

somewhat-Big Workout. Ran the Power Trail north to Spring Creek to Poudre River Trail. Did a brisk pace to tinman tempo, and hit some miles around 5:50. Averaged 6:27/mile for the 16-mile run. Was slowed some by all the snow on the roads, but once I got to the trail, everything was bone-dry. Gotta love a city that clears their bike trails better than their roads.

AM - Power Trail north, 10 miles, averaged 7:29/mile.

PM - Power Trail south. 6 miles, averaged 7:20/mile.

woof, I'm totally beat. Long Run & Big Workout today. Warmed up two miles, then did 3x5-mile tempos at marathon pace, with 1-mile jog between sets.

1st set: 5:48 (snowy, with uphill), 5:42 (uphill), 5:38 (mostly uphill), 5:28 (end of uphill, start of downhill), 5:13 (downhill)

2nd set (all miles mostly flat): 5:19, 5:24, 5:18, 5:19, 5:15

3rd set: 5:28 (uphill), 5:33 (uphill), 5:35 (uphill), 5:13 (downhill), 5:06 (downhill)

Good overall workout. The 2nd set was definitely the best, just because I was able to get in a good rhythm. Felt good to end the workout with a couple fast miles too.

Cooled down for 3 miles, with the last 1.5 being a bit of a death-march. I did not take any water, gel, or energy drink during the run (which is typical for my workouts and long runs). This makes the last couple miles tougher than it needs to be, but I believe it helps come race day.

22 miles total, averaged 6:06/mile overall.

This was not the week I wanted it to be, due to illness during the first half, and I missed 5 of my 12 scheduled runs. But was still able to salvage a decent second half of the week. One more big week next week, and then a two-week taper.

ez 8 miles, Fossil Creek Park to Mason Trail, and back. About 7:30/mile. Merry Christmas.

AM - 4 miles incredibly easy. Like, 8:45/mile kind of easy.

PM - Big Workout. Did 10x3-minute fartlek, with 60s recovery between reps. Pretty much the same as my 10x1000m workout except I'm not measuring distance. Route was Power Trail to Spring Creek to Poudre, and I ran in shorts and a t-shirt! Paces for the 3-minute reps were 5:09, 5:10, 5:11, 5:00, 5:05, 5:03, 5:04, 5:04, 5:04, 5:01. Waddled in for about a 6-mile cooldown and ended up averaging about 6:45/mile for the full 16 miles. I was pretty pleased with this workout, given the hard long run/workout only two days ago.

am - Power Trail, south. 5.5 miles, no watch.

PM - Power Trail to Spring Creek to Mason. 10.25 miles, 7:23/mile average.

am - fossil creek to mason. 5.5 miles, no watch.

PM - lunchtime loop. 10.25 miles, averaged 7:08/mile.

Big Workout, the last one for the training cycle. Route was Power Trail to Spring Creek to Poudre, and the workout was 4-3-2-1 at MP, with 4-minute, 3-minute, 2-minute recovery jog between respective sets. Weather was very warm: sunny and mid-50s, and I wore shorts, t-shirt, and no gloves. That is quite nice for Dec 29! However, it was also very windy, with gusts up to 30 mph (according to the weather report), although the "base" wind was more like 10 mph. I had a headwind for the first half of the workout, and tailwind for most of the second half.

Splits were (5:23, 5:35, 5:33, 5:19-->net headwind for all these), (5:29, 5:05, 5:10-->headwind on the first one, tailwind on the last two) , (5:00, 5:08-->tailwind on both), (5:20-->split between headwind and crosswind). 16 miles total, averaged 6:09/mile overall.

It was a pretty good workout. The headwind was not a total killer, since it was gusty and not steady, and faster turnover with the tailwind was nice, and probably beneficial to simulate some paces I may actually hit in Houston with a marathon-pace effort. The problem with training at altitude is that you usually never hit your sea level race-pace (unless there is a tailwind or downhill), so it can be a bit of a shock to the legs when you hit that kind of turnover for a sustained period.

AM - did a loop out through Troutman Park, Shields, and Swallow, back on Mason Trail. 8.5 miles, averaged 7:39/mile.

noon - random loop through southeast side of Fort Collins. 7.75 miles, averaged 7:21/mile.

Absolutely craptacular run today, thanks to constant wind out of the northwest at 35-40 mph. I've never ran in wind so strong, and it brought me to a standstill at time. Oddly enough, I did not see anyone else out there running during my 2+ hours. Guess they are all smarter than me. Ended up cutting the run a little short. Had planned to do 19, but ended up with 17.5. Averaged 7:55/mile.

I would recap my year at this point, but don't really feel like taking the time. Sitting in front of my computer typing about running just doesn't fit into my schedule anymore. This year was good. I ran a lot. How's that?