Week of April 18 - 24

M - Top of Chutes, 8 mi. 1,000'
T - Rampart Range Rd / Williams / Waldo / Longs Ranch Rd / Bobs Rd / Barr Trail. 21 mi, 5,100'
W - Santa Fe and Sondermann Park, 6 mi, 500'
H - off
F - Santa Fe, 5 mi, 200'
S - Cheyenne Mountain 25k, 19 mi, 2300'
S - Trails in Castle Rock, 5 mi, 400'

Total for week - 64 miles, 9,500'
Total for April -  188 miles, 18,000'
Total for year - 900 miles, 78,000'

Finally back to 100%, just in time to taper!  As long as I'm healthy when training for the big hill begins in earnest.

Random thoughts.

• Loving the rain.  Maybe the trails will get a bit tackier.  They have been in late-summer condition as of late.  Doesn't affect the trail runners as much, but sucks when you want to take the bike out for a spin.
• Talking to solarweasel on Saturday and a few of the guys down here today - would love to make it up to BoCo and Fort Fun to check out some of their fun runs.  I've got a whole summer, so why not?
• Looking to take a shot at Crestone Peak on Saturday.  Spring conditions...the red couloir isn't so red these days.
• All this talk of R2R2R...I'm sold.  Is late November a good season for it?

Week of April 11 - 17

M - off - snowshoe 4ish miles, 2,000' up Nokhu Crags in the Never Summer Range.
T - 13 on the Santa Fe from school.  2 x 5 at Marathon + 10.
W - 6 easy on the Santa Fe.
H - 10 on the Santa Fe.  5 at Marathon + 20.
F - off.
S - 20 on the Santa Fe. last half at Marathon + 15.
S - 7 easy through Sondermann Park.

Total - 60 miles, 4,000'.

Thoughts/notes:

• At this juncture, 60 seems to be my sweet spot.  I can maintain that level indefinitely without breaking down, missing family obligations, or losing strength.
• I started running in the AM this week.  The thought is that if I can finish my runs before Cale wakes up, I get more time with him.  It just takes a little more discipline.
• Lots of tempo miles in the past few weeks - 25 this week alone.  Some of it is intentional, but factors such as my hip gimpyness have contributed as well.  I'll try a few hillier easy days this upcoming week.  A real test will be next Saturday - 15.5 miles with a fair amount of ups and downs.
• Climbing/scrambling actually seemed to help loosen up my hip as opposed to aggravate it.  Counter-intuitive.
• I'm getting sick of the Santa Fe.  Ugh.

Thanks to Brooks for getting me into these guys.

Buckhorn and Captain Jacks

New first for me:  back-to-back days of 2+ hours.  With yesterday's effort, today's run put me over 30 miles for the weekend.  Brooks and I agreed yesterday to go to Gold Camp for a good climbing run on trails, albeit at an easy effort.  This was the standard 'accountability trick' - with both of us committing to each other, we would be less likely to bail.

Captain Jack's/Buckhorn from Gold Camp Elem.

What a beautiful morning!  It took us a while to get into the flow.  Brooks, a lifetime COS resident who has been known to run a few trail miles, had never been on Chamberlain, The Chutes, or Captain Jack's.  We found ourselves grinding up from 6,300' to 8,300' during the first six miles, then ambled back down Gold Camp Rd.

Ran into mountain stud Tommy Manning high on Captain Jack's.  Kinda cool how the higher and deeper you get into the mountains, the Tommy Mannings are more and more likely to be the only types you run into.

Sneaked in another 6 miles on Sunday night with Brooks and Christoph.  Put me up over 70 for the first time in 13.

Week in review
Monday: Gold Camp Rd to Helen Hunt
Tuesday: Incline
Wednesday: 10 easy
Thursday: 8 x 1000'
Friday: off
Saturday:  Cheyenne Mtn State Park
Sunday:  AM Captain Jack's/Buckhorn, PM Brooks's house

Week Total:  72 miles, 9,400'
March total:  182 miles, 20,500'
2011 total:  618 miles, 44,500'

Definitely a strong week - the consistency and quality of training I've had this year are new.  Two challenges await for next week:  2 x 4 miles FAST (for me, anyway), and a run to Cripple Creek on Sunday.