Weekly Summary: Feb 4 – Feb 10

Monday:  4 miles followed by 1.5 miles with G. Did a loop near my apartment after realizing that I had forgotten my running gear at home. This was remarkable only because I saw no fewer than 5 Red Tailed Hawks hunting during the run.

Tuesday: 11 miles, 1500 feet. Met up with my friend Justin for a loop around Flagstaff. Halfway up Chapman I turned it up a notch and tempoed the remaining 1.5 miles to the top, then Justin led us for a quick descent.

Wednesday: 5 miles, maybe 500 feet. Went after work with my coworker L. She and I were both tired from tempos the day before so we kept it short and easy. Even so, it was dark and raining by the time we got back to the office.

Thursday: 5.5 miles, 1000 feet. Went up Anemone from work. Easy 16 minute ascent from Settler’s Park. Threw in a bit of scrambling on Red Rocks for the fun of it. Evening: 250m swimming at the Rec Center.

Friday: 6 + miles, 1500 feet. Drove up to Boulder early for a 7AM run with Scott Jurek, Matt, and Bryce. Went up the East Ridge and down the backside to Sunshine. Good way to start the last day of the work week and good to see Scott again after not running with him for a while.

Saturday:  off, save for a bit of Line Dancing at the Grizzly Rose. Hopefully we’ll make it back this Sunday too.

Sunday: 12 miles, 4000 feet. Bear followed by Green from Cragmore TH. There was a bit of a dusting of snow on the ground. Just enough to make it slightly slick going up Bear. But I never wished for more traction.

I made a conscious decision not to push it at all on Sunday, since I only had to run 4 miles to equal my biggest week so far this year. Clearly I moved beyond that. I made a lackadaisical summit of Bear in 52 flat, followed by a less lackadaisical traverse over to Green in 43 minutes. I was forced to take it a bit easier on the descent down Bear Canyon because the snow was just deep enough to cover the ice patches. Still made it back in 2:30.

Just how easy did I take this run? Well,  I stopped three or four times on the way up Bear without stopping my watch (took of the jacket, made a pit stop, and tied my shoes) and never hesitated to stop and chat with anybody who was coming by. It felt good to just enjoy my run for a change.

Overall my training is coming along. I didn’t get a chance to do any hill repeats or fartleks this week, but I definitely pushed up my mileage and my vert. At this point, number geek that I am, I am 20 miles down on last year, but over 10000 up on vertical. I’d call that a more than fair exchange. This week, I’m planning on inserting a little more speed and mileage, but dropping back on the elevation a bit. We’ll see how it goes.  

West from Bear, you can see the Flagstaff Fire burn zone.

East from Bear.

Look at all those mountains!