Monday - 11/28/11
Lunch : Horsetooth Mtn Park, 1hr 16 mins. Parked at the Horsetooth liquor store and jogged the mile or so to the trailhead. Then ran: Horsetooth rock trail > South Ridge > Audra Culver > back down Horsetooth Rock trail > Soderberg > Spring Creek > falls > to TH > down the road to truck.
Felt great on this run! Ran most of it at a moderate pace. The last mile from the falls I pushed hard as I was wanting to break an hour for the TH to TH loop. I jogged to the trailhead (TH) in an easy 9 minutes then got to Audra Culver in 26 min flat (17 mins from TH). The footing on the trails were great and the weather was warm. I actually overdressed and had to shed a layer of clothes on the way up, and picked them back up on the way back down. Just after reaching the falls I looked down at my watch and realized I was at 55 minutes on the clock (not including the 9 minute jog to the TH), and decided to open it up a bit and try to hit the sub hour mark. Got to the trailhead in 59:48 :-)
I think I can go even faster as I wasnt really running hard until the last bit, felt great throughout the run. One of those days that I wish today was race day. Felt like I could run all day and still feel good. Why cant more days feel like this? lol
then jogged easy 8 minutes or so back down to truck.
total time 1:16
Tuesday - 11/29/11
Lunch : Track workout - 4 x 800 (2:32 - 2:28 - 2:29 - 2:27) .
Another strong day. Fastest 800's I have ran in awhile. Legs felt strong and quick. Eventually I want to get these down to sub 2:20's, but I'll take it since it was only my 3rd or 4th track workout since May. Ran these with 200m recovery and a 1 mile warm up and 1/2 mile cooldown, followed by walking 80 yards back to my office ;-)
Wednesday - 11/30/11
Lunch : Foothills trail - 47:49. Starting from the Maxwell TH, I ran up the hill and then at the "Y" fork I turned right (North) and ran that all the way down to shoreline. Hopped on that and ran back South and eventually back down behind the stadium to the trailhead. Make it 3 days in a row of feeling great. I think I am finally getting my legs under me. From the trailhead to the top of the hill (there is a small sign there), about 100 yards before the "Y" fork, I like to check my split here. And clipped out a 12 min flat time, which is a PR split for me. I wasnt trying to get a PR, but I was just feeling so good on the hill...felt like I was running on the flats.
Thursday - 12/01/11
Lunch : Treadmill climb.
10 minutes warmup
30 minutes @ 10% grade @ 10 min/mi pace
2 minutes @ 10% grade @ 8 min/mi pace
5 min cooldown
1,611 ft vertical
Another solid workout. I am beginning to see the results of running these treadmill climbs on a consistent basis. The more I run them, the easier the uphill resistance feels. I enjoy pushing the last few minutes of these workouts hard, by either uping the pace, the grade...or both! What I like most about these treadmill climbs is that it is a constant motion...a relentless pace that forces me to keep me at an honest pace and doesnt allow for me to slow down. I run on a Woodway treadmill at the Rec and these tredmills are nice and are designed for runners. Would be nice to have one of these in the garage!
Haile running on a Woodway treadmill
Friday - 12/02/11
PM : Pineridge - 38:22. Ran in knee to upper shin deep snow for this "easy" run after work. With soo much snow covering the trails it was hard to make out exacly where the trail that I was trying to run on, actually was. And for the most part I am pretty sure I was off the trail the majority of the run, which made it difficult. Tripping and stepping on rocks that are buried under snow is never fun. Thankfuly this was a short run, but even so I still took 2 spills. Nothing major, as I wasnt running fast enough and I landed in a pillow of soft powder each time. I actually stepped right off a small footbridge and dropped down like 2 feet on one step, as I couldnt see where the bridge ended and the ground began.
Anyway, finished in the dark with a flash light in hand. Cold front coming and the snow and ice will be lingering for awhile.
Saturday - 12/03/11
AM : Treadmill Climb.
10 minute warmup
25 minutes @ 10% grade @ 10 min/mi pace
5 minutes @ 10% grade @ 8:30 pace
10 minute cooldown
1,624 ft vertical
Wasnt planning on running on the treadmill this morning, but all the snow on the trails threw out any chance of a decent workout on the hills. So I decided to head to the warmth of the Rec and grunted out a good climb. Felt nice running this on a Saturday morning and not having the feeling of being rushed having to get back to the office. So I took my time and stretched and even did some core stuff afterwords.
Sunday : 12/04/11
OFF
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This last week I felt great on every run. I have been really feeling the benefits of the treadmill and track workouts. I feel stronger and faster with each one. We finally got a battery for our truck (after an anonymous person at our church donated $80 to our family. A kind and generous act that is appeciated beyond words. Thank you!). Since I now have my truck back in action, I was able to get out to the trails a few times and that felt GREAT! after a month of jogging to and from work each day on sidewalks and streets...it felt great to be running in the mountains again.
As far as workouts each week, I have decided that:
Monday and Thursday - will be treadmill climbs or hill repeats on the trails(weather permitting)
Tuesday - track workout
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - will consist of either easy long runs on the trails or treadmill...or OFF days.
....the weather forcast for the next week or so is cold. its actually 6 degrees outside as I write this. it feels good to be seeing and feeling the results from consistent weekly workouts.
Still not sure what races for 2012 I will be doing. Alot depends on the the ratio between the entry fee cost and the money in my wallet ;-)
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