AM : 4 x 1/2 mile Centennial Hill Repeats (3:18, 3:20, 3:26, 3:24) + 25 minutes easy
PM: Foothills Trail - easy 38 minutes
Went out a little hard in the first couple of grunts up the hill and was sucking wind on the last two. Overall though, felt great. Ran an easy 25 minutes at the end of the workout on centennial road and foothills trail back to my truck parked at Pineridge lot as a cooldown.
After work I ran an additional 38 minutes on the Foothills trail (medium loop) starting at the Maxwell TH. This run was basically an easy paced run just to get in a few extra miles on my knobs.
--- Tuesday - 02/28/12 ---
Foothills Trail - 32 minutes
Woke up this morning and my left knee was super tight. Not sure why. I think I might have slept on it bent and twisted all night long. I basically had a slight limp most of the day despite several attempts at stretching it out. As the work day went on it felt better, and so I decided on an easy day to try and loosen it up a bit.
Ran an easy 32 minutes on the Foothills Trail (short loop) starting from the Maxwell TH.
Knee felt better after running and some light stretching.
About once a month this happens to me. I wake up in the morning and one of my knees are super tight when extended and it causes me to limp around all day. Then after an easy run, or on its own, it goes away by that night. I think I sometimes sleep weird and I do something while I am asleep that aggravates it.
--- Wednesday - 02/29/12 ---
Horsetooth Mountain Park + Lory - 2 hours 17 minutes
Workout went like this:
Blue Sky Trailhead > Inlet Bay trail > Soderberg TH > Shoreline Trail > South Valley Trail > East Valley Trail > Soldier Canyon TH > then back the same way...
Basically an out and back run on the valley trails...in the slop! A mud trudge to be more exact. The entire return trip I was running into a solid 20mph head wind, combined with the slop....brutal.
I wanted to run this route for two reasons:
1- Soldier Canyon picnic area is the start/finish for the Quad Rock 50 and I wanted to check out what the parking situation would be like come race day. I believe I counted 55 spots in the lot. Much more parking than I thought would be there.
2- I wanted to get an estimate on how long it took me to jog from the start of the race to the first uphill climb of the day at Sawmill. So on the way back I clocked myself at 35 minutes on the dot to the Sawmill intersection...not that the time means anything considering I had to briefly stop 3 times to wipe off mud, rocks, grass...and other items from my underfoot along the way. But at least its an estimate time.
Overall felt pretty good. Didnt bother to bring any food and my 21oz of hand held water was all but gone with about 30 minutes left of running. Downed a banana and some gatorade as soon as I got back to my truck.
The mud was a bummer, but thats just the way it goes. Warmer weather is predicted for next week and should hopefully dry up most of the valley slop.
--- Thursday - 03/01/12 ---
Pineridge - 35 minutes
An easy jog through Pineridge. Pineridge has been closed for a few weeks due to the muddy trail conditions but has recently opened up. I enjoy running here on my easy days.
Pretty chilly, lower 20's. Felt good after yesterdays 2+ hour mud run.
--- Friday - 03/02/12 --- my birthday!
Horsetooth Mtn Park - 2 hours 15 minutes
Well today I turned 33. A solid number I suppose. And to celebrate my special day I decided to take the day off work and get in a nice run up at Horsetooth. Actually, I had planned on working a half day, but Eliana woke up with a slight fever and decided to just make it a family morning and hang out eat breakfast together as a family. After Eliana went down for her nap I headed up to Horsetooth Mtn park for a snow/ice trudge trail run (somewhat opposite of my mud run on Wednesday).
Workout went like this:
Horsetooth Liquor store (where I park these days) > Main TH > South Ridge > Rock Trail > Westridge > Towers > Mill Creek > Loggers > Carey Springs > down Towers > Herrington > Spring Creek > Soderberg > South Ridge > Main TH > ...Horsetooth liquor store
As most of the lower elevation (valley) trails are muddy, the upper trails are mostly ice mixed with a snow pack layer of crunch. Making it ideal to have traction (which I didnt), I preferred the "crawling on hands and knees" approach to the slick icy downs and climbs. Nothing that will set a course record but it will prevent you from performing the downhill mountain ice surf. (AKA...hands raised above head, knees slightly bent, and sliding out of control down a trail) Looks like a newbie learning how to surf.
Not sure what caused this, maybe it was the sustained 80mph winds we had in town last week, but a section of Westridge was complete carnage:
Overall, another great day on the trails. Managed to get in over 2 hours of running...and didnt see another person the entire run.
There is something about this solitude of running that is special to me. To rest in quiet, without the distractions of life, without noise polluting my ears....just the wind, my footsteps and my breathing. We are so heavily bombarded with tv, cell phones, street traffic...etc that sometimes we (or at least I) forget what its like to just hear silence. Its a breathe of fresh air! For me, it is my daily quiet time.
Ran with two handhled H2O bottles filled with some grape flavored Gatorade goodness and a light camel bak with some snacks.
A solid run and a great way to spend the afternoon on my birthday!
Got home and took a short nap as Andrea planned a surprise evening for me. Which was dinner at Star of India with 5 of our best friends. Then we all came back to our place and watched "Courageous", a great movie...with a pretty emotional story line.
A long run, a nap, time with friends and a movie....Wow, what a great day! :-)
--- Saturday - 03/03/12 ---
Pineridge + Foothills Trail - 59:10
Workout went like this :
Starting from Spring Canyon Park I ran an easy 30 minutes out, 30 minutes back route. Ran through Pineridge to Maxwell Th and then up the hill behind the stadium. Turned around at the little sign at top of the hill, in a lick over 30 minutes. Then ran back the same way.
Temps were perfect today for a run. low 60's! and dry trails! It felt great to have traction on dry dirt for a change.
Legs felt great and pace was easy.
--- Sunday - 03/04/12 ---
Easy neighborhood night jog - 20 minutes
Temps during the day were even better than yesterday. We decided to make the day a family day and went on a walk together...all 4 of us, Myself, Andrea, Eliana and Gypsy (our dog).
Today was basically an OFF day, but jogging a few miles in the evening (9pm) felt good.
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Overall a fantastic week of running!
The couple of 2+ hour trail runs felt really good. Temps are warming up (at least for now), trails are starting to dry out and I believe spring fever has settled in. :-)
I gotta thank my awesome wife for planning my 33rd birthday and for making it a special evening!
It was my perfect day!
....looking forward to the upper 60's this week! its gonna be great!
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