RECAP : Dec 19 - Dec 25

Monday - 12/19/11

Treadmill Climb.
Workout went like this:

10 minute warmup
20 minutes @ 10% grade @ 9:30 pace
10 minute cooldown

After Saturdays 18 miler on pavement I took off Sunday to let the ol' bones rest. I was definitely sore on Sunday, not from the miles (18 miles on 2 GU's actually felt fine), just a hunch, but I think it was the complete lack of stretching before AND after that led to the extra soreness and stiffness in the joints. Anyway, because I was a tad on the stiff side, I cut todays treadmill climb short. My left patella was super tight, as were my hammys. And any extension of my left knee was borderline painful to the touch, but mostly more or less a "stiff" feeling.

1,110'



Tuesday - 12/20/11

Track Workout:

3 x 800 (2:22, 2:25, 2:24)

1 mile warm up followed by 1 mile straights and curves.

Wow, I was totally surprised that I was able to bust out low to mid 2:20's right now. I was planning on keeping them around 2:30 'ish for this time of year, but after my first 800, I figured I would try to push out a couple more a little faster than I had originally planned.

The combination of hill climbs and track sessions every week have been gold!



Wednesday - 12/21/11

Horsetooth Rock Summit.

Starting from the Horsetooth liquor store I jogged to the main TH then ran:

Falls > Rock Trail > South Ridge > Rock Trail > Summit > Rock Trail > South Ridge > TH > back to truck


The trails were a mix of dry dirt and nasty, slippery packed snow (ice!) in the shady areas. I took my time on the climb as I wasnt trying to push very hard..just a nice day out to enjoy the views and fill up the lungs with fresh air. The last 1/4 to the summit was rough, and took over 5 minutes, as it was a complete sheet of ice! Try running up knarly climbs and steep descents on what felt like an ice hockey rink, wearing nothing but a pair of rubber on your soles.....Umm, yeah it was slippery and a SLOW go. The views up top were just great...as always. And the first 1/4 mile on the way back down was even slower than on the way up, as I did everything I could to prevent myself from simply sliding down...and off the trail. Once I got to dry dirt again...all was good and I was on my way.

Total Time : 1hr 16 min
1,500'



Thursday - 12/22/11

Treadmill climb.
Workout went like this:

10 minute warmup
38 minutes @ 10% grade @ 9:30 pace
2 minutes @ 15% grade @ 10 minute pace
5 minute cooldown

Ughhh....wow, this one stung! I was going to run the entire climb at 10% grade but at about 35 minutes in, I decided to crank it to the max for the final 2 minutes of the climb....15% grade! I did slow it down to 10 min pace for this brutal stretch. Even so, it was a lung buster! and my calves were tight from the steep grade. Anyway..super big grunt of a workout. Was glad to sit down and stretch for a bit afterwards.

2,317'



Friday - 12/23/11

Pineridge.

This has to have been the hardest "easy" run I have done in awhile. After a decent 10 inches of snowfall the other night, the trails have been pretty hard to run. Basically, it went something like this: Step into 10 inches of fresh snow, then land and crunch through the old layer of snow/ice mix of an additional several inches, then push off and slip....then repeat for several miles. Yeah, I basically did "high Knees" for 50+ minutes today. Quite the easy day workout.

Total Time: 53:25

Saturday - 12/24/11
OFF



Sunday - 12/25/11
OFF



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Overall, a very quality week of running. Surprisingly so, after my initial post long run soreness from last Saturdays lack of stretching. Speed session was faster than I had planned and had a couple of days of decent vertical. Saturday and Sunday ( and maybe even Monday ) were off days. A little down time, after a solid week of running...is always a great way to recover. And most importantly ....spend time with friends and family on Christmas Eve and Christmas day! A great time of the year to drink some Nog by the fireplace, munch on some truffles...and let the muscles recover and do their thing on these needed recovery days.

Which brings me to another area I have been thinking about. I have come to realize that consistency is a REALLY important tool in becoming more fit and achieving my running goals. And the evidence is in my weekly track workouts and treadmill climbs. Therefore, for my New Years resolution for 2012....I plan to run everyday of the year! Barring injury or illness, of course. And by running, I mean anything over 1 mile of continuous running. So that also includes easy recovery days and pre-race easy jog days. So because of that, it is actually a pretty reasonable goal for the year.
Anyway, I am pretty excited as I am sure that year-round consistency in training is one of the best things an athlete can do to achieve his/her running goals. Here's to 2012!!

Q & A

Over the years I have been asked my many friends and family members questions related to running. Whether it is a question about training, running shoes, workout plans, or what do I eat or drink before or after a race, my thoughts on this or that...etc.

I love it when asked a question regarding anything to do with running, as it not only gives me an opportunity to give some helpful advice, insight...etc. But it also helps me learn new things and allows me to think about things I might not have thought of before, or allows me to see something from someone else's perspective.

Anyway, I have created this little section on my blog to hopefully answer questions about running that you might have for me.

I check my blog just about everyday, so if you post a question here, I will hopefully reply a comment to you soon. And hopefully with a helpful or insightful answer as well!

...So let this place be the platform for any and all running related questions that you have!

RECAP : Dec 12 - Dec 18

Monday - 12/12/11

Treadmill Climb:

10 minute warmup
35 minutes @ 10% grade @ 10 min/pace
10 minute cool down

1,832'

Was busy all day so didn't get a chance to get a run in until late. After dinner and after Eliana went down to sleep. Got to the rec at 9pm to begin this workout. Thankfully they are open until 11:30pm, for these late night runs. I thought I would be tired, running a hard uphill climb at night, but I actually felt pretty solid the whole run. As the winter progresses, I plan to increase these treadmill climbs from 30 minutes or so, to 90 minutes. I strongly believe that running uphill for any substantial continuous amount of time will make you a stronger...more patient runner. Surprisingly, these treadmill climbs are becoming my favorite workout of the winter!



Tuesday - 12/13/11

Track Workout:

1 mile warmup
6 x 200m (31,28,29,30,31,30) - 200m recovery
1 mile cool down

Another run after work...in the dark. It was chilly, about 25 degrees...but nothing like last weeks arctic track workout. Anyway, these winter track workouts are more of an off-season maintenance run. The total volume of these speed sessions that I have recently been doing are fairly short, which is intentional. As long as I keep the wheels spinning once a week this winter it will prevent the cobwebs from growing. And also prevent any chance of burn out or over-training. I plan to increase the volume and intensity of these workouts in the spring time. But for right now...I feel good keeping the volume and intensity on the low end.



Wednesday - 12/14/11

Foothills trails and Centennial Road. Trails were a super sloppy mud pit today. As the snow and ice melt away, the trails become nothing more than a slip-N-slide, muddy mess. Needless to say it was a slow go up the hill behind the stadium....sliding back down several inches with every mud stomping stride. A great overall workout, but not very efficient....and mostly more frustrating than anything. So once I got to solid ground up on Centennial I decided to avoid the slippery downhill on the way back down, and instead ran the road. On the way back down Centennial I turned right at the Stop sign, heading up the long grinding hill for an extra few hundred feet of vertical before turning around and heading back down to the Maxwell TH.

In summary:
Maxwell TH > Foothills Trail > Centennial road > Maxwell TH

45 minutes



Thursday - 12/15/11

Treadmill Climb:

5 minute warmup
38 minutes @ 10% grade @ 9:30 min/pace
2 minutes @ 10% grade @ 8:00 min/pace
5 minute cool down

2,236'

My first treadmill climb reaching 40 minutes, and over 2,200 vertical ft. Also my first treadmill climb workout running at 9:30 pace, instead of 10 min/pace. I felt great on this run, despite upping both the time and pace when compared to my previous treadmill runs. A true testament that these uphill treadmill climbs are working. After running 38 minutes at 9:30 pace, the last 2 minutes I cranked up to 8 flat pace @ 10% grade...a lung burner! 30 minutes in, and I felt good. About a month ago, 30 minutes in and I felt like falling flat on my face. A sure sign of cardiovascular improvement.



Friday - 12/16/11

An easy night run throughout the neighborhood. Earlier in the week I got a message from my buddy steve (yes Steve likes bacon). Anyway, I got a message from him asking me if I would like to join him for his long run on Saturday morning. He is training for a marathon that takes place in mid-February. Since I havent really ran long in awhile, it sounded like a great idea. Plus having some friendly company along the way is always a plus. So with all this in mind, I decided to take Friday easy and just jog a few miles....to be rested for a longer run in the morning.

28 minutes



Saturday - 12/17/11

Long run with Steve. I met Steve at his house at 6:30am. It was dark. It was cold (15 degrees), and I was tired. I got to bed late last night (12:30am) and woke up for Eliana at 3am for a random night feeding. So yes...I was....sleepy. But I was also pretty excited to be running for a few hours as well. Steve wanted the pace to be slow, roughly 8:45 pace, and basically just jog and have a conversation while we run. Nothing hard or tempo like. So with an UD hand held and a few GU's...we were off and running.

The workout went a little something like this:

Starting from Steve's house (near Taft and Harmony), we ran on Harmony west, up the hill to Centennial. Turned onto Centennial Road then ran down to the Maxwell TH and ran to Overland. Took Overland North to Elizabeth and took Elizabeth East to Shields. Turned North on Shields to Mountain Avenue, then took Mountain Avenue East to Mason. Took Mason South and eventually hopped onto College all the way South to the intersection of South College and Spring Creek trail. Ran on Spring Creek trail all the way West to the dog park on Horsetooth. Turned South onto Taft, and back to Steve's house.

Total time : 2 hours 33 minutes ..... 18 miles even.

The first 50 minutes were in the dark. Then the sun rose and temperatures rose to a balmy 25 degrees for the rest of the morning run.



Sunday - 12/18/11

OFF



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The long run on Saturday morning felt great. It felt good to get in a longer run for a change. On a racing note, I am considering registering for my first 100 mile trail race. Which has a Quad busting 22,000 vertical ft! And also a local 50 mile trail race. Which also has a nice 11,000 vertical ft over 50 miles! I will update in a few weeks if I decide to go through with registering.

RECAP : Dec 5 - Dec 11

Monday - 12/05/11

Treadmill Climb:

10 min warmup
30 minutes @ 10 % grade @ 10 min pace
5 minutes @ 10 % grade @ 8:30 min pace
5 min cool down

1,910'

This is becoming a staple of my winter workouts. Eventually I plan to get to 60-90 minutes of uphill running on the treadmill, by late spring. It is hard to get in a continuous climb for anything lasting an hour or longer in the area. Once the summer rolls around Rocky Mountain National Park offers some nice trail options if you are looking to get in a decent climb...but thats a ways out from now.



Tuesday - 12/06/11

Track Workout:

Ok, so it was 11 degrees outside after work and getting dark, and the first 3 lanes of the track had an ice/snow crusted slickness to them. Despite these conditions, I still wanted to try and stick somewhat to the schedule as this is my "track workout" day of the week. Although I was at the track, this workout was by far the "easiest" track workout I have ever done, due to the frigid temps and iced over track. It went like this:

1 mile warmup (laughable in 11 degrees)
20 minutes of straights and curves. (Basically striding out on the back stretch and home stretch, and a simple jog on the turns. Ran in lane 4)
1 mile cooldown (I was already a frozen popsicle..but hey, its an extra mile in the books)

...then hopped in my truck and proceeded to defrost.



Wednesday - 12/07/11

Horsetooth Mtn Park. With the consideration of running the chubby cheeks 50k this upcoming weekend I wanted to check out the trails, since most of the trails lately have been pretty sloppy. And by sloppy I mean packed snow and ice, knee deep trenches, slip and slide mud pits...and the occasional "dry spots". Seeing the trail conditions of a section of the race course one last time would either make or break my decision to run 30+ miles on Saturday.

Workout went like this:

Horsetooth Liquor store > Main TH > Rock trail > Soderberg > Spring Creek > falls > TH > back to truck

50 minutes

After running the trails, I decided to opt out of the chubby cheeks 50k for Saturday. The trails, for the most part, were runnable. Icy in parts and 2-3 foot snow drifts here and there, with the occasional dry patch. But I really wanted to run this one hard and open it up on dry terrain, not on crusty packed snow/ice mix. Nice to jog on. Not nice to race on.



Thursday - 12/08/11

Maxwell TH > foothills trail. easy 33:30
Ran up the hill behind the stadium and then turned around when I got to the road. Ran in the dark on the way back with a flashlight in hand. Trails were packed snow in most areas and cold, 20 degrees.



Friday - 12/09/11

OFF - deep down I was still undecided about the 50k on Saturday, so took the day off in case I changed my mind last minute. I wanted to be rested for the 4-6 hours of running that might be on Saturday.


Saturday - 12/10/11

At 6am as I sat in my warm cozy bedroom I stared at the nicely folded pile of running attire I layed out for myself the night before, which was stacked alongside a pile of GU's and my hand held UD water bottles. Contemplating the idea of running 4-5+ hours in the snowy mountains....then with a "sigh", I rolled over and went back to sleep.

That night however, I figured out how make 25,000 people disappear. Run through campus at night the weekend before finals! Not a peep in sight.
At 8pm I ran from our house to campus via the mason street path, then ran a lap around the oval and cut across campus to Moby and back down Shields to Horsetooth > back home.
Cold and dark. 25 degrees.

1 hour even (well...1 hr 40 seconds to be exact)



Sunday - 12/11/11

Pineridge. Starting from the dog park I ran a lap around Pineridge. Rolling snow covered trails are fun to run on. Not easy, but fun.
An easy day of jogging in the snow...44:24

A few pics of Pineridge trails covered in the snow:

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A good week of running. Its been cold and icy/snowy everywhere as of late which made the track workout feel like I was running laps in my freezer. But the treadill climbs have been a good consistant hard effort each week.
I am looking forward to the 2.5 weeks off work during Christmas and New Years.
Time to relax, reflect upon on the year, look ahead into 2012, and of course...get in a few quality runs!

RECAP : Nov 28 - Dec 4

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 ;-)