14.5 myles - 2.08:32

Mt Falcon v1.0 - 8:30 AM

40s, windy, sunny

mind/body - coming around

easy effort

Met up with JP this morning over at Falcon. Was really unsure how my body would feel but I committed to being there and glad I did.

Jim led the way to the shelter and I was happy to ride his coat tails. Sure was happy when he had to tie both his shoes cause I was not liking the first 10 minutes or so. We made the shelter in a steady 31:26 and then made our way around for a full loop. It really wasn't until the shelter I started to feel half way decent, which was a clear sign this junk was nearly out of my system. I was climbing well and felt better the longer we went. We never really pushed the pace but it was steady on everything. And it was certainly good to get out with someone to mix it up cause neither one of us would have gone 14 on our own.

My Highgear barometric altimeter reads 3014 ft of climbing, Jim's GPS reads 2903, and MapMyRun (mmr) GPS lists it as 2093 ft of climbing. I'll take the 3014 ft. Also mmr gives a distance of 14.90 myles (without that straight line at the end in the map above), Jim's GPS gives 14.26 myles - FWIW.

25 myles - 4.00:09

Mt Falcon v1.75 - 6:30 AM

50s, clear, dry

mind/body - good

easy effort

Easy "steady" effort that is. My father in law and I met PG and JP over at Falcon before the crack of dawn for some fun. Patrick is training for Hellgate 100K and Jim just wanted to get out for a run prior to a day long meeting "inside". Jim stuck around as long as he could, putting in 11 myles before he had to get back. Patrick and I did the full loop in 2.17 and then proceeded to get back up to the shelter for round 2. The initial climb up to the shelter via Turkey Trot smacks me in the face every time but doing it a second time, well, it's just a full blown punch. Made it up to the shelter in 33 the first time and 35 the second time. The second time around decided not to do a full loop, and Patrick had to get back by 11, so we just went around Parmalee and back down. 5437 of climbing with about a 9:39 pace - pretty decent for Falcon.

10 myles - 1.32:13

Mt. Falcon v0.75 - 1:00 PM

90s, clear, dry

mind/body - not into it

easy effort

After being in meetings for 2 and 1/2 days it was nice to be out on the trail. Felt good to start (albeit hot) and was climbing well.... that didn't last too long as the food and beverage from the meeting soon caught up to me. I always go into these meetings thinking "I'm gonna be better this time" and it never happens. The food is just too good to pass up and the free beverage to boot, well that's a no brainer. At any rate, I made it to the end of Turkey Trot in 18 flat and then the shelter in 30:40. After that just kind of coasted around Parmalee and came straight back down. Now I've got the sludge out of my system, tomorrow should be better.

15 myles - 2.12:24

Mt Falcon v1.0 - 9:30 AM
60s, overcast, dry - perfect!
mind/body - good
easy effort

Got out with Lucho this morning. First time meeting him but have been following his blog for some time. Isn't it funny how we feel like we already know all these people through blogs? Lucho is a great guy and a very talented runner - anyone who can crank out 14:11 for a 5K is up there in my book. Lots more runs to be scheduled.

Lucho brought a High Gear altimeter to measure elevation gain so I finally know what Falcon comes in at for the full loop - 3012 feet! Kinda disappointing because I have always been calculating more like 4000 ft. We started quick, only because I know how quick he is and I didn't want to slow him up. Turns out we were cooking up the first climb to the shelter and then we mellowed out and had a nice pace for the remaining 12 myles. Good conversation from training all the way to Rob Zombie concert at Red Rocks.

A couple of runs

Normally I like to keep up to date on a daily basis of my runs but wasn't able to yesterday, day just got away from me. Ended up selling my Mtn bike yesterday for some extra cash. So here's an update for those keeping tabs on me:

Tuesday: Mt. Falcon v0.75 - 10 myles - 1.32:34 - 2500 ft of climbing
Wednesday: Daniels Park/HR loop - 18 myles - 2.11:02 - 1000 ft of climbing

Leading into yesterday I had a nice streak of 6 days of good running (good in terms of overall body feel and feeling like a had another gear to go to). But as I sat in my car in the parking lot of Mt Falcon yesterday, I just didn't want to run. And the longer I sat there, the less I wanted to go. Finally I talked myself into it by agreeing (as if I'm talking to my alter ego) to turnaround if things didn't shake out.... Well things never improved. I got to the shelter in 30:28 and was dead. So again I agreed to go to the upper parking lot and turn around... At this point I'm playing mind games and decide that I'm already here so I might as well go around Parmalee. All in all it was a miserable day and I was happy to be done.

Moving into today I felt the same way and went through the same thought process... although it turned out much better. You just never know. I went out early without eating to help with my glycogen stores and see how I felt after two hours. I was really surprised, as the run got longer I got stronger.

So in 7 days, I've run 9 times for a total of 95 myles and 16,600 ft of elevation gain. Nice little bump from my normal 65 myles - but I am tired.