17.5 myles - 2.02:53

Daniels Park - 8:00 AM

60s, clear, dry

mind/body - good

Hard effort

The plan today was to be on my feet for two hours and get some flat(ish) fast myles in - check and check. In all, 1262 feet of climbing, says my Axio watch, with a pace of 7:01. I did not bring any calories with me (don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing?) so I felt it in the end. I guess it's good that I tapped my glycogen stores but bad that I'm teaching my body to require less that could spell disaster later in a race. At any rate, the body and mind still feel fresh with 10 straight days of running. I have a week long meeting in L.A. starting next Monday so I'm trying to get as many days in running as I can. And THIS TIME I will be good with the food.... yeah right, I'll probably eat every time they put out food, which is about 10x/day.

A year ago today on the CT - day 6

Almost forgot... Funny thing happened on my run today. I was coming up a hill that's about three-quarters of a mile long and gradually gets steeper (10%) towards the top. On the bottom of the hill a guy on a bike comes zooming past me and gives me a look back. I take the look as if he wants to race me up the hill so I'm turning myself inside-out to try and catch him while he's bobbing back and forth out of his saddle. Two hundred meters to the top he glances back (confirmation he was racing me), I wave, and he turns right into the curb and falls over. Probably a little embarrassed he hops on his bike and motors to the top. He won but I got a good laugh.

9 myles - 1.05:15

Lone Tree + loop - 8:00 AM

70s, clear, dry

mind/body - still rollin

easy effort

I wasn't going to run today but for the simple fact that I have no soreness or stiffness from yesterday - why not? I think I may have "turned the corner" on this slump. The runs are more enjoyable than ever before and I actually look forward to getting out everyday. Whatever has happened over the course of the two weeks since Where's Waldo, I sure do hope it continues through the end of this month. You know the finest steel has to go through the hottest fire so maybe Hard Rock and Where's Waldo were my living hell....

For the week: 115.4 myles, 15,082 ft of climbing, 17 hrs 58 mins. Over the course of 9 days: 158.4 myles. Will these numbers translate into a good 100 mile race to finish the year? I hope so because I officially signed up for The Bear last night.

30 myles - 4.40:15

Rampart Range Reservoir - 6:30 AM

50s to 70s, clear, dry

mind/body - feeling really good

easy effort

WOW! I have never been up to the reservoir before but it was spectacular! We (CRUD group) started on West Baptist road and climbed the front range overlooking the North end of the Air Force Academy and then connected a bunch of ATV trails to the reservoir. Most (2500 ft) of the 4000 ft of climbing today was done in the first 8 myles and then a few rollers here and there. The ATV trails didn't impress me but the reservoir and the trail that goes around did. And then on the way back Rick Hessek strung together a bunch of "hidden" trails to get us back to our car. I'm telling you what between Rick, Steve, and Larry they have crisscrossed every trail in the hills surrounding Colorado Springs - don't leave home without one of them to find these gems.

One of the many fingers of the reservoir with Pikes looming

Rick and I were moving pretty good all day, in fact, we made it around the reservoir in about an hour and 1/2 (8:10 pace). Unlike last Saturday, today I stopped my watch every time we did so that I could capture moving time to estimate distance.

Rick pulling me up today.

Rick pulling me up 10 mile range one year ago today on the CT

As far as nutrition is concerned I went with this stuff again, mixed in with Powerbar Endurance drink - a total of 243 grams of CHO in 60 oz of water. Back at the car I was bone dry which means I consumed 52 g/hr and that is it. I did not consume any other food or gel -all liquid- which means this stuff really works because I felt solid all day.

So far this week 106.4 myles and I feel awesome. The last time I hit this kind of number was my first year running ultras back in 2004. I ran the Wasatch course over a weeks time for a week total of 119. I didn't see the results back then so we'll see if anything has changed. I realize it's just a number but the fact remains that I feel great and more fit than any other time this year. It's all about time on your feet my friends.

What's the deal with this sign?? Don't wanna know...

6.2 myles - 45:29

Lone Tree loop - 7 AM

50s, clear, dry

mind/body - a little creeky

easy effort

The only thing sore on my body was the ankle I rolled yesterday. Very happy with how my body feels right now. Slowly but surely I sped up this morning and by the end had a great pace (7:02). Tomorrow will be another long day but I am looking foward to it. It's not so much that I'm getting over 100 myles this week but more about how good I'm feeling doing it. We'll see how I feel after tomorrow.

One year ago on the CT - I'd be on this section (6) right now

41 myles - 7.13:09

Colorado Trail sections 1 -3 - 6 AM

50s to 70s, clear, nice and dry

mind/body - good all day

easy effort

Call it a birthday run. Call it a one year anniversary CT run. It was just simply a great run with great company and great weather.

Somewhere in the Buffalo Creek area

Old familiar marker

Didn't quite start from the same starting point (Indian Creek today) or as early as a year ago but it sure did feel like the same old adventure. Lots of memories for me today. I can't say I was excited to start but by the time Tim and I were in the middle of the first section the juices started to flow.

Our goal was 7 hours, which is a conservative pace to think about but add in 6400 ft of climbing and it becomes a bit more of challenge. I did this run a few years ago in 6.54 but I was killing myself to get under 7 hours. Today was a solid, steady effort. Not once did we red line or hunch over with our hands on our knees. We were running everything we could and power hiking the steeper sections all the way to Wellington Lake road. My wife and son picked us up at Wellington Lake road and drove us back to Denver - thank you my wife!

As far as nutrition is concerned, I tried something new today. I bought some of this stuff and mixed it in with my Powerbar Endurance drink. A total of 1.5 cups of Maltodextrin (141 g CHO) and 6 scoops of Powerbar (102 g CHO) mixed in with 70 ounces of water gave me a total of 243 grams of Carbohydrate. The body can process 60g/hour, so for me today I was well below that with 35g/hr as my solution was bone dry in the end. But remember the body can process "up to" 60g/hr, it doesn't mean it will or that you should try to hit that. The important thing is that my energy was solid and constant throughout the day. I did not eat any gels, only two 6 inch tortillas with Nutella and one Odwalla bar. I was very religious about taking drinks every 15 minutes. I had no belly aches and as I said before, my energy was solid throughout the day. One little caveat just in case you decide to mix maltodextrin in your electrolyte drink: it does not dissolve very well so mix way ahead, maybe even the night before, so you don't get clumps

10 myles - 1.12:02

HR urban trails - 7 AM

50s, clear, dry
mind/body - good
easy effort

Really eased into this one. Walked Jaxon to school and contemplated just coming back home... we all know once you're out there, you might as well go run. I started slow and the mind threatened to give up but the body slowly, but surely, responded. By the end I was in the groove and decided to push a bit the last two myles (12:44). The reason for the flaky mind today is the simple fact that I am going 41 with FF tomorrow and then 30 on Saturday with Rick Hessek - that puts me at 99 even if I take Friday and Sunday off. If I'm really committed I will do an easy 6 on Friday to put me over the century mark.

Crazy Jaime boy!