34 myles - 4.44:24

Colorado Trail seg 1 - 7 AM

70s, clear, dry

mind/body - solid

easy effort

Tomorrow Waterton Canyon is closing until December 2011 so this was my last chance to get on the CT that is closest to my home. I hate the 6 myles of dirt road leading to the CT but once on the single track, it doesn't get any better. About 500 other bikers and runners joined me this morning to get their last taste of Waterton as well, never seen it so busy before. That was fine with me because I knew once I got far enough away I wouldn't see anyone.

I felt great this morning. My plan was to keep it mellow all day and get a good solid run in. About an 8:20 pace, which is decent with about 4000 of climbing out and back. And just as I suspected, the closer I got to the Platte River, the fewer people I saw, save a few kamikaze mtn bikers flying around blind corners. At any rate, good to be back on the CT, reminiscing the whole time about last September.

Pretty good month for me - 321 myles. 1832 for the year. Last year 1911 through July so pretty similar.

9 myles - 56:26

Chatfield - 8:00 AM

80s, clear, dry

mind/body - good

hard effort

Jaxon went with me again this morning. It took a little more bribing today because it meant he had to get out of bed and get ready.... normal kid right? On the way over I explained to Jaxon that I would probably not be able to talk that much so I would just answer with 'yes' and 'no'. He carried a backpack with water and Gatorade but was way too far ahead to know I wanted some. Most of this route is flat or down so he was just coasting along and at one point said "this is so much fun, isn't it Dad?" Well.... I had to answer yes but inside I was dying just a little bit.

At any rate, the run went pretty much as expected. My goal was 6:13 pace, which was my 50K pace at Caumsett. I ended up with a time of 56:26, which is 6:16 pace. I'm happy but it wasn't as comfortable as I wanted it to be. Lots of work yet to be done... as in speed work.

This will make you laugh:

I was driving when I saw the flash of a traffic camera. I figured that my picture had been taken for exceeding the limit even though I knew that I was not speeding. Just to be sure, I went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed. Now I began to think that this was quite funny, so I drove even slower as I passed the area once more, but the traffic camera again flashed. I tried a fourth and fifth time with the same results and was now laughing as the camera flashed while I rolled past at a snail's pace. Two weeks later, I got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt. You know, you just can't fix stupid.

9 myles - 1.06:54

Daniels Park - 5:00 PM

80s, North wind, cloudy

mind/body - tired from the day

easy effort

Plugged along at an easy 7:26 pace. One the things I learned from Paul is to take it easy on the easy days to recover from a hard day. In the past I tended to push the pace on all my workouts for all my myles.

The best part of the run today was Jaxon riding his bike along side me. He didn't talk much but every now and again he would blurt out "nice job Dad". Hope to have him along side more often.

10 myles - track

Rock Canyon track - 6 PM

70s, cloudy, dry

mind/body - not eager

hard effort

The first one is always the hardest... In soccer we called these 4-3-2-1 and I used to love to try and kill my players with it. I didn't exactly taste my own medicine today (not trying to kill myself) I went more for a comfortable, hard pace. My goal was 5:48 pace for every set. I figured if I pushed too hard I would get less out the workout and possibly get injured. I ain't no spring chicken any more...

2.5 mile warm up and cool down. On the track it was 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 (as in laps). To hit 5:48 I just had to hit 1:27 per 400 meters. Here's how it shook out: 1:24, 2:49, 4:18, 5:45, 5:42, 4:18, 2:51, 1:22 - with 2 minutes between each.

Last (and certainly not least) - Happy Birthday to my lovely wife Nicole! She is now 38 years young. Is that rude to mention that? Nah... age is just a state of mind.

10 myles 1.17:08

Daniels Park - 6:00 AM

70s, clear, dry

mind/body - seemingly good... until I started to run

easy effort

Not sure what kind of funk I was I was in this morning but I think it was a sort of Molasses funk... I was cranking along at a whopping 7:42 pace and I was miserable. I fully intended to get some leg turnover this morning but after my first mile in 7:41 I decided to get the 'junk' myles in for the week.

I'm still contemplating going out tonight to get some 400s in at the track but it's still close to 100 degrees. Got a little inspiration from reading this guy's training blog. Even though I won't hit those kinds of numbers, it gives me some good ideas of what I should be doing over the next 4 weeks.

Alright, so I went back out tonight for another 4 myles. I chased Jaxon on his bike to paintbrush park, did a few more 30 second 5K efforts around the park, followed by a timed last mile - 5:46. OK. I feel a little better...

18 myles - 1.59:37

Chatfield loop x2 - 11 AM

70s, clear, dry, a little wind

mind/body - eager to see what I've got

hard effort

I fully intended this run to be used as a baseline or gauge of my leg speed. I wanted to know what my comfortable, sustained pace looked like. Didn't actually turn out that way...

I took my time split for each loop at the 10K mark to get a feel for how fast/slow my pace was checking out. Loop #1 I really was relaxed and felt good about my pace but then I went through the 10K in 41:30 (6:41) - I was a little disappointed. I finished the loop in 1.01:44 (6:51) feeling good so I decided to see what I had left for the second 10K split. Loop #2 I pushed the pace to get into the red. I realize I was going from mile 10 to 16 and should slow down a bit, but I wanted to be faster... 2nd 10K split was 38:47 (6:15) and it hurt! I finished the second loop in 57:53 (6:25) and I. Was. Wrecked! This is not gonna be easy... but then again that's why we do it.

All flat.