Week ending 6/24:
Mon: 8.0 @ 7:10
Tue: 10.2 @ 6:05 w/ 5x1 mile (90 sec. rec.) in 5:11, 5:11, 5:09, 5:07, and 5:07
Wed: 12.0 @ 6:25
Thu: 6.3 @ 8:02
Fri: 9.8 w/ 6k Uphill Challenge in 33:44 (~2,200+)
Sat: am - 8.0 @ 8:36 (1,000+), pm - 18.3 @ 12:22 (3,010+)
Sun: 2.3 @ 10:18
Total: 74.8 miles
Solid
week for me. Some quicker stuff in the beginning of the week, some
real slow stuff at the end. Tuesday's workout went great. Fastest
stuff I've done in a while, yet none of those repeats felt all out. I
would guess those would be close to 10k pace at this point. I was up in
Squaw over the weekend for Western States. Friday was the Montrail 6k
Uphill Challenge. Basically the first 3.6 miles of the Western States
course. The 8 miles on Saturday was squeezed in between crewing, while
the evening's miles were pacing my buddy from the river at Green Gate to
No Hands Bridge. Sunday's miles were to meet my buddy at Robie Point
and run in the final 1+ mile with him to the track. His goal was sub-20
and we got him in in 19:54:xx. That makes three years in a row of
pacing sub-20 hour runners (19:52, 19:48, and 19:54). One of these
years I will get into the race, but I'm perfectly content doing the
pacing gig in the meantime. Such an amazing event to be a part of.
Week ending 7/1:
Mon: 11.0 @ 8:57 (~2,200+) on trails
Tue: 10.0 @ 6:54 w/ strides
Wed: am - 10.2 @ 6:06 w/ 3x2 (2 min. rec.) in (5:17, 5:18), (5:15, 5:16), and (5:18, 5:15), pm - 4.7 @ 8:23
Thu: am - 6.7 @ 7:22, pm - 5.0 @ 7:26
Fri: 10.3 @ 6:21 w/ 8x1/2 miles (75 sec. rec.) on the road in 2:25, 2:29, 2:26, 2:25, 2:29, 2:22, 2:23, and 2:29
Sat: 17.0 @ 7:28 (~2,650+) on trails
Sun: 6.4 @ 8:03
Total: 81.3 miles
Another
solid week in the books. I'm feeling really strong and confident with
where my fitness level is at right now. Took it easy towards the
beginning after the long pacing gig over the weekend, but I am
extremely happy with the runs on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Wednesday's tempo went great. The pace felt a little difficult on the
first set, but seemed to get easier the further I got into the workout.
Friday's splits are sort of all over the place, but I'm still pretty
happy with how it went. Not sure where the 6th and 7th splits came
from, but I'll take them. In my defense, the 8th ended on an uphill.
Saturday's long run was the icing on the cake. The 17 mile loop in
basically an 8.6 mile ascent up a fire road, then 8.4 down on tight,
twisty, turny singletrack on the ridge. I've never felt stronger on
this loop than I did on Saturday. Made the ~2,000 foot ascent in 1:05,
by far the fastest I have ever done it, and never really felt like I
was pushing too hard. The descent wasn't near as fast, and I did take
one fall, but that is definitely the fastest I have ever completed the
loop. Really liking where things are going right now. I have a 5k on
Wednesday morning and see no reason why I shouldn't be running below
15:30.
