Week in Review (January 18 - January 24)

Tuesday (8,316 steps) - Got up early to do a Peloton ride and a quick row before going into the office for work. Went for a quick walk during lunch. Had to do another ride when I got home since I had 90 minutes of cardio on schedule for the day.

Wednesday (15,194 steps) - Work in the office. It had rained overnight and all morning so it was incredibly icy on all the roads. I had been planning on going to Boulder for run club, but that ended up getting canceled because of conditions. I had 1300' of vert on schedule, so I told Ben I was going to do repeats of the Standley Lake hill. 

I know it doesn't look like much, but it's about 80' of gain in 1/8 of a mile

Since I would be starting after dark I couldn't park in the lot since they close the gates at sunset. I parked a few blocks away and thought I was going to die because of how slick the sidewalk was. The lot was also incredibly slick. I figured the trails would be better. No. I have never been on such icy dirt! I did one repeat that was incredibly scary and texted Ben and asked him to bring me my spikes. I did one more repeat while I was waiting for him to get there. Once I had the spikes on it was MUCH better. It was cold and there was sideways snow, but I've been in worse. 

To get the vert I needed, I had to do a LOT of repeats.

I am still not good at running up hills, especially this one! But I did run up the whole hill on my last repeat, so that one was of course my fastest. I felt pretty accomplished after this one!

Thursday (17,847 steps) - Work from home! It was still so icy that Ariel had a two hour delay for school. People were sliding all over the place. I was not looking forward to walking Pika at lunch, but thankfully, it warmed up enough that there were not many sketchy sections. I also had a 5/10/5 tempo run on schedule, and unlike the last time I had this planned, I opted to NOT run uphill in hopes that I'd have some energy left for the 5 part, plus the additional 20 minutes that I still had to do.

This actually went really well! I reset my watch and did a different route home that I hoped wouldn't suck as much, and it didn't. Overall, I felt pretty good about this one. Met Ben at Torchy's for a beer and to pick up tacos for dinner.

Friday (9,989 steps) - Wash Park walk with the gang! Got coffee after and then went into the office for work. Remember nothing about the day. Ben and I watched a few episodes of the new season of Ozark and Batman was being adorable like usual. 

Saturday (33,973 steps) - I had a long run on schedule, but I didn't get up early for it. I would regret this. I had created a route up in Boulder that combined a lot of areas I normally run, but not necessarily all at once. By the time I got to the lot it was full and I had to drive around a few times to get a spot. It had already warmed up a decent amount and I overdressed. First, I got bit by an off-leash dog minutes into my run. Boulder has a Voice and Sight program that allows dogs to be off-leash, but this one should NOT have been. The lady was like "Oh my god I'm so sorry" and just kept walking. WTF? Then, I was already sweating, so I had to take my jacket off. Great, now I'll have an overloaded pack for three hours. But it was a beautiful day.

I had brought my spikes, and there were definitely areas in the shade where I could have used them, but I didn't want to take the time to put them on, plus there wasn't really anywhere to sit so I could anyway. I just used extra caution, especially since we didn't have any tape for my ankle :(

A lot of the trail was fairly runnable, so I ran what I could. 

I had added in the Bear/Skunk/Mesa loop that we do on Wednesdays and intentionally picked Bear to run down because it's not technical. Of course that is the one section where I stepped wrong and mildly rolled my ankle. Once I got towards the bottom it was INSANELY muddy. Had I been here a few hours earlier it would not have been as bad. Then it was icy going up Skunk, but pretty!

By the time I got through the Mesa back to the connector I was DEFINITELY getting tired. I had hoped that most of the technical stuff was out of the way.

Still runnable in the trees since there wasn't enough sun for it to get muddy.

I had a loop to do down Shanahan South Fork that was INSANELY slick. I couldn't believe how sketchy this part was! Probably the section I was regretting not having traction the most. I sent Ben a message to let him know how much was left and settle in for the last few miles. I thought they would be flattish, but it was a SLOG uphill in a ton of mud. At least this part is doubletrack "road" and not single track. It was a mess. 

When I finished I headed over to Bluegrass where I met Ben for a beer and a snack.

Sunday (13,857 steps) - Another morning to sleep in! Ariel actually agreed to go with me and Pika back to Boulder for a hike/jog. Pika loves it up there!

Thankfully, it was not nearly as bad as it had been the day before. Very little mud and not as icy.

Another gorgeous day! There were a ton of people trying to get into the lot when we were leaving and I had a guy ask me "do you really have a student driver" when walking to the car. WTF, who cares and why would it matter? (Yes, obviously do have a student driver, and yes, I have a magnet on my car. Not that it matters, people are NOT patient with her). Stopped at the store for a few things and then did my Peloton ride when I got home. Liked the David Bowie collection! As soon as I finished I changed clothes and then met up with Ben at New Terrain. They were SO CROWDED. We had one beer and then talked Tyler into meeting us at Luki.

Monday (16,605 steps) - Work from home! I had a tempo run on schedule that I was DREADING. It was supposed to be relatively nice, but I still wasn't looking forward to it. Finally headed out and picked a route I like that just has a few road crossings. The warm up went fine. And so did the first 18 minutes of the 20 minutes at tempo I was supposed to do. Then everything just kind of locked up. My legs felt like lead and my feet were both numb. I had to walk so much here just to get things moving again. Felt like such a disappointment. The last part of the run once everything stopped hurting was not bad. Ugh. Took Pika for a walk. THEN, I still had a low impact Peloton ride to do. I hope all this biking gives me stronger legs or something, haha.

Stats:

• 115,781 steps
• 30.72 miles run
• 180 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength

Week in Review (January 11 - January 17)

Tuesday (10,527 steps) - Work in the office. Longer walk at lunch because the weather was nice. 

After work I rowed (for the first time in like 7 months), then did a Peloton ride.

Wednesday (25,969 steps) - Decided to get up early to get my run out of the way. First real workout with the new coach. I had two different runs to do, the first was a short warm up, then tempo, then cool down. The warm up and tempo went ok, but I had completely depleted my legs and I had to walk a large amount of the "recovery" which probably should have been more running. Then I had some run/walk intervals that were much better. While I don't like getting up that early to run, I do like being done with it before I even go to work.

Short walk at lunch. After work I drove up to Louisville for a community run/event at the Runners Roost for the community after the Marshall Fire. Since I had already run, I walked with a few of the reps that were there. It was a nice evening!

Headed home before it got too late and made dinner. Ben had a long day and had to get his run in after work since he overslept, so he was still running just before 10 pm!

Thursday (20,439 steps) - Work from home. For my run I decided to go to North Table. I had originally just planned on a small loop, but when I realized that Rim Rock was open I decided to check it out. All in all the run was ok, but it was a lot muddier than I like to run in - except the top which was snow-packed and/or icy.

Took Pika for a walk, and after work I did the 40 minute video that my coach recommended. I honestly didn't care for it, so I don't do it again. I think I'll stick with building stacks on Peloton - they really are a good workout!

Friday (10,980 steps) - Wash Park with the gang! The weather was much nicer than I expected after driving there and seeing how windy it was. 

Turns out, that was the nicest part of the day as the snow rolled in around lunch. By the time I got off work and was driving home, however, everything seemed to be melted and the only remnant of the snow was blowing off people's roofs. I picked Ariel up from practice and then had to pick Ben up from  work since his truck is in emergent need of brakes. We stopped for a quick beer at Odyssey on the way home. Loved that their Christmas tree was still up!

Saturday (35,568 steps)  - Up really early so I could drive Ariel to the airport. We had found a really cheap flight for her so she could visit her Granny and cousins NOT over Christmas. I had decided to drop in with Runners Edge since the weather was so cold and gross. The group is soooo much smaller than it used to be. I was not at all amused that it was A LOT colder than the forecast said - about 10 degrees. Ugh. I ran for a bit with Sheila, but my lack of consistent running was evident and I ran most of the day by myself. 

Originally I had planned on doing two of the 8 mile loops, but after realizing how icy and NOT FUN the conditions were, I decided to turn around after 7 so I wouldn't be tempted to not go back out.

Shortly after turning around, I noticed a small farm and took a short video of the goats and kept going. Then I heard them bleating behind me - they had escaped out of their yard and were following me up the street. I stopped filming help corral them out of the road. Luckily the owner was outside and he was able to squish them together and pick them up. Oh my lord they were SO INCREDIBLY  CUTE.

On the way out there had definitely been some areas where the route markings were not very clear. Alex had marked it the day before and thanks to the snow and overnight freeze, some of them were not visible. I figured it would be easy to figure out going back... turns out I was wrong. I missed a turn and by the time I realized that things didn't look familiar I was pretty far off course. I pulled up Sheila's strava and created a route so I could figure out where I was and how to get back on track. Genius thinking on my part, and I'm glad I pay for the premium membership!

My run that I thought was going to be about 14 miles ended up being nearly 15.5. Ooops. I had finally started to warm up a bit but left all my layers on. Got back to the start and was surprised to see Sheila and a few others still there. I got a smoothie before heading home. SO MUCH DRIVING TODAY. Took a shower, then Ben and I went to the new(ish) Mexican restaurant up the street. I've decided cheese enchiladas are the best food after a long run! Ben's truck was finally ready to pick up around 5, and then we headed to Kokopelli for the anniversary party and met up with Kristin and Doug. It was NUTSO busy.

Scary sight to see - very hungry animals!

Ben made burgers for dinner.

Sunday (12,293 steps) - Tried to sleep in. Failed. Did my Peloton ride before driving up to El Dorado to do a hike/jog with Pika. Had to wait a bit to get a parking spot - I think because the weather was nice, but also because so many of the trailheads are closed right now, either because of the fire or because of mud. The mud was only bad on the trail closest to the parking lot and a bit up near the top, otherwise I think it had dried out pretty well. 

Pika was still a little sluggish - but not nearly as bad as last weekend.

We met Ben at Resolute for a beer. Normally we aren't too crazy about their beers, but they had a few new ones on tap that were pretty good.

We had Pho for dinner and watched the newest Resident Evil movie. It was actually pretty good!

Monday (17,274 steps) - Another failed attempt at sleeping in. 

Pika REALLY wanted to be let outside to chase that bunny

I had 45 minutes of strength training on deck, so I created a stack of three videos - lower body/upper body/core. I had never done any of these particular ones and they were all REALLY good. Ended with a nice stretch after. Solid!

After a quick lunch we took Pika for a walk. The lake is still REALLY muddy. Ugh, I hate this time of year.

We took down the Christmas tree (yes, finally), ran some errands, and then went to Odyssey for a quick beer. We had plans to meet up with Phil at New Terrain for a run at North Table for the full moon. I still had "sorta" speed work on schedule, so I started early and did my run on the flat canal trail. I managed to hit some paces in the mid 7's!! I hate running fast, but I like feeling fast, haha.

Moon was super cool looking, but of course photos don't do it justice

It was still nice outside, so we sat on the patio at one of the fire pits and had a beer. Went home and had dinner and then had to leave around 9 to pick Ariel up at the airport. Thankfully, her flight landed early, but we still didn't get home until after 11. I'm too old for this.

Stats:

• 133,050 steps
• 34.26 miles run
• 65 minutes of cardio
• 102 minutes of strength training

Week in Review (January 4 - January 10)

Tuesday (18,557 steps) - I had asked Steph to modify my workouts for the week since we were supposed to have a severe cold front come through later in the week. I decided to just get my run out of the way before work since I needed to get A from practice. It was warmer than I expected! I ran out on the road and then decided to jump on the trails for a bit after using the bathroom. That didn't last long and I'm glad I tested them out first. The trails were chunky and traction wasn't bad, but I also didn't want to roll an ankle, so back on the sidewalk I went. Pretty morning!

Work in the office. I figured I would double check on the gym situation. Sadness. :(

Wednesday (9,337 steps) - Another early morning. I had actual strength training on schedule, in addition to over an hour of biking. I got my strength training done before work - a core video and lower body*. (*I'm going to be feeling that later). Work in the office. The impending snow storm seemed to be having a slow start. Snow was supposed to arrive around 2, and I kept checking every 15 minutes or so. Ben told me things were getting "bad" although I didn't notice it until after 4. I left work a little early in hopes of avoiding nasty traffic. It was slow-going, but not that bad. Did 70 minutes of Peloton before dinner. LONG DAY.

Thursday (9,097 steps) - Work from home and a rest day, thanks to moving my schedule around. It was FREAKING COLD out, I don't think we got above about 12 degrees the whole day. Took Pika for a walk at lunch, and really nothing else.

Friday (19,546 steps) - I really really don't like having to run on Fridays, but I sucked it up since I had a wonky schedule this week. I was supposed to be running an hour "as fast as I could maintain." I was really shocked at how icy the park was - it's normally really clear, but it wasn't great. I couldn't believe no other runners had lights - it was the only way I could see the black ice. As per the norm, I wasn't really able to get into a great groove and walked more than I would have liked. Really hope I can get back to more consistent running - can I really do that while training for long stuff though? Hmmm.

Went to Stella's with the gang before going into the office. It was a really slow day since Joyce was out. Met up with Ben (late) at Torchy's for a drink and to pick up dinner.

Saturday (33,458 steps) - A was going tubing and snowshoeing with her Girl Scout troop, so I was up pretty early to see her off. After she left, I headed down to Waterton Canyon for my 15 mile long run. I haven't run that far since... October? I was optimistic, but thankfully within 5 minutes I knew it was not going to be my day. My calves were incredibly tight and I felt very out of breath right off the bat.

I was worried I had overdressed when I opted to forego a long sleeve and vest for my Zip & Zoom hoodie. It always gets windy enough in the canyon that I was fine in what I had chosen. (I did see a girl wearing just shorts, a bra and compression socks. Her legs were definitely wind-burned!

The road was actually in great condition. Very few icy and muddy spots, I couldn't believe it. I knew that I had to go at least a mile past the dam to get round trip of 15 miles. Once I got to the single track it was a completely different story. Lots of snow!

The best part of my day was running in this section back towards the main road. I naively thought that my legs would feel better with the gradual downhill, but I was wrong. This was overall a pretty sucky run. At least I saw sheep on the way down!

I got back to my car and saw this email:

I've been trying to get into Vermont 100 for YEARS (seriously, I've been first on the waitlist for TWO YEARS) and to get this email was pretty exciting, although maybe not after the worst long run I've had in ages. I called Ben to see if he wanted to meet up for a beer.

We hadn't been to Over Yonder for a while, and they had a few new beers, so that was exciting.

Sunday (18,060 steps) - Had an "easy" day of 6-8 miles of power hiking on schedule. I didn't want to get up too early, but also wanted to get out early enough that the trails wouldn't warm up and be a muddy mess. I decided to take Pika with me since it was mostly hiking. I figured I would be warm enough in a pullover and vest, and it turned out to be the perfect outfit choice.

I had worn my Kahtool EXO spikes, thinking the trails (at least the ones up top) would be pretty icy. It was a weird mix of conditions. Some of the trail was completely dry, and then we would have sections that were crunchy snow or ice. Thankfully, no real mud.

Steph had wanted me to aim for a 16:30 pace, but between Pika dawdling and the crappy conditions, we didn't get anywhere close to that. Pika loves going to Boulder because she can be off leash since she has a sight/sound tag.

SO ICY!

I planned to easy jog the way down so we wouldn't be out forever. I should have taken my spikes off sooner, because between them, the rocks, the high stack of Hokas and the mostly dry conditions, I was asking for a rolled ankle - which I got. Still had about 2.5 miles to go. Ugh. I took off the spikes and walked a bit to loosen it out and then jogged most of the way down. I realized after getting to the car that I had forgotten a towel to clean a VERY muddy Pika off. Ugh. Met Ben at Westminster Brewing for a beer.

Monday (8,914 steps) - Work from home. A rest (or optional bike) day. Just took Pika for a walk, opted to skip the bike since... I am switching coaches. I love Steph (I really do), but I think I have outgrown what she can do for me, and with what I have on schedule for the year I really need someone who can give me better workouts/feedback and be overall more responsive. Spent quite a bit of time working with him to get on track with a new and "improved" training plan - starting tomorrow! Excited to be working with him as he has also done a few 200s and is signed up to run Cocodona as well. Lots of hard work ahead of me, that's for sure.

Stats:

• 116,969 steps
• 32.58 miles run
• 70 minutes of cardio
• 35 minutes of strength training