Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 5 miles. Combination of jogging, walking... and even just standing on the side of the road at times. This little adventure took me a solid hour and by the end I started to wonder if I might have caught something a bit more significant than a 24-hour bug.

Can't really say I've been following the soccer cup but this blurb caught my attention. Good to see FIFA making an attempt to keep their sport clean... or at least test enough to be annoying - which is the right amount.

AM - 4 miles. Ran along the Yampa River trail in Steamboat Springs. Unfortunately I crashed hard around 40 minutes into the run and had to commandeer Andrea's bike; so she ran the rest of the way back to the start. I'm still struggling with the lingering illness and energy is very low after hardly eating for 5 days. I had planned on doing A LOT of running while we're in Colorado but I think I'll save my energy to have fun doing other stuff and re-visit running when the plague has been eradicated.

Great hike beyond Fish Creek Falls in the afternoon.

AM - 4 miles. Didn't try to be a hero... turned around at two miles and made it back in one piece.

Hiked up Mt Werner and took a gondola ride back down in the afternoon.

Finally woke up feeling normal and not sick for the first time in over a week! We took advantage and hiked the "Zirkel Circle" which is north of Steamboat. It was a fantastic loop... I'll post more photos next week. Lots of snow and great views.

PM - 4 miles. Yampa River.

AM - 11 miles. Big loop around Stagecoach Reservoiir. Great trail - a wide, smooth dirt path the hugs the water.

PM - 5 miles. Along the river again.

Steamboat has a river running right through the town (and entire valley), and paired with an excellent free bus system, it's easy to see why river tubing is extremely popular here. We bought some tubes and cruised the river this afternoon. Lots of fun!

AM - 12 miles. Yampa River trail with a brief detour on Howlsen Hill trails. Followed by more river tubing.

PM - 4 miles. Evening run after getting back to SLC.

Some more photos from Steamboat Springs and the Zirkel Circle. Every trip to Colorado makes some part of me want to move back to a Colorado ski town. Or, at the very least, make more frequent trips to them!

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

For some reason I had an idea stuck in my head that Chicago was 12 weeks from July 4th weekend, and on the drive home from Steamboat we were discussing potentially shifting the timeline to a Nov/Dec target because my fitness is poor at the moment (May/June were definitely a regression) and it's going to take some time to rebuild. Then we actually counted and it turns out I have 14 weeks, which is a world of difference for me right now. I'm very motivated to get going, but I'm also essentially starting this buildup from scratch and need some more time before I start the workout cycle. Luckily I have two things going for me - I don't mind training in the heat, and I can handle jumping straight to 100 mile weeks as I start putting down a mileage base. With consistency and patience (lots of patience!), I think there is enough time to get ready for a marathon by October. I'm not going to repeat 2013's summer racing frenzy (it would be ugly, anyways). Gradual, incremental fitness progression is the primary objective for the rest of the summer... the more boring this looks, the better. I don't really need to commit to Chicago until September so I'll train for a couple months and then make the call based on how things are going.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 7 miles. 6 + 10 x 30s uphill. Moderate effort.

AM - 20 mile long run. Hilly-ish first 15 up around the U w/ Josh and Kotter, then finished on the grass at SHP. Avg ~7:10 pace.

Emma Coburn broke the US steeple record today in Glasgow after being close several times already this year - video. The last lap is really a battle!

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

Took the mountain bicycles up to Park City for a spin on the mid-mountain trail. Rode from Deer Valley to the Canyons and then looped back for a picnic at Silver Lake Lodge. About 3 hours of riding. Stopped for ice cream with a couple miles to go. The early miles of the trail are great, but we forgot how the section between the border of PCMR and the Canyons is way too rocky and somewhat unpleasant... I actually completely flipped over the front of my handlebars yet somehow didn't do any damage other than a cut on my leg. Still trying to figure out how I pulled that off.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 7 miles.

AM - 12 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 12 miles. LT Reps: 8 x 1000m (200m) in 3:14.8 avg. HHS track.

I figured 3:15/km was probably a reasonable starting point and kept the reps very tight around that mark. During the rest of July and August I'll extend the duration of these repetitions and hopefully drop the pace at the same time.

First actual workout attempt since May 31st, and first completed workout since a week before that. Wow.

PM - 4 miles.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 8 miles.

AM - 9 miles.

PM - 8 miles. 7 + 10 x 30s uphill. Good effort. Consistently made it a bit further than I've gotten the last two times I've done this, and stayed more relaxed. Re-discovered an extra gear on the last one. Hopefully there are still several more untapped gears.

You had to figure based on how she was running that it was a matter of when/where and not if Molly Huddle would take down her AR this year. Monaco was the place, 14:42 the time. A lot of fast running today, especially for the USA mid-d squad. I wonder if track would be more popular if people were actually aware of these Diamond League meets? Probably not, but it's fun to pretend.

AM - 21 mile long run. Jeremy Ranch, double out and back. Kept the effort easy, averaged ~7:20/mile. Pretty warm for most of this with a later start, but the extra sleep was well worth it.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 8 miles.

All Day - Pool lounging.

AM - 13 miles.

PM - 8 miles.

AM - 13 miles.

PM - 7 miles.

AM - 14 miles. LT Reps: 6 x 1500m (300m) in 4:48.7 avg. HHS track. Target was 4:49. Tight splits. Nice extension of last week's session - a little longer, a little faster.

PM - 7 miles.

AM - 13 miles.

PM - 7 miles.

Wildflowers are peaking...

AM - 13 miles. 6 + 16 x 200m (200m) in 34.8 avg + 3. MHS track (which isn't my favorite, the turns feel too tight).

PM - 6 miles. PC rail trail.

AM - 22 mile long run. Park City - big loop around Snyderville Basin. Averaged 6:50/mile. Felt good and ran a decent negative split despite the second half of the run being gradually uphill. This is a good loop - mix of dirt and paved paths.

A slightly more humane route than Jeremy Ranch...

These are my favorite kinds of "trails"...

AM - 6 miles with James, mostly along a dirt road (FR041) near our campsite at Trial Lake (elevation was just a hair under 10,000 feet).

PM - 6 miles.

After the long run on Saturday morning, we spent the rest of the weekend in the Uintas... hiking (including getting semi-lost and adding some bonus recovery miles for allie) and lake lounging.

AM - 13 miles.

PM - 10 miles. Rain storm started just before I headed out, which was a glorious break from all the afternoon runs in the furnace.

AM - 13 miles. LT Reps: 5 x 2000m (400m) in 6:22.2 avg. HHS track. Very tight splits. Another extension from last week - a little longer and faster. Target was 6:24.

An unseasonably humid (very relative term, this is SLC after all), rainy morning - which felt great! Lots of activity at the track - at least 20 people there before 6am running intervals.

PM - 8 miles.

AM - 14 miles.

PM - 9 miles.

AM - 10 miles. 9 + 10 x 30s uphill.

Headed to San Francisco for the next 4 days!

PM - 10 miles. Sightseeing run along the Embarcadero. Pretty cool.