All it takes is all you've got

10 miles easy around Countryside

2 miles warm up, stretching, 7X25 second strides, 7 more miles.  Total ave pace was 7:37

Today was a morning of smells.  Lots of people doing their laundry.  Fresh clean clothes smell entered my nostrils many times.  Someone cooking bacon.  Sometimes I think smelling bacon cooking is more yummy than eating bacon.  And there are no gut side-effects.  Running past the middle-schoolers walking to school I got a wiff of various cologne and perfume smells.  And then in the final mile I smelled bus breaks burning up.  That school bus must have just gotten new breaks or something because it was fragrant.

Now I'm off to the gym to lift weights and do some core work. 

Met with my running group at Tom Watson Park in Boulder.  Ran on the trails and dirt roads around Boulder Reservoir.  Windy for the first part of the workout, then the winds died off. 

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

4X90 seconds at 5k effort with 60 second jog in between.  My pace for the intervals was 6:01 (headwind), 5:58 (headwind), 5:28 (still headwind but downhill), 5:36 (headwind but downhill).

2 minutes easy

4X45 second hill surges with jog back down.  Pace was between 5:28-5:40 on the surges.

2 minutes easy

4X3 minutes steady on flat roads (wind died down thank goodness).  My pace got progressively faster.  Average pace for each interval was 5:56, 5:42, 5:38, 5:22 (last one downhill).

2 minutes easy

4X30 second surges uphill.  Didn't get splits on these but they were probaby 5:25-5:30 pace.

10 mintue cooldown.  Total was 10.21 miles at 7:41 average pace.

I felt pretty strong today and stayed with Damon and Coach DeReuck on the intervals.  Simon likes to talk trash and he backed it up today by beating everyone on the 3 minute intervals.  I learned that Simon is a former 4-time world champ Triathlete.  He is in his late-30s now and retired from racing but can still execute a tough workout.  He coaches the 4-5 triathletes that come to our group.

Now THAT was an awesome run.  Aaron and I planned to do our run together for the first time in a LONG time.  Excepting a few races over the years, we haven't done a training run together since before Abe came around, so about 6 years.  Our friend who I swap kids with had our kids this morning so we took off to Eldorado canyon to run the trails together.  We ended up having 6 inches of snow and 15 degree weather, but it didn't seem to affect us much (other than slowing the pace a little).  Aaron of course wore his Vibram Five Fingers and was a little concerned at first about his feet getting too cold, but after a couple of miles he reported that his feet were warmed up and the snow was not bothering them at all, so we journeyed onward.  The trail had a few challenging sections where there were larger rocks hidden under the snow and we both took our fair share of spills but for the most part it was a pretty clear trail and the snow only made it feel softer.  I twisted my ankle a number of times but Aaron didn't seem to have the same problem with his barefoot shoes.  I guess his feet just slipped off the rocks and didn't jolt his ankle around as much as me in my comparatively clunky Nike's. After about 8 miles, the trail dropped us off onto the Eldorado Canyon road and the remaining 5+ miles were on the road.  The final mile and a half was a long uphill and it felt good to crest the hill and finish an epic run.  I LOVED having Aaron as good company (singing through the woods at times in our own private wilderness).  That guy just makes everything more fun (or as he would say, funner.)    :)

Totals:

Elevation change: 1,461 ft.

Distance: 13.41 miles

Pace: 9:36 (best mile was 7:31, slowest was 12:16 (straight up a mountain in the snow).  

Here we are after the run.

And here's a shot of Aaron's toasty warm feet.

A.M. 6 miles around Countryside in the zero degree, but sunny weather.  Standley Lake looked awesome, like a misty oasis. The combination of a super cold temp with bright, warm sun caused a ton of steam to rise up.  Later in my run I noticed more steamy/foggy air.  Someone was blowing the water out of the sprinklers at the Golf Course.  Isn't it a little late for that?  I was surprised water was actually coming out of those frozen pipes.

P.M. 4 miles around the indoor track at the gym in my VFFs.  Form felt good, legs felt good.  Got a little tiny blood blister in my arch and about 9 strange looks from people.

Lifted weights and did core for 30 minutes. 

10 miles on the TM at the gym in 7:43 ave pace.  I actually didn't mind the TM this morning because I felt really smooth and it was easy on my legs.  I prefer that to slip sliding around on black ice at a much more cautious pace while risking a fall that may break my wrist.  The sun is out and the temp is forecasted to go into the 30s today so hopefully the sidewalks will clear off more before tomorrow.

We have a babysitter tonight so we can go to the Temple.  Tomorrow after I run with my group in Boulder we're having lunch with friends.  In the evening we're going to see the Denver Zoo Christmas lights with other friends, so fun weekend ahead! 

Met Running Republic at Palo Parkway

20 min. warm-up on snow-packed trail, stretching, strides

20 min. tempo at 5:57 pace

4 min. easy

6 min. tempo at 6:00 pace

2 min. easy

6 min. tempo at 6:19 pace (back on snow-pack) for the second half.

20 min. cooldown

Felt pretty good.  Tired on the last one.  

Stopped by CU on my way back home to say hi to Carolyn and her friend Michelle as they finished their 5K race.  Parked and jogged to the field house to see if I could find them and they found me instead.  I guess I was kind-a hard to miss in my bright pink Running Republic jacket.  Carolyn yelled my name from behind and we chatted for a bit.  They both ran PRs and had an enjoyable time.  We walked back to our cars together and parted ways.  So just a quick 20 minute chat but its always nice to see a fellow FRB-er.  Congrats on your PR, Carolyn!