Denver Recap

3 months salary for an elite runner (with a regular job) to travel, Lance, more Lance, Brooks renews commitment to Hanson's group, Mo Farah playing catchup, Lel to run Dubai, fast field in Dubai, Mary Cain running for history, Deena Kastor to run LA Marathon, and Lukas Verzbicas's comeback!

Monday, January 14th - 6 miles.  Ran with Tim, Craig, Justin, and Amy on a modified loop for group run.  Chilly night, but got warmed up fast and had some good company while keeping an honest pace.  Ben was back in town, so awesome to see him and grab dinner with the group afterwards.  Not sure of pace, but was easy effort.

Tuesday, January 15th - 7 miles (1 up, 8 x 600, 1 down).  Procrastination is evil, and I didn't get started with this workout until almost 10 p.m.  Was moping around and watching tv on the couch, and watched the rest of the season of The Amazing Race when my competitive juices got flowing with the exciting climax of the season finale.  Told Megan I just HAD to do this workout, shot a late text out to Harry (who actually met me up for the workout), changed and left without giving myself any time to change my mind.  Quick warmup, then off we went!  Hit the repeats with a 400 meter jog in between, while trying to maintain right around 6:00 min/mile pace for the repeats.  Well, a big success as out repeats ranged from 2:12-2:16.  Happy to get this in, albeit finishing close to midnight after cooldown, but I'll take it as it didn't seem too difficult and felt very controlled.

Wednesday, January 16th - 6 miles.  I don't remember this.  I ran 6 miles, but no recollection of this run whatsoever.  

Thursday, January 17th - 6 miles (1 up, 2 x 2 mile tempo, 1 down).  Ok, big workout for me.  Crashed out hardcore last week on my tempo attempt, but got myself into the mindset to attack this workout and be strong both mentally and physically.  Goal was to hit my splits around 6:20/mile, and hopefully feel ok in the process.  Warmed up on my run to Village Circle, and nailed the workout.  Felt in great control, and worked but wasn't killing myself to hit the splits.  Had a little difficulty pacing through the second half of both reps, so something to work on there since the mile times were a bit off.  But I feel confident that I could have evened it out if I had paid attention to my watch a little more.  Splits were: 12:16 (6:05, 6:11), 12:10 (5:57 (oops), 6:13).  

Friday, January 18th - 5 miles.  Had work in Washington, MO, and got to my meeting pretty early so messaged Crystal (she grew up in this area) to direct me to a decent place to knock out a run.  Well, she told me to find Lions Lake Park, so punched in on my Google Maps app on my Iphone and found it pretty quickly.  Gorgeous but windy day to run, and the park was in a pretty hilly area.  A little lake was in the middle of a circular path, so did a couple loops to get a lay of the land - one loop was roughly 0.8 miles.  Anyways, didn't want to run circles repeatedly, so ran around the area.  Found the Washington Fairgrounds, home of the infamous Washington Town and Country Fair, and marveled at the sheer size of the fairgrounds as there were at least 5-6 separate entrances I could think of offhand.  Anyways, ran for 5 miles at an easy effort, but was murdered by some of the hills which weren't too easy on my tired legs from the workout the day before.  Love running in different areas, and this was definitely a good change of scenary for me.  ~8:35 average pace.  Off to Denver after work to visit Marc and Trisha!

Lions Lake Park

Wash Mo!

Various loops around the lake

My view while stretching out

Saturday, January 19th - 10 miles.  After getting to Denver the night before, got out for a nice trail run in the area.  Marc and Trisha formerly lived downtown, but last April moved to the Highlands Ranch area which is a beautiful suburb located roughly 20 miles south of downtown.  Very saturated in terms of population density (houses stacked right next to each other, and roughly 90,000 live here), but some beautiful neighborhoods and very clean.  And did I mention the scenary?  Anyways, took off from his neighborhood, and got onto some soft trails which looped around the city.  Altitude was already affecting us (we were about 6000 ft. above sea level, which translates to 80-82% of normal oxygen level), so kept it nice and slow while battling the very uneven terrains.  We climbed up a huge hill, and was treated to an amazing panoramic view of downtown on one side, then mountains on the other.  Continued on some hellacious climbs/descends/switchbacks, but loved every second of it because of the absolutely perfect weather (50's and sunny), great company, and ridiculous views.  Legs were pretty shredded from the hills, but got in our 10 miles.  Pace was all over the place with random walk breaks/picture taking,but were were out there for a good 2 hours or so.  Post run, drove around the area, and went to Red Rocks to see the amphitheater!  Stunning views, and Trisha and I did a quick stairs workout.  Amazed with the amount of people out and about, but I guess that's Colorado!

Starting on the trail - we climbed up that huge hill in the background which is roughly 1-2 miles away

Made it to the top of the hill - wonderful viewpoint of the city

Trail system in Highlands Ranch

Descending

Red Rocks!

Red Rocks Amphitheater! - did a quick stair workout with Trisha

At Wyncoop

Sunday, January 20th - 0!  Well, technically a 2 mile walk (if that counts), but crapped out.  Slept in, ended up running around town, then Megan and I got in a small walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the wonderful views of the mountains.  40 miles this week, 105.5 miles in January, 105.5 miles in 2013.  Two solid workouts, so I'll take it.  Starting to definitely feel more confident/fit even though it's early in the block.

Monday, January 21st - 0!  Flew back from Denver in the morning :( , then literally headed into work for the rest of the day.  Just exhausted when I got home and attempted to get some company to help push me out the door, but inevitably went to bed pretty early instead.  I think I needed the rest after a long travel day.

Tuesday, January 22nd - 7 miles (1 up, 4 x (2 x 200, 1 x 800), 1 down.  Watched in horror as snow started dumping in the area over the afternoon, but let up substantially later in the day.  Had scheduled track work, and convinced Joe to join me for at least the warmup/cooldown portion of it, but he was a great sport and did the entire workout with me.  Met at his house in Rock Hill, then headed over to Brentwood HS track which was less than a mile away.  Warmed up around the neighboring roads, then started the workout.  Snow lightly covered the track, and had some concerns over traction but it was perfectly fine.  The track was only a few lanes wide and fairly narrow.  Was aiming for low 40's on the 200's, and 2:55-3:00 for the 800's.  Anyways, the workout went very well, and felt completely in control.  Never felt like I was pushing much, but was pretty chilly out there.  Splits were: (39, 37, 2:39), (36, 36, 2:36), (36, 35, 2:34), (35, 35, 2:27).  Now you're reading this and probably saying "holy sh*t!" and rightfully so.  The track was definitely short and based on our efforts and previous workouts from Joe on this track, we estimated that the track was 8 seconds long, so my 800's were in the 2:45-2:55 range which is right where I wanted it.  Very pleased overall.

Wednesday, January 23rd - 6 miles.  Ran with Megan after work, and did her tempo workout.  1 up, 2 x 2 miles at tempo, 1 down.  Ran over to Village Circle on a cool night, then hit the workout with some good splits.  We aimed for around 9:30 miles, but far surpassed those efforts and was very pleased with her efforts.  Slow cooldown home, then some stretching.  Splits were: 9:07, 8:44, 8:49, 8:32.

Easy running tonight, then tempo later this week for my last workout.  On pace for another solid week!