Week Log: May 12-18

Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:10) Garden of the Gods+barefoot
The first hour my body was readjusting from being sick, but then it turned into a pleasant run.
PM: 9 miles (1:20) Williams Canyon out and back w/ Jocelyn
Nice, easy, pleasant run on one of my favorite trails. Jocelyn was tired from her blazing 17:22 5K this weekend.

Tue-AM: 25 miles (3:05) 666-Buckhorn+barefoot
666 Hill Tempo in 34:10 (didn't go quite tempo effort), then, 15x1min hard/1min easy back through Bear Creek (Matt C Special)
Solid workout; good to go fast again for the first time in a while.
PM: 5 miles (:40) North Monument

Wed-AM: 25 miles (3:15) 666-Buckhorn+barefoot
Wow, pretty worked today. Had to go slow. Happy to be done. Wore the new 790s and they were great.
PM: 5 miles (:43) King Soopers and back to drop off movie

Thu-AM: 27 miles (3:30) 666-Buckhorn-Capn Jacks+barefoot
Felt way better than yesterday, but still not quite completely on it. Sickness is still just barely lingering. It doesn't help that every run this week it's been raining/snowing at higher elevations.
PM: 5 miles (:41) North Monument+barefoot

Fri-AM: 10 miles (1:30) King Soopers and back plus Monument Loops and barefoot
Went nice and easy; not too tired.

Sat-AM: 52 miles (6:30) 666-Jones Park-Frosty's Park-up Baldy Road then down to Old Stage-Gold Camp-Buckhorn+barefoot
Really good run. I know it seems really fast, but after climbing to 11,200' on Mt. Baldy I turned around and had a 19 mile downhill on gravel roads to 7600' that I ran in 2:03 (6:20s pace), so when you're running that fast for that long the miles stack up pretty quickly. I felt very good on the 5000' climb, rocked the long downhill (it's really hard not to), climbed another 1000' over the Buckhorn ridge, and then cruised it home. An added bonus was that the first really warm day (temps in the 80s) gave me some good heat training. Despite being turned around at 11k' because of snow, it seems like the warm weather will make quick work of any remaining snow in the high country. The new 790s performed beautifully on this run.

Sun-AM: 34 miles (4:33) 666-Lake Moraine Road and back+barefoot
Another good run. It took me an hour or so to really get warmed up and feeling good after yesterday's run, but I actually felt OK on the 4000' climb to Lake Moraine (actually a reservoir) at 10,500'. I'm so excited the snow is disappearing! I turned around and ran back down the hill at a very solid clip all the way back home. Don't think I ate enough for dinner the night before so I was really starving for a lot of this run and had to take a couple of gels. More good heat training in the upper 80s.

Total: 213 miles (27:57)

A great kick-off week to the real meat of my WS preparation. I felt sort of off all week coming back from whatever virus I had, but then I was clearly over it by time the weekend rolled around. Tuesday was a nice transitional workout with the hill tempo/fartlek, but I hope to maybe get in a more conventional, flat, get-down speed-type workout next week. Also, I'm super psyched about getting on the WS course next weekend. Not sure if the high country portion will be accessible, but I plan to see at least everything from Robinson Flat to the finish line and hopefully will get in another 50ish miler (Robinson to the River?).  Hopefully I can get an idea about what type of splits might be possible, plus some real heat training.