Week.ly Summary: Apr 2 - Apr 8

4/2 - Off.

4/3 - 7.00 miles.  :57:47.  Stagecoach.  PM.  Down to Elk Run Trail on the south shore of the lake.  Up tempo running on the rolling, gravel trail. 

4/4 - 5.01 miles.  :47:14.  Howelsen Hill.  PM.  Short but hard effort run on the quickly-drying trails on Howelsen.  I got reminded how steep trails can get especially compared to the flat roads I've been running this winter. 

4/5 - 5.67 miles.  :57:11.  Stagecoach.  PM.  Easy out and back on trails and dirt roads around Stagecoach.  Then did another mile of slow running in Vibram Five Fingers. 

4/6 - Rest. 

4/7 - 18.33 miles.  3:00:05.  Stagecoach.  AM.  Long lollipop loop run around the lake from the house.   Fueled my run with ClifBloks and gels, taking one gel every hour and Bloks every half an hour, roughly.   One 22 oz. bottle of water, one 18 oz. bottle of Gatorade.  Cold morning had me starting out with a vest over my long sleeve shirt but I warmed up enough to take off the vest, my beanie and gloves by the time I hit the lake (4 miles).  The run around the lake was primarily on nice, wide dirt trail, with a couple miles of dirt road and I took an even, comfortable, cruising pace.  Felt strong right up to the end.  I'm looking forward to getting 31 miles in the desert next weekend. 

4/8 - 5.74 miles.  1:13:19.  Spring Creek Trail.  PM.  Early afternoon trail run with Benihana.Great run for me and the dog, I had great tacky footing and he got to wade in the creek several times, which is pretty important if you're a Husky.  Easy running on the warm up and cool down miles with only about 1.5 miles of uptempo running in the middle.  Beautiful spring day.  A little barefoot running in the grass afterwards.


Weekly Total:  41.75 miles

Another solid week.  I'm stoked to be:  healthy, getting quality miles, plenty of rest, eating well, in love and generally, very happy.   I'm really looking forward to heading to Fruita next Friday, not just to go running in the desert but also to just be around other runners and attend my first Desert RATS Trail Running Festival.  I guess the race is also known as the Spring Desert Ultra or Fruita 50, if you're doing the big boys' run.  Even though I'm only doing the 25 mile race but technically running an ultra that day (with my 6 bonus training miles), I guess I can call the race by that name, too.    And even though it is just a training run for me, it's exciting to have the trail running season underway.  Next weekend, local trails will also be opening up and, thanks in no small part to our dry winter, be very runnable, at least up to 8,500'.   That gives me a full 4 months of running on trails in preparation for RRR.  I can't help but think that in that time I might be able to get into good enough shape to run in the front of the Tortoise pack and finish around 24 hours.  For my first 100-miler, I really shouldn't be thinking about that,  I should just focus on finishing.