Monday, February 4, 2013

Week Ending Feb 3

Mon - Noon: 8 miles (2,100') easy. Horsetooth north summit (Southridge/Audra - north gap - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls).
PM: 4 miles (600') easy. Tooling around in the neighborhood for no good reason.

Tues - 7 miles intervals. We got an inch or two of snow last night, which means the usual 20 minute drive to City Park took twice as long as I found myself stuck behind some very nervous drivers. In turn that meant no warm-up, which in turn meant the first part of the workout served as a warm-up, which in turn meant that the second half of the workout served as the in-workout warm-up, which in turn meant that this wasn't much of a workout. Ostensibly, the prescribed workout was 5 x City Park mile with middle three as fartleks: 6:25, 5:38, 5:32, 5:34, 5:29. Actual workout we did in the cemetery as the roads were pretty treacherous and the cem loop had been partially plowed.
PM: 6 miles (800') easy. Milner loop.

Weds - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit (12). Up Rock Trail/north gap, down Audra/Southridge. Inch of snow on the ground and ice up in the north gap kept things moderately interesting.

Thurs - 10 miles (1,400') hill tempo. Conditions seemed pretty benign when we got going at 5:45 in the AM, but apparently that was because the wind was at our back. Once we made the turn for home, things got ugly in a hurry with a cold headwind making a mockery of our planned tempo effort. Mike complained of frozen eyeballs, another of a frozen penis, and Steph of frozen quads. I was layered up and ready for battle, so actually overheated a bit. These are the mornings that make champions. Splits: 8:05, 6:41, 7:15, 6:00, 5:18 (33:20).
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the FCTR crew at Pineridge.

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January: 345.5 miles (51,900)
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2013 Summits
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Horsetooth (7,255') (12)
Arthurs Rock (6,780') (2)
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Fri - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit. Up Southridge/Audra/north gap, down Rock. \Felt like I had springs in the pegs today: gliding.

Sat - 22 miles (2,400') easy. Horsetooth circumnavigation with Mike and Sarah. A nice casual clockwise bop around the lake: Valley trails, then all road, with a Grim Reaper climb to cap it off.

Sun - 12 miles steady. Ran down to Fossil Creek Park from home in the wee hours to mark the course and then RD the proceedings for the Fossil Creek 5k. Got a late jump leaving the house (relatively speaking, but in reality an early 5:45 start), so ended up running mid 6 pace to get there in time.

Total: 90.5 miles (11,100')

This was a good week. I feel strong and reasonably fit. I'll try and reload this week with another 90 miles or so before taking a down week in preparation for the volcano adventure in Nicaragua on Feb 16, which I am really starting to look forward to.

Dana and I did a ton of travelling to some pretty amazing places in our post-collegiate years, but it seems like forever since I've traveled somewhere spicy, exotic and somewhat unpredictable. Hopping the Atlantic with the kids is always an adventure, but one confined to predictable and controlled environments; traveling to Nicaragua feels a little more in line with my shoestring travel roots. In the spirit of my former self, I'll be heading out there completely unprepared and completely unresearched, letting the trip come to me as it unfolds. It's only a six-dayer, but hey it's a new country in an exciting part of the world - and for that I'm thankful.

1 comment:

  1. Given the (apparent) alternatives, I was happy with "just" frozen eyeballs.
    May all your travels be somewhat spicy and unpredictable!

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