Mt Sanitas Quadruple Times the Fun

Most of my runs over the past 3 plus weeks have been tiring. Not tiring in the sense that my legs were tired from a running workload. Rather tiring in the sense that I could use a few more hours of sleep each day. Seriously, yawning during a few of my runs has far exceeded the number of snot rockets I fire out. Parenthood and its impact on running at it's best.

Last weekend I got a window to sneak out for a long run on the trails. Mt Falcon V1 to be precise. While I loved being out there, there were sections of the trails that were so icy that even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would have been pleased.

A few days ago I read JPs post on the dry trails that existed on Mt. Sanitas. The thought of dry conditions made me giddy and I penciled in this hill for some running fun this morning.

Like normal, I was awake early but ready to go back to sleep. After ensuring the wife and daughter were good, I was off and at the trail head by 8am. The goal was simple. To just run as much as possible at an easy pace and work on hydration and fuel. Honestly could have cared less about times.

(Laps 1 & 3 to the left. Laps 2 & 4 to the right.)

It has been almost a year since I ran these trails and just minutes into the run I'm quickly reminded on how much of a beating I was about to take. The first two laps were uneventful. Slow and easy and completed rather painlessly. From here I ran to my car and reloaded up on a new water bottle and a few more gels.

The 3rd climb up the south ridge actually went well. Running more portions then I had on my initial climb and topping out around 23 minutes. It was the downhill in which I actually felt it. Quads were slowly getting fatigued and I held back on a 7:30 pace down the valley just to save something for lap 4.

I was not looking forward to lap 4 but got into it right away. Running the whole valley up and finally breaking into a power hike as the switch backs begin. Before long I was tapping the stripper pole at the summit for the forth time and heading back down the relentless steeps of the south ridge. Lap 4 actually went a lot smoother then I thought it would. Lap 5? I would have tried had there been more time but it would have taken me forever.

A cool down mile of running and I was D-O-N-E. Yeah I'm going to feel this one tomorrow.

Mileage: 13+ miles
Vert: Shade over 5K of quad mashing feet
Time: 3hrs 3 mins. First two laps about 8 minutes faster then the last two laps.

February 2011 Summary

Runs - 26
W/Os - 5
Injured (not arm related)- 0

The Bad: This is an easy one. My busted up left wing. With regards to running, the fracture limited me over a 10 day period. I easily lost out on 75 miles of running during this period.

Don't let the total number of runs this month fool you. 6 of those runs were ran with Bisbee shortly after the break. Rarely did the miles exceed 1.5 miles much less dip below a 9 minute pace.

The Good: Well actually the amazing. Birth of my daughter. Almost 2 weeks in and I'm loving every second of being a parent. Even at 4 in the morning, rocking the little one back to sleep, I feel like the luckiest guy around.

Even with a few disruptions in training, I got a pretty productive training month in. My Jan & Feb totals this year doubled what I got last year same time frame. Again, amazing what a non injured (leg specific) body can turn out. Doesn't hurt to have a pretty strong base of mileage built in as well.

My gym sessions were only impacted slightly by the fractured arm. I was aiming to take a brake prior to the birth of lil AEY and therefore only lost out on 1 maybe 2 trips to the gym to throw some weights around.

Looking Forward: Understanding that there is a difference between being lazy and being tired. Sleeping only 3 hours over the night and not getting in a long run starting at 7am the next morning doesn't make me lazy.

As the arm gets better and the days get longer and warmer, my desire to get after it is going to be extremely high. My ability to balance family, work and running will be tested and I'm looking forward to seeing how March plays out.

Signed up for Run Rabbit Run. Only 6 plus months away!!!

(Guard Dog, not a shag carpet)