July 2013 Summary

Runs - 24
Running Days - 24
Weightlifting Days - 5
Average Miles per Running Day - 11.4
Vertical Feet Ran - 42,000
Injured - Zero!

My priorities in life are pretty simple.  Family first, career second.  Running ranks up high but will never distract me from these two items.  When training time increases/intensifies as it has over the past month, adjustments to my training schedule were made.  Adjustments to somehow find a way to run more trails and not have it interrupt family or work.

Accomplishing this was pretty easy.  To wake up damn early and run in the dark.  All of my runs except for those on Sunday started as early as 4:30am but never any later then 5:30am.  (Sunday is my sleep in day and make the family breakfast time...Bacon!!!)

I spent half my running days this month on trails.  It was a trend I started in early June, but intensified this month.  It was a huge adjustment to the body but by months end, I was feeling nicely acclimated.  Mid week runs were regulated to JeffCo parks or around the hood.  Weekends were left to some of the following:

(Ridge Run Madness - Torreys, Grey's, Edwards, McClellan, Ganley)

(26 miles of randomness with the highlight being the W Jefferson trail)

     (I felt amazing for 28 1/2 miles - highlight being the Lone Eagle Peak)

I find it odd that my right foot I strained still causes me some annoyance from time to time.  Specifically when when terrain gets technical.  Soon as the terrain smooths out a bit, it's completely fine.  It hasn't caused me any real concern thankfully.  If anything, it's a reminder that when my taper starts, I'll have to be really aggressive with icing and massaging the foot, similar to my approach prior to the SJS50.

As was my goal, hitting the weight room once a week was met.  Nothing intense and I'm hoping the lifting is helping keep on some body weight/muscle.  Lesson learned was don't do a shit load of squats and lunges and expect to run a lot of miles shortly after.  I feel like I've made this mistake a lot this year.  My Push-Up Challenge continues.  With zero push ups in the month of January, I now stand at 99.2 push ups per day Year To Date.  Damn near making up that deficit feels pretty good.  At the same time, I find it frustrating that I couldn't squeeze in an additional 170 push ups to get to an even 100.    

Shoes a half size bigger makes the N2 a pretty awesome shoe!  As for the tall boy, upon completing the Buchanan/Pawnee Pass loop, some hikers, parked next to me, had just completed the same route in 3 days. They were impressed that I ran the loop as fast as I did and didn't look beat.  They rewarded Brian and I kindly for our hard work!

(Trailrunning Beer Koozie)

Looking Forward

Heading into August last year I was toast.  Heading into August this year I am feeling the prior months effort but still feeling really good.  I've got roughly 3 more weeks of focused training and then I'm giving myself a proper taper heading into RRR100.  

In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy the high country starting at Leadville with the Annual Unofficial LT100 Night Run.  

A few weeks later I'll get the pleasure of pacing WA up and over Hope, up and over Powerline, but thankfully not around that damn lake.  LT100 weekend will be epic!  

Other then that, I'll be working way to many hours.