Monday, June 20, 2011

June 18th, 2011 – First Week of Pre-Chicago-TRR Training

Over the past 10days, I have enjoyed some really great running.  My focus has been on getting ready for some really hard training starting in July in preparation for Chicago & TransRockies.  As such, I actually hit the track & pavement for the first time in over 6months.  It’s kinda fun to get out there every now and again.. but truthfully, I GREATLY prefer running on the trails. 

I started the week with a solid 22 Miler running from my house to the rolling Pipeline trail over to Forces of Nature trail.. then climbing Elden Lookout  trail (2,500ft over 3miles).  Once at the top, I hopped down Sunset Trail to Schultz’s Creek, which brought me around to Elden Road and back to my house.  I covered this in 2hrs 42min.

On Monday & Wednesday, were my “road” days.  I did a Track workout Monday morning before work.. and a short Tempo Run Wednesday on Pavement.  Both of the workouts went really well.. other than my legs felt a little off.  They just weren’t used to running on those surfaces.

Saturday I came back with a steady 21miler on the “famous” A1 route.  This route is on Forest Service roads.  It takes you 7miles out to the Wing Mtn Loop.  This first portion has some rolling hills, but is mainly a slight elevation gain.  Then you run the 7mile Wing Mtn Loop going clockwise.   This route starts out with fairly sharp down hills and then on to gentle uphills.  The last mile or so is pretty rough.  The road jacks-up pretty good and you have to do a bit of climbing.  Once you get around the loop, you just have to run the mainly downhill 7miles back to the finish.. a really nice run.

I ran this loop at a pretty steady pace.. avg 6:30/mile.  Nothing too fast, but considering that I ran it in the middle of the day when it was 85degrees, it was windy, and my legs felt like tubes of toothpaste before I even started… I was VERY happy with the effort.

All in all… a great first week of training.. Now I just need to get in a couple more.. and get ready to really get after it starting in July. 

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