July 09, 2011 – Keepin’ it Rollin’

As the first week of my Chicago / TRR training comes to a close, things appear to be on track for some solid late summer / fall races. 

This was my first official week training with Mike and it definitely beats running solo.  Not only do I find myself pushing the runs harder, it has also been less draining mentally.  Knowing that you are going through this “journey” with someone else just makes it easier…plain & simple.

We started the week with a wicked hard track workout… 3x1mile ; 3x1000m ; 3x400m.. On Tuesday, I ran from my house up the Mt Elden Single Track Trail that parallels the Road up to Sunset.. around to Brookbank and back home.. This covers about 16miles and includes about 3,000ft of climbing.  Wednesday we hit Lake Mary Road.  My legs felt like tubes of toothpaste, but I was able to run the short 6mile Tempo right at 5:30pace.  Thursday I took it pretty easy and just did a long flat trail run.. Friday we came back and ran “The Loop” around Humphreys.  This is one of my favorite runs in Flagstaff.  With weary legs we made the ~3,000ft climb / descent over the 20mile course, which tops out at 12,000ft, in around 3hrs.  Not my fastest time, but a solid run considering the previous amount of work put in.  

Definitely a solid week of work… We just have to keep it rollin’ and I believe good things will come in August & October..