Monday, Jan. 17: An off day since I left the house at 4am, flew to Seattle, drove to Puyallup, picked up my doberman from the dog show, drove to Seattle, and flew home...Whewwwww....a long 22 hour day, but Traysen is home for good now.
Tuesday, Jan. 18: With Monday being very exhausting, I took the day off! Wow...two days off in a row...happens to even the most hardheaded amongst us!
Wednesday, Jan. 19: An early start to the day with two running partners. The first was the doberman, Traysen. He can run forever and never gets tired, winded, or slow on the up hills. The second was Dee Cooper, founder of our Colorado Springs Women's Running Group. She and I met at the north parking lot in Garden of the Gods at 6am, still dark and about 25 degrees. Perfect!! To say the least, she kicked my butt on the uphill start and she didn't let up until we were almost the end of her 5 miles! The training was good as it forced me get the pace going early verses my usual slog of a first mile....or two! After dumping about half of the wardrobe, Traysen and I took off for another 3 miles on the trails. A good outing for him on trails where we saw a few "squirrels" with antlers and weighing about 200 pounds. Total run was 8 miles in about 1:35...
Thursday: Jan. 20: A bit of snow yesterday afternoon with a clearing overnight, dropped the temps to negative numbers. At -10 degrees, it would have been easy to blow the run off and curl up with four warm dogs, but that's not me! So, after a weight lifting session of legs and P90X abs, it was a few more layers of clothes and out the door at 645am. A much slower start than yesterday's adventure but the bones started working within the first two miles and it was a beautiful adventure of 8 miles. Around my house there are nothing but hills...no flats to speak of....so I get hill training every day of running; however, the difference about today's run was that I was able to sprint seven of those hills....which left me gasping for oxygen near the top of each one. The distances range from about 1 minute to about 4 minutes and it was a good effort at gauging the pace for each hill so that I could make it to the top. Total run time was 1:34.
Friday; Jan. 21: Up n at'em early this morning! A good start with a weight lifting session of biceps, triceps, and abs. It's always an extra challenge trying to abs with two dogs crawling all over the stomach, especially the 85 pound doberman! Out the door with said dog and a basic 7 miler, with the last mile being very sluggish. It always amazes me that Traysen the doberman can smell deer long before we see them. Today we had two very nice bucks napping along our route. Being used to humans, they just gave us the "deer in the headlights" stare as we passed.
Saturday; Jan. 22: Today was another adventure back in Garden of the Gods. An early start, just before sunrise,limited the run to 31st street for about 1.5 miles, but as the light grew, I was pounding trails with a vengence. There is nothing more breathtaking than sunrise in Garden of the Gods. The sun slowly coming up from the east hits the rocks with a golden to orange glow and on this run, the diversion was nice since the winds were howling...and it was about 30 degrees! The run of 13 miles was excellent, with plenty of pep in the step, even on the uphills, and no tumbles on the trail! One highlight of the run was towards the end when I was at the northern edge of the park. It is known that there are big horn sheep in this section, but of all the years I have run there, they have remained hidden. As I was descending a steep section, I looked up on a high ridge and there were three of them...one ram and two ewes!
Below is a view of Garden of the Gods as taken facing west; Pikes Peak in the background. A link to the park:
http://www.gardenofgods.com/home/index.cfm?flash=1
Sunday; Jan. 22: Being lazy girl today by sleeping in to 6am! And that was after going to bed at 7pm! Must have needed the rest. Speaking of rest: I take a nap every day....even while working. With the volume of miles covered, a nap seems to be necessary each day and is such a relazing treat; even a 20 minute power will revive the energy levels and I can press on with a productive day.
Today's run consisted of a 9 miler at a steady but slower pace, finishing in 1:52. The late start of 7am still yielded cold temps of about 15 degrees but it was a quick warmup and I was soon leaving the wardrobe roadside. Even after the 13 miler of yesterday, today was a nice, easy effort with no issues with hills or energy levels.
Summary: A good week after all...Total running miles was 45.0, which brings the yearly total to 156.0. A few running friends from the CS Women's Group are planning on running in the Cheyenne Mtn State Park 25k/50K. With the running going well and with dog showing put on an indefinite hold, this could be a worthy goal for a spring race. A few of the attractions of this race is that it is limited to 300 runners, is in my backyard and requires no travel/hotels and the 50K would be a perfect distance to get my behind back in a race.
http://www.active.com/running/colorado-springs-co/cheyenne-mountain-25k-and-50k-trail-race-2011
One question that has come up before is how many races I do throughout the year. Well, not that many ...most years, my racing is usually limited to two or three key events. These events are typically low key in nature, trail races and longer than a marathon. It is the training/daily running that is most enjoyed verses gearing myself up for an assortment of races. It is in the daily training that I find inspiration and peace while I find racing sometimes more stressful than beneficial. On the other side of the coin, completing a racing distance is very satisifying, especially when the effort has gone well. The completion is also affirmation that the training is paying off in terms of miles covered and that my body is capable of new/longer distances.
So, given that I can run the Cheyenne 50K in April, what will be next? One of my favorite races is Le Grizz 50 miler in Kalispell, MT. The event is very rustic, traveling along Hungry Horse Resevior and literally has a shot gun start. It all starts on an early October morning when most runners (less than 100) climb aboard an old school bus and ride the 50 miles out to the start. Packet pick up is in the back of the race director's old truck, there are no porta potties and when that gun goes off, away we go. Aid stations are few and far between (although well stocked). Last year, I had to miss the event due to a hamstring injury, so this race is definitely on the list for the year. One other off the chart event is the Ring the Peak Run in July. An informal adventure that amounts to more or less bushwacking your way around Pikes Peak for a total of about 64 miles, this is not necessairly a "race" but an outing amongst psycho runners who have nothing better to do than to wander through the woods on a summer day...sounds like my kind of fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment