June 22-28

June 22
3-mile dog jog on CR 210

June 23
2 x (5 x 100) w/ 45 seconds rest between reps and 4 minutes between sets. Average of 15.5 on first set and 15.7 on second set. Range 14.4-->16.5. 2.5-mile cooldown. 4 miles total.

June 24
5.5 miles on CR 220 in 41:51

June 25
6 miles subtempo near Mears Junction in 41:24. 7:24 average the first three miles uphill, 6:24 miles average downhill on the way back.

June 26
Busy day w/ work and life. 1.1 miles in 10 minutes on the treadmill. Baby duty cut things short.

June 27
2 x (3 x 300) on the track. 2 minutes between reps and 5 minutes between sets. 53.5, 53.4, 52.4; 53.6, 53.6, 53.4.

This was hands-on-knees hard on the last two intervals. 3 miles total.

June 28
7.4 miles in 74 minutes on Old Monarch Pass, the ski mountain, and the Continental Divide Trail. First time getting up to 12k ft. this year. Avg HR 134. 

Little man turned four months old yesterday.

June 15-21

June 15
3.4 miles easy w/ Tanner or CR 210

June 16
Track workout. Plyos, then flying 30s, then 4 x 300 on four minutes rest. Fastest 40 in 3.94.

Was hoping to get all four 300s under 51. Ha! 0 for 4. 51.4, 51.2, 53.5, 54.4.

This is the type of workout where I suck right now. Which is weird to me, because as best as I can recall, this kind of workout, hard repeats on full rest, is where I excelled in high school/college, when I was most competitive. Either that stuff doesn’t age well, or it’s a skill that takes a while to recover after neglecting it for 22 years. 

For now, sub 2:15 is totally unrealistic for me. I'm starting to think I need to shoot for sub 2:20 800 first, then sub-5 mile, then sub 2:15, in that order. Getting to all three of those is going to take a while, if it is to happen at all.

Finished with a two-mile subtempo effort. 4.1 miles total.

June 17
5.2 miles on CR 250 in 44 minutes HR sub 145

June 18
10 miles in 81 minutes, Mears Junction direction of Marshall Pass. Another one of my favorites. 1500 ft. gain, turnaround above O’Haver Lake. Always the perfect temperature in summer, it seems.

June 19
3-mile dog jog on CR 210

June 20
2 x (5 x 200) w/ 55 seconds rest between reps and 5 minutes between sets. Average of 34.6 on the first set and 35.1 on the second set. Finished with two miles 7:15 pace. 4.5 miles.

June 21
8 miles in 66 minutes on Old Monarch Pass.

June 8-14, Taking the High Road

June 8, 2020
3.45 miles w/ Tanner on CR 220

June 9, 2020
Woke up to snow and 50 mph winds, so no track workout today. Ran five miles on the saddle ridge loop in 38:03

June 10
200, 200, 400, 200 / 4 x 200. 2:30 between reps, 8 minutes between sets

33.9, 33.4, 68.4 SB, 34.7 / (didn’t start my watch, but probably sub 34), 33.5, 33.3, 33.2

Not terrible. I was going to try to do a second 400, but the first 400 wiped me out. Decided to stick with the 200s instead. First sub-70 400 this year, I believe. More than a mile of running at goal 800 pace. Busy with work, so no warmup or cooldown. 3.5 miles total.

June 11
8.15 miles in 78 minutes up to Windy Ridge via Pass Creek road. 7700-9400 ft. That’s a serious hill. Some of the best views of the southern Sawatch on that ridge. Wasn't even windy up there today.

June 12, 2020
3.9 miles easy on CR 220 in 31:51 HR sub 140.

June 13
4 x (4 x 300) at near-goal mile pace. 1 minute between reps; four minutes between sets. Range of 55.8 to 58.5, average 57.1. That’s an average of slightly under 5:05 mile pace for 4800 meters worth of work. Good workout. Faded slightly on the last set but hung in there. 5 miles total.

June 14
8.9 miles on Old Monarch Pass in 77:40. I love this road. It’s the most runnable dirt road that I know of that’s entirely above 10,000 ft, peaking at nearly 11,500 ft. Even on weekends in summer, almost no car traffic.

June 1-7: A long way to go

June 1
2.5 miles easy w/ Tanner on CR 210. Cut this one short because a storm was blowing through. Got back to the car just before it started lashing down rain.

June 2
Track workout. Plyos, then 3 x flying 30s (no time, 3.97, 3.91) followed by 4 x 200 on 3:30 rest. 30.5, 31.1, 31.2, 32.2. Not my best speed endurance workout of the year, but this one was solid for me and maybe my best since the little man came to town. Wanted to average under 32 and the average was 31.25. If I could run an 800 2.5 seconds slower per 200, I’d be thrilled.

4.85-mile cooldown in 39:10 by the river for 6.64 miles total.

June 3
5 miles HR <145 on Saddle Ridge loop in 38:41. Warm, windy, my legs felt sluggish.

June 4, 2020
8.18 miles on CR 240 up toward Ptarmigan peak. 9100 ft.-10,500 ft. This road is rocky most of the way, which slowed things down.

June 5, 2020
3.45 miles on CR 210 w/ Tanner

June 6
Track workout. Was hoping to do 4 x 800 in sub-2:40 on 3 minutes rest. Did 2:40, 2:40, 2:43 and then called it quits. Probably should have just toughed out one last interval, but my heart wasn’t in it. My HR wasn’t super elevated; I just felt sluggish and unmotivated. There was some wind and rain, but I’m not sure that was the problem. Chalk this up more to mental fatigue than physical fatigue. 2.35 total.

June 7
9.03 in 80:27 on 225/Fooses Creek between 8600 and 10100 feet. Beautiful day on a beautiful trail.

My conclusion from this Saturday’s track workout? I’m nowhere near fit enough to a run a sub-5 at 7000 feet yet. My fitness is probably closer to 5:15 right now.

Fortunately, I have no races on the agenda and nothing but time to get fit. I've had a few workouts in a row where I couldn't make expected splits. I just have to stay patient and keep putting in the work.