Monday

Last week was about 54 miles (4 runs and a 3 mile hike) .

I got out on a lot of good trail that tended to go up and down.
Sunday was a 20 mile day, 2 runs. I did a 2 hour mid morning on a very rolling trail
and an easy hour run later.

I like the set-up. The later run was good at getting my legs loosened-up.

The other benefit is that I got in (what I would call legit 3 hours) at the end of January. Now that is a kind of standard for the long run though I need to build that to 4 hours this month. But more than that, I will put in a lot of ~2hr runs in the local hills where I can get 2 -3k vert. I'm not really feeling speed work right now (have no real desire to race) so I'm psyched to go long and pretty easy (if a lot of climbing is easy). Plus, I even put a little interval into the long run Sunday and my hammy (same one from months ago - mechanics!) was a little tight. I just want to get strong. And since I'm training for an ultra distance, I need aerobic development and strength more than anything.

Besides, with the trail, I'm getting a chance to turn things up here and there, so there's always a little turn-over mixed-in.

My instincts (which i trust religiously) say go nice and long.

And my calendar conscience says listen to your damn instincts!

Friday

Big blog break. Life has been a little chaotic. Some good, some not so good. The running is being tracked on Attackpoint. I make notes over there on each run.

I had a little plan designed (with help from a couple of very credible endurance folk) to get me "to the promised land," or at least in a position to think about such grandeur. Unfortunately, last week various things prevented me from getting after that with any consistency. I've had a little niggle in the left foot, ankle for a few weeks. Had it at Boney Mt. (I wore a compression sock for 2 straight days and nights and then wore it during the race.) Ridiculous. I'm not usually that hypocondriachical. But I am. The sock actually slid down. Ha ha ha.

That niggle became a strain of some kind to the outside of my calf. I've gotten it once before and have heard others talk about having that. Was pretty sick of that soreness (that I'd had for a few weeks and seemed to actually be getting a little worse).

Last week, it was my son's birthday. Of course, this is good times, but very busy. Between wanting to wake with him, a full day including a bunch of kids at a sick amusement park pizza joint (chuckie cheese on steroids), etc., I had a hard time getting after some quality work.

So, with the party and a little injury, I took a few days off. The time off was great timing wise with all the crappy food and cake laying around. Anyways, I was back at it on a little tempo that has been on the plan (though my warm-up and cool-down was too short) and things felt good. Really good. The two days off to rest the leg were money.

Then, work got nuts. I am teaching and still trying to do some side work. Well, some of that came in. It was stressful since I'm not all that experienced. One project was a real struggle, but the other one went pretty well. Regardless of the success (or lack there of), pretty stressful.

All of that hurt the running. One night I was up until 3:00am working. Uhhhhhhg.

Then, a few nights ago I stayed up until 2:00 watching tennis live in Australia. Uhhhhg.

So, not the most ideal set of circumstances.

What's been really troubling on the last few hilly trail runs (with some grossly steep hills) is the HR. Sure, the hills don't really give us a clear picture of fitness, but I have been GASSED. I mean, even some of the hiking has been a tough go. One of those days was after 4 hours of sleep and poor eating.

The bottom-line is my HR, in a very sober almost monotone voice, is saying you suck.

Today's run was the final straw. I hiked the steep hills or anytime my HR went over 150.

I ended with 2:16, 2300ft., avg. HR 148. Bravo. I am in no shape to race. I need to pop some LSD and just get lost out on the trail. Today's run gave me some great ideas for long days with lots of vertical. Even if I'm hiking those ascents, I'd rather do that than anything else.

In a later post I'll reflect on my viewing of "Touching the Void." Wow.
It got me super stoked to run the Grand Canyon and more.

Wednesday

Good morning. French press baby, and lots of it! Best part of FP (not Facebook you crazed high school reunioners) is I can drink this world class coffee anywhere. . . in my kitchen, on the South Rim before take off. . .

Easy run today. On a full stomach. . .

What's science say about running in the morning?
I'm sure there's some fine print on every training manual that reads something
to the affect of "get your ass out of bed early and run before the day does some
weird trip on your body and you just aren't very fresh, empty, rested, etc."

Tuesday

I blasted my first and "other" blog, www.matt-recoverydiscovery.blogspot.com. That was how I mounted this blogosphere; that's how it mounted me. Ahhhhhhhhg.

Before I deleted the blog, I published all of the posts onto this blog. So this is my only blog, for the most part. I would be happy to begin another project, but that's for another day, a longer run.

I think the impetus to start this here blog "yo" came from the idea that I would concentrate on food and drink over there, and running over here. I'm not that good. Sorry.

Plus, running and recovery are too closely related. I can do it all right here. As for training, sure this is for that. But the details of those work-outs will be recorded on Attackpoint, on the right.

I like it. It's easy and there's a lot of information there, several fields. It even facilitates comments from readers about the workouts, etc. I'm going to get more organized, by God.

Today was my first "quality" T/TH work-out. That's pretty much the deal with my new program. I have easy(ier) days MWF and S, but T/TH/Sun are quality and long.

Nonetheless, I will improvise some. Today was supposed to be a tempo on rolling trail or some cruise intervals much more controlled than I proposed today. Today was suffering climbs in

the heat.

Hilarious and spooky.
If you don't know who Blankfein is, look him up.

Zuckerberg to Blankfein from Paul Kedrosky on Vimeo.

Monday

The playground is alive and well on Geoff's blog.
Part of me likes the anonymous setting on blogspot so people can say whatever they want,
but obviously it invites some potentially outrageous commentary if "left alone."

I'm still kinda laughing. Wow.

Monday

The playground is alive and well on Geoff's blog.
Part of me likes the anonymous setting on blogspot so people can say whatever they want,
but obviously it invites some potentially outrageous commentary if "left alone."

I'm still kinda laughing. Wow.

Sunday

Saturday the run did not work-out. Had other stuff to deal with. Uhhg.

Sunday 14.5 miles, 2300 ft. vert. Sat in a creek afterward.

Week was 43 miles and 6200ft. of vert.

Back to work tomorrow with a full schedule.

Friday

7 miles ez on a really nice local trail. 900 ft. of vertical. I wore the HRM. Wagg Jr.'s got me thinking again about all that jazz. The run was 2 loops. First loop I went really ez and went 130 avg. 155 max. The second loop I went 151 avg. 170 max. It's very non-flat so I'm okay with the numbers. Overall avg. 142 max 170 which was brief. But shame on me. I will continue this HRM occasional monitoring. I love that trail.

Thursday

Balance

4 easy miles. I didn't even want to run today. Then on the run I was a little short of breath. And tired. Uhhg. I've been going pretty strong since Sunday, so this is fine. I put together a little plan which also makes me go Uhhg. For sure I will be making sure I have fun. I do not want to try and overdue anything. I am only doing this because I have some epic fitness responsibilities. That is the secret. As many of us know. Sign-up for some events and get prepared. This spring will hopefully spring me into a very eventful rest of the year.

But I have to get to work. Like I said earlier, the plan will make my training life a lot easier and more productive. I will be spending some time getting fit to train. This happened in 2008. I got pretty fit in the fall of that year. The time is now.

But I definitely need some balance. Family, nutrition, work, training, and recovery.

I haven't been blogging my diet, but things have been pretty clean. A lot of green shakes, salads and good chips and healthy dips. Tonight I practically killed my family. After my jog, I came home and made some homemade hummus (can of garbanzo beans, 2 big cloves of garlic - oops, lemon juice, water and braggs) and cracked an IPA. I was craving something yummy and clean with a little bite. Unfortunately, the breath took a hit. I might be sleeping on the couch tonight as both son and wife have told me, collectively, to split.

Wife then made a great salad. I helped with the chopping: cauliflower, carrots, red bell, onion, mushroom, turkey bacon, iceberg lettuce. .. .all chopped up (chop salad style). The dressing is a light mayo mix. Really good. Wife puts a little cheese on hers. This can be totally vegan; we cheated a little but not much. It's a salad my brother-in-law's mom made once (they're straight-up Dutch).

Wednesday

6 miles and 1800ft. of vertical on the Cowles Mt./Pyles Peak run. My blog's header photo is the turn-around looking back from whence I came. I love that view. Back behind me is the expansive view of the Mission Trails Park. A lot of good trail and vertical.

Pretty tough little run today. A lot of loose rock, some technical single-track and I chose to take the fire-road down. There are multiple routes to the top of Cowles. Today was solid as I took epic tough single track up and over, but decided to take the fire road down to give my ankles a break and my quads some work. Big descents (my quads) are going to be a big part of the schedule. So far so good.

The foot felt great today. We'll see how it feels tomorrow.

Monday 7.5, 800
Tuesday 6, 400
Wednesday 6, 1800

I'm calling this a lighter week, I guess. That's what the numbers say.

Tuesday

Very easy 6 miles, rolling, road and trail at Sunset cliffs. Beautiful day. Grateful.
The left foot was a little soar, so I cut the run short (which is was pretty boring anyway)
and soaked in the ocean. I am grateful for that, too. Life is good.

Time for a plan, getting focused and nailing some workouts designed for purpose.

My heart goes out to the east coast dealing with terrible weather and
Australia, which is has been dealing with mega rain and flooding for a while. Damn.
A week or so ago I heard the Australian flooding was biblical. It continues.
And it's summer down there.

Monday

7.5 miles and 800ft. on a cool rolling trail down by the velodrome. Felt good, but tired. I do have to put-down on paper a monthly plan. I already have some great ideas from knowledgeable folk, so I just have to make the plan. Just makes the running part of the day easier. Otherwise I'll end-up doing a bunch of 1:10 runs mixed-in with some bigger days. That was part of what I didn't like. And as JW said, focus on what I liked, not what I didn't like. In other words, make more things I like.

One work-out that I did not get to though I mentioned wanting to get ONE of them done (that's still not enough - "ONE") was the Caveman hill workout. That kind of work will I hope make the legs feel better on the climbs. And give the lungs a little more where-with-all on that kind of stuff.

I gotta say, the fact that my body feels awesome right now and that I finished the race surging make me feel good. My quads have no residual affect. That is a good sign given I will need very very worthy quads come April.

For the record, last week was 45 miles. That number is pretty typical for the last few weeks. Time to expand the kingdom.

Sunday

Actually, it's Monday and I will run today. It's a beautiful day and I feel great.

Yesterday was Sunday. I ran the Boney Mountain 21k put on by Xterra. I did it in 2008, my first trail run ever. I posted a 2:09, loved it, was hooked on the trail/mountain type of running. Loved it. No perspective on that time, was smashed afterwards, but, again, love was in the mountain air.

Yesterday was a different story. Let's make this easy. What I did not like and what I liked.

I did not like my time: 2:14. I was slower than my first trail race ever, when I was fresh off the turnip truck. I ran the race blind then. Pretty disappointing.

I did not like my preparation for this. I have not been training at all. I have been staying active, running regularly, but mostly that running has been aerobic because my allergies dictate that kind or running and aerobic running is a big part of "the program." In the last week and a half, I had a little tweak on the foot and the allergies were "there" so I was just trying to get to the line. And I got there feeling good. No foot issue, feeling pretty good on the breathing front (which is nice going into an anaerobic mountain running event). So, I got there, but I wasn't necessarily geeked on the training front. I took 2 days off the last week because of foot and allergies (but I was "tapering" so that's okay - sarcasm). I just wasn't FLYING into the event. I did not like the training.

I did not like the night before. I slept about a two hours. My wife told me she would've bailed on the race. She slept the same way. We stayed at friends in L.A. Just a bad night. Which I do not count-on. I don't put that much stock into sleep. Usually you're itching to race, so sleep is iffy anyways. The only reason I say this is because. . .

I did not like the way the race started. I was out of breath early-on. I kinda paced (led) Paul and me through the crowded single-track early-on. And that first climb (see profile) pretty much drilled me. I was not climbing very well. I did not climb much coming in, but I didn't think I would struggle that much. I was kinda gassed by mile 4 or 5.

I did not like mile 4 or 5 through mile 7-8. I was questioning my ability to run. Were my allergies that arrived last year at this time going to limit my running life? Am I done? It's been a strange year. Sure I have always had allergies, but not the kind that I deal with now EVERY SINGLE DAY. The doctor say that can happen. The body is weird. Getting older is unpredictable. Obviously. But the difficulty I was having climbing and training was starting to weigh on my mind at this point in the race. Pretty dark. Bummed. But I kept on.

I liked mile 8-9 to the finish. I found my legs. I started to climb. I started to reel guys in. I reached the top (mile 10) and started to feel good (it's about time). I descended well. I continued to chase guys down. At mile 11.5 there is a little half mile climb. Guys were walking, gasping. I ran by them. The last rolling section was 7:20s on the watch. I ran hard to the finish.

I like how I feel right now. No pain in the body. My breathing feels great. I can't wait to run today. This is a great sign.

So, a lot I didn't like. But in the end, I was smiling and running hard. Sure I was slow. I felt old, fat and struggling. But I finished feeling a lot better.

Maybe it takes me a little longer to find my breathing and my legs. I will be running 43-45 miles with a friend this spring, which is what all of this is building towards. Yesterday was a training run, a long run. Memo to self: my long runs need to get longer. Time to step things up. I may be better suited for longer efforts.

Finding my goods at mile 9 is a bad scene for a half marathon. Finding my run by mile 9 of a marathon (trail) or 50k is probably a different story. A better story, I would like to think.

Back to the first 7-8 miles. My legs were tired. I was tired. Was that a sign of the bad night of sleep? Maybe. Maybe getting older I need better prep including a solid night of sleep. But I was tired at first. And my legs. Because of my gimpy ankle/foot, I wore my compression socks for a couple of days straight. Sure I showered, but I kept wearing them. And it worked, I think. My left foot/ankle feels good. But was I cutting-off my circulation? Pretty nuts. I was looking for answers.

So, the first "race" in about a year and a half (I raced once in 2010 so I have not been lining-up, at all really). Cob-webs are kaput. I'm ready to get back at it and "earn my beers."

In other words, I found the only answer I was really looking for: Keep running!

More Right Wing Hysterics

Sarah Palin, in case anyone forgot what an idiot she made of herself a few years ago in front of an idiot nation, continues to charm her radical right constituency.

You've heard the news. One of the congresswomen on Palin's Hit List above (which she has apparently taken down from her website) was shot. Early reports are she and some of her staff are dead, but I'm also hearing she's in surgery. This happened a couple of hours ago.

But it's crazy. There is not much difference between the far right of this country and the far right of, say, Islam other than the disciples adhere to a different God? Sure an extreme Muslim doesn't want America to thrive, but they are equal in their extremism to support a very narrow view of their own fucked-up world.

Why don't Palin and the rest of her posse please go play in the traffic.

Friday

I'm a big fan of Bill Simmons who writes and podcasts for ESPN.
I saw this article; it might get one thinking about rivalries, of all kinds. Who doesn't like a good rivalry? My dad went to USC, so I grew-up going to USC football games. I watched live Marcus Allen's first game. He was slipping all over the field. We remember it clearly. He replaced Charles White, another Heisman trophy winner. Joey Browner, Clay Matthews, Ronnie Lott, Anthony Munoz, Dennis Smith. . .these were the guys we saw wearing the Cardinal and Gold, among several I haven't named who would go on to dominate in the NFL and go onto to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

So I grew-up watching an epic rivalry of USC v. Notre Dame. Or USC v. UCLA.
I appreciated Oklahoma v. Nebraska, Michigan v. Ohio State.

Basketball has had Lakers v. Celtics (2 versions), North Carolina v. Duke, etc.

I have been a big tennis fan. I grew-up loving Bjorn Borg v. Mcenroe. Conners v. Mcenroe, some of the big matches between Lendl, Edberg, Becker, Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nadal, etc.

I loved the Cowboys v. the Steelers. Raiders v. Chargers, Raiders v. Steelers.

Rivalries are cool. There are any number of rivalries that get people going for various reasons.

When I was reading the article linked above, there is a link to a Boomer/Marino moment. While watching that, I saw this video, of Marino farting? WTF. Actually, pretty funny, if that's exactly what he's doing. Looks like it.

Off to the gym.

6 miles. My left foot/lower calf is obviously tight. Every once in a while, felt like my achilles was going to snap (not that I know what that feels like). Took it nice and easy. Feel pretty damn good other than that left foot thing (last few days: ankle / today: lower calf/achilles). I think it's time to run with my hair on fire.

Thanks to JW for the recipe. This was killer!

Thursday

No running. Nada. Zippo. I brought my wife lunch and we hung-out and ate and laughed. Then I went home and chilled. Then I picked-up my son from school, came home, made dinner and here I am, looking forward to bed.

Last night I slept 11 hours.

Yesterday the 4 miles I ran on another wet trail were the end of that rope. I am done. I will go to the gym tomorrow, do some weird gym stuff for about an hour and a half. Saturday, a very light run. Sunday, go nuts.

My ankle is a little tender and my allergies a little alive. I will be rested and as healthy as I want to be for the bone I want to pick with Boney Mountain.

Part of dinner.

Kale, apple, cucumber, orange, carrot, celery, red bell, rice milk, apple juice.


Stone IPA.

Wednesday

Darrell Issa, the California Republican is what's wrong with conservatism.

Alcohol and exercise.

An interesting discussion is going-on regarding Facebook, public or private? I have NEVER been a fan of Facebook. To me, the differences between Facebook and Twitter or the blog are pretty significant. The pros are looking at what would happen, what Zuckerberg would have to address, if the company went public. This is in light of the fact that the company continues to get huge funding from various others. Recently, Goldman Sachs gave FB $50 million. This has raised a lot of concern.

What if FB is just a fad, that people will finally burn-out, or wonder what in the hell is going-on behind the closed doors of this private business?

4 banging miles today on a wet trail before a lunch date. The ankle felt a little lame as did the allergies. But I had lunch with my Dad afterwards. So I have that going for me. . .

And later in the day I stumbled into some Dorado on draft (which I think is the only form available). Dope.

Tuesday

I got the "long" rolling run done, per my game-plan mentioned on Sunday (hill work-out Monday, ~14 mile run Tuesday). I got them both done. Today was actually just over 13 miles and 1200ft of climbing. In terms of the quality of the run, it was terrible. But I got it done. The rolling trail I wanted to run was swamped. I did not want to stop at every dip and gingerly tip-toe around standing water. So, most of the run was on road and grass. Really, it was bad. Beat me up a little (not used to that kind of run), BUT I got it done. Allergies were giving me hell, as well. Wahhhhh!

So, the rest of the week will consist of 5-8 mile runs, a little climbing, a little leg turn-over. Just keep things loose and light.

I think the other part of the sluggishness of today's half marathon was yesterday's run.
Probably my biggest 2-day total in a looooong time, the week of the race. Ha!
I have 4 days until the gun goes off. I should be just fine.

Oh and my ankle feels better. After the 13 mile road run. Ha! Last night I took some advil, kept the foot elevated some, and wore my compression socks. Nothing fancy. Just keeping an eye on it and doing what I can.

Monday

I got my first work-out out of the way. Everything went according to plan. The only footnote (literally) is a little discomfort in the left ankle/foot, which I turned on the grass on Saturday. I turn my ankle 2-3 times on a quasi technical trail run and never have lingering effects. On grass?

But that's the way it goes and I am all good and ready to go. Feet-up, cold beer and veggies tonight, big sleep and 14-15 rolling miles tomorrow.

Today was ~9 miles on the treadmill. I warmed-up and cooled down a couple miles each; the "main set" was ~5 miles and 1500 ft vert (in treadmillese). Bottomline, hitting ~3 miles of 7% to 9% grade is a beast! No TV, no music. Just sweat and a little suffering. What's really cool about this kind of work is bringing the mill back to 3-4% and spinning-out the legs like it's flat.

Which is phat, yo.

Discourse

This is a comment on a post GZ deleted. No record of it now, but I want to save my comments for the hell of it. He was responding to a post by Geoff Roes. Roes is wondering if the U.S. can host a mountain running event with all the spirit typical of some of the big races in Europe.

Hi, George! Nice crack at me in your intro (re: credibility). Sorry, that's what I do for a living, how I see people, especially in that context: discourse.

The previous posters are on the money.
I should've copied and pasted Tim's response. The most prominent version of American ideology (big business/financial wealth) is especially troubling, which is what I was ranting about with you and Mt.runner, Happytrails, etc. I just think that drive to grow, expand, use, use, use . . . and accelerate the dismantling (footfeathers) of our world's cultures is gross. That was my point.

As for the mountain running culture and how Americans' laziness contributes to our inability to embrace such an approach to lifestyle. . . I guess. But it would be a little more specific than "lazy."

I think mountain running is even more sub-culture than soccer and we don't have the stomach/attention span/history for that. It's not our "culture," a broad term for sure, but that's what it boils down to. Are these values debatable? Is their culture better than ours? Who the hell knows.

I wouldn't say it's necessarily accurate to say this is a spectator culture (U.S) vs. a participatory culture (Euro). We all love to watch sports. They love to watch their sports, too.

However, the TV does play a major role in our culture. I do think the sports bar is pretty indicative of the role of TV in our culture and the sports we're interested in. Those sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WWE, UFC) have a lot of production involved. I've read some critics' ideas of the role "visual fascination" plays in television, and how this affects "cultural reinforcement" (see: robert scholes). These are made for TV sports, events. There's music, fireworks, post-production, editing, directing. I think TV is a big factor.

Of course, TV is what keeps the consumerism machine turning as well via advertising which is more than a Raisin Bran commercial. What shows do your kids watch (do MOST kids watch)? what types of stories do news shows cover?

So, yes, in a round about way, I've pinned much of the difference in culture on TV.

Can trail/mountain running become more mainstream and usurp some of our already loaded viewing schedule? Doubtful. It's too pure (for now), too grass roots. Not enough money in it (for now) for big business to make a production out of it and televise it.

And I know Roes' question is can a town get behind those kinds of events here in the U.S.? I think, again, we don't really rally like that for a footrace, with great beers and wines in hand, waving flags, etc. It's just not who we are.

Having said that, some of the big ironman events do have a lot of glimmer. I don't think it's a coincidence that Kona has become more and more of a TV oriented event.

In conclusion, we are a television-oriented culture, which affects the sports we follow. Europe much less so. Mountain running has a longer history and therefore more natural place in some of the European cultures. They have UTMB/Sierre Zinal, etc. We have the Super Bowl.
They have le Tour (only more recently TV usable), we have UFC 123.

Sunday

I was psyched to get in that solid 14 miler today with a brutal hill interval session at the end.
It didn't happen. Two reasons: I woke-up a little too late; I have been sleeping great lately, getting to bed early and just snoozing. No real complaints, but that was the flaw in today's program. Getting it down early would have been very convenient. Because of that whiff, the second reason materialized and this I have no problem with. My kid goes back to school tomorrow and my wife goes back to work (I have another week or so off). So we hung-out, did errands, hung-out, chilled, did a little shopping. . . I mean, it was a chick flick, and I enjoyed it very much.

Ran 5 miles early evening, after I read my kid a bed-time story (been doing that since he was about 9 months old, which is why he's the best reader in his class and has much less to do with the fact that I teach English). The 5 miles were just to get the blood flowing and thin the mucus. Has to be done.

So, I figure tomorrow will be a solid hill work-out, probably at the gym since rain is expected and I don't want to mess around with any "obstacles." The race next Sunday has a very solid southern Cali mountain from about mile 7 to mile 10. Then it's a big descent to the finish. So tomorrow, warm-up on the mill and then do 3 miles with perhaps accelerated grade in the 5 to 7 percent range? No too sure. I will go on feel and just try to get in a good effort at that kind of grade. I'm going to say 8 miles or so, depending on how I feel. At least 8.

Then Tuesday I will do 14-15 rolling miles, pretty steady. Not sure where I'll do this, rain is making the trails muddy, but there are options. If I can get these two work-outs done, I should feel really good Tuesday night. I have been running pretty consistently over the last few months, but I want to nail a consistent climb and a longer run early in the week to really push the confidence. I can at least control that. Allergies? Fitness? I'm not sure. I have not been tested.

The rest of the week will be just some solid runs that feel good, travel up to LA Saturday, stay with friends, and throw-down on Sunday. Just looking forward to an "event" and running a great trail more than anything. Have no expectations. But I do have more events planned in the next few months, so this is a great opportunity to get the blood flowing on the "racing" end of things. I'm just psyched. That's all. I did this race back in 2008, my first trail run ever. Absolutely beautiful course. Hopefully the weather cooperates and the trail is in good shape.

As for my mileage the last couple of weeks, I think it's gone: 43, 47 and this week is 34 miles. Skiing mid-week interrupted the running, but I certainly wasn't sitting around eating potato chips. The slopes beat-up my quads a little and some 22oz curls at the little mountain-side grill were solid (no pictures, but all they had were Arrogant Bastard, Stone Pale, and Stella bombs. And some Gatorade. I was in heaven, rocking-out to AC/DC, swilling grog and getting ready to slide over to the lift for some more descending). So, a solid week.

Now, here's to getting this next week off to a big start the next couple of days so I can cruise to the start line confident and healthy and ready to go.

Saturday

A very mellow day, actually pretty Hop Stoopid. Last night's festivities were very mellow, so I guess that carried-over. The run yesterday was big for me, so I wasn't expecting much, but a flat 10 miles would have been great. I waited until the end of the day, and got caught by the sun's descent (building Legos with my kid is rad) and only got-in 6 miles. They were on grass, and I pushed it. Not my favorite run. But got the work done.

Because of my little goal of 10 a day Fri - Sun, tomorrow is 14. Off to Penasquitos Canyon for some rolling trail and a little Caveman work (scroll down to "As for whipping the running into shape. . .") at the end to polish a solid week and work-out.

Happy New Year.