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.