Winding Down

The running challenge is winding down and for me, it's probably just as well. I started out strong with a minor hiccup on day 15. And then......the holidays. I got my run in the day I was supposed to fly out, but didn't end up flying out. Then I got my run in on the 24th and that's the last time I've run. Instead, I made an executive decision to visit a friend in Aspen and ski. I spent two days on my teles and one day on my new alpine skis. With the temps in Aspen in single digits (and sometimes the single digit was below zero), I opted for hanging with my friend. Besides, I was still getting a pretty good workout all of the days.

After two days on my teles (one at Keystone and one at Aspen Mtn/Ajax), my legs needed a rest and Pdoo (Ryan Pardue) and I decided to head to Aspen Highlands. One of the draws at the Highlands is the bowls, and in particular, Highlands Bowl. However, to ski Highlands Bowl you have to hike about 45 minutes (in your ski gear with your skis on your back). If you blow up the picture below you can kind of see people hiking all the way up to the very top behind the sign.

A couple spots were kind of sketchy and my fear of heights didn't help, but all in all, it wasn't that bad. The views at the top were definitely worth it.

The Maroon Bells are right behind me with Pyramid Peak over my right shoulder. Once we got to the top we enjoyed the views, talked to some people and then, of course, skied down. The snow was pretty good as it was some of the best I've skied so far in this short season. I'm also pretty sure that the hike up was a good substitute for the run I missed that day.

The only downside of the trip, and the reason I haven't been hitting the pavement since, is that I picked up a nasty cold along the way. I spent two days on the couch waiting for my head to fall off. Today I'm finally starting to feel better, but still pretty run down. I don't know if it's because of the cold draining my energy or from not having worked out in a few days, but I can feel the laziness in my legs. If I wake up feeling good tomorrow I'll try and hit the gym to get in the last few days. Nonetheless, it got me more miles than I would have done and will help set me up for some real training starting in January.

One More Down

Fairly easy day at work which was nice. Still getting up to speed there and leaving some things out that should go in to reviews, but that will come. Had lunch with friends so no run over lunch. Got home at 5:30 and didn't want to go out for the run. Not really tired but not really motivated either. Mainly just hungry. Debated for 5 minutes and just went and grabbed my gear so I could head out. 25 minutes isn't too bad anyway so there's no excuses. Got in 3.14 miles at an 8:10/mile pace - nice and easy the whole time. The only downside to this challenge is that I haven't logged all my runs. I've gotten all but one in but haven't always had time to log them so I don't know my current cumulative total. I've got 50 logged, but am guessing it's somewhere closer to 65 or 70. Anyway, now it's time to eat!

Running Around

That's what it's felt like since I've been back from Dallas. Lots of running and running around. First, with the run "challenge" I broke my streak. On Tuesday I went out for happy hour with Brant and some others. One drink led to another.....then another......then another. And when I got home around 10 I wasn't quite up for a quick jog. I've still been going strong though and getting things in, and probably moreso than I would have without the challenge which is really the point anyway. Today's run was particularly good. Not sure how it would go down after being on tired legs. I went up to A-Basin for some skiing on my teles yesterday with Brant, Mindy, and Matty. It was pretty cold in the morning but a blue sky day otherwise and the snow loosened up nicely. Then they opened up some more terrain after lunch and we had about a foot of fresh snow to play in. My legs were getting pretty trashed at that point so we did about 3 or 4 runs and called it. Still plenty of ski days left for the year.

Got my run in yesterday when I got home and it was easy enough that it was a non-issue, but I have noticed my calves are starting to get tight lately. So today I ran some errands and then went out for the daily run. Forty-five minutes later I felt pretty damn good, surprisingly. It's always nice when I can run outside in December in shorts so maybe that's what helped me. Still, when I went out I felt like I was plodding along but every time I looked at my pace I was moving faster than expected. All said and done, I went at a 7:41 pace. Pretty solid.

I'm Back

Back from Dallas, that is. Went there for a week for work training. In general, I've decided it's the mumble capital of the world. Hotel staff, people at restaurants, you name it.....mumbles. Still managed to get all my runs in, including one night that was after we went out for Mexican immediately after work. That run wasn't fun, but fortunately it was short. Made it back and was glad to see my own bed. And the dogs. As usual, they were sleeping in the car within 3 minutes of having picked them up. Christmas party was last night. Good times but didn't get to bed unitl 4 and woke up at 7:30. Ouch. It'll be a long day of napping but sneaking in my run at some point. And then starting to eat better to make up for last week!

Weekend Update

It's not an original title. In fact, it probably won't be the last time I use it or steal it from Saturday Night Live. The running challenge started on 12/1 and I've stayed with it. My pace is a little slower than I was expecting but that's not too surprising and I'm sure it will start to come down fairly quickly. I don't have goals for where I want it to be since outside of being consistent at this time of year, there's not a lot more I can do. Right now I have about 19 miles in for the month. Most of that has been outside but I do have a couple treadmill runs in there too, like the one today. It snowed last night and the sidewalks were all covered so I hit up the gym and followed up the run with some core work, lunges and a couple other things.

This week will be a little more challenging to get all of my runs in since I'm heading to Dallas for work. I'm pretty sure there's a fitness facility with a treadmill at the hotel, but I haven't checked to be certain. And since I'm already at my suitcase's limit, any additional running gear isn't coming with.

Since I'm flying to Dallas early (7:25 a.m. flight) I had to get up this morning and get the dogs to the daycare/kennel where they're spending the week. All it takes is for me to grab their beds and they immediately get excited and start running around the house like wild idiots. Actually, Whiskey catches on first and I think Tacoma just copies his excitement but the end product is the same. Two super excited dogs. So we loaded up and headed out. I had them dropped off and got back home to an empty and quiet house. On one hand it's nice that I can pick up, pack, etc. without tripping over them every five seconds, but I'm definitely not used to it. Suuuuuuuppper quiet.

In cyclocross news, my season is now officially finished. I had registered for the State Championships on Saturday, but when I woke up I was feeling pretty run down, had a headache and some congestion in my chest. I tried talking myself into going but ultimately decided against it since I didn't want to stress out my body by racing in the cold and ending up being sick while I'm away for work. I'm a little bummed about missing it, especially since I heard it was a pretty cool course and a good time, but I think it was the right move. Beyond that I was starting to feel a little crispy week in and week out. My cycling fitness is at the point where going hard like that for 45 minutes at a time is just an exercise in futility. I'm not bouncing back from it quickly and it's all just a good sign to return to some general base work for the off season. It was a fun season though, and I know that in a month or so I'll already be looking forward to the next one.

Day One

Day one. Of December? Yes. Of a new job? Also yes. And it turns out it's also day one of the running challenge. While today was technically the first day of my new job, I still spent most of it transitioning from my previous one and tying up loose ends. Not a big deal and that's what most of this week will be before heading to Dallas next week for an on-boarding process. After that the learning curve will continue to be steep but I'll have a much better idea of how things work.

Day one of the running challenge wasn't very eventful but I did get out to run. Turns out there's a cold front moving in and I was a little underdressed but it was a quick run of 3.14 miles in 26:30. I took it particularly slow to be sure I stayed in zone 2 (aerobic) the whole time rather than training in the gray area when I don't have the fitnees or need to do so right now. Looks like another 20 minutes is on tap for tomorrow. It also looks like we could get some snow tonight. I'll still get it done outside though.