Week of Apr 16 -- 22

Easter Sunday in Yuba City. Gettin' that post-AR50 blood movin' around!

Mon, April 16

PM: 5mi, 1:01 (2000'/2000') - K2
Parked by the Hwy 49 bridge to Cool and casually jogged over to k2 for a few harder efforts.  Legs felt heavy so I didn't think anything sub-12 would come about.  Ended up surprising myself with 2xk2 in 11:50, 11:47.  Stretched a bit on the final pitch for that 11:47, but a stream of fatigue and oxygen-debt was a warm welcome back after a long (too long!) hiatus. + soak in the American River.

PM: 10.3mi, 1:25 (800'/800') - WJU & Through Rocklin
10min w/u on the xc course then an hour run with the last 12min at tempo.  We headed out the service roads toward the backside of Park, ran up, down the trail side and once we got back on the service roads, Ben and I broke off and I tailed him the remainder of the run (except for the last 1/2mi where my hamstrings completely "shut off").  Hard day on the body, but very fun. + core + squats

Tue, April 17

PM: 7.5mi, ~:45 - Whitney HS Track
10min w/u + fast-feet drills, followed by 16x400 in 72-73 avg w/ 1:30 rest between each. 2mi barefoot c/d.  Other than an opening 78 to shake off yesterdays fatigue, the ensuing 15 flowed well, with almost all of them in the 72-73 range (which was the goal). 

Wed, April 18

PM: 7.75mi, 1:16 (820'/820') - Folsom Lake
Wow, talk about being tired.  Started gingerly with Sara, but I quickly faded.  The combo of the previous two days + being super hungry left me in an ungodly sluggish state.  I originally wanted to run from Cavitt to about a mile past Twin Rocks and back, but ended up turning around right at the Granite Bay Staging Area.  Threw on a few slow repeats on both sides of Mooney Ridge though on the way back.  Walked the last 1/4mi in (energy was shot).

Thur, April 19

PM: 2.5mi, :20 - Whitney HS
Easily jogged the w/u and c/d (barefoot) with the WJU athletes.  Felt much better than yesterday, but fatigue expectantly lingering.

PM: 8.25mi, 1:33 (1,550'/1,550') - WS Trail
Ran from Robie to No Hands and up to the meadow in Cool before turning around (:46).  Started getting dark at the turnaround which made the run even more enjoyable as I had to navigate by feel/sense in complete darkness (w/ no headlamp) from No Hands up to Robie.  Legs starting to come around slowly.

Fri, April 20

PM: 7mi, 1:00 (600'/600') - Folsom Lake
Cavitt, up along Mooney Ridge to Granite Bay Staging Area and back.  Didn't feel great, just kept it chill.

Sat, April 21

AM: 19.5mi, 2:30 (800'/800') - Shasta College, Redding
10min w/u, 10k = 37:14 (17:34 1st 5k, 19:40 2nd 5k).  Ouch.  Basically, held 81's through just over a mile and then my body just shut down.  Throw in 80deg temps and it was just a brutal last 4.5mi+.  Finished 3rd out of 6 runners (staying true to form of forever being a "mid-pack" track athlete).  The Jessup runners got me to smile a few times and take my mind off of this suffer-fest, but honestly, this race was not too fun.  Wasn't surprised though given how hard I ran earlier in the week and not really tapering heading in.  On the fence about running the 5k at Sac State next Saturday.  Hmmm.....I probably will end up doing it to keep my word, hopefully its not too ugly though.  I really have hardly any talent when it comes to this kind of distance running.  I would even go so far as to say I'm probably one of the least talented ultrarunners who are "elite" or somewhere in that realm of front-pack dudes.  This isn't to play pity-party (well, sort of), its just the truth.  2:52 marathon pr (AR50 split from last year), 1:21 half-marathon pr, 16:31 5k pr, you see?  I think my strengths are: ability to stay healthy (thank you God for your grace, a brain, and dumb luck at times), mentally tough/stubborn, and I'm smart (well, sometimes; definitely narcissistic too at times).  These three areas help keep me "afloat".

Tony got 2nd in the 10k (36:40?).  As a coach, I want my athletes to beat me! I didn't take it easy on him though, he was just the better runner that day.  So he and I went out for a casual cool down post-race.  We explored some local trails (or, PG & E service roads) and ended up getting outside of the city limits and lost.  :58 in, I asked a local who was burning some brush in his yard "How far away are we from Shasta College?"  He replied, "Quite a ways away!"  Hmmm....Almost an hour in, its pushing 90deg now, we have no water, we're tired from the race and by his estimation, we are 5mi's away from the college.  Thankfully he steered us in the right direction, gave us each a 12oz plastic water bottle and we headed back.  Sucked down the agua within the first few miles and simply suffered back to the college.  Man, I haven't felt like I was going to pass out in a while and dang boy, that sucked.  We "stumbled" back to the college and plopped down in the shade, thankful to return to civilization, food, and liquids!  Some days you train the body and some, you train the mind.  Chalked this day up as a mental training day.

Sunday, April 22

AM: 8.25mi, 1:15 (1,327'/1,330') - Twin Rocks
Crazy how the body comes back around once there is ample fluid to draw from.  Felt great today.  It was another hot day (85-ish), but after yesterday, it felt "cool".  Let the body dictate the effort and enjoyed spurts of tempo, cruise, and chill paces.  Very enjoyable outing.


Miles - 76.05
Time - 11hrs 06min
Vert/Desc- 7,897'/7,900'
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A good blend of quality and time on my feet.  A few good workouts, one bad race, but an overall enjoyable week.  Not sure what kind of Quad Rock shape I'll be in, but keeping my goal of just having fun on the forefront (competing, a close second). 

I really want to test myself this week (Apr 23 - 29).  Therefore, I'm just gonna throw my body a curveball in terms of upping the mileage and vert (100+, ~20k) and see where everything is at.  Of course I'm gonna try and be smart, listen to my body and hopefully not do something too stupid.  But, got in a solid 11.6mi's today with ~2k of vert and just gonna focus on volume/vert throughout the week and cap it off with a time-trial run from Foresthill to Last Chance and back Fri (~36mi's, 11k) and probably do something flatter and faster on Saturday.  Hopefully this will be a good builder/indicator heading into Quad Rock.  After QR, I'm gonna take a few weeks off and just run easy/bike a lot.  I feel that urge to take a short break before the longer stuff (Waldo 100k and RDL 100) approaches.  Above all, I'm enjoying running more so and loving this warm weather!

Tony and I really could have used a few of these in Redding last Saturday: