Training: July 9 - 15

Mon, July 9
PM: 2.12mi *speed-walk*, :30 (1,122') - Treadmill @ 10%
Fairly easy, just wanted to loosen up the legs.

Late PM: 7.8+mi's, 1:08 (800') - Lower Quarry w/ Sara
Really easy run to regenerate the legs.

Tue, July 10
PM: 10mi's, 1:20 (200') - Through Rocklin
Easy effort - Midas - Clover Valley - down Whitney - Springview Park + 3mi's barefoot + 6xdiagonals + ice bath.

Wed, July 11
Late PM: 10.6mi's, 1:56 (2,160') - Auburn Canyons w/ Sara
Run went: Overlook to K2 and back. Tough run as I felt lethargic and tired throughout. Sucked it up on K2 and with dead legs, managed an 11:59 split.  Was worked though from that effort and just slogged it out the rest of the way back and barely beat-out the darkness.

Thur, July 12
PM: 7mi's, 1:00 - Treadmill
Wanted to avoid the heat and rest up for a long run tomorrow.  Nice and easy.

Fri, July 13
AM: 1.75mi's, :20 (446') - Cardiac
The Plan was top of Cardiac (on Maidu St) to Rattlesnake and back.  A few min's down Cardiac and a nagging blister resurfaced.  Remembered I had some extra socks in my truck so I ran back up.  By this time (:20), I was already dripping sweat and just mentally out of it trying to wrap my mind around whether or not I had enough fluids to make the out/back trip.  Figured if I was this vulnerable mentally and wasn't super-excited to be out here, I needed to rest.

PM: 7mi's, 1:00 - Treadmill
Couldn't force myself to endure the heat so I wimped out and stuck to a flat, easy run on the t-mill.

Sat, July 14
OFF - Sara reaffirmed that with how hard I've been pushing myself lately, some time off might do me some good and help me recharge.  My wife is amazing:)

PM: Groomsman at my friend Tim's wedding.

Sun, July 15
OFF (again?) - Tough not to run today, but after playing tug-o-war with my pride, I let go of the rope and had peace about resting my body some more.  I then remembered that post-Lake Sonoma 50, Joe - with clenched fists - had to take some time off, but then rebounded incredibly and threw together an impressive training block leading up to Western States.  A good reminder that rest is a form of training and can sometimes be more beneficial than, say, a run and/or workout. 

Weekly Totals - 46.35mi's, 7hrs14min (4,728'/3,606')
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An unexpected down week.  Thankful that I was able to take a few steps back, get the rest I needed, and now I look ahead to making some good leaps forward in the upcoming week(s); or at least I hope:)

As I mentioned before, this week was a good reminder that it is OK to rest (sometimes more and/or longer than you want/anticipate).  It's still a larger-than-desired pill to swallow, especially when you are approaching a key race in a month+ with some solid training weeks beneath you; but looking back, very rarely do I regret resting vs forcing that extra run or two in order to "get it in".  A definite positive spin is that at least I have the privilege of choosing to rest as opposed to being forced to rest because of some bonehead training mistake.

Anywho, I feel refreshed and am eager to see what lay ahead tomorrow through Sunday.  Looking a little further ahead, the end of July, Connor and I are going to make the trek up to Oregon for a little weekend getaway on the Waldo 100k course with Joe.  With the likes of current Western States 100 and Hardrock 100 champs on the entrant list (in addition to a slew of other high-caliber runners), if I'm fortunate enough to snag a Montrail Ultra Cup spot at Waldo for WS 2013, a little course preview surely will only help my chances against these studs.    

Run hard and rest well!