Last week of any significant training prior to Leadville.  Less than 2 weeks to go now, it’s about time.

I’m giving myself an easy ride this year with no time goals and no pressure.  I feel like I am lagging 2-3 months behind where I would normally be at this point of the year.  Strong enough to finish, and hopefully without too much damage (body, brain, or other), but definitely not fast.  I’m probably still feeling the sting of last year a little bit, too.  I was in great shape, but the race did not go well at all.

For the past 3 years I have run Leadville, I have pretty much dropped off the edge for the rest of the year with an injury or just being wiped out from training so hard and building up over the previous weeks and months.  This time I am determined to run Leadville conservatively enough to get a finish and then keep on rolling.  This year has been kind of a rebuilding time for me.  I’ve been running an ultra per month since March and hope to continue that streak for a while longer, which I think will set me up nicely to really get after some goals next year.  Instead of starting from scratch on January 1 as I did this year.

Keep getting stronger, keep making progress on the injury front, and things will start to come together.

More than anything, I’m excited for all of my friends that are running @ Pbville and are all looking to be in killer shape.  It blows me away to do a run like the night run last week with these folks.  I’m decently fit (you have to be to run a 21 miler on trails at night at altitude), but these guys make it look way too easy.  I can tell they’ve been putting in the work, which is awesome to see.  During that run I just kept thinking, I pity the fool that tries to hang on with a group of people two weeks away from their biggest race of the summer!

As for the training this week, I tried to pack in a bit of mileage in an attempt to revive my legs from the 50 miler and backpacking trip combo last month.  They have been quite sluggish for a while, but are starting to come around.

Monday
Run – 12.2 miles
Steady cruise in the heat.

Run – 5.1 miles
Second run of the day. Felt good to get out and spin easily.

Tuesday
Run – 12.6 miles
Another good cruise in the heat. Trying to build up some miles on the front-end of the week.

Run – 3.1 miles
Another double. Very sluggish, but felt good to get out again.

Wednesday
Run – 7 miles
Easy day. Tired.

Thursday
Run – 9.25 miles
Good one. Pushed this just a bit. 8 miles with 1,000 feet of climbing at 7:58 pace. Ditched the heart rate strap and never looked at the watch. Just went with what felt like a good cruising speed.

Friday
Run – 5.5 miles
Easy day. Calves tight, but everything feeling good for the most part. Just very tired from being up since 04:00 due to a bear-raid of our garbage can.

Saturday
Run – 21 miles
Leadville night run. Good group of 12. Struggled big-time with calf and stomach problems. Felt a little better after about 15 miles and finished strong.

Sunday
Run – 4 miles
Easy recovery jog on the mill.  Felt strangely good considering I ran 21 miles the night before and didn’t get to bed until 3:30.

Total:  80.3 miles, 12:58

Pic of the week:

Wicked fast runnah's (credit: Brandon Fuller)