Ring Around the Reservoir and Flexibility

Not the stretching sort of flexibility, that's useless, in my opinion.  When I stopped stretching, I stopped getting injured.

Anywho, I went through huge running mental swings this weekend.  If you reference the plan laid out in Friday's post, "TGIFF", it seemed like a done deal and it actually started that way too.  NMP came over Friday for a casual run of 12 miles, so I checked that one off the list.

Saturday morning came and I planned to go to Walker Ranch for 3.5-4 hours of grinding around my nemesis.  I ate a good breakfast (bagel, 2 egg, and honey ham sandwich), dressed warmly (overly warmly) and drove the 30 mins over Flagstaff Mtn to Walker.  During our run the previous afternoon, Nick P said that it would likely be very icy at Walker.  "Naw, I'm sure it's in fine shape..." was my reply (note to self: never disagree with a mid-20s PhD rocket scientist who spends his days stomping through atmospheric research).

I got out of the car, no other tire tracks in the dirt, snow layered, lot and realized it was about 15 degrees warmer than Boulder and deep blue skied contrasted by sparse, pure-white cotton clouds.  I just sort of stood in the lot and took in the views and sun for a few minutes.  It was going to be a great run!  Yeah, well, about a mile into it I realized I was wrong and rocket boy was right.  The first major steep descent was a solid block of ice with about 2" of powder snow hiding imminent death.  After five near misses, I turned around and headed back to the car.

Now I'm deflated.  All that time wasted and just two miles to show for it.  Already dressed and with a full 70 ounce hydration pack, I decided to stop by the reservoir to continue (start) my run.  That lasted all of 8 minutes.  The wind was whipping into my face from the first step and I was already in a "I want to put my fist through the windshield" mood, so I just gave up and drove home.  Three miles in 2.5 hours.

I was in a pretty grouchy mood the rest of the day but still didn't plan any sort of specific run for Sunday morning; pressure was the last thing I needed.  To rub salt in my wound, I get an email from Darren, who's been following a training schedule I customized for him since December 1.

"I hope this will do: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/70271789

87.4 miles for my "7 day" running total.  The week itself (ends tomorrow) will probably be just shy of 80.  I'll take considering the junk weather we've been having.

Time to relax for the rest of the night!."

Just shy of 31 miles in 4:20, his fastest 50k ever and in training, no less!  UGH!!

I decide right then that I'm revamping his schedule (he follows it precisely every day) and have him just walk 1 mile a day for the next 5.5 months leading to Leadville.

Sunday morning rolls around.  I eat a Clif bar, grab my still full hydration vest and decide to make it heavier, so I add 6 lbs of weights I use for scuba diving.  Yeah, I'm in a pissed off mood still from the previous wasted day.  I decide I'm not driving anywhere to run but just leaving straight from the house.  

I run to the Reservoir and start doing laps.  It's windy on the back section but I'm in masochist mode now, so I embrace it.  The res is flat for the most part.  I still incorporate Lucho's progression run planned for me.  That's done in 2 hours, so I keep running.  At about 15 miles I decide I'm matching Darren's (little bastard) sweet run from the previous day.  At mile 28 I'm at 3:31 and realize I can make the 50k mark in under 4 hours, so I pick up the pace, which had begun dropping.  I had to meander around near my place and do a lap around the lake behind my place to stretch the run.

31 miles in 3:58.

I'm still disappointed I didn't have the mental capacity to force my run on Saturday but Sunday's probably works out better in prep for Antelope 100 in four weeks.

Opinionated as usual, I think the Ultra Run "Of Champions" race scheduled for September is borderline weak, at best.  I'll leave it at that.