Week ending September 17th

Sep 11th: 7 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out-and-back. I really enjoy this route because it's got a lot of solidly runnable miles on the Shanahan/Mesa fire roads interspersed with technical stretches here and there.

Sep 12th: 7 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out-and-back. Creature of habit.

Sep 13th: Off.

Sep 14th: 7 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out-and-back. No, not boring yet.

Sep 15th: 9 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Kohler out-and-back. Felt really peppy and on top form the entire way, so I pushed it a little harder. Tired by the end, but never drained.

Sep 16th: 17 miles, 4500 vert, Shanahan/Bear Banyon/Green summit/Gregory Canyon/Chautauqua/Mesa/Shanahan loop. Churned it out in under 3 hours. This was an epiphany of a run, let me tell you.

I started from home and felt the previous day's effort, so I hung back on the first climb up and over Shanahan Ridge. When I hit Bear Canyon I started to feel the life in my legs come back. In the few times I've done this route, I've become pretty quick on the gentle but relentless climb on the backside of Green.

When I hit the west ridge trail I pulled back a bit and coasted up over the top of Green, taking no time to savor the view. For one, Green was enveloped in a cloud, and for two, I've found that it's good mental training to immediately start a descent. Greenman really beats you up if you're tired, but I was comfortably fatigued today and kept up the pace down to the Ranger trail. The reward of the quad blast on the upper half of Greenman is the cruisey, pine needly lower half of Greenman and the Ranger trail. It wouldn't be unfair to say I smoked this downhill and ended up in sun drenched Gregory Canyon before I even knew it.

Gregory gave me a bit of a run for my money after the aggressive descent of Green, with its myriad rocky outcroppings and steep little booters. With the Chautauqua ranger station as my target, I decided to run up and over Bluebell and down Ski Jump for an extra two-hundred-some vert, rather than cruise down Baseline. Learn to suffer.

The crowds on a cool Saturday morning on the Chautauqua trail. Whoah. It's like a sporting event. I refilled my bottle at the ranger station and immediately started re-ascending Chautauqua. It sounds stupid, but I'm proud I was able to run all the way up to the Flatiron trail without slowing down. It's a solidly steep 1,000 foot climb on fire road. It's nothing. But it felt like I finally got my ultra legs back. That ability to just start pulling energy out of nowhere.

Anyway, I cruised the mesas back to the house. The final climb up the Mesa fire road feels effortless at this point, even at the end of a hard effort long run. Amazing what some actual, solid training, sleep, and eating can do for a body.

Sep 17th: Off. Some biking around town, nothing strenuous. Taking this week off from lifting for R&R.

Totals: 46 miles, 10,500 feet of gain. About the same as last week, but with a way better long run. Achilles bursitis is nearly gone after I cut a massive V in the back of my shoes. Incoming post on heel counters, injuries, and how to fix overbuilt trail shoes.