Week ending September 3

Aug 28th: 6 miles, 1000 vert, Shanahan/Bluestem route. Slowly getting my running legs back.

Aug 29th: 7 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa. Up and over Shanahan Ridge, down to Table Mesa, reverse and repeat. Felt good to slam the downhill on the Mesa Trail fire road. This out and back is fast becoming one of my favorite hour runs.

Also did weights, the ol' 5x5 bench, deadlift, squat. 5x5 means you get to the end of each set spent but not wrecked, and with only 5 reps per set, you can really focus on power output (i.e., faster, more explosive lifts). I can feel my quads and butt getting kicked into gear.

Aug 30th: Off.

Aug 31st: 7 miles, 1500 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa.

Sep 1st: 8 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out to Kohler. Just a bit longer with more climbing at the turn around. This felt like a breakthrough run - I was able to hammer all of the climbs and the little rollers the whole way. I think eating and sleeping better is already working its magic.

Sep 2nd: 7 miles, 3000 vert, Bear Peak out-and-back via Fern Canyon. The "hard" way to the top of Bear (there is no "easy" way up). Started at 10 AM, it was already cooking down below. The breeze at the top felt great. A bit shaky coming down, so I don't have my mountain legs back, yet. Cruised it in nice and easy to cool down and cap off the week.

Sep 3rd: Weights, 5x5 again, no surprises here. Lifting doesn't even feel like coss-training anymore, it's more relaxing than total rest.

Totals: 35 miles, 9000 feet of gain, 258 feet/mile gain. I am both surprised and apprehensive about those vert numbers. As I add mileage I'll probably mix in some flatter runs. I've thought about throwing in a once-a-week road run just to work on form and pacing. I'm really more worried about injury prevention. My right heel (bottom) was a bit sore on Friday, but on Saturday's Bear run it hurt much less. Should be gone by next week.