Like a step back in time...

Our challenge for the future is that we realize we are very much a part of the earth's ecosystem, and we must learn to respect and live according to the basic biological laws of nature. ~ Jim Fowler

This was a decent week of training. Not quite what I had planned but a lot of hard running. Which is good. I did just notice that a long post I created on Thursday somehow didn't get published. Bummer. It was about a movie I saw on Wednesday night (Sharkwater) that documented the horrible treatment of sharks for the fin industry. Really revolting and one of those films that makes one really despise the human race and our propensity to feel that we can just dominate all other species without concern for their well-being or the impact of our actions. If you want to learn more about long-line fishing (bad), finning (also bad), check out savingsharks.com.

On that light note, here is a summary of my running adventures this week:

• Sunday (9/14): 20 miles on the Boulder Backroads course, 2:58ish. Hit the Boulder Backroads Marathon course with Caleb for a great run. I had a 17-miler teed up and Caleb was scheduled to do a 22-mile run so we split the difference. Good times. We started out early (7:30) fromCoot Lake under cloudy skyes and cool conditions -- perfect morning for a long run. I felt great from the beginning and only faded in the last couple of miles. Was super-psyched to hang with Caleb (his personal best marathon is a 3:02 or something at the NYC marathon last year) and even lead a little at times. He dusted me with a nice surge up the last hill and was able to maintain at the top while I faded. Just couldn't go that fast any longer. Fastest sustained pace over a course this long I have ever done.
  
• Tuesday (9/16): 10 miles on the Boulder Creek path, 1:21. I decided to step it up a bit and instead of doing an 8-miler with a few strides, opted for a much harder run with a 2-mile warm-up, 3-mile tempo, 2-mile jog, 3-mile tempo type of deal. I have to say that by the end of my first 3-mile tempo, I was not running pretty. Fortunately, I can chalk this up to a steady uphill. At least that is what I plan to tell myself. Actually, I felt strong and recovered quickly from the first interval to finish the run up strongly. The last tempo was really only 2.5 miles or so since I got onto city streets and got hung up by lights and whatnot. All in all a good run.
• Wednesday (9/17): 5 miles in the Casa Forest, 00:50. Just a quick recovery run in the woods near our house. I had to squeeze this one in as it has been a really busy week with work and whatnot. Felt okay, not great. Still a little tired from yesterday's hard effort and Sunday's big run.
• Saturday (9/20): 7 then 5 (12 total) in Boulder, 1:52. Today was Bob's wedding day so he invited people to join him for a morning run in Boulder. Ryan and I were the only two brave enough to hammer the groom on his wedding day (actually, we took it pretty easy). I went down early to get in some miles before meeting up with Bob and Ryan so I sorta did a double. It was fun, actually. I started off on the network of paths in Boulder and ended up on the Boulder Creek Trail where I warmed up for a couple of miles, then did 3 miles at tempo, then warmed back down at about a 9-minute pace back to Bob's. Once we left his place, we headed up roads, mostly to the NCAR road. This is actually kindof a cool place to run since the atmosphere nerds at NCAR have marked the road in 25 meter increments all along the way. it is about 2K to the top total and we pretty much went all out for the final .5K. I felt great at the top and was really able to settle into a fast pace without feeling like I was going to completely explode. Just kept throttling up a notch until the end. Good stuff. Wish I had felt better on the first 7-miles of the day but whatchagonnado?

Total mileage for the week: ~47
Total time for the week: ~7 hours

So for the week, I was off what I had hoped to achieve for distance but still had a solid week of hard training. I missed out on runs on Thursday and/or Friday due to work and weather and maybe a little bit of apathy, but that is all okay. I am thinking I may do the Denver marathon on October 19th as a warm-up for Vegas. Still noodling on that but I'll let you know.

~stubert.