The road to success...

Get your motor runnin'. ~ Steppenwolf

00:32, 3.27 miles, slow recovery

As we roll into winter months here in the high country, the ability to log miles on trails pretty much goes away. Fortunately, I am close to Boulder/Denver and trails down there stay relatively clear year-round (traction is a plus so I plan to get a lot of time with screw shoes or yaktrax) but one does tend to log a lot of miles on the slab during the course of winter training. Interestingly enough, I have been running on pavement quite a bit of late anyway as I have started running with a group of people who spend a lot of time on the blacktop.

Last year, I purposely started running longer-distance street races in an effort to become more efficient, get my average pace up and get in some late-season racing to jump start my ultra dominance in 2009. We all know how well that worked out as I was injured most of this year and only got in a couple of races. Alas, I do not blame the pavement and still believe that training on roads does help in many ways to translate fitness, efficiency and consistency to the ultra-distance scene and here I am, a year later, approaching the slab with a keener eye for how quickly to ramp up mileage and pacing.

Bryon Powell has a great summary of why he believes road running is great for trail running if you are interested in checking out his post on the subject.

I am not sure what you would call yesterday's run, to be honest. It certainly wasn't on pavement (mixed snow, ice, some hardpacked dirt roads) but it wasn't trail running either. It was a bit chilly and given that I was moving at a very relaxed pace, I piled on the clothing a little bit. I felt better as the run progressed as well - starting out feeling a bit clunky then, by the end, feeling much smoother. All in all, it was good to get out for a quick spin and enjoy the time I get to spend in our beautiful surroundings. I recommend you do the same.

~stubert.