I needed my training to begin to peak in week 14. Quad Rock is in 20 days (at this writing), and I won't get much adaptation to workout loading in the last 13 days. Weeks 14 and 15 would be my last opportunities to get faster and stronger before the race. Fortunately, a return to good health and favorable weather helped make this my best week yet.

• 13 hours, 8 minutes all training

• 42.7 miles running

• 8,550 feet D+ running and treadmill

The first block of my training was dedicated to power and pure speed, The second to intense aerobic efforts. This last block is about going up and down technical mountain trails at my race pace or a bit faster. In practice, I push pretty hard for half of each climb, run the downhills as fast as I can, and otherwise keep it easy, but not slow.

I did three workouts like this, plus two shorter tempo runs at Pineridge Open Space, which is flatter than the Quad Rock course. Five days of comfortably hard to just plain hard running, a recovery ride on Tuesday, and a full day off to recover on Friday.

Today I went for a loop in Lory State Park that I did five weeks ago. The loop includes the last seven-mile stanza of the 25-mile QR poem: a 1,000 foot climb up from the Arthurs Rock aid station, some rolling terrain, and a 1,100 foot descent to the finish line. I did the loop in the same time as I did in March, but at a noticeably lower level of effort. I'm counting on being able to run at an even faster pace at a higher level of effort in May.

Thursday I ran at elevation for the ffirst time this season, a loop around Lumpy Ridge in Rocky Mountain National Park that begins just below 8,000 feet and tops out just above 9,000 feet. There is no snow to speak of at Lumpy Ridge. If the aspen in the Cow Creek drainage on the more remote north side of Lumpy Ridge had more leaves, you might think it was mid-summer.

I loved seeing water in Cow Creek, even if it was only a July-level flow. At least the birds and mammals have something to drink.

Week 13 started out pretty strong. I returned to my favorite Monday evening yoga class, did a fun run with strides at Pineridge on Tuesday, and then a hard running interval workout on Towers Trail in Horsetooth Open Space on Wednesday. Thursday I had cold symptoms again and shifted to dog walking and bike riding for the rest of the week. The running numbers for the week are nothing much.

• 11 hours, 35 minutes all training

• 14.6 miles running

• 2,041 feet D+ running

By Saturday afternoon I felt much better, which gave me hope for a solid week 14.

In week 12, I started to get things back on track after being sick. I ran five days, biked one day, and took Saturday off to take my family to a Nuggets game in Denver.

• 12 hours, 9 minutes all training

• 34.8 miles running

• 5,800 ft D+ running (and treadmill)

My energy level was low to mid until Friday, when I rallied for a good interval workout on a 12% incline treadmill indoors and a sauna session after. My fitness didn't advance much in week ten, but I didn't lose a step. According to the machine, I went "up" beyond any of the Quad Rock climbs, and at a pace that I'd love to hit on race day.

Saturday, as I mentioned previously, I sat on my butt in a car and in Ball Arena, with Ruthie and our kids, and then we all met my folks in Denver for an early dinner. It was a wonderfully easy and sociable day. Some days I think we should be living in Denver instead of Fort Collins, and this was one of those days.

Sunday I went out for three hours on the rolling and punchy dirt trails east of Horsetooth Reservoir, intending to get 90 minutes of Z2-Z3 running. It was a great run. My legs felt lively during miles 2-12, and I pushed my gas pedal with enthusiasm. If I'd brought another two gels, I could have avoided bottoming out at mile 14. I'm hoping to feel that good and pain free at Quad Rock.

I had big plans for week eleven and then came down with a cold. My Wednesday workout's mediocre feeling was the first indication. The rest of the week I shifted into recovery rides and easy runs.

• 10 hours, 23 minutes all training

• 19.2 miles running

• 2,306 ft D+ running

It wasn't a terrible week, to be clear. I didn't fall apart physically, or anything like that. My concern is that it was the first week where I didn't progress very much in my Quad Rock training season.

I'm squishing four weeks worth of recap into this one post.

First, the numbers.

• 40 hours, 32 minutes all training

• 99 miles running

• 15,600 ft D+ running (and treadmill)

I'm less concerned with miles than I used to be, but I'm still writing these numbers down for continuity's sake.

I'm running four days a week and riding or other cross-training 2-3 days. Two of my runs are easy, but not slow. One has some high intensity intervals or hill sprints. The other is a 2-3 hour run with 45-60 minutes of tempo pace in the middle. My top speed hasn't increased in the past four weeks, but my easy pace has improved a lot. With five more weeks of training ahead before I begin to taper off, I'm looking forward to getting even faster at zones 2 and 3.

I've been switching between potential race shoes on my faster and longer runs. While the Hoka Tecton X 3 are growing on me, and the Kjerag are fun, I'm 99% sure that I'll run Quad Rock 25 in La Sportiva Prodigio Pros. They're well suited to the course, fit me well, and feel stable, fast, and adequately cushioned.

My favorite run of March was a Friday afternoon outing in Lory State Park with my friend, Dana. He's not training for any event, but is naturally faster than me, so our runs are a great opportunity to go a little harder. On this occasion we did two warm up miles in the valley and then went rapidly up Quad Rock climb no. 3 and quickly down descent no. 3 to what will be the finish on race day. I recorded segment times that were only a few seconds off my personal bests, and wasn't wrecked afterwards.

Last Sunday I went out by myself and ran through the first and second Quad Rock climbs (and matching descents). My calves and hamstrings cramped after a long, hard push in the middle of the run, and I struggled for the last four miles. That's the first time this season, a good reminder to fuel better on my long runs.

30 minutes of mobility and core strength exercises every morning are keeping my body in good shape. I've no Achilles tendinitis. My hips and back are pain free. No foot trouble. Inflammation and swelling in my right knee is troubling, but I'm keeping it in check with ice and, sometimes, ibuprofen. I hear that some people benefit from tart cherry extract as a supplement, and I'm going to give that a try.

After a couple years of being injured, I'm grateful to be close to 100 percent. It feels good.

I ran four times, did one elliptical recovery spin on cold day, a recovery bike ride, one weight-lifting session, one yoga class, and the daily mobility and core workout six times.

• 12 hours, 56 minutes all training

• 27.2 miles running

• 6,100 ft D+ running *

I put an asterisk by the elevation gain, because two-thirds of this was on a treadmill during interval workouts. There were no matching descents, and that's the toughest part of running in the mountains.

Running uphill is hard, but also relatively low impact. That's a win-win for my training. I'm doing almost all of my intense running right now at 10-12%, on a treadmill or steep road. In week six, I did 27 minutes of hard 30/30 running. Running on an 8% incline at an 11 minutes per mile pace felt more fun than going slower on a steeper setting. I'll do more of this.

I'm adjusting my Quad Rock training plan a bit to match my current fitness and race goals. Since I want to run the race faster and am responding well to the speed work that I am doing, I'm going to do more. Instead of four evenly sized four-week blocks of training, I'm switching to three blocks. A final block dedicated to improving my all-day pace isn't the best way to help me finish a 25 mile race in under five hours. Instead, the last block before the race will be devoted to zone 2-3 efforts and downhill running. I will also expand the length of my tempo run block from four to five weeks. In a nutshell: more speed, less slogging.

Unusually mild weather helped make week five productive. I can feel the benefits as I write this, a week later.

• 11 hours, 37 minutes all training

• 19.3 miles running

• 1,890 ft D+ running

Tuesday I did hill sprints on the "Wallenberg Wall" in my neighborhood. My cadence has increased, and I was a second faster on average. 23 seconds instead of 24. Getting faster is one of my goals, and I'm making measurable progress.

Thursday I tried my first running intervals: 9 minutes at 9.5/10 rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This was on a road that starts at 5% incline and increases to 12%. To help keep the quality of the running intervals high, I'm practicing 30/30 running like I did last year, interleaving 30 seconds of maximum effort with 30 seconds of micro-recovery high effort. I ran by a utility crew on Centennial Drive and got some cheers and good-natured heckling for my effort.

Tuesday and Friday, I lifted weights at the gym. I'm doing 5 x 5 sets of back squats at the rack to build more muscle and increase the power of my legs. It's going well.

By Saturday, my legs need a bit of a break. I went for an easy ride with a few hard pushes, and gave the single track stretch of Timber trail a go. I can ride it cleanly on my mountain bike. It's more challenging on a gravel bike with no suspension and narrower tires.

Sunday, I did a long-ish run on the ridge east of Horsetooth Reservoir. "The reservoir", as we say here, though there are many reservoirs, because it's the biggest one. I went at the pace I'd like to run at Quad Rock, and felt good during the run and afterwards.

The numbers went up in week four.

• 13 hours, 23 minutes all training

• 30.2 miles running

• 4,108 ft D+ running

More important is that I got in my power-building workouts. A big session of back squats and single-leg step-downs, among other exercises, at the gym on Tuesday after seeing my physical therapist. A session of hill sprints on Thursday after an easy run with a friend at Pineridge Open Space.

Saturday I went on another Quad Rock training run with a big crowd on an extraordinarily warm day. I'm glad I wore shorts and brought a third bottle of water. There were some icy spots early, but they'd melted on the return leg. I paid the price for going out too fast with some cramping at the finish, and struggled with knee stiffness, but mostly had a great morning.

Today, Sunday, I did an extended foam rolling, mobility, and core strength session while watching Liverpool lose to Manchester City in a chaotic finish. That initial goal by Szoboszlai was so good, I thought we were going to ride that to the finish. Nope. In the afternoon, after some gardening, I was loose enough to go for an easy run at Pineridge.

My long range plan has me switching from hill sprints to longer intervals next week. I think I'll smear this a little, with one session of hill sprints, and just one session of running intervals.

Week three had some good workouts and social running.

• 12 hours, 9 minutes all training

• 23.9 miles running

• 3,268 ft D+ running

Yoga on Monday, as usual. Hill sprints Tuesday on a moderately steep dirt ramp at Pineridge Open Space. Elliptical spin and sets of back squats on Thursday. A long easy bike ride Friday.

Saturday, yesterday, I went for a long run in the snow at Horsetooth Mountain with friends. I kept it super easy until the last mile and a half, when I jumped onto a train of younger, faster runners who were coming down from a different route.

Today my legs felt great, and I took a new pair of NNormal Kjerags to the dry trails at Maxwell Open Space for a test drive. I think these could be my Quad Rock shoes. They're very light (my lightest trail shoes by 50 grams per shoe) and fit me well. I felt secure going quickly on rocky technical sections of the trails, where I did not in the Tecton X 3 that I wore last week.

My left hamstring feels 100 percent today, so I'm looking forward to two full sessions of hill sprints next week. I had some knee swelling early in the week, but it subsided before the week. My only pain point at the moment is an arthritis flare-up in my left shoulder. I'm taking ibuprofen at bedtime and hoping that it doesn't spread to my knees.

The first two weeks of my Quad Rock training program went by quickly. My running mileage is still low, as I'm emphasizing power and speed, with generous recovery, and biking, treadmill, or elliptical chuggingfor easy aerobic base building. The quality of my running workouts has been good, in a way that doesn't show up in these numbers.

In week one, I did hill sprint sessions on Tuesday and Thursday on a block of Wallenberg Drive with a 3-4% incline. Running up at nearly maximum effort took about 25 seconds. This was not an aerobic workout in any way. I was focused solely on power and turnover.

• 11 hours, 7 minutes all training

• 26.4 miles running

• 1,545 ft D+ running

Week two was complicated by cold and snowy weather. I curtailed my hill sprints and did less dynamic workouts. Wednesday I did a two hour run at Lory State Park in a new pair of HOKA Tecton X 3 shoes. These were fun, and as propulsive as hyped on non-technical stretches of trail. I found them to be just barely stable on technical descents, however. The heel had a tendency to tip over. I'll give them another chance, for sure, but they are not an immediate choice for Quad Rock in May.

• 12 hours, 41 minutes all training

• 21.7 miles running

• 2.464 ft D+ running

In October 2025, I started daily mobility and core strength sessions based on a post by Joe Uhan. I do a little Vinyasa flow, spinal twisting, some diagonal chops, and then push-ups, crunches or dead bugs, and eccentric heel drops and calf raises. I'm still doing this morning routine about six times a week, which accounts for almost three hours of my weekly training time. I've come from being able to do zero respectable pushups to being able to do sets of ten impeccable pushups. I'm a big person, 90 kilograms, so body weight pushups aren't super easy. It's been fun to make progress on basic strength and fitness.