Training week eleven recap

I'm training using a standard periodization, three weeks of increasing volume followed by one week dedicated to recovery, family, open source projects. Week eleven has been my biggest ever. Not huge numbers by some standards – you should see what some local runners are doing on Strava – but I'm just getting started in trail running.

• 12 hours and 10 minutes running and hiking

• 56.2 miles

• 6575 feet D+

I went for 20 miles on Saturday and 15 today. 35 is my biggest two day total and 56 is the most I've ever done in a week. I don't feel bad right now. If the Quad Rock 50 were a two day stage race, I think I'd be ready to go next weekend. I did miss two strength and conditioning workouts last week, which perhaps accounts for the relative freshness of my legs. An early meeting at work cut out my favorite Friday heated Vinyasa yoga class, and I was fed up with driving around in the snow on Wednesday and skipped my usual small group class at Become Fit. I did have an intense hill workout on Wednesday morning at Lory State Park. I went hard up the Timber Trail for 5 minutes, walked for a minute to recover, and then ran again. 5 repeats in all on 8% singletrack, in 10° F and snow. There's been a lot of cold and snow this week, but the weather improved dramatically for the weekend. Fort Collins runners have been lucky in this sense.

Saturday, there was a group run planned at Horsetooth Open Space, with a lot of climbing. The space was closed to let rangers and wildlife folks get a handle on the mountain lion incident aftermath, so we all went out on the more gentle Blue Sky Trail instead. Seeking a little more climbing to boost my total over last week's, I drove to Bobcat Ridge Natural Area this morning and did a double climb of Green Ridge. The first one was foggy, cold, and gloomy. The clouds broke as I turned around at the bottom of the steep Powerline Trail and my second climb was in full sun with nothing but blue sky overhead. Truly beautiful and inspiring.