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.