Just me and my thoughts

Today I did my 5 miles around Bluff Lake all on my own, no major epiphanies although I did have Supertramp stuck in my head for a while (I have no idea why). It was a hard effort so I'm kind of looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. If my meetings in Boulder don't go too late I may try to hit the pool on the way home. Tomorrow there is a scheduled power outage at work so I have to be there at 7 to make sure that everything works as it is supposed to. It's going to be long day!

Company

Today I had company again for my run and we went for a few loops around Bluff Lake. Ended up being around 7 miles. It was supposed to be fairly warm today, but for some reason a big cloud was stuck over the whole city which made it feel much colder. But after a few minutes I warmed up and it ended up being really nice. The deer were out again today, and one bounded across the path as we approached. It should be a good day for a run tomorrow, but Thursday may be tough with all I have to get done.

Weekend Workouts

I did my Saturday run with Elijah this weekend (and got another flat tire), and went to the Trails yesterday for a 15 minute jog and 15 minute swim. It was a nice break from the sidewalk runs I had to deal with last week. Today I felt pretty good, and I kept off the sidewalk as much as I could. Ended up going 5 miles up to Bluff Lake via a slightly different route. The trail has dried out pretty well now so it's smooth sailing.

On the psyche of geese

It was 59 degrees today, so I did 6.5 miles in shorts and a t-shirt. The Canadian geese seemed to have all decided to congregate around the trail today, so as I was running they would take off all at once and move a safe distance away. All the geese seemed to be on the north side of the trail, with the path cutting between them and the creek. As I was running back, however, the geese had made their way back to the trail, but were now on the south side. As I was running towards them I hypothesized that the geese would not fly away due to the fact that this time they had a clear escape route available to them. As I ran past the geese waddled off, but did not take flight. I was just patting myself on the back for having made such astute observations of goose behavior, when I came upon another small gaggle of geese on the north side of the path. These geese did not fly away either. I realized that I had forgotten the first rule of scientific observation: in observing any event, you fundamentally change its outcome in some way. In this case my hypothesis was proven wrong by a "control gaggle" of geese. Evidently the behavior of the geese did not have anything to do with which side of the path they were on, just the fact that they had seen me run by before and decided that I did not represent a threat.


Some may in fact question why all of these thoughts would be going through my mind at a time like that, in which case this post may be more appropriately titled "On the psyche of Geoff."

Muddy

I couldn't bear another day of running on sidewalks so I decided to venture out onto the trails. I ran around bluff lake and on the whole it wasn't too bad. But there were a few pretty muddy spots that were tough to get through. Nothing like getting hit with chunks of mud that are flying off your shoes. No deer today, I found out yesterday that they have moved up the creek a little bit as I saw them on the other side of campus. It was a nice 4.5 miles despite the mud, but I'm hoping for drier conditions tomorrow.

Slushy

Well my schedule has not been the best the last couple of days but I have managed to get out running. With the warmer temperatures though it has been hard to find routes that aren't really muddy. Yesterday I went for 6 miles or so, and today I did a faster 4 miles. They were all on sidewalks though. Ideally things will have dried out enough to hit the trail tomorrow.

Weekly Mileage

Well I woke up to light snow and cold temps so I decided to forget about running today. I'm still pretty creaky from these last few days anyway. So I imagine that will cap my weekly milage at 23.5. Maybe tomorrow I will hit the pool!

Dentist

I went to the dentist this morning. I remember the last time I went to the dentist it was a hot summer day and I was supposed to do a 10 mile run for my marathon training. I was only able to run 6 because of the heat of the afternoon! Quite a difference 6 months makes, there was still lots of snow on the ground and unfortunately today it was accompanied by a cold wind. But with the sun it wasn't too bad and I ended up doing the same 6.5 mile route as yesterday. I've got my shoes all opened up now and hopefully they will dry out by tomorrow morning. Elijah will not be coming with me as the snow is still too much to push a stroller through. Ideally it will warm up enough to melt it off next week.

Trailblazer!

Today the afternoon temps were in the mid 20s so I went outside for my run. I ran through the golf course to avoid the sidewalks then I hit the prairie dog trail. I was the first one to run on that path, I love the feeling of running on fresh snow. There was only a few inches of it, which made it a bit of a resistance workout, but didn't slow me down too much. I ran for an hour and went about 6.5 miles. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as nice.

Snow and Ice

Today was snowy with icy roads and sidewalks, so I elected to do my running at the Trails instead of outside. It ended up being pretty good, I did three miles at about a 7 minute mile and another mile or so at a little over 8. So for a half hour workout it was pretty good. The roads here suck so driving anywhere takes forever and even with leaving work a little early it still took me almost an hour to get there. Tonight is supposed to get down to 0 so it will be a chilly one. Hopefully I won't get called in to a cold magnet!

Back to Work

The holiday was great and I am really looking forward to enjoying the Christmas season. Today though it was back to business as usual. I did have a great run, 6.5 miles or so (3 times around Bluff Lake), and I had some company for a change. The weather was quite a bit cooler than it was a little while ago, but it was still nice. This week is going to be challenging with the cold temperatures that are due to hit us. I'm not looking forward to that.

Turkey Trot!

Well I finished the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot this morning, and had a blast. It is a 4 mile course and I finished (according to my watch) in 30:34. We'll see what the chip time turns out to be, as that is what I am hoping to use as my entry time for the Bolder Boulder in the spring. It was not my best run as I certainly went out too fast in the beginning, but it is easily my best time so I'm quite happy with the result. My mile splits were as follows: 7:11 (Yikes!), 14:48 (Still Yikes!), 22:30 (But I'm dying!), and 30:34 (Crikey!). I swear the first two miles did not feel that fast, but the last two certainly felt slower than they actually were. Ideally the spilts should have been the other way around, but I still feel like that was the first race where I have really been able to race up to my ability. It sure as hell wasn't easy, but I made it!

Pseudo Taper

As part of my scaling back my mileage to prepare for the race on Thursday I only went running on Saturday and today for only about 3 miles each. My legs are feeling much better and I hope to be able to push the pace up a little on Thursday. As usual though I will take advantage of the crowding at the beginning of the race to make sure I don't go out too fast from the start. My goal is to run under 36 minutes for the 4 miles. More than likely I will not run tomorrow and try to get out of work early instead. I remember last year trying to drive home the day before Thanksgiving and it was painful. Check here for an update on Thursday with my race time!

Tumbling Tumbleweeds

I thought it was going to be a great day for a run today. It's 65 degrees out there and I was able to go out with just shorts and a T-shirt. But not two minutes after I left, the wind started blowing like crazy and quashed any aspirations I might have had about a nice long run today. But I decided to roll with it and fought the headwind all the way to Bluff Lake before turning around and taking advantage of the tailwind to do some aerobic intervals. Ended up being only about 3.5 miles, but with the speedwork it was still a good workout. It's probably good to have a week with less mileage, it seems like I've been pretty sore this week. But when I run it works out all the kinks and I feel great, although a trip to the hot tub would be nice...

Perfect Day

It was a picture perfect day for running today, clear, sunny, no wind and nice and cool (45 F). I put in a couple of loops around Bluff Lake for about 5.5 miles. I tried to push the pace a little as well which made it a hard workout. This week I have been doing most of my runs around 1, and eating my lunch at 12 to give me a good energy base. I think it has worked out well, much better than what I was doing before which was having a piece of fruit around 11 and going for a run at 12. I should probably work a small taper into my training next week to get ready for the turkey trot. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Blustery 7 miles

It's pretty windy here today but I was keeping an eye on it before I left for my run and it didn't get too much over 10 mph. So I decided to go out for my run anyway. It wasn't too bad, the wind was at my back on the way out, but the way back was a little tougher. When I got back I checked the weather and the wind was up to 20 mph! Still, I got through it and it ended up being a pretty good run. Shoes are still working out great, although it takes some getting used to when your old ones were worn down to almost nothing. Tonight Elijah and I are going to hang out while mommy goes to the gym, I'm looking forward to it.

My Worst Nightmare

The Boy Who Ran Like a Deer


No deer today thankfully after reading this story. I did a nice 4.5 miles around Bluff Lake in my new shoes. They were very comfy and I am looking forward to putting in some serious miles in them. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go running today as the weather was supposed to get pretty nasty this afternoon, but so far it has held off.


Yesterday I took a rest from running but I stayed active by going to the Trails to swim a few laps. I ended up swimming for about 15 minutes before my form started going downhill fast and I took that as my limit. It wasn't too bad actually considering the last time I tried to swim I went out far too hard and had problems even finishing a few laps. I really like swimming, so I hope it is something I can consistently add to my weekly activity. Having the membership to the Trails will really help in that I think.

New Shoes

This morning was pretty busy for us. I drove Melissa to the Trails for her workout and then ran up to the Piney Creek trailhead to meet Shaun for our run. Put in a good 4.5 miles or so for a total this week of 32 miles. It is windy today, but warmer than I thought it would be. I had a quick shower at the Trails and then we were all off to Runner's Roost to buy my new shoes. It's amazing how much better they feel than my old worn out ones, I can't wait to put a few miles on them. I'm making banana bread now, and after lunch we are off to the pediatricians for Elijah's flu shot. I'm sure we'll have to comfort him afterwards with a trip to Peet's.

Big Deer!

The big buck was out today, and he was huge! Also one tried to run by me without being seen, they look kind of funny when they are bounding from their back legs to their front legs. I did just 4.5 miles today to take it easy, but I was feeling really good at the end. I don't want to risk injury though especially with my old shoes. I'm going to try to buy new ones this weekend so that I can break them in before the turkey trot. TGIF, this week seems like it's gone on forever. Tomorrow I get to have my run with Elijah, I love Saturdays!

Happy Gary

Gary now has a new battery, a new alternator and a new serpentine belt! He's a happy car. We didn't make it to Melissa's appointment this morning, but they were all done with the repairs by 9:30, which isn't too bad. They had a copy of Runner's World there so I was all set.


I went out for a 7 mile run at noon today and really enjoyed the cooler weather. It was 80 yesterday and 46 today so it was quite a front that moved in. No major precipitation though and we are not supposed to dip below freezing so I doubt we'll get any snow out of it. It was perfect weather for running although the view of the mountains was obscured by clouds. I'm definitely a cold weather runner, I feel like my strength is sapped when it's hot out and the sun is beating down. Give me cloudy and cool any day! I'm glad to have the right gear for it too, my jacket and pants keep me nice and toasty warm even when the temps get pretty cold. I just need a shell now to keep the rain and wind out. But with the car repairs that will just have to wait.