I decided to head back out to Palmer Park again last night and see if I could make the entire loop around the north end of the park on the Templeton Trail.  Started at the same trailhead and went left at the merge for Templeton to head north along the ridge.  Once around the ridge on the Union Blvd side of the parkit got real cold and the morning snow hadn’t melted off.  Glad I brought my gloves.  Made it around to the end of the mesa and lost my way.  Finally took a random spur and ended up back on Templeton on the other side of the parking lot and made the rest of the loop around to North Canyon.

Trail maps on PPRR say it’s 4.3 mi.  I’ll call it 4 since I cut out a bit coming in on one side and exiting the other side of the canyon.

Going to do the entire loop on Saturday morning again and maybe some additional.  Feel free to ask me how to donate to my Garmin Forerunner 405 fund so I can figure out just how far I am running.

Pulled up the Palmer Park trail maps online today to search out a new run.  Settled on the Templeton trail and headed over about 4pm with the dog in tow.  I left the North Canyon trailhead and started out on Edna Mae Bennett trail and quickly merged onto Templeton.  Some technical and rocky switchbacks lead up to the top of the canyon.  As I neared the top of the ridge, there was a spur that I jumped on and it lead me to the mesa.  I ran the length of the mesa and back to the spur and continued on the Templeton trail.  I made my way around the top edge of the canyon until I found the EMB trail again and took that back to the trailhead.

I was hoping to make it all the way around on Templeton, but the impromptu trip out on the mesa made that unneccessary.  I’m going to hit that up later this week or this weekend for sure.

I was all kinds of antsy to get out and run at work today so hopefully the jet lag is finally wearing off.  I talked to a co-worker on the trip with me and he said I wasn’t alone feeling a little ragged.  It was both of our first trips across the pond and neither of us knew what was in store when we got back home.

4 miles; 1 hour.

Just the Winter Series 10k in 1:18 to report for this week.

Spent most of last week in England. Glad to be back home where I can focus on running again.

Total: 6.2 mi; 1:18

Last race to close out the PPRR Winter Series and I was not excited about it. I just got back from England late Thursday night and still felt a little jetlagged before the race. The course was icy thanks to a little snow that fell early Saturday morning and a few people managed to hit the ground in the first couple miles before it started thawing out. Also unwelcome were all the hills on this couse. I haven’t really done much in the way of extended hill training thus far while building a base. I charged up the first hill and had to walk at the top as my calves were on fire and felt like they were close to locking up. This was just after the one mile mark and I knew this wouldn’t end good.

I walked a couple more hills and ran the flats and downhills before getting out into the northern end of the forest where we lost tree cover. It was extremely windy up there and I didn’t feel like I was moving at all. I just kept moving and thankfully the last quarter mile or so was downhill. I cruised in with a dismal 1:18:07.

Cliff notes: jetlag sucks and it makes me run slower than my normal slow self.

Palmer Park run - 4 mi; 1 hour

Neighborhood loop - 2.5 mi; 35 min

Total 6.5 mi; 1:35

Meh.

Got out of class a little early this evening after taking a test.  I had a few minutes to get to the gym but I decided to take the dog out for a run instead.  Extremely comfortable outside for a run tonight.  Took a lap around the neighborhood.  I’ll call it 2.5 miles and I was out for just under 30 minutes.  Apparently it didn’t phase the dog because he is still bugging the shit out of me.

This was a harsh reminder how much I hate running on pavement.  My shins were a little sore when I got home.  I hope I can get one more in before I head to London on Saturday.

Gonna make an effort to track weekly training

Mon - lifting/cross training 30 min

Tues - 3.5 miles on the treadmill. 10 min at 8.5% incline. 45min total

Thur - 3.25 miles on the threadmill, 40 min total

Saturday - 5 mi race, 54:28

Totals 11.75 miles - 2:20

I had talked to CBB on Thursday about running with the Incline Club on Sunday for their long run.  They were heading up Barr Trail to Barr Camp and back.  I’m nowhere near ready for that, but I was planning to at least get to No Name and turn around.  As luck would have it, we partied a little too hard last night and I was in no shape to get out of bed at 6:30 this morning to make it to Manitou by 8am.

I finally got moving around 10:30 this morning and decided that I felt good enough to take Boomer to Palmer Park and run there.  The weather was awesome again today so I through on some shorts and a t-shirt and headed over.  The trails were again pretty sloppy in spots but there wasn’t much standing water on the trail.  Not sure how many miles we covered but we were in the park for well over an hour.  I walked the last 3/4 of a mile back to the parking lot as the lack of hydration from the previous night’s debauchery was catching up with me.  Still I was glad that I was able to get out and do something which is certainly not the norm after a solid night of drinking.  I’d guess that I got in about 4 miles of running/hiking this morning.

Hope I can get on the treadmill a couple times this week and go lift at least once before leaving for England on Saturday.

Got up Saturday morning and headed up to the Monument area for the 3rd race of the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series.  The course went from Baptist Rd into Monument just past the Hwy 105 exit and back to Baptist Rd on the Santa Fe trail.  The course was on a packed dirt trail and gained 200 or so feet in elevation on the way out.  It was pretty flat and there was little in the way of snow or water on the trail so it made for a comfortable run.

I went snowboarding on Friday and was still a little sore in my left hip area and both of my calves were feeling tight.  I wasn’t sure how they would hold up to 5 miles of running.  I got a number and ran up the trail about a quarter mile and back to warm up.  I went out pretty slow and felt ok.  I carried a water bottle so I wouldn’t have to stop to take a drink at the turnaround and could take a sip as needed on the course.  I had completely forgotten about any nagging pain in my calves or shins by the time I hit the turnaround and decided to pick it up for the way home.  I was picking off runners at a pretty good clip on the way back.  For some reason (mental mostly), that last mile seems to take forever and I never feel like I have gas in the tank when I pass that final marker.  I felt like I slowed down a little during the last mile but found a kick for the finish as some of the runners I had passed earlier were making a push at the line.

I finished at 54:28.  I was pretty pleased with that time.  Still under 11 minute miles and I was able to run the entire distance.  I fought back a side stitch a couple of times but it never got so bad that some controlled breathing for a few minutes couldn’t put it in check.  Next up is a 10K on Feb 23.  I’ll have to make some kind of effort to run during the week leading up to the race while I’m touring around London for work.

Took a break from the normal crosstraining routine at 123Fit and visited the gym at SAFB after work. 5 min warmup, 1mi at 10% incline, and then I flattened it out to finish up 3.25 miles. Definitely need to skip the cross training a couple days a week and run on the treadmill until the sun is up after work hours.

Weight progress.  I think I topped out at 217 in the fall before signing up for the Denver Winter Series.  I weighed 208 this morning.