Training Log Archive: bbrooke

Rest & recovery day -- but I wanted to meet up with the LoCOfit breakfast group (since I had a small gift for our coach's 40th birthday), so my plan was to just walk.

I seriously underestimated how cold (and drizzly) it was going to be, so I was under-dressed.

Also, walking seems infinitely more boring compared to running, especially in the drab, generic office park location where our loop started.

In other words, I was cold and bored, and I couldn't wait to eke out two miles to get this over with. I tried to run a bit to warm up, but that hurt too much. :-P

On the upside, I had a delicious pumpkin-cream croissant & latté with the group afterwards -- and then I headed off to my babka class. :-)

"Golden Hell Week" Day 5 of 5 -- Nightbird Gulch / Mt. Galbraith

I can't believe I did all five! Woohoo.

The daily drive to / from Golden was kind of a pain. I probably could have done North Table & South Table on the same day if I had started earlier.

Also, my personal challenges in general are (a) getting up super-early (I started two of the routes before dawn), and (b) not procrastinating (there's no way I could have finished this if I had skipped any given day -- although apparently there were some people eking out several of the trails late last night before the deadline...).

I thought I'd be able to run more of this Nightbird Gulch / Mt. Galbraith trail since it was the longest but with less elevation gain than Lookout and therefore, presumably, less steep. But, it was SO rocky -- I could never get much flow or rhythm. (Although, that didn't seem to be a problem for the people flying past me, up and down...)

There was a finish-line party afterwards at the start / finish location (Mountain Toad Brewing). A very fun event overall.

Looking east from the Nightbird Gulch trail:


On the Mt. Galbraith Loop trail:


With the race director at the finish line party:

C • Well done 7

"Golden Hell Week" Day 4 -- Lookout Mountain

I actually woke up an hour before my alarm (at 4:15 am) -- but promptly went back to sleep until the alarm went off.

This run was longer than the others but not as steep, and I'm also feeling a bit more recovered from the weekend, so I tried to run uphill as much as possible. The upper 1.5 miles were icy and snowpacked, so that slowed me going both up and down (I'm overly tentative on icy stuff...).

I didn't anticipate how cold and windy it would be as I got closer to the top. I only had on light gloves, and I couldn't feel my fingers for a while.

Also, on the trip down, my IT band / knee pain kicked in -- ugh.

I think this was my favorite of the routes so far -- very scenic and pleasant once I got away from the highway noise.

Starting off in Golden:


About 1.5 miles up the Chimney Gulch trail:


Near the top:

C • your version of hell 5

Strength Training for Runners class.

"Golden Hell Week" Day 3 -- South Table Mountain

Since this is the shortest of the five routes, and since I didn't force myself out of bed early this morning, I squeezed this one in after work.

Sunny & nice to start, then chilly once the sun went behid the mountains.

Again, I walked up and ran slowly back down.

South Table Mountain in the background:

"Golden Hell Week" Day 2 -- North Table Mountain / Lichen Peak.

I snoozed my alarm and left home a bit later than I had planned, then I took a few wrong turns based on the vague trail directions. I was also just generally moving slowly (and stopping here and there to take pictures...). So this took me longer than expected, and I didn't have time to also do South Table Mountain (had to get to work...).

Luckily, the rain in the forecast didn't ever materialize -- just some flurries at the top.

I walked up / ran down.

Starting off at the Mountain Toad:


Looking northwest from the top (Lichen Peak):

Strength Training for Runners Class -- first class of the Fall session.

Event: Golden Hell Week
 

"Golden Hell Week" Day 1

Based on my late-afternoon start and the limited daylight, I chose: Apex.

My calves are feeling incredibly sore from the Saturday & Sunday races, so I walked up and ran (slowly) down. Finished just at dusk.

I think I'll have to do the remaining hikes at dawn -- there's not enough daylight to do them after work, and I'll get fired if I get caught sneaking out at 3pm every day this week...

Event: Beware the Bear Trail Races
 

"Beware the Bear" trail race at Bear Creek Lake Park.

I woke up thinking there wasn't any way I could do the 5K + 14.25K double today (after yesterday's 10K)...so I just did the 14.25K.

PERFECT weather again this year -- sunny and 60°F. John & Amy were also there (running & volunteering).

I started off in "I'll just be happy to finish" mode, but then I managed to pass some people, including on the uphills.

I ended up fifth out of 13 in my age group. I was ~four minutes behind the third-place woman, and there's no way I could have closed that gap today (I couldn't even catch the fourth-place woman who was only ~20 seconds ahead of me...). I was 40 seconds faster than last year -- but I had also done the 5K last year.

Delicious (free) breakfast burritos from Santiago's afterwards.

I stopped for groceries on the way home, and then resisted the urge to immediately take a hot bath and spend the rest of the day on the couch. Chores completed: meal prep for the week (chopped & roasted veggies, chopped & roasted potatoes, and made another batch of sweet potato breakfast cookies); cleaned kitchen; vacuumed downstairs; and cleared out dead plants from patio containers. NOW it's time to retire to the couch...

C • You Rock! 2

- Posted RMOC pics from OUSA Nationals (this was a time-consuming pain, b/c I had them disorganized all over the place -- work laptop, personal laptop, phone, email, Flickr, etc... ).

- Set up course / meal options and event details page for Score-O & annual meeting.

- Gathered photos for "member news" and posted to Flickr.

- Summarized RMOC member results from OUSA Nationals.

- Drafted RMOC email update with HTML & embedded images.

- Email follow-ups.

- Two membership renewals & confirmation emails.