the slow return (May 8-15th)

This last week was a brief glimmer of my formal training. It wasn't as great as I had hoped but right now I'm just trying to get back on my feet. I spent a bit more time on the bike this week then usual just trying to log more volume. The nice thing about riding bikes is the low impact doesn't affect my usually sensitive ankles and knees. By riding a bit more I was able to do a little more volume then running alone would allow. The week broke down as follows:
Monday- 2.45 hour bike ride
Tuesday- 2.15 hours. Green Mountain and a loop down bear creek
Wednesday- off
Thursday- off
Friday- AM- 3.40 hours. Green, Bear, South Boulder, then back to Green. 5,500 vertical gain. Some snow at the tops of the peaks made for slow running and some hiking.
PM- 1 hour on the bike
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Ran up and down Eldora Ski area. Crap conditions. It was like 30 degrees and rain/ snow.
Pm- 30 min on the bike.
Sunday- do to some extraneous circumstances I didn't run or ride today.

Not a good week, but certainly not the best week. Right now I'm not 100% mentally with it. The last week has been a struggle but hopefully things will start looking up.

May 14th running:
Really!?

Back at it

School is finally over! As I already mentioned, the last two weeks completely sucked. I'm on the slow rebound and starting to get the miles in again. This week was a fairly easy week. The goal was to gradually increase the milage and avoid injury. It broke down like this:

Monday (May 2nd)- 30 min just cruising.
Tuesday- 1.20 hours. Got a PR on Green today. 48.06 min. Good run and was pumped about the PR. I thought my fitness would be shot but this was a nice confidence booster.
Wednesday- 1.35 hours. Flagstaff and Green. Was hurting a bit after yesterday's effort so just took it easy today.
Thursday- Off- decided after two good days to give the legs a break. I have pushed it too hard too early in the past and suffered injury from it, so with this that in mind, I took the day off.
Friday- 1.20 hours on the bike. Cruised the road bike. I was out climbing Mangnolia Road as they called my name at graduation. A somber ride as I contemplated where I have been and where I am going. Alone with my thoughts, up in the mountains, is the perfect place to think.
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Green mountain. Started roughly 2 min farther away then usual and still hit the top in 50.45 min. That puts me at another sub 49 min summit. I was pleased with this run because I had a pounding headache the entire time and nearly turned around many times.
Sunday- 1.00 hours. Just cruised.

In total:
Run- 6.05
Bike- 1.20 hours
Total- 7.25 hours.

Not the most volume but a good start to the come back. I wish I had logged more hours but I needed to keep myself in check, with a PR and 3 summits on green I think we can say it was a good week.

I leave you with a little self portrait:

If you were to take a picture as I walked across the stage at CU Boulder's graduation I wouldn't be in it. This is my graduation picture (taken as they called my name).

Inconsistent training, Consistent school

Back at it.
The last two weeks have been pretty much consistent school work. The week of April 17-23 marked an all time high week of training. Got in 16 hours...solid. Hit about 45 miles over the weekend alone. After August 24th everything went to hell. From the 24th on school dominated my life. Over the last two weeks I have got in around 6 hours of training. But, with the end of school comes to the rebirth of training. So I am now resting up and slowly rebuilding my fitness. There is still some lingering fatigue (from all the school work) but I can now dedicate a great deal of time to rest and rebuilding a solid base. Things are starting to look up, and I'm overly excited about finding new legs in preparation for the races to come.

On a different note, had a great graston treatment with Brent at Synch Chiropractic. He did a number on my back. The graston really helps loosen up all the tightness in my back. And yes, it hurts like hell.