Positive Running

Ran 7 times around Black Swan Lake, including the 1/3 mile hill that I ran with each lap around the lake.  Also ran (4) 200m striders which stretched out my hamstrings.  On this second day running around Black Swan Lake, my quads are slightly feeling the steep downhill sections. The steep uphill and downhill sections of the course seem like a good warm-up for the AT100 course next week.

Rest day.

Ran 8 miles with Wes along the north side of the Arkansas River Trail at a pace of 7:36 per mile.  We started at 1:40 p.m. and I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I was a little low on energy.  Ran the first mile a bit fast at 7:25, then ran the second mile at 6:36.  I took an energy gel 25 minutes before we started running, but was a little low on energy when we started.  So the fast start took some wind out of my sails.  But the overall pace was what I wanted to accomplish for the run.

Ran 8.5 miles including 3 laps around the Metropolitan Bank Building and 8.1 miles on the Arkansas River trail on the north side of the river.  Ran 4.07 miles with Wes and Kevin in 31.29 for an average pace of 7.44 minutes per mile.  Ran the second 4.07 miles in 30.01 for an average pace of 7.24 minutes per mile.  Overall pace for 8.1 miles was 7:33 minutes per mile.  Ran mile 6 in 7:05 and mile 7 in 7:08.

Rest day.  Worked out for 30 minutes at the gym.

Rest day to be ready for pacing in the AT100.

Had planned to be a pacer in the AT100, but my running buddy dropped after just 42.6 miles.  He had completed the AT100 at least three previous times, but this year the Leadville 100 and Bartlett 50 miler proved to be too much prior to the AT100.  The weather was cold and rainy - which added to the already difficult course.  I helped out with the event through Sunday.