My week began with some disappointing news. In December, I had entered into the lottery for a place to run in the Leadville 100 Trail Race. I have always dreamed of doing this famous 100 mile race in the Colorado Mountains. It also goes by the name of “The Race Across The Sky” and is a particularly challenging run. I wanted to embrace that challenge.
Unfortunately, on Monday morning, I received an e-mail saying that I had not been chosen in the lottery. I was more disappointed that I thought I would be. I had not scheduled any races this year, because had I been chosen, this 100 mile race would have been the full focus of my year. Now I have to start a “Plan B”.
Despite the disappointment about the Leadville race, I didn’t lose any motivation to train. In fact, I found myself very motivated and had another excellent week. Here are the details of the workouts that I completed this week:
- Monday – 75 Minute Endurance Ride on my bike trainer
- Tuesday – 70 Minute Recovery Pace Run
- Wednesday – 90 Minute Aerobic Run
- Thursday – 60 Minute Interval Bike Session (3 x 6 Minutes Above Threshold) – See Photo Below
- Friday – 60 Minute Treadmill Run at Recovery Pace
- Saturday – 55 Minute Aerobic Run
- Sunday – 90 Minute Recovery Trail Run
Pushed Some Big Watts On This One (White Line = FTP)
As I continue to build in this run block, my run time and mileage both increased from last week. Both increased by about 9%, which is almost ideal. Big jumps in time or mileage are a recipe for injury. I am hoping to increase again during this upcoming week, before enjoying lower volume during the week after that.
The most adventurous run of the week, shouldn’t have been like it was. My Saturday run was supposed to be straightforward aerobic run with my friends in the City of Bridges Run Club. The weather on Saturday had other ideas however. The temperatures turned very cold overnight and there had been some light snow. This normally isn’t a problem, but on this particular morning, the City for some reason had not salted either the roads or the sidewalks. This lead to some very slick running conditions; probably the worst conditions that I have ever experienced on a group run. I survived, but I was never able to relax during the run.
It is shaping up to be a warmer, but wet, start to this week, before more snow on Friday. I plan to do the group run again next Saturday; hopefully conditions underfoot will be a little better. Also, I shouldn’t be getting any disappointing news this week. I am still a little salty about missing out on Leadville.
Slick Conditions For Running On Saturday
