On the Up-and-Up

You know that winter is impending when not only is the oh-so majestic and glorious Pike's Peak crowned with whiteness, but when you can no longer take a pre-workout leak in the bushes because all of the leaves have fallen off of them, leaving you open to the scrutiny of total strangers. Boooo. But nonetheless it doesn't matter what season it is, this is a dang good place to train. Those things crossed my mind while I was getting dragged down the trail by Ryan Hafer this morning. In case you were wondering.

Back to buisiness. In a nutshell I feel fabulous and have been training and racing really well and couldn't ask for anything more than for things to stay on track. I got to travel with the UCCS team up to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Las Vegas (New Mexico that is) last weekend and they had as usual an open race preceding the collegiate races. It was a good opportunity to get in another cross country race and it went very smoothly. I felt great the entire way and ran a faster 6k time than I've ever run at altitude, and got to win too, which is always swell. Now granted this is cross country and there is always the possibility that the course is a smidgeon short or a tad long, so I don't generally put too much stock into times in XC. It's more about competing, which is one of the things I like best about it; no nit-picky split-taking nonsense. RMAC always has some great races to watch, so that made for some spectacular post-race entertainment. A very good time for sure.

Anyhow, initially I had all of these bright and shiney new training ideas to try out in the upcoming weeks, but I feel like things are going so well and keep getting better so I don't really see the sense in changing much. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. The biggest challenge over coming weeks will be tempering my enthusiasm enough to not do any of those "Well in retrospect, that was a poor choice" things. Obviously there are always a million hiccups along the way, but overall consistency is always the goal. I really want to be booking a flight to Spain with a USA singlet in my bag come this February, and so long as the wheels stay on, who knows what could happen? But first things first, and the next goal is to help make sure that Club XC trophy of the really manly-looking runner lady still belongs to our team in a few weeks.

Change is in the Air

I haven't posted in awhile and a lot has changed over the past several weeks. First, I am working...A LOT. It is really nice to be done with grad school and be in a career where there is actually a demand, but I tend to over-extend myself. A couple of weeks ago I was scheduled to work 13 days in a row--with no break--at 3 different jobs. I ended up getting a small stomach virus so I got an extra day off that I wasn't expecting in the middle of that, but I was tired by the time that stretch ended. So, the paychecks are nice and so is getting caught up on bills, but it has been a hard transition back into the working world and getting up at 4:30 am to get my runs in before work.
The other thing that has changed is that I am actually doing workouts, things are going well and I am healthy. My mileage is still really low, but we are finally to a point where I am no longer under-training and I am actually pushing my body to get stronger. Over the past few weeks I have been doing tempos at the end of my long runs, one track workout with shorter/faster intervals and then one longer interval day (this has been 2x2 miles). The fun thing is that the times are getting progressively faster while the effort is staying the same! So, that means I am getting into shape! Right now I am not very fit, but all of the work is building my momentum and hopefully letting me get ready for some late fall/winter racing and a spring marathon. So, in the meantime I am hoping that the trend continues and that I can actually get out there and get some racing in finally!!