Pikes Peak Greenway

8.5 Miles or so 58:XX
Forgot my Garmin today. Of course this bugged me but not
enough to drive back home to get it. I carried my cell phone
to keep track of time. Distance is probably very close as
they have mile markers along the trail. Another beautiful
fall day. I love running this time of year.

B/a11r/291

Palmer Trail Loop / Section 16 NEW SHOES!

5.5 Miles 44:43 Fastest I have run this so far.
11:00 am) Sunny & Cool
Last time I ran this I was 45:56 so not bad today. Wore new shoes
today Brooks Pure Grit. They are very light less than 9 oz. I
really like them so far but it was only 5.5 miles so not a real
test. The only issue I had was my right shoes laces came untied
2 times. I even double knotted my shoes laces. Glad Brooks finally
came out with a light weight trail shoes. These might become my
new go to shoe at least I hope.
Legs felt great again today and ran very hard last 1.5 miles.
Easy to run last part hard as it is downhill. I like it though
as I get to work on some fast turnover. I averaged around 5:30
pace for that 1.5 miles.

B/PG/6

Bear Chase Pictures

Pikes Peak Greenway

10 Miles 1:09:17 6:56 average per mile
10:15 am) warm mid to upper 70's
Good run today. Legs feel very good. Was warm but didn't really
notice it with such low humidity.

B/a11r/282

Ute Valley Park

5 Miles 43:35 8:42 average per mile
11:00 am) Sunny & Summer Like
Took it easy today and kept it short. My legs actually feel great
no real soreness from race. I did feel fatigue though. Nice day
here in Colorado Springs! This weather has been super lately!

B/a10r/272

Pikes Peak Greenway

8 Miles 56:50 7:06 average per mile
10:00 am) warm & cloudy
Yes I'm running already no day off. Probably take tomorrow off
as I'm usually more sore 48 hours later. I think my body is
somewhat used to the pounding as I have done 2 marathons and
a 50k in 5 weeks. Might be time to take a bit of a break.
When I say a break I don't mean no running just less off it
and easier paced.
No races planned at this point but I might have something in
the works for December? If so I will need to get some good
training in a short period.

Bear Chase 50k Trail Run

31 Miles 4:05:42 7:55 average per mile
4th Overall
Well a good race not quite what I hoped for. I hoped to break
4 hours today. I was well on my way to doing that until the
last 12.5 loop. I went from a 1:32:53 loop to a 1:48:22.
Several reasons why my last loop was over 15 minutes slower.
I ran second loop too fast. My hamstring cramped after 3rd
creek crossing. Was able to work it out but slowed me down
and finally for the first time in my running career I got sick.
I was in 4th going into the last loop so I feel very fortunate
to not lose any positions.
My time was over 11 minutes faster than last year so that's
a pretty good improvement. This also is a PR for me in the
50K distance. The finisher medal is Awesome! It's large and
heavy. I highly recommend this race to anyone!

Sondermann Park

4 Miles 30:26 7:36 average per mile
11:00 am) sunny & warm
Short run today. Just enough to get a sweat going.
I'm going to take tomorrow off so I'm done till race
morning.

Pikes Peak Greenway

5 Miles 32:03 6:24 average per mile
10:30 am) cool & sunny!
Short run but pushed it hard. Feeling better than I did a couple
days ago. Should be ready to go Sunday!

Elliptical & Treadmill

1:00 Total gym workout
30:00 elliptical 3.44 miles
30:00 treadmill 3.28 miles 10% Incline
Very good workout.

St Mary Falls

9.10 Miles 1:35:50 10:32 average per mile
7:00 am) Sunny & Chilly
2476 elevation gain
Met up with Dan Vega at Gold Camp parking lot. Dan took me on
one of his runs that he does. I had never run it before and didn't
know what I was getting myself into. Well it started out okay
no problem then it got steep. I was having a hard time keeping
up with Dan. Eventually I just couldn't keep up with him. I was
reduced to power hiking. Even the power hiking was hard. Dan
just kept on running he didn't walk a step of the run. He is
a great climber! Once we reached the top we turned around and
ran it back down. Thank goodness for the downhill!
I will need to do this run some more. I want to eventually stay
with Dan on this. Was my first time running with Dan I hope to
get to run with him more in the future. I always like running
with someone better than myself it makes me a better runner.

B/TB/115

Pikes Peak Greenway

7 Miles 48:40 6:57 average per mile
Felt okay today. Still tired though. Yesterday I took off due to
no energy at all. I'm hoping I well feel better later in the week.
Been working more past few weeks and have not been sleeping
enough. Will try to get more sleep the rest of this week for my
50k on Sunday.

Manitou Incline & Barr Trail

5.80 Total
1 Miles Incline Did not race it. I was picking up trash on the
way up. I didn't find much as I was late getting there. Incline
looked very clean. I then did my usual run down Barr Trail.
With my small bag of trash in my hand. I averaged 7:12 today
basically the same as yesterday.

Manitou Incline & Barr Trail

5.77 Miles Total
1 Mile Incline 24:49
New header picture is from today. As you can see we have snow
on the peak now. Fall is in the air around here.
Incline went well today one of my better times. I then continued
to Barr Trail and then down Barr Trail. I felt very fast coming
down today. I averaged 7:13 coming down with the hill I had to
climb to get back to Barr Trail.

Palmer Trail Loop / Section 16

5.43 Miles 55:56 8:27 average per mile
Mile 2 was very hard today I hiked it more today than usual.
Funny thing though the mile was still in line with past runs.
Last 2.5 miles I ran hard. 6:19, 5:56, 5:37.
Today was chilly damp and foggy. Kind of nice though. Yesterday
we had 4.5 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. This is the
most on record for rain for Colorado Springs. The trail today
was great though only a couple of puddles. One tree fell on
the trail. I had to stop climb up the embankment and then
back down.

B/TB/105

Gym Workout

45 Minutes Elliptical 5.2 Miles
15 Minutes weights
Needed a day off but still wanted to do something so I went to the
gym at my apartment complex. I got a pretty good workout in.

Waldo Canyon (Counter)

7 Miles 56:31
Ran this counter again just to see how good my time was the other
day since that was my first time running it counter clockwise.
Well I did a little better about 26 seconds faster.
My best time clockwise is 56:23 so both my best times in either
direction are within 8 seconds of each other.
Today was perfect running conditions cloudy and cool. Also less
hikers on the trail today so that was nice as well.

B/TB/99

Pikes Peak Greenway

5 Miles 35:00 7:00 average per mile
Today was a short but effective workout. I did a 1 minute on
1 minute off routine for 20 minutes. I would run hard for a
minute not all out then jog for 1 minute. The purpose of this
is to work on some faster turnover. I don't like going to the
track so this is the next best thing for me. I really don't
need to do track work at this point as my next 2 races are
both Ultra Marathons. I do want some speed so this is all I
need to do plus maybe some tempo runs or hill repeats.
I look to do this particular workout once a week up till
December. I might do more at some point like 25 minutes or
even 30 minutes.

Palmer Trail Loop / Section 16

11 Miles Total
2 Loops
Loop 1 47:33
Loop 2 47:35
Can't believe how close I was on both loops 2 seconds difference.
On Friday I was 47:29.
First loop ran the entire loop. My second mile was still 13:50
so not really much improvement better off to power hike some
of it I guess. Second time around I did hike on 2 occasions and
it was 14:15 for the mile.
My goal is to eventually make this a long run and build up to
4 or 5 loops. If I can run this loop strong for 4-5 loops I will
be fit.

B/TB/92

Palmer Trail Loop / Section 16

5.41 Miles 47:29 8:46 average per mile
11:00 am) 60's Sunny!
Elevation Gain: 1,436 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,433 ft
Min Elevation: 6,602 ft
Max Elevation: 7,858 ft
Man I love this loop! Not sure why I haven't run it more. The
first couple miles are very hard I would say harder than Barr
Trail. Then you get treated to over 3 miles of downhill running.
This is going to be a weekly run from here out. The hard section
is so steep that I hiked some of it. I hope to get stronger and
run this entire section.
Here is my splits to give you an idea of the terrain.
Mile 1 10:29
Mile 2 14:03
Mile 3 7:23
Mile 4 6:35
Mile 5 6:21
Mile 5.41 (2:37) 6:22
My watch said 5.41 but my guess is this loop is 5.5. It's very
wooded and lots of switchbacks.

B/a11r/261

Waldo Canyon (counter)

7 Miles 56:57
10:15 am) sunny & cool
First time I have timed myself running this counter clockwise.
I have heard it is harder this way. Well my time today suggest
it's not really harder this way. It's hard but both ways are
equal in my opinion. Time will tell after I do some more runs
going both ways.
I thought today the parking lot would be empty after all kids
are back in school and adults should be working right? Wrong
19 cars when I arrived and 25 cars when I left.

B/TB/81

Manitou Incline & Barr Trail

5.80 Miles Total
1 Mile Incline 25:03
Good time for the Incline legs felt strong but still a bit sore.
Coming down Barr Trail I felt good. Great weather today much
cooler. Only 2 other people on the Incline today! Sure is nice
to have it all to yourself.

B/TB/74

Red Rock Canyon

5 Miles 40:02 8:00 average per mile
10:30 am) 70's Partly Sunny
Wasn't sure if I would run today. When I went to bed I felt
pretty sore. Woke up this morning and felt surprisingly good.
So decided to do a short run to loosen up a bit. First mile
I could feel the soreness in my calves. After that felt really
good. Will look to take it easy this week.

B/TB/68

ADT Trail Marathon Colorado Springs, CO

2:54:41 6:40 average per mile
8th Overall out of 443 2nd Master
6:30 am) Cold at the start low 40's warmed up nice though.
New PR at altitude (3:02 Denver 2010). Was not sure I would
even run this till Saturday morning when I found out I was
off work today.

Got bused to the start at 5:00 am. Arrived at start at 5:30
had to wait in the cold for an hour. It was very cold low
40's with a nice breeze. Once race started it was fine.
I had arm warmers, head band & gloves on to keep somewhat
warm.

First mile was 6:37 and felt easy this was a good start.
I wanted to run around 6:45 average today. I tried to hold
back the first few miles. Around mile 7 I was kind of by
myself and saw 2 runners in front of me so I picked up the
pace to reel them in. Once I caught them I stayed with them
till around mile 16. Turns out the one guy was Joseph I ran
a training run with him on Barr trail a month or so earlier.
The other guy was Nick he ended up 7th place and first master.

Around mile 17 I saw my friend Mike E. and threw a bunch of
gear at him arm warmers and such. It was getting warm at
this point. I felt pretty good all day but the second half
was definitely harder than the first. I think running Pikes
Peak marathon just 2 weeks ago had a lot to do with that.

My goal today was to use this as my last long run before
Bear Chase 50k in 20 days. I just hope I recover fast from
this run.

This is a well run race and highly recommend it. A few small
problems but nothing that hurt the experience for me.

19th St & Mesa Rd.

5 Miles 35:38 7:07 average per mile
10:20 am) Breezy and Cool!
Almost felt cold on this run. I guess I'm used to the hot weather.
This cool blast is a bit of a shock to the system. I took off
yesterday due to not feeling energized. Today I felt pretty
good once I got going.
Signed up for a marathon on Monday. Not sure what to expect.
I have done zero track work and have been running on hilly trails.
This race is flat basically on the Santa Fe trail & Pikes Peak
Greenway in Colorado Springs. Not really worried about my time
as this will be my last long run going into my 50k race Sept. 25.
Looking at past results I still should place well if I run decent.
I usually go into a race with a goal or a certain pace I would
like to run not this time. I'm going strictly by feel.

B/a11r/260

Santa Fe Trail

9.30 Miles 1:04:31 6:56 average per mile
10:20 am) upper 70's Sunny Warm!
Didn't feel great today. Not sure if it was the heat or
just fatigue. I thought about going longer today but cut
run short. No sense running any further if your not feeling
good.