I am excited to share that I had an incredibly successful week!

Saturday, February 26th:

After I finished my previous blog post, I did some evening bodyweight and core work - triangle pushups and lying leg raises. 

Sunday, February 27th:

The morning was bitterly cold, but I waited until the afternoon and set out for a long, flat one. I ran east on the Rock Island Trail, a good standard route for flat and consistent mileage. I planned on doing about 14 miles or so, but I felt good and kept going a little more, ending up with 18 miles on this out-and-back run.

My splits were slightly faster in the second half of my run. I partly attribute this to the fact that the trail is very gradually downhill on my way back, but it's pretty minimal. I hope that it also means I am getting better at negative splits!

Monday, February 28th:

I felt good on the row machine today. My typical goal is 30 minutes; this time I did 40 minutes! (And I rowed over 11,500 meters, although I'm not sure about the accuracy of that - as with treadmills, row machines are just an estimate of distance rowed.)

Then, I had a nice evening hike with the family at Garden of the Gods, entering the Garden on the Dakota Trail.

We saw the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on the east side of Dakota Ridge! So cool to see these fabulous animals. They weren't perturbed by us whatsoever. 

Tuesday, March 1st:

Back in my gym for standing barbell curls and machine butterfly. Although curls are typically considered an isolation exercise, I feel my whole body working when I stand properly, engage the core, press firmly through my feet, and perform the full range of the curl.

Wednesday, March 2nd:

This was the big one!! I decided the night before my run that I wanted to do something big. I've long desired to do the Incline from my house, but I haven't ever attempted it before. And I haven't been on the Incline itself in over two years. The temperature forecast for the day was approaching the 70s, so I wanted to take advantage of this warm weather window.

I checked in online and saw that almost no one had reserved afternoon time slots. I might have a very quiet Incline day.

I set out later in the day and it was already quite warm. I ran towards Manitou by connecting the western Rock Island Trail to Monument Valley Park, then Sondermann Park. I planned to make a big loop.

As I ran through Manitou, I stopped at Seven Minute Springs and refilled my water bottle, drinking it once entirely before refilling it again. I still had water in my hydration pack in the vest, but I wanted to be extra sure to stay hydrated on this warm winter day. Plus, it was a good excuse to drink the natural (and tasty) spring water.

I arrived at the base of the Incline after a little more than 10 and a half miles. I was a little late for my time slot, but checked in with no issue.

I felt positive and looking forward to the climb ahead. Man, I didn't realize how much I'd missed nature's stairmaster until I stood there at its base.

I climbed steadily but not overly quickly. I wasn't pushing it like a speed workout, and never got too out of breath. Especially since I had 10.5 miles on my legs already, and knew I'd have at least 14 more miles after reaching the top, if I wanted to get home! 🙃

I made it to the top in 44:35. I was happy with that for my first time back since the pandemic.

There was some crunchy ice along the way, and a decent amount of snow on top. But the air temperature was still undeniably warm. 

I stopped at my favorite lookout on my way down, opting to add an additional mile to my downhill by taking the long-cut that goes to No Name Creek.

Some of my favorite views from the top of the Incline long-cut connection to Barr Trail. 

I jogged down Barr Trail comfortably. I was in my happy place. On my way down, I saw Ann and stopped briefly to say hello. She is a hiker who I used to see very often on Barr Trail, so it was a pleasant surprise! It is good to know that Barr trail is still full of the usual suspects. 😁

I ran down the rest of the trail, back through Manitou, and into Garden of the Gods from the Balanced Rock entrance. I had a brief moment of tiredness and that feeling of "oh no, I still have at least 10 miles to go."

Mentally, I am working on suppressing the fear response that can sometimes happen when we are faced with a seemingly insurmountable task. This is such a huge factor in ultramarathon running. In this case, I took a little bit of electrolyte salt and almost instantly felt better.  Although I was still going slowly as I jogged uphill to the north through the Garden.

It was at this point that another runner jogged past me on the other side of the road, just a bit faster than my pace. As I saw the runner in front me, I thought, "is that Jim?" So I pushed just a little bit up the hill to catch up.

I turned and saw that it was Jim! I was so excited to see a friend was really buoyed. In fact, the next mile that we ran together was my fastest split of the whole run. It was so much fun to catch up and chat. I no longer felt tired at all, and I stuck with Jim going around the loop at the Garden, adding some miles. 

After a chat, I split with him and ran up the Dakota Trail where I'd seen the Bighorn sheep just a few days ago with the kids.

The sun was beginning to set and the clouds were pretty.

Views from my return trip to home.

Twilight was long and gradual, and it got dark slowly. I connected the Dakota Trail to the Foothills Trail, then joining the Sinton Trail and finally the Templeton Gap Trail, which competed my loop.

Wow, what a day!! Familiar faces and friends, landmarks and nature. Oh, and did I mention - I got 30 miles total, and over 4600 feet elevation. Not bad for a "town run" (definition flexible 😉).

Thursday, March 3rd:

Another warm winter day - a perfect day for a recovery walk with my family at Aiken Canyon!

A small amount of climbing might have been involved. 🤭

Friday, March 4th:

I felt mostly recovered from my 30 miler already, since yesterday's 2.5 mile hike was basically a rest day for me. So I had a really solid gym session today. Standing dumbbell press-outs, followed by kettlebell side lunges, and finally kettlebell toe squats into calf raises.

This last movement really really felt great. Basically, you stay on your toes the whole time, squatting down and then going through a full range of motion all the way into a calf raise. I got a massive calf pump from these! And they stretched and strengthened my plantar fascia, making my feet feel fantastic and strong after this session. Remind me to do these more often! 

Saturday, March 5th:

Another short weight session today - dumbbell front raises (unilateral), followed by regular (forward) dumbbell lunges.

Sunday, March 6th:

Finally, my first run since the 30 miler. A nice 8 miles recovery run in the snow in Palmer Park. When I started out, it was snowing on me pretty heavily, but it cleared quickly and eventually even warmed up a bit.

Isn't it amazing that just a few days ago I was running in almost 70-degree weather and today it was barely 20 when I set out? That's Colorado for ya!

Well, what a fantastic week!! I've felt strong both on the run and in the weight room; and I'm happy that my diet has been fairly on point 👌 as well. I've been eating a big salad every day, and I do think it helps. Also - I've finally begun supplemental vitamin D after having low vitamin D for months. Perhaps this has helped me too, because I feel like my recovery has been really exceptional.

Thanks for sharing in this journey with me by reading along. The future is bright 🌞! Can't wait for more fun 🌝.