It's hard for me to believe that it's already been more than two weeks since my last update. Time has been flying past this spring already.

Last Saturday's weightlifting day was very productive. I opted for a double leg day, doing both heavy barbell deadlifts and barbell squats. As a runner, I figure the most important exercises (that I used to neglect in the past) are the heavy leg exercises. I used to worry about fatiguing myself too much to run. But I don't run on weightlifting days now, and I am usually not too exhausted to run the following day.

Then I added a third exercise: pushups with rotation, just to feel more balanced.

My runs lately have been close to home. I can really feel spring beginning to come, at least in town. Although I haven't been to the mountains, I can tell it's still winter up there.

But I did a nice loop up through Marconi Heights a few days back, and I noticed the colors of the shrubs beginning to perk up from their winter grey and tan hues.

And I did get to catch a lovely sunset at the top of Palmer Park as I was wrapping up my run a different day.

On Tuesday, I had another strong weightlifting day, which included barbell bicep curls, standing machine pull-downs, and finally bodyweight lunges. I felt like this workout perfectly complimented Saturday's. Two heavy upper-body movements today and one bodyweight leg exercise, as compared to last gym session, which was two heavy leg movements and one upper-body bodyweight exercise. I feel pretty balanced!

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, we all went to check out the new Kane Ranch Open Space, east of Fountain.

It was a super windy day!

We enjoyed gorgeous views of the whole Pikes Peak Massif, Greenhorn Mountain and surrounding area, and the snow-capped Crestones. We could even see all the way south to the Spanish Peaks! The views were so fantastic that the camera can't do them justice.

It was a neat family venture to the wind-blown high desert just southeast of the city.

I continue to look forward to my next time up in the mountains! For now, I continue to build strength towards my summer adventures.