Stepping Up the A Game

Having a "down" week for what I was looking for was probably for the best. I was shooting for 120, but cuss happens. This week was very similar as far as where I chose to roll...

7/23 - 7/30: 120 miles for the week.

Monday - Took a bit of an adventure this moving and had a solid AM with righteous hills. Took down a 14 miler at GP with the girls. Later in the PM I Voltroned with Greg an we glided through a rugged 9+ behind my house on the switchback trail. 25 miles for the day. Felt very good each run.

Tuesday - had an appointment near mt Ascutney, so I decided to conquer the mountain. The road race was there a few days earlier but decided to roll 22 miles with my crew instead. Also, honestly, didn't feel like paying to race up a mountain I can train on (later to retract exact statement and sell out to hypocrisy). In my training run I put together a solid time that I was happy with, 32:0... is a time I can live with. I adventured around the summit and checks out some other trails until I ended up with 12 on Ascutney.
Hit GP with the girls for a great PN run before it got dark adding 7 to the day and calling my day 18.

Wednesday - these are days I truly believe to be extraterrestrial. Had a great day and felt great the whole time. Woke up and started the day with a solid 8 miler. Headed to Keene for the Wednesday workout and had a good miles day adding 13 for 25 on the day. My workout was a series of strides at 5:30 pace and felt good to shake it out.

Thursday - THE Pete Thomas asked if I would speak at the KSC running camp and I planned my run to be in Keene. It was great, I got to speak about motivation (which doesn't take much to get me cussing wild) and then go for a run with a Death Hill, cool. I ended up running close to 2 hours and climbed Death Hill in 2:40.

Friday - Made and appearance in Burlington and hustled 5 miles on the VCM course. I was asked by race officials if I'm coming back to VCM to defend my #1 VTer, and had to tell them that I'm not interested. I'm in for the big W! Yup, you read it, run an tell that to whoever you think needs to know...
Ended the day with a 5 miler at GP with the girls. Good pre-race day.

Saturday - So I said I wouldn't pay to run up a hill I could train on and did just the opposite a week later and really paid. When I say pay, holy cuss, I paid. $65 entry fee (which is ludicrous) to run the Okemo Mtn Challenge. A 10 mile race up Okemo an down. Good news: course record. Bad news: the prize I was told about was not there. Oh well, I'm not ungrateful, just was super pumped when the lass told me about an awesome prize... Cuss happens? That's my karma slap for not going to Ascutney.

Sunday - 15 mile dirt road run in Putney with a huge gang. Awesome way to end a 120 mile week. My legs and body are responding well to the high mileage (which is normal now).