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Prep…

Prior planning prevents piss-poor performance. ~ Anon

Well, with a week to go before the Denver Marathon, I have one more medium-long run planned (today, 12M) then I’ll just get my taper on for the remainder of the week. I am guessing I could really use a couple more weeks to prep for this puppy but I suspect the RD won’t be willing to push the start date back for me so I’ll just make due with what I have.

Bought a pair of Brooks Green Silence flats to try out. I ran in them last week and am taking them out again today. Initial tests were quite positive so I am excited to see how I like them during the longer efforts. Scott Jurek used these during his record-breaking 24-hour event this past summer, in case you were wondering.

Work has been steady (read: hectic) this week but I managed to get in all my runs. Rach and I even got to go to the Met in HD performance of Das Rheingold yesterday, which was gorgeous on a whole host of levels.

I am off to Boulder to get my run in. Have a great Sunday.

~stubert.

Slough…

Rub some dirt on it and get back in there. ~ Coach Sanders

Another long week on the work-front but managed to get in quite a few high-quality runs. Capped the week off with a 20-mile effort on Sunday. Felt okay for most of it but faded pretty hard at the end. Guessing this does not bode well for a particularly blazing time at Denver but whatchagonnado? Just having fun on the 17th will be plenty and knowing me, I’ll put in a decent go for at least a good portion of the race.

Now on to the slough run… I used to take the day off after longer/more intense efforts but have grown to really appreciate a short, easy run the following day. This run usually lasts between 20 and 30 minutes and works really well to shake off any soreness/tightness and get the legs moving again. I have found that it decreases my recovery time markedly and gets me moving back in the right direction. During the lead-up to the ’08 Silver Rush, I even did some doubles which seemed to have a similar, positive influence.

Any helpful recovery tricks up your proverbial sleeve?

~stubert.

Nuts…

I remember when, I remember I remember when I lost my mind ~ Gnarls Barkley

This week was crazy nuts. Tons of work to get done. So I signed up to run the Golden Gate Canyon 1/2 Marathon this Sunday and then pulled the trigger on the Denver Marathon on October 17th. Yes, there is something wrong with me.

I also ran with Caleb twice (tempo run last Saturday and then 800 repeats on Tuesday) and hooked up with the Denver Trail Runners group on Thursday which was pretty awesome. Those guys are fast. Hoping this will tee me up well for the Denver race and get me moving in the right direction to try for a sub-3-hour marathon in the near future.

I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes. Hoping to get in under 2-hours which would be a PR for that course.

~stubert.

Slackin’…

Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. ~ Jeffrey Lebowski

I have been slacking in many ways but working is not one of them. We have been slammed and this, coupled with Relish Studio’s move to Lakewood, has been keeping me super busy. I have been running – rather quickly, it seems – but have logged neither the consistency I would prefer nor the volume. Alas, that is – as they are known to say – how it goes.

The sluggishness I felt in my legs immediately post Leadville has worked its way out and I have had some great, fast (for me) runs over the past couple of weeks. It has been really nice to just cut loose on these runs and I feel that my form is coming along well. Just need to regain the consistency I had during the run-up to the LT100 with a serious dial down of the overall volume. Training for that race was difficult. It was a commitment I am glad I made because the results were impressive, however, I would caution anyone seeking to commit to a similar program about the life and relationship sacrifices one will have to make to put that plan in place. In all ways, it was challenging.

So what does the future hold? Right now, I am enjoying a certain lack of structure associated with a more free-form approach to running and may target another event in the future but not another 100-miler. I feel I have tackled that elephant and a repeat performance at this point would be merely redundant. Adventure running has a strong appeal as does the allure of a sub-3-hour marathon. Unfortunately, these are mostly combative when considering the nature of training required for each. So we’ll see what happens.

As always, I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Recovering well…

Big ass buckle.

Yeah, it’s a lazy dog-dangling afternoon. ~ Homer Simpson

Relaxed on Sunday and Monday but then got back after it on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have found that getting the legs moving again shortly after a big effort really pays off and Tuesday’s run was no exception. It is remarkable how well I feel after the race – especially given how poorly I felt post-race in ’07. I attribute both the success over the weekend and the relative ease of my recovery to good form, consistent and voluminous training and great nutrition. So bonus!

More short recovery efforts (or lack thereof) scheduled for tomorrow and the weekend. Very psyched to be in this kind of mode this early post-race.

~stubert.