Pike's Peek Preparations

This week is all about gearing up for Pike's Peek. On Monday morning I set out for 12, and hit the track at around 7.5 miles into the run. I did 4800 meters on the track cutting down to just below goal 10k pace for this weekend (5:29/mile or sub 34:00). I ran 16:53 going 5:48, 5:39, 5:26. I felt pretty good on the run but was definitely having a tough time making the last mile feel smooth.

For one of my runs on Tuesday I drove out to Seneca and hit up a section of the Greenway I've never done before and it was amazing. I plan to run this entire trail in pieces over the next few months--it just feels great to be running on such a gorgeous, well-maintained trail out in the wilderness with no distractions.

After shaking out on Wednesday morning I headed back to Georgetown Prep for a workout in the evening. This was supposed to be a "feel good" workout where I could run fast but also touch on 10k goal pace without suffering too much overall fatigue. I did 4 x 200 w/ 100 jog followed by a fast 1600, then four 800s with #1 and #3 fast and #2 and #4 at 10k GP, finishing with a faster 4 x 200 w/ 200 jog. None of the 200s were timed, and otherwise I hit: 4:54 (73, 74, 74, 73), 2:27 (73, 74), 2:43 (84, 79), 2:20 (70, 70), 2:44 (83, 81). The faster stuff felt amazing, I had a lot to put out there and could definitely have done more at that pace. On the 1600 my first and last 200 were 36 and everything else was 37--I was rolling nicely at that pace. Hitting paces on the slower reps proved very difficult, but I was able to end up close to my goal pace of 2:44.5 so it wasn't a total loss.