Happy Weekend

After a long week but busy week of work at the Cosmopolitan, my weekend is finally here, and I plan to enjoy the next three days off. Late but lucrative nights have left me exhausted, but I'm excited for an early bed time tonight. The next week culminates in Fort Lewis College graduation, so I'm working five nights through Saturday, a longer work week than usual for me. The weather has been warm but quite windy, but the trails out my backdoor are snow free and dry; the high country is another story entirely. The opening of Animas has been a welcome addition to my stable of trails. I'll be heading up Animas today and tomorrow to hopefully give me my first week above 50 miles this spring...

Saturday's run up Animas felt surprisingly good and was quick for this time of year too. Although I headed up the mountain with Sherpa, he quickly fell behind, and I didn't see him until the end of the run. After the first couple of trail intersections, maybe about 21 minutes into the climb, I realized that I was on pace to finish the climb under 38 minutes, the fastest I'd made the ascent this year. So, I pushed the pace on the climbs, really driving my arms, and tried to keep the tempo up on the flats while trying to catch a little recovery. I started the descent after the view point above the cliffs in just over 36 minutes, and then tried to push the downhill while maintaining some sort of control. However, a small stomach cramp bothered me for much of the steep roller coaster descent, but I just ran harder and exhaled harder in an effort to battle the cramp. Despite the nagging stitch, I finished the run in 54 minutes, my best time this spring by several minutes. Although I'd planned to run Animas again today, the hard effort yesterday and my semi-dead legs today convinced me to wait for tomorrow. An easy recovery day between two hard days is sometimes necessary... so, instead Sherpa and I did 6 easy but fast miles today on Sailing Hawks in about 40 minutes.

4/14 - 4/20 - 48 miles
M - 8 miles (Animas)
T - 8 miles (Animas)
W - 6 miles (Sailing Hawks)
T - 6 miles (Sailing Hawks)
F - 6 miles (Sailing Hawks)
S - 8 miles (Animas - 54:00)
S - 6 miles (Sailing Hawks)