May 11-17

Monday: Off, drove back late from Yosemite.

Tuesday: I ran conversational pace heading up Temescal with Elan and Pedro in an attempt to scope out the fitness and body after 3 weeks of intervals. I've had a bone to pick with Green Peak because I ran my time 32:28 route last June, and have felt inadequate every time I've run it since then and can't even break 35 minutes. It got really bad in January when I thought I was getting in shape for Sean O'Brien and I couldn't even break 36. Eventually later in February I got just under 35, but it was definitely a sign that things weren't working. I finally started doing intervals for this last cycle and was pleased that such a lax effort with Elan and Pedro resulted in a 38 minute segment. Not too pleased with rolling my ankle and irritating my peroneus at the start though..
10 mi, 2100ft, 1:24

Wednesday: I slept in and resolved to run Temescal at a tempo pace to see what might happen. The result: 33:32! Still a minute behind my PR, but finally out of my 35 funk. The strange thing was that compared to my PR, I lost time for the first 2 miles, and then held strong for the last 1.6 miles, not loosing any more time. I think this past VO2max period gave me a big boost as far as handling sustained stress, and the immediate hope for pure speed will take another cycle for more development through my tempo phase.
9mi, 2000ft, 1:17

Thursday: Easy run up and down Westridge.
7mi, 1100ft, :58

Friday: Ideally, I wanted to do a longer tempo run on Wilson, but I ran out of time and energy, so I kept it to 90 minutes. I was on the fence about doing a step-back week, but I decided to play it by ear. It was apparent on Friday afternoon that I didn't need any more tempo runs this week as I puffed up to Orchard Camp in 39 minutes. My peroneus started to act up again and the downhill wasn't so pretty. It might be the high collar on the second V3 proto, but that should get fixed in a week.
10 mi, 3,000ft, 1:26

Friday PM: Coaching Katie during her intervals (she hated them, so I know I did my job).
5.5 mi, 900ft, 1:02

PCT east of Three Points

Saturday: I regret to admit it, but I engaged in a bit of self-destructive behavior. Katie and I got up late and slowly made our way to Three Points to run 20 miles of the easier terrain on the AC course. We started just after lunch, and I was dizzy and lightheaded running back towards Cloudburst. I knew it was supposed to be an easy run, but I wanted to avoid drinking the 2 liters of water I was carrying and eating the 1000 calories I had to train my body to run on nothing. Needless to say, it was self-destructive and made the run much less beneficial than it should have been. I eventually started eating and getting my rhythm back, but I was surprised that I had gone into this self-destructive mindset when I had already accomplished so much in the past few weeks. I thought about it, and it felt like it was the most old-school, confusing, unnecessary concept; something from the 1992 movie "The Mighty Ducks" where Emilio Estevez can't get past his self-destructive habits and just use his damn talents to help kids win some hockey games. I have so many challenges and tasks to do on a daily basis, I literally had to ask myself "what the hell is this Self Destructive Bullshit?!". It's a larger concept that ultrarunners fall prey to, as we are out there to do a bit of damage to our bodies, but it's not the sole purpose. It might indicate that we've worked hard, but it's not a sign of progress or ability. I could drive down the freeway in 2nd gear redlining my engine, but it'd be retarded and a huge waste of time and money (and transmission). It's definitely something that will let me progress much more as a runner if I can get past it.
20 mi, 4,100ft, 3:57

Cooper Canyon

Sunday: I got up and stretched a good amount until the body felt back to normal, and I headed up Acorn to attempt a loop over Pine Mountain, and up Cabin Flat. It was a beautiful day in the clouds, but it made it hard to find my way down the ridge without line of sight navigation to my target saddle that I had ran to in January. Eventually I found my way through the briers and made it out alive (very alive). Chalk it up to specific training for UTMB.
14mi, 5,300ft, 4:04

The West Ride of Pine Mountain (at least part of it)

76 miles, 14:09, 18:700 ft in a week isn't huge, but it's good to have consistency. I do need to keep an eye on my peroneus and hip over the long weekend to keep a positive progression going. I'm not afraid to heal myself before I go after the next big training goals.