My own devices...

Picture of last year's Pikes Peak Ascent. Burr!

.... with no plan, I sent out on my own devices to the gym. I'm not really sure what's in my best interest; I scoured several past plans and picked things off of a few things that I could identify. I had no idea if this selective pin the tail on the donkey approach is helpful but I can't help but think that doing ANYTHING has to reap some rewards somewhere. I just didn't know what Rob's long-term plan was so I just threw things together and once I got to the gym, I just threw away what I scribbled down and went with a series of weights that I haven't done in awhile -- I mean, may as well hit some muscle groups that are maybe feeling neglected....if there are any out there remaining untouched; last week I could swear I hit them all.



Anyway, I decided upon a circuit of 7 different things, trying to touch most muscle groups, and finish each set with a 1 mile run at higher then tempo pace. I'm not sure the logic there...just seemed to make sense.



I'm not sure I set the weights hard enough...most likely not. Okay, I'm certain I don't cuz it doesn't hurt as bad as when Rob sets them. But the fear of pulling something and doing some permanent damage was at the forefront of my pea-brain, having done something with the ole glute muscle some-odd weeks ago in the same gym. I'm being ever so cautious. Sorta.



Nevertheless, I was sweating like I was vacationing in the Amazon or somewhere like that. The whole process took me over an hour, which included a good mile warm up. I hit the 1 miles starting at 8:00 and with each one thereafter, increasing the speed by 8 seconds, finishing the last mile in 7:44. I was surprised how good they felt. I mean, really good! I was blissfully happy about this.



I thought about hitting the ground tonight for a 4-5 mile run but decided against it; I want to run some intervals tomorrow at the track early and I'd like my legs to be fresh. It's time to get serious with this speed stuff or I'm never going to get faster for Portland. If I'm running intervals with tired legs, it's never going to happen.



Heat has decided to make it's presence in Denver - hovering around 91 today and called for 94 tomorrow. I'm going to get up and run intervals at 6:00 to avoid the heat -- something I must start doing. I'm not sure what I'm doing for intervals but I'm gonna get on McMillion and maybe come up with a ladder of sorts. Sounds good.



4th of July weekend coming up reminds me of last year when I ran Pikes Peak for my first training run. I'm thinking I'm not running up it for training this year for the race, August 15th. At least not this weekend anyway. I asked Rob for some input on my Pike Peak training but haven't heard anything yet. I have such limited time to get up there, if I decide to, because of my two-week trip to the Midwest soon.... time to get some plans brewing.



4 miles run
1 weight training.