Duck Pond Easy

Another warm day, another Friday Duck Pond Run. Easy the whole way today though.
Ran with Matt, Craig M, Dan and Andre till the 7 mile split.
Park was nice, fountains are flowing.


5 Miles 39 Minutes

Country Club - 6 Miles

Ran from the Y to the Top of the hill by the country club, 6 Miles out and back from the Y.
8 running in the group today. It was hot, especially coming back in the 80's. Hottest lunch run this summer for sure. Alicia, Dan and Jeff went shorter. Chipman did a middle 3, Matt did 1 minute intervals. Jay and Tom left early so I waited for them to come back from the park in the shade a bit and ran back with them to Cheeseman, then ran the last mile with Matt and Chipman at a decent pace. Good run

6 Miles 46 Minutes

Wash Park 7 - At an ever increasing Pace

I usually take Wednesday off and cross train or Yoga. Since I missed running Monday, and felt like running, I decided to run with the Wednesday group. I had heard rumors in the locker room and from the other runners that the Wednesday Group was a rouge group of runners pushing the pace on an easy day. Fresh Legs with no hangover from Track work on Tuesdays and no worry about a middle 3 on Thursdays. So I ran with the Wednesday runners today... The rumors were true.

We started off easy enough, headed up 16th to Cheeseman. Bob, Andre, Craig M, Tim, Dan and myself. Then the pace picked up and Dan was gone by the time we got to Cheeseman. Then it picked up again as Bob surged ahead of the group. The energizer bunny Bob. Nobody chased him down, but the pace picked up as we ran through the park and worked our way to Speer. Bob circled around and then charged the hill for a 2 mile tempo run at the Country Club. Again nobody chased him down. He beat us to the Wash park pole by a block and then circled the block and met us from the other direction.

We headed back and again the pace increased, 7:15 or so by now. Bob passed us from behind as we headed down the hill to Speer. I decided to chase down Bob on this one. I closed the gap but didn't catch him before the light at Speer, ran with him to the Middle 3 Start and then Bob took off again.

Andre and I picked up the pace a bit and then the clouds rolled in and I felt really good headed back the last mile and a half, I picked up the pace, fresh legs from the rest day and minimal intervals and a cool spring day. I was running comfortably at a 6:40 pace the last mile. I love runs like this. Wish they happened more in races but I felt really good. Everyone ran strong to the end but Energizer Bunny Bob really killed it. And now we can call Andre - 7 Mile Andre again. Summer is here.

7 Miles 51:41

Looks like the Cache-Teton Realy Team Anadarko is coming together we have 12 runners. Sharon has things organized well and she and Neil are running in the relay too. I put the 2 relays on my race list, going to be a fun couple of weeks in August.

Cheeseman Intervals 4 X 1/2 Mile

Ran Cheeseman Intervals today. 4 1/2 Mile intervals, time range of 2:50 - 2:58. It was a steeplechase course with water obstacles, mud, construction areas, a bit of everything.

Ran with Jay and Tom. Scott and Matt did a couple of laps around the park, Dan was with them some of that. Alicia ran to the park with us and then did one of her complex zone interval threshold workouts, we didn't see her again.

My last interval was the fastest because Craig M got there late and gave me someone to chase which sped me up some.

I skipped yesterdays run due to work and wind, very strong wind. Rowed and biked a short workout instead.

Nicer today, no wind, sunny but not hot. Massage with Tara tonight, first massage since Boston.
Putting a lot of hours at work. Stressful, needed a run and massage today.

5.5 Miles 42 Minutes with 2 miles of Interval work.

Waterton Canyon - 14.5 Miles

Ran the Waterton Canyon today. 12.3 Miles out and Back in the canyon and then 2.3 Miles Recovery run after. Did 10.2 of the 12.3 at Tempo after a 2 mile warm up.

My pace on the Tempo averaged 7:41.

Ran Back from the Dam in 46:30, a 7:30 Pace. Up at a

Really nice day for running the Canyon. I've never run it this time of year. Very Green compared to my January run there with Zach and Matt, Temperatures were in the 60's with Blue Skies. The wind was minimal. Least wind I think I've ever had in the canyon. A bit of a headwind coming back.

I met Jill and her friends from her blog Kathleen and Steve at the parking lot at 7:30. Kathleen and Steve live in Colorado Springs and do a lot of trail running, there first time to run the Canyon. Steve is recovering from a running injury so he road his mountain bike.

I ran the first 2 Miles with Jill at Kathleen at about an 8:30 pace. When they made a pit stop, I increased the tempo to about 7:45 up to the Dam turnaround. There were a lot of people on the trail/road, mostly riding Bikes. I passed about 10 runners on the way up.

I had a GU there and headed back down. Noticed the wind for the first time. Saw the girls about a quarter mile down on my way back, they were running good. You really notice the downhill on the way back, don't notice it so much on the way up. My sinuses really bugged me from allergies, thanks to all the trees.

1:36:51 (50:22 up, 46:29 Down).




When I got back, I dropped off my pack and had some Gatorade and run back up the trail to meet the girls. I saw Kathleen at about a mile up the trail and then Jill right behind her. I ran back the last mile with Jill, this gave me 14.5 total miles for the day. Was good to run with Jill again and catch up, we had not run together since before Boston.

Thanks for the run Jill and Nice to meet you Steve and Kathleen.

14.5 Miles 1:54:18

Duck Pond 5

Ran an easy duck pond run today with Craig C, Pete C and Dave C. 3 Lawyers all their Last Names begin with C, I guess I was the odd duck.

Easy run 5 miles with a walk at the pond. Nice day 70's with sun.
Felt good after yesterday's tempo run.

5 Miles 42 Minutes

Congratulations to the Smoky Hill 4X800 Relay Team. Won State with a time of 7:52.
Great Job Tanner, Kyle, Quin and Matt.

Wash Park Tempo 5.2 Miles - 9 Total

Ran a 5.2 Mile Tempo Run at lunch today. Went from Y to the middle 3 start (2 miles) then took it up tempo to Wash Park(1.5) and ran the road (2.2) at tempo then back to the Middle 3 start (1.5). 5.2 Miles. Did it in 33:57 a 6:32 Pace. Which was good, close to my 10k pace would put me at a 40:30 10k. Assisted by a few traffic stops on the way back, but I will take it.

Total of 9 Miles in 1:05:38, so a good workout today. Not too hot or humid.

I think 8 of us ran at lunch and none of us did the same workout, different distances, intensities, start points.

Tom ran a similar route to me, but ran the 2nd inner road, as did Craig M, but he started at Cheeseman and went the 1st inner road in the park.

Craig C was the only traditional Middle 3 guy today.

Cheeseman Intervals + Tempo Mile

Well since we no longer have a downtown track to use, I did Cheesman Intervals today. Did 4 1/2 Mile Intervals (2:55 to 3:05) and then I did a 10k tempo mile from Colfax back to the Y, at 6:33. On the way back from the Y, it started thundering and lightening and you could feel the humidity and smell the rain coming. About 3 blocks away it started raining big drops, which help me keep on pace. Got to the Y just as it started pouring.

Ran with the group, although Tom is the only one who did some intervals. Andre went to wash park, Dan and Tim did Cheesman at the normal pace. Dave started with us and turned back at Cheesman.

On the way to Cheesman, we caught up to Laura from the Y. She has run there for a couple of years but not with our group. I ran a lap at Cheesman with her before the intervals and she is now injury free and racing some (she wore a Boulder 9k shirt). She's going to run Bolder Boulder this year too. I told her she should run and train with us some, she said she's "working her way up to it". She wasn't too far off the group pace. So she might join us on Friday's Duck Ponds as she gets in shape.

We always try to help other downtown runners and get more regulars in the group.

7 Miles 53 Minutes

Garmin Watch Data

Wash Park 7

Ran the wash park 7 mile route today. I was a little sore from the run yesterday and the yard work I did for the rest of the day. But once I loosened up after a mile or so, I felt good. Did not push the pace above the normal group run.

4 of us ran the 7 mile. Bob, Matt, Tom and myself. It was the first shirtless run of the year. Temperatures in the 70's with sun, so we ran sans shirts.

Energizer Bunny Bob, ran the Colfax Marathon yesterday in 3:39 and then ran the 7 miles today. When Matt picked up the pace on the way back, Bob stayed with him at about a 7 minute pace, while Tom and I hung back. Bob might be the first guy in our group to run with the group the day after a Marathon.

There is a growing issue in our running group about Track Gate. There were a couple of emails this weekend, one from Craig C offering one side from the runners perspective and Jeff offering another defending the schools. With a post reporter in the middle. I talked to the reporter on Friday on the phone regarding DPS shutting down their tracks and our history there. Not sure if they are going to do a story or not.

7 Miles 55 Minutes

13 Miles at Cherry Creek

Ran a 13 Mile loop at Cherry Creek State Park today. It was a really nice day, temperatures in the 60-70's with sun and very little wind.

I left about 10:30, it was around 60, I wore a singlet and shorts. Ran down to the Park by the old library, trails up to the end of the park at West Middle School, then back by the Marina, through the trail and then the road back home. 13.05 miles. So 13.1 if you run to the end of the block. A nice half Marathon course, with a good mix of Terrain, hills and some great views.



I felt good, held pretty close to an 8 minute pace most of the way, even on some of the hills. I got into the zone a few times. My legs felt good, the Marathon Fatigue is gone. I remembered thinking how much easier it was to run compared to 2 weeks ago when I did a similar course.

Got my Bolder Boulder packet hand delivered today. Thanks to Lisa, she works and runners roost and saw Zach and my packets and brought them to our house on her way home. We chatted a bit, her daughter made it to State in the 3200 meters. Congratulations Lauren. Matt Caldwell made it to state in several events. Lisa has always been very supportive of Zach and congratulated him on his sub-5 mile. Thanks for the Packet Drop Off Lisa.

13 Miles 1:46.03

Zach Breaks 5 on the mile

Zach ran the mile at the centennial League Meet today. He ran 4:59. A PR and he met is goal of breaking a 5 minute mile this year. He ran a good race. 72 on the first quarter and 2:28 at the half. He had a strong kick at the end because he was cutting close but gave it all he had. Way to go Zach, I'm proud of you buddy. It wa a fast field. Schaffer of cherry creek ran a 4:15. Fun to watch.


Zach running the Mile at the Centennial League Meet for Smoky Hill.


Zach on his last lap toward a 4:59 PR

2010 Centennial League Meet Results

I didn't run today, rest day, track meet and did some yard work. Lawn is looking good with all the rain we've gotten.

Duck Pond 5 Easy

Ran the city park duck pond 5 mile route today at lunch. Ran with Tim, Dave, Craig M, Pete C and Dan. Sunny day in the 50's, nice change from the rainy cloudy days.

Ran past the finish for the Colfax Marathon/Half Marathon. Park was crowded with people picking up their packets for the Race.

5 Miles 39 Minutes

Middle 3 - 18:34

Ran the middle 3 today. My first middle 3 since April 8th (5 weeks). I ran 18:29 that day, so only lost 5 seconds.

Tom and I ran the middle 3, the rest of the group went short.
Good day for it. Cloudy and Cool.
I felt good running, felt like I got some speed and endurance burst back. Only 2 traffic stops, 1 at Speer on the way back was long though.

Tom is in prime training mode for Bolder Boulder. His main race, he had a 2010 PR with 20:12 today on the middle 3.

Only a couple more weeks to train before Boulder, we talked about maybe doing a middle 5 next Thursday for 9 total instead of a middle 3 to get our 10k pacing down.

Garmin Watch Data for Middle 3

7 Miles 50:34

Farewell Manual

We ran over to Manual HS today at lunch. I was going to do a track workout, maybe even 6X800. Some of the guys were doing a Makeup Bannister mile (Chipman and Jay) and some were going to do a Revenge Mile (Pete and Bob). I was even going to pace Pete for 800 of that.
When we got to the track after our 2 mile warm up there, we were stunned. The track was closed and a portion of it was bulldozed up. Where just 7 days ago we had the Bannister and all it's Glory, now there was destruction. Had it been last week they started, out Bannister Mile would have been ruined.

We stood at the fence looking down on the track, stunned, mouths open. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of kids at the pool after it has been closed for the summer. This is the 3rd downtown track that has been renovated on us and when they are finished, they close them off to the public. So Sad. We took off our hats and Craig said a few words in memory of Manual. We had some good workouts, some good Bannisters and some fun times there and some not so fun times. Jay, Bob and Pete were all disappointed. Chipman didn't make it out.

So we ran on to City Park discussing our options. Unfortunately I did not have my Garmin Watch to measure off an exact mile at city park for them. Instead we run the reverse golf course route. We picked up the pace and did a tempo run up 26th. Uphill into the wind until we reached Colorado, Bob got there first. Nobody had a split time and we don't know the distance, although short of a mile.

When we got to the Duck Pond, I did another tempo run to the end of the pond. Then on the way back we ran into Dan at Park Avenue and everyone except Craig took it up tempo to the Y. Bob was on my tail the whole way, but I pulled away on the steep downhill at the end. It was short of a mile also, I had 4:52 for that split

7 Miles 52 Minutes with about 2 Miles of Tempo

Wash Park 7 Miles

Ran to Wash Park and back today with the group at lunch.
Andre, Bob, Tom and Craig C joined me.
The other part of the group ran the Congress Park Route.

We ran to the park at the normal pace and then started picking it up just a bit on the way back, the last mile was pretty fast. Bob was doing some speed work, so he was running circles around us. My legs were tired from yesterday. Felt a little tweak in my hamstring a couple of times.


Some of the guys are running a Bannister Make Up mile (or revenge mile) tomorrow, I was planning on going to the track anyway, so I'll go and maybe pace them for an 800. I am going to try to get some speed back before Bolder Boulder if the hamstring will allow.

7 Miles 56 Minutes

Cherry Creek Park 12 Miles

I ran an 8 mile loop from home through Cherry Creek Park and then back home. Loaded up the dogs, drove down to the old library and did 4 miles easy with the dogs. Actually 5 miles with the dogs about a mile of walking, lots of stopping easy run.

The 8 Mile loop was at a normal pace. I felt good in places, mainly on the trail and the flat road and picked up the pace a bit. Here is the route and the Garmin Data. I embedded it instead of a link. You can see the route from the blog.



The dog park was so crowded, being mothers day, but we had fun. Kept moving. Sunny day and temperatures in the 70's. The dogs enjoyed the water (and Lucy enjoyed the mud, yuck).

On Saturday, Zach ran a PR 2 mile. 10:57, breaking the 11 minute barrier. He ran a good race, it was fun to watch him, start at the back the first lap and work his way up the pack to about the middle for the finish, it was the slower of two heats, but still a fast group. During the race, Lisa Mills, yelled over at me, "Dennis look at that little kid from Laredo picking off the runners one by one".

12 Miles, 1:45

City Park Golf Course 7

Ran the Golf Course 7 Mile route at lunch today with Andre.
Sunny and temperatures in the 50s, a bit of a breeze, which was a tail wind coming back down 17th. Nice spring day.

We had a good group running today, but everyone split up doing different routes for different reasons once we got to the park.
Pete was the only one to do the traditional duck pond route.

Andre and I picked up the pace some when we headed down 23rd along the golf course and then back down 17th. Good pace. Good run. He's getting back into 7 mile Andre shape.

7 Miles 54:37

Wash Park 7

Ran the wash park route today. Went easy, no tempo run this week.
Ran with Tom, Craig C , Ted and Scott. Scott went a bit up tempo after 2 miles so we didn't see him again.

It was nice and sunny when we started but clouded up quick, nice running temperature though.

7 Miles 55 Minutes

Bannister Mile

We ran the Bannister Mile today in my running group. An annual event in early may where we run to Manual Track (2 Miles), Then run a mile all out, group start on the track. We've been doing this for a few years now. Anyway it's a lot of fun and you get to see how fast you can run a mile on that day. We had 14 runners this year.

I did a 5:44. About 9 seconds slower than last year, but about where I thought I was for now.

The results for our group are posted on the prostates web site.
http://www.pickledprostates.com/2010/05/2010-bannister-mile-results.html

I ran pretty good, I felt good the whole way. A couple of times I felt myself relax into a 5k pace and had to remind myself it was only a mile so Push! For whatever reason I did not get my lap splits, but I think I was around 82, 250, 420, and then 5:44. It was fun. Craig Murray was breathing on my neck as we finished the last 100.


Bannister Mile Lap 2



A bit windy on the north end curve. It was interesting to see where everyone finished. Tom and Craig were dead even with a photo finish. Fun watching Matt and Scott ahead of me. And Chris is an animal, he beats me every year by about 4 seconds.

Mark brought a camera so we got some good pictures this year.
http://picasaweb.google.com/pickledprostates/Bannister2010?feat=directlink#

Then we did a 8X200 relay, our team won, Matt ran 2 legs. We did a 4:12, fast but a ways off the 4:00 goal mark. The other team was about 4:30.

Then the 2 mile run back to the Y, recanting the race stories as we go.

Fun Day.

5.5 Miles

5.5 Miles on a "new" route

Big group at the Y today, about 10 of us ran. It was nice 50's and sun, pushing 60 by the time the run was finished.

The Bannister Mile is tomorrow and most of the guys did something this weekend so everyone wanted to go shorter and easy to save something for tomorrow.

Lots of buzz during the run about Bannister and the weekend races.

We ran out to Speer, then Bob, Jeff and Andre continued to was park and the rest of us ran back on the new Chipman Route, which is back to Cheesman on Williams.

5.5 Miles about 43 minutes, messed up my Garmin so guessing on the time and distance.

11 Easy Miles at CC Park

Ran 11 today at Cherry Creek Park. Left from my house about 11:15. It was partly cloudy and cool, temperature around 50 with some wind from the east. Wanted to get in at least 10 but go easy and stay on trails or dirt as much as possible. I ended up doing about half the run on trail.

I ran from my house down by the old library and then over the 3 bridges to the trails that run East/West along Jordan. Then turned up and run up to butterfly hill. Stopped at the top for a drink and a to take in the great view and saw a coyote run across the path ahead. There were some people with small dogs around but none within sight. Then I ran over the the Porta-Potti and back through my favorite trial that leads to shop creek, I saw some deer in the trees there, a couple of young bucks were pretty close to the trail. I was feeling good, so I added another mile by doing a circular trail loop before heading back up the hills on Bellview.

My legs got a little tired after 7 miles. My pace was slow and got slower.

Garmin Watch Data for Run