Week 11 - Rain and Wind (Yes), Sleet and Snow (Not Yet but it's comin')

Troy, Emily, John O, Billie, Curt, Mike, John

Troy, Emily, John O, Billie, Mike, John, Rick

Saturday, November 14th after 16 mile run - great day! A little cold at times but awesome company. We started in the dark but eventually saw the light of day :o)

Leadville training is long and hard, especially when it gets dark and cold. Having great people to train with makes it so much easier. This week was characterized by staying the course. Starting to make friends with the number 4 in the a.m. - never thought that would happen in my life.

Feeling especially inspired by my friend Andy Erpelding who killed his Ironman yesterday with a time of 13 hours and 14 minutes. He beat his goal by 45 minutes! Some might say he was fortunate - I say he earned everything he received yesterday. I know how hard and consistently he worked for over 6 months! Andy was in the pool, riding on the road and running all over town 6 days a week for half a year working out 1-2 time per day. He reminded me of the value of committing to a steady training program - I'm hoping that we will have success at Leadville because of our commitment to our training and rejecting excuses that arise due to weather, etc. Looking forward to our stair combo workout at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning!

Sunday, November 8th - 4 miles

Monday, November 9th - 2 miles

Tuesday, November 10th - 2 sets of the following:  10 stairs, 1/4 mile run, 20 squats, 100 yard sprint, 50 yards of lunges, 10 burpee pushups, 10 planks alternating arms stretched to the sky, 1/4 mile run
Pat Miletich wanted to celebrate by ending the day with buddy pushups up to 10. Other than Pat, none of us performed well at all :o)  - Rick, Pat, Curt, Billie, Jeremy, Mike, Troy

Wednesday, November 11th - Remembering Veterans - 6.5 mile run
Curt, Billie, Jeremy

Thursday, November 12th - Stairs were cold and windy - almost blew us over a couple times at the top! 55 stairs - 3x11, 2x9, 1x4  - Rick, Billie

Saturday, November 14th - 16 mile run from Crow Creek Park
Rick, Curt, Billie, Emily, Troy, Mike, John O


              

Week 10 - Keeping good company makes training so much easier

Rick, Emily, Billie, and Curt at Crow Creek Park after 16.5 miles

Another great week of training! Preparing for Leadville has been tough - rising early on most days during the week, getting out in the cold, dark, and sometimes wet weather, running longer distances at paces which aren't always easy and pushing through stairs and lunges that burn the legs.

I am motivated to accomplish my sub 24 hour Leadville 100 mile run but one of the things that has made it SO much easier is the camaraderie and friendship I have developed with some fantastic people. The people featured above are only some people in this category and I am grateful to them all. My running partners hold me accountable, inspire me to run when I don't feel like it, help me run faster than I think I can, and take my mind off of my heavy muscles and exhausted breathing. I've reached the point where it isn't too tough to get up before 5 am and when I see my friends at 4:30, 5:00, or 6:00 am, my eyes light up.

Tuesday, November 3rd - 2 sets of the following:
10 stairs, 1/2 mile run, 100 yard sprint, 100 yard lunge, 45 second plank, 1/2 mile run, 45 second plank. During the 2nd set we added 2 sets of 15 squats and extended the 2nd plank to 60 seconds. Wore my altitude mask @ 12,000 feet
Rick, Curt, Billie, Jeremy, Mike, Emily, and Pat.

Wednesday, November 4th - 6 mile run.
Emily, Billie, Jeremy, Curt, and Rick

Thursday, November 5th - 55 stairs - work altitude mask @ 12,000 feet
Billie, Jeremy, pat, Curt, Troy, Mike

Friday, November 6th - 2 miles

Saturday, November 7th - 16.5 miles from Crow Creek Park.
Rick, Curt, Billie, Emily, John O.