Another monthly update.

I finally started running again. 3 weeks after the marathon I ran 2 miles, everything felt great. I was a happy person, running was fun again. Since then I ran about 4 miles on the road twice, then started into fun runs. I ran about 7 miles around green mountain, a grueling loop where my average heart rate was 176. Then this weekend a friend and I tried to RUN up Quandary Peak. The running wasn't happening on the way up and we did our best to "power hike" which is essentially a fast paced hike. We ran almost the entire way down and it was a great workout. The trail is about 4 miles up and 4 back down. The way up was 1:40, the way down was 50 minutes. The peak was just over 14,200'. The pace might not sound fast, but we were passing people literally the entire way, all the way up to the final stretch, it was a fun time and a great "colorado" experience.


I've been mountain biking a lot (~2x/week) and I got a new bike. A yeti 575. This thing is great. I actually got it just before the marathon but didn't get to ride it much. A group of friends rides MTBs every wednesday and then I try to get in one other ride per week, either downhill or with friends on the same old local trails. Some of these are real lung burners and I feel like I'm gaining strength in a different kind of conditioning. Mountain biking requires a lot of short sprints and the ability to catch your breath while still keeping a decent pace. The training is totally different from marathon training. I've actually found myself saying "I need to get back in shape" a few times. It's amazing to me that such a one track focus on running long distances can really leave me out of shape in other aspects. On a positive note, I must have been holding lots of extra water weight or something, because I dropped literally 5 pounds within 3 weeks of the marathon, that was nice to see. Perhaps more updates, but also likely not. Cheers.