Weekly Training Wrap - 7/21 - 7/27

Two weeks in a row of writing a training wrap... I must be training again?! Summer has just been nuts and time is flying by. This weekend we were up in Vail to do some rafting and watch my son play in a soccer tournament. Another four days of fun in the sun and I am exhausted! But, I found a way to squeeze in a nice mountain run on the Two Elk Trail in Vail (almost 5K of vertical in 19+ miles). That makes my second week in a row of a big mountain run to cap my week, so I feel good about that.  This week I am doing the Power of Four 50K trail race in Aspen. Almost 10k of vertical gain in 31 miles -- another BIG mountain run, which is good since that is what I am training for. With that race coming, I will be doing mostly easy running once again this week. Though I am starting to try and keep some structure (sprints and strides) in my daily routine. And, I am trying to do strength training at least once a week.

Looking back from near the Two Elk Summit

Great view of the Aspen Trees and some wild flowers

One of the two back country ski lifts I came across

Overall, July was somewhat off a cut-back month. (Do those even exist?!) I was down about 30% from my average of 250 miles the past three months and quite a bit less vertical (25K versus a three month average of 30K). But, as I suggested last week, I was prepared for that. Overall I made the most of the time I had available to me for the month and feel prepared to attack what I hope will be a big month in August.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Rest
Tuesday	9	Open Space Strength Training
Wednesday	6	Easy w/ Hill Sprints
Thursday	9	Open Space
Friday	19	Two Elk Trail
Saturday	8	Boneyard Trail
Sunday	Off	Rest
Total	50	About 7,900 feet of vert