9 miles
2,700 vertical
Ran this yesterday at a casual pace and hoped to go a bit harder today. Was not really sure what I meant by "Harder"..... PR effort? A minute or two quicker?
I awoke this morning feeling really tired and considered rolling over, but my inner voice kept telling me to get up and go. Driving into Boulder I am unusually unenthused and all sorts of options are going through my head, but indecision brings me to my intended path (road).
I start off easy and will just feel it out. After a few minutes, I am bumping it up to a moderate pace. My legs feel good, but I am soon gurgling spit and it feels as though I am breathing through a straw. Funny, just yesterday Kraig and I were talking about this very phenomena and I was noting to myself how it has been a long time since I have felt this.
Oh well, pflegm or not, I reach the turn a few seconds over 24 and ramp up my efforts for the "Super" part of Superflag. I go at the lower end of hard as I just don't have it today, yet I crank up the effort a touch on the last switchback, trying to go under 40, but I quickly realize it is not to be. I make it in 40:33 and head left toward Green w/out breaking stride. I jog the rollers and then bump up the pace a bit for the final climb. I make the 4 way at 52:38 and then peg it a bit, perhaps a touch annoyed at my slower than hoped pace. As the trail steepens, I power hike instead of trying to run every step and top out in 55:33.
I take it super easy going down listening to the birds and checking out the abundance of wildflowers and make it to the car at 1:24.
As my fitness increases, I start to think that every run should be fast, or better yet just want to keep running faster and faster all the time. I just have to keep reminding myself that in order to go faster on the fast days, I may need to go a little slower on the other days and not get stuck in a rut of running every day moderate.
