Little late

Whew,

This weekend has been a blur for me! Beth and I got brand new windows for the entire house, and it took literally all day Friday and into the late night Saturday to get them put in. It was a project where every new window presented a new problem, but they got done and they look great! Even got a new dog door put in the side of the house for Otis, and we built him a super cool ramp to get in and out.

Then, on Sunday Beth and I worked all day to paint all the new sills and get everything cleaned up. I still have to put up the bamboo blinds on the top floor, but I am hoping my brother can come over to help me out with that.

And I gotta get it all done today, because tomorrow I am actually going to try and race!! (Yep, you read that right.) Steven and Zach and I are heading to the El Paso County Fair for a 6km trail race. I am throwing down the gauntlet now. I predict I will finish no more than ten minutes behind those two! They haven't been going to Red Rocks, I am have (if only doing ten stairs a day, but still...) So, I hope you are reading this, Zach and Steven, you are going to be getting chased!!!! :) :)

So, I assume that most of you are up at Western State Running camp right now, which is fantastic! I used to go to the O.T.C. in Lake Placid all the time for summer training camps are they were always such a blast! If you have been running on the schedule that I have been suggesting all summer, this should be your easy week, but don't worry about it, just have fun, go with the flow, and get some great miles in at altitude this week at camp. The recovery week can be next week, all of you are in such fantastic shape that you can easily handle two big weeks in a row!

If you didn't go to the Western State camp, and you are in town, then I think you should train lightly this week. I think that you should stick to the regular schedule, and take today off. Since it is a recovery week, you might want to go easy tomorrow as well. Wednesday, we will still be going to Red Rocks, if anyone would like to join us. (When I say us, it is because there is a good chance that Coach Hawk will be making an appearance.) Thursday and Friday should be slightly longer runs, maybe 45-60 minutes, to work on form and technique. Saturday, get some speed work in, longer intervals, maybe 3 minutes or so, and then Sunday should be a nice easy over-distance day, keep working on that base foundation.

Since we are getting closer to school starting, this will be the last week of work-outs I am posting. If you are running XC, then you should train with the XC team starting the 2 weeks before school. This summer will have been a good two months of solid training, which is what I have planned for in years past, and it will propel you into the XC season. If you are not running XC, and you want to keep training, I would love to help you out. Just respond on the blog, and we can get together and work out a schedule for you. I hope this is a satisfiable solution for everyone reading this, as this weekend has been tiring in other ways a well.

One final thing, I truly do appreciate the fact that everyone has been so dedicated this summer. It really does make me smile when I see so many kids show up to Red Rocks, or go to camp, or text me about the hours they spent running this summer. I know you did it for yourselves, and I am very happy that you are learning to do what you feel is best for you. It really does make me feel good. Thanks.

Sep