Run With Garrison

Aloha everyone,

Another solid week of training in the books and I am happy to report that I am feeling happy and healthy. The mileage for the week logged in at 63 miles with all of the running falling in between 7:37 and 7:51 pace. This is my highest volume week post Rocky Raccoon and my body is starting to feel like I am training again. The highlight of the running week had to be my first trek up Tantalus for the first time in a few months. For those of you not on Oahu, Tantalus is a pretty tough 9.8 mile loop with the first 5 miles up and the final 4.8 down. It is my favorite run on the island and I like to use it to test my strength and patience. It is the kind of run that can really punish you if you go out too fast. I would have been happy with a finishing time of 80-82 minutes and I wound up running 76:52 and I felt great. I am a bit surprised that I am feeling so comfortable, especially since I put on about 15 pounds during my layoff.

Monday should be a really fun day next week because I am heading back to crossfit and I have a massage with Barbara @ Massage Specialists. Crossfit is going to hurt a bit but I am excited to see how much it will help my strength for the rest of the year. I feel like I only had a little taste of it in my Rocky Raccoon preparations and I think the team at Crossfit Oahu will help turn me into a beast by the time September rolls around.

I am 3 weeks away from the Diablo Trails Challenge 50k and 5 weeks out from Miwok 100k. The main goal for these races is to go in and come out of them healthy and use them as solid learning experiences. The field on Diablo will likely be small and I am looking forward to running on the lovely East Bay trails. Miwok will likely have a super-deep field and it will be a difficult race to say the least. It will be my first 100k race and the terrain will be nothing but hills, hills, and a few more hills. More on those races in the coming weeks.

I hope everyone is doing well. I am going to relax with a well earned day off running and some blueberry pancakes at Mac 24-7.

Much Aloha

Michael