August 25

AM: 3k cutdown, 3:00 jog, 2 x 200m with :30 recovery, 4:00 jog, 2 x 200m with :30 recovery, 3:00 jog, 3k cutdown - 11 miles
PM: 5 miles easy

Today's workout was a tall challenge but such a relief to run a workout with someone else. I'm staying in Boulder, CO for a couple of nights while Valerie, Wilson and I are driving back to North Carolina from California, and we're staying with our friend and my former college teammate, Tyler McCandless, who's moved out to Colorado to run professionally for Mizuno. He invited me to tag along this morning, and we were joined with Tyler's training partner, Pat Rizzo, which meant that I was going to try to hang with a 2:17 and 2:15 marathoner, respectively, at altitude.

After a warmup, we met their coach, Brad Hudson, on the Boulder Creek path for a measured loop near Flatirons Golf Course. The workout was 2 sets of a 3k cutdown, starting at marathon/half marathon pace for the first 1k and ending at 10k/5k pace, followed by 8 x 200m with :30 rest. I planned just to hang on as long as possible and adjust as necessary.

We immediately went out in :72 for the first 400m, and I jokingly asked if I was getting altitude hazing so I'd go into debt nice and early. We came through the mile in just under 5:00, and Tyler and Pat began moving away. I came in a 9:42, feeling by all accounts better than expected but still already gassed.

After just two 200s, I was left gasping for air after the short rest, so I opted to break it into smaller sets. During the next 3k, I only made it 1k with Tyler and Pat around 5:00 pace before falling off hard and struggling home to 10:10. Coach Hudson politely suggested that I call it a day given that I've been running at sea level--not just this summer, but really always--and I not-so-reluctantly agreed, watching Pat and Tyler cruise the last set of 200s.

Overall, even though the morning workout was undeniably tough, it was cool to get to workout with some guys who are running and coaching at a really high level.

Tyler and I went out for another shake-out on the Mesa Trail, offering outstanding views of the mountains in this seemingly endless open space.