Sunday 053109

• I had a wonderful window to run today but decided not too.  Simply I have felt thrashed in my legs for too many days in a row.  I would have run easy (and was even contemplating 2+ hours – so maybe that negates the easy) but chose to just take the day off to see if that helps with any bounce back.   While my mind was eager, I knew I’d get out, be frustrated with how I felt and end up curtailing the run anyway.   I reconciled this by saying I needed to rest my legs, have a down week, have a down day
• Week in review, stats
• M – 12 miles, 90 minutes, BB10k
• T – 5 miles, 63 minutes at 15%
• W – AM – Green easy 80 min, PM - easy five 39 min
• R – 8 miles, Green TT, 90 min
• F – easy 6 miles, 49 minutes
• Sa –  11 miles with 2 x 200, 3 x 1600, 5 x 200, 81 min
• Su –   off

• 492 minutes on week.  53 miles on week over 7 runs.  272 miles on May, 2399 minutes.  1357 miles on year, 11164 minutes.

• Next week … heading out of town for the end of the week.  Will look to TT Bear Wednesday AM as I will miss the Thursday night fight club.  Will probably also look to do Flagstaff Road again as more prep for Mt Washington.  Might start biking to work mornings I don’t run – as the kids are now out of school.

• I have been getting lots of feedback on my current state.  I am a bit behind in reading it but will look to dig into it a bit tonight.   Feedback includes: “this is what getting older is.” “this is not age, just a phase in your training, suck it up *****.” “you are doing the wrong training.” “you are over training (various themes on this with too many hard days, too much mileage, not enough mileage, too much vertical, too much down, not enough speed, so on.”)   I have come to realize that as much as I think I know about training, I have not figured it out well for myself.  I see folks like Lucho getting great success on low HR, high mileage stuff.  Then I see guys like Elliott who has done Bear 150 times this year getting increasingly more fit.  All pretty amazing – it is all running but with many “roads leading to Rome.” 
  
  

Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers at The Aggie

Last night TZ, some friends and I hauled up to Fort Collins to the Aggie .  To check out Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (opening band was Dead Rock West).  It took me a bit to unwind (we are going to be out until what time?!  The band comes on when?), and enjoy the show – but it was a blast once I did.  I had never heard of these guys, but they came highly recommended by one of our friends we went with.  As it turns out, I have actually heard some of their music (Banditos, below).  My description is this:  Jimmy Buffett meets Green Day.  As a note, I think one of the highest highs a person could feel is being on stage, rocking an audience, and they sing your song back to you.  Roger is definitely one hard working entertainer … We did not get home until early Saturday … I am just dragging up now.

Saturday 05309

11 miles.  82 minutes. Legs are still pretty heavy.  Jogged circuit over to BHS track (2 miles).  2 x 200 with 200 jog in b/w to open up.  38.4, 36.9.  Then a 200 jog and did 3 x 1600.  Settled into 85 pace, and so 5:40.9, 5:39.3, 5:31.9 (picking up on last quarter).  400 jog between.  Then did 5 x 200 with 200 jog.  37.9, 36.8, 36.6, 36.6, 34.4.  About a half an hour cool down, including last mile with Lucy – tossing her the disc.  Pretty good heat out – mid to high 80s I guess.  Used the Alterra rather than the Garmin to get good splits.  Last did a workout similar to this back in February (although it was a bit longer and a bit faster then). 

Friday 052909

Easy day -  6 miles +. 49 minutes. 

Getting good feedback on training from some folks (JV, Andy A, Andrew, Chris L) in response to my post regarding how I seem to be going backwards.  KZ and I went to the Rockies Padres game.  Rockies shut em out.  A few shots for you there JW.    .

Thursday 052809

• PM – met up with the crew at Chautuaqua.  I did an easy two miles before the run up Green.  My legs still feel like crap.  I have a ridiculously long post in my head on what this is all about but it ain’t  typed yet (so that will wait for another time)  We jogged over to the Amphitheatre trailhead at Gregory very casually.  When we got there, there was some questioning and what seemed to be lengthy discussion of the route, and  how we ought to start.  I pulled the dickhead move, getting bored with the conversation and just went – figuring watch times would sort out anything that pure performance did not.  I was worked going up – much more than I would have expected.  I summitted in  5th (behind Rickey G, Dave M, Jeff V, Justin S, and Stefan – so yes, all those guys passed me after my flyer) in a relatively slow time of 37:44.  Rickey apparently set a new FKT for the route in 28 something.  Dave was 31 and change and Jeff PR’d in 32 something.  We all sat on the summit rock as everyone finished, enjoying the early glow of sunset before starting down Ranger for the descent.  Some pix.
• JV, Rickey , Stefan and Tim
•   ?, Dave M and Justin
•   About the last I saw of Rickey and Dave (in red), as we start out of Chautauqua.  Anthony in white.
•   Okay, seriously the last I saw.  JV slightly ahead of Rickey and Dave.  And yes, it is that steep.
• Footfeathers near the top.
•   “I found this shoe on the run.”  “Yeah, I ran without it to toughen up for WS100.”  Which shorts would you  wear?
•    A true men of Green Mountain Calendar shot.  Rickey G, Dave M, Stefan G, Jeff V, Justin S, Christian G, Anthony, Tim L,
• The descent down Ranger, Gregory
•   The green Chautauaqua meadow …
• My splits for future reference
  • to the open saddle rock (the second one so to speak):  15:46 (.82 miles)  (SE reports his best as 12:02)
  • to the split of the trails (Greenman coming into Saddle Rock) 5:00 (.28 miles), (history here is screwed up as the trail has been re-routed) (20:47)
  • to the log that Scott E points out as the last climb – 11:26 (.72 miles),  (again trail reroutes make history here difficult (32:14)
  • last climb to summit (not including the summit rock) 5:19 (.29 miles … SE’s best on this is 3:40, with FKT on this section being from Nuttleman (in the midst of a run)  at 3:32 … it gives you an idea of how hard this section is – it is just over a quarter mile and the best runners run it slower than 12 minute pace!)  (37:33)
  • 11 seconds to get up the summit rock.  Had I elected to not do the summit rock, I would have incurred a 15 second penalty. (37:44)
  • All told, this run is about 2 MILES.  That means even Rickey Gates was running this at 14 minutes a mile and Dave Mackey was running it at 15 minutes a mile!
• It is such a wonderful gift to be out there with these folks, enjoying the mountain.  It is such an amazing way to be alive.  As Stefan said right before the descent …”that hurt in a good way.”  I want to get out for these other events, but I doubt I am going to be able to … other plans.
• 90 minutes on the day, 8 miles.  The TT portion of the run.
• 
• Post script – Mackey had splits of

  Rocky clearing (where Scott E splits) 13:05

  Greenman/ Amphitheater Junction 17:..

  Start of wooden steps: 26:10

  Summit 31:28, and Rickey G at 28:48.  Jeff V had 5:29 at 1st jct., 13:44 at the first overlook, 18 at the Greenman jct., 32:35 at the top

• Gates – 28:48 (passed by me within 50 yards up the trail)

• Mackey – 31:28 (passed by me 100 yards up the trail)

• Vallerie  - 32:35 – his post. (passed by me 20 yards up the trail)

• Snow - (passed by me just where that Saddle rock trail comes into Amp)

• Gabriel - (was actually ahead of Justin here but they later switched positions)

• Zack – 37:44

• Long – 38:07 his post

• Slept in today.  Ah, that was nice post the early rise from yesterday.
• Started playing with the Garmin Connect software (which Garmin only recently made available for the Forerunner 305).  I have been using the Sporttracks software from ZoneFive (which excellent, easy and free).  My biggest issue in using the Motion Based stuff from Garmin was that it did not adequately correct elevation gain in its data reads (smooth the data out).  This meant I could turn the GPS on, stand still for an hour and gain hundreds of feet as the signal-calculation read different values over that period of time.  Sporttracks attenuates that noise and smooths the data nicely.  Will play with GC for a couple of days and see how it looks.
• Apparently, there are a couple of other folks jacked about the A wave 8 second adjustment gift.

Wednesday 052709 Green Mountain - “classic” route

• Met up with the BTR’er at 0530 this AM.  I was up at four so it was no challenge for me to get to this run (as it would typically be at this hour).  I am going to look to get some of this early and done stuff banked this summer as the kidders get out of school.   Photos courtesy (again) of JP.
• I started at Chautauaqua, while the group was meeting up at the Gregory Canyon trailhead (a half mile to the west).  I prefer parking at Chautauaqua as it is a bit more travelled and (I think) less likely to have break ins.  I also think that Boulder County has started charging non county residents for use of the Gregory Canyon lot (and I now live in Broomfield County).   Met up with a croo of about a dozen or so, including Ryan Cooper, JP, Bronwyn M.   After a little discussion, we decided to head up Green Mountain via Saddle, Amphitheater, Greenman, and then come down Ranger, Gregory.   So here  are the stats on that route (starting at Chautauqua).
  • ~6 miles RT
  • summit is at 2.6 miles
  • 5685 elevation start, 8085 summit (2400 feet of climbing) for an average grade of 17% as per the GPS.  According to the Alterra, the climb was 2520 feet, with the summit at 8182.
  • Steepest part of the run is between the Gregory lot and Summit Rock, with grade averaging 22.8%.  This is about 1.1 miles.  You get a reprieve after that with the grade dropping to 16.1% on average to the summit. The easiest part of the run is Chautauaqua part, which is about a kilometer, and averages a little more than a 6 percent grade (and most of that coming in one steep climb)
  • The drop down Ranger is to the Gregory Canyon Ranger cottage is a about 1.4 miles, and a good drop at 17%.  Things level out a bit after that in Gregory but Gregory Canyon serves as a good test of rocky footwork.  As the length of the run is a little longer on the way back, the average descent is "only” about 13%.
  • 
• The pace was casual, and so I caught up with Ryan, JP.  I decided that no matter what the pace dropped to, I’d keep doing a running cadence (even though walking below 3.5 mph for me is probably more aerobically efficient).  RT was in 80 minutes, with a good number of breaks to let folks catch up, enjoy the sunrise.
• More Bolder Boulder news … today was my first day back in my office since the race on Monday.  I always struggle, sound like an ungrateful idiot because folks say things like this.  “I looked up your time in the Bolder Boulder and wow – you ran it so fast!  You must be really happy with your time.” Rather than belabor them with my mental baggage of how my time was not that fast (if the conversation really digresses, they hear about the 26:22 WR), I try to find out how the race went for them, and what they liked about it, did not like about it.   Here’s the truth: most folks who are not runners don’t care about your time, they care about how you feel about your performance.  They get confused if you run a time that is beyond their comprehension and then are disappointed with it.  I’d say that this is not true within the circles of runners, but that ain’t necessarily true either (the 3:20 marathoner does not necessarily empathize with Brian Sell being pissed that he ran a 2:16).  However, this is common:  people relate to what it takes to prepare, execute, sacrifice and become something greater than themselves.  Not everyone does that in running … but some do.   So I poke at that folks … to see what is there, what they are in it for, what they want.  There are lots of great reasons to run other than chasing times …
• A couple of little challenges  out there.  A few of us are thinking of meeting at Chautauqua tomorrow night for a TT up Green.   Drop me a note if you are interested in the details.   Also got into a bit of a back and forth on this AM’s run if the Fern Canyon (from the post past the Slab) to the saddle post could be done under 10.  I was told NO WAY.  I am 100 percent confident I have done it in about 10, and that Elliott has gone well under 10.  I know I did it – at least once – in not top shape and with some poorer conditions, in 12:30
• PM – 5 easy miles.  39 minutes

wrist-top thoughts

• When I hooked up with Highgear to test the Alterra, I was clear to reveal my current love affair with the Garmin Forerunner 305.  I do love the 305.  I love that it tells me all sorts of things like pace, elevation, elapsed time, split times, HR, etc.  I love that I can download the data from it to my computer and geek out on things like percent grade, distance covered, what my pace was for specific parts of a course.  But like all love affairs, there are short comings to the Garmin.
• a.)  it is not a watch. 
• b.) it requires recharging all the time
• c.) you have to wait for it to get a satellite signal
• d.) it is large on the wrist and
• e.) it can be pricey. 
• f.) its chrono  sucks … I need to know my 200 meter stride splits to the 10th of the second, if not the 100th.  The Garmin tells me the second, assumedly rounded.
• Some follow up on this … I say it is not a watch because I cannot wear it indoors (in part because of the other reasons I provide) for long stretches.  I have seen different price points on the Garmin, ranging from 170 to 300 bucks.  
• So, by analogy … I love my Honda Element.  But I hate some features in it.  I hate the fact that it only has four seats.  I hate that the back door is not able to be opened without opening the front.  I wish the sun roof was to the top rather than the back.   It is a car that serves a lot of purposes, and it does not serve every purpose.   Like getting six Girl Scouts home.  Cars have no issue in differentiating audiences based on look, feel, price point, life style.
• And, back to the wrist-top watch conversation,  the Alterra is like that … it serves a different purpose.  It is a watch I can wear (no recharge, sizeable, not the size of a mini bus on my wrist).  It has a great chrono (to the 1/100th split).   It has an alarm clock.  It also collects altitude information based on barometric pressure, and it also collects temperature data.  It has logs of collecting altitude information (telling me the amount ascended, descended in a run, total time, and hence descent and ascent per minute).   It has a compass (but I fear that most people are losing  an idea on how to use those anymore).  I see this watch being much more geared towards the person who is interested in elevation gain, barometric pressure changes, temp … and the classic stopwatch.  Simply, it is not totally different from a Garmin, but it is differentiating enough to be potentially different for that user type. 
• Still playing with the Alterra and as I discover more features, I will post.
  

Tuesday 052609

• PM – light jogging on the mill.  5 miles at 15%, 63 minutes.  Nice sweat but very easy on the legs.  Nothing faster than 11 min/mile (and that only for a few short stretches).
• Yesterday, my Bolder Boulder time on their website said 36:37.  My watch, with the two stride post the line click off (an old Benji incurred habit said 36:39).  Today their website gifted me a new time of 36:46 … while my intermediate mile splits are exactly the same!   So, I apparently slowed by 9 seconds in the last quarter between yesterday and today.  So much for chip technology getting it as I raved yesterday … hmm … it did take me about 8 seconds to cross the start line with the jacked start yesterday.  I guess I ought to just be happy that I did not run 37:52 and now have a 38:01 time!
• I got a lot of reminders today … of how freaking blessed I am.  Running is folly.
  

state of the run

• So … a bit a state of the union … where I am at, possible reasons as to why I am here, and what I can potentially do about it.  Just getting it to blog-o-paper for review and consideration. 
• I must declare at the start – this is all an act of self indulgence of sorts.  Running is folly.  Ultimately, I have a gift that I can get up peaks in relatively short periods of times, smell the pines, hear the hummers, see the sunset over the peaks …Running is folly.  At the end of it all, it is not about our running … but our journey in running.  But as being human is an act in becoming something greater than ourselves, I will engage in this review of where I am at, and what to do about it.
• Facts – I am out there, enjoying the run.   My performances are the slowest they have been … well, ever … at least since moving to Colorado.  I am not enjoying that.  Despite training at what I believe is near or higher levels than I have in the past,  my performances are going backwards – or slower.   These leads to the little voices in my head … asking these questions:  why am I moving backwards?  Why despite training regularly, am I slowing down? 
• I have the following hypotheses.  I am not sure if any of these are true.  I am just thinking that any of these could be true.
• I am getting older and this slowing down is “part of that process.”
• I am over-reaching with the training – doing too much in other words.  Overtraining.  This speculation comes from an observation I have made that I was probably running 40-60 miles a week 10 years ago, but running significantly faster.  I could be burying myself with a combination of miles, time, elevation gain and lost.  Hell, even in 2007, I was probably doing less training (certainly a lot less vertical) and I was running 35 minute 10ks.  Now it is a bit of a ball bust to break 38.  I have been “more focused” (emphasis on the quotes) for the last two years and shit has just gotten slower. 
• Something is missing chemically (this could be an outcome of the two above, or just on its own).  It could be diet.  Could be something else.
• Things I can do about it …potentially.
• Not worry about it.  Realize this is what it is, and just dig in and keep doing what I am doing and hope for the best.  Keep training at this level of performance, intensity with the expectation that it will get better.  In other words, expect that this trough in performance will be representative of going through hard times now for better times later.  Or maybe it is not that.  And be willing to accept that.  If this is all about age, then this is really the only option.  
• Alter training … which really means … Train less.  Take a week or two at 30-50 miles a week … see if that begins to change the picture … but maybe that is too short a window?  Maybe I am doing something else wrong in my training.  Maybe I am not running my hard days hard enough.  Maybe I am not running in groups enough to tax myself.  Maybe not doing my easy days easy enough.  I have been contemplating this one in mix with the bullet above.  Maybe I run 50 miles a week but with 20 of that on Saturday, two hard workouts …one flat, one up.  That gives me 35 miles on three days.  I get 15 miles on the other four days – and super easy.  A voice in my head says this is something I ought to do, need to try.  But my heart does not want to.  There is a strong voice says I need to be doing AT LEAST 70 miles a week … hell, I am training for a mountain marathon – not a 10k.   Everyone I have talked to in detail about running that was able to push it to the next level was training 10-12 hours a week …
• Get it figured out if I am doing or have  something wrong chemically.  Solutions to this range from going through the frustrating process of expecting my medical provider to figure it out (weird looks from a doc when I say “yes, I am obviously screwed up … there must be something wrong as I ran 2 minutes slower in my Bolder Boulder than I’d did 2 years ago and I am training more), paying for it out of pocket on my own to determine if there is, taking vitamins, taking various odd products that I have been reluctant to buy (whey protein for example) … in attempt to find the missing element.
• There are of course other options, but I see these as the sort of “big” category ones.  In other words, keep doing what I am doing and hope for a better result, change what I am doing and see if I get a different result (but be willing to deal with the risk that it could make things worse), or look / determine if there is something else that is the missing ingredient.  My brain tells me this ought to be the second option, but I frankly have not come to terms with that yet.  More to come.

Monday 052509 Bolder Boulder 10k

• Picture courtesy of JP.
• I will look to wrap up this post on Tuesday with some more stats, shots, cross links  and video….
• I had hoped that I’d wake up today and magically feel great.  Being 39 and have been around this block maybe once, I knew that was highly unlikely.  I woke up and my legs felt like crap, as they have for the last few days.  I decided to hold off on analysis as to why.  Simply, why is that I am either not doing I am supposed to … be it I am over doing something or under doing something.
• Headed into Bolder nonetheless, and decided to make a good fight of it.  I knew it would be a stretch together a race of six miles, even at a slower pace than desired – but races are good reminders.  Good reminders of why we do this.  A whole post in that but for another time. 
• Parked at Scott Carpenter, and ran into Lucho and JK (his blog appears to have gone private) there.  I did a real slow warm up to the start (1.5 miles) and worked my way up to the A wave.  (I have some pre and post video but I am too lazy to post it right now).  It is rather ridiculous in there … Matt Reed, Chris Wellington, Dave Mackey, Colleen Dereuck … Olympians, champions, kick ass athletes in a 25 stretch of road in Boulder all at once.  I normally have lined up right at the front, but today I went right to the back. All the way to the back where I had lots of room to get ready.  The start was a bit jacked with the count down but I don’t think it really mattered with the chip timing (which BB really seems to have got down now).
• I tried to get out real easy and then settle into a rhythm.  I spotted Ric Bruess and thought I’d hang behind him for a few miles, just to be mindless for a while.  We got to a kilo and as I think because he knew I was there he let me slip ahead.  I was fine with trading places for a bit and so took the lead.  I quickly forgot Ric, as in this race, there are hundreds of people around you ALL THE TIME.  I mean TONS.  Kids.  Men,  Women.  It is a freaking party the whole way and it is easy to pick a target to run with even for a short period.  It seemed that from the kilo on, I was passing people.  Not in monster droves but in drips and drabs.  I got passed too by some, but it seemed to be a bit more in my favor post the kilo.  Saw lots of folks … in the race and on the side lines … Peter H, Simon E, Kerrie W, JP, GG, co-workers, etc.
• The race was a typical ten kilometer grind.  My legs felt like crap so I went through some tough patches – more than usual – from 2 miles on.  My body really did not want to be running but that was not an option for my head.  In the early stages, I kept the mantra of rolling but relaxed.  In miles 3 and 4 I was looking to maintain.  As I’d roll folks up, I’d get a bit of motivation to not get taken back.  We rolled down 19th, the long stretch to three miles and 5k, I noticed (per Forerunner) I was at 18:48.  I went through the mental calculations, weighing what I had against what times I desired.  I had a desire of getting sub 38, simply because that would mean I could use that time as an A wave qualifier next year.  I felt like crap, recalled that I pretty much had never negative split this course, and was doubtful about that as an outcome.   In any case, the thoughts quickly past as it was back to work.   I was able start  to smelling the line some post the Casey Hill and was able to maintain despite the quad and calf protests.  I did a watch check at 4, and began to wonder if I could hold for a sub 38.  At five miles, I saw I needed to hold a six through the finish to get sub 38.  As sad as it sounds, I was on the fence as to whether this would happen – I just have had too many death marches up Folsom from over extending in earlier phases of the race.  Back to work in any case.  I continued to feel like crud, but was able to keep momentum through the creek crossing at Folsom.  No kick into the stadium this year, the legs did not have that but as I passed the Frank Shorter statue, I was pretty confident that I had banked up for a sub 38.  Whew!
• 
  mile 1: - :05:55.97

  mile 2: - :06:06.85
  mile 3: - :06:11.59
  mile 4: - :06:08.36
  mile 5: - :05:58.58
  mile 6: - :05:59.10
  net time: - :37:36.91
• Saw lots of folks in the stadium post run, Jeremy, Bryan Dayton, Rickey Gate s, Stuckey, James Johnson, Dave Mackey, Brian Hill (who was goofing off and ran the race as the devil … I caught up to him at 2.5 miles but I think only because he had stopped to drink a beer!) … I love this part of the race … the post battle exchange where everyone is still walking around at 120 bpm, in the afterglow of a good battle, sharing what went well, what fell apart.  Got in 12 miles on the day (4.25 warm down) over 89 minutes
• … Sooooo … lessons learned, thoughts, post race rants …
  • Bolder Boulder seems to have the chip thing figured out.  Race results for individuals were actually posted that night, with mile splits.  Well done. 
  • I know I came into this race … wrong.  As I said above, I suspect I am either doing too much of something wrong, or not enough of something right.   My legs felt like I had run a 20 miler the day before for 3 days before this race and I could not shake that feeling.   When I look at my training over past years, and compare it to what I have done here in the past – I have to theorize that I came in over trained into this race.  I am still thinking about if at this point this is really a bad thing – for the big picture of the summer or not.  I might also be not doing enough of some other things like hydrating as well as I could, self massage, etc.  More on this later.  I need to think it out a bit.
  • All that said, I am not sure even with fresh legs I would have been able to suddenly run hugely faster.  Maybe sub 37. 
  • I am not stoked or disappointed with this result.  It is where I am.  I look forward to drilling this down over the summer.  I am pretty happy with the fact that despite feeling horribly, I was able to sew together (relatively) a good second half.  In fact, it appears I negative split – which I think might be a BB first for me!  Of course, this was my slowest Bolder Boulder ever!
    
  • 
  

Sunday 052409

• 3 miles easy.  24 minutes.  Legs still feeling pretty heavy.  Hopefully it lifts by tomorrow.
• Saw my first snake of the season on the Lake Link Trail.  I think I still batting a 1000 with snakes.  I see a snake on the trail while running and inevitably, I shout something out verbally.  Gets me every time.

• Week in review, stats

• M – 6 miles w/ strides 45m; 4 miles 28 min
• T – 7 miles, 52 min; 6 miles 45 min
• W – 10 miles w/16 x 200; 76 min
• R – 6 miles with 3 tempo(17:54), 41 min; 6 miles mill, 41 minutes
• F – 10 miles Flatirons Vista, 90 minutes
• Sa – 8 miles, 64 min
• Su –  3 miles, 24 min

• 506 minutes on week.  66 miles on week over 10 runs.  239 miles on May, 1907 minutes.  1304 miles on year, 10672 minutes (177.86 hours).

• The week started strong and felt solid but it was rough going by the end.  Maybe I overdid it a bit on the front end with the 200s backed up to the tempo run day?  On Thursday a voice in my head was telling me that I probably ought to swing a day off for best results on Monday, but I ignored it.  I felt it as I felt thrashed in the legs on Sa/Sun.  No worries … those of you smelling blood, good.  That means you are close enough to smell it.  And if you are that close, I like my odds.   ;) 
• Next week … BB tomorrow, a couple of days of recovery, TT on Green on Thursday, and a long run in the mountains next weekend (maybe at altitude!)

Altera – some first thoughts

• On Friday, I ran with the Alterra watch from Highgear for the first time.  On this run I was most interested in seeing how the Alterra compared to the Garmin Forerunner 305 in terms of elevation data collected.  The Alterra collects it via air pressure data (barometric) while the Garmin  collects it via GPS data. 
• Before I get to that, however, a few other observations.  While I have loved my Garmin since getting it for Christmas from my in-laws, there are some drawbacks to it.  1.)  wearing it is essentially like wearing a rodeo belt buckle on your wrist.  This does not bother me while running but it is large, and folks take notice.  “What the hell is that thing on your wrist?”  Seriously, if I had two of these, and the right outfit, and you had enough to drink, I could be mistaken for Linda Carter.   2.) The Garmin cannot serve as a watch.  By that I mean I cannot wear it around as a watch for a few days … like I normally would.  This is because the Garmin needs to be recharged periodically (I think it will last up to ten hours of collecting data).  I am not sure if any GPS device (yet) does not require some recharge on a consistent basis (via USB or wall socket).  As a result, I can’t wear the watch day in and day out.   The Altera, as it is not a wrist top computer, and is not talking to satellites in the sky is smaller, and functions off a regular watch battery – and so can serve as a watch.  It is a big faced watch (which is okay with me) and so it might be able to block bullets as well (but not the 50 cal shells that a Garmin could ward off). 
• My data download of my run on Friday (the Vista Trailhead out to the top ridge of Goshawk before dropping back down into Eldo) indicated this run was a climb of 1068 feet (and equivalent down).  Side note – there is obviously sometimes error in GPS data (obviously!) that is clearly demonstrated when I start and finish in the same location but the ascent / descent numbers are not equivalent.   The Altera indicated I had ascended and descended 1296 feet.   I am interested to see how other runs stack up between the two devices.
• The manual for the Alterra is about 15 inches from me right now, but I have yet to pick it up.  Its use is relatively intuitive, but really ought to dig into it to see what other features are in this bugger.  I have just normally been poor at reading any system manual.  There appear to be a lot of other features on the Aterra that are cool:  temp, chrono, etc.  More to come …

Saturday 052309

8 miles, 64 minutes.  I ain’t going to lie:  I felt like total butt on this run.  My tail was dragging.  Aerobically (lungs) I was fine.  My legs were weak today.  Whatever.

Friday 052209

• Good podcast with Nate Jenkins
• More Jay Johnson core exercise stuff.
• Lot of videos lately.  Sorry.  Nah.  Not really.  I got this one via Half Fast.  Will exercising on a treadmill help sober you up?
  

 

• I have been debating (with myself, which is not as boring as you m ight think) how to approach this little race on Monday.  Questions that are in the mix are “what pace to take it out at?  Should I stage a mini taper for this bugger or keep my eye on the bigger picture and run through this?  Should I just run balls out, with the risk that I may explode or take a more conservative approach?  Will I get an A qualifier for next year?”  My mental confidence for this race is not high  - and part of me is okay with that (early in the season, not super well prepared, not what I am trying to get into my wheel house, nobody but you GZ give a shit about the outcome … ) but part of me is not happy with it either (6 minute pace is a stretch?  Really?).  The questions were in my face this AM when I woke up and was trying to figure out what I would do today.  Part of me felt that the best thing I could do to prepare for Monday today would be to really rest (maybe even take the day off).  My heart was saying “not so much.”   When I was younger, I’d do races where I’d just take off, go off the front and freaking die.  But sometimes it would still pay off.  It rarely meant a PR or a best performance but it was guys from the front.  Best performances come off the wisdom of racing smart … but this does not have to be my best race.  Then again, it would be fun to start conservative and take some scalps rolling down Folsom.
• TG and I had this conversation regarding the A wave qualifier a few years ago.  Bolder Boulder starts in waves and the first and fastest wave in the citizen races is the A wave.  It requires a sub 38 10k  (or some other equivalent time at some other distance).  They require you to prove you hit this time in the past year.  Apparently, even Olympian Matt Reed had to prove he hit the time.  TG and I were talking how we took the A qualifier (sub 38) for granted ... but there would come a day where it would not be so easy.  I am not quite there yet, but I can see that train coming. 
• All this … has also had me thinking about the entire balance … approach … yeah, I know.  I get mired in that thought a lot.  I am always wondering if I’d get nearly the same results and satisfaction on less training (say six hours a week versus ten).  Or if it is really necessary for me to give up beer for the  summer.  Or if racing “too much” is just over hyped and if taking an approach of just living large and racing every time you can (ala every weekend like double d and double j) is the way to be.   All about enjoying the journey versus the destination … there are some that seem to have it really figured out – and either way.  I see guys who are all about the perfect result, never conceding anything in their approach to assure they get the best result – all through training and execution on race day.  I see others who are absolutely the opposite:  willing to roll the dice on any day in training, blow up on race day.   It is hard to say if one is right or wrong.  I remember people saying that Sell’s run in the OT marathon in 04 was heroic.  Others saying it was absolutely idiotic.  Only Brian knows if it was right for him.
• Skins on all day (thanks again Lucho)
• I started doing some testing of the Highgear Alterra Watch today.   I am pretty interested in seeing how it compares altitude data (barometrically calculated) against the Garmin 305 (GPS calculated).  I used it today on my run over at Flatirons Vista.  I “calibrated” the Alterra to read the same elevation as the Garmin at the start of the run.  I need to review the data a bit, but in my random checks of both devices during the run, they were usually within 20ft of each other (with the GPS typically reading a higher elevation).  There was as much as 50 ft variance at one check however.  The weather did change during this session though  … going from foggy to sunny.
• 10 miles, 90 minutes.  I felt pretty stale in the legs (not sore, just no pop) – not surprising given the last two days.  I took it very easy – backing off the pace explicitly on any of the climbs.  Took the trails out to the “top” ridge on the Goshawk.  About 1000 feet of climbing in this run.
  

Thursday 052109

• Mid day – 6 miles.  3 miles easy and then 3 miles tempo (same route as last week) (6:22, 5:58 (12:20), 5:34 (17:54) (over 18:16 last week … faster first mile last week …).  Calves were a bit tight from yesterday.   41 minutes.
• Mid afternoon – 6 miles mill.  41 minutes.  Easy.
  
• Fun video of the day (oldie but a good one):  Enjoy …
• Then I stumbled on this fun …
• And then I was just on a Sam Jackson kick.
  

Wednesday 052009

• This ain’’t right …Steve Larsen, 39, well established athlete and dead of a heart attack.
• Awesome video posted by JJ of some historic Mount Washington races.  Locals will enjoy the footage of Scott Elliott and Jay Johnson.
• The Kara Goucher lead in to this video is rather funny  (first 2 minutes).
• PM – 10 miles with 16 x 200 strides with plenty of rest.  200s were 35-37 on 200 rest.  76 minutes.  Felt kind of blah physically but pretty charged mentally.

Tuesday 051909

• AM – 7 miles.  Had contemplated getting out and doing something hard this AM, but my stomach was not cooperating from the beginning of this run.  Ran out around Broomfield Commons, used the facilities and started feeling a lot better.  52 minutes.
• Made a few tweaks to the blog ... including trying to add a search engine.  I think for this to work though I needed to enable Google search on this blog.  I have not done that to date, simply because I don't want Google trolling my blog.  Not that it is really different since they host the blog.  Just have not been a fan of having my name appear in a bunch of results.  We'll try this for a bit though.
• I got the itch to do a bit of Pikes prognosticating this AM ... and noticed that I had not drilled through the entry lists that much this year (at least compared to last year).  And, I don't feel highly compelled to.  I guess I am enjoying doing my training, getting where I can, seeing what Mackey is d oing for WS100, etc.  But nonetheless, I owe some predictions soon as we are now under 90 days.
• We have had some good old fashioned heat here the last two days.  But it ain’t bad.  It’s a dry heat.  I  can deal with 90 and dry … its rather nice.  Much nicer than 70 and 90 percent humidity like back east.
• Bolder Boulder … less than a week away.  In past years I focused on this parade, while also abhorring it (getting up for a 7AM race to run with 45000 people ain’ the way I like to do it).  The competition was  rich, the race was what you were in terms of running for the rest of the year.  I ran 34:12 there one year  and have tried on several occasions since to go back and break 34 (something I have only done once in any 10k, with a PR of 33:49 at altitude) – but came up short (usually  by alot).  I don’t expect to dance with sub 34 this year, and will take a shot at getting under 37.  This will be, I think, a bit of a challenge for me considering where I am at in my development at the moment.  Nonetheless, I will make the best go I can of it, and put myself into the hurt locker as much as I can on Folsom.
• mid day.  Got out with Ken, Dave and Phil at work.  Lots of shooting the crap, including about how Ken decided to do Mount Washington one year for fun.  Ken threw out a challenge for the last mile of this run, saying he was going to run this hard occasionally to keep things honest.  I was not up for a mile throw down after 11+ in my legs for the day but no way was I going to puss out.  Plus, I had thought I’d go hard today, but I just had not felt up for it … so this was an odd reconciliation of sorts.  He gapped me by about 5 yards after the first 200 but then we kept it pretty even.  However over the last quarter, I faded badly and he picked it up nicely.  The mile was in 5:32.  Nothing to write home or blog about but it was fun.  It is exactly the sort of stuff I need – just goofing off and trying to run fast off of a decent amount of miles  6 miles on the run, 45 minutes.
• I ended up discussing this video from Sesame Street  tonight.  For some odd reason, I remember this very well.

Monday 051809

• It was a great weekend.  Started Friday night with some friends over, then the race Saturday AM. then a KZ soccer game Saturday PM, Sunday had the rocket launch and an evening of mountain running.  I could smell the internal smolder of living (and my skin from being out in the sun on the rocket launch).
• Great post ... this is true toughness.
• Lots of races everywhere this weekend.  The summer racing season has truly begun!  Got word from Justin Ricks that registration for the Cheyene Canon mountain race (a World Mtn Running team selection race) has opened up.   Was talking with Andy A this past weekend about the summer plans.  He has intention to jump into a good number of the Vail races.  I’d like to do that but it is a bit of a haul for me to get out there … and frankly I think I enjoy the Decalibron more anyway (a 2 hour run at altitude with crazy ass views).  I am thinking of jumping in several of the BRR track meets on Thursday nights starting next month.
• Should I be more stoked that my division’s new GM has run the Pikes Ascent before?
• Early afternoon.  Warm.  Heck, it was hot.  Close to 90 for the first time.  It felt nice.  Easy six, and did a handful of 30 second strides in the last mile.  6 miles.  43 minutes.
• Late afternoon, 4 miles, 28 minutes.   I felt even more relaxed than the first run and the pace wound up being a bit quicker, even though it was about the same effort wise and without the strides.

Sunday 051709

• Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb results are up … I was 18th overall …  http://www.myentryfee.com/results/TextResults/2009results/runressunshine09.txt
• Because TZ was doing agility with Lucy and Ruby in the AM, and I was a part of JZ's Scout Rocket launch this PM (we must have launched 200+ rockets easy), I did not get out until the evening.  Green Mountain.  Took a long circuitous route up the mountain, enjoying the heat, the mountain, the smell of the winter down pines.  Legs did not feel bad but I had no zip today so went real easy. 
• Ran with my camelbak.  I kept burping up mouthfuls of the gatorade I was taking (reflux?).  Slow, easy 10 miles with some hiking on the steeper grades.  2:06. 
• Got to the top of Green and heard this very odd hum … looked up and saw what must have been 10000 gnats in a cloud.  A true swarm. 
• I have been playing with Sporttraks with the Garmin quite a bit – it is pretty good at working out % grades (very cool) (but nothing crazy new).  For example, the last mile up Bear Canyon to the four way post at Green is 16.9% average.  Shadow Canyon appears to have an average grade of 23+%.  Flagstaff road has an average grade of 8% from Gregory Canyon, but the last two miles are closer to 10%.  Makes me want to post up a bunch of standing posts that just show the profile, grade, mileage, etc.  2700+ of elevation feet on this run tonight.
• Week in review, stats
  • M – 7e, 55 min
  • T – Flagstaff (43 up), 11 whole, 102 min
  • W – AM – 3e w/ dogs, 25 min; PM – 9 w/strides  67 min
  • R – 8 with 3 mile tempo (18:16), 56m
  • F – 5e, 39m
  • Sa – Sunshine Canyon HC … 17 miles overall 123 min
  • Su – 10 miles, Green, 126

  • 593 minutes on week.  70 miles on week over 9 runs.  173 miles on May, 1401 minutes.  1238 miles on year, 10166 minutes (169.43 hours).

  • Decent week … but feeling that I am riding the training.  One week to Bolder Boulder.  Picked up that number yesterday.  Still feel that averaging sub six would be a stretch on that course for me right now.  Will look to chase a bit of flat stuff this week.  Apparently I got 9000 + of elevation this week … Really the big thing I need to do is get up early and start doing some work in the AM and stop being so damn lazy.  (but I am enjoying the sleep).

Kids on a Saturday.

The rest of the day was busy.  Yard work.  Working the dog.  KZ had a soccer game.  It has been fun to watch the girls progress – moving from amoeba ball a year ago to setting plays, passing, running positions – and still screwing up from time to time.  Their play has gotten much more physical too, which shoulder checks, and “positioning” for the ball.  These games have become my most favorite sporting event to watch these days.  After the game JZ and I threw some catch in the yard.  I still struggle to zing it right at him.  Simply I think I am going to whack him in the face with the ball.  He and I went for a bike ride later to get some ice cream at the grocery.  On the way back, he gave me the glance and bolted to the house.  The race was on!  He biked so hard he slammed his bike into the back of the van as he careened into the garage.  Laughing, he said, “well, I had to win.  You didn’t have a chance Dad.”

Might be time to retire. …

Nah.

Saturday 051609 Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb

• Got out today for the Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb.  Again, I did not have high expectations of results here – but wanted to get in a good climbing effort, get my arse kicked some, take stock of where I am at and “blow out some rust.”  In that regard, “mission accomplished.”  I got bit, chewed up, spit out and ground up.  :)
• Warmed up and felt a bit fatigued in the calves and ankles.  Saw a good number of the typical folks, including Andy A (who would take second), Lucho, Travis Macy ( winner I heard), Anna P (who is beyond a bad ass in the world of mountain running), Lisa G, various other blog-o-sphere lurkers, trail and mountain runners, co-workers, and lots of other fit people.  Saw Dave Mackey during the warm up – but he was not racing as he is readying for WS100.  The whole scene was a second fiddle to the bike race that was also going on up the canyon.  I watched the starts of these races with a bit of an awe – as I don’t know jack about cycling or racing (I can ride a bike to get to places but that is about it).  Even the concept of a “neutral start” was foreign to me.
• Weather was perfect.  The race field was small – maybe 80 people?  I don’t know and results are not posted yet.   We got out and I tried to take a little advantage of the downhill to get some momentum, and maybe shake out into feeling particularly stellar.  A pack of ten still quickly separated and I was not in it.  The slighter hills began about a quarter mile in and I tried to get into a groove.  I could tell it was going to be, as I expected a grind and not a great one.  I worked myself up to a guy in black who thought was Ted Kennedy and so I said “come on Ted.”  He glanced at me with a weird look and I realized it was not Ted and he upped the pace.  Oops.  Sorry.  He and I worked back and forth for a bit.  I got a bit tired of the game and put in a quick surge to move ahead and take the inside track of the road.  In retrospect, this is not the brightest thing in the first 1.5 miles of a near 10k race – particularly a hill climb where things are going to separate out anyway.  He swung wide and drove past me and stayed there … for a long time.
• At two miles, where the grade steepened, I was not making great progress and a small parade of racers made their way past me, including Anna P (who led this parade).  I tried to make some attempts at recovery in the flatter sections, but was not making up any places or ground.  Again, just tried to focus on grinding up, keeping the groove – even though I knew this was a mediocre outing.
• The elevation charts don’t show it but there is some significant downhill sections in this race in the second half.  Truly a key to this race is being able to run the ups, but then also transition the downhills into some quick stuff.  “Teddy K” had bridged about 200 yards on me by four miles, but he started to come back a bit with some of the downs.  In the last down, before the last three quarters of a mile up, I was able to come just about even with him.  Got the kick in the pants motivation not to get passed going into the chute.  Finished in 45:51 – probably 20th place.
• Seriously – I had been finished about a minute when Andy showed up and asked if I was ready to run down.  I was MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT but I did not want to get cold, and I knew Andy had already been waiting like five minutes.  So we started – and holy crap we were moving.  We spotted John Tribbia and Mike Selig up ahead – and put in this crazy ass surge to catch them.  This was almost as hard as the race!  The GPS said we were moving at 4:20 pace!  John and Mike looked at as like we were insane (umm, yeah!) … still I guess good work to prep for the RT at PP.
• Andy showed me on the way down a few places where he does repeats to prep for Mt Washington, and some side roads.  It was good to catch up with him.  Once we got down, I changed into trainers and added on another very easy four miles.
• It was a good day.  Good to get out there and get beat up a bit … it is humbling, motivating, inspiring, grounding … good stuff.  I love it even when I don’t love the results. 
• Soo … jog down, come by the start tent and ask if they have results up yet.  Here’s the conversation.  ME:  “Hi, have you posted results yet?” RACE GUY WITH BRITISH-SOUTH AFRICAN-AUSSIE ACCENT (sorry, I am not smart enough to know the diff)”  “Yes, I have them hear in my hand.  I am using them to determine prize winners.”  ME:  “Oh, okay – well when you are done, can I look at them?”  HIM:  “What was your time?  Maybe you won a prize.”  ME:  “Umm, well, I don’t think so … I’d be surprised if that was the case.”  HIM:  “what was your time?”  ME:  “oh … 45 minutes or so.”  HIM (looking at the results) “Good, good … hold on, yup … well, hold on, well maybe … ah, sorry.  No.  No you did not win a prize.  Better start training for next year chap.”    ME:  “”  …. I mean, WTF was that?  Better start training for next year chap?  That was freaking brilliant!
• Lucho’s report … once I get results, I will post them up.
• 
• 
• 1.2 mile warm up (11 min), 5.8 mile race (46 min), 6 miles down the canyon (42 min), 4 miles after (35 minutes).  17 miles, 134 minutes. 2500+ of climbing.
• Results ….

Place Name                Age Sex/Tot  S Div/Tot  Div       Time    Pace  
===== =================== === ======== = ======== ========= ======= ===== 
    1 MACY TRAVIS          26   1/49   M   1/27   M2039       39:37  6:50 
    2 AMES ANDY            46   2/49   M   1/19   M40+        40:17  6:57 
    3 TRIBBIA JOHN         27   3/49   M   2/27   M2039       40:36  7:00 
    4 RUDOLPH JOHANNES     43   4/49   M   2/19   M40+        40:57  7:04 
    5 SELIG MICHAEL        30   5/49   M   3/27   M2039       41:12  7:07 
    6 WAGGONER TIM         37   6/49   M   4/27   M2039       41:34  7:10 
    7 HOLA TIM             34   7/49   M   5/27   M2039       41:43  7:12 
    8 WILLIAMSON GEOFF     31   8/49   M   6/27   M2039       42:19  7:18 
    9 KOCHIK PHIL          27   9/49   M   7/27   M2039       43:29  7:30 
   10 RONNING BERNARD      23  10/49   M   8/27   M2039       43:39  7:32 
   11 SCOTT RYAN           19  11/49   M   1/3    M19&UNDER   43:45  7:33 
   12 PICHRTOVA ANNA       35   1/25   F   1/16   F2039       43:46  7:33 
   13 KOVACS JAMES         28  12/49   M   9/27   M2039       45:06  7:47 
   14 SALEEBY STEPHEN      34  13/49   M  10/27   M2039       45:15  7:48 
   15 RAMEY NICK           38  14/49   M  11/27   M2039       45:20  7:49 
   16 ANTONELLI FRANK      30  15/49   M  12/27   M2039       45:36  7:52 
   17 COLLINS ERIC         29  16/49   M  13/27   M2039       45:42  7:53 
   18 ZACK GEORGE          39  17/49   M  14/27   M2039       45:51  7:55 
   19 BEDFORD CHARLES      44  18/49   M   3/19   M40+        45:59  7:56 
   20 SLATER TIMOTHY       26  19/49   M  15/27   M2039       46:55  8:06 
   21 KEHOE THOMAS         47  20/49   M   4/19   M40+        47:02  8:07 
   22 LIMBERIS DEMETRIOS   23  21/49   M  16/27   M2039       47:16  8:09 
   23 CHAMBERLAIN STACEY   37   2/25   F   2/16   F2039       47:26  8:11 
   24 NABER GREG           43  22/49   M   5/19   M40+        47:54  8:16 
   25 FAIRCHILD MELODY     35   3/25   F   3/16   F2039       48:08  8:18 
   26 KOSKI KRAIG          43  23/49   M   6/19   M40+        48:45  8:25 
   27 DURRANT JESSICA      25   4/25   F   4/16   F2039       48:57  8:27 
   28 GOLDSMITH LISA       44   5/25   F   1/9    F40+        49:03  8:28 
   29 KUSHNER ERICH        27  24/49   M  17/27   M2039       49:07  8:29 
   30 GARTSIDE STEPHEN     43  25/49   M   7/19   M40+        49:17  8:30 

Friday 051509

• Tomorrow I am doing the Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb.  This race starts in Boulder at the base of Sanitas (or the Mapleton Medical Center) and climbs 1682 feet to where the road goes to dirt over 5.8 miles (average grade of 5.5% with max of 12%).  A good training run is to continue on past where tomorrow’s race ends and run up to Gold Hill.   I have done this once but it makes for a nice 20 miler with a ton of up and down.  Apparently the bicyclists will do the climb all the way up.  I don’t have high expectations for this race for a variety of reasons – it is early in the season for me, I have had a spring interrupted with various niggles (aches and pains) and I have not raced in a bit (typically it takes me a few races into a reason to break the rust and pop a fair one).  Nonetheless, I will toe the line and dig into the grind, easily find some good hurting, and hopefully compete well with those around me.  It ought to be decent prep effort for Mount Washington next month (well, sort of). 
• To assure some level of preparedness for tomorrow, I have staged a mini-taper of sorts … I will confess … the taper is the part of I feel the least confident and knowledgeable about in training.  There are folks who seem to benefit from a significant drop in volume (while maintaining quality) but there are a subset of folks who seem to totally mess up their metabolism with such drops in volume (as has been discussed via Hudson).  I am doing a slight drop in mileage on the days leading up to this event, but not overly so.  I am trying to maintain a larger view focus towards other races this summer – and so like to keep my weekly mileage near the same even with this dip in the middle of this week.
• Mid day, very easy 5 miles +, 39 minutes through the Westminster Hills.
• I have been thinking that I have been just “riding my training.”  What does that mean?  It means that, sure – I am working and moving forward … but cautiously and conservatively.  In other words, I am not playing in “edge city” or “burying myself in training.”  Burying myself in training would be (for me) the hundred mile weeks (as an example).  We like to think of guys like Sell and Jenkins as folks who have taken it to that edge, and overcome so called talent limitations by living in edge city of 140 mile weeks.  For me, a 100 a week is a bit more over than what I know I can accomplish effectively.   When I reflect on this, I have a few observations ….
  • Some of this is by design.  Going risky with higher volume, greater intensity, whatever mix might help drive results (reward) but there is greater risk of injury.  So by design I take a more careful approach to (hopefully) better insure improvement (I see a risk, reward curve graph in my head here) without getting hurt.
  • Some of this is “not” by design.  Actually what I mean by this is life style.  Which is to say it is actually by design but less consciously so.  I work a job.  I have a family.  I make choices to support and engage effectively (hopefully) in those life styles that effect training – typically meaning less training.
• So I am “riding the training.”  Not going too far over the edge I guess.  And that is okay.  It is actually part of the journey I seem to re-realize all the time … the farther you get out there, the farther you realize you have to go (sort of like when you get smarter, you realize how little you know …)  and not just in terms of chasing a PR … but more with what you can do to prepare … AND that endurance sport makes you begin to realize and reconcile with what your goals are and what can be realistically done in light of your choices and what tools you have.
• Altitude does not seem to work for everyone (Nate Jenkins video)
• Cool video …

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.