Thursday 063011

AM – 11 miles.  Got in 15 of one minute on, one minute off.  Again, this workout, for all its simplicity, seems to rip my legs off.  I am not going hyper fast, but the work is different enough from what I am doing, I can feel the sludge in the legs even hours later.  Good stuff.

Leaving Tel Aviv later today.  Given the work load here, I did not get out and do any significant tourist related stuff, but as I am back next month for a stint, I will hope to do some then.   Much to check out here certainly, but I will say this country has a lot to learn in regards to beer and coffee. 

More vid from whytomwhy.

 

Long flight back to the beauty of Colorado starts tonight … I always have a bunch of expectations of how much I will read on these flights, but I should just bet on getting a lot of sleep.

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Happy end of June all.  I have yet to add up the June numbers, but it is around 330-40 miles and 40k of climbing … I am very happy with the mix of consistency, vertical, some turn over work, and a little bit of racing the last month has provided – particularly in light of the travel.  I feel good.  I feel that I am making good progress, have a good balance of where running is, the training … it feels right.  Mostly.

1868 miles on the year (with 14 days off this year).  This is a good chunk behind where I was last year at this time (2142 miles and 277 hours this year versus 336 at this time last year).   At day 181, this puts me at about 10.3 miles a day overall, but a little over 11 a day for the days actually run.

I am not sure if this ~15% drop in volume makes a difference.  I can certainly make up some justification that it does not … that the miles I put in last year are miles in the bank, that I feel as fit as I have in a while, that my training is more effectively focused this year than it was last year, that volume is not everything (this is a tough one for me to reconcile because I do think volume is a big contributor to success at distances) …

Bigger issue as to where I am in prep for that run down south (or, relative to where I am now – the other side of the planet) in seven weeks is probably time at altitude (as in it is a bit of nada right now).

I guess compared to ‘09 I am still ahead (1680 miles at this point that year, and 237 hours).  

There is an odd combination of thoughts in my head right now on all of this.  On some days I feel that I am as fit as I have ever been at this point in the year (in the last five years).  On other days, I feel like I am seriously kidding myself and that it is all a facade.  On other days I don’t care how fit I am or not because I am enjoying being out.  Clearly this last camp is the best place to be … the rest will come.  Or it won’t.  Just need to trust.

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Got this beta on the new fees on the trailheads in South Boulder and if they applied to Broomfield County.  The fees apply. 

The name of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the trail access provision is called IGA City of Broomfield and Boulder County concerning the proposed City and County of Broomfield.  The two parties to this agreement are Broomfield and Boulder County.   Para. 6. 2 states:

Use of Open Space Properties by Broomfield Citizens:  With respect to all Boulder County open space properties, currently acquired or to be acquired in the future, Boulder County shall permit access to said properties to all City and County of Broomfield residents upon the same terms and conditions to which Boulder County residents are subject.  This obligation shall terminate immediately if Broomfield has not made the payments required under Section 5.2 above.

Broomfield made its payment as required so this provision is in force. Note though that this would not apply to city of Boulder open space properties--only those owned by Boulder County.  In the case of the parking fee for trailheads in certain locations on the city of Boulder Open Space, the city of Boulder web site says:

Starting on Monday, June 27, 2011 all non-Boulder County registered vehicles need to pay a $5/day fee for parking atSouth Mesa, Doudy Draw and Flatirons Vista Trailheads. Notices about this change will be posted no later than June 15.

As this fee is imposed by the city of Boulder and relates to trailheads on city of Boulder land, Broomfield residents would be required to pay the fees unless they have Boulder County registered vehicles for some reason. The IGA does not apply to the city of Boulder use of open space.  Awesome.

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Got to say, the Nick Clark story has been one of the more enjoyable ones to watch the last few years (in this MUT arena).  Guy has put in the time, improved, and has no issues with laying his goals out there.  Plus he contributes to the FC running scene quite a bit.   That said, he has gotten off course in his last two races … hmmm.   Seriously, his performance at WS is pretty inspiring. 

But, lest we forget how taxing a 100 can be.  Really … I think we can forget about that.

Fun post on the lost of any sort of joy in airline travel (although the business class gig we got here was pretty damn posh). 

Wednesday 062911

My mental state hit a serious trough yesterday.  I was generally cranky, disagreeable and I was not even close to being able to contribute effectively at work.  Again, I had been fine in the AM, but once 2PM-ish hit I was a wreck.  Once we returned to the hotel I evacuated myself from my team mates.  While this was a bit of a jerk move, I suspected it was the lesser of two evils … staying with them for a longer portion of the evening would surely lead to me stating something highly stupid.

So why was I like this?  Lack of sleep, or this jet lag thing.  In other words … if you want to break me, take my sleep.  My patience grows short, my motivation wanes, any filters I have for intelligent discourse go out the window.  I guess I could choose to work on this diva nature under these conditions, but I am not sure I want to.

I knew going to bed at 6PM would lead to further disaster, so I headed to the beach and swam the waters of the Mediterranean for a bit.  It felt good to be in the water …

I watched these guys for a bit.  Waaaay beyond my abilities …

AM – actually was able to sleep to 5AM.  Screwed around for a bit before getting out and decided that I’d keep things a bit tamer today (definitely felt the harder efforts from the last two days).  Headed up the river a bit and actually found some single track dirt on a few occasions.  Tel Aviv has some incredible bike path infrastructure that makes it very conducive for foot, bicycle travel (at least from what I have seen).  10 miles at 8 minute pace.  My calves are a wreck.

 

Six in the evening along the promenade with TWK

Tuesday 062811

There has been a bunch of racing as of late that I have been excited to hear about but I have not commented much on.  I have simply been a bit too busy to drill in to it as much as I’d like.  Certainly KJ’s win at WS100 is in that mix – along with the end of Geoff’s undefeated 100 miler streak -- but AJW pulling through a PR to nail yet another top 10 spot feels like it steals the thunder there.  The boxing match between Rickey and Manning at MW sounds like it was epic and I am looking forward to seeing video from that.  CU had some impressive steeple wins at NCAA’s and the USATF named the USMRT at Cranmore. 

A little better on the sleep last night, but I was still up at 4 AM local without an alarm.  This sort of behavior has effectively predicted that I will get to 2-3 this afternoon and feel like taking a nap (that I don’t take).  I got out this AM, after calling home and chatting with the family at JZ’s last baseball game of the year.  Ran farther north today than I had yesterday.  The waves for some reason are really cracking today so there were a lot of surfers out.  As most of my runs have been on or near the promenade, I am seeing some of the same faces now every day.  I typically give runners a small wave or a hello regardless of where I am at.  On day one, the runners here looked at me surprised at the gesture.  Today, some smiled and gave me the nod or a finger point back.

AM - 12 miles.  Felt pretty sluggish to start but I guess because of the air here that still ends up being sub 8 minute pace very easily within a few minutes.  Opened up a bit after an hour and so I finished off with twelve times a minute on, a minute off.  I thought I had done ten but I kept losing count (and so assumed a lower completion while running).  The GPS data showed that I did a dozen though (so a nice bonus).  Not super zippy but I was working those minutes – but still trying to remain smooth to some degree (not fighting the speed).  (note – later in the AM I could “feel” this run a bit more so, I guess I was successful!).

Tel Aviv notes … Today’s cab ride to the office included a heated Hebrew exchange between our driver and a scooter driver.  The highlight was that while rolling at 40 mph, these guys found a way to be within a foot of each other and yelling loudly.  The spitting towards each other at the end was a nice capstone.

Seeing conference rooms that double as bomb shelters in offices also remind you as to where you are …

More media fun from TWK.

 

Same menu … different views …

Monday 062611

Photos courtesy of Tom Klein.

I was doing fine yesterday with how I felt, sleep but then got to about 2:30 in the afternoon (here) … and felt very challenged to keep my eyes open.  Of course, I did keep them open but I was nearly useless from a work perspective (but to some extent so was everyone else).  I hit the rack at about 9, post the evening jog, and I expected to sleep hard until about 5AM.  I woke around 3:30 however and laid there there for a bit before resigning to the fact that I was awake.  I gave the family a call.  It was a bit weird to talk to them because they were wrapping their day (Sunday) up, and I was starting the next (Monday).

Anyway … post the AM phone call I headed out for some miles (after the obligatory Israeli black mud coffee-Nescafe thing).   The legs felt sort of heavy but I got moving at a decent clip anyway.  After rolling for a bit out into some of the neighborhoods I picked it up for the back.  11 miles.  Lungs – fine, legs were like lumber.  Elevation gained on this run … ten.  As in 10 feet.

Noticed that the local airport here has fencing, wiring around it … and dogs that walk the perimeter.

Okay, I just noticed an oddity with my stats.  See – it is Monday here, so my week statistics should be reset as of today (or closed out yesterday).  But when I uploaded my run into  the computer this morning, the computer still thinks it is Sunday (like I did this morning’s 5AM run at 9PM last night).  So, I only had 72 miles last week, but maybe it was 83.  Or not.  Or it does not matter. 

After getting out of the office last night the team was sitting around in the hotel.  I did that thing where I go into a rant about some non-work related topic. Last night I bit into soccer playing kids whose parents believe the kids need a halftime snack and a post game snack … and how Gatorade has marketed a message that we need to eat and drink their product before, during and after even 10 minutes of exercise … and then how the one-up-man-ship of parents turn this from a couple of oranges to organic range free Powerbar Gus that are delivered intravenously.  Eventually I tried to tie it back to the ridiculous nature of having graduation events for 5th graders, but there were a bunch of other dead end tangents.

I try to do this in a humor based fashion, but it probably comes across more like me being a grumpy old man. 

I tend to end up doing this with my team in this setting rather frequently, and they seem to enjoy it but they might just be acting polite.  I am not sure if I do this to just to try to be funny (in other words, I am such an egomaniac I can’t keep my mouth shut), or because I am trying to stay awake.  Bigger picture, I sort of feel I often live in a comedy of my own (which I greatly enjoy) … and maybe we in fact all do and just need to realize that rather than trying to live something else?  Nothing profound there really.

Crack up moment for me last night … we are rolling back to the hotel last night.  Cabbie turns on the radio and starts singing the Fugees “Killing Me Softly” – and was really bad at it.  Broke it up occasionally with talking in Hebrew loudly with whoever was calling him on his cell phone.  I was tempted to sing with him but I was waaaay to tired.

These are pretty much outside every door in the hotel and office.

Sunday 062511

Tel Aviv notes… travelled to Atlanta to meet the team Friday afternoon from Colorado. Around 10 PM, we went to the gate for the Delta flight. Interestingly, there is a whole additional security station there as it is driven by Israeli security policy. It is nearly exact same thing as the TSA checkpoint, but not run by TSA.

Flew business class in this plane and had the benefit of those chairs reclining into beds so I got a fair amount of sleep. Business class is ridiculously decadent, and I was probably eating too much … tried to keep ahead of hydration. The flight was very smooth (unlike the one into Atlanta where we bounced around a bit as we hit thunderstorms coming in).

Woke up somewhere over the Mediterranean (Greece actually) and was amazed at the views from the window (which I cracked a tiny bit as many folks were still sleeping). We arrived locally around 5:30. It felt warmer than the 75 that was being listed but that was probably the humidity.

Going out of the airport without issue, with only a few questions at passport control. No paper work required to get in or anything but there were some security folks roaming the airport and “randomly” picking folks as they came off the plane. Picked up some shekels (about 3.5 to the dollar) before we headed out.

We did dinner at a place in Jaffa that was excellent and had great conversation about this region, the West Bank, etc with the team and some friends of my boss (who live here). I had a steak that TZ would have refused to eat (I asked for it medium, they refused to prepare it that way so I said, medium rare and it was clearly rare but I more and more okay with that as I age). Around 9PM, we headed back to the hotel (which I was glad for because I felt tired even though it was only noon Colorado time). This was about when the restaurant really started to pick up business. As we left, the city PA blared a call to prayer – which seemed to really bring to light that I was all of a sudden on the other side of the globe

I was able to call TZ and chat for a bit. This is rather nuts. She is on the other side of the planet, I can take a picture, send it to her instantly, and then discuss it with her.

Was glad to see my little power converter thing I picked up at Target worked. Internet connectivity in the hotel was a bit spotty, but I was still trying to keep up on WS100 news. My room, overlooking the beach to the south showed views of some dance party going on down the way a bit.

I got to bed around 10, woke up around 2 as folks were coming back in. Got back to sleep but then got back up around 4. Only instant coffee (Nescafe) – which is apparently all the rage here – in the room (leaves an interesting black coffee sand sludge at the bottom of the cup).

Headed out the door for some miles in the AM. Gave myself plenty of time because I was up anyway, figured I’d explore a bit and I felt a bit stiff from the diet and travel. I stuck to the promenade along the beach, running south to Jaffa, then back to the north past the airfield up there. Beach has some real pretty spots, but also some homeless, and in some places incredible amounts of trash. And LOTS of cats. Got off the beaten path occasionally, but never felt insecure. As the sun came up, lots of bikers, walkers runners, of all ages were out and about. 12 miles.

Breakfast was quite the rich buffet – with a lot more choices of cheeses, vegetables than what you’d get at an American continental breakfast.

Traffic here is a bit ridiculous – unlike I have seen anywhere in the US. The worst offenders are the folks on the scooters. It is probably what you can imagine, but it is kind of crazy to see it from the front seat (and I am not driving anywhere).

Recently I was speaking with one my city council members. He was the mayor for a bit in the past as well. He is coming to the end of his run as a council member due to term limits and I was discussing that a bit with him. He mentioned that he doubted he be missed, a few reasons for that, and made reference to this poem. I went and looked it up.

There Is No Indispensable Man
by Saxon N. White Kessinger, Copyright 1959

Sometime when you're feeling important;
Sometime when your ego's in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room,
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you'll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There's no indispensable man.

PM - I couldn't bring myself to eat dinner. I was still too stuffed from lunch. This was true of all the team, but folks had some light snacks in the hotel. After we yapped for a bit, I got out and jogged easy in an attempt to bring myself to feeling a bit normal. Post lunch I suddenly felt very wiped out (also true for most of the team).

The evening run was a significant contrast to the AM run. Thousands of people, walkers, joggers, bikers, beach goers, bar and restaurant night lifers crowded the promenade. And it seemed that 90 percent of the trash was ... gone. 3 miles.

Saturday 062511

0 miles.  Traveled to Tel Aviv.

Friday 062411

We can all sleep easier now. In case you needed a visual.

10 miles, with 8 repeats on the local hill. Have not been here in a bit (actually at all this calendar year) and I felt it, as well as the load of vert from the recent days. 19:53 (was not sure if I’d break 20!) This ends a “phase” where I saw myself going after some vertical in the month of June. I have about 40k on the month – which I know is not a lot for some, but is about twice what I pulled in May.

A good Tweetmyer podcast interview … he thinks a 100 is harder than Ironman.

Irunfar interviews popping up for WS.

Thursday 062311

Slept in.  Needed it.

Sub 70 minute masters at MW via DD.  Note – DD calls it sub  1:10.  There is large debate amongst folks if that is said “one ten” or “seventy.”  Typically runners, or folks with a track background go with “seventy.”  Other smirk at this and go with the “one ten.”  I almost got into a braut slapping fight regarding this contentious and important topic over the weekend, but given it was Father’s Day we decided to leave that for another day.

Good pre race prognostication re: WS.

Looking to get a touch more vertical in the next day or two because then I am off the Middle East for the week – and sea level.  Given it will be hot, I will be working a lot, and out of my familiar element, I fully expect the mileage, vertical and time spent running will be less.  In light of that, I am going to look to treat next week as a short, hard, flat week – making the most of quality in those miles as I can.

I am completely opposed to this parking fee program at these trailheads.  I fully expect this program not to be phased out as a pilot for these three trailheads as a possiblity described, but rather to be expanded more and more to the OSMP lots.

JZ and a buddy of his had a sleep over last night and decided they wanted to tent out in the backyard.  Sounds good.  Told them they had to have the tent set up though before the sprinklers went off in the back yard … which gave them about seven minutes.  They had it up, rain fly on, on a tarp and were in it before the sprinklers started pelting it.  Of course I forgot to turn them off and so they automatically cycled again through the middle of the night … but the boys were dry.

Apparently Texas owns Pikes.

I have a few non running friends who read this blog and wonder what the whole ultra thing is about.  This is a perfect summary.

PM  - waited until the heat was suppressed a bit by the afternoon clouds.  10 miles, last 2.5 steady, building

Wednesday 062211

AM – 5 miles wake up run

Good stuff in this podcast re: recovery, etc from the Purple Patch Fitness guy.

According to Sean, this blog has some dulcet tones.

PM – South Boulder Peak.  Felt good to start but was certainly slogging by the middle of Shadow.  I got up in 54:44, but definitely knew the super computer was not running well on the way down.  Rather than risk a wipe out, I shut it down and “ran” down easy.  RT was 1:32.

But the bummer was this view as I came into the South Mesa Trailhead lot.

Other signs there indicated this “Coming Soon!” was actually June 27.  Not sure if this will be 5 bucks for a year or 100 bucks.  I am also going to check out if Broomfield is exempt from this given it was once part of Boulder County, and paid for a good lot of this open space.  In any case, I am sure it is going to make this and the Dowdy Draw lot much less visited by me (forcing me to the Flatirons Vista or the trail head over on 93 a bit more up north).

Elsewhere …

 

Tuesday 062111

AM – 5 easy miles.

More WS prognostication.  Also from Mr. Mock, an interview with D. Bowman.

What is the title of your blog?  Or how many follower’s do you have? (entertaining posts from two blogs I regularly enjoy).

As of late there has been a little bit more chatter in the back of my head (although that is not far from the front as there is not much room there) asking why I do this, and how I do this and the like. This has been probably been spurred by many of the great posts out there by people prepping for a summer of races, and certainly the hubbub over WS.  There are clearly contrasts in approaches in our heads (exhibit A, exhibit B just to name a couple).  I don’t see one as better or more appropriate or more aligned to success than the other.  In fact, I sort of dig how they are all different but ultimately the same – a journey out there of successes and failures.  It is probably too nice out to worry about that chatter back there anyway.

Simon’s 64 and change is the fastest MW by someone 45 or older.  Got to think he is back with a vengeance and could be a contended at the real big hill later this summer.

Feerst’s Mt Evans report is interesting.

PM – got up Green via Gregory-Ranger with Footfeathers.  I had thoughts to tag this hard, but started mellow, and decided I’d just run (even that really slow run thing you do on some of the big steps) it versus my more typical run walk thing.  In fact, it had been a long time since I have been able to run all of any of these routes anyway.  But that said, I think my fastest times on these come off a run walks?  Anyway, ran it mellow through the bigger stairs that swing south on Ranger, and rather than going after it, I let it come to me.  Good workout.  Felt like I got something, but I was not wrecked and it felt solid.  We came down at a steady pace via Bear Canyon – and it was just a perfect day out there.

Holy …

Monday 062011

Back to work for the first time in over a week …

Karl’s WS odds.  An interview with the guy behind those odds.

I might need to put this race on the list.

Waaay back in 1998, I was on a team that set a pretty obscure WR – that is the record for 10 x 10km, co-ed.   We ran 6:03:48.4 at Potts Field … I think that stacks up pretty well to the latest cut of this record.

AM – wake up 3 miles.  Felt good.  Drank too much IPA with many amazing and wonderful people last night – and so I probably flapped my lips too much, but I felt good physically this AM.  Fresh snow up on those peaks.

A 42 minute 10k by a guy who 80 …

Roes video over on RT.  Great shots in this … about 13 minutes long.  His recent blog entry goes well with the video: I find myself thinking more about what run I'm going to do tomorrow than the run this coming weekend… It would be pretty awesome if we could get Geoff to scream a little less in these interviews though.  I mean the guy obviously has a lot of anger issues.

PM – felt absolutely the opposite of this AM … heavy legged and tired.  Curtailed this to 8 miles.  Surely this was last night’s debauchery catching up with me.

Sunday 061911

AM – easy 8 miles.  A bit of fatigue, no soreness.  Had tightness in the hips yesterday.   Lower volume week on whole because of the vacation (57 miles, but a zero day and a day with 3 in there, 8500 vertical) and a bit of focus on turn over and racing.  I feel good with the week though – as I think it moved me forward.  Just shy of 1800 miles for the year.

A common scene in the house this AM:

Good interviews going on over here.

Mount Evans Road Race

Lucho’s report.

8th overall, 7th male, 1st master.  2:15:25 I think.  Was seriously windy.  On the upper switchbacks, you could fly on the east side running but then be brought to a near complete stop when heading west.

Got what I came for, good competitive run at elevation, good workout.   Landing the masters win was a nice umm … windfall.  I think these days are going to be pretty infrequent.

A screen shot for the elevation debate and to hopefully bring to rest as to how much downhill there is in this run (+3600, –150).

This next screen shot gives you a little idea how windy it was.  Specifically, take a peek at the pace variance from ten miles on where the switchbacks go from east (down wind) to west (up wind).  I am guessing it was 50 mph out there but I really have no clue. 

Other than that, the race report is simply this:  it was a good grind. 

I got out okay, maybe a touch quick but felt like I was able to quickly correct.  Adam Feerst went by me at about 2 miles and so I thought any sort of masters win went with that.  Right near five miles, he stopped though to correct a shoe issue he was having.   He seemed to be in the mix right behind me for a bit.  Near Summit Lake, the winning woman caught me.  We mixed back and forth for a bit in the climb out of the lake, but I was losing a lot of ground in the wind sections.  With about 2 miles to go I caught up to two guys, and noticed one certainly looked older.  I was definitely feeling the “I DON’T GIVE A CRAP AT THIS POINT WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE!  I WANT TO GO HOME!  THIS IS STUPID” attitude that seems to come on to me at 13k feet.  The older guy and the younger guy encouraged me to work with them in a pack, switching positions as to who would lead in the wind – but I would fall off when on the tail.  But then at about a mile to go, the older guy came back.  I was able to muster a bit of a push (or maybe it was more that he didn’t) on one of the headwind sections and get some more daylight between us.  That was enough to make the break, although all this happens in crazy slow motion at that altitude. 

As I finished, Lucho (4th, right at 2 hours) was there to congratulate me.  I had contemplated running down prior to the run and he asked if I was still interested in that.  “ABSOLUTELY NOT.”  But my lips and teeth felt frozen from the cold wind, so it came out “AFOLUPBE OT.”  Within 2 minutes we were in his car and heading down.  That was very very very sweet.

Post race I got to hang with Lucho and his family, Wyatt H, Adam F (by the way, that dude is bad ass being he is 50), Shad M and other kindred spirits – always a big bonus to these races is trading the war stories with everyone – along with the well intentioned jabs.  I had estimated that the wind took out about 35 minutes of my time, but the general consensus seemed to be that it slowed folks in the 2 hour ish range by 10 minutes or so.  Sooo … I ran what I predicted … I win the beer. 

Definitely need to get to altitude a bit if I intend to be able to run well later this summer.  There is still time to do that, and today helped.  I learned that while I am not deep into hill training, I ain’t too bad at this point.  Wind … well, that is a different story.

The Mount Evans race is surely a classic.  Darrin and his group do a good job, and this is an epic course. 

Results will probably be up soon but Mario won in 1:50 on the men’s side and I did not catch the woman’s name but she went like 2:12 I think.

Fermentation is rocking hard.

 

Saturday various

Mount Washington results. (more lengthy results) West certainly represents (with 5 of the top 6 spots going to those with CO ties in the men's race and top two in the women's race). Although Rickey just from Earth. Looks like it was quite the barn burner between Gates and Manning. Good to see Simon back and Dunham pulls off another sub 70.

Kilian gets lost.

Friday 061711

In Tabernash (ish) ran an easy 3 miles before picking up the crumb grabbers from camp.  And yes, summer camp in Colorado means you can still see snow, and the kids said they woke up on their outdoor overnight with frost on their sleeping bags. 

 

This run was all at 8500 feet or higher (super easy … 9 minute pace).  Should be interesting to see what happens when I get up real high … something I have not done this calendar year (outside of maybe some skiing way back at the front of the year).

We grabbed dinner at a pizza sub Italian place in Winter Park.  It was called “Hernando’s” if I recall correctly.  Anyway … they have some 20000 dollars of singles all over the walls, the ceilings, under glass at the tables … that people have decorated and given over the years.

Oh yeah, fermentation is at full tilt.

Thursday night various

Started a batch of the EPOIPA tonight.  This means it ought to be ready by … ummm August.  But that means my bride and I are both cooking in the kitchen tonight (she is baking cookies in anticipation of our kids returning from camp tomorrow).  Given it was a 90 degree day … it is hot as Atlanta in here.

Pikes Road Race info.  Still not drawn to this but I can see it taking hold.

Good stuff on a 2:02 marathon at SOS.

Things re: WS100 are getting busy over at Irunfar.  I still can’t bring myself to predict this.

WLDMRC this weekend.  (Pikes has had this distinction in the past)

Noticing that Hafer, Carpenter are not on the BTMR entry list.  Yes, I know they have comp entries if so desired.  Looks like registration and management is via someone else given the overhaul of many of the sub pages of the site.  I will confess, I am not sure if this is a good thing.  It remains to be seen.

Enjoyable:  what not to say at a job interview.

Loads of SD100 reports to go through still:  Footfeathers, Rod Bien, Yassine, and Dylan.

Not sure who gets the “best blog post about an injury” award but Tony and Gary have to be the front runners.

Hike up 2nd Flatiron

  Hiked with TZ, checking out this hike as a possible one for the Scouts.  It is about 5k RT, 1430 of gain, loss and took us at a very easy pace (emulating scouts, or perhaps their parents) 2:15 RT including sitting around at the top and breaks.
 

Thursday 061611

Okay, so I have been accused of being a sandbagger with my recent race predictions. Rather than fight city hall …

…you tell me what I will run for this 14.5 mile Mount Evans race. Closest (within a minute) wins. In 07 I ran 1:59 there. I don’t feel that fit, but hey … maybe it was a low pressure day there.

Winner gets a beer. That could be a Zackrabbit IPA, but I am not sure when I am brewing the next batch. Or it could be a bad batch, so you might not want it anyway. So it could be a PBR if you win and just feel cheap.

Also curious to what you’d predict for the winning time and (if it is different) for this guy.

10 miles on Lac Amora loop.

Wednesday 061511

Added this blog to my reading given the recent interview with Tony.  …for me a mountain run isn’t about trying to feel as comfortable as possible the whole time. If I wanted to do that, I would just stay on the couch. … and I enjoy the satisfying feeling of finishing a run slightly depleted and feeling like I just ran up and down a mountain with very little between me and the mountain, so I certainly don’t mind finishing my daily 2-3hr mountain run slightly dehydrated and bonking.

Also playing with this reading.

Pic from Mtnrunner2 … I am pretty certain I accidently left this water bottle behind somwhere post race at the Dirty 30.  That irks me because I had totally tweaked out that duct tape holder I had manufactured …

PM – yes, I could not resist.  It was too beautiful not too.  10 miles.  Bear, out of Cragmoor and so via Fern, and then over to Green and back down to the Mesa via Bear Canyon.  Hot, but even that felt good.  Brought a single water bottle, but it was drained by the top of Green.  Considered H20 in Bear Canyon but figured I could stick it out.

Tuesday 061411

Late afternoon … 12 miles, with 3 miles tempo in the middle.  Was feeling good through the warmup and the tempo, but then the heat and wind with that effort added up and got to me … I totally popped.  Gimped home slowly …

Guy who did the bike vid put up a cool run vid.  Thanks to JV for the tip.

Monday 061311

I was asked at the Dirty 30 by a fellow runner - “do you ever take a day off?” 

Well, sure.  I do. 

I just don’t schedule them.  Life schedules them for me.  In other words, it does not work for me to say, I am going to take every Wednesday off.  Crap, Wednesday might be the most beautiful day ever.  And I might have the most free time.  And I might feel flippin’ awesome. 

Today, I intended to run. 

But … for the first time in a long time, both kids were out of the house (and a good distance away).  I took the day off from work.  We are trying to figure out what to do with the other side yard.  It is a mess.  Weeds, a mix of dirt and rock and a trampoline that the kids refuse to part with but has been beaten for ten years – and so is Colorado weathered, and duct taped in many places (not the jumping surface!).

We started the process today of recapturing this area by putting in a retaining wall in one section where we will have a small flower garden and working in some decorative fence pieces to better “disguise” the trash, recycling and compost. 

Still intended to run.

But after a day in the sun, this corporate weenie who rarely does manual labor was a bit bushed.  Ms. Hang Nine said, “why don’t you go for a run?”  I was a bit beat but I still intended to run. 

But I didn’t.  I gladly had a bottle of wine and dinner with my bride.   A much much better choice.  Days off are gladly dealt to me.  It is just a matter of me taking them.

So … now into the other crap…

This has now degraded to High School.

By the way, I feel that kindergarten, fifth grade, eighth grade graduations are not a good idea and lend to a sense of unnecessary entitlement.

He is a good writer because I can step into his shoes when he writes. 12 days …

Not a big NBA guy (anymore), but I am sort of enjoying the underdog versus lack of passion story there now.  Mostly because it seems that most folks absolutely did not believe that the underdog would win … even when they were ahead.  But it might be the old man in me seeing and enjoying what seems to be a young man comeuppance.

But, almost in a stark contrast … it is amazing how quick the gift of running can be snatched from our grasp.

MUT stuff.

Sunday 061211

12 miles.   I knew from the start I was running from in a hole.  Decided to cut this one a bit short.

Not my biggest week of mileage (88), and a bit short of what I had in mind, but I did get (I think, I need to cross check) the biggest week of vertical (13k+, 3 peaks) I have had so far this year.  I certainly felt it at the front of the week, particularly with a 30 mile run in my legs from Saturday.  But I was fine with that – I wanted to get after it a bit this week with the vertical and I felt I accomplished that.  This next week will probably include a little vertical, but I am going to back that off and focus a bit on the flat.  I am musing that just for variety, some level of focus, I will alternate weeks of a lot of up, and weeks with some flat.  I don’t know if that will work out, particularly with work … but we’ll see. 

I will look to recover a bit this week so that I am ready to race for Mount Evans but I won’t do a full fledged taper. 

Ah, Mount Evans.  I ran there once, back in 07 I think.  One guy took off early and I took the second slot with Mackey on my heels.  At about four miles we rolled up the earlier leader and then Dave took control.  I kept trying to get Dave for the rest of the race, but could not pull it off.  The last mile ripped me to shreds and while Dave’s lead was in just a handful of meters, everything was measured in large amounts of time … simply because everything is in slow motion at 14k.  I finished 2nd to Dave, just barely under two hours.

I was less than satisfied with the outcome, but I knew that I had gone to the well that day.  I sat in my car in Idaho Springs for another 90 minutes after coming down of the peak, and I was just a mess.   I certainly have raced hard on many occasions, but there are some days where it leaves me withered and this was one of those times. 

Later that summer I had a disappointing result at Pikes (first marathon).  That probably occurred for other reasons, but I have often wondered if I left my best summer race on America’s highest paved road instead of on the Barr Trail.  Eh, probably not, but … I have some level of belief that my ability to go that deep is limited to a very few, maybe one time in a season.  That said, I will compete this weekend, but I will, again – like Dirty 30 – avoid a teeth gnashing session … for now.

Of course, if I am in second place to Dave Mackey, then  all bets are off.

I’d love to race on Thursday night on the track at the local BRR meet, but that is probably a bit too close …

Thought I might get out in the afternoon, but spent the day after the run watching friends participate in the local tri race, and then getting the crumb grabbers up to summer camp in the high country.

 
After big Mexican for dinner with my bride, we went for a local walk.
 
Very hard to see but there was a coyote eyeballing us and our dog … (dang camera phones)
 

GOTG results up.  Peter Fleming rocks.  Mario’s record is pretty flipping solid.