Sunday 040112

 


 

AM – 6 miles along the beach.  Complete ugh-ery.  I am just beat.

Saturday 033112

I seemed to have luckily combat the to be expected jet lag on this trip.  This afternoon will be the true proving ground on that.

What I did this time was stay up as late as I could on the flight from JFK over the ocean.  I watched several movies – including Moneyball.    I found this very good.  Yes, I know most folks saw this last year, but I don’t get out to the bijou much.

In fact, as cheesey as it sounds, I find I have liked most Brad Pitt flicks that I have seen.  Legends of the Fall? Check.  Snatch?  Check.  A River Runs Through It?  Check.  12 Monkeys?  Check.  Fight Club?  Check.  Meet Joe Black?   Check.

Anyway, I stayed up late, maybe until midnight, Colorado time and then snoozed a bit on the bird.  I got a less than great 3 or 4 hours, but it was a little something.  But I think the key was it was not much.  I was tired when we arrived (2 in the afternoon Tel Aviv time, 5AM Colorado time) and then stayed up until 9PM here.  I took a melatonin then and got a solid 8 or 9 hours.  Typically I wake up at 3AM and wonder what the hell I am going to do.

Nonetheless, I still felt a bit heavy legged so I decided to turn today’s run into a bit of an opportunity to take some pix (14 miles).  Here are things you can expect to find on Shabbat on the Tayalet in Tel Aviv.

Old guys beating the crap out of each other in paddle ball …

Teenagers drinking beer and playing music in the park

Big dance parties.

Running could be really open and easy, or you could hit crowds of people … walkers of all ages, kids in strollers, folks on bikes, scooters, dogs, everything and come to a complete halt.



The paths continue along the beach or up the HaYarkon (I think) River to several parks, a zoo, etc.  There were literally tens of thousands of people out walking, eating, playing …
  
Bike rentals via the city.
 
Sailboats on the Med.
 
Old guys fishing
 
I am going to see if KZ or JZ can play this when I get home.
 
The commercial district on the shore known as Tel Aviv Port.
  
From beaches to forests in the city back to the city.
 
 

Last day in March so … Annual stats at end of March:  952 miles, 136.7 hours, 54685  feet climbed, 6 days off, 19  treadmill runs, 5 20 milers, 22 days of quality, and zero days at high altitude.  Zilcho racing.  11 FR Peaks.
Monthly stats at end of March:  337 miles, 52.7  hours, 36530 feet climbed, 1 days off, 2 treadmill runs, 1 20 miler, 3 days of quality, and zero days at high altitude.  Zilcho racing.  10 FR Peaks

From the Incline Club FAQ page … (which is Matt)

Thursday Workouts

1) Tempo run from Hydro Street to No Name Creek (aka French Creek) or 30 minutes — whichever comes first. This is an anaerobic threshold workout requiring attention to pacing so that the pace is constant for the entire 30 minutes. As the graph shows I maintained a relatively even pace but did drop my heartrate on both the flat section leading to the rock arch and the downhill section just before No Name Creek. The first 10 minutes should almost feel easy with a gradual build up of the effort required to maintain the SAME pace. There should not be MUCH build-up because it is a tempo run but non-the-less the effort does increase and usually the last five minutes or so one should be a tad uncomfortable but NOT racing!!! Progress is marked by how far up the trail you get in the 30 minutes with the goal being that the SAME effort over time gets you farther up the trail. This will help increase the pace that a given effort will produce or, as they say, raise our lactic acid threshold pace.

2) 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy for 30 minutes starting at Hydro Street and running up the Barr Trail. This is a very demanding workout and unfortunately it is also very hard to master! What is important is to keep the hard minutes the same quality by learning to adjust your easy minutes. Because there are 15 hard minutes pacing is very important! The first hard minutes are not all out. However, by the 10th or so the effort seems to take effect earlier and earlier into each one with the last ones feeling like they are all out even though you are running the same pace as the first ones. As the graph shows I was able to get very close to the same effort pulse and recovery pulse all 15 times. More common — until you learn your body — is that as the minutes pass you will have to do the easy minutes easier and easier in order to keep up the quality on the hard minutes. Further, in the early season the easy minutes may have to be done as a walk. However, over the months as fitness is gained there may be an almost imperceptible difference between the pace of a hard minute and an easy minute and the easy minutes will not deteriorate over the course of the workout. Again looking at the graph you can see the very narrow range — 10 beats — so I am not slowing much for my recoveries. Generally, a runner will come within 1 to 5 minutes of the spot where they get on their tempo run. It just depends on how much the runner has to slow down on the recoveries. However, by definition you should NOT get to the same spot. Doing so would indicate that the runner 1) is not having enough of a variation between the hard minutes and easy minutes or 2) the runner is going out too hard on their tempo run and has to slow down toward the end — as in dying. Usually it is a combination of both and they get further up the trail in the 1 on 1 off workout because they get recoveries to make up for their lack of pacing skills. You can see using this graph and the graph above that I was 55 seconds off my tempo run to No Name Creek. In both cases my split at the top of the W’s was just under 60% of my time to No Name Creek (59.37% to 59.23%) — again pacing is everything. The purpose of this workout is to gain speed on a hill and to learn our body by going in and out of oxygen debt.

Obviously I won’t be doing these workouts as I don’t live in the Springs, but I will look to emulate them over the summer with the following modifications.

1.)  I will look to do a hill workout once a week and a flat workout once a week.  Many of the Incline Club folk do this already with Tuesday being their fast and furious and the Thursdays being hilly and hellacious. 
2.)  I need to take the training that is given to me!  This week is a good example of that – I had several days where I could get after the hills and the vertical, so I took that – as I knew I would have little of it later in the week (being on the Med!).
3.)  I think my favorite routes for the hill stuff will be the middle route up Green, or the Simms hill near my work.  I might also look to incorporate some of the north facing hills on the south side of Superior as those are close as well.

Friday 033012

Guess where?

Apparently JT was recently video’d in the back of a squad car post a night at Kinfolks.

Legs were pretty heavy post the flight here … so I got out to break some of that up.  10 miles, with a total gain of 20 feet.  Yeah, I was on track to break 10k feet for sure this week (I had 9865 before today).   Unless I find a highway on ramp, that ain’t gonna happen.

Thursday 032912

Pressed for time before I headed out the door for business travel … a quick six miles with a bunch of 200 meter strides. 

Wednesday 032812 Bear and Green

AM – Fern out of Cragmoor to Bear, Bear Canyon over to Green, back down Bear Canyon to the Mesa to Cragmoor.  10 miles.  I thought I was “feeling it” (as in crappy) because of Fern, but I knew with the run across Bear Canyon that I was dragging.  Some bonky video as I recoup on Green.

Of course, I remembered why I don’t frequent Fern.  It is ridiculous.  It is fun, in a total sick sort of way, but that last half mile above the saddle at 40% grade is not something I really need to tag often.  And with it being north facing, it is still iced over some so it makes for even slower going.  Joe Grant has aptly named outings on this as “Fernication.”

This is a map of the proposed and partially in place “TAB” (Trail Around Boulder)

Karl has posted his luge run video for the year.  Good stuff.

I was asked yesterday “how much does it cost to brew a six pack of your home brew.”  This was my response.

Good question.  One I don't know the answer to off the top of my head, so I will try to work it through here.

There is the initial cost of the equipment.  I think all told, I probably spent a 100 bucks to get started.  That was the carboy (6 gal), various tubing, hoses, clamps, stop valves, the big pot, funnels, bottles, capper, etc.  Most folks buy that stuff as a kit, and so it is a bit over priced but it is easy to get it all in one shot.  Now, when I need something, I often get my stuff at a hardware or auto part store.  I wanted a really big funnel for example for pouring from the kettle pot to the carboy and I got that for 99 cents at an auto shop.

That is all typically a one time cost, and so you realize that back over the life brewing.

You can upgrade stuff too, like getting a wort chiller, or fancy bottles, but that cost can be skipped (save your old bottles, clean them good).  I did buy a bunch of bomber (22 ounce bottles) when I got started.  I have been gifted many bottles, etc from folks at work who don't do it anymore.

Then there is the cost of the ingredients for your beer in a batch (malt, hops, yeast, maltodextrin).  I make about 5-6 gallons a batch, and this comes out to be about 24-32 22 ounce bottles.  That would be about 48 12 ounce bottles or 8 six packs.  All the ingredients cost about 30 bucks for a batch.  So, hypothetically the cost is about 4 or 5 bucks a six pack.  Batch ingredients could get cheaper if I grew my own hops, shopped separately for a bunch of separate ingredients (like a 10lb bag of maltodextrin), or did stuff directly from grain, but ... well, you get the idea.

But - there are other hidden costs ... using electricity to cook the batch, water, and perhaps - most of all ... time.  It takes me about 4 hours to cook a batch (although that is sort of like cooking a soup, it does not require I sit on top of it for four hours), 2 weeks to primary ferment, an hour to bottle, and then another 2-4 weeks before it is drinkable (or carbonated). 

But I liken that to growing your own tomatoes or making your own pizza or bread.  Sure, you can get them cheaper at the grocery store, but they ain't yours and you did not make it. 

So - depending on how you look at it, it might cost as much as a regular six pack (10 bucks) or maybe more, or if you got really cost effective you could get it down to 2 bucks a six pack (mass production helps here).

This looks pretty cool.

Tuesday 032712

AM – Green Mountain.  Baseline, Gregory, Ranger, Greenman (which is probably only okay going up right now, would not recommend for down), Bear Canyon (no diversion), Mesa, Enchanted Mesa.  A little tired, which is to be expected.  Legs feel okay, and the soreness in the ankles, feet is abating.  10 miles. 

So, just another wonderful trip on Green.  Tripped over 900 miles on the year out there somewhere today too.  I am feeling good with getting after a little of the vertical this week.  With some travel later this week, I will get a natural break built in.

Of greater interest was the thought that came to my head somewhere in Bear Canyon that I was having a tough time shaking.  And it was of this magnificent sandwich I was going to create when I got home.  I kept recreating this Dagwood monstrosity over and over all the way back to Chautauqua.  The ride home to Broomstock took what seemed an eternity.  I was not bonking, or even ravenously hungry … I was just very focused on this sandwich.  It was good when I got home.

But before the sandwich, I returned to the Chautauqua lot to find I left the rear hatch of my car completely open.  This is the second time in probably two years where I have done this and the results have been exactly the same:  nothing in the car touched.  I guess that is the security you get with hundreds of people milling about.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead … mmmm.

Monday 032612 Flagstaff, Green and a brew started.

Good thing I got the run in down south yesterday.  Not good down there today.

Met up with Dr. NMP for some easy running.  Well sort of easy running.  Easy in that we would keep the effort easy.  Not so easy as it had a good amount of vert (for me).  I was lucky to catch Nick after a weekend where he did like 50 miles with over 10k.   Legs were a bit tired, but the biggest issue is that my feet are a tired, and my ankles are irked some.  But all good. 

Saw Homie on the Ranger trail and chatted with him some.

Chautuaqua, Flagstaff, Rangeview, Ranger, Green, Bear Canyon (ish), Mesa.  11 miles

Great to catch up with Nick.  No one should be surprised at anything this guy accomplishes in the MUT space.

Got a batch of brew cooked up last night.  Fermentation started this AM.

Evening, dog jog. 4 miles.

Sunday 032512 Waterton Canyon, Week in Review

As planned, I headed down to Waterton Canyon for a meet up run.  Between the Denver and CoS contingents, there were easily 30 folks including some familiar faces with Ryan K, Wes T, Brownie, Sean, Jim P, and Wyatt.

A few pix …

The early going.  Apparently the first 6.5 miles of the Colorado Trail is a road!  I did not know this as I had never been on this section.

A break just below the Waterton Dam where wait for Brownie
 
The trail start, Wyatt in the background.
 
Typical views … single track, sometimes nice and clear, sometimes socked in with snow and predetermined foot placings

Brownie
 

I felt pretty good, even in light of yesterday’s effort.  Once we hit the snow, I could feel the ankle that I rolled yesterday protesting a bit.  I decided I’d make a go for 11.5 miles out or 2 hours, whichever came first.  The miles came and I turned around.  Several folks were doing a the full section – and so measured at 34 miles.

I was not moving fast on the snow or the steeper downs on the trail, but I was fine with that – enjoying the trail.  Once I got back to the dam and hence the road, I was less than stoked to stare at road for six more miles, and I thought I was starting to feel a little less than great.  So I did what you are supposed to do when that happens: I pushed it a bit to keep things interesting and to mix things up a bit.  I was able to progress each of the six miles to be faster than the prior.  A bit of work, but good. 

The 23 miles (+) was my longest run of the year, both in terms of miles, time.  This week ends up the same with 80 on the week, and over 8.4k feet of vertical – largest yet this year – coming from the effort over this week (37 miles with 7.1k of vert).  I can feel it in the legs a bit, but that is good training right now. 

I am pretty happy with how things have been progressing on whole.  I have been doing pretty well this year with getting in 2 long runs a month (I have logged six now, 5 20 milers or longer, 1 18 miler but in the hills).  I am beginning to get a bit more vertical so that is good.  On the downside, the Achilles still is not 100 percent (but obviously not completely debilitating), and I still think I am losing a speed step or two.

Good to see the broader MUT/CRUD croo today and to check out some new places.

Saturday 032412 SoBo, Bear, Green

Took JV up on his offer for some early morning peaks.  Joining us was 2011 UROY Dave Mackey, 3rd at Chuckanut Jason Schlarb, 3rd at Hardrock Joe Grant, and 10 laps on Green FKTer Homie Prater.

Name dropping?  Yeah, but only to show how I was the anchor for this affair.

Beautiful morning, warmed nicely, great conversation and the trails are in good shape (with perhaps the exception of the section above the SoBo/Bear Saddle heading up to SoBo – that is pretty messy with a mix of ice, and snow that you can drop into hip deep with … plus someone has made a trail that is completely in the wrong direction).

Saw Rob and Laurie Timko at the saddle.  Rob looks skinnier every time I see him.

Pix courtesy of Rob.

 

Jeff showed us a new trail being put in above the current Bear Canyon trail.  It is fair to assume this will replace the trail lower to the canyon at some point.  It is some sweet smooth dirt track.

I managed okay.  I was not as strong on the climbs, but that is to be expected given what I have been doing (or rather not doing).  I rolled my right ankle a touch on the Mesa but nothing horrible.

13 miles, 4185’ of vertical (Towhee, Shadow, SoBo, Bear, GreenBear, Green,  the new trail that is being put in above Bear Canyon, Bear Canyon, Mesa and Bluestem)

Friday 032312

I am expecting to do a little self burying over the next couple of days – and I am both looking forward to it and am a bit nervous.  Looking forward to it because it is gonna be fun.  Nervous because I know it will be tough.  Tomorrow AM I am expecting to hook up with JV for some goofing off on the south end of the Skyline traverse.  Normally this would not be a big deal, but I am not particularly strong on the climbs now, it could be aggravating to my Achilles, and JV climbs as if he acting in some lesser form of gravity.  Sunday I will look to get a longer run in JT and small army of like and right minded folks down at Waterton Canyon on the CT.  Again, this should not be a big deal – as it won’t be a huge mileage weekend from a mileage or vertical perspective --  but coming off the day prior, the overall volume of minutes, and my general lack of fitness right now, I am sure I will be paying the piper a bit.  And that is exactly the intention.  And then I am looking to follow all that up on Monday with more miles and more vertical – and hopefully with some running up at Bill Lee’s place with some burros.  Across all of that, I am hoping to get some gym sessions in as well.  So good times ahead. 

Related to the gym, I am trying to take greater advantage of little pockets of time I have in the work day.  I might get 15 minutes here or there while in the office.  Rather than sit at the desk and fiddle around, I am going to be more conscious of getting to the office gym and banging out a few reps of anything.  I can waste myself pretty quickly with even 10 minutes of lifting.   Just looking for some more time efficiencies.  Of course, I am “that guy” again – working out in the gym in my khakis and button down.

I have been considering that a good deal of the loss of my fitness is a lack of bounce.  This is sort of hard to describe, but Noakes talks quite a bit about in The Lore of Running with the aging athlete (as measured in athletic years, not actual years).  Basically it is a loss of rebound.  I have seen a good deal of evidence in myself, and mostly with my ability to jump.  I was never hopping out of the gym, but I can see that it has greatly greatly diminished in recent years.  No bouncing like this.

Afternoon – very easy 11 miles.  Warm.

Thursday 032212

Headed out for my afternoon run and fell in that 8:20 pace.  I started that crap of feeling sorry for myself, telling myself that my legs were heavy, and that I needed to run easy.  My Achilles was not bad but I was monitoring it.   It was teeing up well for another slog run.  I headed out on the shoulder path of the local irrigation ditch.  This is a place where I run frequently to start my runs, and I hardly ever see any other runners on it.

But lo!  Who is that coming the other way?  It is Greg Weich (Broomfield HS XC and track coach, master who recent won the Master’s category at the AZ marathon running a high 2:35) and one of his athletes.  I know Greg a bit and joined him and suddenly fell into a sub 7 pace, while comfortably chatting about whatever.   As we headed back towards the HS, Greg and I dated ourselves:  two motorcycle cops drove by and I hummed the CHiPs theme.  We had to explain it to the kid, who thought it was a pretty bizarre sounding idea for a television show.

After getting back to the HS, I left Greg (no desire to be “that old guy” running on the outer lanes of the track during the HS zoo that was track practice with GnR blasting in the background despite Greg’s invite) and continued my run.  Now I was easily running sub 7:30, comfortably and happily.  Lesson (re)learned:  running with people helps more than you think, running is more mental than you think.

Otherwise … Blog list web part is fixed. 

Not on my list to do, but sort of look at this nuttiness with a shocked interest.

Wednesday 032112

Caught the production of Fiddler on the Roof at KZ’s middle school.  It was excellent.  I know I am a biased homer but I was really impressed with how it stood for a middle school musical production.  Great sets, costumes, execution, sound, stage presence – good good stuff.  

KZ plays the role of Tzeitel in the show, and so many folks asked me if I was freaked out seeing KZ in a wedding dress.  I really was not, as … well, I guess I know it is a musical.  The closest thing to freaky was after the show.  I was introduced to the young man who plays the character who marries KZ in the musical.  As we shook hands, he said to me, “I guess that makes you my father in law.”  Got to love the awkward humor of an eighth grader.

All that said, the song Sunrise Sunset does get me a bit misty eyed.

It is points like that where I realize how freaking lucky a person I am.  There are at least a few dozen spots where it could have gone wrong, but I have been able to slip through and land myself in a pretty amazing life.

Anyway …

This guy is taking a shot at Jurek’s FKT on the Tonto next week.  Impressive place to put down a near 100 miler.

This is awesome.  Guilty as charged on multiple counts.

Late afternoon, 10 miles.  Achilles is moaning but not screaming.  Heavy legs today.  The heavy legs were more of an issue than the Achilles. 

Tuesday 032012

Wow.  Gonna take me a bit to get through that.

Slept horribly last night.  Not sure why.

Anyone have the skinny on who got into Mount Washington?  I did not register for the lottery, but sort of interested to see the entry list.

I had an Achilles issue like the one I am grappling with now also in March 2009 and it sort of just went away.  I did some icing of it then, so I probably ought to do some of that. 

While I was not sleeping I did some poking around on what my prior March months have looked like, and to some extent what my years up until this point have looked like.  I had a little assumption that what I have done before can, to some extent, predict my progress or success for the future.  My mileage thus far this year actually represents pretty close to what I have done in 2010, (I ended March that year with close to a 1000 miles for the year), and what I did in 2011 (ended that month with about 920 miles on the year). 

I am at 812 coming into today.  So, I will probably come in around 900 and some change. 

So, I am thinking that the assumption might be incorrect.  I mean, all the winter training sets up for something, but the next 12 weeks are probably a better indicator as to how I perform later in the summer.  And I think more and more, for me, performance is really about race day execution, and … the mindset on race day. 

More on this to come.  Sort of related is Sean’s post today.

Crazy work day, the lack of sleep, musical for KZ, soccer for JZ, scouts, only edged 30 minutes, 4 miles.  Beat.

Monday 031912

Booked travel to Ireland today.  Got San Fran, Tel Aviv all on tap for the spring.  Nick P has given me some insight to places to run while I am in SF.  I have quietly opted out of an evening outing to a Giants game so that I can get a run over to Marin, Golden Gate in. 

In an effort to do summer planning that involved the kids, and to get a visual on what is going on (I was starting to lose track with all the possible camps, races, dog shows, burro events, scout outings, etc), we started to put together a “board” where the kids could throw up stickies on it.  Yeah, TZ and I use an electronic calendar but the kids are not wholly tied in that.  This was a quick way to get them to throw up various “possibilities” in an way that they could “touch.”

(pictures are all taken from the crap camera phone these days since no one knows where the regular digital camera is … probably next to the remote for the TV which also is missing)

Dog is in the cone of shame.  Cut her feet on some unseen metal and wants to take her stitches out.  Dog is pretty unstoked about this.

I am thinking of joining JT for some or all of his out and back on Section 1 of the Colorado Trail this Sunday.  My family has other plans, so I should have an extended fun pass.  It will finally allow me to get him my token mug to him for the Boulder 100.  Also thinking of doing Dirty Bismarck on Saturday, and trying to tempo it.  And also considering playing a little hookey some morning next week and heading up to Bill Lee’s place to get a run in with a burro, maybe taking Bullwinkle out for a few miles to see if I can handle him.

More podcast listening to Lucho and Tawnee today.

This is all I got to say about that guy coming from one horse team to another.  

It dawned on me that I don’t exactly who recall who took the pic that I submitted for Talk Ultras photo contest.  I obviously did not take it.  I have about 20 shots of folks, very similar, and it is driving me nuts because I SHOULD KNOW but I can’t remember who took them.  If you are this person, please let me know.

The vids on JV’s blog today are hilarious.

10 miles.  Not sure what to call this run.  It was flat (comparatively). It started easy the first half (7:40 pace).  I guess the second half was fartlek, as the pace varied from 8 plus to sub 6.  Second half was just under 35 minutes.  I got to confess, I feel like I am sort of in shape, but I sort of ain’t.  No bounce, but plenty of aerobic unf.  This probably means I am fat.

Fiddler

KZ is in the Middle School’s production of Fiddler in the Roof (as covered in the local paper)  She has the role of Tzeitel.  I have told her that I am only marrying her off the first time, and this time counts.

Photo from the Broomfield Enterprise, David R. Jennings