Monday 063014

Afternoon:  pretty hot.  6 miles with some 300 and 200 meter strides at sub 5 pace. 

More of this fun in the evening.  6.6 miles, from walking to sub 4:45 pace.

I guess though if you wanted to get a good look at asses at play you needed to be in Cripple Creek this past weekend (photo from JT).   The burros looked just as good tonight.  The handlers came up a bit short.

Oh, June stats:  296.6 miles, 44.16 hours, 26335 feet climb.  2 goose eggs on the month, 2 Greens.  On the year, 1647.5 miles, 226.72 hours, 5 Greens, 36 travel nights, 6 camping nights, 83,405 vertical feet, 14 days off.    While June is less than what it has been in years past, it was my largest month in terms of time and nearly 2x the vertical I have had over other months this calendar year. 

Weekend 0628-2914

Hard to hear but in headphones you might hear the coyotes.

Saturday – did a short jog up to Mosquito Pass after a day of hanging with the family in the mountains.  Not far, but altitude, and dealing with the snow fields up high.  No car getting through that way now but easily traversed via the feet.  Incredibly beautiful up there for a late afternoon – not a hint of any storms blowing in, and buzzed the whole run shirtless.  The snow will be gone soon.

Sunday – trolled around north west of Alma, climbing up the shoulder of Bross, getting a bit of everything:  single track, double track, asphalt road, mining path, creek … Got 90 something minutes out and decided that it was time to head to back (around 12.2k).  Popped a bit as I dropped in elevation and back into the heat and wind.  17 miles.

Week – 70.4 on the week.  Did a quick eyeball of this month compared to last June and I am about 10% lower on miles, 10k less vertical feet, and about a half dozen hours less.  Whatever that means.

Friday 062714

Today’s listening.

My company blocks a variety of sites on the web for the typical expected reasons, pornography, violence, etc.  Letsrun is apparently now on the list.  Not a biggie as I don’t typically go there but as it is the USATF champs this week, a small hassle.  Really I only just wanted to read how pissed dudes were that money got essentially stolen from them via guy caught with EPO (but hey never used but now is going to retire).

Death hill (local) 10x.  Not fast simply because I don’t have that and I am never particularly good on the high % grade stuff.  This was just up and down the hill running to get that sort of stuff in.  7.6 miles.

I had a call with some folks from Phoenix this AM, planning for a visit I have there in August.  They were pretty eager to tell me how hot it was going to be there today (113) and how it would be even worse in August.  After a bit I gave in.  “Yeah, I am looking forward to it.  It is going to be hot.  Brutally hot.  I have heard about it for years so I looking to see how that is and get to actually experience it.”  They didn’t bring it up again.

Off to the hills for a bit.

Thursday 062614

I often work in the office from the cafe in the building.  This was the view mid morning:

Joined Steve at work for his workout, which was 60 seconds on at mile pace (which was about 300 meters or so), 60 seconds off at half that pace (or 150 meters).  Six of these for Steve before he was done.  Hot (probably near 90F or a touch over it).  Never felt the groove here as my legs feel a bit dead and I have had a bit of a hack since the last mile race, but it was good to roll a bit.  I did have a bit of lift, but again this workout is pretty easy for me to fake as it is only minute efforts.  True, it builds, but it ain’t like kilos or something.  4.2 miles.

9.1 later in the afternoon.  Again hot.  Easy.  100 yards into this one as I hit the dirt around the corner I nearly face planted as I found a new hole that had not been there before.  On the way home I saw 3 kids canoeing in the ditch.  That was pretty awesome, particularly since they had to get pretty low to duck under the road culverts.

Aish is always entertaining in an interview.  In particular I think his comments about getting into a hole and then coming out (around 5:30) are pretty interesting.  And Bowman’s chances have obviously increased with the beard.  Max King shoots smart by stating his only goal is the 24 belt buckle.

Braces off (again).

The Pikes Peak Marathon page has a vid up about the Incline Club.

One heck of a crafty passing move from 1987 IM.

Wednesday 062514

Steve at work asked me to join him for some fast work tomorrow.  That plan and some tired legs today had me cut the daily to 7.5 miles.  Tomorrow should be interesting as we are considering heading to the track.  A track near where there has been a mountain lion sighting.  I will take the motivation as I can get it.

Good stuff from Jay Johnson.

Their sports world is worried about Lebron.  Ours  is thinking about Andrew Hamilton.  Check it out on 14ers.com.

Had AJW’s interview playing in the background at work today.  Gives some ramp up for the WS100 this weekend.  Got to figure Krar for the win with all the typical caveats.  How about this for crowd sourcing though?  If Clarke wins I buy him a keg of that Old Dirty Bird beer or whatever it is he likes?  Second and I buy a keg of some beer I like, but it is a party for him.  I’d can’t really in good faith say it is worth a keg if he only gets third because he has done that like 18 times or something now.  Feel free to contribute to this charitable event.  I do think I owe him a sixer from like a million years ago over something about a 5k.  Bob reminded me I owe him for the trouncing he gave me at cross in February, but in Bob fashion he told me he didn’t want.  He enjoyed more having me have to owe him the sixer than to collect. 

About half way through the Zamperini book, Unbroken.  Zamperini had gone to the Olympics in 36 in the mile, and hoped to return in 40 but WWII but the squash on that.  He met Hitler at the Games, and later that week stole some big Nazi banner from a building as he was prone to such shenanigans. Where I am at in the book is Zamperini and 2 of his crew are floating in the Pacific after their plane crashes. More than half the crew died in the crash.  They run out of water, food, have sharks attacking the boat, and after 21 days of that, now a Japanese bomber buzzing them and shooting at them.  Holy crap. 

Not so nutty things that I have been thinking about on runs when not considering family, work, etc.

1.)  Correlation versus causation. 
2.)  Risk versus reward.
3.)  At one point we are obliged to serve as a safety net for folks in our society and who provides that net.

Basically I am concluding that the older I get, the less I know on broad topics like this.  On other topics however, like what the outcomes will be in a specific interaction with specific people, my batting average seems to be ever increasing.  I actually often hope I am wrong in my expectations regarding these so that I am surprised. 

I was discussing this with my daughter and she gave me one of those “you should not judge” talking points that, well, I have come to expect from a young person.  A benefit I perceive from being a middle aged adult is your experiences set you up to judge a situation and be probably spot on with it in most cases.  Not always and so you do need to guard for that of course, but those instincts have value.  Of course, the instincts have a down side:  you know the end of most movies within the first five minutes.

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy predictability in many cases.  I am glad that I know what I am getting when I walk into King Soopers or a Marriott.  And by taking cues from people, it helps me consider appropriate outcomes and where I want to go next.  So the instincts, while not fool proof, are well earned and have good value. For example, I was involved in a business transaction last week and something a person had committed to provide at a certain time was absent.  The person claimed things would be there in just a little bit, but the radar told me “eh, not gonna happen.”  Having this hunch, I was able to just get to the point with the person “okay but if that is not there in this period of time, this is what we are going to do.”    And that is how it played out.  The person did not deliver.  I would have been surprised a bit if they had.  In fact, being wrong there is good too because it forces me to recalibrate. 

I got this from Jer today.  I keep poking at you because I'm still excited to watch that story play out. I don't believe it is as much about how you train because you train tons of fast miles. It is about still believing and not letting the dream die. The thing that will turn the tide for you is a new wrinkle. ANYTHING new. Not more of the same 10 milers. NEW. maybe it is 30 milers, maybe 10 second hill sprints. Anything to get the juices flowing again. A new approach or even just a few new angles- placebo even- could stir your pot and steer the ship in a new direction.   Well he is right.  No surprise at that really.  Not sure when it is going to happen though.  The dream ain’t dyin’ but I am not doing anything to stoke the performance flame really.

Tuesday 062414

Great read from Jeremy.  

10.1 miles on the way home from the conference.  I hit the Farmer’s Highline Canal trail and the Signal Ditch trail (which was the same draw).  Nice suburban trail system out there.

Monday 062314

I am at a conference in Denver today.  Regulatory stuff.  A slightly different track than yesterday.

 Bob …. walking as I finished up a call to TZ.  He then said, “I am going to run now.  If you slow down, I might slow down too.  But probably not.”  Or something like that.

All kinds of action over the weekend:  San Juan 50, a good number of locals I know up at the Big Horn 100, and the Mount Washington race.  I can’t see me making a special trip to go back to the rockpile, San Juan always sounds interesting, and the Big Horn thing sounds both enticing and scary as hell.

There is this very interesting thing I see in training all the time but I rarely take advantage of.  That is when you go at a fast pace, slower paces that would normally seem fast become easy.  For example, when I did the 1500 at essentially 5:20 pace at the BRR meet a few weeks ago, I found pacing a buddy at 6 minute pace pretty easy.  And when he slowed to 6:40 as he faded, I found it to be almost pedestrian.  Now, that is not about any sort of testament to my fitness.  In fact, most days, 6:40 would be getting me to start thinking about working hard.  And after a mile or two of it, it would be hard.  In fact, it was hard yesterday after many miles of 4 or 5 mph.   But coming after the faster stuff, it was easy.  I see this often.  I will finish a workout where I have done sub 6 or sub 5 work and I intend to jog easy home.  Easy comes as sub 7:30, and sometimes even sub 7.  In other words, I think the faster pace sets you up for easy paces that are not normally easy.

So what if that was used as a tactic for workouts?  What if I ran a mile hard and rested 20 minutes, just for the purpose of then doing my tempo at a pace that if I had otherwise edged into it might seem more difficult?

I enjoyed Justin’s recent article on Andy Henshaw.  That article and flipping through some old Trail Runner mags had me musing on a few things.  1.)  we have a really short term memory in our sport, regardless if it is trail or track or road.  Well, we might remember winners or record setters, but we quickly forget the non-Pre type characters.  2.)  We tend to glorify the folks that drop out of the expected “get a job” path but chose to live in their truck, travel the world living on meager means, and following their dream.  Neither of these are things that bother me really, but I notice them. 

Maybe I have a bit of issue with the message that if you elect to work for corporate America, live in suburbia, rather than hitch hiking across the country or living in some bus in the backwoods of Alaska that you are not following some dream.  Of course, I might be just calling sour grapes there. 

I do see a message being sold to us in America, particularly kids which has the theme of “do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.”  I don’t buy that.  The folks I know who are really doing what they love are often busting their tail doing it.  And I know a good number of folks who do things they don’t love so that they can pursue other loves.  That ain’t as easy a message to sell I guess.

3.2 during JZ’s piano and then 6.1 later in the evening.  A bit tired from yesterday but not incredibly so.  I guess that is a joy of older fitness.  Yesterday at 17yo would have crushed me.  I’d take being crushed today for about 20 seconds on the mile though.

Kenosha to Breck via the CO Trail (sort of) 062114

Bullets of sort …
- left Broomfield around 6:30, got going off the pass around 8:10.  I got Bob to agree to come along even though he is in the midst of wrecking himself everyday with some sort of endurance adventure.  TZ and JZ came along, agreeing to take a shorter hike down to Jefferson Creek to meet up with the in-laws, and then pick us up in Breck later in the day.
- I guestimated about an 8 hour trip initially but told TZ we ought to be to Breck at 3:30 (or about 7:20)
- the first section of this segment is wonderfully gorgeous.  It was sun coming up, the big views of South Park that I love and fresh legs and slightly downhill.  Heaven for sure.
- We stepped off the CO trail at the Jefferson Loop.  I decided I wanted to eye ball this section as I am thinking it is the route I would take with the Scouts in a few weeks.  I am thinking that I’d take this trail as it keeps us closer to a water source than the regular CO trail up to Georgia Pass.  In fact, in some areas, on the lower sections of it, it might be too much water as the trail runs as a mini stream itself.
- At about 11k feet, we hit snow.  Not huge snow, but enough to throw us from 5-6 mile an hour easy pace to 1.5 mile an hour pace, stepping over and post holing through 4 foot mounds and looking for the trail.  I was hopeful that we’d only encounter this on the east side of the pass, but that was not going to be the case (more below).  We went from being ahead of our desired schedule to dramatically behind.
- Just as we hit the trail connection (West Jefferson back into the CO trail), boom – it started snowing.  Not super hard, but enough for us to jacket up, and look back in time to see an angry black cloud coming from the east.  It gave us a loud boom and we rolled away from the pass quickly.
- For about a half mile, or the section before tree line we had a nice ribbon of single track and found a nice pace again.  But once we hit the trees, it was done:  big snow mounds over and over and over hundreds of times.  The trail did no descent in elevation, so there what snow there was seemed destined to be there.  All of it has left me wondering if this is a route I can take the Scouts on for their first big backpacking trip.  I guess there could be a huge melt in a few weeks, and it would be gone, but it is hard to imagine that as we were getting spit on with snow and some rain. I don’t want this to be an experience that breaks the kids of enjoying backpacking and I can see how wearing a 30-40 lb pack, coming over that all day would sour you.  I was less than stoked.
- We finally started a real drop and then got to the Tiger Run Road and Swan Creek.  We water’ed up.  As we were getting ready to depart to essentially put the second half of the run to bed, I noticed smoke from a campsite.  A campfire of course.  But no one there.  In fact nothing there except a campfire.  Really?  WTF?  It was not just a warm bed of coals but instead a gnarled log smoking decently with some hot embers underneath.  Bob and I used our water bottles and water bladder to look to soak the thing.  It was ridiculous – the damn thing was 50 yards from the stream.  While I doubt it would have raged up, who the hell does this stupid crap?
- At this point we had lost a lot of time due to the snow up, and probably snow down, and messing around putting out the campfire.  The sky yelled angrily.  We figured we had about 15 miles to finish this and only about 2.5 hoursto meet TZ in Breck.  Not really enough time at trail pace.  I could have had her wait, but we decided that heading down Tiger Road would be fine to finish this out.
- As we started it started to rain.  Then snow.  And then hail.  Hard.  Summer time in the Rockies baby.  Bikers came by us one way.  2 minutes later they were hell bound back to get out of the weather.  Down the road we plodded.  The weather broke and then the pace went from 10 minute miles to 9.  Then 8.  Then 7 and almost instantly after that into the sixes.  The paved road came to us and we kept churning.  Can’t say I would have done that without Bob, and it hurt for a bit but it was fun.
- We hit Rte 9, cross checked with TZ as to where she was and started a jog south to Breck to meet her, finishing with a marathon of distance over 6 and quarter hours.  I felt fine from a nutrition, lung perspective but the snow crunching along with Bob’s faster antics at the tail of the run left me feeling the effort in the legs.  Good.
- Long ride back as 70 is a freaking mess on Sunday afternoons.  Pizza and brew to finish out the night.
-72.1 on the week.

- side note, I realized on the way home that the last solstice (December), I did a big run with Bob then as well.  And was highly supported by TZ.  Lucky days for me indeed.

-REALLY ON THE DAMN FIRE?!