Wednesday 123114

I have heard about the huts for years.  I am going to make it an objective to get into one next year with TZ.

A great read on Deek quarters.

After today, the green tag for my dog don’t mean anything in Boulder.

AM – 5.1 miles, with 3 coming with the Lucy dog.  This is the longest she has jgged since her tendon surgery.  She is recovering well. 

PM – 1.3 with JZ.  He has indicated that he might do XC next year.  Having watched his sister, he knows if he goes this path the summer training program will be highly recommended.  And he knows if he is to go down that path, a little prep before then will help.  Knowing that, he still balks at my offers to go for a run.  And I let it go.  But I can see him noodle on it.  Lately after some balking, he occasionally rises to the offer.  We’ll see where this goes.  5.1 after jogging with him in the Ruth Roberts space.  Churning around in the broken snow slowed me down quite a bit …

The obligatory summary of 2014 … I keep all my tracking in a Google Docs spreadsheet.  Here are the totals:

Miles: 3436.9
Vert in feet: 172005
Hours: 459.7

In there I had 35 days off.  Most of my days off came off of some sort of travel, or vacation (like family vacation to London, or backpacking the CT in July).  I did have a stretch of days off in February after jacking my right calf at XC Nats.  What else?  7 runs on a treadmill – all in January, with five of those coming on a trip to CT where I was in an area that I thought outdoor running might be sketchy (small road shoulders, busy roads and snow and ice).  Lowest mileage month was February at 162.4.  September was the highest at 365.   The highest vertical month was June with 26335 feet and the lowest was February at 3830.  

In comparison to prior years:

	2011	2012	2013
Miles	3629	3367	3493.6
Vert	264848	236110	272300
Hours	543.37	529.92	512.06

Fairly consistent over the years I guess – not touching the 4100 I did in 2010 (although a fair amount of that was treadmill).

The big thing that pops out at me as different is the significant drop in the vertical this year.   I did not chase Green like I did last year (50+ summits in ‘13 versus a half dozen this year).  Some of that was just my lack of willingness to get over to the Boulder peaks and deal with the 36 traffic and the parking situation.  I was just going more from my front door than making trips to the hills.  The hours are dropped to, but that goes hand in hand with the drop in the vertical – same miles, less vert means faster running on whole.

Generally, there is little doubt I have a base (with close to 15k in miles over the last 4 years)  – I need to pull on that base in a couple of ways in the next 10 months to optimize my plans for the year.  Namely that is longer runs (20+, back to backs) to prep for a 100 and more fast work (jumping on V02 work, AeT work) to keep what little turnover I have for 10k and shorter distances.  For both, getting regular at the hills will need to be part of the formula. 

I don’t set mileage goals for a year.  I might for week, or even a month, and probably a bit more than I ought to even in that regard.  I tend to fall into the daily routine of wanting to get out and find my space, be it thinking about something or thinking about nada.  This provides a degree of consistency which is good, but often trumps specificity, which is bad.

In terms of running ‘14 was a fun year – the highlight probably being the winning with Jack of the Fairplay and Leadville pack burro races.  Breaking 5 at Pikes was surprise in light of how I prepped for that.  Low point in terms of racing was probably blowing the calf up at Boulder Nats.  A real fun point was getting my ass handed to me at a XC race I did on a whim in Ireland.

This month finishes at 343.5, 17470 feet and 48 hours. 

Here’s to you finding your hills to conquer in 2015.

Tuesday 123014

News stuff:  -Next chapter in the Boulder Marathon.  I definitely like Flatirons Running, Henry and their take.  I consider it my go to store at current.  Certainly does not hurt that my kid’s XC coach works there too.
- Strava does a Facebook like thing.
- More on fat adaptation (prelude to the UCONN study).  Or “I treat carbohydrates like a stimulant”
- The marathon year in review.  I sort of love that Meb’s Boston win was not even one of the top 100 times in the distance for the year, but he won a major marathon in front running fashion (and posted the best time by a Yank for the year).
-Nate Jenkins (remember that guy?) posts on tempo runs.

Late afternoon spanning into early evening (and back down from high altitude):  10.1 miles.  It didn’t seem that cold when I headed out, but I had ice inside the jacket at the finish.  Easy.  Lower back has some minor tweak in it. 
I had little intention of running ten when I went out but then I kept thinking about the stuff from the Battle of Bulge I have been reading.   It is pretty hard to feel sorry for yourself for it being cold when you think about those guys.

But it is cold.  And snowy.  So I have not done anything quick for a bit and I need to get at that. 

Been thinking about how I often wake up with something to grump about, worry about or generally get the #GOM on about.  Been trying to “see that better” and realize that while I might feel that way, I am going to only be positive in my choices as to how I project.  Linked to these positive choices is trying to make positive choices as to what I put in my pie hole.  Yeah, there is a correlation … when shit goes in, usually shit probably comes out. 

Monday 122914

KZ and some of her buds headed up for some skiing at Cooper.  I headed into Leadville to hook up with its mayor and check out parts of some potential run I might do next summer.

Downtown …
Heading down the Boulevard.  I can see why this would allow a fast start.  

I did a few miles on the course and then headed over to Brandon’s house.  We joined up for a few, catching up on various and then I headed back into town.  It was pretty dang cold, but once I got moving it was not too bad.  12.2 miles, slow and easy as the snow, ice, temps, altitude kept me motivated to keep it that way.

Good to catch up with Brandon.  I don’t care what Footfeathers or Pittbrownie sez about that guy, he is a good dude. 

Sunday 122814

The proper serve in ping pong has become a debate in my house.

I slept like 11 hours last night and woke up feeling like I had been stung by a bee (in other words, swollen).  Hacking a bit too.  So, I am fighting sumthin’.

In the afternoon, just trying to chase the funk out, I jogged 10 miles, including a little less than 2 with TZ to start.  Slow and easy.

57 and change on the week.  Started decent but came skidding through with the holiday, the skiing, the altitude, the cold and this cold.  Slipped through 3400 on the year this past week (but the altitude is only 170k).

Saturday 122714

Awoke to some beautiful purple sunrise skies in Fairplay.
The family decided to make the trek over to Leadville to get in some skiing at a locale we had never been to, Ski Cooper. It was a gorgeous ride over.  Side note, when I did the check on Google Maps as to the best route there – as I was debating whether to go around through Breck or through Buena Vista, it was suggested that I could go via Mosquito Pass!We loved this small town ski experience.  ‘

Drive up to the base, free parking, big open runs, no lines at the lifts, reasonable lift ticket prices and good times.  Of course, you don’t have five peaks to play around with like Breck, and so your terrain choices are not as varied but we still had a blast. 

It pretty cold out (like zero or single digits) but the family held up pretty well in that.  There is no doubt, I am the worst skier in my family.  The kids have been doing it nearly all their lives, and hence have a natural take to it now.  I also get a bit sea sick on the lifts with that back and forth motion and then it sets me up to not do so well on the downs.  Yeah, wimp I know, 

I also got to see a dog sun rainbow as we were leaving.   

No running on the day given the skiing and transport and all.

More on a PED test at Pikes

Kristi A did an interview with Master’s track.

Admittedly, I find my reaction to be mixed for this.  On one hand I clearly see the case where if you line up, you ought to know the rules – including what is banned and that you could be tested and deal with the consequences of that.  On the other hand, I see the case where what we have defined as banned (or not) is not perfectly cut and dried – particularly as those same substances maybe used as part of a general health protocol.

And knowing the person in question certainly does not make the picture more clear. 

Saturday 122614

AM – 7 miles, a couple with the dogs.  Single digits, and snow on the overnight and bit of a squall coming down.  Content to just jog.  I now have enough facial hair that I can develop a bit of the season obligatory ice beard. 
On the slog grog, the topic of diet, and so called fat adaptation came up.  The general consensus was a.)  a lower carb diet is probably a better diet for the general population, particularly in light of how carb-sugar rich our overall diet has become b.)  it is probably not the best diet for competitive runners because most large gains in fitness come from workouts that are not based on use of fat as fuel but do rely significantly on carbs – if you are not consuming those carbs you are not approaching those workouts in a manner that allows you to maximize those workouts.   If you can’t maximize those workouts, you are compromising what shape you can come to the race day line in. 

And then we drank some carbs.

Other conversations included things like “how GZ really needs to get in shape,” and “the 10000 dollar bet as to if one of us can run 150 miles in 24 hours” and actually telling a guy at a bar that he was fat and we’d buy him a growler in 3 weeks if could average 35 miles a week for that period (because he used to be a runner but is not now). 

His girlfriend was amused. 

Given the carbs were of the fermented variety you can imagine where the conversations went. 

There were a variety of other more colorful topics but some things best not be repeated.  Did some plowing in the afternoon on the ATV.  The gas fumes left me feeling messed up.  I jogged afterwards and probably the combo of the fume induced headache, a late lunch and the altitude meant a nice barf session.  5.1 miles.

Listened to ET on the run today.  Enjoy listening to those guys.  I have been musing on contributing to a few podcasts.  These guys are one that I ought to throw some bones to.  A few others are probably the Scoutmaster podcast, House of Run and Endurance Planet.

Thursday 122514

Not much sleep – not surprising as we did the late night church service and then I had a 14 year old beating the crap out of me before the sun was up to wake up.
Once the Lucy dog got her take,  she did not care about the avalanche of paper that The lack of sleep caught up to everyone though.  Apparently Christmas is hard work.

Headed to the mountains for a few days.  Note the spiffy hat.Welcome back to 10k plus feet.  Tired from the day, and generally from the last couple of days, so I did just an easy 5.1 up here.  That means …. sloooooow.
Beautiful night as I headed out.  Not a lick of wind.  Just cool mountain air and quiet.  Lot of noise in the noggin’ but runs like this, with time and focus, can calm that.

Then there was the boy at work on the treadmill.

Wonderful day, but I certainly ate way too much of the sweet potatoes and sticky buns.  Oh, JZ got me a knife that I promptly cut myself with.  Off to read Killing Patton.

Wednesday 122414

Mid afternoon – 10.1 miles.  A bit tired but I rolled up a few sections sub seven anyway.  Windy. 

Run often.

Tuesday 122314

Okay – so this caught my eye.

USADA announced today that Kristi Anderson, of Longmont, Colo., an athlete in the sport of track & field, has accepted a 12-month sanction for an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for a prohibited substance administered with the support of a medical advisor.   Anderson, 51, tested positive for Dehydroepiandrosterone (“DHEA”) as a result of an in-competition urine sample she provided at the Pikes Peak Marathon held in Colorado Springs, Colo. on August 17, 2014.

Ugh.  Yeah, it bugs me because …
a.)  I know Kristi and I have run with her.  In fact, I once set a 10x10k co-ed world record with her (and 8 other folks). 
b.)  This is a master getting busted for PEDs.
c.)  This was at Pikes. 

The Boulder DA is going after the guy who canned the Boulder Marathon 2 years in a row.

Interesting take on team scoring of ultra events.

In positive news, the guys in Cork are just killing Saint Patrick’s Hill. 
I am not sure I gonna get 12 seconds back on that hill.

Maybe plan cycles of 9 days instead of 7?  Admittedly, I don’t plan much anymore.  I used to be the guy who would plan workouts out for 3 months ahead of time.  I don’t think it got me any more ahead, other than assuring I did do something every few days.  By not planning, I have to keep a bit more on the pedal to think of getting at it or I can – particularly when I travel – just fall asleep in to easy running.  But generally I don’t have a plan anymore like Tuesdays and Fridays I need to go hard or something like that.  The long run, particularly a back to back seems to set up for the weekend more so I will probably sink into that a bit.

KJ has another “ho-hum” moment.

Late afternoon, cooler and windy.  Got word that some donks were loose.  So that became the priority.  Buzzed over there and started the search and got to work.  After chasing them down, and getting them back where they belong, I did a jog around the perimeter of their property looking for any fence breaks (there were none, but a gate had been opened).  Ran back from there, throwing in a few low six minute mile efforts (that averaged below six, but started under and then went north).  10.4 miles when done. 

Monday 122214

Came across this write up on the Boulder Bad Ass 100.

Today’s Leadville related read.

Good MUT Recap on the 2014 year by Mock.

Solid from SoS why the sub 2 hour marathon is not gonna happen in the next two years (and if it does, we better question it),

Winds seem to have knocked KJ back in SA for the moment.

Regardless if you buy into bulletproof coffee or not, I don’t because I don’t want that in my coffee.

Maybe you saw the new Terminator Genesys trailer out there.  If not, or you don’t care for that sort of movie, s’okay because Google is making cars that will drive for you.

EZ 10 today.  Snow and wind and ice made things slower.  And I ran with the kids and that kept it mellow too.  A bit fatigued in the legs from yesterday but not bad from the running.  The other abuse might have been more of the challenge.

Sunday 122114

Apparently this solstice thing of a long run where we visit several establishments of fermented repute is interesting and fun enough that we decided to do it again.

Six souls started the Second Annual (and I still think the last ever) Solstice Grog Slog, celebrating days now get longer, a good solid long run (with ridiculous surges in pace just show we can try to move a little bit), and local microbreweries.  The whole thing is only a thing because of the laughs had along the way and the smack talk delivered throughout.

No need to name the parties here  … if you know em, you know em.

Post – full house a buzzin’ even on a Sunday AM.  They do a brunch that is apparently quite popular.

Liquid Mechanics – they opened a bit early for us.  New place with a great vibe and good brew.

Crystal Springs – they opened for us.  They in fact were going to be closed but when they got word we were coming, they decided to let us have in.  We even picked up a cyclist.
Three of these would probably be a good day in terms of mileage and beverage, but that only is the half way point.  The haul back down to places down south packed up another half dozen miles pretty quick.

Four Noses – someone got their 365th on the year, and more fun support started coming out.

A few shots from the guy who is way better with the camera than me and has a kick ass beard.
Next stop was a short jaunt over the rarely visited Westminster Brewery.  More shots from the good photog.
Had a good crew in tow now

Finished (well sort of, we still ran back to my place afterwards) with the stop over at Big Choice, and just escaped the rain that then came in.


My watch put the day at 30 plus miles.  That might be a bit high.  It was certainly north of 20 though.  A good run, a lot of fun with good guys.  Thanks to all of you that came out and shared a few miles and picked up a round. Thanks to TZ and the crew that swung through with us at several points to make sure we were still breathing.

Saturday 122014

If you have never heard of Ron Hill, you should read this.

Generally, I think Japan has some crazy ass stuff going on with running.  While we all tend to yap about east Africa as having depth, and how anyone you can hit with a dead cat can run 2:10, Japan has had legitimately had races with hundreds of people go sub 70 in a half.  That is REAL and measured depth.  And then this:  11 boys, 7 Japanese and 4 Kenyan, from 10 schools come into this year's race with sub-14 bests over 5000 m led by senior Charles Ndungu of Hokkaido's Sapporo Yamanote H.S. in 13:35.54.  Junior Takuya Hanyu, 1 of 2 sub-14 high schoolers from Chiba's Yachiyo Shoin H.S., is the fastest Japanese runner at 13:52.98, while 2014 World Junior Championships team member Shota Onizuka leads Fukuoka'sOmuta H.S. in 13:58.43 just ahead of a brand-new headline-making sub-14 addition, 16-year-old Hyuga Endo of Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. in 13:58.93.

Went and saw The Hobbit with the boy last night.  He enjoyed it.  It wasn’t bad but I think it fell into the trap of having to go to nutty with animated effects, and chasing too many story lines. 

Did some yoga with TZ this AM.  Each time it is a recollection of how flipping crazy tight I am in the hips and hams.  Afternoon – 10.3, which included a mile jog with the dog (continuing her rehab) and the boy.  He joined me on his bike afterwards and we headed down into the open space to see if the eagles were there.  They were not at the nest.  But it seemed like there were a few hundred if not a 1000 geese down there.  10.3 miles.

Friday 121914

Good advice on Leadville from Andy W.

Good read on Bekele. 

The interview with Koop is excellent, particularly his recollection of the HR2014 and diving into a tent.  Apparently he is another one that is not bought into the fat adaptation thing either.

The latest ATUC … “the four food groups.”  Ha!

Today’s listening …

What I want for Christmas … one week of running news completely clear of scandal or drugs in running.  Or maybe a mental state where I can not really care about it if they happen.

Apparently – you can follow your dream if you can create 3-5 blog posts a day. (thanks for the tip JT)

Afternoon – I had a pretty sour stomach but I felt good so I messed around with some local fartlek stuff on some segments.  Oh, got Lucy dog out for a mile too – her first jogging since her surgery to reconnect the tendon she sliced on some edging in the yard chasing a GD squirrel.  10.3 miles total.

Thursday 121814

This is an incredible story by King Ches.  He dominates cross and the track distances.  But dude might kill the ultra distances. 

Today’s listening – the latest ET.

While grumbling over the USATF, I still eyeball their MUT national championships.

Really, I am not sure that MacAskill can do anything on a bike that amazes me anymore.  If he made it fly over the Grand Canyon I’d sort of expect that

This is sort of funny.  The XC course for Club Nats was short.  I get why folks get uptight about that stuff (and I certainly have had my moments where I get pissy with a race director who adverts his race course as measured and accurate and it is way off).  And I probably would still be a bit uptight for road races.  But cross? I sort of had an epiphany on my last trip to Ireland where I jumped into that cross race in Phoenix Park.  They listed the race as an 8k of four 2k loops.  It most certainly WAS NOT an 8k (I finished with it being closer to 8.6k).  But nobody was bitchin’ about it.  And in fact, there was not even a clock posted at the finish.  Why?  Because the spirit of the whole thing was not about some time or an exact difference.  That sort of thing is saved for the track or the road where such exact details matter.  It is the antithesis of cross to have such details matter because you are running over hill and dale, in the mud, in the rain, over heather and through trees and crap. 

That said if I race Boulder XC I want to break 30.  The course better be right.

I am so stoked because I found my Rose Hill Drive Live at the Fox Theatre when I opened the case for The Violent Femmes.  This might be my all time favorite live album ever, even though it is pretty short. 

The eagles are back: 

10.2 miles in the afternoon, mixed paces, but easy.  TZ joined me on the bike.  It was good to jog with her and have a nice extended chat – and to check out the birds.

So I got a package labeled like this in the mail.
And no joke the damn thing was CRUSHED hard into the mailbox.  How about that?  In any case, I think I have my hat for the run this Sunday.
 

Looks like the locals are getting pretty serious about Saint Patrick’s Hill