Week ending 03MAR2024

A blur of a week in Westport, then Galway for a couple of days.  Lower miles than typical but some quality.  

Monday AM - explored Westport for 4 dark miles.  Felt pretty good even with the long run in the legs.

Evening - 4.2 miles, headed out on the Greenway trail up to Newport but that got dark real quick.  The trails in town are well lit, but that one had no lighting.

Tuesday - similar exploring.  4 miles.

Evening - 4.1 miles, including exploring the Col. Woods area.

Wednesday - got in seven, very slow on a rainy afternoon before getting TZ at the train station.  I was a soaked rat at the end of it.  Headed out to Clew Bay and back on the rail line.

Thursday - got in 6.3 in the afternoon.  Managed to do some of this a bit up tempo.  

Friday - very easy six

Saturday - jumped in the local Parkrun at Willie K's urging.  It was on the rail line.  It was a colder and nearly wet start but the real stuff held off.  I had pretty low expectations - as I have not really done anything in a bit.  The first mile drops 70 feet and so was quicker - 6:30.  I actually didn't start too fast, and synched up off of what Willie was doing (although I think we was just relaxing).  Once we got to the bay (maybe 1.3 out?) we flipped around started the climb back.  Willie gapped me here but only by about 10 yards.  The second mile was a 6:48.  I could definitely feel that lack of this sort of work in the last mile and the gap grew to 20 seconds.  6:58 - breaking 7 was a chore for me on that one.  20:52 for the finish - better than I expected and got me thinking about the work to break 20.

We took to Galway on Saturday, and then did Cliffs of Moher, etc on Sunday.  I managed 5.2 mile in Galway on Sunday, picking it up here and there - feeling pretty good.  And then I tripped on my shoe lace and cut open my left knee.  Just a scrape. 

Went through 500 miles sometime on this week.  

Ton of pix to post, but I will do that in a separate one.  

Week ending 16OCT2022

Monday - just four miles squeezed in but managed some 800s at six minute ish pace and then some 200s faster.  Got my doors blown in by the Eagle ladies.  

Tuesday - a touch sore-tired but to be expected.  Coughing my brains out from yesterday's work.  8.1 miles easy.  

Wednesday - AM 3 miles.
PM - 6 miles.

Thursday - not much running as was supporting the TT for the Eagles.  Biked some, walked some when flagging the course and then got in 3 miles.

Friday - easy nine.  Probably too much for a day before a harder effort.

Saturday - up to CSU for the Parents Weekend and Homecoming thing.  JZ talked us into to doing the 5k.  I wasn't wholly sure what sort of shape I was in - it could be 23 or 20 minutes.  I figured it wasn't 20 because I hadn't done much since the PE's and I was running about 20 before that.  After a 1.5 mile warm up I gave myself the pep talk to not go out too fast, and to build into it.  So, of course, I botched that.  I was out in 6:20 and I am sure most of that came in the first kilo.  Legit - like everyone - it felt fine until it didn't.  I was fading after that, both physically and mentally I could see how my focus / ability to press was shit.  A 7 minute second mile and then a 6:52 third brought me for the 5K at 20:48.  I was nicely surprised at that and felt the post race motivation of thinking about getting back at training and actually executing.  Great event.  7.5 ish on the day.

Sunday - travel to Puerto Rico - so that was an all day affair.  Managed to get out for 3 after dark.  I thought the beach jogging would be the shizzle but it wasn't great on the soft stuff with the slope in the dark.  

Miles will be rough this week given the schedule, and the humidity will be my typical kryptonite.  I'll try to get on a higher intensity lower quantity week in light of that.  

Week ending 05DEC2021

Monday AM - with GW in little circles on the infield of the track.  5 miles.  Strava tells me I ticked 2400 on the year yesterday. 

PM - 4 miles on Lake Link with strides embedded.  

Tuesday AM - 8.3 miles with 2 miles of fartlek, 200m on, 200 off.   Was hitting 41,42 on the 200s.

239 miles in November, 10k feet of climb, 2 races, and a day off.  Meh, but better than it has been.

Been digging Bruce lately.

Wednesday AM - 8 miles with GW around practice.  Easy and felt pretty good.  

Thursday dusk - 7.5 miles, Ditch to Commons to Ridgeview loop.  

Friday afternoon  - 4.3 miles on the ditch.  Strides to round it out.  A "pre-meet" in light of Park Run on Saturday.  

Saturday AM - another crack at the South Boulder Creek Park Run.  Two weeks ago here I went 6:29, 6:45, 6:42, for a 20:50, or averaging 6:38 pace.  Encouraged by a 6:31 pace for something just shy of 5k on Thanksgiving I had hoped for something averaging at or better than that pace.  I also knew a couple of weeks ago, I ditched a race plan about 2 minutes into the race and went ahead of a couple of guys who then caught me around 2 and quarter in.  I didn't want that to happen again.

But it nearly did, exactly.  But not quite.  

I got out more carefully - 6:34, which is not a lot different but it was much better balanced (I think I hit a half in about 3:10 two weeks ago).  But I found it difficult to sit behind a competitor who blew me up a couple of weeks back, and so after some mental debate, I again ditched the race plan and left him (yes, he caught me again with about a mile to go and beat me by about 30 seconds).  

I struggled again on the stretch to the south, posting a a 6:47 this go around.  In the virtual race against myself, I would be 50 yards behind me this week at 2 miles.  I did manage to do a bit better in the last mile 6:37 and finished again in 20:50 (maybe 20:49 but Parkrun put me at 20:50).  I was a bit disappointed but I guess it is not greatly surprising.  

I checked on Strava how the guy who whipped up on me in the last mile over the last two weeks did it and I determined - yes he is going very slow in the first mile (6:48 two weeks ago, 6:45 this go around) and really picks it up the last mile (6:15, 6:14 over the last two weeks).  I am not going to subscribe to that much of a shift in a negative split.  

10 and change on the day.  

Sunday - coordinated with Syd Kid and we got in 9 plus miles at sunrise.  

56 high something on the week.  It is getting where I probably need to be a bit more detailed in training to expect a shift in results (v. exercising).   

It has been a ridiculously warm and easy to train in December.  The Sunday AM run was in t-shirt and shorts at 6:30 in the morning.  There has only been one spit of snow this "winter" to speak of.  While it is nice, it does not bode well.  

Oh yeah, so all those videos of me doing music?  Yeah, they are all loaded over on YouTube.  They each get like 10 hits.  Maybe 30 if they sort of take off.  I have one I did of "Maggie's Song" that has oddly got like 800.  But this one where I video'd the band doing "Joy of My Life"  ... 17,000 and climbing.  

And from the time flies meme ... this was five years ago now.

Week ending 28NOV2021

Monday afternoon - delightful weather but not the kind of stuff we ought to be experiencing in late November ... 70 plus degrees.  9.1 miles, interrupted with too much work stuff (I let that happen).

Tuesday AM - 9.2 miles around practice - super easy.  Dumb sore still from Sunday.

Wednesday AM - 4 miles with a few strides.  

Wednesday night ... had a gig at Mother Tucker's.  

Thursday AM - the obligatory Turkey Day 5k.  I was not feeling overly confident in this, so I had low expectations.  Given I hadn't raced until this past Saturday in over 2 years, and that I was racing twice in a week ... well, I started to line up excuses:  it snowed the night before, it was cold, and I was still (!) feeling a bit sore from Green.  

But it went ok.  6:27 for the first mile.  That is as quick as last week, but I started it a lot smarter in the first couple of minutes (and it is slightly down to start).  I was feeling soft in the second mile which seemed to climb way more than I remembered - 6:47 (with about a quarter in there over 7, ugly).  Got going a bit on the downhill back into town for a 6:22.  I had 19:57 on the phone as I crossed the line but it took me a bit to get it to stop/register.  But - nearly everyone agreed its probably 100 meters short (I had 3.07).  I averaged 6:30 so I just chalk that up as an improvement over last week.  8.7 miles on the day.

Pace calculators put that pace at about 20:10-15 for 5k.  That would have been a nice improvement over last week's 20:50.  Age grading that puts that at 73.3 percent, also a bit of an improvement over last week.  All that said, I need to get back at least into some 19s so PB talks a bit less shit.  

Friday - up at ABC.  Day got away with various work on things.  Thought about a jog at the tail of the day but was sorta fried and gave myself the "this won't advance fitness" excuse.

Saturday AM - 8 miles easy with GW around practice.  

Sunday AM with Syd Kid and GW.  11 for me on total.  I was tired.  Right leg felt wonky, more worked than the left.  Just did 11 to get 50 and to get in a bit more a longer run than I have been getting.  

Week ending 21NOV2021

Monday - full day on a local engagement.  Didn't get out until the near evening, dark.  5.1 miles.  

Tuesday AM - 5 miles easy with GW and Syd Kid before heading into work.

Tuesday PM - 5.1 miles on the sunset on the Ditch/Lake Link loop. Meant to be easy, and it sorta was but I was moving unexpectedly quicker than I thought.  

Wednesday AM - 8 miles around practice.  Super easy.

Thursday AM - chilly (20 degrees).  5 miles easy.  

Friday AM - 6.1 miles.  Jumped in a lap or so every once in a bit of Syd kid's workout.

Saturday AM - been toying with the idea that I have to actually get back to some sort of racing so I headed over to Park Run this AM.  Good news:  I raced.  Bad news:  I am not that fit.  Good news:  I am not as bad off as I thought I might be.  Bad news:  I am sorta mentally soft right now.  Good news:  Nothing completely fell apart for me.  Bad news:  I was an idiot and went out too fast.

20:50.  Told myself going into the race I'd be super chill the first mile and them figure it out.  A group of guys made for a little pack at 100 yards in and I told myself to hang with them.  But 200 yards later I dropped because I had convinced myself they were going to slow.  And they caught me at 2 and quarter miles.  Good stuff.  Some things don't change.

Parkrun does really have their shit together.   You register, show up with your barcode, they scan that post your finish and its good to go.  Nice little email and results are sent over and they keep a database of your results over the years.

They also send age graded results.  While, I am not a proponent of age group ratings to identify who "won" a race outright, I recognize some value in considering those metrics.  When I consider my best times at various distances in my very late 20s, I would have posted a 80+% for those performances.  My Parkruns here (3 prior to the Saturday effort) ranked at 73% and my performance yesterday was at 71+%.  It gives me a bit of a pseudo objective view of where I was, how age versus focus may have shifted that some.  And a bit of a something in addition to times to chase.  

Oh yeah, first Parkrun since December of 2018, and first race since Pikes 2019.  It has been a while.  

10.2 miles on the day with the race, warm up and cool down.

Sunday AM - two super easy flat miles and then over to Green Mountain.  I think it has been since July of 2020 since I did a round trip on this.  Again, it has been a while.  I ended up going up ASG and then down the backroute.  Whole thing was slow but I expected that.  8.1 miles on the day.

56 miles on the week - a good one for me for sure with a Green, a Parkrun and some fair miles along the way.  

Crazy light lately on the bookends. 

Parkrun on a Saturday

Greg and Jen had not done a Parkrun before and had expressed interest in doing the one this AM.  I was knackered from skiing and getting KZ off to the airport pre-dawn but figured it would be a good workout.  Even if it was only 11 degrees. 

19:48, on miles of 6:10, 6:28 and 6:22.  I was really soft through out the whole thing.  Greg took the win, about 45 seconds ahead, and I was fourth.  If I had any guts I would have got second as they were less than 10 seconds ahead.  I caught the guy who would end up second with about 800 to go but then had no fight as he rallied (damn teenagers). 

On the good side of things, it was about the same sort of thing I have run there before (19:39 being my best there last summer).  Maybe that is worth something given the cold.  Maybe not.

In any case, it is about time I volunteered for one of these.  And I’ll look to do more of them next year as it is a good workout.

Registration for Pikes is Tuesday!!

Parkrun 40

Did a workout this morning:  headed over to Parkrun in Boulder.  I had intended to do the 5k as a progression tempo, with the goal of purposely starting around 6:30 to 6:40 pace – so significantly slower than I am currently racing and then looking to build over the race down to race pace.  The goal here was to look to do some work to address the current problem I have which is slowing in latter stages of races. 

My legs were still feeling the Thanksgiving Day effort and I felt my typical less than super stellar in the warm up but apparently I was fine enough to botch the objective.  I rolled out and a watch check showed sub 6 pace in the first quarter.  I adjusted but then I was with a group of a couple of other gray hairs and we were making ground on a young woman that was 40 yards ahead.  The plan went out the window … I fell to the back of the group but decided not to let them get too far ahead.  We went through in 6:18.  We caught the woman and then the group seemed to falter a bit as we “climbed” up the Creek (it is super shallow grade) and so I made my way around to the front and we came through 2 with a 6:31.  I caught the shadows of the two geezers sitting on me (and despite losing hearing I could hear that breathing) and made a slight push in the last mile for 6:19 and finish in 19:50.  It was closer to an overall tempo than the plan so a good workout. 

I have only done the Parkrun there once and it was 19:35 so that probably shows that I am not really digging too deep in races these days if I call something 5 seconds a mile slower a tempo. 

To finish the workout I did 10 x 30'’ at mile pace post. 

Thanksgiving Day 5k

I tried to be a bit more conservative in the opening mile of this one.  I can’t say it felt easier or better or even slower.  Ground on through to a 19:05.  I can’t say this that this is an improvement over last Saturday as that course was a bit long and this course was a bit short.  I opened with a 6:09 which was about what I thought I’d do (6:10 being the goal) but struggled in the “uphill” mile 2 (6:24).  I was able to rally a bit in the third mile (6:07) (which sums to 18:40 for three miles so its probable that I’d be near 19:25 on a proper course). 

Enjoyed the musical “Come From Away” last night.  It is a heart warming rendition of what happened in the immediate aftermath of 9/11/2001, with the landing of 38 aircraft in Gander, Nova Scotia, Canada.  The town went from 9000 to nearly double that in a few hours and they opened their doors to their homes to them for almost a week.  It was a great show, and a timely reminder of how we can be better for each other even in difficult times.



Really grateful for so much and this week all the family being home.

NXR SW

Fun day at NXR SW. JZ and his buds had races in which they all PR’d but the highlight might have actually been meeting Galen Rupp.

I did the Citizen’s 5K race in the AM.  I had some loose hopes that I’d break 19, demonstrating some sort of fitness progress, but also hoping to take advantage of a lower elevation and flat course in pretty ideal weather conditions.  I ended up with a 19:26, on a course that was a bit long on my and some other GPS watches, but in case I put up a marshmallow of an effort in the last mile (going off my GPS splits, 5:55, 6:05, and 6:18).  I was disappointed but not surprised … I felt heavy and stiff going into the race.  I tried to manage and fake the effort to some degree in the first mile (and was sort of happy with the 6 minute effort and not going out too fast) but at 1.75 I was struggling. 

Just need to keep plugging.

Weekend XC

I woke really not feeling the race.  My legs felt tight, my stomach was gurgling, and I just didn’t feel sharp.  It would have been easy to bag it – I was not registered for this affair and so I could easily just get another hour of sleep and head over the Centaurus meet at Waneka Lake on the bus with the XC team.

But I said I’d do it, and if I create the excuse to not do these sort of things, it only furthers a habit road I don’t want to go down. 

My warm up did little to allay my concerns.  I felt slow, tired, a bit sore, and creaky.  Ah, oh well.  I lined up with Parker and Braun – my peer assistant volunteer coaches – and two yung-uns.  If you summed their ages, you’d not get to mine. 

I got out too fast (5:55 for the mile, and that is with a second half of that mile climbing up), and then slowed the rest of the way (6:18, 6:24).  I finished in 19:32.  I’ll take a positive from this in that it is a bit of an improvement to do about nearly the same I did on the track a few weeks ago on an XC course.   30 seconds to a sub 19 seems far away but I think if I did some actual focused training (say some actual intervals), and I got the pacing a bit smarter (start at 6:05 instead), I might get to that. 

Had a lot of fun with the meet the rest of the day hollering and cheering for the kids.  It was a grand day for XC.

Last night we drove to Cheyenne to the Cowboy Invite.  There were five our our HS alum up there racing and so that set the hook.  So yes – we drove 3 hours round trip to watch two 5k races that were done in in less than a total of 40 minutes.  But it was worth it.

BRR 5K

I did the 5k at the BRR last night.  19:29.  I was fairly determined to not get out too fast and while I did not pop out at 85, I passed through 400 in 90 seconds, and 1600 in 6:00 on the nose.  It felt fairly good through that but at 6 laps I could feel the wheels starting to come off.  I came through 3200 around 12:10 (which given I did a two mile race in 12:08 recently gives a perspective), and then things began to fall apart.  I managed only a 6:28 in the last mile.  I felt like I “went soft” in the last mile but there was not much fighting I could do about that.  Or perhaps wanted to.

There were some friends and family out there (JZ, Greg, the Mooney family, some kids from the HS) and I felt ridiculously supported, loved and a bit embarrassed as I ended up second to last and lapped twice by the guys running 15 something. 

I have wondered if my slowing matches the expected level one should see with aging or if I have just “let myself go.”  I took my 16:28 from 2004 at the age of 34, found an age grading performance calculator and it puts the performance at a 78.8.  Last night’s performance was a 73.4.  So it is in the ballpark but a bit of a drop off as well.  At the same time, it seems to be a long stretch to get to 18:09 which would be an equivalent to 78.8 at this age.  That is a lot of 80 seconds (or over 25 seconds a mile).

I was curious about my best performances and I think I ran a 15:57 at the age of 30 in the Governor’s Cup in 1999.  That was an 81.4 percent.  My best miles line up around that as well.  I can throw in a few other times around my early 30s and they end up being around 80-81 percent. 

So there has been a bit of the decay with age that lines up, but there is also some drop in the percent that has likely come with a lack of focused training, a lack of racing and whatever other excuses I wanna throw in there. 

Week ending 26NOV2017

A week home – a reprieve from the recent business travel buzz.  I was sharing with someone this week that it is not so much the act of travel that is a challenge.  Frankly it is an easy target to bitch about the travel and gripe about things like TSA.  It is really not bad.  Being away from home however and not tending to that … that is the challenge. 

It was good to be home in Colorado this week.  KZ came home from ISU for break. 

She made it a point to sit me down and get me to watch Stranger Things with me.  She had already seen it with friends back in Ames, but she wanted my butt in the seat to watch it.  It is certainly enjoyable … it effectively hits on so many of those 80 themes and movies folks like me enjoyed as a kid:  some Stephen King, E.T., Poltergeist, Goonies … toss in a bit of the retro D&D … good stuff.

I got in some running but the highlight of my week in that regard was the Thanksgiving Day 5K over in Louisville.  It is a free 5k, so there is no official timing or results, but it still runs fairly competitive.  Given the lack of any faster work in my recent history, I was seriously doubting if a sub 20 was in the cards. 

I lined up about 10 rows back with the Eagles XC women and coach Greg, and we shared some pre-race laughs.  The girls had just done a workout the day before so they would run together fairly easy.  There were also other former Eagles out and it was nice to catch up, share some holiday smiles and a few light hearted jabs.



Once the race went, I quickly recalled why as a younger man, I made it a point to never be more than a row or two back from the start.  Even though we may have been only 5-10 yards behind the start line, it took some 10-15 seconds to pass it.  I started my watch at the threshold but even after the start it was a bit of a bob and weave affair to get going.    It all settled down after about a minute of course, but it felt like way more than that.

Here’s a thing that is positive for me about not being particularly race fit:  I tend to run my races a bit more appropriate for that fitness.  In other words, when I am in pretty good shape, I am more likely to botch a race by going out too fast in the opening half mile.  However when I am off game a bit, it is as if I know better and hold back more to my abilities.  I passed the opening mile in 6:05 – and given the 20 minute thought in my head I was wondering if I was looking at a pending blow up.  The second mile was slightly uphill and upwind, and the pace slowed as we climbed to the course high point – 6:22.  I was passing folks fairly consistently and only being passed by a couple of people.  At two miles the course turned back towards the race finish and downhill, and I managed the fastest mile of the race for me in 5:55.  There was no real kick in me over the last 300 yards in sight of the finish banner but I managed a sub 19 with an 18:44.  The course may have been a tad short, so it could even be a 19 low if I am honest.  Garmin tracked me 6:07 pace for whatever the distance was.

That is certainly not great but considering my expectations, the amount of travel I have had (along with less than stellar diet and beverage intake), and not touching any miles at six anything pace in a long time … it is pretty good for me.  It had me realize for the millionth time that few things motivate me to perform as much as getting out there and performing.  Competition is a grand motivator for me, even if my most competitive days are past.

The rest of the week was easy jogging – although on Saturday, riding a bit of Thursday motivation, I got in a handful of 500m intervals at 5:20 pace (1:40).  My legs were still a bit burdened with the effort from Thursday but it felt good to get a bit of rolling in.

Other news in the week – it was a fun Thanksgiving.  While I was still busy with work at home for the front of the week, it seems that this time of year always starts to drive a bit of greater contemplation for me.  It was good to have some family and friends and perhaps that encourages that.

JZ got his wisdom teeth removed, and with that we learned that he and Percocet don’t go well together.  Later in the week we did a little celebration (a couple days early) for his 17th birthday.

There was a fair amount of anxiety within the Eagle XC camp as we had to sit until Saturday to learn if the team had been awarded an at-large bid to the NXN meet.  I was pretty doubtful at first, putting odds at 20 percent but as the week marched on and I listened to Parker, read the Milesplit break downs I was increasingly encouraged.  We learned Saturday night that the women had indeed earned their second trip to the big meet in Portland. 

Sunday I headed to MSP.  With Portland in the mix, I might have just packed a bag for the next ten days.

75+ miles on the week, with showing some hope on a couple of quicker runs in the mid week.

I found this video to be good this week where we were considering “thanks.”  Dennis gets a bit rich on the “preaching” but the message is solid.

Lots of good podcasts listened to this week but in particular I found the Jocko podcast 100 to be very very good (101 is solid is well).