Week ending 27JUN2021

Monday - 6.4 miles around practice
Tuesday AM - 3 miles around practice.  Super tired
Tuesday PM - 3.1 miles with Greg.  Still tired but I was doing a lot better.
Wednesday AM - 4.2 miles around practice.  
Wednesday PM - 4.2 miles along the ditch
Thursday PM - 7.1 miles with JZ along the Ditch and into the Commons.  Fun morning for a 3/4 underclassman team at State in the 4x8.

Friday PM  - post another day at State and in some spitting rain as the thunderstorms dispersed.  8.1 miles.  Great day at State with two athletes getting PRs, outperforming their seeds in their events.  

It was a different track season for the athletes.  Normally we would have finished the season a couple of weeks before Memorial Day.  Here we were finishing about three weeks after it.  It led to some hot days as you'd expect, but then also some weirdness because school ended almost a month ago ... but track continued.  A leftover from COVID I guess.

Might need to drop the beard.  When I see it in pix, it seems even more ridiculous.Sunday AM - 8.3 miles.Fifty and change on the week.  Nothing great but sort felt a bit better than I have running wise towards the tail of the week.  I'll look to bring some pickups in next week.   

Friday 15JAN2021 "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton" cover and other blah blah blah

Latest cover.  "Denton" or the "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton" by the Mountain Goats.  And re-covered by Laura Jane Grace (of Against Me!)  The true end lyrics to that tune are "Hail Satan," apparently to be sung in a Beavis and Butthead fashion. While it is a joke, I recognize it might age well and so I changed it to "Hail Rock and Roll." Gonna look to get another original up by the end of the month.  And I'll see if I can run a cover a week on the music front.  

Thursday was a long work day, my hammy was barking and I was not especially happy about it.  I really didn't want to run and I wanted to mire in that a bit.  So that is exactly why I got out for 4 in the dark.  It was the quarter mile up to the middle school track and then laps in the opposite direction on the outside lane.  It was not fast or comfortable, but I was better off for doing it.  I watched Orion rise a bit, and noticed how my eyes got better accustomed to the dark.  

I am probably the least run fit I have been in perhaps all my life.  There is some very minor frustration about that, but at the same time, I am truly good with it.  My running now is not about the training for some race or an event but it is really a space I need more for the weak muscle on the top of my neck.  I don't rule out racing again, but there are not any itches to scratch there now.  

Friday I got out early and jogged with GW.  The regular Eagles did some light quality work.  The actual season for those kids won't start until May, so nothing super crazy or specific at this point - really, just touching the gas a bit to keep in touch with that, prepare for later preparation, and not just do the same thing everyday.  It is pretty inspiring to see them putting it in day after day.

 

Saturday 02JAN2021

 I got out this AM for four miles along the Ridgeview Trail.  

There have been a few of the HS kids that have been pretty dedicated over the "off-season," and so I met up with three of them this AM at the start (and then they took off as I did my slow jog well behind them) and saw them in the parking lot at the end for a light stretch.

These three are probably the most committed to training.  It is understandably fairly challenging for most of the kids right now:  track is not expected to officially start until late April or May, it is a Saturday morning on the holiday break, it was 20 something degrees, and there is a good amount of discouraging to do any sort of collecting due to COVID.  

My Achilles was not happy but I was sort of surprised at how it didn't feel incredibly bad.  So I will take that.

Catching up I guess on things that happened since I blogged over the summer ... Lucy passed.  It was not surprising as she was 14 and 1/2.  She had been expected slowly physically declining with age, but in the last year, she had begun to lose a good amount of her vision, and was close to completely deaf.  Then she started to have seizures.  At first real minor ones, but they too grew and it was clear that it was time as so she didn't suffer.  

I had all the feelings one typically has when they lose a dog like this and one that has been a part of their life, well, for about a 1/3 of it.  She and I shared thousands of miles, and it is hard to not think of her catching a frisbee on the fly as I hucked it 80 yards down a soccer field.  

About the same time she passed, I came across the Chris Stapleton tune "Maggie's Song."  It struck of course, and I wanted to play it.  It must have been the first 100 tries before I could get through it without breaking up.  

Week ending 26JUL2020

Monday AM - super easy five miles as a part of practice.

Tuesday AM - 8.6, some warming up with Syd kid for her workout, some with Greg as we warmed the kids up for their workout at Stonehenge.  Strides.  Felt better at the end than the start.

Wednesday AM - 20 minute warm up (Syd joined me), strides.  15 minutes at 6:24 pace (was targeting 6:30) then 3 min. recovery, then 8 x 400 at 6:00 pace (so 90s) on 90" rest.  Started too fast and came on at 86, back it off to 87 for the next three, then a couple of 86s, an 85 and an 84.  Humid but not too hot - all at the middle school track.  Long cool down getting over to the team.  12.1 miles.

Thursday AM - 9.1 miles with the team.  Explored the new bridge over the railroad at the end of Hoyt Street.  Love it.

Friday AM - warming up for a light tempo and out of nowhere - boom right hammie yelled pretty loud and I was done.  5.1 miles.  Damn it.

Throughout the day, I tried to baby it, but it was clear that it was pretty heavily strained.  It will require a few days off (at least).  Not ideal at this time for a variety of reasons.  I am certainly not happy about it but I can see it with a bit of a different perspective than I could a couple of decades ago, and even different than a handful of years ago.

I am hopeful that this mends over the next couple of days, and that a few days of rest actually gets me back on track on feeling on top of my training when I get back to it - and just in time for a solid Pikes performance.  I have taken bigger periods of time off and done fine, so I can get over the falsehood that if I am not running everyday I am falling apart.

Saturday AM - OFF.  First day off I think since February 29.  I guess I needed it.  While I hoped for a better feeling wheel this AM, I knew it was not gonna magically clear up over night.  There were some intentions to run the Fat Ass Ass Race in Fairplay (which is 34 plus miles this year) but I notified folks that is not an option for me (not even the short course).

Biked with the kids at practice.

Sunday - OFF.  Headed to Fairplay and worked as a volunteer for the "race."  Completely different vibe as the official race was cancelled.  Different course, no spectators, and only FOUR runners did the long course.  I definitely had a woulda, coulda, should set of thoughts as Bob and Marvin stepped away early and went 31 miles plus with Marvin eeking a win by a tenth. 
PS - it drives me crazy when someone loses like that and then someone comes up to them and says "YOU LOST BY A TENTH OF A SECOND."  This is usually followed by "WHAT HAPPENED?"  Having been on the receiving end of that ... well, I guess it is a test of patience. 

Hammy is a bit better but it was certainly not gonna handle 15 miles or 50k.

Screwed week but we will press on.

Week ending 28JUN2020

Monday AM - week 2 of practice has started ... I did 30 minutes with GW prior and then another 30 as the kids rolled out.  Easy easy.  Felt pretty good though.  Achilles is a bit of a whiner but I get over it.

Tuesday AM - 1/2 an hour with GW and SB.  She had some fartlek in there but I floated back on the ups.  Easy day for me.  Another half an hour with the team as they started and then some strides.  8 miles.

Wednesday AM - 10 by 1 minute on Eagle Hill.  Was certainly in the box for the last 3.  Ran over to the school afterwards to get practice rolling.  10.3 miles.

Thursday AM - easy 8 with SB, GW.

Friday AM - easy 5 with SB, GW for part of it.  Strides.

Saturday AM - warm up then four miles at 6:30, 6:27, 6:26, 6:27.  Never felt great - sort of one of those runs that felt like 15-20 seconds faster than it actually was.  But got it done.  Finished with four 200s, 38-40.  Longish warm down as a part of practice.  11.6 miles.

Sunday afternoon - paddled up at Horsetooth with TZ in the AM.  Late in the afternoon I made it over to Green and went up the front.  Most of it was a hike.  Came back down via Greenman, cut over to Flagstaff and then came back via Crown Rock.  7.3 miles.  Saw a flock of wild turkeys.  So wonderfully quiet up in the OSMP when you go at the right time. 

A slightly shorter week on whole but fair quality.

Week ending 21JUN2020

Monday AM - first day of practice.  Limited size groups, face masks, screening questions and temperature taking.  Fun stuff.  Easy easy ... 6.1 miles.

Tuesday AM - jogged over to high school and ran with Braun on her warm up.  Continued jog with Greg and AG as the kids headed out.  Strides at the end.  9.1 miles.

Wednesday AM - 50 second repeats on Eagle Hill.  Maybe a C+ or a B-.  Meh.  Got it done but never felt on it.  Jogged over to HS after to run with the team.  11.4 miles.

Thursday AM - 8.2 miles, made up of jogging over to the school, getting in some with Braun, Parker and Greg before practice, some with the squad, and then a jog home.  Easy.

Friday AM - cooler morning with some raining spitting at the start.  Met up with Greg and Syd and agreed to run with Braun on her tempo for 15 minutes.  Then jumped into practice.  8.5 miles.

Got word Friday morning that the Pikes Peak Marathon was gonna happen with some modifications (wave starts, no awards assembly post, etc).  Time to get a bit more aggressive with the hills and the altitude.

Saturday AM - JZ and I took a jaunt up to Mosquito Pass and then pushed on to Kuss Peak.  7.3 miles with over 2k of climbing - just some exposure to 11.5 to 13.5k of altitude.





Sunday - another run up at altitude (10.2-10.5k).  10.5 miles, with about 1100 feet - so a bit more of proper running (v. the slog/hike yesterday).  First four with JZ.

Good week on whole - 60 plus miles, 6k feet of climbing, with most of it coming on the weekend.  Gonna need to shift a bit more to hills and altitude while also trying to keep in touch with the basics now that Pikes Marathon is a go (until it is not a go, right?).

Week ending 23FEB2020

Monday AM - Eagles had the day off today because of King Day but we still had practice.  10.2 miles all told.  Got in some miles with Ian, Greg, Braun and Marissa.

KZ headed to Germany for a semester abroad.


Tuesday AM - 4.2 slow wake up miles.  I start the liquid diet and the "bowel prep" today.


Tuesday afternoon - 6.8 miles with 8x70" hills on Main.  Good work for me.  Flying with the Eagles.

Wednesday AM - 3.8 with Greg.  I was pretty tired from the workout yesterday and also not having had solid food for a day.  But good enough for easy stuff.
Wednesday PM - a bit sluggish post the colonoscopy so I kept it light.  4.4 miles.

Colonoscopy was a non issue as far as the prep and the procedure.  In a weird way, if you can get past the entire thing of not eating solid food for 25 hours and that you'll empty out on the toilet with a fair amount of frequency ... well, you actually feel pretty good.  The procedure itself was fine.  I was knocked out pretty quick and woke up without issue (no pain, bleeding, etc).  It turned out I had an 8mm polyp.  That was easily removed and sent off to pathology for analysis.  I should know if it means anything in a week.

Thursday AM - 5 degrees.  5.5 with Greg

Thursday afternoon  - a super easy 5.3 miles.

Friday - 10 miles.  About 20 minutes tempo.  Ticked over 500 miles on the year.

Saturday - 15.1 miles with Greg.  Did the first half with him and Braun and the second half as a part of Eagle practice.  Averaged 7:40 pace.  Not bad.  I screwed up by not eating anything ahead of time and was regretting it as I could smell breakfasts wafting up from places we ran by.


Sunday - traveled to Melbourne FL.  Nice little shift to 79 degrees and some humidity.  Got a total of 8 vertical feet over a 10 mile run.  Easy aerobically but legs were a bit tired.

75 plus on the week, with a fair long run and the workout earlier in the week.  Not bad given the medical fun I had mid week.  72 runs on the year so far over 528.8 miles (meaning the average run is 7 and a third miles).  It is my fourth week of seventy or better in a row - something I don't think I did in 2019 at all.  I have the Okpik snow cave course this weekend and so I think the travel week and that will bring that streak to an end.

Thursday night I played the mic at Rails.  I ended up going on much later than I thought I would and this got in my head a bit.  Lessons from the mic still.  New band name might have to be the bad haircuts.

I played "Preacher's Daughter" by RCPM, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell, "Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me! and "Banditos" also by RCPM.  A guy played drums on Preacher and that sort of messed me up a bit too because I wasn't expecting that.  Earlier in the night, a guy named Pete - who I had never met - asked me to play on his set.  It was basic blues tunes but it was pretty cool to do a few tunes with him.  As the place shut down, Brent had me play his Gibson Les Paul goldtop and as we screwed around I did "Midnight Train To Memphis" with Aaron and Brent, "Better Now" and then "Copperhead Road".



So a weird night ... you just don't know what you are going to get pitched ... you have to roll with it.  Like I see with people racing - you expect a certain something, get pitched something different and if you are tied to expectations, you can get all mucked up.  I got a bit mucked up.  And that is just not necessary.


From Melbourne ... City 17.

Week ending 17NOV2019

Blur of a week.  Came into it from CT and into ATL.  Did a spin back home for a few days but then ended up back in DC on Sunday.

My Achilles is pissed enough that I'll officially budge and call it an injury.  I took Saturday off from running (biked a bunch instead) but I failed on the discipline on Sunday - as I had to run the Mall again.

MON PM - 7.4 miles

TUE PM - 5.1 miles on the hotel treadmill.  It was raining out and I really didn't have the gear or the heart to do that in the dark.
WED PM - back in CO, 3.7 miles right hitting the door getting home.

Went and played a mic up at 300 Suns on Wednesday night.  Even decided to throw down a bit of Post Malone in the jam circle.

THUR AM - 5.2 miles with Greg and Braun.

Another four and a half in the afternoon after watching Lauren sign her letter of intent to UNLV.  Woot woot.


Friday - stupid to run but I did - 8.3 miles around practice.
Saturday - no running but got in 20 plus on the bike.  Dumbly underdressed and had to bike harder to stay warm enough.
Sunday - 6.2 miles on the Mall.




I’ll have to figure this foot thing out.  It might need time off but I don’t know … meh. 

Friday 04OCT2019

AM - 10 miles.   Greg and I helped Braun through some of her marathon training.  She had 5 x 2k at marathon pace.  It was good.

PM - another 3.5 jogging around at the Pat Amato meet.

“when you start you go that way.”

Sunday 08SEP2019

Got in just over 50 miles last week.  That is two weeks of easy post Pikes.   It was sort of forced by the travel last week to Juarez/El Paso.  I guess that is good, but I do feel an itch to start to move a bit more again.





Travel is sort of kicking my involvement with the XC team to the side a bit but got the opportunity to head with the team to Wyoming for their first 5k race at the college meet there.  Exhausting day coming off a travel in the morning sort of thing, but loved hanging at a race with great kids, and fun coaches.



Off to LA this week.

Oh yeah, jumped in the open jam circle at Rails last night (Sean P clued me into it).  It was a blast.  I was only there about an hour before we got scattered cuz of the big storm that blew in.  There may have been a Britney cover in there, and I may have done "Squeezebox" to get the crowd going a bit, and probably a rendition of "Just Like Heaven" and "Copperhead Road." 

Weekend 16-18AUG2019

First weekend in a bit where I did not have a race!

Friday AM - four and change with Greg along the ditch.  Fairly up beat in pace but easy.
Friday PM - practice - six and change and then measured out the TT course for the XC team for the fun on Saturday morning over at the Commons.

Saturday - we have a time trial early in the season to get a read as to where the kids are at.  We generally know, and while the TT doesn't tell us everything, it can provide a bit of insight - sometimes confirming somethings, other times revealing new things.  Sometimes.

Afternoon - a lack of sleep caught up with me.  I groggily grunted through 8.7 miles, and actually moved fairly well but I could feel the fire burning a bit.




Sunday - 4 miles and change before heading to the airport.  Flew off to San Diego to head south of the border for some work.

I love the flight out of DEN to SAN because I usually get to get on eyes on some cool views.  Today was Mount Evans, the Dillon Reservoir, Breckenridge and the Grand Canyon.







Well, one week until the big dance in Manitou and the hill above it.  I'll have sort of a forced non altitude taper this week in Mexico, but I don't see that as all bad.  Gonna just try to focus on solid habits this week to best not unravel anything on Sunday.

Wednesday 14AUG2019

Afternoon - first afternoon practice for the kids.  Freshman started school with orientation today.  The rest of the crew rolls into tomorrow.  We of course had a full squad for practice.  And we did hills.  Only 93 degrees kids.  Welcome to XC.

7.1 miles.

What a week ...

Let's see ... no update in a while but it ain't for lack of activity.

Friday 26JUL2019 - Teller Farm easy with the Eagles.  7 miles.


Saturday 27JUL2019 - up to Fairplay on Friday night.  Did my usual easy run down through the mine and the reeds to dial that in.  Headed over to the Fairgrounds afterwards to get a bit of check in with the donks.  3.7 miles.



Sunday - 28JUL2019 - yeah the big one, or the World Championships of Pack Burro Racing.  It was a different year in that we would not go across American Flats or even to Mosquito Pass because of high snow and the run off, but instead stay on the north side of the London Mine in an out and back fashion.  It was thought the course was going to be 25 miles rather than the typical 29 and change.  And it also was going to be a split start with long course runners starting about 10 minutes before short coursers.

JZ and KZ did the short course, and so getting them on and going was fun (images by John B)






As far as a race report - there is not much to really report other than this:  a group of eight teams got out and ran together, switching positions for the first 8 or so miles.  The running was not particularly fast and there was no one team really driving the lead any more than any other.








Then it was seven teams up past the fork (going to the right this time).  I had predicted that we'd probably go faster through the course given we were not covering the typically slow American Flats.  But it seemed that the donkeys were not going to have any of that and they slowed even on the road - almost in a collective union unspoken sort of fashion.  No one was really breaking away.


The climb on the rocky part to the London Mine was really slow - a walk, with Bob and Kirt getting slightly ahead of the remainder of us.  Jack and I were in close proximity but not enough to get the substitute First Ass to the Pass (a post at the London Mine in which Bob and Kirt "tied").  It was only nominally better on the down rocky  part.

Joel and Hal fell off and so it was down to five teams - Bob/Yukon, Marvin/Buttercup, Louise/Pandora, Kirt/Ricky Bobby and Jack and me.  It would stay this way all the way down the Mosquito Pass Road.  The donks were running but not quick enough to take away the legs from anyone.  The pack would taffy but then pack back up.  I knew any chance we had for a win would diminish the longer this played out and tried to get Jack to up the pace even slightly, but we are not the runners we were nearly a decade ago.

We came into the last five mile stretch with Bob, Marvin and I holding a slight lead over Kirt and Louise.  I thought this might be a place where Jack and I could get a bit of a lead but we couldn't manage it.  I even took a face plant spill (nice rope burn holding that rope!).

I took the lead into the mine, and even on the last climb and down through the South Park City Museum, but soon as we crossed the gate into town, Jack wanted to avoid the noise and crowds and turned to the left.  Marvin edged Bob for the win, and a late charging Louise came by Jack and I for third.  We were fourth on the 26.4 mile course just a few clicks under five hours.




No time to really celebrate a fair run in which we were in the mix all day or to mourn coming so close again for the fourth year in a row - turned around and headed back down to Broomfield to get ready for XC camp up at Tahosa with the HS team.

Guest speaker this year was a former marathon world record holder.







Awesome running with the kids for a few days at altitude.  It always sets the tone for the season in terms of goal setting, commitment, and what fun is for us.

I kept most the efforts light in light of recovering from the marathon effort on Sunday, but still jumped in the relay on Wednesday morning.  That left my lungs with the post workout hack.  All good.

Again, a quick turn around from that - and I was off to DC Wednesday afternoon for a couple of days of work.  I got tied up on Thursday and missed a day, but got out to the Mall on Friday before heading back.  I hit a new memorial:  FDR.  (8.6 miles in the humidity!)




Back home Friday night.  Colorado put on its typical night time light show for the evening dog walk.





And for Saturday ... a little run on the trails near Eldo before heading up to Leadville for Boom Days race tomorrow (6.6 miles).




So a busy week.  More to come.