Week ending 25JUL2021

Monday AM - truly beat legs.  6 miles.  
PM - stupid hot again.  3.7 miles on the ditch.  1400 plus on the year.  

Tuesday AM - 6.1 miles.  Super slow as I was on a call. 
PM - ditch - 3.1 miles.  

Wednesday - 7 miles.  Half dozen 45 second striders on the ditch.  Some gym work.

Thursday - 5.4 in the AM around practice.  Another 3 miles in the afternoon (hot on the ditch).  

Friday - evening, went up to FoCo to help JZ move some stuff, and we went for a run post.  Headed from his place up to the Horsetooth Res.  Round trip was 8.5 miles and it is a bit of a climb to get up to there.  Good run.

Saturday AM - with practice, 8.5 miles at Teller Farm.

Sunday afternoon - up on the Fairplay Pack Burro course.  Good to see Bob and Yukon get the win.  I was racing Yukon with Justin more close a decade ago when he was truly a crazy donkey.  Bob has worked on him and this burro racing game harder than anyone I have met in it.  Stoked that he and Yukon got this World Championship.  

8.8 miles for me.  Altitude.  Oh yeah, I forgot about that.  

Somehow that ended up being a 60 plus mile week.  I have not had one of those in over a year.  And while it was patchwork in making it happen, it was still a good amount of volume.  We'll see I guess.  

Saturday 09JAN2021

AM - met up with Bob and Shad over in Superior and convinced them to go slow with me for a bit (as a part of their longer runs).  5 miles.  Significant therapy via ridicule and sarcasm.

Talked Tacos actually, as I am a relatively new owner of one of those.  The entire trailer, camper, pop-up, build out, slide in, topper, cover options were all on the table for discussion.  

Week ending 15MAR2020

Monday AM - in the dark in Santa Ana (or Orange County if you prefer) ... 5 miles, slow, shaking off yesterday's long run.  Long day at the plant followed by the corporate weenie dinner so no evening run.  Dinner was ridiculous - probably top 3 ever.

Tuesday AM - slight rain, in the dark.  Found a legit bike path.  Easy 7.3 miles.
Tuesday PM - 4 miles, got rolling a little towards the end.    Legs were sort of sore and tight to start.



AM - 6 miles.  A bit rough.  Super tired and slow to rise.  And it started raining.  Not bad but ya' know.  Headed down towards the San Diego Creek.


Didn't run Wednesday night.  Headed to see some of TZ's cousins who moved out here from the midwest.  Fun to hang with their kiddos for a bit.


Thursday AM - I slept poorly.  Up and then back down, and then fretting about various things (a daughter in Germany with the virus and then this travel ban back thing).   I decided not to do the early up and get some miles in but to try to capitalize on a bit of sleep in hopes for a better evening showing.

Thursday PM - 11 miles.


City 18 in Santa Ana.

Friday AM - 3 miles on the mill.  Slow.  Tired.  Pouring out and had to then travel back home.  Airports were a bit weird of course.

Saturday AM - 15 miles.  First 9 and change were with JZ and we ran in to some burros.

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Ended up averaging 7:40 pace for this.  Not bad.  Not great but not bad.

Sunday AM - tired legs.  Got together with GW for a handful.  Totaled out at 10.

Not a great week.   Long work days, and the odd stress of the entire globe coming to a halt.  No harder running but my legs felt beat most the week.  Ended up with 60 plus on the week, and was happy to get a pseudo-long run in on Saturday.

Like nearly everything, HS track is on hold.  A lot of my work engagements have also been postponed.  Looks like I should still be able to get out a bit and get some miles at home for a bit now.  I wouldn't be surprised if that gets challenged too though.

Week ending 12JAN2020

Oddball week of training for me.  But I think inching fitness forward.

Monday - 10 miles.  Just crunched it out in the AM solo.  Felt sort of tired.

Tuesday AM - a few with TZ and then a little less than a handful on my own.  7.3 miles.  Legs were feeling a bit beat.
Tuesday PM - with Greg and Syd, out and back towards the J-Pond.  5.8 miles at a respectable easy run clip.

Wednesday AM - got talked into going for a run with Greg the night before.  Met up and did 400s.  I really didn't want to do them but figured that is exactly why I should do them.  I thought I'd be moving at 90 plus pace but managed 85 for an average.  I am clearly uncomfortable at that speed and doing "track work" so 8 x near 90 seconds (on 200m rest except after #4 where it was 400) on the oval was as good a workout for above the neck as it probably was below it.  6.4 miles
Wednesday mid day - met up with Bob and Shad over at Davidson Mesa for a couple of loops of that.  8.1 miles at a fair clip.
Didn't run with the team at practice but did an hour in the weight room.  Pretty well trounced post that.

Thursday AM - slow wake up jog of 4 miles before calls started for the day.


Thursday afternoon - I was dragging but plugged through 6.1 miles.

Friday AM - I was to head out the door at 5AM to catch my flight to SFO to SIN.  I seriously considering getting up at 4 "just to get a few miles in."  I succumbed however, and didn't do it - rationalizing that I'd get little benefit out of it other than ego.

Of course, heading to Singapore means a lost day on the week because of the international date line.  And given it takes about 26 hours of near continuous travel to get to it ... well a day is lost.  I left the house at 4:45, flew the 2+ hours to SFO, made a short transfer there and then did the 16.5 hour flight to get to Singapore - or at about 8:30PM on Saturday wheels down.

After checking in, etc ... I got out for a little jog.  It was only 7AM mountain time so why not?







You might think with a day of rest, I'd feel great.  Coming off the plane always leaves me a bit wonky, and feeling a bit uncoordinated.  And running in 85 degrees with 85 percent humidity makes it more like a swim for me.  At some point, I can feel the challenge even with breathing that water laden air.

Sunday ... was up early and so I headed out along the river path.  Beaut of a run.  I was hoping to beat the heat but the humidity had me soaked anyway.  10.3 miles getting cooked.








Was able to successfully cool off however in a post run pool soak.


63.7 miles on the week on six days and 9 runs.  Good workout on Wednesday and then worked it a bit with a bit more volume on the front of the week.

I'd be remiss in this post if I did not mention the passing of (who I think of as) the greatest rock drummer of all time - Neal Peart.  I got turned onto Rush as a 12 year old.  First being exposed to "Moving Pictures," I quickly picked up all their albums to that point.  And I fell for all of it.  The big anthems of "2112," the fantasies of Dionysus and Apollo, the star journey to the black hole "Cygnus X-1," and being lost in the "Subdivisions."  It (along with Led Zep) drove me to the guitar.  I still love their music (and I still covet a Gibson ES-335 just like Alex).  Neal was the the brain behind it all, and while I can occasionally fathom copying a riff of Mr. Lifeson - the things that Neal did on the kit still blow my mind.  This is the best read I have come across on the guy.

Wandered around a bit in the afternoon with Tom and checked out Chinatown and a few other places in the city.

Week ending 05JAN2020

Monday - 6.5 with practice in the AM
PM - 3.5 miles

Tuesday - 10.2 miles out into open space, feeling pretty good.

Wednesday - GW was talking about doing 20 and it seemed like a novel idea to start the new year.  Gabby and Terry joined us.  We started fine, heading south and east out of town and getting down onto the Big Dry Creek Trail.  Once we turned around at Metzger we were getting kicked around really hard by the wind - one of those winds where you can't even talk to the person next to you.  Gabby and Terry finished at a dozen plus and Greg and I did loops behind the wind break of the King Soopers until we got to two hours.  15.1 miles.

Thursday - Achilles was a piece of turd today.  Kept it easy with 6.1 miles.  Went into the shoe shop as the outsole of the Levitates I had cracked.  Got a replacement set of Nikes (yeah, I am a sellout).  Took a peek at the Vaporfly things.  Crazy shoes.  I didn't get these.



Also went over and checked out the new Wildwood Guitar facility and geeked out for a bit.  Then I got on their website and perused the offerings.  You can lose you mind looking at guitars that cost more than cars.

Friday - 10 miles.  Did 5 x 2 minutes at threshold - so not really hard but enough to shift gears - in the middle with practice to mix it up.  Felt pretty okay.

Saturday AM - did 8 x 30' hills with Greg, Braun and Terry on Main Street.  Nothing awesome but just rolling the legs a bit.  We hosted an alumni run post at the HS.  7.7 miles.


A little later in the AM, 2.5 getting the dogs out.

The hills and harder work left my Achilles fairly thrashed and I was noticeably gimping later in the day.  I spent the later afternoon/early evening managing it to some semblance of happiness.

Sunday AM = got out with Shad and Bob on the Coal Creek trail.  Nice jog, and it has been a while since I have got out with those guys.  It was fun to catch up Saw a lot of crews on the trail, including the Mines distance squad.  12.4 miles.

Really nice training week for me.   74 miles with some quality.   Of course, while it was a "work week," this time of the year is only a half-hearted approach to that by most (and will be probably until mid next week).  I also head off for biz travel towards the end of next week so that will put a wrinkle in there.

Good music week for me as I am managing a few new tunes, and working a bit more specifically to some of my own lyrics.  Playing some of my own stuff at a mic in 2020 is a slight goal of mine.  Got a bunch of hours in practicing and played with software related to the Fender G-DEC amp I have.  Still figuring out that rabbit hole of tech with that amp - as it hooks up via USB and has all the pedal effects, etc.

Leadville Boom Days Race 2019

Pic taken by Peak Focus Photography.

Jack has won the Leadville race six times, with five of those times coming with me at the end of the tether.  We didn't compete in it last year as I only did the Fairplay race with him.  Neither of us are the runners we were even a few years ago when we secured the Triple Crown in Leadville in 2015, but we had managed a fair number of good days in Leadville by taking advantage of the smooth road finish coming down the last few miles of California Gulch.  There was some question as to if we could improve on our fourth place finish from Fairplay the week before, and maybe play the spoil sport to Leadville hometown favorites, Marvin and Buttercup in their bid for the Triple Crown.

I got up to Leadville with TZ early - like 7AM - coming up from Fairplay.  We did the typical donkey prep, race day reg, fiddling with the saddle, but I was feeling the early rise.  As the race approached, I tried to get my mind right, or dial in the power of magical thinking.  Meaning, imagining stuff that might occur if I think about it like it is really going to happen.  There is nothing really to this approach, but it beats the alternative - thinking you can't.  Because if you believe that you are truly screwed.

We got out well, with the leaders and started the long climb up.  Jack was in no mood to lead this group but we settled into a pack of about 8 teams.  It would stretch, collapse, repeat.  I had no real concerns here because as long as we were in contact, we were not losing anything.  You are unlikely to win the race here, but you can lose it.

As we started the first descent, it was still the same crew.  No big moves, and nothing fast.  But as the climb out of checkpoint three started, the race really set.  Hal / FTB and Marvin / Buttercup put a clinic on of getting away a little by little.  Jack and I fell way way back - even far back from the 3-7 positions as if we were getting dropped.  It took most of the climb to fight our way back into the pack and then all the way back up to nose to nose with Louise in third place.  Hal and Marvin had probably a four or five minute lead on us coming off the pass, and they would slowly extend on that over the day.

As has been the case in past years, Jack carefully picked his way down through the rocky mining road, and now we don't run those ups much.  We were able to get away from some Tracy and Kirt, but we established a pack of Bob/Yukon, Joel/Jake, Louise/Pandora and me and Jack.  It stayed this way - sometimes stretching out as much as 200 yards between us.  As we hit the road, Bob and Joel had separated significantly but I knew Jack and I would roll that up.  Louise caught up to the crew and we got a good little set of movement going - still not 2012 speed, but fair enough.  We shook Joel but we didn't have the wheels to break Bob or Louise.  I knew what the outcome was going to be coming into town even as we turned onto a traffic busy, rainy Harrison with its cones and loud people but tried to make a fight of it anyway.  We ended up fifth behind Louise (3rd) and Bob (4th) in about 3:55.  Marvin had won in a time of about 3:45, about the typical time it takes to win.  Hal had come in a few minutes later in second.

It was a good day and a good run for a couple of guys who still think they got it.

Friday-Sunday 03-05MAY2019

Got back Friday night.  I got back too late to head to Greeley to catch the remainder of the track meet (and I missed JZ's mile), but I got out a jog.  I was fine for the first half an hour but then I was feeling the week, the travel and the flight.  I was pretty fried.  8.7 miles.

Saturday AM - Eagles practice.  An easy 6.2 with the kids.  Everyone was pretty stoked after some good racing at conference the last couple of days.


Saturday afternoon - a tempo, fartlek type thing - mostly to get in some effort / quality as I had not done that yet this week.  I hit up my path along the ditch progressing the effort on an out and back, and it ended up being one of my quicker efforts on this route.  I did a few strides post.  4.1 miles.

Sunday AM - I got the idea it was time to get back to working the vertical and got out for what turned out to be a slow loop on Green.

I am definitely out of climbing shape but I have also got a lot of work to do on descending.  I have got pretty bad at that too.  I took a digger that got me pretty scratched up in a few places.  But it was a start.

Immediately after this run, I headed off to the farm to run the donks with Bob.  We took them over to the Singletree Trail, and did the six mile lollipop there past the NCAR facility.  Jack looked solid for our first outing.  Nothing blazing but I wasn't doing anything to push him.  Six miles.



Fair week with the travel.  I started okay but the week on the road was wearing on me pretty good by Wednesday.  I didn't get any quality in until the weekend but made some ground by getting back up to Green (something I'll hope to have as a fairly regularly part of the menu now).  65 plus on the week.

Been practicing guitar a bit too.  Just need to find the right audience to appreciate it.

Starting the New Year right

Got out for 10k wiith Shad, Bob, Don and Neeraj.  Special guest was JZ – which was a nice addition.  Guess which one he is in this shot?

Spotted an eagle down on the bend on past the lake on the Lac Amora loop.

It was chilly enough to flush out some ice beards too. 

Great way to start the New Year – good jog,with great guys.

2019 Race Plans

I got out with Shad and Bob last night.

It was a rare “3-fer” day … meaning I ran three times in the day.  It felt fine but that right foot is still feeling like I stepped on a rock hard on its bottom and bruised it (even though I did not step on a rock and bruise it).

We later connected up with Donnie and Neeraj for some catching up.  It was a blast.  Anyone who watched us probably thought we ready to break into a fight while also watching the best comedy we had ever seen – just a bunch of brothers giving each other well positioned crap while supporting each other.  I love it. 

Of course, we also discussed what potential plans there were for 2019 … there was a broad swath from almost declaring nothing to putting up that line of fourteen 14ers in about a 100 mile line. 

For me, and I recognize it might be just December arm chair quarterbacking … it seems like I’d play it like this:

- various mile and 5k efforts
- potentially the Leadville Trail Marathon
- potentially the Barr Trail Mountain Race
- Fairplay Pack Burro Race World Championship
- Pikes Peak Marathon
- California International Marathon

The thinking on this is that I would use the shorter stuff as part of overall development and bridge to the longer stuff in the summer.  Leadville Trail Marathon was not on the list before last night but then became an agreed upon possible show down between the old dogs who still think they have it.  I also have never done that one so it is interesting.  The Barr Trail Mountain Race is a good run as prep for Pikes.  Pikes is of course the bomb, and then there is CIM.  The draw there is I’d be 50, it would serve as my first official road marathon (that’s right – I have never done one but I did bandit Boston back in the 90s before it was considered some sort of mortal sin to do so) and I’d take a crack at breaking 3 – a time goal that has a window that seems to be closing on me quickly. 

Of course the World Championship of Pack Burro Racing in Fairplay is in there too.  I feel that is a race that I might just do for the rest of my life – but such things are easily said.  The trick with this race is that is could lead to a bunch of other races if you get on the “Triple Crown” train. 

I may also do some pacing at Leadville, which is now a week before Pikes, but that is tentative. 

I have a couple of weeks here to contemplate this further but I need to get on the mouse click trigger soon as registrations are coming up.