Tuesday 12FEB2019

Greg stopped by the house in the AM and asked me to point to where my foot pain was.  I pointed to the front ball of my foot around the back of the second and third toes. His quick read was, “congratulations, you have Morton’s Neuroma.”
So there is that.  He set me up with a pair of Superfeet inserts and a met pad for the right foot.  We will give this a shot for a few days to see how things go.  In the afternoon, I jogged with those in my fattest and freshest Hokas to practice and then did another four on the treadmill.  I am still aware of the neuroma but it was a tad bit more bearable.  We’ll see how this goes.
In the evening I headed over to InMotion Running (Greg’s shop) to catch the Billy Yang movie about Dave Mackey, called “Leadman.”  The movie is good (also very good is the video that Bill Hanson did on Dave shortly after his amputation).  Even better than the movie though is getting together to see everyone for a few minutes.  I noted in this shot that you had at least three guys who had lost some part of their body to amputation.  Even in that category I am the least accomplished of these guys. 

Anyone recognize the guy who apparently is not happy with that last bite of pizza?
One of the best ambassador’s of the Boulder mountain all things scene – Bill Wright.This is mostly a shot to make JZ jealous because he was home doing calculus homework.
Bill Hanson video.

Trailer to Billy Yang video

Tuesday 24JAN2017

AM – I got a round of Green with Dave M and Bryan D.

It was Dave’s first Green since his accident last year. 


The weather did us no favors.  As we hit the summit, the fog started to freeze.  It laid a greasy coat of ice on everything, making it one of the slickest days on Green I have ever seen.  Not the best for a guy testing out his new foot.  On the way home I saw further evidence of how nasty it was as there was a dozen something car pile up at the 36 South Boulder Road exit.  Traffic was backed up for a bit … until it wasn’t as they closed the highway at some point.

In the afternoon I got an other half dozen, doing 8 x 30” hard uphill.  I was feeling a bit tanked on these after twenty something seconds … so I guess I was getting after it pretty hard on the front of it.

150 squats today.  70 lightly weighted, the other 80 just body weight.

A guy with pink headsets

Interview with Dave M that chronicles his career, his injury and his recent amputation of his lower leg and what he hopes for in the future …

It ain’t the classiest of joke but a few of us have already wondered when it will be where Dave comes rolling by us in a race. 

Interesting podcast from “the Tinman.”  He gets a bit off the rails at times, but it is clearly because he has a deep passion for the game.  Lots if interesting nuggets regarding training in there.  His website also has some good calculators.

Been plugging some good runs in the last few days.  I sort of at a life point of where I expect it.  I tried to really tap into the idea that it should not be taken for granted.

Wednesday 18NOV15

Afternoon – the temps just plummeted in the afternoon once the sun tucked behind the clouds over the mountains that were throwing those winds.  Just felt like it was biting.  I jogged over to BHS track and ran with the kids who are heading to NXR tomorrow (for the race over the weekend).  Nothing hard for them now … just some 200 floats at race pace and easy jogging in between to keep the legs moving.  They are fit.  It was good for me to jog behind them a bit and get a few turns in at sub six pace without having to think too much about it.

Good reminder on Lydiard principles.

So a beer mile guy got signed by a big sponsor.  This, and burro racing, continue to demonstrate to me that straight up fast running is often not going to make you a pay check.  Max King got more money at the Warrior Dash championship than any of his other paydays.  If you are a 14 flat 5k guy, you are probably gonna be making more money working at the shoe gear shop than you are off of your racing.  Somewhat tangential …it was recently shared with me that the top video gamers in the world make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and in some cases millions. 

I ended up having a bit of a conversation with someone as to what 100 events are harder. You know, the classic is Leadville harder than whatever.  I am more of the mentality that a fast 5k could be just as hard or harder than a Leadville – not counting the recovery component.  Is Hardrock harder than Leadville?  Or is a 100 mile on a track harder or easier than both?  Some of it is your personal game.  I consider Nick P who has done well at Hardrock but has struggled at the track ultra stuff.  Alternatively Bob S has historically done well on that flat repetitive ultra stuff but would probably die in the first 20 of Hardrock (only because he can’t lift his feet more than six inches off the ground).  Racing events is hard – regardless of the distance.  When you race it, you are committing to make the damn thing hurt.

Caught up with Mack Daddy Dave at the Flatirons event tonight.

Also got to jog for a few miles with Shad and Jeff.  Fun to catch up with them … even if they made fun of my old man sweater.

Wednesday 24JUN2015

Yeah, I can’t stop watching the train wreck:  Alberto’s response is out.  Even better might be that the USATF hired Dennis Mitchell.  Yeah, a guy who was a known doper.

Afternoon  - hooked up with Bob for an easy effort on the Mesa (mostly).  10 miles.  it was good to go easy just to work out some of the beating I have given myself (from falls) over the last couple of days. 

I noticed that I have already had 8 days off this month, surpassing the number of days I have had off in all the prior months collectively.  But despite that I am getting a fair amount of vertical.  I am at 23k feet on the month, which is not a far sneeze from my highest month total (April, nearly 30k).  

After the run I swung by and saw Dave Mackey.  Kendrick was also visiting.  Yes, he is out of the of the hospital and home.  And each time I have seen him, he is doing markedly better.  You can just see it. 

He still has the X-fix in his leg, and unlike when he was in the hospital and it was all dressed up – you can see it.  And the bolts going into his leg.  It is quite a sight  But Dave says that he is pain free at this time and only taking antibiotics to help combat the possibility of any infection.  His upper legs show where he has given skin grafts and where there is skin growing back from where they harvested some thigh muscle to bring to the shin area.   He says his sleep is poor (I can imagine it is challenging to sleep with that x-fix thing on) but he is in great spirits.

We took him out on his front lawn a bit, drank some lemonade that Ellen brought us, and shot the breeze on Kendrick’s trip to South America, a line of 14ers in the Elk Mountains, his recovery, and whatever else.  He did some exercises with a stretch band on his good leg.  It was good to see him continuing to mend and continue to progress forward down this long road.  He still has a significant surgery ahead of him to remove the x-fix, and to harvest bone and marrow from his good right leg (by going through his hip) to create a bone matrix that can be used to rebuild the tibia.

I have to hand it to Dave – he seems to be in good spirits and truly thankful for his fortune in light of what it could have been.  I can’t help but contemplate if I could have such an attitude if I were in his place.  I think I’d be certainly thankful to be alive, to have such amazing medical care, and even more incredible family to help me – but I think there would be an element of me that was truly pretty pissed.  I recognize that probably would not be the healthiest of mindsets, but I can see how it could be easy to be dark about it.  If Dave has that, I am not seeing it, hearing it or feeling it.  The guy is truly strong. 

Dave Mackey update 060915

Post script:  this evening there was a very well written write up by Brian Metzler regarding Dave Mackey’s latest state.

I am heading out of town for a bit shortly, and so I hoped to get a visit in with Dave before then.  He had a window today and so I bolted down around lunch time between conference calls.  Some highlights:

- Dave is still in the SICU, but he thought he could be getting out of there today.  This would be good because his kids are too young to visit him in the SICU.
- Again, Dave looked better to me than in my prior two visits.  He thinks this is because of the blood transfusions he received. 
- The heat in the room has been brought to normal levels but they have his left lower leg wrapped up with a device that will keep it warm.
- We took a look at his leg where there was a tiny view.  Dave noted that what we thought we were looking at, his shin, was actually from his thigh.  It was where they had transferred the muscle and the skin to the wound on the shin from the thigh.
- There is supposed to be another surgery tomorrow to evaluate the situation and to break down some of the X-fix (this is the frame external to his leg that keeps it stabilized, sort of like a big hard wire external cast).
- We did a little “PT” with his right (healthy) leg.  He wanted a bit of pressure against various tiny motions there so he could “get some exercise.”  Understandable:   he has been in bed for nearly the entire time since May 23.
- We chatted on various things outside of his current state.  He got a bit animated when I mentioned that I was doing Pikes and Leadville.  I explained my thoughts about if I have a chance to go for a PR at Pikes.  “How many chances will I get to PR at Pikes again?”  His response, “yeah but there are a million chances to DNF at Leadville.”  My ass give yourself the whammie comment, “I ain’t DNFing Leadville unless one of those things is around my leg.”  He found this funny and decided to write that down on a napkins so he could use it against me in the future.  And I can say with confidence that he definitely has the idea of getting out the hospital, getting home and getting out to spectate at events as soon as he can.  Including Leadville.
- Apparently there is new information (at east to me) on how they will create the bone matrix to rebuild his tibia.  Essentially they will go through his hip (in a surgery in about 8 weeks) and then into his femur to extract bone marrow.  This will be used to create that bone matrix that will be used in the lower leg. 
- He made the joke that “this is all advanced carpentry.”  And clearly there is an analogy to be made there:  drilling, screws, nuts, bolts, retaining structures … the medical technology is something to marvel at.
- I mentioned how the post the other day became the highest hit post I ever had over night.  He said he appreciated that I put it up there because he has no energy to do that sort of thing right now.  He stated that he tries to read books but then just dozes off. 
- I asked about the infection in the leg and he thinks it is being managed with aggressive antibiotics.

Again – good to see him, and I can say across the three visits I see progress.  There is obviously a very long journey ahead but clearly steps in that journey have occurred since I last saw him.  He is plugging away.

Dave Mackey update 060615

Dave encouraged me to blog about his current state and to share that with people who are interested.  I have been not doing that because I feel that while this story is in the public domain to some degree, this could be a matter that he would want to maintain some privacy on.  But he encouraged me multiple times to share.  So here is a mix of what I understand from Dave, Ellen, Jeff, with some of my own opinions mixed in from my visit today.

JZ was down at the DAC HQ to participate in the NYLT camp orientation (a Scout thing).  As he was finishing up, I got a call from JV that he was going to visit Dave.  I was not expecting Dave to take visitors as he was just in a lengthy surgery yesterday but when I got the word Jeff was over there, and given we were so close, I bolted over.

Dave went a 7 hour surgery yesterday.  He is now in the SICU to best assure good recovery.  This is I think his fifth, maybe sixth surgery he has had since the accident on May 23.  On Wednesday he had a surgery  (that is the surgery before this one yesterday)  that had replaced all the hardware they had put in his leg.  They did this as he was getting feverish and the concern was for infection in/around the hardware, in the leg.  So they went in, took out all the hardware that was in there and replaced it.   They found that some of the bone that they had tried to pin together was not going to make it, and so they took that out.  This left a space in a tibia and so they have put in an interim spacer in there.  Down the road, this will need to be replaced.  That replacement will need to come from bone they harvest from elsewhere in his body – probably his right femur. 

Yes – that is right – they are going to take bone from him healthy right upper leg to heal his lower left leg.  Basically, they are leveraging good parts of him to heal the broken part of him.  When I think about it, that is just an incredible feat of medicine and healing. 

This started with the “gastroc flip” surgery that they did some time ago.  As there is so little musculature / vasculature on the front of the shin there is little blood flow to this area.  In a healthy leg, this not a problem but when trying to heal a traumatic injury like this – you need that blood flowing to that area.  By bringing the muscle to this area, it brings blood flow to help healing.

When I saw him on Thursday, the plan was to take additional muscle from his back to add to the vasculature in this area to further aid this process.  It was decided after that rather than taking muscle from his back would take some from his left quad.  I think they did this because a graft of skin had already been taking from this area and that meant they were taking muscle from an area that had already been acted on rather than creating a new area to manage on the back.  They also took some skin from his right quad to graft onto the wound on the right leg. 

Yeah, it is a lot of stuff.  A lot of stuff.  As you’d expect, there is a lot of pain that comes with these sort of procedures.  And so with that, pain killers.  I can’t even imagine that.  Between the mix of the sea swirl of opiates and the throbbing of pain and heck, just being bed ridden for this long.

So I saw him today after that long day yesterday.  He is in a heated room (88 degrees) as that promotes circulation.  It was good to see him with Jeff because we gave each other some good natured crap, got in some laughs, etc.  While the dressing on his leg was bigger, he had new bandages on his upper thighs from this latest surgery, he looked better to me in the face.  On Thursday, he looked a bit withered to me, and today he looked stronger.  When I shared this with him, he attributed it to that he is now getting a blood transfusion.  His hemoglobin levels were around 7.5 when I saw him on Thursday, and so the transfusion seems to be helping that. 

The biggest risk at this point in my non medical opinion (as is all of this) is that it has been identified there is some infection in the lower left leg. They are looking to aggressively treat this with antibiotics, etc.

And so yes, there has been the question as to whether he will keep the leg.  My take is this: they are going to do what they can to make that happen.  And my take also this:  they should.  Dave recognizes that it may come to a point where keeping the leg is not feasible, and if that happens, he has a perspective on that … as in he is alive and loved.  ALIVE AND LOVED.   He is going to fight to get to be as whole as he was but there are uncountable number of challenges and steps to get to that.  And regardless of what turns this journey throws up at him, he is alive and loved.  And so there is an odd juxtaposition of attacking this thing to heal with everything he has got but somewhere also recognizing the realities of the situations and the gifts you have. 

Similarly seeing Dave creates a swirl of emotions:  sadness for what he is going through, relief that he is alive, hope for what he can do, gratitude for the fact that he lives in a place with such amazing care and technology, concern for those around him, inspiration to see him make a smile for those who visit him, love for the community …

More to come.  Post script – pic from Jeff at the awards of Pikes in 2012.

Thursday 060415

AM – 5.7 miles with JV, Skurka and Roche.  I had been trying to get together with Dave for sometime and it worked out that I was able to connect this up with Jeff and Andrew as well.  Just an awesome crew – good conversation on running, life … well, if you can get a word in while heading up Green.  Just incredibly passionate and positive people …
A little debate on the trail on poles … some say they work wonders.  Others say they keep you from running and encourage you to hike.  And some say they make you a hiker anyway.  I got them in an Amazon order today and intend to start test driving them soon.  I do expect to use them. 

I had intended to do a dental cleaning and then swing back to Chautauqua after a bit of office work for a  longer effort.  But I got word from Dave Mackey that he had a window for visitation and I headed down to Denver Health to see him.

Dave talked me through the accident, the rescue, his current situation and what is projected to come up next with surgeries, rehab, etc.  It will be a tough road.  I will admit it: it is hard to see Dave like this.  Every other time I have seen him he has been a powerful athlete moving through a race, with determination and focus.  He is powerful, determined and focused still but fighting a very different battle of endurance, and probably easily argued the toughest one he has ever faced.   Still, you (and he) see that and you realize how lucky he was/is.  I don’t think you can really think about that and not be moved emotionally.  I certainly was.

So a day of inspiring people … I mean really inspiring people.  The universe speaks.

I am heading up to Laughing Valley Ranch tomorrow night for a burro run with Jack.  If interested in joining, give me a shout.

Late afternoon – 7.3 miles.  Hot. 

Evening – the Pumpkin took a nice tag.  As far as car accidents go, this is about as take as you can get.  I was at a light, making a right on red, signal on.  Someone tried to slip up around me in the bike lane (in their car) and when I made the turn … crunch.  Basically there is no turn lane for them, they tried to make one.  Bummer is that it looks to be three panels that will need to be dealt with.

Saturday 102712

Headed out for a run this AM and had the great luck and fortune to bump into Buzz, Bill, Jeff V, Tony K, Burch, Mike H, Brandon F, Tim L, Rob T, Basit, Dave M, Justin M, Homie, Sandrock, Wes T, Kendrick C.  Crazy how that is in here… you can’t head out for a run and throw a rock without hitting someone in the face.  Just another day in this wonderful place we live.


               

I clearly and quickly knew that I had not visited the hills as of late.  I could feel the small of my back give off its tell tale “bark” when I have been away from them (the snow seems to magnify this, along with yesterday’s workout).  No bother at this point.  Flagstaff and Green for the front half and then coming down via Bear Canyon to round it out to 11.5 miles.

All that however was really the footnote to this run.  It was great to share a few strides with so many of the wonderful people in this community.  Common topic that comes up is how folks’ heads are churning on their ‘13 plans.  Interesting to hear the different takes. There are so many wonderful stories.  Yeah, cheesy as Swiss, but it lifts me up.  It might be that I don’t do a lot of it and so it is a novel thing, but it leaves me buzzing for hours afterwards.  I probably am buzzing too much during these sort of runs too, feeling like a kid at Christmas, and talking too dang much.

Couple of shots from a Halloween gig we went to last night.  What is scary is that I actually use to sort of look like this when I had hair.  No, seriously …

Off to Seattle tonight.  Listened to the Endurance Planet show, Ask The Coaches.  This show by Lucho and Tawnee, along with TalkUltra are pretty much the only two fitness, endurance, ultra, training podcasts that I listen to anymore (although occasionally I will queue up Marathon Talk. .  It has been fun to hear how this show has matured, being a bit of ultra, a bit of marathon, a bit of tri, a bit of all the stuff “we” talk about.  I dig it.   When not listening to this “genre” I go with Carolla’s stuff for laughs.  Most the time though, it is purely music – everything from Winston to Foo Fighters to stuff KZ turns me onto.  Go to Pandora when stuck.
=============
Solid post by Ian S regarding flat 100s.  Without a doubt, I am still thinking about the 100, but I am not focusing on it in 13 (given my Pikes goals).  And without a doubt, I am still amazed at what Bob did at the Boulder 100 in his last lap.  Reading Ian’s post leaves me nodding my head, because it is clearly not how you run the first half but how you can run that damn second half – and really how much from 70 miles to the finish.  As I was crushed to a point of “running” a 17 minute mile in my last couple of laps, I clearly have a lot of possible improvement …
=============
Started getting back to a little bit of core work.  Mostly push ups, planks and reverse crunches.  I have not done them in a bit so it is leaving me a bit sore.  I imagine that as the weather starts to degrade a bit, I will look to get into the gym a bit more.  Maybe some rope work.  I tend to get a bit nutty with bench press and that sort of stuff when I go to the gym.  It is a left over from the AF days I guess.  I can’t say that I will totally eschew that stuff, but I think I will try to focus a bit more on some core and leg work (dead lifts, squats).  Eh, easily said.   
=============
While I will be focused on Pikes in 2013, I am pondering the burro thing again.  And I’d like to finally coordinate a Fairplay to Leadville run (and back) with Fuller.  And I am thinking of hosting up a FA type event … my house to Bear and back … whatever route you want with a few checkpoints along the way.  Not the cup of tea for everyone with the flat before the climb, but a good 35 miler (ish).  Pancakes galore at the finish.  Maybe in March. 
=============
I saw a commercial today while on the plane for testosterone applied via a stick to the arm pit.  Of course there was the list of all the possible side effects at the end of the commercial.   When driving into work, I hear commercials on the sports radio all the time about “low T” this and that.  "Are you a middle aged man who is tired of being tired?”   This is not new of course, but it seems that this stuff is nearly as readily available as coffee (when is Starbucks gonna provide the Low T Latte?).   The question that I am trying to get out of my head (kind of like a bad song that gets stuck in there) is this:  with this stuff apparently being so available, is it really okay if someone just gets a  therapeutic use exemption (TUE)?   Apparently I don’t have low T (but I have not been tested), but if I suddenly did and I got some prescription to bring my levels to some “normal” range, would it be doping if I competed with an appropriate TUE?   According to what I understand from USADA, the answer is no – that would not be doping.  

This sort of sounds like an argument that I hear pro’s who have been caught making:  “I did not use it to enhance my performance, but just to recover.”  Uh, enhancing your recovery is enhancing your performance.   The guy taking testosterone to get it to some level within his TUE is doing it “to just be normal” – but he is also enhancing my performance.   Then again, I enhance my performance too – I drink coffee and I know it will help my performance so it is obviously a performance enhancer … just happens to be legal when I have my two cups in the AM

This leaves me a bit stuck with the conundrum of how everything is a drug of some sort (uuh, yeah, I), and how we legislate and regulate what is normal.  And that is sort of arbitrary.

Pikes Peak 2012

Cliff notes version:  exceeded my expectations, running 4:42:28 off a 3:01 ascent.  Landed 3rd in the Masters in what have been my easiest and the most fun I have had at Pikes yet.

Long version:  Lots of stuff here – hugely egocentric and focused on my race … I will do more on other news out of the race in the coming days (typing this while on a flight to Canada).

With a markedly different mindset in terms of fitness and related activities this summer (that is, one of exercise versus training), I had also gone through the mental process of releasing myself of any expectations at the Pikes Peak Marathon race. 

Except that is sort of a lie. 

I had some expectations.  I expected to finish.  I expected to toe the line and work the run.  But I did not have the hyper laser focus of expectations where I dialed splits in for the way points across the course.  I did not have the A-B-C goals.  I looked at this race as one in which I would enjoy myself, and do the best I could on that day.  I had the opportunity to run and race, and so I was going to do that – but in a way where I felt I did it with both respect for the race event itself (and so competing), and happiness.  As hokey as it sounds, I wanted to have another day in the mountains, where I could both smile at others out there and myself, but also my teeth sweat a bit as I worked this shell I have.

In the days leading up to the event however, the historical wiring of being hyper focused on this race managed to still send some messages to my conscious thought.  I began to think a 3 hour ascent was possible.  Then I would shake my head and think both of how easy that would have been in past years, and how damn hard it was in past years as well.  Looking at results on Saturday, I saw a good number of folks who were challenged with this time goal – reaffirming to me as to how difficult it can be if things go wrong.   It is humbling.  You see folks who have trained their literal arses off and they are given a harsh kick of reality as they stumble up the upper slopes of this mountain.  There is no caring by mountains of course.  They are just hunks of rock that have been here and will be here.  The testing of ourselves against them is something we choose to do.  Seeing that the majority of the output is not record setting runs, but rather bruised, bloodied, and physical crush people reminds me as to how damn hard this is.  A three hour ascent and five hour round trip was not something I could just snap up.

I headed down to the Springs area on Friday.  Unlike past years where I would head to the summit on Friday night to wake up on Saturday to see the Ascent action, I spent Friday evening sleeping under the stars at the Air Force Academy.  My son’s Boy Scout troop was camping there and I elected to make the trip with them.  The camping kept me busy most of the time Friday and Saturday, with probably more time on my feet than I wanted.  I did make a brief trip into Manitou on Saturday to pick up my race number and caught up with a couple of the finishers in Memorial Park.  Other than that, I was “grub master” – not far from the static display of the B-52 (the model of aircraft I used to work on while in the USAF) that sits at the Academy. 

I headed to bed as the kids played Capture the Flag in the setting sun Saturday night.  I had found some spot away from the camp where I could be away from the noise and not be run over by some Scouts.  I had planned to wake up around 4:30 to make for a slow and sleepy drive over to Manitou Sunday AM.  Being up that early would give me time to get coffee, pin the bib, get my outfit all set, hit the bathroom the obligatory six or seven times, find a good parking spot, eat a little something, etc.

And so of course I overslept.  I first woke up at 1:30AM.  I considered for a moment driving into Manitou then but rolled over in my sleeping bag / pad and slumbered back off.  When I opened my eyes again, and saw the morning twilight light, I knew I had an issue.  It was 5:55!  Damn it.  I hustled up my gear, hit the car and buzzed out of the Academy with tons of self talk:  “This will be okay.  You have plenty of time.  You got a good night’s sleep.  No worries.  Don’t stress.  SHIT!!  DAMN IT!!  HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!  Relax.  It will be fine.  You have time.”

I did make it, and I eased up to the start line at about 6:50, giving me time to connect with Dave M, Jeff V, Wes H, Matt H and few of the others.  I had no warm up, but I had met the prerace obligation of visiting the portalets 3 or 4 times.  I figured no warm up would keep me tempered in the start, where I am nearly always faster than any of the split calculator.

And so we were off.  It actually felt both comfortable but a bit fast as we turned onto Ruxton just a few ticks past 3 minutes.  With the greater slope that comes at this point, I consciously geared back and down.  I knew that to have any chance of running this well, I’d have to be careful through the Ws especially.  I kept my spirit in check:  be positive, enjoy this, don’t go negative ever.

By the mid point of the Ws, most of the jockeying and position changing had sorted itself out.  In fact, in retrospect – I think I can say that I was only passed three times after this point – once by a man on the Ascent above the 2 to go mark (who I then passed in about the same place on the descent), and once by a woman on the climb just past A frame (who I passed only only a few minutes before, and then passed again as we got above tree line) and once by a woman going into the Ws on the descent (who I then passed on the road as we dropped past the Cog).  From there on, it was pretty much running with the same folk most of the day, and slowly grinding up the hill. I walked through the aid stations, taking water and gatorade – as I elected to carry nothing.

I elected not to click my watch on the splits, so the ones I have (below) are somewhat approximate (but getting them by looking at the track on the map).  Throughout the run, I can say I never felt super great but  I never felt super bad.  I had some better spots (typically flatter) and I had some harder spots (steeper stretches).  But I kept telling myself that I needed to keep going and keep upbeat.  .  When I’d get to a walk, I kept telling myself to get back to the run.  I played games with myself of promising myself to run 100 steps for my son.  Then I’d lose count and have to start over.  Then I’d start with my daughter. 

Barr Camp came in 87 minutes plus.  While did not think this was doing “okay,” I also knew it was no guarantee of  anything.  It seemed like I was shaping up for a 3 hour ascent, but I knew it could be equally as likely that I’d implode and run a 3:30 at this point.  Rather than overly concerned with that, I focused on getting to the Aframe.  Could I do that before 2 hours?

Above Barr Camp, on the long switch back to Bottomless Pit, I saw a group of four people, spread over maybe 150 yards.  More patience I reminded myself.  The race starts really at A frame.  I used the competitors as mental leverage – playing a game of working through them over this tough stretch (I go back and forth as to what is the toughest part of the course:  I have said the Ws because you can blow your race there if you go out too hard, I have said this stretch from Barr to A frame because it is easy to fall asleep there, and I have also said from A frame to finish because while it is runnable, the thin air and accumulation of fatigue make it very easy to lose 10-30 minutes there).

Occasionally as I rolled up to someone, I felt myself going a bit above myself and I’d then have to back off.  I think this may have been annoying to the other racers, but I had to run my race.  I think they might have accelerated to race it up a bit, and I would at first bite at that – but I could feel the damage it was doing – particularly as air got thinner.  I’d go to a power hike right behind them … they’d run and I’d lose only the slimmest of ground before I’d recover back and move by them slowly.

My legs were clearly my weak point throughout the run.  They lacked power in the climb and they were indicating cramping signs – even below Barr Camp.  I often felt I was fine in terms of my breathing – it was not nearly as labored as it has been in past years, but my legs were often concrete – clearly showing a lack of climbing fitness. 

A-frame came in 2:05.  Eh, not bad, but not great.  Surely not a huge positive sign as I was showing signs of slowing down.   But, now – above treeline … Above Barr Camp, the cramps that I had begun to suspect would take place way back in the Ws began their evil work – the occasional stabbing of a dagger into a hammie here and there.  I had to start to chose how I pick a line through the rocks more carefully.

It is pretty amazing what happens above timber line.  The slopes are not that staggering up there.  The Golden Stairs are not easy, but the rest of this is really runable.  The issue however is that you have put in 10 miles, 5k feet plus of climbing, and you are above 12k feet.  Your body just screams NOT TO RUN.  I am increasingly convinced that you are gonna feel like crap regardless if you walk or run … so run as much as you can.  Easily said.  As I mentioned earlier – a man named Scott came buzzing by me and was making up huge ground.

The weather was perfect up there.  No significant wind.  Maybe 40 degrees?  I came through the John Garner captained aid station, and tried to give as much positive energy as I was getting.  Through out this, I knew that if I could smile, keep positive, keep moving – it would be a good day.  A help – as much as you know it is a bit contrived – is that folks would call my name because they could see it printed on my bib.  It gives us all a bit of celebrity status … I started to count people as they came down, giving them encouragement, figuring out where I stood – and trying to take stock of who I thought I’d have a chance of catching on a down.  Whoa – let’s not get ahead.  Be patient.  In the moment.  You are not going down yet.

Photo by John Garner, who I owe beer to.

As I climbed I started to realize I could get a sub three, but only if I went bananas for the top.  This – I reminded myself – is NOT the Ascent.  Going for it here could mean I could potentially send myself into a leg lock that I could not get out of, or putting myself over an edge that would crush me for the descent.  So I continued to grind – patient and purposeful.  And I topped out in 3:01:08. 

Every year I do this, I think I am going to get up there and hoot and holler how great it is.  Thank the volunteers and all that.  In past years, it has not worked out that way.  I stumble into the turn around, take a swing and start a stumble down.  This year I stopped, took a good long drink and hollered loud.  It was more a show of positive energy and reflective of how good I felt.

Photo by Bethany Garner who I also owe beer to.

And so I started the down.  With the 3:01, I felt fairly confident that I could get under 5.  60 minutes to Barr Camp, 60 minutes from Barr on down.  I picked my way carefully through the rocks, really not going much faster than a jog at best.  I started to roll up guys.  They were complimentary of my descent, but it felt really easy.  I was being careful – I did not want to fall and I was fighting cramps on any odd steps. 

The early section down is both motivating in the feedback you get from the crowd – as it is admittedly frustrating.  It is hard to run through 800 people (and we all do it one way or the other!).  I tried to draw the positive feedback and pass it back.   Soon enough I was back through the A frame, and then into the trees below where the runners thin out, and then disappear.  I had passed three people at this point, but I knew there were folks who were coming and so on some of the more open sections, I began to move from the jog to looking to open it up some. 

I’d be remiss at this point if I did not mention the Hokas.  They were awesome.  I am not endorsed by them as a shoe company and I know they are not for everyone.  But for a guy who has a ton of scar tissue on one of his feet because of a lawn mower accident, my feet were well protected as I went through the rocks.  I did occasionally start to roll an ankle, but I’d catch it (which would then cause a cramp issue that I had to then work through).  But my feet have never felt more protected (of course in past years I have raced in Brooks Racer STs – a road flat!!)

I got to Barr Camp around 10:53 in the morning – so 3:53 into the run.  Yup.  The top guys had already finished and were enjoying the labors of their work.  I told myself “okay Zack, that is good, another hour down and you are sub five.”  My concern at this point was the slight ups you get back, the possible heat as you drop in elevation, and the greater possibility of cramps as I went through the Ws.  And falling of course. 

I mused on how well this was going, but I dismissed those thoughts – knowing that typically when I entertain such ideas I am most likely to bite it.  I had to keep focused now, look to keep it together and see if I could not get caught and if I could catch anybody.

I started through some of the little ups past Barr Camp, and brought my pace to very slow.  These little bumps are little but my attacking them in the past has left me reeling.  As I came around a corner above No Name Creek, I saw Jeff V.  He looked to be stretching out his legs.  I tried to give him encouragement as I went past but I knew he was having a tough drop.  It drives me a bit batty because I know that Jeff is a way better runner than than me on all things mountain.  I joked with him later that Pikes is my one day of the year where I get to beat him, but I am still convinced his best day for Pikes is yet to come.  Jeff returned the kind words and told me to get after it. 

Shortly after passing Jeff, I started to give a little more on the gas.  And the cramps really fired up.  I started my ridiculous mantras of talking out loud:  “be easy, flow easy, like water, don’t fall, relax.”  It is silly but it works.  And perhaps because I have dealt with this cramping in the past, I actually can ride a fine line of running while I am cramping to some extent without going into a full on lock up.

Post No Name, I came up on another runner.  I was stoked to get another place, but just as I was doing that I realized that I was also getting caught.  Michelle Suszek (who would run a 1:34 down) came BLASTING by both of us.  I tried to go with her, but she was really hauling for me. 

This brought me to the Ws.  A quick glance at my watch had me thinking I could break 4:50, and perhaps even run faster than I had last year.  Michelle disappeared slowly into the distance, but I could then see another long haired shirtless runner that I was closing on.  He saw me from a switchback below, and it seemed to me that he began to pick up the pace.  As I closed on him, he almost took a stumble but he caught himself without hitting the deck.  He stepped the side and said, “okay, no more hard running for me.” 

As I came to the top of Ruxton, I could see that Michelle was not that far up, and on the really steep stuff, I was catching her.  I passed her at the Cog and tried to encourage her to come along (at the same time thinking it would suck to get into an outright kick fest with her in the last 100 yards of town).  I got a little daylight and as I came into the town, I enjoyed slapping the hands of the kids on the side.  

Photo from the Gazette.

4:42.:28.  Wow.

Photo by HappyTrails. (pointing to the French Giant!)

Post race I did my typical thing in the tent – get me to a cot, let me lie down for ten minutes or so with a chair under my legs and my feet elevated.  No thanks on the IV.  I got to share some good conversation with Brad and HappyTrails.  I then wandered about soaking up the good vibe of the race – talking to (I am sure I am forgetting someone here) Scott E, Corey D (who ran an awesome marathon but was probably more stoked from his wife’s performance the day before – more on that and other racers in a separate post), Jeff V, Dave M, Craig the Knuckledragger, Brad P, HappyTrails Steve, Pittbrownie, $100, Amy P, Rob, fellow burro racer Diane V, and Matt C.   “How’d your race go?  You cramped too?  What happened in Leadville?”   I know there are folks that would run this mountain even if there was no race and they’d love it.  I’d probably do that.  But sharing with everyone in this community is incredibly invigorating to me.

This race performance certainly exceeded my expectations.   21st overall, 3rd master (sort of, Mackey was 7th overall).  And so I am happy.

The effort certainly does raise the question:  what would I have done had I actually trained?  It is not like I was completely out of shape here, but would I have PR’d had I trained for this?  I will never know the answer but I think I can conclude the following:

a.) this was my 7th marathon at Pikes.  I certainly benefit from knowing how to exact my effort over this course.  I think I ran almost nearly as well as I could have – turning the gauges for a strong performance for me.
b.)  and so in past years, I think I have been fitter, but that means I have NOT run as smart as I could have.  And I think I am much more likely to do this when I am more fit.  I am more likely to get after it, make mistakes and pay for that.
c.)  my climbing legs were clearly a factor for me in the race.  They were a limiter.  And so, as odd as it sounds, I am not as beat up as I have been in past years.  I really couldn’t “crank” on myself as hard as I have in past years.
d.)  Some folks were complimentary of my down.  I appreciate that, but I can say that I have a LOT I could improve there if I wanted.  A fellow runner said to me that 1:40 down was jogging.  I know for many, that is not.  But for many – it is jogging.  I can say woulda shoulda coulda here for me … but you get the idea.
e.)  the weather helped a lot this year.  It was about as perfect as you could get.  Sure it was warm down low, but it was not the typical blast furnace I feel as I hit No Name Creek and lower. 
f.)  mentally, I certainly race better when I am “loose” in my mindset and expectations.  I’d probably not recommend sleeping in a field at the AFA to ensure this going forward, but being “in the zone” is not a best practice for me.

So, maybe if I was fitter, I would have run faster.  Or maybe I would have done something stupid and run slower.  There you go.  Still learning the same old lessons I guess – and that is part of the fun of it.  I think today – I got this race.  It felt like I had my hand on the tiller as well as I ever had it.  I’d like to think that means I’d be able to do that again there, but I know there is no promise of that.  The mountain simply does not care.

I can say this Pikes is probably the most fun I have had with it.  I was not going to be tortured by the result by some constructs I had made up in my head.  And for me, I think that made me run more free and happy.  These last four weeks of racing have been a beautiful thing and I feel really lucky  Burros in the mountains, great people, time with my amazing and wonderful family, sharing the time in the high country.  It really does make me grin.   I am a very lucky dude.   Races and events like this make me re-realize that … and make these posts seem all the more self indulgent and ridonkulus.

    

Splits (approximate):

Ruxton (0.43)    3:04:00   
Hydro (1.23)    6:40:00    9:44:00
Top of Ws (3.07)    23:41:00    33:25:00
No Name Creek (4.29)    16:30:00    49:55:00
7.8 Sign (5.82)    17:45:00    67:40:00
Barr Camp (7.52)    19:45:00    87:25:00
Bottomless Pit (8.48)    13:35:00    1:41:00
A Frame (10.01)    25:00:00    2:06:00
2 to go (11.07)    19:05:00    2:25:05
1 to go (11.94)    18:05:00    2:43:10
Summit 912.03)    17:58:00    3:01:08
        1:41:20

 

Again, thanks to all who provided any encouragement and support.  I am one lucky dude. 

Ah, and so to the question, “will I do this again?  Or will I go do that other race?”  I don’t know yet.  I know that Pikes is – as they say – in my blood.  I can see a day where I would want to step away from it, in an “absence makes the heart grow fonder” sort of way, but not today.  Right now, I am not gonna worry about what I do in 2013.  Instead, I am going to enjoy this fruits of this day, this summer and keep smiling.

More on the Pikes scene in the next couple days. 

Tuesday 050812 blah bleh bluh

This is my homework reading for a bit.

Magill runs 15:11 at the age of 50.  Impressive but a 26 second drop off from last year.

JV went sub 40 on the middle route on Green.  Over 3 minutes fast than my best there.  A masters guy to watch at PPM this year in my opinion. 

Jumbotrons are impacting races.

Born to stroll.  I sort of like that.

Racing this spring has been pretty hot, but this looks to be the next big race.  I actually think this is the best pre race analysis.

Got in some downhill trail yesterday in the LTDs.  Yes, I have decided to call the Hokas, LTDs.  Why?  The Ford LTD (from 1974) was my first car.  It was huge.  Land boat huge.  Got 7 miles to the gallon.  About the number of miles I run per hour.  It was yellow.  So are these shoes. 

In any case, I was impressed with how they held from a traction perspective and how cushy they felt on the down.  I might have been biased as I was thinking about it a lot, but … they felt good.  However, I guess you better wear socks in them, as evidenced by this shot of Dave M at Miwok.  Ouch.

Of course, he won.

Rant for the day:  why do we make a rest room hands free (auto flush of the toilet, soap auto dispensed at the sink, water at sink auto turned on, paper towels auto fed) when I then have to grab the door handle on the way out.

Saturday 032412 SoBo, Bear, Green

Took JV up on his offer for some early morning peaks.  Joining us was 2011 UROY Dave Mackey, 3rd at Chuckanut Jason Schlarb, 3rd at Hardrock Joe Grant, and 10 laps on Green FKTer Homie Prater.

Name dropping?  Yeah, but only to show how I was the anchor for this affair.

Beautiful morning, warmed nicely, great conversation and the trails are in good shape (with perhaps the exception of the section above the SoBo/Bear Saddle heading up to SoBo – that is pretty messy with a mix of ice, and snow that you can drop into hip deep with … plus someone has made a trail that is completely in the wrong direction).

Saw Rob and Laurie Timko at the saddle.  Rob looks skinnier every time I see him.

Pix courtesy of Rob.

 

Jeff showed us a new trail being put in above the current Bear Canyon trail.  It is fair to assume this will replace the trail lower to the canyon at some point.  It is some sweet smooth dirt track.

I managed okay.  I was not as strong on the climbs, but that is to be expected given what I have been doing (or rather not doing).  I rolled my right ankle a touch on the Mesa but nothing horrible.

13 miles, 4185’ of vertical (Towhee, Shadow, SoBo, Bear, GreenBear, Green,  the new trail that is being put in above Bear Canyon, Bear Canyon, Mesa and Bluestem)

Wednesday 011112

The most important news of the day is that ice cream and custard is an performance booster in running.  Just ask the king of the mountain.

Mackey was named UROY.  I remain less than convinced this award is something guys like him explicitly strive for, but heck - what do I know.  Maybe if I were more in that game I would look to pursue it to to drive some level of recognition and hence gain some pull with sponsors.  I guess I am happy if they are happy.

In any case, the two guys of the guys that I thought were in the run for it, Dave (who had the same number of first place votes as Wardian) and Nick (who finished fifth) are damn solid hard working nice guys who I love to share a run or a beer with.  Looking at the names on the list, good to see the old man take it. (but then I look at some of the POTY stuff on that page and just shake my head).

I was pursuing Ultrasignup, looking at some upcoming entry lists, and started peeking at some of this ranking business over there.  Here is how I rank over there …

A few thoughts when I look at this:
1.)  Apparently Pikes was my worst race of the year.
2.)  Apparently the Boulder 100 was my best race of the year.
3.)  I rank at 85% as a runner across my so called ultras (La Luz?!), but would probably rank better if I did not do Pikes (I have several sub 80% performances there).
4.)  Looking at the rankings of folks signed up for the Lake Sonoma 50miler, the top ranked folks are some familiar names:

with guys like Mackey, Koerner, etc ranking well over 90%
5.)  I was curious as to how these numbers stood up to an age grading of my more typical road performances.  Here is some of that:
  
and if I look at that compared to my overall PRs (and I have to guess on age on some of these, so I went a bit younger when I had to choose):

What does this all tell me?  Basically, compared to age graded charts, or competitive position charts, my scatter – at first glance is basically the same.  I ain’t a world beater and  I pretty consistently fall into this 75 to 85 percent ranking.  Occasionally I lay a bigger egg, and sometimes I cherry pick a race that I sneak a win or a better result in. 

To get to some of the shorter race performances I have mulled over as of late, I am going to really need to put it together. 
GOAL:
 
Most likely current (based on a workout I recently did with Bob … I am probably a bit ahead of this, but not a ton).

Alternatively, a 17:37 5k calculates to a 57 Vdot, whereas an 18:30 is a 54 and a 15:55 is a 64.

And none of that REALLY matters, does it?  That said, I’d love to hear other people’s take on these numbers – and their own numbers.  Tomorrow, discussion of my training plan for the year, and some thoughts on coaching.

Food stuff from Tuesday … pretty certain the keilbasa, peppers and onion for dinner shoved me super high on the fats and sodium.  I am not worried about that, or even the overall calorie count at this point.  It has changed my behavior a bit though … when I got home and was making dinner, rather than reach for the corn chips to hold me over, I felt compelled to have some baby carrots.  In other words, knowing that I had to record it, had a similar effect to what this blog had on my early recording of it there – it made me do something I might not otherwise be thoughtful enough to do.