Points of failure: Food.

On whole I look at my Leadville 100 run as a success.  I got it done, and it even came under 24 hours (not to down play anyone’s performance there but some of my colleagues indicated that the big buckle would need to be “asterisked” if I came between 24 and 25 hours).  Basically I kept moving forward all day, and had no time where I was laying on the side of the trail. 

But I can also see the points of failure.  Or the items that created problems as the race went on.  And as you might expect these are the things that I did not effectively practice in my training.  In short these are:  taking in of calories, running at slower paces, steeling of the quads for the downhills, trail running, and night running.  All of these become more critical in the run later in the run – and when you look at how I split Leadville, you see the last 25 miles took me some seven hours – and how my failures to manage these successfully added up in the last sections.

First … food consumption (other points of failure in other posts).  I did okay on taking in calories throughout the first part of the race, but even there I was struggling to get a lot in.  It was a bit of an act of will to choke back a Cliff Bar or a gel.  These just seemed like cuds of crap in my mouth and I had to use a lot of water or Gatorade to get them down.  And I think my stomach got tired of the sweeter stuff.  In fact, today I saw a gel in the bags still needing to be unpacked and I almost gagged at the thought of it. 

As the day wore on, I was obviously operating more and more in a deficit.  I was getting in some calories with bars, chips, mashed potatoes and shot blocks and it seemed like I was full at the time, but in retrospect it was hardly enough.  Today even a couple of days after the event I am close to 10 pounds lighter than my regular weight. 

I will add in that I was dealing with cramps early in the race – as soon as Outward Bound on the way out.  In light of that, I decided to take ibuprofen there and then took it a couple more times during the race.  It seemed to stave off the cramps, but I am sure it did little to help the nature of my gut.  I think it was a small amount (2 tabs at Treeline, 2 at Twin, 2 more at Outward Bound inbound) but I certainly would not prescribe that to anyone. 

Coming off Hope, I took in some Coke and broth from the Hopeless Aid Station up there.  I think the Coke was actually Coke syrup that they had thinned with water.  I think I got a batch that was a mixed a bit too rich.  About 3/4 of a mile below the station, it all came back up uncontrollably.  Tim G, my pacer at the time, was so cool with this.  “Okay, that is cool man.  Good stuff.  It is out now.”  And we kept moving (yes, an odd point of pride is that I puked in full stride and did not stop).  Don’t ask what a Coke broth combo looks like – you already know.

This is with about 45 miles left to go.

If my stomach had been bad before that, it was pretty much retired for the day at this point.  My crew and pacers would try to get me to take various things later throughout the day and night.  Mashed potatoes, watermelon, shot blocks, turkey wraps … and I choked some of it down, but it was not a lot and it was … difficult.  I realized that I needed to get some of this down of course, but as the evening wore on I got to a point of “eh, whatever, I only have five or so hours left.”  Pic by Brandon Fuller.

Nick P – my final pacer from OB to the finish REALLY tried to get me to eat.  “GEORGE!  You need to eat something.  You are going to be out here for another six hours!”  I think he passed me a turkey wrap that I got a bite out of and then the rest ended up in my pocket (I better go find that before it gets in the laundry).

As I have stated here multiple times, I have not practiced food consumption on my shorter runs.  Frankly I don’t need to take in calories on a three hour easy run (or limited to Gatorade on longer burro runs).  But the lack of this practice showed once I got to the longer distance and time. 

Of course this has an impact on your ability to perform.  No calories, no gas, no go.  Admittedly my stomach issues were not as bad as some.  I saw folks leveled on the side of the trail or road who were unable to move because their guts had gone sour.  Thankfully, I was able to keep some semblance of CFM even with my minor gut woes.

Pic by Brandon Fuller

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.

 

Tuesday 011012

Goofing off a bit more with the guitar and software that hooks up to the Fender GDEC amp I have.  I installed Amplitube, Ableton Live Liteand – the one I like the most is Fender Fuse.  This software is totally bad arse to me … USB connect the amp, and boom!  Control the pedals, the amp settings, the playback and capture sampling … amazing!

Of course, I just make the same noise over and over again … just through hundred of different amp and pedal settings.

Thinking about picking up a digital drum kit this year.  I have no idea how to play drums.  But that is the point … learn!  At least a little, how to drop a back beat.

This video is brilliant.

More super fast flying down Green.

Output of my first day on caloriecount.

Clearly logging this stuff changes my behavior. My head was starting to tune into numbers and how to tune to those. 

I love these reports from Bandera.  Nick:  55 minutes to the finish if I walked every step of upward facing trail and ran the rest, she told me. That's less than an hour. Should I puke this bloat out of my stomach and start afresh or should I stubbornly keep drinking coke and downing salt caps in the vain hope that my stomach might actually absorb something and stop the horrendous leg cramps. I chose the latter. It continued to be a highly ineffective strategy.  Dylan: I’ve been very determined to avoid bitterness when it comes to getting into certain races.  Going into Bandera I was fully resigned to the fact that, if I ever have the opportunity to race Western States, I’ll have to earn the spot myself.  That’s the most honorable way to do it and hopefully someday I’ll earn my shot.

Apparently the highway going past Lucho’s house is on hold again.

Tuesday 012511

JZ working the car

Nominate John "Homie" Prater for this contest.

Food log: AM: 2 eggs over easy (cooked in olive oil), over two pieces of toast w/provolone and pepperoni. Coffee.
Lunch - left over shepherd's pie, salad, some cookies and yogurt

Dinner – chili and cornbread.

Desert with the kiddos – ice cream

I did not do it last year, and it is not on my agenda for this year, but the Bolder Boulder 10k is probably the road race I have done most often since moving to Colorado - and it is clearly the most competitive race in the state (with the exception being if there is something like USATF XC here). The course changes significantly next year, pulling out the first downhill mile.

AM - headed out with the intention to do a tempo run. I had a slight "hot spot" behind my knee, but did not think much of it. At a mile however, it barked (spasmed) and got my attention. I slowed, jogging to see if it would work out. It did not and so I circled back home - very slowly. 3 miles. This may take a day or two to clear.

 

JZ on the five foot uni.

Evening – got 50 minutes on the stat bike at the gym.  After 10 minutes of warming up, I did a 7 x 4 minutes on, 1 minute off.  I suck at these.  My legs give way before my heart does.  Definitely left me wobbling when I got off.   No strain on the knee with this.

Then hit the weights.  When I started lifting weights in the USAF (yes, this is a memory lane stroll), I struggled to get a single rep of 95 lbs up on the bench press.  Over the course of about 6 months I got up to 205 (never got to two plates on a side though – 225, which was a goal for a bit – then I broke my hand).    So failing to do any significant lifting for about 20 years plus, well, I am nearly back to that starting point.  But I was a happy that I got out a few reps of 135 up tonight (no way on this a couple of weeks ago).  In any case, I guess today’s sidelined run got me my hour of alternative exercise.

Monday 012411

10 miles, easy with MK. Always very good for me spiritually to run with MK.

Food log - AM: 2 bowls of Cheerios, PM - banana w/PB, toast w/PB&honey. Dinner - salad, shepherd's pie, couple of Odells.

Exercise more, be happy.

Or just freeze your arse off.

Friday 012111

AM – 12 miles.

Food log -  breakfast – made everyone blueberry pancakes and bacon.  Coffee.
Lunch – OJ, yogurt, and some PB.
Mid afternoon - apple

Probably will miss running tomorrow because I heading camping up outside of Ward with the Scouts.

Justin has posted some good reads on RT.  One is an article he wrote on the Grand Canyon. The other is on how to get sponsorship as a trail runner.

PM – 5 miles, super easy treadmill.  Then 45 minutes with weights.

Are you a GAM? (credits to Zentri)

And just an oldie but a goodie.  Seems to have some modern day parallels.

Thursday 012011

Headed into Boulder this AM to run with Jason and Aaron.  Took me a bit longer than usual as there was a rollover accident on 36.  I got there as the guys were essentially ready to start the workout.  I curtailed any significant warmup (maybe 3/4’s of a mile) and jumped right into it.  Let’s say jumping into 800s like this is a more effective wake up than a cup of coffee.

No need to over analyze these – it was good work; a bit out of my element (read – I struggled over the workout) because of the infrequency of how I do this sort of stuff, but something that will come back with some consistency (although not much over 3 weeks!).  6 x 800, 400 rest (2:38, :2:41, 2:41, 2:44, 2:43, 2:46), then 2 by 400 (81, 78) and then 2 by 200 (35 each).  9 miles.

Good to get out with Jason and Aaron.  Certainly if I were solo – there would have been a lot less to this run.

Food log – AM – coffee, breakfast burrito
Mid day, Ham, red pepper sandwich, cup of fruit salad
Mid afternoon – apple and 2 of the cookies that TZ was baking
Dinner – spag, bread, salad. OJ

Wednesday 011911

AM – dog jog with Lucy, 3 miles.  These runs are really “shake outs” or wake ups for me – particularly when I do them first thing in the morning.  I start really slow, but it initially does not feel easy.  I am not breathing hard – just waking all the parts up.  Over the course of about 10 minutes, or about a mile I wake up and the pace begins to open up a bit … but hardly ever quicker than 8 minutes a mile.  AHR = 133, MHR = 149.

Projected US presence at UTMB is pretty darn good.

Trying to get an FKT listing going for Green routes (Gregory and the front side), also linked to from the reads widget to the right.  Very much a work in progress and data collecting mode, so send me updates, comments, etc.

JZ working car weight a bit last night for the upcoming Pinewood Derby,

PM – holy crow.  Started this run and it was 50 degrees.  Within an hour it dropped 25 degrees and was snowing.  8 miles. Easy with SM and DB at work, but the wind really started blowing at times so we were fighting that a bit.

I was checking this video out at my work today, but I think it has implications for training as well.

Food log – breakfast, eggs, toast, banana w/PB, coffee
Mid day (post run) – yogurt w/w.g.
Dinner – chicken, salad, potatos, bread, OJ, … beer (later)

Tuesday 011811

Registered for XC Nats and the Mission Gorge run today.  I don’t have high expectations for the Mission Gorge race, being the day after XC Nats.  It will be a tall order for me to effectively contribute to that team effort with Ames, Robbins, Johnson, Straka, Hegelbach, Bromberg and Miller lining up (five score).

Video from last week’s BTR talk with Roes, Anton, Jurek and Mackey.
.

Good quick read from Byrn.

I have no true aspirations to do a tri, but I would say that I am a  far observing “fan” of the sport.  In that vein, I have enjoyed several of the recent Macca podcast interviews post his win in Kona.  I have found the way he approached this year’s race in regard as to how to race Crowie to be very interesting.  He knew Crowie is a better runner than him, and so he outwardly approached other racers that were strong on the bike and said - (not an actual quote but in the spirit of what I have heard him say in several interviews) “we need to get away from this guy.  We can’t be coming off the bike with him or he will win.  He is weaker on the bike than us so we need to get away from him or make him hurt on the bike to make it a race.  Are you with me?”  Some saw this approach, and his comments afterwards as arrogant.  Others see it as smart. 

Some good vids interviewing with Macca over here … and a good interview with him here … with lots of comments on his motivation, his next steps in regards to family … I love his transparency.  When you race somebody, like with Andreas, I think I got to know Andreas in Kona, better than many people know him.  Because you suffer next to him, you know … you don’t say a word.  But you feel you learn their character and you learn a lot about the person.  I think that is the bond you have as athletes.  Some will never understand that point.

PM – 10 miles, treadmill.  Did 3 mile warm up (super easy) and then ~25 minutes of tempo (starting at 6:30 pace and building to 5:45).  Was definitely feeling the mill out a bit as I have not done that sort of work at that pace in a bit.  Took a bio break at the end of this and then warmed down, with 7 x 30 second strides in there.

Food log – AM – bagel, cream cheese, and some cookies.
As a side note, I probably had too many Odell’s last night.
Dinner – salad, bread

The Lance story is flaring up again.  I certainly have no idea if he took PED’s or not, but the story is interesting.  Either this guy is incredibly hated because of his success, or he has pulled off an incredible deception and … maybe because of the good he has done, there is some thought we ought to look in a different direction.  Ah, sports … the original reality TV.

Monday 011711

AM – dog jog, easy 10 miles.  AHR – 139.  Then 3 miles with TZ.

Food log AM – coffee
Mid AM – some yogurt, cold pizza, couple of eggs w/peps, onions and some sweet potato hash browns.  OJ.
Dinner – couple of Odells, salad, homemade bread and home made stuffed shells

Story has been told a bunch of times before, but I never saw this co-interview with these guys.  Pretty cool.  You can feel the respect these guys have for each other, but you can also sense they ain’t sharing beers together post this interview.

I am still musing on this … but UROY and performance (male) are up.

Sunday 011611

Mid day, 9 miles with some 15 second strides at the end to get some turn over.  Otherwise easy.  Legs felt pretty good.  Ran over to meet the family at the rec center.  Got in some gym work when I got there. 

Week in review – decent week … got in a good long run with climbing (Saturday’s PPFA), a moderate tempo session in the stinging cold on Tuesday, and a turn over session on Thursday.   By passed the Fast and Flurryous 4 miler, a local race that a lot of my team mates from Fleet Feet did.   I see at least three things I need to work on … running with people, getting in speed work (at least through SD XC), and mental focus (that entire I want it all but can’t get it thing)… anyway  …

Week = 91 miles, 13.5 hours, 5k ascending feet
Month and Year = 188 miles, 29.5 hours, 12509 ascending feet
Green Summits = 0 this week, 3 on the year

Was going to end up botching my goal of alternative exercise of an hour except I saved myself on Sunday by getting to the gym.  Food log … definitely observed that the diet was a bit crappy this week.  Not nearly enough fruits or veggies, and that I tend to eat a lot in the evenings.  As I am slow to learn I should be able to do something about this by June.  Anyway, I got in some

Food log – AM, bagel, egg over easy, bacon and sweet potatoes hash browns.  Coffee.
Mid day … a couple of Green Monsters (2 and 3 on the year)

Dinner – home made pizza.  And an Odell’s IPA.

Really – these are awesome photos.

Just train.

My practice area … Kanban board in works.

Added “Another Song About the Rain” to the list of things to learn.   P.S. – new SP song.

Some pix from yesterday … JT’s favorite food is balls.

Bloggers in the kitchen, with JT trying to get into SJS

Can you identify these legs?

FA trophies

Sean leading us through some beautiful country

Really – these are awesome photos.

Just train.

Thursday 011311

I had thoughts that I would join Jason and Aaron this AM, but TZ had to head out to Denver early for a conference.  I skipped the AM track session to get the kids out the door.  In an attempt to do some emulation of what had been on the docket (8 x 600, 4 x 200), and to accommodate my work schedule, I used mapmyrun to get figure out a 600 meter stretch of road nearby. 

After a short warmup I got to work.  2:00d, 1:33r, 2:14u, 1:26r, 2:04d, 1:23r, 2:15u, 1:23r 2:04d, 1:20r, 2:13u; 1:26r, 2:05d, 1:29r, 2:13u.  “d” is for down (slightly downhill, slightly downwind), “u” is for up (which felt harder too), and r is for recovery (easy jogging).  Got out too fast in this workout and paid for I but that is part of the learning with these workouts for me.  Also was feeling the lack of familiarity with this sort of stuff, as expected.  Concluded with 4 x “200” which I just made 4 by 45 seconds to be sure.  7 miles. I really would have benefitted from the track and running with other people in terms of consistency of effort, pace, but I made what I could of this, and definitely got something out of this.  It was nicer out today – with temps creeping into the 50s.

Food log – AM – bagel w/butter, yogurt, coffee, banana
Mid day – a few handfuls of gorp, yogurt
Dinner – spag, meatballs, sauce, cheese, OJ, garlic bread

Registered for the Golden Gate Dirty 30.

Couple of articles I am mucking through … diet, strength training, winter training.

Got the Garmin back today.  That is pretty good turn around.  Even though it was out of warranty, I got a completely refurbished one for 79 bucks under a week turn around.  This is, I think actually my third Garmin in three years …

You WANT TO SEE THIS SHOW.

PM – 5 miles on the mill. 

Wednesday 011211

Food log – AM: pancakes, egg ham burrito, and of course coffee
Dinner - I got home post some dental work (silver replacement into a crown) and really wanted some vitamin I. So I needed something to bury that. 2 yogurts. Banana. Into dinner: chicken (breaded), salad, OJ, apple sauce and a couple of JZ's cheese sticks.

I have not been super meticulous on this food log in terms of how much I am eating - more of just what I am eating. I can see that I tend to not eat enough veggies, and I eat a LOT at night. Particularly the stuff the kids don't finish. Probably not a big deal here in the "off season" and with my weight stable - but I am about 5-7 lbs over the summer weight.

I am probably late to the game on this intermittent fasting thing but it is a bit interesting. I do grin a bit at how things like this (take barefoot running as another example) seem to transform from a “hmm, that may have some benefit” to complete lifestyle movements where you are in or not. From this article, “Another caveman trick involves donating blood frequently. The idea is that various hardships might have occasionally left ancient humans a pint short.” Yes, I get that there are a whole set of benefits to donating blood, but I chuckle a bit at the idea that because the caveman did it, it was a superior life style. Also: “They regularly grumble about vegans, whom they regard as a misguided, rival tribe.” And “Cavemen don’t eat nightshades,” Mr. Averbukh, 29, said. He explained that tomatoes are part of the nightshade family, arguing that they are native to the New World and could not have been part of humanity’s earliest diet.

Treadmill, 12 miles easy.

Gonna skip the big talk tomorrow night. Love Sherpa’s and would like to support the guys, but my sense is it will be plenty crowded.

Wednesday 011111

I am bit tired of binary number looking dates.  Anyways – I decided to skip this morning’s session at Green.  I figured while romping up Green in the snow and cold (and it was pretty damn cold) would be fun, it was not going to be time well spent in preparation for next month’s jaunt in San Diego.  Footfeathers put up an option to get together for a run, and I bit.  Given everything is currently socked in snow, we elected for the Boulder Creek Path – a place that is probably plowed before most streets in Boulder.  We started out by the golf course, headed west (slightly up), notching the pace up a bit for some steady work (but a bit varied as there were several slick spots, even on the plowed path), never going over the top.  Up to Eben Fine and then we turned around an easy jog back.  Pretty dang cold even in the heart of the day:  I saw ten degrees when we started.  Great to get out with Tim and shoot the breeze (even if it hurt our faces).

Food log:
AM – coffee, breakfast burrito (I made them for everyone)
AM – hot choc at work
PM – OJ, Meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, bread

JZ working the axles for his pinewood derby car.

Monday 011011

This is a great read.

Good post from Liz H on her Bandera win.  Mackey’s write up.  Geoff’s DNF.

Food log – AM, coffee, breakfast burrito, bagel w/cc.
Afternoon – apple, banana and some OJ
Dinner – sausage, peppers, onions and corn bread
Some mint choc ice cream

PM – mill, 12 miles, 1.5 percent – started super easy (9 min/mile plus), and built to steady but never challenging.  88 minutes.  I was expecting to join Schlarb for his weekly jaunt up Green tomorrow, but I am currently thinking that I need to get some turn over between now and February (XC).  Plenty of time for Green February on.

Got in some 20 minutes of some weights, planks, ab work before the run.  Not surprised – but I am a bit sore from the Sunday session at the gym.  This is good.  Worked shoulders with the weights today (I did not do that Sunday).  I am huge.  Nan posted this drill work yesterday.  Just watching this makes me dizzy.

Sunday 010911

Mackey takes the win at Bandera with a new course record.  According to comments at Geoff’s blog, he dropped near halfway – ill.  Bummer for Geoff and I hope he recovers soon.  Mackey earns a spot to WS here … hmm, will last year’s pacer to the winner take another shot at the 100 there?

Liz Howard takes it on the women’s side, also a CR.

I was trolling for the Bandera results and I found this little blurb instead (as the race is a USATF championship race).
Championship Restrictions...
1) No Pacers
2) No Ipods
3) No GPS
4) No Heart Rate Monitors

Interesting.  In any case, I do find myself a bit irked that results for this event, a USATF event, are yet to be posted.

P.F. is barking a bit this AM given the work on it yesterday.

New inch of snow here this AM.

Some good notes from Hocking that he picked up listening to a talk by Vigil.

Been kicking around doing a 100 miler this fall.  My first.  No expectations in this, and would hope to finish.  I tentatively scheduled in the Boulder 100 and have received a lot of scrunched questioning faces about that.  “Why in the name of Buddha would you want to do that?”  And I don’t mean from the folks who wonder why someone does a 100 miles.  This question is from seasoned 100 miler folks who think doing the 7.14 mile loop course would just suck.  My “rationale” on this is that it gives me a course that is close to home (easier to get pacers), aid every hour(ish), a bit more of a window of time post Pikes, and pretty much a guarantee that I will not get lost.   In any case, my largest concerns with the hundred are getting to the line, and holding up structurally throughout.  For years, I thought a hundred was outside what I’d be able to do – simply because I would break down structurally over the course of the run (my structure ain’t always the best with this hang nine thing I got going on).  I still have those concerns but not as much obviously or I’d not be considering this.

More rambling … it seems to me that something I ought to be doing to address yesterday’s performance (or this general decline in performance) that may not be as obvious (the obvious is to do work that specifically addresses that sort of race distance) is to run with people.   I was thinking a bit as I was heading off to sleep last night about what factors were in play when I was running my fastest 5ks and 10ks.  Some of the things that you’d expect were there:  a fair base (but hardly what it is now), an out and back tempo run, interval work at pace or faster than pace (something I am not doing now).  But I was also much more aggressive in running with people.  And that set up for all sorts of other stuff:  interval work was more likely to be done.  Paces were likely to be pushed to be a bit quicker.  I am more likely now to just go out my door and bang out a 10-12 miler on my own rather than pay the tax of getting somewhere to run with people.  Because, yes, that is a tax:  getting there, coordinating it, etc.  More time – and often time I rather be doing something else.  Back to ought to do versus want to do.

Week in review:  I got in an hour plus of alternative exercise, and I hope to continue to get that in with getting to the gym.  Right now I am just trying to establish the habits to support that, and then will later look to tweak it for specific goals.  Yesterday I was wandering a bit through the weights and machines, recalling some of the stuff I did back in the service.  So – it is good to get back to that (we will see how sore I am tomorrow though).  In terms of the food log, I got that all days but one.  I can see that I tend to eat more than I probably need to (seconds, snitching snacks), and don’t stay on the hydration as well as I need to.  I am thinking I will continue to keep the food log for the rest of the month to continue to dial in awareness.  I thought I could begin to see how I felt based on things I ate – a bit more consciously than I have in the past because of the log. 

(will update this post the Sunday run but these are the stats through Sat)
Week = 76 miles, 12 hours, 2.6k ascending feet
Month and Year = 97 miles, 16.5 hours, 7470 ascending feet
Green Summits = 1 this week, 3 on the year

Week was not great as I felt I was getting my routine back in getting to work, the kids back to school, etc – but managed the basic discipline of getting out there.  Playing with the Training Peaks software, but also keeping the stats sheet.  The race was a good wake up call, and getting out for a session on Green with others was good.  I will look to try to keep that up and join them on the track periodically as well.  Need to be careful with the p.f. in the next week.

AM – four mile dog jog, easy easy with TZ.  Snowing at a decent clip.  PM – 8 miles easy easy on the mill.

Food log
AM – coffee
Brunch - decent sized breakfast, 3 eggs over easy, with peps, onions, canadian bacon, everything bagel and some toast.
PM – dinner:  couple of brews, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce. 

I missed the RCPM show last Thursday at the Soiled Dove – but no worries:  it is ready for download.

Saturday 010811 Quaker Oats Quicker Quaker Oatmeal Festival 5k

PW.

18:11.  30th overall, 24th male and 3rd master.

Yeah, personal worst.  It was a couple of hours after the race before it hit me, but I am pretty sure that is true.  I guess, yes, a PW is a little harder to classify then a PR – but I am fairly certain this is my slowest 5k in a road race (not counting long course, or XC, etc).

And I am not particularly surprised.  Disappointed a bit, but perhaps as equally motivated given that.  Even though I stated I was going to do 5k, 10kish training in a build up for USATF XC next month, I really did nothing of that sort after the Thanksgiving Day race.  Lots of reasons for that … or *ahem* … we can call them excuses.  Too cold.  Holidays.  Business travel.  Time off with the family.  Up skiing.  And chasing that silly 4100 number at the age of 41. 

So I got what I trained for, and got what I came for:  a good ole fashion arse kicking, and a good amount of time shared with the church of racers (which is very good for the soul for me and regrounding me).

Warmed up with Nick, Ryan, noticing the pretty damn loaded field for a local 5k in January (at least for Colorado standards).  Saw fellow FF team member Johnny T, and Bill F who was jogging it with his kid.  The rarely sighted Bob S was jogging with Jenni K.  Aaron and Nan Kennard were floating about.  Joe Grant was taking pictures.  And some US record holder was doing strides.  J.P. was on the side lines watching.   I could go on.  Just look at the results.  It was wonderful.  A regular reunion of folks wanting to suffer,

Yeah, I need to do this more often.

Oh yeah, the race … I got out too fast.  No GPS to provide me feedback as to how stupid I was running, and probably more importantly – I tend to do this when I have not done the race specific work.  That sort of work dials me in, and when I don’t do it … I tend to get out quicker than I can sustain.  I don’t have any splits, but I knew by about a kilo that I was over my head.  Mind you, that pace should not be over my head – but it was today.

Ran close to Bob for about a kilo but then he began to pull away.  Got caught by Aaron at 3k coming out of the lake.  Got caught by Ryan with about a kilo to go.  Traded places a few times with Josh Melver (who runs the Redline Racing gig that puts on the racing circuit) but he pulled away from me in the last quarter mile.  I felt throughout the race like I went out too fast, but I really could not get into the hurt as much as I would like.  Just sort of in a grind …

I do think this course is slower than the T-day course, as there I finished 3 secs ahead of Lori Walker (17:37, 17:40).  She finished behind me here as well – so we were both slower.  Same thing with Kyle Hubbart.  Or I might just be trying to reconcile there a bit.

Had a great warm down with the ultra crew, just loving the conversation, the spirit.  But I felt sort of stupid when Scott asked me if I did ultras.  “Umm, well I did a 29 mile race with a burro.”  14 miles on the day.

Anyway – there is a bit of a sting to this today, but I ain’t gonna dwell too much on that here (there will be other miles for that).  Today was a good day for the spirit.

Food log
AM – bannana, coffee
Post race – gatorade, orange,
Lunch - fruit salad with yogurt, OJ
Dinner – piece of KZ’s b-day cake, BIG salad, bread toasted w/ butter
Evening – decaf tea

Alternative exercise – did about 45 minutes of weights at the rec center in the evening.  Probably the most weights I have done in 20 years (since the service).  Let’s say I ain’t bench pressing what I was back then and leave it at that.  And the weighted leg presses on the day of a 5k are just beautiful.  I expect this to all hurt quite a bit tomorrow.

Friday 010711

Hmmm … so yesterday life bumped into me.  Work, other commitments.  Now what I wanted to do yesterday was oh, say 10-13 miles with a few strides tossed in.  But just didn’t happen.  And in fact, I went slow and easy and short yesterday.  So today I feel GREAT.  I want to rip my legs off. But tomorrow I have a race.  5k in Lafayette.  I will get my legs ripped off there.  In fact, I should note right now that I should not be particularly surprised or disappointed at a result that is slower than what I did on Thanksgiving – as I have not done any work to particularly hone a quicker 5k.  But I am sure those feelings will bubble up, especially since I am going to have to hear it given to me in a cockney accent.

So days like these force me to very much consider what I WANT to do versus what I OUGHT to do.  See, today, I ought to pretty much take it easy.  In fact, anything I do today is probably going to be impactful to what I do tomorrow.  In fact, I want to go run up Green Mountain today in hopes that I can ambush J.P. as he has thoughts he is a total bad arse up there now (but I don’t need to do that – I am sure Tony’s log will put him in his place later this weekend).

So I OUGHT TO take it easy today.  I WANT TO do something else.  Single case, but it is a something that I think a lot of face in our training all the time on various scales.  If this were the week before Pikes, my OUGHT TO and WANT TO would be very much aligned.  This is a 5k in January and those needles don’t point as much in the same direction.

I see this a lot in folks training … a contrast in what they want to do – which is an important thing because you do need to want to do it, enjoy it, etc – otherwise you ain’t gonna do it, versus what they ought to do – which is all about the most effective way to spend your training dollar that moment.

I can see this transition to work has thrown me off a bit this week in terms of training, diet and my alternative exercise.  But at least I can see it.  That and I sent my Garmin in … so no HR monitor.  I have noticed that not having it throws me off a bit too.  It is probably good then that I don’t have it for a bit.  In the interim, for my entries into my log in Sportracks, I am taking a guess at HR based off of effort … I feel okay with that given I have over a year of HR data, feel, etc.

Probably 12 easy later today then.  Post script – 11 miles easy on my longer tempo route in the Lac Amora Wilderness.

Anyway … I really can’t bitch about the cold after reading this.  Also, Bandera tomorrow (thanks JT.)

Food log
AM – coffee, raisin bagel toasted with butter, over easy egg
(yesterday’s food log … yeah, so keeping a log certainly makes you much more conscious of what it is that you put in your pie hole.  But yesterday I lost that given the bluroftheday.  But even seeing that was insightful).
Mid afternoon – cracker and cheese with KZ, a granola bar
Dinner – pizza (homemade) and OJ

Wednesday 010511

Food log
AM – coffee, half a bowl of Cheerios (JZ left overs)
Ham, egg, cheese, mushrooms on a flatbread.
Mid day – coffee.  A little later an apple.
Dinner – 2 bowls of corn chowder (home made!), bread toasted w/ butter (home made bread!) and a bottle of EPO IPA (HOMEMADE!).  Then a yogurt a little later.

Drinking and exercise.  Hmm.

Mock’s centerfold.

Garmin contacted me back on the watch.  Everything they had me try does not work.  Next step, return it and get a refurbished one for 79 bucks.

My company is offerring a point reward system (more points means – I think more chances to win various prizes like movie tickets, etc) for performing various exercise activities.  They actually will give a free pedometer to track progress and earn points.  There is a part of me that is tempted to send my sporttracks log file from 2010 (it is 20MB large) to see if I can just win the whole dang thing by upping my points and hence number of chances.  But that might be a bit overly competitive.

11 miles on the treadmill.  Easy.  Even though I run the mill at 1.5%, I don’t count that for vertical.  Not sure that is a good or smart rule.  Just is.

No alternative exercise yesterday or today.  Getting behind on that … work transition.

Tuesday 010411

AM – 6.5 miles, Green Mountain, 2400 vertical.  Met up with Jason and Levi at 6:30.  Gregory, Ranger – 6:22 over to the Gregory trailhead from Chautauqua, 47:12 on the up via Gregory, Ranger, 28 and change coming down (all the way back to Chaut via the road).  Met Homie on the top and had a nice chat with him on the way down.  Not an all out effort from me, but I was working.  Had a love letter on my car from J.P. when I got back.

Food log – AM – Coffee, breakfast burrito from office cafe.
Lunch – tuna sandwich on flatbread, with lettuce tomato.  Fruit salad on side.  Two lemonades injected with tea.
Dinner – OJ, yogurt and quiche.  Ate too much at dinner.  It was good and I was ready to eat the door off the fridge when I got home.  Had I not gone back for thirds on the quiche it probably would have sat better.

Great site for Pikes photos.

Not gonna be able to make the Hickman Dalton gang show at the Soiled Dove on Thursday night as I have a BOSTAC meeting (and if I skipped that, I’d have a Scout parent meeting to attend).  I caught these guys last year at Road 36, great show.

It felt good to be back to work today.

In reading, “Come Run With Me” by Peter Strudwick (about halfway through), I’d say that 1.)  you’d almost never know this guy does not have hands or feet, 2.) that this was written nearly 40 years ago.  This reads like a blog of some guy I’d run with every day.

PM – 6.5 on the mill, with 4 x 1/2 mile at 10.9 mph (5:30 pace) with about 2 minutes rest (at 6.1).  1.5 percent grade, and about 15 seconds to ramp the mill speed up.