Bear Peak Madness

I decided to plot out what a run from my house to Bear Peak and back would be. I got a bit lazy in getting all curves perfect, just the general route I am currently thinking. I might change up the start a bit (instead going down the south side of Lac Amora rather than through the middle of it - as this would give a cleaner access to Midway versus crossing the railway) and the section near the Greenbelt Plateau (it seems to be going a bit of the opposite direction I want to go at times). I am sort of back and forth as there are two goals here - get to the peak and back in the least amount of miles while staying as much as possible on established trails. I also had to cheat a bit on the end of the map - as I could not "see" the trail in mapmyrun - so I just ran the bugger up the drainage.

In any case, this looks to be at least 38 miles, probably closer to 40. Mapmyrun puts the elevation gain at only 3800, but almost all of that has to come in the last five miles. I was actually kicking around doing this on New Year's Day, but with the weather - I may hold off on it.

Friday 122410

PM – after some AM wrapping and assembly, I got out for some easy miles.  Did a little check in the middle and I was rolling around just under 8 minute pace and about 140-145.  Nice and mellow.  When I got back, KZ talked me into heading to the middle school to do her gym class warm up that they “do everyday.”  I got my butt kicked.

About a half mile warm up (.43). 
Then 25 jumping jacks,
then some stretching (arm cross, leg cross touch toes – both sides, touch toes straight up, Achilles stretch with palms to ground, then groin stretch
10 crunches,
10 1 leg extended sit ups – both sides,
35 push ups where she called out the up down,
the easy jog 80 seconds, then jog 80 seconds, then run 80 seconds, then sprint 80 seconds,
then jumps – all 30 secs each, in place, side to side, forward backward, square clockwise, square counterclockwise, figure 8, then the opposite direction figure 8 and repeat the whole sequence one legged and then the other leg.

The jumps killed me.  And the down and hold it nature of the push ups had quite a few folks laughing as they walked by and she tortured me.  Anyway … I will look to do this again.  I recorded the audio of me wimping out on this so it may make its way into a future podcast.

11 miles on the day.

GOALS 2011:  I want to go from my front door to Bear Peak and back.  Mostly because that is the peak I see as head out my front door.  I think this is going to be about 50kish round trip.

Thursday 122310

More post the Hellybuck doping confession, added fellow FF team mate John T’s blog to the feed collector (by the way, if your blog ain’t over there – or one you think I ought to check out, let me know), eyeballing DD’s goals, and part two of a very interesting Brett Sutton interview.

GOALS 2011:  Tentative race schedule 2011 (highly subject to change)

January:  Lafayette Oatmeal Festival 5k (1/8/2011)
Maybe a snowshoe race in here alternatively?
Pikes Peak Ponderous Posterior 50k (1/15/2011)

February:  USATF XC Nationals (San Diego) (2/5/2011)
Xterra Mission Gorge Trail Run  (San Diego) (2/6/2011)

March – probably will do a door to Bear Peak and back run

April: 

May: Collegiate Peaks 50 mile (5/7/2011)

June:  Golden Gate Dirty Thirty (6/4/2011) (?)
Mount Washington Road Race (?) (6/18/2011)

July:  Vail Hill Climb (7/2/2011) or LT Marathon (7/2/2011) (or half)
Barr Trail Mountain Race (7/17/2011)
World Championships of Burro Racing (7/31/2011)

August:  Pikes Peak Marathon (8/21/2011)

September:  Breck Crest (?)

October:  Boulder 100 (?) (10/15/2011)

November:  Anthem Thanksgiving Day 5k (11/24/2011)

December:  Chubby Cheeks 50k (12/17/2011)

I might fill in a thing here or there, but am much more likely to drop a couple, few of these races.  Mount Washington is dependent on the lottery, but if it does not happen I may take another crack at the Mount Evans Hill Climb.  July looks a little heavy but that is just some of the best racing times.  The 100 in October is a total WAG, but the thought is in my head so I will lightly pencil that in there.  All of course, depends on how I hold up physically, and in the more important aspects of life.  September will probably be a little recovery, and I expect Feb, March, April to be some building block months.  Love to get to the Grand Canyon in there but I am not sure I will be able to swing that.  Spring Break in March will be a recovery week as I will be bouncing between Phoenix for Spring Training with the family and a conference I need to present at for work in Portland.  River trip or some other in there too (early July)?  Remains to be seen.

AM – 11 miles.  Yeah, so this puts me at 4000 miles for the year. 

HIGHLIGHTS 2010:  most miles in a year ever, with it coming in at 4000 on December 23.  A bit of a silly number.  I think Anton may have gotten this number in July?  Maybe August?  But a representation to me that I have put down a bunch of good base.  In some regards I guess it is a fair representation of the 10% rule.  I generally got about 10% more miles than I did last year.  I am pretty certain I won’t look to specifically surpass this number in 2011. 

This AM’s workout included the visit to my local hill for the typical 8 up and 8 down session.  I did this last time a bit faster (18:59), and I could feel it a bit today (19:22).  Yet again, while my performance was slower today, my HR was higher!  All good.  It is December.  I have visions of doing up to 20 of these at some point.

Wednesday 122210

It is December 22.  How’d that happen?

Anyway … dead lifts instruction video, Geoff weighs in on money in ultras, a step towards 470 continuing through to Golden, interview with Grand Master Doug Bell …

CRYSTAL BALL 2011:  who becomes the next name in the sport that we are all a’buzz about?  Actually, I consider this question on a few fronts.  I eyeball the guys who are turning 40 this year … as becoming a Masters runner can be quite a motivation for some to up their game (and possibly become injured).  Lucho becomes a Master, as does Brad P. … but beyond that, I am wondering who in the MUT space shows up and we are surprised by.  I guess we could see the extension of Siemers and Randall, or it could be new names altogether.  I can see a guy like JV really having a bust out year too.

GOALS 2011:  I really need to put a structure to this one and break this goal down a bit but it is about strength training.  I am tempted to say that I’d do something like 36000 pushups in 2011, but that is a goal that sets up for failure.  In regards to strength training, I think I need to take this goal and make it small discernable short term steps.  Like, next week I will do core, squats, etc for 10 minutes every day.  Just little stuff that I can do that I can build a habit around.  I just need to G.A.P and get on it.

I also have some goals in regards to guitar … mostly about expanding my repertoire and using a Kanban board to drive that.  More on that later, but it is mostly about getting down another dozen or so songs next year.  Maybe even writing some.

Found the files I recorded yesterday and so podcast 5 will probably be up tonight.

AM – ten miles really easy.  Really easy.  Dog jog.  Thought about getting it after this AM for a bit but will look for that tomorrow. 3989 miles and over 600 hours now so tomorrow might be 4k day.

I dig the Tony video but I don’t dig how the video file starts everytime the dang web page loads automatically. 

Monday 122010

Tony in a pretty cool vid showing the local stuff.  Thanks for the tip Justin.

Just heard Tool’s version of Led Zep’s “No Quarter” as Lucho hooked me up with some tunes.  Holy crap.

11 miles.  Got out, felt good and so I just went with it, for a nice steady effort in the afternoon.  Bald Eagle was out in the Lac Amora Wilderness … those big cottonwoods down by the bridge down by Stearns Lake.  Turned out to be a good tempo run.  And it clued me into a goal for 2011.

GOALS 2011:  Be consistent.  Yeah, I guess you could say I am consistent with 3900 plus miles on the year but I mean consistent in my workouts.  I want to become more disciplined where I have a few set routes that I go and do every week.  If I feel up for it, I tag those.  If I don’t, I don’t.  But I want to know every step in that route, and how to break it down.  Where to push.  Where to hurt.  Where to hold back.  Ya know?

Considering this program as a skeleton to start to address some leg, core weakness I am facing in the groin, hip areas.  I don’t notice these weakness when I run, but I do in other movements – and want to address that.  More on this later but I need to get to bed to watch the eclipse later.

This biking thing in Vail … got to check around on it, but ack.

Sunday 121910

AM - 15.5 miles easy. TOTALLY a check the box run. Check the box to get an even 70 on the week. Still it was nice to get out for another session in the 2 hour neighborhood. AHR 142, around the Mount Lac Amora Wilderness. About five of the miles were in before the sun cracked the horizon.

Week in review ... 70 miles, 10 hours. 203 miles, 29.25 hours on December. 3958 miles on the year over 598.25 hours. Ought to get the 4k this week, and I guess 600 hours (which I had not really thought about). I guess if I wanted to I could force the issue and go for 4100 for my 41st year but I ain't gonna force it.

In any case, as long as we are keeping score, Kraig gets 100 Green Mtns, even though he has had Lyme Disease for a good part of the year. DD logs his 110,000th mile.

Not a great week for training but not a completely bad one. The travel through me so I only got six days / runs in this week. By getting 70 I sort of mentally felt I salvaged something. I realize that thinking can be a bit detrimental, but I gain some level of confidence out of checking the box. In fact, on many days I feel like that is sort of what I am doing this time of the year: "checking the box." Don't get me wrong: I love getting out for all those regular reasons, but I also feel sometimes I am maintaining a habit. There is good and bad to that I guess.

Also, I am recognizing that I am in a bit of hermit mode. I think about getting up and out to the mountains, or traveling to races ... and while I enjoy being there, I have this question pending in my mind of if I should have wasted the time to get there, or if I really need to fly across the country to run around a field four times. I end up running out my front door and the Broomstock routes the most because it is easiest, least impacting to the rest of my life.

Nick clearly knows how to throw a party.

What Bevan says about sport psychology is amongst the best I have heard.

GOALS 2011: Compete in a true blue ultra. Yeah, I danced with the ultra distance this year ... twice sort of. The Grand Canyon R2R2R and the Burro World Championships. But R2R2R ain't really a race (even though I wore a number) and Burro Championships is a different gig altogether. Currently thinking this will be the CP50. I did the 25 there a few years back, and was pretty glad that I did not have to run back up the hill after the finish. Will need to do that and be glad about it!

JZ has the charge of keeping his classes’ pet over winter break. Pix by him

More the Mickey Dick's suit.

Monday 121310

AM - Pittsburgh or somewhere north of there. Snowing, dark and unfamiliar territory so I opted for the mill in the hotel instead. Felt particularly sluggish to start (first mile was 9:21, second was 8:26) - probably due to the time change and travel yesterday so I was just going go as slow as necessary. I opened up a bit around 2 miles and decided that I'd see what it would take for me to get to a typical MAF (150) HR and then hang out there for a bit. It took just a couple of ticks below 7 min / mile pace (okay a treadmill mind you) to trip over 150, and then I had to back it off slowly from there. Miles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 were 7:04, 7:06, 7:06, 7:11, 7:17. 10 miles total.

GOALS 2011: Trips like these drop me right into the heart of many temptations - lots of rich food on the company, many beers. I need to keep a discipline with that stuff when I am on these trips. Kind of hard to objectify but it basically means - don't embrace the gluttony when it is there. This is sort of a broader goal in my head which really is "don't eat like a kid."

CRYSTAL BALL 2011: So is this the year? Yah, you know what I mean. Is this the year that someone takes him down? Him being the KOM, Matt Carpenter. He has dominated Pikes for so long it is expected that he wins. 17 wins at Pikes Peak. Course records. Wins in singles, doubles, fast ups, fast downs, good weather and bad. He has put such a stamp on the mountain that I don't think folks can even fathom what he has done there.

But, even by his admission, father time catches all of us - is this the year it catches him. Last year he did not win the BTMR. And he did not have the fastest Ascent of the weekend. And he admitted that he had a tough build up in his approach. Is the motivation to compete and take down guys half your age enough to overcome the physiology of aging? Is this the year that a Parker or a Mackey can keep close enough on the up that they can make a race of it on the down?

No doubt about it, I am a fan of Matt's. I hope he grabs another win so I can cut and paste this paragraph into a Crystal Ball for 2012.

Saturday 121110

Little tough to navigate through the results for club nats because of the age sorting they do (masters men), but it looks like Magill took the win, leading his team to that title as well. More on locals competing there here. If you really want to be humbled, check the open results. 196 guys under 32. You will probably never hear of all but 2 or 3 of them.

Free local neat thing to check out with the young ones – a pretty expansive Christmas village over at Arapahoe and 95th.

AM – early. Recorded a podcast while running, but it was mostly me talking in circles about doping in ultras. Scratched it. 6.5 miles easy.

Mid day – got back out, and the winds had picked up. Did a short warm up and got back to the local hill, 8 repeats again, this time in 18:59. WTF? The other day 8 of these shelled me, with the HR reaching 185 over the 8 and it taking me more than 21 minutes. Today was a max of 176 and over two minutes faster. Case for the central governor or what? Still nicely worked after these and rounded it out another 6.5 with the warm down. Not going to sweat the difference here but I will look to continue to do these periodically as they are a nice short challenge, are less than a half mile from my door. I bet if I did them with someone else tomorrow I could make them really hurt and take an other two minutes off the whole set.

Oh yeah, wore my newly arrived Crosslites. The grip on these are sick. They squeal when I walk in our kitchen.

Off to PA next week. Lots of predictions for precip there.

GOALS 2011: I keep at least one full complete honest month of a food log and post it here.

Enjoyed this post.

I need to study up for this test next week.

Thursday 120910

Yesterday’s comments turned towards the possibility of doping and hence the need for drug testing in ultras, and as is typical – the comments are a couple of orders of magnitude better than anything posted here.   My quick on this topic – I am in favor of drug testing in ultras, or any race for that matter, but realize that how practical that is (cost) needs to be weighed given the event.  I certainly think any slighting of Mr. Hares performance at TNF50 because of his brother’s history is complete bullshit.  I have not had to really think much about doping in the events that I run in or the level that I run at.  I may be naive, but I have sort of felt that I have not had to worry about that.

Implicit references to central governor in this post on traditional VO2 tests.

Definitely enjoy Gordo’s posts.

Chrissie W is contemplating the bike LT100.

If I did not already live in one paradise, I’d want to live in this one.

Apparently, to run sub 2:20, Jogging is all you need.  That and a big comedic wig.

Of course, I could just look to be an Ironman.  But apparently that brings quite a bit of baggage.

GOALS 2011:  I see a month in the spring or early summer where I wreck myself with vertical.  My current thinking is that I look to get 20000 feet of vertical a week for a month.  That ends up being about 3000 a day, which for many is not an issue – but it is definitely a shift up to my wheel house of training.  Why do this?  Sort of like a hell week, I want to put in the consistency of up and down to move the training along to help prepare for Pikes, and possibly Mount Washington.  Easy runs, hard runs, repeats, etc.  Simply put, this could be me doing my typical miles, but with this level of vertical in the mix.  Challenges will be (outside of being able to physically manage it), the logistics of getting to places where I do that.  It might mean a good amount of treadmill substitute work.  We’ll see.  I use the term “wreck” loosely … because the intent is to come out of that experience stronger, not injured or overcooked.

PM – windy.  4.5 miles into Louisville to drop off some paperwork.  Easy but a good clip.  Tempo’d back.  Was going to tempo for three but saw that the fourth mile would be uphill so I extended it to include that.  Nothin zippy, probably half marathon effort for those four.  11 miles total.