Well, the two largest and most poorly timed interruptions to PPM and PB training are over. I am not going to sweat what they did or did not do to training. These were both life time trips. The first being a trip to the Bahamas to sail on a boat with my son for a week, and the second was a cruise boat celebration in the Baltic Ocean of my in laws 50th anniversary. These trips created some absolutely incredible memories. Apparently it also meant I got pretty relaxed.
Visiting Europe: again hard not to imagine how different my life would be had I been born in a different place like a fishing village in the north Baltic. Or a different time. It is hard to dodge the weight of history there. Checkpoint Charlie, the spot where people would go through the Wall from West to East Germany, is now a spurring spot of capitalism with a McDonalds feet away from where you can get your tourist picture snapped at a replica of the gate with enterprising young men dressed in military garb. Or the opulent castles that remain from the Romanov’s reign in Saint Petersburg. It is a big place, but at the same time I realize that the large Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America has made it a very protected place.
I dropped alcohol on this trip. Despite being surrounded by incredible buffets for the cruise, this was a pretty easy decision to live with. I can feel how brew and the like slightly interfere with my function, so I expect to probably steer clear of it for the remainder of the summer now that I have a small habit rolling.
I kept up with a little mail and posts but there were something like 1500 posts waiting in my mailbox when I got back on line f’real. I deleted almost all of them taking a brief look at a few (Scott Jurek getting fined for alcohol consumption in Baxter State Park, Hardrock results and follow up race reports, wondering why a 3 second improvement in the 1500 to set an AR does not immediately get attention as a PED related performance, ridiculous power profiles on the TdF, various MUT results) but I found myself generally disinterested. I think the biggest news that interested me was the BSA looking to drop the outright ban on LGBT leadership and leave the decision to charting organizations.
I had designs on going long today but I got wind of a burro race when I got home last night. And so this AM, we hauled up to Idaho Springs for that.
I had really low expectations for this race: I was just getting back from sea level, I had just come off international travel the night before, I had never run this course, and it was really short (5 miles) compared to the stuff that Jack and I have had some success on – the long stuff. I figured it would give me the opportunity to get some work in with Jack before the bigger show next week.
The race got out fast. Justin Mock and Yukon Jack made no bones of throwing down a hard early pace. Justin will tell he has to do that to get Yukon out in front so that he has some semblance of control over the high energy donk. I looked to jump on for as long as I could but realized quickly that a sub five pace at Idaho Springs was going to be a big time problem for this guy who had just spent a dozen days at sea level.
The pace mellowed as we climbed up the Oh My God road out of the Springs, and with the occasional pause from some of the other donkeys, I was soon in a stretched out pack of anywhere from 2nd to 8th place. As we made the turn onto Virginia Road to come down (about 2 miles in), I was in second only a handful of seconds behind Justin. He turned the burners back on and again we were moving at sub five pace. The down made this a bit more acceptable. I was really happy how Jack was sticking in the game and not just letting the pair ahead of us go. At this point while I think Justin outright could run away from me, I was okay being 5 meters back. I did not think I could get Jack or myself to run away from Justin and Yukon and so staying in the hunt while working an unspoken but understood strategy to get away from everyone else made sense.
We made the turn off the road into the track and the climb was then silly steep so we went to a walk. I had earlier guessed we had about 15 seconds on the pack of what I thought was four behind us but it appeared now to be about 30, maybe 40 seconds as we had put in a sub six mile going into this climb.
My stomach was suddenly really unhappy with airplane food and I thought if we got a hard stop error I would pit stop it but we never did that. We found the turn to the real bushwhacking after a small miss on it and tried to move quickly and quietly down the gulley – looking to gain whatever advantage we could over a pack not too far behind us. I caught a glimpse of them as we started down and again I think the gap was about 30 seconds – or tight enough that any error would have them right back with us.
We moved well down over the down trees, under them, in the creek bed – and I think this movement gave us ultimately a four or five minute lead over that pack. I was leading slightly in the gulley but only because there was nowhere Justin and Yukon could really pass.
Once we hit the road we opened the pace again and Justin got a slight lead that I let go. That was a mistake on my part because I would never get the lead again over him. For the first time I tried to drive Jack a little to get him to go around Yukon and he was ready to respond (Jack was awesome all day) but Yukon would have none of it and would (and it is fair) box him off the course as we came up. Justin and Yukon got the win by a second.
I had to find a can immediately afterwards because all the contents of my stomach had been joggled so hard on the up and the down of this one, that they were determined to make their way out.
I was really happy with how well Jack ran. Confident, responsive and more than a basic trot. If I could run him like that at Fairplay, we’d break 5 hours on that course – which is about a half an hour faster than we have ever done.
Evening – a casual run up Green. 6.5 miles.
Week was 60 miles and 9 hours with 6320 of vert. July is at 172.9 miles, 24735 feet and 28.70 hours. On the year I am at 2131.7 mules, 304.05 hours and 148600 feet of vertical.
AM – did an early start with Jeff out of Chaut to beat the heat. Five minutes (ish) in I took a digger coming down into the creek crossing at the Gregory lot. The hands which usually take the brunt of the beat got missed entirely but I hit the right thigh pretty hard. I guess that is a way to pound up the quads.
Great conversation (as always) on the mellow trip up Green with Jeff. We went up the back route. At the top, Jeff and I split paths. I headed down Bear Canyon to the Mesa, then back up Shadow (I re-watered up at the creek there). The upper parts of Shadow that were plagued by the wild fire a few years ago are now blessed with wild flowers. It is gorgeous.
I then headed over to Bear, back down the Bear Green connector, back to Bear Canyon (rewatering up at the top), and back on the Mesa. 18.5 miles with about 6k of vertical.
I love this view on the Mesa.
I felt good on whole. The banged up thigh barked a bit no biggie.
Endurance Planet stuff: I have listened to ATC from the first episode. And I find the initial banter back and forth between Tawnee and Lucho to be the best part. Almost all the questions seem to have been asked before (although this week there was some new wrinkles) and I find hearing what is going on in their life to be the best stuff. I also listened to the recent cast that included Hal Walter, Phil Maffetone, and Chris McDougall. I enjoy this stuff, particularly since it includes stuff on burro racing, but I will openly declare I have trouble with some of the messages delivered with it. McDougall in particular seems to me to make absolute comments that have threads of truth – but are not absolutely true. That sort of stuff rankles me but I have come realize that might simply be part of his marketing (a concept he also makes absolute comments on).
Last week was 48.1 miles, 6230 feet and about 7.5 hours. This past week was 23.8, 5815 feet (yes all but 25 of it came from the run today, as I ran twice this past week and 5 hours.
Mebulous week continues. I find Mario’s post to be spot on.
SOS does a nice wrap up of the spring marathon season. Earlier in the week SOS agreed that the pack made the “biggest mistake of their lives” letting Meb go. They essentially gave him a 81 second lead for a 12k race.
I have been kicking back at Jeff all year on his offers to hit up Green. Part of it is I have not had the appetite to circle into Boulder, deal with the snow, and frankly, I have been more interested in just getting out and rolling a bit near home. That strategy however ain’t going to cut it if I intend to manage Pikes at some level of self respectability. Yeah, it is time to start getting some vertical in, if I want to have a shot at performing better than last year. So I hit up Green this AM with Jeff and Brandon. My legs were shot more than I care to admit from yesterday’s effort. Brandon was a bit worked as well so we kept it really easy and slow all the way around. We were probably driving Jeff a bit batty as he could have napped for a portion of it and still been faster than us on the trip. Great to get out with these guys on a beautiful spring morning on the local hill. 10.2. My first Green of the year …!
Hit the OSTAC meeting last night - it was my first as a citizen versus a committee member. The Broomfield Trail looks to route a section on the north side of the water treatment reservoir. It might have been the biggest turn out by the citizenship that I have seen at an OSTAC, even bigger than when there were coyote bite issues. The folks that own the dozen or so homes are none too stoked about the project and turned out in force to squash this routing, propose alternative routing. They like to see the path routed around the southern side of the res (away from their homes), but that does not seem to jive with some apparent security concerns of it crossing between the res and the water treatment plant. I am not really sure what those regulations are. While some of these citizens had concerns with some merit, the overall tone of their concerns came across as ridiculous: the routing of a trail behind their homes meant an increase in crime, illegal swimming in the reservoir, and a security risk to Broomfield’s water supply. They tried to play the upside as well to the south side routing: it is nicer over there, you won’t have to hear my dogs bark. A lot of NIMBY. I can’t say what the regs are for the trail being routed near public water sources and works, and I don’t have a good read on the cost of one route option over the other, but I was disappointed that the folks effectively stalled the completion of the trail in this area for probably a couple of years.
Well, the times have changed. I have run Boston … twice. Both times as a bandit. No number. In college so over 2 decades ago now. I recall nearing the line without a number and looking to pull off to the side, but the volunteers told me to go through. I have a different perspective on that now than I did then, and that race has certainly changed. The latest bandit story at Boston has created quite a fervor.
Bart does not like thunder.
More flippin problems with the Garmin ANT stick. Now the Garmin software does not even detect the thing is installed. And for whatever reason, it stopped appearing the OS’ device manager. Got a call into Garmin support and they are sending me a new stick.
=====
Good reading. Kierans report on crewing for Aish. All about Aish but other good gems in there like“Ten minutes later, Clark came through. Everyone knows he's a tough mother, but man, he looked like shit.”
Chatter on Leadville race management and organization is still pretty high, with several folks swinging back that issue is more about the runners than the management/organization (runners create the litter, runners create the crew problem, runners create the aid station problem by being underprepared). Interesting stuff.
The Leadville growing pains conversation is not new really – this sort of thing happens everywhere. We all like it small and intimate. Except big and cookie cutter makes money. Maybe the internet swell will cause a change, but I am a bit cynical that it would. I hear alot of the traffic about it because I am close to it, so I suspect that the outcry is really from a small percentage of participants.
I am not of the camp that a race making money is a bad thing (yes, I support that sort of capitalism). I just don’t expect Leadville to change unless they have big business drivers to make them change. In other words if people flocked away from the race (they won’t) or if the town or law made them change (possible). Maybe they will though … course change, lottery, cap entrants (and probably raise prices along with it), cap crew access … all possible … we’ll see.
I love the blunt talk that is occurring in the blogosphere though – some straight shooting from Rod, Wyatt, Nick (godamn, as a fan of the sport, I so want to see him win the Grand Slam or make Sharman bleed to take it … watch Nick cross the line and then count the minutes before Sharman crosses … 70 to go, 69 to go, will it be enough?), Elevation Trail, and Pittbrownie. Seems that part of the course of these sort of discourse is that somebody’s feelings get hurt …why do we do that? Why when folks are really for a common cause (in this case improvement of the race) do they crap on each other. Meh.
All of it makes me understand a bit why races that have a permit cap (Hardrock) or won’t allow races at all (Boulder or National Parks) are not really interested in going to that. Can you imagine if there was a Rim to Rim to Rim race now like there was in the 70s? What a crap storm that would be.
====
In 2007 I started browsing athlete blogs more … Lucho, Chuckie V, Pittbrownie. Before that, I had perused tech blogs, and even had one of my own at work. Then I started keeping my own as a training record. Now it seems at least 1/2 the folks I know who run have a blog or at least tried it.
One guy who was part of that early circle of blogs and still is and that I have traded notes with over the years is James Walsh. His story is one I have watched (stalked?) for close to six years. Like my own favorite reality TV show, seeing James’s ups, downs, good races, bad races, experiments with diet and mileage, biking, running and triathlon, and brew choices – it became a story that I was interested in, and invested in. The guy embodied working hard, but having fun while doing it.
But until this AM, we had never met face to face. Time to fix that. JW was out here for a few days from zero feet sea level (SD), pacing Maggie Nelsen at Leadville (where she finished 10th in her debut – watch out for her in the future). They had a small window this morning to get a run in and we agreed to meet up for the Boulder classic – Green Mountain.
Without missing a beat, we fell into the conversation like we had been running together every week. Chatter about Leadville, Pikes, plans, dreams, injuries … we headed up the back route and then came down the front.
In addition to having the benefit of getting to know the guy a bit, put a name to a face, JW was a bit too heavily stocked on brew before he hit the plane out of town. I was willing to help him out (and owe him a couple next time he heads back into town).
Awesome way to start the AM: Meeting a good guy, getting up Green, and brews in the mix. Hard to beat. Green 47.
====
Latest ATU.
AM – up early with JV and Bob. Easy up Gregory,Ranger, not feeling great. There was probably an unspoken group consensus as such as we all went to a walk early. Got to the “four way” and got to work – spreading out our efforts due to the single track nature of the trail. 3:19, 3:32, 3:28, 3:31, 3:33. Ugh. Definitely was feeling the upper pitches today – not any sort of bounce on the bigger step up climbs. A far cry from the sub 3s I was posting the last time I did this (SIX YEARS AGO). Over the course we spread, with JV taking the lead, Bob in the middle and me bringing up the rear.
HR was above 170 on the climbs, so I guess that was decent.
Guess this why I do this. To get better at it.
Tagged the summit (Green 37) after the fifth and we then came down Bear Canyon. Bob kept that portion honest for a bit. 11.3 miles on the day.
Number 28. Up the back pretty casually. I might be getting too casual with this, often just taking it easy on the hills versus getting after it. I go back and forth between thinking that and that I have plenty of time to dig into some efforts.
Met Tony on the top and B.S.’d with him for a bit. Always good to see Tony – he is always smiling, interested and interesting. Came down the Front (as he did as well, but I quickly bid him farewell as we started because I knew there would be no keeping up by me on the upper stretches with snow – I am just a sloth on that stuff). At the last second I decided to switch the front down to come down Saddle Rock (which then connects right at the base of Gregory). I have not been on that trail in years … and frankly I am not sure why. Took a fair spill up high on the way down on the ice. No biggie but some good cuts and a nice bruise on the left leg. 6.2 miles.
Anyway, today put me through 100k vertical feet on the year. No biggie again compared to many, but certainly more vertical than I have typically accumulated at this point in the year.
PM - Got out with Laubster at work. Dude is and always has been a greyhound so he kept me honest. 5.2 miles
Big snow predicted for tomorrow so I might not make it back up the hill for a couple of days.
AM - *yawn* – 4.7 miles to wake up predawn. Easy.
JJ’s article got me thinking and researching a bit. If I had that stellar PR day, I could crack the top ten times for the marathon at Pikes as a 43 year old (age year ranking). Along the way, I could probably nab a top 20 Ascent time for that year age. And a top 20 descent time age. That is a lot of maybe’s. My marathon last year ranked 21 for 42 year olds, with 75th ranking on the Ascent (ouch!) and number 16 on the descent. Anyway … lots to think about in training.
JZ and I got these tonight …
… but I really want the indoor mile challenge badge from JT.
I am particularly pleased that I have avoided the mill so far this year. I am not going to totally rule it out, but I am looking to avoid it. Last year in January, I had 5 runs on it in the month.
PM – up Gregory Ranger - up in the fastest time I have record of, but I am sure I have gone sub 40 but I don’t know when (so it don’t count). Even so, walked portions (powerline part just past the bridge, the granite slab, some of the big step sections on the south heading part of Ranger before the switchbacks and some of the Elliott stairs). Need to put this one where it belongs for me at some point soon. Down via Long Canyon to avoid some of the ice and to level things out a bit with it (shallower grade).
Strava has me at 31,650 feet climbed this year. I go off my Sportracks numbers which are a bit more conservative: 30,015. In either case, I feel that I am getting some benefit from the climbing. I am fairly certain that if I could put the right string of days together I could tag my 50k in 30 days project. Last week with the travel to a sea level location, I got only 2500 and change. No big deal – that is my lot and so when I go to such locations, I am going to make the best of it (exploring, turn over).
