Sunday 17AUG2025

Back to Green.  It was a train wreck.  I went up the middle out of Gregory and managed to average under twenty minutes a mile for each of the miles except the last.  I was falling a lot though and cracked my knee pretty good on the way in the boulder field on Greenman.  

I got a call about 2 minutes from the summit by TZ that she was heading down so I flipped.  I thought I'd get down in about 40 minutes.  I was wrong.  I was moving at 2mph (27 min/mile) on the down.   Even on the runable sections, I was flopping at 15 minutes a mile.  I was a hurting dog.  

5.5 miles, with about 2200 feet of climbing.  

I was cooked for a bit post.  Afternoon nap helped.

50.5 miles on the week, with close to 5k of vert.  It started as a solid week but sorta came off the rails by the weekend.  1160 something on the year.

Saturday 15JUN2019

Green.  Went up Gregory and then took Long Canyon - which is the longer trip and pretty but something I typically don't have time for.  Didn't feel spry so it was a slow go, but happy to get the reps in.






KZ and TZ hiked up from Chautauqua on ASG so I met them.  I buzzed down a bit, found them, then came back up the old set of stairs that Scott E used to call the "four minute Green mile" (it took me about six today) (and it might be a quarter mile).

9 miles.

Humble Pie

I recently asked someone how I needed to be prepared for an activity I’d do with them.  They gave me some of the expected details, but also said, “just have the beginner’s mind.” 

I felt a need to recall that over the last couple of days with my running.  I was a bit sore on Monday from my Green outing on Sunday with JV.  My legs were not super eager to jump into a workout of repeat 200s with the XC kids, and my mind was taking a beating as I pretty much was smoked on each repeat. 

The 200s started at 39 and I got a few of them down to 36, but I probably averaged 37 or 38 over the ten of them. 

This morning, I took an invite from JV to meet up with several of Green Mountain’s regulars:  Buzz, Homie, Bill, Derek as well as Jeff.  By the first turn up Amphitheatre, their headlamps had started to disappear into the pre-dawn darkness and I felt a bit embarrassed they came back down from the summit to check on me when I had not arrived in what was an expected normal time. 

I managed the ASG climb in 48:25. 

So I am not fit, or at least not fit by what standard I have set previously.   I have to keep the “beginner’s mind” and just keep plugging away.  The alternative is to not and that certainly won’t make anything better.  

Monday 30NOV2015

Pedatella  is a bad ass among bad asses.   Not one for blogs (heck he is only on FB because he lost some bet some time ago), or big sponsorships, he quietly gets ridiculous events done.  Like that ridiculous BA RMR run.  And TDG.  Gets it done.  Well, except when he fractures bones.  While he does not remember the world before the iPOD, his generally witty takes give him an honorary #GOM distinction.  You won’t see him post a race report but you can get a story or two out of him over a beer.  And even though I whined at him for 25 miles at Pb, he still pretends like it was a good experience for him.  Good dude.

Interesting all time list for Leadville.

47 slots for over 1300 applicants?  Maybe you should do that race that Nick does mentioned above.

November ends with 216 miles – or about the same as September and October (with about 30 something hours and 15k feet of climb … which is also nearly the same, maybe a bit more vert than those months).  On the year it is 3177.9 miles, 223110 feet and 436.1 hours. 

Just for comparison purposes, in 2014, I finished the year with 3436.9 miles, and 1254.6 of those miles came in the last third of the year.  December was 343 miles, meaning that through November on the year I had run just under 3100 miles.  This year, I will have less than a 1000 miles in the last third of the year, but through November I have just under 3200 miles.  In other words, I may finish with the same number of miles as last year but I am getting a lot less of those in the fall and winter months.  And for what it is worth, I am about 50k at this point more vertical feet this year than all of last year. 

I am not one to tie into the series of television shows, like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones (although I have read that series of books thus far).  The concept of The Man in the High Castle was fascinating enough to me that I tuned in (I also have an Amazon Prime subscription so that didn’t hurt). 

Basic concept – the Allies have lost WWII to the Axis powers and now the US is a divided territory between the Nazi Reich and the Empire of Japan.  These ruling countries now sit in a Cold War.   There are elements of the series that were mildly interesting from the suspense drama perspective, but I found the consideration of what the world to be like in such a scenario, particularly what things would be similar and what things would be different, to be thought provoking. 

The sort of stuff I think about at work.

I am probably set to the indoors, if at all for the remainder of the week.  Given as such I played the weenie game and juggled a call and a jaunt on Green mid day.  6.2 miles.  Quite the winter wonderland out there today. 

Weekend 0516-1715

Saturday – I think I am nearly through this pretty nasty cold.  Still hacking up crap but it feels as if the worst of it has passed.  That was not a fun two weeks on the health front.  A busy day and an eye on a larger Sunday had me decide to keep this day light:  5 very easy miles.

Sunday – 2 laps of Green, all on the front side.  I thought I might do three if I felt good and the timing was working well.  I was not feeling particularly strong, and had ate up a fair chunk of the AM off two laps and called it at that.  I saw the hiker guy Skurka out there and had the pleasure of JV joining me for the second half of the climb and descent on lap 2.  Slow moving out there today, but the second lap ended up being faster than the first (call that the JV effect).  10.4 miles.

81.7 miles, 12+ hours and 7900 feet on the week; 1552 miles, 212 hours and 78k feet on the year.  May is about 190 miles, 26 and 3/4 hours and 10k feet (yes, over half my vertical this month came from today … that is what you get for running in Tel Aviv for a week).  Not a great week, not a horrible week, but less than the week I imagined in regards to running.  I struggled with this cold this week more than I care to admit.  I was catching on a variety things post international travel as well.  .

Sunday 12213

Pretty tired from yesterday but I happened to be in Boulder so I got Green number 54.  Nearly all of the up was a walk, and the down was crazy slow.  The run yesterday, with the weight lifting the day before was clearly felt today.

Traction is probably not really necessary, but there are a few sections where the light powdering of snow does sit on top of some ice, so caution is necessary.  Gregory opened back up recently (but ASG still remains closed).  The trail below the closed cabin is pretty well gone, but folks are using the shoulder in the interim,

Finished the week with 76 and change miles – the largest in nearly two months (also in terms of time (almost 12 hours) and vertical (6800 feet)).  With the holidays next week and probably some mountain visits, that probably won’t be the standard but it was good to get back to some good habits.  Sitting at 3418 miles on the year, so I ought to get 3500, but maybe not.  I am really not worried about (but I guess that sounds stupid as I track it).  About time to start to get some speed back in if I am going to break and hour at USATF XC.

Other recent pix.:

   

Thursday 082213

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.
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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.
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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.

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Latest ATU.

Wednesday 082113

I love this sort of speech …

Okay, a bit nutty.  A better video ...

That stuff from Gnarly Bay is excellent.

… various articles today … Even if exercise stresses you out, you are less stressed because of it.  What is a professional runner?  Interview with David Epstein on Competitor Radio on his latest book (another written interview here).  Health versus fitness according to Phil.  And “Leadville is all about gambling. Can I gamble and take this hill easy? Can I gamble on the downhills? Can I gamble and not rest in the aid stations? Lots of people gamble at Leadville...and lose.”

I feel I need to jump on something … as the “you are only good as your last race” thing buzzes in my head, to clean up a bit, and to bring closure to this season.  Not sure what that will be yet.  Maybe some climb.

Green 46, relaxed.  Up the front, hiking the steeper stuff.  College kids are back.  Took the back route down.  6 miles.

Look to be running with the famous JW in the AM – early.  Stoked as I have traded stuff with this guy for close to half a decade … it will be good to put a name to a real face.  I think all I will need to do is point the direction of Green (up) and he will do the rest … ;)

Saturday 051813

Joined JV for a lap on Green.  We started at 5, and hoped to catch up to Homie.  He had started doing laps on Green at midnight, doing work that would emulate the ton of vertical and a lack of sleep that he’d see at Hardrock.  We caught him as he was coming down off his fourth summit of the day and towards the bottom of the last set of stairs on Greenman.  JV and I kept on, tagged the summit and then came back down ASG but did not catch him (I was moving really slow on the rock this AM).  Just above the Gregory lot, we did connect with him and Eric Lee.  JV headed home and I headed up with John to the Greenman cutoff.  He I cut back down to Flagstaff Road and with 3500+ vert in my legs I looked to push the down.  I was able to average below six for the run back to the park, but I felt fairly fried.  10.3 miles.  33rd Green of the year.

Never felt great on this run, and was hiking most of the up stuff today.  I really had no legs, but guess I got something out it in mustering a push on the down.

Some stuff about Strava is really funny.  This month’s contest, the “May Massive” has the leader slightly ahead of the “competition.”

Wednesday 041013

Today …

Well, it was not raining.   But the sentiment is applicable.

The weather was not bad really today for my 29th lap on the hill.  And in fact, I did get the summit.  But it was one of those days … I hoped for a fun lap in the snow just enjoying what could be a last slice of winter.  Instead, I was slogging in it in a manner that had me questioning what the hell I was doing out there.  It made for my slowest ascent for the year on the front side.  I wish I could say that meant it was an easy climb, but I was still breathing hard, and sweating pretty good in the fog humidity.  The cold however made the sweat on the brim of my hat freeze. 

Coming down (back down the front side, as I was figuring that I had already spent way too much time out there) I was wiping out everywhere as it was just a loose snow that gave.  My feet just went everywhere, making you catch odd things here and there.  I bit it several times, but no concerning falls.  I took a bit of solace in that I saw JV heading up (just before the Greenman split) as I was heading down and he had many of the same thoughts.  He asked if I’d join him to head back up, but I couldn’t.  I was already running late because of the slow movement, had commitments back home, but equally as concerning  I was getting stupid cold.  My feet were barking pretty loud and my gloves were crinking solid with a frost.  I was moving but not fast enough to be really warm.   It was not that cold outside but the combo of my psuedo working, wiping out into the wet, and the fog and below freezing temps set it up as such.  At one point, I found myself muttering … “not fun.” 

5.5 miles.  Not my most favorite outing but done.

Wednesday 022713

Man v. Wild  Bear Grylls does the pre flight safety briefing.

The Kiwi Scouts are a good touch. 

2 rounds on Green, all front side.  After heading down on the first, I bumped into JV heading up (towards the bottom of the last set of stairs before the last couple of switchbacks).  I doubled back up with him, and then headed back down with him.  Headed back up out of the Gregory lot, leaving Jeff for a second lap. 

Pretty snowy all the way, and some of the pack down was getting messed up by a guy going sideways on the packed track.  9.9 miles.  Biggest vert day on the year (just under 5k).   Was impressed that I was just about the same on both trips (in a slow time both times, but hey, it was snow).  My feet felt like bricks towards the end (cold).  Looking forward to this as a session later this year where I get after it a bit more.  19th and 20th trips on Green this year.

Wednesday 021313

Finally caught up on the latest Endurance Planet episode with Tawnee and Lucho.  I have a question that wraps up the episode that asks about folks that don’t seem to periodize.  As I expected, Lucho’s take is that the folks that don’t periodize would most likely be better if they did. 

But I know at least some of those guys don’t believe that.  In fact, they seem to believe that if they taper, or look to periodize they go flat, or lose fitness. 

Probably the first guy that I saw that seemed to really not periodize was Bernie B.  For something like five years, Bernie just seemed to race, week after week and was hugely successful (he was third overall at Pikes a few years in a row, and won something like 80 percent or more of the races he was in).  I asked him once if he thought that he would perform better if he did not do this but instead focused on a few key races.  He admitted that sometimes the back to back races – in a weekend – left him a bit tapped on the second day, but he 100 percent thought that he was better for consistently racing. 

I have met others that think and feel the same thing:  their races are their weekly workouts and how they get after it.  There are some guys that are younger that do this (JJ out east), but most of the guys I know are a bit older (Andy A comes to mind, Dave D).

Maybe you just need a name that has the first and last name start with the same letter to be successful with a strategy like that.
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Afternoon, Green on the front side (up and back) with JV.  I felt thrashed both ways and felt like I was slogging, but it was my quickest time on this route up this year (this is my least favorite ascent which probably speaks to how it is more a weakness).  Still 42 and change.  If I actually RUN the thing I will be back in the 30s. 

Tacked on, getting 10 and 3500 of vertical on the day in just over 2 hours.

January stats: 313 miles, 44.37 hours, 12,530 feet climbed, 2 days off, 5 treadmill runs, 2 20 milers, 9 days of quality, 1 summit of a 8k peak (Bear) (which accounted for almost 20% of my climbing for this flat month!) and zero days at high altitude.  Zilcho racing.

Wednesday 012313

Broomfield's Open Space and Trails Advisory Committee (OSTAC) will meet tomorrow night at 6 p.m in the Zang Spur Room at the City & County Building.  The open meeting will cover a discussion of public art in open space.  Ought to be interesting.

Strava article covered in Outside magazine.

10, a lap with JV on the front side both ways and then various exploring.  Biggest vertical day on the year for me thus far actually (about 4k) but pretty easy throughout so no biggie.