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.

Sunday 07JUL2019

9.5 on Green.  Headed up the middle route and then came back down via the Long Canyon route.  Pretty morning ... eyeballed some wild turkeys in the stretch between West Green (recently rerouted too) and Long Canyon.



Ran into Nick P on the trail just below the Ranger cottage.  I don't think I have seen that guy in like 2 years.

Felt like a proper week of training - for the first time in a bit:  a round on Green, a few quality sessions spread over the week and just over 70 miles.  My legs felt tired pretty consistently throughout the week, but I think it is the investment I need to make for some later summer racing. 

Weekend 01-04JUL2016

First – look at this awesome photo of the Boom Days Burro Race by Dave TenEyck from 1951!

AM – I met up with a former coworker for a jog on the Davidson Mesa.  50 minutes.
Once finished I drove immediately over to the BrHS practice and got in another 40 with those guys.  One of the coaches was there with his infant son in a push stroller / jogger and I pushed it a bit.  I forgot how hard it can be to run with those things. 

Links:

• Fast master mile, author of the Boulder Running Journal, previous team mate and friend Todd Straka has bought the Dash and Dine series.  Bummer Todd is not in the mile race this weekend.
• I will probably listen to Sage’s vlog on WS when I have a free 20.
• Maybe all you really need to know about ultra training?
• Or maybe just this?
• Apparently blogging is not completely dead as the 20 year old kid that just took home the Cougar does it.
• Jez’s photos of the Dolomites … yeah, I do want to visit there.
• Everything you ever wanted to know about the MWRR.
• Awesome daily raps on the OTs by HOR.

Raspberries are starting to come in!

Friday night TZ and I headed over to Flatirons to watch the mens 10k in the OT.  Coverage completely sucked.  Good news was these folks grumbled about it enough to make it fun.
Apparently Droddy is America’s next great running talent.

I didn’t get any running in on Saturday, making for my first day off in over a month.  I have said in the past that I don’t schedule days off because I feel they are often dealt to me.  This one was dealt to me.  The day filled with picking up JZ from his staff gig at Scout camp.  TZ and I got in a little hike on the St. Vrain before getting him.  I could have forced in a run in the evening, but I decided against it as I felt a bit tired.  It was time to take a day. 

Sunday AM – TZ and I headed over to Chautauqua.  2nd Green on the year for me this year … and this week.  I headed up the middle route.   Of course, my climbing gear is still crud at this point so it was a slow ascent, and I felt it particularly on the last bit back on Greenman – often forced to a walk.   That is as much my head as it is my legs. 

I came back down via West Green and then onto Long Canyon.  It appears they are looking to do a reroute of that trail on the upper section of that trail.  I can’t say that I am overly stoked about that.  I love the sections of that trail where there ferns grow so thick the trail almost starts to disappear (that is also a function of this trail not getting much traffic). 

I could feel the right Achilles on this a bit more than I have on runs lately, and the left leg quad weakness was making me a bit gimpy.  I might talk to the BrHS strength coach to see what he think I ought to do.  It is certainly more pronounced on downhill runs.

Sunday afternoon – 35 minutes long the canal.

The week (ending on a Sunday) was a bit lighter in terms of miles than the last few, but that is okay.  I needed the day, and for what it is worth, I got the most vertical in a week for a year (which is still pretty light compared to some, and even some weeks I have done in the past).  Still came in over 11 hours on the week, so all good. 

I definitely need to move from just doing basic aerobic stuff to starting to get into that next set of training … or tempo-ish (LT) work.

Monday AM – a couple of handfuls of XC kids showed up for practice today.  An easy 50ish minutes and then strides, A,B,C skips, lunges, planks, push ups. 

Mondy – PM – I had thoughts on a hill tempo but the heat just sapped me so I just went for a very easy 45ish.  Very warm.

Other recent shots.

KZ looks to have made it to Germany

Finally, I am looking for a USB Solar Cell charging system I could use for my phone while out backpacking, canoeing, etc.  As I use the phone for a camera, and in COE to contact people, I have interest.  If anyone has a suggested consider / do not consider – I’d appreciate it.

Wednesday 05AUG2015

Some predictions based on quick eyeballing, some gut and not knowing everything about everyone, subject to change.
PPA women:  Dobson, Payne, Ernholtz, Ortiz (doubler)
PPA men:  Wacker, Diraba, Chelimo, Maksimow, Gutierrez, Burrell, Miyahara, Parr (doubler)
PPM women: Roche (not yet listed but I have heard she is in), Dobson (doubler), Ortiz (doubler), Fluery.
PPM men: Nichols (after 2 years of getting second), Gates, Roche, Hazen, Thomas, Spillman,  Mckenzie, Severy (still thinking Carpenter shows up)

Oh, I am only picking Wacker on the assumption that someone is going to actually make sure he gets up in time for the race.

Note – I wrote that around 10AM.  By the evening I heard that Spillman was out as he was injured.  Apparently Ortiz is injured as well.  Payne in the women’s PPA field is apparently also injured. And I have been told I am overlooking Bay in the PPM field.   Some more on that here.

Yeah, I am a homer.  Of course on a personal level I am interested in how the so called men’s masters plays out.  Hahn and Dickey are saying 4:45, and with Pallansch in the Ascent, it could be a bit more open.  I am guessing a sub 4:40 is what it will take to win that, if not closer to a 4:30. 

In terms of Leadville – it seems on the men’s side it is just a race between Aish and Sharman.  Aish seems to have figured the long stuff out, but you can never tell what the heck someone is going to get in a 100.

Afternoon – pretty hot in the “flats”  Got a little shade on a climb up Green on the middle route (I was a little motivated by Dave’s good run there recently).  8.4 miles.  I felt pretty good through out, but I could tell by some mid run markers that I was not flying (flying for me in terms of performances I have put up in past years).  It ended up being the fastest I have done in about 2 years, but still a handful of minutes off my best on that.  On the flip side I was sort of jogging the down and not putting much effort into that and even tied my shoe (I did not want to risk a fall) but that turned out to be my best time on that this year.  FWIW – I think the middle route is a little slower than it was years ago.  The bump in the trail below the cabin makes it somewhat slower … maybe 15 seconds, maybe 30 – I dunno.

If you look at yesterday’s comments, there is some chatter as to folks that did PPM and Leadville the last time they were on separate weekends.  One who did that is the guy who is pacing me from Twin Lakes to Outward Bound.

Saturday 27JUN2015

Green, middle up and down.  Not a bad run, but I have a bit of work to do on the climbing.  The downs that I can run are as about as good as I have run them.  I have done the downs quicker but when I look at the dates of those they are in winter months, so I have to assume that snow was a factor to make the rock sections a bit more smooth.  7.8. miles

With today’s run, June became my most vertical month (over April) (29450 thru today).  In April I didn’t miss a day but I had Vancouver and Tel Aviv business trips to flat locations.  Here in June I have missed 8 days, but should manage some 30k feet.  That is very little by the measure of many a runner but it being the most I have measured in a while … it is significant for me.

Of course more than half of this (16.5k) has come in the last seven days.

Probably another four miles walking with TZ later in the AM.

Picked up JZ up at Tahosa.  The boy is darn tuckered out. 

Thursday 25JUN2015

Kevin B has a nice follow up to the back and forth on the NOP story.  Essentially Alberto is stating that his stable of athletes are less likely to have hypothtroidism than when compared to other athlete groups.  However, as Beck points out the NOP group is 40x more likely to have it.  Ummm …

And then Kevin has a follow up to his follow up.  Also good.

As I was running with Bob yesterday, we were kicking the topic around.  If you have ever run around Bob … well, you know you are running with Bob.  Not just because he is a tough SOB who will jeer you with taunts and wisecrack humor but because he sounds like he is about to have his lungs come out of his throat.  He seems to always be breathing a lot harder than the rest of us, particularly at easy paces.  It has actually led me to thinking I have him on the ropes in workouts early; only to be crushed a bit later on (Lucho used to call him the energy vampire). 

So we wondered – maybe Bob is a asthmatic?  It is very unlikely that Bob will do anything to actually figure out if he is and subsequently get treated for it.  And when I look at the symptoms for Hashimoto’s … well, I know a lot of male middle age runners who are dealing with weight gain, sore muscles and joints, a slowed heart rate, dry and thinning hair, etc.  In other words, it is probably not a stretch to get a doc to look at you and say, “yup, you need these meds.”  And then you have your TUE.

I have said it before, and it sort of is worth repeating here:  sometimes it is a blessing that I am mediocre in running and I did not have to face some of these choices.

AM – started with KZ over at the HS.  The summer XC preseason jogging started for these kids last week.  I hung a bit to embarrass KZ (but did not play the trump card of running shirtless) and then jogged on my own.  I am still feeling like I have been through a football practice more than running given my recent spills, but it is working out.  6.2 miles.

Today’s listening:

Bellamy is just mind boggling to me as to what he does with the guitar and his voice at the same time.  And Wolstenholme is a true hard core rock bassist.

Afternoon – Green.  Progress.  I did not fall. 
GPS went wonky on the way up saying I did the first two miles at like a six thirty pace.

So we have all seen how cellphone cameras have changed the landscape of police-public interaction. How about in healthcare? A patient hits record on his phone and it picks up everything his care team says when he is under ... and it ain't pretty.

Good preview of USA nats this weekend by the guys over on HOR.

Wednesday 061015

AM – I slept in.  Actually TZ came in and woke me up from a pretty deep sleep at 7:30.  Sleeping that hard probably reflects something about how I feel.  I say that is pretty thrashed.  While I have not done any “big training” as of late, I can feel an accumulative load of fatigue in my legs.  The trip to the low waters this week might be coming at a good time to help enforce some sort of break.

JZ earned his Life Scout rank last night.
This is the last rank a Scout earns before Eagle.  If JZ earns Eagle remains to be seen but he says he wants it.

10 miles with of climbing.  I was worked the whole run, regardless of effort or grade or whatever.   Which is in part why I did it.  Thankfully it was a bit cooler. 

Tony takes up biking and in a month he is doing multiple century rides in a week.  Dude is a talent and has the head to get work done, and at times to the breaking point. 

The Roches are a having fun.

Culpepper waxes on Wetmore.

Friday 042415

Brandon has a humorous post regarding workflow at Chipotle.  This is funny, but it especially resonates with me as that sort of eyeballing of workflow is part of what I do.

Corporate weenieville … I see this stuff all the time.  And I am probably guilty of some of it.

CSI Longmont …

Strava gets in on the Boston Marathon geekiness.

Nice recap of Boston and a preview of London by the HOR guys.

Headed up Green via the middle route.  Started out hot.  Ended up in snow.

About 90 seconds after I took this vid, I started to head down, just as another guy came up on the summit.  He too was without a shirt and we laughed at each other as to how we each made the same silly choice.  He headed down Ranger, and I headed down Greenman (to go down the middle route). 

Just after the last of the rock fields (before the last bridge) in Gregory, I saw him (the middle route down is Greenman, Ranger, Gregory, the back route down is Ranger Gregory).   I was not pushing, and in fact my legs had felt like crap all day (up and down) and I was just absorbing the run versus pushing (but moving enough to keep warm).  I came up on him just before the Gregory lot … and as I expected he picked up the pace.  As we hit the newly carved Baseline trail I came by him and said hello again … except he didn’t quite give the trail … and so within five strides it was on.  I didn’t even think about it.  It just happened.  We barreled by Mark L who was finishing his own run and we must have looked like we had time trialed the whole damn thing together rather than the last 200 yards.  He cracked a touch as the trail flattened.  It sort of looked like this.

7.8 miles.  Fifth Green of the year.  All in the last 5 weeks.

Tuesday 040715

JZ is in Philly and DC this week.  Here he is at Independence National History Park.’'  Kid has something that I certainly did not have at that age.  Like looking good in stripes and plaid.

Afternoon – TZ:  You should go get some vertical.  GZ:  I don’t want to go to Boulder.  TZ:  You should go get some vertical because you won’t be able to next week.  GZ:  I don’t want to go to Boulder.  25 minutes later I was in Boulder and I did a lap on Green via the middle route. I love that woman.

Oh yeah, saw Joe Grant out there.  Apparently Green is like the Hall of Justice these days because whenever I go there is some superhero out there. 

Sunday 081113

45th Green of the year, via the middle route.  Took the jog up Chautauqua and Gregory really easy.  I mean really easy, as easy as I could get it without walking.  I got a call from JV just before the bend where it flattens out to the Ranger cottage and agreed to meet him there.  I did 5 x 2 minutes at race effort (which is really not fast but it is an effort thing) on the hill climbing out of the cottage.  JV showed up and we finished up on the middle route, running, and walking some sections – but keeping it conversational.  Always good to run with Jeff.  We came down the middle as well.  9.5 miles.

I am hearing Karen Thorpe won the long course at Buena Vista and Hal Walter took second.  Apparently this means that they each are the respective gender’s triple crown winner.  Congrats to both of them.  Patrick Sweeney, from what I am gathering won the traditional short course.  This was the first year in quite a few for the long course (around 18 miles as I understand it).

Admittedly I am tickled a bit by Jono taking third at SZ, with the old guy taking it over the icon of the day, KJ.  KJ admitted on his FB feed that he is “slow as a tortoise over the flat.”

Catching up on track action in Moscow.  Cain qualifies (her kick is sick), Ritz is basically stating he is done with the track after coming up short in the 10k.  He is in it at a kilo to go and then he gets dropped in the matter of 75 yards. Also note in that interview how Ritz says he is really not done with the track because “Alberto is obsessed with speed.”   Along the lines of closing chapters, Deena (40yo) contemplates similar in this post marathon interview.

Farrah is just unreal.  The guy looks like he is jogging at 65 pace and is in last place in the first lap.  His last mile is 4:05. 

Week finishes at 42.7 miles, and 4000 ish vertical (nearly all of that coming today) with a day off.  Lowest miles of the year in a week thus far – given the taper.  Just over 6 hours, so about a 40-50 percent taper in terms of time, miles and a bit more with the vert.  Will trim it up a bit more next week as well.

Sunday 072113

All my GPS devices are acting wonky today so I had to figure out today’s run length and vert off a combination of things I have done before, and mapmyrun.  Not a big deal, but I was both amused and annoyed at how reliant I am on these toys and my reaction of the world not being right in having them not working wonderfully like they typically do. 

Of course, the body doesn’t care.  A hamstring has no knowledge that I ran 18.2 miles, Green twice up and down via the middle route, and then up and down the Enchanted Mesa.  My brain cares because I want to have the numbers to crunch, but even if they are not there, the run was.

I was feeling particularly “left footed” today.  I use this term when I am feeling less than sure footed, tired, and just off.  As a result, I am much more likely to take a spill … I lift my feet less, take odd steps and generally go about like I have two left feet.  After getting through the first lap unscathed from any falls – but realizing how slow I had been, I contemplated just running down into Boulder.  But I had committed to meet JV for my second lap.  I warned him that I’d be dragging him but he seemed okay with it.

It has been a bit since I have seen Jeff so it was great to catch up with him (it always is) … parenting, work, Pikes, running, cycling, getting older, shoes, Hardrock, Homie, and machines that turn sweat into drinking water.  The hill just flies by.  Well, I took two minor spills but it still went quick.

I tacked on a bit to round out the miles and time, but the whole run I felt a bit wonky.  Was it a hangover from being at sea level?  The steak I had last night? The skipping of a beer with dinner?  A basic bonk?   A bit too much yesterday?  The early start?  I dunno. 

Green’s 43 and 44 on the year.  72 miles on the week, 6100 + feet (ah, Vancouver), and about 11 hours.

This is pretty awesome looking:

I am sure it would crush me.  Honestly it is the only time I have seen KJ pressed, and kicking at the finish (versus his typical turn around finish).

The wonders of photoshop in our media. (hat tip to LL)

I recognize Gray, Randall, and Nichols on the USMRT, but I can't find results yet.

Wednesday 070313

Green 42 this AM.   About a 20 minute warm up and the 5 minutes on, 90 seconds off up the middle route.  Pushed the 5 minute repeats and then walking the 90 seconds to recover.  I was going to do six of these, but I lost count and ended up doing seven.  This brought me a touch shy of the summit, coming up on the third switch back below the summit.

Was hitting 170-174 on all of these and had that nice mushy concrete leg feeling.  About 48 and change on the up with the walks in there.

Was screwing around on the down when Johannes rolled me up.  I let him pass, but then I parked on him for a bit and then we started conversing.  Good to catch up.  Had to ditch the HR monitor on the down as it kept sliding down my torso and eventually off. 

9.3 miles on a beautiful morning.  Just under seven weeks to race day. 

Apparently the week before Pikes, they are going to have a mile race up on the summit.  It sounds like they will keep the event flat up there, but still – running around at 14k feet as hard as you can for an all out mile makes root canals sound fun.

Sunday 063013

21.6 miles, 5450 of climb, Greens 40 and 41 on the year.  Headed up out of Chautauqua on the Mesa and then up Bear Canyon.  Came back down that way on a bit of a cooler morning.  Did the quick refuel stop at the car and then went up and back the middle route.  Definitely did not feel as easy as last week but no major concerns.

Garmin was not cooperating so I went with the phone and I think it might be measuring a touch long but I think that a lap on the middle and then Bear Canyon is 10.3.  So two of those essentially are 20.6.

“Watched” a couple of races yesterday – including the WS100 and the Pb Trail Marathon (along with some others) – via the intertubes.  I am not surprised that Timmy won it, but I will admit I didn’t think his chances were going to be great in the heat.  Color me wrong on that, but the guy is a bit bigger and I thought the heat dissipation thing was going to be an issue for him.  Krar nearly steals the show in the best supporting actor role by taking second in his first hundred ever.  And Morton takes all but two scalps – pretty dang good for a guy whose wins have been considered “non competitive.”  Lots of other stories as well, like Pam Smith cracking the top ten overall, etc. 

79.6 on the week at near 11.5 hours (again more than a third of that coming today).  June wraps with 322.9 miles, almost 35k feet of climbing and 51 hours.  6 Green summits on June. 

3 of the June weekends had 20 mile runs / or runs greater than 3 hours.  That is significant in that it is new territory for me to get that many with such consistency.  No real big secret to these runs … really just having the discipline to get up early and get them done.  For me that means getting up at 4, cuz I need to screw around for an hour before heading out. 

The year sits at the half way mark at 1866.9 miles, 266 hours, and 162k feet of climbing.

Sunday 062213

Long run this AM.  Up early.  Headed out of Chautauqua on the Mesa, and then up Green via Bear Canyon.  Came down the middle route.  Pretty much seemed to have the mountain to myself until I came down past the Ranger cottage (early start on a Sunday I guess).  Did a quick station stop at the car – which included shifting from the Garmin to the Iphone for gps tracking (as the Garmin battery was just about dead).  Back up the mid, and I felt surprisingly good.  Better than yesterday on this climb for sure. 

Saw a lot more people on this second trip of course – but they seemed eager to get out of the way.  Maybe it was the city camo Skins half tights and no shirt that helped?

Came back down the mid and just before the Greenman Ranger junction, I got my first bear sighting on anything on the Front Range.

18 miles (10.3 the first loop, 7.7 the second (Strava put the second loop on the phone as 8.5 miles, but I have put the up and down on the middle route as 7.7 a handful of other times) in 3:45 with over 5k elevation.  Longest time run and most elevation in a single run on the year.  I am happy with how I felt.  I felt pretty comfortable throughout, but clearly was getting some of that fatigue feeling going into the final part of the second climb (and some of that tweaky catching I get in my hammies when I do that – that is why this is good practice – I am strengthening that).

But I am happier that I saw the bear.  That was cool.

2 laps on Green gave me the 38th and 39th summits of that this year.

Watched the 1500 finals yesterday.  I found the contrast in perspectives between the guy who took fourth (Elliott) and fifth (Leer) to quite interesting.  First, Elliott  “I ran 4:42 in high school.”

Then Leer.  “That was a shit show.”

Word is Carpenter’s record (7:59:44) was broken by Dakota “nearing middle age money” Jones with an amazing 7:35:03.  I am not particularly surprised given Dakota’s affinity and familiarity with the area.  Good on the guy and well done.  Breaking any CR is satisfying.  I imagine breaking a Carpenter CR is an order of magnitude greater.

Thursday 052313

Gonna miss the Georgetown Pack Burro Race this weekend: 

Saturday,May 25th - 9th Annual Historic Georgetown Railroad & Mining Days Pack Burro Race
Georgetown, Colorado
Approximately 8 miles from Georgetown to Empire and back.
Weigh-in time:  10:00 am
Start time:  11:00 am
Contact: Bill Lee (Red Tail) - 720-234-8200 - laughingvalleyranchco@gmail.com

Pack Burro Racing  Rules and a Map of the race.

Great article by Jay on ancillary GS exercises to running.  Yeah, I should hit the gym, but I simply have not made time for it.

Local kid I have mentioned before Ethan G took 2nd in the 3200 in 9:22 as a junior.

Scouting changed their sexual orientation entry criteria / policy for Scouts.  (apparently the vote went 61/39 percentage wise)

===========
Today’s run … Short of it, Middle Route on Green this AM, 43:27, ten seconds off a PR where I went out too fast and legs felt like crap.  Good run with Bob and Lucho.

Long of it … Met up with Bob and Lucho over at Chautauqua for a run on Green.  Goal for me was a hard effort, and to see if I could break my PR of 43:17 from April 2011 (interestingly, that effort was my first crack on that route) on the middle route.  My best this year had been a 46:36 back in January.

Warmed up from Chautauqua via Baseline Trail over into the Gregory lot.  It was gray and overcast and probably in the 50s, so in retrospect this was probably not an adequate warm up.  My legs still felt a bit heavy but I thought that could pass once we started going.  After some expected stalling we got to it, and mistake number 2 was that I got out too fast.  I hit the bridge in 5:27.  This is about 15 seconds faster than any other TT time I recorded to that point.  While I did not know that exact data at that point, I knew I had gone out too quick based on my effort.  At this point, Bob glided past me with what appeared to be little effort.  I tried to regroup, as much as one can while heading up Gregory.

It was a beautiful morning.  Clouds had socked the Flatirons in, and we were running in a quiet mist.  Occasionally I’d get sight of Bob’s silhouette up ahead.  It sort of reminded me of the Pikes Ascent in 2006, where you’d see someone, and then lose sight of them even though they were only 20 yards up.

I reached cabin in 16:58.  I knew this was quick for me, but my legs were already arguing about how they were little in the mood for this, and I had walked several stretches of the steeper rock pitches in Gregory.  The next section, Ranger and then Greenman at least to the talus fields are pretty runable and I was able to keep moving.  There is even some down in these parts and I tried to nudge the pace up as I moved through those parts.

Hitting the bottom of the long last stairs, I knew I was close to a PR, but I really didn’t have another gear to go to.   The splits I show below tell the story, truly showing how I caved on that last section – an outcome of getting out too quick, and not having the legs for it today.  43:27, ten seconds short of a PR.  Not bad on whole as my fastest time in 2 years, but some work to do!

Comparing my best from 2012 (43:36), I reached the Saddle/Greenman switchback 45 seconds slower, but I ran that last section in 16 minutes – versus today 16:35 today.  Lesson to be relearned there I guess.

Bob probably got up about 20 seconds before I did.  Lucho came up on our heels in pretty short order. 

We hung out on the summit for a bit and legend Bill Briggs came buzzing up.  We shared a few words (guy is a bit of a mountain monster), and then we started heading down West Green over to Flagstaff.  Now that the work was over it was the typical antics of trying to drop Bob on the downhills with the rocks and watching him roll me up on the little up hills – all with a laugh. 

We hit the Flagstaff Road and it was suddenly clear that it was NOT clear.  The thick fog on the road made for a pretty bad situation with the cars coming up:  you often could not see them until they were right on you (you could hear them first).  After a little movement on the road, I got to pushing the downhill to emulate that sort of work – a hard downhill post a hard uphill (like some race I will be doing)  I hit 5:30ish for a few miles (not like some race I will be doing) and then backed it off, headed back up for Bob and Lucho.  But they had cut back down a trail, so I missed them.  I caught back up to them at the Park.

I  find it interesting that I can’t get my HR to elevate as high on the climbs as I can get it on the hard efforts on the flats (about 169, 170 here today, versus say 179, 180 on the flats).  I wonder if that is a cadence thing?  In other words, since the cadence of my legs is going faster on flats, does that drive a higher HR (do the big muscles of the legs drive the HR more than the HR drives the muscles of the legs)?  Or just a muscular weakness thing that I show in my climbing?  Or maybe the HR is lower because I am simply not pounding / impacting as much.

11.1 miles.  34th Green of the year.  Good workout.  Great to hang out with Bob and Lucho as always.

=====
At the Boulder Distance Classic, just before the start on one of my last strides, I spied Jon Sinclair.  Jon won the Fairplay race in 1977, and was the guy who at a Boulder Road Runner evening talk first planted the seed in my head about burro racing (probably in like 1997 or something).   I only had a minute but approached him, introduced myself and told the quick story of how he got me thinking about it and how I won the Fairplay race last year.  Jon was there coaching someone I think but was immediately interested and was curious as to what my times were.   My time last year is not fast on the Fairplay course by any stretch of the imagination:  Sobol did it with Bullwinkle in 3:45.  But I decided to research how my time stacked up over the years (prompted by some comment trading with Derrick)

2001:  Sobol, Bullwinkle 4:34:48  2nd Hal Walter & Spike  5:20:20 3rd Place  Rob Pedretti & Samaritan (so a sprint finish between those two)2002:  Tom Sobal & Bullwinkle  4:43:09 2nd Rob Pedretti & Dakota   5:16:26 3rd Barb Dolan & Chuggs   5:23:55
2003:  Hal Walter/Spike 5:16:18 2nd Barb Dolan/Chugs   5:51:00 3rd Jamie Boese/Zapata  5:51:01
2004:  Hal Walter & Spike 5:39:08 
2005:  Hal Walter & Laredo 5:37:41 2nd Barb Dolan & Chugs  5:41:40 3rd Bobby Lewis & Wellstone 6:50:20
2006:  Tom Sobal & Mordecai 5:25:49 2nd Hal Walter & Spike 5:53:14 3rd Lynette Clemons & Dakota 6:18:35
2007:  Hal Walter & Laredo 5:44:29 Curtis Imrie & Boogie 6:09:21 3rd Lynette Clemons & Mordecai 6:11:19
2008:  Bobby Lewis & Wellstone   5:47:39 2nd Hal Walter & Laredo   5:47:53 3rd Barb Dolan & Dakota   6:07:15
2009:  Bobby Lewis & Wellstone   5:33:42 2nd Hal Walter & Laredo   5:33:44 3rd Karen Thorpe & Dakota   6:05:32
2010:  Bobby Lewis & Wellstone  5:56:23 2nd Karen Thorpe & Chevy 5:56:24 3rd Jim Alderegg & Gus 5:56:25 (another tight finish)
* I was fourth this year but way back with Jack in 6:31:37
2011:  Karen Thorpe & Kokomo 5:41:50 2nd Jim Anderegg & Gus: 5:41:51 (tight) 3rd Tom Sobal & Spike 5:42:45
2012:  George Zack & Jack 5:25:28 2nd Hal Walter & Laredo 5:55:04 3rd  Tracy Laughlin & Spike 7:42:16

So generally, winning times have slowed over the years.  Finding results before 2001 on the web is a bit of a challenge but I might have it in a pamphlet some where. 

Wednesday 040313

Heading down to the Springs Thursday night to catch “Haulin Ass” at the Stargazer. 

Better pix (than what I took in FL last week) of river otter over here … apparently they are back in the area.

Looked at the Pikes marathon entry list by qualification time tonight, with a particular eye tilted towards the masters men.  Gellin, Dunlap … those names ring a bell.  While they are putting up qualification marathons, they are also mountain familiar and legit performing guys.  No clue on Brochard.   Zuniga now appears via the Ascent from last year.  Most cool however is to see 1980 winner Chris Reveley who posted a 3:45 then sign up.  I love that former winners can always come back to this race FOR life. 

I think I signed up today to do a leg of the Colfax Marathon relay with a team at my work.

Cuts on face are cleaned up but my left knee is singing pretty good where I knocked it.Strava thinks I have climbed just over a 100k this year.  My measurements however have me just over 90k.

This sort of stuff seems to either piss people off or crack them up.  I almost see the idiocy as comical.  There is some fun when they say stuff like this:  You are being intellectually dishonest with yourself if you don't believe MC is an absolute stud. I would walk around with my balls hanging out all day every day if I had his resume.  blah blah blah.  Quite a few funny ones over there, as they are so stupid.  There are some good intelligent nuggets in there (Sage C for example posts).  Whatever … all talk.  Show up at the line and show what you can do. 

These are awesome.

10.5 miles, up the middle route.  Slushy, slippery mess for most of the route (all but the lowest stretches).  Often 2 steps back, 1 step back.  Mellow effort today.  Despite the snow and slush, it was that odd circumstance that is common in CO – I was shirtless and comfortable as it was a warm day.  Slipped down the back, and then Flagstaff Road to assure some level of upright play for the down hill.  25th Green.  Saw Jeff coming down as I was heading up and yapped with him for a minute.  This was his 52nd Green.

Friday 030113

This …

Then this as I was overzealous …

… then this:

All by 12:02.  Hope I didn’t mess it up.  Now waiting to see this fill out:

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The Jefferson Parkway will be debated for quite a while.
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7.6.  21st trip on the G-hill for the year.  Middle route up and down.  Really slow on the up … I sort of fell asleep a couple of times, thinking about various things, catching myself periodically and thinking “Uhh, this is a run” but my head was just not in it on the up today.  On the way down (where I sort of started to wake up), on the first switch back down, I noticed some one carved in the snow “GZ HOMIE JV AK.”  This has me thinking someone is out to kill us.  … Hard to see it in this picture but if you look close …

So who did that?

Monday 021813

Caught Life of Pi with the family last night.   I have only seen two flicks by Ang, (the other being Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and I have to say he has an eye for the cinematically beautiful.  I am particularly not a fan of 3D flicks because it often feels forced but I soon forgot that was even part of it, and the photography played nicely.  I did break a general rule I have and that is to read books of films before I see them, but this was sprung on me a bit by the family.  I am not sure how closely the movie stays to the written version, but I confess – it seemed to me that the movie was making more of a case of their not being a God than there being one.  But those are my lenses I guess.
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I will probably dig into this latest SoS article and video as part of some night time reading/watching.
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Unorganized rant that requires some editing …
It dawned on me the other day that I really could have no problem running sub 4:30 at Pikes.  I saw dawned because, like dawn coming every morning, this thought comes to me often – it is not new.  Really, if I did everything right in training between now and then, and I had good luck on race day (say weather and not falling), 4:30 ought to be a breeze.
But it won’t be.  Because I will make a lot of little choices that negatively impact that goal between now and then.  So that is really the challenge: making the right set of choices to set me up to succeed while fighting little self failures along the way.   The challenge is being able to recognize, and select to choose wisely along the path.
When I think about this outside of myself, I see this a lot in running and in goal setting.  Limiting it to running (for this post), I see folks that set some goal that is of importance to them (although in reality it is really only running so its importance is questionable in the first place).  Say they want to run sub 3 in a marathon or sub 20 at some 100 or whatever.  Typically everyone of those folks are setting goals that are a bit at the periphery of what they are capable of.  This is good.  Because if it was a goal that was easy for them to accomplish, it would not be really worthwhile.
But … in reality their goals (and mine) are very reachable.  Maybe not easily.  But simply.  If they (and I) made the right choices along the way, those goals would be easy.  Maybe if they ran a little more.  Maybe if they dropped weight.  Maybe if they did more specific work.  Maybe if they slept better.  Maybe if they did some core work.  Maybe if they learned to execute on race day properly.  Simple stuff.  Not easy, but simple.
Beyond the little choices there are also those are those who live in great envy of someone else’s life and hence feel constrained by the choices they have made thus far.  Sure, I get that is fine to take on “the grass is greener” thought about some guy living in a truck, racking up 14ers all day, and winning ultras – but maybe for a moment or two.   Beyond that – you have made choices that you can live with in great happiness:  a good job, a loving family, a flippin’ bed that has soft pillow top.  These folks struggle with a layer of choices bigger than the day to day, but instead are wondering how they got where they are.  I think I don’t deal with this issue but instead my little day to day ones like how I recover, what little things I do, etc.
The thing is that very very few of us – at least in my observation – are willing to make even those little choices consistently, never mind even being conscious of larger life choices.  We choose other paths.   Choosing such roads can be great … if you are aware.  If you are aware of the choices you make and the consequences – then you ought to be at ease with that.   Maybe you choose to race a lot and so you never taper.  Or maybe you choose to never do track work because you love serious vertical and trails.   In those cases, you are choosing the fun of your daily run over your execution on race day.  As long as you can see that, then you have a choice and you can be happy with how you choose.  It is the short term view of “fun today” over “fun tomorrow.”
I have listened to a few podcasts of late with Kona IM champions.  Their take is almost always containing the same theme:  Kona was their sole focus.  They gave up everything else with a thought solely of being the first man or woman down Alii Drive at the levels of obsession.  In a recent Competitor Radio podcast, 2x winner Deboom spoke of how his taking second in the race one year drove him every day for 365 days until the next year.  In ultra running circles, Matt C’s failures at Pikes (passing out at the top ahead of Meija to then take second to him in the marathon) and Leadville (walking in the last 33 miles) drove obsessive behaviors for the next year create incredible outcomes (a 3:16 marathon at Pikes, a sub 16 at Leadville).
I digress into a rant there a bit.  In any case … I see myself and others often playing this game of stating this great desire to some goal, but struggling with their choices at several levels to deal with it.  Alternatively, there are those that see themselves as the hobby jogger and are completely happy with it.  I admire these folks.  There are those like the obsessed athlete who does everything to get it done and do – and I admire that too.  The stuff in between however – and this is often the guy in the mirror confounds me.  The person who says that this goals is incredibly important to them, but then makes choices along the way that are contrary to that goal – while being unconscious about them.  In other words, they don’t understand.  And, at least in some part, that is part of why running is a little important to me:  it reveals character choices to me, and then provides a platform for me to develop it.  Of course, that is not the only thing that does such for me.  If I could not run a step tomorrow, I’d still have that … just via other mediums.
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10.4, number 17.  Up the middle, down Flag road to avoid any ice.  Pretty relaxed on the up, even walked part of the bottom of Gregory given I was slipping on the ice on the way up, but still hit my 2nd fastest this season (sort of not trying too … good feedback).  I like this loop.  It has a decent climb but not super steep like the front side – so most of it is runable.  In fact, I am actually starting to get to a point where I can play with gears on these runs … actually having some room between easy and harder (versus it all being hard).  And then with the down, I can get a bit of turn over and not have to worry about the technical or the ice.  It rounds out to a nice distance, and a fair amount of time. 

Thursday 012413

Pikes entry details are up.  The only significant change is tri-folks can’t use run times from IMs or half IMs.  I will be at the keys a’ready come March 1.

Middle route today.  Apparently my best on this route is 43:17 but I need to go back to 2011 to get that.  That is a FAR cry from many who have gone faster.  I can’t find a full segment on Strava for this route out of Gregory, so I might need to create one.   Last year, I managed to muster up a 43:36.

I tend to forget all the splits on these runs, and so I can never really tell if I am ahead of some particular pace or not.  But I knew I did not feel great in the legs from the early go today.  I guess perhaps I was feeling the greater climbing of yesterday.  I glanced at my watch at the 2nd bridge and saw 6:05, and then I recall seeing around 17:30 near the ranger cabin.  I was at 28:30 on the turn back to Green.  I also tend to look at my watch at the creek crossing right near 2 miles and today it was just under 26.  I think I have been under 25 when getting there at points in the past when I am tagging it.  In any case, without knowing the splits like I do now, I knew that my head wanted to get after it but my legs were not having a lot of it.  I really blew up on the upper stretches, walking most of the steps.  46:18 (so Strava thinks the segments that it records on this are my best).  Still, I was satisfied with the effort a day after a larger one (and in part because I think the little patches of snow still slow me down too). 

While a PR is three minutes away, that difference is not as big as it sounds.  It is hard to describe.  There are days you can be out there busting it and it is as if you are fighting the mountain – going nowhere or at least not up much for all the work you are doing.  Then there are other days where you are still working but the times click and you can dig even deeper.  The flats you can pour it on.  The ups hurt but you are riding the line of 2 beats of the heart just like a surfer hitting the perfect wave.  Screw up and you blow it, but you can just ride it a little longer.  The blow up (like I encountered today) does not come until you summit in a sweat and spittle covered tunnel visioned haze of self induced oxygen deprivation and leg muscles screaming for a reprieve (this has a great impact on the college aged ladies at the top … nothing like a middle aged shaved head man with no shirt but a bra strap on sounding like he is about to die as he crests the hill to make them want to get the hell out of there quickly).

It dawned on me  in writing this that I am just assuming I will run faster on this route.  I just need to assume that still.  I mean, I guess there are some PRs that I have that I am fairly certain I won’t beat now that I am older, but these don’t fall into that category.  Yet.  Maybe that is foolish, or short sighted, but I sort of feel that if I concede my best days on climbing Green are behind me, then my best days in climbing Green will be behind me.  No need for that.

Monday 012113

AM – Green (#8 OTY) at dawn.  Up and down via the middle route.  A bit chillier than I expected (teens) but not bad once I was generating some heat.  Felt a bit of fatigue from yesterday’s long run but not bad.  Coming down was slooooow.  The trails are in that condition where most of it is dirt, rock, but there are long exposed ice sections that a klutz like me needs to negotiate very carefully, particularly since I not only elected to not go with any traction but brought the Nike Lunar road shoes (super flat).  This caused a few issues on the way up, but many more on the down (I only hit the keester once however).  7.6 miles.

Any Strava users want to tout the benefits of the premium program?

The Fruitarian on Outside mag. 

Solid interview with Amby B over on MarathonTalk.