Monday 020413

10 miles easy.  The head was ready to get after something but the legs told me they were a bit fatigued.   This of course is comes after the obligatory "Once a Runner” “two mile rule.”  The two mile rule is that you really don’t assess too much until about 2 miles in.  You could feel horrible but then a couple of miles in that all falls away and you feel great.  Alternatively, you can think you feel great, but after two miles you realize if you are really there or are carrying a bit of fatigue or something. 

Well, the head on the IPA seems to be progressing nicely.

Friday 012513

No surprise, I am a fan of the Lucho and Tawnee show on Endurance Planet.  They hit a nice combo of school of hard knocks outspoken mountain man who is an endurance freak meets So Cal girl with super science smarts.  I am glad to see their podcast is working and has extended beyond ultras but into the multisport arena as well.

In their latest show, I get a mention … or rather my home brew EPO IPA gets a nice endorsement from Lucho.  Certainly hearing this on the way into work this AM made me smile.  And for what it is worth, another local beer snob, Scott Jaime had the brew listed on the blog for a bit as one of his three favorites.   I’d like to think that these guys were saying the brew was good because they really thought and not just because they were being nice.  As in nice like they are actually thinking, “holy crap, this taste like donkey urine.  Maybe if I say it is good he will go away, I can dump the bottle and I will then pretend to be too drunk to drink any more."

But assuming that what I shared with them was good, I sort of recall that batch or string of batches I shared with them.  It was good.  Nice hops, good floral, smooth mouth feel, clean finish (whatever the heck all that means, but that is what beer snobs say when they like an IPA).  Lately, my last couple of batches … not bad, but not hit it out of the park like some of those prior sets. 

And what tortures me is I am not sure why.  Until this last batch I was sort of doing the same thing but things were just off.  Again, not a bad beer but not the sort of brew that I would stand up against any other IPA out there.  Just fell a bit short of awesome.  Still I drank it. 

Anyway, this last time I decided to break out of the mold and just look to up the ABV (alcohol by volume) by cranking up the sugar (maltodextrin) in the fermentation process.  I did a sampling of the brew around Christmas and as expected it had a bigger kick – but it was just not ready yet.  It takes time for them to bottle condition and since I was taking my sample out of a mason jar (yeah, that is how we roll!) only a week after bottling, things were still working themselves out.

Best thing I can do now, is sit on those bottles and let them condition out for another few weeks.  Whether they will be awesome or not is still up in the air.  But I am sure I will drink it.  Just a bit nervous to share it unless I know it is great.  Or I can share it if we have already buried a few of something else.  Lucho, I owe ya.

… as a side note this sort of reminds me of running (as nearly most things do).  I’d like to think that I could run training like an experiment.  Do A, don’t do B, and bam – there is your C performance.  Tweak A this way and you get this.  But training and performance is sometimes like making homebrew.  While we all say doing the same thing over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, what makes me insane is that doing the same thing can often create a very different result (ridiculously true in various relationships but that is a whole another rant).
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I have been a bit reluctant to sign up for any races yet.  Sure, I know I am doing Pikes, and I am likely for some of the burro races, as well as the BRR stuff.  Maybe the Leadville Trail Marathon too simply because Mosquito Pass is fun.  Because of work, family, I have been a bit slow to throw my name into the hat for things like Clark’s 50 or CP.  Some of these might work though (the Louisville and Westminster ones are close).
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Pretty lethargic today.  Over Flag and then Green.  Down Ranger Gregory.  Strava has me at 41k plus vert on the month.  Yeah, I think I could swing the 50k month project if I got around the travel.  But actually, I like the swings that provides (from a training perspective).  It means when here I might be able to get a bit more of the vert.  When on the road, I get a break from that and can work on other stuff.

My music project however (learning several new songs on the guitar) is a complete failure thus far. 

Test from the latest batch

Shaping up nicely.  Only 2 weeks in the bottles.

Tuesday 032712

AM – Green Mountain.  Baseline, Gregory, Ranger, Greenman (which is probably only okay going up right now, would not recommend for down), Bear Canyon (no diversion), Mesa, Enchanted Mesa.  A little tired, which is to be expected.  Legs feel okay, and the soreness in the ankles, feet is abating.  10 miles. 

So, just another wonderful trip on Green.  Tripped over 900 miles on the year out there somewhere today too.  I am feeling good with getting after a little of the vertical this week.  With some travel later this week, I will get a natural break built in.

Of greater interest was the thought that came to my head somewhere in Bear Canyon that I was having a tough time shaking.  And it was of this magnificent sandwich I was going to create when I got home.  I kept recreating this Dagwood monstrosity over and over all the way back to Chautauqua.  The ride home to Broomstock took what seemed an eternity.  I was not bonking, or even ravenously hungry … I was just very focused on this sandwich.  It was good when I got home.

But before the sandwich, I returned to the Chautauqua lot to find I left the rear hatch of my car completely open.  This is the second time in probably two years where I have done this and the results have been exactly the same:  nothing in the car touched.  I guess that is the security you get with hundreds of people milling about.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead … mmmm.

Monday 032612 Flagstaff, Green and a brew started.

Good thing I got the run in down south yesterday.  Not good down there today.

Met up with Dr. NMP for some easy running.  Well sort of easy running.  Easy in that we would keep the effort easy.  Not so easy as it had a good amount of vert (for me).  I was lucky to catch Nick after a weekend where he did like 50 miles with over 10k.   Legs were a bit tired, but the biggest issue is that my feet are a tired, and my ankles are irked some.  But all good. 

Saw Homie on the Ranger trail and chatted with him some.

Chautuaqua, Flagstaff, Rangeview, Ranger, Green, Bear Canyon (ish), Mesa.  11 miles

Great to catch up with Nick.  No one should be surprised at anything this guy accomplishes in the MUT space.

Got a batch of brew cooked up last night.  Fermentation started this AM.

Evening, dog jog. 4 miles.

Mount Evans Road Race

Lucho’s report.

8th overall, 7th male, 1st master.  2:15:25 I think.  Was seriously windy.  On the upper switchbacks, you could fly on the east side running but then be brought to a near complete stop when heading west.

Got what I came for, good competitive run at elevation, good workout.   Landing the masters win was a nice umm … windfall.  I think these days are going to be pretty infrequent.

A screen shot for the elevation debate and to hopefully bring to rest as to how much downhill there is in this run (+3600, –150).

This next screen shot gives you a little idea how windy it was.  Specifically, take a peek at the pace variance from ten miles on where the switchbacks go from east (down wind) to west (up wind).  I am guessing it was 50 mph out there but I really have no clue. 

Other than that, the race report is simply this:  it was a good grind. 

I got out okay, maybe a touch quick but felt like I was able to quickly correct.  Adam Feerst went by me at about 2 miles and so I thought any sort of masters win went with that.  Right near five miles, he stopped though to correct a shoe issue he was having.   He seemed to be in the mix right behind me for a bit.  Near Summit Lake, the winning woman caught me.  We mixed back and forth for a bit in the climb out of the lake, but I was losing a lot of ground in the wind sections.  With about 2 miles to go I caught up to two guys, and noticed one certainly looked older.  I was definitely feeling the “I DON’T GIVE A CRAP AT THIS POINT WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE!  I WANT TO GO HOME!  THIS IS STUPID” attitude that seems to come on to me at 13k feet.  The older guy and the younger guy encouraged me to work with them in a pack, switching positions as to who would lead in the wind – but I would fall off when on the tail.  But then at about a mile to go, the older guy came back.  I was able to muster a bit of a push (or maybe it was more that he didn’t) on one of the headwind sections and get some more daylight between us.  That was enough to make the break, although all this happens in crazy slow motion at that altitude. 

As I finished, Lucho (4th, right at 2 hours) was there to congratulate me.  I had contemplated running down prior to the run and he asked if I was still interested in that.  “ABSOLUTELY NOT.”  But my lips and teeth felt frozen from the cold wind, so it came out “AFOLUPBE OT.”  Within 2 minutes we were in his car and heading down.  That was very very very sweet.

Post race I got to hang with Lucho and his family, Wyatt H, Adam F (by the way, that dude is bad ass being he is 50), Shad M and other kindred spirits – always a big bonus to these races is trading the war stories with everyone – along with the well intentioned jabs.  I had estimated that the wind took out about 35 minutes of my time, but the general consensus seemed to be that it slowed folks in the 2 hour ish range by 10 minutes or so.  Sooo … I ran what I predicted … I win the beer. 

Definitely need to get to altitude a bit if I intend to be able to run well later this summer.  There is still time to do that, and today helped.  I learned that while I am not deep into hill training, I ain’t too bad at this point.  Wind … well, that is a different story.

The Mount Evans race is surely a classic.  Darrin and his group do a good job, and this is an epic course. 

Results will probably be up soon but Mario won in 1:50 on the men’s side and I did not catch the woman’s name but she went like 2:12 I think.

Fermentation is rocking hard.

 

Friday 061711

In Tabernash (ish) ran an easy 3 miles before picking up the crumb grabbers from camp.  And yes, summer camp in Colorado means you can still see snow, and the kids said they woke up on their outdoor overnight with frost on their sleeping bags. 

 

This run was all at 8500 feet or higher (super easy … 9 minute pace).  Should be interesting to see what happens when I get up real high … something I have not done this calendar year (outside of maybe some skiing way back at the front of the year).

We grabbed dinner at a pizza sub Italian place in Winter Park.  It was called “Hernando’s” if I recall correctly.  Anyway … they have some 20000 dollars of singles all over the walls, the ceilings, under glass at the tables … that people have decorated and given over the years.

Oh yeah, fermentation is at full tilt.

Thursday night various

Started a batch of the EPOIPA tonight.  This means it ought to be ready by … ummm August.  But that means my bride and I are both cooking in the kitchen tonight (she is baking cookies in anticipation of our kids returning from camp tomorrow).  Given it was a 90 degree day … it is hot as Atlanta in here.

Pikes Road Race info.  Still not drawn to this but I can see it taking hold.

Good stuff on a 2:02 marathon at SOS.

Things re: WS100 are getting busy over at Irunfar.  I still can’t bring myself to predict this.

WLDMRC this weekend.  (Pikes has had this distinction in the past)

Noticing that Hafer, Carpenter are not on the BTMR entry list.  Yes, I know they have comp entries if so desired.  Looks like registration and management is via someone else given the overhaul of many of the sub pages of the site.  I will confess, I am not sure if this is a good thing.  It remains to be seen.

Enjoyable:  what not to say at a job interview.

Loads of SD100 reports to go through still:  Footfeathers, Rod Bien, Yassine, and Dylan.

Not sure who gets the “best blog post about an injury” award but Tony and Gary have to be the front runners.

Wednesday 112410

A very mellow (AHR =137) 8 miles back in Broomstock,

Bottled the brew tonight.  I am a bit nervous about this batch.  It sat in the fermenter about 2 or three days longer than I’d like.  Its flavor right now seems fine – very hoppy,  but I have an odd feeling about this one.  Might just be the jitters.

USATF MUT posts its runners of the year.

Wednesday 111010

It pretty much seems like we, with we being the masters group at Fleet Feet, are not going to drum up a team for Club Nats..  No surprise, there is much more interest for San Diego hosting the non club variety of XC Nats in early February.

Interesting post on the BBMM by Mackey, and glad to see he is hopping in the NF 50.  That ought to be quite a race.  Showdown again between Roes and Krupicka.  Hmm … hopefully they will dice each other enough that I can move up at a bit in the Chubby Cheeks 50k.

Work in tech?  Might be time to ask for a raise.

11 miles.  I found five dollars on the trail.  Next to it was a receipt for McDonalds.  If you can tell me what McDonalds and what you bought, I will give you the five dollars.  Oh yeah, the 11 was easy.  TZ made some granola that I had for breakfast – which was great.  Just not for the run later in the AM.

Did this three times post the run to mix it up.  I completely suck at burpees/

Maybe I should take this up instead.

Fermentation, day 3.  This ferment is really rolling.  It might be the most aggressive I have ever seen in one of my batches.  I have changed the top stop one way flow valve a couple of times because the build up from the wort-croissen has actually come up through it.

Monday 110810

Yes, I know I went on a self tirade about being more specific in my training but I heeded the call to the mountains today.  South Boulder and Bear it was via the land of the Shadow.

The other brown line above represents the percent grade at any point in the run (sort of).

Coming down, saw two guys heading up.  The sun had set.  This is about 2/3rds of the way up Shadow.  “Does this trail go to Eldorado Springs?”  Ugh.  I gave them some directions and tried to keep it upbeat, but ended the conversation with “you have a less than an hour of daylight” as I ran down and they continued up.  I have had conversations like this more times than I can count on Boulder trails, but they always leave me a bit concerned.

Got to day dreaming … thinking about how I wanted to do this route every day until I could eat it up.  Had the thought of an “Ursa Major” run, that would include at least four rounds of the Bear.

Was thinking how running is like surfing.  We are out there trying to catch that perfect wave, that perfect day.  Some days we catch it, and then we spend a lot of other days trying to catch it again.

Anyway, today was an epic day out there – and not one we are going to have again for a bit due to losing light, colder temps.  I am glad I got it in.  Nothing zippy up and down today but a good head clearing run.

Fermentation underway … day 1

Tuesday 030910

AM – easy seven miles.

We have been planning on hitting Glenwood Springs for Spring Break, while en route to Moab.  Might be a detour in our plans however given this … that road is a wreck.

PM - I felt an urge to get after it.  Like, run another 2 hours this afternoon.  This was neither agreeable with my work schedule really, nor probably really smart given that I am trying to get back on the horse here.  So I biked for 30 minutes (indoor recumbent), and then did an easy five on the mill.  I don’t do bricks, so my quick jump to the mill … well, that was fun.  Started super slow. 

I enjoyed this post a lot today.  Simply because it reflects a lot of what most of us are thinking.  Okay, maybe we are not thinking about 150 mile weeks, but we are thinking about how to shift the game, up the ante … we can smell spring and with it comes the urge to get out there and get after it.  I enjoying reading blogs like this because the excitement is … percolating. 

Sunday 030710

Played a lot today. Tossing a football, shooting hoops, trampoline, etc. All the while I was evaluating the calf and it seemed okay. Decided to give it a go in the PM, and did an easy evaluatory 4 miles and the calf felt fine. Music for this run was Godsmack. Did hoops with the kids afterwards until it was too dark to see and it was still well, and our hands were numb with the 40 degree temps. I am definitely not as quick laterally as I used to be. Need to work on that.

Week was 49 miles and year is 704. Approximately 510 minutes of running on the week (so yeah - very slow!) and so year is now at: 5956. Obviously a bummer because of the calf but it seems, as of tonight, to be on the mend. Got in some cross training with the bike (5.5 hours plus). 6.5 hours of running on the week otherwise though. At this point, the plan is just to carefully evaluate and if all is well, build back up.

Oh yes, brewed up a batch today. Should be ready for bottling by the spring break time frame, and maybe ready in bottles for a RT at the GC.

Tuesday night

Tuesday 050509

• Around 9PM, I have aspirations to get up at 0530 the next AM, and bang out four to seven miles.  But then I sleep.  Sleep is a good thing – right?  I have been sleeping hard as of late:  hitting the rack at 2100, reading for about 20-30 minutes, lights out at 2130 and then not waking until 0630 or 0700.  In years past, I have needed only about 8 hours … the body has been calling for closer to nine.  Heck I think I’d go for ten but I wake up because I need to pee.  In any case, I am going to have to get up early one of these days this week to get the obligatory run up Flag road in.
• Forgot to mention I got the brew bottled last night.
• Got out mid day with Phil.  After a short warm up, we did 5 x 3 minutes on Simms hill.  These were each a touch over 4/10's of a mile (~.42-3), gaining approximately 150 feet of vert on each (so about 6 or 7% grade).  Not Lindens ... but did the trick in a pinch – and again, trying to establish the habits.  Added on afterwards to make it 10, in about 75 minutes.  Still hacking, clearing, snotting …
  

Bolder Boulder 10000 Hop Ale

... not sure if that will be the name of this beer, but it is what I am starting with for a name.  Fermentation activity was fully visible today.  Cooling the wort in the snow worked great.  I was able to pitch yeast immediately after dumping the wort into the fermenter with water.  I have yet to build a wort chiller (I can't see buying one for 75 bucks) so typically I need to wait overnight for the wort to chill.  This has never been a problem, but I have often wondered if it was - simply if stray yeasts were going to infiltrate the brew.  I suspect it never has been an issue because a.) I get the yeast pitched as soon as the wort reaches 76-78 degrees b.) before this the wort has been too hot for anything c.) I effectively add a billion yeast cells - which overpowers any minor stray yeasts that snuck in.  In any case, getting the yeast pitched last night - within hour of cooking was a nice bonus of the spring snow storm.  I was tempted for a bit to use the snow as water in the whole process ... but I will save that for some future experiment.

Saturday 041809

• Saturday PM - just got word from JV that he finished his R2R2R event ... 8:43.  Damn!  Nice job JV! 
• Got a lot of core last night because JZ and I shoveled the driveway and walks for close to two hours all told.  Woke up feeling good and got pretty watching the Boston Marathon prelude videos.  Hit the mill.  Mile at 12% (5.1 mph), mile at 6% (6.2 mph), mile at 0.5% (7.x mph) to hit three miles at 30 minutes.  This was one of those workouts where I thought I was going to do one thing but ended up doing something else.  I thought I'd do a little test of of 4 x a mile, just under six minute pace - just to refamiliarize myself with that rhythm.  Started at 10.1 (all this was at 0% grade), but decided to keep going at a mile.  Went through, upping the pace every mile by .1 mph (to 10.4).  Kept at it for 24+ minutes to assure a solid four plus.  Jogged at 7.5 mph (8 min/mile) for 5 minutes then started 10 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off.  Minutes on start at 50 seconds on the clock (to let the mill ramp up) and finish at 5 seconds (a minute + later) to assure good time.  I tried to get the mill to do the minutes on at 11 mph (5:27 m/m), but my mill at home seems to struggle to get there.  It seems that my pounding in to it, "dampens" it - and it bounces back and forth between 11 down to 10.4.  Guess I am too heavy for it.  :)  I was less concerned about the pace at this point and just wanted to stride out a good effort post the tempo.  12 miles, 86 minutes.  Pretty stoked that things are starting to come back a little bit.
• Made up a wort for an IPA.  Figured I'd take advantage of the snow and submerged the pot to chill the wort in a big pile of snow that JZ and I made. 

Friday 103108

0 miles.

What can I say ... this week, with vacation, running has pretty much gotten away from me.  I guess I can take solace in that I got in a couple days this week and tried to make those quality efforts but the mileage took a huge hit this week.  I expected it, but it was more of a hit than I thought it would be.

I could sweat it and honestly, part of me does but we take that and put it in a little box called ... rationalization ...

That said, today's rationalization in addition to traveling across the country, and dealing with the various stiffness that induces in me ... we had a Girl Scout event today.  And of course Halloween (so scurrying around the 'hood).  And of course unpacking.  And of course, getting the dogs back.  You know ... post vacation stuff.  Runnerus interuptus.

I have had a fair set of rationalization for the last week and it was good stuff too.  But I am a bit tired of it.  I am ready to get rolling in these wonderful hills again.

But the ultimate rationalization today is tomorrow's run.  I will go long, look to run hard at times, go up quite a bit, and look to do my longest run in a couple of months (umm, since Pikes).  The rite (right of freedom on OSMP?) of fall ... the BBMM.

As a side note, I did get in 15 minutes to bottle up the batch of brew

Not pale as death ale

Cooking up a brew batch tonight, and hence stinking up the house with that lovely beer smell.  I love it.  I am nearly out of my Pikes Peak Celebration IPA so it is time.  This is a batch called "Not Pale as Death Ale."  Just wanted to do a little something different.

Basics of this step is to boil 1.5 to 2 gallons of water, steep the grains for 45 minutes.  Pull them.  I then take the pot off the burner and add the malt extract.   Bring this back to a boil after mixing in the extract well.  

Depending on what you are making, you will add different hops at different times.  Tonight, I added Challenger hops at the boil of the extract, and then Cascade at 30 minutes in, and 50 minutes in.  At an hour, you are done.  Pretty much throughout it, just keep an eye on it to assure that it is boiling well and nothing is burning at the bottom (stir alot).

You then add this wort (that is what it is called now) to the fermenter.  

In the fermenter there will be 3 gallons (+ ... note, this is not an exact science of what you need in there)  of cold water.   This will need to cool (usually overnight, unless you have a wort chiller) to at least 75 degrees before you add the yeast to start fermentation.

Couple of very basic tricks here: 

• ... a big funnel from your local hardware store helps a lot
• ... be sure to clean your fermenter well.  It is what your brew will be sitting in for the next 10 days.  I like to use a capful of bleach in the fermenter, fill it with water and let it soak for a bit.  I'd recommend that you not use too much bleach because then it means you have to rinse the fermenter a lot to get it all washed out.
  
• I have heard of some guys filling their fermenter with ice to bring the wort temp down quickly.  I have not tried that but it sounds like a possibility
• I pull the pot of the burner to add the malt extract and let it cool for a couple of minutes because the malt extract is really dense.  Hence, it sinks to the bottom of the pot.  If you have the burner cranking on the pot when you add the malt extract, you can risk burning it.  Taking it off gives me the chance to add the malt under a slightly cooler set of conditions and mix it in. 
  
• Cooking this in the house on a colder autumn night is nice.  Unless you have a seven year old who claims the smell will kill him.  Of course, my ten year old loves the smell of the hops.
• Having Papazian's book "Joy of Homebrewing" nearby is always a good idea.  The pages 19-35 (3rd edition) are good reference.  
• When I first started brewing I was pretty nutty about the measurements, the times I added stuff.  Really ... this is not necessary.  Relax.  The measurements don't need to be that exact.  Hardly exact in fact.   If you get in the ball park, you are probably going to have something that is drinkable.  Yes, this might be different if you are looking to sell your stuff or enter it in a contest, but I don't do it for that.  I do it to drink it and share with people.
• One of the things you can do right before adding the yeast is to take a sample of your beer and determine its specific gravity with a hydrometer.  Doing this gives you a sense of the density of the wort.  As the yeast eat the sugar in your wort and produce alcohol, this specific gravity will decrease, eventually stabilizing at some point.  Some people use specific gravity measurements to determine when fermentation is done (looking for a trend of stabilization).  I don't.  You can just tell with ales by a.) waiting ten days and b.) watching your vapor lock on the top to stop bubbling.  (I confess, this might be more important in other brews).  However if you do gather the starting s.g and the ending s.g, you can do a calculation to determine the percent alcohol of your beer.  Which is kind of nice to know but again ... well, whatever.
• Okay, even though I said don't get too nutty on the measurements ... I measured half gallon increments the first time I added water to my fermeneter and marked that off with a sharpie on the side of it so I know what is 2 gal, 3 gal, etc.
• I recommend having a beer while doing all this ... (historical shot - Imogene 2006 - in freaking Ouray after the finish after finishing fourth ... the race did not go to Telluride!)

Bottling

Long time family friend MC bottled her brew tonight. Some description follows ...

First you take the wort (now a flat alcoholic beverage ... so beer without any bubbles) out of the primary fermenter to get it away from the dead yeast and consumed sugar on the bottom (also called trube ... nasty stuff ... good on gardens though). If you leave your beer in here too long after fermentation has completed, you can begin to get off flavors from this stuff. We were about 12 days post pitching so we were fine ... we probably would be fine for another couple of days actually. But fermentation was done. Some measure this via a hydrometer but I just eye-balled it by the fact that a.) it had been 12 days, b.) there was no activity (bubbling) at the vapor lock.

In any case, we pull the beer off into a secondary vessel (in some cases some folks will start a secondary fermentation here ... not necessary for this ale). We then added a water - malto-dextrose mix. Yup ... sugar water. This reactivates the yeast enough to produce C02. That CO2 gets trapped in the bottle and then dissolves in the beer (and hence is called bottle conditioning) to produce a nice bubbly beer ... and head!.

Of course, you can drink this stuff now and actually get buzzed. Its alcohol content is about what it is going to be (which, again if you are interested you can figure out via hydrometer measurements at the start of fermentation and at the end of fermentation). But it is flat. So ... if you like so called British Style Ales ... have at it. I like to get a taste of it at this point even though it is flat just to get an idea of what the beer will be like. Its feel will change when carbonated, but you get a nice preview.

Bottling is important. If you don't get your caps on right ... you will end up with a flat beer. There is a special wand you pick up at a beer store that allows you to fill bottles easily (cheap, and so a must have). Once you see this, you'll see why it is important.