Week ending 18MAY2020

Monday afternoon  - cooler day, but a bit tired today.  An hour and some strides.  7.7 miles.

Tuesday AM - misty chilly ... 6.1 miles with 10 x 40' hills (Eagle Hill).
Tuesday PM - easy four along the ditch.

Wednesday mid morning.  8.5 miles easy.  Felt better as the run went on.

Thursday afternoon - 8.2 miles.  Tired.  Easy and it felt like a slog but it was actually marginally quicker than yesterday.  A few strides at the end.

Friday PM - longer work today.  4 x a mile on the track on a lap rest.  Goal was 6:10-15.  Actual was 6:05, 6:05, 6:03, 5:55 with most that 55 coming on the last lap (and sort of looking silly, breaking down doing it).  Good workout.  10.2 miles on the day.

Saturday - easy miles.  5 with JZ in the old neighborhood as we waited on an tire repair.  I got a few more post.

Sunday - 3 peaks - Bear via Fern out of Cragmoor, then over to SoBo, then over to Green and then back down Bear Canyon back to Cragmoor.  13.6 miles with about 4500 feet of gain.  So a long run and finally some mountain vert.  I had JV and Homie for escorts this AM.   The run was a bit more than I was planning but it was a beautiful enough morning and the effort was in check enough that it was manageable (although I had to slurp some water at Bear Creek).  I am certainly not in "mountain" shape but I managed ok given the length of this effort.

Showing how little I get to the big hills anymore - it is the first time I had been to Green since going there with GW and Gabby last July.  Bear?  Got to go back to 2018 for that. SoBo?  Yeah - 2015.  For me it is mostly the "time tax" that I have been less than willing to pay over the last few years.  I might need to be more willing to eat that if I want success in a hill race.

Solid week - 2 quality workouts, a climb/long run and overall good miles (67.3) and the biggest vertical run on the year yet (although it is hardly enough). Actually on a gig remotely on a different time zone next week so it might be a bit more challenged that has been the last couple of months.

Apparently the rumor is that Pikes will make a call as to what they are doing June 1.  I'm fine with whatever that call is.  I sort of feel I can take a crack at some so-called 50yo PRs (as I am still pretty freshly minted in that decade) for the mile and 5k if Pikes pulls the plug, and I sort of think I could possibly take a long shot crack at a sub 5 effort at Pikes if that plays out.  It is all good either way.  I am thinking with Leadville canceled for that same weekend, Pikes will likely do the same but that is just a guess

Week ending 22DEC2019

Good week. 
MON – 6.1 miles
TUE – 10.6 miles.  With Gabby and Greg and actually did some quality (first time in 2 and a half months).  It was just 6 x 90 seconds on equal rest but it was good to be moving a bit again. 
WED – AM 6.4 miles, PM – 3.7 miles
THU – 10 miles
FRI – 8.4 miles in the AM with practice, another 3.2 in the afternoon.  AM session started with a part of a workout for Braun so it had some faster stuff in it. 
SAT 10.1 miles with practice
SUN – 8 miles with JV over Sanitas and Anemone.  Over 2000 vertical – which is a lot for me these days. 



60 something plus on the miles this week, with some workout stuff in there and a good climb.  Clawing along I guess. 
Sort of a big music week for me.  Had a lengthy practice on Sunday afternoon and another Tuesday.  Gearing up for a show on the 27th – one where I will actually be in full with the band this go around so there is a fair amount of prep to be sure I know the pieces.  


Thursday night Rails End hosted another open mic night.  I did four tunes – almost all of them were an on-the-fly call as I got up there.  The guy before me did all quiet tunes so I felt compelled to shift it up to see if I could get the audience going.  Did Post Malone’s “Better Now,” The Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun,” Caamp’s “By and By,” and finished with “Squeezebox” by the Who.  A guy jumped on the drum kit with that tune and so that was fun. 

Tuesday 12FEB2019

Greg stopped by the house in the AM and asked me to point to where my foot pain was.  I pointed to the front ball of my foot around the back of the second and third toes. His quick read was, “congratulations, you have Morton’s Neuroma.”
So there is that.  He set me up with a pair of Superfeet inserts and a met pad for the right foot.  We will give this a shot for a few days to see how things go.  In the afternoon, I jogged with those in my fattest and freshest Hokas to practice and then did another four on the treadmill.  I am still aware of the neuroma but it was a tad bit more bearable.  We’ll see how this goes.
In the evening I headed over to InMotion Running (Greg’s shop) to catch the Billy Yang movie about Dave Mackey, called “Leadman.”  The movie is good (also very good is the video that Bill Hanson did on Dave shortly after his amputation).  Even better than the movie though is getting together to see everyone for a few minutes.  I noted in this shot that you had at least three guys who had lost some part of their body to amputation.  Even in that category I am the least accomplished of these guys. 

Anyone recognize the guy who apparently is not happy with that last bite of pizza?
One of the best ambassador’s of the Boulder mountain all things scene – Bill Wright.This is mostly a shot to make JZ jealous because he was home doing calculus homework.
Bill Hanson video.

Trailer to Billy Yang video

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.  

Week ending 04NOV2018

I asked Siri on Friday how many day it was until August 23.  It replied that it was 294 days.  That is 42 weeks.  Hypothetically that ought to be a fair amount of time to undo some of the shift that has happened in the 1541 days since August 17, 2014. 

I have heard this coyote pair from the hollow just up the street at night.  Today, as we went for a walk for the dogs, they wandered out for some sun.  They were not easily hazed. 

In the spirit of “rebooting” for a “something,” I did get a round with JV on Green on Sunday AM.  As it has been countless times before, it was one of those runs where the time just disappears and there is hardly any “air time” as we fill the run with yapping on anything and everything … just fun.

That said, I am in horrible “hill shape.”  Things that were once easy climbs or at something I could shuffle a run out of have become hikes.  There is work to be done.  We went up via Long Canyon – one of my favorite but also one that rarely have hit because it ends at the Flagstaff Road, and then came back down the “middle” route – also one of my favorite. It was a great fall morning jog.

Another lap on Green

I got a lap in on Green this AM with Jeff and Homie.  It was my second summit on Green this year.  It was Jeff’s 37th on the year and Homie’s 400th.  Or something like that.  So yes, these guys can climb ridiculously well.  I pretty much went about as quick as I was going to go and they took a walk up the hill behind me to be nice.  And then they were kind not to blow by me on the way down either as I old man picked my way through the rocks. 

It was a foggy morning and so a pretty wet climb, but the time flew as we made chatter on the trails.  These guys were the first two with me in my first ever “ultra” … a run from the Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon.   Both hard and easy to believe that was 8 years ago now.  Running with these guys is easy:  laughs, history, common topics to touch on, and just good “dooods.”

I headed over to practice afterwards to get another half dozen miles in … super easy.  It had to be.

On a related side note, I got a lap on Bear on Sunday … it was the first time I had been up on that peak (based on my notes) since 2015!  I recalled why as I was going on Fern.  That trail is so stupid steep it is something I can’t really run.  I guess there are some who can run it but nearly most folks can’t.  So there is a benefit to it, but at some point it is just a different thing.  But on this Sunday, a very rainy Sunday, it was a nice escape to visit this peak I had not been at in almost a thousand days. 

Friday 24FEB2017

Afternoon – colder than it has been and spitting snow.  It was one of those days where the air was holding some more moisture … at least for Colorado and so it felt colder.  I jumped in with the kids and did 8 x 600 at threshold, with 100 meters off … or what I think Jack Daniels would call a cruise interval run.  10.2 miles in 73. 

I never felt great.  On Wednesday after I had run with the #GOM group I did not feel up for another run with the team in the afternoon so I just went to the weight room.  I didn’t do anything particularly intense or heavy, but I screwed around in there doing things for some 80 minutes … and I am flipping stupid sore.  At least I got that going for me. 

Got together with JV and in-from-out-of-town Kevin Tilton in the evening over at Waterloo in Louisville.
Good conversation on accents, falling through ice, hermits and maybe even a little about running.

Friday 27JAN2017

In the AM I met up with JV for a round of Green.  The route from Chatuaqua via the Baseline – ASG to the summit and then back down Ranger – Gregory seems to be measuring in around 6.1 miles and 2680 feet of vertical these days.  There was some ice, but nothing bad.  I went with the Ice Bugs this go around, having learned the error of my ways on Tuesday from going in the ice storm with Dave on HOKAS!

I ran in the afternoon (4.4 miles) but skipped doing the workout with the team as it was busy enough that it made more sense for me to help with timing than to run with them. 

Monday 27JUN2016

No early running as I had some work calls.

Link stuff:

• The three words you need to hear to keep you motivated in whatever.
• I had no idea that Walsmley was at the AFA.   Sub 14 5k too.
• Good wrap on MUT from Justin (as always).
• Lot of good WS takes in here, and I agree with him on the dude that got across the line by carrying him in 30 hours and change.

Mid day – pretty warm.  Actually, hot.  About a mile into my jog, I came upon an elderly guy sitting on his bike, not going anyway on the trail.  I asked if he was okay and while he stated he was fine he pointed off the trail to a dead dog.  He explained he came up on a kid that was with the dog and it was overheated.  The kid ran off to get his parents and the old guy agreed to stay, but the dog died within a minute or two of the kid leaving.  That just sucks.  Shitty day for the dog, hard lessons for a kid.

Afternoon – took up JV’s call to hit Green.  I had to check because the last time I was up this hill was back in November.  Wow.  Scott J joined us and thankfully these guys were super easy on me. 

I’ll admit, I do still get a bit star struck around guys like Scott and Tony, but I was pleased to see we talked more as three Dads and the raising of our kids than about ultras.   In fact I think we talked more about cycling than running.

Wednesday 18NOV15

Afternoon – the temps just plummeted in the afternoon once the sun tucked behind the clouds over the mountains that were throwing those winds.  Just felt like it was biting.  I jogged over to BHS track and ran with the kids who are heading to NXR tomorrow (for the race over the weekend).  Nothing hard for them now … just some 200 floats at race pace and easy jogging in between to keep the legs moving.  They are fit.  It was good for me to jog behind them a bit and get a few turns in at sub six pace without having to think too much about it.

Good reminder on Lydiard principles.

So a beer mile guy got signed by a big sponsor.  This, and burro racing, continue to demonstrate to me that straight up fast running is often not going to make you a pay check.  Max King got more money at the Warrior Dash championship than any of his other paydays.  If you are a 14 flat 5k guy, you are probably gonna be making more money working at the shoe gear shop than you are off of your racing.  Somewhat tangential …it was recently shared with me that the top video gamers in the world make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and in some cases millions. 

I ended up having a bit of a conversation with someone as to what 100 events are harder. You know, the classic is Leadville harder than whatever.  I am more of the mentality that a fast 5k could be just as hard or harder than a Leadville – not counting the recovery component.  Is Hardrock harder than Leadville?  Or is a 100 mile on a track harder or easier than both?  Some of it is your personal game.  I consider Nick P who has done well at Hardrock but has struggled at the track ultra stuff.  Alternatively Bob S has historically done well on that flat repetitive ultra stuff but would probably die in the first 20 of Hardrock (only because he can’t lift his feet more than six inches off the ground).  Racing events is hard – regardless of the distance.  When you race it, you are committing to make the damn thing hurt.

Caught up with Mack Daddy Dave at the Flatirons event tonight.

Also got to jog for a few miles with Shad and Jeff.  Fun to catch up with them … even if they made fun of my old man sweater.

Sunday 28JUN2015

AM – Around 6 I headed over to Chaut with TZ.  She walked Bart the Black Pirate dog and I hit the front of Green. 

The first part of this trail (after Baseline) is so challenging for me.  I end up walking most of the Amphitheater  Trail until it breaks at the overlook.  Just above the Greenman junction, I ran into JV who was coming down.  He joined me to head back up.  We came back down the Ranger-Gregory route  Yesterday I felt I was buzzing that well, but today I could almost feel every pebble annoy my feet.  Weird how day to day varies like that.  5.9 miles.  Not a lot of miles today but another chunk of 2500 feet of vertical.  Ah, and none of it recorded on Strava even though the dang watch recorded it.  I ain’t gonna worry about it.  Seems to barf like that once every few hundred runs.   Whatever.

I thought about getting out again later in the day – specifically to get in another half dozen miles or so just to get 70 on the week, but I let that go (the way the day played out, that was okay).  It was a 11.75 hour week with 63+ miles and 13.2k feet.  June is at 215.9 miles, 36 hours and 32k feet, and 8 days off.  I think I have 8 Greens this month. 

I am hoping to get another 5 hour run in this week.  Ideally I’d be getting up to altitude but that is unlikely.  I feel about as confident as I think I could be off the training I have been doing but the two chinks I feel I have in the prep plan right now are just the overall experience north of 40-50 miles and … altitude acclimatization.  I will do what I can to address that when I get back from my next sea level trip in July, but it might be bit too little too late. 

I do feel that the blast of vertical in the past week is starting to create some sort of effect.  Well, actually I know it is.  At minimum it is dialing me in to some more technical trail running and tuning my head to deal with that.  I took some nasty diggers in the early part of the week, including one that has the front of my left hip hurting to the point where I jump if I touch it wrong (but no problem if I am running).

I “watched” WS throughout the day like many (via Twitter).  Watching it sort of reminded me of watching the Pikes Ascent the day before the Marathon.  I have sat on those rocks up there watching some really good athletes come in and they are just busted.  You see the guys and gals who can leave you in the dust any day of the week and they are just crushed.  Watching a 100 miler, particularly one like WS in the heat, is similar.  It leaves me wondering how I can accomplish half of what they do when they end up like that.  I know of course that their outcome on that day is not the result they would get everyday, but it reminds you of the possibility of melt downs. 

The other thing that I wonder about in watching these 100s is … well, they are a freaking whole day.  It makes you realize the magnitude of the effort.  You wake up and those folks have already been running for a couple of hours.  You go do your run and it is your effort for the day, and they are running.  You come home and eat and do whatever for SEVERAL hours and they are still running.  You have lunch.  You have dinner.  You go to bed.  You wake up the next day and they are STILL RUNNING.  It is amazing. 

And then you have a guy like the guy who won WS a bunch of times who has been doing this FOR WEEKS.

KZ got her driver’s license this past week.  She has been “slow” in getting it as she is already 17.5.  As a family we sort of brought the issue to a “we need to get this done” point when we hit this summer vacation.  I felt she was about a coin flip to pass or fail the exam.  But she passed.  With that first drive off on her own I felt that feeling that millions of parents have felt:  I grinned because I realized she was  going to finally enjoy that freedom and latitude that a car gives a person.  I could see her realize that too as her eyes lit up with that knowledge.  But at the same time, I feel a touch of fear each time I see a pile up on the side of the road.

I am gonna get a picture up of her with the license once the official one comes in the mail.

JZ is back from a few weeks of Scout excursions.  And he wants at that computer for big periods of time for on line gaming with his friends.  We (TZ and I) have set up some “screen time” policies that restrict how much of this he can do a day.  And the kid hates it.  We have heard about how unfair we are, how no other parents do this, how much time we as parents spend on the computer, and how we are inappropriately micromanaging his life.  The computer and cell phone thing is a bit tricky because it can be a source of entertainment and education.  It will work out but it is taking a fair amount of energy.  It is pretty interesting because he is an amazing kid in so many ways, and he often seems mature beyond his 14 years to me.  But when we hit this topic, he becomes a little kid all over again.

We where doing some clothes shopping and he was a good sport when I asked him to try on the pink sports coat.

Lots of action over the weekend including the USTAF Masters race on the track in Eugene. 

Week wrap up video probably tomorrow.

Monday 032315

This year’s Mount Washington Hall of Fame inductees.

AM – slow to rise but I got out and down to the HS to yap with Greg as he set off his bleary eyed high schoolers.  9 miles.  I ended up circling up to the kids on the second half of their run and immediately was reminded that their easy pace is just under 7.   It was part of why I headed over there to run … I knew it would wake me up a bit and force me out of the 8+ slog.

PM – I got out to Green with JV.  Well, first I screwed up the start.  JV was going to be a bit late to our original start time and so I thought I would take advantage and get a head start.  Jeff has killed me on Green like 200 something times, and I thought with my tired and non vert acclimitized legs, a little jump would be good.  But I messed up the message and he was waiting for me in the lot.  We figured it out and caught up just above the Saddle Rock.   Good to get on Green (I was draggin’ and the snow up high with my slick shoes made it stupid) and better to catch up with Jeff.  I need more of both.

 
I was feeling the lack of vertical for sure.  Need to be getting at this at least weekly.   On the way down we ran through the RMR crew, and I got to catch up with Mike Randall and burro racer Jon Davis.  Good to chat with those guys and consider some of the summer plans with quadripeds.

Sunday 113014 – JV’s 1000th Ascent of Green.

I had the privilege of joining JV for his 1000th summit of Green Mountain this AM.  Arguably Jeff did this months ago, as he had some additional 100 summits or so before he started formally keeping track.  In any case, today was his count of the 1000th.  A small crew of us gathered to join him on his trek, and the mountaineering experience was off the charts:  Skurka, Homie, Ralston, Bruce, and then we met Tony and Joe at the top. 

I did a short jog with TZ in the AM and thought conditions would be great.  I went out with her around 8 and it was in the 50s. At 9, as I was prepping to head out, I noticed that the temp was dropping and I could see the haze coming in from the west.  It got colder still.  By the time I was leaving the house around 30, it had dropped probably 20 degrees and it would be in the 20s by the time I got to Boulder.  A haze locked in the Flatirons – but this would set up for a beautiful inversion view from the summit.

We hung at the summit for a bit taking in what Jeff has hundreds of times before, and enjoying the moment.  The inversion was pretty amazing.
We headed back down into the cloud (where it was colder too), casually and carefully as there were sections with socked in ice.  Once at the bottom I was able to entice JV into one of his favorite pre/post race treats – a bowl of cereal.  An amazing day for a great guy with an incredible crew.  I had a blast.  Thanks for sharing it Jeff!

Side note – there was a lot of chatter as to how quickly the weather turned.  I found this graphic from the local wunderground web site that reflects how quick the temps dropped.

8:45, 54 degrees.

 
9:30, 24 degrees – and still dropping.

So 30 degrees in 45 minutes.  Amazing!

I ended up with 5.6 on the day (4.6 on the Green RT), and 101 and change on the week. Largest week of the year – but again, just grabbing it while I can.   In general, I held it together fairly well, but it was a little bit of edge island.  I could feel the calf having issues in the front of the week, but it let up.  I did some squats in the middle of the week and I could feel that niggling in the right side for the rest of the week.  Green today was not too bad, but admittedly the effort was very light for these guys.    Leadville lottery opens this week and I expect to throw my name in the hat.

November was a month that I had hoped to get back at it a bit more after the travel month in October.  As it turns out, the months were nearly the same – in October I had 271.7 miles.  November I had 274.4.  34.8 hours in October, and 38.2 in November.  8 days off in October and 5 in November.  In part I think this was because while I was traveling in October, I could commit to a schedule when not working of getting runs done (when just on work travel).  In November, I had a set back at the start of the month with the calf spinning up a bit … so it took me some to work through that.