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

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. 

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.

Saturday 102712

Headed out for a run this AM and had the great luck and fortune to bump into Buzz, Bill, Jeff V, Tony K, Burch, Mike H, Brandon F, Tim L, Rob T, Basit, Dave M, Justin M, Homie, Sandrock, Wes T, Kendrick C.  Crazy how that is in here… you can’t head out for a run and throw a rock without hitting someone in the face.  Just another day in this wonderful place we live.


               

I clearly and quickly knew that I had not visited the hills as of late.  I could feel the small of my back give off its tell tale “bark” when I have been away from them (the snow seems to magnify this, along with yesterday’s workout).  No bother at this point.  Flagstaff and Green for the front half and then coming down via Bear Canyon to round it out to 11.5 miles.

All that however was really the footnote to this run.  It was great to share a few strides with so many of the wonderful people in this community.  Common topic that comes up is how folks’ heads are churning on their ‘13 plans.  Interesting to hear the different takes. There are so many wonderful stories.  Yeah, cheesy as Swiss, but it lifts me up.  It might be that I don’t do a lot of it and so it is a novel thing, but it leaves me buzzing for hours afterwards.  I probably am buzzing too much during these sort of runs too, feeling like a kid at Christmas, and talking too dang much.

Couple of shots from a Halloween gig we went to last night.  What is scary is that I actually use to sort of look like this when I had hair.  No, seriously …

Off to Seattle tonight.  Listened to the Endurance Planet show, Ask The Coaches.  This show by Lucho and Tawnee, along with TalkUltra are pretty much the only two fitness, endurance, ultra, training podcasts that I listen to anymore (although occasionally I will queue up Marathon Talk. .  It has been fun to hear how this show has matured, being a bit of ultra, a bit of marathon, a bit of tri, a bit of all the stuff “we” talk about.  I dig it.   When not listening to this “genre” I go with Carolla’s stuff for laughs.  Most the time though, it is purely music – everything from Winston to Foo Fighters to stuff KZ turns me onto.  Go to Pandora when stuck.
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Solid post by Ian S regarding flat 100s.  Without a doubt, I am still thinking about the 100, but I am not focusing on it in 13 (given my Pikes goals).  And without a doubt, I am still amazed at what Bob did at the Boulder 100 in his last lap.  Reading Ian’s post leaves me nodding my head, because it is clearly not how you run the first half but how you can run that damn second half – and really how much from 70 miles to the finish.  As I was crushed to a point of “running” a 17 minute mile in my last couple of laps, I clearly have a lot of possible improvement …
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Started getting back to a little bit of core work.  Mostly push ups, planks and reverse crunches.  I have not done them in a bit so it is leaving me a bit sore.  I imagine that as the weather starts to degrade a bit, I will look to get into the gym a bit more.  Maybe some rope work.  I tend to get a bit nutty with bench press and that sort of stuff when I go to the gym.  It is a left over from the AF days I guess.  I can’t say that I will totally eschew that stuff, but I think I will try to focus a bit more on some core and leg work (dead lifts, squats).  Eh, easily said.   
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While I will be focused on Pikes in 2013, I am pondering the burro thing again.  And I’d like to finally coordinate a Fairplay to Leadville run (and back) with Fuller.  And I am thinking of hosting up a FA type event … my house to Bear and back … whatever route you want with a few checkpoints along the way.  Not the cup of tea for everyone with the flat before the climb, but a good 35 miler (ish).  Pancakes galore at the finish.  Maybe in March. 
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I saw a commercial today while on the plane for testosterone applied via a stick to the arm pit.  Of course there was the list of all the possible side effects at the end of the commercial.   When driving into work, I hear commercials on the sports radio all the time about “low T” this and that.  "Are you a middle aged man who is tired of being tired?”   This is not new of course, but it seems that this stuff is nearly as readily available as coffee (when is Starbucks gonna provide the Low T Latte?).   The question that I am trying to get out of my head (kind of like a bad song that gets stuck in there) is this:  with this stuff apparently being so available, is it really okay if someone just gets a  therapeutic use exemption (TUE)?   Apparently I don’t have low T (but I have not been tested), but if I suddenly did and I got some prescription to bring my levels to some “normal” range, would it be doping if I competed with an appropriate TUE?   According to what I understand from USADA, the answer is no – that would not be doping.  

This sort of sounds like an argument that I hear pro’s who have been caught making:  “I did not use it to enhance my performance, but just to recover.”  Uh, enhancing your recovery is enhancing your performance.   The guy taking testosterone to get it to some level within his TUE is doing it “to just be normal” – but he is also enhancing my performance.   Then again, I enhance my performance too – I drink coffee and I know it will help my performance so it is obviously a performance enhancer … just happens to be legal when I have my two cups in the AM

This leaves me a bit stuck with the conundrum of how everything is a drug of some sort (uuh, yeah, I), and how we legislate and regulate what is normal.  And that is sort of arbitrary.

Thursday 083012

AM – 10 miles, ATT.  A bit cooler today.

Got a call from KZ yesterday.  She was pretty upset about not having a good day at XC practice.  The day before she had called me and was super amped that she had run continuously for 60 minutes for the first time.  But yesterday, she had a tough day and was upset about it.  I tried to explain to her that in running, there are good days and bad days – and that while I have learned a few things about one can do to cause or prevent these – a lot of it is still a mystery to me.  I told her I have trained for a full year for a particular day, and have failed to put it together on that day.  It happens.  For her, in training, one great day or one bad day does not make the athlete, but consistency through all the days does.  And that is probably true for students, artists, musicians, etc.

Earlier today I wrote this …

As I am getting closer to the weekend, I am getting more atuned to what Homie is doing (some recent shots) I am currently expecting to join him Saturday night, Sunday AM for Grays, Torres.  And then Bierstadt and Evans.  I can then get him over to Longs, where I expect he will have lots of help. 

But then tonight I saw this:

I have nothing but mad props for John Prater.  The man has a steel set as far as I am concerned.  He is the man in the arena.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.  TDR

John I salute you.

Tuesday 081412

According to Sage Canaday's twitter, he ran the front side in 28:43.  Assuming so, this puts the FKT question there to rest.  With the coming to being of Strava this year, I am not sure that the list is hugely necessary anymore.  In any case, I think this puts three guys there under 30 that I know about:  Canaday, Gates and Krupicka.

Still no MC at PP as a racer.    

Green with Homie this AM.  Something like his 110th ascent of the year.  My 20th.  Good to catch up with him.  He is eyeballing a particularly stout record attempt in a few weeks so we caught up on that a bit, and possible logistics.  Some pix  …

   

If I had poles, they would go here:
 


Here is what the track looks like heading up the Front Side (Saddle, Amp, Greenman) and down the “Back” (Ranger, Gregory) – starting out of the Gregory Lot (I started a bit more east … Chautauqua … and so that adds on about a mile total.  6 on the day).

A few other shots from over the weekend up in Fairplay and over in Breck.  This first one is looking towards Mosquito Pass.

Fern is open.  (JV tipped me off on this)  There is the OSMP take here, and a good number of shots of the burn area over here. Basically the Fern trail to Bear is open, everything else is closed.  I don’t see me getting up there for a bit in any case.  While I am curious, it does not make sense for me to do that this week, and then I will be out the area for a bit.

With Schlarb struggling at the Squamish 50 last weekend and pulling out at mile 20ish, I have to wonder if he is gonna do Pikes.  He says he is doing a break now, but his name is still on the start list.

Sunday 070112 Longs Peak.

JV calls me ALL the time.  “Wanna do Green?”  “Wanna come do the Missouri group?”  “Want to do Longs?”  “Hey I am heading to Pikes.  Interested?”  And while I am always interested, I rarely take him up on it.  In fact, this year, I am pretty sure we have only run a handful of times together.  By coincidence, we both called each other on Saturday asking each other, “Wanna do Longs?”  So, this time is was on.

We added Homie and Dr Nick to the mix, and once again, I was slow man on the totem pole.  Nick is prepping for HR, and has a series of stout performances at the 100 mile distance.  John is also a HR finisher, but is one of the most accomplished mountaineer guys I know.  Dude did 10 LAPS on GREEN in one go.  And JV is just a rocket on anything that is steep and gnarly.

Me?  I am a nine toed, slow on the technical, out of shape guy who was trying out poles.

In any case, I was very stoked to get out with some great guys on my initial trip up this Front Range classic.

What I learned today: 

1.)  I am not using poles.  I see the advantage to them on the climbs in SOME cases.  But for as many times as I got some advantage, I was cursing them 2x that for getting caught between rocks, snagged on a tree, etc.  I am sure if I practiced with them a bunch more, I’d get it, but I am not gonna use them in a couple of weeks.

2.)  I am going to pace HR in Hokas.  JV recommended that I run with my Cascadias, and so I did.  I paid for this on the rocky slopes of Longs.  My scar tissue on my left foot was lit up like a Christmas tree by the end of the run because of the abuse it took.  The Hokas will protect that a bit more.  I know some folks think they suck when they get wet, but I can manage that (and apparently it is pretty dry down there this year anyway).

In any case, my legs were fine on the ups and downs, but my feet were not happy in the Cascadias from very early on – and it was slowing me.  A LOT.  REAL SLOW.  EMBARASSING SLOW as the croo had to wait on me several times as we came down.  Hardly a fair comparison to the way  I buzzed down Quandary a few weeks ago in the Hokas .  I was hobbling down the lower stretches today of Long’s like I was in a pair of house slippers.

It might also be a good idea for me to avoid any workouts in spikes until at least after this little event.

3.)  It drives JV (and frankly me) a bit nuts that he has to wait for me on nearly every training run we do in the mountains.  Well, maybe that does not drive him nuts but neither of us can figure out why that is the case and he has yet to nip me at Pikes.  If we do Pikes, I am fairly confident that this year however is his year.  (he is sure to comment and say something that is self effacing and how I say this every year, so just ignore when he does that)

4.)  Longs is not a running peak.  At least not for me.  I know there are some guys doing crazy ass two and a half hour stuff on the Keiners route (you have no idea how sick this is until you see it)  – but for me, this is probably the most challenging peak I have tackled in CO. It is not that it is all that technical.  It is just not runable like say Sherman or Quandary.   Maybe someday it could be a running peak for me, but I am pretty sure that my long history of poor coordination would prevail.

5.)  I will probably just carry a 70 oz hydration pack at HR.  That ought to be plenty and give me room to carry other gear as well.

6.)  My legs are in fair shape.  4000 feet of climbing today and I don’t feel wrecked at all.  From the ankles up that is.

7.)  Longs is just like they say it is:  a very crowded peak on weekends in the summer.  However, travel with the boys in the pix below, and you are guaranteed to take routes that are a bit “less travelled.”  And hence a bit less crowded enroute.

8.)  I am fairly certain this would NOT be the first 14er I’d bring someone up.  It is a pretty stout one when compared to things like Grays and Torreys, the Decalibron, or even Pikes (the only issue with Pikes is how damn long it is to get up the Barr trail)

9.)  Not too bad for me at altitude today, but I probably could benefit to get a few more days of sleep up in Fairplay.

10.)  We had ridiculously beautiful weather today:  No windbreakers needed all day.  This hardly the norm on the ledges on the NW side of the peak.

At the lot around 6:30. 
 
Up we go.  Heading into the Boulder Field and to the Keyhole.
After the Keyhole.
 
On the summit.  Mountain endurance legend Peter B popped up. 

JV pointing out the nuttiness of some routes.

 

I am sure more shots will get added as I get some from the guys.
 
Coming up, there is a downhill mile in Superior on the 4th.  I am not sure if I will do that – as if the family is up, we may opt for an AM hike instead (and there may not be race day reg).  So, Thursday night there is the BRR track meet …

Week was 72 miles, 7540 feet of climbing (bulk of that coming today), over about 13.5 hours (again, most of that coming today). 

Huge thanks to Jeff, John and Nick for a great day today.