Carpenter bromance stuff

Pikes – Gray wins the Ascent by 10 minutes (2:08).  First timer Abrha wins in 2:42.  Keep in mind a 2:35-2:40 was a winning time on the women’s side for a long time, but the whole game shifted with Dobson running 2:24.

Bonnet’s performance of 3:37 with a 2:16 climb (which would have netted him second in the Ascent the day before) has to be considered the performance of the weekend, but Mascarenas coming down in 1:29 is pretty amazing.

I can’t help but go through this weekend, look at Pikes results, look at Leadville results and consider this guy (pic taken from his Incline Club page)

There was some chatter that perhaps Joe Gray could break his Ascent record.  Even if he had done that, it would likely be viewed with some sort of “yeah but” asterisk as Carpenter sent the Ascent record of 2:01 while DOING THE MARATHON.   It is just a ridiculous record.  Breaking 2:10 in the climb at Pikes is ridiculous.  The level of amazing gets 10x better with each minute below that.  2:05 is that world class level that we see Gray at.  2:01 is other worldly.

But Carpenter’s historical dominance over this last weekend is not reserved for Manitou.  No, he also wrote the record book in Leadville in classic Carpenter fashion (a Phoenix story of sorts).  While Sharman has a throat choke on the race now, Carpenter would have finished nearly an hour ahead of him on their best days (begin side debate of how course changes impact those times now if you are a true Leadville nerd).

The third weekend in August is one of the best weekends for mountain racing anywhere because of Pikes and Leadville.   Matt Carpenter is the legend of those weekends as Santa is to Christmas. 

And even with a hat tip to very solid performance by Sharman and Gray this weekend, it is clear who is still the king. 

Friday 25SEP2015

Best of luck to the 24 hours of Lake Hinson and Bear 100 runners.  Queued up for a future run is the Skurka cast.  Pretty certain I am going to the Boulder Sports Hall of Fame induction tomorrow night.  Benji will get inducted.  And Hamilton set the Nolan’s record.  Dude is a freak on not needing sleep.

But Gray breaking the Incline FKT that was Carpenter’s is probably the news of the day.  From Matt’s site, this image … long live the King.

The head is back.  The legs are not.  But that might not be the 100 any more.  It might be that I have lived decadently enjoying meals and beverages while traveling to sea level cities like London and Dublin.  In other words, too many beers, steaks and not enough miles.  Maybe …

I felt compelled to get going a bit today and got in a little over 10 miles, even with some strides in there.  I was fine for about six of those miles and then I started to feel a little tired.  Not like tired sleepy.  Like tired as in, “hey man, you know we have not done this in a little bit and do you remember that you had the beef ginger salad on the plane last night?”  But I got it done.

Thursday 031915

AM – I woke up and it was pouring out.  I decided I did not want to risk running out doors in the dark, rain, fighting city traffic on roads that often don’t have a sidewalk.  And given my wipeout luck as of late, if I had I’d probably fall through a sewer grate or sumthin.  I hit the hotel gym and the treadmill for the first time in probably close to a year, maybe longer.  8.1 miles in an hour, that started crazy slow (12 m/mile) but I eventually woke up, and brought it around to some running.

Matt Carpenter has apparently been elected into the Colorado Hall Running Hall of Fame.  Based on the little I know of Matt, I’d guess he will feel honored, but at the same time sort of not care much, as he seems content to let his accomplishments speak for themselves.  In any case, this is a long overdue election.  From my perspective, you can’t help but wonder if Matt was passed over because of his outspoken nature on many topics in running, including taking shots at the USATF – as many of the HOF committee folks appears to be a part of the USATF in some regard.

Initial confirmation lists for Pikes are up.  As there are 900 listed right now for the marathon and the entry site says they will take 800, I’d say that is full with the expectation that some will get pulled or some will DNS.  1600 in the Ascent so still some room there.

Caught Chef on the flight home.  Solid. 

Came home to this.  10 seconds after this pic was taken, he swung his arms out (like he was swimming) and broke a nearby glass.

Wednesday 041614

More on Carpenter and the Hall … fair amount of action over on the FB group.   Good number of private messages.  I tried to encapsulate my feelings with this post. 

 
Maybe Matt was snubbed.  I wouldn’t be surprised.  I can’t say that I have not snubbed people in my life that pissed me off.  Rather than turn it into a witch hunt of why that happened, I am just looking to drive it to positive conclusion next year.

Justin’s weekly article on MUT.  Dude that won Sonoma trained on a BOAT.  What is your excuse?

Impressive speed.  And sweet looking stride.   Pretty sure even at my fastest I would have had my work cut out for me with with her on that workout.  It seems obvious to me that this kid will be competing at the highest level for our country some day, but kids are hard to predict … I particularly wonder how she will hold up under the scrutiny.  I am pretty glad in retrospect that I did not have folks out there videoing my workouts to later publish on the net.

I have mumbled here before that I think HS runners on whole are just overall better than they were 30 years ago.  I talked to a kid at JZ’s Scout meeting last night that is a freshman at BHS.  He just ran 4:51 for the 1600.  The school record for freshman is 4:36.  That seems pretty stout for a freshman to me.  Okay, that is just a single case, and it ain’t unusual, but I seem to hear about it more than I did before.  And 19 kids broke 9:00 minutes at the Arcadia meet this year, and Brentwood TN has four guys on their team that have run 9:12 or better (3200).  That sort of thing was just not happening “back in the day.”

And with that … Word is local kid and speedster Ethan G signed a letter of intent with CU today.  A 4;16 mile probably used to get you some cake.  Probably not so much any more.

#GOM rant  … the quality of audio on conference calls has just progressed to utter crap.  With half the folks on cell phones, another half on some conference room speaker phone, another half half multi-tasking with their dog or cat and forgetting they are not muted (or that they say they were on mute when asked something) and me losing half my hearing to listening to Foo too loud, everyone sounds like they are talking from under a wet blanket with traffic running in the background.

Latest HOR has good perspective/wrap up on London, preview of Boston.

Was feeling a bit slothlike today, so when coworker Steve M swung by to see if I wanted go for a jog, I bit (he said he only came by because I prompted him this morning in the cafe).  Steve is coming back from an injury so we started really slow (like 12 min pace0 but it wound up being sub 8s by the end.  We did the Johnson loop and then I swung out for another one.  10.5 miles on the day.  Saw Shad at the end of it and we talked smack at each other about Strava CRs.

Monday 041415

KZ got inducted into her HS’s NHS tonight.  I blame the mother.  Okay and the kid too. 

  

===========
It was not my idea (and I am not sure he wants it to be mentioned as his idea), but I started a Facebook group to nominate Matt Carpenter in the CO Running Hall Of Fame.  Calories burnt by me on this effort might have been 3.  Or 2.  My HR did get up a bit.

I sent a note over to the CORHOF asking what the nomination process was, and was transparent in my desire to nominate Carpenter.  The email that the note went off to from the website was to info@runcolfax.org if you would like to also send one.  No surprise there on the address as Colfax started the Hall in 2007.  Here’s the exchange:

I expect that the note went to Criegh Kelley or one of his staff as Creigh is the director of the Colfax race, and is a member of the Hall (2009). 

I know of one person who stated they nominated Matt in 2012.  Perhaps Matt’s nomination was overlooked then because he was considered an “active” athlete as he last did the race in 2011.  If that is the case, I am left to wonder if the induction rules have changed as Gute got in this year and is arguably a very active competitive athlete.  Maybe no one has nominated Matt since?  I dunno. 

Of course, there is this guess, and one I have admittedly considered:  it is well known that Matt has been an outspoken critic of the USATF.  While there is not a direct affiliation between the Hall and the USATF, the RD of Colfax, and Hall Member, Creigh Kelley is an appointed leader in the USATF.  It would not be surprising to learn that any consideration of Matt’s nomination was discarded given that connection and the history.  I am not saying that is what happened – but it would not be a shocker if that is the story. 
============
Some good take aways from London … 

Related to Boston coming up:  Anderson Cooper: “To you, winning the Boston Marathon would be bigger than winning an Olympic medal?”  Shalane Flanagan: “Yeah. You could say, ‘Here, Shalane, you have an Olympic medal, or you could win the Boston Marathon.’ A no-brainer to me would be winning the Boston Marathon.”

Kite Lake Triple reg opens tonight.  Sept 21 – too far out for me to consider that.

Quite a list of HS CO performers.  You’d think that Cerake is poised to get that top mile time for the state.

Work related and agile stuff – great video

Hair is long enough that people I work with but are from another office, walked by me this AM without recognizing me (they are in town this week).

Today’s listening.  I brought the guitar with me camping over the weekend and it seemed to nudge a spark to play a bit more. Really it is about moving my “practice” from making noise and having fun with the amp in the basement (which is fine) to something a bit more purposeful and working through stuff.

Grohl’s SXSW speech.

Mid afternoon – the snow we got yesterday is melting off quickly but there was a nice cool to the air left over.  I was a bit reluctant to start, but once I got going I felt pretty good.  I headed over to the Commons and did 8 by a quarter with full – equal distance rest.  The quarters had a slight down to them to help promote some speed.  I’d like to think I could get after this workout a bit for the next month or so to see where I could take it – and possibly prep for a mile for the summer.  I would look to shorten the rest each time out.  Today 74.0, 75.6, 73.8, 75.6, 74.2, 75.9. 72.6, 71.7 with about 2:40 to 2:50 rest of walking jogging back to the start.  10.7 on the day.

Friday 041114

Preface:  yes, I have been accused fairly of having a man crush on Matt Carpenter.  That said …

Justin astutely pointed out in yesterday’s comments that while Gutierrez, Trujillo and others have made the CO Running HOF, oddly it appears that Carpenter has not.  That is not to take anything away from the folks that have made it, but rather to question why Carpenter is not in it.  Gute and Rick have multiple wins at Pikes, but Matt has more than them combined, and holds the CR there.  And that little race up in Leadville, yeah that one too.  My #GOM instincts tell me that this is something more than an oversight.  I hope I am wrong. 

I’d guess Carpenter doesn’t really give a crap.  Total guess, but he like most runners I know, tend to care less about their recognition in popularity contests and more in actual results from races. 

But, my gut tells me that this has something to do with Matt being an outspoken critic of USATF.  I am not wholly sure if there is a direct correlation between this hall of fame and the USAWTF (and yes, I am a member, and yes I ran their XC race in Boulder last year), but I imagine that there is at least an indirect correlation between folks involved with the USATF and this organization. 

USATF has taken a fair amount of criticism about its politicking practices in the recent ABQ Indoor Nats meet so none of us should be surprised if there is such a relationship that the guy who stuck his finger in its eye and questioned what they were doing for MUT gets the pass when his nomination hits the desk.

But if your hall is not including someone who is both a very accomplished runner (more than your current class in the mountain realm) and probably has more name recognition than those folks (fame = famous = means name or face recognition … uh, most famous in CO (in their time period)… probably Shorter, Tony K, and Carpenter …), then what is your hall?  Again, this is no slight to any of those folks who got in – they are awesome runners and when I have met them – wonderful people.  This is a question as to why Carpenter is not in.

Again, I hope I am wrong.  I’d like to think oversight.  Just doesn’t smell that way to me.
============

Bob was looking to do some faster stuff.  My legs were still feeling fairly thrashed but I agreed to join him for what I could.  We ended up doing repeats around Harper Lake in Louisville.  I did 3.  The loop is about 1500 meters around so shy of a mile.  The pace on these were 5:49, 5:56, 5:59 (or 5:20, 5:24, 5:27 for actual time).  Nothing hot, but I really had no more gas then that.  Bob continued on for 5, and I would join him at the bridge to give him a target for the last thirdish or so of a mile.  Those were at sub 5:30 pace.   Killer was the strides that Bob wanted to do at the end, which really turned into all out sprints for me.

The sprints had me thinking:  when is the last time I really ran as hard as I could?  It has been a long time.  I did there today for maybe 15 seconds.  But generally I am pretty afraid to do that – enough so that I rarely consider doing it. As hard as you can … seems like the all out 400 or 800, or maybe the end of a mile or 5k.  I mean where you are really able to still touch speed and get to it and work it so that it really hurts.  The 800 is about 799 meters of that.  I get a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about that sort of stuff on my running these days.  I head out and am a bit scaredy cat on going hard because I know it is going to be a fair amount of effort for results that are not so hot.  Just need to go ADD on that and not care I guess.  11.4 miles on the day.
========
Yesterday was the 100th day of the calendar year.  The day makes for easy math so and motivated by Kevin:

-8.47 miles a day average
-343 vertical feet a day average
-67.55 minutes a day average
-11 days off on the year already, due to injury, travel, etc.  Dozen runs on the treadmill.

For folks that think I am a number nutty guy, I have nothing really --- look at Dave D.
==========
By the way, Justin does great recaps of the MUT scene every week.  I guess it makes sense but I got that “holy crap time flies” feeling when I heard he has done this for three years. 

Magness attacked a proposed NCAA rule that would kill post collegians competing in college track meets (like Stanford or the Texas Relays).

Local track meet this weekend over at Potts.  I will be off camping.

The Broomfield Trail is targeted to be a 22 mile trail.  Open house on what it will be coming up.

Got this via my work feed related to regulatory stuff:  The JAMA study suggested a 30% increase in risk of stroke, heart attack and death in those taking products intended to treat Low-T, while the PLoS study showed that older men (ages 65 and older) exhibited a two-fold increase of heart attack and younger men with a history of heart disease had a two- to three-fold increased risk of the same.

Friday 042613

Part 2 of the Matt Carpenter interview.  Some nuggets.

That's where people mess up. They do this one week, and something else the next week. I kind of have a five-week rule. I won't change something, unless it goes bad, for five weeks. Then I know I've hit a plateau, or that I need to change to one on and one off, to tempo runs, or move up in altitude.

I train for what I hate. Speed was always my issue. Like I said, I was a 1:01 guy (61 seconds in the quarter mile), but I got to where I could do 24 quarters in 1:06 (66 seconds each) at altitude, with 54 seconds rest. My weakness was speed so I trained to fix that.

I learned that I have to go just hard enough to get better, but still be able to recover for the run that's coming up in two days. You can't go so hard on your long run, or so long, that it prevents you from having a good Tuesday (speed work). You get the balance right with consistency, you can't help but improve. Running is simple and people make it far too complex.

Lot of touching stuff in there on a personal level too.

Read on altitude training.

Animals by Muse.

I have groused about company heath programs here before.  Here is a more intelligent read on it.  That said, I had a bunch of points, or dollars in my company’s program that I transferred into Itunes gift cards today. 

Back and forth a couple of times on the Ridgeview Trail here near the house.   12.1 miles.

Wednesday 041713

Woke up at 0530, saw it sleeting and decided to stay in bed.  I am rationalizing a lot these days.  Not all good.  I’d love to say I fully subscribe to the notion that, “there is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people” – particularly after hearing Footfeathers interview with Beat yesterday, but this week shows I am a bit of a failure at that.  I am confident that if it was 70 out mid day I’d be getting in some solid training.  Instead, I feel like I am in the middle of December – wanting to hibernate sleep, eat nuts and berries (and breads and cakes and steaks and …).  My rationale brain tells me just to roll with this week and let it go.  There is plenty of time still in which I can drive hard training, and the warm days are coming.  My brain says that this one week is no biggie, and that it is a good recovery week.  My heart says that I am a bit of a chicken **** for not getting out in this nuttiness and keeping on top of it all.  But with the weather I will roll.

I guess I can make more a go of things on the mill, but my head seems to have shifted on that this year.  I was just looking to avoid it coming into the year but now I just don’t even want to do it.  That might need a change.

10 miles.  Easy. 

Pikes is considering changes in light of Boston

Swimming and Cooking merit badges done.  And a patch from camping this weekend where he finished Search and Rescue and Emergency Preparedness merit badges.

.

MC gets into the 2013 Colorado Springs Hall of Fame Class.  There is an excellent interview with him over at Pikes Peak Sports.  It has probably been 10 years since I actually enjoyed running. I mean, the pressure that I put on myself. It's not a fun season when you spend an entire year running because you got beat the year before. That's what drove me and kept be going, like North Face. But the time I put into that, the runs I would do from my house, run out Ute (trail) and do Waldo and Longs Ranch Road up to Barr camp and then down Water Pipe Trail and down the Barr trail and then go up the Incline and down and then go half way up the Incline all in one run? That's work. I'm not convinced I want to do that.

I love this article’s chat on Spedding’s pub approach.  Get yourself a pad of paper and write “What do I want?”, “Why do I want it?” and “How much do I want it?” If you don’t know the answers to those questions, Charlie reckons, you’re unlikely to get the most out of yourself competitively.

The latest nut show on why cardio is particularly bad for you – especially women.

Looks like a few guys are going to go for the CT speed record this season (the other I know of is Scooter J).

JT sent me this:  running protects your brain from alcohol damage. 

Wing suit videos keel getting nuttier and cooler.  Zero desire to ever try that.

Monday 111212

A little bird tipped me off to this one:  apparently even the Incline record has been infected with PED performances … Mark Fretta tested positive for EPO, and now has a four year ban.  Fretta had claim to the FKT on the Incline at 16:42.   Has anyone posted faster than Matt C’s 18:31 from 1998?

Another little bird tipped me to this typical beer reviewer’s review.  Awesome.

Race and significant run schedule for 2013 (thus far)

4/20 – R2R2R in the Grand Canyon (would like to see if I could break 9 hours … did 9:22 there three years ago, but as my first run over the marathon distance ever).
Throughout the summer, as much of the BRR track race series as possible with an eye on breaking five in the mile, 17 in the 5k
7/28 – Burro Days Pack Burro Racing World Championships in Fairplay CO – I am defending champ.  Gotta go.
8/4 – Boom Days International Pack Burro Championships in Leadville CO – won this race last year and it another reason to get up to Mosquito Pass.
8/18 – Pikes Peak Marathon – my seventh running of this glorious event.  Yes, you may have noticed that I did not include the Gold Rush Days for another burro racing event (in Buena Vista).  For what it is worth, I am not expecting to do that race as I want to dial in the focus for Pikes.

I also registered for the Redline Thanksgiving Day 5k in Broomstock today but that is obviously a 2012 event.  I am not sure if I am racing or pacing there yet though as I registered the family.  I do need to sprinkle the spring with some other stuff. 

Admittedly, I am also toying with the idea of another 100 – after Pikes.  Maybe the B100, but I’d rather pace someone there … but maybe Javelina or something.  Hopefully, common sense will prevail.

Other runs I want to get in this coming year though are Tony’s Green Walker Ranch Loop, take a shot a beating my PR on Flagstaff Road, and Green Mountain (hell, all three routes but particularly the middle route), and running from the high altitude Hang Nine outpost in Fairplay to Brandon’s place in Leadville and back.  Maybe even another run from Broomstock to Bear again, but that would mean Shadow Canyon would have to open again (apparently west Bear is open but the OSMP site has not declared that yet).  I’d like to get back down to HR to play around down there as well – as that is a fun weekend.

Afternoon, 11 miles, 8 with the Footfeathers.  His AHR was 125.  Mine was 152. 

Eight: I forget what eight is for.

Again, I really wanted to run yesterday … and today.  I can clearly see a split in my head:  being frustrated and upset by the fact that I should not run, and being content that I would not run because of a commitment I made to myself.  Habits are hard to break.  Even when they are good habits to the point of being a fault.

I was going a little stir crazy.  Seeing the mountains, and the meadows just below them turning green, well I wanted to be in that.  I wanted to forget my commitment to get this Achilles 100 percent healthy:  it will never be 100 percent healthy you clown.  You put the GD thing in a lawn mower.   

I see evidence around me that getting into peak condition for folks who have a large base is not something that takes six months or a year.  The 2010 UROY alludes to it here.  Joe Uhan touches on it here.  Carpenter talked about it last year at Pikes. 

I can’t relate directly to the pressure he talks about in that video, but I can relate to some of the concepts.

I see guys who do it all the time.  They take a bunch of time off but then come roaring back off a little training or a short training period and kill it.  Clearly they don’t do this by sitting on the couch for six months and eating ring dings and drinking yoohoo.  They are doing something … more aligned to “exercise” versus “training.”

I confess that I get afraid that by not training, I am going to lose some edge of fitness, or some discipline.  And that represents some sort of failure of myself.  And I don’t like that.  And so I get into a mental trap of always wanting to advance my fitness … even when I see evidence that is contrary to that.  I am clearly still arguing with myself on that.

I have to believe that I can take every day off from running between now and May 1 and still rally to be a stronger athlete than I was in 3 months time … by pulling from my base, by being focused in that three months, by being smart, by taking care of the other 22 hours in the non training event, by taking the training I am given and not that I want, and by believing it can be done – because I have seen it can be done.

Wednesday 011112

The most important news of the day is that ice cream and custard is an performance booster in running.  Just ask the king of the mountain.

Mackey was named UROY.  I remain less than convinced this award is something guys like him explicitly strive for, but heck - what do I know.  Maybe if I were more in that game I would look to pursue it to to drive some level of recognition and hence gain some pull with sponsors.  I guess I am happy if they are happy.

In any case, the two guys of the guys that I thought were in the run for it, Dave (who had the same number of first place votes as Wardian) and Nick (who finished fifth) are damn solid hard working nice guys who I love to share a run or a beer with.  Looking at the names on the list, good to see the old man take it. (but then I look at some of the POTY stuff on that page and just shake my head).

I was pursuing Ultrasignup, looking at some upcoming entry lists, and started peeking at some of this ranking business over there.  Here is how I rank over there …

A few thoughts when I look at this:
1.)  Apparently Pikes was my worst race of the year.
2.)  Apparently the Boulder 100 was my best race of the year.
3.)  I rank at 85% as a runner across my so called ultras (La Luz?!), but would probably rank better if I did not do Pikes (I have several sub 80% performances there).
4.)  Looking at the rankings of folks signed up for the Lake Sonoma 50miler, the top ranked folks are some familiar names:

with guys like Mackey, Koerner, etc ranking well over 90%
5.)  I was curious as to how these numbers stood up to an age grading of my more typical road performances.  Here is some of that:
  
and if I look at that compared to my overall PRs (and I have to guess on age on some of these, so I went a bit younger when I had to choose):

What does this all tell me?  Basically, compared to age graded charts, or competitive position charts, my scatter – at first glance is basically the same.  I ain’t a world beater and  I pretty consistently fall into this 75 to 85 percent ranking.  Occasionally I lay a bigger egg, and sometimes I cherry pick a race that I sneak a win or a better result in. 

To get to some of the shorter race performances I have mulled over as of late, I am going to really need to put it together. 
GOAL:
 
Most likely current (based on a workout I recently did with Bob … I am probably a bit ahead of this, but not a ton).

Alternatively, a 17:37 5k calculates to a 57 Vdot, whereas an 18:30 is a 54 and a 15:55 is a 64.

And none of that REALLY matters, does it?  That said, I’d love to hear other people’s take on these numbers – and their own numbers.  Tomorrow, discussion of my training plan for the year, and some thoughts on coaching.

Food stuff from Tuesday … pretty certain the keilbasa, peppers and onion for dinner shoved me super high on the fats and sodium.  I am not worried about that, or even the overall calorie count at this point.  It has changed my behavior a bit though … when I got home and was making dinner, rather than reach for the corn chips to hold me over, I felt compelled to have some baby carrots.  In other words, knowing that I had to record it, had a similar effect to what this blog had on my early recording of it there – it made me do something I might not otherwise be thoughtful enough to do.

 

Pikes Result Database Upgrade

If you frequent the Pikes Peak results database (like I do) you will notice some significant changes (enhancements) to it today.  In the past, the results were good for pulling back an individual’s results, and then quickly getting to a year of results for the different races.

This was good and in fact better than what most race sites provide for their races (as their results are not typically queryable), but I often wanted to further query the results:  who were all the guys who broke 2:30?  How many of those guys were masters?  What were the fastest descents of all time?  What are the fastest marathons by masters?  Where does my time as a 37 year old sit in the rankings of 37 year olds and within the 35-39 age group?  What are the fastest ascents of all time in BOTH the marathon and the ascent.

The results database does ALL that now.  SWEET. 

SWEEEEEETTT!!!

As you can see, you can query by gender, age group, age year, city, state/country, year, inclusion of DNFs or blanks and then sort by Ascent, Marathon, Down and finishing positions.

Happy querying.  Super thanks to Matt C for doing the lifting on this.

I am curious as to what your favorite queries are.  For what it is worth, my “supposed” blazing down this year ranks 129th amongst masters all time.  See – I told you it was not fast. 

I am SO GEEKING OUT.

SWEET.

Sunday 082111 Pikes Peak Marathon 2011

My PC is dead and so this is getting posted via a loaner. This will be a relatively quick one - I will get other stuff up on the race posted later this week. I have a ton of post race thoughts and folks to thank. A lot of thanking ...

3:06 up. I decided to try to pace for a 2:50 up, and was right near that through No Name Creek. As I climbed things got progressively slower but not by much through Barr Camp. After early running sorted stuff out, I was running near Sean O'Day and about 20 yards behind Brad Poppele - but it was one of those taffy works. Sometimes it would be really close and then other times it would really stretch out.

Above Barr Camp, things began to slow. I was not fried, but I just could not go. I got to the A frame and Sean and Brad had begun to pull away and I started to get eaten up by a couple of other guys. Above Aframe was a mess. I must have walked 75% of that. I just had no power. I watched guys just float away from me. Sean and Brad probably put 4 to 8 minutes on me in that stretch.

I strongly suspect that a good deal of this is because of a lack of long run training, and probably more importantly, a lack of training up high. Equally important however is the game that this plays in your head. Physically, even though this was 20 minutes slower than last year, it felt pretty close to the same (other than the walking). But that starts to mess with your head because you see the splits. In other words, I was probably as mentally unfit for running up high as I was physically unfit.

Seeing 3:06, I was thinking that based on how that felt, and the heat down low, a sub 5 would be a tough day. I had not bothered to count the number of runners ahead of me but I loosely guessed it was around 30 or so.

So I started down. Through the up, I had pretty much been able to keep a good mental view of what this was - a day of fun running on the mountain. At the Cirque sign down I took a quick fall on my hip on the turn in the pea gravel while avoiding runners up. No significant damage and I was on my way.

At about the 2 mile to go sign, I caught my first runner. I was convinced, seeing those who were just behind me that I would get caught by at least a couple of guys. I was not running crazy hard - but steady ... strong, but careful not to do anything stupid that would cause a big fall or make me unable to work the lower hotter down.

And that is what it was ... I picked folks off slowly but surely. I got to Barr Camp back down right at 4 hours and thought that a sub five was certainly doable but then got the oh so fun cramps that shoot up the back of the hamstrings. I talked out loud "easy, like water, relax, careful, water, flow down like water." As stupid as it sounds it worked (but the switch backs still caused some spasms).

In the lower Ws I caught JV. The competitive side of me was happy to catch another runner, but my heart broke a bit because he had been running strong for so long.

4:49:22 for a finish. I caught ten guys on the way down, and no one caught me. My down looks to be around a 1:42 and change.

Given the training I have done, the expectations I had based on that, and the uphill that I did, I am pretty happy with the outcome. I think I did pretty much what I could out there today. I am probably more fit a couple days after this run than I was going into it. While this is not my best or worst performance, I probably had more fun out there than I have had in a long time (the snow year of 08 in the Double is pretty close).

More to come in the days to come.

Splits:

Ruxton 2:59

Hydro 9:54 (6:55)

Top of Ws 33:53 (29:59)

No Name Creek 50:01 (16:08)

7.8 Sign 67:47 (17:46)

Barr Camp 87:35 (19:48)

Bottomless Pitt 1:42:12 (14:37)

Aframe (or 3 to go sign) 2:09:29 (27:16)

2 TO GO 2:27:35 (18:06)

1 TO GO 2:44:43 (17:08)

Summit 3:06 42 (21:59)

Barr down 3:58:20 (51:38)

Finish 4:49:22 (51:02)

This guy is amazing.

This guy is too.

Monday entry news

Not seeing Carpenter's name up on any of the entry lists, but Chris Siemers appears to be a new entry to the Ascent. I expect to see the lists update throughout the day.

As of 8AM (ish) this AM, Carpenter's name is up, with him getting bib 18. If he wins the marathon, this would be his 18th victory across the ascent and marathon. His predicted time of 3:40 is nothing to sneeze at.

Scott Elliott has some great comments in the posts below on the "how fast polls."

RunColo has a PPA prediction contest ... win some LaSportiva schwag.

Sunday 080711

My September issue of Running Times arrived in the mail yesterday, and the article that Todd G referred to in an earlier comment was indeed in there:  2 page spread on Matt Carpenter.  In the article, it is made pretty clear he is running this year.  It is a well written piece by Metzler.  “I use to win races and feel a lot of joy and satisfaction.  Now if I win a race, I feel relieved.  And relief is not a good motivator for me.”  Matt mentions taking a few years from the race to free himself from both the public and personal expectations of how he is supposed to perform.  It appears – and I am glad about this – that this year is not that year. 

I have wondered what Pikes would be without the legacy of Carpenter.   In a similar fashion, I wondered about the landscape of road and track running without Geb.  There would be this monster of a guy named Tergat.  Tergat is not forgotten, but he is a bit of a footnote in the shadow of Geb.  At Pikes, there are some incredible performances … Elliott, Boettcher, Mackey, Burrell … not forgotten but they are clearly overshadowed by the depth, breadth of performances that Matt has put up there.

Yes, comment away on the man crush.

In regards to my own personal expectations at that hill in a couple of weeks, I am unsure as to what will play out.  Last year at this time, I had this odd confidence:  a knowing that I had put in the training and was fit, that I’d approach the race with a good balance of race ready aggression but caution in the early stages, and an almost uncaring as to how I performed.  There was a sum of things at the edges that I could begin to see though that made it clear to me that the race would probably go well.  And it did.  I PR’d, came in 12th overall, and “won” the masters age group.  I even got the nice sting of coming up short of one of my goals – breaking 4:30 (a little something still out there to keep you motivated).

This year, I don’t feel nearly as fit, am a bit road weary from a load of significant business travel, and have spent more days at true sea level than higher elevations.  I wake up and my legs feel … well, not tired or sore but a bit off.  I am excited to do the race of course.  There is a part of me that thinks that with a bit of time back home and a bit of a taper that I will be as ready as I was last year.  Be careful in the early stages, run more than you want to above Barr Camp, really run more than you want above A-frame, and then ask yourself how bad do you want it on the way down.  I also realize that those thoughts with the lead up I have had might be a bit self delusional. 

So the fun of this one this year will be to discover that.  Where am I and how much can I eek out of this frame come two Sundays from now?  Really, no different than probably what Matt, Bernie, Brad, Ward, JV, the lot us are all really facing.

AM – 12 miles.  Sort of a fartlek.  JZ was on his bike so it was often a game of catching up to him, racing up to some spot with him, just cruising relaxed or checking out the trains going by.

 

Week was 75 miles over about eleven hours.  Some fair vertical (almost 10k), even with the Tel Aviv trip.  Taper time.  Will look for the next couple of weeks to be easy with a few harder jaunts up Green or similar.  I’d like to think I can sneak to the Decalibron, or maybe Audobon but that is up in the air still.  2325 on the year.

Evening … working on setting up the wireless with the DVD, and I contacted support.   I wonder where Austin is from …

Friday 080511

Shalom Tel Aviv Jafo.  I am not sure if I will ever walk your beaches again, but it was fun to visit.  I do think I could open a microbrewery on your shores and make a killing in shekels because as far as I can tell – you don’t have IPA figured out at all.  Or beer in general. 

More airport security weirdness:  You can only get plasticware on the terminal for food, but they give you a metal fork and knife on the plane to eat.  In Atlanta, you have to claim your checked luggage as you would if you were ending your flight.  But since I am not, I have to walk forty yards to put it on another carousel.  There is NO security checkpoint between the claiming of that luggage or rechecking it.   Again, no shoe removal in Israel – and really no lines to speak of.  Also, I noticed in Ben Gurion airport, there are no on going announcements declaring the alert level, keep your bags with you at all times, or requesting that you report any suspicious behavior.  In fact, there are NO announcements.

Slept pretty well on the flight over from Tel Aviv to Atlanta – again forgoing the midnight meal.  Did do the breakfast when I woke up though.

He still ain’t on the entry list, but you have to wonder if he will toe the line given the general lack of depth up front.

Mid day … sort of I guess … back in CO and nobody was at the house.  JZ was at Waterworld with friends.  KZ was at a friends house as part of a sleep over and TZ was out at work.  I took advantage of the window and headed into Boulder to immerse myself in what I had missed all week:  hills and namely Green.   I wish I could say I had no misconceptions about killing this run.  I knew that I was going into it in a hole but I sort of hoped that I would just have one of those magic days where you float up the hill.  As it turned out – that was not meant to be with the day’s travel, the heat, and the like.  I effectively got my ass kicked but it was … kind of nice.  Green via Gregory, Ranger steady … but not able to really tag it.  Came back down via Long’s Canyon.  8 miles.

Tuesday 071911

Off to Anaheim for a few days this AM.  While I was feeling pretty good post race on Sunday, and not so bad yesterday (although a sum of 15 in the heat left me a bit tired), I definitely have some DOMS today – including that weird soreness I get in the arms post a longer downhill.   I am going to try to maintain some level of mileage, good hydration, and diet this week.  If I can’t find a decent hill out there within running distance (I don’t have a car) I will check out the treadmill situation.

Reading this, and I have to admit I am green with envy that Justin is getting to do the World Championships again (I will be in Tel Aviv the day of the race)  I feel that if I was racing Jack, I could be in contention to win this.  But in my absence, I am hopeful Justin takes the win. 

I have contemplated that I ought to supplement more of my running with biking, but I have hesitated because a.) I can’t wrap my head around the cost of biking on multiple fronts (time, equipment, etc) and b.) as I am a klutz I am sure I would do something like this only worse.

I have had a bit of time to consider the race on Sunday and thinking about what that means for PPM (if anything).  Here is the current take:
1.)  The travel was a bit of a factor in the mix, particularly since I had just got back from Pitt just a couple of days before.
2.)  In light of that, I probably should have sat back in the W’s a bit more to start but I didn’t and this had some negative effects on me through the Rock Arch.  This is a reminder that I have to take what I am given on race day versus “putting on a brave face.”  I think had I run that front section a bit more conservatively, I might have been able to manage a better ascent.  Maybe not a sub 1:50, but probably an effort that would have netted me a couple of minutes overall.
3.)  I was able to recover a bit in the flatter sections going up to Barr.  This is a good sign – cuz when stuff is going REALLY bad this section is a slog.
4.)  I need to get a bit more up and down work in the next few weeks, and ideally altitude.  I have some level of choice in that, but I ain’t gonna do unnatural gyrations to force it.  A treadmill will help a bit when I am on the road for the ups, but that is not the greatest emulator of stepping up.  I might be able to supplement that with some squat, step up, core work.  Downs – eh, not happening on a treadmill so I might need to dial that in the last couple weeks post Tel Aviv.

All said, I think I could still make a run at a PR at Pikes.  If that happens, the results ought to sort themselves out.  If it does not happen, the result will be whatever it is.

I have not scoured over the lists much as to who is competing, but that itch is starting to need a scratch.  I know in the Masters ranks there will be Bernie, Jeff V, Ward, and Brad at least – and probably a few other guys returning.  Bernie is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of us and ought to be a contender in the top ten.   Given his recent BTMR performance, and increasing familiarity with the mountain, Brad should be in the hunt for a sub 4:30.  I think Ward will have a big jump in performance from where he was last year now that he is a bit more familiar with the mountain (the rock fragments might be out of his hands by now).  Jeff has yet to have the performance he is capable of on this hill, but when he does, I think the rest of us are looking at his tail – except when we see him coming down.  Again, I am sure that there are at least 2 or 3 other guys in there, but I need to pour into the lists a bit to figure that out.

An obvious Master not on the list is Carpenter.  I have not talked to him but the locals from the Incline Club seem to think he is taking the year off from racing.  It is brain numbing to consider what Matt has done on that mountain just as a racer.  17 wins under all sorts of circumstances.  I can’t think of anyone that has accomplished that sort of record as an individual in any sport.  The closest might be Lance’s seven TdF wins (… an invite to let the debate begin on that).  For the folks who think the competition was not necessarily rich for Matt over the years – I suggest winning your local 5k that is light in competition say 5 years in a row.  Now go ten.  That is mind blowing tough …

Mid day … got out with great intentions but then the heat took hold can kicked those to the curb.  7 miles.  I was pretty well cooked. Flat as a pancake here too.

Evening – after a light dinner with a colleague of mine, I hit the mill.  5 miles at 10%.  Warmed up with a mile easy, and then did a half mile harder and a half mile off through it.  I was sweating like mad.  So much so that the actual belt on the mill started to get slippery.  Didn’t freak anyone out though as I was the only one in the gym.  After a short warm down at level grade, I went and did 2x the stairs to this 15 story hotel.  That definitely put a bit of a bite on the legs, but the down was harder as it left me dizzy (from the tight turns).  Playing with the idea that I do seven of these some time this week as that would be over 100 stories … just for fun.  Not sure if I could manage that well though.  Cooled down in the pool.  6 miles.  Figured, I better get this in now … not sure how the rest of the week will pan out.

Going to bed at 9:30 here is tough as there is a firework show in the land of Mickey.

It has been said before ...

In my run today with Lucho, of course Pikes came up as a topic. And of course, if you talk about Pikes, you end up talking about Matt Carpenter.

You know, when you look at what Matt has done on the mountain, it is mind boggling. The number of wins, the records ...

... but beyond that legacy, that I wonder if I will ever see surpassed, Matt has been a pioneer in a lot of other regards. Starting the Incline Club. And if you look carefully at his website in 1997, you will see he was blogging even before that was a verb. Looking for a news article of how a race went down a dozen years ago on the Peak? Matt's got it up there. Oh, thinking that the entire prize money elite competition conversation that is a suddenly hot topic this year is new in MUT? Go and read the history ... this guy was yelling about it a decade plus ago.

Oh yeah, the ... competition ... between him and Elliott (two guys I like and respect a ton) a decade ago ... read that up.

Elliott trained for the Ascent for four months, spending the last two weeks living at spartan Barr Camp to train and acclimatize.

For seven of the 10 days Elliott was there, Carpenter was too. It was impossible not to run into each other on the course or at mealtimes.

"I saw him up at the top a number of times," Elliott said. "We chatted, mostly shared our thoughts about the race. That's about it."

But Carpenter was taking inventory.

"I'd see him walk in the door at dinnertime and think, 'He's got a little black under the eyes, he's moving his sandwich a little slower to his mouth,'" Carpenter said. "It's all a game. The mental part of sports is what's fun."

The race wasn't much different. Carpenter stayed on Elliott's shoulder for nearly three of the first four miles, like a shadow with bad intentions. Neither said a word.

Sunday 010210

Incline Club antics down south.

Did an afternoon lap on Green, and then met up with JV for a second lap.  First lap was slow (51!) from the trail head on the front side, and the second was slower (just under an hour!) on the back side.  The snow slowed me down some, but hopefully that will be my slowest up that for a bit.   But, a double Green – I don’t think I did that all of 2010 – and I felt it today.  I would like to build these laps up to four, five, …11 miles with about 4780 ascending feet.  The snow was a bit sloppy – sending your feet out in various directions … but it was great to get out with Jeff and shoot the breeze.

 

JV has a light that is so bright it actually can cut down trees.

Week = 88 miles, 14.5 hours, 8400 ascending feet
Month and Year = 21 miles, 4.5 hours, 4780 ascending feet
Green Summits = 2
Days at altitude (above 10k feet) = 2

Decent week in some regards – got some good miles and some good climbing but the stay at altitude, the vacation time, the holidays, and my silly chase for 4100 at the tail of 2010 meant I eschewed any speed work.  The few hours on Green today was nice – and something I need to do more regularly.

New training mileage sheet up.  Gonna try to better track things like elevation, summits, minutes, etc in there.

No alternative exercise today.

Monday 121310

AM - Pittsburgh or somewhere north of there. Snowing, dark and unfamiliar territory so I opted for the mill in the hotel instead. Felt particularly sluggish to start (first mile was 9:21, second was 8:26) - probably due to the time change and travel yesterday so I was just going go as slow as necessary. I opened up a bit around 2 miles and decided that I'd see what it would take for me to get to a typical MAF (150) HR and then hang out there for a bit. It took just a couple of ticks below 7 min / mile pace (okay a treadmill mind you) to trip over 150, and then I had to back it off slowly from there. Miles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 were 7:04, 7:06, 7:06, 7:11, 7:17. 10 miles total.

GOALS 2011: Trips like these drop me right into the heart of many temptations - lots of rich food on the company, many beers. I need to keep a discipline with that stuff when I am on these trips. Kind of hard to objectify but it basically means - don't embrace the gluttony when it is there. This is sort of a broader goal in my head which really is "don't eat like a kid."

CRYSTAL BALL 2011: So is this the year? Yah, you know what I mean. Is this the year that someone takes him down? Him being the KOM, Matt Carpenter. He has dominated Pikes for so long it is expected that he wins. 17 wins at Pikes Peak. Course records. Wins in singles, doubles, fast ups, fast downs, good weather and bad. He has put such a stamp on the mountain that I don't think folks can even fathom what he has done there.

But, even by his admission, father time catches all of us - is this the year it catches him. Last year he did not win the BTMR. And he did not have the fastest Ascent of the weekend. And he admitted that he had a tough build up in his approach. Is the motivation to compete and take down guys half your age enough to overcome the physiology of aging? Is this the year that a Parker or a Mackey can keep close enough on the up that they can make a race of it on the down?

No doubt about it, I am a fan of Matt's. I hope he grabs another win so I can cut and paste this paragraph into a Crystal Ball for 2012.