Week ending 07JUN2020

Monday - already could feel the heat starting to build a bit at 7:30.  5.7 very easy with G and IW.  Strides



Tuesday AM - with GW and SB (she had her own workout).  I did Eagle Hill again, same as last week but this time on the stretch from the bottom pipe to the top.  Coincidentally, this is almost a quarter mile exactly, and about a 100 meters longer than from the trash can to the top.  The additional section actually adds on a little downhill at the start to roll it, and then some additional uphill,  Seven reps, hitting 86.x to 90.x - which is about the same pace as last week, and I guess around six minute pace going up hill.  It was typical - a bit of work for the last 15 seconds on the first and more like the last minute towards the end.  7.5 miles.  Glad to beat the heat again.



Wednesday AM - 8.5 miles easy.  Ran into NE and jogged with him a bit.
PM - ditchin', 3.7 miles.  Warm but sort of like saying cold in January.



Thursday mid day - legs felt horrible.  Started run as a front blew in and so I was fighting the wind for a bit.  Never felt great but managed 7.5 with strides.

Friday - had intentions of doing 5 x mile at Stonehenge (so two laps on that is a mile) but knew I had enough after 4 today.  I was working even after the first.  Really - just no legs today.  6:07, 6:14 (starting at the bottom) , 6:12, 6:08.  GW popped in with me for a few sections. Obviously a bit tougher than the track.  Was glad to get it done in the AM, and to beat the heat.  10 miles.  Tough one today.

Saturday - not too bad for wear.  EZ 7.3 on the Ridgeview Commons loop.


Sunday AM - 12.3 over at the Rocky Flats NWR with GW and SB.  Started super slow (near nine minute pace) but eventually warmed up and ended up averaging about 8:06 pace for the run.


Another week in the books.  Not a great week - sort of felt a bit tired all week, so it might be time to shift some things up.  Life is gonna do that anyway as we are kicking around traveling to work again and opening things up for XC coaching.

Still no word on PPM, but I am wondering what the heck it would be anyway if they had it.

Music has been a bit on a back burner.  I forced myself into doing a stream on Friday night.  Need to get back on the horse a bit as the lack of regular practice is showing.

Week ending 24MAY2020

Monday - long work day, as long as if I was actually on site.  7.2 miles after I pushed back from the desk.  Easy.  Ran into NE out there and we jogged most of the La Amora loop together.  Good to catch up.  Good dude.

Tuesday AM - early, again almost as if I were on a road trip.  6.2 miles with 8 x 50' on Eagle Hill.  I stopped looking at the watch after number two, and just ran from the trash can on the bottom to the line I drew about four telephone poles up.  Solid.
Tuesday PM - an easy 30 minutes with GW.  3.8 miles.  Tired.

Wednesday AM - pretty tired in the legs so just an easy hour early.  It is good that I have full days this week as it forces the run/motivation to be performed early.  I sort of like that.  7.6 miles.

Thursday PM - feeling pretty good and might have rolled a bit quick for an easy day.  7 miles, with last 2 minutes a bit uptempo and 4 strides.

Friday PM - ugh.  A workout that sort of came unraveled and in retrospect, I should have punted a day out.  Wanted to do three miles in 19, take rest and then do a mile in 6.  I came through the first mile in 6:15 (after starting at 3:05), and was a bit of a mess.  It was hot (80, which ain't really hot but I also ain't summer acclimated yet) and windy and I was feeling it.  I peeled off for 15 seconds, and considered bagging it.  I got my crap together and got back on it but I was already in the hole.  6:23, 6:22 for the next two.  I guess I could rationalize it with the wind and heat but whatever.  Walked a lap and then did the mile in 6:01 (also started dumb, 87) but I looked like I was running with a fridge on my back.  8.9 miles.

Saturday AM - pretty worked.  6.3 on the Lac Amora loop with GW.

Sunday - up the Mosquito Pass road to the split and back. 13 miles. Hoo boy, long time since I have been to runs at high altitude.  And it was snowing too.  No - it really was - but that is what things do in the Rockies in May at 11000 feet.  Fun though.



Just over 60 miles - so the lowest I have had in a while but that goes with the work schedule this week.  Glad I got in three key efforts (the altitude longish run and the two workouts0>

Starting the New Year right

Got out for 10k wiith Shad, Bob, Don and Neeraj.  Special guest was JZ – which was a nice addition.  Guess which one he is in this shot?

Spotted an eagle down on the bend on past the lake on the Lac Amora loop.

It was chilly enough to flush out some ice beards too. 

Great way to start the New Year – good jog,with great guys.

2019 Race Plans

I got out with Shad and Bob last night.

It was a rare “3-fer” day … meaning I ran three times in the day.  It felt fine but that right foot is still feeling like I stepped on a rock hard on its bottom and bruised it (even though I did not step on a rock and bruise it).

We later connected up with Donnie and Neeraj for some catching up.  It was a blast.  Anyone who watched us probably thought we ready to break into a fight while also watching the best comedy we had ever seen – just a bunch of brothers giving each other well positioned crap while supporting each other.  I love it. 

Of course, we also discussed what potential plans there were for 2019 … there was a broad swath from almost declaring nothing to putting up that line of fourteen 14ers in about a 100 mile line. 

For me, and I recognize it might be just December arm chair quarterbacking … it seems like I’d play it like this:

- various mile and 5k efforts
- potentially the Leadville Trail Marathon
- potentially the Barr Trail Mountain Race
- Fairplay Pack Burro Race World Championship
- Pikes Peak Marathon
- California International Marathon

The thinking on this is that I would use the shorter stuff as part of overall development and bridge to the longer stuff in the summer.  Leadville Trail Marathon was not on the list before last night but then became an agreed upon possible show down between the old dogs who still think they have it.  I also have never done that one so it is interesting.  The Barr Trail Mountain Race is a good run as prep for Pikes.  Pikes is of course the bomb, and then there is CIM.  The draw there is I’d be 50, it would serve as my first official road marathon (that’s right – I have never done one but I did bandit Boston back in the 90s before it was considered some sort of mortal sin to do so) and I’d take a crack at breaking 3 – a time goal that has a window that seems to be closing on me quickly. 

Of course the World Championship of Pack Burro Racing in Fairplay is in there too.  I feel that is a race that I might just do for the rest of my life – but such things are easily said.  The trick with this race is that is could lead to a bunch of other races if you get on the “Triple Crown” train. 

I may also do some pacing at Leadville, which is now a week before Pikes, but that is tentative. 

I have a couple of weeks here to contemplate this further but I need to get on the mouse click trigger soon as registrations are coming up.

Friday 04AUG2017

I felt like crud.  Not a good sign going into this weekend, but maybe it is just a 1 day thing.

So … question for you:  if a team wins the Fairplay, Leadville and Buena Vista Pack Burro races, have they won the Triple Crown?  It would seem the quick answer is yes.  However the challenge there is that the expectation is that the human member of that team needs to be a member of the Western Pack Burro Association to win that distinction.  According to the WPBA, they are just the winner of three races and not the Triple Crown if they are not a WPBA member. 

Furthermore it is expected the member registers as a member before the start of the race in Fairplay.  Along with actually winning the Triple Crown, the winner is given a 500 dollar prize.  We won this, and a fancy trophy in 2015.  It is a traveling trophy so assumedly the next winner would have it handed from me to them.

As a side note, Curtis Imrie, when shown the trophy as a picture at last year’s Fairplay race told me “that ain’t the big trophy” and that I had something else.   He implied it was probably still in the hands of Karen Thorpe.  He mentioned to me he’d look to get it.  Curtis has passed away since.

Ran with the kids this AM and Neeraj jogged with me (7.6 miles).  Like I said, I felt bleh.  The kids were pouring over a newspaper when I got to practice … a few less than stoked to read about the Golden Eagles to the south.

Good times.

Weekend 01-02APR2017

I woke up on Saturday and was unable to deny that I was sick.  I blew a nice sized block out of my head that confirmed it.  I chalked it up to the business travel, lack of sleep and then spending most of Friday in a chilled state as we dealt with less than great weather at the local track meet.

Mid morning I got out for an easy run – 7.6 miles in an hour and it honestly had me feeling a bit better than I had when I started.  But apparently I was still beat because when I told TZ I was going to take a 20 minute nap, I zonked for a good 90 minutes instead.  That felt really good.  I got in another 45 minutes for another 5.6 miles before dinner.

The boys started to put up the smoke signals for a Sunday run on Saturday night.  We got out for a nice mid day jaunt.  As usual, a bit quicker than if I were doing this on my own.

16.4 for me (longer for Bob and Shad who started earlier).  I have run longer this year, but I have not done it at 730 pace (or in other words I have gone longer but not have kept it as honest).

Not a well structured training week for me, partly because of travel, partly because of the sickness and weather, and partly because of a lack of good ole discipline but I managed to eek out another 70 plus mile week (72 over 9.3 hours, with 2715 feet) -- which given Friday was a 1 mile day, I’m happy I was able to rally to it..  There was a good tempo in DC on Thursday night but none of the quicker efforts this week. 

Saturday 25FEB2017

Mid day – got out with Bob and Neeraj.  It looked sunny out so I was completely underdressed for the high 30s but windy conditions.  We looped through Carolyn Holmberg, up to the Coal Creek Trail, connected back to Rock Creek and then brought it home.  Again, as is the case in groups, I was easily 20 seconds faster without a worry about it by being in a group.  12.7 miles.

Monday 31JAN2017 Shad’s Hills

Shad put the email flag up for a run and I took it, but him know that his plan for hard hills was not something I was really game for.  My stomach was none too happy.  I enjoyed a bit too much pizza last night and I was feeling it. 

Shad mentioned that we did this same workout nearly a year ago to the day so I had to go look it up.  I recalled the run and I was pleasantly surprised to see that while I was not feeling the groove today, my half hearted attempts to move with some effort up the hill were significantly faster this go around over a year ago (even though I think I was trying a bit harder last year).  I’ll take that.  And it helped the stomach as well.  7 miles.

Great photos from the NB meet over the weekend from Dave Albo.

I connected up with the HS squad in the afternoon (and then Neeraj joined us) and did more hills:  2 x 1 minute, 4 x 40 seconds, 4 x 20 seconds with the jog down as the recovery.  I had little “pop” today as the legs were not “popping” with the Saturday tempo effort, the longish effort yesterday and a hill run this AM.  Still – I ended up breathing hard.  5.5 miles.

I ended up chatting with Neeraj a bit about “running principles.”  I am pretty sure that I have posted this sort of thing before but I will give it a shot here again.  First, I think it is important to note that such principles are general considerations … in other words, the broad approach that applies to most people.  But the applicability of principles is almost a thing that never happens because you take these and then make them appropriate for the individual.

I first started thinking of these when folks would come to me around this time of the year and ask something like, “last year I ran the Bolder Boulder in 60 minutes.  This year I want to break 50.  What should I do?”  I’d probe back with a few questions like, “how much do you run?  do you have an injury history?  how important is this to you?” and I’d hear things like “I run 3 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes.”  It made my advice back to them painfully easy and almost so blunt it was probably sometimes received as unhelpful. 

1.)  Run more.

That principle holds true not just for the weekend warrior athlete looking to improve their 10k in May but for most of us.   The HS athlete who is just starting needs to run more as does the HS senior needs to comparatively to their frosh self (remember the principles are broad and not always true for all individuals). 

The other principles that come into play …

2.)  Mix the speeds.  There is probably a host of posts here in strides to short speed work to V02 work to tempo work to long run work to easy run paces.  Touching all of these in your training at the right time is necessary for improvement.

3.)  Do hills.  It is sort of a corollary to 1 and 2. 

4.)  Do a longer run.  It does not matter if you are running 5k or a marathon – you need a longer set of stimulus (also a corollary to 1 and 2).

5.)  Everything else.  This is all those other things:  diet, altitude training, ketosis, forefoot running, cadence, HR, metabolic rate, ketosis, etc … this is not to say there is not an importance in these things as they may be very important to the individual, but I think for most the other things are of greater importance (and in fact, a lot of people go with this principle first … which probably sets them up for a bit of failure in reaching optimal results).

Clearly it is MORE specific than this.  But that is where you get into the needs of the individual:  training a competitive HS female is different than training a newbie runner masters male (and even within those stereotypes there are differences) …

Yeah, I have posted this previously.  At least twice.

Wednesday 11JAN2016

TZ has a cousin that just turned 40.  This is the cake his family got him.

Mid day – I got out with Neeraj for 12.6 (96 minutes) that had a few hill strides at the end. 

Lots of great topics discussed with Neeraj, training, form, diet, etc.  I find a lot of my conversations in this regard is this back and forth of the BIG – meaning the broad principles that can be leveraged for most of the people most of the time – versus the small – the tweaking of principles and items to focus on for the individual in regards to an individual pursuit.  For example, when discussing how to approach the training of a high school athlete, I’ll start with the activities to develop the aerobic system.  This is the big:  build the base, be consistent, build on the runs in terms of time, etc to demonstrate fitness.  But then with a particular kid it gets small:  how to approach that kid differently based on their ability, goals, focus, number of sports they do, etc.  I think a challenge we often face is that we hear about the specifics of a small and then translate that to the large.  That is “hey they did x workout, so that is the key to success!”  Or “such and such person dialed in their sweat sodium loss rate as such and that prevents cramping!” and worry about that at a level greater than focusing on the bigger picture hitters.

Solstice Slog IV

So this idea of a run that hits several of the local establishments that first started in 2013 has continued on for its fourth year.  Each year gets a little bigger in regards to participation.  We had as many as 18 folks in the mix this year.

Thankfully, nobody lost their phone or got stuck in trying to climb a link fence or was hit by a car (it was close) or passed out in a bathroom.  There was a dog found and returned to its an owner, a pull up contest where a Nolans finisher could not do a single pull up, and a showing of donkeys.  The round trip of 20 miles and 7 stops was finished by four.  Along the way there was the usual good dishing of trash talk, laughs, surges, discussion on how I have an old man stride, consideration of next summer race plans and memory of races long ago. 

I feel pretty fortunate to know so many wonderful people that I can share some miles and beverages with.  Chatter is that there could be a summer edition of this event, but it seems the desire there is with less miles but more stops per mile.  Hoo boy.

Clip clop clip

Good run this morning with Shad and Neeraj that had me re-realize for the millionth time the value of the group run.  Had I run on my own, I’d probably would have averaged 30 seconds a mile slower and would have run a couple less miles.  In the group however, the quicker pace just rolled easy and without significant thought.  Between laughs and busting each others chops, we hit those points in the run where there was just the quiet synchronization of our footfalls hit the road.  Yeah, the group thing is the way to go.

Big theme topic today was whether older guys like us ought to take a last crack at a PR (or at least a masters PR) at a shorter distance or roll with the risk / reward of the ultra scene.  I tend to favor the former of those options (even if the shorter distance is a marathon) simply because the days to set PRs become even more fleeting as the gray hair.

As I was reflecting on this, I saw Benji D’s pictures of his race log from 1979-80:

Wow, just wow.  That is just bad ass.

Finished reading “The Revenant” last night.  Lucho lent that to me this summer.  I have become a bit of a horrible reader of books, as I end up consuming lots of other articles which are more a scan and peck operation.  In the close of the book, the author has provided an additional chapter to reveal what is believed to be historically accurate versus what he made up.  It sort of reminded me of “Life of Pi” where the main character is asks his interrogators if they like the story with or without the animals.  They choose the one with the animals as it is more interesting.  “And so it goes with God.”

I started the Revenant movie on my last travel flight but it is a two and a half hour affair the flight was only an hour … which gives you about 40 minutes of watching time because of the various interruptions to tell you that you are now at 38,342 feet and that you will arrive on time and please keep your seat belt fastened because your safety in this metal tube hurling through the sky is paramount.  So I got to about the bear scene.  Leonardo is great in the flick but the bear is a great actor and should have got the Academy Award. 

Is it true that we burn the same number of calories per mile regardless of how fast we go?  So while we may run faster and expend more heat doing a five minute mile (or trying to do that) we burn as much for that distance as we do at a slower pace because while we are not working as hard, we are taking longer.  If that is true, I have toyed with an idea of heart beats per mile.  Could you also extrapolate a number of beats it takes to cover a mile?  I know this is not wholly true as the heart rate to effort relationship is not entirely linear … which makes me wonder if the calorie one is as well.

Tuesday 23FEB2016

Around the 22 mile marker I realized it wasn’t going to happen.

I really enjoyed this race report from Dave D, particularly the back and forth in the race between him and Nate J.  His splits are impressive too.  Has me wondering if I ought to do a variation of the Pre-30-45 workout to 41-60.

Scary stuff.

Hans is not buying in.

This is fascinating.

Mid AM – got out with the constantly improving Shad, Neeraj, Bob and Kendrick for some repeats around Harper Lake.  I knew this was going to be less than stellar for me because the muscle between my ears has not been focused well, but I figured I needed to jump into this … because it was yet again a start, because it would force me to stay on top of my Tuesday commitment, because it would be good to see the guys and all that makes the muscle between the ears … well, get better focus.

On tap was 4-6 laps around the lake on 2-3 minutes rest.  A lap is about 1500 meters.  We figured we better keep it just to a lap because we’d all get into some sort of gripe fest if we had to land on what a mile was (our GPS units would all come up with something slightly different).  And when we tried to land on running for time two weeks ago we still screwed that up.  So a lap it was.  There was the typical warm up and yammering at the start and knowing I was going to be the arse dragger on the day, I got on it.  I was quickly passed by the rest of the crew.  I figured if I was not going to go fast, I could accomodate to some degree by shortening the rest some, and so I kept them all to 2 minutes or less (I think as short as 80 seconds).  I was struggling through all of them, but at the same time I could sort of tell my ability to get in and do the work and the get to the level of hurt that Shad was reaching was … was well, not really there or desired.  Hmm.  But it was good work.  I managed through six even though I had told myself five would be enough when I was at four.

Admittedly, one of my favorite aspects of these runs is where we start debating some topic – and amazingly it is usually a scientific topic.  Recent topics have included what mechanical advantage is gained, if any, by a bike; if the salinity of sweat is constant (and sweat rates), what is a normal diet, and if time is collected on GPS watches from satellites or managed locally on the watch.  There is no lack of opinions, cursing, and emotion in these otherwise very well thought out and articulated conversations.

JV was in the ‘hood in the afternoon, so I got out for an hour with him.  It was easy but that ended up being 7:50 pace (as opposed to if I he had not been around I would not have gone out at all or if I did it would have been 8:50 pace).  Another great set of conversation:  siblings that have passed, kids (long days, short years), and how we tend to get worked up about things that are really not that important.  It has been too long since I have run with that guy.  Screwed up and did not bring a camera for a pic.

I am a pretty lucky dude to get to run with so many cool dudes.

Tuesday 26JAN2015

I had a bit of a day yesterday.  Nothing major, but curve ball after curve ball … at one point TZ and I looked at each other and said, “what the heck is going on here today?”  I got a bit unmindful with my eating and I felt it as I lumbered around this AM.

I got out with Shad and Neeraj this AM … Shad had 5 x 3 minutes on tap for a workout as he is 12 weeks out of Boston.  Oh yeah, hills.  We debate-discussed what hill to do and I talked them into starting at the bottom of the draw on the new connector trail and heading up to my place.  Trails were muddy messy. 

Conversation included how clocks work on GPS units, sweat rate, how Phil is nuts on certain topics, corporate downsizing, parents dying, the Pikes course, the Boston course, running form and economy, what podcasts to listen to (we all listen to ATC religiously but probably not much else on EP) and if Paula Radcliffe took PEDs.  I love this stuff. 

I felt like crap because of my gluttony, but I waddled through the first three minutes and found my mark on the trail.  I was able to get a little more past this on each rep.  This reminded me of the old Linden workout I used to with JV and Scott E and Galen B.  That hill is a killer workout … but more than anything it would teach me pacing.  I could easily cruise the first one but then I would find to reach that time on subsequent reps was much harder.  I learned over time that I needed to be exact my effort a bit more carefully over such hills.  

The structure of that workout was simple:  three minutes or half a mile up a hill, each one the same in time or a little faster (or farther).  5 or 6 does the trick.  About the same in terms of rest.  The rest can be a bit long, but that forces you to up the ante a bit on the rep.  JV and I also used to do this on Green on the back side, on the top of the trail from what used to be the four way junction (it is now three) to the Summit in what I called the Elliott Stairs.  I called them that because Scott used to do those to prep for the Golden Stairs on Pikes.  That guy knows a thing or two about that race.  While that workout was geared towards working up big steps, it was the same sort of structure – about 3 minutes up and an equal down.

11.1 miles.

I was (am) considering the Winter 4 miler race this weekend over in Harlow Potts park near Fairview.  It would be nice to see how I have progressed on that since my run there last month.  I’d expect that I have improved.  But, I might skip it as life priorities might take the front seat. 

On a lighter note, KZ as a total goof decided to apply to be a mermaid at the aquarium in Denver – thinking they would not take it seriously.  Well, they called her back for an interview so now she is fretting as to how to get out of that.

Yapped a bit with Hal W yesterday.  He is pretty sure that only five guy have ever won the Pack Burro Racing Triple Crown.  He won it once in 2013, and I won it in 2015.  He thinks that Bobby Lewis won it in 2008 or 9.  The only other guys to have won it are Ardel (Oscar) Boes and Tom Sobal – but the years are not clear.  I got some contact info though on some folks that can hit up to see if they can give the info.  Tom and Ardel are around but it is not exactly clear from them as to when they won it.  I want to get a plaque on the side of the TC trophy that indicates who (man and burro) won the TC in what years. 

Thursday 10DEC2015

Freak

The thing that gets me about these Danny vides is that I realize probably very few of these were done on the first take.  There was practice and screw ups.  Except the screw ups with what he is doing just has to really really hurt.    Dang dude.

I got together with Shad, Bob and Neeraj again today and there was some chatter that we’d try to make this a regular thing.  Bob and I have been yammering about getting back into some good habits.  As a result decided a couple laps around Harper Lake at “hard but comfortable” pace would be a good place to start.

Bob and I generally agree on most training methods.  But we are probably a little different in our consideration of so called speed work.  Bob is more of the opinion that speed work – or that shorter faster stuff is not necessary until you can demonstrate some level of basic strength (in this case say 2 miles at 6 minute pace or better).  I am more of the opinion that training speeds are a continuum and that you can sort of get an idea of a persons capabilities based on their workouts at various speeds. 

We mostly agree – but like all good friends we debate a bit more than we should on this.  I see some value in doing some work at distances less than so called V02 max (3-6 minute) reps.  Admittedly, moving at those faster paces comes with some potential injury risk – probably more with old guys like us.

Anyway, I demonstrated how I am out shape with these two miles.  6:16, and then 6:31 with HR climbing to 176.  I watched Shad, Bob and Neeraj easily move away from me.  8.1 miles with the warm up and cool down.Bob made the note that my cadence looked … “laboured.”  It is the second time I have heard in the last month where someone made a comment that my turn over looked challenged.  Might be time to break out the jump rope.

Also not helping me is the slow increase I am continuing to see in my weight.  151 last night.  The mirror check is a bit deceiving as I don’t seem to be carrying it in a gut, but it gets more distributed into my legs and arse.

In any case, weight aside, cadence aside, and what sort of training is optimal aside … bottom line:  getting out there and working with these guys will help.  No smoke blown up yer tail old fashion work with good dudes who are looking to improve (and talk crap along the way).

Later in the afternoon I got another near half dozen, jogging with Greg as he gets kids out for easy winter running and prep for track.  My legs were pretty dead but that is okay.  I want to rip em off right now.

Tuesday 08DEC2015

I snuck out between meetings and got out with Shad, Bob and Neeraj on Davidson Mesa.  The running looked like the stuff at the front of this video and the taunts from Bob were similar to what you hear in this a bit further.

The wind was doing a pretty good and expected seasonal blow across the Mesa.  That made for some slogging up to the west and easy east floating down.  The pace was a bit hotter overall than what I wanted it to be but that is pretty much always the case when I get together with these guys.  Probably for them too … but it is good to break it up a bit. I probably need to break it up since I am about 15% heavier than I was at the finish of Leadville.  Apparently I am not the only guy blogging these days about getting fat and old.  10 miles, if you believe GPS watches for that sort of thing.

I forgot to mention Thweat as a threat in the women’s OT marathon yesterday.   But Rupp running the OT trials is probably the big “What if” story on the men’s side.

Boulder trails – an on line map that also indicates closures (which happen this time of the year because of mud and can also happen at other times of the year because OSMP oversteps their authority – yes, the flood closures still bug me).

A good intentioned coworker friend of mine set up his Christmas lights during the day recently.  When he lit them up at night, it was clear what he set out for was not what he got. 

Wednesday 112614

Sadly, I think I can already guess the story.  And yes, it won’t have the magic it had when I was a kid in the 70s.  But I will see this one and be fairly geeked out. 

I have not been to Shoes and Brews, but I like the concept that your first brew price is based on a 800 meter time trial.

Lengthy but good self health analysis post from Tawnee.

Mid day – 17 miles.  Calf was still reminding me it was not happy a couple of days ago, but it amazingly felt significantly better over yesterday.  Not sure what is up with that.  Ran into Neeraj for a couple of miles towards the end.  Weather was much nicer today, as the winds had dissipated. 

Monday 031014

Pikes (ascent) is the WLDR challenge this year.  The selection races are also interesting (Evans for example).

A guy I work with said he was considering the marathon this year.  He was asking about the course so I sent him to the course description.  He asked if the whole thing was run-able.  The answer is, “well, yes.  Maybe a few of the rock step ups in the Golden Stairs are not.  But yes.  But you probably won’t run the whole thing.”  I had to explain that once you get to treeline (Aframe), the combination of doing 5k of vertical to that point, 10 miles and being at 12k in elevation pretty much zaps the desire of most folks to do any running.

He also mentioned that he had sent a note to Matt Carpenter to affirm which field he’d potentially be in for the marathon.  I asked him if he knew who Matt was and he didn’t.  Not surprising really.  I wonder if Matt will be back this year though.  He will be 50 come race day.  The current Ascent  and Marathon records would likely be Matt’s if he runs.  The prediction lists (A, M) are getting interesting.  Notice that Mackey is looking to Double again,

World Indoor Championship stuff … I sort of don’t get this:  he went to a world championship to test his kick?  Then you got Willis in 4th for the 15 and he says “they had more balls than me today.”  Hard not to like the straight talking guys like that or Leer (who, I guess along the lines of Rupp’s thinking, calls indoor “play track.”).  Life of a gold medalist appears to be working two part time jobs. … the best pic to come out of Worlds.

Got out for a mid day jog with Neeraj.  Given he lives a mile from me and we are poaching each other’s Strava routes, we ought to get together more often (which should not be to hard since I have run with him like 2 times ever before today).  Easy running and good chatter.  10 miles.

While the calf seems to have come along, and the knot in my left arse cheek seems to have gone away (although I sense that might be because I am not doing anything of intensity), my new fun is that my right foot falls asleep or gets a hot spot on the sole of the foot while running.

Check out the pix over here of the goats on G&T.

On whole, CO snow pack levels are looking good. 

More ATUC run pix

 

Sunday 020914

Got to meet up with Tawnee and Lucho from the ATU/C show. 
A bit chilly,  but warmer than earlier in the week actually. 

The big surprise was how foggy it was.  Here I am only maybe 20 yards ahead.

9.2 miles with the group on the trails out of Flatiron Vista.  Slow and easy as it was a social run and the snow, ice crunch made things that way. 

Always great to run with Lucho and catch up with him.  Just simple awesome clear signal connection with that guy.  Great to finally meet Tawnee and put a “face to the name” but as I have heard her hundreds of hours of podcasts – it was was I expected – except she might be even more positive in person than she is on the podcast.  All in all – a wonderful run this AM to share the trails with some amazing people on a gorgeous day.

Something is funky with the network tonight.  I will upload a handful plus of additional shots once I get that hammered out.

If Pikes ain’t high enough for you, you could go to Russia and run to 7k.  As in 7000 meters. 

Later in the afternoon, hooked up with some Hokas that the retired guy set me up with and got out with the dogs.  Sort of treacherous in the neighborhood as all the ice melt from yesterday is now super slick with a powdering of snow over them.  The dogs get all amped and want to run everywhere and it pulls me off balance.  I only bit it once.  4.1 miles.

I did not keep exact track of the push ups on the week, but as I did 150 today, 65 the yesterday and 50 the day before, and I know I did at least 2 days of 50s somewhere in the front of the week, I will call it 300.

Another interesting ASAP Science vid.

70.3 on the week and 78.6 on February.  Okay week with the treadmill stuff and the cold.  Felt that I managed a decent workout yesterday with the halves and quarters.  Not sure if that points to sub sixes next week but will shoot for that.  I will put up more on that little game tomorrow.