Week ending 10JUL2022

Back at it.  Started the week in a bit of a mental funk with the events at the tail of the week, but recognized I need to keep grinding for the good.

Monday - 4th of July.  We went up and buried Bart at the ABC.  I still had the ashes from Lucy's cremation so I put those in with him  Won't lie - I was a blubbery mess with all of it and still am as it hits me.  It is not the thought of him as gone that gets you but the unexpected things that catch you because they have been habit for 14 years.  Going to feed the dogs and realize it is just feeding a dog and you only need to do one dish.  Stuff like that.  

So it was an day off with the up and down on the mountain.

Tuesday AM - with GW and RT at practice (over there and back too).  Gets hot early nowadays but expected.  8.1 miles.  

Didn't stay up for the fireworks last night.  I was just beat.  But saw the better show up on the hill before hitting the rack.

Forgot to mention we did a gig Saturday night over in Vista Ridge.  Ir was good fun.  Fireworks, rocking ten year olds, etc.  Was sorta nutty with rain coming in and then blowing back out and then coming back in over a few times but a blast in any case.  

Was up way too late on that day.  

Tuesday afternoon - cooled off with it being overcast.  JZ got me out on the ditch.  3.7 miles.

Tuesday night went over to Red Rocks and caught Lyle Lovett and Chris Issak. Just captivating entertainers at probably the best outdoor music venue on the planet.

Wednesday.  Beat.  Long work day.  Took the day off from running.  

Thursday - up early and went over to Lion's Lair with JV.  Been too long since I have run with that guy.  

It has been so long since I have been on Sanitas, they completely redid the back side trail (Lions Lair).  It is a nice grade but was still an ass kicker for me.  Need to get back,

Friday AM - over to Bobolink for a run with the Eagles.  8 miles.  A bit tired from yesterday but it worked out a bit.  

Saturday - 6.1 miles with GW outta Aquarius.  Did a gig at Front Range last night and then one on Saturday night at Mother Tuckers.

I had a pretty amazing moment at Front Range.  While playing a woman walked up to me and pointed to her ear.  I thought she was saying the music was too loud but then I somehow understood she was saying she was deaf and couldn't hear the music.  But she wanted to feel it.  She put her hands on the guitar and we enjoyed the music together.  

Sunday.  Hooboy.  Tired.  Hot.  And busy.  Had intentions of getting up early and going to do Green but a 1AM finish with the gig put the kibosh on that.  Life chores, etc. Ended up with near hour nap in the afternoon and so a goose egg to cap the most inconsistent running week I have had in a bit.  I guess I could rationalize and say I needed the nap.  

Will keep on plugging.  

Week ending 22DEC2019

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



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


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

Wednesday 030514

I have been kicking around with some friends as of late the concept of motivation in competition when relating to our fellow competitors.  It is an odd and interesting topic.  As endurance athletes, we often speak about how our motivation comes from being better than ourselves, and seeking to find our own limits.  That all sounds good and there is truth in it.  After watching this sport for 30 plus years however, I think I can say that one of the first tools a competitive athlete picks up to get their ass out the door is the hammer of what the other guy is doing. 

Our egos get real fragile when someone who has trained their ass off and executed well on race day beats us fair and square.  Particularly when we have established some belief that we are supposed to be better than them.  We can see that they earned it, but like a pebble in the heel of a shoe, it rubs us a bit.  Smile, shake hands, congratulate them, even enjoy that they are deserved of something they have earned … but we feel that discord. 

I think that is divinely human and beautiful actually.  Particularly when channeled correctly.  I mean if you go an smack your fellow skater in the leg with a crowbar, that ain’t cool but if you use that chaffing of your ego to dig in, and use that as a method to improve … well, amen to that.

Interestingly, while physical abilities wane with age, the friction that person to person competition does not.  How people react to that raw rub varies of course.  For some they leave the sport because they don’t want to face what they can’t do any more.  For others they remain driven.  And all the shades in between.

One friend of mine recently pointed out where they stood on the list of all time performances in a certain race.  They said they saw the names above them and they got a little angry.  Another said that they knew they got beat by such and such guy in a race last year and that while they were psyched for him, they were pissed because any other day he’d be left far behind.  Lots of stories like that.

I recall talking to Scott Elliott about Pikes.  After winning the race a few times, he had some life events that left him unmotivated and he walked away from the race for several years.  Then one year as someone watching the race he watched it won in a time that he determined was “too slow.”  He had not run a step in three years from what he told me.  And then he came back the next year to take second.  That not being good enough, he came back the next year to win it.

Carpenter’s record at Pikes came after a year where he lead to the summit, passed out for a few minutes to give up the lead to Meija.  He stumbled down the mountain to take second but was driven for the next year to put that performance to the right.  After running up the mountain in 2:01 (its own record for the Ascent), he crushed the down – running scared that Meija was going to catch him.  75 minutes later he reached the line in Manitou and with a 3:16 CR. 

There are probably the few of us who can achieve our best just on our own accord.  Most I met can’t.  Most of us only get to our best when we are driven by our peers, our communities, our families, our friends, competitors, rivals and even enemies. 

By the way, I sit at 667 on the performance list of Pikes Marathoners. 

Looks like I am going to make the Saturday show of Scott’s movie.

Afternoon:  A couple of laps on Sanitas with Jeff.  I don’t think I have been on Sanitas in nearly 2 years.  I messed up starting the watch on the second lap but, 7.6 miles.  JV was gentle on me.  Good to get out with him, shoot the crap and start to ease into some vertical.  In the first five days of March, I did more vertical than all of February. 

NSFW but pretty funny from JV:  Evolution of the Lifting Man.  If I had time, I’d have to do something like that for runners.

JV also clued me into this moron proving that no good deed goes unpunished.

KZ got her letter jacket tonight.

SAT standards are changing.  Probably won’t impact KZ but will hit JZ.

A former Leadville champ (and PPA champ in the same year) signed with Hoka.  I guess my open slot went quick.

Thursday 062812

AM – met up and ran with Boulder newcomer Mike R.  Mike and I ran over Sanitas – as that is out of the area that if restricted for fires right now.  I elected to take him up the back of the hill, as that is a bit less traveled and more interesting.  We rounded it out to just over 6 miles.

As I drove out of Boulder, I could get a fair view of Bear Canyon and I could see a few small plumes from that northeast (looking south west) view.  Really very minor in comparison to the stack of smoke that was churning out of it on Tuesday.  Hopefully there will be a good compliment of rain again today to further suppress any burning up there or spot fires from floating embers. 

There is already concern being raised that this could mean a LONG term shut down of some of the space west of Boulder.  My understanding is that the Anemone area was closed for close to a year because of the Dome fire back in 2010… I need to investigate the details of that a bit more because I did not follow that, but it does seem to set a precedent in OSMP for long term closures due to fires.

But really – my access to open space is not that big of a deal.  The destruction that has happened in the Springs and High Park areas is incredible.

Anyway, Mike is prepping for a 100 in Texas in October and we chatted on that.  My general counsel to him was a.)  there are a lot of other more experienced and smarter people in the area on this topic and he should talk to them b.)  generally there are no secrets as to how to prepare for that sort of event and c.)  I think Tony’s post before the Boulder 100 stunt captured a lot of stuff pretty well.  He said: 

1) You've carved out a certain financial and time commitment to this endeavor, so you owe it to yourself (and maybe your family?) to not give up (easily). This requires that you stand on the starting line Saturday morning with the absolute, rock-solid, internal conviction to FINISH. NO MATTER WHAT (barring injury/health issues). The bottom line is that if you start with anything less than that kind of conviction, it will be way too easy to rationalize a DNF to yourself when the going gets tough past miles 60, 70, 80 that you will almost certainly regret later. Of the two 100s I've DNFed the first was because I didn't have that conviction and the second was because of health concern/being completely incapacitated and incapable of further forward movement.
2) I'll save you the suspense and let you in on the little secret that after 45mi or 50, or 80 it is STILL JUST RUNNING. There is no magic.* Success/satisfaction (finishing) is mostly determination, stubbornness and tolerance for suffering. Be mentally prepared that any prolonged discomfort you've encountered on Pikes or in any other long run will be total child's play (seriously) compared to what is virtually guaranteed to happen on Saturday. It's stupid how much these things hurt. Or maybe I've just been doing it wrong?
3) You will HAVE to eat more than you have thus far in your longer efforts. Period. Plan out a regimented fueling strategy to follow from the start and stick to it. Finishing will be almost completely dependent on your ability to get as close to 200-300cal/hr as possible down the hatch (and have it stay down).
4) Nick touched on it, but from the very beginning go at what feels to be a stupid, awkwardly slow pace for the first 60ish miles. You'll be so happy you did, later.
5) Stay in the moment. Be prepared to adjust expectations on the fly. Tiered goals are key to staying in the game mentally.
But, seriously, I'm a massive novice at this stuff. Heck, Tim L has finished as many 100s just this summer as I have in my entire life!
*There actually is some magic. The magic is that you can be feeling phenomenally shitty--even at some point shockingly and discouragingly early in the day--and if you just keep plugging away, things will eventually turn around. It's true. That experience is the revelation of running 100 miles. Don't give up.

Well said.

Hardrock has changed their lottery system going forward.

Training week ending 031812

Monday 031212 – Creek trail (Boulder), Red Rocks, Sanitas, down the back side, then back over Red Rocks.  7 miles.  1765 vertical feet.  Achilles was a bit sore, but not too bad.  Not too worked from yesterday either.

PM – dog jog, 4 miles.  I feel good!

Tuesday 031312 – started out okay but I ended up popping pretty good as I was underhydrated going in.  The warm temps had me paying for it.  Did the Dirty Bismarck, but cut it short on the climb on the trail near McCaslin  - by swing over to the road and just heading back down to the Coalton trail head.  13 miles.

Wednesday 031412 -Mid day, 14.5 with Shad and Bob on the Dirty Bismarck out of Superior.  Another warm day but I was fairly hydrated going in.  Felt comfortable throughout this run, and even put in a few 6:30s towards the end (although down hill).  Achilles was yipping on and off … sometimes was good, sometimes as a bit pissed. 

Thursday 031512 Mid day, warm.  Thought I’d go a little longer but I was a bit “meh” in the middle and end and so I cut this off at 10 miles.

Friday 031512 – AM – pre dawn very easy 5 miles.

Afternoon – before heading off for the Tenderfoot Stomp, did 7.5 on the Ridgeview Trail, turning it into a tempo, taking the hills a bit harder.  Took the water tower climb and “death hill” to add a bit of vertical and distance.  Felt good, but the hills made things … fun.

Saturday 031612 –slept outdoors (camping with the JZ, the Scouts), and the weather was so wonderful I even skipped putting the rain fly on.  The boys did a five mile hike so I got my run in then.  Pretty beat down given the harder run yesterday and given all the meat and cheese I have ingested in the last 12 hours (typical Scout fare) (need to keep this in mind for future such events).  11 miles.

Caught up to the Scouts towards the tail of the run and so tried walking quickly to see what that was about.  I can walk a sub 15 minute mile fairly easily.  Getting below 14 is more work.  Of course, if I could hold 15 minute pace above treeline at Pikes, that would be pretty damn good.  Something quite a bit different about walking on a flat grade at 5500 feet versus a 11.5 percent grade at 13000 feet.

Sunday 031712 – elected for a day off.  Post the camp out transition, I could have easily got a run in, and was leaning towards some track work.  I made a game day call and decided that with 72 miles of running on the week and ten hours, I would edge in and could easily afford a rest day.  Interested to see if this helps the Achilles at all.

Decent week – over the course of Sunday (from last week) to this Saturday I had my highest weekly total for the year at 89 miles, with about 8000 feet.  I could have gotten 80 plus pretty easily with a Sunday run, but I felt confident in taking a day down.   I could see that today’s run, while it may have been decent, was equally as likely to turn into a “middle” run, not doing much other than leaving me in a hole.

Additionally – the week was different for me in that I did not do typical workouts (typical turn over session, typical tempo session) as I felt a need to have an “absorb” week …absorbing a bit more of the higher mileage, absorbing a bit more of the vertical. 

With folks registering for the race in August, I got wind that we are 22 weeks out.  I will look to continue to wade into the climbing and volume waters a bit more this next week with such matters becoming something I am a bit more mindful of. 

Happen to have been alcohol free for the whole week.  I know it makes a difference with performance for me.

On a side note Steve Bremner caught a picture (as part of ascending Pikes every month of the year) of a marking of the trail near A-frame where folks have traditionally gone off.  This should help.

Monday 031212

Wahoo … Spring!  Can ya’ feel it?

Happened to be in Boulder today, and with the gorgeous weather I took advantage of about an hour window I had.  Decided to continue to ride the vertical train, and so jumped on Sanitas (after coming from the south over Red Rocks).  I took the back route down and off it, into Sunshine Canyon.  Great way to assure you see 20 minutes per mile  for part of your run, and sub sixes for another part.  7 miles with 1700 plus of climbing.  Very different than yesterday as it was STEP UPS, and several sections over 30 percent. 

My climb up Sanitas was hardly stellar (22 minutes! – far off my best which is just under 18!) but I was not looking to tag it … yet.  I was working plenty with the climb.  Plenty of work to do, but I was enjoying seeing that today.

I had a coworker ask if I had ever done Running of the Green (as that race was yesterday).  I had to grin at this memory. 

I did that race somewhere in the early 2000s, maybe 2002.  After two years of getting back into running shape after moving here, my times were getting better.  I’d write down goals, and they would come.  It would be work, but I rarely had big failures.  I had done that entire thing over the winter, where I was convinced I was going to get it ON this next year.  I had recently run under 16 for 5k, so I had somehow convinced myself that extending that to 7k was the next natural step.  I was somewhat disillusioned, as I can recall that I actually occasionally dared to think that I could run under 2:22 for the marathon at some point and make the trials.  Yeah … good stuff.

To make this particular race even more dramatic, some friends of mine suggested that I ought to jump in the “A” race there (they had one at that time).  As they say, “with friends like these” The Bolder Boulder used to have such a thing and I knew much better than to get into that affair, but some A or invite races were not of the same standard.  Sure – I wouldn’t win the ROTG A race, but I was more interested in a fast time.  I made the necessary calls, got into the race and was set to go.

Not so long story made even shorter … the gun went off and I was off the back of the chase  pack almost immediately.  I tried to hang on and still blew up.  I don’t recall being chicked, but I think I was second or third to DFL in the men’s race.  Nothing like running like that in front of a crowd in Denver who is drinking it up on St. Patty’s day.  Yeah, I heard it.   Ugh. 

And oh yeah, fast time?  Nope … I think I wrote down that I wanted to run under 22 minutes (about 3:08 a kilo or just over 5 minutes a mile).  I think I ran something over 23.

Good lesson though.

Wednesday 081810

Found this article on Running Times, with tips from Lisa G, Scott E., including Scott’s breathing approach (which I have found interesting).

Is the Leadville entry list right?  Still no sign of Hal or Tony on that list.

Reminder reading for the day.

Weather seems to be shaping up nicely for the weekend.  Summit … Manitou.  Leadville.

Plan for the Ascent day … I will head down to Manitou Friday night.  I am expecting to get down there pretty late though, so I won’t really be around to hook up with anybody.  Saturday morning I will mill around the start and then am hitching a ride to the summit post the start of wave 1.  I am going to try to get a signal on the EVDO card so I can post results of the ascent as they come in, and maybe some pix.  I intend to hang out a bit so I can yell at anybody who is walking.  And then I will take one of the vans down.  If you want to hook up at all over the weekend, drop me a note at georgezack at that gmail thingie.

PM – 5 miles, including a “moderate” effort over Sanitas.  Hot agaiin (97).

Adam Goucher …

Wednesday night thoughts …

…how come Pikes means everything and nothing at the same time? 
… how come none of the bloggers I read from the east seem to post about the nothingness of the race, but instead put it in what seems (to me) to be in terms of black and white:  I succeeded or I screwed up?
… someone asked me if my son was going to be a runner.  Hell if I know.  Maybe.  If he wants to be.  If there is an interest there, I will certainly encourage it but I am not going to force it.  Still, I confess, my brain considers it.  In some regards, I seem to know that he can do everything I have ever done as a runner and a helluva lot more (read, much faster).  Then again, if he does pursue that, I figure I better do my best now to make that outdoing his father path as tough for him as I can.

Sunday 022209 Skyline Traverse

• South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff, Sanitas.  14+ miles, ~5500 feet of climbing.  3+ hours of movement, overall four hours plus with the breaks.
• TZ and the kids headed to the mountains so I took advantage of the day and agreed to join Tim L and JV (and a couple other locals) for the Skyline traverse.  It would be a good run for me because I knew it would include a lot of vertical (I was curious as to how I would respond being away from hills), it would be an easy pace, get me out on my feet for a few hours, and be a great way to catch up with the guys.
• Dumped the van at the Sanitas trailhead, and caught a ride with Julie to the South Mesa Trailhead.  Tim with Sanitas in the background, discussing the differences between s and p orbitals in pretzel molecules.
• 
• JV at the South Mesa trailhead, debating if he should try to steal the wallet of the guy reading the map on the board, as he thinks he can outrun him.
• 
• Pace was casual from the get go.  Ran into BTR'er and ultra guy Ryan Cooper out on the trail.
• 
• Looking south off of South Boulder Peak.  In the distance is Pikes.
• 
• Julie O joined us and did really great, particularly since all the canyons (and the south facing pitches) were snow covered and she was in road shoes.
•  
• We'd spread out some over each of the segments.  Jeff and I would pull away a bit, but then to assure everyone was good with the route, we'd wait up at a peak, a junction, whatever.  John and Julie coming up to Bear Peak.
• 
• John and TL coming into the "3 way junction" between Bear and Green.
• 
• I am not sure if it was the breaks that we took at each junction, or if it was that I got a good breakfast before the run, or if my mileage has been holding me together well, or if I am just better accustomed to these hills now, or if it was the easy pace ...but I never really got that cement drag ass put a fork in me feeling that I have got on runs like this before.  My ankles were grumbling a bit by the descent of Sanitas, and certainly some of the climbs had me breathing but I never got into the hole that I seem to have found myself on these long traverses in the past. 
• JV and I were thinking with the snow clear, we probably can come back and look to really tag this thing in the mid 2:30s ... we had a lot of breaks today which were nice, but we are kicking around grinding our teeth with this puppy some time.
• I love runs like this because they are just beautiful.  The scenery, the guys you are b.s.ing with, the nuttiness of them.  I know there will come a day where I won't be able to do this like I did today - at least with such ease.  I just want to suck up these moments and put them in a bottle so I can open that later.  We got to Sanitas and a guy asked, "how long did it take for you to get up?"  I responded, "well, we started at 10AM" ... it was close to 2 then!  He made a face ...

• Week in review
  • M - 6 miles, 46 minutes
  • T - 11 miles, treadmill, 10 mins on, fup'd by 3x3-2-1, 66 minutes
  • W - 11 miles 78 minutes
  • T - 11 miles, 84 minutes
  • F - 11 miles, treadmill, easy, 73 minutes
  • S - 49 minutes, 8 miles (4 out and back tempo
  • S - 14 miles, 5500 of climb, 188 minutes, easy ...
  • Week - 72 miles, 586 minutes
  • Month 225, Feb 1770 minutes
  • Year 543 miles, 4347 minutes
• Good week ... I think next week will be a "down" week ... curious to see if it is necessary or if it shifts how I feel at all.
• JV naming peaks from the top of Bear.  JV is a freaking map with feet.  The guy has climbed nearly every peak in existence in CO.  The audio sucks on this though because of the wind ...

Friday 072508

Easy in the AM, 42 minutes.  Keeping it easy today as we are looking at a good run tomorrow.

Mid day I escaped to Boulder, picked up some racing flats for the rest of the season.  I had to scope them out so I did a quick jaunt on Sanitas.  19:30 up, not pressing, and 12:30 down.  I say not pressing but ... the HR clearly goes above MAF in these circumstances.  You are working but you are not attacking or pressing.  It is not relaxed so to speak but it is relaxed within the effort of what you are doing.  Clear as mud?  This run gives me a quick 1300 vertical on the up and 3 miles total on the RT. 

74 min on the day.  Bigger week than I wanted but I will really look to start backing it off next week.

Monday 062308 Three short runs

Jogged with TZ for a bit this AM.  20 minutes easy jogging.  This is just a wake up run.  They are really slow ... just get me going for the morning, wake up my legs.  Usually when I start I am really stiff and gimpy ... it takes about ten minutes to get to a point where I can run.

Mid day I hit the office treadmill for some easy jogging at 15% grade.  14:30, 13:30, 13:12 ... so about 41 minutes.  This too was an easy run ... just slogging through a grade run to clear things out a bit, get a little bit of movement in at low muscular stress.  Arguably a run outside this time of year would be much nicer, but this (treadmill) puts me into a situation where I control what I am doing much more.  Moved weights around for a bit too (shoulders, tris, bis, chest, back ... 20 minutes ... low weight, high rep stuff to good burn)

Evening, I hit Sanitas.  I can't ever say Sanitas is easy, unless I am walking it.   It is just varying degrees of hard.  I left the effort geared back a few notches, so a mid level effort ... decided not to look at the watch at all until the finish.  19:22.  I think this is my run under 20 up the bugger this year.  11:50 down.  This was not too hard, particularly on the front end ... when I go after this hill I tend to really attack from the front end (which usually leaves me just hanging on for dear life on the second half).  Sub 19 next for sure.

1:35 of running on the day.  The runs got better throughout the day!

Various tidbits ...

• Wardian posts about his upcoming WS100 following the MWRR
• Yesterday, for whatever reason, my gut decided to empty all its contents.  Given we went out to lunch with a bunch of friends at Maggiano's, my running to the rest room four times ... well, it was interesting (I might of been the only one to have lost weight at the meal).  I can tell that I am a bit depleted today.
• I had a great conversation with JW today about training ... more on that later
• Attended a forum on Mountain Running at Fleet Feet tonight with Susan Nuzum, Andy Ames, and Rickey Gates as panel speakers.  Quote of the night from Rickey, "when I put my shoes on, I am not sure what I am going to do for training that day ... but there is a smile on my face."

Thursday 041508, Sanitas x 2 (7 miles, 2600+ vertical)

The temptation for me to run is large. I saw Lucho and JK running this morning and I was incredibly jealous. But I need to stick to my plan of doing activities that do not aggravate my hernia - so that it has a chance to heal.

For what it is worth, I have actually been "resting" for two weeks, with a focus on "short carriage" work - the bike and the uphill running. And for what it is worth, that has been actually driving some degree of progress in healing ... although nominally. My debate on this whole thing really comes down to a question of discipline and patience (are discipline and patience the same thing?)I know I have waxed too long on this but ... this sports hernia thing simply puts a couple of objectives at odds for me. One objective is to completely heal. If it were September 1, I think I could do that more easily ... I'd take time off from everything, drink a few beers, go sit in the man cave and relax. But it is April 17. I want to play. So I get a bit conflicted on it all. And I am trying to walk this fine line of doing enough so that I can play, but not really jack myself.

Did a couple of laps on Sanitas, as it was the only thing clear and the Cub Scout den was going to be out there. I started up the west trail, realized I forgot my camera and so back tracked to the car. Did an easy (?) up (20:48) and down (13:53) with no sign of the den. Headed up the east trail and found them and so walked with them for a bit. Did a second loop (>23), and down (14:10). Easy but I am not in great Sanitas shape. I want to keep these efforts easy, but am begining to think about attempting couple where I push it.

Couple of pix ... Cub Scouts heading down the east trail, armed with various sticks they located. Flagstaff, Saddle Rock and Green in the background, looking south.

Looking south at Green from the Sanitas summit.

Friday 040408, 6 miles, Sanitas

Continued to take it easy.  Met MK today and we jogged over to Sanitas and did it really easy. 

Heading up the road to Sanitas with MK, a 2:20 marathoner.  But his best PRs are about the kind of person he is.

Wednesday 040208, Sanitas, 5 miles, when I was faster I would ...

I broke today.  Too damn nice out.  Looking at sunshine outside my office window all day.  Feeling good.  Well, that adductor that Jean worked hard was a bit pissed off but I still felt good overall.  Mostly. 

Then I got word from the Incline Club that they were beginning workouts (Thursday, Apr 3, 5:45pm - Hydro Street
Warm up from Memorial Park in time to get to Hydro Street. Do 30 minutes of 1 min hard, 1 min easy up the Barr Trail. Easy back down the Barr Trail. Do 4 Hydro Street repeats.)  which got me thinking about running.  And running steep.

Had it had been cruddy weather, I would have cross trained at the local rec center but instead I rang up JV and penned up a run up Sanitas.   Sanitas is the smallest of the hills immediately to the west of Boulder but what it lacks in overall elevation gain is made up for in general grade.  Hills like Green and Bear are longer and go higher, but I think they are a bit less steep than Sanitas.  I always start Sanitas feeling fine, like I am going to rock it.  I get a reminder somewhere about halfway up that she is not to be taken lightly.  Particularly since I have not done any significant hills in a while. 

Jeff and I made it up in 20:15 (his post) Hardly super quick, but not screwing around either.   The whole time we were yapping about the typical:  IPODs, injuries, Pikes, work, houses, bikes, various buddies. We came down the east side.  About 3/4 of the way down we saw a trail heading back west, up the mountain.  It was a trail we had never seen before (which is really sort of insane) so we took it.  It climbed nicely into a quarry that had some flagstone chairs and then the trail puttered out.  At that point we were committed though and so bushwhacked our way back up the mountain side to the trail proper.

Jeff is the definition of mountain goat.  The steeper the trail is, the easier he floats up the hillside.  I end up bobbin' around side to side but he just cuts up the hill straight like a knife through melted butter.  If mountain races were steep as things like Sanitas all the time, he'd be a legend.  Hell, I think he is a legend anyway.

We finished the second loop (well, sort of a second loop) up and then came back down the west path.  I thought we were taking it fairly slow on the way down but it was 14:40.  Again, not super quick but not screwing around either.  Or at least I wasn't.  Maybe Jeff was.  All told we guessed it was about five miles over an hour ... with the most vertical I have had in a month.  I can't feel too bad about how it all felt given the lack of training over the last couple of weeks, and the lack of hills over the last couple of months.  I look at it and think that 17s, 18s are not too far off with a little bit of work.

The abdominal area felt a bit tight through the run, but not too bad.  I will see how it reacts tonight.  It felt so good to be out there though ... enjoying the mountain, the run, the burn in the legs ... I have missed that. 

Oh yeah, I went and picked up KZ at her jump rope class at the rec center after.  I decided to jump with her a bit and ... holy crap that was hard.  Doing jump rope after significant vertical will be a new thing to add to the mix.

Unrelated ... I had a co-worker ask me the other day how much training I would do for a 10K.  I said, "well maybe 70 miles a week.  Yeah, 50-70 miles a week."  She looked at me like I was insane.  "How much for a marathon?"  I paused and said, "umm ... 75-100."  So we proceeded to talk about training for people, ramping mileage, what was appropriate for her, for a friend of hers etc.  But it got me thinking a bit.

When I was most successful with running I was (okay, yes I was younger) doing 60 miles a week at most.  True, I was not training for a marathon.  Additionally, I was running hard or steady a good amount of that time.  I think that where I sort of subscribe to a 10-15 percent hard work now, I was probably a bit north of that back then ... and that is really probably because I was doing less mileage (smaller denominator).  So, am I gaining significant advantage by doing more miles?  I don't know.  I think for a marathon, you do need to do more miles, simply to build the muscular endurance that you will need in a race.  But I am wondering if I have wrapped myself in the pursuit of miles and time on my feet, week after week that it risks injury or general fatigue. 

Finally, and I was reminded of this today while running with JV, back then I ran with people a lot more than I do now .  It forced me a lot to run at a pace that I was maybe less than comfortable with.  But that led to some degree of success.

Conclusions?  Not sure yet.  Just some thoughts floating around in there.  More to come.

Monday, 021808, Sanitas, 14 miles

I met up with JV and AV at Sanitas this afternoon. These two are serious mountain goats. Every weekend they are off bagging some 14er. It is easy to overlook this on the planet of Boulder where everyone seems to be sponsored by some shoe company, or are running across the country in a Fred Flinstone vehicle, or are describing a 2:31 marathon as an off day. Climb all the Colorado 14ers? It almost like another Cub Scout badge in this town.

But it really is not. Really, it is not. In fact, it quite nuts. Read his blog if you don't beleive me. Maybe I should not have a picture of a mountain goat but instead of mixed martial art fighters to portray how hard this is.

I had put about 2 miles in before hooking up with these two. I had some aspirations to do a tempo up this hill, but the treadmill run last night left me more tapped than I had expected, particularly in, you guessed it, in the abdominal muscle wall area. Latest hypothesis on this is that it is just strained and I am not giving it enough rest for it to effectively heal. I realized that Sanitas is not easy and that running it easy (figure that out) would provide a good workout in any case. And as I expected, it kicked me in the teeth. Sanitas, while short in duration, does have significant grades right from the get go. And ain't even the grades that seem to get me, its the fair step ups. I tried to keep it relaxed but by 10 minutes in, I was, well, something other than relaxed. JV can totally smoke me on this stuff, but he always remains kind, stating how the pace is just fine for him. It was good to run with him, talk training, mountains, and jokes about gas. With about 3 minutes to go I thought there was a shot at breaking 20, but the ascent trip took 20:12.

I know that making deposits in flat and speed first, as I have been, will cause a debt on the hills that I will have to pay. I got notice of that debt today. I said to JV on the way down - "I want to do it all." And I do. I want to do the fast track workouts, the long road runs, the killer hill tempos, the long mountain runs, the hill repeats, the long building flat tempos. Of course, there is this minor issue we have to deal with called recovery. (Total side note, this crud that some Yankee pitcher is hurling about not taking HGH to be a better pitcher but instead to help him recover is that - CRUD. Your ability to recover is your performance). Sanitas put me on notice, I need to inject a run like this at least once a week to keep some hill familiarity in the legs. With the weather breaking, that ought to be a bit easier. The focus will shift a bit to those sort of runs, more structured track work (managing recovery more closely) and moving some of the long runs to the trails (but assuring they are building efforts). Where I am changing from last year at this point is the level of focus I am putting on the hills. It is a minor but significant tweak.

We came back down, caught up with AV and ran with her the rest of the way. It was a good easy run, with the Sanitas portion taking about 40 minutes all told. I parted from JV / AV and I jogged over to Fleet Feet after this, did a quick check on a few things from the wireless, and then got at it again. I got in some minutes before joining the group at the store for the Monday night jog. At this point, I was ready to be done but the group run (which never starts on time, and that bugs the heck out of me), pushed me through another five miles.

All told, it was about two hours, and about 14 miles.

Thursday 011008, 11 miles, Sanitas

I ran Sanitas today, wanting a tempo effort, and something that would tax me cardiovascularly but not sap my legs. I want to come back and run the Oatmeal Fest 5K as a test to see where I have come (or gone) since Thanksgiving.

Sanitas is a nice little compact climb. 15-20 minute and you are done. I think I have done this in the 17s, but in referencing the log from last year, I can only find that I did it as quick as 18:38. Today, I went into it carefully, at a tempo mentality. When I saw where I was at when the watch hit 18, I figured I could make a go to break 20 and did with a 19:56. It was a little icy on the upper half, and this did cause some slipping. I got a good little burn in the end, but I have to say, this was one of the best workouts I have felt in a bit. It was controlled, but a solid push. I felt that I could dig in a bit. So all good. The downhill was a bit more of a trick - it actually took 15:17 to come down. I was not looking to fly down but I had to be careful with all that dang ice!

After all this, I ran into downtown and ran with MK for a chunk. As has come commonplace with my runs with MK - we shared great conversation. MK is my brother - we connect so easily. I can tell you a million things about MK - all you need to know is he my brother. Today's conversation was a mix of discussion on his high school coach (killed while running at the age of 39 by a car), our families, the caloric bank account, current training (this section is mostly about me because while MK runs right now, he will tell you himself - he is not training), blogs, the 'Rock, and workouts we used to do that seemed normal at the time that seem out of reach (but they ain't) now.

Round trip today was 90 minutes, 11 miles.

Tuesday 12182007, Sanitas, eight miles

242 days to go.

Actually, I am not sure I will do Pikes. Well, I am pretty sure. But I am not wholly sure. I have this thought in my mind that if I can't pull the speed, endurance, hill climbing, etc together, I will duck out and go try something else. Like a 50 miler. Or Burro Racing. I have so called unfinished business at Pikes however and so it is best for me to address that rather than introduce more items to put to rest at this time. In any case, I feel the need to have the speed in a decent spot (for me), climbing gears ready, the endurance well tuned ... and all the little things taken care of so that I have no excuses for Pikes. I feel if I have excuses, it might not be worth showing up.

Anyway, I met up with Jeff V this AM over at Sanitas. We went with the screw shoes. These shoes are a pair of Cascadia's that are essentially shot but I have dropped machine head screws into them (1/4 inch in the front, 1/2 inch in the back, details on how to do this). Cheaper than Yaktrak ... perhaps not as effective as a full on crampon (which you don't really need on Sanitas, but might need on say Fern trail up Bear). It is not uncommon to lose a screw or two on a trip, so having a box of them (from McGuckins) in the car is a good idea.

Sanitas melts faster than any of the other hills around here (southern good exposure) but it was still pretty icy. We took it real easy on the way up (24) and conversational. I am sure I have said it before but Jeff is one of the most amazing climbers I know. I seriously think if Pikes was twice as steep and half as long, he'd be the Matt Carpenter on the mountain. But then again, Mr. Carpenter is from an other planet where there is much less oxygen then here and the gravity is much stronger than here.

Anyway, we circled Sanitas in about 42, and then I added on (without the screw shoes) up the Creek Path (of course, that meant I did end up on my tail as I hit an ice patch!).

Total mileage was about 8 in 77 minutes.