Sunday 090912

13 miles, with a bunch of pick ups at sub six minute pace in there to mix things up.  80 miles on the week, which is the most I have posted in recent times.  In fact, I had not been this high in mileage since March, and it is only third time this year that I have crested the eighty-something mark.  It will be offset with a lower week next week – as I travel. 

But it is clearly on my mind that I did fairly well on Pikes with less mileage than my approach in past years.  I get that I reap the benefits from those years before … but, the mileage ain’t always the key for me.

Morton has to be the UROY.  Has to be.  No question.  4 sub 14 100s this year.  The win at Badwater and flirting with the record there.  And 172.45 miles for 24 hours (92/80 split).  Frankly, I thought he was worthy before this, but there was still conversation with Olson and WS.  Nuthin’ against Timmy but Morton’s record this year is beyond that win and CR.  First to run 100 that quick is sick.  Add another 70 miles to it.  Sheesh.  Connie Gardner did a US AR on the women’s side of 149 miles. 

And yes, his AR only further highlights how bad ass Kourous’ WR of 188 miles is.  Alien without a doubt.

More locally, Jeff V did something I have thought about doing for a while, but never put together.  Car to car on Green out of Chautauqua, under an hour.  Probably a lot of guys could do this.  A lot more couldn’t.

The USMRT on the women’s side are doing pretty well over the last couple of weekends, eh?  Something I don’t get in USTAF XC or in WMRT is why there are different distances run for women (in XC, they often run 8k instead of 10 or 12k), or a different number scoring (3 or 4 for women versus 5 for men).  What gives?

Went to a young man’s Eagle presentation ceremony with JZ today.  JZ seems to enjoy these, and seeing the fruits of labor that the older Scouts are rewarded with.  Whether he ends up there or not, I do not know … but he is interested now.  Interestingly, since joining Scouts, I have had a few folks tell me that they won’t have their kids join Scouts because of the BSA stance/policy on homosexuality.  I get it.  For what it is worth, I don’t agree with the BSA policies in this regard, and I wish they would change them.  I have some guesses as to why they have not, but I really don’t know.  For us, this Scout program is providing JZ with a lot of growth opportunities and we are enjoying that.  I don’t directly see any of the effects of the policy in our troop, but I realize that might be a perspective issue.  I guess I have come to realize that I don’t agree with all the policies of most the organizations I deal with.  When I find them to be more beneficial to me than detrimental, I will remain engaged in them.  I think this might apply to nearly every job I have had in my adult career in some fashion.  In some light, I guess this means I have compromised my principles.  I get that too.  But I get that my son is getting something positive out this program here locally – where we seem to be doing it in a way that resonates.

Thursday 102711

AM – got out with Ken and Darren this AM in Reno.  I had never met these guys but that is the blogosphere.  I mentioned the other day I was heading here and they got in touch with me, shifted their schedules to jog with me – and did it on a silly loop around a lake (1 mile) near my hotel.  Thanks for hosting guys!

The runners I meet – awesome people.  I know that comes across as a bit “hooray for runners” but it is true.  Seriously – I know it would freak some folks out to say they were going to meet two folks they have never met in person but had exchanged two emails with -- in the dark by a lake in Reno.  Not a problem with endurance runners.

Good guys, out there enjoying the outdoors, trying to improve, be good friends, dads and husbands, and have a good time.  It really does not vary a whole heck of a lot from the elite dudes to the folks just starting the sport.  I love it.  Was very stoked and rejuvenated in my heart this morning to share a few strides with these guys.

Poorly taken self portrait with these guys.  I look like I might still be running from that stunt I did a few weeks ago.

 

It was a little chilly but I ought to not gripe about that since it was about twice as many degrees here as it was in Broomstock this AM.  8 miles.

I feel generally recovered by my psoas on the right side is a bit sore.  At least I think it is my psoas based on the in depth 3 minute google godess prayer I did this AM.  I am not sure what I am going to do about that yet – for the short term.  I do know longer term this is a big imbalance I have and something I most definitely need to correct.  I might just need to be lazy for a while but I’d rather not.

Got this from Footfeathers – worth sharing (related to my possible Ignite session)

I am not voting in the Boulder elections because I don’t live there.   But for those of you who do, please consider voting and consider this (plucked from the Boulder Trail Runner list serve):   Lisa Morzel (who is running for re-election) said at a March City Council meeting:
“I would go for yellow tags for bike users, maybe even blue tags for runners, pink tags for walkers... I don’t think dog users should be the only ones that are paying into the system.”  Do you want to be required to wear a "blue tag"??  This is for real - this really happens behind-the-scenes - we need to vote; electing City Council is the only thing that works.  At the Tuesday Meeting when Council rejected mountain bike access to Anemone Hill, the Daily Camera reported, "Councilman Matt Appelbaum went a step further and said he doesn't want any human access to the property."  "Any human access" to public land???  He used to be our Mayor. You really need to vote.

Sheesh.

Expect to read into this one a bit more tonight.

Evening: trashed the upper body in the gym, again fairly quickly (it does not take much).  Worked on the pigeon pose as recommended in today’s comments.  I might be old and gray enough now that I can go try this yoga thing.

Sunday 102311

One of the things I have been mulling over is how casual I was in approaching that hundred last week.  There were perhaps a few benefits to such a lead up, but on whole it was rather stupid of me.

This ignorance theme is not a new one:  recognize the magnitude of what is being attempted but then dismiss it because the warnings are for those “other folk.”  Don’t hike from the rim to the river and back in a day.  I see that others that have done the Rim to Rim to Rim and there is little question in my mind as to whether I can do it.  Justin hit on a similar thought regarding a Gore Canyon rafting trip.  The rules are for those in society that need taking care of, not me.

100s ain’t easy,but when you hang in the circles I do, you can tend to be led into a false belief that they are.  Guys not only do them, but they do them well.  And they often do many of them.  And ho-hum they are back off the couch in a couple of days planning their next one.  Truth is if you are gonna do one: “You (I) can't hop into a 100 miler without some deep urge or desire to do it and finish.”

Arguably I was somewhat safe in my hundred stunt (a term I plucked from Lucho) because I could bail whenever, and I had a lot of people taking care of me.  And while I was not well prepared for it, I did have some 25 plus years of running to lean on.  And then another 15 years of walking experience on top of that. 

I sort of knew the whole thing would be hard, but I also had to quickly admit how “woefully underprepared” I was.  Realizing that, part of me elected to take my medicine as a lesson.  Which brings me around to this:  I am not sure if I will do another 100 or not.  I can see the allure and I am sure I could perform one better.  If I do another one, I am not going to do it like Boulder that again.  It will come with smarter preparation to assure better execution.

I have also mulled over what happened in the second half and have concluded there are at least four possible things that contributed to my melt down.
1.)  I went out too fast in the first half.
2.)  I did not fuel effectively in the first half and paid for that in the second half. 
3.)  I mentally caved.
4.)  I muscularly was shot from the waist down.

The reality is that it is probably a combination of all four of these things that lent to a second half in excess of 13 hours.  But, if I believe the largest factor is number 4.  I think that even if I had gone out at 12 minutes a mile for the first half, my lack of preparation with any sort of longer running would have come back to bite me in that second half.  I look forward to discuss that with fellow runners in miles to come.

This week was about recovery and I generally accomplished that.  I thought I would feel compelled to run at all, but the spirit moved me to – more from a head perspective than a leg perspective.  I am amazed actually at how quickly things have come back.  Sunday, post the race nap I was nearly unable to walk.  I feel pretty dang normal a week later.  That said, my gut is telling me I need to ease up on the beer consumption (quite the bender this week).

Today, was an easy dog jog, 5 miles.  I even saw the watch tick under 8 minutes a mile on occasion without any effort

A friend of mine hit this party vehicle last week:

Thursday 102011

ummm … holy crap.

Since waking up on Monday AM, it is as if part of my brain has been in a haze and hyperdrive at the same time.  It probably didn’t help that I woke up on Monday slightly hungover on top of having done that ridiculous stunt (I like that term, “stunt” – got it from Lucho’s recent podcast) the day before.  It is not like questions and thoughts about it all were bubbling up, they were geysering up like an unmanned firehose… chaotic, unordered … splattering every where.

So this falls into the arena of Zack Attacks.  Meaningless posts of blah blah blah.  I guess I think that maybe someday I will read these someday and laugh and think, “ah silly man.  It was so easy.  Why couldn’t you just see this and that?”  But if history thus far in this vessel has taught me anything … probably not. So, not really recommended reading.  Then again, people have asked me about the 100 this week a couple of times and I have typically slipped in there, “yeah, not recommended.”

Small sample …

Crap.  I am never doing that again.  That shit hurt a lot.  And frankly counting on all those people to take care of you all night was plain ridiculously selfish.  And come on, your wife was taking care of you like you were just hit by a car.

I want to eat something.  Like corn chowder … with a lot of corn chips crushed on top.  Mmmm.  This is good.  I can eat whatever the hell I want and nobody can tell me otherwise.  Booyah!

Did I go out too fast?  I mean, I only started at 8:30 pace and that was super easy comfortable.  But I slowed to 20 minute a mile pace, particularly past mile 70.  Or was I going to slow down to 20 minute a mile pace anyway … I mean, I went out at 8:30 per mile pace … would I have slowed down as much had I gone out at 10 minute a mile pace?

I want to drink something.  Hey, there is still that keg in the garage.  Yeah, let’s have some of that.  It is so awesome that you had those guys out there.  You really should do something to thank them, and recognize how much there being there meant to you.  Get them a set of cuff links of something.

Cuff links? ! What the **** are you talking about? It is as if my brain was turned off for 2 days there.  I was present in the moment, but I sort of had no idea what I was doing.  I mean – I was out there when the sun was up, when it went down, and then as it was coming up again.  I watched Orion traverse the sky all night.  I knew I was cooked at 40 miles but I gave it little to no thought that I was going to have to run another 40.  And then another 20 on top of that.  How the hell did I do that?

You didn’t think about it.  You can’t think about it.  I mean, you did the math but you did not think about the insanity of what was going on or what was left while were you in it.  But you sort of did.  But you sort of didn’t.  If that makes any sense.  Leadville?

Leadville is the same weekend as Pikes.  I have a free entry to Pikes and I think I can do some crazy shit there as a master.  And Leadville costs like 400 bucks or something.  And it would be a major pain in the *** to get a croo, pacer, etc.  There are like 800 people there.  And if this kicked you in the patooey, that thing really would. 

What if I trained for it?  And what if not Leadville … what if I did this next year?  I bet I could get this right … under 20 for sure.  Under 18 even.

Please tell me you are just kidding yourself and considering this because people told you that you would.  Do you recall how much you melted down from miles 70 on?  And why in the name of all that is holy would you go back to that course?

…. Did I really dream about Dakota Jones last night and that he was a rapper that my 13 year old daughter thought was awesome?  That was weird.  I need to get a grip.  Should I run today?  Maybe I should.  I feel okay. 

You did run today moron.  4 miles.  How the hell did Clarkie do two of these in two weeks?  Or that crazy run of them that Footfeathers is doing?  Sheesh.  Didn’t Clark drop a six minute mile at the end of WS?

What the hell was with that feeling that I had all day on Monday and part of Tuesday like I was sort of ***faced or having the flu or something?  It was like some sort of haze.  And your feet were swollen to the point of looking like a pregnant woman. Didn’t I say I would take 30 days off to Brandon at mile 87? 

You realize you are now committed to sit at the back of someone’s car on a Saturday night freezing your tush off, drinking beer so that you can walk with them.  Right?  You realize that – right?  

The GPS actually lasted 68 something miles or 13 hours.  Pretty cool.  And you can see the slow down.  And crap dude … in the first 68 miles you registered 38 minutes of NOT moving.  What the hell is that all about?  And why didn’t you really use the IPod?

Maybe I should really pursue that music project of 100 songs I have been thinking about.  Shit, did I just sign up for Ignite?  Maybe I will get rejected.  

Did you really friend three more people on Facebook this week that you never met? 

Well I sort of met them.  I never talked to them.  I just passed by them at least 28 times back and forth out there at the res.  I probably need to look up that Jerry guy as he lives here in Broomfield.  Son of bitch kicked my ass in the last loop and that shit ain’t gonna happen again.

You know the real question right?  Why?  Why did you do that? 

I did it … I did it to see if I could do it?  I mean, I guess I knew I could do it all the time, but it is not enough to just say that.  You have to really know it.  And I guess while I say I knew it, there were a lot of doubts along the way.  I’d be lying if I did not say that. 

So why are you even considering doing it again?

I don’t know.  I guess to see if I can do it again?  Or to see if I can do it better?  Or to see if I learned anything from any of that?  Or maybe because I feel I don’t think I did what I could there?  Or because Brandon said it was only 99.96 miles?  But maybe I don’t need to do that.  I don’t know. 

=================

Cool stuff by the minions captured by JV.

Interesting stuff on Jager, her condition and the entire medications in masters as performance enhancers.

You succeed when you fail.

October 15-16, 2011 Boulder 100

21:54.  2nd in the 100, but probably really 3rd overall, as a guy in the 24 hour race finished 100 miles before the two in the hundred.  Apparently it was back and forth between me and the guy who won the 100, until the last lap where he blew my doors off. 

So much to say about this event – but I am going to keep this initial post short … I will probably look to throw up a few more things as I mull over them …  A few short things for now.

1.) THANK YOU.  I am hugely grateful, appreciative and honored to have such a caring loving family to support me in this folly.  I love you Tracy, Kali, John, Don, Carrie.   You are all way more than I ever ever deserve.  THANK YOU.

2.)  THANK YOU.  Holy crew.  I had the benefit on an incredible set of folks who came out to watch me, cheer me on, and run with me – even when my running was their walking.  Huge thanks to Marty K, J.P., Aaron, Brandon, Lucho, Peter H, Wyatt, Jeff, JV, Homie, Bob Sweeney, Pittbrownie.  There were no less than 10 guys pacing me!!  These guys took out their Saturday afternoons, Saturday nights – and when people SHOULD be sleeping and ran and walked around the reservoir with me, keeping me going, keeping me amped, keeping me on the mission. 

I was asked (during and after) if I wanted to quit.  The honest answer I gave was “yes, but I won’t.”  Part of the reason why was I did not want to have deal with the on going ridicule and sarcasm from these guys.  Yeah, it would have been in fun, but the message is this – their being there was one of those things I called on to keep going when I thought about not. 

I also did not want to disappoint my family.  I know that they wouldn’t have cared if I stopped at 50 or 75 or had not done this at all.  But I said I was going to do it.  They came out to see that.  I had to do it. 

Seeing my family at the aid stations, seeing the band of brothers sitting at the back of the car hooting it up, drinking brew as I stumbled into the lot in the middle of the night … I am an incredibly lucky and fortunate man.  If everyone in the world had this sort of support, it be a pretty magical place.  I live in an amazingly beautiful world.

Here is some video from Brandon that gives you a little insight of how these folks took care of me.  Keep in mind, this after they sat around in a parking lot for 2 hours waiting for me.

GZ @ Boulder 100 from Brandon Fuller on Vimeo.

3.)  OW.  Without a doubt, this is the most physically destructive thing I have ever done to myself (in endurance sport).  It hurt A LOT.  It still hurts A LOT.  I was woefully underprepared for this event, and my body began to tell me that at 35 miles.  I could begin to feel not only soreness, but the odd imbalances I have (that we all have) – as one will tend to feel as they flex something a million times.  By mile 70, I had a meat cleaver working its way in my right quad with ever step.  I had a rock hammer tapping at my left shin in off setting concert.  My under carriage was chaffed to bruised levels.

Did I say I was woefully underprepared for this event?  Wow.  I paid for that big time in the second half. 

4.)  But to talk about the physical and not account for the mental in this event would be a ridiculous oversight.  There are dozens of examples that I can give of this – but clearly the last few laps are a great example.  With three laps to go, I was physically done.  I had been doing the math all day and had gone from considering a 16 hour finish to an 18 hour finish to a 20 hour finish to a 22 hour finish to a 24 hour finish.  I had gone from popping about just over an hour a lap to two and a half hours.  That’s right:  2.5 hours for 7 miles.  I was struggling to hold 20 minute mile pace averages in light of my run-walk speed, aid station check ins, getting food.  I was convinced I would finish – but had set an expectation in my head that a sub 24 would be an okay debut.

I finished up my loop with Brandon.  It was 5AM.  I was ready to do my last lap.  Folks had been up all night and were either sleeping or had taken off.  I was ready to churn it out on my own.  Bob stepped in and said he would go with me.  I announced that I had four hours to go seven miles, and without missing a beat, he said “Bullshit.  You are going to be back here before 7AM and get under 22.”  I whined a bit that my run was not much faster than my walk.  I whined I was tired.   Bob told me to get on the tangent and keep moving and “let’s go catch that light up there,” pointing to a woman who (several laps behind me) was 100 meters up and had just left the aid station.

On the way out to the dam, he said, “okay, give me an every thing you got power 50.”

<insert whimpering sounds here>

Now, my pace probably went from 17 minutes a mile to a zippy 15, but there was a little improvement.  Over and over.  My shuffle run, and then a bit more of a run – most of which Bob could walk either way.  It was pure TORTURE.  But, as many have said, you can will your body to do things when it is screaming at you with every fiber not too.  Mind you, it may mean you are laying on the floor later that morning naked under a blanket unable to get to the shower but, well, you get the picture.

We got back at 6:56 for a finish time under 22 hours.  Left to my own devices, I would have strolled in a hour slower – easily.

5.)  Already the questions have come in if I will do one of these again.  Or what is next on the agenda.   I don’t know that – I certainly don’t outright rule it out.   I know I wouldn’t do it again in the same fashion if I were take another one on.

I have a whole new level of understanding on what it takes to perform in these events – and with that a more intimate respect for the performances now that I have done one.  I respected a 15 hour 100 mile before – I still do.  I just understand it a bit better now.  I have a new insight on what on a 44 hour HR is, or 2 of these hundred mile races in 2 weeks.  I don’t really know that stuff, but I have a better vision on it.

I learned a lot about fueling, clothing, logistics, pit stops,etc.  But probably most importantly,I learned that these events – at least for me at this point – call in a lot of people who care about you to spend a good amount of time and energy taking care of you.  I will admit that seems a bit selfish to me.  So while I will admit, I have already pondered what it would take to pull off one of these where I could “roll” with it for 100, I am not sure I am ready to quite be that selfish for a bit.  I am however very willing to provide that support back to the nut jobs that want to do this.

Again – more later …

Friday 101411

The more I think about it, the more I think the UROY thing is just plain silly.  We race from a start line to a finish line.  UROY is the opposite of that – it is a JUDGED contest.  I try not to get wrapped up in, but I sort of do.

Not sure about this – black IPA?  Hmmm.  Picked that one up from Eric.

Zero miles today.  Took the day off work to get a variety of errands done and assure I had everything set.  I definitely got the itch last night after work last night to get going with this. 

I AM BLOWN AWAY – I mean really just flat out wowed by the number of folks who have commented, wished me well, sent me a note on this event.  With each one I get a bit of the “holy crap – I better not screw this up” while at the same time realizing it is all folly anyway.

Pittbrownie wants me to set up a poll of over under on this event tomorrow.  I ain’t ready to jinx this event with that sort of thing, but I welcome predictions.  I still do owe the Garners (do they have a blog?!) a sixer, so I am behind on paying up – and thus I am not promising anything to the closest guesser at this point. 

Oh yeah, Pittbrownie wanted to know if I would still not consider myself an ultramarathoner if I complete this event.  Apparently, I am already a pretty seasoned one if you consider AJW’s definition.  I am not sure.  Let’s review Mr. K’s def …

Crap in the back of the car is ready.

On ice.

Tempted to crack that … but I figured I need to exercise a little delay gratification.

Wednesday 092111 Boulder 100 ramblings

When planning out 2011, I put the Boulder 100 on the calendar as a race that I would possibly do.

It is still a possibility. 

Frankly, my mind is all over the map on this, often changing from day to day.  Hell, sometimes stride to stride.  Back at the Dirty Thirty in June, several seasoned ultra guys told me running a 100 in the 7 mile out and back fashion that the Boulder 100 is was akin to “losing your virginity like a cheap whore.”  Understanding that Leadville was not an option given its calendar collision with Pikes, they encouraged me to something like Bear or even the upcoming Slickrock 100.  They questioned the mind numbing nature of the course, and challenge of getting to that same aid station after 10 laps (seventy something miles) and having the fortitude to get up and get back out there again.  And again.

My rebuttal has been that the advantage of a run like Boulder is that I don’t have to check out for a weekend to go do it.  I don’t have to manage all the logistics of getting somewhere and back.  Hypothetically, I could call on a variety of people to pace me that I would not normally have if off in Idaho this weekend.  There is appeal to the fact that I could have my kids join me on their bikes for a lap or two.  Unlike most of my runs where I am seen at the start and disappear for several hours, only to return looking like I have gone 15 rounds with Ivan Drago, I can been seen every hour or so … or even share some of that experience.  I can sleep in my own bed the night before and my own the night after. 

So there is some draw to that nuttiness. 

But, I also recognize it is totally outside of what I have been thinking about.  I have not trained for a 100.  I have not done a run longer than 12 miles since Pikes and Pikes was my longest run since a 30 miler in June and a 45 miler in May.  This is where the real mental games start between the voices in my head. 

“of course you can do a 100.  People do 100s all the time.  Did you see that guy who just did a 100 while wearing a gas mask and high heels?  Certainly if they did it, you can do it.”
”yeah but people get whacked in 100s all the time.  Timmy Parr.  Did you see he just got leveled a Wasatch?  And those guys at UTMB?”
”whatever, those guys were running for the win.  You’d be running to finish.  You could finish this.”
”I have not run more than a dozen miles recently and that generally felt like ass.”
”that was the day after a hard workout.”
”Exactly, I am supposed to be focused on 5k, 10k stuff right now.  Isn’t my doing this just focusing on the wrong thing?  Again?!  I mean I always get distracted and go and do the next thing rather than focusing on the thing now.”
”Dude – this ain’t the Olympics you are going to.  You are a middle of the pack 42 year old bald man (by choice) who keeps yapping about ultras but never does one.  This might upset your training for a 5k for a little bit but it is just a blimp.  Man up.”
”Man up?  I am not sure I can even do this.”
”Isn’t that the point?”
”yeah, but if I go out and do it, I want to do it.  Not screw it up and DNF.”
”Who cares if you DNF?”
”I do.”
”Good point, but so what?”
”This course sucks.”
”Good point but so what?  You chose this one for those stupid reasons above.”
”Race day reg is a 140 bucks.”
”Sounds like a good motivator to make sure you do at least a 100 to get as cheap per mile as possible.”

This conversation goes on and on … and on and on … and on … and depending on where it stops determines if I feel I ought to do the 100 or just focus on 5ks and 10ks for a bit.

So I still don’t know.

Running today … Bear Peak.  Since I can’t park at the Dowdy Draw or the South Mesa Trail lots without a fee, I elected to park at the South Boulder Creek Lot.  This is just off of 93, a little north of the turn off to Eldo (and is still free).  This puts you out a bit from any of the peaks, but that is fine … it makes for a nice mix.  It is about 2 miles up to the BlueBell trail, and then the maybe another mile and quarter to Shadow Canyon.  Each of these “milestones” mark a slight shift in the trails pitch.  To Bluebell it is a very shallow grade.  Bluebell to the Mesa is a bit steeper but not bad.  Then Shadow is just nutty (but not as bad as say Fern or Saddle).  I took the whole run easy, just massaging the brain cells as much as anything.  The round trip made for a nice 10 miler.  Only my fifth ascent up Bear this year …

Sumacs beginning to change to a sweet red along the Bluebell trail.

Happy last day of summer and welcome to autumn everyone.

Wednesday 120810

Yesterday was apparently the earliest sunset of the year.  Good.  I realize that the days get shorter (via later sun rises) through the equinox, but I am glad to be getting more light at the tail of the day.

AM – 5.5 miles, easy.

Bryon continues the post NF50 conversation over on his blog today.  Good stuff

Okay … three new things I am going to yammer about in this blog between now and the end of the year:

1.)  goals, expectations, and things I ought to do (call them resolutions) for next calendar year (GOALS 2011)
2.)  highlights from 2010 – both personal and ones I observed (HIGHLIGHTS 2010)
3.)  predictions, questions and prognostications for next calendar year. (CRYSTAL BALL 2011)

Let’s get started then shall we, and for fun … the crystal ball …

CRYSTAL BALL 2011:  Who the heck beats Roes at 100 miles in 2011?  This guy is a machine, a true freak.  I mean he has a wikipedia entry.  He has done seven hundreds and has always reached the finish line first.  Along with that he has a couple handfuls of course records, and podium finishes at shorter distances.  In an event where a slight off day can mean you are not just out of the hunt but you are done – this guy has had NONE at the big distance (Unfortunately, UTMB fell apart last year so we did not get to see how that played out).   Even at WS100, when the twitterverse thought he was done, he came roaring back to take the win.  There appears to be only a handful of guys with the pedigree and the training credentials to make it happen.  No surprises here as to who the candidates are:  Anton, Killian, and now maybe some other Europeans if they decide to toe it up.  Does that happen at WS100 this year?  Or at UTMB?   Or does Geoff continue to do his thing, race his race and just get to the finish lines faster than everyone else for distances of hundred miles or more?

PM – running into the darkness … but honestly, if I had woken up from a long sleep and you told me it was 9 PM in August versus 5 PM in December I would not have known the difference.  Shorts, t-shirt, a little cool, that epic mountain backdrop, and of course that feeling that you are moving much faster than you actually are when you run at this time of day.  6.5 miles (12 on the day).

I finally put my order in for my winning shoes from PPM, and they arrived today.

Doing a little end of the year number crunching tonight in the Sportstracks tool …

Sure, I may get 4000 miles but it is a helluva lot less vertical than many – with it probably coming in around 250k on the year for me.  Interesting to see the HR on whole drop.  Makes me think of Lucho.

Brandon’s NF race report is up.

Monday 120610

Strongly thinking of dropping the feed reader as it seems to be significantly jacking the blog’s ability to display stuff.

Dave has a good report re: NF50.  Justin has got a follow up article at RT.

USATF has posted their MUT championship race list for 2011. Nuthin in the home state ... I was kicking around thoughts of Bandera but it is a bit soon, and not sure I can swing it. (Post script – the comment thread this spawned is excellent)

 

Check out this NF50 video.  Love this …”this was the hardest goddamn thing I have done all year.  Possibly ever.  I went to fast at the start.  I took a risk and tried to go with the fast guys.  And it worked.  For 35 miles.  Then I couldn’t do it.  I don’t regret doing that.  But it definitely hurt me.  But it is okay.  It was great.  I am happy with it for sure.  I’ll be back.”  Pretty cool that they blast that music out there while you are running.  That must help alot.

PM – 10 easy miles.

Good IMTalk podcast on weight / nutrition basics.

Letterman talks Leadville

Sunday 072510 Burro Racing Championships

29 miles, 3300 feet of climbing.  From Fairplay to Mosquito Pass and back in the Burro Days World Championships.  4th in 6:31.

Week was 111 miles, 18.5 hours.  255 miles on over 40.75 hours in July. 2379 miles over 377 hours on the year.

Let’s see … lots to say about the Burro World Championships today, but in short, if you are interested, this is much more about how effective you are in keeping your burro moving than actual running.

I got into town around 7:45, and Justin arrived shortly thereafter.  Bill had also arrived, but around 1:30 last night and hence was still asleep in his truck.  Justin and I wandered Front Street, yapping about recent racing results.  We swung back around 8:15 and started set up in full swing.

Unlike a typical warm up, the warm up for these events are all about the donkey.  You comb it out, you set up the saddle, you do weigh in of the saddle, you make sure your gear on the donkey then is set, you play with the saddle some more and make sure the donkey is watered.  I got a lot of help from Bill, Justin and my family.  Very much in debt and thanks to all of them.

And hour and a half later, we wandered over to the start, which was now full of folks out for the event.  Actually, this might have been the deepest start crowd field I have seen in quite a bit.  They introduced every runner and burro, and the crowd stretched several blocks a few folks deep.  Skatona made an appearance at the start and it was good to see him.  Lots of people and

Admittedly, I was nervous.  I’d be nervous for any run in the mountains over 20 miles, but this was with an animal that I barely knew, and around a bunch of other animals I had no clue about.

And then we were off.  I had no intention of flying out of town, but Jack flew off the front.  I looked to my left and Justin was right there with Mr. Ziffel.  We led the race out of town down into South Park City.  By the end of South Park City (the historical city museum) however, the lead was exchanged to others and I was fine with that.

Off the back end of South Park Museum, we dropped quickly into the South Platte tributary valley and there was a good amount of confusion.  The burros were fired up, read to go and roll and the runners were also willing to move with that.  But there were several paths in the reeds and weeds around the river and so people started going different ways.  Then Justin’s saddle fell right off Mr. Ziffel.  I heard Bill yell to some of us - “YOU ARE OFF THE COURSE!  IT IS OVER HERE!”  We converged back up into the course over the next minute or so and started heading north.

Things settled down, and I could see I was about 200 yards off the lead and probably in tenth place.  Everyone was running, but pretty easily and slowly.  I began to work my way up, but reminded myself that I had a LONG way to go, and I really had no idea what the hell I was doing.

By the Mosquito Pass Road (5 miles?) I had bridged the gap to the leaders and settled in just behind them, content to be there.  Over the next mile, I shared some words with each of the leader group and everyone was really friendly.  Shortly after that, as we headed to Park City, I found myself in the lead.  The running was easy, controlled and Jack seemed to be responsive to all of it.  For a moment, I entertained, that thought.  Really?  Could I contend in this thing?  Wow.

But just as we passed through the steeper stuff out of Park City, Jack came to a halt.  A complete halt.  I could not get him to move.  I watched the three other leaders go.  And I sat there for about 10 minutes.  And any thoughts I had of such contention, slipped away.  I kept trying to get Jack to move, but it was slow, difficult, and frustrating to some degree.  We had been clipping along well, and now I could see the next runner coming up.  And the next! 

The next runner was Hal, with his burro Laredo, a multiple winner here.  He passed, but then he also was struggling with his burro with some of the same issues.  We went back and forth.  One burro would run, pass the other and then stop and walk.  Then vice versa.  And then they would both walk.  Hal and I tried to get the burros to work together, with some modicum of success as we climbed out of town, onto American Flats.  We got word that the leaders were 15 minutes ahead.  I could tell from the GPS that we had lost that time in just about 2 miles.

As we climbed American Flats, Kevin and his burro Pardner caught us.  This was mostly a hike.  I could see the three leaders making the long traverse to Mosquito Pass – and while we were all eager to run, our burros would have none of it.

We kept trying to move however, hoping to catch those in front of us, make ground on those behind us, and trying to beat the mid day thunderstorms.

So up we went.  We hit Mosquito and started the run down.  It became clear to me that I really did not want to end up in a burro sprint with Hal and Kevan – two cagey veterans of this event, and so I kept trying to stage a break away.  But it would not happen.  I’d get a small lead and Jack would halt, purposely waiting for the others and then falling behind them, passing them and then repeating the whole process.  This happened at least a dozen times and I began to wonder if I would be able to break away.

Then, just below the fork with about nine miles to go, (the split to Mosquito Pass versus American Flats), Jack started a nice 7 minute mile trot.  I took advantage, expecting it to dry up like the others, but …it kept going for at least a bit.  I could see Kevin and Hal, walking behind and hoped this was the break I would get to avoid the sprint in town. 

Soon, I could look back and could not see them but still was not confident that I was done with them.  After a good long stretch, Jack would get distracted – with cars, parties at house, bikers, ATVs and we’d walk for a bit, but inevitably we’d get back to a 8 – 10 minute mile jog down the Mosquito Pass road.  On the way down, I saw JT, who handed me a PBR – and it tasted damn damn damn good.

Once off the Mosquito Pass Road, things got really challenging.  It started to rain.  Jack wanted to eat all the grasses and not go.  And the trail was often sketchy and hard to find.  We made fair time, but then, just before town, I got totally turned around in those same weeds and reeds that had us all confused at the start.  I got a little frantic, concerned that I’d loose fourth because I had lost the trail – with only 3/4 of a mile left to go to town.  Jack and I pushed through some tough stuff there – and my legs are pretty scratched up because of it, but we came back up into town and were able to finish the race.

The post race festivities were good food in the Hand Hotel restaurant, and I enjoyed a meal with JM, my in laws and my son.

I am pretty sure I will come back.  Tons of thanks to Bill for getting me going with a burro and teaching me the basics,, Cody and Corey for all the croo help today, Justin for the encouragement and actually kicking me in the ass to make this happen, my family for their support, love, laughter, and helping me do this today and everyone else for all the help today.

A few pix … more to come in the next day or two.

 
 
 

Wednesday 063010

AM – 10 miles.  AM listening included a wrap up on Endurance Planet re: WS100, with Bryon Powell from irunfar.

PM – hot.  Probably 95?  12 miles easy and slow.

Mileage for June looks comes in at  392 miles on over 57.75 hours. 2124 miles over 336 hours on the year.  Where you at for the half way post on ‘10?

For comparison purposes I checked my entry at the close of June last year.  I found three things … (with some notes)

1.) A snippet from the rollup from later year - June rollup … ran all 30 days with a high of 20.5 on June 28, and a low of 1 on June 19. 333 miles on the month. Halfway through the year, with 1680 miles. 14235 minutes on the year, 2734 minutes on the month.   Okay –  I am hopeful that the additional miles (about 500 so far on the year) will be beneficial later this summer, but I recognize they may not make that much of a difference.  I guess this also means that I ended up with just under 2000 miles for the remainder of ‘09.  I guess that means, I have about 4000 miles over the last 12 months.

2.) I repeat myself a lot.  I started to troll through some of the entries from June of last year, and a lot of that stuff I posted I could have posted yesterday:  sleeping in, kids’ ball games, a feeling that I need to do more in terms of diet, core, etc.  Some things don’t change much.

3.) Some things change significantly.  In the comments from that end of June post, there is some chatter about the WS100.  I indicate some hesitancy about the ultra distances in there.  I still have a healthy hesitancy, maybe more of a respect of those distances – but I can feel myself embracing that culture, the desire to do ultras much more now than I was a year ago.  Started squinting at this calendar.

Anyway, I think in this latest Kilian crosses the Pyrenees video, he is meeting up with Paula R.

Pacer report from Scott J … love the vomitus euphoritus reference.

Max King on a podcast at Running Times.  On that front, I saw a copy of Running Times in the grocery and was flipping through it.  Saw Scott Elliott featured in a hill climb section.  Not sure how recent the pix are, but maybe Scott is getting out there?  I’d love to see that.  Can’t find the article on line … yet.

Just noticed that Eric Blake, and Rickey Gates are on the competitive entry list for Pikes. (ascent) So I did a quick glance and I see … Tommy Manning, Fruedenberg, Maksimow, Gutierrez, Tilton also up there so quite a few USMRT runners (current and past).  Cox is also on the list, and Mike Kloser (who blows my mind every year as to how well he does).  DON’T SEE PARR THERE YET.   I see a competitive entry for Paul Raistrick but he is predicting a 3:39 ascent.  The wild card is the Kenyan Chemweno, but this guy actually appears to have some mountain running experience.

Course on the PPM side there is Carpenter, Parker, Mock Parr, Sir Nick Clark, Burch, Fain, Boettcher, and a guy with a really cool running name:  Rickey Lightfoot.  Hope to see Tony’s name there soon too. 

A bit old now but good.

Apparently Barringer’s season is done with a stress fracture.

Dig this story on runners doing right … in a sport that often gets more headlines for cheats.

Apparently Wardian is going to try to break the indoor marathon record.  That is a lot of 200 meter laps!

Anton has posted some excellent shots from some nutty run he did this past weekend.  There is an interview with Roes post race over here.

Wednesday 060910

Interviews with WS top contenders.

Nick’s “guide” to ultra prep.

AM – tough to get up this morning.  Any case, 2 mile warm up over to BHS, and the 3 x (600-400-200) with a very slow 200 jog between each rep, and 400 jog between each set.  Tried to take these in order of imagining 5k pace, mile pace and 800 pace.  Feels the same as it did ten years ago, but my watch must run faster these days.  1.25 mile cool down.  7 miles total.  (2:01, 78, 37; 2:00, 78, 37; 1:59, 77, 36).

This workout probably be a bit longer (both in terms of distance  -probably closer to 3 miles for me in total “speed” - and time – probably at least 18 minutes versus the 12 here), but I am just working into these (after not doing more than 2k of stuff here through the spring).

I have been asked why I do these sorts of workouts – flat, short – when the events I prepare for are typically uphill and longer.  First, this sort of activity represents a very small percentage of my training (less than 3 percent in terms of typical mileage, probably even less than that in terms of time).  Second, I feel some need to tap this sort of work, because it is the aspect of my running that has degraded the most over the last five years – and hence potentially represents an area that I could gain the most improvement from.

That aside, I have wondered if I have subconsciously grown scared to run fast.  Well, less so about running fast, and more scared of running while hurting.  I know that sounds weird.  In reading various literature over the last couple years about the brain acting as a damper to protect ourselves, I have wondered if it is adverse to running faster, as that represents potential damage it does not want to deal with.

Or I could just be slower.

Evening … I forgot how much I love running at this time.  It is cooler, the sun has set so there are beautiful vistas of the mountains to the west.  The trade off is that while my legs are awake, I am usually tired from a full day.  In any case, I got out on the Lake Link trail and as it was too dark to read the watch, I decided to play a HR game.  The game was to keep my HR as constant as possible – and at an easy level (sub 150), with the challenge being that I was doing this blind and that this course is very varied (rolling quite a bit).  I did “okay.”  I averaged 147, but with a max of 154 (on an 6.5 % grade uphill).  Given the nature of the route, the pace was ALL over the place to keep things dialed in (low sixes on the downhills to high tens on the uphills).  Sorta fun.  5 miles.

Wednesday 050510

Crikey.  It is May already? 

Enjoying these posts from Justin and Beth.  They do race reports over several posts rather than one big one (London Marathon and St. George IM respectively).  I prefer the detail and the “chapter” nature of these.  But I also do wonder if I am just to ADD in this sound byte world to actually sit and read something for more than 3 minutes.

I have not been getting in the morning runs like I’d like too.  Simply, there has been too much other crap competing for my time in the AM, and I am only willing to compromise my sleep so much.  Hopefully with the change in the weather (it is is May already?!) and school ending I can get back to some regular AM runs.  I confess, I am not a big fan of the early morning run.  I like having it done, and the miles behind me for the day.  But it is work to get rolling then.  I move much better at 1PM. 

I have posted something like this only 214 times before so it is probably completely unlikely that I will actually do it.  I’d like to incorporate something like plyos or more core into my regular work.   I saw a guy at the track last week doing these leap ups off a bench and it looked effective and hard.  But when push comes to actual shove, I don’t do this stuff and I run instead.  Often it comes down to how I want to spend my training buck.  I am trained-in grained to think that if I have another hour, maybe I ought to get 7 or 8 more miles rather than spend that hour doing plyos.  Yeah, see – if I have 95 miles, that is better than having only 88.  Or is it?  Or I can find another hour.  Nick posted about something similar yesterday. 

It also comes down to a concept that I have posted about here 102 times before:  most of us end up doing the training you enjoy and are comfortable with.  Some guys would do well (in other words improve a lot more and do something outside their comfort zone) to get on the track, some guys would do well to hit the hills more, some would do well to do longer runs and some would do well to rest from running and actually do something else.  But, we do what we enjoy.  Of course, there are those who enjoy performing their best on a single day and see the big picture of that and will do a lot of other things that they may not otherwise enjoy on a daily basis to guarantee that result.  I am pretty sure most of us are not in that boat.

So I see that, but I also see that I might not be actually willing to change.  If you always do what you have always done then you should not be surprised if you always get what you have always got.

Anyway, shifting gears a bit … This weekend is the NF 50 in NY.  This sets up for a show down between two of the hottest names in the ultra world at current – Roes and Parr.  Both of these guys carry high win percentages as of late and it ought to be a slug fest.  Good preview over here.

Also, on the ultra front, I feel that if Kilian is healthy he has to be the heavy favorite for WS100.  I have nothing but respect for the Krupicka’s, Roes’, AJW’s, Clark’s of the world … but Kilian is just dealing from another level.   Those videos … definitely motivating.  The way he is flying down that slickrock – wow.

Fun stuff – Solinsky gets the “fatty WR.”

Afternoon – got out and felt good but decided initially to keep it mellow.  I felt good, but I could feel a touch of yesterday’s work in the legs.  For the first hour, I averaged a HR of 138 (max 148), and just under 8min/mile.  I have to shake my head at this stuff at times because last summer I would be often sitting at 149 and 8:20 miles (but I suspect some of that was heat … but the broader point is the same).  After an hour, I mixed it up with 15 second strides at near all out effort, and a 1:45 jog (super super easy).  15 miles.

Tuesday 050410

Various Miwok reports (Tony, Rod Bein, Gary Robbins).  Increasingly I am intrigued as a fan of the ultra scene, but am not ready to wade deeply into it. 

Throw down at Green from last year.

Quote of the day … Everyone talks about fear of failure. I really do not think that is what it is. It is really fear of success. I am convinced that coaches and athletes fear success more than they fear failure. With success comes pressure, the more success the more you are expected to succeed and the more pressure. Successful people do not fear failure, they use to learn, and it is a growth opportunity. They internalize it and use it to improve. Unsuccessful people avoid succeeding like the plague, they know that by succeeding expectations for success will rise. They are comfortable being mediocre and find ways to stay mediocre. If you listen to their self talk and chatter you will hear it. They usually have every excuse in the book why they can’t be better. They also can tell you a million reasons why others who are succeeding are doing things they can’t or won’t do. These are the people that Dweck has identified as those with a fixed mindset. Successful people have a growth mindset. They embrace challenges, look on failure as a growth opportunity. They understand there will be missteps, but each of those is a learning opportunity, embrace the pursuit of excellence, don’t be afraid of it. To be the best is not comfortable, everyday you have to go where few others dare to venture.

Met up with Lucho in the AM and did Bear.  Of course, I had to demonstrate my ballerina level of klutzy-ness by doing several face plants on the way down, including a good roll of the ankle again.  The round trip to Bear was 6.75 so I tacked on a bit to get north of two hours.  11 miles, 3600 vertical.  I had aspirations of running all of the “the longest mile in Boulder County” but relented when we got to the wooden stairs.  Damn.  Some work to do. 

I don’t see Bear (or Green or SoBo) as particularly specific for the mountain races I am lining up to do this year.  Simply, they are too steep (often there are grades in excess of 35 percent).  That said, they are fun, do provide a good workout and are a little different. 

Great to catch up with Lucho, laughing my ass off (when not falling on it) nearly all of the run.  Oh yeah, there are lady bugs on top of Bear. 

Evening – JZ’s first baseball practice of the season.  Jogged around the BHS complex and learned that it is a mile around the grounds.  Yup, quarter mile each road around the school (Daphne, Miramonte, Main, Eagle Way)  6 miles easy.

Sunday 050210

AM – jogged some with TZ and then made my way over to the BHS track.  Did 10 x 300m, 200m recovery, with the 300s at slightly faster than current 5k pace and the recovery as slow as I wanted them to be (fwiw, this was pretty close to a minute on, minute off).  12 miles.

91 miles on the week, 13.5 hours.  27 miles on May, 1377 on the year and 197.25 hours on the year.  Decent week, as I got two days of fair vertical (excess of 2500), and got a little turn over today.  Need to keep that sort of mix in there and also build into the longer (3 plus hour) run.

Tons of results to dig into (or not, if they are not posted yet).  But it is Sunday, so I have work to do first.  Definitely a very interesting story with Solinsky taking down the 10k AR.  All the attention was on Rupp, who changed race locations late to assure the best conditions to set up for an AR run.  He got the AR, but Solinsky ran for the win, got it, the AR and is now the fastest non African at the distance ever. 

Plus he wears knee high compression socks that are WHITE.

Add in Miwok, CP, and the IM action … good stuff.  Some people had great weekends.  Some folks did not.  But all that is why we run the race … some Miwok video:

This appears to be a helluva diet program.

Friday 030510

Interesting list of fast 100 mile times.  Cross link from Derrick.

’Nother free tune from SP.

On the ‘bent for 2 hours today.  30 minute warm up, then an hour of 3 minutes on a higher resistance, 2 minutes at low resistance (so this is set sets).  30 minute warm down.  Got the HR over 150 a few times.  Oww.  Stairs afterwards were tough.  Dances with Wolves, one of my favorites got me through a chunk of this.

Calf feels a lot better, but I am going to try to be conservative and not test it out yet.  Worked it quite a bit with TZ’s foam roller.

Found this video re: Tabata interesting.  TiVO does pretty well with climbs.  Definitely going into the hurt locker in those last few. 

Favorite brew as of late has been the Flying Dog ale called Snake Dog IPA.  Decent hops, decent ABV (7.1), and usually one of the cheaper six packs I can pick up.  Tonight however, I stumbled across their anniversary brew – Raging Bitch, and at the same cheaper price.  A Belgian IPA, and 8.3 ABV.   Might be a nice treat this weekend.  Also grabbed the Odell’s IPA – another fave.  Found this at 2 bucks cheaper per six as well.  Score. 

Been getting better at also getting core in.  Was supposed to go to Ignite with JM, BF, and JV tonight, but TZ had a girls night out.  Per request, KZ and I checked out Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Love that she has that sense of humor.

Getting some taper downloads of the Hickman Dalton Clyne action from early February (I can let you know where if interested).  This is good fun music.

Tuesday 011210

Semick, Roes named as UROY.

Need comedy?  Then enjoy the comments from Mark McGwire the liar, who apparently did not do PED’s for the purposes of getting HRs, but “health purposes.”   Umm – yeah.  That is the point of performance enhancing drugs.  They change and improve your health (hence what they are called).  I wonder if I could cut the course of my next race, get the win and a course record but look to make it better by saying I cut it not for the win but for health purposes.  Simply – WTF?  Take this guy’s record away, and ban him from any involvement in any professional sport for life. 

11 miles.  7 with Ken, Dave, and Steve at work and then tacked on four more.  EZ, 8 minute pace.

Sunday 010310

AJW sets a good fire in this post:  DNFs in ultras.

AM – the family was off to the rec center.  After getting the crumb grabbers and associated guest crumb grabbers situated in the pool, I did some light stretching and slipped off to the treadmill.  Got in six before we had to jet.  Mile at 15%, then 12%, then 9%, then 6%, then 3% then 1%.  70 minutes.

PM – mill in the garage.  Amped for this, and so did a twenty minute tempo.  Mile warm up, 20 minutes in the middle building to 10k pace.  Less than a mile warm down.    5 miles, 33 minutes.  Joe Satriani Live in San Francisco helped.

The week was a down week for me in terms of mileage.  I was good with that.  It naturally occurred because of the holidays, but was furthered by the weather and the altitude on the front end of the week.   Definitely need to remember that as I get to Fairplay, the miles are less important than the time on the feet. 

I reviewed my logs from last year at this time (and through March, April) and I was doing a good number of intervals on the mill.  A combination of hard strides (14 mph) and then a workout with a group jacked my Achilles for a good few weeks in the spring. 

A subtle change, but an important one is that I won’t  do hard strides on the mill.  In fact, I’d like to make the mill all about incline  running, but I expect that with spring weather I will do other stuff than that on it.  Currently thinking that getting out for some 5k, 10k type racing and getting regular tempos in the midst of training will be a nice build up – and that I get to “other stuff” later.  The focus will be on general mileage, but I will look to get after it for 20-40 minutes a couple of times a week.  And with the mileage… sigh … getting back to a long run …

53 miles on the week, 442 minutes.  December is 291 miles.   3656 miles on the year,  32065 minutes.  January is 33 miles, 268 minutes.

NF50

Its early but based on the Irunfar tweets, it appears that Steidl ran 6:33 to return to his champ status there.  He finishes over Roes (6:40) at NF50 (gets my vote for UROY).