Tuesday 23JUN2015

Woke up and the right Achilles was hot.  What is that about?   I went to bed with it fine and I wake up with it gimpy.  I was actually walking funny most of the AM at work because of it.  I switched to my Hokas (someone at work called them Hukas so I had to go with that and say I don’t smoke through them blah blah blah) and it felt a bit better. 

Got out for a hike jog in the afternoon.  It was pretty hot and so that combo’d with an unsteady piece of grizzle made for slow going.  I bit it twice.  Once on that root on the way down on upper Greenman, and then again just in the lower part of Gregory.  In both cases I pretty much threw my phone against a rock hard but the Otterbox kept that bugger intact.  My skin however is getting shredded on my legs and arms.  If beating up my quads to prep for Pikes and Leadville includes beating them down by falling onto rocks with them, I am preparing well. 

I listened to the URP Mackey interview podcast for most of the run.  After the first good digger I thought I ought to turn things off and focus.  Apparently it didn’t work. 

In addition to biking, Tony is climbing.  But that is not what I like about this post.  What I like about it is that it describes one of the local super heroes in this area:  Bill Wright.  Bill Wright is a part of the Boulder OSMP hills in a way that only a small handful are (and basically that handful are the Minions). 

Colorado pretty much ruled the podium at Mount Washington.

Tuesday 040213

24th trip today, doing in 92 days what I did in all of 365 last year.  Feeling yesterday a bit and it was snowing so I was casual on the up via the middle route, and came down Bear Canyon on the trip down.  Lost my footing a bit in the snow  and took a spill that had me faceplant into a tree.  Guess I was lucky to have decided to not wear my glasses and to walk away with all my teeth.  Typical expected abrasions to the elbows and heels to go with the minor face cuts.

Rang my bell pretty good though.  Laid there for a bit, but got up quickly enough to not be caught wiped out by the person I had passed just a minute or so before.

So yup, still a klutz.

Got this one from JV.  I thought it was pretty rich to start.  But I guess it says a lot of the same sort of things I say.

But it still seems a bit rich.

Thursday 081210

AM - got over to Chautauqua for a bit of a warm up with Brandon, JV. Easy jogging and chatting it up on a beautiful morning.

Before the final switch backs heading to the four way junction, I headed back down to meet up with Lucho and Footfeathers. Unplanned, Michael, a guy out here for his third day (from USATF) joined us. We warmed up around the Mesa and then made way over to Gregory. As we got over there, JV and Brandon popped back down.

I was interested in seeing what I could do up the "classic" route of Green (Amp, Saddle, Greenman). From what I can find on this blog, my best appears to be 34:48 (as part of a run up from Chautuaqua in 39:13. Earlier this year, I ran 38:36, but it was snowy on the upper ends. I have become convinced this run means little in terms of performance elsewhere, as it is silly steep and relatively short. Still, for fun, I wanted to get a readout as to how I progressed since then. I realized I was probably compromising the effort with a 7 mile warm up, but I justified that with the thought that I am going to need to run hard after 10 miles and 5000 feet of climbing next week.

Realizing that I would not really be running with Lucho, I got going ahead of him, expecting him to bolt past in the opening minutes. I specifically tried to be a touch conservative in the opening climb. It has some of the biggest step ups, and driving these can really zap me. I looked for small steps - maybe too much so because I think I'd often go around the big step up (1 step) with maybe a longer path of four little step ups.

I ran all of this except for the really big rock step ups that I could not avoid (that hard left at the drainage basin, the climb to the overlook, the rock climb just past that). Weather was about perfect, as some clouds cut a bit of the heat. Summited in 35:20. Not a PR, but pretty damn good considering everything.

Side note - I'd say "I'll take it" but that seems a stupid thing to say. I mean, if you don't like it do you say, "I reject that?"

Garmin details ...

Anyway, waited a bit for Lucho at the top (he ran a zippy 30:50), and then Footfeathers joined him. We headed down the Ranger Gregory path, yipping about Leadville, etc. Saw Tony heading up.

I have been pretty careful on downs as of late because I keep rolling this right ankle, and I am pretty much a klutz. Yeah - I fall a lot. On many portions of Gregory, the rocks are a bit sketchy so I am a bit more careful. When I am on my own, I am reminding myself to be careful.

So the setup for a classic wipe out was set. I just had a good run up. We were nearly done with the run. I was gleefully enjoying the banter with the boys. We were not railing it, but moving at a decent pace to keep things along. The trail had leveled out a bit. Here we go.

Rolled the ankle. Tried to catch myself, but then caught my left foot on a rock. Hit the ground with my arms and my left hip pretty good. Probably left a six inches square of skin out there and brought home a good amount of rock dust.

At the office now, the right forearm is oozing through the gauze. Typical expected cuts on the knees and the heel of the palms of my hands. That is a bit less concerning to me than the left toe that is pissed from getting clipped, and the stiff left hip that took a bang. Ah well. No biggie. It will all be better in a couple of days. As Footfeathers said - "hey, forced taper man!" Right on.

12 miles on the day.

Not going, but there is the Pearl Street Mile tonight in Boulder.

Monday 083109

• I have posted a little here that the arc of Webb, Ritz and Hall is a pretty epic story in the making (think about the story everyone would be yapping about if those three guys were NFL QBs instead of just being skinny little runners). This year by year comparasion thread is interesting (even though it is on that evil site).

• AM - 7.5 miles. Was going real easy, enjoying an amazing sunrise - where the sun was rising just as this muted orange ball - no blaze to it. Effort was low, pace was slow, and then I was hit by a car. Probably mostly my fault as I was in never never land thinking about 100 + mile weeks. I rolled over the hood, completely not expecting it (which was probably good). It was not going fast as it was just coming out of side road intersection. I bounced off and was ready to keep running but then decided I better check on the driver. He was nearly having a small heart attack so I talked with him for a minute. He was very nice and offerred information, etc but I just told him not to sweat it. TZ thought this was a pretty bad way to start the day. I thought it was all in all a pretty amazing way to start the day. Any accident you can walk away from like that (or run five more miles from) is a good one. Seriously, I have hurt myself worse on falls on a run and with my bicycle antics. HR had been maxed at 140 until that point. It took me a better part of 2 miles to get it back under control.

• So in all that ... yeah, I was dreaming a bit of 100 mile weeks ... (of course, afterwards I just making sure I was not seriously **cked up). On the run with Timmy G the other morning we talked about a few of the "what's next?" options for me. Tim and I lived about 1.5 miles apart until last year and so we used to run together quite a bit. He got into sub 15 5k shape in his mid 30's (*yes, up here*) before injuring his foot, going through surgery, etc. He has been slowly slowly staging a comeback that will put him in contention for the 2016 Olympic Games when they have ultra distance down hill mountain racing as an event. Here is the short of his feedback --"are you done feeling sorry for yourself since you put up yet another lame ass performance at Pikes?") (other comments included, "how does it feel when your man crush calls you a moron for going out too fast?" Seriously, good to chat with him, good to see him getting back at it. His point was at some point I need to figure out what I am doing next. I am most likely thinking TOO much about what is next and how to get there (refer to several posts floating around that say - "think less, run more."

• In any case ... here are some of the options I am weighing ... this is sort of a simple view of it all. These are the ideas that are bouncing around in my little tin can ...

  • 1.) Not figure it out yet. (and this is currently where I comfortably am). Run and not think. Not worry about training. Not worry about racing. Go long if I feel like it. Go short if I feel like. Leave the HR monitor off. Wear it if I am interested. Hit trails, high mountains, roads, track. Do a race if the spirit moves me. Jog. Drink. Be merry. Do strides. Or not. Sleep in. Take a day off if I want to ... for no good reason at all.

    • Advantages to this approach include mental down time, and just looking for some fun for a bit. Given life, the fall, and my past desire to get after it right after some other race - I think "hanging out" for a while might just be fine. Consider this a difference between "training" and "running." Training is with a goal and so that drives daily considerations. Running is, well not goal-less, but free of such daily considerations ...

    • Disadvantages there is no ryhme or reason to this approach ... and so results may vary (hell they vary with specific training anyway so - whatever!). I have built (or maybe maintained) some level of fitness over the summer and it would be nice to ride this a bit through the fall. But it is a mental shift for me for the goal just to be "have fun." I realize that is a very embraceable goal for many. It is a bit of a tough hug for me though - over the long term. Having fun is tied to, at some point, some level of result for me ...

  • 2.) Train long. Do miles. Lots of miles. Easy miles. Build a base. Play with low (sub 150) HR training. See if it comes down at the same pacesor alternatively if pace increases with the same HR. Last year I was training at a HR of 150 at a 7 minute mile pace. This year it is 7:35. Why? I don't know.

    • Advantages - gives me a goal. Builds the base. Gives me the opportunity to determine if this low HR thing is really for me. I could "cheat" a bit with strides to get the stride speed back. Maybe prepares me for a longer (ultra race) next year. I have never engaged in a long period of building the base until my body said - enough, you have exhausted that ... some maybe putting in some miles now gives me the break I need, but enough of a goal to chase. It is a good time of the year for it ... Think less, run more. Miles of trials. Trials of miles. The Tims inevitably recommend this.

    • Disadvantages chasing miles takes a lot of time.

  • 3.) Train for speed I have considered just shifting the focus entirely for a bit to throw a new spice in there, a new wrinkle - in the form of training for something short and fast. Like a 5k. Or a mile. Or maybe even an 800. I was reading about Ritz and how he felt the last seven weeks were instrumental to his recent 10k PR (and 5KAR), almost discounting what he had did with Hudson for the two years before. I guess I look at that and think BOTH were a huge influence - but this later training under Salazar just gave him a little boost he needed by shifting his training. I have some belief that we need to occasionally make a make some shifts in our training to promote different results. Could be adding weights to the mix. Could be adding GS work to the mix. Could be a progression run. Whatever. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. Then again, changing the approach every day means no consistency.  

    I look at old log books and see when 6 x 800 in 2:30 with a minute rest was a good workout. I don't think I could do ONE 800 that fast now. And heck, I am not ready to give up thoughts of breaking five minutes for the mile for another year.

    • Advantages potentially fun. Different. Fuels a fire inside.

    • Disadvantages Is it really what I am preparing for, for next year?

• There are a couple of other considerations floating around on all this ... I turn 40 soon. There will be a temptation to do some 40+ PRs, jump in some club XC races with the masters guys, and the like. There is life in general of course and after a summer of training - chilling a bit is okay. And the other consideration is really - what is next (in terms of running and racing)? Is it a 50 miler in the spring? Is it a fast mile? Is it racing a burro? I have not figured that out yet.

  Anyway ... all that said ... there are no race goals right now. I think I am going to just run out there, some strides a few times a week, up the mileage and enjoy the fall. Maybe that is a combination of all of the above.

• NON RUNNING RELATED -- A story probably that might be controversial to some – and I certainly don’t claim to have all the facts but I think the odds of six thousand dudes with guns to 1640 wolves sucks for the wolves.

• Yesterday, while heading to Heil Ranch with Rock he mentioned that he was interested in getting a greater presence on youtube, facebook, etc for his shoe charity, OneWorldRunning.  On the spot, I did a quick interview with him in the car and told him I would post it up here …
  

  
• PM – 6.5 miles easy. August totals – 268 miles, 2365 on year.  According to Sportracks I ran 39 hours, 40 minutes this month, with ~28000 feet of climbing.  The “summer “was 1003 miles, and ~ 143 hours (which is about 6 days of running).
• Given I am now on the receiving end of cars, I might just have to switch to the hammer throw: 
  

Wednesday 070208 Green ...a good crash, it was bound to happen

I changed my mind and decided not to do Audubon or wake up for an 0530 run with the BTR group. Nope ... I took refuge in the rack until 6. Lucy and I headed to Green. The plan was for a fair session up Green, and then a few snappy strides in the park. After a 42 Ascent, we began the trip down and I was feeling pretty good so I upped the pace a notch or two. As we entered the short, gravelly switchbacks on the upper part of Ranger, Lucy cut one of the corners. I tried to compensate, but was moving quickly - caught a root and began that dance.

That dance is the dance of trying not to fall, keep running, braking, thinking oh crap I am falling, watching the dog bolt away at good speed, thinking you might actually pull your ass out of this and then the sad realization - while this has occurred in 25 feet and 1 second - that you are going to bite it. So I bit it.

Don't get me wrong. I fall alot JV laughs at how much I fall. But most of my falls are harmless. In fact I usually fall going up with JV. This one was a good ole humdinger and while coming down. This probably my first one in a year.

Face down, I lay there for a bit ... you take stock (this is pretty much the same routine I go through when I fall, unless it is in a race ... and then the whole process is accelerated x10): nothing feels broken ... hands are okay because I was wearing gloves... better stop my watch ... face and sunglasses are not broken ... okay, arms burn ... yup some good trail rash there ... and on the knees and thighs. Shit the camera is totally trashed ... that sucks. Then the adrenaline kicks in and you get shakey. Okay ... need to get up and take stock again. Oh yeah, there is the dog licking my head making sure I am alive (cause if I were dead she'd want to probably use me as a chew toy). Creak up ... retake stock, sore here and was not before. Okay, I can run ... but let's jog for a bit to feel this bugger out. Damnit on the camera.

I'd share pictures of course, but the camera is broke. Me, cut and bruised ... but I will heal. Family wanted to know if I had fallen off a cliff when they saw me. Really, with nothing really jacked other than some good cuts - I am fine.

RT was in 75 and I decided to pass on the strides ... needed to get home to pick the rocks out of my skin.