Met good crew of folks for the Basic this AM. After what seemed to be an unusually long run on roads 
Despite the epic nature of this event, and the good company, I found myself even in the early going more annoyed with the conditions then embracing the pure ridiculous nature of them. The trails were sloppy: slushy snow, or mud, or deep wet snow. Not bad conditions, but for whatever reason – I was not stoked about them. Footing was hard, and I found myself internally whining about not getting a decent foot plant. Feet were sloshing wet and cold a half mile into the open space. Whatever. Mentally – I was weak today, even though there was good company, and the pace was easy.
I had my fill when we broke back over Bear Canyon, and took the fire road down. No stars for this wimp today.
Brandon, JV, JP before the start. Debating the route and if we ought to bring sleds.
JV and Homie (Homie gets the quote of the day … “I am not a pussy … I am doing the whole damn thing.”) 
Early going on the sidewalk 
And then the craziness begins … 
Basic reports from Brandon, JV, Justin and JP
October wrap up: 66 miles on the week over 10 hours and 7 minutes. So, October finishes at 39 hours and 33 minutes, 345 miles. 3041 miles on the year, 26970 minutes.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday 103109
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday night monologue
… JV did some recon up Green. Snow looks deep. Current plan for tomorrow AM is to show up at the start, figure out what we are doing, and ad lib it from there
.
Thoughts on today’s run … I feel more than ever I am in a position where I need to confuse my body. In other words, keep throwing something at it that it is not familiar with. With that it will respond, adapt and hence improve. I think some improvement can occur with the same stuff, but ultimately I need to play a game of poker with this shell so it is never ahead … and hence complacent.
I enjoy competition – no doubt about it. In fact, there are folks who look at me, roll their eyes and ask “why are you so competitive?” But, I think I can say I am less competitive that I have been in my adult life.
Recently I heard a fellow runner muse that they wanted to “beat such and such” (or lament about not beating them). It struck a chord in me that I had not heard for a bit. I do recall a period in my life where I would go to the BRR Sunday “fun” run, with the specific intent to stick with or to beat some dude that day. This sounds flippant, but it is not. It was a true to life, “damn I need to do this” sort of goal. Sunday after Sunday, I’d try different tactics when we get to the part of the run that was the “pick up” (3 miles). I’d go hard off the front … only to get picked off in the last half mile. I’d go off his shoulder … only to be blown away in the last mile. But then, finally, one day I did it.
Of course, this was not one guy. This was several different guys. I remember at times drilling that last mile of that three mile pick up with different guys where nobody would give in. There is specifically one time where I remember going against a man who ran 15 flat at the age of 40 (he is dead now). We fought tooth and nail for the last 2 miles of this run and it came down to the last quarter. I knew he did not want to let me beat him, because I NEVER had. But I wanted to. And for maybe one of five times in my life, I accelerated to a place that I rarely have. Not so much in terms of speed but in terms of effort. By that I mean, I was already done, waxed, cooked. When I accelerated, it HURT. Alot. But as I pushed, there was this weird break through where I was moving fast and the hurt was GONE. I was, for a short moment, floating.
Then we finished the run. And it REALLY REALLY HURT. But at the same time, it did not given the satisfaction of the moment.
And the guy, Andrew, never let me go for a second. But he looked at me at the end, and is his Aussie accent, said in a huff of breath as we finished, “GEORGE!” In a weird way, it was better than any race reward I had received. We gimped home. Ah, Andrew – still miss you man.
I don’t run with the BRR Sunday Run folks so much any more. I think their runs start too late and it is a bit of a drag for me to get out to Boulder to do it. And I don’t know many of the folks. Yeah, chicken shit excuses. And somewhere along the way, I became, unconsciously, less interested in beating people in that way. I became more likely to speak about racing against certain times, or “beating the guy I was yesterday.” Or conquering some distance versus conquering some competitor. Or beating yourself to beat the mountain … There is nothing ultimately wrong with this shift. And in fact, it might be a bit more healthy in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, I think it is more real at some point. Sure, I still use competition to motivate myself. Come at me in the end of a race, and I am going to give you everything I got. Maybe you win, maybe I win. I will take those odds.
But I’d be a liar to deny that this mental approach is on the same sort of “frequency” as it was say 15 years ago. I don’t sit and think about how I am going to beat this guy or that guy the way I used to. But I am not always sure that is for the best. Maybe this is aging. Which, generally speaking, other than some small reward of “wisdom” is highly overrated.
Maybe driving against some guy specifically is a mental confusion I need to throw at my brain to get it to adapt, respond and improve.
Friday 103009
Well, it has stopped snowing. Exactly what happens this weekend with the Basic is TBD, but apparently there has already been a good amount of traffic heading up the hills. (BTW, embedded in that post-link is stuff on barefoot running in the white stuff – including video evidence). The snow is significant enough that it has postponed the state HS XC championships. JP did some recon up high and it there is no question that it is significant. Well, when given lemons … make lemonade. At this point I see the event as a celebration-adventure-get together more than a workout.
Side note – man it would have been awesome if the Rox had made it to the Series just to hear the screaming about the weather.
In any case, I am, as of this moment, about 90 percent sure that I will do USATF Club Nats in KY in December. Correspondingly, there will actually be some thoughts to training (versus exercise). More on what that looks like later. The Basic effectively will put a close to October, and a start up of what’s next.
In light of recent performances (5k in 18:14, about 10 miles in what would extrapolate to about 63 minutes), I get some predictions from the McMillan calculator. Can’t say that I am stoked about what those predictions are, but given it aligns around 2 points there fairly well, I guess it is appropriate. The USATF race is 8k, and the calculator says I’d be challenged to break 30 minutes. For the moment, the very loose goal is to get my arse into better shape than that.
All this means a slight change – not a huge change in my short term focus. I have learned (perhaps again and again) that I need to listen to my body’s responsiveness and how I am absorbing training versus just doing a workout because I had scheduled it for that day. I still intend to do most of my miles easy, and maintain about the same mileage through the next six weeks (with perhaps a small taper), but will look to do a workout or two a week that “gets after it” a touch. I will continue to tap mileage as the primary cornerstone of my training, particularly in light of some longer term (yet to be named or exactly determined) objectives, but I do need to get my legs familiar with some sessions of quicker turnover … (so I can effectively do 8 x1 kilometer at my current 5k pace with no rest).
Mid afternoon – mill. 2 mile warm up starting real slow but building to 7:30s without issue. Then 5x1k, with the remainder of the mile (.38) as recovery. Kilos were just a couple of ticks below 3:30, and recoveries were super easy (just under 10 minute pace – so 3.5 to 4 minutes). 3 mile cool down at near 8 minute pace or slower. 10 miles, 75 minutes. These were not super hard, but the pace over the haul seemed foreign to me (which is what I would expect). In fact, the hardest one was probably the first one, as it felt a bit frantic. I was able to get in a decent groove for 2 and 3. Felt the accumulation a bit of the work in the fourth, but then was able to “smell the barn” on the fifth.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday 102909
Was up early so went for a run with Lucy outside. Still snowing at a good clip. After a half an hour, my shoes were soaked from street crossings where water had pooled 3-4” deep. I probably would have been better to have run in boots (the pace was slow anyway). My feet were cold but I was more worried about the dog’s paws. Finished this one on the treadmill. Very easy. 10 miles, AHR 135 with a max of 140. Some pix and a wipe out video. That one pic below has a speedometer sign in it – did not turn out well but it had me registered as 6. Which I thought was okay given the depth of the snow at that point.
Listened to this interview with Macca this AM. Definitely like to listen to this guy as he seems to strike the right balance of competitor, even keeled dude, family man, humility.
Coming off Bear on a snowy day in the past … (MLK day 08 I think … that is Scott E in the gray).
A little historical perspective on the Boulder Basic … some shots from perhaps similar conditions back in 2002. Or … it could be icy.
In any case there WILL be snow this weekend and so I am readying my outfit for this thing. I could bring a tauntaun just in case it gets cold out there. I mean, I may need to kill the tauntan and to shove someone summoning their inner Brandon into it. The stink would be masked by the stink.
Or it could be a big sled fest and my outfit could be this:
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday 102809
Yesterday, clear skies and a beautiful sunrise. This AM, we awoke a blanket of the white stuff.
I almost hesitate to post this (but I am going to post it anyway) … Brian Sell is clearly a great talent, and hard worker, but I have struggled with the general characterization of him as a low talent, harder working than everyone else, “blue collar” runner. And sure, I get that nearly all of us can work harder. But being able to run 170 miles a week is a bit of a talent unto itself. In any case, this is a great post re: Sell. Strongly recommend this as reading. There is hardly ever any mention that he was a one-season runner in high school, nor that he graduated from St. Francis with a 10,000m PR under 29:00. How many guys do you know who worked their asses off in college and still didn’t run in the 28s?
Not sure if I am getting more paranoid as a natural outcome of aging, but I seem to relate to posts like this more over the years.
Q & A with Ritz: When I was in high school I ran 32×400m on the track in 66 with 2 min rec.
Justin’s weekend preview, a preview for the ultra scene. Paul D looks to be doing Javelina.
Good post by Couzens re: planning (or not) for your next year. But maybe you ought not to plan either. WTF?
Recent Rock article re: Open Space in the Boulder Area.http://www.dailycamera.com/recreation-columnists/ci_13646062
Mid day, on the mill. No rhyme or reason to the structure of this run other than it was just what came as I played with the mill and responded to how I felt. First mile – started at 5.5% and 10 minute mile and the upped the grade a half a percent per minute. This got me to a mile at 10% and just under 10 minutes. Dropped the grade to 5.5% and jogged a 9:12. Got down to 1.5% for the rest of the run. Mile 3 was 8:08, and then I did 10 x 1 minute on, minute off. The ons were just under six minute pace and the offs were 8-8:30ish. Miles 3-6 were 6:52, 6:39, 6:49. Couple of easy miles (7:39, 7:33), then did some 20 second strides (5 min pace or slightly faster) with plenty of rest (at 8 to 8:30) (so finished with 7:20, 6:39). 10 miles in 77 minutes. The strides first felt a touch frantic but then I found the stride to relax into the pace (interesting how I need to re-learn that).
Today I learned the “inner Brandon” is a code word “team Shart.”
I had a beer today, which means I am a real boy again.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday 102709
Tuesday AM (dawn in the hood pictured) … 12 miles. 3000 miles on the year. Happens to be the 300th day of the year. Whatever. Just a number. But honestly one I have been chasing a bit to maintain some discipline and habits. Certainly not sure if I will chase the “10 a day” number for the rest of the year … particularly since the focus might shift here to some masters cross races.
Listening today was William Topley. What a voice.
Parr’s Wisconsin report is up. I still saw dancing gummy bears but the Ewoks had all gone into hiding or hibernation thanks to the multitude of hunters that we were running around. Often enough I’d hear the boom from a Shotgun and a forest creature or Ewok keel over with a yelp. Given his report, does not seem like he will be at the North Face 50 in SF.
Excellent interview podcast with a recent IM AGer … no intention of ever doing a triathlon but lots to learn from these folks as they are truly endurance scientists.
More re: the Basic via a recent post …
This coming Saturday. As any of our social runs there is no cancellation because of weather. The weather forecast announces heavy snow Wednesday and Thursday. Partly Cloudy Friday and Saturday with 35 to 45 temperatures. Dress appropriated and consider using some kind of traction. After the run, a fire place, a grill and some beer will be waiting for you! P.S. Some people asked me about this run. I can only say it will be social, with some peaks to ascend to enjoy the views. A total distance about 21 miles with a 16 miles shorter option. More details on Saturday. See you.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday 102609
Some shots from the last couple of days. The last one here is the soccer field JZ played on Saturday. 
Kilian is king
Geldean is a maniac on the mill. 123 miles last week.
More on exercise and how safe it is.
Anton does the big loop in Boulder.
Tim Parr 2nd in the 50 in Wisconsin. Will he show up at the big money show in SF?
Good interview with Chrissie Wellington, who won Kona. And finished 23rd overall.
Nick Clark runs well at Dublin (2:43). Not bad for a mountain guy. ;)
Relatively unmotivated to run at all this AM (not sure why), I decided to go to the mill. I know for some the mill is even less motivating. On days like this however, it gives me a way to run where I can respond to my body (which is really responding to my head) more effectively. Yeah – whatever. Mile easy (8:15), then one a 5-5.5% grade (8:27), then one easy (these were always at 1.5%) (8:04), then one at 5-5.5% (8:23), one easy (8:02), then one at 5.5% (8;18) and cooled down with a 7:48. Seven miles in just over 57 minutes. None of this was “hard.” It was just jogging and playing with the mill, and noticing how downhill a 1.5% grade feels post a 5.5% grade.
PM – 6 miles, 42 minutes.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday 102509
Last night we went to an Oktoberfest party in our neighborhood. Let’s say I may multiple bad choices with my diet – there were copious amounts of brauts and beer available. I capped the night off with the both stupid and genius choice of inviting one of my neighbors, John, to run this AM. Stupid because I threw up three times this AM before the ran started. Genius because a run was the best way to atone for my bad choice and get me closer to human again. John kept me honest – was ready to run even a half an hour before our agreed to time (he called me early). I thought he’d be good for five miles, but he kick my ass through 13 miles. Ouch. Better now. I think
78 miles on the week, 10 hours and 52 minutes. . October is now 29 hours and 26 minutes, 279 miles. 2975 miles on the year, 26363 minutes. It is the 298th day of the year. To get 3650 miles on the year I need 675 miles over the remaining 67 days, or an average of 10.07 miles a day.
Ugh.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Saturday 102409
12 miles easy. 
I REALLY should have posted this week, but it was SUCH A NON ISSUE – I forgot about it. Which is to say – AWESOME. I think that Chronotrack systems did the timing at the Denver Marathon last week. It seemed to be one of the better chip timing experiences I have had.
Instead of a hard shelled tab that you tied into your shoe for the chip, or some crazy anklet, there was a slip band that was paper thin, and malleable that you could slip through your shoe laces. Never even knew it was there once it was in. Didn’t have to turn it in when I was done. And most importantly for a relay – we did not need to exchange the dang thing throughout the race. In other relays I have done, there has been this silly expectation that you needed to exchange the chip. Meaning you either had to take it off your ankle after crossing the mat and give it to the next guy,or you had to hold it in your hand, and do this weird drag as you came across the mat for it to register. The D.M. had the mats about 10 yards before the exchange zone, you came across and did a hand slap to your next runner. Seemed to work fine.
Results were posted that day, and it seemed they were doing awards for the winners shortly after the completion of the race (or even during the race occurring for the front folks). The relay results look pretty complete, including where you scored on your leg.
All that said … they did not get a time for me on my leg. (under Team Four to Go). We did finish 14th overall, and 4th amongst men’s teams.
Friday 102309
Late afternoon – 7 miles. Started easy (9 min pace) with Lucy and it just naturally and nicely rolled up to mid sevens.
PM – five miles around the soccer fields. Super easy (9 min pace)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday 102209
Trying to determine what is true and what is not. 
As I was running with Brandon last week at Denver, I kept on him about running the tangents. I was surprised to see folks running the outside of the curve in Wash Park and I kept telling Brandon - “RUN THE TANGENTS.” Fast forward to today – where I got this mail from him in response to my header photo from the 2007 XC Nats here in Boulder. This is brilliant. By the way, that is Gerald B Romero on the far left just out of the pic. 
Vote for the “most gnarly” event in CO.
Little reminder of something that is coming up – as was recently posted on the BTR:
Is this time of the year again, a time to go back to the basics. I like to do a run on October 31 starting at 9:00am and invite everybody to join me in celebration of the fall. See map for directions. After the run we’ll have a potluck party. Bring something to through in the grill or a dish and some beverage. Everybody is invited, runners, family, friends. Since it’s Halloween, costumes are highly encouraged!
So this sort of gig is typically near a 20 mile run. I am not sure I am going to make it because of family duties but the gist is this ...
We start in Boulder. Route is handed out that day but it usually is a variation of going UP, hitting one or two of the peaks, coming down and then going back up to get another peak or two (or three). The down in the middle gives folks the opportunity to bail. Come back down and finish. And, oh yeah - if you are asked you are not racing. You are just running over a bunch of mountains as fast as you can, and oh yeah - coincidentally, so are some other folks who happen to be nearby. There is some chatter that there could be a little Front Range throw down … but more on that later.
Mid afternoon – cool, clear. Rolled out easy (sub 150) over to the Highland Park fields (about 3 miles) and then did some soccer field length strides (8 of them) where I would tag about 5:30 pace. Jogged home but got a little itchy so rolled it up to low sevens
I am not sure when he is going to make a splash back, but I hope he does. Welcome back TG … (check out his MAF experiment).
Some folks don’t run in shoes because it ain’t natural. Some folks remove toe nails.
Evening … pressed for time – all day today. But managed to get in four around the soccer fields while the kids practiced. Even got Lucy to jog and do some frisbee. JZ and I had some time to kill as KZ finished up her practice so he jogged another mile with me (best mile of the day).
The Justin chronicles remain a hoot.
Excellent post by Chuckie V.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday 102109
Snowing in Broomfield CO this AM
Interesting reading re: altitude training by Adam Chase. Studies by the Federation of Sport at Altitude have shown that the lack of oxygen at elevations above 10,000 feet translates to 25-40% less muscle power (depending on the subject).
Mill today … 12 miles. Mile warm up, then did four at fix max HR of 150. Miles came in at 7:30 to 7;44 (no surprise there). Then, a bit bored, I jumped into in and out miles, where I’d go about six minutes a mile for a mile, and then easy (8:30ish) for a miles. Back and forth. Did four of these. Felt good. Listened to Black Joe Louis and the Honeybears. All at 1.5% grade.
More (from the NYT) on the barefoot running fad. Hey, whatever works. I am going to wear shoes even though it ain’t natural. Then again, nine toes ain’t natural either. Come to think of it, running in clothes might not be natural but as PM said yesterday, “there are some loads that need to be strapped down.”
Good write up by The Science of the Sport re: the deaths in Detroit. Totally appreciate that they jump on the media for making marathons sound dangerous.
2927 on the year. Day 294 on the year. 13 miles short of the 10 a day average. Just need a big week one of these weeks to put that away … so I can fall behind again. ;)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday 102009
Missed this yesterday as it was buried in a post I did not dig into– but Justin did not, and gave me the tip. Krupicka and Roes are in the Mountain Masochist 50. Of course, Lucho is getting ready to make a splash in the 50m as well.
But it is definitely a toss up as to who gets post of the day … Pittbrownie or Justin
10 miles very easy in the PM.
Various pictures from the last three days. 
I like this:
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday 10192009
I forgot to mention this yesterday. During the seven miles I ran with Brandon, I saw Ken Pliska on his bike. Ken was on a bike providing support to his brother in law who was doing the marathon. Ken and I chatted up the possibility of doing USATF Club XC Nationals in Kentucky in December. Definitely thinking about doing this, but I would need to get in better 5k /10k shape before doing that. Ken broke away from me to catch up to his brother in law and I started reeling Brandon back in. There were these guys on the side line offering beer rather than water to drink to runners. On a quick whim – I took them up on it – heck I was not racing outright at this point. The PBR tasted good actually and say well in the stomach. They, at first, looked shocked that I took their brew and was drinking it. I think they had been offering all runners beers and nobody was really taking them up on it. They then started to cheer in support. And then I took off running again. I don’t think I have had beer drinking cheering since college.
Matt Carpenter continues to be a strong presence the Springs area scene. Apparently there were sections of the course needing ropes!
I was thinking about my run yesterday (no kidding!). I was sort of surprised at how easy the lower sevens felt with Brandon after the nine miler “race” I had run. So if that is the easy run post the race … should that be the easy pace? Certainly my HR in that section was elevated (naturally post race) but the pace was not difficult for me.
7 miles in the PM. Easy. Pretty warm. Not sore from yesterday but a bit tired in the legs.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday 101809 Denver Marathon Relay
Earlier in the week I got a call from a neighbor asking if I’d participate on his relay team at the Denver Marathon. I agreed, thinking it would be a fun way for me to get in a good workout, get to know some of my neighbors better, test fitness a bit, see this course and potentially cheer some folks on. One interesting thing about this relay is that it is four legs (6, 4, 9, 7 miles) versus the classic Ekiden break up.
Given I had run an 18:15 for a 5k last month, I figured that was good for a 37:30 10k. What exactly that meant for 9.1 miles (my leg) I was not sure. I was pretty sure that I was not ready to hold six flat for the distance and so I toyed with the idea that I could break an hour. Still I was really not sure since I had run maybe one mile under seven minute pace for all of October, and that would call for 9 of them.. Mentally I put the bar out that for myself at the hour anyway. The guys on this team however would not care if I had run an hour or 65 minutes – it really made no diff to them. Which was, in an odd way, a nice change.
After an early (0530) ride down to Denver, we dropped our first leg (John) at the start and headed over to the first transition. Saw the leaders of the marathon, half and the relay came through and our second guy (Brian) was off about 45 minutes into the race. I got zoomed over by Kevin to transition area three and had about half an hour to warm up. Again, I got to see leaders come through the park (pretty cool). It was cooler out, but I went down to the tank and the half tights, knowing that it would be warming up just fine.
I did a real slow loop (1.25 miles at 10 minute pace) around the Park (I think it was Cheeseman Park – but I am a total navigation idiot in Denver. I simply spend NO time down there). I saw Todd S riding bike for the lead woman. I then got a bit nervous that maybe my second leg was going to come flying in and that maybe I should not be jogging in the park slowly but be close to the transition area. I got up there, cut the warm up short and cheered on some folks I knew as they went by.
Brandon F (more later on him) went by and I gave him a yell. My other team mates made it into the transition area and gave me some nice words before the start. We spotted Brian coming in, and I was off.
The start was weird! I was behind hundreds of people. Maybe thousands? I was behind a LOT of people. I rolled down the hills out of the park slipping in, around and through folks.
Just under a mile in I looked down and saw I was under six minute pace. Concerned about all the running left to do – I backed it off but I still seemed to be flying through the crowds. I set up two motivational goals here in the race: don’t get passed (even by another relay guy) and catch Brandon. I figured he was at least five minutes up so it was going to take me a few miles to catch him.
And the crowds were fun. There are people obviously working hard toward their goal (emanates motivation into the air) . Groups of folks around a balloon carrying runner where the balloon reads 3:30. Half marathoners sludging in the final miles. Marathoners just getting into the business. People in costumes.
And yes, Mr. Rocky Horror. About two and a half in, there was a guy dressed like that dude from Rocky Horror. Fishnet stockings, bikini briefs, lip stick. He held the part pretty well I might say. Way better than I could without a doubt. And I noticed he was a relay guy. He seemed to be moving well and relaxed, and certainly engaging the crowd. Debated with myself if I was going to let my ego get the better of me in this circumstance … and it did. I will be beat by some guy with fishnet stockings some day … but I was determined that day was not going to be today. And then he was gone.
I was not working super hard but it felt like an hour tempo. Just perfect. The miles were clicking off in under 6:30 and I felt confident – but was still concerned that I could be possibly over my head (and would suddenly find out at seven miles). We hit a few up hills heading out and I naturally slowed slightly.
On the long out and back, just past thirteen miles, I noticed Brandon about a half mile ahead of me on the other side of the road. He gave me the wave and said “catch me if you can.” I did some calculations as to where he was and he seemed a bit behind on pace to me, but he looked super relaxed.
Got to a half an hour and saw I was at 4.8, so I was glad to see I was ahead of the game a bit. Played the numbers game some more for each of the miles. Hit a long stretch and could see Brandon about 200 yards ahead. Rolled up to him without pressing, trying to think of something witty to say but just mumbled when I got up to him. Slowed to his pace, content that I was going to get an hour at this point, and that I would not get passed. Chatted with him a bit but he seemed super focused – and debated for a moment if I should hang out to help him out, or to get the hell out of his way. Figured I do the former because I thought I could help him.
I was with him for about a half mile when Mr. Rocky Horror popped up next to us. I looked at Brandon and told him I had to go. I was not ready to give up a relay spot, at least not without a fight. There was a mile left I put in a surge and wrapped up. 9.1 in 57:28, or 6:17 pace. AHR was 175, with a max of 183.
I am pretty happy with that given the training (or rather not training, just exercising) that I have been doing. Certainly feel that with some focus, I could be doing a 10 under an hour (versus a project 63 minutes here). I sort of had a feeling that I could keep going (no knee grabbing, gasping for air) – but really just not any faster right now).
I passed off to Kevin, got my medal and talked to my team mates really quick. Saw Brandon roll about a minute behind me and so I decided to jump next to him to see if he needed any help.
I am not sure if I was any help because 1.) I was probably more of a pain in the ass, 2.) BF was LASER focused. His report covers his race well – I will let him speak to it but I will say this: it was wicked awesome to get to run next to him those last seven and see him MAKE THE CHOICE. Dude was in the hurt box and could have crumbled and came home in 3:20. He fought for those five minutes over the last half dozen miles. There were hills, it was getting hot and it was definitely time to go home but he had business to take care of. Definitely very inspirational for me to see and I am glad he let me have a front row seat (but next time dude, you can just tell me to go the frak away). Thanks for allowing me the joy and honor of seeing that.
Was able to finish up with Brandon some, and my team mate for the last leg. Enjoyed a beer in the park before we headed home. On whole, seems like a solid event (heck, they even had results posted already). I think we came in ninth as a relay team. Fun day.
17+ miles on the day. 10:32 on week, 79+ miles. October is now 28 hours and 34 minutes, 201 miles. 2897 miles on the year, 25711 minutes.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Saturday 101709
Busy day. Rock climb with the Scouts in the AM, soccer mid day and elementary school fall fair in the afternoon. Squeezed in an easy seven, dog jog in between. Best of luck those running Denver 1/2 and Marathon tomorrow. Also, best of luck to those in NE running Baystate.
A bit disappointing … I was going a little crazy trying to find out the name of the canals and gulches that flow through my town – there are NO rivers (and in fact, our water source comes via the Western Slope). After a variety of searching, I found a USGS site that lists the canal that (intermittently) flows near my house as “Community Ditch.” I officially declare that as a CRAPTASTIC name and will rename all gulches myself at my whim.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday 101609
I contemplated getting out for a second run last night but bagged it. I got as far as lacing the shoes but then decided to go to bed instead. I was tired, my stomach hurt, I was a weapon of mass destruction via being a biohazard to my family and I was unmotivated. Got a good night sleep though.
Up early, I got out after a cup of coffee. I should have realized that I was a touch under dressed when I saw folks walking in winter parkas, but I went with the t-shirt and shorts anyway. The hands / arms were numb by the end of this run. 6 miles.
Oh yeah, given none of the streams, creeks, canals or culverts have names around here, I have taken Lucho’s suggestion that I name them myself. There happens to be a small culvert just east of the baseball field near Broomfield High. I have decided to name this BIG ASS MUTANT MUTHAFRACKING RACOON GULCH. This is because that is exactly what comes FLYING out of the gulch at the wee hours of the morning while you are jogging in the dark. I can guarantee this is more effective in waking you up than any cup of coffee.
Mid day – did an easy four with SM at work at 8:30 pace and then continued on for another six at 7:30-8 minute pace. Felt good, easy.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday 101509
AM – four miles around concrete paths in Boulder. Pressed for time. Well, not so much if I did not sleep in but … anyway – I have become convinced that I have been spoiled by some of the flexibility of my current job. Sure, I gripe when some one cancels an appointment that I thought I had to be in the office for – but this is better than what I have dealt with for the past two days. I think the words I hate to hear the most are: “let’s take a working lunch, it has been catered in.” It means food is there, and I don’t get out for my run. Blah. Yeah, whining I know.
Good post on “slumps.” Good stuff on mental training too (thanks Homie)
The word is getting out that the NF50 ought to be a show down between Krupicka, Carpenter and Steidl,
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday 101409
In Boulder for all day meetings. Got out for a short jaunt on the creek 
Review of the current shoes I am running in
Lucho asks a fundamental, but good question in yesterday’s comments … what are the purposes of a pacer? One of the attributes I love about Lucho is his willingness to challenge assumptions. I just assumed that if you did Leadville, or any 100 for that matter, you’d have a pacer involved. The comments also remind me of something I love about this sport: the access to the top athletes folks have and their willingness to share.
A couple of neighbors here have talked me into participating on their team for the Denver Marathon Relay. Should be a low key fun way for me to get a a workout in and to get down to cheer some folks on
I was wracking my brain a bit last night. I run along the banks of several streams in Broomfield – the town in which I live. I realize that most of these are man-made irrigation canals … but I could not find names of them on any map. Are they named? Every freaking creek, even if it was a spitter, back east had some name … apparently, nothing other than the Big Dry Creek is named in Broomfield.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday 101309
Anyone know if Tim Parr did the R2R2R?
Today was a GORGEOUS day. It felt like one of those perfect cross country days. A slight but not stinging bite to the air, shadows growing long in the early afternoon. I am sure the weather had a bearing on how I felt because I was moving effortless today. Again, after an 8 to start I naturally fell into an easy pace of 7:30 to 7:40 – just clipping along. 12 miles.
Great comments in yesterday’s post re: ultra training, specifically tilted towards hundreds. My reading list now includes this.
A subtle but important announcement for the BASIC was posted on the BTR list today:
Is this time of the year again, a time to go back to the basics. I like to do a run on October 31 starting at 9:00am and invite everybody to join me in celebration of the fall. See map for directions. After the run we’ll have a potluck party. Bring something to through in the grill or a dish and some beverage. Everybody is invited, runners, family, friends. Since it’s Halloween, costumes are highly encouraged!
See you. The Basic usually goes over the top of four peaks but typically with some drop in the middle (so you do have to go back up about 2500 feet again).
Barefoot running gone out of control
destruction on a Tuesday
I deal with a lot of this as of late … (video is dark but it is essentially the two males beating the crap out of each other). The first pic is when they found tp in the bathroom.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday 101209
So now, a decade later, I have to grin because 33:49 is not very fast at all (and in fact, neither is 32). There are many who run faster than that en route to a marathon or at the tail end of a triathlon. So I recognize how much that time sucks … but at the same time I desire to be that quick again. Clicking sub 5:30’s for a 5k right now would be a nice little accomplishment for me. Heck, maybe even a mile under five.
Funny though how time gives that perspective of what it was and what it was not.
Anyway … mid day, out for 7 miles. After an 8 to open up, I settled in at 7:30 to 7:40 pace. Weather was great. Felt like fall. Cool. A touch humid. Gray. Leaves everywhere. Cold clearing out so a lot of crap getting rocketed out. I sort of cut this run short for a meeting I thought I had. Got back to my desk (after changing back into the corporate weenie outfit) and it was cancelled. This really rankles me but I should not gripe. I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule otherwise.
Had some time to kill after work before picking up KZ at her singing group. Got on the mill and jogged easy while watching the Rox (5 miles, 44 minutes). Got an idea (but did not play it out) that a good mill workout could be … running hard during the inning and then taking the commercials easy (commercials are about 2:10 to 2:30)… or vice versa … or a batter hard, a batter easy. Or all left batters hard. You get the idea.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday 101109
I’d post some results but Justin really has the corner on that market. Plus being disconnected for the last 20 hours, I have no clue what is going on.
Bunk with the Beasts at the Zoo last night. Sort of like summer camp but at the zoo and with it cold and with Cub Scouts. JZ and I hung out at the zoo this AM after things wrapped up. So I got a lot of shots like this:
Late in the afternoon – on the mill again. I have not been on the mill this weekend because of the weather (which is sort of nice actually) but rather the necessity to be at home during the run. Again, I fell into the trap of the mill … which is to play. Given no scenery, or a movie to watch, inevitably I play with the pace to pass the time. 1.5 percent grade (which seems right for me at this point). Went a mile (8), and then did 20 minutes on, off – but the ons were not zippy … more like just a slight push. This was okay – I was just playing and not looking to kill it … just mix it up a bit. I ignored HR through the run, but found that what I thought was a “slight push” versus “killing it”in the workout was indeed reflected in the HR data. The upper dashed line is 160, the lower is 150.
This week … I was sort of all over with training again this week. Had the cold, it was cold, busy week at work and with the family … but really, it is because I have not landed on what I am going to do next – and I am still fine with that. Except when I am not fine. Then I am slightly put out by it. In other words, this is not training. It is exercising – and I enjoy that , but it is not training because it is sort of without an object … other than being somewhat ready when that epiphany shows up. I went from thinking that I’d be gearing up for USATF XC this week to thinking a lot about Pikes to thinking I need a break from the mountains for a while –as in maybe a year (this last one came as I moved very slowly down off Green earlier this week). Whatever.
10 hours, 32 minutes (632 minutes) this week for 74 miles. October is now 18 hours and 2 minutes, 122 miles. 2818 miles on the year, 25079 minutes.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday 101009
The snow marched out east today and we woke up to this.
While soccer and Cub Scout rock climbing was cancelled, we still had a house full of kids sleeping over (some moms snuck out to check out Snow Patrol at the Fillmore). After the obligatory pancake duty for the crumb grabbers, I got on the mill (needed to stick close). 11 miles. It seems whenever I start on the mill, it seems too fast. So while I started at just under 10 minute pace, it still seemed fast. But the rub is this – it feels fast whether that is 10 minute mile pace or 6 minute mile pace. So by upping the pace and then backing off, suddenly the slower paces that seemed too fast are then acceptable. After 2 miles in over 18 minutes, I began to play with the pace to break up the time (also while watching various software development methodology videos on the net) – call it a fartlek. Opened up a bit after five miles (43 minutes), and finished off in just over 83 minutes.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Friday 100909 part 2
KZ worked on a science experiment for her sixth grade science class this week. In it, she had to design a “balloon popper.” In this, the tripping of a classic mouse trap was to initial a chain of events, that led to the popping of a balloon. There had to be at least three elements in the chain. Extra credit was to not only design the chain – but to actually build it. She elected to do that.
I could write a lot about this, but she spent the better part of Sunday afternoon figuring out how she wanted to do this – with a lot of failures. For example, she first tried to get the balloon to pop by tripping a switch that would turn on a light that she thought would heat up the balloon to popping. Never worked. Lamp would get hot as blazes, but the balloon would not pop. One of many failures. I video
‘d here with these failures – and have no less than six failure videos.
This was SO COOL. I was loving watching her figure this out, look to address the failures, try again and then bomb again. That is so much of what engineering / design science is (ask Edison).
But she eventually got it.
She was pretty stoked to come home today and tell us that she was able to build it in class, and pop her balloon. (I will confess, I felt a sophomoric pride when she added that only two other kids tried to build it in class, and hers was the only one that worked).
Failure driving success. Mmmm.
And oh yeah … puppies. Now seven weeks.
