Thursday 022813

Getting a touch of spam so I enabled comment moderation. 

Some “interesting” things regarding Strava:  premium users can see the HR graphical data of other users runs, including freemium users who can’t see that information.  However, even freemium users can see a HR graph if using the iphone app (just can’t see it in the web version).

Add to the “yes I am an old man and I would not do that” list:

A pic from this past summer.  Got me going today.  Actually raining in that shot.  I think his shoes are minimalist.  And he doesn’t give a crap.

10.2 steady.  End of month numbers and stats:  288.2 miles.  Just shy of 29k of climbing and 37 hours of training.  8 Greens.  For the year this puts me at 579.9 miles, 93 hours flat, 70,165 feet of climbing with 20 Greens.  I can look at this and be both critical (February was much less on the vertical even though I had less travel – which then means less hours, etc) and happy (I feel like I am riding the balance of vertical and flat days pretty well actually without overly dipping into doubles, I feel good, I can feel the strength coming).

Most importantly I have stayed off that damn treadmill.

... on that topic ...

I may regret posting this, but here goes …

An argument I hear as to why the BSA can continue to have its policies as they are is that “they are a private organization” and hence are allowed such “freedom of association.”  At odds with that however is that BSA receives a “preferential treatment” by US government organizations in many cases.  Which means that in those cases, the US government is providing preferential treatment to a private organization that has discriminatory policies.  Ouch.  More here. 

The other arguments I hear in regards to changing the policies (outside of the private organization one) land into a few buckets:  homosexuality is a sin, homosexuality is undermining to the family unit, homosexuality is predictive of pedophilia behaviors.  I don’t buy into any of these and complete disagree with all of them.  Another that I occasionally hear from people opposed to the policy changes is that this is “another step in the homosexual agenda” – and they are usually a bit angry about having something they may not agree with “shoved down their throat.” 

In any case, I think the BSA has worked itself into a bit of a no win situation:  if the policies stand as they are after the May vote, the BSA will suffer in its membership numbers (been trending down over the years already), and probably in big company endorsements who won’t want to be affiliated with the organization.
If the policies change, it will cause a rift – exactly where that rift will be will depend on how the change is implemented.  If for example, it is expected that the chartering organizations for the Scout troops are to decide individually, it puts those organizations in a position they did not sign up for.  So a church (most often a chartering organization) would now be in the spotlight to decide on such matters.  If that church decides to not allow a change to the current policies, does it then become the target for discrimination law suits?  If that is the case, a church may simply elect to walk away from its charter altogether.

That said, I personally support a change to the policies.  I don’t see homosexuality as a sin or a desecration to the family unit or predictive of pedophilia behavior.  So the arguments I ultimately hear are in this regard, or the private organization flavor.  I don’t buy any of them, but I also realize that the fall out is not gonna be pretty.  Change rarely is.

If I had to guess, I think the May vote would land with NO change to the policies, but I am just going off gut.

Wednesday 022713

Man v. Wild  Bear Grylls does the pre flight safety briefing.

The Kiwi Scouts are a good touch. 

2 rounds on Green, all front side.  After heading down on the first, I bumped into JV heading up (towards the bottom of the last set of stairs before the last couple of switchbacks).  I doubled back up with him, and then headed back down with him.  Headed back up out of the Gregory lot, leaving Jeff for a second lap. 

Pretty snowy all the way, and some of the pack down was getting messed up by a guy going sideways on the packed track.  9.9 miles.  Biggest vert day on the year (just under 5k).   Was impressed that I was just about the same on both trips (in a slow time both times, but hey, it was snow).  My feet felt like bricks towards the end (cold).  Looking forward to this as a session later this year where I get after it a bit more.  19th and 20th trips on Green this year.

Tuesday 022613

10.2 miles.  Easy.  Stalled like forever before TZ told me to get hell out.  Today’s listening:

If there is any “secret” to my training (although with as much the narcissistic posting I do, I think little is a secret), it is – as Sage notes – consistency.

This popped in my reader:  what not to say to your kid.  But be sure to have your kid learn this stuff too:

I have mentioned it before, and I know it is also not running related, but Lisa’s stuff is some of my favorite pro-dev readings.  Rock solid granite stuff there.  In that vein, but of a different flavor, I also enjoy Gordo’s stuff.

Mind numbing is that Jim Parry (a Pikes vet) will do 16 hours on a treadmill.  Yes, I know there are guys who do more.  Yes, I know I have done in excess of 3.  But 16?  Let’s just poke ourselves in the eye.

Looks like JM is taking the plunge.  Best wishes to his bride.  ;)  Nah just kidding, congratulations.  Stoked for them.

I am not sure if Joe G or Leor gets the top photog ultrarunner award.  Sheesh.

NSFW, but I enjoy listening to this quite a bit.  These guys seem to discuss how we have lost so much rationale thought on basic stuff in our world.

Ed Ayres gets a few minutes on the “It’s Only a Game” NPR show.  Apparently using a GPS make your hipposomethingorother smaller.

Baxter Bros get some press on the Incline.

A bit on the current BSA issue with policies.  I might stray into the political realm and post on this.

Borderline painful to watch this interview with Mo Farrah.

Some Hoka vids

Some folks noted that I placed a Hoka One One banner on my sidebar late yesterday afternoon.  After reaching out to them over the weekend, they followed up with me.  Certainly I don’t carry the street cred of a Mackey or a Meltzer and hence that level of ambassadorship (yet).  Nonetheless I am happy to say that we have connected, and I am looking forward to working with them. 

So yes, a shoe that I have been happy with will get some level of plug here on occasion.  There is my disclaimer.

Here are a couple of videos from the past few years related to my feet and shoes.  The first is gives an idea of some of the scar tissue I have with my feet, and then the fun blood blister I was awarded after Pikes in 2010 when racing that in a road flat.  It illustrates the missing toe, and some of the crap I deal with on my foot bottom.

Here is a video I did shortly after Pikes last year.  The thought here is to give you what my insights were on Hokas before I engaged with them in this relationship.

Anyway, I had been considering putting up a post on my wear pattern (as it reflects how ugly my stride form is), and so here is a video on that.

My point …  for me with as jacked as my feet are, and as messed up as my mechanics are, these shoes work well for me.

Monday 022512

I did a follow up appointment this AM with my PCP, specifically to ask about some of my recently collected numbers regarding BP, lipids, etc.  Those recently collected numbers were part of a work wellness program, in which I got a strong financial incentive to participate (as in large drops to my insurance premiums).

My first concern from those tests was with my BP.  The number that Quest Diagnostics collected had me at a BP of 136/80, and that categorized me on their charts as pre-hypertensive.  I measured today at 122/88 at Kaiser and they saw no issue with that.  I can only conclude that the shift is for one of five reasons:  a.)  My BP is slightly higher at work b.) My BP was slightly higher because I knew I was being tested (although I would think the same thing would have happened this AM. c.)  My BP is slightly higher when I am in a fasted state (I was last time, not this time), d.)  randomness with my BP. e.)  somebody is measuring it wrong.

I also asked about my total cholesterol number which with Quest Diagnostics posted as 204.  This posted an alert with that program.  Kaiser does not even mark it as an alert state until over 299, and when my doc saw my HDL (99) he said that was a great number and not to worry about it. 

So there you go. 

For what it is worth, I encountered that sort of behavior where the doc was looking at me like “what are you doing here?”  I think they get so used to dealing with sick people, that when someone comes in healthy, they are not exactly sure how to deal with that.  We ended up talking about his half marathon training program probably as much as my numbers and my other topics.

I’d really like to know why there is the variation in the numbers, but I am not going to overly worry about it. 
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The Hans dog is visiting.

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Number 18, slow up the front (super slow in the snow), and then down the middle (fun but not super packed out yet so a bit of slippin’ and slidin’).  So my slowest up the front for the year and nearly my fastest without trying down the middle.  That’s snow.  6.5 miles.

It was fun, but a bit of a mess in places.  Gregory was already pretty slushy in a lot of spots.  I can see that it gets pretty icky there for a while as it gets more sun than a lot of the stuff on the north side. 

Related sort of similar stuff with east coasters.

Listened today to a bit more of the Legends of Triathlon podcast.  Today was Mike Pigg.  These are some great interviews.

Sunday 022413

Today’s listening.

Showed KZ this and then showed her what they looked like in the 80s when on MTV.  Amusing.  AC and DQ turned me on these guys, and I am enjoying some of their stuff.  Perhaps more amusing than KZ’s reaction to 80s hairstyles is that I would even listen to this stuff.  I had little interest in this genre or rock, or guys like Elvis C, or the Talking Heads.  That sort of rock bugged me actually, as I preferred the harder Led Zep stuff.  Except when I listened to New Order.  Ack.

I am intrigued by this sort of project.

I had plans of getting a round on Green this AM with a couple of guys, but when I woke up and saw the snow coming down at a good clip, I decided to pass.  There is some fun in thrashing about in the snow on a hill like that, but I was not up for it this AM, and it felt like it would end up being a cold hike for me.  Then I justified it further by thinking I didn’t want to drive in that crap.  Whatever.

Probably our best snow of the season thus far.  After shoveling the driveway, the walk, the porch, the neighbor’s driveway, I dunno … three or four times each, I got out for a run.  I was already a bit beat, and so it was just an easy jog listening to Legends of Triathlon podcasts (the Molina interviews are always good by those guys).  10 very slow miles, some on the roads, some on sidewalks that had been shoveled and plowed, some that were not, and some on trails when I could find them. 

74.3 on the week, a bit flatter and faster week with only one trip on Green (17th on the year).  Riding it back and forth.

Two thoughts that I had on the run today (not new) were … why does it seem that every guy who was successful in distance running says something like “yeah, I probably overdid it.  I would do it different now.”  Hmmm … and the other one was, you can pretty much justify what you are doing in training on any given day. 

Saturday 022313

Good read covering the story about the guy who disappeared at the Mount Marathon race last year.   I mentioned this one to TZ.  3 mile race, guy was seen at 1.4 miles in, and then never seen again.  Unreal.

AM – dog jog, 9.3 miles.  Easy.  I am draggin’ to get going in the AM.  I keep telling myself that will turn around once the cold breaks – and in fact it will need to (versus fighting the heat of the day).  But I find that I wake up early, screw around with a cup of coffee, screw around with reading posts, screw around with getting my gear on, blah blah blah.

PM – 6.3 miles, steady.  Just screwing around in the second run.

Prompted by some comments yesterday I dropped a note to Hoka, seeing if they consider me in their ambassador program.  I ain’t expecting to hear anything back, and if I do it is probably that they are set for the year.

Friday 022213

Put this reminder in my calendar for next week.

Most race registration starts March 13.  Given recent years, you can expect the marathon to fill within a day (sometimes much less, but it has not been so much recently), Wave 2 of the Ascent to fill very quickly (like hours if that) and Wave 1 of the Ascent to take weeks or months to fill.  Competitive entry opens March 27.  The gamble with the competitive entries is determining if you will submit a pay for entry and then get refunded if you get in that route, or roll the dice based on your resume and not do a pay for entry.  Anyhows … the entry site has ridiculous amounts of information on all this, qualification standards, what gets you rejected and the like.
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I was sort of cracking up at Scott D’s list of endorsing groups and teams that he is running for.   Admittedly, I enjoy being free of any sort of running group that I would have obligations too, but at the same time there is a twinge of me that wishes I could land a Hoka sponsorship.  Maybe that is the cheap side of me.  But my laziness overrides that.
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13.3 miles.  Easy the first six and a half, keeping an eye on the HR and keeping it sub 150 just to see what that netted (AHR 142, MHR 151, averaging 7:30 pace).  After that pushed it up to a more low steady effort (AHR 158, MHR 168, averaging just under 7 pace)  from easy.  Good run. (two drops in HR are a.) daughter called to ask a series of “important” questions b.) dealing with the breakfast burrito at a local green plastic “establishment.”)  Feel like the doldrums that I was stuck in on Monday and Tuesday have started to work out.  Sometimes spiral up, sometimes spiral.

To review, red line is HR (so you see that start to climb in the second half), blue line is pace (so you see that get a touch faster), and then brown line is elevation.

Still, gnawing feeling to get a bit more after it than just a steady run.  I offset that with a reconciliation thought that I don’t need to do that yet.  But still …
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The middle school band kids got invited to play with the HS Pep Band, so we ended up over at the HS for a boys BB game. 

Eagles win!

Thursday 022113

Motivational video for the day, with a few familiar faces.

Illustrates some of the interesting differences between poles and not, and the open course approach.  Makes you also realize a bit how some folks (Europeans) don’t see Pikes as particularly steep.

Snow of some significance here last night.  Mid AM, 6 miles easy that was mostly an exercise in blowing out a lot of snot.

Late afternoon.  Snow blowing in, felt a lot better, 8.5 miles.  Easy but significantly quicker than the earlier run.

Today’s listening on the run.

Wednesday 022012

The part of the video that is missing is when the wolverine eats the guy after saving him …

I mean, the dude was a corpse, right?
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I finished a recent episode of TalkUltra – in which Geoff Roes is interviewed.  We are pretty well aware of Geoff’s issues, as he has been very willing to share them – a complete breakdown in his ability to run after being at the top of the ultra world.  I seem to have a belief that Geoff will make a roaring comeback some day (Ian C’s comment at the end of their interview about how Mike M disappeared for a decade-ish and came back as a master seems to solidify that).

But I was left wondering the classic “sell your soul to the devil” question.  I know it has been asked elsewhere, but I can’t recall where.  Maybe by AJW or something.  Would I (or you) take one day of the perfect race:  winning WS100 in record time, coming from behind for that win – but then knowing it would mean you’d never run again?  Or would you rather run mediocre at all your races, but you could run “okay” in beautiful places with friends all your days?
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I received my undergrad degree in geology, geophysics (yes, this was a long time ago, and I am not doing anything that appears to be directly related to rock sciences these days).  One of the classes I took was a geomorphology class.  The professor for this class was Robert Thorson, and a concept that he was particularly keen on was dynamic metastable equilibrium.  Or, the fluctuation about a moving average, marked by discontinuities.

While Thorson’s job was to put this concept into the context of land forms:  a river, a drumlin, a peneplain and hence over loooooong periods of time – I also see its applicability in terms of endurance fitness in short periods of time (like a decade or even a season).  The moving average is you slowly increasing your fitness.  If you really need a number to quantify that consider a graph of your speed at a fixed heart rate.  Over time as you progress in fitness, that fixed HR stays the same but your speed picks up.  So you have a trend or a moving average.

But then there are fluctuations on that moving average.  You get a day where it is a bit hotter, so you run slower.  Or you are a bit dehydrated.  Or you feel great.  So when you look at the moving average, there are little bounces along the way.

But then there are discontinuities – big break through runs where fitness seems to jump.  Or an injury is a discontinuity where fitness slips.

Tim G used to put it to me more simply:  sometimes your fitness is spiraling up, sometimes it is spiraling down.   Just hope you are more on the up than the down.  That might come from the Parker book, Once a Runner. 

Last week, my fitness, or my moving average seemed to be moving up.  I felt light, and ready to get at it.  Runs went well, and I felt strong.  This week, I feel tired.  I wake up tired.  I can feel a cold in the back of my nose and throat forming.   I know on whole my moving average (or my dynamic equilibrium (discarding the metastable) is moving towards increased fitness.  It just does not feel like it today.

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One of the seven signs … Nick C has a twitter account.

If you are free in October and happen to have 2200 bucks, you might want to check this out.

Some good American music.
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Well, I say I don’t really have to schedule off days because life deals ‘em to me.  I got dealt such a hand today.  Full day of meetings for work, a good snow and cold front blowing in late in the day, a kiddo event in the evening, TZ wretching for dozen hours  (and requiring a doa visit to the doc’s office), the older Z kid home from school sick … and me just not feeling good as I feel my own cold comin’ on.  Sure, I could have laced ‘em up at 830 tonight (or maybe I should have at 0600 this AM), but decided to let it go this time.  I could justify going out (I need to toughen up and show myself I can do this regardless of the schedule!) or not (I need a day off anyway as it has been 37 since my last one and it is stupid for me to go out now).

Tuesday 021913

This is fun:

Casey N is awesome.

Joe Grant has a great interview with Pablo V.  I remember a lot times running 20-23 miles without drinking anything at all because that was kinda like for wimps, which is stupid, I mean bizarre, but that’s the way it was. That was the mentality back then.
Although that might be trumped by:  If you’re scared shitless, try not to show it.
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Recently one of our kids got a letter to be tested for the Talented and Gifted program at his school.  We received a similar letter for our other child a few years back.  I have a mix of feelings on these programs.  Of course, the initial reaction is one of a bit of pride:  Hey!  My kid is gifted!
But that is offset with other concerns.
My “think-about-it-too-much” head gets concerned about this TAG program thing on two fronts.  First, the titling of what is gifted.  Just because you read a bit more than the average kid, or do well with math at the curriculum level does not mean you are gifted.  In fact, even if you are the school valedictorian, I would say you are probably not gifted.  Few are truly gifted.  In running circles, Matt Carpenter, KJ are gifted … they have V02max values that are over 90.  That is a gift.   Examples outside of running: Mozart was gifted.   Newton was gifted.  Picasso was gifted. 
I have concern when we make everything a talent, everything world class, everything best practice.  It ties to the “everyone is a winner” mentality that we seem to be grappling with as a society.  When we use words like “talented and gifted” for a sixth grader who does well at math and reads a lot, I think it waters down the meaning of that word.
But more importantly (and second to the above) the term gifted carries a sense of entitlement to me.  You can ride on the coat tails of talent if not careful, rather than work hard.  I cringe when some categorizes me as talented when discussing my running.  It seems to overlook an important component:  hard work.  Okay, sure, I have some modicum of talent, but I would not call me talented on a grander stage.  And to that end, I like to think that my work has taken that talent fairly far. 
I think telling a kid they are gifted has a potential risk:  you are gifted, you are smart, wow – look how great you are.  This could possibly leave the kid thinking that all things should come easy to them.  What happens when they fail?  Are they no longer gifted?  Will they get up, brush themselves off and work hard to overcome?  Rather than tell a kid how great they are, tell them how great they are because of the work they have put in – not because of easy talents.
A gift is nothing without work.
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Evening – 10.6 miles.  Felt cruddy.  Easy.

Monday 021813

Caught Life of Pi with the family last night.   I have only seen two flicks by Ang, (the other being Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and I have to say he has an eye for the cinematically beautiful.  I am particularly not a fan of 3D flicks because it often feels forced but I soon forgot that was even part of it, and the photography played nicely.  I did break a general rule I have and that is to read books of films before I see them, but this was sprung on me a bit by the family.  I am not sure how closely the movie stays to the written version, but I confess – it seemed to me that the movie was making more of a case of their not being a God than there being one.  But those are my lenses I guess.
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I will probably dig into this latest SoS article and video as part of some night time reading/watching.
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Unorganized rant that requires some editing …
It dawned on me the other day that I really could have no problem running sub 4:30 at Pikes.  I saw dawned because, like dawn coming every morning, this thought comes to me often – it is not new.  Really, if I did everything right in training between now and then, and I had good luck on race day (say weather and not falling), 4:30 ought to be a breeze.
But it won’t be.  Because I will make a lot of little choices that negatively impact that goal between now and then.  So that is really the challenge: making the right set of choices to set me up to succeed while fighting little self failures along the way.   The challenge is being able to recognize, and select to choose wisely along the path.
When I think about this outside of myself, I see this a lot in running and in goal setting.  Limiting it to running (for this post), I see folks that set some goal that is of importance to them (although in reality it is really only running so its importance is questionable in the first place).  Say they want to run sub 3 in a marathon or sub 20 at some 100 or whatever.  Typically everyone of those folks are setting goals that are a bit at the periphery of what they are capable of.  This is good.  Because if it was a goal that was easy for them to accomplish, it would not be really worthwhile.
But … in reality their goals (and mine) are very reachable.  Maybe not easily.  But simply.  If they (and I) made the right choices along the way, those goals would be easy.  Maybe if they ran a little more.  Maybe if they dropped weight.  Maybe if they did more specific work.  Maybe if they slept better.  Maybe if they did some core work.  Maybe if they learned to execute on race day properly.  Simple stuff.  Not easy, but simple.
Beyond the little choices there are also those are those who live in great envy of someone else’s life and hence feel constrained by the choices they have made thus far.  Sure, I get that is fine to take on “the grass is greener” thought about some guy living in a truck, racking up 14ers all day, and winning ultras – but maybe for a moment or two.   Beyond that – you have made choices that you can live with in great happiness:  a good job, a loving family, a flippin’ bed that has soft pillow top.  These folks struggle with a layer of choices bigger than the day to day, but instead are wondering how they got where they are.  I think I don’t deal with this issue but instead my little day to day ones like how I recover, what little things I do, etc.
The thing is that very very few of us – at least in my observation – are willing to make even those little choices consistently, never mind even being conscious of larger life choices.  We choose other paths.   Choosing such roads can be great … if you are aware.  If you are aware of the choices you make and the consequences – then you ought to be at ease with that.   Maybe you choose to race a lot and so you never taper.  Or maybe you choose to never do track work because you love serious vertical and trails.   In those cases, you are choosing the fun of your daily run over your execution on race day.  As long as you can see that, then you have a choice and you can be happy with how you choose.  It is the short term view of “fun today” over “fun tomorrow.”
I have listened to a few podcasts of late with Kona IM champions.  Their take is almost always containing the same theme:  Kona was their sole focus.  They gave up everything else with a thought solely of being the first man or woman down Alii Drive at the levels of obsession.  In a recent Competitor Radio podcast, 2x winner Deboom spoke of how his taking second in the race one year drove him every day for 365 days until the next year.  In ultra running circles, Matt C’s failures at Pikes (passing out at the top ahead of Meija to then take second to him in the marathon) and Leadville (walking in the last 33 miles) drove obsessive behaviors for the next year create incredible outcomes (a 3:16 marathon at Pikes, a sub 16 at Leadville).
I digress into a rant there a bit.  In any case … I see myself and others often playing this game of stating this great desire to some goal, but struggling with their choices at several levels to deal with it.  Alternatively, there are those that see themselves as the hobby jogger and are completely happy with it.  I admire these folks.  There are those like the obsessed athlete who does everything to get it done and do – and I admire that too.  The stuff in between however – and this is often the guy in the mirror confounds me.  The person who says that this goals is incredibly important to them, but then makes choices along the way that are contrary to that goal – while being unconscious about them.  In other words, they don’t understand.  And, at least in some part, that is part of why running is a little important to me:  it reveals character choices to me, and then provides a platform for me to develop it.  Of course, that is not the only thing that does such for me.  If I could not run a step tomorrow, I’d still have that … just via other mediums.
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10.4, number 17.  Up the middle, down Flag road to avoid any ice.  Pretty relaxed on the up, even walked part of the bottom of Gregory given I was slipping on the ice on the way up, but still hit my 2nd fastest this season (sort of not trying too … good feedback).  I like this loop.  It has a decent climb but not super steep like the front side – so most of it is runable.  In fact, I am actually starting to get to a point where I can play with gears on these runs … actually having some room between easy and harder (versus it all being hard).  And then with the down, I can get a bit of turn over and not have to worry about the technical or the ice.  It rounds out to a nice distance, and a fair amount of time. 

Sunday 021713

Joined the BTC for the typical Res, Grange run.  I figured being a group run it would be a bit quicker than what I was used to, and that would be a good thing.  I did not figure that I would be the oldest guy there by what appeared to be 10 years at least.   Didn’t recognize anyone but hey – we were running, right?

I eyeballed the watch in the third mile and saw mile paces starting with 5s and I knew I was in the deep end.  That did not last long.  At least for me.  14.1 miles, steady.    Even though I was in over my head a bit, it was fun to roll for a bit longer and I got some practice in moving a bit in the wind.  Was reminded how the Res, Grange is a bit of a distance running carnival with everyone out there.

Tacked on a bit more with KZ for her jog when I got home.

76 miles on the week, and 11k of climbing.  Solid week.

Saturday 021613

Great run, near perfect weather – just a bit of a stiff breeze coming out of the west but otherwise gorgeous.  Too gorgeous for February actually. 

About a mile and a half warm up, then my 2.6 mile hilly tempo route near my home (a few hundred of up and down in there).  Yeah, a bit short for a tempo, but I want to push the pace a bit more than hide in the comfort of a nine miler.  There will be time for those.  Improved from 16:14 February 3, to 15:49 today.  Admittedly I got a bit uppity in the last mile and decided to push a bit to get under 16 for the first time.  Not done with this one yet. 

Felt good about that so I jogged back over to Death Hill and that thing flippin’ put me back in my place.  Four repeats of that and I was back in the humble box.  A guy was biking up it (until he had to get off his bike and push up the last segment) on my first one so that motivated me to blow by him.  Of course that meant I was cooked for the rest.  An older guy came by walking his dog, looked at me and laughed, “bitch of a hill ain’t it?”  I grunt breathed some sort of reply.

10.3 miles.  Fun.

This blog on the heart and endurance sports is pretty solid.  The post today is a tad bit freaky.

Looks like BTC is hosting an open run at the res tomorrow at 830.  It has been a while since I have done the group thing and I have a free morning so I might drop in.

Friday 021513

Sort of like the IM, I have a bit of a fan fascination with some of that crazy long Arctic stuff.  Like the IM (or tri altogether), I have not crossed a line to wanting to do it, but I am amazed at what guys like Derrick do in it.

Green via Long Canyon.  Fresh snow, and actually broke tracks up Long Canyon and then part of West Green after I rolled up some hikers after I passed them.  Slow and easy going, enjoying the winter. 10 miles.

These runs are fun but if they were all I did, it would be detrimental.  Anyway, the snow was already melting on Gregory by the time I headed back down.   Went with screw shoes the whole way which was fine.

Cool shot over at Arches via Basit.

Adam Chase put up an article on RT on chasing FKTs.

This kid could be all the rage next year if he is the next HSer to break four in the mile.  He needs to work on his follow though on his bow shots though and not kill himself on serpentine road in his car.

JW has a cool R2R2R video.  Not sure yet if I will make it down there in April or not.

Thursday 021413

First part here, blah blah blah training talk.  Probably won’t post stuff related to this such and such running article as much anymore.  URP does a better job of that anyway.  Anyway, I was sort of curious as to how my January last year stacked up against this year.  Last year I recorded this as January stats.

January stats: 313 miles, 44.37 hours, 12,530 feet climbed, 2 days off, 5 treadmill runs, 2 20 milers, 9 days of quality, 1 summit of a 8k peak (Bear) (which accounted for almost 20% of my climbing for this flat month!) and zero days at high altitude.  Zilcho racing.

This year, January was 292.1 miles of running, just over 40k of climbing, and about 53 hours of training.  There were a dozen Greens in there and two twenties.

So this year, less miles (-7%), way more vertical (3.3x more), and more hours (1.2x more) (which goes with the vertical of course).  Of note, last year I had  5 treadmill runs in January and  12 in February.  I am looking to avoid that as much as I can this year.  The treadmill is not bad.  I just think it is a tool that I slowly turned into some sort of crutch.  And then it set up for behaviors in training that led to a typical spring injury that in turn had me freaking out about any sort of summer training. 

It remains to be seen if this “do more vertical” approach on my part will take, but I do know that doing the same things I did before will get me about the same results as before.  So switching it up is necessary if I want to switch up results.  So I will keep plugging this approach as life, work, etc allow me and I feel motivated to.

I am learning or rather relearning that a.) a sluggish day on a hill means the difference of minutes per mile.  If on a good day I was going to go up the middle route of Green at 12:30 pace, that could be 15 or 16 minute pace on a not so good day.  Compare that to flat lander running I be doing 7:30 s on a good easy day and probably just over 8 on a not so good day.  The effects of course on the hills are much more pronounced.  And b.) assuming I don’t fall (still a significant possibility for me), I recover more quickly from hill runs.  In other words, I can do a Green run, maybe even a harder one and be ready to bounce back the next day.  I remember Scott E telling me this years ago … he could attack Fern Canyon every day because of the lack of impact (and yes, he did the downs SUPER easy).

A related example to this -- I do want to keep trying to get a 20 miler in periodically, but that is the biggest challenge to many of my time constraints.  Sure it is really probably not much different than 10 on Green in terms of time, but I need to prepare for the road miles and recover from that more carefully (and so it takes more time).
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I comment probably a bit too much over on Wyatt’s page today.
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So I had that conference / meeting thing in Arvada last week.  I did not post here at that time but I also sat for a professional certification exam while there.   It was one of those exams that while I was taking it, my confidence in passing was slipping.  Sort of one of those activities where you add up what you know you got right, then the ones you hope you got right … and then there is all that stuff in the middle.  Some exams I do that and I walk away knowing that even if I got all those in the middle wrong, I will have passed.  This circumstance was not one of those … so I was pretty relieved to get notice today that I passed some corporate weenie exam.  
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10.1 miles in the snow (good to get some) , some with the dog Lucy.  Slow and easy. 
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Kids enjoyed the strawberry dipping in the evening as part of some family Valentine Day fun
 

 

Wednesday 021313

Finally caught up on the latest Endurance Planet episode with Tawnee and Lucho.  I have a question that wraps up the episode that asks about folks that don’t seem to periodize.  As I expected, Lucho’s take is that the folks that don’t periodize would most likely be better if they did. 

But I know at least some of those guys don’t believe that.  In fact, they seem to believe that if they taper, or look to periodize they go flat, or lose fitness. 

Probably the first guy that I saw that seemed to really not periodize was Bernie B.  For something like five years, Bernie just seemed to race, week after week and was hugely successful (he was third overall at Pikes a few years in a row, and won something like 80 percent or more of the races he was in).  I asked him once if he thought that he would perform better if he did not do this but instead focused on a few key races.  He admitted that sometimes the back to back races – in a weekend – left him a bit tapped on the second day, but he 100 percent thought that he was better for consistently racing. 

I have met others that think and feel the same thing:  their races are their weekly workouts and how they get after it.  There are some guys that are younger that do this (JJ out east), but most of the guys I know are a bit older (Andy A comes to mind, Dave D).

Maybe you just need a name that has the first and last name start with the same letter to be successful with a strategy like that.
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Afternoon, Green on the front side (up and back) with JV.  I felt thrashed both ways and felt like I was slogging, but it was my quickest time on this route up this year (this is my least favorite ascent which probably speaks to how it is more a weakness).  Still 42 and change.  If I actually RUN the thing I will be back in the 30s. 

Tacked on, getting 10 and 3500 of vertical on the day in just over 2 hours.

January stats: 313 miles, 44.37 hours, 12,530 feet climbed, 2 days off, 5 treadmill runs, 2 20 milers, 9 days of quality, 1 summit of a 8k peak (Bear) (which accounted for almost 20% of my climbing for this flat month!) and zero days at high altitude.  Zilcho racing.

Tuesday 021213

Bill Lee gets some of his animals back.

Speaking of burros, next month on the 16th of March burros like Jack will be in the Denver St. Patrick Day Parade.  Anyone who is interested in burro racing in the 2013 summer season – and is a “first timer” to such events, this is a great way to get to know some of the basics of burro handling and provides some time to build a relationship with your ass. 

Also on April 4, there is a showing of Haulin’ Ass at the Stargazers Theatre and Event Center, 10 South Parkside Drive, Colorado Springs (6:30 PM).  I am hoping to make that.

Sort of surprised, but sort of not that you can get paid to do this.  Had Larry and I known that in college, I might not have graduated.

10.2 miles.  Probably the closest thing I have done to a fartlek in a bit.  Just playing around, hitting the gas sometimes and then backing off.  Enjoyable.

Funny:  I’m midway through ‘Born To Run’ by Christopher McDougall and if I’m to take anything away from the lifestyle of the Tarahumera tribe, it is that you only need to be a paranoid alcoholic with a woeful diet to run well.

Monday 021113

“…when I hear athletes speak of a fear of burnout, that usually means they are scared to reach their potential …”

10 miles easy, #14 on the hill.

Sunday 021012

Fairly fried today after the weekend with the Scouts.  The cold weekends sort of zap me (leaving me more sleepy than anything else).  After screwing around (stalling) for a ridiculous long time got out.  I did not want to get out but I knew that once I shook off the chill, I’d be okay.  But I did not want to face getting through that first 15 minutes.  How weak is that?  Easy 7.1. 

Not really sure what I got yesterday but I was jogging around for a good part of the day on the orienteering courses we had set up.  Direct path they were a kilo each, a bit longer by way of the path and the roads.  Between moving through that, back to camp, our station post, etc … I am calling it five miles, but it is a total guess.  It could be a bit more or less than that.   And it was super slow given all the gear I was haulin’.

Because of the lower mileage weekend, the week ended up a tad light (58 and change). 

TZ and Bart the Black Pirate dog graduated from Therapy Dog class.

Saturday 020913 – some Shots from Klondike weekend

Another weekend of winter camping with the boy.  Started off just as a clear weekend, but we got some single digit temps on the overnight and a good amount of snow as the weekend progressed.
         

I am psuedo convinced Scouts are killing me.  I have 20 nights in the last ten months in a tent.  That is not what is killing me though.  It is the onslaught of on going eating we do.  We eat pretty dang well.  

Came home smelling like a camp fire.

Friday 020813

Heading out for some winter camping, so short post.

Back in Arvada today.  Easy 8.3 this AM.  Back in Broomfield this afternoon before heading out to Golden Gate State Park.  6.1 miles.  I expect to get probably nuthin’ this weekend.  On the up side, some of my work schedule opened up next week so I should be able to have a better training week than I was expecting.

Both runs today were easy.  I actually think I might have actually finally figured out what an easy run is after nearly 30 years of running.  Or maybe I just temporarily figured it out.  I wear the HR monitor, but I realize I don’t look at it.  I have a GPS that is collecting pace, but I don’t worry about it.  I am just chugging along.  Sometimes that is 9 minute pace on the flats out east of the Front Range.  Sometimes it is low sixes.  It is a lot of in between there.  Sometimes that is a 155 HR.  Sometimes it is 135.  Whatever.  Not worrying about it makes it easy.

Thursday 020713

Running With the Buffaloes fans will probably appreciate this Goucher interview.
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Down in Arvada today for a conference, series of meetings so I had to get out when I could.  Knowing where I would be, I eyeballed Strava to see if there were any segments in the area that I could take a crack at.

In some regard, there is an element of poaching or cherry picking when I do this.  Certainly I’d love to see some segment like Green Mountain where it has had some hundreds of people try it hundreds of times.  But out in these areas, you often get the segment that has been run once by someone who did not even know they were running a segment until they get home and Strava decides they did. But then you see that segment and realize you can roll that one up.  Until at least someone comes along and does the same to you and buries ya.

I have not come up with the right term for this behavior.  Cherry straving?

6.3 miles, steady, with about 550 of climbing.  Fun, just steady. 

I did accomplish all of that in an hour though from the “we’ll start back at 1:30, so that is in an hour” – from out at that moment, changing in the car, getting the run in and changing back in the car.  I am sure on a flat course I could do 7 on the hour challenge.  The tough part though is getting the body heat back down after the run.  I was sweating a fair amount – and it was fairly cool out today.  In the summer, it could be pretty tough to pull that off.

Thought I would get out in the evening but motivation waned after work with the PTC for both kids, packing out the trailer for this weekend’s campout, dinner and evening family activities.  Sure – I could have laced them up in the dark and cold at 9PM, but I nixed the idea of slogging for an hour in that at 8:30 pace … rationalizing that I’d be better off in getting something a bit more tomorrow.  We’ll see.
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Wednesday 020613

*Awesome*  Boulder will continue to charge out-of-county residents to park at some Open Space and Mountain Parks trailheads, and City Council members expect the city will charge more for all open space use in the future.  The Boulder City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to maintain what had been a pilot program to charge non-Boulder County residents to park at Flatirons Vista, Doudy Draw and South Mesa trailheads. The council rejected a recommendation from the open space staff that the fee program be discontinued and replaced with a voluntary contribution.

Embedded in the rest of the article is how some CC members saw this as a fairness thing.  I can see the argument that I ought to just buck up and pay the 25 bucks, but it feel so “nickel and dime” like from a government.  In the comments there is some interesting stuff of how GOCO grants are used to pay for a lot of these trails anyway.  I am not so sure about that but I know that in Broomfield some trail construction has been augmented with these lottery fund grants.
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Interesting juxtaposition here … on the BTR list Bob M posted that OSMP is looking for folks to help with the re-route of the upper part of Shadow to open that back up. 

South Boulder Peak and the upper portion of Shadow Canyon remain closed. Great news: OSMP is requesting help from BTR to reroute trail near the saddle. They need a crew that can get up there and work hard all day -- that's us! Looks like we received a great recommendation from BCPOS.
Shadow Canyon Project:
- May 4 and 5, 8a-5p
- 15 volunteers each day
- OSMP will provide staff leaders to supervise work project
- OSMP will provide tools and necessary project equipment
- Volunteers may be asked to help carry tools to the project site
- All work is near the top of Shadow Canyon
Please RSVP off-list to volunteer for one or both days. Please express on-list your enthusiasm for BTR being the legs behind opening Shadow Canyon Trail ASAP!

I have to wonder if the parking is covered for out of county volunteers.
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10 different types of runners Matt sees on the road.  This is great.  There could be a whole list for folks here in the Front Range area too.  The minimalist runner.  The I have grown a beard and am going to look like Tony runner.  The college guy on the trail that looks to chase you down for two minutes while in his blue jeans runner.  The super old guy hauling around on the trail in the unbutton plaid shirt who looks like he needs a meal runner.  On it goes.
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Looks like the Scout decision on their current policy barring gays and lesbians from the program will not be landed on until May 2013.  I hesitate to read the comments of that post because I typically feel like I want to rip my eyes out after reading that stuff.
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Brilliant sign of the day …

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It has already been talked about but Galen rolling a 4:40 mile tempo run post the 3:50 mile is mind boggling.  Check out the video of that.  His foot strike stuff, sure while on a treadmill (around 3:30 into it), is a thing of beauty.   Just so smooth.  Looks like he is jogging a seven minute mile.  Wow.

The popping on the mill around 7 minutes into the video looks potentially dangerous though but I guess if you have that talent and skill, you can do it (how freaking bad ass is a treadmill that can push 3:45 pace?).  At the same time, the end of it makes me recall how I am not particularly envious of the rock star runner lifestyle.

And yeah, we should be asking if he is clean.
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13th round on the hill.   I knew it was a slog a’comin’ from the first step.  Up the middle and down Long Canyon. 8.7 miles.

Tuesday 020513

Big Choice is going to start canning!  Hooray!

Tony interview.

I ain’t a reality TV guy (or even a TV guy) but I can see me and the kid no.2 watching this for fun.  Really though it ought to be called “can old guys keep up with young guys?” (the answer is pretty obvious to me).

Miniturn burro race is off the calendar now, so I have updated that race list.  I am already hearing all sorts of stuff how various folks are gunning for my title.  Just saying my style is impetuous. 

I have been sleeping in a bit in the AM.  I mean for me, pretty late – like 7.  So no morning runs but I have been feeling like I need to, want to tag the sleep a bit.

Pressed for time today, work, life obligations so really only had an hour.  Hit the local hill (aka Death Hill as the kids call it for sledding) for 8 repeats.  Looking up and the looking down in the shots below.  Dang pictures never look as impressive as it is in real life.
 
Stomach went south after the 5th repeat and I required and extended pit stop so the total time tanked (22:47).  Ah, no sweat.  I have not been on this thing in quite a bit so it is a baseline and one I will start ratcheting down on over the spring.  6.8 miles.  Definitely feeling a bit heavy in the legs, but I have not been on a scale to verify how true that is.   

Monday 020413

10 miles easy.  The head was ready to get after something but the legs told me they were a bit fatigued.   This of course is comes after the obligatory "Once a Runner” “two mile rule.”  The two mile rule is that you really don’t assess too much until about 2 miles in.  You could feel horrible but then a couple of miles in that all falls away and you feel great.  Alternatively, you can think you feel great, but after two miles you realize if you are really there or are carrying a bit of fatigue or something. 

Well, the head on the IPA seems to be progressing nicely.

Sunday 020313

I had thoughts on a long run today, but various life choice obligations dealt me a non suited 9-2 and nothing came up on the flop, so I folded that hand and went with 2 shorter runs.

The first one was mid day – 6.3 miles, with a 2.5ish moderately hilly section near home in the middle that is a Strava segment.  I tempo’d this one, and it is a section I have been picking at since early December.  12-5:  17:52 ; 12-9 – 17:15, 12-9 – 16:47; 2-3 – 16:14. Nothin’ zippy yet but good progress.  It is good for me to have a “steady” route local that I can occasionally gnash my teeth at.  Keeps me honest.  Well sort of.

Second one was towards sunset, 6 miles including a grocery store run.  Easy.  And this easy was still quicker than the easy in VA where there was way more 02.  Being home is good.

Week was 70 miles and change but that was on something like 25 runs.  Hardly any vertical to mention but that is okay.  I will take these weeks as turn over or down weeks as I get them dealt to me.  Or both.

Sunday 020213

Ah, memories of pulling the rat out and eating it.  Things just aren’t the same anymore. 

That is probably one of top 10 fav flicks of all time.
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Crazy dream last night.  I can’t remember all of it but it was Fatass event on the Front Range of Boulder, except it was summer.  Everyone was there.  All the bloggers, the trail runners, roadies, etc.  It was totally on the D-L because it was a FA event, but there was serious side to it.  A subset of the croo was throwing down cash into a pot to make it a winner take all race and there was a few thousand on the line.  I came up on JV later in the run and he was not doing well after taking out hard.  I was crashing myself so we decided to run easy together somewhere on the Mesa, dropping out of the longer run and cutting our losses.  Suddenly we could then see that there was a ton of smoke in Bear Canyon – there was a huge FIRE between Green and Bear.  Knowing this was where part of the race was, we were concerned for several of the fellow runners and decided we need to get help them get out of there.  We headed that way.  On the part of the Mesa where the is the big bend near the creek, we came across Homie.  The fire was right there and Homie and was fighting by filling a hat he had with water and running it up to douse the fire.  From there, I don’t remember much.  I think rangers showed up and thought we started it or that some racer started it to throw the other racers off.   Weird.
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No, I am pretty sure I won’t be parked in front of the tube tomorrow to watch "the” game.  Or even the commercials.  That said, I will give a nod to this.

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Back to CO late last night and JZ had a double header of BB games this AM.

Both games the kids got great looks but could not get their shots to fall.  After being down 10-2 in the first, they rallied back for a tie at 20-20 (I have never heard of a tie in basketball, but I can see it with 11-12 year olds).  In the second they got down 14-2, coming out pretty flat.  They ran back a bit to finish 19-16 but it was not enough.
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I have been hearing some stuff lately that I increasingly categorize as “I better not respond to that.”  The latest is:  You know, there are some people who just can’t lose weight.  No matter what.
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11.1 miles in the afternoon.  Admittedly was lacking confidence after the last few days, but apparently being back home in the thin air of this wonderful place has magical powers.  Clicked off sub 8s out the door, touched the gas a bit for a few miles to tuck under 7s and found it at 6:30s for a few.  Finished backing off to 7:30s.  Just cruising and feeling great.  Where was that the last few days?  Apparently it was here and not in VA.
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… and yes, of course I was eyeballing the XC results today.