Tuesday 21JUL2015

AM – 5.9 miles, with the last mile or so with TZ and Lucy hiking it in.  Squat drill post (3 x 10 regular non weighted squats, 3 x 5 single leg split squats each leg).  Then circled back over to the HS to join the “bread and butter” kids (that is what I call the 4-7 kids on the XC team) for 10k.  So 12.1 on the AM.

Out of the 202 days on the year thus far, I have been out of the home for work, vacation or other camping 52.  31 of those have been for work.  Weight is down, 142.5 this AM.  Probably the lowest I have been all year, but still a bit up from my has seemed to have been my ideal racing weight of 138ish.  I ain’t gonna worry about it much.

This is a great read on Hardrocker Billy Simpson.  I met the guy on the summit of Handies.  Yes.  In the middle of the night as I was pacing Tim Long in the last 40 something of that race.  Incredible place to meet an incredible human.

Interesting article on PEDs in ultras that I will dig into a bit more this week.  I was talking to someone this week who told me that had started thyroid meds and I jokingly jabbed at them that maybe they should join NOP.  I was wondering though if I took an IV post PPM if that could be consider PEDs. 

I started a weekly training recap video but it turned into a rant on people getting onto elevators.  While we are on the boat, you’d see people waiting to get on the elevator.  The little bell would go ding and these folks would rush to the elevator doors as they opened.  And as there is something like 3000 plus passengers on the boat, usually someone wanted to get off that elevator before those other people got in.  I found myself increasingly annoyed that folks kept trying to rush into the elevator when people were trying to get off.  I mean, I get it on day one or even day two because maybe you don’t use elevators often … but on day 9 you have to think these people have engaged with this pattern dozens of times, and that they would learn … but nope:  press the button, hear the ding, rush the doors, do the awkward dance then as folks try to get out as to get in. 

What was really bugging me about this was less about the fact that people were so unaware of this behavior but how I was treating it in my own head.  I’d actually started to play the game where I would predict who was going to do this.  And yes, this was based on “profiling” information.  Call it pattern recognition if you will but I could almost easily predict who was more likely to do this.  Teenagers were an easy guess, but by definition that demographic is in a different orbit.

So it bugged me that I was actually doing that, and it bugged me that it bugged me.  I mean, why should I care?  So I did a video update on my training but it turned into that rant and I decided not to post it.  But instead I have typed a boat load of words on it.  So here is the actual training update. 

I am probably going to head to Fairplay for a bit this week.  Over the next couple of weeks the plan is to get up to altitude as much as I can, and get in efforts up there.  Short efforts, long efforts, up hill efforts, down hill efforts, just stuff up there.  

I will do the Fairplay burro race this weekend.  It is probably not the best idea but it is not a bad one.  It will give me a 30 mile run up there over 4-7 hours (depending on how Jack runs).  That will probably be my last longish mileage effort.  I will probably have another 3-6 efforts in excess of 3 hours between now and Pikes, but the mileage on those will be significantly less than what I get down here as it will be checked by altitude and peaks.  

The problem with the burro race thing is if I win Fairplay.  I will then feel obliged to chase the Triple Crown (meaning wins at Buena Vista and Leadville) – something I have had a shot at twice and have not completed (with losses both times at Buena Vista to kill the chance in the last race of the crown).

The TC this year however is a bit different.  Rather than Fairplay then Leadville then Buena Vista, Buena Vista is the second race and Leadville is the last.  Buena Vista is of course a significantly different race than Leadville and Fairplay:  its highest point is lower than the low points of the longer mountain races.  It is at least half as long as the other races.  And it is generally flat and fast.  Any success I have had with Jack and burro racing has come off of long climbs and then running away from everyone else on a descent back into town.  Buena Vista has none of this and we have not been able to put that together.

So, if (and that is a mighty big if) I won Fairplay, it would be off to BV.  Arguably our chances, based on our history, for the TC would be killed there but you could say that maybe it plays well for us given how Jack ran in Idaho Springs and that we’d only have 29 miles in our legs from the prior week versus two weeks of 29 and 22.  And so if we won that, well then it is off to Leadville for that effort … and that seems to be a really bad idea going into a PPM and Leadville double.

Frankly, while I have to give that some thought – it is really getting way too far ahead of myself.  I have learned that a burro race is very little about what you want, and is very much about what you and the burro can do on that day.  That might be a win, or that might be a long walk in the mountains.  If you are ready to deal with that, then you will probably be happy.  I can say I have gone into burro races on occasion without that mindset and it has been a very frustrating affair.  Maybe even more frustrating than seeing folks rush the elevator.

I have also been asked twice today about what my goals are for Leadville and how I will approach Pikes.  My strategy there has been the same:  if I am in a position to PR at Pikes, I am going to go for that.  I should know pretty early if that is in the cards.  Generally to do that (beat 4:30), I’d need to be up to the Summit in no more than 2:50.  And that means getting to Barr around 80-85 (yes I know that the Matt calculator says I can get there in 86, but I have never been able to do the second half faster than the first) – and feeling confident that I can then get after it.  If I get up to the summit that fast, than I will look to see if I can run hard on the down to PR. 

Why?  Because I think the chances of me having the opportunity to PR at Pikes are increasingly rare.  In fact, I don’t think I will be up to the summit much better than 3 hours based on how I have been climbing this season (comparing regular climbs I have done this year to prior years).  And so, yes … if I can PR, I will go for it fully knowing that may put me in a helluva whole for the next week.

Now, if I am around that 3 hour mark or above 2:50, I will look to compete on the down, but I will play a few cards a bit more safe and back it off a gear or two on the down, in hopes that I thrash the legs a bit less. 

My mind of course thinks this means that I will run a 2:51 up … setting me up for the worst of all options – thinking I might be able to PR or get on the podium for the masters but not really able to and thus thrashing myself well for the next week.

I was also debating discussing with some friends as to what the goal at Leadville ought to be.  One of these guys is a Leadman and he was saying his goal has to just be finish the 100 so that he finishes Leadman.  I get that, and I agree … to a point.  I think that it is also fine to have goals above that … like sub 25, sub 24 and apparently now I have been it is to get back to Leadville before the bars close (which would be a PR at the 100 for me).

All of these are self imposed problems, and good problems to have.

Anyway, it will be about getting up high soon.  I will sneak over to Leadville periodically to get in some stuff over there, including some course familiarity stuff.  The back drop is altitude ... the plan is consistency, going off what the body says but pushing the envelope a bit for 2.5 more weeks.  And then, starting to back off for Pikes.  Also dialing in all the other stuff (crew, pacer, lights, poles, gear and drop bags).

Afternoon – 5.5 easy before heading home.  A bit of CO heat was back and it felt nice. 

The ants are moving this downed yellow jacket nest. I'd love to have a multi hour time lapse on this.