More video from the weekend

The old snowstorm dredge with JZ playing fetch. I am a horrible parent ... :)
I love TZ's "OH MY GOD!" in the middle of this.



Walking the old snowstorm dredge pipe



Ruby in the creek ... this is a dog treadmill.



Heading up Silverheels on FS 659

Ten Goals

Goals ... it is hard to say if they are in a particular order ... of course these are mired, intertwined ... mixed with other thoughts and goals.

1. Break 2:50 on the Ascent on both days.
2. Be first of the Doublers.
3. Break 4:32 in Marathon (in other words PR)
4. Break top ten in Marathon.
5. Get an age group award in Ascent.
6. Compete and Race. Run the race increasingly harder ... meaning start to race at Barr Camp and really start to race at the A frame on the way up.
7. Make it through the Ascent in a fashion where I can drive in the Marathon.
8. Love the experience and those around me.
9. LIVE IT.
10. ... all the other goals ... like PR in the Ascent, run sub 4:20 in the marathon, run sub 4:15 in the marathon, win the whole damn thing ...

Monday 081108 Flagstaff

Ah.  The last week before the race.

I remember that in college I got this hair brained idea to jump out of a plane.  I did.  One of the things I remember was all the excitement leading up to it.  Getting the chute on, getting in the plane, the incredibly loud whine of the engines, the roar of the air when the side of the plane opened, jumping, the pull of the chute as it jacked you back upwards.  And then ... silence.  It was incredibly quiet.  No sound of anything except yourself.

A race is like that.  You lead up with all the prep of getting your bag ready, checking the weather, worrying if your taper is right, reading message boards, feeling the excitement of the crowd.  And then the race starts ... and when you hit the W's on the Barr Trail, it is incredibly quiet ... except your breathing and your feet pounding the trail.

Did Flagstaff today.  "Fartlek'd" it up in 17:25 of running, with 3 1 min breaks on the fives.  Continued back down around Rangeview and then Gregory and added on McClintock.  62 minutes

Various tidbits ...

• Alan C had a good post today that seems to resonate with some ideas I have been playing with.  Competitor or Completor?  “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, for they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt
• "...you're not going to even come close to what you can do unless you're scared every once in a while." --Thom Hogan

Sunday 081008 Capture the Flag and some Pikes logistics questions

Didn't need much today and wanted to recover from the Decalibron yesterday.  I was feeling it. 

So, after we ventured down from up high back to Broomfield County (and I spent the better part of two hours getting a chipmunk out of the van that had taken refuge there ... GZ 1, Chipmunk 0), we joined a bunch of friends (like 40 people in the park) and played capture the flag.  I led in with a 20 minute jog and then used this for strides - being careful not to hurt myself with some of the lateral movements that this took.  It was a fun way to get some light running in and up the HR for the day. 

Week ...

M AM - 50 minutes, PM 30 minutes , biked 35 minutes
T - 60 minutes with a 40 minute tempo
W - 50 minutes easy
Th - hour, with 10k on track, biked an hour (city)
Fr - 50 minutes at alt
Sa - Decalibron, just under two hours
Su - 20 minutes, + strides in CTF

455 minutes of running on the week or ~7.6 hours.

Some logistical questions came in from JM re: Pikes. 

1. Shoes. I had planned to wear an old pair of Brooks racers, but now wonder if I can get by with my Brooks T5's. This is the Hanson's marathon shoe, like 5.9 ounces. I wore the Racers last year at Imogene and they were fine, but on the descent caught some rocks jabbing me on the bottom and at the sides that were pretty painful. I've heard Pikes is much less rocky and generally dirt/sand/crushed gravel the entire way, which would make me lean towards the T5's.

Highly discussed topic as to what folks do and wear.  I have heard of some folks actually changing shoes at the top and going with a more robust shoe for the descent.  I don't find it necessary and use the Brooks Racer ST for the entire round trip.  That said, the shoes are about done after such a journey.  I have not had any issues with feet getting trashed on the Barr Trail - it is not really that rough.  That said, if the upper elevations are slippery (wet) you might loose a touch on the flats.

2. Gels. Looking at the # of water stops, I'll be fine without water, but I won't have a way to carry my 3 gels without the bottle. I need at least 3 and could put 1 in the shorts pocket and pin 2 to the singlet, but the bottle pocket has always worked out better. What have you done to carry gels?

I go with six gels.  I have not carried water in the two events I have done.  I might carry water on part of the Ascent this year though as I am doubling.  I pin the gels into my shorts waist band.  It is a bit of a pain in the ass but you get use to it. 

3. Hat/gloves. If it rains, I assume everyone will carry/wear/put in waist band some type of winter hat so that their ears don't freeze on the upper slopes. If sunny, I suppose everyone will go sans hats/gloves?

I make a game day call at the start line as to what I will wear.  I usually go a bit lighter than most.  No one makes you carry a jacket or hat or gloves as far as I can tell.  This, of course is a risk versus reward decision.  Carry more if you are not willing to take the risk (JM - less of an issue for you and more of an issue for folks who are out there a long time).  Scott E even goes shirtless in all the Ascent races from what I can tell.

That said, I always have gloves and a hat of some sort.  The hat will depend on the weather.  Colder weather and I have a skull cap.  Warmer and I go with the wicking brim (FF) hat to keep the sun off my head.  Gloves are as much for protecting my hands from falls as keeping them warm. 

Otherwise it is shorts and singlet for me.

The question is if you carry a coat.  I have not in my past two years at Pikes, but I did at Imogene.  In such cases I go with that ultralight Brooks coat (Golite has a similar one).  So even if I go with a hat, gloves and a coat I can usually tuck or tie all these things into my shorts.

You'll be pretty amazed to see what folks carry even on the nicest days (like last year).  They will look like they are going camping for a couple of days:  backpacks, boots, the works!

Saturday 080908 Decalibron

Long post again today ... lots of pix from the weekend.

Goal today was to get in one more tough effort, climb at altitude with some distance to it - but not kill myself so much that I was in the hole for several days.

I got to Kite Lake and hit the trail around 8AM. Unlike my trip up here a few weeks ago where clear skies aboundedd, clouds encased the mountains. I had an itch to do the full Decalibron (a trip around Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross) wisdom kicked in -- with the skies threatening as they were I knew I may have to bag this trip at any moment. At trip start, there was no thunder from clouds and so I started up the trail towards Democrat. I did not have a specific plan as to how to attack this run. In other words - no specific workout or repeats planned. I thought I'd just dig in, and keep the thing solid throughout for two hours ... if the weather would allow me to do that.

The warm up Democrat ended quickly as the hill began to bite back at me. I went into "hill mode" and pushed up into the clouds. Visibility quickly dropped off and I was in a fog that reminded me very much of the 06 Ascent. With no thunder, I love these conditions. I hit the saddle to Democrat - Cameron in 25:02. Despite the conditions being poor, there were still a good number of folks out on the trail and I was getting plenty of positive feedback including folks asking if I was doing Pikes next weekend. I found this feedback to be better than listening to the Ipod so I stashed the headphones. I did not feel awesome - in fact probably a bit still heavy in the legs, so I played games of running, powerhiking, getting back to the run, catching people. I did not feel like total crap either so I made the best of trying to make a decent workout of this.

I got to the summit of Democrat in 41:20, and decided to not even pause. I wondered if I'd chase out the FKT of 1:55 on this thing today. My heart had some desire for that, but my brain cautioned that doing so on less than stellar legs, in tougher conditions (breeze was picking up, in the 40s). The clouds were definitely richer, thicker above some altitude line. If I had to guess, above 13 and change.

Of course as I started down Democrat I was feeling great. The climb back up to Cameron (back to the saddle in 51:54) reminded me that this was a climb and that I was at elevation. Back to the churning in granny gear. I really actually love these conditions ... and the chasing of the figures in the mist. They are amongst some of my favorite on the hills. Sure, the views are not there but there is something wonderful about running through this.

Once I got to the summit of Cameron (72:11), I was certainly very ready for the roll over to Lincoln. I got off trail for a moment. On a sunny day this is impossible because you can see the trail forever. In this fog, it just was lost. I found it quickly again and enjoyed the nice roll over to Lincoln (80:18).

Again, no break here and began the trek back over to Bross. I did not feel tapped at all - I was running at a pace that felt like I could carry all day (kind of ... ). The climb to Bross always seems deceiving to me. It is both longer and shorter than I think it will be. It seems really close, but then as you get into the hill it seems like you will never get up it and then ... you come around the corner and the summit is there (1:38:42)

I took pause and stopped my watch at the summit to talk to some guys. I had a memory that I had come over the south face when I had climbed this last year and I wanted to validate that before I disappeared into the fog again. They seemed to believe I needed to come back the way I came and take a cutoff back down. After contemplating it a couple of minutes, I decided to go with what I knew (I saw the cutoff they were talking about) rather than what I thought I remembered from a trip last year.

I started down and then realized that I had just blown the shot at an FKT with the pause. I grinned knowing that I did not need to get it today ... and that it will be there for some other time. No disrespect to the 1:55 FKT there but that thing is ripe for getting pushed down by lots of folks.

I descended down a path that I am pretty sure is different than what I did last time but it got me back to the lot at 1:58.14. I felt great. The descent down Bross is ridiculous, more like skiing in the fine grained scree. It is a fun gift at the close of this loop.

This effort puts me at 434 minutes on the week, or just under a 7.25 hours. That means that I am a little high for what I wanted on my taper but I am okay. I will go very light tomorrow with some strides.

The PPMB is starting to do some speculation about the weather for the weekend races. The NWS seems to have the best read for what is going on at altitude. At current, one should expect ... RAIN. I welcome this considering how I performed in the heat last year over how I performed in the cloud festival the year before. Whatever ... can't control the weather. It will be wonderful in any case.

More pix from the weekend ...

From Saturday, heading up FS 659, looking at high 13er Silverheels.

Training partners ... sort of ... Lucy and Hans.

This was pretty amazing ...

A welcome site at the end of a run.

On the "trail" up / down Democrat a "croo" was working the trail. Hard work to move rocks at this elevation!

Back in Fairplay, I found reference again to the race I want to do some day. Now I just need to find a burro and a six shooter.

JZ got to go to school in South Park City, where they had characters dressed "in part, in time." South Park City is a museum city that has taken buildings, from around the area from the Colorado early mining era (circa. 1880s) and put them all into one location. There are some 40 plus buildings (saloon, school, barber shop, pharmacy, brewery, church, post office, etc) and millions of artifacts to browse. We go there a couple times a year, and learn something new about Colorado every time.

My new racing partner?

KZ ready to ride.

JZ figuring out what a typewriter is at the Ranger station.

August 080808 Sleeping at 10000 feet

Various odd thoughts and ruminations ... this waxes long because it is a brain dump of a variety of things I have been thinking about.  Don't expect anyone to read it except me in 10 years ...

• So I am up in Fairplay CO with my family, at an elevation of 10000 feet or so, for a couple of days.  An advantage of my work is that I can work anywhere where I can get a suitable network connection and has cell coverage.  I love getting up here because it is quieter, beautiful, cooler and has the added advantage of being at an elevation that helps prepare me for high altitude races.  I find August to be incredible up here.  This morning there is a light fog painted through the mountains ... gorgeous!  It is still green, cooler but not snowing yet ... heaven on earth. We'll relax today, enjoying the cooler temps, the afternoon rain, and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.  We'll probably get a hike in, and I will get some short running with the dogs to shake out the legs. 
• I feel pretty good this AM.  Not really fatigued or deeply worked from last night's 10K.  I have found that to be a funny thing about fitness.  As you get fitter, the more you can exhaust yourself.  It is almost a paradox.  When I am fit, I can go to the well or squeeze the sponge much harder than when I am not.  I mean, I know of course, I can go faster but it is different than that.  I mean for whatever physical capabilities I have, regardless of fitness, I can tap into more of what I have when I am fitter.  Make sense?  So all this is saying that while last night was a good workout for where I am, I think I am not super sore today because I could only squeeze that sponge so hard .
• Now that I have nearly completely committed to Double, it is fair to consider how I will approach the races.  I have been giving this some thought, but I will look to get it down on "paper" before the race.  As in the past, I will outline goals on "A," "B," and "C" level.  What is a little different about this is that I might need to revisit that based on how things go on the first day - post the Ascent.  This is all a little revealing of my cards so to speak ... but I am okay with that.  No real secrets to keep here ...  I do think I have a legitimate shot at being the top Doubler finisher for the weekend (not that such a designation is really recognized).  On both days, I would like to ascend faster than I did last year where I struggled ... 2:51:xx.  Given my fitness and preparation, that will be a bit of a challenge but possible.  On the Ascent, I want to be feeling dialed in but easy through the W's, and to Barr Camp.  I will look to gear it up from Barr to A Frame, and then really drill above the A frame (tree line).  Most of all I know I will enjoy the weekend, and will bathe in the entire excitement and joy of this capstone to the journey here. Generally my thinking is this ...
• A goal ... Ascent, sub 2:45, Marathon sub 4:30, first Doubler
• B goal ... Ascent sub 2:51, Marathon sub 4:45.
• C goal ... survive the whole damn thing
  ... more on all this later
• 266 minutes on the week coming into today or about 4.4 hours.  In the afternoon, I got 50 minutes with the dogs up Beaver Creek outside of Fairplay.  This put me at 5.25 hours for the week (316 minutes).
• Tomorrow I am planning to get up to Kite Lake early and run the Decalibron again.  I will look to do some interval type work on this, yet to be determined.  There will be some length to this run as well.

Thursday 080708 10k on the track

Mid day I got the call that the Pumpkin (aka my deer struck Orange Element) repairs were complete.  This was good but ... I needed to figure out how to jet out of work early enough to get over to the shop to pick it up.  As my family was not in town (already in the mountains), I could not bum a ride.  And so I was looking at biking over the shop (~15 miles).  Normally not a big deal but I had a race planned for the evening and I just did not want to bike.  Yeah, a little bit of whining there I guess.  I considered taking the bus over but I'd have to bike part of the way anyway even if I did that.  Whatever ... I'd bike the whole thing and not screw around with the bus.  I self reconciled by saying the bike ride would be a good warm up.  The ride took about an hour but it was a lot of city biking - meaning I had to deal with intersections, lights and idiot drivers.  All in all, not a big deal as I had about 2 hours before I needed to race.

I got over the track (back in the Pumpkin) and some light rain began to blow in.  The skies looked like they could roar at any minute but they, for the moment, held.

I have not been to one of these meets in a while and so I was surprised at the turn out.  There were a couple of hundred people at the track and at least two dozen pole vaulters.   Pole vaulters?  The BRR meets have stepped up their game.  Actually this probably most attributable to the efforts of star vaulter Pat Manson getting folks out to do this event.

I ran into a co-worker who was doing the 800, and timed his 200 splits.

I chilled in the car to stay dry and relax ... and got nervous.  There was NOBODY registered for the 10k, but I signed up anyway.  Even though I could be possibly racing NO ONE, it was still a race.  I'd still have to take the line, hear the gun, run the thing and get a time.

As it turned out, seven of us toed the line at 8PM for 25 laps of fun ...  3 men and four women.  There is never a lack of stardom at these meets.  In addition to Pat Manson, Ellen Hart was there (in the race) and Ric Rojas (coaching his large contingent of athletes, mostly kids).  I talked to a 22 year old guy (named Zack) who had thoughts he'd run 5:45 miles for this.  I told him I thought that was a little quick for what I wanted to start at, but if it worked out, I'd trade laps with him.

I tucked behind Zack and we immediately separated from the rest of the runners.  The rain had let up, but it was darkly overcast, and pretty humid (again for Colorado).  We went through the first lap just over 88.  As came around 300 meters, I mentioned to Zack that I thought I could handle this and let's trade laps.  I took the lead just before the quarter.  We would trade laps, him taking the odds, me taking the evens, through 10 laps.

88.5, 86.5, 86, 88.2 (5:49.1),

87.1, 87.2, 87.8, 89.2, (11:40.4 - 5:51)

89, 89, 88.4, 89.3 (17:35, - 5:55)

As we went into the 11th lap, Zack said something to me and did not take the lead.  I gave some words of encouragement and he said he would take the next.  The pace felt okay in my lungs, but my legs were mildly protesting as they were not used to this pace.  I knew I could go a little faster, but I also knew that this would not be wise over the long haul.  I saw we were slipping pace a bit and still had half the race to go.  I had hoped that Zack and I would trade laps until the last mile and then we would really race, but I sensed he was not ready to do that.

Nonetheless he took the lead as we went into the 12th lap, but I could see by his stride, his form that he was struggling and I took the lead back about 250 meters into the lap.  Passed the 5K in about 18:20.  Again, I was feeling a bit of labor in the legs, but my breathing was tempo controlled. 

The benefit of doing a 10k on the track is the instant feedback.  You know how far you have come, how far you have left to go, what your pace and split is.  This is also mentally tough.  You come around ... essentially by yourself ... in the dark ... and see 13 laps to go.   It gnaws at you.

So I confess, I began to lose some motivation as I broke away.  I tried to play some mental games to focus on catching folks that I lapped and to think - just worry about the next lap, not the next one after that.  It is amazing though ... you are focused to kill it for five seconds ... and that seems like an eternity, and then for the next five second eternity you wonder why the hell you are running out here alone, in the dark, in circles, at a 2 dollar an event track meet.  I mean your friends and family love you just the same if you run 35 minutes or 40 minutes so what's the diff?  Well, the diff is to you ...

89.6, 89.8, 88.7, 89.1  (23:33, - 5:58)

89.4, 90.8, 91, 90.5 (29:35 - 6:02)

When I got to five miles, my rut snapped a bit.  I could begin to smell the line and did the quick figuring that I would need to better six minutes for the last mile to break 37.  36 something sounded infinitely better than 37:01.  Five laps became a run of 3 laps and then 2 laps in my head.

89.8, 88.6, 88.9, 85.3 (35:28, - 5:55)

81.5 (36:50).

So, 36:50.  Not great, far from my best at altitude (33:49).  About what I sort of thought I would ball park in.  Over the last few laps I re-learned to keep my chin down (I can tend to let my head lull back, tightening my shoulders uncomfortably). 

It sounds like "woulda coulda shoulda" but I am pretty confident that in another month, with the right training, I'd be sub 36 and that about another three months after that, I could be dancing in the 34s again.  This run reflects where I am now, which reflects little faster work - of which a steady diet is required to pull off faster 10ks (at least for me).

I thanked the old timer volunteers who stayed out well into the dark to time me and the others and count laps, and even ring the lap to go bell. 

It was fun to race again, even if this was pretty low key.  Kind of like meeting an old friend again.

In any case, this tells me that with this short run up to address getting as fit as I can, I am a notch or two shy of where I'd like to be.  Given this, I am heavily leaning towards a Double.

Between the warm up (20 minutes), the race and the cool down (5 minutes), an hour on the day.  The cool down was short because I immediately jumped in the Pumpkin and drove two hours into the mountains and escaped to South Park.  Sleeping at 10k tonight.  Now, sitting in a car for two hours after a 10k ... that hurts.

Prize money at Pikes

Announced today in a letter from race director Ron Ilgen, there will be prize money at Pikes, although not nearly as much as last year when EAS bank rolled it.  That said, there is a time bonus for the fastest Ascent over the weekend.  Top 10 are also getting free shoes this year ... all in all, very good to continue to drive the quality of the race.

Bib numbers are up

164 in the Ascent and 11 in the marathon.  Thanks for the tip Brett.

MC takes number 20, indicating his desire for his 20th win there.

Wednesday 080608, Tapering, hoses and "where do you get your workout?"

I slept in this AM, as I am not needing to get up early to get in additional minutes, hours miles.  Now by slept in, that means I woke up at 5:55 instead of 5:15. 

The mental game of the taper begun this morning.  Suddenly I was a little wigged at the thought of only running 45 minutes or an hour today.  "Holy crap, that ain't enough!"  Just need to remain calm in the thick of it ... it is just that when you go from running 75-100 minutes a day to, well, 60 ... you feel different.  As a person who tunes in constantly as to how you feel, different can be a bit freaky.  But in this case it is good.  Just need to be careful to do more good than harm.

I am expecting to race at the BRR meet at Potts Field tomorrow night, with that being the 10K.  I am really not sure what to expect as I have done little workouts to give me an indicator as to where I am at.  It will be more telling than culminating.  I am currently planning to start at six minute pace and see where it goes from there.  There are three possibilities - it feels too fast, it feels just right or it feels too slow.  Call me Goldilocks I guess.   I'd love to think I'd be in 35xx shape now, even though that is a far cry from my 33xx alt PR.  I am guessing that I am closer to 37 or 38 shape.  We'll see.  The weather, of course could not cooperate and none of it will matter.

Double versus marathon voting is 13 for double, 5 for marathon, and one for the ascent only.  The 10K will give me some feedback into that decision.

I learned a silly blogspot trick today ... you can subscribe to all the comments for a blog at http://<whatevertheblognameis>.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default.  I have added a webpart that makes this easy for folks on this site, but you can apply that to any blogspot site.

I had this picture up on my computer today and somebody asked me what it was.  I said ... "a hose!"  Actually what this is a shot looking back up to the summit where the hose runs down from to the final aide station near the cirque - 1 mile to go sign.  This hose crosses the trail near the summit before continuing  down to that aide station. The difference in pressure between the top of the hose (summit) and the aide station is apparently so large that the hose cannot be directly hooked to a spigot but instead water needs to be siphoned down through the hose.  In any case, this is some of the worst tasting Gatorade on the course, but given what it takes to get it there - it is still a welcomed drink.  The second shot is looking down as the hose continues down to the station.  Finally ... the view down to the Cirque ... if you look carefully in this shot you can see the trail as it heads out to the Cirque.  That "edge" represents about the 1 mile to go in the Ascent spot.  If you run this last mile in the low teens you are flyin ...

Okay, I am crazy envious of the run JV got to do today.  I am so stoked for what he is ready to do on the Peak in a couple of weeks.  Oh, so what did I do for running today?  Today was an easy day given the tempo yesterday and the evening strides.  So this was an easy fifty minutes on my "canal loop."  And the canal was full again.  Run started off hot and humid.  Started spitting rain 10 minutes in.  It was a good rain 20 minutes.  It was pouring a half an hour in ... soaked to the bone.  It was rather fun.  But then ... I was rather pissed that I ran today after I saw this ad.  I could have just gotten a workout by "GOING TO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE."  Damn ... how could I have missed this all this time?

Tuesday 080508

I love August. The grip of summer heat begins to slip occasionally. This morning when I woke I threw on my hooded UCONN sweatshirt. Not a big deal really, but a hint of furnace blasting days beginning to melt away. The weather is predicting the heat is supposed to break this week with temps only in the 80s.

This morning: warmup, tempo run of out and back. 20 minutes out, down the Lake Link trail, dropping into the valley. This made the back really tough, as I had to climb back out and wanted to do so picking up the pace. Came back in 19:15, probably most of it gained in the first 10 or so in the lower section. Total run was an hour. 2.3 hours on the week across three runs ... which leads me to ... the plan ...

Tue - AM tempo.
Wed -- easy w/strides.
Thu -- AM easy, PM long hills, at least 4:00 each or BRR track meet
Fri -- AM off, PM easy @ elevation.
Sat -- AM elevation up/down/up,
Sun -- AM off, PM easy w/strides.

Week - 7.5 hours max

Mon -- AM easy, PM easy w/strides.
Tue -- AM easy, PM hilly fartlek w/strides.
Wed -- AM off, PM easy w/strides.
Thu -- AM easy, PM off
Fri -- off

Week total of 4 hours over the four days

PM - jogged and did strides on the local football field. Jumped some rope. Did some push ups. Listened to the "Children of Sanchez" It started raining. Just a short little session to get some strides in. 2.6 hours on week.

Monday 080408

Easy this AM.  50 minutes on my Lake Link - canal loop.  The canal is empty today.  It was full on Friday.  Funny thing ... I felt great after yesterday's run, and even began to contemplate going hard again today ... almost thinking I did not go hard enough yesterday.  As the day-evening wore on though, I began to feel its effects and I was creaky ... and as I'd expect I felt it this AM.  Amazingly, I wake up without an alarm clock ... I roll up around 5-6, and then am out the door in about 20-40 minutes (depending on how much I choose to stall).

PM - 31 minutes on the treadmill.  First 15 minutes were at 15% easy, then did the next ten minutes with several strides to open things up a bit.  Felt good, finished with the last five minutes or so at 15% again.  During the work on the treadmill, there was a co-worker on the machine next to me who kept looking at me like I was insane.  First the thing is jacked way up and I am going slow, then I drop it down and I am rolling the thing at well under six minute pace, and then back up ... Since I was doing strides I was consistently screwing around with the speed settings.  I must have looked like a total dork.  Or a total bad ass.  Nah, that is impossible.  Added weight work post run.  More of the freak show.

Added a 35 minute bike ride in the PM.  Dropped my deer impacted car off at the collision center and biked home.

Various tidbits ...

• La Luz Trail results are up ... Simon ran about what he ran last year, so he ain't slowing down.  Expect him to run near or below 2:20 this year.  Whether that is enough to hold off the youngsters remains to be seen ... I will get some updated predictions for  PPA up soon, but I will be pushing the stock of G. Romero up given his great performance at BTMR ... definitely expect him to break through and break 2:30 this year if he has a good day.  What really impresses me is how he was over a minute behind Batliner at the top of the Ws but then was ahead of him at the 7.8 sign and continued to pull away to Barr Camp.  Of course, Peyton ran an awesome descent to pick off GB and marathoner Daryn Parker and take second.  I know it is hard to ascertain what happened in there (maybe Peyton had a bad patch or whatever), but getting to Barr Camp in 61 minutes and change still is very impressive.  GBR seems to have really dialed it in and figured out how to effectively do the run up, and how to be reserved in the early parts.
• Cool mountain running blog over at http://usmrt.blogspot.com/ ... Rickey G appears to be doing well in Europe.  Check out this shot where he wins a race in Europe wearing a Fleet Feet jersey.   I did not know it but this is Rickey's blog.  THIS IS GREAT READING - man travels on bike from mountain race to run mountain races.
• JV had a kick ass day at G&T ... he is another guy that I think is going to have PR year.  His TR today.
• I recently received these following feedback on my training from two strong athletes - racers whose feedback I value.  Some of this is too late for me to incorporate now for this year's race, but I will consider as I press forward ... beyond Pikes.
  • I think you are doing a lot of things right and far more than most. I guess if I had one thing I would point out is that the big C seems to be lacking - Consistency. I think in all of your experiments you end up doing lots of things and never take them far enough to see what really works or not.
  • My only suggestion to you is to break up this last month of training with some races....Don't worry about time or finish or how you compare to last year, just practice racing -from pre-race prep all the way to enjoying crossing the finish line.  You seem to have a decent base and now would be a good time to get your mind and body ready to suffer.
• There has been a fair amount of bear activity in the area of Fairplay I run in. I got this notice from a co-worker who has to consider not only black bears, but Grizzlies on his vacation back home to Canada.  Thought all of you ought to be warned that you need to start wearing little noisy bells.

Weekend 0802-080308

The weekend escape to the hills got off to poor start. Coming down into Bailey I hit a deer. I did not even see it until it bounced off the front of my car. I called the county sheriff, and they and the state patrol came out. They finished it off. It was just a yearling. My car had body damage on the driver's side front fender (although the alignment seems fine). I duct taped that up so that it was out of the way. I filed the report with the CSP. It just sucked all around. Nothing good to say about this except what did not happen. I did not get hurt. My car was still drive-able. Tracy and the kids were in the van with an other family so they were fine. Still, it sucked.

We got to camp late so I did not get up until 6AM, and not running until about 7. I headed up to the Colorado Trail, but decided to divert off of it after about 10 minutes - there was a sign for Green Mountain (obviously a totally different Green Mountain). This was a gorgeous up down tolling single track trail with great footing ... few rock step ups, a crushed granite beach. Lucy joined me and loved being tortured by the squirrels and chipmunks. 90 minutes of running on the trails. Had the camelback and took a gel midway.

I tried to soak in a creek later - much colder up here then down in Boulder and I couldn't take it for very long - it was just too cold and I am out of cold creek shape! Most of the day was spent sitting around, relaxing, chatting, snacking, and even got in a mid morning nap until I was awoken by a soft sprinkle of rain. I ended up taking a longer nap in afternoon which was rather nice.

I headed over to South Park Saturday night to pick up my in-law's dog (we are going to watch him for a bit). Hooked up with JV and his lady for a bit over there before crashing for the night. Sunday morning, I headed up towards Mosquito Pass to get some harder running in at altitude. I elected to do 7 x 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off up towards the pass. The run went well. I parked at the river crossing just above the lower London Mine (they have repaired the culvert so now you can drive over this again). I warmed up the hill for ten minutes. The repeats were hard ... it does not take much to make them hard at that elevation. They were all a few clicks north of 3 minutes and at slightly faster than race pace. Just looked to get into that higher pace grind, keep moving and running. I actually felt like I had some legs today. I ran past the Pass on the sixth one and continued up to the radio towers on the seventh. I jogged back down to the pass after this and decided to push the down a bit from the pass to the car. Came back in 21 minutes . Overall 72 minutes.

JV's pix from his trip up there this weekend (... more).

M - 82 minutes, South Boulder Peak
T - 30 in AM, 30 in PM
W - 40 in AM, 40 in PM
Th - Flagstaff, hill repeats, 76 minutes
Fr - 53 in the AM, 38 in the PM
Sa - 91 minutes on Colorado trail
Su - 72 minutes, altitude intervals, 7 x 3 minutes.

552 minutes or about 9.2 hours. A bit more than I wanted, but not bad. My objective this past week was to get my legs back more than outright start a taper. I got them back and a few good workouts. Next week I will start to drop miles to be 75% (7.5 to 8 hours), but maintain the quality.

Some pix (I might post some vids later)... the start ...

Up the road ...

Looking towards Leadville on the way down ...

Hans at the Pass ...

Father Dyer was an endurance athlete...

Upper London Mine on the way down ...

The Burro Race championships were last weekend so signs were still out. I want to do this race. Really.

Friday 080108

August ... here at last.  Awesome.

AM ... easy 53 minutes in the cool of the morning.  A little tight in the calves and the glutes for the first ten minutes or so but those kinks worked out nicely.

PM - warm (95), 38 minutes easy.

Various tidbits ...

• We are heading to the hills for the weekend ... I am going to look to get some miles on the Colorado Trail.
• KW apparently got hit by a car on her bike.  Totally sucks.  No broken bones but she will be jacked for a bit.  Have to guess she is out for the PPA.  It reminds me though that at anytime, the journey can get diverted.
• Pearl Street Mile appears to have been pretty good last night.  I wonder how many towns could assemble a mile that would have that many people go that quick, with probably twice as many on the side lines that could add to it.
• My SkullCandy headphone crapped out again.  Well, not totally.  Just like the last time, the jack at the connection to the ipod starts to fail and then the sound starts to crap out (1 ear with one stride, the other with the next).  Seems like I can get four months out of these buggers (as that is how long the last set survived too)... although that might actually be less since I was not running as much in April and May.  These fit wonderfully in my ears ... they just don't hold up well at that connection point.  I bought another set today.  I'd buy something else if I knew the same thing would not happen to them but I can't guarantee that.
• I have an 8GB IPOD nano.  It was one of those first 8GB flash ones that came out, so it does not have the fancy touch screen and it is not one of the so called "fat nano's.'  I have had a clip case for this that is made out of leather for about 2 years.  Needless to say, my sweat, the exposure of this thing to the elements has worn it down.  Being cheap, I have kept this thing tacked together with fabric band-aides for about the last year, but even those are starting to only hold on to sinewy strings.  So, I am breaking down and getting ready to replace this case but I can't seem to find a case that fits it and also has a clip so I can wear it on my waist (and no, I have not looked real hard).  Every thing either fits the next gen nano or does not have a clip. ... and yes, it is revealing how wonderful my life is that earbuds and ipod cases are what I write at length about.
• This read reminded me of something that happened on Grays and Torreys last week.  As we were coming of Torreys, we were running down through people who were hiking up.  A woman looked at us and I heard her say disdainfully, "oh, that is sooo bad for your knees."  I responded as we made our way down through the talus "no, it really is not."  She shot back, a bit angrily "YES, yes it is."  So of course I shouted back "No it isnt."  I am sure she said "is too" after this but I was out of ear shot and laughing at this point.  Of course, we had decided to start running down just before that point because someone had decided to start smoking on the summit of Torreys ... at 14000 plus feet ASL.

Thursday 073108, Flagstaff

Last day in July.  95 plus again.  I wanted to get a race in today, but as the only show in town was a mile on the road, I decided to get in a workout that would provide a little test ... the Flagstaff trail.

Parked at Chautauqua, did a 10 minute warmup around the meadow and landed myself at the trail opening at the base of the Gregory Canyon Road.  What can I say?  It was hard.  It hurt.  It was hot.  18:05.  I had hoped for a sub 18.  My best on this is about 17:40 from about two years ago, shortly before Imogene that year.  My next was 17:50 (actually about a week before that), and I think I went 17:59 once before the '06 Ascent in one of those Bill Wright insane things where bikers race on the road against the runners on the trail.  So, this might be my fourth best.  Again, close.  Damn good start to the workout.  I think the diff b/w now and then is the little more speed I had on the flatter sections back then.

Of course JV has broken 17 minutes. 

Okay, I then jogged over the south west side of Flagstaff over to the Ranger Cottage (~8:50), then ran hard down Gregory Canyon to Chautauqua (~13:05), got some water at the car, jogged up the Mesa to the Bluebell shelter and did four of the hill repeats (50 seconds or so).  Jogged back over the top of the meadow and back to wrap it up in 76 minutes total.

The eleventh hour option

Who, if anyone, will leverage this option in the next 14 days?

I got to ask as I keeping hearing songs of certain folks coming out of their secret training ... I really have no idea if it is true or not.  It would be absolutely epic.

Thursday 073008

AM - easy 40 min on Lake link trail.

Apparently the BRR track meet is postponed this week because it is the same night as the Pearl Street Mile.  Since I will not race the PSM, I will look to do some hard as an alternative.  I am currently toying with doing a hard tempo up Flagstaff, or the Elliott Stair repeats, or maybe even Lindens that evening to get a read as to where I am.

PM  - 40 minutes.  High 90s at the start of this run (web site said 99) but it was a dry heat (11% humidity).  I loved it.  Felt great.  Running on the old sea beds out in Westminster with the prairie dogs and the tumbleweeds, listening to Zep ...Kashmir. 

Added a poll to the blog to get your feedback on whether I should Double or "just" Marathon.  Today was a Double day.

The lack of decision here is because of conflicting interests that have a common thread ... the common thread is to do something I have never done before.  If I just do the marathon it is to do something I have never done before - run it faster than I have (okay that is only once, but still it is the goal).  That realization of that goal is significantly compromised because of the training I have done.  Alternatively, the Double is something I have never done either and it is rather epic to do such a thing.  But to do that means I will probably have unfinished business with the marathon. 

Tuesday 072908, More predictions, to double or not, easy miles

AM - easy half an hour.  While we are reaching our 18th day in the Denver metro area of 90+ degrees (which would probably be considered a cold snap in some parts of the country), it is clear to me that the days are growing cooler - as they grow shorter.  The AMs are now in the 50s rather than the 60s.  This morning's jog, and it was a jog, was pleasant and a nice shake out of the legs.  Lucy joined me for a few laps around the park as I threw the Frisbee for her.

PM - easy half an hour on the mill at 15%.  I felt really good today and had a temptation to pick it up.  I did not.

Excellent write up by Justin on who is in the PPM for Men.  He picks his top ten as:

1 - Matt Carpenter
2 - Daryn Parker
3 - Dave Mackey
4 - Bernie Boettcher
5 - Simon Booth
6 - Bryan Dayton
7 - Chuck Engle
8 - Greg Feucht
9 - Erin Hutchinson
10 - Mike Smiley

Compare that to my picks from yesterday ... we match up pretty well.

1.) Carpenter
2.) Parker
3.) Mackey 
4.) Boettcher 
5.) Dayton
6.) Booth  
7.) Feucht 
8.)  Hutchinson
9.)  Smiley 
10.) Mock

Also watch , Heald (Doubler?), Bieger, Hibbard, and Zack (Doubler), Engle, Koski, Voelkel

Heald has decided he is only doing the marathon - and is not Doubling.  I'd love to see Alan Culpepper come out and do this race though. 

I had a good IM session with TG today ... some highlights ...

• Taper thoughts at this point.  85% of volume (or about 8.5 hours) this week, 70 percent next week (7 hours) and 50 percent the last week (but over 4 or 5 days rather than the full week since the weekend is dedicated to racing).  No more back to back hard days, but will maintain intensity on hard days, will still look to get high and still have a long run on the weekend over the next two weeks.
• I had thought about doing the Eldo 4 miler, but it is not until the Thursday before the race weekend so that is out.  I am currently eyeballing some options at the local BRR track meet this Thursday night, with leaning on the 10K.  Not sure what to expect or to set for expectations ... if I do it, I'd race off of sensory data and feel.  Could provide good feedback as to where I am.
• TG asked me today what the fastest downhill was at Pikes ... it appears to be MC's descent in 93 when he set the course record.  He rephrased the question and asked if anyone ever ran faster than that 75:33 just by driving to the top and drilling on down.  I posted this question on the PPMB and got a good response from Matt.
• For the last couple of days I have had my head wrapped more around doing the Double than the Marathon.  That can change, but assuming that path, it raises the question as to how I approach each.  I need to sort that out a bit but I got this advice from someone (see if you can figure out who) ...

  I remember I tried not to expend myself the first day, and just hung on for the second day.  Force yourself to start extra slow in both races, and build speed if you can.  And if you can't, you'll be really happy you started slow! Food is huge!  Start hydrating at least three days before the race.  And eat a big variety of fruits and vegetables and carbs to get all the fuel you'll need.  And then start eating and drinking again within 15 minutes of finishing the first race.  I feel it's crucial!

  Generally, I think a Double approach would be to hold back a couple of notches in the Ascent ... well, at least until treeline.  :)

• Of course, there is the question still as to what I will do.  That is still to be sorted out.  Justin has made the case that I ought to just throw down and do the marathon to see what I can do.  There is of course that element - the pure competition of the marathon alone.  There is also the draw of the absolutely ridiculousness of the Double ... and how that may be a stepping stone to bigger things.