Thursday 051409

• Deep sleep last night.  In bed at 8, lights out by 830 and slept until 6.
  
• Mid day, warm ... 3.5 miles out, 3 miles tempo (6:17, 6:06, 5:53 - 18:16) ... felt good in the lungs, a touch tired in the legs.  Figured if I felt good all around I'd extend it to four.  Pulled the plug to be conservative with a race this Saturday.  Finished out run for 8 in 56.

Wednesday 051309

• Yesterday was one of those days, post workout, where the body was just buzzing positively.  It is one of those feeling post workout where you feel that you accomplished something, did not absolutely wring the sponge dry (in other words, not go over the top and hence are a ball of wiggling flesh on the couch for the rest of the day … but instead can still function), and you can almost feel the new capillaries growing in your earlobes.  It is a good feeling.  You can feel the fitness coming, the progression happening.  I wonder if days like this ever go away with age.
• I was tempted to run again later in the day but instead enjoyed the cool-ness of the evening watching my son’s baseball practice (the one kid who kept punching himself in the crotch because he had a new cup was hilarious).   It was an obvious choice.
• This AM, I got out for a 20 minute bike ride with Hans.  I could do a whole blog on Hans.  Hans is a mutant dog.  I have never seen a dog who could run so far, so long, so fast.  Hans is to dogs what Matt Carpenter is to humans.  I have seen Hans run at full tilt at altitude for hours - doing easily 5x the distance I am doing with all his bounding about.   And he just does not seem to get tired.   I have seen Hans catch a bird while it was in flight.   I saw him capture a marmot at altitude that was nearly the size of him.  He ran with it until I was able to force him to drop it (don't ask how - separate post altogether).  I have been on an ATV at altitude doing in excess of 35 mph and he is running with me trying to beat me.   I saw him stare down a moose once too.  No joke ... If Hans has a weakness, it is his inability to STOP.  He'd be a lousy football player - he can't cut for crap.  Lucy can't run nearly as fast as him but she just out cuts him, or stops.  I run with him in the mountains off leash but when he stays with us down here (he is my in-laws dog), I need to leash him.  This would mean I am either going to die as he drags me down the road on a leash or that I need to bike him.  By biking him, I am putting myself at risk.  I am on the bike, he is attached to me via a leash.  Heaven forbid he sees a prairie dog or a bird.  I need to quickly drop the leash if I expect to not spill the bike in those circumstances.    I use a tone collar to help control him in these circumstances.  He is an amazing dog - just a lot of work.
• AM - post the death ride with Hans, I did a mile with Lucy with the frisbee and then tacked on two more.  25 minutes.   Just a little shake out with the legs.  Felt good.
• PM – 9+ miles, 67 minutes.  10 strides in the middle of this at 30 sec + each.
• I need to recalc my numbers from yesterday.  I did it yesterday by measuring out the mile splits up the canyon -  but the overall split adds to 43:03.

Tuesday 051209

Met up with Brandon and did Flagstaff Road.  I did this a few weeks ago and wanted to get another run on it to see how things were progressing, and to continue to get road work at grade to prepare for Mount Washington.  I did not feel so hot at the start, and thought that perhaps I had not truly recovered from my Sunday night escapade on the mill.   In any case, the effort is an effort … just a grind and not really drilling.  Here is a comparison of the two runs and the mile splits from the base of Gregory.

9:14	8:44
9:23	8:30
9:20	9:02
11:24	11:12
5:41	4:30

So! 

That is a pretty good improvement!  45:02 versus 41:58 (I am going to double check the data when I get home tonight). Still want to get this bugger under 40 and that will come soon enough.   Some of  this improvement is familiarity with th

e run, some is getting back some fitness post the Achilles, and some is probably a bit more focus on improving on this course itself.  I could feel that the more shallow areas were places where I could stage little recoveries and then get the pace moving again.  I still struggle above the 3 mile mark on this run – the course pitches up much higher and it comes at a time deep in the workout.  It is just a grind.  Grind, grind grind. Jogged back down to Brandon, then back up with him. We then jogged back down around 7 minute pace.  It was good to meet the guy (I had never run with him before this).  Saw all sorts of folks absorbing the gorgeous day out there. Brandon’s write up from the run on his blog … 12 miles with 2500+ of elevation gain, 1:42.   Post of the day … 

                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Monday 051109

• Slept horribly last night.  I think when I run right before I go to bed, I am set up a bit for disaster – at least in terms of solid sleep.  I am just too amped.  I feel pretty good about last night’s workout though.  I am hoping that 10 on a mill at .5% grade at six minute pace means I can hold six miles for that pace on the roads. 
• Definitely felt last night’s work this AM which reminded me of basic “hard – easy” concepts.  I went pretty easy on ,Friday and Saturday and so was well geared to get after it last night.  Of course, now I am worked a bit and need to recover.  What is interesting in this mix is that there are some workouts that may not appear to be easy – but they are.  For example, climbing Green at a very casual pace, even though close to 2500’ of climbing can be very much a recovery run.  Running it hard down hill however can make that a VERY hard workout in 25 minutes.  I find that some easy climbs are good ways to recover.  Also, runs that are VERY easy with SOME strides can be both good recovery and beneficial.  Most mill runs allow me to recover as well (but not last night).
• Easy today:  7 miles, 55 minutes.  Hope to get after Flagstaff Road tomorrow with hope of some improvement from two weeks ago.
  

Week in review, ending 051009

• Week , month, year stats …
  • M –  10 miles, 74 min
  • T  - 10 miles, 75 min – with 5 x 3 min Simms hills
  • w – Mesa 10 miles, 99 min
  • Th – 11 miles, 80 min, with tempo in middle (~37 min)
  • F- 2 miles easy, 18 min; 9 miles, 65 min
  • S – 7 on mill, 60 min, with grade; 2 miles easy in PM 16 min
  • S – 10 on mill, 60 min
  • 537 minutes of running.  71 miles on week over 9 runs.  , 103 May  miles, 808 minutes,Year 1168 miles, 9573 minutes
  • Week was a bit lighter on volume than I wanted … but the weekend was filled with other life  - as a result I did not get to the mountains or to the long run.  No problem.   Got in some good climbing on the Mesa on Wed, and some on the mill Saturday morning.  Intervals on hills on Tuesday, and a flat tempo on Sunday.  I am probably avoiding the flat intervals – and that is reflective of what I need to get a bit of work on.  Heck, I need work on everything but that is the fun of it.  Still have some remnants of the cold (I feel like I am one BIG cough away) but the Achilles thing seems to have fully cleared now.

Sunday 051009

Very busy day with lots of stuff with the family.  And we all slept in – I don’t think I was up until nearly 8.  Did not get on the mill until late (8PM +).  Started unsure of what I was going to do but I knew I wanted to roll a bit. I had told TZ I would only be running for an hour so I wanted to stick to that.   First mile was 7 flat and so I started playing with the pace.  At 3 miles (19:26) decided to chase the six minute per mile mark.  I got there just post 8 miles (it was 7.99 in 48 min), and then decided it had to be 10.1 – just to be sure.  Came up just a touch shy of 10.1 at the hour (all at 0.5%).  Again – it is a treadmill!  Week in review will get posted later – it was a good week – a bit lighter than I’d like over the weekend but life called. 

Saturday 050909

AM – early.  Busy day on tap for a bunch of reasons.  On the mill.  7 miles, 1 hour.  Miles at 6%, 4%, 2%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%.  Started easy (10 min pace) and play with various paces from there.  After the run, headed over the Flatout 5K and helped at the finish line with timing (got a volunteer entry to the BB for this).  It was good to see some folks like Matt H, and Ernie P.  Matt H ran a 16:01 in the 2nd wave of the race.  Ewen N ran a 16:03.  Both of these guys did this completely solo – which makes their times all the more impressive.  Too bad they could not duke it out head to head.  In the PM, I got in 2+  miles (16 min) as KZ and a soccer buddy of her’s rode bikes from our house to her buddy’s house.  Rode the bike home.

Friday 050809

Recovery day.  Feeling it a bit today – that is the workouts from the last few days:  good climb on Sunday, hill repeats on Tuesday, good climbing on Wednesday, tempo yesterday.  AM – easy with the dogs, 2 miles – 18 minutes.  PM – 9 miles with strides interspersed – 20-40 seconds, plenty of rest between – sub six pace to near five pace.  65 minutes.

Thursday 050709

• I felt fine post my run yesterday.  About an hour afterwards, I was sitting in a meeting and just fell apart.  Dizzy, stomach sour, pale, sweating and feeling very weak.  I excused myself from the meeting, gathered myself for about 25 minutes and then made the ride home.I laid down for a bit, got some more fluids, and then got down some yogurt – and was fine.  For one hour I was a wreck.  And then t otally fine.  I find it hard to believe this was caused from my run, because I felt fine after my run , ate and drank after my run as well.  So what gives?  Some quick bug?  Not going to “sweat” it too much but given the experience reminded me a bit of my collapse post the 07 marathon, I will give it a touch of thought.  I am wondering if I get some odd chemistry out of whack on occasion that causes this.
• I have been enjoying Justin's posts on his progression through running.  Magill has a great post today on what he hates about running.  Good stuff.  Helluva lot better than training log blogs.  I thought about doing a similar set of posts to Justin on my running at some point.  Mine is a lot more glamorous though ... late nights running through corn fields, conference meets under the lights, college years of playing ultimate rather than running competitively ... true barn burner stuff.

  There have been some questions about the length of my racing shorts.  Here is a shot of typical gear … I go pretty short.  It is just a  left over from what I grew up with.  When I was running in HS, Larry Bird (by the way, I love his multiple socks per foot too) and Magic Johnson were playing basketball with shorts of this length too.    We raced in shorts like that (and yeah, they were cotton and it hurt on the long runs).  It is a lot more about function than fashion.  That said, I know it freaks folks out – particularly my 11 year old daughter when she sees me running around the neighborhood in these shorts without a shirt either.   I ain’t running in a speedo, but it ain’t far off.  It has also been suggested that I shave my chest and legs … (one quote was “I don’t want to know the color of your pubes.”)  Again, that seems to be a bit generational to me.  If you were born before 1970, it seems you don’t shave and you go with the Selleck look.  Post that, then it seems you shave a lot. 

• Afternoon – warm, breezy.  Hit the Lake Link Trail.  Out and back twice, first was the warm up, last was the cool down, did a tempo in between, picking it up ala out and back on the second half (19:32, 18:15 on second lap).  It was not super fast, but it was work.   11 miles, 80 minutes.   

Wednesday 050609

• Slept in again this morning.  When I saw how beautiful it was when I woke (7AM, bedtime before 9!) I felt a touch guilty.  It was absolutely gorgeous out there.  I need to get into a morning routine here shortly … just for the life of it.
• Someone I went to high school with recently posted a picture of me on Facebook.  I eyeballed it, and made note that I thought I looked about the same.  Okay, sure – to the more casual observer, I might look a helluva lot different.  From my perspective there was less hair on my head (n ow shaved), more on my chest – but otherwise it was about the same.  I don’t think I am the only one that clicks on a picture of a someone you have not seen in 15-20 years and then think, “whoa, who the hell is that?”  Admittedly, about half the folks look much like they did in HS, but the other half … well, let’s say they were shadows of what they are now.  And hey – that is their gig, and this is mine.  I feel pretty lucky that I get to continue to pursue a life where I get to play in the mountains, running (or walking) to summits … I realize that my ego drives my choices and it is not appropriate for me to judge the choices of anyone else – so I debate if I should post this as I am not sure I can convey that well in writing.  In any case, the person who posted this photo noted they did not know I was such a “fitness buff.”  That term got stuck in my ego ridden craw.  I know that I end up with a lot (too much) of my self identity as a runner, but fitness buff does not seem to fit.  It seemed to imply that I pursue all this for the sake of fitness.  There is certainly some truth in that but I think it is also because of the journey – being out there, being alive, on a trail, seeing stuff, smelling the pines … hopefully we don’t just have to be fitness buffs to get that.
• Mesa Trail, 10 miles, 99 minutes, 2800+ of climbing.  Pace was all over the place … from 15-20 minutes a mile on some of the climbs to under six on some of the descents..

Tuesday 050509

• Around 9PM, I have aspirations to get up at 0530 the next AM, and bang out four to seven miles.  But then I sleep.  Sleep is a good thing – right?  I have been sleeping hard as of late:  hitting the rack at 2100, reading for about 20-30 minutes, lights out at 2130 and then not waking until 0630 or 0700.  In years past, I have needed only about 8 hours … the body has been calling for closer to nine.  Heck I think I’d go for ten but I wake up because I need to pee.  In any case, I am going to have to get up early one of these days this week to get the obligatory run up Flag road in.
• Forgot to mention I got the brew bottled last night.
• Got out mid day with Phil.  After a short warm up, we did 5 x 3 minutes on Simms hill.  These were each a touch over 4/10's of a mile (~.42-3), gaining approximately 150 feet of vert on each (so about 6 or 7% grade).  Not Lindens ... but did the trick in a pinch – and again, trying to establish the habits.  Added on afterwards to make it 10, in about 75 minutes.  Still hacking, clearing, snotting …
  

Monday 050409

10 miles, 74 minutes.  Started at 8s and the pace comfortably built through out as the legs opened up.  Got a fair ten mile loop from the house figured out. Cough is clearing.  Just have that annoying hack to clear the last of the crud out.

Week, month roll up

 

• Week , month, year stats …
• M – 5 mill (35m), 8 mill, with 5m tempo (51m)
• T  - 5 miles (40m), 3 miles (27m)
• w –Flagstaff – 10miles, (49m up, 34 down), 3 miles (26m)
• Th – SoBo – 7(-) miles, (104m)
• F- 9+ (72m)
• S – 10+, (80m), with 6x200, 8x100, 6x200
• S – 13 on mill, (119 m), good climbing
• 637 minutes of running.   73 miles on week over 10 runs.  April - 286 miles, 2013 minutes, May 32 miles, 271 minutes,Year 1097 miles, 9036 minutes
• The cold threw me this week some but I felt that I was, again, getting back into the swing of things.  I felt good about the runs towards the weekend particularly – getting to the track and doing a decent climb on the mill on Sunday.  If I can get into that sort of swing of mixing speed, climbing, then things will line up well.  It was good to get out to Flag and SoBo (and with last Sunday on Green too) – so capturing the spring thing a little.  The cold is shaking out so it should get a bit more “fun” here shortly.    I’d like to think that I could pop a decent BB, but holding sixes is a stretch goal right now.  Just got to ride the wave for as long and as hard as I can.
• Looks like there is still quite a bit of snow on the Peak.
• Barr Mountain Trail Race sign up starts tonight … or tomorrow AM depending on how you look at it.

Sunday 050309

Treadmill.  Started at 7% grade and upped the grade a percent every mile until I got to 15% – so through 9 miles.  Never ran “over the top” but had a good sweat going.  Five miles was at 46 minutes, but things got slower at the higher grades, so the next four were at 45 minutes.  Finished off with four miles flat (0.5% grade).  Felt good.  Still hacking but it is definitely clearing.  13 miles, 1:59.

Saturday 050209

Still hacking.  Head still feels like it is in a vise.  Mile warm up with Lucy, then did some strides with JZ.  He and I start at the same point but he is on the bike, so I get the jump on him – but he eventually catches me.  After he had enough of this I jogged over to Broomfield HS track and did 6 x 200 at “mile pace” (36-37), with 200 jog, 8 x 100 (untimed) with 200 jog, and the 6 x 200 at “5K pace” (38-39 … so wishful thinking there right now).  Jogs were total recovery, 9-10 m/m pace.  10 miles +, 80 min.  Goal here was to get some turn over.  I need to be getting into the “habits” … the last couple of weeks the only habit has been running … I need to get into the routine habits.

Friday 050109

• I woke up feeling a bit sorry for myself.  Which is really useless.  I have been a little pissed that for the last 8 weeks it seems that I am dealing with some crap:  Achilles injury, feet hamburgered because of blisters, this damn cold / hack that I cannot seem to shake, etc.  Whatever.  It is a useless frame of mind.  No good comes of it other than realizing that no good comes of it.  Instead, just keep at it.  I had this exchange with someone the other day:  they told me how each year they do Sanitas the ratio of hiking to running gets a little more towards the hiking and a little less to the running.  My retort was that you could reverse that ratio if you wanted.  Their response was that might be true, but only for relatively short periods of time.  Which of course is true.  But what good is that mindset?  Screw it.  Ride the wheels off this thing.  Get up, dust yourself off and go again.  And again.  I mean, what the hell do I have to complain about?  My running?  How minor is that in light of a million other things?
• I had this crazy thought the other day that I would run one of the Pikes Peak races for the rest of my life, for as long as I was able.  I am not big on these sort of goals, because you never really know what life is going to deal you, and heck, I might just walk away from running someday.  But just having this sort of thought reflects an attitude that I seem to have about athletics:  participate.  Accept the result, enjoy the journey, understand that you are not elite, smile …  There is nothing wrong with that sort of attitude – in fact, if more Americans had it, we’d probably have a lot less health issues in our country.  There are, however many that struggle with this framework.  They aspire to be better.  Sure, participants can aspire to be better as well, but these folks won’t participate unless they can be competitive  I have seen plenty of people on the side line who could toe the starting line – but they won’t because they can’t be competitive.  Just because they could finish the Pikes Peak Marathon does not mean they will.  Finishing it in 5 hours, even though they could, is not for them.  Nope – they need to be fighting for the win or they rather watch.  This is not a black or white stance … we all deal with it, and at some point we may struggle to understand those who walk away from competition – particularly when they can perform at a higher level than ourselves.  I remember not doing Bolder Boulder one year because I felt there was no way I’d break 35 minutes.  Folks I work with were left scratching there heads as to why I would not do the race – particularly since I said I was not ready.  Bryan Sell has recently announced he is probably done with marathon competition, coming off a disappointing Boston of 2:16.  2:16.    Yeah, that sucks, huh?  It is all relative of course.   There is not a right or wrong stance on this spectrum of participant to competitor … just curious introspection here as to where I stand on a day to day basis.  How about you?
• Started a run in the PM and felt the cold crud still.  Things loosened up through the run though and I was feeling pretty decent by the finish.  I still have the hack, but its getting better.  9+ miles, 73 min.  Easy running to start in the Westminster Hills and trails, but on occasion the pace opened up … but a bit more effortlessly.

Thursday 043009

Someone looks like they are getting fit

.  Still fighting this cold.  My sweat tastes funny and I feel slimy. Met JV for a jaunt up SoBo.  Kicked my ass.  RT was 1:44 with the up in just under 60.  Feeling pretty beat right now …

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 042909

• AM - Flagstaff Mountain Road. Still felt like crap from the cold, lots of coughing, green crap and like my head was going to explode so I ran the thing "easy" to get in the habit and to get some familiarity with this. Will look to do this with some regularity over the next few weeks as I get ready for Sunshine Canyon and Mount Washington. Up from Ranger Cottage, 49 minutes - but I slowed significantly above the turn off to Flagstaff Summit. Down easy in 34. 10 miles, 83 minutes. Splits ... just as a baseline: From Ranger Cottage to Greg Bridge 4:53, mile 1 (note, the mile markers I think are actually from the Chautuauqua entrance, not the base of the canyon at the bridge ... so these are mile splits from the base of Gregory, not the markers): 9:14, mile 2: 9:23, mile 3: 9:20, mile 4: 11:24, mile 5 (which was short of a mile, to the sign at the top of Flagstaff road): 5:41. Down, 6:58, 6:45, 6:53, 6:53, 6:58.
• PM  - easy jogging while JZ played soccer.  Ran with Lucy.  3 miles, 26 min.

Tuesday 042809

• Got some great recon visual on Mount Washington coming up.  I am pretty convinced that the guy in the blue in the early parts of the first video is Andy Ames.  This road looks pretty unrelenting. 
• Cold had me feeling pretty lousy.  I was also feeling a bit worked from yesterday's workout - and interestingly a bit sore in the left Achilles.  This tells me that some of the harder or faster work that I do on a treadmill could be a bit of an antagonist to that area.  I am wondering if the fact that the mill moves me at a rate / pace bit faster than what I would sustain outdoors is a bit over-taxing for what my connective tissue is ready for.  In other words, I might be ready for it muscularly on a treadmill, and maybe even cardiovascular-ly - but because I am taking advantage of a "road moving beneath my feet" I am actually moving faster than I could propel myself on real roads (and hence my long time take that I can run faster on a mill than outdoors) - and an outcome stress is that I put my connective tissue at risk of injury.  Or that could be total crap.  Yesterday I did a few strides at the end of the tempo run at slightly faster than five minute pace.  At the time, they did not feel like a big deal.   But I felt it this AM for sure.  Maybe it was the combination of the tempo and the strides.  And the mill.  And the stars in the constellation of Vega.
• But I was a bit tired too.  So I went easy.  5 miles.  40 minutes.  First mile was like 9+.
• Not sure how the heck I missed this ...

Evening ... felt like crap 'cuz of the cold.  Jogged a bit with Lucy, did drills (knee lifts, side cross overs, butt kicks) ... hoping to sweat this out.  I might have a fever too.  Yeah - swine flu baby.  3 miles, 27 minutes.

Monday 042709

• Colorado late April morning ... 
• So the plans to hit the roads in the AM were put on hold and I ran on the mill, while watching the snow from an open garage door.  5 miles, 35 min, AvHR = 146.  Carrying a lot of snot.
• PM - mill.  Mile warm up (started at 8 m/m, did the mile in about 7:40), then tempo for five miles, all at 6 min/mile or better - 29 minutes.  Then two miles as a cool down.  8 total, 51 minutes.  Cold is in the chest now.
• Snow has disappeared 12 hours later ...  seriously ... this is the same day in my backyard.