Wednesday 071713

America’s last great mountain race.  Don’t worry … there are other races that are very bad ass.

AM – 6.2

Former team mate at Fleet Feet, fellow employee at the same company as me, and overall fast old guy Ken Pliska is opening up a running store in Golden.

Picture from the Gazette from BTMR.

He is a great guy but I need to take the opportunity to point out what happens when you run next to young people without a shirt, in compression socks, and a HRM when you are a middle aged man.  It makes them cry.

Good ET podcast.

Evening – post dinner (ugh), easy 4.3 miles.   One more BTMR shot – this was just above No Name and was taken by Bethany Garner.

Tuesday 071613

AM – Vancouver.  I got impatient waiting for the GPS to dial satellites in so I just headed out for 18 minutes and then came back.  I had 2.35 miles for the return so 4.7 miles easy.   AHR was 146, max was 150 and was floating at 7:30 pace.  Arms are still a touch sore (inside of elbow) and there is a bit of left over stuff up in my glutes but everything is clearing out okay.  Oh yeah … FLAT.  12 feet of climb over the run.  That might be the curbs.

5 weeks until race day.  This week will be a bit different as I am at sea level, traveling and recovering from BTMR.  Totally confident in the direction of my fitness with Lucho’s guidance and oversight.  Increasingly the focus needs to be split between recovery and key workouts.

Apparently the PAC 12 XC championships will be at the Coal Creek Golf Course this fall (November 2).  When asked why it was not a Buff Ranch, Wetmore states that it would “be too difficult” for the other schools (about 3 minutes in).   A Wetmore interview never fails to disappoint as his subtle but biting quips entertain.

Evening – 5 miles along the water.

Monday 071513

Good article on Canova compared to Lydiard.

Slept meh last night.  Not surprising.  Woke up and had the typical residual arm soreness that no races other than Pikes seem to give me.

So in 2013, we have a handle on the PED problem in athletics when 80 percent of the fastest sprinters ever have been busted for them?  Of course, the fans of athletics and cycling will cry that they get the dirty sport moniker because the big sports don’t test like they do.  If you ain’t questioning Bolt at this point, you have your head in the sand.

6.8 miles easy – just working out the kinks from yesterday.  Not a lot of soreness, but some from the pounding. 

David R’s race report from yesterday … entertaining as you’d expect.

Oh, despite what is said in this video, not all of the top ten came away bloodied.

One of those travel days … supposed to get to Vancouver via SLC today.  I typically fly Delta and got notice that I got the complimentary bump upgrade to first class.  Nice.  Weather blew into DIA however, and the inbound plane was circling – and then needed to divert to Cheyenne.  So a delay, and longer than my connection in SLC.  Delta sent me to United (with whom I have no significant status) and I am off to a center seat near the can.  Ah well.

This is pretty funny.  And good.

Almost split heaven from the BTMR from yesterday.  Fifth fastest down out there yesterday (again, I think showing some of the field thin-ness).  I also think that some of the younger guys tend to cruise the drop.  I don’t say that with any negative judgment really but I saw it yesterday.  The guy who finished just a bit ahead of me was just jogging until he saw me just above No Name.  He put the burners on just enough to keep me at bay.  I also noticed some of the guys coming down before me seemed pretty casual (although not the first leaders).  That said, the 16 year old kid seemed to push it. 

BTMR 2013 071413

Short – felt cruddy, ground on through well however for an improvement over 2011 at 1:53, 10th overall, 1st Master.  Happy on the day despite the challenges.

Long - I stayed at JT’s house last night with Kircher, and Anna (fresh off Western, heading into VT as part of the GS) and Dan.  I got a decent night of sleep, but with some odd dreams (probably from all those growlers at JT/$100 place).

I was up relatively early and out the door to the race by 5:30.  I did some preliminary catching up with David R, Jon O of the CRC, and Craig.  I caught about a mile of warm up over the first half mile of the course – thinking how lousy I felt, but with that first climb up Ruxton, you never feel great.  At the last minute, given the temps, I did the old man move and ditched the shirt.

At the line I yapped a bit with Bill W and then we were off.  I kept to my mantra of “relax” but the W’s are punishing – it seems no matter how easy you go they are kicking you in the teeth.  I fell in ranks behind some guy that smelled really bad, and not far behind eventual women’s winner Laura Haefli.  Up ahead I could see Kircher and Dan quickly making ground.

The W’s remain a test for me – finding the gear that you can manage that is not putting you over the red.  I am not sure how I did today, as some of the competition rolled me up later on the climb to Barr Camp, but I was also picking off others (all younger) that had gone out too fast.  Brett Wilson caught me just before the aid station, and I was a bit discouraged by that – but he was climbing well.  Nonetheless, I managed to keep him in sight.

I found my stomach to be not feeling great – I was dealing with some stitch issues, and I felt a bit bloated (more on this later).  With Brett passing, and seeing Laura incrementally inch away, some self doubt crept in.  It took a bit of self talk to manage through that, but even with that, I am sure the negative tones had some impact.  I just kept the grind going. 

Just before No Name, Brad P came by hard – so hard I was a bit surprised.  He was really rolling the flatter stuff and on the steep stuff he was hiking really well.  While I had rolled up some folks, two guys in the Masters division had just left me behind on the climb – either on the steeper Ws or on the rollers to Barr.  Nice wake up call!  But interestingly, I caught Brett at No Name and put a touch of distance on him.

But they were never too far ahead.  A run to Barr Camp lets that happen.  Things get different beyond the camp, and certainly more so above the A frame.  I could see Brett, Brad and Laura all trading places as the terrain changed, and with that some times I came a bit closer, and at other times they pulled farther away.

Shortly past the bridge to Lightning Creek, men’s winner Alex Nichols came barreling past.  15 seconds after that came David R.  It was interesting to see David that focused.  Every other time I have talked to him, he is light, happy, and so complementary.   I had never seen him race and to see the blaze in his eyes was nice to catch.

Just below Barr Camp I had those thoughts of - “how the hell am I supposed to do double this in a month?”  Pretty much every time I do the BTMR, I wonder – how am I supposed to continue past Barr Camp for another six miles and 3900 feet of climb?    It seems impossible as in the BTMR all I can think about is surviving to Barr Camp itself.

The gap between Laura and I began to close and I wondered if I’d get her before Barr.  Brad was just ahead of her.  We came into the camp all within 30 seconds of each other with me bringing up the rear.  Now with the down at hand, I decided to press a bit to see if I could put some of this to rest. 

And then I barfed.  I ended up barfing up coffee three times on the way down.  Nothing violent but just a bit more than a mouthful emptying the stomach some.  I sort of welcomed this as it brought me some relief, but it reflected how crappy my stomach was doing. 

Within a couple of minutes I rolled up Laura and Brad, and of course, once you pass someone, you press the gas a bit to put up some distance.  I periodically found myself falling asleep at the wheel on the down (particularly the risers back) and I tried to wake up and get some drive going.

I spotted another runner just before Bob’s, and that gave me a target.  I caught him just below it, and then I saw another runner and started pushing for him.  This guy however got an eyeball on me, and it was clear that while he was not having his greatest race, he was not looking to get rolled up by a hairy grey chest.  He hit the gas at a level that perhaps I could once easily match, but not in this decade.

I kept the “run scared” push going to the W’s, expecting Kircher to show up (I caught him in the Ws but thought he’d bomb the down), or Brad.  My legs felt pretty heavy, and I could feel the very early onset of possible cramps (uh oh).   Coming through the Ws aid station I could hear the station light up less than 10 seconds after me.  Someone was coming on me pretty hard.  In a switch back I looked up and could see a younger shirtless guy coming on strong.  I figured it was a done deal, but making him fight for it kept me motivated.  As it turned out, I was able to put a bit of gap on him once we got to the road (and out of the nastiness of the speed up speed down of the Ws). (pic from PikesPeakSPorts.us)

I finished 10th, 1:53:33 and first master.  A long stretch from my best (2008, 1:47:21), but better than 2 years ago (1:58).   Most of that better came on the down and the press that came from that.  All my splits over the years are over in this Google Doc sheet (the BTMR stuff is quite a ways to the right).  I fully expect to heavily geek out on that in the coming days.

 
(pic from PikesPeakSPorts.us)

Related, other thoughts.

=>David, in his first run on the Barr came in second.  He was leading for a bit but took a digger on the Ws in the switchbacks – most likely the outcome of being new to the course (where as it is Alex’s playground).  That dude is solid.  He hit 1:35.
=> David’s dog is more cute than what appears on FB.  Then again, him and Megan are more cute than how they appear on FB.
=> I did a bit of jogging back up the trail post the race to get a few more miles in.  Just after the Ws cutoff an old guy took a digger as he was coming down, maybe some 40 yards ahead of me.  It was BAD.  He cut his nose, forehead, chin, cheeks, arms, legs and there was suddenly blood all over the place.  I tried to help him to a rock (this in turn left blood all over me, my shoes, my number) but he quickly got up and continued to the finish.  He was a mess.  I jogged with him for a bit, and he seemed cogent.  Turns out he was the age group winner for 70 year olds. (pic from PikesPeakSPorts.us)

=> The race fell into about what I expected (maybe I should have had different expectations) in terms of time.  I did not think I was quite in the zip shape I was in 08, but I thought I was in better shape than 2011.  I never felt great, but I am glad that I did what I did given how I felt and with the sour stomach.
=> I got some compliments (and nice awards) for being top Master, and those are great. I also recognize that is much a factor as to who shows up … and who doesn’t (Carpenter, Boettcher, Mackey, Gutierrez, Romero).  I think it is completely fair to say that the depth of competition at the race this year was a bit light compared to many of the other years.  I have finished in past years six minutes faster and barely cracked the top twenty.  I think for BTMR this is because of coming out of the fire year, but also because big name might be holding back for Cranmore next week.
=> as I was coming down, some guy (that I am pretty sure I don’t know) yelled, “hey it is the blog guy.” 
=> It was interesting to see the strengths of some of the others guys in the Masters race … Brett is probably the best climber between himself, Brad and me.  Brad can roll the flatter stuff best right now and I nipped them on the down.  This should set up for an interesting PPM if we all make it to the line.  If I had to pick today, I’d give the nod to Brett – as there are six more miles for him to gap the rest of us.  But – that is why we run the race!
=> Wore the gloves but thankfully I did not fall. 
=> I did a warm down of 4 miles ish afterwards – VERY slow.  My legs were pretty well concrete, but I ended up with 17.8 and some 4500 feet of climb on the day.
=> No water or gels or anything during the race today.  My stomach just could not handle it.
=> Laura H’s win is probably the story of the day – winning out of the 45 age group and coming off a cracked rib this spring.  I felt a touch embarrassed to be Master’s winner next to her when her performance was nearly the same as mine – and she beat me to the Camp anyway.

=> I got a pick axe for the win.  I will get a picture up shortly.  I was pretty stoked to get this as it is a unique and cool award.
=> How bad ass is Senovio Torres?
=> Got to share some good conversation with Jeremy Bradford (a guy who won 7 100s last year), Bill W, Brad, Bethany, John G, Kircher, Craig, David, Amy P and Don S pre and post race and that is always fun.
=> 66.1 on the week (first week sub seventy in a few months), 9.5 hours, 6k of climb.
=> I hope the BTMR results DB gets updated.
=> The car ride back was probably almost as painful as the run.  Well, not really, but I thought I was gonna pop on that stretch of 25 for a bit.

All this said …much more to post on much in my head … but I am happy with today’s race.  I got a bit lucky with the placing but important to me is that I was having a tough day and was able to grind on through.  Toeing the line on the mountain is always humbling, but doing in it in the spirit of competition with the Pikes community – and sharing that is always invigorating.

 

Did I mention I got a freaking pick axe hammer? (pic from Pikespeaksports.us)

Saturday 071313

AM – 3.3 miles easy dog jog.

Mid day – 3.3 miles, some with KZ and then 4 x 1 minute strides on a nearby hill.  Easier on these strides than yesterday.

Legs feel okay, but could feel better.  Should be fine tomorrow.  Goal for tomorrow will be to start conservatively through the Ws and then see what I can do past that.  Of course I have said as much on this race and other Pikes climbs and I rarely have done that.

HR.  None of the podium finishers were under 40.  Six out of the top ten are old dogs.  I am sure that is partly because races like that draw people in that age group though.

First hour I am into of the latest TU is solid, with some great insights from Sir Nick on WS, and an interview with PPM favorite Alex Nichols

Friday 071213

Fairly glued to the HR feed.  No doubt that race captures the imagination …

 

In the MUT pro social media ‘osphere, we are often barraged with how awesome everything is.  A solid post that gives some different insight.

Interesting interactive map on wildfire trends over the years – and the correlation to average spring temps, and snow pack.  General trend – snow pack is down, temps are up and so fires are generally increasing. 

Afternoon … in the rain (nice).  6.3 miles.  Did 5 hill strides at the end (double tank hill).  Hill strides were solid, slight push, not all out.

Thursday 071113

Good luck to all Hardrockers, Silver Rush and BTMRs this weekend.  Be sure to channel your inner Chuck Norris.

To further inspire, a 1500 meter race from 1977 where they take it out in 56 (!) (and making it look like 80), and then Ovett has a kick that “tears the field asunder.”

Ovett’s move at 200 to go is sick.  Walker (sporting the Oceania jersey of all things) steps off the track about 3 seconds after it starts.  Wow.

Time to get a little rest in before this weekend’s race.  4.3 miles easy today.  95 degrees so I was curious as to how that would impact HR.  I did loops on the outside of the track.  The blue line is pace, the red is HR.  You can see how the pace slowed at the fix HR over the run as I “warmed up.”

Been eyeballing the Masters USATF results.  A 71 year old guy ran a 41 10k.  Dayum.  Sort of mind boggling to think in a dozen years I will be pressed to break 20 for a 5k.

Wednesday 071013

Warmed up three miles and I knew I wasn’t feeling great.  20 plus years and you can pretty much tell 99 percent of the time.  While I can feel this pretty early, the data also shows it.  When I am feeling pretty good a warm up will roll up to 7:30 pace.  Today was 8.  No biggie, but it is a bit of an indicator, omen to me.

There are some days where I decide to bag workouts when things start this way.  But today, I decided to press on anyway.  I did not feel great but I did not feel horrible.  Warmed up (3 miles) and then did a few 200m strides to dial in the pace for the mile repeats on tap.  The miles were not meant to be huge stretch miles, but just to get some turn over on the flat to mix it up from the hill work.

39, 42, 41, 39 (so these were all a bit quick, but not overly so)

The brain was not wanting to do this workout, but once I got rolling into it the topic was just a matter of knocking things down.  Physically, this was not a hugely taxing workout.  I think I just wanted to sleep in instead.

Tried to make these true miles by backing up the 9 meters from the four laps.  The third interval was a bit longer as I needed a bio break (and hence I started that one on the top of the straight versus the curve).  So 5:51, 5:52, 5:52, 5:50 with 2 minutes rest (except the third).

Then did 4 x 200 with a 200 walk in between each (36, 35, 35, 34).

Jogged a warm down to bring it in a 10.6 miles.

So, the good news is that I did what I was supposed to even when I felt like a piece of dead wood. 
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I hear this crud all the time.  I am sure I say about half of them all the time as well.  Literally.

I worked at the Daily Camera for a little over a year shortly after moving to Colorado. It was a wild place to work – downtown in Boulder, putting out 50000 units every night, keeping it all together from an IT side … and no lack of characters.   Recently I became aware of two deaths of people I worked with there.  One was a guy I worked with in the IT department (and then he later lived on my street when we lived in Erie) and the other was the editor over the sports department Dan Creedon.  RIP guys. 

Tuesday 070913

HR preview.  Anything can happen but I would give the nod to Grant given his record and course familiarity. 

Good read on cramping.

Long but interesting read on the body craze.

The BRR track meets get some press.

Another brewery coming to Broomstock.
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I was recently listening to IMTalk, a podcast that is about all things Ironman.  I have no desire to do an IM, but I am a bit of an arm chair fan of the sport and listening to this podcast is always a bit educational to me. 

In a recent episode, the two hosts were discussing last year’s Kona and briefly struggled to recall who took second in that race.  They knew that Pete Jacobs, won the race but had to stop to think who was second through fourth.  And these guys know the sport.

This got me thinking …most folks don’t remember most second places, or are at least challenged to do so.  I’d propose that some times we are even more likely to remember who took a lower place than 2nd.  Most track aficionados know Rudisha won the Olympic 800 in a world record time, but then beyond that … well, most would be more likely to recall that Osagie from GB took LAST (in a blazing 1:43.77)  I know there is an argument here about him being a Brit (and the Olympics were in London) and it is who you know and who you follow (we all k now Pre took fourth in Munich in 72).  There are of course exceptions, particularly when it is a battle between 1 and 2 (think Allen and Scott or training buds like Farrah and Rupp).

But at least as equally as often, second place is forgotten, lost in shadow of the champ.

On this front, with Rudisha injured, and maybe not even competing at Moscow, Ethopia’s Mohammed Aman is cleaning up in the Diamond League’s 800 circuit.  Aman is the only guy to have beaten Rudisha in the last few years.  But as most times he is second, he is often forgotten.  Had there been no Rudisha, we might be praising the half mile accomplishments of Mohammed.   Instead, he stays in the shadow of David R.

Okay – so a random set of thoughts there on second place … but it comes back to Pikes for me of course.   In the last few years that Carpenter won Pikes, who was often the runner up?  Do we remember? 

That title often went to Daryn Parker (second 2009, 10, and 11).  Daryn seemed to disappear quietly from the scene after 2011 race.  I think he and his wife were expecting a child that fall. 

In looking at the entry list for Pikes this year, last year’s runner up Nichols appears to be the cream of the crop right now.   But I think if Parker were there and on his game he’d be in it.  Or maybe he’d be looking at another second place.  But he probably is not even thinking about it.  

It looks like a 3:45 to 3:50 to win it from what I am seeing right now.   There is no Kilian or 3:30 something contender showing up.  There are no Carpenter’s this year to create big shadows right now.  Arguably, if Mackey returns to his 2007-8 form he could be in the hunt, but that is long time ago and the guy is an old man now.  It is also worth noting the competitive entry slots have not been published yet, so that could change. 

Oh yeah … second place at Kona last year was Andreas Raelert.

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Mid day 5.2 miles easy.

Evening – 4.4 miles

Monday 070813

Raising conscientious children is definitely not the most fun part of parenting.

The more I think about it, the more I am a bit less than pleased with yesterday’s run.  I need to move on of course, but it really should not have been as difficult as it was.  It is simple math:  on Saturday I did 13 miles with 3200 feet of climbing.  On Sunday doing another 1600 feet of climbing should have been no big deal.  A net sum of 4800 feet of climbing doesn’t even get me to the A-frame.  While it graws at me, I also need to realize that day is done and passed.  In past years, even ones with some modicum of success, I have not done back to back days where I went two and half hours plus at altitude.  Rather than looking at yesterday as a setback, I see it as another stepping stone up to better performance at Pikes.

It is a balance of arrogance and humility.

Barr Trail Mountain Race on Sunday.  This race was cancelled last year because of the fires down there.  In 2011, I ran 1:58, but in prior years consistently ran 1:47-8ish a near handful of times.   I am not sure what sort of shape I am in for Barr, but I’d like to think I am  somewhere between that 2010 and 2011 spread.  The start list is posted. 

Of course, in doing BTMR, it pretty much rules out hanging out at the track meet down in the San Juans.  Without a doubt, pacing that last year is among my finest running memories.

Video from the Mt Marathon race.

Mid day … some heat …yeah, buddy.  Recovery running.



AHR 142, MHR 151. 

Later afternoon – did not pay attention to HR so it was all over (in retrospect).  6.7 miles easy (a bit longer than I wanted but I took a wrong turn).

TZ got her first 14er today (Quandary) with her college pal Ricia.  She has often had issues with the higher elevations but had a few days to acclimate in Fairplay.

 

Sunday 070713

AM – got an earlier start today.  Jogged down to Mosquito Pass Road, hoping to clear the cobwebs in my legs but they never seemed to shake.  Tried to keep a steady effort through, but never felt great or really able to get deeply after it.  Not surprising I guess with the altitude, and the work yesterday.  It turned out that the bridge turn on the way out to the upper London Mine was about 9 miles.  Given this is where the road gets both rough and very wet, I decided to turn back at this point.  Just prior to 14 miles the Garmin died (dang backlight issue is making the watch die around 2 hours now).  I turned to the Iphone/Strava as an alternative.  Good slog back up out of Rte 9 up to the casa to finish it off at just over 18.

Week was 82.5 miles, 9470 vertical of climb over 13 hours.  A bit shy of what I wanted … but it is.

Got back, grabbed a few oatmeal flap jacks and then we went for a hike out of Hoosier Pass.  JZ nabbed another geocache.

 

Saturday 070613

We came up to Park County yesterday.  I thought I’d get another easy run in – as Lucho had left me with such an option in the schedule.  But it was optional, and it was clear that I was only to do it if I thought it would loosen me up. 

Arriving up in Fairplay, I felt fried.  Tired.  Really tired.  I even snoozed for a short touch in the afternoon, but that did not shake the sand in my eyes.  I decided to bag the second run and tried to get to bed early (early for me would be 8 but with other obligations in the summer this turns out to be 930).

I thought I’d wake early, but instead I slept pretty hard until 730 and I soaked that up as much as I could.  I got out about an hour later, and started up to American Flats from the Mosquito Pass Road at the split.  I figured this would give me some climbing, and also the opportunity to scout out the upper stretches of the Burro Days course.  I was most interested in where the course breaks from the mining road and heads right up to the pass.  Of course, head down on the climb, I missed this.   I came up to the notch where Mosquito Pass Road comes through London Mountain and then I continued up to the Pass.  There was a strong breeze here, with a bit of a bite so I was glad to have a windbreaker.  I headed up the hill to the south over the pass, made a quick phone call checking in with home ops and then came down.

I decided that since I missed the cut up, I’d catch it on the down as I saw the marking coming up into the road.  The upper sections of this drop are fun.  The longer stretch cutting back to the road across the meadow are a bit trickier to dial in as the markings are a bit sparse – but navigable.

Once I hit the road, I climb back up to the notch again and then dropped down on the north side of London Mountain.  I tried to push the downs here, but seemed to be challenged with the “foot computer” dialing things in well.  Just below the bridge, I took a minor tumble.  A bit lower I took another hard tumble and got some road rash as a result.  Clearly a combo of pushing, being a bit off on the reflexes for the day, and being a bit tired.  Shortly after this the family came driving up, wondering how I was doing and out for a morning nature take in.  I jogged back up to the bridge to catch up with them.

13 miles, all above 11k feet, 3200 feet of climbing.  Spent the rest of the day with the family checking out various things in the area including some of the bristlecones on Windy Ridge.

 

Hoping to get another round, hopefully an hour longer ish tomorrow.