Tuesday 05JUL2016

AM – 6.2 with BrHS XC team and Greg.  Strides at the end.

Links: 

• Why cell phones suck.
• Sound advice, “go easy on easy days.”
• OT stuff – the 8s yesterday were quite exciting. Got to feel a bit for Alyssa (although her final 100 was rich) as she has had to deal with the Russian scandal and now and untimely fall. 
• Various Mount Marathon stuff.

PM – I felt a bit motivated. 

Greg recently asked me what I was training for as he sees I am putting in a few miles.  I told him I had to be at least fit enough to complete a 29 mile race with a donkey, but his real questions was more to the order of “what are you doing with all this easy stuff?”  Old guys like us have a base of years and thousands of miles to call on.  Our weakness is not the ability to bang out a 10 or 20 miler, but instead to hold a solid pace over 3 or 5 miles.  Or even a mile.  Doing more easy miles has a purpose but it is not as important for a person who has been training like that for three decades plus.  HS kids?  Sure – they can rip a sub 60 quarter but if you ask them to do a 10 mile run they will end up walking after six and then lying on the couch all day. 

So I am getting some benefit out of a few weeks of basic running, but clearly if I want to move the ball I need to do some harder or quicker stuff.  Given my experience back in April that probably does not mean spiking up for a mile (although in flats maybe).  I need to do a tempo or a threshold or a fartlek a couple times a week at this point. 

So I was motivated to replicate my fartlek from June 15.  On this I keep the downs and the flats “cruising” (so not easy but not hard) but then I push the uphills.  Some of the hills are pretty low grade, but some have a good bite.  None of them are particularly long (maybe 200-250 yards total), but they give a good whack to the legs, heart and lungs when you drill into them.  The run is not that long right now (5 miles) and so I want to extend it a bit, but at the same time I don’t want to extend it so much that I hide from getting after it a bit. 

I also wore the HRM. 

I have not worn that in a long time, but I was curious as to what was what so I did this go around.  I see a few things.

1.)  there are less hills in the later part of the run, and it sort of turned into a tempo.  This is fine, but you can see the dampening in the curve but the overall climb in AHR as the run shifted that way.  There a benefits from doing this run this way, but there also could be benefits in turning it more into a repeat-rest interval sort of workout.

2.)  Once I tripped over 160ish point (the max up there is 179 btw), I really could not come back down below that.

3.)  Getting MHR might be as simple as running fairly steady for 20 minutes and then drilling a hill hard for a minute or so.

So, no new lessons really, and not really fast but a good workout for me where I am and some good reminders.  I might mix this one up by just outright tempoing the whole thing, adding in more hills on the back half, slowing down the rest intervals, etc.  All fun stuff.

It was pretty hot when I did this and I was feeling that for about 45 minutes after the run. 

Weekend 01-04JUL2016

First – look at this awesome photo of the Boom Days Burro Race by Dave TenEyck from 1951!

AM – I met up with a former coworker for a jog on the Davidson Mesa.  50 minutes.
Once finished I drove immediately over to the BrHS practice and got in another 40 with those guys.  One of the coaches was there with his infant son in a push stroller / jogger and I pushed it a bit.  I forgot how hard it can be to run with those things. 

Links:

• Fast master mile, author of the Boulder Running Journal, previous team mate and friend Todd Straka has bought the Dash and Dine series.  Bummer Todd is not in the mile race this weekend.
• I will probably listen to Sage’s vlog on WS when I have a free 20.
• Maybe all you really need to know about ultra training?
• Or maybe just this?
• Apparently blogging is not completely dead as the 20 year old kid that just took home the Cougar does it.
• Jez’s photos of the Dolomites … yeah, I do want to visit there.
• Everything you ever wanted to know about the MWRR.
• Awesome daily raps on the OTs by HOR.

Raspberries are starting to come in!

Friday night TZ and I headed over to Flatirons to watch the mens 10k in the OT.  Coverage completely sucked.  Good news was these folks grumbled about it enough to make it fun.
Apparently Droddy is America’s next great running talent.

I didn’t get any running in on Saturday, making for my first day off in over a month.  I have said in the past that I don’t schedule days off because I feel they are often dealt to me.  This one was dealt to me.  The day filled with picking up JZ from his staff gig at Scout camp.  TZ and I got in a little hike on the St. Vrain before getting him.  I could have forced in a run in the evening, but I decided against it as I felt a bit tired.  It was time to take a day. 

Sunday AM – TZ and I headed over to Chautauqua.  2nd Green on the year for me this year … and this week.  I headed up the middle route.   Of course, my climbing gear is still crud at this point so it was a slow ascent, and I felt it particularly on the last bit back on Greenman – often forced to a walk.   That is as much my head as it is my legs. 

I came back down via West Green and then onto Long Canyon.  It appears they are looking to do a reroute of that trail on the upper section of that trail.  I can’t say that I am overly stoked about that.  I love the sections of that trail where there ferns grow so thick the trail almost starts to disappear (that is also a function of this trail not getting much traffic). 

I could feel the right Achilles on this a bit more than I have on runs lately, and the left leg quad weakness was making me a bit gimpy.  I might talk to the BrHS strength coach to see what he think I ought to do.  It is certainly more pronounced on downhill runs.

Sunday afternoon – 35 minutes long the canal.

The week (ending on a Sunday) was a bit lighter in terms of miles than the last few, but that is okay.  I needed the day, and for what it is worth, I got the most vertical in a week for a year (which is still pretty light compared to some, and even some weeks I have done in the past).  Still came in over 11 hours on the week, so all good. 

I definitely need to move from just doing basic aerobic stuff to starting to get into that next set of training … or tempo-ish (LT) work.

Monday AM – a couple of handfuls of XC kids showed up for practice today.  An easy 50ish minutes and then strides, A,B,C skips, lunges, planks, push ups. 

Mondy – PM – I had thoughts on a hill tempo but the heat just sapped me so I just went for a very easy 45ish.  Very warm.

Other recent shots.

KZ looks to have made it to Germany

Finally, I am looking for a USB Solar Cell charging system I could use for my phone while out backpacking, canoeing, etc.  As I use the phone for a camera, and in COE to contact people, I have interest.  If anyone has a suggested consider / do not consider – I’d appreciate it.

Thursday 30JUN2016

AM – 50 minutes including some time with the BrHS team.  Slow to start but then got some nicer paced stuff in.  Hit the gym for about 25 minutes of planks, push ups, pull ups, squats, myrtle, and lunge work.  Follow up with 30 minutes back to the house.

Symmonds looks to be out of the OT 800 this go around, meaning that the race is going to come down to guys who take it out hard (e.g. Berian, Brazier, Solomon) and hold on.  I think it might be shaping up (along with the women’s 8) to be one of the best races of the Trials.  Certainly the 8 in the 2012 trials was pretty exciting with Symmonds mowing the field down (as he has multiple times).

Side note - It drives me nuts that guys finish the 8 and don’t seem to be breathing hard.

Side note 2 – given all the FUD articles I have seen on Rio as of late (like this one), maybe the Trials are about as far as we get.

If you run a five-minute mile in high school, you’re doing pretty well. If you run five-minute miles in college in a 10K, you’re doing pretty well. If you run five minutes per mile in a marathon after college, you’re doing really well. You’re whole life is to run five-minute miles over longer and longer distances, and you move up the ranks really quickly.  It doesn’t take a lot to run a 1:04 half marathon.

Kids these days.

Pretty cool article on Emma C in the steeple and what that takes.

Doping …

Wednesday 29JUN2016

Slept in a bit.  TZ was supposed to get back from dropping KZ off on the east coast (as she starts her excursion to Germany) around 5:30.  Her flight got delayed out of ATL because of storm there.  She then got delayed coming in her because of storms and got rerouted to CoS.   We got her back home around 11.  Walked with her for a bit in the AM.

• URP Walmsley interview.  Admittedly, I do wonder how a guy goes from an AFA scholarship to “running to pay rent.” 
• Good interview with Koop by Tawnee.  His take on the skipping strength training and instead run is probably gonna draw some fire.  
• I got a ping to hit LR … I try to avoid it, but this is almost too fun to miss.
• Lee says some women runners may be angry about racing against, or losing money to, a male-to-female transgender, but she wants to race against the best.

Late AM – an hour, wilted a bit in the last third because of the heat.

Afternoon – a bit overcast so cooler, got in another half an hour. 

First 300 mile month of the year.  Actually, first one of those in a YEAR (last one was July of last year).  Last year at this time I had about 500 more miles on the books than I have this year.  And that running last year was with a lot more vertical, and coming in more doses of single runs than breaking it up like I am now. 

Tuesday 28JUN2016

AM – 50 something minutes with BrHS team. 

Links

• Mario’s Morning Shakeout hits on some good running topics.
• Mount Marathon Vid from Salomon:

Afternoon – met Bob over at the farm and we did a very very easy run with the burros.  It was pretty hot.  Bob is getting good enough that he can get his burro to run backwards.

Monday 27JUN2016

No early running as I had some work calls.

Link stuff:

• The three words you need to hear to keep you motivated in whatever.
• I had no idea that Walsmley was at the AFA.   Sub 14 5k too.
• Good wrap on MUT from Justin (as always).
• Lot of good WS takes in here, and I agree with him on the dude that got across the line by carrying him in 30 hours and change.

Mid day – pretty warm.  Actually, hot.  About a mile into my jog, I came upon an elderly guy sitting on his bike, not going anyway on the trail.  I asked if he was okay and while he stated he was fine he pointed off the trail to a dead dog.  He explained he came up on a kid that was with the dog and it was overheated.  The kid ran off to get his parents and the old guy agreed to stay, but the dog died within a minute or two of the kid leaving.  That just sucks.  Shitty day for the dog, hard lessons for a kid.

Afternoon – took up JV’s call to hit Green.  I had to check because the last time I was up this hill was back in November.  Wow.  Scott J joined us and thankfully these guys were super easy on me. 

I’ll admit, I do still get a bit star struck around guys like Scott and Tony, but I was pleased to see we talked more as three Dads and the raising of our kids than about ultras.   In fact I think we talked more about cycling than running.

Sunday 26JUN2016

Mid day – a day that would have seemed hot a few weeks ago is pretty well par for the course and not that hot a day.  I headed out with Jack and got some time working with him.  Along the way, we spotted some pretty large snapping turtles.

After jogging Jack, I tacked on another 42 minutes. 

Links

• WS course in 10 minutes.
• The Strava file for Walmsley at WS yesterday.  Yes, go to the bottom.  The Irunfar interview with him is interesting.
• Browning is a badass.

Week – in terms of pure miles and minutes, it was the biggest week for me on the year.  There is good in that as it represents progress of where I was at even a month ago, but I also recognize that I did that with a lot of little runs.  I just need to keep building in terms of miles per run, and speed in a run … but as it makes sense.  I can feel the load but that is also appropriate. 

I was recently asked by someone how they should approach doing a hundred miler as they had never done one.  My response was quick:  “you shouldn’t do it.”  It was not a ding against their character or their desire or their ability … I just don’t think 100s are a healthy endeavor for nearly most of us.  Certainly some of that is based on my personal experience but you can “see it” in a lot of the runners who do them, particularly many of them.  For every long careered “Karl Meltzer” there are five Timmy Olson, Geoff Roes, Mike Wolfe, Jez Bragg, Kyle Skaggs types.   I recall as a teen runner, it was understood that a marathon (26.2 miles) was a distance that most runners only had a handful of good runs at (as in maybe five) before the distance sucked away your speed, and did longer term damage into turning you into a old man “plodder.”   While there are exceptions (like Meb to the marathon), and I think the damage associated with these events and in the training leading up to them is significant enough that one ought to take a long pause before plopping down their credit card to sign up for one.  That sounds easy, but I don’t think it is for many:  I think we jump in because of the culture, the buckle, the fun of the game, the challenge of the experience, etc. 

That said, I was not going to convince this person not to do a hundred miler.  And so with that, I shifted in my feedback to more directly answer their question.  Because heck, I might just do one again someday too.

But probably not.

Saturday 25JUN2016

AM – 40 minutes with a handful of kiddos from BrHS on the Ridgeview Trail. 

Afternoon – 70 minutes.  I dropped JZ off at Tahosa (he is staffing there for a week at the Scout NYLT camp).  Left Canyon is jacked so I wandered back via Nederland and then down Boulder Canyon.  On the way up, I considered Chapman Drive, but is closed due to trail work.  I opted for the Betasso Preserve.  I had never actually done this area.  It is quite nice.

I am clearly not in climbing shape, but that is not surprising as I have been doing no climbing. 

Link items

• Brexit stuff:  This is fascinating.  I find this political leader to be more balanced and grounded in this one 10 minute speech than most I see here on a daily basis.

Today’s listening:

Friday 24JUN2016

Yup, she starts the next significant chapter today.  There is definitely an odd mix of feelings on my part.  Concern and worry as  the parent who sees their child going so far away for so long, but also clearly understanding she needs to “leave the nest” to take those next steps in life.  Going to miss that kid.

AM – 6.1 miles, jogging, strides, then weight room work.

Links stuff:

• The email I got tipping me to this one simply said, “welcome home Floyd.”
• Today’s listening:
   
• Crappy break for HS phenom Drew Hunter.
• Nike got its head together.
• I was poking through Running With The Buffaloes recently and started wondering where some of those guys ended up.  Remember Brock Tessman?  I then lost time considering not just runners in that book but loads of runners that have been a big names and just disappeared.   
• Latest ATC. 
• I was asked for my take on WS.  I have been pretty much not paying a ton of attention to it, although I am interested to see how Wyatt does.  Beyond that, I am not really attuned to it.  Or HR.
• Wassdoc blog … long overdue to add that to the roll to the right.
• Venturing into the political, a good balanced LRC podcast on Brexit.

Afternoon – the 40 minute loop.

You can learn pretty much any menial thing off Youtube.  KZ tagged the passenger side mirror backing out of the garage and we had to replace it.  Ordered the mirror on Amazon, it showed up the next day, watched a 3.5 minute Youtube video and then replaced the mirror with JZ. 

Thursday 23JUN2016

AM – 40 minutes with BrHS with a handful of strides at the end.

Got in some 20-25 minutes of gym work post.  Again – screwing around:  planks, push ups, ab work, lunges, squats, etc

Link stuff:

• Here’s how you take a beer mile and suck the life out of it.
• No Ritz in Rio.
• Good HOR, covering the recent PED track news
• Quick listen on the brain and performance (sort of).

PM – little 40 minute run.  Used the phone for Strava, and it was completely wonky.  Here is a picture of the map of the run how it normally looks on the left.  On the right is today. 

 

So today’s route measured over a mile what the distance actually is, and in turn translated that into a pace that I was clearly not running.

Wednesday 21JUN2016

The whack on my head is healing nicely but it has translated into a pair of light black eyes.

I did not get out early with the team because I had work obligations so I had to bear some of the heat of the day.  That said, it was not as bad as yesterday.  I headed over to check in with Jack.  We ran back to the house, then ran back.  On whole, a great run with him.  We struggled a bit on some of the road stuff in the CTC, but he was rock solid on the trails.

Linky stuff.

• Thorson was one of my favorite profs when I got my geology degree back at UCONN.  He was pretty irked at me when I did not continue post grad studies in that field.  His love of rock walls was storied back then and this article reflects that.
• Nice wrap on Mount Washington.
• Fun read on pacers.

Tuesday 21JUN2016

I banged my forehead pretty good last night at the pool.  It looks worse than it is.

AM – 51 minutes.  Heat is back with a tad bit more humidity than usual.  I did the last mile-ish on the track doing in and outs on the straights and curves (that is stride the straight, float the curve).  These were about 20 seconds for the straights.  I did note a slight twinge in the Achilles as I did those so I ain’t out of the woods there yet.

Link stuff.

• Great write up by Mario.
• I am getting around to JT’s bike ride report.  Entertaining.  His filling of his bladder in stagnant cow paddy infested water had me thinking of people who say “I’d never drink that” or “I would never eat” such and such.  I am glad that in most cases we don’t need to do that but I hold no illusions:  if hungry or thirsty enough I would eat or drink that.

Afternoon – 97 out and the sun was up high.  So hot.  I just gear down and relax and see how long I can roll without breaking too much of a sweat.  45 minutes.  Afterwards TZ and I biked over the local farmers market.

Evening … JZ on the far left of this shot.

Monday 20JUN2016

AM – Got out for a walk with TZ and Jack.

I buzzed over to BrHS practice after this and got in 50 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of core, etc work.

News stuff

• Sooo much racing this past weekend:  just read Justin’s stuff. 
• “I’m a big guy; my race weight is 203 pounds.”
• The video interview of Aish.   Macy, the current Leadman course record holder, put up a faster LT Marathon (although the courses might have been different between these years and maybe even faster this year?  I really don’t know) by a couple of minutes.   It is interesting to look at the 2013 Leadman results because you see a.)  the last three cracks at the record came off guys who did the 50 bike (Macy, Africa, Waggoner) – we can guess that Aish won’t do that, and b.) Africa was ahead of Macy by about 37 minutes in the 100 run, but still was second in the Leadman standings by … 37 minutes.
• While researching that, I found this sweet picture.  Check out that lid!
  
• Dunham’s MW report and all of his splits.  Evah.
• Parr’s LTM report

PM – the hot temps we had yesterday generally vanished today as we got some reprieve via thick clouds.  I got the dogs out in the afternoon for 40ish minutes.

Weekend 18-19JUN2016

Saturday AM – easy and with a handful of kids from the team.  55 minutes.    I got home and added on another 20 minutes with TZ.

Saturday PM – down in Lakewood at a Scout event for JZ.  He had it handled so I go in another 43 minutes.  Pretty hot.

Apparently Aish is going to retire after this year, but he is going to take a shot at the Leadman record. 

Sunday – busy most of the day and so I did not get out until the late afternoon.  It was still 99 at 5PM.  I jogged easy down to Jack’s meadow and thought I would run back.  TZ and JZ pulled up and so I decided to take the easy day and not fight the heat.

A few weekend pix.  This first one was in the Denver Post.




A good week of continuing to up the ante for me with about a 10 percent increase in miles.  It probably would have been a bit more but I chickened out today with the heat.  But on whole I feel like I have slipped into some good habits.  A few weeks of this and I will be ready to get to work.  Well, maybe.  It is also the time I will head off to canoe for a couple of weeks.