FKTs

JV and I were yapping the other day, post his great unexpected PR up Green.  There is a concept of the FKT, or the "fastest known time." for these routes.  An FKT can be established on any route, via whatever means you like to attack it (run, climb, bike, etc).  For a while Bill Wright was maintaining a list of trail FKTs on his speed site, but it has fallen out of date (despite my harassment of him about it).  It appears that the Green route that Jeff and I often run (when we are dog free), has an FKT (from Chautauaqua) of an eye popping 34:08 by Nate Schultz (I broke 40 a few times last summer but nothing under 37 ...)

I am eyeballin some of the stuff up Shadow.  I think I can, with a good lead up to Shadow get under 50 for the Ascent up SoBo.

Drop Mr. Wright a note to push him to update the FKTs!

Saturday 053108, Green

Got on Green early with Hans, and so the "dog" route (out and back on Baseline, Gregory, Ranger).  Not feelin' zippy so I kept it mellow.  Got out of Chautauqua and then realized I needed the voice and site tag for Hans so I had to double back for that.  Ascended then in 46:30.  83 minutes total trip.

Planning chaos

I have learned that I am not real good at adhering to training plans (apparently, others have similar conditions).  Ideally, I'd outline a training plan and stick to it more days than not.

I find that various things in life get in the way.  You have a key workout planned and the weather screws it up (okay, yes - there are treadmills).  Or you end up wanting to go to a music recital for your kids.  Or you just feel like crap that day and it is better to shelve that workout for another day.  You know the drill - in the best laid plans, something pops up that makes it come undone.

As a result, I end up with a lack of detail in a plan for training - meaning if you ask me what I am doing tomorrow - I often don't know.  For some, this would drive them absolutely crazy.  For me, it is a necessity.

Instead, I have general goals for a chunk of training.  The general goals might be to increase volume in terms of miles or hours, or to do more speed work, or to do more hills, or to increase the length of my long run. Or to rest (and yes, there was a chunk last year post Pikes where I did not train, but just ... ran).

Pretty loose ... and I know that.  And so, in an effort to be "tighter" about that, here are my goals (in terms of running training) for the next five to six weeks.

• Maintain a volume of 9-11 hours a week
• Increase general length of long run to promote increased muscular endurance and to also experiment with various nutritional supplements (namely salt tabs).
• Do 2-3 runs a week on significant hilly terrain to keep increasing that strength.  These efforts can be done harder if I feel up to it.
• Do 2-3 runs a week on flatter terrain to regain familiarity with that sort of running.  These runs need to be easy however.

This approach over the last 3 weeks has been rounding me back into some semblance of fitness.  I need to balance that upward trend with life, when I want to peak, absorbing training, and what I can handle right now.  As that five - six week block shifts over, I will begin to change the goals to push these as the focus.  I'd see this as the set of objectives for the following three to four weeks.

• If I can handle it, begin to perform flat efforts at tempo and / or speed work (strides, 200s, 400s, 800s) - alternatively this could be a race like a 5K or a 10k ... doing races would be an ideal way to get in a good workout, stress the system, blow off the rust and to get a feel in the head for the race situation again.
• Do 1-2 runs a week on significant hilly terrain to keep increasing that strength.  These efforts can be done harder if I feel up to it.  At least one of these efforts needs to be done at 30-60 minutes of race emulation effort.  This sets up for 2 or 3 efforts a week where I am taxing the system in either an uphill effort (hard Green for example or maybe Lindens) or a hard flat (tempo run on dirt, road race). 
• Get to altitude and begin to do high altitude runs - as your long run
• If possible, begin to focus an effort a week where you press the downhill to dial in the "super computer."

Then I start the taper in the last two-three weeks.  More on that later... (meaning I still have not figured that one out).

Still pretty loose ... and part of that is because I am still physically scoping what I can handle in terms of my issue that shall not be named.  But this is the general plan.  There, are of course, a lot of other sub goals in there like ...

• be a loving compassionate father and husband and friend ... this running thing is folly and will mean nothing if you harm relationships along the way to a better time come race day.  People who love you now will love you in August, regardless if you run well or not, finish or not.
• sleep well
• hydrate well
• eat well (or eat food, mostly plants and not a lot)
• wear sunscreen
• bike to work a few times a week
• have fun
• Make the hard days hurt so bad your teeth sweat, and the easy days easy.
• Do light stretching, and goofy core exercises.

So there you go.  Feedback welcome.  Criticism taken appropriately.  Live it.  78 days.

Friday 053008, Easy at Waneka

I met Tim, Kerrie and Liz at Waneka Lake this morning for an easy effort. I jogged for about 15 minutes before connecting with them and then did about an hour with them - all easy jogging. Great getting out with this crew and talking some training, etc. 80 minutes total. Not feeling too beat up from yesterday's effort.

JV ran a PR up Green today. SWEET.

Thursday, 052908, South Boulder Peak via Shadow

I decided early today to do Bear via Shadow Canyon.  I thought it would be good to get some uphill work in, and since I start at the Canyon from my office most of the day ... it called to me. This is a good route, with a long climb up the peak.  The Shadow Canyon route has to be one of the hardest miles in Boulder ... breaking 20 (from the bottom post to the saddle top post) on this thing would put you in total  bad ass company.  OSMP maps (here is a mapmyrun one) have it at about 1.1 miles, although I am not sure that is true .  Gain is 2800' over four miles, so while it gives you a nice sting, it is run-able.

I was feeling pretty good to get after it, and was in for a good grind workout to assess where I was at.  I warmed up to the start of the Canyon (SBCT, Towhee, Mesa) in 21:11 - and had the pre-run jitters ... thinking I was not feeling so hot after after all.  Ah well - it was time to get to business ... and started the long slow grind through the Canyon.  The weather was perfect:  clear, warm, cooler in the canyon, slight breeze - I was shirtless but sweating pretty good.  I ran, power hiked, through the canyon and posted a surprising 23:41.  The mantra through the canyon was:  YOU MUST RUN (I recall Scott Elliott yelling multiple times this to Lisa G as she finished the Ascent last year - epic moment). 

So, it appears as if the uphill strength work I have been doing has is paying some dividends.  I took a quick bio break at the top post and then decided to go to South Boulder Peak - instead of Bear.  I had not been up this peak yet this year.  It is the one I get up the least because of its location, but it is as epic as the other two - with the best views of Pikes.  Got over there in 6:55 (total ascent was 51:47).  Sat for a bit taking in the views, and then started a descent down that I wanted to keep honest.

Five minutes back down to the saddle, through the Canyon down in 14:31 and then 13:31 back to the car.  On the down, particularly in the canyon, I turn on the "super computer."  This is where I let the brain focus on the rocks, the turns, the trees, the jumps, the skips, the leaps, at a high rate of speed ... hikers look at you like you are insane as they carefully pick their way through the trail with their trekking poles and you crash through with reckless abandon.  RT in 1:24:50.  Good workout.  Today's run powered on the IPOD by the Darkness (up) and Pearl Jam (down).

So last year, I did this on Shadow, Bear... (this came a day after I did 800s in 2:3x).

Thursday May 24, 2007 Ran Shadow to Bear with Scott and JV. We warmed up Mesa classic from South Mesa to the post in 24:54. They gave me a minute and two minutes respectively (as I had not yet bounced back from yesterday. I got passed by Jeff at 7:10 and then Scott at 14:48. I got to the Saddle in a working relaxed 24:15 (ve rsus 24:38 from a few weeks ago). Continued to Summit in 5:22, and the 52 to tippy top. Back to Saddle in 5:06. 13:39 to catch Jeff in the Canyon (versus 14:21 a few weeks ago) but then backed off to run with him (12:38 a few weeks ago, 17:34 here). Total was 92 minutes. Calling it 8.

When I have runs like today, I have had this silly dream  that I can still sew this altogether and actually run a respectful effort in 11.x weeks.  Then, at times that dream is offset with practical insights based on where I currently am overall ... I wonder if I am better equipped this year, not peaking too soon ... and magically I have the epic day ... On the other hand, I confess, I often wonder if my best days are past, and that I am chasing dreams of younger days or a younger body.  Maybe I just happened to have run my best time on Pikes, my first time.  These thoughts are quickly squashed when I see the efforts of guys like Ames, Gutierrez, Kloser ... cuz' those thoughts ain't gonna get me anywhere positive. 

So all I can do is ... all I can do.  And I am going make the best of that.  And try to get under 20 minutes in Shadow.

Various tidbits ...

• Apparently near our new home, there is a crack in the bedrock where water flows out.  This ground water fills our sump pit.  The sump pump pushes this water out to the side of our house, where there are about 2 dozen pieces of PVC pipe - that my son has taken to manipulate to irrigate various parts of the lawn.  Sweet.
• I have this desire to go an run in the desert as of late.  A co-worker of mine just got back from four wheelin' in Moab ... it has me thinking about runnin' the Grand Canyon, Zion.  Here is an example of a great trip ...
• In moving yesterday, I had a series of thoughts that, ala Jeff Foxworthy went along the lines of "...you might be domesticated ..." For example
  • You might be domesticated if you have a wheelbarrow.
  • You might be domesticated if you have a croquet set (although I have now been informed that several bachelors do have their own croquet sets for some drinking game)
  • You might be domesticated if you have more than three rakes
  • You might be domesticated if you have a hutch with dinnerware that you never eat off of but just look at in the hutch
  • You might be domesticated if you have underwear that is older than your children.  Extra points if you have a set older than your children's ages together.  Or you might not be domesticated and just might be very resourceful, gross, or both.
• I also had a series of thoughts regarding movers.  All I can say is movers ... MONEY WELL SPENT.  Watching these guys bust back moving couches, hutches, beds, dresser drawers, etc ... yup, good cash departed with for a damn good reason.  Win win.  I have a whole series of reasons why I'd not be a good mover, but that is an other post.  Let's start with the fact that I don't have a tattoo of any sort, particularly one of a scantly dressed woman on my arm.
• How the hell did we ever make it across the country in wagons?
• Prize money at Pikes is in question ... 
• This is nuts.

Wednesday 052808, Easy

Post a long day of moving (we are moved finally), that left me thinking quite a bit (when you put all your stuff into boxes to have it moved, you think quite a bit), I got out for a shakeout (more for my head) for a bit. Scoped out some of the trails around my new hood and I think I have a good four mile loop (33 minutes). Much to blog, but now is time to sleep.

Tuesday 052708, Mill lovin'

On the mill today so that I could control the effort and my time.  87 minutes breaking down like this:  2 mile warm up, with first mile at 15% (13:47), then one at 1.5% (7:47) ... quick bio break ... then 6 x 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off.  I am quite a bit off what I "used to be able to do these in" but woulda, coulda, shoulda ... started at 10 mph (6 min/mile) and dialed them into 10.6 mph over the repeats.  Nothing zippy, but trying to get a bit of leg turnover familiarity, balancing it against that thing I don't talk about, etc.  All these were done at 1.5% grade. Warmed down with 2 miles at 1.5% (8, 7:30), mile at 15% (13:41), and then one at 1.5% real easy  (8:50).  About 87 minutes total.  The lungs were fine on the repeats ... it is really my legs are wondering what the hell I am trying to do as they have not moved that quick in a bit.

Tomorrow is the day we move the big crap and make the shift - so built in recovery day (either really light or no running).

That little race in Boulder

So this blog is to keep me honest, right?  I mean part of the reason why I do this is so that I can look back at it someday and see where I was weak, stupid, crazy, over training, what broke and alternatively what worked.  So here is some honesty (and maybe it reveals to much?):  today my heart is growling about that little race that occurs in Boulder every year. 

I know this 100 percent stupid - and that understanding is my brain talking over my heart.  But if I am honest, I know there is a part of me that is wishing I could have lined up and run that race.  It is the greedy, selfish, gnawing part of me that often gets me into trouble.  Still, even knowing that, I feel this gnawing when I look at the results today.  I feel this gnawing when people ask me "did you run yesterday?" (well as a matter I fact I did but just not what you are thinking about). I feel this gnawing when I look at what the weather was yesterday (ideal).  I browse the results and wonder how I would have fared on that last mile that has worked me on Folsom so many times.  I wish I could have lined up with friends and competitors to do battle with the course, ourselves and the race.  To all those that put on the war paint and did battle in the thin air of Boulder ... congratulations.  I salute you.  I hope I can join you again soon.

Of course, if I had raced it I'd be a little more pissed today - simply because I was not ready to run well, and would have raced like crap and I'd be irked about that.  And it is a little ironic that I feel this way because I have lots of reasons not to do this race:  I was moving, I was injured in preparation, it is not a good course, it is not easy to get to a race that 50,000 other people are trying to get to at 7AM.  All those things are true, but it is also one of the deepest races in the world for competition (at my level).

The good news in this is that this event served as a little reminder ... spawning a series of mantras in my head:  "start focusing your diet and hydration as if the race were to occur next week," "make choices to prepare yourself, not destroy yourself,"

82 days.  Live it.

Monday 052608, Green

Bolder Boulder was going on in town, and the fact that it was gnawing at me.  Yeah, I had my excuses to not run it but there was still the call.  I decided to bury that cry by hitting Green.

Hans (father-in-law's dog) and I took Baseline, Amp, Saddle, Greenman up and down.  The top of the mountain socked into a cool, gray mist ... all clouds.  I think running in those conditions are my favorites.  Reached the summit in 47, and then came back in 27:30 (the down was a little sketchy today - wet rocks). 

Much to blog about but this move has kept me a bit more offline than usual (which itself is probably not a bad thing)

Sunday, 052608, 72 minutes flat easy

Still moving stuff.  A lot of stuff. 

From the new place, I explored some of the new trails with KZ (she was on her bike while I jogged).  Found some good stuff ... it was pretty warm though (just not used to that yet).  Legs grumbled about the load but that is part of the intent right now.

My goals for the week were to increase the overall training intensity a touch, get in a longer effort to drive greater muscular endurance, and to begin to mentally focus on the what I want to accomplish for the next twelve weeks. 

M - Treadmill,  mixed pace work out including 10 x 2 min on, 1 min off, 90 min total.
T - 75 minutes outdoors, "flat"
W - Green, 70 minutes (a harder effort)
Th - Green, 85 minutes (longer route w/JV and CC)
F - 45 minutes, outdoors "flat"
Sa - 135 minutes, Green and Bear, easy on the pace, longer effort
Su - 72 minutes, easy, outdoors, "flat"

572 minutes on the week (or about 9.5 hours)  Not sure on the mileage but, I'll guess around 55.  Also not sure of the weekly vertical but I'll venture around 10K. 

On whole, it was a good week.  I am getting back into the groove and mentally getting my head around dialing in ... I am not really going to talk about that issue I have ... I'll just deal with it and make the best of it.

Friday 052208, 45 minutes, easy flats

Crazy weather yesterday including a tornado in the area.

Busy with moving stuff, feeling this past week's training, and expecting to go a bit longer tomorrow - kept this at 45 minutes easy, on the flat dirt roads in Erie.

Saturday, 052408, Green & Bear

I wanted to get out for a bit of a longer effort - as I have a concern on general muscular endurance.  In other words, since Pikes is several hours, I need to be used to, well, being mobile for several hours.

Started early out of Chautauqua, up Baseline, then Amp and then Saddle.  Broke off Saddle to take the old NE ridge trail, then popped back onto Greenman.  I was going real easy as my legs did not feel so hot and I knew I had a good deal of work ahead of me in terms of time.  Got to Green summit and just kept moving down to the four way junction, Green Bear, Bear West Ridge ... the West Ridge Trail is one of the most beautiful out there (although there is a section of the NE ridge of Green that is quite epic as well).  You still do some work in this section, but as you have done most of the climbing already, it has a little less bite.  Summitted Bear, sat for a minute or two taking in the sun and then realized that I was going to be tight on the clock on getting back home (more moving to do!).  Dropped down the nasty Fern trail to the Mesa and then back to Chautuaqua.  Whole trip was pretty mellow in terms of effort - and I power hiked some of the steeper sections - so 2:17.  Will look to get out and do this again and perhaps even tag on South Boulder Peak for the extra credit. The effort left my legs hummin' in a positive way - I got what I came for.

Thursday 052208, Green

Various tidbits ...

• Good read on Rickey Gates ...
• Fun video ... if you don't smile a little while watching this you are too stressed.
• Competitive entries for Pikes are starting to get posted.
• Mount Washington entry (lottery) list is up (actually has been for a bit)
• Mount Evans, on the same day (June 21) is also up
• Western States (June 28) while we are at it and ...
• Leadville... uh, no start list.  What gives?
• The pretty kitty is back (check out the video at the end of the post ... think you can run faster than that?)

Was up early and out the door to join Claude and JV for trip up Green.  It was a misty, overcast morning - which was really actually a nice change.  We went up Green via Baseline, Amp, Saddle, Greenman, easy, power hiking portions, hitting the ascent in about 46.  Came down via West Green, Long and Gregory.  Descent was in about 40 (86 RT).  Great morning BS'ing with the guys, have a great run while the hummers buzzed overhead.

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage

So I have this line of day dreaming (there is no way I can call this thinking) that goes something like this ...

... magically this hernia will slowly heal...
... And magically, this has been a blessing because it has held me back in my training a bit so that I don't overdo it, and so that I don't peak to early ...
... and yeah, maybe I peaked too early last year ...
... and maybe I will be able to work through this and put all the pieces together so that I have a better weekend at Pikes than I ever have had ...

So that is the day dreaming.  When I have runs like I did today, that dream starts to light more of a fire.  And that is a good thing.

Of course, I need to temper this with a bit of pragmatism.  I think to be the most ready at a race like Pikes, one needs to put together a program that includes (in no particular order I will say)

• Long runs  .. and because the marathon is not the typical marathon, the typical marathon long run is not prescribed here - it is more of the time variety)
• Fast work ... okay, call it speed work if you want or intervals or tempo or whatever.  But if you want to run fast, you need to be familiar with running fast.  There are no lack of ways to accomplish this, but I am convinced there needs to be two types of this work:  On hills and on flats.  There is no lack of debate, discussion, review, etc as to how much of this to do, how much rest to take, how steep to climb, how long to do a tempo, how much to do on flats and how much to do on hills ... And those are great conversations that you ought to have with yourself, your training partners, fellow bloggers, and your coach if you have one.  A key for me here though is that both fast work on flats and hills are necessary.  If you can only do one, do hills.  But I think there is a huge value gained in doing some on the flats as well.
• Altitude work  ... if you can get to runs at altitude, you should.  It is best to emulate the factors you will face on race day in training to some degree.  This work can probably be managed - introduced in the last quarter of the year leading to the race (so, like now).
• Downhill running ... while I don't recommend a lot of hard downhill running, I do think a certain degree of it is necessary.  This teaches skills that you need in mountain races that you won't get on running the cinder paths that are called trails.  It programs your super computer how to process in all the little changes to the race course:   the roots, the rocks, the light.  And sometimes that computer program crashes and so you will.  I find the mantra of "don't fall, don't fall, don't fall" helps me with that.
• All the other little things ... like core work, like eating right, like stretching, like getting on to the course and being familiar with it, like defining a race plan, like managing a solid volume of training through the whole program, like maintaining a good balance in life ...

And so when I look at my training I really only have a few of the elements:  uphill running (including faster uphill running), some downhill running, and all the other little things (well, not all of them).  Altitude work will come along (as the snow melts) but I am lacking the general faster flat work that compliments all this, and I lack the longer runs.  Yeah, for that reason between my navel and my crotch.   

So I am done talking about that reason.  I won't ignore it and I will still pursue its correction, but I am done talking about it since it is really not well spent energy.  It is much more fun to work on the dream side of the ledger anyway.

Live it.

Wednesday 052108, Green Mountain

Various tidbits ...

• The talk of who is going to do what in the marathon is starting over at the PPMB. I need to get back to posting some "tale of the tape" predictive stuff. It is a bit tough to wade through some of that stuff because a lot folks put their time based on their ascent or their best marathon.
• My doc called back and said, "hey - your CT scan looks fine. Nothing abnormal. Guess we should do an MRI." Whatever.
• I had yesterday off from work (well sort of ... off from my office job but moving boxes). It was probably the warmest day we had in the Boulder area all year (so far). I went to pick up the kids at school and was a.) in shorts, b.) in work boots, c.) did not have a shirt on. My daughter comes out, looks at me as I am waiting for her at the car and asks, "Dad, do you see any other Dad's here without their shirt on. You are so embarrassing."
  ... I guess I can cross that one off the list.

Did Green today on a warm afternoon. I did not intend to "tag" it but realized about 2/3 of the way up I was moving fairly well (intermediate splits were 5:10 at Baseline-Amp turn off, 21:30 at rock over look, 37:40 at first step to final climb and 42:50 at the top. On the way down I realized that I'd have a shot at breaking 70 for the first time this year and pressed the gas a touch (although not really stretching it out). 69:10. Might be something in the tank after all.

Tuesday 052008 75 minutes

It was a crazy day today with house moving activities, or more rather preparation for house moving activities.  In other words, signing a bunch of documents that provide a good deal of money to other people.  From the new place, I set out.  This meant running more flats than hills.  The issue with this sort of running is

a.) I have to keep it easy to keep stress on my groin at an acceptable level
b.) hence, I cannot run fast
c.)  I have not done a lot of this running as of late, so generally speaking my muscular endurance for these sort of runs is a bit compromised.  Overcoming this is the very purpose of these sorts of runs - simply build muscular endurance so that I have some degree of staying power over longer distances.

Today it was hot.  Not San Diego hot, but it was definitely the warmest day it has been all year.  It felt good to run bareback, smell the smoldering of my skin (okay, not literally), and to check out a whole network of trails near our new place.  The views are quite epic.  I am going to enjoy a lot of miles out there.  I did 75 minutes.  Felt good and got in good work.

A few comment responses ...

====================================================

Justin M wrote:  Geo, I wish you were healthy and not doubling at Pikes. I think we could have a true road v. trail showdown. You run hills and trails every day. I run around Wash Park, City Park, and Cheesman Park and maybe get on the trails on Sundays. I'm hoping to change gears in time for Pikes, but still, it won't be anything like you do.

Okay Justin, first thing:  consider the throw down on.  Bring your best game.  Loser buys the winner beverage of their choice (but you'll have to wait until post the marathon if you are paying up).

Second (and this is less geared at Justin as much as it is an observation I have made), I have been amazed at how I have been categorized now as a trail runner by road runners.  Trail runners consider me a road runner.  CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? 

Seriously, it is odd how we do this division of runners ... it is all running.   Most of the fastest folks at Pikes or on the trails are also pretty damn fast on the roads (Carpenter is often pointed out for "only" running a 2:18 marathon, but I have heard he also ran a 65 minute half - indicating a pretty strong pedigree there too).  Yeah, there are the exceptions, and yes, we all have things that we are stronger at.  My point:  to do well at a trail race like Pikes, it takes hill work, road work, track work, long runs, altitude acclimation and some stupidity to run out of your head on the down hills.  At this point I am more focused on hills because that is where I can get the most training for my buck - it stresses my aerobic / anaerobic neuromuscular / cardiovascular systems without straining parts of me that get hurt while running on the roads.  I'd love to be complimenting this stuff with road work, but I can't right now - so I am capitalizing with what I can do.

There is, however, a certain romance with guys that are strictly trail taking it to guys that are strictly track and road.  Sets up for that sort of Bob Costas commentary that we will all hear too much of out of China later this summer.

=======================================================

Matt ... Pikes is almost entirely up on the Ascent.  It is 13.x miles with 7800 plus vertical.  There are a few very short sections of down, but you almost dread them ... because it means that you need to go back up!  The marathon, of course is nearly all down on the return trip- because you run from the top back down to town after following the Ascent course.  This has redefined to me what is meant by pain.  See the course description, it has a ridiculous level of detail.  Or, if you are Google Earth ready, check out this fly over.

=========================================================

JV - I have had my ass handed to me by Mackey when he wore a shirt that had one of those "woman in a bikini" paintings air brushed on it.  And I don't think he had anything else on under it.  And seriously, I think he won the Bolder Basic in denim jeans one year.  We could start a whole thing of Mackey like Chuck Norris.

========================================================

Brett - I ain't conceding anything to Lance yet. Unless there is a bike involved.

Short shorts

The Daily Camera had an article on "running fashion" today.  My take:  I have got to wear the split shorts for races.  These are sometimes called short shorts.  They have fallen out of fashion and they flip today's average weekend warrior athlete out, as it exposes a wee bit more leg than they want to see.

There have been the occasions with the mountain races where I have gone with something longer, but that is because those shorts typically can carry more stuff (gels, gloves, hat, etc) that I might need in such an event.   But typically, give me the Euro style side splits.  Running in those soccer style or basketball style (well, 90s and beyond basketball style) shorts that go past the knee, it ain't for me.  I am wearing my shorts because they function well and are comfortable.  I need all the advantage I can get and I don't need to move additional material around on my legs.

I am past the days where I can judge a racer like a book cover and determine if I can beat them based on their short selection (guy with white cotton t shirt that says Bolder Boulder 2007, long shorts and 200 dollar Nikes that are bleach white pure as they have been out of the box 10 minutes -  still ain't beating me - hernia or not)

Yeah, I know that sight of my Lilly white near hairless thighs makes people throw up in their mouth.  That is understandable. But I gave up worrying about that along sometime ago, and at that time also embraced wearing dark wool socks with sandals and shorts while I cut the lawn. 

My wonderful wife still rolls her eyes when I wear my running shorts to the pool though.  She rather that I wear a more traditional bathing suit.  I wear my running shorts because they work and they dry pretty quickly.  I will continue to wear them to the pool until I find a Speedo that I really like.

Monday 051908, CT Scan, Treadmillin'

The day started early, with me at the local hospital getting a CT scan. I hit the in door at 6:30, and was out by 7:00. I have never had one before so I had to get a bit of briefing on how " 0.16 in 1000 people have adverse effects that result in death due to the iodine contrast solution." I also had to hear "you might get a hot feeling, a bad taste in your mouth, or the feeling that you just wet your pants." Thankfully now of that happened, all went well (technologist administering IV for solution: "I could hit your veins with a dart across the room!") and I should have the results within a couple of days.

I was pressed for time in the afternoon, so despite the mountains SCREAMIN' at me to come and play, I went the economical route and ran on the mill at work. Mile at 15% (13:40), then 3 miles at 1.5% at "tempo" ... tempo is pretty slow simply because my legs are not used to this pace. Aerobically, I am functioning fine at these paces, mechanically I am just out of "practice." (7:10, 6:30, 6:06). Then a mile relaxed at 1.5%, then 10 x 2 min on, 1 min off with the odd minutes at 15% and the even minutes at 1.5%. The objective here is to provide different stresses to the system: steep uphills, but then followed by rolling terrain. I then closed off with a few easy miles, the last being at 15% again. 90 minutes total. A decent workout: not super hard but stressed me a bit more than I am used to. Under different circumstances, I'd be concerned that this workout was not hard enough ... almost one of those middle "get lost" workouts, but this stuff is serving as a good transition for me right now.

I confess ... I get crazy ideas at times that even though I have lost a lot of training for this year, I could some how glue it together and have a good race. I browse results, look at entry lists, look at pix from last year and the mind starts racing and the fire rises in the belly ... thinking about workouts I want to do, workouts I ought to do, playing out the race in my head, who I am going to compete against. Reality reminds me of how big that damn hill is and brings me back to earth. Still ... there is a part of me that not thrown the towel in yet.

Various tidbits ...

• JV ran a great race down at Jemez 20k. Unfortunately, he got off course, and that jacked his time and his placing. He is rounding into shape nicely. Now if we can get him to do a bit of "speed" work ... ;-)
• Fellow Fleet Feet-er Justin Mock won the Colfax Marathon and has started a foray into the blog world. Nice work Mock, but shootin' the pistolas at the finish? I don't know about that. Hmm, Justin got pulled off course too. Wonder if there is something in the air with the full moon and all.
• JW won his age group at Xterra West this weekend. Watching the journey that JW has been on ... it has motivated me to put an Xterra event in that list of things I want to do someday, along with Leadville. JW bettered his time over last year by 10 mins. His lady BG ran a damn hot 21k and did awesome. You two - keep rippin' it!

Sunday 051808, Green, Week wrap up

I got out this AM for a jaunt up Green, electing to take the Mesa trail to Bear Canyon.  This route is longer, and hence the grade is not nearly as difficult.  My calves were still a bit fatigued from yesterday's road / flat effort (in a good way) so I went easy on this.  The weather was gorgeous although it was a bit chilly for my tank top & shorts in the shadows of the canyon.  I reached the "lower" four way post in 52, the upper post (at the top of Green Bear trail) in 65 and the top of Green in 70.  I came back down in 32 (as is typical these days).

Week wrap up

M - Flagstaff, 68 min
T - 90 min on the mill
W - 90 min on the mill, mixing speeds and grades
Th- Green - 75 min
F - Flagstaff, 2nd Flatiron - 75 min
Sa - 82 min road running
Su - 102 min, Green

Total time was 582, or ~9.5 hours of training.  On whole it was a decent week.  I will look to continue focus on mostly uphill efforts, mixing in a road run periodically to help with muscular endurance, along with an effort that is longer (time) to ready me for the length of the marathon.  Obviously, I will avoid short faster efforts that strain my groin.  Overall volume will remain around 8-10 hours a week.  My goal is to get as strong as I can on outright uphills, understanding that I will not be able to exploit faster paces at more level stuff - since I cannot effectively train that system right now.

On Friday night I went to the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.  I showed up around 7, so at the end of the day, just expecting to watch the 10K for the women and the men.  When I got there there were about a dozen plus women in a lead pack, 2K into the race, and moving, relatively slow (6min/mi pace).  I was struck at how gorgeous it was out:  the sun setting on the Flatirons, 60 degrees, no breeze to speak of (seriously, the flags on the flagpoles were hugging the poles).  I had come in from the east side and so I wandered over to the north end of the track to enjoy the race.  Standing there was the Iowa State distance coach.  Each time the ladies came around, there were nervous looks between them:  who would go?  when?  how hard?  One ISU runner kept looking at this coach, and with each lap he'd say "not yet," or "relax," or "wait."  Then with about 2 miles to go he said "Ok, press for a few laps."  The race that had been going at 90 second laps for the first two miles, then 84s for the next two was suddenly blown open by the race's eventual winner, who bolted off several laps of 76-77.  She won by over 100 yards, all gained in the last two miles.  It was quite impressive to see. To say that the conditions were idyllic would be an understatement.  There was a freaking rainbow cast over the track as the runners made their way around!

I made my way over the stands for the men's 10k, hooking up with the crew of Fleet Feet-ers.  In this shot: Rickey Gates, Andy Ames (these two guys are probably discussing what races to do in Italy or how they will rip Mount Washington), Dan Sturgis, Jon Peeters, Ryan Padilla, and James Johnson.   There were lots of other folks there too of course - distance events in Boulder always get a good draw.

CU men dominated this race from start to finish ... coming through 5K in 15:10, and just a group of CU guys working together through the race.  Their front pack was as large as four at one point, diminished to three, but they ended up taking the top 5 in about 30:40 - an amazing run at altitude.  Finish of the men's race (again this is cheap video!)

 

Of course, we were thirsty for a beverage after watching guys work that hard ... JJ and Matt Hill are obviously not interested in Ryan's throwing down of the Jackson but find Aaron's tatoo of his dog to be fascinating.

Despite being out late on Friday, we made it up early for the Erie Balloon Launch on Saturday morning.  Here are some shots  ... KZ and JZ watching the filling of a balloon.

 

There were balloons everywhere!

Looking up and into one ... flame on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think there were something like over 60 balloons launched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I spent a good part of the afternoon working on bikes.  I ended up replacing my front wheel on my mountain bike (as the axle was totally trashed, the bearings it were crushed).  With school ending soon for the kids, I am going to start biking to the office more.

Oh yeah - CT scan for the hernia is scheduled tomorrow.  I predict nothing will be found, at which point they will then recommend an MRI.  Then they will find some sort of tear, claim it is not a hernia and recommend long term rest to correct it - or wait to until it "herniates" so they can operate on it.

All that said, I realized on my trip up Green today, I was doing a couple of things that I would have found impossible not too long ago.  Running for 90 minutes?  Running up a mountain?  I take it for granted now - and am pissed that I can't fly up the mountain the way I like.  It was not too long ago that doing these activities would have been out of the realm of imagination - and that is when I was wholly healthy!

Saturday, 051708, 82 min

I was beat tired for most of the day - primarily a function of the late night extracurricular activities and the early rise for the Erie Balloon launch (more on these later in the weekend wrap up).  After a nap in the afternoon I got to what I had been putting off for most of the day:  actual running.  I had thought of sneaking to the hills but did not want to take up half the day away from the family, or haul butt into Boulder.

KZ agreed to ride bike with me while I ran.  I had no expectations of how far I'd go or how I would feel.  It has been a LONG time since I have run on open flats and roads without the excuse of a mountain to hold me back.  I knew I would take it easy, but I was still a bit nervous as to how this would play out. 

It basically felt the same as it did four months ago.  It hurts when I run.  I can bear it, but it has a debilitating effect on my stride, my ability to move well.  OH WELL.  I ran easy, chatting it up with Kali, figuring that if this thing ain't going to get better, I will just deal with it as well as I can. 

I thought we'd go for a half an hour or so before I'd circle back with her but she was enjoying the single tracks and the conversation - and I was loving her company.  One hour and 22 minutes later we found our way home, both a bit dehydrated as we were not expecting that length of effort.  It was real easy running - jogging actually.  My legs were enjoying the warm buzz of being taxed in a way they have not been for several months, but being out there with KZ; shooting the breeze about anything, everything, was the highlight of my day.   I was impressed with how far she went too!

Friday, 051708, Second Flatiron, Flagstaff

Friday afternoon and evening was great - I have a lot to post about regarding the Big XII Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but it will need to wait until I get to a weekend wrap up. 

Friday afternoon I broke over to Chautauqua, and wanting to do something different, I took the old ski trail out of the lot up the 2nd Flatiron.  This route, albeit short, is really a good grind.  The footing is awesome, the pitch is challenging but not insanely so.  I hit the pass at 20:40, at a solid pace but not really pressing.  This is destined to become a regular route over the next couple of months and we'll see what we can dial it into.

Unfortunately, the drop on the other side of this route has to be the worst trail in all OSMP space.  It is severely eroded, to the point that it is hard to tell where the trail is anymore (although they have now marked it with pink flags on tree branches).  It dropped back into the Saddle-Amp connector and so I took that back up over to Greenman, then down Gregory, over the Flagstaff road, up Ute to the top of Flag.  I messed around on some of the side trails on Flag that I had not explored before (Plains View, Sunrise Amp,) before descending down the Flagstaff trail.  I took the Crown cutoff, back to Gregory - all simply wanting to explore some trails I had not hit in a bit.  75 mins out on the trip.

Evaluation re: sports hernia

Day started with TZ telling me that she was coming with me to the evaluation with general surgery.  I welcomed this of course, because she has my best interests at heart.  At the same time, I confess, it made me a bit anxious because I know that she would push in areas that I perhaps not be as outright comfortable with.  That is good in the grand scheme of things but ...

TZ's take was that I was not driving the idea into the docs head that rest for a long time was not acceptable for me.  A long time of rest has been hinted as a year.  Rest for a year and this might heal, or surgery short term and this might heal.  She wanted to be sure that the docs knew that athletic performance, at a significant level (not elite by any stretch of the imagination but more than the average American) was important to me and that waiting a year was not an option for me.  TZ said: "You are an athlete.  You need to let them know that."  I guess I thought I had, but admittedly I had not been so blunt to say, "I am an athlete damn it."  I am still not sure I could say that.  Weird, yeah I know.

Anyway, TZ and I reviewed the whole situation with this sports hernia, how much of a PITA patient I had been with the PT, and what we hoped to accomplish in this next session.  Personally, I did not have high expectations of this next appointment.  I simply expected the PT to ask some questions, get an understanding of the situation, and then order up some sort of diagnostic imaging to get a better understanding of what was happening in there.

We met with the doc, I described the situation, history, etc.  He did an evaluation (cough test, various palpations).  Short of it:  he could not feel anything and so it was not a hernia ("it is not a hernia" has to be said in an Arnold type voice).  His recommendation was that I get a CT scan so that he could do further evaluation to determine if there was any sort of hernia.  He stated it could be very likely that we find nothing with this and then we could do additional diagnostic work with an MRI.  If a tear that was not a hernia was found, his recommendation would be rest for as long as it takes and not surgical intervention.  In other words, unless it is a hernia - which by definition is a tear in which material is protruding through, he is not going to do surgery.

In some regards, this is pretty frustrating.  I expected his recommendation of diagnostic imaging, but I did not expect a call that stated if it was not a true hernia, that nothing could be done other than rest for a long time.  I am a also a bit frustrated that I  drop a 20 or 30 dollar deductable payments for these 15 minute sessions, that feel like they are going nowhere.  Obviously I have the option of going outside my network, but that has a cost (literally).  

I need to take a breath and think about my next steps.  I am looking forward to relaxing at the Big 12 10K races tonight at Potts Field as a mental break from this for a bit.

All that said ... I am a pretty lucky guy.  And I am pretty sure I will do Green Mountain this afternoon.

Thursday 051508, Green, Training Blogs Suck

Honestly, most training blogs suck. I mean there is nothing wrong with them outright. They reflect what we are doing, and often the monotony / consistency of training that is necessary to reach your goals.

So sure, there is value in them: showing what you did, what you didn't do, the build up of miles, workouts, races to some goal. So they do tell a story, but just as a training log or blog, you have to connect the dots. It is similar to seeing splits in a 10K track race. You can draw conclusions as to how the race went: who went out too fast, who surged when, when there was a kick, who finished the strongest.

But it ain't the whole story. Those sort of entries lack humanity. It is not until you hear the story of the sacrifice, the struggle, what was going on in the person's head and gut do you really appreciate it. It might even be a story you have heard before, but its resonance with you is what makes it alive.

I subscribe to lots of blogs, including a good number of training blogs. I fully expect most to be entries like "did 10 miles today," "took it easy so I spun for an hour today," and that is the end of it. But I really look forward to the entries that put that laser focused lens on the humanity of the author. Lucho's entry today is exactly that.

And I think that is reflective of why we do these endurance sports. We do them for lots of reasons, but one is that in an endurance event, your humanity is revealed, and you really realize what you are, and what you are not. Not just in a physical sense either.

Green Mountain this afternoon. Via Baseline, Amp, Saddle, Greenman on the way up (44 min) and Ranger, Gregory down (31). 75 RT. I found this entry in my log from last year: Monday June 11 2007 66 minutes. Green Mountain Loop. Typical route – 65:47, up via Chat, Ampi, Saddle, Greenman (new), in 41:30 (I hit the connector at Greg in 5:04). So the descent was in 24:17. I think this is a PR for the round trip. The reality is that I am not too far off that if I could run! There are several stretches of this bugger where you can open it up and run, but because of this hernia, I don't. This is particularly reflected on the down. The good news is that despite this, I am not that far off. The bad news is I have a hernia.

Wednesday 051408, PT appointment, treadmill lovin ...

I was evaluated by my PT today.  5 minute evaluation, agreed that the situation had not significantly improved and so was referred to general surgery for additional evaluation (assumedly an MRI or something to that effect).  I have an appointment with them on Friday.  So things are moving along, but too slowly for my liking. 

Obviously I could be a bit pissed with the fact that I have lost four weeks to determine if this thing would heal, especially when the community consensus was that it would not.  I can't change that, and obviously if it had worked, I'd be better off.  So I will deal with what is reality today, versus harp on what could have been. 

I have not completely reconciled this in my mind, but since rest is not helping this, I think I will train at a level that I can bear.  It will be less than ideal training for what I want to do, but some is better than none.  I know that doing the hundred mile weeks will essentially debilitate me to be unable to train.  I will work back into a scheme that begins to move my fitness along to some degree, but is also conscious of my hernia driven limitations.

Of course, that might all change post this next level of evaluation on Friday.  Actually, if we continue as we have, I'd expect to have a conversation with a doc that bleeds me another co-pay, and sets me up for another session where the actual evaluation occurs.

Schedule was a mess today with the appointment, so I leveraged the office mill again, despite the weather being great.  I got the idea that I'd try a workout that JW (yes, that is him in the pic) recommended, but key it back a bit to see how it felt.

Run 6×2minute hills at AT, jog down.
Run 5minutes at AT on the flat
Run 6×1minute hills at AT, jog down
Run 5minutes at AT on the flat

So I did this on the mill.  I warmed up with a mile at 15% grade (~14), then one at 1.5% grade (~8), just to mix up the grades and the speeds.  I took a quick bio break, setup the fan, and did the 2 minute intervals at 15% grade.  I started these at 5.x mph, so not too quick, definitely not sprinting but a more than "hiking" and something to put a bit of a burn in the legs ... but not too much being a first go in a bit.  Since I could not jog down, I simply kept the pace the same or a little less and just would drop the incline to 1.5.  I did a rest on 90 seconds, but would start the incline back up at 75 seconds into the rest and then push the pace back up.  I ended at a bit over 6.x mph on these. 

I was concerned about the flat and how it would feel - I have not run flat in weeks!  I moved pace to slowly sub seven.  Of course, I felt this in my groin, but no worse then it has been for say the last four months.  I did the five here, and felt rather comfortable from a leg and breathing perspective. 

I then did the one minute hills, starting at 6.x mph and building with each one, with a min rest, bringing the incline and speed back up at 45 seconds.  Did the second five minutes flat at sub 6:30 pace and felt fine.  Closed out with a mile at 15% real easy, and a mile at 7:30 at 1.5%

All in all, 90 minutes.  I like this workout and its varied speed element and would like to dig into it a bit more.

Tuesday 051308, Treadmill

Got this tip from JV:  Incline workout used by Olympic athletes.  The video with the wrestlers is pretty cool.  I still pick JV over those guys.  But it would be close ;).  I have never done the Incline, or the cutoff to the Barr Trail, but a good number of folks have.  Might need to cross that off the list this summer.

Schedule, weather and high gas prices kept me from trekking to the higher ground today.  Went down four floors and to the treadmill.  On the gerbil machine I did an hour at 15%, with the first 20 minutes easy (14:21 for the first mile) and then I started going back and forth with slow hiking and faster hiking for a minute on, minute off.  The slow stuff was slow as 3.3 mph, and the faster stuff got up to 5.7mph.   Over the hour I got well over 3000 feet over vertical.  I then dropped the mill to flat (1.5%) grade and jogged to see how that would feel.  I started at 10 min/mile pace and then slowly (really slowly, like over 26 minutes) I ramped up to sub seven pace.  I just wanted to feel it out.  In short, it feels no different than it did eight weeks ago.  Meaning that it hurts in the gut.  PT appointment tomorrow, so we'll push for progress there.

Monday 051208

I listened to a good deal of Michael Pollan this weekend.  If you have never heard him, go to Itunes and do a search on his name, then sort on result set by price so that you can get the free stuff.  His talks and interviews will provide you with the basic premise of his books regarding food, health, policy, environment.  I was drawn to listening to him because he said a.) Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants (hmm, that sounds right) and b.)  how Galen Burrell took on a "eat local" diet, in part inspired (I believe) by some of Pollan's comments. 

This is good listening.  Generally, while I have thought my diet was fair for a long time, I have over the past year, grown increasingly dissatisfied with the tactical choices I make in a diet in light of my strategic objectives.  In short, I can be better.   And I need to be, particularly as I move into my fifth decade.

JV and I met for an afternoon jaunt up Flagstaff.  We both kept the pace really mellow (more so for him than me), taking the Flagstaff-Rangview-Gregory-Ranger-Greenman-Saddle-Amphitheater trail.  I round tripped (with the Baseline add on) in 68.

Sunday, 051108, Green, week in review

We started the day with a Mom's Day brunch at a local diner.  So much for skipping on coffee for a bit!  I enjoyed the black juice with a hearty helping of huevos rancheros.  Most of the day was spent picking at stuff in the basement or in the yard in prep for the move.

TZ, my wonderful friend, lover, wife, mother of our children:  you are the best.  How lucky I was to bounce into you twenty two years ago and then convince you to spend the rest of your days with me!

In an effort to make today's hike "invisible" I snuck out after dinner (steak, mashed taters, salad, and then strawberry shortcake for desert!) over to Green.  (Side note - I ate way too much this weekend ... but it was good!) My stomach was not happy about the run (as it was full from dinner), but my legs felt great.  Weather was perfect as the evening cooled from a warmer day.  I knew I was dealing with limited sunlight though and tried to keep moving so that I was not totally in the dark on the return trip.  In my haste to get going on this session, I had left my headlamp in the car.

I decided to get a few shots and even try my hand at a little video along the way.   

Starting out of Chautauqua ...

Looking back at Boulder and the Chautauqua Meadow about halfway up Gregory Canyon.  The large white roof near the meadow is the auditorium.

The Ranger Cottage (closed) at the top of Gregory, and at the start of the Long Canyon (to the right) and Ranger trails (to the left).

Some video of the trail right above the Ranger Cottage. 

Some of the steps heading up the Ranger trail.

Up.  Up.  Up.

I ran into this pheasant on the way up.  I have video of him too that I will upload later ...

Some video of the Front Range mountains...

 

This is the worst video ever!  I took this while I "ran" up the final "Elliot" stairs up Green, and the took a look around from the top.  It is about four minutes long, but the first couple are enough to make you sick because the camera is swinging around like crazy.  The stuff at the top though is typical of the beauty we get up there all the time.

 

I ended up getting up in 43, which is rather quick for me these days, but I had rests where I stopped the watch to snap a shot or two.  It was getting pretty dark coming down.  I had to take it really slow on the way down so that I did not end up on my face, RT'd in 79. Week in review

• M - Bear, 82 min
• T - Mill - 90 min
• W - Green - 89 min
• Th- Mill - 85 min
• Fr - Bear - 94 min
• Sa - Green - 76 min
• Su - Green - 79 min

595 minutes ... or just shy of 10 hours.  It is toughest for me to get it in on the weekends actually.  The climbing is coming along well, and I'd feel good about this (or rather better) if it were more a part of a comprehensive program of training with some flat work, some speed work, and some longer stuff.  Not yet though.

Sunday night homework sucks... (not that it is tough, just that it sucks to do it Sunday night)

 

Oh yeah, the intense debate comment engine is sometimes getting trounced (meaning those comments are sometimes lost ...)... I am not sure why.

Pikes recon in the winter

Want a little trail recon?  Check out this video post of the Barr Trail (of course, it is probably not that snowy now).  The comments about Matt Carpenter at the end are interesting factoids I did not know!

Saturday 051008, Green

I got up early and hit Green with Hans (my in laws dog).  Took it real easy - even had a backpack for some of Hans gear (and since I parked at the infamous for break ins Gregory trail head, I threw my wallet, phone, etc in there).   It was a gorgeous morning.  It had rained over night so it was cool, puddles everywhere ... reminding much of how Pikes races often start.  From the top I could seen snow less than a mile to the west, dusting Sugarloaf.  Given I was in a sleeveless T shirt, I did not hang around long.  Got up in around 46, RT''d in 78. 

Two hours later the weather turned absolutely nasty - icy winds out the west, you could see a big cloud front building over the mountains.  The winds were absolutely biting.  Good thing I got out when I did.

Friday 050908, Bear

It's FRIDAY.  I hesitate to say I have had a long week, because I am a corporate weenie.  After all, I am not digging ditches or cleaning bathrooms or flippin' burgers.  Nope.  I am laptop, cell phone, wireless connectivity, ear bud kind of geek.  My hands are soft.  But (there is always a but), it was one of those weeks that seemed a bit longer because I had to tell more people "no" than usual.  And of course, there is some effort in doing this because people don't want to hear "no."  They want to hear "yes."  And yes, we should drive to yes, but sometimes no is the most realistic of the possibilities with the time, scope and dollars we are willing to spend.  Not hard work, but it wears on you after a bit.

I got pinged that I must have a lot of time to train and blog as much as I do.  Being a corporate weenie, I do have a good deal of flexibility with my schedule (which on whole is a good thing, but it can have its detriments).  It helps that I can get wireless connectivity nearly anywhere these days (like the Ranger Cottage at Chautauqua).  I do also have an incredibly supportive family (this cannot be said enough).  And I do try to make it fit in by making as much of training as possible as invisible to them (getting on the treadmill at 9PM the other night for example).  It is never completely invisible, but I try.

Anyway, various tidbits ...

• Good reads ... here and here
• Lucho is back ...
• If you have not been exposed to Chuckie V, here is a good start.

Did Bear today.  Started out of the trailhead out on Eldorado road, up Towhee, to Mesa, to Shadow Canyon.  Reached the saddle in 49, to in 56.  Came back down in 38 and change for a round trip in 94.  This is a rather nice run - good climbing, some pieces that require big step ups, some flatter sections, some steeper sections and the trail is in decent shape.  I did Shadow in 27.  Not super zippy, but if memory serves me correct I was getting this in 23, 24 last year.  If I could extend a bit, I could get that right now.

Thursday, 050808, Office Treadmillin ...

The work day got away from me so I took advantage of the treadmill in the office gym.  15% mile (14:16), 12% mile (12:32), 15% mile (13:58), 12% mile (12:10), 15% mile (14:02), 12% mile (12:27) and then 5 minutes of walking.  85 minutes, 4.3k and change of vertical.

I was talking to someone the other day about injuries, training, goals, etc.  They were impressed with the fact that I was getting in 8-10 hours a week of training.  And so when you hear this "I am impressed" feedback, you can, or maybe rather I can, get to be a bit impressed with yourself.

There are reminders however that make me realize how impressed I ought to be, or maybe rather I shouldn't be.  That reminder comes in the form one my watch first and foremost.  Yesterday's descent took 34 minutes.  Mind you, to some that is impressive.  It ain't a walk down the hill.  It is also a far cry from the 24s I was dropping coming down the hill last year after ascending nearly 10 minutes faster.  Hmmm ... how impressed are you with yourself now Zack?  RT's in sub 65 last year, easy days in 75 and now it is some work to do it in 85.

I know athletes are supposed to have this mentality of bullet-proof-ed-ness.  But it is because we jump in front of bullets with our training so much that we know what our weaknesses are.  Right now I see a king sized cannonball heading towards me called Pikes Peak.  Of course I am electing to jump in front of that projectile and take it between the eyes. 

All that said, I think it is the return trip down that has me concerned the most at this point.  Running, hiking, biking for 90 minutes a day ... well, it just does not prepare you for that down. 

Yeah, it is the down.  Talk to the Pikes folks and they talk about two things that hurt them ... the altitude and the return trip.  These are two physical attributes of the race that you just cannot overcome ...  a lack of 02 at higher elevations and gravity wearing on you as you drive 13 miles of granite back into your frame as you haul ass back to Manitou Springs.  It is one of those things that if I were training well, I'd be concerned about.  With no significant work over two hours ... well, I am a bit more than concerned.

The first segment of down is nice.  You are, after all, going down.  This is a very welcome change after going up for nearly three hours.  You are also getting more 02 with each step down, which is also nice.  You are running by people as well who are still coming up.  Typically these people are very nice, get out of the way and cheer you on.  It is all very motivating. 

Then you get to treeline or the A-frame.  You realize that you have been running a long time.  You realize you have a long way to go.  You ache.  You are tired.  You realize that it is getting warmer.  You start seeing less and less people, and the ones you see are typically not ones that are really happy anyway.  But you press on ... it is a marathon after all, right? 

Then you get to Barr Camp.  The run from there will break your flesh.  It gets hot.  There are uphills again (okay, they are hardly real uphills but at this point those little risers hurt like hell).  There is nobody out there.  You are beyond tired.  You are raw.  It is you, the trees, a long long run, and you get stripped to what this whole thing is really about.  You knew it would hurt this bad but you hoped that this time it wouldn't.  But it does.  Again.  And it hurts more than you remembered it in the off season ... but now you remember it.   You remember how this hurt is different than the hurt of a mile race or that of a 10K.  The flesh becomes broken, you get spiritual, emotional, reconsider goals, the importance of all this ... And your teeth sweat.

No other way I'd rather have it I guess.  If were easy, it probably would not be worth doing.

Wednesday 050708, Green

I really want to read this series of posts when I can have a clear head and can focus for an hour ...

I skipped coffee this AM, and opted for earl gray tea instead.  Going to look to back off the caffeine a bit.

Our new office has a mini gym with a pair of treadmills and a stationary bike.  Sweet.  I am not sure what Life Fitness model these gerbil machines are but they crank up to 15% grade and 14 mph (versus the typical 10 or 12).  Not a fan in sight though ... can't wait to effectively freak people out in there with my gruntin-sweatin-drippin-stinkin up the joint shuffles.  There are some elliptical trainers too.  Very nice office perk.

The day started out rainy, but cleared progressively through the morning.  I contacted JV early to book in a Green run via Gregory.  While we agreed to meet at the Gregory lot, we missed each other.  I waited for about five minutes past our designated meet time and then started up the trail, thinking he'd catch me.  I never saw him.  I thought for a bit maybe he was ahead of me because a hiker coming down asked "are you guys racing?" (in a future post, I will cover why the answer to that is always NO on OSMP land).  He indicated there was a guy ahead of me with a dog.  I still kept going up at an easy pace, feeling the sting a bit from last night's mill work.  I got up in just under 50.  The top was stellar.  I wish I had my camera!  Rainbow to the east.  Clouds and a storm rolling to the south.  Sun to the west with ridge after ridge after ridge fading into the distance.  Longs with new snow on it it the north.  I sat in the un up there for a bit while it rained on me at the same time.  Round trip and the extra stuff I did while looking for JV brought me to 89 minutes.

Tuesday 050608 ... long post, mill work

Long day at the office with back to back to back to  ... you get the idea ... meetings. 

It was such a nice evening out, I thought about how wonderful it would be to go out and run in it.  That however is not a luxury in which I will partake at this time.  For a moment, I seriouslyt contemplated a late night run up Green with the headlamp.  Those sort of efforts are actually kind of fun, but a bit nerve wracking (can I hear the mountain lion better if I take off this IPOD?).   And there is a bit of travel around both ends of it.   So then I contemplated bringing my treadmill outside, but I can't really move it on my own.  Ah well.  To the gerbil machine in the basement at 830PM.  2 miles at 15% (14:20, 13:06, so yes ... hiking), 2 miles at 12% (11:41, 10:54),  mile at 15% (13:46), mile at 12% (12:32), mile at 15% (14:02) (total time was a few ticks north of 90 minutes) ... abs felt great, this was some work in the legs, and a lot of sweat (even though I had the fan blowing).  Total vertical was about 5k feet (which sounds weird with a mill when you actually are really going nowhere).

Various tidbits ... (this is a bit long today so I apologize ... but that is the beauty of an RSS feed ... you can delete what you don't want to read)

• I had this exchange with someone at work today ..."how you doing?" "Good, how are you?"  "well, GZ ...let's just say, it is all about what you decide to worry about, aint it?"  I don't think it gets anymore profound - Zen than that.
  
• TZ hurt her knee in soccer on Friday night.  Apparently she popped her knee cap (patella) out.  She is in a brace now but still gimping.  Ought to make the move interesting. 
  
• McDuff - great talking to you today!  Hope you recover soon!  Your call motivated me for my run tonight.
  
• Lucho, oh Lucho ... where have you gone?
  
• JW continues to have a great season ... watching James is like watching a great show.  The guy is killin' it.  You can't help but cheer for him.  I even want to see certain things play out, kind of like you do when you are watchin' a good movie.
  
• For "mini-society" in school, daughter KZ is making and selling ... "ZACKSACKs."  TG and I coined the term ISAC (ala the IPOD) but that did not fly.
  
• TG and I had a good conversation yesterday ... but similar to what our conversations have been:  short, on a crappy cell connection, and then we need to go be Dads and Husbands.  We talk about seasons lost, seasons to come, being fast, being slow, and the ISAC.  We are sharing a common thread of getting older, not being as fast, figuring out what is next and the balance of it all.  I owe TG a lot when it comes to running ... he has long been a sounding board, gave me a good verbal kick in the arse when I needed it, motivated me, and shared a lot of miles.
  
• Clarification on the post from yesterday regarding the Fern Trail conditions ... the trail has lost most of its ice and so that is not really a problem any more.  My note on the trail being in crappy condition is that exactly - it is a poor trail.  Much of the upper stretches of trail have begun to erode badly and turn into a gravel sand.  It has really gotten much worse over the last two years.  If I had infinite time, I would be glad to dedicate time to help reconstruct the trail with water bars, etc ... it desperately needs it.
  
• I have received some questions on my sports hernia.  Since I have been doing some vertical and some hiking I have been asked if this thing is getting better.  Short answer:  NO.  Longer answer:  Any thing I do that is short carriage, i.e. biking, running up hill, hiking, etc does not aggravate the hernia.  Longer stride stuff (say running sub 8 pace) does.  I can bear that pain if I elect to, but it does degrade my ability to train there - and so I am not!  Also, coughing, sneezing, and sleeping seem to bother it as well.  Why sleeping?  I think because I sleep face down and usually with a pillow under part of my torso (as I have for 30 something years) it pitches me back on my upper half a bit.  I have tried to correct this by sleeping on my back, but inevitably ... I end up back in this position.  Overall, this pain is (on a 1-10 scale) like a 3 or a 4.  Enough to throw you off, but bearable most of the time.   All that said, I expect to have a conversation with my PT at my next appointment (May 14) that essentially has me saying "I have been doing my exercises, I have not been doing anything to particularly aggravate this thing and it still hurts.  Current approach is obviously not working.  What is next?"  In fact, I expect to seed this conversation before the appt via email.  Of course, I could wake up tomorrow and all will be better ... until I sneeze.   I expect this will result in some truer diagnostics of the condition (ultrasound, MRI). ... and yes, I hope it all just gets magically better in the next couple of days ...
  
• A clarification on what "gearing in" is for me ... as I approach race day or an event, I begin to gear in.  I watch my hydration more, I begin to watch my diet more (drop beer, drop seconds, avoid desserts, etc) ... and just try to do the little things a bit more than I normally would.  The opposite end of this is gearing out, where I will not care as much ... typically that is in the late fall.  I find it hard to maintain this mentality or physicality (particularly race weight) all year round.  I look at it in quarters with each quarter "upping the ante" a bit more ... really, this is nothing huge either way (in our out) but the little things add up over the weeks and months leading up to race day.
  
• Facebook is ... ridiculous.  I have been playing with it over the last couple of days.  It seems to connect me back with more people I knew from the 80s and 90s than anything else.  That is nice, but it is a bit weird to recall some of those chapters.   I am in a bit of Internet overload today with the typical 300+ emails I receive a day, plus the 100 or so blog feeds, 40 or so podcasts, playing with Wordpress, Facebook, MuddySocks, etc.  Good mental floss but my mental gums hurt ...
  

Monday 050508, Bear

Various tidbits ...

• Apparently there was a death on the trail at the CPTR this year.  No doubt about it - the worst part about this is that someone died and there are folks who loved this guy who will miss him.  There is an additional ripple effect that drives me nuts though:  people who use this sort of  event as ammo towards endurance athletes to make an argument that it does not provide a healthy lifestyle.  All, I can say is ... whatever ...
  
• Additionally, in South Boulder, a 140 pound mountain lion was spotted and then tagged.  (the DC article) I had a conversation with a co-worker once about mountain lions that went like this: 

"You wear an IPOD when you run?"
"Yes."
"That is a bad idea.  I mean, how are you going to hear any mountain lions coming with that thing on?"

... I still run with an IPOD on ... 140 pounds?  Damn. 

• Dave got some more press for the Miwok win
  
• Shalene Flanagan set a 30:34 10K AR last night.  Double damn! 

So in my slew of stupid Internet ideas (like a podcast on Pikes), I had this one yesterday ... if you have not seen the "street view" thingie on http://maps.google.com it is insane.  I can see my house on it and know that the pictures they took from the street were around Halloween because we have those silly pumpkins up over the front house lights.  You can see into my garage (and yes, it was / is a mess). And then you can "cruise" up the street and do this all through my neighborhood.  Anyway, my stupid idea was I'd take a picture on the trail up Green every 10 feet and effectively create the same sort of thing for the trail.  Yeah ... dumb. 

Mid-day I started to feel really slow.  And I knew why ... I had one too many beers last night.  Yeah, stupid I know.  See how all this is wrapped together?  Stupid ideas, stupid habits ... I got a little carried away with having a good time last night after my run and I was paying a bit for it today.  Anyway, it served as a reminder that being about 100 days out, it is about time for me to put a wrap on this behavior and "gear in." 

I got Bear in under near perfect conditions this afternoon (warm, no breeze, slightly overcast).  Bear, via Fern Canyon, is much steeper than Green alone.   While the views at the top are better than South Boulder Peak, or Green ... and the top is more epic, because of the steepness and trail conditions (very poor footing above the saddle), I find it to be one of my less loved training options.  Most of the ice from a few weeks ago has cleared out.  While this is a nice climb, and perhaps the pinnacle peak of the three on the Flatirons, I think its race emulation is poor (Barr Trail is not as steep and has very good traction compared to Fern).  50 minutes up, real easy, with the saddle in 31.  The down was in 32, for an RT just under 82.

Weekend 0503-04-08, week in review

Saturday was a mess.  I was tired.  Really tired. I actually came close to taking a nap a could of times on Saturday, but ... we were busy boxing stuff up for the move.   Seriously, our house looks like a box bomb has hit it... More than once this week, I recalled how I could once fit all my earthly possessions into a Plymouth Horizon and be on my way.  ... I have a grill now.  That would take up most of such a car.  We have a hutch.  How do in the name of god do I get a hutch into my Element? 

We box stuff up, throw stuff away, donate stuff, sell stuff ... and there is still MORE stuff.  It is unbelievable.  So all day Saturday I dozed to podcasts while boxing stuff up.  Did not get out for anything.  And that was probably a good thing.

Did I mention on Friday I did not see anyone on my hike up Green above the Gregory trail head?  Not a soul.  Today, Sunday was totally different - there had to be thousands of people out there on the hills out there Saturday mid day.

Early in the AM, I had to drop TZ's 'rents off at the airport.  TZ and KZ had a rock climbing gig with the Girl Scouts.  JZ and I got back to the house, grabbed some grub and headed to the hills with Hans (my in-laws' dog).   We hiked up Green from the Flagstaff road.  We saw Allison V with Sierra coming off Flag as we got out of our car.  A few minutes above the Greenman/Ranger junction we ran into JV, looking strong.  At the top, there had to be a dozen folks up there - including mountain adventure legend Buzz.  There was even a guy up there with a damn parrot.  Of course Hans, a bird dog was going ape-sh*t at the site of a tasty green bird.  Thankfully, no feathers or fur were lost.

Some pix ... en route in the Element.

Hiking up ... that is not Green in the background but the NW shoulder of it ...

Cooling off on the way up ... one lays in the snow, the other puts it in his hat.

Looking back at Flagstaff, about 3/4 the way up Green.  You can see the p-lot where we started.

Signing the register at the top.

JZ at the top of Green (we had cold pizza and oranges for lunch)

Still too short to use the mountain locator disk though!

Afterwards, we scooted back down the mountain and down Flagstaff road where we met up with the GS troop.  Back to east county, dropped of Hans, picked up Lucy, got some water, yapped with TZ and headed back up to the hills.  Lucy and I did not dig up Green but I knew we were making fair time.  At the four way junction, I was wondering if we'd break 48.  30 seconds later I was thinking we could break 47.  A minute later it was a run at 46.  I finished up in 45:59. 

That last stretch is a b*tch.  Ascent Ace Scott E has done that section from the four way junction to the top as repeats to emulate the last section of Pikes - the 16 Golden Stairs.  As I hiked with John today, I was telling him that this last section was tough, and I gave it a name - "The Silver Stairs."  He agreed as he was doing it, it is tough!  Of course, a lot of the step ups are a lot harder for him given his height!  Or leg length!

I realized as I was running (uh, yes, I was running and it felt fine) that last section of the stairs, and this is a realization I come to periodically, when you are tired ... you can keep digging, keep going.  The "stairs" burn, they hurt, you want to stop, ohgodyouwanttostop! ... but if you can (somehow) get past that, suddenly you can keep moving through it ... times begin to fall.

It felt good to roll a little bit.  It did not hurt my stomach (going up never really seems to hurt it), and it was nice to sweat a bit.  I realize that this is not the ideal sort of training for me, and hence, it is not the ideal sort of run up for me.  There are sections that are "flatter" where I'd love to be able to open up and roll - but those are sections are don't because I can't / won't / ought not to stretch out on. 

For what it is worth (fwiw), tonight it did not matter ... I was loving being out in the woods, working, running with my dog, listening to U2 (Joshua Tree) (dude, it was released the spring of my senior year of HS... of course I am biased!) (first two songs start with "I want to run ..." and "I have climbed highest mountain, I have run through the fields ..." ... yes cheesy as all get out but good running songs).  I felt very alive.  And that feels good.

Oh yeah ... I did not see ANYONE above the Gregory Canyon entrance.  In fact, I only saw one person in Chautauqua when I headed out at 6:45 ... and that was Stefan G of Satan's Minion's fame.  He biked in as I was getting ready to roll out.  Before I even rolled out, he was running up the old ski trail.    If you have never seen the Minions, you are missing the coolest thing in Boulder ever.  These guys run up to the base of a Flatiron, scramble climb it, then run down to the base of another and do that again ... in ridiculous time.

Week in review ... a lot of vertical this week, easily more than 10K feet..  My stomach feels fine with this activity.  It is the coughing, sneezing and sleeping I do that makes it hurt.  Yes, as I sleep face down, I think it positions my hips in a way that bothers this thing.

• M - Green, 94 min RT
• T - Green, 85 min RT
• W - Green, 82 min RT
• Th - Treadmill at 15%, 70 min
• Fr - Green, 95 min RT
• Sa - rest
• Su - Green hike w/JZ, followed by Green 45:59 up; 80 RT.

Week was 506 minutes.  This is  less than what I'd like it to be (at least 10 hours, closer to 12), but ... well, it is what it is.  I am nursing an injury.  I feel much happier doing this sort of stuff (climbing in the hills) than trolling around on a bike!  And considering that this week came with a day off ... well, not bad.  Not great, but I will take what I can get these days in light of it all.

I keep getting this reminder to register for the BTMR tonight.  I think I am going to have to play it safe and pass. 

Congrats to Dave Mackey ... winner of Miwok 100K in record time.  Dude - you continue to amaze us!  (and if you can hold 7:30's over 62 miles over hill and dale, well ... show up next year!)

“All I want to do is drink beer and train like an animal.”  Rod Dixon

GOOD NIGHT!