Tuesday 012114

15 minute interview with Martin Fagan, an Irishman who is looking to come back after a doping ban.  Ugh.  Sounds like many contrite interviews that occur in endurance sports post a PED event – simply sad.  In some regards, I am reminded there are benefits of never being that good – good enough to run sub 61 in the half which is very damn good … but realizing that ain’t good enough.

Failed to mention that as I was finishing up my run yesterday, the 1972 10000 meter NCAA champion was out walking his dog.  Any guesses without googling it as to who this sub 4 minute miler and 2:11 marathoner is?  Another hint, he won Comrades in 81 in 5:46.  Now – that is some range.

Called and ordered a new ANT stick.  Free actually.  I told them I had tried all the USB ports, deinstalled and reinstalled the USB drivers, the device out of Windows device manager, the ANT agent software, blah, blah, blah and the stick still didn’t work.  The guy didn’t even put up a fight:  “yeah, let’s ship you a new one.”

FWIW, I tried to submit that request, ticket on their website via the “email support” forum but each time I did it, I’d crash their web server jboss instance.  Actually first I would attempt to log in and it would tell me that I was logged in.  As Bob Kupernick or Sue Wright or whoever … and it would actually show me the devices that person had registered with Garmin.  Then I would try to submit a ticket and the whole thing would barf.

Afternoon – Steve M and Dave B at work connected up with me for the lake loop.  I then tacked on a half dozen 30 second strides.  9.2 miles.  My right arse cheek is clearly an issue right now.  I can almost see how that right leg is striding a bit less than the left.  That is odd because I think I can see the left quad looking significantly weaker.  Imbalances abound.

Wednesday 081413

Kim Dobson’s hill climbing and altitude tips … given her success, a bit hard to argue with her.
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It looks that due to the flooding that has occurred in Manitou, the Pikes Peak race expo won’t be held and their will be some changes to packet pick up.  The weather to me this year feels a bit different – certainly not as dry as the last couple of Augusts.  We are not quite to the chill that took the weekend in 2008, but I would not be surprised if weather played a bit more a part in this year’s race.

Work has been busy, so I have not been trolling the start lists, etc.  Scout activities have also been on the up tick this week (committee meeting Monday night, where we reviewed two Eagle project proposals and then a regular Troop meeting Tuesday night).  I probably won’t get down to Manitou until Saturday night, evening as the Troop has annual planning that day (an all day Saturday event).  I might not even get my number until Sunday AM. 

The race website has added a “Pikes TV” link that provides videos from past races and is expected to provide up to date information as well as some of the typical background stuff.
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AM – 6 miles.  Headed over to “Death Hill” as the kids call it.  I did a few effort based climbs on that.  I was tempted to do 8, simply because that is what I do when I do this hill, but I kept it to five – to follow the Luchinator’s prescription, and not to overdo it. 
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On Sunday, we cleaned the van post the Yellowstone trip.  Typical stuff, heavy vacuuming, getting all the crap out of the seats that the kids embed in there, etc.  Afterwards we took it over to the car wash – one of those car washes that is just a bay with a change machine.  You drive in and work the high pressure hose and the foaming brush yourself.  TZ got me to bring the Element as well as it was in need of a cleaning.  On the fly there, we just opened it up and blasted out the INTERIOR with the high pressure wash. 

On Monday, the car started to smell pretty bad.  TZ went out there and went to the spare tire well and she said it may has well been filled with vomit.  All the crap we washed out of the interior washed down into there and did not drain and was just … ick.

So yes, you can wash out the interior of an Element with a hose.  But be sure to drain that spare tire well.
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KZ has started XC again.  And like last summer she did not announce this decision until about a day before actual practice started.  Meaning that she skipped the 8 weeks of pre-season.  Part of me says, “hey her gig, she can do what she wants and it is good that she is doing XC.  It is healthy, it is social and she can have a different take on it.”  But I’d be a liar if I did not admit that part of me says, “damn kid you could certainly make this season start a helluva lot easier had you not delayed that decision and started doing some of this work a couple of months ago.”   I think this might reflect some of the challenges I will face as my children transition into adulthood.
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Good 800 meter race yesterday and awesome running by beer miler Simmons.
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Looks like my expected trip to Durham next week is postponed.  Can’t say I am heart broken.  Climbing into an aircraft the day post PPM did not sound particularly appealing.
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This morning’s listening …

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I have been using the Forerunner 310XT for about a month now.  I like the watch as it is a bit more streamlined than the 305 and it has some additional features.  Some of the features are useful (in time HR graph), some are okay (calculated descent and ascent on the fly, only okay because they are pretty error prone but they give you a general idea) and some are just useless (not a big fan of the virtual partner thing but I can see how some folks dig that). 

The biggest pain in the ass is the ANT agent though.  This is the tool you use to get the watch to upload your GPS data.  It works … sort of.  And intermittently.  Last week it was fine – I could grab data up into Strava, and Sportstracks no issue.  This week – despite uninstalling the agent, and reinstalling it, killing the device driver for it, reset pairing on the watch and with the agent, etc, etc … it suddenly does not want to send data.  W.T.F.  Such a first world problem I realize.

In any case, I got it finally to work by blowing out some Garmin XML files, hard resetting the watch, etc. 
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Good video.

Sunday 102112

15 miles this AM, and it went well.  Just rolled along comfortably and progressed a bit as the run when on.

That is the Sportstrack data from my Garmin 305.  According to Strava via my Iphone, I am a bit fitter.

Strava put the run at 15.3, with 511 of climb, whereas Sportracks/Forerunner put it at 15.03 with 458 of climbing. 

Meh, they both agree it was 1:50 minutes ish of running.  The variations are not large on any one mile, but they add up over the course of a run.  No biggie.  For the sake of my records, I will stick with the Garmin thing for now.

Good run.  I started it feeling easy – really not sure of what I would get.  I started easy (naturally falling into a 145 to 150 groove, but also sub 8 pace).  I never really went after it, but after the hill climb on 120th (in the mile 6-7 segment), I decided that it would be okay to roll a little bit.   Ended up being a good steady work – with the average being something under 7:30.  AHR on the run 156, with a max of 175 (some of those hills have some bite!).  Nothing killer here, but a nice run for me given many of my solo Sunday efforts in the past have ended up being slogs instead.

Good week with the run today, a longer tempo on Friday and the turn over on Tuesday.  72 miles on the week – nearly all flat, and so just 9.5 hours.  Next week I head to Atlanta so I will “roll with the punches” and look to exercise some greater discipline over the “travel diet.”

Thursday 011311

I had thoughts that I would join Jason and Aaron this AM, but TZ had to head out to Denver early for a conference.  I skipped the AM track session to get the kids out the door.  In an attempt to do some emulation of what had been on the docket (8 x 600, 4 x 200), and to accommodate my work schedule, I used mapmyrun to get figure out a 600 meter stretch of road nearby. 

After a short warmup I got to work.  2:00d, 1:33r, 2:14u, 1:26r, 2:04d, 1:23r, 2:15u, 1:23r 2:04d, 1:20r, 2:13u; 1:26r, 2:05d, 1:29r, 2:13u.  “d” is for down (slightly downhill, slightly downwind), “u” is for up (which felt harder too), and r is for recovery (easy jogging).  Got out too fast in this workout and paid for I but that is part of the learning with these workouts for me.  Also was feeling the lack of familiarity with this sort of stuff, as expected.  Concluded with 4 x “200” which I just made 4 by 45 seconds to be sure.  7 miles. I really would have benefitted from the track and running with other people in terms of consistency of effort, pace, but I made what I could of this, and definitely got something out of this.  It was nicer out today – with temps creeping into the 50s.

Food log – AM – bagel w/butter, yogurt, coffee, banana
Mid day – a few handfuls of gorp, yogurt
Dinner – spag, meatballs, sauce, cheese, OJ, garlic bread

Registered for the Golden Gate Dirty 30.

Couple of articles I am mucking through … diet, strength training, winter training.

Got the Garmin back today.  That is pretty good turn around.  Even though it was out of warranty, I got a completely refurbished one for 79 bucks under a week turn around.  This is, I think actually my third Garmin in three years …

You WANT TO SEE THIS SHOW.

PM – 5 miles on the mill. 

Wednesday 010511

Food log
AM – coffee, half a bowl of Cheerios (JZ left overs)
Ham, egg, cheese, mushrooms on a flatbread.
Mid day – coffee.  A little later an apple.
Dinner – 2 bowls of corn chowder (home made!), bread toasted w/ butter (home made bread!) and a bottle of EPO IPA (HOMEMADE!).  Then a yogurt a little later.

Drinking and exercise.  Hmm.

Mock’s centerfold.

Garmin contacted me back on the watch.  Everything they had me try does not work.  Next step, return it and get a refurbished one for 79 bucks.

My company is offerring a point reward system (more points means – I think more chances to win various prizes like movie tickets, etc) for performing various exercise activities.  They actually will give a free pedometer to track progress and earn points.  There is a part of me that is tempted to send my sporttracks log file from 2010 (it is 20MB large) to see if I can just win the whole dang thing by upping my points and hence number of chances.  But that might be a bit overly competitive.

11 miles on the treadmill.  Easy.  Even though I run the mill at 1.5%, I don’t count that for vertical.  Not sure that is a good or smart rule.  Just is.

No alternative exercise yesterday or today.  Getting behind on that … work transition.

Monday 010311

Yeah, I decided to hide the prior post.  A run numbed my brain a bit.  I was pretty cranky this AM (last night too), and while I have those sorts of thoughts occasionally, my better judgment keeps me from shoving them up to this blog.  My apologies. 

A little something on those motion activated cameras west of town.

AM – 10 minutes alternate exercise, including planks, push ups, leg lifts, squats (wt. bearing – 30), lunges (wt. bearing), and some other stretching.

Garmin 305 suddenly won’t hold a charge.  It will run on the cradle, just not off it.  Yeah, it has been about a year.  Called in for an RMA.  Not sure if this will fly because I am pretty sure it is out of warranty.

mid morning  - 10 miles.  Did 3 with TZ on her run/walk loop, then 3 with Lucy, then 1 with Bart, then 3 on my own.  All very easy.

Food/fuel
AM – few cups of coffee (creamer, sugar)
everything bagel, toasted with butter

Mid day, post run – 2 bowls of rice krispies cereal with 2% milk (JZ was eating some so I joined him), handful of popcorn.

Mid afternoon – kale, spinach, strawberry, orange, orange juice, broccoli, carrot smoothie.  Green Monster #1 on the year. (16oz?)

Dinner – apple, 2 sizeable bowls of spag with home made sauce, a few meatballs, and parm cheese.

Evening – couple of glasses of OJ (a bit too much, it was rich in the stomach)

Thursday 012810

AM – It snowed last night.  Not a lot, but enough to have me decide to avoid the risk of a icy street in the dark.  Not as tough as some I guess.  Happily took refuge in the garage, 6.5 miles very easy on the mill. 

I know we all have the things we like that others look at and scratch their heads at.  I am leaving the office building last night and mention to a coworker as we are walking out, “well, looks like snow is coming.  Good thing.  We need it.”  He grins at me and SHOUTS, “WHATEVER.  I AM GOING TO LAS VEGAS BABY!!!”  I look at him and realize he thinks this is about the best place on the planet a person could go to.  I mean there is this crazed look in his eye like he just told me he is going to go to heaven on earth for the weekend.  My opinion is that it is about the last place on the planet I’d want to be.  Of course, the tables would be turned if I told him, “I AM RUNNING UP PIKES PEAK THIS WEEKEND BABY.”  He’d think I am one of them.  We all got our thing.  What happens on the run, stays on the run I guess.

PM – mill at work.  Easy.  Started listening to this interview with McMillan and Gotcher. 67 minutes (so just under 8 minute pace).  Did not feel like zipping up the pace so kept the effort easy and slowly rolled up incline to 3.5 (not too steep but a little bit of a grade) through the run, and then dropped it back down to 1.5.

Garmin 305 seems to have died again.  Not sure if the battery just died on this refurbished model or what (it ain’t waking up off the USB cradle).  Worked perfectly well this AM too.  This bugs me of course because I have become expectant on that data of distance, pace, elevation – and probably the most interesting is HR. An additional data point that I also track is training stress score … just to see volume of work over time.  My side log in Sporttracks (tracking mileage, minutes) gets kind of broken when I am not using the Garmin.   Not sure if Garmin will provide another one given this was a refurb replacement.  None of this is particularly important.  I will just need to fly visually for a bit versus off of instrumentation.

Wednesday 123009

Pressed for time today, but no big deal.  It was pretty cold and breezy out.  The blue skies we had yesterday were replaced with a murky gray, as a front was blowing in (ambient in the teens, not sure of the wind but probably less than 15)..  Warmed up two miles with the dogs out to Dead Toad Road and back (2 miles +) and then did 10 by 1 minute on, 1 minute off near CDPeaks house (to keep it close).  The ons were uphill – about 4-5% grade.  So, given the 10500 feet elevation, these were not zippy, but definitely got the HR up.  Jogged out about a half mile post the last and then had a half mile climb back to the house.  There is no road way to get to CDPeaks house without going up hill …

… definitely had thoughts about some standard workouts here next summer.  I have made going to Mosquito Pass the standard, but I could do just as well on a loop course here, and a set of something similar to Lindens (except higher).

Six miles.  Probably will day off tomorrow to ski.  If so, I finish the year with 3656 miles.  Nearly all of my runs have been actually a little more than what I write … “just to be sure.”  In other words, in some of my early runs with the Garmin, I saw 5 miles on the watch (as an example) and then would load it into the computer.  The computer would then read 4.99.  WTF?!  This would drive me NUTS.  It did not happen all the time, but was more prone to happen with runs with more turns.  So I incorporated the 1% rule.  Meaning I’d add 1% to each run “to be sure.”  So if I run 6 miles, I’d look to make it 6.06.  At least one person I know says this makes the Garmin the wrist bitch.  So all that said … I think it is a solid number for the year. 

Unless I effed up the math.

Thursday 111909

Despite multiple protests on my part to avoid anything Christmas before Thanksgiving, I was overruled by two children who were losing it with all the snow.  I succumbed. 



For those wondering, we have placed two of the pups.  We have one of the males left and will probably keep him.  There are debates on his name now.  I have pitched Jules after the Samuel Jackson character but I am likely to be overruled on that.  This is the male we have … (and before this past week’s snow) … JZ was working the camera and so I apologize in advance for his creative cinematography.

Midday – very easy 7 miles, 1 hour with SM at work.  He is recovering nicely from hernia surgery.  I was actually pleased to feel a bit fatigued from yesterday’s session.  Nothing overwhelming but definitely aware that I did some work yesterday.

I was stoked to come home and find my new Garmin in the mail.  Excellente!  Totally replaced, no cost to me (other than 2 bucks in shipping the old one back).  This one beeps, all the buttons work and the wrist strap is intact (I destroyed all the previous in 10 months of owning the other watch).

PM – post 9PM.  Out and about into the streets of Broomfield.  5 miles.  I was drawn to the Broomfield HS track lights.  The track was lit, the lanes were clear – but the whole field was covered in snow compacted down to ice – and there were football teams playing on it at 10PM at night.  I think these were middle schoolers.   AHR = 130, max 141.  So yes, very easy.

The Incline Club has their first 2010 season workout next Sunday at 8:00am - starting from Manitou's Memorial Park.

WEDNESday 111109

Got out with MK and DocJ this AM.  We celebrated MK’s birthday.  He had completed 50 circuits around the sun  DocJ got us up Flagstaff via a route I had not hit – and I bet that JV might not even know.  Nah, I take that back.  Great conversation, great views, even some deer.  It is such an honor for me to run with these guys of such great passion and wisdom.



I got in some mileage ahead, and a bit after.  The Garmin kept shutting down on me, so I did not get a good reading regarding mileage for the Flag trip.  MK’s read 7.7 – so I will use that and my “e.c.” to get to 11 miles over 2 hours with 1600 feet plus climb.

But it was steep.



I need to pause for a moment and post a bit here about Jerry Lynch.  The dude is SIXTY SEVEN.  67.  And he is running up these hills.  I compare him to EVERY other 67 year old I know (or folks in that ten year category) and he is something TOTALLY different.  About a month ago I was running with him up at Heil Ranch and as we finished the downhill stretch, he was leading me – aggressively, and rolling it– and I was going 5:05 pace (and not for a short segment).  67.  That is just absolutely BEAUTIFUL.   He said to me today that I reminded him of himself when he was 40 (mind you, he was a lot faster).  I hope I can be a reminder of him when I am that age. 

I was pretty annoyed that Garmin kept shutting down.  I started it up at least 20 times through the run.  The good news is I sent in a service request via email last night and got my RMA# this morning – all under warranty.  Will package it up tonight and get it sent out.  My personal theory is I have jacked the buttons by sweating too much on the dang thing.  But here is something interesting:  the ZoneFive software I use seems to “glue” the gaps together pretty well.  It actually calculated that I went 11.5 even though the watches read out was less than that.  So it compensated for the “downtime” errors.  Pretty cool.

Over the weekend I ran into Bill Wright at a soccer game.  Spoke with him a bit.  Afterwards Tracy asked … “who’s that?”  “Bill Wright,” I reply.  She looks at me with the “umm, who?” look.  I say, “Bill Wright … Open Space Pirate Extraordinaire”  “Oh, him.” 

Roes finds the zone … Rick plays with fixed rate training

The Gothic show of RCPM has been posted.  Recording is not as crisp (a little bass-ey) as I’d like it, but I will keep it anyway.  I am 100 percent certain it is me you hear yell “YEAH” at 3:25 into Nada.  I sound pretty damn good.  Also found the opening act (who’s front man, Jim Dalton, went off to become the guitarist of the Peacemakers), the Railbenders up as well – now that is some good stuff too.

Sunday 110809

I got word that the Rocky Mountain Road Runners were meeting up for an event pretty close to my home (Big Dry Creek – which I run on regularly either from home or work).  I had never run with these folks, so I was interested to check it out, had the time this AM, and was interested in seeing how the handicap start went. 

The event was a 9 mile “race,” out and back 4.5 miles on the Big Dry Creek Trail.  I was not feeling really up for a race, as I was dealing with the “hey you did a workout two days ago” syndrome, but figured it would make for a solid workout.

I showed up about a half an hour before the event.  In order to “seed” me, they asked for a recent 5k or 10k time.  I did not want to sandbag the handicap, and so I gave them the 18:14 from the Broomfield Days 5k.  “Okay, you will start 46 minutes and 10 seconds after the first folks start.”  WOW.  I was not really expecting to wait THAT long.  Oh well.  I hung around for the initial (time zero) start and then started some real slow jogging.

The Garmin suddenly refused to cooperate (worked fine yesterday).  It just would not stay powered on.  It was fully charged so I have to assume the power button is now jacked (much like the scroll down button is).  Definitely can’t hold off on servicing it now.  Reverted to the reliable Highgear, knowing that the miles would be well marked on the trail.

My jogging for warm up was SUPER slow (foe mw).  Like 10 minutes a mile.  If that.  I felt like ass and seriously questioned if I’d be able to run sub sevens for this effort.  I made a mental note to set the bar at an hour for a solid tempo, but gave myself the out to just jog it if the wheels were coming off.  After forty minutes, I called it four miles and stripped down to essentials for the hard running.  I am surprised actually how easy it feels to suddenly get out at low sixes after feeling like crap running at 10s.

One guy lined up with me at our handicap time and then there was one other guy with a handicap slower than us.  We got out comfortably, chatted a bit, both got our excuses out (just want to get a workout, I am coming off Denver Marathon, blah, blah, blah) and then got into a comfortable rhythm.  I still felt kind of crappy.  In the nine miles at Denver, I felt like I was ready to rip legs off.  Today, mine felt like they should be ripped off.   Lots of that little self talk of, “just get to 2 miles and see how it feels.” 

Just past two miles, this other guy and I were still running together.  I decided to test things up a bit and pressed the gas very very lightly and got a little daylight.  Shortly after this point, I focused on a guy well ahead of us (he left in the handicap wave just ahead of us) and began to work on reeling him in (it would take another 5 miles).  

Just before three miles, the last runner caught us and put 30 yards on us pretty quickly.  He would stay there most of the rest of the run (compared to me) but then opened it up nicely in the last mile to probably double that (or more).

My legs never felt great, so I was toying with the fact that I’d go hard for five and then jog it in.  This is such a lame mental trick because I know when I get to five, I am going to say, “well get to six” and so on.  But it sort of works.

I hit the turn around in 28 low.   I took note that the guy had started with was now 20 seconds back, and our leader was consistently checking on me.  I had little doubt that he had it wrapped up based on how I felt.  He’d come back a little on the uphills, but he was opening the gap up on the downs.  At 5 miles, it suddenly seemed like we were dealing with a lot more uphill then we got on the way out (for downhills) and there was a decent wind coming out of the west in our faces.  We were catching a lot of folks at this point, so that served nicely for motivation and mental break up.

6:18, 6:26 (12:44), 6:07 (18:51), 6:19 (25:10), 6:31 (31:40), 6:17 (37:57), 6:26 (44:23), 6:27 (50:51), 6:18 (57:09).

Average pace was 6:21.  This is a bit slower than the DM 9.1 mile leg (where I averaged 6:18), but this was a lot tougher than that (hills, wind, and dead legs) so I am pretty good with it comparatively.  13 miles on the day.

Low key event – which was fine – exactly what I was looking for.  Left to get home about three minutes after finishing.

80 miles on the week with 10 hours and 50 minutes.  November is 91 miles, 736 minutes.   3140 miles on the year, 27792 minutes.  It is the 312th day of the year so there are 53 days left in the year.  To average 10 a day for the year, I need to get 510 miles or 9.6 miles a day.  I still think it is a stretch goal because I will probably take a good number of days off in December.

Tuesday 090809

• I am slowly destroying the Garmin 305 I got for Christmas from my in-laws last year – just from pure use. It first started back in the spring when it stopped making any audible beeps. Then one of the scroll buttons stopped working. Neither of these were a show stopper. I recently broke the part of the wrist strap that holds the extra wristband – and so now I use a rubber band I got off a bunch of asparagus. It still works great though.
• Physically I have felt like blah as of late. These runs have been more head and escape time for me – there are no significant objectives from a training perspective. Mid day today was 7 miles, AHR = 143. PM, around JZ's soccer practice for five miles, with 10x25 second strides embedded.
• Good videos of Kilian.
• I might have to give up running and do this for a hobby instead … (there is sound with it on the Facebook site)

Friday 070309

 

 

 

 

 

Headed out on Park County Road 12 this AM.  This is about a 2 mile run down to a fork of the Platte River and then you start running up towards Mosquito Pass.  Most of the road is never really steep (except above the river crossing past the lower London Mine – which is about the last 2 miles heading up to Mosquito Pass), with the grade averaging 4-5% (a few sections are a bit steeper, but not much and not for long).  Plan was to get out for 2 hours, capping the effort on the way out and then building the effort on the way back, with the last two miles back up being hard.  They would be hard anyway but I figured I’d put that out there to start.  Ran wit the Camelbak.  I had contemplated running all the way out the pass but the early morning clouds as well as other planned obligations put the ka-bosh on that. London Mountain is in the center of this shot (at the start) and Mosquito Pass essentially sits behind and to the left (south of it).

 

 

On the way out changed plans up a bit and thought if I could average under 10 minute miles, I’d do 8 out and then get back in about an hour.  That would give me about 2:20.  Averaged 1:45 out, and got out there in 80 for the 8, but just barely.  The last two miles were north of 11.  Comparisons of ending altitude, GPS versus barometric.

This “finish” was just below the lower London Mine.  It would be, if memory serves me correctly, about three more miles to the Pass (that then can drop into Leadville).  I took quick bio break and started the run down.    

I was able to keep near sevens under the 150 cap.  After about ten miles I let things begin to float above 150, and then 160 near 12.  Just as I was about a half mile into the last two miles, KZ called me (you can see where in the HR data below).  Oh  well – it is my daughter, I am going to take that call in a run.  I took the pause, but then circled back a bit to get the HR back up before starting the watch again, but it still took me a bit to get back to 170 again.  The last mile hurt in the legs but it was a good hurt (whatever that means).   HR average on the way back was 159, with the last four at 166, last two 168 (albeit with the interruption).  Total side note – I notice near the start of both segments a jump in HR for no apparent reason (plus 160).  It quickly drops though.  Might be the HR monitor but the Garmin has not done that historically.  16 miles on the day, 1300 feet plus of climbing, 2:17.  Feeling good.  Definitely feeling some of the load, but it is not killing me.  :)

This is funny … particularly since one of the competitors won’t even be on the same continent as the race.

Good post on how to train with a HR monitor.

 

Loon Mountain race this weekend back east:  It consists of a 1/2 mile climb up a 40% grade ski slope to the top of North Peak before you bomb down the Sunset trail on the other side to the finish. OUCH.

 

Podcast via Mzungo with Ritz.

Friday 062609

• AM – dog jog, 4 miles, AvHR = 134. Max = 149. RHR at wake up was 43 (maybe a 42). First mile was with the dog, last 3 were at 8 minute pace with an average HR of 139.
• PM – 10 miles. AHR = 144. Hot at the front end. Beat the crazy rains in the afternoon by only a few minutes. Was poorly hydrated for this run – just a lack of focus on that by me in the AM (stupidity). I not only felt it in the run, but I could see it with the HR monitor and the pace.
• Discovered the Standley Lake HS track … it is an old dirt cinder track. And like most tracks around here, it seems to have a pitch to it (at least according to the Garmin … it consistently saw a rise and a fall for many laps … so does Broomfield HS track).
• I have been hesitant to put up what times or paces I have been running for these sessions … for one, they have been slow. Certainly much slower than my easy runs have been in the past. I have been fine with that because I have wanted to be a bit more focused on time on my feet, getting more miles (than typical for me), recovering from Mount Washington this week and … focusing on this process of truly trying something different. Generally the pace has been anywhere as slow as mid nine minute pace to as quick as low sevens for this “capped” work. Again, I am not exclusively going to train fully at a low HR level, but will look to elevate it in the later parts of my long runs.
• As a side note, I have been wondering if getting the Garmin was a bit of a setup for me training “too quickly.” Prior to getting it, I’d run and guesstimate my pace. Typically for any unmeasured training run, I would guess a 7:30 pace. There might have been some days faster than that, there may have been slower than that. With the Garmin, I probably felt compelled to run that fast all the time, if not faster. Which was probably not a good thing in the grand scheme of things …
• Will be watching the track meet this weekend … and no, I don’t mean USATF Nationals (also webcast).
• Started playing with Garmin Connect.  I could never get it to synch my activities so I  dumped them all (deleted) and it read this afternoon’s run without issue.  Garmin still however jacks up elevation.  It reads that I ran an elevation change of 1200 feet for this run … Sporttracks reads the much more correct 250 …

Tuesday 060909

• DD and DJ posted a predicted top 50 for Mount Washington. I personally love the one sec diff they predicted b/w themselves. ;) The field looks much stronger than I would have guessed it. I have been thinking a sub 80 for me would be a good showing at this time.
• I forget if I posted this before … I have heard folks say things like, “if you had the head of such and such (insert sucessful runner here) on your body, they would run such and such faster at such and such distance.”  This is implying that those folks are mentally tougher, or have mentally broken barriers that the accused has not.  While I appreciate that mental toughness is very significant in this sport, I think you could also make the opposite statement just as well:  put Haile’s head on my body and he quits 5 minutes into a 5k because he can’t figure out how he could be working so hard to move so slow.  Anyway, a post on the head …
• Got out to Flagstaff again.  Warmed up via Baseline from Broadway (14:23, super easy) and then got to work. 
  • Mile marker (missed this last week in the fog), 3:56 (.46 miles up)
  • 2 mile marker:  12:26 (split 8:30) (last week 12:17)
  • 3 mile marker 21:02 (split 8:36) (last week 20:37, split 8:20)
  • 4 mile marker 29:54 (split 8:52) (last week 29:15, split 8:38)
  • 5 mile marker 40:45 (split 10:51) (last week 39:49, split 10:34)
  • top sign:  41:24 (split 0:39), (last week 40:29, split 50)
• I was not surprised that the time this week was slower.  I felt pretty amped last week, stoked to get after it – as my legs had bounced back post three easy days.   This week, I just did not feel bad, but I did not feel great either.  As long as I have the excuse shovel out, I was also carrying a full Camelbak this time too (5lbs of stuff) … and there were tornadoes.  AvHR was 172, (higher than last time) and max was 177 (also higher).  In addition to not feeling “A” I wonder if this is because of the “evening” component of this?  And if being at a lower elevation for a few day has any effect.  I have read that it does not (for as little time as I spent) but I have heard a lot of others subjectively say otherwise. (and as JP mentioned, no Lucho this time). In any case – no sweat (or, well there was).  It was a good workout.  Generally, I think I am a little ahead of where I was on this workout last year.  Of course, JV did it in 38 (actually 37:59)  the next day.  :)
• After a bio break at the top, I took the west ridge up to the top of Green (side note … the grade on this back side of Green is not nearly as ridiculous as the front/east side approaches … it only averages 5% from the road, but with the last section above the 4 way junction at 20% – but that is only for a little less than a quarter mile.  This last section, I have titled the “Elliott Stairs” as Scott does them as a Pikes Prep workout – to prepare for the last section at Pikes called the “Golden Stairs”) and came back down Green Bear, into Bear Canyon.  Bear Canyon was really slow going as the creek was high and moving – making for several slow crossings (I was in flats).  Picked things up a bit when I got back onto the Mesa.  And then edged it up more as I got to the Enchanted Mesa (6:30 pace) – just to continue familiarize the legs with hard downhill running.   HR was generally in the 150 to 160 range throughout the descent but would drop on the slower sections.  In retrospect, I probably would have gotten a better workout descending the road, and then climbing back up it again (either the full distance or part way).  But my head appreciated being out in the canyon as the sunset, and a light rain came in.   All told this came out to be 14.5 miles of running over 2:22, with just over 3000 feet of vertical.   The Garmin elevation correction had the gain as 3036.  The Alterra had it as 3116.
• Most likely I will NOT run the SoBo TT on Thursday night.  JZ has a game and that is where I will gladly be!

Monday 060109

BB pix from last week …, and then there is finish line video.   Easy five miles. 

 

40 minutes.  Used the HR monitor on the Garmin.(I have not as the battery was dead for the longest time) and the ZoneFive software picked up the data without a hitch.  The drop in the middle is the bio break I took at the turn around.

Thursday 052809

• PM – met up with the crew at Chautuaqua.  I did an easy two miles before the run up Green.  My legs still feel like crap.  I have a ridiculously long post in my head on what this is all about but it ain’t  typed yet (so that will wait for another time)  We jogged over to the Amphitheatre trailhead at Gregory very casually.  When we got there, there was some questioning and what seemed to be lengthy discussion of the route, and  how we ought to start.  I pulled the dickhead move, getting bored with the conversation and just went – figuring watch times would sort out anything that pure performance did not.  I was worked going up – much more than I would have expected.  I summitted in  5th (behind Rickey G, Dave M, Jeff V, Justin S, and Stefan – so yes, all those guys passed me after my flyer) in a relatively slow time of 37:44.  Rickey apparently set a new FKT for the route in 28 something.  Dave was 31 and change and Jeff PR’d in 32 something.  We all sat on the summit rock as everyone finished, enjoying the early glow of sunset before starting down Ranger for the descent.  Some pix.
• JV, Rickey , Stefan and Tim
•   ?, Dave M and Justin
•   About the last I saw of Rickey and Dave (in red), as we start out of Chautauqua.  Anthony in white.
•   Okay, seriously the last I saw.  JV slightly ahead of Rickey and Dave.  And yes, it is that steep.
• Footfeathers near the top.
•   “I found this shoe on the run.”  “Yeah, I ran without it to toughen up for WS100.”  Which shorts would you  wear?
•    A true men of Green Mountain Calendar shot.  Rickey G, Dave M, Stefan G, Jeff V, Justin S, Christian G, Anthony, Tim L,
• The descent down Ranger, Gregory
•   The green Chautauaqua meadow …
• My splits for future reference
  • to the open saddle rock (the second one so to speak):  15:46 (.82 miles)  (SE reports his best as 12:02)
  • to the split of the trails (Greenman coming into Saddle Rock) 5:00 (.28 miles), (history here is screwed up as the trail has been re-routed) (20:47)
  • to the log that Scott E points out as the last climb – 11:26 (.72 miles),  (again trail reroutes make history here difficult (32:14)
  • last climb to summit (not including the summit rock) 5:19 (.29 miles … SE’s best on this is 3:40, with FKT on this section being from Nuttleman (in the midst of a run)  at 3:32 … it gives you an idea of how hard this section is – it is just over a quarter mile and the best runners run it slower than 12 minute pace!)  (37:33)
  • 11 seconds to get up the summit rock.  Had I elected to not do the summit rock, I would have incurred a 15 second penalty. (37:44)
  • All told, this run is about 2 MILES.  That means even Rickey Gates was running this at 14 minutes a mile and Dave Mackey was running it at 15 minutes a mile!
• It is such a wonderful gift to be out there with these folks, enjoying the mountain.  It is such an amazing way to be alive.  As Stefan said right before the descent …”that hurt in a good way.”  I want to get out for these other events, but I doubt I am going to be able to … other plans.
• 90 minutes on the day, 8 miles.  The TT portion of the run.
• 
• Post script – Mackey had splits of

  Rocky clearing (where Scott E splits) 13:05

  Greenman/ Amphitheater Junction 17:..

  Start of wooden steps: 26:10

  Summit 31:28, and Rickey G at 28:48.  Jeff V had 5:29 at 1st jct., 13:44 at the first overlook, 18 at the Greenman jct., 32:35 at the top

• Gates – 28:48 (passed by me within 50 yards up the trail)

• Mackey – 31:28 (passed by me 100 yards up the trail)

• Vallerie  - 32:35 – his post. (passed by me 20 yards up the trail)

• Snow - (passed by me just where that Saddle rock trail comes into Amp)

• Gabriel - (was actually ahead of Justin here but they later switched positions)

• Zack – 37:44

• Long – 38:07 his post

• Slept in today.  Ah, that was nice post the early rise from yesterday.
• Started playing with the Garmin Connect software (which Garmin only recently made available for the Forerunner 305).  I have been using the Sporttracks software from ZoneFive (which excellent, easy and free).  My biggest issue in using the Motion Based stuff from Garmin was that it did not adequately correct elevation gain in its data reads (smooth the data out).  This meant I could turn the GPS on, stand still for an hour and gain hundreds of feet as the signal-calculation read different values over that period of time.  Sporttracks attenuates that noise and smooths the data nicely.  Will play with GC for a couple of days and see how it looks.
• Apparently, there are a couple of other folks jacked about the A wave 8 second adjustment gift.

Wednesday 052709 Green Mountain - “classic” route

• Met up with the BTR’er at 0530 this AM.  I was up at four so it was no challenge for me to get to this run (as it would typically be at this hour).  I am going to look to get some of this early and done stuff banked this summer as the kidders get out of school.   Photos courtesy (again) of JP.
• I started at Chautauaqua, while the group was meeting up at the Gregory Canyon trailhead (a half mile to the west).  I prefer parking at Chautauaqua as it is a bit more travelled and (I think) less likely to have break ins.  I also think that Boulder County has started charging non county residents for use of the Gregory Canyon lot (and I now live in Broomfield County).   Met up with a croo of about a dozen or so, including Ryan Cooper, JP, Bronwyn M.   After a little discussion, we decided to head up Green Mountain via Saddle, Amphitheater, Greenman, and then come down Ranger, Gregory.   So here  are the stats on that route (starting at Chautauqua).
  • ~6 miles RT
  • summit is at 2.6 miles
  • 5685 elevation start, 8085 summit (2400 feet of climbing) for an average grade of 17% as per the GPS.  According to the Alterra, the climb was 2520 feet, with the summit at 8182.
  • Steepest part of the run is between the Gregory lot and Summit Rock, with grade averaging 22.8%.  This is about 1.1 miles.  You get a reprieve after that with the grade dropping to 16.1% on average to the summit. The easiest part of the run is Chautauaqua part, which is about a kilometer, and averages a little more than a 6 percent grade (and most of that coming in one steep climb)
  • The drop down Ranger is to the Gregory Canyon Ranger cottage is a about 1.4 miles, and a good drop at 17%.  Things level out a bit after that in Gregory but Gregory Canyon serves as a good test of rocky footwork.  As the length of the run is a little longer on the way back, the average descent is "only” about 13%.
  • 
• The pace was casual, and so I caught up with Ryan, JP.  I decided that no matter what the pace dropped to, I’d keep doing a running cadence (even though walking below 3.5 mph for me is probably more aerobically efficient).  RT was in 80 minutes, with a good number of breaks to let folks catch up, enjoy the sunrise.
• More Bolder Boulder news … today was my first day back in my office since the race on Monday.  I always struggle, sound like an ungrateful idiot because folks say things like this.  “I looked up your time in the Bolder Boulder and wow – you ran it so fast!  You must be really happy with your time.” Rather than belabor them with my mental baggage of how my time was not that fast (if the conversation really digresses, they hear about the 26:22 WR), I try to find out how the race went for them, and what they liked about it, did not like about it.   Here’s the truth: most folks who are not runners don’t care about your time, they care about how you feel about your performance.  They get confused if you run a time that is beyond their comprehension and then are disappointed with it.  I’d say that this is not true within the circles of runners, but that ain’t necessarily true either (the 3:20 marathoner does not necessarily empathize with Brian Sell being pissed that he ran a 2:16).  However, this is common:  people relate to what it takes to prepare, execute, sacrifice and become something greater than themselves.  Not everyone does that in running … but some do.   So I poke at that folks … to see what is there, what they are in it for, what they want.  There are lots of great reasons to run other than chasing times …
• A couple of little challenges  out there.  A few of us are thinking of meeting at Chautauqua tomorrow night for a TT up Green.   Drop me a note if you are interested in the details.   Also got into a bit of a back and forth on this AM’s run if the Fern Canyon (from the post past the Slab) to the saddle post could be done under 10.  I was told NO WAY.  I am 100 percent confident I have done it in about 10, and that Elliott has gone well under 10.  I know I did it – at least once – in not top shape and with some poorer conditions, in 12:30
• PM – 5 easy miles.  39 minutes

wrist-top thoughts

• When I hooked up with Highgear to test the Alterra, I was clear to reveal my current love affair with the Garmin Forerunner 305.  I do love the 305.  I love that it tells me all sorts of things like pace, elevation, elapsed time, split times, HR, etc.  I love that I can download the data from it to my computer and geek out on things like percent grade, distance covered, what my pace was for specific parts of a course.  But like all love affairs, there are short comings to the Garmin.
• a.)  it is not a watch. 
• b.) it requires recharging all the time
• c.) you have to wait for it to get a satellite signal
• d.) it is large on the wrist and
• e.) it can be pricey. 
• f.) its chrono  sucks … I need to know my 200 meter stride splits to the 10th of the second, if not the 100th.  The Garmin tells me the second, assumedly rounded.
• Some follow up on this … I say it is not a watch because I cannot wear it indoors (in part because of the other reasons I provide) for long stretches.  I have seen different price points on the Garmin, ranging from 170 to 300 bucks.  
• So, by analogy … I love my Honda Element.  But I hate some features in it.  I hate the fact that it only has four seats.  I hate that the back door is not able to be opened without opening the front.  I wish the sun roof was to the top rather than the back.   It is a car that serves a lot of purposes, and it does not serve every purpose.   Like getting six Girl Scouts home.  Cars have no issue in differentiating audiences based on look, feel, price point, life style.
• And, back to the wrist-top watch conversation,  the Alterra is like that … it serves a different purpose.  It is a watch I can wear (no recharge, sizeable, not the size of a mini bus on my wrist).  It has a great chrono (to the 1/100th split).   It has an alarm clock.  It also collects altitude information based on barometric pressure, and it also collects temperature data.  It has logs of collecting altitude information (telling me the amount ascended, descended in a run, total time, and hence descent and ascent per minute).   It has a compass (but I fear that most people are losing  an idea on how to use those anymore).  I see this watch being much more geared towards the person who is interested in elevation gain, barometric pressure changes, temp … and the classic stopwatch.  Simply, it is not totally different from a Garmin, but it is differentiating enough to be potentially different for that user type. 
• Still playing with the Alterra and as I discover more features, I will post.
  

Altera – some first thoughts

• On Friday, I ran with the Alterra watch from Highgear for the first time.  On this run I was most interested in seeing how the Alterra compared to the Garmin Forerunner 305 in terms of elevation data collected.  The Alterra collects it via air pressure data (barometric) while the Garmin  collects it via GPS data. 
• Before I get to that, however, a few other observations.  While I have loved my Garmin since getting it for Christmas from my in-laws, there are some drawbacks to it.  1.)  wearing it is essentially like wearing a rodeo belt buckle on your wrist.  This does not bother me while running but it is large, and folks take notice.  “What the hell is that thing on your wrist?”  Seriously, if I had two of these, and the right outfit, and you had enough to drink, I could be mistaken for Linda Carter.   2.) The Garmin cannot serve as a watch.  By that I mean I cannot wear it around as a watch for a few days … like I normally would.  This is because the Garmin needs to be recharged periodically (I think it will last up to ten hours of collecting data).  I am not sure if any GPS device (yet) does not require some recharge on a consistent basis (via USB or wall socket).  As a result, I can’t wear the watch day in and day out.   The Altera, as it is not a wrist top computer, and is not talking to satellites in the sky is smaller, and functions off a regular watch battery – and so can serve as a watch.  It is a big faced watch (which is okay with me) and so it might be able to block bullets as well (but not the 50 cal shells that a Garmin could ward off). 
• My data download of my run on Friday (the Vista Trailhead out to the top ridge of Goshawk before dropping back down into Eldo) indicated this run was a climb of 1068 feet (and equivalent down).  Side note – there is obviously sometimes error in GPS data (obviously!) that is clearly demonstrated when I start and finish in the same location but the ascent / descent numbers are not equivalent.   The Altera indicated I had ascended and descended 1296 feet.   I am interested to see how other runs stack up between the two devices.
• The manual for the Alterra is about 15 inches from me right now, but I have yet to pick it up.  Its use is relatively intuitive, but really ought to dig into it to see what other features are in this bugger.  I have just normally been poor at reading any system manual.  There appear to be a lot of other features on the Aterra that are cool:  temp, chrono, etc.  More to come …