Another year is coming to an end, and another year is starting. Every year this time I tend to reflect on what has happened in the past year and what I plan for the next year. What have I done well? What can I do better? Where do I go from here?
The year never turns out quite how I expect it. Whatever goals I set for myself, whether I accomplish them or not, turn out differently than I expected. This past year I had three main goals. The first was to get a job. I did get one, but it was not in the area I expected. Maybe, though, that worked out better than I had expected. I am not using any of what I learned in grad school in my current job, but I am in an office that understands my running and my general lifestyle. And I can always feel good about the work I'm doing, which is more than many can say.
My second goal was to get back into running shape. I started the year running just a few miles a week, ten to twelve at the most. While this past week I have only run 20 or so, I am in generally running quite a bit more than that. I am in better base shape than I have ever been, by my estimation, and that is something.
My third goal was to run my first marathon. While I was not anticipating that taking place at 10,000+ feet, I cannot express anything but satisfaction with my Leadville Race. I finished. Not only did I finish, I finished in the top 20. I bonked, but I learned a lot from that bonk. Since then, I have been altering my training to better suit my racing goals, including things such as major nutrient intake before and during my run so that, when my next race comes along, I can take enough food in that I do not bonk again.
Those were successes, but none of them turned out like I expected.
Fully expecting the same thing to happen this year, I have set a few goals for myself for the coming year. Some are personal, but I will focus on those relating to running here. First of all, my overall goal for the year is to run my first Ultra. This will likely be a 50k, or possibly a 50 miler, depending on how my training goes.
My second purely running goal is to run at least one mile a day for the entire year. This is a goal I've tossed around before, but never come close to reaching. It may not be an entirely reasonable goal given my goal to run an ultra. I will have to play it as it comes. If I find out my body does not take well to running every day, I will ramp the goal back a bit to running 6 days each week. That would be roughly 312 days out of the year.
To go with that, I will be working on a daily routine, to keep my arms and core strong along with my legs. I have let my core work slide this year, and I think if I work on that a bit, it can only help the rest of my body.
Finally, my goal is to work on my photography. While this might not seem so related to running, I have found that I always take my favorite pictures while running. Add to this that on my runs I often get to places few people reach, I think it possible to form a business out of my running photography. That is my final goal for the year.
As I do with just about everything, including my music, I will have to play it by ear. If my body does not handle running every day well, as I said, I'll switch to a goal of running 6 days every week. If my body does not take well to the training required to run an ultra, I will tone that back as well. The photography? That I fully intend to stick to.
As ever, I welcome any comments, as long as they are constructive. Particularly, I would like to hear from others as to what their goals are for the year.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Winter Wonderland
Winter once again blasted the Boulder area the last few days. It started snowing Thursday night and by the time it cleared up on Friday around noon, we had 14 to 20 inches of fresh powder on the ground.
Despite the snow, and Boulder's curious habit of not plowing enough and not salting at all, I braved the rather horrible road conditions and headed up to Chautauqua for some "running." Despite a near accident (Boulder, for those who have not experienced it, has a curious habit of plowing the snow to the middle of the street in the theory that it will melt, which it eventually will. However in the meantime you are left with giant piles of packed snow in the middle of the street, making impossible to turn left in most areas, and where it is possible to turn left, making it impossible to see whether a car is coming. The only thing left to do is gun it in the hopes that a) no other car is coming and b) you can gain enough speed to ram through the barrier of snow and not get stuck on top of it) I made it up to Chautauqua, strapped my Microspikes on, and headed off.
Immediately I knew this was going to be a run only in the loosest sense of the word. I was forced to break trail across the Chautauqua meadow, plowing my way though knee-deep powder and hoping that I was at least generally following the trail. It took over 10 minutes to travel the (level) half mile to the Amp-Greenman trailhead.
There the going got considerably better since somebody, I am assuming Anton Krupicka or Scott Jurek, had been kind enough to break trail earlier in the morning, and clearly at least two or three people had already been by. I decided then that, since my parents were on their way from the airport, I would turn around at noon regardless of whether I made it to the summit, giving me a bit over an hour.
The trail was generally good, though unconsolidated, up through Saddle Rock. As far as pace go, I would call it a powerful hike, though at best I gave myself a pace of 20 or so minutes per mile. After Saddle Rock, though, it was evident that several people had turned around, and the remaining trail up to the summit would be minimally broken.
But it was absolutely gorgeous. I never get over the feeling of joy being out in that sort of environment. The snow was still falling, muffling every noise until it felt like I was the only person for miles. The only other things I saw moving were a few overly-industrious squirrels and a 10-point buck picking his way up the mountainside.
As it turned out, I did not quite make it to the summit by noon. I turned around a bit over an hour into my run, with another half mile to go to the summit. As the picture suggests, I was not entirely pleased to be turning around, but sometimes, family has to be the priority.
That said, the way down itself was fantastic! Nearly every time my foot came down, it slid another foot or two down the slope, lending me more of a bounding stride than any sort of normal running stride. And while I took a tumble or two, the snow was so thick that I barely felt it before I was up and off again (much to the surprise of a poor border collie, who gave me a few startled barks as I came flying around a bend).
I'll leave you with a couple more pics, just to fuel the envy I believe you should feel.
All in all, a wonderful, wintry day, reminding me again why I am so lucky to be living and running in Boulder.
Despite the snow, and Boulder's curious habit of not plowing enough and not salting at all, I braved the rather horrible road conditions and headed up to Chautauqua for some "running." Despite a near accident (Boulder, for those who have not experienced it, has a curious habit of plowing the snow to the middle of the street in the theory that it will melt, which it eventually will. However in the meantime you are left with giant piles of packed snow in the middle of the street, making impossible to turn left in most areas, and where it is possible to turn left, making it impossible to see whether a car is coming. The only thing left to do is gun it in the hopes that a) no other car is coming and b) you can gain enough speed to ram through the barrier of snow and not get stuck on top of it) I made it up to Chautauqua, strapped my Microspikes on, and headed off.
Immediately I knew this was going to be a run only in the loosest sense of the word. I was forced to break trail across the Chautauqua meadow, plowing my way though knee-deep powder and hoping that I was at least generally following the trail. It took over 10 minutes to travel the (level) half mile to the Amp-Greenman trailhead.
There the going got considerably better since somebody, I am assuming Anton Krupicka or Scott Jurek, had been kind enough to break trail earlier in the morning, and clearly at least two or three people had already been by. I decided then that, since my parents were on their way from the airport, I would turn around at noon regardless of whether I made it to the summit, giving me a bit over an hour.
The trail was generally good, though unconsolidated, up through Saddle Rock. As far as pace go, I would call it a powerful hike, though at best I gave myself a pace of 20 or so minutes per mile. After Saddle Rock, though, it was evident that several people had turned around, and the remaining trail up to the summit would be minimally broken.
But it was absolutely gorgeous. I never get over the feeling of joy being out in that sort of environment. The snow was still falling, muffling every noise until it felt like I was the only person for miles. The only other things I saw moving were a few overly-industrious squirrels and a 10-point buck picking his way up the mountainside.
That said, the way down itself was fantastic! Nearly every time my foot came down, it slid another foot or two down the slope, lending me more of a bounding stride than any sort of normal running stride. And while I took a tumble or two, the snow was so thick that I barely felt it before I was up and off again (much to the surprise of a poor border collie, who gave me a few startled barks as I came flying around a bend).
I'll leave you with a couple more pics, just to fuel the envy I believe you should feel.
The trail.
A snowy Boulder.
All in all, a wonderful, wintry day, reminding me again why I am so lucky to be living and running in Boulder.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Taking it Easy
Taking it easy is something that most runners hate. You get into a good rhythm, progress in your fitness, feel good for a long time, then invariably something happens that requires you to take it easy for a bit.
This is not generally a big problem, fitness-wise. In the scheme of things, taking it easy for a few days or a week will not make that much of a difference, and may in fact significantly help your running health. But it never feels right. The runner starts to feel guilty, like they should be out there running even though rest is the best thing for them.
It just feels wrong to take it easy.
Naturally, given this post, I have opted to take it easy for the last week or so. I woke up on Monday and could not turn my head to the right, my neck was so sore. I got a massage that afternoon, which helped considerably. Still, I decided that maybe my long, snowy run up Green the day before had maybe tweaked something.
So I have been taking it easy. Granted, I still ran Green on Sunday after doing a bit of Tele skiing in the morning (my first of the season). A side note: I can never go Tele skiing without thinking back to my days as a high school XC skier, with Scott Jurek yelling "Practice your Tele turns" whenever we went down a larger, wide-open hill.
But I have been taking it easy outside of that. And I think I"m back. My plan is to do a quick run up, or partway up, Flagstaff tomorrow morning and see how I feel, and go from there. Hopefully I can get bak into the swing of things quickly.
I'll need to, if my plan for next year pans out. I have one race I definitely want to do now: the Moab Trail Marathon on November 3rd. It also happens to be the trail national championships for the year. And while I don't intend to become a member of the USATF and actually compete, it would be awesome to race head to head with, or at least briefly see the backsides of, the best in the country.
Aside from that, I have a Sanitarado run planned for the coming January. February and March are open so far. I think I'll run the Horsetooth Half in April, which should help prep me for either the Greenland Trail 50k or the Golden Gate Park 50k in May. June might see the Leadville Marathon again, or perhaps the Steamboat Marathon. July, there is a distinct possibility, should my training go well, of the Silver Rush 50 miler. August I think I will devote to getting into the high country for some classic runs. That leaves the Golden Leaf in Aspen in September, the Coal Creek Challenge (5 miles!) in October, and the Moabl in November.
It is looking to be a good year!
This is not generally a big problem, fitness-wise. In the scheme of things, taking it easy for a few days or a week will not make that much of a difference, and may in fact significantly help your running health. But it never feels right. The runner starts to feel guilty, like they should be out there running even though rest is the best thing for them.
It just feels wrong to take it easy.
Naturally, given this post, I have opted to take it easy for the last week or so. I woke up on Monday and could not turn my head to the right, my neck was so sore. I got a massage that afternoon, which helped considerably. Still, I decided that maybe my long, snowy run up Green the day before had maybe tweaked something.
So I have been taking it easy. Granted, I still ran Green on Sunday after doing a bit of Tele skiing in the morning (my first of the season). A side note: I can never go Tele skiing without thinking back to my days as a high school XC skier, with Scott Jurek yelling "Practice your Tele turns" whenever we went down a larger, wide-open hill.
But I have been taking it easy outside of that. And I think I"m back. My plan is to do a quick run up, or partway up, Flagstaff tomorrow morning and see how I feel, and go from there. Hopefully I can get bak into the swing of things quickly.
I'll need to, if my plan for next year pans out. I have one race I definitely want to do now: the Moab Trail Marathon on November 3rd. It also happens to be the trail national championships for the year. And while I don't intend to become a member of the USATF and actually compete, it would be awesome to race head to head with, or at least briefly see the backsides of, the best in the country.
Aside from that, I have a Sanitarado run planned for the coming January. February and March are open so far. I think I'll run the Horsetooth Half in April, which should help prep me for either the Greenland Trail 50k or the Golden Gate Park 50k in May. June might see the Leadville Marathon again, or perhaps the Steamboat Marathon. July, there is a distinct possibility, should my training go well, of the Silver Rush 50 miler. August I think I will devote to getting into the high country for some classic runs. That leaves the Golden Leaf in Aspen in September, the Coal Creek Challenge (5 miles!) in October, and the Moabl in November.
It is looking to be a good year!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Carpenter v Jornet?
I just read this article over at running times. Among other things, I am amazed that all of this came from a 23 year old. Granted, he's no normal 23 year old runner, but still . . .
I have been thinking for some time that it would be incredible to see Kilian race Matt Carpenter, and it sounds like that just might happen!
If it does, you had best believe I will be at Pikes Peak this year!
In the meantime, my running schedule for next year is coming along. From very few ideas, I now have far too many. Here are a few I'm looking at.
January
The Five Peaks Challenge (not a race)
February
March
Antelope Island Buffalo Run
April
Collegiate Peaks Trail Run
Horsetooth Half
May
Greenland Trail Races
Wyoming Marathons?
Golden Gate Park race
June
August
September
Golden Leaf
October
Coal Creek Challenge
November
December
I have been thinking for some time that it would be incredible to see Kilian race Matt Carpenter, and it sounds like that just might happen!
If it does, you had best believe I will be at Pikes Peak this year!
In the meantime, my running schedule for next year is coming along. From very few ideas, I now have far too many. Here are a few I'm looking at.
January
The Five Peaks Challenge (not a race)
February
March
Antelope Island Buffalo Run
April
Collegiate Peaks Trail Run
Horsetooth Half
May
Greenland Trail Races
Wyoming Marathons?
Golden Gate Park race
June
Steamboat Marathon
Leadville
July
July
August
Pikes Peak?
Aspen Backcountry?
September
Golden Leaf
October
Coal Creek Challenge
November
December
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Winter Has Arrived & a Classic Trail Running Story
From the 60+ degree, sunny temperatures on Wednesday, we have plunged down to a balmy (for a Minnesotan such as yours truly) 10 degrees when I woke up this morning. Add to that anywhere from 10 inches, down by my apartment, to 2+ feet of snow in the course of two storms, and winter appears to have reared its snowy head here in Boulder.
And I could not be happier.
The 60 degree, sunny weather on Wednesday led me to take my friend Matt up on a last-minute request for a running partner in the afternoon. We headed over Viewpoint trail on the flanks of Flagstaff, through Chautauqua, and then split off for separate afternoons. That was my second time up Viewpoint that day, and all told made for 11+ miles of running on a day when I had planned for 5. Such is life in Boulder sometimes.
In the middle of that run, on our way up Viewpoint, we started discussing my sister's research on the relative stability of a running stride versus a walking stride. Not surprisingly, we both thought we felt more steady running on trails than we did walking, when we tend to hit our toes on the ever-present rocks on Boulder-area trails.
Not five minutes after discussing this, I had a classic trail runner moment: we were cruising along a smooth stretch of trail, one I take several times a week and so feel as though I know fairly well, and suddenly my toe catches on a miniscule irregularity on the trail and I'm flat on my chest in the middle of the trail.
After walking for a minute just to get re-centered, we quickly started talking about our various trail running scars. I normally get them shortly after I pass somebody, when I almost invariably trip over some very obvious feature in the trail just when I feel the best. Some of them have been worse than others.
All in all, it was both a very difficult and a very fun run to cap off an excellent running week. I feel like I've been getting in better and better shape each and every week, and at the moment I'm not even training for anything specific. If I can keep this up (knock on wood) I might just be able to post some good results in 2012.
And I could not be happier.
The 60 degree, sunny weather on Wednesday led me to take my friend Matt up on a last-minute request for a running partner in the afternoon. We headed over Viewpoint trail on the flanks of Flagstaff, through Chautauqua, and then split off for separate afternoons. That was my second time up Viewpoint that day, and all told made for 11+ miles of running on a day when I had planned for 5. Such is life in Boulder sometimes.
In the middle of that run, on our way up Viewpoint, we started discussing my sister's research on the relative stability of a running stride versus a walking stride. Not surprisingly, we both thought we felt more steady running on trails than we did walking, when we tend to hit our toes on the ever-present rocks on Boulder-area trails.
Not five minutes after discussing this, I had a classic trail runner moment: we were cruising along a smooth stretch of trail, one I take several times a week and so feel as though I know fairly well, and suddenly my toe catches on a miniscule irregularity on the trail and I'm flat on my chest in the middle of the trail.
After walking for a minute just to get re-centered, we quickly started talking about our various trail running scars. I normally get them shortly after I pass somebody, when I almost invariably trip over some very obvious feature in the trail just when I feel the best. Some of them have been worse than others.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've seen that hat since this run.
Fortunately, this encounter with the trail surface did not leave those sorts of marks.
As I alluded to above, I ran up Green with a couple friends this morning. I use the word "run" very loosely here. It took us over an hour to cover the first 4 miles, and an additional half an hour to hit the mile and a half after that. This was due in part to the steep(ish) nature of the trail up Green, but mostly because we were, at times, running in unconsolidated snow that came up to my thighs.
A view of Green Mountain from Sanitas, on Saturday.
Needless to say, the way down the mountain was much more fun. Whereas we had hit the first 5.5 miles in a little under an hour and forty minutes, we hit went downhill in under half an hour.
Chris on the final stretches of Green, Matt is just in front of him.
All in all, it was both a very difficult and a very fun run to cap off an excellent running week. I feel like I've been getting in better and better shape each and every week, and at the moment I'm not even training for anything specific. If I can keep this up (knock on wood) I might just be able to post some good results in 2012.
With that in mind, I need to start thinking of what races I want to do next week, and how I want to train for them, but that's a subject for another post.
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