Weekly Summary: Feb 4 – Feb 10

Monday:  4 miles followed by 1.5 miles with G. Did a loop near my apartment after realizing that I had forgotten my running gear at home. This was remarkable only because I saw no fewer than 5 Red Tailed Hawks hunting during the run.

Tuesday: 11 miles, 1500 feet. Met up with my friend Justin for a loop around Flagstaff. Halfway up Chapman I turned it up a notch and tempoed the remaining 1.5 miles to the top, then Justin led us for a quick descent.

Wednesday: 5 miles, maybe 500 feet. Went after work with my coworker L. She and I were both tired from tempos the day before so we kept it short and easy. Even so, it was dark and raining by the time we got back to the office.

Thursday: 5.5 miles, 1000 feet. Went up Anemone from work. Easy 16 minute ascent from Settler’s Park. Threw in a bit of scrambling on Red Rocks for the fun of it. Evening: 250m swimming at the Rec Center.

Friday: 6 + miles, 1500 feet. Drove up to Boulder early for a 7AM run with Scott Jurek, Matt, and Bryce. Went up the East Ridge and down the backside to Sunshine. Good way to start the last day of the work week and good to see Scott again after not running with him for a while.

Saturday:  off, save for a bit of Line Dancing at the Grizzly Rose. Hopefully we’ll make it back this Sunday too.

Sunday: 12 miles, 4000 feet. Bear followed by Green from Cragmore TH. There was a bit of a dusting of snow on the ground. Just enough to make it slightly slick going up Bear. But I never wished for more traction.

I made a conscious decision not to push it at all on Sunday, since I only had to run 4 miles to equal my biggest week so far this year. Clearly I moved beyond that. I made a lackadaisical summit of Bear in 52 flat, followed by a less lackadaisical traverse over to Green in 43 minutes. I was forced to take it a bit easier on the descent down Bear Canyon because the snow was just deep enough to cover the ice patches. Still made it back in 2:30.

Just how easy did I take this run? Well,  I stopped three or four times on the way up Bear without stopping my watch (took of the jacket, made a pit stop, and tied my shoes) and never hesitated to stop and chat with anybody who was coming by. It felt good to just enjoy my run for a change.

Overall my training is coming along. I didn’t get a chance to do any hill repeats or fartleks this week, but I definitely pushed up my mileage and my vert. At this point, number geek that I am, I am 20 miles down on last year, but over 10000 up on vertical. I’d call that a more than fair exchange. This week, I’m planning on inserting a little more speed and mileage, but dropping back on the elevation a bit. We’ll see how it goes.  

West from Bear, you can see the Flagstaff Fire burn zone.

East from Bear.

Look at all those mountains!

Weekly Summary: January 28 – February 3

I know it's almost a week late now. This week should be more interesting, though.     

Monday: 6 miles easy. Shakedown run up and down the Canyon from work. Went to the Rec Center after work for an easy dreadmill jog and 250m swimming.

Tuesday: 7 miles, ~1000’ hill repeats. 4x800m hills up Sanitas valley. I decided to  ut in some shorter, sharper hills this week. I found them unfortunately inconsistent, in that my first and last hills were about 7 seconds longer than my middle two.

Wednesday: off. My left (knee tendon. Figure out what this is) was bothering me more than usual, so I headed home and took an ice bath. It helped more than I anticipated.

Thursday:. 6.5 miles, ~750 feet. Up Sunshine Canyon trail from work.

Friday: 6.5 miles, ~750 feet. Same as Thursday, but I injected a little tempo into the workout along Sunshine. Felt pretty solid.

Saturday: AM: 250m Swimming, climbing at the Rec Center. PM: 4 mile bike ride.

Sunday: 11.5 miles, 1500’. Longinsh run around the Doudy Draw area. Took Flatirons Vista South to Doudy Draw, split off on Spring Brook South. From there I looped Goshawk Ridge back to Spring Brook North and Doudy Draw again. Then took Flatirons Vista North back to the car. I thought about adding more on, since my legs were still feeling pretty good, but this had already been my longest week this year, and I had a Super Bowl Party to prepare for, so I called it short. (And for your information, the Superbowl was not the 49ers versus the Ravens. It was Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw)

Overall the year seems to be shaping up fairly well. My left (knee tendon) is feeling better and better. Running does not seem to exacerbate it. If anything, movement seems to help it loosen up and sitting still with my leg bent (ie working) is what causes me problems. But the rest of me seems to be coping well with the increased mileage and introduction of tempo and hill repeats into my training. I have higher hopes for this year than I have in the past.

I am a nerd. That statement will not surprise those who know me. Those who know me only by this blog may or may not be surprised. I say this because, on my Sunday run, I took a ause to admire some of the more interesting geological features around the North Spring Brook trail. During the late Cretaceous (if I recall correctly) much of this area was underwater: the shore of  ashallow, inland sea.

After a few million years, there was an upthrust that created the Rocky Mountains. In the process, this pushed sedimentary rock, which formed on the bottom of the aforementioned sea, up at a sharp angle. This upthrust created features like Red Rocks, the Flatirons, Garden of the Gods, and Dinosaur Ridge among others.

Along the North Spring Brook trail, there’s a long stretch of exposed yellow sandstone that still shows the ripples laid down then the area was still a sea shore. It reminds me vividly of swimming as a kid in Lake Superior, where the wave action always left similar ripples in the sand. Somehow, in my prior runs in this area, I had completely missed this feature, to my detriment.

I only wish I had taken pictures rather than just continuing on, but such is life. 

Weekly Summary: Jan 21-27

Monday: 3.5 miles, 500’. Short shakedown run looping up through Red Rocks from work. Tossed in a little scrambling in the middle for fun.

Tuesday: 6.5 miles, 1000’. Anemone from work. Tempoed up the Anemone hill from Settler’s park, up and over the top, to the fence where it hits private land. Hit 13:40 for the ascent, which takes two minutes of my prior best.

Wednesday: 5.5, no real vert. BRC fun run.

Thursday. 5.5, 750’. Went about halfway up Flagstaff. For some reason my legs were absolutely beat, so I left it at that.  Swam Thursday night.

Friday and Saturday: off. Decided to let my legs rest a bit after upping the mileage three weeks in a row.

Sunday: ~12 miles, ~3000 feet. Flagstaff and Green Mountain.

Sunday was easily my favorite run this year. The contrast from my last run up Green couldn’t be much greater in the span of two weeks. From single digit temperatures at the top two weeks ago, it was probably 55 on Sunday.

I started at the Gregory Canyon trailhead up Flagstaff, and hit the summit road in an easy 23 minutes. Despite, and maybe in part because of, my two days off, my legs didn’t feel very sharp on the first uphill. But I still hit a decent time up this section (for me).

I dropped down Range View, where the range view was mostly hidden by clouds, stopping briefly on Flagstaff road to chat with a cyclist about y UD pack, and cruised down to the Ranger Trail Junction at 32 minutes.

After a brief pit stop, I turned my sights uphill again and took Ranger up the side of Green. I started to find my rhythm here, and tagged the top of Green at 58 minutes for a 25 minute ascent. Again, it felt easy, even though it would put me inside the top 10 on Strava for that section..

Dropping down of Green, I ran into Dakota Jones, running at a pace that for him looked easy, but would likely have me struggling to keep up. Taking the new Green Bear trail, buffed out and full of switchbacks as a stark contrast to the old route, I was easily ticking of 7 minute miles, feeling smooth and easy despite the climbing already behind me.

Just after hitting the Bear Canyon trail, I passed another runner I had seen on Green earlier, who promptly shouted “You’re rockin it, man!”

I shouted back “Thanks, I’m feeling good!” And just as I got out the “d’ in “good,” my toe caught a rock (it was my first run in my new Altras, which I’m pleased with so far) and I went flying off the trail, to a muffled “Oh” from a couple hiking up the trail towards me.

Some instinct from my old Aikido lessons must have kicked in, because without thinking, my arms went out, my hands connected with the ground just enough to direct my momentum down over my right arm to my shoulder, over onto my back, and I flipped up and sped down the trail, barely breaking stride.

It was easily my best fall ever.

After that, the rest of the run felt smooth and easy. I cruised back to the start just over two hours (2:01:26) after I started for a solid 12 miles for the day. 

Over all, this was a lower mileage week, with more elevation than this work. I think my training is going fairly well. I already feel faster and stronger on the uphills. The next step is to increase my endurance by lengthening my weekend runs. Primarily I will focus on time out on the trail, rather than distance and/or elevation.

As another note, adding just the little bit of swimming in for the triathlon training has made a disproportionate change in my fatigue. I think I'm adapting now, but the first week and a half were a bit shaky.

Looking East from Green

Looking West from Green

The UD vest performed like a champ. I didn't lose a thing during the fall.

Week of January 14

Weekly run-down.

Monday: off.

Tuesday: Tempo run. 2x up and down Sanitas Valley, about 1.1 miles each way. About 7 miles of total running. I think this may become my go-to workout on Tuesdays, whenever I’m not running with the BTR Tuesday Tempo group or the BTC MUTs team. It’s a good, tough workout that I can easily do from work in about an hour (or a little more if I decide to do more repeats), and it’s easy to mark progress.

Wednesday: 5 miles easy up Boulder Canyon.

Thursday: 5 miles, 750 feet up Flagstaff a ways. I had planned to go the whole way but ran out of time.

Friday: 5.5 miles, 1000 feet up Anemone from work. I have never been quite sure what the elevation is on this run, but I think 1000 feet is a decent estimate. This is a short, sharp run that I can do quickly from work, and last fall became one of my staple runs.

Saturday: Off. G and I toured the Stranahan’s distillery in Denver, then headed to the National Western Stock Show for the afternoon and wandered around for several hours.

Sunday: 14 miles, 900 or so feet. Dirty Bismarck loop around Marshall Mesa. I had originally in tended to go about 10 miles, but at 5 miles felt much better than I expected and decided to keep on going. I ended up running the loop in 1:51 which, despite having ramped up my training the last couple weeks and being more tired than I had expected, is 6 minutes faster than my previous record for this loop. Some time when I’m a little more rested I’d like to give it a go and see how fast I can run it.

In the afternoon on Sunday, I added in a short swimming workout. My GF has decided to try her hand at a triathlon, and I’ve opted to join her at least for the swimming workouts, and probably some of the running and biking ones as well.

Overall, this was a solid week of early-season training for me. I dropped in a more significant tempo run on Tuesday, and was fairly tired for the couple days afterwards, but I think I’m getting back in o the swing of training more intensely.

This week will follow mostly the same pattern, except that instead of a long run on Sunday, I’ll be racing twice up in Estes Park. The Frost Giant races are set up so you can run a 5k at 11 followed by a 10k at non. I have never doubled like this before, so it will be interesting to see how my body responds to it. It sounds like the course itself is pretty tough, so I won’t exactly be expecting any Prs, but it should be a good early fitness test, and it will knock out two of my 13 races for the year. 

2013: The Plan and the Beginnings

This past week has seen me significantly amp up my training. Not just my mileage, but my intensity as well. Despite a significant pain in my toe at the end of my Sunday Long(ish) Run last week, after a day off on Monday I took off on Tuesday for a tempo run (you can see that on my other blog: the Thirteen Project).  This was my first time up the new Chapman trail in Boulder. It's an excellent tempo run trail up an old dirt road built by the CCC in the 30s. It is decidedly non-technical.

After an easy day Wednesday, Thursday saw my first workout with the Boulder Track Club's new Mountain/Ultra/Trail team. Somewhat disappointingly, it was 1/3 mile hill repeats up Iris in Boulder: not a trail at all. I could tell that it had been some time since I had done an intense workout, and fell a bit behind the lead guys in the group. Give it a little time, and I am sure I will get back into it again.

Friday was another treck up the Chapman trail with a few friends, this time taking the Tenderfoot trail when it branched off instead of following the road the whole way up. For an average run, I much prefer this route to the road. 

Sunday I took my first run up Green of the year. When I started, the temperature was in the single digits, but the weather rewarded those of us out there with a rather stunning vista of the Flatirons emerging from the clouds.

After the intense week, my legs felt a little sluggish on the ascent of Green. I had also just screwed my shoes for the  year (the latest I've ever done that) and realized that the screw under my toe didn't quite have enough shoe between it and my foot. Over the course of the run, this would become more and more of a problem, until I would finally rip it out back on the Mesa Trail. 

Despite my sluggish legs, and a trip that spilled the bottles from my vest, I made it to Saddle Rock in 21 minutes, and hit the top in 43. That's a bit slow for me, lately, but would have been one of my better times this time last year. Says something about my fitness, I think, as well as the prospects for the next year. 

It was a bit cold, but not that bad.

Speaking of this year, beyond the Thirteen Project, which involves a lot of running, I decided on two major races, with the possibility of a third later in the year. 

First, I'll be attempting (well, finishing, because unless I severely injure myself I'll get through it) my first ultra, the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty, on June 1. This is a 50k just down the road in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, and comes recommended. 

Second, assuming it happens, is the Telluride Mountain Run. This one is a bit out there: it's a 55 mile run with 20,000 feet of vertical, put on by Dakota Jones. It is set to be a true mountain run, with few aid stations and lots of single track (and a little no-track). I have no idea if I can do this, but then, what's the fun if you do?

Assuming I recover from that, I'd really like to try the Moab Marathon again.

It looks to be a good year.

13 Things, 13 Times, in 2013

I will eventually do a retrospective on my year of running in 2012, but first, I had an idea a couple of days ago that I decided to follow through on: come up with a list of 13 things to do 13 times in 2013. I had some ideas, and then posted it on Facebook and got a few more from my friends. Some, such as getting tasered 13 times in a row 13 times, were duly tossed out. Others made the cut.

Before the list, I need to lay a ground rule: I have to document these. Each time I complete a "thing," I will write a blog post (for which I will create a new blog). This may be the most difficult part. Some of these "things" may be completed simultaneously (you will see how that can happen if you read through the list) but if not, that will require 169 additional blog posts. Now, this post just so happens to be my 169th post in this blog. So over the next year, in a new blog, I will have to write as many posts as I have in this blog in the past 5 years. It's a tall order, but I think I can manage it.

Since I am a runner, several items on the list are running-related, so  here are the running related items. Remember, these are each going to be done 13 times this year.

1. Races
2. 14ers
3. Green Mountain Summits
4. Runs I've never tried before.

Additional items are of a constructive nature:

1. Projects (around the house type): might include starting a patio garden, building a set of shelves, etc . . .
2. Essays: reasonably well thought-out, opinion/fact based, edited essays, to be posted on the aforementioned blog
3. Photographs I am proud of: harder than it may seem, since I am rarely happy with my pictures (even those I post on this blog).

Finally there are the personal enrichment tasks:

1. Read 13 constructive, substantive books (rather than sci fi etc . . )
2. Try 13 new beers (should not be difficult)
3. Learn 13 new words.
4. Do 13 good deeds: this might include volunteering, donating to charity, or random karma-building acts.
5. Things that scare me: not necessarily "fear of heights" type fear, but something that makes me nervous.
6. Experience 13 celestial events (sunrises or sunsets, meteor showers, planet viewing, etc . . .)

I will go into more detail on each of these in my as-yet-to-be-created 13 Cubed blog. So without further ado, I am going to go create a new blog!

Fear not, I'll still update this one from time to time.

2012: A Year in Pictures

Matt and Brian Dayton being a bit goofy on Bear Peak

Frosty Flatirons. Not the best light.

A triple Hogback Loop. Summit of Sanitas

The Flatirons from Marshall Mesa

Longs' expansive summit

Harvard.

(Lucky, or fit, take your pick) Bull Elk on the shoulder of Longs

Wild Basin from Meeker

Eldorado Canyon Trail in the Fall