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Horribly remiss..

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Mon June 7: 00:30 2.87 miles, Casa Trails barefoot
Tues June 8: 1:00, 5.96 miles, Casa Trails
Wed June 9: 2:40, 14.95 miles, Big Zoo loop GGCSP
Thurs June 10: 3:00, 11.47 miles, Hope Pass hike/run
Sat June 12: 1:30, 8.51 miles, Casa Trails
Sun June 13: 7:03, 35.60 miles, Pbville Course
Total: 15:43, 79.36 miles, 13,770 vertical

I have been terrible about updating this past week due to… well… running a lot and work. Seems that is what it comes down to at this point. With just over 2 months to go until show time, I am getting pretty focused and made it up to Pbville twice this past week for training runs.

The week started a little slowly as I recovered from the heat debacle but then I fell into full swing by mid-week. After a couple of nice trail runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, I hit the road Thursday to go to Gunnison and since Leadville is right on the way, stopped to take a gander at the north side of Hope Pass.

The river is raging right now so I headed upstream to cross via the Willis Gulch bridge. Turns out that was badly damaged by high waters so plan B was put into effect. I headed farther upstream to Pete’s Campground (if memory serves) and the camp host alerted me to that bridge being closed due to the rushing water. Plan C. I happened to see another small (yet substantial) bridge between Willis Gulch Trailhead and Pete’s and that became my entry to the Hope Pass trail.

I ran about 1.5 miles east until the junction of the Hope Pass trail then decided to get in a little more warm-up by heading down to the race-course crossing to check things out. Yeah, that water was flowing and I would not have wanted to cross it in those conditions. I spun around and headed up Hope for the first time since ’07. The trail was in really good shape and I made quick work of the lower, steeper sections and made it to Hopeless in under an hour. Since I was so far up, I decided to just go ahead and see how far up I could go before turned around by either snow or time. I did have to cross several very punchy snowfields but made it to within about 50 feet of vert from the summit before being turned by one last snowfield that just didn’t seem worth the effort. Ran back down and finished fairly strongly in 3 hours.

Sunday, I headed back up to Leadville to log some time on the section between the start and the base of Powerline. It rained and snowed the night before so conditions were a bit soggy. I thoroughly lucked out with the weather, however and only got rained/snowed on briefly while running around Turquoise Lake. The Colorado Trail section was super sloppy with a couple inches of fresh, wet snow but Sugarloaf itself was in pretty good shape. A few inches of snow up high and lots of water running throughout but overall it was great to get up there. I summited then dropped down to the pavement on the south side then spun around and headed back up the steep side. This was the first time I had climbed back up Sugarloaf and I have to commend those who can run this thing. It’s a bitch.

I felt a little tired heading back up and was reduced to a diminishing run/walk cycle for the remainder of the run. Not super confidence-inspiring but whatchagonnado? Ended up cutting off the Colorado Trail and Turquoise Lake sections on the way back to try to speed my return to Leadville. I had planned to head back up the Boulevard but given my tight timeline, I decided to stay on the tarmac in order to improve my chances of hitching a ride if I was unable to make it all the way back to my car in the prescribed 7-hour time limit. After run/walk cycles up the hill, I reached the cut off and started walking/hitching. Was picked up fairly quickly by a nice guy from Jamestown who dropped me off at my car after about a 1.5 mile ride.

Overall, I am feeling fairly well. I need to get better control of my starting pace and my focus. The word for the week is “patience” and I am going to work on putting it into play on each and every run from this point forward.

~stubert.

Bringing the heat…

Less plot. More fu. ~ Rach

Mon 31 May: 00:31, 2.75 miles, Red Plow barefoot
Tues 1 June: 1:12, 7.45 miles, Pirate Trail to Thorne surges
Wed 2 June: 2:21, 16.28 miles, Westview tempo
Thurs 3 June: 2:25, 9.03 miles, Janet’s house then Flagstaff/Green run/hike
Sat 5 June: 1:45, 10.37 miles, Casa trails
Sun 6 June: 3:51, 22.08 miles, Dirty Bismark to Flatirons Vista
Total: 12 hours, 67.96 miles, 7387 vertical

This past week saw a lot of great progress but one major set-back… the arrival of serious heat to the region. Monday-Saturday were all pretty mellow, temperature-wise but Sunday saw the first really hot day with which I have had to contend this year.

Right now, I am transitioning to time-based training vs. really trying to hit specific distances or paces but it is a little hard to break out of that pattern and I find myself tracking my progress even when I just need to be getting time in on my feet. It feels great to burn 10-minute miles on hilly trails but realistically, I need to get more adept at running a bit more slowly, conserving my energy and staying super relaxed. This, if you can believe it, is easier said than done.

Every run this week featured opportunities for learning and improvement and I took full advantage. While Monday and Tuesday runs were fairly routine, Wednesday featured an overall run that felt super relaxed with a higher pace than what is normal for me. I spun about 9 miles of warm-up then moved into tempo mode for another 5 or so. Overall, a solid effort with great results.

Thursday was a bit of a double with a short session with Janet Runyan where she helped me work on some techniques to improve my lean and relaxation and they seem to be paying off. Essentially working on lengthening the back of my neck and floating the top of my head up and forward to initiate my lean from there rather from my waist. Good stuff. Post run, I went to Chautauqua and ran/hiked Flagstaff and Green. Felt great.

Saturday I went for what is becoming a mainstay – the Casa Trails. These are some of my favorite/most familiar trails near my house. I can spend hours on these trails and not see another person. Just moving along quietly through the woods. Good times. Saturday featured more of the same – just fluid motion on mixed terrain.

For Sunday, I had a mellow, relatively short run planned and met with Bobby-T to spin a lap on the Dirty Bismark course south of Boulder. This is actually a pretty fantastic network of trails that loosely follows the Morgul-Bismark road bike course from the Red Zinger and Coors Classic days. My buddy, Ben Blaugrund, just won a Pro bike race on this course last week so it seemed appropriate. The only drawback to the course is one section that forces you to run along McCaslin Boulevard. Not the worst thing ever but if you are looking to stay off the slab, this section would blow that goal.

Bob and I finished up the loop in about 2.5 hours – a pretty good pace considering we weren’t really trying to push it. We stopped often along the route to read historical markers and walked most of the major hills. Once back at the car, I grabbed some more food and filled up with fresh water in hope of adding another 2 hours to the run. The Dirty Bismark route features absolutely no respite from the sun and, given the forecast heat on this day, was probably not the wisest choice. The tack-on of Flatiron Vista was not much better in the coverage department and the hours in 92+ degrees and no shade took its toll. Warm (and rapidly turning hot) water didn’t help either. By the time I had been out for 3:15, I knew that 4.5 wasn’t going to happen and I headed back to the car – dehydrated and very, very hot.

Lots of lessons were learned: Be prepared for the elements – bring ice and cold water (in a cooler, preferably). Select your route with thought to the conditions expected on that day. Drink more than normal. Roll with the punches.

~stubert.

May 2010 in Review…

At its heart, running is pretty simple, so I try to keep it that way. ~ Anton Krupicka

When one steps back and looks at the numbers, May turned out okay. It should have been a lot bigger but given that I was sick for about 2 full weeks and had to take one week completely off, I feel pretty good about how things turned out. Here are the digits:

Miles: 213.99
Hours: 38:53:13
Vertical: 28,349

I was hoping for 250-260 but am completely satisfied with what I accomplished. It ended up being my second biggest month of the year and I finished very strongly – teeing things up nicely for June. Here are some numbers for the year to date, just for fun:

Miles: 996.68
Hours: 191
Vertical: 73,431 (low by probably 15K)

So I am 3.5 miles shy of the 1K mark for the year. That makes me pretty happy. I’ll get that tomorrow then move on to bigger and better goals.

~stubert.

Solid…

If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sat 29 May: 1:36, 9.5 miles, Big Casa loop
Sun 30 May: 5:54, 33.25 miles, Heil/Hall

Saturday featured another fun trail run near my house. Essentially the same loop I ran the prior week with a section tacked on and reversed direction. Really great to be back on familiar ground and running well. During most of this session, things just “clicked”. Felt really great. Smooth. Efficient.

Capped the week off with a solid long run (33+ miles) in north Boulder/Lyons. Felt really strong throughout and finished the week with 76 miles total. Definitely a high mark for me this year. Started in north Boulder and spun a lap on dirt roads then moved on to the Heil/Hall network of trails. I had never dropped down from Heil to Hall before. The new connector section is super cool and makes for a nice way to hook up these two classic trail sections.

Once I jumped onto the Nighthawk trail at Hall, I was able to make my way up far enough in my allotted run-time to get a really awesome view of Longs Peak. Made it totally worth the long climb. Totally runnable trail with a big pay off at the top. On a cool day (like yesterday), this one is well worth a peek.

This run finished up a week that saw three really strong efforts (and great training all around). Wednesday’s tempo run kicked things off. Saturday’s trail run was a definite breakthrough in the comfort department. Sunday just moved things to a new level for which I have been clamoring for quite some time now. Onward and upward.

~stubert.

Mind and body…

What is that, yoga? ~ The Dude

Sat 22 May: 1:32, 8.95 miles, Casa Trails
Sun 23 May: 4:40, 26.5 miles, South Boulder/Mesa variation
Mon 24 May: 00:30, 2.5 miles, Secret trail barefoot
Tues 25 May: 00:55, 5.5 miles, Casa Trails surges
Wed 26 May: 2:10, 15.5 miles, Gunbarrel tempo
Thurs 27 May: 2:20, 9.6 miles, Green Mtn. run/hike

Great week of training thus far. Ended last week with 11.5 hours and 63 miles and am on target for more than that this week. Really pretty happy about how my fitness is shaping up and tacking on additional time each week.

Training is an interesting beast. One is certainly trying to get one’s body to perform at a certain level but there is also a lot of mental fitness that is being fine-tuned as well. Working on focus, rolling through checks, even conditioning oneself to drink at regular intervals… it’s all part of that big picture. As fit as I am getting, there is lots of room for improvement and I work on my overall fitness on every run.

Currently, I am at a bit of a cross-roads. I’d like to figure out ways to pare down my approach. To break running down to its core elements and be able to do more with less. Tony Krupicka‘s approach is incredibly appealing to me: Minimalist shoes, shorts and maybe a water bottle and some gels is all he needs on most days to complete incredible feats of athletics. But each person is different and has his or her own needs to which to attend. I am heavier than Tony, so (currently, at least) I rely on beefier shoes. I also sweat like some sort of nuclear-powered sweating machine so I tend to need more water on any given run. Plus, when you cover as much distance as quickly as Tony does, you can get away with carrying less. I’d like to get there and am working toward that goal but know it will take awhile. I am starting to discover that those goals which take the most time to achieve are often the most satisfying.

So the remainder of this week will be rest today, 1.5 hours on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Hoping to finish the week up with ~70 miles and a solid sense of forward progress.

~stubert.