Author: admin

Where was I…

Hills are speedwork in disguise. ~ Frank Shorter

Somehow another week has blown by. That seems to happen a lot lately.

Spent the week working, getting some fun runs in and trying to get healthy. I feel like I succeeded on all counts. Nothing too major on the running front, just staying consistent. I took Monday off, then ran a hard 5 on Tuesday and felt awesome. Wednesday I went to see Janet for coaching then did short runs on Thursday and Friday. Starting to really feel it and think I am getting more fit every day and figuring out the new running mojo. Good times.

Hoping to do a high-altitude run tomorrow then maybe squeeze in a morning ski on Sunday. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Two in a row…

The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do. ~ Walter Bagehot

Nothing better than two solid runs in a row. Well, except for three, or seventeen, or twenty-eig.. SHUT UP! I’m writing this post.

So I have now logged two good efforts in a row and I am pretty excited about it. I have been seeing another awesome Physical Therapist who is helping out a lot. If you are having problems that you can’t seem to figure out, call Sandy Bertrand. She’s great. Thursday’s run was good as well but only about 40 minutes so I am not going to count that one but Friday was fun and amazing. Hit the trails around the casa which are now mostly free of snow. There were a few sections I had to put on my trudging hat but for the most part they were clear. Did a fun, 8-mile loop with only minor ab discomfort and finished strong. Good stuff. Was able to hammer up the hills and just felt really solid throughout the run.

Saturday I took “off”. By “off” I mean Luke and I rode dirt bikes for something like 6 hours so there you go. I put the DR through its first real tests and it rode like a champ. A LOT heavier than the Husky (which is kindof a pig itself) but I managed to make it up some pretty hairy stuff (for me anyway). Only dropped it twice. Nice! Really had a good time and explored some fun terrain between Rowena and Rollinsville.

Today the weather was kinda crap so I went to the gym and ran on the dreadmill for a bit. I felt awesome and super strong, which was refreshing. After a warm-up, I put the hammer down for an hour then ran laps on the track for another 30 minutes. I am definitely getting there and am pretty psyched. Really figuring out this new stride and think it is helping me a lot.

I am going to continue to wait until the end of the month to decide about Leadville but am feeling more confident every day. Excited to see how I continue to improve in the next few weeks. My first race is in Gunnison on the 23rd and I am hoping to do the full 50K but may have to back that down to 25K. I’ll keep you posted on that.

~stubert.

The wind, it blows…

This speech is my recital. I think it’s very vital. To rock a rhyme that’s right on time, It’s tricky is the title. Here we go. ~ Run. D.M.C.

If you close your eyes, take a deeeeep breath and relax, you can practically see all the awesome shots I have taken over the past few days of skiing and running. Just picture the most amazing photo and video ever produced, then up that by 23% and you’ll be in the ballpark. Unfortunately, this is the best I can do for you at this point, since I donated my camera to the Brainard Lake wilderness on Sunday afternoon.

Yes, I have been busy training. Even did a 15-miler on Friday in the Boulder drizzle. Luke and I went out Sunday afternoon in gale-force winds to hit up the north-facing chutes on Niwot Ridge. Did I mention the gale-force winds? Yeah. We dropped down D2 (funky snow but fun) then jammed back to the RockShot pitch in the Rabbit Cages. Really funky snow in there. Wet slab conditions prevailed. At some point between the bottom of D2 and the parking lot I lost my faithful camera. The shots on it are award-winning.*

*Proclaimations of awesomeness are contingent upon the discovery of said camera at which point the author can not be held responsible for any lack of photographic awesomeness. But until the camera is found, the author is sticking to his story that the author composed and captured the best images ever created in the history of digital (or non-digital) photography.

Tuesday, I ran 8 miles north of Boulder. Seems the theme for the week is huge headwinds that suddenly die once they become tail winds. I put in the time on Foothills Trail then transitioned over to the trail system west of the Res. Didn’t feel great but after Sunday’s 6-hour trudge and a short, recovery run on Monday, that was to be expected. Stus and heat still don’t mix.

Luke and I headed back out this morning to an abandoned attempt to ski one of the couloirs off of Audubon. Today’s wind made Sunday look like a crappy Nichole Kidman/Billy Zane movie. The weather station at D1 said 80mph gusts and I believe it. It took us an hour to get up to Brainard where we decided that we just weren’t into getting blasted off the Audubon ridge and headed back over to the Cages. Dropped RockShot modified (hit the really steep drop in) but conditions were like Cold Medina with a slippery top layer of relatively fresh on top of a weird crust layer with slush underneath. Tricky.

As I said, it is good to be out there regardless of the munkiness of the skiing and bead-blaster conditions. Figuring out the rest of the week but I suspect it will be more of the same. Good times.

~stubert.

I think I may have met Yo…

Keep your god damned hands off my wife. ~ H.I. McDunnough

Recently, I started visiting a running coach, Janet Runyan, in an effort to see if changing my form could help with my abdominal problems and make me a more efficient (and subsequently less injured) runner. I found out about Janet several weeks ago when she hosted a seminar about “running with injuries”. I liked what I heard and signed up to have her take a stab at improving my steeze.

Janet won a bunch of prestigious ultradistance races including Leadville in 2001, and is the current record-holder for Masters Women in that event with a finishing time of 21:47:44. Pretty amazing. So far, she is really helping me a lot and today’s short run was a huge improvement in the pain department over anything I have experienced since some time in early October. Not pain-free by any means but a marked improvement over the past week’s runs for sure.

She has also helped me run “lighter” and so it feels at least like I am able to go the same speed at a decreased effort. That isn’t to say I am looking like a gazelle out there but I am starting to feel a lot more efficient. Good times.

Today, I took a little time to goof around on the ‘net and looked up Janet’s bio just to see what she had accomplished. Along with her race prowess, she is a music teacher with a performance degree in piano. She also was (or still is) a member of Divine Madness.

For those of you unfamiliar with Boulder running, there is a group of distance runners here called “Divine Madness” that has made quite an impression on the Ultradistance community. Their influence has dimmed a bit of late but in their heyday they were frequent podium finishers in many of the sport’s toughest races. Five-time Leadville champ Steve Peterson comes from the DM camp. They have been likened to a cult by some circles and if one believes the stories, practiced some definitely untraditional methods to achieve their running successes.

Their leader, Marc “Yo” Tizer, is an interesting character (or worse) and has been accused of some pretty heinous behavior. There is quite a bit of information out there that details the DM lifestyle and allegations but this article by Michael Finkel is probably the most thorough. I actually read this several years ago when researching ultradistance running and wondering about Divine Madness and their influence on the sport. Funny how things come full circle.

So anyway, I was meeting with Janet last night and her housemates were cooking dinner. One of them looked suspiciously like Yo. He was wearing a towel. Given what I have read, that sounds just about right.

~stubert.

Consistency is key…

To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. ~ Peter McWilliams

I have been running fairly consistently of late with days off Wednesday and Sunday. Mixed it up a lot in between. Last Thursday, I ran down our road and back (about 8 miles in 1:10) then did a loop in the neighborhood on Friday. That was supposed to be “easy” and I suppose it was in a mountainous sort of way.

Saturday, Bob and I headed out with Lindsay and their new pup, Leah then carried on to the BoboLink trail and back over to South Boulder Creek and around to their place. Ended up being 12.5 or so and we did it very slowly. Just soaking in the cool, Spring conditions and enjoying the run. I hit the gym today and logged 4+ on the track.

Overall, I am feeling like I am getting there but my abs are still a problem. Hoping that with consistent training, a lot of stretching and some gait guidance, I can get it cleared up in time to feel more confident about tackling Leadville again this year. Right now I am vacillating but am actually really fired up to do it. Giving until the end of May to make my final decision.

Tomorrow I’ll be down in Boulder for an 8-miler if anyone wants to go for a fun run in the early afternoon.

~stubert.