Category: boulder

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.

Apparently, I didn’t get the memo…

One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. ~ Oogway

A new study has taken a look into “the perfect running pace” and determined that though this pace is unique for each individual, the average optimal pace to travel 1 mile for males is 7:18. It does sound as if the study took into account only traveling a single mile so it would be interesting to know what the pace would be for those traveling greater distances. Anyway, that is my running link for the day. Enjoy!

I took Saturday completely off in an effort to recover a little bit from Thursday and Friday’s skiing excitement and drove down to Boulder on Sunday to do some really sloppy trail running. It was beautiful out, a bit breezy at times and the trails were wet and muddy. Good stuff.

I started out at Eben G. Fine park and made my way under Canyon Blvd to Prospect Park. My heartrate spiked pretty much immediately (gotta work on that) as I made my way up and over the hogback and on to Sanitas. I ran/walked up the gut of Sanitas , enjoying the scenery and perfect running weather then dropped off the top toward 4th.

This trail was SUPER muddy and very slick at points. I fell once but managed to get a hand down to keep from being coated in sloppy, wet clay, so that was a plus and eventually made it down without further incident and on to the Wonderland Lake trails.

This section was very wet but at this point, it didn’t really matter so I just tried to keep a sub 12-minute pace and let my legs spin. Unfortunately, my abs were really acting up and so I am sure I looked less than graceful. I ran North across Lee Hill road, up to the top of the hill and turned around for the return journey.

The only complication came while climbing back up the muddy access to Sanitas – just slow-going. I was pretty bonked by the end as well and man, my guts were killing me. Only 9.5ish miles, which took me about 1:45. Not stellar but given that I haven’t been running at all really, I am nursing two injuries, and it was only my second time on major hills/trails since who knows when, I’ll go easy on myself.

So the great experiment of running marathons over the fall months seems to have only really resulted in my having a nagging injury (abs) and less improvement in the efficiency department than expected. I’ll keep working to get the ab problem resolved… perhaps that is what is holding me back. The knee had several “twingey” moments but overall was okay. I definitely wouldn’t want to run 50+ miles on it right now.

Given the lingering injury situation, I have decided to postpone the double traverse until the fall but am looking at a few options for 50k races in May/June. The first, the Sage Burner, is in Gunnison on May 23rd. It follows a lot of the Rage in the Sage course which I used to race/train on heavily when I raced Mountain Bikes. This course has a hometown feel for me so it would be a fun one to do. The second upcoming event is also a “home course” kind of deal – The Golden Gate Dirty Thirty. This race is on June 6 and is run on the trail system near my house where I spent a lot of the last two summers training. Should be a lot of fun.

I am going to take today mostly off (will probably head to the gym later to lift) but am hoping to start ramping things up, move skiing more to the backcountry and start to feel better soon. At least that is the goal.

By the way, if you ever have electric motor repair needs, go see the guys at Boulder Electric Motor. They are awesome.

~stubert.

Like a step back in time…

Our challenge for the future is that we realize we are very much a part of the earth’s ecosystem, and we must learn to respect and live according to the basic biological laws of nature. ~ Jim Fowler

This was a decent week of training. Not quite what I had planned but a lot of hard running. Which is good. I did just notice that a long post I created on Thursday somehow didn’t get published. Bummer. It was about a movie I saw on Wednesday night (Sharkwater) that documented the horrible treatment of sharks for the fin industry. Really revolting and one of those films that makes one really despise the human race and our propensity to feel that we can just dominate all other species without concern for their well-being or the impact of our actions. If you want to learn more about long-line fishing (bad), finning (also bad), check out savingsharks.com.

On that light note, here is a summary of my running adventures this week:

  • Sunday (9/14): 20 miles on the Boulder Backroads course, 2:58ish. Hit the Boulder Backroads Marathon course with Caleb for a great run. I had a 17-miler teed up and Caleb was scheduled to do a 22-mile run so we split the difference. Good times. We started out early (7:30) fromCoot Lake under cloudy skyes and cool conditions — perfect morning for a long run. I felt great from the beginning and only faded in the last couple of miles. Was super-psyched to hang with Caleb (his personal best marathon is a 3:02 or something at the NYC marathon last year) and even lead a little at times. He dusted me with a nice surge up the last hill and was able to maintain at the top while I faded. Just couldn’t go that fast any longer. Fastest sustained pace over a course this long I have ever done.
  • Tuesday (9/16): 10 miles on the Boulder Creek path, 1:21. I decided to step it up a bit and instead of doing an 8-miler with a few strides, opted for a much harder run with a 2-mile warm-up, 3-mile tempo, 2-mile jog, 3-mile tempo type of deal. I have to say that by the end of my first 3-mile tempo, I was not running pretty. Fortunately, I can chalk this up to a steady uphill. At least that is what I plan to tell myself. Actually, I felt strong and recovered quickly from the first interval to finish the run up strongly. The last tempo was really only 2.5 miles or so since I got onto city streets and got hung up by lights and whatnot. All in all a good run.
  • Wednesday (9/17): 5 miles in the Casa Forest, 00:50. Just a quick recovery run in the woods near our house. I had to squeeze this one in as it has been a really busy week with work and whatnot. Felt okay, not great. Still a little tired from yesterday’s hard effort and Sunday’s big run.
  • Saturday (9/20): 7 then 5 (12 total) in Boulder, 1:52. Today was Bob’s wedding day so he invited people to join him for a morning run in Boulder. Ryan and I were the only two brave enough to hammer the groom on his wedding day (actually, we took it pretty easy). I went down early to get in some miles before meeting up with Bob and Ryan so I sorta did a double. It was fun, actually. I started off on the network of paths in Boulder and ended up on the Boulder Creek Trail where I warmed up for a couple of miles, then did 3 miles at tempo, then warmed back down at about a 9-minute pace back to Bob’s. Once we left his place, we headed up roads, mostly to the NCAR road. This is actually kindof a cool place to run since the atmosphere nerds at NCAR have marked the road in 25 meter increments all along the way. it is about 2K to the top total and we pretty much went all out for the final .5K. I felt great at the top and was really able to settle into a fast pace without feeling like I was going to completely explode. Just kept throttling up a notch until the end. Good stuff. Wish I had felt better on the first 7-miles of the day but whatchagonnado?

Total mileage for the week: ~47
Total time for the week: ~7 hours

So for the week, I was off what I had hoped to achieve for distance but still had a solid week of hard training. I missed out on runs on Thursday and/or Friday due to work and weather and maybe a little bit of apathy, but that is all okay. I am thinking I may do the Denver marathon on October 19th as a warm-up for Vegas. Still noodling on that but I’ll let you know.

~stubert.

Running is in our genes…

`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run. ~ Bruce Springsteen

Yes, I realize I just quoted the Boss. And I also realize how incredibly uncool that is. But I just read this great Discovery Magazine article about how humans are uniquely able to run long distances.

Biomechanical research reveals a surprising key to the survival of our species: Humans are built to outrun nearly every other animal on the planet over long distances.

Pretty cool stuff, I must say. Probably not enough to offset my Bruce quote but whatchagonnado?

Today I didn’t have a run scheduled so I went to the Rec Center to lift weights. It has been a LONG time since I hit the gym and I suspect I am going to pay for it tomorrow. I tried to take it easy and mostly managed to do so but given the time that has elapsed since my last sojourn into the weight room, I am not counting on being soreness-free in the morning.

Tomorrow I have an early appointment in Boulder, then a conference call and then will do an 8-miler with some strides down in the valley. Probably will just work some of the great bike/pedestrian trails Boulder has to offer but we’ll see what happens in the morning.

Work it.

~stubert.

Holy crap another week…

These guys at school… smoke. ~ Gavin

How did that happen? Another week just whoosh… in the past.

Well, here’s the summary:

  • Sunday: 12.5 miles up Rollins Pass, 1:47. Pretty good run. I was a bit tired from the day before but after about 3 miles started feeling okay and so I just kept going until the road maintenance wore out (at the second train bridge). Cool and a bit windy but nice to go on an evening jaunt in the high country.
  • Tuesday: 9.5 miles in Boulder, 1:19. Brutal run. Not sure if I was still just wiped out from the weekend or what but I was definitely not feeling it today. Had a 9-miler on deck with ~4 miles at 10K pace. I am pretty sure I ran the planned 4 miles at 10K but that isn’t saying much. It was my 10K pace for the day, not what I would consider a real 10K pace (if you get my drift). Pretty much maxed out. A bit ugly. If I have learned one thing after years of training and competing (and trust me, it took years of training and competing to learn this), there is no such thing as a bad training day. There’s always something to be learned and something to be gained, even from what seems like the world’s worst day out there. Plus, you were out there and not stuck in some goddamned cube for a few hours so chalk that up to goodness.
  • Wednesday: 5-mile recovery run in the woods, 00:49. We had a bear pay us a visit Tuesday night so I was on the lookout for our fuzzy little friend throughout my run (no sightings). Just a fairly mellow run in the hills near our place. Walked the steepest sections in an effort to keep my heartrate down. Nice and cool with a brisk wind. Perfect woods running conditions. My left ankle was bugging me a bit and since that horrendous effort a couple weeks ago, my right knee has been giving me a little grief but on the heels of Tuesday’s beating, this was a good, slow effort.
  • Thursday: 9.5 mile Boulder Res loops, 1:21. Great, relaxed run at the res. I headed west from the East Eagle trailhead and did a short loop on the Eagle Trail then did a clockwise Res loop. Threw in Coot Lake for good measure (and some extra miles… this is not a 10-mile loop as published). Ran into Caleb just as he was getting started, which was super cool. Caleb notched a top 1000 in the NYC marathon last year with a 3:02. Pretty awesome, if you ask me. Hoping to get together with him in the coming weeks to have him kick my ass on one of his slow days. In any event, I felt strong and was able to keep a good pace throughout without taxing myself too much. Nice and cool (though you wouldn’t have known it from the way I sweat) and no wind. Saw a couple of pelicans, which was awesome. I really like pelicans for whatever reason. Not necessarily a rarity in Colorado but still cool to see.
  • Saturday: 5-mile recovery run Eldora road from Ned, 00:40. Just a nice, easy run on the only flat road I could think of in the area. Steady pace up, picked up the speed a bit on the way down. Felt really strong and worked on running smoothly and efficiently. About a half mile before the turn, another runner warned me of a bear up the road but I didn’t see it. It is definitely that time of year, apparently, and the big critters are all out and about trying to pack on the pounds before the long winter.

Total mileage for the week: ~41.5
Total time for the week: ~6 hours

Not too shabby. I generally stayed on schedule this week with a couple of runs being just shy of planned. Overall, I am feeling pretty well and am not getting burned out. I am a bit concerned about what happens when the snow starts flying but we’ll just play that by ear and not worry about it before it happens (which it will). Last night it snowed down to about 10000 feet so it is definitely on the way.

I also tried out a new pair of shoes today: the Pearl Izumi Surge. It is always a bit iffy trying out new shoes but Saucony no longer makes the ones I prefer (and they are much more of a trail shoe anyway) so I thought I’d give the Surges a shot — particularly since I am doing the road thing for the coming months. First impressions are positive. They are definitely lighter than what I normally use and felt stable and fast on the road. I was planning to use them for tomorrow’s run but decided that was a bad idea to jump into a fresh pair of shoes for a long-ish run. If these keep working well for me, I’ll probably pick up another pair for use during the event as well. That is the plan, at least. I’ll keep you posted. So far, I like them.

Tomorrow, I have a 17-ish miler planned for down in the valley. May turn this up a notch to 22 and run with Caleb. I’ll let you know.

~stubert.