Category: boulder

Wetter is better…

Open the sky and let her come down. ~ The Cult

Yesterday I was the Singlespeed commuter extrordinaire. I rode the bus in from Ned and then rode from the station to work – about 40 minutes. I was in dire need of a haircut and Shannon at Al’s Barber Shop had a 1:30 available and was going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I took it. Luke joined me on my trek back to Boulder and showed me some fun bike-path trails out in the Gunbarrel area. We grubbed some burritos, Luke goofed around while Shannon went to work on my melon, and we rode back to his house via 4th Street/Wonderland Lakes.

Shortly after parting company with Luke, the clouds broke open – drenching me completely. It was a warm day so I wasn’t really bothered by it. Sometimes it is fun to ride in the rain. I made it back to work safely and then grabbed the bus back to Boulder/Ned since my clothes were soaked. There are few things worse than having to put on wet gear so I opted out of riding back to the station.

I somehow squeezed in an appointment with Mark at In Motion for this afternoon and will probably try to ride this evening at home depending upon his diagnosis and recommendations for activity-levels over the next few days. I am feeling really fit right now and don’t want to lose it but maybe a rest is in order. Gotta take these things in stride.

Log some miles for me.

~stubert

Edit: Oh yeah, if anyone wants to bring me a replacement Jamba Juice (Protein Berry with Immunity, please) I’d be most grateful. I dropped mine on the way in to work and it exploded all over the foyer. Good times.

Semi-Cirque de Boulder…

Pain don’t hurt. ~ James Dalton

So yesterday went relatively well. Luke and I got started around 4:30 from the 7-mile mark of the Cirque de Boulder route. Let’s call it the semi-cirque. We started off under overcast skies and moderate temperatures. Pretty near perfect conditions. The first half of the route went smoothly and Nichole and Pete met us at Gregory Canyon to help crew. Special thanks to those two as we were both out of water by this point and it is always good to see a familiar face.

We jammed up to the Mesa Trail and this is when my right ankle started acting up. No biggie, just kept running and ignored it. We were treated to some amazing views with the sunset highlighting the Flatirons. Really just a gorgeous evening.

We dropped down Blue Stem around dusk and pushed the pace along 93 and got to the Bobolink trailhead (I think) just as darkness started to set in. There was a pack of howling coyotes in the meadow through which we ran just yipping up a storm. Really cool to see this much of the Boulder Valley and Foothills in Springtime. The wildflowers and dogwoods were blooming, the pines were sprouting fresh needles and everything is getting green again.

We ran through the darkness under an amazing new moon to Luke’s parents’ house and grabbed a ride back to our starting point to retrieve my car. All in all a good run.

I am a bit hammered today. I felt like I was hungover this morning. I don’t think I rehydrated enough post run and definitely didn’t eat enough after we stopped running. My left knee swelled up quite a bit where I banged it last week but I think this, along with the ankle issue, will resolve itself in due time. I plan to limit my activity to hiking and biking for the next few days. All told, we logged at least 23 miles in about 4.5 hours. A bit off our intended pace but a pretty decent effort nonetheless.

Today, I drove to Gunnison to hang out with my parents. I head back to the Front Range tomorrow and will probably take it a bit easy thru the weekend. I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert

Why…

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. ~ T.S. Eliot

Yesterday, I was asked on at least two separate occasions why I planned to run 100 miles. The quote above sums it up best. I see this as a challenge of mind, body and spirit and want to see if I am up to it.

I have had many break-throughs and let-downs during the course of my training. I have come out of 2-hour runs feeling like this was going to be impossible and have finished 4+ hour treks feeling confident and inspired. I am sure there will be more of each as I get closer and closer to the event and that I will go through a whole range of emotions during the race itself. I am excited to know how I will deal with the challenges during that long day in August.

My main goal is to finish – that much I know. I am still trying to establish intermediate goals and will know better what to expect of myself as I continue to log longer and harder training runs. I have always thought of 25 hours as the ultimate goal. After listening to Dean Karnazes’ book Ultramarathon Man, I am starting to think that I should really push myself, to better understand what I am really capable of achieving. Depending upon how training is going, I may push for a sub 24-hour finish – 100 miles in a day. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Yesterday, Luke, Brad and I went for a Singlespeed ride. We left Brad’s house for a quick jaunt up to Betasso. We pushed pretty hard the whole time. I had a hard time keeping up on the descents but was able to hang on the climbs pretty well. My Singlespeeder is fully rigid right now, making descents high on the excitement scale. I may have to put a shock on there but for now, I’m going to run it old-school.

Today, I am not quite certain of the plan. I may go for a run at lunch and may do a hike post work. Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be crummy but I am sure I’ll be out there doing something. Just have to keep moving.

~stubert

Short but sweet…

Ouch! Quit it. Ouch! Quit it. ~ Bart Simpson

Still recovering from Tuesday’s debacle. Luke and I ran a variation on the Foothills Trail yesterday at lunch. Just a quick jaunt to get things moving again. I am hoping this doesn’t set me back too much.

Sam is hanging in there but really doesn’t feel well at all. Rage is being awesome and taking care of Sam’s medical needs along with giving her lots of pets, which she loves. Siamese cats are a bit odd – they are so vocal normally, you don’t really know when they are feeling lousy. They kind of fuss all the time anyway. Part of their charm.

On the way in to work today I saw a fox running down the sidewalk with some dead thing in his mouth. There was a woman walking the opposite direction who freaked out when she saw him and took an immediate left to try to get away from him. Of course, he went right. Hilarity ensued.

For those of you trying to actually find some substantive information about running Leadville, I pinged the Boulder Trail Runners Group yesterday to get some advice on what lights work well for the night segment of the race. The consensus seems to be the Gerber LX3. I have not yet tried this out myself but plan to give it a whirl shortly. I have been using headlamps but a lot of the feedback I received indicated that one gets better results from a hand-held light while running trails. I’ll let you know.

For those of you looking for something fun to do this weekend, you should check out the Boulder Adventure Film Festival. This is an annual event that focuses on outdoor, adventure and environmental film. Screenings are held at the Boulder Theater and this year it features a filmmaker’s seminar on Saturday. Check it out!

For today’s “training”, I am hoping to hit some golf balls at lunch and then go for a Singlespeed ride post work. Ping me if you have an interest in attending either of those events.

See you out there.

~stubert

Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday…

This is a very deep cut. ~ Morris “Mo” Wanchuk

Seems that gravity is more than just a theory, my friends. Yesterday witnessed two casualties of Newton’s First Law: Brad decided it would be a good idea to test the tensile strength of a street sign, and I introduced my mouth to a very large rock. The rock, as you can imagine, won.

Our Singlespeed ride was a blast. I may have to outfit my ride with a fork, however, as I quickly remembered why full-rigid went the way of the dodo bird. How did we ever ride this way? Still, a good time was had by all and Brad and Luke kept the fun and/or games in full effect. We headed out from Brad’s house (post road sign encounter) and jammed up to Betasso for a quick lap. Then it was back to town to toss on the running duds for a run with Jess up Sanitas. Up was a steady slog, as usual. On the descent, the excitement began.

Essentially, I blew a step, tripped and decided somewhere along my fast arc to the ground that it would be best to lead with my face. Fortunately, my teeth are all intact and my jaw only feels slightly like I took a pummeling from Mike Tyson. Or Cicely Tyson at least. Overall, the damage wasn’t too bad: a scraped and banged knee, hip, wrist and chin and a small cut on my lip. If you want to bake a cake, you have to break a few eggs. Unless you don’t eat eggs in which case you can use Egg Replacer and my analogy gets all shot to hell.

Today, I may go for a short ride run at lunch and maybe a hike after work but will chalk today up as a rest/recovery day. Luke and I were going to try a modified Cirque de Boulder tomorrow but I think that will be postponed for the time-being. I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert