Category: run

Rain run…

What are you… made of sugar? ~ Rachel

Yesterday: Singlespeed Ride – Caribou/Mud Lake Trails, 1 hour 45 minutes
Today: Run – Neighborhood trails, 1 hour
Tomorrow: Off

Headed out today with rain threatening and then was quickly greeted with a steady downpour. No biggie, I usually dry out eventually. I ran at a leisurely pace for about an hour and felt okay. Not great but just fine for such a short effort. The rain subsided a bit mid-run and then came back in the last 15 minutes or so. With temperatures in the upper 60s, this was no big deal.

Getting organized for the big day. Rach has been helping to get things sorted out and I have a pretty solid pace schedule and crew plan at this juncture. Everything is falling into place and now I am just waiting for Friday when I head up the hill and the countdown really starts. I have some final checks this week, have to buy supplies and food, pack up the rig and get my run on.

Movie review: Last night, I watched Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. This film is set in France in the 1700s and paints a really scary picture of people living in that period. This is a fine adaptation from an equally fine novel. It features some seriously grotesque scenes but is a movie I would recommend if you are into that sort of thing. Really well done.

~stubert.

One week…

…so as the rat’s milk is returned to the sewers, the circle of life is complete. ~ Kent Brockman

Yesterday: Run – Casa del Critters, 45 minutes
Today: Ride – Ned area, 1.5 hours
Tomorrow: Ride – Casa del Critters, 1.5 hours

In one week, I should be somewhere in-between Fish Hatchery and Half Moon. Good stuff.

I can’t believe this thing is only a week away. I started getting my stuff together last night and will continue gathering and organizing over the course of the next five days or so. I think I have everything I need (aside from food) and feel fit and fairly rested. I have been a little sleepy of late and hope to relieve that over the next few days.

Last night I went for a fun little run in the woods around my house. I didn’t feel super snappy until later in the run but that is to be expected. It takes me awhile to warm up, as you might imagine. When I raced bikes, I put on some serious miles one summer and it would take me a couple of hours to start feeling good. I once had a crit in Copper mountain (about an hour-long event) for which I rode to the top of Fremont Pass to warm up. Kinda silly.

Today, I am hoping to go for a bike ride. Trying to cajole some of the Crüe to come up to join me. I also hope to get some things cleaned up and organized around the house so that I can focus on work in the coming weeks. I also need a new chair as my exercise ball on which I normally sit blew up. But I digress.

Movie review: The Black Dahlia is a train wreck. This film – based on the amazing novel of the same name by James Elroy – was simply a mess. Elroy has the ability to weave about 19 seemingly divergent plot-lines together into a coherent narrative that somehow works out in the end. (Not necessarily true for all his books but The Black Dahlia is a fine example of his talent. Also read L.A. Confidential.) It takes an equally skilled craftsperson to massage his work into a film that makes any sense whatsoever. When this is done well, the results are amazing (again, see L.A. Confidential). When not, it gets ugly – fast.

Couple this with inane casting (Hillary Swank as the femme fatale???) and pretty dismal directing by Brian De Palma and you have the recipe for disaster. Avoid this one. Trust me. There are plenty of less painful opportunities to see Mia Kirshner’s boobs.

Get your countdown on.

~stubert.

Back in the saddle, again…


Oh no. The problem. The problem, Pansy! It’s started again! I must have fruit! ~ Vincent

Yesterday: Singlespeed Ride – Neighborhood trails, 1.5 hours
Today: Run – Hope Pass (North side), 3.5 hours
Tomorrow: Bike ride – Nederland trails, 3 hours

Well… the last two days have seen markedly different experiences. Yesterday’s ride was a blast. I felt strong the whole time and even discovered some singletrack to which I had previously not been privy. Good stuff. I headed up to the standard route but didn’t really want to swing down the flume on the rigid bike so I jammed down a trail I hooked up earlier this year and then started exploring. I tried a piece of singletrack I hadn’t gone up in years and happily discovered it to hook up with some roads northeast of my house. Blasted back down the the Beav’ and rode home in good spirits. Absolutely no pain in my lower extremities and power to spare.

Today’s adventure was less happy-inducing. I got up early to take care of stuff around the house then headed up to Leadville to run the last remaining segment of the course I have not yet seen, Hope Pass. This starts in Twin Lakes and heads up 3400 feet over the Pass and down a similar elevation to the ghost town of Winfield. My plan was to run about 7 miles up and over then back. I guess you know what they say about the best laid plans…

I arrived in Twin Lakes around 8:45 and headed out by 9:00. Route-finding was tricky, to say the least but I finally managed to get moving in the right direction and on-course, even. I had some problems crossing the river as it was running strongly and was murky from a recent storm but I managed to get across without dousing myself or my camera. I am guessing the crossing is only about a mile and a half or so along the route but it took me nearly an hour to finally reach the south bank. Ugh. This is why I have been reviewing all the parts of the course… so come go-time, I’ll be familiar with each section and the challenges therein.

After the river, I headed up, up, up. I felt okay, actually, mostly power-hiking up the well-traveled trail. There were other runners that I passed or who passed me heading the other direction. I definitely could have run some of this section but wanted to simulate race-pace so kept the uphills to a brisk hike. Around tree-line things took a turn for the worse when I experienced an excruciating jolt of pain in my left shin. The problem had come back with a vengeance. Worse than ever, actually. Nausea-inducing type pain. Not good times.

I stopped and stretched for a bit and then decided to see if this was an isolated incident (it wasn’t) then experimented with different techniques to try to deal with it. I was able to come up with a couple of tricks to keep going but this is not something I believe will work for 100+ miles. Eventually, I used my handkerchief to compress the area and that seemed to offer a bit of relief. I decided the full trip was a bad idea but wanted to “summit” at least so trudged on the additional 1000+ vertical feet to the top of the pass.

Upon turning around after a brief stop to get some food and change shirts, I couldn’t believe how painful the leg became. If I were the panicking type, I can assure you that things would have gotten silly. I limped down the top section then tried running a bit once the pitch became less steep. This seemed to work and I was able to keep a fairly steady pace back down Hope to the valley below. Once the trail leveled out, I alternated walking and running back to the river then back to Twin Lakes.

I have put in calls to Mark to see if he can squeeze me in next week and Ben, a friend of mine who is an experienced athlete and who has finished Leadville at least once to see what to try next. I am thinking this will involve switching all remaining training to the bike until the last week or so, when I may try a couple short runs. Not really sure right now the best course of action. I definitely also want to see if there are any tricks I can employ to help get me through the race (ice, compression, booze) and, at this point, am pretty much game for anything that might enable me to get through it. 27 days until the start. That should give me plenty of time to get this figured out.

I’ll post some photos in a bit. I only took a couple as the day was a bit gray and will get them posted ASAP.

Think shin-ey thoughts.

~stubert.

Edit: I spoke with Ben last night and he provided a different insight into my situation. With less than four weeks until the race, I really don’t have much more intense training to accomplish. His take on the situation is that I can jump on the bike, finish out the month with less abusive training that will maintain my current fitness levels and give my body a rest prior to the race. Going in refreshed and healthy is much more important than any incremental fitness gains I might achieve at this point. Great advice.

Leadville tip: Two tips, actually…

Tip 1: Many people take off their shoes while crossing the river. My experience is that with good socks, they dry quickly and there is no need to waste time swapping them out at this juncture. I plan to swap shoes at Winfield and then again after crossing back over in Twin Lakes.

Tip 2: Bug spray is most welcome during the first couple miles out of Twin Lakes. This marshy section is rife with mosquitoes and keeping them at bay is a good idea.

Less than a month…

Some people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts. ~ Steve Prefontaine (thanks, Nichole!)

Yesterday: PT
Today: Ride or Run – Around my house, ~ 1.5 hours
Tomorrow: Run/Hike – Hope Pass, 5-6 hours

Sorry for the lack of updates, this has been a hectic week and I didn’t have a lot to report.

I have been nursing the shin problem for the last week and finally broke down and went to see Mark Plaatjes yesterday for some much-needed PT. He whipped out his evil thumbs and went to work attempting to rip my heart out through my lower leg. Good stuff. I have noticed over the past few days that merciless massage made it feel a bit better (if only temporarily) and Mark is definitely the go-to guy for this. He then used some laser/light therapy thing on me and then hooked me up to the car battery again with the super-heating pad action. It feels a bit better today though really sore to the touch which is expected. Hopefully this will take and I’ll be able to finish off my training strong and taper to race day.

So let’s see… I did do a short run on Tuesday but other than that have been trying to stay off the leg and have been really busy. I almost went for a run about 11 last night but then decided sleep would be better for me. All in all, I feel like I have things under control, am very fit, and feel pretty decent about the race mentally. The Fish Hatchery to Twin Lakes (and return) section has me a little nervous since I have not run that portion of the course and this features the longest stretch of pavement on the course. I have seen everything but Hope Pass now so that makes me aware of everything at least. I am planning to go up to look at Hope either this weekend or early next week.

Ok. I’ll keep you posted with plans and progress.

See you out there.

~stubert.

Long and strong…

Nothing good ever happens after midnight. ~ John D. Roach
(Particularly if you are breaking more than one law at a time.) ~ Rachel Bellamy

Yesterday: Nada
Today: Run – King’s Lake to High Lonesome to Diamond Lake to home, 8 hours
Tomorrow: Nada

Today’s adventure was awesome. Luke picked me up at 6:30 and we headed to Hessee to start our big run. The weather was pretty much perfect and, with the wildflowers in full effect, we were treated to a wonderful run up King’s Lake trail to High Lonesome and back around to Diamond Lake trail.

We started off slowly and maintained a steady pace most of the day. The moon was setting over Rollins Pass as we headed up from the valley floor. Everything was lush and green and we ascended up above treeline (topping out at 12,200 feet). The views from the summit were amazing. We were able to look down on Winter Park/Mary Jane ski areas from our vantage point atop the ridge and there is a remarkable amount of beetle kill on the back range. This seems to be slowly creeping over the divide too which is not good news. I think the best we can hope for is an extreme winter to help cull the beetle numbers as the last few winters have been relatively mild temperature-wise.

We headed north along the ridge line to Diamond Lake trail and dropped down into this great little basin. There are a bunch of fun-looking ski lines up here but, as Luke pointed out, getting to them with all your gear would be a bit of a slog. We continued down the trail, making it back to the truck in about 4 and a half hours. Luke had to jam back to Boulder so I refueled and started my trek back home from Eldora.

Running back down the main road toward Ned I felt great. I was taking it easy, run/walk cycles along the pavement back to the Shelf Road. From here, I took a cut off that deposited me at the far west end of Magnolia and then the fun began.

I jammed up some singletrack and quickly linked into the Habitrail – a fun singletrack mountain bike trail. This trail got its name because it loops around the forest like those cages one can but for their hamster. I took a peek at the map and noticed they have it listed as the Hobbit trail which is just lame but pretty funny. Gotta love it when the forest service is out of the loop.

I intended to follow my old standard back to Rollinsville but then got a wild hair and decided to hook up with 105 which should have dumped me at the top of a gnarly descent to Rollins Pass. Unfortunately, I got a little lost and ended up on some new singletrack that didn’t go where I expected and probably burned about an hour dinking around trying to get back to familiar territory. I finally made it back to my standard route and made it to the Rollinsville store prior to running out of water (barely). I refilled and headed back up the Peak to Peak highway. A storm seemed to be moving in behind me and I made it my goal to reach home in less than 8 hours or at least before getting hammered by the rain. I was able to run when the road wasn’t too steep and made it home in front of the storm but 5 minutes shy of my 8-hour goal. Pretty awesome.

I was able to run, eat and drink the whole run today, which was very good news. I did have some issues with my left shin in the final hour or so which I will need to address but overall, this was a great run. I am feeling more and more prepared every week.

View full album here.

Movie time: Yesterday, Rage and I went to see the new Pixar joint, Ratatouille. I believe this is the best to date and given that it is from Pixar, says a lot. Just a fun movie. Amazing CGI. Go see it on the big screen immediately. Rage has indicated that she has a nice, crisp $5 bill for anyone who can go the whole movie without wanting to tweak the nose of the main character.
(Offer not valid in Wisconsin, Tennessee or Washington D.C.. Offer only good for first person who successfully completes the challenge and reports findings via a certified letter of non-tweakage and passes a lie-detector test (test must be paid for by contestant).)

We also watched Neil Young: Heart of Gold which was a cool concert film. Rage and I got to see Mr. Young play at Fiddler’s green several years ago and this concert film is considered by many to be a great example of how to shoot and edit this type of movie. I can’t say that I necessarily disagree. Good flick.

Tomorrow I plan to do a whole lot of nuthin’ and may hit that up again on Friday. Planning to do Hope Pass Saturday if my leg feels better. I am icing it now so hopefully I’ll recover quickly.

See you out there.

~stubert.