Category: running

Bonking and hand-held do not mix…

These effects aren’t very special. ~ Butthead

Yesterday’s run was an exercise in physiology management, mostly. It is becoming more and more clear that I should never try the Badwater Ultra as I just do not do well at all when confronted with unrelenting sunshine and warm temps. It wasn’t even that hot yesterday but man, I suffered a bit due to lack of any shade, the warm-ish temps and poor nutrition.

We were up early to clean runs at the bunny shelter which is truly a rewarding experience. Rach went in at some ungodly hour of the day to get started and I followed shortly thereafter – sans breakfast. We got the bunnies cleaned up very quickly and had decided we would go see a movie around noon so I had just enough time to get in a “long” run and then get changed and to the movies.

The run started off rather poorly. I whacked down an apple but felt super clunky and not at all fluid. After a couple of miles I started feeling better and just focused on staying relaxed with good form. This is not my day to go out and break any speed records so I settled into a nice 9:00-9:30 pace and was able to keep my heartrate down for the most part. I circled one of Broomfield’s open space areas on dirt and then jumped into some neighborhood road running for the second portion of the day’s run.

Really, I felt okay for most of the run but never great and the longer I went, the hotter it got and there was little to no protection from the sun’s intensity. I wound my way back around on surface streets then picked up the Big Dry Creek trail for the next portion of the outing. It was during this stretch that I started feeling pretty crappy and my watch died so I had no information about how long I had been out but only a vague idea as to my timing. I circled back around to the shelter, checked the time and dropped off my non-functional HRM, then headed back out for another mile and a half or so to finish the day with about 11 miles and 1:45 or thereabouts of time. Overall, not too shabby but I wish I had felt a bit better.

Post run, Rach and I headed to see District 9. I was feeling a bit bonked and dehydrated and grabbed a burrito pre-screening to see if getting some food in my belly would help me feel better. It did, albeit briefly, and by about 2/3 of the way through the film I was feeling quite queasy. I think the combination of bonking, being a little dehydrated and the massive amounts of hand-held footage during the film combined to make things a little rough. I soon recovered and started feeling a bit better and enjoyed the film. Great effects. Good acting. Good story. Interested to see how much they screw up the sequel.

So today I am resting and recovering a bit and will get back out there tomorrow. I felt like I made progress this week. The abs still are bugging me a bit but overall, I feel pretty solid.

~stubert.

Early Fall is good…

If I played guitar, I’d be Jimmy Page. ~ The Beastie Boys

Just got back from watching It Might Get Loud. Good flick. Really cool to learn more about Jimmy Page, Jack White and Edge and see them interact. If you are a fan of music, you won’t be disappointed.

Pete and I jammed down to Denver to see the flick then came back up to Boulder and did a nice little run up the Creek path. Felt pretty awesome and did a few surges. Feeling really strong right now, which is just excellent. Hoping to keep ramping up the mileage and staying healthy.

This week has been particularly busy but I have been able to get out consistently. Did a fun run with Sean last Sunday on and around the Habitrail in Ned. Just a mellow, “long” run that ended up being 1:54 and 9.75 miles. Good to get out and explore some of the new trails in that area. I haven’t been riding lately so my normal exploration of this trail system has been lacking. So many variations out there now. Good and bad, I suppose but there are some really fun sections for sure.

Tuesday I ran in Boulder on the Creek path. Surges again but all on pavement since I started on the east side of the path. I was hoping to do my workout on the CU track but apparently it is closed to the public and I didn’t feel like getting yelled at (or arrested) so I just did some surges on pavement and called it good after about 50 minutes.

Wednesday was a blast with a fun tempo run in the woods. Feeling pretty great about the amount of distance I can cover when I hammer and am even starting to get faster while running slowly. The leaves are starting to change up here so things are getting a different kind of beautiful before winter sets in. It has definitely been cooling off and the nighttime air has a distinct, fall-esque snap to it.

Thursday featured just a short, recovery run during which I got a little lost and my watch batteries died so I don’t really know how far I ran. That was actually somewhat refreshing, to be honest… just out running with nothing to distract me.

Rach and I also checked out Inglourious Basterds on Thursday. Great, fun, fantasy film by QT. One of his best efforts, for sure. Terrific performances abound.

Work has been quite active as well of late and we signed several new clients in the past couple of weeks. All in all, early fall has been great thus far.

~stubert.

And the trend continues…

What am I supposed to do? Just sit on my ass and watch TV? That ain’t my style, man. ~ Homer Simpson

Missed my run on Tuesday due to extended work wackiness but did make it out on Wednesday for a great run in the woods with some tempo thrown in for good measure. 7.3 in 1:10 on technical trails with 15 minutes of tempo really satisfied.

Thursday I did a short recovery run and today I worked and hammered some nails. The shed is really taking shape and I expect to have the roof on in the next few days. Good stuff.

I am heading up to Pbville tomorrow to spectate and get in a little run somewhere on the course if possible. Hoping to see Tony Krupicka crush the course record. Sounds like he is flying right now.

I’ll try to post from the race.

~stubert.

Well that was satisfying…

I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978! ~ Mark “Rent-boy” Renton

Two good runs in a row. That must be some sort of record.

Yesterday I got out early which was, I must admit, highly refreshing. Morning in the mountains is just different somehow. Anywhere, really. Things are more calm, collected. The quiet envelops you. And you can just settle into what you are doing without distractions found the rest of the day.

I headed out for a quick warm up on trails followed by several surges. I must admit, my abs have been bothersome of late but not so much that I can’t enjoy myself and I have managed to finally get a tentative grip on running relaxed. By the time I hit the pavement for my first of 4 surges, I still felt fresh, fast. I spun nearly 5 miles in 40 minutes total with a good warm up and cool down. Pretty happy with that.

Today I headed out for my “long” run. The target was 1:20 and how I got there was really up to me. I selected one of my favorite routes with lots of hills and technical trails and told myself I would be happy if I ended up with 7 miles at the end of it all. I ran down the Beav then up into the forest that makes up what I like to call “the Triangle”. This area represents part of the Roosevelt National Forest broken up by South Boulder Creek, Highway 119 and South Beaver Creek Road and is home to some of my favorite local trails – a couple of which I created. After climbing up Creekwood and heading out Judges, I dropped down Little Hope to Ski Thing and then climbed back up to Funky Boss via Sofa Spring. From there, I headed back up to Diver Down and then finished up by reversing my normal route on the Casa Trails and back home. Felt really great for most of the run with a couple of places I power hiked and went way anaerobic on one of the climbs before saying “screw this” and hiking. I have run everything on this route at one time or another but some sections are STEEP and I am working on hiking big ups but hammering the downs. In any event, I finished up with 8 miles in 1:20 on the nose for an average of 10-minute miles. VERY happy with that result.

I also made some progress on the shed over the weekend and just need to get a few more things in order to finish it up. Qwest comes tomorrow morning to fix our phone line and install a new modem for the office so that should make working in the studio a lot better and I have a meeting in Idaho Springs in the afternoon which should be productive. Rach hits the shelter on Monday so I’ll be taking care of the critters at home while she is away as well. She has been staying down there Monday nights to give Nancy a break… which is just awesome of her.

I tuned into the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on Saturday as well and wish to congratulate Lance Armstrong on his record-breaking win. I was pulling for Dave Wiens but an in-shape Lance is a tough cookie to break. Dave took second (reversed the order from last year) and it sounded like an exciting race. I am looking forward to heading up next weekend to check out some of the run and hope to be back in there next year!

Also, if you have seen a shoe, Cort’s was stolen last night by a fox so keep your eyes open for a stinky, fox-chewed Merrill clog-type thing. Not sure if we are looking for a left or a right but if you see something, let me know.

~stubert.

Wild West Relay race report…

Bright and early is a half-truth. ~ me

Getting back on the racing train was great. I had been missing the camaraderie of running with others and the Wild West Relay was just the ticket.

I managed to climb in the sack Thursday night around 9 so actually got in a decent number of cuts before the alarm started blaring at 2:30. It was early but not very bright when I rolled out to meet the rest of the team in Denver for a short van ride up to Ft. Collins. The race started at the Budweiser plant (can’t think of a better place from which to run away) and we met the remainder of the team at the start line. I was batting clean-up in van #2 so I would have to wait a LONG time before hitting the road for my first leg.

Teams consisted of 12 people who took turn running individual sections of the 197-mile course from Ft. Collins to Steamboat. Legs ranged in distance from about 2.5 miles to almost 8 and we competed in the Masters category which meant that we each had to run our respective sections in order. We started at 6:40am and since van 2 wouldn’t have to start our first leg for several hours, we grabbed some food then made our way to the first van exchange point – a school somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Northern Colorado.

We hung out, got organized, chatted with other teams and waited quite awhile for the first runners to arrive. By the time Tom, our team runner, arrived, it was quite toasty. Sammie took our van’s first shift and ran well despite the conditions. By the time I was up for my 2.5 mile jaunt, it was scorching out. I just put the hammer down so that I could get this bake-fest over as quickly as possible and finished in 19 minutes or so.

Then the waiting started once again as van #1 took over the running duties.

We drove back roads to the second van exchange and did our best to get some sleep during our break. We hung out in a campground for several hours until our teammates rolled in around 11:30pm when once again, we were on duty.

We took turns sleeping and running and my second leg started around 4:45am Saturday morning. I love night running and felt awesome during my 5.5-mile section of highway running. Competitors were spread out along the route before me and were just small dots of blinking red lights in the distance. I ran smoothly and managed to pass 6 other runners and finished in Walden with an average pace of 7:50-minute miles. Not too shabby.

The cycle repeated itself and we ended up in a field near the foot of Rabbit Ears pass. I immediately plopped down in my bivy sack and crashed out for a couple of hours until it got too warm to sleep any more. Some time thereafter the other van showed up, followed closely by their last runner and we were off again for our final sections. Up and over Rabbit Ears then I took over the final leg through the town of Steamboat and on to the finish line. 5-miles in 40 minutes (with a couple of delays where I got slightly off course and stuck at a traffic light). Not too shabby. Overall time: 32:25, average pace: right around 10-minute miles. Good times.

Thanks to Kathy, Paul, Sue, Lauri, Merlin, Tom, Lynn, Joel, Dave, Sammie and Frank for including me on the team, to Kevin and Drew for volunteering and giving me a ride back to my car on Saturday and to Rach for putting up with all my crap all the time and baking awesome treats for me and the team. Hopefully more fun times to come.

~stubert.