Silver Rush 50M Race Report

I, along with several other CRUDers, ran the Silver Rush 50* Miler on Sunday in Leadville. This event is just 3 years old, I believe, so is a fairly new addition to the calendar in Colorado. There is an accompanying bike race on the same course on Saturday. What I knew of this race was from a few folks who had biked it, and they said it was a hard course and fairly technical. This is probably true if you are on a mountain bike with 400 other riders, but for runners it turned out to be a fairly tame course. Like the Leadville Trail Marathon, this race is held on the east side of town (Mosquito Pass side) rather than the west side where the 100 miler takes place. The race starts at the little ski hill in town, and you run straight up it. This is actually the hardest hill on the whole course! Seriously, going from a resting HR to about 190 in 10 seconds really bites. The course then gradually climbs to about 12,200 at the base of Mt. Sherman and Mt. Sheridan. You then descend on a dirt road, and then a paved road, to the Printer Boy aid station before heading north to the main mining district. This part of the course shares a few sections (Ball Mountain) with the marathon and is stunningly beautiful. After going up and over Ball Mt. Pass (also about 12,000 feet), you descend into Stumptown for the turn-around. Coming back repeats those two main climbs and then the last 10 miles are all downhill back to town.


CRUD Crew

Ok, now for my day. This was to be my first test since my "pain in the butt" of a few months ago. My training has mainly consisted of the two weekly CRUD runs, so just slow hilly running. I'd finally been feeling back to my normal self for about a month but still wasn't expecting much at this race. My post-surgery training mileage is as follows:

Week ending:
4/12: 10 miles (surgery on 4/10)
4/19: 0
4/26: 0
5/3: 6 miles
5/10: 18 miles
5/17: 27 miles
5/24: 36 miles
5/31: 28 miles
6/7: 11 miles
6/14: 28 miles
6/21: 12 miles
6/28: 36 miles
7/5: 44 miles
7/12: 39 miles
7/19: 54 miles

After looking at the times from last year, and the website, I first realized the race isn't actually 50 miles; more like 46 which was fine with me! I was hoping for something in the low 8 hr range, and decided to try to stick with my training partner Rick H for as long as possible. He generally runs a smart conservative race and he'd been kicking my ass in training lately. We ran together up the initial 10 mile climb, with me having to take the first of 2 dumps for the day (two burritos and one enchilado the day before the race; will avoid that next time). While catching up I realized I felt really good and at the top of the climb I decided to just let myself go on the downhill to Printer Boy. I put a few minutes on Rick and at the aid station was told I was in 2nd place. I decided to push a bit to see if I could catch the leader (Ryan Burch - eventual winner). No such luck as he maintained the same gap all the way to the turn-around which I reached in about 3:35.


Stumptown

The 2nd half of the race is easier than the first, so I figured I might actually be in the low 7 hr range rather than low 8s if I held it together. The return was as expected; my lack of training proved to be a factor, I slowed to a walk on the hills, and I wasn't able to put up any fight when passed a few miles from the finish. I finished, shirtless, after running the last 45 or so minutes in a cold rain mixed with sleet. Results say 7:17 for 3rd which certainly exceeded my expectations. Rick finished about 8 minutes later, having closed on me the last 10 miles. It was sort of weird being awarded the Masters win; I don't really think of myself as a Masters but I guess the birthdate says otherwise. I would like to think I have a few more open wins in me, but who knows. I like to race but the hard training is loosing its appeal. For now I'll stick with the CRUD runs and just enjoy being injury-free.

I'd really recommend this race for anybody looking for a moderate high altitude 50. Several hours easier than San Juan, but still a good feeling of accomplishment at the end and some great scenery.

Feb Training Summary

3/14 Edit: Out here in California the night before WTC and I just talked to Julie. I learned the complete story to the changing of the WTC course and now admit that it was the right thing to do! Apparently the race originally was the "new" course and the full 50K but at some point, a person marking the course mistakenly turned the course off the road earlier than he was supposed to, and that become the official course. So not only was Julie making the course the right length, but she was also staying with tradition by restoring the original.
The shortest month is over, and here are the final stats:

28 Runs = 37:15:00/273 miles
15 Walks = 8:07:00/31 miles
Total: 45:22:00/304 miles
Other Workouts = 7:15:00 (lifting and yoga)

Overall, a very good month with the exception of a strained Glute muscle the last week which curtailed my running and caused me to start my WTC taper earlier than planned. The mileage was about as much as I ever do (70mpw avg for month) and I also got several race-specific quality workouts in. As for WTC, I'm not ready to set any records, but should be able to at least qualify for WS by getting top 3. Speaking of records, whoever wins WTC will set a new "record" just because they decided to alter the course. I feel bad for both this year's winner and Uli, because Uli's record would have stood for a long, long time otherwise.

New Training Log

A few of the runners I coach are using the AttackPoint online training log system. Though it appears to be targeted at Orienteering, it works fine for running too and I decided to switch over to it this week rather than continue to post it here. I'll still post info on my races and any specific training sessions of interest here, but in general just use the link on the right to view my log at any time; I'll do my best to keep it up to date.

Healthy Hammy?

Too soon to call it healed, but I'm feeling very optimistic (finally) about my 18 month long hamstring problem. After the JFK 50 last month, I was done with any running committments so I decided to take a different approach in dealing with the leg. I had been avoiding doing any leg lifting because it hurt but I figured that maybe the weakness of the leg was part of the problem. Starting on our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving, I began doing lower body lifting in addition to upper body lifting. To be sure the bad leg (left) is actually doing the work, everything I do is one-legged. I couldn't believe how weak the hamstring had gotten. I pretty much had to take all the weight off the leg curl machine to be able to curl it. So right now I can bench press over 200 pounds but can't leg curl 20! I decided to only do the same amount with the right leg so I don't get even more out of wack. Though it was hurting to do the lifting, it wasn't making it any worse afterwards, and within 2 weeks it was actually feeling better when I was running. I've increased the weight 300% in just 4 weeks, though it is still embarassingly weak but maybe I'm on the right track now. From the Jemez 50 (DNF) through JFK, I was only running one day a week but have now been able to up it to 4 days and it feels very good. The other CRUD runners are happy that I'm not grabbing my ass every couple strides as well.

As far as fitness, the Rock Canyon Half was a gauge of my starting point. With no training other than the 9:00 pace CRUD long runs, I can basically run 6:30 pace. But hopefully within a few more weeks I can get back to some level of fitness and think? about a spring race.

Mon 12/01 – Travel from Florida back to Colorado
Tue 12/02 – 32:00 easy on treadmill (TM).
Wed 12/03 – abs/dips/pushups
Thu 12/04 – Cheyenne Canon Hill Climb (4.2 miles @ 7.5% grade) – 38:15, 1:15:00 TTR
Fri 12/05 – Lift upper/lower/abs. Bike 20:00
Sat 12/06 – Rock Canyon Half Mar – 1:25:38 / 6:32 AVG pace.
Sun 12/07 –
Week – 3:15:00 / 26 miles

Mon 12/08 – Lift upper body/lower body/abs. Bike 10:00
Tue 12/09 –
Wed 12/10 – Run 20:00 easy TM. Lift upper body/abs
Thu 12/11 – Cheyenne Canon Hill Climb – 40:09, 1:15:00 TTR, Slick and Snowy
Fri 12/12 – Run 20:00 easy TM. Lift upper/lower body
Sat 12/13 – Run 2:00:00 Bear Creek area trails
Sun 12/14 – Stomp around in the snow for an hour looking for Yule Log.
Week – 4:05:00 / 30 miles

Mon 12/15 – Run 25:00 easy on TM. Lift upper/lower body/abs
Tue 12/16 – Run 25:00 easy on TM. Lift arms/abs
Wed 12/17 – Lift chest/shoulders/back/legs
Thu 12/18 – Cheyenne Canon Hill Climb – 39:05, 1:15:00 TTR, snowy and slick.
Fri 12/19 – Lift chest/back/legs/abs
Sat 12/20 – Run 1:55:00 SF trail/Stables/Falcon trail
Sun 12/21 –
Week – 4:10:00 / 31 miles

What a Week

I had been wondering what Shelly from Northern Exposure had been up to the last decade, so what a surprise to see she is now a Vice Presidential candidate. I knew winning Miss Northwest Passage was the beginning of great things for her. Let me be the first to predict that the Mayor of Palmer Lake (population 2000) will soon be appointed Secretary of State.

I got back into the swing of things this week with my running and tested the hamstring out with a mild tempo run. One of my main training beliefs is that you should do some form of speedwork and hill work at all times in your training cycle, rather than waiting till you are in shape. The main difference being that it isn't at the same intensity when you are out of shape or just coming back from an injury.

We had a nice weekend which included going up to Breckenridge where Judy and Jill (Rick's wife) ran the Breck Crest Half marathon. Breck is at 9600 feet, and the race went up to 12,500 feet so it isn't exactly a PR course! There was great weather this year, unlike 2004 when Rick, Judy, and I ran in a full-blown blizzard and all dropped out. Jill ran about 3:00 and Judy was close behind in 3:04, while Rick and I did some hiking/running on the trails. We also saw several other ultrarunners who were doing one of the races. Bob Sweeney just moved to Colorado and was trying out his first high altitude race. Bob Africa won the marathon and Darcy Africa, who is expecting a child, ran the 5 mile event.

Week Log:
8/25 mon. 30:00 on TreadMill, 7:00 pace.
8/26 tue. 1:08:00 Greenland Loop from work. 7:20 pace.
8/27 wed. 45:00 Reservoir trail with Darwin. Hilly/slow.
8/28 thu. 35:00, incl. 2.5 mile tempo run @ 6:20 pace, Palmer Lake
8/29 fri. Hike 1:15:00 with Judy
8/30 sat. 2:25:00 long run with CRUD. Rampart Range Rd to Williams Canyon to Waldo Canyon to Ute Indian Trail.
8/31 sun. Hike 1:00:00. Run 35:00 slow/hilly in Breckenridge.
Week – 6:00:00 / 42 miles

07/21 - 07/27 Log

This week I finally started running again (had sort of started about 3 weeks ago but fizzled out after the hamstring got bad right away again). I'm now going to Brian Surage at InMotion and getting some treatment. He seems to think, and I now agree, that my problem is really a lower back issue and so he is really whaling on my back. I'm quite sore but I now think the feeling in my hamstring is more of a weakness than a pull/strain. I also have several core and hamstring exercises I'm doing at home.

Tue 07/22 - 24:00 around neighborhood/town
Thu 07/24 - 41:00 Manitou Springs/Garden of Gods
Sat 07/26 - 55:00 home to Greenland Open Space and back
Week - 2:00:00 / 15 miles

Playing Catchup

Looks like I've been a bit delinquent with my training log, so here are the last two weeks as well as a few things on my mind lately. First, I watched the Kentucky Derby this past weekend and was sickened by the sight of Eight Belles collapsing with broken ankles at the finish. Does this really qualify as a "sport?" After reading the views of the two sides in the newspapers this week (PETA types on one side, horse racing insiders on the other) I was most struck by the following statistic; 2.4 horses die per 1000 starts, which the horse racing people used to justify the relative safety of the sport. Humm, can you imagine 2.4 runner deaths per 1000 starts in trail or road racing? Math isn't my strength, but I think that would mean 30 - 40 runners dropping each year at big city races like Chicago, NY, and Boston marathons. Of course if that were the case, at least each runner was making up his/her own mind about the risks before signing up, which can't be said for the horses. Another interesting fact was that each of the 20 horses in the Derby were all descendants of the same 1950's horse. Kind of makes you wonder about trail racing in 2050; will all the top contenders be descendants of Scott Jurek! Better get started Scott.

Ice Caves

You'll see in my log reference to the ice caves. These are some neat caves (dry in summer, ice in winter/spring) in the Ice Cave creek drainage about a mile from my house. They are just a few hundred yards off one of my running routes but I had never veered off to check them out so Rick, Jill, and Abby the dog joined Judy, Darwin the dog, and myself for some exploring. After hiking up there, Judy, Jill, and Abby sat in the sun while Rick, Darwin and I rooted around. Pretty cool stuff. As soon as we got down into the drainage near the caves, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Next year we'll go in earlier in the spring and they should be more fully coated with ice.

Off the Beaten Path

While Barr trail is great, it gets very crowded and there are plenty of other great trails on Pikes Peak. For our last CRUD long run, we started up Barr Trail and then took what is known as the Water Pipe trail, which heads towards Cabin Creek. There is a pipe and supporting structure there crossing the ravine (no trespassing allowed of course) which you cross to continue on the other side. You then get to the Cog railway (no trespassing allowed) where you head uphill. We only ran on the cog for a few miles till we got to Mountain View, where there is a 1.5 mile trail that heads over to Barr Camp at 10,200 feet. Just a little bit of snow here and it is melting fast. We then headed down the Barr trail and zipped over on another trail back to the Cabin Creek area and reversed our trip. While I'm not suggesting you take this exact route, there are plenty of other trails all over Pikes Peak you should consider exploring.

In the spirit of our "no trespassing" run, here's a little music quiz. One free beer to winner (must come to Manitou on a Thur evening to collect). Name the song and artist of the following:

The little country store
with a sign tagged to the side
Said, "No L-O-I-T-E-R-I-N-G, A, allowed"
Underneath that sign always congregated
quite A crowd
Take a bottle, drink it down
pass it, hey, pass it all around

Mon 04/21 – walk 45:00
Tue 04/22 – walk 45:00
Wed 04/23 – walk 45:00
Thu 04/24 – 1:30:00 including mod tempo run up to No Name Creek (38:00)
Fri 04/25 – 30:00 easy on roads with Darwin
Sat 04/26 – 3:36:00 Gold Camp/Old Stage/Frosty Park/Pipeline tr
Sun 04/27 – walk 1:15:00
Week – 5:36:00 / 40 miles

Mon 04/28 – run 35:00 hard/hilly on roads
Tue 04/29 – run 47:00 up by res and back
Wed 04/30 – run 1:18:00 up past res and back
Thu 05/01 – run 1:40:00 including tempo run to No Name Creek (34:37) and then easy to 7.8 sign
Fri 05/02 – walk
Sat 05/03 – 2:45:00. Barr trail/Water Pipe/Cog/Mountain View/Barr Camp/7.8/Water Pipe/Barr Tr
Sun 05/04 – hike 2:00:00 by ice caves
Week – 7:05:00 / 52 miles

Bloody Shin Run

On Sunday Rick H, Dan V, and I headed out from my house to try the Palmer Lake Res/Balanced Rock Road/Rampart Range Rd/Winding Staircase Rd loop. Since moving to Palmer Lake, this has become one of my favorite loops, but it is def. a summer/fall loop with tons of snow in the winter and early spring. We tried it a few weeks ago and turned back after about 4 miles of post-holing. It is 22 miles total, and tops out at 9200 feet (starting at 7200 feet at my house).

There was no snow at all till we go up to the reservoirs at about 7600 feet. Starting here, there were snowbanks extending across the trail every so often for most of the remainder of the loop. Dan was the smart one, as he was wearing tall socks but Rick and I really beat up our shins each time we sunk down into the snow. As we got higher, we were treated to some great views of the snow covered Pikes Peak (South of us) and Mt. Evans (North of us). Probably in a few more weeks this run will be completely clear.


I am feeling pretty good after an easy 3 weeks and am now signed up to run the Jemez Mountain 50 Miler with Rick on May 17.

Also, after the last 2 years being un-sponsored, I'm very happy to be running for Smith Optics/Pearl Izumi as of this week. I'll write up a review of the various shoes as soon as I get them.


Last 3 weeks of training log:


Thu 04/03 – 1:00:00 Including 3.2 mile tempo run up Rampart Range Rd in snowstorm (24:30)
Sat 04/05 – 3:00:00 Greenland Open Space/Spruce Meadows/Spruce Mountain and back.
Week – 4:00:00 / 30 miles

Mon 04/07 – 35:00 around neighborhood
Sat 04/12 – 2:40:00 hilly w/Rick. Crystal Park Road/Palmer Trail/Section 16/Intemman trail/Red Rocks back to Manitou
Week – 3:15:00 / 25 miles

Fri 04/18 – 30:00 easy on roads with Darwin
Sat 04/19 – 23 miles / 3:19:00 SF Trail/Stables/Falcon Loop. Warm.
Sun 04/20 – 22 miles Palmer Lake/Rampart Range Rd loop 3:18 still snowy in places.
Week – 7:10:00 / 49 miles

Ultradriving

I did more driving than running this week. 2240 miles to 58 to be precise. Luckily I had great weather the whole way and, while tiring, it was nice to get out and see some beautiful, empty country. My clients in Northern California loved their new furniture and gave me a great place to stay overnight. And, Fiddeltown CA is a beautiful area with loads of hilly, curvy, mountain roads for running. The Poison Oak is everywhere out there so watch out AR50 runners!

I took Highway 50, aka the Loneliest Road in America, across Utah and Nevada.

There are just a few towns, each separated by a hundred miles or so, along US50. The towns include Ely, Eureka, and Austin. All are at about 6500 feet and surrounded by mountains. This region is part of the Great Basin, meaning water doesn't flow out to any ocean. Austin is surrounded by tons of mountain biking/hiking/running trails, but they are under a lot of snow right now. I stopped in Eureka, which is a small mining town of about 600 people, to have a beer in the Keyhole bar. Unlike Colorado, there are no smoking bans in Nevada bars apparently.

Somewhere out there I saw 2 guys walking down the highway pushing baby joggers full of gear; I think they must have been doing some kind of trans-state or trans-continental walk.



This tree is east of Fallon NV and is full of shoes. Supposedly, a newlywed couple had a fight underneath this tree and one threw the others' shoes up in the tree. The couple made up, and so threw the others' shoes up in the tree as well. Now, it is a custom to stop and toss your own shoes up in the tree. I declined as I had only one pair of running shoes and my good boots with me.



Similarities between Ultrarunning and Ultradriving:

1. Fuel is important to both. On Highway 50, there were several stretches of over 100 miles between "aid stations" and one expected fuel stop was closed for the winter.

2. When the sun finally rises, you perk up and feel like you can go all day again.

3. Your mind wanders in the most unusual ways.

4. You'll go crazy if you worry too much about each mile split.

Week Log:
Tue 03/25 – 1:01:00 hilly road run in Fiddletown CA through vineyards and horse farms. 2200 feet elevation sure feels good.

Sat 03/29 – 3:51:00 CRUD long run. Manitou – up Rampart Range Road to the Overlook, down to Waldo Canyon, around the long way, and back on the Ute Indian trail.

Sun 03/30 – 3:08:00 with Dan Vega and Kelly Mortensen. Santa Fe Trail - Ice Lake – Stables – Falcon Loop and back. 7 minutes faster for this loop than a month ago and it felt much easier, even coming the day after a long run. Did this one with no breakfast and no calories during the run to make it seem a bit longer.

Week – 8:00:00 / 58 miles

03/17 - 03/23 Log

This was my longest week of the build-up for McNaughton and my hamstring is continuing to cooperate for the most part. I generally record everything by time, but this week I started using a GPS watch for a few of the runs (thanks to CRUDer Harsha for loaning it to me). I wanted to check out a few of the typical runs I do, and it turns out they were a bit longer than I had been estimating which is always nice to find out. I'm going to have a few rough days at the beginning of this week while driving to Northern California and back, but I'm going to try to sneak in a run on Tuesday morning in Auburn CA (perhaps on the WTC course).

Mon 03/17 – 0
Tue 03/18 – 1:13:55 / 10.5 miles (GPS) out and back on Spruce Mt. Rd. I did a measured 5 rolling miles @ 6:40 pace in the middle of run which felt good.

Wed 03/19 – 0. A little sick.
Thu 03/20 – 1:43:00 hilly, in and around Garden of the Gods. Including 3.2 mile uphill tempo run up Rampart Range Road (23:30 vs. 24:14 last week).

Fri 03/21 – 1:30:00 windy run on Santa Fe trail (12 miles GPS)

Sat 03/22 – 3:00:00 Greenland / Spruce Meadows / Spruce Mt (21 miles GPS). Nice except for some crusty snow and ice on Spruce Mountain.

Sun 03/23 – 2:33:00 Santa Fe trail – Stables trail – Falcon Loop. 4 inches of nice fresh powder from last night made for a beautiful morning run.

Week – 10:00:00 / 75 miles

100 for the week!

Ok, so it was only 100 kilometers but still, a good week for me. I upped my mileage, and also did a moderate hill workout on Thursday which didn't seem to bother my hamstring any. The only run that really bothered it much was the Saturday CRUD long run, in which we did encounter some hilly snow in the upper part of Bear Creek Park. Given the good last few weeks, I am now planning on running the McNaughton 100 Mile Trail race on April 12. I don't know a lot about it, but it is 10 loops of mostly singletrack; looks like it is rolling the whole way with quite a bit of cumulative elevation gain, but no long hills. It should be a good one to do with no crew, since I can get my stuff every 10 miles. Karl has the CR at 17:40something, which seems doable on paper, but anything can happen in a 100. I'll make a time prediction prior to the race.

Mon 03/10 – 0
Tue 03/11 – 1:31:00 out and back on Spruce Mt. Rd. 7:15 pace
Wed 03/12 – 46:00 around town 7:40 pace
Thu 03/13 – 1:05:00 Uphill tempo run on Rampart Range Rd (24:00) and then down through Glen Eyrie/Garden of the Gods
Fri 03/14 – 0
Sat 03/15 – 2:33:00 Monument Valley – Bear Creek Park – Lower Gold Camp Rd and back.
Sun 03/16 – 2:00:00 on treadmill. 7:24 pace
Week – 7:55:00 / 62 miles

03/03 - 03/09 Log

Another good week, with even a few miles of faster running mixed in. The hamstring is hanging at about a 2 on the pain scale, which is very manageable. The main thing I look for with any kind of injury is if I seem to be changing my stride at all (which will lead to other problems). At this point, everything looks good in that respect. The American River 50 is out for sure now as I won't even be in California that weekend; I've moved up the delivery of some furniture I'm building for a client in Sacramento so I can be here in town for Judy's surgery on April 1st. But, I am leaning towards doing a trail race the weekend of April 12 if things continue to progress. I generally like to do big (for me) weeks 5, 4, and 3 weeks out from a race so I'll ramp it up to about 60-70 miles the next 3 weeks.

Mon 03/03 – 0
Tue 03/04 – 45:00 on treadmill, 7:47 pace
Wed 03/05 – 0
Thu 03/06 – 50:00 on TM, 7:20 pace with last mile @ 6:40 pace
Fri 03/07 – 52:00 out and back on Spruce Mt. Rd. 7:20 pace
Sat 03/08 – 3:15:00 Hilly slow run. Garden of Gods, Glen Eyrie, Mine Scar, etc)
Sun 03/09 – 50:00 TM, 7:20 pace with last 1.5 miles @ 6:40 pace
Week – 6:27 / 50 miles

02/25 - 03/02 Log

This was the week I started feeling like a real runner again. I am still gradually quickening the pace of each run, and did my first true long run since ATY.

Mon 02/25 – 0
Tue 02/26 – 45:00 on Treadmill, 7:35 pace
Wed 02/27 – 30:00 on TM, 7:30 pace
Thu 02/28 – 1:15:00 up and down Cheyenne canon
Fri 02/29 – 47:00 out and back on Spruce Mt. Rd, 7:30 pace
Sat 03/01 – 3:15:00, Falcon Trail from Woodmen trailhead (via Ice Lake and Stables). Measured at 22.75 miles. Only about 6 slow miles of snow and ice with the rest a good honest pace.
Sun 03/02 – 0
Week – 6:32:00 / 48 miles

2/18 - 2/24 Log

Mon 02/18 – 45:00 on Treadmill, 7:53 pace
Tue 02/19 – 0
Wed 02/20 – 45:00 on TM, 7:47 pace
Thu 02/21 – 0
Fri 02/22 – 47:00 on dirt and paved roads around town
Sat 02/23 – 2:30:00 Balanced Rock trail to Limbaugh Canyon then down and over to Greenland Open Space. Very snowy trails.
Sun 02/24 – 45:00 on TM, 7:43 pace

Week – 5:32:00 / 40 miles

02/11 - 02/17 Log

Mon 02/11 – 45:00 Treadmill, 8:27 pace

Tue 02/12 – 30:00 TM, 8:20 pace

Wed 02/13 – 45:00 TM, 8:13 pace + .5 miles @6:45 pace
The pickup near the end was just to see how I felt running at normal pace. The effort was easy, but the longer stride is still bothering my hamstring. So, I will keep up with the very gradual quickening of each day's run.

Thu 02/14 – 30:00 TM, 8:06 pace

Fri 02/15 – 30:00 TM, 8:00 pace

Sat 02/16 – 2:00:00 Manitou – GoG – Rampart Range Rd – Williams Canyon
This was a nice run being off the treadmill for the first time in a week. The lower part of Rampart Range rd is all clear of snow. Rather than running back down the road, I decided to take the beautiful Williams Canyon trail. This is one of the prettiest canyons around, but unfortunately is "closed" right now due to the insane placement of a shooting range that shoots right down into it. There was a family shooting skeet (or trap?) but luckily it was just shotgun pellets that were hitting the tree limbs above Eric and I as we scooted down the top part of the canyon.

Sun 02/17 – off
Week – 5:00:00 / 35 miles

This was a really good week of training for me. Though only 35 miles, this really isn't that much off of a typical week (55 miles) so it should be just another week or so till I'm back to some semblance of fitness. I've also been good about stretching and lifting and am feeling like I haven't lost too much fitness during the time off in January.

As I write this, I'm in the hospital with my wife Judy who is recoverying from surgery. She unfortunately has a fairly serious illness so please think kind thoughts for her; we both hope she will be back running herself sometime soon.

Jan 1 - Feb 10 Log

Ok it has been a rough 6 weeks as far as my running goes, but I'm getting ready to be back on track. Most of my new plan is mental; I've decided I miss running more than I miss a pain-free hamstring, so I'm just going to start running and figure/hope it will gradually get better with continued stretching and massage. The practical side of this new plan is no more snow running; the snow is just killing my hamstring so as much as I like to be out on the snowy trails, I am just saying no for the time being.

As far as a goal race; I am signed up for American River but will not be running there. It is too much of a rush and my "resolution" for this year was to only race when I was ready, regardless of any lost entry fees or other committments. I am pretty sure I will be running the Vermont 100 on July 19th, however, as that is my 40th birthday. Just happened that the big day falls on a Saturday so I was able to find a race. I ran Vermont once a few years ago and had a pretty rough day, so I'm looking forward to going back.

01/01 - 01/16 - rest/recovery from ATY
Thu 01/17 – 35:00 Snowy, hilly Cheyenne Canyon
Sat 01/19 – 2:35:00 Snowy, hilly Cheyenne Canyon
Sat 01/26 – 10:00 flat on Treadmill (TM)
Sun 01/27 – 1:04:00 Crystal Park Rd.
Tue 01/29 – 25:00 flat on TM
Sat 02/02 – 2:10:00 in Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Snowy.
Sun 02/03 – 30:00 flat on TM
Thu 02/07 – 1:00:00 Cheyenne canon, snow
Sat 02/09 – 2:00:00 Falcon Trail, snowy.
Sun 02/10 – 30:00 on TM.

12/10 - 12/31 Log

For the last 3 weeks prior to ATY, things went downhill as far as my hamstring so I just skipped posting my log, but here it is. TM means Treadmill. I'll write up my ATY report later today probably.

Mon 12/10 – 0.
Tue 12/11 – 1:30:00 TM, 7:40 pace. This run for some reason really got the hamstring past the mild discomfort stage into a bit more of an issue.
Wed 12/12 – Walk 45:00
Thu 12/13 – Walk 45:00
Fri 12/14 – 1:15:00 TM, 8:00 pace. Walk 45:00
Sat 12/15 – Walk 1:30:00
Sun 12/16 – 0.
Week – 2:45:00 / 21 miles

Mon 12/17 – 35:00 TM, Walk 1:00:00
Tue 12/18 – 40:00 TM, Walk 35:00
Wed 12/19 – 0.
Thu 12/20 – 45:00 TM, Walk 30:00.
Fri 12/21 – Walk 45:00
Sat 12/22 – 2:00:00 Santa Fe Trail on light snow. Walk 30:00
Sun 12/23 – Walk 1:00:00
Week – 4:00:00 / 30 miles

Mon 12/24 – 50:00 Monument Valley Park (MVP). Walk 30:00
Tue 12/25 – Walk 1:00:00
Wed 12/26 – 55:00 MVP. Walk 40:00
Thu 12/27 – Walk 1:00:00
Fri 12/28 – Driving to Phx.
Sat 12/29 – Run 15:00 (on ATY course)
Sun 12/30 – Walk 30:00
Week – 2:00:00 / 15 miles

Mon 12/31 - ATY

12/3 - 12/9 Log

This was supposed to be another higher mileage week for me, but I ended up getting sick at the beginning of the week so I took it pretty easy until Thursday. The Cheyenne Canon hill tempo run went very good this week, with a PR for the season, though I still didn't win the Pineapple.

On Saturday, I did a very hilly, snowy trail run with CRUD. Probably not the greatest training for ATY, but sometimes it it is nice to just do a long fun run in the snow. For the Saturday long run, we started in the Garden of the Gods, ran up Rampart Range Rd a few miles, took a steep trail down into Glen Eyrie, took another trail over to the "scar", and ran up to the top of the scar, which is an old surface/strip mine.

CRUD Gang at the top of the Scar

From the scar, you basically run off a cliff and pick your way down to another trail that then winds down towards the Flying W Ranch. We then ran back into Glen Eyrie and then through the Garden of the Gods back to the start at Balanced Rock.

Today's run was the coldest so far of the season; 7 degrees when I left the house and about 20 when I finished. Unlike Saturday, however, it was beautiful; sunny with a bright blue sky, and several new inches of snow on the ground.

ATY Prognosis

Looking back over my training, I've run 1016 miles in the last 17 weeks (when I started keeping track) for an average of 59.8 miles per week. During that time, I've mainly done slow running with a few hill tempo runs and one long up-tempo run (marathon in 2:51). I will do one more higher mileage week of about 70, then back off the last 2 weeks. When I taper, I typically keep running the same intensity and distance on my runs, but I just take more days off. I think the less miles you run (like me), the less you need to taper because your legs shouldn't be feeling dead. While I have hit my mileage goal (60 MPW), I have certainly not done the quality stuff I'm used to. However, I also realize that it is pretty rare for everything to go perfect in training before a goal race. If I waited for everything to be perfect in training, I'd probably never make it to a starting line. Note that the 60 MPW compares favorably with the 4 month lead-ups to both my LT100 wins, which were 46 MPW and 50 MPW.

For the race, I'm still feeling good about my goal of 165 miles. The race will also be giving me an official 100 mile split, since it is likely to be the fastest 100 I ever run. I'm shooting to go through 100 miles in 12:55, and then hope for the best for the remaining 11 hours. 65 miles in 11 hours seems doable but who knows what it is going to feel like. I'm also a bit worried about the lack of daylight. A full half of the race will be run in the dark.

Mon 12/3 – Complete day off. Sick.
Tue 12/4 – Walk 1:00:00. Still feeling bad.
Wed 12/5 – 45:00 on treadmill, 7:50 pace
Thu 12/6 – 1:35:00 Cheyenne canon (35:10 season PR) tempo and then down Columbine trail.
Fri 12/7 – 1:00:00 treadmill, 7:50 pace.
Sat 12/8 – 2:45:00 GoG, RRR, Scar. Walk 20:00
Sun 12/9 – 1:55:00 Palmer Lake. Cold and snowy; 7 degrees!
Week – 8:00:00 / 55 miles

11/26 - 12/2 Log

This week and next week are supposed to be my longest/hardest weeks prior to tapering for the Across the Years race. When planning out my schedule, I decided to do one very long run (Heartland 100) and then a series of 4 x 2hr runs over the course of 36 hrs. The longest other single run was 3:12 a few weeks ago. The point of any training program is to stress the body into adaptation. Obviously the higher mileage that you run, the more you need to do in your peak week in order to add stress.

I thought the 4 x 2hr runs would be a good way to simulate running the same pace on increasingly tired legs w/o the stress of another true long run. I have to admit though, it looked a lot easier on paper than it turned out to be. I couldn't imagine keeping up that schedule for more than the 2 days (for one thing, I didn't accomplish anything this weekend other than the runs and a whole lot of football watching). I was joking with my wife that it would really suck to be in the Ground Hog Day movie and have Sunday as the day I kept repeating over and over!

The main problem I had in the middle 2 runs was serious bonking. I don't usually eat or drink when I run for 2 hours or less, but by the 3rd run it was catching up with me. The final run ended up feeling much better as I carried some gatorade.

Random Weird News
Check out the new Tourism Slogan for Scotland.

Mon 11/26 – Walk 1:00:00.
Tue 11/27 – Walk 3:00:00 (uphill), run 2:00:00 (downhill) up to treeline on Pikes Peak.
Wed 11/28 – Complete day off.
Thu 11/29 – 1:15:00 (Cheyenne Canon uphill tempo run 35:40 - Season PR).
Fri 11/30 – 0. Walk 45:00.
Sat 12/1 – 7:00 AM – 2:00:00 on treadmill @ 8:10 pace.
4:00 PM – 2:00:00 on HS track at 7:50 pace.
Sun 12/2 – 7:30 AM – 2:00:00 on Monument Valley trails at 7:50 pace.
3:30 PM – 2:00:00 around Palmer Lake at 7:50 pace.

Week – 11:15:00 / 78 miles

Thanksgiving in Moab

To be more specific, we spent Thanksgiving about 20 miles up-river from Moab at the Sorrel River Ranch, which was quite luxurious compared to our normal accommodations. We actually only went into Moab a few times for groceries and to eat one dinner. The Moab area encompasses so many recreation and wilderness areas within an hour each way (Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, La Sal Mountains, Castle Valley, Dead Horse SP, etc, etc.) that you could spend a lifetime here and not exhaust the possibilities. We have now spent probably 100 days in the area, including 4 Thanksgivings, and we still find new things to do each time, along with a few of our favorites from previous visits. I must be a Desert Rat at heart because I always feel very at home in this area, or really any area where the high desert and mountains meet. We are lucky to live in such a pretty location ourselves, but Moab is one place where I think both Judy and I could see ourselves living.

Wednesday

It was snowing lightly when we left, but the roads weren't too bad. Things got off to a rough start however when we stopped at a bookstore in Denver and I locked the keys in our truck. Doh. Despite my initial instinct to just break a side window, we called a locksmith and waited for an hour to get the door unlocked. Judy is now in charge of the keys. I70 through the mountains was a mess, and it took us forever to get over to the Western Slope, but then the weather cleared up and we got to the ranch by about 7:00 PM. Due to the weather and the fact that my truck doesn't have a shell, we had put our packs and luggage inside large garbage bags, so it was a moment right out of Tommy Boy when the Valet guy at the Ranch came out to help us with the bags. Our cabin was great; about 50 feet from the Colorado River.


Room With A View

The resort is also the finish line of one of the two road half marathons that run along the Colorado River on Highway 128.

Thursday

The highlight of Thursday was hiking around the Fisher Towers, which are a bunch of amazing spires containing layers of sedimentary rock in various shades of red-brown, red-purple, and maroon. These are classic climbs, but sketchy due to the flaky mud that coats the towers. We talked to several climbers who had just finished an aid climb of one of the towers, and unfortunately just missed 2 BASE jumbers who climbed another tower and then jumped off.

Friday

It snowed over night, and continued for several hours in the morning, but fresh snow on the red rocks of canyon country is always an amazing sight and worth the frozen hands I got while running along Onion Creek (so called due to the Sulphur it contains). In the afternoon, we did a hike up Negro Bill canyon to Morning Glory Bridge, which at 243 feet wide is the 6th largest such span in the US.


Unlike arches which are formed by erosion (wind, rain, freezing/melting cycles), a bridge is formed by flowing water. A year round stream flows out of this canyon, and provides moisture for a variety of riparian zone plants.





Who Said Nothing Lives in the Desert?

We then went up-river one canyon (Jackass Canyon) and hiked on the Porcupine Rim trail, which is one of the more famous mountain biking trails in the area. Bikers usually go one way (the downhill way) but we started at the bottom and hiked up. From this trail, you get great views of the Colorado River and the La Sal mountains.


Colorado River


La Sal Mountains

Saturday

We saved our bike ride for what was supposed to be the warmest day. We started at the bottom of Onion Creek road and rode up into Fisher Valley. You cross Onion Creek 22 times so our bikes and legs were soon caked with mud.



After riding through a narrow canyon with formations that look like sand castles on both sides, you emerge into the Fisher Valley which is a large flat expanse with 2 ranches and great views of the La Sals. Here you also intersect with the Kokopelli Trail, which is a classic 142 mile trail running from Moab to Loma Colorado (near Fruita). We road out this trail for several miles, then enjoyed the 17 mile, freezing descent, back down to the start.



Onion Creek Road


Fisher Valley


Kokopelli's Trail

Sunday

It was crazy cold this morning, but I needed to start running before light in order to be done in time to eat Breakfast at the resort (we'd heard it was very good). The ranch has a nice flat paved road that circles the property (.9 miles) and so I just ran laps around this till it got lighter, then headed out to a BLM trail I'd seen the day before and did an out-and-back. This "trail" turned into a cattle path, then just a wash that winded its way up a pretty valley. I then checked out the Fitness Room in order to sneak in my 2nd weight lifting session of the week. At breakfast, we went with the buffet and tried our best to eat 16 bucks worth (each!). Then, it was an uneventful drive home and back to reality.

Log

Mon 11/19 – Walk 1:00:00, Weightlift
Tue 11/20 – Walk 45:00.
Wed 11/21 – 0. Drive to Moab through snowstorm and bad traffic.
Thu 11/22 – Run 1:06:00 on BLM land through Professor Valley. Hike 1:45:00 Fisher Towers area.
Fri 11/23 – Run 2:02:00 on Onion Creek road in light snow. Hike 4:00:00 in Negro Bill canyon & on the Porcupine Rim trail.
Sat 11/24 – Run 2:06:00 on La Sal Mountain road through Castle Valley and right by Castleton Tower. Bike 3:30:00 Onion Creek/Kokopelli Trail.
Sun 11/25 – Run 1:46:00 flat roads and rocky BLM trail. Weight Lift. Drive home to CO.
Week – 7:00:00 / 55 miles