Hang Nine: February 2008

Friday, February 29, 2008

Friday, Leap Day, 10 miles easy

10 miles easy with MK and PH on the Boulder Creek Trail. Felt good. Kept it easy - no residual crud from yesterday.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Required Reading (not this post, but a reference to required reading)

Lucho posted a little (well, not so much) something on his blog that any endurance athlete needs to read. As I jog a little bit, folks will ask me, usually in June after that little race in town, how they can improve their performance. I should remind them that since this is free advice, they ought to consider the value of the advice they are getting but ... I usually ask them what they are doing for training in terms of volume, speed, long run, etc. But it almost really does not matter because the answer is nearly always the same: run more. And this is true for the 10 mile a week person as well as the 90 mile a week person. It is certainly true for nearly everyone I know. And yes, this mileage increase needs to be done intelligently. You don't go from 0 to 100 miles a week overnight (unless you are Henry Rono). You build the mileage over months, years. It takes that sort of time to build the infrastructure to handle it. Most, myself included, don't have that sort of ability to focus that far out. But we should run more anyway. Just be smart about it. By the way, run more does not mean run slow all the time. I do beleive you need a good dose of turnover as well. When you run long and slow all the time, you will effectively teach your body to run long and slow all the time.

And NO - I am not a coach. You should not consider my advice coaching advice. Remember how much you paid me to read this.

Thursday 022808, 10 miles, treadmill, intervals

It was a nice day, and I had aspirations of getting outside but I needed to be at the house with my son. So, for the first time in about 10 or so days, I hit the mill.

2 mile warm up with "strides" (13 minutes)
2 miles (10 minutes)
4 minute inactive recovery
5 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off at 12mph for the on, 7.5 mph for the off
2 minute inactive recovery
5 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off at 12mph for the on, 7.5 mph for the off
2 minute inactive recovery
5 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off at 12mph for the on, 7.5 mph for the off
2 minute inactive recovery
~ 1 mile cool down with a couple of strides (6:30)

This got me 10 in about about an hour of running, just few ticks over 67 when considering the inactive rest. I was pretty stoked to get the two miles in in 10 minutes. That was not too hard actually - during the repeat. My body suddenly noticed what the heck I had did during the rest session. The minutes on / off were not that bad - just required some degree of focus. I started playing a bit with them in the last two sets, making them 62-65 seconds to get the treadmill clock more aligned with where I wanted it. I have a bit of doubt that I could do a ten minute two mile outside right now - again, I think there is something to be said just for keeping up with the mill - but I was glad to wrap my head around this bugger.

I decided to watch the movie 5000 meters, nothing comes easy. There is this scene in the begining

where they roll a clock to 13:21.5, and discuss how that is the Olympic A standard. I thought this would be a good motivational part to watch while I ran the two mile section. About 3 minutes into my run, I am looking at this running clock on the tube and begin to guess that their seconds are much faster than mine. 13:21.5 had come and gone well befor I got to a mile and a half. All I can say "what is up with that?"

I talked to Lucho a bit last night and we are going to look to get together for a run this weekend. is We yapped a bit about his training, Austin, my marathon in August, etc ... Given some of the things we talked about, I am taking a bit of a different approach to what this week is about. Frankly, I don't feel super fresh with this lesser mileage. I don't feel horrible, but it is not like I have a bunch of pop in my legs all of a sudden. Nonetheless, this lower mileage this week fits in well that it serves as a "rest" in the bigger picture of mileage. With 30 so far this week, I am expecting to get 60 or more. That might not seem like a big rest, but with the norm being 80's as of late, that is about a 15 to 20 percent drop.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wednesday 022708, 7 miles, easy

I felt pretty good last night and had thoughts that I'd come back and go "hard-ish" again today. But despite the great weather again today, once I got moving a bit out there, I knew I'd not be able to hold a workout that I'd feel good about. I still feel a bit off - Tracy thinks I am fighting some illness.

So, I have done what all of us do when things don't go our way - I have rationalized this. I was not supposed to go hard today, I was supposed to easy today and absolutely kill myself tomorrow as part of this lower mileage, higher intensity experiment I am running through (that does not seem to be going so great thus far). This experiment might be jacked altogether if I am fighting some sort of illness I guess. We'll see tomorrow.

I did an easy seven on the Davidson Mesa, and did some stretching and then jumped rope for about 15 minutes. I have come a pretty long way from when I got the rope at the end of the year (a gift from my daughter at Christmas). I could barely get ten jumps at a ridiculously slow cadence then. I still look like a moron out there but I look like a moron that can jump a little bit of rope. I struggle still to get the one legged jump stuff done - particularly on the left lawnmower foot.

I have heard some interesting podcasts on the mind body connection as of late. This past week's This American Life and Fitness Rocks both hit on the connection, although in different ways. I find

some of the findings in the Fitness Rocks 'cast to be particularly interesting. In short, when they told people that they were indeed exercising when they performed routine work activities (routine for them), their measurable health factors improved (BMI, blood pressure, etc). In other words, the verbal on what they were doing either made them change their behavior and become healthier - or their mind somehow changed thier physical health factors. Given that placebos (a substance introduced that will have NO expected physical reaction) have caused people to have rash reactions (demonstrating that when you suggest something - you will get the result), you have to consider the power of your mindset when applied to training and expected race outcomes. Have

you ever met a winner of a truly competitive event who thought "there is no way I can win?" Think (pun intended) about it. I heard another show where Derek Jeter of the Yankees refused to even consider when he was in a slump after he went 0-32 in batting. Now why would he do that?

One of my favorite stories on this though has to be when Viren won the 72 10000m in WR time He and Frank Shorter tangled up, Viren fell to the in-field and lost about 100m on the lead pack. Virén caught up with the leading pack. With 600 meters to go, Virén dropped the hammer and started an unprecedented lap-and-a-half kick. Another athlete, Ghammoudi who had fallen in the race in the same tangle up dropped out after trying to catch the lead pack for about half a lap. In retrospect, Shorter said (loosely), "For Ghammoudi to win the race, it was going to have to go perfectly for him. Regardless of what happened in the race though, Viren was going to win."Mindset is not just mumbo jumbo - it can dictate how you perform and set your limits. Or unlock them.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Tuesday, 022608, 9 miles, with a tempo

Busy day, night. I got out mid day for a tempo. 2 mile warm up, did 3 laps around Harper Lake off McCaslin (building, each a touch faster than the previous) and then back down through the Davidson Mesa to the office. Whole thing was about 26 minutes with the pace starting a bit above 6 minute pace and then moving down to 5:30s. Looking forward to doing this sort of workout more often now that I can and adding length to it, dropping the pace more. I did not feel well rested, actually kind of flat (still a bit thick) even with the light four yesterday, but we'll see how the rest of the week goes. Warmed down for an other three miles.

I saw the doc today and he is pretty convinced my abdominal thing is not a hernia but a good muscle strain called a diastasis. This is apparently where the muscle separates from the vertical line of connective tissue. It should heal on its own as long as I don't strain it.

I also had some blood work done to check some of the basics. I don't think they would have normally done this as part of a physical but I indicated I was interested in doing a 50 miler and wanted to assure that there were no problems there. I sort of re-realized why I don't like to talk to folks about these sort of events. When you mention this, most folks put you in that, "oh you are one of those" category. Now I guess this doc does not normally have people come in and say, "umm, hey doc, can I get clearance to do a 50 or a 100?" No, in fact, he probably spends most of his day dealing with folks that are wanting get back to basic good health.

"So you run how much now?"
"About 10 hours a week"
"All at once?!"
"No, no, I run every day so some days are 30 minutes, some are a couple of hours."
Here he gives pause and a long look.
"So, what 2 to 5 miles a day ...?"

I have yet to find the right answers to these questions that put people's minds at ease, and let them know that this behavior is not unusual, particularly when they consider it against some of the activities they regularly pursue. And so I usually dodge and evade these questions, or get a (as my wife describes it) a real goofy tone of voice in describing what I do.

Curious to see how I feel tomorrow. I am tempted to just do an other tempo if I feel good, or maybe hill repeats. And he said I could run a 50 if I wanted to.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Monday 022508, 4 miles easy

I felt a bit off throughout the day. I felt ... thick. Tracy said this probably because I am sick. That might be the case, given the crazy flu that has been going around but I don't think so. I just felt heavy and slow today. THICK. Nonetheless, as per plan I went easy, and short - 4 miles. I added on about 30 minutes of stretching, core work, etc. It is hard for me to attack the core given this ab thing, so most of it was working around that. I can't even do a single situp without significant strain. I am supposed to see a doc tomorrow for a physical and I will see what he has to say about it.

I am also playing with the GrandCentral Inbox feature where you can leave a messsage (on the right hand pane bar). The way I think this works is you enter the number you are calling from, hit call and then the widget calls you back and you leave a message. I pick up the voicemail on the other end. Geek toy for sure, but then again this whole blog thing is - right?

For anyone who grew up in the 80's, you'll get a kick out of listening to this. Who remembers "Running with the Devil?"

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sunday 022408, 12 miles, week in review, the upcoming week

Cool morning, but again, signs of spring out there. Did a 12 mile loop easy through Teller Farm from the house. I bounced into a couple of folks out at the Farm and ran with them for about 20 minutes before heading back home. Isabelle Road is having work done on it so it was totally closed to traffic - it was nice to be able to run down the middle of the road. Mostly I over-analyzed various niggles and aches and pains I was feeling, but it was a good steady run.

It was a good week. I had two runs at 2 hours with both of them including some fair amount of climbing. My mileage was 81 on the week, but the time on that was about 690 minutes (versus about the same amount of mileage last week, with less hills and about an hour less). I had a turn over workout as well.

This next week I am going to try dropping the mileage (50 miles comes to mind) and up the intensity slightly. My take on this that I will do easy days really easy or not run at all, and then get typical mileage on my hard days. I will look to do more core work, athletic work on those easy-off days but really lower the running volume. The objective here is to see if I can get a bit more spring in the legs for the hard days, and experiment a bit with the concept of a taper. I am also going to keep the food log next week as well (I am interested in seeing if a drop in mileage creates an upward shift in weight).

With February ending, I am about done with two training blocks. The first was a block of three months post Pikes where I did not train. I ran, but without structure, consideration to hard or easy, fast or slow, flat or hill. This ended with a vacation trip to Hawaii (and it was a good vacation, evidenced on several fronts including the gaining of nine pounds). This past three months (since that block) has been building back, attempting to get some turnover back, and transitioning "back into a runner." It has been training. I will look to up the focus in the next quarter by extending on what I have done, but upping the focus a bit (as described the other day).

Live it.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

What about me

Saturday 022308, 13 miles

I got out on the various off shoots of the Mesa trail with Lucy today. I had little for a course agenda, but I wanted to get two hours. I got that and about 13 miles (with some fair vertical). For most of the run, I figured I'd avoid the ice and let Lucy determine the course. We did not avoid the mud however! We were both so muddy when we got home, my son asked "that's Lucy?!" It took a good amount of bathing to get her clean.

I spent about a half an hour or so running with local ultra legend Dave Mackey. He was also out for a run with his dog and so we hooked up for a few miles. Dave has done more off the chart stuff in the last five years than most people do in their entire lives: set the record on the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim, come in second at Western States, set records at 50 milers and 100ks all over the place, done adventure races all over the world, won nearly every Satan Minion's run, nearly caught Matt C at Pikes last year with an insane descent, hold FKTs for most of the routes in Boulder, won a 350K race in Canada last year where he won some monster diamond for his wife. It is truly difficult to comprehend what an amazing athlete this guy is. His accomplishments are other worldly. And yet, he comes across as a soft spoken, quiet guy - more interested in what you are doing for training and racing than speaking about what he has done. But there is no questioning that he has a deep competitive fire down in there ... it is just hard to see it until the gun goes off. We spoke a bit about training, recent races, some of our goal races, what some other locals are doing, our families, and the like. I am excited to hear that Dave is at least considering doing the so called "Mountain of Pain" (yes, that is Pikes again). Any race with him in it has proven to not be over until it is over - and with the long descent at Pikes where he holds one of the best times, folks better not think they have put the race away with a strong Ascent.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Hills versus speed, rambling on training

(this post's pic is looking at the summit of Pikes from the Silver Saddle Hotel in Manitou Springs on race morning last year. The summit is over 13 miles away from the start line by way of the Barr Trail. In the marathon, you then come back. I think the light in this pic is the summit house)

James (who has the best name for a blog I have seen yet) asked me this question: I'm curious... With ascent being your goal/key race how much speed/track work are you going to do and how do you think it will help? I know the turn over in trail running, especially ascending, is very different than what does down on the track or road.*i am in no way questioning your training... I'm just toying with the idea of adding track workouts to my training this year and all my A races are Xterra with hilly off road runs. Think it would help?

This question / topic has been on my mind a lot. And so James, this post sort of unleashes that question and what I think the answers are. And I confess, I don't quite have this totally figured out. I can talk about how I am approaching this, based on my experience, but I don't think this would work for everybody. But maybe some of it would work for you. Or not. Feedback, criticism ... all welcome.

First though, yes James, I think you ought to do some track work.

Now, that said, I think the true key to success is balance in training hard on flats and hills. Last year, I think I lost sense of that balance. When given the choice of doing a hard hill workout (Green Mountain for example) or a track workout, I'd pick the trail everytime. I can attempt to explain why I did this, but it does not matter - I did it.

Okay - why is that a problem? When I am going up a hill like Green hard, my max pace is probably 8 m/mile. While I get a good workout from a cardiovascular perspective, I think the body adapts to that being the max pace you can reach for. True, you can do it that on a 10 percent grade. But when it comes time to reach for a six minute per mile gear, or faster ... neurologically, you just have not trained your body to be ready for that.

As a result of running a good deal of "slower" miles on hills last year, I feel I have lost a step. I have seen evidence of this. Three months ago when I would do the 200-200-400 workout, I'd struggle to break 75 for a quarter. After giving this workout a run for a couple of months, I have responded by being able to do the last quarter in 70. That is hardly what I'd like it to be, or what I used to be able to do, but it reflects an improvement.

So to those who ask, yeah, but when will you need 70 second quarter speed at Pikes the answer is - I won't. So why do this workout? I lack the true science to explain this but, I feel that in order to be comfortable running fast / hard at the longer distances, albeit at a slower pace, that top end speed needs to be there. I read a study (somewhere!) where your marathon time could often be predicted by your 100m time (assuming you had done the depth of training to manage a marathon). Basically this study said (time in 100m in sec *10 = time in marathon in minutes). While I am not advocating that as a great predictor, I think there is some truth in the underlying concept - to be fast at the long distances, you need to be fast at the short distances. I have lost my short distance speed and am looking to reclaim some of it.

Another reason I am approaching it this way is based on some of the writings of McMillan (based on work with Rosa). I am going to try to get some speed first, and then incorporate the greater endurance later. This turns the model of the base first on its head. Additionally, I think mentally, this gives me a better approach. I can focus on 5Ks and 10Ks in the spring, keeping some of the mental focus off of Pikes until later.

I guess it is important to note here, that I need to do both. But right now, with the hills wrapped up in ice, and slower legs, I am taking advantage of doing some faster work on the track and the mill.

I think the second key point is one needs to consider here is that you need to do what works for you. Scott Elliott gets success at Pikes by running hills nearly to the exclusion of all other work. Simon Guiterrez does most of his work on the flats of Alamosa. Sub 2:20 marathoners have come to Pikes to only get smoked by the hill specialists. Others (like a 2:08 road marathoner from Ecuador who finished second twice at Boston and did Pikes as a bandit) have jumped in and done really well. Some of these folks are killers on the roads. Some never run the roads.

I run with JV alot. I can honestly say that everytime we have run Green, Bear, Sanitas, Flagstaff, or SBC he has owned me. I mean everytime, regardless if it is hard, easy, hot, cold, or even if I have a head start (seriously). But I have, to date, done better at Pikes than him. Does that make me a better runner? No. Pikes has a gentler grade (11 percent on average) than these other hills, and I think I get a slight advantage there on that. The steeper the hill, the better JV does. He is a mountain goat on that 20 percent stuff. We each have our strengths and need to find the balance that works for us. And by works for us, that means the training that makes us successful and that we will enjoy along the way.

So for me, I think the balance, and what will work for me will look like this:

A long run a week. Alternating the long run on the roads (more miles, faster pace, shorter time interval) with runs on the trails (less miles, more elevation change, longer time out there) ... goal to adapt to the longer run, manage hydration and nutrition. Make as many of these as possible building sessions towards the end. A long trail run could be the out and back on the Mesa, doing Green, Bear and SBC and then back from Chautauqua, or up Sunshine Canyon and back. Flat long runs ... well, there are no lack of options.

A speed workout. Alternating hills and flat. Hills might be something like Lindens (about a 3:50 to a 4:15 repeat for me, with about 5 minute rest, on a steep road climb west of Boulder, five sets) or the Enchanted Mesa run (10 minutes up the Mesa (a good hill) followed by eight repeats of 200 meters (about) near the Bluebell Shelter. Flat stuff could be 6 x 800 with 1 minute rest or 4 x 1 mile. Any of the good track workouts. In the absence of a track or a good course, the 1 minute on, 1 minute off for up to 40 minutes (20 on, 20 off) is good.

A tempo workout. Alternating hills and flat. Green makes for a good uphill tempo, as does Flag, or Sanitas. I actually am thinking I like Bear a little less because it is a grade that does not emulate Pikes. I find that the grade of Green to be a bit more in tune with Pikes.

Altitude. This becomes more important for Pikes given its profile. Being adapted to run at 10, 11, 12, 13k ... well, you need to get out there and do that. This will be more of a summer activity for me, including sleeping at 10K as much as I can.

Downhill running. For Pikes, I do think I need to add some degree of downhill running to assure form, strength to deal with that pounding ... of course, when you run up, you have to come down. I will add some hard downhill later in the summer.

Mileage. Generally speaking, anyone doing a marathon needs to do more mileage. Probably more than you are currently doing. But it takes time to effectively build volume to where you can appropriately assimilate it without getting hurt.
Everything else. And I mean everything. Core work. Stretching. Diet. Hydration. Mental visualization. Balance in life. Being a solid husband, father, friend, co-worker, employee. Showing grace and humility in this whole dang thing because it is a gift to be able to even engage in it.

James -sorry if this went on too long. It did help me a bit to get it out here though. Thanks for asking - and again, I welcome challenges to it, questions, etc.

Friday 022208, 11 miles, track workout 200-200-400

After the run yesterday, I was worked. It was one of those where after the run, my butt is just draggin' ... I was laying in bed in the evening, still feeling that buzz of it all. It is interesting to me that my hard days often leave me feeling invigorated but my easy days leave me feeling like chewed up and spit out. I was jacked enough that I even slept poorly, waking up several times in the night.

I am realizing I need to be in the hills a bit more. Last year there was this little voice in my head saying I needed to do more speed, more flat stuff . This year, the voice is saying I need to get those wonderful hills more. Getting on them twice this past week has revealed a chink in the armor I am trying to build. I have a good amount of time to correct that, but dang ... Sanitas and Flagstaff gave me some good kick in the teeth reminding.

It is all about finding that right balance of flat, speed, hill, long, rest, diet ... and LIFE. Yeah, on this blog, I talk a lot about training, my ups and downs with workouts, but I am living a dream. The slice of the dream last night was reading X-Men #7 to my son (he is seven, and this comic is from 1964) and then having my daughter read over my shoulder while I blogged work stuff - and she corrected my grammar and spelling!

Today was yet another perfect weather day. Low 50s, not an ounce of wind. Well, maybe an ounce. I jogged three miles from the office over to Monarch High track later in the afternoon. It gets a little tough to get a track this time of year because you begin to compete for lane space with the high school track team, soccer team, lacrosse group, etc. I do try to stay out of their way, as I am the guest. I did the 200-200-400 workout again. Again, I have not worried on limiting the rest in this workout but this time, I kept it a bit more honest. I was hitting the 200s in 33-34 and the 400s went 73, 72, 72, 71, 70. I felt ... okay. I mean, I did not feel great and powerful - in fact I felt a bit heavy. But in a wierd kind of way, I can feel this shell of crud unpeeling around me. That hardly describes it, but I am getting to a point where I can feel a little turnover in there again. Still a far cry from what it was, but I occasionally get a wiff of it. Or maybe I just need a shower. My abdominal area is still a bit sore, but the strain seems to be very slowly subsiding (sneezing does cause me to wince quite a bit though). Warmed down back to the office for three miles.

Booked my room at Pikes today. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention yesterday that CC has the baddest looking Fu-Man-Chu I have ever seen.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thursday, 022108, 11, (5, 6) easy ... Flagstaff

I got out mid day for an easy jaunt on the Davidson Mesa. Later in the afternoon, I met CC for a run up Flagstaff. One of my favorite stories from last year's Pikes weekend is watching CC finish the Ascent. I had 50 yard field side tickets to watch the Super Bowl of mountain running. Seeing folks come up to the finish, just worked, driving to finish this thing was absolutely awesome. Watching CC finish, considering what he had been through in the 18 months prior was pure inspiration. I'd tell his story here but it is his story (and maybe I will if I get his permission).

This was a really slow six (I checked the distance via mapmyrun). I was thrashed, the trails were icy and muddy and I was without additional traction. CC was really kind in waiting up for me but I was in the so called "granny gear" most of the way - and I really held him up. We started at Eben Fine Park, when up the Viewpoint trail, connected to the Flagstaff trail. Once we got to the top, we edged around on Boy Scout. I had never been on this trail. It was pretty icy and I flopped a couple of times, and did the skitter dance many more. I definitely want to check out this bugger this summer ... it could make for a good little repeat loop.

Much more I could write, but I am off to read some comic books with my son.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wednesday 02202008, 10 miles, LOSH

Long before I knew its name as the Davidson Mesa, I called the back hill on that big flat area behind my office as LOSH - or the Louisville Open Space Hill. I am including a picture of the mesa today, as the webcam link I put up yesterday ... well for the night owls on the internet, it provides a less than illuminating image.

I would put LOSH in my logs to indicate where I had run. This back hill is a short jaunt, but it is fairly steep, rocky and makes my arms hurt when I run it. Along with other parts of my body. Yes, this hill and I have a history. And I think I have yet to win an argument with it. This hill ain't that long. Alone, its steep section is probably 200 yards. A workout for me in the past on this hill has been eight up and down repeats, with the ups being under a minute. So a minute on it is near eight minute pace. That seems slow. I keep telling my lungs and legs that and they don't really seem to care. For a short workout, it is one that usually leaves me grabbing my knees at the end and wobbling in the office for the rest of the day. And it always leaves me with that mixed feeling like I had accomplished something, but that I had so much more to do.

In any case, I took a slightly different approach to this old friend today. Rather than just running the hill outright, I ran a lead up section to it, and then drove into the hill, and then would loop back around the top side of it back to the lead up section. These ended up being just short of being 2 minute repeats with then about a four minute rest jog. The lead ups and hill ended up being about a quarter mile and the jogs were a half mile.

I did not feel real zippy - mostly because I still can't seem to get my stride out as long as I'd like it - because of this abdominal thing. That problem is getting better (which supports my hypothesis that the treadmill is aggrevating it, as I have not been on the treadmill for a few days) but it is still a bit of a problem. Nonetheless, I was getting up the hill in about 65-67. I was satisfied with that given it was a bit iced over in some parts (putting me off the trail into the cacti and yucca), and with the lead in. I did six of these, each one getting quicker. And like an old dependable friend, it left me grabbing my knees on the last one, but still feeling like I had a lot to do. I will look to build this workout to be more laps, quicker overall, and quicker on the ups. 10 miles total, 3 miles warmup, 3 mile warm down, 4 with the six loops. Contributions to the workout today came from Coheed and Cambria (James, I don't really you but I am guessing you'd dig these guys ...) and The Darkness (those guys are nuts).

I am playing with the idea that next week I drop my mileage to 50 miles (from the 70-80ish I have been doing) and focusing the work more on speed. I am interested in performing this experiment for two reasons: 1.) I am curious to see how I respond to a drop in mileage. I'd like to think that a drop would leave me feeling fresher and that I could attack the speed workouts a bit more and b.) I'd like to try this to emulate a bit of a taper. I am trying to figure out how that taper needs to look now, particularly given how Lucho feels his had adverse effects to his effort at Austin. I am thinking that this little experiment will let me play a bit harder in that mileage space, begin to see how my body will respond to lower mileage (albeit, I will be upping the intensity some) and start to sort those things out (178 days to go!).

Oh yeah - I got a question: why is your blog called Hang Nine? Answer: I have nine toes. I lost a toe (and created all sorts of other foot scar tissue issues) when I was a kid (let's say it is a race I lost). My Dad coined the phrase when we found I could not really wear flip flops as they would simply fall off that foot. So think of hang ten (the surf term). I hang nine.

Live it.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tuesday 021908, 10 miles

GORGEOUS DAY. Shorts, t-shirt. Just plain sweetness on the Davidson Mesa, with big views of the Flatirons. Easy 10. Supposed to snow again on Thursday.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Monday, 021808, Sanitas, 14 miles

I met up with JV and AV at Sanitas this afternoon. These two are serious mountain goats. Every weekend they are off bagging some 14er. It is easy to overlook this on the planet of Boulder where everyone seems to be sponsored by some shoe company, or are running across the country in a Fred Flinstone vehicle, or are describing a 2:31 marathon as an off day. Climb all the Colorado 14ers? It almost like another Cub Scout badge in this town.

But it really is not. Really, it is not. In fact, it quite nuts. Read his blog if you don't beleive me. Maybe I should not have a picture of a mountain goat but instead of mixed martial art fighters to portray how hard this is.

I had put about 2 miles in before hooking up with these two. I had some aspirations to do a tempo up this hill, but the treadmill run last night left me more tapped than I had expected, particularly in, you guessed it, in the abdominal muscle wall area. Latest hypothesis on this is that it is just strained and I am not giving it enough rest for it to effectively heal. I realized that Sanitas is not easy and that running it easy (figure that out) would provide a good workout in any case. And as I expected, it kicked me in the teeth. Sanitas, while short in duration, does have significant grades right from the get go. And ain't even the grades that seem to get me, its the fair step ups. I tried to keep it relaxed but by 10 minutes in, I was, well, something other than relaxed. JV can totally smoke me on this stuff, but he always remains kind, stating how the pace is just fine for him. It was good to run with him, talk training, mountains, and jokes about gas. With about 3 minutes to go I thought there was a shot at breaking 20, but the ascent trip took 20:12.

I know that making deposits in flat and speed first, as I have been, will cause a debt on the hills that I will have to pay. I got notice of that debt today. I said to JV on the way down - "I want to do it all." And I do. I want to do the fast track workouts, the long road runs, the killer hill tempos, the long mountain runs, the hill repeats, the long building flat tempos. Of course, there is this minor issue we have to deal with called recovery. (Total side note, this crud that some Yankee pitcher is hurling about not taking HGH to be a better pitcher but instead to help him recover is that - CRUD. Your ability to recover is your performance). Sanitas put me on notice, I need to inject a run like this at least once a week to keep some hill familiarity in the legs. With the weather breaking, that ought to be a bit easier. The focus will shift a bit to those sort of runs, more structured track work (managing recovery more closely) and moving some of the long runs to the trails (but assuring they are building efforts). Where I am changing from last year at this point is the level of focus I am putting on the hills. It is a minor but significant tweak.

We came back down, caught up with AV and ran with her the rest of the way. It was a good easy run, with the Sanitas portion taking about 40 minutes all told. I parted from JV / AV and I jogged over to Fleet Feet after this, did a quick check on a few things from the wireless, and then got at it again. I got in some minutes before joining the group at the store for the Monday night jog. At this point, I was ready to be done but the group run (which never starts on time, and that bugs the heck out of me), pushed me through another five miles.

All told, it was about two hours, and about 14 miles.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Sunday, 021708, 13 miles, week in review

First, some recognition for some great folks. Lucho laid it out at Austin today. He had a self-described tough day; sound like the course was rough. I am confident he is going to blow one open here in the not too distant future. The Fleet Feet Boulder guys of Pliska, Ames, Hegelbach, Dissley, Boettcher and Funke ran great down at XC Nats in San Diego. Looks like I need to get my stuff together over the next two years if I want to play with the old timers!

13 today on the treadmill. I had early aspirations to get a tempo in today, but I spent a good deal of the day with the family at the pool. Playing in the pool, hot tub, etc took some of the spunk out of my legs and so I landed on just going easy.

Ok week, with a fair long run, and an okay track session. 82 miles on the week, 188 on the month. I found it a bit hard to dig in this week with the abdominal stuff I have been dealing with. Nonetheless, I think I am progressing.

Stir Fry

KZ and TS were out selling Girl Scout cookies, so JZ and I whipped up some stir fry.

Of course, we had to be armed with some good tunes, so we jammed out to some Jack Johnson. I have heard people claim that JJ is the worst musician of our time. While his songs are not particularly complex, there is no doubt his music gets my family's head and hips bopping up and down and round and round. For that, his music is well worth my purchase.

JZ took lots of pix. It is pretty amazing that digital cameras represent a "toy" of sorts that kids can use. You get a real insight to what their perspective is on life. They are eye level with your dogs, countertips, etc. From JZ's description, he took pictures of lots of dog butts. I will spare you those shots here.

Some olive oil in the wok, garlic, onion, carrots, broch, peppers of different colors and a good amount of cabbage and celery. This approach is not much different than what I do for smoothies ... for smoothies, I look at what fruit we have and throw it in a blender. Suddenly that apple that looks a bit past ripe, works just fine. Same approach for a stir fry - whatever veggies you got - just go. We threw in some steak (KZ explicitly stated that meat in the stir fry was a requirement). I marinated all this with some teriaki, honey, salt, pepper, and a few other spices - but you could use whatever you like to mix it up. Eat your heart out VO2Maxxed.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Saturday, 021608, 10 (5, 5) easy

Joined Scott E this AM for a real easy jaunt in the foothills west of his house. The trails still have some snow and ice, but traction is not necessary. Scott is just bouncing back so we went real easy for an hour. I got in an other five in the afternoon and played with the jump rope a bit.

When you see Scott on days like this, where he is running easy, you'd probably not guess that he has won Pikes Peak Ascent 8 times. Scott, in fact, is one of the few runners that has had any sort of modicum of success against Pikes reigning king Matt Carpenter. But, if you were to see him when he is full on into his training, killing Linden hills in June, you realize you are dealing with a different kind of person. I remember the first time I ran with him on said route and left thinking, "wow, that guy is dialed in and focused." Nice, soft spoken guy. Just don't expect that you are going to get off easy if you try to run up a hill with him. He, of course, has his eyes on that mountain in Manitou again. His ability to transform himself from a runner who will go easy in February because "he's not there yet" to someone who in August can stick their hand into a burning vat of lactic acid flame for lung searing ascents - continues to amaze and baffle me.

The pain in my lower abdominal muscle has returned, and so I suspect the treadmill again given the effort there yesterday. Hopefully, the easy running outside will cause it to relax a bit.

Shout out to Lucho who runs in Austin tomorrow. Go get it! And of course - a bit hurrah to the FF guys out at San Diego today, running in Masters Cross Nats.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Training blogs stink

Okay, I read a good number of training blogs. I have to say, most, including mine are put you to sleep boring. Really, reading someone's training log, unless you are their coach or have intentions of competing with them in some way or are good friends with them ... it is just brutal. Nobody else really cares if you did 9 x 733 m at a HR of 178 in a wind storm where the track was uphill both ways. And so generally, these entries - while they serve you - and that is important, make for cruddy reading.

But the entries that capture the human element around that training ... like a race, success, failure, facing your fears, conquering a workout, drilling through the boredom of training 9 months out while it is snowing ... that stuff is awesome. I will try to remember this in my writing.

Except when I am tired and I just want to tell you a bunch of numbers instead. Like my last entry.

Friday 021508, 17 miles

I got on the mill early today with aspirations to do a two hour run, simply to get it done for the week - it is going to be a busy weekend. I was also curious to see if the mill run would cause me to be the BIG WIMP that I have been about this abdominal strain I have had.

In any case, same sort of approach to my long run as my last one on the mill - build into it. I thought if I could get 17 in two hours, I'd be content with that.

7:23
7:18 (14:42)
7:12 (21:54)
7:11 (29:05)
7:01 (36:05)
6:54 (43:01)
6:48 (49:49)
6:43 (56:33)
6:40 (63:13)
6:35 (69:49)
6:31 (76:20)
6:27 (82:47)
6:27 (89:14)

I was taking water every five minutes to keep well hydrated. I took a gel at the hour, and started drinking some Nuun every five minutes at the 70 minute mark. By the 13th mile (above) I was sweating like it was a July day in Rhode Island. I was not working crazy hard, but I was needing to focus. I figured with the 13 in sub 90, I'd back off for a four mile warm down.

6:52 (95:06)
6:52 (1:42:58)
6:48 (1:49:46)
6:26 (1:56:12)

Yeah - that last mile was just get it done kind of thinking. Again, I need to do this stuff outside, but this morning did not lend to it from a schedule, where I needed to be perspective. My stomach did not hurt much during this run, but I was aware of the tightness down there. Then again, I did start my day with a couple of Advil with the coffee.

Mentally, I think I want to wrap my head around this run getting really fast (for me) as I build through it. That is going to take as much head work as physical work. Thinking about running sub six for 10 seems mentally easy if I am thinking about a race, but hard to do it in a workout. As they say, train hard - race easy.

The Giants Awake

A different type of entry here today, as I review what some of the best at Pikes are doing in terms of racing and spring preparation ... simply because I am a geek of this sport ...

The Way Too Cool 50K entrants list lists a few folks who have done well at Pikes, including Matt and Galen. Like, as in done very well in the fact they have won the Pikes marathon

Matt, of course, is the undisputed king of Pikes. And given he has more than a dozen titles there, and he is now 43, you have to wonder if he will continue to return. There are good arguments on either side: why not continue to dominate, be king of the mountain, until someone knocks him off? When it comes to this run up the hill, no one is close to Matt - he wins by minutes. None of the other big dogs, Guiterrez, Elliot for example - have been close. Well, that is not entirely true. Mackey gave him a bit of a scare on the down portion of the marathon last year, but arguably it was after Matt had sewn the race up.

I am not saying anything about the folks behind Matt - hell, I am one of them. We are busting our tails, but we just don't catch him. True, there are handful of young racers that might become the next generation, but one is yet to emerge from the twenty something crowd of Call, Batliner, Selig, etc. Here, I am wondering what Matt is thinking. Really, with every record on Pikes, what is left for Matt to prove at Pikes? Remember, the guy won the double handily last year - over competition that was motivated by prize money for the first time in years.

Is Matt to a point where he wants to show folks that you can dominate the hill well into your forties; taking satisfaction in the wins he gets there over guys nearly half his age? Or does the entry in things like WTC show he is more willing - ready to move out and on to other events? He has definitely shown dominance in the ultra arena with course records at the Lake City 50 and Leadville. Or does Matt return to Europe where he would race in that next league, well above and beyond what we do here in the US?

It is going to be fun to watch.

Six months out and thinking about a taper

Good morning. Of course in the so called blogosphere, this can be good afternoon, or evening, right?

My site countdown timer tells me that I am nearly 180 days out of that little race in Manitou up some hill that happens to ascend 7800 plus feet to an elevation of 14000 feet over a distance of 13 miles before returning back down. 180 days. That is six months. And for some, that seems like an eternity but for me it seems like hardly enough time to get in everything I want to do. Part of me cannot wait for that weekend: it is a culmination of work, it is a every man's Super Bowl, it is a parade of humanity to see those folks break from the start line up Manitou Avenue in the early morning sun, starting a ridiculous climb up the mountain from which "America the Beautiful" was inspired. Crud, that reminds me, I need to book a room down there for that weekend.

I have made fair progress over the last near three months. I have thought for a bit that if you want to see a significant physical change in your fitness, you need to give the program at least three months. I think for the masses that struggle with fitness and diet programs in our country, this is a big reason for failure. Three months is a long time to wait to see results, particularly in our world of instant gratification, email notification, lack of delay gratification ...

With that thought, I know my training is at a point where it needs to make a bit of a shift. I should not expect to continue to significantly improve my performance if I continue to do the same things. That is not saying I ought to overall my training plan, but I will need to tweak it a bit. More on this in a future post, but it is about shifting the nature of particular workouts at this point. In fact, my training at this point will still be focused around a turnover workout, a tempo workout and a long run each week.

Again, more on those tweaks later. I want to begin to consider, even though it seems way way way out what the taper needs to look like. I have been watching Lucho's taper for the Austin Marathon with some interest. In short, while this guy has seemed absolutely bullet proof to me over the last couple of months, he feels like crap here in the week leading up to the race. I have the utmost confidence that Lucho is going to kill that race, but I still don't get the taper. There seems to be differing opinions out there as to what is most effective in the six, four, two weeks leading up to your goal race. Some say drop mileage, but maintain intensity. Others, like Hudson, have been proposing the mileage drop screws up your metabolic system and you should not bring it down as much. There is debate as to if you top off the tank in the last six weeks with intervals above V02 max (and hence increasing anaerobic fitness) versus doing work at LT exclusively in the period (burning in your race pace into your mind).

Again, at some point, you just run - right? But if you are going to run this much, you ought to consider what it is that you need to do to maximize that investment. What do you do to taper? Let me know what you are doing, or not doing.

Link of the day - Vo2maxxed. Good food suggestions from good athletes in So. Cal. Beth, Jameson, good luck in USATF XC Nats this weekend, hope the snow you guys got does not effect the race!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Thursday, 021408, 11 miles (8, 3)

So I felt better today. Not as tight, not as sore in the abs. And what sucks is I am not wholly sure why. It could be:

I had an easy day yesterday (after three somewhat more challenging days).
I ate ice cream last night
I have not run on a treadmill in a couple of days
Venus is in the constellation of Virgo
I took some vitamin I (okay, Ibuprofen!) like my medical provider advised me.

But in any case, I felt a bit zippier. Slept great last night too. But my point here is we are not simple experiments where you control one variable and then something else moves. And sometimes, like today, that drives me a bit nuts. Am I just hiding this soreness with Advil? Or am I recovering a bit? And other times, I really don't care ... just run and improve.

It snowed today (after that 65+ yesterday). I got out mid afternoon for an easy 8 (1 hour) and then tacked on an easy 3 a little later. I have avoided the mill for a couple of days but I might be forced back to it tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if this causes a flare up in my stomach area again. Then again, I did not have ice cream tonight.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wednesday 02132008, 10 easy (4, 6)

I felt tired today. Just tight all around, and tired. The weather was more like April today (65) so I got out for four around 3 and six around 5. All easy running.

I contacted my medical provider and I have a general physical in a couple of weeks. I am going to try to get some extensive blood work done then but I am pretty sure it is going to take some sweet talk from me for them to agree to it. I'd like to get the more extensive blood work to see if anything chemically requires some attention there.

I have done a physical every couple of years, and the experience has been pretty much the same: they want to know what the heck I am doing there. I tell them that I am just trying to be preventative, proactive and they just look at me. Do you smoke? No. Do any recreational drugs? No Do you drink? Yes, occasionally. Okay, drink less. Do you exercise? Umm, yeah a little. See ... they don't want to hear that I run seventy miles a week because they see that as a problem. And maybe it is a problem but I am going to be damned if an overweight doctor is going to tell me that. Any health problems? No. Well, that has been the answer until now. Yes, I have a few problems. I have an Achilles that wants to rupture, an abdominal that feels like it is falling out, and I can't touch my toes without bending my knees. Can you help me with that? Nah, I really don't want your help there anyway. But while, I am at it can you make it so that I can breathe more effectively at 14000 feet? Actually, forget it, I don't want your help there anyway. At least not if it means a pill or something.

Anyway, I spoke with a dial-a-nurse about my abdominal issue. After about five minutes she was pretty sure it was not a hernia, suggested I take about 1200-1800 mg a day of vitamin I. I will give it a shot. I'd really rather it be just a damn good muscle strain that I am being a wimp through than a hernia. If it still persists, well, I got that appointment. I think I might avoid the treadmill for a little bit, as that seems to aggravate it (but that does not make a lot of sense).

And despite the fact that everytime I cough, it feels like I am going to fall out of my hips, I was giving serious thought to doing the 50 at Collegiate Peaks this year. What the heck is that all about?

Okay, I don't tell a lot of stories about my family here because I think the internet freaks will hop on them. But considering my hit counter, I don't think I have much to worry about. Plus this one is too good to pass up. My son is sitting in his PJs this AM, eating his cereal. It is getting a bit late in the morning so I say to him, "hey bud, you might want to start getting ready for school and get dressed there." He looks at me and says, "What day is it?" "Wednesday bud." He looks down at his cereal bowl and whispers "... damn it..." I mean, I nearly lost it (in a good way). He loves school and all but we all have bad days. Even in first grade. Yes, for those of you concerned, we had a good talk on how that is not an appropriate response, and how he ought to remind me that those words are not good when I use them.

A few links for the day ...

For those of you thinking you are doing a lot of mileage, you are not
Another incredible musician I am guessing you never will hear of.
This is the truest form of ultra I have seen yet.
A good interview with Nate Jenkins, who came in seventh at the OT Marathon. Seems like a solid guy. FWIW, I appreciate the entire blue collar versus blue chipper thing we hear about with guys like Sell as opposed to Ritz and Hall. I am not convinced however that Sell trained harder than Hall in year leading up to the race. I am convinced they both trained a lot harder in that period than nearly everyone I know. I am not convinced that just because Sell did not break 10 minutes in the 2 mile in HS, that it was only his hard work and blue collar ethic that got him to be a 2:10 guy. Don't get me wrong, I am a Sell fan, and his story is truly an American story. But let's not dress him up to be Cinderella when compared to Ritz and Hall. I get what he did, but maybe we need to consider he was vastly talented and under trained in HS.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tuesday 02122008, 9 miles with track work

2.5 mile warm up over to Monarch, 4 sets of 200-200-400 with equal rest and then a 2.5 mile warm down. I did a few 100m strides before the workout to open it up a bit. Again, I did not concern myself with rest here (although, I think I will begin to convert to those sorts of workouts, where rest is timed and controlled, shortly), and focused on the turnover. The 200s were in 34.x, and the 400s were 73.x, 72.x, 72.x and 71 flat. The speed is coming back.

... but I am having a problem now tapping into it. My lower abdominal wall hurt a lot today. I really bugged me in the early part of the warm up, but then it cleared up some. Nonetheless, I found I could not dig the legs as much as I wanted to because I had this core problem. I backed off the workout a touch because of this (both in effort, and in overall duration - 4 sets instead of five). I suspect the treadmill is somehow behind this, because it always seems to hurt more post treadmill running. But that might just be an excuse. I need to get this thing looked at soon. If it is a hernia, it ain't going to just go away.

9 miles on the day, 70 minutes.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Monday 021108, 12 miles (7,5)

Monday ... another start of the week. Zero miles in the log to start. Here we go again ... part of me loves this ... knowing that the pure monotny of training for some is what sends them away. Those that train through these short dark, windy, cold days will overcome. BWAH-HA-HA.

I came home early from the office to work a bit from home, help out with the family as my bride was not feeling well. Nonetheless, I snuck down to the mill before dinner and banged out seven. I started slow (8:20) and just kept picking it up ... not because I felt good, but mostly because I wanted to get the run done and get back upstairs. And because I was getting bored. 7 miles in 48 minutes, with the last six under 40 ... and it was easy.

I can feel my fitness progressing, simply because I ran a race yesterday and here I am feeling okay enough to run sub sevens on a machine I used to hate the next day. Okay, some of this is because it is mill running (which I am becoming more and more convinced is easier). But at the same time, and this might seem contradictory, while that fitness is improving, I can feel a part of me falling apart. I can almost feel the bone growing on my gimp foot heel; with each mile I build up a bit more calcification on that Haglund's deformity. My abdominal issue has not really healed; depsite my wanting it to just go away by ignoring it ... it has not. I get up from my desk in the middle of the day and I look like I am about to fall over. How the hell does that happen where you go from running 5:30s in a race to not being able to walk comfortably at the office?

Is this age? You actually can increase fitness or maintain it but the body parts start to give? I talked to Buzz at the BTR talk the other day and I asked him how he was doing. He spoke about a variety of injuries he has had to deal with (hammie, should surgeries, etc). He said, "I have this great engine, but the wheels just keep falling off the car!" Okay, okay, I am not falling apart. In fact, the Achilles has been a pain (literally) for years (put your foot in a lawn mower once and you never are forgiven - sheesh ... ). Maybe it is pyschosamatic, brought on simply because I am this age and I supposed to think about this stuff more, but it seems like I feel more little niggling ache and pains then I used to.

And yes, they are aches and pains. The difference between an injury and an ache and a pain was described to me by Jason Hickman at the Camera years ago ... as I described a problem he asked, "can you run on it?" "well, yeah, after I warm up some." "then it ain't an injury, it is just an ache and a pain. When you can't run on it, then it is an an injury."

After I got the kids down I hit the mill again (the winds were really ridiculous today, they actually woke me up last night shaking the house) for five in 33. Total on the day, 13 in 81. I doubt I could do a half that quick outdoors right now, but ... I could not have done five on the mill in 33 three months ago after doing 8 and felt comfortable. The body is an amazing vessel.

Bill Wright continues to do ridiculous things. I love his attitude.

February 11, Andrew Crook

2 years ago, this friend and wonderful runner left us. I did not understand this then and I still don't. I don't expect I ever will. His passing simply defies any logical reasoning for me.

Andrew was one of the very very few people that I knew that nobody had anything bad to say about. Ever. I mean, even with those we love, we will chuckle and say something about how they are off color, or they are an odd bird, or they are strong willed, or they have this quirk or that quirk. In fact, most of us go through life and have at least a few folks we don't connect with well, and can probably name a few people we don't like. I can't think of anyone ever feeling that way about Andrew.

And he was a ballsy smart competitor on the track. I could write a lot about that, but all I can say is that few of us would train and race as hard and as smart as he did.

I hope he has found some peace. I know there are several of us who do miss him.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sunday 021008, Frozen Foot 5K, 14 miles

Last night I was yapping with TG and told him that I'd do this 5K race if I felt good, but not if I felt off, or even on the fence. Well, I must have lied because when I woke up this AM, I did not feel good. I did not feel bad. I just felt flat. But I decided to jump into this anyway, to get a new baseline as to where I am at, and because racing does provide a bit of fuel for rekindling the fire.

It was cool (30s?), overcast, and a touch humid. In my warm up, I, as one is prone to do in warm ups, worried about how my connective tissue felt, how my legs felt a bit heavy, and the like. I ran into Andy Ames and chatted with him a bit. It seemed like his warm up pace was a bit quick for me and I wondered if this race was going to represent a step backwards. But, in any case, I was there, in the ring, and so you have to give it a shot.

We got out quick - of course. All these races go out quick and I was about 20 deep about a minute into the race. With this initial play in, I began the task at hand and began focusing on keeping relaxed but rolling up those who had gone out too fast, while not becoming someone else's victim. I felt actually pretty good in this first mile and split (fwiw) at 5:25. Right past the first mile, I passed the last person I would get for the race (I did not know that at that time of course). I was a bit concerned with the mile split, thinking that I had maybe gone a bit too fast in the start and felt like I was begining to pay for that in some of the short climbs in the second mile. It was a bit of a lull in there, I was not in direct contact with anyone, and I lost a bit of focus and drive. I hit the two mile split in 5:42 (11:07). I began to get my head back and tried to begin to push, realizing I only had about six or so minutes left of running. There were some good straight stretches and I got a 5:36 third mile (16:42), finishing in 17:15 (I had about two clicks faster on my watch but its common for finish chutes to add two seconds). This landed me ninth, and 3rd in the 30-39 age bracket (age group won by some tri guy named Matt Reed ...).

I am happy with the improvement this race shows. Again, I did not feel particularly stellar, but I am showing improvement in 5K time, and so that has to reflect an improvement in fitness (17:44 at Oatmeal 5K, to 17:15 today). The course is probably a touch short, but Andy said it has something like 35 turns. A good number of those turns are more like switchbacks than just 90 degree turns, and a couple had some ice. So, I'll call it even. While I am happy with the improvement, particularly with it coming on a week where I felt I was off, I realize I have work to do. It has taken me about three months to drop 40 seconds off the 5K time. I want to drop at least another 40 on it in the next three months. This will require a bit of shift in focus, more to particular interval workouts, but I think I am ready for that. Again, I felt flat, not bad, not good ... maybe a bit race rusty mentally in my ability to dig in the middle mile. I certainly did not feel like warm death at the end of the race ... it seems that I am able to get to that kill yourself state better the fitter I am. I do think that the faster opener shows that I am getting some of that turnover. Just need to keep that going for a few more miles!

Andy ran well, winning Masters, Anna P won the women's race and I saw (briefly) fellow local blogger Kerrie. She took second in the women's race. I did not get to chat with her as I was in conversation with Andy on the warm down ... it is a bit wierd "knowing" people via the 'net but and then seeing them in real life!

I am giving this week a B-. It would have gotten a C or worse given I did not have a long run this week, and the mid week distractions, but I did manage to pull myself out it and show improvement in this race.

9 miles with the race. Added a very easy and relaxed five miles on the mill in the evening. Felt good, no tweaks.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Saturday, 020908, 7 easy

I went easy today because I might race tomorrow. Or I might go hard. It is to be determined. 7 miles, with some solid stretching (that I have not done in a bit).

Mountain Running Talk at Sherpa's with the BTR

On Thursday night I attended a BTR talk at Sherpa's where the topic was "Mountain Running." The speaking "panel" included Jay Johnson, Rickey Gates, Anna Pichrtova, Scott Elliot, and Chris Lundy. Buzz Burrell moderated. As Buzz noted, the room was filled with a whole host of gunslingers. The panel could have all stayed in the bar, and there still would have been a talk possible with folks like John, Lisa, Peter, Michael, and ... well, really, I could on and on and on. It is Boulder and everybody seems to run up and down mountains fast or for really long periods of time. The room was packed, probably so that we could have an excuse to commune (or have a beer) together as much as to hear these folks drop a few pearls of wisdom.

It was a cool, motivating, exciting night. The restaurant has a very mellow atmosphere, good eats, and there was a buzz in the room of the season to come ... the days are getting longer, people are begining to think about what races they want to do, and they can smell the electricty of being out there (while it was snowing outside and the winds were blowing easily at 20mph). Pikes, Mount Washington, Leadville, Hardrock, Mount Evans, Grand Canyon, Boston, Mount Blanc... the lyrics of the night as people spoke to what they want to do next, what they have done and where they want to go. There was one guy there (whose name I forget) who is going to run across the country towing his own trailer!

A few highlights ... Anna, who I had never met, is absolutely adorable. Her spirit and love for running is fully transparent. "I'd probably could do better at the marathon if I focused on that. But I love the mountains too much to give them up." (Her PR in the marathon is 2:32)...Rickey (coming off a 2nd place at the Empire State Building Run), "you have to love what you are doing ... my race with Paul Low last year at Cranmore was one of the few races where I felt like I was in a boxing match the whole time. We just kept slugging at each other, pushing each other." ... Scott Elliot (pictured in his last Ascent win in 2006) on doing Bear 100 times in 100 days, "a lot of people would think it is boring because it is the same thing everyday. But it is not. The conditions are different everyday. I see different wildlife everyday. I am thinking about different things." (Scott and I have talked a lot about his breathing cadence, which is interesting, and not one I am fully subscribed to but his success is very difficult to argue with).