First 14′ers

2 down, 52 to go.

I summited my first 14,000+ peaks today, making a training run out of the Grays/Torreys combination. They are two of the easiest to hike. Running them was tough. I had to switch to hiking once I got above 13k and started to get a little light-headed.

I started at the Bakerville exit (9,780′), which is 3 miles and 1,500′ below the actual trailhead. I topped out on Grays (14,270′) in 2:11, then made my way over to Torreys (14,267′). To truly ‘bag’ a 14′er in style, it is thought that you should gain at least 3,000′ for each summit, rather than traversing from one to another like I did today. No worries, I’ll be doing this route again and will hit Torreys first next time.

It was an awesome run, if a bit crowded. Glad to see people out enjoying the mountains, though.

My run/hike totaled 14.9 miles and 5,100′ of climbing in 4:22. A little slower than I would have liked, but considering all the traffic on the trail, lots of snow on the Grays traverse, and the 18 miles I put in yesterday, not bad.

Grays Peak straight ahead

Torreys Peak on the right

Up the big pile o’ rock

Nice view of Torreys from the Grays trail

The trailhead is near the stand of pines just above center

Grays Peak summit

Crazy to be looking ‘down’ on some very big mountains

Part-way up Torreys, looking back at Grays

Looking down from the top of Torreys at the freeway exit where I started

Nice way to ruin a great view

Big-time rush hour traffic on the descent

Vacations Suck

I can’t wait to get back to my cubicle.

Jessica and her ‘callipitter’ that I brought back from my run

Ralph knew what he was talkin’ about…

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

He must have been a runner.

The plan of doing the Jemez 50 as a training run with minimal recovery needed afterward worked out well. 4 Personal Records in a span of 8 days sums it up for me. It’s not like I even feel that good. Still a few tweaks and nagging things that need to heal up before I can truly say that, but I’m feeling stronger by the day.

Last Wednesday I did a TT on a climb I’ve been working on for a few months. I took 2.5 minutes off my best time only a week and a half after Jemez.

3/20 - 38:04
3/26 - 34:02
4/09 - 34:51

5/28 - 31:17

My long term goal has been to break 30:00. I’m going to have to rethink that ’cause 30’s going down in flames!

Tuesday I ran 3 laps on a challenging 2.7 mile course with some good hills including a half mile grinder. The first two loops I went steady, then started harder on the third to see how it would go. Felt strong so I kept it up. I definitely worked hard, but I wasn’t gasping and staggering like I have been doing on my previous attempts. I ran smart and managed my effort on the hills. Broke 20:00 for the first time, taking 26 seconds off my record.

1/8 - 21:23
2/27 - 20:20
5/6 - 20:19

6/3 - 19:53

Wednesday was a tempo run, and I ran my fastest-ever split on a particular ~1 mile section of trail that I use for my last repeat.

Today was an easy run. Slightly rolling dirt path and a bit of wind blowing. I try to keep my heart rate under 140 on my easy days. When I first started running a year and a half ago, that would put me at an 11:30 pace for a 4 miler. Last winter I was around 10:15. A month ago it was 9:17. Today my HR averaged 139 and my pace was 8:47. For 8 miles on the same course. Felt like I could go forever.

Working with Karl has been the best thing I could have done at this stage of my running. I’ve learned so much, and am really starting to see great improvement. His plan for me has been spot-on. It’s been a lot of hard work on my part, too. I think I’ve hit every single workout since we began in the middle of February.

The best thing about it is I feel like I’m barely even scratching the surface. It’s going to be a fun summer!

Team Gear

After a lot of hard work by the chief goat, our team gear was delivered this week. Great shirts, a pack, and tons of supplies from Nathan. Awesome!

Thanks, Scott!!!

I broke my shirt in nice and proper with a 2.5 hour run in the mountains. It was great! I’m so lucky to be able to run on trails like this.

Sweet Colorado singletrack

Next up - Jemez 50 Miler

But first, a look back at what I learned at Fruita. Most of this text comes from an email exchange with my friend Kirk. I owe a big thanks to him for getting me to do some more critical thinking about my run in the desert.

1st half of the race -

I give myself pretty high marks here. One of my biggest downfalls in the past has been going out too hard. After running with both Kirk and Sandy at different points in the first 25 miles, I pulled back and forced myself to stay at my own pace even though I wanted to continue with them. That is a major step for me. I was hopeful I would be able to pick up the pace later, but willing to live with it if it just wasn’t happening.

The only regret I have from the first 25 is not being faster while holding back - if that makes any sense. I was hoping to hit the turnaround at 4:20 or so. Instead it was 4:34. I felt pretty comfortable, it just seemed like the clock was running faster than I was. I look forward to the day when I can run somewhat comfortably and still hit the times I’m looking for!

calories -

This is the first ultra that I’ve done using only gels for fuel. I have been training that way, and felt confident in that approach. My mistake was in the frequency. I religiously took one every 30 minutes on the dot. 30-45 or even 60 minutes works fine for me in training. Not so much in the race. Halfway through the race I could feel that 30 minutes was stretching it. That’s around 200-220 calories an hour. I need to revise that to every 20-25 minutes to keep things running smoothly in a ultra-length race. I had only carried enough gels to support the every 30 minute approach and I don’t really care for the Hammer gels offered by the race.

I probably should have ‘grazed’ a bit at Crossroads and Moore Fun aid stations, but just wasn’t interested. Minimizing AS time is great, but not at the expense of feeling good. Still trying to find a balance there.

hydration -

Low marks. Especially for the second half of the race. I’m not sure why I struggle to drink enough, but it has dogged me through several races. I’ll be dehydrated, yet running along with two full bottles in my pack… I think a single bottle waist pack plus a handheld will be probably be the best combo for me. At least carrying the bottle in my hand makes me think about drinking more often. I was down 7 pounds the next morning, even after eating and drinking lots the night before while driving home after the race.

salt -

One S!cap on the hour. Like the calories, okay for training, probably not enough for trying to race an ultra. I should probably take one every 40 minutes +/-. Had slight hints of hamstring cramps once in a while, but fared much better than I have in most other races. My ziplock bag ended up splitting at the seam and I dropped a few caps without knowing it. I ended up short and took my last one with about 3 hours to go. I grabbed a couple of Endurolytes at Crossroads, but they’re no match for an S!cap IMO.

feet -

This was my number 1 performance killer. I don’t want to be whiny about it - I’ve run with blisters plenty of times. They suck, but can be endured for the most part. I ended up with 6 total, plus a detached toenail. 5 blisters and the toenail would have been fine. The one blister (right in the center of my left forefoot) was off the charts. There was some sort of fissure that formed in the crease of my foot there that felt like raw nerve endings were exposed. A much more intense sensation than just the normal skin friction and hot spot feeling. Even after 10 days I was still walking with a limp.

For my training runs I was gritting my teeth for the first couple of miles, waiting until it gets slightly more tolerable. I just looked at my logs, and the Cascadia 3’s I have been using this year are the 9th different make/model of trail shoe that I’ve tried in the 1.5 years I’ve been running. I really thought I had finally found my shoe - and still have hope that I did. They worked perfectly at the Psycho Wyco 50k and Salida, my feet were 100% in both races. I think the difference is that these shoes are just slightly roomy for me and I was wearing thicker socks in the earlier events. For Fruita I went with a very thin Smartwool and I think it ultimately let my foot slide around way too much despite me trying to account for it with my laces. I had thicker socks in my drop bag @ 25, but didn’t even think about them in my attempt to reload with gels and get out of there.

I’ve also been dealing with a foot injury left over from my 100 miler last year. Normal running doesn’t bother it at all, but when I step on a rock or uneven surface with the outside of my right foot it sends a lightning bolt of pain just below my ankle. It dissipates after a few steps, but takes its toll after a while on a course like Fruita - where I nailed it about 500 times.

pushing too hard when feeling good -

I definitely fell victim to this, as I’m prone to do. I have the running-while-feeling-bad part down cold. It’s running-smart-while-feeling-good that is the challenge. Actually, I had run the kind of race up to 35 coming back through Troy Built that I thought I could start winding it up steadily and keep building the pace all the way to the finish. I think the blister and foot issues that I had been dealing with for 25 miles by that point ultimately shut me down. Living with the pain and discomfort is one thing, but the way it caused me to alter my stride and the way I subsequently ran with tons of tension in my body and my torso sort of twisted away from center is what hurt me the most. By the flat section after Crossroads where I should have been cruising, I was running with a stiff and jagged gait just trying to escape the pain. Stopping to address the blister didn’t have much appeal. The damage was done, and with the location on my foot - there wasn’t much to do about it anyway.

The way I’ve recovered leg-wise, and how I’ve felt in training after Fruita have given me confidence that my training was good and I’m on the right track as far as that goes. I still have days that aren’t great, but for the most part have bounced back quickly.

Now the Jemez plan:

Go easy for 35 miles, then run strong from there to the finish. That’s it in a nutshell.

steady…

Success will be measured in how well I execute my plan, and how well I implement the things I have learned in my previous races, plus following the instructions from Coach Karl. Finish time and placing are not even on the radar. This is practice, and I’m actually looking forward to it. I want to approach it by giving myself enough slack as far as ‘racing’ goes that I can really concentrate on how to run a good race. Just showing up and running as fast as you can for as long as you can doesn’t work very well in these kinds of events. I know that for a fact…

Before I can start worrying more about speed, I need to get the basics down a lot better. I’m making good improvement in that area, and am hoping to have things pretty well dialed in after this race.

steady…

I’m looking at this as a chance for a Leadville dress rehearsal. Run well within my limits and stay on top of the critical areas of fuel, hydration, electrolytes, and foot care. I want to start picking up speed with 15 miles to go and finish strong, but still relatively fresh.

It will be critical for me to keep things under control pace-wise so my recovery period after the race stays short and I am able to quickly resume training towards my bigger goals in the summer. Training is on the upswing lately and I don’t want to derail that with an extended recovery, or forced layoff.

GO!!!

photo credits: Steve Pero

Thankfully my blister is healed. Karl gave me the heads-up on some stuff called Aquaphor. It’s kind of like Vaseline, only more oriented towards actually healing the affected area. 3x/day for 3 days and I was set free from the pain - yes! That stuff rocks!

I’m going with my trusty 2 bottle Nathan pack. I still think a handheld + a single bottle pack may be the best combo for me, but I haven’t been training that way so don’t want to go to it just yet. I will try very hard to stay hydrated. I think my overall slower pace and approach to this race will be a big help in that area. I will also take a little more time at the aid stations and try to consume some additional fluids there.

Stay tuned to hear how all of this works out!

Back to Where it All Began

In a week’s time I will be running through the desert again, participating in the Spring Desert Ultra 50 miler. I can’t wait to be on the trails of Fruita. Carving up the singletrack, and skipping through the rocks. For the first few miles, anyway!

This is one of my all-time favorite places to run - u can see why

One year ago, this was my introduction into the world of ultrarunning and racing. I picked this race out because I had ridden my bike on all of the trails and was familiar with the course. It was every bit as hard as I thought it would be - I was hooked!

I had no idea how to train for running a 50 mile event. The limited information I could find all shared a common theme - accumulate time on your feet. Starting out with a good base was emphasized over and over. Well, I took a somewhat unorthodox approach. My training started on New Year’s Day with a 3 mile run. I did my first ever double-digit run (12 miles) in the middle of January. It took me 4 days to recover from that one. I was slow, but determined. Leading up to the race, I put in 8 weekend runs of between 20 and 30 miles. The rest of the week was spent recovering and getting in a few 3-5 milers where I could. In the four months before the race I ran a total of 510 miles.

It was far from the ideal approach, but considering where I started from and the short amount of time I had to work with, it did the job. I survived the run taking 11:37 to finish it.

Fast-forward to this year. In the last 4 months I have run just a little under 1,000 miles. I have also raced a 10k, 12k, 50k, and marathon in that period. My runs this year have been significantly more difficult, incorporating speed and hard efforts, technical trails, and lots of climbing. Around 30,000 feet in the last 6 weeks or so. Last year it probably totaled less than 5,000.

What is most interesting to me is to see a graphical representation of my daily distances over the last 4 months. Last year I did consistent long runs, but the overall mileage accumulation was lacking.

Leading up to the race last year

The graph for this year tells a much different story. I put in 7 consecutive 60 mile weeks in the dead of winter. Then I cut back in preparation for the Psycho Wyco 50k in early February.

The same period this year

After that race, I started working with Coach Karl. He’s had me doing shorter distances (but still significant) for my long runs, and focusing a lot more on climbing, tempo efforts, and technique. I still have a long way to go, but I have been getting a lot stronger and faster in the process. A friend asked me the other day if I did any cross-training. I replied no, but then added that I don’t really feel like I need to. My running is so varied now. 10 min miles on a flat treadmill, 14 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing after work on rugged trails, steady-state road runs, pushing my daughter in a stroller, footwork drills, tempo work in the low 6:00 range, easy hills, hard hills, cadence, night runs, long walks with the dog, etc. I had fallen into the trap of doing the same old thing over and over. It was good consistency for the winter season, but the training I’m doing now is what will really help me get to a new level.

Ok, graphs do not a successful race make. I’m still relatively inexperienced and need to be very smart about pacing, fueling, and hydrating. I’m a little bit concerned about the lack of 20+ mile runs I have in me leading up to the race this year. If the tradeoff is me being fit, uninjured, and with fresh legs at the starting line - I’ll take it. It will be interesting to see how I hold up beyond 35. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch a whiff of the finish and drive it on home. We’ll see!

My New Running Buddy

Today I took Jessica with me on my training run up Waterton Canyon.  It was my first time running with the new stroller we bought, it worked great!   We had a hard time finding one, most jogging-type strollers are built for kids half her size.  Since she is almost 5, we were definitely coming to it late in the game.  I bought a $uper nice one from REI and brought it home thinking I was ok because she was well within the weight limit spec.  When I assembled it and we tried it out, the fit wasn’t even close.  Back it went.

We finally happened to find one at Sports Authority that was large enough to do the job.  It may only last us a year or so, but the price wasn’t too bad and I’m sure we’ll get some great use out of it.  We already put it to the test at the zoo last week, today it was 8 miles of dirt road.

Jessica and baby Kelsea

The morning was on the cool side, but within half a mile I was shedding layers like crazy.  I put out some heat pushing that load!  There were tons of runners coming and going, I couldn’t believe all of the friendly greetings.  Everyone would have a huge smile on their face as they waved at Jessica.  It was a little funny when we would pass someone huffing and puffing their way up the road while we were carrying on a conversation about butterflies, or worms, or clouds, or whatever her 4 year old mind could come up with.

The highlight for Jessica was stopping at our turnaround to have our ‘Clif Bar Picnic’.  I gave her and Elizabeth a Christmas present consisting of all different flavors of Clif Bars so they could try them out on their walks together.  Jessica loves choosing a new one for each outing.

Today it was Cool Mint Chocolate!

We should have traded glasses!

Going down the canyon was fun.  Most of the time was spent racing a bunch of worms underground that we could only see with a special machine…  They were fast!  We stopped about half way down and looked at some HUGE bighorn sheep.  Lucky for us, they’re pretty docile.

Sheep ya later!

It turned out to be a great run and will definitely be something we do more of in the future.

Nice Trail Run

Got a good dose of dirt today. Nice to see spring starting to make an appearance.

Even though I’ve lived here for 10 years, now and then I run a trail that I’ve never been on before. Today it was the South Rim trail in Roxborough State Park. It was great! I wish it was a little longer, and maybe a little more technical, but it was quite fun to run on. The uphill grade was perfect. This picture is from the high point, about a 6 mile run from my house.

You can see the snow-covered trail in the left foreground

I took the trail in the upper right to get back down

I’m definitely keeping this one on the list. It will make for some good weeknight training.

Training Summary for the week of: 1/21/2008

Made it. 7 consecutive 60+ mile weeks in the dead of winter. Pretty happy with how that worked out. Very solid effort, built up a solid base, lost 10-12 pounds, and even worked on some speed. Now it’s time to reduce the mileage and rest up for my first big race of the year.

Spontaneous Lunch Marathon

After 6 solid weeks in the ‘zone’, ticking off the miles, watching my diet, going to bed early, getting lots done at work - this week started out with some major speed bumps. Threw me off my groove, you might say.

I had Monday off and wanted to run, but got wrapped up in the process of registering my son for high school so put it off. I was looking forward to a lunch run on Tuesday, but it turned out to be a terrible day. Some things happened that really rocked my world and left me feeling confused and upset. Then to top it off, I had an explosion of problems to address and didn’t get home until 10pm. Strike two.

Wednesday was redemption time. I was back in the office at 6:30. My legs were still kind of thrashed from the race last Saturday, but I didn’t care. I figured I had a little extra time to burn over my lunch since I put in the extra hours the night before. I pulled a Forrest Gump, and told myself as I jogged out of the parking lot that I was going for a run and didn’t know when I’d be coming back. Unusual for me since I have things pretty structured most of the time. My brain was crammed with thoughts, I was still a bit angry about the events of the day before, and just wanted to get it out of my system.

I ran easier than normal for the first few miles, then settled into a comfortable rhythm. After an hour, I thought to myself - hey, why not do a marathon?  With that thought, my pace became more determined and I became very focused on the task at hand. I was a bit on the cold side, wearing shorts in 30 degree weather, but it was better than overheating and being all sweaty for a long time in that kind of cold.

I was having a blast, but had a few things working against me. I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before, was running without food or water, and I was wearing brand new shoes. From mile 16 to mile 20 I started to struggle. The pace was wearing on me, and I constantly asking myself “How’s the motivation level?”… I would narrow my eyes a bit each time and try to focus just that much harder. I think the lack of food and water was catching up to me, and I was hating the shoes. They were stiff and solid feeling. I missed my trusty Nike Pegasus.

I ran the last 6 miles pretty hard just to break out of the rut I was in. I finished the sucker in 3:36. Just a training run on a random Wednesday. Dang. Maybe I should take a crack at one of these things…