Backlog of entries here.
Oct 9th: 6 miles, 1500 feet of gain, Mesa out to Table Mesa and back.
Oct 10th: 6 miles, 1500 feet of gain, same thang.
Oct 11th: 7 miles, 1500 feet of gain, Mesa out to Table Mesa and back, plus some Shanahan trails.
Oct 12th: Off.
Oct 13th: 7 miles, 1500 feet of gain, same thang.
Oct 14th: 8 miles, 1500 feet of gain, South Shanahan loop out to Shadow Canyon.
Oct 15th: Off.
Totals: 34 miles, 7500 feet of gain. Felt tired this week, but I think that's the previous weeks' training catching up. Next week I'll taper hard into the race and see how things go.
Oct 16th: 3 miles, 500 feet of gain, Shanahan mini-loop. Felt more pep in the legs today.
Oct 17th: Off.
Oct 18th: 4 miles, 1000 feet of gain, Shanahan loop.
Oct 19th: Off.
Oct 20th: 3 miles, 500 feet of gain, Shanahan mini-loop, before heading up to the Fort to stay with a friend.
Oct 21st: 27 miles, 3000 feet of gain, 3:43, Blue Sky Marathon. It felt good to be racing again, even though I was a about 10 minutes slower than normal. Taking the past two years into perspective, I am happy with what I was able to run. I think I've lost quite a bit of sustained speed on the runnable sections, but I think my recent training averted any embarrassment.
The pace out the gate was insane, by any standards. I hung back in about 15th or 16th, giving my legs time to wake up and my mind the energy to weather the battering, cold winds on Towers. I started feeling queasy early on and had to step to the side to dry heave on the descent down Stout. Maybe the wind hitting my face, coupled with the first seriously fast run I've done in...two years...was racking my brain.
I passed a couple of folks on the Towers descent and caught up to a few more around the 9 mile aid start/finish aid station. After a quick shedding of my arm sleeves and gloves, I tore off under the bridge and hit the Blue Sky trail. Blue Sky is therapeutic. I've come to embrace it. I used to finish this race and cuss it out, vowing to never return. On paper it sounds easy once you get past the climb up and down Horsetooth. In reality, the trail is a snaking, technical grind interspersed with heavenly stretches of cruisy terrain. The biggest challenge is getting to those with enough fuel in the tank to take advantage of them.
When I got to the start/finish aid station, I saw no one around the curve in the trees. I figured that meant I was at least 3 minutes back from the next runner. By the time I reached the Indian Summer aid station, I saw at least four people within a minute of me. I passed two on the climb up Indian Summer; one guy at the top was slogging it pretty hard. On the descent I started to close in on the next runner, who was starting to surge a bit to hold me off. I lost sight of him after the aid station, but shortly after cresting the slickrock I could see him and another guy in the distance. In a few minutes I passed one on the way up a steep slickrock roller and slid by the other through a tricky section on the proceeding downhill. This was probably the first time in any of my races here that I felt in command of my body through the Devil's Backbone playground. The angled rocks, quick ups-and-downs, and endlessly snaking trails can really rack your body and turn you into a zombie.
I slammed it pretty hard up and over the ridge and back down to the aid station. At this point the queasiness was rushing back, which really limited what I was able to pull off up and over the final Indian Summer climb. I didn't really lose ground so much as I didn't gain it. At the final aid station I was a babbling but relaxed mess. Zen and panic. That last little booter of a climb back up to the Blue Sky trail did me in, and for the next mile I was almost shuffling. My mind was cloudy and I felt sick.
I pulled off to the side of the trail and barfed. A whole lot. A groaning, aching barf. Somewhere in the mix I was passed, but after that the weight was lifted. For a mile or so I was able to run unbridled, but then the queasiness set in right before the finish line. So it goes.
Well, I'll take it: 10th, 3:43. So yeah, slightly slower than normal but my pacing was spot on. Pacing has always been my weakness. Maybe if I focus I can wrestle that demon.
Oct 22nd: Off. Eating. Etc.
Totals: 37 miles, 5000 feet of vertical gain. Blue Sky was a good race for priming a winter of running. Bit of a confidence booster, but also motivation for working hard to get faster next year.
Oct 23rd: Off. Still need to give the legs a break.
Oct 24th: 3 miles, 500 feet of gain, Shanahan mini-loop.
Oct 25th: Lifting. 5 sets of bench, squats, and weighted pull-ups.
Oct 26th: 4.5 miles, 1000 feet of gain, Shanahan loop. Very sore after lifting for the first time in a long time.
Oct 27th: Lifting. 5 sets of incline bench, deadlift, barbell curls, and dumbell rows.
Oct 28th: 4.5 miles, 1000 feet of gain, Shanahan loop. Not so sore today, but still somewhat stiff. In spite of that, I can feel the pep back in my stride.
Oct 29th: Lifting. 5 sets of dumbell press, sumo deadlift, and overhead press. I decided to try out chalk during my deadlift routine to help my grip. My gym has older bars with well-worn grips and a patina of sweat and oil. It also has rules against chalk use. The spirit of the rule is to prevent the chalk dust from coating everything in a mile radius. No one wants to clean that. So, I decided to make some homemade liquid chalk. I mixed some climbing chalk with 2 parts rubbing alcohol and 1 part water - a couple of dabs worth, just enough to coat my hands. Whoah. What a difference. And easy to clean up. There's no cloud of chalk that rains out and coats everything and it comes right off the bar with a damp towel. It's allowing me to focus on form, rather than finding creative ways to prevent 250 pounds from slipping through my fingers.
Totals: 12 miles, 2500 feet of gain. Lots of lifting and eating this week to rebuild and stoke the fire. I'd like to gain back the few pounds I lost in September and October.
Monday, October 30, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
Week ending October 8th
Oct 2nd: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Skunk Canyon. I suppose technically I'm running Skunk Canyon and Kohler Mesa. I don't know. All of these terrain features are so small, it's hard to keep track of the names. Rainy, boggy, barely above freezing. It was honestly energizing to get out in the elements and feel my body fight a little to stay warm. It reminds me of running in Seattle over winter.
Oct 3rd: 6 miles, 3000 vert, Bear Peak via Fern Canyon. Saw the mountaintops dusted with snow, decided I needed to get on that. Snow line was at 7000 feet, although the coverage was patchy until just over 8000. The top was somewhat of a mess - rocks in the shadow of trees were iced over by refrozen meltwater, but the snow in the trail was crunchy and grippy. Definitely a hands-and-knees affair coming down the first quarter mile, though. I should have brought spikes.
Oct 5th: Off. Somewhat busy work day.
Oct 4th: 12 miles, 3000, Royal(e) Arch. With cheese. This is becoming my favorite mid-week mileage booster. Rolling terrain at the start/end with a steep, angry climb smack in the middle. My focus right now is on technical, steep trails followed by runnable terrain. It's race-specific training for the Blue Sky Marathon, but it's also perfect training for longer races where I need to transition between runnable terrain and steeper ascents/descents.
Oct 6th: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Skunk Canyon.
Oct 7th: 18 miles, 4500 vert, Green Mountain loop. Up via Shanahan/Mesa/Bear Canyon, down via Ranger/Gregory Canyon, quick jog over to Chautauqua for water, and then up Chautauqua and south on Mesa back home. Looks vaguely like the Blue Sky course with a climb at the start and rolling hills in the second half. In reality, this is more vert than Blue Sky in substantially less mileage. Still, I felt great the entire run. I started a little sleepy and out of it, but by the start of the big climb up Bear Canyon my legs were pretty warmed up. The up-and-over on Green was speedy, and my descent off the backside was definitely my fastest. The Chautauqua, Enchanted Mesa, and Mesa trail climbs were cruisey - I was tired, but I was able to extract a lot of speed out of my legs without feeling "tired". I feel like I'm slowly getting my body back in shape after years of mediocrity. It just needed some hard work.
Oct 8th: Off.
Totals: 54 miles, 14,500 feet of gain.
I signed up for the Blue Sky Marathon, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. Is this a way to kick my training in gear? To give me a benchmark? To get my fifth finish? A resounding yes on all accounts. I remember always falling flat at Blue Sky around the second Indian Summer climb. I guess the question is "who doesn't?", but I'd like to see if I can slam it home this time. Taper time.
Oct 3rd: 6 miles, 3000 vert, Bear Peak via Fern Canyon. Saw the mountaintops dusted with snow, decided I needed to get on that. Snow line was at 7000 feet, although the coverage was patchy until just over 8000. The top was somewhat of a mess - rocks in the shadow of trees were iced over by refrozen meltwater, but the snow in the trail was crunchy and grippy. Definitely a hands-and-knees affair coming down the first quarter mile, though. I should have brought spikes.
Green Mountain from the Bear Mountain summit.
Oct 5th: Off. Somewhat busy work day.
Oct 4th: 12 miles, 3000, Royal(e) Arch. With cheese. This is becoming my favorite mid-week mileage booster. Rolling terrain at the start/end with a steep, angry climb smack in the middle. My focus right now is on technical, steep trails followed by runnable terrain. It's race-specific training for the Blue Sky Marathon, but it's also perfect training for longer races where I need to transition between runnable terrain and steeper ascents/descents.
Oct 6th: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Skunk Canyon.
Oct 7th: 18 miles, 4500 vert, Green Mountain loop. Up via Shanahan/Mesa/Bear Canyon, down via Ranger/Gregory Canyon, quick jog over to Chautauqua for water, and then up Chautauqua and south on Mesa back home. Looks vaguely like the Blue Sky course with a climb at the start and rolling hills in the second half. In reality, this is more vert than Blue Sky in substantially less mileage. Still, I felt great the entire run. I started a little sleepy and out of it, but by the start of the big climb up Bear Canyon my legs were pretty warmed up. The up-and-over on Green was speedy, and my descent off the backside was definitely my fastest. The Chautauqua, Enchanted Mesa, and Mesa trail climbs were cruisey - I was tired, but I was able to extract a lot of speed out of my legs without feeling "tired". I feel like I'm slowly getting my body back in shape after years of mediocrity. It just needed some hard work.
Oct 8th: Off.
Totals: 54 miles, 14,500 feet of gain.
I signed up for the Blue Sky Marathon, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. Is this a way to kick my training in gear? To give me a benchmark? To get my fifth finish? A resounding yes on all accounts. I remember always falling flat at Blue Sky around the second Indian Summer climb. I guess the question is "who doesn't?", but I'd like to see if I can slam it home this time. Taper time.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Week ending October 1st
Sept 25th: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Kohler out-and-back in the mist.
Sept 26th: 7 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out-and-back, easy pace.
Sept 27th: 12 miles, 2750 vert, Royal Arch via Shanahan/Table Mesa/Enchanted Mesa/Flatirons Loop. I have to cross north quite a ways along the Mesas to get to the first Flatiron (I start in Shanahan), so this is actually quite a solid run. Didn't realize the trail up was closed, so I climbed the Flatiron Loop and then threw in Royal Arch as a consolation. Rock steps in the rain are a bit terrifying.
Sept 28th: Off.
Sept 29th: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Kohler out-and-back in the mist.
Sept 30th: 17 miles, 5800 vert, South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, and Green Mountain loop. 3:22. This route left me spent. I went sans food and definitely bonked on the final few grunts at the end.
I set out up the Shanahan South Fork trail, climbing up through the damp and the dark of the old ponderosa stands. It was going to be a blue bird day, but the rains over the past week soaked everything and made for a humid warmup.
After topping out on the ridge, I cruised the Mesa trail over to the Shadow Canyon north spur. The steep, rocky rollers along the base of Bear foreshadow what lays around the corner in Shadow Canyon. I've never gone up Shadow Canyon - only down. And for good reason. The "trail" is a debris pile in the steep canyon that ascends 1700 feet in one mile. Ouch. Lots of large boulders and rock steps necessitate some seriously high knees, and it quickly takes a toll on your muscles. I probably pushed too hard, but I was trying to top out on the saddle before it got too hot.
Just before the saddle the trail mellows out into a series of sandy switchbacks that were a pleasure to run, if only to cool my hiking muscles. The final jaunt up to South Boulder is a steep, narrow trail, and I transitioned into a hands-on-knees power hike, blasting by a few other folks on the way up. After scrambling up the pile of boulders at the top, I turned around to retrace my steps back to the saddle and cross over to Bear. After tagging Bear, which was a detour of at most a few minutes, I started the slick descent down the backside of Bear. The trail cuts its way through a talus slope, and at the pace I was dropping I was sending piles of stones skittering off the trail. Sometimes I wonder how much humans are accelerating the erosion at the tops of mountains. Makes me feel a bit guilty. I'm of the belief that there is almost no "sustainable" human activity.
Anyway, back to more lighthearted things. The west ridge of Bear is one of the most cruisey trails in the Boulder system - it's the perfect grade, and the curves are the perfect radius, for getting up some solid speed. Crossing Bear Creek, one begins the climb up to Green rather abruptly for a few minutes until the trail chills out a bit. I like running up Green-Bear and the west ridge of Green. It's a minimally technical, steady climb that's runnable with a bit of effort. The last mile up to the top isn't so bad - by that point, it's only another 500 feet of vert. I felt some fatigue up the final quarter of a mile to the summit; the rock and log steps burned my quads and knees, the ghosts of Shadow Canyon lingering on.
I decided to descend the front-side of Green via Greenman and Ampitheater. It was packed to the gills with groups of students and older folks getting out the enjoy the weekend weather before the storms hit again. It's an extra challenge to manage while ping-ponging boulders, hairpin curves, and slick rock.
After hitting the bottom at the Gregory Canyon trailhead, I did my usual punishment slog up Bluebell-Baird and Ski Jump and dropped down to the Chautauqua station for water. It was heating up so I chugged half a bottle, refilled, and then got to it back up the Chautauqua trail. It's a steep, punishing 600-700 foot ascent through the crowds back up to Bluebell-Baird. But I knocked it out pretty fast this time and dashed over to the Mesa trail without much effort. The climb up and over Enchanted Mesa felt pretty rough, but once the trail leveled out above Skunk Canyon I was able to get my speed back up to snuff.
The final few miles are gravy - it's the middle of my daily run so it's a series of climbs, booters, and rocky stretches that I know well. That's useful to me, because I can compare how I feel on this section to what I feel like fresh. I was definitely bonking here, but I was able to muster enough gas to push it up and over Shanahan Ridge without too much embarassment. All around a good push. Maybe I'll throw in Flagstaff next week for extra mileage.
Oct 1st: Lifting, 5x5 overhead press, bench, squat.
Totals: 54 miles, 14,550 feet of gain. That's stout! If I can continue this kind of training into next year, I think I'll be doing well.
Given the numbers, and the effort per mile, I think this week is equivalent to a 65+ mile week back in Fort Collins. I know I can add more mileage by running 6 days per week, but for me that treads into injury territory. For now, focusing on five solid days of quality running seems to be paying off.
Sept 26th: 7 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa out-and-back, easy pace.
Sept 27th: 12 miles, 2750 vert, Royal Arch via Shanahan/Table Mesa/Enchanted Mesa/Flatirons Loop. I have to cross north quite a ways along the Mesas to get to the first Flatiron (I start in Shanahan), so this is actually quite a solid run. Didn't realize the trail up was closed, so I climbed the Flatiron Loop and then threw in Royal Arch as a consolation. Rock steps in the rain are a bit terrifying.
Sept 28th: Off.
Sept 29th: 9 miles, 2000 vert, Shanahan/Table Mesa/Kohler out-and-back in the mist.
Sept 30th: 17 miles, 5800 vert, South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, and Green Mountain loop. 3:22. This route left me spent. I went sans food and definitely bonked on the final few grunts at the end.
I set out up the Shanahan South Fork trail, climbing up through the damp and the dark of the old ponderosa stands. It was going to be a blue bird day, but the rains over the past week soaked everything and made for a humid warmup.
After topping out on the ridge, I cruised the Mesa trail over to the Shadow Canyon north spur. The steep, rocky rollers along the base of Bear foreshadow what lays around the corner in Shadow Canyon. I've never gone up Shadow Canyon - only down. And for good reason. The "trail" is a debris pile in the steep canyon that ascends 1700 feet in one mile. Ouch. Lots of large boulders and rock steps necessitate some seriously high knees, and it quickly takes a toll on your muscles. I probably pushed too hard, but I was trying to top out on the saddle before it got too hot.
Just before the saddle the trail mellows out into a series of sandy switchbacks that were a pleasure to run, if only to cool my hiking muscles. The final jaunt up to South Boulder is a steep, narrow trail, and I transitioned into a hands-on-knees power hike, blasting by a few other folks on the way up. After scrambling up the pile of boulders at the top, I turned around to retrace my steps back to the saddle and cross over to Bear. After tagging Bear, which was a detour of at most a few minutes, I started the slick descent down the backside of Bear. The trail cuts its way through a talus slope, and at the pace I was dropping I was sending piles of stones skittering off the trail. Sometimes I wonder how much humans are accelerating the erosion at the tops of mountains. Makes me feel a bit guilty. I'm of the belief that there is almost no "sustainable" human activity.
Anyway, back to more lighthearted things. The west ridge of Bear is one of the most cruisey trails in the Boulder system - it's the perfect grade, and the curves are the perfect radius, for getting up some solid speed. Crossing Bear Creek, one begins the climb up to Green rather abruptly for a few minutes until the trail chills out a bit. I like running up Green-Bear and the west ridge of Green. It's a minimally technical, steady climb that's runnable with a bit of effort. The last mile up to the top isn't so bad - by that point, it's only another 500 feet of vert. I felt some fatigue up the final quarter of a mile to the summit; the rock and log steps burned my quads and knees, the ghosts of Shadow Canyon lingering on.
I decided to descend the front-side of Green via Greenman and Ampitheater. It was packed to the gills with groups of students and older folks getting out the enjoy the weekend weather before the storms hit again. It's an extra challenge to manage while ping-ponging boulders, hairpin curves, and slick rock.
After hitting the bottom at the Gregory Canyon trailhead, I did my usual punishment slog up Bluebell-Baird and Ski Jump and dropped down to the Chautauqua station for water. It was heating up so I chugged half a bottle, refilled, and then got to it back up the Chautauqua trail. It's a steep, punishing 600-700 foot ascent through the crowds back up to Bluebell-Baird. But I knocked it out pretty fast this time and dashed over to the Mesa trail without much effort. The climb up and over Enchanted Mesa felt pretty rough, but once the trail leveled out above Skunk Canyon I was able to get my speed back up to snuff.
The final few miles are gravy - it's the middle of my daily run so it's a series of climbs, booters, and rocky stretches that I know well. That's useful to me, because I can compare how I feel on this section to what I feel like fresh. I was definitely bonking here, but I was able to muster enough gas to push it up and over Shanahan Ridge without too much embarassment. All around a good push. Maybe I'll throw in Flagstaff next week for extra mileage.
Oct 1st: Lifting, 5x5 overhead press, bench, squat.
Totals: 54 miles, 14,550 feet of gain. That's stout! If I can continue this kind of training into next year, I think I'll be doing well.
Given the numbers, and the effort per mile, I think this week is equivalent to a 65+ mile week back in Fort Collins. I know I can add more mileage by running 6 days per week, but for me that treads into injury territory. For now, focusing on five solid days of quality running seems to be paying off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)