Weeks ending October 15th, 22nd, 29th

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.