Finally back from all of my adventures. We (Grant, Cullen, Sean and I) had to stay in Casper, WY last night due to a flat tire but we managed to still roll into Boulder in time to squeeze in a short run on Magnolia road, the fabled route from Running With the Buffalos.
We ran it at a decent effort but the pace only ended up being like 6:50s. Pretty high up I guess… And we were definitely tired from the traveling
7 miles. 48 minutes.
More importantly, I’ll be dropping updates from Headwaters this weekend.
Got some good work done in the morning before getting out for a long-anticipated video session at the track. Let me apologize for the fact that I still haven’t figured out a good way to edit video. My video capability on my camera is apparently incompatible with pretty much EVERYTHING! Just fast forward the parts where you’re waiting
Got several videos, the first happened to be behind a cloud but it’s just a couple back and forths in trainers. Looks pretty good to me.
Next I did some quick sprints. Continue reading »
Not a very notable day today. Got out early for the 4 miler.
4 miles. 16:02. 13:40. 29:42
Then bused to Pearl street for a haircut and a solid work session in the Woody Creek coffee shop (what a Boulder-esque name).
Hit the dusty trail again in the PM, this time at Dowdi Draw for a 50min fartlek run with Dave Wadis (such a genius name, kudos to his parents). I had consumed a sandwich around 4:30 that had some hidden avocado. This was enough to, “excite” my stomach which made the first half of the run a bit tougher than it should have been. Of course the first half would be uphill too…
50min. 8 miles.
We ran a solid pace, with 6x 90s on/3min off. Not quite worth a workout sticker but made the time pass quicker.
Actually I take the opening statement back. Highest mileage day yet!
Had a great morning scrambling up Eldorado Canyon with Culrock, Juanito, and Blackshear. Scramble because the trail didn’t exactly take us to a good peak, so up we went in search of an epic view. And we got it. Unfortunately, I still only have my droid as a camera and the pictures were effin blurry! But at least I got a decent one of the decent.
4 hours later we were back, greeted with some huge sandwhiches, any icy brew, and a refreshing icebath in the creek.
T’storms rolled through in the evening but I managed to get out for my standard 4 miler.
4 miles. 15:58. 13:16. 29:14 total.
One other note, my core is once again incredibly sore from our tubing yesterday.
Today’s mission is brought to you by Bret Scofield and Sam Blackshear. The two of them collaborated and produced a race of twisted, masochistic nature. 6.9 miles over very technical ground, the first half of which is straight up, and the second of which is right back down. Sharp rocks. Gnarled roots. 20% gradients. Both natural and man-made staircases that extend and switchback until you can barely maintain a cadence. And then switch back once more for good measure.
We all thought it would be good fun. But the only fun I got out of it was in the numbers that represented my effort — 46:12, a new trail record. And that is some good fun 
Continue reading »
Went on a nice and easy 6 miler with Culrock and Blackshear. Good loop around NCAR. Could be a staple if I need to upgrade to a 6 miler.
6 miles. Core
Intense core session in the morning. Over 13 minutes of plank.
Standard morning run.
4 miles. 14:41 out. 12:51 back. 27:32
Definitely not a slouch this morning.
Went out at 6pm with Wade and Patronus to Fairview Track
1.5 mile warmup
5x1000m. 3min jog RIB. (3:04, 3:05, 3:02, 2:57, 2:49)
1.5 mile cooldown
Pretty encouraging workout. Felt quite good through 3 so probably could/should have run them faster but was very unsure of the altitude affect.
Went to the Lifetime gym today with RC. Really nice gym. Good all around session.
Upper Lift. Core. Lower Lift
No running today though
Woke up this morning not feeling too bad after the tempo yesterday. Got out even before I had a chance to grab some coffee. Only because I’m out though…
4 miles. 16:01. 13:28. 29:30
Not sure if it had anything to do with the lack of caffeine but my slowest morning run yet. No big deal though.
Evening session was meant to be some speed work at the track. I set out with the goal of just doing one mile on the track, in spikes, sprinting the straights and jogging the turns. However, once I got there, I was struck with a brilliant idea! Why not just test my paces? I figured I should be OK to throw a 2:08 800 and a 60 second 400 on the front end of the strides. Yeah, that’s effin’ brilliant!…
…until I actually tried to accomplish it.
I laced up the spikes and did some dynamic drills and leg swings. I should have taken note of the fact that high knees was causing me to suck wind. But I didn’t. So off I went, blasting my first 400 in 64. And feeling winded. I called the first piece at 600 feeling like I’d run the full 8.
Two minutes later I blasted my second piece. A 400. And this one I finished in 58.5 but hands on knees.
Finally I’d come to the mile of strides. Off I went and it was over after 2 laps. I was only running 14s 100s.
1.5 mile warmup
600 @ 1:36.
2min rest.
400 @ 58.5
4min rest.
800, jog turns, sprint straights. (13.5, 13.98, 14.72, 13.5)
1.5 miles home.
So this was the first time I really suffered from the altitude. I’m certainly not discouraged, don’t get me wrong, but I should have just stuck to the original game-plan of building some top end speed. I did not accomplish that today. On the plus side, it was another higher mileage day and I’m still feeling completely healthy. We should be close to 60 miles this week!
So last week I passed up the opportunity to get out and run a tempo with Bret and the Boulder Trail Running Club. The reason: I was scared. The run description was “straight up hill” and then “straight down” and “it’s a beast”… So I passed. This week sounded a lot more manageable though; a tempo along the Mesa Trail, which was a lot of harsh up and down, but not continuous.
This gives you a great idea of a the locale. (courtesy http://anodynerunning.blogspot.com/)
Met up with the group not feeling too good about what was about to go down, but after a 10min warmup to the trailhead (at 6000ft), I was feeling significantly better. The idea was 15min out and then try to negative split coming back. 30min tempo all together.
1 mile warmup uphill. 5 mile undulating tempo. 1 mile cooldown.
Cranked out a bunch of work in the morning before getting out for a 2 mile shakeout around noon. Post-office and back.
2 miles. Upper Lift. Plyometrics
After getting back I did a body-weight upper body lift. 2×10 pullups. 25, 20, 20 pushups. Plyometrics. Stretching. All of this anaerobic stuff is definitely more tiring at altitude.
Once again t’storms dumped on us in the late afternoon but left the air 20 degrees cooler for my run at 6:30. I got about 12min in, about as high as I usually go up snake canyon trail, but for whatever reason felt compelled to climb some more. Took about 23min to get to the top, but I was rewarded with a pretty sweet view from the foot of the giant cliffs of the flatirons. Running back down was predictably shitty though. Temped to only call this a 25minuter despite the fact that I was out for 40.
6 miles. 40min.
I gotta figure out a way to get a bike dropped off for me at the top of these mountain runs. So much wasted potential energy…
Woke up this morning to a little Lulu Yoga with Bret. Decent class. Scenery wasn’t stellar if you know what I mean, but the difficulty level of the class was perfect. Came out of it feeling good. Even better after an Einstein bagel.
Yoga
Chilled inside for most of the day cause, well, it was hot out. T’storms came through around 4. After which Minen and I went out for a long run at Marshall Mesa. And just so you all have a feel for where I’m running. Welcome to my training grounds:
Not only did this turn into a 70min run for me but we were also cruising for most of it. I felt the struggle bus pulling up behind me at about the 55min mark but then we crested a plateau and cruised home. 4 fast strides to close out the day.
11 miles. 70min. Strides
First big workout of the new regime. Happy to report that I made it 12 days out here so far. Today I had a 6 mile tempo in the works and was fortunate enough to be able to partner up with Sunshine and Patronus on this one. Also, if I didn’t have 12 days up here already I’m this one would have gone south. I was feeling physically great but cardiovascularly right on the verge of breaking down for the entire last half.
1 mile warmup. 6 mile tempo (6:15, 6:08,6:03, 5:55, 5:46, 5:30). 1 mile cooldown.
The times were a bit fudged because we were really doing 5 laps around a 1.2 mile loop at Coots lake. I kicked in well though, probably closing out the last quarter under 5min pace. Found it really hard to catch my breath and I did NOT bring enough water. I’m going to have to start bringing a gallon to these things.
All in all though. Very encouraged. The paces were quite progressive but roughly equivalent to the 6 mile tempo I did two weeks ago with Clay at ~800ft above sea level. I’ll call this progress.
Spent the morning with some climbers on my inaugural outdoor rock-climbing session. Wasn’t exactly beginner’s routes but with a little help from my belayers I managed to not embarrass myself too badly on the wall. The 2 routes were,
- “Famous Last Words” on Vampire Rock in Boulder Canyon. An unknown-but-estimated 5.10
- And one of the “Animal House” climbs across the road. A more manageable 5.9
Miah would be proud of me though, I forgot my regular shoes (well I actually didn’t know I NEEDED my trainers) which resulted in me hiking to our two destinations barefoot. Didn’t actually end up being too bad. Uphill was a lot better than down. Special thanks to my sponsors, Tommy Gaidus for the climbing shoes and harness, Robin and Daniel for leading the climbs, and Ashley for the belay. I can officially say I’m a climber!
Upper body lift equivalent? Drills.
Took a dip in the creek afterward, which was pure bliss.
After some recouperation I got out for an evening jog. Did my standard morning loop but faster this time. I’m very confident it’s at least 4 miles at this point.
4 miles. 14:42 out. 12:16 back. 26:58 total.
Staying consistent and getting my pullups/pushups in every day.