Tibia Posterior, Elliptical Madness, Recovery and Back! Weekly Summary 12/24 -12/30

Monday

2:08; Estimated:16 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 127 Avg Hr; My first day in the CU gym this year.  I couldn’t stand the stupidity of what was on TV… but I was stupid enough to keep watching.  It is unbelievable to still see crap like Jersey Shore, the cop with the sunglasses and a dyed blonde mullet, west coast choppers or whatever it is called and court tv… non-stop.  Kill the TVs.  The elliptical machine is a magic machine that lets me run without bothering my tibia posterior.   The elliptical works because I keep the climbing angle low and my heel stays flat and pretty much the muscles on the back of my lower leg are not contracting.    

Tuesday

:39; 4.75M; 319Ft; 138Av Hr; My attempt to run and discover the strain on my Tibia Posterior was healed… overly optimistic. 

-Body Work With Marcus Allen-

I went over to Marcus Allen’s house for an emergency session to see what was up with the muscles on the back of my leg just above my left ankle.   The prognosis was that about an inch or two of my tibia posterior was slightly strained.  Good news was that the muscle strain was pretty mild and would heal quickly, as long as I didn’t do anything stupid, like run and more so, run up-hill or fast.    

Marcus Allen also gave the great advice t take the rest of the day off since it was Maggie’s Birthday, GREAT advice.

Wednesday

:04; .55M; I went out to see what the leg would feel like… not ready. 

PM 2:11; 19 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 143 Avg Hr; I REALLY got after it on the Elliptical for this one!  I relocated to a machine that didn’t have a TV in my face and listened to Pandora on my phone.  First 30 minutes I warmed up with a HR around 130.  Second 30 minutes I went to town with a HR average around 155-165.  The 3^rd 30 minutes I kept the HR around 145 and same for the last 30 minutes with a cool down for 11 minutes. 

Thursday

AM:41; 5.08; 130Ft; 130Avg Hr;  The fist 2 miles I could still “feel” the strain, but it was much better. Miles 3-5 felt nearly painless, but right at the end I could feel the muscle getting pissed so I jumped on the bus and road back to my street and walked a few blocks home.  My legs were very, very tired from the beat down on the elliptical the night before!

PM 1:00; 9 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 130Av Hr;

Friday

1:03; 7.73M; 540Ft; 130Av Hr;  The first mile or two I could just barely feel the strain and then nothing until mile five.  The last few miles I could feel the stupid strain.   

Saturday

1:27; 11.53M; 585Ft; 7:30 Av Pace!  Today was one of the most exciting, happy runs I’ve had!  It was ridiculously sunny and warm (70F?), I ran half the run with my shirt off and the biggest reason I had a perma smile the entire run: the strain in my left leg was truly gone!  I played it safe and didn’t go any longer on the Boulder Creek bike path, although I really wanted to.  I was floating a mile high!  I was back.    

Sunday

2:51; 23.07M; 1,329Ft; 146Av Hr; 7:24 Av Pace!  I wanted to go run in the mountains, but I played it safe.  I ran to the 7-11 to return a red box DVD, over to wonderland lake trails, north boulder trails, a lap around the boulder reservoir and back home.  I kept the pace faster, as I did all week.  It is great to be back.  

Weekly Totals

11:43 Running & Elliptical

96.71 Miles (44 Elliptical)

2,903 Feet Climbing

Crazy week. 

The Tibia Posterior strain showed up last Sunday on my run where I went up Sanitas and the west part of the Boulder Creek bike path.  There was no significant moment that the strain showed up, it was just there at the beginning of the Sunday run.  The mistake was ignoring the pain on Sunday.   I am convinced the strain was from a massive week and the 30 mile long run with nearly 6K of climbing last Saturday.  The body is still adjusting and I need to be wise on how quickly I make increases on weekly volume and quality (hard running). 
The elliptical running- Yes, it is a bit controversial in my mind to count mileage on an elliptical machine.  I do believe elliptical running is pretty close to the natural act of running, but it certainly isn’t “running” either.  As a short alternative training tool, I think it is pretty effective.  I kept the resistance at 8-11, climbing at 3 (to protect the strain), my cadence, or strides per minute, at 180-210 and HR at 125-165.  I had one killer workout and I was tired and a bit sore nearly every day this week due to the work on the Elliptical.  Counting these miles certainly did aid in keeping my psyche happier while battling an injury. 

Overall the strain to my muscle kept me from doing normal runs outside for 5 days and kept me away from the hills for 7.  Tomorrow I’ll run up Green most likely.

This Saturday is USATF XC Championships in Sand Diego.  I feel ready to roll, but via an entirely different way of training than in the past.  I don’t know for sure how I will perform on a relatively flat 6 x 2k grass loop.  I’m more fit and lighter than ever for this time of year, but I certainly have been preparing for trail ultras, not 12Ks!  It will be fun and a good workout regardless.  5 weeks until Nueces/USATF 50 Mile Championships!

Frontside PR, Running w/the Stars, One-Way 30 Miler--Jan 17th-23rd

...This is a ridiculously long "summary", but it was an eventful week and I am off from work!

Monday

AM 1:03; 8.06M; 910Ft; 129Av Hr; One of my best friends (best man) Matt Lowe was in town over the long weekend and got to meet Felix!  Matt Lowe is running Leadville this year and convinced ME to sign up.  Matt is a phenomenally talented runner that is easily distracted!  Matt ran 9:10 for 2 miles… in high school, with less than focused training in college he ran somewhere around 4:09 for a mile too.  Matt ran in one of the "4 Deserts Race" placing 4^th overall.  The race crosses the Sahara over the period of a week.  Anyways, we jogged up Boulder Canyon and on the way back we both managed to climb on a round iceberg puck in the creek and managed to not fall off as it lapped the eddy.  The iceberg sunk to about ankle depth, but we didn’t sink, fall or break the iceberg…. classic stuff for Matt and I.  Matt needs to move back to the west, as he is currently pretending to be grown up in D.C.

PM 1:09; 8.67M; 601Ft; 135Av Hr; Easy run out to wonderland and back.

Classic sunrise on the wonderland trails w/Green in background

Tuesday

AM 1:40; 10M; 2,900Ft; 137Av Hr; Green Mountain Front-Side PR on Time Trial!  

I met up with Aaron for our Tuesday hard hill ascent/time trial day.  We decided to give the front-side a shot after warming up in the parking lot just in case others were joining (where were you Hommie!).  I felt pretty good and the snow was pretty good for a fast ascent.  On this steep “endurance stair stepper” front-side route, I purposely did my best to keep things under control early, unlike last time I ran the route.  I was surprised to find later that my hear-rate was between 149 and 164BPM on the 30 some minute stretch…  maybe I over compensated and should push harder, I don’t know.  Regardless, I was happy with a new PR of 32:07/32:19 to the tip-top.  While I am really happy with my progress in mountain ultra running, I still haven only had 4 weeks of focused training to get my climbing legs under me.  Thanks to GZ, I’ve linked a number of FKTs for Green on my page, including this 32:07 on the Front-Side route.   

PM :41; 5.18M; 156Ft; 128Av Hr; Easy run to Kitts for barefoot running with NB Stars! 

I had the luck of running into Anton on the barefoot Kitts run.  It was great to chat with Anton.  I enjoyed his poking at my preference for Ranger/Backside route up Green vs. the front-side due to the fact I’m still a bit of a “Roadie” as we made laps around the turf.  He shared (a bit surprising to me and I’m sure most anyone) that he too doubted when he first moved to Boulder that the Front-side was worth doing regularly.  Maybe in a year I’ll feel the same… maybe not.  

Ironically, not 2 minutes after Anton left  the other NB Boulder star, James Carney ,showed up with a buddy for some laps on Kitts.  Certainly great company on the turf Tuesday night!   

Wednesday

AM 1:30; 11M; 750Ft; Met up with Marcus Allen for a nice easy run out to wonderland and then north on the great single track.  It appears my watch didn’t record this run though, oh well.

PM :40; 5.23M; 156Ft; 128Av Hr; Barefoot (with socks) at North Boulder park with some general mobility drills. 

-Bodywork/Massage Therapy W/Marcus Allen-

I keep forgetting to log my bodywork…  The two biggest enablers for me to go from a max of 70-80 miles/week before I get knee pain or injuries to now running 120+ miles/week with no injuries are bodywork with Marcus Allen and switching to a “natural running” form (I’ll post on my perspectives on natural running soon!). 

I’ve been seeing Marcus Allen once a week three out of four weeks for the last 6 months.  Marcus Allen uses A.R.T. (he is certified) in our sessions and it is honestly amazing.  My gate and overall body has been so much more efficient, fluid and quicker to recover since I started using Marcus Allen.  I’d recommend Marcus Allen to anyone. 

Anyways, this week we worked on loosening some of the muscles in my hip, as I noticed it getting tight at the beginning of a few of my runs.       

Thursday

AM 1:53; 12M; 326Ft; 140Av Hr; Interval Day!  

Met up with George Zack and Aaron at the indoor track for some intervals.  Bumped up the distance and kept the pace this week with 8 x 800M, 2 x 200M with 400M recovery jogs between each interval.  

Times were: 2:28, 2:30; 2:29; 2:30, 2:30, 2:32, 2:32, 2:31 and :31 and :30.  I started the workout with low expectations as I had gone 8 nights with little or horrible sleep each night and increased my mileage...  At the 3^rd interval, I had a little dry heave reaction at about 600M, on the 4^th I considered stopping and again on the 5^th and 6^th.  The power of company was honestly the difference today, thanks guys!  While the last 3 were one to two seconds off, I was pleasantly surprised to basically keep the pace.  

PM :46; 5.95M; 233Ft; 137Av Hr; Felix’s Birth Certificate Run!

I decided I would maximize my time and get Felix’s birth certificate on my second run.  I ran to the office with an envelope to get the birth certificate only to find I had to pay $17 for Felix’s certificate.  I was a little disappointed to have to pay and didn’t have any money, but I ran back home, got a credit card, ran back, paid and carried the certificate home in a big envelope.

Friday

AM 2:18; 13.04M; 3,296Ft; 140Av Hr; Did my standard Friday run from home to EGF, Panorama, Flagstaff, Green lodge, Greenman to Green and back down the same way.  My legs were certainly flat and tired today.  No PM run as I wanted to feel good on the Saturday long run. 

Saturday

5hrs; 30M; 5,800Ft; 142Av Hr; I did an outstanding one-way tour of the Boulder front-range today.

I have attached a map of the first 5 or so miles of my run. 

From the Flatirons Vista parking lot I ran the southern most route all the way to Goshawk Ridge trail on the far west end of the map. 

While Bear Canyon probably still is my favorite trail in the local area, Goshawk Ridge and into Eldorado Canyon has to be the most beautiful and diverse.  The trail starts with a climb from the massive South Boulder creek diversion.  The trail is very new and with the exception of a few silly meanders, is ultra-efficient in it’s path with great switch-backs and it contours the landscape nicely.  At the peak of the climb there is a great view and a nice flat spot where I took Maggie for our first anniversary romantic picnic.  The wildflowers during the summer on the North-facing slope heading down the trail are pretty epic for the front range.  While the trail does go on a dirt road for a bit, the dramatic entrance into Eldorado canyon certainly makes up for it.  Luckily the trail in the canyon is nearly a sidewalk, as I almost always trip on my feet staring at the canyon walls across the canyon.  I really hesitated in talking about this trail, as it is a special one to me and I enjoy the fact that not many people are up there (except IN Eldo), but due to the fact you can’t bike it, take dogs, it is a 15 minute drive out of boulder to get to it, the trail is a couple miles from any trailhead and that there aren’t really that many reading this, I decided to go for it. 

Once in Eldo, I filled the water bottle I was carrying in my tights, took a drink and continued up to Walker ranch.  I did a loop around Walker, took the Walker link trail to the 2.6 mile trail where I exited halfway out on a fire road to Flagstaff road.  I ran a 6:50 mile on the road to the trailhead for the West ridge of Green Mtn, summited Green, went down Greenman crossed Flagstaff Rd up to Flagstaff mtn, down Flagstaff trail, Panorama, EGF, 1 mile on the Boulder Creek trail and back home. 

On this long run I tried a nutrition tip Dave Mackey told me he used… I carried and ate a peanut butter and honey (Mackey uses jelly) sandwich.  It was a bit dry in that I had limited water, but I liked it and it worked pretty well.  I think I’ll eat a PB and honey or jelly sandwich at the Nueces 50 mile!  I got crap from my wife, but I also drank a bottle of water someone left on the Flagstaff trail I saw the day before and then on the long run… the water was delicious and most needed, as I only had maybe 30ish ounces up to this point (25 mile point). 

On the last mile of the run I did bonk pretty big.  As I dramatically entered the house, Maggie thought I looked awefull and that something bad had happened to me.  I pounded some juice, snacks, chips and a few other things and felt great immediately.  I was happy I bonked at the end of the run, because I’ve always bonked earlier in long runs when I can only eat a GU, but would love to devour something from the fridge, this time I was able to capitalize and fully indulged!  I felt great overall and hit a decent pace for the length and terrain of the run.  

Long description, but it was a fun one-way journey.     

Sunday

1:51; 11.02M; 1,929Ft; 127Av Hr; SLOW, recovery run up Sanitas and Boulder Creek.  

I was pretty flat from the week and the long run today, but I really wanted to do a loop on Sanitas to scope snow conditions for a possible Tuesday hard effort run there.  ¾ up Sanitas, I noticed my soleus was not very happy.  While it isn’t terrible, it is/was bothering me, so I have been icing it and will have to see how it feels tomorrow and visit Marcus Allen.  I really hope I will be ready for a time trial effort on Sanitas Tuesday. 

18:32 Total Time Running

17,057 Total Feet Climbing

120 Total Miles

This was one of the most exciting weeks of my life!  Besides one day at work and running, I was focused on my new baby boy Felix.  His first week of life was wonderful.  It was fantastic getting to know him and playing with him this week.  Thankfully, my mother in law, Ginny, came out from Canada to help out and ended up pretty much taking care of the house, food and cleaning. 

This week’s running was a benchmark.  Despite poor sleep, I increased my mileage, set a PR on the frontside of Green, ran a great speed workout, lowered my average heart rate on easy runs while maintaining pace and had an awesome 30 mile long run with almost 6K of climbing.  Hopefully the soleus will heal up and I’ll be ready for another great week with a little bit of a taper for USATF XC Championships on 5 Feb in San Diego.  Obviously Cross Country is not what I am focusing training on and while I know I will be somewhat close to where I usually perform (breaking into the top half or so depending on attendance), I’m not sure how exactly it will go.

I AM confident I will be dialed in for Nueces in March though.    

Green Mountain Ascents Fastest Known Times

I enjoy seeing how fast I can run up Green Mountain and furthermore, seeing progress on getting faster and stronger.

George Zack has just recently compiled some Fastest Known Times, FKTs, for ascending Green Mountain.
The two popular routes to ascend both routes begin at the Gregory Canyon Parking lot at the "post" for the trail heads going up to Green. The two popular routes are:

-"The Backside" Starting at the Gregory Canyon Trail up to Green Mountain Lodge where you take Greenman Trail, take a right at Ranger Trail to the four way intersection continuing .2 miles to the summit
George Zack's link for FKTs on this route


-"The Frontside" Starting at the trail that crosses a small wooden bridge you head up Amphitheater (Amphi) trail, take Saddle Rock Trail then Greenman Trail to the summit
George Zack's link for FKTs on this route

I personally enjoy taking Gregory Canyon to Greenman Trail all the way up and will post my best time for this route as well.  Many of the Green Veterans find taking Gregory to Greenman trail not worth timing since it is a bit longer and not as steep... Guess I'm still a bit of a "roadie" and enjoy the occasional flat"ER" sections of this route!  I also like being able to push hard up a number of routes to keep things exciting.

I'll post George's links for FKTs on the side column of my page for reference in the future.

Thanks George for listing this information.  I think FKTs can be a fun tool to motivate the hill climber that extra bit to go faster when they would rather slow down.

Weekly Summary for 1/9 to 1/16 FELIX ALLEN-EMERSON HAS ARRIVED!!!

Monday
AM :35; 4.08M; 296Ft; 142Avg Hr;  Easy run to wonderland lake and back, I think the new snow might have been why my HR was so high.

THE SUB 7 PACE RECOVERY DAY!

PM 1:24:19; 12.01M; 568Ft; 145Avg Hr; Did a rare Boulder Creek path run from work.  As I have been running hard on the trails lately and average 8:30-13:00/mile pace so often, I wanted to see some 7:00/mile splits.  This is when a GPS watch is dangerous… once this idea settled into my thick head, there was no turning back.  The first mile was in the 8s (before the idea settled) but after than it was 6:40s to 7:00 every mile.  The run wasn’t supper flat and there was a decent amount of slick packed snow from the plows on the path.  The HR should have been in the 130s for this recovery day, but then again it was good for my ego to get under 7:00 pace for all but 1 of the 12 miles. 

Tuesday

AM 1:53; 9.75M; 2,911Ft; 144Avg Hr; What was supposed to be a Green Time Trial day turned into a super fun snow run up Green.  Aaron  was late… punk, I took off and ran up the backside/ranger to Green and down Bear.  I no kidding, had so much fun playing in the snow.  Sunday and Monday’s storm was not windy, so the trees and mountains were postcard beautiful.  It was slow as heck, but I didn’t mind and had a smile on my face most of the way.  Met up with Aaron, as he finally got out of bed and knew I would be coming down Bear.  We had fun and I had my first total fall on the trails.  Today was great fun, but not an amazing workout (Avg Hr of 144 shows that), but I don’t fret about hitting splits, etc… training for ultras, I’m having fun!

PM :38; 5.34M; 254Ft; 139Avg Hr; My affection for running 7 flat on the BC bike path was still live and well, but at least I got under the 140Hr.

Wednesday

AM 1:41; 12.06M; 807Ft; 130Av Hr; E-run from home, wonderland lake, N.Boulder trails and back home.  On this run I turned a corner with regards to being able to run the amount of volume and intensity I have thrown at the legs and not feel so flat on my easy recovery days.  The last couple of weeks I have been feeling pretty tired and running pretty slow on the E-runs. 

PM :31; 4.27M; 73Ft; 137Av Hr; E run from work to Kitteredge Fields for 3M barefoot.  It is unbelievably nice that the turf fields are plowed during the winter.    The CU Buffs distance guys were on the fields doing an easy run as well at the same pace… felt crowded passing each other every 3 or 4 minutes. 

Thursday LAST NOT DAD RUN!

AM 1:50; 13M; Flat; My hands down best speed session this morning on the indoor track with Aaron.  4M warm up, 2M cool down. 8 x 600M with a 400M jog recovery followed by 4 x 200M with a 400M jog recovery.    

600Ms= 1:52, 1:52, 1:52, 1:53, 1:52, 1:52, 1:50, 1:48.  1:51 Avg; appx 4:55/M pace

200Ms = 33, 32, 31, 29. 31 avg; appx 4:08/M pace

I’m thinking one more week (5 under the belt) with this workout and then some longer intervals. 

PM My foot was sore from speed this morning so I didn’t run. 

Went and listened to Anton, Scott, Geoff, and Dave talk about running at Sherpas in Boulder, when I got home Maggie went into labor... apparently this motivated Felix to make his appearance!

Friday

PM :33; 4.02M;  What started as a fresh air jaunt on zero sleep, turned into a short 2 mile run in the dark to Levi’s house to tell him the birthing story!  I couldn’t wait to get back to Felix.

Saturday

AM :31; 4.04M; 171Ft;  I hoped to do a 2hr run, but it just wasn’t in the cards as I was exhausted from no sleep Thursday night and the 2 hour interval sleeping Friday night.  I ended up just running the 4 miles home from the hospital, got the house picked up for the family home-coming and biked back to the hospital.  I certainly couldn’t of done the PP50K!

NEW GREEN BACKSIDE PR!!!

PM 1:38; 9.5M; 2,923Ft; 152Av Hr;  Tonight was my first experience on how a baby can take a long time to transport…  It took nearly 90 minutes to get out of the hospital and once I got home, I had a hard time prying myself away from Felix.  I had to get back up green after literally having it displayed in our hospital room for the last two days (as seen in new picture at the top of my blog).  I drove to REI to get a headlamp so I could run in the dark and then headed up Green from the parking lot at 6:30PM.  I made it up to the Gregory Canyon trail head in 6 minutes and 9 seconds just jogging… this should have been a sign that I was ready to roll, but I thought nothing of my minute faster than usual jog up to the trail head.  I started to jog up the canyon a few meters without taking a split, then thought, well, I might as well, ran back and took the split.  After a few minutes of easy jogging I decided I might as well get a decent time since it was the first time the snow was actually fast going up Green this winter.  As I got maybe a third up Gregory, I finally committed to the pretty outrageous notion of testing my thoroughly sleep deprived body on my first ever headlamp Green ascent.  Low and behold at the only place I ever look at my watch (green mtn lodge), I was over a minute faster than my best time.  The irony continued and I charged all the way to the rocky tip of Green Mountain via “the backside”/Ranger trail route in 33:28.  I couldn’t believe the time.  I was hoping to hit a low 35 PR or MAYBE, a sub 35, but 33:28 was a bit shocking.  My legs are no longer sissy road-running toothpicks.  My grin and happy thoughts literally lasted all the way down Bear Canyon across Mesa to the huge skunk by the bridge at the Gregory P.lot and down to the car.     

Sunday

AM 3:56; 23.33M; 4,872Ft; 140Av Hr; Had a fantastic long run where I met up with Jacob Rydman, visiting from California, at the parking lot of Chautauqua Park after running from home, up panorama, flagstaff, green mtn lodge, 5 minutes past the lodge (ran out of time for a summit) and down Gregory.  I showed Jacob the famous Frontside, Amphi, Saddle Rock, 1^st Flatiron(??), steep way up Green per his request… too many names.

Jacob was doing well despite running with Anton and Scott the day before at the PP50K, wearing Microspikes that were a bit too big and not to mention running at 6-8K feet when home is at 250ft in Caly!  We cruised down my favorite trail in the park, Bear Canyon, where we saw Hommie (he said he is going to make it to Tuesday's workout!) to mesa and back to the parking lot.  Jacob and his buddy headed to lunch and I cruised 7 miles at 6:50-7:15 pace with 3 miles at Kitteredge barefoot.  While not as much climbing as some of my other long runs, I felt awesome and daydreamed about upcoming races.    

Totals are a little flatter, faster (good thing), and about 15 miles short due to the day and a half I didn’t sleep, was at the hospital and playing with Felix!

Miles 101.4

Climbing 12,721Ft

Time Running 15:11

This was a very special week as I witnessed my super star wife birth our son Felix Allen-Emerson Schlarb.  She did so phenomenally well birthing him 100% naturally.  Maggie never once complained, she never was discouraged, she never thought of using drugs and she did the whole thing in 7hrs, where the average first labor is 10-20hrs.  The nurses were amazed at her calm and how well she did.  My week running, where I nailed a great speed workout and got a surprise 2+ minute PR up Green’s backside, hardly registered in comparison to meeting Felix.

   

Summary for Jan 3-9

Monday

AM 1:49; 13.04M; 933Ft; 139 Avg Hr; Easy around Wonderland.  My HR was a bit high for this run…

PM :24; 3.1M; 58Ft; 134Avg Hr; Quick easy run around hood. 

Tuesday

AM 1:39; 10.54M; 4,161Ft; 143Avg Hr; Green (Ranger) Ascent time trial! 35:49

Great crew of Levi, GZ and I, then ran into Homie on the top (Aaron taking it easy for his 5K).  I got going fast with Levi, but again, too fast.  By the last half mile of Ranger I did what I planned on never doing on Green… power hiked.  While it was only twice for maybe 15ft each time, I am pissed I did.  I lost my focus along with being a first half hero (just like last week).  Apparently the 35 minute mark is better than the 33 on the frontside according to the Green vets Homie and GZ, but I felt like I pushed my body harder last week.   I really wanted to get 34 minutes and beat the only time I’ve heard of, 35 minutes, by Nick Clark a few weeks ago.  I’ll get it next time I push up this route, I’m 100% positive. 

Looking forward to next week: either Ranger again or Greenman for the route up. 
PM :30; 3.71; 119Ft; 137Avg Hr; I ran to Kitts, took off the shoes, put on thick socks and ran in the snow for a couple miles followed by some bounding and jumping (hence the higher HR).

Wednesday

AM 1:30; 10.33M; 828Ft; 130Avg Hr; Greenland easy with Marcus.  This was the first day Marcus was ever late.  Had to capture that!  I’d like to get this easy primary run day pace closer to 8:00 flat as the body gets used to the training without going over 135Avg Hr.  

PM :32; 4.05M; 219Ft; 131Avg Hr; Easy recovery run to where we hope to move in June.

Thursday

AM 1:30?; 11M; Flat; Great speed workout with a great crew!  Rob Coslick (good friend who moved to SD recently that I trained with last year), Dan, Marcus Allen, Aaron and I did intervals on the Boulder High Track.  Hope we keep a big crew for this Thursday workout regularly! 

Did 8 X 600M repeats with a 400M jog between each followed by 4 X 200M. Splits as I can remember them were:

1:54, 1:55, 1:53, 1:54, 1:53, 1:52, 1:51, 1:52 with a pretty wicked wind that added at least 3 seconds.  I ran all the 200s in 31 seconds, which is funky, as I usually run them faster as I go.  Aaron brought something to my attention that frankly scares me a bitt: “Ultra guys take a while to warm up”.  While I averaged five flat pace for close to 5K, which would have been more like 4:50 pace without the wind and four 200s at 4:08 pace, I would have probably ran them under 4:40 pace just 2 month ago… 

So yeah, it makes me squirm, but it IS what I want.  Change isn’t easy to swallow.

 PM :30; 4.03M; 136Ft; 143Avg Hr;  Easy double, HR was too high. 

Friday

AM 2:23; 12.59M; 3,368Ft; I am embarrassed by this one.  I felt flat and tired, but behaved and took it easy, but in result the run was ridiculously slow.  Home, EGF, Panorama, Green Mtn Lodge, Greenman, Ranger, same way home. 

Saturday

AM 4:18; 25.5M; 6,500Ft; 143avg HR; Awesome double Green Mtn long run from the house, EGF, Panorama, Flagstaff, Green Mtn Lodge, Greenman, Bear Cnyn, Mesa, Pick up Rob Coslick, Mesa, Bear Cnyn, Green, Ranger, Flastaff, Panorama, EGF, Home. 

This was my first Green Mtn double ascent!  This run had a few milestones.  I only took 3 GUs, drank 20oz of water when I met up with Rob at the Chautauqua P.lot, felt totally fine the whole time to include the finish, and I finally ran into Anton on the trails (more on that soon). 

I ran over 4 minutes faster today from the house to Green at the same effort, so that was great.  Feeling strong the whole run was awesome and needing less water and GU was nice as well.  I carried my phone and 3 GUs for Rob along with 4 GUs for me, so my butt area was weighed down, but the tights worked well carrying it all and my micro spikes (for more than half the time). 

I really enjoyed the smell of melting snow in a sun-heated forest today. The forest smelled like summer or spring and I loved it.  It was great to show a great friend, Rob, my new running playground and routine.  This was hands down the most climbing on a singe run I’ve done besides my 50 mile race and only 2.2K less than that race day. 

On “running” into Anton… it sort of sucked.  After digesting the whole situation, it is not Anton’s fault really.  I idolize Anton quite a bit, but so dose every Ultra runner in the US and half the people in Chautauqua park on any given day.  So as I was climbing up Mesa with Rob I saw Anton coming down the trail, I said “hey Anton” and in response, Anton didn’t even really make eye contact or utter a verbal greeting or noise, at that matter.  

After the fact, I almost feel bad for the guy… I have a pretty good feeling Anton has a hard time getting a run done during a weekend day without numerous attempts by gah-gah fans stopping him to say hi and ask him silly questions about his running, training, what he eats, where he poops, what shoes he wears, etc…  He certainly gets more than enough of that on the blog!  Oh well. 

I wish I could have a picture of Levi and Kevin Clary’s (fellow MSU Bobcat 2:26 marathoner) face when I told them Saturday night that I ran 4hrs for 25 miles and 6K+ climbing!   

Sunday

PM 2:02; 12.28M; 2,226Ft; 138avg HR; Had a very hard time starting this snowy recovery run.  I was obviously tired from yesterday’s long run, but more of an impact was my late night out with Levi, Rob Coslick, Kevin Clary and the ladies…  I had three distinct moments where I stopped running, looked at my watch, wished I was not running and considered options for cutting the run short or taking a flatter route.  After two “late nights” in the last month I’m very much realizing this Ultra training isn’t as forgiving as marathon specific training with regards to night life. 

Ran for the first time (hiked once before with Maggie) Sanitas.  Surprised by the numerous steep technical sections.  I would like to add this ascent to the weekly menu for a climbing second run of the day.  Ran down to EGF and up Boulder Canyon, then back home on the trails around Sanitas with a 1 mile out and back (terrible) to get to the goal of 12 total miles. 

A great week of training.  I feel this routine will work for me.  I look forward to settling into this training rhythm. 

Weekly Totals:

110.2 Miles

17:07 Running

18,548 Feet of Climbing

First Full Week of Training: “Front Side” time trial, SNOW + Boulder Beer Mile

Monday

AM 1:11; 7.46M; 1,590ft; Drove up to Walker Ranch to run the 7.5 mile loop.  Great run, but I felt flat.  Nice scenery in the canyon, crossing the S.Boulder Creek, etc…  Nice to see how I can connect Eldorado Canyon to this trail. 

PM :29; 3.44M; 39ft;  Felt much better than this morning.  Ran in North Boulder park with just my socks!  Nice to get down below 8 min miles too.  Did some general mobility stuff along with some bounding and jumping to keep that “explosive” power and speed.  Will hopefully become a weekly routine. 

Tuesday

AM 1:50; 13.5M; 3,000ft; I did my first “front side” ascent!  

Aaron showed me the front side short and steep ascent route, which uses the “saddle rock trail” up to Greenman trail then to Green Mtn.  I pushed it very hard on this, as Tuesdays are my hard hill days.  Ran 33:23 from the parking lot at Gregory Canyon to the summit of Green mtn.  Anton is my benchmark on really all things “Green” and his best is 30 min low… So yeah, while it was my first attempt and my first full week running “trail ultra style”, Anton can blaze up this daddy-o.  I went a bit too hard early and had a slower than normal final greenman stretch though.  I think I can run sub 33 next week (if trail conditions permit) with a little more patience and less first half hero excitement. 

I’m scheming how I can get more of the local stars AKA, Anton, Geoff, Scott and Mackey to join us for our Tuesday (or Thursday!) Green Mountain Time Trial.  Doing hard ascents is so much better with a group!  Pro, Pro Hopefully AND those just out to run their own best, lets do it!

Wednesday

AM 1:16; 8.98M; 760ft; Nice easy run after the hill-climbing bonanza yesterday with Marcus, pretty slow, but that is what I needed.  

PM :30; 3.76M; 133ft  Felt way better running on the turf than this morning. 

Thursday

AM 1:15; 9.56M; 533ft  The best 2 on 3 off with 3 x 30 second finishes for Aaron and I yet!  I averaged 4:50ish pace on the 2 minutes (on wonderland trails).  On the 30 seconds we were flying, running 3:30ish to 3:50 pace slightly down hill… as in sub 30 second 200 meters.  This was a great workout and great to see the speed coming.  Next week 600M repeats on the track. 

Friday  SNOW!!!

AM 2:28; 13.01M; 2,999ft; Super flat after the awesome speed work combined with the first real snow of the winter… 6-8”!  I ran from the house to EGF park then up Panorama and Flagstaff.  I was breaking trail most of the time and running at a crawl.  At about a half mile from the top of Flagstaff I bailed to the road to run to Green Mtn lodge.  I was just working way to hard and needed a break if I was to get to Green.  I was praying that the trail from the lodge to Green would be better…  At the Lodge I honestly told myself I’d see how it felt and may just run back down the trail.  After going minute to minute I convinced myself up ranger following Anton and Scott J’s tracks.  I nearly turned around ¾ of the way up.  I was feeling ultra negative, running double digit mile pace and not happy.  I did get to the four way, but there was no way in hell I was going up to the top.  I was spent.  That was the first fail at Green I believe, but in reality I shouldn’t have even been running up anything today, flat on the sidewalk would have been the right choice.  I had fun down Bear Canyon and made my way home.  I left my jacket on the panorama trail… it is still there, but I have tons of running jackets.  I’ll get it soon or someone who needs it can have it. 

PM :10; 1.5M; 0ft;  THE BEER MILE!!!! 6:57, 3^rd place overall.  SEE POST BELOW for Race Report!

Saturday

AM 2:14; 13.59M; 2,330ft;  Maggie and I started our hike and run together at the Chautauqua park main lot.  I ran mesa almost to the southern end and turned around after 5 miles.  I was running slow due to the snow and flatness of a first big week running.  I ran down skunk canyon through the cemetery and back home on the roads. 

Sunday

AM 3:25; 20.05M; 4,212ft; After feeling flat and pretty tired the last two days I felt better today but still not recovered.  I ran from the house to EGF, put on the Microspikes and climbed Panorama Point to Flastaff to Green Mt. Lodge in 52min.  The trail and snow was challenging due to not many hiking this section, the consistent cold and wind keeping the snow shifting and drifting.  The drifting snow only got more intense on Ranger, with many spots knee deep.  I made it too Green but was certainly tired from the challenging snow climb.  I ran down Bear-Green to Bear Canyon where I filled my water bottle after breaking the ice.  The footing was much better on this protected stretch, but decided against a first ever double Green summit today and continued on to near the end of Mesa headed south, back mesa to the main parking lot then home with a bonus mile out and back from the house.  The last 40 minutes I was surprised to feel pretty good averaging low 7 min/mile pace.  This snow has made the week challenging, which the numbers won’t show!

Huge week for me, but not super impressive mileage.  Quality vs Quantity here.   

14hrs 48 Minutes

94.85 Miles

15,596 Feet Climbing

The Annual Boulder Beer Mile

Billy Edwards Directing Beer Mile Athletes Pre-Race

Last year I was with family in Leadville and unable to attend the Boulder Beer Mile, but this year I was able to make the prestigious event.

The week leading up to the race I didn’t think I would make the race as I thought I would go skiing in the epic powder at Vail.  Unfortunately the weather was unbelievably cold, the driving horrible from my house all the way to Vail, they didn’t get half as much snow as what I thought they were originally going to get out of the storm and Levi couldn’t join me for the trip… so to my first beer mile in at least 9 years. 

The day before (Thursday), I did my best speed workout of the winter with Marcus Allen and Aaron followed by a snowy 2:30 run up the trails in Chautauqua finishing an hour before the race start…

Athletes

Levi and Marcus Allen joined in on the race and Maggie chauffeured us to and from.  The temps were hovering around a balmy 15 degrees, one lane was cleared around the pavement middle school track in suburbia east Boulder and we were ready to rally.  The event is put on by one Billy Edwards, a pro tri-athlete and former Marine officer (he competed against Levi and I before he got out).  Amongst the participants and fans were quite a few of the legendary professional tri-athletes of Boulder and even at least one world champion Ironman (women) Zeigler.  More impressive is that Zeigler is a 3 Time Boulder Beer Mile Female Champion running all 3 years under 9 minutes.

Just before the gun

The Boulder Beer Mile is truly an official deal that complies with all the Beermile website official rules.  All beer is at least 5%, we run a “true” mile of 1609 meters, not just 4 laps, puking before finishing requires an extra lap, women don’t get special exceptions, etc…  

Toeing the line I originally thought I might be the only person in a stupid outfit, but instead I was underwelmingly plain in my garb in comparison to the other 15-20 beermilers.  Jean tights, spedos, a gorilla, wigs, shirtless studs, were amongst my favorites.    

Marcus (left) and Billy on beer 2 or 3

The gun went off and I chugged.  First off, in my beer mile career I’ve never made the mile without puking during the race and I’ve never been clothed.  My goal was to avoid the puking.  Marcus Allen blazed the beer down either first or second and was off, I was a slow 6^th or so after the first beer. 

Me on beer 2 or 3 with future beermilers watching

I slowly made my way up in place (funny, as this is how I always race) until on the last beer I was in 4^th.  I slammed the beer and took off ahead of the 3^rd place guy.  I was certainly battling to keep my beer and PB sandwich in the belly, but really wanted a podium finish. 

On the last 100 meters I could hear my competition’s spikes catching up to me and responded with a sprint… we finished within a second at full speed and I managed to capture 3^rd place with a 6:57.  Fist place was 6:37, second 6:40 something.  I was happy to make my Boulder Beer Mile début amongst the pro tri guys with a 3^rd place finish.  I puked twice within 5 minutes of the finish.  One lady finished in 22 something after having to do a bonus lap after puking. 

First Place finisher

Second Place Finisher Chugging

According to beermile.com I am 305th worldwide, 122 American and 9^th best Colorado finisher all time.  Funny.   Levi and Marcus finished in the top ten in 8 minutes high with Marcus edging Levi out.        

Podium 

Female Champion!

Billy does and awesome job promoting and running this race, to include an awesome traveling trophy with all the previous year's winners names and times on the trophy.   

Buzzed Crew of me, Billy, Levi and Marcus

Next year I’ll be at the race and be a little better prepared physically and mentally… I know I have a 6:30 in me!

Spraying the winner with beer... of course!

I had another beer and went home thoroughly buzzed despite puking. 

Hope to see you there next year!