Weekly Summary February 20-26

Monday- 5M, :44; Easy run from home. 

PM 9.5M, 1:14; 300Ft Climbing; Easy run on the bike path. 

Tuesday "Green Mtn Middle Time Trial"- 14M, 2:07, 2,500Ft Climbing; After attending cadet PT at 6AM at the Balch field house, I did a 2 mile warm up as the cadets were stretching and headed to Gregory Canyon trailhead.  I was excited and motivated to run a faster time than last weeks "med-hard" effort up Green Mtn.  Things started well and I was going at around 80% up Gregory Canyon, then to Green Mtn Lodge.  At the lodge I was about 90 seconds (16min and change) faster than last week.    Heading up to the fork for Ranger and Greenman, I was confident a sub 40 was going to happen today.  Just past the turn up Greenman, I ran into dense snow drifts on the trail.  The drifting was from Monday night's heavy wind, but was relatively infrequent.  A little annoyed, I still felt I could get a good time and be well under 40.  Unfortunately, the drifting only got more consistent resulting in a slow, energy sucking battle to the final switchbacks.  Although my effort level increased to 90%+, I wasn't going to get my ego boosting sub 40 ascent today.  What I did get going up Green Mtn, is a great workout and a 41:19, which is actually a minute 26 faster than last week's jog up Green.  I refuse to move on to another route up Green for my TT until I break 40 on this middle section.  

Wednesday Hurricane Running- 4.8M, :40; Easy run from home.  Right leg started to feel tight in the hip and groin area.  

PM 8.25M, 1:12, 600Ft Climbing; I ran from work up to the Mesa trail and down Skunk canyon to the cemetery.  Mesa and Skunk were super muddy, but fun.  Once I reached the cemetery I experienced the strongest winds I have ever felt while running.  The wind blew me off the trail and down part of a hill for 20-30 feet.  I was amazed at the strength of the wind.  I "miss out" not having a TV and hearing the facts and stories from wild weather days, but I am certain this was one of the windier days in a while.  Back on campus I was literally stopped in my tracks, blown off the sidewalk, etc...  I did hear a story from John Tribbia of a stick penetrating the wood siding of his house.  My TFL muscle was sore and I could feel some bad tightness in my IT band.  Back home my IT was screaming at me when I used a foam roller.      

Thursday Tempoish Run with Aaron- 12.25M, 1:30, 300Ft Climbing;  I ran with Aaron Kennard this morning (his birthday) for a 6.5 mile tempo run on the bike path.  The bike path was slushy, snowy and wet, but footing was manageable.  We hit splits around 6:15-20 while we chatted comfortably until we turned around.  On the way back and up, things got a bit more challenging and I hit splits around 6:05-6:15.  Overall, not a "hard" workout, but good leg turnover with great company.  While it wasn't bad, my IT and TFL were certainly hurting.  

PM 4M, :30; snuck a run in at lunch on the bike path.  The IT was still talking to me.   

We had Marcus over for dinner and he did a series of treatments to my IT and TFL.   Very concerned the ramp up of mileage without enough stretching and visits to Marcus were going to result in a bum IT.

Friday- 10M, 1:40, 950Ft Climbing; Ran my hillier route of Wonderland this morning.  

PM 6.5M, Easy run around town. 

I could feel my IT/TFL, but still only at an annoyance level of pain.  

Saturday Slush, Mud and Eldo- 14.5M, 2:08, 1,800Ft Climbing; Ran from the most southern trailhead on 93 over to the S. Boulder Creek diversion and into Eldorado Canyon.  I looped back around with some off-trail running.  Today was certainly very wet (as in water flowing down trails) with serious mud and shin deep slush due to temps breaking into the 50s for the first time this month.  30 minutes into the run I stopped making serious efforts to avoid  the elements.  

After Marcus' treatment Thursday, stretching and hitting the foam roller multiple times a day, the IT tightness issue was resolved!  

Slush

Approaching Eldo

Eldo

Eldo

Sunday Long Run with UROY Dave- 25M, 3:50, 2,000Ft Climbing; Met up with THEE Dave Mackey for a run from Hiel Ranch to Picture Rock trail and into Lyons then back.  The run started with some unexpectedly cold winds, but things quickly became warmer as we got into the woods.  Dave and I took it easy, talking about all sorts of pertinent things and random things running on mostly dry and snow free trail.  The rocky climb up Heil was fun, followed by the awesome descent on Picture Rock trail.  I love biking this route and running this route, but the Picture Rock section is really fun with its smooth trails and open views.  Once in Lyons Dave and I filled up with water and headed back.  Picture Rock's red dirt turned a bit muddy, but nothing terrible.  We cruised and chatted the whole way back and both felt surprised to be back at the truck and done with a near 4 hour run.  This was my first long run with someone else in almost a year... I think.  I can't believe how quickly this long run went by.  

UROY Dave Mackey 

Me

Dave's new car

Summary: This was really a fun week of running.  While I managed to run a lot of miles have a medium effort tempo a fun long run and a good workout on Green, my energy levels running and muscle health seems to be very good right now.  I did have a close call, thank you Marcus, with my IT, but overall very happy with my training and health.  

Next week I hope to keep the mileage high, add some more climbing, keep up the TT and run the tempo faster.  If all goes to plan, I will be in a good place entering the two week window before the Chuckanut 50k.  

Weekly Totals

114 Miles

8,250 Ft Climbing

40 Miles Biking

 

 

Week Summary February 13-19

A return to mountain trail running

Last weekend's race was a turning point for my running fitness, but this week was even more rewarding with a bit of a rekindling of my passion for running long miles in the mountains, albeit doing so in February.  Everyone has doubts, ups and downs, etc... and on a run at the beginning of the week I questioned if I would rather be doing something else.  Mainly I was questioning trail ultra vs shorter racing and training.  Saturday, my doubts were turned around.

Monday- 12M, 1:51, 1,000Ft Climbing.  Ran from campus to the mesa trail and out to shadow canyon and back.  A bit tired from the weekend's race.  

Tuesday- 13M, 2:22, 3,200Ft Climbing.  Ran from home to Eben G Fine, up panorama point to Flagstaff mtn, to green mtn lodge, up greenman to Green Mtn (1:21); back down ranger to green mtn lodge and home the same way.

Totally Me

Wednesday "Triple Run with Fitness Test"- 8M, 1:04; 550Ft Climbing.  Ran wonderland trail. 

PM: 4M, :28. Quick run from work.

PM2: 4M :29. Another quick run, as I had to do a timed 1.5M under 9:24 for my fitness test.  This was my last fitness test in the AF.  I managed to gut out the max pushups (57) and sit-ups (54) in a minute to finish my career with a perfect 100% on my fitness tests.  My pecs and abbs were sore until Sunday.        

Thursday "First Green Time Trial of the Year"- 14.37M, 2:27, 3,000Ft Climbing.  My first "Time Trial" workout up green since April.  While I didn't jog, I didn't run this at maximum effort, more like a medium-hard effort.  I ran the couple miles from North Boulder Park to Chataqua, up to Gregory Canyon TH and the start.  I ran up Gregory Canyon to Greenman to the peak of Green Mountain in approximately 42:45.  I could have run a few minutes faster, but still, I have some work to do to get back into 36:04 shape.  I ran from the summit down bear canyon.  The trail form the 4 way intersection to the power line ridge does not mirror the actual trail during summer and the route is "exciting", with the apex being two 30-40 foot straight down descents.   Once down bear, I ran mesa trail then home.  Fun.  

Friday- 10M, 1:16, 400Ft Climbing.  Ran on the Boulder Creek bike path with part of the run with the CU AFROTC Cadets doing their PT/Run. 

PM: 4.5M, :35.  Felt good on an easy loop around Boulder.

Saturday "Basic Boulder Marathon"???- 23M, 4:18 4,500Ft Climbing.  Friday night I decided I would run up Flagstaff Peak (not exactly a prominent peak), Green Mountain, Bear Peak, South Boulder Peak and then down Shadow Canyon to the southern terminus of Mesa Trail and back home via the trails along S.Boulder Creek and Boulder Creek. 

I got started on this run a little before 6AM.  I ran with 4oz or so of Wilberry Liquid Shot EFS by 1st Endurance and my hand water bottle.  My legs going up Panorama Point were less than spry, but warmed up and felt better by Flagstaff.  Alpenglow is a drug, with the effects on my psyche immediate as soon as it illuminates the mountains I am running.  I made the short detour to hit Flagstaff's "peak", then over to Green Mountain Lodge. 

Flagstaff.
Just kidding.

I was blessed with a 1/2 inch dusting of snow overnight to improve traction on the solid snow and ice pack across all of Chataqua Park.  All week I have run without my spikes, as I misplaced them in my recent move.  No spikes has slowed a few runs down a bit, but overall the running has been pretty good on the dry snowpack as it has been staying pretty cool (40s). 

Nearly every time I run up Green Mtn via Greenman, I get "Stairway to Heaven" in my head at the long staircase near the summit.  I made Green Mtn in 1:28, about 7 minutes slower than earlier this week, but I was a bit tired and taking it easy for the long effort ahead. 

Bear Peak

On the way to Beark Peak I hit my only "trusted" water stop, which is Bear Creek.  With SO much snow and cold weather, I only had one realistic place to fill my hand water bottle and even then I had to lay completely down on the trail and reach down to the water.  On my first attempt I managed to scoop tons of dirt, weeds and mud.  Back down again on my second attempt I got a better fill, but got weeds in the the bottle.  On my 3rd attempt I got what I thought was a good one.  I looked at the water and saw a snake/worm like organism swimming around with a hairy body, not good.  Finally, totally snowy and cold, I got a debris free fill.  I had to make the creek water last for a while and I was a bit grossed out, so I put the bottle behind my back tucked into my pants for a while before I drank it. 

As always, Bear Peak was awesome fun and the views from the top are truly wonderful.  I made my way down and over to the final short climb to the tallest peak, South Boulder Peak.  On my way to SoBo, I decided I would mark my time from Eben G Fine to South Boulder Peak and see if GZ would add this route to his “Fastest Known Time” listings.  My split from Eben G Fine to SoBo was 2:10.  2:10 is nothing to brag about for the approximate 8.6 mile route.  I am confident a lot of people could and have run faster, if anything it is a bit of a February benchmark for me for right now. 

SoBo

The descent down Shadow Canyon was scary.  I finally hit terrain, steep icy/slick snowpack, where I really "needed" spikes.  It wasn't until Shadow Canyon that I saw another person... pretty cool.  It took a lot of effort to actually keep a running pace and not fall.  I managed to get down this steep canyon with only one full on fall to my butt, which luckily didn't hurt.  Once down, I ran to the south east corner of the park via trails I usually never run.  I started to head back north via mesa to blue stem which I took to Hwy 93.  From the Hwy I planned on running S. Boulder and Boulder creek trails home, but at this point I was really getting tired and was happy to settle for a run on 93/Broadway home for about 23 vs at least 27 via the creeks.  I did manage to turn a corner and start to recover once on the roads running the last 7 miles at 7:30ish pace. 

After the long run, I ran into Adam Chase and was informed the route I chose, besides taking mesa all the way back vs Broadway, makes up "The Basic Boulder Marathon".  Cool.  I look forward to doing it again.  I would also like to do this run and add Mt. Sanitas, which would cover pretty much all the peaks spanning the front range of Boulder. 

Sunday- 14M, 2:07, 750Ft Climbing.  Ran at 5:30AM on wonderland north to the tunnel under 36 and on the trails towards Boulder reservoir.  I startled a horse by the trail, then stopped and gave him some petting and a taste of my salty, sweaty glove.  Back home the same way. 

PM: Did an 8 mile ski tour up to Ouzel falls in the south part of Rocky Mountain National Park with Maggie and Felix.  It was great fun skiing down the trails with Felix on my back, he had a blast.  Anyone looking for a 8-10 mile awesome trail run, I would highly recommend the trail to Ouzel falls and lake as it is packed out perfect for spiked running. 

Weekly Summary-

Great week, felt good.  I'll normally do a tempo once a week, but more of the same for the next month.

13,400 Feet Climbing

107.3 Miles  

8 Miles Ski Touring

35 Miles Biking (to work and back and around town)



2012 USATF Cross Country Championship/Armed Forces Championships

I had an awesome time at the USA XC Championships in St Louis Missouri this weekend.  The Air Force team came away with wins for both the women and men's team (4th year in a row for both the men and women) at the Armed Forces Championships!



Great Bib #





 After a rough last two months dealing with 2 colds, a stomach virus, a DNF at Bandera, moving and my head wound, this last weekend was truly a significant turning point.  I ran 40:35 for 12K (7.5 miles) for an average pace of 5:25 per mile.  The weather was cold, low 20s, and windy.  The course was relatively flat with somewhere around 75 feet of climbing per 2K loop.  The footing was a bit rough with frozen dirt, mud and grass with patches of sloppy mud and grass.

My goals for the race were to run as well or better than last year, be the AF's 5th runner (out of 8), and run sub 5:30 pace.  More specifically on splits, I wanted to run sub 17 for 5K, sub 34 for 10K and speed up the last 2k.  I ended up running 6th of 8 on our best team performance ever, 34 seconds behind our 5th guy (a 3:40 1500 meter runner).  I ran 5:25 pace and came through the 5K in 16:52, the 10K at 33:56 and sped up the last 2K.  I ran almost the same time as last year's San Diego race, on a more challenging course.  So overall, I was very satisfied with my performance and exceeding nearly all my goals.  Brian Dumm, 2010 JFK winner and AF teammate, ran a great race coming in at 39:35 as well!  Watch for Brian this year as he plans on running more ultras… 

Men's 1st Place AF Team

From the gun through the finish, I felt unbelievably "good".  After a full year of ultra-trail specific training and racing combined with now being 33 years old (there was only one guy who was as old as me who placed higher... the next place up), I feared running sub 6 pace at a cross country 12k "sprint" might be a painful and potentially bad experience. 





I ran an even paced race, stayed under control and never felt like I was in danger of slowing or hitting the wall.  After the race I was a bit concerned I might have been too conservative, but after thinking about if for a day or two, I think I came pretty close to running my max... I just had a well planned and executed run.  After 6 years of doing this race, despite the race being out of my focus areas, I guess I figured it out a bit. 







Air Force Men's and Women's 1st Place Teams



Winning the Armed Forces Championship is awesome, but I am also very encouraged to see that I have a good base of speed endurance and strength.  I will now focusing on hill climbing and long endurance (I've been really looking forward to this transition) in preparation for the Chuckanut 50K and the Leona Divide 50 Mile, which are "faster" trail ultras that will hopefully complement my current fitness.  

Lastly, almost more valuable that the actual race itself, was hanging out with my AF running friends and teammates.  There is something to be said about being part of a team that gets together a couple times a year to race.  We had a very fun night celebrating and dancing after the race in St Louis. 

2012 Tenative Race Calendar

- February 11th USATF Cross Country 12K Championships, St Louis MO

-March 17th Chuckanut 50K, Bellingham WA

-April 28th Leona Divide 50M, Lake Hughes CA

-May 12th Quad Rock 50M, Fort Collins CO

-June 23rd Western States 100M, Auburn CA  OR San Juan Solstice 50M, Lake City CO

-July 28th White River 50M, Crystal Mountain WA

-August 18th Pikes Peak Ascent/Marathon, Manitou Springs CO

-September 14th Run Rabbit Run 100M, Steamboat Springs CO

-October 20th Antelope Island 50k/100k, Syracuse UT OR November 3rd Mountain Masochist 50M, Lynchburg VA

-December 2nd Kepler Challenge 60K, New Zealand

Very excited for this year's racing! 

I'm on the team for February's XC race in St Louis!

Besides the Kepler Challenge in New Zealand, I honestly look forward to running the San Juan Solstice more than any other race.  Maggie Felix and I will be living down in the San Juan mountains June and July as the "Juans" are our favorite mountains in Colorado. 

If I were to qualify for WS100 at Leona Divide, I might take that opportunity. 

I'm also considering the Pike's Peak Ascent or Marathon.  I have wanted to do the ascent race for a long time and rummor has it Anton and Killian may be running the marathon this year... a good year to be there! 

In November, Maggie Felix and I will be bike touring the South Island of New Zealand  for 3 or 4 months.  While in New Zealand, I will do my best to run a number of their top trail races.

Bandera Bust and Ontario Beauty

-Report on Bandera Bust-

Mark and Marcus Allen in Austin

The awesome thing about racing in Texas Hill Country is that I have an awesome close friend, Mark,  who lives in Austin that is excited to come along for the racing adventure.  This year, my massage therapist, Marcus Allen, also joined me to support as a friend and as my massage therapist for the trip to Hill Country.  Lastly, another friend, Mike, who happend to be at his dad's ranch in Boerne also joined the party.  So all in all, I had a great crew of friends to make the trip a party.

 
The Bandera 100K was a failure for me.  I have been a bit in the dumps all week both consciously and sub-consciously.  Starting at round an hour into the race and until now, 6 days later, I have considered and pondered over why I wasn't anywhere close to par on race day.  Here are the top candiadtes in no certain order:

-A little bit too "authentic" Mexican fare the night before, resulting in 5 bowel movements (2 just before the race) before the 3hr point in the race
-Having cold symptoms (never terrible) for about 2 weeks before the race on and off
-Nick Clark's 6hr, 7K of climbing, snowy trailed 50K only 7 days after TNF50
-Too much volume/intensity with two 100+ mile weeks before my week and a half taper
-The whole mix of my deployment, training, racing TNF50, Nick's 50K, Canada, etc...

So how did it go down?  Sleep was "average" for night before the race camping... on and off, not great.  I woke up feeling pretty good, ate a normal pre race breakfast, hydrated, etc...  At the start I felt good.  I enjoyed saying hello to Nick Clark and a few others.  A few minutes into the race things were checking out and going as planned. 

The plan was to go out conservative, comfortable and aerobic.  After an hour or so, I would then keep pace and start passing the "first half heros", or as my coach called it "seperating the pretenders from the contenders".  I was a bit surpirsed, but very happy to be running with Dave Mackey a few miles into the race.  We discussed race strategy and his was that he had to go out conservative at this point in with his current training situation, vice racing hard up front. Needless to say, Dave's approach went well! 

I would end up running just in front of, behind and with Dave for a while over the first few hours.  The flux in proximity to Dave was due to the 3 pit stops for bowell movements and then up and downs in how I felt.  At about an hour and a half, I could tell my legs were flat and just overall tired feeling.  My energy levels seemed OK, but I'm sure they corelated to how the legs were performing to some degree.  Through 2 hours I was on track and not having issues drinking water or taking my EFS every 30 minutes, but discouragement due to my flat legs started to really sink in. 

$50!!!

I tired to fight the mental lows and convince my legs that it was just a temporary "funk".  At one point, and the last point, I felt really good I caught Yassine, Dave and Terranova and then put 10 seconds on them, but that was short lived.  Dave and Yassine, who was wonderfuly kind and talkative, finally broke away from Terranova and I by around a minute or two. 

Terranova and I would switch lead a couple of times around 2:30 into the race.  I started to really fall into a mental low and became frustrated that for the first time in a 50 mile race and now a 100K, I was feeling mentally and physically like crap for an extended period of time in the first half.  I fought hard to remember Geoff Roes' race report from UROC where he went through some horrible lows, slowed, got passed, but then came out of it and won.  At 3hrs, I was still in the dumps and not only did my legs feel horribly flat, they started to catch small rocks.  My stride then started to shorten both on the ups and down and then I found myself doing the bow legged hobble which only comes out when I am at the end of a race or particularly tough long run.

While the idea had already crossed the mind a few times during low points starting at 1:30, dropping out was the only thing I was thining about from about 2:45 on.  What would I say to Marcus, my wife Maggie, should I man up and make it my mission to just finish regardless?  I crossed a threshold where I knew my body was going to slow down to the point where walking and stumbling along would be more often than not at probably somwhere around 5hrs or 6hrs at the latest.  The last straw was thinking about my 3 awesome friends waiting around an extra 2 or 3 hours later than I told them I would finish in and screwing our evening plans of seeing Mike's ranch in Boerne and then returning to Austin for some dinner and an evening out. 

High Falls

I decided I wanted to be in front of Terranova at the end of the first 50K loop and my drop point.  This carrot kept me going and I had to honestly race and push myself to stay in front of him.  Besides hearing Terranova a few times from 3hrs to 4hrs, I felt very lonely and misserable.  I knew I was going to drop and the body only got worse.  Just before the 50K I saw that I wasn't that far away at all from what would be 2nd Dave Mackey (2 minutes) through 5th Nick Clark(90 seconds) and 6th place, Terranova, was behind me.  Dave Mackey yelled to me encouragement and it hurt.  I hate letting firends down who believe in me.      

Canadian Winter Fun

Running into the 50K turn around I hated seeing Marcus with my EFS liquid shot bottle.  I didn't want to drop and confront him.  I looped around, crossed the mat and stopped where Marcus was standing.  My biggest fan and supporter was shocked and the akwardness was unberable.  Marcus did what he should have, "are you sure", "want to think about it" etc..  Life sucked.  I wasn't delirious, broken, injured (would have been nice in a way) but I was doing the logical thing, I was not at all ready to run my race, come close to my goals and furthermore, able to finish this race in under 10hrs.  Why whallow in the missery?  My goals never inluded finishing a 100k no matter what the cost.  My goals were to run fast, race, compete, win, be in the top 3, have a good experience, there were not, finish a 100k. 

So there I sat, 4:02 at 50K... done.  I wanted to and would have stuck around to support my friends and fellow racers, but I considered the 3 friends who went way out of there way to hang out with me.  My firends were here to see me... Marcus was the only one who has an interest in or is a runner and his interest at Bandera was primarily me.  The right thing to do in the situation was for us to take off, see the ranch and enjoy each other's company in Austin, not stay another 5hrs so I could see the race and hang with friends they don't know at a sport they don't follow or participate in.  So we took off and we had a great time that afternoon and evening.

The front and rear props are motor powered....

Congrats to Tim Olson, Dave Mackey, Joe Uhan, Dylan Bowman, Paul Terranova Yassine and everyone else for a race well done. 
              
 Driving back to Boulder from the airport, I felt very excited to just spend quality time running for pleasure in the mountains.  Training during my deployment sucked and then from mid November to January it has been very focused, stressfull and overall rushed feeling.  A training restart is much needed. 

Here is Felix's first solo sledding adventure (Mom has dibs on the first sledding overall) at 11 months old.  He sure is adventurous.  There were a few out takes... good thing mom wasn't there.  :)

Weekly Summary 19-25 December

-Weekly Summary 19-25 December-

The Trans Canada Trail is Awesome!  Yes, my head is almost better.

Monday- 12.20 miles, 1:37, Boulder Creek bike path, 350ft

Tuesday AM- 11.03 miles, 1:13, 162Av Hr, 300ft 7 mile tempo on the bike path.  Felt better than I thought I would on this workout.  A little up and down for hills, some snow and ice on and off slowed things down a touch.  Splits: 6:01, 6:07, 6:09, 5:54, 5:44, 5:50, 5:45

Tuesday PM- 4.32 miles, :33, 141Av Hr

Wednesday- 12.53 miles, 1:42, 138Av Hr, 550ft, Wonderalnd fun

Thursday- 8 miles, 200ft, 1:00, DIA Termincal A run.  Ran into Brian Dumm (2010 JFK 1st) and Mtrunner2 saw me apparently.  My 3rd airport terminal run ever.  Not bad... Terminal A is the best with the sky bridge option.

Friday AM- 10.36 miles, 500ft, 138Av Hr, 8 X 600 Meter repeats with 600 meter jogs with general mobility.  Ran a under dressed cold/breezy one way speed workout run with the help of my awesome father in law Patrick.  Very scenic run along lake fronts and forest.  Happy with the splits considering the less than flat terrain and being really cold for the first few: 5:55, 5:16, 5:12, 5:21, 5:08, 5:11, 5:01, 5:08.

Friday PM- 4.96 miles, :41, 200ft, epic trails through the hemlock, maple, pine, beech, birch forest along the muskoka river.  I LOVE running the 20+ miles of trail at the door step of the Kernohan cabin along the Muskoka river in Bracebridge Ontario. 

Saturday- 30.02 miles, 4:15, 134Av Hr, 1,500ft, long run adventure!  Ran from the doorstep through the trails on the Muskoka river to the "Trans Canada Trail" system.  It was an adventure.  The Trans Canada Trail is awesome around Bracebridge.  Great forests, creeks, wildlife and solitude.  I did a sort of out and back with some mix-ups and challenges following the trail.  Last 4 miles were rough.  It was 2 degrees (Farenheight) at the start with about an hour of flashlight (yeah, no headlamp) running on trails and snow. I don't think it broke out of single digit temps for any of the 4+hrs.  My Nathan water pack worked perfect withthe tube in my coat, but I wasn't motivated to drink much.  My EFS was very cold and slow to come out of the bottle and I only had about 3ish oz, so maybe 350 calories for the run.  Awesome run. 

Sunday-12.28 miles, 1:40, 300ft, further exploration of the Trans Canada Trail into Bracebridge including running over a bridge with a 50+ft by 40 foot waterfall.  Awesome. 

Only In Canada

Synopsis-  Success with both the tempo and speed workout, good volume, nice 30 mile long run, flat (Bandera is fast and flat, plus I have done more than enough climbing the last month) for the last solid week before Bandera.  Would have squeezed in a longer run on Thursday, but with a 12"+ dump in Boulder on the day we flew, delays, the long flight, etc... 8 indoors was a blessing.    Running on the trails from the cabin in Bracebridge has been EPIC.  I need to get some better pictures though before I leave.  Pine needle soft trails with a light snow cover.... sweet.   

Summary-
105.7 Miles
3,900 Feet Climbing
 
  

Nick Clark's Chunky Cheeks, Bandera, Head Wound, Sumary of Runnign

7 days after the North Face 50 mile in San Francisco, I couldn't say no to hanging out with a great group of guys and running 50K the awesome trails west of Fort Collins at Nick Clark's annual 2011 Chunky Cheeks 50K.  While the weather was perfect, cool, but not cold, sunny (of course, it's Colorado) and perfectly calm.  The only problem was the ton of snow on most all of the trail and 7,000 feet of climbing.  Nick, Bowman, Burch, Vega and I ran the whole 31 mile awesome course together.  From the start I was flat and still a little sore, at 12 I was feeling it and you can guess the rest of the story. 



Perfect day and snow on the way up Green

 I didn't drink that much water or hit the EFS at any regular interval, as I was sure I wouldn't do the whole run.  With somewhere around 10 miles to go and 4 hours of pretty stout running I had only had about 300 calories and maybe 40 oz of water.  I hit the awesome aid station provided in the parking lot and endulged in a honey milk bevarage (my first ever) and most of a delicious donut.  The 1500-1700ft climb over 7 miles was brutal and I did some power hiking.  I came close to giving an all I had/race effort push to finish this bad boy.  I gorged on the awesome food and beer as soon as I finished with Nick, Bowman and Burch in 6:17 (5:43 moving), no ultragen, streching, etc...

Crazier that running this arduous run 7 days after TNF 50, was that somehow I wasn't that sore or tired afterwards, as apparent in my running summary below. 

Saturday: 31 Miles, 5:43, 148Av Hr (pretty high), 7,000ft climbing, awesome time with great guys!

Sunday: 5.14 Miles, 128Av Hr pushing Felix in the Bob Stroller

Monday: 12.02 Miles easy on wonderland, 550ft climbing

Tuesday AM: 11.05 Miles, 6.5 Mile Tempo, 144 Av Hr, 500ft.  Felt good on this tempo running around wonderland with some snow here and there and some up and down. 6:36, 6:24, 6:02, 6:03, 5:55, 5:42 (last half mile).  Very happy with this workout after Saturday's beat down and 11 days after TNF 50. 

I love winter trails around Boulder

Tuesday PM: 4.29 Miles Easy, 34 Minutes with a mile and a half barefoot on kitts.

Wednesday: 12.08 Miles Easy on wonderland, 1:41, 550ft climbing.

Thursday AM: 11 Miles Speed Workout, 400ft, 1:27, 138Av Hr.  Had a good first speed session mostly before sunrise with some slick spots of snow on the bike path with Aaron Kennard.  Did warm up, general mobility, strides then 8 X 600 meter repeats with 600 jog between, then cooled down.  Pace for the 600s: 5:25, 5:16, 5:17, 5:09, 5:22, 5:18, 5:16, 5:25.  Happy with this one as I gave a medium hard effort. 

Thursday PM: 4.28 Miles, :33

Friday: 12.08 Miles easy on Wonderland, 1:42, 550Ft climbing.

Don't run on the sidewalk at night.... rest of the story is available in person.

Saturday: 12.29 Miles not easy run, 1:44, 300Ft climbing, 7.3 Miles pushing Felix in the Chariott.  Could not see out of my eye AT ALL on this run.  Depth preception was a big issue and I had a hard time in general.  Planned on originally doing 20, but just couldn't do it. 

Sunday: 23.21 Miles Long Run around Chatauqua, 3:50, 4,000Ft, 145Av Hr.  I could see half the time on this run, but only if I strained and thus made a pretty scary face (based on people's reaction, then Maggie's confirmation).  Ran up Flastaff, to Greenman, to Green, down Bear Canyon, South on Mesa Trail, back to Bear, all the way to Gregory, down and then over to Eben G. Fine for 4 more miles up the snowy west section of the Boulder Creek Trail and home.  Good last big climb long run before Bandera.  Snow, Slush, Mud and slow was everywhere. 

My favorite section of  trail in Chatauqua (Bear Canyon)

Synopsis:
Very, very happy I could recover after TNF 50, then Nick's event, a busted head and pull out a 100+ mile week with two solid speed sessions and a good long (time wise) run.  Less climbing next week and the same speed sessions but in Bracebridge Ontario with the Canadian family. 

Weekly Summary-

102.3 Miles
6,850 Ft Climbing

It has been chilly in Boulder this December

 Bandera and the 100K USATF National Championships-

I am feeling great and thus decided Bandera would be well worth racing.  Great news is that A) my massage therapist, friend and running partner, Marcus Allen, will be joining we on the trip B) I have two great friends down in that area of Texas that will be joining in for the weekend of racing and fun, Mike Devloo and Mark Shwitau C) There will be great competition at this well run (Joe is an awesome RD) event, to include THE Dave Mackey, Nick Clark, Tim Olson, Dillon Bowman, Dave James and for sure others that I don't know about. 
I am ready and more than excited to be racing Bandera!