A week up High

Last Friday while we were in keystone I ran - then hiked - then stared in disbelief - then ran again. Headed up under the chairlift on the mountain bike trails, followed what seemed like a nice one into the trees only to realize that this little "trail" turned into a corkscrew boardwalk 13' above the ground. On my way back down I then had to backtrack as the "trail" simply ended about 15' in the air. I was scared walking this dam thing...people ride bikes down it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBI-v1f0VMo

Sunday, I spent about 2 hours above treeline hiking and doing sprints above Loveland Pass. Great views, nice hike, and no people once you get passed the first little summit (the tourist all stop there).

Tuesday we went for a nice 19.4 mile bike round from Keystone into Dillon and back. In addition to the ride, I did mine pulling two kids in a trailer. we were also on the bikes daily so that surely countered the beer i drank doesn't it?

Thursday did my first Pikes Peak summit of the season. I stepped in snow 100 times, almost all of it during the last half mile. I also got to play with my new Garmin. According to the calories tracker, i burned 2100 calories during my 5:37 hike. I think I simply need to do this hike daily. I was pleased with my time. As is my custom I take the first ascent very easy, walk the whole thing, never push the pace. I was planning on a 6:00 ascent so this was nice. I'll try to shave off 15 min. during next week's trip up.

All said and done, I spent seven of the past nine days above 9000' and got in some good climbs. We'll see if it pays off.

BTW where are you NM?

My Littl Recap

June 18: Hydro to No Name Creek - 3 hard miles up (and of course three more down) - 1:03 up

June 20: Race start to Barr Camp - 7 miles up (and unfortunately I have to get back down so that means 7 miles down) - 2:36 up/ 1:39 down

June 22: Incline with the kid - :59 up

June 23: Ruxton to top of the W's, about 3 miles up and 3 more down - 49:55 up

June 27: Elks Park - 12 mile round trip with a start at 12,000 feet (timberline) and a low of 10,200 (Barr Camp) and back - 3:30 rt - see pic, whci is from the start
Great trip and not having 6 miles of down hill saved me from the beat up. A low point of 10k didn't help much, but I need the altitude.

What's that Smell?

Check out the link by clicking on the title.

Gel + Water + Nose = Disgusting

What do you get when you try to swallow a mouthful of gel and a drink water at the same time? Water down the wrong pipe and gel up the wrong pipe(s). Needless to say it was disgusting. My nostrils were sticking together until I found a stream to wash off in. Not one of my best running experiences.

59:25

What time is this? My time up the switchbacks? My time on a 6 mile run? The total time I've run this week. None of the above. It would be Veronica's inaugural time up the (soon to be legal) Manitou Incline. She did awesome; if i'm not careful she'll beat me up it by my 38th birthday. Can you believe she was evn a little upset with her time????

He's Back!

Happy to see that CS is back among the living. At least I think he is. Note that he mentioned he was headed up to Barr Camp on Saturday, but hasn't posted anything since. And if the weather up there has been anything like it has down here, he may have gotten snowed in. Here's hoping the mountain man made it up and down without a hitch.

Pretty good week here, at least I think so; tomorrow's numbers will tell the story. Got in two bike rides, all three training run, and have started using the calorie-counter at Livestrong.com to keep track of the food stuffing. And though the scale surely won't show what I want it to tomorrow, the clock doesn't lie either. Ran our 9 mile Saturday run yesterday without any of last week's discomfort, and did it 15 minutes faster than the same run last year, and about 12 minutes faster than the 9 mile training run I did early this year. Sure, it means that I was probably dogging it a bit in those earlier runs, but it also means there's some improvement. Gotta keep the momentum going.

Get it on.

u da man

What else can i say.. nice little inspirations. I of course would post something, but I have to run in order to do that. Barr Camp tomorow morning. hopefully I beat my last time, though not sure what makes me think that I will??? My heel feels pretty good, we'll see how it holds up tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary!

So it's been a year since we Fat Boys started this little project to accompany our running. Haven't been as faithful about as perhaps we should have been, but it's still kind of fun to look back and see some of the things we wrote about. Some highlights:

- CS, his wife and I did our first race together at last years Colfax; he did his first full and I did my first half, and contrary to my predictions, it did not kill me

- CS attempted his 3rd Pike's Peak Ascent, but got turned around because of the weather and ended up covering nearly twice as much distance as he should have

- CS, his wife, my running mate and I all ran in the inaugural RnR in San Antone, my first full (!), and again contrary to my predictions, it did not kill me...though it sure as hell hobbled me for a few days

- I lost my running buddy

- I got to run in Manitou Springs, Denver, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Dallas, Roswell, Vegas and Oklahoma City

- CS finally got my fat culo up the Incline...or at least would have if it wasn't illegal

- over the past year I've dropped 20 pounds, kept it off for most part, and I'm not putting it back on again

- I'm running faster, further, and more often than I did at this point last year and am going to shave at least an hour off my marathon time this fall

I've gotten to be pretty consistent about getting the workouts done. This year, I need to get the eating under control.

Get it on.

Putting right along

Here's a tip: Do not eat a bowl of black beans and rice the night before a big run. Couldn't 'trust' what could happen, so had a very uncomfortable run this weekend. All 8 miles of it.

Good news was CS was in town this weekend and came out and joined us. Good egg that he is, when he finished, he came back and dragged me in for the last 1/2 mile or so. A true friend, even if he was/is trying to kill by getting me out to run these stupid distances.

The digits: 8.17mi/1h51m/1,263C/82%avgHR

Hit the Wall...

For the SECOND week in a row, this is what I'm looking at. Even after the stomach punch of last week's weigh in and the deflating feeling that it came with, I was able to get in all three training runs and the 3 mile trail run on Saturday. Also got in at least one, maybe two, 18 milers on the bike.

And I have bupkus to show for it.

On the bright side, I ran the trail run on Saturday a good two minutes per mile faster than pretty much the same trail run this time last year. Bad news is that my HRM said my ticker was about to pop (averaged in the 90%+ range)

This is not going well...

...but I'm going to hit back this week.

Kinda p---ing me off...

I know it's been quiet for awhile, but for the better part of the last two weeks, I've been getting in some serious work. I've gotten in a 6.6-mile training run around the Albuquerque Academy a week ago Saturday and a 7-mile training run this past Saturday. I've gotten in all of my assigned training runs each week, including a couple with the dog in tow and another one that included an additional Academy appearance, and I'm noticing that my times are coming down, albeit slowly and in small amounts. I've gotten in roughly four separate 18+ mile bike rides, usually on days when I also got a training run in, during the same span. Hell, even got a good 20 minutes in on a rowing machine and another 30 in on a stationary bike. The eating's not always been great, but it's definitely been better overall, and you know what I've got to show for it? Look at the right-hand column. Yeah, that's right.

Pinche working out...

Yeah. That's right.

So, where were you Sunday morning at 7? In bed sleeping, or maybe reading the paper with a cup of coffee? Really? That's nice...for you, anyway.

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, I got up to spend at least part of a weekend with CS and his family. Reminded me how much I miss all of them and how much more often I need to get back up there. And part of the plan for the weekend was to tackle the Incline in Manitou Springs (which we wouldn't really do because it's illegal). The Incline is an abandoned cog railway track that goes up one of the lower hills at the foot of Pike's Peak. It's basically a mile-long staircase of railroad ties, some with a 2-3 foot rise between steps/ties. The track is actually a little treacherous in spots and since lawyers can ruin any and everything, it's posted as private property and illegal to hike up, down, or maybe even look at. Hence, neither I, nor CS, nor any of the other 50ish people we didn't see not on the trail were there on Sunday. Because that would be illegal.

I can't believe it was that long ago, but a little over 2 1/2 years ago, CS and I went up and hit the trail (which we wouldn't really do because it's illegal) before going to one of the li'l CSer's soccer games. Now, this trail is almost exactly a mile long, it starts at 6,574 feet above sea level and finishes up at 8,585 feet. A gain of 2,011 in altitude. In just over a mile. And I'm already breathing heavy just from walking from the car to the start of the trail. Anyway, first time out, I made it up maybe 2/3 of it before we had to bail off of it onto a nearby trail and get to the game. Never felt good about not being able to finish it, and have wanted to go back and beat it ever since. Which, of course, I wouldn't ever do because it's illegal.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. CS and I were out of the house at 6:15 and started up the trail before 7. Like last time, which never happened, I was already breathing heavy by the time we got to the trail head. Started off at a slow but steady pace, which I was able to keep up for about the first 1/3 of a mile. Then the slope really kicked in (as much as a 68% grade), and I slowed waaaaay down. But dammit if I didn't get to the top and finish that bastard. Except I didn't, because that would be illegal. CS, of course, bounded up the thing, then came back down a little less than 1/4 of the way, and pep talked me the rest of the way up. Some day I'm going to be able to run like that guy.

Just not up the Incline, because, you see, that would be illegal.

Where's Waldo

It's been awhile and I'll get to el foto in a bit. Last week I went up the Barr trail to No Name Creek - first time since the DNF 20 miler (of a 13 mile race). Took it easy, walked the whole way, and was only a few minutes off my PR. Total roundtrip is only about 7 miles and about 1:38. Felt good to get up there again.

Thursday I did the running group 1 min hard/easy for 30 minutes workout. Pushed it hard, and was satisfied with my effort. My 4 hill repeats at the end were a bit slower than previously, all four times were over :40.

Sunday went for a long run hoping to get in 2:30 of total time, with the goal being to run most of that. Went to Waldo Canyon (does the picture make sense now?). This is a lollipop trail with a 1.7 m hike in, a 3.5 mi loop and then of course the 1.7 back. I haven't done this in awhile and had no idea what kind of time I was looking at, so I was trying to plan some extra time in the event I finished well before my 2:30 goal. Got to the loop in :28 min. HR high the entire time. Completed the loop in :58 min which then put the whole workout at 1:26. I was pondering what to do: a) down to the trail head and back and then back (the problem being when i got to the car i was probably going to stop b) another loop (though that may put me well past 2:30) c) past the car and continue on another trail for a bit and return. I was favoring option C until I got to the beginning/end of the loop and BAM, i decided to go for it again! My thought this time was to walk more of the first part, as it climbs quite a bit, and then really push the rest of it. My thought was that the time would be a little over an hour for the 2nd loop, then the 20 ,inutes back down for a total closer to2:50-3:00, with sub 3:00 being my goal.

So I ended up finishing the second loop in :50 min - 8 minutes faster, despite walking more of it! This is a perfect example of why there are plenty of PPA Wave 1 "runner" who walk the entire race. Total time 2:40.

Quiet = Not Always a Bad Thing

OK, so usually me going quiet is a bad thing, but this week it's just that I haven't found/made the time to get in here and keep things up to date. Doesn't mean I wasn't thinking of y'all.

Got in all three of my training runs this week. Not terribly impressive when you realize that, per the program, we're only supposed to be running for 20 minutes each run, but been trying to run them a bit faster than usual and see if that'll make a difference in the long run. If I can keep that up for awhile, especially while the training runs are still relatively short, I'm hoping to see some results.

Also got in a nice ride after work last night, riding from my house to the kickball game and back. You never think about how far uphill a place is when you're in a car, but boy does it become apparent when you're on a bike. Didn't wear the HR monitor, but you can tell from the time/avg. speed how much a hill it was to get up:

To: 7.04mi/43:51/714C/9.6mph-avg
From: 6.65mi(started the clock a bit late)/27:48/368C/14.4mph-avg

Needless to say, the ride home was sweet. May not have had to pedal the bike for about 5 minutes at one point. Still, looking at my effort and then looking at Lance's down in the Tour de la Gila, well...



suffice to say I ain't sipping champagne on the bike on the Champs Elysees anytime too soon.

Two outta three ain't bad

I am IronMan. OK not quite, but still...

So it's been a busy couple of days. Took Friday off, mostly because of the "big" run coming on Saturday, but mostly because I was a bit sore from the spill off the bike on Thursday. Crowd at first group meeting Saturday was great; many familiar faces and many new ones that I think it's fair to say were there because they saw what I went through with it last year. One face obvious by its absence, but that cuts much deeper than just the running group.

Anyway, after a too-long orientation talk, we finally did our big 3 miles. Because it was relatively short compared to what I'd been doing recently (like just the previous Saturday), I decided to push it a bit, acting like it was a 5K. I noticed almost immediately at the beginning that I felt tired and just didn't have the usual energy from the start, but tried to not let that get me down. The final numbers were not great, but still better than the first ever 5K race I ever ran (43:16.1). Really pushed the last few yards, to the point that I actually dry heaved once when it was over.

This year: 39m32s/3mi

Then went out for a bike ride first thing Sunday morning. Would've been a bit longer, but ran into the 15K+ strong Breast Cancer Walk out on the trail and had to turn around. Felt like a heel hating on the charity walkers, but did they really need the WHOLE trail? How 'bout I just post the news report as penance for my temporary ill feelings.


Sunday ride: 16.58mi/1h18m9s/1213C/74%avgHR

So, Monday comes. Given that, save two bike rides, I really took last week off to recover from the half, the scale wasn't too much of a surprise, though still disappointing. We hit the gym for lunch, however, and that helps ease the pain. Per the program, I'm only supposed to do 20 minutes, so I do the whole thing straight through, and honestly it wasn't hard enough. Need to up the speed when I go in for the second run, hopefully tomorrow.

20min/1.6mi/???C

And then, when I get home tonight, I hit the bike again since it's just such a nice night. About a mile into the second half of the ride, I spot a guy in a neon yellow shirt waaaaaay ahead of me and decide I'm going to catch him. I crank on the way back and finally catch him after a 6+mile chase. I was gassed, but damn it felt good. Except for the second dry heave in three days. I'm guessing that's my body's way of telling me that I ain't in the aerobic zone anymore and have barreled right in to the anaerobic area. No discipline, I tell ya.

18.54mi/1h16m28s/1452c/79%avgHR (seriously, almost 2 miles further in 1:40 less time; I was hauling)

Now, if I could just get my fat self in a pool, I could complete my own little triathlon...

Pitch and pound

OK, so I'm not Chinese and it wasn't raining, but this is a fairly accurate representation of how my ride Thursday afternoon came to an end. I have no idea what I hit, but it was arse over teakettle. Got a good pedal bite in one calf and one elbow is sore, but other than that only my pride was hurt. Think I need to go back to running; I at least seem to have mastered staying on my own two feet.

So far.

Numericals: 18.55mi/1h23min (slightly longer than usual due to laying on ground, staring at sky, wondering if I broke myself)/1383C

I'm screwed

Ate great last week, however I'm off to a bad start this week. The 5 lbs is probably a result of a bloated 261 last week (258 was probably more accurate). regardless, i'm still happy with the result.

Here are the results of Mondays 4 mile, 5:00 AM tempo run:

Mile Total Time Average Pace Average HR
11:13 44:21 11:05 161
10:02 (47:45 last week) (156)
11:24 (49:20 2 wks ago)
11:36

Not too bad, though i have again screwed myself for next week.

Mudruckers

Well, this si the second time I'm posting this entry - the first time my slow arse 'puter took too darn long to upload the video and I finally abandoned my project. As a result this entry will be much shorter.

Saturday's run was wet, cold, wet, snowy, wet, windy, wet, muddy, wet, lonely and wet. I did my 2 hours (actual time 2:04). My feet were all but soaked for 2:00 of it. I splished, splashed, but did NOT take a bath, aka. I didn't fall. The crappy part was that Sunday people were running in tank tops and shorts. So no animals other than unleasehed dogs that may all too soon seek the wrath of my foot if they come charging and barking at me while their unlaw-abinding owners yells "Bobo, come back boy, stop Bobo, he doesn't usually do that." If I'm doing this trail with one of my kids and that happens, I'm kicking the dog (sorry NM).

I suppose the run was a succcess: I was on my feet with an elevated HR for 2 hours in conditions that are remarkably similar to the scree on the top of the Barr trail.

Off(-ish) week: Day One

Figured that after Saturday's festivities, I'd take this week easy and get back into it with the start of ABQFit on Saturday. As such, may not get a lot of running in this week, but given the somewhat encouraging signs from the scale, I've got to do something this week to keep that going. Plus, I really, really need the distraction right now.

Got home from work and dragged the bike out for the usual trek. Still a bit breezy, but not as bad as weeks past and the temps were fantastic. Made decent time both directions given what was mostly a crosswind. And it's far easier to work yourself into a rhythmic trance when you're focusing on the cadence and just cruising along on the bike.

Can you tell I've been in my head a bit lately?

The Results (bike): 18.6mi/1h21m/1406C

Where the heck I been?

OK, so just where have I been? Well, because of the big event I'll get to in a minute, I didn't plan on doing too much training this past week. Then came Monday's weigh in which you'll note I did NOT post on time. And then when I got out and actually did a run on Monday, it was so freakin' gawdawful (2.96m/568C/42min) that I felt like I'd fallen back to where I was at the beginning of last year before I ever started any of this running. And in many ways all of that was the high point of last week. Yeah, that's right.

That night I was thinking about all of it and the fact that my little first-of-the-year running program was supposed to culminate with a race on Saturday. I had been running with (well, really just at the same time and place as) the half marathon group, but had been thinking about just running the 10K or even just the 5K and trying to post a respectable time. But as I thought about it some more, I said "Eff it" and went in the next day and signed up for the Unser Half Marathon.

Night before the race it rained. And rained. And rained. Now normally here in NM it never rains for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, and more recently it hadn't really rained since about '05, so this storm was something else. The next morning I got up and could feel the near freezing air coming in through the slightly open bathroom window. I'm not going. I get dressed and pull my stuff together. I'm not going. I head out the door and feel the first real bite of the air. I'm not going. I stop and take care of some important business on the way to the race, drive to the gathering spot and realize that I left my race bib at home. I'm not going. I race home, find the bib and race back to the starting line, the mud caking on my shoes as I speed-walk over to get my timing chip. I'm not going. I get my chip and then have to stand in a ridiculous line for the Port-o-Let that still has me standing there when the official start time comes. I'm not going. Take care of business and walk up the dirt road to the start line, getting more and more mud on the soles of my shoes; maybe I can twist my knee running on this shite and not have to run. I'm not going. They blow the horn and everyone takes off; I quickly fall back to the back of the pack. I guess I'm going.

The storm had in fact made a mucky mess of the beginning of the race, but we soon hit the pavement and then I go to enjoy the freshly cleaned and mostly empty streets and the mountains were positively gorgeous.

The first mile, frankly, was a bear. The second was a little better, and by the third I'd settled into kind of a groove. I've also got to admit that the fact that the course was a completely new place for me to run helped, as it gave me plenty to look at and distract myself a little. My only gripe was that part of the course was not really well marked and for about a mile I thought I may have made a wrong turn. Not fun. And really, look at this map and you can see how convoluted some of it was:


Anyway, I got through it, and got through it about 20 minutes faster than the first (and only other) time I ran a half last spring. But damn if it's still not soooo verrry sloooooow. Something to work on during the marathon prep, I guess.

Which, by the way, starts Saturday. [Gulp]

The Digerati: 13.1m/LOOONG TIME/1864C/AvgHR 60% (Can you tell I got a little tired? Or do I need to work harder? Honestly, it's both.)