A Dose of Inspiration

With all the crud going on in the world and negative news about kids, this is one shining example that there is still so much good to be pulled from the weeds and celebrated.

Matt exemplifies the raw desire & determination to get to the finish line against all odds.  His friends exemplify the power of community & encouragement.  Wow.

Here's the background story:  Inspiring elementary schooler with cerebral palsy runs amazing 400-meter race

Crooked Creek Pass Run

We spent the holiday weekend camping at Sylvan Lake State Park just south of Eagle.  What a cool spot!  There wasn't much running on tap for the weekend as I'm taking it easy before the Dirty Thirty on 6/2.

I did slip out on Sunday morning for a jog up to Crooked Creek Pass.  This run was just over 11 miles and all on forest service roads.

I didn't know much about the run, but it was all up for 5.5 miles and all down to get back.  Total climb was about 2000'.

Despite not being on trails, the roads replicated the serenity of trails as I didn't see another person or car the entire run.  Here are a few other pics:

Looks like a crooked creek to me!

Later that afternoon, I ventured out on a hike from the campground with my youngest.  It had gotten overcast and windy, so we needed to get out and get the blood flowing a little.

We had a great time creating little adventures all along the way.  At several points, she would blurt out, "let's do some trail running!"  I don't ever push running on my girls, but I certainly won't suppress it when they want to run for a brief stretch.  Here she is launching off a little bump in the trail.

Kilian's Quest?  Nah, the new craze is Zoe's Quest!

Quad Rock 50 Race Report

The Quad Rock 50 crept up on me.  Yes, I had been training for two months and I began to taper two weeks ago,  but distractions have been constant during this time as I proceeded to get a doozy of a head cold and sinus infection about ten days out that knocked me down until the day before for the race.  I was also wrapping up my soccer coaching commitments with our final game at 5pm on Friday.  I left from the game to grab dinner and drive up to to the Fort.

With that said, I arrived in Loveland at Jaime's in-laws (super nice folks) around 8:45pm and in time to chat for a bit and then hit the sack.  We were both up a little after 3:00am and heading up to Lory State Park in the dark.

The 45 minutes after we arrived whizzed by and before we knew it, all the 25 & 50 milers were crossing the start line and beginning their journeys.  The morning was damp and cold.  It had rained quite a bit the day before, but thankfully that didn't leave us with a muddy mess.  The ground soaked up the precipitation and kept the dust down.

The 50 mile race features two 25 miles loops.  The second loop is run in reverse.  There are benefits and drawbacks to this type of course.  The benefits are that you know exactly what you're going to get hit with on the second loop, and you also get to see the leaders coming back at you and can figure out where you stand.  The negative is that you know exactly what you're going to get hit with on the second loop and you contemplate that while you're standing at the finish line (aka the turn-around).  Jaime ran the 25 in strong fashion finishing in 13th!  I was aiming for 10 hours and was excited to finish around 9:23.

I started writing out the play by play for the 50 mile race and got really bored reading it.  There are so many people that have described the course in their reports much better than I can.  Don't get me wrong, the race was awesome and probably one of my best.  So I erased it all and decided to focus on why this race worked well for me.  You'll hear me say "for me" many times coming up because I've learned the biggest mistake an ultrarunner can make, is telling another ultrarunner they're making a mistake.  Everything in this sport is so personal and there is no cookie cutter approach to setting goals, training, fueling, race strategy, gear...you name it.  So after perusing a few pictures from the course, you can read my take-aways from the Quad Rock.

Almost the end of the Towers Road climb.

Lush green - wildflowers - and SNOW!

Such a sweet sight after 50 miles - but depressing after 25.

An awesome venue for the finish festivities.  Too bad the weather didn't cooperate.

Take-aways

Weather:  Two of the my best road marathons have been in a cold & steady rain.  I've yet to run an ultra in the rain, but this was as close as I've come.  It was overcast and foggy all day.  While it was chilly at the low points of the course, it got downright cold at the top.  I started wearing a t-shirt with arm warmers.  I thought the arm warmers were overkill until I got to the top of the Towers Rd climb and saw snow.  These wild temperature swings continued all day with each incline/decline. While the arm warmers came off early, my gloves stayed on until mile 48.  The sun is my nemesis in races, and I know these conditions kept the nausea I almost always experience at bay.

EFS:  I've used EFS Liquid Shots for over a year now.  I like it much more than any gel on the market, but I stink at taking gels over the long haul in a race.  I've tried mixing EFS in a 20 oz bottle, but that doesn't work because I crave plain water and don't like combining my calories & hydration.  Thus, I had settled on taking the liquid shot straight and carrying it in the flasks.  That has worked okay, but I still have a hard time getting it down late in a race when my stomach is unhappy.  Well, I was stoked to hear that First Endurance was sponsoring this race and providing Liquid Shot refills at each aid station!  So I tried something new.  I carried a 10 oz bottle in the front pocket of my pack.  At almost each station, a volunteer filled it with 4 oz of EFS and 6 oz of water.  What an sumptuous concoction!  I still carried water in my handheld, but the EFS went down smooth & quick all day and the energy I got from it was unlike anything I've experienced before.  Getting these refills at the aid stations probably saved me $30 in fuel costs!

Stinson Evo B's:  I had just picked up a pair of these four days before the race (courtesy of a $50 gift card to BRC - which barely made a dent in the cost!) and ran in them three times totaling 13 miles.  They are the best trail running shoe I've worn yet and decided to give them a go on Saturday.  They did not disappoint.  The foam is much firmer than the Mafates (not sure if the new Mafates use the same), so the "running on pillows" feeling is gone.  They felt more responsive on the climbs, but the cushioning still did its thing protecting my feet from the rocks and letting me bomb the downhills with little regard for the terrain.  I know Hoka's aren't for everyone, but the Stinson's are close to a perfect racing shoe for me.

Up/Down:  Despite the 11,500' of elevation gain/loss, I've realized a constant up & down course is much more suited for me than ones that feature more flat stretches.  Each climb was 3-4 miles, and that was just the right amount of time for my muscles to get worked and be ready for the change.  Again, if the sun was out, I'm sure I'd be saying something totally different.  I also appreciated the low altitude compared to the dizzies I get when running in the mountains.

Running Mindset:  Once again, I ran without any splits in mind.  With no pre-defined time to get to an aid station, I barely looked at my watch (no GPS).  When I did, I couldn't figure out the math for how I was doing, so I just kept running.  Keep it simple right?  I ran this way at Moab (except I was chasing Todd & Joe the whole race) and loved the feeling of doing my best and letting the chips fall where they may.    I know that I'm only arriving at this newly found freedom because I'm gaining experience with each year of running that passes and thus certain things are becoming more natural and require less thought.  I'm not sure what to do about Leadville, because I know splits are important there for my crew.   I also tried two new mantras which are too lame to share.  But they worked well and helped pull me out of the moments of doubt I experienced.

Nick & Pete did a bang up job for an inaugural race.  The volunteers were stellar.  This race will sell out much faster in the future.  If you need a race to whip your climbing legs into shape for your summer season, this is the one.

Running with the Pink Horses

Megan (right) celebrating a goal by her cousin Katie (left)

This has been an interesting block of training leading up to the Quad Rock 50.  I began coaching my daughter's U9 soccer team (The Pink Horses) in March, which coincided with the 7 week window I'd planned to ramp up my training.

As a first time coach, I wanted everything to flow smoothly.  Of course, I've been humbled by the process and understand now that my expectations of working with twelve 9-year-old girls must include some bumpy waters.  Coaching has been a rewarding, but somewhat stressful experience for me.  The amount of planning and coordination is immense.  Most of the time I feel completely inadequate for the task.  Combine that with the fatigue of training and other demands of life, and it's a recipe for burnout.  Thankfully, I'm surviving just fine and wouldn't change a thing.  We've had some highs and lows, which sounds a lot like running  The highs have been pretty darn special as each of the girls have such fun and unique personalities and leading them on this journey has been a privilege.

With Quad Rock now less than two weeks away, I'm ready to roll. I've accomplished everything I planned for my training with a nice mix of vertical, hiking, long runs, night runs, high mileage.  About 95% of my miles have been on trail.  Sleep has surely been sacrificed, but I hope to recover a bit in that department now that I'm tapering.

Quad Rock will be a beast of a race, but that's exactly what I feel ready for.

Ultrarunning 101

This is awesome.  I have had similar conversations about Leadville with non-runners.  Gotta love..."I thought the fastest growing sport was NASCAR or Wii Fit..."

Longs Peak Hike/Run

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I was running too much and need to get my hiking legs ready for the races I have coming up.  Well, there's nothing like being forced to bang out a few 75 min/miles to wake up the hiking legs!

That's what was in store when I joined up with Joe Z for a hike up Longs Peak last Saturday.  The earliest I've ever hit the summit of a 14er was late June.  To hike one in March is unfathomable to me, unless this particular March happens to be the driest one in history!

I read earlier in the week that the Longs Keyhole route was virtually snow-free above treeline.  With all my ladies out of town for Spring Break, I grabbed the opportunity to tackle this beast of a mountain.

Joe & I started from the trailhead at 6:10am and made good progress on the snow packed trails in the trees.  It was almost all snow, but nothing that microspikes couldn't handle and even ran a few stretches.  Once we got above the trees, we continued to cruise at a steady pace until we hit the Boulder Field and the fun really began.

When you get to the top of a ridge, this scene comes into view.

As you plod through the Boulder Field, you keep your aim on the Keyhole.

Looking back on the Boulder Field.  There's actually a trail about halfway through all that rocky mess.

At this point, Joe & I took our first break at the Keyhole shelter.  As I was approaching it, I heard this thundering waterfall.  I don't ever remember reading about a waterfall, but it was unmistakable.  Unless the wind is so strong whipping through the Keyhole that the sound effect is just the same.

We put on every piece of clothing we brought as the temps were hovering around the freezing mark and the sun didn't seem to be helping much as it frequently hid behind the clouds.  Sure enough, we got blasted on the other side of the Keyhole...but not for long!  It was strange.  At some points, the wind was forceful and sustained.  At others, it simply disappeared and we had long stretches of stillness.  No complaints then!

On to the Ledges...

Despite what this pictures shows, the snow on the Ledges was very manageable.

The Ledges came and went quickly, and we were soon looking up at the Trough.  This was my first "WHOA!" moment of the day.  We were already at over 13,000 feet and staring at a climb that went straight up.

That is a long, long way UP.

The effort needed to get up the Trough was huge.  This is where those 75 minute miles came into play.  Climbing on all fours with loose footing and a touch of snow and ice mixed in.  I never felt once that we wouldn't make it, but I confessed in my mind that I had underestimated the challenge of Longs.

Welcome to Class III climbing!

The Narrows.  While the exposure is great, it was a welcome change from the Trough and a rest before the Homestretch.

The Homestretch is no slouch of a climb!  The silver lining?  No loose rock!

We arrived at the summit in just over three hours.  There was no one there.  More importantly, the wind wasn't there!  It was quiet and glorious.  We sat and ate and soaked in the spectacular views.  After a few pictures, I ran from east to west on the football field of boulders that is the summit of Longs.  Not sure why, but it's fun to know I did.

The dorkiest-looking person on the mountain!

Joe standing on the official marker.

There's not much to say about the descent other than it was long and tiring.  The Trough kicked my butt again.  I kicked loose a volleyball-sized rock that tumbled down.  I yelled "Rock!" to Joe and he in turn yelled down to two hikers coming up.  Crazy.  I can easily see why helmets would have been a very smart idea on that stretch.

After passing through the Boulder Field, we began to run.  It was still quite technical trail above tree line, but the running made it pass by as quick as we could make it.  Then came the snow-packed trails that were softening up with the rising temps.  If you ran down the exact center of the trail (about 6" wide, you would have no problem staying on top.  But of course, I had a few epic postholes as stepped just off to one side.  On two occasions, I thought my leg might just rip off as my momentum kept my body moving forward while my leg lodged into 2-3' of snow.

We got back to the trailhead around 12:20pm.  Not a bad way to spend six hours on a Saturday!  I've been trying to check this peak of my list for years and it felt so good to do just that when I got home.

After a day or two passed, the fatigue really hit me.  So many body parts were sore!  I took two full days off from running this week and can't wait to see how this hike will be absorbed.

Colorado Trail - Segment 1

A call was put out last week by JT for an out & back group run on segment 1 of the Colorado Trail.  I thought it was on Saturday, but later found out the group was heading out on Sunday morning.  Since that didn't work for me, I opted to go it alone on Saturday as it sounded like a fun, long run on "new to me" trails.

Run Stats

I began the run at 5:30am, so my jaunt up Waterton Canyon was in darkness.  The coolest moment of the day came when I was passing a towering cliff that had to be 100' high.  I looked up with my headlamp and found ten pairs of glowing eyes looking down at me about 3/4 of the way up.  They were so far up that I couldn't see anything but the eyes.  I'm sure it was the herd of bighorn sheep, but it was crazy to think of them spending the night on the face of a cliff.

Thankfully dawn had arrived by the time I reached the dam and began the real CT (sans headlamp).

Looking northeast at Turkshead Peak

The first several miles of singletrack feature switchbacks as you climb up to Lenny's Rest.  As much as I would have loved being with a group, the solitude in the forest was exactly what I needed.  No talking, no music...just me and the sounds of woodpeckers, chirping birds, and whatever that weird noise is that squirrels make.

The trail conditions were awesome considering it's still March!  If you strung together all the snow patches I encountered over the 32 miles, the snow/ice would have accounted for about 2-3 miles.

These weren't fun, but they were short.

Well, some where a bit longer.

Couple of spots opened up the view to the west.  Raleigh Peak?

Cool views of Mt. Evans.

Long Scraggy Peak?  I wish I knew what I was looking out at.  One of the burn areas on the right.

From high above the South Platte.  Fun running down, but a slog coming back up!

Need some help with this.  Dog?  Cougar?  The middle of the print looks funny with the three bumps.  I'm wondering if it's a print inside of a print. 

Here are the two others close to the one above.  These look more like some sort of small cat.  For reference, I wear a size 12.5 shoe.

Segment Two Trailhead

The start of segment two was calling for me to come!

Is this pronounced like Goudy or Judy?  Oh the things you will think about for over an hour on a long run!

If the temps weren't hovering around 32 here, I would have considered hanging out a bit.

I decided to once again experiment with nutrition on this run.  I tried a 30 miler last year and ate only potatoes, and a bunch of different cookies & crackers.  That test didn't go so well.  On this run, I decided to skip the gels and eat nothing but Scooby Snacks.  They're actually quite tasty to me, and they pack 130 calories, 22g carbs, 120mg sodium, 2g protein into nine dog bones.

The results?  I give 'em two thumbs up.  There are about 90 bones in the box and I ate 60 of them.  No, I didn't actually run with the box in hand!  I felt fine the entire run and never got tired of the taste/consistency.  I'd pop two in at a time and let them sit in my cheeks a bit before gobbling them down.  During the second half, I needed a quick shot of water to help since my mouth was a bit more dry.

With all that said, I have a really bad habit of getting to the last 5-8 miles of a run/race and feeling like I should be able to stop eating and be fine to the finish.  I have done this too many times to count.  When I got to the dam, I felt like I was on the home stretch and stopped eating while clicking off a couple miles in the mid-7's.  Not smart.  Had I kept with the program and not try to be a superhero, I would have returned to my car feeling solid.  Instead, the last two miles to the trailhead were borderline miserable.  Someday I will learn.  Someday.

The Love-Hate Workout

All is well getting back into a training cycle for the Quad Rock 50 in May.  In fact, that will kick off a series of three races in a span of six weeks.  One thing I can't ignore about these races is the vertical.  All of them will be quite hilly.

Quad Rock 50 = 11,000+'
Golden Gate Dirty Thirty (50k) = 7,680'
San Juan Solstice 50 = 12,000+'

With the above in mind, I've kicked off my weekday early morning Mt. Falcon sessions.  Instead of running a full loop and hitting every trail (which I enjoy immensely), I'm sticking with a 3-2-1 to force myself to workout on the most painful (mentally & physically) part of the park.  The first three miles from the lower lot is not fun, but provides the most vertical bang for your buck.  So starting at 5am, I run up to the shelter (3 mi) and back down to the lowest point, turnaround and head back up two miles, and then repeat by climbing that first dreaded mile.

It's funny how this workout creates the same conditions of mental anguish I've experienced in trail races with lap courses.  All I can think about during the first 3 mile climb is that I'm going to be doing most of it all over again.  I'm hoping that repeating this workout will toughen me to realize it's not a big deal and I just need to suck it up.

I resampled the GPS data and got 3893', but I'm thinking that is still several hundred feet too high.

The problem I see right now is I'm running too much.  I'm not talking about mileage, but how I'm getting my miles in.  I'm going to toss in an extra "hiking only" morning soon.  It's a weakness right now and I know all three races will expose it in short order.

Runnin' The Strip

The week of 2/20 found me at a conference in Vegas for a few days.  I was fresh off the Red Hot, but had the itch to run a bit after sitting around most of the day.

If you're looking for trails you can run to from the Strip, they're no where to be found.  Even though you can see mountains in almost every direction, you'll need a car to get there.

So running the Strip was my only non-treadmill option.  Unless you like constantly weaving around people, I learned quickly that the only time to run the Strip is early.  That may be a problem for some, but I'm not much of a nightlife guy, so I ventured out around 6am and joined all the other runners pounding the pavement.  It was actually an enjoyable run.  There's no shortage of things to look at. They have elevated pedestrian walkways at most major intersections, so you get several small climbs mixed in.

I don't have much else to report from a running front.  My next race is the Quad Rock 50 in May, so I'm looking forward to a training block without the pressure of an immediate race.  I need to start ramping up my miles and begin getting back over to the foothills for some climbing.  More importantly, I still need to heal up the ache in my knee.

2012 Red Hot 55k Report

In all my ultras to date, I've entered with a plan to run my own race.  I'll figure out various aid station splits to meet my goal time, and then I simply put my head down and try to make it happen.  For the Red Hot, I took on a very different approach.  No splits and no conservative start.

My goal was to crack five hours after running a 5:16 last year and knowing I could do a little better.  I knew that shaving off 17 minutes would require a "racing" type effort from the start and that's not typically how I roll out there.  Shortly before the race, I decided that in order to make it happen, I'd go to school.  My teachers would be Todd Gangelhoff and Joe Ziegenfuss.  Both of these guys have thrown down some impressive times at many races.  Todd went sub-5 last year, so my plan was to chase them and observe how they ran.

The morning was chilly as the sun rose into bright blue skies.  After a quick pre-race meeting we were off into the spectacular canyons and mesas.  It was quite convenient for me that Joe and Todd began running together, so I hung back as school was in session.  A few miles in, Joe pulled over for a bathroom break and Todd and I just kept trucking along.

The meeting - Pink ribbon is Good.  Blue ribbon is bad.

Photo:  Colorado Runner Magazine

If you've ever run with Todd, you would know what a strong uphill runner he is.  There's a decent amount of climb in the first 10 miles of the race and Todd's pace was hot.  We were easily clicking off some miles in the low 7's.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about a major blowup later on.  Who was I trying to kid?  I've only run that pace in a road marathon.  Around mile 14, we hit a long flat stretch and Todd and another dude started pulling away as I just couldn't keep that pace going any longer. 


I came into aid station #3 and one of the volunteers said I was 15 minutes behind the leader.  I laughed since no one has ever provided me that information in a race before.  My response?  "Thanks, but that time is only going grow!"


At mile 18.5, I pulled over for a bathroom break and lo and behold, Joe comes flying along.  I quickly hopped back on the trail and we chatted for a bit.  Apparently Joe had been about 300 yds behind me for the last 15 miles. 


What followed was Joe and I leapfrogging a bit and helping each other stay on course during the slickrock section.  He was typically in front of me and at times started to pull away.  It was around now the pain "tennis match" began.  My knee began the "bandera ache", and my left hip was giving me a sharp stinging sensation.  The hip thing began about a week before the race, but I figured it would eventually run it's course. The knee and hip nicely alternated in delivering their pain.  While the pain was real, it was nothing compared to the sting of a DNF, which was still fresh in my mind from Bandera.

The only pic captured on course.  Joe about 300 yds ahead.

After passing through the mile 28 aid station, we were running next to each other and agreed that breaking 5 hours was not going to happen.  I was discouraged, but tried to hold it together enough to stay under 5:16.  Joe slowed down to run next to me, but I told him to go on ahead.  My breathing was a bit off, so I really couldn't talk.  It didn't take much and he move ahead by a quarter mile or more.


With about a mile to go, I started to recognize the final stretch and looked at my watch.  4:43.  I'm not sure what we were thinking when we thought we wouldn't make it under 5 hrs.  That really got the juices flowing and I started pushing it hard on the downhill stretch.  Joe had built up quite a gap, but I was able to cut some of it and cross the finish line about 10 seconds after him.  4:50.  13th place!

So happy to be done!  One of my top three favorite finish line scenes awaited.

This race was by far the hardest I've pushed it in an ultra.  I can't thank Todd & Joe enough for being the carrot that kept me going.  I know I would have walked more in the second half if Joe wasn't up ahead running.  I carried my camera and it would have been a perfect day to capture some shots of the course, but when you're chasing some seriously fast guys, taking the camera out is not an option.  I did once towards the end, but that was so I could not kick myself for carrying it and never using it.

I'm not sure if I could run this race any faster.  Maybe a just a tad, maybe not.  It is very hard running an ultra like this with a marathon type pacing effort.  Very hard, but very rewarding.  

After the race, Tanya & the girls took me back into Arches for some....hiking!  Yes, we cruised around Balanced Rock and a few arches.  It felt good to walk and the weather was simply gorgeous.  I can't get enough of Moab and maximizing the day was all we wanted to do.  Since I didn't take many pictures during the race, here are a few from Arches.

No rest for the weary.   It was easy to scrounge up some energy when this awaited!

This pic cracks me up.  Megan holding up the South Window Arch.

Now for a little perspective on how large the South Window truly is!  It is probably 1000 feet behind them.