| Location: Erie,CO, Member Since: Jan 01, 2008 Gender: Male Goal Type: Unknown Running Accomplishments: Pikes Ascent: 2:37.x
Pikes Marathon 4:32:x
Do PRs count if they are older than 10 years? Short-Term Running Goals: Preparing for Pikes 08 Long-Term Running Goals: Run lots of mountains and passes, the Grand Canyon, and the Burro Race World Championships Personal: I have nine toes for the same reason Paul McMullen has eight |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 97.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 97.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.00 |
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This AM I was back down on the mill (my weekend schedule has not allowed me to get out a lot!). I jumped on at a 12 min a mile pace to "wake up" and then upped the pace every 15 seconds. As goofy as this sounds, this was one of the more comfortable warms I have done. My HR stabilized at 145ish around 3/4 of a mile (a bit short of that actually) and then I was at near 7 minute pace. I held this HR for the next five miles, slowing the pace in the last two as the HR would drift to 150. I captured the splits, etc in the spreadsheet I am going to maintain during this period. I don't think I can say I am seeing progress with my pace yet: my runs earlier this week were done with an upper limit of 142 and now I am using 149. In the afternoon, I was able to sneak out for a bit and got in another 10 - easy (75:30). My legs felt good, although my calves got a little tight at the end. My gut (stomach) was quesy on this one though (ick).
This was a good week. While I did not do any significant speed or hard workouts, I was able to focus well mentally with lots of consideration on how to train - and get in a good amount of mileage (87) despite having a day that I missed. My legs feel good - my biggest struggle has been getting the time to get the miles in. The plan for the next week is to continue this experiment.
Folks are prepping for the big registration day for Pikes this week. I lucked out last year that I get to by-pass this (and yes, there was some element of luck to it as the time I ran last year  would not have secured such a benefit in the previous three runnings of the marathon). I remember when I first met Galen Burrell and Scott Elliott. We were doing Lindens in the early summer of 2006. I was asking the routine questions about training, nutrition, and their preparations for this little race in Manitou Springs. I mentioned that I had noticed they were not on the registration list. I caught the quick, almost imperceptible glance and slight sheepish grin between these two incredibly humble but powerful hill warriors. I then learned, and I had to pull this out of them that, as they had both won the race before (and Scott multiple times) they did not need to register. In fact, they could show up race day at the starting line and just race. For free. For the rest of their lives. I suddenly had the vision of an 80 year Galen Burrell showing up on race day and getting a spot on the front of the line. Now that is a cool race tradition. While I am afforded this lucky luxury this year, I know that most will be anxiously tied to their computers Wednesday AM, finger precariously triggered over the mouse, racing to get into the race. Regardless if you beleive this is the best way or the worst way to manage race registration, we all want to avoid the registration crash of last year. Good luck to all possible race participants!
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| I am a bit tired today. I had some aspirations when I went to bed of getting up early and getting some miles in. But I slept like a dead man last night and by the time I rolled out of bed, it was time to get the clan moving to school, etc. So I didn't. It is going to be another tight week with my schedule so I am going to end up sneaking stuff in at lunch, late night, early AM ... so a lot of little runs again.
Mid day - easy six on the Coal Creek Trail. Just me, prairie dogs, a few other runners, some guy that was fourth in the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2000, seventh in 2004. Care to guess who that is?
PM - easy on the Coal Creek Trail (the other way). It is so obvious that Spring is trying to break through ... and the time change is really helping (although there were bugs out there too!). At times I felt like I was just floating in this run. Other times I was feeling like my legs were made of lead. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
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AM - 3 miles with Lucy. 29 degrees. Breakfast - 2 cups of coffee, 2 eggs over easy, pc of toast; Later AM - big cup of joe from Ink. My morning is spent sitting in a relatively uncomfortable chair in a hotel conference room, discussing risk management, and design control when considering FDA medical devices. To keep busy, I do some other operational data crunching during the session.
Mid day - 6 miles, out west on Coal Creek trail and to the roads west of Superior. 23 out, 22 back. Easy. 70 degrees. Yes, that is a 40 degree swing. And yes, that is spring in Colorado. Ran a good deal of it shirtless. Again, at times I was floating, feeling great. And then almost turning on a dime, I'd feel heavy legged and tired. I imagine this is just the joy of a load of good miles. My afternoon was much like my morning. Sucked on a few Jolly Ranchers to promote tooth decay. They brought in an afternoon snack of chocolate chip cookies. I had a few. They were ridiculously soft - almost like dough. Very nice in the mouth. Less so in the stomach. I paid for this on the PM run when I "un-enjoyed" them. If you need to ask, you don't want to know.
PM - 6 miles on the Coal Creek again before heading home. 65 degrees and a breeze picking up out of the west. I was definitely begining to feel the fatigue of some miles here at the end of this run, even though it was easy. Back to the house and TZ headed out to class. The kids and I did pasta. TWK is out here this week, and apparently he enjoyed the CC trail as well. After dinner, I had some almonds and a Pacifico.
Today puts me at well over 100 miles (107 I think) for the last seven days. I think this is a seven day high for me. That feels good. I don't feel like I am fully redlining it, as I am breaking up the mileage into manageable chunks. I can imagine the 120 mile week. But this ain't no walk in the park for me either. I look at days and week like this and can't help but reflect that at one point the 100 mile week seemed so unnecessary for what I wanted to do. And why not? I was doing what I wanted to do with 50 mile weeks. It is odd. I could not run this much when I was 18. But I could run closer to 2 minutes for the half then.
I enjoyed JK's post today - essentially about the apparent monotony of training. I love that life. One day of training does not make you. One bad day does not break you. Live your life unlike anyone today so that you can live your life unlike anyone tomorrow. . |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
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Slept hard last night. Again, I had plans to wake up early and get some miles in but the gravity around my bed at 5AM was significantly greater than usual. It is easy for me to validate the need for more sleep, and how it is truly a good thing. It felt good to not get up until 6:30. Mid day - I got out to the Davidson for a real easy seven. About half way in, my left hammie began to sing a bit as it were going to lock up, up in where it connects to my glute. I avoided that, but it freaked me out a bit and so I kept the run even easier than typical. PM - I got out to the Davidson again for an easy five. The winds had picked up at a pretty good clip. Again, I kept it easy.
I am definitely playing a bit on edge city here with the volume ... which is good in some regards, but I need to be a bit careful too. My Achilles is singing, the hammie gave me a warning today, and the ab thing continues to bug me (side note - I am begining to wonder if my abdominal thing is not diastasis recti but maybe Gilmore's groin. There appears to be a lot of stuff on this on that evil board). I know that for some the 100 mile week is not a big deal, but it is new to me. More concerning than my body yelling at me is that I am getting signs in my head that I am on the edge - a bit less mentally focused, irratable (although talking about the FDA for the last three days at work might be contributing to that). I am going to try to strike the balance of being careful and managing myself to get used to this load. I need to do that to be successful.
 Today's picture, in the spirit of thinking of those folks registering today (if you are reading this, you ought to get in! JV - glad to hear you made it!) ... this is a shot I took on the day of the Ascent last year. And yes, it is a picture of a hose. And yes, it is a picture looking down the mountain. This hose runs from the Summit House at the top of the mountain, to an aide station (I think at about 1.5 miles to go ... which means nothing in terms of mile splits really other than you have way more time still to go up than you like). A few things about this aide station: 1.) the water tastes like a hose. 2.) the Gatorade tastes like a hose 3.) some nice person has the task of hauling this hose out there before the race and after the race 4.) the difference in water pressure (in hydrology terms, called head) is so significant, this hose is not actually hooked up to a spigot at the Summit House - but rather is siphoned down from a tub.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
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Mid day - 6, real easy.
PM - got out with TWK, headed west into the breeze on the way out, tail wind on the way back. Yapped about work, training, patience, and ... stuff. Easy miles, they flew by. I tacked on a few more on the end. All easy. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| Easy 12 out at Teller Farm. Real easy. My legs are pretty heavy. Wore the electronica to assure the HR did not go about 150. I averaged 143 throughout. Pace was around 8, slower on the ups. Last ten days have been 144 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
|  When discussing training with Lucho, he has used the term "bomb proof." It is an interesting choice of words. They describe being so fit, so strong, that come race day, whatever the course, your body, the day throws at you - you are ready. Part of the reason why I find it interesting is because Scott Elliott, who I am pretty sure has never met Lucho uses the term "bullet proof" in the same context. Two guys, both driven, methodical, focused, never met and nearly the same terms.
And so the way you become bomb - bullet proof is to bomb yourself with long runs, tempo runs, aerobic work, anaerobic work, core work, intervals, hill sessions ... all so that come your race day, you can drop bombs on the competition, your goals, and yourself and get to that next level - whatever that is for you.
For the last 11 days, I have been dropping a bit of a bomb on myself with two concepts: training at a lower HR (and hence a slower pace) and increasing distance. The first, alone, is not much of a bomb. The second has seemed to have left me reeling. While my mileage is hardly anything of significance when compared to most, it is an increase for me. Up until about Wednesday of this past week, I seemed to be handling it fairly well. Since then, however, my runs have become long, slow(er) drawn out affairs where my body is yelling at me about dull aches and pains from connective tissue, muscle and bone. Some of this is the mileage. Some of this is that I have been "burning it" at the other end a bit with work (yeah, if I got an afternoon nap, I might be doing better), and family.
The goal has been to bomb myself to become stronger, to become more used to the greater mileage, to become more efficient aerobically, and to become more bomb proof. I knew that burying myself in mileage for a few weeks would be a challenge. But today, I am wrecked. My 12 today was a death march of heavy legs, slow running, held together only by will of personally requiring that I get it done. Sometimes you just take a pill of SIU and move on.
But, as training is supposed to do, this reveals a weakness, one of many for me. While in the short term, I may back off the number a bit, I do need up the ante here to become bomb proof. My plans are to run a marathon - not a 5K. And so, I need to make the investment in my bomb shelter with miles, minutes, hours. It is not the only thing I need to invest in, but it is clearly one I have learned needs some work. And all this is good stuff. In fact it is great stuff. I love getting out there and getting to the realization of this stuff.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 97.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 97.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
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Today's picture, in the spirit of thinking of those folks registering today (if you are reading this, you ought to get in! JV - glad to hear you made it!) ... this is a shot I took on the day of the Ascent last year. And yes, it is a picture of a hose. And yes, it is a picture looking down the mountain. This hose runs from the Summit House at the top of the mountain, to an aide station (I think at about 1.5 miles to go ... which means nothing in terms of mile splits really other than you have way more time still to go up than you like). A few things about this aide station: 1.) the water tastes like a hose. 2.) the Gatorade tastes like a hose 3.) some nice person has the task of hauling this hose out there before the race and after the race 4.) the difference in water pressure (in hydrology terms, called head) is so significant, this hose is not actually hooked up to a spigot at the Summit House - but rather is siphoned down from a tub.