Saturday, November 29, 2014

300 Pages

That is a statistic that I read last night has me reeling a bit today.  "Traffic generation jumps significantly once a site achieves 300+ indexed pages."  This is relevant only in the sense that in building my business and adding content to my business webpage I still have a ton of work to do to start showing up as a significant player out there.

I had a big running goal for November but between tweaking my knee and some of the weather we have had the numbers just are not there.  Throw in the usual fall/winter lack of goals or sense of urgency in training and it comes up to be another light month.  On a good note, I feel great! No lingering aches or pains or anything, so if/when I have to start training in earnest next month I will be set.

This is going to be a big week for me.  I discovered that Aspen does not have a divorce recovery support group of any kind.  As many of my clients are going through that and rebuilding their lives I have stepped up and have created a local divorce support group here.  The first meeting of the Aspen Divorce Support Group will be this coming Wednesday the 3rd in the Pitkin Country Library Meeting Room at 6:15.  I am excited and a bit nervous.  I have run groups before it has just been a long time.

Still doing the Summit For Life race on the 6th.  I have made two trips up the mountain on the course this week.  My plan is to do a trip up each day for the next four days.  Thursday I will cut the vertical down, Friday I will rest, and Saturday I will race.  There is still time to make a donation and any amount is appreciated.

Mixed feelings about getting into Hardrock or not. I know I will be disappointed if I don't get in, but at the same time I have a lot of other goals that I want/must reach this year and I am not sure if I can do both.  If I get in I will make it work and it might be good for me to have that out there to balance the constant sensation of being consumed by "self-employment" that is ever present these days.  I am not where I want to be yet but each day I know I am getting closer.

On a fun note, the Roaring Fork Vally CRUD group is growing, sorta.  The mail list is growing and the Thursday morning thing is picking up.  There was a crew of us who went up Aspen Mountain Thanksgiving morning.  I think it will be a strong group in numbers come springtime.
Thursday-Thanksgiving group on top of Aspen Mountain.
I am not writing as much here these days as I am more focused on creating quality content elsewhere.  I imagine if the Lottery Gods smile upon me next weekend that will change as well.  The next several months could be quite the adventure to document.

Eh... what am I talking about?  This is my life... the next several months are GUARANTEED to be an adventure regardless of what happens next weekend!  :) 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Backed Off A Bit

For a short haired animal, Asia certainly loves the snow. 
I guess it was the week before last when I was running down Smuggler road that I turned quickly and sort of twisted my right knee a little bit.  Maybe a two on a scale of one to ten.  Through the weekend it was manageable but by Saturday's long run my right knee and right hamstring were both less than happy with me.

Rode for a bit last Sunday as I knew that would be the last day I would be able to do that in comfort outside for a few months and instead of helping I think it irritated the situation.  Muddled through the week and even ran up Smuggler Mountain for the Thursday Morning Hill Climb but things were becoming even more uncomfortable in my right leg.

A short run on Friday to test it and a long conversation with my soon to be a Physical Therapist daughter Annie convinced me to rest things up this weekend and even take Monday, tomorrow off.

I am happy to say that everything that was bugging me is now feeling a lot better so I think the time off was beneficial.  Sometimes you can work through these things and other times you can't.  

No doubt it is winter here in Aspen now.  If I had to guess I would say that we have had a foot of new snow since last Monday.  The temps are going to be super cold the next three days before the next storm.  All of the snow that we have now will be with us through April-May in town I believe.  Sorrels are now the footwear du jour. 

Other stuff... I plan to pick up a light pair of snowshoes for training this winter.  I am thinking of registering for the Salida Marathon but I am still waiting until the Hardrock 100 Lottery in less than three weeks before I commit to anything for next year.

I am doing the Summit for Life on the 6th of December.  If you would like to make a donation to sponsor me in this race to raise organ and tissue awareness I would really appreciate it.  Thanks.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Getting Back At It

October turned into a very low mileage month for me. 85 miles running total for the month.  Zero miles or time on the bike.  I could not guess when I had such a low mileage month in the past but I think that it was February - March 2012 maybe.

October was a good break.  I needed it.  I have been back at this past week logging 68 miles for the week.  For some weird reason I want to try to pull off a 300 mile month this month.  It has been some time since I have done a month with that many running miles.  I really don't have a reason to do it past just wanting to get that strong again.  I did a 22 miler yesterday and followed it up with 15 today.  I am hoping to log some decent 30 mile days later in the month.  I am just not there yet.

Today's 15 miler was tough too.  I carried enough fatigue into it from yesterday that after only a few miles the miles seemed to become longer and take way more time than they should just like in the later miles of a ultra.  I wanted to do 20 today but shut it down at 15 as I was really starting to get bored and I felt like I had done enough. 

I have been test driving a new running pack this past week.  My Nathan HPL 2.0 is getting too worn and I wanted to get something that I can carry some more stuff in.  I settled on getting an Osprey Rev 6 and so far I like it a lot.   It fits well and I can carry all of the extra stuff that I want in it. The downsides.... The front pockets are not that big like on the Nathan Vest and the bladder... Osprey did a fine job over-engineering the bladder and already I am having issues getting the cap back on.  Also, it is only a 1.5 liter bladder.   I'd like to wedge a 70oz or maybe even a 100oz CamelBak bladder in it if I can.  But besides the bladder thing, I really do like the pack.

 That's about it.  Just happy to be running again.