Awesome Saturday...

Can't bitch about a day that starts off at breakfast at King's Chef.  Christoph joined me there and we had a good chance to catch up.

Breakfast was followed by a 24 mile run up on Pikes Peak with all elevations between 10,200 and 14,115 (It feels weird typing that number and not 14,110.)  6:24 of running with 8,419 feet of elevation gain with an average elevation of 11,688.  Got to be honest and say that the altitude kicked my ass today once above 12K.  And I have realized that my time from the summit down to 3-to-go is now what my time up from 3-to-go to the summit was at one time many years ago.  Time waits for no man as they say.  I also did the run about 30 minutes slower overall than I had hoped but I still felt like I got some quality time on my feet today.

The elevation profile for today's run.

I have heard this song on the sat radio in the Jeep twice in the past week I think.  I probably have not heard this song in decades which is funny considering this was my favorite cassette tape (yeah, pre CD) in the 11th grade.  Had it at full blast driving down the Pikes Peak Highway this afternoon... It sort of punctuated the day.  Awesome.

Thursday

Not much to write about really.  Things are as usual and at the same time not.  Half of the state is on fire again and causing more damage than last summer and there is zero containment so far.  It's bad.

And the world is still full of incredibly ignorant and mean people... What word rhymes with "watt?" (Warning, NSFW.)



Melissa is gone for a few days to MD.  She is staying with my parents while she is out there.  It is just me and Asia running amok here.

Speaking of running, still doing the Peak run on Saturday if anyone wants to join.  Sunday I plan to head up to Leadville and just do a lot of unstructured riding and course recon on the Silver Rush 50 MTB course and just have fun.  It is Father's Day after all.

And in regards to fatherhood... Annie turned 19 yesterday.  I still can't get my brain around that one at all.  To celebrate, Melissa and Annie and I went to Joseph's Tuesday night and I think set a new PR for the highest bill getting out of there so far.  Completely worth it!   I can't say how cool it is to have just such a wonder young adult/person as a daughter who is happy, successful, is her own person, and has the best heart of anyone I have ever known. Lots and lots of pride..  I don't remember the last time the three of us laughed as much together as we did at dinner that night.  Surprised they didn't kick us out but then again we sort of are regulars.

That sorta sums it up... hitting the diet hard this week... it has taken me about two weeks to get things under control and the results are showing.  I read my  blog from this time last year and I was a bit lighter going into the SJS 50.  I hope to get back down there or at least close in the next two weeks.

Off for a short ride tonight... probably hitting Red Rocks but not 100% yet.

That's about it.   Have a good weekend everyone!

Elk Park - Summit RT Saturday If Anyone Wants To Go

Still waiting for the official green light on my running schedule but I am planning to run Elk Park to Barr Camp then to the summit and then go back the way I came.  24 Miles total with an average elevation of 11,800 feet.  It will be a few hours out there.  I plan to leave early on Saturday morning and be in line before the gates open up which means leaving my place NLT 07:00.

Anyway, if anyone would like to go with and run all or part of it with me just ping me and let me know.

Elevation profile for the run... 11.7 to 10.2 then to 14.1 and back again.

Leadville Training Weekend

I am a firm believer that I can ride and run all around the Pikes Peak region all that I want but until I get my feet (or tires) on the ground in Lake County and on the Leadville race courses it is pretty darned tough to gauge exactly where things stand.  So with that in mind and planning to escape the imminent heat in COS, Melissa and Asia and I headed up to Leadville for the weekend.

My Saturday plan was to ride as much of the Silver Rush 50 course as possible.  My plan B if snow became too much of an issue on the east side of town was to hit the Power Lines and Sugarloaf on the bike as well.  Things were off to a rocky start from the go Saturday morning as my Garmin battery was completely drained so I had to leave it at the hotel.  I rode from the hotel to the ski hill which is the start of the SR50 MTB and where you have to push your bike up the hill.  Here comes the second slap in the face (or sap to to the back of the head) as that hill SUCKS!  I don't know how long it took me to get the bike to the top, but it had to be somewhere between three and five minutes.  SR50 reality check number one.

After some serious guessing and shaky route finding I made it from the start to the course and headed up towards Iowa Gulch.  Basically this is the first big chunk of the race either running or riding and it is ten miles gaining altitude the entire way all the way up to 12K or so.  And guess what?  It is NOT easy.  I am sure it was a combination of things Saturday morning like the cool temps, lots of run off, wind, and dodging snow banks higher up in the drainage but that climb up was tough.  I learned what baby heads actually are and that road is littered with rocks loose and otherwise.   SR50 reality check number two.  It's gonna be damned hard.

I made it to the top of Iowa Gulch pretty much but had to do a creative portage with the bike up a really steep scree slope to get to the higher road because of snow.  This was not a lot of fun either but once I got on the road I was flying at high speeds towards what will the Printer Boy aid station come race day.  Descents like this is where time will be made up.  I rode past Printer Boy, made a wrong turn and ended up back down in Iowa Gulch again and decided to say screw it... bomb back to town, warm up and have lunch and consider plan B.

After lunch Melissa rode her bike with me down to the Power Lines to see it.  She rode back to town as I went on up to the top of Sugarloaf with the bike.  I'd say of the 3.5 miles up, I rode the bike 70% of the way and ended up pushing it a lot less than I thought I might.  The great thing about going up the Power Line side is that the higher you get, the easier it gets.  I made the top in about an hour.  After a gel and putting on another layer, time for the big test.  Riding down.

I can't really describe how much fun the descent down is. When I got to the bottom though I know I was like a kid who just got off of a ride at the amusement park wanting to make a bee-line right back and do it again.  It was a blast and a for as much as the morning was learning experience, riding the second part of the day was a huge confidence builder.  It took me 20 minutes to make it from the top of Sugarloaf to the hard road.  3.5 minutes to descend the actual power line section from the first false summit down.  That was right about in the time frame I was hoping for. Rode back to town via the boulevard and was pretty happy.

Sunday morning I was definitely feeling Saturday.  The plan called for a double crossing of Sugarloaf starting over to Mayqueen and back.  Meslissa actually was with with me and she kicked ass (mine) going up the Powerlines much of the way.   I just was not feeling it on Sunday morning and most of the first hour or so was hiking more than running.  It helped having her with as I said, motivation was in the gutter.  We parted ways and she went back to the Jeep and then was going back to town.  I proceed to run down to Mayqueen and even on the downhill side just wasn't getting into the run or feeling all that great.

But after the turn around the run changed... I had more water from the campground, had some gels and started back.  I had a pretty solid run all the way from MQ, through the Colorado Trail, Haggerman Road and then headed up Sugarloaf.  More coolness as I got to meet Kiki, another Lead-person in training who was riding up the same direction I was running! She rode, I ran, and we talked the whole way up Sugarloaf and even part ways down the other side.  She had ridden parts of the SR50 course the day before and had the same reactions that I did.  The run back across was much different than the earlier one and I bet it is a new PR for me for that stretch. (Thanks for pulling me along Kiki.)

After a post run pizza and a milkshake (fuck the diet) followed by a nap then a long walk with Asia had us leaving Leadville very late.  It was a good call though as it was nice to drive home hours after the traffic had died down and it was cooler.

A great weekend.  I am still feeling it.  I learned a lot.  Especially that I am going to have to really focus on the SR50 course the week after the Marathon.  Riding in Leadville at altitude is a lot tougher than I imagined... but I am still pretty fit and I think all of the elements are there to pull this Leadman thing off. 

Melissa and I at the bottom of the Power Lines Saturday.

Me before heading up.  No idea how this would play out on the bike!

Taking a break on top of Sugarloaf.  Call it one hour up... 20 minutes total down and 3.5 minutes down the last steep pitch of power lines...

And Here Comes The Heat

Weather Underground is predicting a high of 93 for COS Saturday and Sunday... 70's for Pb though... so... guess where WE will be???

I am learning that adjusting back to days is going to be a challenge. It won't or I hope it won't be as  bad but right now "the system" is wired to be on at night and is ready to work.  Conversely during the days I am dog-assed tired.  I can handle the discomfort though... at least it feels like I am in more of a natural rhythm and despite being tired I can still easily wake up and get out of bed in the morning... I just  need to work on that getting to sleep part.

GZ posted an interesting link regarding PEDs which is funny considering the product that I was studying last night.  Mountain Might.  Chalk this product up to another scam right up there with the used Israeli gask masks (Elevation Training Masks) in terms of efficacy and acclimatizing to higher altitudes.

Anyway... I call bullshit.  To carry more oxygen ya need more red blood cells... period, and the only things that can really do that (next to living at altitude or maybe sleeping in an altitude tent) are banned substances and they are banned for a reason.  The funny thing about the Mountain Might site is they do illustrate a lot of science on altitude and sports training which is true, but, they don't really explain how their product works exactly so their whole scam is as Doug Henning used to say, "An illllooooooosssioon."

Pb is the best thing that I can ever think of for altitude training... accept no substitutes!

Damn it's Bright Out

In the office this morning and I can't believe how light it is in  here after only being in here during the dark the past three months. I am so glad to be on days again.  Getting to sleep was a challenge last night and I didn't get as much sleep as I may have liked but it it still a good feeling to know that I will be in a more normal sleep pattern.

I had the strangest thing happen on yesterday's run.  I was about ten miles into it and then all of the sudden I started to feel good.  Like, well, as if I had NOT been feeling well all week.  I was tired of running and from the run of course but for the first time in days I felt like myself.  Then it got me thinking... my stomach was messed up earlier in the week and the fatigue that I had been feeling all week wasn't exactly normal either.  Throw in a few other strange symptoms and I can see now looking back that I wasn't feeling well at all last week.  It was just so weird as I was running and it was like a switch was thrown and boom, back to normal.  Strange but now last week makes a lot more sense now.

Last week turned out pretty good.  18:53 of training... 73 miles running, 23 miles riding.  Over 15K of elevation gain running.  Not too shabby, especially now, looking back, and realizing just how wrecked I felt most of the week.

I can't wait to get up to Leadville for the Marathon and camp the week after that up there.  I think that is part of what kept me up last night to be honest.   Just getting excited about that race, then spending time up there training for a week or more both riding and running.  I hope to get the 50 MTB course down solid that week and hopefully ride some of the key parts of the 100 as well.  Not long at all now!

Might even try to sneak up there this weekend... 

May

Mileages for May.  I am not even going to try to calculate total time, elevation gains, etc...

Sort of explains why I am tired!