Leadville Trail 100

Oh boy! Where to begin?
It's been so long since I've written a post, I'm not sure what to put.

For the past 5 years, I've been participating in the Leadville trail 100 supporting one friend or another in some capacity. Pacing, crewing, or even just cheering, I've been at Leadville for the last 5 years learning about it and wondering if I wanted to try it.

Honestly, I think I only signed up out of peer pressure for the most part, but also a bit of curiosity as to how how I might do. When I imagined myself doing the LT100 one day, I figured I'd be in the best shape of my life and would feel invincible, and would have the chiseled body of a running god. Nothing could be further from reality.

The past 2 years, I've battled injury after injury and eked out mediocre results at best at only a handful of races. Racing hasn't been my top priority as I've enjoyed being a daddy to these two more often than training.

However, being part of the Runners Roost mountain/ultra team has kept me motivated to train, and working with David Manthey and Runners Edge of the Rockies, has given my training a little more structure and focus. Even so, my training hasn't been as consistent as I would have liked it to be, and I also struggle to find balance with trying to be a good husband, Daddy, friend, employee, and athlete. My priorities are in that order although desire often leans toward the latter, my commitment to the first parts never wavers. 

Anyway, I've seen changes in the past few years out at Leadville that I do not see elsewhere and those changes are not always for the better. The disorganization seems to grow each year with the increasing number of participants. Newbie crews, more volunteers that don't necessarily have prior ultra knowledge or experience to build on. New course and aid station changes with modified crew access were other changes for this year. Minor, but still trends away from (not towards) consistency. I can adapt and be flexible enough to roll with some changes when crewing and am largely self-sufficient for long runs so I was more concerned with my crew and pacers than I was for myself. 

Race Map

Elevation profile. Photo courtesy of irunultras.com. 

 Jeremy Frank and I at the start.

 Jeremy, myself, and Sean Butler at the start.

My awesome crew. David Manthey, me, and my wonderful wife Allison.

The 4am start was uneventful. My hope was to go sub-25 for the big buckle, but that was an A- goal with the main goal being a finish. With the pace chart for sub-25 I expected to be into MayQueen between 6:10 and 6:20, but since I don't wear a watch or a GPS, I had no idea of what my pace was. Even so, I arrived right on schedule based solely on feel and with a minute or three with a detour off course with 20 others.

It was a quick stop in MQ where I just topped off the water bottles, dropped off some gear and a quick kiss from Allison and I was off to hit the Colorado Trail section that would take me up to Hagerman pass road then down the Powerline section and into Fish Hatchery or rather, the new Outward Bound Aid Station. 

This too, went by uneventfully, but although I made a concerted effort to go very easily down the steep Powerline descent, I still felt it may have been too much of an effort at the time. Ultimately, that section proved to be inconsequential.

During this section, going up Hagerman pass road, and even earlier going around Turquoise Lake, I had the privilege of chatting with an old friend Paul Schoenlaub who earned his 11th Buckle at Leadville on this day. He introduced me to KC area runner named Time Garvey who would later go on to get his Big Buckle for the day with a sub-25 hour finish.

Up to this point, I had only peed a couple of times and had not done the other and I felt that was causing some sluggishness in the legs. When I checked into the Outward Bound Aid Station, I was able to hit the porta-potty and spent the next few minutes thinking about how much time I was losing.

Bad move mentally on my part.

This led me to push a little too hard on the road section leading up to Treeline and during this push, I was concentrating more on turnover/leg speed and not enough on hydration and fueling. By the time I got to Treeline, I was beginning to feel the effects of  not taking in enough calories up to that point.

From Treeline on out to Twin lakes was a long, sufferfest where I tried to push as much as possible, but was unable to due to stuff just not processing. Everything I ate and drank stayed in my stomach and went no further. End result was diminishing energy and time lost on too much walking. I also noticed during this section that I'd stopped peeing. Another thing that I needed to keep an eye on.

Up to this point, I was pretty much on my pace and hitting my splits for my goal of a sub-25 hour finish. During this leg, I knew it would be a tall order to make that happen as I felt I was losing at least an hour of my time.

Coming into Twin Lakes:

Coming into Twin Lakes, I knew that I needed to regroup and get things under control before tackling the beastly double crossing of Hope Pass. I came in with purpose, said hi to lots of friends in the area then found my trusty crew and told them what had been going on. The most concerning to me was the kidney functions and not getting in enough fluids. My stomach was visibly bloated and distended from the food and water that hadn't yet processed into energy or hydrated tissue. We chatted and discussed the fact that I needed to keep moving after changing shoes and on the way up Hope Pass, I would have to keep my heart rate lower than I wanted in order to allow things to settle down and allow more blood for digestion instead of diverting it to muscles for harder effort. 

I grabbed the necessary gear and food and water for the 3400 vertical feet of climbing that takes you from Twin Lakes at 9,200' to the top of Hope Pass at 12,600' in 5 miles. The river crossings felt great on the lower legs and feet, but did soften up some tissue on the toes and now I'll lose a couple of toenails thanks to the steep descent on the back side of Hope with soft shoes and feet. 

The trek up was great because I felt relaxed and under no pressure. I wasn't concerned at all with a time goal and I was able to keep the heart rate down while getting to do this climb with my good friend Sean who was also doing this race. We weren't sure how much of the race we would get to do together as it's an individual effort  and he's from NC and unsure of how the altitude would affect him, but it worked out that we had the chance to do this part together and it added to my enjoyment of the race.

During this part, I also had the privilege of being by Phil Snyder and Junko Kazukawa both from the Runners Roost team and drawing some inspiration from them as well. All in all, it was a very enjoyable climb. 

Once hitting the Hope(less) Aid Station, I topped off water bottles and then continued up to the top of the pass and began a mission to get on track while staying within reasonable limits. During this descent, I encountered the race leaders coming up. Normally, the uphill racer has the trail right-of-way, but I always yielded to these folks because whether guy or gal, they're working way harder than I am and deserve my admiration and support. Each one that passed by, I would give them a little shove in the back up the hill. It wouldn't be much physically to make much of a difference, but some of them were hurting and really appreciated the boost which did help them mentally. Cheering them on made ME feel better. Win win!

 Hope Pass trail. Photo courtesy Kelly Butler and Eagle Eye Photo.

 Hope Pass trail. Photo courtesy Kelly Butler and Eagle Eye Photo.

Coming into the Aid Station at Winfield, I was down 4 lbs. Was instructed to drink more by the race staff. That was already on my todo list!

Here, I didn't waste much time, did the necessary things of gear checks and food resupply and Eddie and I were off on our way back up the mountain. He did a great job of keeping me entertained, motivated, fueled, and moving regularly. The climb back up Hope Pass went by much quicker and more smoothly than I expected and I was still feeling great. Upon reaching the Hope(less) Aid Station, we got a little more water and Eddie grabbed me a little Ramen broth with potatoes in it. Good stuff. We only stayed long enough to notice the carnage that lay all around. Runners were in sleeping bags shivering (convulsing?) uncontrollably while others were on hands and knees turning themselves inside out. Not a pretty scene at all, but once you looked out over the horizon, THAT scenery will still grace many a postcard for years to come!

We cooked it down the mountain while trying to keep the speed in check. He was a constant reminder that no matter how good I felt, I didn't want to trash the quads just yet as there were still plenty of miles left. This was great advice and I held back considerably while still making good time in dancing through the technical stuff.

Eddie and I getting back into Twin Lakes.

 Laurie on the left and my new pacer, Carla on the right. Hammer time!

It was a quick changing of the guard once back into Twin Lakes. Since we knew it would be getting dark during the next leg, we had to make the necessary preparations quickly. I changed shoes and socks, restocked with food and water, grabbed the headlamp and a long sleeved shirt and with another kiss from Allison, we were off.

On the 1,500' climb out of Twin Lakes to the Colorado Trail, I asked Carla to be patient with me while I tried to stay on top of my stomach. I felt good and wanted to stay that way. She was awesome, flexible, and upbeat. She was willing to go when I was and quick with handing my things I needed when I asked for them. During this climb, I felt an odd sensation I hadn't felt for MILES and several HOURS. I had to PEE! Yep, that's right, I had not peed since mile 25 or so and here we were at mile 62 and I was finally processing liquids the right way, I was back on top of my hydration. From here on out, I would be peeing clear and often so there were no more worries about that.

As soon as we hit the top of the climb and the trail leveled out a bit, I broke into a trot and Carla followed suit. She's a strong runner and I didn't want her to be disappointed by having to walk or shuffle on such a beautiful part of trail. It was starting to get dark and the trail running in the Aspen groves at dusk was spectacular! We enjoyed a couple of miles of easy running through the trees on the single track before turning on our headlamps. Soon, we popped out onto the double track section and from here, to Outward bound, it was a fairly gradual decline in my ability to run consistently strong, followed by walk breaks to keep the heart rate in check. When exhaustion sets in, the heart rate spikes much more quickly. Still, she and I were able to burn through several miles pretty quickly, eating up many runners along the way. There was one couple in particular from Delaware that we played cat and mouse with and they were also running similar stretches followed by walk breaks. It was fun and motivating to feed off of them and it helped the time go by a little quicker. Carla also helped occupy my mind with some great conversation about mountain biking, trail running and family life which helped me to think about something OTHER than the task at hand. Job well done Carla!

One of the downsides of her being such a strong runner at this time is that due to us hammering out some quick miles while feeling good, was that my quads began to really feel the effects at about the Pipeline Aid Station. It was about 9:30 or 10 pm when we strolled into this oasis in the middle of the forest. Pipeline is run by the Ski Patrol group and is well run. Here, I saw Ryan Lassen and his pacer and my friend Courtney Crespin. He was having a low spot and it was warm and comfortable in the tent and CC was patiently helping him get his strength back. It was cool to see friendly faces along the way.

2 miles later and we're in the Treeline crewing area and we found David and Allison in the dark. Allison was catching a quick nap, but got up quickly after hearing me bumble around trying to get organized. Here, I chugged a bottle of Ultragen from First Endurance and just sat and rested a little while wondering how fast we could get through the next section of mostly road on the way to Outward Bound Aid Station.

Although this section is pretty much flat, the run/walk alternating schedule contained more walk than I wanted. I was motivated to run, but just couldn't muster it for long physically. Each time we would run, it would last for 90 seconds more or less and my legs would feel spent. Especially the quads. Even so, we were still power hiking at a good clip so I wasn't too concerned about how much time I was losing. The slog down Half Moon road seemed so long. We would see car lights in the distance and get a little dejected that we had to traverse all that way on the pavement, but we pressed ahead as best we could.

Carla, myself, and Laurie in the Outward Bound Aid Station.

Eventually, we got into the OB aid station and I wanted to make it a quick one, but we couldn't find David and Allison. I guess we were a little quicker they expected, but after walking around the parking lot and scouring the food tent, my crew was not to be found. Laurie found us and said that David was close by so I yelled out for him. He was in the Medical tent with Dr John Hill and Allison was sleeping in his car. David had my gear bin with him so we restocked and I sat for a couple of minutes to recover before moving on. Carla's husband Andy was volunteering with the medical staff so I thanked him for that as well as for loaning me his wife for pacing. After a quick thank you hug to Carla, I was back out on the road with Laurie heading toward the final climb of the race on Powerline.

This section went by pretty quickly and steadily. Laurie kept me motivated and spot on with meeting my requests for water or calories. She even noticed when I started slacking off on taking in calories and began giving me Honey Stinger chews. While making the climb up Powerline, we moved steadily and at one point, I even got a little stick up my butt and did a brief push deliriously thinking I could make up some time. That push was short lived and I was back to the regular and steady pace that we had been keeping. It was the middle of the night, but I really wan't that bad mentally. I think I was able to stay focused and Laurie did an awesome job keeping me in the moment with conversation and not letting me slack off.

Upon topping out at Powerline, we started the descent down Hagerman Pass road and I was back to the run/walk alternating method as my quads wouldn't hold up to a downhill running cadence for long. This was frustrating because I still had the mental drive to push the pace, but was physically unable to maintain it. This race was breaking me down and I was glad there was only 20 miles left of it.

During the dusty downhill, my throat began to close up and cause some difficulty with breathing. I didn't have my inhaler with me, but it was with my crew. Laurie sent them a text message to have it handy when we came into May Queen, but I felt it couldn't come soon enough. The dust was causing distress on my vocal chords and the constriction on my airway was making me more wheezy by the minute. 

Upon making the turn onto the Colorado Trail section which would take us down into May Queen, I was a little energized because I love running technical rocky stuff through the forest at night. This section was not as much fun as I had anticipated largely due to my fried quads and breathing difficulty. Still, I tried to make the best of it and run what I could and Laurie was right on me urging me to keep eating and drinking.

We got into MQ and quickly found David and Allison ready with the inhaler. I took 2 puffs off it and got down to business of figuring out how fast and light we could go the final 13'ish miles to the finish. My last pacer was David Hutcheon who graciously accepted the call for help. Upon leaving MQ, I felt ok and had aspirations of running most of the fairly easy trail and dirt road sections all the way to the finish. 

*SIGH*...

Again, fatigue and trashed quads prevented any sustained running. We could go for short stints at a time, but this whole way, my desire to run far exceeded my physical ability to do so. I think that can be addressed in future training. David was patient and encouraging as we made our way past a few people. 

At one point, while going around Turquoise Lake, I took a break to sit down and rest for a second. It was the second time during the whole race that I had sat down somewhere other than the Aid station/Crew access and here is where Tim (Mr Leadman) Urbine catches me. He didn't even hesitate. With a quick motivational word, he and his wife Gina were off down the trail and putting more distance between us with each step. It was impressive. Still, it gave me a little kick in the pants to suck it up and work harder to get it done.

The final few miles were such a grind. After passing the dam, I saw Amy and Dan O'Connell slowly making their way down the short, steep, rocky hill and I paused briefly to check on them. Dan assured me all was ok, I wished them luck and continued on. Only later did I find out that Any was experiencing Corneal Edema and was partially blinded and Dan was not only being her supportive husband and pacer, he was also acting as a seeing-eye-guide for her. Amy has done Leadville before and she is a fantastic runner should've finished hours ahead of me, but her determination and fortitude to continue on under those circumstances is very inspiring. That's the kind of thing that commands respect and further reinforces my dislike for those who make excuses.

 The final mile or so up 6th street to the finish line was a very cool experience. Allison met me at the end of the road and walk/jogged it in with me and David. She worked so hard to support me all day and has been so patient with all of my training leading up to this, it seemed fitting that she cross the finish line with me. It was as much her race as it was mine and I cherished having her by my side for it.

Mt Massive in the background.

During the race, I got most of my calories from the delicious EFS Liquid Shot from First Endurance. I occasionally supplemented with some calories from bananas, orange wedges, and Allison's guacamole on a tortilla. I think I also ate 1/4 of a pb&j. 

Of course it obviously needs saying that I couldn't have accomplished this without the support of my wonderful and loving wife, my friend and coach and crew captain extraordinaire, David Manthey, the friendship and support the entire Runners Roost organization. They are so much more than a specialty running store. I can't say enough good things about what the Roosts do for the running community as a whole but also how they've helped me out in so many ways. 

As I type this 4 days after finishing, I feel good. There's still a small bruise on my left knee from banging it on a rock at mile 47 and still some residual fatigue, but I feel ready to run again. I had NO BLISTERS during this run while wearing the Hoka One One Stinson and the Saucony Peregrine 3 with a combination of DryMax socks and Features Elite socks. I also used the Ultimate Direction AK race Vest and carried the Amphipod 20oz handheld bottles the whole way. I wore the Pearl Izumi Ultra shorts and Mizuno Drylite Creation Singlet for the entire race. I also used Chamois Butter for no chaffing.

http://runkeeper.com/user/breeves2000/activity/138181540

http://runkeeper.com/user/breeves2000/activity/138181540

http://runkeeper.com/user/breeves2000/activity/61755342

http://runkeeper.com/user/breeves2000/activity/61755342

More in 2011?

Wow. A whopping 2 blogs in 2010. I've really been tapping the creative energies full force!

Maybe I'll be better about it this year, but I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't blog more often.

This year is looking pretty good so far and I'm hoping to race more than in a few years past.

Currently, I'm signed up for the Greenland 50k and will use that as a training race for the North Fork 50 miler in July. If I stay healthy, I'm also planning on doing a couple of adventure races this summer and then I'd like to have a strong run at the Steamboat 50 miler in Sept. So far, training is going well so I'm really looking forward to this year!

Nostalgia?

Not sure why I'm putting this down, but I find it very interesting.

During my adventure with Matt Hart on his speed record attempt of the Colorado Trail a while back, I was pacing him from Gold HIll trailhead oer the Ten Mile Range from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain area and while on the trial, I experienced a deja vu. We all have those occasionally and we're usually left with a sense of "was that a dream?" or some other sense of bewilderment.

This past Sunday, I was running (accidentally) on the same stretch of Colorado Trail in the opposite direction when I got the same feeling. There was the familiar part of the trail which intellectually, I knew that I'd been there before, but there was also something else. A feeling of something larger. It was a very scenic portion of trail and extremely challenging and at the time, I was at about mile 18 of a trail marathon.

It's strange how the mind works and I'm curious if we'll ever fully understand it.

Fall is getting here now and trail runs and songs and time with friends is as sweet as ever. Apparently I'm really liking the change of seasons, but this year, the nostalgia seems stronger than ever. Perhaps that's a sign of getting old(er)?

Clothing Drive

skeptical to say the least

I like Google's products and services. I think they're useful and intuitive. I also realize that they're all ultimately tied to the "mother ship" in one way or another. Whether it be for reporting usage statistics for "product improvement" or if it's a web app which is directly hosted by them or something in between like Picasa which is on YOUR computer and manages YOUR pictures, but still logs on to Google via your Google account for enhanced services.

It all seems fairly innocuous, but if you stop to think (and read the EULA) about what you are giving Google access to, you'll realize that your email, (gmail) pictures, (picasa & email) videos, (youtube) chats, (google chat & AIM) voice conversations (google talk) and may other things are all archived and accessible. Even if you opt to keep your profile information private, (or rather non-public) Google and possibly partner companies still have access to it. The recent release of Google Dashboard is an attempt at transparency, but we all know that he who controls the information can also be selective in its disclosure. READ THIS

I guess what a lot of this boils down to is what we're comfortable with being "out there" and how much we're willing to make known about ourselves.

= BEWARE!

Here's where I'm going with this ramble...

The new Google Chrome OS is a new window manager running on a Linux Kernel which basically runs the Chrome browser. This is Google's idea of what an operating system should be. Their video describing the reasons behind it's development even state that. In the video, they say "if you're like me, you spend 95% of your time in your browser" (on the internet) so why not just eliminate everything else? On the surface, it seems like a good idea especially since netbooks are becoming so popular. Why not just make everything a 'net client? Google Chrome OS aims to do just that and make everything we do part of "the cloud" on the internet. People are only fooling themselves if they feel secure in doing this.

By doing everything via 'net app (internet application) you no longer have to worry about losing your data with a hard drive or computer crash. It's always available online from any computer with internet access.

No more massive hard drives with tons of storage for all of your music, pictures, videos, personal documents, etc. clogging up your system and slowing it down. Also, no security patches to be regularly installed because it's just a browser. Nothing else to be hacked right? Wrong.

What about the systems that store all of the data that everyone uses online. That's still online ALL THE TIME and how can you be sure that it's protected from intruders? Who's to say that you're not trusting all of your online life TO the intruders? Don't be so naive as to think that the password to your Google Accounts makes all of the information contained therein YOURS!

It is entirely possible based on profile information, (address, phone #s, etc) blogs, pictures, (picasa facial recognition) geotags, GPS, and many other "useful" tools for the keeper of all of this information to develop a full profile of you to be used however they see fit.

When I did intelligence in the Army, we used psychological profiles based on MUCH less information than we give to our online personas. As much as I hate to sound like one of those loony conspiracy theorists, this information could be used for different types of profiling which leads down a very slippery slope.

Think that idea is a stretch? It's already being done. It's called targeted advertising and is the basis for Google's Adsense and Adwords.

Giving thanks.

Right now I'm sitting in a hospital room. It's not for me this time. It's due to respiratory complications with our little princess Isabella. We were admitted last night and she's been receiving breathing treatments all day. The Doctor has suggested that it could be altitude induced asthma. Neither Allison nor I have or have ever had asthma to our knowledge so it's strange that Isabella would have it. We'll have to see what it means for her future.




























After Thanksgiving, I'm going to resume training. Family, health, and work permitting, I'd like to be able to do several races next year. Tentatively, my niece and I are aiming to do the Moab race. I'll use that as a tune up/training race and see what I need to work on from there.
Training is still hit and miss with my knees. Still learning a new stride as I retrain myself to run correctly.
Although I'm not in the kind of shape I'd like to be and I can't do the things I'd like to do, I'm extremely thankful that I have the ability to do most of the things that I enjoy. I'm also very grateful that Isabella is as healthy and capable as she is.
Lets see what happens.

Awesome!

Gut Check

Last weekend's race was another learning experience for me. I knew that the distances were a little more than just a test for my recently repaired knee, but it's been so long since I've done anything difficult that I felt I needed to push it somewhat.
Push it I did.
Thursday night I drove out to Durango/Purgatory and camped out at the start/end of the CO trail. Friday morning when I woke up, I realized it would be a long weekend when I felt a scratchy throat and some congestion building in the sinuses. Too late now. No turning back no matter what. This would be my mantra throughout the weekend.














The kayak was shortened from 20 miles to 16. 8 UP river and then 8 back down river. The current was about 3-5 knots so it was a stiff paddle, but I surprised myself with how well I handled it. Finished that one in just under 4 hours.
Saturday morning I had some energy, but the breathing was becoming shallower as the wheezing had already started from the head/chest cold. This told me that the mountain bike wasn't going to be easy, but since the legs had felt strong recently, I figured I could wing it.
WRONG!














We started UP the Purgatory ski slopes and in the first couple of miles, we gained a little over 2000 feet of elevation. Instead of taking it easy like I should have, I stayed in a bigger gear and went anaerobic too soon and stayed there for too long. Once we popped out onto the road and the climbing because mroe gradual, I was already nauseaus and my body was going into protect mode and was not giving out the necessary energy. After a short decent on dirt roads we began another gradual climb and despite the nausea, I geared down and tried to push to no avail. My legs felt as though they were filled with cement and I couldn't get any turnover. This was around mile 8.
The next 30 miles are fuzzy as my mind was in a funk and I was really cold. Rain started and at 11,000 feet it was mixed with some sleet. Forgetting my jacket wasn't my problem, but it sure didn't help any. All I could do to warm up was keep moving and pull up a single arm warmer that I found on the road. Surprisingly, it really did make a difference!
I hit the halfway point (mile 25) and grabbed a banana and topped off the water and moved on. They asked me if I wanted to drop. I guess I looked as badly as I felt and I know I was close enough to the back that I might be close to missing the cut-off time later on.
Me? Drop? No thank you. I may feel like crap and my mind was in the wrong place, but a DNF will never be my choice.
Around mile 38 the nausea started to subside and I could hold down more than just water and electrolytes. Obviously my race was over VERY early on, but I was happy to had survived to that point. Then I downed some cliff shot blocks and felt some turnover return to the legs. The rain and all of the bikers in front of me had churned up the course pretty good and I had mud everywhere. Even under the glasses, but was beginning to enjoy the ride a bit more. The scenery was fantastic when I was able to sneak in a glance at it. Most of the time, I was focused on the technical trail so I didn't eat it.














There were several DNFs in this race so I was happy to have been one of the finishers. After finishing however, I wasn't sure how I was going to run the marathon the next day. I really wondered if my body would recover enough for me to run ANY at all.



















Thankfully, the Endurox and Recoverite I was ingesting each night was helping. So I toed the line on Sunday and prepared myself to try to enjoy some scenery.

































Going UP Purgatory again was no fun, but this time I was smarter about it. I walk/jogged it keeping the heart rate low enough and just stretching out the legs a little to get them warmed up. Once we popped out onto the road for the 5 or so miles headed down to the Hermosa Creek Trail, I began to open it up a bit and cruised past several of the long legged folks that were out-striding me on the way up the hill. During this short dirt road section, I held a quick, but comfortable pace and was really surprised at how good I felt considering. Shortly after getting onto the trail though, I downed a Raspberry flavored Hammer Gel and knew right away it wasn't staying down. Somewhere around mile 10, it came back up with some water and energy and motivation. Wish I could have kept that down!
Right after puking, I saw a couple of people pull away from me. 2.5 miles later at an aid station, I learned that they had already gained 8 minutes on me! This would be my guage and motivation for the remainder of the run. Once I had regained some energy, I started finding a comfortable pace again and tried to hold it. Walked the steep uphills and ran the flats and downhills.
The trail was awesome and at one point, I had to stop in the middle of it and gawk at the beauty of an Aspen grove high on my left which led down into a large patch of Lilacs and some other kind of white fragrant flower. That combined with the view and sound of the Hermosa creek below (and maybe some endorphins) made for a memorable Taster's Choice moment for this trail runner.
Aid stations came and went and I was washing the Shot Blocks and bananas down with water and feeling great except for some tender feet. My longest run in preparation for this had been 14 miles although I had done a couple of back to back 12 milers a few times. Muscles and the knee were responding well and I learned at each aid station that I was gaining time on the folks ahead of me. At the last aid station, I didn't even ask how far ahead they were because I knew I'd give it all I had to try to catch them. If I did, then great, if not, then at least I ran my best.
about 2 miles before the finish, I caught and passed the two people who got away from me when I was sick and kept the pace as strong as I could. The feet were tender, the legs were draining fast and the lungs were burning and wheezing, but I found some speed at the end somehow.
When I crossed the finish line, I had gained 5 minutes on the two I passed recently. Finishing in 5:30 for ~28 or 29 miles.














Overall I am pleased with how my knee held up and am ready to race some more! Now I just need to work on my fueling and strengthening strategy. The cardio isn't a problem, but since I still can't do quad strengthening in the gym due to the microfracture, I'm limited with how well I can climb on the bike and decend the hills on the run.
I'm not complaining though. It just feels good to be back out there!

Lately...

Leaky Bucket Fiscal Policy




















Well, training got derailed the past 2 weeks. It was going well until we left for NC. I was hoping that while in NC, I could at least get in some "maintenance" workouts even though that was during my building/strengthening phase, but that was not to be. I had one fun trail run with Sean and a couple of swims, but other than that, I got nothing but down time surrounded by Southern cooking. At least I didn't over do that part. Thankfully, I was able to eat sensibly during the trip(s).
While in NC for Allison's cousin's wedding, we found out that my Grandmother died. After the wedding, we changed our flights, rented a car, and drove down to Pensacola for her funeral. It wasn't really unexpected as she was 96 years old. She's lived a long and full life and died peacefully in her sleep with my Mom by her side.



















Rest in peace Gigi. I love you and we'll miss you.













We stayed in FL a few more days and visited with family a bit. Went to the beach, got a sunburn, went kayaking, and got in one decent run although it was on the road and sidewalks.

Shoe review and motivation

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

Here's a video that Matt Hart put together for a presentation that he and Sean Meisner did at the Mountain Hardwear store in Seattle. Great video footage. If this doesn't get your blood pumping, you're not a trail runner.

I've been curious about the new Montrail Mountain Masochist shoes and got a chance to try them out for free. They were sent to me from Montrail as part of a promotional deal I won on Facebook. I didn't have to write a review of them or anything, but I'm going to anyway.

Ever since my surgery, my running has been sporadic at best. The knee has been healing, but since I wasn't sure what it could and could not handle, I've been taking it fairly gingerly. Most of my runs had been 8 miles or less at one time and never back to back. Also, I have been running in the Brooks Cascadia which I thought were awesome until I got my new Mountain Masochists hereafter referred to as MMs.

These shoes are amazing. It's been a long time since I've loved a shoe this much (if ever) and I've waited a whole 3 runs so far to report on them.

In the past, I've always worn more protective shoes with a good bit of cushion, but most of the Montrails that I've worn have been really stiff. Mainly the Continental Divides and older Hardrocks. I also briefly wore the Odessey, but that shoe just wasn't for me.

The new MMs seem to be a cross between the Highlander and the Streak. The Streak doesn't work for me because it's too neutral. I need a little more pronation control and arch support and this shoe has just the right amount of both for me. It's also much more cushiony than I thought a 10 oz shoe would be. I figured it would be another minimalist shoe that I wouldn't be able to put many miles on at once like the Fireblade or Raceblade from LaSportiva, but that's not the case with the MMs.

They have enough cushion support and rock protection to allow for technical trails, long miles, and won't hold you back when you want to let loose and go fast.

My first run in them to break them in was a 10 miler on rolling hills and it was the first time in a long time that I actually felt like a runner! The past few months (2 yrs?) I've muddled through runs and forced my way through some miles, but wasn't able to get into a rythm or feel good during it. This run was different a little over halfway into it. After I got past the inital stiffness and achy knees during the warm-up, I decided to push the pace up a little on a flat gradual uphill section and see how they felt. The remainder of the run (~7 mi) I didn't need to slow down.

Heel cup slippage has been a problem for me in past Montrail shoes which I've been able to remedy with the power loop, but Montrail has redesigned the heel cup and it doesn't seem to be a problem with this shoe. It has a snug fitting heel cup and a fairly wide toe box. So much so, that I thought it might be TOO roomy for me, but after cinching up the laces, the shoe conforms nicely to my foot and I still have room for foot expansion when it swells after some longer miles.

Another thing that I noticed about these shoes that I've never noticed about any other shoe is the traction. The MMs are noticeably very grippy in every condition I've been in so far with them. I ran 11.3 miles of intervals in a little mud and technical trails with wet rocks on Tuesday and was comfortable and confident with every step.

On a side note, after tuesday's run, my right achilles felt done for the week. Some of the intervals I was doing was up some hills and it may have been too much too soon, but after stretching it out some all day Wednesday, I decided that I needed another few miles on semi-tired legs so I did another 9.2 miles for a back to back workout.

Yesterday's run (on the heels of Tuesday's intervals) was more than I could have hoped for. Even with the new shoes, I fully expected to suffer through as many miles as I could handle before walking or limping back to the car, but that wasn't the case. After the first 2 miles, I was able to put it in cruise mode and did the last 7 miles between an 8 and 8:30 min/mile pace. I felt so good that I was on a high the rest of the evening. Only mild stiffness in the achilles and some mild discomfort and minor swelling in the knee.

Maybe it was just the right time to turn up some training now that my body is (maybe?) ready for it or maybe it was the magic shoes, but either way, I'm a happy trail runner again!

In case you can't tell, I love my new shoes!

More focused training

I've set my mind to prepare for this. The 3 day challenge has been tempting me for a few months now so I'm going to give it a shot.
After soliciting some advice from my neighbor, I decided to start upping the mileage a bit and start some back to back days. This will get the legs used to working while tired and will make them stronger.
Yesterday, I headed out to Deer Creek Canyon Park and did 11.2 miles in 2:09. Sounds as slow as it felt, but there was a LOT of climbing out there. Plus, my legs felt like they had cement in them from start to finish. It seemed like I had no gas in the tank and lumbered up the hills while sputtering down them. The hard part was all physical. The mental part made me glad I was pushing it and enjoying the outdoors.
















That was supposed to be the good day on fresh legs. Well, semi-fresh legs anyway. I rode a little over 18 moderate to hard trail miles on Sunday, but the legs never felt depleted until yesterday. I need to do another 10-12 miles today, but I think I'll stick to some relatively flat(er) ground at Waterton Canyon or the HR trails close to home.



















The knee is ok, but a little uncomfortable. That was expected so I'll continue to ice it and might even try a Naproxen or an Advil.

The Dumbest Generation

Recently, I posted some thoughts on inner conflicts I deal with regarding our overdependence on technology.

From the Dumbestgeneration.com website:

"The dawn of the digital age once aroused our hopes: the Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and ultra-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their know-how and understanding of technology to form the vanguard of this new, hyper-informed era.

That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen.

The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their minds had the opposite effect.

According to recent reports from government agencies, foundations, survey firms, and scholarly institutions, most young people in the United States neither read literature (or fully know how), work reliably (just ask employers), visit cultural institutions (of any sort), nor vote (most can’t even understand a simple ballot). They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount foundations of American history, or name any of their local political representatives. What do they happen to excel at is – each other. They spend unbelievable amounts of time electronically passing stories, pictures, tunes, and texts back and forth, savoring the thrill of peer attention and dwelling in a world of puerile banter and coarse images."

A few days ago, I posted a Twitter and Facebook update stating that I was "pondering the decline of intellectual curiosity in Western Civilization."
That day, I was thinking about how many issues we face in society could be related to that topic.
Appropriately enough, a friend of mine actually replied to this by saying, "Dude....you are seriously too deep. Are you a half empty or half full fella? Have faith in your fellow man:-)"

A few other replies were as follows:
- "you're wasting your time man, westerners are too indifferent..."
- "We're much better off when society watches the boob tube 5+ hours a day, don't you think?"
- "really? Why? Oh who cares anyway..."

For the last one, I really liked the ignorance and apathy reference.
A lot more on this subject is bouncing around inside my head, but it probably won't come out coherently and I'm out of time for blogging today...

ongoing recovery

This past weekend was the second of the Adventures Xstream adventure race series. This one was held in Buena Vista, CO and I was really wanting to do it, but held off in favor of letting the knee continue to heal. Plus, since it was Mother's Day weekend, Isabella and I had some good quality time together while Mommy enjoyed some time to herself.
On Saturday, we went to the Front Range 50 bike race to check out some of the action. I thought it might be interesting to check out some of the bikes and see some of the racing action. Not that interesting really. I've seen enough of that and it was just frustrating to me because the course was dry and very fast and I was wishing that I'd done the race the whole time. I haven't done any significant racing since 06 and I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines.
On that note, however...
A few days ago, I was speaking with a P.A. for another Orthopedic doctor in town and she said that with debridement AND microfracture, I should expect about a 9 month healing/recovery time frame.
This was disheartening, but helps me understand the continued discomfort I've been feeling during and after runs and rides.
On the fun side, I've already encountered a Rattlesnake ON one of the the trails I train on and yesterday, there was a coyote out on the trails as well.














Yet another reason it's not smart to run those trails with headphones.

Here's a recent photo from a ride on the Colorado trail. I went out one day with a training partner and we rode out to the trail, dropped the bikes in the woods, ran a few mountainous miles, then rode back down to the car. Good training day and the knee felt fine until later that day.

building up?

Recently, I've been training more regularly with a variety of things. Been in the gym adding swimming to the weight routines. I'm still a horrible swimmer, but it's still a good workout no matter how bad my technique is. Been running at least 3 days a week as well and the knee is staying fairly consistent. Consistently hurting that is. It's not unbearable pain, but it's annoying and frustrating that it feels no different than before the surgery.
So I just have to train through the pain and hope for the best I suppose.
It really feels good to be in the trails on a more regular basis. Did a long ride the other day and have been doing some short, but tough runs with some significant altitude change.
I'm not fast and am wondering if I'll ever get any speed back with the knee condition, but at least I can do something which is better than nothing at all.

Scotch!

Those who know me well enough know of my affinity for Scotch. And I'm not talking about Dewar's or Johnnie Walker either.
Sunday, The Art of Manliness posted a pretty good guide on this worthy subject. I especially liked the referenced quote below.





“The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than indulgence: it is a toast to civilization, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto of man’s determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed.” - David Daiches

The rest of the post can be read here. (http://artofmanliness.com/2009/04/05/the-art-of-manliness-guide-to-scotch-whisky/)

busy last week

It was so good to sleep in my own bed last night!
Last week was our 15 year anniversary so Allison and I went to Estes Park, CO for a few days of R&R. Our new roommate (my 19 yr old niece) agreed to watch Isabella for us so we felt comfortable leaving knowing our little girl was in good hands. We stayed at the Stanley Hotel which is where Stephen King was inspired by, and wrote "The Shining" during his stay there. Contrary to common misunderstandings, it wasn't actually filmed there, but rather in some other gargantuan hotel somewhere in Oregon I think. Anyway, the hotel is not creepy, but it is old and beautiful and set in a spectacular landscape.
While there, CO got hit with a huge Spring snow storm and dumped between 1 to 3 feet of snow in various places over a 24 hour period. This made driving home Friday morning interesting and slow.




Once back home, I kissed my little girl, played in the snow, repacked the FJ, and got back on the road headed for Moab, UT to volunteer at the Adventures XStream Adventure Race.
I really wanted to do this race, but the knee just wasn't ready for it yet so I decided to help out.
Friday and Saturday night, I slept in the back of the FJ in some very chilly temps.
After a not-so-good night's sleep, Saturday morning came extra early when I headed out to Gemini Bridges where I would be assisting with the ropes section of the race. At this part, the racers leave their bikes at the top of the canyon, rappel down the ~300 feet vertical wall, then run 5 miles back up hill to the top to reclaim their bikes and carry on with the rest of the race.
I was at the bottom of the ropes helping to belay the racers' rappel.
At one point, some rocks came knocked free by one of the rappellers came down the cliff and hit me in the trapezius muscle on the right shoulder before I could react. My helmet couldn't protect from that and I now have a large bruise and a slight sunburn to show for my day's efforts. All in all it was a successful day with no major injuries and the racers had a good time.
My Sports Chiro/rehab Dr, Jeremy Rodgers took second place in the Men's solo division behind Pro Adventure Racer Travis Macy.

Wisdom though the ages...

thoughts...

Sometimes I struggle with some things that I do in society. I work in the telecommunications industry and help to facilitate and propagate new technologies that make the world more and better connected. That has it's good and bad sides.
For one, I love technology. I play with it at home for fun and feel VERY fortunate to have a job that allows me to earn a living in something that I enjoy.
Another love of mine as most people know, is outdoor activities and in particular, adventure racing. These two interests of mine are very much at odds with each other and reconciling the nature of each in my life and mind is sometimes confusing.
Allow me to backtrack a little.
After leaving high-school, I joined the Army and did Satellite communications and Intelligence Analysis. This was not really that taxing mentally, but often, it was physically demanding being part of a rapid deployment airborne unit at Ft. Bragg. Basically, I was physically challenged, but not mentally.












Upon my honorable discharge and leaving the pride of serving my country behind me, I made the transition to a civilian job working with IBM Global Services in Tampa Florida. This job was the complete opposite of my previous life with the Army in the sense that it was mentally demanding, but offered no physical challenge. As is the case with many people in the corporate world, I needed both types of stimulus. Interestingly enough, Ted Kaczynski touched on this very thing in his "manifesto" and the effects of the industrial revolution on society. If you've never read it, please take the time to do so with an open mind and think about some of the implications of technology on our daily lives. (another similar and fascinating article here)
Back to the present.
One thing that technology does is the enablement of more multi-tasking (based on one's capacity for such) due to ever increasing computing power. This multi-tasking in the networking arena allows for more and faster communications via different mediums. The very definition of communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. (Dictionary.com) Now that we're able to exchange thoughts and ideas instantaneously with anyone and everyone that wants to know, how much substantially relevant info is being communicated. Obviously the answer to that subjective question depends on the individual perspective, but I feel that the more access we have to entertainment and each other, the less originality there seems to be.
This leads me to wonder just how much ease of information access or communication is necessary.
This is also one of the conflicts that I see in my own life.
Yes, I twitter. I'm on Facebook and MySpace, and obviously, I blog. I love technology and I support my family through the use and furtherment of technology, but electronic communication is (IMO) impersonal and requires less human interaction. Of course face to face communication isn't always geographically possible, but those people who are regionally capable, still lean on electronic means of communicating due to convenience.
The conveniences that technology has created for us has led to more sedentary lifestyles for many. A sedentary lifestyle doesn't fit with my idea of "living." To me, there's a big difference between existing and actually living.
When I'm trail running or mountain biking, I can be alone with my thoughts while being physically challenged. During this time, I am being myself without feeling the need to check or update my electronic "status" with the world.
Don't get me wrong. Communication is essential and I feel that EFFECTIVE communication is falling by the wayside for many reasons. Ignorance and apathy to name a couple.
Perhaps if we as a society had less convenience, we might be better communicators. If we were forced to actually FACE those with whom we wished or needed to communicate with, there might be more empathy and understanding amongst our fellow humans.
Since I'm thinking out loud, I guess it all boils down to a matter of personal choice. This is a problem though because when given the chance, most people with choose the path of least resistance or perceived greatest pleasure instead of the road less traveled.







Are you making the most of life or are you letting life make the most of you before it uses you up and discards you?