Sunday, November 7, 2010

Weekly Summary: Nov 1-7

11-01-2010
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:02) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Legs felt terrible lying in bed but not half bad out cruising around in the top-notch fall morning.
PM: 14 miles (2:02) Green Mt., 3000'
Up front and down Bear Cyn. I couldn't resist testing out an awesome new pair of NB kicks (the update to the 101, this shoe is essentially the mountain shoe I've been looking to design for the past six years), so of course I had to give them a run through my laboratory.  My legs ended up feeling good and I charged up the front in 31:10 (6:40, 12:30, 14:56, 18:30, 22:08, 28:40).  I started out putting in no effort just easing into the mountain, but by time I got to Greenman I noticed I was only a bit over PR pace so I tried to focus my effort a little more.  Even so, my mind kept wandering to this week's trip to Creede (sample bottles, sampling locations, collection protocols, etc.) so I was almost forgetting to look at my splits.  Despite my lack of focus I ended up only 20 seconds off of PR for my 2nd-fastest time ever. The last couple of switchbacks through the talus still had a slight dusting of snow, so I'm guessing it can't be much longer before that becomes permanent.  Went down Skunk Canyon and tacked on 1.5mi of barefoot down at Kitt before jogging home in the dark.  Great run.

11-02-2010
Tue-AM: 15 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down NE Ridge to Flag to EGF+1.5mi barefoot at BHS.  I'm ready for the time to change this weekend.  It was dark all the way until the Ranger cabin, so I was stumbling around a lot before that.  Legs felt good by the end of the run.
PM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Bumped into Jeff at the trailhead so we ran together up the backside and ended up running the top half of the mountain quicker and harder than I would've alone for sure. My legs were definitely heavy. Jeff was pushing a quick pace down Bear Cyn as well, but it was all good as I needed to get back in time to make my 5:00pm class.  Tacked on a mile of barefoot down at Kitt.

Sunrise over Boulder as seen from Gregory Canyon.
North and South Arapahoe Peaks in early morning light.
Longs Peak with the purple morning glow.

11-03-2010
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:09) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Ran at 4am before driving to Creede, so this whole run was in the dark by headlamp.  Pretty cool, and kinda makes me look forward to 100 milers in the future (UTMB, Hardrock, Wasatch) that will require significant night running.

11-04-2010
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Nice easy cruise after a long night of driving. Had to hustle back for a conference call regarding the update to the MT101s.
PM: 15 miles (2:22) 2xGreen Mt., 5000'
Great run. Ran up the frontside for both laps with the first being a PR 30:44 (6:32, 12:22, 18:11) and the second being a more mellow but still satisfactory 32:52 (6:55, 13:02, 19:27).  Felt very strong all evening and just generally had one of those euphoric evening outings.

11-05-2010
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:08) Green Mt., 3000'
Ran really easy up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Cyn. Hips were a bit tired after yesterday's vertical binge, so I was just trying to make sure that I would be able to make it through the next day's long run.

11-06-2010
Sat-AM: 68 miles (10:16) Ring The Peak circumnavigation, 13000'
Ran around Pikes Peak on the RTP route. Longest solo non-race run ever.

11-07-2010
Sun-AM: 16 miles (2:46) Green-Bear-SoBo, 4800'
Got together in more awesome weather with Geoff, Jeff, Dan Brillon, Dave, Darcy, Krissy, Charles Corfield and Jason for a very casual tour of the local peaks just before a violent little storm cell blew in.  The pace was very easy all day and we had extended re-grouping at each summit, but Geoff, Jeff and I descended Fern at normal pace so as to not be tripping all over ourselves on the technical terrain and then it was just a nice jog back on Mesa to finish out the run.  I'd gotten out for a little neighborhood loop beforehand to loosen up my body from the day before but all in all things felt good today, just some to-be-expected heavy legs.  Always a pleasure running with good company.

Total
-Miles: 198
-Hours: 30h 01min
-Vertical: 43,800'

2010 Boulder Summits
-Green: 260
-Bear: 28
-SoBo: 6

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! 68M on Saturday. And solo to boot. Incredible. 198M for the week. You are definitely getting primed for NF50-SF. That PP adventure had to be, well, one heck of a good time.

Chris Cawley said...

When do the new 101's come out? I was about to get some of the current ones but if they're really an improvement I don't necessarily need to buy shoes at the moment...

John said...

Wow. That's impressive. Looking forward to seeing how the NF50 shakes out.

One question. Did you refill your bottle at all during the run? One 20 oz bottle for 68 miles just seems crazy.

mr everyday guy said...

Jesus! Do you ever look back over your week and realize how amazingly epic this forth put endurance actually is!! In case you've forgotten, or are too humble to notice, 68 miles is tough in itself despite the consecutive 25+ mile days preceeding. Damn son!

Texafornia said...

Where did you eventually find water on Saturday's run?

Anton said...

Christopher-The update to the 101s don't come out for almost 18 months...I wouldn't wait around for them just yet.

John-I refilled my bottle five or six times on Saturday at streams along the way.

Kakapo said...

An update to the 101 you say? I can't wait. Every time I get out on the trails in my 101s I'm eternally grateful to you for the design input on them and/or their existence. Hearing that further polishings are in the work is fantastic, as I've found key little areas that I'd love to improve (particuarly the rather foot chewing toe box (inner fabric doesn't cover entirety of the material at the edge of the toe, and where there's no fabric it chafes - also, a bit more flexibility, softness of the midsole more in line with the 100s- I'd swear they changed it, - perhaps a slight reduction in heel drop, and sometimes I pine for a stickier rubber, despite durability concerns).

Anyway, runs like that 68 miler are a huge inspiration. I'm living a somewhat pedestrian life in Austin, TX and am scouting jobs in CO because of posts like this and my passion for running. We may have music and culture galore in ATX, but we have so little in terms of nature. You really are extraordinarily lucky be living in an area with natural scenery like that. Hope to someday see you roar past me on those same trails. One day I'll sort of keep up :-P

Scott said...

Anton....that's a very impressive week!
I just started running some of these trails on Friday and saw you finishing your run, as I was pulling into Chautauqua parking lot around 9:30 on Friday.
I ended up going up Amphitheater trail, to Green Mountain, where I met Fred & a couple others from Bouldertrailrunners.org and they advised me to keep going to Bear Peak. I ran to Bear Peak and then over to S. Boulder Peak and then down Shadow Canyon to Mesa and back to Chautauqua!
Great day and run, but at 45 years old and my last marathon 10 years ago...i was pretty sore Saturday & Sunday!
I did manage to get out Sunday for another 5 miles on Mesa to loosen up the muscles and was also caught in the quick, freak rain storm.
Looking forward to continuing to run these trails and meeting more very cool people.
Keep up the great work.
Oh...and this was my first run in the MT 101's and they're awesome and that's after coming out of VFF's for the past 11 months!
Cheers-
Scott

Rooster said...

Are you able to share any of the potential updates to the 101?

Brandon Thrower said...

same question about sharing updates. I love the MT 101's, quick and responsive. But the heel collar dug into my ankle on the lateral side and bruised them pretty bad. I ended up just cutting away the collar around that contact point and its fixed the problem. So that would be a welcomed update. By the way, your mileage is ridiculous! Hoping to get some runs out west this summer while on my road trip (scouting for a new place to live).

Roger Taylor said...

Impressive weekly millage! Inspiring view's.

run fast live slow said...

nice week. . .
i don't like to carry any more than i need on my runs either, but i feel that i always miss the most beutiful photo opportunities by doing so...
any small, lightweight camera suggestions? where the heck do you tuck the camera?
thanks man

Ryan said...

So for 198 miles of running, do you find any time to do core or weight work to avoid injury? I keep getting injured any time I get to 10% of your weekly distance!

Dave Mackey said...

Anton,
Nice to be running with you lately. Keep up the monster strength through TNF race.. Dave

brownie said...

What the hell, you couldn't go out Sunday night for an easy 2 miles?

Scott McMurtrey said...

enjoyed your report on the loop run. and love those mountain sunrise snaps.

Collin said...

68 mile trainer by yourself? Wow. That's insane.

Brian Williams said...

I second Joel regarding the 101s. The 101s are a bit of a meat grinder for my wide feet. I found one last pair of MT100s on EBAY though, the inside of which are almost silken compared to the 101s.

Brent Broome said...

Sounds like an epic week, especially for November in Colorado.

On an unrelated note, I remember you mentioned you went to an Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros show a while back and dug it. If you haven't yet, check out this video of them performing "40 Day Dream" live. Thought you might like to share it with your readers at the end of one of your posts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0RQnGhxZzg

Also, not sure if you're into the Avett Bros at all, but I'd guess they're up your alley, so here's one of my favorite videos by them, "Murdered in the City":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE7rkSELM3I

Happy running and good luck at TNF50! Cheers!

Unknown said...

that's truly incredible. pics are mindblowing as well. *hats off*

AlternativeRealm said...

Your an inspiration. I am getting my feet wet, running about 10 miles a day. Good luck with your upcoming races.

Arturo said...

anton,

I recently started reading about your racing carreer, and have become quiclky impressed. Ive read you use the Minimus to train sometimes. What other shoes do you use, and which ones do you race in? Very curious about this.

Anton said...

Arturo--I train pretty much exclusively in the NB Minimus and the MT101s, with some prototypes thrown in here and there. I race in the MT101s.

Unknown said...

Anton,

Do you train in the MT101 without any modifications? I'm surprised because of the heel drop they still have.

PaulDJesse said...

Hey man, I hope you don't mind a completely off topic question.

I was wondering what camera you use on your runs. I have a Flip which I like when I'm out with a pack and taking videos but I was looking for a light weight point and shoot that can take good pics.

Thanks in advance and keep up the great writing and running. Your blog posts and pics have been really motivating as I'm coming back from injury.

Tomek Kowalski said...

Dude you totally rocks! I will be on TNF 50 in SF so hope you can put an autograph on my calf:) I am new in ultrarunning but love it so far. You surname sounds a bit like polish/czech? Its a Slavic power, I tell you;)