Western States Course Preview: Week Log May 26-June 1

I spent the second half of this week driving with Jocelyn back to San Diego. We decided to take the long way in order to check out some of the Western States course and then enjoy a roadtrip together taking our time cruising down the coast on (mostly) Highway 1. First, the week of training:

Mon-AM: 30 miles (4:00) Started from Red Rocks, then up 666-Jones Park-7 Bridges-Buckhorn-Capn Jacks-Chutes-Stratton+barefoot. Did the 666 hillclimb tempo in 33:23. Very solid.
PM: 4 miles (:33) Monument Loops easy w/ Jocelyn

Tue-AM: 30 miles (4:00) Jones Park-7 Bridges-Buckhorn Loop+barefoot. Almost the exact same run as yesterday---ran fairly hard up 666 in 34:40.

Wed-PM: 8 miles (1:07) Canyon trails in Fruita, CO. Driving all day.

Thu-AM: 15 miles (2:01) Double tracks right out of Austin, NV. A few 1000' climbs.

Fri-AM: 50 miles (7:26) Western States course: Michigan Bluff to Last Chance and back then to Cal-1...with bailing out of Robinson Flat early in the morning and getting lost for miles between MB and Foresthill.

Sat-AM: 48 miles (6:00) WS course: Placer High School to Rucky Chucky and back

Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:15) Big Basin Redwoods State Park w/ Jocelyn: Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail out and back.

Total: 200 miles (27:22)

I had a very good start to the week with back to back 30 milers, but then packing up the apartment/traveling got in the way mid-week, which just meant that I was well-rested for the WS Course baptism on the weekend.

Jocelyn and I pulled into Auburn, CA on Thursday evening more than a bit frazzled from the I-80 traffic: Jocelyn commented more than once that driving on I-80 from Squaw Valley to Auburn was going to be the most stressful part of crewing for me at Western. I hope she's right.

We bumbled onto the Auburn Running Company while looking for someplace to poach some internet and buy some groceries and the fellows there were quite helpful and friendly. I picked up a map of the Auburn Lake area that covered the WS course (but, of course, the actual race route wasn't marked on it) from Michigan Bluff to the finish, but I ended up not ever using it for anything.

Jocelyn and I were much relieved to finally hop onto the Foresthill Divide Road with plans of heading up towards Robinson Flat to camp for the evening. We stopped at the General Store in Foresthill in order to dine on the picnic tables there with an excellent view of the American River Canyon.

We then spent a considerable amount of time in and around Foresthill trying to acquaint ourselves with various landmarks of the race course: California Street, Michigan Bluff Road, Bath Road. Because of all this driving around we spent the rest of the drive up the Foresthill Divide in darkness, thereby setting us up for a nice surprise the next morning when all the big views from up there unveiled themselves to us.

However, about 2 miles from Robinson Flat the road was blocked by a couple good-sized snow/ice banks that we decided to not mess with, so we just pulled over near the Sailor Flat sign and threw our sleeping bags down on the luxuriously loamy forest floor.

Friday morning we awoke early with the sun and decided we'd just run the couple of miles to Robinson Flat and hope to pick up the WS route there. My plan was to run the route the whole way to Rucky Chucky and then run/walk/crawl out to the Divide Road where Jocelyn would be waiting for me.

My legs felt great on the road climb up to RF, but once we got there Jocelyn and I were ultimately completely frustrated by no course markings (the training weekend contingent clearly hadn't made it up there), still quite a bit of snow, and barely any signage. We did manage to find a single WS Trail marker but had no idea about which of the many possible (largely snow-covered) forest roads there were to choose from.

The only option was to run back down to the car and drive to a different access point on the trail. I initially thought we could drive up Mosquito Ridge Rd to N-44 and Dusty Corners but decided that was a whole lot of driving for comparatively little more WS trail so I settled on doing an out and back from Michigan Bluff to Last Chance and then planning on continuing from MB all the way down to Rucky Chucky.

So, with 37 minutes of running already in our legs, we set out up the WS trail from Michigan Bluff. Jocelyn instantly fell in love with the perfect singletrack, horse trail, canopy vegetation nature of the path and my spirits were instantly lifted too: FINALLY, I was on the Western States Trail!

I left Jocelyn behind (she would do a double-crossing of Eldorado Canyon) and cruised down to El Dorado Creek in 22 minutes. Immediately on the climb out the other side I could tell that life was different down here at the lower elevations: all the extra oxygen on the climb made it feel as if I was cheating.

It was on this initial climb out of Eldorado that I began thinking about how ridiculously perfect and benign the trails of Northern California were. These were not the usual Rocky Mountain fare. Running in Colorado, to me, has a feel of rugged adventure brought on by rough-hewn, often ill-maintained gravelly/rocky trails, thin air, and an underlying sense that the margin of error is always slim. Coming out of Eldorado Canyon everything felt too perfect and controlled, like a gated community. NorCal trail running was polo and fox-hunting while Colorado trail running is steer wrestling and buffalo hunting.

Of course, that's all a bit ridiculous and I even think I'm pretty much wrong; the thing to remember is that it's not a value-judgement--for me there was just a different feel on the trail.

Anyways, I popped out of the canyon at the "Danger: Hazardous Trail Ahead" sign (or, something like that) at 1:00 even and then traversed my way over the ridge to Devil's Thumb (or, at least the sign that signals the descent into Deadwood Canyon) in 1:21. It took me 13 minutes to get to the river (is this the "Swinging Bridge"?) and then another 22 minutes to climb to the more road-like section of the route (right by the old mine site) that leads up the hill to what I guessed to be Last Chance (there was a big clearing in the road and a nearby placard recounting the history of the WS Trail saying that I was at Last Chance), which I reached in 2:10. Right before Last Chance I was super-psyched to see a big bear lumber off the edge of the trail and into the woods.

After a gel, I turned around and cruised back the exact way I had just come. I loved the 22 minute descent from Last Chance to the Swinging Bridge and then cruised up the 34 (by my count) switchbacks to Devil's Thumb in 23 minutes. The section of trail through this canyon is simply wonderful. Extremely enjoyable running.

I noted on the way back how it's actually ALL downhill from DT to Eldorado Creek, which I covered in 38 minutes and then grunted up the final climb into Michigan Bluff in 31 minutes for a total split from LC to MB of 1:55. Maybe I was just hungry, but it seemed to me the last little bit of the climb up to MB drug on a bit.

After meeting Jocelyn at MB and having her point me in the right direction, we agreed to meet again in an hour or so at California Street in Foresthill. I followed flagging for a good ways on first a gravel road and then a right turn onto a more logging-type road, but I must've missed something because soon I T-boned with a paved road that--through a solid 20 minutes or so of running back and forth on--I determined to be the Michigan Bluff Road (the "1/2 mile to Michigan Bluff" sign was a good tip).

So, I decided to just run that back to Foresthill because I knew it would get me there. That sucked. All pavement (duh) and much further than I remembered from driving it. When I finally met up with Jocelyn in Foresthill I'd added an extra 4-5 miles onto the route. With the 4 more from running up to Robinson Flat early in the morning, I decided to bag running all the way to the River (I sort of wanted to avoid a 9 hour day). Instead, I just did an out and back down to five minutes past Cal-1, which revealed still more beautiful trail. All in all, it was an excellent day of running.

After sleeping on the Placer High School Track Friday night (lots of folks were finishing up a night training run from Green Gate to the finish) I did a much simpler run to Rucky Chuck and back from the Finish.

I spent the first hour or so with Jocelyn shaking the crap out of my legs from the previous day's run, but after she turned around at Highway 49 I gradually got in my groove and actually felt quite good. Surprising, the day after a 7 1/2 hour run. Maybe extra oxygen helps you recover faster, too. Twice between Highway 49 and the quarry I got sidetracked onto other trails where I would run out 5-10 minutes or so before realizing that I hadn't seen a flag in a while. But, from there all the way to the River things were fairly straightforward; I seemed to bumble my way down the right trail, and even with the 25-30 minutes of off-course time I got to the River in 3:15 flat.

I took a break to swim across the river and back just to check its depth and swiftness (not nearly as bad as I thought it would be---I can't imagine what it was like the year they used a raft to get across during the race), and then turned around and started running back to Auburn, finally completely confident in my route.

The run back to the high school was really quite uneventful and I just took pleasure in a beautiful day and what seemed to be an overall slight downhill to the course profile. I climbed up to Green Gate in 17 minutes, was surprised at the ~10min climb up past the rock quarry, but hit the Highway in 1:39, and then enjoyed the very long downhill to No Hands Bridge (2:05) before the final climb up to Robie Pt which I reached in 2:24. I cursed that final little climb (surely not as much as I will in the race), but cruised back to the track in a total of 2:35 and then jogged 10 minutes barefoot to round out the 6 hours.

I'm not sure what to take away from these training runs except that I am surely pleased with how they went. Of course, there are still parts of the route that are unknown to me (the Duncan Canyon climb is the only one I haven't seen), but I guess that'll just make it a little more interesting on race day. A couple more weeks of big training, a nice taper, and I'll be making a trip back out to Cali in no time.

Week Log: May 19-25

Mon-AM: 18 miles (2:20) Garden of the Gods+barefoot
Really enjoying this spate of warmer weather. Took it nice and easy, but the legs actually felt pretty good. Afterwards, refueled with several plates of appetizers and glasses of punch at CC's graduation reception.
PM: 5 miles (:40) North Monument
Legs felt surprisingly good. Ran in the FiveFingers for a first time in a while.


Tue-AM: 16 miles (2:01) North Loop then South Santa Fe Trail
5x2min hard/1min easy, 1xmile in 5:25, 3x2min hard/1min easy
This wasn't a great workout. It was hot and windy; I was dehydrated, starving, and sleep-deprived and that one mile was quite a bit tougher than it should've been so I bagged the last couple of "on" segments and just jogged it home.
PM: 7 miles (1:03) Palmer Park with Jocelyn
This was a great run in the FiveFingers. I felt way way better than this morning, and adding a pair of insoles to my FFs provided the perfect extra little bit of protection that my foot needed.


Wed-AM: 16 miles (2:08) Broadmoor/Cheyenne Mt. Zoo
First time I've really explored around over there and there ain't much exploring to do because of all the exclusiveness ridiculousness.
PM: 9 miles (1:29) 666-Mt. Buckhorn Loop w/ Jocelyn and Koch
I'd planned on doing more than this, but we were so hungry by the end that Jocelyn and I just went straight to Chipotle and Josh and John's instead.

Thu-AM: 10 miles (1:30) No Name Creek and back from Manitou w/ Jocelyn
I was planning a much longer run this morning, but for some reason my body was still feeling beat down so I just decided to make it an easy day and have the weekend come a day early.

Fri-AM: 52 miles (7:05) 666-Pipeline-Frosty's Park-Baldy Summit-Frosty's-701-Jones Park-7 Bridges-Buckhorn-Monument Loops ~7000' climbing
This was a great great run where I was really cooking a lot of the day. Baldy is 12,349' and I felt pretty good getting to the summit in 3:31 from my doorstep. However, it was super windy and pretty cold on top and started snowing just as I was leaving and the snow actually chased me all the way back down to 8000' or so. The route I took back down (701) contours at ~10,000' for a long time so the storm had a while to catch up with me. Overall a very good run.

Sat-AM: 43 miles (6:00) 666-Jones Park-Pipeline-Beaver Meadows-701-Frosty's-Mt. Rosa Saddle-St. Mary's Falls-Buckhorn-Monument Loops. ~6000' climbing
Another very solid long run. I was definitely tired/sluggish most of the day, but I just settled in and went with it. I'm really enjoying exploring all the trails up there above 9000' that I never really got to last summer. The trail down off of the Rosa Saddle (11,000') towards St. Mary's Falls is especially cool--I want to run up it sometime soon.

Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:02) Garden of the Gods
Tired from the last couple big days.
PM: 6 miles (:54) Bear Creek from Wal-Mart w/ Jocelyn
Felt horrible. Just a bad time of day. Got some heat training in at least, I guess.

Total: 197 miles (27:12)

Kind of a weird week. It didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, but the back to back long runs were perfect. Showed some restraint on Sunday in that I didn't add on to the horrible evening run just to get 200 miles for the week. Right now it's all about listening to my body while still trying to cram in as many miles as possible. I'm just listening a lot more closely than I did last year.

Week Log: May 12-18

Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:10) Garden of the Gods+barefoot
The first hour my body was readjusting from being sick, but then it turned into a pleasant run.
PM: 9 miles (1:20) Williams Canyon out and back w/ Jocelyn
Nice, easy, pleasant run on one of my favorite trails. Jocelyn was tired from her blazing 17:22 5K this weekend.

Tue-AM: 25 miles (3:05) 666-Buckhorn+barefoot
666 Hill Tempo in 34:10 (didn't go quite tempo effort), then, 15x1min hard/1min easy back through Bear Creek (Matt C Special)
Solid workout; good to go fast again for the first time in a while.
PM: 5 miles (:40) North Monument

Wed-AM: 25 miles (3:15) 666-Buckhorn+barefoot
Wow, pretty worked today. Had to go slow. Happy to be done. Wore the new 790s and they were great.
PM: 5 miles (:43) King Soopers and back to drop off movie

Thu-AM: 27 miles (3:30) 666-Buckhorn-Capn Jacks+barefoot
Felt way better than yesterday, but still not quite completely on it. Sickness is still just barely lingering. It doesn't help that every run this week it's been raining/snowing at higher elevations.
PM: 5 miles (:41) North Monument+barefoot

Fri-AM: 10 miles (1:30) King Soopers and back plus Monument Loops and barefoot
Went nice and easy; not too tired.

Sat-AM: 52 miles (6:30) 666-Jones Park-Frosty's Park-up Baldy Road then down to Old Stage-Gold Camp-Buckhorn+barefoot
Really good run. I know it seems really fast, but after climbing to 11,200' on Mt. Baldy I turned around and had a 19 mile downhill on gravel roads to 7600' that I ran in 2:03 (6:20s pace), so when you're running that fast for that long the miles stack up pretty quickly. I felt very good on the 5000' climb, rocked the long downhill (it's really hard not to), climbed another 1000' over the Buckhorn ridge, and then cruised it home. An added bonus was that the first really warm day (temps in the 80s) gave me some good heat training. Despite being turned around at 11k' because of snow, it seems like the warm weather will make quick work of any remaining snow in the high country. The new 790s performed beautifully on this run.

Sun-AM: 34 miles (4:33) 666-Lake Moraine Road and back+barefoot
Another good run. It took me an hour or so to really get warmed up and feeling good after yesterday's run, but I actually felt OK on the 4000' climb to Lake Moraine (actually a reservoir) at 10,500'. I'm so excited the snow is disappearing! I turned around and ran back down the hill at a very solid clip all the way back home. Don't think I ate enough for dinner the night before so I was really starving for a lot of this run and had to take a couple of gels. More good heat training in the upper 80s.

Total: 213 miles (27:57)

A great kick-off week to the real meat of my WS preparation. I felt sort of off all week coming back from whatever virus I had, but then I was clearly over it by time the weekend rolled around. Tuesday was a nice transitional workout with the hill tempo/fartlek, but I hope to maybe get in a more conventional, flat, get-down speed-type workout next week. Also, I'm super psyched about getting on the WS course next weekend. Not sure if the high country portion will be accessible, but I plan to see at least everything from Robinson Flat to the finish line and hopefully will get in another 50ish miler (Robinson to the River?).  Hopefully I can get an idea about what type of splits might be possible, plus some real heat training.

Week Log: May 5-11

Mon-AM: 25 miles (4:04) A-Frame and back plus Mt. View out and back on the way down ~6000' vertical
Yes! Finally some high altitude running! Ran to Barr Camp in 73:42 (from Hydro Street...even though I start most of my Manitou runs at Memorial Park I always time from Hydro because I need a little warm-up time) and there was NO SNOW the entire way. Above BC there was a fair bit of snow, but it was all runnable as it was pretty crusty/slushy/icy so I could stay on top of it. By A-Frame (12,000') the trail wasn't followable anymore, though, so I turned around and cruised it back down. Felt OK on the uphill, but really felt solid on the downhill and the excursion over to Mt. View at 10k' in order to get some more altitude time. Cranked downhill faster than usual (~48min from BC to Hydro) and then ran some extra at the bottom to make it 25ish miles. Great day.
PM: 6 miles (:47) Shooks Loop Backwards
Easy in the 152s, but feeling good. Stopped at the Safeway to pick up some tortilla chips.

Tue-AM: 25 miles (4:35) Pikes Peak Summit then down to Mt. View over to Barr Trail and down ~8000' vertical
Awesome to get to 14,000' for the first time this year, but ~8000' vertical in ~10 miles is pretty brutal. Felt good except for the last couple thousand feet. It is so steep in some spots. Rocked the downhill solid to get in some great downhill training for Western. Took two gels and snagged a Snickers bar at the Summit House that saved me the last hour and a half. Jogged around a little in Manitou to get in 25ish.
PM: 6 miles (:50) North Loop+barefoot
Easy in the 152s but I somehow felt really good. Gorgeous evening. For some reason when I only take 3-4hrs after a long run I always feel nice and peppy on the 2nd run.

Wed-AM: 30 miles (4:00) Jones Park-7 Bridges Loop+Monument loops and barefoot ~4000' vertical
Rainy all day, so I didn't get out until almost noon. Slow at first, but then I felt good on the climb up 666 so I just went for it and decided to do the full loop because I was having so much fun. Above Capn Jacks there was new snow on the trail (that my NB 152s weren't so happy navigating) and there was rain coming down, but I had a blast. Kinda bonked the last 30 minutes or so because I didn't take any gels or water (did have a muffin for breakfast, though).

Thu- zippo, woke up with a sore throat, headache, body aches, queasy stomach, no good

Fri- 4 miles (:37) Monument+barefoot easy with Jocelyn
Just jogged around with J, but that might have been a mistake. I felt better afterwards than before, but I think I just need rest right now.

Sat- 0
No running today because I didn't really see any improvement in my health from yesterday. I'll just look at this as "stress fracture insurance" and hopefully will be able to start solid running again Monday.

Sun- AM: 5 miles (:42) North Monument
Jogged around easy to just test my health. Feeling better, but still pretty off. Should be ready to go tomorrow, though.

Total: 101 miles (15:35)

Great first half of the week, worthless second half; not much else to say.  I really don't like to believe that going for a longish run in the rain can make one catch an illness...but it probably does compromise the immune system a bit.

Week Log: April 28-May 4

Mon-PM: 11 miles (1:31) Baca Grande road out and back
In Crestone, CO with Jocelyn. Wore the NB 505s because my foot is still bruised. I felt so shitty on the way back that I stopped running and just walked the last hour. Time to take some down time.

Tue-PM: 5 miles (:40) Baca campus road out and back w/ Jocelyn
Felt pretty terrible.

Wed-AM: 5 miles (:40) North Crestone Road out and back
Almost felt normal by the end of this run, I think.

Thu-AM: 5 miles (:40) Baca Grande singletrack+road w/ Jocelyn
Finally feel like a human being again. Felt good enough to do a lot more this morning, but there's no hurry.

Fri-AM: 25 miles (3:01) Buckhorn+Monument Loops+barefoot
The first few miles were a bit funky, and I actually felt like I'd lost some altitude fitness on the Buckhorn climb, but I felt really really good the second half and had a lot of sub-7 minute miles. Really cookin' at times.
PM: 6 miles (:51) Shooks Run Loop w/ Jocelyn
Nice and easy in the 152s.

Sat-AM: 32 miles (4:14) 666-Jones Park-Meadow before Lake Moraine-7 Bridges-Buckhorn and back home.
I didn't feel great climbing on this run but it was awesome because I ran on basically snow-free trails all the way up to 10,000'. Yeah! I'm ready for summer! Felt really good on the downhills, and actually moving good all day until I started bonking the last 3 miles or so.

Sun-AM: 8 miles (1:11) Pipeline trail out+back in Manitou w/ Jocelyn
Decided that I would rather spend the whole day with Jocelyn than go running all day; especially since this "easy/down" week would've still been over 100 miles if I hadn't taken today so easy. Felt good. I love this trail.

Total: 97 miles (12:48)

I guess my body really needed this week after the last very very solid 8 weeks of training and racing. I just figured that if I don't give myself a nice physical and mental break right now then my body/mind will be NEEDING it in a couple of weeks when I'll needing to be putting in the meat of my training for Western States. I was happy with the way I felt by the end of the week, so I'm excited to really get after it now--especially since he high altitude trails are melting out!

Zane Grey 50 Race Report

(Coming into Geronimo Aid at 8 miles Photo credit: JP Pullaro)

First off, the Highline Trail is 51 miles; and that last mile counts.

As long as I've been aware of ultramarathons, Zane Grey has been a race that I've wanted to do. While I feel that its self-proclamation of being the hardest 50 miler in the country isn't quite accurate (San Juan's climbing and altitude trumps the rocks of ZG, I think) it is probably the 2nd hardest and it has an infamous and historic point-to-point course that has attracted a lot of the country's top ultrarunning talent over the years. So, with a classic course and plenty of previous time standards to test myself against, I was lured in.

About 10 days before the race, Kyle and I went down to Pine, AZ (the starting point) to check out some of the course. After doing an out and back 25 miler from the starting line my emotions ranged from, on the way out: "My God, this is some kind of sick joke to hold a race on this pathetic, sorry excuse for a trail" to, on the way back: "I don't know, this is actually kind of fun..." With that introduction, though, I'd decided I'd seen enough.

Zane Grey was under new directorship this year. Perry Edinger stepped in to keep the race alive, and--much to my appreciation--decided to do what he could to invite and accommodate some top runners to this year's race. As a result, I was looking forward to running with some of the East Coast's finest--Bradley Mongold and Eric Grossman--along with former race winner Josh Brimhall. As it turned out, though, Grossman wouldn't be able to make it out because of a re-aggravated hamstring injury.

After much debate, I decided to not wear a headlamp for the race and was glad I didn't. Even with a 5am start, Arizona doesn't follow daylight savings time, so the sky was already lightening when Perry sent us on our way. I took the lead from the first step with Josh, Bradley, and James Bonnett right on my heels. Strangely, there didn't seem to be any flagging at all the first 17 miles of the course, so in the first few miles I relied on Josh's prior course knowledge--and my small preview--to keep us on the right path.

After a mile or so, Josh took over the lead, but then I was on point as we began the first substantial climb of the course. I remembered it being steep the week before, but race adrenaline made it seem not so bad. However, I definitely think I was a bit too aggressive for such an early point in the race. On the entire run over to the Geronimo aid station at mile 8 I felt awkward and uncomfortable, even though I was leading and setting the pace. The extra bulky shoes (Brooks ST Racers) I was wearing to protect my bruised foot just plain sucked. The extra midsole height provided padding and protection but it also drastically reduced my proprioceptive feedback, responsiveness in my footstrike, and ankle stability. Plus, they were a half-size too big. So it goes.

Not only did the shoes feel awkward, but I just felt like I was kind of forcing the pace, which is not the way I like to run so early in such a long race. I had a (very) small gap on Josh and irrationally I kind of wanted to maintain it. I cruised the nice piney section downhill into Geronimo, splashed across the creek (almost running into a photographer because my head was down negotiating the water), skipped the aid (split of 1:10), and started up the switchbacks leading out of the valley. As I was winding up the hill I expected to see Josh and Bradley right behind me but I'd somehow already opened a minute or so gap on them. That would be the last time I would seen any other runner the whole race (which made for a pretty lonely day).

On the next section over to Washington Park (17 miles) I just focused on running smoothly, comfortably, and efficiently. I was trying to make up for what I thought had been a little bit too quick of a first hour of running. The trail in this section actually wasn't too bad for a while. And then came a completely washed out gulley followed by a bunch of burn and downfalls where I completely lost the trail and was literally running around in circles in frustration trying to get back on track. Eventually I picked it back up, though, and cruised to the Washington Park aid in 2:34.

I'd taken my fourth gel right before the station, refilled my bottles and took my first salt cap as I was heading out. It wasn't hot at all yet (the day would top out at only 80 degrees or so), but I was sweating pretty good and wanted to stay on top of my electrolytes. It was during this section that I also saw at least two dozen elk (very cool) and the first of two rattlesnakes that I spontaneously jumped over because it was laid all the way across the trail (not so cool).

The next 7 mile section over to the remote Hell's Gate aid station went surprisingly quickly (I think it's probably a touch short). I just kept doing my thing: enjoying the technical challenge of the rocks and running as quickly and efficiently as possible on the smooth sections of trail (yes, there were some smoother sections out there). I filled my bottles again at Hell's Gate (3:37) in anticipation of the long 9 mile stretch over to Tonto Creek and kept on my way.

I think it was this section of the course that had a fair amount of downhill long grass-concealing-rocks surface that proved to be some of the most frustrating terrain of the whole day. Other than that, I don't remember much except for the unrelenting up and down nature of the trail and the fact that I was pretty happy to get to Tonto Creek (33 miles in 5:06) because after that I could mentally start feeling like I was in the home stretch. It definitely also began to get a bit hot in this section. I stopped to dunk my head at most creek crossings to conserve the water in my bottles.

Coming into Tonto Creek my legs still felt pretty good.  I consistently had to remind myself to take it easy on the uphills and not waste extra energy trying to run too fast over the extremely technical terrain.  Additionally, any time the trail would smooth out a bit my legs would take off and turn over by themselves.  At the station itself I was sure to prepare for the long next stretch by drinking a full bottle of water and filling both my bottles before taking off again.

All of that pretty much ended after the 33 mile aid station.  Pretty soon after the aid there were a couple of uphills that were such an incredible jumble of sandstone blocks that all I could do was laugh out loud as I picked my way up the hill.  Even before I got to the biggest climb on the course at approximately the 35-36 mile point my legs were done.  I had stopped trying to push it on the smooth sections and was mostly in "let's just get it done" mode.

Going up the ~1000' climb was actually nice at first because the trail was now completely back in the forest and out of the burn section, but it was also extremely frustrating for me because the trail was in much much better condition but I no longer had the reserves to really push the pace and take advantage of the improved footing.  And then I actually had to walk the steeper sections of the climb.  I know that walking is often an efficient mode of racing in mountain ultra events, but I hate to do it.  I like running.  I don't like walking.  

But there really wasn't much else I could do at this point.  I still ran the less steep sections of the ascent, but I was seriously losing momentum.  In an attempt to get my energy back I took 3 gels within 45 minutes, an extra salt cap, and drank as much as possible.  This all seemed to help and once the climb started descending things improved a bit.

I'd remembered someone saying at the pre-race briefing the night before that there would be some type of "emergency" aid at the 30, 37, and 40 mile marks, so I focused all of my energy on just getting to that supposed 40 mile mark.  I ran everything up until I reached those folks at 6:17 where I filled one of my water bottles because I was almost out.  From there it was just more of the same all the way to the Christopher Creek aid although I do remember there being a bunch of downfall trees in this section.  Multiple, fully-branched trees would cover the course at times and I would waste time and energy bushwhacking around them and trying not to lose the always-sketchy path.

Finally, I saw the vehicles down at the 44 mile aid and that instantly put a little extra pep into my legs on the downhill leading into the station, which I reached in 7:00.  I took a minute to refill both bottles at the station, grab a couple extra gels, hear that I had an hour lead, and then took off down the homestretch of trail.

I was relieved to hear that I had such a big lead, but that really did nothing to motivate me to try and push for a sub-8hr finish.  I'd had Dave Mackey's 7:51:04 course record in mind when I left Tonto Creek, but the big climb and my subsequent rough spot of the day took most of my motivation away.  Along with the fact that someone at the final aid told me it was actually 7 miles to the finish and not 6.  Ugh.

Either way, I still thought I had a chance at a sub-8hr/2nd fastest time during this last stretch but it was incredibly difficult to motivate.  Essentially, I wussed out and just settled into a survival ultra shuffle that I usually only break out during 100 mile races.  I ran into Karsten Solheim with his chainsaw still clearing the last few miles of the course and almost immediately after that tripped for the first time all day but caught myself from face-planting by landing a water-bottled hand on a huge boulder and thereby emptying the bottle all over the trail.

Unfortunately, the last major climb adjacent to the creek bed really took some of the wind out of my sails and I was relegated to walk a couple more steep stretches as I downed another gel.  I was really kind of out of it.  Any time that I tried to motivate myself with the thought of a sub-8hr finish I could never come up with any other response than, "Man, I just really don't freakin' care."  This is (obviously) pretty typical in the late stages of a long and arduous ultra, but it's disappointing to me because the one time I've had competition in the late stages of an ultra (Red Hot Moab 50K back in February) I was psyched to see how my body was able to respond surprisingly effectively even though I'd felt pretty cashed and complacent at that point, too.  This is definitely a point on which either having a pacer or having some competition breathing down my neck would clearly make a big difference.

So.  After what seemed like forever (and many miles of comparatively beautifully smooth trail) I finally heard cars on the highway and knew I would live to run another day.  However, the night before Karsten had said that you still have 1 to 1.5 miles left when you can hear the highway so I just continued jogging along until all of a sudden, barely 50 yards away was the finish line banner.  I immediately, instinctively kicked it into a respectable running pace and finished in 8:02:33.

Boy, I was done.  I immediately plopped down in a chair in the shade, happy that was over with.  This was a marked contrast to AR where I finished with tons of energy and had no problem at all getting in a 10 minute cooldown.  Here, I just wanted to stop moving NOW.  After a couple bottles of water, though, I felt a lot better and, of course, was able to start being (only a tiny bit) disappointed about not breaking 8 hours.  

All in all, though, I was pretty psyched on my race.  I'm now pretty confident in my technical skills as I rarely felt outmatched by the course's footing.  I would've felt even more surefooted and comfortable in my New Balance 790s instead of the boats I was forced to wear.

Unfortunately, most of my competitors had less-than-stellar route-finding days.  Josh dropped after getting off course for 20 or so minutes and 2nd place John Anderson (9:30ish overall time) and 3rd place Bradley Mongold (another 10-20 minutes back) both got off course for 15-20 minutes together much earlier on in the race.  Josh--who was 2nd last year, and won the year before--said the course was by far in the worst condition he'd ever seen it and that there were way way more downed trees than in years past.  I thought that was funny because I felt like some of the worst downed tree sections came after the 33 mile aid station where he dropped out.  Either way, I'm happy with my race but would enjoy an opportunity to run the course under 2004 conditions (the year Dave and Nikki set the course records).  

I can't say that I'll be back, but I definitely enjoyed running the race and was especially grateful for the aid station volunteers' wonderful assistance all day and race director Perry Edinger's gracious hospitality all weekend.

Finally, if anyone has any decent pictures from the race, I'd love to have a couple for posterity. 

Week Log: April 21-27

Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:10) Observatory Mesa in Flagstaff w/ Kyle and Ian
Bruised my foot wearing some old 152s on the rocks...still tired, too.

Tue-AM: 23 miles (3:03) Pipeline to Mt Elden Trail then down Elden Road
Wore brand new 790s, but the foot was still very very tender.
PM: 5 miles (:40) Walmart out and back through NAU campus
Nice and easy; wore the 152s

Wed-AM: 17 miles (2:15) Fisher Pt. out and back
Foot still had some soreness and I was still sluggish. Haven't had a good run all week.

Thu-AM: 8 miles (1:05) FUTS out and back towards Ft. Tuthill
Still feeling tired...hmmm...

Fri-AM: 8 miles (1:05) Rio de Flag out and back
Wore some more padded shoes and I'll probably race in them...the foot is just not ready otherwise.

Sat-AM: 52 miles (8:10) Zane Grey 50 in 8:02:33
Had a very solid 35 miles and then paid a little for the quick early pace, plus it was hard to stay motivated running all by myself all day. Very very complacent the last hour.

Sun-AM: 16 miles (2:10) Phoenix Mts Park
Tired, but not horrible. Climbed a couple of the small mountains in the park. Good heat training at 90+ degrees.

Total: 145 miles (20:38)

This was kind of a rough week. My foot didn't throw off the volume of my running--I did a typical half-taper--but my legs just didn't feel right all week. Once I get back to Colorado I'm going to make sure to start taking some iron pills. I was happy enough with the Zane race, especially considering that I was probably still tired from the Double Crossing the weekend before. I'm excited to take a few days easy and then really get down to some good, solid training.

Week Log: April 14-20

Mon-AM: 18 miles (2:30) Oldham-Brookbank-Schultz Pass Rd in Flagstaff w/ Kyle
Wore FFs, but it was a bit too rocky for that.
PM: 5.5 miles (:43) Rio de Flag out and back w/ Kyle

Tue-AM: 25 miles (4:02) Zane Grey Course out and back w/ Kyle
Ran the first ~12 miles of the ZG course. Almost stepped on a big rattlesnake.

Wed-AM: 21.5 miles (3:01) Schultz Pass Rd to Weatherford Trail in Flag
Felt pretty terrible. Just tired. Almost got to 10K' on W'ford trail.
PM: 5 miles (:40) Downtown Flagstaff
Felt better after a 2hr nap.

Thu-AM: 12 miles (1:40) Buffalo Park-Upper Oldham to the top of Mt. Elden
Feeling a bit better, still a little tired.

Fri-AM: 31 miles (5:10) Hermit's Rest-Tonto-South Kaibab in GC w/ Scott
Awesome awesome run, and I felt great on the climb out.

Sat-AM: 46 miles (7:31) Grand Canyon Double Crossing (South/North Kaibab-Bright Angel) in 7:24
Started with a big group and ended up having a wonderful day in the canyon. Bonked really hard on the climb back up Bright Angel because I was stupid and didn't bring enough gels (only ate 7). I can see now why the R2R2R is so alluring.

Sun-AM: 14 miles (1:52) Fisher Point in Flagstaff w/ Scott, Ian, Kyle
Tired--happy to be done.
PM: 9 miles (1:11) Rio de Flag to AZ trail in the FFs
Feeling nice and chipper.

Total: 187 miles (28:20)

A very very solid week of running. It was great exploring the non-corridor trails in the Grand Canyon these last couple of weekends and then to cap it off with a fun double crossing. I look forward to doing more in the future. I think it's time to taper a bit for Zane Grey now.

Week Log: April 7-13

Mon-AM: 18 miles (2:22) Garden+Mesas in FFs
PM: 5 miles (:47) North Loop w/ Jocelyn in FFs

Tue-AM: 23 miles (3:02) Buckhorn+Duck Pond
PM: ER visit in the middle of the night because of the Staph infection in my big toe

Wed-AM: 24 miles (3:06) 666-Kinneo-Buckhorn
PM: 5 miles (:41) North Loop w/ Jocelyn

Thu-AM: 25 miles (3:00) Buckhorn+666 add on+Duck Pond
Hit my head hard on a tree branch and had a big headache the rest of the day.

Fri-AM: 32 miles (5:02) Bright Angel-Clear Creek out and back w/ Scott and Kyle in the Grand Canyon
Great run except for the huge headache I still had from knocking myself out yesterday.

Sat-AM: 38 miles (6:00) Grandview-Horseshoe Mesa-Tonto-South Kaibab w/ Scott and Kyle
Excellent fantastic run.

Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:00) Grand Canyon Rim trail out and back w/ Scott and Kyle
Tired and sluggish.

Total: 185 miles (26:00)

It seems I recovered pretty quickly from AR in the first half of the week and then the second half of the week was awesome running in the unparalleled environment of the Grand Canyon. The Tonto Trail is way better than I expected.

Week Log: March 31-April 6

Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:05) Garden+Mesas in the FFs
PM: 8 miles (1:07) Shooks easy w/ Jocelyn in the FFs

Tue-AM: 27 miles (3:22) Buckhorn+North Loop in the FFs

Wed-AM: 16 miles (2:06) South out and back + duck pond in the FFs

Thu-AM: 7 miles (1:00) Sout out and back w/ Jocelyn

Fri-AM: 8 miles (1:02) Monument Loops in the FFs

Sat-AM: 52 miles (5:58)--American River 50 in 5:42:37

Sun-AM: 6 miles (1:00) Bear Creek w/ Jocelyn. Slow.

Total: 140 miles (17:40)

American River 50 mile

The months leading up to AR were a bit tumultuous. I hadn't had a serious race since Leadville last August, and my training since August hasn't exactly been consistent. However, after lots of help from the great people over at Champion Health and the magic healing powers of the Gila Wilderness sunshine and streamwater my shin started cooperating five weeks ago, which left me with a perfect amount of time for a solid block of training leading up to AR. A four-week sequence of 131, 201, 182, 184 (which included some of the best speed sessions of my life) followed by a mellow half-week taper and I was ready to go realize some goals in Sacramento.

What were those goals? I was basically running this race with the express purpose of gaining automatic entry into the Western States 100 this June. Way Too Cool was Way Too Early and Way Too Short for me, while I feel that Miwok is too long and too close to Western to run hard. Plus, it filled very quickly this year.

In addition to "place" goals, I had some time goals for the race. Initially, sub-6 hours seemed like a nice, round benchmark for which to shoot, but that didn't seem ambitious enough. At the least, I liked the fact that sub-7 minute pace (5:50) at AR was also the qualifying criteria necessary for me to be thrown into the USATF 100K World Championships selection pool. Next, running faster than Carl Andersen (5:44:something) always seems like a good thing, and finally, there was Tom Johnson's highly-esteemed 5:33:21 course record from way back in 1994 to keep in the back of my mind.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do any sort of course reconnaissance other than what meager photos and descriptions that the Internets had to offer---there was only one set of splits to be found (2005--when Phil Kochik won in a respectable 6:06). As a result, I went into the race only really knowing that A) The first 20-30ish miles or so were essentially on a perfectly flat, paved asphalt bike path and the next 17 miles were on rolling singletrack along the American River, B) the final 3 miles contained the only real climbing of the race (ascending 1000' feet to the canyon rim) and C) almost everyone cautioned against going out too fast in the first half of the race so as to not let the trails eat oneself alive.

Not much to go on. But, what can you do?

Of course, several other folks had the same idea as me, i.e. that AR is a great race for one to go and take a shot at qualifying for Western States! With lottery spots becoming more and more scarce each year at Western, AR was bound to be hyper-competitive this year (for the men, at least), and it certainly lived up to this expectation. This was by far the deepest ultra I've had the pleasure of participating in.

The main contenders (as I saw it going into the race) on the men's side were going to be (in no particular order): Lon Freeman (Miwok CR), Oz Pearlman (5:31 at Chicago Lakefront), Erik Skaden (I could go on and on, but he's won AR twice), Jorge Pacheco (ditto), and Todd Braje (2:2something marathoner and Way Too Cool champ a month ago). As it turned out, the only one I really mistakenly didn't take into account was Jeremy Redding (beat Dave Mackey at the Headlands 50K a few years ago). Also, Billy Barnett was a key (and welcome) player for more than half of the race.

I roomed the night before the race with Jenn Shelton and Billy and had a characteristically restless few hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 4am Saturday morning. Alas, a little sleeplessness was nothing compared to all the congestion and hacking that Jenn was dealing with the day before (and, day of) the race.

The race start was dark and cool so I opted for a black Colorado Running Company singlet, black shorts, Moeben bamboo fiber sleeves, and some sweet carved-up black and yellow New Balance 790 trail flats (sub-7 oz.). I also started the race with 4 gels and a full water bottle. Even though I wasn't anticipating draining the water bottle for at least an hour or so, I wanted to try and hold off having to stop and get water for as long as possible---I knew the bike path pace was going to be fast and furious and it's never fun trying to make up even a few seconds' gap at those speeds.

With 600 runners and chip timing, the start felt like a road race. Immediately, some jokester shot off the front followed closely by Lon Freeman and a fellow in compression shorts and t-shirt who I later learned was Oz. I hung back a short distance in a quickly-forming chase pack that consisted of myself, Billy, and eventually a bunch of other dudes. By time we'd looped back to the start (~3 miles) we'd caught Lon and Oz and a very enjoyable group of dudes coalesced as we hit the first aid at Watt Ave (5.9 miles) in 35ish minutes. The low-6min pace felt quick but doable so I was content to just go with the flow and trade turns at the front with the likes of Jeremy, Todd, Lon, Michael Buchanan and Billy. By this time, Jorge and James Bonnet had caught up with us and largely just hung on to the back of the group.

It was also about this point that we gradually let Oz go off the front and put a small gap on the main group. I was comfortable and all the right people seemed to be present, so I just tucked in and focused on running the tangents on the incessantly winding bike path.

We cruised through the 9.4 mile William Pond aid station in 56ish minutes. The weather was pretty humid but still nice and cool. I was having some slight stomach issues, which is typical for me, but other than that was completely content with the way things were going. Shortly after the aid station Erik Skaden suddenly came zooming up from behind with his incredibly powerful stride and bellowed, "Is this a race, fellas? We racing today?" With that, the pace immediately kicked down a few notches to the 6:20ish range (we'd been doing maybe 6:30s) as it seemed Erik was intent upon eating into Oz's lead.

Eventually, however, this slight disturbance mellowed out and for the most part everything settled into a comfortablish rhythm. I hit the 15.6 mile aid station in ~1:39 (I think) where there were a lot of people cheering, and then the next 3 miles were where the race finally started thinning out to some extent---thinning out the pretenders from the contenders. I timed some more miles through this section in the mid 6:20s range and when I noticed the pack begin to thin out stretched my legs to drop Jorge and James and close the small gap that had opened between myself and Erik and Jeremy. I was pleased to find that my legs felt just as good at the quicker pace (they were getting tired of the flat pavement), but also noted that Oz's lead was probably the largest it had been so far, about a full minute or so.

Suddenly, finally, the trail inclined up for a decent-ish hill as it climbed up and over the Nimbus Dam at 19 miles. On this short incline, with zero increase in effort, I caught right up to Erik and Jeremy (who had gapped me again), took off my singlet and sleeves as we curly-qued under the highway (and Todd caught up to us), and then was delighted to feel tons of pep and spring in my legs as I filed onto the short, single-track, switch-backed climb up to the Nimbus aid station.

Jeremy and Erik stopped at the station (19 miles, ~1:59-2:00) to fuel up while I scampered after Todd through a chain-link fence and then whooped and hollered down the rocky descent on the other side, passing Todd and reveling in the trail instead of the freakin' bike path. I was feeling so good that I very nearly made up the entire gap on Oz in that (very) short section of trail, but once it flattened out Billy and Todd caught up to me, Oz took off again, and we enjoyed cruising the next little gravel road section over to another section of single-track.

I had taken my first gel at 1hr, another at 1:45, and then another one on this section at ~2:15. I also took my first S-cap just after the 2hr mark because I wanted to be sure to stay on top of my electrolytes as I was sweating so much in the humid air. I kept up this nutrition strategy for the rest of the race: a gel every 30 minutes and an S-cap every hour.

The next section of single-track up and over to Negro Bar (23.5) was a huge confidence boost for me. I could feel a slight lag in pace and since no one seemed to want to take the initiative (Billy and Todd were running with me at that point) and took the lead on the single-track and led us at a comfortable clip up onto the bluffs above the American River where I actually caught Oz on a short downhill section and assumed the lead in the race for the first time.

The short Nimbus climb combined with this short section of trail was the absolute turning point in the race for me. Whereas immediately before Nimbus the bike path pace had felt comfortably strained, when I hopped on the trails I felt completely in my element and was shocked at how quickly I caught Oz and how timid he was being on dirt. The whole time on the bike path I had been looking around, trying to assess how everyone was feeling, how smooth they looked, who was running easiest, etc. (incidentally, Billy looked the most relaxed and smoothest on that section while Erik ran with the most confidence, I thought), but on the trails I just knew I had it and that--barring any major catastrophe--I was going to win the race.

At face value, that might seem somewhat presumptuous and cocky, but that's just the kind of stuff that goes through my head in a race. Back on the bike path on the way up to Beal's (27.4) Oz had opened up his usual gap again but I found myself taking the initiative more and more in the chase group that now only consisted of myself, Jeremy, Todd, and Billy. We cruised through Folsom prison and then up to Beal's in 2:55-56. At this point, I thought that Todd was the strongest threat but on the big curve around the point I could still see Erik lurking a few dozen seconds back and I had no idea what had happened to Lon. Jorge and James were way off the back at this point.

After Beal's the route heads out towards the shores of Folsom lake and contours around on a wide gravel path that I ran with Billy, Jeremy, and Todd. On this varied terrain I was by far feeling the most comfortable I had all day. I was mostly just trying to feel Jeremy and Todd out and see when a good time would be to make a break. I never really try to force a break or surge in a race, rather, if the pace lags and I'm feeling good I just let it happen naturally---there's really no way to tell when it's going to come; I just instinctually felt that I would be more comfortable and on the trails than the other guys.

Somewhere in this section before the Granite Bay aid station (31.5) the route turned into true single track again. By default, I took the point here again, started to feel the groove of the trail, and that ended up being the decisive break in the race for me. I wouldn't see Todd and Jeremy again until the finish line. I hit 31.5 in 3:26 and then just concentrated on cruising to catch Oz. Someone at the station had said he had a 60 second lead, but I was confident that with the winding, sometimes technical nature of the trail he'd come into sight soon.

The Buzzard's Cove aid (34.5) caught me off guard, but I hit it in 3:48 and kept on trying to run the trail as efficiently as possible while still running as quickly as I could. Shortly after Buzzard's Cove I caught sight of Oz around a bend and within a few seconds I'd passed him and almost immediately lost sight of him behind me. It was shortly thereafter that I had to make a quick pit-stop (luckily, it seems I avoided the poison oak).

From then on it was a focused crank to just try and run the best time I could. I hit the Horseshoe Bar aid (38 miles) in 4:14 and was psyched on the volunteer there who filled my bottle with ice water. My god, that hit the spot. I was sure to listen for any cheers/cowbells as I ran away from the station and didn't hear any until I was another 3 1/2-4 minutes down the trail---a fairly comfortable gap.

The trail over to Rattlesnake Bar (39.9) seemed longer than it should have, but I arrived in 4:33 and then a short while later was surprised when I came upon another aid station that I assumed was the 43.2 mile Manhattan Bar (but I guarantee I didn't run 3.3 miles in 17 minutes...but the 36 minutes that it took me to go the alleged 5.2 miles from Horseshoe to Manhattan seems plausible). The rest of the way on the trail I just focused on drinking water, maintaining a high cadence (my tired hamstrings have a tendency to make me feel like I'm plodding) and making sure not to make any stupid mistakes.

Soon enough (5:16) I was at the end of the single track and was instead grunting up the steep road leading to the top of the canyon. It leveled off after a short bit and I hit 3 miles to go in 5:20. I grunted up the steep stretch right before Last Gasp (47.6, 5:24), refilled the water bottle and then just did my best to crank out the last couple of miles pretending I was on High Drive cranking up Mt. Buckhorn back in Colorado Springs. For the most part, that worked and I hit the 2 and 1 mile to go signs in 5:28 and 5:35.

It was at this point that I realized I could get under Carl Andersen's time of 5:44 and the rest of the climb to the finish was pretty uneventful; I crossed the line in 5:42:37.

I don't know if it was finishing on an uphill or what, but immediately afterwards I felt the best I have at the end of an ultra. I took my shoes off and did a quick barefoot 1 mile cooldown and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon chatting, drinking sodas, and lolling around in the California sun. American River was a perfect introduction to the rich Northern Californian ultra running community that I've heard so much about.

Week Log: March 24-30

Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:01) Water Tank Hill+Bear Creek w/ Jocelyn
Longest run ever in the FFs.
PM: 8 miles (1:05) Water Tank Hill+Monument
Wore the FFs.

Tue-AM: 20 miles (2:28)~5 mile tempo in 28:14 (5:41, 5:43, 5:38, 5:23), 1.5 mile in 10min, 1mile in 5:10
Not really feeling it today---tired.
PM: 5 miles (:43) North Monument Loop+ w/ Jocelyn, Megz, Ben
Wore the FFs.

Wed-AM: 24 miles (3:03) Mt Buckhorn+2 miles barefoot
Absolutely gorgeous day. Had a photo shoot on the top of Buckhorn for Westword News.
PM: 4 miles (:33) North Loop
CRC run w/ Julian in the FFs.

Thu-AM: 28 miles (3:27) Mt. Buckhorn-El Diablo Loop+barefoot stuff
High Drive to Buckhorn hillclimb tempo in 28:54 (PR), then, through Bear Creek and finishing on the track: 3x1mile in 5:21, 5:35, 5:07 (79, 78, 77, 73) w/ 1 mile in 6:45 recovery jogs (5 miles continuous in 29:33).
Great great run. The tempo up Buckhorn was very solid and then I felt very good on the miles, too. The last one was barefoot on the track.
PM: 5 miles (:41) North Monument
Easy in the FFs. Felt decent, actually.

Fri-AM: 11 miles (1:31) Monument-Mesas-RR Tracks
Freezing drizzle this morning--27 degrees. Still, I had a great little jog in the FFs and my NB Storm Striker jacket. Legs actually felt really good. Feeling good on Fridays is a great indicator that I'm on top of my training.

Sat-AM: 32 miles (4:06) Buckhorn-Jones Park-7 Bridges-Buckhorn+barefoot and extra in Monument
Feeling very solid. I had to really hold back in order to not really crank all morning.

Sun-AM: 32 miles (4:07) Buckhorn-7 Bridges-Jones Park-Buckhorn+duck pond loops

Again, feeling very good.  No gels, no water, and still able to feel totally on top of it the whole run.  The 7 Bridges climb was great and almost fully melted out.  I'm going to go up that hill more often because it's REALLY steep in some spots.

Total: 184 miles (23:45)

An excellent week in terms of both quantity and quality.  The Tuesday workout was a bit of a grunt, but the rest of the week I felt so good (especially Thursday's workout) that now I'm feeling like that I'm just a couple of 12-14hr weekends away from being in killer 100 mile shape. So, of course, I'll do my best to stay away from those for the next month and a half at least.  The last two weeks my fitness has improved so much; I'm definitely in way WAY better shape than at Moab--not even comparable, really.  Time to taper and have some fun at AR next weekend.

Week Log: March 17-23

Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:04) South Santa Fe Trail out and back w/ Kyle
Feeling pretty wiped from the weekend, so I had to take it slow.

Tue-AM: 23 miles (3:06) High Drive-GoldCamp-Stratton
Ran early before work---nice to see the sun rise. The climb was still super snowy and slick.
PM: 5 miles (:41) Downtown+barefoot
Ran down to the bank and back in the FiveFingers...feeling tired.

Wed-AM: 20 miles (2:31)~3mi-2mi-1mi in 16:18 (5:17, 5:34, 5:27), 10:35 (5:23/5:12), and 5:10 (2:37/2:33). 10min and 5min recovery jogs.
Felt very solid on this workout. The 3 mile was tempo effort while the 2mi and 1mi were definitely anaerobic.
PM: 5 miles (:42) CRC Run
Ran to Mountain Mama's and back in the FiveFingers. Somehow I found a great little area of trails I've never been on before...even after 7 years...

Thu-AM: 24 miles (3:05) Mt. Buckhorn+barefoot
Feeling good this morning but I took it easy in the beautiful weather. Finished up with 2 miles barefoot on the grass.

Fri-AM: 43 miles (6:00) Garden-RRR-Williams-Waldo-Cascade-UPT-Pipeline-Manitou-Garden+barefoot.
Last long long run before AR--mostly just wanted to get the time on my feet. Got up at 5am to get the run in before work so I was treated to a sunrise and alpenglow on Pikes from RRR--man, that's hard to beat. Finished up with 2 miles barefoot on the grass to get the full time.

Sat-AM: 32 miles (4:25) From Pott's Field in Boulder: through campus to Chataqua, Mesa Trail to Bear Canyon to Bear Peak back down to Mesa Trail then Mesa all the way over to Eldorado Canyon back on Mesa to Potts where I finished up with 2 miles on the Boulder Creek Path.

The last 10 minutes up Bear Peak were a hike because of steep snow but the views from the top were incredible.  I really rocked the pace all the way back from Eldo to Potts on the Mesa Trail feeling great---I might have to spend a serious length of time in Boulder sometime soon.

Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:06) South Santa Fe out and back w/ Jocelyn plus a North Loop

Ran nice and easy in the new snow...definitely needed the easy day.

Total: 182 miles (24:40)

I was very happy with this week.  The Wednesday workout and Fri/Sat back to back long runs are exactly what I need right now---I'm starting to feel pretty fit.

Week Log: March 10-16

Mon- 35 miles (5:10) Kyle's house to Whitewater Mesa to Gold Dust to Main Fork Whitewater to Daloche to Mogollon to Powerhouse Rd to Catwalk and back. ~6000' climbing

Tue- 30 miles (5:16) Pleasanton to Holt Gulch to Camp Creek Saddle to South Fork Whitewater up to Nabours down past the dump and back to Pleasanton. ~8000' climbing

Wed-20 miles (3:00) Gold Dust Trailhead to South Fork Whitewater to Tennessee Meadows and back

Thu-AM: 20 miles (2:30) 4x1mile in 5:17, 5:10, 5:10, 5:09 (3min recovery jog)
PM: 5 miles (:40) North Monument in the FiveFingers

Fri-AM: 11 miles (1:31) Bear Creek and Monument
Raging snowstorm, but still ran in the FFs.

Sat-AM: 43 miles (5:11) Rampart Range Overlook and back+barefoot
Cranked solid with Kyle. Kept a super solid pace even with the 3000'+ climb up to the overlook.

Sun-AM: 37 miles (5:10) Bear Creek to Section 16 CCW to Buckhorn to Gold Camp Connector to High Drive to Section 16 CW to Intemann to Red Rocks to Garden and back.
Another very good run, but it was foggy and snowing all day. The New Balance 790s have proven to be a great shoe...very versatile.

Total: 201 miles (28:28)

Ended up being a bigger week than expected because of the four 5hr runs. I was very pleased with the speedwork on Thursday and was especially pleased with the fact that my shin is now clearly 100% healthy.

Week Log: March 3-9

Mon- 16 miles (2:10) Stratton Open Space w/ Kyle
Ran nice and easy and explored the plethora of sweet little singletracks hidden in the trees there. Had a nice climb up to Gold Camp. My shin cramped a little the last mile, but I just walked a few yards and jogged it in very easily and it was never a problem again. Got some Cold Laser.

Tue-AM: 16 miles (2:35) Barr Camp from Memorial Park w/ Kyle
Ran to Barr in 1:19 from Hydro (4000' climb) after getting to No Name Creek in 36:18. The trail was basically clear to NNC, but then Kyle and I were breaking trail through some fresh snow and drifts all the way to Barr Camp, so it was slow going but still a glorious day in the mountains. Shin never hurt at all.

Wed-AM: 18 miles (2:45) Memorial Park to Williams to Waldo CCW to Longs Ranch Road to No Name and back to Manitou
Ran easy with Kyle until he bailed onto the UPT. The climb up Longs was tough because of ice and snow but totally worth it. Shin was great. Snowing at the top. ~4000' vertical
PM: 4.5 miles (:34) North Loop CRC Run w/ group
Ran easy and felt good in the FiveFingers.

Thu-AM: 18 miles (2:10)~4 mile tempo in 21:59 (5:47, 5:24, 5:31, 5:16)
Wore my new New Balance 205 flats (Khalid's shoe) and felt good. Shin tightened up some on the cooldown, but Jeff did some ART on it when I went to get lasered later and it felt fine. Very pleased with my ability to pull off a run like that right now.

Fri-AM: 11 miles (1:30) Mesas and Monument w/ Kyle
Easy in the FiveFingers.

Sat-AM: 30 miles (4:00) Buckhorn Mt to Seven Bridges to Jones Park down 666 and back to Nevada.
Finished up with 10 minutes barefoot running. ~4000' vertical

Sun-AM: 10 miles (1:35) La Luz Trail in Albuquerque w/ Kyle.
Great trail up to ~9300' or so and then it was knee-deep snow, so we turned around. A nice moderate, switch-backed climb, but still ~2000' gain.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Amos Trail to Whitewater Mesa in Glenwood, NM w/ Kyle.
Felt great to shake the legs out in the FiveFingers.

Total: 131 miles (18:23)

This was an encouraging week of running. The shin twinged a couple times throughout the week (Thursday and Saturday), but overall I was disciplined and kept it under control with icing and cold laser and by Sunday it felt 100%. Sunday was the beginning of a nice little trip to sunny New Mexico and the Gila Wilderness.

Week Log: Feb 25-March 2

Mon- 10 miles (1:20) South out and back w/ Kyle.

Tue- 8 miles (1:01) South out and back w/ Kyle.
Shitty. Legs felt great, but I walked the last 2 miles or so because my shin was sore.

Wed- 0 (got some Cold Laser at Champion Health)

Thu- 5 miles (:41) North Monument
Shin felt fine.

Fri- 8 miles (1:05) South out and back w/ Kyle

Sat- 14 miles (2:04) Section 16 Loop w/ Kyle
Ran from John's house in Manitou (where Kyle, Jocelyn, and I were house-sitting), through Red Rocks, up the steep side of Section 16, down the mellow side and back the same way. It was an incredibly sweet run on a nearly 80 degree day. Shin never hurt.

Sun- 23 miles (3:01) Buckhorn-Gold Camp via connector trail, back through Stratton
Today was snowing and windy as hell---spring in Colorado Springs. The shin felt great until the last few miles when it tightened up a bit and I actually ended up walking in the last mile as a precaution. It wasn't an issue at all, though, so I'm confident I didn't hurt it further.

Total: 68 miles (9:12)

This was a good first week back after taking so much time off. I'm keeping with the Cold Laser treatments and just trying to listen to my shin very closely. I think I got it this time...

Week Log: Feb 18-24

Mon-AM: 2 miles (16:00) Monument

Shin was still a bit sore.  Not too bad, so I just turned around and decided to give it an extra day.

Tue-AM: 16 miles (2:11) South out and back w/ Kyle

The shin was a little bit tight every now and then, but it never got worse.  Great weather.

Wed-AM: 23 miles (3:00) Buckhorn Mt. plus barefoot w/ Kyle

Shin twinged every now and then, but I felt great towards the end.

PM: 4.5 miles (:37) CRC run in North Monument with big group in the FiveFingers

Shouldn't have done this run; shin was tight by the end.

Thu- 0

Fri- 0

Sat- 0

Sun- 0

Total: 45.5 miles (6:04)

Hmmm...obviously a bit of a mistake of a week on my part.  I can never seem to learn; however, this shin is proving to be frustratingly tenacious and somewhat unpredictable.  I'm going to bag the Mexico trip and just focus on being healthy and fit for AR.  Mostly, I'm getting tired of not being able to be out on the trails every day.

Week Log: Feb 11-17

2/11 Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:09) South out and back
Ran nice and easy with Kyle. He was a little tired from hammering with Matt yesterday and I was pretty tired from my biggest weekend in a while. Great day to get the shirts off and just chill out and get a tan.
PM: 6 miles (:51) North Monument
Easy cruiser in the FiveFingers. I felt really good for some reason.

2/12 Tue-AM: 24 miles (3:07) Buckhorn Mt.
Solid, semi-tempo effort up the 3.5 mile climb in 32:25 and then dropped a 5:35 mile on the way back through Bear Creek just to test out the legs. Hamstrings still tight, but a great day all around.
PM: 4.5 miles (:41)
Nice easy run w/ Jocelyn and Kyle after work.

2/13 Wed-AM: 24 miles (3:20) Buckhorn Mt.to 666 Loop
This was a great run on a shirtless-warm day w/ Kyle. We were actually able to complete this loop, but there were some significant drifts up on the ridge. Kinda tired by the end. Great morning in the mountains.
PM: 5.5 miles (:44) CRC Monument Loops
Ran easy w/ Kyle and Greg from New Balance in the FiveFingers. Felt good.

2/14 Thu-AM: 23 miles (3:03) Up High Drive and down Gold Camp
It was snowing this morning and that made the ice on High Drive super slick. I fell twice--once skinned up my hip and the other was while cranking down Gold Camp. I fell so hard it knocked the wind out of me. Tired by the end of this run, but I felt no need to taper for Moab on the weekend.
PM: 5 miles (:41)
Easy w/ Jocelyn in the FiveFingers.

2/15 Fri-AM: 11 miles (1:32) South out and back plus North Loop
Nice mellow run with Kyle and Jocelyn in some great fog. Legs felt good. Drove to Moab after the run and slept right on the starting line for the 50K.

2/16 Sat-AM: 35 miles--Red Hot Moab 50K+ (34 miles) in 4:03:02
Ran with Kyle. Did a mile easy cooldown w/ Jocelyn, Kyle, and Anna.

2/17 Sun-AM: 0 miles

Total: 154 miles (20:21)

This was a solid week. I had some big mileage until Sunday because I didn't do any speed. I held off the speed because I was feeling pretty stressed from last Thursday's workout plus the weekend distance. Plus, I still feel like I'm just trying to get into shape---I love consistent daily 3hr mountain runs for building basic fitness.

The weekend was pretty good--I was pretty heartened about my fitness considering the quick pace we took it out at and especially considering the way Kyle and I were able to respond with a huge surge when we needed to the last two miles. That showed me that we truly were running easy up until that point. Averaging 7:09 pace fairly casually on a technical course with ~4500' of vert makes me confident about my fitness as I begin my major build-up for American River. Right now, I think 7 minute pace should hopefully be doable there.

Finally, that last downhill surge in the race did tweak my shin again, though. That, combined with all of the downhill slickrock running that was in the race. The shin caused me to take Sunday (and the following Monday) off, but it really was just a slight setback and I'm just glad that I'm getting smart enough to listen to my body and not try to run through little twinges like that. It's all about remaining disciplined enough so that I can be consistent in the coming weeks.

Moab Red Hot 50K+

This weekend Kyle, Jocelyn, and I drove out to stunning southeastern Utah to enjoy the desert weather and do some running amidst the surreal red rock landscape. Simply put, no matter the time of year, it's hard to resist the allure of Moab's canyon country.

I had missed the Rocky Raccoon 100 because of needing to take three weeks completely off from running to heal a shin injury, but with a week of incredibly helpful treatment from the folks at Champion Health and two solid weeks of running under my belt I felt ready enough to go put in a sub-maximal 34 mile effort with Kyle. Much to race director Chris Martinez's credit, he allowed me entry less than a week before the race. I was number 295 at the packet pick-up, so I'm guessing that approximately that number of people started the race. That shows astonishing popularity for a race that is only in its second year.

The entrants list revealed a solid field on both the men's and women's side. Karl was back to defend last year's win, as was a much more fit version of last year's runner-up, Torrid Torrence. Additionally, Steamboat 50 mile champion (and former CU All-American) Zeke Tiernan and Leadville 100 top-10 finishers Charles Corfield and Duncan Callahan rounded out the field.

For the women, 8th place finisher in the 2004 women's Olympic Marathon Trials Susanna Beck probably sported the quickest marathon PR in the entire 50K field with a 2:34. Such road talent was backed by considerable trail experience in savvy mountain runner Anita Ortiz, defending champion Darcy Africa, veteran trail racers Emily Baer and Helen Cospolich, Wasatch 100 champ Liz Irvine, Leadville 100 champ Tammy Stone, and Leadville 100 runner-up Michele Jensen. Wow. That's quite the depth for such an early-season race.

The Red Hot course is quite unique. It consists of a run through a gorgeous canyon wash, a rolling lollipop loop on top of a mesa, some challenging climbing and descending on pure slickrock on Poison Spider Mesa, and then finally a screaming descent to the Poison Spider Trailhead on Potash Road on the Colorado River. All in all, it climbs ~4500', almost all of that in the first 25 miles or so. Throw in some moderate altitude (between 4000' and 5000'), the two dominant surfaces of loose sand and cement-like slickrock, and you have a challenging bit of trail racing.

Just as the desert sun rose, we all took off from the Gemini Bridges Road starting line and attacked the initial icy climb part way up the mesa. Kyle and I set a quick pace right from the start. We were most concerned about Zeke Tiernan's short distance speed because he was largely an untested unknown in trail ultras. Karl stayed close through the first couple of miles of climb and then descent, but once the track flattened out in the bottom of the canyon our quick pace soon whittled away everyone but Zeke.

At this point, the pace definitely felt quick and certainly not maintainable but I think pride got the better of Kyle and I. I'm sure Zeke would've followed whatever pace we set, but I think we both mostly wanted to be rid of any company as soon as possible. With that in mind we attacked the shortish, very steep climb up out of the wash and onto the Metal Masher trail. We hit the first aid station at 5.5 miles in 35 minutes and both shed our arm warmers as we were now fully in the sun on top of the mesa. At this point, Zeke was only 100 yards or so back.

Here the course continued into a lolli-pop loop on jeep trail that was largely rolling over a mixture of soft sand and slickrock. Eventually, we climbed up to the rim of the mesa and then enjoyed a nice downhill to the 12.8 mile aid station, which we reached in 1:28. Kyle and I both grabbed a gel here. I'd taken my first gel an hour in and took the second one on the down/flat back half of he lolli-pop loop. Kyle and I kept a solid pace through this section. The effort was mostly comfortable, but we were definitely still moving.

We hit the 17 mile aid in 1:56, so were still on sub-7 pace, grabbed another gel and were on our way. At this point we decided to mellow out the pace a little because a sub-4 hr finish time seemed a little unlikely. My legs were still feeling pretty good through here, but we had a lot of climbing to do once we hopped on the Gold Bar Trail and got up on Poison Spider Mesa.

The trail here quickly turned into pure slickrock with pink flagging to show us the way. I spaced out the need to get a gel down before we tackled the technical slickrock climbing, and by time Kyle and I had crawled our way to the 22.6 mile aid in 2:36 I was at a definite low point.

However, I sucked down a gel on the descent and pretty soon things were all fun and games again. The sun was brilliant, the view across the valley to the snow-covered La Sals was magnificent, and the toughest thing was not running too close to Kyle so that we wouldn't step on each other as we picked the best line on the technical descending.

There were a few times in this section that we came to a complete stop as we searched for the next pink flag and I commented to Kyle how this race was necessarily "Euro-style" in that you basically ran the straightest line across the slickrock from flag to flag. It also got pretty warm the last hour of the race and I ended up taking two S-caps in the last hour and a half or so of the race.

We were happy to finally spot the last aid station (mile 29) from about a half mile out because we'd both drained our bottles. However, the last little bit into the station was really sandy and I started whining a bit about how vile a surface sand is to run on. After a quick fill of the bottles we departed the station at 3:28 and decided to just chill it out to the finish because it didn't seem like we had much chance of breaking 4 hours. Sub 4:10 would be fine with us today.

The next two to three miles were pretty boring, sandy, muddy, and flat jeep track running across the top of the mesa. Finally, at about 3:45 or so the road started the descent down to the Colorado River with switchbacks and a lot of those big 3-4ft rock drops that plenty of misguided folks in the Moab area think are perfect for crawling up in a Jeep. Neat.

Just after Kyle and I were commenting that "Geez, I sure wish Chris had found a way to make this race a true 50K and not 34 miles because we'd be cracking a brewski now instead of bonking and trying to decide if I want to take the trouble to suck down one last gel", when some dude in road flats came blowing by us on one of the more technical downhills.

After ascertaining that yes, indeed, this fellow was running the 50K (and not the 33K; we'd been passing dozens of 33K runners for the past 10 miles or so) Kyle and I immediately shifted gears from the dawdling, complacent eight minute pace we'd been running to a (much more painful) low five minute pace. Within a quarter mile or so we'd gapped the runner (Justin Ricks) and spent a frantic 10 minutes or so blazing down the final switchbacks to the finish line to tie in 4:03:02. We were 22 minutes under Karl's inaugural course record run from last year.

Because we'd had to run so hard to the finish, Kyle and I put in a 10 minute cool down with Jocelyn and Anna Pichrtova (relaxing after her easy 33K win) and then spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the sun, chatting, and drinking milkshakes. A pretty great day.