Sunday, August 8, 2010

Weekly Summary: Aug 2-8

08-02-2010
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:23) Green Mt up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Everything was less sore by the end of this very slow recovery run.

08-03-2010
Tue-AM: 13.5 miles (2:07) Green Mt up/down backside, 3000'
Sleepy run in the dark at 4:50am before catching a flight to SLC.  Ran into George and Jeff on the way down and felt bad because I was basically falling asleep while talking to them without having the stimulation of running to keep me awake.  Somehow made it to the airport intact and then passed out for essentially the entire flight.
PM: 3.5 miles (:28) Salt Lake Running Company group run
NB was hosting a fun gathering of folks at the store so I had the pleasure of meeting very many SLC-ians and talking shoes/running with a lot of people.

08-04-2010
Wed-AM: 13 miles (2:04) City Creek Canyon to Radio Towers, 2000'
Hit the singletrack (Bonneville Shoreline Trail) and headed UP to the closest, highest point I could find.  It was a nice little summit and the trails were excellent with the last pitches being extremely steep.
PM: 4 miles (:33) Treadmill Uphill Challenge, 1000'
Notched 1.92 miles on the death machine and got smoked by Timmy Parr.  Ended up finishing 4th overall behind Max, Timmy, and Rickey.  Which was fine with me; I'll never be able to beat those guys in a 2mi race and was mostly just happy to have not gotten "lapped" (beaten by more than .25mi) by Max. Definitely tweaked the right hammy when I finally cranked the pace up to 9-10mph the last 90sec or so.  Accomplished my one goal of not vomiting on any spectators, but I did finish feeling as if I was drowning in my own perspiration. Part of me sometimes wants to modify my training just a little so as to be more competitive/versatile at the shorter hillclimb/mountain races...but another (very big) part of me doesn't really care.  Plus, a treadmill race isn't a mountain race...
This must've been early because Timmy still has his singlet on and I'm not yet staring directly into the monitor with my head down in full-on suffer-mode.  Rickey Gates photo.
Later in the evening at the Brooks party with Jenny, Dean, Rickey, and Scott. Rickey Gates photo.
08-05-2010
Thu-AM: 10 miles (1:16) City Creek Canyon
Nice early morning singletrack where I had lots of energy. Really excited about the shoe developments we're working on at NB.  I think we're gonna have the perfect shoe nearly dialed with this next iteration, and I'm also really excited to start hearing some more widespread feedback on the Trail Minimus.
PM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt up front down ridges, 3000'
Up in 2nd-best time of 31:39 (6:30, 12:30, 15:00, 18:40, 22:15, 29:05), which was 10sec off PR.  I'd really like to get this under 31min before the snow starts mucking things up.  I was experiencing a little bit of an evening-run energy boost so I decided to go for it, but I ended up forcing it too much the whole way as opposed to just letting the trail/mountain come to me (which is what happens on the best/fastest runs).  OSMP has done a lot of appreciated trail work on this frontside route removing big rocks, rehabbing washed-out sections, and closing off various areas of mild route-cutting.

08-06-2010
Fri-AM: 18 miles (2:39) Green Mt. up Flatirons down Red Lion, 3000'
Nice alternative route this morning with Scott, both up and down. Pretty dehydrated by the end, though.
PM: 5 miles (:40) Creek Path

08-07-2010
SAT-AM: 18 miles (2:37) Green Mt. & Bear Peak, 4200'
Up front of Green in 31:41 (6:45, 12:45, 15:10, 18:52, 22:18, 29:10) then West Ridge of Bear in 23:40 (15:50, 4:05, 3:45). Felt pretty good on the climb up Green--not as high of an effort as on Thu. Caught Darcy on the steep last 500' of Bear and then we chatted for a long time on the summit just enjoying the about-to-get-very-hot, beautiful summer morning.  Footwork was dialed on the technical Fern descent (18:50) and I felt good all the way back home.
PM: 8 miles (1:01) Creek Path+2mi barefoot at Kitt
Results from Sierre-Zinal today. Kilian barely took an EXTREMELY close race in a time a couple minutes slower than last year (16sec margin of victory) with Joe Gray 7th and Megan Lund won (!!!) the women's race with Brandy coming in 4th.  Megan's winning time of 3:09 was the slowest in a few years, but that was mostly a function of Anna not running for the first time in many years, who basically always breaks three hours. Definitely a must-do race on my list, even though it's only 31K.  Sweet to see some Americans starting to represent over there (but don't forget Rickey's stellar 4th place run there last year).

08-08-2010
SUN-AM: 16 miles (2:15) Green Mt. up front down Bear Cyn, 3000'
A very mellow 34min ascent so as to rest the legs a little bit.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Creek Path+1.5mi barefoot at Kitt

Total
-Miles: 144
-Hours: 21h 06m
-Vertical: 22,200'

2010 Summits (Day 220)
-Green: 193
-Bear: 13
-SoBo: 4

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This was a really busy week with the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show out in Salt Lake City.  Which is a weird phenomenon that always leaves me with mixed feelings.  Part of me is excited about certain aspects of product development and support for the sport, and another part of me is extremely turned off by the blatant commercialization and commodification of nature.  I can't help but feel at least somewhat complicit in this--with being a sponsored outdoor athlete--but I like to think that hopefully some of this is balanced out by my being more focused on inspiring people to value certain things (i.e., the land) and do healthy things with their lives.

In any event, sometimes all you can do is put some worthy art out there and let people decide for themselves how they'll be affected by it:

18 comments:

Brandon Fuller said...

"Vomiting on any spectators"...I was trying to figure out if that was from the workout, the treadmill itself, or the "indoor event celebrating the outdoors"...or all of the above.

Leadville workouts are curiously missing from this list. Getting more time up there than you are. I know you are worried about that. Not. Just hoping I can cross you on Hope Pass.

Brewsuf said...

Diggin all the music you've put up... I've recognized everything but this one and the kills...which I really like now... Who is this band by the way? I thought it was the black keys at first but not so sure now...

Shane said...

GREAT music clip, but I was wondering if it fit in with the image-producing description of the treadmill challenge.

Anton said...

Brandon-
I've been purposely avoiding Leadville for two reasons:

1) Why drive 2hr to get to 10k' when I can drive 30min to get to 10k'?

2) I know that course too well. I'm looking forward to it actually being fresh and exciting this year rather than uninspiringly familiar like it usually is. Since I know every little split on the course, I tend to do training runs there at too hard of a pace.

Anonymous said...

Think your poz contribution in terms of inspiration and outdoor/trail awareness vastly outweighs the neg of your tiny tiny contribution to the commercialization process. Seems the more people who get out of their car and off the couch the better.

The Onion said...

I've got a question unrelated to any post in particular. I assume you wear socks, but I've never seen a photo of you with socks visible, and searching through old posts, the only mentions of socks are about sometimes not wearing them. If you go without or wear low no-show ones, do they ever slip and then your Achilles rubs? Or what ones do you wear that are low but manage to stay up and prevent Achilles abrasion all the time?

Anonymous said...

Obviously, you don't use them, but what's your two cents on hydration backpacks (nathan/wasp)and poles? Poles would be ridiculous on WS but on UTMB are pretty helpful.

laurent delnard said...

it's a really great blog mister...cause each week: news,training,case of consciousness,music...a lot of answers to our questions...but also your doubt and your hope during all your sport's tribulation!
so keep this healthy breath on champion

PaulDJesse said...

As long as you look at, and use, your position as a sponsored outdoor athlete to introduce the general population to the beauty of the outdoors and simultaneously teach them to respect/appreciate that beauty, I gotta feel you are doing a fine job.

Bringing more people to the outdoors doesn't have to be a negative as long as we can convey the importance of sustaining the natural state of, well, nature.

GZ said...

Didn't notice that you were falling asleep. I was too embarrassed for you catching us "hiking."

Sergio said...

Yes, americans are doing good at sierre-zinal. As a swiss I really hope seeing you run s-z and/or the utmb next season (?).

Kakapo said...

"Really excited about the shoe developments we're working on at NB. I think we're gonna have the perfect shoe nearly dialed with this next iteration..."

Are you referring to the NB MT 101? Or its eventual successor? i.e. Have you guys been continuing to refine the design of the 101?

Really excited to hear this, and really excited to get a pair of the 101s to replace my aging but largely wonderful 100s :)

Adam Wilcox said...

I was also at the OR show last week, my first one, and I share many of your feelings about it. Watching you run while Scott stood next to me cheering was the highlight of my trip.

Thanks for not puking on me.

djconnel said...

I am reminded of the San Francisco Green Festival where I was confronted with booth after booth of people trying to sell me stuff I didn't need, much of it hemp. Finally I said to one seller, "isn't the best way to go green to simply buy less"? She laughed. Unfortunately we're tapped in an economic system which fails to value that concept.

Collin said...

Tony,
Nice seeing you at the expo. One of your salesmen gave me a pair of the MT101s and my girlfriend a pair of the WT101s and we're liking them a lot. I still probably can't run for a little while yet, but I've worn them around and I can tell that they tweaked the back enough that the irritating Achilles problem will be resolved. Too bad they didn't have any Minimus made up in the full size range yet, but the looked like a really cool design, so I'm excited to try them. Glad to see that you enjoyed City Creek.
-Collin

Unknown said...

I like what you said about wondering if the consumerism associated with the sport balances out with the benefits of raising the value of nature and a healthy lifestyle. I think it does.

Athletes like you and Scott not only draw attention to the value of our world in its natural condition, but you also encourage everyone to realize that we're capable of so much more than what we may believe about ourselves. I know I'm grateful.

Whoa. That was way serious...umm...quick, something funny...hey, remember that scene in Zombieland where the dude has to make a second lap to unlock his car? Yeah...that was rad.

Frank Bott said...

Tony,
Good to hear you met your primary goal and did not vomit on a spectator..

MT 101: only issue with this shoe is width.. not much taking place to help those of us with wider feet..

Right now I am stuck with the 876.. and there is no doubt it is much better then the 875,874 and without a doubt.. my cool lime green 873 shoes..

sad frank

Anonymous said...

Anton, you are awesome!!!!
Who is this band???? I LOVE them!!! Please tell me.