Bit Of A Break

First: here is an interview I gave late last week.

Second:

On my run Saturday morning I'd just descended Green Mountain and was about to leave the Chautauqua meadows dirt for the mile-long paved jog back to my apartment when--on an embarrassingly benign stretch of smooth trail--I caught my left toe on something and instead of just faceplanting (and merely scraping/bruising my forearms) like I usually do, my right leg came through to catch my fall, which would've been fine except that my right knee then hyperextended violently with an audible crack and I fell to the ground. As this happened I had a few involuntary screams owing to the fact that I'd just ripped my hamstring and IT band off the fibular head, along with a sizeable chunk of bone. Of course, I wouldn't really know that until later after I got x-rays and whatnot, which apparently also show some potential damage to the tibial plateau.

(Misplaced hunk of bone floating around there above the fibular head.)

With many thanks to a lot of friends--most notably Jeremy Rodgers for calmly and efficiently dealing with my desperate phone calls and emails on a weekend--I'll be seeing an orthopedist here in Boulder later this week to determine the full extent of the damage (via a CT scan) and to see what it's going to take to get this puppy healed and back to strength.  Preliminary prognosis (given no ACL damage, which is possible) is 6-8 weeks on crutches and then another 4+ weeks on top of that before I can start thinking about taking a running step.

It's still kinda hard for me to grasp the fact that I'm going to miss the entire summer of spectacular weather, but it's not really worth worrying about facts that are now out of my control and I definitely realize that, unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there with even more debilitating and serious concerns than a blown-up knee.  Doesn't mean it doesn't still suck, though.

Western States 100 Film Trailer

Geoff (on the ground) and me on the Western States 100 finish line, 2010. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Last year's Western States 100 ended up being a bit of a paradigm shift for the top levels of mountain ultra racing.  Western States was the first official 100 mile foot race and continues to be the ultramarathon race with the richest history, deepest competitive fields, and highest media profile of any in North America, so when many of the top runners held on to finish strong (100 miles is such a long ways with so much time for so many different things to go wrong that it is rare for so many contenders to make it to the finish relatively hitch-free) and compete very closely all the way to the finish--with two of us substantially under the previous course record--it was arguably a milestone race in the history of the sport.  While others will surely one day run Western States much faster than Geoff and I did in 2010 (that will probably even happen this year!), last year's event was one where it seems the 100 mile distance transitioned into truly becoming a race and not just an en masse jogging/hiking/survival contest.

I'm aware that all of that might sound nauseatingly self-serving, considering I was one of the prominent actors at the front of last year's race, but as a semi-obsessed fan of mountain racing--both contemporary and historically--I am highly aware that:

A) people raced really hard back in the earlier days of the sport as well, and
B) there have been plenty of other defining moments in the recent history of ultra distance mountain racing (Matt's 2005 Leadville, Kyle's 2008 Hardrock, Kilian's 2008 UTMB and Geoff's 2009 Wasatch, just to name a few, all stand out in my mind).

However, what made WS 2010 a little different was that, while all of those performances were notable for their singularity and sheer domination over history and the competition, at WS last year there was true head-to-head racing right up until the very end, in addition to a shattering of previous-fastest times.

Luckily for fans of the sport everywhere, ultrarunner and filmmaker JB Benna had the ambition, vision, enthusiasm and know-how to scrape together the resources and actually document the race last year through incisive pre- and post-race interviews with the top contenders and exclusive inside-the-lead-pack race footage.  Fun stuff if you're a geek like me.  The film's website is here.

And if you haven't yet seen this elsewhere, here is the excellent trailer:

As great as last year's race was, this year's event--in a little more then three weeks--is shaping up to be every bit as exciting, and probably even more so.

The high country snow is even deeper and more lingering than last year.

Two-time winner Hal Koerner is back healthy (he was injured last year, and had to depart the race at 80 miles) and racing better than ever.

Geoff and Kilian are returning for a reprisal of last year's battle.

There is maybe even more top-level depth with the likes of last year's 4th place break-out performer Nick Clark clearly in the best shape of his life, veteran Dave Mackey lacing together an undefeated season at top races on the circuit, WS rookie Mike Wolfe running well, foreigners Jez Bragg and Tsuyoshi Kaburaki back after podium finishes in 2009, and a whole slew of other notables that will pounce if any of these guys falter.

Sadly, I am probably the only podium-threat who won't be back at the race this year, my running continuing to be drastically hampered by tibial tendonitis ever since the Rocky Raccoon 100 way back in February.  But I'll definitely be scouring the internet all day on June 25th hanging on every update just as every other fan who can't make it out to California should be.

May In The Mountains

After an early and mild spring--and a significant taste of summer in the past week (I have the sunburned shoulders to prove it)--the last couple days have served Boulder with almost winter-like temperatures and some much needed moisture.

With only rain and a little graupel in town yesterday morning I only added a 3 oz. wind shirt/jacket to my usual t-shirt and shorts on my run up Green Mountain. This proved to be a bit of a mistake as by the time I crested the Saddle Rock ridge I was trudging through ~5" of snow and enduring a stiff western breeze. This morning's additional attire of shameless man-pri tights and gloves proved worth it as by the time Scott and I had gained Green's northwestern Ranger trail ridge it was snowing big, wet floppy flakes and there was a solid 8" of the slush on the summit.

Even with the chilly, wet conditions and with the summit engulfed in clouds I always enjoy these little breaks from Boulder's default of brilliant sunshine. Scott and I had first tracks to the top, and didn't see another soul out there--just the way I like it.

The summit of Green is barely visible through the mist in the upper right.

Scott on the winter-like summit of Green: 8" of snow!

And myself.

Descending the Greenman trail.

Looking down to town from the Saddle Rock overlook.

Not Really Running

The past three months have been pretty terrible with regard to my running.  Terrible in the sense that I haven't really been doing much of it.  I first felt some (extremely mild) pain in my right shin back on January 11th after a track workout the previous day had clearly tightened up my posterior tibialis a bit.  Over the next couple of weeks it gradually worsened little by little, but I figured my taper before the Rocky Raccoon 100 would loosen it up.  Strangely, the reduction in running almost seemed to make it worse and on my short 30min jog the day before the race it was probably the most sore it had been yet.  The shin was barely a worth-mentioning issue during the race itself (100 milers have a way of eventually making everything hurt), but--despite all kinds of treatment--it has almost completely sidelined me in the ensuing months--obviously looooong after any other race-related soreness/twinges were hindering me.

This has been rough--as being injured for extended periods of time always is, mentally and emotionally--but in my final semester of course-work for my masters degree I have been plenty busy with serving as a teaching assistant, and, in the last couple weeks, tending to my own end-of-the-semester exams and projects, which has required me to focus my energies elsewhere.

My desire to blog has always been a tenuous one.  This blog is designed to be almost exclusively about my running, and there are always whole aspects to my life that shouldn't and won't ever make it onto these pages.    Anyone who is interested about my initial purposes for blogging can easily go back and read my first post. Back then it was for very personal, even selfish, reasons that caused a certain amount of cognitive dissonance even in my own head as a blog is a very public space.  But so it goes.

Over the past couple of years I've realized that maintaining a blog isn't such a personal thing as one might first think and that it is actually a very rewarding means by which to connect with others, share, and hopefully inspire and impact the community in a positive manner.  I say it a lot, but running often feels like a very selfish activity to me, however, sharing my experiences with other interested folks via this blog and others has become an effective way to hopefully contribute and expand the impact of my running experiences beyond just my own little world.

That said, this is a running blog, and if there is a lack of posting it is most likely because either

A) I'm injured and not running much, or
B) I'm running plenty but other responsibilities in my life have temporarily consumed the time that I would otherwise spend composing a post.  That is, actually living and doing will always take precedent--for me--over documenting and sharing on the internet.

The past month--or three months--has been a combination of both A and B.

On the bright side, running-wise, things have been looking slightly up over the last couple of weeks.  I'm up to a daily whopping 5mi run with a ~1000' climb and am even feeling confident that tomorrow I might be able to bump that up to the 1500'/1hr outing that Flagstaff Mountain here in Boulder offers.  While certainly better than not running at all, I hardly find these skimpy daily doses of dirt blog-worthy, so the content here will probably continue to be thin until my shin allows something more interesting.

With regards to racing, all bets are off until I am once again healthy and confident in my fitness.  I don't line up for an ultramarathon unless I feel I can do the event and the competition justice by delivering a meaningful best effort.  So, you won't see me at a starting line unless I'm confident in my ability to do that; if you do see me on a starting line, you can be sure that I feel ready to rip.  I think the biggest reason that I'm injured this time is because back in January I let my ego take over and prod me to cram in too much training in too short of a period of time leading up to Rocky Raccoon.  I am currently determined not to make that mistake again--instead, I hope to stick to the principles of gradual progression of mileage and reasonable overall training volume that facilitated my consistency for most of 2010--so there won't be a rush back to racing.

In the meantime, happy running, and I hope you enjoy this little slice of audio pleasure as much as I have been:



Until at least next week, back to the books.

Various Links

I don't have a lot to report here, but there have been a couple recent prose contributions of mine published over at Running Times.

The first is an article I wrote a couple months ago for Rodale for which I was given the extremely broad prompt of "write about why you run trails" (a topic that I feel I have particularly oversaturated with my opinion).  Although not published in its originally-intended location or medium, I am pleased that it is now in the public sphere at all.

The second is a post over on my RT blog about a trip I took this past weekend for a series of talks/presentations in Michigan.

Finally, my auditory experiences of the past couple of weeks have been dominated by the following song by Phantogram. (Well, the entire album, actually.)

Egregious, I know, but I've gotta recommend this acoustic version as well:

Waiting

Friday morning this week I awoke to a slight smattering of wet snow here in town with the peaks above town exhibiting a frostiness that suggested there might be a little more snow up there.  Against my better judgement I headed towards Fern Canyon sans Microspikes anyways and within minutes of entering the canyon and engaging its merciless grade I was viciously reminded: building running fitness is all about patience--this route was way more difficult for me than I'd hoped.  It took all of my will power to maintain a running stride to the Nebelhorn saddle at the half-way point of the climb, and above there the fresh inch or so of snow hid and lubricated the sheets of ice underneath so that, without spikes, I was forced into a hands-on-knees hike the rest of the way to the summit of Bear Peak.

Sitting on the windless top of Bear, looking out over the serene inversion layer of clouds at my feet, I was simultaneously inspired and downtrodden.  After a week of running up and down Green Mt., I thought that maybe I was ready to step up my game a bit, but Fern showed me just how close to the edge of my current fitness I've been playing all week and that that level of fitness is still (duh, it's only been a week!) pretty low.

That's okay, though, because, for the most part, it's working.  I'm feeling healthy and am more thankful than ever for my ability to reach a peak-top every morning--I know that with patience and consistency my fitness will gradually build and the moments of flow and effortlessness will happen more frequently.  It's exciting to watch one's strength accumulate from what feels like the ground up, and I look forward to finding out just how high I can take my abilities over the next three months.

3/14-20
Mon- 12 miles (1:51) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.

Tue- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Ran with Scott.

Wed- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.

Thu- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.  With the time-change, I've been catching some incredible sunrises this week.

Fri- 14 miles (2:17) Bear & Green, 4200'
~2" of fresh snow in the mountains made for poor footing on upper Fern. Felt really strong the last 30min, though.

Sat-AM: 12 miles (1:48) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Ran into Brendan on top and then Aaron on the Mesa Trail.
PM: 8 miles (1:10) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
70F afternoon had the trails crawling with folks.

Sun-AM: 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Pretty tired after Broken Social Scene's amazing non-stop two and a half hour set at the Boulder Theater last night.
PM: 8 miles (1:10) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
1mi barefoot on grass at the end.


The BSS show was a $32 ticket--which is almost double the most that I've ever paid for a concert before--but they played basically twice as long as other bands usually do and the two songs below (videos not from last night, but from an NYC show a couple months ago) were--when witnessed live--worth price of admission alone.

Back At It

(Getting above the clouds this morning.)

There's nothing like a long absence from running to really re-whet one's appetite for it.  A couple weeks ago my sore foot was accompanied by a five-day flu-like illness that made getting out of bed a real challenge, let alone actually going for a run.  I took the obvious hint and submitted to ten days or so of zero running and almost no physical activity of any sort except for biking to and from class.

By the middle of this past week then, I was very curious to see where the inactivity had left the status of my foot.  A couple short test jogs were promising so on Friday morning I ventured up Flagstaff with Jocelyn.  This had no ill effects (despite viciously exposing my severe lack of fitness), so, after nearly a month and a half, I was finally able to return to Green Mountain the last couple of days.  With my body fully-rested and my mind eager, I'm really looking forward to the long, slow build in training over the next three months.

Mon- 0

Tue- 0

Wed- 3 miles (:25) Kitt

Thu- 5 miles (:42) Kitt

Fri- 7 miles (1:05) Flagstaff, 1500'

Easy with Jocelyn. Incredibly windy and the uphill made me nauseous for most of the climb, but the foot was very encouraging.

Sat- 10 miles (1:37) Green Mt., 2700'

Sun-10 miles (1:35) Green Mt., 2700'

A couple inches of fresh, sticky snow above 6500' did a nice job of covering up all the bullet-proof ice. Beautiful morning in the mist.

Infirm

February has been my worst month of running in over a year.  The Rocky Raccoon 100 at the beginning of the month seems to have exploited several weaknesses in my body and thus rendered the past three weeks essentially run-less.  I have done one run of more than 40min since the race, and it was a total disaster.  There have been many (basically daily) "runs" in the 10-30min range.

The main problem is that I'm not sure which painful part of my body I should be most concerned with or lend the most rehabilitative attention to: my left foot (some kind of strange extensor tendon/posterior tibial tendon unhappiness), my right shin (definitely an upset post. tib.), or my right lower back/sciatic nerve (bending over to pick up anything right now is still decidedly uncomfortable).

Most of this might be easier to take if I could attribute it to some obvious, boneheaded training mistake.  Instead, it is all pretty much due to a single 100 mile run as things were mostly peachy and smooth heading into the Rocky Raccoon weekend.  The week after the race I ran 12 miles; the week after that, 27 miles.  Rushing back into training is definitely not the culprit here.

The lack of running has freed up an extra 3-4hr/day that I have now banked towards refocusing on my studies and getting my masters degree ASAP.  But, this kind of mental academic focus obviously does nothing to assuage the pull for the local mountain summits that has only been made stronger by the many perfect weather days Boulder has had this month.

The break has also created a space for me to re-realize my most essential motivations in all this, and it's almost silly how quickly and clearly racing takes a backseat to the simple need to be outside, moving pain-free, under my own power.  The fact that I had been planning on racing an ultra per month for the next six months now seems almost absurd and definitely misguided, and once I get healthy I look forward to settling into a long, injury-free build-up that brings me to peak fitness in June.  Any meaningful competitive efforts before then will probably be more distracting than gratifying.  Right now all I can think of is the opportunity to once more become intimately reacquainted with the local trails.  

Still Recovering

I'm not sure what was so special about Rocky Raccoon, but my effort there has really taken it out of me for a while.  Today is the first day since the race nearly two weeks ago that I feel like I'm ready to maybe start training hard again.  I'd been fighting off a cold the final days before the race, so of course that hit me full force immediately afterwards.  On top of that, my left hamstring and then my left foot/plantar decided they weren't at all happy about running for 13 hours straight.  But, everything is starting to clear out now, and I think I'll be returning to the local hills very soon.

In the meantime, here are a few late bits and bobs from the race:

Jenny putting her rockstar designer skills to use a couple nights before the race.  Sewing powermesh gel hip-pockets on the NB race shorts.

On the 6am starting line.  Bill Fanselow in the green top, Mike Arnstein with head down and arms crossed,  Ian Sharman just behind him, Scott displaying disgust at his defective light, me checking my timing chip, Zach Gingerich in the whit e top, and Karl in the Red Bull stocking cap.  All photos: Jenny Uehisa.

With Hal at the finish.  Nothing like a little friendly competition to bring out the best in each other.

Exhausted at the finish with Yassine and Jenny.  Yassine finished 2nd in the 50 miler earlier in the day and Jenny was a jill-of-all-trades all day acting as crew for multiple runners, including myself.  Thanks!

Signing some vintage FiveFingers in the finish-line tent.

A rambling interview about the day conducted with Mike Wolfe in the back seat of our rental car on the way to the Houston airport.

CEES Fundraiser Dinner

This is just a quick post to remind readers that the previously mentioned CEES Fundraiser (at which Scott Jurek, myself, and Christopher McDougall will be speaking) is this Friday with the fundraising dinner (a more intimate setting with the same cast of characters) being on Thursday night at Oak at 14th at 7pm.  There are currently two spots still available at the dinner, so if anyone is on the fence they should get in touch with Jocelyn now (jenksest@gmail.com) to reserve a spot.

For the $250 donation, dinner-goers receive a three-course dinner at Oak and a schwag-bag of running gear (including shoes and watches) valued at $200.

Weekly Summary: Jan 31-Feb 6

01-31-2011
Mon-AM: 8 miles (1:05) Creek Path
Single digit temps again this morning.

02-01-2011
Tue-AM: 8 miles (1:01) Creek Path
-12F makes for some chilly running.

02-02-2011
Wed-AM: 8 miles (1:02) Creek Path
Surprising how even -15F is tolerable when properly dressed.

02-03-2011
Thu-AM: 4 miles (:30) Creek Path
Bored with this kind of running.

02-04-2011
Fri-AM: 4 miles (:30) Creek Path
Quick run before catching a plane to TX.

02-05-2011
Sat-AM: 100 miles (13:18) Rocky Raccoon 100
2nd place.  Certainly not slow.  Just not nearly fast enough.

02-06-2011
Sun- Ha. Yeah, right.

Total
-Miles: 132
-Hours: 17h 26min
-Vertical: negligible. I think there was maybe a total of ~5k' at Rocky?  But to even tally the pathetic little bumps on that course seems ludicrous.

Running Wild: CEES Fundraiser/Benefit

On February 18th at 7:00pm Chris McDougall, Scott Jurek and myself will be speaking at the Wolf Law building (CU-Boulder's Law School) on the CU campus as a fundraiser for CEES.  Admission is $8 and raffle tickets are $2.  In addition to speaking, the previous night we will be hosting a fund-raising dinner at Boulder's hip new restaurant Oak at 14th on Pearl Street.  Co-owner of Oak Bryan Dayton is an accomplished trail ultra runner in his own right (former Trail 50K National Champion) and one of the state's most respected mixologists. Ten spaces at a cost of $250/plate will be available at this dinner.  Email jenksest@gmail.com to reserve a spot at the dinner.

In addition to donating to a worthy cause, your $250 will net you a special three-course dinner (with vegan options), a schwag-bag worth at least $200 (including running shoes, watches and other gear) and the opportunity to pick our brains about whatever one may please.  After a couple of Bryan's drinks, I'm sure any answers will be much more candid than is typical!

Oak at 14th special Dinner Menu

My girlfriend, Jocelyn Jenks, has been heavily involved in CEES and energy justice issues in Peru specifically for the past year and a half as a policy analyst.  Jocelyn spent last summer in Ayaviri, Peru building relations with rural villagers and assessing the need/desire for simple, clean-burning cookstoves as an alternative to cooking over open fires.  (Indoor air quality is predictably very poor for most villagers as a result of using open fires as a source of cooking heat.)  All proceeds from this benefit will go towards energy justice projects such as this.

So, come on out for an evening of philanthropy and running!

Weekly Summary: Jan 24-30 & Jan Totals

01-24-2011
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:20) Bear & Green, 4200'
Great run up my two favorite mountains. Fern Canyon is in excellent shape right now with great Microspike conditions above the Nebelhorn Saddle. Legs felt good the whole run.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Kittredge Fields
Jogged to the field, did 6mi barefoot, and jogged back.  1st half with Jocelyn.

I guess Scott missed me at Outdoor Retailer last week. Both our schedules have been busy and we haven't been able to run together as much lately. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

01-25-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:12) Bear & Green, 4200'
Wonderful clear morning. Met Joe at the mouth of Fern (he started from Cragmoor, while I started from home) and had an excellent jaunt up the mountain. Breezy on top of Bear but there was a nice wind-shadow just barely on the east side of it. Joe turned back at the top of Green for another trip back over Bear and I ripped down the perfectly packed Greenman trail to go to class. Great run.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Kittredge Fields
Easy 6mi of barefoot on the turf, mostly w/ Jocelyn.

01-26-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:20) Bear & Green, 4200'
A bit tired today, so took it easy; beautiful morning.  Ran with Aaron for a bit on the Mesa trail before heading up Fern Canyon.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Kittredge Fields
4.5mi barefoot after stopping by the store for some apples.

Some of the nasty steep terrain above the Nebelhorn Saddle on the climb to the summit of Bear Peak. This steep, luge-like trail is perfect for a sharp pair of Microspikes.

The out-of-focus nature of this shot is appropriate considering what running this kind of grade typically does to one's vision.  Terrain like this facilitates the +1700' in ~1.3mi stats on this route. 

Despite its steepness, reaching this final stretch of talus that leads to the summit post always invokes a feeling of relieved satisfaction in making it up this burly peak yet again.

01-27-2011
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:18) Bear & Green, 4200'
Yesterday's warm temps shrunk some of the ice/snow on the trails, almost to where spikes are becoming too much--except for the steep upper reaches of Bear Peak.  Microspikes are still great up there.  The warm weather continued this morning--Front Range winters are ideal.
PM: 8 miles (1:07) Kittredge
Was back late from a water conference in Denver, but still got in 4.5mi barefoot.

01-28-2011
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:07) Bear & Green, 4200'
Feeling jazzed by a little extra sleep and temps in the upper 60s (!) I cranked through this run feeling great.  Split a 27:05 from the Mesa to the summit of Bear which I guess, technically, is a PR, but I know I can go a good bit faster.  Afterwards, had an acupuncture session with Allison Suddard.  Need to start hitting those more consistently now that I'm training hard again.  I'm sure they'll factor into post-Rocky recovery.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Kittredge
Easy 6mi of barefoot down at the field with Joe.

The summit of Bear Peak on a 68F January day in Boulder. The Green Mt summit is under my nose.

The shadow of Bear Peak projected into Bear Canyon, which separates it from Green Mt to the right.

One good reason to run up a peak every day is for this view of the Continental Divide.

01-29-2011
Sat-AM: 14 miles (2:19) Bear & Green, 4200'
Started out feeling a little slow, but once I got in Fern Canyon I found a good rhythm and bopped my way to the top.  Really good energy towards the end of the run. Ran into Jeff in the Gregory lot as he was heading out for a virgin hike up Green with Isabelle.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Kittredge
Totaled 5mi of barefoot around the fields.

01-30-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:14) Bear & Green, 4200'
Got out with Scott and Joe for a final circuit of the local peaks before I take a week or two race-enforced reprieve from them.

Totals
-Miles: 146
-Hours: 22h 11min
-Vertical: 29,400'
---------------------------------------------

• Did an email interview with Colorado Runner last week.

• For January, I ran 748 miles/111h 28min and climbed 119,400' vertical.  Summited Green 32 times and Bear 9 times.

These past seven days have kind of been a mostly Joe G-inspired revelation regarding the beauty and merit of the Fern Canyon trail on the northeastern slopes of Bear Peak.  Before this week, I think I'd run up Bear Peak via Fern a total of only four times, and the reason for that was my general derision at the notion of it actually being considered a "run".  The snow conditions on the route earlier in the week (before the considerable melting of the past few days) helped change that perspective in my mind (the packed, smoothed surface made maintaining a running cadence quite a bit easier, with the help of Microspikes, of course) and I'm now sold on the merit of negotiating such steep terrain on a nearly daily basis.

There are a number of reasons I think Bear Peak/Fern Canyon is worthwhile:

1) From my doorstep it allows for a ~14mi/2ish hour loop that has less than 2mi of pavement but still allows for a long, leisurely warm-up via a traverse of the Mesa Trail.  When I typically hit Green Mt first, for the past five months I have been usually contrivedly adding on a paved "warm-up loop" through the University Hill district that has generally raised my mental ire (traffic noise, cigarette-smoking college students, etc.) but allowed my legs to wake up before the climb up Gregory Canyon or Amphitheater.  Running the Bear-Green Loop has totally eliminated the need for this and my mood has noticeably brightened, mostly because dirt in the form of the McClintock Trail is a 5min jog from my door.

2) While undoubtedly steep and totally on the edge of runnable most of the way, it is runnable and makes most anything else feel easy and mellow in comparison.  For instance, the climb of Green Mt on this loop is a nice little 14min/1000'/1mi pop via the Green-Bear trail that now seems almost pleasantly trivial.  After just one week on the route I've already begun to develop different "gears" dictated by my energy levels and managed to still keep them all running.  That is, I can have an off/bad day on Fern and still run almost everything.  It's not necessarily default-hard.

3) Running down Bear's West Ridge is, for some reason, way more pleasureable than running up it, which is good because the views are spectacular.

4) I think the skill of negotiating super-steep terrain by seamlessly switching back and forth between a power-hike and uphill tap-tap trot is valuable for any mountain runner interested in taking techy, direct routes that aren't always 100% runnable.  For instance, on the Fern trail there are about three short little segments that require to briefly fall into a hike--the first little crude log "ladder", the super-sharp rock upper-body "push-up" step just above the Nebelhorn Saddle, and the 30-40yard section of plate-y talus ~5 1/2min from the summitpost.  It's a good skill for racing (where hiking steep stuff can happen a lot if one is interested in self-preservation over the course of racing 100 miles) and just general mountain bipedal travel.

5) Two summits every day (of which Bear Peak is objectively more aesthetic).  Enough said.

So, post-Rocky, I will probably continue to keep this loop in very regular rotation.  And now, just because, a little track from The Walkmen that has been dominating my mind for the past week.

Hardrock 100 Applicants List

Island Lake as seen from ~13k' Grant-Swamp Pass on the Hardrock Course. Photo: Klas Eklof.

The Hardrock 100 is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically-pure long-course mountain race in the country, maybe the world (UTMB is likely up there, too).  Tons of vertical, outlandish scenery, altitude, loop course, it has it all.  This makes it very enticing to a lot of runners; right now there are 549 runners on the applicant list, only 140 of which will actually toe the line.  On top of those already long odds is the ticket system that is inherently exclusive to first-time applicants.

Looking back toward Grant-Swamp Pass from the climb to ~13k' Oscars Pass. Photo: Klas Eklof.

Nonetheless, this year at least, that hasn't stopped a lot of arguably the best 100 mile mountain racers in the world--along with a couple dozen other proven 100 mile mountain performers--from trying to get into the race.

To wit:

Julien Chorier
Nick Clark
Dakota Jones
Scott Jurek
Hal Koerner
Anton Krupicka
Karl Meltzer
Geoff Roes
Mike Wolfe
John Anderson
Dylan Bowman
Jeff Browning
Duncan Callahan
Jared Campbell
Yassine Diboun
Joe Grant
Matt Hart
Andy Jones-Wilkins
Nick Pedatella
Nathan Yanko
Darcy Africa
Diana Finkel
Anita Ortiz

Hardrock has the potential to rival Western States as the de facto national championship of 100 mile racing in the country.  Obviously, the statistics are such that this simply won't happen, but it sure is a compelling proposition.  I understand and respect the intent and spirit of the Hardrock Board's decisions, but the mountain runner in me can't help but salivate at the prospect of racing that kind of field over such a worthy course.  Maybe one of these years, the stars will align...

Approaching the finish of Hardrock on the descent into Arastra Gulch. Photo: Klas Eklof.

Weekly Summary: Jan 17-23

Foreshortened Green Mt. from the mouth of Skunk Canyon.

01-17-2011
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:11) Green Mt., 3000'
Overnight Chinook winds turned all the ice/snow to soft mush which made for very slow trail conditions.
PM: 12 miles (1:28) BHS Track
3mi warm-up then: 2x2mi+1mi @ 10:59 (5:31, 5:28), 10:53 (5:27, 5:26), 5:14 (2:40, 2:34) with 3min/1-lap recovery jogs in between repeats. 3.5mi cooldown.  From the start I knew this one was going to be tough due to dead legs from the weekend's 45mi long run, so I cut a mile off of the planned 3x2mi session at 5:30 pace.  Happy to have gotten this in despite the non-ideal timing.

Feeling pretty incompetent in a foreign setting. Scott (on the far turn) joined me every other lap. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

01-18-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:07) Green Mt., 3000'
The cold temps overnight set the ice/snow up nicely for one of the more pleasant footing experiences I've had on the mountain recently.  Bear Cyn was still awkwardly mixed, though.
PM: 8 miles (1:05) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy bit with Jocelyn and then 4mi barefoot at Kitt.  Ran into Schlarb there and we did a couple miles together before I jogged home.

01-19-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:16) Bear Pk & Green Mt., 4200'
Enjoyed doing this loop this way because it allows for a mellow rolling warm-up along the Mesa trail before the real climbing begins in Fern Canyon.  Fern was awkwardly iced and I should've just left the Microspikes off until the Nebelhorn Saddle, but above that there was often almost perfect purchase on the steep, packed pitches of ice and snow.  I felt decent on the climb up Green and then enjoyed more good snow conditions on Greenman. Except for the really steep stuff like upper Fern the trails are probably best experienced in screw-shoes right now. Mild inversion this morning made for a scenic sunrise, too.
PM: 13 miles (2:02) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Greenman-Gregory in the dark and falling snow.  I had my headlamp but it was a nice bright night with the new snow and (nearly?) full moon, even if that moon was mostly behind a good layer of clouds. Idyllic winter evening out on the mountain.  Finished up with a trip to the grocery store and a some snow shoveling.

01-20-2011
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn and Skunk Cyn. Incredibly pretty morning at 12F and with the ~4" of fresh snow on the mountains. I was laying down first (human) tracks on the Green-Bear connector and saw the best set of lion prints I've ever come across.  There were more cat tracks later on down in Bear Cyn. Great run.
PM: 8 miles (1:06) Creek Path
Easy jog with Joe.  Witnessed a most spectacular and long-lasting sunset.

Full moon setting behind the shoulder of Anenome.

Perfect set of lion tracks.  Looking for breakfast?

Microspikes alongside cat paw.

Snow on flatirons at the mouth of Bear Canyon.

And with me.

01-21-2011
Fri-AM: 55 miles (7:35) Colorado Springs/Manitou, "only" 8700'
Started at the CRC in downtown Colorado Springs, where I left Jocelyn at Wooglins--lucky girl.  Ran the Mesas to Garden of the Gods to Rampart Range Road (12mi/3000'+ climb to 9400') to the Overlook and then down the vintage ridge route to Waldo Canyon and then up Longs Ranch Road (3mi/2200' climb to 9200') and down to Barr Trail to Manitou to Crystal Park Road (8mi/2500' climb to 8600') to Dog Rock Trail to Section 16 to High Drive to Bear Creek and back to the CRC and then downtown to meet Jocelyn at Ricos to refuel. This was a very solid run. It took me about 3hr to find my groove but I felt very good climbing LRR and on the top half of CPR. The idea was to get in a "flat-ish" long run while still keeping it interesting with gradual climbs (except LRR certainly isn't gradual) and great views.  I expect I felt best on LRR because its grade is closest to what I run on a daily basis on Green Mt. Ate six gels after a breakfast of a couple tortillas and nutella.

I ran the loop in a counterclockwise fashion.

Full Ascents of Rampart Range Road, Longs Ranch Road, and Crystal Park Road. Not an insignificant undertaking.

Classic view of Pikes as seen through the arch created between the Siamese Twins in the Garden of the Gods.

Queen's Canyon as seen from part way up the Rampart Range Rd climb.  This is a geologic beauty in the Springs that many people don't know about because much of it is privately owned by The Navigators.  The preternaturally flat rim is a result of historical limestone mining and is now home to a healthy bighorn sheep population.

The view of Pikes Peak from the top of Rampart Range Rd at 9400'.  That's a lot of vertical relief!

The Longs Ranch Rd (right) and Crystal Park Rd (left) climbs as seen from the summit of RRR.  Kind of intimidating with 35mi left to go and dropping to the bottom of the valleys in between each climb. 12,400' Almagre Mt. can be seen in the upper right corner.

Following big cat prints up the Longs Ranch Rd climb.  The trail was nice and packed from the previous weekend's Ponderous Posterior 50K and Incline Club Double run.

A back-lit Dog Rock on the trail descent from the top of Crystal Park Rd to connect into the Section 16 Loop.

Also from the Dog Rock Trail--a view back across the expansive valley to the burly cleft of Williams Canyon.  Rampart Range Rd can be seen contouring high above it.

Finally, an example of one of the ugly realities of Colorado Springs. This monstrosity has gone up on the edge of Bear Creek Park since I moved away. I used to run this trail every day without this view.

01-22-2011
Sat-AM: 12 miles (2:04) Green Mt., 3000'
Running at 5am under a brilliantly bright moon that almost precluded the need for a headlamp.  Up the back and down Greenman-Saddle Rock and then to the grocery store and back for some apples.  Took a while to get the legs working after the long run yesterday, but all in all this was a pleasurable run despite the incredible wind gusts. It was tough to get up this early and run up a mountain after yesterday's long run, but totally worth it. I spent the rest of the day at 10,000' up below Niwot Ridge snowshoeing/digging snowpits and looking at the stratigraphy, etc.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Skunk Creek Loop
This was mostly a mental toughness run after a long day of physical labor in the cold and snow and an amber ale on an empty stomach at Wild Mountain up in Ned. Got it in, though, and was glad to.

01-23-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:09) Green Mt., 3000'
Finally slept in this morning and felt accordingly fresh as a result. The track on Ranger was perfectly packed for Microspikes while there was almost no snow in Gregory Cyn. Great winter conditions. 25th Green for 2011.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy shake-out with 4mi of barefoot on the Kitt turf.

Total
-Miles: 194
-Hours: 28h 24min
-Vertical: 30,900'
------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously a very good week of running.  I'll probably try and hit one more track workout this week and then it's going to be time for a moderate taper.  It's been a short but good build-up.  I'm pretty much exactly where I would like to be going into an early season race like Rocky: healthy and reasonably fit but certainly not at any razor's edge sort of fitness as I will hopefully reach for the important summer racing season.

Weekly Summary: Jan 10-16

01-10-2011
Mon-AM: 12 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up and down Gregory-Ranger.  There was a solid foot of fresh snow this morning and it was +3F.  These things mean I had the mountain all to myself, breaking fresh trail the whole way and not seeing another soul the entire time I was out there. Absolutely stunning scenery with the new snow; one of the bluest skies I've ever seen. Finished up with a couple miles on the snow-packed streets.
PM: 14 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Met Joe and Scott and headed up the backside of Green again in the fading light.  It looked like only a couple more people had been up since my run this morning, but it was still incredible to be out in the snow.  Chatted with Jeff briefly on Ranger, who was descending.  Switched on our headlamps once we were on the ridge then.  Had a raucous descent in the powder and finished up with a trip to the grocery store.

Gregory Canyon

Indian Peaks

01-11-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:23) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.  Heavily drifted on Ranger ridge. Sub-zero temperatures this morning, which is always pretty notable.
PM: 9 miles (1:11) Goose Creek Loop
Legs felt good.  Just cruising easy in the dark and ice.

Green summit

01-12-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:17) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Some kind of feathered creature was slaughtered by something with paws right at the mouth of Bear Canyon. Feathers and entrails everywhere. Legs felt good but the snow is still slow.
PM: 13 miles (2:04) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Greenman-Gregory.  Great run in the dark.  Legs felt good but the trail could still use some more packing.

01-13-2011
Thu-AM: 12 miles (2:03) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Slow, mushy snow conditions enforced an easy pace.
PM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Best run I've had up the mountain in a while.  Snow melted a ton today and my legs felt good.  Got this in quick before the Boulder Trail Runners talk at Sherpas.

01-14-2011
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Ugh. Tired run up the back with Joe. Lots of street running afterwards.

01-15-2011
Sat-AM: 45 miles (6:32) Mt. Buckhorn+Ponderous Posterior 50K, 8600'
Left Boulder early and was running from Bear Creek Nature Center in Colorado Springs by 7am. Ran the 2000' Mt. Buckhorn climb (via High Drive both up and down) and then ran through Red Rocks to get to JT's in time for the 9am start of the Ponderous with an extra 13mi/1h45 in my legs. This run was a total blast. I absolutely love the COS trails and it was a lot of fun sharing them with a group of friends old and new.  By starting last we benefited from a moderately packed trail on the 2000' Longs Ranch Road climb to 9200' and then Joe, Jacob, Scott and I enjoyed a splendid descent of the classic lower three miles of Barr Trail. The timing of the waves in the morning worked out very well as we were catching runners all along the Intemann Trail and through Red Rocks Canyon Open Space into the finish. I was particularly pleased with the route that JT picked through Red Rocks and the new trail on the knife ridge ending at 31st Street.  Legs felt good all day until I stubbornly suffered through a healthy bonk the last 30min or so due to only four gels on the day.  Loaded up later at Jocelyn's and my favorite restaurant in town: Ricos/Poor Richards.

Headed up Rampart Range Road with Tom and Scott in the first half of the PP50K.  Pikes Peak towers before us much as it would all day. Man, I love running in the Springs.  Photo: Alex Nichols.

01-16-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:08) Green Mt., 3000'
Definitely tired from yesterday's run, but the trail surface was very tacky with the Microspikes. Took the long way up Gregory-Greenman and came down Bear Cyn.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy in the dark; 2mi barefoot.

Total
-Miles: 182
-Hours: 28h 10min
-Vertical: 35,600'
-------------------------------------------

Great third week of training in this cycle despite the very heavy snow we received early in the week.  The fatigue accrued from four Green's over two days was dissipated by an easy day on Friday and I was able to have a very satisfactory long run on Saturday as a result.  I didn't get in a speed session during the calendar week proper due to the ice/snow and frigid temps in the first half of the week, but I did get after it this afternoon (Monday) down at the BHS track.

My legs were still a bit tired from Saturday's long run, so after my usual 2hr tour of Green this morning I modified my planned afternoon session of 3x2mi (with a 3min/1-lap recovery jog) by chopping off the final mile.  The (mostly arbitrary) goal was 5:30 pace, so I was pleased enough with splits of 10:59 (5:31/5:28), 10:53 (5:27/5:26), and 5:14 (2:40/2:34).

Later in the week I will look to build on this past weekend's long run by adding another hour or so to my final truly long session before the Rocky Raccoon 100 on February 5th.  I certainly won't be at peak fitness for Rocky, but that's fine this early in the season and I just look forward to putting in an honest effort down in Huntsville.

Quick Posterior Wrap-Up

It was an excellent day down in Manitou/Colorado Springs for a long run in the mountains.  The first annual Ponderous Posterior Pikes Peak 50K ended up drawing somewhere between 50 and 90 runners across the three distances (a big range, I know, but I'm sure JT has a bit more precise count), and everyone enjoyed temperatures in the 50s and a good mix of snow and dirt out on the trails.

Pikes Peak Sports provided some surprising coverage of the event, which can be found here.

Steve Bremner of Team CRUD also has a photo gallery posted here.

As far as I could gather in between post-run beverages, the final top 50K results went something like this:

1) Justin Ricks 5:19
2) Scott Jaime 5:19
3) Anton Krupicka 5:24
4) Scott Jurek 5:24
5) Jacob Rydman 5:24
6) Joe Grant 5:24

(Again, I'm sure JT has much deeper results.)

I don't know what Justin and Scott were doing up in the 8:00am wave, but I do know that the group I ran with all day (starting at 9:00am) was very liberal in its stopping to eat gels, chatting/waiting at trail junctures, and general soaking up of the gorgeous views and weather.  Our actual running time was 4:49 and I chatted with many runners who Garmined the course right at 31 or 32 miles with ~7000' of vertical gain.  All in all pretty much exactly the kind of times/efforts I expected on the route.

An enormous expression of gratitude must be directed at JT for the gracious offering up of his home for staging the before and after aspects of the event and also to the Team CRUD guys for marking the course excellently, printing maps, and hosting an informal but appreciated and effective aid station at the Waldo Canyon TH parking lot on Highway 24.  Let's make this an annual one!

Joe and Scott head for the hills with the 9am wave. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Popping some GUs at the Waldo Canyon turn-off in Williams Canyon. Photo: Alex Nichols.

jLu exiting Williams Canyon on the 17mi course. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

At the finish with Joe and Scott. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.