Welcome to the Family Fatboy

Picked up a new toy last weekend to add to the family stable, Specialized Fatboy.  She is going to be a lot of fun in the snow this winter.  Planning on trying to make the whole winter Leadville/Copper series.   Maybe Leadman fat bike style?  Who knows.   http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/fatboy/fatboy

Still on the look out for one more bike then the stable will be complete for now.

Monday Funday- Capitol Peak

Yes, I spelled it correctly in the name of the post.  Look it up if you don't believe me.

Skipped out of work yesterday with a co-worker Scott and hit up a 14er that both of us have not done before.  I think this one is my new favorite even though route finding can be a little challenging at times.   Ended up with 18 miles and 6100ft of vertical gain.  Number 47 out of 58 and the Elk Range 14ers are now done.

Glen Delman's Leadville Photos

Saw Glen out there on the course through out the Leadman series taking photos but never could find where they are posted so I shot him an email.  The response I got?  Some awesome photos for a reasonable price.  You can contact him through his website if you are looking for photos of you.    Yes I have not done the 100 mile report yet.  I have a post put together with photos but nothing written.  For some reason can't seem to get myself to work on it.  Hopefully this week.

Cruising at the 10K

Heading to Winfield

Coming back over to Twin Lakes with Rebecca

Twin Lakes mile 60ish

Braden's First Cross Country Meet

Braden is a freshman this year and it has been a new experience for both him and us with him now going to Standley Lake High School.  He had his first ever cross country meet today at the Centaurus Invite.  He missed the first meet last week at Holy Cross because of hockey tryouts, yes he is trying to do two sports right now which has been a challenge and hockey is the priority.  Anyways since he missed the first meet last week he was not on either the varsity or the junior varsity team so he had to run the open race to earn his time and spot.  Needless to say he had a good day.  He ended up 14th out of 205 kids in the open race running a 20:07 for the 5K which is a 1:19 PR for him.  Needless to say he was a very pleased boy.  This gave him the 8th fastest time out of everyone on the team, top 7 make varsity for the next meet.  In the next meet on Thursday he will be running junior varsity. Sooooo now he also has a new goal for the season he informed us this afternoon, instead of making junior varsity as a freshman, he wants to make varsity and try to letter as a freshman.  Hell Ya!! Now that is a hell of a goal!  To letter he needs to run 7 meets as a varsity runner so there will be no slacking since there is only 9 meets left in the season.  I told him if he can beat my 5K PR this season of 18:19 that I will give him a $100 bill, I have a feeling that my wallet might be a little lighter by the end of the season.  Proud of this kid for putting it out there, more to come.

Results of the open

Boy team results across different races (missing JV results)

The crazy start




Braden at about mile 1


Finish in 20:07

August Numbers Check In

Not a lot to report for August considering that most of the month was I was either tapering or recovering.  Some solid racing did happen and the race report for the Leadville 100 run is still being worked on, still trying to collect photos.

Recovery is coming along nicely.  Did get out last weekend for a 20 mile ride on Saturday and 6 mile trail run on Sunday.

Started a new program yesterday from Mountain Athlete called the Peak Bagger.  Spent 75 minutes yesterday doing step-ups with a 25lb vest on (1000 total) and running an 800 every 200 step-ups.  Killer and wiped me out.  Time to spend lots of time getting strong again and just running when I feel like it for a while.

This will lead to not much activity on Strava since I don't put the non-GPS stuff on there so if you are interested in what I am doing check out my Attackpoint.org log.  Link is in the column of the blog.

More to come.

Leadville 100 run plan

Thought I would share my plan along with everyone else.  Same plan that I had in years past.  What was it you ask?

1. When I can I will run.

2. When I can't run I will walk.

3. I will eat as much as my glass stomach will allow me too.

4. I will hit Winfield when I get off of Hope Pass around the time I get there.

5. My goal finish time is when I cross the finish line.

Pretty simple, any questions?

Heading to Leadville this morning.  See ya on the other side.

LT100 MTB and 10K

Well I survived the weekend and it went a little better than I thought it would.  Sitting here on Tuesday night tired as hell still so at least I can say that I did not just go do the ride but actually tried and put out a big effort.  Not going to write a long race report but instead going to give thanks to a few people and post some photos from the weekend.  Thanks to Rebecca and Jen for crewing not only me but stepping up and helping my buddy J.P. also.  And of course thanks to Bob for letting J.P. and I crash at his place all weekend.  Great to see everyone out there that came up to cheer on the riders.  Also thanks to Clyde and Kathy for coming up to cheer me on help me with recovering after the race was over.

Finished the 100 MTB in 9:29:45 on Saturday and the 10K in 42:55 on Sunday.  Now onto the 100 run.

4 Days to Go TIme

Well it is race week for the 100 mountain bike.  Full taper mode is now in effect.  Ended up last week doing a little more time wise than I wanted but it was all at an easy pace with the exception of the bike trainer on Tuesday night and the 5K on Wednesday night which I ran a 18 second PR in 95 degree heat. 

Also helped get Clyde to the finish of Silverheels 100 over the weekend both riding around on the bike a little and pacing the last 20 miles.  Note on this course, it is a beautiful course and was very well run for a 1st year 100.  I was actually impressed.  On paper the course looks really hard to follow and was confused when studying to pace but once your out there John did a really good job marking the course and we had no issues at all.  This one maybe in the cards in the next year or two.  Here are some photos from Clyde's effort.

Was it enough?

I know we all have read a hundred of these blog posts over the years.  We as a group of ultrarunners and endurance athletes are some insecure whining babies when it comes to tapers but putting this thought process out there seems to help clear the mind and move us forward.  Even if you don't want to admit it we all have this thought process at one time or another.  I thought by putting it down in writing like so many others have would help clear my mind a little.

Been beating my head against my desk at work this week due to the motivation being at a null right now.  I feel like a kid on the last week of school before summer break.  Finding it hard to focus, my mind keeps wondering over to the upcoming Leadville 100 bike and 100 run.  Of course it does not help that I am now in full taper mode which means I am even more edgy and out of focus from not getting my daily hour or two of exercise.  Yes, I know it is weird to most of the general population that I need that daily exercise to operate normally, most of you reading that sentence understand this feeling or need.  Anyways I have been sitting here wondering over and over have I done enough?  Could I have done more?  Was my approach correct or did I flub it?  I know in my mind that it is normal to have these thoughts going into your main events of the year and it just part of the taper but it does not change the fact that it is happening, even worse this year than in years past it seems.  So to help calm my mind a little I started running reports from my training log on Attackpoint.org that I use to log everything and has all my data in since mid 2008.  Here is what I found as of this morning.  Of course these numbers will increase a little over the next 2 weeks for a taper does not mean to sit on my ass and do nothing but thought it was worth looking at today.

Note:  You can see what the different colors stand for in the bottom of the second chart, and there is a breakdown of the bottom 2 charts in both hours and total miles.

Year to date numbers Jan 1st to Aug 6th 2015 - click to enlarge

How does this compare to past years? (2015 is only 7 months, rest of years are 12 months- yes I almost matched past yearly totals)- click to enlarge

How did 2015 breakdown monthly? (sick a lot in Feb)- click to enlarge

How did the weekly breakdown look so far for 2015? -click to enlarge

How does looking at all this make me feel?  Like I have not done enough.  Yes I realize that it is way more than I have ever done in the past as far as overall work volume but it still feels like it is not enough.  I think that is a feeling that all of us that are involved in endurance sports understand and deal with.  Hell, I could have done double the amount of work getting close to 1000 hours year to date and I still would be sitting here whining about the same thing.  Time to deal with it and get my taper on.

Not much else planned between now and the 100 bike on Aug 15th.  Pacing Clyde this weekend at Silverheels 100 in Fairplay for 20 miles (excited for him!) and a few short bikes and runs not really adding up to anything.  The training is over or as they say, "the hay is in the barn".  The hard part now is not to burn down the barn before race day. 

Moving on I wish all who are now in taper mode a healthy taper and can't wait to see you all in Leadville, you know who you are.   See you all next week!

Beginning of Cutting Volume

2 weeks to go to the 100 mountain bike and 3 weeks to go to the 100 run, can't believe that it is here already.  Man the year went fast.  This past week I started cutting down the weekly volume a little but not a lot.  Went from being between 20-25 hours down to about 18 but still got in some decent vertical between the bike and run.

Click on to enlarge

It was nice cutting back my long ride on Sunday and being done and home by 11am.  It freed up the whole afternoon to allow for zombie hunting training (video below) and for me to take the boy to hockey camp.  Really wanted to get over to Boulder to catch friends doing Ironman Boulder but with the wife being sick in bed I had to do hockey camp duty which was fine also.  This is the first time I have let him shoot my Smith & Wesson 45 ACP, of course it was his favorite one to shoot and the most expensive ammo wise.

Anyways still on the fence as far as the plan for this week.  Should be down to around the 12-15 hour range but a huge chunk of that will be from next weekend pacing my buddy Clyde at Silverheels 100 mile run in Fairplay so the intensity will should be mellow for me, not so mellow for him since I should be picking him up between mile 80-85.  With that said still trying to figure out this week.  One thing is for sure, I need to cut my food intake since my workload is being cut or the weight will shoot back up there quickly.  Think I am in a good spot right now and want to keep it that way.

Quick congrates to GZ who won the burro race in BV this past weekend and Rebecca for powering through all kinds of issues and getting that Ironman Boulder finish.

July Numbers Check In

Second highest month that I have ever done, June was the highest in total hours but I got in more vertical and miles this month and took 4 days totally off with one down week to recover from Silver Rush weekend.  Pretty damn solid.  About that time to taper, plan is to do 3-4 hour run tomorrow Saturday with vertical and 4ish hour bike ride with vertical on Sunday then start shutting it down.  Been a fun process but I am ready to taper.  Really have to make sure I cut my food intake as I cut down my hours.  Right now I am eating anything and everything.  I have not been this light since I the first few years of high school.

14 days to the 100 bike.

July Numbers (click on photo to enlarge)

Also go the new poster up in the garage gym yesterday. (click on photo to enlarge)

Quality Volume Week

Well that was one of the most solid weeks without any racing in it that I think I have done so far.  Last major week over 20 hours and it is now time to start cutting the weekly volume I think (maybe a little higher this week, yet to be decided).  Just between Saturday and Sunday I was able to rack up about 17,000 feet of vertical between the bike and run.  I even got in a harder track workout with Bob during the week and a kick ass trainer ride on Wednesday from James.  Needless to say I am pretty tired this Monday morning and today will be an easy day.

So why such a big weekend?  Well earlier in the year I was talking to Andy about some of the training that he did during the buildup to his two Leadman finishes and he brought up an idea that he and Lucho talked about but never did.  Between the 50 race and the 100 race do a day where you would run 3 hours, bike 3 hours, run 3 hours, and then bike 3 hours giving a total of 12 hours for the day split between the 2 sports and calling it 3-3-3-3 workout.  Of course Andy's point was that this was not proven and maybe a bit much.  So pondering this idea I first thought that I would do a 2-2-2-2 workout cutting the volume down but still getting in a solid day.  Then I decided that I would just break it up over the weekend and still get the total volume of work.  Got more bike time than running time but that is OK.

Here is how it played out.

Saturday: 

Bike 3:41:00 - 44 miles with 6,000ft of vertical - link for route
Nice long ride up Golden Gate Canyon on some new routes I have not done yet. Mountain Base Road had grades of 20% so some solid vertical work going up that bad boy.

Run 1:46:00 - 8 miles with 3,000ft of vertical - link for route
Run up and down Bear Peak while the wife was hiking with her best friend. Really surprised how good I felt considering the 90 degrees and riding all morning. Big vertical day and little dehydrated from the heat of the day.

Sunday: 

Run 1:50:00 - 13 miles with 1,700ft of vertical -link for route
Part #1 of today's training.  One lap up and down Lookout Mt on the road. Getting in some vertical but more runnable vertical than yesterday.  Started out pretty stiff from yesterday but loosened up as I got going.

Bike 3:35:00 - 41 miles with 5,500ft of vertical - link for route
Part #2 of today's training. Laps for 3 plus hours on the MTB on the road of Lookout just racking up vertical and making sure I get over 40 miles. Nice to be able to only have to carry one bottle and just refill each lap from the cooler in the car. Got pretty hot but dealt with it fine, Tailwind proved once again to work very well on the bike for me.

Run 48:00 - 4.6 miles with 1,200ft of vertical - link for route
Part #3 of today's training.  Run up the trail on Lookout Mt to the top of Mount Zion to add some more running mileage and vertical.  Started really rough but was fine about 1.5 miles into it.  Got caught in a down pour on the way down and it felt great after being 90 degrees most of the day.

Called it a day after this one, a thunderstorm moved in and the wife called wondering when I was coming home. Figured that was enough for the past 2 days. That gave me 85 miles with 11,500ft of vertical on the bike and 25.6 miles with 5,400ft of vertical running in 2 days.  I will take that.  Hopefully this weekend will be the nail in the coffin as they say for the longer days of training.  With that weekend along with the track workout with Bob I did on Tuesday which was 800,800,1600,800,800 all at sub 6 minute pace and a super hard trainer ride from James on Wednesday it was a very solid week.  Feeling pretty good about it all right now, just have to make sure I don't F it up the last 3 weeks.

Recovery Week

This past weekend has forced a much needed recovery week this week which should do me good.  I even took 2 full days off on Monday and Tuesday following this WOD from T-Nation that you can find here.

"Here's a tried-and-true recovery workout for you to try:

A1. Eat – 3 sets of AMPAP (as much protein as possible)
A2. Take a nap – 3 sets of AMMAP (as many minutes as possible)

Perform all three supersets in a row with no rest in between. Pee breaks are acceptable, but you must sit down.
I call this WOD Jack, which is short for jack shit."

Easy this week and then 2 solid high volume weeks before the taper for the 100s.  Did get in a good 51 mile/6000vert ride in Saturday and medium long trail run of 12 miles/4000vert on Sunday which I struggled a little bit with.  Time to get back to work.

Hours this week.

The ride on Saturday was up in Lucho's hood and you wonder why he crushes shit.  This should explain it.  So easy to rack up the vertical up Coal Creek and around Golden Gate State Park.

Silver Rush Weekend

Now that was a fun weekend!  This past weekend I took another step towards Leadman and I did the Silver Rush 50 MTB on Saturday and the Silver Rush 50 Run on Sunday.   Now I only needed to complete one of them for Leadman but signed up for both of them back in January "just in case" I had an issue on the bike since that is my weak sport.  As you will read below I went ahead and did both.  Hopefully that will pay off and was not a mistake.

Saturday: I totally surprised myself on Saturday, I am NOT a biker but play one on the weekends.  I have not had that much fun at a race in years.  I don't think the smile left my face all day, even on the bomber rocky downhills we had to ride when I was yelling "oh shit" over and over in my head.   My whole plan this day was just to survive and try to finish under 6 hours for a good corral placement in the 100 bike next month.  Not only did I finish under 6 hours but almost broke 5!  I really did not think I had that in me and really needed that confidence boost going into the 100 bike next month.  Below are some photos from along the course along with the finishing time and Strava link if that is your thing.

About mile 15- photo Lifetime

At the halfway point in a great mood.  Photo by Don Sims

Worked over a little trying to break 5 hours at the end.  Did push hard the last 5-6 miles when I realized I could have a shot at sub-5. - photo Lifetime

Crossing the finish worked but very happy. Photo by Don Sims

Strava data can be found by clicking here.

Sunday:  After many discussions with a few friends who thought I should not do the run on Sunday since I did not need it for Leadman I decided that since I already paid for it and needed at least a 20 mile training run for the day that I would start the run and then drop at the turn around at the halfway point catching a ride with whom ever I knew there.  So my approach on the way to the halfway point was just to treat it as an easy long run to test out some new shoes (LaSportiva Mutants) that have only gone 15 miles in a single shot and the new Orange Mud pack that I got a couple of days earlier to see if they would work OK for the 100 run next month.  Spent most of the 1st half of the race running with friends catching up and meeting other Leadman runners.  Never once did I push hard up or down a hill, I just walked the ups and jogged the downs.  When reaching the halfway point with the intention to drop I could not justify dropping when feeling so good.  Just did not feel right and the only people I knew that were there that I could get a ride with were working the aid station or a co-worker who I think would give me all kinds of crap so I figured I would just jog it back like it was a 100 miler.  Funny thing is that it worked.  Not once did I overheat, get sick, or feel like I was going to hit the wall.  Energy levels were good all day.  Yes the legs were heavy from the bike ride the day before but I was not pushing hard enough that it mattered.  I just kept walking the ups and slow jogging the downs rolling people up that went out to fast.  Could I have ran this course faster?  Yes, especially if I would not have done the bike the day before but that was not the goal of the day.  Today was about testing out gear for the 100 and getting in an easy longer run on tired legs.  I was not planning on running the time I did but it is what happened.  I was thinking it was going to be more like a 10 hour day.

Spending some miles with my buddy Neeraj. Source unknown

About mile 15- photo Lifetime

Very pleased that I finished feeling as good as I did- photo Lifetime

Silver King! - photo Lifetime

Everyone was smiles at the end, Andy (in yellow) rocked his age group and won a 100 entry for next year- photo Lifetime

Strava data can be found by clicking here.

This was a surprised when Neal sent me a text on Monday night to check out the results website.  I was not shooting for a result like this.

The hardware from a fun weekend in the mountains

So what did I take away from this weekend.  Well number one: don't even bother starting a race that you are planning to drop, the guilt factor is to high.  I would have been better off not starting instead of trying to drop at the halfway point.  Number two:  the overall fitness is in a really good spot right now, better than I expected.  Lastly: just trust the process and not how you feel day to day.  I have been feeling out of shape and slow for the past few weeks since the Leadville Marathon.  I was really worried that I peaked to soon with the race times I was posting the last 2 months.  I no longer think that is the case.  This week will be a small recovery week then it is 2 more solid weeks of training until the taper begins.  Damn those 100s are getting close!  I am so happy that my buds J.P. and Ray both made it through the weekend in one piece also so we all can move on to the next event together.  I think there is always a risk on the bike for a crash or issue with the bike that could cause a DNF.  It has been a lot of fun training and racing with these guys all year and I am looking forward to some more fun the next 5-6 weeks with these gentlemen.