"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive." - Elbert Hubbard
Solid month with a solid race thrown in... Of course dropped the bike a lot this month so not to risk a crash before Javelina but that will be coming back over the next month or at least when it is not to cold outside. Pondering what is next for leading up to next year so more to come on that and of course I am open to all suggestions. Will be putting in for the Western States and Hardrock lotteries so things will be influenced a lot based on that outcome.
"What strikes me is that there's a very fine line between success and failure. Just one ingredient can make the difference." - Andrew Lloyd Webber
"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." - Christopher Reeve
Seemed like a two quote week... my one ingredient at the race this week was Don and Nancy, I would have dropped on lap 2 if it was not for them. Thank you guys... love you.
Monday:
9 AM: 6 miles averaging 8:10pace. Easy spin from the house over to the rec center to drop off my ballot
the looped back to the house. Legs are junk today but got it done.
Hopefully they come around this week.
--Followed this up with 35mins in the sauna (last one before I leave tomorrow) and 15mins of stretching.
-- Paula and I meet Don and Amy at Red Rocks for Hardy! this evening.. So much fun!!
Tuesday:
Left home a little after 8am this morning to start heading to Phoenix with no plan on how far I was going to go. I can not check into the house I rented until Wednesday at 4pm so I have time. Drove most of the day making it Flagstaff just after dinner and found a place to sleep just outside of town. That was a longgggggg drive, about 11 hours with the stops.
Wednesday:
11 AM: 5.4 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 9:30pace. Easy miles at the base of Mt Eden in Flagstaff before finishing the
drive down to Phoenix for Javelina. Basically on the Cocodona course. HR seemed really high today for the
effort level, I am guessing from driving all day yesterday. I am
pretty wiped from it today even though I slept well.
Thursday:
-NOTE: Weight check in: Not on race week and I am at the rental house in Phoenix.
Total day off today with only a bunch of stretching this evening to try and loosen up the hip. It has really been bothering me since yesterday afternoon. Guess it is from the 11 hours of straight driving that I did on Tuesday combined with a hillier run I did yesterday at lunch. Hopefully it will not be an issue on Saturday.
We did get the crew site setup so that is done for Don and Nancy for Saturday then hit up a brewery meeting up with Neal and dinner. The weather is going to be challenging on Saturday with a forecast of 98 degrees which will be a record high for the race. Hopefully all that heat training I have been doing helps.
Friday:
10 AM: 4.5 miles averaging 9:40 pace. Hoka shakeout jog at the race site with Don and about 400 other people.
Super chill the first half until we were able to break away on the way
back to jog at a normal pace.
-- Spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards at the house with Don and Nancy. We then took the driverless taxi out to dinner... that was WILD... Better driver than 99% of the people on the roads.
Saturday:
6 AM: Javelina 100 - 99.4 miles with 6500ft of vert averaging 12:37pace for 20:53 finish. What a race, it was going good until it wasn't then finished strong once the sun went down. This race is basically 5 loops with the first loop being about
22 miles and the last 4 just over 19 miles. Ran the first loop in under
3 hours and was cruising along until about mile 31 where the wheels
fell off due to the record heat of 100+ degrees. I was expecting it to be hot
but damn this was a different level with no clouds in the sky and no
shade what so ever on the course. Lots of walking to finish out loop 2 in 5ish hours (about 11 miles of walking),
then a walk/jog for loop 3 finishing the loop right when I needed a
headlamp and it was starting to cooldown. I had to push hard the last 4 miles of loop 3 to beat the darkness for I did not have a headlamp on me.
Loop 4 and 5 were just over 4 hours each evenly paced with Don which was perfect.
If you take out my aid station stops my running time was around 17.5 hours
but I needed those stops to survive the record heat. This just tells me
that my A goal of sub 20 is possible for me. Did hit my B goal of sub
24 so I am mostly happy but still pondering what if..... I could not have done this run in this heat without Don and Nancy there helping me, thank you so much. I love you guys... And of course the support from Paula and talking me off the ledge at mile 40 when I almost dropped due to heat exhaustion, yes I had to lay down in the med tent for a bit to bring my temp back down. I love you babe.... Starting to think I am getting to old for this shit...
Sunday:
-- Finished in the early morning, just back to the house for about 3 hours of sleep before returning to tear down the crew tent. Spent the rest of the day eating, watching the NFL and playing cards at the house. Nothing to exciting. I had plans to finally have a drink after being dry for about 8 weeks but decided against it. Maybe next week sometime. Early bedtime of course, long drive home tomorrow. Not sure if I will do it in one day or stretch it out over 2 days.
Total Weekly Numbers
Got it done, not much else to say that I have not said above. Now a week or two of recovery then back to it. Not sure what my focus will be but thinking of working on 5K and 10K speed some until January when I will start getting ready for the road 100 I have scheduled in March in North Carolina. I will figure all that out over the next few weeks.
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein
Monday:
-- Finished book number 23 of the year last night. Only one more to go to hit my goal for the year. Targeted: Beirut . Super interesting for it talks basically how we got pulled into the Middle East back in the 1980s and have not left since.
9 AM: Airdyne in the garage for 1000 calories and/or 23 miles which took 1:17. Done in a heat suit, 5 layers on top, all wool except the down jacket on top,
and 2 layers down low. Will do this again on Thursday or Friday with
more layers... that sucked.
1 PM: Walk 3 miles in 48mins. Dog walk around the hood with Venus.
3 PM: 40 mins lifting in the garage gym.
Warmup: Rowing and Mobility
Lifting the garage. All upper body. Bench, Shoulder Press, Back
movement, Biceps, Triceps, and one Core movement. Little heavier today
than normal. Will do legs Wed after they recover some from Saturday,
quads are still sore.
-- followed this with 20mins in the hot tub... going all in this week with heat training.
Tuesday:
9:30 AM: 6.3 miles averaging 7:30pace. Lap of the Costco loop in Superior. Out on the dirt roads behind Costco
and back on the Dirty Bizmark trails. Little quicker than I was
expecting today but I'll take it.
1 PM: Walked 2.6 miles in 43mins. Easy dog walk around the hood. Same route as the past few days.
-- Right into the sauna for 30mins right after the walk. Will stretch and do the hot tub later this evening before bed.
Wednesday:
6:45 AM: 7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:50pace. Easy 2 loops of Springbrook from Dowdy Draw Trailhead with 6 or so
pickups in the middle of the run. Great morning out there! Heart rate
band was not working correctly so may have pushed a little to hard in
the middle but oh well.
1 PM: Walked 2.6 miles in 41mins. Dog walk around the hood, same loop as we have done the past 6 days. 30mins in the sauna directly afterwards.
Thursday:
-NOTE: Weight check in: Was expecting to be back over 170 due to my snacking before bed the last week but instead I am down almost 2 more pounds and body fat dropped too. So damn weird, I have been tracking my food and have been over my daily calories by hundreds of calories everyday but still dropping weight. Guessing it is due to the increase in my metabolism from all the heat training. Just a guess. Anyways logged in at 167.8 lbs and 7.4% body fat.
7 AM: 7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 7:45 pace. Exact same route as yesterday starting at Dowdy Draw over to two loops of Springbrook and back. Little quicker today and heartrate strap was working. Tried to keep in in the 130's for most of the run. Felt super good after the first warmup mile.
Came across this guy this morning....
1 PM: Walk 2.6 miles in 41mins. Same dog loop around the hood we have been doing for over a week straight.
3:30 PM: Easy 40mins Easy lifting in the garage gym. All legs and core focused. Lighter than normal with the race being just over a week away.
Followed this up with 30mins in the sauna.
Friday:
7 AM: 6.25 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:20pace. Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead straight west up the hill to just
past the gate and back. Pushed a little bit on the way back with mile 6
being at 5:55pace. Feeling good.
3 rounds 20sec calf raises 10sec hold up 20sec calf raises 10sec hold up 30sec recovery
9:45 AM: Airdyne in the garage for 10 miles or just over 30mins. In a heat suit, 5 layers on top, all wool except the down jacket on top,
and 3 layers down low. Went directly to stripping off all the layers into 30mins in the sauna... that was worse than earlier in the week. If all of this does not get me heat acclimated then I am at a lost.
2 PM: Walked 2.6 miles in 42mins. Took Venus out on our hood loop before the rain is supposed to come in. Funny how 60 degrees I was freezing and had to wear a jacket. Hope that means all the heat training is working.
Saturday:
Morning: 3 miles of jogging between the warmup and cooldown with The Great Trailhead Foot Race 10 miler in the middle at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood. 10 miles w/ 600ft of vert averaging 6:20pace. Went out hard and hung on for 1st overall. Figured I would get caught
but 2nd never got that close with them finishing over 3 mins behind me.
Goal of this race was just to keep the HR around 150-155 as much as
possible. Of course it climbed into the 160s on the uphills and went
down into the 140s on the downhills but the average was just what I was
shooting for at 154. Hopefully I did not burn any matches that I will need
next weekend for Javelina.
The 3rd place kid in this photo is 14 years old and ran the 10 miler in 1:08... Mind blown!!!
3 PM: Walked 2.6 miles with Venus around the hood loop again followed with 30mins in the hot tub. Gotta keep that heat training up.
Sunday:
8 AM: 7.2 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 8:15pace. Easy 2 loops of Springbrook from Dowdy Draw trailhead. Lots of runners
out getting it done this morning. Used to being here in the middle of
the work week when I usually only see 1 or 2 other people if any at all. First 2 miles were a little rough from yesterday but did loosen up and got to rolling.
1 PM: Walked 2.6 miles around the hood loop with Venus. Followed that with 30mins in the sauna.
Total Weekly Numbers
This was the last week solo, Paula gets home late Sunday night. We will only see each other on Monday because I am leaving for AZ for a week on Tuesday which sucks but we are going to Red Rocks on Monday night to see Hardy, super pumped about that. Been a solid taper/recovery week, probably did to much and raced to hard on Saturday but oh well. Really wish I had another 4 weeks to get ready because I feel like I am finally hitting my groove and I am going to go destroy all this progress by running a 100 miles next Saturday which will put me in recovery mode for at least a few weeks causing me to start this process all over again. The shit we do......
"You're going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter. So enjoy yourself. Do something positive. Project some love. Make someone happy. Laugh a little bit. Appreciate the moment. And do your work." - Naval Ravikant
Monday:
7 AM: 5.5 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:45pace. Easy cruise from the Coalton Trailhead straight west up the hill to the
gate and back. What I have been doing a lot on Mondays. Awesome
morning out there and did not see another person, perfect.
-- Got right into the sauna for 45mins when I got home then headed to the office all day to do interviews for a new member of my team.
-- had plans to ride bikes this afternoon as well but by the time I got home from the office I had nothing left in me. Let the day go and moving on.
Tuesday:
7 AM: 11.4 miles w/ 1300ft of vert averaging 7:50pace. Mini Threshold run. Started at Dowdy Draw trailhead did about a 2 mile
warmup over to the Springbrook loop where I did 3 loops then an out and
back up to the top of Dowdy Draw and back to the trailhead. Tried to
keep the HR over 140 on all of the 3 loops but that was hard on the
downhill. Usually between 145-151 on the uphill and around 125-130 on
the downhill. Might be one of my better runs since coming back a few
months ago. Super jazzed after this run.
1 PM: 53 mins lifting in the garage gym. 10 mins on the rower then basically just a bunch of chest and arm movements followed with some
achillies and core work. Tried benching 210 and failed again. I really
want to put up 225 before I turn 50 in a year.
Followed this up with 30mins in the sauna. Going to try my hardest to do at least 20mins a day until I leave for Javelina.
Wednesday:
6:45 AM: 9.5 miles averaging 7:35pace. 3 easy loops of Davidson Mesa... how I am defining easy is keeping the
HR under 130-135. Went over for a short period of time but otherwise
right on track. Good to see what used to me my normal paces come back,
just in time too. You may have noticed that I have not been going to Crossfit but just lifting in the garage instead. I honestly think that is playing a role in my improvement the past 2-3 weeks with running. Might not go back until after Javelina.. we will see.
5 PM: 6.3 miles averaging 8min pace. Easy mileage from Costco doing the loop of the dirt road and back on the
Dirty Bizmark section. Just padding the weekly mileage some. Super chill with lots of wind this afternoon a
did spit rain a little bit. Legs of course are tired but still an okay
overall pace keeping the HR down.
Thursday:
-NOTE: Weight check in: 169.4 lbs @ 8% bodyfat. Down 2 pounds which is surprising for I have been eating like an asshole before bed snacking lately. Yes it is all considered clean food but still, calories are calories.
7 AM: 6.25 miles w/ 1200ft of vert averaging 9min pace. Easy out and back on the Mesa Trail. Little hiller than what I need to
be training for but wanted to do something new today since I am
replacing the bike I had planned with this run. I am worried about
crashing on the bike again like I did last week so pondering on cutting the bike out until after Javelina.
10 AM: 45 min dog walk with Venus... She says that Halloween is coming.. Guess so..
- After the walk spent 35 mins in the garage gym lifting. Mostly shoulders, back, calves and core. Followed that up with 20mins in the sauna.
So yesterday Paula flew to Texas to be with her dad while he was in the hospital. He has been in and out over the past month but seemed to be more serious this time so I encouraged her to go. She got to spend one last day with him for he passed this morning. My heart is broken for her.
Needless to say Javelina for me is on the fence. It all just depends on the funeral and all that stuff. Being there for her is way more important than doing 5 x 20 miles loops in the desert of AZ. Still training and doing what needs to be done to get ready but with the caveat that there is a chance I don't start.
Friday:
7 AM: 9.4 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 7:50pace. Dowdy Draw trailhead over to do 3 laps of Springbrook then back. Threw
in some 6x20sec pickups at about 6min pace to loosen things up, did half
of them uphill and half downhill. Averaged about 10sec per mile quicker
than last week at a lower HR. Almost wish I had another month to keep
building before Javelina since things are going so well lately but last
long run is tomorrow and the taper will be in full effect.
1 PM: Walk 3.3 miles in 50mins with Venus. Had to get away from work so took a long walk around the hood. Perfect fall day today. 30mins in the hot tub.
Saturday:
7 AM: 17 miles w/ 3300ft of vert averaging 9:50pace. Last long run before the taper. Started at Eben Fine park and went up
Flagstaff and looped around to the summit of Green Mountain before
focusing on the downhill all the way down Green and Chapman Drive before
finishing back up at Eben Fine park on the bike path. Wanted to get those quads some
what toughened up for the 100 in two weeks. Might do one more hard
downhill session this week if I can talk someone into driving me up the
canyon so I can pound down it.
1 PM: Walk 2.7 miles in 43mins with Venus followed by 30mins in the hot tub again.
Sunday:
7 AM: 8 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 9:20pace. Since the taper has officially started and needed to keep it really easy
I headed up to Caribou Ranch outside of Ned to explore some trails that
I have never been on before. Really cool little network, I would come
back here again. Would be some fun loops to do tempo runs on at about 8500ft. Quads
and legs are shot today from yesterday.
10 AM: Walk 2.5 miles in 40mins with Venus.
1 PM: 45mins in the garage gym.
Warmup: Rowing, Airbike and mobility
40-30-20-10: 40-30-20-10 reps of: Row Push-up
Rest 5 mins
Air Bike Calorie GHD Sit-up
-- 25 mins in the sauna directly after the WOD.
Total Weekly Numbers
Finally time to taper which basically started on Sunday with only 8 miles. Hopefully I did enough to at least make it possible to get under 24 hours at Javelina in 2 weeks. One way to find out. Paula is still in Texas until Wednesday then she flies to Indiana to run a trail marathon next Saturday before returning home next Sunday. I plan on leaving that Tuesday to start the drive so we won't seem much of each other this month. So this is a week of really just focusing on recovery doing all the heat acclamation things I need to do to get ready.
"There is no way around hard work. Embrace it." - Roger Federer
Monday:
10 AM: Easy 5K on the rower in the garage in 21:50 followed by about 40mins of lifting in the garage. All upper body lifts to give the legs more time to recover from the weekend, plus the knees and hips are stiff.
2 PM: Biked 10.8 miles w/ 500ft in 46mins. Easy cruise around the hood to get in my 45mins of cross training today.
Legs did not really have any power for the uphills but whatever, that
will come back as I recover from the weekend.
-- Followed the bike directly with 22mins in the sauna.
Tuesday:
7 AM: 9.4 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 8:10pace. Dowdy Draw trailhead over to do 3 laps of Springbrook then back. Threw
in some 6x30sec pickups at about 6min pace to loosen things up, did half
of them uphill and half downhill. Felt really damn good today.. was
surprised on how good I felt today. Could have easily kept going but I
guess I have to work too.
-- 30mins in the sauna in the afternoon
Wednesday:
6:45 AM: 8.5 miles w/ 700ft of vert averaging 7:45pace. Easy cruising over on the Dirty Biz trails from the Coalton Trailhead.
Couple of out and backs hitting all the hills from that trailhead. Cut
it about 5-10mins shorter than I wanted due to having to get on a work
call but a great run otherwise.
3 PM: Garage gym 50ish mins.
-- 2K row in 8mins followed by mobility work.
Heels Elevated Back Squat Sets 10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs 10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs 10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs 10 Heels Elevated Back Squats | 115 lbs
Romanian Deadlift : Sets 10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs 10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs 10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs 10 Romanian Deadlifts | 115 lbs
Weighted Single Leg Calf Raise : Sets 10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs 10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs 10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs 10 Weighted Single Leg Calf Raises | 25 lbs
GHD Hip Extensions : Sets 15 GHD Hip Extensions 15 GHD Hip Extensions 15 GHD Hip Extensions
-NOTE: Weight check in: 171.4lbs @ 8.8% bodyfat. Little bit of an increase which does not surprise me. Been eating more than normal with the increased volume and recovering from the 50K last weekend. Need to cut out the Quest bars before bed and that should help.
7 AM: 7.9 miles averaging 7:45pace. Easy cruise over at Davidson Mesa for an hour with 6 strides at the end
on a slight downhill at Harper to get the legs moving at the end. This
was a make up for the run that I skipped last night due to an upset
stomach.
-- did not time it but took longer than I thought it would. Will be repeating this one for sure.
-- followed this up with 20mins in the sauna and 1.5 mile dog walk
3 PM: Biked 17 miles w/ 1000ft of vert in 1:10. Was supposed to be an hour and half ride but crashed again and threw in the towel to ride home and clean out all the road rash. At least this time I was on dirt when I went down, going faster which caused me to slide instead of a blunt force trauma, and I landed on the other hip and not the one with the torn labrum. Just a bunch of road rash on the left arm and left hip, I will live.
Friday:
6:30 AM: 10 miles w/ 1400ft of vert averaging 8:20pace. Loops of Springbrook and Gashawk trails from Dowdy Draw. Warmed up for
about 20 mins then pushed just a little bit for a while hitting around
150 HR on the uphills. Just enough to get a little bit of burn going in
the muscles. Did not want to totally blow my legs since I have a 50K
tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to suck.
Saturday:
8 AM: 20.25 miles w/ 4200ft of vert in 3:43. Suffer Better 50K in Stauton State Park. Well that was a shit show for
the most part. Was doing great, feeling great, jogging along jumping
between 5th -3rd place when about mile 17 the lungs started spasming and
I could not take a deep breath without coughing up a lung. Freaked me
out for this has never happened before so at mile 20 aid station while
in 3rd I pulled the plug just to be on the safe side. Could it have
cleared up? Maybe, but since this was just a training race for Javelina
100 in 3 weeks I decided not to take a chance. I need to at least make
it to the start line of Javelina if nothing else since I did not even make it to the
start line of Hardrock this year. Still a good training stimulus today
so it was still a net positive.
-- Photo is before things went to shit.
Sunday:
8 AM: 16 miles w/ 1600ft of vert averaging 8:50pace. Meet Don and Brandon in Bailey to get some miles on what we call Mini
Mags. You may remember me training on it a lot the last 2 summers.
Anyways just a dirt road the rolls between 8,000 to 9,000 feet. Figure
this was a very safe place to test the lungs after yesterday. If
anything went wrong Don could easily go get the car and come pick me up.
All went great! Not sure what the fuck happened yesterday? Just a
reaction from being so tired? Who knows. Great morning out with these
two and followed up the run with brunch at Cutthroat Cafe in Bailey, my
favorite place to get breakfast.
-- Here is a little teaser on the inserts in some Speedland shoes that should be released in the Spring. Can't show and tell you quite yet about the actual shoe but it will be awesome.
Total Weekly Numbers
Another solid week in the build. Some efforts in there and still good mileage even though the 50K fell short. One more larger week before the official start of the taper but in a way you could say the taper sort of starts now since the coming week should be less mileage than the last 3 weeks. Still feeling good overall and starting to really focus on the sauna the next few weeks to get ready for that AZ sun.
