July 11- July 17

 

“The proper function of man is to live, not exist.  I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.  I shall use my time.”  — Jack London 

 

“Adventure is worthwhile.” - Aesop

 

Monday:  

6 PM:   Today was a complete day off and did not do a damn thing but work for the most part.  Still up at Don's in Fairplay but plan on leaving tomorrow for Ouray.  Did go to town for happy hour at the Stitching Lady (may have had a little bit to much) and grabbed dinner as well.

Tuesday:  

Morning:  Spent all morning driving from Fairplay to Ouray where I will spend the night tonight.  What should have been a 4 hour drive turned into a 5.5 hour drive due to the construction on HWY 50 outside of Gunnison (which was expected) and the lane closures between Montrose and Ouray (unexpected).  Oh well, made it in time for lunch and to work from the coffee shop all afternoon.

4 PM:  4.2 miles averaging 8:30 pace.  Easy cruise around Ouray hitting up the Riverside walk trail for some of it and dirt roads for the rest.  Super chill, was super stiff dude to all the driving today.   What is up with all the weird numbers in Ouray?  Speed limit signs, times businesses open and close, ect... there has to be a story why....

Wednesday:  

 

7 AM:   Drove up to Silverton to get check in for Hardrock.  Shit is getting super real now... fuck... Anyways a great day showing Paula around Silverton for she has never been here before.  

Thursday:

Noon: Pre-race meeting is over and now it is just a waiting game....  Decided to go ahead and publish this week through Thursday leaving the weekend as it's own post in the future sometime. 

July 4th- July 10th

 

“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” - Plato

Monday:  

11 AM:  3 miles w/ 300ft of vert averaging 6:55pace.  Burro Buster 5K in Fairplay... planned to run this for fun but shit no one would go so I did.  Only just averaged 6:55 pace and still won by over 3 mins.  Love the stairs in the run coming up from Fairplay beach towards the beginning of the race.  Told the RD that he needs to reverse the course so you end on the stairs about 50 yards from the finish, think that will the plan for next year.  He loved the idea.  You are welcome.

Spent the rest of the day taking in the Fairplay 4th celebration going on with Paula, Don and Amy.  Such a fun damn day!  Also got me a new custom hat from Colorado Mountain Hat Company in Fairplay.  Wish I still had mine from when I was younger but this one should last to the day I die.

Tuesday:  

11 AM: 6.1 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 8:08pace.  Easy cruise from the coffee shop in Fairplay out of town on a dirt road towards Mt Silverheels and back.  No real effort, feeling great!  Sleeping one more night at George's cabin and heading back home early tomorrow morning for the day to get my Hardrock gear then coming back up here to stay at Don's until it is time to go to Silverton.  Trying to set myself up for success with being high as long as possible before the race. 

 

6 PM:  Came back from working remote all day in Fairplay to the cabin only to discover that I locked myself out.  GOD DAMN IT.... GZ's brother in-law tried to help me get in with no luck so headed home to Broomfield get the spare key from GZ this evening.  At least I got a night in my own bed.  With that as GZ'z brother in-law was looking for the key, this happened.  Might have been a blessing in disguise I locked myself out so he could scare this bear away from the in-laws house before any damage was done.

Wednesday:  

 

9 AM:  5.1 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:45 pace.  Out and back on the Dirty Bizmark from the Coalton Trailhead.  Just a great morning to be out there cruising.  Felt really good after the first mile once I was warmed up.  Had to keep pulling it back.  Heading back to Fairplay this afternoon to hopefully unlock the cabin and move over to Don's house until it is time to go to Silverton next week.

Thursday:

9:30 AM:  7.2 miles with 2900ft of vert in 1:57.  From the house outside of Fairplay to the powerlines on the ridge where I went up and over and back 3.5 times then took the long way back on the dirt roads to get in some normal running.  The powerline section up and down was super tech and no defined trail reaching about 25% grade, see the photo below.  Loved this so much, it was a blast. 

Friday:  

6 AM: One week to go..... hope all this time in Fairplay above 9,500ft helps get me ready.  By the time the race starts it will be over 2 weeks up high.  Thanks again GZ and Don!!! 

 

9:30 AM: 4 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Easy cruise from the house in Fairplay on dirt roads and a little bit of single track on the ridge.  The single track was only a 1/2 mile long before it ended so mostly on the dirt road.   Darian showed up and joined me as well before heading to Leadville for the 50 tomorrow.  Good luck buddy!  I will be following along.

4 PM: Got into Don's massage person up here in Fairplay for 90 mins of loosing up.  Doing everything I can to get ready for next Friday at 6am.   Also returned back to Don's house with a package for me from Speedland with some new kicks for Hardrock.  Hell to the yes!!!

Reading this evening between surfing the web and Ultrarunning Mag.... both of these blew my mind.  How does Killian not have pacers for Hardrock yet?

Saturday:

7 AM:  9.3 miles w/ 3200ft of vert in 3 hours.  Easy lap of Mount Sherman (14.043) and Gemini Peak (13,958).  Mostly hiking but some jogging here and there.  Kept it super easy even on the downhills so not to make myself sore in anyway.  So many damn people on Sherman but once I went over the summit and followed the ridge to Gemini I was alone until I returned to Sherman.  Awesome morning out there!

Sunday:

7 AM:  6.1 miles w/ 1000ft of vert averaging 9:30pace.  Easy cruise on the Tie Hack loop which is right off the road to Mount Sherman.  It rolls between 10,100ft and 10,600ft.  Stopping now and again to take photos of some of the awesome wild flowers.  Such a great morning out there running through the aspens and did not see another person at all this morning.

Total Weekly Numbers

Great taper week hanging out at Don's house in Fairplay.  THANK YOU DON!!!!  Basically in the last 2 weeks I have been over 9,800ft with the exception of one day where I had to run home to get a spare key for locking myself out of GZ cabin and to grab more gear for Hardrock.  I have done everything I can the past 6 weeks so we will see how it plays out on Friday.  I plan on staying here in Fairplay until Tuesday where I will drive to Ouray for Tuesday night then off to Silverton early on Wednesday morning.  Can't believe it is here already, time sure flies anymore.

June 27th - July 3rd

 

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas A. Edison

 Almost gave up at the end of May and pulled my name out of the hat for Hardrock but glad I didn't.  Was struggling with a calf injury and trying to rebound from catching Covid in March.  It was struggle for sure... Not only physically but also mentality with a long period of depression where I was skipping races I signed up for and honestly only left the house when Paula or friends talked me into it.  I am guessing the depression was caused by Covid due to how long it lasted (about 2+ months) but who really knows.  Anyways, happy I did not pull my name out and excited to give Hardrock a try on the 15th.

Monday:  

9 AM:  Did not get to bed until 3:30am due to travel home from Western States and slept until 9am... total piece of shit all day after being up for almost 48 hours.  ZERO today...

 

Tuesday:  

7 AM:  From South Mesa trailhead to the top of Bear Peak and back via Shadow Canyon.  Love this route!  Did the hill work on the way up.  Still tired from the lack of sleep this weekend but the body feels good otherwise.  Got the calf worked on again afterwards at PT with the dry needling again.  Been working so far!  Got a post card in the mail from JT, CONGRATS ON RAINIER BUDDY!

 

 

3 PM: Bailed on lifting this afternoon.... just still so damn tired to the point where you feel weak if you know that feeling. 

Wednesday:  

 

7 AM: Workout was: 2-3miles easy- 10/8/6/4/2 min hills hard- 2-3miles easy.  Ended up covering 8.9 miles with 3200ft of vert in just over 2 hours.  That was a fucking tough workout.  Started at NCAR and ran the Mesa trail over to Fern Canyon where I did the intervals starting where Fern and Mesa meet and going up Fern from there.  Walk/jogged back down each time then Mesa back to NCAR... Legs are properly tired now.

 

 

3 PM: Skipped weights yet again today..... so damn tired by the afternoon and ended up taking a short nap right after lunch followed by work meetings until 4:30 again.  All good... will get back on the weight train after Hardrock.  Planning on signing up for the Koda Iron Games again in Oct with Brett and Frank.... Always fun!

 Thursday:

7 AM:  9 miles w/ 1800ft of vert averaging 10min pace.  Easy jog on the Mesa trail from the south trailhead with a Shanahan loop and Shadow Canyon cutoff trail loop.  Just jogging along not pushing at all.  Felt good to run verses hiking up Bear or South Boulder like I have been. I just felt like actually running some today.  Tired but feeling good.

3 PM:  Took GZ up on his offer and bailed up to Fairplay this afternoon to his cabin just outside of town at 10,000ft.  It is perfect to get acclimated to the altitude of Hardrock for the next few days or so.  Thank you so much dude!!!!  It is isolated, but not to much and super quite.  Just some reading and working from the coffee shop in town for Friday until Paula joins me on Saturday afternoon.

Friday: 

10 AM:  5 miles w/ 500ft of vert averaging 7:45pace.  Easy miles with Don from the coffee shop in Fairplay out to some dirt roads and back.  Felt really damn good today and the legs were moving well.  Been a bit since I have averaged under 8 without trying.

Saturday:

6 AM:  18.5 miles w/ 5200ft of vert in 4:50.  Run with Don.  Parked in front of Al-Mart in Alma and ran the 6 mile dirt road to Kite Lake where we did the 4 14ers on the DeCalibron Loop then ran the 6 mile dirt road back to Alma.  Such a great fucking morning out there.. A lot of time jogging above 12,000ft.  Had a moose scare at the end of the run which added some time of course.  

Paula showed up after the run for the weekend through the 4th.  Going to be a blast of a weekend!

Sunday:

7 AM:  17.2 miles w/ 3400ft of vert in 3:50.  Large loop connecting Sheep Mountain to Browns Pass and back.  Such a great damn loop and no one else was out there.  These trails are not on any running app or anything, you can only find them if you study a map.  The wild flowers were off the hook!!!  The last 2 miles back to the car were a slug-fest, wiped out and dead legs by the end of it.  Awesome day!

Total Weekly Numbers

Very happy with this first week of the taper, still some mileage and vert but not as much as the last few weeks.  But the difference is that a LOT of this was above 11,000ft.  Could not ask for more.

Total June Numbers

Was shooting for 100,000ft in June but I can live with this.  If I would not have taken those 5 days off I would have gotten a lot closer or at least hit it.  Of course there was 2 trips to CA in this month too.  Crazy busy month!!!