Salida Marathon

Awesome day!!  First time running this one and I plan on going back.  Great course with lots of fun single track and great company.  I can't believe that this race has been on the to do list for so many years and I am just now getting it done. 

The plan was just to use it as an easy long run in my Boston plan but ended up running it more like a tempo, not the smartest plan but hopefully I get a small fitness bump from it.  End up 11th overall and 4th in the age group which is not correct, should have been lower but in the overall picture of things it does not matter.  Talking to Nick Clark after the race he stated this course runs 15 minutes slower than the old course so that is promising.  Strava data.

One month to Boston.  Spent this week doing all easy runs to recover from this race then it is back into full swing training for a few more weeks until the taper.

February Check In

Quick check in and thoughts on February's numbers.  First the numbers.

 
As I have said in the past, the first 4 months of 2016 is all about getting ready for my first Boston in April and actually following a hard marathon program with the thought riding that fitness for the rest of summer.  I have been using a plan from a Brad Hudson book making modifications to it based on how I feel day to day and input from the GOMs.  Seems to be working so far.  Solid month even though I felt like crap through most of it.  Funny how hard training works.  The harder I train the worse I feel but the faster I get.  Where is that point of no return?  Even though I feel like I am starting to slide backwards, on my Sunday long run this past weekend with BTC while feeling low energy I ended up having a half marathon PR in the last 13 miles of a 18 mile run.  That was not planned, not even a little.  I am a little confused on where to go from here.  Even though I have been feeling like I have been sliding backwards since Redhot 33K a few weeks ago, I keep putting up stronger numbers while feeling low energy and like shit in general, almost to the point of not wanting to do anything but lay around the house.  Am I dancing with the line to much?  Do I keep with the plan and see where it goes?  I want to push this as far as my ability will let me but at the same time I don't want to "run" my Boston in a training run.  Lots to ponder for the next 4-5 weeks before the taper. Also signed up  Salida Marathon on March 12th and that should be interesting also.  I have been racking my brain trying to decide how to approach that race and not ruin Boston.  More to come on that.  Had some input today from a few sources and still pondering that.

On a different note, actually got out and did something fun that was not running or racing related thanks to tickets from my work Medtronic.  Awesome seats and company that joined me, nine rows up from the floor at half court.  We spent half of the game trying to figure out how tall the female ref was.  Of course the Nuggets lost again which would explain why the Pepsi Center was only half full but at least they sell Dale's Pale Ale on tab there now so all was fine.

Fan winning the halftime slam dunk contest.

Moab Redhot Weekend

What a fun and great weekend!  I needed that get away.  Was going to type up long race report but just can't find the motivation and/or time to do so.  So instead here are a bunch of photos to tell the story.  By the way, it was colder in Moab all weekend than it was in Denver/Boulder.  Pondering another trip out there to put in a hard training weekend in the next 6 weeks.

Pre race shake out around the rental house after a drive the to Moab on Friday.

You can say I had an OK race that day.  One take away was that all the road miles did not hurt me in a trail race like I thought it would.  To have the turn over to throw down the last 5 miles played a huge part in being able to pull away from a pack that I was running/navigating with.

Rebecca finishing up her 34 mile run through the desert.

Bike ride in Arches National Park on Sunday before the 7-8 hour drive home where we would be sitting on Vail pass while the open and close it due to snow.

How I spend my evenings now.

Had a couple of thoughts I wanted to put down just because.  Sitting here going through another webinar and I realized how this is pretty much how I spend every evening now.  Man things have changed over the past 3 months.  Before it was coming home, dinner, then either Braden's hockey or just watching TV in the evenings.

Now it is getting home, walking the dogs, weights or trainer ride for an hour, dinner, then either reading or studying something until 7pm, then work until 8ish and finally off to read for enjoyment until I fall asleep.  Boring to some I am sure but I am thriving right now in this routine.   I even cancelled cable so if I want to watch TV it is either local channels, Netflix, or Amazon Prime.  If you know me well you know that was a hard step for me to take.  I have always been a TV addict.

Tonight's study was a live on-line webinar on how to design your own strength programs following the Mountain Athlete protocol, which I really dig and have been doing for a while now in the garage gym I have put together.  Pondering making a trip up to Jackson Hole sometime to train there for a couple of days just for shits and grins.

Bunch of screenshots from from the webinar.

Solid 2016 Kick Off

Looking at the total hours this month makes me almost wish I was training for Leadman again.

Solid month to kick off the year, even though I did brake the rules on introducing more than one new stress to training at a time.  Not only did I jump up the volume this month a bunch but also added a lot of quality workouts both with the GOMs and within the long runs with the Boulder Track Club.  If I can hold this together for the next 10 weeks, the Boston Marathon looks to be very promising.  Here is an example of one of the workouts I did with the GOMs this week https://www.strava.com/activities/479092669 and one that I did today with BTC https://www.strava.com/activities/482969817.  Lots of good work happening as long as I can stay injury free and hold it together.  Looking at the graph below I noticed that it has been a while since I have taken a day off from running so I think tomorrow (Monday) will be that day with all the snow we are supposed to get in the next 48 hours.  But then again if we get enough maybe I will dig out the racing snowshoes I have and take them out for a spin tomorrow night, it has been a few years since they have been used.

I have not talked about this on here at all or with friends much but I have also done a diet challenge through my gym this month just to see what happens.  I mean we are all an experiment of one right?  Basically I did Whole 30 all month which is Paleo with fruit and potatoes allowed, basically no processed food or added sugar.  It went very well.  The only complaint is the amount of food one has to eat to get enough calories when you are only eating whole foods and doing all this endurance work.  At times it felt like all I was doing was eating or pooping, lots of fiber that is for sure.

When I started the challenge I did underwater body fat % measure on Jan 2nd and then did it again yesterday on Jan 30th to truly measure any progress or lack of.  Here is my results for both times.

I went from 9.9% body fat at 165lbs to 8.3% bodyfat at 162.6 pounds losing 3 pounds of fat and gaining 1 pound of muscle.  The fact that I gained muscle and not lose muscle shocked me.  I thought for sure with all the cardio I would lose muscle but most likely the 15 hours in the weight room this month and the high protein prevented that from happening.  I did focus on making sure I ate at least my body weight in grams of protein everyday which I am sure made the difference.  I was going to add a selfie mirror shot but realized I am not a 20 year old dude showing off on Facebook, so no.  But I will say that I have never been this lean or have had abs like this.  Fun experiment...

Not sure where it will go from here.  There is no way I am going to stay this strict with my diet moving forward but think I can find a good balance.  Still pondering that and thinking over a few ideas.

Anyways on wards and upwards.   Here are some photos from the month and yes I had to include another baby photo of my sister's family and the new nephew that was born this month.  Have a great Feb everyone!

About how I feel tonight.

Why The Hell Not?

Two in one year?  Well this will be a first for me.

Welcome to the World Caleb Nolan!

Been sitting on this post since last night, oh the horror!  See, not everything on here is running or cycling related although close since I don't share a lot of my personal/family life on here.  Anyways....

Great news last night!  My 3rd nephew was born, Caleb Nolan Schmitt.  Now I have 3 nephews and 1 niece to spoil!

Caleb Nolan
Born 8:21pm
9 lbs 1 oz
22 in
 

No LT100 MTB

Guess doing just this bike this year is not in the cards for me this year, at least now I am free to stand at the dam all day and yell at everyone now while trying to pass out beers.  If it was not for Bighorn and the Leadville Marathon falling on the same weekend I would just signup for Leadman again.  Next year.  Guess I will be truly focusing on cyclocross this fall after all.

2015- A Quick Review

What a year it was on the playing and racing front.  I owe so many people a thanks many times over for the support that I was given this year I don't even know where to begin.  Thank you!  You know who you are.  So a quick breakdown on the racing and playing front.

Training:
Even though my total running mileage numbers were down this year, my total hours were up big time.  Guess signing up for Leadman will do that to you.  Here is how 2015 breaks down.

How does that compare to the past years?  Well this is an interesting view.  Now you can see what I mean by total hours being up big time.  This is comparing the last 8 years in total hours in the top and total miles in the bottom.

Races:
Solid year of racing with Leadman being the focus of the whole first 8 months of the year then onto cyclocross.  You can go back and read all the race reports on the year, I am not going to get into them all here.  This was my biggest year yet racing also.  Anyways here is the list of all the organized races and/or events from the year.  Lots of great times and memories this year.

2015 Races

• Here Comes the Sun Run 3/21 (20miles in 2:45:00)
• Behind the Rocks 50K 3/28 (6:04:00)
• Crossfit Games 2/27-3/27 (Painful yet lots of fun)
• Rattler 50K 4/18 (5:52:51)
• Ridgeline Rampage 50 mile MTB 4/25 (5:15:00)
• Greenland 50K 5/2 (5:02:57)
• Colfax Marathon 5/17 (3:11:44)
• Bolder Boulder 5/25 (38:07)
• Dirty Thirty 50K 5/30 (DNF- Got lost because I am a dumbass)
•  Erock Sunrise to Sunset 6/6 (74 miles of MTB fun)
• Mount Evans Ascent 6/13 (2:12:04)
• Leadville Marathon 6/20 (4:42:44)
• Siver Rush 50 MTB 7/11 (5:04:25)
• Silver Rush 50 Run 7/12 (8:50:03)
• Fairmount 5K 8/5 (18:19)
• Pacing Silverheels 100 8/8 (Got Clyde across the finish!)
• Leadville 100 MTB 8/15 (9:29:45)
•  Leadville 10K 8/16 (42:55)
•  Leadville 100 Run 8/22 (24:00:36)
• Amy D CX 10/3 (7.4 miles/4 laps- First Cyclocross race ever)
• Cross of the North Day 1 10/9 (7.7 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cross of the North Day 2 10/10 (7.6 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• US Open of Cyclocross 10/18 (7.4 miles/4.5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Flatirons 10/25 (6.2 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Schoolyard Cross 10/31 (7.9 miles/3 laps- Cyclocross)
• Feedback Cup 11/1 (7.9 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Interlocken 11/7 (7.8 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Cyclo X-Sienna Lake 11/14 (8 miles/5 laps- Cyclocross)
• Colorado XC Club Championship 6k 11/21 (4.1 miles in 26:48)
• SOCO Parker CX 11/28 (7.4 miles/4 laps)- Cyclocross
• Rocky Mt CX Championship 12/5 (7.6 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• Sawmill 17miler 12/12 (17 miles of fun in the snow with Rebecca and Donald)
• Mile High Urban CX C1 12/13 (3.8 miles/2 laps - blew tires so ran it- Cyclocross)
• Mile High Urban CX Fat Bike 12/13 (7.7 miles/4 laps- Cyclocross)
• 3rd Solstice Grog Slog 12/19 (23miles, 7 breweries, 1 distillery, good times)

Couple of my favorite race shots from the year

Books:  
I did not read as many as this guy but still got in a solid 33 books.  Of course half of them were zombie apocalypse themed books that that same guy turned me onto back in June.  Plan of finishing out the series that I am currently reading, on book 3 of 8 then moving onto something new for a while, just not sure what yet.  Thinking of getting into the Jack Reacher books next.

2015 Books Read
1. Ready to Run*
2. 80/20 Running
3. Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning
4. Unbreakable: Navy Seal Way of Life *
5. Wild*
6.  RACING THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST ADVENTURE RACE
7.  The Boys in the Boat* -awesome read
8.  Kiss or Kill Confessions of a Serial Climber*
9.  Killer Athletes
10. Power, Speed, Endurance 
11. Unbeatable Mind
12. Embrace the Suck
13. Natural Born Heroes*
14. Arisen, Book One Fortress Britain* 
15. Arisen, Book Two Mogadishu of the Dead*
16. Arisen, Book Three- Three Parts Dead*
17. Arisen, Book Four- Maximum Violence*
18. Arisen Book Five- Exodus*
19. Arisen Book Six- The Horizon*
20. Arisen Book Seven- Death of Empires *
21. Arisen Book Eight- Empire of the Dead *
22. Arisen- Genesis*
23. Arisen- Nemesis*
24. Arisen Book Nine- Cataclysm*
25. My Fight/Your Fight*
26. Arisen Book Ten- The Flood*
27. D-Boys
28. Counter-Assault (2nd D-Boys)
29. How to Avoid Dying - For as Long as Possible
30. Trudge: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
31. Boulder Running Journal*
32. Daniels' Running Formula
33. Soldier On: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse





Now on to some loose top 10 goals for 2016.
Goals for 2016:
1. Boston Marathon (Shoot for sub 3 hours? Maybe depending on how training goes.)
2. Bighorn 100
3. Finish the 14ers or at least put a dent in it (11 left)
4. Visit my 100th Colorado brewery
5.  Read at least 30 books
6.  Pure fall focus on Cyclocross racing, meaning actually train for it starting in August
7.  Leadville 100 Mountain Bike if I make it through the lottery
8. Support a certain someone at Leadman anyway I can
9. Get a passport, yes I have never had a passport.  I know sad.
10.  Another year of over 2,000 miles running and 3,000 miles cycling

HAPPY NEW YEARS AND MAY 2016 BE YOUR BEST YET!