Lost For a Few Weeks...

I'm not sure if anyone was checking this during the week awaiting a new posting. Whatever the case may be, there's a very good reason for the lack of new info. I went out for some easy miles last Tuesday, and felt some pretty significant pain in my knee. I'm not sure about the source of this pain, but I am quite accustomed to running with/through muscular issues. What I was feeling last week was different - I'm guessing a sprain/strain of the MCL or issues with the medial meniscus.

I effectively took two weeks off, and went out on a little walk/hike/run today for the first time since my Longs effort on the 10th. I did so knowing that I would be hyper-sensitive to any pain, twinges, or 'off' feelings in the knee as I test things out. That said, my knee seemed (just) okay this evening with a few instances where things felt a bit unusual. I'm going to slowly work into it this week, while spending lots of time with the foam-roller and trigger-point ball.

In the meantime, I've been doing my best to hit the gym and keep active. It's a total long-shot, but I am still being blindly optimistic with regard to my hopes of running the North Face 50 while I'm back in Milwaukee next month. That gives me three weeks to test the knee out, recover some fitness, and make a game time decision on whether or not I am capable of running the race. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I am fully aware of how incredibly stubborn I can be. I just need to use sound judgement over the following three weeks, and really pay attention to my body as things hopefully progress. If I do end up running this race, it will be with an outward appearance of calm and an inner tank full of anger...

"Why anger," you ask? There are several reasons for this, none of which I will dive into very extensively. In short, I tend to get depressed and pretty upset when I am unable to run for any extended period of time. Likewise, I think anger makes good running fuel if you know how to utilize it and control it during a race. I am a very positive person overall, but I am not without my fair share of piss-n-vinegar, to coin a phrase. To top things off, my recent Tool kick has added a musical-match to the fire. I'm just hoping that I have the opportunity to pour some of this out over the 50-miles of Wisconsin kettle-terrain. We shall see...

Anyway, I don't have many pictures to speak of. I'll edit this post later to expound upon some of my non-running exploits from the past week or so. Until then, you'll have to make due with a short post and these YouTube links.

August 5 - August 11

Another seven days in (and around) Boulder - another series of quality runs. While this week was not as consistent as the previous, I managed two very solid outings and caught up on some much needed sleep over the weekend. Having my first Saturday off since early July, I took full advantage in the form of a Saturday morning romp up Longs Peak. My quads had something to say about the 5,000' descent back to the trail-head, but overall I feel good about my time on trail these past seven days. And off we go...

8/6/2013
:50, ??? - Road Run
I started the week feeling pretty tired, and decided that I would ease into things. Went for a very easy nighttime run through the streets of Boulder. It was cool, relatively quiet, and I kept things pretty relaxed. I occasionally have to remind myself that part of training and running involves easy miles and recovery time. It was nice to shake things out and wake up with the legs feeling fresh the next morning.

8/7/2013
1:25, 2,000' - Mesa Trail
Headed out the back door and kept a steady pace using Skunk Canyon to connect with Mesa Trail. This was the farthest south I'd taken Mesa, as I typically use it as a link-up to Fern Canyon for a trip up Bear Peak. I think more time on Mesa would benefit me for racing and longer mileage. The undulation of the Mesa Trail strikes me as good practice for "typical" trail-racing terrain - at least compared to marching up a peak for the first half of a run and then storming back down it for the second half. That said...

8/8/2013
2:15, 3,400' - Green Mountain
Got out on trail relatively late, so this outing required a headlamp for the last 30-45 minutes. Felt a bit out of it when I hit the trail and missed one of the junctions that I usually take. As a result, my time getting to Gregory Canyon TH was longer than usual, but once I hit that section I found a good rhythm. Used Gregory Canyon and Ranger Trails to reach the summit. This has become my standard route, but I think I should start exploring some alternatives to keep things fresh. This was my fastest ascent clocking in somewhere between 41-42 minutes from TH to summit. I'm pretty confident I could go sub-40 on this line if I hit it completely fresh. Almost ate gravel once on the descent, so I decided to slow down a bit and turn the headlamp up to max capacity for the remaining miles.

8/10/2013
~5:00, 5,000' - Longs Peak
When I found out I had Saturday off and my roommate would lend me his van, I decided it would be a good opportunity to drive to RMNP for a run up Longs Peak. I was pretty confident in my ability to do the ascent in reasonable time, considering I've done a handful of outings in Boulder with 5,000' or so of gain. Despite this, I was not naive to the fact that my runs in Boulder have hit max elevation of 8,500' - a modest altitude compared to topping out above 14,000'. Nevertheless, I was excited to challenge my heart and lungs while taking in some incredible views.

Woke up around 4:00 AM to eat breakfast and start the drive. All told, I arrived at the Longs Peak TH around 6:00 AM and was on trail by 6:15. The 'standard' line utilizes the Longs Peak Trail and the Keyhole route to get from the parking lot to the 14,255' summit. August and September are apparently the prime months for most folks to hike Longs, and Saturday's trail-traffic was telling of this.

I kept a decent running cadence for the entire trip up to the Boulderfield (~6 miles/3,000'+ of gain), save for a couple quick sections of rock steps. Once the Boulderfield Trail dries up, a good deal of rock-hopping is involved before one reaches the real start of the climbing. This involves a 400' scramble to the Keyhole in a relatively short distance. Stepping through the Keyhole (as I also remember it from last summer) is like entering another dimension. The wind picks up, Glacier Gorge comes into view, and I personally get a nice shot of adrenaline.

Up to the Keyhole the run had taken me roughly 95 minutes. The next mile is not terribly difficult, but it is slower going given the 1,000' of gain to the summit. Likewise, there is enough exposure that it behooves one to exercise caution in several spots. This is also where the weekend traffic tends to make itself known. While I was more than happy to take in the views, I was often doing so while waiting for opportunities to quickly pass handfuls of people. This continued for the entire last mile from the ledges, through the Trough, across the Narrows, and up the Homestretch. I was cruising where I could on these sections, but I would love to take a crack at this ascent on a weekday when I don't have to contend with crowds in the hundreds. The Homestretch is probably the most exposed part of the route. I found a bit of ice in a few sections, but nothing too difficult to work around. Finally stopping my watch as I touched my hand to the USGS summit-dial, I had made the 7.5 mile ascent in 2 hours and 18 minutes.

I'm unsure as to exactly how long I spent on the summit, but I estimate it to be somewhere in the realm of 30 minutes. I took ample time to breathe in the fresh air, admire the views, snap some pictures, and take in some calories. When I finally started down again, the descent of the homestretch was brutally slow due to the amount of people making their way up. Likewise, the Trough had its fair share of traffic jams. Again, I took these opportunities to enjoy the scenery. When I passed back through the Keyhole and began making my way down to the Boulderfield I could feel some soreness creeping into one knee. I took the rock hopping pretty slowly to avoid over-stressing things. As I reached the descending switchbacks after the mouth of the Boulderfield I gave the knee a bit more attention. I stepped off trail for a few seconds to stretch the leg and put a knuckle into my quad. As I did this, two runners caught up to me and the second one stopped to ask if everything was alright. I felt good enough and was eager to keep moving, so I accepted their offer to tag along back to the trail-head. I spent the next hour or so running and chatting with my new found trail-caravan, Joe and George. We spent a bit of time bushwhacking in order to locate an apparent shortcut. This was a nice alternative back to the car, as it avoided the weekend hiking crowds for a few miles before linking back up with the main trail. We cruised the last few miles back to the TH and took some time to sit around and chat before heading to our respective cars.

Somewhere between bushwhacking and filling up at a stream I accidentally bumped the 'stop' button on my altimeter. As a result, I have no solid post-summit data. I know my car-to-car time was just under 5 hours, considering we got back around 11:00 or 11:05. An email from George estimated about 2:25 for the descent. Perhaps this means I spent less time on the summit than I initially thought. I'd be interested to see how much time we could knock of the downhill, now knowing the location of the route we spent some minutes searching for. In any case, I would call the day an overall success. All told, I was happy with my time on trail, I met some fellow Boulder trail-runners, and I was able to stand on the highest point in RMNP. Not a bad Saturday morning in my book!

While I didn't feel too shabby afterwards, this run definitely reminded me that it is important to be strong and fundamental both uphill AND downhill. My lower quads and knees were pretty trashed for the remainder of Saturday, but some quality sleep and a few rest days seems to have sped my recovery. I'm undecided as to whether I'll run tonight or wait until tomorrow's BRC outing to get the legs moving again. In any case, I can't complain about having had the opportunity to channel my inner mountain goat on my first 14'er since moving to Colorado.

As a final thought and side-note:
Friday night I took it pretty easy, knowing I would be waking up before sunrise in an attempt to get out to RMNP as early as possible. It turned out that my roommate's van, The Blue Meanie, was parked near Pearl Street three or four miles across town. I went to meet up with him and grab the keys, at which point he warned me that it was low on gas. I decided I would stop and fill up on my way home to save time in the morning. Sitting in a turn lane about a quarter mile from the gas station, I attempted to accelerate and heard nothing but the sound of a stalling engine. I hopped in the car next to mine and got a ride to the gas station. Returning to the intersection, hazards flashing and fuel-can in hand, I began searching for the fuel-cap release switch. Not being able to find it after a minute of searching, I began browsing the car manual only to see red and blue lights flashing in the rear-view mirror. The end result was a very friendly Boulder police officer using his patrol car to push the Blue Meanie into a nearby parking lot. I found the fuel cap release a short time after that and filled up the tank. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Boulder does not want me operating a vehicle within city limits. I can't say that I understand, as my driving record is clean. Seriously, it really is...

Preparation or chaos? It's all the same at 4 A.M.

Fuel.

Views from the top...

Believe it or not, I tried to crop out some of the crowds...

Beautiful...

Recovery elixir and a medieval torture device (aka - the foam roller)

The Blue Meanie

Now for a little parting music, here's a favorite track from Junip's first release, "Fields." Their new album is right on par in terms of quality. If Junip doesn't ring a bell, Jose Gonzalez might...

July 29 - August 4

This weeks run-log is not quite as dialed in as I'd like, due to the fact that I've started using a different watch to record things. I'll be using a barometric altimeter for now, because its more streamlined and compact. Likewise, I dig some of the features compared to those of my Garmin GPS. In any case, there was a bit of a learning curve this week as I transitioned to a different watch. Without further ado...

7/30/2013

1:32, 2,400' - Mt. Sanitas

I felt like mixing up the mileage a bit, so I opted to run out to the Mt. Sanitas trail-head from my place in South Boulder. The route gives me about 3 miles or so of flat-ish road running to warm up before I hit the TH. I wasn't sure if this approach would tire me out before the Sanitas climb or if it would, in fact, warm me up. I had to try it to find out and the latter was true. Felt solid on the way to the TH and really had a good rhythm the whole climb to the 6,866 ft summit. Sanitas seems quite popular/crowded on weekends, but this was the first of two times going up around sunset this week. To my delight, there was very little traffic on the trail so late in the day. As an aside, earlier in the afternoon I had sushi for the first time in probably 3 years. I'm not sure if my system wasn't used to the raw fish (or perhaps I was just a bit dehydrated), but the last mile or so on the return proved to be pretty rough on the guts. Walked the final mile home in hopes of avoiding any major stomach issues. Despite this, I will be returning to Hapa for their sushi happy-hour in the very near future. It was delicious...

7/31/2013

AM - 1:50, 3,400' - Green Mtn > Boulder Creek

A really nice late-morning effort. Ran Mesa to Bluebell to Gregory Canyon before starting a solid ascent up Green. I spent a few minutes on the summit, but it was hot and I didn't bring any water on the run. Made a speedy ascent back down Ranger Trail to the Gregory Canyon TH before taking 6th Street north to Boulder Creek. I was pretty parched by the time I reached the creek, but I found a bubbler (yeah, I'm hanging on to that Wisco-ism forever) and went for a dip in the creek to ice the legs before heading home.

PM - :36, ?? - BRC Fun Run

I was on the fence about whether or not to go out again just a few hours after a solid morning outing. Then I remembered that Boulder Running Company provides free pizza and beer for the Wednesday night group-runs. Why the hell not? My legs were tired but I still managed to keep the miles under 7-min pace, which felt pretty snappy. Two runs, pizza, beer, sunshine, and a swim in the creek? A good day by any standards...

8/2/2013

2:05, 3,250' - Bear Peak

Heading out the back door I took Skunk Canyon to Mesa Trail before heading up Fern Canyon to the summit of Bear Peak. Some days I feel a bit rough trying to warm up the legs on 800 feet of gain within the first 1.5 miles or so - it can make it difficult to loosen up the quads and calves. That said, I know its making me mentally and physically stronger the more I do it. I fell into a solid groove once I hit Fern Canyon, and tried to keep things consistent through the steeper sections close to the peak. On the decent I felt a bit stronger and more relaxed than I had on the way up. My first week in Boulder this run took me an extra 30 minutes or so and I was draining two 20 oz water bottles en route. It's encouraging to run this line significantly faster (and without water) after just a month. Feet were sore afterwards.

8/3/2013

1:38, 2,400' - Mt. Sanitas

Repeated my route from Tuesday evening. Again, the 3 mile warm-up was beneficial to my cadence on the Sanitas climb. This time, however, I took sushi out of the equation. Considering the fact that I could still feel the last two days lingering in my legs, things were flowing pretty well during the middle and late stages of the run. I was trying to get up and off the summit in between patches of thick storm clouds, which probably added some motivation as far as pace was concerned. Given the tired legs and running the last mile home, this was a nice improvement on Tuesdays effort. I think the shifty weather affected the barometric altimeter on my watch, because it read only 1,600' of gain for the route (compared to the Garmin's 2,400'). I'll have to do it again in more consistent weather to see how it varies. Opted for the Pure Grits rather than the MT110s for more cushion during the road miles...

8/4/2013

2:30ish, 5,000'ish - Bear Peak > S. Boulder Peak > Bear Peak

Similar to my outing from July 21st, but I spent less time route finding and more time actually running. I started in a pretty low gear for the first mile or so, but had a sense of drive the whole way up Fern Canyon to Bear Peak. I managed to carry that energy through the rest of the run. To be frank, I felt like a beast from about the 20 minute mark through the end of the run. While the stretch over to South Boulder Peak and back up to Bear Peak offered a bit more isolation, Fern Canyon and the Bear Peak summit were crowded. The final descent of Bear Peak was fantastic - this is why I love running. I was finding all of the right lines and just floating over rocks, talus, scree, you name it. I only interrupted 'auto-pilot' several times to make my way around others on the trail. A quick aside and admitted moment of pride - On my way back down Bear I was cruising pretty good and couldn't help but laugh at a sequence of comments that came within the span of 1 minute. "You must be completely out of your mind," followed by, "God, he's like a mountain goat!" I have a feeling the second woman had no idea how complimentary I found that. The lesson? Strive to become your power-animal. Great morning in the mountains. Wore the MT110s and brought nothing but a 12 oz handheld and 1 gel. I'm finding that the more minimal I go, the more free I feel on my runs...

To step outside of running for a minute, I had the wonderful opportunity to check out some local establishments this week. I went with some coworkers on Monday night to visit the Oskar Blues Restaurant in Longmont. I really dig the fact that they carry myriad taps beyond their own line of delicious brews. After all, good beer is good beer, even if its brewed by the competition. Their sweet potato fries were damn good too.

Likewise, I had the opportunity to utilize the handy Boulder/Denver bus-line on Thursday evening. I met up with a delightful group at Denver's Root Down for some happy hour drinks and a bit of food. I gave my stamp-of-approval to another batch of sweet potato fries, and had no problems devouring a veggie slider with jalapeno jam. Good atmosphere, stellar service, and oddly intriguing artwork...

As usual, I find myself a bit sore and quite tired as I wrap up another week. Thursday marked my first month in Boulder, and the experience has been nothing short of fantastic. I've been saying it for the last four weeks, but I still feel like I'm settling into my new home out here. That said, the end of July was less of a whirlwind compared to the first couple of weeks. Likewise, I've met some great, genuine people since moving out here, and I'm starting to feel very comfortable at home and at work. Once again, my goals for the next couple weeks include more running, more socializing, more food, and more sleep. Something's gotta give, right? Let's hope not. Now for some pictures...

I didn't bring my iphone on any runs this week, and money is too tight to invest in a new camera right away. As such, I've got nothing in the way of beautiful peak views. However, I do have some other decent photos and some tunes for you. Enjoy!

My back yard kicks serious ass...

Monday night in Longmont. Oh, the taps!

Bear Peak and a hearty breakfast - Good Friday.

The altimeter. More calibration = more accuracy.

Pretty excited about Guayaki and Garden of Life joining forces.

Eating storm-ridden trails for breakfast in the great Smoky Mountains (2011):
This trip was a major catalyst for my recent move to the foothills of Boulder.
Thanks, Smags...

Vulfpeck - My First Car

The last picture (and following video) is from "My First Car" - the third release from funk-masters, Vulfpeck. This bunch of young dudes has groove for days and soul for weeks. I highly recommend checking the video out and grabbing their tunes from bandcamp.com. Just released today!