RIDING THE WIND

Week Summary: Feb 13 - 19

2012-02-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

2-13-2012
Mon-AM: 1:28, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up ASG and down 3rd Access. Microspikes felt somewhat inadequate after yesterday's monster grip from the KTS Crampons, but the trail is really in pretty much perfect condition right now. Mostly running. Incredible scene on the summit with a cloud blowing off of Green's south summit and Bear Peak sticking up through the mist into the sunshine. Truly spectacular.

2-14-2012
Tue-AM: :39, 500' ~ Amphitheater
Could tell from the start that the shin was off, so after heading up Amphi for about a minute I turned around and walked home.

2-15-2012
Wed- off

2-16-2012
Thu- off

2-17-2012
Fri-AM: 1:16, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Felt terrible. All hiking. Acupuncture afterwards. Also, had a productive meeting at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in the afternoon. Came away feeling optimistic.

2-18-2012
Sat-AM: 1:13, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Felt only slightly better than yesterday. Feels like my legs forgot how to operate. Shin was ok, though. Hiking.

2-19-2012
Sun-AM: 1:08, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Shin felt good this morning. Did a very little light jogging on the way down. Like three minutes.

Hours: a few
Vert: some

This stuff is way more fun and inspiring than anything I've been doing in the mountains lately. I recommend taking a look.

Delta Spirit - Trashcan from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Week Summary: Feb 6 - 12

2012-02-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

2-6-2012

Mon-AM: 1:28, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Up First Saddle, down Amphi-Saddle Rock-Greenman. After a tired and lack-luster ascent I forced an up-tempo descent of 14:37 (summitpost to Gregory pavement) despite very unconsolidated and sub-par snow conditions and tired legs.

PM: 1:32, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Same route as this morning, but didn't push the descent. First double-run in a long time, and it might not have been a good idea with all the snow creating unstable footing. Gonna take a commenter's advice and just try to consolidate some gains this week, baby the shin a bit more.

2-7-2012

Tue-AM: 1:42, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Up First Saddle, down ASG. 3-4" of fresh powder this morning made things even more difficult and put the totals well over three feet on top of the mountain. Climbed with a pair of trekking poles, nice to take some stress off the legs. Shin isn't entirely happy with the unstable surface that all this new snow provides. Gotta be careful. Acupuncture with Allison.

2-8-2012

Wed-AM: 1:30, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down ASG. Stuck to the standard path this morning and while it is starting to get well-packed, drifting snow on Greenman made for continued loose and unstable footing that put some very unwanted strain on the ol' shin. Felt much better on any solid surface, so I may venture up Flagstaff Rd tomorrow while I'm waiting for the trail conditions to set-up.

2-9-2012

Thu-AM: 1:47, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up Flagstaff Rd to Green West Ridge, down First Saddle. Shin felt really quite solid on the uphill road surface--the snow has obviously been some unwanted stress for it. Much of the 1.5mi or so between the top of Flagstaff Rd and the Green summit was hiking on poorly-packed trail. Acupuncture with Allison.
PM: 1:42, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd Access and down First Saddle. This was a wallow-session breaking trail up the mountain in snowshoes. Took longer than I'd expected (~1:05 ascent from Chautauqua), so I had to hurry on the downhill more than I wanted to so I wouldn't be late for the Unbreakable screening at the Dairy Center, which the shin didn't seem very happy about (the hurrying, that is).

2-10-2012

Fri-AM: 1:17, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up ASG and down First Saddle. Ended up running everything today despite being uncertain about the shin. Trail is finally setting up nicely into a mostly solid packed trench. Descended fairly quickly with Gavin (who was doing seven laps today to celebrate his birthday) in ~16min. Super jealous; really wish my shin could handle a whole day of doing laps on Green.

2-11-2012

Sat-AM: 1:25, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Another few more inches of fresh snow this morning relegated me to a hike on the uphill, which was fine. Shin still feels frustratingly uncertain when running. Incredibly scenic morning on the mountain with inversion clouds, frost and fresh snow on all the trees, and a bluebird sky higher on the mountain. Really wish I'd brought the camera this morning.

2-12-2012

Sun-AM: 1:18, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up ASG down First Saddle. Shin seemed OK on the run to the trails and the Kahtoola Crampons really seemed to help a lot with a stable foot push-off when running the packed trails uphill. The crampons' super-aggressive grip took some getting used to on the downhill, though; definitely no sliding or "floating". Another inversion day that had me in a t-shirt and gloveless on the mountain but freezing in a jacket down in town.

Hours: 11h59min

Vert: 25,200'

A weird week in that 12 hours, ~74mi and 25k' of vert hardly even felt like training. I guess an extra 8hrs and 10-15k' of vert makes a difference. Hopefully not inflicting those extras on my shin this past week saved me from overdoing things and I'll be able to start adding back in more consistent evening sessions on the mountain again this coming week. This week was almost all running, though. About two hours or so of it weren't running. I'd still like to regain the confidence I had in the shin last weekend in L.A., and that will be my primary objective this week. It was amazing to be able to run without worry or concern (it's something you sense almost innately in your stride), even if just for a few days. Continued acupuncture, strengthening exercises, more stable running surfaces, and reasonable training loads will hopefully get me there.

Upper Greenman trail early in the week.

Hazy and cold down low Sunday morning.

Sunny and warm on the summit.

#52

On repeat this week:

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://awkwardenergy.bandcamp.com/track/shadow-party"&amp;gt;Shadow Party by Jack Lewis &amp;amp;amp; The Cutoffs&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

Week Summary: Jan 30 - Feb 5

2012-02-06T00:30:00.004-07:00

1-30-2011
Mon-AM: 2:50, 4500' ~ Green Mt. + 3rd Flatiron
Ran to Chautauqua, stashed my pack, and went up Green via Gregory-Ranger and down the Skunk Ridge. Back at Chat, I retrieved my pack before soloing a quick lap on the Third with Buzz. By far the crux of the route was descending the access trail from the backside of the Third--death ice. Finished up by running down to Basemar for lunch.

1-31-2011
Tue-AM: 1:30, 2900' ~ Green Mt.
Up First Saddle and down Skunk Ridge. Running (as every morning has been for the past week+). Managed a snappy 32min ascent despite having pretty tired legs. Acupuncture with Allison afterwards.
PM: 2:14, 4000' ~ Green Mt. via Third Flatiron + extra lap to the Third and back to Chat
Really fun afternoon on the mountain. With the Third closing tomorrow for six months for raptor nesting, I couldn't resist one final scramble up its classic East Face. Biked to Chat and started hiking hard to the base with a rope and rock shoes in my backpack. Soloed the Third in a comfortable 26min (Dave and others can blitz this 900ft/5.2 climb in 9-10min when motivated) and then did the three-pitch rappel off the SW corner. Stashed my backpack before continuing to the summit of Green via the standard route to the NE ridge and Greenman. Hiked back down the same way to get my pack before hiking back to Chat. After I'd biked home and took my pack off I saw that the top was unzipped and that my harness, locking 'biner, and belay device had fallen out...WTF?!?! Immediately hopped back on the bike, retraced my route to Chat with eyes peeled, and then hiked hard all the way back up to the backside of the Third looking for my harness. Nowhere to be seen. I did tally another 1200' and 38min of hiking, though (and a little jogging). In this short time someone else must've been psyched to score Camp's sick super-lightweight harness. A really frustrating end to an otherwise stellar day.

2-1-2011
Wed-AM: 2:14, 4400' ~ Bear & Green
Jogged up to Chat to meet Jeff before heading over on Mesa to Fern Canyon to the summit of Bear and then coming back over Green and descending the 1st/2nd Access. Today was definitely a test of the shin and I think it passed, just barely. Each of the last three days have had longer-than-necessary efforts, definitely going to back off the next couple of days before L.A. this weekend. Put in steady efforts on both climbs--Fern is such a beast, super-sustained, perfect. This is just a perfect mountain loop that I've missed so much. Even so, possibly the highlight of the morning was finding last night's wayward harness just sitting on the bench at the Chat Ranger Cottage. Yes!
PM: 1:16, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up behind First Arete and down First Saddle. Got a late start so needed the headlamp on the downhill. Very nice pink sunset on the summit. Hiking.

2-2-2011
Thu-AM: 1:48, 5000' ~ 2 x Bear Peak
Biked over to Cragmoor, ran to the summit, descended Fern all the way back to Mesa, summited again, and ran back down to Cragmoor. Mesa-Summitpost: 28:48, 27:50. The second lap was down the Fern connector to Mesa (not past the Slab), which is ~1min shorter, so both laps were essentially the same (splits were the same from the double posts at the mouth to the top). I finally broke my Microspikes last night (actually wore through a link!), so was rocking super-sharp new spikes above the Nebelhorn Saddle, which was absolutely incredible on the ice luge conditions up there. 16min descents on both laps. I was feeling great and would've gone for round three but had to get to an acupuncture appointment with Allison. Probably a good thing that I didn't have the time. Stay smart.
PM: 1:11, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up behind First Arete and down First Saddle. Another late start meant I was finishing in the dark, but my legs felt super strong. Hiking.

2-3-2011
Fri-AM: 2:00, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Winter! Up and down First Saddle. This was one of the more difficult Green ascents of the season. It took me exactly an hour to wade my way to the top, through a fresh foot+ of powder and wind-packed waist-deep drifts on upper Greenman in the dark at 4:30am before flying to L.A. Above the NE ridge I was having a really hard time seeing anything as it was snowing so hard my headlamp beam was just reflecting snow flakes. Even at the end of the run I feel like my body hadn't woken up yet. Definitely some accumulative fatigue from the last two weeks of vert.

2-4-2011
Sat-AM: 2:25, 5100' ~ Mt. Wilson & Mt. Harvard (L.A. Front Country)
Up and down Mt. Wilson Trail from Sierra Madre/Little Santa Anita Canyon (900' trailhead) with Dominic and Katie. Mellow climb for the first ~40min or so and then things really got fun, climbing ~2000' in the final two miles before joining the old Mt. Wilson Toll Road to the summit. Really sweet trail. TH to summit parking lot (5700') in 1:20:50 (7.5mi). Bopped up to 5440' Mt. Harvard on the way back down and then goat-footed it down the front before rejoining the trail and finding some really nice flow on the Cali carpet for a :53 descent (including the summit of Harvard). Incredibly good day for the shin. Zero pain. Also, shirtless in February.

2-5-2011
Sun-AM: 2:26, 5800' ~ Mt. Baldy
Up and down Bear Canyon from Baldy Village (4300') with Dominic and Katie again. Started off slow and creaky, feeling yesterday's run a bit in the hip flexors and hamstrings. Just didn't have good pop or strength all day really. Eventually found a rhythm, though, and ground out this remarkably sustained, long climb. It's just a really good, direct line up the mountain; not a lot of messing around. Hit a 1:37:22 ascent from the Bear Cyn Drive/Baldy Village junction to the summit plaque (~6.4mi). Waited around for Dom, just enjoying the super clear day on the summit and then descended in :49. Again, really nicely-flowing singletrack with stunning views the whole way down. Awesome mountain. I've been really impressed with the 1010's performance this weekend, too, on mountain trails. Soaked in the frigid stream afterwards before some pretty stellar french toast at the Baldy Village Lodge.

Hours: 19h54
Vert: 39,500'

Ended the week just short of three different round numbers with ~99mi, almost 20hrs, and nearly 40k' vert. That's a lot. The shin really seemed to solidify itself over the weekend. Both runs it felt really, really good. Never noticed it. I had a blast on two exceptional mountain ascents in the San Gabes. They're a really scenic, steep mountain range with totally legit climbs. This weekend was by far the most fun I've had running in over a year. Really a pleasure. This next week I'll look to maintain this volume while shifting some of my evening outings to running, hopefully (evenings were hiking-only this past week). Even though running up big mountains shirtless in L.A. had me jonesing a bit for the simplicity of summer, I'm still really psyched to get out in the bounty of fresh now here in Boulder.

Oh yeah, January stats:

65h22min
122,200' vert
301mi
39 Greens

Summit of the Third Flatiron, Monday morning. Photo: Buzz Burrell.

Bear Peak Thursday, with weather coming in.

Running up Mt. Wilson Trail Saturday with Dominic. Photo: Dominic Grossman.

Of course, I had to scout a goat route off of Mt. Harvard. Encountered a few thorns. Photo: DG.

Final ridge leading to summit of Mt. Baldy (San Antonio, 10,064').

Almost to the top of Mt. Baldy. Photo: DG.

Photo: DG.

Cattle Canyon and the Pacific beyond, during the Baldy descent.

Week Summary: Jan 23 - 29

2012-01-29T20:08:00.002-07:00

1-23-2012
Mon-AM: 1:22, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down Third access. Boom, running. Ran the runnable terrain on this route (including to and from Chautauqua), which made for about 50min worth. Super exciting.
PM: 1:01, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Biked to Gregory and was very disciplined about just hiking. Warm afternoon had me shirtless on the climb, though. Awesome, considering it's January. Snappy 33min ascent.

1-24-2012
Tue-AM: 1:22, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Same exact outing as yesterday morning, except the shin felt even better. Ran everything that is runnable. Patience, patience, PATIENCE! Acupuncture session with Allison Suddard.
PM: 1:09, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Very nice evening; perfectly calm w/ lightly falling flakes. All hiking.

1-25-2012
Wed-AM: 1:20, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
The usual, up and down Third access. Really really good. My shin felt extremely close to 100% and the fresh pair of kicks (NB 1010s) had excellent stability and traction on the techiest terrain possible. I can't express how good it feels to be running again.
PM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Took a fun new variation up to the First Saddle, scrambling the arete that leads out of Amphitheater and up to the First. Came out a little further east than I would've liked (right at the base of the backside of the First, so a touch high), but joined up with the standard path and then caught up to Gavin just below the NE ridge. Hiked to the top with him, but then hiked down solo as he was running down. Trying to stay smart.

1-26-2012
Thu-AM: 1:18, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up Amphi-Saddle Rock-Greenman and down First Saddle. Greenman above Saddle Rock is a freaking glacier right now. The ice is just ridiculous. All running, 35min up/18min down. Acupuncture with Allison Suddard.
PM: 1:18, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up First Arete and down First Saddle. Got a late start after chatting with Buzz at the trailhead (he was out biking, too), but it ended up being a really fun climb. Was caught by darkness on the way down so stumbled a bit coming down Amphitheater. All hiking.

1-27-2012
Fri-AM: 1:31, 2900' ~ Green Mt.
Up Skunk Ridge down First Flatironette. Nice as I was able to get this in right before it started dumping snow. Hit a cloud/snow line at ~7800' heading up the Skunk Ridge but then it was snowing pretty much the whole descent. Running.
PM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up First Arete and down First Saddle. Fresh layer of snow made things pretty slow and the icy patches super treacherous. Truly magical evening on the summit with the sun setting behind swirling purple and pink mist; really wished I had the camera.

1-28-2012
Sat-AM: 4:48, 5000' ~ La Plata Peak
From Highway 82, I took the NW ridge to the summit and back the same way. A few hundred extra feet of vert from the bumps on the ridge. Total postholing endless drudgery through the trees (w/ snowshoes even!) was the only damper on an otherwise excellent day. 3:22 up, 1:26 down. On the way down I got in a bit of snowshoe running for the first time ever and found it to be way less awkward than I'd always assumed.

1-29-2012
Sun-AM: 1:36, 2900' ~ Green Mt.
Up Skunk Ridge and down 3rd access, mostly with Geoff after starting with a big group of others (Jenny, Scott, Jon, Krissy, Dan, Darcy). Shin felt good.
PM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle in the dark (headlamp). Hiking.

Hours: 20h29min (~9hr running/11h30 hiking)
Vert: 37,000'

Ah, good news to report this week, the first in almost a month it seems. My shin started feeling good again last weekend and this week I was determined to not get over-excited with its seeming health. I've been in this position probably a half dozen times over the past year, but this past week I made the crucial difference of not increasing the running at all for the whole week, sticking to my usual 1:20-ish trip up and down Green from my doorstep each morning, and of reinstituting acupuncture into my plan of attack. Yesterday's 14er involved less than 30min of actual running (most of which was on cushiony snow, no less), so despite the longer outing was still pretty tame on the shin, I think. This week I will look to maintain the discipline and not increase the running appreciably until at least next weekend when I'll be back in L.A. and hope to enjoy another outing in the San Gabes.

This week's positive progress gave me the confidence to finally post a racing schedule for the 2012 season. After only racing once in 2011, I'm extremely excited about the events I have lined up in 2012, especially the prospect of racing internationally multiple times. I've always identified deepest with the European style of mountain running (steep and techy), so May's races are super inspiring for me. And how can one not be excited about visiting New Zealand?

Overall, I'm trying to diversify things a bit this year: different countries, a foray into shorter races (Mt. Washington and Pikes Peak), and maybe the gnarliest event in the sport (Hardrock). I may even still throw the Boston Marathon in there in April; I've always wanted to experience the most classic pavement session on the calendar. I'm most excited to finally be in a position, physically, where I feel confident allowing myself to realistically anticipate racing again.

Finally, here is a long interview I recently did with SportVicious.com.

Alpenglow at the base of Green, Friday morning.

But a just-starting-to-snow cloud on the summit, #33.

A special sight for anyone who's run the Leadville 100: 13,933' Mt. Hope (left) and Twin Peaks/Rinker Peak near Twin Lakes (Hope Pass just barely out of frame on the left). On the way to La Plata Pk Saturday morning.

Really looking forward to the new Sleigh Bells album on February 21st.

Two Week Summary: Jan 9 - 22

2012-01-23T21:27:00.002-07:00

1-9-2012
Mon-AM: :22, 500' ~ Amphitheater
Hiked to the top of the Amphitheater trail at the base of Green before deciding that the shin was too tight and that tagging the summit would be a bad idea.

1-10-2012
Tue-AM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Shin felt quite a bit better this morning, especially as the hike went on.
PM: 1:19, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Incredibly warm afternoon. All hiking.

1-11-2012
Wed-AM: 1:08, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. At the Gregory TH by 5:15am when it was already lightly flaking. Needed the headlamp all the way back down the mountain as the falling snow seemed to be suppressing any sort of sunrise. My bus to DIA was delayed by 1h30 due to an accident on 270 so I had to catch a later flight to Charlotte where there ended up being tornadoes that evening. In January. Long day, but really glad I got the summit in to start it off.

1-12-2012
Thu - off.
Spent the day in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Durham, giving a talk at the Carrboro Fleet Feet in the evening. No exercise today, but really fun to see a new corner of the country. Really liked the vibe in Carrboro and would like to do Uhwarrie or Mt. Mitchell one of these years.

1-13-2012
Fri-PM: 1:21, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Got out in the late evening after a long day of travel back from North Carolina. Shin was more sore than I would've liked, even just hiking. WTF.

1-14-2012
Sat - off.
Just seemed stupid to do anything since the shin is hurting.

1-15-2012
Sun - off.

Hours: 5h02min
Vert: 10,600'

-----------------------------------------------

1-16-2012
Mon-AM: 1:18, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Felt crappy after the time off.

1-17-2012
Tue-AM: 1:16, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Cold morning at +10F. Warmed up nicely later, though.
PM: 0:13 ~ Streets
Tested the shin with a little flat jogging. Meh.

1-18-2012
Wed-AM: 1:43, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up Third access and down First Saddle. Jogged to Chautauqua and then the first couple minutes up the meadow. Status quo blah.

1-19-2012
Thu-AM: 1:36, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down First Saddle. Ran the 13min to Gregory. Shin twingier than I would've liked, but I'm used to disappointment after a year of this shit. +60F today, which is awesome but feels wrong.

1-20-2012
Fri-AM: 1:18, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down 1st/2nd access. More warm weather. Short-sleeved shirt. All hiking.

1-21-2012
Sat-AM: 1:20, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd, access down 1st/2nd. Another unseasonably warm day.
PM: 1:13, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 3rd access. Felt really dialed in and tagged a 38min ascent from Chat. Shin felt really solid on the down, and on such steep terrain it's tough not to sneak in a few running-type steps. Finished just as a headlamp would've become helpful. Perfect timing.

1-22-2012
Sun-AM: 1:33, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 3rd access. Tested out a little running today, and it went pretty well. My guiding principle now will be to do nothing that I don't think I can repeat the next day.
PM: 1:15, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down Third access. All hiking but shin felt quite good. Really enjoying getting out again.

Hours: 12h45min
Vert: 23,800'

I'm bored of whining, so won't. But there did seem to be a legitimate glimmer of hope at the end of a really tough two-week stretch with the shin.

Wait, one thing I will whine about: posing as someone else on the Internet is pretty lame, bordering on douchie. Equal parts flattering and annoying, I suppose. For the record, "Anton's Ghost" on Twitter is not me in case there was any confusion about that (and there actually seems to be).

Tickets for the February 9th Boulder screening of Unbreakable were sold out as of a couple days ago. Sounds like there may be a couple of extra guests, so expect it to be the sort of trail/mountain/ultra gathering typical of the Boulder scene, i.e. more top mountain runners and other assorted legends anywhere else other than maybe Placer High on a late June evening.

Got a new post up over at Running Times.

I recommend checking out these two wildly divergent but equally emotive tracks:

Week Summary: Jan 2 - 8

2012-01-08T15:40:00.001-07:00

1-2-2012

Mon-AM: 1:27, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Up 3rd access and down Greenman-SR-Amphi. All running except for the obvious hiking on the super steep postholing sections. Cruised the descent at a moderate but not committed effort and skittered down the ice in 16:42. A big part of me would love a new 2ft dump of fluff some time soon.

PM: 1:02, 2700' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down 1st Saddle. Met up with JV, Brandon and Bill for an afternoon lap. Pushed solid on the up with Jeff and got a couple hundred extra feet of vert when we went back to tag the summit again with Brandon. All hiking on the up, but all running on the down, nice chatting a bit with Bill there.

1-3-2012

Tue-AM: 1:37, 3000' ~ Green Mt.

Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Really tired this morning, so just jogged easy and then hiked steady. Really warm morning in the 50s at 7am. Added a couple hundred extra feet of vert on the descent as I thought better of postholing through a new route in only 3/4 length tights.

PM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down 1st Saddle. Frustrating punchy, slushy conditions but a lot of exposed rock, too. Super warm evening had me climbing in a t-shirt even though the sun was already set. All hiking.

1-4-2012

Wed-AM: 3:02, 5200' ~ Grays & Torreys

Parked at Bakerville and round-tripped these classic Front Range 14ers in 2:55 in perfect winter conditions.

PM: 1:12, 2500' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down 1st Saddle. Didn't get out until later but it almost didn't matter because the slightly-more-than-half-full moon was offering some brilliant lumination. Didn't put on spikes until above the First but then kept them on all the way down, mostly because I was in the dark. Gorgeous warm evening. Hiking.

1-5-2012

Thu-AM: 1:52, 2800' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down 1st Saddle. Scott biked over to my place and we ran up 6th St to the Gregory trailhead where I promptly snapped a Microspike just putting it on. Never had that happen before. Easy effort hike up and down the mountain then because of my lack of traction but the shin was definitely a bit touchy and needed to be babied after yesterday's overzealous outing anyways. Jogged ~10min on the streets on the way back home.

1-6-2012

Fri-AM: 1:17, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access down 1st Saddle. Was cautious this morning by biking to Chat and limiting the running. Snuck some in on the way down. Calves are still quite sore from Wednesday morning.
PM: 1:09, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Exact same loop as this morning except I went up in 39:50 from Chat this time, which is the fastest I've done that route in quite some time. Mostly because there's really no postholing anymore.

1-7-2012

Sat-AM: 2:09, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert
Drove up to Leadville with jLu and Scott. Snow was already coming down at the Eisenhower Tunnel and Fremont Pass, but things were good in town and great at the North Elbert trailhead. Temps in the upper teens and perfectly still with only lightly-falling flakes. A mix of running and a steady hike on the nicely-packed trail deposited Scott and I on the 14,433' summit 1h30 later. After stowing the sticks and spending a few minutes hanging out on the summit, I ran back down to the car in :39 for a surprisingly quick trip up and down the hill. The drive home on I-70 was a different story--ice- and snow-packed roads, grid-locked traffic...6hrs later we were finally back in Boulder.

1-8-2012

Sun-AM: 1:42, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Maybe 2-3" of fresh snow on the upper trails. Fresh cat tracks on the NE ridge. Ran the 15min to the trailhead mostly because I didn't want to bike on icy roads. Jogged most of the descent but walked the streets home to be nice to the shin.

Hours: 17h42min

Vert: 34,000'

Overall, obviously quite a good-looking week--a few big peaks, a bunch of vert and ~7.5hr of actual running--but the shin is still very much a limiting factor on what I am able to do pain-free in the mountains, blah blah blah boring; I'm very tired of thinking and complaining about it. I know that right now Colorado (along with most of the American West) is experiencing a very mild winter, but I can't believe that I've waited until this year to really make a concerted effort to keep getting into the high country during the winter months. A huge part of this is my shift these last few months toward realizing the value in hiking uphills (something snow and ice necessitates this time of year); I know that in the past I simply wasn't prepared to accept that for whatever misguided reason (ego). A fun fact about these winter summits is that nearly as much time that is lost on the climb is able to be re-gained on the descent thanks to the relatively smooth(er) and softer surface that the snow provides.

Moving along, later this week I'm looking forward to a trip to North Carolina for New Balance and will probably use it as an opportunity to enforce a few consecutive easy days for the shin. Wednesday evening I'll be speaking at the Dilworth Run For Your Life store in Charlotte and Thursday evening I'll be at the Fleet Feet Carborro store near Chapel Hill.

Here is a link to an interview I recently did with a runner I met on a trip I took to Michigan for NB last year.

Finally, next Saturday is Colorado Springs' 2nd Annual Ponderous Posterior 50K. Because Team CRUD knows how to do things right, this year's Fat Ass-style run on the Pikes Peak region trails will follow the same route as last year (still starting and finishing at JT's house), BUT this time in the clockwise direction (last year we ran it counter-clockwise). Due to the change in direction, the official course this year will include an ascent of the Manitou Incline to the top of Longs Ranch Road instead of running up Barr Trail. Any out-of-towners or Incline virgins are in for a treat. It is highly unlikely that my shin will allow me to make it around the full 50K loop, but I definitely still plan on heading down to the Springs for a more abbreviated version of the trail festivities.

Fri evening: #10

Elbert.

Jurker.

Up. Photo: Scott Jurek.

Summit ridge. Photo: Scott Jurek.

14,433'

Jurker descending.

jLu.

Grays & Torreys

2012-01-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning I couldn't ignore the absolutely stellar mid-winter weather window and bolted for the high country. With only an hour's drive to the trailhead at Bakerville on I-70, Grays & Torreys were the obvious choice for getting above 14,000'; I was running up the road to the summer trailhead by 7:30am. Three miles, 1500' vert and :38 later and I was crossing the footbridge to the trail proper.

Upon hitting the singletrack, I was pleasantly surprised to find more excellent footing--wind- and boot-packed, stryofoam-like snow; perfect for Microspikes--and as such was able to maintain a running cadence until the trail kicks up appreciably at the giant cairn at the base of Grays. Wind was a non-issue until the final 100' or so of vertical to Grays' summit (where there seemed to be a steady 30mph+ or so breeze), which I reached in 1:47 from Bakerville. I negotiated the 600' drop and subsequent ascent to the top of Torreys in :18, on whose windless summit I shed my shell before making the descent back to the car in 50min flat, dispatching of the final three downhill road miles in a snappy sub-18min for a total of 2:55 car-to-car.

The one time I've hit this loop in summer it took me 2:41, so I think it is safe to say that conditions up there right now are about as perfect as they could possibly be for this time of year. With sufficient acclimation I think Wednesday's conditions were capable of being even faster than a typical summer trip. All in all, this outing was certainly a gift considering the throngs of crowds that these peaks are known for in the summer (I briefly saw only two other parties yesterday)--not to mention the fact that I spent the vast balance of my summer in 2011 sitting on my duff with a broken leg and have plenty of catching up to do when it comes to high country summits.

Euro-style accessories all around.

The morning's objectives: Grays, left and Torreys, right.

Torreys, from the summit of Grays.

Grays Peak from Torreys summit.

Torreys summit.

Week Summary: Dec 26 - Jan 1

2012-01-01T11:19:00.005-07:00

12-26-2011
Mon-AM: 0:10 ~ Home Pastures in Nebraska
Shin was twingy so I didn't push it beyond more than this with running and then wasn't motivated to seek out any legitimately steep hiking terrain.

12-27-2011
Tue - off

12-28-2011
Wed - off

12-29-2011
Thu-PM: 1:22, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Got out in the dark after a long day of driving back to Boulder from Nebraska. Really warm evening, but there was some crazy wind up on the NE ridge and the summit. Great to get back on the hill after a few days away, but pretty wild how much snow has melted.

12-30-2011
Fri-AM: 4:00, 6000' ~ Mt Belford & Mt. Oxford
Missouri Gulch TH via NW Ridge w/ Jeff and Homie. Balmy upper-30s at the trailhead were contrasted with some fairly significant winds (50+ mph?) on the summits and the saddle between the two peaks. Hiked well on the uphills but could definitely feel my lack of altitude acclimation. Ran the downhills and flats and enjoyed pounding the quads on the final 4mi/4600' drop back to the trailhead (including the mile down the NW ridge that loses 2200') off the summit of Belford. Shin held up well, helped by the mixed snow/talus/scree conditions. Awesome day with some great mountain folks. Hardrock training commences!

12-31-2011
Sat-AM: 1:26, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Awesome morning. I ran to the base of Amphitheater, marched to the top, and then ran every step back to my door, all without protest from the shin. It's crazy to me how the right amount of activity heals this thing, but too little or too much makes it unhappy. More crazy Chinooks up on the NE ridge this morning.
PM: 1:21, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle, all hiking. Locked bike at the usual spot by Gregory but then hiked over to the Third. Legs felt really good and spikes were gripping well on the super icy trails; nearly lost an eye on an errant tree branch, though. Made it half-way back down the mountain by moonlight but eventually relented and switched the headlamp on. Really fun outing.

1-1-2012
Sun-AM: 1:22, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Ran almost every step of this outing, hiking only the steepest stuff on the way up. Very nice first summit of the year, but trail is becoming bullet-proof ice for pretty much everything below Greenman. Hugely encouraging run; nice way to kick off 2012!
PM: 1:28, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down 1st/2nd access. Felt good and the half-full moon provided enough light on the way down. All hiking.

Hours: 11h09min
Vert: 19,200'

2011 Totals
Miles: 2360
Hours: 452h18min
Up: 629,800'
Greens: 181
Bears: 16
SoBos: 0

I was visiting my parents in Nebraska the first half of this week, and while there the shin seemed to be frustratingly touchy. I say "seemed" because I'm now fairly certain that complete rest isn't the best thing for it. While with each day off ("off" being a relative term; each day I still got out for a couple mile stroll around the farm and other rigorous physical activity in the form of firewood-making with axes and chainsaws) my shin seemed to only worsen, when I returned to Colorado on Thursday the return to focused intensity and duration of hiking/running seemed to only make the shin feel better and better. This is a pattern I've noticed with it before; the trick now is to carefully monitor and limit my progression.

In terms of stats, 2011's numbers were severely limited by all my non-running due to injury (shin periostitus, broken fibula). Mileage was only ~40% of 2010, but all of my steep hiking this year is reflected in the fact that in 2010 I only averaged 175'/mi while I bumped that up to 266'/mile this year. Even with all my time off I still managed a Green summit on average of nearly every-other-day; I was quite surprised to realize that I didn't top out on SoBo a single time in the past calendar year (nor visit Shadow Canyon, sadly). I surely hope to rectify that in 2012.

Friday's foray into the high country was just what I needed. I've sorely missed the big mountains over the past 18 months and I really look forward to making them an increasingly bigger part of my weekly outdoors activity as I build my fitness for Hardrock over the next six months.

Homie and Jeff heading up Belford's NW ridge in the morning.

Hope Pass in the center on the other side of the valley.

Mt. Oxford.

Homie re-ascending Belford, with Harvard looming behind.

Probably not for everyone:

Week Summary: Dec 19 - 25

2011-12-26T10:32:00.001-07:00

12-19-2011
Mon-AM: 1:13, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Nice morning.

12-20-2011
Tue-AM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Same as yesterday; all hiking, but put in a solid effort, which I haven't done for a while.

12-21-2011
Wed-AM: 1:29, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access. Getting to be some super icy spots on the mountain.
PM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Timed it perfectly as light snowflakes chased me all the way down the mountain and shortly after I got back to my bike and returned to my apartment the snowstorm had started in earnest.

12-22-2011
Thu-AM: 2:12, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Woke to epic amounts of snow (18-24"?). The streets were a total mess, so I ran (!) to Baseline before slogging up and down the 1st Saddle route. Took me 1:05 to get up but an incredible morning on the mountain with snow dumping down. Running the down would've been very tough even if I'd wanted to because there was so much snow. Also ran the 9min back to the house on the streets; shin was good!

12-23-2011
Fri-AM: 2:11, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Ran the 14min to Chat and then wallowed my way to the summit, breaking fresh trail all the way from the base of the 2nd Flatiron to upper Greenman. Slalomed/fell/ran my way down the mountain in 19:45 before also running the 12min back home on the streets. Shin felt really good.
PM: 1:43, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Biked to Baseline with snowshoes and poles on my back, which I used for the hike up and down the mountain. Only my third time ever snowshoeing, and it was...interesting. The Kahtoola Flightdecks actually handle impressively well, but they're a pretty small platform. Wore the snowshoes so that I wasn't at all tempted to do any running. Gorgeous evening.

12-24-2011
Sat-AM: 1:34, 2800' ~ Green Mt. (Descent Time Trial)
Up 1st Saddle and down Greenman-Saddlerock-Amphi. 43min worth of running.
PM: 1:32, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle with the snowshoes again. Was unavoidably delayed in hitting the road for Nebraska, so went for another trip up the mountain. Remarkably warm afternoon made for some very good packing conditions on much of the trail and I got the stowing/strapping/pack strategy dialed for the snowshoes and the poles so that riding a bike isn't an issue at all. Felt way more confident and nimble with the s-shoes and poles today when compared to yesterday.

12-25-2011
Sun-AM: :35 ~ Pastures/Hills, Nebraska
Awesome cross-country run through the hills and hollows on my family's farm. There is zero snow at home right now, which combined with the middle-of-winter lack of vegetation (grass, brush) made for excellent conditions to strike out in whatever direction I wanted and run fell-style over the hills. My shin seemed good for about 30min or so, but then the last 5min might have been a touch too much for it.

Hours: 13h25min
Vert: 21,000'

The Third.

Finally above the boulder field.

Back of the Third.

Avalanche (!) on the slab.

View from slab: First & Second Flatirons and Boulder.

Seated on the top: much steeper than it looks here.

#176

And if you have a little angst (go to 1:00 on the first vid to get to the music); I can never get enough of The Walkmen but understand it can be an acquired taste:

Christmas Eve Morning Green Descent

2011-12-24T10:12:00.002-07:00

Got out pretty early this morning before hitting the road for what is sure to be a long day/evening of driving home to Nebraska to see my parents for Christmas. I ran the 15min of streets to the Gregory lot and then trudged to the summit via the First Saddle route. For some reason I wore my absolute dullest pair of Microspikes (the "spikes" are worn down to flat nubs) this morning, so I wasn't getting great purchase in the punchy and somewhat loose snow, but I was still impressed at how relatively well the trail had set up overnight, even compared to yesterday evening. This was enough to convince me to go for a fast time on the descent via the standard frontside route of Greenman-Saddlerock-Amphitheater, inspired by Homie's antics of the past month or so.

I took off strong right from the top and it was a total kamikaze blast careening through switchbacks, leaping down drops and swinging around trees all with very little concern for catching a toe or tripping on anything; I was anaerobic pretty much the entire way down, with the unstable, soft footing definitely making me work harder than usual. I've actually never gone all-out on a Green descent, snow conditions or not, so didn't really know what to expect, but summit post to Amphi/Baseline junction post was 14:08 with another 6 seconds to the Gregory lot pavement for a 14:14. I would say that I was taking some pretty wild risks and was definitely out-of-control at times, but with all the deep powder everywhere it never felt that risky. I only thought once or twice about how heinously unpleasant it would be to miscalculate a footplant, hyperextend a knee and break my leg again; the only split I dared take my eyes off the trail to glance at my watch for was an 11:32 at the Saddle Rock/Amphi junction.

Trail conditions were definitely not perfect, especially on Greenman where it's still quite loose and unconsolidated and I think just a fresh, sharp pair of Microspikes alone would've easily carried me under 14min this morning as I was definitely losing time sliding out on turns. With a perfect packed track I think sub-13 might be possible. I'm super bummed that I'm driving to Nebraska today and will miss the next few days of what are sure to be stellar trail conditions, but so it goes. BRING IT, HOMIE!

A couple pics from the uphill portion of the morning:

Longs Peak.

Sunrise reflected on the NE ridge.

#178

Week Summary: Dec 12 - 18

2011-12-20T21:38:00.001-07:00

12-12-2011
Mon - off

12-13-2011
Tue-AM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Kind of a test outing. I could feel the shin a bit hiking, but it definitely didn't make it worse. Rather, like usual, a little activity seemed to actually make it feel a bit better.

12-14-2011
Wed - off
LA screening of Unbreakable at Occidental College in the evening.

12-15-2011
Thu-AM: 2:23, 4000' ~ Mt. Baldy (10,064')
Couldn't resist the chance to get into the San Gabriel Mts with Dominic, Jorge, Chris and Katie as the local tour guides. Though not my first time in the range, the Gabes are impressively steep, high and rugged, especially considering their extreme proximity to L.A.

12-16-2011
Fri - off

12-17-2011
Sat - off

12-18-2011
Sun-PM: 2:08, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access with Jocelyn. It was a remarkably warm day, so I started back to the hills a day early. We took it easy, enjoying the spectacular weather and laying down fresh tracks through slushy snow. Shin felt notably better than it typically has the past two weeks.

Hours: 5h50min
Vert: 9100'

A week of semi-random outings with the emphasis being on really just trying to take it easy on my shin. By the end of this week I could feel discernible improvement and I think it's ready to get back out there with some consistent hiking before I tentatively dip my toes back into the waters of easy jogging. I'm determined to stay smart this time around.

Also, I have a new post over on my RT Blog.

Baldy summit with Chris and Jorge. Photo: Jorge Pacheco.

Descending from Baldy summit to Devil's Backbone with Jorge. Photo: Dominic Grossman.

The Hallway.

And here's a catchy little Christmas tune, if you give it a minute:

Week Summary: Dec 5 - 11

2011-12-11T14:08:00.002-07:00

12-05-2011
Mon-AM: 1:39, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 1st Saddle and down ASG. Particularly crisp morning at +5F or so and with a cold cloud hanging over the mountain. Ran to the base of Amphi, hiked to the top through some thigh-deep snow at times, and then ran all the way down and back home. Shin was definitely a little sore this morning and it's time to back off and inject a little more rationality into the progression. Hopefully I haven't set it back too much and I can get it to calm back down without completely taking time off from the mountain.

12-06-2011
Tue-AM: 1:55, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up ASG and down 1st Saddle. Morning started out cold again at +5F or so, but warmed nicely into the 20s. Ran to the base of Amphi, hiked up and down, and then ran home via the streets. Shin was off-and-on, not sure what to think, but do think it's probably time to shift the balance of my activity back more towards hiking for the next few days.

12-07-2011
Wed-AM: 1:55, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Ran to and from Baseline again with basically all hiking while on the actual trails/mountain. All of the snow is falling off the trees now, laying down a new layer of snow on the trail.

12-08-2011
Thu-AM: 1:43, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Nice warm day at +30F or so with brilliant sunshine. The single summits have been giving the shin a measure of rest and it seems to be slowly improving. ~28min of actual running today (to and from the trailhead) with nice tacky trail conditions making the Microspikes work like magic on the steeps.

12-09-2011
Fri-AM: 1:52, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. For whatever reason, the shin felt a little twingier than usual this morning, so the running was limited to the first 15min to the base of Amphitheater. Hiked everything else, even the streets back home. Frustrating to not even be running downhill right now as the winter trail conditions on Green are currently at least equal to the best I've ever seen. Temperature inversion today made things chilly back down in town.

12-10-2011
Sat- off.

12-11-2011
Sun- off.

Hours: 9h15min
Vert: 14,000'

Overall, a frustrating week. I'm quite disappointed with myself and my oh-so-predictable lack of discipline. Last week I had some great momentum going with the shin's health, but I took that tiny ray of hope and unconsciously used it as an excuse to overzealously accelerate the run/hike ratio. In hindsight, things are always so crystal clear, which only exacerbates the self-loathing. Looking at least week's log of activity is almost painful in its ridiculousness. I mean, 13hrs of running?!?! What's wrong with me?

But, so it goes, and I like to hope that I have (re- re- re- re-) learned my lesson. The days off at the end of this week weren't out of necessity--I probably could've hiked, no problem--but rather frustration and desperation. In November I was given a promising taste of my shin's current ability to heal itself--given the opportunity--and that is the basis for my current plan: give the shin a few days to calm down completely and then hopefully be granted the opportunity to try once again to ease back into things, this time with more patience and caution. At this point, my sanity depends on it. I have a strong foundation of basic fitness and still plenty of time--now it's just a matter of enforcing a controlled execution in the return to running, and paying such a sentiment more than lip-service. I just have to remember that an injury that's been giving me fits for 11 months (!?!?!) now isn't going to magically be completely back to 100% in a matter of days; and I have to treat it that way once it starts showing improvement.

Fresh coat on the Flatties.

Single-digit temps the first half of the week.

#168 on the year.

Longs Peak peeking through the clouds.

Greenman trail in winter -- packed-out trench.

Worth a listen:

Week Summary: Nov 28 - Dec 4

2011-12-04T21:19:00.002-07:00

11-28-2011
Mon-AM: 1:42, 3200' ~ Green Mt.
Holy shit, I actually completed a full run with the shin pain-free. Ran from home, up Gregory-Ranger (first time since before I broke my leg in June), down the NE Ridge/1st access and then home via Panorama Point and Eben G. Fine to avoid running downhill on pavement. Actually running uphill will definitely require a little retraining after all the hiking I've been doing, but all in all this run was incredibly satisfying, not to mention a balmy 50F at 7am and it's nearly December!
PM: 1:23, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access. Gorgeous warm evening, but I was really bonking coming down the mountain. All hiking.

11-29-2011
Tue-AM: 1:44, 3200' ~ Green + Flagstaff Mt.
Up Amphi-Saddle Rock-Greenman and down NE Ridge-Greenman-Flagstaff-Eben G. Fine. Took a while for my legs to wake up but I was feeling great the 2nd half. All running!
PM: 1:19, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 3rd access. Biked to Chat and then jogged the flatter stretches on the uphill tonight (maybe 30% of the climb) but hiked all the way down.

11-30-2011
Wed-AM: 2:00, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up back and down Bear Canyon. I think this was the first time I've been on the Green-Bear connector or the Bear Canyon Trail since March, so it was awesome to revisit my old haunts. Also the first time I've stretched out the legs on some extended flatter running (Bear Canyon and Mesa Trail) in a long time. Stellar weather, 50F at 7am.
PM: 1:06, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 3rd access. Biked to Chat then jogged the flattish stuff on the way up but ran pretty much everything on the way down except for the initial super-icy stuff on upper Greenman. Awesome evening, perfectly still on the summit.

12-1-2011
Thu-AM: 1:44, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 1st Saddle and down back w/ Scott, Homie and Bill. 6-10" of fresh snow on everything made the uphill a hiking slog and the downhill a glorious float. Awesome morning to be out.
PM: 1:55, 3000' ~ Green + Flagstaff Mt.
Up 1st Saddle and down Ranger to Flagstaff to Eben G. Fine. Quite a bit more snow than this morning--well over a foot total--so it was a good slog to the top. Really nice run down through all the fluff, though.

12-2-2011
Fri-AM: 2:00, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up back and down Greenman-Flagstaff-EGF. Incredibly beautiful morning with a deep blue sky and sun glinting off all the new snow. Great run.
PM: Flying to San Francisco.

12-2-2011
Sat- nothing, spectating the TNF50 in Marin.

12-3-2011
Sun-AM: :49, 1200' ~ Twin Peaks, San Francisco
Jogged easily from the Mission District to the top of this hill smack in the middle of San Fran. Some remarkably steep streets in SF.
PM: 1:50, 3200' ~ Green + Flag
Got off the bus from the airport in downtown Boulder at 5:40pm in heavily-falling snow and was back on the streets running towards the Gregory trailhead by 6:00pm. Up Amphi-SR-Greenman with a mix of running and hiking and down Ranger-Flagstaff-EGF (all running). Awesome run with really well-packed trails and an excellent cushion of 4-6" of fresh fluff. There was so much light from the city reflecting off the fresh snow that I barely needed a headlamp for the entire run.

Hours: 17h32min
Vert: 30,200'

---------------------------------

This is the best week of running that I've had since I first injured my shin way back in January/February of this year (~13hr total of actual running). I definitely still need to be careful with the shin as I could still feel it being a touch sore on my late evening run tonight, but with me essentially being drawn in the Hardrock lottery this morning I'm fully comfortable with the fact that simple power-hiking is very effective and specific training for what will certainly be the goal race of my summer.

Combined with the inspiring performances out in Marin on Saturday, my psych for the mountains and running is at an all-time high. I'm also really excited to seemingly have received more winter in Boulder in the past week than we had in the entirety of all of last year's winter season. The trails on Green Mt. are setting up excellently and tonight there was finally enough snow to make me comfortable with breaking out a brand-new pair of Microspikes (usually I don't want to risk unnecessarily dulling a fresh pair on trails with only spotty snow/ice coverage). I really hope to make it over to Fern Canyon this coming week for a few trips up what is sure to be a fantastic luge-like path.

Thursday morning Green summit in a blizzard. Photo: Scott Jurek.

Thursday evening, in a cloud.

Divide alpenglow.

Friday morning.

Red Rocks and Mt. Sanitas. My abode is just out of frame on the lower right.

Week Summary: Nov 21 - 27

2011-11-27T20:54:00.002-07:00

11-21-2011
Mon-AM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Met Rickey and Scottie at the Gregory TH (I biked, they were starting a longer run) and hiked to the impressively wind-less summit. It was absolutely still up there today. Hiked down by myself as they headed off to places farther afield.
PM: 2:11, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Ran the 14min to the Ranger Cottage and then hiked the rest of the evening. Almost the entire descent was in the dark, so things took about 20min longer than they should've.

11-22-2011
Tue-AM: 1:25, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access. The wind was back this morning, but I felt decent after getting warmed up, really nailed the section between the 3rd and the NE ridge, scrambling the slab way quicker than usual, too.
PM: 1:41, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. I ran the 15min to the base of Amphitheater and then jogged the flat spots on the climb (hiking probably 95%), getting to the summit in 32:35. The ice on upper Greenman is still costing me close to a minute I think. Hiked all the way home. Shin seems to be handling the transition to running, but I need to stay patient and not get greedy.

11-23-2011
Wed-AM: 1:24, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access. Very warm morning, exceptionally nice weather for November.
PM: 1:32, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Ran from my doorstep all the way to the base of the 2nd Flatiron (24min) and then on the the last couple switchbacks of Greenman I ran into Jeff, who I then ran all the way down with. All of which was no issue at all for the shin, which is huge. Solid effort on the up despite lethargic legs netted me a PR 36:10 from Chat on this route.

11-24-2011
Thu-AM: 1:22, 2500' ~ Green Mt. #500
Got up at 4:30am to get in my 500th ever ascent of the mountain before driving to Dubois, WY for Thanksgiving with my parents and sister. Dead legs at this hour, all hiking.
PM: :24 ~ Dubois, WY
Jogged around on the dirt roads from my sister Katrina's cabin and my shin was 100% painfree. Very encouraging. She has an enviably stunning view of Ramshorn Peak from her front porch.

11-25-2011
Fri-AM: 1:28, 2700' ~ Windy Mt.
Awesome trip up and down the mountain this morning. Parked at 8k' at the Nat'l Forest boundary and started hiking uphill in the snow. Ran a couple minutes here and there on the flatter/more snow-free sections. The higher I got on the mountain the more intense the blizzard became with some pretty crazy winds, blowing snow and postholing. Made the 10,200' summit and then ran the downhill back to the saddle before hiking straight up to the radio towers on a subsidiary 9900' summit. The sustained winds there were simply astounding; they had to be 60+mph, it was all I could do to stay on my feet. Ran the entire downhill from there back to the car (total of ~30min of running on the morning) and the shin was rock-solid the entire way. Great morning.
PM: :35 ~ Dubois, WY
More flat evening gravel road jogging from Katrina's cabin to settle the afternoon's Thanksgiving feast (yes, we were a day late).

11-26-2011
Sat-AM: :31 ~ Dubois, WY
A final +15F, 6am jog from Katrina's cabin before hitting the road back home. Perfectly clear sky made for some nice stargazing. I should've headed back up Windy again this morning as I would've been able to actually enjoy the expansive views of the Tetons and Absarokas that its summit allegedly offers.
PM: 1:31, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Evening summit after the 7hr+ drive back to Boulder. This was very nearly a legit run. Ran to the base of Amphitheater and then ran/hiked my way up the front in 32:40. Definitely way more hiking than running, and I can tell that I've lost some efficiency on the steep uphill run, but slowly working it back in. Ran the entire descent all the way back to Baseline where I decided to play it on the safe side and walk the final 1mi+/20min of downhill pavement home despite my shin feeling fine.

11-27-2011
Sun-AM: 1:42, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Saddle. Jogged up to Gregory w/ Jocelyn and then took the Bluebell-Baird connector over to the 3rd access as she headed to Flagstaff. I ran all the way to the base of the 2nd Flattie, but above there I was just completely worked. Totally bonking after not eating enough dinner last night I guess. It seemed like it was basically all I could do to just stumble my way to the summit. All hiking. Ran the entire way down, though, and really enjoyed the magic grip of a fresh pair of MT110s. Fresh lugs on those provide a perfect mix of bite on loose surfaces and stickiness on rock.
PM: 1:55, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 1st Saddle. Ran from doorstep to the top of Amphitheater (22min) and hiked the rest of the outing. Really pathetically tired again tonight, probably need an easy day.

Hours: 17h26
Vert: 29,700'

----------------------------------

I don't want to jinx it, but I may have finally turned the corner this week with my shin's health. Maybe. At least a pinprick of light at the end of what has been a very, very long tunnel. The key now is to not get carried away and to listen very closely to how my shin feels. Now that I can run a little, it will be important to remember that taking a day or two to limit myself to just hiking to ensure recovery is totally fine and probably advisable.

It was great getting up to Wyoming for a couple days to visit with my family this week; the Wind Rivers and especially the Tetons are two mountain ranges I hope to explore a little more extensively this summer. The last time I was in the Tetons was over four years ago, and it's been far too long. They are definitely one of the more inspiring mountain ranges I've run in.

In other news, I'm going to be out in San Francisco next weekend for the Unbreakable premiere, which should be a good time but I'm probably even more psyched for the opportunity to witness the battle in the Headlands the next morning. Fun stuff.

Ramshorn Peak (11,640'), from Katrina's front porch at 7200'.

Windy Mt two-track approach. Wind River valley below.

Gale-force winds not shown.

10,200' summit.

Temporary sunshine 3000' lower in the Wind River valley.

Katrina's cabin.

Dad in his element: woodlot with a maul and chainsaw.

Week Summary: Nov 14 - 20

2011-11-20T17:59:00.004-07:00

11-14-2011

Mon - sick

11-15-2011

Tue - sick

Can't believe how long this illness stuck around.

11-16-2011

Wed-AM: 1:18, 2500' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down front. Chilly morning at 19F. Some lingering effects of being sick, and could also muscularly notice my time away from the hill.

11-17-2011

Thu-AM: 1:18, 2500' ~ Green Mt.

Up and down front. Legs felt good.

PM: 0:10 ~ Creek Path

Short flat jog to test out the shin. Slightly tight and twingy, but not terrible.

11-18-2011

Fri-AM: 1:28, 2600' ~ Green Mt.

Up 3rd access, down 1st/2nd access. Legs were moving well, but there's still a fair bit of slick ice over on the boulder field below the Third--guessing that sticks around until Spring. Another really windy day.

PM: 0:12 ~ Creek Path

Another little tester with the calf sleeve on. Shin never hurt at all. Ridiculously warm day.

11-19-2011
Sat-AM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Another brisk morning and I didn't see a single other person out on the trails, which was pretty great.
PM: 1:49, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Jogged the 15min from my doorstep to the base of Amphitheater, then hiked to the summit in 33:55, slowed a 1min+ by the ice on upper Greenman. Hiked all the way back home. Shin felt good and legs felt great.

11-20-2011
Sun-AM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Brisk but very calm morning on the mountain. The wind has finally given up.
PM: 1:42, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Jogged up to Gregory with Jocelyn and then met George, Jeff and Homie for a trip up the front of Green. On the way down I probably ran a little more than I should've (~13min or so), but it's hard not to enjoy the descent when out with friends. Great sunset on the top of Green, and we made it down just in time so as to not need lights.

Hours: 10h13
Vert: 18,200'

Nice week of getting back into the swing of things. I just need to be very careful and gradual with adding short little bits of running back into the routine.

Just in case anyone who's interested hasn't already seen the announcement on RunColo or Geoff's blog or Facebook, I wanted to give a quick reminder that Journeyfilm's new feature documenting the 2010 Western States 100 will be showing on December 7th at 7:00pm at Stargazers Theatre in Colorado Springs. Advance tickets ($10) are available at Mountain Chalet, the Colorado Running Company and Carmichael Training Systems in Colorado Springs, or at imATHLETE online.

More importantly, the event will be a fundraiser for the newly-formed Manitou Springs non-profit Incline Friends, whose purpose is to get the Manitou Incline legally open to the public and to preserve that access into the future. The Incline is a unique and highly popular way of getting into the mountains in the Pikes Peak region, and I strongly support any efforts towards its maintenance and access.

Following the film there will be a panel Q&A including myself, Geoff Roes, Nick Clark (three of the top four at the 2010 Western States) and Anita Ortiz (2009 Western States Champion). All in all, it should be a fun and timely evening as the lottery drawing for the 2012 WS100 will be only three days later!

Interview for the film on the WS trail, two days before the race. Photo: Joe Grant.

JB catching the action at Foresthill (62mi). Photo: Megan Zaranek.

JB talking to Joe before pacing. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Two Week Summary: Oct 31 - Nov 13

2011-11-16T18:11:00.003-07:00

Bit of a catch-up post.

10-31-2011
Mon-AM: 1:17, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Tired. Very warm morning.
PM: 1:22, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down 1st/2nd access. Great outing ending with the sun setting on a 70F+ day. After not being on this route for a week or so (because of snow), it was great to come back. Love the scrambly nature of it.

11-01-2011
Tue-AM: 1:17, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. At my 7am start the clouds were just kissing the top of the mountain and by the end the ceiling was chasing me back to the bottom. Enjoyed the gloom for some reason.
PM: Fly to Sao Paulo.

11-02-2011
Wed-PM: 0:24 ~ Sao Paulo
Went for a short jog over to Ibiapuera Park and back from my hotel in Sao Paulo. Shin was a little touchy, but I wanted to get out and explore.

11-03-2011
Thu - 0
Filming for much of the day in Sao Paulo.

11-04-2011
Fri - 0
Flew by helicopter to Ilhabella island.

11-05-2011
Sat-AM: 1:22, 1600' Ilhabella Traverse
Started at the park entrance and then ran the 4x4 road that traverses the island from west to east. I didn't expect to be able to run the whole way and after the shin felt OK decided I would run to the top and catch a ride down in one of the accompanying jeeps. However, at the top my shin actually felt pretty much fine on the downhill and I was able to run all the way to the beach, much to my surprise. Really unique run going through the jungle and traveling from one side of the island/mountains to the other. We were going easy the whole way, but I was also surprised to find that I wasn't tired at all on this run (the first sustained run of this length that I've done in over two months) and that all the hiking has definitely developed a basic level of fitness in me.

11-06-2011
Sun - nothing.
Despite feeling mostly fine on the run yesterday, my shin was, of course, pretty tight today. Just glad I was able to do yesterday's run. Flew to Rio de Janeiro in the evening.

Hours: 5h41
Climb: 9200'

--------------------------

11-07-2011
Mon - nothing.
Spent all day filming around Rio. Quite the city and landscape. Shin was sore.

11-08-2011
Tue - nothing.
In Rio all day and then flew home overnight.

11-09-2011
Wed-AM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Got home from the airport and within a couple hours got back on the home mountain, and my legs felt really good after all the rest. Shin also seemed to be surprisingly good. Last 10min to the summit are aggravatingly bullet-proof ice with most of the rest being reasonably dry. Frustrating mix.

11-10-2011
Thu - nothing
Last night I could feel myself coming down with something -- scratchy throat, headache, full body aches, super sensitive skin -- so spent the whole day today in bed trying to get healthy. Bound to happen after all the travel stress.

11-11-2011
Fri - sick

11-12-2011
Sat- sick

11-13-2011
Sun- sick

Hours: 1h15
Vert: 2500'

Kind of a worthless couple of weeks when it came to physical activity and mountain summits. So it goes sometimes. All the travel this month must've taken its toll as it's Wednesday now and today was the first day I felt my body allowing me to get back out on the mountain after taking a week for little more than laying around in bed drinking tea, nursing a headache and trying to not let my swollen throat suffocate me. Hopefully that mess is finally out of the way for the season.

This morning's summit of Green was brisk and breezy at 19F, but the trail was basically dry until the final stretches of upper Greenman above the northeast ridge. But dry trails aren't even needed for my motivation and psyche to be pretty much at an all-time high right now--after Hardrock has its lottery in a couple of weeks my planned racing/adventuring schedule for 2012 should mostly fall into place (aside from the Wasatch lottery in February), giving my mind more concrete objects of visualization on my daily jaunts up the mountain. Right now, if Hardrock doesn't happen for me, I'm hoping to take dual shots at California's pair of 100 mile classics this summer: Western States in June and Angeles Crest in July.

Mountain 100 mile racing's latest evolution has seen the shattering of every classic 100 mile race's course record--from Western to Hardrock to Leadville to Wasatch--except for Angeles Crest. Over the last 23 years, only Hal has come even within an hour of Jim O'Brien's 1989 standard of 17:35:48, and while the race maybe hasn't attracted the depth of competition necessary to lower the time, the precedent has to be considered stout. I hope my body gives me a chance to chase it this summer, but with it being only four weeks after what is sure to be a hard-fought race at WS, I'll be satisfied with just a strong finish, record or not.

Frogger slinging the bottles at Foresthill, 2010.

O'Brien setting his record in 1989. Original photo by Stan Wagon, used by permission from the AC100 RaceBook [http://www.facebook.com/l/IAQHMuEOAAQH2r2k_7DTZ1ktiQuMhcJ9S1qAC-QxjVvzcoQ/larrygassan.com/ac100-RB/AC100RaceBook.html].

Brazil

2011-11-12T16:16:00.005-07:00

For the last week-plus I was in Brazil -- Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro -- in support of New Balance's launch of their Minimus collection of shoes down there. A full account of my trip can be found over on my Running Times blog, but here are a few pictures from the week.

Sao Paulo from helicopter.

Brazilian coast and the island Ilhabella (on the horizon) from helicopter.

Sunset on Ilhabella.

Climbing during the 16K NB Minimus Challenge traverse of Ilhabella. Photo: Funf Sports.

Looking down 2100' to the beach from the route's high point.

Castelhanos Beach, where the island traverse ended.

Coconut water straight from the source.

Ferry leaving Ilhabella.

Rio from the summit of Pao de Acucar.

On Pao de Acucar, with Corcovado Mt. (Cristo statue) over my right shoulder.

2800' Pedra da Gavea.

Leblon Beach sunset with Dois Irmaos.

Copacabana Beach with favela behind.

Cristo Redentor from Ipanema Beach.

Week Summary: Oct 24 - 30

2011-10-30T17:32:00.001-06:00

10-24-2011
Mon-AM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Moving well this morning. 33:40 ascent, still hiking the descents too.
PM: 1:34, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access down 1st access. Lingered too long on the summit and ended up stumbling through darkness on the bottom half of the mountain.

10-25-2011
Tue-AM: 3:16, 4300' ~ Cameron Cone
First time I've been up and down what should be an absolutely classic peak in Manitou Springs. Went with former CCXC teammate Martin Mudry.

10-26-2011
Wed-AM: 1:28, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front (w/ usual NE ridge variation). Slogging ascent through ever-deepening snow. Maybe a foot or so on the summit. No views of any kind today but tomorrow should be fantastic. Ran most of the downhill because the pillowy snow offers enough cushion to make my shin feel usable.

10-27-2011
Thu-AM: 1:27, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up front and down Greenman-Gregory. Simply incredible morning with the rising sun shining brilliantly on the newly-gilded landscape. Ran every step of the way down and it was the most fun I've had in months--floating through powder and visiting trails that I haven't seen since before I broke my leg.
PM: 1:10, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Trails were a bit stickier than this morning after some day-time warming. Ran the entire downhill again.

10-28-2011
Fri-AM: 1:09, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Broke out the Microspikes this morning for the first time this season as the trail has largely become frozen slush and packed snow. Quick descent, but the disappearing/consolidating snow means I might have to go back to hiking the downhills. Massage with Jeff Staron afterwards.
PM: 1:07, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Ran the downhill again, but the shin was a bit sore after Jeff hammered it this morning. Should've worn Microspikes as the ice/snow in the shade hadn't melted as much as I thought it would.

10-29-2011
Sat-AM: 1:32, 3100' ~ Flag Mt. + Green Mt. (Boulder Basic)
After a really late night at a Phantogram concert, hurriedly biked up 6th street and joined a bunch of other festive souls (/soles) for a communal and celebratory tour of the Boulder peaks. I took it cautiously, but ran/hiked up Flagstaff w/ Jeff and too many other familiar faces to name. At the top we all stopped to don Microspikes for the snowy/icy conditions before heading down to the Ranger trail to head up the backside of Green Mountain. Running up the hill at a casual pace w/ Geoff, Scott and Dakota meant I was able to mix in quite a bit of hiking and take some stress off my shin. After the others left to tag a couple more peaks, I reluctantly limited myself to just Green and ran down the frontside back to Baseline and my bike. I don't think I did any undue damage to my shin this morning, but it was a real bummer to not join in the rest of the morning's fun. A big part of being a runner is the shared identity that it gives you with other runners and my lack of racing and general lack of running this year has really left me kind of starved in that regard. Really great to get out for a bit with other like-minded folks this morning, even if just for a bit.

10-30-2011
Sun-AM: 1:21, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Awkward mix of bullet-proof ice and exposed rock and dirt made Microspikes necessary but not ideal. Some really great packed snow higher up on the mountain.
PM: 1:17, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Legs felt really good tonight and the ice had softened enough to make spikes unnecessary.

Hours: 16h36
Vert: 30,000'

I really enjoyed the intro to winter this week. Obviously, hiking is even more appropriate when you're plowing uphill through a foot of fresh snow, so it fits my current limitations nicely. I'm going to be out of town for the next 10 days or so, and I'm hoping that the enforced semi-inactivity will provide some new stimulus (or lack thereof) to my shin, maybe nudging it towards health. It's really getting ridiculous. My mind is already consistently wandering towards thoughts of the 2012 racing season (put my name on the Hardrock list last week), but whereas not too long ago 2012 seemed impossibly far in the future it now seems to be approaching almost too rapidly. Things have to turn around at some point.

Middle Greenman trail.

Thursday evening: #477

The mighty Third.

Cameron Cone & Snowy Green Mt.

2011-10-26T18:43:00.001-06:00

The route on Cameron Cone.

Yesterday I finally made it up one of the more prominent peaks in the Colorado/Manitou Springs area. One of the things I really enjoy about Boulder is its triumvirate of legitimate backyard summits. Green Mountain, Bear Peak and South Boulder Peak all rise authoritatively and abruptly from the edge of town for close to three thousand vertical feet and each has an appropriately direct route up its eastern aspect.

On the other hand, in Colorado Springs, although there is the staggeringly obvious and commanding summit of Pikes Peak, it's not exactly a run-up-it-before-work type of mountain (because I enjoy sleeping, 2-2h30 outings are the longest I will consistently log before 9am on a weekday). There are several 2000'-3000' climbs to be enjoyed in the area, but none of them have the obvious destination of a true mountain summit at the top: the top of the Incline is still about 700 vertical feet below the awkward and seldom-visited summit of 9250' Rocky Mountain; Barr Trail offers the logical turn-around points of either No Name Creek (8800') or Barr Camp (10,200'), but neither have expansive 360 degree views; Longs Ranch Road does no more than crest the saddle between the uninspiring Mount Manitou and the aforementioned Rocky Mountain; Jones Park (9100') is stuck in an aspen grove with higher peaks rising all around; finally, one can climb High Drive to 8300' Buckhorn Mountain (as I have done hundreds of times), and while the views are great, it hardly feels like a real summit as the Captain Jacks trail continues climbing far above this ridge.

Cameron Cone, however, breaks all aspects of this frustrating local pattern. At 10,707' it towers nearly 4500' above downtown Manitou Springs and the standard route takes less than five miles to ascend that vert (to get from a ~6500' trailhead to 10,700' anywhere else in the region requires almost eight miles of trail). The main problems are that this "standard route"-- despite being surprisingly well-developed with remarkably nice tread at least 80% of the way -- is not a Forest Service-sanctioned trail and the very beginning of the route is rather inconveniently blocked by the Cog Railway tracks at the base of Englemann Canyon (the same canyon from where the Barr Trail embarks). Nevertheless, my trip up the Cone yesterday revealed it to be just about everything I could want in a daily summit type of mountain. I can guarantee that its path sees little to no traffic at all in the winter, though, so there would almost certainly be a ton of trail-breaking if one were to turn this peak into his or her daily vigil, but I think it would be worth it.

Typical tread below 8200' Gog/Magog Ridge.

Gog.

The Cone with 2000' down and 2500' of vert still to go.

Trail becomes rougher closer to the summit, but marked by ribbon.

Martin on Cam's summit.

And then, of course, it snowed last night. Quite a lot. This morning's trip up and down Green Mountain was particularly enjoyable as a result. There seemed to be almost three times as much snow on the summit as what was on Boulder's streets, but this just made the downhill that much more enjoyable, and maybe my first completely pain-free running descent in the last nine months. Of course, biking back home with slush spraying everywhere was a little less euphoric.

Week Summary: Oct 17 - 23

2011-10-23T17:12:00.001-06:00

10-17-2011
Mon-AM: 1:36, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Cloudy morning meant it was dark until I was half-way up the mountain. Ran to and from Gregory again for a total of 29min of running.
PM: 1:51, 3300' ~ Green Mt. + 2nd Flatiron
Biked to Chat, up and down Green via 3rd access and then a quick scramble lap on the 2nd Flatiron, which added ~700' of vert. Even though it was only partly cloudy and the sun was shining through on the horizon, there were a few flakes of snow falling on the summit of Green.

10-18-2011
Tue-AM: 1:38, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down the front. This involved 27+ min of running from my door to the base of the 2nd Flatiron (trail really kicks up after that) and then another 13min of running home from the base of Amphitheater. More spectacular than usual sunrise.
PM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down the front. Shin tightened up a bit on the hike up, so I took it pretty casually. Shouldn't have done that extra 10min of steeper running this morning.

10-19-2011
Wed-AM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Exact same outing as last night, but maybe 30sec faster on the way up. All hiking. Shin is tight. Cold morning in the lower 30s!
PM: 1:24, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd with Jeff and Aron. All hiking. On the way down we hung out at the base of the First Flatiron for a bit watching the scramblers rip up the East Face. Pretty inspiring watching Stefan and others literally run up the first thin 5.6 pitch in a pair of Crosslites like it was a 3rd Class slab. Stefan completed the Chat-to-Chat roundtrip (including the downclimb, eschewing the 100ft rappel) in an impressive 34:02, less than a minute off the FKT (which he holds).

10-20-2011
Thu-AM: 1:14, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Kinda broke out of my lethargic funk of the last few days with a 33:23 ascent, but my shin was still tight, so all hiking.
PM: Appt w/ Mark Plaatjes.

10-21-2011
Fri-AM: 1:19, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Tired again this morning with little motivation.

10-22-2011
Sat- 5:29, 7000' ~ Almagre Mt. + Incline
Went down to Colorado Springs this morning to take advantage of the late-season snow-free-ness that the Pikes Peak region still offers at high altitudes. Parked at the upper Gold Camp lot (top of Cheyenne Canyon Dr, 7500') and hiked up 7 Bridges to Jones Park and then kept going up Bear Creek to the base of Almagre's north ridge at 10,100'. Left the trail here at 1:31 and fought through the loose gravel to gain the ridge at ~11,200'. Stayed right on the ridge all the way to the summit, mostly boulder-hopping and scrambling with enough snow to spice things up and keep it interesting. From the summit I went south to Stratton Reservoir and the headwaters of North Cheyenne Creek where I took the goat path down the canyon and essentially followed the creek drainage all the way back to the car (on trails), some official, some not. Upon finishing I immediately drove the ~15min over to Ruxton Ave in Manitou and ground up the Incline in 22:48, descending Barr Trail.

10-23-2011
Sun-AM: 1:30, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st/2nd access. Tired this morning, could really feel yesterday's long outing in my legs.

Hours: 18h35m
Vert: 31,100'

I started out the week quite optimistic about my shin, but a slight transgression on Tuesday morning put it just a little back over the edge and I was stuck with hiking the rest of the week. On top of that, I was just plain tired this week. I guess vert takes its toll, even if it's not technically running. The week ended on a highlight, though, with my day-trip to the Springs on Saturday.

Pikes Peak has a unique climate all its own that usually means it's the state's 14er that stays snow-free(ish) the latest in the fall and becomes comfortably(ish) foot-traffic accessible the earliest in the spring. Each year I try to take advantage of this by making my way up into the alpine down there one last time, usually around Halloween. This year, I was interested in a trip up and over Almagre Mountain (Pikes' 12,400' little brother to the south) because the trails down there are steeper and more direct than the heavily-switchbacked and gradual Barr Trail on Pikes Peak. Indeed, by taking the Seven Bridges Trail up North Cheyenne Canyon and then continuing on other less-traveled (but easily followed) paths further up the drainage, one can gain nearly 5000' in little more than six miles. Not bad.

My ascent of the north ridge of Almagre, though, turned out to be a bit less ideal than I'd hoped. This ridge looks like a fabulous and logical line on maps and from a distance, and in reality the ridge itself was quite a lot of fun--airy but nowhere-near-fatal exposure on both sides with solid tundra and boulder fields on its upper reaches--but the first 1000' required to gain that ridge was a giant pain in the ass.

Geologically, the Pikes Peak Massif is an enormous igneous intrusion of Pikes Peak Granite, which exists in various stages of decomposition. This granite starts out as a suitably solid material (the mountain exists, afterall) but over time (and at varying rates) weathers first to chossy rock, then a relatively unstable rock-like matrix, and finally the ubiquitous Pikes Peak gravel that is the defining characteristic of the region's trails. The lower reaches of Almagre's north ridge is dominated by this gravel, giving it all the shiftiness and solidity of a sand dune. It took me 50min to go maybe a mile and a half (granted, this included over 2k' of vertical, but with better footing I could've easily dispatched of this in less than 30min), and left me with little desire to ever struggle through this line again, let alone establish it as a regular part of my outings in the region. Other than for some very short-lived sockless postholing in a shaded canyon, the rest of the loop was fantastic.

I punctuated the day with a quick lap on Manitou's Incline. This hugely popular staircase of railroad ties offers up 2000' of vert in one mile, about as stout and constant a climb as you'll be able to find anywhere without venturing into consistent 4th or 5th Class territory. Despite living in the Springs for seven years, Saturday was only the third or fourth time I've ever climbed the Incline, and the first time since my freshman year of college 10 years ago (due to my before-now largely anti-hiking bias, I suppose). Even with all of the very specific hiking I've been doing lately, it was really tough. Part of that was the fact that it came at the end of an already big day with way too few calories, but by time I'd crawled my way to the top I realized that this particular climb has a lot to teach me--I hope to get back on it sometime soon, and often. Sub-20min feels like a good goal.

Saturday's route.

Seven Bridges Trail, North Cheyenne Creek Canyon.

North ridge of 12,400' Almagre Mt.

Summit, with Pikes.

Headwaters of North Cheyenne Creek at 12,000'.

Incline summit.

Posing on the Incline a couple years ago for a magazine article. Photo: Dave Philipps.

Week Summary: Oct 10 - 16

2011-10-16T19:59:00.002-06:00

First Flatiron.

10-10-2011
Mon-AM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Hiking the whole way.
PM: 1:27, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down 3rd access route. Hiking. Great moonrise.

10-11-2011
Tue-AM: 1:26, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down front mellow with Gavin. Massage with Jeff Staron.
PM: 1:27, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down front. Unfortunately, the full moonrise was obscured by clouds on the horizon.

10-12-2011
Wed-AM: 1:26, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down front again with Gavin. Tired.
PM: 1:27, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Cranked out a 32:58 hiking PR ascent. In the dark w/o a headlamp on the way down, so it was slow going.

10-13-2011
Thu-AM: 1:58, 2800' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green.
Climbed the 3rd with Buzz. He belayed me on the downclimb (SW Chimney), which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and then I continued on to tag the summit of Green. Can't believe the time change doesn't happen for another three weeks, I'm tired of the dark mornings.

10-14-2011
Fri-AM: 2:19, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up the front and then exploring out towards the south summit of Green and down to Dinosaur Mountain. Involved more awkward 4th Class downclimbing than I'd hoped, but the summit of Dinosaur above Mallory Cave is quite unique.
PM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down the front totally in the dark. My legs felt great on the 33:20 ascent and I spent a lot of time on top watching the orange harvest moon rise.

10-15-2011
Sat-AM: 1:43, 3600' ~ Green Mt.
Via Skunk Canyon. After biking over to the base of Skunk Canyon I actually ran the entire 17min approach to the Mesa Trail and the climber's trail that takes off up from there. The shin was surprisingly pain-free (first running steps I've taken on it since last Saturday), so on the way back down I ran all of this same section of trail for a total of ~30min of running on this outing.
PM: 1:18, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front with a hiking PR 32:05 ascent. Legs felt great tonight and I'm not sure it's possible for me to hike this route any faster. This is only 1:21 off of my absolute PR on the mountain (on a slightly different route), which leads me to believe that my heart/lungs are actually in fairly decent shape but I'm just held back by mechanics right now.

10-16-2011
Sun-AM: 1:37, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. For the first time in weeks I ran the 16min from my doorstep to the base of Amphitheater and then the 13min from the base back home. The shin felt basically fine, but my running stride felt awkward on the pavement. All of my travel on the actual mountain was hiking. The uphill because I can hike it nearly as quickly as running with way less stress on my lower legs; the downhill because the steep downhill is more shock than I'm willing to impart on my shin just yet. Baby steps. I'll be psyched if I can maintain this 30min/day of running (with copious hiking) through the next week.
PM: 1:22, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st access. Legs were very solid tonight and I was happy to sneak this outing in before it was fully dark.

Hours: 20hr (1hr of running)
Vert: 35,200'

I was rather disheartened earlier in the week when my shin seemed to have regressed several steps, but by the end of the week things had seemed to calm down a bit again. I think I just have to be very careful now to not get too excited and limit any running to just one outing per day, and keep it in the 30min range for at least the next week.

In the meantime, this:

and the impossibly catchy "Don't Move" off of Phantogram's soon-to-be-released new EP have me very excited for their show at the Marquis Theater in Denver at the end of the month.

EDIT:
What I've been doing, instead of running, for the past two months. From Monday morning 10/17/2011. Cloudy morning, so it was a little dark at first, before the sun made it's way over the horizon. I cheat a little at the end.

Week Summary: Oct 3 - 9

2011-10-09T12:22:00.003-06:00

10-3-2011
Mon-AM: 2:09, 2600'
1st Flatiron+Green Mt. Went up the First with Buzz and then continued on to Green's summit. Then drove 8hrs to Rico, CO. Fall colors were at a spectacular peak.

10-4-2011
Tue-AM: 1:38, 3000'
Lizard Head Peak. Slept in the Roost at the Cross Mt trailhead last night and ran by headlamp at 5am. Above 12,000' I was in a very thick fog and could only see a few feet in front of me in my light beam. Scrambled up the final talus ridge to the vertical base of the actual Lizard Head volcanic breccia plug (~13k'). When the sky finally lightened on the way down most views were obscured by the low clouds but I got one great view of the peak (unfortunately, the Wilson Group was still largely hidden) before getting rained/graupeled on for much of the descent back to the trailhead.

10-5-2011
Wed-AM: 1:00, 1000'
Tomboy Road out and back. Another 5am headlamp affair, so the many spectacular views in Telluride were missing. Shin was quite sore today.

10-6-2011
Thu- Off. Another early morning in Rico (which involved blizzard-like conditions while getting over Lizard Head Pass and then later on when collecting water samples) and the 8hr drive home combined with yesterday's sore shin made it easy to not do any specific exercise today.

10-7-2011
Fri-AM: 1:05, 2600'
Green Mt. up 3rd and down front. Pretty tired today but really enjoyed the sun after not having it for most of the week in the San Juans. Mostly running on this outing.

10-8-2011
Sat-AM: 1:01, 2600'
Green Mt. up and down front. First snow! 32:55 ascent mixing running and hiking and with traction issues through the final talus switchbacks. My shin still won't tolerate running on the steepest grades but does okay on steep downhills.
PM: 1:26, 2600'
Green Mt. up 3rd and down Ranger-Gregory. Was caught by darkness near the summit, so most of the descent was a hike (good for the shin) despite the bright moon.

10-9-2011
Sun-AM: 1:13, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down front. Not a lot of motivation this morning because I was worried about my shin, but by sticking to completely hiking (35min ascent) up and down, I definitely didn't do any damage.

Hours: 9h32 (~4hr of actual running)
Vert: 16,900'

Ugh. I am getting tired of not being able to run comfortably and worry-free. I have another massage planned for early this week, but I wish I had been able to get in sometime this past week--it really seemed to make a difference. I also have to be better about not getting over-excited once I'm able to do some pain-free running. There are still days where I can't believe I've been dealing with this same nuisance (shin tendonitis) for so long. When it snowed here in Boulder on Saturday morning and I was out on Green I remembered that I was on Green the last time it snowed (in May) and my shin was a concern then too. Ridiculous.

On another note, being down in the San Juans this week reaffirmed my conviction that Hardrock is the number one priority if the lottery gods shine on me favorably in a couple of month's time. The mountains there are simply spectacular.

Lizard Head (ridge of ascent on the left).

The Roost back at the Cross Mt. Trailhead with Sheep Mt. in the clouds.

I'm ready for the time change to occur -- the sun needs to rise earlier.

Sunshine Mt.

Ophir Needles and Yellow Mt.

First snow.

Saturday morning.

Week Summary: Sept 26 - Oct 2

2011-10-02T20:43:00.001-06:00

09-26-2011
Mon-AM: 1:25, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. Shin was more tight today than usual. Too much running with it over the weekend. Exhausted all day after too many days in a row with little sleep.

09-27-2011
Tue-AM: 1:20, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. Beautiful fall morning.
PM: 1:26, 2800'
Green Mt. up 3rd with Jeff. Shin only allowed me to hike on the way down (probably much to Jeff's frustration), but our slower pace allowed Aron to catch up with us back down in the parking lot. Perfect fall evening.

09-28-2011
Wed-AM: 2:36, 3000'
2nd Flatiron+Green Mt. Cruised up the 2nd Flattie w/ Buzz and then continued on up to the summit.
PM: 2:19, 4000'
3rd Flatiron+Green Mt. Hit the Third with Jenny and then continued on up to the summit. Summer-like day pushing 90F.

09-29-2011
Thu-AM: 1:31, 2800'
Green Mt. up and down Third. Got out with Scottie this morning and showed him the hiking skills I've been honing. It's frustrating, I think I'm actually in fairly good shape right now (cardiovascularly), I just can't quite run! Awesome overcast, cool fall morning.
PM: 1:24, 2800'
Green Mt. up and down Third. Nice hard effort this evening, 40:45 from Chat. Not sure why the vert is consistently more on this route--I guess there are a couple of rollers on the route that add up?

09-30-2011
Fri-AM: 1:50, 4000'
Green Mt.+2nd Flatiron. Went up and down the 3rd route, climbed the 2nd Flatiron then went up to behind the 1st Flatiron and down Saddle-Amp. Ran all of the descents today, which was definitely notable. Ridiculously agonizing massage with Jeff Staron in the afternoon. I can say with certainty that I've never been in more prolonged acute pain than when Jeff works on my shin.

10-1-2011
Sat-AM: 1:05, 2800'
Green Mt. up 3rd and down front with Jeff, Homie and Brandon. Awesome morning out with some great guys. Ran the whole Bluebell Rd approach and then the whole way down, too. Shin seems to be moving in the right direction?
PM: 1:04, 2800'
Green Mt. up and down 3rd. Super-encouraging outing, best my shin has felt since it started acting up again. Maybe all the massage pain yesterday was worth it? Time trial type effort on the way up.

10-2-2011
Sun-AM: 1:06, 2800'
Green Mt. up 3rd and down Gman-Amp. Shin continued to feel good, same as last night. Ran a good bit of the approach to the 3rd and then ran all the way down. Still some twinges and favoring for sure, but hugely improved from just a couple days ago.
PM: 1:04, 2800'
Green Mt. up 3rd and down G-SR-Amp.

Hours: 18h10
Vert: 35,600'

The week started out a bit shaky after probably overdoing it on the shin last weekend, but I still got out for a lot of hiking vert. The back end of the week has been quite good since the massage with Jeff Staron on Friday. The shin is still superficially sore to the touch from his work, but the function is far improved. Now is the time to just try and remain disciplined and not negate any healing with my zeal for the mountains. This is especially tough because the absolutely stellar autumn weather continues here on the northern Front Range. This next week will be interesting as I'll be down in Rico, CO on the west side of the San Juan mountains. This is certainly an incredibly scenic area--part of the best in the state, in my opinion--but I'll probably be spending most of my time underground in a mine...hoping to tag some early early morning summits, though. There look to be plenty of enticing options right from town, even if it requires charging up some interpretive fell-lines.

Longs Peak.

Upper Greenman colors.

Week Summary: Sept 19-25

2011-09-25T23:23:00.002-06:00

09-19-2011
Mon-AM: 1:24, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amphi-Greenman. Tired after last night's ascent.

09-20-2011
Tue-AM: 1:20, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. Snappy 35:15 ascent and THREE bear sightings! The first was a small black bear on lower Greenman who promptly went crashing into the underbrush. The second and third were when I was coming down on Saddle Rock below the spring and just above the first rock outcropping. They were hanging out in the drainage to the west and both were quite large, one black and the other tinted more with brown. They seemed only mildly anxious and eventually ambled off into the woods up towards the Saddle Rock itself.
PM: 1:33, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. 34:30PR hike up and I somehow managed to see two more bears, which brings my seasonal tally to nine! The first was just after the Bluebell-Baird trail junction, right as the trail drops down to connect with the start of Amphitheater. A big black bear was right on the trail and went crashing down into the Gregory Creek drainage to the north. The second was drinking from the spring on Saddle Rock trail, right in the middle of the trail. Another big black bear. I wonder whether that was the same big black bear I saw in that general area this morning. My 6:30pm start meant that the hike down was almost entirely in the dark and quite slow going as a result.

09-21-2011
Wed-AM: 1:20, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. Tired from last night's ascent.

09-22-2011
Thu-AM: 2:22, 2700'
Eldorado Mt. via Rattlesnake Gulch and NW Ridge. Really slow-going in places but got lots of practice on boulder fields. Most notably, I actually ran the last 26min back down to town with only minor protest from my post-tib/soleus. Definitely progress. All the rest was hiking, of course, which was especially frustrating on the way up the initial shallow grades.

09-23-2011
Fri-AM: 2:30, 2100'
2xFlattie3. Met Buzz and Peter at Chat and went up the super-classic East Face of the Third. After making the 200ft mostly free rappel directly off the backside the ropes wouldn't pull, so Peter and I cruised a much, much quicker second ascent (:26 vs. almost an hour for the first lap) and instead descended the two-pitch rappel down the SW side. Fantastic morning with only one other party on the rock (on the first pitch of the second lap).
PM: 1:14, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amp-Gman. 33:20 PR climb, felt great. Got caught by darkness on Saddle Rock on the way down, but not nearly as bad as on Tuesday.

09-24-2011
Sat-AM: 1:58, 3200'
Bear Pk+Slab from Cragmoor. Hiking the whole way did 46:10 to the summit (much too flat between Crag and the mouth to warrant a hike, but my shin is still limiting me) and 23:00 from the mouth of Fern to the top. Felt pretty good about hiking the canyon in 10:15 (Horn)/12:45 (to the summit). Slab lap was quick, and then I ran the 18min back down to Cragmoor from behind the Slab with moderate babying of the shin.
PM: 1:37, 2700'
Mt. Victoria (11,785') in Frisco. Didn't start until 7pm, so most of the climb was in very dim to no light and the run/walk descent was entirely by the light of my headlamp. Bailed on the Peak 1 ascent goal because I wasn't sure of the route above Mt. V, and it was completely dark.

09-25-2011
Sun-AM: Video shoot at the Maroon Bells in Aspen. Spectacular fall colors, and mountains, but too much running for my shin.
PM: 2:26, 4500'
La Plata Peak (14,336'). Pow-hike to the summit from Highway 82 of 1:23:55. Mixed in a fair bit of running (about 25min worth) on the way down in 1:02. Had the mountain almost entirely to myself the whole way and made it down just before the sun really set and it got dark.

Hours: 17h44 (a little more than an hour of which was actual running)
Vert: 27500'

This was a great week with lots of quality time in the mountains, but some lower-leg tendonitis is still preventing me from enjoying much of that time in the form of running. Nevertheless, I seem to actually be getting into decent-ish shape as evidenced by reasonably quick hiking ascents of Green. I was particularly pleased to get in my first 14er of the year this evening. On one hand, it is semi-depressing/disappointing that it's taken me this long to get up a real mountain this year, but on the other--after breaking my leg this summer--I have to just remind myself how grateful and happy I am to be getting out in the mountains at all right now! I put in a good effort on La Plata and I'd be interested to know how that ascent stacks up against someone fit who is trying to run every step.

Saturday and Sunday I was doing a bit of filming (well, talking and running for me) for this forth-coming documentary, and the trip up to Aspen and the Maroon Bells was well worth the drive. I usually make it up there at some point every year during peak foliage, but for some reason the beauty of the Bells was particularly striking today.

Eldo.

Rare perspective on SoBo and Bear Peaks from Eldo Mt.

Third Flatiron. BB photo.

Green evening.

Route on La Plata. 14ers.com photo.

La Plata.

Ellingwood Ridge and Mt. Elbert.

6pm summit.

FKT Ruminations

2011-09-21T12:06:00.001-06:00

I was recently walking down Green Mountain and thinking (vaguely, haphazardly, as on-the-trail thought processes are wont to be) about the concept of Fastest Known Times (FKTs). Here in Boulder, they seem very natural, as much a part of the local mountain running culture and lore as La Sportivas and energy gels (how fast can you run up the front side of Green Mt? Bear Peak from Cragmoor TH? SoBo Peak from South Mesa TH?). Indeed, the as-far-as-anyone-can-tell pioneers--Peter Bakwin and Buzz Burrell--of the now codified term have been Boulder residents for way way way longer than I've even been alive and have been doing highly impressive things in the mountains for at least as long. I'll leave the Googling up to you.

The master sprinting up Flattie3.

Upon examination, though, the FKT concept is a uniquely Boulderian manifestation. First, although blessed with abundant open space and highly accessible local peaks and trails, the rules and regs here strictly forbid any kind of organized, competitive event on these lands. I am not here to offer an opinion on these rules, but merely suggest that the inherent lack of races has, over time, instead led to an obsession with individuals communally tracking their best running/climbing times on obvious routes and lines.

Second, Boulder is a supremely active and outdoorsy place. A lot of people here get excited about mountain sports (the Reel Rock Tour Premiere at the Boulder Theater last week yielded a line of people that stretched entirely around the block--hard to imagine that happening in any other city of this size in the country. Or maybe any other US city, period). And when that happens, the alpha males (and females?) of this crowd inevitably start challenging each other and themselves to be better (faster, longer, stronger?) than they were yesterday. Mix these two ingredients with the invention and proliferation of the Internet and you've created a whole 'nother method of quantifying a culture.

The do-it-yourself and vaguely subversive, underground nature of FKTs is the primary attraction for me. FKTs tend to exist on routes where races aren't allowed (or the organization of one would be far too involved), but the line is so pure and obvious and hews to a certain geographical or mountain aesthetic (summit link-ups, circumnavigations in general and range traverses all come to mind) that it simply begs to be cleaned in a single, concerted push. The satisfaction that comes from pushing oneself all-out to explore a personal limit is still there but the hoopla and expense of a race isn't, even if one prepares with as focused of a training regimen as he or she would for a race. It's a very primal and largely unfettered way of being in the mountains and testing oneself.

Fell runners of the UK seem to have latched on to this concept decades ago with the establishment of the Bob Graham Round--a link-up of 42 peaks in less than 24 hours in the English Lake District. Legendary fell runner Joss Naylor built on this concept by eventually stringing together 72 peaks (and 105mi/38,000' of vert!) in 23:20 in 1975. The Round has never become a formal race but records are kept for the route and as with any FKT-style effort, the spirit of moving quickly on inspiring, gnarly terrain is at the core of these feats' appeal.

Joss Naylor

In the world of climbing, they're simply called speed records, not FKTs, and, beyond first ascents, they're the primary way that the sport has continued to push the boundaries of inspired movement in the mountains while mostly avoiding the forced and artificial atmosphere of, say, a bouldering comp on plastic holds. Legendary speed records like that of (currently) Dean Potter and Sean Leary's team effort on El Capitan's Nose route or Dani Arnold (2:28) and Ueli Steck's (2:47) Eiger North Face times (Arnold used aid in some spots while Steck completely free-climbed his ascent) are both outstanding examples of individuals racing up two of the most historic and aesthetic lines in the world.

Arnold running up the Eiger.

For me, personally, I know a deeper connection is formed between myself and a place if I am closer to my zenith of physical effort. This is a huge part of the appeal of an FKT---it offers a reason to go to some of the most beautiful places in the world, seek a compelling route and have a personally meaningful experience in the context of that landscape.

In a way, though, the ambiguity and individual nature of an FKT is a self-protecting part of the concept that keeps it from, hopefully, becoming too fraught with the egos and hype that can surround racing. The term itself--fastest known time--is a way of hedging one's bets; we think this is the current best possible performance on this route, but of course, we don't really know as everyone sort of does their own thing, maybe there has been a faster unknown performance, etc., etc. Placing one's athletic worth on the foundation of an FKT is inadvisable at best, most likely silly, and delusional at worst. Such ambiguity should be a healthy reminder to focus on the experience and process of simply moving quickly and efficiently in nature--embodying that most primal of activities--and not worrying unduly about the end-goal result.

A quick example of when FKTs don't make sense: Here in Boulder where there are no races allowed, FKTs exist almost organically, but in my original mountain running home-base of Colorado Springs, the notion of keeping track of such things becomes almost instantly comical, because races are allowed there. The Barr Trail up Pikes Peak is maybe the most obvious line up and down almost any mountain in the country, but there is no need for an FKT on the mountain because Matt Carpenter has already laid down a ridiculously stout course record in the sanctioned race. However, on the entirely aesthetic Mt. Rosa just to the south an equally obvious and pure line exists up its east face that climbs 5mi and 4000' to it's 11,500' summit cone. If that peak existed in Boulder it would be the most valued FKT in the area.

Mt. Rosa

Instead, being in COS, there are two things that make establishing an FKT for Rosa seem kinda pointless:
1) We could just organize a race up that peak!
2) It is (still!) hard to think of anyone in the area other than Matt who could/would hold such a record. (And by quite a large margin...this is a self-admittedly unfocused 47-year old who a month ago essentially jogged a 2:19 Pikes Peak Ascent--"I never wanted to feel my legs on the climb"--en route to winning the Pikes Peak Marathon yet again.) Basically, when such an outlier of a giant in a sport exists in an area there's hardly any reason to keep records on such things--everyone already knows who the King Bee is.

Matt running to an excellent 2:11/3:36 on Pikes Peak, 2008. Photo: Buzz Burrell.

Nevertheless, in the future, I look forward to hopefully applying my mountain running abilities to a growing list of iconic lines and more personal projects, as to me, it feels like the most authentic mode of exploring my limits in the mountains.

Week Summary: Sept 12 - 18

2011-09-18T22:28:00.005-06:00

09-12-2011
Mon-AM: 1:27, 1500'
Creede, CO.

09-13-2011
Tue - 0
Creede, CO.

09-14-2011
Wed - 0

09-15-2011
Thu-AM: 1:15, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amphi-Greenman (hiking). Felt really good. Awesome low clouds. Appt with Dr. Jeremy Rodgers in the afternoon.

09-16-2011
Fri - 0
Driving home to Nebraska.

09-17-2011
Sat-AM: 1:30
Hiking around the farm with Dad.
PM: 1:00
Hiking in Niobrara State Park with family. Railroad Bridge, etc.

09-18-2011
Sun-PM: 1:17, 2500'
Green Mt. up and down Amphi-Greenman (hiking PR: 34:35). Felt awesome. Perfect evening.

Hours: 6:29
Vert: 6500'

So it turns out that having your leg limp and non-weight bearing for two months isn't the best thing for it. My lower leg wasn't quite ready for running yet and at the end of last week it let me know that by having my soleus/post tib flare up a good bit again. I've lost a ton of flexibility in my lower legs (10 degrees dorsiflexion) and need to work to get that back again--along with specific strengthening--before my lower leg will oblige pain-free running again. So it goes, I guess I knew it was going to be a long process.

I had loads of travel this week but it was really fantastic visiting my home in Nebraska when it was neither sweltering hot and humid nor brutally windy and cold (when I usually head home for the holidays). It was a fantastic place to gain an appreciation for the natural world growing up.

Back to the hiking it is for probably a couple of weeks as I baby along my legs' ability to withstand the more dynamic running motion, but as far as uphills go, I must say pow-hiking up Green this evening in only 34min was a pretty darn close facsimile of the real deal. Especially the changing leaves on the trail and the sun setting over the Indian Peaks. Just great for the legs and soul. After this past busy week I look forward to being much more consistent in reaching Green's summit again.

Trail from Main Street, Creede, CO.

Commodore Mine: where West Willow Creek turns orange.

Creede, CO.

Upper Greenman Trail.

Lower Amphitheater Trail.

Infinite miles of this at home--relentlessly rolling dirt roads. Not a bad running surface to grow up on.

Dad with the rugged landscape on our property where I cut my off-road teeth. Missouri River in the background.

Love the red sumac in the fall.

Classic prairie veg in the foreground (Big Bluestem, Side-oats Gramma, Yucca, Prickly Pear Cactus, etc.). Home in the background, barn peeking through the cottonwoods, ashes, elms, boxelders, etc.

Massively flooded Missouri River. The far shore is South Dakota. The arcing Highway 12 on the left re-emerged from the waters only 10 days ago. The Fort Randall Dam above Niobrara and the Gavins Point Dam below it both had record releases of water in June and July of 160,000 cfs. Which was more than twice the previous record (Niagara Falls is ~100,000 cfs).

Closest thing I had to a mountain. Top of Niobrara State Park, 400' vert from the river bottom.

And the beginning of the trail climbing it.

Quite steep for "flat" Nebraska.

Week Summary: Sept 5 - 11

2011-09-11T10:04:00.003-06:00

9-5-2011
Mon-AM: 5:20, 4100' - James Peak (13,294')
Hiked up from the East Portal TH with Jocelyn. Perfect weather day. Longest day I've spent on my leg since I broke it and everything seemed to hold up just fine.

9-6-2011
Tue-AM: 1:13, 3200' - Slab+Bear Peak
Biked to the Cragmoor TH to meet Buzz where we ran up to the base of the Slab for a scramble lap on that before he headed back down and I marched up Fern to tag the summit. Overcast, gloomy day made for perfect conditions. Ran the ~1.5mi back down to the trailhead, too, from the mouth of Fern Canyon.

9-7-2011
Wed-AM: 1:26, 2800' - Green Mt.
Up and down the front. Raining, crisp morning made for awesome weather and meant I had the mountain all to myself for my first real run since I broke my leg back in June. Ran every step door-summit-door with no ill effects. So good to be back. The cool weather down here made it feel like it had to be snowing up in the high country.

9-8-2011
Thu-AM: 1:35, 2800' - Green Mt.
Up Flattie2, down Ranger-Flag. Another morning with awesome conditions and an incredible sunrise. All of yesterday's rain made the trail super-tacky and fast. Nice descending Flag to EGF Park as it leaves me with only a couple blocks of pavement.

9-9-2011
Fri-AM: 1:46, 3200' - Green Mt.
Up Flattie2, down Greenman-Gregory and then an extra ~500' bop up Flagstaff trail and down to Viewpoint and EGF to avoid pavement on the way home.
PM: 1:40, 1700' - Slab (hiking/climbing)
Jocelyn and I started from Cragmoor (she was running). I hiked hard up to the Slab, changed shoes, and soloed it before hiking back down. Climb took a bit longer than I'd planned because I got a good bit off route and into some slightly steeper terrain than I'd anticipated.

9-10-2011
Sat-AM: 1:38, 2800' - Green Mt.
Up Amp-SR-Gman, down Gman to Flagstaff and EGF. Another awesome fall morning. Had nice footwork on the way down.

9-11-2011
Sun-AM: 1:10, 1100' - Betasso Preserve
Ran super easy with Jocelyn and Jen checking out these trails. Cool area but mt. bike trails are too smooth and flat.

Hours: 15h49
Vert: 21,700'

Really great week getting back on the trails and getting into regular running again. Other than James Peak, there were only a couple other hours of hiking this week, making for ~8hrs of running. This next week will be quite a bit more subdued because of a bunch of traveling I'll be doing, but that will probably be a good thing just to ensure that I don't ramp up too quickly.

Right now my fibula feels absolutely perfect, but as I was afraid way back in June (the day I broke my leg, one of the first things I said to Jocelyn was, "I just hope I don't take three months off and then still have this posterior tibial tendonitis") the tendonitis in my shin is definitely still there a little bit. Part of me is borderline defeatingly frustrated with it while another part is confident that with appropriate therapy and rehab I'll get it completely healed this time...I mean, I just took three months off! So, we'll see, but this next week will be easier either way.

Rogers Pass with James Peak.

Continental Divide, looking north.

Flatties sunrise.

Green summit.

Mountain Celebrations

2011-09-07T14:13:00.001-06:00

Today in Boulder it is definitely fall. I awoke to low, heavy clouds, falling rain and crisp temps that all say summer is over. One of the best things about this time of year is the occasion for gathering to celebrate with other like-minded folks the past season in the high country. The next few months offer many opportunities for that here in Boulder.

The REEL ROCK Film Tour World Premiere is next Thursday (September 15th) at 6:00 and 8:30pm at the Boulder Theater. Sender Films and Big Up Productions present six brand-new diverse climbing films from speed climbing the Nose on El Capitan to summiting Pakistan's 8000m+ Gasherbrum II in winter to a nine-year-old bouldering prodigy in NYC. As someone who draws motivation from all forms of inspired movement in the mountains, I'm very excited about this. Additionally, the founders of Sender Films are fellow alums of Colorado College. Check out the trailer.

Tickets are $15 from The Spot, Boulder Rock Club, Movement and Neptune Mountaineering in advance, and $20.75 at the Boulder Theater. This is sure to sell out, though.

The outdoor industry must be at least one context where a liberal arts education finds some utility, as a week later Sweetgrass Productions has a showing of their beautiful new film Solitaire at the Boulder Theater on September 22nd. Nick Waggoner--a former XC teammate of mine at CC--is the founder and director/producer at Sweetgrass, and as anyone who has seen their previous efforts in Handcut or Signatures knows, these guys aren't just cranking out more of your high-adrenaline, Warren Miller-esque, standard fare sicky gnar. Instead, Sweetgrass brings a much appreciated artistry and a focus on mountain culture to the genre of backcountry ski film. Here's the trailer.

SOLITAIRE: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

Finally, in more of a mountain running vein, there will be a reprisal of the Front Range Fat Ass Series again this off-season, kicking off with getting back to the Basics here in Boulder at the end of October, and then moving on to The Chubster up in Fort Collins on December 10th and finishing up with The Ponderous down in Manitou Springs on January 14, 2012. We'll be running the Ponderous loop in the opposite, clock-wise direction this year, which means we might as well get the tradition off on the right foot and make a mandatory ascent of the Incline the official course if one is planning on completing the full 30ish+ mile/8000'-ish loop.

Week Summary: Aug 29 - Sept 4

2011-09-04T18:05:00.002-06:00

08-29-2011
Mon-AM: 1:29, 2500′
Green, up and down Front.

08-30-2011
Tue-AM: 1:25, 2500′
Green, up and down Front.

08-31-2011
Wed-AM: 1:33, 2500′
Green Mt. up and down Front.

09-01-2011
Thu-AM: 2:00, 3000′
Green Mt., up Front and down Ranger-Gregory.

09-02-2011
Fri-AM: 1:30, 2800′
Bear Peak, up Fern from Cragmoor.

09-03-2011
Sat-AM: 1:30, 2800′
Bear Peak, up Fern from Crag.

09-04-2011
Sun-AM: 2:00, 2700′
Green Mt., up Front and down Flattie2.

Hours: 11h27 (only about an hour of which was actual running)
Vert: 18,800′

-------------------------------------------------

Great week back on the trails. Each day consisted of a bike ride to and from the trailhead (either Baseline or Cragmoor) and some quality time cranking up and easing down a mountain (hiking). The last three days I've finally started integrating some running back into the routine by jogging the first 15-20min of the day (on Bear, that means running to the mouth of Fern Canyon, and this morning that meant running from my doorstep to Gregory TH). The fibula feels good; moments of tightness but generally totally pain-free.

The thing I'm most excited about is the changing of the seasons. This morning I never felt the need to take my shirt off. I've had three bear sightings in the last 10 days. Select patches of vegetation are already turning yellow, and I can sleep at night without a fan blowing on me. It's my favorite time of year and I'm so excited to be able to get outside and enjoy it.

For pretty much my entire running life, Fall has been a time of year when I'm burnt out physically from a long summer of high mileage and racing (understandably, this was a pretty big bummer for my academic years when I was trying to compete as an XC athlete), but after barely running for the past seven months I am immensely enjoying my current insatiable mental psych and a fully rested body.

Enjoying some high country autumn with Kyle on Independence Pass, three years ago this weekend. Photo: David Clifford.

Progress

2011-09-02T21:52:00.002-06:00

This past week has witnessed me make yet another return to the trail. A couple weeks ago I (of course) got a touch hasty and enthusiastic and my fibula told me I needed a few more days of lazing around with my feet up. When I ventured up Green on Monday, though, things were fully back in order.

After a week's worth of Green outings, today I pedaled my bike the 24min over to the Cragmoor trailhead for a jaunt up what Joe likes to joke with me is the "Superior Summit". (With Green being the "Weaker Peak", of course, in Frogger parlance; all of this has to do with faux-snobbery and summit aesthetics. There is no doubt, Bear's summit cone decisively trumps Green in height, unobstructed views and exposure. Green is simply closer to my doorstep and more consistently runnable).

After switching bike shoes for MT110s and stashing my helmet and shoes in the bushes I tested the running waters with an 18min very light jog up the broad graveled path that leads to North Shanahan, the Fern Slab and the posts at the mouth of Fern Canyon. Everything felt great (it seems hiking has eased me back into a modicum of cardiovascular fitness), but I exerted some discipline and immediately fell into a hike as I entered the canyon. Within minutes, however, Fern's absurd grade and techy footing made my hunched over, hands-on-knees gait seem like the obvious (only) choice and I grunted and sweated my way to the summit, often even going so far as to reach out and use my hands for stability and power, four-wheeling my way up the peak.

Comparing my hiking times to my typical running times was interesting. Typically, when fit and healthy I'll run from the mouth of Fern to the Nebelhorn Saddle in a mid-9 to low-10min split, gaining the actual summit in another 13-14min. Today, hiking every step, my Horn split was 10:50 and it took me another 13:25 to get to the top for a 42min total climb from Cragmoor. So, there seemed to be almost no benefit to running above the Horn and maybe a minute's worth of benefit below there. I'll be curious as to how these splits develop in the future as I continue to work the running back in.

In other news, I am on the cover of South Africa's Go Trail online magazine this month, with a feature-length interview (pg 18) and some NB Trail Minimus commentary (pg 44) inside.

Return

2011-08-17T20:06:00.010-06:00

I think I'm back. Not really in any substantial sense, yet, but enough that my daily routine has very much begun to take on its old, familiar, comfortable rhythm of wake up, tag a summit, sit at a desk trapped behind a computer for a few hours (thesis...), read a book, fall asleep, do it again. It is rewarding. And I've missed it. Mostly the tagging-a-summit part.

It has been nearly 10 weeks now since I tripped and inexplicably broke my fibula, so I went for my final post-injury check-up x-rays on Monday and all was good. The cap of bone that my hamstring yanked off the fibular head has fully re-docked and fused itself back into the correct spot, and there is little to no soreness associated with the injury anymore, aside from some faint murmurings upon aggressive manipulation with the fingers. I already tossed the crutches over three weeks ago and during the subsequent time have pursued a fairly consistent and progressively rigorous schedule of hiking to stimulate the final bit of bone growth and to begin reconditioning my legs to the demands of bipedal mountain travel.

(The only hitch in my progress came in the final weekend of July when I went for a hike up Arapahoe Pass in the Indian Peaks with Jocelyn and then the next day attended a trail work session on the Walker Ranch Loop. This little outing consisted of repeatedly humping uphill the largest rocks one could carry in order to stabilize a steep section of trail, and my leg told me pretty quickly that it wasn't quite ready yet for the extra weight. A few days of just easy walking around town, though, and I was back on track.)

Over the past couple weeks my outings have deliberately sought the steepest lines that Green Mountain has to offer. Hiking on flat terrain is, for me, not very interesting, so I've been hitting the routes that--even if I were 100% fit--would require some hiking. It's been a good reminder that A) it is very possible to completely destroy oneself on steep terrain without taking a single running step, and B) hiking hard uphill is a specialized skill that, once acquired, is an excellent thing to have in one's quiver as a mountain runner, especially over the 100mi distance.

A young Kilian marches to the 13,500' summit of Mt. Kinabalu during the 2007 Climbathon in Malaysia. This 21k event ascends 7600' in only 5.4 miles!

All of this has been even more brought into focus by the recent reports coming out of Europe regarding my compatriots' experiences at this past weekend's Sierre-Zinal mountain race in Switzerland. Before moving to Boulder two years ago, I ran everything, period. In 2006, after I had run my first 100 miler at Leadville, a friend asked me if I ever wanted to do Hardrock. I remember replying derisively, "You mean 'HardWALK'? No, I like to run." Obviously, my thinking has changed.

Since taking up residence in Boulder--where the trails are far more technical and steep than anything in Colorado Springs (barring the Incline)--I still run every step on the established routes, but like my mindset had to first shift to accept the merit of even training on such paths as Amphitheater and Fern Canyon (each offer stretches in the 40% range), in the past year or so my mindset has again shifted to not only accept but embrace the merits of grunting up truly steep and unrunnable terrain in training. Not only is there a compelling aesthetic about taking the most direct line to a summit, but the cardiovascular and muscular effort can be vicious whilst imparting virtually zero pounding on the legs. Hence my current training plan.

Yep, that's called a trail here in Boulder. Green Mountain summit push from the west.

I must credit Geoff (who truly has a penchant for seeking out the steep, unrunnable stuff), Kilian (whose actions convinced me it was acceptable to hike some of the rollers on Cal Street at last year's WS100--we still recorded the fastest split for that section in the history of the race) and Joe (who couldn't care less if he was hiking or running, trail or not, as long as the line is pure and the summit is the goal) for contributing to this mental shift. It will probably be another week or two before I'm consistently running to the summit again, but in the meantime I'll enjoy nearly as much getting there in an ever-so-slightly less dynamic fashion.

Geoff reaching a summit in Juneau, AK.

Kilian exhibiting the strain that hiking can incur at the Zegama Marathon in Spain.

Frogger channeling the aesthetic of his fell roots, in the Wasatch. Photo: Joe Grant.

Injury Update

2011-07-22T18:37:00.001-06:00

I went to Dr. Voss in Lafayette today to have my second post-injury follow-up x-ray. Things are coming along great compared to six weeks ago.

June 11th (day of injury) x-ray on left, today's (July 22nd) x-ray on the right.

The initial displacement of the chunk of fibular head (as seen on the left) has fully re-placed itself and has (according to Dr. Voss) now about 80% bridged back to the fibula itself. The x-ray image on the right is of much poorer quality, but things are coming along well. There's a bit of a gap still left on the lateral edge of the break that has yet to fully calcify, but despite this Dr. Voss already recommended extensive weight-bearing activity--biking, hiking, etc. He even said a little bit of very light jogging might be appropriate to help stimulate bone growth, but I think I'm going to hold off on that test for another week or so--see how it holds up to some hour-ish or so hikes first, and also give my quadricep some time to fully regain some girth.

While this is all very exciting for me, the past six weeks haven't been totally void of activity. The first couple of weeks following the leg injury did involve a lot of sitting. And icing. After the swelling had gone down, I eventually became much more mobile with the crutches and began to get out to do things. One of the most exciting things was crewing for Joe at the Hardrock 100 a couple of weeks ago, even if my busted leg meant that I couldn't do much more than hobble around and take pictures and maybe give him the occasional slap on the ass. Luckily, he had D-Bow and his wife Deanne to help with the more crucial aspects of in-race management.

Joe leaving Grouse Gulch (mi 42) at HR with D-Bow, Deanne, and myself in the background. Photo: Bob MacGillivray.

Of course, just being at Hardrock was immensely inspirational and motivating to try once again to get into that race for 2012. All of the downtime this summer has given me plenty of space to think about what kind of and which running events I want to pursue next year, but I suppose those topics are really more appropriate for a separate, future post. In the meantime, I'm just looking forward to getting back out on the trails (if only hiking) and maybe even pursuing a little cross-training (biking).

Geoff Roes Video

2011-06-20T11:30:00.009-06:00

Joel Wolpert has produced another video clip on a top ultrarunner--this time Geoff Roes--that does a fantastic job of portraying the subject and the surroundings in a vivid, authentic manner. Joel worked with me for a couple days last November--so I can vouch for his laid-back and unassuming demeanor--but with really no more than a steadi-cam and a tripod he's showing that it's possible to create compelling and insightful trail running media without helicopters and tens of thousands of dollars. I don't know about you, but I find this video inspiring:

Knee Update
My visits with the doctor last week went relatively well--or as well as could be expected, given the circumstances--and I won't be needing any kind of surgery on my crippled right knee. The CT scan came back negative for any kind of tibial plateau fracture--huge relief there--and the MRI showed no significant damage to any of the crucial stablizing ligaments in the knee (ACL, PCL, medial/lateral collateral ligaments). I did however, bruise my meniscus and bone bruise the head of the femur in addition to tearing my soleus, the knee capsule, and a more minor ligament in the back of my knee. But, with the broken fibula requiring ~8 weeks of inactivity anyways, these things should end up healing just fine on their own at the same time. I'd like to thank everyone for all the concerned/sympathetic phone calls, emails, and blog comments I've gotten since I hurt myself. And also for the countless baked goods, visits and car rides. You know who you are. I'm fortunate to have such a support group and I don't underestimate the effect that has in helping the healing process.

In the meantime, I'm trying not to get too frustrated with my crutches, and I'm looking forward to being able to ease back into running about the same time as Geoff moves back to the Boulder area at the end of the summer. Although I'm obviously super bummed we won't be running the Western States Trail together again next weekend, I definitely look forward to sharing some more miles with him this fall.

Bit Of A Break

2011-06-13T13:21:00.001-06:00

First: here is an interview I gave late last week.

Second:

On my run Saturday morning I'd just descended Green Mountain and was about to leave the Chautauqua meadows dirt for the mile-long paved jog back to my apartment when--on an embarrassingly benign stretch of smooth trail--I caught my left toe on something and instead of just faceplanting (and merely scraping/bruising my forearms) like I usually do, my right leg came through to catch my fall, which would've been fine except that my right knee then hyperextended violently with an audible crack and I fell to the ground. As this happened I had a few involuntary screams owing to the fact that I'd just ripped my hamstring and IT band off the fibular head, along with a sizeable chunk of bone. Of course, I wouldn't really know that until later after I got x-rays and whatnot, which apparently also show some potential damage to the tibial plateau.

(Misplaced hunk of bone floating around there above the fibular head.)

With many thanks to a lot of friends--most notably Jeremy Rodgers for calmly and efficiently dealing with my desperate phone calls and emails on a weekend--I'll be seeing an orthopedist here in Boulder later this week to determine the full extent of the damage (via a CT scan) and to see what it's going to take to get this puppy healed and back to strength. Preliminary prognosis (given no ACL damage, which is possible) is 6-8 weeks on crutches and then another 4+ weeks on top of that before I can start thinking about taking a running step.

It's still kinda hard for me to grasp the fact that I'm going to miss the entire summer of spectacular weather, but it's not really worth worrying about facts that are now out of my control and I definitely realize that, unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there with even more debilitating and serious concerns than a blown-up knee. Doesn't mean it doesn't still suck, though.

Western States 100 Film Trailer

2011-06-01T13:51:00.000-06:00

Geoff (on the ground) and me on the Western States 100 finish line, 2010. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Last year's Western States 100 ended up being a bit of a paradigm shift for the top levels of mountain ultra racing. Western States was the first official 100 mile foot race and continues to be the ultramarathon race with the richest history, deepest competitive fields, and highest media profile of any in North America, so when many of the top runners held on to finish strong (100 miles is such a long ways with so much time for so many different things to go wrong that it is rare for so many contenders to make it to the finish relatively hitch-free) and compete very closely all the way to the finish--with two of us substantially under the previous course record--it was arguably a milestone race in the history of the sport. While others will surely one day run Western States much faster than Geoff and I did in 2010 (that will probably even happen this year!), last year's event was one where it seems the 100 mile distance transitioned into truly becoming a race and not just an en masse jogging/hiking/survival contest.

I'm aware that all of that might sound nauseatingly self-serving, considering I was one of the prominent actors at the front of last year's race, but as a semi-obsessed fan of mountain racing--both contemporary and historically--I am highly aware that:

A) people raced really hard back in the earlier days of the sport as well, and
B) there have been plenty of other defining moments in the recent history of ultra distance mountain racing (Matt's 2005 Leadville, Kyle's 2008 Hardrock, Kilian's 2008 UTMB and Geoff's 2009 Wasatch, just to name a few, all stand out in my mind).

However, what made WS 2010 a little different was that, while all of those performances were notable for their singularity and sheer domination over history and the competition, at WS last year there was true head-to-head racing right up until the very end, in addition to a shattering of previous-fastest times.

Luckily for fans of the sport everywhere, ultrarunner and filmmaker JB Benna had the ambition, vision, enthusiasm and know-how to scrape together the resources and actually document the race last year through incisive pre- and post-race interviews with the top contenders and exclusive inside-the-lead-pack race footage. Fun stuff if you're a geek like me. The film's website is here.

And if you haven't yet seen this elsewhere, here is the excellent trailer:

As great as last year's race was, this year's event--in a little more then three weeks--is shaping up to be every bit as exciting, and probably even more so.

The high country snow is even deeper and more lingering than last year.

Two-time winner Hal Koerner is back healthy (he was injured last year, and had to depart the race at 80 miles) and racing better than ever.

Geoff and Kilian are returning for a reprisal of last year's battle.

There is maybe even more top-level depth with the likes of last year's 4th place break-out performer Nick Clark clearly in the best shape of his life, veteran Dave Mackey lacing together an undefeated season at top races on the circuit, WS rookie Mike Wolfe running well, foreigners Jez Bragg and Tsuyoshi Kaburaki back after podium finishes in 2009, and a whole slew of other notables that will pounce if any of these guys falter.

Sadly, I am probably the only podium-threat who won't be back at the race this year, my running continuing to be drastically hampered by tibial tendonitis ever since the Rocky Raccoon 100 way back in February. But I'll definitely be scouring the internet all day on June 25th hanging on every update just as every other fan who can't make it out to California should be.

May In The Mountains

2011-05-13T14:05:00.004-06:00

After an early and mild spring--and a significant taste of summer in the past week (I have the sunburned shoulders to prove it)--the last couple days have served Boulder with almost winter-like temperatures and some much needed moisture.

With only rain and a little graupel in town yesterday morning I only added a 3 oz. wind shirt/jacket to my usual t-shirt and shorts on my run up Green Mountain. This proved to be a bit of a mistake as by the time I crested the Saddle Rock ridge I was trudging through ~5" of snow and enduring a stiff western breeze. This morning's additional attire of shameless man-pri tights and gloves proved worth it as by the time Scott and I had gained Green's northwestern Ranger trail ridge it was snowing big, wet floppy flakes and there was a solid 8" of the slush on the summit.

Even with the chilly, wet conditions and with the summit engulfed in clouds I always enjoy these little breaks from Boulder's default of brilliant sunshine. Scott and I had first tracks to the top, and didn't see another soul out there--just the way I like it.

The summit of Green is barely visible through the mist in the upper right.

Scott on the winter-like summit of Green: 8" of snow!

And myself.

Descending the Greenman trail.

Looking down to town from the Saddle Rock overlook.

Not Really Running

2011-04-27T19:21:00.001-06:00

The past three months have been pretty terrible with regard to my running. Terrible in the sense that I haven't really been doing much of it. I first felt some (extremely mild) pain in my right shin back on January 11th after a track workout the previous day had clearly tightened up my posterior tibialis a bit. Over the next couple of weeks it gradually worsened little by little, but I figured my taper before the Rocky Raccoon 100 would loosen it up. Strangely, the reduction in running almost seemed to make it worse and on my short 30min jog the day before the race it was probably the most sore it had been yet. The shin was barely a worth-mentioning issue during the race itself (100 milers have a way of eventually making everything hurt), but--despite all kinds of treatment--it has almost completely sidelined me in the ensuing months--obviously looooong after any other race-related soreness/twinges were hindering me.

This has been rough--as being injured for extended periods of time always is, mentally and emotionally--but in my final semester of course-work for my masters degree I have been plenty busy with serving as a teaching assistant, and, in the last couple weeks, tending to my own end-of-the-semester exams and projects, which has required me to focus my energies elsewhere.

My desire to blog has always been a tenuous one. This blog is designed to be almost exclusively about my running, and there are always whole aspects to my life that shouldn't and won't ever make it onto these pages. Anyone who is interested about my initial purposes for blogging can easily go back and read my first post. Back then it was for very personal, even selfish, reasons that caused a certain amount of cognitive dissonance even in my own head as a blog is a very public space. But so it goes.

Over the past couple of years I've realized that maintaining a blog isn't such a personal thing as one might first think and that it is actually a very rewarding means by which to connect with others, share, and hopefully inspire and impact the community in a positive manner. I say it a lot, but running often feels like a very selfish activity to me, however, sharing my experiences with other interested folks via this blog and others has become an effective way to hopefully contribute and expand the impact of my running experiences beyond just my own little world.

That said, this is a running blog, and if there is a lack of posting it is most likely because either

A) I'm injured and not running much, or
B) I'm running plenty but other responsibilities in my life have temporarily consumed the time that I would otherwise spend composing a post. That is, actually living and doing will always take precedent--for me--over documenting and sharing on the internet.

The past month--or three months--has been a combination of both A and B.

On the bright side, running-wise, things have been looking slightly up over the last couple of weeks. I'm up to a daily whopping 5mi run with a ~1000' climb and am even feeling confident that tomorrow I might be able to bump that up to the 1500'/1hr outing that Flagstaff Mountain here in Boulder offers. While certainly better than not running at all, I hardly find these skimpy daily doses of dirt blog-worthy, so the content here will probably continue to be thin until my shin allows something more interesting.

With regards to racing, all bets are off until I am once again healthy and confident in my fitness. I don't line up for an ultramarathon unless I feel I can do the event and the competition justice by delivering a meaningful best effort. So, you won't see me at a starting line unless I'm confident in my ability to do that; if you do see me on a starting line, you can be sure that I feel ready to rip. I think the biggest reason that I'm injured this time is because back in January I let my ego take over and prod me to cram in too much training in too short of a period of time leading up to Rocky Raccoon. I am currently determined not to make that mistake again--instead, I hope to stick to the principles of gradual progression of mileage and reasonable overall training volume that facilitated my consistency for most of 2010--so there won't be a rush back to racing.

In the meantime, happy running, and I hope you enjoy this little slice of audio pleasure as much as I have been:

Until at least next week, back to the books.

Various Links

2011-04-05T01:37:00.002-06:00

I don't have a lot to report here, but there have been a couple recent prose contributions of mine published over at Running Times.

The first is an article I wrote a couple months ago for Rodale for which I was given the extremely broad prompt of "write about why you run trails" (a topic that I feel I have particularly oversaturated with my opinion). Although not published in its originally-intended location or medium, I am pleased that it is now in the public sphere at all.

The second is a post over on my RT blog about a trip I took this past weekend for a series of talks/presentations in Michigan.

Finally, my auditory experiences of the past couple of weeks have been dominated by the following song by Phantogram. (Well, the entire album, actually.)

Egregious, I know, but I've gotta recommend this acoustic version as well:

Waiting

2011-03-20T16:16:00.001-06:00

Friday morning this week I awoke to a slight smattering of wet snow here in town with the peaks above town exhibiting a frostiness that suggested there might be a little more snow up there. Against my better judgement I headed towards Fern Canyon sans Microspikes anyways and within minutes of entering the canyon and engaging its merciless grade I was viciously reminded: building running fitness is all about patience--this route was way more difficult for me than I'd hoped. It took all of my will power to maintain a running stride to the Nebelhorn saddle at the half-way point of the climb, and above there the fresh inch or so of snow hid and lubricated the sheets of ice underneath so that, without spikes, I was forced into a hands-on-knees hike the rest of the way to the summit of Bear Peak.

Sitting on the windless top of Bear, looking out over the serene inversion layer of clouds at my feet, I was simultaneously inspired and downtrodden. After a week of running up and down Green Mt., I thought that maybe I was ready to step up my game a bit, but Fern showed me just how close to the edge of my current fitness I've been playing all week and that that level of fitness is still (duh, it's only been a week!) pretty low.

That's okay, though, because, for the most part, it's working. I'm feeling healthy and am more thankful than ever for my ability to reach a peak-top every morning--I know that with patience and consistency my fitness will gradually build and the moments of flow and effortlessness will happen more frequently. It's exciting to watch one's strength accumulate from what feels like the ground up, and I look forward to finding out just how high I can take my abilities over the next three months.

3/14-20
Mon- 12 miles (1:51) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.

Tue- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Ran with Scott.

Wed- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn.

Thu- 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. With the time-change, I've been catching some incredible sunrises this week.

Fri- 14 miles (2:17) Bear & Green, 4200'
~2" of fresh snow in the mountains made for poor footing on upper Fern. Felt really strong the last 30min, though.

Sat-AM: 12 miles (1:48) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Ran into Brendan on top and then Aaron on the Mesa Trail.
PM: 8 miles (1:10) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
70F afternoon had the trails crawling with folks.

Sun-AM: 12 miles (1:50) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Pretty tired after Broken Social Scene's amazing non-stop two and a half hour set at the Boulder Theater last night.
PM: 8 miles (1:10) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
1mi barefoot on grass at the end.

The BSS show was a $32 ticket--which is almost double the most that I've ever paid for a concert before--but they played basically twice as long as other bands usually do and the two songs below (videos not from last night, but from an NYC show a couple months ago) were--when witnessed live--worth price of admission alone.

Back At It

2011-03-13T12:58:00.002-06:00

(Getting above the clouds this morning.)

There's nothing like a long absence from running to really re-whet one's appetite for it. A couple weeks ago my sore foot was accompanied by a five-day flu-like illness that made getting out of bed a real challenge, let alone actually going for a run. I took the obvious hint and submitted to ten days or so of zero running and almost no physical activity of any sort except for biking to and from class.

By the middle of this past week then, I was very curious to see where the inactivity had left the status of my foot. A couple short test jogs were promising so on Friday morning I ventured up Flagstaff with Jocelyn. This had no ill effects (despite viciously exposing my severe lack of fitness), so, after nearly a month and a half, I was finally able to return to Green Mountain the last couple of days. With my body fully-rested and my mind eager, I'm really looking forward to the long, slow build in training over the next three months.

Mon- 0

Tue- 0

Wed- 3 miles (:25) Kitt

Thu- 5 miles (:42) Kitt

Fri- 7 miles (1:05) Flagstaff, 1500'

Easy with Jocelyn. Incredibly windy and the uphill made me nauseous for most of the climb, but the foot was very encouraging.

Sat- 10 miles (1:37) Green Mt., 2700'

Sun-10 miles (1:35) Green Mt., 2700'

A couple inches of fresh, sticky snow above 6500' did a nice job of covering up all the bullet-proof ice. Beautiful morning in the mist.

Infirm

2011-02-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

February has been my worst month of running in over a year. The Rocky Raccoon 100 at the beginning of the month seems to have exploited several weaknesses in my body and thus rendered the past three weeks essentially run-less. I have done one run of more than 40min since the race, and it was a total disaster. There have been many (basically daily) "runs" in the 10-30min range.

The main problem is that I'm not sure which painful part of my body I should be most concerned with or lend the most rehabilitative attention to: my left foot (some kind of strange extensor tendon/posterior tibial tendon unhappiness), my right shin (definitely an upset post. tib.), or my right lower back/sciatic nerve (bending over to pick up anything right now is still decidedly uncomfortable).

Most of this might be easier to take if I could attribute it to some obvious, boneheaded training mistake. Instead, it is all pretty much due to a single 100 mile run as things were mostly peachy and smooth heading into the Rocky Raccoon weekend. The week after the race I ran 12 miles; the week after that, 27 miles. Rushing back into training is definitely not the culprit here.

The lack of running has freed up an extra 3-4hr/day that I have now banked towards refocusing on my studies and getting my masters degree ASAP. But, this kind of mental academic focus obviously does nothing to assuage the pull for the local mountain summits that has only been made stronger by the many perfect weather days Boulder has had this month.

The break has also created a space for me to re-realize my most essential motivations in all this, and it's almost silly how quickly and clearly racing takes a backseat to the simple need to be outside, moving pain-free, under my own power. The fact that I had been planning on racing an ultra per month for the next six months now seems almost absurd and definitely misguided, and once I get healthy I look forward to settling into a long, injury-free build-up that brings me to peak fitness in June. Any meaningful competitive efforts before then will probably be more distracting than gratifying. Right now all I can think of is the opportunity to once more become intimately reacquainted with the local trails.

Still Recovering

2011-02-17T15:40:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what was so special about Rocky Raccoon, but my effort there has really taken it out of me for a while. Today is the first day since the race nearly two weeks ago that I feel like I'm ready to maybe start training hard again. I'd been fighting off a cold the final days before the race, so of course that hit me full force immediately afterwards. On top of that, my left hamstring and then my left foot/plantar decided they weren't at all happy about running for 13 hours straight. But, everything is starting to clear out now, and I think I'll be returning to the local hills very soon.

In the meantime, here are a few late bits and bobs from the race:

Jenny putting her rockstar designer skills to use a couple nights before the race. Sewing powermesh gel hip-pockets on the NB race shorts.

On the 6am starting line. Bill Fanselow in the green top, Mike Arnstein with head down and arms crossed, Ian Sharman just behind him, Scott displaying disgust at his defective light, me checking my timing chip, Zach Gingerich in the whit e top, and Karl in the Red Bull stocking cap. All photos: Jenny Uehisa.

With Hal at the finish. Nothing like a little friendly competition to bring out the best in each other.

Exhausted at the finish with Yassine and Jenny. Yassine finished 2nd in the 50 miler earlier in the day and Jenny was a jill-of-all-trades all day acting as crew for multiple runners, including myself. Thanks!

Signing some vintage FiveFingers in the finish-line tent.

A rambling interview about the day conducted with Mike Wolfe in the back seat of our rental car on the way to the Houston airport.

CEES Fundraiser Dinner

2011-02-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post to remind readers that the previously mentioned CEES Fundraiser (at which Scott Jurek, myself, and Christopher McDougall will be speaking) is this Friday with the fundraising dinner (a more intimate setting with the same cast of characters) being on Thursday night at Oak at 14th at 7pm. There are currently two spots still available at the dinner, so if anyone is on the fence they should get in touch with Jocelyn now (jenksest@gmail.com) to reserve a spot.

For the $250 donation, dinner-goers receive a three-course dinner at Oak and a schwag-bag of running gear (including shoes and watches) valued at $200.

Weekly Summary: Jan 31-Feb 6

2011-02-08T00:03:00.001-07:00

01-31-2011
Mon-AM: 8 miles (1:05) Creek Path
Single digit temps again this morning.

02-01-2011
Tue-AM: 8 miles (1:01) Creek Path
-12F makes for some chilly running.

02-02-2011
Wed-AM: 8 miles (1:02) Creek Path
Surprising how even -15F is tolerable when properly dressed.

02-03-2011
Thu-AM: 4 miles (:30) Creek Path
Bored with this kind of running.

02-04-2011
Fri-AM: 4 miles (:30) Creek Path
Quick run before catching a plane to TX.

02-05-2011
Sat-AM: 100 miles (13:18) Rocky Raccoon 100
2nd place. Certainly not slow. Just not nearly fast enough.

02-06-2011
Sun- Ha. Yeah, right.

Total
-Miles: 132
-Hours: 17h 26min
-Vertical: negligible. I think there was maybe a total of ~5k' at Rocky? But to even tally the pathetic little bumps on that course seems ludicrous.

Running Wild: CEES Fundraiser/Benefit

2011-02-01T23:09:00.002-07:00

On February 18th at 7:00pm Chris McDougall, Scott Jurek and myself will be speaking at the Wolf Law building (CU-Boulder's Law School) on the CU campus as a fundraiser for CEES. Admission is $8 and raffle tickets are $2. In addition to speaking, the previous night we will be hosting a fund-raising dinner at Boulder's hip new restaurant Oak at 14th on Pearl Street. Co-owner of Oak Bryan Dayton is an accomplished trail ultra runner in his own right (former Trail 50K National Champion) and one of the state's most respected mixologists. Ten spaces at a cost of $250/plate will be available at this dinner. Email jenksest@gmail.com to reserve a spot at the dinner.

In addition to donating to a worthy cause, your $250 will net you a special three-course dinner (with vegan options), a schwag-bag worth at least $200 (including running shoes, watches and other gear) and the opportunity to pick our brains about whatever one may please. After a couple of Bryan's drinks, I'm sure any answers will be much more candid than is typical!

Oak at 14th special Dinner Menu

My girlfriend, Jocelyn Jenks, has been heavily involved in CEES and energy justice issues in Peru specifically for the past year and a half as a policy analyst. Jocelyn spent last summer in Ayaviri, Peru building relations with rural villagers and assessing the need/desire for simple, clean-burning cookstoves as an alternative to cooking over open fires. (Indoor air quality is predictably very poor for most villagers as a result of using open fires as a source of cooking heat.) All proceeds from this benefit will go towards energy justice projects such as this.

So, come on out for an evening of philanthropy and running!

Weekly Summary: Jan 24-30 & Jan Totals

2011-01-30T16:14:00.009-07:00

01-24-2011
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:20) Bear & Green, 4200'
Great run up my two favorite mountains. Fern Canyon is in excellent shape right now with great Microspike conditions above the Nebelhorn Saddle. Legs felt good the whole run.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Kittredge Fields
Jogged to the field, did 6mi barefoot, and jogged back. 1st half with Jocelyn.

I guess Scott missed me at Outdoor Retailer last week. Both our schedules have been busy and we haven't been able to run together as much lately. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

01-25-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:12) Bear & Green, 4200'
Wonderful clear morning. Met Joe at the mouth of Fern (he started from Cragmoor, while I started from home) and had an excellent jaunt up the mountain. Breezy on top of Bear but there was a nice wind-shadow just barely on the east side of it. Joe turned back at the top of Green for another trip back over Bear and I ripped down the perfectly packed Greenman trail to go to class. Great run.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Kittredge Fields
Easy 6mi of barefoot on the turf, mostly w/ Jocelyn.

01-26-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:20) Bear & Green, 4200'
A bit tired today, so took it easy; beautiful morning. Ran with Aaron for a bit on the Mesa trail before heading up Fern Canyon.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Kittredge Fields
4.5mi barefoot after stopping by the store for some apples.

Some of the nasty steep terrain above the Nebelhorn Saddle on the climb to the summit of Bear Peak. This steep, luge-like trail is perfect for a sharp pair of Microspikes.

The out-of-focus nature of this shot is appropriate considering what running this kind of grade typically does to one's vision. Terrain like this facilitates the +1700' in ~1.3mi stats on this route.

Despite its steepness, reaching this final stretch of talus that leads to the summit post always invokes a feeling of relieved satisfaction in making it up this burly peak yet again.

01-27-2011
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:18) Bear & Green, 4200'
Yesterday's warm temps shrunk some of the ice/snow on the trails, almost to where spikes are becoming too much--except for the steep upper reaches of Bear Peak. Microspikes are still great up there. The warm weather continued this morning--Front Range winters are ideal.
PM: 8 miles (1:07) Kittredge
Was back late from a water conference in Denver, but still got in 4.5mi barefoot.

01-28-2011
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:07) Bear & Green, 4200'
Feeling jazzed by a little extra sleep and temps in the upper 60s (!) I cranked through this run feeling great. Split a 27:05 from the Mesa to the summit of Bear which I guess, technically, is a PR, but I know I can go a good bit faster. Afterwards, had an acupuncture session with Allison Suddard. Need to start hitting those more consistently now that I'm training hard again. I'm sure they'll factor into post-Rocky recovery.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Kittredge
Easy 6mi of barefoot down at the field with Joe.

The summit of Bear Peak on a 68F January day in Boulder. The Green Mt summit is under my nose.

The shadow of Bear Peak projected into Bear Canyon, which separates it from Green Mt to the right.

One good reason to run up a peak every day is for this view of the Continental Divide.

01-29-2011
Sat-AM: 14 miles (2:19) Bear & Green, 4200'
Started out feeling a little slow, but once I got in Fern Canyon I found a good rhythm and bopped my way to the top. Really good energy towards the end of the run. Ran into Jeff in the Gregory lot as he was heading out for a virgin hike up Green with Isabelle.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Kittredge
Totaled 5mi of barefoot around the fields.

01-30-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:14) Bear & Green, 4200'
Got out with Scott and Joe for a final circuit of the local peaks before I take a week or two race-enforced reprieve from them.

Totals
-Miles: 146
-Hours: 22h 11min
-Vertical: 29,400'
---------------------------------------------

Did an email interview with Colorado Runner last week.

For January, I ran 748 miles/111h 28min and climbed 119,400' vertical. Summited Green 32 times and Bear 9 times.

These past seven days have kind of been a mostly Joe G-inspired revelation regarding the beauty and merit of the Fern Canyon trail on the northeastern slopes of Bear Peak. Before this week, I think I'd run up Bear Peak via Fern a total of only four times, and the reason for that was my general derision at the notion of it actually being considered a "run". The snow conditions on the route earlier in the week (before the considerable melting of the past few days) helped change that perspective in my mind (the packed, smoothed surface made maintaining a running cadence quite a bit easier, with the help of Microspikes, of course) and I'm now sold on the merit of negotiating such steep terrain on a nearly daily basis.

There are a number of reasons I think Bear Peak/Fern Canyon is worthwhile:

1) From my doorstep it allows for a ~14mi/2ish hour loop that has less than 2mi of pavement but still allows for a long, leisurely warm-up via a traverse of the Mesa Trail. When I typically hit Green Mt first, for the past five months I have been usually contrivedly adding on a paved "warm-up loop" through the University Hill district that has generally raised my mental ire (traffic noise, cigarette-smoking college students, etc.) but allowed my legs to wake up before the climb up Gregory Canyon or Amphitheater. Running the Bear-Green Loop has totally eliminated the need for this and my mood has noticeably brightened, mostly because dirt in the form of the McClintock Trail is a 5min jog from my door.

2) While undoubtedly steep and totally on the edge of runnable most of the way, it is runnable and makes most anything else feel easy and mellow in comparison. For instance, the climb of Green Mt on this loop is a nice little 14min/1000'/1mi pop via the Green-Bear trail that now seems almost pleasantly trivial. After just one week on the route I've already begun to develop different "gears" dictated by my energy levels and managed to still keep them all running. That is, I can have an off/bad day on Fern and still run almost everything. It's not necessarily default-hard.

3) Running down Bear's West Ridge is, for some reason, way more pleasureable than running up it, which is good because the views are spectacular.

4) I think the skill of negotiating super-steep terrain by seamlessly switching back and forth between a power-hike and uphill tap-tap trot is valuable for any mountain runner interested in taking techy, direct routes that aren't always 100% runnable. For instance, on the Fern trail there are about three short little segments that require to briefly fall into a hike--the first little crude log "ladder", the super-sharp rock upper-body "push-up" step just above the Nebelhorn Saddle, and the 30-40yard section of plate-y talus ~5 1/2min from the summitpost. It's a good skill for racing (where hiking steep stuff can happen a lot if one is interested in self-preservation over the course of racing 100 miles) and just general mountain bipedal travel.

5) Two summits every day (of which Bear Peak is objectively more aesthetic). Enough said.

So, post-Rocky, I will probably continue to keep this loop in very regular rotation. And now, just because, a little track from The Walkmen that has been dominating my mind for the past week.

Hardrock 100 Applicants List

2011-01-26T16:29:00.003-07:00

Island Lake as seen from ~13k' Grant-Swamp Pass on the Hardrock Course. Photo: Klas Eklof.

The Hardrock 100 is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically-pure long-course mountain race in the country, maybe the world (UTMB is likely up there, too). Tons of vertical, outlandish scenery, altitude, loop course, it has it all. This makes it very enticing to a lot of runners; right now there are 549 runners on the applicant list, only 140 of which will actually toe the line. On top of those already long odds is the ticket system that is inherently exclusive to first-time applicants.

Looking back toward Grant-Swamp Pass from the climb to ~13k' Oscars Pass. Photo: Klas Eklof.

Nonetheless, this year at least, that hasn't stopped a lot of arguably the best 100 mile mountain racers in the world--along with a couple dozen other proven 100 mile mountain performers--from trying to get into the race.

To wit:

Julien Chorier
Nick Clark
Dakota Jones
Scott Jurek
Hal Koerner
Anton Krupicka
Karl Meltzer
Geoff Roes
Mike Wolfe
John Anderson
Dylan Bowman
Jeff Browning
Duncan Callahan
Jared Campbell
Yassine Diboun
Joe Grant
Matt Hart
Andy Jones-Wilkins
Nick Pedatella
Nathan Yanko
Darcy Africa
Diana Finkel
Anita Ortiz

Hardrock has the potential to rival Western States as the de facto national championship of 100 mile racing in the country. Obviously, the statistics are such that this simply won't happen, but it sure is a compelling proposition. I understand and respect the intent and spirit of the Hardrock Board's decisions, but the mountain runner in me can't help but salivate at the prospect of racing that kind of field over such a worthy course. Maybe one of these years, the stars will align...

Approaching the finish of Hardrock on the descent into Arastra Gulch. Photo: Klas Eklof.

Weekly Summary: Jan 17-23

2011-01-23T16:13:00.006-07:00

Foreshortened Green Mt. from the mouth of Skunk Canyon.

01-17-2011
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:11) Green Mt., 3000'
Overnight Chinook winds turned all the ice/snow to soft mush which made for very slow trail conditions.
PM: 12 miles (1:28) BHS Track
3mi warm-up then: 2x2mi+1mi @ 10:59 (5:31, 5:28), 10:53 (5:27, 5:26), 5:14 (2:40, 2:34) with 3min/1-lap recovery jogs in between repeats. 3.5mi cooldown. From the start I knew this one was going to be tough due to dead legs from the weekend's 45mi long run, so I cut a mile off of the planned 3x2mi session at 5:30 pace. Happy to have gotten this in despite the non-ideal timing.

Feeling pretty incompetent in a foreign setting. Scott (on the far turn) joined me every other lap. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

01-18-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:07) Green Mt., 3000'
The cold temps overnight set the ice/snow up nicely for one of the more pleasant footing experiences I've had on the mountain recently. Bear Cyn was still awkwardly mixed, though.
PM: 8 miles (1:05) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy bit with Jocelyn and then 4mi barefoot at Kitt. Ran into Schlarb there and we did a couple miles together before I jogged home.

01-19-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:16) Bear Pk & Green Mt., 4200'
Enjoyed doing this loop this way because it allows for a mellow rolling warm-up along the Mesa trail before the real climbing begins in Fern Canyon. Fern was awkwardly iced and I should've just left the Microspikes off until the Nebelhorn Saddle, but above that there was often almost perfect purchase on the steep, packed pitches of ice and snow. I felt decent on the climb up Green and then enjoyed more good snow conditions on Greenman. Except for the really steep stuff like upper Fern the trails are probably best experienced in screw-shoes right now. Mild inversion this morning made for a scenic sunrise, too.
PM: 13 miles (2:02) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Greenman-Gregory in the dark and falling snow. I had my headlamp but it was a nice bright night with the new snow and (nearly?) full moon, even if that moon was mostly behind a good layer of clouds. Idyllic winter evening out on the mountain. Finished up with a trip to the grocery store and a some snow shoveling.

01-20-2011
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn and Skunk Cyn. Incredibly pretty morning at 12F and with the ~4" of fresh snow on the mountains. I was laying down first (human) tracks on the Green-Bear connector and saw the best set of lion prints I've ever come across. There were more cat tracks later on down in Bear Cyn. Great run.
PM: 8 miles (1:06) Creek Path
Easy jog with Joe. Witnessed a most spectacular and long-lasting sunset.

Full moon setting behind the shoulder of Anenome.

Perfect set of lion tracks. Looking for breakfast?

Microspikes alongside cat paw.

Snow on flatirons at the mouth of Bear Canyon.

And with me.

01-21-2011
Fri-AM: 55 miles (7:35) Colorado Springs/Manitou, "only" 8700'
Started at the CRC in downtown Colorado Springs, where I left Jocelyn at Wooglins--lucky girl. Ran the Mesas to Garden of the Gods to Rampart Range Road (12mi/3000'+ climb to 9400') to the Overlook and then down the vintage ridge route to Waldo Canyon and then up Longs Ranch Road (3mi/2200' climb to 9200') and down to Barr Trail to Manitou to Crystal Park Road (8mi/2500' climb to 8600') to Dog Rock Trail to Section 16 to High Drive to Bear Creek and back to the CRC and then downtown to meet Jocelyn at Ricos to refuel. This was a very solid run. It took me about 3hr to find my groove but I felt very good climbing LRR and on the top half of CPR. The idea was to get in a "flat-ish" long run while still keeping it interesting with gradual climbs (except LRR certainly isn't gradual) and great views. I expect I felt best on LRR because its grade is closest to what I run on a daily basis on Green Mt. Ate six gels after a breakfast of a couple tortillas and nutella.

I ran the loop in a counterclockwise fashion.

Full Ascents of Rampart Range Road, Longs Ranch Road, and Crystal Park Road. Not an insignificant undertaking.

Classic view of Pikes as seen through the arch created between the Siamese Twins in the Garden of the Gods.

Queen's Canyon as seen from part way up the Rampart Range Rd climb. This is a geologic beauty in the Springs that many people don't know about because much of it is privately owned by The Navigators. The preternaturally flat rim is a result of historical limestone mining and is now home to a healthy bighorn sheep population.

The view of Pikes Peak from the top of Rampart Range Rd at 9400'. That's a lot of vertical relief!

The Longs Ranch Rd (right) and Crystal Park Rd (left) climbs as seen from the summit of RRR. Kind of intimidating with 35mi left to go and dropping to the bottom of the valleys in between each climb. 12,400' Almagre Mt. can be seen in the upper right corner.

Following big cat prints up the Longs Ranch Rd climb. The trail was nice and packed from the previous weekend's Ponderous Posterior 50K and Incline Club Double run.

A back-lit Dog Rock on the trail descent from the top of Crystal Park Rd to connect into the Section 16 Loop.

Also from the Dog Rock Trail--a view back across the expansive valley to the burly cleft of Williams Canyon. Rampart Range Rd can be seen contouring high above it.

Finally, an example of one of the ugly realities of Colorado Springs. This monstrosity has gone up on the edge of Bear Creek Park since I moved away. I used to run this trail every day without this view.

01-22-2011
Sat-AM: 12 miles (2:04) Green Mt., 3000'
Running at 5am under a brilliantly bright moon that almost precluded the need for a headlamp. Up the back and down Greenman-Saddle Rock and then to the grocery store and back for some apples. Took a while to get the legs working after the long run yesterday, but all in all this was a pleasurable run despite the incredible wind gusts. It was tough to get up this early and run up a mountain after yesterday's long run, but totally worth it. I spent the rest of the day at 10,000' up below Niwot Ridge snowshoeing/digging snowpits and looking at the stratigraphy, etc.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Skunk Creek Loop
This was mostly a mental toughness run after a long day of physical labor in the cold and snow and an amber ale on an empty stomach at Wild Mountain up in Ned. Got it in, though, and was glad to.

01-23-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:09) Green Mt., 3000'
Finally slept in this morning and felt accordingly fresh as a result. The track on Ranger was perfectly packed for Microspikes while there was almost no snow in Gregory Cyn. Great winter conditions. 25th Green for 2011.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy shake-out with 4mi of barefoot on the Kitt turf.

Total
-Miles: 194
-Hours: 28h 24min
-Vertical: 30,900'
------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously a very good week of running. I'll probably try and hit one more track workout this week and then it's going to be time for a moderate taper. It's been a short but good build-up. I'm pretty much exactly where I would like to be going into an early season race like Rocky: healthy and reasonably fit but certainly not at any razor's edge sort of fitness as I will hopefully reach for the important summer racing season.

Weekly Summary: Jan 10-16

2011-01-17T21:19:00.002-07:00

01-10-2011
Mon-AM: 12 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up and down Gregory-Ranger. There was a solid foot of fresh snow this morning and it was +3F. These things mean I had the mountain all to myself, breaking fresh trail the whole way and not seeing another soul the entire time I was out there. Absolutely stunning scenery with the new snow; one of the bluest skies I've ever seen. Finished up with a couple miles on the snow-packed streets.
PM: 14 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Met Joe and Scott and headed up the backside of Green again in the fading light. It looked like only a couple more people had been up since my run this morning, but it was still incredible to be out in the snow. Chatted with Jeff briefly on Ranger, who was descending. Switched on our headlamps once we were on the ridge then. Had a raucous descent in the powder and finished up with a trip to the grocery store.

Gregory Canyon

Indian Peaks

01-11-2011
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:23) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Heavily drifted on Ranger ridge. Sub-zero temperatures this morning, which is always pretty notable.
PM: 9 miles (1:11) Goose Creek Loop
Legs felt good. Just cruising easy in the dark and ice.

Green summit

01-12-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:17) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Some kind of feathered creature was slaughtered by something with paws right at the mouth of Bear Canyon. Feathers and entrails everywhere. Legs felt good but the snow is still slow.
PM: 13 miles (2:04) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Greenman-Gregory. Great run in the dark. Legs felt good but the trail could still use some more packing.

01-13-2011
Thu-AM: 12 miles (2:03) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. Slow, mushy snow conditions enforced an easy pace.
PM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Best run I've had up the mountain in a while. Snow melted a ton today and my legs felt good. Got this in quick before the Boulder Trail Runners talk at Sherpas.

01-14-2011
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Ugh. Tired run up the back with Joe. Lots of street running afterwards.

01-15-2011
Sat-AM: 45 miles (6:32) Mt. Buckhorn+Ponderous Posterior 50K, 8600'
Left Boulder early and was running from Bear Creek Nature Center in Colorado Springs by 7am. Ran the 2000' Mt. Buckhorn climb (via High Drive both up and down) and then ran through Red Rocks to get to JT's in time for the 9am start of the Ponderous with an extra 13mi/1h45 in my legs. This run was a total blast. I absolutely love the COS trails and it was a lot of fun sharing them with a group of friends old and new. By starting last we benefited from a moderately packed trail on the 2000' Longs Ranch Road climb to 9200' and then Joe, Jacob, Scott and I enjoyed a splendid descent of the classic lower three miles of Barr Trail. The timing of the waves in the morning worked out very well as we were catching runners all along the Intemann Trail and through Red Rocks Canyon Open Space into the finish. I was particularly pleased with the route that JT picked through Red Rocks and the new trail on the knife ridge ending at 31st Street. Legs felt good all day until I stubbornly suffered through a healthy bonk the last 30min or so due to only four gels on the day. Loaded up later at Jocelyn's and my favorite restaurant in town: Ricos/Poor Richards.

Headed up Rampart Range Road with Tom and Scott in the first half of the PP50K. Pikes Peak towers before us much as it would all day. Man, I love running in the Springs. Photo: Alex Nichols.

01-16-2011
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:08) Green Mt., 3000'
Definitely tired from yesterday's run, but the trail surface was very tacky with the Microspikes. Took the long way up Gregory-Greenman and came down Bear Cyn.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+Kitt
Easy in the dark; 2mi barefoot.

Total
-Miles: 182
-Hours: 28h 10min
-Vertical: 35,600'
-------------------------------------------

Great third week of training in this cycle despite the very heavy snow we received early in the week. The fatigue accrued from four Green's over two days was dissipated by an easy day on Friday and I was able to have a very satisfactory long run on Saturday as a result. I didn't get in a speed session during the calendar week proper due to the ice/snow and frigid temps in the first half of the week, but I did get after it this afternoon (Monday) down at the BHS track.

My legs were still a bit tired from Saturday's long run, so after my usual 2hr tour of Green this morning I modified my planned afternoon session of 3x2mi (with a 3min/1-lap recovery jog) by chopping off the final mile. The (mostly arbitrary) goal was 5:30 pace, so I was pleased enough with splits of 10:59 (5:31/5:28), 10:53 (5:27/5:26), and 5:14 (2:40/2:34).

Later in the week I will look to build on this past weekend's long run by adding another hour or so to my final truly long session before the Rocky Raccoon 100 on February 5th. I certainly won't be at peak fitness for Rocky, but that's fine this early in the season and I just look forward to putting in an honest effort down in Huntsville.

Quick Posterior Wrap-Up

2011-01-16T00:27:00.005-07:00

It was an excellent day down in Manitou/Colorado Springs for a long run in the mountains. The first annual Ponderous Posterior Pikes Peak 50K ended up drawing somewhere between 50 and 90 runners across the three distances (a big range, I know, but I'm sure JT has a bit more precise count), and everyone enjoyed temperatures in the 50s and a good mix of snow and dirt out on the trails.

Pikes Peak Sports provided some surprising coverage of the event, which can be found here.

Steve Bremner of Team CRUD also has a photo gallery posted here.

As far as I could gather in between post-run beverages, the final top 50K results went something like this:

1) Justin Ricks 5:19
2) Scott Jaime 5:19
3) Anton Krupicka 5:24
4) Scott Jurek 5:24
5) Jacob Rydman 5:24
6) Joe Grant 5:24

(Again, I'm sure JT has much deeper results.)

I don't know what Justin and Scott were doing up in the 8:00am wave, but I do know that the group I ran with all day (starting at 9:00am) was very liberal in its stopping to eat gels, chatting/waiting at trail junctures, and general soaking up of the gorgeous views and weather. Our actual running time was 4:49 and I chatted with many runners who Garmined the course right at 31 or 32 miles with ~7000' of vertical gain. All in all pretty much exactly the kind of times/efforts I expected on the route.

An enormous expression of gratitude must be directed at JT for the gracious offering up of his home for staging the before and after aspects of the event and also to the Team CRUD guys for marking the course excellently, printing maps, and hosting an informal but appreciated and effective aid station at the Waldo Canyon TH parking lot on Highway 24. Let's make this an annual one!

Joe and Scott head for the hills with the 9am wave. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Popping some GUs at the Waldo Canyon turn-off in Williams Canyon. Photo: Alex Nichols.

jLu exiting Williams Canyon on the 17mi course. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

At the finish with Joe and Scott. Photo: Jenny Uehisa.

Ponderous Posterior Pikes Peak 50K

2011-01-13T15:04:00.004-07:00

Saturday's backdrop and playground.

Just a final reminder for the Fat Ass 50K occurring down in Manitou/Colorado Springs this weekend.

There will be three waves of starts: 7am, 8am and 9am from JT's house at 321 N. 31st Street in Old Colorado City. The idea is to time your start so that everyone finishes in the same general data cloud in the early afternoon hours. There will be a full 50Kish course, a 15mi-ish cut-off, and a 26ish mile course.

The full 50K course will be a ton of fun with a gnarly 2000'+ climb up Longs Ranch Road and a 3mi descent on the famed Barr Trail from No Name Creek, through the storied W's and finally onto Ruxton Ave before joining in with the Intemann Trail to finish out the day. About 7000' of climbing total; it's a mountain runner's dream.

The full enchilada.

The 26mi course will be the 50K course but skipping out on Longs Ranch. Instead, after only climbing a half-mile or so turn left onto the Ute Pass Trail (UPT) which rolls its way a couple of miles back to Manitou and Ruxton Ave where you can connect into the Intemann Trail and make your way to the finish.

26mi Course = Junior Status: I mean, really, you've made it this far, you might as well check out the charms of Longs Ranch Road as well...but there always is the option of just cruising the UPT home.

The 15mi course will involve continuing all the way down Williams Canyon back to Manitou where you can take El Paso Blvd and Pikes Peak Ave back to JT's house. This cut-off will occur after dropping off of Rampart Range Road into the canyon. Instead of taking a right up to the Waldo Canyon trail stay straight and continue to run down the canyon to town (no special map for the baby route).

Again, no aid, no entry and no whining. The route will be sparingly marked with orange tape, so be looking for that, but also don't hesitate to print the maps below. There will be a few maps for handing out at the start and a large laminated map to look at before taking off onto the local trails.

A truck will leave for the Highway 24 Crossing/Waldo Trailhead after the last wave of starters, so feel free to throw whatever supplies you want in there. I myself will probably just put in a jug of water and some gels. Also be sure to bring whatever post-run foods and beverages you might enjoy.

Finally, the run will be self-timed with results at the finish being dependent upon your motivation to time yourself and then report it. I might round up a clipboard between now and then. All in all, it looks like there should be some fantastic weather with probably a ton of slush and mud considering all the snow this past week and the now warm temperatures. I'll probably bring a pair of Microspikes down to the Springs but probably won't wear them. See you there!

2011 Racing Plans

2011-01-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

First, I want to announce that Scott Jurek, Geoff Roes, Dave Mackey and myself will be part of a casual, largely informal social gathering of the Boulder Trail Runners at Sherpas on 825 Walnut St. here in Boulder tomorrow (Thursday, January 13th) evening at 6:00pm. Each of us will speak very briefly (a couple minutes) and then will be open to an extensive Q+A session. The hope is that it will be quite interactive, so come on out!

Obligatory current shot of Boulder, CO's iconic Flatirons on the face of Green Mt.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second, I think I've mostly roughed out the goal races in my 2011 trail racing season. These are my current desires and hopes, but things are always bound to change due to unforeseen circumstances. My schedule will include a mix of races I've run before and races that are new to me.

Feb 5--Rocky Raccoon 100 Huntsville, TX

March 19--Chuckanut 50K Bellingham, WA

April 9--American River 50 Sacramento, CA

May 7--Miwok 100K Sausalito, CA

June 25--Western States 100 Auburn, CA

August 14--Sierre-Zinal Sierre, CH

August 26--Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc Chamonix, FR

My schedule is pretty much guaranteed through Miwok, but after that things get a little hazy in an "if-then" causal sort of way.

First, I've thrown my name in the Hardrock 100 hat along with a bunch of my like-minded friends (Geoff, Nick Clark, Dakota Jones, Joe Grant, etc.) and if the kind of field I desire (i.e. deep, competitive) materializes there at the hands of the lottery gods (very unlikely), there is a good chance I would forgo Western States.

Second, my ability to make it over to Europe in the second half of the summer for a few weeks is largely a function of my duties as a thesis-writing graduate student. If these responsibilities dictate my presence stateside, I will obviously forgo the SZ and UTMB races in August and instead insert the excellent White River 50 on July 30th (a very good chance I'll do this anyway), the Pikes Peak Marathon on August 21 and the Wasatch 100 on September 9, Wasatch lottery gods willing, of course.

The common theme amongst all these races is that, excluding Rocky Raccoon and maybe Wasatch, each should be amongst the most competitively deep races of the entire season. Chuckanut looks set to be an absurdly fraught battle with the likes of Max King, Erik Skaggs, Geoff, Adam Campbell, and Andy Martin all pushing the pace up front. American River looks slightly weak at this point, but I'm sure there will be the usual solid group of guys forcing the tempo, at least through the flat and fast first 30 miles. The Headlands will be host to essentially a rematch of this year's TNF50 Championships in the form of the Miwok 100K. I am looking forward to joining Dave, Geoff and Dakota in battling over those scenic hills once again and won't be surprised if it takes a course record to win it this year.

All in all, such a schedule provides plenty of motivation to strap on a headlamp and trudge through deep powder and single digit temperatures to rack up vertical on early January mornings and late evenings.

Weekly Summary: Jan 3-9

2011-01-09T18:02:00.002-07:00

01-03-2011
Mon-AM: 13 miles (2:06) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn with Joe and Scott. NW ridge was more packed out than yesterday and we enjoyed classic winter trail conditions all-around. Some great sunshine, too.
PM: 10 miles (1:17) Golf Course-Old Tale Loop
Legs felt good running in the dark.

Profile on the summit of Green. Photo: Joe Grant.

01-04-2011
Tue-AM: 16 miles (2:41) Green & Bear, 4400'
Ugh. Kind of a tough run with Scott. The track up the back of Green was in its best shape yet, but I was feeling pretty worked by the top of Green. The plan was to tag Bear, though, too, so up the West Ridge we went and while it was looser footing it wasn't too bad following Scott's pace even as I proceeded to bonk something fierce. The footing in Fern was excellent thanks to Microspikes--a real pleasure compared to its character when dry--and I happily survived the run back home via Mesa in the brilliant sunshine.
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Creek Path
Took it really easy, running late in the dark.

01-05-2011
Wed-AM: 14 miles (2:10) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Greenman-Gregory. The footing wasn't ideal for Microspikes this morning--packed but too soft and often too loose. Ran to the grocery store afterwards.
PM: 8 miles (1:05) Creek Path
Easy shake-out jog. A tiny fingernail sliver of a moon was rising over Green's north shoulder.

01-06-2011
Thu-AM: 32 miles (4:18) Creek Path Loop+Green Mt., 3300'
With Scott. Started with a 20+ mile loop on (mostly) pavement on the creek paths around town: Boulder Creek Path to 28th, up to Broadway, down Broadway to the dirt (ice/snow) South Boulder Creek Path, back north to Goose Creek to Cottonwood Trail all the way to Jay Rd where we flipped around and ran back on Goose Creek to Edgewood Dr and 20th. Stopped by Jurker's and then my house to pick up Microspikes and then did a lap on Green, up the back. I felt very strong on Green and the pavement stuff was in the 6:45-7:10 range. My calf tightened up some from all the pavement, but it was generally a good first long run back (despite the wicked winds all morning) and should be good simulation for some upcoming races.

Thursday's long run is easily the most sustained pavement I've run since the run shown here: early bike path miles at the American River 50 in April 2008 (And, as you can see here, we were all sneaking as much dirt as we could).

01-07-2011
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:06) Green Mt., 3000'
Up Gregory-Greenman down Bear Cyn. Legs felt surprisingly good and calf was much better than I thought it was going to be. Trail surface is frustratingly mixed right now. Ridiculously warm.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Creek Path
Nice evening to be out jogging in the dark.

01-08-2011
Sat-AM: 14 miles (2:03) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the back and down Bear Cyn w/ the usual add-ons at the beginning and end. My new shoes gripped wonderfully on the spring-like mix of dirt, ice and packed snow but that did little to inject any significant pep into my stride. Desultory slog up the mountain then despite the fantastic weather.
PM: 11 miles (1:17) 4 mile+1mi @ BHS track
Felt a little guilty for reneging on my plans to race the Quicker Quaker 5K in Lafayette this morning (lingering concerns about my calf), so I headed to the track in the evening dark for a little test/make-up session. 2.5mi warm-up and then 4mi in 22:06 (5:40, 5:38, 5:34, 5:14), 5min/2-lap jog, then 1mi in 5:13 (80, 80, 77, 76). Eased into the 4mi effort mostly just wanting to cut each mile down a few seconds, but when I felt comfortable after 3mi I opened it up a bit for the last mile. After the recovery jog my quads felt a little strained on the first lap of the final mile so I opted to cruise it in just a tick under my fastest previous mile making it unexpectedly comfortable cardiovascularly. Obviously, jogging up and down mountains every day builds the heart and lungs but not the turnover so much. Finished up with a 3mi cooldown, most of it barefoot on the infield. Good workout.

01-09-2011
Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the back and down Greenman to Flagstaff and Eben G. Fine. Finished up with a visit to the grocery store before heading home. I started out in a light snow that turned to an inch+ of accumulation at 9am on the summit and very heavy snowfall by time I made it back to town. One of those magical, quiet winter days on the trails.
PM: 7 miles (1:08) Mesa trails w/ Jocelyn, 800'
McClintock-Enchanted-Kohler-Skunk Canyon-Campus and home. Footing was pretty dodgy, but Joce and I had a good time slogging through the heavily-falling snow in the dark.

Total
-Miles: 169
-Hours: 24h 28min
-Vertical: 23,500'
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Week #2 of the 2011 training season. It was good. A good long run and a good track workout along with consistent vertical and mileage. Also the second week in a row that I've finished one mile below a round number. Thursday reminded me that my calf is still touchy and I need to continue to be careful with it. School starts back up again this week and with TAing this semester I should be especially busy. With a little extra discipline, though, I think I should be able to keep all areas of my life productive. It should be an especially exciting year of racing, too, which I'll probably outline in a future post.