Sunday, December 4, 2011

Week Ending December 5

Mon - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

Tues - AM: 8 miles intervals. 2.5 miles w-u, 1.5 mile c-d. Cemetery workout. Mile, 800, 880 x 2. Started out stiff as a plank from the weekend. Probably need a good 30-40 minutes to warm up for these, but it's a struggle to get up early enough to get more than 15 mins in. Went super easy on the first mile/800, then upped things a bit once warmed up, but still couldn't get any 800 turnover: 5:36, 2:41, 2:35, 5:14, 2:36, 2:37.
PM: 6.5 miles (1,200') easy. A lap and three-quarters of Reservoir Ridge in the dark on the FCTR social run. This is a terrible route to run in the dark - loose rock everywhere.

Weds - 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.

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January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
February: 304.5 miles (39,200')
March: 469.5 miles (67,100')
April: 427 (62,000')
May: 509.5 (92,500')
June: 323 (54,900')
July: 303.5 (79,700)
August: 297.5 (70,000')
September: 202 (37,500')
October: 373.5 (68,150')
November 377.5 (67,400)

Total: 4,028 miles (684,400')
Avg: 366 miles (62,218')
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Thurs - AM: 9 miles (1,100') easy with Slush and Celeste in blinding sideways snow on Centennial. Didn't bother upping the tempo at all coming back. Just ran and got it over with, although once we turned and got the tailwind, it was really quite pleasant.
PM: 8 miles (1,800') Towers. There was some waist-deep drifts in places lower down on the hill and the rest was good old-fashioned trudging in heavy, slippery snow. Ran every step, but still couldn't break 50 minutes. Nonetheless, a great workout. Nine of us out, which given the torturous conditions wasn't half bad.

Fri - 0 miles

Sat - 0 miles

Sun - 0 miles

Total: 43.5 miles (5,500')

Dana has been out of town all weekend, which has meant no running for me the last three days, but that's okay. No Hardrock either, and that's okay too. Glad I signed up for Western States now, I suppose. With no Hardrock, I move on to plan B, which I just made up. I think plan B is going to include a crack at Leadville, in addition to a few other bits and bobs that I've been thinking about for July.

Pieces coming together for the Bob Graham Round, which is now just a couple of weeks away. I've got commitments from some awesome UK-based runners on the pacing side of things, which is apparently a necessity for an official round. Terry Conway, the winner of this year's Lakeland 100 and current Lakeland CR holder, has been kind enough to offer up his services, so I'll probably look to take advantage of that for a few of the early sections, then Clive King - a BGR vet - will likely be picking up some of the tail-end slogging, and then I think I have some pacers ready to run the middle sections thanks to the networking skills of club secretary, Morgan Williams. I am somewhat blown away by all the offers of help from people I have never met, but also highly encouraged to discover that the U.K. trail/fell/ultra community is as supportive and close knit as it is over here in the U.S.

Finally, if you got lucky in the Hardrock lottery and you're looking for an awesome training race, then consider the Fort Collins Quad Rock 50 in May. The unrelenting up and down nature of the course makes it an excellent Hardrock simulator. Pete and I are really excited to be showing off the Horsetooth/Lory trails here in our backyard. We think we have a pretty special course and we're determined to make this a kick-ass, showcase event for Front Range trail running, so come on out and join the fun. Registration opens on Wednesday.

8 comments:

  1. You should make the Quad have some complicated lottery system...

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  2. Nick, it's been a pleasure helping out. And maybe I'll get a run out with you at the back end of the day. Still logging around 45 miles a week so I'm fit enough!

    Still plenty of organising to do, but hopefully things will make more sense by the end of this week.

    Snowing here in Yorkshire today, but not laying, so things may be turning nasty just in time to welcome you back to the mother country.

    In the meantime, take it easy.

    Morgan

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  3. Looking forward to tales and possibly some photos from the UK!
    Coincidentally, after having enjoyed "Mountains of the Mind," I recently discovered Robert Macfarlane's "The Wild Places" book at the Poudre library -- worth a read (so far) if you have some downtime traveling (does that happen with young kids, or did I just make you laugh out loud?)

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  4. Nick - I see Mackey and Olson just signed up for Bandera. Should be a great race.

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  5. Mackey? Never heard of him.

    Yeah, figured he'd be on the start line. Looking forward to it.

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  6. Goodluck with the Bob Graham. Not the best season to be doing it! When are you back in the UK. A couple of guys from my running club are up there soon on a recce for their own Bob Graham - exept they are doing it in may! Would lobe to holiday in the US one year and do your race. A lot of vert!

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  7. Hey Nick- I will be down there this weekend from Steamboat and would like to run one of the distances. A couple questions if you have time. I see the start is from your house but couldn't find an address? How are the trails with recent snows? Screw shoes, microspikes? Thanks, and hope to see you on Sat. Mike
    mikehlavacek@hotmail.com

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  8. Mike - I'm out of town at the moment, but as of this last weekend there was pretty significant accumulation. This from a friend:

    'There's about a foot of snow on average covering the less-travelled trails. Some drifts of a couple feet and some wind-exposed places bare or close to bare. The good news is that for now it is a dry powder and not too bad too plow through. The high traffic trails (i.e. Horsetooth Rock) are already pretty well compacted. All of the courses for Saturday will at least get a little foot traffic before then. I "ran" most of the course within Horsetooth Park yesterday and will be covering the Lory trails later this week. I'm planning on the "Full Chubby" on Saturday starting at 7am. Pace will be slow. Waterproofing the feet highly recommended. Extra traction helpful but not necessary. Not very icy (at least for now).'

    I'm at 5001 Overhill Drive. Look forward to seeing you out there.

    Nick

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