Sunday, February 24, 2013

Fortnight Ending February 24

Week Ending Feb 17

Mon - 4 miles easy on Bluesky.

Tues - 4 miles easy on Bluesky.

Weds - Off. Travel day.

Thurs - 4 miles easy on Isla de Ometepe w/ Yassine, DJ, and Alex Kurt. A very casual jog around town and down a couple of sandy dirt roads dodging cows, horses, and dogs. Awesome views of Concepcion, the larger of the island's two volcanoes.

Fri - Off. Somehow didn't find the time to get out and jog a few.

Sat - 62 miles (9,000) race. Fuego y Agua 100k.

Sun - Off. Mainly boozing, but a spot of beach time too.

Total: 74 miles (9,000')

Week Ending Feb 24

Mon - Off. Waited for a ferry all day that never came. Costly flight change, then to bed.

Tues - 3.5 miles easy in Managua w/Eric, Yassine and Alex. All four of us were running topless, which I guess is something of a cultural no-no in Nicaragua. Wolf whistles, cat calls and general guffawing by pretty much everyone who passed us. An odd run. Legs felt decent after 15 minutes or so.

Weds - Off. Travel day. Came home to a snowstorm - total 360 from the heat on the front end of the day's journey.

Thurs - 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit via north gap. Broke tracks on Audra and under Horsetooth. Decided to go up my north gap climbing route, which probably wasn't my best decision of the year so far. Super sketchy on icy rock, but got up safe enough after a few lengthy pauses.

Fri - 7 miles (1,900) easy. Horsetooth north summit on the standard route. Southridge/Audra. Slopped around in the snow a bit, but generally good footing.

Sat - 24 miles (3,600') easy/steady. Horsetooth north summit via Spring Creek/Wathan at a steady clip on the Wathan climb, then back down Rock trail to TH and on to Redstone Canyon via 38e for a full 13 mile out and back at a steady effort. Back home easy via the Grim Reaper. Legs felt great the whole way around, although fatigued a touch towards the end. Apparently no lingering effects from 100k the weekend prior.

Sun - 12 miles easy on the bike paths. Had plans for 16 on Centennial, but it hadn't been plowed and the wind was raging, so opted for bike paths with the few who showed up for FCRC Horsetooth Half training run. Best of a bad situation, I guess. Hiked a bench loop with the kids in about a foot/foot and half of fresh powder up at Horsetooth in the afternoon. So good to finally have a snowfall worthy of mention. Need more, much more.

Total: 53.5 miles (7,400')

I feel pretty good about the race last weekend, although somewhat disappointed with how lazy I got 45 miles in once the race was essentially won. I had a lengthy moment out there under the blazing sun questioning my sanity with regards to the four 100 milers I have coming up this summer. I know in each and every one of those races, I'll have that same moment many times over ... there's no getting around it, so this was a good reminder that I need to build a bit of mental fortitude before I get to the start line in Squaw. You always push on, but the trick is to be able to push on at a hard effort when every bone in your body is telling you to take it easy. I have a few monster workouts planned between now and then that should help with the mental number, plus of course another three months of training.

Really looking forward to Salida in a couple of weeks - always a great early season test of fitness with a good little field to keep the race effort honest. Not sure what kind of snow they got in the valley, but I know that Monarch got a foot and a half over the weekend, so I'm assuming they got a good bit down there too. Expecting less-than-stellar conditions, but that's part of the deal with a March race in Colorado, I guess.

Oh, and just for the record, I did not become a member of the Twitterati last weekend, despite the best efforts of a certain Brit to convince people otherwise.
All Mine! Pic: Amy Perez.

7 comments:

  1. Refuses to go shirtless with the track dudes in the summer, despite cultural preference. Goes shirtless in traditional, conservative Latin America, despite cultural preference. Huh.

    3.5 feet at Monarch in last 3 days.
    North Gap after Thursday's snow/ice does sound Ball-Z, yikes!

    Welcome back!

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  2. I saw your schedule for 2013 and 4 100 miles is really outstanding.
    Have a nice year man !!!

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  3. Unless it heats up, I fully expect a shitshow at Salida. Our trails are buried in about 14 inches right now, so I can't imagine anything but the road and the real lower sections of S to be clear by then. I thought the same thing last year, however...

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  4. Patrick, yeah, you never know down there. The Arkansas Valley is its own little micro-climate, but 3.5 feet at Monarch ... some of that has to have gotten to Salida. It'll be fun regardless.

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  5. My brother lives in Poncha Springs right outside of Salida. He said they only got 4 inches out of the storms and most of it melted yesterday.

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  6. That's funny with the Twitter! Your handle, as you probably know, @oneandonlynickclark. Wondering why you were touting your business class upgrade as your first tweet...

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