Week Ending Feb 27

Mon - 24 miles (2,700') easy. 3:09. This was a repeat of a run I did with Burch a few weeks back. From my house, the route goes roads to the Devils Backbone trailhead in Loveland (12 miles) via Masonville/Hwy 34 and then straight back north on the Bluesky trail: high route to the keyhole, then lefts through the Loveland-side loops, Indian Summer and then the long way home once back in my neighborhood. Nearly all the climbing on this route comes in the return 12 miles. Hit the trailhead in 1:20 flat (6:40s) at what felt like a reasonably relaxed pace, then switched to jog mode, coming back in 1:49.

Building on Sunday's 19 mile run, a still sore foot/ankle, and presumably some residual fatigue from New Orleans, my legs felt pretty beat towards the end. I took that as an opportunity to put in a late-race effort by upping the tempo through the last two miles of trail before the climb back up to my house. Redstone: 15:45; Hwy34: 62; Backbone: 1:20; 38e: 2:52.

Tues - AM: 8 miles intervals. Met up with Jane's early AM group to get a bit of turnover back into the routine. Wasn't expecting great things given 19 & 24 mile runs the previous two days, but did manage to elevate the heart rate which I guess was the only real goal. Workout went: fartlek mile, fartlek cross country hill mile, mile steady road, 1,200, 1,000. Ran with Chris M for these, which meant I was working a little harder than originally planned. 3 mile warm up with Scott, Sarah and Celeste, then:

1.05 mile fartlek - 6:21 (6:03 pace)
1.18 mile CC hill fartlek - 7:13 (6:06)
mile - 5:34 (5:34)
.75 mile - 3:54 (5:13)
.62 mile - 3:17 (5:17)

PM: 9 miles (2,300') easy. Haven't run this one since before Western States last year when it was pretty much my daily lunchtime route. Figured I'd launch back into the short-mileage vert racker and see how things felt. Physically I was pretty tired, but really this was a mental exercise to see if I've got the desire to go out and do what I did last year in getting ready for States. Jury still out on that one. Anyway: Soderberg to bench - Horsetooth down to Falls, then Spring Creek - Soderberg - Rock trail - Audra Culver - back up to Horsetooth via Southridge - Rock to Soderberg - long way home (aka: Horsetooth/Audra long).

Weds - AM: 11 miles (2,500') easy. 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long way. Legs felt reasonably spry which was a surprise.
PM: 5 miles (1,050) easy. Falls, long way home.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hills. On Centennial to 5 mile marker on HTH course. Out easy in 39:44, back @ conversational-steady w/Tim in 34:47.

Noon: 5 miles (1,050'). Falls, long way home.

PM: 4.5 miles in Louisville on Coal Creek Trail with PI teamates Josh and Tim.

Fri - AM: 5.5 miles (800') easy. In Boulder with PI product line managers, photographer, and others for a slippery run on the lower Boulder mountain trails from N-CAR.
PM: 6.5 miles easy on Coal Creek Trail with Ian, Scott, Josh and Tim.

Sat - AM: 11 miles easy. With PI team for run and photo shoot at Boulder Reservoir.

Sun - AM: 11.5 miles (2,800') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Soderberg - home long way.

Total: 111 miles (14,600')

The WS build is officially on. Front loaded the week in anticipation of a lower mileage weekend with meetings, eating and boozing at the Pearl Izumi team summit. Managed to squeeze in a few more runs than anticipated Friday and Saturday, but really nothing but mileage padding. Anyway, happy to come in at over 100 miles on the week, although was hoping for a little more vertical.

So the summit was a huge success and as usual the folks at Pearl were fantastic hosts. A lot of great things in the works with regards to product and racing. First and foremost, the Peak II is now in full production and will be available from retailers in the very near future. I've run in most all of the prototypes leading up to this release and I have to tip my hat to Mike Thompson, the PI run shoe dude, for really listening to the feedback from the ultrarunning team in developing and modifying this shoe. While it is called the Peak II, it is essentially a complete overhaul of the original Peak with the only real similarity being the focus on keeping the shoe light. Unlike some of the other lightweight trail runners currently on the market, the Peak is built to last. I put over 600 miles on one of the protos and can honestly say that if I hadn't given the shoes back to Mike for inspection, I would have put them through many more miles before donating. But durability is just one part of the picture. The shoe rocks on many fronts, but more on that when they're on the market.

Tim Olson rocking the Peak II. Photo, Eric Wynn.

An earlier iteration. The upper material has changed, but styling is essentially the same.

In addition to Pearl Izumi fun and games, we had a great presentation from Robert Kunz, researcher/developer-in-chief at First Endurance, whose products I am again excited to be using in 2011.

Highgear also sent Dale Fleckenstein down to present on the excellent range of products those guys have in the offing. Like Pearl, Highgear has listened, and I am super excited for the launch of the new Axio HR, which will combine the features of two existing watches (Axio Max and Alterra) to produce a really great mountain running watch that will also include a heart rate monitor and associated data. The launch on that is this summer, but perhaps more exciting (for GPS junkies) is the 2012 scheduled launch date for the Highgear GPS watch, which will combine the mileage tracking capabilities of GPS with all the great vert tracking capabilities of the Highgear altimeter technology. Exciting stuff.

Axio Max Steel - the heavier 'street' version.

Eric Wynn was there all weekend snapping some great pics, which I am looking forward to seeing more of as they become available. The guy is quite the talent.

And finally, check out these short video interviews with teammates Scott and Darcy on running extreme distances while maintaining balance as parents, spouses and career professionals. Both these guys are class acts and great ambassadors for the sport.

Anyone else smelling spring?

Fortnight Ending Feb 20

Week Ending Feb 13

Mon - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Off

Thurs -5.5 miles easy. 4 x 800 @ 6:00 on the mill. Should have stayed well away. What was I thinking? Felt like I really tightened up my hamstrings on this run.

Fri - 4.5 miles easy on the bike paths.

Sat - 4 miles easy in New Orleans with Mock.

Sun - 27 miles. New Orleans Marathon. 2:36.

Total: 50 miles (1,800')

Essentially a rest week with a hard weekend effort.

Week Ending Feb 20

Mon - 4.5 miles (900') super easy. Legs were predictably sore after the marathon, but not too bad. Hiked some of the icier sections of trail, but was able to jog reasonably comfortably.

Tues - 6 miles (900') easy. Valley trails. Pretty big slop factor on the valley trails, which slowed things down nicely. Calves still pretty sore.

Weds - 12 miles (2,800') easy. Horsetooth - Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Mill Creek - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - home. Out with the Montrail crew (Dakota, Ryan and Geoff) for an easy cruise. Legs getting there slowly, but certainly still sore in the calf department. Thankfully, both Ryan and Dakota were getting ready for Red Hot this weekend (Dakota won, Ryan 3rd), so everyone was on board the easy train with me.

Ryan, Geoff, Dakota and Me on Horsetooth Summit.

Thurs - Noon: 8.5 miles (2,000') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey - Towers - Herrington - Spring creek - Soderberg. Nice out again, although still a few stretches of ice. Opened it up in places, but largely mellow. Calves still a little sore, especially on the downs.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the trail running group. Turned my ankle quite painfully in the dark on the moderately technical singletrack on the west side of Pineridge. I really should invest in some new headlight batteries.

Friday - AM: 6 miles (700') easy. Milner Mtn w/long way home. Foot was pretty painful from yesterday. Almost bailed on the run - hope this is nothing too serious.
PM: 2 miles. From Discount Tire on Mason Trail. Turned around after a mile as my foot was hurting way too much. Praying this is not a stress fracture.

Saturday - AM: 10 miles (1,400') easy. To 5 mile on HTH course with Fort Collins Running Club. Probably would have bagged this run had I not been leading it. As it was, I cut a planned 10-15 at AR50 pace from the start of the run. Foot felt better than yesterday which is an excellent sign, but definitely not out of the woods yet.
PM: 2.5 miles (800') with Alistair to Gem Lake in Estes. Foot hurting again.

Sun - 19 miles (4,000') easy. 38e/Shoreline to Sodeberg, then Valley - Arthurs - Overlook - Well Gulch - Timber - Arthurs tag - Arthurs down - Mill Creek - Loggers - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls - home the long way. Foot was still painful at times during this run, but was sufficiently less painful that I'm pretty sure it is no more than a strained tendon (knock on wood). Should be pain free in a couple of days. Anyway, trails were a mix of dry dirt, mud, ice, snow and crunchy frost. Tough conditions with some serious luge runs in a couple of the gulleys and on Mill Creek, but great to be out working some hills on a longer run again.

Total: 77 miles (14,200')

New Orleans was a focus race and I feel like I came up a bit short, which is always disappointing, but as I've already said, it was still a significant PR so I'm happy enough with the result. Was talking to John Lonsdale, owner of Foot of the Rockies, earlier in the week and told him that at least now I feel like I have the ability to run a 2:29 if I can ever find the motivation to prepare for a road marathon again. Toying with the idea of taking another stab late season, but seems a tad unlikely given the mammoth summer I have on tap.

I had planned on getting right back into the training this week after a couple easy days Monday and Tuesday, but my weekend plans were scuppered by a turned ankle from Thursday night. Thankfully, what I had originally feared was a stress fracture appears to be no more than a strain, so I've pretty much given myself the green light. Up early tomorrow morning to take advantage of the Presidents Day holiday with a 30+ mile run, which will build on 19 from today. Going to call that the official kick off for Western States, Hardrock, UTMB training.

Good to see Fort Collins put up four of the top 10 in the men's race in Moab yesterday (Dakota (1), Ryan (3), Sam M (7), Pete S (8)), with Scott S bringing home the master's win too.

New Orleans Marathon

This was my sixth go at building for a marathon, so I've become pretty familiar with the event and the required training, but there are always new things to learn. Probably my biggest takeaway from this go around is that it takes a steadfast commitment to running fast in training, a somewhat unpleasant proposition for the mountain jogger in me, and one that I think I was a little too half-hearted about. While I still feel like I had a decent build up, especially on the mileage front, if I were to do it again, I would definitely include a greater number of sustained efforts at marathon pace and fewer mile repeat type workouts.

But this is not always easy. From my house, I have limited access to flat, paved terrain, which makes it easy to ditch certain workouts in favor of mountain jogging sessions. That is just the reality of where I live - great training grounds for mountain courses, but terrible for road races. Anyway, on balance, I think I did about as much as was realistically possible, so really shouldn't complain about what ended up being a slightly disappointing run. After all, a 7 minute PR is a very positive sign. On to the report.

The Finish. All photos: Justin Mock

Firstly, I wish I could have spent a little more time in New Orleans, but with work and family obligations being what they are, this was very much a whistle-stop tour. I got in late Friday and then spent the balance of Saturday hanging out in the French Quarter with Top American and Nela. The French Quarter would have been a lot of fun had there been a quarter the number of people milling around, and if I wasn't running a marathon the next day. As it was, we walked around a bit taking in the scene and the architecture before sitting down to a disappointing jumbalaya etouffe at what looked like a nice restaurant (I'm disappointed 7 times out of 10 when I eat out, so tend to avoid it if possible). Justin and Nela opted for a bus tour in the afternoon, so I headed to a quieter part of town for coffee, sun and a little soak of New Orleans life.

After a pasta dinner out by the airport where I was staying, it was to bed for the 4:45 alarm call to meet Justin for the 5:30 ride into town. Sitting in the car, I was feeling pretty blasé about the work ahead and generally just a little disinterested. Justin and I weaseled our way into the elite/VIP area at the start after heckling Jurek who was in the pen taking pictures with fans. The heaters were a real treat as it was just a touch nippy in the pre-dawn of morning. Kim Smith was there looking skinny and sharp as were a bunch of Hansen Brooks runners. Not only would Kim go on to beat Justin by four minutes in the half, she would also set a U.S.-soil half marathon record (1:07:36). Impressive.

Shortly before the gun Brian Peterson, a fellow trail runner, introduced himself saying that he was looking to go 2:29. Having still not made up my mind on pacing, I figured I’d use Brian as a gauge as he was planning on pacing off his Garmin. If I could hang, I would at least have someone to work with after the five-mile marathon/half marathon split, beyond which I was fully expecting to run solo.

Easing into the run, things felt remarkably smooth, as they should on tapered legs in the early stages of a marathon, so it was all small talk, fun and games. This is always the pleasurable part of the marathon – people are chatty, the work feels easy and your goal is yet to be shattered by the inevitable effects of lactic-acid build up and glycogen depletion. The first mile was perhaps the easiest 5:49 I have ever run, and it pretty much felt like we were jogging. Through these early miles I was in a good pack, hanging two or three deep just drafting and chatting. Up to the half marathon turn off, the miles went: 5:46, 5:47, 5:46, 5:44. The numbers suggested the pace was maybe just a touch hot, but aside from a nagging right glute and right Achilles (which are nearly always nagging) the effort felt just about right.

All the while, I had been keeping an eye on Brian, who had maybe ten meters on me by mile five, as he was the only one I knew was in the marathon, and I also knew from his continued Garmin vigilance that he was still right there as the 2:29 marker. When the half/full split came, everyone in my immediate vicinity, with the exception of Brian made the turn, leaving me stranded in an island of solitude. Mile 6 hit at 6:14, so evidently I had fallen off the pace without anyone to work with, but I am also assuming that the marker was a touch long. Nonetheless, I upped the effort to make sure the next mile was safely in the 5-minute zone.

Miles 7 through 11 were run 100% solo. The long straight street that we were running on allowed me to keep track of Brian who was steadily building his gap on me. I gave thought to bridging to get on the 2:29 train but just wasn't feeling spry enough, so made the decision to keep the 5:50 pacing goal and see who came back to me. While my breathing was still super easy, my legs just weren’t feeling that peppy, a little crampy even. I popped a couple of E-caps somewhere in here to bump up the electrolytes and I also managed to get a gel down. Miles 7-11 went: 5:41, 5:50, 5:51, 5:48. Clearly, there would be no 2:30 on the day, but 2:33 was still very much alive.

Somewhere around mile 10 the marathon course rejoined the half (mile 5 in the half). I had been a bit worried about this section on the long haul up to City Park as I really didn’t want to be weaving around half marathoners for eight miles. Thankfully, we were on a divided two-lane thoroughfare for the full eight miles the two courses shared, so I got two lanes to myself (literally), while the half marathoners were bumper to bumper on their side of the road.

Mile 12 popped at 5:54 and mile 13 at 5:56. The 5:5x numbers back to back at equal effort output to previous 5:4x miles was a worrying sign to me that the slide was on, so going through the half in 1:16:48 (one second off a PR), I was beginning to feel like 2:33 would be a major result, with a 2:35 being a decent save. And then I split a 5:31 14th mile. I immediately wrote that one off as a short mile marker and got my nose back down to the grindstone.

Entering City Park

The miles up to the park, where I was expecting to see Justin and Nela and maybe run with Justin a bit, were unremarkable other than for the fact that I was desperately trying to hold on to my pace and failing: 6:08, 6:07, 5:58, 5:56. Shortly thereafter I was in the park and Justin jumped in to pace me for a stretch. He told me that he’d been double chicked, despite running an impressive 1:11:10. I was happy for him, but as I was beginning to feel increasingly sorry for myself, I was only able to mutter half-hearted words of congratulations on his PR. Justin pulled me through my last 5:xx mile, the 19th, which hit at 5:56. Soon thereafter he dropped off the pace (clearly it was too hot for him!) and left me to the misery of my own company.

Without my pacer I dropped straight back into the 6s, with a 6:04 20th mile on the way up to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Along the shore there was an annoying distance-adding out and back that involved two 180 degree cone turns, which at this stage of the game were about as welcome as Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. Mile 21, which included one of the U turns and a complete stop over confusion as to whether or not I was still on course (I was), popped at 6:08. Ughh. Mile 22 was no better (6:08), but at least I was headed back toward the finish.

I can’t remember exactly where I saw Brownie in here on this out and back section, but it was probably at about mile 22.5 (20 something for him). After some quick math based on where he was and time elapsed, he – quite unbelievably – appeared to be well on pace for his targeted 2:54. I think I grunted at him and then got my head back down for the dull, painful grind of the last few miles. Somehow I was maintaining my new low-6-minute pace. While it wasn’t my desired reality, at least there wasn’t a complete meltdown underway.

Token kick for the finish

Mile 23 was a 6:07 with 2:16:17 on the clock. I needed an act of god for 2:30, a miracle for 2:33 and some good old fashioned guts for 2:35. I apparently had none of the above, and capitulated over the last three miles with a 6:13, 6:10, 6:15 finish. I put in a token effort at running the last .2 in 63 seconds for the 2:35, but came up way short finishing in 2:36:11 and tenth overall.

Marathons hurt.

Brian fell off the pace a little through the closing miles, but still ran an impressive 2:31:13

Having set myself a 2:29-2:35 goal spread, I could say that I’m disappointed with the result, but as long as I’m setting PRs then I really shouldn’t be complaining. My marathon times are still moving at a large-chunk trajectory, so I am confident that next time out I’ll be able to put up a coveted 2:2x time and feel that I can give the event a satisfied turn of the back. As a point of reference, in my six stabs at the marathon my times have gone: 3:28, 3:16, 3:06, 2:54, 2:43, 2:36, so I have to believe that there is still room for improvement.

A huge congrats to Brownie for his impressive 2:53 run and PR, and of course to Justin for a really impressive collection of 1s (1:11:11) in the half. I ended up beating Brownie by 17 minutes and change, which means that I have to beat him by 38 minutes in Salida in order to win our bet. It’s a taller order than I would have liked, but still within the realms of possibility.

A word on the course. As Justin pointed out to me post-race, the marathon course for Competitor events tend to be an afterthought to the half marathons. The half course in New Orleans is lightning fast with very few turns and probably no more than 10 or 20 feet of elevation change. The marathon course is also very fast and very flat, but there are a lot of turns which slow things down a touch. I think this race will attract a stronger field in the coming years as it gains a reputation for being fast, but for guys in the 2:20 - 2:40 range the current lack of depth makes for more of a time trial than a race.

Results.

Splits:

1. 5:49
2. 5:46
3. 5:47
4. 5:46
5. 5:44
6. 6:14
7. 5:41
8. 5:50
9. 5:51
10. 5:48
11. 5:54
12. 5:56
13. 5:56
14. 5:31
15. 6:08
16. 6:07
17. 5:58
18. 5:56
19. 5:56
20. 6:04
21. 6:08
22. 6:08
23. 6:07
24. 6:13
25. 6:10
26. 6:15
0.2 1:14

Avg: 5:57.8

1st half: 1:16:48
2nd half: 1:19:23

1st 5: 28:52
2nd 5: 29:24
3rd 5: 29:25
4th 5: 30:01
5th 5: 30:46

Decisions

Streak II

I'm leaning toward the green for New Orleans, simply because the fit is a little better than the pink (women's 12), but all things being equal I think I'd rock the pink considering it's the Mardi Gras Marathon.

So anyway, this post is nothing more than a shameless plug for Pearl Izumi's new Streak II, which is either already available or will be within the next week or so. I've had the good fortune to run in these for a few months now, and can safely say they're the best road flats I've ever worn, which is not necessarily saying a great deal as I've only ever owned two different pairs (beyond the Streak), but still...

Anyway, they weigh in at about 7.7 oz in the 9.5, which while not in the uber-light category is still a distinctly light feeling shoe. Wear testing suggests they're good for at least 300 miles, which is a large number for a road flat. The extra ounce or two in the Streak II versus the hardly-there flats (4 to 6 ounces) comes in the form of a little extra cushioning in the midsole and a little added structure to the upper. For me, this makes the Streak an ideal shoe to race the marathon distance in. The legs are always the first thing to break down in a marathon, so hopefully the extra cushion will allow the legs to hold up a little better to the relentless pounding of 26.2 miles on asphalt.

With all that said, no shoe in the world is going to prevent a full-on bonk if I go out too hard, so I sure hope I've guessed my pacing right.

Week Ending Feb 6

Monday - PM: 4 miles easy. Treadmill.

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January: 440.5 miles (45,850')
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Tuesday - PM: 9 miles w/4 @ marathon effort. With the windchill temps in the negative double digits, I wasn't much looking forward to this run, but thanks to the positive effects of scheduling with friends, it got logged. A few miles at marathon pace was on the docket, and Tuesday was really the only available day to get it done, so after a couple of e-mail exchanges with Sarah to make sure we were both still up for it, we met after work for a 30-minute warm up before hitting the one-mile stretch of bike path on the Mason Trail between Harmony and Timberline for some pretty serious arctic action. The wind was blowing hard north to south, so heading north for the first and third miles the running was particularly painful, with the second and fourth miles heading south feeling almost tropical by comparison. Workout went: mile, 2 mile, mile @ marathon effort w/2-3 min jog between intervals. Splits were: 5:58, 11:50 (5:45, 6:05), 5:29 (gave Sarah 30 seconds on this one, so ran a little harder to chase her down). Clothing for my run on Sunday in 60 degree temps @ 7500': shorts & T-shirt; clothing Tuesday in -12 degree temps @5,000': two pair socks, four layers on top, three layers on bottom, two pair gloves, two pieces headgear. Brrrr. Don't think Ive ever experienced such a wild temperature swing in such a short period of time.

Weds - Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop. Super cold again, but the sun was shining and there was no wind, so ended up enjoying a nice little jog. Crunched through untouched snow, which allowed me to enjoy the footprints of animals that had come before. Followed some pretty fresh cougar tracks coming down from Spring Creek to the three-way with Soderberg for a while, then a fox for almost the length of Soderberg down from Horsetooth trail intersection, and of course lots of deer and birds.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hills. Centennial to HTH 5 mile and back with Sarah, Slush and Celeste. Cold again, so dressed in many layers, perhaps one too many. Jogged out in 43, back in 33:30.

Brrr.

PM - 6.5 miles easy. FCTR social run.

Fri - Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop. Super sluggish.

Checked in with Mike T at Pearl on Friday to talk shoes for 2013. Scott J is holding the new Fuel XC (blue/black, to be renamed Fuel Trail), while I've got my mitts on the Peak II (sweet ride). The new road flat (Streak II in green, white, black) is coming out in a couple of weeks and is a really impressive shoe. I'll be wearing those at NOLA. Exciting time at PI Run right now.

Sat - AM: 10 miles (1,400') easy. To 5 mile on HTH course and back with Fort Collins Running Club. Some good banter with Slush, Sarah, Alex and Pete. Ian Sharman runs 12:44 at Rocky! Wowzer. Chalk one up for the Brits.

Sun - AM: 3.5 miles easy. Bike paths setting up T&H 8k course. A solid 42-runner turnout in cold and snowy conditions. Good stuff.

Total: 52 miles (4,600')

Legs have been feeling sluggish all week, but that's typical for this stage of the taper. More rest next week in the form of a daily 4-mile jog and I should be raring to go come Sunday. I'm still kind of clueless as to a goal time, so the plan is to go by feel at no faster the 5:45 miling and hopefully slip into a pace that I can hold for 26 miles.

In other news, my number was pulled in the Hardrock lottery today which gives me a few things to think about for the summer. I guess I was hoping I would miss the draw this year and then get pulled in 2012, but things rarely go according to plan when lotteries are involved. I have until June 1 to make a final decision without actually having to commit funds. Obviously if I commit the funds then I'll be looking to run, but if recovery from Western States is slow, I can still give up my spot to someone on the waitlist and get 50% of my entry fee back. With that degree of flexibility, I'm pretty sure I'll be sending in a check this month to hold my place.

I am guessing that AJW's 46:58:20 (18:46:51 & 28:09:29) is a combined WS/HR record, so that would be a fun target to chase. Anyway, focus is still on New Orleans for the next week, then AR50, and then WS/HR. One step at a time.

Great to see fellow countryman Ian Sharman dominate in Texas yesterday. Let's hope this is just the beginning of the 2011 British invasion. Both Ian and I will be running AR50 and WS100 this spring/summer and then Canada-based Brit Ellie Greenwood has to be among the favorites at any race she lines up at this year, including Western States. Let the pillaging begin (continue).

Week Ending Jan 30

Monday - Noon: 7.5 miles (1,700') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Gentle cruise to mark the beginning of the taper.

Tuesday - AM: 10.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group at City Park for an early morning interval session. Cold as all get out again, but at least no wind. Anyway, the workout went: mile, 1,200, 1,000, mile fartlek, 1,200, 1,000, mile. Jogged three miles with Slush, Sarah and Celeste to warm up, and actually felt kind of spry from the get go - which is rare. Intervals went: 5:28, 3:58 (5:19), 3:18 (5:18), 5:22, 3:51 (5:09), 3:16 (5:15), 5:31 - w/ 3-5 minutes rest between.
Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - AM: 6 miles (500') easy. Valley.
PM: 6 miles easy. Bike paths.

Thurs - PM: 10 miles (1,800'). Towers TT. 29:26. Ran three with Eric B to warm up, then, after setting off 32 runners before me, headed out for what I figured would be a close-to-PR effort - if not time, given that it was pitch black out and there was likely ice on the trail. With the lack of depth perception that comes with running in a bubble of headlamp light, I stumbled my way across the Swan Johnson connector, but still managed to get to Towers in a very easy 2:45, which is just a hair over PR pace. I decided then to take the plunge and commit to a hard effort. At Stout I was still on PR pace at 8:43, and by Herrington I had gained a few seconds with a 16:43 split. Up to this point, the track had largely been snow and ice free and it remained that way past Mill Creek (24:45), but beyond Westridge, it was pretty icy and treacherous. Going around Kyle at the crest of the last grunt, I took a digger, landing hard on my knee, which cost seconds and energy, and then I slid a few more times before the summit. However, I still managed to top out in a reasonably controlled one second PR (29:26). Still way off Sam's 28:50 FKT, but probably pretty close to it had there been a dry track and sunlight. Looking forward to a spring assault, but for now I'll take this as a sign that I'm in great shape and ready to go hard in New Orleans.

Friday - Noon: 8 miles (1,650') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home.

Saturday - AM: 8 miles (900') easy. To Indian Summer on Bluesky and back. It was so nice out, I found myself scanning for snakes ... in January.
PM: 5 miles (1,600'). Hike to Horsetooth summit with Alistair.

Sunday 15 miles (1,500'). Frost Giant 5k/10k double. Certainly wasn't going to be laying down any PRs, but felt like I got the workout I was after, which was a tired 10k effort. Warmed up with 3.5, raced 3.1, cooled down with 1.75, raced 6, cooled down with 1.75.

Total: 80.5 miles (10,550')

My legs felt great all week, which is really encouraging considering this is the first week of the taper. I still plan on cutting back significantly next week and again the week of. Probably won't run much more than 75 miles over the next two weeks, so I should really be raring to go come race day.

Great to see Andy Henshaw busting out an impressive 2:26 in Miami this weekend. He looks to be in great shape for Mad City where I predict he'll get the spot he wants on the US 100k team. Andy beat me by less than a minute at the Salida Marathon last year, which means I should be ready to rock out a 2:27 in New Orleans ... or at least I think that's how it works.

Stacy from Wilderness Running, an online retailer of quality trail running gear, conducted a 4-question interview with me the other week. You can check it out here and if you want to save 10% on gear from Stacy's St. George headquarters, then check out the link on the sidebar.

Frost Giant 5k/10k Double

I knew going into this one that there wouldn't be a great deal of feedback to be had on the marathon-performance front, given that Estes Park sits at over 7,500' and that both races involve a lot of uphill work and considerable amounts of running through clumpy paddock, but I figured that if I raced both reasonably hard I could get a good late-marathon effort out of the 10k.

Alex and I carpooled up to Estes (which is an intriguing 50k from my house) with a ton of time to spare. Ryan B was at registration as Alex and I were picking up our race bibs, so the three of us headed out to run the 5k course as a warm up. It essentially involved a 1.5-mile, 250'-foot climb out of town to MacGregor Ranch on first asphalt and then gravely dirt, before cutting cross country on clumpy and pot-holed paddock for 3/4 of a mile and then rejoining MacGregor road for the one-mile, 150' descent to the finish.

Going in, I figured I'd race the 5k hard to work up a good amount of of lactic acid for the 10k effort. However, with the uphill start and the altitude, I was laboring almost immediately from the gun. Three guys got out in front of me with last year's winner Mark Saunders trailing two other guys that I didn't recognize. It took me about a half mile to get on the back of the pack, and I figured then that I would just race the 5k for positions and not worry about running as hard as possible, so I sat back and drafted at what seemed like an increasingly easy effort. Just before the mile, Mark decided to up the effort waving for me to come with him. I did and we immediately dropped the guy who had been setting the early pace. Through the first mile of asphalt and 150' of climbing we were at 5:40.

Once we hit the gravel road in MacGregor Ranch, the grade increased significantly and - not surprisingly - the pace dropped. We gained probably 100 feet over the next third of a mile before the road leveled out, and at the 90 degree turn onto the cross country section, I was able to get a look behind and saw that I'd built a decent gap on second (Peter Swank). Given that the paddock section was pretty pitted, I figured I should be careful and go easy to the road so as not to twist an ankle or do something else stupid. The 1.1 mile section in MacGregor Ranch split at 6:55.

The last mile was almost all downhill and all on asphalt, so I was able to cruise at a good speed into the finish with a 5:18 last mile and 17:55 overall. Ryan finished strong, almost picking off Peter Swank for second, but just running out of real estate.

Alex, Ryan and I reconvened shortly thereafter and went off to jog the first 1.5 miles and last half mile of the 10k course in a bid to keep loose in the 40 minutes between races. The first mile of the 10k course was very steep, with over 200 feet of climbing before dropping down for a quarter mile to rejoin the half-mile point of the 5k and then climbing back up to MacGreggor ranch for an additional 170 feet of ascending, so 400 feet of climbing in the first two miles. Nice.

From the gun, the race went out noticeably slower than the 5k, almost at a jog, so it was a fairly safe bet that most everyone in the 10k had also raced the 5k. Within 100 yards we were tucking into the first section of the opening one-mile climb, which was probably close to a 10 percent grade. Once things eased off a bit, I actually felt my legs tell me that they were comfortable and ready to run again, so I switched from just wanting to tempo the effort to feeling like I wanted to make this hard on myself to make it feel like the last 10k in New Orleans might. By mile one (6:24), I already had control of the race so concentrated on working a steadily hard, marathon'esque effort.

At the top of the second climb, which happened to coincide with the two mile marker (6:03), I was ready for some fun paddock action. The course repeated the 5k cross country section, then cut across Devil's Gulch Road at mile 3 (5:52) for two more miles of pretty serious cross country. Cutting back east up the Devil's Gulch fenceline and then south through some trees, the course climbed another 150' or so before dropping sharply through some dangerously low pine canopy and heavily pine-coned terrain. Out of the trees, the course had us run through some really tall grass with stretches of heavily off-cambered action thrown in for good measure before sending us back towards Devil's Gulch Road for the last mile of asphalt. Miss Colorado was directing traffic at the last cross-country turn, and I took it so tight that I almost sent her flying. Ooops. The splits through this section went 6:17 & 5:33 (mile 5 was obviously way short).

Image: Estes Park Trail Gazette

Once back on the road, I checked over the shoulder and saw Ryan a ways off in second. Knowing that the fifth mile was short, I took at a split at the 1 mile marker of the 5k course to see what I could push out for a last mile, which I covered in 5:25, crossing the line in 36:22, which surprised me. Figuring that the course was short then, I checked with Ryan and Alex who both had GPS watches on, and as suspected the course was .2 miles short at 6 miles. That said, the 5k course was a touch long, so I guess it all evens out in the wash. Ryan ran a strong 10k, finishing about a minute back on me and comfortably ahead of Mark Saunders in third and way ahead of the guy who had earlier beat him for second in the 5k.

I picked up a couple of pewter game trophies to add to my buffalo from the Antelope Island 50k last year. All I need now is a cougar.

Where's the Cougar?

Towers Times

With the exception of some nasty ice past Westridge, we had close to perfect conditions on the hill on Thursday tonight with temps in the 40s and not a breath of wind. Not surprisingly then, there were some impressive performances from among the 32 assembled runners. People were blowing out PRs left, right and center. This is January folks - good stuff!

So a new FKT in the women's division, with Jenn Malmberg shaving a few more seconds off her PR (35:09), while Sarah Hansen posted the second fastest time ever for the women on her first time up the hill with a 36:10. I think we'll send them out together next time for some fun racing action now that Sarah's had a chance to see the hill.

No FKTs on the men's side, but huge PRs for regulars on the hill Scott Slusher and Kyle Fanning. A one second PR (29:26) for me, even after taking a spill on the ice near the top, but still much work to be done to get near Sam's 28:50.

2011 Times & All-time PRs through 1/27/11:

..............PR.....1/13..1/27....2/9....2/24

Aaron....36:35..................................38:00
Alex A....38:07..43:00..46:00..46:11..42:50
Alex M....37:49..42:34..38:27..41:04..41:03
Brent......40:44............40:44
Brian K...37:12.............37:12
Brian S...40:30..42:20...40:30............42:46
Brian W...44:55..51:10..49:04..51:21..45:56
Cat.........44:13..45:40..44:54.............gold*
Celeste...45:37..47:59..46:06..52:11..46:30
Chris H...43:41.......................46:45..43:41
Chris K...46:50.......................50:10..46:50
Cherilyn..38:19..42:ish..40:34..43:20
Dakota...30:30.............30:30..35:00....??
Dan B.....41:21.............41:21
Dan Bla..47:15.............50:20.............47:15
Dan J.....37:18.............37:30..39:40
Diana H..46:28..46:28
Don.......44:06.............49:13
Eric........40:30..40:30
Eric B.....29:37..............30:51
Felix.......36:28..................................40:30
Glenn.....40:35..............43:00
Jaime.....55:00.......................55:00
Jeff K.....39:08..43:00....39:08
Jenn M...35:09..37:47....35:09
Jenn S....52:26..................................56:51
John H...49:46........................49:46
Joselyne.52:40...............gold*..57:22..55:24
Kyle.......34:42..............34:42
Marie.....42:38..............44:33.............42:38
Mary B...42:03..............44:31..51:18...47:13
Mindy.....54:44..54:44..............57:00
Mike L....43:50..47:50...43:50..............46:23
Mike Le..44:00....................................44:00
Mike T....45:06..47:31
Mike M...42:34..............43:00
Molly.......................................gold*...64:43
Nick C....29:26..32:01....29:26
Nick M...35:42..38:56.....35:42
Pete......32:41..39:40.....35:40..36:32..36:28
Ross.......48:00..................................48:00
Ryan B...31:32..33:45....31:32..33:10....??
Sam M...28:50..32:59
Sarah H..36:10..............36:10..37:04
Slush.....32:56..34:54....32:56..35:34..34:43
Steph.....40:32..............41:21..40:32
Tom K...55:00....................................55:00
Woody....44:30..............44:30
...37.................20........32.......20.......23

Top times:

Sam Malmberg: 28:50
Nick Clark: 29:26
Eric Bergman: 29:37
Dakota Jones: 30:30
Steve Folkerts: 30:36

Women

Jenn Malmberg: 35:09
Sarah Hansen: 36:10
Cherilyn Sackel: 37:07
Amy Hartley: 38:14
Karina HS XC: 38:20

Week Ending Jan 23

Mon - Noon: 8 miles easy. Glenwood Canyon to Readers Cove via Spring Creek - Mason - Harmony.

PM: 5.5 miles (600') easy. Milner mountain loop.

Tues - AM: 9.5 miles fartlek. Met Jane's group down in City Park for a structured mile repeat workout. First mile on the cemetery route, then 3 x mile fartlek with hard at 5k'ish pace and easy at marathon'ish pace, followed with final cemetery mile. Four mile w-u, half mile c-d. 5:42, 5:56, 5:44, 5:52, 5:24.
PM: 10 miles (2,300') easy. To Towers via 38e/Shoreline, then Towers - Westridge - Horsetooth - Southridge - home.

Weds - Noon 10.5 miles (2,400') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Southridge - Soderberg. Looked a little overcast, but totally benign when I set out, so went with a light outfit. Within 20 minutes, the temps dropped 20 degrees and I was in a full-on blizzard with hail then snow lashing me to pieces in the howling wind. My hands froze and my face felt like it was about ready to fall off, but I stuck with the plan and got around. Ouch.
PM: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') steady. ~ 1:11 for 10, then .5 jog. Met up with Sarah, Slush, Tim, John L and Dennis at Maxwell for an out and back to the 5-mile marker on the HTH course. Huge full moon out hovering above the Horsetooth/Lory foothills which was pretty awesome; however, it was cold (12 degrees) and the roads were icy which wasn't so awesome. Forgot my watch, but based on others' watches, it was approx 38 mins (7:40) to the turn and 33 (6:40) coming back. The hills on Centennial always make this a tough workout, but managed to push out a solid tempo effort coming back. Half mile jog at the end.
PM: 7.5 miles easy. FCTR social run @ Pineridge.

Friday - AM: 4.5 miles (900') super easy. Falls loop.
PM: 2.5 miles on the mill. Bored and tired so got off.

Saturday AM: 21.5 miles (1,500') MP workout. 2:45. Started from Maxwell at 6:00 am with a jog out to Spring Creek trailhead, then 2x4 miles @ marathon effort to College and back w/half mile jog between. Wind was blowing hard, so this workout was kind of a bust, but just tried to maintain an appropriate effort: 6:14, 5:57, 5:58, 5:54; 6:04, 6:08, 6:06, 6:21. Jogged the 1.5 miles back to Maxwell and met a large group from the Fort Collins Running Club for a jog out to the 5-mile marker and back on the HTH course over the Centennial hills (44 out, 45 back). Ran with Alex for the most part and enjoyed some good conversation. Wind really picked up towards the end of the run.

Sunday - AM: 23.5 miles (3,050'). 3:19. Horsetooth Resrvoir circumnavigation with Brendan, Dakota and Ryan. From my house to Soderberg, then Valley trails to Lory - roads around north end of reservoir to Reservoir Ridge TH - Foothills Trail to Maxwell - dam road (Centennial) to 38e - 38e home. Glad for the enjoyable company on this one as I didn't much feel like running long again after Saturday's 20+ miles, but my legs felt fine and the run went by quickly. Beautiful morning for what was actually my first circumnavigation of the reservoir. Was pretty surprised to see 3,000'+ of vertical gain on the morning, but I guess there are a couple of good climbs up and down the hogbacks on the east side of the reservoir, and then there's a good 800' in the last three miles to my house. Excellent way to finish off this block of training for NOLA.

Brief pit stop at Lory Visitors Center. Ryan, Dakota, Brendan.

Total: 118 miles (13,000')

So that pretty much concludes the work for the NOLA build up. I'll take the next three weeks to drop the mileage with my typical taper that will go something like: 75 miles, 50 miles, 3-4 mile daily jog, with an eye on maintaining some good quality marathon-paced workouts through the next two weeks. Feeling fit and largely healthy, so no excuses. Probably going to run the 5k/10k double at 7,500' next weekend.

Week Ending Jan 16

Monday - Noon: 8 miles (1,650') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home. My tracks from Sunday on the exact same run were gone once I got off the Falls loop, so re-broke trail all the way back to Soderberg. Snow had some good traction today, so could have been worse. Ankle to calf deep for the most part.
PM: 7 miles (1,600'). Southridge - Wathen - Spring Creek - Soderberg. Was going to run roads, but then remembered I had a killer pair of Atlas racing snowshoes that have been waiting patiently all fall/winter for an outing. This was actually my first ever mountain run in a pair of snowshoes, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the effort much mellower than I had been expecting. My left foot, which has a funny backswing hurt to start out as it was forced to correct with the snowshoes, but once that settled down, this was a most enjoyable outing. The traction and 'bounce' were a most welcome reprieve from the slipping and sinking I normally experience when running in shoes through this kind of stuff. Writing this, shortly before going to bed, I feel pretty beat, suggesting that this was a bigger workout than the same on foot. Or maybe it's just the cumulative effect of two hilly slogs through the snow in one day. Looking forward to running a few snowshoe races and spending some time up in the mountains with the family this winter once the marathon thing is done.

Tuesday - Noon: 11 miles (1,000') w/2 x 3 mile @ tempo on Redstone. Viciously cold out today, so had to wait until the 'warmest' part of the day to get out, but it was still in the negative numbers with wind chill and probably 5 or 6 air temp. Running into the wind my face was in a world of hurt. Anyway, down to Redstone Canyon, then out to three-mile marker at marathon effort, jog half mile, then three miles back to 38e at marathon effort. The traction on Redstone was not as good as I was hoping for, so I had to work a little harder than I would have liked with the slight slip with each push-off on the packed snow. Tailwind out, headwind back. Miles up the canyon went 6:23, 6:26, 6:23, then 5:56, 6:10, 5:59 coming back. 15:45 down to Redstone, 19:05 back. On days like today, I am truly thankful for the great Pearl Izumi gear I am lucky enough to receive.

This is my number one cold-weather item.

Wednesday - AM: 8 miles (1,000') easy. To Redstone one-mile marker and back to 38e, then completion of Milner Mtn loop and long way home. Had to wait for day to break this morning for fear that I would lose my nose. Negative one as the run got going, but warmed up to a balmy two degrees by the end. Yet to figure out how to keep my nose and cheeks from freezing, but most everything else was toasty.
Noon: 7 miles (1,600'). Southridge - Wathen - Spring Creek - Soderberg. On the snowshoes again. Probably the last snowshoe session I'll get out of this round of snow, but it was fun while it lasted. Air temps really warmed up during the day to the point that I was overheating for much of this run.

Thursday - Noon: 4.5 miles (900') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 9.5 miles (1,700'). Towers in 32:01. Packed snow on the half-mile connector, then largely clear until the last half mile where it was very slippery.

Friday - PM: 6 miles (500') super easy. To Towers and back via 38e/Shoreline.

Saturday - 16.5 mile. Frosty 10 miler (56:37). 3.5 mile w-u, 3 mile c-d.

Sunday - 24 miles (2,500') easy. 3:23. Out with Burch for the first of a series of American River simulation runs that we have planned in the build up to the race in April. From my house we ran roads to the Devils Backbone trailhead in Loveland (12 miles) via Masonville/Hwy 34. We then picked up the Bluesky trail, taking the high route to the keyhole, then lefts through the Loveland-side loops, Indian Summer and then the long way home once back in my neighborhood. Getting up to my house the long way from the north-end Bluesky trailhead is a good 700' ascent on roads in a bit over 2 miles; with the rolling Bluesky trail this is an almost perfect mini-AR simulator. Next time out we plan to take Bluesky all the way to Towers and hit that to the top at the end of the run before cutting back on Westridge, which should net a good 30+ miles. Trails were still pretty crunchy with snow and ice, but nothing too nasty. Great to be out bagging some bigger miles with Ryan. Nice casual pace today after yesterday's effort.

Total: 100.5 miles (12,450')

Good week. Managed to get to the 10 miler on Saturday with slightly less mileage (60) through the week than for the Lafayette 5k (75) last Saturday, which may have helped with the stronger comparative performance - or maybe it was just an easier course. Anyway, I'm pretty happy on balance with how the race went with one week left of training before the taper. I think I'm where I need to be fitness-wise.

Aside from the racing, I managed to get in some harder-effort miles on a very cold Tuesday, a solid Towers effort on Thursday and a comfortable long run today. All positives and few negatives on the feedback front, which is right where you want to be at this stage of the cycle. I hope to make next week count with some heavy mileage and three big workouts. Just need to get through that then the focus shifts to the three-week tapering off period, where I'll be looking to get the legs rested, sharp and ready to race. In my opinion, this is one of the most important parts of the training cycle and one that many don't take seriously enough when preparing for goal races.

While I'm still focused on running the roads in February, I'm also really looking forward to American River and the whole 2011 ultra season in general. Seems like 2010 was a great year for the sport in terms of attracting runners across a broad spectrum of abilities, and especially so at the pointy end of the bigger races. Hopefully we'll continue to see really great racing action in 2011. I know I'm looking forward to getting in amongst 'em.

Frosty's Frozen 10 Mile

There were plenty of running options on offer this Saturday. Two hours south in the Springs, the third and final race in the Front Range Fatass series was taking place, while an hour north in Wyoming some truly crazed folk were wading through waist-deep snow in what Alex is describing as the hardest of the three Trudges he's done so far. I've done two and they both sucked, so I can only imagine how intolerable this year's race was, but I was still sad to miss it.

Me, I ran ten miles on a bike path in Denver.

Frosty's Frozen 10 Mile has one of the sillier race names out there in addition to a thoroughly uninspired course, but it was a fun morning nonetheless. The course was essentially a five mile out and back on Denver's Platte River bike path, with a small loop at the start. There was a very gentle net downhill of maybe 100 feet to the turnaround and then a gentle climb on the way back.

I carpooled down with the Slushmeister, Nicole and Sarah Hansen, and enjoyed some good banter which made the drive fly by. Sarah was looking to run 65 minutes, Slush was hoping to hang on to her coattails, while I figured that I'd be happy with anything in the 56-57 minute range. Nicole was just looking to get a race under her belt after a long post-Ironman layoff.

Me, Sarah, Nicole, Slushstenstein

After a gentle 3.5 mile warm up with the Fort Collins crew we lined up and got going. Off the start, I spotted Jonathan Huie, who beat me pretty convincingly in December at the Xmas Classic 4 Miler where I had a horrible run; this after I'd beaten him by a few seconds at the T-Day run in November. For the third time in three months then we'd be racing. In addition, Senor Jaime had filled me in the day before on some guy (Kenneth Foster) who was using this race as a tune up for the US Half Marathon Championships in Houston in two weeks, saying he was good for a sub-50 (per the RD). I told him I'd eat my shorts if anyone went sub-50 today. I also recognized Peter Maksimow in his Inov-8 outfit, after hearing his name called for second place in the five-mile race, which was run 75 minutes before the 10-miler. He'd be doubling down on the morning then, so I figured I might have his number.

Through the first few turns of the opening half-mile loop I took my time getting up to race pace. As we hit the bike path, I was running in fifth with Peter. Two guys - Ken Foster running for US Army and a guy in a Team Nebraska top - already had a good-sized lead, while Jonathan and A.N.Other were a few meters up in third and fourth. The first mile clicked at 5:38, which was right at the pace I wanted to be running. The effort felt very controlled, so I decided to put a little weight on the gas in a bid to keep third and fourth close. Not long into the second mile, it was evident that fourth had gone out way too hard, and I was soon around him sitting ten meters behind Jonathan, with Peter still on my shoulder.

The 5:24 second mile split seemed a little hot on paper, but felt good aerobically. My legs weren't feeling too spry, which is never a good sign early in a race, but I felt strong enough that I made the decision not to ease off, rather just hang in there and see how long I could hold on. Through the third mile, I got some separation on Peter but could see myself losing ground on Jonathan, so settled in and concentrated on hitting the tangents of the curvy bike path.

The third mile clicked at 5:29 and the fourth at 5:27, while the gap on third in front and fourth behind grew. It felt like there was a slight uphill pull on the fifth mile, and there were also some decent patches of snow and ice to negotiate, which caused the pace to slow just a touch. Somewhere before the turnaround, I also began to feel the lactic acid take hold in my legs and knew that the real work was just about to begin. However, having come away from the 5k in Lafayette last week with the sense that I 'd run a weak race mentally, I was bound and determined to give the Central Governor some attitude today.

Mile five, just before the turnaround, clicked at 5:39 for a front five of 27:39. I took a gulp of water at the 180 degree turn and then immediately felt the headwind. Ughh. No wonder that front five had seemed easier than the digits suggested they should have. With Jonathan still in sight 30-40 seconds ahead, I at least had a rabbit to chase in hopes that he would tie up, so I got my head down for the grind to the finish.

Coming back against the traffic, I saw Scott closely followed by Sarah who was running in sixth, not far off the girls directly in front of her, but certainly out of reach of 2008 marathon trialists Paige Higgins and Kara Roy who were running one and two. We exchanged mutual words of encouragement as we crossed and then it was back to the grindstone.

Mile six hit at 5:43, and given how I was feeling, the 5:20s and 5:30s were clearly history. It was now just a matter of hanging mentally tough and muscling as good a time as possible and maybe reeling in third. Mile seven came in at 5:49, and while the wheels felt like they were loosening, it didn't feel like they were going to come off entirely.

The mile eight marker seemed like it took forever to materialize, and in fact it never did, presumably blown down. Miles 8 and 9 combined for an 11:37 (5:48) split, and while the math wasn't coming easy, I finally figured out that I was essentially running at what I hope to be marathon pace in four weeks. As I contemplated this reality, while trying to muscle enough strength to stay on pace, I thought about the increased oxygen that would be on offer in New Orleans, the fresh tapered legs, and the fact that I was going to run a sensible evenly paced race that would involve zero miles below 5:30 pace. Okay, one more mile.

"Is third getting any closer? Uh, maybe, but you're not going to catch him. Keep squeezing for seconds."

While I maybe could have pushed a little harder in the last mile, I doubt I would have earned much more than 10 seconds on my final 5:47 split, as I was feeling pretty tapped. I ended up running 56:37, which was on the upper-middle end of the pre-race goalometer. Ideally I would have liked to have seen 55:xx on my watch, but 5:40s were really where I thought I would be.

Results.

If I manipulate, cajole and massage various different performance equivalency calculators enough, then accounting for altitude this performance (54:31 sea level equivalent, apparently) is good enough for a 2:32 in four weeks time.

Calculators smalculators, I say, but this is the first time I've got one of these stupid algorithms to show me a number I want to see. But then there's a reason why we run the races. I'm not giving up on the 2:29 just yet, but my mind is increasingly coalescing around 2:33 as the number.

A New Year, a New Towers

Well not really, although we have hit the reset button on Towers-related statistical accumulations for 2011...but it's still the same old grunt. In 2010, we had a total of 104 different runners attend at least one of the 20 sessions on the big hill, which ain't bad considering the gruntworthiness of the course. Our biggest turnout of 32 runners was on July 15, and the smallest turnout of 8 runners was the inaugural April 8 session.

I handed out a few Pearl Izumi goodies last week at the Thursday night social gathering for those who showed the greatest dedication to the hill.

On the men's side, Pete Stevenson managed to make more appearances than your humble run-director in 2010 with a total of 18 Thursday summits, followed by me (17), Brian Walter (15), Alex May and Scott Slusher (14). For the women, Mary Boyts (absent last night) was a model of consistency with 16 appearance, followed by Celeste (Slusher?) (15) and Cat Speights (14).

Top times were as follows:

Sam Malmberg: 28:50
Nick Clark: 29:26
Eric Bergman: 29:37
Steve Folkerts: 30:36
Dakota Jones: 31:26

Women

Jenn Malmberg: 35:09
Sarah Hansen: 36:10
Cherilyn Sackel: 37:07
Amy Hartley: 38:14
Karina HS XC: 38:20

This year got off to a good start with a solid 20-runner turnout. The conditions were predictably slow given the recent white fluffy dump from the heavens, but they could have been much worse. The half-mile connector to Towers was decently packed down, and then most of the actual road had been plowed, with the exception of the toughest part of the route - the half mile from Westridge - which was a slippery white mess. Results further down.

So we'll continue the bi-weekly schedule through the winter and on through the year, hopefully with a full 26 sessions in 2011. Once we revert forward to longer days in the spring, I am hopeful that we'll find the opportunity to switch locations a couple of times to include time trials on Horsetooth, Round Mountain, Greyrock (?) and maybe even Crosier. Other suggestions welcome.

Times:

...............PR.....1/13.....1/27

Alex A....38:07..43:00...46:00
Alex M....37:49..42:34..38:27
Brent......40:44.............40:44
Brian K...37:12.............37:12
Brian S...40:30..42:20..40:30
Brian W...44:55..51:10..49:04
Cat........44:13..45:40.....44:54
Celeste...45:37..47:59....46:06
Cherilyn..38:19...42:ish.40:34
Dakota....30:30..............30:30
Dan B......41:21..............41:21
Dan Bla..50:20..............50:20
Dan J......37:18...............37:30
Diana H..46:28..46:28
Don.........44:06.............49:13
Eric........40:30..40:30
Eric B......29:37.............29:37
Glenn......40:35.............43:00
Jeff K......39:08..43:00..39:08
Jenn M...35:09..37:47....35:09
Joselyne.52:40..............*****
Kyle........34:42.............34:42
Marie......44:33.............44:33
Mary B...42:03..............44:31
Mindy.....54:44..54:44
Mike L....43:50..47:50..43:50
Mike T....45:06..47:31
Mike M...42:34.............43:00
Nick C....29:26..32:01..29:26
Nick M...35:42..38:56..35:42
Pete......32:41..39:40....35:40
Ryan B...31:32..33:45..31:32
Sam M...28:50..32:59
Sarah H..36:10.............36:10
Slush.....32:56..34:54...32:56
Stephanie.41:21............41:21
Woody..44:30..............44:30
.20....................20........32