3 mile Mornings

In an effort to consistently toughen up my soles a bit, i'm instituting some easy 3 mile morning wake up jogs. It's easy additional mileage, and should get my total mileage closer to 80. Got a bow this weekend, and i'm headin up today to shoot inanimate animals. Hooray!

Sunday- BTMR 15 miles

Monday- Ez 5 miles

Tuesday AM. 3 miles PM?

23 miles so far, 60 to go.

Barr Trail

Finally posting about barr.

Absolutely an incredible race, most likely my favorite trail race now. The lead up to the race was interesting. This was my week before

Sunday-11 miles at 8000 feet + 3000' change

Monday-(Began a weeklong camp in the foothills of boulder) Stayed up late, slept in. -0

Tuesday - 13 miles at 8000 feet +2500' change

Wednesday -8 miles at 8000 feet +1000' change

Thursday-Rest, but swam at boulder reservoir a good deal, but also drunk my weight in lake water

Friday-8 miles at 8000 feet +1000' change

Saturday - Capture the flag. I purposely chose to be on defense during the game, because there were no boundaries, and some really cool trails to patrol on. My nutrition was particularly interesting, because the camp food was incredible all week, and in limit

less supply. So the day before the race, i had 2 plates of leftovers for lunch, and dominos pizza, a root beer, sierra mist, and a coke in a glass bottle that evening. Delicious. However, i don't feel like this affected me at all for the race, because i didn't think about it until afterwards. I also only got about 4 hours of sleep before i got up at 4:30 to drive to Colorado springs the next morning. Next time i think i'll bring a tent.

Got to the road at about 6:15, perfect time to warm up to the starting area about a half mile up. I got my bib number, some water, and proceeded up the trail, as i had never ventured into the beast that is pikes peak and the barr trail. I took off

f my shoes when i got to the actual trail to see if today would be a good day to go barefoot. I had spent nearly the entireweek barefoot in the mountains of boulder, so my feet felt solid, however the downhill portion of the race, and the amount of loose dirt persuaded me to run in my Vibram KSO Trek's. So i velcrowed back up, and went back to the start. After some brief stretches, a couple strides and numerous bathroom stops, i headed to the start line. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen this race. I went into mt. washington having studied the mountain i

nside out, but not for this race. The announcer yelled go (no gun?) and we all went off. My mentality of the race was storm the uphill and don't worry about the downhill. So, i went out with the second half of the pack, and stuck with brandy erholtz for the most part. After about 3 miles, she started to pull away. Mentally i started to break down a tad, but after about a mile, i felt a little pep coming back to my step, and it almost seemed as if the trail was getting less steep. So i sped up. A lot. I felt strong, so i went fast, and all of a sudden, t

here was brandy! I ran past, and kept running, but so did she. I started to see some familiar faces flying down the hill, so i figured i was close, but somehow i kind of fo

rgot that the race turned around. Being unfamiliar with the trail, i didn't really know when the turnaround was going to show up, and all of a sudden it did. It ends here? This is it? I was just getting into it! As excited as i was to be heading back down, i knew there was more in me, so i'm uber excited run again next year, hopefully with a better foot solution. On the descent, my problems started. I was having fun on the trail, jumping over rocks and such, but after about 2.5 miles, i had to stop

and pull a rock out of my shoes. Those shoes. And, to my dismay, i head foot steps coming up behind me. I got going again, and just as the trail got steeper, and more windy, i began to slow down. Both vibrams had holes in the toes, and i wasn't getting any hold from the shoes. At the moment i let brandy go ahead, i had nearly run off the trail if not for a conveniently placed tree. I'm a fan of running aggressively downhill. It's just a lot more fun. But every time i had to turn, i'd lose footing, and have to slow down. Eh. Who really cares. Got passed by 2 more people, GZ being one of them, but all i really cared about was the up. So after reaching the bottom, and ecstatic to see uphill again, i bolted up hydro street, and flung myself around the turn into the finish chute. Overall? Great race despite shoes that fell apart. I'll definitely be chattin with vibram soon. I find out in the next week whether i make the jr. mountain running team, but until then, i'll just keep running up. I see a few 15 milers in the coming week... need to get as much colorado in before i head out to missouri.... Are there hills out there? I guess i'll find out. Quads felt good today, but just about everything else hurt. So i headed out for a pleasant 5 miles in the morning sans shoes to fall in love with my feet again. No shoes no blues eh?

Blog? What's a blog?

Well, kind of forgot that I had a blog. Then when i started looking at other peoples blogs, i figured i need to make a better effort to write things in here. Recap back to as far as I want to remember.

Mt. Washington - 1:14, hot, hot, hot

Then, a week of camp,

Last saturday/sunday, ran the Boulder Skyline Traverse, but AT NIGHT!!!!

That was fun, met up with a group of guys at 7:30, and went to run for several hours. We skipped sanitas, so i went back sunday to bag it, for about 18 miles, 6000 feet of elevation.

Monday - Found a way to get out of bed, so i went to boulder, ran mesa trail to bear canyon, up green, then down ranger/gregory canyon. 9 miles, 3000' elevation

This is fun. Already at 27 miles up 9000 feet, and i still have 5 days left. Oh right, vail hill climb is on saturday.... Hope i remember :)

Mizzonday

I didn't run a whole lot today, but i beat my own beep test record at school at 15.2. If you don't know what the beep test is, its a fitness test where you run back and forth at an increasingly faster speed. By the end, you're going pretty fast, but i kept slipping on the gym floor, and i think that's what did me in. Did a quick speed workout later at track, total of 4 miles. Officially one day of school left then i'm done. Boring day overall. Kickball tomorrow in stats!!! Also, i am finding myself more inclined to want to chase animals in the wild. Weird.

Week in Review

So, here's the week in review.

Monday, tuesday wednesday, thursday and friday. Then for fun i participated in saturday and sunday.

But in all seriousness, random pictures!!!

Sunday-8.25 miles up sunshine canyon 1:06. New fastest time for me, and got to run through softly falling snow flakes the whole time :) Felt strong the whole time, and on a good day, i could knock a few more minutes off the first two miles if i actually decided to go hard the entire run, but not bad seeing how i raced on friday and ran 7 on saturday.

Monday - Easy 5+1 in gym. Easy because i was more tired than i expected, but should have seen it coming.

Tuesday -Another easy 4 -28:40

Wednesday- Taper workout. Short, sweet, fast. 1x1200, 1x800, 1x400, 2x200, and some strides. 3:42, 2:27, 1:01, 27,27. Also played ultimate frisbee for a while after 5.5 miles

Thursday - about 1.5 miles in the morning to get my brain awake before the AP lit test, and 3.5 in the afternoon as a mini tempo run. 5 total

Friday- Felt tired? 3 miles

Saturday- Race

So my story for saturday could have gone better. My sister took the car to work, and my mom was at church, so i was in charge of getting to the meet. It wasn't far, so i elected to ride my bike. Halfway there, my pedal falls off, and i have to scoot the rest of the way. I get there, and the meet is running an hour and a half ahead of schedule, so i immediately begin my warmup, with about 30 minutes to go. I wasn't stressed out, still pretty calm, but slightly alarmed. It was warm, and the wind wasn't off the charts like at some meets. We line up, i'm seeded 2nd, and as i hear comments about my shoes, the gun fires and i'm right into first. Pacing wise, i was perfect for the first 5 laps, but to my surprise, the boulder kid was drafting me the whole time, and blows past me for the past 800 as i died off. He finished in 9:56, me in 10:13. Who knows what happened exactly, the last 3 laps just didn't connect AT ALL. So, i've got one more chance on wednesday for the 2 mile, but the weather may not cooperate.

Sunday- I know it's already in the week, but seeing how that's today, may as well say what i did. Sunshine Canyon to Camp, 8.5 miles, yada yada... 1:08. Time was solid in comparison to how i felt, surprisingly tired. Just kept moving and made it up.

Weekly total 36 miles

May Total 49 miles

Year Total 539 miles

Favorite Run

Given that i haven't posted in forever, i figure i should give some insight as to what i've been doing over the past month. Well, in short, running. As the track season comes to a close, i eagerly await the chance to run in the mountains every day. However, for the time being, i settle for a few days a week doing my new favorite run up sunshine canyon to camp paul hummel. The run begins at 4th and mapelton, continues climbing up the canyon to the town of sunshine, up to the sunshine saddle and then up some more to camp. In all, the run totals 300o vertical gain over 8 miles. It's a perfect training run for mt. washington as it does not deplete my legs or stamina, and i've only got to add 1000 feet and i'm up mt. washington. It's pretty gradual as a whole with some significant extended steep sections. As seen in the above picture, the finish of the run is directly in the center of the photo by those radio towers. About 5.5 miles of pavement, the rest dirt, which is also similar to mt. washington. My average over the runs has been 1 hour 10 minutes, never gone above, and this past weekend i found myself at a bit brisker pace finishing in 1:06. My goal is to summit camp in under an hour before mt. washington on june 19, a run i'll treat as a workout. I'm training diligently for the race, and i'm sure it will pay off in the end. My goals have certainly shifted as i have realized my passion for trail running, and specifically making the 2010 US mountain running team. I wasn't enthusiastic about track entering the season, and the results are evident. I've been focusing on training longer distances and far more vertical gain than i have ever done before, and have been significantly less focused on track speed. My mile has dropped since last year, and it's a bit peculiar because my 2 mile hasn't yet, but we'll see about that after this weekend. However, in order to train for the races i truly care about, my mileage has been higher than usual for this time in the track season, and the lowest i'll get is the week of leauges at 30 miles, my average hovering around 50-60 miles. After running the 5k in sub 16 in las vegas, it's apparent that i'm definitely in better long distance shape, and i'm confident about breaking 34 minutes in the bolder boulder this year for the 10k. If i don't make state for track in the 2 mile, i won't be crushed, as i know that this isn't my specialty. I am focusing on my uphill training, which will greatly supplement my intent to walk on for CU in the fall. These next two weeks will greatly impact my training for may, then, it's all uphill to mount washington. Untill then, i have a stats test tommorow, a lit test thursday, and a race saturday. Oh yeah, i'm graduating in a few weeks. Fun stuff.

How many times in a day can i explain what my shoes are

It's a bit overdue, but sometimes i forget that i have a blog. However, this day was blogworthy. Not today perhaps, well maybe, hmm. Where do i start. Wednesday.

Wednesday

First Vibram 5 fingers race(s) ever. It was an all comers meet, thus i did all the events that i could. That ended up being 4 because the meet went really fast. First! Was the 4x800, ran a 2:09 800, which isn't bad, but tells me that i need more speed. Then came the mile, my debut event. Walked up to the line in my vibram five fingers, and boy did i get some looks. That was the last thing that anyone expected to be on my feet, and i definitely got a lot of comments. The CHSAA officials were chuckling to themselves, and i overheard them say that they were thinking of getting a pair themselves. The athletes next to me were stupified, and the coaches were convinced that i was running barefoot, and sought to dq me from the race. Nonetheless i won the race in 4:46, a new mile best, and first ever race "barefoot". The race unfolded pretty well, and my feet felt incredible. My first split was 1:10, followed by a 1:13, a 1:13 and a 1:10. Not too shabby for early season. I continued on the meet by racing the 300 meter hurdles, and ran a 46.3, getting me 4th place the first time i had ever ran that. I also wore my vibrams. Then i felt like jumping some more, so i did the triple jump, jumping 35-5, good enough for a 7th place finish in a field of 13 jumpers. I also jumped in my vibrams. Twas a good day, the next good as well.

Thursday

Thursday i decided to head into boulder before the weather took a turn for the worse. I strapped my bike to my car, drove up 4.5 miles up Magnolia road, stashed my bike, then drove down. I then proceeded to run up about 2300 feet in that 4.5 miles where my bike was quietly waiting to carry me back down. It was a leg burner, but felt really good, and i completed the route in 41 minutes. Just 3 more miles and 2000 more feet, and there's mount washington. Lovely.

Friday was my birthday, and it snowed all day which was nice. Saturday was nice as well, and Sunday i taught ski lessons up at Eldora. Good week, now its spring break. Today, i did a speed workout, consisting of 12x200 at 29-30 seconds each, followed by a tabatta workout which is 4 minutes of sprinting for 20 seconds, then walking for 10. Its pretty tough. I'm excited to say now that everything i do is barefoot and in the vibram 5 fingers, and i'm getting a pair of the vibram 5 KSO Treks, which i'm insanely excited for. Snowy trails, here i come!

Random quote of the day:

There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people who ask questions.

And for kicks, a random picture