A Tale of Two Eights.

Saturday late we went to Cuevas.  Last week I was hoping for 60 and found myself on track, hitting the mile 42 point at the end of my second run Saturday.  All I needed was 18 more Sunday...

When I woke up, I found myself less than inspired to run.  I mustered a couple of times, but something (which I will relate soon) made me feel a bit weird about taking off for a three hour run in Cuevas.

Lunch rolled around and we all ate, and finally I told Nataly, "I'm going to feel bad whether I go for a run or I don't." To which she replied, "Go run."

Deneb was asleep, I had a bit more than an hour...

I went out 4 miles and back the same for 8.  I saw some folks on the road, 3 French guys who were walking to the "Bella Vista" and one of the dudes who helped harvest potatoes in Cuevas last December.  I spoke briefly with all of them, and informed the French guys that their "Bella Vista" was 5 kilometers out (it was actually more like 6, but...).  This was at 3 something in the afternoon and to get to the "Bella Vista" and back to the campground at Cuevas was 10+ miles.  They did have packs and presumably tents so the rain that came in force soon after I left them probably wasn't too big a deal.

Anyway.  I only had time for 6 miles on Sunday, but ran 8.  I ran them pretty hard, and have paid for it.  Brutal delayed onset muscle soreness took me out of action yesterday, which had me considering a second day off today.  Seems it was a good thing I didn't actually try for the 18 I'd planned.  Fortunately, as today wore on I felt more and more like going for a run even though I am still quite sore.

Deneb has started daycare.  His first day was yesterday.  Loved it.  Loved it again today.  He's not sure how to interact with the other kids, but just having them around, playing, seems to get him jazzed.  It's messed with his schedule.  He's been sleeping almost until 8:30 in the morning and now we're asking him to get up at 6:45.  It's a brutal transition for me.

Whatever, I prefer earlier wake ups...

So back to today's run.  It was weird.  Laps of the back yard.  Done them before, but today I kept feeling like I should just keep going.  Ended up running for an hour and 10 minutes, just over 8 miles by my GPS.

There's a neighbor kid.  If he sees me, he asks if he can come over.  It's gotten quite annoying.  Not quite Glenn Close, Michael Douglas annoying, but well downright annoying.

Today I realized I could use that to my advantage, and before I started my run I unlocked the gate, set out some stuff for playing in the sand  pit and then set out trotting in circles.

On my second lap, The Question Was Presented.  I said, "La Reja esta abierta."

A couple more laps and I opened the gate for Franco.  Who quickly went off to play with the dogs and Deneb.  What seemed like some kind of sad, "Where's my Dad?" constant prodding has evolved itself  an ideal situation.  My son is playing happily with an older friend, and I can keep an eye on them.  I look forward to having him over some more.  Maybe he'll run a few laps with me (he did today)...

The Challenge of Balance

So, I’m starting to get a bit nervous about my training. 

Why? I think it very important to keep a balance at home and try to make my running “invisible” to my wife and son.  I typically head out for my run when my son is down for his afternoon nap.  When Nataly is home, she usually goes down for a nap with Deneb so my run ends up being pretty unobtrusive. 

Now though, my miles are starting to build and the training is going to stop being invisible.  One thing which is particularly troublesome is that where I live, it’s mostly flat.  Where I work, I’ve got hills, but I usually only go up there on weekends and that’s the only time Nataly has off.  There are weeks where I go up there for a couple of days without Nataly and Deneb, but I really dislike making that a regular occurrence.  I’m afraid that for me to finish Leadville, I’m going to have to do that.  The question is how do I make it as invisible as possible.

Tough one, to be continued…

In other notes, this past weekend I knocked out a run Sunday morning on the Road to Bella Vista and got some decent shots. 

I ran an 8 mile, modified out and back.  By that I mean:

• I ran 3.25 miles away from the cabin, 
• turned around and ran 1 mile back in the direction I came from, 
• turned around and ran .75 miles back in the direction I was heading when I started.  
• Finally, I turned around one last time and went back home. 

The benefit of that is that I climbed the back side (more challenging) of the first hill on the Road to Bella Vista 1.75 times.  Ended up with 1500 feet of climbing in my 8 mile jaunt. 

The pictures are in chronological order. 

Not 1 mile into the run…

Rocky road, not ideal for Vibram 5 Fingers or MT10s.  It was along here where I suffered the strain and eventual stress fracture that limited my performance in the Blues Cruise 50k.

Pretty Green Mountains…

Framed by Trees…

Awesome – pictures really don’t do justice…

Cool Fresh Water – this is the first waterfall in Cuevas.  I met Nataly and Deneb here for a swim and cool down…

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be thinking about how to change that elevation…
J

Slow ramp...

As in, I'm slowly ramping up my mileage. This week, baring something unforeseen, I should hit 48+ miles in training.  My volume is growing.  Today though I am going to have to absolutely force myself out the door.  I'm very tired - both sleepy tired and physically tired. 

The sleepy tired is coming from Deneb.  For some reason, he's decided that he wants to sleep with Mom and Dad every night when we are here in La Guardia. Even if he starts the night in his own bed, eventually he comes looking for space in ours.  Mom can't say no.  He ends up kicking and pounding on me for the remainder of the night.  That leaves me with no more than 4 or 5 hours of quality sleep each night.

The physically tired part is harder to pinpoint, but yesterday I logged 30+ minutes of work in the so called "no mans land" of heart rate zone 3 (tempo).  Tempo work is good for building aerobic fitness, but it has a long recovery time.  So long that many coaches advocate against training in it - stating that the long term benefits are outweighed by the short term consequences.  

Anyway, because of my fitful sleep patterns recently, yesterday I opted to substitute long minutes in Zone 3 for mile repeats - work done in upper zone 4 to low zone 5.  I say it's hard to pinpoint why I'm physically tired since this is an unusual reaction to yesterday's effort.  I've logged many, many 30+ minute long tempo workouts and not felt like I do today.  I'm also coming off a good rest week and even though I had a very tough workout on Saturday, I followed that up with a day off on Sunday.

There's a part of me that is thinking that going out for my regularly scheduled run would be good discipline and help with the mental toughness angle of my Leadville training.  There's a part of me that is thinking to ditch my run all together and take my rest day today.  And, there' a part of me that is trying to find some middle ground.

The compromise is going to win.  This week is challenging scheduling wise, but I can move my short day to today and run my second longest run to Saturday in Cuevas.  That actually works pretty well because I haven't run any hills in over a week.  I'd get 1000+ feet of climbing in on Saturday in addition to the longer run (come to think of it - maybe I should consider moving my long run to Saturday, but will talk to Nataly about that).  Additionally I save the day off for family time.  A good thing.

Anyway, this slow ramp has allowed me to consistently get out and log my miles.  I haven't missed a workout since December.  I think that may be one of my longest streaks ever where I haven't found some excuse or other to take an unscheduled day off.  I really hope to keep that streak going.  We'll see.  I am not even half way to my big mileage weeks yet (next week that'll change).

Thanks for reading, and (got nothing)...
J

Thinking out loud.

My wife may be P.O.d...

Two years ago, I started my running "journey" by undertaking a trail marathon put on by Gemini Adventures (GA) on a Saturday and following that up with another 10 mile jaunt the next day.  GA didn't call it a marathon, but the dang 25 miler measured out at 26.1 with my GPS.  I'll call that sucker a marathon thank you very much.

The 25 miler and 10 miler were 2 races in a four race "Trail Running Festival".  They were run on a weekend where the  "25" mile race and the "50" mile race were run on Saturday and pair of races measuring 10 and 5 miles were run on Sunday.  I thought that running the 10 miler on Sunday after the "25" would be a good way to see if I might not like to try an ultra some day.  Hmmmm....

Right now, my foot is pretty well heeled and I'm looking for something to motivate my training for the next several months.  Hmmmm....

The Trail Running Festival is on April 22 and 23....

Hmmm....

50 and 10...

Hmm...

Thanks for reading and I think I spelled something wrong somewhere...
J

P.S.
My mom took this photo of Deneb and me crossing the finish line together (albeit recreated) at the 25 miler in Fruita - he was just about to turn 1.

What's the forecast? Whatever it is, it makes me sad.

[note--I just finished this note, after a spending a couple of days in Cuevas::I'll start writing about that in a few minutes.]
Whew, here comes another one.  I'm was sitting around with an achy foot and frustration building re: Web Design and content development, so I thought I'd see what the popular stories on Yahoo News were...

While topic #1 is interesting, issue #2 falls into a hot button category for me.  

First thing first, I've got to take issue with the use of "Global Warming" in the headline above.  Global Warming feels like a marketing term.  Global Warming isn't something to be feared.  Everybody likes to be warmer don't they?  What's not to like about warm days.  Warm is often accompanied by sunny.  Given all the recent snow in Colorado, I bet one or two folks would enjoy coming to visit Bolivia, where it's warm.

While still having a somewhat positive aspect, (Green) + (House), I like the term Greenhouse in place of Global Warming in the headline there.  "Greenhouse" actually captures some of the science behind what is often called the "Theory of Global Warming" and I feel it's a more neutral term. And while this is a rant for another day, I feel journalism needs to return to a more neutral tone in general.

Other than that, I have little to no argument with the article itself.  Greenhouse gasses are introduced into the atmosphere as a result of development, both past development and ongoing.  Sustaining development requires energy and energy production releases greenhouse gasses.  2010 was a banner year:

The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated...

and this:

Boden said the latest figures put global emissions higher than the worst case projections from the climate panel.

The International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC, the panel referred to above) worst case scenario would have the global average temperature of the planet rising by 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.  In 2001, the IPCC published this graphic in their report (wikipedia link):

One way to read this chart is:  Depending upon how humanity modifies it's behavior with respect to greenhouse emissions, this is what will happen in year 20xx.  (Note the error bars underneath the years 2025, 2050, 2075 and 2100.)

For instance, if we continue as we (were going) in 2000, in 2050, Earth's temperature will have risen an average of almost 3 degrees C, and we can expect negative consequences in 4 of their 5 Future Scenarios and Uncertainties. On the other hand, if we had implemented the panel's recommended changes quickly and globally, Earth in 2050 would only see a temperature increase of less than 1 degree C with few negative impacts and a planet which resembles the one we live in today.

What's chilling about the article, is that here we are in 2011 and we're exceeding the worst case projections of the IPCC.  It's a terrifying and sad story, and it's one which I can't stand reading about.  But really, what can be done about it?

I look around here in Bolivia and have to ask, "Do you really expect these people to adopt greener practices, when it costs so much more?  Especially when the United States is unwilling to take a leadership role in their implementation."  Here, I'd be happy if people would just dispose of their garbage some place other than a random gutter.

I'll end it there, my brain is starting to go off on a tangent in regard to competing Nation States and their inability to deal with problems of global scale.

Thanks for reading, and yeah, I think we're all fucked.  Sorry Deneb.
J

Recovery Week

Coming into zero hour.  The Blues Cruise is something like 10 days away and I am feeling as ready as I can be.

On Tuesday I got out for my last long run before the race.  It ended up being 15.5 miles and took 2 hours 28 minutes.  I did it without food and drink and took an long break in the first mile to try and help some poor bastard who was having car trouble.  That first mile took nearly 20 minutes.  I posted the run on Garmin Connect (been doing that with all my GPS files recently).  Once again I ran the rollers out toward Bella Vista.

I've said it before, but I really love that road for training.  In the 15.5 miles I logged, there's 2,250 feet of climbing in 4 discrete chunks.  There are stretches where I have to power hike. That's something which I've never really worked on, but I hear people saying it's an important tool to keep in the proverbial drawer.

Anyway.  I really gave a solid effort.  A race quality effort, I thiiink, less the water and food.

I don't really know the Blues Cruise elevation profile, but what I've seen doesn't scare me as much as the one above.  It's got a couple of hills which gain a couple hundred feet in a short distance. Those I expect will require power hiking, but the rest looks runnable.  We'll see, but right now I'm convincing myself that going sub 4:30 is entirely doable.

Ok, that said.  One consequence of running Tuesday without food and water was that it left me trashed.  I got back to Cuevas and immediately had to run off to Samaipata to pay a bill: the bus was leaving and I had to be on it.  I grabbed a couple of cookies and filled a water bottle and off we went.

I put up a big calorie deficit on Tuesday and really felt it yesterday.  Tried working in the yard moving a sand pile, but I had no energy.  Ended up spending much of the day going back and forth from the computer to playing with Deneb.

Speaking of my little star.  He's discovered Kung Fu thanks to the movie Kung Fu Panda.  Would it surprise you that as far as I'm concerned, that's all good?  He's started working on his horse stance.  He says, "Hor Tance!"  Ahhh. Proud Father here.  Did some frog jumps yesterday too.  My garden will feature some Plum Blossom Posts for us to work on balance...

Thanks for reading, and if you learn the secret, perhaps you too can become the dragon warrior.

Run: Bermejo to Cuevas.

First off I'll start with a map.

In Google Earth, Bermejo is actually labeled Ceuvas.  Not quite right, but interesting.

Bermejo is a pretty little town in the foothills.  There's a restaurant there - Restaurante Oriental.  Nataly says it's been there since she was a little girl. We stopped there for lunch.  We ate outside, but inside there was a little girl who Deneb was flirting with.

I had milanesa - meat pounded flat, battered and fried - rice and some tomato.  Nataly and Deneb shared some chicken from the oven and Dad ate some milanesa too.  There was also some fairly disgusting juice at the table, but I don't think we finished it.

After I scarfed my plate, I went to change into my running clothes.  I'd used the head earlier and there was no way I was going to drop tro' in there so I just did it next to the street.  That usually wouldn't even warrant a mention, but in Bolivia, that's not something people are particularly used to seeing.  I was able to complete my wardrobe change without unduly shocking the locals and I headed out for my run.

I ran on the road facing traffic.  No headphones.  Anyone who's experienced the life of a pedestrian in Bolivia would think twice about crossing the street wearing headphones let alone go running on a twisty mountain road with them.  Only one time was I shocked by how close a truck came to hitting me and it wasn't even really that close.

No headphones didn't mean no tunes though.  I clipped my phone to my Camelbak and listened to the new Thievery Corp album and then The Unraveling by Rise Against through the built in speaker.  I actually prefer listening to music that way - I'm not a huge fan of stuffing crap into my ears.

The first 6 miles or so of the run are done in a pretty gorge, which eventually the road climbs out of and you get some pretty spectacular views.

This was the first run where I had real interaction with the people with whom I was sharing the road.  One truck driver in particular hauling a tandem load of something heavy and I played leap frog.  He initially passed me on the way out of Bermejo and gave me a bit of a look, but it wasn't, "Dude, get the hell off of my road!" it was more, "Huh, check that guy out..."

About 15 minutes later, I passed him pulled off the side of the road taking a bit of a breather.  We exchanged pleasantries and I continued on my way.

Finally as I was dropping the last 5 km or so into Cuevas, the trucker passed me again.  We waved, he shook his head and that was that.  Many other folks gave me a thumbs up as they went by and generally seemed impressed I was out there.

Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, this run climbed for something like 15 km before dropping the final 6 into Cuevas.  That makes this a very good road for tempo work or intervals too.  The climbing is gradual enough and pretty steady.  I'll absolutely be running this again - perhaps even regularly.

Thanks for reading and consider smiling at passers by, they might smile back.
J

On the weather and nap time...

Today, truly spectacularly bad weather coupled with a very nice cuddle with Deneb at nap time threatened to derail my running plans.

Throw in me feeling overly tired from a couple of tougher days of training Wednesday and Thursday, Jackson having decided to eat something that didn't agree with his lower GI (resulting in my being awakened to a panting, needing relief dog 4x last night), and a pretty strong desire to just chill and watch a movie and I had decided to bag my workout entirely before even sitting down for lunch.

But something changed while I lay there with a slowly drifting off to sleep Bean.  I was thinking about the Space Coast Marathon.  I was thinking that I have a legit shot at a top 10 placing (depending on the folks who show up and my form).  The rain stopped.

It's still overcast.  It's cool.  Perfect weather for a run.  Too bad today was marked "Recovery".

In deference to my general malaise on the morning I took 15 minutes out of my scheduled workout and kept it out - toward the end of my run I was feeling really good and wanted to do more...
Thanks for reading and be safe out there,
J

Uninvited Guest in my Chest again.

Frak!

Had a tremendous run Saturday in the VFF treks on up in Buffalo Creek.  A 16 mile loop I've ridden on my MTB but never run.

It turned out to be a bit harder of an effort than I wanted, because I found myself running with a bunch of mountain bikers.  We leap frogged at first, but eventually I dropped them.  That was really good for some extra BPM.

I'll post a link to the run.  But in basic, the first 3 miles or so are on Hwy 126 and all uphill.  After that the route gets onto single and double track which climbs until about mile 7 or so.  Then there's a long descent back to the cabin.  In all a 16 mile loop.

I took 2:45, and not only was I happy with my passing and dropping some MTB'ers, but I ran the entire way in VFFs.  That is my longest single run in Five Fingers by 100 percent and my longest day in total by 33.  Pretty sweet.

After I got back to the cabin, my Mom, Nataly, the Beanery, Julie and a whole mess of dogs took a walk on the Colorado Trail to get my Mom re-oriented with the surroundings.  There's a really pleasant location, east of 126 on the FS 1776 where you stand in an unburned copse of trees and can see Pikes Peak, Denver, Mt Evans and Mt Bierstadt.  Cool.

Sunday, I was going to do about an hour long workout which included some intervals, but I woke feeling like crap.  It wasn't my achilles-s either.  Nataly wanted to rake some needles and somebody needed to babysit the Beanery.  So, I decided I'd just put off my workout until lunch today, but when I woke today the gremlins had moved into my chest.

Probably shouldn't have had so much fun chasing down the MTB'ers on Saturday.  Because today, I'm wondering if I'm going to feel a run is warranted tomorrow.

Oh well.
Thanks for reading,
J

Rest? Screw that!

Got out today for a good hard effort - lunch run from work.

I warmed up for 10 minutes and hit the lap button on that darn Garmin.  Five by 6 minutes above 178 bpm with 3 minute walking recovery intervals got underway.

It actually felt relatively easy.  5x6 at essentially my 10k "perceived effort".  I don't particularly enjoy 10k's, but if you're only going that hard for 6 minutes and then walking, it's actually kind of fun..

I ran in my Bikilas.  This forced me to really watch my footsteps on the trail.  I find that pretty darn cool actually.  Five Fingers makes running a very zen thing.  No room for missteps, a wandering mind will reward one with a freaking negative reward for sure:  Must find the least sharp landing - or else!

Out on the trail, I saw folks, waved when not too distracted by rocks and said hi when the trail was smooth.  Overall a very good workout.  The details are on Garmin Connect if you care to check them out.

Anyway at lunch I ran (and walked) 6.5 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes and feel good about my effort.  I had to leave work at 4 today to get Deneb from daycare, I've been getting in earlier in case I have to "get out" and today was a day I cashed in some accumulated minutes.  Not many though (thankfully), because tomorrow I'll likely be doing the same thing.

Nataly had the car with the car seat, so I "had to" run the 1.7 miles to the daycare center with homey and his chariot.  Must say that today it was a very good thing he's decided he digs riding in it, because when I got there he was apoplectic.  Apparently the kids in his crèche decided that hanging out was awesomer than napping, so nobody slept more than an hour.  Deneb usually takes a 2 and a half hour mid-day nap.  I got there to one tired boy.

He settled down very quickly once we were outside and getting into the stroller and even gave up a couple of chuckles as we went over the cool swoopy - not rectilinear - curbs over by the golf course.  We got home and he was ready just to chill in his own space and read his (one time) popup book while I put together his dinner.

Nataly and I played catch with the baby after dinner, as he ran back and forth between the two of us, laughing the entire time.

Good stuff, good day.  I ran 10 miles and watched my son sprinting from one end of the living room to the other.

Thanks for reading

J

Good weekend

Didn't do much other than getting out to move around a little bit.  Deneb and Homey trotted along on the Colorado Trail for a bit, and it's got me thinking about running from Waterton Canyon to Buffalo Creek.  I've always thought about maybe mountain biking it, but these days I think it might be easier for me to run that stretch...

Maybe in a couple of weeks if the weather is right.
Thanks for reading,
J