5 Hours with Fast Eddy

Met up with the great Scott Jaime (teamfasteddy-fasted.blogspot.com) and metronome consistent Rick Hessek early this morning (up at 4am :-() at Indian Creek trailhead for a 5 hour ~30 mile run on the Colorado Trail. Never saw one human other than the gun carrying, dirt bike, atvers at the trailhead. I'm a bit fatigued from the 50 miles last Saturday and then simply rolling into this week's training with no rest. The exhaustion wielded a mighty blow to me at about 2.5 hrs into today's run and held me down for over an hour until I pulled out of it towards the end. 4,700 ft of climb and Scott ran every step. Such sweet trails and great company.

Bear 100 Mile

Officially registered for the Bear 100. Anyone want to go there with me?

Leadville 100 Pacing

Not much time to write but:

Tim Waggoner (my runner) and I crossed the line in 19:19 in 6th place

I picked him up in Winfield at mile 50 where he was in 16th place and we ran the last 50 as though it was a 50 mile race coming in, ran much of Hope ascent, power line ascent and flew down the descent.  He's such a good road runner that we ran solid 7:30-8:30 pace for much of miles 50-90 on the rolling and flat sections, methodically moving up in placings.  I attribute Tim's incredible first ever 100 to his knowledge of fueling and hydration.  He kept saying he felt amazing and our pace showed it.

It was one of most solid efforts I've been apart of .

We saw everyone on the course; some looked good, some not so much.

Great day and honored to be part of Tim's Journey

"You mean you can carry my stuff?!"

That was Tim W's response when I told him about the mule-ing allowed at Leadville and that I planned to carry his water bottles.  What am I getting myself into?

He emailed me a general list of the things he's bringing, right down to the 30 gallon drums of water.  I tried to tell him they have water in Leadville, just like Boulder.

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tim's crew vehicle"][/caption]

The Beverly Hillbillys would pull off to the side of the road and gawk at the amount of stuff Lucho's bringing.

I didn't say anything.  He'll find that he may use about 10% of the stuff but if bringing it all with him makes him feel more comfortable and calm, then by all means!

This has been a VERY difficult week for me (queue the violin).  Extreme lack of sleep, stress, and both hamstrings sore.  I was worried about them being injured but I got out today for a last hour-long run with about 1,000 of climb and I think the hammys are just sore, not strained.  I figure the easy pace of mile 50-100 will be fine.

Working some fucked up hours today to earn the weekend off.  Then working tomorrow very early so I can get out at 2pm and head down to Leadville.  I can't imagine how fun it's going to be to find parking with an influx of all the runners, families, crews.  I hope to be down there at least by 530pm and grab Lucho to head over to do the last mile to the finish, so he has something to visualize other than my hot body running in front of him.

This is gonna hurt you more than it will me.

Well, I'm into the training for Bear now and am happy with this week, full of miles, climbs, speed, and food.

Got out this morning with Nick Pedatella for a casual 11 miles (must have been about 6-7 mi with him from where we met).  He's gearing up for the Trans Rockies race that begins a week from today and then carrying that fitness over to the Wasatch 100 where he's on tap to be a top finisher.  Good time today.

Working the rest of today, which, frankly, sucks since the weather is so gorgeous.  Probably for the best, otherwise I'd likely want to get out for another run and my body would likely revolt at that prospect.

Looking forward to pacing duties at Leadville this Saturday.  Tim W. and I met up for about 3 hours and talked strategy for about 5 mins of it.  I think we're going to work well together to get him speedily to the finish.  Tactics include:  positive reinforcement, timely fueling and hydration, yelling, pushing, cattle prod, bag of fire ants, Chinese throwing stars, and firecrackers.  We'll have a blast.

Fortunately, I'll be riding along with his family/crew so I'll see and talk to him at mile 30 (maybe 23-fish hatchery per Nick P's suggestion), and Twin Lakes (mile 40ish).  It'll help a lot for a couple reasons, I'll be able to rein him in if he's running 6 min mile pace, and I'll get a good idea of his state of being as he reaches me at mile 50.  If the boy shows up at 50 in good shape, who knows what could happen...

Big Boys Day Out

Day off from work today and tomorrow, so met up with Tim W. and GZ for a quickie up Green Mtn.  I started at 8am and ran the length of Mesa to reach them by 9am at Chautauqua.  We did a warm up (not what I really wanted but went along anyway).  I know GZ's been doing consistent high mileage but damn, the boy looks like a long-term member of a concentration camp.  I have shoes that weigh more than he does.

We headed over to the Gregory lot and bumped into JV and Brandon as they just finished their ascent.  Good to see them.  Tim W was looking to crack a fast time up Green, so he popped in his headphones and started moving away just as JV (very viable veteran of green) yelled out something about being conservative until a certain point but it was too late.  TW was already literally sprinting across the bridge and up the first incline.  Oh well (he still hit the peak in 30:50).  Then I got underway and ran at my own pace based on the mileage and workout I had planned before and after Green.

I'm not sure what it is but I have this very solid feeling with my condition and running that fills me with very rare confidence.  Though I intended to run the Bear 100, I've put off registering to work through a few things both physically and mentally.  I'm where I needed to be now and will register Saturday.

On our way back down Green we came across Anton on his way up and stopped to chat for a brief minute.  He looks good and had a look on his face like a mischievous kid when GZ asked him whether he was doing Leadville.

After we got back down to Chautauqua, I bid adieu to GZ and Tim and headed off to finish my run, bumping into Anton again (he must have come down the backside of Green onto Bear west ridge zig zagging to mesa.   Solid run of about 5,000 feet of climb and 18 miles in 3:30 and nice seeing the guys.

Tuesday Tempo

Being more than a year since the last time I joined the BTR Tuesday tempo run, I thought it might be fun to hook up with these shorter distance speedsters.  It was a turnout of 10 folks.  I ran a bit over three miles to get to the start, at Dowdy Draw.  I timed my arrival almost perfectly and only had to wait sweating in the heat for maybe five minutes.  We exchanged pleasantries and confirmed names, though only remember the three guys I recognized from runs last year.

The warm up ended with a slight pause at the trail junction not too far past the bridge and we were off with three guys off the front like rockets.  A quick dip and then the jagged climb to the ridge.  I was running fairly conservatively and listening for the folks around me to get to a point of heavy breathing where I knew they were pushing the edge and realized I was actually practicing racing, something I don't do normally.  This forced a smile on my face, confirming that I'm interested in showing up for races ready and with intent.

The rest of the 4.1 miles of the tempo portion I just bounced between easing up and launching to catch others, more of a fartlek run for me.  I cruised it in to the finishing spot hovering in last place but happy with my control and energy.  After goodbyes I made my way off to other trails along Flatirons Vista and Marshal Mesa for another 10 (17+ total) miles.  I'll easily hit 80 miles this week, then taper through next week with no more than 30 miles leading into Saturday and tagging along with Tim W. at Leadville for 50.

"My name's footfeathers. It's been 2 mins since my last ultra thought"

[caption id="attachment_409" align="aligncenter" width="220" caption="I hope he doesn't grow this 'stache for the race. We may have to go to a men's only disco club in our ass-less leather chaps."][/caption]

Although I haven't mentioned it to anyone, even my friend, Steve, who slogged the last 20 miles with me, I'm still spark-hot mad about my performance at North Fork.  I should've finished under 8 hours easily but instead had an epic physical and mental melt down that trumps just about any of the 17 ultras I've run so far.  Getting passed by 4 people late in a race is gut ripping for me and I can't shake the thoughts and reasons why it happened.

The positive outcome is that I've turned that anger into motivation to get where I know I can be in terms of potential.  I've had long-standing, "one of these days" goals.  I know I can run under 7 hrs on a reasonable 50 mile course, I know I can run a 3:45 50k, and I know I can run a 100 miler.  I'm not going to allow doubts or excuses to enter my mind, not before events, not during, not even when the pain gets so unbearable that I never want to run again.  I guess this is my public statement (to the 3 regular readers of my blog) that I'm going to put everything into these races and the training.  I've always told people (and even believed) that I'm not competitive and don't really care about outcomes of events.  With how I've felt about the North Fork race for the last three weeks, I know I'm competitive and care.

Now I have a blog entry reference for when I pussy out in training or races.

moving on......  I'm pretty pumped about pacing TW (the cop-looking character in the above photo).  I have a gut feeling that if he runs smartly for the first 50 miles, he has a good shot at top three.  He's his own worse enemy in this race and needs to go no faster than 9 hrs (ok, 8.5 hrs) for the first 50.  If he gets there (Winfield) in decent shape, I intend to bust my ass to get him across the finish in a sharp time.

Oh, and 80 trail miles for me over the last 7 days in 4 runs (three straight days off).