See Erik Run

July Totals

2009-08-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

July: 233mi. 20 runs.
YTD: 1136mi.

The best month in memory, and a step beyond anything that I did in 2007. Good to know, but 100 miles in 36 hours still doesn't feel like its happenin'. I'll try to ride the current fitness a little ways into fall and perhaps I'll be ready to run a nice marathon time at the fellahs reunionaj in December.

Catch Up!

2009-08-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Smiling ONLY because I'm finally at Sun Top -- the second major climb at the White River 50mi.

July 27-August 2. 15mi. 3 days.

Another week of library visits. Not much running. I actually felt OK on my three runs post White River, but I've pretty much decided that Wasatach is NOT a good choice for me at this point. The incentive to get out and run big miles wasn't really there.

July 20-26. 77 mi. 4 days.

My biggest week in 6-8 years. I made an eleventh hour decision to run The White River 50 Mile with a couple of friends -- literally decided on Friday morning -- and improved my 50mi PR by about 30 minutes. I didn't have quite as much left during that last 6 miles as I did 2 years ago, but I ran the second uphill much better this time around and feel like I paced it all out pretty darn well. Despite this 8:46.29 performance over 50 miles, I'm still feeling far from ready to run at Wasatch. Too many other things to accomplish in the next 5 weeks to prepare for that race properly it seems...

July 13-19. 44mi. 5 days.

Uhg. Kind of an uninspired week. 2 x 2900 ft (in about 3 miles) at Copper Glance Lake felt super hard. Nearly 10, 000 ft of climbing on the week though, and a pretty good amount the week before as well.

Enchanted

2009-07-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

July 5-12. 60mi. 6 days.

At last, a return to the 60 mile week :) I was in the neighborhood in mid-May and have been firting again for the last two weeks. Even more importantly, I put in a solid 5 hour 10 minute effort in the hills near Leavenworth, WA on Wednesday afternoon. In each of the last three summers I have ventured further and futher into the Enchantments basin in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area - and each time I am blown away by the carrot at the end of the stick. This year in particular, I was able to get beyond the last major climb to Lake Vivianne and to check out the mix of snow and water and granite that grace this incredible spot. Quite a "hump" getting there, as folks will say, as it took 2:50 for me to cover only 11.5 miles. There is about 5600-5800 feet of elevation gain and 4000 ft of it takes place in the first 6.5 miles. All in all, an excellent run. Topping that off, I ran 11 miles on the Wenatchee "Apple Loop" -- a flat to rolling paved bike path along the Columbia river -- on the day after. My legs were tired, but I ran the loop in about 1:20 (pretty close to 7:20 pace) so it was a solid back-to-back effort. The chaffing carry-over was the worst part!

As it stands, I'm still a little on the fence about my Wasatch bid. Back in the right training mindset - I think - but I'll have to decide for certain (and log my trail work hours) in the next 2-3 weeks.

Limited Speed

2009-07-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

June 29 - July 5
55mi. 6 runs. 2 bike rides. 1 hike.

A little heat training too... somewhere in the neighborhood of 97-100 degrees during my 12 mile run to Mazama on Friday afternoon. Too hot, in some respects, for that to have been a wise choice on my part, but I took plenty of water and 80% of the run is in the trees. Also a nice exploration of Buck Mt./Buck Lake this week, and a 3+ hour run again on Sunday morning coupled with a 3+ hour hike on Sunday afternoon. Off to the Leavenworth area for a solid long run next week!

June Totals

2009-07-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

June: 203mi. 24 runs.
YTD: 903mi.

Pretty similar to April, and just a little more than May. I'm consistent, but need to step it up a notch. I'm on a slightly better trajectory than I was in 2007's Wasatch approach, but would love to eek out a little more.

Almost...

2009-07-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

June 15-28. 97mi. 11 runs.

Remember now, that's 97mi in two weeks time. An OK, but uninspired 40mi week to start things off, and then a much better 57mi week - especially considering my travels for Summer Reading. Also, a 3000ft gain in my long run on June 19, 3000 additional feet of gain one June 23, and 5-6000 feet of gain in the 22mi West Fork to Hart's Pass run on June 28 -- at least that's what Andrew was thinking. I really need to get back in the 5-6 hour range again soon, but 4:30+ on Sunday was a step in the right direction. Plus, I'm getting work done AND still getting good sleep.

I'll take it!

50 again.

2009-06-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

June 8 - 14. 50mi. 5 consecutive days.

Again, a return to the 50 mile week. Even better, I spent 4+ hours on a run to Gardner Meadows and beyond and I seem to have abandonded the track workouts for the more Wasatch specific trail running. Its all about time... This week was better, and I did some appropriate training. We shall see what next week brings. I'll start by getting out the door today :)

2 x 40s

2009-06-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

May 25 - May 31. 42mi. 5 days running.

MUCH better than last week... but my time is dedicated to teaching right now. Just trying to finish off the school year in the best fashion possible.

May Totals: 194 miles. 20 runs
YTD: 702 miles

I was hoping for a step up from April, but this is basically a parallel month. June steps out!

June 1 - 7. 43mi. 6 days.

Several short but fast days on the track at Liberty Bell. This isn't ideal 100 mile training, I suppose, but it hurt and my legs are tired. On Friday, I did 4 x mile with a 1 lap jog in between. 5:36 - 5:45 - 5:40 - 5:44. I also slogged around in some snow and mud for almost 3 hours on Sunday morning. The attempted run to Burch Mountain will be much better in 2-3 more weeks. Still very nice though, and we might have climbed to 7000+ feet.

Yup.

2009-05-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

May 18-24. 17mi. 3 days running.

As I suspected. See previous post...

I did do one nice workout on Sunday after dinner. About 1:04 of run time, but in the middle I did 7 x 2min. hard tempo with 1min. recovery. A fine release.

Twisp River 60k AND the TVR!

2009-05-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

May 11-17. 63mi. 5 days.

A big week that consisted mostly of a BIG weekend. Given that I wasn't feeling all that great last week, I'm very pleased. The first 3 days were not unlike the previous seven: relaxed. However, on Saturday morning the week ramped up with The 11th Annual TVR Classic!

The Titus Contingent, 2009.

In this year's Winthrop installment, 11 contestants traveled almost 85 total miles on the Liberty Bell High School track. Personally, I ran 39 laps, 365 meters, which adds up to about 9.9 miles (or around 6:03 pace) for the 1 hour contest. Definitely, this was a little bit better than expected, but I think the easy week or so leading in was a major factor.

Preparing for the descent. A rest atop Lookout Mountain.

On Sunday DAY I slowed down considerably, but ran about 37 miles along a potential 60k course in the Twisp River/Lookout Mountain area west of Twisp. This Rainshadow Running coordinated event was, not unlike the TVR, a pretty good effort for me. We logged about 8:15 minutes of running time, and my legs still felt pretty darn good at the end of the run. Not time to linger over snacks etc. though. The "all day" run is not so convenient for the rest of the family back at home and I was anxious to be there myself.

Going forward... we shall see. I was pretty psyched by the way that I felt this week, and especially on the weekend. However, I am stepping in to the local high school art teaching position for the rest of the year (until June 11) and I know that it will seriously limit my running. Priorities are easy to level in this instance, so the longer running can roll again in June.

Tired...

2009-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

May 4-10. 40mi. 5 days.

Not a hard week, but I'm tired. I've been sleeping - staying on top of that - but I think the two races in the last month kind of snuck up on me after Sunflower. Looking at my pre-Sunflower week, I also crammed in a little too much "speed" (including a a frantic lactate loading bike ride into town). My 14+ into Twisp this past Tuesday (also too quick because I was late) probably sapped me as well. Hoping that I feel a little better going into this next week. I'd like to give a go at 3 hard weeks followed by an easy week for at least a cycle or two. "Hard" right now will be defined as ramping up my miles and some purposeful hill/strength work. No more races for a while.

Sunflower Iron

2009-05-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

April 27-May 3: 50mi. 5 days. My 4th 5o mile week of the year, and this one ended with a race on Saturday. Despite feeling good, and pushing the pace a little more than usual at the start, I still finished in second place for the 3rd year in a row. Not a big deal, but kind of funny. I really felt good in the first half, but didn't have any fight in my legs when I finally got passed in the final 5 miles. I felt good enough to have gone out for an easy recovery run on Sunday, but we had friends visiting from the coast. I didn't bother and went for a very nice hike on Patterson Mountain instead. The sunflowers - arrowleaf balsmroot, that is - are in very fine form right now!

April Totals

2009-05-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

April: 205 miles. 24 runs
YTD: 508 miles

April 20-26

2009-04-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

54mi. 6 days. My longest run was 14+ on Saturday evening. I was out for about 2:10. My biggest week in a long time, but it was nice to spread things out over 6 days. Even still, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday runs were all 10+ and 1:25+ with respect to time - so I was a little bit tired toward the end of Sunday's run. On Friday, I ran 2x10min at threshold/tempo pace with 5 minute rest inbetween. Hopefully, that little dash of "speed" (plus a shorter effort this week) will make the Sunflower Iron race feel a little bit better for this coming weekend. Then, I'll need to start conciously slowing down on the longer runs.

At Rest

2009-04-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

April 13-19

40mi. Another 5 day week. I took it pretty easy for two days after Sun Mountain and then started running again with a 3mi day :) The next four runs were all in the 8-12 range, inluding an very nice run on Saturday morning the Andrew and Eric, and a nice late day jaunt on the community trail last night. Still lots of snow on Rader Creek, but its packed down and very runnable - for now. Its supposed to be close to 80 degrees today.

Also a great 4-6mile hike in Pipestone Canyon on Saturday afternoon with the Bondis. LOTS of outside time this past weekend!

The Sunflower Iron (22mi) is in another two weeks. I'll aim for around 50mpw until after that, and then I guess we'll start to go longer. I should get my Wasatch trail work date figured out pretty soon as well...

The Sun Mt. 50k

2009-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

April 6-12 51mi. 5 days and one looong race.

Again, all's well that ends well. I patiently paced myself though 50k on Saturday, finished without crashing, and got out for a short run again on Tuesday. The two days off was over cautious (and subject to work schedules) even. 5:06ish and a 9th place finish for the first ever Sun Mountain 50k. James Varner and friends did an excellent job making last minute adjustments to pull this thing off. The course held up well on soft ground and was perhaps even more challenging than the original route. James estimated about 6000ft of climb, so it also qualifies as an excellent hill workout at this point in the spring :)

I'll hope to keep similar weekly totals between now and the Sunflower Rely on May 2nd. After that, maybe I'll finally get in a few long runs with my Wasatch cohorts.

Grounded

2009-04-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

March 30 - April 5

40mi. 5 days. After getting ahead of myself last weekend, I put things back in good order by getting two solid days of rest followed by 5 moderate days of running. A longish but slow 14-15mi. on Sunday to keep me in the 40 mpw range, and things have recovered pretty well from the blow-up on Cougar Mountain. Steady as she goes. I also went for a nice family hike at Riser Lake on Sunday morning. Sweet striding in the finally springtime!

Out Like a Lion

2009-04-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

50mi. 5 days of running. The highlight/lowlight of the week was a west-side run at Cougar/Squawk Mountain. My family and I took a spring break trip to the big city, so it seemed like a good idea to do my long run with some other people. Indeed, a fine idea. The first four hours were great :) I had excellent company and pretty ideal 40-50 degree running temps. It had snowed overnight, so the trails were a little rough, but it was still very possible to run, and much better than any trail options back in Winthrop at this time of year. The main problem with the run: it was too far. Alas, I had only managed about 2:15 for 14-15 miles on the roads at home. This run was 22mi, and I really started to feel it at about 4:15. Actually, it became a little scary after that. It took me around 1:15 to cover the last 2 miles, and I could not prevent myself from sitting down to rest every 5-10 minutes - even though I knew that I should keep moving. I was wet, cold, and wanting for calories. A couple of hikers heroically ushered me in over those last two miles, even though it certainly interrupted their afternoon of walking in the woods. I'm not sure what I would have done without their help, and that of the woman who eventually drove me back to Seattle Running Co. - and bought me a sandwhich, some pringles, and something to drink along the way. Thank you Julie! (I thought I had missed my ride. Turns out I hadn't, but didn't have the presence of mind to accurately place them in the parking lot upon my tardy return). Live and learn :)

March Totals: 173mi. 21 days of running
YTD: 303mi.

On

2009-03-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

March 16-22

40mi. 4 days o' running. One long run in the 14-15mi vicinity, and a second 1:45 minute run in the 12mi range. Obviously, most of my running came in two big chunks. Next week I'll be sure to spread it around more. I finished a major book illustration project early in the week, hence the compacted running schedule. Phew! And I didn't hurt myself. A nice 6 x marmot hill natural interval session on Saturday as well. Getting easier.

Big Eyes. Full Tummy.

2009-03-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

March 9-15

43mi. 6 days of running. About 15mi LSD. 2 days of skiing (1 hr+ skating each). A fine week. More miles than I'd really wanted, but no harm done. Regarding the caption, this weeks long run occured late Sunday afternoon. My family and I watched "The Little Prince" at the Merc Theater in Twisp, and I decided to run home. In the summer, when I can take a few shortcuts via trails & dirt roads, this is about 13 miles. On Sunday... it was farther... I think. After the first 40 minutes to Elbow Coulee, I knew that it was to far. And then it started snowing :) I took it slow. Stopped a few times to admire the scenery AND to keep it sane. My hoped-for 1:30-1:45 run took 2:12. I'm happy to have gotten in a 2hr+ run, but even so, I stopped about 1mi short of home and called for a ride! Like I said, it was farther than I'd wanted to go. There was no real point in being out for even another 8-10 minutes. So it goes.

March 2-8

2009-03-08T23:36:00.001-07:00

33mi. 5 days o' running. Another good week of getting the bipedal season off to a steady start. Two runs of over an hour, but nothing longer than 8mi. I'll want to get back in the 12-15mi range for a long run next week, but was pleased none-the-less. A "speed" workout on a hotel treadmill for one of those hour runs. 4 x .5 miles at 6:15 pace. A .25 miles rest between each. Harder than a threshhold pace for my fitness right now, but not too much. I also ran 6 x marmot hills (approx. 2:25-30 up) this afternoon. Both of these workouts serve a "variety" function more than anything else right now. The hills are definitely building towards the summer running on trails, but the occassional "speed" workout is mostly about making things feel easier when I am running more (and farther) later on :) G'night!

Feb. 23-March 1

2009-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the quickly thawing Methow Valley!

30 miles in four days of running, plus another 7+ hours of xc skiing (most of it VERY easy). Fine enough. I did a long run of 12 and another short natural interval hill run. Pleased to be in the 30's, and the time on skis will be strength in the bank when I do start increasing the weekly mileage. Slow and steady.

Feb. 16-22

2009-02-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

Posting again! A relatively easy "return to regular running" and building a base week.

21miles in 5 days of running. I threw in a very short natural interval hill workout as well. Just 3x2.5 minutes on a dirt road near my house. A great place to start some incline, and it'll help to stretch out my stride a little as I move from skiing into running. RE the skiing: I added about 8 hours of skiing to this week as well. A very nice spring-like skate ski for 3+ hours on Saturday afternoon. 40+km in that particular outing.

YTD: 107mi

Back at it!

2009-02-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

And so it goes... I managed about 1380mi in 2008, and felt like it was a pretty good year of running for sanity - with a few decent 50ks thrown into the mix. 2009 will be a slightly more "focused" year I hope/suppose because I'll be making a second attempt at finishing the Wasatch 100. This is exciting... and daunting.

The distance itself gets due respect, of course, but the "dauntingness" lies in my inability to predict a better training cycle. I will try, by all means, to run at least as many miles as I did in 2006 - more if I'm lucky - and probably more important still, I will try to rest accordingly. Managing work-life, life-life, and running, is definitely the trick. We shall see...

Thus far, through February 15th, I've logged 86 miles. A lack luster Methow winter has kept me running just a bit more this winter. I'll pick up from here with weekly posts.

Ciao!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

Oct 7 - Nov 26

14-30 mpw for the last 6 weeks or so. Just some basic, low-level fitness running. I have been throwing in a once-per-week threshhold session on the newly christened "Goshawk" loop in the woods above my house. A just about perfect 6:10 section of singletrack trail and fireroad. Must be about a mile plus just a little bit more. Should be a great repeat workout for next summer if I am ever trying to get fast. Just over 1300mi for the year thus far, so I'm not going to hit the 1500 from 2007. So it goes. I'll get a little closer. Happy Turkey Day.

Seven

2008-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Still in Howard mode. A few utilitarian bike rides to and fro from town. One little seven mile run on Saturday morning to get out and enjoy some fall. A little more running in the week ahead. Achilles is feeling pretty OK, but not completely right just yet.

Heel thy Wrist

2008-10-03T08:54:00.002-07:00

Not much running action in the days since Cle Elum. I took it pretty easy for two weeks, logging a total of 33 miles spread out over seven different runs. Last weekend, my achilles started feeling tight, so I haven't run a step all week. My achilles felt better -- perhaps even runnable -- yesterday afternoon, but now I have some weird pain in my right hand/wrist... MY DRAWING HAND NO LESS! That trumps all concerns about running etc. Arg!

PS "Heel" was spelled incorrectly on purpose...

Cle Elum Ridge Run: Take #4

2008-09-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Trailing the lead pack in the early climbs. Comfortable, and waiting...

Catch-up time - again! Not a lot of miles to record since my last post, a mid-30ish mile week, a mid-20ish mile week, and a couple of 40+ mile weeks including the Cle Elum Ridge 50K on Sept 13th.

It was the fourth time I've run that course - the sight of my first ultra as well - and I was feeling pretty capable of a 5hr type performance. In each of the last three runnings I've bonked pretty hard at some point or another. In 1998 I didn't know what the heck I was doing, and thusly the last 10 miles were humbling. In 1999, the fade hit me in the last 3 miles -- where I was subsequently passed by two folks in the last mile -- and finished 3rd the hard way. 2004 I was not running all that much so I took a more conservative approach to the whole race...

This year, given more experience and decent training - if not as youthful "spring" in my legs - I figured that I could run a similar, but more complete race than the 1999 version. It went pretty well.

I settled in to about 5th place early on, but during 4 bathroom stops between miles 4 and 12 I lost sight/touch of the others in that initial group. The eventual winner went by as well during one of those respites and I followed him up a few small hills before dashing into the woods again.

If you've looked at the course profile, you'll know that the major climbing takes place before mile 16. Its ALL downhill to 21.5 and then a roller coaster (with several creek crossings) to the finish. I tried to save something so that I could run the last 9 miles with more success than in previous years.

The creek crossing just before mile 21.5. A little wobbly at this point.

A short bad patch between about 18 and 21.5 because there was no water available between 12 and 21.5. It was warmer than usual and I had drained my two bottles on the climb from 12 to 16. Thankfully, I recovered a not-on-the-verge-of-cramping stride again shortly after the 21.5 mi. aid station, and was able to ramp things back up to cruising speed through the final 9 - the feeling I had hoped for at that point.

It also helped immensly that I caught the 3rd place runner with about 4 miles to go. He was obviously feeling slightly worse than I, and it was a good motivator to push myself over the last part of the course. Without a brief glimpse of him going around a corner, I'd have been pretty content where I was and probably coasted to the finish. Good feelings as well, because in 1999 I got caught on this part of the course. Nice to turn the tables even though the personnel were slightly different :)

In any case, it WAS fun as well. Friend Mike Fitzpatrick also ran - despite my late invitation - and did and admirable job in finishing something like 27th - about 6:14 I think. He was worried enough about finishing that he wanted to start in the early wave (1 hr before). For better or worse, I convinced him that he'd do fine, and have more company, if he started with the rest of us. Indeed. He ran a great race!

August 4-17

2008-08-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

A workhorse, consistant training regimen... is not my cup o' tea in 2008. Fine enough. I've still been gettin' out. Lots of biking to town etc. in the last two weeks. I also had a great 50k type run along the Pacific Crest Trail last Sunday - Harts Pass to Rainy Pass - thusly staying true to my word about the occassional 4-5 hour run every so often to round out the summer. Friend and local bookstore owner, Brian Sweet, and I had a fantastic 5 hour 35 mintute adventure. Near perfect, 45-55 degree running temps, light rain and totally sweet north cascadian vistas throughout. This was Brian's longest run ever by about 5 miles! Nice work.

This most recent weekend, there was much less running, but lots of swimming in local lakes and rivers. Temps on Saturday and Sunday were 100-104, but we pretty much avoided all of that by staying wet or seeking higher ground. An excellent family-style hike on Tiffany Mountain for Sunday afternoon. A first time for all on the trail from Freezeout Pass to the top o' Tiffany. 6500-8200 feet or so. A great place to seek out again if I am needing a dose of higher altitude running. Cheers for another week!

Olympian!

2008-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Friend and college cross-country teammate Philip Dunn is a 3-time Olympian! A 50k racewalker, he'll be representing the U.S. in Beijing, and hopefully putting a big exclaimation point on his own Olympic Dreams. Philip is also keeping a great blog about his experience. Check it out!

June 20th - August 3rd

2008-08-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Not to worry, I'm not going to log every mile! Seriously inadequate blogging however... no excuses. During this "phase" of the summer, there HAS been some running, some road tripping, and at least one trail race of the Minnesota variety. A weekly mileage breakdown, and then some highlights.

June 16-22: 54mi

June 23-29: 21mi
My pre-afton taper began, plus the drive to minnesota, plus a mid-vacation surprise flight back to portland for family emergency...

June 30-July 6: 46mi
An excellent run or two around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, and a 5th place finish at the Afton Alps 50k: 4:19.19. The race felt good, and I swear that I was holding back for the entire first lap. Nonetheless, I still came through in about 1:56 -- faster than I should have -- and the heat plus the lack of adequate 3+ hour runs definitely caught up to me on lap two. Felt like I held things together alright, but I didn't do a very good job of "racing" with the few people that did catch and pass me on the second lap. A fun course with lots of great support. Well organized to boot!

July 7-13: 16mi
Some definite post-race let down. Easy does it!

July 14-20: 38mi
Feeling better this week. 4 days of running, AND I got into the woods again for 4:32 minutes (about 20mi) on a trail near Leavenworth, WA. I ran to the lakes pictured below...

While this is NOT my photo (nor is that me in the photo) this IS Lake Viviane, the pinnacle of my run, and the first of the Enchantment Lakes in the Icicle Creek Wilderness area. The run itself, the entire day in fact, was about as perfect as could be. I did a booksigning at A Book for All Seasons in Leavenworth from 1-3pm, hit the trails by 4, and then squeezed in a 9:30pm showing of the new Batman movie just after showering and throwing down some food :) I was so jazzed up that I had a hard time falling asleep when the movie was over... at 12:30 in the morning.

July 21-27: 28mi
A shorter, 11mi trail run over Cutthroat Pass was the highlight of the week. Also several dips in the river, but its really been too cold for that of late. Hotter next week. Good for river dipping. Bagged on the White River 50mi this year. Maybe next.

July 28-August 3: 37mi.
Back in a respectable mileage zone again. I'll try to keep it between here and 50+ for the next 6 weeks. I might do the Cle Elum Ridge Run on Sept. 13th, but I'd also just be happy with a 4-6 hour run on some trails every other week. Nothing too long in this set, but I did run 5 days, with 3 runs in the 9-10mi range.

Complete 2008 Winthrop TITUS Results

2008-06-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Name Age Distance
Dawn Woodruff 3800m 2.36mi
Taylor Woodruff 13 11500m 7.15mi
Molly Filer 8300m 5.16mi
Annie Filer 5600m 3.48mi
Carol Filer 3800m 2.36mi
Sarah Brooks 35 11100m 6.9mi
Erik Brooks 36 15500m 9.63mi
Chris ? 4600m 2.86mi
John Roth 6933m 4.31mi
Lyn Roth 5600m 3.48mi

Uhm... An Update!

2008-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

A June 10th snowfall blanketed nearby mountain peaks. Yes indeed! The heat will be here soon enough...

June 2nd- 19th: Up and down with the training...so it has gone. A 30ish mile week and then a 50ish mile week. I've run when it made sense and I DID finally get my book art off and in the mail. Hooray! The most recent 7 day stretch has been my very best of the year - I think. 86 miles in the last 7 days, including a 22mi 4.5 hour trail run on Thursday morning/afternoon. Even better, I had already logged 2.5 hours (16mi) and about 3900ft of climbing on Tuesday morning. The recipe for now is rest. Following are some highlights.

June 19

20-22mi. 4:28. Parked at W. Buttermilk snowpark up the Twisp River Road. Used trail no. 440 to follow the Twisp River NW to War Creek and then eventually Slate Creek Trail Head. This 6+mi stretch along the river is fantastic. Great undulating trails amidst the shady trees. Entirely runnable, but nicely rolling. At this point, the Slate Creek Trail heads up! For 1.5 hours I mostly hiked, with a little bit o' running. I never did reach Slate Lake, but I was very close. A little too much snow to deal with in the final shady stretch. Plus I was getting tired and ready to turn. Felt strong on the decent, and the new Montrail Streaks are working well. Stable and roomy enough on the steep downhill. Always a good test. Especially when wet. Which mine were. 4 x H20. 1xcliffbar. 1xCB. 2xGu. 2xsalt. (ST)

June 18

7mi. 57min. Power's Plunge to Black Bear and home. A cruise with some climbs. Felt better than anticipated after Tuesday's run. (ST) BIKE 30min to town with K.

June 17

14-16mi. 2:24. Big climbing today as I waited for some car repairs in Twisp. From town, I ran the Lookout mountain road to the abandonded fire tower. 3900ft of elevation gain in my 1:28 effort to the top. My distance estimate is a "best guess" given the much quicker decent. Running hard the entire way back down still took 50+ minutes. Still, its likely closer to 14. A little short on water today. Not iodine. 2xH20. 2xgu (ST)

June 15

15-16mi. 2:30ish. Wolf Creek Trail plus some additional with Brian. Added on to the end after an abriviated trip on the trail. Brain was feeling tired today. (ST)

June 16

THE TITUS VAN RIJN 2008 - THE WINTHROP ADDITION

The afterglow of an excellent Titus!
From left to right: Erik Brooks, Annie Filer, Molly Filer, Carol Filer, Taylor Woodruff, Dawn Woodruff, Chris ?, Sarah Brooks. Not pictured: John Roth, Lyn Roth, Keeley Brooks

9.63mi. One Hour. Plus I ran a mile to warm up so... I get to log 10.5 miles for the day!

All totalled, 11 local paticipants logged 76, 733m or 47.68 miles. The morning was near perfect, with 8:40ish AM starting temps in the low 60's. It heated up just a bit this was not at all a factor.

Of special note for this year's race: 3 TVR newbies participated. Among them, 13 yr old Taylor Woodruff. Taylor, with early teen guts and determination on his side, rallied to his 7.15mi (11500m) performance after only one hour of sleep. He only slept for an hour, because a wolf scat/pawprint expedition with his dad and older brother turned into a sleep-in-your-clothes-by-the-fire-on-top-of-a-mountain adventure. It is up for debate as to whether or not Taylor's dad had planned to camp out ahead of time, but there was not tent and no sleeping bag. This is a fact. Still, Taylor showed up not-so-bright-eyed and ran in his first-ever TVR. Apparently, this is also the first time that Taylor has ever run more than 3 miles in a stretch. Give that boy another black cherry soda! Congrats Taylor!!

TITUS TIME!

2008-06-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

You and yours are invited to participate in the Tenth Annual

TITUS VAN RIJN INVITATIONAL ONE-HOUR DISTANCE CLASSIC

WHAT: A one-hour footrace
WHERE: Your local track
WHEN: Anytime between June 1st-30th, 2008

RULES
* Your performance must take place on a standard 400 meter/440 yard
track. Include partial laps in your final total; estimate distances
as accurately as possible within reason.

* Send results to by midnight, 30 June 2008.
In your results, please note name, total distance completed (in meters
or yards), age, date, and location. We encourage you to include a
brief report of your experience for the official race report.

* You may run the event more than once if desired, but only submit
your best mark.

* You are encouraged to invite others to participate in the event. In
many cases, our address list of past participants is incomplete, so we
especially appreciate your forwarding this invitation to past runners
not included in the original mailing.

* Complete results and race report will be sent to all participants.

* 'And you can dance…for inspiration' -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=e5fgejdS4gQ

TRADITION
World champions in football and baseball celebrate with champagne; the
victor at the Indy 500 gets a bottle of milk. At Titus Van Rijn, the
celebratory beverage of choice for all participants is black cherry
soda. We encourage you to maintain the tradition.

ONE-HOUR TRACK RECORDS
World, women: 18,340 meters (~11.4 miles)
Tegla Loroupe (Ken), Borgholshausen, Ger 8/7/98
World, men: 21,285m (~13.2 miles)
Haile Gebrselassie (Eth), Ostrava, Czech Republic 6/27/07

U.S., women: 17,273m (~10.7 miles)
Nancy Conz, Amherst, MA 6/25/81
U.S., men: 20,547m (~12.8 miles)
Bill Rodgers (GBTC), Boston, MA 8/9/77

TVR, women: 12,800m (~7.96 miles)
Kate Jennings (WA), Winthrop, WA 6/2/2007

TVR, men: 18,115 (~11.25 miles)
Greg Crowther (WA), Seattle, WA 5/27/2006

Please contact the race directors for the All Time TVR
Performance List. Since 1999, 69 competitors in 4 nations and 9 US
states have amassed a total of over 1.73 million meters. Join the
fun!

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?
Please contact Andy Roth (andyleeroth@gmail.com) or Mike Persick
(mpersick@comcast.net), TVR Race Directors.

In the saddle

2008-06-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

May 26-June 1: 55mi. 5 runs. Back on track and feeling better. Not so much sleep for tonight however, as I finish the last of my current illustration work. You can't win 'em all. The 3 hr barrier was a decent goal achieved this week. Also very happy to have run at least three days with lots of hills. A similar range, to perhaps 60mi next week. Hopefully a 4+ hour run for next weekend.

June 1

18-20mi. 3:10. Ran from home to the Wolf Creek Trail. About 35 minutes of climbing at the start and then a nice rolling, gradually uphill trail until turning back near Hubbard Creek. North Fork Wolf Creek was running cold and fast. Very crossable, but also wet :) Speaking of which, it rained a LOT today. I missed out on most of it during the run. Just some spit. The trail/woods were still relatively sopping from the rain last night. Not something we talk about too much in this part of the cascades, so I'll save that soaking feeling for the parched days in August and September. 1xc.b. 2xgu. 3xH2O. (casIII)

May 31

HIKE: A great 2hr, late afternoon hike with S on Patterson Mt.

May 30

12mi, 2:09: Up onto Lucky Jim Bluff as accessed from community ski trail southwest of Brown's Farm. Ran from home/FS 800 for about 50min before the powerwalk climb to the near top o' the bluff. Great views and a fine spot for a snack before turning around. 1 x c.b. 1xgu. 2xH2O. (casIII)

A good indication of the bluff's edge, and of the much flatter valley bottom heading northeast to Mazama.

An excellent craggy snag near my snacking spot.

Better Days

2008-05-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

May 29

4mi, 31:39. Another easy run. No energy issues this week, just scrambling for time. BIKE: 65min + to pick up K at school, run additional errands, etc. (ax)

May 28

5+mi, 40:20. HILLS. 4 x marmot hill (approx 2:15 up). Natural interval. No pushing the pace and my legs did feel a little tired after Tuesday's longer run. Still, will repeat this workout with 6-8 reps at least once in each of the next 3 weeks. (rad)

Rebound

2008-05-27T23:47:00.000-07:00

May 27

13mi+, 1:51. Postal. Feeling much better than I did last week. A non-petrol cruise into town so that I could mail a couple of letters. 80% on trail. Some definite ups and downs. A busy week ahead to finish some book art, but I'll hope to parcel out some running as well. (rad)

May 19-25: 30mi. Oi! Not such a good week... Chalk it up to too burning the candle at both ends last week. Not planning to do much better in the week ahead, but after that I'm golden until Afton! 4 days of really relaxed running and several other failed attempts to leave the house. That being said, I did rest enough for a solid 32:39 performance at the Mazama 10k trail race this past Saturday. Lest anyone think that my legs move anywhere near that fast, its 100% certain that the course was short. 1/2mi sorta short!

Blocks

2008-05-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

May 12-18: Happy. Hit my mileage goals despite only running 4 days AND I didn't get hurt -- or at least I haven't noticed anything yet. Similar or slightly higher miles for next week, but spread out. It should be an easier week for that. Another "speed" or hill workout for sure. Mazama 10k trail race next Saturday.

May 18

18mi, 2:08.20. Ran in my old Seattle stomping grounds -- Greenlake, The Birke Gilman, University District, Ravenna Park, etc.. Fun to have a lot of people around for a change - even when I was suffering through the 2x2mi threshold (6:10 pace) workout in the middle of the run. I felt "OK" on that part, but not great. Considering the 5 hrs of driving to Seattle in the morning, and the 2 hour trail run yesterday, I guess I'm pretty happy with it. (rad)

May 17

12mi, 1:59. Monument Creek Trail with Brian. Nice and slow. Great sunny morning. Awesome raging river waters! 1 x Gu. 1x Cliff Block. 2 bottles H2O. (cas III) BIKE: Almost an hour and a half bike ride with Keeley and Sarah in the afternoon. I was getting light headed in the last 20 minutes. A hot day for so much outside activity even though I was drinking like crazy!

May 15

11mi, 1:35. Black Bear etc. on Sun Mountain. Another warm day made easier by an early morning run. BIKE: Rode Keeley into school. Ditched the bike and started my run. (rad)

May 14

10mi, 1:20. FS 800. Roads and trails near our house. An easy run in antcipation of craming in LOTS in a short amount of time this week. BIKE: Picked K up from the Roths. A windy ride home at the end of the day. Warmer. (rad)

Hawk Hunted!

2008-05-13T00:28:00.000-07:00

May 5-11: 5 days. 48mi. Most of this week's mileage was accomplished via back-to-back medium-long runs on Sat. & Sun. In each instance, I ran for just over 2 hours on hilly terrain. On Sunday's faster effort, I used a single powergel and a PBJ sandwich for fuel, in addition to 2 x H20 bottles - one of those being 1/2 lemonade. Fine combinations all around, but it still isn't hot and I wasn't really out there for all that long. I also took 1-2 s-caps on each run... Next week I'll step up the mileage into the mid-upper 50's and see what that feels like. Need to do a tempo run and perhaps another LSD in the 18-20mi+ range. Also, BIKED 4.5 hrs this week. Most of it with K in tow.

Highlight of the week: The attack by a Northern Goshawk on Friday afternoon. The scene of the battle was a short section of trail less than 10 mintues from home. I won't be going back until fall... These birds are VERY protective of their nesting sites! On it's first pass, it knocked me in the back of the head. I reacted to the blind-sided flutter and sqwaking too late, and hit the ground only after being 'thwacked'. I basically sprinted the next 200m of winding trail, avoiding dives 2-3 by repeatedly throwing myself on the ground. Scary stuff from a 2-3 lb bird!

National Bike Month

2008-05-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

I recently read that May is National Bike Month. Ditch that car and ride! Especially during National Bike WEEK, which just happens to be May 12-18.

To wit, and more to the point of this training log, I have currently ridden my own bipedal machine 4 times this week. Lucky for me, I had done so even before the aforementioned realization. A premonition if you will. Also a fine supplement to the running, although it is always too windy on the ride back from town. Cest la vie!

I'm Back!

2008-05-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

Not that anyone has been missing me... but I've decided to start posting again. My year thus far has been a pretty gradual roll towards my current 40-50 mile weeks. I'm within 10 miles of my YTD mileage totals from 2007 (when I was training for Wasatch) and it all feels good. With a little luck, and some extra speed/hill work to boot, I'll ramp up the training in the next week or two as I prep for my "race of the year" -- the Afton Alps 5ok -- which is first and foremost the annual reunionaj with my college xc running teamates. With respect to that race, which is a few weeks earlier than my 50k from last year, I'll be a little bit more aggressive with the training in the next 8 weeks. Beyond early July, I might make a return trip to the White River 50mi, but we'll see how the work/life management goes between now and then.

I had a great time training for (and attempting) my first 100 last year, but it always felt like a one-shot deal. By that, I simply mean that I wasn't going to make it an annual thing. Maybe next year :)

April 28-May 4: 5 days. 48mi. The bulk of this week fell to a 2hr, 14 miler, and the Sunflower Iron (22mi). I felt strong on both runs, and did a good job of running patient on Saturday -- saving something for a strong final 5-6 miles. 2nd place again, just a few seconds difference from last year's race. Reconnected with the winner of the Rattlesnake 1/2 Marathon, James Varner, from two weeks ago. It turns out that he and his running ladyfriend, Alison Hanks, are moving to Winthop in two weeks. More folks to call upon for trail cruising!

Alright, back to the drawing board. Literally...

Photo Shoot 2007

2008-02-06T14:24:00.001-08:00

Last April, a friend of mine, MacLeod Pappidas, was asked to submit some photos for an article in Trail Runner Magazine. Unfortunatley, the job never quite came to pass, but we did spend a fine spring morning running around - at times looking just a bit too serious!

We hiked up Patterson Mountain at about 5am. From surrounding peaks and vistas, you do get at least some sense for our Methow Valley home turf. Enjoy!

2007 Totals

2008-01-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Not a lot -- or any -- writing in this of late, but I'll pick another race for 2008 soon and get back to postings. In any case, my 2007 Wasatch attempt was a great motivator for running in the past year. I've made a major transition to xc skiing in the last month, but I still logged 1530 miles of running in 2007.

I'll make a resolution here and now to run at least that much in 2008, although I won't be getting in that 62mile day per my Wasatch experience in September :)

Peace and best wishes...

The Wasatch... 61.7mi

2007-09-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

September 8, 2007

For those very few that might be reading this, thanks for your patience :) Alas, the complete 100 miles did not come to pass. I will post my splits below, and you will notice a certain "lingering" that begins to happen around the Alexander Ridge aid station at mile 47.44...

Start: 5am
Francis Peak 18.76: In 9:02 Out 9:09 - I spent a few extra minutes waiting for my brothers to show :)
Bountiful B: 23.95: In 10:21 Out 10:22
Sessions: 28.23 In 11:20 Out 11:22
Swallow Rocks: 34.91 In 1:03 Out 1:03
Big Mountain: 39.40 In 2:08 Out 2:16
Alexander Ridge: 47.44 In 4:39 Out 4:50
Lambs Canyon: 53.13 In 6:12 Out 6:54
Upper Big Water: 61.7 In 9:36.... DID NOT FINISH

I'm not entirely certain what was up, but somewhere between 39.4 and 47.4 I started getting stomach cramps and feelings of nausea. We came down from the greater elevations of earlier in the day, but after 9+ hours on the trail this was also the hottest part of the course, so perhaps that was a factor. I did pretty well on the water intake, but for whatever reason the food options were very unappealing. I was also nervous about throwing up and losing too much ground in the hydration department. After my longer rest at Alexander Ridge I had a rally of sorts enroute to Lambs Canyon... Nervous about my food/water intake, I spent some time at LC (perhaps too much) and headed up the road to Big Water. The first half of this leg was good, but my Cliff Blocks induced vomiting just about the time it was getting dark. I recovered briefly, but subsequent waves of nausea spelled the end...

The hardest part in all of this: Not finishing. I had "planned" a 28hr pace for myself early on. Despite the stomach issues I was only 6 minutes down from that upon entering Upper Big Water. In my mind, and in reality I suppose, I was on a downward spiral -- at 9:30 pm -- with 40 miles and unknown hours to go...

So it went. My friend Dan had a much better time of it and ran really well throughout. He finished in about 28 hours -- a time that included the "rescue" of his pacer brother who was suffering from the altitude and needed Dan's assistance to make it slowly to an aid station. 27 hours already under his belt, Dan blistered the final 6 mile leg in just over an hour. Good stuff!

Will I try one of these again? We shall see...

I'll post a few race photos when I get some, and keep running until the snow flies (perhaps even this year amidst the white stuff), but for now the attentive efforts to this training log are taking a break.

Ciao!

To sleep or not to sleep

2007-08-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

August 23

6mi, 47:40: Intentionally slower after yesterday's effort. The speed yesterday was painfully "fun". Unfortunately, deadlines again and limited sleep hours are not ideal, so I need to be careful and not over do it. I should get some solid sleep on Friday night at least before a final multiple-hour run over this coming weekend. I think that Brian will join me. Until then... (a5)

Up tempo

2007-08-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

August 22

12mi, 1:19: An up-tempo/definitely threshold 10mi at around 6:15 pace in the midst of a run to the Mazama Farmer's Market. After two day's off at the beginning of the week (laziness in the midst of early taper/workload temptations) I felt antsy and decided to run a little faster for the first time in a long while -- since the TVR and the Mazama 10k even. I don't know how this matters/factors in to the Wasatch training, but it felt good enough, so I'll call it a success :) (a5)

Week: 5omiles. The taper officially begins! Really happy to have climbed back out of the hole created by White River. 3 weeks out my body is feeling pretty recovered and happy to be out longer or running a little faster again. Running after this week's longer run felt MUCH MUCH better than the agonizing 34 minutes on August 12 (post 4 hrs on Cutthroat). Time is working in my favor it seems, but backing off for a while also seems to have been as effective as it was necessary. Into the 40's and below as we go...

August 19

12mi, 1:39: Mission accomplished! Mileage today gets me back to 50 again for the week -- for whatever that's worth. The run felt pretty good and it actually rained (!!!) for most of the time. It's been at least 2 years since I've had the pleasure to run in such conditions -- it just doesn't happen that often around here. Good stuff. (v)

En Mass

2007-08-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Less consistant recording of the running as things have gotten busier and time more compressed. So it goes. If I get my rear out the door for 11-12 miles today, then I will have succeeded in getting back to 50mi+ for the last two weeks -- three cheers! Three extra cheers for the fact that major training for Wasatch is coming to a close. I've never achieved BIG weekly mileage, but I have run a lot more than in the previous 4 years, done more 2-6 hour runs than ever before, and gotten to the point where a 30 mile run feels pretty darn nice. I also took some fine photos in the last two weeks, some of which I will be adding below...

August 18

6mi, 40:24: A quick and easy. I haven't run this "fast" in a little while and I'm happy to feel some snap in the legs this soon after Thursday's 30mi. It took 3 weeks, but I think that I've finally recovered from White River. (a5)

August 16

30mi, 5:52: A gorgeous long run over Twisp Pass to Dagger Lake. A sharp turn near the PCT junction and up Macalester Creek to High Camp. Awesome views of Macalester Peak and also a lot of the smoke from the Domke Lake fire on Lake Chelan. Up to South Pass and then down the South Creek drainage to complete the loop. Really felt good. 2x Clip II mixes in my water plus an assortment of Cliff Blocks, Bars and pb n' j. (cas II)

Dan, mugging for some breakfast burrito sponsorship at Twisp Pass.

Perhaps the best "happy runner" photo that I have taken this summer. High Camp.

Also a fine shot!

August 13

2mi running, 8 mi HIKE, indeterminute time... A small bit of running in addition to about 8 miles of hiking with Keeley and my mom on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Carrying a 4 year old on shoulders in addition to my 40+ lb pack also seemed training log worthy. (cas II)

Week: 52 miles. 5 days of running. 7 library visits. 350+ miles of driving... A busy week again on the road, but two really nice longer runs as well. August 8th I ran about 3hrs up into the Snowy Lakes area near Leavenworth, WA. This involved climbing 4000ft in about 6.5 miles. Tough! I almost made it to the Enchantment Lakes region and I will definitely have to go back for that sometime. An almost perfect late afternoon run :) On Saturday, August 11, I ran 4hrs plus -- Up over Cutthroat Pass enroute to Methow Pass and then back again. About 23 miles as best as I can figure. Again, excellent! Not really hot at all, in fact I wore light gloves for the entire run. Small twinges of pain in my right heel were a little bit bothersome (Plantar fascitis?...) but that has been a non-issue since. (v & a5)

An unnamed lake (on my map anyway) enroute on my afternoon run south of Leavenworth. A sometimes rocky and challenging trail with lots of climbing.

The best self portait to date...

Snow Lake in the Alpine Lake Wilderness Area.

Near Granite Pass on the Cutthroat/Methow Pass run. That should be 8970 ft. Black Peak in the background, and YES I am wearing the same shirt that I wore 3 days earlier... testing for Wasatch of course!

White River Photos

2007-08-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Near the aid station at Corral Pass, 16.9mi.
© 2007, Glenn Tachiyama

Decidedly more tired and beestung at Sun Top, 37mi.
© 2007, Glenn Tachiyama

Finally finished, and pretty satisfied with whatever that watch says!
© 2007, John Wallace III

Another week, another mile...

2007-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Week: 35 miles. Alas, a mental breakdown. Lingering cold aside, I feel pretty good physically being 7 day post-50mi race. However, I went camping on Saturday and just simply didn't muster the time for a run. Hence, the weekly miles drop below 40 for the first time in 12 weeks. Not a particularly alarming fact, since I am doing this Wasatch race on decidedly unhuge weekley miles anyhow, but still a low-water mark in the running of late. With high hopes to kick this cold crud in my chest, I will shoot for a return to 50 plus in each of the next two weeks. Then the taper!

August 5

15mi, 2:01: A run through the woods from home in search of the rumored trail up Lucky Jim Bluff. I found it at about 57 minutes and power hiked up some pretty sttep terrain to the first considerable viewpoint. A slightly treacherous run back down and some hotfooted speed work over the last half hour to make it home in around 2hrs. A fine, fine run, with lots more to explore in future excursions out over top of Lucky Jim. Sweet Views! (v)

August 3

4mi, 33:00: A short easy run. HOT. (ax)

Nice and slow, see.

2007-08-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

August 2

8mi, 1:12: A nice feeling run with brother-in-law and fellow White River recuperee, Andy Roth. Across Wolf Creek and up the hill from our house to Sun Mt. Lodge. Early in the day, so not so hot as yesterday. Much better. I'm acclimated to the heat better these days, but I should still really run early a little more often than I do. Legs feeling remarkably nice today. Watch your step coming back across Wolf Creek! I will have a good stone bruise on my right shin to remember that mantra. (v)

August 1

7mi+:1:01: A hot a sluggish run to town on the Community Trail. 3 days post White River I feel better off than three days post Tahoe, but it will be nice to feel even better soon. Some minor bruisy feelings in the left quad. Stick It! (ax)

PS I somehow missed posting the week of July 9-15 before going on vacation. Nothing extraordinary, but I did get in 45mi including another good 3 hour run via a trip over Abernathy Pass with Brian Sweet. All in all it was a restfulish week prior to Tahoe, in part to not over stree the tender left hipflexor -- which has miraculously healed! Duely noted as well that I will be skipping the "speed" training phase for Wasatch in favor of more miles/strength.

July 16-29

2007-08-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

Weeks: 6 days. 97 mi. Not a lot of days spent running during this 2 week stretch, but I took a 2000+ mile road trip/vacation, tapered a bit, and nursed a nagging hip flexor injury so that I could race twice. By some certain grace, the hip pain is gone despite running the Tahoe Rim Trail 50k on July 21 and the White River 50mi on July 28th...

July 28: White River 50mi. 8700ft elevation gain. 9:18.38. 35th place. I reserved judgement on running this race until the day prior. On the heels of Tahoe, it seemed like a good training run for Wasatach, but I developed a cold AND I was a little uncertain about the recovery of my legs etc.. All turned out OK. A conservative first climb answered most questions about my fitness and I was anxious to push a little harder by our turn around at the second aide station (around 3hrs). All day, running downhill was the roughest on my recovering legs. Adding insult to subtle unstableness, I was stung by a yellowjacket smack on my lower lip near the 4:30/25mi mark!

Note the swollen lower lip!

I was only about 15-20 min from the next aide station when this happened, so I was able to get a Benedril and to spend about 5-8 minutes monitoring for any more serious reactions. It had been a long while since I was last stung.

I moved on from this point with hyper-awareness of my breathing etc. for about the next hour. At the Fawn Ridge aide station I took some ice and held it to my lip for the first 10 minutes of the hike/run to Sun Top. Around the 6 hour mark, I was feeling pretty beat, but somewhere around mile 40 (halfway down from our second "summit" at Sun Top aide station) I got a second wind. The sting was no longer a worry and I was also excited to be thinking about single digits again!

The last 10 miles felt really good. I regained some ground that was lost by my daylong pedestrian pace on the downhills, and passed 8-10 people in this final stretch. Calorie management experiments on the day were also a decent success with a combination of Hammer Gels, Gu, Gu20, Cliff Bars, Cliff Blocks, PBJ's and the Succeed Clip II drinks which I started at around 3 hours. A reminder: Hammer Gels seemed a little less sweet than GU. Gu2O was tasting GREAT in the final 6 miles, and the Succeed was MUCH better when adding some ice. It was otherwise bearable, and didn't give me any stomach problems -- although this was only a 9 hour effort. I'll be going slower and eating more real food early on I hope at Wasatch...

July 21: Tahoe Rim Trail 50k. 6895ft elevation gain. 5:20.51. 5th place. Pretty clear right from the start that I wasn't going out with the leaders. I settled in to what looked like 5th-8th place (uncertain about the mix of 50k/50milers ahead of me) and tried to find a pace that would agree with the altitude. 20 miles of the race were run above 8000ft and I was definitely NOT used to that. I intended to push myself, but also wanted a solid 30+ mile run at some altitude more than anything else.

Minor discomforts aside, said altitude provided AMAZING views of Lake Tahoe from both Marlette Peak and Snow Valley. It was far and away the most scenic 5ok that I have ever done.

I ran mostly by myself amidst a sea of 100 milers that had started 1 hour prior and shared the first 18 miles of our course. This was especially fun on the Red House Loop as we chatted some and shared in similar misery on the sandy climb out of the loop. In that last 1o-12 miles I was very aware that the eventual women's winner was just behind, and this definitely spurred me on in the final miles. Despite many electrolyte caps, I fought cramping in my upper quads the final 8 miles. Still, any real biting cramps were held off until after the finish. I will certainly use these caps in all future runs/races of 2hrs plus... Where have you been in the marathon race plans!!?

Not a great, full service-report, I know, but I should get to work on other things. Below is a shot of fellow Carleton College friends (92'-95') and race participants. Fellahs reuniounaj NO. 9 is done and gone. See you in Minnesota for 2008!

Initiate

2007-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

July 9

8mi, 1:05.11: The hottest part of the day with temps in the 90's. Alas, I could not go earlier. A little tightness in my left hip, so I started slow and "warmed" into it. Felt fine after about 5 minutes, but this is worth watching. I DON'T need to get hurt. New shoes are on the way and this is good timing. A nice soak with Max in wolf creek after dinner. A damned fine natural ice bath!
(a5)

July 2-8

2007-07-09T00:15:00.000-07:00

Week: 52mi. I was staring in the face of 60 miles this week... and I decided to take a nap. A good hill bounding workout AND my longest non-race ever took their respective toll. Next week? I did BIKE for a brief time today and soak my tawny legs in the cool waters of wolf creek. Hard to beat.

2007-07-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

July 7

5mi, 38:56: Another easy day. Back into the hour range on Sunday to polish off the week. (brn)

July 6

3mi, 28:25: Slow looking and VERY slow feeling. The next two days are dedicated to regaining some range of motion... I was comforted to realize that today's run, (despite its brevity and eventual minor contribution to the weekly miles) marked my 74th mile run in the last 7 days. 6 days of running, with last Sunday's 18mi in fairly close proximity to yesterday's 32. This is a lot for me of late, so good on ya mate! (old yellow montrails)

Reality Check. Checked.

2007-07-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

July 5

32mi, 6:17.04. A great first 5 hours. Andrews Creek drainage to Spanish Camp. From Andrews Pass to the supreme alpine meadows of Spanish Camp, it was spectaular. Our turn around point was the Boundry Trail, just 2-3 mile from the Canadian border. I must get back into this area with the family and our backpacks someday... 90+ degree temperatures and a final hour spent hoofing it over sandy trails and snags from a 20 year old fire (thusly not a hint of shade) nearly crushed me. I need to order some electrolyte tablets, because, 1 x pbj, a cliff bar, a powerbar and the 98 ounces of water consumed enroute were just simply not enough. We ran almost every step but for some hiking over Andrews Pass AND the final minor hill about 1 mile from the car. I simply had to walkfor a while -- which is certainly a good thing especially since I could tell that the heat was laying hands on my soul. 1/2 mi from the end, we sat in Andrews Creek. While I'm quite certain that this is cold water, even after 10 minutes of full-body immersion I was still cooling down. To think that I will continue for another 68 miles at some point... it will be something! (cas II)

July 4

5mi, 37:06. Happy Birthday S! An easy five miles in your honor and then off to paint faces at the annual Methow Arts Fest. (a5)

July 2

6 mi, 48:03. HILLS. Looking at the time, this run might have been longer. Perhaps not however, since I was slogging it up the hills. 6 x 2:15-2:20 A jog back down for rest. Same Sun Mt. View/Marmot Mt. hills that I have done previously. Hot today, plus on the middle 4 I bounded for the first 30sec. Meant to bound longer, but the lactic acid produced in 30sec. pretty much wrecked me. Really glad I tried that. Might feel better next time... (a5)

Weak

2007-07-02T01:14:00.000-07:00

Week: 50mi. A quick summation, nothing more. Mon-Thurs was spent on the road visiting libraries. Good stuff and some cool new explorations of central WA -- especially the Dry Falls area as scoured by theorized ice aged floods. My early week running was mostly hot, dry, and on the roads. I made up for this to some small extent with two fine trail runs on Sat. and Sun. 10mi on some new trails near home (with more to explore) and a solid 2:40 run up in the Sun Mt. Hills on Sunday. Ran hard to the top of Patterson Mt. just after the 2hr mark. About 12 minutes of hard uphill running, but felt really good. Back to a much longer run again this coming week!

A nice long run!

2007-06-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Week: 54 mi. Not quite the "60 in 6 days" that I had mentioned previously, but I did finally log a solid long run. Read Thursday's entry for better details, but suffice it to say that 29 of this week's 54 miles were logged on that day. Kind of the point I guess!

June 24

8mi, 54+min: "SPEED" Felt much better today. So much so that I decided to up the pace for a while. Push a little bit on tired legs if you will. 5 minutes of tempo uphill followed by 12 additional minutes after turning back down. At least 2.5 mi at a good threshhold clip. Some easy running to start and to finish up. (ax)

June 23

4mi, 30:21: Recovery running still. Got the legs moving and I felt better than yesterday. (ax)

June 22

3mi, 26:19: As pace would indicate, this was an easy run that wasn't. Still, good to do. A brief cruise around Repbublic, WA as I prepared for my first library visit of the NCRL system's summer reading program. (ax)

June 21
29mi, 5:37.15: A summer solstice run, and a fine one at that! Ran from Billygoat Trailhead to Cougar Lake with Wasatch compatriot Dan Kuperberg. About 5000 feet of climbing with a very nice mix of runnable terrain. Great country. Especially views from Lucky Pass, on this surprisingly snow-free route into the Pasayten Wilderness area.

I was certainly feeling it once we passed the 4 hour mark, but all-in-all a very good run. The down's are harder on me than the ups in most cases. Not too sure what to do about that except to keep running them and to get used to the jarringness -- if that were an actual word. (cas) A few pics for posterity:

Dan, just beyond Lucky Pass with Rampart Ridge in the background.

We staged these two action"shots for appropriate effect!

June 19

3mi, 23:44: An easy run to make sure that I get in 6 days o' running this week... (a5)

June 18

7mi, 54:30: Easy distance. Home to townish on the Winthrop Trail. On advice of my brother-in-law, I'm trying to slow up a little on these maitenance runs. Not too successful as yet, but we'll keep trying. (ax)

Dippsy do

2007-06-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Week: 46mi in five days of running. I was hoping for about 10 additional miles, but it just didn't happen. Really tired at week's end when the extra running might have been possible. For consistancy's sake, I'll try to keep the "streak" rolling into this next week. 60 in 6 would be nice, and a solid hillworkout would also nicely compliment my ideal flirtation with the four hour training run.

June 17

8mi, 59:46: Wow did I feel like crap today! I'm not exactly sure why, but everything felt like jello. HIKED for 2+ hours as well this morning, but I really didn't anticipate blaming anything on that. So it goes I suppose. Perhaps yesterday's "speed" is the culprit? (ax)

June 16

7mi, 45:12: SPEED. A solid tempo run on trails to town. The middle 14 min at sub-6min, "tempo" pace and the rest of the run felt slow in comparison.

Wolf Creek trail to Gardner Meadows

2007-06-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

June 15

4mi, 31:20: A nice easy run on the heels of a long school visit/bookstore visit day in Arlington, WA. A good chance to stretch the legs before the 3hr drive home. (ax)

June 14

20mi, 3:36.21: LSD with Dan and Max. A really nice run on the Wolf Creek Trail up to Gardner Meadows. A near perfect afternoon in the low 70's. 3400ft of elevation gain. Some great views of Abernathy Ridge from the Meadows area.

Dan, Max, and I at the turn around in Gardner Meadows. Even better views that I did not capture, and an amazing array of weathered wood. A fire about 8 years prior burned this area nearly ridge to ridge.

Max, unfortunately, was pushed just a little bit past his comfort zone. The poor dog was REALLY tired after about 2 hours, but defined doggedness and persisted as best he could. Not a lot of activity from him in the two days since however :) (cas II)

June 13

7mi, 50:41: After dinner mint. A post-dinner ramble down Wolf Creek Road. Felt surprisingly good. Two days off will do that, I suppose. (brn)

Underbucking the Crosscut

2007-06-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

June 12

TRAIL WORK: No running today, but a solid bit of hiking and 8 hours of trail work with the local forest service/washington trails association. This small contribution is a requirement for entry into Wasatch, but I have been curious to volunteer with WTA for a few years. In any case, a good day. I have sore forearms, and newfound sense of wonderment for underbucking on a 40 inch log with a crosscut felling saw. Sweet.

Week: 50mi. 6 days of running again! A good thing too otherwise I wouldn't have hit the magic 50. Stepping back into the longer run this coming week, but lots of drawing and not much sleeping made this last week a good one to plateau for a bit. Will try to continue with the once-a-week hill repeats in addition of general mileage and longer runs.

June 10

13mi, 1:36:43: Tired. Got the run in because I was chasing miles a little bit and really wanted to have 50. Kept it pretty easy and ran Wolf Creek road west of home. A little time on trails, but a pretty rolling and fogiving run. (ax)

June 9

8mi, 1:00.01: MVCT to town with a few odd loops through the Barnsley Lake area. Barnaby abounds out there! You can easily see how this weed can take things over... This run finished up with a visit to the National Fish Hatchery and their annual kid's day. Keeley caught a rainbow trout -- much to her dismay -- but she did enjoy it for dinner on Sunday night. (cas II)

Sleeplessness ensues

2007-06-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

June 8

5mi, 36:40: Easy mileage again. WC Road/Cottonwood Meadows etc.. 2hrs perhaps one day this weekend, but success this week will mean simply maintaining things at around 50mi per week. I'll get another 3-4 hour run in soon enough. (cas II)

June 7

10mi, 1:24.01: Hills again on the day after hills. With 26,000 ft of climbing to do in September, I suppose that I really can't get enough. Today's were a steady upwards accumulation in the course of looping from home up Power's Plunge and the Winthrop/Lakeview trails to Sun Mountain. Came down the Kraule Trail to Perrow's Black Bear cut-off. A fine new loop! (ax)

Hills o' plenty

2007-06-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

June 6

8mi, 59:34: HILLS 6 x 3min with 1min R headed down. A graduated climb of sorts on the road up Virginia Ridge. Up 3min, down for 1, up for 3, down etc.. A short-cut cool down to keep the run around an hour. A little short of 8 mi perhaps, but I was working pretty hard on the ups... (ax)

June 5

6mi, 42:40: Easy distance. Back to the roads this week with a quick run to Roth's for dinner. A little tired from last week, happy to be running is some RAIN! There will not be much more of that this summer, so 'tis to be enjoyed while it be. Adieu! (a5)

So begins the June

2007-06-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Week: 53mi. 6 Days running - FINALLY! A good long run, some speed/strength of sorts on the track, AND the heat has arrived. I'm a little tired and have lots of painting to do in the weeks ahead, but the running is going well. Will try to log another 3+ hr run this week and aim for a hill workout in lieu of any 6 min pace runnings. Ciao...

June 3

6mi, 47:43: Easy D. Not too far, but a fine cap to the week. Kicking off June with 50+. Hope I can keep it going. (ax) BIKE as well today. 1hr+ in AM with S&K. Another 50min later in the day enroute to my MVN board meeting. X-training this week as well!

June 2 -- 100 Days to Wasatach...
10mi, 1:05: TITUS VAN RIJN. "Race", speedwork, strength, etc... 15, 210m (9.45mi) in 60 minutes o' running. Pushed a little for the fist 3 mi -- 6:12, 5:59, 6:05, but after letting up for a lap, I never quite found the sub-6:15 drive again. Ran solid for the end of my longest week of the year. Joined as well by a lovely group of participants here in Winthrop, WA this year. Black Cherry Soda and watermelon were enjoyed by all at the 9:30am finish. With temps headed into the mid 90's, we tried to get it started on the earlyish side. (racer st)

TVR 2007 participants from Winthrop, WA. 192.5 laps. 77065m. 47.886 miles!

June 1

4mi, 30min: Easy in the evening. A run down the road behind our house. After dinner with food in the belly. Not a great feeling, but a fine easy run. (brn)

War creek extended

2007-05-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

May 30

24mi, 3:34.25: LSD. And there you have it, my first training run over 3:30. Few ever, in fact, to rival this kind of time on the trail, but that will all change soon enough. Ran with Dan on the Twisp River Trail from Buttermilk snowpark. 1st 4mi. took an hour for all of the downed trees that we climbed and ducked around. A certain type of workout in and of itself... The original plan had been to run for 2hrs, but the Methow Valley Backcountry Horseman -bless their hearts- HAD cleared things from War Creek Campground "north" and we got a little excited to have an actual trail in front of us again. Ran farther out than we would have otherwise, and then we had to turn around. Avoiding the first 4mi steeplechase meant running on Twisp River Road (at 1:00pm with rising 80 degree temps) and then doubling back to where the car was parked. The last 4 miles was too fast and kind of a death march (still feeling Saturday's workout) on the highway. However, alls well that ends well. I won't have to run long later in the week :) (cas II)

May 29

3mi, 20:13: Quick and easy. Just to get out the door. (ax) BIKE: 1hr+ Finished the run and jumped on the bike (with Burley) to pick up K from school. A rare tailwind on the way home. Very nice.

And so it goes!

2007-05-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

May 28

6mi, 41:23: Memorial Day. Another easy run. Fine to start the week with legs still feeling a little heavy from Saturday's race. (cas II)

Week: 43mi. 5 days running. AGAIN with the missing 6th day. Alas a good week not to push things with an oddly tight upper back, but I'll hope to be back into the 50mile range again next week. A good "strength" workout on Saturday that will not help my Wasatch performance in the least, but was still a good workout. I ran 12mi. on enroute to the Mazama 1ok. This long "warmup" followed by 10k of fast running was great. Not even racing so much, but tried to run fast a smooth. The Titus Van Rjin next week??

May 27

7mi, 49:34: Home to Roth's condo via the Winthrop Trail and Horizon Flats. A fine recovery run. Could have been slower as usual, but let's take heart in stringing together some consecutive running days and call it good. (a5)

May 26

19mi, approx 2:20: My strength workout for the week. A 12mi+ ramble from home to Mazama with Seattle friend Mike Fitzpatrick. Cheered for Keeley in the 1k and then ran a quick 10k trail (37:51)race with the intent to stay smooth and feeling good. Would have been perhaps a minute faster but for some course confusion in the last mile. Hence as well the very close finish as Brent Biggar and I tried to reclaim some lost ground over the final meters. Technically, I think that Brent would have beaten me without the misdirection. Adrenaline got to me in a positive way for the finishing sprint. (a5, racing flat)

Fine line...

2007-05-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

May 24
8mi, 1:00.19: Easy again AND my first mosquito bites of the year. W.C. Road/Winthrop trail loop. Glad to be running at all because my upper-middle back is still giving me lip. Moist heat is key, but it has been in n' out in waves all week. Too much time in the studio chair no question, but it's an odd pain that is hard to isolate and yet not altogether debilitating or even getting worse. S is suggesting a massage sometime next week. Might be a fine idea. (a5)

May 23

5mi, 35:40: Easy dist. Working through a tight back, but otherwise feeling fine after Sunday's long run. The coming Saturday is the Mazama 10k. That'll be gravy for me after running to the start from home. Trying to run the 10k faster after 12 miles will also fit the newly entered strength phase. No legitimate LONG run this week, but the following will be a good one to go over 3-3.5 hrs. (a5)

May 19-21

2007-05-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

May 21

4mi, 28:04: Easy. Loosen the legs up from yesterday a little. Felt pretty good! (a5)

Week: 50mi. Yahoo! Staring this mini mileage milestone in the face for a while now. Good to mark my ascent into the strength training phase with my first official achievement of the base miles that I would like maintain as well. We'll see how it goes. Work business to increase in the next month especially, but I am feeling good about things at this point. Still also seeking the elusive 6th day of running in a week to spread these miles around. Keep that in mind!

May 20

18+, 2:38.01: A good rolling run. Felt pretty strong throughout so apparently the last two weeks sans any REALLY long runs have done me some good. Strength is gaining. Also note: I employed a half-shuffle-run-bound on the uphills today. Very effective it seemed. (cas II)

TITUS VAN RIJN INVITATIONAL ONE-HOUR DISTANCE CLASSIC

2007-05-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

You and yours are invited to participate in the Ninth Annual

TITUS VAN RIJN INVITATIONAL ONE-HOUR DISTANCE CLASSIC

WHAT: A one-hour footrace
WHERE: Your local track
WHEN: Anytime between May 12 and June 10, 2007

RULES
* Your performance must take place on a standard 400 meter/440 yard track. Include partial laps in your final total; estimate distances as accurately as possible within reason.

* Send results to rotha at sonoma dot edu by midnight, 10 June 2007. In your results, please note name, total distance completed (in meters or yards), age, date, and location. We encourage you to include a brief report of your experience for the official race report.

* You may run the event more than once if desired, but only submit your best mark.

* You are encouraged to invite others to participate in the event.

* Complete results and race report will be sent to all participants.

TRADITION
World champions in football and baseball celebrate with champagne; the victor at the Indy 500 gets a bottle of milk. At Titus Van Rijn, the celebratory beverage of choice for all participants is black cherry soda. We encourage you to maintain the tradition.

ONE-HOUR TRACK RECORDS
World, women: 18,340 meters (~11.4 miles)
Tegla Loroupe (Ken), Borgholshausen, Ger 8/7/98
World, men: 21,101m (~13.1 miles)
Arturo Barrios (Mex), La Fleche, Fra 3/30/91

U.S., women: 17,273m (~10.7 miles)
Nancy Conz, Amherst, MA 6/25/81
U.S., men: 20,547m (~12.8 miles)
Bill Rodgers (GBTC), Boston, MA 8/9/77

TVR, women: 12,453m (~7.7 miles)
Sarah Brooks (MN), Northfield, MN 2002
TVR, men: 18,115 (~11.25 miles)
Greg Crowther (WA), Seattle, WA 5/27/2006

Please contac the race directors the All Time TVR
Performance List.

Since 1999, 59 competitors in 4 nations and 8 US states have amassed
a total of over 1.46 million meters. Join the fun!

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?
Please contact Andy Roth (rotha at sonoma dot edu) or Mike Persick (mpersick at comcast dot net), TVR Race Directors.

Riser Lake

2007-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

May 18

6mi, 41:39: Easy. Explored some rolling single track through the bitterbrush and sunflowers at Riser Lake. Lupine is still out in force! A good easy run on the heels of Wednesday's longer effort.

PS Its not likely to make a lot of sense unless you are Gaio Lakin, but here is some recent artwork with a running bent. Some doodlings of an "incident" during my college years...

May 14-17

2007-05-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

May 17

11mi (or so), 1:29: LONG with a few hills. B.B. to the Kraule Trail and then across lower Patterson Mt. enroute to town. A good run. Feeling better again after last week's travel days. (ax)

May 16

BIKE -- 1:15. To town and then home via the Winthrop Trail. Fine to do something other than run after 52mi crammed into the last 6 days.

May 15

10-mi, 1:20: HILLS (The beginning of my strength training!). 6x3 min/1 min walking breaks on the way up to Virginia Ridge. 40min to the cattle guard for future reference. A cross-country scramble on the way back down from the top. (casII)

May 14

5+mi, 38:40: Run to town. Retrieve car. Pick up daughter. (brn)

Catch Up Time

2007-05-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

Week: 37 miles. A step back of sorts, but not a complete loss. On the road for work. General business and life did not coincide with a solid training effort. I probably needed a week to ease off anyhow. Not that I was feeling bad, but I certainly felt tired on Saturday. I really hope to rebound this coming week with my first 50mi weekly effort and another long run into the 20's...

May 13

Happy Mother's Day! AM: HIKE. An excellent breakfast at the Freestone Inn followed by 2hrs walking with the family Brooks. Carried 34lbs of 4 year old for half of it. PM: 8+mi, 58:16: Roaming the woods west of the house. Felt much better than yesterday! (cas II)

May 12

8+mi, 1:07:12: Uhg! This run does not usually take this long. Still not feeling well. Tired too from travel. Simply glad to get it done... (brn)

May 11

11mi, 1:16ish: Random horse trails and powerline access east of Enumclaw. Stretched the legs for a bit just after my final school visit and prior to my 5hr drive back home. It felt pretty alright considering. (ax)

May 10

AM: 4mi, 29:32: Finally a run this week. 6AM cruise from my Southern Everett hotel room. Chilly! (ax)
PM: 6+mi, 42:11: Centennial Trail. Snohomish, WA. Done with my Granite Falls school visit and headed south to Enumclaw. Saw this trail from the road and decide to go for another run. My first 2x in a desperate attempt to salvage the weekly miles. I might still be lucky to hit 30! (ax)

Week: 48 miles. A fine week! Odd accumulations, but I logged two 16+(2:30+) mile runs and still seemed to have some legs at the end of the second one (The Sunflower Iron Race). I still really need to add an extra day of running to up the overall miles. Must find the time!

May 6

BIKE: 35mi. A good shake out from Sunday's Race. Also the only possible thing for me to do since I was single dad for the few days surrounding...

May 5

RACE: The Sunflower Iron: 24mi including a 15+ min warmup. 2:36:43 for the 22mi race. I defended my honor and placed 2nd, if not my overall time from last year. Also played it very patient given my long run on Tuesday and tried to save myself for the final 6mi. This plan seemed to work very well. There is no way that I would have caught the winner (15 min ahead) but it was good to know that I could still puch hard at the end of a longer and more "loaded" week. (ax)

NOTE: Not sure that Cliff Shots and I agree with one another. Will try again, but found them hard to chew while still trying to breath! Unintentionally spit out many little pieces along way.

May 3

4mi+, 31:41: Easy does it. Short cruise on the MVCT east of home. (ax)

Another long one...

2007-05-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

May 1

16+, 2:40ish: Dan Kuperburg, owner/opperator of the very fine Chewuch Inn and my co-Wasatch conspirator, picked me up after the first 5-6mi of the Sunflower Relay course. Thusly, we did our first real run of the year together. It might have been 16, perhaps a little more or less. Basically, I ran from home to Twisp through a variety of terrain, dirt roads and trails.

Things confirmed today: having company on the longer distance runs is nice AND I tend to run faster than I should when by myself. Felt really great today even though this was my second 2.5+ hour run in 4 days. A little easier on the miles (and hills) for the rest of the week. (cas II)
NOTE: 2 full bottles H20 and 1 Cliff Bar

April 30th

4mi, 31:24: An easy shake-out kind of run. Even with the walk yesterday I felt just a little sluggy still on the heels of Saturday's long run. Steady as she goes.. (ax)

Flip it! Another weekly summary.

2007-04-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Week: 41 miles. Two big accomplishments -- a good long run of 2:5o AND I brought my camera along for fun! A little silly perhaps, but the views are good and the sunflowers are starting to bloom. More pics to be posted as the training continues.

Arrowleaf balsmroot - the local sunflower - on south shore of Patterson Lake. Cabin Creek Trail.

Wasatch realization o' the week: 20 of the last 40 minutes in this week's long run were spent bouncing down some single track amist the bitterbrush. The jarring palpable. The legs begging for flatter ground. I might have decended 1200ft. The last 5mi in Utah will drop about 3000ft... after 95 previous miles of joy and lord know how many hours of running :)

Mt. Gardner in the distance. Patterson Lake below.

April 28

18mi, 2:50.11: LONG I'm calling it 18. I have no real idea except that I didn't walk very much and I ran the downhills pretty quick. Black Bear spur from Wolf Creek. Lower Fox to Aqua Loop and a random exploration of abandonded F.S. 5386. Too many dead trees to pick around, but found the end. Little Wolf to Thompson Ridge. Rader Creek. South/North Patterson loop and Power's Plunge to home. Solid run. Legs tired coming down from Patterson, but felt fine again on the flats to home. (cas II)

PS Somehow already blowing out the sides of these Brooks Cascadia IIs. Not so preferable for a "trail" shoe with only 120 miles on it thus far...

Fork in the trail on Patterson Mountain. Downhill from here...

Post run chicken enchilladas AND a super delux reverse hug.

April 27

7+, 51:14: For the life of me I can't remember where I ran... must have been great! (brn)

April 26

6mi, 41:15: A good easy run. W.C. Road to Merle's Trail. Good to slow down after yesterdays "race" down the Winthrop Trail. (cas II)

April 24

10mi, 1:15.24: Up-tempo. Good speed on the downhills! Black Bear spur to Kraule Trail. Lakeside to the Winthrop trail and then to pick up K in town. A great new route with good loop potential from the front door! (cas II)

Weekly it is!

2007-04-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

AND SO I DIGRESS TO THE WEEKLY POST: I will try NOT to do this every week...

April 17

6+ mi, 50:17: Hilly but good and slow. Home to the Black Bear trail up on Sun Mt. (cas II)

April 19

HIKE: 5am. 1:15 min. up on Patterson Mt. for McCloud's photo shoot. Trying to catch the first rays over the Okanogan Range to the east of Winthrop. More on this later!
5mi, 36 min: An up-tempo evening run on Winthrop Community Trail west of home. (ax)

April 20

8+, 59:43: HILLS - Winthrop Trail to Black Bear/Moose/Lakeview and back down. 33min to Sun Mountain Lodge. A solid climb. (cas II)

April 21

7mi, 48:11: Home from the bookstore mural project via the Winthrop Trail. A nice little climb and less time on the road. (ax)

April 22

14 mi, 1:40: LSD -- Kept it slow. Wolf Creek road west. Dorked around on the BOB ski trail and a little bit on the fire line from last summer. Too much debris on the fire line for any real running. (cas II)
BIKE: Into town with S & K. Back home from the bookstore. 1hr + total but two halves divided by 4 plus hours of painting

Week: 41 miles. Very happy to have another week in the 40's. The intensity and the long run were backed down a little this week, which feels good considering the steady building that has taken place over the last 12 weeks since I phased away from skiing. I'll stay in the 40's next week but bump up the long run this time. Shooting for 2:30-3hrs however far that may be... Also giving due consideration to adding the White River 50mi to my summer training plan. More on that soon.

Rattler Half Marathon

2007-04-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

April 14

Rattler 1/2 Marathon (13.1mi), 1:34:56 (about 7:15 pace): With 10min warm-up and 15 min cool-down, I put in about 16mi for the day. This is what matters with respect to Wasatch I suppose -- time on task and overall miles. The 1800 ft of elevation gain also made for a solid effort. That being said, I should hope that I don't run a single step at this kind of pace on Sept. 8th! Good for a first place finish this weekend, such exhuberance would be foolhardy in Utah.

True to form in recent years, I raced smart but whimpy. An early lead evaporated quickly on the long, mid-race up hills. I walked on purpose through these steeper sections, but pretty much let the leader get almost out of sight at that point. To my ultimate surprise, I caught up after 2mi of technical downhill and took back the lead with 3+ miles to go. Another gradual climb meant loosing the lead again, but my legs were fresher on the final 600m into the finish. In the ultimate nod to lame racing, I only put my head down and went after it when I noticed the leader's cramping legs. I really should have toughed it out and never fallen back into second over this final stretch... Alas, my "killer instinct" is hard to find. I'll be happy with running wise and see what happens from there.

Next up: The Sunflower Iron. I'll add on about 5mi and run to the start from home

April 15

7mi, 50:42: We'll call this 7. In might be a little short. Ran easy on the MVCommunity Trail west of home. Came back on the ski train through piles of logging slash. The Sunflower will have to be run on the road through here this year. Have to check that whole route out as well and see if even that is possible...

Week: 40mi. Really happy to see that number again and to have gotten in 5 good days of running during a busy week. The several months ahead don't get any easier, but my early base is getting well-established. A month ahead in the 40's range would be great. Long runs will begin to oscillate up and down a little bit, with hopefully some 20's (3+ hrs) on the way into May.

Distempo

2007-04-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

April 12

Almost 8mi, 54:15: TEMPO for at least a little while. 12 minutes up, 14 minutes at something too fast for tempo run pace. I wanted to go 3-4 miles, but chose an unmarked course running out into the wind. After 12 minutes up-tempo it really felt too hard. Another 2 minutes and I bagged it. Succeded with I'm sure nearly 2.5 mi at pace and I would rather be not TOO worked over for the trail race this weekend. (ax)

Easy at last!

2007-04-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

April 10

4mi, 30:22: Methow Valley Community Trail east... ran from home and into the woods. River is swelling, though the peak flow is a ways off still. I finally ran slow. Happy about that. Warmish and blustery out. A coolness to the wind that is supposed to last all week. "Racing" on Saturday. i want to feel good, but would also like to improve upon last year's 1:35:51. We shall see...

Monday, Monday...

2007-04-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

April 9

5 mi, 32:33: Supposed to be an easy day. Disappointed with myself by once again running faster that I should. I'm not even training to run a "fast" kids of race for goodness sakes. In any case, the legs felt pretty good considering the 15 mi on Sunday. Ciao. (as)

Pipestone Canyon Trial Run

2007-04-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

April 6

5+mi, 35:23: A little bit short of six, but quite up-tempo as these things go. I didn'ty plan to run fast, but I was late getting into town and left the car at home. (as)

April 8

15mi, 2:22: A legit LSD run in the hills. 1800ft of climbing throughout. Snow, mud and sunflowers all in the same run. Joined by Andrew, who kept the pace steady and made sure that we didn't go too fast. His longest run by about double this year, so thanks to him for coming along and keeping me company. Also got the car stuck in the snow enroute... big adventure.

Week: 40 miles! Hot diggity. Still making steady progress. More challenge in the workouts than necessary -- again. The hill, unintentional tempo, LSD (with climbs) trifecta is not a great idea in the long term, but right now I am feeling no ill effects. Overall mileage still reasonable of course, so that helps. Look for mid-30's to 40 again this next week. A 1/2 marathon trail race in Pipestone Canyon next weekend. A tempo run on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Sun Mt. Hills

2007-04-06T00:21:00.000-07:00

April 5

6mi, 45:58: We'll call it six. Who really knows. I did run some hill repeats, however. All part of my master plan :) Very much in the base phase of training here. A lot of miles to run and I want to get there slowly. Alternating tempo weeks and hill weeks right now. Just running. No bounding and no pushing the pace. "Natural" intervals. Ultimately, it should help with strength. Today it was 6 x 2:15 with about 2 min. rest on the downs. A fine, fine day! (brn)

F.S. 800

2007-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

April 4

7mi, 55:54 (am I really calling that 7?): Suppose that I will. Distance of little consequence in any case. The time on task is working. A nice run through the woods and then out F.S. 800 into the logging slash. So many trees down. Lots of clean up to do this spring and summer. Kept thinking that I would/should see a bear since I could see so much farther into the woods than last year. An easy run, but still with hills (a good 7 minute up at one point). Lots of jumping around in the woods to avoid the many very soft snow patches. (cas II)

PS Still considering the format for this. I'll probably switch to a weekly post at some point rather than these daily beginnings... all in good time.

April 3 - easy hills

2007-04-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

6+mi, 52:01: For the most part, an easy run. I did ramble around on the north side of Sun Mt. and eventually came back down via Black Bear across wolf creek. A few very casual hills. I've been sleeping about 3-4 hours a night the last few days while trying to finish sketches for a book. I suppose that this is good sleep deprivation training for Wasatch, but its starting to catch up to me. I still feel alright running, but...

April 1

2007-04-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

3mi, 22:45: An easy 3 west on w.c. road. Slopped around on some still snowy trails along the river. Not too much however since this was supposed to be easy. Right hamstring a little tight from yesterday's long run and my silly "catch-up" running the week before. I'll likely take tomorrow off. (cas II)

Week: 36 miles. Solid. The LSD run on Saturday felt very good again. I need slow down, but time and distance will do that soon enough. A similar week coming up with one day of hills.

The Days Are Numbered

2007-04-01T01:45:00.000-07:00

So here it is. My first post enroute to running the Wasatch 100 Endurance Run on September 8th, 2007. I've been "a runner" for a while. Seriously (of sorts) since my freshman year in college when I abandonded soccer for the glories of cross-country. These days my runs are more of the release from my job as a children's book author and illustrator, but I've really enjoyed running on trails as well. I've run numerous 50ks and a single 50 miler. 1oo miles still seems a little unrealistic to me at this point, but that's the goal :) A running friend of mine suggested that we sign-up, with good intention to train together over the summer, and I basically decided "what the heck."

After a solid winter of xc skiing, I added in some running near the beginning of February. That being said, I'm about 8 weeks into my base training and running a comfortable 30+ miles a week right now. A slow and steady climb from here, but I'll try to make this my training log with some occassional comments on progress for anyone that might be paying attention...

Cheers!