Injury Update

My Calf has been slowly getting better, today was the fastest I have run since the injury 9mi @ 8:45 pace and it felt ok but not great. I got home and iced the whole area, made sure I didn’t miss a spot…

Waterton Canyon

I have been really sick all week, no running at all until today. Luckily I got in my 20 miler last weekend before the flu hit our family. Q: What do you like to eat out on your long trail runs  A: I like the espresso cliff shot if I am going to eat gels but that seems like a rare occasion these days. Lately I have been experimenting with real foods on my long runs. Apples, beef jerky, almonds, licorice and granola bars to mention a few. Here are some pictures I took last weekend on my long run in the canyon. I see big horn sheep often but never this many and never this close.

2013 RMRR 10K - DNF

It was really cold when I arrived at the race I think 10-20 degrees. I got my race stuff and sent my sister on her way, her 5K started a little earlier. I ran a 1.5 mi warm up and then did some strides, I was feeling good I was feeling fast. In the back of my mind I had a secret goal that wasnt making public not even to myself to run sub 40:00. I kept telling myself “I am just going to take this as a tempo run” (like I always do). While standing around waiting for the start I was feeling warm so I striped down to my shorts and tee shirt. I kept my hat and gloves which saved me later.

Mile 1 - 6:10, feeling great
When the race started it had warmed up to about 25 degree but if you saw me you would have thought it was in the 50’s or 60’s. I exploded off the line into screaming pace, after the first half mile I calmed down and settled into a comfortable grove. I felt really good and really fast I was starting to believe that I could get that sub 40 today.

Mile 2 – stopped dead in my tracks
I started off the second mile feeling pretty good I was running near 6:00 pace for the first half of this mile and then bam. I get a sharp pain in my calf and in a few painful steps I was stopped. I sat down and tried to work out the pain with light stretching and massage.

Struggling to come to terms with my DNF
I tried to walk it off and then did a light jog and cycled between the two neither of which were helping. A few times I had to stop running because it was getting worse. I hate quitting and I was willing to make my injury worse just to finish. Finally I came to my senses and decided that it wasn’t worth it and turned around and accepted my DNF. That was a hard thing to do, I only have one other DNF I am still mad about that one too. I think I was about 1.75 miles out and that I was in DNF mode now I had no problem walking all the way back.

Not out of the woods yet
Walking was painful but I was able to keep moving without any breaks. There was only one problem with walking… I was starting to get cold. It was below freezing and I left my pants and my jacket at the starting line. As time went on I got colder and colder until I had no choice but to run. I ran about a mile not stop and hobbling along the way. Even while running I continued to feel colder I was getting worried. Eventually I made it back to the park and put on my jacket and pants and then got into the car.

Injury
I am not sure if it was a cramp or a pull, the muscle wasn’t locked like in a cramp so it was a cramp. Currently I can barely walk across my house. I have already done the roller once and I plan on doing some icing later (once I thaw out). I will play it day by day but I hope it heals quickly.

2012 Review

2012 has been my best year of running. The end of the year is one of my favorite times because I get to analyze all my data for the year. I will probably spend the rest of the week or longer comparing various stats to previous years. Once that is done I will have a firm set of goals for 2013.

Total Miles - 2,521 miles (Avg 6.8 miles or 9.5 miles per day run)
Total Time - 380:42:41 (9:03 pace)
Total Days - 267 days run (73%)

Racing: I love to race, it’s what motivates me to keep training when it’s cold or when I fell too tired. This year’s race has been wonderful nearly every other race was either a PR or a 30+PR. If you remember last year many of my race reports were filled with excuses why I didn’t perform as well as I could have.

1-21-12: 5 miles – 32:09, 3rd in age group, 30+ PR
2-12-12: 3.1 mi – 19:47, 4th in age group 9th overall, 30+ PR
3-4-12: 3 mi – 19:45
4-28-12: 50K – 5:55:30, First 50K = PR
5-20-12: 26.2 – 3:27:27, PR
5-28-12: 25K - 2:38:40 (really tough terrain), 17th place overall and 4th in my age group
7-8-12: 2 mi – 12:49
7-21-12: 3.1 mi – 41:30, ran with my sister
9-22-12: 26.2 mi – 3:26:55, PR
11-4-12: 9 mi - 59:21, 2nd overall, PR
12-2-12: 4.5 mi - 28:25, 3rd overall, 30+ PR

Long run Days:
Days where I ran 20 miles or more: 13
Days where I ran 14-19 miles: 26
Days where I ran 10-13 miles: 69

2012 December RMRR Race Report

4.5 mi road race  - 28:25 (6:19 pace), Avg HR 178

3rd place overall overall

I didn’t have a clue how I was going to pace this run. Other than my last race I hadn’t run fast in months. My last race was 9mi – 59:22 (sorry I never put out a race report). I put that 9 mi time in a running calculator and it said I should be able to run 4.5 in 28:21 (6:18 pace), I didn’t feel confident that I could run that fast at all. I haven’t run any speed work since early October and that 9 mile race in November. I have been running a ton of miles with a lot of vertical but slow.

Mile 1: 6:24 Avg HR 167
So what the hell it’s only 4.5 miles, let’s go for it! What’s the worse that could happen I run out of gas and run the last mile slow? Right off line I set into a fast pace, a little too fast. Once the adrenaline of the gun wore off I slowed down a bit but still felt like I was flying.

Mile 2: 6:29 Avg HR 176
The second mile hurt and I was staring get that feeling that I burned up all my matches (right Olu) in the first mile. I eased of the pace a bit and slowly started to feel comfortable.

Mile 3: 6:18 Avg HR 181
The president of the club caught up to me in this mile and I let him get 15 ft up the road before I decided to hang with him. I closed the gap and we ran side by side. Having someone to run will really boosted my motivation.

I beat my 30+ 5K time (unofficially), my split coming through the 5K was in the 19:30’s. More than 0:10 seconds off my best when I was only going for a 5K and nearly dead on the finish line.

Mile 4: 6:21 Avg HR 185
Still running with the club president sence we had been running toghether we had been passing a lot o people. I was feeling better and better with every step. It hurt but it was a different kind of hurt than that long stuff.

Last 0.5 mi: 5:46 pace Avg HR 190
Just after passing the 4mi mark I realized the race was nearly over. My muscles burned but I didn’t feel tired, I though “I think I can take a lot of pain for the next 3 minutes”. With that I just turned on the after burners and left the club president in the dust. I was right about the pain though I ran my guts out that half mile. All the way to the finish line was like a long acceleration.

I was feeling the runners high after that and for the rest of the day I was in a great mood. Surprisingly I was only of my projected time by 0:04 seconds.

Here I am at about mile 3.3 trying to get my kids to come give a high five



Ok Fine, I will come to you



This one is a little blurry but I still like it

2012 RMRR November Race

9mi – 59:22 (6:36 pace) Avg HR 178
2nd place – Trophy Series, 3rd place – Men’s overall time

This was my 3rd race with the rocky mountain road running and the first time I had the feeling that I understood the handicap system. I wasn’t really focused on this race and I was planning on just going to get in a good hard tempo run. In fact I had still run my scheduled long run the day before of 15 miles so I was hoping for a great time today. Laura Peoples and I got their a little early to get out race numbers. I was surprised to find out that I had a handicap of 40:00! One the race started I stood around for a while and then started warming up when the clock got to about 20:00. I ran a 1.5 mile warm up and then did some strides after that it was nearly time to start.

Mile 1 – 6:29 Avg HR 162
I toed the line with one other person, she was probably 17 or 18 and super fast. I kept up with her for about a half mile during which our pace was near 6:00. I thought to myself I will be dead in a few miles at this pace so I let her go on ahead.

Mile 2 – 6:49 Avg HR 168
Coming into this race my goal was to run under 7:00 pace. After that really fast first mile I backed off an slowed closer to that pace. I really didn’t feel good during this mile the adrenaline from the start had worn off and I was feeling I went out too fast.

Mile 3 – 6:38 Avg HR 176
Secretly deep down I had a goal of running under 59:59 if I felt good. I knew that I need to run 6:40 pace to do that so I said to myself let’s try it on and see how it feels. It was tough and other than that girl that left me in the dust I hadn’t seen another person till near the end of this mile.

Mile 4 – 6:33 Avg HR 179
With the handicap system if you start behind someone and pass them then you have beat them for sure. During this mile I was starting to catch up an pass people but they were pretty fast and I would only slowly pass them. I was starting to believe that I could hang on to this pace. The weather was great (40’s) the only that could beat me was the course which was lots of rolling hills.

Mile 5 – 6:35 Avg HR 183
Near the turnaround we had to run a good size hill (100 ft in about 0.2 miles). I charged up the hill and then coasted down the other side. During this mile I saw tons of runners that I was about to case down.

Mile 6 – 6:30 Avg HR 181
Of Couse once we turn around we had to go straight back up that hill. Again I surged up the hill passing some runners and then coasted down the other side which was considerably longer.

Mile 7 – 6:39 Avg HR 182
Once the downhill was over and it was flat I tried to get back into my groove. The clouds had parted and the sun was shining on me and all the sudden I felt like I was overheating. I gritted my teeth and held on for dear life. The hill just kept coming and I kept on flying up them an then coasting down. I know they weren’t big hill but at 6:30 pace it doesn’t take much of a grade to put you into the red zone. This was the hardest mile of the race.

Mile 8 – 6:33 Avg HR 185
My quads were crying in pain and I was having trouble holding my pace. For the first 7 miles while coasting downhill I would see on my watch that I was at 6:15 pace and I could rest a little more. Now I felt like every up and every downhill was a struggle to keep that pace under 6:40. During this time I passed a lot of runners. They all gave me great encouragement while I went by “your doing awesome”, “you look fast today” or “go get em”.  

Mile 9 – 6:36 Avg HR 188The rolling hill kept coming and half way through this mile I was at 6:45. I didn’t know how close it was going to be or how far off my watch would be from their distance. All I knew was that I had to push hard now. Up around the corner the final bridge where the finish we started from. I passed a few more people on the final run into the finish line.


The way the handicap system works is that everyone gets a handicap based on their speed. Regardless of where everyone starts the first person across the finish line wins the race. I started more than 40 minutes after the clock started and I was the second to finish. I won a cool ribbon and a tougher handicap for the next race.

Exploring on the highline canal

While running on my local trail I said to myself “I wonder what is down that path over there”, I have run past this turn off probably 100 times because I thought it dead ended at the pond in about a ¼ mile. So I finally took that trail and it was awesome. Instead of dead ending there was a cool rock bridge between the two ponds. Finding a new trail is like Christmas for a trailrunner.