Monday, December 31, 2012

End of year mileage

Jan. 171.13
Feb. 121.43
March 140.14
April 167.72
May 175.0
June 143.74
July 203.5
Aug. 156.78
Sept 233.32
Oct. 216.43
Nov. 178.54
Dec. 199.58

Total 2107

Looking forward to 2013. I would like to hit closer to
2,500 miles for the year.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Treadmill

7 miles 50:00
8:30 am)
Skipped the Incline run today. Running in shorts sounded
more appealing to me. The run was okay. I was mentally
having a hard time getting into it. After 1.85 miles
changed it up a bit and found one of the preset programs.
I picked a 4.97 mile route. The elevation would change
between -3% up to 4%. Pretty flat course. I didn't like
it when it would go more than 1% decline because it would
only allow me to run at 8.5 mph.

#144.5

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Pikes Peak Greenway

10 miles 1:13:03 7:18 average per mile
11:45 am) 30's sunny
Goal today was just to get some miles in and not push
the pace. My goal was 7:15 or slower so I did
good. My groin area is sore. I kind of hurt it the other
day doing some speed work. Not smart on my part. Trying
to up the pace too fast too soon. Race on Tuesday is
looking doubtful.
Weight was up today. Need to eat better today.

1300th Post Today!

sft/10
#146

Friday, December 28, 2012

Treadmill

3 miles 24:33 8:11 average per mile
2:30 pm
Needed an easy day. I did run with a 5% incline just to
change it up a bit. Did DDP yoga energy as well.

#144.5

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Palmer Park

6 miles 41:14 6:52 average per mile
12:20 pm) 20's cold
Felt yesterdays effort today legs were tired.

b/a12g/102
#145.5

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Treadmill

6 miles 42:00
9:00 am
3 X 1 mile 9.5, 10.0, 10.2
Rest in between and 1/4 mile jog
2 X 400 12.0
Very hard workout. Started the mile repeats slower this
week and was able to increase the pace. Last week went
too fast on first one and had to slow down on the second
one. The 400's were hard especially the last one. I
almost bailed on it halfway through. Leg turnover is
not really there yet.

#145

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Treadmill

5 miles 36:15
11:30 am
Merry Christmas!!!
Did 6 X 20 second strides at 12.0 mph 1% incline.
Felt pretty good today. Didn't eat too much last night
so that was good. Weight was up half a pound to 145.
Got a couple inches of snow last night so a nice
white Christmas here. Picture is from our backyard.


Monday, December 24, 2012

Pikes Peak Greenway

10 miles 1:06:36 6:39 average per mile
12:00 pm) 30's
Never felt great on this run. I think I was still feeling
yesterdays effort.

b/a12/250
#144.5

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Garden of the Gods

8 miles 52:48 6:36 average per mile
8:00 am) 30's sunny
Little bit slower than last time I did this run. Felt good
for the most part. Weekly miles still pretty low at this point
will look to gradually build. 10 weeks out to Little Rock!

#145
b/a12g/95

Friday, December 21, 2012

Wood Avenue Tempo

7.85 miles
5.5 miles tempo 33:33 6:06 average per mile
12:00 pm) 40's
Struggled with this run. First couple miles I was slow.
Finally got some turnover last 3 miles. Sleep was not
great the night before maybe why I had a bad start to
this run. I practically gave up after 2 miles. I'm glad
I didn't and finished up with a decent overall average.

b/st5/60

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Palmer Park

6.2 miles 41:30 6:42 average per mile
11:00 am) upper 30's sunny
Okay run felt a bit fatigued though.
Weight was 145 today went up half a pound. Not surprised
though since it dropped 1.5 pounds the day before.

PM) DDP Yoga Energy 22 minutes.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Treadmill

5 miles 7:30 average
Today was easy running with 4 X 30 second strides.
I would do 1 mile then do the 30 second stride.
I did the first 2 strides at 11.0. The third stride
I went 11.5 and on the last one did 12.0.
Wore HR monitor today. Max HR was 160.
My glutes are a bit sore from yesterdays run. Need
to strengthen that area. I am just getting into some
yoga type stuff with my girlfriend. I will try to
do it 1-2 times a week. Will see if I can stick with
it. I'm not great at sticking with other kinds of
physical activities other than running.
Weight was down to 144.5 this morning. This was a
shocker considering I ate a large dinner last night.
I suspect weight might actually go up a bit tomorrow
morning.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Pikes Peak Greenway

16 miles 1:49:07 6:49 average per mile
10:10 am) low 40's sunny!
First long run in preparation for Little Rock. I was happy
with it.
Been watching my diet as of late. I have been eating more
healthy. Weight is not dropping much but should as I get to
running more miles. I was 146 this morning. Goal for Little
Rock is 140-142.

b/a12g/86
#146

Monday, December 17, 2012

Treadmill Mile Repeats

6 miles 42:18 7:03 average per mile
10:00 am)
Did 3 X 1 mile repeats 1% Incline
Mile 1 6:03 average per mile 10.0
Mile 2 6.22 average per mile 9.5
Mile 3 6:14 average per mile 9.7
I would rest between these then do 1/4 mile easy.
1 mile warm up 1.5 mile cool down
Hard workout. Established a baseline today for mile
repeats on the treadmill. Have not done these in ages
so good to see where I'm at. I went too hard on the
first one and had to lower the speed so I could complete
the second one. Felt better on the last one. As time
goes on I will do more of these and hope to do them
faster. I will also do some 400's for faster turnover.

#147

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Garden of the Gods

8 miles 52:16 6:32 average per mile
8:00 am) 30's sunny
Solid run today. Turnover is coming along.

b/a12g/69

Friday, December 14, 2012

Pikes Peak Greenway Tempo

7.65 miles
6 mile tempo 6:19 average per mile
12:30 pm) low 40's
First tempo run in some time and I felt it.
Started out good but after 1 mile I was slowing
and by mile 6 was out of gas. Still a good
workout as I established a baseline. Now time to
work on improving.

b/st5/52

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Palmer Park Roads

5 miles 33:08 6:37 average per mile
12:00 pm) mid 40's sunny
Today was a good run but pushed a little bit harder
than I planned on. Tomorrow is a tempo run so hope
I didn't go too hard today.

b/a12g/60

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Garden of the Gods

8 miles 54:41 6:50 average per mile
12:00 pm) 50's sunny!
Elevation gain 846
Back to hitting the roads again. I have focused on trail
running past few months. It's time to start training
on the pavement again to prepare for Little Rock Marathon
March 3, 2013. Today was 8 miles in the Garden and I could
feel the effects of the pounding on my body. I was happy
with the run as my goal was 6:50 average and I hit it on
the nose. Not sure what I'm going to do about trail
running I might still do some but in order to do well at
a road marathon I need to focus on road running. Also
I need speed work whether it be tempo, treadmill, or
track work. I think in order to run a fast marathon one
needs the speed and it will translate to the marathon.
The faster I can run at the short stuff it will make
marathon pace feel easier and my stride length will be
longer and more efficient. I look forward to the next
11 weeks of training. I will be shooting for a PR!!!
I have a time goal in mind but it's not concrete.
I'm thinking if all goes well and I stay healthy a
2:39 goal is realistic.

b/a12/240

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Treadmill

3.61 miles 25:00 6:56 average per mile
7:00 am)
Early run today. Had jury duty so got it in early.
Jury duty is done so that makes me happy.
Been called 2 times in my life and both times have
been selected to serve on a trial. Guess I'm just
lucky:)
Time to start training again. I feel recovered from
the race now. Less than 12 weeks till Little Rock
Marathon. Time to get some speed back!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Barr Trail - No Name Creek



8.75 miles 1:42:00
Teens snow flurries. 2-3" of new snow
Elevation gain 2513
Slow run up Barr today. I didn't have good grip and
my shoes kept slipping. I fell once on the up and
scraped up my leg. I also fell on the down as well.
Legs felt tired today. I hope to fully recover soon.

mm2r/15

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Treadmill

3 miles 20:12 6:44 average per mile
2:00 pm
Late start today. Last night I went to a couple birthday
parties and stayed out late and drank way more than I'm
used to. The run was hard today and not much fun.
Tomorrow will hit some trails with the IC group. Not
sure how far I will make it. The weather may be a factor
if the trails get some snow tonight early tomorrow.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Treadmill

3 miles 21:27 7:09 average per mile
1% Incline
11:30 am

First time running on the new treadmill. Bethany and I
bought it for each other for our Christmas present.
We got the Nordic Track 1750. It's commercial
grade and goes to 12 mph and 15% incline. It even has
a tv screen and Wi-Fi.
I have never owned a treadmill so pretty excited to
finally own one. I plan on using this for speed work
and shorter runs. I still like to get outside for the
longer runs as I get bored on the mill on the longer
runs. I have used treadmills in the past and have
to say they make me a better runner for sure.
They keep you honest when doing intervals or tempos.
Today I found it hard to run at a constant speed.
I'm used to trail running where my pace is always
fluctuating. I will be training for a road marathon
in March (Little Rock). So I need to get used again to
the fast pace and keeping it at constant speed.
I'm 12 weeks out from this marathon so I need to
start the training soon. I have a great base at this
point so I'm not starting from scratch. I will just need
to work on the turnover.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Barr Trail

5.83 miles 1:00 10:18 average per mile
11:00 am) 40's cool
Elevation gain 2112
Still recovering from the race. Tried to push it a bit
today. IT band was sore at the start of the run. Felt
pretty good once I got going. The down felt pretty
good today. I wore new Montrail shoes today and they
felt good on the down. Looks like my old pair is shot
the cushioning is all compressed.

mm2r/6

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Red Rock Canyon

4 miles easy
10:20 am) sunny & warm upper 50's
Elevation gain 889
First run since Saturday. My IT band has been so sore
since the race that I haven't even tried to exercise.
Yesterday I noticed improvement but was under the
weather so did nothing.
Finally today I woke up and IT band felt better and so
did I. So off to Red Rock Canyon I went. Ran this
very easy with Bethany. She was not wanting to push
pace either since she had not run in a week.
Felt good just to get out and move around after sitting
so much last few days. Enjoyed the nice warm temps.
Looks like the warm weather might be going away for a
while. Maybe winter is finally on the way.

b/asr9/147

Sunday, December 2, 2012

North Face 50 Mile Championship San Francisco, CA.











46.7 miles or so 7:00:05
33rd Overall out of 391
Course was cut short and rerouted due to the heavy
amounts of rain. We ended up running 2 23 mile loops.
The mud and rain were epic. We started at 5:00 am
in the dark. The rain came down hard and it pretty
much rained the entire time I was running. Course
was bad first loop and only got worse as we ran it
a second time as all the other 50 mile runners and
50k runners passed through for their first loop.
In sections you could barely even walk on the steep
ups due to the mud and no grip. Physically I had
some cramps that would come and go and around mile
32 my IT band became very sore. My IT band is still
very sore today. I hobbled around at the airport.
Overall happy with my race of course I would liked
to have placed better. Was a great experience even
though all the rain and mud was not pleasant.
Enjoyed visiting the area and seeing some of the
sights. It's a beautiful part of the country and
can only imagine how pretty those trails would be
with some sunshine and no fog.
Bethany was my crew and she was a trooper. She had
to stand around in the pouring rain and stand in
puddles for hours. I am very much appreciative for
all that she did for me. She's AWESOME!!!
Alex Nichols had a great race 5th overall and Justin
Ricks also did very well 18th overall. I'd say we
represented the area pretty darn good.
Going to take it easy for a couple of weeks. My next
race will be a local 10k on New Year's Day.
So I end the year with 4 marathons 1 50k and a 50
miler plus a bunch of shorter races. Not a bad year
at all. Look forward to 2013!

Bethany wrote a crew report. Hope you enjoy her take
on things...
Thursday we left for California with a lot of running
and rain gear. Good thing we had stuff that covered
both categories. My brother had been sending me emails
along the lines of “they are forecasting a ‘river of
rain.’ This could be epic.” He wasn’t kidding. Over
8 inches of rain fell on the north bay area from
Wednesday until Saturday morning. On Thursday evening,
after enjoying an, if not soggy, lovely walk around
the Mission district, we discovered that the race had
been rerouted. No more Dipsea stairs. Everything north
of Muir Beach was being cut out as the forecast for
the state forest land was even worse than the Headlands
forecast. The race organizers hustled to get the
reroute/course marking finished plus get out new course
guides for the racers/pacers/crew. One local runner
took a look at the new course and said ‘Oh, those steps
down to Pirates Cove are gonna be murder.’
Saturday morning, the alarm woke us at 2:40. Off to the
start line in the rain. The traffic direction was to
park in a mud pit. I told Brad that I was dropping him
at the shuttle and then I left for Tennessee Valley.
The new reroute made TV a ‘hub’ aid station as the
runners had to pass through 4 times before heading to
the finish. I was the first crew in the lot at 4:45. Another
car pulled in next to me and I looked over to find Denise
Ricks. Our Colorado support was gathering. The two of us
plotted methods for staying dry and how to get out of the
area as the spectator/aid station/crew traffic became
insane. The rain and wind got even crazier as we waited
for the runners to arrive. A car blocked me in. Oh boy,
I thought, I’d better go talk to them to see if I’m going
to be able to get out. It was still dark and I had no clue
who I was talking to. She was short with me as she unpacked
her things in the rain and their crew got ready. I would find
out later that I had exchanged terse words with Anna F. and
team Salamon as they had gotten their crew station ready.
Oops!
Out of the dark we heard “Runners!” Bobbing down the trail,
we could see the headlights coming. We prepared, as we
stood in a gush of water coming down the hillside, the
wind pelting us with heavy rain. First runner through
was flying… almost 10 minutes faster than last years’ time
at that aid station. Hot on his tail was Sage Canaday.
It was a joy just to watch the fastest ultrarunners compete
so fiercely and watch the carnage that the conditions would
wreak. Out of the dark we heard someone yelling “ALEX!” and
knew that Maddy Schmid was just across from us, crewing
Alex Nichols. Once Alex had flown through commenting
“Those guys are nuts!,” we got Maddy and Alex’s dad to come
over and join the contingent. Justin was next through for
our little team and he moved on. Brad was close on his heels
and we took a breath to wait for the next time. The 3 of
them stayed in that order but spreading out time wise for
the remainder of the race. The rain and wind continued for
the balance of the race. While I stood by myself (Denise
and Maddy had left for the finish line), Sage Canaday came
walking into the aid station, looking as bad as any runner
I’ve ever seen. He was shivering and covered from head to
toe with mud. I knew his day was over with only 5 miles left.
Rickey Gates came back to the Team Salamon crew station
as he had dropped after the first lap. It was a tough day out
there for anyone. But typical of Brad, everytime he came
through for help, he was focused on what he needed to do,
obvious that he was hurting. But at mile 41, it just didn’t
matter anymore. Out he went to the finish and I knew it was
in the bag. In the end, I watched him cross the finish line
at 7:00:05 in 35th overall place. Alex placed 5th and when
we asked him how it was out there , he said “It was World
War 3 out there!” Justin was 17th and seemed to feel good
the entire day. Pretty proud of our hometown boys. It was fun
despite the weather. I guess we lucked out as they cancelled
all of Sunday’s races. Will we be back for another round
of North Face adventure? Maybe. Just maybe.


mm2/251