Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile Trail Run

Week of 4/23 - 4/29


This week was clearly highlighted by the first true test of the year and to see if the training has paid off.  I would say it has paid off after the results at Collegiate Peaks.

The race was in Buena Vista, CO east of Collegiate Peaks that tower over BV.  The race was a 25 mile horseshoe type loop, see below.  The race started off relatively flat on some dirt and paved road, the first couple of miles were fast, probably a little faster than I wanted but I felt comfortable.  The first climb started around 2.5 miles and we quickly got up to 600 feet in about 3 miles, I was feeling really good and staying within myself.  Once we topped out around 8600 feet, we had a quick drop then a 3.5 mile climb from 8400 feet to little over 9200 feet.  The climb was still feeling good and I was checking my altimeter more than the miles to see where we were on the climb.  The runners had really stretched themselves out and I was basically alone at this point and it remained that way for a while, which I was happy with.  I was still feeling good staying on top of my nutrition and hydration.  The temp was still cold probably high 30s and my hands were really cold, despite having gloves on. Once we topped out on the first climb we descended on some perfect trail to around mile 14 to an aid station.  I filed up both handhelds and started the long 4 mile climb of almost 1000 feet to the top of Lenhardy Hill.  I ran 95% of this including the section through the beach sand type volley ball court section, which sucked.  Once we topped out on Lenhardy, it was a rapid descent of 7 miles down to the turnaround.  My stomach starting going south after mile 16 that was when I had my last gel and started to fire back some S-Caps to stabilize my stomach.  I took a quick stop behind some boulders dropped the shorts and did my business.  I felt better.  I continued the descent down to the turn around and hit the half way mark around 4:15 which I was happy with.  At the turn around I addressed stomach distress. I went back to what worked and took down an entire container of fresh mellon and kiwi.  I also took back a Peach Mango Vita Coco, awesome!  At this point I also dropped a handheld ran over to the turnaround so they could record my split and took back about 10 orange slices and took some as well.  I was dreading the 7 mile climb back to Lenhardy Hill but said to myself, "run it, push yourself and learn".  I was feeling really good and ran all of it until the last push.  I filled my water bottle took some bananas and started the long descent back down which I ran all of and was feeling really good.  Miles 36-40 were brutal it was another 4 mile climb that took a toll on everyone that I had to walk some run some walk some.  Miles 41 to 43 was back to running and then it was a power walk / trot the rest of the day.  The thought the counter-clockwise loop was significantly tougher than the clockwise loop.  The section that states "Loopy Loops"was long and frustrating. During all of this I stayed on water, S-Caps and banana.  The aid stations sucked, chips and pretzels.

I was pushing as hard as I could for under 9 hours but it wasn't happening, soft sand and just being at mile 45 of a race that I pushed hard on all day took its toll, but I am happy I pushed as hard as I did. I learned a lot about myself.

I think my training, diet and core strengthening have significantly helped with my overall ability as well as the Chris Cappellini school of Hard Knocks Ultra Training.

As a side note, thanks to my friend Walter, for driving me around Colorado and housing me, especially at the high elevation camp. Great to see Meg, Team Leader, new edition Brady and Rebel the soap licking dog.

25 mile loop, run clockwise then counter-clockwise

Elevation Profile

Here are some additional pictures from scouting the Leadville Aid Stations and the sights along the way.

May Queen Aid Station

Mount Massive, heading over to Fish Hatchery

Mount Hope, with Hope pass off to the left.  View from Twin Lakes

View of Northern Massif of Huron Peak from Winfield Aid Station.

Totals for the week:

65.66 miles of trail running

6,650 feet of vertical

11:25:10 time on feet

Pre-Week of Collegiate Peaks Trail Rum

Week of 4/16 - 4/22


After DRB things picked up where they had left off more training and core strength.  The legs did not really shake out until Wednesday after DRB, but that was acceptable as I was still able to run on Monday and Tuesday after DRB.

I also got in to two really good core strength sessions on Tuesday and Thursday.  Saturday was my quality run, 22.14 miles with 3528 vertical, two loops of the yellow and green of DRB course.  I ran every steep both up the Red Polka dot to the top of the ski (twice) and the back half of the course where it is either up or down.

The week concluded with a run with Chris (struggling to maintain his blog) of 11.34 miles at a respectable 8:21 pace after my prior days efforts.

Week ahead will be a quasi taper with runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (before my flight). Rest days will be Monday and Friday.  Collegiate Peaks Trail Race is Saturday April 28th, with Walter.  I am hoping to have a good race, dream race would be to break 10 hours.

Totals for the week:

63.29 miles of trail running
5,626 of vertical
9:21:54 time on feet

Wolf Pack

Week of 4/9 - 4-15

Another week is in the books in April a month that has had summer like temperatures with constant Fire Warnings posted by NOAA through the last two weeks.  Trail conditions in the Blue Hills Reservation have been super dry and with that slippery(?). Yes slippery, pine needles and leaves are brittle as can be and with everything so dry everything is loose.  It is noticeable during an ascent it is no big deal but have not noticed that in the past couple of years. 

Looking back on the week the first half was normal, except that there were no hill repeats (resting) due to the the TARC DRB 50k on Sunday 4/15.  This is a great event if you want grass roots.  Couple of notes on this "race", no entry fee, quasi self supported, course not marked but there is a course map.  Having the Reservation as my training grounds I know the course.  The most difficult part of the course is the Blue Sky Line Trail which has boulders, slick rock, loose rock, steep 20-30 foot drops and classic Northeast dagger rocks that stick out of the ground.  The course is mostly runnable but with a touch over 5k vertical in 32ish miles there are sections you end up power walking. 

Mark, Chris and I aka Wolf Pack ran together for 29 of the miles.  During those miles we stopped at each water stations 7 I believe in total to fill water bottles and take food when available.  With Mark and Chris only knowing 45-50% of the course I did the navigation during all of the course.  2 guys took off ahead of us while we stopped for nature breaks and to fill water bottles.  We hunted and drop one of the guys on the Sky Line Trail heading Northwest and would not hunt and drop the other until the backside of the yellow triangle heading to Observatory Road on a nice little climb.  We did have two tumbles (will not mention who) but not myself or Chris on the Blue Sky Line trail and Green section of the course.  Besides cuts, gashes and dirt nothing was broken or sticking out of the skin.  Besides the tumbles everything else went well, my stomach was having issues, nothing new with the heat but I was able to deal and push through.  During the race my energy levels were good I took 7 gels, 3 Vegan Cookies, 3 slices of oranges and 1 Clif Bar Mini.  Maybe too much gel, but I didn't have any "lows" during the race.  Hydration was good Hammer Fizz Tabs and S-Caps and I used two hand held bottles for a majority of the race except for the first 14 miles.

I definitely felt stronger than I did last year and did more running I believe than I did last year as my face was much faster and took close to 28 minutes off of my time from 2011.  Having Mark and Chris there definitely helped with pushing the pace.  I think Chris could have done it 20 minutes faster as he was still running some of the uphills towards the end that I was power walking.  As we approach some of the last hills Chris and I were together and descended the last final descent together, but Chris had another gear or two on the final lap around Hougtons Pond and I couldn't stay with him.  We finished in 1 minute increments Chris 5:30, myself 5:31 and Mark 5:32 (with chest cold).

                                                                              Wolf Pack

Totals for the week:

63.68 miles of trail running
6,853 vertical feet
10:38:45 time on feet

Looking ahead to the week of 4/16 going to train as normal hope to get a little over 65 miles in with two days of core strength and then look to have a quasi taper ahead of the first big test of the year on April 28th with Walter at CPTR.

Knocked Out

Week of 4/2 - 4/8


Had another really good week!  I sound like a broken record, AGAIN, but things continue to go well lets keep the fingers crossed.  Looking back on the week, I have to look at 10 hill repeats up Great Blue Ski with FMRTP

We gained over 3400 vertical in just over 7 miles, it was a really solid workout that will be visited again prior to CPTR.  I have kept up with core and stretching routines and I have seen the benefits.  I have also been focusing on post run nutrition for the long runs that transpire on the weekends and this has been helping with recover as well.  It is a lot of time to commitment it is definitely not all "just" running.

The Saturday long run was a really solid effort, FMRTP and I started with a 10 mile Ponk loop came back to cars to get some calories and handhelds.  I would say we pushed pretty hard during the day not much conversation during the run until, I was completely knocked out cold, after not ducking to go under and fallen tree across the trail.  ***Side note, I have ducked under this tree more times than one can count, I don't know if it was the focus of the day or what but I DEFINITELY DID NOT duck on Saturday.  I had a head gash, cuts on legs and shoulders.  From the view from behind it must have been interesting and I don't know how FMRTP kept a straight face.  I continued the run, bonked big time until I popped a gel and finished the run.  We had some good laughs after the run, references to "down goes Frazier", "thriller in manilla", etc etc.

Here is picture of post run treatment :-)

Totals for the week:

65.05 trail running miles
7,033 vertical feet
9:41:55 time on feet

In tribute to getting knocked out here it is old school.

Q1 - 2012 Results

Week of 3/26 - 4/1

Well I have to say I had a really great week of running and can say that I have learned alot thanks to my home boy over at Future Misery Remembers The Past.

This week can be summed up with the work "progress".  I have made a lot of progress this year, in diet, weight and learning to train and run better.  I had 61.76 miles of all trail running.  Had a really solid effor earlier in the week 3/26/2012 (8.71 miles on the Loon Mountain XC Ski trails) after coming off a 8+ hour day in the mountains in NH.  I also had a solid effort on the Blue Hills Access Road, did 4 repeats which I am largely starting to see the benefits.  The quality run for me was on Saturday, 35 degrees, rain, heavy rain, sleet, bitter ass cold and sleek trails for 20.12 miles in 2:56:17.  This might have been one of my best runs at Blue Hills.  I was with Future Misery Remember The Past, see link above and 5G.

Sunday 4/1/2012 I followed it up with a 10.68 mile run in 1:29:21 which was more of a "recovery" run which I felt really comfortable doing, legs did feel heavy but got much better around mile 6.

Totals for Q1 2012 are:

538.26 miles
72,497 vertical feet
105:08:28 time on feet.

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Totals for the week:

61.67 miles of all trail running
5,969 vertical feet
8 hours 54 minutes time on feet