Joghard

Wednesday

2012-02-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

I'm very intrigued...

Saturday snow video

2012-02-04T08:27:00.003-07:00

We had an 'official' 42" of snow according to a weather underground station near my house. Here's a brief video.

Friday the (snow) ball's rolling

2012-02-03T20:33:00.002-07:00

We've had over 3 feet of snow in the last 24 hours and it's still falling. My knees ached this morning so all I did was shovel. The snow was light enough to only be annoying, not a great workout but it'll do. Yesterday's hilly 25 miles gives me insight in to my fitness which motivates me to be better. The fact that I'm tired and achy after just 25 shows me that I have a lot of work to do before I reach an acceptable level of fitness heading in to the Leadman which starts in 22 weeks. I pretty much have to have the meat of my Leadville 100 run training done before the Leadman starts because after that the races come too quickly. And in order to run well at Leadville I need to be bike fit. If I'm tired after the 100 bike then that hurts my 100 run. When I look at a calendar with the races lined out it looks quite tricky to be able to pull off what I ~~want to~~ will do and the key lies in my killing it now. The ball is rolling and I feel ridiculously motivated, I just need to break this old man's body back in!

The Leadman schedule with the time between races:
June 30th- Leadville Marathon
2 weeks
July 14th- Silver Rush 50 mile mountain bike
4 weeks
August 11th- Leadville 100 bike
August 12th- Leadville 10k
5 days
August 18th- Leadville 100 run

Thursday 25 mile run

2012-02-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

The Garmin has it at 7500 feet of climbing, I doubt it. I ran from home, around Walker and then over to Eldorado Canyon and back. Walker was a sheet of ice for much of it and I wore the shoes below (I had originally planned on 20 miles of just roads) Busted my ass several times and had to walk slowly and carefully for quite a bit which cost me on the average. But I do need to get back in to the ultra mentality on the average paces. 10:30 pace for Leadville gets me a 17:30 finish time. Not that I can hold 10:30 pace... but in that context it doesn't totally suck.

Wednesday 0

2012-02-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 2:00am this morning feeling quite sick and completely exhausted. After the podcast I got all up in my jogging suit to get the planned 20 miles and ended up laying in the middle of the floor and falling asleep. I skipped the run in favor of rest. Tomorrow is still the other planned 20 miler.

Today I was asked to speak to a high school about my life, specifically about growing up in a small town in Kansas and ending up traveling around the world and being 'successful' at Ironman. I was talking with my wife about how I'll present it.
I dropped out of college and starting smoking, drinking, and doing (mild) drugs and traveled. I lived out of a back pack for years on beaches and boats in the Caribbean and did my first triathlon on a whim. Now I'm 40 earning ~17k a year. Not sure what the take away message is here or if I should even try to give one... stay in school or follow your passion? I'm fortunate to have learned to live on nothing and not want for material things, hardly a common thing when I look around. But I'm not sure I can inspire a bunch of teenagers to do the same. I'm truly happy and if I could go back and do it all over again the only thing I would change is that I would drop out of college sooner, or not even start- but I can't say that!? I guess I need to look at this no differently than if I were talking to my own sons. I am excited though to possibly inspire kids to run. The only other time I've tried was talking to students in Japan a couple of times about Ironman. I would love to be able to do a photo presentation too, I have piles of photos from the last 20 years. My baby face in the Amazon when I was 20. Standing in 3 feet of water with a 10 foot bull shark swimming by my legs. Bartending when I was 22 in the Virgin Islands with hair past my shoulders and a huge black eye that I got over an argument with a drug dealer about selling coke at my bar. Pictures from Venice, Japan, South America. Tons of seriously crazy memories. I have no doubt that a lot of my life would be fairly entertaining to a bunch of high school kids, but I have to draw the line somewhere... or do I?

Tuesday run/ bike

2012-01-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is not a contest. Just a day of exercising. Run 1:15 with 2600ft of climbing then a bike with 6000ft of climbing. 4:15 total with 8600ft vertical. I had to be home earlier than I had planned so the bike was shorter. Which turned out to be a good thing as the edge of my chamois started to chafe my junk.

My favorite way to experience the city.

Bike

Run

Monday 14 miles + lion tracks

2012-01-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

3430ft of climbing with average HR 146/ average pace 8:37. Solid.

I took a few pics of mountain lion tracks on the road. You can see my foot impression... it's not as deep as the lion's and I weigh ~147 pounds. Big cat.

Sunday

2012-01-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

I've been lame on posting. My motivation is dripping out of me and that leaves me not as interested in posting about it. This week was extremely strong for me, not any quality running but a big run week with Thursday and Friday getting 20 miles running and 2 long bikes that totaled over 11 hours and 17,000ft of climbing. My legs feel good but my fatigue is appropriately high. Next week is a run focus with just one long bike. I'll try to do a 'guess my elevation gain' contest for that day as I have a bunch of awesome Ultimate Direction gear waiting.

Run video

2012-01-23T15:18:00.001-07:00

Still in Washington

2012-01-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to leave yesterday but an ice storm wreaked havoc on flights and now we're here until Saturday.
Last night I mapped a long run of 26 miles and I thought if I felt good I would push it. I headed out in 32 degrees and a fairly hard rain. We had over 20" of snow here this week so the roads were just sloppy. By mile 9 I was starting to lose body heat to the point where I knew I was going to be done very soon. There was no chance of making it over 2:30 in this weather though, I felt the tinglings of hypothermia even after just 1:15!
Here's a brief video from the car after the run...

Sunday in pictures

2012-01-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

I got a bit hung up on the sail boat and took a bunch of different shots. My favorite without doubt is the first night pic of the tree...

I'm getting the hang of lighting concepts. I saw this tree with a single branch sticking out further than all the others, set the flash to a slow syncro and voila. This is straight off the camera.

The Harrison Hot Springs

Dinner with the family

We had over a foot of snow this weekend.

British Columbia

2012-01-15T10:59:00.003-07:00

Harrison Lake BC. Killer fishing and trail running.

Looking over the lake at Sasquatch Park

Saturday 13.5 miles in 1:28

2012-01-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

The day was/is sort of a fiasco. I opted to skip the race in favor of running up in the high country but we woke up to quite a bit of snow. Nearly a foot up on the trail I had planned to run. Also because I said I wasn't going to race, the day was planned around leaving for British Columbia earlier (which didn't happen) and I also wasn't going to make everyone wait in dumping snow/ rain while I raced. So I hit a railroad bed/ trail for a little volume. The footing was horrible because the only shoes I brought were my old and nearly smooth bottomed Nike Lunars. Every toe off had a 2" slip. I did feel spectacular though and was able to cruise joggingly at sub 6:30 pace.

Video

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have new video software with a new camera... the software completely sucks and the camera which is awesome records in .mov format which Windows movie maker won't accept. So even this short video took me about an hour to make.

Friday

2012-01-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Epic first day in the North Cascades. I couldn't help myself and ended up heading to Sauk Mountain leaving myself knackered which doesn't bode well for racing tomorrow. I have a bead on a jeep road that climbs ~3000ft in 5 miles before turning to trail for another 2000ft and this is more tempting than racing for tomorrow morning. If I do race I am leaning towards the 10k. I despise the 10k more than all other race distances because it has always been my weakness. I took tons of pictures and video but will maybe post more later.

Ultra nutrition

2012-01-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Am) 40:00 super easy jogging while listening to the recent podcast from Ben Greenfield at Endurance Planet. I asked a question regarding nutrition surrounding the Leadville 100 bike/ 10k/ 100 mile run which I'll run just 7 days apart. Fantastic response from the best in the biz.

Monday

2012-01-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

One of my better runs in a while. 8:30 pace with 2k climbing and an average HR of 141. That's solid for a run up here. I'm still on the fence about the 5k next Saturday. I think I'll have plenty of time to run it before we head to Canada but my training has gone so well that I don't feel the need to race. Don't worry... it makes sense to me.

Ben's trout cake.

2012-01-07T17:41:00.002-07:00

Making a 3d fish cake is harder than I expected. Kind of a hack job (imo) but Ben LOVED it.

Saturday Long run with tempo

2012-01-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

15 miles total. 3 mile warm-up/ 9 mile progression run (splits below)/ 3 mile cool-down. An awesome group showed up today, about 8 of us I think. I definitely want to keep the group sessions going! No time to write more... I got a cake to bake.

Track FAIL

2012-01-06T11:46:00.001-07:00

Wednesday's weakness is still lingering. I had a solid 1:40 run yesterday, I felt lethargic and basically jogged but my pace was surprisingly fast even though HR was riding high. Which is a good thing if you know how HR generally works. A super depressed HR with a high effort would have been worse and I would have ended the run. Today I did a 3 mile warm-up with 4 X 200 in 37". Then 1000 in 3:12 which felt good and then on the second one I bagged it at 400 feeling like ass.
Not a big deal here though. The only significance that I can sense is the fact that I'm smarter than in years past and bagged the session rather than forcing it to happening. I'm 26 weeks from the start of Leadman and I have doubled my run volume lately. So I'm fatigued with a ton of time on my hands. No rush.
And then simultaneously I'm not smarter. I did screw up on Tuesday and didn't eat enough post run plus I had too much coffee which always leaves me feeling depleted. Good to relearn these lessons now so I don't make the same mistakes when it counts. Funny how it's my job to tell people to not do that and then think I'm above it. Stupid.
Tomorrow is a group run at Davidson Mesa in Louisville starting at 7:00am. The Mesa is a 3 mile flat loop on cinder 'trail'. I would like to do a 3 mile warm-up then a 3 X 3 mile progression run. Then a 3 mile cool-down would give me my long run for the week.

Cake time!

2012-01-05T07:36:00.002-07:00

It's cake time again. I pretty much just wing it with the cakes and start mixing, baking and shaping and eventually something resembling the goal is achieved. For Ben's 5th birthday he asked for a cake like the fish he caught this summer on our 10 day camping trip when he caught 5 trout. This will be a fun one.
Below are my past attempts.

My first ever cake

Liv's 2nd birthday

Ben's 4th

My wife's 40th.

Wednesday bike fail

2012-01-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

This post is for Damie who thinks I never have bad days :) I had planned on a 10,000ft climbing day on the bike and felt good as I started. During the first big 1600ft climb my legs went to crap and I felt weak. On the second 1400ft climb I turned around just after starting the climb and came home. Bagged it at 1:30. I realized I was starving when I finished so I may have had a rare under fueled day. I can usually see these days coming but today it surprised me and in the interest of having solid back to back track/ tempo runs on Friday and Saturday I didn't force it today. I wasn't so weak that I couldn't have ridden the goal workout but it would have impacted more important training to come. So it was an unplanned easy recovery day. I think more often than not in instances like this an athlete is better off being safe and bagging one session to save two. Had I pushed through today then Friday and Saturday might not turn out as solid.

Tuesday 10 miles with a test

2012-01-03T08:23:00.001-07:00

10 miles in 1:16:45 with 2000ft of gain between 8200-9200ft altitude/ 7:40 pace/ Average HR 153.
I ran a 2.6 mile moderate (Zone 3 effort) time trial from 8300ft up to 9200ft altitude with an average HR of 163/ max HR 168 and 3.4 mmol blood lactate. This was considerably better than the last time I did this. Faster and lower lactate levels. I was also within 3:00 of my best time ever on this climb but with a max HR nearly 30 beats lower today.
I think my 5k in 2 weeks is not going to happen. It's a good thing I don't like racing.

Monday

2012-01-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

2011 review- Camped a lot. Fished a lot. Biked a ton and jogged some.

Today- 10 miles in 1:26 with 2000ft of vertical. Max HR 151/ avg HR 145. HR monitor is dusted off and will come back in to the picture from here on. 5k in two weeks which I feel quite ready for.

Podcast

2012-01-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

We'll be doing the ultrarunning podcast on Wednesday so if you have any questions regarding training, racing or anything else then you can ask them on the Endurance Planet Facebook page.

Saturday Track session

2011-12-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

We had a good group show up today for 5 X 1000 on the track. Rob Timko and his wife Laurie, Amy Schneider (the queen of cadence), Aaron Kennard (who looked strong) and then the usual suspects of GZ and Bob. The wind was brutal hitting maybe 30mph and sustained at 20mph, but I think it's good even if you're cussing it. Last week I ran this averaging 3:09 per 1000 and today I averaged 3:19 at a harder effort. My breathing was much better today at 5500ft than it was last week at sea level though.
I'm going to try to keep the group thing going every Saturday. Through ~March it will stay focused on shorter and faster work like the track or next Saturday's hill intervals, and then April- August will be focused on longer more moderate efforts like Walker Ranch time trials and long tempo. Any and all are welcome to join! Next Saturday is loosely planned as NCAR hill intervals starting probably around 7:00am or so.

Podcast

2011-12-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

New podcast up at Endurance Planet...
And Bob isn't as fast as I said. He only ran 13:05 not 12:04 for 100 miles.
Holidays are almost over so I'll get back on the blog soon. I'm not a multitasker.

Sunday 1 hour tempo run- 10.2 miles

2011-12-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

1 hour tempo run. 10.2 miles covered/ average pace 5:53. 1440+ft of (Garmin) elevation gain. I jogged a bit around the neighborhood until I felt good... then I got to it. Cd) 3 miles. I didn't measure the warm-up so I don't know what the total was today.

Saturday Track 5 X 1000

2011-12-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Track workout- 5 X 1000 in 3:07/ 3:10/ 3:08/ 3:08/ 3:09 on 1:00. I very nearly bailed on the session during the warm-up. I did 4 X 200 in 38" to feel the rhythm of the pace and felt like I was sprinting. So I called an audible and decided to run by feel only and not look at splits (my goal was 5 X 1000 in 3:12) and just run by effort. The rest intervals were all around 1:00, again by feel and only starting the next one when I felt somewhat recovered. I'm at near sea-level (like 800ft or something which is close enough for me to call sea level) and my breathing was horrible today. Not what I expected.

2 foot snow day

2011-12-22T05:20:00.001-07:00

We were supposed to be out of here by 5:00am... but first things first... my absolute favorite core workout!

My Christmas present opened early. A one-piece composite grain scoop. JV- this would be a perfect mold for a full carbon fiber shovel.

Done. I love this. When I was a kid I could make $100 on a day like this shoveling people's driveways. Now it's on to the neighbor's house.

2 feet and it's still dumping.

Wednesday 13 miles with fartlek

2011-12-21T11:57:00.001-07:00

13 miles in 1:21:57 with 1000ft of gain between 5600-5900ft altitude. I pretty much jogged the first 6.5, maybe MAF HR or a little easier. Then I ran 6.5 miles back doing (what felt like) 3:00 tempo/ 1:00 easier. I didn't look at my watch much and didn't time the intervals, went totally by feel. I went through the last 10k right at 36:00 feeling super comfy (over-all this was a fairly easy run) on bike paths and trails with crappy footing for ~50% of the time. Lots of snow and ice in the shade of the trees. It's coming together.

Tuesday

2011-12-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

Patrick '3 socks' Garcia drove up this morning to join me for an easy 13 miles (2500ft of vertical). We have a couple of inches of new snow and the morning was perfect for runnin'. 20 degrees but not a cloud in the sky. Thanks PJ.

Later today is a bike workout with a Vo2 max ladder: 4:00/ 3:30/ 3:00/ 2:30/ 2:00 followed by a TRX session.

Monday Podcast

2011-12-19T16:56:00.004-07:00

Is up at Enduranceplanet.com This week I demonstrate my ability to do math. 10 X 10 = 200. Right?

Saturday Track

2011-12-17T17:05:00.004-07:00

The workout 5 X 1000 (leaving on the 5:00) + 4 X 200
3:08 (5:02 pace)
3:14 (5:12 pace)
3:13
3:11
3:13
29"
30"
30"
30"
Blah workout for me. I couldn't get any turnover going on the Ks... but the 200s felt very good.

New pet

2011-12-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Track

2011-12-14T16:09:00.004-07:00

Bob met up with me to practice running. The session went:
2 X 1000 (3:14/ 3:11)
2 X 800 (2:30/ 2:30)
4 X 400 (73/ 72/ 71/ 68)
I ended with 5200m in ~16:11 (~5:00-5:01 pace). Below are the splits with a red dot next to the intervals, not too bad for an old man. Over-all just a moderately challenging effort and it was a blast to get back on the track. I love the track. But Bob, who has been running with me for about 4 years now, pointed out that I always love the training no matter what it is.

Podcast

2011-12-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

The new podcast is up at enduranceplanet...

Am) 11 miles MAF run.

TRX video

2011-12-11T18:10:00.001-07:00

Run specific TRX stuff. I feel like the total amateur that I am when I watch myself... but I'm getting it. My form isn't great (partly due to the run/ bike/ TRX session I did earlier and my legs were wasted... plus 3 Happy Camper IPAs which buzzed me hard.)
Here's an exercise that targets a few run specific muscle groups called the scorpion crunch thingy.

Saturday full moon jogging

2011-12-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

GZ and Stu came up to my house and we headed out for a longish run (I got 17 but GZ being the trooper he is headed out for more) at 4:00am under a brilliant full moon. No supplemental lighting necessary for much of the run. I was dying from the first mile and by mile ~12 my calves, soleus and IT bands we're tightening. The last long downhill was quite painful. By the end I was shot. I definitely was the weakest of the three. But we did get to watch the eclipse creep up and at 6:00am there was a definite 'bite' out of the moon. Pretty cool experience to run under an eclipsing full moon.

Friday run

2011-12-09T10:36:00.001-07:00

9 miles with 1800ft of verticality at 7:15 pace.
I suspected that I would feel good today. I have a fairly predictable delayed fatigued where it takes me about 48 hours to feel the effects of a hard run. So since yesterday was hard, I felt good today and tomorrow I should feel pretty fatigued. So today I didn't hold back but I also didn't really push. This was all maybe a Z3 effort or a relaxed tempo or an easy push or a moderately hard run... whatever you want to call it. With out a HR monitor it all becomes too vague to describe... but I would guess I averaged HR 155.

8 X 400

2011-12-08T12:32:00.001-07:00

GZ met up with me today to practice running. 8 X 400 on 400 jogging on a bike path in Arvada and each odd 400 had a very slight down grade to it. Just enough to make these fast which was the goal. Starting back in to this kind of work my legs feel uncoordinated so I need neuromuscular work over strength right now. I averaged 70" on these with my last 4 hitting 70"/69"/68"65". I also wanted adequate recovery to limit fatigue and allow the 400's to be fast. Coming from a track background this type of workout just does it for me. I love these sessions and definitely want to get back on the track soon, I miss it.

All. I. Can. teaser

2011-12-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

I've watched this a few times. The camera work and skiing blow my mind.
All.I.Can. Official Teaser from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

Wednesday

2011-12-07T17:53:00.001-07:00

Easy run day mainly just messing around. Tomorrow is 400's and I want to feel good. The moon is almost full, by Saturday it will be huge and with all the snow reflection I'm planning on a long run starting at around 3:30am again. It should easily be bright enough for minimal or zero lighting. If I'm going to see a mountain lion this run is the best shot. I'll do a video for the run for sure.
And thank you for the 100% positive feedback on the video stuff. The last few days have been hectic (for this laid back old man) but I definitely want to do more. One of my athletes requested a video of my "Rocky Shack" and I have several TRX/ strength things I want to shoot.
And this is how we roll in the mountains... 2" thick grilled smoked pork chops and IPA chilled in snow.

Tuesday TRX video

2011-12-06T19:25:00.001-07:00

TRX run specific exercise.
Mrs Prazak and I did our weekly podcast today and we had to cut some questions to keep it to a reasonable amount of time.
Dax... thanks for the header pic!
from

Mountain lion picture

2011-12-05T14:37:00.001-07:00

This was taken by the guy at the end of our street on November 7th... the mountain lion brought down a deer in his back yard. This is my neighborhood. Gives me the willies.

Monday

2011-12-05T11:59:00.001-07:00

It was -10 degrees when I got up this morning to shovel the drive. Cold enough that I started coughing once I took a breath and cold enough that my face froze. I like to think I'm tough and I know I'm usually stupid (I can show you over $1000 in medical bills from ER visits last year) but today neither of those traits came about. So I biked on the trainer for a little over an hour focused on MAF and ME (muscle endurance) and might get a TRX session in later.
No podcast today. Tomorrow.

Friday

2011-12-02T16:12:00.001-07:00

Today was a rest day of sorts. I got my TRX system yesterday (thank you mamasimmons!) which was a rest day too but I ended up playing around with the TRX for 45:00 which erases any sense of rest. Today was the same with a full upper body shredding. The good thing is that I'm not sore today which is a sign of how well, and effectively, I've been lifting as of late. I have my Swiss ball and weight shed, 200 pound log and 8# sledge with a proper beatin' tire.

Thanks for the feedback yesterday... today's video ain't mine but a video of maybe the sickest skiing I've ever witnessed (I got this from JV) Monster extreme drops off a 200 foot cornice is still cool, but this video just boggles my mind.

Feedback?

2011-12-01T17:50:00.001-07:00

Keep posting videos or not. Any suggestions on videos?

Thursday snow video

2011-12-01T09:31:00.001-07:00

Wednesday Tempo run

2011-11-30T12:30:00.001-07:00

15 miles in 1:42. Bob finished about 3:00 ahead of me. I was struggling on the first 8.5 miles, then once the tempo started I hung for maybe 2 miles before slipping off and just grinding to the end. We've gotten faster every week.

Here's a short video of the trail. Pretty poor footing for the most part and we gained 1900ft so it's not exactly a fast course.

Tuesday Bike video

2011-11-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

I figured out transitions but music is escaping me.

Monday video blog post

2011-11-28T10:36:00.001-07:00

This is total amateur but I enjoy doing this more than just typing a post. Next up is trying to insert transitions. The stats. 6 X 400 average 1:12. Garmin had the altitude at 8210 and ~50ft of climbing on the uphill 400's.

Saturday Run video blog post

2011-11-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Spoiler alert: I was 5:00 late.

Thanksgiving in pictures and video

2011-11-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

I was up at 3:30 to get all my exercising in. A jog and then a 4 hour bike with 8600ft of climbing. I shot a little video with my little Canon Elph... not bad really. Not sure how fast I was going here, maybe 45mph or so. Totally sketchy doing this with one hand on skinny tires but a damn fun adrenaline rush.

A flock of turkeys... on Thanksgiving of course!

My Merlin... I love this bike. I recently got some hand me down compact cranks which have been awesome up here. And the Campy group is growing on me. I might keep it.

8600ft of climbing in 42 miles

Long run/ tempo

2011-11-23T13:08:00.001-07:00

17.2 miles in 1:58/ 6:54 average pace. ~2000ft of climbing. Definitely not as good as last week although the average pace over-all was faster. Last week we took the first 8 much easier and the last 3 were super slow. This week we held a little more steady effort for the first 8 and our 2 mile cool-down was much faster. For me however, the 7 miles of tempo was a train wreck. We started at Lap 9 (below) which was a long uphill in to a headwind. Then at Lap 13 I exploded spectacularly. Still managed to just muscle my way to the finish at 6:15 pace but I was toasted. Bob however looked splendid and dandy and finished about 2:00 ahead. Awesome run still.

Leadman videos

2011-11-22T15:54:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of cool videos describing (dramatically) what my next race is... the Leadman.
I'm in the second video, the Leadman Sizzle Reel, at 49" they show me getting treated for head injuries... and then at 54" they show my right leg torn up.

Tuesday recovery bike

2011-11-22T11:44:00.001-07:00

Super easy spin this morning on my 10 mile/ 2000ft route in 53:00 with my HR average at 128. That's solid for that low a HR. Tomorrow is The Dirty Bismarck long tempo run. I'm definitely much more rested this week which means it's going to hurt more. If anyone is interested in joining us it will be 18 miles total on singletrack with miles ~7-15 hard at sub 6 pace. Leave a comment and I'll tell you where our super secret club house is and the secret password.
The weekly Endurance Planet podcast is up. Our longest yet I think at over an hour. Lots of great questions again!

This helps to sum up why I believe it is far better to have thin skin than thick skin.

Monday 10 mile tempo run

2011-11-21T10:59:00.001-07:00

Awesome run. 7:01 average pace and flirting with the sub 1:10 mark. This was all by feel and trying to never feel the need to ease up.

Sunday random crap

2011-11-20T20:28:00.001-07:00

A buddy of mine from another life forwarded me this... I'm Tim Luchinske under "Running by the Numbers".

I still have the record from a mile road race I ran in the Virgin Islands 14 years ago. 4:27 mile on a (as I remember) not flat course with turns. This was ~1 year after I quit smoking 2 packs a day and started to train for triathlon.

I finished the jog week shy of the ~~magical~~ arbitrary 100 miles choosing to bike rather than run yesterday. I started in a weak blizzard but got in solid vertical. Afterward was a hard squat and log flips session that left me dragging ass today (because I chose to under eat) on my 3rd longish run of the week. Mr Bob and I are going to try to make the long, hard and dirty (trail) tempo session that we did on Wednesday (I used to have a Black Wednesday bike run session that was always a 6 hour/ 120+ mile hard bike followed by a 1:00 hard run usually at ~6:00-6:10 pace... this is going to hopefully be reminiscent of that. Maybe renamed Dirty Wednesday) a regular thing so I want to go in this next week a tiny bit more fresh than last week.

Tomorrow's Endurance Planet podcast is lined up to be the biggest yet by far. Tons of great questions. I haven't been researching the answers much (outside of a chiropractic and blister one) and want to keep it off the top of my head and unrehearsed. It's pretty challenging talking off the cuff and answering somewhat tough questions. It's fun though and I appreciate the challenge. A magazine is doing an article on me and I responded to the question "What challenges have you faced?"...
It’s the challenge that motivates me and drives me to find new limits. We are formed by challenge like water battering a stone on a beach. It’s what makes us who we are so in that regard challenges are the essence of what I do and why I do this. I would say there aren’t any challenges, just
opportunities to be better.

Ultrarunner podcast

2011-11-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago I did a podcast with www.ultrarunnerpodcast.com and it's up here.
Note I bought the Nikes in 2008 not 1998... off by just a decade isn't bad for me. Very fun podcast with a couple of cool guys.

Thursday bike

2011-11-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

I definitely wanted a longer bike today, or at least 10,000ft of climbing, but after 3 hours in 30mph+ winds I bagged the ride. A few gusts moved me sideways with one putting me in the ditch. I am sort of on for a 100 mile run week but if the weekend weather is nice then I'll definitely ride over run.

This is from a weather underground station near my house.

Long tempo

2011-11-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

18 miles in 2:06 barely dipping under 7:00 pace. The over-all pace isn't reflective of the work. The first ~8 miles were relaxed and easy jogging, the last 3 were all cool-down at ~8:00 pace and the run was almost entirely on single track. Flat though which felt awkward. The Garmin has it at 1900ft. I knew Bob wanted to push if he felt good and I kept waiting for the wooden mallet to drop. And it did, uphill in to a head wind then the pace never let up but it did shift to mostly downhill. Lots of 5:30-5:40 pace from mile 8-13 and then it picked up even more. I found myself needing to drop back when we hit sub ~5:30 pace but I could ease up briefly to 6:00 pace and recover enough to bridge back up for a while. A few times from mile 13-15 I looked down and saw 5:10 pace and I just felt awkward like my body just wasn't in sync. Super solid effort on the day though and as I always preach the long tempo is the sh!t that kills. No other workout matches it for strength, both physically and mentally. The tenacity to hold on when you are suffering and still have 5 miles to go is extremely valuable. Short reps allow you to be strong briefly... but the long tempo demands much more. I'm super happy with today as it comes on the heels of a big week last week and also 16 and 14 mile runs in the last 2 days.

Tuesday 14 miles jogging

2011-11-15T09:55:00.002-07:00

14 miles in 1:52. 8:02 pace with 2880ft of climbing. I'm feeling awesome right now and the motivation is high.

Monday podcast

2011-11-14T16:25:00.002-07:00

16 miles of hilly jogging on the day and the Monday podcast is up. Keep the awesome questions coming guys!

Bedroom remodel in pics

2011-11-12T18:36:00.002-07:00

I got the splinter from hell that needed needle nose pliers to remove (see previous post) this way. I'm almost done with the boy's room. I removed an old 1950's steel window and put in a new one (that I got for free. All told this entire remodel cost me less than $600). All new dry-wall. New cork floor. And the bunk beds which are half done. For the bunk beds I hiked in to Arapaho National Forest behind my house and found dead pine beetle trees. Cut them down and stripped them. The results, to me, are awesome.

The new window. My first ever complete window replacement.

The pine beetle wood

The front of the bed needs finished plus another bed on top and the ceiling is getting clouds.

The cork floor complements the pine beetle wood I think.

Splinter from hell

2011-11-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

This is reminiscent of the time I stepped on a sewing needle and all that was left showing was the eye.

Friday long run in pics

2011-11-11T08:10:00.001-07:00

Up and out before 4am under an awesome full moon. A ton of pics didn't turn out. I need to learn some of the shutter speed programs on my camera.

Denver at 4:00am

Denver 2 hours later

I love this tree. It's in a bunch of past photos.

The Divide lit up

It wouldn't be a Lucho gallery with out a pointless tree photo.

Not sure why, but I like this shot.

HUGE dog print next to my foot print. Ya... I run barefoot in the snow.

10 point buck coming out of my driveway.

Thursday insomnia

2011-11-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 11:00pm. Struggled to get back to sleep until 1:00am. Today was painting and cutting trim for the boy's room. Next is the bunk beds/ cave bed made out of pine beetle logs.
Exercise today was an ass dragging slog of a run and then a strength focused bike with big gears up to 9400ft altitude.
Some pics from the day. We have a full moon tonight. If When I wake up at 1:00am again then it will be a long run in the moonlight tomorrow.

Monday podcast

2011-11-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

It was a long one today. Tons of great questions that were fun to answer (I like to talk), keep them coming. We're going to do a weekly podcast now rather than every two weeks.

Saturday Bike 5 hours/ 11,300ft of climbing.

2011-11-05T15:47:00.003-06:00

Damn I love elevation profiles. Particularly when you create it with muscle and sweat and your heart. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. 11359 feet of climbing today, but that is Garmin climbing so it's most likely a few thousand feet less. Study the profile. Learn it. Know it. Very soon I'll be doing a give-away contest where you have to guess my elevation. Well, you don't HAVE to.

Saturday home schooled

2011-11-05T09:10:00.000-06:00

This is my most recent acquisition...

I somehow ended up with a copy of 12 pages on altitude from this book. I did a post on altitude and HVR a few days ago and the follow up questions and comments made me realize that I need to learn a bit more. So my wife hunted this book down (it sells for $130 on Amazon... used) and got it from her library. It pretty much covers, in depth, every conceivable aspect of exercise and the human body. It hadn't been checked out for 5 years so I plan on keeping it for a while (unlike the Cars II DVD which has a waiting list of 123 people.) But, I do hope to do more posts like the one on altitude. Since I started triathlon in 1996 I feel that I've been diligent in ongoing education but I need to be more diligent now and get up to snuff with some details. IE: GZ asked a question in the HVR post regarding sodium bicarbonate loading and my answer to him was wrong.

And my shed is shedding cool ice shapes again... it reminds me of a wave crashing.

Thursday 11 miles

2011-11-03T08:53:00.001-06:00

I'm taking Ben to the doctor today for (possibly) strep throat. Which makes me think my throat has a tickle in it when I swallow. It doesn't. Sickness is something I'm lucky with and I'm convinced it's because of my diet and partly because I overdress when I exercise and often times end up burning hot. There is evidence that an artificially induced fever does cause the immune system to produce more white blood cells and the sweating cleanses the lymphatic system and it's been said that 20:00 in a sauna is equal to 24 hours of work by the kidneys in terms of waste removal. When you overdress you create a micro-climate next to your skin that gets uncomfortably hot, if you do it right. That's what I did today with a pair of thermal tights then a pair of double layer insulated wind pants over them. A killer thermal soft shell (thrift store for $7.99) with 2 layers of thermal base layers. Then a thick fleece hat with the jacket hood. Helly Hansen ski mittens with wool liners. It was 10 degrees when I started and I burned up!

The road. Ice and packed snow. Petzl MYO illumination = lame.

Arvada. It's always such an odd disparity to be way up (I was at ~8700ft) in the complete dead, human-less silence and look down to see lines of cars. People sitting in traffic.

The sea...

Wednesday snow day

2011-11-02T10:05:00.000-06:00

I woke up at 4 (slept in!) to the sound of snow plows which got me excited. ~10" of new snow and it's still coming down quite hard. I love it!!! The first thought in my head was another 3+ hour backwoods snowshoe, but my sweet Ben has the flu. He normally goes to school on Wednesday. Instead I got in a run before my wife headed to work and will do a bike trainer session later if Ben naps. I'll post the session after I make it up. I'm in sort of a crash cycle of training, look back at the past few workouts and they are all hard. I'm just seeing where my limits are at the moment and also pushing some super compensation. Then maybe do some 5k's this winter.

I wish my driveway was longer. I love shoveling snow.

Maybe too much. A drill and few sheet metal screws and it's as good as a new shovel that has been used for 3 years and is beat down.

Concentrating on not busting my ass

Not sure why I have a fascination with tree pics. I do though.

Altitude: mechanical limit of HVR... and Leadman

2011-11-01T11:37:00.007-06:00

I woke up super on edge this morning with the prospect of spending $736.00 on Leadman. That's close to a mortgage payment for us, or health insurance for my kids and I feel very selfish spending it. It's ON like that gorilla that throws barrels.

So I've been reading a fairly deep research paper on performance at altitude and the benefits of training at altitude and there's something called 'hypoxic ventilatory response' or HVR. The process of the diffusion of oxygen through the first step in the oxygen cascade is dependent on a pressure gradient to drive oxygen from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. At altitude the partial pressure of oxygen is lower than at sea level (the % oxygen content is also lower, at 8000ft there is 76% of the oxygen as sea level.) When we're exposed to altitude chemoreceptors in the carotid bodies sense this lower pressure and cause the respiratory center in our brain to increase our breath rate, or HVR. Now, from what I understand, SOME elite runners can reach their limit of HVR when running above Vo2 max at sea level, which means if they go to 8000ft altitude they have no 'reserve' to counter the lower PO2 (partial pressure of oxygen). Makes sense right? But in, lets call it genetically gifted athletes, they have a reserve of HVR that allows them to perform better at high altitude, they have a little bit more to give on their HVR. The athletes with no reserve are said to reach a 'mechanical limit' in HVR... and this caught my eye. A mechanical limit to the respiratory system, that's cool. So today I tried to see what a mechanical respiratory limit feels like and I think I found it. I found it at mile 4.9. I also found my mechanical leg limit at mile 9.88 when I blew (I had to sit down on the edge of the road for a few minutes)... dying at 9:45 mile pace maxed out (I averaged about 7:10 pace).

Nowhere in the research paper does it say what a mechanical respiratory limit FEELS like, they only say that there is one. Well now I know and I also know that I hit it at about HR 198. Ouch.
There's not a whole lot of useful 'data' in here (yet, I still need a deeper understanding of the science) and I'm not even certain that this demonstrated my HVR limit. I actually think it happens nearer VO2 max and would need to be measured with gas expiration. Any real physiologists that knows, please chime in. This was more just to see what it would feel like and to blow off some steam. And this was on my regular 10 mile route and no, I didn't PR (my best is 1:08 and today I ran a short 1:11). I went too hard too early and completely wilted at mile 9.5... it was still the most fun I've ever had on this run though.

Monday bike 4500ft gain with tempo work

2011-10-31T16:02:00.000-06:00

The roads up high are still icy in spots but I didn't crash. I thought I would once, but I didn't. 3 X 1200ft gain/ 2.5 mile long climbs to 9400ft altitude with the Powertap on my cross bike at a tempo effort. HR was depressed but wattage was right where it was the last time I did this right before Leadville, good sign since it's November. I've lost nothing from August.
Tomorrow I'll enter Leadman...

Sunday long run in pictures

2011-10-30T08:49:00.002-06:00

It was a balmy 30 degrees and a beautiful night/ morning.

The sun finally starting to come up.

30 miles away Broomfield is still asleep.

Epic shot. This guy was actually posing for me I think.

Random tree shots

My shed. We've had some wind

I'm wondering if the icicles will reach the shed.

Saturday hardest bike of the year

2011-10-29T11:08:00.001-06:00

Am) 27 degrees starting on my cross bike. The roads weren't predictable enough for the session I wanted, the big climbs still have sketchy ice and snow patches. So I cruised for an hour and stuck to the dry, low (8000ft altitude) roads. Then indoors to the trainer...

One from my 2000 archives when I rode 4:50 at Kona. Back then I was at sea level in Seattle, today was my living room at 8200ft altitude and 11 years older.
Wu) 10:00
3 X 30" max effort on 30" rest.
5:00 best effort with cadence 90 revs.
1:00 easy high cadence.
5:00 best effort again.
1:00 rest.
5:00 best effort (light headed at the end, max HR 178).
1:00 rest.
3 X 1:00 wall-sits (minus the wall) on 30" rest. These were excruciating!
1:00 spin easy.
5 X 1:00 maximum effort on 30" rest. Completely dysfunctional on the last rep. Seeing stars and if I had had anything in my stomach it would have come back up. That one was for you Art;)
Cd) 5:00

This was brutally difficult and I don't remember a single session this past year nearly as hard. It has a lot to do with motivation, my old Ironman burning gut motivation is coming back to me for Leadman. The difference between then and now however is that I'm ten times wiser.

I just got asked to write an e-book... if I did would anyone buy it?

Friday hill intervals work in pictures

2011-10-28T08:36:00.003-06:00

Max effort hill intervals. 6 X 30"-40" maximum effort intervals on full recovery (the key to the session). The goal for this was increasing hill running power. I ran these on Inspiration Road which has ~20% grades at 8400ft altitude. Each interval was at 100% maximum effort, no holding back even a tiny bit. My HR was peaking between 171 (the lowest) and 182 (the highest) and my HR would get below 130 in less than 1:30 of rest.

Warming up

My neighborhood before the sun

Inspiration Road

The start- HR 122

The end- 33 seconds later HR 175

Oh... those hurt!

The sun peaking over my 4 Crosses climb

Wednesday 3 hour snowshoe in pictures

2011-10-26T15:37:00.004-06:00

About 3 hours. I left at close to 11:00am and walked back in at 2:00. This was 50% backwoods off trail and 50% jeep roads up in Arapaho National Forest. Over a foot of snow... exhausting.

Picasso?

Big animal tracks. I'm about 99% sure it was a small puma or a lynx or bobcat and since it was snowing fairly hard and the tracks were not buried, I would guess it passed by less that 15:00 before me. And since I was following... I went through there.

This looked cooler in person

Big cat tracks...here he jumped about 8 feet. I followed the tracks for quite a while. No belly drag marks in ~12" of snow.

1000ft climb

Looking down at where I went off the jeep road in to Arapaho National Forest

Two sets of tracks. Mine from 3 hours before turn left off the jeep track and mine again finishing the loop

A balmy 20 at the finish

Response to yesterday's podcast...

2011-10-25T11:43:00.000-06:00

This comes from Art in an e-mail. I'm posting it because everything he says I agree with and it adds to my podcast answers. Although this is cycling specific there are some good concepts. I used to add car tire balance weights to my bicycle rims to increase rotational weight. I also would hose clamp a 3 pound dive weight to my seatpost.

My top pro rider uses a 50 lb weight vest to run stairs (two at a time) and also to hop them....100 feet verticle in about 35-37 sec's for running....he can hop 'em as fast as I can fast walk them....by the time he gets to the top he almost has the dry heaves.....he can do 6 of those babies before he gets light headed and wants to puke....all his workouts are based on my ancient ones I used to do back in the early 80's....he has also ridden back and forth to his work site, about 2 1/2 hours (one way) while wearing a 50 lb backpack....

When I ride with extra weight I use a fanny pack that holds 4 small water bottles and put two bottles on the bike itself....in addition I add a camelbak 72-oz to my back....I do this a lot at Leadville during the summer when I'm leading rides out of the local bike shop there....

The big mistake that many athletes make with gels is that they just don't realize how much extra water needs to be ingested with the gel so their liquid and cal intake gets messed up, and their intestinal tracts are playing see-saw with trying to regulate cell water content....that ol' stomach totally shuts down for a lot of weekend warriors when their VO2max shoots above 65% 'cause they don't train hard enough and they try to eat solid food....long chain carbs, electrolytes, and water mixed at the same ratio and ingested at specific intervals throughout the race gets those "joe's " to the finish....

I've also found that the "sweet spot" while running changes with the specificity of training in long distance runners and with a change in their body weight but not with a change in their leg strength....the "sweet spot" is also more reactive to eccentric vs. concentric contractions with cross country runners vs. track runners.

Monday

2011-10-24T17:13:00.003-06:00

I did podcast #2 for Endurance Planet today. It's already up and running. 8 solid questions with a little minimalist shoe talk which is probably going to get me in to trouble. I feel pressed when answering the questions and I don't think I convey my thoughts perfectly. I don't think quickly on my feet. I also talk too much about myself rather than answering the question. Rookie.
We're supposed to get 12 inches of snow tomorrow with another 6 on Wednesday!!! Finally! I'm super excited for some weather to make things interesting.

Sunday long run in the neighborhood in pics

2011-10-23T11:02:00.000-06:00

I didn't carry my handgun for this run unlike most "stupid yankees" who "are obsessed with guns." Sweet comments from someone on yesterday's post which originally was about a handgun I want.
I ran from home today with a weighted pack. 4 bags of sand and a liter of water got me to ~10 pounds. For Leadville next year I need to be accustomed to the weight, not that I'll carry 10 pounds in the race though.

Heading up Crescent Mountain. About 900ft of gain in the first mile.

My house is just left of center in this pic

Starr Peak to the left

Pikes Peak and the front range foothills

Looking down my canyon. Not hard to find hills here.

My neighborhood

Blue Mountain. I did a point to point "run" up this from my house a couple years ago. Since then I've found trails to the top. This is in the Coal Creek (or Jeffco) Mountain Park.

Saturday remodel in pics

2011-10-22T15:29:00.002-06:00

My modem fried yesterday and I was with out that thingy that brings the pictures and words to the TV screen thing. I was quite debilitated but also quite liberated. I slept 11 hours last night.
A few pics of the new bedroom...

Cork flooring

The boys seeing if reading works in the new room

My studious 4 year old

I replaced most of the studs in the 60 year old walls, new cork floor (which I love), a new energy efficient window, new drywall and beefed up insulation. I got the window for free so I saved maybe ~$6000 doing this myself. I also rewired the outlets.

Thursday nada

2011-10-20T16:16:00.002-06:00

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again
Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

The day (bedroom remodel) got away from me. I decided to put another coat of plaster on the drywall and then I finished trimming the new window. Then I primed the entire room. NOW it's on to the floor... maybe.
I realized after my podcast with ultrarunnerpodcast.com that I totally misspoke at one point. The discussion was on beer and somehow a question as to what triathletes drink, or something like that, came up. I said triathletes are more 'snooty' and they prefer mixed drinks. The word I was trying to think of was 'refined'. Not sure why I said snooty. Just a preemptive clarification... people who know me know I'm really a triathlete that doesn't swim.
I have $900 in my checking account ready for Leadman registration. I saved a couple hundred more expecting the entry fee to go up. That's what it does right? I remember my first Ironman in Kona I think I paid $250... now it's $650. 5k's used to $10.00. I even remember buying a pack of smokes for $1.50. Errr, never mind.

Update and Leadman thoughts

2011-10-19T17:52:00.001-06:00

I start to lay the cork flooring tomorrow and then I'll be done with the remodel. Bob came up and we ran 8 miles easy and chatting with 1500ft of climbing. Tomorrow I'm debating between running up and over Rollins Pass on the Continental Divide or doing a ~8k climb day on the bike. With Leadman so far out I think biking is best right now. Bob called me a hybrid athlete today... I like it. Not sure I have been this fit in October in a couple years. My strength is there, my run is solid and my biking is bad ass.
And Leadman entry opens in 13 days. I had originally planned on waiting until January to enter but there's little doubt where I want to place my energy next year, it's all I can think about. And with that I have become extremely motivated to give everything to the 100 run, sandbagging the 100 bike and going super easy and just dipping under 9:00. An 18:00 at the 100 run will put the Leadman record WAY out there, so that will be the goal. I'm super motivated right now which is dangerous... I need snow to distract me with back country skiing for a while.
And while waiting at Starbucks for an athlete of mine, I doodled this. It's a rough draft of how I'll approach Leadman.

Podcast

2011-10-16T19:20:00.000-06:00

Endurance Planet has my podcast up. It's been years since I have heard myself speak and I sound as dorky as ever. But I give a fairly long recap of my athletic life since 1996.

My first podcast

2011-10-15T14:30:00.000-06:00

I've been asked to do a weekly podcast for Endurance Planet. You can ask a question on their facebook page and then I'll answer them in the podcast. I'm pretty psyched for this because I am a much better talker than a typer. So by next Monday if you have any questions for me ask away!

Friday stuff and junk and crap and things.

2011-10-14T22:08:00.006-06:00

I finished the drywall in the spare bedroom tonight. Hanging drywall is tough by yourself. You start the first wall piece against the ceiling running length wise so you have to pin a 50 pound sheet against the wall, line it up perfectly, and then magically shoot a screw with one hand. Good stuff. No serious injuries to report which makes it a successful day. Next up is finishing the plaster and then laying the flooring. Then a platform bed with Ben's bed underneath 'like a cave'. I want to do chicken wire on the outside covered in paper mache painted to look like stone. That's what he wants anyway... and I'm always a sucker for for the loves of my life.
The new i-phone looks pretty awesome. I've only gotten to play around with it after Ben went to bed last night. He loves it and I had to have him show me how to get to Angry Birds. He also figured out how to use the camera and I heard him flipping through i-tunes earlier. This is a good thing to me. Rather than have to hang drywall I would prefer he used his head.
Last night the podcast was cancelled a few minutes in due to a crappy phone connection. And the weekly podcast with Endurance Planet is set up and we may give it a go next week. Ben Greenfield will ask people to "Ask an ultrarunner" on facebook. You post your questions and then we go over them during the podcast. Could be pretty fun.

Tomorrow GZ runs his first 100. I'm heading down after my wife comes home from work to maybe catch a lap or two with the digitally challenged old man.

And here's a little Leadman quote I found.
In 1999 Scott Hirst came to Leadville on a mission; in a blistering 30:03 he completed both 100 events with a 21:36 run and an 8:27 bike, simply amazing. Humm, if someone could equal Scott’s times would it be
possible to break the 40 hour barrier for the series? Here’s one way:
Mara+SR+100MTB+10K+100RUN
4:40 + 4:35 + 8:30 + :45 + 21:30 = 40:00

Apparently no one has ever broken 30:00 for the combined Leadville 100 bike and run. Granted mine were a year apart but I combined a 27:5x. A week apart next year? Something to shoot for.

And this is from Mr Beth Walsh...

Quick update

2011-10-12T18:29:00.002-06:00

I'm still here. Just busy doing a full remodel of our spare bedroom in prep for moving the boys in to it. Our house was built in 1951 and it has issues. I pinched the tip of my finger off and it lit my world up, stars and endorphins and I was almost high from it. When I was roofing in the Virgin Islands I hit my thumb with a hammer and the pressure and swelling under my thumb nail built up for two days... on the third, I hit it again and my thumb exploded like a grape and I remember tears squirting out of my eyes. This was close today. I had two ER visits this year... so some gauze, tape and a glove will prevent another. Really really really intense pain is like a drug. A really painful one.
I have a write up on my athletes coming. I'm behind on this.
Trainingpeaks is going downhill at the same rate that they are trying hard to get better. It was perfect a couple of years ago. Simple and very effective. Now it's just tedious and complicated.
I should be getting my (free) i-phone in the next couple days. No cellular plan, I hate cell phones, but I will be far more mobile with just the wifi thingy. Plus it will have Angry Birds.
Tomorrow is my podcast with ultrarunnerpodcast.com
And hopefully I will be doing a weekly podcast with Ben Greenfield at Endurance Plant.
I've never listened to a single podcast and I'm not sure what it/they is/are. I think it's for people who are bored at work. Like my blog.

Hawaii Ironman snow day

2011-10-08T08:30:00.001-06:00

We have 3" of new snow and it's still coming down, I'm psyched! A friend of mine is borrowing me an AT ski (randonee) set-up to try out. This means I can ski anywhere that I can run up here. I suck on the downhills with cross country skis but this set-up uses alpine like boots with a lockable heel which is what I'm used to. I'm excited to expand to another sport. Killian Jornet does this over the winters, can't be a bad thing then.

And today is Ironman Hawaii.

Ultimate Direction video shoot

2011-10-05T17:23:00.001-06:00

The Ultimate Direction video shoot lasted 8 hours. And it was a blast! TONS of video shot with gazillion dollar (to me) equipment in an awesome location by awesome photographers. The interview lasted over an hour and Eric Larsen asked some killer questions that really challenged me. From fear and my childhood to 'my legacy' and my ego. He had some great ones but coming from someone with his polar expedition bad-assedness I should expect that. Total blast. I have no idea when the video will be done but I will get all the raw footage for myself, which will include my off camera remarks which can't be shown on a family blog.

It's THAT week again...

2011-10-03T16:55:00.000-06:00

October... the week before Kona and I'm already pissy and on edge and keyed up. I love this week... too much! It will only get worse as the week goes on. And my athletes racing Kona only compound the stress... but that's a good thing. Michelle and Josh are both in the shapes of their lives and I am extremely nervous and anxious for them. Saturday will be ~10 hours straight in front of the computer as the online coverage of Ironman Hawaii is amazing.

Sunday week review

2011-10-02T19:00:00.001-06:00

The week was 'meh'. Not great but definitely adequate for October and no race plans on the horizon. This coming week has a few things lined up for me though.
A Tuesday podcast for an ultrarunning site. I'm afraid I will be a disappointment as I'm not an ultrarunner.
And Wednesday is a video shoot for Ultimate Direction. One of the guys behind the shoot is famed polar explorer Eric Larsen. I have a huge amount of respect for who he is and what he has done. As a closet Everest and mountaineering fan he is one of the very few people in the world who I look at and think 'balls'. I have very little fear of the world and the things in it, but when it comes to shit like K2 and Everest I get nervous. He loves MY story so I am flattered and nervous.
New territory for me this week. I don't deserve this attention but if they want it then I'll give them classic Lucho... and the people who really know me are at this moment cringing.

Saturday bike in pictures

2011-10-01T08:17:00.001-06:00

Cross bike

Cross dressed

I'm dorking out on the self shots. GZ watched me 'surf' down this hill holding back the double jogger.

Looking down at my hood

Looking through Eldorado Cyn, one of my favorite views on this route

Green... Bear

Pretty typical climb.This is about a ~15% grade at times and about 1.5 miles long

Dork

The top of Starr Peak and the American Tower antenna building

Starr Peak and Sheepshead

Looking down a descent (all told this is a 12 mile drop from 9000ft down to 5500ft) with Green and Bear in the background. Tons of super tight switchbacks and 50mph straights. A shot of adrenaline is a hell of a way to wake up in the morning.

EC

2011-09-30T21:02:00.000-06:00

Fantastic graphic from Endurance Conspiracy... if you have to ask then don't bother. Kona, where my heart still is, coming next week.

Friday run

2011-09-30T07:50:00.001-06:00

Super easy recovery jogging.

Self portrait. The hill just over my head is my 4 Crosses climb (900ft vertical in .75 miles)

Green and Bear it

Thursday single speed bike

2011-09-29T16:58:00.002-06:00

Busted out the single speed today and got in 2000ft of climbing. Brutal.
And I counted my run mileage total so far for the year- 1193 miles since January 1... or about 31 miles a week average.
Ben wants to be a vampire dragon for Halloween... anyone?

Wednesday both big buckles and the day in pictures

2011-09-28T15:46:00.002-06:00

My buckle from the Leadville 100 bike arrived today.

Pretty lame on the photos today. I fished the North Fork of the South Platte out near Bailey

Monday- cancer, a serial killer, Mt. Everest, my rod and my ego.

2011-09-26T21:46:00.005-06:00

This coming Saturday I'm going to a party thrown by our close friends Mary Anne and Drew. Of all my friends they are the ones I invited to the cabin for my 40th birthday last month. The party is to celebrate friends and life before she goes in to have a double mastectomy next week to remove both breasts as she was diagnosed with cancer last month. This will mark the beginning of a long haul for her, her husband, and their 2 and 4 year old daughters. In the words of JP... fuck cancer.

No runnin' today. Instead we drove home from Mizzeruh... 11 hours. But books on disc freaking rock and pass the time. In the 22 hour round trip we listened to "High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed" which gives a behind the scenes look at some of the underhanded, greedy, and evil things that happen on the mountain. After listening to it I've lost a certain amount of respect for many of the people who summit, or are part of the crews that summit, the mountain. When people spend ~$60,000 and months at 20k+ altitude... many turn demonic it seems.
We also listened to the biography "In With The Devil" about serial killer Larry Hall who killed (possibly) up to 40 women. Crazy story that makes me wish I had pursued a career in law.... or at least was in the right place at the right time in 1993 with a handgun or a dull knife. Larry Hall is a real piece of shit.

I was asked for my 40th birthday if I wanted a gift certificate to a running or cycling store and I said I would rather have one to a Cabelas or Bass Pro... so this weekend I was at a Cabelas and found a massively discounted fly rod and along with the gift certificate got it for almost nothing...

It's a 5 piece, 9'/ 5 weight rod which is going to be perfect for back country packing or...

possibly running/ biking to a river or lake. It fits acceptably in to my hydration pack.

And it looks like the video of ME is going to happen. Ultimate Direction is setting up the video shoot and you all get to glimpse my life and where I live it. And I have also been asked to do a podcast for an ultra running site. In truth I don't understand this attention. I'm not an ultra runner and honestly... I'm not even a runner. We'll see how it goes though.

Friday 9 mile progression run

2011-09-23T09:43:00.000-06:00

9 miles in 55:31/ 6:10 pace. The first mile went in ~7:30 then I slowly increased pace finishing with the last 3 miles dropping from 5:50 down to 5:30 pace. The effort/ pace felt awkward more than hard. My stride definitely smoothed out and felt relaxed between 6:00-6:15 pace which is probably where my marathon fitness is right now. I'm in Missouri and this was on a rolling course, definitely not flat... but holy oxygen!