Tuesday, June 7, 2011
recovery, recovery, recovery
This last week hasn't seen much of anything. I few runs and a few bike rides but thats about it. My left foot got royally hurt after the Sage Burner so I have been nursing that injury. My muscles feel good, and mentally I'm ready to train again. The foot is starting to feel better so hopefully this week, June 6-12 goes well. I will keep you posted.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
back at it
So the last few weeks have been less then ideal. Lets start from the beginning:
From May 15th tell the end of the month didn't see much training. During that two week period I was just doing lots of short little runs and some mountain bike rides. Nothing too special, or of any significance. For the first time in the last six years I was enjoying being a "regular" college kid. I was just kinda chilling and really enjoying waking up in the morning and just relaxing and not having to go out and train for hours on end. It was pretty nice. During this time I was a bit worried about my future prospect of Mont- Blanc but I was just kinda going with it. Then it was race time!
With an overall lack of milage in my legs I joined about 300 other runners at 7:30 am in Gunnison, Colorado for a mass start of a 50k and 25k race. I was in the 50k. The gun went and the pain came! Here is how it broke down:
The first two miles were a pretty significant climb and I hammered them attempting to warm my legs up. This worked out pretty well and then I just settled into an easy all day pace (or so I thought). The first few aid stations flew by and I was sitting happy around 25th place. I was rocking the climbs and just cruising on the flats and downhills. It was all great until the mile 22 aid station. This is when the Sage Burner hit back....hard (well not so much the race, more of a personal mistake). From like 22 to 23 my legs began to cramp beyond belief. Every muscle was cramping and my toes were curled below my feet. I attempted to slam 4 gels and try to recover. But by the time cramps subsided my muscles were just dead. By the mile 25 aid station I was walking...only. From then I pretty much walked the entire rest of the race and preceded to get pasted by like everyone. It was pretty humiliating and I was mentally shelled. To give you an idea of what happened, I hit the 22 mile aid station in just over 4 hours then it took me 3.30 hours to finish the remaining 9 miles. About 7.45 hours or "running" total. The mistake? Nutrition. I was never tired, it was just my muscles failing on me. I have thought about this race a lot and have come to realize this. Before the race I ate a banana and half of a bagel and during the race 6 gels. Thats about 800 calories consumed throughout an 8 hour run. Way to little. I'm fairly certain the cramps came from a lack of electrolights and the failing muscles were from a complete depletion of glycogen stores. Over the next few weeks I'm going to experiment with eating real solid food during runs.
Also I need to give Taylor Horowitz his due glory. Taylor came out to Gunnison with me with no intention of running. I twisted his arm and he signed up the night before. He has been hammering the mountain bike and the gym but not much training. Well about 30 min after me, Taylor crossed the 50k finish line (he also ran in new shoes)! I would have to say that he earned the bad ass of the day award.
On Sunday Taylor and I spun on the mountain bike and then headed back to Boulder. I followed that up with a trip to Boulder Sports Acupuncture and had a great session with Steven Rizzolo.
Since that Sunday I have been off my feet. I could hardly walk for days and every little task required a huge effort to accomplish. Today, Wednesday 1st, I got out for a little 20 min run. It felt good to be out "running" again. The muscles are good, its just the bottoms of my feet that are trashed.
Finally, I would like to thank all the wonderful people at the Sage Burner and especially Andrew Hyde for his support around mile 23. He made the race for a lot of people!
From May 15th tell the end of the month didn't see much training. During that two week period I was just doing lots of short little runs and some mountain bike rides. Nothing too special, or of any significance. For the first time in the last six years I was enjoying being a "regular" college kid. I was just kinda chilling and really enjoying waking up in the morning and just relaxing and not having to go out and train for hours on end. It was pretty nice. During this time I was a bit worried about my future prospect of Mont- Blanc but I was just kinda going with it. Then it was race time!
With an overall lack of milage in my legs I joined about 300 other runners at 7:30 am in Gunnison, Colorado for a mass start of a 50k and 25k race. I was in the 50k. The gun went and the pain came! Here is how it broke down:
The first two miles were a pretty significant climb and I hammered them attempting to warm my legs up. This worked out pretty well and then I just settled into an easy all day pace (or so I thought). The first few aid stations flew by and I was sitting happy around 25th place. I was rocking the climbs and just cruising on the flats and downhills. It was all great until the mile 22 aid station. This is when the Sage Burner hit back....hard (well not so much the race, more of a personal mistake). From like 22 to 23 my legs began to cramp beyond belief. Every muscle was cramping and my toes were curled below my feet. I attempted to slam 4 gels and try to recover. But by the time cramps subsided my muscles were just dead. By the mile 25 aid station I was walking...only. From then I pretty much walked the entire rest of the race and preceded to get pasted by like everyone. It was pretty humiliating and I was mentally shelled. To give you an idea of what happened, I hit the 22 mile aid station in just over 4 hours then it took me 3.30 hours to finish the remaining 9 miles. About 7.45 hours or "running" total. The mistake? Nutrition. I was never tired, it was just my muscles failing on me. I have thought about this race a lot and have come to realize this. Before the race I ate a banana and half of a bagel and during the race 6 gels. Thats about 800 calories consumed throughout an 8 hour run. Way to little. I'm fairly certain the cramps came from a lack of electrolights and the failing muscles were from a complete depletion of glycogen stores. Over the next few weeks I'm going to experiment with eating real solid food during runs.
Also I need to give Taylor Horowitz his due glory. Taylor came out to Gunnison with me with no intention of running. I twisted his arm and he signed up the night before. He has been hammering the mountain bike and the gym but not much training. Well about 30 min after me, Taylor crossed the 50k finish line (he also ran in new shoes)! I would have to say that he earned the bad ass of the day award.
On Sunday Taylor and I spun on the mountain bike and then headed back to Boulder. I followed that up with a trip to Boulder Sports Acupuncture and had a great session with Steven Rizzolo.
Since that Sunday I have been off my feet. I could hardly walk for days and every little task required a huge effort to accomplish. Today, Wednesday 1st, I got out for a little 20 min run. It felt good to be out "running" again. The muscles are good, its just the bottoms of my feet that are trashed.
Finally, I would like to thank all the wonderful people at the Sage Burner and especially Andrew Hyde for his support around mile 23. He made the race for a lot of people!
Monday, May 16, 2011
the slow return (May 8-15th)
This last week was a brief glimmer of my formal training. It wasn't as great as I had hoped but right now I'm just trying to get back on my feet. I spent a bit more time on the bike this week then usual just trying to log more volume. The nice thing about riding bikes is the low impact doesn't affect my usually sensitive ankles and knees. By riding a bit more I was able to do a little more volume then running alone would allow. The week broke down as follows:
Monday- 2.45 hour bike ride
Tuesday- 2.15 hours. Green Mountain and a loop down bear creek
Wednesday- off
Thursday- off
Friday- AM- 3.40 hours. Green, Bear, South Boulder, then back to Green. 5,500 vertical gain. Some snow at the tops of the peaks made for slow running and some hiking.
PM- 1 hour on the bike
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Ran up and down Eldora Ski area. Crap conditions. It was like 30 degrees and rain/ snow.
Pm- 30 min on the bike.
Sunday- do to some extraneous circumstances I didn't run or ride today.
Not a good week, but certainly not the best week. Right now I'm not 100% mentally with it. The last week has been a struggle but hopefully things will start looking up.
May 14th running:
Really!?
Monday- 2.45 hour bike ride
Tuesday- 2.15 hours. Green Mountain and a loop down bear creek
Wednesday- off
Thursday- off
Friday- AM- 3.40 hours. Green, Bear, South Boulder, then back to Green. 5,500 vertical gain. Some snow at the tops of the peaks made for slow running and some hiking.
PM- 1 hour on the bike
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Ran up and down Eldora Ski area. Crap conditions. It was like 30 degrees and rain/ snow.
Pm- 30 min on the bike.
Sunday- do to some extraneous circumstances I didn't run or ride today.
Not a good week, but certainly not the best week. Right now I'm not 100% mentally with it. The last week has been a struggle but hopefully things will start looking up.
May 14th running:
Really!?
Monday, May 9, 2011
Back at it
School is finally over! As I already mentioned, the last two weeks completely sucked. I'm on the slow rebound and starting to get the miles in again. This week was a fairly easy week. The goal was to gradually increase the milage and avoid injury. It broke down like this:
Monday (May 2nd)- 30 min just cruising.
Tuesday- 1.20 hours. Got a PR on Green today. 48.06 min. Good run and was pumped about the PR. I thought my fitness would be shot but this was a nice confidence booster.
Wednesday- 1.35 hours. Flagstaff and Green. Was hurting a bit after yesterday's effort so just took it easy today.
Thursday- Off- decided after two good days to give the legs a break. I have pushed it too hard too early in the past and suffered injury from it, so with this that in mind, I took the day off.
Friday- 1.20 hours on the bike. Cruised the road bike. I was out climbing Mangnolia Road as they called my name at graduation. A somber ride as I contemplated where I have been and where I am going. Alone with my thoughts, up in the mountains, is the perfect place to think.
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Green mountain. Started roughly 2 min farther away then usual and still hit the top in 50.45 min. That puts me at another sub 49 min summit. I was pleased with this run because I had a pounding headache the entire time and nearly turned around many times.
Sunday- 1.00 hours. Just cruised.
In total:
Run- 6.05
Bike- 1.20 hours
Total- 7.25 hours.
Not the most volume but a good start to the come back. I wish I had logged more hours but I needed to keep myself in check, with a PR and 3 summits on green I think we can say it was a good week.
I leave you with a little self portrait:
If you were to take a picture as I walked across the stage at CU Boulder's graduation I wouldn't be in it. This is my graduation picture (taken as they called my name).
Monday (May 2nd)- 30 min just cruising.
Tuesday- 1.20 hours. Got a PR on Green today. 48.06 min. Good run and was pumped about the PR. I thought my fitness would be shot but this was a nice confidence booster.
Wednesday- 1.35 hours. Flagstaff and Green. Was hurting a bit after yesterday's effort so just took it easy today.
Thursday- Off- decided after two good days to give the legs a break. I have pushed it too hard too early in the past and suffered injury from it, so with this that in mind, I took the day off.
Friday- 1.20 hours on the bike. Cruised the road bike. I was out climbing Mangnolia Road as they called my name at graduation. A somber ride as I contemplated where I have been and where I am going. Alone with my thoughts, up in the mountains, is the perfect place to think.
Saturday- 1.30 hours. Green mountain. Started roughly 2 min farther away then usual and still hit the top in 50.45 min. That puts me at another sub 49 min summit. I was pleased with this run because I had a pounding headache the entire time and nearly turned around many times.
Sunday- 1.00 hours. Just cruised.
In total:
Run- 6.05
Bike- 1.20 hours
Total- 7.25 hours.
Not the most volume but a good start to the come back. I wish I had logged more hours but I needed to keep myself in check, with a PR and 3 summits on green I think we can say it was a good week.
I leave you with a little self portrait:
If you were to take a picture as I walked across the stage at CU Boulder's graduation I wouldn't be in it. This is my graduation picture (taken as they called my name).
Monday, May 2, 2011
Inconsistent training, Consistent school
Back at it.
The last two weeks have been pretty much consistent school work. The week of April 17-23 marked an all time high week of training. Got in 16 hours...solid. Hit about 45 miles over the weekend alone. After August 24th everything went to hell. From the 24th on school dominated my life. Over the last two weeks I have got in around 6 hours of training. But, with the end of school comes to the rebirth of training. So I am now resting up and slowly rebuilding my fitness. There is still some lingering fatigue (from all the school work) but I can now dedicate a great deal of time to rest and rebuilding a solid base. Things are starting to look up, and I'm overly excited about finding new legs in preparation for the races to come.
On a different note, had a great graston treatment with Brent at Synch Chiropractic. He did a number on my back. The graston really helps loosen up all the tightness in my back. And yes, it hurts like hell.
The last two weeks have been pretty much consistent school work. The week of April 17-23 marked an all time high week of training. Got in 16 hours...solid. Hit about 45 miles over the weekend alone. After August 24th everything went to hell. From the 24th on school dominated my life. Over the last two weeks I have got in around 6 hours of training. But, with the end of school comes to the rebirth of training. So I am now resting up and slowly rebuilding my fitness. There is still some lingering fatigue (from all the school work) but I can now dedicate a great deal of time to rest and rebuilding a solid base. Things are starting to look up, and I'm overly excited about finding new legs in preparation for the races to come.
On a different note, had a great graston treatment with Brent at Synch Chiropractic. He did a number on my back. The graston really helps loosen up all the tightness in my back. And yes, it hurts like hell.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A week In review April 4th-10th
This week wasn't great. A few external factors got in the way of training this week, but the main two were school and what felt like a twinge of overtraining. As many of my friends, and ex-coaches know, I am a chronic "overtrainer". At one point I was so overtrained I had to take three weeks of the bike and averaged about 13-14 hours of sleep per day. I am determined to start listing to my body and letting it rest when it needs it. I'm getting better about listening to my body but I still push through pain and fatigue to get the hours in, and sometimes this backfires. With that is mind, I decided to take every other day off and see how I felt. The week broke down like this:
Monday- off
Tuesday- 2.05 hours. Took the long way up Green and the Saddle Rock trail down. This run sucked. It was during this run that I knew something was up. I posted 1.15 hours for the long way up Green- an all time slow. Terrible to say the least.
Wednesday- off
Thursday- A 2.00 hour and $67 mountain bike ride with Taylor Horowitz and Drew Hogg. This ride wasn't epic but it was certainly interesting. Way up in Walker Ranch, almost at the same time, Taylor took a nice little fall and I blew my chain to bites. So I ended up working on my tucking skills and bombed down the Link Trail and Canyon Road to Boulder sans chain. I still managed to beat Taylor and Drew down the Canyon but I feel like they gave me that victory! We followed that up with a trip to the bike store to get a new chain and then cruised campus and holla'ed at all the fine honeys! Nothing more sexy then professional bike rides with shaved legs- the girls knew what was up!
Friday-Off
Saturday- Am 2.20 hours. PM 30 min. Ran Shadow Canyon to South Boulder then Bear Peak. Bombed down Fern canyon and cruised the Mesa trail home. This was a fun and pretty fast run. That afternoon I just cruised the south Boulder roads.
Sunday- 2.30 hour mountain bike ride. After a night of bull riding at shooters I wasn't really feeling like a long run. So with a perfectly timed text from Taylor we hit good ol' Walker Ranch...again. This time no falls or mechanicals. A solid day.
Run-4.55 hours
Bike-4.30
Total-9.25 hours
This week saw a little more biking then normal. I have found that the bike is so much easier on the body and is a good way to get some training in while feeling overtrained. The rest proved beneficial and I'm starting to feel better again. Sometimes you have to cut the losses and take a week easy. Its always better to have a low milage week rather then to push through it and have to take more time off. Looking to hit 14 or 15 hours next week.
Monday- off
Tuesday- 2.05 hours. Took the long way up Green and the Saddle Rock trail down. This run sucked. It was during this run that I knew something was up. I posted 1.15 hours for the long way up Green- an all time slow. Terrible to say the least.
Wednesday- off
Thursday- A 2.00 hour and $67 mountain bike ride with Taylor Horowitz and Drew Hogg. This ride wasn't epic but it was certainly interesting. Way up in Walker Ranch, almost at the same time, Taylor took a nice little fall and I blew my chain to bites. So I ended up working on my tucking skills and bombed down the Link Trail and Canyon Road to Boulder sans chain. I still managed to beat Taylor and Drew down the Canyon but I feel like they gave me that victory! We followed that up with a trip to the bike store to get a new chain and then cruised campus and holla'ed at all the fine honeys! Nothing more sexy then professional bike rides with shaved legs- the girls knew what was up!
Friday-Off
Saturday- Am 2.20 hours. PM 30 min. Ran Shadow Canyon to South Boulder then Bear Peak. Bombed down Fern canyon and cruised the Mesa trail home. This was a fun and pretty fast run. That afternoon I just cruised the south Boulder roads.
Sunday- 2.30 hour mountain bike ride. After a night of bull riding at shooters I wasn't really feeling like a long run. So with a perfectly timed text from Taylor we hit good ol' Walker Ranch...again. This time no falls or mechanicals. A solid day.
Run-4.55 hours
Bike-4.30
Total-9.25 hours
This week saw a little more biking then normal. I have found that the bike is so much easier on the body and is a good way to get some training in while feeling overtrained. The rest proved beneficial and I'm starting to feel better again. Sometimes you have to cut the losses and take a week easy. Its always better to have a low milage week rather then to push through it and have to take more time off. Looking to hit 14 or 15 hours next week.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Snow, Regrets, Indulgence. A week in Review March 27- April 3rd
After my one week hiatus, this week proved to be pretty solid. The knee is feeling good and is ready for another week of training. This week consisted of the following:
Monday- 20 min. This was a short run to feel out the head cold and knee injury. Started feeling good but not 100%. That night I saw Brent and had the Graston. The knee instantly felt better.
Tuesday- Am 3.25 hours. Pm 35 min. This was a solid day of training. Got two laps on Green and one on Flag. Knee felt solid and it was great to be back in the mountains. That afternoon was an easy shake out followed by my "Belgium" recovery (10 min in the hot tub, ice cold shower, 10 min in steam room. Repeat 3 times) This is a great recovery. The hot tub and steam room open the blood vessels while the ice water constricts them. This helped shock the inflammation out and circulate the blood.
Wednesday- 1.15 hours. Just cruised around the flatirons and tried to stay out of the mountains. I need to spend more time on the flats.
Thursday- 30 min. Lesson learned! After a late night run on Wednesday I hardly ate anything for dinner and pretty much skipped breakfast. I estimated something like 1500 calories consumed over the last 24 hours. Due to a lack of calories I was forced to stop running way early today. Big mistake with my eating and a valuable lesson learned.
Friday- 2.00 hours mountain biking. Pulled out the mountain bike and ripped the trails. Gotta love bike driving!
Saturday- 4 hours. A long loop up green and then a lap on Flag. This run took the "long way" up and pretty much consisted of running super flag then cutting into the mountains. With a combination of trails and road I hit the top of super flag then cut east to Ranger trail and up. Took this loop up and down (with a few small loops in between) then ran flag. The last 30 min hurt! I'm pretty sure I was highly dehydrated at that point.
Sunday- 1.30 hours. Hit the rollers in South Boulder in the snow! Pure Blizzard...it was amazing! It cleared out all the douche bag college kids (event though they don't know about these trails- this area is my secret stash) and was epic! Was the first person on my super secret trail. This trail is off the side of a side trail and it totally epic! I only know 2 people who know about it (one of whom I showed) and it is a great run. For now the location of this trail is going to be my little secret! Awesome run! I wanted to go another 30 min or an hour but was utterly spent from Saturday's effort.
All in all:
Run- 11.30 hours
Bike- 2.00 hours
Total- 13.30 hours
This week was utter indulgence! It was so great doing these long runs and being back in the mountains. I look forward to this summer when I can train around 18-20 hours per week. Ideally I would like to hit 17 or 18 hours running and 2-3 hours on the bike. I found that my ideal training for cycling was between 18-24 hours per week and I am excited about getting up towards those hours again.
As many of you damn well better know today was the Ronde Van Vlaanderen! Today and next Sunday will always be two days of great joy and great sorrow in my life. Although today's run was amazing, it was overshadowed with sorrow. All my training on the bike, I mean all my training, was geared towards winning the Ronde and next week's Roubiax. All the way back to high school, on days I didn't want to train I did it because I wanted to win Roubaix. I didn't give a damn about any local races, I did them to turn pro and win these two races. These two days a year I usually get depressed and wonder what if. What if I hadn't chosen grad school and decided to continue to race bikes (I probably should have stayed on the bike). My biggest regret in life is not winning these two races. It's something I have to live with daily and I will be eternally sorrowful. Its hard to understand but those races are my life. Nothing, not even winning Mont-Blanc can compare to them. Is this healthy? Probably not. C'est la via.
I would like to take the time to congratulate my old friend Steven Van Vooren for his performance in the Ronde today! Way to go Steven, I will always cheer for you!
All regrets aside, I am still enjoying running and am excited to see how far I can push it. I can't say this is healthy but it's what I do. I would like to take the time to introduce you all to my old training method of "puke-er-vauls" Back in the day, I used to do 3x hill repeats until I either dry heaved or threw up. Not sane in the least but it showed me how hard and long I could endure. If you don't over tighten the screw you will never know how tight it can go.
The Ronde and Roubaix:
The two most beautiful things in the world. Period.
Monday- 20 min. This was a short run to feel out the head cold and knee injury. Started feeling good but not 100%. That night I saw Brent and had the Graston. The knee instantly felt better.
Tuesday- Am 3.25 hours. Pm 35 min. This was a solid day of training. Got two laps on Green and one on Flag. Knee felt solid and it was great to be back in the mountains. That afternoon was an easy shake out followed by my "Belgium" recovery (10 min in the hot tub, ice cold shower, 10 min in steam room. Repeat 3 times) This is a great recovery. The hot tub and steam room open the blood vessels while the ice water constricts them. This helped shock the inflammation out and circulate the blood.
Wednesday- 1.15 hours. Just cruised around the flatirons and tried to stay out of the mountains. I need to spend more time on the flats.
Thursday- 30 min. Lesson learned! After a late night run on Wednesday I hardly ate anything for dinner and pretty much skipped breakfast. I estimated something like 1500 calories consumed over the last 24 hours. Due to a lack of calories I was forced to stop running way early today. Big mistake with my eating and a valuable lesson learned.
Friday- 2.00 hours mountain biking. Pulled out the mountain bike and ripped the trails. Gotta love bike driving!
Saturday- 4 hours. A long loop up green and then a lap on Flag. This run took the "long way" up and pretty much consisted of running super flag then cutting into the mountains. With a combination of trails and road I hit the top of super flag then cut east to Ranger trail and up. Took this loop up and down (with a few small loops in between) then ran flag. The last 30 min hurt! I'm pretty sure I was highly dehydrated at that point.
Sunday- 1.30 hours. Hit the rollers in South Boulder in the snow! Pure Blizzard...it was amazing! It cleared out all the douche bag college kids (event though they don't know about these trails- this area is my secret stash) and was epic! Was the first person on my super secret trail. This trail is off the side of a side trail and it totally epic! I only know 2 people who know about it (one of whom I showed) and it is a great run. For now the location of this trail is going to be my little secret! Awesome run! I wanted to go another 30 min or an hour but was utterly spent from Saturday's effort.
All in all:
Run- 11.30 hours
Bike- 2.00 hours
Total- 13.30 hours
This week was utter indulgence! It was so great doing these long runs and being back in the mountains. I look forward to this summer when I can train around 18-20 hours per week. Ideally I would like to hit 17 or 18 hours running and 2-3 hours on the bike. I found that my ideal training for cycling was between 18-24 hours per week and I am excited about getting up towards those hours again.
As many of you damn well better know today was the Ronde Van Vlaanderen! Today and next Sunday will always be two days of great joy and great sorrow in my life. Although today's run was amazing, it was overshadowed with sorrow. All my training on the bike, I mean all my training, was geared towards winning the Ronde and next week's Roubiax. All the way back to high school, on days I didn't want to train I did it because I wanted to win Roubaix. I didn't give a damn about any local races, I did them to turn pro and win these two races. These two days a year I usually get depressed and wonder what if. What if I hadn't chosen grad school and decided to continue to race bikes (I probably should have stayed on the bike). My biggest regret in life is not winning these two races. It's something I have to live with daily and I will be eternally sorrowful. Its hard to understand but those races are my life. Nothing, not even winning Mont-Blanc can compare to them. Is this healthy? Probably not. C'est la via.
I would like to take the time to congratulate my old friend Steven Van Vooren for his performance in the Ronde today! Way to go Steven, I will always cheer for you!
All regrets aside, I am still enjoying running and am excited to see how far I can push it. I can't say this is healthy but it's what I do. I would like to take the time to introduce you all to my old training method of "puke-er-vauls" Back in the day, I used to do 3x hill repeats until I either dry heaved or threw up. Not sane in the least but it showed me how hard and long I could endure. If you don't over tighten the screw you will never know how tight it can go.
The Ronde and Roubaix:
The two most beautiful things in the world. Period.
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