Yonder Mountain Trail Runner

Resistance Training

2012-02-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Who needs a gym? Yes, it finally snowed in Fort Collins (and it's still coming down).

Foothills Trail along Horsetooth Reservoir

January Summary

2012-01-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

The numbers because I've got them.

232 miles with 49131 feet of vertical (9.3 miles)

Trail (15 runs) 219 miles, 41866 feet vertical, 44 hours
Treadmill (3) 13 miles, 7265 feet vertical, 3 hours
Weightlift (5), 4 hours
Road (0)
Track (0)
Rest Days (13)

51 Total Hours

So I pretty much just ran trails and did nothing else this month. I'm really okay with that since it is what I like to do most. I do want to get back to the gym more. I just don't like that place in January with the New Year's invasion. It should get back to normal soon.

I've managed (am still managing) to get through a broken toe since New Year's Day. I also survived another mountain lion encounter. So I should just feel lucky that I can still lace them up and hit the trail again for at least another morning.

Ponderous Posterior 2012

2012-01-17T00:14:00.000-08:00

Believe me, there are many days that I realize how lucky I am to live where I do, and this was certainly one of those days. I completed the Fat Ass Double for the second straight year on Saturday. After slogging through my hometown Chubby Cheeks 50K in December, I again made the trip south to the Pikes Peak area for the 2nd annual Ponderous Posterior 50K. At least this time I wasn't the lone Fort Collins rep as Mike made the trip down with me. We soon discovered our two local movie stars also awaiting the 8am start wave from JT's house, making us 4 strong this year.

In Hardrock fashion, we ran a clockwise loop this year (counterclockwise last year), and the course took on the nice additions of a Red Mountain summit and a trip up the famous Incline (my first time). Speaking of Hardrock, and running with so many already in the 2012 race, it was suggested to me that I only needed to break four legs to secure my spot. Well I felt that wouldn't really be in the spirit of a jovial Fat Ass event, so I am still #4 on the wait list. Although, I do think Pedatella broke his hand.

We took off at 8am sharp and I was quickly down to my t-shirt on this gorgeous day. This year we started with a run through Red Rock Canyon before hooking up with the Intemann Trail (where I ran some bonus miles last year). The rolling singletrack through here made for a nice conversational pace running along with Mike, Eric, and catching up with Bremner and his dog (until the dog took off after a deer). Ryan and I reminisced the Black Hills 100. I also recognized several other folks who made it up to Chubby Cheeks. They were all commenting how our Fort Collins course was much tougher. Yeah, we had a lot of snow and these conversations took place before the Incline. Soon (9 miles in) we were making a left turn for our first big climb of the day up Red Mountain.

Ryan, Jeremiah, and Eric approaching the Red Mountain summit.

Mike proudly wearing his early battle wound leaving Red Mountain.

Seeing the lead pack still on Red Mountain when I got there made it obvious that no one was in a hurry on this day. And why would they be? It was hard to leave the summit, but the Incline was calling us.

The Incline, at over 2000 feet of climbing in just about 1 mile, was hopping with activity on this summer-like day. No doubt, this fun run was now turning into a bit of work. I certainly didn't blaze up it (I think it took me about 35 minutes). I was able to carry on some Jemez conversation with Steve on the way up, but the legs were burning and felt like jello when I tried to run after reaching the top.

Going up the famous Incline.

Icy for a while.

Looking back down from the top.

No longer an Incline virgin, I slowly got my legs to run again and, after a short section of the familiar Barr Trail, I was looking forward to the well-earned descent of the snowy Longs Ranch Road. The temperatures were still very comfortable above 9000 feet and I was guessing it would have been a great day to summit Pikes Peak, but I wasn't about to do those bonus miles.

Some nice trail connecting the Incline to Barr Trail with Pikes Peak looming.

Snowy Longs Ranch Road. Much more fun going down this year.

After having a blast coming down through the snow of Longs Ranch Road, I fully expected a large gathering at the Waldo Canyon Trailhead. I was right. This was our one aid station which was fully stocked. Water, PBR, and donuts! What else do you need! I figured that I would catch up with Brownie, our gracious host, here. Again, nobody was in any real hurry to leave. It was just too nice a day!

PBR and donuts!

I did eventually leave the trailhead, as I knew there were 13 miles to go and the next section of trail was actually my favorite. The Waldo and Williams Canyon trails were the pleasant surprises of last year's run and I was looking forward to running through them again. I was mostly running on my own through here and just enjoying the solitude for a while. There were some pretty nasty icy patches, but I managed to stay upright without ever opting to put on my spikes.

Waldo Canyon trail.

After climbing up out of Williams Canyon, the end was now in sight. It was on the long, dusty run down Rampart Range Road that the legs started telling me it was almost quitting time and, for the first time all day, I was looking forward to the run being over. Ryan, Jeremiah, and Chris ran me down by the bottom, and along with Leila we ran over to the Garden of the Gods. Once hitting the singletrack in the Garden, I was reinvigorated and we pushed along a strong pace.

Garden of the Gods.

Ryan and Jeremiah dropped off for a final "yellow" drink but I decided to chase Leila to the finish back at JT's house, where I knew there was better beer. Official time: 6 hours and 27 minutes. Probably could have broke 6 hours if I had cut down on all that "aid station" time, but the day went by too fast as it was. My Garmin watch put the course at 30.3 miles with 7568 feet of climbing.

So yes, I am very lucky to live here in the Front Range of Colorado amongst some of the best trails and some pretty good folks to share them with. Thanks to JT and all the CRUD for putting this together again. Now with Brendan planning a Durango Fat Ass for February 4th, we truly have the Colorado Fat Ass Slam (Boulder Basic, Chubby Cheeks, Ponderous Posterior, and Phil's Fatass Run). I might have to think about completing that Slam in 2012-2013.

All photos can be seen here.

First Horsetooth Rock Summit

2012-01-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

I'm proud of you Madison! A winter summit, no less, with some nasty ice to navigate near the top. A fun family climb with Brian and Nick.

2011 Summary

2011-12-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Part of me doesn't want to log another statistic and just go out and run. But in the end, I do like to compare my progress over past years. Then I figure it is good to share the numbers since I also like to see what others do in their training. My non-running friends still can't believe me when I say I know many people who run nearly twice the mileage that I do. Really it is just finding that balance that works for you individually, so I have no intentions of ever trying to break 3000 miles or some other magic number. Besides, "total miles" is not that important of a statistic when it comes to trail running. So here are the numbers for me in 2011.

2400 total miles with 83 miles of climbing (2010: 2281, 65)

Trail: 126 runs, 1717 miles, 66 miles vertical, 373 hours
Road: 45 runs, 320 miles, 1 mile vertical
Treadmill: 40 workouts, 190 miles, 16 miles vertical
Track: 30 workouts, 173 miles
Weight room: 119 workouts (approx 100 hours)
Rest days: 128

Monthly breakdown
January: 221 miles, 6.5 miles vertical
Februrary: 208, 6.2
March:       211, 6.3
April:         244, 7.9
May:          225, 8.2
June:          251, 7.2
July:           177, 6.4
August:      172, 6.5
September: 118, 4.6
October:     188, 6.7
November: 187, 6.3
December: 198, 10.3

Pretty consistent year with really only one down month in September. I guess it was only fitting that I ended up exactly at 2400 miles for the year (didn't plan that) since I seem to hover around 200 miles a month. With over 10 miles of vertical in December I think it is safe to say that Hardrock training has already begun.

Summits tagged in 2011:

Horsetooth Rock (elev 7208ft), 26 times
Arthurs Rock (elev 6772ft), 8 times
Round Mountain (elev 8458ft), 4 times
Greyrock Mountain (elev 7613ft), 3 times
Pikes Peak (elev 14,115ft)
Mount Meeker (elev 13,911ft)
West White Pine Mountain (elev 10,302ft)
Crosier Mountain (elev 9216ft)

Final reflections on 2011:

I'm really happy to see another year where I have been able to set a bunch of personal training records despite another year of wear and tear on the body. This year was by far my biggest year of trail running. At 373 hours (over an hour per day average on a trail), I feel like I am finally taking full advantage of the great resources I have here in Fort Collins and doing what I love to do most. Winning my first race ever was a huge highlight for me as I thought it probably never would happen. But it was no comparison to the biggest highlight of my running year, which was completing the last quarter mile of the Black Hills 100 with my daughter Madison.

Looking ahead to 2012:

Obviously, the Hardrock 100 will be the focus for my next 7 months. Not that I needed any extra motivation to get out and run up mountains, but I know how privileged I am to be able to compete in this epic event and I want to give it everything I've got. I have also put the Pikes Peak Marathon on my 2012 schedule. I feel I still have a much better race in me for that mountain and if the rumours are true, I would love to witness what could be one of the most historical events in the sport of mountain running. Kilian vs. Matt?

Racing is really just a tiny morsel of my trail running life and, as always, I look forward to exploring many new trails and summitting new peaks in 2012. It is fantastic to see the trail running community here in Fort Collins continue to thrive and grow. I expect the new Quad Rock races in May to be a true celebration of this. Finally, I greatly appreciate the friendships and support of the other trail runners I have gotten to know over the past few years. Happy New Year and see you on the trail!

'Tis the Season

2011-12-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

to be breaking trail ... again. Happy Holidays!

Chubby Cheeks 2011

2011-12-10T20:20:00.001-08:00

Another great day on the trails with old and new friends at the 2nd annual Chubby Cheeks. I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm guessing we had somewhere around 50 runners today. They came from all along the Front Range from Laramie, Wyoming down to Colorado Springs (CRUD showing up strong again) and as far west as Aspen.

I took off with the early 7am wave knowing that the pace would be a little slower than last year when we had clear and dry trails. I was expecting to be out there about 8 hours today for the 50K (7000+ feet of climbing) and I was just about right. In fact, no one went under 6 hours on the 50K this year. I pretty much ran the first 14 miles to Arthurs Rock with my CRUD friend Rick (early favorite for the Quad Rock 50) and off and on with fellow FCTRs Kyle and Sarah. Plus a few other out-of-towners who I was glad to play tour guide for. Unfortunately, everyone opted for shorter courses so I ran alone for the next 7 miles around Lory State Park until getting back to Arthurs trailhead and our one aid station. I hung out there for quite a while chatting with our awesome aid station volunteers, and then quickly lots of familiar faces started to accumulate from the various start times and course options. I finally convinced the crew that it was getting a little too chilly standing around, so I took off with Pete and a strong group of 8am 50Kers. I pushed along with them for a few miles before realizing I was working harder than I really wanted to today. It wasn't long from there, however, until we were all back at Nick's warm house drinking beers, stuffing our faces, and giving our best excuses for running slow this year. I thought the trails were just perfect today, but I don't think everyone agreed with me.

Huge thanks to Nick and family for opening their home again to a bunch of smelly runners. I hope everyone had as much fun out there as I did today and it was great seeing you all! I'm already looking forward to Ponderous Posterior in January.

All photos here.

On top of my favorite rock.

Rick Hessek crushing the climb on Stout Trail.

Kyle and Sarah trudging through Mill Creek Trail.

Rick and Brad enjoying the scenic Howard Trail.

Taking in the views from Arthur's Rock.

Aaron fixing everyone up at Arthurs Aid.

Top 50K woman Shannon finishing strong on Westridge Trail.

Complete certifiable results below (Young Money's 50K course record performance of 3 hours flat under review due to accusations of severe short-cutting of the course)

Latest Chubby Conditions

2011-12-08T20:32:00.001-08:00

No waist deep snow drifts or breaking trail like on Sunday. Conditions actually were pretty good today. Some ankle deep fluffy stuff, some nice compacted snow, some bare and dry trails, and not much mud or ice. If the temps stay cool as expected until Saturday, we should be in pretty good shape for the 2nd annual El Chubbo.

Well Gulch Trail

Overlook Trail

Valley Trail

Mill Creek Link Trail

Howard Trail

Timber Trail

Silverton Bound

2011-12-04T19:47:00.001-08:00

I felt such a calmness as I stood atop Horsetooth Rock this morning. Fort Collins sitting below me in a frozen quietness. The first light of the day exposing the glorious snow-covered Front Range. I often like to pause and spend a few moments soaking it all in and thinking about how lucky I am to enjoy these Colorado mountains on my well-travelled feet. The Hardrock lottery would be later in the morning and while I was hoping this would be the year, I told myself I really can't be disappointed if the outcome didn't go in my favor. These Colorado mountains would still be here for me to enjoy regardless. Well, as it turns out, I am #4 on the wait list. I will be in Silverton on July 13, 2012, ready for the experience of a lifetime.

Enjoy a few pics from the morning. Trail conditions will be a little different this year for Chubby Cheeks, but really just an excuse to run a little slower and take in the awesome scenery. At least no one should have to break trail by Saturday (I took care of a fair amount of that this morning).

Fort Collins is going "ultra" on May 12, 2012 (should be snow-free). Registration for the Quad Rock 50 (and 25-mile option) opens this Wednesday, December 7.

Audra Culver Trail

Westridge Trail

Mill Creek Trail

Getting the legs "Hardrock-ready"

Hardrock Odds Updated

2011-12-01T15:03:00.001-08:00

I just got my hands on some data courtesy of Hardrock legend Blake Wood. These were the data I was missing when I approximated the odds of getting into Hardrock a couple of weeks ago (posted here), although it turned out that my assumptions then were not that far off.

As of November 28:
32 automatic entries taken from the capped field of 140
278 applicants with 1 ticket
219 applicants with 2 tickets
73 applicants with 3 tickets
30 applicants with 4 tickets
12 applicants with 5 tickets
14 applicants with 6 tickets

There are 1199 tickets in the hat for the remaining 108 spots. Hopefully, not too many more applicants came in before today's deadline. I doubt there will be enough to lower these odds very much. So using the methods outlined in my earlier post, and assuming 30 get into the race from the wait list, here are your chances:

1 ticket = 12.2% chance of being at the starting line in Silverton on 7/13/2012
2 tickets = 22.9%
3 tickets = 32.3%
4 tickets = 40.6%
5 tickets = 47.9%
6 tickets = 54.2%

Drawing starts this Sunday at 10am MST.

November Summary

2011-11-30T15:43:00.001-08:00

The numbers for November:
Total Miles 187
Total Vertical Miles 6.3

12 Trail Runs, 124 miles, 4.7 vertical, 25 hours
5 Road Runs, 34 miles, 0.1 vertical, 4 hours
4 Treadmill Climbs, 18 miles, 1.5 vertical, 4 hours
2 Track Workouts, 11 miles, 0 vertical, 2 hours
12 Resistance Training, 9 hours
7 Rest Days

Almost a carbon copy of my October with the exception of a couple more road runs (including a rare road race). I've already eclipsed my total miles and vertical for 2010. Hardrock lottery this Sunday.

Tomorrow morning's forecast: Blowing snow, windchills in single digits (bring it on December!)

Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run 2011

2011-11-26T06:21:00.001-08:00

So every now and then I get an itch for competition. An itch to see if I can turn back the clock and pound out some 5 minute miles, okay 6 minute miles, and find out if I can still hold my own in this world of singlets, short shorts, and flashy racing flats.

The Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day 4 miler is probably the biggest and most competitive road race our town offers and it had been 16 years since I had truly "raced" this event. I've done the race many times since then behind the wheels of a jogging stroller with one or two cheerleaders along for the ride. Starting from the back of the pack of 1000 plus runners/joggers/walkers with a double-wide stroller is a whole other sport on its own. "Hold on girls, we're jumping this curb and going for the sidewalk!"

It wasn't until Tuesday night that I finally decided to commit to this 20 plus minutes of pain. Believe me, I am much less intimidated by a full day (or more) trail running event than a road race of any distance. Seeing so many of the trail running crew signed up for the race as well really pushed me over the edge.

So what was the goal? I have been regularly pushing the lactate threshold a couple times a week on the track, inclined treadmill, or on my time trial runs up to the "Rock" or "Towers". I clocked a 6:03 on the last interval of a 4x1600 meter track workout just last week. I figured that I should be able to run close to that pace for 4 miles on rested, race-ready legs. So even though I was coming into this with very little training on the roads, I didn't feel totally unprepared. Still unconvinced, I ran 4 road miles only somewhat uncomfortably at 6:40 pace Monday (the day after a 3 plus hour trail run). Then another 10-mile "tempo run" on the roads Tuesday, where I was running under 7's on each of the last 4 miles, and I decided to submit the registration. A sub-25 would be satisfying and a sub-24 might get me some pie to bring home for my "old farts" age group, but I knew better than to even entertain the idea of a PR.

I don't really know what it means to "taper" for a 4-mile race, but I was feeling fresher than I usually do on a typical Thursday. An easy 90 minute trail run Wednesday and nothing too crazy in the weight room this week. My prerace jog had my legs feeling pretty good, but my abs were quite sore from a workout on Tuesday. Figured I was good to go. I found some of the guys at the starting line (I was the only one wearing trail shoes) and we were off.

Mile 1 was painful, erratic, and not much fun. Between battling for space and trying to find some kind of rhythm, I expected to see 7 plus minutes at the split. A 6:15, however, had me just about where I wanted to be. I thought I was holding pace in Mile 2, but a 6:40 split told me otherwise. Okay, let's turn it loose down Mountain Avenue to make up for that last mile. The legs refused. A 6:39 and a 6:46 and I crossed the finish line in a depressing 26:20. No pie today, as I finished 9th in my age group and 105th overall out of a huge field of 1772.

I can't really figure it out. I think I just need to do more of these races to get faster again, but I don't plan on that. Oh well, at least the girls thought I looked fast coming into the finish line. That's really all that matters on this day. This race makes for a great start to a Fort Collins Thanksgiving with friends, family, and too many extremely fast runners that I will just have to continue to chase.

Results

Hardrock: What are the chances?

2011-11-14T21:18:00.001-08:00

Been seeing a lot of chatter on the interwebs lately on how bleak the chances are of getting in to some of the increasingly popular big events for 2012 (namely Hardrock). With the lottery soon approaching (December 1 deadline on the applications), I thought I would crunch some numbers to see just how bleak my chances are for a July 13 date in Silverton with my 2 tickets in the hat this year.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional statistician but just pretend to be now and then. Feel free to comment on any of the BS below.

As of November 5, there were 427 applicants for the 140 spots. Some projections I have read put the final number in the 700 to 800 range. I'll assume 800 applicants on that final list. Of course, some of those applicants are already in with automatic entries. I'll project 30 of those. That leaves 770 applicants for 110 spots, however past history shows that about 30 more will get in from the wait list. Therefore, 770 applicants for 140 spots (110 plus 30 wait-listers).

This problem sets up nicely as a hypergeometric probability distribution, however we have another issue to deal with here. The 770 applicants may have anywhere from 1 to 6 tickets in the hat. I expect the distribution of the number of tickets per applicant to be skewed, with probably at least half of the applicants holding just 1 or 2 tickets. I'll assume a mean of 2 tickets, giving a total of 1540 tickets in the hat. Since a person can only take up one spot in the race, once their name is drawn any remaining tickets they have in the hat are excluded from the analysis. Therefore, after each unsuccessful draw of your name, the next draw will have, on average, 2 less tickets in the hat (increasing your chances slightly with each draw).

The math:
If you have 1 ticket
P(not getting drawn in the 1st 140 draws) = (1539/1540)*(1537/1538)*(1535/1536)*...*(1261/1262)
= 0.905

P(getting drawn) = 1 - 0.905 = 0.095 = 9.5% (about a 1 in 10 chance with 1 ticket)

By the same equations,
P(getting drawn with 2 tickets) = 0.182 = 18.2%
P(getting drawn with 3 tickets) = 0.260 = 26.0%
P(getting drawn with 4 tickets) = 0.331 = 33.1%
P(getting drawn with 5 tickets) = 0.395 = 39.5%
P(getting drawn with 6 tickets) = 0.453 = 45.3%

Feeling lucky?

I would analyze the Western States lottery, but I'm not even qualified to throw my name in that hat. Go figure. Qualified for Hardrock, but not Western States?

Cougar bait?

2011-11-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've never been too worried about the mountain lions choosing me as their breakfast. No doubt they see me a lot more than I see them, especially when I'm hopping along in the pre-dawn hours with my headlamp. I've had two previous encounters with lions while trail running in Fort Collins. I saw my third one this morning. I got a good long look at this awesome creature from about 10 feet away, through the window of my car. Bad news was that I was spitting distance from the Soderberg trailhead where I was planning to trudge up Towers Road. Also bummed I didn't have my camera. Well I cancelled the popular 4:30am wave for Towers Thursday and decided to head on up to the Horsetooth Rock trailhead instead. It was a more preferable run than Towers anyway, and the way the lion was looking at me, I thought it best to not invade his territory. With our second major dumping of snow in the last 8 days yesterday, it was just a beautiful morning on the mountain!

October Summary

2011-10-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

A solid month in the books. I passed 2000 miles on Sunday, about a month earlier than last year, and have already exceeded my 2010 vertical of 65 miles. In fact, this was my strongest month of vertical since June. I'm finally seeing progress in the weight room again, as I hit it pretty hard this month. I also endured the pain of several track and incline treadmill workouts.

October was about the daily grind, without really any blogworthy adventures, except for my Buckhorn run. I can relate to Geoff's post a few days ago about the "daily run". Why get up so early to run some trail you've run a hundred times? Especially, knowing that it is still gonna be dark when you get back to the trailhead. It's because I know that at some point midway though the run after shaking off the sleepiness, I'll look up at the star-filled sky, take a deep breath of the fresh air, flow effortlessly along the singletrack, and think of how lucky I am to be doing what I am doing at that moment.

October by the numbers:
188 miles, 6.7 vertical miles

Trail (11 runs), 127 miles, 4.4 vertical, 23 hours
Treadmill (5 runs), 27 miles, 2.3 vertical, 5 hours
Track (4 runs), 22 miles, 3 hours
Road (2 runs), 12 miles, 2 hours
Lift (15 workouts), 10 hours
Rest Days 9

Monument Gulch/Flowers Road/White Pine

2011-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is kind of becoming a Columbus Day tradition. Last Columbus Day I hit this area in full autumn glory (and no snow). This time most of the aspens were past their prime colors, but still a gorgeous fall run. It's hard to beat the Buckhorn region for a trail run this time of year.

Except for a couple miles of singletrack on the north slope of the White Pine mountains, this run is all fire road/jeep trail. I did meet a couple of Jeeps but these roads are closed to ATVs. This time I made a clockwise loop of it (as Pete and Nick did last year) starting from the Buckhorn Ranger Station and running to Monument Gulch, Flowers Road, and then up over the pass of the White Pine Mountains and back down to the Ranger Station. Just under 17 miles with the added tag of the summit of West White Pine Mountain (elev 10,305 feet). It was quite the trudge getting up the mountains with probably 6 inches of snow left from Saturday's storm.

16.68 miles, 3917 feet climbed, GPS data here

First Snow

2011-10-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

The first snow of the season here in Fort Collins yesterday. Well actually it was only rain in town, but just a little frosting on Horsetooth Mountain. I had planned a loop over White Pine Mountain (a great fall run), but the storm was significant enough out there to change plans. I'm never disappointed, however, running the local trails in Horsetooth and Lory Parks. The cool air this morning felt great! I even had some company near the end of my run when I hit the Soderberg/Spring Creek junction. My second bear sighting this year in Horsetooth Park.

Just a week ago we were pushing 90 degrees at the Blue Sky Marathon. I've added some photos to my sidebar (they are also on the race website) as I once again enjoyed hanging out at the Towers Road aid station. A great opportunity coming up to run some Fort Collins trails on October 22 and save a life.

A successful controlled burn on Tuesday.

September Summary

2011-09-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

The totals for September:
118 miles, 4.6 vertical miles

The breakdown:
8 trail runs, 84 miles, 3.8 vertical miles, 22 hours
2 road runs, 13mi, 0.1vm, 2hrs
2 track workouts, 10mi, 0vm, 2hrs
2 treadmill workouts, 11mi, 0.7vm, 2hrs
9 weight lifting, 9 hrs
16 rest days

I took 12 straight rest days in the early part of the month due to a bad cold, easily making these my lowest monthly totals all year. I can't remember the last time I took this many days off in a row, but I felt like crap and had no need to rush back into it. It definitely gave me a renewed vigor as soon as I stepped foot on a trail again.

I love this time of year, except for the late sunrise. Only 2 of my runs all month involved daylight. Hopefully, I'll get up for some more alpine scrambling and peak bagging before it gets buried in the white stuff. I've also got to get out to some of the great foliage areas (i.e. Flowers Road/White Pine) which are peaking right about now.

Nightfall on the Wild Basin

2011-09-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

I had the rare opportunity for a late afternoon/evening adventure in the beautiful Wild Basin of Rocky Mountain National Park. I took off from the Wild Basin trailhead at 5pm Saturday with the goal up getting up high enough to take in some sights and scout some future peak routes before dark.

I was not accustomed to the crowded trailhead and steady stream of hikers, mostly families heading up to (or back from) the Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls. I normally tend to be the first one to a trailhead in the morning. However, the crowds thinned quickly as I opted to head up toward the Lion Lakes. The last person I saw was at the trail split for Lion or Thunder Lakes at 4 miles from the trailhead. It was then just me, the beautiful mountains, and the dwindling daylight.

Staring at Chiefs Head Peak on the final piece of singletrack approaching Lion Lake #1.

After passing by Lion Lake #1, the largest of the Lion Lakes right at timberline and 6 miles from the trailhead, there was no more real trail to follow. I had some thoughts of trying to obtain the North Ridge and loop around the summit of Chiefs Head, but I think that route would be better approached from Sandbeach Lake and Mount Orton. There is also a very nice trail up to Sandbeach Lake that I hiked several years ago and would love to get back to. What was really gaining most of my attention, though, was the awesome looking peak of Mount Alice.

Mount Alice as seen from Lion Lake #1.

I meandered a bit, taking in all of the scenery and slowly gaining some altitude up toward Lion Lake #2 while passing by some really cool waterfalls. I then thought it would be nice to hit the pass between Alice and Chiefs Head in time to catch the sunset.

Waterfalls draining from Lion Lake #2.

As I continued to climb and the sun continued to set, I admired the late evening hues reflecting off Chiefs Head and was even more captivated by the spectacular face of Mount Alice. I had made my way onto a ridge to the west of the lakes that allowed for a nice route to the pass with a mix of stable boulder fields and soft tundra.

Last bit of sunlight on Chiefs Head.

Mount Alice.

A nice ridge approach to the pass.

I reached the pass (8 miles from the trailhead) shortly after sunset, but still had a pretty sweet view of the red sky to the West. There were also nice views of McHenry's Peak and I could make out the Spearhead poking up over the horizon to the East. Chiefs Head was still obstructing any views of Pagoda or Longs.

Looking West from the Continental Divide.

McHenry's Peak (another of many great 13ers in the Park).

The conditions on the pass were perfect and pretty amazing for late September. No wind and I had yet to put anything on over my t-shirt. Just a week ago there were winter conditions up here and several inches of snow. I broke out my headlamp and a long sleeve shirt and toyed with the idea of still summiting Alice. It turns out to be a fairly technical route getting Alice from this side, at least as far as I could tell from my headlamp. I scurried up a little ways in the dark, but thought better to come back another time. I played it safe and returned my same route and was back at the trailhead at 10pm.

I didn't even mention the nice colors from the aspens down nearer the trailhead as Fall is in full swing. Without a doubt, there are lots of great adventures to be had in the Wild Basin. I think a traverse of all the peaks surrounding this basin would be pretty epic, but of course there are also many great options for breaking it into a few smaller loops/traverses as well.

Tonight's run/hike/scramble:
16.48 miles, 4247 feet climbed, GPS data here

Mount Meeker

2011-09-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Five hours to cover 10 miles? Yes, that is the kind of "running" I like to do this time of year! A summit of the 13,911 foot Mount Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park and some high alpine exploring from there.

As expected, a full parking lot at 4:30am at the Longs Peak Ranger Station trailhead. Meeker's sister peak (Longs) gets all the attention because it is above the magic number of 14K feet, but I think the Meeker summit, with some serious exposure, offers even more of a thrill. I passed a steady stream of hikers as I ran up to the Chasm Lake trail junction. Then I headed toward Chasm Lake and was alone for the next 4 hours. I hit the Loft route just at first light. This route takes you straight up the gut between Longs and Meeker until reaching the saddle (Loft) between the two summits. I was surprised that none of the Longs Peak seekers were opting for this route this morning.

Straight up from here to the Loft.

After reaching the Loft it is a right turn for Longs or a left turn for Meeker for a pretty quick summit either way. I think I could have set a new Longs climb record for myself if I was heading there today, but that wasn't my destination.

Longs Peak from the Loft.

The summit of Meeker is really 2 summits separated by an exhilirating "knife's edge" between the two. I passed over both summits and decided to try descending via the Northeast ridge, just skirting the 1000 foot dropoff cliffs to my left.

Cliff face along the Northeast Ridge.

Nice view of the Loft route from Meeker's Northeast Ridge.

After passing the cliffs, I tried peeling off the north side of the ridge back toward Chasm and was greeted with neverending loose scree all the way down. I actually think descending down toward Wild Basin and picking up a trail down there would make for a sweet loop (and a lot easier descent of Meeker). It would just require a few miles of roads to get between trailheads (or a shuttle).

The view of Wild Basin from the Meeker summit.

I hit the valley quite a ways below Chasm Lake and just below treeline. I then bushwhacked my way over another ridge to get back to the Longs Peak trail and was finally running again back to the trailhead. This kind of stuff is just too fun!

Today's adventure: 10.34 miles, 4891 feet climbed, GPS data here

August Summary

2011-09-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

The totals for this month:
172 miles, 6.5 vertical miles

14 trail runs, 158 miles, 6.5 vertical, 33 hours
2 road runs, 5 miles, 0.5 hours
2 track workouts, 9 miles, 1.5 hours
9 weight lifting workouts, 9 hours
13 rest days

No more races planned for 2011. It is just time to climb mountains and explore trails. The next couple of months are the best time of the year to play in the Colorado mountains.

A Taste of the Black Hills 100

2011-08-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

I came across this today. Oh, the memories! I highly recommend this one to all of you planning your 2012 schedule, especially if the Hard Rock or Western States lotteries don't turn out in your favor.

2011 Pikes Peak Marathon

2011-08-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well I was certainly humbled by the mountain on Sunday as it kicked my butt. Not the race I was hoping for but I'm sure over time I will come to appreciate my number of PPM finishes more than the times on the clock, and this was my third finish.

With all the compiled data on this race, it's easy to overanalyze things, but I think in the end it just wasn't my day. It all started by not waking up until 4:30 (in Fort Collins) and having to hop in the car, speed down to Manitou Springs, pick up my race bib, and jump into the start line. I got all this done with just a few minutes to spare, so in a way I was just glad I got to run the race this year. Unfortunately, I had no breakfast and forgot my gels. At least I had a water bottle, but it would turn out that I couldn't get myself to drink enough of the aid-station Gatorade.

All excuses aside now, we had absolutely perfect weather this year. No need to even carry a long-sleeved shirt. I decided to take off a little faster than usual at the start, in hopes of not getting caught in too much traffic on the climb through the W's where everyone gets funneled into some narrow single-track. It was still crowded, but I did run more of the W's this year than in past years (still not sure if that was a good thing though). I was easily under sub 3:30 ascent splits (my ascent goal) through the Bottomless Pit Sign, but I never really felt that great from the start. It was then a pretty steady meltdown for me all the way to the top.

Hitting the summit turnaround (Photo: Kevin Hurd)

I find it quite interesting that my time from Hydro Street to the "2 to summit" sign was within 1 minute of the time I ran it 2 weeks ago on a conservative training run (half of that in the dark via headlamp). I felt great that day and could have easily pushed a good pace to the top. I was nearly an hour from there to the summit yesterday, although I'm sure at least 10 minutes of that was me hugging a rock while letting others moving much better than me pass by. I just seem to do my best running when I am relaxed and it is just me and the trail. I get really anxious with all of the passing and being passed in a crowded race like this, and it really wears on me. Maybe that is why I don't race much and tend to favor smaller ultras where I know I'll be by myself more than not.

I hit the summit in 3:52 and thought maybe if things turned around for me I could break 6 hours for the marathon. I just felt crappy the whole way down, however. I even walked down Ruxton Street to the finish because I was afraid I might throw up on a spectator if I ran. I obviously got behind on my fueling and hydration. My finish time of 6:25 was about the same time I ran 3 years ago on the back side of a "Double" (ran the Ascent the day before) and in a snowstorm.

So what draws me to Pikes Peak? It is because it is "Pikes Peak". Ms. Arlene Pieper, the first official women's finisher at a U.S. marathon at Pikes Peak in 1959, sent us off with the "ready, set, go". The singing of "America the Beautiful" before the race still gives me goosebumps every time. They call this race "America's Ultimate Challenge" and this challenge, along with it's storied history, great volunteers, and true camaraderie between competitors will always keep bringing me back.

My overanalyzed race splits:
Ruxton 3:21 (projected 2hr32min Ascent)*
Hydro 10:38 (2:49)
Top of W's 37:33 (3:07)
No Name Creek 56:52 (3:14)
7.8 to Summit Sign 1:18:35 (3:18)
Barr Camp 1:42:59 (3:23)
Bottomless Pit Sign 2:00:53 (3:28)
A-Frame 2:33:58 (3:36)
2 to Summit Sign 2:58:54 (3:40)
1 to Summit Sign 3:22:00 (3:45)
Summit 3:52:54
Finish 6:25:06
*Projected Ascent times from Matt Carpenter's pacing calculator

I guess the rumors of Matt's demise were grossly overrated. At age 47, he made it a record-tying 6 straight wins for the marathon and 12 total. The man is truly inspirational. Came across this great post-race perspective from Matt via GZ's blog.

Pikes Peak Trial Run

2011-08-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

Two weeks until my third Pikes Peak Marathon and I thought it was a good time to reacquaint myself to the Barr Trail Highway. I took a pretty relaxed run/hike from Hydro Street to the "2 miles to summit" sign and was hitting the splits (based on Matt C's pacing calculator) right about on a 3:30 ascent pace (my best is 3:40). I was feeling like a had a lot left in the tank for those last 2 miles to the summit. I did run the W's which I don't think I will be able to do in the race. I just don't think it is worth the extra effort to get ahead of the masses at the start. I'll probably only lose about 5-10 minutes to my running pace to No Name Creek anyway. And, of course, the real race doesn't start until A-frame (timberline).

Don't know what shoes I will be wearing. Wore the Hokas today, but they are done. A great shoe when new, but no durability for me. The medial side of the shoe is mashed, the treads are worn smooth and falling off, and I took a sharp rock right up through the EVA foam. Only 400 miles on them, so not too happy for what I got for $170. In my opinion, not a good shoe for an overpronater, even with orthotics. Looks like I'll be running in my worn out Cascadia 6's (500 miles) tomorrow. Oh yeah, I don't like those shoes either.

It sounds like Matt Carpenter will be racing the marathon again this year, which I am very glad to hear.

Today's run: Pikes Peak Marathon Course from Hydro Street to "2 to summit" sign and back.
19.65 miles, 6162 feet climbed, GPS data here

Awesome morning just below 13,000 feet.

My turnaround point today.

July Summary

2011-08-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

177 miles, 6.4 vertical miles

Trail 154 miles, 6.3 vertical, 11 runs, 33 hours
Road 23 miles, 0.1 vertical, 6 runs
Track 0
Treadmill 0
Weight Lifting 4 workouts, 4 hours
Rest Days 14

First month below 200 miles this year but still pretty solid on the vertical. Kind of a slow recovery from Black Hills and more recently some other chronic "niggles" have flared up forcing a lot of rest days and keeping me from doing any real speed work. At least I can still trudge along the trails. Rather than taper for Pikes Peak in 3 weeks, I think I will just ramp up to it.

Towers Road Again and Again and ...

2011-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

This had to be the craziest thing I've done since Round Mountain Ladders. Again, I only have the FCTR crew to blame (thank). What an idea! Let's run up and down Towers Road for 24 hours! Okay, so I didn't start until 3:15am this morning, giving me a little less than 4 hours to add some laps to the 1st ever 24 Hours of Towers. I had to give it a pretty stout effort to get 3 laps done by 7am. I then made it a Towers Quad with a 4th (very slow) trip up to the towers and back to complete my workout this morning. Brian's preliminary results had us putting up over 200 laps as a group. Not hard to see why Fort Collins seems to dominate the results lists at many trail races around the Rocky Mountain region.

A new Appalacian Trail speed record was set today by Jen Pharr Davis. No, not the women's record (which she already owned), but the fastest known time by anyone. Her 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes for covering the 2181-mile AT was over 26 hours faster than Andrew Thompson's previous record. Of course this was fully-suported (no 40 pound pack to carry), but still amazing!

Today's run:
Towers Road Quad, 27.29 miles, 6722 feet climbed, GPS data here

Granite Pass Loop

2011-07-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

I like to hit some variation of this loop at least once a year in RMNP. My first time above treeline this year. No snow along the trails up to Granite Pass (12,000+ feet) and it looked pretty clear up to Longs Peak. There were a lot of hikers heading up to the peak, although I had all of the trails to myself until I got to Granite Pass.

The Loop:
Storm Pass Trail/Boulder Brook Trail/North Longs Peak Trail to Granite Pass/Longs Peak (Keyhole Route) Trail/Connecting Trail from Longs Peak Trail back to Storm Pass/Storm Pass Trail

Start/Finish at Storm Pass Trailhead at Lily Lake

20.94 miles, 5694 feet climbed, GPS data here

Early morning view from Storm Pass Trail.

Interesting. I guess I ran a little faster than normal through this section.

Boulder Brook Trail.

Overlooking the Boulder Brook Valley and beyond.

Longs and Meeker from the Chasm trail junction.

Lost Lake

2011-07-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's not Hard Rock, but still not a bad destination this morning. My first time running up the North Fork trail this year. No snow until the lake at 10,700 feet, but much of the trail down low was underneath the high-flowing North Fork Big Thompson River. Huge congrats to everyone that kissed the rock in Silverton this weekend!

Today's run: 18.75 miles, 3449 feet climbed, Start/Finish at Dunraven Trailhead in Glen Haven

GPS data here

Submerged trail.

Higher up.

Final climb over the snow field to the lake.

June Summary (Black Hills Final Thoughts)

2011-07-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

June Totals:
Total Miles 251 (1360 for year)
Total Vertical Miles 7.2 (42.2 for year)

Trail (10 runs, 226 miles, 7.2 vertical, 55 hours)
Road (3 runs, 8 miles, 0 vertical, 1 hour)
Track (2 runs, 13 miles, 0 vertical, 2 hours)
Treadmill (1 run, 4 miles, 0 vertical, 1 hour)
Weight Training (5 sessions, 7 hours)
Rest Days (14)

Biggest mileage month of the year so far, with 105 miles last weekend having the most to do with that. Took the rest of the month off after finishing Black Hills. My body is slowly getting back to normal and I am looking forward to getting back on the trails. Exertional rhabdomyolysis was the diagnosis given to me after the race, along with being severely dehydrated. Could have lead to something serious, such as kidney failure. It does make you want to think twice about taking Ibuprofen (or any NSAIDS) during a 100-miler, which I did not do this time or ever will in the future. The combination of "rhabdo" and Ibuprofen has put some athletes in pretty bad shape before as that causes major stress on the kidneys.

For now I am just excited to getting back to some summer running on my Colorado trails, exploring some new ones and revisiting some old ones. I'll try to get higher in altitude as our snow is still slowly melting. I got a date with Pikes Peak on August 21.

It's been nice putting some names to the faces from all the great people I met before or during the race in the Black Hills. Adam Schwartz-Lowe ran a smart race being patient and not letting anyone else dictate his race. There were plenty of runners ahead of us coming into Dalton that either didn't finish or finished behind Adam. Phil Lowry, you are an animal, and I had a blast making those stream crossings with you heading out. Go Ranger! Alistair Munro and Andy Pele were making it look easy through the Crooked Tree section. It was nice meeting you Alistair at the pre-race meal. I'm not sure what took you out of the race late, but I'm sure you will run strong another day. Thomas Etter, you said this was just a training run so no worries on the DNF. It was great sharing some trail time out there and best of luck with the adventure races. Laura Range, I thought you were done lying there on the cot at Dalton on the way back, and then I couldn't shake you for 29 miles. Great job! Finally, it was great sharing some of the last few miles with Casey Lopez. I enjoyed seeing Casey's Dad at all those aid stations at night when I was struggling, and then I finally get to meet you Casey near the end. Well done!

Black Hills 100

2011-06-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

The inaugural Black Hills 100 was the site for my 2nd 100-miler this past weekend. "Cruisin' the 89" was the motto as we took an out and back course from Sturgis along the Centennial Trail. I came in to this race vey excited to explore these beautiful mountains. I also came into this one with a plan that would hopefully put me to the finish in under 24 hours and maybe in the mix near the front in a race that, as far as I could tell, was lacking any really elite runners. It is kind of funny how quickly a "racing" plan can turn into a "survival" plan and the only thing that matters anymore is making it to the finish line (under the cutoff time).

After some nasty thunderstoms the night before the race, which were sure to add a little more mud to the course, we took off from the track in Sturgis at 6am on what was looking to be a very nice (but warm) day. Around 150 starters for the 3 races (100-mile, 100K, and 50-mile) all taking off together, with about 100 of us going for 100 miles.

Less than 1 minute to start.

So my "plan" consisted of goal times for reaching each aid station, an efficient means for getting through the aid stations quickly, a pre-determined regimen of fueling and hydration, and carrying only what I needed. The course provided excellent crew access and I had an excellent crew. For the first time my wife Deanne got to experience one of these events first-hand and she, along with my good friend Kevin (who might as well rent out his crewing talents), had me in and out of the aid stations faster than a NASCAR pit stop. For about 40 miles, everything was going as planned. I was holding a steady 15 to 30 minutes under my goal times, hovering somewhere in the top 10 for the 100, and I was absolutely loving the course. It is the pleasure of getting out into places and trails like these that makes me a trail runner. So I knew from my long history of 100-mile experience (1 previous finish) that the first rule is to expect the unexpected. So what would it be?

Running strong into Elk Creek Aid Station (Mile 17).

Approaching Dalton Lake Aid Station (Mile 29.5).

Coming into Dalton Lake with Adam Schwartz-Lowe.

Still going strong into Boxelder (Mile 37).

At some point between the Boxelder (Mile 37) and Pilots Knob (Mile 43.5) aid stations my stomach started to cramp. So far I had either been drinking HEED from the manned aid stations or water with my own Nuun tablets at the unmanned (water only) stations. One 20 ounce handheld bottle between refills every 1 to 1.5 hours. I was also eating half a pack (5 chews) of Honey Stingers every half-hour, a Powerbar every 3 hours (2 so far), and had some chips and Coke at Dalton Lake (Mile 29.5). So I didn't panic and just figured this was going to be might first "low" during the race. I decided to just slow down for a while until things turned around. I came in slowly to Pilots Knob, still just 7 minutes over my goal time, and was hoping for some "stomach-happying" food. Nothing was doing the trick. Not watermelon, chips, or Coke. I decided not to kill anymore time there and proceeded on for what I thought would be just 6.5 miles to the Rapid Creek 50-mile turnaround.

I knew my pace was really slowing through this last section to the turnaround and I kept expecting to meet up with the race leader on his way back. Much to my surprise, I didn't meet the leader until my Garmin watch said 49.4 miles. I knew there was no way that I was still only 1 mile back of the leader so we had to be in for some bonus miles. I pushed on past the 50-mile mark at 11:07 (my fastest 50 miles ever) and with no hint of the Rapid Creek aid station in site. When I met up with the 4th place runner Alistair Munro, who I ran along with earlier in the race, he gave me the bad news, "3.5 kilometers to the turnaround". Doesn't he know my brain can't do metric conversions right now! So I hit the Rapid Creek turnaround (Mile 52.3) at 11:45 pretty depleted physically and mentally. No sub 24 hours gonna happen for me this time. And I didn't eat or drink a thing over those last 9 miles.

Just chillin' at Rapid Creek with my daughter Madison.

Lying there at Rapid Creek my mind went back to Bighorn where I came into the turnaround feeling like I was done, but left almost 2 hours later feeling like a new man. My crew had everything for me (shade, icy-cold wet towels, food, drink, you name it). This was also the first point that I got to see my daughters Madison and Megan, and Kevin's wife Jen who was so great to watch them during the race. I told them that I was staying for 1 hour and then I would be good to go. I could surely get my stomach to turn around in an hour and I had every kind of food there to try. Well I stayed 55 minutes and probably consumed only a couple hundred calories between chicken noodle soup, popsicles, soda, and gatorade. Before leaving I asked my daughter Madison to run the loop around the track to the finish with me tomorrow. So it is at this point where the plan to "race" goes out the door and the plan to "finish" becomes the only priority. Unfortunately, I left Rapid Creek feeling no better than when I got there.

So bad stomach, long course, what's next? Well on the long 9-mile section back to Pilots Knob and the skies getting dark, just like the night before, it was time for some major thunderstorm action. Not only was there "drench to the bone" rain, but then came the hail stones that had me eventually ducking for any cover I could find. Soaked, cold, and still not eating or drinking (dry-heaving anytime I tried), I knew I had to get to Pilots Knob as quickly as possible. Luckily, I got there in time, stripped off my clothes and jumped in a heated car for 2 hours (best crew ever).

Some sights and sounds from Pilots Knob Aid Station:

This "sport" of ultrarunning paints a fine line between courage and stupidity. I knew that it wasn't right to keep going on for hours without eating or drinking, but I've never quit a race so maybe I just don't know when to stop. I'm sure if they had mandatory medical checks, I would have been held back and probably not finished. So why do we do it? Even though it was a death march through the night and I was doing all I could do to stay upright through the seemingly endless mud along the double-track sections from Pilots Knob to Dalton, I was amazed by the views of the night sky. The surrounding storms were some of the coolest sights I have ever seen. And I welcomed the challenge of getting through the next aid station before the now increasingly challenging cutoff times.

Choking down a granola bar at Boxelder (Mile 68).

I watched the sun rise on a new day climbing out of Dalton Lake with about 29 miles to go and fueling on sips of water. Now there was no way I was not finishing this thing. As long as I didn't get swept away in one of the Elk Creek stream crossings (5 major ones that required ropes), I was pretty sure I could make it. The sense of urgency felt from the cutoff times now had me running for as long as my stomach could handle it. The legs and feet were still there (happy with the Hokas) but it was soon back to doing my best dying Elk call when the stomach starting rejecting the running idea.

After the last aid station at Alkali Creek, where Kevin graciously provided a popsicle for me that I actually felt like eating, I hit 100 miles in just under 30 hours (still 5 miles to go). Getting up over some of the last remaining steep climbs and with Sturgis coming into view, the sense of accomplishment started to set in. No not a sub 24, or a top 10, but a finish! I didn't care if I was the last finisher (that might have been kind of cool). It turned out that 7 finished after me. Congrats to the winners Adam Schwartz-Lowe (23:01) and Lisa Deyoung (30:17), and the other 29 finishers (full results here).

I obviously still have a lot to learn on these 100-milers. Most importantly, how to hydrate and fuel beyond the 7 or 8 hours that are typically as long as I will ever go in training. I wonder if I didn't have any stomach issues how well I would have done. Well that answer will have to wait for another day and another 100-miles.

For a first year race, some glitches were expected. The course is first-rate. Some of the most beautiful single-track trails I have ever run. Very challenging terrain, but not to the point that the course can't be predominantly "run". I enjoy the added aspect of some major stream crossings (adds some adventure). I never got off-course, although I know some did. Just stay on the "89". The 13 or so miles (each way) of double-track ATV trails would have been better if not for all the recent rain and resulting mud. Having underestimated the distances was only a bummer because it wasn't expected. I had the 50-mile turnaround at 25.4 miles and the 100K turnaround at 32 miles (also both a bit long). With the extra distance, I feel the cutoff times need to be extended a little. There also really needs to be a more organized check-in and check-out process at the aid stations with more medical attention provided. I say this knowing full well that I probably would have DNF'ed if they had this in place. I did end up in the Sturgis hospital after the race needing a couple bags of IV fluids. Unfortunately, the post-race was a bit anti-climatic (got handed my buckle at the finish line), but with 70% not finishing no one really wanted to hang around for an awards ceremony. Again, the crew access was very convenient for this course, which is a big plus. The host hotel (Holiday Inn Express in Sturgis) was great and even offered a 4am breakfast the morning of the race. Finally, the Black Hills region provides a great family destination with so much to see and do. I hope you guys (Chris, Ryan, and Jerry) can keep this thing going for years to come and I will see if we can get Fort Collins more represented up there in the future. Thanks guys and thanks to all the volunteers!

So back to the question, "Why do this?"

Enough said.

The data (to nearest 0.5 mile):
Alkali Creek (Mile 6)                  In: 0:59           Out: 0:59          Goal: 0:50
Bulldog (Mile 10)                        In: 1:45           Out: 1:45          Goal: 1:50
Elk Creek (Mile 17)                     In: 3:01           Out: 3:02          Goal: 3:26
Crooked Tree (Mile 23)               In: 4:09           Out: 4:10          Goal: 4:44
Dalton Lake (Mile 29.5)              In: 5:39           Out: 5:47          Goal: 5:56
Boxelder Creek (Mile 37)            In: 7:31           Out: 7:35          Goal: 7:48
Pilots Knob (Mile 43.5)              In: 9:19           Out: 9:28          Goal: 9:12
Rapid Creek (Mile 52.5)              In: 11:45         Out: 12:40        Goal: 10:43
Pilots Knob (Mile 61.5)               In: 15:25          Out: 17:15        Goal: 12:42
Boxelder Creek (Mile 68)            In: 19:02          Out: 19:25       Goal: 14:12
Dalton Lake (Mile 75.5)              In: 22:05          Out: 22:20        Goal: 16:12
Crooked Tree (Mile 82)               In: ?                 Out: ?               Goal: 17:54
Elk Creek (Mile 88)                     In: 26:05          Out: 26:21        Goal: 19:24
Bulldog (Mile 95)                         In: 28:20         Out: 28:21        Goal: 21:23
Alkali Creek (Mile 99)                 In: 29:40          Out: 29:41        Goal: 22:38
Finish (Mile 105)                          In: 31:22                                   Goal: 23:48
(over 4 hours at aid stations, ouch)
25th overall, 22nd male, 32 total finishers

GPS data here

More photos here

Course Profile

I got quite a bit of variability on the total elevation gain. According to Sporttracks (with elevaton corrections) it is 20,995 feet round-trip, and according to Garmin Connect (with elevation corrections) it is only 15,256 feet. The course was advertised as 16,231 feet of climbing. Anyway, there was plenty of climbing.

Another Sunrise

2011-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

I think I have watched close to 100 sunrises this year from a trail or mountain somewhere. This morning from Coyote Ridge. Hopefully, my body will adapt to the late 6am start from Sturgis on Saturday. It would be great to watch Sunday's sunrise from the finish line. Oh well, it's time to see what I learned from Bighorn last year.

My furry friends.

More tapering playtime

2011-06-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Playing amatuer photographer today with my new camera. The wildflowers are in full bloom around Horsetooth and Lory Parks right now. It will be a little later in the alpine regions (if the snow ever melts). An easy loop around the parks this morning with a summit of Arthurs Rock. I will be toeing the starting line at Black Hills in just 6 days!

Some great perfomances by the FCTR crew up in the snow and mud of Bighorn. Great job y'all!

Today's run: 12.8 miles, 2894 feet of climbing, GPS data here

The route: Valley/Arthurs/Arthurs Summit/Howard/Mill Creek/Towers (Start and Finish at Soderberg TH)

Views from the trail today:

41

2011-06-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Cheers to another year in the books. Although I don't like getting older, I figure it is better to be 11,000 feet high than 6 feet under. A combination run, trudge, rock climb, or whatever it took to get as high as I could in a couple of hours. I ended up claiming some unknown rocky peak at 11,138 feet and was rewarded with some pretty spectacular scenery. The plan was to run up Black Canyon Trail from the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead in the direction of Lawn Lake and the heart of the Mummy Range. A good chance to scout this record snowpack and I really didn't expect to make it to Lawn Lake. As it turns out I actually got a little higher than Lawn Lake in elevation, but there was no way I was doing any more waist-deep post-holing up the trail through Tileston Meadows. So I just put the make-believe crampons on my Hokas and took it straight up the side of a mountain (it was easier).

Today's adventure: 15.66 miles, 3994 feet of climbing, GPS data here

Black Canyon Trail at 10,000 feet.

Black Canyon (Trail?) at 10,500 feet.

The Mummies

The valley below. Longs and Meeker socked in to the upper right.

Time to Fly

2011-06-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

I might not be flying, but at least I am running a little more swiftly. I took the plunge on a pair of Hoka Mafates this week. I was getting tired of the stabbing pain in the left heel every time it struck the ground. I am hoping this shoe will get me through 100 miles of the Black Hills 3 weeks from now. The Mafates essentially make running a low-impact activity. It's kind of like strapping on a couple of Nerf footballs under your feet. I have to say that I am kind of digging them so far. Took them out of the box on Wednesday and was clocking 6 minute miles down the street from my house. I've since done 3 trail runs in them and while I can still feel the PF injury, it's really not slowing me down anymore. Today was the real test as I logged 42 miles of trails. I've never run that far continuously until today and I'm ready to get back on the trail tomorrow. What was really ironic was that I happened to run into one of Hoka's sponsored athletes, Lars Nielsen, down around Devil's Backbone. I had never seen another person ever even wearing Hokas before until today. Was this a sign? Team Hoka for my future? We'll see. For now just get me through 24 hours (better yet 23:xx) in the Black Hills on June 25.

Today's run: 41.58 miles, 4285 feet of climbing, (GPS data here)

The course: Coyote Ridge TH to Devil's Backbone TH to Lory State Park Visitor Center to Coyote Ridge TH (Indian Summer spur both to and from Devil's and loop of the Valley Trails in Horsetooth and Lory)

May Summary

2011-05-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Total Miles: 225
Total Vertical Miles: 8.2

Trail: 13 runs, 172 miles, 7.5 vertical miles, 38 hours
Road: 3 runs, 17 miles, 0.1 vertical miles, 3 hours
Track: 5 workouts, 29 miles, 5 hours
Treadmill: 3 workouts, 7 miles, 0.6 vertical miles, 2 hours
Weight Room: 10 workouts, 15 hours
Rest Days: 7

My total mileage was down slightly from April (244 miles), but I set a new personal record for monthly vertical (8.2 vs. 7.9 miles last month). I probably should start some specific training for the Black Hills 100 (i.e., bigger miles with less vertical). That was my intention this past weekend, but the valley trails were too muddy (so back to the mountains). I still have 3.5 weeks, no worries. At least I kept my perfect winning record alive this month in races for 2011.

Beware of the "Mountain"

Crosier Mountain

2011-05-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

Creeping a little bit higher in elevation with Crosier Mountain today (elev 9216 feet). Still not going to get into the "high" country probably until July. The plan was a "Crosier Triple" which includes 3 summits of Crosier from 3 different trailheads. I kind of squashed that plan when I flew by the summit turnoff in the dark this morning and found myself well on my way down to Glen Haven. I still racked up about the same vertical and distance as if I had completed the official triple, I just did it in my own convoluted way. Met up with Kevin and Daxpy at the Gravel Pit trailhead for a summit run with them. Just a little snow and slush near the top.

Today's run:
24.52 miles, 7321 feet climbed, GPS data here

An official Crosier Triple (from May 22, 2010)
25 miles, 7870 feet climbed, GPS data here

Kevin and Daxpy leaving the summit.

Horsetooth Falls

2011-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

They were flowing pretty strong this morning. Most of the time we are lucky to see any flow at all.

Video from the top:

Video from below:

Plenty of snow flying above 6500 feet. Isn't June less than 2 weeks away?

Round Mountain Ladders

2011-05-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

I believe today was the most vertical I have done in any workout other than my 50-mile and 100-mile races. Yes, even slightly more than Pikes Peak. The FCTR crew was out for another crazy workout, this time on the 4.5 mile trail with just under 3000 feet of climbing to the summit of Round Mountain (in a snowstorm). Running to the summit and back for a good 9 miles and 3K of climbing is just not good enough for this bunch, however. How about we run up to each mile marker and then back down? And, of course, add the summit for good measure. Well with a variety of workouts going on from I think at least 20 like-minded crazies, I am sure the FCTR racked up well over 100K feet of climbing today. I headed out for the full increasing ladder (up 1 and back, up 2 and back, up 3 and back, up 4 and back, up summit and back) which looked to be good for about 29 miles and 10K feet of climbing. Pushing the limits of my planned 7 hours on the trail for the day, I ended up with a 1-2-3-4-4 ladder and never actually reached the summit despite climbing 8382 feet according to Garmin. A lot of fun and misery all rolled into one out there today.

My workout:
1-2-3-4-4 Ladder, 26.52 miles, 8382 feet climbed, GPS data here
Looks like the mile markers were a little bit short, but the climbing certainly was not.

Gotta love this elevation profile.

Kevin all smiles after leaving me in the dust (or snowdust) on the final climb.

I believe we can blame Nick for this craziness.

Alex having way too much fun.

Pete going strong all day despite a Crosier Mountain Triple yesterday.

Nick Seaman Memorial 5K

2011-05-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Very rarely do I run 5Ks these days. Really the only reason I do occasionally is because it benefits a worthy cause, as was the case today. The last 5K I ran was this same race 2 years ago, slightly different course, when Nick was still fighting his fight with cancer. Nick passed a few months ago, but today with the hard work of some Fossil Ridge High School students, the race was continued to benefit Nick's family and the RamStrength/Lubick Foundation. Coach Lubick even walked the course with his family this morning. So this race was special for a number of reasons, including this was the first time in my life (almost 30 years of running and hundreds of races) that I crossed the finish line first! Obviously there were no elite runners out there today and I think 23:22 is the slowest winning 5K in the history of 5Ks, but it really doesn't change the fact that I met my goal of winning at least one race in my lifetime.

This race is run partially on the Fossil Ridge High School cross-country course (the school where Nick worked and touched so many young lives) and with all the rain this week, many were complaining about the mud. I thought the mud was a non-factor (advantage: slow trail runner). I settled in behind the leader for the first half-mile at what felt like a somewhat comfortable pace. When I saw he was having trouble with the mud sticking to his Nike racing flats, I knew it was time to make my move. I have only led in 2 previous races and both times it was very briefly. This time I was venturing into an experience I have never had before. I had to hold off the rest of the field for another 2.5 miles (or at least so I thought). I regret not wearing my GPS because there were no mile markers, but I felt like I was running close to 6:00 minute mile pace. So I figured I had to hold this lead for about another 15 minutes. That's nothing, right? This was the longest 2.5 miles I have ever run in my life! The mental roller coaster I was experiencing in just a short time compared to the highs and lows that occur over a full 100 miles. Well I'll never know how fast I was running, but when my watch passed 20 minutes and I was still a long way from the finish, I figured the high school kid trying to run me down would catch me and I would have to settle for 2nd. Then I would tell myself "Dammit, this is going to be your best chance ever to win, dig deeper". So the course must have been closer to 4 miles, but I managed to hold off that high schooler just long enough for a 15 second win.

Watching Nick's 1-year old daughter Stella jump out of her Mom's stroller and run across the finish line all smiles reminded us all why we were there today. The challenge of a 5K or a 167K race will never come close to those challenges we never ask for.

Results

Room with a view

2011-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just got an office upgrade. Now I can wish that I was trail running even more when I should be working. The Forest Service building just barely cuts out Horsetooth Rock but I can see the rest of the Fort Collins foothills that I so often run to the north through Lory State Park all the way to Greyrock and beyond. Most of the recent snow is rapidly vanishing today.

By the way, I have scrapped the weekly training summary post idea. Not really the direction I wanted to go with this blog. If you want my training secrets you can wait for my book, "How to be a middle of the pack ultrarunner on 50 miles per week". I do still post all of my trail runs on Garmin Connect, at least when I remember my GPS.

Running first 5K in a long time tomorrow. Think I am more nervous than I would be for an ultra.

8 Weeks to Black Hills

2011-05-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

Coyote Ridge

Monday (4/25)
3 miles road, Strength training

Tuesday (4/26)
Coyote Ridge/Laughing Horse/Indian Summer
14.89 miles, 2201 feet climbed, GPS

14 miles before sunrise (from Coyote Ridge)

Wednesday (4/27)
CSU Track, 4x1600/400, 1 mile warm up, 6 miles total
Strength training

Thursday (4/28)
Horsetooth Rock time trial, return via Audra Culver, up Southridge, down Horsetooth Rock
5.05 miles, 1515 feet climbed, GPS

Friday (4/29)
Incline Treadmill Walk, 4 miles at 4mph, 2369 feet climbed
Strength training

Saturday (4/30)
Coyote Ridge TH to Devils Backbone TH to Coyote Ridge TH
19.62 miles, 2723 feet climbed, GPS

Sunday (5/1)
11 miles road pacing Deanne to first marathon finish!

Mile 25 of the Colorado Marathon

Week totals: 63.56 miles, 8808 feet climbed

I normally look at road running as a day missed out for a good trail run. I must admit though that a marathon event still carries a lot of excitement for me. I'm a little curious to see what I could do, but I'm in no rush to go sign up for 26 miles of pavement pounding anytime soon. It sounded like Greyrock got pretty well tackled by the FCTR on Saturday. Congrats to Pete for completing the full 6 pack!

April Summary

2011-04-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

244 miles, 7.9 vertical miles

for comparison,
January 221, 6.5
February 208, 6.2
March 211, 6.3

Today was my 16th trail run of the month, by far a personal best. The increased trail miles helped to increase the vertical to almost 8 miles. I really had no epically challenging workouts this month, but was just consistent with lots of time on the trails. Next month I will be looking for at least 2 or 3 longer workouts. Hopefully a Greyrock Quad, Crosier Triple, and maybe a return to some higher mountains by the end of the month (but still a lot of snow). Black Hills on June 25 will be here before I know it.

The breakdown:
Trail (16 runs) 197 miles, 7.4 vertical miles, 40 hours
Road (2) 13 miles (yes, just 2 runs on the road all month)
Treadmill (1) 4 miles, 0.5 vertical miles
Track (5) 30.5 miles
Strength Training (10)
Rest days (6)

9 Weeks to Black Hills

2011-04-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Reservoir Ridge

Slog - to plod (one's way) perseveringly especially against difficulty (Merriam-Webster)

My week in review: Monday slog, Tuesday semi-slog (track), Wednesday slog, Thursday slog, Friday slog, Saturday rest, Sunday run (finally)

At least there was no walking:

One of the new signs along Foothills Trail. No shame in walking?

The week in a little more detail:
Monday - Coyote Ridge/Rim Rock (6.9 miles, 1050 feet vertical, GPS data here), Strength training

Tuesday - CSU Track (10x400/400, 5x200/200, 1 mile warm up and cool down, 7 miles total)

Wednesday - Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer (10.67 miles, 1699 feet vertical, GPS data here)

Thursday - Horsetooth Rock time trial with Kevin (PR? not even close), return via Wathen/Horsetooth Falls (5.94 miles, 1646 feet vertical, GPS data here), Strength training

Friday - Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer (10.6 miles, 1678 feet vertical, GPS data here)

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Foothills Trail/Reservoir Ridge (13.04 miles, 2184 feet vertical, GPS data here)

Just grinding through it this week. Rather than going long for what would have been another slog on Sunday, I decided to push the pace on a shorter distance. I was 7 minutes off my PR on this run, but by far my best run of the week.

Weekly totals: 54.15 miles, 8257 feet vertical

10 weeks to Black Hills

2011-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Audra Culver on Sunday afternoon.

The countdown to the Black Hills 100 has begun and I have made a major paradigm shift in the training. With all of the great trail resources here in Fort Collins, getting one or maybe two trail runs a week was just not satisfying enough for me. So with a commitment to a lot of trail miles via the headlamp on weekday mornings (much like I usually do on the weekend anyway), I hope to be on the trails more like four to five times a week with a sprinkling of speed workouts on the track mixed in. I am also continuing my commitment to time in the weight room which I enjoy, so my total mileage really isn't increasing that much. However, my trail miles and vertical are taking a big jump (over 60 miles and 11K feet of vertical this week). So rather than post each trail run (that would be too many posts for me), I'll do a weekly summary much like many others do. I guess this site has evolved to a training blog (but I am certainly no expert).

Monday (4/11) Coyote Ridge/Rim Rock
6.89 miles, 1052 feet vertical, GPS data here
Strength training

Tuesday (4/12) CSU track
4x1000m/400m, 4x200m/200m, 1 mile warm up (5.5 miles)

Wednesday (4/13) Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer
10.61 miles, 1674 feet vertical, GPS data here

Thursday (4/14) Towers Road time trial with Kevin (congrats on the PPA qualifier at Horsetooth Half today)
6.8 miles, 1714 feet vertical, GPS data here
Strength training

No PR this morning running through this:

Friday (4/15) Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer/Laughing Horse
14.8 miles, 2141 feet vertical, GPS data here

Saturday (4/16) rest

Sunday (4/17) Southridge/Audra Culver/Horsetooth Rock/Soderberg/Spring Creek/Wathen/Westridge/Towers/Mill Creek/Howard/Arthurs Rock/Valley/Sawmill/Loggers/Carey Springs/Towers/Herrington/Stout/Spring Creek/Horsetooth Falls
20.91 miles, 4957 feet vertical, GPS data here

Felt really good on the Sunday long run, which hopefully is a sign this new training approach is going to work well. Did the long run late in the day again (finishing right at sunset). A beautiful evening in the parks.

The homestretch just before sunset.

Weekly totals:
65.51 miles, 11538 feet vertical

Afternoon Stroll

2011-04-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

It was very strange pulling into the Horsetooth Rock parking lot with so many cars. I had to apologize to the girl in the permit booth for pulling in through the wrong lane (lane for those needing a daily permit). Normally I'm the first car in the lot well before sunrise and at least a few hours before anyone is manning the permit booth. But anyway, despite my abnormally late start, it was nice to see the park by the late afternoon light and not having to bother with a headlamp. I got up high on Westridge Trail in Lory State Park for a view of the Crystal Fire. It was still smoldering, but luckily some wet and colder weather really helped get it under control this week. It would sure be nice for a lot more moisture though. I'll take some wet and messy trails for a while if that is what it takes.

Some more smoking fast times at the American River 50 on Saturday. Congrats to Dave Mackey (5:55) and Ellie Greenwood (6:25, 7th overall) on their wins. Fort Collins strong again with 3rd (Sir Nick 6:00) and 5th (Burch 6:09). It's amazing to see these trail runners putting down some fast "road" times for 50 miles or more.

Today's run:
Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Valley/Arthurs Rock (with summit)/Timber/Westridge/Howard/Mill Creek/Loggers/Herrington/Spring Creek/Soderberg/Southridge
18.89 miles with 4341 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Other trail runs this week:
Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer
10.64 miles with 1703 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

The hills straight ahead were ablaze one week ago.

Greyrock 3-pack (almost)

2011-04-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Went after some vertical today back at Greyrock. The plan was a 3-pack (3 loops, 3 summits) which would have been about 22.5 miles and 7500 feet of vertical. With heavy and accumulating snow on the 3rd loop, I skipped the 3rd summit (3 loops, 2 summits), but still more climbing that I have done in one run since January. The snow was actually a welcome sight with the nearby Crystal Fire burning this morning. I got a pretty good view of it on my first summit when it was still dark. I'm guessing now that a full Greyrock 6-pack (the idea of some masochistic trail runner) is going to take me probably 14 hours. We'll see. You really can't get too much speed going even on the downhills on these trails unless you are looking to make a face plant. At least I think I've got the summit route figured out finally.

Today's run:
Greyrock 2.5-pack
20.68 miles with 6814 feet of climbing, GPS data here

Early morning double rainbow

80 degrees yesterday, snow today

March Summary

2011-04-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

The numbers:
211 miles, 6.3 vertical miles

Trail (7 runs) 119 miles, 4.4 vertical, 24.5 hours
Road (6) 62 miles, 0.2 vertical
Treadmill (4) 17 miles, 1.7 vertical
Track (2) 13 miles
Strength Training (9)
Rest Days (12)
Longest Run 28 miles, 5.4 hours
Most Vertical 5167 feet

My first 3 months of 2011 have been very consistent on the total volume and vertical and right about where I wanted them to be. Only got to the track twice this month, but I made up for it with some short, hard efforts on the trail. Also took a lot of rest days toward the end of March. I hope that rest will pay dividends as I start to increase the volume some, but I can't really say that my body feels "rested" any more than if I took no rest days at all.

Towers Road

2011-03-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

After a couple long days of meetings, I was itching for a trail run today. A Towers Road time trial was not really on the radar until seeing Nick's post this morning and how all the FCTR are tearing up the hill lately. This has sort of become the benchmark workout of the trail run group with biweekly races up to the towers, but also a workout that I have almost always opted to avoid. For some reason I can climb quite well on singletrack, but going up the road just wears on me mentally and physically. So that being said, my PR (set a couple of years ago) was somewhere north of 40 minutes. I figured I should at least go under 40 even if I decided to wimp out on the pain level I wanted to endure today. The plan (which worked well on a Horsetooth Rock time trial 2 weeks ago) was to go out easy and progressively up the effort as the climb progressed. Well with the wind situation today, I ended up sprinting whenever there was a brief pause in the massive headwind and just trying to maintain upright forward motion when the winds picked back up. Easily 50mph or more wind gusts. So it wasn't pretty, but I got up to the towers in 39:19. I let it fly back down the hill with a nice wind-aided 22:41 descent, also a PR, which included a 5:36 mile split. I guess I am going to have to make this a regular workout. It's borderline "no fun" level on the workout gage indicates that is must have some benefit.

Todays run:

6.77 miles round-trip, 1684 feet climbed, GPS data here

Start/Finish at Soderberg Trailhead

The rather uninspiring finish line.

About 3.4 miles and over 1600 feet of "fun".

Recovery Week

2011-03-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Recovery week I guess. Ran just twice this week (both easy road runs) leading up to today's return to the trails. I was sort of hoping the extra rest would have me flying over the trails today. Not really the case. Probably the rocky terrain of Devil's Backbone and Coyote Ridge weren't the best for the nagging PF and tweaked ankle. Oh well, it was my best option for getting some bigger miles today and "R-E-S-T" is just a bad 4-letter word. Still a great morning out there (actually it was dark for almost the first 3 hours). I could have easily kept chugging away a lot longer, so at least that was a good sign. I will just kick things back into high gear and accept the fact that my days of ever running completely pain-free are long over.

Today's run:
Coyote Ridge TH - Devil's Backbone TH - Blue Sky TH - Coyote Ridge TH
28.25 miles, 3723 feet climbed, GPS data here

Tumbling into Spring

2011-03-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hobbled my way through another 5K20 workout this morning (5000 feet, 20 miles). I like to think I know these trails in Horsetooth and Lory parks well enough that I can almost run them in the dark. Well with the headlamp batteries fading well before any hint of morning light, I took my best tumble of 2011 down the steep wooden steps of the Horsetooth Rock Trail. I still slogged my way for about another 4 hours and 17 miles, but I can barely walk on my right ankle now. A great morning out there on the first day of Spring and completely dry trails. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back at it soon (with new batteries in the headlamp).

Great seeing so many FCTR at the March Mileage Madness. I guess I would have been better suited running in the daylight with you all yesterday. Thanks to Alex for letting me crash your post-run BBQ on a "zero" day for me.

Today's "run"
Southridge-Audra Culver-Horsetooth Rock (with summit)-Soderberg-Spring Creek-Wathen-Westridge-Towers-Mill Creek-Arthurs Rock (with summit)-Valley-Sawmill-Loggers-Carey Springs-Towers-Herrington-Stout-Spring Creek-Horsetooth Falls

20.66 miles, 5146 feet climbed, GPS data here

Brooks Cascadia 6

2011-03-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

First run in these new shoes today along my regular Foothills Trail and Reservoir Ridge Loop. I won't go into a full shoe review, but I'll just say this was the best run I have had in months. A new PR on this training run and over 11 minutes faster than I ran it two weeks ago. I've been battling a nagging PF the last couple of months and forgot that I can actually run fast downhill. Just some very dull heel pain near the end that didn't slow me a bit. It was definitely time for new shoes as my gore-tex North Face winter shoes (overkill for this "winter") were pretty well worn out at over 500 trail miles. I've been running in Cascadias since version 2 and I would have to say that Jurek made some nice adjustments to this version, most notably a cool lacing pattern and gusseted tongue making for very nice fitting upper. They also lightened this shoe by an ounce from the last version putting it right there with the lighter (non-minimalist) trail shoes on the market. I'm going to try running with my orthotics in these Cascadias to relieve some pressure on the PF and see how it goes. Seemed to work very well today.

Shoe Review Update (12/23/2011):
Kind of late with this update, especially since the Cascadia 7 release is just over a month away, but I've done a lot of running in the Cascadia 6 and have more to say about the shoe. I have loved the fit and feel of this shoe and its slightly lighter weight over previous versions. I have never had the upper hold up before without wearing a hole in it somewhere over the runnable life (500-600 miles) of the shoe, but the Cascadia 6's have held up. My only complaint with this shoe is the tread. The new circular lug design works great when new, but wears out fast (200-300 miles). I've run the shoe tread just about bald. I'm glad to hear the 7's are switching back to a tread similar to earlier versions. I'm looking forward to the Cascadia 7 in February.
Today's run
Out and back from Maxwell TH to Michuad Lane TH on Foothills Trail with a loop around Reservoir Ridge.

13.02 miles, 2348 feet climbed, GPS data here

Foothills Trail along Horsetooth Reservoir

Daylight Savings?

2011-03-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize it until I switched on my Garmin watch and saw that I was getting an hour later start than expected. What really stunk was that I couldn't switch my headlamp off until 6:45. So I did a short run (shorter than planned) from Coyote Ridge to Devil's Backbone and back. Very mild, damp, and foggy which made for perfect running conditions. I guess it is a good sign when a 4 hour run seems too short.

Todays run:
Coyote Ridge TH - Devil's Backbone TH - Coyote Ridge TH (Indian Summer spur both ways to get as much climbing as possible)

21.01 miles with 3066 feet of climbing, GPS data here

Spring Fever on the Rock

2011-03-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

Sunny, 60s, little to no wind. I had to get a quick trail run in today. The answer: Horsetooth Rock time trial. My last go was late December with a somewhat dissappointing 31:05, but still a PR. It seems like every time I have tried this I am "red lining" on the 2nd mile and walking short sections that I usually run when I go easier. So today the approach was to keep the pace borderline comfortable, no walking (except the last 0.1 miles to the top), and try to turn it on near the end, especially if sub 30 was within reach. Today's result: 30:18. A new PR and I definitely could have pushed harder and got the sub 30 today, but I am learning. The slower first mile (10:40 as opposed to 10:14 last time) definitely paid dividends on the steeper singletrack later on. It was hard to peel myself off from the summit as it was absolutely gorgeous up there today. I finished off the run with a good steady effort around Westridge, Spring Creek, and the still completely dry Horsetooth Falls.

Today's Course:
Horsetooth Rock summit via short (2.34-2.35 mile) route (singletrack with Southridge service road shortcut near top)/Westridge/Spring Creek/Horsetooth Falls

7.69 miles, 1980 feet climbed, GPS data here

Beautiful day on the Rock!

Sub 30 next time.

Another 5K20

2011-03-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

I didn't even make 4K vertical feet for my 31-miler last Sunday, so I picked the vertical back up this morning in Horsetooth and Lory Parks. Over 5K vertical in a little under 22 miles (another 5K20 workout). Some pretty significant "luge runs" made things a little cumbersome in places, but 95% of the trails are in really good shape. I got an Arthurs Rock summit, but was short on time for Horsetooth Rock this time. I also experimented with Honey Stinger energy chews instead of my normal GU gels. I actually was enjoying them the entire run (Pomegranate Passion, yummy), which I could never really say for GU. I hope these can help me fuel myself better at Black Hills than I did at Bighorn last year.

So I know of at least 6 wildlife cameras situated on the trails of Horsetooth and Lory now. I ran by all 6 of them this morning, setting off the flashes on 3 of them as I was running by in the early morning darkness. It makes me wonder what the researchers are doing with all their trail runner pictures and/or videos. Maybe we could talk them into forwarding them to the FCTR group and we could have a monthly contest on who gets caught on camera the most times. Great stuff here from the camera project at nearby Bobcat Ridge, but I am not aware of any public postings from the Horsetooth and Lory cameras. It's pretty amazing to see the diversity of wildlife we have in these hills.

Today's run:
Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Valley/Overlook/Well Gulch/Timber/Westridge/Howard/Arthurs Rock (with summit)/Mill Creek/Spring Creek/Soderberg/Horsetooth Rock

21.65 miles with 5167 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Sunrise from Well Gulch Trail.

Scramble to Arthurs Rock summit.

February Summary

2011-02-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

208 Miles, 6.2 Vertical Miles

The Breakdown:
Trail (5 runs) 95 miles, 3.58 vertical, 20.4 hours
Road (7) 64 miles, 0.24 vertical
Treadmill (6) 31 miles, 2.33 vertical
Track (3) 18 miles
Strength Training (11)
Rest Days (7)
Longest Run 30.8 miles, 5.7 hours
Most Vertical 5059 feet

Pretty steady continuation from January's 221 miles and 6.5 vertical miles with a very similar breakdown. Hopefully, I can keep this pace through March and then bump up the trail time a little come April and May leading up to Black Hills.

Outlaw 50K

2011-02-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

I had done 50K's in December and January, so I thought I should try to knock out a 50K today to get one in for February. Not real challenging with the climbing today along the Blue Sky trails. I find it a nice test of the fitness, however, to do some big miles without any major climbs so I have no excuses for not running every step. I was pretty happy with the result. Most of the snow from Friday was already gone and I was surprised at how much of the trail along Blue Sky had already dried out. The worst mud came late morning back toward Coyote Ridge.

So it turns out that heading out from a trailhead at 4:30 in the morning in the middle of the Winter seems abnormal to some, like with the local law enforcement. After being temporarily detained by the sheriff, I got headed out from the Coyote Ridge Trailhead a little later than planned. I just had to make up the lost time by running a little harder on what I will call the "Outlaw 50K".

Todays Course:
Coyote Ridge TH - Devil's Backbone TH - Soderberg TH - Coyote Ridge TH
30.84 miles, 3715 feet climbed, GPS data here

Foothills Trail and Reservoir Ridge

2011-02-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Got out this afternoon for a good moderate effort on the trails. All clear and dry along the Foothills Trail and around Reservoir Ridge. I am hoping for more of these faster paced, shorter trail runs to mix in with my usual long trail slogs on the weekend. Just about the same distance as my Greyrock "run" the other day but with only half the climbing.

Today's run:
12.99 miles, 2154 feet climbed, GPS data here
Start/Finish at Maxwell Natural Area Trailhead.

Greyrock

2011-02-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

Almost a little embarrasing to admit that I had never climbed Greyrock until yesterday. I guess with only 6 miles of total trails and being one of the more popular trails around, I never considered it worth the short drive up the Poudre Canyon. Boy, was I wrong. Pete reported some nice trail conditions last week as he was officially kicking off his Hardrock training. He also has a nice trail description here. With 2 routes to the top, the run (hike) can be done in a looping fashion covering 7.5 miles with over 2500 feet of vertical. Yes, I believe this is the best place right now (unless you're snowshoeing) to get some serious vertical. I did a double loop, reversing directions for the 2nd loop. I also had to skip the summit on the 2nd loop since I was short on time, so I was just short of an official Greyrock 2-pack. There is talk of a Greyrock 6-pack attempt coming this Spring. Yeah, we are talking 45 miles with over 15,000 feet of vertical. I plan to get back for a legit 2-pack, or maybe 3-pack very soon. Trail conditions on these predominantly south-facing slopes are just about perfect right now, as long as you don't mind rocky, rugged, and steep. I also didn't see another person until I finished and 2 hikers were just heading out from the trailhead.

A big shout out to America's top trail running town for showing up big at the Moab races this weekend. If we can claim temporary resident and race winner Dakota Jones, then Fort Collins trail runners took 4 of the top 9 in the 55K. Great job everyone and I hope you all got home safe over the stormy passes.

Great stuff in Boulder Friday night at the "Running Wild" benefit for CEES. It was great to hear the first-hand adventures of running in the Copper Canyons with the Tarahumara from "Born to Run" author Christopher McDougall and ultra-running legend Scott Jurek. Anton Krupicka also gave a nice talk, and I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with Luis Escobar whose photography is just spectacular. His photo credits include the cover of "Born to Run". It turns out that he is a pretty accomplished ultra runner himself. Good luck at Badwater this year Luis!

Greyrock run stats:
13.3 miles with 4226 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Sunrise viewed from just below Greyrock summit.

Another view from the summit.

Some typical trail climbing toward Greyrock.

Distances are a little short in the description, but you get the picture.

5K20

2011-02-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

5000 feet of climbing and 20 miles was the goal for today. It's really not hard to get that kind of climbing if you want it in the Horsetooth hills. I added another summit of Horsetooth Rock and Arthurs Rock on a pleasantly mild morning. A nice change from the 20 below zero temps last week. Trails are a little slick, but I got by without any extra traction. After getting denied for Hardrock, I've added the Black Hills 100 to the 2011 schedule. Should be a beautiful run along the Centennial Trail of South Dakota.

Today's course:
Southridge/Audra Culver/Horsetooth Rock (with Summit)/Soderberg/Spring Creek/Wathen/Westridge/Mill Creek/Howard/Arthurs Rock (with Summit)/Valley/Sawmill/Stout/Spring Creek/Horsetooth Falls

21.06 miles and 5059 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Pikes Peak a bump on the horizon over 100 miles away from the backside of Horsetooth Rock.

Westridge Trail.

Maybe Next Year

2011-02-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

I didn't even make the first 100 on the waiting list, so no Hardrock for me this year. I will try again next year with an additional ticket to double my chances. I've got some ideas for Plan B and will decide soon on when and where I plan to cover 100 miles of trail this summer.

Fast times as expected at Rocky Raccoon on Saturday. But a 12:44? Are you kidding me? That is fast no matter where you run it. Nice job Ian Sharman. It looks like he could be in the mix at Western States this year.

Today's run in some fresh snow around Horsetooth and Lory Parks:
16.45 miles, 3769 feet climbed (GPS data here)

Swan Johnson/Shoreline/Valley/Arthurs Rock/Overlook/Well Gulch/Timber/Westridge/Howard/Mill Creek/Spring Creek/Herrington/Towers/Swan Johnson
Start/Finish at Soderberg Trailhead

Spring Creek Trail

January Summary

2011-02-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

221 Miles, 6.4 Vertical Miles

The breakdown:
Trail (6 runs) 117 miles, 4.3 vertical miles, 25 hours
Road (6) 62 miles, 0.2 vertical miles
Treadmill (5) 24.5 miles, 1.9 vertical miles
Track (3) 17.5 miles
Strength Training (12)
Rest Days (11)
Longest run (trail run of course) 32.5 miles, 6999 feet vertical, 7.3 hours

Really happy with the volume and balance of training this month. I was lacking any short, hard (fast) efforts on the trail (i.e. Horsetooth Rock time trial), but I did get in some intense workouts at the track and on the "mill". I can see that 100 vertical miles for the year is not going to come easy as I am on pace for about 76 right now.

Climbing the Rocks

2011-01-30T21:24:00.000-08:00

I made my first 2011 summit of Horsetooth early this morning, and added another summit of Arthurs Rock for good measure. Another nice loop around Horsetooth and Lory Parks, taking full advantage of the excellent trail conditions for this time of year. I guess we are in for another taste of winter tomorrow, so it was nice to enjoy the clear trails today. With today's run, I pushed my January climbing up to 6 miles or about one Hardrock 100 race. I'm getting very anxious for the Hardrock lottery later this week.

Today's course:
Southridge/Audra Culver/Horsetooth Rock (with Summit)/Wathen/Spring Creek/Mill Creek/Howard/Westridge(Lory)/Timber/Arthurs Rock (with Summit)/Valley/Sawmill/Stout/Spring Creek/Horsetooth Falls

20.54 miles and 4931 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Wathen trail at sunrise.

The Westridge Tree is Gone

2011-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

For those who frequent the Horsetooth trails, or ran Chubby Cheeks last month, you know which tree I am talking about. It's been 3 or 4 weeks since I passed through this trail, but sometime since then they finally put a chainsaw to it. It was nice to get back into Horsetooth and Lory parks this morning after a few weeks running elsewhere. Trail conditions were great. Other than the typical lingering snow on Mill Creek and Westridge, all other trails were about 80 percent clear and dry. Very runnable everywhere. I did have to go pretty slow the first hour and a half or so. Starting 2 hours before sunrise and having headlamp issues, I ended up running by the moonlight. This was actually pretty awesome.

Moonlight run along Sawmill Trail.

I'm going to try to tag Arthurs and Horsetooth Rock summits more often than I did last year. I got Arthurs today, but was a little short on time to tag Horsetooth. Still got plenty of climbing this morning.

First light of the sun hitting Arthurs Rock.

The view from the top.

Some strong race performances to start the year by our Fort Collins Trail Runners. Ashley Waddell was one of only about 30 finishers (over 100 started) at the HURT 100 in Hawaii. Pretty impressive as this is obviously one of the toughest 100s out there. Pete Stevenson with a great race (2nd overall) down in New Mexico at the GhostTown 38-miler. Also, several FoCos finishing maybe the toughest Twin Mountain Trudge to date. Great job guys (and gals)!

Today's Run:
Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Valley/Arthurs Rock (and summit)/Howard/Mill Creek/Westridge/Horsetooth Rock
Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.
18.79 miles, 4331 feet climbing (GPS data here)

Screw-Shoeing

2011-01-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Expecting plenty of slippery slop this morning back on the Fort Collins trails, I made the call to throw on some screws. It was definitely the right call. With all of the persistent deep snow last winter, I never bothered with extra traction. I almost forgot how well the screws work. I wish I had them in when I was skating down the Barr Trail ice rink on Saturday. I ended up doing the same run I did 8 days ago from Coyote Ridge (just reversed directions on the loops) and I ran it 28 minutes faster today even with all of the ice. I was trudging through a fair amount of snow last weekend. Trail conditions today ranged from perfect along the high ridges to either ice, slush, or mud everywhere else.

Icy Blue Sky Trail south of Indian Summer.

All clear along the ridges toward Devil's Backbone.

I've added Pikes Peak Marathon to the projected schedule for 2011. I'll probably just focus on the Marathon instead of "doubling" (Ascent and Marathon), hopefully posting a respectable time. I was already thinking I should do it this year to keep my qualification current. If I don't run it this year, then that will be 3 years in a row and I would probably have to run a road marathon to qualify again (no thanks). I guess running down the Barr Trail on Saturday sealed the deal for me.

Huge congrats to Nick for coming in 4th in the voting for UltraRunning Magazine's Male Ultra Runner of the Year for 2010. It was nice to see that his huge year did not go unnoticed.

Today's run:
Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer/Blue Sky/Laughing Horse Loop/Hunter Loop
16.2 miles, 2309 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

Ponderous Posterior 50K (7:20:25)

2011-01-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

Another great fat-ass event along the Front Range, this time graciously host by JT and the CRUD with a sweet loop (thanks Tony) around the Pikes Peak area trails. I was really looking forward to experiencing most of these trails for the first time and it turned out to be just a gorgeous day.

We had quite a variety of terrain and trail conditions. Running through the Garden of the Gods at sunrise was about enough to make the whole trip down from FoCo worth it.

Garden of the Gods at sunrise.

There was a fair bit of snow and ice to help keep the pace comfortably slow (as it should be at a fat-ass event). I even clocked a blazing 29 minute mile (Mile 16) going up Longs Ranch Road through the snow (and nobody passed me in that mile either).

3-mile, 2000 foot climb up snowy Longs Ranch Road.

It was more than just a little bit cool to get caught at the top of the Longs Ranch Road climb by Mr. Pikes Peak himself (Matt Carpenter) and share the run back down to Manitou Springs through the Experimental Forest and Barr Trail with Matt. Thanks for going slow today Matt!

Chasing Matt C through the snow.

The last 10 miles or so required the most navigational skills trying to get through the Intemann Trail to Red Rocks Open Space. It didn't help that some of the locals disposed of some course markings. As it turned out though, I got to get a couple of bonus miles of beautiful singletrack along the Intemann Trail. I then realized that I should probably back track to the course if I wanted to get to Red Rocks. Thanks to JT, Rick, Steve, and any others for the well-marked course otherwise.

As it turns out, since JT posted some results today, I was one of the slowest 50Kers on the day, but looking at the list of runners that were faster than me, I really don't feel ashamed one bit. I think any "real" race would kill to have the quality field of runners that turned out for the Ponderous Posterior. It was great to meet a lot of these guys for the first time.

Congrats and thanks to Fast Eddy (one of the unofficial "winners") for dishing out some nice PI gear after the race. I'll take some pride in being I think one of only 3 to complete both 50K courses at Chubby Cheeks and Ponderous Posterior. I know my CRUD friends Rick H and Steve B did as well.

Today's Data (according to Garmin):
32.48 miles, 6999 feet of climbing (GPS data here)

It turns out I ran an extra 1.4 miles, putting the course just about 50K on the money. Also, the total climbing was almost identical to the Chubby Cheeks course from the Fort Collins fat-ass last month.

Many more pictures from the day can be seen here.
Steve Bremner's photos here.

Results here (at least from those who were willing to admit to a time).

Some local media coverage (with videos) here.

Running through the Garden.

Rampart Range Road.

Waldo Canyon.

Barr Trail.

Let it snow

2011-01-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Another 4 to 6 inches of fresh powder this morning (and still accumulating) as I took another run from Coyote Ridge and went a little further down toward Devil's Backbone than I did last Sunday. Breaking trail all the way as no other souls braved the storm (at least not where I was). The fluffy snow hardly provided any resistance to running. This run was more an exercise in agility as the many technical rocky sections along this route are a challenge even when you can actually see the rocks, which I couldn't.

Speaking of rocky terrain, congrats to Dave Mackey and Liza Howard for winning at the Bandera 100K this weekend in Texas. I don't know the details yet, but it sounds like Nick's course record from last year went down hard. Hopefully Dave will use his automatic qualifier for Western States to add to the already stacked field.

I'm looking forward to exploring some trails around Pikes Peak next weekend with the CRUD for the last installment of Front Range Fat Ass events (details here).

Today's run (on a beautiful morning): 16.2 miles, 2286 feet climbed, GPS data here

Devil's Backbone

Climbing back over Coyote Ridge

Dude, where's my car?

A New Season

2011-01-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is looking and feeling like Winter. A few inches of powdery fluff along Coyote Ridge and Blue Sky but still very runnable. I was actually very surprised to be breaking trail along Blue Sky and Indian Summer but I guess the cold weather has deterred quite a few from getting out the last few days.

Today's run: 13.1 miles, 1956 feet climbed (GPS data here)

Breaking trail on Blue Sky

2010 Summary

2010-12-31T10:14:00.000-08:00

Since I've got the numbers, I thought I would share them. Total miles ended up at 2281 with approximately 65 miles of climbing. The breakdown:

1274 trail miles (48 miles climbed, 281 hours)
190 treadmill miles (14 miles climbed)
97 track miles (no climbing)
720 road miles (estimated 3 miles climbing)
129 resistance workouts (weights/plyometrics, about 100 hours)

Prominent Summits:

Longs Peak (14,255ft)
Comanche Peak (12,690ft)
Signal Mountain, 3 times (11,253ft)
Lookout Mountain (10,597ft)
West White Pine Mountain (10,302ft)
Crosier Mountain, 3 times one day (9216ft)
Sheep (Round) Mountain (8458ft)
Horsetooth Rock, 7 times (7208ft)
Arthurs Rock, 3 times (6772ft)

I ended up my year today with 15 miles of urban trail (road) around Fort Collins in the snow and single digits (welcome Winter). I'm really happy with the total numbers. As I pointed out in a previous post, my miles are pretty low compared to a lot of my trail running peers. Of course since that post a month ago I went out and did 270 miles in December (my biggest month). As all trail runners know, however, all miles are not created equal. Pete recently posted his 100th vertical mile of 2010 and that is a number that I put more value to than horizontal miles. Maybe I will shoot for 100 in 2011, but it will be tough. I'm going to have to convert more of those road miles to trail miles but that is not always feasible. I am trying to make an effort to do more short trail runs at harder efforts. For example, I plan to make the Horsetooth Summit time trial a regular personal challenge.

It's been a great year of discovering new trails and I hope to continue that trend in 2011. I will assume Hard Rock to be my goal race this summer until I hear otherwise from the February 5 lottery. There is also a long list of runs and adventures that don't involve a registration fee or racing bib that I hope to slowly make my way through. As a kid, my Dad and I used to joke how we wanted to fish every pond and lake in Maine. Impossible! Now I feel the same way about trying to explore every trail in Colorado.

I am thankful to go another year injury-free (not counting the everyday muscle soreness of this 40 year old body). I think the resistance training is key to this. I am also lucky to have the support of a wonderful wife and two girls who let Dad disappear into the mountains for hours on end and then lets his stinky, sweaty body back in the house upon his return.

2010, you are done!

Anti-minimalist shoe

2010-12-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

I took another shot at a sub 30 minute Horsetooth summit today, the result a 31:05. This was a new PR, but I still know I can do better. I tried to chase "Proud Daddy" Clark up the hill today and maybe went out a little too fast (10:14 split at mile 1). Anyway, Nick lowered the standard today with a smokin' 23:50 (details here). On our return loop through the park, Nick commented on my shoes and how I probably could shave a good minute with something more lightweight. The North Face Ultra 106 Goretex (shown above) were a great shoe for me last winter (actually the 104's last year) as I trudged through snow-covered trails for several months. So I got a new pair for this winter, but haven't really needed them yet (I prefer the Brooks Cascadias). No doubt these shoes are monsters, so I decided to weigh my shoes this afternoon and found my size 13 Ultras to be a whopping 20.8 ounces per shoe. Not a complete dry weight with a little sweat still on them, but still heavier than I thought. I figure if I run through the winter in these boots I'll have the leg strength to fly over the San Juan mountains come July 8. However, next time I go for a Horsetooth summit PR in dry conditions like today, I'll probably throw on my beat up Cascadias (size 12.5, 14.7 ounces).

After today's run, I realized that December will actually be my highest mileage month of the year. I guess the increased opportunity to get out on the trails this month combined with the fact that these trails could be buried in snow any day (like tomorrow) has motivated me to rack up some trail miles.

Today's run:
Horsetooth Rock Trail (with Southridge shortcut near top): 2.34 miles to summit (31:05)
Return via Wathen, Spring Creek, Horsetooth Falls
7.32 miles total with 1813 feet vertical (GPS data here)

Lory Rescue Mission

2010-12-20T15:29:00.000-08:00

I was out on the trails of Lory State Park today and came upon this deer lying down on the Howard Trail. I could have sworn it was mumbling something that sounded like "damn Chubby Cheeks course". So I asked the deer if he was a member of team CRUD. But honestly, the poor animal couldn't get up. Division of Wildlife had already been informed by the time I could let them know. No other carnage was found on the CC course. It's been fun reading the various reports and seeing the pictures from all the great people that turned out on Saturday.
Today's rather scattered 17 miles (2824 feet of vertical) can be viewed here.

Chubby Cheeks 50K (6:26:36)

2010-12-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well the long-awaited event finally arrived and it certainly didn't dissapoint. I evened up my score with this course with a pretty strong run today, but more importantly got to spend some time on the trails with some old and new friends. I don't know if Horsetooth and Lory Parks has ever had this many accomplished trail runners out on the trails all at one time before. We had near perfect trail conditions on a nice crisp December day. Big thanks to Nick for hosting the first (we hope of many) Chubby Cheeks (aka El Chubbo Grande, Chubster, Chubbapalooza, ...) Fort Collins Fat-Ass.

Some more pictures from the day can be seen here

GPS data here

Garmin had the 50K course at 31.36 miles with 6858 feet of climbing.

Pete Stevenson tearing up the course today.

No shortage of climbing.

Chubby Cheeks Teaser

2010-12-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

I'll let the picture describe the current course conditions. Barely any snow up here in Fort Collins and another beautiful day on the trails. The CC course is just about prepped for the big event.

FoCo R2R2R

2010-12-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

Sunrise from Horsetooth Rock (summit 1)

I was looking for about 4 hours today on the Horsetooth and Lory trails with a good amount of climbing. What I ended up doing was a first for me. I'll call it Fort Collins' version of R2R2R (Horsetooth Rock to Arthurs Rock to Horsetooth Rock). I didn't take the most direct route in either direction and instead made a nice loop of it. I usually don't even bother to tag these summits, but I have kind of been on a summit tagging binge lately. Just under 20 miles for the day and just over 5000 feet of climbing. Trail conditions are perfect right now for El Chubbo.

Today's Course:
Southridge-Audra Culver-Horsetooth Rock (to summit)-Westridge-Towers-Mill Creek-Howard-Arthurs Rock (to summit)-Valley-Sawmill-Loggers-Herrington-Spring Creek-Wathen-Horsetooth Rock (to summit)-Southridge.

Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS data here

Horsetooth Rock as viewed from Arthurs Rock (summit 2)

Arthurs Rock in the distant as viewed from Horsetooth Rock (summit 3)

2000 Miles

2010-12-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

While many trail and ultrarunners are posting double the mileage that I am, I actually take a little pride in being able to participate and compete (faster than some) in this sport on just 2000 miles in 11 months. I hit mile 2000 on November 29. I attribute this to quality over quantity and to cross-training. That being said, I am continually trying to tweak some things to get better. I am now trying to work in some more hard efforts on the trail at shorter distances. Like a few days ago, I made another attempt for a Horsetooth Summit PR using a slight course change (little bit longer, but maybe faster?) based on Nick's suggestion. The result was 33 minutes flat (a little over a minute slower than my last attempt). The thought was that by using more service road and less singletrack, the climbing pace could be upped a little. However, I actually feel like a better climber on the singletrack. I'll make many more attempts using all of the different course options so I'll eventually figure it out.

Big race outside of San Francisco this morning with $10,000 up for grabs at The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-miler. A strong international presence at this one as Spain's Miguel Heras won for the men in 6:47 and New Zealand's Anna Frost took 1st woman in 7:45. Congrats to new Fort Collins resident Dakota Jones who took 4th place with a 7:02. See what these Fort Collins trails can do for you, and he's just 19 years old!

Today's run:

9.2 miles, 2477 feet climbing

Horsetooth Rock/Southridge/Horsetooth Rock (summit in 33:00)/Westridge/Spring Creek/Wathen/Horsetooth Rock.

Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS data here.

A frosty morning on the mountain.

Horsetooth Rock Summit PR

2010-11-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

With a little bit of daylight left this afternoon I decided to put in a good short, but hard workout on the trails. I have never tried to see how fast I could summit Horsetooth Rock, so I knew today would be a PR. I have gotten up there several times around the 35 minute range at the start of longer runs and not by way of the shortest and fastest route (which is still debatable). I was hoping for a sub 30 minute, but instead touched the high point of the north summit at 31:56. I felt like I was really dragging from the start, so I will take it as a good workout and keep that sub 30 as motivation to try again. Nick's 25:26 FKT is safe from me.

My route:

Horsetooth Rock (singletrack from trailhead)/Service Road (where Horsetooth Rock and Southridge trails merge)/Horsetooth Rock singletrack/a bit of Southridge service road near top/Horsetooth Rock to north summit

At 2.34 miles, I think this is the shortest route. However, I think it might be a bit quicker to start going up the Southridge service road from the trailhead instead of the singletrack. I'm quite sure my split at the bench (where Horsetooth Rock and Southridge trails merge) was slower than I have run when going Southridge from the start.

I completed the run by descending the Wathen trail and looping around Spring Creek and Horsetooth Falls back to the trailhead for a total of 6 miles. The park was very peaceful with some light snow flurries breaking out as the sun was setting. A nice way to spend an hour.

GPS data here

Montgomery Pass Trail

2010-11-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

Snow, snow, and more snow up around Cameron Pass. Made for some great snowshoeing up the Montgomery Pass Trail and even better sledding back down. Beautiful day with Madison, even if she did ditch the snowshoes half way up to the pass and made Dad pull her the rest of the way on the sled.

The downhill was much more fun.

Weekday Double-Dip

2010-11-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

Most weeks my trail runs come on the weekend and any time I get on the trail during the week is a bonus. With the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to get out twice (Thursday Coyote Ridge and Friday Foothills Trail). Two fairly short and very accessible runs from Fort Collins. I pushed the pace a little more on Thursday than I did this morning, but in all a good training week.

Coyote Ridge/Indian Summer:

10.6 miles

1685 feet climb

Start/Finish at Coyote Ridge Trailhead

GPS data here

Foothills Trail/Reservoir Ridge:

13 miles

2185 feet climb

Start/Finish at Maxwell Natural Area Trailhead (behind football stadium)

GPS data here

Coyote Ridge/Devil's Backbone

2010-11-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been since August that I have run out of Coyote Ridge. I usually run from this trailhead quite frequently, being the closest trailhead to my home. I opted for some snow and ice free trails today with an out and back from Coyote Ridge Trailhead to Devil's Backbone Trailhead. This included all the trail spurs (Indian Summer, Lauging Horse, Hunter, etc.), which I took in a counter-clockwise direction today. I felt really good and ran one of my faster times for this run. Good confidence booster after a rough go on the Chubby Cheeks course the other day. I probably saw close to 100 mule deer this morning.

Today's run:

19.7 miles and 2659ft climb

GPS data here

Chubby Cheeks Course 1 Yonder Mt Runner 0

2010-11-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

I took on the Chubby Cheeks 50K course today that Nick has designed for the 12/18 Fort Collins fat-ass. I was hoping to provide some stats and a GPS track for those out-of-towners who may want to upload some data to their navigation devices. Of course, Nick will probably add a time penalty if you run with a navigation device. Well if you do upload the GPS track, only follow it for the first 23.5 miles. The course was pretty much mine for the first 19 miles. Both summits (Horsetooth and Arthurs Rock) down and going strong. The section of Well Gulch and Overlook (Miles 19 to 21) landed a few jabs on me as it normally does with a lot of miles in my legs. The knockout punch came going up Sawmill around Mile 23. Not just the climb, but the sideways rain/snow and a good 20 degree drop in air temperature in a matter of minutes. I was not prepared for that as I was underdressed and packed pretty lightly on what was a very pleasant morning. I started having flashbacks of Bighorn and hypothermia. So I made a left turn at the Loggers/Sawmill junction (about Mile 23.5), instead of the right turn and eventually climb back up toward Horsetooth Rock that the course takes, and I drug my beaten and frozen self back the shortest route I knew to the trailhead.

Today's route:
Horsetooth Rock-Southridge-Audra Culver-Horsetooth Rock to North Summit-Horsetooth Rock-Soderberg-Spring Creek-Stout-Herrington-Spring Creek-Mill Creek-Howard-Arthurs Rock to Summit-Timber-Valley-Well Gulch-Overlook-Arthurs Rock-Valley-Sawmill-Loggers-Towers-Herrington-Spring Creek-Soderberg-Horsetooth Rock-Southridge

Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS Data here

According to Garmin
Distance 26.8 miles
Climbing 6115 feet

I figure I cut out about 1000 feet of climbing (and about 3 miles) with my shortcut near the end, and if you add the 600 foot climb back to Nick's house, this course should be in the 7500 to 8000 foot range. Nick, you've created a monster. Next time she is mine.

Crisp Sunday Morning

2010-11-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

It's been great exploring lots of trails around the Northern Front Range this Summer and Fall, but with the change in the season (the snow season), most of my trail runs now will be back on the familiar Horsetooth/Lory/Blue Sky network. That's not a bad thing. With so many different loop options, just about every run is a new one. I will also spend less time in the car driving to a trailhead and more time on the trails. The trail conditions were still really good for running despite the snow. A lot of bare ground on the South-facing slopes, very few icy spots, and the snow got no deeper than the ankles in a few spots where I was breaking trail.

Today's run (16-miles):

Swan Johnson-Shoreline-Valley-Arthurs Rock-Overlook-Well Gulch-Timber-Westridge-Howard-Mill Creek-Loggers-Carey Springs-Towers-Herrington-Loggers-Sawmill-Nomad-Towers-Swan Johnson

Start/Finish at Soderberg Trailhead.

GPS data here

View to the West from Lory's Westridge Trail

First Snow

2010-11-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

The extended summer in Fort Collins came to an abrupt end. Time to break out the Goretex shoes and snow gaiters. There was really less snow on the trails than I expected. I wouldn't even categorize today's run as a trudge as the snow didn't even overtop the shoes for the most part. It probably won't be long though until it is back to this.

Today's 12-mile run around the snow-covered Horsetooth Mountain Park:

Horsetooth Falls/Spring Creek/Herrington/Stout/Sawmill/Loggers/Mill Creek/Towers/Westridge/Horsetooth Rock

Start/Finish at the Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS data here

Lookout Mountain

2010-11-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

I did some serious vertical this week for some more scouting of potential trail race routes. Almost all of the trails I ran today were for the first time. About a 3000 foot climb up from Miller Fork to Donner Pass and the summit of Lookout Mountain (10626 ft), although I did inadvertently summit the wrong peak just East of Lookout Mountain first. I then dropped down about 2000 feet to scout some trails around Crystal Mountain. I didn't summit Crystal today, but by the time I climbed back over Donner Pass I was kind of glad I didn't. I was unsuccessful in finding a different return (Indian Trail) back to Miller Fork so I came back the same Donner Pass Trail. Still need to do some more scouting but that makes a good excuse to come back. It looks like the virtually snow-free trails I ran today will not be that way after this week.

On another note, registration just opened for Hard Rock next July. That is the goal race for next year if I am able to get my name drawn.

Today's run (and hike):

17 miles with 4900 feet of climbing

GPS data here

More photos here

Dawn's early light over Longs Peak, Meeker, and the Twin Sisters

Lookout Mountain as viewed from unnamed peak East of Lookout

East and West White Pine Mountains to the North of Lookout

Crystal Mountain to the East of Lookout

Signal Mountains and the Mummy Range to the West of Lookout

Soapstone and Red Mountain

2010-11-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last summer over 50 miles of trails were opened to the public in the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space. Trail maps and info can be found here. With quite a bit of snow in the mountains now and hearing of Alex and others making the trip out here last weekend, I decided it was finally time to check some of these trails out. I wasn't disappointed. While a lot smoother track and a bit milder climbing than I am used to, it was nice to actually rack up some big miles at a pretty steady pace. I wish I had my GPS to see what the total climbing was because I'm sure it added up, but the trail maps show the route that I ran today as 26 miles. I'm guessing around 2500 feet of climbing and my legs were definitely feeling it near the end. I'm sure these trails can get quite hot in the summer as there is no cover, and this is good rattlesnake country. All the more reason to run it this late in the year, although I still came upon one rattler today (in November?). It's unfortunate that these trails are closed from December through February. My route for today took me in a lolipop pattern starting and ending at the Cheyenne Rim Trailhead at the south parking lot just past the Soapstone entrance station. I ran the entire length of Cheyenne Rim Trail (across the Wyoming border), then back down Ruby Wash, around Bent Rock, past Red Mountain Trailhead, up Sinking Sun and Big Hole Wash, where I reconnected to Cheyenne Rim and ran back to the trailhead. Really just the western part of Soapstone and most of Red Mountain. Lots of interesting geology and plenty of wildlife, but hardly any people today. Just 2 hikers who took off from the Red Mountain trailhead. I don't know if I will get back out here this year as I still prefer the forests and the mountains, but this is a great system of trails that are pretty convenient to get to from Fort Collins.

Spectacular views from the high ridge just east of Red Mountain Open Space

Descending from Cheyenne Rim along the red dirt

Too nice a day for this rattler to hibernate

Nice little canyon provided the only cover when dropping down into Ruby Wash Trail

Indestructible cairns mark the way down Ruby Wash

Bent Rock Trail near Red Mountain Trailhead

Storm Mountain (More Race Scouting)

2010-10-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

So the latest course iteration for the proposed trail ultra event is looking like a 100K (62 mile), with 4 summits, and just under 20,000 feet of climbing. A challenging course for sure. One of these summits is Storm Mountain. This is the lowest of the 4 summits at 9918 feet, but the toughest one to access based on the latest route. The goal is to tie in this summit via a loop from the Dunraven Trailhead/Miller Fork area. The word from the Forest Service seems to be that if we can find existing routes (maintained or unmaintained) then the areas we are now looking at should be ok. The Storm Mountain section will rely on quite a bit of unmaintained trail that hopefully is still in existence. From what I found today, Storm Mountain could still be an option. I definitely found some trail that hasn't seen much use recently, but still a trail by definition. It's going to take at least one more scouting trip up there before deciding to include it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to summit Storm today. Pete and Nick got to the Donner Pass area on Saturday, but had a little trouble finding some trails up there. They had a good excuse since it was all covered in snow. It looks like we might get a lot more snow up there tonight.

More pictures from today's scouting trip here

GPS data here

The high peaks of the National Park covered with snow and clouds.

Flowers Road and White Pine Mountains

2010-10-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

I don't usually seek out runs along mainly jeep trail, 4wd road, double-track, or whatever the correct terminology is, but I had no complaints after this run. Starting a few miles west of Stove Prairie on Flowers Road, I ran another 3 miles of this road after it was no longer safely passable for my vehicle. I then headed south and climbed over the pass between East (elev 10248') and West (elev 10305') White Pine Mountains. There was a little over a mile of nice single-track trail to the north of the pass, but otherwise all jeep trail. The scenery was just spectacular and at peak fall foliage. I descended down the south side of the pass to Box Prairie and the trailhead for Donner Pass where I turned around and returned the same route. A total of 16 miles and 4100 feet of climbing. While motivated to run here so I could scout some potential trail racing routes, what I found was an area that I expect I will run many more times in the future.

Signal Mountain (left) spared by yesterday's snowstorm

Flowers Road approach to the mountains to be hurdled

GPS data here

Fish Creek Trail

2010-10-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

We have been pretty much snow-free in the high mountains of the Northern Front Range, and I was hoping to squeeze in another run "up high" this morning, but it wasn't to be. I had planned a nice loop around the Zimmerman Trail and Crown Point starting and ending at Browns Lake Trailhead. As I drove up Crown Point Road early this morning the snow was flying and accumulating. Concerned that I might not be able to drive back down the road later, let alone find my way around on unfamiliar and snow-covered trails, I headed for lower elevations.

Browns Lake Trailhead (elev 10,480') a no-go for today

With so many great trails around Pingree Park, the trip was not wasted and I decided to run the Fish Creek Trail starting from its northeastern trailhead. Its about 6.5 miles one-way mainly between 8000 and 9000 feet in elevation, but still with a few decent climbs mixed in. The other trailhead sits by Sky Ranch. This trail offers a nice mix of dense forest, open meadows, and moderate ridges as it rolls through the Fish Creek drainage. Plenty of beautiful aspen stands this time of year.

On my return for this out and back run I added another little out and back on the Little Beaver Creek Trail and then the connector trail to Flowers Road by Jacks Gulch Campground. My total miles for the day ended up a little over 16 miles (about what I was expecting for my proposed loop up high).

A nice blanket over the Mummy Range

GPS Data for today's run

Blue Sky Marathon/Half Marathon

2010-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Blue Sky Marathoner Bill Moyle still going strong at 71.

The Fort Collins trails played host to about 200 trail runners today for the 3rd running of the Blue Sky Marathon and Half Marathon. While most of the course is out and back along the Blue Sky Trail, the marathon course consists of about a 7-mile loop up in Horsetooth Mountain Park, with a sweet climb up the infamous Towers Road. It was at the top of this climb that I got to hang out with Nick, Alistair, and Crew at the Towers Aid Station and played amatuer photographer (more photos here) while cheering the marathoners through the top of their toughest climb of the day (about 5 miles into the race). Last year, a 50K distance was added in addition to the marathon, but this race was dropped. I think it was wise to stick with just one or the other, instead of having both so similar in distance. Anyway, there is hope for a mountain ultra race in the northern Front Range that could be something special, hopefully next year. Probably either a 50-mile or 100K in and around the Comanche Peaks Wilderness. A proposed 50-mile course can be seen here.

I did get in 16 miles around Horsetooth Mountain Park this morning (about 11 before and 5 after the marathoners came through). Still no snow in the high country and I will try to take advantage of that, if possible, as October rolls on.

The morning course:

Southridge-Audra Culver-Horsetooth Rock-Soderberg-Wathen-Westridge-Towers-Mill Creek-Loggers-Carey Springs-Towers (down to aid station)-back up Towers-Spring Creek-Herrington-Stout-Spring Creek-Horsetooth Falls

Start/Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS Data

Stromy Peaks Pass to Signal Mountain

2010-09-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

The North Fork Big Thompson and the Bulwark Ridge (Signal Mountain) trails out of the Dunraven Trailhead are two trails that I have run many times, but always in out and back fashion. A few weeks ago, I finally hit both of these trails in a single loop. The "big loop" was about 30 miles and took me all the way to Pingree Park. Hoping for a shorter loop option, I decided to explore the unmarked trail that extends from just about a half-mile up the Stormy Peaks Pass Trail from the North Fork Trail (about 2 miles South of the pass) over to Signal Mountain. This trail is shown on old USGS topo maps, but not on any recent trail maps. There are also no signs indicating this trail option.

The start of the trail from the West is easy to find, just take a right at the first mileage sign (7.9 miles to Pingree Park?) near the top of the steep switchbacks heading up toward the pass. The first half a mile of the trail is easy to follow. I lost the trail when it reached a meadow at the headwaters for Pennock Creek. Instead of spending much time looking for the trail, I just headed straight toward Signal Mountain in hopes that the trail would come back to me. I would have been better off trying to maintain the top or close to the top of the ridge, as I dropped down too low toward the valley and got into some rough travelling. I ascended back up the ridge and did find the trail again, only losing it slightly a couple times after that. Luckily, quite a few cairns have been placed along the trail to guide the way. The trail opened up too many great views in all directions along the way, eventually climbing up above treeline on the approach to Signal Mountain. After about 4 miles, I hooked up with the Bulwark Ridge Trail on the saddle between Signal and South Signal Mountains and made my descent back to the Dunraven Trailhead. The total loop is about 17 miles with a just a little under 4000 feet of climbing. I'm sure that I will be back to do this loop many more times (in both directions) and eventually should have little problem following this great connector trail.

GPS data

The view to the West (The Mummy Range)

The view to the South (Longs and Meeker)

The view to the North (Pennock Creek Valley)

Approaching Signal Mountain around the North shoulder of South Signal

Above the Clouds

2010-09-19T11:19:00.001-07:00

It was nice to get a little moisture here over the weekend, but we could still use a lot more. Fort Collins sat in a dense fog for most of the morning while it was clear up in the foothills. Just like last week, I put in about 17 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. This time it was all within Horsetooth Mountain Park. I like to plan routes where I don't retrace (no out and backs) or criss-cross any of my tracks along the way. This was a pretty good one with plenty of climbing.

Today's route:

Southridge-Audra Culver-Horsetooth Mountain-Soderberg-Wathen-Westridge-Towers-Mill Creek-Loggers-Sawmill-Stout-Towers-Spring Creek-Herrington-Stout-Spring Creek-Horsetooth Falls

Start and Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS Data

Reservoir Road Fire outbreak last Sunday

Storm Pass Trail

2010-09-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

The aspens are starting to glow and the elk are bugling, just a great time to be on a Colorado mountain trail. The Storm Pass Trail is a great trail run option in Rocky Mountain National Park. Despite having one trailhead near Longs Peak and the other near Bear Lake, I find very little traffic on this trail. I took off from Lily Lake (the eastern trailhead) before dawn and ran the entire length of the trail to its western trailhead on Bear Lake Road. The one-way length is just a little over 7 miles and tops out at Storm Pass, elevation about 10,300 feet. I crossed Bear Lake Road and tacked on the climb up to Bierstadt Lake for a little extra mileage and climbing. Bierstadt Lake is rather uninspiring, but the views from the ridge just below the lake were worth the climb.

The Glacier Basin as viewed from just below Bierstadt Lake

I turned around at Bierstadt Lake and returned the same route. This out and back totalled just over 17 miles and just under 4000 feet of climbing. There is a great loop option which I've done a couple of times taking Boulder Brook/North Longs Peak up to Granite Pass and then back down the main Longs Peak trail. There are also endless trails heading out of Bear Lake. I was happy staying below treeline today, however, especially after doing big miles last Monday.

One of many great views from the Storm Pass Trail

I'd like to give a shout out to Nick C for winning his first 100-miler (first of many?) at Wasatch this weekend. Also, to Pete S for finishing Wasatch to complete the Grand Slam.

GPS data for today's run.

Stormy Peaks/Pingree/Signal Loop

2010-09-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

The loop in red.

I have been wanting to do this loop for some time going from the Dunraven trailhead. Finally got it done today. Forgot the GPS but I estimate the distance at around 30 miles and the total climbing around 7500 feet. Really just two big climbs. The first over Stormy Peaks Pass (11,600 ft elev) and the second over Signal Mountain (11,200 ft elev). I took the loop in the clockwise direction since the North Fork trail offers some nice gradual uphill running to warm up on (even a little downhill to the river at the start).

I got up to Stormy Peaks Pass well before sunrise and experienced a nice little snow flurry. I think the days of snow-free trails up high are numbered. Soon after, I was able to turn off the headlamp and enjoy some nice trail and spectacular views as I descended about 5 miles down to Pingree Park. My first time on this part of the trail.

Overlooking Pingree Park

This loop requires a few miles of road running (it is dirt) from Pingree Park over to the Signal Mountain trailhead. Instead of running all the way to the trailhead at Pingree Park, I turned onto the trail for Twin Lake, cutting out a good chunk of the run on the main Pingree Park road.

Twin Lake Reservoir

The run up Signal Mountain from the North side is quite mellow the first few miles, but gets very steep on the last couple of miles to the top. Also, my first time on this trail as I have only come up the mountain from the South. It wasn't snowing on Signal, but the wind was nearly blowing me off the mountain. I met my first hiker on my descent from Signal. There were lots of cars at the trailheads, but I don't know where everyone was hiding.

I plan to explore a shorter loop option some other time. There is an unmarked trail that goes directly between Signal Mountain and Stormy Peaks. This trail is shown on old topo maps, but there are no signs for it.

Triathlon Anyone?

2010-08-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I joke with some of my triathlete friends that I am just going to show up and jump into a triathlon one of these days. Well today, I literally almost did (although unofficially and unintentionally). While these events look fun, I just don't want to train for one. I like the simplicity of trail running. I had planned a big loop around Horsetooth and Lory Parks only to find myself eventually heading down toward the Timber Trail Trailhead in the opposite direction of the Xterra Lory Trail Triathlon. I had actually done this triathlon a few years ago (the trail run portion only on a team), but completely forgot that it was going on today. So I pulled a U-turn and huffed it in the opposite direction hoping I was far enough ahead of those lead bikers. So my route today was created and edited "on the go" to get me about 19 miles and 4000 feet of vertical. I even included Nick's "secret trail" today so I can now say I have run on every piece of trail on Horsetooth Mountain Park. Not too much to it, but it does provide a loop option when doing the Towers Road climb (I need to best my very soft PR of 41:11).

Todays run: Southridge/Horsetooth Rock/Westridge/"secret"/Towers/Mill Creek/Arthurs Rock/Timber Trail (toward trailhead and back)/Well Gulch/Overlook/Arthurs Rock/Mill Creek/Loggers/Herrington/Spring Creek/Soderberg/Horsetooth Rock/Southridge

Start and Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

GPS data

Unfortunate that UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) got postponed due to weather this weekend in France. This is sort of like Europe's version of Hard Rock and had a strong contingent of US trail runners this year to try to take down 2-time defending champ Kilian Jornet of Spain. Rain, snow, and mudslides caused the race to be cancelled about 3 hours into the 166 kilometer race. They ran a shorter (98 kilometer) "replacement" race the next day won by the UK's Jez Bragg. Bighorn winner Mike Wolfe from Montana came in 2nd. Certainly not as exciting as if the original race could have been run (most didn't even run the next day), but always better to be safe so we can all run another day.

Another Horsetooth Lory Loop

2010-08-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Sunrise over Fort Collins (from the Overlook Trail)

I've been sticking to the local trails the last 2 weeks. A short Coyote Ridge/Blue Sky run last Sunday afternoon among the crowds of mountain bikers. Today, another nice loop around Horsetooth and Lory Parks. No people (until near the end), but plenty of deer and one black bear. I wasn't blistering the course, but had a strong low gear for climbing. Ran every step, including some tough climbs up Timber Trail and Mill Creek that usually force me into some intermittent hiking. I guess I was inspired by all those fast Pikes Peak ascents this weekend. Glenn Randall posted a 2:09 for the win at the Ascent on Saturday. My pick, Tim Parr, had a bad day (for him) and a couple of my other picks actually went off-course to drop them out of the running. I can't understand how you can lose the Barr Trail. Matt Carpenter barely held off all the young guns for another win in today's marathon in an "almost human" 3:51. Great race for Nick, 5th overall in 4:00:35. At Leadville, Tony (my pick to win there) dropped out late in the race and I believe he was on record pace. I better not make any more predictions and place my curse on anyone else. Duncan Callahan got the win in 17:43. Strong runs by Brooks, Brownie, and Pete. Only one more race to go for Brownie's Rocky Slam and Pete's Grand Slam.

My course for today.

Swan Johnson, Shoreline, Valley, Arthurs Rock, Overlook, Well Gulch, Timber, Westridge, Howard, Mill Creek, Spring Creek, Herrington, Stout, Towers, Swan Johnson (start and finish at Soderberg Trailhead)

About 17.5 miles and 3900 feet of climbing.

My playground for today (from Howard Trail)

Big Race Weekend

2010-08-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

A big weekend of trail races here in Colorado with Pikes Peak (Ascent on Saturday, Marathon on Sunday) and the Leadville 100. I am not running in any of these this year but have a strong interest in how things turn out. Made my predictions for the top 10 at the Ascent over on runcolo.com in hopes of winning some La Sportiva shoes. This year's Ascent is also the World Mountain Running Association Challenge, so a strong field from all over the world will be there. I'm still picking last year's winner Tim Parr to repeat as I think experience on this course is a big advantage. Of course if Matt Carpenter decides to run the Ascent at the last minute, he would be the favorite (he is only registered to run the Marathon on Sunday). If I am lucky the top 10 go like this: Parr, Blake, Hafer, Gates, Chemweno, Manning, Randall, Delaney, Freudenberg, Nichols. At Leadville, look for Anton Krupicka to possibly take down Matt Carpenter's course record. There are going to be close to 1000 runners at this year's Leadville race (too many for my liking). Hopefully I can find a quiet trail somewhere this weekend since everyone else will either be in Leadville or Manitou Springs.

Comanche Peak (and then some)

2010-08-02T22:10:00.001-07:00

I explored some uncharted territory for me this weekend. I have run several times in some of the southeastern parts of the Comanche Peaks Wilderness (i.e. Signal Mountain). This time, however, I made the longer drive up to Pingree Park where the options are endless in this vast wilderness. Taking off from the Emmaline Lake/Mummy Pass trailhead, my plan was to complete a loop that would take me around Comanche Peak (with the option of summiting if all went well) and back to the Beaver Creek trailhead just a couple miles up the road from my starting point. Somewhere around 20 to 25 miles expected. It turned out to be a beautiful route with a lot of runnable trail, much of it above treeline. I took the Mummy Pass trail over Mummy Pass and then down to the Mirror Lake trail. The only long stretch of required hiking came on the climb up Mirror Lake trail to Comanche Peak (about 2000 feet in 2 miles). I did make the scramble off trail to summit the peak and was rewarded with great views overlooking Emmaline Lake and across to Fall Mountain.

Looking down on Emmaline Lake from the top of Comanche Peak.

The view of the Mummy Range extending to the Southwest.

While it is fun to explore new trail, there is always the added element of route finding and much of these trails above treeline were hard to follow. There was also very little signage to even tell you what trail you were on. I highly suggest having a good map with you. I made it back to the Mirror Lake trail, now with great views down to Mirror Lake, and decided to hook up with the Hourglass trail as my return route.

Overlooking Mirror Lake.

Coming down the Hourglass trail, now below treeline, I eventually reached a backcountry campsite with several faint trails that all faded to no trail at all. After several attempts to backtrack to the actual trail (I should have backtracked further) I decided to go cross-country through the forest in the direction of Comanche Reservoir. This was a big mistake. I did come out right to the middle of the reservoir, but only after a very long struggle through the obstacle course of fallen trees. The worst of it was trying to get around the reservoir (no walkable shoreline). Well I finally made it back to a trail (Beaver Creek trail) and completed the loop, expending a lot more time and energy than originally planned. About 24 miles for this loop, but I would highly recommend sticking to the trails if possible.

GPS data (including crazy route finding paths and off-trail adventure)

What are you training for now?

2010-07-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

A lot of people on top of Horsetooth Rock this morning waiting for the sunrise.

I've been getting this question a lot lately. Especially after I raced back to back weekends in June, including my first 100 at Bighorn. I never know how to answer this question. There are no upcoming races scheduled for me, just lots of trails that I would like to explore. Maybe I could say that I am training for Hardrock which could be next year or five years from now and is currently the hardest event I envision trying to compete in. The most accurate answer to this question, however, is that I am training today so I can run up another mountain tomorrow (and enjoy it).

I kept it local for today's "training" run. No spectacular high mountain peaks, just a lot of beautiful, rugged singletrack in the Fort Collins foothills (Horsetooth Mountain Park and Lory State Park). Still able to rack up 4500 feet of vertical in just over 20 miles on these little mountains.

Today's Course

For those familiar with these trails:
Southridge-AudraCulver-HorsetoothRock-Soderberg-Wathen-Westridge-Towers-MillCreek-Howard-ArthursRock-Valley-Sawmill-Stout-SpringCreek-HorsetoothFalls

Start and Finish at Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead

Longs Before Sunrise

2010-07-18T22:22:00.001-07:00

So how do you beat the crowds on the weekend at this popular mountain summit? You just get up there first. Kevin (my Bighorn pacer) and I summited the 14,255 foot Longs Peak a half an hour before sunrise, stayed at the top for nearly an hour, and had the entire peak to ourselves. The sunrise was spectacular! We took the popular Keyhole route from the Ranger Station trailhead which gets you to the summit in approximately 7 miles with 5000 feet of climbing. I was even able to avoid most of the steady stream of hikers coming up later by returning to the trailhead via the North Longs Peak/Boulder Brook/Storm Pass loop. This loop is one of my favorite trail runs in Rocky Mountain National Park.

GPS data for today

Signal Mountain

2010-07-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

When I need to satisfy my desire for some alpine tundra, Signal Mountain provides a quick fix. Just a 50 minute drive from Fort Collins to the Dunraven Trailhead by Glen Haven, and then about an hour and a half of running, hiking, or crawling and I am at treeline.

Approaching the summit of Signal Mountain (11,253ft) just above treeline.

It is 5.8 miles from the Dunraven Trailhead to the summit of Signal with about 3500 feet of climbing. If you prefer to "run" most of your trail run, then this one is probably not for you as there are several relentlessly long, rocky uphill grades. Also a good test of your downhill skills on the way back down. Today I tacked on an extra 1.5 miles out and back to Miller Fork near the end of the run. It is only about a 1000 feet down in less than a mile. Oh yeah, it is also 1000 feet back up (ouch).

The views from the top of Signal Mountain are hard to beat in this area.

Another view from the summit.

Number of other people seen over my three and a half hours on the trail = 0. Pretty surprising for a Sunday morning in the middle of the summer. Another reason I like this trail.

GPS data for today

Hardrock (my next 100?)

2010-07-10T19:45:00.001-07:00

This year's Hardrock 100 is currently taking place, almost 39 hours into it and still plenty of runners on the course. Jared Campbell was the first to kiss the rock this morning (legendary at the finish line) with a winning time of 27 hours 18 minutes. Diana Finkel led for most of the race and finished as first woman and 2nd overall in 28 hours 32 minutes. With Darcy Africa in 4th, 2 of the top 4 were women. Nothing wrong with "running like a girl". This race is my ultimate goal, the hardest 100 that I know of (at least in the U.S.) in the beautiful San Juan mountains of Colorado. Since I am now "qualified" with my Bighorn finish, I'll put my name into the hat for next year's lottery. If I don't get in, then I will probably do Leadville. Congrats to Brownie for finishing just a short time ago and making it halfway to the Rocky Mountain Slam.

Horsetooth Mountain Trail Half Marathon (2:07:33)

2010-06-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't win this rock at Bighorn.

But I won this one today.

The Horsetooth Mountain Trail Half Marathon was supposed to be held on June 13 (my 40th birthday) and 5 days before the Bighorn 100. I had already started my taper for Bighorn, was coming in with well rested legs, and was hoping for a sub 2 hour race (that might win me some kind of award in the old man's division). Well the rain and mud postponed the race to today (8 days after the Bighorn 100) and it looked like I might have to set my sights a little lower. At least the competition was thinned out a little with original race favorite Nick Clark off at Western States this weekend.

I did this race 4 years ago when it was first added (the short course race of 7.3 miles has been around for many years) and finished in 2:14:02. Maybe I could at least beat that time today. At the start I looked around for Corey Hanson (4-time winner of this race) who also did the Bighorn 100 (7th place) but he was probably smarter than me and passed on the race this year.

From the start, I knew there would be little pep in the legs. The first 2 miles are all uphill and I can't remember laboring this much going up Horsetooth Rock Trail in a while (at least not this early in a run). I know this course literally like the back of my hand so maybe I at least had an advantage there. Despite the sluggish legs I was still running in 5th place in this small field of 24 runners. I tried to just keep 4th place in my sights throughout the race hoping that I could at least hold my postition or maybe make a move toward the end. The funny thing about doing a half-marathon a week after a 100-miler is that I felt like I was doing a 5K. I couldn't believe how short the race seemed. So I kept a steady pace and actually made my way into 4th on our second climb up by Horsetooth Rock. I took it to the finish with all I had on this day for a 4th place finish in 2:07:33. For as conservatively (not by choice) as I felt I ran this race I was surprised by my time. I think I may have had a shot at that sub 2hr two weeks ago. I may have to come out and do the course in a time trial training run later this year. So I was pretty happy with today and actually really enjoyed the race after the 1st 2 mile uphill grunt. I even got to bring home some hardware (a big rock) which rarely happens for me. I guess that is an advantage of getting old.

Sam Malmberg got the win in 1:47:49, a couple minutes slower than Corey Hanson's course record. I got to talk to Sam after the race and it sounds like he is ready to start gearing up for Pikes Peak this August. Maybe a sub 4hr?

GPS race analysis