Quad Rock

What a day!  Yes it was cold.  Yes it was long.  And I heard the hills were relentless, but I already knew that.  I let some 200 plus other trail runners enjoy those hills on Saturday at the first of let's hope many Quad Rock 50 and 25 mile races.

As soon as race directors Pete and Nick informed me that this long-overdue event was about to become a reality, I couldn't wait to be a part of helping to show off some of the best running trails around.  It was nice to hear all the positive comments from the runners about our trails that we probably take for granted.  It was also reassuring to hear how difficult they thought the course was, making me think these are also pretty good training grounds.  When world-class ultrarunner Dave Riddle tells me post-race that he's never raced anything close to this difficulty in his life, it puts a smile on my face.  I then inform him that many of us search for bigger and steeper mountains on the weekends.  Kudos to Dave for gutting it out to a 5th place finish.

What was most awesome about my day, however, was teaming up with some great people and providing support to the runners at the Horsetooth Aid Station.  We got to help both our 25 and 50 mile runners early in the morning at 10 miles in, then for the many brave folks making the return loop, we got to see them again at mile 40.  Since running in my first ultra event, I have always been amazed by the support of the volunteers.  It is what really makes these events special.  So I was more than glad to try to return the favor.

Thank you Kevin, Chris, Lisa, Molly, Ashley, Betsy, Dale, Beth, Shana, and Dick (our awesome LCSAR rep).  We had over 200 pass through our aid station in the morning.  We then had 99 come back to mile 40 in the 50 mile race.  What is most cool is that all 99 made it to the finish line.  Great work team!

All of my photos from the Horsetooth Aid Station can be seen here

Race Results here

Your Quad Rock 50 Winner!  Ryan Burch defends the home turf.

All prepped for a long, cold day.  Bring on the runners.

Horsetooth Rock is up there somewhere.

Dick and Lisa fixing up some warm goodness.

JT better bring his "A" game to Hardrock or drinks will be on him.

Make yourself comfortable at Horsetooth Aid Station.

Moonlight on the Rockies (Another Crosier Triple)

In what has now become a spring training ritual, I took on the Crosier Triple this morning.  This consists of 3 summits of the 9200+ foot Crosier Mountain from 3 different trailheads, in one run.  I figured this would be a good measuring stick for me since this was my third May in a row of taking on this 25-mile adventure with close to 7800 feet of climbing.  I was pretty happy with the result (my fastest despite a very conservative effort).

Getting an early start under the moonlight, I was treated to a spectacular view on my first summit (about an hour before sunrise).  What became very evident as the run continued is that we need some moisture.  All of the snow on this mountain is long-gone, all the streams are dried up, and there wasn't a single muddy step on any of the trails.  I am glad it is raining out now.

Congrats to my better half for taking on her first ultra on Saturday at the Greenland 50K.  Tough conditions out there in the heat and not a speck of shade to be found on those trails.

Deanne and little pacers around mile 25 just before calling it a day.

The Crosier Triple profile:

GPS data here

April Summary

I'm digging these sunrises coming earlier and earlier, allowing me to enjoy most of them.  Another solid month in the books.  Although I didn't run anything big (nothing over 4 hours), I did get in a lot of quality workouts.  I'm finally getting serious again in the weight room.  I'm convinced that I can inflict more residual pain on my body in less than one hour in the weight room than I can on any run.  I can only blame this guy, who not only taught me countless ridiculous workouts but also inspires me every day.  On that note, I plan to defend my title at the Nick Seaman 5K benefitting RamStrength on May 19.  I challenge anyone reading this to come out and steal my crown as I have no business winning 5K races.

The proverbial "base" is built, the engine seems to be running as strong as ever in recent memory, and now I'm planning for some more specific Hardrock preparation.  May should provide plenty of (to steal a Clarkism) "mental-callusing" workouts on the likes of Crosier, Round, Greyrock, etc.  By June, the focus will shift to visiting the alpine zone as much as possible (can't wait).  Maybe learn to use my trekking poles.  I haven't decided on that yet.

The April Numbers:

198 Total Miles with 35084 feet of vertical (3rd straight sub 200 month)

Trail (15 runs), 160 miles, 35084 feet vertical, 32 hours
Road (3 runs), 20 miles, 3 hours
Track (3 workouts), 18 miles, 2 hours
Weight Room (8 workouts), 6 hours
Rest Days (9)

Total Hours 43

It's Official!

Yeah, I'm still interested.  See you in Silverton.

March Summary

199 miles with 34216 feet of vertical

Trail (12 runs) 178 miles, 31261 feet, 35 hours
Track (2) 13 miles, 2 hours
Treadmill (1) 4 miles, 2955 feet, 1 hour
Road (1), 4 miles, 1 hour
Weight room (8), 4 hours
Rest days (15)

42 hours total

Not bad total numbers considering I took half of the month off.  Less than a third of Pete's miles for March.  And yes, Brownie, a little over half of your 350 but soon my "long" runs will consist of a lot of 1-2 mile per hour climbs up tall mountains, so I'll keep that mileage reasonably low.  Only 104 days to Hardrock!

So after hardly being able to run in the last 2 weeks, I got out for a rare mid-Saturday trip to the trails today.  It's great to live in such an active town, but damn, was everyone out on the trails today?  Was hoping for a quick run at Coyote Ridge.  The ranger informs me that there is no parking left.  So I cruise up to Soderberg trailhead thinking I'll get in a Towers climb.  Soderberg lot full.  Horsetooth Rock?  Sorry.  Finally, I snatch the only available parking spot at Blue Sky trailhead.  Not the ideal spot to start from, but I got in a good 9-mile tempo run on the relatively easy terrain of the Blue Sky trail, dodging mountain bikes the whole way.  I am looking forward to getting back to my early morning routine where I am the first to the trailhead, and usually still the only car in the lot when I finish.

RIP Caballo Blanco.

March Mileage Madness 2012

It was March Madness FCTR-style.  In other words, let's run a heck of a lot of miles. Like last year, Alex, Ean, and the May family graciously hosted the annual March Mileage Madness run.  Unlike last year, I actually ran this time.  The plan for many of us was to leave the May house bright and early, complete a full circumnavigation of Horsetooth Reservoir, and summit the 2 famous rocks (Horsetooth and Arthurs) along the way.  A 35 plus mile excursion that would be my first complete loop around "The Res".

The warm weather all week has finally got all our trails in prime condition, but thankfully it stayed cool today.  Really couldn't complain except for when the winds picked up in the afternoon.  This created a killer headwind that made the last 5 miles feel like 20.

With people taking off at different times and running various routes, I was able to hook up with lots of different people to run with, making for a very fun day out on the trails.  About 7 and a half hours out there today.  I can probably cut off an hour if I were only to count "moving" time, so really the pace was pretty decent.  The post-run BBQ and beer back at the May's provided more than enough motivation to "get er done".  Most of us found our post-run "slackline" talents to be quite poor, however.  Was it the miles or the beers?

According to my Garmin: 35.5 miles with 5706 feet of vertical.

Here are a few pics from the day.  All of my pics can be seen here.

Nick and Sam leaving Horsetooth Rock.

Pete hitting the summit of Horsetooth.



Nick C leading the charge up Westridge.

Pete, Steph, and Slush cruising down Mill Creek.

The crew atop a blustery Arthurs Rock.

Marie, Brian, and Ean entering Pineridge.

Ean showing us all how it is done on the slackline.

PPM 2012

First official race commitment for 2012.  Pikes Peak, I'll be back!  Hopefully the Ascent will fill quickly so I can resist the urge to "Double" again.  I've got to keep the legs fresh so I can push Kilian to that course record.  At the very least, "Whisper" and I are gonna try to chalk up the top brother/sister team.  Do we get a big rock for that?  Of course, this all hinges on me surviving something in mid-July first.