Summary of Training Week Feb 9-15

Weekly Totals:

Miles Run: 49.4
Hours Run: 9:03
Running Elevation Gain: 6,250'

Miles Biked: 97.9
Hours Biked: 6:27
Biking Elevation Gain: 4,596
Total Power: 4899 kJ

Total Training Time: 15:31
Total Elevation Gain: 10,846'

Summary: I tried something different this week with the blog. I posted individual postings on each day and changed those to not list so many details because I was really just transcribing them from Strava. This makes it not so much of a book at the end of the week that no one probably really reads anyhow haha. Basically, what I am saying is if you want to know more specifics, follow me on Strava, Garmin, or MapMyRun. Otherwise, the blog will now just contain details that are the good parts and on top of the daily, I will post the weekly on Sunday nights for a summary like this. Anyhow, on to this week. I ended up with 15.5 hours on the week which is pretty good. I actually had 14.5 planned but I squeezed in an extra ride on the rollers tonight for an hour. Part of the extra time actually came from doing the incline with the fam vs. solo. I would have round tripped it from Manitou in about an hour and fifteen but carrying a kid in a pack took a while longer. Still broke a good sweat though so it was good for something. All in all, I got 2 long runs this week. One flat and faster 18 miler and one 3,600' gain 17 miler 2 days later with a 2 hour MTB ride the day in between. Baz tagged along on both long runs like a champ which shows me he is getting stronger too. Towards the end of both he was starting to drag but did much better than I thought he would. Last year, we got to a point where I got in better shape than him and since he was slow I quit taking my best training partner. It is much better when he can keep up and enjoy the fun too.

I might be cutting the volume slightly. By slightly I mean no more 3 a days. If I ride twice for a commute, I won't run etc. While I'm still on nights through March, this might mean commuting every other day so I get one ride and one run or something but riding is really more subject to weather during the winter. Gotta get it while you can or else ride through it. Once I go back to day shift, it will mean either commute or run but probably not both. The issue is not down to my capability or willingness but down to family time and ensuring I'm not too selfish with my workouts. I want to do good at leadman but not at the cost of my family as much as possible. This will shave a couple hours a week off my plan but should make things more balanced. Since I'm not trimming the long runs or rides, it shouldn't effect the overall result as much and in fact could actually provide better results for all I know. One thing I might do as well is consider alternating some weeks between long bike efforts and long runs but every good Leadman knows the money is in the run. Extra training shaves minutes off the bike times or hours off of the run time. Looking at the rest of the month, I have two more good hard weeks planned before a rest week the first week of March and then the Salida Marathon the week after that which is a month from yesterday. This coming week will be the key week for the Marathon and my long run is the 50k Headless Horsetooth Fatass on Sat in FOCO. This week I will also probably begin to do a little bit of speed work on a couple of runs to get that leg speed up.

Training Week Feb 2-8

Weekly Totals:

Miles Run: 51.5
Hours Run: 9:04
Running Elevation Gain: 8,970'

Miles Biked: 80.8
Hours Biked: 5:50
Biking Elevation Gain: 4,300'
Total Biking Power: 3971 kJ

Total Training Time: 14:55
Total Elevation Gain: 13,270'

Summary: Very happy with the week overall. It was a slow start as I still wasn't feeling 100% after my sickess last week and had some residual congestion all week. After getting so cold on my ride home wed and having my tail between my legs, I had a solid day thursday with an incline PR, 3 summits, and a couple of hours post mountain biking in the mud followed by a crap day friday and then a solid weekend to round out a solid week ending with 9K gain running. Plan was 15.5 hours but came up only slightly short at around 15 hours. Can't complain being that close after early week days taking it easier. Funny with 2 sports, I am back to 7 days streak now. Next week will be slightly less volume (maybe) before my 2 highest volume weeks of the season wrapping up a base building period mixed with some speed to start getting ready for Salida.

Mon 2 Feb: Didn't Commute in last night due to Priorities (Superbowl that I didn't care who won but wanted to see commercials). I also woke up feeling like my body was losing the fight to whatever sickness I was acquiring. Funny because I usually wake up feeling slightly better and not slightly worse. Today was highly opposite but I kept popping pills. Even started to lose my voice but I proudly claim that I never got fully sick. No foggy head, no stuffy nose or cough. Just a light sore throat for a couple days with swolen glands and then losing my voice. Anyhow, I felt much better after my night shift ironically and after getting home and having breakfast, I took the family for a 6 mile jaunt. Wife pulled the kiddo in the bike trailer and I ran. Was about 30 deg to start and upper 40s to finish just an hour later. I took it easy so as not to exacerbate the sickness. The idea is to get better and not worse. Sat in the hot tub before going to bed. After sleeping, I got up and rode into work for an unusual headwind on the way in. At slightly harder effort, I was a couple minutes slow. I wish wattage calculator calculated in wind because it just looks like I worked less hard.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 6
• Time: 57:26
• Pace: 9:39
• AVG HR: Tried but HRM just doesn't work anymore :( really need to cash in on that warranty.)
• Gain: 150'
• Weather: sunny and warming from 30 to upper 40s
• Route: paved trail through hood to stapleton and back.

Biking Stats:

• Bike: Cross
• Miles: 13.9
• Time: 44:54
• Avg Speed: 18.7
• Power: 190W (512 kJ)
• AVG HR: NA
• Gain: 184'

Tues 3 Feb: No running day. I know I know. I had lots of time off of running last week but this was this week's planned no running day. I rode home from work in the morning, took the wife out to birthday breakfast, went to bed and then rode back into work. The ride home in the morning, I actually tackled a new hill late in the ride. Only added .4 mi to the ride and another 100' or so but it made a difference. I have been eyeballing this climb on other days and decided to go for it. Was glad I did. Will take all the climbing I can get albeit the fact that the ride home is pretty much up hill the whole way. For the way back to work, I had a tiny bit of extra distance because I forgot my water bottle and had to go back and get it. Wouldn't have effected the ride but I would not have had water all night and commute home would have been rough. Looking at the weather forecast, tomorrow morning's wind looks scary for the ride home forecasted at 18 MPH headwind (N) and temps at around 30 before windchill. Was hoping my new winter shoes would arrive tonight but they did not. That wind mixed with that temp is right at about my ride/no ride decision but I decided to sack up. Brought the thick mountaineering gloves and some extra wool socks.

Biking Stats 1:

• Bike: Cross
• Miles: 14.3
• Time: 58:46
• Avg Speed: 14.6 MPH
• Power: 215W avg (757 kJ total)
• AVG HR: NA
• Gain: 910'

Biking Stats 2:

• Bike: Cross
• Miles: 14.2
• Time: 41:58
• Avg Speed: 20.3 MPH
• Power: 228W Avg (578 kJ)
• AVG HR: na
• Gain: 185'

Wed 4 Feb: So I was getting ready to leave work today for my ride home planning a big day with the commute home and the incline later on. Just as I was prepping to leave at work, they announced 40 MPH winds. Sometimes, they are over zealous with the announcements so I decided to make a go for it. While I got frozen toes in the very accurate announcement, I made like the tortoise and began to slowly tick off the miles wishing for my new warm shoes. Eventually, I realized I was going to be late home to take the dog to the vet and take over care of my child so my wife could run her errands by a long shot. My normal hour commute was going to take two hours. I eventually called the wife and asked her to come pick me up. It took a couple hours to get feeling back in all of my toes. The cold sort of took it out of me and I ended up napping and lounging the rest of the day and skipped the run potentially setting myself back later in the week. 2 days off out of 3 early in the week makes it hard to make quota but I just didn't feel like going back out in it. I will make it up tomorrow I thought.

Biking Stats:

• Bike: cross
• Miles: 7.5
• Time: 50:03
• Avg Speed: 9.0 MPH
• Power: 356 kJ on Strava but maybe double that with wind haha.
• AVG HR: na
• Gain: 451'

Thurs 5 Feb: Big day today. Gotta work hard eventually if you want to be a leadman. Yesterday as I rode in the cold, I recalled Larry DeWitt's blog about extreme races requiring extreme training as I froze in the wind. Today, I needed to get it done again. So the plan was to wake up early and knock out some miles while the fam was sleeping  and then maybe go get the incline or something later. I ended up not getting up early and had a headache from such a deep sleep for my first night off and on a normal schedule. After some coffee and my first advil (1 pill) in quite a while for the headache and a good solid breakfast, I began to feel much better and ready to train. After fighting sickness and the easy week, my legs were finally ready to perform. The wife and kiddo took off for some stuff mid morning. I loaded the bike onto the car and the running gear on my body and headed west towards Manitou. Ended up not only doing the incline but getting an incline PR as well as nabbing rocky mountain, Mt. Manitou, and even Red mountain on the way back for 2.5 solid hours of 4K of gain and some great PR's. After a quick 10 min break at the car eating some food and getting ready for a bike ride, I went out for another 2 hours on the bike to cover myself with mud as I hooted and hollered and wore myself out. I felt good but tired after the workout knowing I had to come immediately home and be alive for my wife's official birthday party.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 12
• Time: 2:33:33
• Pace: 12:48
• AVG HR: NA but probably 170s on incline and 150s during remainder.
• Gain: 4,237'
• Weather: Sunny and 50s maybe up to 60
• Route: Incline, Rocky, Manitou, and one person Red summit party.

Biking Stats:

• Bike: Bees Knees 650B Hard tail
• Miles: 16.8
• Time: 1:53:04
• Avg Speed: 8.9 MPH
• Power: 1190 kJ
• AVG HR: NA
• Gain: 2,386'

Fri 6 Feb: Big day causes poopy day. You got poop in your mouth Ron Burgandi. The plan once again was to get up early and get some miles. Wanted to get 2 runs in today to reclaim some lost miles. I woke up early but the legs were very dead and I hardly felt like a run. Waited until nap time and then went for a couple laps of section 16. At one point I was thinking If I could get 4 laps (16 mi) I would be in great shape. Time dwindled and I left the house planning on 2 laps. I started the run feeling like crap. The sandy wetness mixed with lots of mud and some ice mixed like that had me running slow and I had a headache and wasn't carrying water but I was determined to not give up. I figured after a few miles it would blow off and I would feel better. I ended up feeling about the same throughout the run. While I could have thrown in the towel at 4, I ran another seemingly trash 4 miles. The second 4 was not about getting physically stronger though. I was beat up from the day prior's events and the harder intensity mixed with taking an expectorant trying to clear some lung congestion. In hindsight, I was just very dehydrated as well as beaten down. While slow, today was a hard earned 8 miles. There were several times where I wasn't even climbing and thought I was at 8 min effort and was at like 10:30 pace. Crazy. It is nice to train to be able to continue on when you don't feel it when it comes to ultras. It is near impossible to run 100 miles and not have at least a minimal ill feeling.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 8
• Time: 1:19:02
• Pace: 9:52
• AVG HR: NA
• Gain: 519'
• Weather: Sunny but windy. Maybe upper 40s or low 50s.
• Route: 2 Clockwise laps of Black Forest section 16

Sat 7 Feb: Normally Saturday's would be my long run day and I could have gotten up early and made it happen but I was apprehensive after yesterday's sh*t show. After a solid breakfast and some coffee I had time to slip out for ten miles on the Rock Island trail by the house. We had the privilege of attending a wedding of one of my long time Friend's little sister whom I have known since she was just a little girl. The run felt good and I probably slightly exceeded MAF effort with a negative split. Ran the first half at 8:00 to 8:10 per mile and the second half at 7:45 to 7:55 per mile average. The pup had a hard time keeping up on this one but it felt good to run in the sun in winter with no shirt. I didn't realize I had a tail wind on the first half so this made my neg split a bit harder but felt great when I finished. What a difference between yesterday where I was probably dehydrated and a bit down from the longer and harder day the day prior with the incline PR.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 10.05
• Time: 1:26:05
• Pace: 8:34 (Includes warmup and cooldown walking half mile each way as always)
• AVG HR: NA. Maybe low to mid 160s
• Gain: 84'
• Weather: Sunny. Upper 50s. Slightly windy
• Route: Rock Island Trail to 5 mi tag by Elbert Highway and back.

Sun 8 Feb: Running on a mileage deficit for the week. Goal was 50 miles to bounce back to my baseline after the rest/recovery week last week and I am still short. Don't usually like running Sundays long because I don't get to see the fam but I felt it needed to be done albeit the fact I hadn't slept since the 10 miler the day prior. I woke up at 630ish yesterday morning and was up all day with no nap due to the wedding. I came home and went to work all night (drove so I could run after) and drove to Manitou in the Morning to join the incline club. At a nice medium effort maybe 160HR going up, I made great time today. Whoever said there is no ice up there is flat wrong. There was bad Ice on the last 1/4 mi of ruxton and sheer ice pretty much the entire way from No name to Barr. Despite that I had one of my top 3 ascent times to Barr and apparently my quickest descent which I was just trying to keep around 8 Min/Mi so I wasn't too pounded out to be able to run tomorrow and not hurt. I was piggy backing with Jesse on the way up. He passed me about halfway and I was only about a minute behind leaving barr (don't know how long he was there but I didn't hang out today) Connected the last mile into town with some Incline Club legends. Ran with Glen Ash, and Jack Ramsey the last mile. I think I talked too much because they were too good at asking questions but it was awesome to run with such solid men who have been doing this for so long (over 20 years for both of them). After I got to crash for about 7 hours, it was time to ride into work. Temp was mid 40s but I wore the new winter shoes and had toasty toes. Thought I was taking it easy recovery style and made it slightly faster than normal. Wierd. No tail wind either. Proly cause I didn't bike for a couple days I guess. Great ride!

Running Stats:

• Miles: 15.5
• Time: 2:48:50
• Pace: 10:54
• AVG HR: NA. Probably around 150. I wasn't high descending. Kept in low to mid 160s up.
• Gain: 3,989'
• Weather: 52 to start. 65 to finish
• Route: Mem park to barr camp via marathon route and then back. Took back streets through town.

Biking Stats:

• Bike: Cross
• Miles: 14
• Time: 41:39
• Avg Speed: 20.2 MPH
• Power: 578 KJ
• AVG HR: 125 maybe
• Gain: 185'

Run Rabbit Run 100

Intro

If you only want to read about the race and not all my ramblings, skip to "The Race" below. You have been warned. With my new job, I haven't been as readily posting about my adventurous activities this year and it has been a great year to ultra running at that. While last year with the Bear Chase Race 50k was technically my first ultra, this year was my first season. With 3 fifty mile races, two trail marathons, and a handful of other races, I have had a great tail end of my season all with races as afterthoughts. In early June, I finally folded and signed up for Pikes Peak Marathon. I wasn't going to do it this year in an effort to save $$ and try and get out of debt but I finally folded when I still realized I could get in through the Triple Crown Series. After beating my last year's Garden of the Gods 10 mile time by over two minutes on very little training and consistency, and an insanely fast time on the Summer Round-up 12K in July, with the San Juan Solstice 50 Miler thrown in-between there somewhere, I was in the final weeks for Pikes Peak. A two week beach trip with daily beach half marathons proved to be unworthy for a mountain runner as I struggled to run a Pikes Peak ascent test run even within an hour of last year's 3:26 time and equally as slow of a descent and I was worried. A couple more consistent weeks and I was throwing down some impressive times and ultimately Ran a 3:07 PR ascent and a 5:07 total round trip time. Well enough about that. The point is that although my goal was sub 5:00, I was ecstatic about my time. Two days later, I was supposed to be recovering but my body felt great and as if I hadn't raced Pikes Peak so I signed up for the Pagosa Springs, Devil Mountain 50 Mile race six days after Pikes had happened. This was close but I had a solid week that included a sprint triathlon at Schriever AFB the day prior to Pagosa and still had a rocking time at Pagosa. While these should all be separate posts, my point here is that nowhere during this time was I training for a 100 miler. I had thrown around the idea in mid august and Kendrick Callaway basically talked me out of it saying I should wait and how he DNFed on his first couple tries at centuries. I made up my mind during Pagosa, that if my recovery went well, that I would sign up for Run Rabbit Run 100 in Steamboat that was to occur in less than two weeks later. What was I thinking? No actual focused 100 mile training, no plan, just going with the flow. Well, not only did I have an awesome race at Pagosa, despite my epic bonk at mile 42 that required me to sit down on the trail for a while and recover, I raced awesomely and was proud of my fastest 50 mile time yet. Just 2 days later, I felt as if I hadn't raced Pikes Peak and sure as heck like I hadn't raced a mountain 50 miler so I did it. I signed up for Run Rabbit Run 100. The race has Hares, who are racing for a prize purse of $12K and many rules with strict time cutoffs, and tortoises who are just out for a good time with far less rules but the tortoises showed full on ultrasignup. While I was fairly confident that I could do a 100 in under 30 hours, the Run Rabbit Run has over 20K' of elevation gain and I didn't want to be stressed about cutoffs. I wanted to be focused on finishing my first 100 and the hardest thing I have tried in my life. I decided to email the race director and ask about tortoise spots. Well, ask and ye shall receive. He granted me a spot. All I had to worry about now was finishing!

Preparation

Well enough blabber already. I haven't even started discussing the race and here we are. While newer at the whole ultra running thing, I am no stranger to the mountains or good long and hard pushes so I am mentally prepared to know what it takes to make it 100 miles. The fact that I am a ground pounding Devil Dog Marine, doesn't really hurt for me either. If nothing else, I know for a fact that I have the determination to finish this race. The two weeks between Pagosa and the race. My mind filled with so many questions. As I started to prepare, I learned that there is much more logistics and preparation in a 100 than even for a 50. You have to think about so many things as you plan for your crew and your drop bags as well as night time logistics. I decided to book lodging for my family and my crew to make things easy for them. While I may have camped myself, the comfort of lodging was nice for everyone and it was just over 100 yards from the start line of the race. We stayed at the Ptarmagin house and it was great. I had a 2 bedroom suite that slept 7-8 people comfortably for $550 for 3 nights. There were no granite counter tops or marble floors but the suite was very clean and adequate to support our needs. So back to actual prep. Let's discuss taper. I was all over on my taper and didn't really know what to do. It ended up that in the two weeks after Pagosa, I probably maybe ran a total of 30 miles before the race with nothing over 8 miles. I figured with a 50 miler 2 weeks prior, I didn't need anything else long and just to be recovered so much of what I did was very low heart rate. I had one night hike with some buddies a week prior but no long all night adventures as training either. 

Course Summary

I don't feel like looking up the actuals and this is a mountain ultra so none of it was exact anyhow. Here is what I remember:

1. Start to Mt Werner (Top of Steamboat ski resort): 5.5 miles and 3,800' gain

2. Mt. Werner to Long Lake: 6. something miles with mostly loss. Total about 12 mi.

3. Long Lake to Fish Creek Falls: 6. something miles with around 2K elevaiton loss and a total of about 17 miles.

4. Fish Creek Falls to Olympian Hall: 4 Miles and 1,200' downhill on pavement to downtown steamboat Howelson ski area. Total about 22 miles. 

5. Olympian Hall to Cow Creek: 8 miles with a big up and long slow down  total of about 30 miles.

6. Cow Creek to Olympian hall: 12 Miles with a long slow climb and a quick steep descent back to town. Total of about 42 miles. 

7. Olympian Hall to Fish Creek Falls: 4 miles back up the pavement up a 1,200' climb for a total of over 46 miles.

8. Fish Creek Falls to Long Lake: 6. something miles back up a couple thousand feet to Long lake around mile 53 total. 

9. Long Lake to Summit Lake: 5.5 miles and a slight up for a total of around 58 Miles.

10. Summit Lake to Dry Lake: 8 miles of downhill road and a couple thousand feet loss for a total of around 66 miles. 

11. Dry Lake to Spring Creek Ponds: 4.5 Miles downhill with about another 1k of loss. Total of about 70 Miles.

12. Spring Creek Ponds to Dry Lake: 4.5 miles back up about 1k' and total of about 75 miles. 

13. Dry Lake Back to Summit Lake: 8 Miles and a couple thousand feet back up for total of about 83 Miles.

14. Summit Lake to Long lake via Wyoming Trail: 8 Miles with some small ups and downs for a total of about 91 Miles.

15. Long Lake to Mt Werner- 7ish miles upish and total of 98 Miles.

16. Mt. Werner to finish: 6 miles and 3,800' loss for a total of 103 miles.

Crew Plan

The first thing I wanted to do was to make a crew plan. As I thought about it, they should know when to expect me and where. I had a couple of friends lined up but no pacers yet so I continued to ask around running groups and facebook friends. It is hard to find someone not only who can run farther than marathon distances with you but also be a cheer leader. I decided not to worry about it and would run with or without a pacer and put my mind to finishing no matter what. As I reviewed the maps, I looked at each section of the race and analyzed how far it was and what the elevation change was given the distance. I tried to use what I knew to say how fast I would do that section during a 50 miler and then add some time for going a further distance. My first calculation where I thought I was being very generous was just over 22 hours. Knowing my friend Brandon Worthington had won the Tortoises with a time slower than that and several successful hundreds under his belt, I thought maybe I should take a more conservative look. I decided to fall back on what I thought were my worst case times and stick with that. I ended up with a primary time goal of around 25 hours and given past results knew I was probably still a little ambitious seeing my times on other similar races to other runners who had accomplished those times. My secondary goal was 28 hours with an unwritten goal to make the sub 30 mark for a cooler belt buckle and to say I could have done Hares if I had to. Ultimately, finishing the race period was my goal since it was my first go. I had a whole plan typed out of my timing for each section and what I wanted my crew to do for me there. In order to do that, I had to think about what time I would be and when and ensure I had the right things for them. Because my crew was supposed to be driving a 70s vw bus around the mountains, I wanted to guarantee my success with or without them so I decided to use aid bags no matter what and have them get my bag from the station. This was my insurance policy that I would always have my stuff no matter what. They ended up driving a 4 runner and making every stop but the peace of mind was nice. I planned additional sunscreen on day stops, when to take my headlamp and put extra shoes on stations where I would cross multiple times at nice distances where I might need them and extra clothing up high at night time elevations where I knew it would be cold since it was September. 

Aid Bags

The Run Rabbit Run 100 allows for 5 aid/drop bags and I used all five. The first one being at Long lake where you pass 3 times at miles 11.5ish, 52.7ish, and 90ish. The second one being at Olympian Halls where you cross at about mile 22ish and then again at mile 42ish. The third one being at summit lake where you cross at miles 57 and 82ish, the fourth at Dry lake at miles 65 and 75ish, and the last one at Spring creek falls turnaround at 70ish miles. I planned one to two bottles of Hammer Perpetuem per section as long as I could stand it and had TP, gels, fruit leather, and advil at every bag. In the drop bags, I had sub baggies for each time I might come through a station so it was easy for the crew since they were labeled. I also had first aid, sunscreen, vaseline, batteries etc at the stations. I also had planned socks, gloves, and additional layers accross the board. After having a water bladder mishap at SJS this year and being tired of camelbaks, I tested a 2 bottle method at Pagosa where I had one in each hand. I didn't like not having some sort of hand free so I got one of those single bottle carriers to sit on my butt with a small pouch for additional storage. I planned this for daytime hours and to switch to the camelback at the Long Lake 53 mile aid station where it would turn to or already be night time. 

Pre-Race

The two weeks prior seemed to be agonizing while I didn't feel like I ran so much and I felt fine, the closer to the race I got, the worse I felt. A strong taper revealed tight IT band and other minor pains. Anyhow, I am a Strong believer in the Maffetone Method and went almost 100% Keto diet for a good portion of this time. I actually dropped an additional 5 lbs. I didn't have to carry on the race and hopefully got more efficient at burning fat. I left feeling a bit antsy with my family packed up mid day Thursday to head up to steamboat. Since we checked into the condo at about 4:30, we unloaded the car and the wife put the son down for a nap while I went to the pre-race briefing and to drop off aid bags.  I didn't really recognize anyone at the pre race briefing except people I have seen online such as Jason Schlarb or whatever. I quietly got my race number, met a couple of new friends and listened to the briefing. It was comforting to know that smart wool was a sponsor and they were local and Altra was a sponsor because they liked that the race gives back 1/3 of the proceeds to charity and even the director doesn't get paid a dime. In the drawing, I got some smart wool compression socks and an Altra Headband multipurpose thigie that matched my new red Lone Peaks. I liked the culture and was excited for the day to come. I went back to the condo and took the fam out to dinner at an awesome burger joint in Steamboat. We had some awesome burgers and got back in time for the crew and my pacer to start arriving. I had my good friend Matt, my good friend and bro in law, Ben, my step-father John, and my Pacer Neeraj all ready to go. I gave them what I wanted and it was good to have Neeraj as he is an ultra runner himself and completed his first 100 this year at Bighorn. He also knows literally everyone from the Pros to seriously most people we encountered on the course. I bought a pony keg of Rock Mountain Brewery's Red Head for the crew to enjoy throughout the weekend. Finally, I went to bed about midnight for my 8 AM race start. I had a rare occasion of a hard time falling asleep pondering the day ahead and was frustrated because I knew I needed a good night's rest followed by restless sleep and my son waking up at 4 AM and not wanting to sleep. After getting up at 6:30ish, I made my final preps, took my obligatory 2 pre-race poops, drank some coffee and ate some bacon and was out the door. In gondola square, we waited inside the Bear with the other racers young and old. I had more coffee there and was calm but not really sure how to feel given the task ahead.We took a few photos and then it was time. 

The Race

The First Marathon

Start to Mt. Werner

Purposefully near the back of the group as the race started we all started to head up the ski resort. I realized being this far back was a bad decision as I began the slow walk at the back of the group. I passed people here and there with my trekking poles heading up Mt. Werner. I was trying not to overdo it my first few miles and took it easy. I started in a tank top, a head band, mtn biking gloves, and shorts for the mixed weather. The gloves and headband kept the edge of the cold off while I knew my body was getting ready to produce some major heat on the climb to come. This outfit proved to be the proper choice as we ascended up, up, and up. I brought my smart phone to take videos and to slow me down so I took videos once in a while. By the time we got to the steep section under the gondola, I was passing people left and right and had caught the lead female. I got one last kiss from the wife and son and traded the trekking poles for my second bottle before taking off not to see them again for the next few hours. For some reason, I had in my head the gondola would be at the top of the mountain so I was confused as we had only done about 2 miles and it had already been about 40ish minutes. How was I so far ahead/off on my planning? Then I realized that there was a long way to the top of Mt. Werner. I proceeded on power hiking mostly to the top and feeling great about my 14 minute mile pace. I was taking it super easy and trying to save energy for later. Like the start of every race, I was religous about taking S-Caps and food hourly. I had a gel and maybe a fruit leather in the first bit and in 1:25, I had finally made the real top of Mt. Werner right on time to my planning and was in about 30th place where I would end up finishing the race. 

Mt. Werner to Long Lake

Quickly dropping off the back side and just in front of the lead female Tortoise I followed a local, who works at smartwool (sorry I forgot your name) towards the next aid. He was familiar with the trails so that was nice to have. After me falling back a bit to take my first Pee, we chatted for most of this section and I thought things like, I wonder if where I am now, I will be at the exact same time tomorrow morning and also loving the smoothness of the trail around the area. At 12ish miles, Long lake came rather quickly. Seeing it, I had an epiphany, it is a "long" lake. Haha. Anyhow, I quickly found my aid bag with help of the wonderful volunteers and restocked my food supply. In hindsight, this early in the race I should have not bothered with aid and just carried a couple extra food stuffs on me to save the time. I was in and out in under 5 minutes and was headed back toward fish creek falls. 

Long Lake to Fish Creek Falls

There is a small out and back from the trail junction where you get to see who is ahead and behind you and at the aid the lead female tortoise and several other folks had passed me. I took my time with 10 minute miles on the upper falls area and as the trail got rocky and I passed the second female who actually quickly let me by although I was hoping she wouldn't and force me to pace for awhile. , I got excited. I took my second pee somewhere in there and jumped around all nimbly bimbly and suddenly realizing how wet and jagged the trail was and how it could be easy to crash and ruin the entire run here. I slowed where needed but eventually caught up to Rocky Venzor and realized I must be going too fast. It was his first 100 too but the fact that he got me by over 2 hours on SJS means I have no business being here. After chatting with him into Fish Creek Falls, I met my crew for the first time. The crew sat me down and I was only about 10 minutes behind my plan of about 3.5 hours and the 17 miles. I don't remember much other than they reapplied sunscreen and checked my feet. I was in and out in probably a little over 5 min. In this time, a few racers passed me. 

Fish Creek Falls to Olympian Hall

I met my mustache twin and ran with him for a while. At this point, I think I was still in the top 20 ish people still. Although taking it super easy from what I would have ran those sections on a 50, I was worried that I was doing something wrong. I enjoyed the 9ish minute miles down towards olympian hall and just behind the lead female again. They cruised by quickly and while I don't usually run pavement, I kind of liked the road after the slipping and sliding around in fish creek falls. It was fun waiting at the stoplight in town before crossing and heading a bit more to the aid station and seeing the crew a second time. It was getting hot. They swapped my tanktop with a white shirt and I decided to keep my shoes. and socks. I grabbed a handful of gummy bears, a couple of pickes and the crew stuffed my pocket with a couple of cuties and I was off only to be back here in roughly 20 miles. Here was about a little over 21 miles and I was only about 10 minutes behind my planned time still but I think the section between Mt. Werner and Long Lake was a mile longer than advertized because my watch picked up an extra mile. Normally, I would expect some difference but this section was an extra mile on the way out as well as I discovered the next day. 

Olympian Hall to Cow Creek

Starting the steep hike out of Olympian Hall, I was still behind the lead female and somehow worried that folks would pass. We speed hiked up emerald mtn and I was confused if I should run or hike. Being that I was not quite a marathon into this four marathon deal, I thought it prudent to hike and maintain a 14-15 min mile pace on the couple thousand foot climb. Shortly after leaving O-Hall, I put in the headphones and rocked it out for a while. As we neared the water only aid station that was moved down hill a mile, I decided I had enough water and didn't refill. From there, I knew there would be another mile of up and then lots 'o down.  Well the water aid was 3 miles up and I was only expecting 2. And there was quite a bit more up and it began to get steep. I remained shortly behind hte lead female before a rock really started bothering me. I stopped to dump my shoe 2 times prior as I have heard not removing rocks early can ruin 100s. I finally had to stop and remove my sock where I discovered it there right on the pad of my foot. At just over a marathon in and over 5 hours, I put some moleskin on my foot there as a few racers passed in that short amount of time. My mood suddenly changed to not as happy and very tired which was strange given the low effort until this time. The next section that I expected to be relatively flat proved to be more up and down on steeps than I bargained for. This messed with my mind a bit and although the high for the day was 70, it felt 90 on the exposed ridge. The descent finally came and I actually struggled to maintain a 10 to 10:30 pace down the hill towards the crew. On the smoothest part of the trail, my right foot caught a root and I went down sliding like a MLB player into Home plate head first. Luckily the bottle took most of the brunt and I excaped with only a small cut on the hand and glad no one saw me. This really messed with my head as I ran low on water. About a half mile from the aid a few runners passed me as I struggled into Cow Creek at 30 miles. Right before the aid, I realized I had been carrying an extra full 6 oz bottle this whole time that I thought was empty for cupless aid. I chugged that and got to the crew where I drank a good amount of Coke and Gatorade along with eating a couple of pickles. As the crew prepped me, I was on the verge of tears and I didn't know why. I wasn't doubting finishing the race at this point but I just wasn't feeling good. After 10ish minutes at the aid and a few other runners getting ahead, I took off not feeling well. Neeraj gave me the best advice of the day to take my time in the heat and save it for night. I could tell the crew was a bit worried as I took a sip of beer before departing. 

The Second Marathon

Cow Creek to Olympian Hall

While the 2 mile road to the trail back up was gradually up, I traded off between an 11 min/mile jog and walking and it was honestly all I could manage. Eventually, I made the turnoff to head back up as another runner passed me. Feeling worse and worse, I realized that I had reached my max with sugar and could not intake anymore. A couple of gummy bears in my mouth made me want to gag and although it was now shady and cooler, and I could have probably ran much of this gradual up and down rolling ascent, I was feeling even worse and at mile 36 I puked just after drinking water. Uggg. That was much earlier than I expected that to happen. I decided to mandatory walk for the next mile or so to recover no matter the terrain. About a mile later, I took my first crap and continued on my ever long journey back up the hill where some miles seemed to be over 20 minutes per mile and several other runners passing me. I ran out of water about a mile and a half before the water only aid station and slowed greatly until I could get water. I had been rationing already until I ran out and did not want to dehydrate since I puked out most of what I had drank since cow creek. Now I could not eat and didn't have water. I chugged a bit at the water only before taking a full bottle for the final 3 mile descent into Olympian hall. Struggling to make 10-11 min miles on the descent I finally snapped out of it about a mile before O-Hall. Somewhere right around the water, I also decided to drop the music and go back to listening to nature around. I suddenly started feeling good again. DOn't know what happened but I was great. Maybe the water... I cruised into the aid and planned a longer stop here before departing. The crew changed my shoes over to my saucony peregrines and I was over an hour off of my plan at this point. They put my compression socks on at my request (I have to humbly admit I have always made fun of these but they felt so so good after 42 miles. Thank you Smart wool!).

Olympian Hall to Fish Creek Falls

 With a dry shirt and an attempt to eat some food, I headed for fish creek falls with a couple hand fulls of tortilla wraps. The crew was worried I didn't eat enough but I was going to force myself to eat this in the next 4 miles.  After a couple cups of Coke, I headed out totaling my stop for probably just over 10 minutes. The new shoes felt great, although my feet didn't hurt in the old ones. I passed a couple of people right out of the aid and jogged much of the road back toward the falls averaging about 12 min miles up the 1,200' climb and passing several more folks. While it had gotten cooler down at O-Hall, that climb was hot and I shouldn't have taken the dark colored shirt when I did. I ate all the food but it took me pretty much the whole way as I had to take the smallest nibbles to not feel like I was going to hurl. At Fish Creek Falls, Neeraj decided to jump in with me. My time with him was strategic as he was my only pacer and while he would have gone all the way with me while I need it, I wanted to use him when I needed him most which I figured wouldn't be until after dry creek the second time to finish the final 50k of the race. I picked up my trekking poles here and carried them for the remainder of the race. This is the last time I would see my wife and son and John until the end of the race so I kissed them goodbye.

Fish Creek Falls to Long Lake

The crew gave me more food and a headlamp and a long sleeved shirt and we were off with a steady hike. I knew the lower section of fish creek was steep and nasty and I was still recovering from not feeling better later.  Neeraj and I just kept the hike at a steady pace as I wondered when the Lead Hares would pass. He said they were reported to only be 10 minutes from O-Hall when they left a while after me so I expected them very soon. A couple of racers passed me early in this section but I kept the hike steady and continued to eat. Silly me, I took my wife's child BD headlamp that wasn't bright but could have managed so Neeraj kindly traded me for his spare. We charged my watch during this section as well using a portable battery pack as the Garmin 310XT only lasts 16-18 hours. I eventually passed the racers that passed me after the aid station and made a decent jog through the upper section back to Long Lake. The company of Neeraj was nice as we have not really gotten to know each other yet so we had good stories to tell with mostly me excitedly talknig. It was completely dark by now. Just at the edge of the lake, we stopped and turned off headlamps to marvel at the beauty of the stars for a minute before taking off again.  We arrived at long lake to a beautiful looking fire but I refused to sit by it and get cozy and not want to leave. As I switched over to a my Osprey pack and bladder, the aid station crew advised runners to take all clothing available with them as the next section was very very cold. I stuffed my tights and jacket in my bag and ate some food. While we were there, Rob Krar (The lead hare) came through with 2 other hares in hot pursuit. Both within less than 3 minutes in tow. I realized I had gotten to Long Lake before them so I was very happy about that despite the fact that they did the first half of the race in 4 hours less than me. Being that the solid food was now what I needed to eat, I had some ramen and coke at this aid statio before departing. What a lovely dinner. 

The Third Marathon

Long Lake to Summit Lake

At about 13:35 hours into the race, we departed towards summit lake with an extra runner, Dave. Dave was  friend of Neeraj and I found out that my second potential pacer was staying at his house back in Boulder. I wasn't surprised as he should be tapering at that point. It was nice to talk to Dave through the next section where a couple more hares passed us but no Tortoises. Still about in 45th place, we gave a good effort towards summit lake. We did have to stop less than half a mile into this section as I realized I was colder than I wanted to be and put on my tights and jacket only to get too hot soon. I left the jacket on but unzipped to thwart the cold. We jogged the downs and flats and walked the ups and got there in no time and starting to pick off a few runners and make it to about Mile 57 point something. Here I ate more Ramen and drank more coke sticking with what worked before. I also had coffee here which was nice.

Summit Lake to Dry Lake

This 8 mile section flew by as we had thought the reascent of this earlier on might be the crux of the race, we now realized that it wasn't that steep. We cruised about 10 min mile pace for almost all of it and made up some major time and passed several folks along the way. It seemed like no time at all on this section passed and we were into Dry Lake. For such a longer distance, I don't remember much except for being so positive and actually glad I had my poles even on this slight descent to assist me from trips and falls. I do remember about 2 miles from Dry Lake, we passed Neeraj's friend Scott who was running his 22nd 100. When I say passed, he was going the other way in the lead hare position at 14 miles ahead of us. He was doing awesome. We arrived at Dry lake expecting to find the crew for the first time in 19 miles and not able to find them started getting some more ramen, a cookie, and some coke. Surprisingly they had only hot chocolate here and not coffee before we found the crew right at the front of the line. How did we miss them? They checked me out and here I also agreed to let Neeraj take a break since I felt good and knew the next 4.5 miles were downhill. I did also take one advil here for the first time. 

Dry Lake to Spring Creek Ponds Back to Dry Lake

Through here, I passed several more runners and made an average descent of about 9 min/mile which was too fast as I hopped the bridges over the river and was served a cold PBR and delicious burger by Jason Schlarb himself before jetting back out. The crew was surprised to see me here this quick. I finished my burger on the run as I ran more than I hiked back up which in hindsight was probably a mistake. I felt good here from mile 70 to 75 but it was too soon still to be playing games. I was not feeling the tiredness of the night at all and rocked the climb back up faster than planned. Still feeling good back at dry lake, I ate some bacon and some ramen that someone put potato soup in and I did not like. After drinking some coke and spending slightly too much time here with the last crew stop until the finish, We took off with about 50k to go. 

The Fourth Marathon

Dry Lake to Summit Lake

Now with 3 marathons under my belt for the day and Neeraj back with me, we slowly tackled the long steady hill. We decided to run much except every once in a while on flatter spots to keep the running muscles good. Somewhere in here where I could barely hike the lead female Hare, Nikki Kimball came jogging up and quickly off into the night ahead of us. About half hour later, the second female hare came up and we jogged/sped hiked her into Summit Lake. She was not feeling well and was worried about getting passed by Darcy Africa who was apparently not far behind. This section was not as much of a bear as I thought it was as we cruised into the aid station at mile 83 or so and I had not been wearing a jacket ever since the first time we were in Dry lake. Entering the tent and sitting down here, I was now feeling fatigued but still not doubting that I could finish this. I ate more ramen and a breakfast burrito and had some coke and swithced shoes again to my trusty Pure Grit 2's with over 600 miles on them and still ticking. We stayed here too long and I started to lock up before we left. Upon exit, it was too cold so I put my jacket on only for the second time of the night departing mile 83ish toward the finish line.

Summit Lake to Long Lake (via Wyoming Trail)

As the twilight began, we headed up the steep exit from Summit Lake aid station to the Wyoming Trail. I was not feeling awesome suddenly. This was shameful as I felt we took the last section from Dry lake to summit lake easy to really excel through this relatively flat section and make up some good time. Unfortunately, my little speedster stunt from Dry Lake to Spring Creek Ponds and back up may have been my culprit. As it got lighter out, I struggled to even jog. Darci Africa and a couple more tortoises passed me through this area. Although it was getting light outside, we were not getting warmth from the sun and I did not get the rejuvenating feeling I so commonly hear about during this time. Although Long Lake to Summit lake was so short the other direction, I was not mentally prepared for this section and was really bogging down. I took a caffeine pill somewhere in this section and I think it really helped my dragging. It wasn't until we reached the meadow just above long lake that we finally got so me good warming sun and I was hurting, especially in both shins and pretty much not able to run at all anymore. It was going to be a walking battle to be sub 30 hours. It was here that we saw the lead of the 50 mile pack. Ten minutes later and we would have missed them. We proceeded to see the rest of the 50 milers over the next several miles. Neeraj was smart enough to get in front of me and let them congratulate him so I didn't have the muster the energy to say thanks to all of the wonderful compliments which were nice to hear. We reached Long Lake in what seemed like forever later. I think it was roughly 9 AM when we got there but cannot quite remember. A quick bite to eat and gear check and we were off for the final bit of the battle. Now at over 91 miles, I had it in the bag as long as I kept moving. 

Long lake to Mt. Werner

With a steady walking pace out of Long Lake, we began our climb back toward's Mt. Werner. I didn't remember coming down so much on the way in and the hike was grueling as it began to get hot. We stopped to remove jackets and I really wanted to just lay down. I realized I hadn't had any Advil since mile 65 at Dry Lake the first time and decided to take a couple. A few tortoises passed me through this section as we continued to walk steadily as I felt I could pretty much not run anymore. After the advil kicked in and Neeraj was slowly making me eat Clif Shot Blocks, I suddenly had a reduced enough pain level to start running and hiking much faster. We passed most of the folks that passed me as we counted what we thought would be six miles back to the top of Mt. Werner. At 6 miles, we realized we were nowhere close and continued to follow the trail to what seemed to go everywhere but to the top I remembered jetting through just over 24 hours ago. We finally arrived at the 7 mile distance that I now clocked both ways through this section with 3 other runners right on my tail. I quickly changed from my tights and long sleeves into some pink women's panties that say "no tan lines" over my compression shorts and no shirt.

Mt. Werner to Designated Hugger

We headed down the hill and quickly passed another female tortoise who passed me through the aid. The down was grueling but for a few minutes I thought I would be able to maintain that 9-10 min/mile pace to the bottom and actually get a sub 28 hour time still. After about half a mile or so of "hammering" it down, I had to walk some. We would jog about 2/10 of a mile and then go back to walking for another 1/10 all of the way down from here. Other runners would begin to catch up and I wanted to fight it so we would run more. Everything was very tired through here and my running was more like shuffling where I would basically drag my feet along because lifting them was too pounding on my shins. About one mile from the finish, I realized that a couple other runners were right on my tail. While it hardly mattered if they beat me at this point, I didn't want them to. We rocketed into the finish line with about a 9 minute mile pace for the last mile. It hurt so bad but I didn't care. I was not getting passed. I dropped all my stuff and floated up the steps to the Designated hugger where I got my hug and stopped the clock at 28:09. Mission successful and I got my mug and buckle to prove it. After a couple of pics, I immediately put my feet in the nice little river and shared beers with my friends and family. 

Recovery

The couple hundred yard walk back to the condo was hell on my legs and my body started freaking out at that point. I had feverish conditions. With a couple heavy blankets, I curled up shivering on the couch. Sitting down and nodding off in a long hot shower felt good but as soon as I got out, I began shivering again. It wasn't until I had some chicken noodle soup that I finally began to feel more normal. I hobbled back down to the finish line with the crew and we enjoyed Pizza, Beer, and Hot dogs as we cheered on fellow runners. I ended up staying that night with the fam and was feeling decent the next day. A week later now and my left shin still has a tight knot in it that I cannot seem to get to go away. I took my first run post race today (had a couple of walks and short bike rides earlier in the week) and it was ok. I was able to run a full 3 miles without stopping but I ran with my HRM and my normal 8:45ish pace at 155 HR was obviously not there. Cruising at about 9:50 avg per mile at the same HR, I can see I have more healing and recovery to do. This is about where I expected to be at this point as I am still euphoric about the race and my future of ultra running and the adventures to come. At this point, I am anxious to feel better and just run for a while not training for anything specific. 

After Thoughts

This section is a quick thought on what I thought I did good and what I would change next time.

First, I want to ensure a longer taper next time than a 50 miler 2 weeks prior. I think this may have been part of my demise early in the race. Second, I think I would put even less effort into the first climb up Mt. Werner as it hardly matters. Third, Compression socks are where it is at. I will always have a pair of these available at 100s in the future. 4th: You can only eat pure sugar for so long before the body rejects it. I ate solid foods early but I should be prepared for this feeling and not so ready to bonk. 5th: The 2 bottles method works very well and I was able to rock them everywhere except during the heat of the day where I did run out of water a bit early. 5th: Coke is a life saver. I can drink it even when I cannot tolerate sugar. 6th: I maybe need to think about how to speed up my aid station time. If I cut them all in half, I bet I would have finished an hour sooner. 

Training Week 23-29 December 2013

Weekly Totals:

Miles: 68.05

Time: 15:29:49

Gain: 7,271'

Beers: 12 (and 2 glasses of wine). The holidays seem like a good time to drink more when you are around family and friends and having fun.

Monday 23 Dec: This is the last real week of December so I want to make it memorable. I have off work from Christmas to New Year's Day so I really want to hit it hard (or at least as hard as I can without imposing too much on my family). I hope to get a Winter Centennial Peak summit and tons of elevation along with a goal for the first 70 mile week in training to finish the year strong especially after an easier week last week due to the hikes and cutting my long run short due to a fat dog. Today I started with a little over 9 miles. I did my standard double lap at work and found a new hill on the east side that was 1/4 mile each way that probably comes close to doubling the gain for the entire route. I felt great on the run today and MAF paces were pretty normal despite the weather in the mid-20s. Thank God (and my parents in-law) for the Smart Wool Arm Panties birthday gift.
Running Stats:

• Miles: 9.15
• Time: 1:21:11
• Pace: 8:54 (includes warmup and cooldown walking and jogging)
• Gain: 257'
• Surface: Pavement
• Additional: NA
• Feelings: Great
• Weather: Started foggy and then burned off somewhat to some sun and maybe 5-7 MPH wind.

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Herbal Tea with Honey, Scrambled eggs with green chili, turkey bacon, and other veggies, 2 cups black coffee, and ACV in water.
• Morning Snack: Gourmet salad with ACV dressing and salami and some walnuts
• Lunch: Trying to kind of split up lunch to 2 snacks due to running mid day.
• Afternoon Snack: Leftover Chicken marengo and some almonds.
• Dinner: Random Asian scramble with meat and lots of veggies and Ice Cream for dessert.
• Beers: 0

Tuesday 24 Dec (Christmas Eve): Today I ran the 12 miles of Christmas by doing 3 loops of Black Forest Section 16 alternating directions. For the most part, I tried to maintain MAF heart rate but for 1 time on the big hill, I turned on the jets and got a personal record. That kind of hurt me for the second half of the run and I ended up with really slow times. I was supposed to work today but decided not to go in so I could get lots of Christmas stuff done.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 12.0
• Time: 1:52:48
• Pace: 9:24
• Gain: 739'
• Surface: Dirt, Ice, Snow etc.
• Additional: NA
• Feelings: Kind of slow and tight hamstrings after the sprint
• Weather: Upper 40s low 50s and super windy with 20 MPH wind.

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Egg Scramble, 2 Cups Black Coffee
• Morning Snack: NA
• Lunch: Gourmet Salad with meat and ACV with Olive Oil
• Afternoon Snack:
• Dinner: Christmas pre-dinner with Ham, Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes and Gluten Free, Non-Processed, Vegan, Pumpkin Pie that I made that turned out awesome.
• Beers: 3 (Widmer Bro's Alchemy and Bristol Bee Hive)

Wednesday 25 Dec (Merry Christmas): No running today although I wanted to and didn't need the rest. It was a great day with family all the same though.

Running Stats:

•             NA

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Christmas Tradition Omelets with veggies and meat, topped with home made salsa and sour cream, Cream Cheese Braid, Bacon, and Cranberry/Grapefruit Salad
• Lunch: Breakfast was more of a Brunch so there was no lunch.
• Dinner: Christmas Dinner- Turkey, Gravy, Sweet potatoes, olives, cranberry jello salad, stuffing, cheese ball with crackers, apple and pecan pie. Had a 3 AM snack after stopping hiking of 1 ramen noodle package.
• Beers: 2 (and a glass of wine)

Thursday 26 Dec: Lots of stuff happened this day. I started with a mid-day 8 mile run. 4 was with the fam and it was the first time the wife pulled the son in the bike trailer. The headwind to start was offal and then the turnaround was nice. It was 2 laps to Judge Orr and back from the house. Then at 11 at night began my ascent of Mt. Adams but I will count that climb for tomorrow since most of it was then.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 8
• Time: 1:14:53
• Pace: 9:21
• Gain: 78'
• Surface: Gravel and dirt
• Additional: NA
• Feelings: Pretty good despite the wind.
• Weather: 40s and heavy wind from the north (maybe 12ish mph)

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Egg scramble with leftover omelet ingredients and 2 cups black coffee 
• Lunch: Gourmet salad with meat and nuts with Balsamic and Olive Oil
• Afternoon Snack: NA
• Dinner: Leftover Christmas with ham, turkey, stuffing
• Beers: 4

Friday 26 Dec: Woke up in a tent after less than 4 hours of sleep to finish the Mt. Adams climb. Started the climb last night at 11 and snowshoed in about 3.5 miles and 2,000 feet of gain until 2:30 with full winter camping/climbing pack including snowboard.   Got back on the trail around 8 am after going to bed at around 4 and waking up at 7. Finished the climb of Mt. Adams, glissaded/hiked back to tree line and snowboarded/hiked back to camp, packed up and headed to car for 14 total mikes and over 5k of elevation on one of the gorgeous winter days ever in the history of man! The trip report on this one is forthcoming in the near future.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 14
• Time: Moving time of 7:03:58 Total time out was about 22 hours.
• Pace: 30:13 from moving time
• Gain: 5,103'
• Surface: Snow and Rock!
• Additional: Yeah right
• Feelings: Friggin awesome throughout
• Weather: Low teens at night to single digits and mid 30s with virtually no wind all day. Maybe even warmer.

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Cereal Bar and Fruit leather
• Lunch: No official lunch but hiking food was a couple of gels, a couple fruit leathers, a couple fruit snacks, almonds, 4 oz package salmon, craisins, and shared a ramen when returning to tent
• Afternoon Snack:
• Dinner: Another ramen with a  beer and a nasty gas station burrito
• Beers: 2

Saturday 28 Dec: Unfortunately, today was a rest day. I wanted to run and ran out of time between recovery, rehydration, drying out gear, draining, cleaning, and refilling the hot tub, I sort of ran out of day light. It didn't help that I got home after 1 AM from the climb and was lacking sleep and still got up at 7:30 because I couldn't sleep anymore. The morning weather was nice but the afternoon a storm blew in and it wasn't pleasant weather for a run anyhow. This would have been the difference for a 70 mile week but my body probably needed the rest.

Running Stats:

•             NA

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Pancakes, 2 Fried over easy eggs, 1 strip of bacon, OJ, 2 cups black coffee
• Lunch: Gourmet salad with meat and balsamic with olive oil, and chips and salsa
• Dinner: Leftover Christmas dinner- Turkey with gravy, carrots and broccoli, cranberry jello salad (cocola salad), sweet potatoes
• Beers: 1 (+1 glass wine)

Sunday 17 Nov: Finally, my long run. While I was planning on running with the Incline Club and doing the run to Barr Camp today plus maybe even to A-Frame, the snow last night got me scared that I would be trudging through a minimum of 4 fresh inches up there. While someone faster may have trampled it down to Barr Camp, I would have been on my own past and turning around at Barr wasn't going to be enough mileage or time for what I wanted although 4k of elevation gain would have been nice. I ended up doing a 25 mile loop from home around Black Forest to include Black Forest Section 16 as well and back to home. I felt great throughout with the mostly 155 heart rate despite taking a nasty spill after tripping over a snow covered root in section 16. All in all, I could have gone a few more miles but I felt bad for being gone as long as I had already. Great run though but I think road running is not for me. The knees are sore tonight.

Running Stats:

• Miles: 24.9
• Time: 3:46:59
• Pace: 9:05 per mile including walking warm-up and cool down plus a couple of pee stops.
• Gain: 1,094'
• Surface: Mostly road with some dirt on side and the 4 mi of section 16 mud, ice, and snow
• Additional: 3 sets of 20 pushups at night! haven't done those in a while.
• Feelings: Awesome but knees hurt. No stomach issues although I only had 2 gels during along with Hammer Perpetuem concentrate every 15 mins and water.
• Weather: Start at around 19 degrees and warmed to maybe 26 with a good 8-10 mph wind so a bit chilly.

Diet Stats:

• Breakfast: Pancakes with maple syrup and butter, egg scramble with veggies, salsa, and sour cream
• Morning Snack: Post run leftover ham
• Lunch: Gourmet salad with summer sausage, ham and tons of veggies with ACV and olive oil.
• Afternoon Snack: 2 Chocolate Chip Cookies and 1 slice leftover gluten free, non-processed, vegan pumpkin pie.
• Dinner: Marinated, baked eggplant and Lamb Chops
• Beers: 0

Mt. Adams Winter Climb, 13,931'

Stats

Peaks: Mt. Adams, 13,931’ Rank 66 out of 637 in Colorado.
Date:Dec 27, 2013
Mileage: 14 Miles
Elevation Gain: 5,103 feet
Partners: Bruton (AKA Grizzly Adams, AKA Climbing Jesus, AKA Matt
Route: Horn Creek Trailhead to East Ridge and Descent Via SE Couloir

Preface

Skip this section if you just want details from this specific trip.
It has been too long since I have had a bid in the mountains. This past year has been filled with child rearing and running as my son was born last November. In the process, I gained the baby weight with my wife and was at my heaviest ever at 6’ and 220 lbs., I knew something had to change so I started running again and started focusing on more of a whole foods plant based diet that I discovered in the Forks Over Knives documentary on Netflix while now eating some meat but many more veggies and almost no processed foods. Having Finished the 14ers on Huron the summer prior on Huron with my wife being 6 months pregnant, all my closest friends, and a keg of beer; I was looking for my next adventure. While I desire to complete the Centennials, I don’t have the same drive as I did for the 14ers and in the same manner, I would like to climb bigger and better things but those take money and I don’t have a lot of that. I decided I would finally do the Pikes Peak Ascent this year. I would combine the mountains with running and see how I could do. Starting in January with barely able to run 3 miles at a pace of 10 minutes per mile, I knew I was in trouble. I worked my way slowly to faster and faster and began running with the Incline Club hosted by Mr. Matt Carpenter himself. I figured if I was going to do this, I would learn from the best. Just prior to the race, I was able to run 10 miles at 7 minutes per mile and ended up completing the Ascent in 3 hours and 26 minutes which was 34 minutes faster than my goal and still over 20 minutes faster than any of my training attempts despite coming down with a nasty case of Strep throat the day prior. During my training, I got to bag a few centennials in one trip (French, Frasco, Casco, and Oklahoma all in 1 day) and then the rain took over my next few planned days. Nonetheless, I believe I found my niche finishing the Ascent in still over an hour slower than the winners but feeling great despite less than 8 months of training. The running didn’t stop there and I have fun a couple of trail 50k’s since as you can read on my blog and I am hooked on the whole ultra-running scene trying to become an ultra-runner myself with 2014 goals of a couple 50 milers including the San Juan Solstice 50 and possibly a 100 if my legs fair well. Anyhow, the major benefit is that I am now down to 175 lbs, which is what I was as a Junior in high school and lighter than I ever was even in the Marines. While I wasn’t huge at 220, I did have a little Buddha belly. At a drop of roughly 45 lbs, I am at my lightest of my adult life and in my best shape at age 30.
Anyhow, back to Mt. Adams. With all the baby stuff and being partially less willing to take climbing risks, the mountains finally summoned me. With my best good partner, climbing jesus, not having a schedule the past year synching up with mine, we were both deprived and needed something to kick off this winter. A few days ago, we realized we had one matching day off and the weather couldn’t have looked better. I have been eyeing Mt. Adams for a while and thought we might take a stab at it hoping that someone from Horn Creek Ranch may have cut a trail to Horn Lakes for us. Even still, we knew that the chances of a summit were highly unlikely given our short amount of time and the fact that we may have to bust 5 miles of trail through the trees. Either way, we knew we would get a good chance to get re-acquainted to all that comes along with winter camping including stuffing literally everything in your sleeping bag to keep it from freezing and remembering things like a Thermarest or some sort of pad to keep you off of the snow or some sort of silverware utensils to eat your food. We figured summit or not we would get the Freedom of the Hills that we were seeking and that we did. As we eyeballed previous winter reports, I realized that there are no Ski reports here on 14ers or on summit post on this peak and there was a beautiful couloir that others discussed as glissading in their Trip reports. We figured we would bring the snowboards and hit it if conditions warrant with virtually a possible ski from the true summit.

Day 1: Approach to around 11,000’ for Camp
With Matt getting off work at 7 PM Thursday night and his climbing dream machine (1976 Westy) not running as of the day prior, I swung by his house and picked up his staged gear and a fresh warm loaf of Zucchini bread that his wife made and then I picked him up at work and we headed Southwest. We rolled into the Horn lake trailhead about 10 PM or a little later and got the truck stuck about 200 yds from the trailhead bathrooms as we sank into the hard crusted snow (Yet another time when I wish my 4 banger Toyota had lockers but apparently you had to buy the six cylinder to get those). After a quick dig out and a backup to the last corner, we cracked a beer while we discussed gear and got dressed for the climb. After readying all of our gear we stepped off at about 11 PM with plans to hopefully make it to just below Horn Lakes area at or just below treeline. After making the bathrooms and cutting right following some snowmobile tracks, we quickly lost them. Knowing the Rainbow trail was contouring above us and the Horn Creek drainage was also Southwest, we headed southwest and realized that if we were going to break trail like this all night, we might not be making it that far. After about a mile or so, we ran into the beautiful Rainbow trail which had only signs of animal tracks and not humans in the past couple of days. Within less than another ¼ mile, we reached the right turn to Horn Lakes basin and much to our chagrin, there was a few day old snowshoe track a few inches under the snow. As long as we stayed on that, there was hardly anything to break. When we stepped off, we were up to our knees even with the snowshoes that we had on since virtually the car. Carrying our winter packs with camping gear, snowboards and everything else and not being used to the weight slowed us a bit but we were still determined. A while later, a south facing trail out of the trees was virtually dry for a few hundred yards and then we were right back into the snow very appreciative of the recent track that continued on. We did wonder how far it went though. As time passed on, we crossed over a scary river crossing where it was snow and ice top but you could hear the water rushing below. Taking care to cross over logs, we pushed onward and upward on the gentle uphill slope. Somewhere at about 11,000’ or slightly below and about 3.5 miles into the hike, we decided to call it a night at 2:30AM. By the time we stomped out a flat area for the tent setup camp (which unfortunately I got no pictures of), and settled into the tent, it was after 3. Right around then, Matt realized that he forgot his sleeping pad. If that were me, I would have been tempted to pack up and head home or tried to share with him. He luckily had an extra insulated blanket and laid his shell pants and jacket over that and did alright. We put on some Ramen in the vestibule which is a nice commodity that you cannot enjoy with summer camping due to attracting bears and whatnot although I second guess that after seeing the winter Chicago Basin Bears in Steve Gladbach’s report a couple years back . After the noodles cooked and I shut off the stove, we both passed out while waiting for them to cool. About 30 minutes later, I awoke to find the ramen still very warm and expanded. At this point, we realized that we both forgot yet another important piece of gear… No spoon, no spork, no fork… nothing. After giving a go with the Gerber multi-tool, we realized it would be better to drink the broth and use our fingers Moroccan style. Getting settled in, I came to a quick realization of how much crap you have to pack into your bag to keep from freezing. Propane/Butane canisters, water bottles (2 Nalgenes for me), giant winter mountaineering boots, beer, clothing for tomorrow etc. This time was a little better than the past with 45 less pounds of me in there, I suddenly felt a lot less claustrophobic.

Day 2: Adams Alpine Adventure
Ok ok, the pictures are coming soon I promise. We awoke just after 7 which was later than we wanted but still plenty early enough for a summit bid. I heated some water to put back into the Nalgenes that we put in our sleeping bags with us… I wish I did that before bed next to those cold and frozen boots. After eating some various uncooked food and putting down some hot instant coffee which triggered pre-hike gut action, we stepped off around 8 following the still packed trail. Having already released the fury from our guts, the next goal was to get up into that sun out of the valley. The slog went rather quickly only passing one potential slope of concern just before the first picture. As you press up into the basin, the trees open a bit on the left side a few hundred feet below treeline and luckily it wasn’t too loaded and the layers seemed pretty solid. I was just glad we had a packed trench and weren’t cutting to the bottom of the layers causing potential issues. Nearing the end of the trees, we spot the ridge that we were to climb to get to the East ridge route. I think that unranked ridge gets you to point 13,250 or something like that. Anyhow, we figured we would press on from there until a passable and safe route became clear.

Until this point, I thought we were screwed for pictures because my camera was too cold to work or something after leaving it out of the tent in my pack to freeze. I realized that I did have my trusty Samsung Rugby Pro smart phone with a camera on it so I began to use that. The next image here is looking back into the trees from the previous image.

Soon after, we reached the first of the horn lakes to find the series of these small ponds frozen to the bottom. We snapped a couple of pics while we scouted a potential route.

We were shooting for that finger of trees that leads toward the cliff band below the closest ascent ridge.
And Grizzly Adams himself…

Reaching the bottom of the finger, we scurried over the frozen tundra and popped a squat while we planned out the rest of the day with conditions calls, turnaround times and if we were going to keep or drop snowshoes and/or snowboards. As we peered at what we could see of the summit ski from atop the largest rock in the basin at around 11,500’, we were worried that if we carried the boards, it could (1) prevent us from making the summit and (2) we couldn’t see the full line in the couloir for a full descent and (3) we had no idea of the conditions of the snow up there nor had we (4) been on our boards since last year. At this point, we made the command decision to drop our boards on this rock and remembering our return from the Little Bear to Blanca Winter Traverse two winters ago down through hip deep postholes back to our gear, we decided we would keep the snowshoes with us. Picking a path of least resistance up the treed and rocky finger to the ridge, we eventually packed our snowshoes once we hit the ever nice sun with no wind at all mind you. A few hundred yards of postholing and we made our way through the cliff bands. After the steeper portion, we both stripped our base layer due to the unexpected winter heat when we realized that we forgot another key item, sunscreen, which was still in the door of my truck. We used or bandannas to creatively protect our exposed facial skin from the all powerful sun. I pondered cutting some moleskin from the med kit to fashion over my nose but decided to wait on that one a while. From about where we dropped layers, this was the view looking back East to where we had trekked in from.

And a more direct look of the Cliff bands that we passed through below which were a bit spicy. A fall through there while although class 3 would have dropped you over some 5th class vertical cliffs that we traversed over. There are no unimportant steps… Just one limb at a time checking every hold.


 Looking west toward the end of the basin, the impressive cliffs of point 13,5xx something towered above blocking view to Kit Carson, Challenger, the Crestones and many other beautiful summits that I have enjoyed past adventures on. At about this point, you can begin to see some of those summits peaking out over the top saying “hello.”

Moving upward through the path of least resistance, the snow became harder and more frequent than the grassy slopes and rocks so we donned our dull crampons that have seen lots of abuse and rock thrashing over the years and pressed on. This is looking up at the point that we skirted toward the ridge.

And Grizzly Adams looking up towards me…

Right about this point we both got pretty low on energy. This picture shows the steep corniced slope on the ridge to the North and also back to the valley from which we emerged. We sat down, gathered ourselves and ate a couple of snacks for an energy boost. We both had salmon pouches that were once frozen through the night that we thawed out in our bags in the morning and maybe a fruit leather and a gel and kept moving.

Eventually with still perfect weather, we made the saddle. Matt was a bit behind so I signaled to him that I was going to run up the point that we skirted. I just kind of had the feeling while staring back at it like it was summoning me to climb it and not just go around so I did. This image is from the saddle of the remainder of the East ridge towards the summit.

The next picture is the Mt. Adams summit view from the summit of the point. You can see my tiny partner around the saddle area. In the background to the upper left, you can see the un-inspiring summit of Challenger Point.

Getting back to the saddle and a little past, I caught back up with Matt while he was waiting for me with a wood tipped stogie. We donned helmets and studied the remainder of the ridge with still perfect weather and absolutely zero wind. It seemed as if the extra food energy burst had kicked in and we were ready to push for the summit with high spirits.

It seems like the first couple of the major obstacles we went slightly right but most we climbed straight through enjoying some 4th and low 5th class scrambling over the conglomerate. With rather obvious route finding, the route could have easily been kept at 3rd class even with the given conditions but the gorgeous rock was too inviting.

Somewhere around here on the ridge, we spotted a big horn sheep about halfway up the mountain from the basin. He made it effortlessly to the ridge we were on about 100 yards ahead within about ten minutes and stared us down as if either showing us the way or blocking passage to the route. Unfortunately, it was just far enough that my phone wouldn’t snap a good shot. He went all of the way to the summit and over as we pressed on behind his fresh tracks. Here is looking back at the climb so far with my partner there.

In no time at all, we made it to the final ridge section before the summit and studied the choices between solid and dry rock or a 40ish degree snow climb. Which one do you think we went for?

Just before our choice, I got another picture of the full array of peaks from Humboldt (left) to Challenger (Right). At one point, we could actually even get a view of the Blanca massif playing peek-a-boo back in the distance between these peaks.

One last look at the ridge and valley we ascended before making our decision.

You probably guessed it by now, we just couldn’t resist the 5th class finish climbing it in true style with the crampons still on.

I let climbing jesus do the honors and lead us to the finish through this section and followed just behind. Getting established onto the rock was a little dicey with some minimal holds but once on it, it was not so bad and was over too quickly.

And the summit benchmark…

We found the register as well but the paper was frozen to the inside. Here is our summit pose which my phone resting in the goggles managed to chop the top of our heads off. As you can see, not exactly winter attire we were dressed in. As you can see, I am sporting my Pikes Peak Ascent shirt which works out as a layer.

And some beta for anyone interested in this area… I can’t believe I have been on each of the high points seen and some multiple times. This area just keeps calling me back and I was so glad to be on Mt. Adams that has sparked my interest ever since I saw it while climbing the North Ridge of Kit Carson as seen right in the middle of the picture.

Look away now if you get scared easily but this was necessary to scare off the sasquatch that was quickly approaching… While it may have been sunny, I’m sure it was still about 30 degrees up there at the top and what is under that helmet would have been proof in that pudding lol. I’m just glad that he was able to take one for the team for the both of us and scare off the sasquatch.

After that whole ordeal and enjoying a beer and shot of whiskey in the quickly falling sun, we donned all of our layers and scouted the best route back down. It was pretty easy to see a snow route. I somehow remembered my slope angle reader and measured the steepest part of the top along my axe at 42 degrees. It sure does look a lot steeper in the pictures. After doing some block cutting snow tests of the layers before committing fully to the snow descent, we were pleasantly surprised and both happy with a couloir descent. There was about a 4” wind slab on top that would probably not do more than a sluff and the rest was pretty settled to the bottom. I don’t usually like to glissade as I have read so many horror stories of folks losing control and careening down into rocks and badly injuring or even killing themselves but the snow was so perfect for it and it felt safer to not cut deeper by plunge stepping into the layers. After a few minutes, I was fully regretting leaving my gaiters in the car as my pants pushed up to almost my knees and my boots were filled with snow. The snow was actually continuous to the bottom so long as you cut to the right towards the bottom where it looks like you might cliff out. If you go to your left, you will cliff out. About ¾ of the way down to Horn Lake the snow turned bullet proof and became too hard for safe glissading. We were almost in full arrest mode rather than just sliding and braking so we decided to hop off to the side and hike down from there.

And a view towards the lake while we kept a high line back towards our snowboards that I now wish I had on that descent of the couloir in such perfect conditions for it.

And what a beautiful mountain... From all sides too…

Eventually we put back on our slow shoes and continued down on top of the snow back to our boards on that humped rock down there while viewing impressive colors below.

From our gear as the sun was setting, I grabbed one final shot of what we just descended.

And here is a Google earth shot of our upper route. The right side was our ascent and the left was our descent.

There was one section to the lower lakes we were able to strap on the boards and head down and then it was postholing and boot skating across back to near treeline where we put them on again. By this time it was almost completely dark and I was not looking forward to snowboarding with a pack on and with a headlamp through the woods where branches were lurking ready to poke my eyes out. It turned out to be a great deal of fun as we experienced beautiful powder while criss-crossing our trench and riding directly on it through the flatter sections. With a couple of falls and unstrapping to find ourselves up to our hips without flotation, we made it back to camp in a speedy fashion. We climbed in the tent with plans to pack up and get out before we got too settled. We decided to quickly cook another pack of ramen that we would also eat Moroccan style and another wood tipped Black and Mild Royale before strapping on the remainder of our gear and continuing on the boards with now heavier packs. While we were able to ride about 90% of the way down from here, there was a good flat to slightly up section on the way back out along with the dirt section described earlier. After making it back to the Rainbow trail, we decided to follow that back to where it would meet the spur to the Horn Creek Ranch Trailhead instead of taking our ascent track which would have required more up hills across gulleys. It was easy enough to find the trails and the proper signage that dumped us out right back at the truck at about 9 PM. What a journey and a way to kick off the winter with the gifted trench. I suppose next peak while we may remember silverware and thermarests, we may not be so lucky to have that kind of a trench. I just hope I can continue to find a balance from which I used to have a lot less fear to being a now scared parent. Having kiddos does something weird where it makes you ponder risks more.
Anyhow, I am most appreciative to both of our wives for making the sacrifice to watch our kids as we made this much needed winter excursion.
Thanks for reading and until next time…


See you at the top!


Here is a link to this report on 14ers.com