Stuck on the dime...

Wandering around and making mistakes, I climb the plateau; having climbed the plateau, I go up the mountain. But now I have lost my way, and I am wandering around in the forest; without the Guru, I do not understand. ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib

I feel a bit stuck. Seems like I am pounding it in the 10-12 mile range but then really lag on anything greater. I am still trying to figure out Leadville (which may be moot at this point) but I need to be able to feel relatively confident at 25-30 miles in order to think I have a shot at finishing the full 50. I would really like to give it a go as many of my other goals and aspirations for the year have not come to fruition but I am still just not sure at this point.

I headed back out yesterday and logged another solid 10 in about 1:50. Just about right on an 11-minute pace. Not too bad though I felt kinda crappy for about a third of the run. My stomach was giving me troubles. I think I need to eliminate the energy chunks from Whole Foods I have been testing. They just aren't doing it for me. I just ran the standard 10-mile neighborhood loop with a couple of mods thrown in for interest. After trucking up Tin Can Alley and Funky Boss, I headed all the way up to the top and then burned a lap on Double-Down (a trail I put in a few years back) and then finished up on Tupperware. That trail has gotten pretty cool with someone constructing a tee-pee towards the finish you roll through. Fun to see other people out there getting creative.

Post-run I bailed on the soak and went for a dirt bike ride. Found a hook up from Magnolia to Flagstaff, which was pretty sweet and mapped a 30-miler from my house to Luke's. May get brave and do that sometime later in the summer. Not soaking made me feel the run a little more than normal so I have just been kicking it thus far today though I am jonezing for a quick spin in the woods. Might go tick off 5 miles here before dinner.

I have been reading a bunch of Anton Krupicka's old posts and man, that guy is really something. Apparently, he eats gels during his runs and fills his bottles (untreated) in streams along the way. I was wondering how the hell he covered so much ground with only a bottle or two and there's the answer. I am sure he has built up a tolerance to all the creepy crawlies but damn... not sure I can commit to that strategy. Plus, I think I would get super sick of gels only. But who am I to judge... he's the badass with all the wins and course records under his belt. He's competing in the Western States this coming weekend. Hope he kills it.

So that is my story. Hope you had a great weekend.

~stubert.

[update] Couldn't stand it any longer and went out for a short, fast 5-miler. 4.7 or so, just over 42 minutes.