100K...

Robert "Raven" Kraft - Photo courtesy of ravenrun.net

Can't touch this. ~ M.C. Hammer

Now that's dedication. This guy has been running 8 miles a day for the last 34 years. Just logged his 100,000th mile yesterday.

~stubert.

Apparently, I didn't get the memo...

One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. ~ Oogway

A new study has taken a look into "the perfect running pace" and determined that though this pace is unique for each individual, the average optimal pace to travel 1 mile for males is 7:18. It does sound as if the study took into account only traveling a single mile so it would be interesting to know what the pace would be for those traveling greater distances. Anyway, that is my running link for the day. Enjoy!

I took Saturday completely off in an effort to recover a little bit from Thursday and Friday's skiing excitement and drove down to Boulder on Sunday to do some really sloppy trail running. It was beautiful out, a bit breezy at times and the trails were wet and muddy. Good stuff.

I started out at Eben G. Fine park and made my way under Canyon Blvd to Prospect Park. My heartrate spiked pretty much immediately (gotta work on that) as I made my way up and over the hogback and on to Sanitas. I ran/walked up the gut of Sanitas , enjoying the scenery and perfect running weather then dropped off the top toward 4th.

This trail was SUPER muddy and very slick at points. I fell once but managed to get a hand down to keep from being coated in sloppy, wet clay, so that was a plus and eventually made it down without further incident and on to the Wonderland Lake trails.

This section was very wet but at this point, it didn't really matter so I just tried to keep a sub 12-minute pace and let my legs spin. Unfortunately, my abs were really acting up and so I am sure I looked less than graceful. I ran North across Lee Hill road, up to the top of the hill and turned around for the return journey.

The only complication came while climbing back up the muddy access to Sanitas - just slow-going. I was pretty bonked by the end as well and man, my guts were killing me. Only 9.5ish miles, which took me about 1:45. Not stellar but given that I haven't been running at all really, I am nursing two injuries, and it was only my second time on major hills/trails since who knows when, I'll go easy on myself.

So the great experiment of running marathons over the fall months seems to have only really resulted in my having a nagging injury (abs) and less improvement in the efficiency department than expected. I'll keep working to get the ab problem resolved... perhaps that is what is holding me back. The knee had several "twingey" moments but overall was okay. I definitely wouldn't want to run 50+ miles on it right now.

Given the lingering injury situation, I have decided to postpone the double traverse until the fall but am looking at a few options for 50k races in May/June. The first, the Sage Burner, is in Gunnison on May 23rd. It follows a lot of the Rage in the Sage course which I used to race/train on heavily when I raced Mountain Bikes. This course has a hometown feel for me so it would be a fun one to do. The second upcoming event is also a "home course" kind of deal - The Golden Gate Dirty Thirty. This race is on June 6 and is run on the trail system near my house where I spent a lot of the last two summers training. Should be a lot of fun.

I am going to take today mostly off (will probably head to the gym later to lift) but am hoping to start ramping things up, move skiing more to the backcountry and start to feel better soon. At least that is the goal.

By the way, if you ever have electric motor repair needs, go see the guys at Boulder Electric Motor. They are awesome.

~stubert.

Lovin' Lost Lake Laps...

Phew! I haven't felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978! ~ Mark "Rent Boy" Renton

Ok. So good I had to just do a brief post...

Luke and I grabbed first chair (well... 15th) at the Rock this morning and made about 3 turns down Ambush on our way to Corona where we were the first to drop Salto, which was nice. Then we headed out the gate for three AWESOME runs in the Lost Lake Chutes. We were spinning 45-50 minute laps even while slogging around in the woods breaking trail trying to find the good traverse line. Left, Hourglass, Left of Left. Quite a bit of sluffing but only a little evidence of fracturing on heavily loaded areas. Man, it was really good.

Luke took first turns in Left and skied it all the way out to the lake making only a few huge, sweeping turns on the face. I followed suit, straight-running the pinch.

We then lapped it back up and Luke jammed down Hourglass to the lake. I came FLYING out of the bottom of the 'glass grinning ear to ear.

We then rallied one more lap and I took first tracks down the left edge of Left where it was still really deep and pointed it out the bottom. Luke aired into the left notch for the day's boldest line. Great stuff.

We spun the 4 laps and were back at the car by noon. Amazing morning of great skiing.

~stubert.

Very quick one...

RIP Shane McConkey - Graeme Murray/Red Bull Photofiles

I like your style, Dude. ~ The Stranger

I have finally been getting back out consistently, which is nice. Ran 4x last week (1 mile treadmill on Sunday, 3 miles trail on Tuesday, 5 miles trail on Friday and a 10 miler on trails on Sunday) and skied Wednesday, Saturday and Monday. This really put the stomp on my knee but was all fun. I hit Vail yesterday for some big pow turns and am heading up to Eldora in a few to spin a few laps out the gate.

As you may have guessed, we finally got snow after a LONG spell with nothing. It is still snowing now but just a little.

Also, I think that I just found another race to do: Golden Gate Dirty Thirty. Seeing how this is in my backyard, I pretty much HAVE to represent, right?

And on a very sad note: RIP Shane McConkey. He will be missed.

I'll catch you up with more ASAP.

~stubert.

Wear your helmets, kids...

Wow. Sad news: Natasha Richardson dies after ski accident

~stubert.

Buh-OING...

So nice, so nice... I got you. ~ James Brown

Hit Eldora this morning for a few test runs which turned into several non-stoppers down Salto. I would say that I am about 80% but not much pain and though I was a bit tentative on the steepest sections, I felt pretty solid. That is good news. Tomorrow, I may hit the trails (which probably means it will snow tonight). Getting better. Good stuff.

Also, Flight of the Conchords is funny.

~stubert.

More of the same...

Another week on the recovery train. Not too much exciting to talk about. I have been spinning and swimming and lifting and not much else. I did try to ski on Wednesday with poor results. The knee is just not really ready for that kind of abuse. After 3 weeks, I am getting pretty sick of it. At least the conditions have been terrible with very warm days in the high-country so I am not really missing much. It is about 45° up here today. Just wrong.

Unfortunately, all this warm weather and lack of snow means that the trails are probably pretty open which is just stoking my running Jones. I have been able to trot around a little bit but not much more. I guess I will keep up the rest and spinning until my head explodes from boredom.

I did get out with Pete yesterday to see Watchmen. Decent movie. Pretty true to the book, which was cool. I wasn't thoroughly impressed but thought it was entertaining. It was good to see Pete again too as he has been working too much.

Other than that, I have just been working, getting organized, doing taxes for the biz, reading a lot, and enjoying my new office set up. The new MacBook Pro is awesome as is the Apple 24" Cinema Display. Good stuff.

I read a couple of good books recently: Devil in the White City and Never Let Me Go. I would recommend both.

Now I guess I'll head to the gym again to get my spin on. Hopefully more interesting stuff soon.

~stubert.

Data dork...

NUUUUUURRRRRDDDSSS!!!! - Fred "The Ogre" Palowakski

Finally got around to downloading my Vegas Marathon data. I kinda fell apart after mile 18.

Check it out.

~stubert.

Spin, swim, repeat...

You know what you two need? A little comic strip called "Love is." It's about two naked 8-year olds who are married. ~ Homer Simpson

I have been laying pretty low the last couple of weeks - mostly just rehabbing the knee which seems to be getting a lot better but with the snow conditions the way they are, I am not pushing it. It has been unbelievably hot up here, reaching the upper 50s a couple of days ago. Just not right at all. No snow either (go figure) so no real need to go out and get all banged up for nothing.

So I have been swimming, spinning, lifting and generally going a bit nuts because I can neither run nor ski. Bummer. I have been crazy busy with work stuff as well, so that has kept me occupied.

And it is official, Rach has put up with me for 18 years. What a trooper. She is the best.

Hopefully, the knee will continue to feel better and I'll be able to get back out there soon. Apparently, there is a big storm brewing that is supposed to hit tonight. It is looking really gray out there right now so as long as it doesn't rain, we'll be in business. (Actually, it just started to snow 4 seconds ago.)

~stubert.