Ski, run, run, run...

If one could run without getting tired I don't think one would often want to do anything else. - C.S. Lewis

Tues: 2:00, ski, A-Basin, 00:40, 4.5 miles, treadmill surges
Wed: 1:30ish, 11.4ish miles, Boulder tempo
Thurs: 00:36, 3.45 miles, Casa recovery

Crazy week. My mojo has been thrown off a bit by the holiday but that does not seem to have affected my running. Which is nice. I have continued to be consistent and even tossed in some turns at the Basin on Tuesday for good measure.

Tuesday featured early morning snow sliding with Caleb, a buddy who hadn't skied since last March when he suffered a broken leg while skiing at the Basin. So it was a celebration of sorts, welcoming him back to the world of tele turns. A-Basin still has really only one run of man-made open but it was fun to get out there and spin a few laps. It wasn't too crowded on Tuesday morning so we just burned vert until we felt like we had explored the one run enough then called it good. Caleb is a two-time Leadville runner and has logged a bunch of really cool marathon experience as well. He has done a lot of the major events (Chicago, New York, Boston, San Fran) and logged a PR of 3:02 at New York two years ago (if memory serves). I definitely am putting that one on the list and may just toss my name in the lottery for next year's event for good measure.

Post skiing, I hit the gym for some surges on the treadmill and felt great. Good, solid warm up then 5 strong, 1-minute surges. Apparently the skiing treated me well as I felt awesome and just cranked through the workout in good form

Wednesday, I got up early and headed down to Boulder for a tempo run. I forgot my Garmin and iMapMyRun didn't work for me so well but I survived the technical difficulties to pull together a pretty amazing run. I warmed up really slowly then chased through the group to log over 11 miles total in about 1:30. Considering the warm up (~50 minutes, 4+miles), that is a really fast tempo for a Stu. I was pretty much done by mile 11 and coasted in the last half mile for a really solid tempo run. Too fast, yeah. But good to get things moving and sustain for that duration.

Today featured a quick recovery run. It was a gorgeous day up here and I was treated to virtual silence throughout the run. With everyone indoors watching football or whacking down enough food to keep an African village well fed for a week, I had the roads and trails to myself. I put it on auto-pilot and just ran at a slow, comfortable pace throughout. Headed up through Mountain Meadows and unconsciously, turned onto one of my favorite trails near my house. It was snowpacked and icy but that didn't seem to bother me much at all as I worked my way through the forest, the tempo of my footsteps providing the rhythm to carry me up and over hills and obstacles along the way. The trail became progressively less traveled as I made my way through the woods until I was breaking trail through 6 inches of untracked snow left over from our last storm. I popped out on the main thoroughfare and headed back towards my house. A red-tailed hawk was circling lazily overhead, ducking courageously through the tall pines until it drew the attention of a single crow who quickly made its way up to make its challenge. They danced, providing me ample entertainment to carry me over the last hill effortlessly. I made it home shortly thereafter, energized from the time spent out among the flora and fauna of the Colorado high-country.

~stubert.

This is pretty awesome...

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. ~ Chinese Proverb

Just sayin' is all.

~stubert.

Hydrate or die...

Simplify, man! ~ Recycle Center Guy

Spent the day today waiting for a delivery which finally arrived about 3:00. Then I got to move a bunch of building materials around and stash 2400 pounds of stove pellets in our garage. Good, good times. Now we're definitely set for winter, however and I can also finish up work on the shed. SO psyched.

So today, since I have no running to report, I'll toss another review your way. Today's product review: The many awesome flavors of nuun.

I discovered nuun sometime last spring and thought it sounded like a great idea. It removes all the crap packed into common sports drinks: the waste, the high fructose corn syrup - the unbearable taste - and slams it into a compact treat that is not only yummy, but is super convenient. nuun comes in a wide variety of flavors to appeal to virtual any taste. My current favorites: Cirtus Fruit, Cucumber Mint, and Banananuun. nuun doesn't rely on artificial sweeteners (actually, all nuun is sugar-free) so it is a perfect compliment to your hydration/nutrition regimen.

nuun is portable and super easy to use. You just drop a tablet into 16oz of water and watch it go to work. It turns any available (potable) water source into an instant sports drink. Another upside to nuun is that its mix of ingredients keeps one from having to rely heavily on salt tabs during long runs. Sweet! One less thing to have to keep track of when my brain is run-addled anyway. I love being able to re-use bottles without adding to the landfills and being able to create great tasting sports drinks on the go. Each tube contains enough tablets to make 12 bottles of electrolyte drink and costs a LOT less than the equivalent volume of sports drink.

Full disclosure time: I was so thrilled with nuun after first trying it this spring that I contacted them to see if they had room on their roster to sponsor an athlete such as myself. For the '09 season, I was a proud member of their pro program. In 2010, I am happy to announce that I will continue to fly the nuun flag!

~stubert.

Slow and low...

Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~ William Faulkner

Sun: 3:00, 18 miles, LSD road and trails

Ah, the long slow day. Time to reflect, mingle and just keep putting one foot in front of the other for 3 hours or so.

Today I met up with the group in Boulder to get in some time on the old feet. I parked at the mall then jogged over to Pott's Field for the meet up. After a short delay, we were off, making our way through the mostly abandoned Boulder surface streets on a crisp, cool Sunday morning.

We headed west and ended up at Eben G. Fine park at the mouth of Boulder Canyon then meandered up to Chautauqua. Enchanted Forest to Mesa to Bear featured mixed running with variable conditions. Many areas were completely dry but north-facing sections were icy. If you are planning to log longer hours Mesa-west, traction might be advisable.

One item of note: there were TONS of runners out today on Mesa. Many traveling in packs and most who really appeared to know what they were doing (vs. casual runners). Boulder is a running town but this was an interesting phenomenon, even for Boulder. Great to see groups of people out there getting after it for sure.

After jamming back down Bear Canyon Drive we worked surface streets again to Martin Park then jumped back on Boulder's extensive network of bike paths. With about an hour remaining in my scheduled run, I headed back north flying solo and picked up the tempo to try to log a full 18 miles in the 3-hours scheduled. Mission accomplished.

I learned some things today: I can sustain a mellow pace for a significant amount of time; public restrooms are available at the Chautauqua dining hall if you need them; miles tick off quickly when running with a large group (I actually knew this one); I sweat like a hypertensive gorilla even when it is cold out (um... I knew this too).

All in all, it was a very good run. I did have some lingering issues later in the effort with the spot between my shoulder blades catching fire and some slight abdominal and sciatic nerve involvement but post run I wasn't completely wiped out nor do I feel damaged in any way. I even had the energy to do a little more work on the house I started yesterday. Project finished. Bring on the snow!

~stubert.

The road to success...

Get your motor runnin'. ~ Steppenwolf

00:32, 3.27 miles, slow recovery

As we roll into winter months here in the high country, the ability to log miles on trails pretty much goes away. Fortunately, I am close to Boulder/Denver and trails down there stay relatively clear year-round (traction is a plus so I plan to get a lot of time with screw shoes or yaktrax) but one does tend to log a lot of miles on the slab during the course of winter training. Interestingly enough, I have been running on pavement quite a bit of late anyway as I have started running with a group of people who spend a lot of time on the blacktop.

Last year, I purposely started running longer-distance street races in an effort to become more efficient, get my average pace up and get in some late-season racing to jump start my ultra dominance in 2009. We all know how well that worked out as I was injured most of this year and only got in a couple of races. Alas, I do not blame the pavement and still believe that training on roads does help in many ways to translate fitness, efficiency and consistency to the ultra-distance scene and here I am, a year later, approaching the slab with a keener eye for how quickly to ramp up mileage and pacing.

Bryon Powell has a great summary of why he believes road running is great for trail running if you are interested in checking out his post on the subject.

I am not sure what you would call yesterday's run, to be honest. It certainly wasn't on pavement (mixed snow, ice, some hardpacked dirt roads) but it wasn't trail running either. It was a bit chilly and given that I was moving at a very relaxed pace, I piled on the clothing a little bit. I felt better as the run progressed as well - starting out feeling a bit clunky then, by the end, feeling much smoother. All in all, it was good to get out for a quick spin and enjoy the time I get to spend in our beautiful surroundings. I recommend you do the same.

~stubert.

Docs...

RIP.

They need dip-tet boosters yearly or they develop lockjaw and night vision. ~ Dot

1:30, 11 miles, tempo

Got my run on this morning then went to the doc for a check-up and tetanus shot. All appears to be doing well with the bod and I didn't even feel the shot. That nurse was a magician, I tell ya. Either that or she faked the whole thing and is selling my tetanus medication on the black market.

Ran tempo this morning and almost missed the train. Started at around 75th and Jay in Boulder and leisurely ran up to the starting point only to remember that I forgot to slather on the Body Glide. This... ladies and gentlemen, is a problem. So I started my tempo early and jammed back to the car then pushed the pace up Jay to meet with the Wednesday tempo crew. I made it with seconds to spare (well, or a few late) and ran a progressively faster tempo for just under 5 miles at which point I shut 'er down and jogged back to the car. Good, solid run for me and I really felt great throughout.

Took Beep-kitty to the vet this morning as she had some follow-up surgery from a lump we discovered last week that proved to be cancerous. Dr. Bock felt like the procedure went really well and that he got good margins. The lab results should be back in a day or two then we'll know for sure but she seems to be recovering nicely at this point.

I also got my old G4 desktop back from the shop and it is in need of a power supply. That's $400 so the old girl may get repurposed as a liquor cabinet or a planter or something since that is about $100 more than the stupid thing is worth. (Purchased in '03 for ~$3000 - lovely.)

Tomorrow work and a quick, easy run.

~stubert.

Screw shoes rule...

Remember, if you are puking, you are running well. ~ Timmy Parr (2009 Leadville 100 Winner)

00:55, 5.67 miles, 10x1minute surges

I may make it through this winter after all. Finally got out today on my new screw shoes and they work great. Definitely a TON more traction and less distracting than YakTrax. I suppose they aren't quite as adaptable as the YTs and your mom will KILL you if you wear them indoors but as far as hooking up a fear-free snow run, these things rule.

Headed out in nice temps (35°, bluebird) and did a warm-up jaunt around the 'hood. Just explored a little to see what was open and stayed on plowed but snowpacked roads. Felt fine, just cruised. Then I headed back to the Beav' for ten surges. These went fairly well. The Beav' isn't exactly flat so that, coupled with the conditions, made it a bit of a challenge. But I like challenges. Like the time I tried to pick up Daryl Hannah at a juice bar in Telluride. But that is another story...

I am working on the race schedule and believe I am going to forgo the short, fast-paced races for longer events. Targeting the Moab Red Hot 50K on February 13th as my first of the season. Should be super cool (if I can still get in). Seeing what happens for the remainder of the year as well with the big event, Leadville, being my main focus. Trying to get a feel for how much I should be racing vs. doing big, fun, self-supported, adventure runs. I definitely want to toss in a 60/40 Pbville jaunt in July so put that on your calendar. The first 60 miles of the course on Saturday, sleep in Twin Lakes, the run the last 40 on Sunday. Should be good times.

I also want to give a big shout out to Russ Bolig at Podium Custom Footwear. Totally hooked a brotha up on some insole fixes. These things are working very well and just needed a little attention and Russ made it happen and I didn't even miss out on any training runs. Thanks, Russ!

Tomorrow, tempo. Gonna get my fast on.

~stubert.

Couch-bound...

Keep your icy feet away from me, Mr. Freezey. ~ Akbar... or Jeff... I get those two guys mixed up

Seriously, my feet are like bricks of ice. Gotta get that situation fixed pronto. Rach, go boil some water or something...

Well, today I just feel like going for a run. But it is supposed to be my rest day and realistically, I need the rest, so run I will not. I may just kick the new cat around a little and hope that the impact doesn't shatter my feet.

It was pretty nippy up here last night. 3° to be exact. Which, as defined by Webebster* is nippy. So that makes 3 + 8 = horseshoe. Math... who gets that stuff?

So instead of a thrill-a-minute, action-packed tome about tromping around the woods for 17 hours, today, I'll pick something to review and well... review it, for your reading pleasure. See, I got your back.**

Today's review: The Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover - Mmmmmmmm Pufffy


My new favorite garment of the year is the Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover. That is a lot of words but there is some serious alliteration in there so we can forgive them. It is not only fun to say, but fun to wear and has kept me toasty warm in a wide range of conditions. This awesome jacket proves that good things DO come in small packages as it is amazingly lightweight, packs down to a tiny, easy-to-store bundle, and keeps you warm and dry even when wet. This is the advantage to Patagonia's PrimaLoft One insulation over Down - well, that and no birds are harmed - and it gets the stubert seal of approval. The outer shell is even made from recycled material so that makes, like, three thumbs up which means I need to go out and find a third thumb somewhere. Where's Walter Sobchak when you need him?

Just yesterday, I was removing a foot and a half of snow from our driveway and, as I am known to do, misjudged the wind direction a bit with the snowblower resulting in a seriously coated Stu. No problem for the Nano Puff... I stayed toasty warm. It's like wearing some sort of magical anti-coldness cloak. Now, if I could only get them to make one for my feet...

~stubert.


*Webebster is a completely fictional reference book made up by the author to cement a punchline. I cheat. Sue me. Webebster did.

**Yes, though occasionally I misspell "contemplate", I am not a complete moron and do know that "I got your back" is not correct grammar. Punctuation and where commas and shit go when tossing quotes into sentences, I really need to brush up on that but right now I am in the zone and as I discovered when I startled our cat one time while he was playing with a piece of tinfoil or something, you should never disturb someone who is in the zone... particularly when your nose is within clawing distance.

Meh...

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started. ~ Steve Prefontaine

1:36, 10 miles, treadmill/track, steady

Today was a bit less than awesome on the running front. I did get the driveway mowed, however, so that was nice. Then I went to the gym and jumped on the treadmill for 1:20 (8 miles). Felt pretty shitty, really... just couldn't get relaxed or feel any sort of solid rhythm. So I switched over to the track for another 16 minutes or so (2 miles) and called it good. Felt a lot better on the track so maybe next time I'll start out there then move to the treadmill. Or just strap on some snowshoes and go wander around the woods for 3 hours like I was supposed to.

All in all, it beat sitting on the couch all day so there you go.

So speaking of getting off the couch, here is a video of a Frozen Flash Mob in Grand Central Station:



~stubert.

Back and forth...

Gas brake honk. Honk honk punch. Gas gas gas. ~ Homer Simpson

This week featured some great runs and a lot of commuting to Boulder for running and film festival activities. I am reminded, again, that I do not miss my commute. Surprised? I doubt it.

This year's festival showcased a lot of great adventures and environmental movies. As a member of the jury, I saw most of these over the course of the past 4 months during screening events to select which movies would ultimately be shown at the festival and would win awards. Some highlights included:

• Swift. Silent. Deep.
• No Impact Man
• First Ascent: Point of No Return
  
• Signatures
• Reporter
• Making the Crooked Straight
  

Thursday, I did do a quick run around the neighborhood. Broke out the Vibram FiveFingers for the short spin and I still really like these friggin' things. Definitely a cool addition to the gear list. Though I don't ever envision doing anything more than a few miles at a time in them, I do believe that they help reinforce solid mechanics, improve foot and lower-leg strength and stability and provide a nice way to break up training so that a routine run becomes "something different". I'll probably work in a little barefoot time in my indoor workouts over the winter (*cough* today *cough*) to help offset the monotony of treadmill and short track laps.

Yesterday, I bailed on the snow to go to the gym and do surges on the treadmill. Mellow XC course for 30 minutes (10-minute pace) then stepped it up for another 10-15 to get in some nice, smooth surges. Felt great, actually. Since we got another foot overnight, I am heading back today to do my long run. Eldora opens this week so I'll be hitting the XC trails soon and may toss in a snowshoe race or two this winter just for kicks. We'll see how things progress.

~stubert.

Tempotastic...

We have the technology. ~ Narrator

1:28, 10.77, 55 minutes tempo

Tempo runs can get a little interesting. Today's was mellow at the start, then smooth and awesome, then pretty miserable. Typical, really - but the wheels really came off about 45-50 minutes in. Especially when I tried to keep up with Art who was spinning 6:40s. Not pretty.

I parked just over 2.5 miles from the start and warmed up on the paths and roads of east Boulder. Then we did a few strides and queued up for tempo - splitting into about 3 groups. This is the third week I have come out to run with this group and it is a lot of fun to get in some good miles with other runners. My group started second to last with Art chasing and moved along at a pretty steady 7:30ish pace. Fairly sustainable from my perspective. About mile 3 I was feeling solid and kicked it up a notch to about 7:15s.

Overall, I wasn't feeling super red hot today. I was still wearing the effects of Sunday's long run and yesterday's massage left me feeling a bit clunky. I ran alone for the next couple of miles then heard Art rapidly approaching so I slowed a bit to let him catch then tried to keep up as we ran past my starting point and across Valmont. He actually toned it down a bit from his standard 6:40 pace (I think) but I was unable to match that for long and soon turned back around to finish up my scheduled 55 minutes (poorly) then run some semblance of cool down.

All in all it was a great run. I was able to push myself and run very relaxed, just wasn't quite able to keep up with someone faster and vastly more experienced than I. Nothing to be worried about for sure. Just part of what one has to experience to get better, stronger, faster.

~stubert.

Location, location, location...

Perfect practice makes perfect. ~ Vince Lombardi

1:05, 6ish, surges

One of the things I love about living where we do is our proximity to interesting people and terrain. In the winter, running in the high country becomes somewhat challenging as trails disappear beneath drifts of snow, the wind kicks it up to eleven and the temps drop. The Boulder/Denver basin, however, sees many days of sunshine and warmer temps that allow runners to get out and enjoy a wide variety of trails and safe running circuits. You can ski in the morning then drop down to Boulder and get in 20 miles in the afternoon. No sweat. (Well, maybe a little sweat.)

Today I headed down early to drop our kitty off at the vet then got a little work done and ran a few errands before heading out to Janet's for our regularly scheduled training session (just a portion mapped there... forgot my Garmin). I warmed up in shorts and a Patagonia Capilene 1 T-Shirt (yeah, it was lightweight t-shirt weather) then worked with Janet on surges. Felt pretty great, actually. We worked on getting me to initiate the stride from my hips instead of my feet and I felt like I was really starting to get it. Sweet!

Then I went to Shirley for a great (if brutal) massage, picked up Beep and jammed back up to the hills. I did pick up some screws while down in Boulder to make some screw shoes. Probably not a bad addition to the gear list... just in case.

~stubert.

GoLite HydroSpeed pack review...

So much time, so little to do. ~ Willie Wonka

And on the second day, Stu rested. Mondays are typically my rest days so I just kicked it today. I did head to the gym for some circuits but other than that, I laid low. A little sore from yesterday's adventure but I think most of this is from jumping in the car immediately after running and sitting at a desk most of today. Gotta knock that off.

So in lieu of a long, boring talk about lifting weights, I thought I'd entertain you with a brief review of a hydration pack I have been using for a couple years: the GoLite Hydrospeed Lumbar Pack.

When I ran Leadville in '07, I alternated between the GoLite Rush and a lumber pack that a buddy loaned me from Ultimate Direction. The UD pack suited me very well for cooler, shorter segments and I grabbed the Rush for the long, warm trek between Treeline and Twin Lakes and outbound over Hope Pass. Honestly, now I would go with the HydroSpeed and a handheld for every section unless it was blazingly hot (and even then, might opt for the lighter set-up regardless). This was what I used on Sunday's 4-hour run and it was about perfect.

The HydroSpeed is a comfortable, lightweight lumbar pack that is designed to carry two bottles. The UD pack I mentioned earlier (no longer available) had a similar set up: Two bottles, two good-sized pockets and a secure bungee strap for a jacket, spare bottle or whatever else you might need to bring along. The HydroSpeed is even more awesome. GoLite (as you may have guessed) engineers their gear to be very lightweight without compromising comfort or stability and the HydroSpeed fits the bill nicely. The bottle sleeves are positioned well (when cinched-down as much as I like it, they make bottles easy to access but a little tough to remove) and the overall carriage is super comfy and easy to adjust. The dual pockets are perfect for carrying the necessities and I have crammed cool weather gear, food, camera, keys and an iPod in there without feeling overly burdened at all. The pack rides low on one's hips and the buckle system is very easy to get adjusted to fit snugly without excess wobble.

The pack utilizes the lightest weight clips and buckles but they have held up very well through a LOT of abuse over the past two years. It even has an iPod headphone port and key clip. It does not feature a whistle buckle so if you live in kitty or bear country (or just for safety's sake), you will want to pick up an emergency whistle to attach to the straps.

The pack weighs in at a scant 450g and retails at $50. This has been my go-to pack for two years now with my Rush relegated to only my longest, unsupported, no-access-to-water-type adventures.

~stubert.

Weekends are good...

Chase atop Green. With mountains.

Slipped my mind. ~ Dean "The King of Empty Promises"

4:04, 16.19, LSD

This was an action-packed weekend. Got up early on Saturday to do a quick run in the 'hood. The trails around the house are still snow-jammed so it was slow going but fun to get out and give them a go. Ended up with just under 4 miles in 40 minutes.

Rach and I then met my Dad and Donna for a screening of Puccini's Turandot. The Met has been broadcasting their performances to theaters across the nation (world, maybe) and they are pretty awesome. The screening we attended was completely packed so that bodes well for the program to extend for years to come. Good stuff.

Sunday, I met up with Chase for a long, slow run in Boulder. Beautiful day for it, too. We started out at the South Mesa trailhead and rocked the Mesa Trail north to Chautauqua. Then we headed up Gregory Canyon, Green Mountain and back down to Mesa via Bear Canyon, then south to Bluestem and back to the trailhead in a mellow 4 hours. My longest run for quite some time. Felt awesome and was good to have some company. Just what the doctor ordered.

Also, here is a video of our new kitty, Nino, who has some interesting quarks: She likes peanut butter, chili, yowling, potato chips, hostile occupation of the bunny magic dream cottage, refusing to recognize our right to exist, being a meezer, catching mice, watching Rach shower (me too! go figure) and... drinking from the tap.



Looking forward to more fun and/or games this week.

~stubert.

edit. GPS info for this run.

Crash, boom, bam...

You take the good, you take the bad... ~ Alan Thicke (Who knew?!?!)

This has been a pretty stellar week for some of us. Others, not so much. I'll start with the some and move on to the others...

After Sunday's long run, I thought I would be a little worked. However, Monday morning I felt awesome and hit the gym for some weight-training and just to get the blood flowing again. Did about 10 minutes on the rowing machine then circuits. The gym is not my very favorite place to be but if one is efficient, one can minimize the time spent. Plus, the Gilpin County Rec Center is very nice and rarely crowded. So it's all good.

Tuesday, someone decided to kick the blower into high gear and it was howling up here. So I headed back to the gym to run on the treadmill. Just put it in cruiser mode for about a half an hour warm-up (10:00 pace on an XC course that didn't ever really tax me) and then stepped it up for a whole boat-load of surges. Amazingly, these felt awesome. Yes, I was working pretty hard but was able to stay relaxed, even at a quick clip. 50 minutes total for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 miles.

On Wednesday, I headed down to Boulder early to meet up with a group that does tempo runs every week. I parked a few miles from the start and got in a good warm up, did some short strides with the group then we split into 3 or 4 packs for the tempo work. I was in the last group that consisted of Tim, Rebecca and me and we chased the rest of the runners. I am guessing there were 10 people total including my running coach, Janet Runyan. Fun to finally get to actually run with her.

I pretty much just stuck with Tim for the first 4 miles (where he stopped) and we spun low 7s for most of that period. We would catch other runners then they would take a shortcut and meet us farther along the route so we all got to run together for at least a little while. After Tim dropped off, I kept going for a full 50 minutes of tempo. Ended up back at my car in sub 1:30 and a total of 11 miles. I did about 25 minutes warm up, 50 at tempo and about 10 cool-down. This was actually a really great run and I felt awesome throughout. Covered lots of miles in a short period of time. Good stuff.

Wednesday night was when things took a turn. First, we found out that Reggie, my buddy John's 13-year-old bulldog, had gone missing. He had been sick for quite awhile and was really old for a bulldog and his body was found the next day. He apparently had just wandered off to find a place to die. Very sad for John and the Reg-man will be sorely missed. He was awesome. Then Thursday, Luke, Pete and I went up to the Basin to get in some runs. On run #3, when we weren't even really skiing that fast, Luke caught an edge and went down like a sack of potatoes. Spiral fracture of his left clavicle. Super drag. He handled the whole thing like a champ, though. We look forward to his recovery so he can get back to the business of kicking our asses all over the ski area.

I hit the gym on the way home for a few circuits and decided that I could take the day off from running since I skied and lifted. Off again today then a short run tomorrow and long again on Sunday. Starting to really feel great and I'm looking forward to putting some races on the schedule soon.

Be sure to get your passes lined up for next week's Adventure Film Festival in Boulder. A lot of great movies to check out. Don't miss it!

~stubert.

Snow becomes water...

The slow one now will later be fast. ~ Bob Dylan

One reason I have very little tolerance for people who complain about the weather here in Colorado is that it so frequently changes. Yes, we might have gotten nearly 4 feet of snow last week but that certainly wasn't going to stick around very long. And rest assured, it hasn't.

After my foray to the gym on Saturday, I headed to the valley early Sunday to help Rach clean runs at the Bunny shelter then jammed up to Boulder for a long(ish) run. I read trail reports that indicated heading west, into the foothills might not result in the most fluid of forward motion so opted for an easterly route.

Temps were just about perfect and cloudless skies accompanied my as I started the day's adventure at the South Boulder Campus trailhead and ran south on very muddy roads, eventually intersecting with Broadway (or Highway 93 at this point). I felt great and though I had forgotten my Garmin, used the iMapMyRun app on my iPhone to track my progress. Pretty cool, actually, if a bit of a battery hog. Marshall road to Bobolink to the South Boulder trail... all ticked off quickly as I maintained a steady pace and felt strong.

Phase two of the run switched from dirt to slab as I made my way North and eventually hooked up with the Boulder Creek bike path and headed back West. I was running for time so had no real agenda regarding route and decided to run up the flank of Flagstaff then make my way back to the start. I definitely started feeling the pavement as I made the switch back to dirt and settled into an alternating power hike/run up to the saddle and back down to Chautauqua.

Rolling back down to Moorhead, I had problems keeping the pounding at bay but once the roads flattened out I settled into a steady pace and actually felt pretty solid. A brief stop to say "hi" to Houseboy Bob who was busy pushing his custom buggy around the front yard then on to the finish. Final tally: 17 miles and 2:40. Not blazing speeds but as always, good times.

I definitely felt the run after getting home and probably should have taken some extra measures to stave off soreness before getting back on the road. Some ab involvement and my hips were a bit sore. I was not as fatigued as I thought I might be the following day and it was great to see the bod kick into gear and recover. I even headed back to the gym today for some weight and plyometric training. It was good to get some activity in the legs today and I plan on adding these types of activities to my regular regimen. Setting my goals for 2010 pretty high so I'll need to keep things moving throughout the winter months to accomplish everything I am aiming for. This was more than a little tough last year so I'll have to stay focused and plan to come out of the winter months in stellar condition to hit the ultra circuit hard.

This week I have runs scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (though this may be replaced by some skiing) and again both days on the weekend. Drop me a line if you want to join in the fun and/or games.

~stubert.