Cactus Rose 100 - DNF

Add another DNF to the long list of DNF.  If nothing else, I have compiled a nice list of DNFs over the years.  I did grab a 50 mile finish and the associated medal, which my kids love.  My son asked me on Sunday, “Dad, how come you never win?” to which I replied, “Well, maybe someday, but look at this shinny new medal!” and he was super stoked to take it to show his sister and then run back to hang it up with the others.

The Cactus Rose course was better than advertised and I truly enjoyed running it and can’t wait to get back out there for another go at the 100.  While I didn’t finish the 100 this year, I feel like I learned a lot and will be better positioned to finish next year.  I had a great time this year but not getting any sleep the night before the race really pulled the plug on things early this year.  I feel like my training was adequate to get me through a good effort for 75 miles, so I will need to tweak the training some next summer.   

The changes that I will make for next year:

• Have a crew – I can now see that an unsupported race is a unique challenge but if you are going for your best time then you need a crew to keep you moving in and out of aid stations.  You will pass through aid stations 19 times during the 100 and even a few extra minutes in each station adds up over the length of the race.

• No Camping – I enjoy camping out but this year was such a disaster that it will be easier to just eliminate the chance of that happening again.  The lack of sleep the night before the race really sunk me this year.

• Ride Share or Fly – The drive home is a bit of a beat down. 

Thanks to Doom for letting me share his tent, picking up supplies that I forgot, and convincing me to hit up Sonic with him after I dropped.

The Final Countdown

Well, it is finally here - Cactus Rose race week.  I must say that I am not really pleased with anything associated with my prep for this race other than being healthy.  My training has slacked off, my weight has crept up, my confidence has been eroded but I can't let that get me off in the ditch at this late hour.  However, my foot finally feels like it is 100%.

I was really pleased with my training as of my last post but then a string of events really seemed to sidetrack me.  One weekend the kids were sick, then a run gets canned due to thunderstorms and flooding, then I get sick, then something comes up with work,  then I oversleep on an overly busy weekend, etc.  It just seemed like something always came up (excuses, excuses, excuses...) and what was looking to be a nice 70 - 80 mile week would get bogged down at 45 or 50 miles.  I never managed to work in back-to-back long runs and I never got in a 30+ mile long run.

I had managed to get back down to around 200 lbs and had a race day target of 190 lbs and everything was looking good.  Then as my training started to tail off so did my focus on my diet.  My thinking slowly drifted towards, "not going to be able to get in a long run in the morning because of X, so might as well have a few extra beers" and as those nights started to pile up so did the pounds.  I tipped the scales at 205 yesterday which isn't a disaster but weight loss is one thing that I could have controlled, even as other things spun out of control.  That is a mental lapse on my part and something that I hope to get in line before Rocky Raccoon or, dare I say, Bandera 100K?

Oh, and my gym has been closed do to an issue with the showers... so I had to ditch my morning ritual of climbing stairs for 45 min or so.  However, I have been hitting the stairs at lunch the last week or so and just going back to work smelling foul and dripping in sweat.

On the bright side, my right foot that has been giving me issues for a good long while now is finally 100%.  At one point, I was starting to wonder if I had stress fracture but the pain never got bad enough for me to stop running.

I obviously would like to have run more mileage, be slimmer, and be over flowing with confidence but that is not the case. However, I am going out to a wild and beautiful place to seek an inner peace that is fleeting and ever harder to grasp in a world that is becoming more and more polluted with noise and distractions.

And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” - Mark 6:31

Training and Brewing Update

Training for Cactus Rose continues to roll along but certainly not at the volume that I had hoped for.  My legs were a little beat up after my week in Colorado and it has just been down right filthy hot here the past few weeks.  However, yesterday was my first off day after 20 straight days of running.  I rolled out of bed at 5:00 am on Saturday and by 7:00 am my legs were yelling, "no mas" and the streak was dead.  I took yesterday off and got in 8 miles today. 

Cactus Rose is 55 days away and that means about 41 days until it will be time to taper.  My goal will obviously be to get in some bigger runs but I will also try to run everyday until my taper. 

Homebrewing Update

I picked up at 15 gallon fermenter for $5! That was pretty rocking.  However, what would I do with 12 - 14 gallons of beer at a time? I decided to split the 1st batch with a friend and then turn the fermenter into a sour Perpetuum.  The 1st 14 gallons to go in were based on a Belgium Pale Ale with 2-row, wheat, unmalted wheat, acid malt and some oats.  I hopped it with mosaic and citra hops and then tossed in saison yeast and brett.  I'll pull 6 gallons to bottle in about a month and then top off the Perpetuum with another batch of the base ale.  I'll also toss in a starter built up from some Jester King Boxers Revenge dregs and then close it up for a good 6 months. 

I also bottled my sour wort saison and it was awesome!  It was down to 1.004 and smelled great with a nice mellow tartness.

Two Weeks (One in the Mount Evans Area) Ending 7.21.13

7/8/13 - Monday - AM - 45 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, barefoot

Tuesday - AM - 45 min stairs, PM - 7 miles, NB MT110, Rowlett Creek Preserve

Wednesday - AM - 45 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, barefoot

Thursday - 45 min stairs

Friday - 45 min stairs

Saturday - Off hanging with kids while wife was away on travel

Sunday - Mt. Goliath, 1,500', NB MT110 (new pair!)

     I canned my original plan of doing Grays and Torreys after a ridiculous travel day.  In fact, I almost didn't even make the drive out to the Mt. Evans areas and only decided at the last second to head out.  After multiple flight delays, lost luggage, a trip to Target for news shoes and shorts (all I had was my jeans and flip flops b/c of no luggage), I finally made it out to the Mt. Evans area only to find that the road was closed.  I had no map, no gps watch, no cell service, no proper shoes, and no clue how much light was left in the day this far up in the mountains.  I checked the clock on my phone and told myself that by 7:00 I needed to be headed back towards the car.  I picked up the trail near the front gate in my brand new $12 boat shoes and headed, what I assumed to be up the Mt (I would later learn that this trail heads along the backside of Echo Lake) until I came to a more direct route.  I cut off the trail and headed straight up through the forest and popped out onto the road.  I tried to regain the trail but to no avail and followed the road up for a bit.  I was able to regain the trail and eventually got above tree line and then the route finding was much easier.  I continued up to what I assumed was Mt. Goliath, sat down and had a beer, and then headed back down to the car.  I would later determine that I picked up about 6 miles.

Heading back down to the car from Goliath

Monday - Echo Lake to Chicago Lakes, NB MT110

     After a long day of work, I made the trek back out to the Mt. Evans area (this would be the theme of the week).  I was thinking that, if the weather would hold, I would like to do the round trip from Echo Lake up to Mt. Evans via the Chicago Lakes and then back down to Echo Lake via the Northeast Face to Mt. Warren, Roberts, Goliath.  This would be 7,000ish feet of gain and 18 - 20 miles.  With that effort in mind, I wanted to scout as many sections of it as I could during the week.  This was a pretty boring run, outside the switch backs down to Chicago Creek, but it provided for some stunning views that the camera on my phone just couldn't do justice.  I made the round trip from Echo up to lower Chicago and back fairly quickly and actually had enough daylight left upon returning to Golden to tag Green Mt. before calling it a day.  Another solid 6 miles in the books.

Tuesday - Mt. Spalding & Mt. Evan, NB MT110

The forecast was sketchy for the whole week with afternoon storms in the forecast for each day.  When I finally got a break from work and slipped out of the office for a bit... man was I bummed when I saw the cumulonimbus exploding across the front range.  I spent the whole afternoon waffling between making the drive out to Mt. Evans or playing it safe and hitting Green Mountain in Golden for some miles.  I finally got away from the office and it was a not brainer to make the drive out to Mt. Evans.  It was already getting late when I got out there and the road was wet but I didn't notice and signs of storms, so I was feeling pretty good about the weather but was worried about it getting dark.  I drove up to Summit Lake and hit the trail up towards Mt. Spalding.  The climb up was a good bit easier than I expected even though there was a few spots that required me to actually us my hands an climb.  The views were awesome until things got socked in with clouds.  The trek over to Evans from Spalding was actually kind of a bore.  I hit Evans and had the summit to myself, which was very cool even if the view was mostly obscured by clouds.  I hung out for a bit and then descended the Northeast Ridge, which was a horrible muddy loose rocky mess.  I then cruised the road a bit taking in the views and rounding out 6 miles for the day.

 

I'll admit that I was a bit intimidated by this view before starting out!

 

 

Hey, Snow!

Wednesday - Nothing, got tied up with work and was mega bummed 

Thursday - Mt. Goliath,  Mt. Rogers, Mt. Warren, NB MT110

Parked at the Dos Chappell Nature Center and pulled on an outer shell, since it seemed a bit chiller than the past few days.  I headed out on the Walter Pesman Trail through the ancient Bristlecone Pine forest - very cool and certainly a spot you should not over look.  Made the grind up to Mt. Goliath and then cruised along the ridge line hitting Rogers and Warren.  Great views the whole time and my legs were feeling pretty nice after not doing anything the day before.  I ended up covering about 8 miles round trip but the elevation gain was pretty mellow, something like 2,400ish feet.  I could totally dig a run like this everyday but no such luck in the flat burning waste lands of Texas.

Friday -  Mt. Spalding, Mt. Warren, Mt. Rogers, Mt. Goliath, NB MT110

I need to get my film from this day developed and will then prepare a more detailed post for this outing.  I started at Echo Lake and descended down to Chicago Creek and then headed up to Summit Lake, Spalding, turned back b/c of weather and back tracked over Spalding and back to Summit Lake, then descended back to Echo Lake via Warren, Rogers and Goliath. 

Total - 60ish miles plus way more vertical than ever before.

I could totally move to the mountains and not think twice about it!

They were here First!

Homebrew Sour Saison Sample - Going to be Awesome

Magic!

Injury + Vacation = Not Much Running

Nothing is better than injuring yourself right when you are getting into the swing of training...  at least it was a non-running injury.  I followed the injury up with a couple of weeks out of town for vacation and it seemed like it rained every time I tried to head out for a run.  That was probably for the best anyway, since my foot was taking much longer to heal than expected.  Anyway, my foot is still sore but has healed to the point that I am back to regular running.  I still feel confident in my training plan for Cactus Rose but can't afford any other extended periods of down time.

Beer of the Blog Post - Homebrew Saison

My brother and I brewed a lot in college but I left all the equipment with him when I moved away for work.  I've been thinking about getting back into brewing for years but have never pulled the trigger for one reason or another.  In true minimalist fashion, I kept things as simple as possible with my return to brewing.  I used a very simple grain bill of just two-row and oats and hopped it with sorachi ace hops.  I used a saison/brett yeast blend that I harvested from a bottle of Jester King El Cedro.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this 1st batch and look forward to some more brewing!

Cactus Rose Training - Week 1 Ending 6.2.13

Monday - Am - 45 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, Barefoot

Tuesday - 8 miles, barefoot

Wednesday - 45 min stairs

Thursday - 45 min stairs

Friday - 6 miles, NB 1010 - My first run in the 1010s and really liked them.  I will only use them sparingly this summer and save them for the last 25 miles at Cactus Rose.

Saturday - 20ish miles, NB 110, North Shore Trail on Lake Grapevine with Doom.  This was a really nice run and I felt better over the last 5 miles than I did the first 5 miles.  We got lost towards the end after Doom got tired of practicing falling down.  We had to run the last mile on the road back to the trail head.

Sunday - Off

Total - 38 miles plus 2.25 hours of stairs


I guess this is as good a week as any to "officially" start training for Cactus Rose.  This race will be my singular focus for the remainder of the summer and into the fall.  I have some pretty lofty goals (for me at least) written down for Cactus Rose. 

Week Ending 5.12.13 (Why Post this on a Thursday?)

Monday - AM - 45 min stairs, PM - 4 mile, MT 101, float workout (1:00/0:30)

Tuesday - AM - 45 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, BF

Wednesday - 21 miles, MT 110 (salvaged!), Rowlett Creek Preserve - nice warm day resulting in bonking some kind of hard on this run

Thursday - 45 min stairs

Friday - 45 min stairs

Saturday - 4 miles, BF

Sunday - 8 miles, BF

Total - 41 miles plus 3 hours of stairs

This week was a success given that I got in a nice longish run and was able to sew my MT 110s back together.  I've now managed to get in 14 straight days of running trails, roads, or stairs and my legs are feeling really fresh.  My training plan for Cactus Rose 100 is starting to come together for the summer.  I plan to do a tempo run on Monday nights, speed work at the track on Wednesday mornings, lift on Fridays, and then get in as much stair and trail running as I can on the other days.