27/350

27 miles, six hours this afternoon.  Garden/Rampart Range Road/Williams/Incline/Barr/Intemann/Red Rock Canyon.  Overall pace was skewed because I ran with Brooks for about 100 meters before I hit the Incline and he went off up to Barr Camp.  Really wilted under the heat while on the Intemann trail, with about seven miles to go.  Could have called $100 to come pick me up, but really, what kind of pussy would make such a call of shame?

Just over 350 miles for the month of March.  Think it's the second highest total ever for me.  Wasn't planning on such a high month, but the weather had me out a lot more than I was planning.  Five runs of 21+ miles on the month.  That's about four more non-race long runs than I've ever done in a Hardrock buildup.

Congrats to Pitt hoops, 2012 champions!

the latest crossfit t-shirt

Thurs

Way over on the mileage for the month, so I'm dropping the two-a-days until April.  Skipped this morning, but hit the Incline after work.  6.2 miles, 90 minutes.  Really starting to get after it on the Incline.

Speaking of the Incline, crash space available here in OCC for anyone doing the Inclinathon on April 7th.  I'll be starting significantly later than the new official start time of 3AM though.

bike

Came across a pretty awesome statistic today, pulled from this article.

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.

Could help explain why Fort Collins is so much cooler than Colorado Springs, even though our trails are better and our ultrarunners perform at a much higher level (or it could also be the fact that Colo State is infinitely cooler than UCCS or Colorado College).

Anywho, it inspired me to add a bike-to-work day starting next week.  Debating either Monday or Friday.  And only during the warm weather, as if there's one thing I hate more than biking it's biking in the cold.

Not that I'm a treehugger by any means.  Last night $100 and I revamped our plans to drive 1600+ miles roundtrip so we could see a waterfall.

commute #14

Easy six to work this morning, 57 minutes.  Post-work run will be two blocks over to the Knob Hill Lounge to get drunk enough to deal with cyclists, as I'll be checking out the local viewing of Bicycle Dreams tonight.

food

Think some of the CRUD guys might be whining to letsrun about binge eating.

Maybe our new slogan will be, "There is no such thing as over training, just under eating!"

Dog Jog

Still a bit sore from the weekend, so I bailed on the track and took the dog on a tour of Old Colorado City.  Better safe than sorry.  Four miles, 40 minutes.

No Name Creek

AM - Easy run up to No Name Creek with the dog.  Was planning on going all the way up to Barr Camp, but the legs were pretty shot today.  Bonus mileage on the Intemann Trail to get two hours in.  7.2 miles.

Saw Tommy M out there getting after it.  Dude seems to be in pretty good shape.

PM - Three miles very easy with the dog in Red Rock Canyon.  Had planned on going further but I'm still pretty sore from the weekend.

Dog did twelve miles with $100 yesterday, then ten today with some good climbing.  Working her into 14er shape...

91.5

Another solid week, capped off with back-to-back long trail runs in Pueblo (22.5) and Denver (30+).  I rarely do back-to-backs and never run over 30 miles in training, so this weekend is a huge confidence booster for me.

Very happy with the way March is shaping up.  Already at 290 miles.  Last year, while struggling with PF, I had 270 for the entire month.  In March of '09, when I ran my Hardrock PR (36:35), I had 305 miles.  In March '10, getting big miles in for the Rocky Mountain Slam, I hit 373.  In none of those previous months was I taking one rest day a week, and my long runs over the past 30 days have been much better.

Just need to keep this up for one more month, then let the 46 races I'm running in May/June do their thing, and I'll be ready to go come July!

Bingo Burger!

Refueling after 22.5 miles around Pueblo Res.

dog jog

Four miles very easy with the dog this morning, 40 minutes.  Think she was sore from two big workouts yesterday, AM Barr Trail and PM Incline.

First back-to-back long runs coming up this weekend.  Pueblo and the CO Trail.  We'll see how it goes.  Need to get my ass in gear one of these days, I have a 100K coming up in less than a month.

Watched the free Sender Films shorts on Outside last night.  Alex Honnold is my new hero.

Barr

Barr Trail tempo run.  Tied my PR by matching the wood fence above the Top of the W's in 30 minutes.  Top of the W's in 28:30.  Think a 2:59:59 pace is getting there around 25 minutes (starting from the Cog, where BTMR starts, maybe someone can correct this pace?).  Without the dog I think I could hit 25 right now, she gets real skittish when we see other runners/hikers and I have to slow down to keep her in sight.  New level of excuse making for me, blaming the dog.

Pitt is in the championship game!  Natalee, closet Pitt fan that she is, was at the game.  Always nice to win a game, especially this year, but DAMN I sure wish that Butler W could have came last year.  The Pirates are 7-10 in the Grapefruit league, and ahead of five other teams, so far.  So at least I have the possibility of a solid .400 season to celebrate after the CBI tourney is over.

commute #13

Commute #13.  Easy five to work, 45 minutes.

Any reason why my garmin now reads 5.0 miles for this, when it used to read 5.5 for the same course?

Geb is now running and racing for the same reason as the rest of us - to keep from getting fat.

Barr

Very easy run up Barr Trail tonight.  40 minutes up, 20 minutes down.

new sport to dominate!

quote of the day

"Running for 4-5 hours is for idiots."

-This guy, who tanked at Chuckanut with a 4:14.  Couldn't even hold on to beat Fast Eddy so we could claim South CRUD dominance.

track

CC track this morning with Andy.  Really jacked up my back over the weekend (and in good St. Pat's form I can't remember how I did it).  Nothing makes you feel like you're getting old like a lower back injury.  Anywho, took it easy just to make sure the back didn't get worse.  One mile warm up, 5 x 1000m with 400m RBI, one mile cool down.  4:10, 3:50, 3:47, 3:47, 3:43.

First day of spring, let's hope the temps keep rising!

Pitt is in the final four!

Can't imagine how much longer the Colorado Springs Gazette will be in business.  Their entire coverage of the Manning thing has been stealing articles from the Denver Post, and reporting comments from their facebook page as news.

Seems this Reebok ad is causing some controversy.  I remember this slogan on a t-shirt back when I ran high school track.  What I can't remember is the last time I saw anyone wearing Reebok.

drunks are nice people!

Very nice of this guy to return the bike.

Of course, the big news here on the front range.  Manning is so good he almost has as many super bowl rings as Big Ben!

73

Another solid week despite alcohol ruining all my weekend runs.  73 miles, including four straight days (Mon through Thurs) with a two hour run.  Today's run wasn't super long (15 miles, three hours) but it was the first time all year I've been able to run the entire Section 16 hill.

Thinking of doing an out and back on Section 1 of the Colorado Trail this Sunday.  Should be just under 34 miles.  Anyone interested in joining me?  I'll leave the Springs at 6AM and hope to step off around 7:15AM.

elite CRUD training

18:59

Blah.

mmm...bacon...and beer...

Just reserved a few bottles of Rogue Voodoo Donut Bacon Maple Ale.  Guess it's pretty hard to get in this area, but Cheers will have ten cases in mid-April.

I really want this beer to taste good, but I'm thinking it will be about as good as the pepto bismol bottle it comes in.

Pleasant Valley resident out for a walk this morning...

weekend

Zack Deputy tonight at the Mariner!  Kiss my ass, SXSWers!

Should be a blast on St. Pat's day.  The schedule, in case anyone wants to join us:

10AM - St. Pat's Day 5K.
10:25AM - Dutch Mill/Benny's.
2PM - Pikes Peak hash.  Starts at my second least favorite bar downtown, Southside Johnny's (Quinn's takes the title of biggest shithole).  But at least they have PBR there.

Thinking of heading up to visit Neal and Teresa on Sunday from the house.  We'll see how hungover I am.

In honor of SXSW, here's a band I once saw at a bar not much larger than my living room.  I don't know the words to describe how awesome the show was.  This is definitely one week I miss living in Austin!

Triple Crown

Barr Trail tempo this morning with the dog, four miles.  Started retardedly early at 5:10AM, and there were still a lot of people on the trail.  Are people stepping off on the Incline at 3:30AM?  Sheesh.

Signed up for the Triple Crown.  Think I have a legit shot at an age group award.  Not because I'm good, but because there's a BIG gap from first place to the next guy now that Gerald is out of the question.  Could even grab a runner up finish if I can finally nail that 2:59 Ascent...

And before O'Day drops his typical "oh, the Ascent, I guess you didn't get into Leadville..." ramble, I'd like to remind everyone that if Hope Pass was steeper, longer, and more technical, it would almost barely be as rough as the easiest climb at Hardrock.

WTF?

Someone cleaned up the sign out front. Sure hope those kids don't just throw up a bunch of brewery stickers again, ruining all that hard work...

PM - two hours home, 10.7 miles. Bear Creek, Section 16, Red Rock Canyon. Loving this weather!

commute #12

Easy 5.3 miles to work this morning, 50 minutes.  First run of the year where I didn't wear gloves.  Looking forward to the run home, finally have some sunlight.

Zach Deputy is at the Mariner this Friday night.  $100 and I will be there if anyone wants to join us.  Tix are $12 if you get them early, $20 day of show.  Just what the Mariner needs, more stinkin' hippies.

catching up

Been away from the computer for a bit, I'll try to catch up tomorrow while I'm at work.

Salida went well.  I'm always limited there due to how much beer I drink before the race, but it's one of the most fun weekends of the year.  Great first half, reaching the turnaround cone in two hours flat.  Really feel I could have closed in 1:45 to 1:50, but instead I started drinking beer and had a very easy 2:33 second half.  Will do a better recap on this tomorrow, including posting some of the pics of Saturday night's pub crawl, which turned out to be pretty fabulous.

Another rest day on Sunday due to farting around all day on the drive home.

Monday and Tuesday were solid runs.  Hit the hike-and-bike trails in Aurora on Mon for 12.5 miles.  Awesome run today, Red Rock Canyon/Intemann/Section 16/Garden, 11 miles in two hours.

Here's me, cruising up Tenderfoot Mountain, right behind Andy.  Hope I don't lose my lucrative Inside Trail sponsorship for going with the local pizza joint, but by the time FF finds my name buried in the results he'll be old and senile.

The chick behind me in the above pic hung on my ass for the first 14 miles.  Obviously checking out the view.  Here's a better shot:

Smokin' hot.  But #409 is not listed in the results.  Would have been hard to DNF from where I dropped her.  All I know is that I left her with Slow Aaron in the middle of the woods, and she hasn't been seen since...

Dad & Dude's Breweria

Had the India Brown Ale and the Parietal Porter.

Meh.

Jäger!

Moonlight!

Definite PR tomorrow...

Thursday

Was going to bail at the first snowflake and run to work, but the weather is pretty decent here.  Andy and I made our weekly trek to the CC track.  10 x 400m, untimed and real easy.  Betting they were a lot closer to 90 than 80.  5.5 miles total.  Going to do one more week of quarters to get ready for the 5K on St. Pat's Day and then go back to the longer repeats.

If anyone is up for some pre-Salida lunch, a bunch of us will be meeting at the Purple Castle at 12:30 on Friday.  Weekday, so we'll be at the Costilla Street location.  Desert will be at Oscar's.

It's a long drive to Salida, so we'll be stopping to refuel at Royal Gorge Brewing in Canon City.  Used to be McClellan's, then it was Royal Gorge Brewing even though they didn't brew there.  Now, supposidly, they have their own beer.  Though I've heard that rumor before and it wasn't true.  Will report back after our next visit.

vote GZ!

GZ needs some clown shoes.  Go here and like his photo on FB.  If you can't stand to vote for that guy, pretend you're voting for Pikes Peak.

commute #11

Easy 6.3 miles to work in 56 minutes.  Supposed to get more crappy weather today, but it was nice this morning.  Looks like some nasty clouds rolling over the mountain right now though.

Arrived at Kinfolk's at 8:30 last night after doing the Incline.  Tuesday is micro night at the pub, so at that late hour I was able to get the first PBR of the day.  Free beer!

Think I'm going to blow off Bolder Boulder for the Arkansas River Bluegrass Marathon.  Can I run a 10K the day after running a marathon?  Easily.  Can I drive three hours for a 7AM race right after a bender in Salida?  No way.

Pitt vs. Georgetown at noon.  Let's go Panthers!

Tuesday

Andy and I switched the weekly Barr Trail workout to Tuesday, since the weather is once again going to suck ass on Thursday.  Hit the top of the W's in just under 29.  Four miles total, 54 minutes.

My Austin buddy PT is attempting the Grand Slam and Kona this year.  I'll be pacing him out at Wasatch and then ignoring anything tri related that he does.  He's keeping a blog about the attempt over here.

Also going to pace Rick H out at Steamboat.  I get 20% of the loot if he wins!

Monday

Easy four miles with the dog this morning, 40 minutes.

Not to put any pressure on Nick, but he's going to have to go sub three at Salida to win any beer from me.  Seems like he's been doing a lot of training with this guy, so he can't be in that good of shape.

Somehow I ended up second in my age group in Pueblo.  Gerald must have just turned 40.  Need to start padding the trophy case while everyone else is in a different age group.  It would help if I actually showed up at the awards presentation instead of bolting post-race for the nearest bar.

week in review

Another solid week.  Just over 80 miles, with some solid track work, some good climbs, a long run, and a decent tempo run (Pueblo).  Another big week coming up, so if I suck at Salida it's because of all the work I've been doing.

The Run Through Time is sold out.  But the Arkansas River Bluegrass Marathon is coming back!

Pueblo

High tech posting of the Pueblo results, courtesy of Pikes Peak Sports.

I ran miles three to five just in front of #758.  I'm sure she was checking out my sweet ass.  But I must have really broke the wind for her, she put 60 seconds on me over the final five miles.

Pueblo Spring Runoff

66:59 for the ten miler.  Meh.  Was hoping to go closer to 65 but miles three to five beat me down pretty good with the wind.  Hit three miles in 19:40, then didn't get to the halfway point until just over 34 minutes.  Really slacked off the second half.  The negative split isn't impressive as the second half of the course was much faster.  Passed by three people over the final five miles, only got one of 'em back.

Still, happy with the run.  Hard week, including a long run yesterday, so I can't complain.  Really nice to be out in just shorts and a t-shirt again.

Can't find results posted yet, but Cheseret (Go Army!) supposidly dropped a 4:50 last mile to run away with the win in just over 50 minutes.

I think this was the 43rd "Colorado State Championship" race so far in 2012.

big winner!

Won one of these at Banff last night.  Should make all those naps I take at Hardrock much more comfortable!

El Dorado Lounge

long run

Solid long run this morning.  With Ryan K, and a special guest appearance by Brandon and Charlie Brown for a few miles.  Same long run as last week - Rampart Range, Williams Canyon, Intemann, Red Rock Canyon.  But this week was over an hour faster.  21 miles, four hours flat.

Now, off to the 666th Pikes Peak hash.  Then Banff.  Guessing there might be some beer drinking thrown in.

Todd Snider

Gonna have to live off ramen for a few weeks after all these race entry fees and concert tix.  Just got Todd Snider tix, he's playing some joint called the L2 Arts & Culture center in Denver.  It's near Colfax, so I'll just go there to get my culture fix.  But I'm already a fan of the place, as there were no extra service charges added to the price of a ticket.  A $23 ticket was actually $23.

commute #10

It was 13F at 5AM.  So I hit the snooze button.  A couple of times.

Easy 6.2 miles to work, 56 minutes.

Incline last night was awesome.  Saw two folks coming down at the very bottom, then $100, the dog, and I didn't see another soul the entire time.

teaching the dog to be a barfly

Daniel Tosh

Just got tix to see Daniel Tosh at the Pikes Peak Center.  Awesome comedian, but holy crap $134 for two tickets!  But one has to take advantage of the very few entertainment options here in the village.  Thankfully the closest bar to the PPC, Oscar's, is dirt cheap.

Moonlight Pizza

Really been jonesin' for some Moonlight.  Not only the beloved Caveman, but also to finally try some of their brewed stuff.  They have the following beers on tap, and I'm wondering what I'll have Nick buy me after he only beats me by 44 minutes next Saturday:

MoonLite (Cream Ale)
IPA
American Wheat
Porter
Amber
Irish Red Ale

I'm leaning towards the Amber.  But maybe I'll have him spring for the American Wheat, as a reminder of how much better the USA is than that third world hellhole he's from.

No more PBR at Moonlight, but that fine beverage is never lacking in Salida.  The Vic.  Benson's.  Hattie's.  The Boat House.  The Tenderfoot.  And, of course, kicking the pub crawl off with Duck Farts at the 1st Street Cafe.  Good times!

The latest Moonlight e-mail has a coupon for a free liter of MoonLite with the purchase of a pizza.  If you're going to be joining us after the marathon and you want the coupon, let me know and I'll forward the e-mail.

Rumor has it that Amanda will be a DNS at Salida.  Worst smack talker of all time.

Barr Trail

With the usual suspects, Andy and the dog.  Good run this morning, top of the W's in 28:30.  Finally had some good weather here.  For the GPS geeks, the totals were 4.11 miles in 54:36.97.  Sure wish I knew how to hook the fancy watch up to the computer to get an elevation graph...

Ended February with 300.4 miles.