Monday, February 29, 2016

weekend

On Saturday we went up to Black Forest for the final race of the winter series. 

I've been dealing with some foot issues for a while now.  Some days I don't notice it at all, some days it's about the most painful thing I've ever experienced.  Usually it's somewhere in between.  Saturday was not a good day.  Ran the usual eight minute miles up until just before mile eleven.  Then I saw Marc walking with his kid in the 10K and I quit and walked it in with him.  Meh.  Glad to have the winter series over, mentally and physically none of the four races were enjoyable for me.


The most electrifying man in masters running has stolen my look!


Not all gloom and doom.  On Sunday morning I got in Incline #17, then $100 and I made the quick trip down to Lake Pueblo for some mountain biking.  Lots of fun riding 26 miles on the sweet singletrack down there.  Need to quit riding the fat bike all the time, it's really allowed what little technical skills I have to go to shit. 

Tried two new breweries over the weekend, neither of which were overly impressive.  Cogstone Brewing Company here in the Springs and Brues Alehouse down in Pueblo.  Think I'm up to 126 Colorado breweries now.  Seems like all of them that aren't in east COS are ones that I want to go back to.

Might have two spots in our Salida house for marathon weekend open.  Contact me offline if interested.

whiskey #5


Way behind on the whiskies of 2016, but I can make up ground.  Tincup can get you into an argument with Colorado whiskey lovers, due to the fact that they actually aren't a Colorado whiskey, but I really like the stuff and I'll continue to drink it.  Not quite on the same level as Stranahan's, but not nearly as pricey either.

Friday, February 26, 2016

incline #16

Shook off the GZ lazy curse in a big way this morning.  After a few too many beers last night I was planning on sleeping in, but $100 was having none of that.  At 4:20AM she kicked my ass out of bed and I accompanied her and the dog over to the Incline.  Hungover, but it was quite the beautiful morning over in Manitou.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

quarters

I've been in a funk ever since I accused GZ of being soft.  Maybe he cursed me?  This was a planned down week due to some other life events I need to attend to, but I seem to have lost any energy to work out.  OK, it's all due to a lack of sleep over multiple nights in a row, but it's more fun to blame GZ.

Headed up to the track on Wed AM for some 400m repeats.  200m RBI.  Untimed as I forgot the timex and I'm not sure how to do this with the garmin.  Managed eight of them.  Had to run all the way out to lane three at times due to snow.  Solid effort.

Pikes has a ton of snow right now.  She's as white as I've ever seen her.  Must have got hammered during our last storm (Mon night/Tues morn).  Last report from Barr Camp was 18 inches, and that's only halfway up the hill.

Saw this pic online.  Whenever I run the Garden roads, this is the entrance I take.  It never gets old.


Way behind on the stout posts, but rest assured the streak is alive.  Went with a classic tonight.


IPA Tasting

Alex, who was slightly ahead of me at the Pikes Peak Marathon last year, lives down the street and hosted an IPA tasting on Friday.  Lots of good stuff.  Special thanks to Bob for the Perpetual, it was very well received.  I concentrated on drinking, so I don't have many pics, but Peter is working on something (he actually took notes) and I'll post his recollection here when he finishes up.






Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Denver

Awesome weekend up in Denver.

Got up early on Saturday to get in a ten mile run in the Garden and an hour on the Surly.  Then drove up north and proceeded to drink away the rest of Saturday.  Met up with a bunch of the northern guys, hitting Great Divide, Mockery Brewing, and Crooked Stave.  Had enough beers to call out GZ for being a whiney bitch and Shad for being on PEDs (I have notified Dick Pound on my theory).

After that it was off to catch DU/CC at Coors Field.  Seemed like a great idea to have an outdoor hockey game at a baseball field but we were so high up and so far away from the game that we couldn't see much.


Then it was off to catch Galactic at the Fillmore (dropping by Sancho's on the way, of course).  Galactic is one of my favorites, but they had left a bad taste in my mouth after a lousy show when I saw them down in NOLA last year.  But they killed it on Saturday, and the band is back off my shitlist.  Such a great show.  If I had a phone that was capable, I would have ordered tix to the Landing Festival right then and there!  Should have just pulled the trigger, now I have to slowly work on the wife about that one.

Crossed something off my bucket list after the show, as I headed back over to Sancho's and closed the place down.  Definitely like the place much better in the afternoons when there aren't a million people there.  But it was awesome to hang there and then take in the sights of Colfax after 2AM on a Saturday night (Sunday morning) as I stumbled back to my hotel.

On Sunday we took the dogs (Meesha was in Denver as well) for a nice walk at the Chatfield dog park before hitting Living The Dream brewing.  Love that place.

Good times.  Great to see all you Denver/Boulder/Littleton/Lakehood peeps!  Lets do it again soon!

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Wed

Nice climb up 21st Street/Gold Camp Road on the fatbike this morning.  12 miles.  Hard effort going up and I went sub 40 to the gate.  Unfortunately, that nice sweat I worked up really made things miserable on the bomb back down.  It's still winter out there, kids.

Working late.  Not really working, but they need someone in the building.  Yuk.  Did sneak out for a bit to walk the dog through Rock Ledge Ranch.  Dog says it's a nice place to drop a deuce as the views are lovely.


Great post from one of my favorites, Alastair Humphreys.  I think this is the year I go into events without time goals in mind, and next year I will probably stop entering a bunch of stuff so I can free up weekends for more bikepacking or longer overnight hikes with the wife and dog.  Still want to get out and get dirty and explore, but I don't want to spend too long away from a warm, comfortable bed and a cold beer.  I sometimes wonder if I should have done more in my younger days, even when I first moved to Colorado.  I've always wanted to bike across the country and hike the AT.  But recently we realized we could finally see the day when our house gets fully paid off.  We throw the cost of a really, really good bike or two round trip air tickets to damn near anywhere towards our place every month.  Not sure what we'll do when that monthly bill no longer comes due, but it definitely allows us to dream about the possibilities.  So I'm pretty excited about what the future holds, even though the wife isn't going to allow me to buy a new bike every month.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

track

Quite a while since I've been to the track.  The Holmes oval was still soft and slow, but I need to re-establish my Tuesday morning habit.  5 x 800m with 400m RBI.  3:16, :08, :06, :05, :10.  Long way from where I was with this workout last October.  Could have swore I saw the first signs of daylight as I was finishing the workout, spring is coming!

21 miles on the bike to/from work.

Evening run in Red Rock Canyon up to Carson Pass, five miles.  Came later in the day, as Pitt needed triple overtime to dismiss Wake Forest.


weekend

Winter Series III on Saturday.  Wanted to keep sub 7:30 miles.  Seven of the miles were solid.  The three that weren't, I had the following excuses for: a wrestling match (which I won), a beer stop (which produced a blazing 17:42 mile), and running the last mile with Todd from Red Leg.  Overall a good day, including the post race happy hour at Pikes Peak Brewing to watch Rupp dominate and Kara screw me out of a beer.  

Sunday was trip number 14 up the Incline and a 20 mile bike ride.

100 miles biking on the week, along with 50 running.  Not bad with the late night on Thursday for March Fourth.

And the stout streak continues. 







Thursday, February 11, 2016

Feb 10

Solid day on the bike.  Up early for the climb up 21st street, a classic among riders here.  During normal hours it's not unusual to see guys from the olympic training center doing repeats here.  From my house it's 5.75 miles to the top with 1000 feet of climbing.  Took me just a few seconds under 40 minutes to do it on the fat bike this morning.

Took the long way home from work, another 16 miles.  33 miles on the day.  Not bad for a Wednesday.

Looks like my boycott of Air Force athletics has produced results.  Announcement came out today that the Santa Fe trial will be open late spring/early summer.  Hopefully it will open early enough to give me time to get in shape for Kanza.

Stout month rolls on.



Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Monday

Five miles in the AM on Monday.  Got home and didn't feel like running, so the dog and I went for an hour hike in the Garden instead.

10K on Tues morning.  Tried to throw in some fartlek work but it's still rough due to patches of snow and ice on the road.  

Stout of the day for Monday was The Poet oatmeal stout from New Holland Brewing.

Monday, February 08, 2016

week in review

Not a whole lot of outdoor activity on the Front Range this week.  I got in 50 miles of "running," which was more hiking through deep snow than anything.  Only 25 miles on the bike.  But I shoveled lots of snow and had some great walks with the dog, so there's that.  Temps in the 50s all week, so this snow should be all gone soon.

Went 1:40 in the Super Half.  My goal was 1:45, and given the shape I was in after spending Friday and Saturday nights in Manitou I should just be happy I finished.  But I was glad that running eight minute miles felt so easy.

Happy for my Bronco fan friends, but I wasn't overly impressed with the super bowl.  Boring game, then Peyton's comments about drinking budweiser (TWICE!) and that horrific Steven Tyler wannabe who accepted the trophy.  Even thought most of the commercials were pretty lame.

Still on track for a stout month PR.

Sweet Potato Casserole Stout from Red Leg:



Bristol Winter Warlock aged in Axe and the Oak whiskey barrels.  One of my favorites so far:


The Dark One from High Hops:


One of the zillion beers I drank at Manitou Mardi Gras:




And the Fist Pump Stout from Fieldhouse Brewing after running the Super Half:


Thursday, February 04, 2016

winter is officially over!

Despite this hot mess of a bike commute yesterday...


Winter is officially over as I grabbed my first pair of tix to Red Rocks today!  Moe and the Mule???  Yes please!


Wednesday, February 03, 2016

incline #12

Snowmageddon has ended and our village has started digging out.  Shoveled our sidewalks four times on Monday before giving up and just waiting until the storm passed on Tuesday afternoon.  After all that hard work, I was more than prepared to sit on the couch all evening watching college hoops and drinking beer.  But then $100 called and informed the dog and I that we were all going to do the Incline that evening.

Started at 4:30PM and it was balls cold, but as usual once we got going conditions seemed to improve.  Took almost an hour to get to the top, though some of that extra time was spent saying hello to all the other dogs out there.

Footing on the Incline and Barr Trail was excellent.  That will likely change very soon as all that fresh snow turns to ice.






Tuesday, February 02, 2016

stout month

February is stout month!  I'll try 28 straight days with a different stout.  Here are the first two.



Monday, February 01, 2016

January recap

A good step in the right direction.

Running - 188 miles
Riding - 292 miles
Strength Training - 19 times (combo of the weight room, rock gym, and hot yoga)
Hiking - 20 miles

And 11 trips up the Incline, definitely a monthly record for me.

Going to try to maintain in February.  But my motivation to deal with early mornings and crappy weather is definitely waning.  And it could be a rough month here in the Springs.

A recent pic of Kara.  Probably touched up with photoshop, but holy shit she definitely looks ready to go.  GZ is going to owe me a beer when she makes the Olympic team.


Taken Monday morning at Glen Eyrie.  About 2.5 miles from my house.  Often see these guys over in the Garden.


snow

Biggest snowfall in years here in the Springs.  Snow day at work, so I slept in and then headed over to Red Rock Canyon.  Took me 80 minutes to cover a 10K.  Some video of the run:

whiskey #4

Folks are always welcome to crash in our guest bedroom.  No fee, though the standard is a sixer from your favorite local brewery.  But if any of you super competitive types want to top the list, that spot is currently held by Mike H, who was kind enough to bring me this bottle just to crash the night before the fat ass.


So good.  The bottle will likely have a short life now that snowmageddon is here.