whiskey #8

Paid a visit to Breckenridge Distillery on Saturday.  Damn fine whiskey.  Enjoyed it so much we brought home a bottle.

Took a drive up to Breck for a free Michael Franti & Spearhead show.  What he played was good, but I thought it was a short set.  For a band with so much energy, you would think there would be a second set, or at least an encore.  Guess we got what we paid for.  At least we got to visit the distillery and Broken Compass Brewing while we were up there.

19:47

Tortoise and Hare 5K on Saturday, part of the brewers' cup.  Knew this wouldn't be anything special, I'm battling a cold and also volunteered before the race so I had no warm up.  Kept a very easy pace, chatted with some folks during the race, and walked an extra .03 after the finish line to still comfortably break 20 minutes.  6:21, 6:30, 6:08.  Pretty happy with how easy it all felt.

This is a fun race that takes into account your sex, age, height, and weight and gives you a handicap.  The race was won overall by a 52 year old female who ran the course in 23:31.  The first dude to cross the line was in 5th place, a 60 year old who ran 21:43.  The guy who ran the fastest time of the day, 15:58, finished in 10th place.

Simon got to start 20 seconds ahead of me due to his old fart status.  He waited for me to catch up, talked some shit, then buried me in the second mile, probably running at least a minute faster.  Simon ended up 26th overall in 19:27, and I ended up way back in 30th.  At least I sprinted ahead right when Tim took this picture:

incline #29

$100 and the dog and I got out for a leisurely stroll, if there is such a thing, up the Incline on Friday evening.  Nowhere near the effort from Thursday, 58:48.

Quite a few beers at Fossil afterwards.  Loves me some Mammoth IPA.

whiskey #7

My buddy Jeremy hooked me up with some top shelf whiskey a few weeks ago.  It was all super shady, as he gave me these bottles in a middle school parking lot before a race.  Nothing sketchy looking about that.

I deflected any PED accusations by taking damn near last place in the race, including walking the last two miles. 

Anywho, the first bottle was Yellow Spot Irish Whiskey.  Enjoyed it, but when I googled the price I knew there was no way I'd pay that much when I could just buy a comparatively super cheap bottle of Stranahan's.  Still, the purpose of this challenge, besides allowing me to drink a lot more whiskey, is to try new things. 

Incline #28

First Thursday Incline Club run of the year.  One minute on, one minute off, ten rounds up Barr Trail.  We just stood still for the minute off.  After coming back down I went over and hit the incline pretty hard.  Two hours for the 8.6 mile run.  I would need some lawyers and law enforcement officials to confirm, but I don't believe I broke any rules with my ascent of the incline yesterday evening.

32:40 for the Incline.  By far my fastest time this year, and I'm going to set that at my personal 40+ record so I can chase it.  Would like to get down below half an hour, which shouldn't be too hard as I'm not running a single step for all these times.  There are some parts at the very bottom and very top I can run if I really want, as GZ would say, to make the teeth sweat.

fake rocks

Zero day for running on Wednesday, ten miles on the round trip to/from work on the bike.  Nice hour hike in the Garden with the dog before work.

A few weeks ago I started a Wednesday night bouldering league at CityRock.  Definitely nice to finally push my boundaries in that sport once again.  I'm back to climbing V2 regularly and making good progress on a lot of V3 problems.  Plus, the session always ends at the Ute & Yeti for super cheap Colorado brews (I had a can of Upslope IPA and a can of Dale's Pale Ale and my tab was $7).  Here is the all mighty and powerful Team 2:

And a V3 that I was unsuccessful at.  Stupid tiny holds:

Cheyenne Canon this morning.  Made it up in just under 48 minutes.  Nice improvement from last time, but way back then (two weeks ago) there was a lot of snow at the top.

quarters

Tuesday track!  Despite a rest day yesterday, I was still feeling sore from the weekend.  So I went for an easier workout.  6 x 400m, 4 x 200m.  94, 92, 92, 92, 89, 89.  Then 41, 41, 40, 39.

There's a group of Incline Club folks who will start Tuesday afternoon track sessions next week, and I will be joining them.  I look to see my track times fall as I get onto a better track (Manitou High) and have other folks to chase.  Will probably continue to do some short sprint track work on Tuesday AM.

PM - Section 16 with $100 and the dog, 5.8 miles.

Been listening to a lot of Tedeschi-Trucks lately.  Can't wait to see them in August!

Shelf Road

On Saturday afternoon I headed down to Canon City to explore Shelf Road a bit.  Shelf is world famous for rock climbing and is part of the Gold Belt scenic byway, and it seemed like a cool gravel road to ride a bike on.  Soon I want to head down to Canon and ride Shelf up to Victor, grab pizza and brews at the Headframe, then return to Canon via Phantom Canyon.  Should be a solid and scenic metric century.  But I was time limited on Saturday, so I just managed an out and back 45 miler on Shelf.

Canon has a bad rep due to all the prisons, but the trails there are top notch.  We've had fun exploring Temple Canyon and Oil Well Flats, and there are plenty of more places I plan to check out.  Not quite Salida, but it's also a 45 minute drive as compared to 2+ hours.  After my ride on Sat I dropped by to see the FAR guys, who have done incredible work over the past few years, and picked up a copy of the new Royal Gorge adventure guide.  Lots of riding and running and hiking and rafting to be done down in Fremont County.

Good ride on Sunday as well, 20 miles from the house to Fossil Brewing via Red Rock Canyon, the Chutes, Cheyenne Canon, Buckhorn, and Cap't Jacks.

18:48

Much better than expected day at Tonia's 5K.  Ran 6:15, 5:56, and 6:01.  Definitely entered a pain zone I haven't visited in a while, and there was a very short but very steep hill at the two mile mark that almost made this a 24 minute race.  Took everything I had to hold things together over the final half mile or so.

My last remaining ties to glory were trampled at the race:

Shot of the lead pack about a quarter mile into the race.  You can see me right at the back.  You can also see some hill in the upper right corner.  I went as hard as I could from the start.

Motivated by the talk of Shad and GZ doing all the work to get faster, I might have to sit down and see what I can do about getting back down below 18 for this distance again.

incline #26 & #27

There were rumblings of a new police state beginning today (Friday), with tickets for dogs and curfews and lashings for not giving a tithing to the incline friends.  I even checked with Rob about counting the Incline if I ran up Barr Trail to the halfway point and started my climb from there (he called me names and questioned my manhood but ultimately said that was acceptable) but at 5AM this morning the parking lot at the Cog railway took my $7 and the Incline was deserted.  Here's some info on the stuff going on at the Incline.  Manitou city hall and the residents of Ruxton Ave can kiss my ass and I wish the incline friends would take a break from telling everyone how great they are and fight the demands of these clowns.

Folks like me who do the Incline super early aren't the target of this persecution.  The issue is the Army guys from Fort Carson, who often show up in large numbers (platoon and company size) for early morning PT.  How quickly Manitou forgets that these same Army kids were filling sandbags and helping out with flood relief not too long ago.  I'm sure the Ruxton folks will fill that void next time a natural disaster strikes, being the stand up residents they are.

26 and 27 on Thursday evening and Friday morning.  This is the view the douchebags are trying to rob us of with their unacceptable curfew:

And this is a shot from Thursday of the beast that causes the incline friends, Ruxton residents, and countless folk who refer to themselves as hardcore outdoorsey to lose their minds and shit their pants:

my other blog

Going to do some blogging for Pikes Peak Sports once again.  My latest post is over here.  You could say I'm a professional writer now since I got a free entry into the Pikes Peak Marathon for this (and, due to a glitch in the system, I didn't have to shell out 50 bones to do the Double) or you could say my stuff is so bad they asked me to write about the Double and still made me pay for the Ascent.

Tuesday

Still trying to get some long rides in, but the weather is not playing nice.  Was hoping to ride the trails of Lake Pueblo on Sunday, but got word that things there were still a mess.  So I left the house with a plan to ride up to Pikes Peak Brewing instead.  Made it to the Academy gates (where all the no trespassing signs had been removed but the gates were still locked) and the Santa Fe trail just turned to poo.  I hopped the fence and continued for a quarter mile but any farther would have required a hike-a-bike.  So I turned around and tooled around town, getting in a solid 40 miles.

Rest day on Monday.  Nice hour hike in the Garden with the dog in the morning, then an hour of hot yoga after work.

10K on Tuesday morning.  Knew the track would still be a mess, so I did some two minutes on/two minutes off. Inspired by GZ's recent mile goals, going to start leaning towards shorter intervals on Tuesday.

Christ, this is Pitt's new hoops coach.  Nothing super creepy to see here.  Interesting hire, to say the least.  My faith in humanity takes a hit every time I have to follow sports message boards on the internet, so I'm glad they at least got the hire over with.

Oddly, this pic came up when I was googling the above image.  A much better representation of a great university:

Incline 25

We got a good bit of snow last night.  Easily at least six inches at the house.  Here's the front yard.  The flamingos had it rough but they survived:

Almost bailed on working out but I figured I'd do something.  On my way out I told $100, "I'll be back between 20 minutes and four hours."

Incline number 25 on the year.  Lots of snow everywhere.  Well over a foot by the time I got to the top.  Quite the slog, but at least it wasn't too cold.  Quite a few others out there getting after it.  Took me three hours to make the loop.  Wanted to hit Red Mountain as well but that trail wasn't broken at all and it would have taken me forever.

Shortly after the Incline summit:

By Tuesday all this snow will be gone.  Going to be a bit messy for a while.

hills

Having a pretty good week so far.

Monday and Tuesday were good weather days.  Not so much today, though it seems we're not getting hit as bad as the folks in Denver/Boulder.

Monday is a rest day, so the dog and I took a nice morning hike and then I biked to work.  Was still beautiful (and light) after work so I took the long way home - up Cheyenne Canon to the Columbine trail, then down to Spring Creek, then back home via Gold Camp and Red Rock Canyon.  I had the thought while riding those trails that not many folks have a better commute home from work than I do.

Tuesday morning I got up to head to the track, but in the time I walked from my porch to the sidewalk I decided it was too warm out for the track and I headed over to Red Rock Canyon instead.  An hour of running those trails was just what the doctor ordered.  Also got in a good 20 mile road ride on the way home from work.  Legs are pretty beat up after three straight days of solid riding.

Today, the same day that GZ decides he wants to get fast, I figured it was time to start learning to run up hill again.  Headed back to Cheyenne Canon and ran the old Canya Canon 6K course, then back down.  Snowing this morning.  Too dark to go without a headlamp, but turning on the headlamp just lit up the snow and I couldn't see.  But it was fun, and I did run the entire thing, which I wasn't sure I could do right now.  52 minutes to the top (it's exactly four miles from where I start).  Going to make this my Wednesday morning run until all the snow goes away, then I'll switch to a hump day morning summit of Mt. Muscoco.

Pitt is looking for a new hoops coach.  Very bittersweet as I was still a big fan of Jamie Dixon, but I admit the program has lost a bit of luster since we joined the ACC.  It was actually announced that Sean Miller was going to take the job, which caused the heads of every member of the Panther nation to explode with joy.  Why would the head coach of a top program take the Pitt job?  Check out this video, and check out who made the pass...



Hot damn those uniforms are the best!

Anywho, Coach Miller is not coming home, nor was he ever thinking about it.  So I wondered how a legit media joint could make such a mistake.  I sometimes wish I would have taken a path towards a career in journalism, and I found this article about sources awesome to read, regardless of the Pitt slant.

week in review

I was hoping for a big bike week and a smaller run week, but weather forced the opposite.  50 miles running, 70 miles on the bike.  Got in another 13 miles of hiking with the dog.

We got snow and frigid weather on Saturday which crushed my spirit.  Wanted to get in 100K on the bike but it was just too cold for that.  Got out for a slow two hour run over in Red Rock Canyon instead.

On Sunday the dog and I headed up the Incline, trip number 24, and then I grabbed the bike and bolted down to Canon City.  Due to time constraints (I had to be at Murphy's for BLOS's 40th b-day party) I only had three hours to ride.  Explored Temple Canyon Road, then popped out at the south rim of the Royal Gorge.  Made two big climbs (including Skyline Drive) back to the City.  31 miles total, lots of climbing.

I have found that I can run 100% pain free in Altras, which has me stoked beyond belief.  I won a pair back in August and they were pretty much an afterthought during my Hoka phase.  But they may have saved my running.

Temple Canyon

On the way back from Salida we took a dog break to hike Temple Canyon in Canon City.  Love this hike.  Minor pain in the butt to drive to but it's quickly becoming a favorite.

snow

Woke up to some snow.  Yuk.  Two inches on the dirt and grass, nothing on the streets or sidewalks.  Seven miles on the Garden roads.

Picked up what might be my final Red Rocks tickets for the year, Tedeschi Trucks.  Thought about going after Panic tix, but I think I'll just couch tour that. 

Loves me some March Madness!  Pitt vs Wisconsin is on at 4:45PM here in Colorado.  The wife is visiting her parents in Florida so I won't have to put up with her whining once Pitt crushes the Badgers.  Of course, my favorite nickname in all college sports belongs to Wichita State.

Salida

Yet another incredible weekend down in Salida.

I will never do well at this race and that's fine with me.  The Run Through Time sort of kicks off spring for me, which means it's time to start getting in shape after being lazy all winter.  Plus, at my age, massive amounts of pizza and whiskey and beer the night before a marathon is going to negatively affect any dreams of speed.  But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for me to cover the marathon, given how I haven't been running hills or distance.

Of course, you can see how hard I was pushing:

Given my Friday night and how difficult the new course was, I wondered if I'd even break six hours.  So when I crossed the line feeling good at 5:15, I was pretty happy.

The new course was awesome, and it's great to see what this race is now compared to what it was a decade ago when it started.  Not counting the initial two mile loop that allows folks to thin out, we're only on the dirt road for 3/4 of a mile.

A few pics from our ride up Tenderfoot Hill:

Incline #23

Early morning on the Incline.  Fresh snow.  Yuk.  But I need to get the laps in as the Incline will be closed late fall/early summer for repairs.

Got a parking ticket on Ruxton.  At 6AM, when signs all over the place state they do not start enforcing until 7AM.  I'm going to challenge it, but if I lose I'll be boycotting the bars and restaurants of Manitou for a bit to recoup that money.  Solid work, city of Manitou.

whiskey #6

Wood's High Mountain Distillery in Salida.  This was their staple Tenderfoot whiskey.  Most people correctly describe this as harsh, but I love that characteristic. 

Good whiskey.  Good gin.  Best bloody mary in town.  Dog friendly.  Awesome bartenders.  I cannot say enough good things about this place. 

Salida or bust!

Off to Salida for a weekend of trails and beer and whiskey and pizza and dogs and even the fat bike.  Love that place and hope to live there someday. 

As a Pittsburgher there's not much I love more than making fun of Cleveland.  So I dug this awesome article on the Cleveland Clowns and the end of the Johnny Football saga.  I can't remember the last time Cleveland had a team that wasn't embarrassing.  The article says the Browns are "the equivalent of the person who's been divorced three times and thinks the drummer in the rock band who keeps asking to borrow a credit card would make an excellent fourth spouse" and that about sums it up perfectly.  Sorry, Wyatt.

Thursday

No Pitt talk today as my beloved Panthers were crushed by Carolina.  Gots to wait until Sunday evening to find out if we made the dance.  I don't think we deserve to go, but my gut says Pitt will get in.

Nice seven miler in the Garden this morning.  Last run until Salida.  Feeling a little bit better about that race.  Still thinking 5.5 hours or so, but at least now I'm thinking it will be somewhat fun instead of the long, painful slog I had been envisioning.

Solid brew tonight, thanks Bob!  Dog is not very happy with me right now as it was shower night for her.

Incline #22

Another trip up the hill with $100 and the dog on Tuesday evening.  This is probably the first week of the year I'll only get up the Incline once.

This morning it was an easy hour on the trails of Red Rock Canyon.  As much as I'm looking forward to daylight savings, it's going to suck in the morning to need the headlamp for the whole run again.

ACC tourney starts today.  Pitt plays at 10AM.  March madness is here!

Update:  Pitt easily picked up a dominating win over the crybaby Orange, 72-71.  They say you can't beat a good team three times in a season, and I agree as that was our third win over the 'Cuse this year.

Tuesday track

Trying a new approach to Monday.  Active recovery.  Sleeping in (until 5:15AM, very late for me on weekdays), taking the dog out for an easy hike in the Garden for an hour, then a chill five mile bike to work.  After riding home, the wife and I went to hot yoga.  And another walk with the dog right before bed.

But Tuesday remains track day.  Quarters!  10 x 400m, 200m RBI.  After a garbage 96 on the first lap, I ran the next few in 90-91 and then the last four between 84 and 88.  6.7 miles total.

Sharapova busted for drugs.  I'm still a fan.  Maria, if things get too tough, I always have vodka in my liquor cabinet!

Incline #21

Awesome weekend on the books.  On Saturday I headed over to Monument Valley Park for the Nielsen Challenge.  Ran 12:27, with splits of 6:27 and 6:00.  Felt so much better on Saturday than I did on Tuesday crapping out mile repeats.

After the Nielsen I took out the fat bike for a killer ride - Red Rock Canyon, the Chutes, Chamberlain, Cheyenne Canon, Buckhorn, Columbine, Spring Creek, and back to Fossil Brewing.  A hard 23 miles with 3500 feet of climbing, three hours.

Nice Saturday night as I headed over to Manitou for two of my favorite local bands.  Blue Frog at Kinfolk's, then Colorado Floyd at the Mariner.

Finally got some time on my feet on Sunday.  Knew this would be rough due to the hangover, but at least I got to suffer.  Over to the Incline, Barr Trail, Red Mountain, then back to the house via Intemann and Red Rock Canyon.  Only 17 miles, but 4.5 hours at least trying to move forward.  Gives me a little hope that I'll at least be able to finish Salida.

Garmin watch is on the fritz and is refusing to upload.  I recently started a sabbatical on bookface, now it looks like I'm not going to bother with strava either (my watch is supposed to automatically upload to garmin connect, my go-to log, and then it automatically sends that info to strava; I'll take the time to manually type the info into garmin, but not strava).

Took a few pics on the run.  Here's the Incline taken from the Intemann trail:

 

A shot of Red Mountain from the Intemann trail:

 

The Incline taken from Iron Mountain:

 

The Incline, Rocky Mountain, and a bit of Pikes, the view from Iron Mountain:

 

The sprawling metropolis of Manitou Springs:

 

The Manitou track, with the Garden in the background.  My house is somewhere in this pic. 

Jai Alai

Back when I was about to visit Florida someone suggested I try the Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City Brewing.  Tried hard, but I was unable to find it.  But I got a can in the mail the other day, and it was pretty delicious.

In totally unrelated news, I'm really glad I don't have a roof rack.  Because it seems shit like this always happens to folks with roof racks.

incline #20

The dog and I took a co-worker on his first trip up the Incline this morning.   #1 of his life for him, #3 on the week for the dog and I.  Dude is a retired Academy grad, got fat and lazy after leaving the Air Force, then got sick of being fat and lazy and decided to train for the Air Force Marathon.  He's lost 35 pounds already.

Have a wonderful day!

garden roads

Caught the Banff film festival here in the Springs last night.  One of the better nights in all the years I've gone (eight or so).  Maybe I'm just jaded with the whole running thing right now, but the flick about UTMB really turned me off due to the North Face demanding to have their logo in the shot at all times.


Springs was recently ranked the #5 city to live in.  At this point in my life I couldn't imagine leaving for Denver or Austin, two towns I've spent a lot of time in.  Way too big.  The Springs is growing as well, but luckily we are insulated from that as the city grows uncontrollably east.  If we had to leave for a big city, it would be for Pittsburgh or Madison.  Note: the next move we hope to make is to Salida, which did not make the list.


Nice seven miler on the Garden roads this morning, 60 minutes. 


Believe it or not, there was actually a time when the dog wasn't allowed on the bed.

Incline #19

Beautiful Monday night on the Incline.  Dog was a little shit which made for a slow time due to trying to keep her under wraps, but I still got up the hill.  Waiting for the big crowds to show up now that it's lighter longer and it's been very warm, but I've pretty much had the Incline to myself the previous two nights.  Met $100 at Manitou Brewing after the run to help celebrate their two year anniversary.  Their High Ground IPA is really hitting the spot for me nowadays.

Decent month in February.  185 miles running and 320 miles on the bike.  Had some rough weather in there but I somewhat kept keeping on.  I still struggle with the lower running mileage, as my brain will always default back to running, hence the 320 miles biking still continue to register as a goose egg.  Overall I feel like I continue to trend in the right direction as far as overall fitness is concerned.  Salida will be a shitshow though, I'm guessing I'll be hiking a lot and finish on the wrong side of six hours.

Knew of this story, but never saw the picture.  A few years ago this guy was in town for the wounded warrior games, and he did the Incline.  Think of him next time you're coming up with excuses for bailing on something.

incline #18/track

Took advantage of the extra day to get over to Manitou after work.  Thought the Incline would be packed, but I saw no one.  Relaxed effort, just felt good to be outside in late February and not freezing.  Hope to get to 25 before March ends, halfway towards my goal for the year.

Up early on Tuesday to hit the track.  3 x 1 mile, 600m RBI.  6:18, 6:20, 6:46.  GZ had a recent post on Wanjiru/Kedebe going at it a few years ago, and how badly Kedebe tanked during the final part of the race.  He must have felt similar to how I felt on the last mile.  In my defense, I actually quit this workout after the second mile, but forced myself back onto the track for that final repeat.  I should have just done two.  But I'm a winner for trying, I suppose.

Stout month is over.  Finished the 29 day run with the Java Stout from Santa Fe brewing.  Can't wait to drink nothing but PBR and IPAs for the next eleven months straight.