Well, one update every five months does not give much information to what is going on in my life!  Here's a recap of my main Mt Evans Ascent training run.

 Mt. Evans Ascent (the training run):  My longest training run was six miles.  I think I ran four or five times in preparation for the Ascent.  Not much time spent training (what's new!), and I was nervous I would not make the 9-mile cutoff in 2.5 hours.  The Monday before the race, I drove up to Echo Lake to see how fast I could make the cut-off point.  Before setting off on my run, I drove the route and stashed water and gel packets - just in case...

My running gear consisted of my shoes (naturally...), a cheap pair of running socks, my new neon yellow Pearl Izumi Barrier Convertible cycling jacket, a baseball cap, and a water bottle.  And a borrowed Garmin GPS HRM (Thanks, Jeff!).

I must first say that I love running and cycling in the mountains.  Echo Lake's elevation is 10,600 ft.  I neither run nor cycle fast, but I love the beautiful solitude that the high country offers.  I set out on my run at a slow jog, and about a half mile later I realized that I would NOT be running (or jogging) all the way to the summit.  After my half-mile jog, I simply walked as fast as I could.   There were a few sections of jogging, but my legs simply did not have the strength.  If I remember correctly, my heart rate never exceeded 145 bpm, but my legs refused to comply.  Nevertheless, I managed to reach the cutoff time (Summit Lake @ 12,830 ft.) with about 20 minutes to spare.  The weather was beautiful, with not much traffic.  Once I finished my run/walk, I thumbed a ride back down to the Echo Lake parking area.

Lessons learned:  I ended up with a good-sized blister on one of my heels.  I also found out how important it is to remember where water and energy packets are stashed.  I remembered a couple of places, but there are (I think!) three more locations where I left my stash.  I took courage knowing that since I made the cutoff with time to spare, that I would make it on the actual race day.  I also realized how cool it is when Mt. Evans tourists see someone jogging up the mountain road. 

2011 - First blog entry of the year!

Time for a new post! I have been hesitant to update my blog for a couple of reasons. First, I have not yet done any training for this summer's events, and secondly, if I updated my blog with everything that I am doing, it may not seem like I am doing as much important things as I should be doing. While that is not the case, perception is often difficult to change.

So what great physical events am I participating in this summer? Depending on the schedule of my more important activities (family, real estate, school, etc.), I will be doing the following:

Bolder Boulder 10K, (May 30, 2011)
Rocky Mountain Senior Games 10K (June 09, 2011)
Mt. Evans Ascent - 14.5-mile run up Mt. Evans road (ends at over 14K feet) (6/18/2011)
Team Evergreen's Triple Bypass - (July 09, 2011)

Similar to last year, I have not yet trained. At all... The good news is that my weight is down about 9 pounds from my last year's Triple Bypass weight. My weight goal for TBP this year is 150-152. The mere idea of pedaling 15 fewer pounds is highly encouraging.

My goal is to start (today) Healthriding every day, with three runs this first week. Next week I will run five days, with possibly a four or five mile run at the end of the week.

My biggest fear in all this is whether my body (knees...) will agree to the effort. Were it not for (the fear of) the knees, I'd simply go stretch, and then run for an hour or so. Might as well find out soon if they'll be a problem.

One other interesting factor in all this is that other than fish oil two or three times a week, I have had no cholesterol since last summer. No dairy, no eggs, and no meat. I have felt fine, and I have been allergy-free (last fall and this spring) for the first time in 33 years. My test is not very scientific, so I'll continue the experiment at least until November. I'll have my cholesterol checked before the Mt. Evans Ascent, so that will give me a comparison with last year.

Wow. This was a tough ride. The forecast called for afternoon thunderstorms, but I thought I'd ride out east and see how far I got. I turned around at the rest area between Bennett and Strasburg. By then, the wind had really started to blow, and I knew it would be a tough ride home. The ride back was a real ordeal. 1st gear (32.5 inches) on some of the downhills. I was lucky there was no hail, and only a little rain. I stopped in Bennett to put on my bright neon yellow vest, and stopped in Watkins to figure out what the weather was doing. As I hydrated, the wind shifted directions (again...) and I noticed it started blowing toward the west. The clouds were extremely dark to the south and west, so I took off with a nice tailwind. This was an interesting ride as far as my muscles were concerned. My legs felt strong (thanks to a Juniper Pass and Lookout Mtn.), but they really started to hurt at about 40 miles. If you look at my splits, you'll notice the effect of the wind, which was almost like climbing another mountain. I didn't eat dinner last night, and only a bit this morning, so I probably started out with a deficit. With this difficult 50 miles, I am worried about how I will do on Saturday. 50 miles won't even get me to the top of Loveland Pass. If I eat properly, I should make it to the top, and if I can make it up Loveland, the toughest climbs will be through. Then it's just hanging in for another 60 miles (and Vail Pass) - 45 miles of which is down hill. This was also my first ride using my Tachyon helmet camera. I was bummed to find out that I ended up with no video when I returned home. I need to play with it some more. I also need to remember to hit the resume button on my Blackberry Bones in Motion program so that all of my miles get recorded... Is anyone actually reading these posts? Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 5562 ft Location: Aurora, CO, Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/06/10 Up/Downhill: [+1971/-1971] Time: 07:54 PM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0   Weather: Flash Flood Warning until Tue Jul 06 2010 10:30 PM MDT   67 F temp; 62% humidity   67 F heat index; winds NNE 14 mph Performance Distance: 49.59 miles Time: 3:51:16 Speed: 12.8 mph Pace: 4' 41 /mi Calories: 2213 Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 29 +1' 47 9.2 -3.6 +49 ft 2 4' 59 +0' 17 12.0 -0.8 +30 ft 3 4' 11 -0' 30 14.3 +1.5 -49 ft 4 5' 31 +0' 49 10.9 -1.9 -42 ft 5 3' 41 -1' 00 16.3 +3.5 +7 ft 6 2' 41 -2' 00 22.2 +9.4 -53 ft 7 3' 27 -1' 14 17.4 +4.6 0 ft 8 3' 26 -1' 15 17.4 +4.6 -33 ft 9 4' 45 +0' 03 12.6 -0.2 +62 ft 10 5' 03 +0' 21 11.9 -0.9 +59 ft 11 4' 12 -0' 29 14.3 +1.5 -33 ft 12 3' 19 -1' 22 18.1 +5.3 -36 ft 13 3' 14 -1' 27 18.5 +5.7 -59 ft 14 4' 23 -0' 18 13.7 +0.8 +17 ft 15 4' 12 -0' 29 14.3 +1.5 +43 ft 16 3' 19 -1' 22 18.0 +5.2 -10 ft 17 3' 28 -1' 13 17.3 +4.5 -7 ft 18 3' 06 -1' 35 19.3 +6.5 -13 ft 19 3' 03 -1' 38 19.6 +6.8 -10 ft 20 2' 51 -1' 50 21.1 +8.2 -52 ft 21 3' 20 -1' 21 17.9 +5.1 +6 ft 22 3' 15 -1' 26 18.4 +5.6 +3 ft 23 3' 31 -1' 10 17.0 +4.2 -6 ft 24 3' 16 -1' 25 18.3 +5.5 -49 ft 25 4' 55 +0' 13 12.2 -0.6 +124 ft 26 4' 15 -0' 26 14.1 +1.3 -124 ft 27 5' 51 +1' 09 10.2 -2.6 +49 ft 28 8' 10 +3' 28 7.3 -5.5 +10 ft 29 3' 01 -1' 40 19.8 +7.0 -3 ft 30 5' 48 +1' 06 10.3 -2.5 -13 ft 31 7' 56 +3' 14 7.5 -5.3 +56 ft 32 6' 10 +1' 28 9.7 -3.1 +13 ft 33 6' 15 +1' 33 9.6 -3.2 +10 ft 34 6' 06 +1' 24 9.8 -3.0 +13 ft 35 6' 20 +1' 38 9.5 -3.3 +6 ft 36 5' 59 +1' 17 10.0 -2.8 -49 ft 37 5' 41 +0' 59 10.6 -2.2 +39 ft 38 4' 36 -0' 05 13.0 +0.2 +30 ft 39 5' 09 +0' 27 11.6 -1.2 +69 ft 40 4' 25 -0' 16 13.5 +0.7 -33 ft 41 3' 14 -1' 27 18.5 +5.7 -66 ft 42 3' 23 -1' 18 17.7 +4.9 -23 ft 43 5' 52 +1' 10 10.2 -2.6 +36 ft 44 5' 46 +1' 04 10.4 -2.4 -20 ft 45 5' 44 +1' 02 10.4 -2.4 +39 ft 46 5' 50 +1' 08 10.3 -2.5 +50 ft 47 6' 37 +1' 55 9.1 -3.7 +27 ft 48 4' 30 -0' 11 13.3 +0.5 -16 ft 49 4' 01 -0' 40 14.9 +2.1 +23 ft end 4' 51 +0' 09 12.3 -0.5 -46 ft Versus average of 12.8 mph

Posted from bimactive.com

I wasn't sure I would be cycling today since my left knee has hurt since the day after my Juniper Pass ride. I had planned on meeting Jeff Bland at 9:00am in Morrison at the parking lot across the street from the Conoco (just down the hill from Bandimere Speedway). At 7:30am I called Jeff and told him that my knee was still hurting (even after several days of ibuprofen), and that there was no way I was going to make it. To make the long story short, I wandered over at about 10:45 and thought I'd just see how I felt with a short ride. I stretched, and then started riding up the hill toward the bike path. I ran into some other cyclist who was patient enough to tell me which roads/paths to take for wherever I wanted to ride in the Morrison area. My knee wasn't hurting while I was riding, so I just kept going. At some point, I turned around and my riding friend was gone. I figured I'd keep riding around to see where I'd end up. I followed Lariat Loop around and soon enough ended up at the foot of Lookout Mountain. I still felt good (after seven miles), so I went ahead and rode the Loop. The Lookout Mtn. ride was much hotter than Juniper Pass, and a little steeper. It's much shorter, so the ride felt much easier. On the way up, I passed five other bicyclists and a unicyclist. The guy on the unicycle was amazing, I didn't have the strength to pass him going up the steep parts, but as soon as I was able get out of first gear, I cruised on by. As usual, the ride down (Hwy 40) was fun and fast. I ended up being out for two hours. My goal for Monday is to ride Mt. Evans (Bergen Park Park & Ride to Mt. Evans, down to Idaho Springs, then back (the short way - 15 miles) to Bergen Park. Hopefully my knee will feel good by then... Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 6478 ft Location: Morrison, CO, Elev. Gain: -7 ft Date: 06/24/10 Up/Downhill: [+3188/-3195] Time: 01:00 PM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0   Weather: Fair   82 F temp; 32% humidity   80 F heat index; winds WSW 6 mph Performance Distance: 23.55 miles Time: 2:03:53 Speed: 11.4 mph Pace: 5' 16 /mi Calories: 957 Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 5' 18 +0' 02 11.3 -0.1 +33 ft 2 5' 31 +0' 15 10.8 -0.6 +115 ft 3 6' 45 +1' 29 8.9 -2.5 +187 ft 4 5' 50 +0' 34 10.3 -1.1 +79 ft 5 3' 15 -2' 00 18.4 +7.0 -135 ft 6 6' 59 +1' 43 8.6 -2.8 +105 ft 7 3' 34 -1' 41 16.8 +5.3 -249 ft 8 5' 05 -0' 10 11.8 +0.4 +29 ft 9 10' 13 +4' 57 5.9 -5.5 +324 ft 10 10' 12 +4' 56 5.9 -5.5 +315 ft 11 8' 57 +3' 41 6.7 -4.7 +285 ft 12 10' 13 +4' 57 5.9 -5.5 +312 ft 13 8' 27 +3' 11 7.1 -4.3 +177 ft 14 7' 14 +1' 58 8.3 -3.1 +187 ft 15 4' 22 -0' 53 13.7 +2.3 -33 ft 16 3' 06 -2' 09 19.3 +7.9 -144 ft 17 2' 49 -2' 26 21.2 +9.8 -158 ft 18 2' 08 -3' 07 28.0 +16.6 -253 ft 19 2' 02 -3' 13 29.4 +18.0 -279 ft 20 3' 17 -1' 58 18.2 +6.8 -197 ft 21 2' 00 -3' 15 29.9 +18.5 -219 ft 22 1' 59 -3' 16 30.0 +18.6 -170 ft 23 2' 05 -3' 10 28.8 +17.4 -164 ft end 4' 29 -0' 46 13.4 +2.0 -49 ft Versus average of 11.4 mph

Posted from bimactive.com

I finally made it up to the mountains. I rode from the Bergen Park Park-n-ride to the top of Juniper Pass. The BiM log is mostly accurate, but the elevation gain was (only) about 3400 feet. There are points where there is no cell phone coverage, so BiM doesn't guess where I've been. I stopped twice on the way up. Once at about 9.25 miles, and again at around 12.5 miles. At the 9.5 miles mark there is a sign warning of steep grades and sharp curves. Steep grades ahead? What exactly have I been riding for the past 9.5 miles? I gained a new appreciation for steep grades... I drank about 48 ounces of GU Brew on the way up. I ate a PowerBar before I began the ride, another PowerBar at 9.25 miles, and a GU Sports Gel (I at either 9.25 or 12.5). Overall, my legs kept moving. I was a little surprised that I made it to the top - I averaged over 6MPH, which was faster than I had planned (I had guessed between 4.5 and 5.5). Including stops, it took 2:20 to ride the 15 miles up. After taking a few photos and making a phone call (Hi, Honey, I'm still alive...), I headed back down the pass. There were a few stints of 40+ miles per hour, and I think I may have topped out around 45 or 46 MPH. It took only 30 minutes to get back down to the car. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 9486 ft Location: Kittredge, CO, Elev. Gain: +10 ft Date: 06/21/10 Up/Downhill: [+4235/-4225] Time: 04:23 PM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   77 F temp; 39% humidity   77 F heat index; winds NNE 7 mph Performance Distance: 30.22 miles Time: 3:00:24 Speed: 10.0 mph Pace: 6' 00 /mi Calories: 1196 Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 42 +2' 42 6.9 -3.1 +157 ft 2 8' 32 +2' 32 7.0 -3.0 +223 ft 3 7' 35 +1' 35 7.9 -2.1 +177 ft 4 9' 10 +3' 10 6.5 -3.5 +240 ft 5 9' 36 +3' 36 6.2 -3.8 +246 ft 6 8' 35 +2' 35 7.0 -3.0 +230 ft 7 7' 52 +1' 52 7.6 -2.4 +138 ft 8 9' 40 +3' 40 6.2 -3.8 +276 ft 9 14' 13 +8' 13 4.2 -5.8 +325 ft 10 9' 31 +3' 31 6.3 -3.7 +265 ft 11 9' 31 +3' 31 6.3 -3.7 +239 ft 12 8' 42 +2' 42 6.9 -3.1 +227 ft 13 13' 30 +7' 30 4.4 -5.6 +259 ft 14 8' 53 +2' 53 6.8 -3.2 +187 ft 15 7' 40 +1' 40 7.8 -2.2 +147 ft 16 4' 53 -1' 07 12.3 +2.3 -151 ft 17 3' 54 -2' 06 15.3 +5.3 -36 ft 18 1' 52 -4' 08 31.9 +21.9 -295 ft 19 1' 50 -4' 10 32.6 +22.6 -279 ft 20 2' 07 -3' 53 28.2 +18.2 -193 ft 21 1' 43 -4' 17 34.9 +24.9 -295 ft 22 1' 55 -4' 05 31.2 +21.2 -282 ft 23 2' 08 -3' 52 27.9 +17.9 -262 ft 24 2' 36 -3' 24 23.0 +13.0 -161 ft 25 2' 09 -3' 51 27.9 +17.9 -256 ft 26 2' 26 -3' 34 24.6 +14.6 -269 ft 27 2' 10 -3' 50 27.5 +17.5 -243 ft 28 2' 13 -3' 47 27.0 +17.0 -187 ft 29 2' 12 -3' 48 27.2 +17.2 -243 ft 30 2' 37 -3' 23 22.8 +12.8 -177 ft end 7' 16 +1' 16 8.2 -1.8 0 ft Versus average of 10.0 mph

Posted from bimactive.com