Week Summary - January 20, 2013 The trails are still snow-bound and the deep-freeze has solidified the tracked trails into ankle-crushing textures where any pace results in a constant stumble. We need a few warm days to relieve the inversion and soften the snow -- snowy trails are fun, ice-sculpted tracks not so much. So I kept it simple this week. Some workload forced me on to the treadmill for a spin and I enjoyed some cross work with core and a short jog mid-week. Goni Road was a nice surprise. Good hard-pack snow that the big trucks that usually work the quarry are currently avoiding. It provides some nice elevation gain and even gets into some nice air above the inversion.
Darren on Fort Churchill Road - Mile 12
To get out of the snow for some mileage, Darren and I hit the dry (!) dirt of Fort Churchill Road and got in a steady 22 miles with basically no elevation change. Easily a PR pace for 20+ miles, but I'm paying for the unvarying routine of pounding out the mileage. I have a growling IT and some nice leg soreness in general. Nothing undue for a good week of training. It felt great to run the distance, but I'm accustomed to variations brought on by steady climbs, power hiking, speedy descents, and occasional interval flats. The Fort Churchill Road allows none of that, you just go. There's probably benefit in testing the engines with that type of effort, and my next runs at American Canyon 50K and Buffalo 100 lack major climbs, so I need to be prepped for some steady turnover. Those courses do, however, have a few stout hills that provide variation, and wouldn't it be nice to have something between a 10- and 11-minute pace at American Canyon. Seems a good target for three weeks from now! Feeling much better after a Sunday shake-out around Virginia City. It's also a good sign that the snow on the dirt tracks is softening up. Certainly because it's probably 20 degrees warmer up here than down in the valleys; nice to be breathing above the inversion too! The Young Mountain Runners will rendezvous this week in Reno. Celebrating some milestone birthdays and a 50th Anniversary. Some Age Category changes take place this year as both Dennis and Mary move into the 70+ category. Hey, keep going... Tuesday
EF Treadmill: 4.3 mi (+0 ft); 10:32 pace
Wednesday
Empire OB: 3.7 mi (+30 ft); 10:05 pace Thursday
Goni Road Hill Climb: 7.6 mi (+1,723 ft); 11:18 pace
Saturday Fort Churchill Road OB: 22.2 mi (+269 ft); 9:43 pace Saturday VC Circuits: 5.8 mi (+456 ft); 10:22 pace
Weekly Totals: 43.6 mi (+2,477 ft); 7:23:59 on trail
This was a re-set week at the start of the build-up to the American Canyon 50K. Resting the engines for the week, it probably couldn't have been better timing. After a cold start, temperature spiked near 60° at mid-week and then plunged to sub-zero by the weekend. This meant the previous snows melted, creating pooled and water-lined trails. These were then flash-frozen on Wednesday night and frosted with a few inches of new snow. Wait, this isn't a weather-blog! In summary, it was a difficult week to navigate the trails. In fact, on Wednesday, the warmest day of 2013, I had to bail (almost literally) and just go home early.
But what to expect? It's a western Nevada winter, it is what it is. Regardless, the weekend brought a little competition in the form of the Centennial Slug It Out 10K. This little event is part of the Winter Trail Series put on by Ascent Physical Therapy. Because Kevin didn't have a Zamboni available to groom the ice-covered trails, he adapted the course to the conditions and the event went ahead under a bright Saturday morning and a starting temperature of a biting 7°. Twenty-nine hearty runners lined up for the 10K, with a slightly smaller group sampling the 5K course.
Centennial Freeze Out: 7° and ready to go...
My training and the rested engines of the re-set week served me very well. Although the 5.7-mile (modified "10K") course had little climbing I used the small hills to good advantage and concentrated on simply getting good turnover. Brett Long was uncatchable as usual. We started one-two but I quickly watched him pull away on his quality strides. It was a brand new experience to cruise for a while in second place, knowing there's a group right behind me though it appears I've the trail all to myself. Then the 15-year old Ethan caught me as he dashed up to the race's highpoint turnaround. On the descent I was passed by two others. Patrick, running to his tunes, would kindly remove the appropriate ear-bud so that we could mutter "good job" or "damn it's cold" each time we yo-yo-ed our places. The out-and-backs were kind of fun, as the gave me the opportunity to encourage and say "hey" to Peter, Abbey, Sarah, and all the others out there for a little run. At about Mile 5, I moved past Patrick and Ryan knowing the turnaround hill was coming and that would be followed by a couple good rollers to the finish. If I could pace the hills, maybe I could even get close to the speedy Ethan; Brett was undoubtedly sipping hot-chocolate at the finish. What great motivation, again seeing the little trail of people as I cruised the descent and then hit the rollers pretty hard. At this point, I was sure Patrick or Ryan were in my shadow and would certainly catch me on the relatively flat finish. And yet, making the final little turn I glanced back and, wow, I was alone. Third Place in 44:57. First Place Masters, for a motivational and well-earned prize. The Winter Trail Series is a low-key event, and the turn-out was a little low due to the cold temperatures and sketchy trail conditions, but you win if you show up. And this was good affirmation that the training regime pays dividends. Full results at Ascent Physical Therapy. Congrats to everyone who showed up in the cold. Sarah got a nice age-category win; always good to carry a little prize for your effort (just a personal "prize", there aren't ribbons or medals for this fun run series). Thanks to Kevin and his crew for setting up and working through the difficulties. Keep going... Tuesday
Carson River Flats: 5.5 mi (+79 ft); 11:00 pace
Wednesday
Carson River Flats: 2.0 mi (+30 ft); 10:44 pace Thursday
Whites Creek Trail: 5.4 mi (+647 ft); 11:08 pace
Saturday Centennial 10K: 5.7 mi (+448 ft); 7:54 pace Saturday VC Circuits: 5.9 mi (+386 ft); 10:41 pace
Weekly Totals: 24.4 mi (+1,590 ft); 4:09:14 on trail
Trail Option will be going through some changes over the coming weeks. I will be moving ever so slightly away from the "it's all about me" blog to a website about trails, specifically, and trail running, generally. My weekly training log will remain, as will news from the Young Mountain Runners team; hopefully these "it's all about me" diary entries will continue to motivate our team and our trail friends to keep going.
My new experiment, however, will focus on trails. This focus will provide information about trail conditions, location, and description. I'll have maps, statistics, photos, and the occasional video. Each trail will also have a Google Earth app along with kml and gps files for download. I'm also adding pages for occasional gear reviews, and periodic general commentary about trail running, and maybe some news from ultrarunning events that I find particularly motivating.
There will be some growing pains as I make the transition. I have registered the trailoption.com domain and will gradually unveil the the new site. I'm learning a lot of this on-the-fly, but it looks very interesting and I find a little change to be appealing.
Thanks much to the small but dedicated group of readers, along with all the occasional drop-ins, who visit Trail Option. I look forward to your comments as we take this trail and see where it goes.
Week Summary (1/6/2013)
I high-output week with some hill repeats in knee-deep snow and one of my best tempo workouts ever. Darren and I joined the Carson Area Runners on Saturday for some more snowy single-track on Prison Hill. The trails are in pretty good condition but the mileage and elevation are well-earned. Kudos to the Carson Runners who get out there and keep going, special thanks to Abbey for posting the runs and encouraging all to join in. At one point we caught up with George at Mexican Dam, and later crossed paths with Angela, Shannon, Jason, and Adam as we climbed the hill on our second lap. Crossed things up a bit with a snowshoe outing on Sunday. Tuesday
Larrys Hill Repeats: 4.2 mi (+989 ft); 19:03 pace
Wednesday
Empire OB: 3.7 mi (+13 ft); 10:23 pace Thursday
Carson River Flats (Tempo): 10.0 mi (+118 ft); 8:52 pace
Saturday Prison Hill Laps: 21.1 mi (+3,507 ft); 13:43 pace Saturday Emma Quarry Snowshoe: 4.0 mi (+473 ft); 22:16 pace
Weekly Totals: 43.1 mi (+5,100 ft); 10:01:12 on trail
Snow Day and Carson Area Runners - Prison Hill (Photo: Darren Young)
Centennial OB: 4.9 mi (+542 ft); 12:37 pace Friday
Empire OB: 3.7 mi (+14 ft); 10:06 pace
Saturday Prison Hill Laps: 15.6 mi (+3,302 ft); 14:17 pace Saturday Ophir Grade OB: 5.0 mi (+562 ft); 17:16 pace
Weekly Totals: 35.2 mi (+5,009 ft); 8:24:57 on trail December Totals: 147.4 mi (+16,133 ft); 28:32:27 on trail 2012 Totals: 1,752.7 mi (+214,547 ft); 351:20:33 (14.6 days) on trail
It's an appropriate cliche to look back and look forward at the end of each year, so here goes. Sure enough, the highlights from the Young Mountain Runners 2012 vastly outweigh the small defeats.
Two practically divine highlights stand out: San Diego and St. George. Those two achievements exemplify the year of teamwork, support, and determination that our little team of family and friends. It might be a vast over-simplification, but after I completed the San Diego 100 and Dennis and Mary raced across the finish at the St. George Marathon, in meeting the challenge, we became very different people. Special thanks to Tim Long, Henri Migala, Jim Carter, Darren, and Desna -- all clearing a broad path over each 100 miles.
That was easy!
(Somewhere, there's a pile of clothes in a phone booth)
In between those two events, our little band of runners constantly sought the challenge and discipline that the long hills require. After a drop due to injury at the Buffalo 100 early in the year, Darren ran strong for much of the Pine to Palm 100 before digging deep to gain another 100-mile finish. His determination exemplifies what it means to be a YMR. I ran into new obstacles at Pine to Palm, learning lessons and gaining motivation that I will carry into 2013.
A day of life at the P2P 100
Yes! Another podium finish.
Dennis and Mary continued to rank among the best age-group runners on the Colorado Plateau. The dynamic duo consistently brought home awards from events ranging from 10Ks to half marathons to, utlimately, their first marathon at St. George.
Bryan being chased by the denizens of Dallas.
Meanwhile, in the flatlands of central Texas, Bryan tasted the satisfaction of a strong finish he teamed up with Dad at the Dallas Turkey Trot.
We all look forward to the upcoming 2013 season where we'll target new goals and meet the recurring challenges of mountain running. Dennis and Mary will bump into the 70+ category and likely need new shelves and wall space for the podium hardware. Desna and Strider are working toward their first trail competition, providing lessons in teamwork that can benefit us all. Darren and I will continue to push our own ultra-running boundaries, searching for those moments when sublime tears and laughter are the rewards for uncompromised effort. And here's hoping Bryan can pace off of us and gather some time on the trail. IWWD.
Bring on 2013! Happy New Year from Trail Option and the Young Mountain Runners.
Let it snow. Ok, enough already.
Some value-added content (or not) from the week, where snow was on the menu every day. Breaking trail provides the workout that the drop in mileage otherwise lacks. The week started with a Christmas Eve run on Easter Hills (mixed metaphors or Christian holidays, I'm not sure which) with Dad and Chris Wright, a lucky Grand Junction trailhound who got into Western States. Good times, the video shows it all!
I wrapped up 2012 with some snow-bound laps on Prison Hill in the company of the Carson Area Runners, followed Sunday by a grueling posthole out-and-back in the deeps of Ophir Grade. Nice to have met up with the Carson team for occasional runs and great motivation. And I continue to wonder at my good fortune -- I get to live and run in great country every day and in every condition. Perfect.
Dead Truck Canyon on Prison Hill
Carson Area Runners, Lindy and Abbey at the summit
Brunswick Canyon Loop: 5.6 mi (+705 ft); 10:52 pace
Thursday
Carson River Flats (Tempo): 6.0 mi (+21 ft); 8:30 pace Friday
Foresight Circle: 3.7 mi (+25 ft); 10:09 pace
Saturday Blue Heron Trail: 6.3 mi (+20 ft); 10:53 pace Saturday Audubon Trail: 5.3 mi (+29 ft); 11:10 pace
Weekly Totals: 26.8 mi (+799 ft); 4:36:503 on trail
With the approaching Solstice, winter is certainly upon us. No shorts this week, especially once we arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado, where deep-freeze, sub-zero temperatures greeted us.
Early in the week I explored the lower reach of Brunswick Canyon, searching for dry tracks out of the wind. A nice Base cruise and added a bit of climb knowing Thursday's Tempo would be flat. Still feeling tight quads from Sunday's descent, but not too bad.
On Thursday we were packed to get on Amtrak for Colorado, but I headed to Carson River for a Tempo workout -- I was focused on a good workout before heading east. I started with a 10-minute pace for about a mile and then worked quickly to a steady 7:40 pace. I worked hard to keep steady without over-doing it, I wanted to maintain for the 30 minute target. It worked very well. The run started off very cold, but, with the approaching storm, a warm wind hit just before my turn-around and I even felt slightly over-heated. Once I jumped the ditch and headed along the golf course, the tempo interval ended and I shifted to cool-down. It was interesting that I thought I was going way too slow but then I'd notice I was at a 9:30 pace. This could be a nice benefit of Tempos -- getting the body accustomed to an effort so that my new "slow" pace is slightly faster. A great workout.
We rode the desert all night on the #6 Zephyr from Reno to Grand Junction. Colder moving east. It was single digits as we pulled into Grand Junction and the slickrock trails I scouted on our trip along the Colorado River where caked in snow. It looks like plans would be changing.
My imaginings of holiday slickrock were evidently based on my summer experience in the area, and recent reconnaissances on Google Earth only showed clear trails. The real conditions, especially the deep cold, wouldn't be adding to much benefit to any runs. I did a post-train shakeout along the roads of Mom and Dad's neighborhood. It was 7 degrees when I wrapped up as the sunset.
Although the trails wouldn't reveal themselves, Dad and I hit trails along the Colorado River on Saturday and Sunday for some nice Base runs. Although my targets were put aside, it was a wonderful weekend of easy runs with great company. Actually, I couldn't have asked for better conditions.
Snowing hard and deep at home, could require some creative training plans in the weeks to come.
Peace and Happy Holidays from Trail Option and the Young Mountain Runners. Keep going into the New Year!
Ash Tracks (Tempo): 7.5 mi (+1,196 ft); 9:34 pace Saturday Emma Quarry OB: 5.6 mi (+497 ft); 9:57 pace Saturday VC to Deadmans: 16.6 mi (+2,422 ft); 10:58 pace
Weekly Totals: 35.6 mi (+4,288 ft); 6:14:12 on trail
Although Tuesday's Base run was crazy warm, the snow rolled in on Wednesday. We never got any big storms, but the squalls rolled through on a pretty regular basis all week. With the temperature drop, I finally had to break out the tights and keep them in the bag from Thursday on.
On Thursday I followed the route (I saw a few marks and it just seemed right) of the Run with Rudolph event that I missed this past weekend. Although it has some good climbs, it's a wonderful place for some Tempo. I started with about 15 minutes of warm-up and then, entering Ash Canyon, stuck to 45 minutes of maintaining at least 170 bpm heart rate. The first few miles along the creekside single-track is a steady climb so keeping the heart rate high happened by default. But once I hit the switch-back descent on the return it got to be a challenge to keep from dropping below the magic 170.
This little game added some technical training to the speedwork. I had to push the downhills, a skill I'm generally lacking. I focused on picking a good line between the rocks and snow of the single-track and let gravity do the work. It was a great confidence builder, and I was no worse for wear when all was done. A good drill.
I strode past last week's Rudolph finish at 1:05, a time I would have been happy with. But considering the 15-minute warm-up and the non-tempo after 1:00, it could have been interestingly competitive. Nice.
I swapped the weekend pattern, putting the long day on Sunday, due to some Reno meetings I needed to attend. That made the Saturday Emma Quarry jog an interesting snowfest, as I got hit be a fun squall on my return. I love that. On Sunday, I left the house for a three-hour tour of the hills between Virginia City and Washoe Lake. Wind was the order of the day. Add that to the cold temperatures along the ridges and it was at times a challenge to keep moving. But I do enjoy the unsettled conditions of coming storms and the occasional canyon provided a little protection. Plus it actually warmed up a bit as I dropped toward Washoe Lake.
I made good time to the Goni area so I explored the single-track in Deadmans Canyon where I thought I might run into the Carson Area Runners group. I saw their tracks and learned that the Deadmans single-track will be a great hill-repeat area, as long is it doesn't get too much snow.
Good to pick it up this week a little. The holidays can provide challenges to keeping up with the training regime, but I plan to keep at it. Off to Grand Junction this week, so maybe next week's long run will include a bit of slickrock! (the non-icy kind, that is).
Mexican Ditch: 6.1 mi (+200 ft); 10.10 pace Friday Empire OB: 4.2 mi (+22 ft); 10:40 pace Saturday Cool Lottery OB: 10.3 mi (+1,923 ft); 11:38 pace
Weekly Totals: 27.0 mi (+3,046 ft); 4:54:42 on trail
I was met with rain-soaked trails this week. Because I'm fortunate to have a number of trails the course through hillsides of granitic rocks, I can sort of mitigate the mud by choosing trail treads of decomposed granite (DG) or trails that have been specifically constructed, like along the Carson River, of DG. Also, it was a Reset week so the shorter trail time meant less chance of getting into too much trouble.
Starting easy along the V&T trail of west Carson, I happened on a single-track that I realized I had seen on the ccrunners.com trail page. It was spitting rain mixed with a little snow so I though it would be an interesting diversion. It turned in to a bit more of a hill-climb than a Tuesday Base run should be, but it was very fun. Perfect switchbacks to a rocky summit and then on to a stair-step bouldery descent back to the V&T; very nice.
I stuck with easy Base jogs for the remainder of the week while look forward to my chances in the Western States Lottery. Darren and I were up early and over the hill to Auburn to gain an extra ticket (4 and 3 of Diamonds, respectively) in the "lottery within the lottery." We both still had an extra entry in the main lottery due being "one-time" losers from last year's draw. This gave us two entries and something like an 18% chance of getting selected.
Over the course of a couple hours, the retiring Race Director Greg Soderlund had Board Members and various race celebrities draw 10 picks. He read each one and gradually the 270 open spots were filled. Once in a while an exuberant cheer would rise from the audience as a name was drawn and a lucky winner would run down the aisle (think The Price Is Right gameshow) only to gain a ballcap and a few high-fives from the audience. Most of the draws weren't in attendance of course, but even those got a little reluctant applause as another spot was taken and local chances dwindled. Alas, Greg eventually reached the 270 mark and then picked a few paid raffles spots before getting to the local lottery. When the first card was drawn, a 4 of Hearts (or something) three people jumped from their seats. But, of course, there were more than 52 local entries, so the name on the card got the draw. Two people crumpled back into their seats. We had pretty much given up hope (or gained relief) when the very last card drawn was a 3 of Diamonds, my card...
The Hills above Cool - the Western States Trail
We left the building empty handed but for an extra ticket for the 2014 Lottery and an extra free weekend in our schedule. Right card, wrong name. Time to start considering a summer without a Western States entry, which seemed likely all along. We gained extra tickets for next year, and I expect we'll be doing some Aid Station work with the Striders nonetheless. Leaving Auburn, we headed to Cool to hit a portion of the Western States trail and had a great muddy time going east of Highway 49 for a few miles. While we won't be on the trail for WS this year, this did give us a preview of parts of the American River 50K, our first 2013 ultra coming in February. I think we'll be back before then, these trails are plain fun.
A day of errands on Sunday kept me off the trail. Probably OK for a Reset week, but I don't much like that to happen.
A shout out to some crew from Far Western doing the Running with Rudolf 7.5M in the Winter Trail Series. Sarah and Gene getting out for some trail in west Carson. Keep going...
