Running out of the cold...

Week Summary 12/15/2013

Tuesday
Ruhenstroth Loop: 9.1 mi (+651 ft); 10:09 pace
Wednesday

Carson River Flats: 7.3 mi (+48 ft); 10:09 pace
Thursday
Ash Canyon Loop: 7.3 mi (+1,023 ft); 12:08 pace
Saturday
Run with Rudolph 7M: 7.3 mi (+1,044 ft); 9:40 pace

Sunday
East Valley Ramble: 22.3 mi (+1,121 ft); 11:05 pace

Weekly Totals: 52.9 mi (+3,887 ft); 9:28:06 on trail

I managed a good steady week of Base training in generally bone-crushing low temperatures. I think we are stuck in this for a while, but the mid-day sun is making things doable. Surprising, for no reason, that there is so little snowcover here at Solsticeshire and on the Ruhenstroth trails, but so much more in Eagle Valley around Carson City.

The difference in snowcover became very clear on Thursday afternoon as I previewed the Rudolph 7M course. Right from the car I was crunching through a trail of snow at that aggravating depth that just fills the tops of your shoes. It only increased as I entered Ash Canyon. I figured Saturday's race wouldn't use the creekside single-track, but because it's more interesting than the canyon's fireroad I chose it, only to find one other set of tracks and was soon post-holing calf-deep. Even the switchbacks of the upper Evidence trail required some shallow post-holing. I knew Saturday's race might be interesting.

Desna and I bundled up for the Ascent Winter Trail Series' Run with Rudolph 7M trail (er, snow) run early Saturday morning. A good group of brave runners huddled in the parking lot of Western Nevada College to hear Kevin's startline instructions. "The trail markings are painted in white."  Funny guy. It's a casual affair with a bit of competition, but mostly a challenge to navigate the Ash Canyon trails in conditions rather unsuitable for "racing". But it was a blast. I felt pretty comfortable with a good pace on the 1,000-foot climb and pretty fast on the squirrely downhill. Guided by an icy cross-country ski track (I remembered it from Thursday), the descent simply begged you to turn an ankle or trip into a fall as your feet struggled between the ice of the track and the powder of the snow. The track felt fast until you broke through or stumbled where someone upfront had done the same. I was surprised I pulled away from a couple followers, probably only because I had "practiced" the descent a couple days previously and knew it would end soon enough. I great winter tune-up and motivator. 7th place in 1:10:02.

I warned Desna away from the 7M because navigating the snow seemed a bit cruel for her first event in her forward-looking trail training. She ran and power-hiked the 3M in good form and it was fun to compare our snow-day afterwards.

Out for a Long Base day on Sunday. Toured a series of excellent two-track dirt roads through the foothills of the Pine Nuts, working my way to our friend Marta's house at the Carson River. Almost perfect day, upper 40s (finally!) and excellent sunshine. Basically no snow on that side of the valley except in a few drifts and steep northern slopes. The run allowed me to break a 50-mile week again. I hadn't done that since Leadville. Feels really good, if the weather cooperates there's more ahead.

Seven miles in, looking back toward Ruhenstroth

Foothills below Sunrise Pass

Route potential!

Dropping into Carson River at 15 miles

 

Season's Blend...

Week Summary 12/8/2013

Tuesday
Deadmans - Scripps Loop: 7.8 mi (+1,455 ft); 11:15 pace
Wednesday

Carson River Flats: 6.0 mi (+31 ft); 9:48 pace
Thursday
Goni Hill Repeats: 6.7 mi (+1,121 ft); 11:05 pace
Saturday
Ruhenstroth No. 5: 6.6 mi (+596 ft); 10:35 pace

Sunday
Lower Pine Nut Loop: 14.6 mi (+1,079 ft); 11:31 pace

Weekly Totals: 41.8 mi (+4,282 ft); 7:39:35 on trail

The blurring of the seasons is upon us - a winter deep-freeze in the last weeks of fall, Darren, Desna, and I are ramping up and signing up for 2014, and Dennis and Mary capped an amazing 2013 "50/70" season with gold.

First, hearty congrats to Mom and Dad. Thirteen races - one ultra, five marathons, a few "halfs", and some miscellaneous distances where they racked up the miles, the podium hardware, and, the best part, immeasurable success. Anywhere between Moab and Grand Junction, the race directors recognize the senior elites when they show up. They took home age-group gold in Moab this weekend. We are all chasing and being led by these two, keep going!

Cold over Ruhenstroth

Second, and way less news-worthy, the Nevada Trail Option team ran in the snow this week. I looped through the Deadmans - Scripps area in exhilarating white-out during winter storm Cleon (thanks Weather Channel) and ended the miles-abbreviated week in the deep chill of Dion, the winter storm that stole my long day. Although I missed the long day, I was rewarded with the discovery of a quality Ruhenstroth loop which is likely to become my go-to hour. This particular outing had a couple highlights. In crackly, perfect running snow (you know it when you're in it) I climbed the rolling hills into windless, alpenglow sunset. If it wasn't getting dark so fast, I might have gotten that long run in motivated only by the beauty of being out there. And then, wait, those are a Hoka tracks! Des was out here somewhere on a late loop of her own. Later, the topic of debate was who saw the better sunset.

Making tracks on Pine Nut Road

Sunday was a bone-chilling but sunny day, so I set out on a bit of a make-up for the missed long run and trounced through the snow for 14.6 miles in almost three hours. I made it to the valley below Mount Siegel but ran into some fence issues coming down Pine Nut Creek, seems I was already on the wrong side of the fence, I had to climb over to read the No Trespassing notice. Odd that I could get there without any clues otherwise. Such a good loop, I'll have to research a detour where I don't have to hop fences, backwards or not. It was 16° when I made the house just as the sun set behind Jobs Peak. It was a long one after all.

Toward Mount Siegel

Locked gates ahead, but good snow now.

Speaking of Hoka tracks, Darren shared the trail of a big cat up on Jumbo Grade. He'd ventured out into the deep snow of Washoe Valley Saturday morning until he found he might soon have a workout partner - a little extra motivation for the descent.

Signed up for the +TRT 100 lottery and registered for the Ascent Runs Winter Trail Series for some good times with Kevin and the great trail runners from the area. 

Fall Break...

I've been doing hill repeats lately, lots of them. Ok, it's going up-and-down stairs with boxes over-and-over again, but it's gotta be doing some good. The move to our new digs at Fish Springs, NV, is underway. I should say it's been underway, the process is rather exciting but it mostly requires the endurance mindset to get through the mountains of paperwork, the addled route finding between realtors and financiers, and the moving finish lines (we'll close when? on which house?). Because we close at Fish Springs tomorrow, this week will transition from packing and staging boxes in VC to painting and carpeting out there. Ultimate moving day is October 29th.

So it's been a move-induced Fall Break. Beautiful conditions for a move, even better if your out running some fall trails. The fall colors through the eastern Sierra have been exceptional. I've managed a few hour-here, hour-there runs, just in hopes of some up-keep. Footfeathers sent me a new training schedule, but it'll wait until the move is over, say, November 1st for a good re-start. Get ready for some Winter Trail Series runs and start the trail to the 2014 ultra season.

Under 5 hours at the St. George Marathon (Both at 4:55:16)

But my break has meant nothing to the other Young Mountain Runners! As I write Dennis and Mary are at the starting line of the Other Half Marathon in Moab, UT, ready to continue their huge 50/70 year. This is on the heels of their sub-5 efforts at the St. George Marathon. Mom took 1st in her AG with 4:55:16, just 16 seconds shy of a Boston Qualifier! Dad finished with the same time, but has some super competition in his age-group; mom's the dominator. They achieved a huge PR by dropping below the 5-hour mark for the first time. What a great day, even though it wasn't a trail, we followed closely at home, waiting every second of the 4:55:16 for the automatic texts from time stations along the way.  Dad's race report follows as a special guest post here at Trail Option.

Ready for some Buffalo...

This was the peak week in the training regime leading to the Buffalo 100 and I'm feeling ready to get to it.  I'll get some more miles in between now and the 22nd, but work commitments are likely to produce a sporadic schedule between now and then.

The focus this week was basically maximizing time on the trail. No run was under 90 minutes in duration and the weekend saw some good mileage and energy maintenance during which I tossed in a race in the Western Trail Series.

I split the 90-minute Base runs of Tuesday and Friday with a Tempo workout running into the dark on Wednesday evening. I maintained the Tempo work at an average pace of 8:07 for just over 70 minutes between short warm-up and cool-down intervals. Near the end of the Tempo, a workout a truly enjoy, I learned a valuable lesson. At about 45 minutes into the Tempo, I downed a GU, living dangerously because I wasn't carrying any water. And then I realized I hadn't really had any water in a good six hours prior. In about 10 minutes my GI system went into revolt. But this is a training moment, so I focused and pushed through for another 15 minutes. After which I hobbled back to the car and sped to relief. Note to self -- don't do that. GUs never bother me, but they work best with good hydration. Do that.



Why contour? Blue-sky condition at C-Hill

I dropped down to Carson early Saturday morning for the 8M C-Hill race put on by Ascent Physical Therapy, the last event in the Winter Trail Series. Kevin set a challenging course up Longview and then directly, with a little cross-country even, to the C-Hill summit. The summit was followed by glorious single-track down to the fireroad and back to Zorro leading down to the finish.


We started up Longview as I vowed to keep it steady and not "race." But getting a little caught up in things, I was happy to efficiently work my way up the single-track. A few of us watched Brett moving away on his beautiful cruise, he was quickly several switchbacks ahead. I ran with a couple ladies until we began the summit push and they pulled away. I kept telling myself I wasn't pushing it, but I couldn't have kept up anyway! Once over the summit I simply kept it steady and settled into my hydration and fuel strategy, knowing my true target was a good five-hour effort.

Brett cruised the eight-miles in 1:06. Karina (14) from Minden was the first lady, with a great time of 1:12. I followed a good eight minutes after Colleen to award myself with a Masters 1st Place, (OK, 4th Place overall). Congrats to all 28 who came out for the awesome morning climb and single-track, including David from Cedar Hill, Texas -- not his usual trail.

After a brief social huddle at the start-finish, I grabbed my Nathan pack and headed back up Longview with Peter to re-lap the course. I didn't hit the summit on this second round but cut across some undeveloped single-track, though I crossed the finish at exactly the same mileage. The V&T trail (some asphalt, some dirt) was up next as I headed into the cool wind. And then, just as I though of turning into Ash Canyon, a hairy white poodle jumped out of the sagebrush and bit into my glove. The beast ripped my glove off though thankfully my now bloody fingers remained attached to my hand. Why do the dogs of the V&T trail hunger for me? I think I'll give up on that trail, just too many walkers and un-fed animals. Anyway, finished with 25 miles for the five-hour day.

Buffalo simulation?

Sunday I sprung-forward and hit the Water Route on Ophir Grade. At Footfeathers' suggestion I did this as a kind of depletion run. Starting the morning with the usual coffee, but nothing else. I focused on hydration, and was happy to be moving up the grade without any big echoes from the previous day. I hit some snow on the north-facing slopes of McClellan Peak but maybe it's a good Buffalo preview (though news has it that the trails are clearing). Duly hydrated, I hit a single GU just over two hours into the run. I thought I'd be Popeye after a can of spinach, but it all seemed rather normal and comfortable as I continued on a great morning run.

Tephra cruising the snow on a Sunday morning.




The arrow says UP!

Near the intersection of the grades (Jumbo and Ophir) I found some trail-markings, new chalk arrows and green-yellow flagging. Horses were coming and Dez and Strider are on this trail! The equine team were out on their first "Fat Ass" 20-mile event with the Washoe Valley endurance riders.

Dez and Strider, out there somewhere.

She and Strider finished right at 6 hours, happy with their first trail partnership. As we all understand, she learned a few weaknesses in need of work, but she also found the qualities of moving forward. Here's to looking for more trail. IWWD.








A great week -- easily a record training effort at 69 miles. Of course, Footfeathers told me to get my butt out for a mile walk and tick it up to 70. But, hey, I'm saving it for the Buffalo!

Week Summary 3/10/2013

Tuesday

Carson River Flats: 8.9 mi (+34 ft); 10:14 pace

Wednesday

Mexican Ditch OB (Tempo): 10.5 mi (+194 ft); 8:37 pace

Friday
Chocolate Dayton Loop: 9.1 mi (+832 ft); 10:18 pace

Saturday

C-Hill 8M (Race): 8.1 mi (+1,564 ft); 10:13 pace

C-Hill and V&T OB: 17.3 mi (+2,039); 12:06 pace

Sunday

Water Route OB: 15.3 mi (+1,647 ft); 11:44 pace

Weekly Totals: 69.1 mi (+6,309 ft); 12:26:25 on trail
 

Hitting Stride in the Re-Set Week

Hill Repeats Anyone?

Week Summary (1/13/2013)

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

Into December...

The Lottery within the Lottery

Week Summary (12/9/2012)

Tuesday

Lakeview Hill: 6.4 mi (+881 ft); 11:07 pace

Thursday

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...

Early Variety and Going Cold Turkey

Descending Prison Hill to 11th

Week Summary (11/18/2012)

Tuesday

V&T "Dog" Route: 5.9 mi (+318 ft); 10:29 pace

Thursday
North Fork Humboldt Loop: 4.9 mi (+404 ft); 9:17 pace

Friday
Carson River Flats: 4.4 mi (+21 ft); 10:24 pace
Saturday
Cold Turkey Warm-up: 1.4 mi (+121 ft); 10:17 pace
Cold Turkey 7: 7.0 mi (+1,349 ft); 9:56 pace
Sunday

Carson River to Silver Saddle: 10.4 mi (+146 ft); 10:22 pace

Weekly Totals: 33.9 mi (+2,360 ft); 5:43:39 on trail

Although set up as an Intro (Level 3) training period, I managed to cover a wide variety of running conditions this week. It all started with a little Base effort out on the V&T trail on the west side of Eagle Valley (aka Carson City). That's not all that unusual, it's a good Tuesday trail. The variety was supplied by a stout dog-bite to my right hamstring. Tephra and I got caught up in a little dog-walker's pack and one of the beasts didn't like me. The human was incredulous at his hound's behavior, but less so than I. I surveyed the puncture wounds and escaped from the group, otherwise not knowing what to do. The tags seemed up-to-date, and though the pain was sharp, it wasn't too bad and I could continue. As I jogged the remaining four miles or so, however, I failed to notice that my leg had become a bruised and bloody mess.

Running Toward the Rubies, northeast Nevada

By Thursday the wounds, of course, had healed up a bit but the bruise had expanded nicely. It was a relief that there was no residual infection. The bruise added some mild stiffness to the hamstring exacerbated by driving several hundred miles during some northern Nevada fieldwork. The necessary hiking felt great. This was topped off by a great, short little Tempo run in the outback of the North Fork of the Humboldt River. I love the Tempo workouts. The landscape variety of northern Nevada added to the fun.

Strider and Tephra moving out

While I was in the outback, Dez, Strider, and Tephra were teaming up for some rides along Washoe Lake. Tephra seems to be getting the hang of accompanying the equine team.

Easy Base on Friday, along with core-work, led to some Saturday competition in the Winter Trail Series put on by Ascent Physical Therapy in Carson City. An approaching wet storm added drama and beauty to the morning of my first 10K event, the Cold Turkey 6-Mile, which was actually a 7-mile race given the nice additions often tossed into trail events. This is the first of a five-event trail series covering the five months of the local winter-like (we'll see) conditions. Nicely informal, there are no prizes but the courses are well-marked and Kevin and his little team seem to have a good time with it. There were 55 entrants in the "6-Mile" race and 41 in the 4-Mile event. All 96 toed the line and shared the course for the first steep climb on the west side of Prison Hill. 

The sun was still forcing its way through the low-hanging dark clouds as we crested the hill and circled the north loop on Prison Hill. I didn't want to push too hard this early in my fall training, but it was fun to sit in as the lead group splintered on the first climb and spread out on the wonderful single track of the north loop. I was in 8th place at the top of the climb but was soon passed by a few runners working their way from the back of the following pack. Soon I was yo-yo-ing along with Shannon, who I'd done some training with last week at Duck Hill. She flies the downhills and I could steady it through the gradual climbs. I walked some steeper up-hill sections. Occasionally I'd hear Abbey (who I also met last week at Duck Hill), in her Five-Fingers, whooping it up just behind us. In the last mile I enjoyed the pull of the final uphill and caught Shannon and then Hector before dropping to the finish for a 11th-place (3rd in Men 40-49 group) spot in my first 10K. Great fun to have a little competitive juice flowing but, more importantly, a nice morning on the trail with all those who went Cold Turkey.
  

Early in Cold Turkey 7; I'm 8th (in blue) in the splintering peloton

First Place (M): Brett Long 54:22
First Place (F): Linda Biaggi 1:07:21 (7th overall)

Complete results here.

Footfeathers, seeing my Garmin chart, said I ran it like an ultrarunner, nice and steady. I'll take that as a compliment. At my next short event, probably in January, I hope to max out the effort, especially after the first three miles, and see what that brings. Still, I'm super happy with my results and I have very few echoes from the effort. I followed up on Sunday, today, with an easy out-and-back jog of a little over 10 miles in perfect conditions along the Carson River to Silver Saddle Ranch.

Dennis and Mary are in Allen, Texas, with Bryan and Heather. All will be in a traditional Turkey Trot down there. Dad and Bryan will be tackling the 8-mile event, while mom and Heather will be in the 5-Mile; the latter team will be pushing a stroller with the foster twins, our newest team members. Out west, Darren decided to share in Chloe's cold, so it's been a slow week for him in Reno. Our tradition of a Lousetown run will continue on Thanksgiving Day, as Darren and I meet up here on the Comstock, Dez and Chloe work with Strider, and Carrie, I'm sure, will be awaiting our company for the afternoon in Reno. Happy Thanksgiving and fuel up to keep going...