This week I made the decision to run the Bear 100 mile endurance run for my 100 mile race of the 2011 summer. I am pretty excited for it now that I have something to train for. I will be even more excited when I can stop working every day and actually start running.
On a related note the Pat's Peak uphill/downhill race is Saturday morning at 7 am. I am probably going to be asked to work and I think I will be showing up to work late on that particular day if I am asked to work before 8 am. I have not asked for any days off this year so if I am not granted the liberty of running one race and showing up for 8 (or 9) I will be mysteriously "sick" for several hours. It's a ski area and not a hospital. No one is going to die.
Happy trails!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Snowmaking Pictures
Here are some pictures from Snowmaking this week. I am still working on getting the color correction right but here they are:
Weekly Run Log - Feb. 06-12, 2011
02/09/2011: Skatutakee by the Harriskat Trail, out and back. Brisk temps (in the single digits) led to some beautiful views at the top. Was hoping to do the full loop but I was at the mercy of whoever broke trail last weekend and they only climbed Skatutakee. Some trouble with the Microspikes made me unhappy. I'll keep an eye on it. If the rubber is stretching they will be found in the garbage soon. 0:50, 3.0 miles, 650' vert.
02/11/2011: Crotched Mountain Town Forest, Bullard Hill out-and-back by the Link and Snowmobile Trail (Bullard Hill Trail). Packed down fairly well - especially on the snowmobile trail. Good running in my Microspikes. I am starting to think that it is deeper powder and denser snow - like wind slab or a slightly packed trail - that causes the toe of the Microspikes to slide off to the outside of my foot. 0:52, 4.5 miles, 400' vert.
Weekly Summary: 7.5 miles, 1,050' vert.
Better mileage this week. Didn't have many days off and we made snow during two of the nights. The schedule was less than ideal. Looking forward to time off this spring and a proper training schedule. Still though, it was nice to get out this week as much as I did!
Getting close to time that I started training for this year's 100. I have had a good base all winter long so I should be starting in better condition than last year. To train for Leadville, I started training March 25th with some really low mileage weeks that slowly increased in length. This year I will be starting earlier with more mileage. Should be pretty good this spring.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Next 100?
The weekend of February 5th is over and I found out that I lost both the Wasatch 100's and Hardrock's lotteries. I am okay with this because I now have proper time to recon the Hardrock course route and perhaps even volunteer at an aid station. I would have been hard to fit reconning the route into a proper build-up and taper training program because the race is so early. With the race being July 8th if one were to factor in a three week taper it would be mid-June at the latest that I could recon the route and the San Juans are still under a fair amount of snow at that point. I would have to recon the route on skis and hope that it is not a bad dust year. But now I do not have to worry about it! I have another full summer to check it out!
So that leaves me with the question of what race to enter now. I have narrowed it down to two open races but I continue to look around daily. The two choices I see are Cascade Crest 100 and The Bear 100. Of course I would like to do a 50 miler or two. I plan on running the Collegiate Peaks 50 in Buena Vista in May. I am also planning on running the Grand Canyon from Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim by the Bright Angel Trail (a total of about 48 miles with 11,000' vert or so). I have been running this winter to keep maintenance miles so my training will be able to take off soon after seriously starting (I am planning on late Feb to early March). So, I am planning on it being a busy summer runningwise. Here are the factors I am taking into account in my decision of the 100 of the summer (this is a little "thinking aloud"):
Cascade Crest 100, August 27-28, 2011, Easton, Washington - I have an article in the book A Step Beyond: A Definitive Guide to Ultrarunning that ranks (very subjectively) the leading 100s by difficulty. It places Cascade Crest on the same plane as Leadville at a 7.0 out of 10.0 on the difficulty scale. In addition an article in Trail Running Magazine in the October 2010 edition has Cascade Crest as the classic 100 of the future. Both articles have me raising one eyebrow. Both articles say that it is scenic and that the 2.6 mile long Snoqualamie Tunnel is something to be experienced. Sadly, this year is the first year that they are closing the tunnel so the draw for me is not so great anymore.
I have never run in the Pacific Northwest but I am looking forward to doing so. This race would be a great introduction to a part of the world I would like to run more but I am afraid that being so far from Leadville and being so close to the Leadville Trail 100 it would be difficult to make it there with time to acclimate and see the sights and enjoy the days leading up to the race. I would prefer to recon it on my own time some year and then run it the following year. However it would provide me as an immediate escape from the traditional post-Leadville 100 depression that affects me each year. Once Leadville was done I would beat feet for Washington, have two or three days to run a little and experience the weather and recon aid station locations.. Maybe it would be worth not having the time to recon it like I had with Leadville (knew every inch of trail)
The Bear 100, September 23-24, 2011, Logan, UT - The Bear is a Point-to-Point race just north of Salt Lake City. It is about a 9 hour drive thus it would be less of a financial commitment and higher likelihood of being able to recon it before the race and having Brenden as a crew for me. The article in A Step Beyond rates it as an 8.0 out of 10.0. The pictures I have seen from past races and topographic maps show that much of it is above treeline so the esthetic value will be high. The race will be held later in the season, which is a good thing and a bad thing wrapped in one. While it would give me more time to train it would also mean more time to wait after Leadville before running.
There are a lot of points to consider for each race. I continually lean in toward one to change my mind and want to run the other. I am just not sure which I want to commit to at this point. At least I know that I am young and have a lot of time to run many races in my life. Which ever race I do not choose I can run next year...
So that leaves me with the question of what race to enter now. I have narrowed it down to two open races but I continue to look around daily. The two choices I see are Cascade Crest 100 and The Bear 100. Of course I would like to do a 50 miler or two. I plan on running the Collegiate Peaks 50 in Buena Vista in May. I am also planning on running the Grand Canyon from Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim by the Bright Angel Trail (a total of about 48 miles with 11,000' vert or so). I have been running this winter to keep maintenance miles so my training will be able to take off soon after seriously starting (I am planning on late Feb to early March). So, I am planning on it being a busy summer runningwise. Here are the factors I am taking into account in my decision of the 100 of the summer (this is a little "thinking aloud"):
Cascade Crest 100, August 27-28, 2011, Easton, Washington - I have an article in the book A Step Beyond: A Definitive Guide to Ultrarunning that ranks (very subjectively) the leading 100s by difficulty. It places Cascade Crest on the same plane as Leadville at a 7.0 out of 10.0 on the difficulty scale. In addition an article in Trail Running Magazine in the October 2010 edition has Cascade Crest as the classic 100 of the future. Both articles have me raising one eyebrow. Both articles say that it is scenic and that the 2.6 mile long Snoqualamie Tunnel is something to be experienced. Sadly, this year is the first year that they are closing the tunnel so the draw for me is not so great anymore.
I have never run in the Pacific Northwest but I am looking forward to doing so. This race would be a great introduction to a part of the world I would like to run more but I am afraid that being so far from Leadville and being so close to the Leadville Trail 100 it would be difficult to make it there with time to acclimate and see the sights and enjoy the days leading up to the race. I would prefer to recon it on my own time some year and then run it the following year. However it would provide me as an immediate escape from the traditional post-Leadville 100 depression that affects me each year. Once Leadville was done I would beat feet for Washington, have two or three days to run a little and experience the weather and recon aid station locations.. Maybe it would be worth not having the time to recon it like I had with Leadville (knew every inch of trail)
The Bear 100, September 23-24, 2011, Logan, UT - The Bear is a Point-to-Point race just north of Salt Lake City. It is about a 9 hour drive thus it would be less of a financial commitment and higher likelihood of being able to recon it before the race and having Brenden as a crew for me. The article in A Step Beyond rates it as an 8.0 out of 10.0. The pictures I have seen from past races and topographic maps show that much of it is above treeline so the esthetic value will be high. The race will be held later in the season, which is a good thing and a bad thing wrapped in one. While it would give me more time to train it would also mean more time to wait after Leadville before running.
There are a lot of points to consider for each race. I continually lean in toward one to change my mind and want to run the other. I am just not sure which I want to commit to at this point. At least I know that I am young and have a lot of time to run many races in my life. Which ever race I do not choose I can run next year...
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Weekly Run Log - Jan. 30-Feb. 05, 2011
Winter Wild at Ragged Mountain
02/05/2011: Winter Wild race at Ragged Mountain. We ran/skied up Flying Yankee and down Cardigan ski strails. I ran in the open class but the other classes were track skis, telemark skis, and heavy metal (snowboard, AT). Ran 3rd place in the 30 to 39 age group despite being 29 still. I think I would have placed better if I were in the 19-29 age group. My dad was there and thought that I placed between 15 and 20th overall out of 80 racers maybe over all classes. 0:24:56, 3.0 miles, 1,000' vert.
Weekly Run Summary: 3.0 miles, 1,000'
The results have been posted for the race. I came in 19th place out of 114 people over the four classes. I look better as third in the 30-39 age group with more than 10 entrants than I would as second in the 19-29 age group with three entrants. So I am going to leave it as it is. Now I am looking forward to Pat's Peak (if I don't have to work) and Sunapee (signed up for it today).
I was pretty impressed with this whole event. The timing was good and the atmosphere was awesome. There were a bunch of people there with the right attitude (there to have fun) and it only cost 20 bucks!
I was pretty impressed with this whole event. The timing was good and the atmosphere was awesome. There were a bunch of people there with the right attitude (there to have fun) and it only cost 20 bucks!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Weekly Run Log - Jan. 23-29, 2011
01/23/2011: Crotched Mt Town Forest, running on snowshoes. Ran Link, Summit to the junction with Lower Link. He running wasn't bad. I only knocked my ankles five or six times and there is no sign of wear or damage to the Tubbs Adventure 21s. I will continue to try them out though I feel I could have run most of that in Microspikes. :45, 3.6 miles, 400' vert.
01/25/2011: Crotched Mt. Town Forest. Link and Bullard Hill Rd to Old Mountain Rd. Ran on the snowmobile trail. It was quite good running with just the Microspikes. Got in the zone and ran some actual vert. One fairly steep hill that took about three minutes to run. 0:51, 4.5 miles, 400' vert.
01/29/2011: Same run as the prior run. Much softer this time and therefore much slower time. Interesting to see what five inches of powder with little packing did. There had only been one sled over the snowmobile trail. 0:51, 4.5 miles, 400' vert.
Weekly Summary: 12.6 miles, 1,200' vert.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Weekly Run Log - Jan. 16-22, 2011
Work was pretty demanding physically this week. We got a good dose of snow and some freezing rain that I kept me banging ice and shoveling. When I wasn't at work I was busy trying to beat down what was there with the skis. Got some great skiing in for cross training but no running. We'll see what the weather does next week but right now it looks as though we are in a pretty good storm cycle.
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