Treadmill - Speedwork

Time: 1:02
Distance: 8 miles
Effort: Hard
Body: Good
Weather: Indoors


After a day off yesterday to give my left knee a break, I was ready to run hard today. I decided to do workout on the treadmill, figuring that the relatively cushy surface would be the best thing right now for the knee.


I did two miles w/u at 8:00, then 4x1 mile at one percent grade at 5:56, 5:56, 5:56 and 5:46. Followed it up with one mile c/d at 8:20. 


It felt really good to complete this session, but the last interval hurt a bit. You know the feeling...time slows down and seconds tick by at a glacial pace...you have to fight the urge not to look down every 10 seconds to see how much further is left in the interval...you look into the mirror in hopes of being distracted by any movement in the weight room behind you. Finally, the last tenth of a mile rolls by...success!


Interestingly -- at least to me -- to compare HR data from today's and last week's 4x1 mile workouts. Last week I was in Washington, D.C. - about at sea level.  Today, I'm at home at about 7,800 feet.  


Here is the HR data for the two workouts - exactly a week apart:


7,800 feet:


Average HR: 156; Max HR: 181


Max HR in each interval: 169, 178, 178 181


Sea level:


Average HR: 148; Max HR: 178


Max HR in each interval: 168, 168, 173, 178


Not sure what to draw from those numbers, but it's an interesting data comparison nonetheless. Perceived effort was greater today, and I was slower between intervals than I was in Washington, D.C. The two workouts were not identical...pretty darn close though.

Coal Creek Canyon - Long Run

Time: 3:49
Distance: 22 miles
Effort: Very Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Chilly and snowing


Eager for some new ground to cover, I headed over to Coal Creek Canyon to run a long route Lucho mapped out on mapmyrun.com. With a print-out of the turn of the turn-by-turn directions and a small map from mapmyrun, I parked at a retail area in the canyon and headed up Highway 72 20 meters or so to the first of seemingly dozens of mountain roads I would run on today. Here's the link to Lucho's route.


Eager to protect my aching left knee, the plan was to run at a way-easy pace, uphill and downhill. With a moderately heavy snow falling, I began climbing up a series of roads that did a little lollipop before dumping me out on Gross Dam Road. As a harbinger to the rest of the morning, somewhere in this section I managed to lose the little map I brought. 


Following the turn-by-turn directions, I crossed over Highway 72 and ran along a whole mess of minor dirt roads, with names like Divide View Road, Ridge Road and Rudi Lane. With the help of 3-4 locals out walking their dogs here and there, I managed to stay on track...but just barely.


Finally, around 15 miles in...the inevitable happened: several of the roads the directions said I should be seeing never appeared. I'm sure there was some weird disruption in the space-time continuum that made those roads temporarily disappear, since there's no way my sense of direction failed me.


I surrendered to the mountain road gods and just headed downhill, based on a few pointers from Greg and his malamute Tahoe, who happened to be walking by as I was weighing my options. After a mile or two, I was back at Highway 72 and Gross Dam Road.


Eager to get in a few more miles, I headed down Gross Dam Road, crossed the railroad tracks and found myself on the southeast side of Eldorado Canyon State Park/Walker Ranch. Here in the Crescent Meadows part of the state park, there was a trailhead for the 7.2 mile Walker Ranch Loop. This part of the state park doesn't appear to connect to the eastern part of the park, which includes the actual canyon. Walker Ranch connects the two parts, though. I ran a bit up the trail, but decided that since I already was 19 miles into the run, I had better just head back.


I didn't realize that one could access Walker/Eldorado from Coal Creek Canyon. If I had gathered a bit more beta on the area before leaving the house, I would have included the loop in this morning's run. Instead, I did the climb back up Gross Dam Road and wound my way back to the truck via some of the roads on which I began running three-and-a-half hours ago. Hit the truck at exactly 22 miles.


I loved running in the falling snow. The 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fresh powder on the roads provided just enough softness to cushion every footfall and absorb virtually every sound, save for the occasional cackle of a passing crow. Twas a great morning to be out in the sticks.


My left knee felt pretty good today. I definitely could feel the ache at the beginning, but there were long stretches where I never thought about it, which means it wasn't bugging me. I will continue icing it this week in hopes getting past it before the coming weekend and the Moab Red Hot 50K.


I hope to make it back to this area sometime soon to wander a bit into Eldorado/Walker from that side.


Elevation gain: 3,521. Average HR: 139. Average pace: 10:26.

Day Off - Knee

Left knee still hurting, so I decided a day off was warranted. Iced it this afternoon and have been taking it easy. Hoping the knee feels OK for a long run early tomorrow morning. Going to head up Coal Creek Canyon and run on some of the roads up there. I've never run in that area, but hear there are some nice-n-hilly roads to explore.

North Table Mountain - Easy Run

Time: 1:05
Distance: 6.4 miles
Effort: Very Easy
Body: Fair
Weather: Chilly and partly sunny


Made it out of Washington, D.C. before the snow storm hit there.  Good thing, too. My Friday Frontier flight, by yesterday, had been postponed to Saturday. Today, when I landed in Denver, I had a new e-mail from the airline saying my flight had been postponed yet again, this time until Sunday. I ended up having to buy a new return ticket flying USAirways to Boston, then United to Denver. Happy to be home!


On the way home from DIA, I stopped off at North Table Mountain, a 1,945-acre Jefferson County Open Space park just north of Golden. I parked on the east side of the Mesa at a ball field park. After a quick change into running clothes, I set off on a steady climb up singletrack bound for the the mesa top. As the trail crested the rim rock, a remarkably beautiful undulating grassland plateau spread out before me. Doubletrack and singletrack rails snaked here and there, weaving over and around small hills and rock outcroppings. Good views were to be had in all directions. The mesa is, in places, about 1,000 feet higher than the surrounding plains. The trails weren't in great shape, though. The only remaining snow on top of the mesa was in the trail furrows, leaving some of the tracks damp or muddy from the melting.


Still, it was a relaxing 6-mile jog on some new trails. And, it was warm enough for shorts and a light long-sleeve tech t-shirt. Not a bad way to reenter good ol' Colorful Colorado... 

Washington, D.C. - Tempo Run

Time: 1:05
Distance: 9.17 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Fair
Weather: Chilly and cloudy


Ran from hotel in North Arlington, VA to Matt A.'s place on Capitol Hill. Route was down Curtis Trail (lots of ice and slush), which is a paved bike path that run along I-66, to paved path along Potomac River, over Memorial Bridge, down the mall past the Lincoln, WWII and Washington Monument, by the Capitol and straight down East Capitol Street. Made a quick stop at a small neighborhood bodega for a sixer of Magic Hat IPA and ran the last mile with beer in hand. Dedication.


Run was went by quickly, but never felt quite on...just OK. Average pace was 7:05. Average HR: 141.


Hoping to make it home tomorrow a.m. before the big snow storm hits. This town simply cannot handle snow. Government officials are advising people to stock up and be prepared to be self-sustaining for five days. Five days for a foot of snow! In 2003, when we got five feet of snow in Evergreen, we weren't stuck in the house for five days. These folks need some pluck!

Treadmill II

Time: 25  (ish) minutes
Distance: 3.5 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Good
Weather: Indoors


Under the theory that with exercise, some is almost always better than none, I jumped on the treadmill again in between work and dinner plans. Only had 30 minutes, so I did a few miles easy. Normally would have preferred to do 10+ on a Wednesday while on travel, but had to settle tonight for less.


Despite being crunched for time, time crept by. My left knee was hurting a bit, a lingering ache from a spill I took last week coming down an icy ramp on the CU campus. The pain is on the inside of the upper part of the kneecap. It feels tight, like some ligament is constricted and doesn't want to stretch back out. The good news is that it isn't getting any worse. The bad news is that it's been a week and it still hurts. It usually eases up as a run progresses, but I can usually tell its still there. Will ice it tonight and see if that helps.

Treadmill - Speedwork

Time: 1 hour (ish)
Distance: 6.5 miles
Effort: Hard
Body: Good
Weather: Indoors


Another biz trip to Washington, D.C + snowstorm + a brief window between work and dinner plans = treadmill.


Did 4x1 mile at one percent incline:  5:52; 5:56; 5:52; 5:52. They all felt good. A little tension in the quads on the last 1/4 mile of the last interval. I actually enjoyed the time on the mill tonight. Must have been the accumulated energy from sitting for four hours on the airplane. 

Quarterhorse - Elk Meadow Loop

Time: 1:02
Distance: 6.73 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Average
Weather: Sunny and Cool


Easy run on the Quarterhorse Road - Elk Meadow loop, a nice mix of ups and downs and pavement/dirt road/trail.  1,068 feet of elevation gain. Average pace:  9:14.  Average HR:  135.

Waterton Canyon - Colorado Trail Long Run

Time: 3:30
Distance: 21.7 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Fair
Weather: Sunny and Cool




After reading JM's post from last week about a tempo run up and down Waterton Canyon, I figured this would be a great place for a long run. JM indicated that the canyon dirt road was in good shape ice-wise, so a plan was hatched....run up the canyon, hop on the Colorado Trail and do enough of an out-and-back to get in about 25 miles. Ahhh, if things had only been that simple.


I got to the Waterton Canyon lot around 7 a.m. and quickly headed out up the canyon's packed dirt road. I pushed the pace a little on the way up (400 feet elevation gain over first six miles) and hit the pavilion at the dam overlook right at 48 minutes. To get to the Colorado Trail, one keeps going up the now steadily climbing road past the pavilion. At the Colorado Trail sign, glorious singletrack begins. The first couple of miles climbs up via a series of snowy/icy switchbacks to a saddle between two big hills with views of the canyons and mountains to the west.

Here, one has two options, head southeast toward Roxborough State Park, or continue on the Colorado Trail. Since the Colorado Trail here drops down a south-facing slope, I couldn't pass up the chance to run on snow and ice-free trails. Unfortunately, the snow and ice was back the minute the trail snaked around to the north and west sides of the hills. The going wasn't too bad for the first two miles, then the trail dropped down into a drainage where the snow was still pretty deep and not well packed. I slogged another mile or so on the crusty, uneven snow before surrendering and turning back.


I ran back to the sunny saddle and took the .3 mile spur up to the Pike National Forest's Indian Creek Trail, which links into the Roxborough trail system. I did a 3-4 mile dash through this forested area, which dropped me back into Waterton Canyon just above the dam. I was very happy to see the canyon road again. The slog on the snowy trails took its toll. Twas hard and slow going.

After a brief stop to use the facilities (Brandon, of Team Shart fame, would love Waterton...there's bathrooms every two miles in the canyon) and eat a final gel, I headed back down the canyon at a good clip. I ran the first couple of miles around 6:15 pace, before falling apart and slowing down. Ran the final few miles at an average pace of 7:30.

The return down the canyon was quite a bit different than the ascent. I must have seen 10 runners and an equal number of walkers/bikers. The sun was luring folks out. I even ran into another of Waterton's denizens, a couple members of the big horn sheep herd that lives in the area. This guys wasn't at all shy, but his comrade perched high on the rock outcroppings above kept his distance.

Ran today in a new pair of La Sportiva Crosslites, my second pair. I really like this shoe. Decided on the way home, though, that the new Crosslites were lonely, so I stopped by Runners Roost in Lakewood and picked up a new pair of Brooks Cascadias (15 percent store discount for members of the Denver Trailrunners group...just ask). Hope to break out these shoes now and then to give tired feet a little break, especially with all the hard surfaces I've been running on this winter.


Finally, great article from Running Times about the relative advantages of handheld bottles vs. packs for carrying hydration/food.


Here's the nut of it:  "When the one bottle, two bottles and pack were measured against the no-load control, the hydration pack, even though it greatly outweighed the bottle or bottles, did better than the hand-held options based on performance data of heart rate, perceived exertion, VO2 and ventilation rate (ease of movement of lungs). The only category of measure where the heavier pack scored lower than the single- or double-bottle method was the respiratory exchange ratio, which measures how much carbohydrate the test subject burned."


Research done by the High Altitude Performance Lab at Western State College here in Colorado.

Quarterhorse Road - Elk Meadow Loop

Time: 50:00
Distance: 5.37 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Poor
Weather: Sunny and Cool


Way easy recovery run though part of Elk Meadow. Didn't feel very good. Left knee is stiff and achy from banging it Tuesday coming down a long, icy ramp from the CU football stadium down to Boulder Creek. Every run since, I've been able to work it out and forget about it. Today, the ache hung around. Most uncomfortable on the downhills.


Average HR:  134.  Average pace:  9:19