Four Days of Bliss

I’ve been very lax on my blog over the last few months so I got a lot of catching up to do. Many times I’ve thought about giving it up (the blog) all together, but every now and then someone will ask me about it. So in an effort to document my Leadman training for 2012 and hopefully help someone else if they ever have aspirations to take on such a task, I’ve decided to keep it going. I have to go back a few weeks to a four day road ride with a bunch of old and now new friends called the Gentlemen’s ride. It’s a ride that  been going on for years and consists of good hard rides through Colorado  and New Mexico. Way fun and a great bunch of guys. And don’t let the “Gentlemen’s” part fool you. There  are some fast guys in this grop.  We divided up into different groups based on speed then left each day at staggered times with the intent of finishing fairly close to the same time. The route and scenery were beautiful along with perfect weather. This was a perfect four days for getting some good hard miles in the legs and turning things around training wise. I went with the intent of running in the afternoons after the rides but only managed to do it once and that was a pretty miserable run.

Day 1: San Luis, CO (the oldest town in CO) to Chama, NM            89 miles                4000 Ft climbing

Day 2: Chama, NM to Taos, NM                                                           92 miles                4500 Ft climbing
Day 3: Enchanted Loop (Awesome ride and scenery)                      86 miles                7696 Ft climbing
Day4: Taos, NM to  San Luis, CO                                                          63 miles                1700 Ft climbing

Heading up the first climb of 4 days all together

Rio Grande Gorge

Three REALLY fast old guys!

Chad & Norm Climbing on Enchanted Loop

Awesome Scenery, Awesome Low Traffic Roads!

	Training Log May 14 - 20, 2012	Bike	Bike	Run	Run
		HRS	Miles	HRS	Miles
Monday	Core Strength Training.
Tuesday	Lunch time Tempo ride on Santa Fe Traill with Steve. From Ice Lake parking lot. Kept HR in the 140 range and felt pretty good. Went To Baptist Rd. HR120/151	1.6	22
Wednesday	Easy run with Max Hanks Open Space loop. Very easy felt good. 9:50 pace,			0.7	4
Thursday	Gentlemen's ride - San Luis, CO to Chama, NM. Took some warming up and was not as strong as I would have liked on the climbs. Great ride though. HR 129/162, 4605 ft of climbing	5.4	88
	Slow run after ride. Very slow and took a while to warm up, but never felt like actually running. Ran through neighborhoods in  Chama. 8:55 pace			0.9	6
Friday	Great ride from Chama to Taos New Mexico. Climbed well and had an incredble ride into Taos with a great tail wind. Had a cross wind for about 10 miles were we took 1 mile pulls and got through it great. Cover 92 miles in about 5 hours of actual ride time. Avg over 20 mph for ride. Max speed 53 miles.HR 125/157, 6000 ft of climbing.	5.4	92.5
Saturday	Enchanted Loop New Mexico. Incredible ride. Started climb with Dan and the fast group, but got dropped on the climbs. Spent a lot of the time to Red River riding alone between the 1st group and the 2nd group. At Red River decided to ride with the B group. Great climb over Bobcat pass to Eagles Nest. 11 miles of brutal cross & head winds between Eagles Nest and Angel Fire. 2 mile climb out of Angel Fire then 17 mile awesome descent. Max Speed 59 mph, HR 118/152, 7696 ft of climbing	6.2	86
Sunday	Taos, NM - San Luis, CO. Started the first 20+ miles on tough rollers then pacelined the whole way back to San Luis. I took some monster pulls of 4 miles. The  pace was fast and sometimes had me thinking of dropping off, but hung the whole way and had an incredible ride. HR 131/159, 3,230  ft climbing	3.3	62.3
		21.9	350.8	1.6	10
				23.5	360.8

Three Months to the Big Show

A couple weeks ago I was riding home from a long day on the mountain bike. Started out with one group until they went home, rode alone for a while then joined another group until they were ready to quit. As I was heading home a strong head wind picked up and it started to rain pretty hard. It was windy, cold, wet, with two big hills to climb before I got home, and with 6+ hours in the saddle, I was tired. It was then I realized I had a big grin from ear to ear and was thinking how much I love this stuff. I hadn’t been in this special place for a while and it was good to be back!  Don’t ask me to explain it because I can’t.

Nothing beats riding in Colorado!

The last couple weeks have been incredible. Great runs in the mountains with the mountain man of mountain men, Steve Bremner, incredible mountain bike rides with Kevin Cahn, and Tuesday night hammer fests with ProCyling. Everything is coming together.  I’ve spent the last year building a base and getting back to the point that I love long hard rides and runs again. With less than 90 days until the big show its time to get into the meat and potatoes of Leadman training. (Make that beans and potatoes since I’m a vegetarian).

Steve Bremner - Mountain Man

Running one of my favorite trails (photo by Steve Bremner)

So the plan now is to limit the super long stuff to the weekends with what I’m gonna call the LeadMan Sandwich. Friday and Monday are rest days and Saturday and Sunday consist of back to back hard days. A long hard hilly bike ride on Sat and a long hard hilly run on Sun.  I guess you could say that Friday and Monday are the bread and Saturday and Sunday are the the tomatoes, pickles, Guacamole, and a bean or vegie burger.  

Tuesday and Thursdays are shorter runs and rides but more intense, with Wed a semi rest day. This is the general plan over the next two months with the intensity picking up in the final month before the big show.

My Trusty Steed takes a break

Leadville’s gonna a be a party!

Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile Run

Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way you plan. My plan this week was to simulate the last week of LeadMan by racing a hard, long mountain bike race on Saturday, get a good tempo run on Sunday, then run the Collegiate  Peaks 50 miler on Saturday. I deviated from that plan a bit by continuing to train hard during the week, knowing that I would be tired on Saturday.
So on Friday, I started getting a sore throat at work that progressively got worse.  Saturday morning had worsened and spread to my chest. I was also congested and feeling a bit achy. If I had any sense I would have decided not to try and run 50 miles under these conditions. But sometimes I don’t have any sense.

And We're Off

At about three miles I knew that this was not going to be a good day and started debating with myself to quit. I don’t know why I didn't quit, ego, stupidity, the need to never quit? Probably a mix of all three, and I kept going. I run and ride because I love it. I was not feeling the love today, and continuing completely defeated the purpose of  why I run. I couldn’t come up with a single positive thought and began wondering why I run in the first place. I remember thinking I hate running and am so sick of suffering, why do I keep pushing, but I did.

Lots of Climbing

Pausing at an Aid Station for a Picture

The course is two 25 mile loops. Once you finish the first loop, you turn around and run the same loop in reverse. At the end of the first 25 mile loop you have the option of quitting and then scored in the 25 mile race instead. At about 17 miles I decided I would drop at 25. The last 7 miles was downhill and I was walking parts of it coughing up flem etc. At 25 I dropped. I’m trying to think of a race that I ever quit before and am coming up short.  So naturally I was disappointed, but I am more disappointed with myself for not having the sense to realize I shouldn’t have been running in the first place.  My reward for being so stubborn has been two days in bed with a fever, achy joints, very scratchy throat and chest, chills, coughing and a day of missed work.  You'd think after all these years and at my age I’d know better.

Finally the Finish Line

On the ligher side, my original intention was to drive out to Buena Vista, find a place in the  woods, camp, run the race, and come home. Roswitha decided she wanted to come but didn't want  to camp since it  was supposed to get down in the 20s.  So I compromised and rented a “rustic” cabin outside of town.

The cabin was a little "too" Rustic for Roswitha's taste

But it had a great view!

Voodoo Fire Race Report

Voodoo Fire: My first mountain bike race since 2010. I’ve been racing so long that I rarely get nervous before a race, but I was certainly nervous for this one.  Would I be able to keep up? Would I get dropped right off the bat? How are my technical skills? Will I be able to ride at high intensity for 5+ hours? The only way I would know is to go out there and do it, so that’s what I did.

Voodoo Fire was held in Pueblo, CO with approximately 600 racers. The start was like a typical mountain bike race –  in waves, starting with the Pros then 2 minute intervals between age groups/categories. When they called us old guys (50+) to the line, the race announcer made a comment about us taking a nap during the race. Ouch!

With the intention of separating the field before the single track, the start begins with slightly uphill road for about a mile before turning onto  the actual race course that was easily 95% + single track. I was feeling absolutely great and so happy to be there. I hovered near the front never more than one or two bikes back. We were already catching back of the pack racers from younger age groups before we hit the single track. I was able to make the top 5 of our group when we hit the single track, feeling good and relaxed, which was pleasently surprising. The Single track turned into a very long train for at least half of the first lap. We were caught up behind the slower riders of the younger categories and in many places it was either very hard to pass or just not possible. It seemed there were some people getting stressed out about it and some using an incredible amount of effort just to move up one or two riders in the train. Even in areas where passing was possible the ground was soft and it took a big effort. I decided to relax enjoy the fact that I could save my energy for later in the race when things get ugly. When ever we hit a double track section we would pass as many people as possible then settle back into the train on the next section of single track.

After an hour or so things started thinning out as we weeded our way through the slower riders and I was going back and forth between third and fourth place. I believe I finished the first lap (22 miles) in 4^th. At this point it was hard to tell because we lost ourselves in the crowd of all the other age group riders. Going into the second lap I came upon my good friend Kelly McGrew and passed him in a climbing section. He said he wasn’t having a very good day and as I passed him I believe I moved into third. The second lap was much more open and we could actually open it up. I noticed my bike wasn’t handling well and thought I had a flat back tire. Stopped, checked it, tire was fine. Continued, but as time went on the handling was getting worse. I felt like I was pulling a trailer going around turns. Maybe my wheel was on weird? Stopped took off my wheel and reseated it. During this time I lost a couple places but I don’t know how many. Continued on, caught and passed at least one old guy, but things were getting worse.  There was definitely something wrong with the bike! Stopped again, thought the wheel was loose. Shook it back and forth and my whole rear triangle shook with it. I could move it left and right like a door! The bottom bolt holding the rear triangle to the front had come almost all the way out! Five minutes later it would have been gone. It took a while to get it back together, as it was tough lining up the holes with the pressure of the rear suspension. In the mean time racers continued to pass by.

Once fixed, I jumped on my bike and started riding hard. I wasn’t stressed though. Again, I was just happy to be there. Finished the second lap, grabbed a new camelback, food and was off.  It wasn’t long before I came up on a guy in my age group. After I passed him and he realized we were in the same category (Our ages and category are written in magic marker on our calves) he decided to make a race of it. So we spent the next hour or so hammering each other. I was pushing hard trying to lose him and at the same time wondering if I was going to destroy myself instead. It was getting very hot and he just stuck to my wheel. Finally, I put in a huge effort to pass two racers and he didn’t go. There was a section of three switchbacks and I looked back and saw I had about 100 yards on the two guys I passed and he was still behind them. He looked shot. So I kept the pressure on and rode strong for the rest of the lap. Toward the end I was on the verge of cramping, but I just focused on pedaling strong but relaxed, especially up the steep climbs in the last three miles.

In the end I ended up 5^th in the old guy category in 5 hours 44 min. My questions were answered and I am especially pleased that I had such a strong last lap. I have to say it feels so good racing mountain bikes again! It’s been a long slow journey over the last year but I think I’m back. Now we’ll see how the running side of things are going when I do the CollegiatePeaks 50 Mile run next week!

Check out this trailer to what looks to be a great documentary! - 1Hundred

A Rough but Productive Weekend



Steve Heading for our Destination

My attempt to run to the top of Pikes Peak with Steve Sat didn't go so well.  Everything was going fine until we got above tree line. Above tree line there is a lot of ice and snow drifts on the trail. The hard crusty kind, so Steve has a route that goes straight up the rocks. For some reason once we got about  13,000 ft the altitude really got to me and I couldn't take more that 3 - 5 steps without getting dizzy and losing balance. Steve was getting cold waiting for me and it was looking like I wasn't going to make it anyway.

Steve Going to the Top

So I turned around... and this is where the real adventure began. Somehow I missed Barr Trail and continued straight down the mountain. I ended up in a very steep rocky area with lots of ice, snow and drop-offs. So I headed to the left to where it didn't seem so steep. I was basically in a basin between two rocky areas heading down. The problem was it is a basin which means snow, deep snow. I spent at least two hours in deep crusty snow on a steep descent. Sinking to my waste, falling and then barely able to get up because my arms sank when I tried to push myself up. Several times I looked at Max and said “well buddy what have we got ourselves into today. To me it looked like the only way out was to continue down. I was only wearing running shorts, a running jersey and a gortex wind breaker. After a while I started becoming hypothermic.  My legs were torn to shreds in the crusty snow and a few times I fell sliding down the hill grabbing tree branches sticking out above the snow to slow me down. Every time this happened I left a nice trail of blood in the snow. I was getting exhausted, not able to control my shivering and beginning to worry a bit. Every time this happened I told myself I’ve been in rough spots before and whatever I do I will not give up. I kept heading down hill and eventually the snow became less difficult.

 Me Legs all Scratch up

Somehow I popped out on Barr trail between the A-Frame and Barr Camp. I was shaking so hard I could barely get my running spikes on, then, ran as fast as I could to Barr Camp trying to warm up. At Barr Camp I was given Hot Tea and Hot Water, warmed up a bit and continued down. At No Name Creek I completely bonked. I was now 7+ hours into this fun little adventure and the only thing I ate all day was a Cliff Bar that I shared with Max and a couple small pancakes at Barr Camp (that I shared with Max). So I sat at No Name and found a Cliff Bar in my Camel Back and shared it with Max. A few minutes later I was feeling OK and we continued down the trail getting to Steve's house in a little over 8 Hours. (Steve had run the Cog Railroad part of the way down and had been home for about two hours).  And to think I had considered running the St. Patrick’s Day 5k run instead. Now that would have been boring!

Sharing a Cliff Bar with Max

Sunday, although tired from yesterday’s fun, I couldn’t help but join Sharon, Kara, Jeff, and Kevin for a great mountain bike ride. A nice 6 mile climb up Rampart Range,  a steep technical descent down Williams Canyon, another steep climb out of Williams Canyon over to Waldo Canyon and them some incredibly fun Single track off Ute Indian Trail back to Manitou Spring. The trails were great and the company fantastic and it was incredibly fun despite the crashing in Williams Canyon. No big deal, gonna have sore ribs for a few days. After we got to Manitou, we picked up Mountain Man extraordinaire, Steve Bremner and he and continued on another 3 or so hours in Red Rocks and Cheyenne Canyon. I finished the day out with just over 7 hours of riding and bruised ribs.

The Gang!

So all in all a pretty incredible albeit rough weekend. Going to work on Monday, I felt like I qualified for handicapped parking. I am currently pretty beat-up, but it’s the end of a 3 week training cycle which means this is a rest and recover week. Fantastic way to end the first 3 week cycle in my 2012 quest  for Leadman!

A New Quest for Leadman!

After taking the second half of 2011 to recover and train back up to decent fitness, I decided to go for Leadman again. I can’t think of a better way to come back. So as of Feb 27, 24 weeks from the Leadville 100 MTB Race, I officially started training. Everything prior to this, including the CoastalChallenge in January was just getting me prepared to start training. I’m looking forward to the whole adventure. I love the training, running and riding with friends and just putting in the blood, sweat and tears it takes to accomplish something like Leadman. I will never be able to answer why. I just do.

So since Leadman and this blog is all about endurance, here is a song from one of my favorite bands that's all about the long run. And since they are getting close to there 40th anniversary they know all about endurance! “Marathon” from Rush performed last fall in Cleveland, OH.

A Christmas Card from Primus



My Early Days

My name is Primus and I’m a dog. I had a rough start in life but thanks to some great soldiers and a bunch of people who love and care, I’m a very “lucky dog”. My life started in Afghanistan where some very mean people abused me, cut off my ears and tail then left me to die. I made my way to an Army outpost where Slovenian and American soldiers took me in and nursed me back to health. Most of the soldiers were very friendly and I made a living going through the trash and taking any handouts I could get. 



Me & My Best Friend Jesse

As I grew, one American soldier named Jesse took special care of me and became my best friend. He decided I needed a home and a family and arranged for Nowzad, an incredible animal rescue in Afghanistan to take care of me while he raised money to send me to his parents in Colorado, USA. After almost two months in Nowzad a bunch of extremely nice people donated all the money needed to fly me to Colorado.

Waiting for an unknown future at Nowzad

In August, upon my arrival in Colorado I was scared, confused and quite a mess. Strange people, new sights, smells and everything was so different. I met my new family, Larry & Roswitha, but in my fear and confusion I started a fight with their dog Max and terrorized their three cats, Mickey, Murphy, and Emma. My new family was very patient and loving. They took me on walks with Max and introduced me to many of the neighborhood dogs. At first, in my insecurity I wanted to fight every one of them. Slowly Max and I got to know each other and now we are best friends. We play and wrestle throughout the day and Max has been really good at teaching me the ropes. (Every now and then he teaches me some things I shouldn’t do too… :-) I’ve also got to know the neighborhood dogs and found they are all friendly and just want to be my friends. I haven’t quite figured out the coyotes yet though. To top it off, I’ve even learned to get along with Mickey, Murphy, and Emma, although Emma doesn’t seem to care for me much.

My First Day at Home

Through the end of the Summer and into Fall Larry woke me up in the mornings and he, Max and I went for early runs. I had problems with these at first, not really able to run more than a mile or two, but now I’m up to 5 miles! Max and Larry sometimes continued after dropping me off for breakfast. And I love breakfast! Max tells me about some amazing adventure runs he and Larry do with a group called CRUD. I’m aspiring to one day run with CRUD. During the day Roswitha took me on hikes in wonderful places like Garden of the Gods and Ute Park. On weekends, Larry, Roswitha, Max, and I went on long hikes in the mountains. The sights, sounds, and smells were incredible and I just had to explore everything!

Max trying to get me in the Water

Ready to go Hiking with my Bud - Max

This is so Cool!

I Just can't get enough of the Views!

I'm too Sexy for my Shirt - too Sexy for my Shirt

Finally in November Jesse came home. I think that was the happiest day of my life. My stub wagged so hard it shook my entire butt. Jesse and I do everything together. We go on long hikes in the mountains, he takes me on rides in his truck and we’re the best of friends again.

Me and Jesse Back Together!

With Jesse, Max, Larry, Roswitha, and even the cats, I’ve got it made. I’m not quite a year old yet but so far life has been a doosy. I just want to say Merry Christmas and thank-you to all the dogs and great folks at Nowzad, all the soldiers who were so nice to me, the generous people who contributed to get me to Colorado, and my family who loves me so much. Whoever coined the term “lucky dog” certainly had me in mind.

Merry Christmas 

 Primus

Operation Primus!

Leadville Weekend

View from Camp at Winfield

This weekend Rebekka Hannula, Steve Bremner, and I headed to the Leadville area to do a little Leadville Trail 100 running and scouting. Rebekka is going to run the Leadville Trail 100 this year. Steve is going to be the crew chief, and I will help with crewing as well as pace/mule for her 25 or so of the last 50 miles.

Our original plan was to do a double crossing of Hope Pass; Twin Lakes – Winfield – Twin Lakes, about 20 miles, then a night run on the Colorado Trail. However, the north side of Hope Pass is still snowed in and not passable, at least not in running shoes. So we had to change our plans slightly.

We camped Friday night near the ghost town of Winfield, which is at the 50 mile turnaround point in the LT 100. At 6 AM we left camp and ran to the top of Hope pass and back for total 10 miles. Absolutely stunning scenery and stunning weather. The run went really well, we all felt good and got to the top relatively quickly, even though we had some icy snow fields to deal with.

Top of Hope Pass

Once finished we packed up camp headed to Leadville for some food and relaxation, then set up camp near the pipeline. At about 7:30 PM we left Twin Lakes for the 11+ mile run to our camp at pipeline. The course has changed somewhat over the last couple years and is a little bit more complicated to navigate, especially at night. Luckily, the LT100 organization was conducting an LT100 training camp this weekend and had put course markers up. We never made a single wrong turn! We arrived at camp feeling great and Rebekka has a little better idea what she is getting in to. Great day!

Steve and Rebekka end of Night Run
Sunday we said our goodbyes as Steve and Rebekka headed back to Colorado Springs. I decided to stay and ride my road bike to the top of Independence Pass and back; a 40 mile round trip from Twin Lakes. 20 miles up and 20 miles down! When I arrived at the top, there was a group of Vietnam Veteran Bikers. They were impressed that I could ride a bicycle up there. I was impressed with them for being who they are. All in all a great weekend!

Two Veterans, Two Bikers

Link to Leadville Weekend Slideshow Run

Link to Independence Pass Ride

Ring the Peak & Sailin Shoes

4 AM - 9 of the 11 Starters (2 were stopped by the Manitou  Police) Photo Steve Bremner

Last Saturday, a group of CRUDers embarked on the “2nd Annual CRUD Ring the Peak Fun Run”. This is an informal approximately 65 mile run around Pikes Peak with over 14,000 feet of climbing. The 1st annual CRUD Ring the Peak Run last year, as far as I know, was the first time anyone ran around Pikes Peak in one day. This year 11 CRUDers embarked on the journey leaving Manitou Springs at 4:00 am for a 14 plus hour adventure. Manitou Springs, at just under 7,000 ft, is probably the lowest point on the entire route, so the run starts right off with a climb. Most of the run is between 9,000 & 11,000 feet. Of the 11 starters, 3 actually ran the entire loop; Nick Starkey, Rick Hessek, and Steve Bremner!

The 3 Ringateers at ~ 55 miles

Some had planned to only run a portion of the course. We had two informal aid stations set up in remote areas along the route so anyone not wanting to do the whole run caught a ride back to Manitou Springs. I had the joy and honor, along with Rebekka Hannula to join the “Three Ringateers” for the last 20 miles – Crags Campground to Manitou Springs. I figured they would arrive at the Crags with 45 miles & 12 hours in their legs, so I would be able to keep up. It was incredibly fun. Rebecca pushed the pace,  I was able to keep up, and the “Ringateers” were strong to the finish. The "2nd Annual CRUD Ring the Peak Fun Run" (that’s a mouth full!) is in the books.

Nick, Rick & Steve - The Last "Ring the Peak" Trail Marker

65 Miles, 14,000 ft vertical, 16 hrs 48 minutes

Slide shows of the Ring the Peak Run: Steve's Start to Finish  & Larry's Last 20 Miles

Today I ran the Colorado Springs Sailin Shoes 10k race with Roswitha and surprised myself by being much faster than expected: 43 + minutes, avg 7 min a mile. I was very surprised considering this is only the third weekend after completing treatment. A 20 mile run last week, and a faster than expected 10k this week. I'm back and getting stronger every day!

Have a great week!