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| Jack Quinns 20,000 runner |
Nike screw shoes
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| Looks like a river |
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Barr Trail 2/27/2012
Nike screw shoes
Sunday, February 26, 2012
A lil press from Endurance Buzz!
A great write up from Endurance Buzz. I also put the one from last year.
http://endurancebuzz.com/2012/02/24/cross-timbers-trail-run-2012-results/
http://endurancebuzz.com/2011/02/28/cross-timbers-trail-run-2011-results/
http://endurancebuzz.com/2012/02/24/cross-timbers-trail-run-2012-results/
http://endurancebuzz.com/2011/02/28/cross-timbers-trail-run-2011-results/
Incline Club Long Run
Today's run was up Ruxton to the Ute Pass Trail, Long's Ranch Road and down Barr Trail. I wanted to add some mileage, so my plan was to take Bob's road to Barr Trail and go up to Lightning Point and back down. It was cold but sunny at the start, I went out easy cuz legs were a little stiff. Ute Pass Trail just went steady but I ran all of trail, continued up Longs and felt pretty good but I wasn't gonna push it too hard just coming off Cross Timbers. Still walked a couple of hills but was able to run most of the steap ones. At the top of Longs I took a gel and salt cap and continued to Bob's Road. Bob's still had deep snow due to coverage of tree's, had to posthole the top quarter mile. When I got to Barr legs were a little bit tired but I had a steady run up to Lightning Point. I sat down and took a few pics and had another gel and salt cap. Nothing much on way down, I kept a pretty steady pace, I want to work on downhill speed while fatigued. I have been doing some Fartlek type runs on way down, trying to push hard on long straight aways. A large boulder fell in the trail about a 1/4 mile past the Incline short cut. I was gonna stop for a pic but figured I would waste time so just continued. Finished up back at Memorial Park, talked to a couple of people and went home. Good Steady Run today.
Nike screw shoes
Approx. 15.5 miles
Weather was mid 30's and sunny
Nike screw shoes
Approx. 15.5 miles
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| Longs Ranch Road |
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| Top of Bob's....Pikes Peak |
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| Lightning Point |
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| Trail up from Lightning Point |
Friday, February 24, 2012
Barr Trail Intervals and hill repeats 2/24/2012
Today I wanted to do some intervals and work on some speed. I started down at Memorial Park and ran up to Ruxton and Hydro. I try to mirror the Incline Club workout, I start at Hydro and run for 1 minute hard and stop for 1 minute and repeat for 30 minutes. This is the 3rd interval run this year, we usually guage run on how far you get up trail after 30 minutes. Each workout I have improved including this week but I still am behind from last year about 1min. I know when I run with the club I am pushed more when you have other runners with you. Today I went about 30-40 ft farther than last workout and felt pretty good. The trail had a light snow cover from recent snow but was in good condition. I wore my Inov8's so I could knock of some Texas mud. I ran back down to PI trail and did 4 hill repeats. 30 second all out and walk back down. Came within a few feet each time with best effort on last run. Then ran back down to Memorial. I have noticed since even before Cross Timbers that I have had a dull ache in my left achilles. Sucks getting old, I would like to have this season be injury free.
Inov8's Roclite
5.5 Miles
Inov8's Roclite
5.5 Miles
Barr Trail 2/22/2012 Wed
This would be my first run since Cross Timbers, legs are still a lil sore but I felt ready to run. I parked down at Memorial Park and the plan would be a slow run up to the top of the W's. Nothing much to report except the Barr Trail was in the best shape it has been for awhile. I actually didn't have to wear screw shoes today. Just a nice sustained run up to W's but felt good to run. Turned around and ran back down to Memorial. Weather was nice!
Wore Cascadia 6's
6.5 Miles
Wore Cascadia 6's
6.5 Miles
Cross Timbers Trail Race, Lake Texoma, Tx
Well I am starting another blog! One of my big early races of the season is Cross Timbers in Texas. I found this race last year while looking for somewhere warm to go race. I somehow won this race last year so I feel compelled to make this a yearly event. I don't win many races so I have to enjoy this one. Last years years race was unseasonably warm and dry, well not this year but I will get to that soon.
I talked Tom Dinwoodie in to coming down and giving this one a shot. He actually signed up and booked his travel plans before I even took off time from work. Tom, Lisa, Felicity and I all signed up for this one and were looking forward to getting out of the cold and snowpacked trails of Colorado. Tom has a sister that lives in Dallas who was also gonna run, I have a buddy who also lives in the Big D who I haven't seen in a while. So our plans were to run on Saturday and go out in Dallas and have fun.
We all got into Dallas on Fri afternoon and after about an hour drive we were at our hotel in Sherman, Tx. We took off for Lake Texoma to pick up our packets and check a lil bit of the course out before Saturday. We got our packets and all of us went bout a 1/4 mile up the trail, we heard it had rained a couple days before and it was muddy. They were right, very slick muddy clay and it was suppose to rain more that night. I was thankful I brought my Inov8 with the more aggressive lugs. I had planned on wearing my new Brooks Pure Grits that I have been waiting to race in since I got them this summer. After sliding around a bit on the short section of trail we were ready to go back to Sherman so we could fuel and hydrate. We went to Jonny Carinos for some pasta and beer. We had Pelini (I think) beer that I though was really good. After a nice dinner we headed back to the room for a soak in hot tub and some sleep.
We woke up early loaded up on coffee, bagels, and bannanas from hotel lobby. Soon as we walked out of hotel it pretty much started pouring rain. We got to start of race at about 6am, we were suppose to check in 30 minutes prior to our race. We saw the 50 miler's start at 6:30am. Tom and I took a pic.....he wore his Quinns shirt and had on my Incline shirt so we could represent Colorado. You can tell how awake we were. We all headed back to car to get all our gear ready for day.
As far as gear for the race I easily chose my Inov8's for shoes. I would wear shorts and a race singlet but would start with long sleeve shirt till I warmed up. I would use my hand held water bottle and gel flask filled with 5 honey stingers. I downed 2 salt stic caps before race and would carry 8 additonal in my zipper pouch in bottle. My plan was to program my watch for 10 minute intervals so I would be reminded to drink but I forgot to turn off my mile alert, so that didn't work well cuz it seemed it was going off every few minutes. Anyway, we headed over to start, the sun was just starting to rise. We got briefed by RD and we went to line up! This year we would do an out and back sort of lap on the road before we headed onto the trail. Last year we did 2 short loops next to the tent but this year it was a lil differen't. This was the only change in the course from last year, since they do split times I wish it would be exact, so we could better use those split times for comparison from year to year. I took off with lead pack of about 6 guys, we were going at a pretty good clip but it slowed some when we hit the single track. The first 7 or 8 miles of this course is pretty technical trail with a lot of short steep climbs and descents. I immediately knew I chose the right shoes after just a few hundred feet of running on trail.
My plan for this race was to push the first 7 or 8 miles of hills and to rest on the flatter back half then turnaround and try to hit it hard again on the return. I passed a couple runner and settled in with two other guys who I caught. I ran with them for a couple miles but felt they were going slow on hills so I made a move and passed them both. I would get a lead on both of them on the hills but the would eventually catch me on the straight's. This would pretty much continue till we got out of the tree's and hit the flatter part. One time, I had a good lead after a couple of long climbs but sure enough they caught right up. We all kind a settled on a pace for the flats, I was kinda surprised the didn't pass me cuz my speed on the flats isn't very strong right now. At bout 2 miles till the turnaround we passed another marathoner, who I thought was the leader. We all hit the turnaround at same time with me still in lead. Two of us stopped to fill our bottles the other took right off, my plan was to still take it easy till I got back to the hills. Me and the other runner who was the eventual winner ran together for prob around a mile. We began to see other runners coming at us and sure enough there was Tom who I thought was in top 10. It wasn't too long after that I was running, trying to watch my footing and didn't see the tree with a sawed off branch that reached out and brought me to a complete stop. I thought at first I really hurt myself. My shoulder was hurting and I thought I broke my teeth cuz I bit down so hard on the impact. I was kinda in a daze for a few seconds, meanwhile the guy who eventually won took off ahead of me and it seemed like he was now hitting it pretty hard cuz it wasn't long before he was out of sight. I then deceided to start drinking, downing gels and salt caps to get ready for hills. I figured if he doesn't get too far I should be able to catch him on climbs.
I did a good job of taking in water and gel for the next few miles and just took it easy. The trail really began to deteriorate after getting back to the hills from the other runners and additional rain. Mud would stick to your shoes and make it feel like you had a few extra pounds on each foot and going down hill became more like skiing. I was feeling good though and still pushing my climbs. Once I hit the half marathon turnaround point, the trail got worse, but was still feeling strong. I eventually caught up to the guy that we ran with the first half and turned around without stopping. I thought maybe he pushed a lil too early, cuz he looked like he was done. I still had hopes of catching other guy and then passed Felicity on her way back on the half. Said a quick hi and continued on then we came to the turnaround for the 5 milers and the trail was total slop, runners had to grab trees on downhills cuz they were soo slick. At about 1.5 miles left I began to get a lil fatigued but was still running. I was starting to realize that I wouldn't catch the leader. The final climb to the end is a very steep hill that resemble a large set of stairs. Last year I was reduced to a walk on these but I made myself run them this year, if you call it a run. I came across finish line at 3:52:25 and was told I was second place. I talked to the guy that won a little bit and he didn't know what time he finished cuz he didnt' have a watch and the clock was set for 50 milers. He ran a great race, cuz eventually when the results were posted he came in 3:40:??. The results had me 3rd overall with 2nd place ten seconds ahead of me but I never saw anyone within 10 seconds or I would have pushed it more at end.
Overall I was pleased with race, I felt strong on all the hills. I improved my time even if it was only around a minute. If it was a dry course I believe my time would have been much better. I probably drank more fluid than any other race I have run. It was also the first time I downed all 5 gels in my flask. 8 salt caps all together, only had one slight cramp in hammy. I immediately went for food, I downed 4 1/2 burgers. I am usually not that hungry after a race but I was starving this time. Tom came in 8th place and I think he enjoyed the race even with the mud. Lisa and April both got in the top ten in the 5 miler with April getting 2nd overall female. Felicity did the half and ran the hardest part of the course with probably the worst conditions. She did well even though she didn't think she did. We didn't hang around too much longer cuz it was cold and rainy and we were all tired.
Even with the rain and mud this was a great race! The volunteers and aid stations I think are the best I have ever seen in a race. The food was awesome afterward! We all then went back to hotel and showered the mud off and headed for Dallas for some food and drink. We went to Meddlesome Moth in Dallas for some great food and Awesome beers. My buddy Kevin Depner who I haven't seen in a long time showed up with his new girlfriend for dinner. We then went to his watering hole for a couple more beers and he let us crash at his house. Up super early for the flight home and work the same night. Great Tiime!!!
I talked Tom Dinwoodie in to coming down and giving this one a shot. He actually signed up and booked his travel plans before I even took off time from work. Tom, Lisa, Felicity and I all signed up for this one and were looking forward to getting out of the cold and snowpacked trails of Colorado. Tom has a sister that lives in Dallas who was also gonna run, I have a buddy who also lives in the Big D who I haven't seen in a while. So our plans were to run on Saturday and go out in Dallas and have fun.
We all got into Dallas on Fri afternoon and after about an hour drive we were at our hotel in Sherman, Tx. We took off for Lake Texoma to pick up our packets and check a lil bit of the course out before Saturday. We got our packets and all of us went bout a 1/4 mile up the trail, we heard it had rained a couple days before and it was muddy. They were right, very slick muddy clay and it was suppose to rain more that night. I was thankful I brought my Inov8 with the more aggressive lugs. I had planned on wearing my new Brooks Pure Grits that I have been waiting to race in since I got them this summer. After sliding around a bit on the short section of trail we were ready to go back to Sherman so we could fuel and hydrate. We went to Jonny Carinos for some pasta and beer. We had Pelini (I think) beer that I though was really good. After a nice dinner we headed back to the room for a soak in hot tub and some sleep.
We woke up early loaded up on coffee, bagels, and bannanas from hotel lobby. Soon as we walked out of hotel it pretty much started pouring rain. We got to start of race at about 6am, we were suppose to check in 30 minutes prior to our race. We saw the 50 miler's start at 6:30am. Tom and I took a pic.....he wore his Quinns shirt and had on my Incline shirt so we could represent Colorado. You can tell how awake we were. We all headed back to car to get all our gear ready for day.
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| Running for our clubs |
As far as gear for the race I easily chose my Inov8's for shoes. I would wear shorts and a race singlet but would start with long sleeve shirt till I warmed up. I would use my hand held water bottle and gel flask filled with 5 honey stingers. I downed 2 salt stic caps before race and would carry 8 additonal in my zipper pouch in bottle. My plan was to program my watch for 10 minute intervals so I would be reminded to drink but I forgot to turn off my mile alert, so that didn't work well cuz it seemed it was going off every few minutes. Anyway, we headed over to start, the sun was just starting to rise. We got briefed by RD and we went to line up! This year we would do an out and back sort of lap on the road before we headed onto the trail. Last year we did 2 short loops next to the tent but this year it was a lil differen't. This was the only change in the course from last year, since they do split times I wish it would be exact, so we could better use those split times for comparison from year to year. I took off with lead pack of about 6 guys, we were going at a pretty good clip but it slowed some when we hit the single track. The first 7 or 8 miles of this course is pretty technical trail with a lot of short steep climbs and descents. I immediately knew I chose the right shoes after just a few hundred feet of running on trail.
My plan for this race was to push the first 7 or 8 miles of hills and to rest on the flatter back half then turnaround and try to hit it hard again on the return. I passed a couple runner and settled in with two other guys who I caught. I ran with them for a couple miles but felt they were going slow on hills so I made a move and passed them both. I would get a lead on both of them on the hills but the would eventually catch me on the straight's. This would pretty much continue till we got out of the tree's and hit the flatter part. One time, I had a good lead after a couple of long climbs but sure enough they caught right up. We all kind a settled on a pace for the flats, I was kinda surprised the didn't pass me cuz my speed on the flats isn't very strong right now. At bout 2 miles till the turnaround we passed another marathoner, who I thought was the leader. We all hit the turnaround at same time with me still in lead. Two of us stopped to fill our bottles the other took right off, my plan was to still take it easy till I got back to the hills. Me and the other runner who was the eventual winner ran together for prob around a mile. We began to see other runners coming at us and sure enough there was Tom who I thought was in top 10. It wasn't too long after that I was running, trying to watch my footing and didn't see the tree with a sawed off branch that reached out and brought me to a complete stop. I thought at first I really hurt myself. My shoulder was hurting and I thought I broke my teeth cuz I bit down so hard on the impact. I was kinda in a daze for a few seconds, meanwhile the guy who eventually won took off ahead of me and it seemed like he was now hitting it pretty hard cuz it wasn't long before he was out of sight. I then deceided to start drinking, downing gels and salt caps to get ready for hills. I figured if he doesn't get too far I should be able to catch him on climbs.
I did a good job of taking in water and gel for the next few miles and just took it easy. The trail really began to deteriorate after getting back to the hills from the other runners and additional rain. Mud would stick to your shoes and make it feel like you had a few extra pounds on each foot and going down hill became more like skiing. I was feeling good though and still pushing my climbs. Once I hit the half marathon turnaround point, the trail got worse, but was still feeling strong. I eventually caught up to the guy that we ran with the first half and turned around without stopping. I thought maybe he pushed a lil too early, cuz he looked like he was done. I still had hopes of catching other guy and then passed Felicity on her way back on the half. Said a quick hi and continued on then we came to the turnaround for the 5 milers and the trail was total slop, runners had to grab trees on downhills cuz they were soo slick. At about 1.5 miles left I began to get a lil fatigued but was still running. I was starting to realize that I wouldn't catch the leader. The final climb to the end is a very steep hill that resemble a large set of stairs. Last year I was reduced to a walk on these but I made myself run them this year, if you call it a run. I came across finish line at 3:52:25 and was told I was second place. I talked to the guy that won a little bit and he didn't know what time he finished cuz he didnt' have a watch and the clock was set for 50 milers. He ran a great race, cuz eventually when the results were posted he came in 3:40:??. The results had me 3rd overall with 2nd place ten seconds ahead of me but I never saw anyone within 10 seconds or I would have pushed it more at end.
Overall I was pleased with race, I felt strong on all the hills. I improved my time even if it was only around a minute. If it was a dry course I believe my time would have been much better. I probably drank more fluid than any other race I have run. It was also the first time I downed all 5 gels in my flask. 8 salt caps all together, only had one slight cramp in hammy. I immediately went for food, I downed 4 1/2 burgers. I am usually not that hungry after a race but I was starving this time. Tom came in 8th place and I think he enjoyed the race even with the mud. Lisa and April both got in the top ten in the 5 miler with April getting 2nd overall female. Felicity did the half and ran the hardest part of the course with probably the worst conditions. She did well even though she didn't think she did. We didn't hang around too much longer cuz it was cold and rainy and we were all tired.
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| After the race |
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| glad I wore these! |
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| Tent at starting line |
Even with the rain and mud this was a great race! The volunteers and aid stations I think are the best I have ever seen in a race. The food was awesome afterward! We all then went back to hotel and showered the mud off and headed for Dallas for some food and drink. We went to Meddlesome Moth in Dallas for some great food and Awesome beers. My buddy Kevin Depner who I haven't seen in a long time showed up with his new girlfriend for dinner. We then went to his watering hole for a couple more beers and he let us crash at his house. Up super early for the flight home and work the same night. Great Tiime!!!
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| Depner and I |
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