9 Years

The Old Man in front of Mount Foraker, AK.  9 years ago today, the Old Man took a tumble in Alaska.  He was "horizontal" for a short spell.  The lack of motion must have been hell for him.  A few months later, he was lifted into the winds high above the Colorado Rockies.  Still climbing.  Always Vertical. 

Training Update
 
Three things I dislike.  Bikes, Biking and Bikers.  They all seem to be sponsored and need ridiculous amounts of logo'ed up spandex for a cruise on the bike path.  I am coming to find out that hate it or not, biking is a workout.  I pedal the same steep hill in 16 minutes that I run in 10.  It's different though.  It's not as boring or pointless as I thought it would be.  It seems to be working.  I rock the Old Man's mid-90's vintage Trek.  Probably 50 pounds of metal and rubber.

I've been combining the biking, skiing and some running together to get my training hours up and build my endurance.  I just logged a 60 mile running week, plus a ton of other cross training.  That is the most I have run this year.  Everything is feeling groovy.  Itching to race.

My first photo of a wolf.  He was 200+ yards away and running away from me.  Not a very exciting pic, but I finally got one on film!  For you, Lucho.

A break at snowline to cool down in some snow.  An ancient 2 point antler- whitened in the sun after years of lying about.  Rapid River, just under Pollack Mountain.

Pollack Mountain with my nugget in the way.  A bunch of my pics from this day got cut off during the upload to my computer.

Brandi skinning.  

Skinning Brundage.  Tons of snow this week made for good skiing.  Should be ski-able until June.

My protege Jacob scores a podium at The Weiser River 50k in 3:57.    Since we have been working together this year, he has been 5th, 2nd and 3rd overall.  Watch out for him this year.  One who laughs and celebrates the worse he hurts...is a man you should fear.  A guy like THIS.

  
April 27- May 11

Sun April 27:  Gym.  Bike intervals for 78 minutes.  Rolled the spin bike into the 80+F pool area and knocked out intervals. 1 min hard, 1 min easy, then 2 hard, 1 easy. I wore 3 layers.  Lost 6 pounds.  Shorted out my ipod I was sweating so bad.

Mon April 28: Easy Recovery.  30 min elliptical at high resistance. Stretch and core work in sauna after.

Tues April 29: Bike 14mi, Run 8mi.  Started at the bottom of the Whitebird Ridge Road on the bike.  Ride 7 miles up the mountain to the Rattlesnake Trailhead (2500' vert gain).  Then stashed the bike in the woods and ran down the trail to Wyant Camp, then back up (2000' gain, 2000' loss).  Rode the bike back down to the truck (2500' loss).

Weds April 30: 14 miles, 3000' vert.  Run up Thorn Creek Road (snowy) to Brundage Resort.  Snow power hike up to Brundage Summit.  Run down the Cat Track (snow), then down Goose lake Road at good tempo to truck.

Thurs May 1:  2:30.  20 mile bike with Brandi at Fish Lake Forest Roads.  Did some of the climbs pretty hard.  2000' vert gain.

Fri May 2:  14mi bike.  27mi run.  Same bike as Tuesday.  From the Rattlesnake Trailhead, I ran down to Wyant Camp, went up the East Fork of Rapid River to Frypan Creek.  Climbed a few thousand feet up there to above 7000'.  Tried to make a loop of it, but snow stopped me.  I reversed it all the way back.  Spectacular bonk on the way back.  Mid-80's F down in the canyon scorched me good.  Barely able to ride the bike back down the hill to the truck.  Perfect endurance builder.  6+ hours and over 10,000 vert combined.

Sat May 3:  OFF.  Pretty sore all over.

Sun May 4: 90 min yoga.  2 hour, 21 mi bike at Fish Lake.

Mon May 5: My 35th Birthday.  OFF.

Tues May 6:  14 mi run at Last Chance.  2 hours, 2250 vert.  Ran some of the hills very hard.  Took easier stretches as needed to keep the effort reasonable.

Weds May 7: Bike 25mi + 9 mi run.  I broke the derailleur off my bike and had to run home.  4 hours of hard work on 1 gel and 16 oz water.

Thurs May 8:  Brundage Skin and Ski 1 lap with Brandi easy.  1600' vert.  Then I ran home 4 miles through Whitetail.

Fri May 9: Brundage Skin and Ski 3 laps. 4800' vert.  Moderate effort.  Lots of fresh snow.  On the way home, I stopped at the Little Ski Hill and ran 3 laps up their main ski run.  It is 375' vert per lap in just .38 miles.  That makes it 1000' per mile. I run these in a controlled effort in around 5 minutes.  This gets the HR way up.  Workout totaled 3.5 mi and 1100' vert.

Sat May 10: Brundage Skin and Ski 3 laps 4800' vert.  Harder efforts.  Lots of people on the hill today with the fresh, deep pow.  Freshies all day.  After ski, I went to the gym and did 30 mins elliptical, then core, mobility and strength work.

Sun May 11: I got my bike fixed and tuned.  2 hours biking at Last Chance.  2000' vert.  Some harder pushes on the hills, but pretty chill.