Training Log Archive: RASPUTIN

Ride with Jeremy from visitors center parking lot in Georgetown (elev. 8512') up to Guanella pass *(11,660) on fire road.

Locked bikes up at Guanella pass for the run/hike/run up to Mt. Bierstadt. Mellow pace for me. Warm, just team tri shorts and short sleeve jersey on the way up, took gloves off to cool off! That would change...

Feeling good. Very good.

Started wayyyy to late, around 10:00. Just asking for trouble with afternoon thunderstorms. Our originall plan was to ride up to Guanella, ditch bikes, run/hike up to Bierstadt, traverse Sawtooth ridge over to Mt. Evans, possibly bag Spalding as well then return. a 5 or 6am start would have been perfect.

locked/hid bikes at Guanella Pass

ran until too steep, hiked up to Mt. Bierstadt, 14,100. only last few minutes were boulder scrambling. just under the saddle we stopped to put on dry base layers, long sleever jerseys, hats, gloves, rain jackets. temperature dropped quickly. it had been warm and sunny up to that point. 90s in boulder, 80 or so in georgetown, maybe 68-70 at guanella pass, and around 60 at 13k even. that changed in about 2 minutes.

electrical storm rolled in, depolarizing ridgeline. crackling thunder all around. eyebrows tingled and stood straight out. hair stood up.
jeremy turned around and started scrambling back down with heather.
i had not summitted Bierstadt before, so I risked it and scrambled the last 10 feet (!!!) to get the summit.

as I did, i starteed getting little shocks and audible zaps to my head. you could feel it. seriously thought i would be struck by lighting. thunder wasa loud. hail began to fall. scary. i have never experienced that before in all these years of mountaineering. usually i turn around before it gets that bad, or bivy down and wait it out if i'm too exposed without and escape route. cold muddy pretty fast running for the conditions descent back to the bikes. muddy and rocky singletrack. views are astonishing here. surrounded by 14ers and mountains out to the horizon in every directions.
-almost-on top of colorado.

as we neared the bikes at the pass, the surrounding mountaintops were noticeably white from all the hail.

we transitioned pretty quickly and bombed back down to the cars ~12 miles below.

From Guanella Pass, 11,660 back down to Georgetown parking lot, 8,512'

Fire road, wet. Road was closed to vehicles due to rock fall so we were on the lookout. passed some cool clear lakes on the way down...not too muddy, road is in good condition, not too rutted at all and ZERO potholes. they're getting ready to pave soon.

C • adventure 2

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saturday's weekly adventure;

MTB/run/trek/run/MTB

ride up to end of st, run/hike up to:
Mt Bierstadt (14,000+) /Sawtooth Traverse/Evans (14,000+) and back.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=climbing%20mt...

just a wee bit of climbing.

2,000' sheer drop on sawtooth traverse.
i'll take pictures.

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C • sick... 1

rode w Lisa
similar to last week's ride but we included Jamestown

home-lee hill to oldestage to jamestown back down, up lee hill back down.

stopped to feed the horses again. different horses this time.

C • ? 2

Home-36-jamestown climb-lee hill climb-back home. Road work on olde stage so skipped the last climb. Feeling better.
Jamestown-150
Lee-153 lower bldg to tempo to 450w last minute

Plenty of oxygen at 6-7k compared to breck.

library-home
felt aweful

home-dealership with some extra added on looping around hood behind 30th.
ran in paramounts w/o orthotics which lit up the PL. bad choice!
loosened the laces and the pain went away. interesting.

C • what for are you dealing wi... 4

home-rabbit mtn and back with Greg.
Heard about his Centurion race over the weekend.
Good to catch up.
Steady pace mostly, with a couple good accelerations and wattage holds up the rabbit climb (holding 500w for just a minute) which left me breathless and spaced out like never before. guess i'm not *that* recovered from breck 100.
thought i was having a heart attack!
conned greg in to taking Olde Stage on the way home rather than cruising down 36. put in a short effort up OS, but under 500w and less than a minute.
rest of the ride was mellow to steady. zero sprints, never went over 600 watts. that might be a first for any ride this year.

Chest/back shoulders bis tris forearms abs planks clutter ki ks pullups

24hr tready
1. easy 8++
2. easy 7:40s
3. easy 7:20s
4. 6:40 dropping to 6:26? felt good

indoor trainer at gym before run
watching tour
just spinning legs.
everything feels ok.

knees were good during and after the race, zero pain or niggles.
bummer i missed a few weeks of real bike training but glad knees
are back to normal

"If a rider is able to sustain a power output of 6.3 W/kg for 30 minutes, then you can infer their peak power output will be somewhere between 7 and 7.5 W/kg, incredibly high"

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

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From my friend David Kelly's FB posting from Yukon River Quest
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MORNING COFFEE DIALOGUE (aka "With enough coffee I can explain my world")
A recurring theme of questions has come up over the last few days: "What does it take to really compete in, rather than just complete, a multi-day event like the Yukon River Quest.” I’m offering up a synthesis in writing of what I shared in conversations.

Years ago when I was deep into my adventure racing career, I wrote what I saw as the elite Adventure Racer’s Manifesto. As I’ve transitioned into other ultra-experiences (where the sun both rises and sets at least once in the same event) the Manifesto still seems to hold true.
The same holds as much or more truth for a solo competitor as it does for a team.

THE MANIFESTO
If you are not hungry, you're carrying too much food.
If you're not thirsty, you're carrying too much water.
If you’re not cold, you have too many clothes.
If you are not frightened, you have too much gear.
If you are not drag-ass tired, you're going too slowly.
If you are not drop-down sleepy, you're getting too much rest.
If you're not wet, scratched, and bruised, you took the long way.
If you finish the race on schedule, it was too easy anyway.


COMMITMENT
If you’re into multi-day ultra-distance racing of most-any type, you have to spend much of your time being wet, cold, tired, hungry and occasionally frightened. In order to get through the demands, you have to have a deep burning passion to do so. (Like the old Nike slogan that went something like: “You’ve got the clothes. You’ve got the shoes. You can dribble the ball. But have you got the love, Baby?”). Ultra races are too long - and the reasons to stay home are too many - to not be driven by “the love.” When you commit to getting to the finish, you need to decide how to overcome the obstacles along the way. You choose the right teammates to give you the best chance to succeed. You learn the appropriate technical skills, and select the right equipment and clothing for the disciplines and conditions. You train enough to know your physical limits. You plan the best route to get you through safely, methodically, and efficiently. And you realize that whatever you planned on will likely fall between “Not-as-Good-as-Hoped-For” and “Not-as-Bad-as-Feared.”

ADAPTABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY
And you have to be flexible and adaptable enough to deal with the unplanned. A team, aware of its weaknesses and its strengths that also has the ability to be malleable, flexible, and adaptable to the inevitable change in plans can outlive and outperform an otherwise stronger team which proceeds without discretion.


RISK
Competing also requires embracing risk. In that quest, sometimes luck is with you, and sometimes not, but the important thing is to ride the edge and take some risks along the way, rather than turning safety and comfort into your personal zip code. It’s become increasingly clear to me over the years: It is not variety that is the spice of live. Variety is the meat and potatoes. Risk is the spice of life, and it’s definitely a part of competing at the upper echelon.


Martin Luther King said: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during challenge and controversy.”


So to really compete, you have to commit to it. You have to be willing to take some risks. And you have to be adaptable and flexible – all in the midst of challenge and controversy. And you have to be willing to fail occasionally. That means stretching your comfort zones and flirting with the elasticity of your own limits. That doesn’t mean you have to seek out do-or-die situations. To understand the situation, to know your limitations and to keep within them – that’s the essence of good decision making and good sense.


A sled dog racer shared with me his belief, “In order to make a young dog a good race dog, you have to get them past the point where they think they’re going to die, and then look for the dogs which thrive on it.” To really compete in ultra-racing, sometimes you have to push past the point where you think you’re “going to die.” For some racers, the 2010 Yukon River Quest offered up a few of those moments – more than a few racers quietly expressed the belief they were “going to die.” Those with “the love”, pushed on.

Admittedly, this is all a lot easier to intellectualize in the rear view mirror.

C • post-erior 5