End-Of-Season

A re-hash of this year...

Goal for 2007: Finish the Leadville Trail 100

January and February: Stress fracture still healing. Lost plenty of training with the LT100 only half a year away.

March: Salida Run-Through-Time Marathon - dismal performance - sprained my ankle at the end.

April: Greenland 50K

May: Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile
On the one-hand, I was in great shape. I ran extremely well for 30 miles. I was so fixated on hydration, electrolytes, and pace [staring at my GPS watch] that I neglected to EAT!
It was my first 50-miler. Even though I fell way off my pace, I finished okay.

June: Steamboat Marathon
Flawlessly executed race, for me. My previous record would be hard for me to beat, but I beat it pretty well.

Double: Mt. Evans Ascent and Estes Park Marathon
Both performances were mediocre. It was a very great weekend, but I should've tried harder and paid for it later. Instead, there was almost no needed recovery. Shame-oh-shame!

After that double, I started concentrating on the LT100 course. I ran the hardest 39-miles of the course (in lightening, drizzle, and rain), then followed it with the 3-day LT100 Training Camp.

July: Leadville Marathon
The best race of my life. This is a very tough race. I came in 45th out of 318 finishers and 330 starters.

A week later, paced the last 27.6 miles of the Hard Rock 100.

August:
I trained for several weeks, probably tapering too severely.

My 84.1 mile DNF at the LT100 was partly due to:
- lost months healing from my stress fracture
- too much taper
- not enough sleep the 8 days leading into the race
- kicking a rock at mile 20 that injured my left ankle & foot
- and then dropping the ball during the race
Try as I could, I didn't do a very good job of organizing my crew, nor did I communicate adequately during the race. My crew were all experienced runners, knew the course, but none of them had the crew experience they needed. None of us thought there was any lack of needed experience, but there was. The whole crewing aspect, from me organizing it to them executing it was far more than we could ever know. We all sure as heck know now - the hard way.
The most valuable lesson: Buy complete duplicates of EVERYTHING! If I have a crew, then at the access points, I will hand off my pack, and they will hand me a fresh one.
But in spite of so much going wrong and the agony of the feet, it was the most wonderful experience of my life. I keep replaying moments of it in my mind.

September: Double: Steamboat Run Rabbit Run 50 and the Lead King Loop, followed by the Golden Leaf in Aspen a week later. I held nothing back during the 50. The Lead King Loop was rough going - the way it was supposed to be.

October: Boulder 100
64.26 mile DNF The knees are shot.

November: Rim Rock Run
Nothing to brag about or be ashamed of.

Now I need to work on my back muscles. They are way too weak! The imbalance will cause injury if I don't fix it. All my core needs work.
I have lots of work to do at home and work-related stuff to tinker with in my computer lab at home.
I need to go camping, hiking, climbing, and biking.
So Chores & Cores and "active relaxation".

Monthly Mileage Log
Jan = 17
Feb = 54.2
Mar = 177.2
Apr = 195
May = 200.1
Jun = 229.7
Jul = 192.1
Aug = 128.8
Sep = 137.2
Oct = 110.1
Nov = 94.6
Dec = only 20.3 so far, with 20 days left

Total miles this year = 1562
That's like running from Denver to Penn State, PA.