CP 25 RECAP/BLACK CANYON ASCENT/RANDOM

CP 25 RECAP

After the Fruita 50 I wanted to put in a solid effort at CP. The question was, at what distance? 50 milers are my favorite distance to race. With that said I want to have my best 50M performances at Jemez and Lake City. Thus I chose to run the 25M at CP. After consulting with DC, TP, and Dr. Drum I realized the benefits of running the shorter race to benefit me at my next two 50's. It would give me a mental and physical break from the 50M distance as I've already raced two this year. Mentally going into the race it was much easier knowing all I had to do was run hard for 3 hrs and change. Physically, the recovery was much shorter than it would be from the 50. I felt like my 3 weeks of training after CP before Jemez would be stronger than racing the 50 at CP, recovering, and then getting back to full training. Dr. Scott called it my "25M tempo run." It was good to switch gears for the shorter distance and get some positive turnover.

The race was super fun. Matt Turnbull and I leapfrogged for the first 18M. At mile 18 AS the course begins to drop significantly. Knowing downhill running is my strength I let it go and was able to get the W. I was pleased with the effort. I wanted to see if I could run sub 3- I believe only Justin Ricks (CR 2:57) and Bernie Boettcher have gone under 3 on the new course which began in 2004. I ran 3:05- it will be fun to race here again and begin to widdle away at my current time.

The post race was awesome! It was so fun to be a race spectator- I hardly ever get this chance to hang out and wait for the long race to finish. Bill Dooper and I had some great conversation as the 50M unfolded. Henshaw ran his 25M split in 3:17; I told Bill he would set the CR in 6:45. My prediction was close as he stormed through the line in 6:52. Great to catch-up with former Fort Collins training friends Bryan G and Corey H. This year has been great to watch the new crop of ultrarunners that will impact the sport in big ways. I've been thoroughly impressed with Dakota Jones and Andy Henshaw. Keep an eye out for Marco Peinado and Dylan Bowman as these two are learning and improving with each race. These young guns are also great people to chat with and get to know.

BLACK CANYON ASCENT!

This Saturday I really will be changing gears as I run the 6M Black Canyon Ascent. This is a classic western slope race that has seen some solid runners toe the line. I am stepping outside the comfort of running ultras and giving it a go at this sprint distance! I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of octane is in the tank as I will be running much harder than I'm used to. Tim Parr, Scott Drum and I will represent the Gunnison contingent...Duncan got a little intimidated when he saw my quads at the track last week...) Was it the frightening color or the muscle? It will be a hard effort with over 2000 ft of climbing, a great tuneup before things heat up at Jemez...I'm getting pumped up!

RANDOM

The Gunnison crew has finally started our track workouts the past two weeks. These have been a blast! My favorite is the 200M ZOOMS that we run to finish each workout- these are basically 100M at 75% with the last 100M being at 95-100% max sprint...I'm feeling a little like Usain Bolt's slower adopted brother! Duncan and Scott lit up the track last week as we ran 12 400's with 45 sec recovery between each effort. Duncan ran a 62! for his last lap...look out for him as he focuses on the 100M this year. I am super stoked to see what happens for him at Bighorn.

Last week I also received an email from Matt Carpenter informing me of my competitive entry into PPM! This was great news to hear as I expected to get an answer sometime in late July. Clark, are you confirmed? I have really enjoyed running at new races this year and am especially excited for this classic colorado mountain test of fitness. As of late my energy levels have been solid as I've ran 90+ mile weeks 3 of the past 4 weeks-this is my first year running consistently more than 70 miles/week and the body is responding wonderfully to the higher workload. It always cracks me up when I begin to think I'm running a lot and I ask DC what he ran for the week...soon when I say 90 he'll say 180! It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around weeks above 140-impressive! This past weekend I ran a 20M and 21M. This was solid...now imagine running that 7 days/week with some of those days being longer....Duncan likes running...

Last but certainly not least...

My wife Megan is currently climbing Mt. Rainier! It has been awesome to see her following her dreams/goals in the mountaineering realm. She runs long to train with solid finishes the past few weeks at Fruita and CP! Climb hard, be safe, I love you!