Visit to Leadville

After leaving Leadville in the middle of the night after my brief stay at St Vincent's last year, I made it back this Saturday night to check out the snow situation, begin the acclimatization process and hike 9 miles up to 11,500 ft of altitude. It was great to be back in Leadville to see the good folks at the coffee shop, italian restaurant and the Delaware Hotel.

The weather was a balmy 60F which felt like 75F in the afternoon sun. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular. Check out some of the pic s below.....



Ken, Nancy and I went out at 8:45AM on Sunday and went to the base of the power line to hike it. Round trip it was about a 9 mile trek. The views of the snow cap peaks, the sunshine and oh yeah.....the lack of oxygen made fun a fun day. My HR shot up immediately for the first 30 minutes and then settled into about 130BPM hiking up the power line. 1/2 way up we encountered snow which average between 3 to 4ft deep. We were able to successfully hike through most of it with an occasional 3 foot drop into soft snow. When we peaked the summit we hit 11,500 ft and had an unbelievable view of Leadville. We ran across a large grouse at the peak as well. It was really very cool. The day was focused on acclimating as well as getting in a hike, not run as my quads were still beat up from the 50k the day before...not to mention the IT bands...ouch!

After the hike I drove out to Twin Lakes to see my girl Hope....she was covered in snow...the lake was dry as it prepared for an epic snow melt over the next 2 weeks (see pic below). Then got back to Pbville and took a 2 hour nap and then worked in the lobby of the Delaware getting ready for the week ahead of me. I didn't sleep very well due to my shoulder/ribs as well as an elevated HR from the altitude...which is pretty normal. I got up this morning at 5AM got organized, went to Provin Grounds for a cup of coffee and finish up some items for work. At 8AM I made my way out towards Weston Pass to see Marge Hickman (a 15X finisher of the LT100) to drop off a check and see the house that I rented for the month of August. The house is in God's country and the views are breath taking....or maybe that was the altitude. I'm very excited about the coming months of being in Leadville to train. It's hard to understand unless you are there to really appreciate this part of the country.




This week the familia is coming into Denver and we're headed up to Estes Park...looking forward to it...should be a ton of fun. Tonight doing laundry and hitting the hot tub to loosen up and then up early to hit the trails near white ranch to do a 8 mile loop before going to work....lot's to do...so little time.

Cheers!

Flat Irons 50k......Wow!

Got up yesterday at 4AM, showered and hit the road to pick up Tim at 5AM so we could make it the trail head of the Flat Irons before 6AM. The Flat Irons, named for their obvious shape, are located between Golden and Boulder CO. We arrived shortly after sunrise with the sun lighting them up. Off in the distance we counted 15 hot air balloons, pretty cool.

I was concerned about attempting to run 30 miles on very technical (aka, dangerous) trails with plenty of opportunities to bust your ass. I didn't know how my, lungs, ribs, shoulder, et al would handle a challenging run. Even on my best day this course is a challenge. With almost 20,000 feet of ascending and descending the whole body was in for a beating.



We hit the trails at 6AM...on a rocky rather flat/rolling trail that brought us to thebase of the flat irons. From there we began climbing the switchbacks to traverse the back side of the mountain. At mile 8 we came upon the park station where we fueled up and reloaded our water packs.



My camel back holds 100oz of water, which I filled to about 70oz. It took us 2 hours to get to the park station where I had probably only drank about 40oz. I filled it back up to 70oz and we headed out on a 14 mile lollipop route. The route provided a lot of shade and we were only exposed for about 1 hour in the direct sun. We ran in and out of it up and down and down and up the trails. The course was nothing short of a challenge. I was very tense for fear of falling and really messing up my ribs/shoulder. As a result I found myself carefully choosing every step and not taking my eyes off of the trail.....which when you stop causes you to become very dizzy.

As far as nutrition, I religiously took 2 amino acids and 3 enduralytes every hour. For breakfast I had 2 cold slices of pizza and a water along with 2 hammer pre race supplements. I managed to consume about 250-300 calories an hour, mostly in the form of gels and shot blocks. At mile 22 when we stopped at the aid station I ate another piece of pizza and about 7-8 chips ahoy cookies. I only had a couple of times that I felt glycogen lows but overall managed my blood sugar well.

My heart rate throughout the day was pretty good. I started the day huffing and puffing and my HR shot up to 170 for the first 15 minutes or so and I could not get enough oxygen. After about 45 minute to an hour I settled into a good rhythm and my breathing and HR normalized. It remained under control for most of the day.

I was pretty pleased with how I felt overall. Upon finishing I sucked down my mix of proteins, L glutamine, glucosamine and recoverite. Before going to bed last night took additional amino acids, antioxidants and tissue rebuilders from hammer. Not too sore, other than both IT bands are really tight and my should/ribs were pretty beat up - but not too badly.

I made it into Leadville last night around 6PM after stopping and picking up some elk jerky which I ate today...all of it. I had dinner at the local italian restaurant where I had the same server as last year, Christy, who paced a runner last year and will do so again this year in the 100 trail run. After loading up on pasta I sucked down a few coors lights at the local watering hole and hit the rack. After tossing and turning from the altitude I noticed that Carla had returned from her girls night out, so I skyped her chatted a while, saw my little pups and then fell fast asleep...till I woke up to an accelerated HR at 6AM due to the altitude.....It was a spectacular day in Leadville today other than my injuries are wearing my ass out right now...I'll blog about it with some awesome pics tomorrow. Going to sleep while my body begins to manufacture the much needed additional red blood cells!

Cheers!

Hitting theTrails.....

Today is going to be a long day of training....I've got my cold pizza packed, cookies, 70oz camelback, sunscreen, gels, enduralytes, amino acids and shot blocks along with post run drink and Alleve. Plan on playing it safe today and going to enjoy the views, take some pics and chill....

Grabbing a quick shower then off to pick up Tim Engel at 5AM....currently 54F...highs of 77F expected with potential thunderstorms.

Cheers!

DTR Run at Mt Falcon

Yesterday made it up to Mt Falcon, near Evergreen, for the 6:15PM run at 7,500ft of altitude. It was my first run since my bad bike crash. I felt pretty sore running and breathing was difficult. Thinking that the first run at this altitude was the primary reason and my injured shoulder/lung was the secondary. We ran a little over 5 miles which brought my total weekly miles up to about 18.

I had a pretty rough night as my shoulder gave me a lot of trouble. So I got up at 4:30AM, skyped Carla at 5:00AM took a shower and got ready for work, but not before picking up my iphone from a very nice lady that found it in the road yesterday.

I'm eating better this week as I try to drop a few pounds getting back into a real workout routine. This evening I went to 24HRF to get in a light 2 mile run and stretch out. Did some laundry at the hotel and grabbed some pasta to fuel up for our 28-30 mile run tomorrow beginning at 6AM. The course has 20,000 feet of elevation gain and loss, so it's going to be a tough tough day. If I have to walk it, I will. Not planning on setting any land speed records.

I plan on taking some pics with the Iphone for my blog. Post run the plan is to drive up to Leadville to get in a 10 mile run at 10,000 ft of altitude. Nothing major just running some rather flat trails. Getting up at 4AM - so hitting the rack early...Cheers!

Good News From the Dr

Sunday was a day of rest per se.....got in a 6.5 mile power walk yesterday at a 15 minute per mile pace. It was good to get out and get in a work out. Today got up early to take Jack to bball camp and then to the office for a series of calls before my 10:30 orthopedic dr visit as a follow up from last Tuesday's crash. He checked out the tapes and told me that my scapula is a good bone to break because it heals very quickly due to the amount of blood flow to it...which is why I'm so bruised. My ribs will also be healed in a couple of weeks, however the cartilage is much slower and will take months. Massage therapy will help as will stretching - which I will do both. The separated shoulder will take some time and I'll just need to ice and take it easy...no bike for a while.

This evening I managed to get in a 5 mile power walk and was pretty sore in my ribs...tomorrow is another day. Will take some Alleve in the morning and get a massage tomorrow...and just some strength training of the legs. This weekend headed to Leadville to train at altitude....need to manufacture some extra red blood cells.

Dr Stark basically gave me the green light today to start back training, with caution and limit it to work outs that do not jar the shoulder....stationary bike and hiking or a light jog....Hoping by next weekend I feel appreciably better so I can get in 10-12 hour hikes each day.....

Keeping the faith..Cheers!

Feeling Better.....

Woke up this am after a restless night of sleeping. It's difficult to find a comfortable position when your ribs and shoulder blade is all jacked up. Nevertheless I managed to get in about 8 hours of sleep and woke up pretty stiff. I popped a couple of Alleve, sucked down a bottle of water and 2 cups of java and was inspired to head to the gym.

No running today, just 3.5 miles of walking at a 10 degree incline at 3.7MPH on the treadmill. The first 20 minutes were interestingly similar to how I felt after I cracked a couple of ribs falling down my stairs when I started back my training out in San Francisco with Daley. I started out feeling really sore but stuck with it and the muscles started to loosen up and by mile 2.5 I was feeling loose and actually pretty good...relatively speaking. What's funny in hindsight.....when I went to SF to train with Daley I had jcked up my ribs 2 weeks prior and was concerned about not being able to run.....so when I got to SF I rented a mountain bike to ride the trails, just in case I couldn't run....glad I could run that day...little did I know or understand how dangerous mountain bikes can be.

Suffice to say, I am switching gears and focusing on the run and going to do the Leadville Silver Rush 50 run instead of the bike. The jury is still out on whether or not I'm going to attempt to do the LT 100 bike the week out from the run....If I crash hard in the LT 100 I'm done for the LT 100 run, as that run is the real deal and you have got to be in peak condition to attempt that baby.

This morning's workout was a good mental exercise and not too rough on the damaged old bones. Going to do the same tomorrow except I'm thinking that I get up early and do a 10 mile speed walk on my normal run route. Also, got in my calf and quad presses today as well. No core for the next week at least, pretty sore still. Taking it easy this afternoon, doing some work on the computer and going to hang at the pool and grab some rays while I finish up a book that I've been trying to get through on Ultrarunning......

Feeling good!

Temporary Detour......

After work on Tuesday I decided to head up to White Ranch to give the new mountain bike a ride on the trails that I ran the previous week with the DTR's. I arrived at about 6:45PM and was pretty excited to get on the bike and break in the bike. I was so excited that after about a mile or so into the bike ride I realized that I had forgotten to put on my helmet.....a very bad move. So I made a conscious decision to take the trails nice and easy, even walked the bike up several steep ascents and descents for fear of crashing.

Below is a picture of my bike that I sent to Carla as I was at the turn around and decided to head back down the mountain. My text read "...1st official ride...Golden CO...it's hard and dangerous.XO" Realizing that the trails were challenging I took it slow back down the switchbacks. At about 1.5 miles out I was on a sparsely rocky trail with several undulations and I hit a rock on a down hill and flipped my bike and landed on my right shoulder/should blade, as seen in the pic below. I hit with a lot of force and my body absorbed the initial impact with my head snapping to the side hitting the ground, around the area of my temple.



With the wind knocked out of me and my ears ringing all I could think was what a dumb ass I was to be out on the trails by myself and without a helmet. As I laid on my back trying to get oxygen back into my lungs I felt the side of my head to make certain that I wasn't bleeding....fortunately I wasn't.

After a few minutes a guy on a bike came upon me and asked if I was ok and I told him no that I had taken a pretty hard fall and thought that I had broke my shoulder. He helped me to my feet and I gathered my thoughts and went through my birthday and the days events in my head to see how bad my head injury was, again fortunately just a hard knock on the head. He sat there with me for a few minutes when a hiker walked down the trail and we were able to have her walk my bike back to the trail head which was about 1.25 miles from where I had crashed. I made it back to the trailhead/parking lot and a few guys helped put my bike in the car and I drove myself to Denver General ER.

I entered the ER with all of my bike gear on, my face still half dirt from the fall and my right arm being supported by my left as I approached the clerk. The guy at the desk said, "...looks like you went over the handle bars..." a common occurrence in mountain biking I have come to find out. A nurse immediately took me into a room took my vitals and got me checked in and jammed an IV into my arm....no waiting in the waiting room tonight at the ER. Instead I was in the ER side room in a bed from about 9PM till 5AM the following morning. After a series of xrays and CT scans, along with several doses of morphine it was determined that I had a 2 degree separation of my right shoulder, posterior 2 and 3 ribs fractured along with my scapula.

I was actually just happy to be at the ER and getting diagnosed so I could assess my go forward plans with training for Leadville. Obviously very frustrated with the outcome of my first ride on real trails but left with great respect for the bike and trails. I have to say that I am reassessing the whole mountain bike aspect of the Leadville 100 race series and think that I'm going to just simply focus on the run, which is hard enough.

In a bunch of pain right now but optimistic that I will get healed up well enough to start back my training on the treadmill and a stationary bike within the next week.....as they say...time will tell...shit smells...and water seeks its own level.

This only reminds me of our theme song from the Running of the Bulls when I turned 40......"I get get knocked down but I get up again....you're never gonna keep me down...!!!!

Cheers!