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Next Up – Moab

03 Thursday Mar 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Canyonlands, half marathon, Imogene Pass, IPR, Moab, Pasta Jays

I feel fully recovered from the Austin Marathon. Admittedly, I’ve only been running my little four mile route, but the runs have felt strong and all the lingering pain from the marathon has dissipated. It’s such a relief to escape any ultra distance conflict injury free. Just ask Alohawk pictured here descending Imogene Pass about that. Or better yet, read his blog on how such injuries can impact later events. He got lucky in that he mostly recovered before his next big event. I feel like I dodged a bullet considering I launched this season with a marathon. Could have ruined the entire season. Instead, I’m feeling pretty confident.

Moab Canyonlands is next up in 16 days. This is going to be a blast – half the neighborhood is going. We’ve already made reservations for Pasta Jay’s on Friday. And I expect Dave will cook up some awesome BBQ on Saturday. Some of my friends will be biking on Slickrock, which I’ve never done since I’ve yet to visit Moab; but I understand it’s one of the most fantastic mountain trails ever. Biking is on my list of things to find time for this year. First, I’ll need to buy a bike.

I’m not certain if I’ll amp up my training for Moab. These 4 mile runs are feeling nice and comfy. I’ll squeeze in more distance on the weekends of course, but I’m not looking to race Moab in spectacular fashion. In fact, I’m more interested in using it to gain experience on pacing myself. I’d like to control my first mile or two with about a 9 minute mile pace. And assuming I feel good after that, speed up to whatever. It’ll be interesting to see what “whatever” turns out to be. You’ll be the first to know, as soon as they post the results. Sooner if I decide to wear a watch.

40.137598 -105.107652

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IPR – Pre Race Prep

10 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Imogene Pass, IPR, Ouray, run, Uncompahgre

I’m committed now.  We arrived in Ouray Thursday and checked into the Beaumont Hotel.  The picture is of Karen and Ellie standing outside the hotel on Main Street, about where the race will start tomorrow.  The run will proceed up the hill in the background.  We met some friends, Khris, Janet and Sadie Mae, for drinks last night at the Hotel’s Voodoo Lounge and had an Italian dinner at Bon Ton.  The Voodoo Lounge has an extremely impressive wine list, especially what they serve by the glass.  Our friends own an eclectic cooking and kitchenware store in town where Ellie bought an apron – and wore the rest of the night.  Ouray itself is a spectacular setting, surrounded on three sides by dramatic canyon cliffs.  The Uncompahgre River flows through town and is encircled by hiking trails.  Ellie and I will hit the Ouray Hot Springs later this afternoon.

Khris, a graduate of NY’s CIA and accomplished cook and baker, ran the IPR several years ago and gave me advice.  He told me to expect the uphill climb to start immediately, along with the pain.  But that I could expect the early race excitement and associated adrenalin to get me through the initial shock.  And then the trick is to simply keep a forward motion and soon my body would lose sense of the strain and carry me up to the summit easily within the cutoff times.  I took this with a grain of salt since he completed the course in 3 hours and I’m planning on closer to 5 hours.

I ran the first two miles of the race this morning to prep, and I think Khris’ advice will pan out.  I was indeed shocked at how steep the course began along Hwy 550.  The route turned off the highway after a quarter mile and onto the hard packed gravel jeep trail that most of the race will consist of.  I was breathing heavily (this begins at over 7800 feet) and my ankles and calves were burning.  It occurred to me I should have included toe raises in my training regimen.  I can’t whine about this course like I did Garden of the Gods because the IPR makes no pretense.  It goes up for 10 miles.  And up means a steady and steep incline.  Even the apparent dips were still sloped upwards.  But after the first mile, I stopped noticing my legs and I actually caught my breath.  I’d settled into my pace.  I continued for the 2nd mile which was my goal and would make a nice 4 mile workout.  My lower legs did indeed become numb.  Apparently you don’t really need lower legs for running, wooden pegs suffice.  My thighs and hamstrings felt fine so perhaps I’m in sufficient shape for this little walkabout the San Juan Mountains.

At 2 miles I did an about-face and headed back down.  I checked my time and was surprised to learn I maintained a 10 minute per mile pace.  My confidence at making the cutoff times got a boost from that.  This prep run was brilliant.  I didn’t want to wear myself out with too hard a run before tomorrow, but I would have liked to go up 5 miles to the Lower Bird Mine.  Khris told that the course will leave the jeep road there and detour through the mine.  That will be cool.  Can’t wait until tomorrow.

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IPR Fear and Loathing

07 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Boise St., Imogene Pass, IPR, Ouray, run, Telluride

Imogene Pass Run

The Imogene Pass Run is this weekend.  I declined when Rob first asked me to run this race early in the year.  It didn’t seem like something within my physical capabilities.  But then a second friend Mike said let’s do it and I signed up.  Registering was good for me.  I would never have reached this level of fitness without such a fear of impending altitude induced pain.

Hopefully I won’t kill myself before the race gun fires.  I stumbled on my mountain trail run yesterday.  With less than a mile remaining on an 11 mile trail, my right shoe toed a rock and I fell forward on a downhill section of single track.  I was able to roll left while falling to keep my face from smashing into a rock the size of my head.  But the roll resulted in my left hip colliding hard with the craggy trail.  My roll continued spinning me left into another large rock and giant prickly bush – which spared my now bloody carcass from tumbling down a steep hill.

I laid there for a minute, contemplating how I might have just injured myself to where I couldn’t run this Saturday.  But the bush wasn’t comfortable enough to lay in for long so I extracted my body with a counter roll back onto the trail.  Because of strong pain in my left hip, launching that exit roll took more mental will than I could ever accurately describe.  I thought about waiting for help to come by before moving.  The exit roll and a tad bit of sideways scooting to the main trail was of course uphill.  It was a fair amount more strenuous and painful than standing myself back up.  Upon standing, a lone biker reached me and asked how I was.  He didn’t see me fall but did witness me crawling out of the bush.  He hung around while I collected myself.  He told me stories of his bike crashes on this treacherous trail.  I don’t remember any of them because I was in a fairly myopic self-centered state of mind at the time.  He left after he was satisfied I could walk.  Soon I began running again for the last quarter mile before reaching the trail head.  The injuries were largely superficial and the pain from my bruised hip gradually subsided – until this morning.  I recall laughing at some pain medicine commercial (Tylenol, Bufferin – not sure) that played during the Boise St. vs Virginia Tech game last night that pitched the concept of aspirin for breakfast.  I thought it was ridiculous last night but I could have been a use case this morning.  I ran a 4 mile recovery run later today and I don’t expect my injuries to worry me on Saturday.

Like I need more worries.  Did you click on the graphic to review the altitude and rate of incline?  The cutoff time to reach Upper Camp Bird is 2.5 hours.  4.5 hours for the summit.  That might seem like walking pace – actually it might be – but not at altitude man!  My biggest concern and as well as goal for this race is to make those cutoff times.  I’m less concerned about the 7 hour cutoff time for the complete course.  Assuming I shuffle up to Imogene Pass in under 4.5 hours, I can likely roll down to Telluride in 2.5 hours – now that I’ve had practice rolling.  Honestly, I hope to complete this race in under 5 hours, start to finish, although I have no idea what to expect in terms of time.  I know it will hurt.  I hit the wall at the 18 mile point in my first marathon.  I figure much of the 10 miles uphill will feel just like that – which is a nightmare.  Hence the loathing.  But I’m also extremely excited.  And for a bonus, this is my first trip to Ouray and Telluride.  Karen and I intend to visit our sister-in-law’s sister Janet and her husband for drinks on Thursday.  They’ve lived in Ouray for several years.  And I’ll be running with my buddy Rob.  Well, “with” being a relative term.  I hope to see him if he waits for me at the finish.

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