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Chautauqua

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Boulder, Chautauqua, Jabe's Running Group, Mesa Trail, trail runner

keithKeith and I ran the Mesa Trail again this Saturday, but in the reverse direction.  We started and ended at Chautauqua Park in Boulder.  This enabled us to breakfast at the Chautauqua Dining Hall.  This place doesn’t get much press, one of Boulder’s hidden gems.  We didn’t feel under-dressed in our sweaty running gear and muddy shoes.  Although I’m not sure it’s possible to under-dress anywhere in Boulder, except maybe the Flagstaff House restaurant.  We were here because of Susan’s (Keith’s wife) birthday.  She was running with Jabe’s Running Group – an incredibly social network of runners in my neighborhood.  They launched from the South Mesa Trailhead and joined us for breakfast at Chautauqua.  With seven runners and several other hikers and friends, we pwned the place.

bridgeThis running-centered, real-world social event leads me to think of the virtual social discussion from the Trail Runner Magazine’s current blogging topic:  Social Media – Bane or Boon to Trail Running.  It seems unlikely any blogger would respond “bane”, and I’m no exception.  I’ll tell you how I leverage social media.  When I plan to run a trail, as part of an event or otherwise, I query hiking and running blogs for trail descriptions.  It’s the rare trail race web site that describes an event to the detail I desire.  I’m happy if they provide an elevation chart, but those can be misleading.  Many event web sites are so poor in content I wonder why they bother.  I’m waiting for the year the Boulder Marathon figures out how to add links to their sponsor logos.  Even the good ones though, like the IPR from Ouray to Telluride, are no substitute for a verbose, segment-by-segment writeup by a good blogger.  I want more than a description, I want to read the experience.

eveThe information I look for in a running blog includes advice on how to prep for the event.  How to optimally run the course.  Especially tips on the best eateries in the vicinity.  It’s difficult to say exactly what detail will turn out good-to-know.  Copious comments might contain content that I would not have thought to consider.  This is where the social aspect comes into play.  Social media is a boon to communication.  And communication expands the potential of whatever it’s focused on.

I can imagine worse case scenarios wherein word-of-mouth leads to more popularity than a trail or event can support.  You see this with some big road races; they start out small and become huge as a consequence of their successful operations.  Trails generally control this by setting limits on participation.  I don’t know how trail events establish these limits – probably experience.  I think the Imogene Pass Run has a weather related cutoff time to get runners over the pass.  Regardless, I don’t think trail running suffers any adverse affects from social media.  It’s all good.

jabeFrom the WordPress stats my blog receives, I find many readers come from searches on upcoming events.  No doubt, they query blogs for the same reasons I do.  Search terms contain the race name along with the word “training” or “review”.  Immediately after the event, searches contain the race name along with “results” and “photos”.  Of course I don’t see as many searches for this as I do “sexy trail runner” and “runner porn”, but that’s the Internet for you.

My runner’s story is a prime example of running related social media.  It extends my enjoyment of trail running with another enjoyable hobby of writing.  Perhaps posting these pics of my friends on the trail today enhances our collective experience.  That’s Keith in the first two pics, he’s navigating a treacherous snow-covered bridge in the second.  The trail was more mud today than dirt from Wednesday’s half foot of snow.  We could only average a 12 minute pace for ten miles.  Eve, in the third photo, dared to wear brightly-colored gear despite the mud.  She later said the conditions made her feel like a kid.  Jabe is clearly enjoying herself as she wades upstream on the trail in the fourth photo.  And the final pic captures our birthday runner Susan leading Jen in both conversation and running on the snow covered trail.

Susan and JenI missed snapping a shot of Suzy, and unfortunately she didn’t have time to join us for breakfast.  It was a two hour run.  I will say the real world social aspect of running beats this virtual social media stuff hands down.  The girls told hilarious stories and the food at that place was awesome.  So were my two Bloody Marys.  The virtual world is no substitute for drinking after a satisfying ten mile trail run through snow, ice and mud.  Sharing pictures is a nice benefit of social media.  It helps to remember the experience.  Not as good as being there though.

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15K at the Boulder Res

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Bolder Boulder, boulder half race photos, Jabe's Running Group, Massage Envy, prints4sale, Shannon Dunlap

Boulder Half FinishI’m running the Boulder Distance Classic Saturday morning.  This is not something I had planned until a week or two ago.  I couldn’t resist the affordable registration fee.  It’s an unusual distance at 15K – or 9.3 miles.  I’ll leverage the event and crowd to make it a speed workout.  I might use the first mile to warm up and then see how long I can hold a 7 minute pace.  Maybe a 7:10 pace.  That’s probably more realistic as a speed I can maintain.  Shoot, a 7:20 pace would be an improvement and anything under 7:45 will be a decent speed workout.  So it’s settled then, a 7:30 pace.

Some of my Prospect neighbors will be running.  Jabe’s Running Group will be there.  I think I’m most excited that the course isn’t over the same old back roads of every other Boulder Res event.  Rather, it’s mostly trail and loops back around Coot Lake and the irrigation canal on the north side of the Res.  I haven’t run that trail since I had my Texas dogs, Teddy and Tara.  I miss running with those dogs; they used to keep me in shape.

Whatever pace I’m able to hold, I should try to maintain it for at least 6 miles.  That will make for an excellent Bolder Boulder training run.  I need to get out this week though to log some miles.  Never-ending night time calls to Japan and the rest of AP are getting in the way of my evening routine.  Work needs to settle down.  Or I need to start running around 3 in the afternoon.  That might be the answer.  Running must be prioritized with everything else if I’m going to meet any of my goals this summer.  Good Lord, I have a marathon in 6 weeks.  All this focus lately on speed; I can’t forget distance.  I need more time in the day.  While I’m whining, it wouldn’t hurt if it could stop snowing and warm up a bit.  Weather willing, I think I might follow up Saturday’s 15K with a 15 miler Sunday.  I do that, then I’m scheduling a massage with Shannon too.

I did get in 7 miles today.  Couldn’t run a speed workout on the LoBo Trail though.  The snow was mostly melted and because of that it was wet.  It was like slogging through a muddy river bottom.  Averaged an 8:19 pace and held that fairly steady.  My first two miles were both 8:14.4.  Exact to the tenth of a second.  That’s an official race photo above.  For anyone who ran the Boulder Half, the race pics are available at prints4sale.com.  Photographer Jason Powers caught two pics of me airborne.  I love that.

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Fartlek

21 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Abbie Johnson, fartlek, Jabe's Running Group, Keith Jaggers, Kelly Hendershot

team medal picHere’s part of Jabe’s Running Group in Moab.  I had a discussion recently with a friend about ten years younger than me on our respective optimal running distance.  The conversation started discussing a 5K we ran together last December. He said either a 5K or 10K was his best distance.  I responded that the half marathon was mine.  Distance running gets easier with age.  Not that you speed up necessarily but the distance becomes more comfortable.  I believe it is true that you can continue to build aerobic capacity with age; although you certainly lose speed.

Maybe not lose speed so much as fall into a single speed.  My pace over the last 4 years is a case in point.  I’ve run as fast in marathons as I have in 10Ks.  My last 3 Bolder Boulder 10Ks ranged from 7:45 to 8:17 per mile.  I’ve run 2 half marathons this year well under 7:45 minute miles while 8:17 is my average pace over the last few years.  And I’ve even run an 8:19 pace in the 2010 Denver Marathon.  The distance almost doesn’t matter.  My legs are stuck in low gear.  A true sign of an aging runner.

I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I think I want to run a break-out Bolder Boulder this spring.  Maybe not the 6:35 pace I ran it in 23 years ago, but I’m seriously thinking under 7 minutes per mile.  I did run a couple of 5Ks last December and couldn’t break a 7 minute pace but that’s sort of to my point.  I should be able to run shorter distances at a faster pace.  I should be able to put on a kick at the end of my half marathons instead of needing to cool down.  Question is, how to get faster?  Without throwing up.

I’m not running intervals on the track.  Certainly not repetitions.  The plan is to mix some speed play into my distance runs.  This is known as running fartleks and is a nice way to get in a track workout on the trail.  This could possibly help me run stronger in the Boulder Half in April but I’m really doing this to run faster in the Bolder Boulder 10K, which isn’t for another two months.  I suspect the best way to improve my half marathon and marathon pace would be to simply lose weight, but that’s not something I care to do.  I’m good with 175.  I still have a bit of a paunch, but it looks fine in a sports coat.

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