Previous | Next | 2000 Index | Newsletter Index
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 12:41 PM Subject: Incline Club V4 OS#2 & club BBQ I can always tell when people are getting ready for the club runs to begin — I start getting “I am still on the mailing list?” e-mails on a much more regular basis:-) It is exciting to see the momentum building already for our next season. Remember we start the club runs on the last Sunday of November. Yes, this is the time that many go into shut down mode but we will be doing what we know works — building our base over the Winter months so that come Spring we are ready to move into a faster gear without getting hurt. A good strategy is to set a goal for yourself for November and keep it simple. Try something like running every day in November for at least 20 minutes with a longer run on the weekend. For those that run more make it an hour a day with a long run on the weekend. For those that run less perhaps make it to run at least 4 days out of every week etc.. Bottom line is that you need to use the month of November to get in enough miles so that you can handle the first long run of our next season. Waldo will not care what kind of shape you are in — it is hungry for runner meat! #### The main purpose of this off season mail is to let you know that ICer Craig Hess is hosting a fall BBQ for the club this Saturday at 1pm. I will give out a T-shirt to whomever can lay claim to gaining the most weight during the off season! (HEY! I had to think of something that would keep Paul S from winning yet ANOTHER T-shirt;-) Here are the details: Greetings IC’ers, My summer BBQ slipped a good 90 days, but better late than never. I’m having a little BBQ this Saturday, 21 Oct. I think it’s been long enough to have another get together for the club. I’ll provide the drinks and basic grill stuff. It’s BYOEGS. (Bring your own exotic grill stuff.) If you could bring a side dish or desert, that would be great. No big deal if you can’t. Adults only please unless your kids are still cradle bound, or otherwise able to serve food and drinks. :) Please send me an email (e-mail address removed for www posting) or call (380-1231) if you can to let me know if you can make it or are a definite maybe so I can plan ahead. 3760 Birdie Ct. Springs Ranch near Powers and North Carefree. East on North Carefree, right on Peterson Blvd, right on Pony Tracks, right on Birdie Ct. Showtime is at 1300. And please, leave you running shoes at home :) #### Keith G and a couple others have been sending me some mail about making some changes to the club for next year to make it easier to go do races and not feel guilty about it. I know of at least a few people that skipped a race to keep their streaks going — myself included! We bounced around a few rules for races that could still get a “*” and here is ***draft*** of what we came up with so far. Remember that since we are a trail/mountain club we don’t *think* we should be giving out a “*” for any old 5K or road race. I would love some feedback on this!!! Please!!! Any trail race 10K or longer Any race 20 miles or longer Any race that climbs more than 2000 feet Any race that has a point higher than 10,000’ For any of the above a race report must be sent for the club newsletter #### I ran on the Barr Trail on a Thursday at 5:30pm for old time sake and what do I see? Rick H, John C and Steve B whipping out the Thursday night tempo run! Now these guys are diehard! #### A BIG welcome back to Kelly M who moved back to the Springs a week ago! We look forward to having him back at the club runs:-) #### For those that missed the last Fall Series race the ICs own Larry M put in his very own SkyWall complete with ropes! I got to be the rope master and cheer people on! Anthony S put his upper body to work and blew by Rick H in an awesome display of batmantism! #### Friends of the Peak is hosting what I think will be a really neat show on Friday, October 27, at 6:30pm at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post. Dr. Steve Jennings will give a slide show of pictures taken on Pikes Peak — Then and Now. He has some really old photos from different places on the peak and went back to the exact locations and took the same pictures. Amazing what can happen over the years! The club has been a big supporter of Friends of the Peak and I hope you can make this show. It is FREE and a light buffet will be provided as well as some random prize drawings:-) RSVP here: http://www.fotp.com/invite.htm #### Four more years (’76, ‘78, ‘81 and ‘86) have been added to the Skyrunner Pikes Peak results archives. It is looking like Doug Laufer is leading the Incline Club runners with the most peak races at 20 and a streak that goes back to ‘86. This is also good for 4th on the overall list as well! This is for the years I have in the database — 3 volunteers are working on inputting ‘80, ‘82 and ‘83 to complete the archives back to 76 — the last course change. When I get those years added I will put out a more detailed club report for the streakers. Some names to watch for: Nicole R, Robert M, Rick H, Glen A, Eck Z and I am sure some others. http://www.skyrunner.com/search/find.asp will let you see where you stand. #### Here are some club member race updates. Some are not very timely (sorry but again it is the off season for my e-mail writing as well) but they are still fun to read... #### Steve B writes: Posted a new trip report for the high point of Arizona, Humphries Peak, near Flagstaff: http://www.crosswinds.net/~stevebremner/humphries.htm Ran the Air Force marathon last weekend--7th overall, 1st masters, 2:41:03, new course record for 45-49 age group (beat old record by seven minutes). (Wow, am I that old??) Cheers! #### Miles K writes: Matt and all Incline Members: My name is Miles Krier and I also finished the LT 100 this year. I am from Florida but I have been on your mailing list for almost two years and I would like to thank you all for helping me finish. I was able to stay with friends in Colorado Springs for three weeks and train on your “Peak.” Your training runs and splits to Barr Camp, A-Frame and Elk Park was the focus of my training. I also did one set of Hydro repeats and made it to the summit once,(my first 14er). There are many reasons that your group has done as well as it has; i.e.: a great place to train and the willingness to share the experience. Living in Colorado; I hope that you do not take anything for granted because from Florida, (which in Seminole means ***king HELL), I am grateful that you share your experiences with me. Congratulations to every member of the club on a very successful season and I am sure that next year will be even better. With your help I achieved my goal of a sub 24 hour run, (23:53) and have set a goal of sub 24 at Wasatch next year. Keep training and writing, I can use your help and your strength...and after you “speed up"... remember to always finish ... with a smile on your face and a song in your heart! #### Peak stories 34-35 Go here for all 35 2000 Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon “Things done right, things done wrong” stories!!! #### Carol S writes: I have been debating for a week now on whether or not I should send this report of my first encounter with the Leadville Trail 100. As I did not finish the run, I was VERY disappointed, but not defeated...like someone else said “I just haven’t finished, yet.” So, this e_mail goes in the Learn from Your Mistakes category. My hope in sharing this information is that there will be something here that will help other runners to learn from MY mistakes, and help them accomplish their goal. Here’s a report on my first LT100 experience. I completed 55 of the required 100 miles... that constitutes a DNF. I had lots of company as 57% of those who actually started the run, also DNF’d. Congrats to Tom and Keith who are in the preferred category with the 43% who finished ! Here’s how my run ended: I spent the night in the MED tent at Hope Pass Aid Station, Inbound, because my core body temp had dropped too low to continue on down to Twin Lakes, i.e. I was hypothermic. Here’s how my run went. I felt good and strong all the way through Twin Lakes to the Colorado Trail, at the start of the climb up Hope Pass. I felt like my pace on the ascent was too slow, but it was steady. I caught and passed every runner on the way to the Aid Station at the Pass. When I reached the summit, I knew that I would have to push hard to make the cut-off at Winfield...and that is exactly what I did. I ran down as fast as I could to Clear Creek Road. I felt strong and agile, lots of fancy footwork, and no falls. I passed lots of runners on the way down. When I reached the road, I threw all my gear on the ground and hauled butt as fast as I could to Winfield. I reached the Station there with 11 seconds to spare on the cutoff time. At that point, I was feeling icky-sicky. I did not have any time to rest, so me and my pacer took off, and I pushed hard to get back to the Colorado Trail. I headed up the trail with my Gortex jacket, but no tights and no extra long sleeve shirt. This was a mistake. About 1/3 up the trail, I rejected the entire contents of my stomach. I was surprised at the large volume of liquid that came up. That told me that my stomach had stopped processing a while back. Anyway, from that point on I did not eat or drink much of anything, and the nausea continued, as relentless as my forward progress was slow. I did not stop and sit down, or hug any trees. The longest ‘pause’ that I would allow myself would be to stop and take three deep breaths (which helped my tummy feel better), and then I would start moving again. I did not throw-up again, but I felt pretty awful. Then the storm blew in. This was an intense storm with high winds, cold rain and sleet. I had sleet pounding the backs of my bare legs for over an hour, at which point I could not really feel my legs much at all. I knew I was in trouble. I was behind the energy and hydration curve, and although I was sweating like a pig, I was still getting cold on t he way up the Pass. That told me the air temp had dropped very low. I knew that I had to keep moving and get to the Aid Station below Hope Pass on the Twin Lakes side. When we arrived at the Aid Station, I went into the Cook Tent, which was warm. I drank some hot water, and warmed my hands up. My hands were very cold (I did have some poly-pro liners on), and they really hurt when they started warming up. I had two people massaging my legs to get the circulation going and to get them warmed up a bit. They told me that the backs of my legs were as cold as ice. After about 15 minutes, I began to shiver uncontrollably. I knew at that point that my core body temp had dropped too low for me to continue on, under the circumstances (night, cold, rain, low energy, etc.). So, I went over to the MED tent, and told the paramedics that I needed to get warm (through chattering teeth). They took EXCELLENT care of me,.and so I spent the night there in a sleeping bag. I have been trying to analyze these events to determine a ‘root cause’ and hopefully some corrective action that I could apply in the future. I am not sure that I completely understand what happened, but here’s my thoughts anyway. I think the problem with the nausea was caused from over-exertion, the hard push to get to Winfield before the cut-off. Then I did not have time to adequately recover before the ascent up Hope Pass. I did not dress appropriately for the weather that did beset us on the way up, and so I got too cold for me to even warm up enough in the Cook’s tent. The rest is history. I knew better than to continue on down to Twin Lakes, because I knew I would only get colder on the descent under the conditions, i.e. dark, cold, storms. If you cannot stay warm on the ascent...you will not get any warmer on the descent. Just for the record, my legs were strong, and the altitude did not bother me at all. I believe I could have finished if I had been able to get over Hope Pass sooner on the way Inbound. So, I think I need to improve my fitness level, so that I can run just a bit faster, so I can get to Winfield sooner, next time. I will not be satisfied until I get that buckle. And I will not give up on my dream of a finish at Leadville. I only have 354 days to train for LT100-2001 !!!!!! #### Sid R writes: Don’t know if you were going to have another “V4 OS,” but thought I’d share this with the club, regarding blisters. While I have the opportunity, I’ll gloat a little and report that after finishing the marathon I’d didn’t have a blister or a scratch! I did have some cramps in my thigh, as I told in my story, though. Anyway, don’t know if everyone knows this, but there was a study at Westpoint, U.S. Military Academy, recently regarding foot blisters. They sprayed their feet with antiperspirant before long runs/hikes, and had a lot fewer blisters. The moisture from the sweat promotes blisters, while keeping the feet dry — blister-free!! #### Mike K writes: Race: Oh My God Run, Aug 27 9:00am Distance: 8 miles (8.4 as measured on my bicycle) Elevation gain: 1800+ (seemed greater of course) Start: Idaho Springs End: Central City Course: Up the Oh My God road Runners: 23! Winning time: 0:57 My time 1:20 Place: somewhere in the top 10 RACE REPORT SHORT VERSION: Running on a beautiful course, I battled another runner the entire race to become victorious at the end. RACE REPORT LONG VERSION: This was a really nice race and I’m glad I ran it. I decided to do this one instead of the Run the Rock in Castlerock because it looked challenging and I had run the Rock last year. It started at the park in Idaho Springs and the small crowd seemed to all know one another, in fact all the runners got together right before the start and posed for a group photo. Since this was a point to poin race and I had no support crew I decided to bike back down from the top. The race director transported my bike up there for me. The run started and all 23 of us were off. Just like Pikes Peak the steepest parts were right at the beginning. I didn’t have a time goal but decided to run as hard as possible and ABSOLUTELY not walk. The pack spread out quickly and there was plenty of road to run on. The scenery was spectacular with a very clear day, in fact it was so clear that when we got up the road aways I could see the observatory on the top of Mt. Evans! After the turn onto the main road I found myself actually racing with another runner! This is the first race in at least 5 years where I started and finished in direct competition with another runner. Needless to say it was quite exciting and we both pushed each other to run faster than we would have alone. The lead see-sawed between us with him alternating between running and walking and me trying to maintain a steady pace. He had a very effective technique where he would run out very quick then take a walk break. When I would catch up to him on his walk interval he would tear off again opening up a 50 yard gap. This was quite unnerving to me but I decided to keep with it and drop this guy no matter what. I thought that he would eventually crack and lengthen his walk breaks but this did not happen. He opened up a 20 second gap after I had to take a nature call but I noticed that he lowered his pace. It turns out he only sped up when I was near to overtaking him. With that knowledge in hand I formulated my strategy: I would stay at my pace till he started running and then slightly increase my pace. He still pulled away but to less of a distance each time. The end result of this was that he had less of a walk break each time. Less walk break equaled less recovery time and all I had to do was be patient and not try to blast by him. Sure enough, after about 10 more of these run/walk sessions I was right on his tail after his run interval. He walked about 5 yards then I passed him and he started running immediately, so I thought, “here we go!” I picked up the pace and he stayed right with me so I knew I had some real work ahead of me. I didn’t want to go out too hard and crack myself but I needed to open up a big enough gap to demoralize him. We both ran hard for over 2 minutes which was far longer than his typical 30 second run intervals he had been doing. I finally heard him start to drop back. I did not dare turn around and look because this would have revealed my worry over such a thing but instead relied on my hearing to detect his footsteps and breathing. I continued to run hard for another minute and then dropped back to regular pace. I few minutes later I looked back and he was still there only about 30 yards back! I then realized that this guy was not giving up and that it was going to be a race all the way to the finish. I then decided to employ a trick I call Stealth Acceleration. My theory is that if you can accelerate without your opponent knowing it he will think he is wearing out. I did this by speeding up after each turn, of which there were many on this course. What I did was at each blind corner I would wait till I was out of his view then I would run hard for 10 seconds. The trick is not to open up too much of a gap each time. If you do then your opponent knows you are surging and he will probably respond the same. After a few of the Stealth jumps I looked back and he was over 100 yards back so I decided that this was so much fun that I would do it again! There was another runner ahead of me by about 200 yards so I decided to try and reel him in. He helped me a lot by taking a nature call and all of a sudden I’m only about 100 yards back. Unlike the other runner this guy ran at a steady pace so my pursuit was agonizingly slow. I also knew that the high point of the road was near and we would soon start the 2 mile downhill section. This concerned me because I am a poor downhill runner so I knew it was now or never. We reached the short paved section and I began to crank it up by lengthening my stride. He knew I was behind him because he continued to look back at me. I continued to employ the Stealth Acceleration but in this case would wait till he turned the corner till I sped up. This was going great and I managed to get within 40 yards of him when disaster struck. The hill ran out and we started the downhill section and it was all over. He opened up a 200 yard gap and the nearest I could get was 100 yards on a short uphill section. I resigned myself to not catching him but at least continuing on to a strong finish when my reverie was shattered by the sound of footsteps behind me. I took a quick look back and there was the run/walker I thought I dropped long ago, now right on my tail! Oh crap, I thought, no time for “Stealth Acceleration” here, this is survive or die time. I went full throttle, damm the torpedoes, this guy was NOT going to pass me. And so it went the last 1.5 miles, going as fast as I could just hoping to hold on till the end. He made another surge near the end but I held on for victory. After the race I talked to the guy that I didn’t catch and when he told me he was a Leadville 100 runner I didn’t feel so bad about not catching him. All the runners stayed at the finish line, cheering on the remaining runners till all were finished. They gave out awards (overall male & female) and prizes and I won a singlet. I wore my Barr Trail Race T-shirt afterwards and a bunch of runners asked me about it, so the BTMR may have some more runners next year! In fact, the director of this race, Adam Feerst, had placed 14th in the Barr Camp race. I rode my Bicycle back down the hill, stopping once in a while to take in the stunning vistas. When I arrived back at the park some of the runners and support crew were there so we broke out the remaining race food and had another good time. This is one of my most satisfying races ever and I’ll be back next year. #### Remember: off season does not mean “no running!” It means doing whatever it takes to get rid of nags and injuries and whatever it takes to recharge your mind! #### Go out hard, when it hurts speed up... Matt Carpenter http://www.skyrunner.com
Top | Previous | Next | 2000 Index | Newsletter Index