By Endurance We Conquer

4X Ironman. 3X 100 mile ultra. 2X Leadville 100 MTB. Yooper. My adventures in endurance sports, fatherhood, and everything in between. "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Eliot

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Stay on the path. "Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all." Ernest Shackleton

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May #'s

Run- 149 miles. YTD- 662 miles.

Bike- 184.3 miles. YTD- 536 miles.

Swim- 0. YTD- 11.6 miles.

Strength- 9:09:00. YTD- 47:54:00.

Row- 24.76 miles. YTD- 95 miles.

Beast Reps- 49. YTD- 110.

A woman, from a distance, complimented me on my leg tattoo. She was a little surprised when I got closer 😄. New form of art?

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Fri night I found myself at 10,584 ft. (See previous post) and a feeling that I had to keep going. Now here I sit after 1 full week at 15,010 ft. Looks like 11,621 running and 3,389 biking. I think I ran on only about 2.5 miles of trail for 41 miles. 35 trips up the The Beast and 32 trips on my .9 mile Crossroads segment. This was definitely a good physical challenge but maybe even more on the mental side of things.

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All these virtual races out there but I kind of came up with a little challenge of my own. Something I've never done before outside of races. To try and get 10,000 ft. of elevation gain in 5 days. Bike and run both count but majority has to be run. After day 3 I'm sitting at just under 6400' (4420' run). Just so happens that the first 3 days have also been the warmest days of the year. Great to jump in the pool afterwards. Trust me this is harder than it sounds. See photo ⬆️

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2 great early morning runs in a row. Today, 0440 hrs, my Baxter alarm went off 20 minutes before my real alarm. So that just meant I got to run longer. At HC I saw 4 deer, 3 raccoons, and 2 turkeys. I also ran through what seemed like every spiderweb in the park.

To end the run I stole a Strava KOM segment from a college D1 cross country runner by 1 second. I think he's half my age. As Japanese Admiral Yamamoto said after their their cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor- "I fear we have done nothing but awaken a sleeping giant." I am not the giant in this equation.

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Bound and determined to get outside for some miles today. Drenched but worth it. Could have used a few more days like Fri-Sat.

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Near perfect conditions on the trail this morning. Right around 50, calm, a light drizzle at times and zero people.

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My personal "looking for speed" Strava segment. 3.3 miles, all road, with about 150 ft of ascent. Showing some good progress. Bummed the PaperChase 10k won't be happening in July. And now more photos from the past week.

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I feel like this year I'm doing a better job of having a little more structure in training instead of "just run." Monday was speedwork. Tuesday climbing.

I'm glad I have full creative control in the basement. Here is my 6 hour painting project. Mountains on the mind.

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The reopening of H.C. couldn't have come at a better time. Also, taking advantage of all this wind with some great kite flying. We maxed out at 300 ft. which prompted the question- What's the highest a kite has ever flown? Answer: 16,009ft by a guy in Austrailia. We're gonna need more string!

April #'s

Running- 121.3 miles. YTD- 519 miles.

Cycling- 108 miles. YTD- 351.73 miles.

Swimming- 😔 YTD- 11.6 miles.

Rowing- 23.6 miles. YTD- 70.3 miles.

Strength- 14:08:00. YTD- 38:45:00.

Beast reps.- 7. YTD- 61.

30 day yoga challenge complete.

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Yesterday I set the plan to run 26.2 over the course of the day with 2-3 runs. I started the day at CCP with some challenging loops. Around mile 10 I face planted. Around mile 14 I rolled the ankle again 😡. At mile 14.3 I kicked a rock so hard I was pretty sure I broke a toenail (I didnt). Due to the ankle I called it a day at 15.2. I woke up this morning and felt good so I headed out for the remaining 11 miles. Completed all on the 1 mile loop in the park behind the house. Nice to have some company for some of it. Yoga day 22 felt good afterwards.

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That's me doing all I can to hold a 12mph pace into a stiff SW wind. Great to be out on the bike again. Getting plenty of rides in with the boys too.

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I've come to realize some goals and expectations for 2020 need to be adjusted but that does NOT include mountain summit goals 🤞(pic-Wilson Peak 2013).

Random quarantime ramblings.

-I'm turning into the master of the 4-6 mile run which is not a good thing. Truth is I've been nursing a sore ankle from my sprain 2 weeks ago. Probably should have rested it more. Brightside to that is my cross training game is super strong right now. Sure could go for a swim tho.

-For April I'm doing a 30 day Yoga challenge. Started strong but I'm starting to fade. If there's a part I don't like (like the sit still breathing parts) I just plank. I'm just not a yoga everyday type person. Can't give up!

-I think I'd want to build Legos even if I didn't have a boy who's obsessed with them. Very relaxing.

-Thank you SlingTV Lifetime channel for King of Queens marathons.

-When time at home goes up so does Cheeto consumption. I don't buy them the bags just keep appearing!

-I've actually been productive with house stuff- installed brick landscape edging, replaced the mailbox post, installed a new toilet and other small things.

-Tennis rally record remains 329, and we haven't come close to that these past few days. We'll keep trying.

-I miss High Cliff.

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Putting this one here as a reminder that if I ever need a good hour sufferfest this is the one. Row 5000m then follow it immediately with my 4 mile "looking for speed" route. Might need to incorporate the bike in this at some point. Now to get faster.

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Up, down, repeat. I'd much rather have one big mountain to climb but for now its 11 trips up CC Park to get 1600ft.

Jack and I have been having a little tennis challenge the past 3 days. How long of a tennis rally can we have? For our rules it's ok for the ball to bounce 2x. Monday was only 34 shots, Tuesday 195 shots and Wednesday 329 back and forth shots. Today we shoot for 400!

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I'm not a run every day type runner. I like to switch it up and I like to think that's what keeps me somewhat healthy. Well this past week I ran every day for a change. Felt good. One silver lining to H.C. being closed is finally made for time to explore more of Cal Co. Park. It'll be fun to link the two together on a long run.

Believe it or not I have about 5 hours invested in this shark. That's what happens when all the pieces get mixed up with the all the other random pieces. Levi's big time into sharks right now so we tracked down each piece one by one (not easy when you have lots of legos) and built it back up. He was thrilled 😁.

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On Thursday I did a little trash pick up run at H.C. The bag I brought with me filled up way too quickly. Then when I returned home I found out a good chunk of state parks including H.C. were closing at the end of the day with no reopen in sight. Mostly due to people's stupid behavior- packs of people, vandalism, littering. Although the state's idea to make state parks free during this time was a pretty bonehead move too. So now I've lost my ability to head out my front door and be in the woods within about 10 running minutes. Pretty minor problem in the grand scheme of things but it still stings. Responded by doing 2 days in a row of road speedwork.