Brandon Fuller

Run: Easy/Shitty 14M (14.01 mi @ 08:04)

I felt great when I got up this morning. Looked like a great day. But by the time the run came around, I wasn’t so hot. Very dry up through my throat as I fight off this disease. On top of that, spring reared its ugly head by being windy as hell on the run. Nothing better like grinding out a high HR just to put down 9+ pace into a headwind and your hat blowing off. Sucked. I just kept it light and motored through it. Must have some fatigue from yesterday’s test too. Odd, how it wasn’t a long hard day but I feel it. Tomorrow will be a new day.

Today, I reset my HR zones in SportTracks with what Neal and I came up with yesterday based on the data. My previous values that are used in my Training Load graph were the defaults and they were off. So going forward from today, I will use these as my zone baselines for those calculations. The result is that my TSB went up by a few points and some of the peaks in ATL came down. All good.

After doing that, I went to the Training Load settings and linked in this new HR category as the set to use. Then pressed “Reset Category” to allow it to recalcuate the factors based on these ranges. So here are the values. All the cards on the table.

I would really like to get a graph of time spent in each zone over time but can’t see a way to do that. Anybody? TrainingPeaks does that. I am at reason #2 to get that software now. Just need one more.

Skipping Green tomorrow because the closer is coming by in the morning to finish up our refinance. That means Thursday AM for any peeps that want to run with the Mayor.

I went 14.01 miles with an elevation gain of 979 feet in 01:53:00, which is an average pace of 08:04. Heart rate average was 140. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

Lactate Profile and VO2 Max Test

Sometimes you just need validation that you are doing the right things…

Back in February, Neal Henderson gave a talk at the BTR Speaker Series. At the end of it, he threw out an offer for discount pricing on their services. They are located right at the base of Mount Sanitas so I know the location well. I didn’t know we had such services in Boulder so I made an appointment for a Lactate Profile and VO2 Max test. Today was the day.

I woke up a bit under the weather. Kim and Kayla are in the starting stages of something. The other kids are fine. But I feel groggy in the head and had stuff in my throat. Could have been any other day for this but it was today. I will deal. Ate a decent breakfast a few hours beforehand since you can’t eat the hour prior. Got to the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and changed into my normal running gear. Had to wait a while to get my test underway. Browsed the halls which were filled with random jerseys of famous athletes that had come through these halls. In good company!

Met Paul K. who would be administering the test to me. Basically, I would warm-up for about 25 minutes on a treadmill just getting comfortable. Paul would read my HR rate from my monitor and track things a bit. Just to get us ready for the workload to come. I hopped off with a few minutes left in the warm-up to hit the bathroom. With that out of the way, I ran a few more minutes and then the protocol began.

Basically, you run for 4 minutes at a constant 1% grade at a constant speed. This is enough time for things to level out. He would ask for my level of perceived exertion. Then I hop off the treadmill and Paul pricks my finger and takes blood. I would then wipe my brow, swig some water and jump back on. Paul would up the speed by 0.4 MPH and we did it again. We did this 8 times. That last time hurt. I was glad to be done. The treadmill is not my friend nor a place where I excel in running. I feel out of my element. Luckily those few days on the mill last month eased a bit of that.

Next was the VO2 Max test. A few things started going wrong. I was fairly gassed from the lactate profile intervals. Just happens. Then we had a fall start on the VO2 measurement system so I had to restart that test once. By then, I think I had cooled down enough that my body wasn’t ready or willing to do the peak performance of the day. Furthermore, my mind was done. But we went again. Here is what it looked like.

In this test, they basically bring you back up to speed and then start doing grade increases until you crash and burn or fall off the treadmlll dead. I didn’t get too far into the test before I hopped off. As you can see, you are breathing through this tube. I have nose clips on too. Its terribly claustrophobic. The treadmill was zooming. The incline was growing. And my flight response took over and I jumped off. I surely could have went for more — especially on a fresher body. But I wasn’t really there for the VO2 test. It was just an add-on they offered for a little more money if you did the lactate profile so I figured why not.

I was done. I cooled down and then went to meet with Neal to go over the results. So here is the big money graph. I will go through it for you and I and highlight some of what Neal and I covered. There is probably more than I care to write but I will give some of the highlights.

HR (blue) and lactate (red) ideally sort of run parallel to each other. This shows you that you are powered by aerobic effort. Lactate isn’t playing a role yet on the left but does more and more as you move right across the page. Lactate is kind of like your turbo booster. You want to use it when you want to go fast but you can’t use it that long or you burn out.

As the speed goes up, you start seeing lactate increasing faster. There is a magic point in there and this is what I came to find out. You are trying to find out your lactate threshold here. That’s defined as a 1 mmol change followed by a greater than 1.5 mmol change in lactate.

I hit this around 164 bpm on the HR scale and 6:45 pace. This is 1-2 bpm faster than I predicted using my own methods at home. I got very close. Neal also pointed out not to get too fixated on the pace here. Pace on the treadmill versus on the road with conditions just doesn’t compare. However, HR and lactate levels will stay together. So the pace is just a round about estimate. I was happy to see this number given what I want to do at Boston.

Neal pointed out that my marathon range can fall in the 158-162 range and I should stay comfortable. Pace-wise this was low 7s here at altitude. So with taper, some lighter gear and sea level conditions — it will be faster and that is around where I want to be running if sub-3 is going to happen.

We moved on to the VO2 results. I scored a 57.2. In the chart he pulled out for VO2 at age groups, there is low/fair/average/good/high/athletic/olympic. I feel at the breakpoint between high and athletic. He joked that I am “in the club” of a nice VO2 for high altitude athetes. He made the assumption looking at the data alone, that I probably could have hit 60 on a better test day. On the graph above, those 2 right most data points are the VO2 test. Once at peak and once 2 minutes later to see decay. You can see that my lactate levels in the VO2 test only hit 4.32 — meaning I didn’t eclipse the effort of my last interval. The VO2 test was supposed to be at a higher intensity than the final interval on the lactate test. For me it ended up being somewhere between the final 2 lactate intervals. Not my best work.

In the bottom right of this graph, it broke down my HR training zones. We went over those and most of this was a refresher in what I do each week already. Basically showing that my sweet spot is 133-155 in training. If you watch my runs I am usually right in the mid-140s. A perfect landing. However, he gave me some encouragement about putting in some bursts of tempo work during long runs. I tend to shy away from that and this is the 3rd time I have been told that might be my biggest thing to gain on right now. Will take it under advisement — although I sort of did that on Saturday where I ran hard for 3 miles mid-long run.

We talked a bit about longer term goal like Leadville and that shifted the conversation to fueling and slow slow paces. Spoke about my taper and how to use my ATL/CTL/TSB stuff properly to make that happen. What types of numbers he has seen in peak performances AKA perfect tapers. All good.

All in all, I will say I didn’t learn much today — but that wasn’t my goal. I don’t pretend to be guessing my way through this. I have been collecting data, analyzing, graphing, listening to peers, etc. I heard Neal speak for over an hour on this same topic a month ago in which I learned a lot. Today was more about getting some hard data on some kind of internal body functions that only a lab could provide in order to validate where I am and what I think I need to do. Frankly, I think I did my homework well and nailed it pretty well. I was also excited to be able to produce a decent looking chart to show my fitness isn’t a fluke. After putting hours…no, days…no, weeks…no, months into my running its fun to see some sort of numerical proof that the system is working and is ready to kick some ass this year.

Colorado Government and Amazon Are Pissing Me Off

Amazon Associates is a program where you earn referral money on stuff you sell on Amazon to others. How do I use this? Well, my Now Playing plugin allows people to publish the music they listen to on their web site. When people click through, they can buy it on Amazon (or iTunes). When they do, I or the plugin purchaser make money. If people don’t setup an account, it uses mine so I get the revenue.

Colorado recently passed HB 10-1193 which fucks this all up. Amazon, other online retailers, and consumers are not happy with this. Basically, the Colorado government is trying to make up for lost revenues by collecting online sales tax. They didn’t even go about it in a straightforward way. So the result is that Amazon is playing hard ball and canceling all Colorado-based Amazon Associate accounts. I am not really sure what that has to do with this whole issue other than Amazon is saying “they hurt us, we hurt you, then you make the calls”. What a pain.

Until this gets resolved, any referrals I make go into the trash can. So I either need an out of state front or find a charity that I can donate these to (by using their account). Ideas?

Here is the letter I received from Amazon today.

Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:

The Amazon Associates Team

The Hardest 100

Marathon & Beyond had an article this month on the hardest 100. Not to spoil it, but the author ends up saying that the hardest 100 is the one that you are running that day. Wise words.

Anyway, I love me some graphs and charts so it was fun to see some data on 30 different 100s and see how they stacked up. Stuff I noticed:

+ Leadville just eeked out over Western
+ Hardrock was #1 which didn’t seem to surprising
+ Hawaii has the #2 race

Weekly Training Summary (71.62 miles / 11:24:28)

So less miles than last week (83), however I only ran 5 days this week versus every day last week. I took a rest day on Wednesday because I needed it and then I have today off for the LT test tomorrow. I knew the Wednesday off would hurt the week but I really felt like rest was the right answer the day before the traverse. This easily would have been a 90+ mile week otherwise.

Mon - Slow 18M
Tues - 14M+ @ Magnolia
Wed - Rest
Thurs - Boulder Skyline Traverse
Fri - Easy 5M
Sat - Steady 20M
Sun - Rest

Didn’t do any normal Green Mountain runs this week given Magnolia and the Traverse. Opted for something different just to break up the routine. Feeling like my consistent visits over January and February satisfy the periodization requirement I was looking for. However, I am sure I will get back up there this week.

With 6 weeks till Boston, an interesting date has come up today in my training plan: max training effect. Apparently, from now on till race day, I will not be absorbing all 100% of the training effect. Said another way, until now, there was sufficient time for my body to absorb each workout and positively impact fitness at its fullest. Now, at some sliding scale day by day, you start absorbing less and less of it. Its not lost forever — its just that full absorption comes post-race. This doesn’t mean quit or taper. Once the percentage drops low enough, then taper becomes the solution.

Graph time!

Last: CTL = 88 / ATL = 124 / TSB = -36
This: CTL = 98 / ATL = 136 / TSB = -38

Less days on my feet but they were all big days and that bumped up ATL this week. Gave me some good spikes. I think the 2 rest days contributed to CTL tracking it nicely so I didn’t get a huge bump in TSB from the week although I felt like I should have. Although, I am still trying to figure out what various TSB levels feel like. I think some combination of different activities this week stressed other systems and didn’t contribute to a pure TSB spike. I still contend that TSB doesn’t perfectly translate in areas like muscle soreness, etc.

Excited about Monday’s test. Feels like a great point to do this with the intersection of the date above. Will be interesting to see if the results match what I think they are and how (if any) I can modify my remaining training to get every last ounce out of this cycle.

Danger

I may lose a toe with all these kids running around on ice skates.

@ near 8th Ave & Pratt St
(Longmont, CO, United States)

Run: Steady 20M (20.03 mi @ 07:36)

Stay consistent but don’t get in a routine. For various reasons, my long runs have been not so pure the last 3 weeks. So even though I put in the distance, the runs were broken up or not at pace or in the mountains. As I contemplated my usual Saturday morning on Green Mountain, my heart wanted to go but my mind overruled. I needed to do Monday’s long run today. Why? I have to rest tomorrow as prescribed so I can be ready for my LT test on Monday.

I got a late start as I watched Kayla while Kim slept in. Kayla isn’t sleeping through the night anymore and its killing Kim. So I watched the kids, worked on taxes, and did other stuff until she was up and around. By then, it was nice and warm outside and I was chomping at the bit to get going. You know its going to be good when you look forward to a long run!

My legs were a little sore this AM from the traverse. Just the usual quad stuff from so much climbing. But that didn’t seem to effect my road running. I actually figured I would do about 14 today but then after being out there about a mile or two, I decided for the bigger loop. This was heavily influenced by the fact that I stripped off my shirt 2 miles into the run! First shirtless run of 2010 - March 6th! Surely, it will go back on a few more times but I felt at one with the road again. Something about wearing layers during winter just doesn’t allow me to connect with the entire running experience.

HR was running slightly high and I wasn’t really managing it. Just letting it do what it wanted. Unfortunately, this ended up putting me into the steady range for the day instead of slow but I figure that is a response from the level of fatigue I am at. No worries. There is a downhill section of this route from about mile 7 to 10. I figure its sort of Boston-ish. Nice descent. And I just ripped it up! I was sub-7 just cruising along. It felt solid and strong.

I broke for a minute at 10 for some business and water. Took my bag of GU Chomps. Those things are like crack. I love them. But that’s all I had. Didn’t plan on 20. Oops. But I don’t mind having a fuel fail in training once in a while. Makes your body adapt because that is going to happen in a 50 or 100 I suppose.

Was a little slower on the way back home for the 2nd half. Its all flat and there was a headwind. I was so happy with that first 10 that this 10 just needed to get done. Luckily, there were a bunch of people on the Greenway today so I was able to chase them down for something to fixate on. Got back home and had to do some distance in the neighborhood just to get over the mark for the day.

I went 20.03 miles with an elevation gain of 542 feet in 02:32:16, which is an average pace of 07:36. Heart rate average was 151. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

Ignite Boulder 9

At Ignite Boulder 8, they announced there would be a special Ignite to commemorate “Global Ignite Week” but the link for tickets would go out to attendees of Ignite Boulder 1. So I knew I would have to do some work to get my seat. Turns out it wasn’t too hard and I was secured for a special 150 person edition of Ignite. The event was at the Boulder Public Library in the Canyon Gallery. Not as cool as Boulder Theater. Felt much more like being in college again.

@ Boulder Public Library
(CO, United States)

We learned that:

• Stinky people travel on the AT and mail themselves things
• Graphs are hilarious and can prove any point you want to make
• Kids are reliable forms of automation
• The Internet was invented for porn
• The plural for beer is beer, you hoser! Eh?
• A 100ms delay in neural activity sucks so don’t get hit by a car

It was a quick set and we were out of there. Not the same vibe as last time but I am sure Ignite #10 (coming May 6th) will be back to its usual self!

Boulder Skyline Traverse (14.18 mi)

JV proposed something longer for today. We are in a bit of a warm weather streak in Colorado this week. So I said let’s do it and took the day off work so there were no time constraints. The obvious choice was the full traverse. I attempted a partial version of this last summer under my own round trip powers. Interestingly, that distance and today’s were nearly the same. So here is the route — left to right. Pins on summits of South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain, and Mount Sanitas.

Today, we would be doing car shuttles. We met at the Sanitas TH and dropped a car and then made the ~8 mile drive out to the South Mesa Trailhead. We got going and immediately I started getting warm. Stripped out of my long sleeve. It was a tech shirt and shorts kind of day. The run itself was pretty uneventful. No slips, trips or falls. So here are the numbers:

Start to SoBo: 63:37
SoBo to Bear: 11:09
Bear to Green: 40:48
Green to Flag: 22:31
Flag to Sanitas TH: 33:15
Sanitas TH to Sanitas: 28:27
Sanitas to End: 21:47

Jeff likes to track total time from the start to the Sanitas pole. That was about 3:19 MOVING TIME. We took about 5 minutes on each summit for video, fuel, etc. I stopped my watch during those. But I think it basically tacked on a half hour. So under 4 hours for the whole thing.

I see each of these 3+ hour mountain runs as a Leadville test. Test myself. Test equipment. Test strategy. Test something! I wore my TNF hydration pack. Today was pretty successful. I enjoyed having my hands free with the hydration pack but it was full when we started and it was definitely a lot of weight I am not used to after running sans water since fall. It slowed me on the descents and applied extra weight to my back. It did allow me to drink frequently but I had to put the food into the zipper on the back so I had to take it off to get at it. That small barrier caused me to not go for it as much as I should have. When I have my Nathan vest on, I fill the front pockets with stuff and munch all the time. A better strategy. Probably will try my vest and hand bottle on the next outing.

For fuel, I stayed on a gel and beans and a Red Bull Shot. If nothing else, that shot tasted really good and went down super easy. I felt like it did kick in over on Flag as I was zoned out chasing Jeff downhill with that out of body experience.

I felt like I put in a solid effort. I power hiked up SoBo once we got into the canyon. Its just not runnable for me yet. I couldn’t find a good PR on this so this may have been it at 63 minutes. Not sure. From there I kept on the run pretty good. A few walks on steeper stuff ultra-style. I wasn’t totally fresh today but I wasn’t dead either. Just a good midweek level of fatigue.

It had been a long time since I had been to Sanitas. Jeff was whimpering about it all day. Its like the last thing you do and it is the LAST THING you want to do. He charged ahead of me at Red Rocks and hit his car in the parking lot for some gear change. I kept moving in order to gain some ground on him — but more giving him something to chase. Plus, I didn’t want to stop till it was over. That whole — don’t sit or you won’t get up thing. So I cruised up the lower part of Sanitas but then petered out towards the top and lost any chance of a good ascent time there. The traverse was in the bag and there was no magic time coming up on the clock so I just hiked it in and enjoyed the warm conditions. We sat for a few minutes in the shade and hydrated then marched back downhill to the car to call it a day.

With such a fun adventure, I had plans for some epic video montage. But frankly, my head was much more into the run. How I have changed! I did brief spots on all the summits but forgot Sanitas. We were done and it just wasn’t on my mind anymore.

Afterward, Jeff shuttled me back and I went to Larkburger to refuel with purpose. Then headed over to REI and picked up a ton of stuff. Nothing like shopping for gear right after a run. Got some GU and other fuel products since I am about out. Picked up some La Sportiva Crosslites that I had my eye on. I wanted a not so minimal shoe to trade into the trail rotation with the NB100s when the snow is gone. And yes, I bought some VFFs. They were right there just looking at me wanting me to buy them! I don’t plan on putting big miles in these things but I figured I might as well have a pair. At least then I sound like I know what I am talking about vs. just saying “I know people who have those”. Plus, after that last BTR talk I am thinking wearing my Crocs around town aren’t doing me any good.

Thanks for the invite, Jeff. It was a great day. Hope I didn’t hold you up too much. But its only [insert month] and you need to be taking it easy or something…

FYI, SportTracks reconciled the elevation gain at 5,642 feet.

I went 14.18 miles with an elevation gain of 6,354 feet in 03:41:37, which is an average pace of 15:37. Heart rate average was 141. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.

Run: Magnolia Road (14.29 mi @ 08:37)

Can a brother get a rest day? Simon AKA Race Timing Colorado pinged me yesterday for another Boulder run minutes after I got back home from that long run. Couldn’t pass it up. We went up to Magnolia Road because both of us were virgins at that route. Wanted to see what the fuss was about. Roads were a mix of snow/ice and mud. I fell once. The snow plows just make the road so slick in places and I just lost my footing in my LunarTrainers. Got a good rock dug into my hand for some quality blood action. Otherwise, no biggie. Although my palms still feel like they have pins in them.

The route is rolling hills the whole way with mostly ascent out and descent back. Got way out there. You could see Eldora up close. It was a good workout. Different than I usually do. The route starts out about as high as the summit of Green Mountain. Then ascends from there. Good to spend more time at higher elevations. Put a little fear into me for Leadville though.

I had to stop for a deuce towards the end so I let Simon open it up and take off without me. I scaled some barbed wire and found some trees to leave my mark. Did you know that a snowball makes an excellent butt wipe? Got back on the road and I wasn’t that into it. Fatigue had set in. Wasn’t seeing it on the HR monitor. Just felt it. Took it easy until Simon came back at me. He had hit the end of the road and turned back up about a 1/4 mile from me. I picked up the pace and ran it back with him while chatting. Started burning a bit on the last few ascents. Probably should have had some fuel with me and I would have perked up. Oh well.

I keep meaning to mention that I finally see how heart rate really works. I used to think it was a primary driver, but its not. Its a response. I used to think of HR as RPM on a car. That is totally backwards. HR is more like your temperature gauge. Its reactive. It shows you the result of your efforts in terms of stress. So today, I would normally be baffled by a lower HR — but now I know its because my engine just couldn’t rev up too high today so things stayed cool.

Probably will rest up on Wednesday. JV has talked me into a full day of hills on Thursday so I am going to take off of work and enjoy the 50+ degree day with some pain and suffering!

I went 14.29 miles with an elevation gain of 1,776 feet in 02:03:11, which is an average pace of 08:37. Heart rate average was 145. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.