Seeing lots of Front Range runners post about how rough it is running on snow and ice this month.
I feel you. I live at 7800 ft., and I have yet to go on a run outside in 2019 where I didn't have to plod through at least some snow and ice.
The only thing that allows me to keep running up here all year is screw shoes. Best thing about them, is that all you need to make them is an old pair of running shoes and about $2 worth of sheet metal screws. It takes me about ten minutes to make them, and I rank high among the least handy people I know.
So easy, a child could do it.
Don't take my word for it. Read about screw shoes from the great Matt Carpenter.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Sunday, January 27, 2019
1/21-1/27
Jan 21
5.5 miles easy w/ six maximal hill sprints on CR 140; cold w/ cross wind. Felt sluggish but way better after doing the hill sprints.
Jan 22
Woke up to another 3-4 inches of snow, and news of another foot up the pass.
This did not help with motivation, but I did manage to get out for 3 x 15 minutes “tempo effort,” with two minutes rest in between. Ran on CR 220 in screw shoes. I tried to keep my HR between 155-168 (about 82-88% of max) during the tempo efforts. With the snow, it was just slow slogging. Uphills were at nearly 8-minute pace and downhills never faster than 6:40 pace.
9.91 miles total on the day, in 1:19, including warmup and cooldown.
Hard enough effort, but I don’t think I felt as drained at the end as I would have if conditions were better, if only because I was running so much slower. Conditions kept my effort in the middle of my target HR range, even when I tried to push.
I have yet to do a single run outside in 2019 that wasn’t at least partially on snow and ice. In 2017, I wore screw shoes maybe a half dozen times. In 2018, I think I broke them out once or twice. This winter, I’ve been wearing them on the vast majority of my runs since frickin’ November.
I like to run in snow more than anyone I know (with the possible exception of Tom). But I also, sometimes, like to run outside not in the snow. That has not happened yet in 2019.
Jan 23
9.4 miles in 74 minutes on CRs 165 and 160. First two miles were on 165, which is a dirt road that was covered in snow, next 2.7 were on dry roads to Franz Lake. Out and back. This is a nice runnable route when it’s not windy, which is basically never. But this morning it wasn't bad. All of it is next to the Arkansas River with great views of the Sawatch and Sangre de Cristos.
I usually prefer to avoid running on asphalt, but it felt good to just get out there and go for a run at a relaxed pace on a dry surface.
Easy-moderate effort
Jan 24
Lots of snow up the pass. None here. No running, am ski.
Jan 25
Woke up to a dusting of snow. Figured the track wouldn’t be usable, so I found a dry stretch of road on CR 140.
2 mile warmup, plus strides and plyos, followed by 4 x 200.
First one was in 31.x, which felt hard, and then my watch pooped out on me. Suspect the others were more in the 33 range.
If you want to test how comfortable you are with yourself, do plyos in spandex on a county road in rural Colorado on a weekday. I got some looks.
Est. 4.5 miles total
Jan 26
45 minutes easy with strides on CR 210. 5.5 miles. Roads are starting to clear up.
Jan 27
17.4 miles on CR 45 in 2:16.
Wanted to get a good 90%-ish effort in preparation for Moab. Did the first 8 miles in under an hour keeping the HR down. Started to feel pretty good about myself, until I noticed there was a tumbleweed dancing down the road in the same direction as me but going twice as fast.
So the first 8.7 were with the wind at my back and the last 8.7 with the wind in my face. Probably a 15-20 mph wind. Trying to do 8:10s on the way back was infinitely harder than doing 7:20s on the way out. Average 7:49/mile.
Hard effort
I might be the world's worst photographer, but here are some pics of CR 45.
With the long run, this ended up being one of the bigger mileage weeks of the past 16 months. Still not super confident in my fitness going into Moab, but starting to get closer as these long runs accumulate.
5.5 miles easy w/ six maximal hill sprints on CR 140; cold w/ cross wind. Felt sluggish but way better after doing the hill sprints.
Jan 22
Woke up to another 3-4 inches of snow, and news of another foot up the pass.
This did not help with motivation, but I did manage to get out for 3 x 15 minutes “tempo effort,” with two minutes rest in between. Ran on CR 220 in screw shoes. I tried to keep my HR between 155-168 (about 82-88% of max) during the tempo efforts. With the snow, it was just slow slogging. Uphills were at nearly 8-minute pace and downhills never faster than 6:40 pace.
9.91 miles total on the day, in 1:19, including warmup and cooldown.
Hard enough effort, but I don’t think I felt as drained at the end as I would have if conditions were better, if only because I was running so much slower. Conditions kept my effort in the middle of my target HR range, even when I tried to push.
I have yet to do a single run outside in 2019 that wasn’t at least partially on snow and ice. In 2017, I wore screw shoes maybe a half dozen times. In 2018, I think I broke them out once or twice. This winter, I’ve been wearing them on the vast majority of my runs since frickin’ November.
I like to run in snow more than anyone I know (with the possible exception of Tom). But I also, sometimes, like to run outside not in the snow. That has not happened yet in 2019.
Jan 23
9.4 miles in 74 minutes on CRs 165 and 160. First two miles were on 165, which is a dirt road that was covered in snow, next 2.7 were on dry roads to Franz Lake. Out and back. This is a nice runnable route when it’s not windy, which is basically never. But this morning it wasn't bad. All of it is next to the Arkansas River with great views of the Sawatch and Sangre de Cristos.
I usually prefer to avoid running on asphalt, but it felt good to just get out there and go for a run at a relaxed pace on a dry surface.
Easy-moderate effort
Jan 24
Lots of snow up the pass. None here. No running, am ski.
Jan 25
Woke up to a dusting of snow. Figured the track wouldn’t be usable, so I found a dry stretch of road on CR 140.
2 mile warmup, plus strides and plyos, followed by 4 x 200.
First one was in 31.x, which felt hard, and then my watch pooped out on me. Suspect the others were more in the 33 range.
If you want to test how comfortable you are with yourself, do plyos in spandex on a county road in rural Colorado on a weekday. I got some looks.
Est. 4.5 miles total
Jan 26
45 minutes easy with strides on CR 210. 5.5 miles. Roads are starting to clear up.
Jan 27
17.4 miles on CR 45 in 2:16.
Wanted to get a good 90%-ish effort in preparation for Moab. Did the first 8 miles in under an hour keeping the HR down. Started to feel pretty good about myself, until I noticed there was a tumbleweed dancing down the road in the same direction as me but going twice as fast.
So the first 8.7 were with the wind at my back and the last 8.7 with the wind in my face. Probably a 15-20 mph wind. Trying to do 8:10s on the way back was infinitely harder than doing 7:20s on the way out. Average 7:49/mile.
Hard effort
I might be the world's worst photographer, but here are some pics of CR 45.
 |
| The Arkansas River with the Sangres in the background |
 |
| My favorite part |
 |
| Not my favorite part |
 |
| Choo Choo! |
With the long run, this ended up being one of the bigger mileage weeks of the past 16 months. Still not super confident in my fitness going into Moab, but starting to get closer as these long runs accumulate.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
1/14-1/20
January 14
5 miles in 45 minutes easy, CR 250. LOTS OF SNOW.
January 15
Busy day with work and woke up feeling like a sickness might
be coming on. Opted to run inside on the treadmill; 5 miles easy w/ strides
January 16
Windy day, but I was due for a workout. Felt ok health-wise so I figured I'd give it a go.
I may shift more of my training to 10k type stuff and away from shorter stuff, as the
weather is making training for shorter stuff exceedingly impractical (and
potentially hazardous to my health).
The idea behind this workout was "intro to 10k pace." The idea was to average goal 10k pace for 30 x 1 minute
segments on CR 220 (a flattish road by Salida standards) with 1 minute rest in
between. Ice, slush, and packed snow on 95% of the run. 15 mph winds. Screw
shoes required (I actually have two pairs of screw shoes now: one for workouts
and one for easy days). Averaged 5:52 for the intervals, which I would be super
happy with if I could sustain for a 10k this coming May.
Downhill w/ wind at back was easy. Downhill w/ wind in face
was ok. Uphill w/ wind at back felt solid. Uphill w/ wind in my face made me
want to quit running forever.
15 minute warmup, 10 minute cooldown. 9.6 miles total.
Hard effort.
January 17
Day off. Definitely sore from yesterday.
January 18
18 inches at Monarch 10 miles up the road. One inch at our house. Now that's more like it!
Am ski; pm 5 miles easy w/ a couple of pickups
Am ski; pm 5 miles easy w/ a couple of pickups
January 19
2 mile warmup on CR 140, strides, followed by 4 x 800, average 5:27 pace, two minutes rest in between.
Felt SUPER sluggish on these. Was hoping to get these closer to 5:20 pace, but
the combination of wind, tired legs, and a lack of will to truly hurt made that not
happen.
Finished with a 10-mile Doug Bell cool-down on CR 220. Ditched the watch, so no clue on time or pace.
Total of 14.7 miles. Moderate-hard effort.
January 20
5 miles easy w/ CCRC; Jimmy and Kevin, Arkansas hills trails. Good and slow. Didn’t
wear screw shoes and almost ended up regretting it. Did a 540 on the ice at one
stage. Managed to stay upright but barely.
Wednesday's workout was good; Saturday's was bad. I'm going to chalk up the latter to a lack of turnover because I haven't been doing strides as often as usual and I have yet to go the track this year.
This week is looking cold and windy, but not much snow predicted. If that's the case, maybe a visit to the track is in order.
Monday, January 14, 2019
1/1/19-1/13/19
With the new year, I’ve seen an uptick in people posting their workouts online. Just so happens, I’ve been meaning to start a training log myself, something I haven’t done since high school.
I figured if I go to the trouble of doing a log, I might as well post it here. Hoping to do this once a week or so going forward.
Year to date so far:
Jan 1
New Year’s Day 5k
Jan 2
5 miles easy, 45 minutes on CR 250 700ft/gain. Screw shoes.
Jan 3
Skiing, no running
Jan 4
5 miles easy in 45 minutes on CR 210 800 ft/gain. Screw shoes.
Jan 5
1.5 easy warmup
Then 8 miles, prog run starting with 8-minute miles working down to 6:30, on CR 220
1.5 mile cooldown
Moderate-hard workout. Prog workout started at 7800 ft, first four miles went up to about 8400 ft and then the last 4 miles were into a stiff wind. 1100 ft. gain total. Clear enough to wear normal shoes. Barely.
11 miles total
Jan 6
5 miles easy on Arkansas Hills trails w/ Jimmy of the Chaffee County Running Club 500ft/gain
Jan 7
60-70 mile winds in the area. First time I heard the expression “ground blizzard.” God bless Salida.
5 miles super easy w/ strides on the treadmill
Jan 8
6 x 600 in 2 minutes (averaged 5:18 pace) on the road with two minutes rest, followed by 2 x 12 minutes tempo effort
The tempo effort pace ranged from about 6 flat on the downhills to 6:20s on the flats to mid-7s on the worst uphill sections. Two minutes rest between the intervals and the tempo efforts and the tempo themselves.
Hard effort. Total 9 miles.
Jan 9
5 miles easy w/ 6 maximal 10-second hill sprints (5.5 total) on CR 250 700ft/gain.
Jan 10
14.8 miles in 1:58 on CR 45 in Fremont County. Fastest mile in the high 6:50s and the slowest in the 8:30s. Moderate hard effort.
The great Tom Sobal turned me on to CR 45 as a winter long-run location, as it’s one of the only places that you can do an extended long run around here in mid-winter. It follows the Arkansas river from Wellsville (near Salida) east to Howard and beyond. With the exception of a small section where you have to run a quarter mile on an abandoned railroad track, it’s a highly runnable road/trail, and much of it doesn’t allow cars, so it's great running spot. Saw more stray dogs (3) than cars (2). And the views of the Sangres from Howard are hard to beat.
Trail was clear for the first three miles; icy, muddy, and otherwise messy for the middle three, and then clear again for the last bit. I suspect conditions in the middle miles probably slowed me down by 2-3 minutes, but that might be wishful thinking.
Jan 11
Woke up to six inches of snow
Skiing, no running.
Jan 12
Three more inches of snow; ski in the am and 5 miles easy in 46 in the pm, 700ft/gain. In screw shoes. Would have worn microspikes, but I can’t find them.
Talked to a Scarpa guy about Skimo gear today. Contemplating the possibility of doing the whole Killian Jornet thing in winter here, particular in years like this one where conditions make running such a challenge. I’m not a great skier, though, and skimo gear is not cheap, so on the fence.
Jan 13
Would have gone to the track today, but that wasn’t happening with all the snow.
Decided to do 15 x 2 minutes on, 2 minutes float effort on CR 210. Kept the HR below 90% effort on the hard parts, and below 75% on the floats, 15 w-up, 10 cooldown. Total of 9.72 miles in 85 minutes in screw shoes, with just shy of 2,000 ft. of elevation gain between 7700 and 9000 ft—all on packed snow that was slick but runnable enough.
Some of the uphill sections were barely 9-minute miles during the “ons” and as slow as 12-minute miles on the floats. Downhill sections were between 5:50 and 6:10 on the ons and mid-7s on the floats. Moderate-hard effort at varying levels of intensity.
Looks like old man winter is going to be dictating my training plan the next few weeks. Roads are bad, track is covered, and it sounds like there’s more on the way (six inches predicted for Friday). Just have to play things by ear and get creative, I guess.
I figured if I go to the trouble of doing a log, I might as well post it here. Hoping to do this once a week or so going forward.
Year to date so far:
Jan 1
New Year’s Day 5k
Jan 2
5 miles easy, 45 minutes on CR 250 700ft/gain. Screw shoes.
Jan 3
Skiing, no running
Jan 4
5 miles easy in 45 minutes on CR 210 800 ft/gain. Screw shoes.
 |
| CR 210 Gradual uphill toward Pass Creek |
 |
| Views of the Southern Sawatch |
Jan 5
1.5 easy warmup
Then 8 miles, prog run starting with 8-minute miles working down to 6:30, on CR 220
1.5 mile cooldown
Moderate-hard workout. Prog workout started at 7800 ft, first four miles went up to about 8400 ft and then the last 4 miles were into a stiff wind. 1100 ft. gain total. Clear enough to wear normal shoes. Barely.
11 miles total
Jan 6
5 miles easy on Arkansas Hills trails w/ Jimmy of the Chaffee County Running Club 500ft/gain
Jan 7
60-70 mile winds in the area. First time I heard the expression “ground blizzard.” God bless Salida.
 |
| Ground blizzard, kinda hard to tell from the picture, but it was nasty |
 |
| Not where that chair is supposed to be |
5 miles super easy w/ strides on the treadmill
Jan 8
6 x 600 in 2 minutes (averaged 5:18 pace) on the road with two minutes rest, followed by 2 x 12 minutes tempo effort
The tempo effort pace ranged from about 6 flat on the downhills to 6:20s on the flats to mid-7s on the worst uphill sections. Two minutes rest between the intervals and the tempo efforts and the tempo themselves.
Hard effort. Total 9 miles.
Jan 9
5 miles easy w/ 6 maximal 10-second hill sprints (5.5 total) on CR 250 700ft/gain.
Jan 10
14.8 miles in 1:58 on CR 45 in Fremont County. Fastest mile in the high 6:50s and the slowest in the 8:30s. Moderate hard effort.
The great Tom Sobal turned me on to CR 45 as a winter long-run location, as it’s one of the only places that you can do an extended long run around here in mid-winter. It follows the Arkansas river from Wellsville (near Salida) east to Howard and beyond. With the exception of a small section where you have to run a quarter mile on an abandoned railroad track, it’s a highly runnable road/trail, and much of it doesn’t allow cars, so it's great running spot. Saw more stray dogs (3) than cars (2). And the views of the Sangres from Howard are hard to beat.
Trail was clear for the first three miles; icy, muddy, and otherwise messy for the middle three, and then clear again for the last bit. I suspect conditions in the middle miles probably slowed me down by 2-3 minutes, but that might be wishful thinking.
Jan 11
Woke up to six inches of snow
Skiing, no running.
Jan 12
Three more inches of snow; ski in the am and 5 miles easy in 46 in the pm, 700ft/gain. In screw shoes. Would have worn microspikes, but I can’t find them.
Talked to a Scarpa guy about Skimo gear today. Contemplating the possibility of doing the whole Killian Jornet thing in winter here, particular in years like this one where conditions make running such a challenge. I’m not a great skier, though, and skimo gear is not cheap, so on the fence.
Jan 13
Would have gone to the track today, but that wasn’t happening with all the snow.
Decided to do 15 x 2 minutes on, 2 minutes float effort on CR 210. Kept the HR below 90% effort on the hard parts, and below 75% on the floats, 15 w-up, 10 cooldown. Total of 9.72 miles in 85 minutes in screw shoes, with just shy of 2,000 ft. of elevation gain between 7700 and 9000 ft—all on packed snow that was slick but runnable enough.
Some of the uphill sections were barely 9-minute miles during the “ons” and as slow as 12-minute miles on the floats. Downhill sections were between 5:50 and 6:10 on the ons and mid-7s on the floats. Moderate-hard effort at varying levels of intensity.
Looks like old man winter is going to be dictating my training plan the next few weeks. Roads are bad, track is covered, and it sounds like there’s more on the way (six inches predicted for Friday). Just have to play things by ear and get creative, I guess.
 |
| Snow ain't going anywhere anytime soon. |
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
New Year's Day 5k
Ran a New Year's Day 5k this morning. Ran in some rough conditions to eke out a win in 18:52. Pleasantly surprised by the result.
Salida got hit hard by the winter storm yesterday. We had a good six inches of snow, and it was (is) damned cold. It was 6 degrees as of race time, and the streets were (are) covered with snow and ice.
Did a two mile warmup and felt like garbage. Started the race and still felt like garbage. At the first turn I was in 4th place. At about a half mile, I passed two of the guys, and then it was me and another guy on the monarch spur trail out of town. He was very friendly and introduced himself as Sam.
About a mile in I said, "I wish I wore my screw shoes," to which he responded, "I wish I hadn't drank so much last night."
Fair enough. I don't drink anymore, so that's certainly an advantage for New Year's Day 5ks.
The course is a mild uphill for the first mile and a half, followed by a short but steep uphill, and then a turnaround to run the same course on the way back. Uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.
Sam and I were shoulder to shoulder at the turnaround. Then both of us were cautious to avoid falling on the treacherous ice on the initial steep downhill. On the path back into town, without really thinking about it, I pushed the pace and Sam didn't come with. Didn't even start the watch, so I have no clue how fast I was going.
Since I got caught from behind on a downhill the last time I ran a race in Salida, I was never confident, or at least until the last straightaway, when I snuck a peak and saw I had a sustainable lead.
The win scored me a pair of Hokas, so that's nice.
Turns out Sam was an All American and 8:30 3000 guy at Western State a few years back. Super hungover this morning and he hadn't been running much lately, but still, I'll take it.
Next race is probably the Red Hot 33k in February. Think I'll just do a 90% effort there, since it's hard these days to get much mileage in up here, and I don't feel super motivated to blast 20-plus miles on slickrock. Also signed up for the Bolder Boulder and the Pikes Ascent.
It'll be interesting to do some bigger races this year after a couple of years of low-key affairs.
Happy New Year, all!
Salida got hit hard by the winter storm yesterday. We had a good six inches of snow, and it was (is) damned cold. It was 6 degrees as of race time, and the streets were (are) covered with snow and ice.
Did a two mile warmup and felt like garbage. Started the race and still felt like garbage. At the first turn I was in 4th place. At about a half mile, I passed two of the guys, and then it was me and another guy on the monarch spur trail out of town. He was very friendly and introduced himself as Sam.
About a mile in I said, "I wish I wore my screw shoes," to which he responded, "I wish I hadn't drank so much last night."
Fair enough. I don't drink anymore, so that's certainly an advantage for New Year's Day 5ks.
The course is a mild uphill for the first mile and a half, followed by a short but steep uphill, and then a turnaround to run the same course on the way back. Uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.
Sam and I were shoulder to shoulder at the turnaround. Then both of us were cautious to avoid falling on the treacherous ice on the initial steep downhill. On the path back into town, without really thinking about it, I pushed the pace and Sam didn't come with. Didn't even start the watch, so I have no clue how fast I was going.
Since I got caught from behind on a downhill the last time I ran a race in Salida, I was never confident, or at least until the last straightaway, when I snuck a peak and saw I had a sustainable lead.
The win scored me a pair of Hokas, so that's nice.
Turns out Sam was an All American and 8:30 3000 guy at Western State a few years back. Super hungover this morning and he hadn't been running much lately, but still, I'll take it.
Next race is probably the Red Hot 33k in February. Think I'll just do a 90% effort there, since it's hard these days to get much mileage in up here, and I don't feel super motivated to blast 20-plus miles on slickrock. Also signed up for the Bolder Boulder and the Pikes Ascent.
It'll be interesting to do some bigger races this year after a couple of years of low-key affairs.
Happy New Year, all!
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