Vicarious Vlogging: A Rock Repeat Above The Clouds

I'm always talking about my Rock Repeats. Today I took you with me while I did one in the snow and ice on a beautiful winter day in Fort Collins. I wrapped up the week with a quick trip up and down, plus a few little extra spurs on some side trails to get a few extra miles.

It looked dismal this morning when I left the house, all overcast and foggy. But once I got up to about 6000 feet, it was clear blue sky.

Watch the video to enjoy this awesome winter day and get a few ultra training tips and insights!

Channeling the Prairie Chicken

Wrapped up January with a kickass week of training, until Snowmageddon hit.

That's okay, it's February, we're a whole month into spring, and a little snow never hurt anyone. Keep in mind that we're happy to have it after the fires of the past few years. Whatever we can get now will help this summer.

I had a fantastic run on Wednesday, 17 miles of challenging hills between Maniac Hill and Lory State Park up and down along Horsetooth reservoir. I felt great and I kept increasing the effort on each hill. I finished up with the giant hill north of Dixon Dam and sailed back down to my car at Rotary Park. I felt awesome.

That was before Snowmageddon. I planned a day off on Thursday or Friday, and Thursday was perfect timing since we got dumped on with 5 or 6 inches of snow, and it was heavier than it's been. The ski areas are getting tons of powder, like 2 or 3 feet, but this stuff down here is heavy. Not quite tree branch-breaking, but close. Right before it started snowing, it actually rained for a short time, just enough to ice everything up on the surfaces underneath. Great.

The snow made running a bit challenging, but I had my MICROspikes Friday as I braved the unplowed sidewalks on the way over to the well-plowed Power Trail, where I met Emma for an afternoon run. The four miles of the Power Trail were clear of snow with a few ridiculously icy patches, but the two miles or so getting over there and coming back were more suited to snowshoes than shoe spikes.

Fort Collins has enough of a plowing problem on the streets, asking for somewhat clear sidewalks is a dream. But I guess I can forgive them since they always get to the bike paths first.

So what do you do when you're in the house surrounded by white stuff, too heavy and wet for the dogs because they get ice balls in their paws?

You sign up for spring ultras, that's what!

I needed an early spring ultra as I get ready for Cornbelt in May. I was looking at something in late March, but I'm on a budget and I needed to make it a quick trip, something driveable. Lucky for me I found the Prairie Spirit 50 mile race in Ottawa, Kansas.

I looked up information on it, it's a fairly new race but it sounded well-organized, the surface sounded good, crushed gravel with a few asphalt sections. I really don't care too much what the course is like as long as it's not rocky and technical. It's 8 hours drive from here, which is not too bad. I've never been to eastern Kansas before, either. The lure of the unknown...

I don't know why but I keep wanting to call it the Prairie Chicken. And so it is.

I signed up and I'm headed for another Midwest adventure! I don't think I've ever run a race in Kansas before. I usually drive across Kansas on my way to races, but this time it's a destination.

Plus it will be my first official race in my new age group! Unless I decide to do some short race before it.

It's supposed to be the Year of the Horse for the Chinese New Year, but I think for me, it's the year of the Prairie. Prairie Dog, Prairie Chicken, Prairie Spirit, whatever...prairie something.

Then we have the prairie Buffaloes, in their favorite natural habitats:

Isabelle, in her favorite place...

and Iris, in hers.

This morning it's snowing again, looks like we got maybe another inch so far. I need to get out there and do some miles. Tomorrow is the Tortoise & Hare 5K but with these icy conditions, with an 8 am start, I don't think so. I'll wait until mid-day and go to the bike path and do some fartlek or something instead, once the ice melts.

But next week I get a reprieve from the snow and ice, off to Arizona to run Pemberton 50K! WOOHOO!

Blame it on the Polar Vortex! And MICROspikes Trail Review

That was the temperature on Monday morning!

This is the second time it's been super cold this winter. I hope this is the end of it. Oops, meant to say spring. It's the first cold weather of spring, the season that is 7 days old.

This morning it was much warmer, 12 degrees above zero when I woke up. I met Emma for a trail run this morning in the foothills, which was a nice change from my usual road runs, and nice to have company along for the run.

It also gave me a chance to test the MICROspikes on the trails. Thanks to Emma, who took the pictures of me in the MICROspikes!

I liked the way they grip both uphill and downhill. They don't feel too heavy.

I think the MICROspikes outdo the Yak Trax in every way, with two little exceptions: the price, and the weight. If you're looking for something for short, casual walks in the neighborhood, or short term solutions around the house like snow shoveling, then Yak Trax make sense for the price.

For any active outdoor use, the MICROspikes are the way to go. No issues with them slipping off or rolling under your feet. I was able to accelerate, even downhill, without feeling like I might slip. The only thing I would like is something a little lighter weight. It sounds like Kahtoola will come up with such a device soon. Thanks to Josh from Kahtoola for the opportunity to try these and review them!

It was such a beautiful morning, even with the cloud cover, seeing the light over the foothills. Such a relief to get off the roads and back up on trails. No ankle problems, either. In the snow it seems like my ankles do better than on the dirt and rocky surfaces. Or maybe it's just because it's been so long since I ran trails that my ankles are better.

This week the world resumed it's post-holiday frenzy. Monday I stayed home all day, it was killer cold and I rode the bike a total of 2 hours indoors, did some weights, and mostly studied. I did a lot of cooking too, soup and roasted vegetables.

I've been able to stick to the plan and I haven't been hungry. I'm eating five or six times a day, tons of veggies, like a whole head of cauliflower or a whole bag of baby carrots every day, along with other things: kale, zucchini, and a lot of protein. No sugar or fruit and almost all my carbs from vegetables. No grains or anything like that right now.

My challenge will be this week when I do my long run fueled by a very limited number of foods. Fortunately this will be the only long run I have to do during this time while I'm restricting my food intake. Running 30 or so miles on carrots could be interesting. Stay out of my way!

It's too snowy for Buffaloes to go very far outside, they don't like those paw covers, we've tried them. Isabelle doesn't even want to go when it's this cold, and Iris goes about half a mile before she starts complaining of ice balls in her paws. It's supposed to warm up into the 40s by midweek. Then we can have the ice dams at both ends of the street and the great Antarctic ice sheet will be back to cover the neighborhood like a skating rink.

But this year, I will have MICROspikes. Polar vortex, MWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

photo credit: all photos of MICROspikes by Emma Bootle Peskind

8K, 9F, and MICROspikes Road Review

I woke up at 5:30 a.m., no excuses. Got my butt out the door in these conditions plus a mild wind chill. The Edora Park Tortoise & Hare series 8K is always held on what seems to be the coldest, windiest, snowiest weekend of the year. At least when I show up, it's like that.

It goes along the Spring Creek and Poudre Trails, an out and back. The paths are always plowed so it's the best footing in town when the conditions are not so great for running.

I was the first one to arrive, so I went out for a little warmup run. When I came back there were more people, and we ended up with 28 runners. Not bad for a cold, windy, snowy morning.

Nick drew a starting line in the snow and people started lining up in order of their handicap. My best times are much faster than what I run now, and I'm way off, so I usually get passed by everyone.

After my warmup run, I re-warmed my gloves in the car before I got started. That was a good call, because we started out in a headwind. I had a big scarf wrapped around my head and neck. I had to wait around for a long time to start with fast people, who all passed me quickly. My nose, cheeks, and chin were freezing and it didn't take long to start forming icicles on any place that was exposed.

I ran my first mile in about 9 minutes and said to hell with it and backed off to a more comfortable pace, one that hurt my face less. I kept having to knock ice chunks off my eyelashes so I could keep my eyes open. My legs were tired, probably from yesterday's run in the crappy conditions.

I was the last person to reach the finish line, and Nick was laughing as he greeted me with my popsicle stick, threatening to DQ me for "veering off course". I can always expect him to give me a hard time about something.

I ran around and did a cool down, as if I needed one, and then drove home. I was starving and freezing. I am 4 days into eating weird things and so far it is going really well. I've had a few moments of temptation but allowed those to pass. I just need to get through two weeks of it.

I wanted to test the MICROspikes today but since the trails are plowed, there was no ice or snow to run on during the 8K. Later I tested the MICROspikes in the street in front of my house, but I need to take them out this week on the trails to test them going on rough terrain and up and down hills. So far, I like them.

Kahtoola is the company that makes MICROspikes, a footwear traction device for your running shoes, or other footwear like boots. Just an aside...they are located in Flagstaff, Arizona, which also happens to be home of NAU, where I got my undergrad degree. The MICROspikes are sold at REI, or you can find them online.

MICROspikes attach to your shoes much like Yak Trax, like tire chains for your shoes. Except the MICROspikes are more like real tire chains. They are spikes mounted on chains with an elastic piece that stretches over your shoe.

They grip really well and don't have the springy feeling, like running on a Slinky, like the Yak Trax do.

They are easy to put on, no more difficult than the Yak Trax. The MICROspikes stayed on better than the Yak Trax, which tend to slip on the sole and have a tendency to come off.

They worked well both on the icy patches underneath snow and the deep snow that gets all torn up by the tread on the car tires. I never felt like I was landing on solid asphalt, even though the snow is only 3 inches deep at the most.

They were comfortable, and they fit the shoe according to the sizing chart on the box.

They were fairly easy to remove, although with cold hands, it was a struggle. No more difficult than the Yak Trax.

The only drawback I could see was that they are a little bit heavier than the Yak Trax, but in snowy conditions, who cares? They didn't feel so heavy that I couldn't run comfortably in them. I think the security of knowing you have more reliable footing is more than worth the small bit of extra weight.

What I liked best about the MICROspikes was that they felt more solid under my feet. There are 12 spikes on each foot, and they don't roll around like the Slinky-like coil on the Yak Trax, that compresses and wiggles under your feet.

Does anyone remember the Slinky? Do they still make those?

I got in trouble in physics class in high school for stretching the Slinky past it's elastic limit. Hey, it was physics!

Of course the girls had to get involved. They liked the MICROspikes, too.

As soon as I give the MICROspikes a go on the trails and hills, I'll add that to this review post.