Fitness Training News

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Started running this week.

Hmmmm, does three entries in one day make up for the fact that I didn't write anything for a month?
Whatever...

I started running with the Girls. Usually, we hike for about an hour all over the trails near the house. But that has become slightly boring for the Girls. Probably not, but I wanted more than a hike and so I started running and they come by default-hanging out with me.

We can get in a good 3 mile run if we Loop around on some of the trails near the house.

We start up the Barn Trail. Then the Middle trail to the Red Shack Trail, head up The Narrows, around the top (past the kennel barking dogs), down the Church Trail to the Antler Trail, loop around to the Red Shack Trail again but double back to go down the Lower Trail and past the

fallen trees. There's another trail we lie to cut off on but I have to name it, so for now, No name Trail.

Then we head up the Gully Trail past the mine tailings, up the steep slope to the spring at the apple tree. Then back up the narrows, back up to the Upper Loop Trail, and past the kennels of the barking dogs, back down to Antler Trails, back to the Red Shack Trail, back to the barn trail, and down to the house.

Today I was pretty slow. Although todays hike had 1200 feet of elevation gain my pace was only 11.5 minute miles. My legs were pretty tired and I had to run walk a couple of the steep tailings sections.

I'll try to do the same run a few times a week to see if I can get my times better. Not easy to do, even on a good day, as I don't want to trip on a rock. I keep it posted if I can get much faster. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 2:04 PM 0 Comments

Warning to those hiking and riding the Church trail

Warning: You are being videotaped if you pass this area.

Hey, just a heads up about the Church Trail. If you ride or hike it, know that you are being video taped by the owners of the Rescue Rehab Home kennel. You can't miss it. It's half way up (or down) after the very large house and around the corner is the rescue dog kennels. The dogs always bark so you'll know when you get close to it.

A mountain biker I ran into says he was bitten by one of the dogs, while they were out on the trails on the Church Trail (County public property) and he said the owner of the dogs denied it happened. The mt biker wouldn't give his name because he said it was a she said/he said event.

So, riders be very aware. Many dogs are OK with hikers but are afraid and may bike if startled by someone on a bike. The trails off of the main part of the Church Trail are privately owned, so ask for permission to ride or hike on them. Not all of the trails are owned by the kennel owners and all of the trails have been used by me and the other locals for many many years.

I have to add, I have seen the kennel owner on the trails with her dogs once. She hikes them early morning and a second time during the day. All but one of her dogs were courteous to my own dogs. She called that one back to her. Still, I wouldn't trust my dogs meeting up to all of her dogs and I hope not to be riding when I see her dogs on the trails.

Here's what their web site says:

"These lucky dogs, once deemed unadoptable or unable to live happy lives, now get to enjoy their days going on daily 2 hour hikes off leash, play time together all day, every day, holistc food and supplements and fun day trips for baths, car rides, and excitement". # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 1:10 PM 0 Comments

Monday, October 20, 2008

Making the Manatou Springs Incline Trail Legal.

Just returned from the Olympic Training Center where USA Cycling hosted a Coaches Summit. Lots of great information (more to come on that, later) and many great speakers. Learned a lot and had an equally good time meeting new coaches and doing some great extra curricular activities.

One afternoon a friend and I decided to go check out a hike in Manatou Springs. It wasn't until we return from this awesome hike that we found out it was not actually legal. We would never have known this, as there must have been about 30 other people running and hiking on this trail.

There is a great deal negotiations with several of the land owners and the public to get this trail open to the public. I would hope this will happen as it is the coolest hike I've ever done.

Here's a great web site for more information on the Incline.

http://www.inclineclub.com/incline/
Current state of the Incline:

The Incline is not open to the public for any use — PERIOD! That people are going up the Incline only means they are trespassing on private property! Indeed, the Incline has been clearly posted “No Trespassing” since June of 2000. Talk of the Incline being “closed” is a misnomer in that something that is not open can not be closed. However, rather extensive and ongoing efforts are taking place to work with the owners of the Incline to get it open to the public. Please see the section “Efforts to Open the Incline to the Public” below for details.

What is the Incline?
In brief, the Incline as it exists now is the roadbed to the former Mount Manitou Scenic Incline Railway — a cable car that took people up the eastern face of Rocky Mountain to about 8,600' before shutting down in 1990. The steepest section is at a grade of 68% with the average grade just over 40%. For a more complete history of the Incline, including why it was originally built, please read the story “Life on the Incline - A 3-part Story” in the section below titled “Incline in the News.”

Who owns the Incline?
The land the Incline was built on is owned by three entities. The approximate bottom 25% is owned by the City of Colorado Springs, the middle 50% is owned by the COG Railway and the top 25% is owned by the Forest Service. For a visual representation of this please see the maps at the bottom of this page.

There's much more information on the web page about the Incline. Read more. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 12:49 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Congratulations to Larry: 1st Pl. finish at The Texas Time Trials 24 hour race

Larry in Utah at the Hoodoo 500, about one month before the Texas Time Trial races.

I'm so proud of Larry for his first place finish at the Texas time Trials. He did the 24 hour race and it was the longest he's ever raced before. About a month earlier, Larry helped crew for Leslie at the Hoodoo 500 race. He learned a lot about preparation and crewing. This allowed him to prepare for his own 24 hour race in Texas and to get his number one crew person, Lara, ready for the hard task of being his only support person.

His support person, also his wife, Lara, took time away from her busy schedule of teaching law and practicing Yoga and did a superb jog getting Larry to eat, ride, stay alert, and come in first with an whopping 345 miles in the 24 hour race. Actual miles were 360 in just about 25 hours. Not at all bad for his first 24 hour race. That gives him a 14.55 mph average.

Lara and Larry came to visit and ride with me last year. There's already talk of getting a permanent support van ready for more ultra distance goals next year. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 1:14 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fall is here, house is almost done.

I found a couple of late raspberries on the bushes today and showed them to Kayla. Both Girls love the fruit on the yard. fro the last few weeks we've all been eating the plums. Kayla likes to find the plums that have fallen to the ground, most likely because they are more ripe. Lucie will wait for me to take a bite on one and then spit it out and feed it to her. yup, once a princess, always.....

We had excellent fruit this year. Raspberries, apples, tomatoes, and plums. Next year I'll try more vegetables. When we first moved in there were several areas of the yard that had moderately sized onions.

I still have my head and chest cold. It's actually become a little worse since Friday. I decided that riding up and down the hill would not be a wise thing and have only taken the Girls on easy hikes. Perhaps, even that, is too much. Not like the summer was free of any stress but the house is almost done. A lot of people seem to have this sniffle thing.

We'll work on painting today and get ready to move belongings back into the upstairs on Tuesday night. We won't know what to do with all of our free time when the house is done. Get back in shape, I keep saying. Commute more, long rides, and go look at the fall colors before the leaves drop to the ground.

There's still some areas of green aspens, so that gives me hope I won't miss all of the colorful areas. Can still take the Girls up to look for the changes to fall.

A favorite thing for the Girls to do is to hike up near Ward. I ride and keep a consistent pace going while they trot along with me. They can't run too far off of the trails and jeep trail and have to keep an eye out for which direction I go. Sounds boring but really is a lot of fun.

Maybe we'll still be able to get in a hike up in the hough country if the warmer weather holds. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:44 AM 0 Comments

Monday, September 22, 2008

Picture Rock Trail Opens, Yahoo.

6 miles of brand spanky new single track. The Picture Rock Trail.

Had to "call in sick" today. The cold I have sunk nicely into my lungs and I'm feeling like crap. So I guess the ride on Sat. may have sunk me. Or not. hard to say.

So, I figured I'd do something productive. I'd meet up with Steve and head over to Lyons and be apart of the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Picture Rock Trail. Thaks to a ton of people, MIke, and the Parks and Open Space (sometimes called "closed space", we now have a connector mountain bike trail from Heil Ranch to hall. That means about and hour less of riding on paved road and a new single track trail to ride on. Yahoo!

There was a huge turn out. I mean tons of mountain bikers, runners, and equestrians. Well, and there were some protesters. No mud slinging just signs.

After all of the hoopla about why it took so long, what was involved and government stuff, off we all rode.

It was awesome single track. Lots of good rock placement , so riders won't ride too fast and a great mix of easy to moderate technical sections. The only thing I would thing that could be added is a few more pull outs, for slower riders or other to pass in different directions.

Felt pretty good but my lungs did feel the climb. Will have to take it pretty easy the next couple of days. Who knows, maybe even another day off.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 10:12 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I love the mountains. And, I equally love to ride in them.

I did one of my favorite short rides yesterday. My house to Poorman, climb, up Sunshine, climb, and keep climbing until you get to Gold Hill. A quick 1:30 (sometimes 1:20, when I'm feeling good) and never more than 1:35, which is what it took yesterday. The elevation gain is just over 3,000 feet.

Maybe shouldn't have done it as I was fighting off a cold. Then last night the cold took a huge turn for the worse and sunk into my chest. Bummer! Oh well, at least I got the ride in yesterday.

I thought the ride up Poorman was hard just because I was out of shape. Tried to keep my HR under 165. So I slowed down and kept it around 158-160. That seemed more like it for the pace I was trying to go. Still my nose keep running and running and I was happy not to have anyone around me cuz it was kind of messy. Still, I kept thinking that maybe it would get all of the bad germs out of me. Silly me.

Once I turned onto Sunshine ( grade average is 6.5-9%) I had a very hard time keeping my HR under 160. It pretty much stayed there most of the next hour. Good thing about this ride is that there are incredible views the whole way up. hat and I was listening to my Shuffle with my best techno tunes. That always is a good thing. Scenery and techno.

When you get toward the top to the climb it levels off to a pretty easy grade. Maybe about 4 %. Not bad a t all on the mountain bike.

Regardless of how I was feeling on the ride and the way I feel today, it is still one of the most awesome short rides (close to my house) that I know. Now I'll see how I feel tomorrow and see if it really was worth it. Yeah... it's worth it. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 4:03 PM 0 Comments

Friday, September 19, 2008

Congratulations to Urs Koenig

Just got back from crewing for my client and friend, Urs, at the Hoodoo 500. Awesome race and Urs did really well. Just exactly one hour behind first place, Kennith Philbrick.

If was really a blast to help out with Ken and DJ. Ken has crewed for Urs many times, so DJ and I followed instruction from the main man, Ken. Well, if you don't count some direction from Urs.

It pays to have a really organized racer and crew. I learned that from so many years of racing. If you don't have a great crew too many things can go wrong. Organization is where it's at! Well, and of course, a strong rider. A very strong rider.

I flew in on Thursday before the race and met the gang at the Las Vegas airport. From there, Urs rented a van and off we went to St George to check into the hotel. We arrived at the hotel with enough time to get a meal and get some needed sleep. It's always best to get extra sleep two nights before you race because most racers never sleep well the night before the race.

Friday we had a great hotel breakfast and then it was off to shop for supplies needed in order to get a really organized support van and to find last minute food for Urs and the crew.

During the set up I met up with a friend and client, Larry. He lives in Vegas and came over to St. George to help another client, Leslie, race. She was using this race as a way to gain experience and see if she likes ultra riding. She is the current Double Ironman Chanpion. Crazy girl likes ultra running and swimming, too. She did learn a lot and is ready to come back for more.

By mid afternoon all was good with the race support van and we were off to get the car, bikes, and Urs inspected. All good.

By dinner time, 5:30 Utah time, we were able to repeat the dinner from the night before and we were all fueled and ready for the race on Saturday.

Race morning we were up at 5:00 AM and ready to rock and roll. We all met at the entrance to the hotel and start line. All the racers waited for the start call to go off and away they all rode in a neutral 8 mile section of the race course- support cars not allowed. We, the crew made sure we had everything and off we went to meet up at about the 15 mile point to connect with the racers, and our main man, Urs.

At our very first encounter with Urs, he told us he had already changed a flat tire. (Leslie, too, as it turns out, also flatted in the same place). We changed out wheels in order to make sure there would be no other flat issues and later changed that wheel back during one of our quick Indy pit stops. The rest of the day was spent leap frogging Urs and asking him what he'd like to eat or drink. We would occasionally tell him map directions, so that he wouldn't have to look at his own maps.

I was really impressed with Urs' speed on the climbs. I'd not seen Urs ride before this race and although, from his past record setting races, I knew he was fast, I was happy to see him in action. Awesome strength to weight ration is what sets many racers apart in ultra distance racing. All racing for that matter. And he's got it.

Several times throughout the race, the racers had to go above 7,000 feet. I think the highest point just about 10,500. Could be a little higher.

On the first day of the race the temperature was not too bad. I think in the high 80s low 90s. Much better than expected and the temp for Sunday and Monday was 100. Yikes.

As night came we placed lights onto the bike and made sure Urs was warm enough. I was a little surprised that it got as cold as it actually did. I live at 7,000 feet in Colorado and I'm used to cool nights by this time of the year but during this race it got really cold.

By mid morning Urs had moved himself into 2nd place and did so with strength and conviction. I asked him to pull away from another racer, previously in second, knowing I was pushing him a little harder than he may have wanted to go. I wanted to see if the other racer could hold Urs' pace. He didn't and Urs pulled away eventually getting a 21 minute lead. Although a good lead, not a lot in ultra distance racing. That means we didn't allow him much coasting or breaks so as to not have anoy other racers sneak up on us.

By late morning, about 27 hours into the race, we told Urs he still only had the 21 minutes over third place (staying consistently 1 hour and some change behind first place) and we told him to keep kicking it up a notch. As more hills and the temperature kept rising, I'm sure that was easy to do!

With about 15 miles to the finish the racers had to leave their crews and go through a canyon park. The racers were to finish the race on their own without support. We supplied Urs with plenty of fluids and spare tubes and we went onto the finish line and anxiously awaited his arrival.

BY the finish line, we were so excited to see he made up a few more minutes on first place and came in exactly one hour behind first place Kennith Philbrick. Very impressive and way to keep the fire lit until the very end.

I look forward to crewing with this great team (crew and racer) in the future.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 7:41 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, September 11, 2008

House and fitness do not go together

Have to laugh. Someone ran into me yesterday and said I look really fit. HHHmmmmmm. No way, I say.

It's been a whole summer of fixing fixing and then more fixing. Not much riding, still getting the Girls out on hikes, and very little of anything but the house and work.

Foaming up the joint for winter warmth.

New drywall to replace the 60 year old stuff with water damage.

The house is looking really good but we're tired and only as fit as someone that's been picking up debris, wood, tiling materials, grout, and everything else that goes along with sprucing up a 140 year old house.

Finding all sorts of stuff like doors where walls should be. Locks and all.

Tile the kitchen to look all spiffy.

New floors, new roof, new drywall, new insulation, new tile and new heat. Should be awesome when it's done. Almost. Then, back on the bike and back into fitness mode.

I tell my clients there's no excuse for not staying in shape. Sure hope demo work and building counts.

Bests parts of summer were:
Lynnie Twinnie came to visit.

Went on some good long mountain hikes.

# posted by Michelle Grainger @ 11:21 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Summer of house fixing, Lynnie Twinnie and friends galore

Lynnie Twinnie and me.

Well, I'm finally not so busy I can actually see the end of the tunnel.
We've had great visits from friends and from Lynnie Twinnie, my twin sis.

We've also been fixing drywall, roof leaks, and more at the home pad. Lots still to do. Just had to get to it.

Not much riding these days. Maybe 1-2 x per week a commute to work and back and another mt bike ride somewhere in the week. Am very out of shape.

The summer has been a little hot the past week so it's been nice to be up here at 7,000 feet.

Yes, we have still been hiking the Girls. On one of our hikes a neighbor's Dalmation mix actually tried to attack Kayla Wiggins and then turned on Lucie the Newbie and she never saw it coming. People should have better behaved dogs and maybe take them to obedience classes for aggressive behavior.

I got the Newbie to our awesome vet within the hour (thanks Dr. Bob) and he got it all cleaned out and got her on antibiotics. That did the trick and now it'd be nice if the owner would pay the bill. Actually it'd be nice if they acted at all sorry. Oh well. Can't teach manners but I can avoid that dog in the future.

Maybe the Girls should be more like this sign???

So in a couple of weeks my work will close for renovations and I'll be forced to take vacation time. Not a bad thing. I can do some painting on the house, roof repairs and finally get in some consistent riding. Maybe even get in shape again.

Sorry it took a while to write in the blog. Will try to do better. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 12:21 PM 0 Comments

Monday, June 16, 2008

The search for Clay Rubano is over Thanks to so many people. To so many friends, family and just people that wanted to help. Thanks you for finding Clay.

I cannot seem to stop thinking about Clay. Could it be that I've not even started on my book. The book he said would help so many people? Could it be that we're in the middle of ripping our house apart and the last time we did that, he was here sleeping in all of the mess and helping us get through the chaos? Or is it that I just plain miss his laugh and funny ways?

Here is the latest news about Clay Rubano. He has been found but that doesn't mean it's any easier or that I have closure. I feel a little selfish that I feel this way and I know how hard this must be for Rachael and his family.

I know that if you take the time to read all of the blogs about him you will find out just how many people he shared his time and life with. I know I am so lucky to have known him and all of the people that knew him back. Aaahhhh, the pain it is to know someone so special is the pain to know that we may not have them forever.

Here is the update and you can read more at this web site. http://clayrubanosearch.com
"Spring search update 6/9/08
On June 8th, 2008 Clay Rubano was found in Sinks Canyon, outside of Lander, WY. A team of searchers discovered Clay approximately ¾ of a mile east of Sheep Bridge, which is on the Middle Fork trail of the Popo Agie River. Initial indications point to Clay falling from some height (perhaps 75 feet) north of the trail in this area. He was not on the trail. The area that Clay was found in was part of the search area that was drawn up last November. It was an area that had been searched with both people and dog teams. He was found in an area that was obscured from the air and required luck and persistence from ground searchers. The site had attracted two different dog teams last November but did not reveal any clues at the time.

The recent search event was comprised of volunteers from multiple states and agencies. The team that discovered Clay was made up of friends from Glacier National Park. Charlie Logan, the Incident Commander of this recent search, shared his appreciation of the search efforts that the Fremont County Search and Rescue team made last November. Without their thorough and well executed search efforts, Clay would likely not have been discovered so early in this recent search.

The Fremont Country Coroner’s Office is handling further investigation of the site where Clay was found. All requests for information should be directed to the Fremont County Coroner’s Office. # posted by Michelle Grainger @ 9:28 PM 0 Comments

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