A Good Week

"70 Miles this week, no wonder why my legs feel so dead"  This thought had occurred to me as I was 6 miles into a 15 mile run on Mags.  Mags is reason enough to feel dead legged, but today was slightly worse than normal.   But as I was thinking back on my week and doing the math I realized I was going to hit 70 for this week.  (Actually 68 miles, but what's a couple of miles between friends).

The last time I did nearly 70 miles for a week had to be years ago.  And the funny thing is, I wasn't trying, which is why it happened.  Two solid workouts with the BTC MUTS group on Tuesday and Friday morning (with a lot of hill climbing), a sorta long run on Saturday (with a lot of hill climbing), Mags on Sunday (a lot of rolling hills), along with normal 10 mile Wednesday morning res run and couple of easy runs on Monday (Fleet Feet Fun Run) and Thursday, plus an easy 6 Friday evening for the Happy Hour Run, and it all adds up nearly to a 70 mile week and some pretty toasted legs.  Not so much the mileage (which is part of it), but there was a lot of hill climbing.

But that is good, for my race schedule this year looks like a lot of hill climbing.  Oddly this isn't my strength and most of the races I am planning don't have any downhill (my strength) or flat spots (which I can usually run better than others coming off a climb).   My groin injury changed my summer plans along with my decision to enter the Jungfrau Marathon.

So here is the fairly set in stone race schedule for the year.

May 27  Bolder Boulder 10K : Goal - Break my age for the first time ever in this race (or any 10K)
June 8-9  Go Pro Vail Summer Mountain Games : Goal - Complete triple, 1/2 marathon climb up Vail Pass on Saturday, 10K trail race Sunday morning, followed up with 5K Rocky Dog Trail Race with Brisco, Sunday afternoon.  This might be difficult but I must help defend Brisco's crown
July 21  Vail Half Marathon : Goal - New course for me.  Just want good effort.
August 17  Pike's Peak Ascent : Goal - Like to go under 2:50.  Went 2:59 last year without much high altitude exposure prior to the race
September 14 Jungfrau Marathon : Goal - Key race of year.  Looking forward to it.  Long way out but think I could run 3:45 there.
October 19-20 Bourbon Chase Relay : Goal - Run fast, drink bourbon, have a good time.  2 of the 3 are guaranteed with the Stonemill Streakers.  Actually all 3 are guaranteed when running with the Streakers.

It should be good year.  I am looking forward to the summer.  Right now I am enjoying a Brisco Genesis Dark Mild Ale.  Bottled on April 24.  Here's a look back at the bottling process.

Soaking old bottles (special thanks to Hungry Toad for access to their recycling bin)

Clean bottles ready to be sanitized.  Baked in oven for a couple of hours at 350 F.

Racking beer from secondary fermentor to bottling bucket.

Filling bottle from bottling bucket.

Filled bottles. Just a need a few weeks to condition and carbonate.

Capping bottles.

And in the end after letting set for nearly 3 weeks, the batch is ready to drink.  Chilled in fridge for a few hours and then poured and ready to drink on a great summery Boulder night.

Final Verdict :  Overall I am pleased with my first batch of homebrew.  It has a nice dark color to it and is quite clear.  Good taste, no bad after taste or yeasty taste.  Of course with brand new equipment this likely wasn't going to occur.  Next batches will show how well I cleaned up after this one.  A little too malty, caramelly (sweet) than I would have preferred, but now I know what these grains will give me in terms of taste.  I'll give it 3 tail wags (out of 5).

Another Snowy Spring Night ...

Well it snowed again today in Boulder.  We are getting close to another foot outside my door.  Today, of course, was also the Boston Marathon.  The events of the day should not completely obliterate the effort put into the great races people ran today.  It was those races that inspired me to get out the door and run 9 miles in the snowstorm.  Part of it on trails, basically breaking my own trail in the snow.  Will see how the adductors and groin feel about that tomorrow.  It was a fantastic run and gave me some time to ponder the events of the day.  It feels good to be able to run again.  And the performances today by Hartman, Troop and Andersen have given me some inspiration to get back at it.

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Today also marked the end of primary fermentation for Brisco's Genesis Dark Mild Ale.  The krausen had fallen and CO2 off gassing had slowed from the previous day.

Krausen has fallen.  Ready to move to Secondary Fermentor.

So it was time to rack the beer into the secondary fermentor.

Siphoning from primary to secondary fermentor.

Smells like beer!

Looks nice.  Almost want to a have a pint right now.

The Yeast have been working hard and left behind quite a mess.

Unfortunately Brisco isn't feeling very well, due to an eye infection and couldn't run with me today.  Which is a shame, as he is a powder hound. He loves the snow.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon and be ready to supervise on bottling day.

Brew Day!

So today was Brew Day.  But before that it was time for a run.  I had biked the past 2 Saturdays and was considering doing so as well this morning, but last night at Asher, Handzo said he and Greg were going planning on running at Hall Ranch Saturday morning.  When I got up this am and found the temperature about 5-10 degrees cooler than I prefer to bike in, I couldn't pass up a run at Hall Ranch.  This is one of my favorite runs in Boulder County.  It's tough but beautiful and early in the morning, you usually have the place to yourself.  I didn't know how I would feel, but even if I was slow and beat up by the end, it still would be great morning.

Check out the route.



I was a big sluggish on the climb falling behind Greg, but he was kind enough to circle back for me part way up.

Greg pulls away 3/4 of the way up the climb.

 I however didn't return the favor for Handzo.  Sorry, dude.

Looking back at Ryan.

View looking back across the St Vrain valley

We had some company at the top of the climb, but outside of that and a few mountain bikers, Hall Ranch was all ours.

A herd of deer met us at the top of the climb.

Fantastic views.

Did the nearly 10 mile route in 1:24.

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It was a relatively relaxed run throughout and I felt good when we got done.  Obviously lost some fitness and can tell when we were climbing, but I think in a couple of weeks I will be back into a decent training shape.   Post run called for waffles at Barking Dog Cafe.   Fantastic morning and a great way to get into proper brewing mood.

For my first batch I picked something simple, a dark mild ale.   Brisco's Homebrews was set up and ready to go.

Everything is ready for some brewing.

The manager of this operation seemed unimpressed by my efforts.

First step, crack the grains.  Best piece of equipment for this task is an empty beer bottle (not to be empty for much longer.)
Cracked grains on right.  To be cracked on the right.

Grains seeping in hot water.

Bowling wort.

Measuring out the hops.  (Kent Goldings)

Cooling the wort.

Siphoning wort into primary fermentor.

Yeast is pitched.  Airlock is placed on top.  Now waiting for fermentation to start.

Brisco's Genesis Dark Mild Ale is now fermenting away.  Those little yeast guys are doing their job, eating some sugar and excreting alcohol and carbon dioxide.  

After a few hours, signs of fermentation are evident.