Welcome to a less-interactive-than-normal weekly wax. We hope you enjoy it. I can’t say with certainty I know the exact point I’ll be trying to make in the following paragraphs. I only know that I have to finish my thought — and make a point — before I finish this afternoon mocha.

Let’s see if I can write my way into a brilliant thesis…

I’m starting to think a true training camp is something which will remain merely a dream for me. It is destined to perpetually exist as a life-giving goal, a hopeful aspiration…something capable of stirring up excitement without actually delivering — sort of like how the idea the Vikings could win a Super Bowl (but never will) reliably fans the flames of every Minnesotan each fall.

Forget flying to Switzerland to sip expensive cappuccinos and produce Instagram reels in between marathon mountain sessions. I’m not asking for that. I’ve been advocating (to myself — because you know I need to be convinced — and my wife) that all I’d need is a few days to camp out at the top of Monarch Pass (altitude? check. Free overnight camping? check. Ice Cream and coffee? check.) and consequently bike and run myself into oblivion sans normal life responsibilities.

But that isn’t happening — and neither is a June trip to Bend for two weeks of summer on-snow skiing (at least not yet….once we get the camper, maybe…)….or a fall excursion to Park City to creep on Klaebo.

This past week, however, I decided to take a stand. I decided training camps don’t require airplane tickets. They don’t require extended stays in places that look a lot like your home but aren’t actually your home. They don’t require much of anything, actually, except maybe the right attitude.

In fact, you might be able to make a training camp happen more efficiently at your home.

Think about it. Your food, your bed, your routes — everything is already there! Instead of wasting precious energy on logistics, you spend it changing a diaper or two or playing with your kids…and, come to think of it, tossing my daughter up in the air 15 times is, if viewed in a different context, simply a dynamic med ball warm-up for a threshold rollerski.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Yeah, but isn’t the whole point of a training camp to get away to some oasis where the distractions of everyday life are eliminated, thus making sessions/recovery/nutrition more focused?”

The answer is: yes….but…as Vermeulen said on my podcast a few weeks ago, if you want to get better, you “need to stop making excuses.”

So, last week, I just chose to have a training camp. That’s right — work, kids, worship team practice — all these things still happened. They were just sandwiched between hardcore sessions.

Here are some of the highlights:

Monday/Tuesday = 75-85 minutes of trail running + 2 hours gravel biking

Wednesday: get after it day. AM: ran to the top of Vail Mountain (about 60-65 minutes), then down to Midvail; then rode lift down. Up = 2,900 feet, down = 500 feet. 80 minutes total. PM: 2.5 hour gravel ride with good climbing

Thursday: easy/recovery: AM: 60 minute run at Turquoise, almost no elevation gain. super tired. PM: 1 h 50 minute gravel ride

Friday: get after it day. AM: West Mt. Massive Trailhead to Iron Mike Mine and back (3,000ish feet of climb over 7-8 miles, one way). 70 minutes to the top of the road, 60ish or so on the way down. PM: Reluctantly took off because of a prior commitment.

Saturday: get after it day. AM: 2x Mill Creek to Mid-Vail (5.7-6 miles, 2,200 feet of climb). 43 min up, 12 min lift ride down — repeat. Went out harder the second time, finished maybe a little quicker…42ish minutes. PM: 2 hr gravel bike, decent climb

Sunday: recoveryish day. AM: 60 run easy. PM: 1h 45 min. gravel bike

Monday: IDK day. AM: 85 run, finished running to the top of Elk Run for a net climb…maybe 1-1.5k vert. PM: 2 hour gravel bike

Mainly, I emphasized running uphill.

Anytime I drive to Vail for work, I maximize the opportunity to run up either Mill Creek Rd. (smooth, gradual, fast) or the Vail Hill Climb route (a few more punchy steeps, a little longer, a little harder to master). Ok, so I’m a little bitter with my performance on July 6. It’s good to get knocked around, just so long as it fuels you to new heights.

I also purchased a doggie backpack so Ajee can carry my epi-pen and water in case I’m stung by a bee or get thirsty. This has emboldened me to do a bit ‘riskier’ runs, like the out and back to Iron Mike.

We’ll see how far I take it. In my opinion, any run that I can’t complete shirtless is probably too far and too risky to do in the first place. As soon as we’re loading up sacks of lembas bread it starts to morph intospeed-hiking as opposed to real running. I want to be fast, I want it to be hard, and I want to push the boundaries — and see some good views, if possible – but always working within those admittedly arbitrary rules.

Those recent Vail Mountain repetitions swept me into the annual Matt Carpenter appreciation season.

If you don’t know much about Carpenter (and want to know pretty much everything), check out his website here.

If you want to see a column I wrote after his Pikes Peak record was finally broken (albeit within an ascent-only race, not the up-down like Carpenter did), go here.

That column actually elicited an email from Carpenter himself — something I treasure(d) immensely. I am eager to visit his ice cream shop in Manitou Springs at some point and would love to go on a run with Matt here in Leadville or in Vail.

On that note, I’d like to make a bold claim: Matt Carpenter is the greatest trail runner who ever lived — man or woman.

Here’s just a snippet of my argumentation:

1. No one matches his range. He could, and did, win championships and elite races ranging from 5/10k all the way up to the 100-mile distance.
2. Some of his records are absurd. The ‘Impossible’ record (his 2:01 up Pikes Peak) was only beaten last year, and as I mentioned, Carpenter set it in a full-marathon race in which he ran up and down the 14er. Put another way: I don’t think Carpenter’s upper (lower?) limit was 2:01…and I bet, if he wasn’t so humble, he would agree. Even without that performance…what about his Leadville 100 record? When he ran 15:42 in 2005 (at the age of 41, mind you), he sliced 94 minutes off the previous best time! Neither of those, however, are actually probably his most impressive records. Here’s a hole-in-the-wall PB if I ever saw one: Turquoise Lake 20k, 1992 = 1:08:47!!! Half of this race is on swirvy singletrack, which is anything but fast, and the other half is on a road, which would be fast if it didn’t include a “subtle” 2.5-mile climb at 3-4% grade. I mean, if he ran that time on a track at 10,200 feet, it would be impressive. If you signup for this race on ultrasignup, it will say the ‘record’ is 1:13:33 by Tayte Pollmann, an accomplished trail runner in his own right. The second best time listed there is from Alex Willis (1:14:42), a guy who broke 14-minutes for 5k and was a world-class triathlete…. Finally, Carpenter ran sub-47 on the ‘old’ Vail Hill Climb course. I wish we had a way to compare this to the new course, but I reckon Matt would be able to beat Joe Gray’s current record (51:35), as both courses are roughly 7.5-7.7 miles and climb to nearly the same height.
3. He actually ran everything. Even the 100-mile stuff. This is actually a bigger deal than some people have ever stopped to think about…I have more to say, but I’ll save it for the podcast.
4. The Randy Moss effect. His world-record VO2 max tests (90.2 at altitude and 94.9 at sea level) indicate he was an athletic freak, at least to some degree.

More to say…but again, we’ll have to save something for the podcast…

Two final thoughts. Consider the following excerpt from his web page, showing the first three years of his storied career:

1983: (Marathon)
4/18/83: Boston Marathon – 2:41:09 – 867th

1982: (Marathon)
12/4/82: Mississippi Marathon – 2:41:23 – 7th (1st 15-19)

1981: (Marathon)
12/12/81: Mississippi Marathon – 3:11:11 63rd
6/2/81: First entry in my running log after joining cross country team

***notice his start. 3:11:11 at the Mississippi Marathon. Granted, he was super young, but still, it’s crazy to think how later in life, he would run 3:16 in a marathon that went to the top of Pikes Peak and back. The point is, this guy is also an example of someone who truly carved out his career through discipline and hard work…and an absolutely obsessive drive to get better and win.

***Also, ‘first entry into my running log.’ I’d love to check out Carpenter’s running log. I have to say, I already have too many book ideas, but if I could write a biography on Matt Carpenter, it would be incredible. His story and his accomplishments — and the theme/message of his life — are valuable treasures to the entire running (and endurance sports) world.

If that wasn’t enough Matt Carpenter for one sitting, I highly encourage you to read about his $10,000 treadmill (really great story from the Vail Trail), when he pulled a Babe Ruth, and what we all could learn from his career.

Well, it looks like the Westway Feed Products mug is about empty. Not sure if I actually made any good points or not, but it’s time for a bike ride. Gotta keep grinding….we’re in the middle of a training camp after all.

Keep on striving, keep on skiing.

~SederSkier