Week Summary: July 9 - 15

07-09-2012
Mon-AM: 2:46, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up and down the Cables/North Face route. This was a miserably slow morning.  From the start I had zero pep in my legs and couldn't believe how slowly I was moving up the Reveley Route.  Things only got worse on the Jim Grove trail before I moved into the very thick fog on the Boulder Field where the slick, wet talus, my leaden legs, and the low visibility had me moving at what felt to be a snail's pace. Scrambled up the Cables in a virtual waterfall before slogging to the summit in an exhausted 1:38.  Spent some time on the summit wondering just how I was going to find the energy to get back to the TH, but eventually started down. When I hit the standard trail just below Granite Pass, I took it all the way down to Battle Mt where I took the Reveley Route down to the long straightaway on the standard trail, which I then took all the way back to the car. Incredibly haggard morning, but always good to get more practice going up and down the Cables.
PM: 1:33, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran to the base of the First, changed into rock shoes, soloed it in :31 with a 9min downclimb, stashed my rock shoes and then proceeded on to the summit of Green before running back down to Chautauqua. Had some route-finding errors on the upper half of the First that slowed me down a bit.

07-10-2012
Tue-AM: 2:06, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Up and down the NW Ridge, with Anna. Mellow 1:21 ascent to rest up for what is hopefully a nice run on the Hardrock course tomorrow. Perfect, sunny conditions on the mountain this morning.

07-11-2012
Wed-AM: 8:01, 13500' ~ Silverton to Ouray CW on the Hardrock Course
Really great day in the mountains.  I'd never done a big chunk of the HR course, so I was keen to get a sense for what a sustainable pace would feel like on it.  The whole day actually went really well, with my only route-finding error being an extra 4min near the KT aid station site, looking for the entrance to the Kamm Traverse. I felt really strong all day, until the last 20min or so on the Camp Bird Rd descent, which was the only portion of the run that I pushed beyond what I would consider a 100mi race effort.  After the first 1h30, I started hitting a gel every 45min. Carried one bottle and dipped from streams all day. I was feeling so good that I was ready to run to Grouse, but, fortunately, Frosty talked some sense into me. Really excited to actually get around the whole course as soon as possible. May the lottery and injury gods be kind.

River Crossing - :20
Start of climb up Putnam (hard right) - 1:00
Putnam Saddle - 1:25
Putnam Summit - 1:30
KT Road - 2:10
Ice Lake Stream - 2:30
Grant-Swamp Pass - 3:00
Chapman - 3:30
Oscars Pass - 4:23
Telluride - 5:22 (this was descending Bridal Veil Basin Rd, which is ~2mi longer than the 2008 CR course)
Virginius Pass - 6:41
Governors - 7:05
Ouray - 8:01

07-12-2012
Thu-AM: 2:01, 4500' ~ Handies Peak (14,048')
Up and down the mountain from Grouse Gulch with the Wolfepaw and Frosty. 1:13 to the summit and only 40min to get back down. Jogged down the road a bit to round out the morning. Legs felt surprisingly untouched after yesterday's outing.

07-13-2012
Fri-AM: 1:01, 2600' ~ Little Giant Pass (13,000')
After watching the 6:00am race start for Hardrock, DBo, Frosty, and I went back to Cunningham Gulch for a quick burn up the final climb of the race. :40 to the pass, followed by some ogling of peaks and a fun ~:17min descent.
PM: 7:39, 9400' ~ Hardrock Pacing from Ouray (mi 46) to Sherman (mi 74)
Picked Joe up and marched up the vertical mile to Engineer Pass very steady, and most of it with Dakota.  The run down the road to Grouse was kinda rough, but our climb up Handies Peak was solid, with the descent (now in the dark) down to Burrows and Sherman being sort of hampered again by Joe's inability to stomach much more than Coke. All in all, though, Joe rallied in a massive way over the last 20mi to pass Dakota and move into 2nd place, cut Hal's lead from 52min to 16min, and run the fastest last 20mi ever in this direction--26min faster than Kyle's CR splits from 2008.  Fantastic race for Joe.

07-14-2012
Sat-AM: 1:47, 4000' ~ US Grant Peak (13,767')
After watching Hal, Joe, and Dakota finish Hardrock, Anna and I parked at the South Mineral Creek TH for the Ice Lake Basin, but then turned off on the trail to Grant-Swamp Pass before scrambling the loose, hyper-chossy 3rd/4th Class ridge to the summit. What a gorgeous part of the world.  Frosty traded the summit for a nap beside Island Lake, which was much needed after staying up all night crewing for Joe.

07-15-2012
Sun-AM: :30, 500' ~ Cunningham Road
Just jogged up and back on the road because I had a flat tire that I needed to change before the Hardrock awards breakfast.
PM: 1:39, 4000' ~ Kendall Mt. (13,066')
Up the avalanche chute and down most of the road back to town, w/ Frosty. Really nice line directly up the face of the mountain got me to its summit tower in :58. The loose rock at the top motivated a more circuitous descent, however.

Hours: 29h13min
Vert: 51,000'

My goodness, what a week. Hardrock is one of the only races that truly inspires me anymore. After seeing ~85mi of the course this past week, I can affirm what generally everyone seems to agree on: it's about as good as it gets.  A big part of me was second-guessing my decision to not race this week, but I think my shin will be far happier the rest of the year as a result of restraining myself. Anyone who finishes or even attempts that beast of a loop garners my respect, but of course I was doubly inspired by the efforts of the top three this past Friday.  I was especially proud of Joe's performance as I think it's been a long time coming for him, and he closed out the race on a high note, with a remarkably strong finish. As for Hal, I'm ashamed at how I seem to serially underestimate his abilities going into competitive races.  He showed this past week that not only can he crank the flatter 100s, but that he is clearly a consummate mountain runner as well. What a competitor.

This next week only holds more adventures, with hopefully an attempt on the Grenadiers' Arrow Peak and Wham Ridge in the morning (weather permitting), and quite possibly a big chunk of the Nolan's route on Wednesday (again, with enough cooperation from the weather).

La Plata Peak, Tuesday morning.

Anna on the final grunt to the summit of Handies Peak.

DBo approaching the summit of Little Giant Pass.

Island Lake, just below Grant-Swamp Pass on the Hardrock course.

Grant-Swamp Pass (on the left) as seen on the way to the US Grant Peak summit.

Looking down the G-S Pass scree descent and across to the next giant climb: Oscars Pass.