03-11-2013
Mon-AM: 2:09, 4000' ~ Bear & Green
Biked to Chautauqua then ran the Mesa over to Fern. The bottom half of Fern was in really good shape but above the saddle was mostly wallowing through drifts. Trail was packed well over to Green then and I descended Greenman-Saddle Rock-Amphi in a sprightly 16:25, not really pushing it, just taking advantage of the nicely packed conditions. Afterwards, climbed a quick lap on the Dome in Boulder Canyon with Joe before the wind and Joe's understandable unwillingness to be tough again just yet made us call it a day.
PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green
Biked up to Chat and cruised up and down the front of the mountain. I was testing out some new rubber on some NB protos, so stuck to the less-committing slopes of the 2nd Flatiron rather than the much more tenuous 1st Flatiron. About half-way up the mountain I ascended into a snowing cloud that I was able to escape on the run back down to Chat but by time I got back home it was snowing pretty well in town.
03-12-2013
Tue-AM: 1:56, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Woke to 3-4" of fresh snow, so ran from my doorstep up the front of Green and down Ranger-Gregory. Tired legs, definitely still adjusting to the increased volume.
PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
From Chat, went up and down the 1st/2nd Access route. Took poles, and while they weren't needed on the exquisitely packed trail to the 1st saddle, they were nice to have in the post-holing above there. Theatrical evening scene on the summit with a setting sun shining dramatically through low-hanging cloud layers.
03-13-2013
Wed-AM: 3:39, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up and down the Cables for Longs summit #7 of 2013. On the pre-dawn drive to the trailhead the wind was blowing really hard--same in the parking lot--so I was kind of dreading the march up the hill. There was a lot of new snow below treeline so I wore crampons and took poles, which helped a bit, especially since I was breaking trail. The wind was definitely blowing up on the tundra but it wasn't impossible and once I got to the Boulderfield it wasn't bad at all. Tons of spindrift was coming down the north face, though, which made things fun, and then the summit (2:27 up) was stuck in a cloud so I didn't get any views. Of course, things warmed-up on the downhill (1:12 descent) and overall I was psyched to have gotten in a fun summit when conditions weren't seeming very good early in the morning. For most of the climb I was feeling like the altitude wasn't really affecting me, but then the last 1000' sucked as much as usual, taking the usual full 15min to get from the top of the Cables to the summit.
03-14-2013
Thu-AM: 2:02, 4000' ~ Bear & Green
Biked to Chat, then ran over on the Mesa and up Fern to the summit of Bear, over to the summit of Green, then down the front back to Chat. Didn't take spikes with me but the warm temps meant that my hyper-lugged 110s gripped reasonably well in the snow all morning.
PM1: Climbing w/ Joe. My first time up the uber-classic Yellow Spur in Eldorado Canyon.
PM2: 1:19, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green
Biked to Chat, ran up to the base and scrambled the First, downclimbed and continued on to the summit of Green in dwindling light. Turned on my headlamp for the descent. Really nice to spend basically the whole day outside from sun-up to sun-down in perfect weather.
03-15-2013
Fri-AM: 0:42, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
From Chautauqua, just cruised an easy lap on the First before meeting Jenny to go climbing. Moved well on the rock, but took it easy on the approach and descent, trying to be nice to my slightly sore shin. I guess you can just never assume old injuries are gone for good.
PM: Climbing with Jenny. Went to the Elephant Buttresses for a couple quick ascents of the Third and Fourth Buttresses. Fun to see improvement and lead routes that I had trouble following just a couple months ago.
03-16-2013
Sat - nothing. Taking the weekend off in order to be careful with my shin. After suffering through almost 18 months of issues with it before last summer, I'm pretty wary.
03-17-2013
Sun- 0. The wind deterred me from even getting on any rock. But the shin is definitely improving.
Hours: 14h03min
Vert: 26,600'
Was feeling really solid all week, with great weather the second half of the week, but then it finished off a little frustrating with an old, nagging, niggle kicking back up a bit. I have lots of experience with the shin pain, though, so am hopeful that I can treat it right and not have it jeopardize too much mountain time. It's a good reminder, though, that I need to remain patient and vigilant as I ramp up the training volume. Can't neglect any link in the chain.
Mon-AM: 2:09, 4000' ~ Bear & Green
Biked to Chautauqua then ran the Mesa over to Fern. The bottom half of Fern was in really good shape but above the saddle was mostly wallowing through drifts. Trail was packed well over to Green then and I descended Greenman-Saddle Rock-Amphi in a sprightly 16:25, not really pushing it, just taking advantage of the nicely packed conditions. Afterwards, climbed a quick lap on the Dome in Boulder Canyon with Joe before the wind and Joe's understandable unwillingness to be tough again just yet made us call it a day.
PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green
Biked up to Chat and cruised up and down the front of the mountain. I was testing out some new rubber on some NB protos, so stuck to the less-committing slopes of the 2nd Flatiron rather than the much more tenuous 1st Flatiron. About half-way up the mountain I ascended into a snowing cloud that I was able to escape on the run back down to Chat but by time I got back home it was snowing pretty well in town.
03-12-2013
Tue-AM: 1:56, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Woke to 3-4" of fresh snow, so ran from my doorstep up the front of Green and down Ranger-Gregory. Tired legs, definitely still adjusting to the increased volume.
PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
From Chat, went up and down the 1st/2nd Access route. Took poles, and while they weren't needed on the exquisitely packed trail to the 1st saddle, they were nice to have in the post-holing above there. Theatrical evening scene on the summit with a setting sun shining dramatically through low-hanging cloud layers.
03-13-2013
Wed-AM: 3:39, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up and down the Cables for Longs summit #7 of 2013. On the pre-dawn drive to the trailhead the wind was blowing really hard--same in the parking lot--so I was kind of dreading the march up the hill. There was a lot of new snow below treeline so I wore crampons and took poles, which helped a bit, especially since I was breaking trail. The wind was definitely blowing up on the tundra but it wasn't impossible and once I got to the Boulderfield it wasn't bad at all. Tons of spindrift was coming down the north face, though, which made things fun, and then the summit (2:27 up) was stuck in a cloud so I didn't get any views. Of course, things warmed-up on the downhill (1:12 descent) and overall I was psyched to have gotten in a fun summit when conditions weren't seeming very good early in the morning. For most of the climb I was feeling like the altitude wasn't really affecting me, but then the last 1000' sucked as much as usual, taking the usual full 15min to get from the top of the Cables to the summit.
03-14-2013
Thu-AM: 2:02, 4000' ~ Bear & Green
Biked to Chat, then ran over on the Mesa and up Fern to the summit of Bear, over to the summit of Green, then down the front back to Chat. Didn't take spikes with me but the warm temps meant that my hyper-lugged 110s gripped reasonably well in the snow all morning.
PM1: Climbing w/ Joe. My first time up the uber-classic Yellow Spur in Eldorado Canyon.
PM2: 1:19, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green
Biked to Chat, ran up to the base and scrambled the First, downclimbed and continued on to the summit of Green in dwindling light. Turned on my headlamp for the descent. Really nice to spend basically the whole day outside from sun-up to sun-down in perfect weather.
03-15-2013
Fri-AM: 0:42, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
From Chautauqua, just cruised an easy lap on the First before meeting Jenny to go climbing. Moved well on the rock, but took it easy on the approach and descent, trying to be nice to my slightly sore shin. I guess you can just never assume old injuries are gone for good.
PM: Climbing with Jenny. Went to the Elephant Buttresses for a couple quick ascents of the Third and Fourth Buttresses. Fun to see improvement and lead routes that I had trouble following just a couple months ago.
03-16-2013
Sat - nothing. Taking the weekend off in order to be careful with my shin. After suffering through almost 18 months of issues with it before last summer, I'm pretty wary.
03-17-2013
Sun- 0. The wind deterred me from even getting on any rock. But the shin is definitely improving.
Hours: 14h03min
Vert: 26,600'
Was feeling really solid all week, with great weather the second half of the week, but then it finished off a little frustrating with an old, nagging, niggle kicking back up a bit. I have lots of experience with the shin pain, though, so am hopeful that I can treat it right and not have it jeopardize too much mountain time. It's a good reminder, though, that I need to remain patient and vigilant as I ramp up the training volume. Can't neglect any link in the chain.
 |
| It is spring. Summit of Green Mountain. |
 |
| Rime ice on the Diamond and the north face of Longs on Wednesday. |
 |
| Last bit of the Yellow Spur on Thursday, Eldorado Canyon. Photo: Joe Grant. |
16 comments:
Sounds like an awesome week for you, you may not remember this but I was that guy you past on the way down a few 100 meters from the summit of Green on Thursday I was going up. To my defense when you turned the corner going down the summit via the Greenman..I was in shock and all I could spit out was "Whut's Up" or something lame like that.
But I also didn't want to bother you while you were training as I know that can be bothersome.
Then...on top of all that I ran into you again that same day on your late night ascent to the first Flatiron I was with my gf going down on Chat Trail and once again said something lame like "Whut's Up/Hey" ha!
Although a stunning pic, that shot of Yellow Spur is totally freaking me out!
Hey Tony. I am 18, 119 pounds and last week ran for 7 hours with 7600 ft of gain. The last few days i have been experiencing tingling in my right foot. Have you experienced any tingling of the feet? Could it be slipped disk, or some kind of deficiency such as iron or vitamin D? Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Greg
Hello,
Leath Tonino here. You may or may not remember me... I was your peer at CC, I wrote a profile of you in the Cipher after you won Leadville the first time. I've been wanting to email you but can't find an address. If you could drop me a line at leathtonino@gmail.com that'd be great.
Best,
Leath
How is the shin?
@greg, you should go get that checked out mate. V Difficult for anyone, even a physition, to advise you without an examination
Hi Anton.
After living in NYC for years I have decided that in about a year I am going to move to a rural area.
There are inumerable reasons, but one is to be able to run on some trails and be aound more trees, etc.
Reading your blog has been inspiring and reminded me of how important all this is to me.
Keep up the good writing and thanks for sharing.
Barry
@Barry - I went through the same thing as you are thinking about last year. I grew up in rural Canada, but had spent the last decade in Philly. When I finally decided to move back to a place closer to nature, I chose Boulder partially due to inspirational blogs (like Tony's). Boulder has been my home for almost a year now and haven't regretted a minute of it!
@David
Thanks for sharing that.
Tony,
First how is the shin?
Also....
Just curious as to see if you knew what your FKT was for running/power hiking up Green via (Chat Parking Lot- Baseline-Gregory Canyon- Ranger- Summit and back down the same route)?
I have no clue how well I'm doing compared to you but I'm sure your times are way faster on that route. But like you I like to be competitive and have something to aim for...so for me which was done this Thursday (3/21/2013) was 58 Mins up and 36 mins down (was afraid to push to hard down due to some ice patches) and the push up was 80% strong bent over/hands on knees hiking with some running on the flatter portions (Very Little).
Anyway hope to hear back..keep it up man and I hope your shin is not an issue.
me encantas!
Dallas - The shin's been pretty good after taking things a little more mellow this week.
I don't have the FKT on the Gregory-Ranger route (Sage Canaday does at 31:48 I believe, Gregory parking lot to the summit post). I don't normally time that route from Chautauqua, but it typically takes me 4-5min to get over to Gregory from Chat and then my best time up that route is 33:39. I've never descended that route very hard, but think I'm usually in the 21-23min range, plus another 4min or so back over to Chat. I typically put in hard efforts on the frontside (Amphitheater-Saddle Rock-Greenman), since it's the shortest official route up and down the mountain.
Thanks for the reply and a very sincere and detailed one at that!
(Its refreshing to see that even in the lime light your still willing to connect to those who respect and look up to you and reply to your fan base)
Glad the shin is on the up and up...
I been up the front a few times but never timed it yet but will on my next outing.
Your times make mine look silly ha, but its fun to see and compare what my efforts are to those of a more profound and well established runner/mountain runner like yourself.
Keep it up !
Tony,
I was looking over your future adventures/races and I must admit the challenging adventure of Nolans 14 is something out of all the events in your calender I'm looking forward to the most!
Not sure if you seen this clip, I'm sure you have since your gearing up to beat the record...
http://youtu.be/fYW7J0-i1jY
I got some clean up to do then over here: http://georgezack.blogspot.com/2007/01/fkts-green-mountain-boulder-gregory_20.html
Nice Blog
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