Weekly Summary: Oct 18-24

10-18-2010
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:37) Devil's Thumb, Indian Peaks. 3000'
Awesome morning with some lightly falling snow and zero wind. Ran from the Hessie trailhead at 9000'.
PM: 14 miles (2:03) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the front and down the West Ridge and Flagstaff Rd, plus a trip to the grocery store.  It was raining lightly, but my legs felt great so I charged up the front in 32:11--I was having a great run but the falling darkness caught me on Greenman and prevented the sub-32 effort.  Took the road down because I didn't want to stumble around on the dark trails.  Awesome run, but all the downhill pavement beat up my feet/ankles a bit.

10-19-2010
Tue-AM: 14 miles (2:09) Green Mt., 3000'
Up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Canyon.  Easy day before a long run tomorrow.

10-20-2010
Wed-AM: 38 miles (5:41) Almagre-Mt. Rosa-Section 16, 10,000'
Awesome run down in Colorado Springs with Joe.  Parked at 6300' in Bear Creek and headed up 666 to Jones Park to Pipeline to the secret trail up North Cheyenne Creek (extremely steep) to Stratton Reservoir and finally to the radio tower, 12,350' summit of South Almagre.  From there headed down the road to Frosty's Park up 11,500' Mt. Rosa, dropped 4000' down Buffalo Canyon, past St. Mary's Falls to Gold Camp and then up over Buckhorn, down High Drive and then I added on the final bonus 1200' climb/loop of the day up and around Section 16.  The weather was perfect and there was only the slightest dusting of snow on the north-facing side of the canyon, otherwise it was basically summer conditions even above treeline.  Felt strong all day, four gels.

Climbs of 6k' (Almagre), 1500' (Rosa), 800', and 1200'.

The Frenchman cruising Rosa's 11k' ridgeline.

Perched on Rosa's 11,500' summit, looking at 12,350' Almagre (left) and 14,115' Pikes.

10-21-2010
Thu-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green Mt., 3000'
Up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Cyn.  I just took it nice and easy today and was definitely feeling a bit worked from the long run yesterday.  Ankle/post-tib is still a bit sore from the road Monday night, so with my accumulated fatigue I skipped the evening run.

10-22-2010
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:05) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the back and down Gregory Canyon.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Skunk Creek+2mi barefoot at Kitt
Nice rain falling on an awesome fall afternoon. The colors in Boulder are incredible right now.  JB was along getting some footage from the bicycle.

10-23-2010
Sat-AM: 16 miles (2:20) Green Mt., 3000'
Up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Cyn with Scott, Joe, and JB.  JB was getting footage the whole way so there was a lot of back and forth for me, resulting in the extra time/mileage for this loop.
PM: 6 miles (:48) SoBo Creek Path
Out and back from Bobolink with Jocelyn. This was a sweet run completely in the dark and with a spectacularly gigantic and orange rising moon.

10-24-2010
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:16) Green & Bear, 4100'
Didn't get out until late morning with Joe, and after a desultory ascent up the backside of Green we bailed on our plans for a longer run and decided to just bop over and hit Bear as well before calling it good.  Took it really easy and just tried to keep a positive frame of mind while navigating all the crowds on both peaks today. As blustery and brisk as it was up on the peaks today, I really kind of enjoyed it as a break from the perfect sunshine and temps that we've been having. I'm sure I'll get more of the same soon enough, though.

Total
-Miles: 154
-Hours: 23h 20min
-Vertical: 32,100'

2010 Boulder Summits
-Green: 242
-Bear: 25
-SoBo: 4 

Early Season Snow

Joe, heading into the clouds over the Continental Divide.

When I woke up this morning I was surprised to see it wasn't raining/snowing yet (as was forecasted), and the sun was almost shining, so I gave Joe a quick early-bird call and asked if he wanted to cruise up to Eldora for some alpine action.  After about three seconds of waking up/being convinced he jetted over and we headed up to the 9000' Hessie trailhead.  
(Over the phone, however, he had mistaken "Eldora" for "Eldorado" (as in, the fairly low-altitude canyon just south of town), but didn't realize this until we were half-way or so up Boulder Canyon on the way to Nederland.  So, despite being fairly unprepared for above-treeline conditions (only Nike Streak XCs in the trunk, no longsleeve or gloves), he was, of course, still game.)

This trailhead ~30min from Boulder is notoriously crowded in the summertime, but on a grey, gloomy and damp weekday morning we had the trail more or less to ourselves.  The run up towards Devil's Thumb and the Continental Divide was, in a word, idyllic.  Neither Joe nor I had a lot of pep in our legs, so we just bopped along, chatting, jovially surveying the surrounding beauty and expressing delight at the snow and silence falling from the clouds.

A sampling of the scenery as we headed up the basin.

The last 10+ minutes or so of effort in the climb comes in the form of a steep trail up the valley headwall.  This reach of terrain was blanketed in reasonably consolidated shin-deep snow this morning that transformed our running cadence into an arduous pow-hike bee-lining for the ridge crest as we were determined to reach the Divide itself.  Once on top of the modest 12,123' high point on the ridge, we were treated to the usual expansive views down valley and over into Winter Park, an atypical windless calm (ideal for Joe's cotton-clad limbs), and that general sense of rightness that comes only (for me, at least) from gasping for lots of oxygen and gaining a lonely summit.

Joe cruising at 12,000', nearly to the top.

Finding the alpine action I came looking for.

Not nearly as cold as it looks.

Happy at the summit.

The descent unfolded in much the same way.  We blitzed down the initial 1000' drop of elevation only to turn around and see our ridge become engulfed in snowing clouds and then continued on down the valley into more of the same.  

Joe floating the drop.

Two hours and thirty-seven minutes after we'd left, we were back at the car.  There aren't too many more days like this left in the high country, so it was a treat to sneak in maybe the last one of the season for me.

Weekly Summary: Oct 11-17

10-11-2010
Mon-AM: 14 miles (2:02) Green Mt., 3000'
Up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Cyn.  Slow and easy.
PM: 8 miles (1:06) Skunk Creek Loop+Kitt
Really miserable stomach issues on this run.

10-12-2010
Tue-AM: 16 miles (2:14) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back and down Bear Cyn. First snow of the year! Got a later start with the rain, and above 7600' or so there was a light dusting of snow.  The cool, crisp, and damp conditions invigorated me and I cruised at a solid pace. Tacked on another 2.5mi down to the bread store and back at the end.
PM: 6 miles (:50) Skunk Creek Loop
Ran late (7:45pm) after class and had some more crazy stomach problems reminiscent of the night before.

10-13-2010
Wed-AM: 15 miles (2:25) 2xGreen Mt., 5000'
Did my usual neighborhood warm-up loop and then went up the back and down NE Ridge/Saddle Rock for both laps--37:20 and 35:55 for the climbs.  Felt great on this run and just generally had a blast.  I certainly didn't expect to run that fast on the second one.  It really felt like I turned a corner on this run and that I'm getting back to my old self.
PM: 8 miles (:59) Skunk Creek Loop+2.5mi barefoot at Kitt
Most energy I've had on an evening shakeout in a long, long time. I felt great and kept on just wanting to do more barefoot laps around the field.  Was bummed to bike down to 13th St only to realize that the Wednesday night Farmer's Markets are done for the year.

View of the newly snow-capped Indian Peaks from Green's summit.

10-14-2010
Thu-AM: 15 miles (2:25) 2xGreen Mt., 5000'
Same exact run as yesterday except my climbs today were 37:35 and 35:35. Another beautiful morning with a great sunrise and perfect temps for running hard.  Technical footwork was particularly adept today.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Skunk Creek Loop+1mi barefoot at Kitt

Sunrise from Gregory Canyon.

10-15-2010
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:03) Green Mt., 3000'
Ran up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Canyon.  Easy effort before a longer run tomorrow.

10-16-2010
Sat-AM: 35 miles (5:04) Green-Walker-Eldo-Green, 8200'
Good long run after not going long for almost a month. Started with a moderate effort up the backside of Green before heading down into Bear Cyn and then cruising over to Ethel Harold via Bison Drive.  Ran around Walker counter-clockwise and was keeping a quick, but relaxed effort that had me rolling up a pack of four serious-looking mountain bikers headed up to Crescent Meadows.  Refilled my bottle at the Eldo Visitor Center (the Eldorado Canyon trail has to be one of my favorite in the county) and then went out Fowler and down the secret trail into town before hooking up into Old Mesa and then Mesa back to Bear Canyon. I still had a lot of good energy headed up the canyon and dispatched the final 1000' climb up to Green with surprising ease.  Descended Greenman-Gregory to home.

10-17-2010
Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:11) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the backside and down the NE Ridge to Flagstaff to Eben G. Fine.  Cruised the creek path to Boulder HS where I got in a mile of barefoot on the turf before heading up the hill back home.  Tired legs as expected, but I just bopped along at an easy effort and enjoyed the continued exemplary fall weather.
PM: 8 miles (1:05) SoBo Creek out and back from Bobolink TH
Did the 12min/3.5mi (18min on the way back) bike commute out to Bobolink in order to get a 100% soft surface run and a little change of scenery. Added an out and back on the Cherryvale trail to get the extra mile. Easy jogging.

Total
-Miles: 162
-Hours: 23h 28min
-Vertical: 30,200'

2010 Boulder Summits
-Green: 236
-Bear: 24
-SoBo: 4

Ah, this week my legs finally felt like they knew how to run again.  It's been a while.  Since Leadville, really.  Up until this week, almost any effort on an uphill was labored and my effort levels were not at all commensurate with the resultant splits on my watch.  For whatever reason, that finally changed this week.  Wednesday and Thursday morning's sessions on Green were especially enjoyable in that I actually felt stronger each time on the second lap.  Likewise, on Saturday's long run I was hitting splits on that loop that were very comparable with what I was doing this spring/summer when I was building/at my peak fitness for Western/White River/Leadville.  It was a rough six weeks or so, but at least things turned themselves around.

Here are a few pics showcasing a little late-autumn scenery on Green Mountain.

Golden leaves dapple the upper Greenman trail.

Perfect pine needle tread on a vintage piece of singletrack. Part of my favorite descent route off of Green.

...which eventually leads to this ridgeline fork: left=Saddle Rock, right=1st Flatiron

The rest of the route may redefine your notion of a trail: looking back up at some of the fun I just came down.

Looking downhill at a section that's a little bit more trail-like.

Looking back up at the final stair section on the bottom of Amphitheater.  Running up this can, at times, feel like more of a plyometric workout than anything.

Finally, I'm looking forward to seeing these guys at the Fox this evening:

Weekly Summary: Oct 4-10

10-04-2010
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:12) Green Mt., 3300'
Up the back and down Bear Cyn after an Enchanted Mesa loop with Jocelyn. Still really warm weather for this time of year.
PM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+Kitt
2.5mi barefoot at Kitt.

10-05-2010
Tue-AM: 15 miles (2:15) Green Mt., 3300'
Up the back and down the NE ridge plus down Flagstaff to EGF.  Really nice run this morning with good energy in the legs. No evening run because of class.

10-06-2010
Wed-AM: 7 miles (1:03) Creek Path+Kitt
Jogged up to Chautauqua and had zero energy, so couldn't motivate to head up the mountain. Ended up going home and then running the long way around to the fields where we did a mile of barefoot before running home. Weird, depressing, motivationless morning before heading into the lab.
PM: 15 miles (2:14) Green & Bear, 4200'
This afternoon there were still fall-like clouds and a great crispness in the air, so my spirits were buoyed a bit. Wore some new kicks that put an instant spring in my step. Charged up the frontside of Green in a one-second PR of 31:28 (6:20, 12:10, 14:40, 18:20, 22:00, 28:55). Jogged over to the top of Bear then and enjoyed the new shoes' grippiness for a 17min descent of Fern. If I hadn't been so wiped by the quick trip up Green I would've tagged SoBo, too, but my legs were not psyched at the prospect of any more climbing.

10-07-2010
Thu-AM: 8 miles (1:04) Boulder HS
Cruised 6mi of barefoot on the turf while Jocelyn, jLu, and Jurker hit the track.  Gorgeous morning.
PM: 14 miles (2:06) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the back and down Flagstaff.  Thought I had some decent energy, but the descent was pretty tired with flat legs after yesterday's harder effort.

10-08-2010
Fri-AM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Up back, down Ridges to Flagstaff to EGF.  Took it nice and easy, but still somewhat inexplicably tired.  Might get some blood work done and make sure all my bases are covered. Wore a shirt the entire way, so it's definitely fall. Drove through snow going over Berthoud Pass in the evening.

10-09-2010
Sat-AM: 14 miles (2:11) Snow Mt. (Winter Park), 2600'
Was up at the Snow Mt. Ranch YMCA near Winter Park for a friend's wedding, so I got out in the morning to explore the area and hopefully find a mountain to run up, which I did.  After bumbling around on some XC ski trails I found the Snow Mt. trailhead and enjoyed its 2000'/35min ascent to 10,800'.  The significant snow/graupel/ice on the top half made the often very steep trail really slick at times and I had to be careful in spots going both up and down, but all in all it was a ton of fun to just step out the door, look for the nearest mountain, and run to the top of it and back.  Legs didn't feel very on, though.  The extra altitude might've had something to do with it.  Coldest run I've done since April; long-sleeve and gloves the whole way.

10-10-2010
Sun-AM: 8 miles (1:11) Snow Mt. Ranch YMCA
Really enjoyable group run with a whole bunch of my old CC XC teammates.  This weekend's wedding turned into a mini-reunion of sorts and it was a lot of fun hanging out with a bunch of people that I used to spend a whole lot of time with.  I have great friends.  We mostly just explored the extensive (and, right now, quite muddy) XC ski trails in and around the YMCA at a leisurely pace.
PM: 15 miles (2:28) 2xGreen Mt., 5000'
36:50 and 36:40 up the backside.  Definitely the best run I've had since Leadville.  Runs like this make me feel like I'm ready to get back out there and race again.  Legs felt great right from the first few steps off my porch and the first time up Gregory-Ranger felt like a jog.  Cruised the NE Ridge/Saddle Rock descent with perfect footwork and continued back up the mountain again without even pausing in the Gregory parking lot.  Worked really hard above the 4-way on the 2nd climb to make sure I negative split the run before descending Greenman-Gregory mostly in the dark.  Saw a bear at the mouth of Gregory at the start of the first climb and enjoyed a spectacular sunset from the first summit.  Great run.

Total
-Miles: 133
-Hours: 19h 48min
-Vertical: 24,400'

2010 Boulder Summits:
-Green: 226
-Bear: 24
-SoBo: 4
---------------------------------------------------------------
This was kind of a strange week.  I obviously got back into some real running, but I wasn't draconian about getting in my evening jogs, mostly because I was attending a wedding and because I still seem to be dealing with a bit of not-quite-right residual fatigue.

Those feelings, however, were weirdly juxtaposed with an unexpected PR on Green on Wednesday and a fantastically good run on Sunday evening, so I guess I can't complain too much.  Efforts such as those make me feel like I'm emerging from the funk I've been feeling for the past 6+ weeks and that with continued diligence I'll soon be back in ripping shape.  The Green PR felt like a bit of a token occurrence: it was only a one second improvement and I know I was in better/faster shape in July but I just never bothered to hit it on a day when I was feeling good and rested.  In any event, I certainly enjoyed running this past week more than I have any time since August.

Weekly Summary: Sept 27-Oct 3

09-27-2010
Mon-AM: 4.5 miles (:39) Creek Path+Kitt
1.5mi barefoot. Ran with Jocelyn.

09-28-2010
Tue-AM: 4 miles (:31) Leadville
Parked at Ice Palace, ran the Mineral Belt down to the new artificial turf field down by the middle school and did 2mi of barefoot there before running back up to the truck.  That field has to have the best 360 degree view of epic mountains in the state.  Was on my way down to Creede for field work.

09-29-2010
Wed-AM: 4 miles (:32) Kitt Field
Ran down to the field, 2mi of barefoot, and back home.  Really had to exert some discipline to not charge up into the mountains today.  Holding out for Oct 1 before hitting that again.

09-30-2010
Thu-AM: 4.5 miles (:37) Kitt Field
Down to the fields, 2.5 miles of barefoot, and back home.

10-01-2010
Fri-AM: 15 miles (2:21) Green & Bear, 4100'
Great to be back! Took Joe on a nice mellow circuit of my favorite peaks.  Tried out a simple little loop through Chautauqua to get an extra 3/4mi or so of warm-up in before the climb up Green and I liked it, will probably make it a regular thing.  It felt like the rest really did me good.  For the first time since Leadville my perceived effort felt commensurate with the splits I was seeing on my watch, which was a very nice mental boost.  I'm really looking forward to the next couple months of solid training; feeling mentally and physically recharged.

10-02-2010
Sat-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green Mt., 3700'
With Joe again. Ran a warm-up loop up Enchanted Mesa and back on Bluebell-Baird and then went up the back of Green. I need that extra time before getting in the real climbing. Came down some vintage routes on the NE ridge before bopping over Flagstaff and down to EGF.  Joe was digging the technical stuff coming off Green, but in general, we kept today nice and mellow.
PM: 9 miles (1:13) Skunk Creek-Kohler Mesa, 800'
Easy run in the evening. Didn't do barefoot because of all the tailgaters down at Kitt.

10-03-2010
Sun-AM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the front and down Bear Canyon.  Took it easy today.
PM: 7 miles (1:02) Creek Path
Late, easy jog with Jocelyn.

Total
-Miles: 76
-Hours: 11h 13min
-Vertical: 11,600'

I've run up Green 219 times this year and Bear Peak 23 times.

It was a real pleasure to return back to the trails and mountains at the end of the week.  The hardest thing about getting back into real training is re-realizing that just because my bones and tendons are capable of running a high number of miles that doesn't mean that my fitness level is capable of doing so.  So, by Sunday night my general fatigue was pretty high.  This will mostly mean that I just have to watch myself for a couple of weeks--skip an evening run here and there if necessary, be conscious of taking some days really easy intensity-wise--and eventually my consistency and relative caution will hopefully result in top fitness once again.

Also, I'm ready for a little moisture.  Right now the trails are as dry as I've ever seen them, meaning they're dusty and traction is generally poor.  Not to mention the fact that the fire hazard is through the roof.  On Saturday night there was an ever-so-slight flaking of something that wasn't quite rain (but I hesitate to actually call snow) falling from the atmosphere, and when I was up early Sunday morning to support my roommate at her first marathon (Boulder Backroads) the Indian Peaks displayed a very light dusting (that had then disappeared by time I made it up Green).  So, the real deal probably isn't far away.

Finally, the running in Bear Canyon is phenomenal right now.  Pure autumnal bliss with yellow aspen, red sumac, and dry singletrack.

September Wrap Up

The numbers:

Miles: 435
Hours: 66h 35min
Vertical: 85,300'

And for 2010:

Miles: 4800
Hours: 731h 07min
Vertical: 825,900'

Mostly a book-keeping post, here.  I've posted something a little more extensive over at Running Times regarding my thoughts on running lately.  Although September has been a bit up and down in terms of mileage and energy, I'm really looking forward to really getting back to it in October.  And, in a weird way, I'm even kind of excited for the ridiculousness of snowy trails, but I know there will be plenty (as in, five or six months worth) of that soon enough, so there's no need to look too far into the future.

Weekly Summary: Sept 20-26

09-20-2010
Mon-AM: 7.5 miles (1:07) Chautauqua loop with Jocelyn, 500'
Got up really early to run and felt exhausted so I just went back to bed and ran short with Jocelyn before driving down to Creede, CO.

09-21-2010
Tue-AM: 7 miles (1:04) East Willow Creek in Creede, 1000'
Gorgeous run between 9000' and 10,000'.  The aspens were in full splendor, and the air was nippy enough to have me wearing a long-sleeve the whole way.  Legs didn't feel great, though.  Spent the rest of the day underground in a mine (six hours total) and driving the nearly 6hrs back to Boulder.

09-22-2010
Wed-AM: 4 miles (:32) Creek Path with Jocelyn
Bleary run before catching an early flight to Boston for the NB Elite Dealer's Meeting.  Kind of a tough day of travel/socializing after getting home from Creede at midnight the night before.

09-23-2010
Thu-AM: 4.5 miles (:33) Charles River, Boston
Boston is a pretty neat city if you have to be in the East at sea level.

09-24-2010
Fri-AM: 4 miles (:35) Creek Path to EGF with Jocelyn
Just a nice easy run with Jocelyn before she races tomorrow.  Seems like my cold is finally clearing out a bit.

09-25-2010
Sat-AM: 13 miles (1:56) Aspen Golden Leaf Half with Jocelyn, 2000'
I didn't realize there were multiple waves at the start, so after Jocelyn and I got separated waiting in different bathroom lines I missed the 1st wave start and ended up waiting the 4m30sec for the next wave.  Spent the first 35min of the race running hard then to catch up with Jocelyn (I had planned to run with her the whole way).  Ran a lot harder than I wanted to in order to do that, and then Jocelyn was running a pretty solid pace in the top-10 women at that point, so we weren't just jogging along really for the next  bit.  Pretty soon, though, she hit a bad patch involving a pit stop and a couple of ankle rolls and a ton of women passed us as Jocelyn regathered herself.  After just cruising easy for about five miles, though, Jocelyn decided she wanted to race again and re-passed five or six ladies during the final three miles or so.  Solid effort for her for not being in great shape.  This race has an exceptional course: point-to-point, almost all singletrack, finish in a park in Aspen, gorgeous aspen groves.  Afterwards I was surprised with how worked my legs were, though.  Clearly feeling pretty burnt/out of shape right now.

09-26-2010
Sun-AM: 4 miles (:35) Kitt Field with Jocelyn
Ran down to the field, ran 2 miles barefoot, and ran back home.

Total
-Miles: 44
-Hours: 6h 22min
-Vertical: 3500'

I was really busy last week with a bunch of non-running activities, so I took it as an opportunity to take a real break from real running, especially since I was fighting a cold all week, too.  I'll take a few more really easy days and then look to get into a nice gradual build-up to top fitness by the time December rolls around.

Week Summary: Sept 13-19

09-13-2010
Mon-AM: 8 miles (1:01) Venice Beach out and back
Easy shakeout run in CA.  2nd half was barefoot.
PM: 14 miles (2:07) Green and Bear, 4100'
Ran up the steep frontside of Green at what ended up being a solid tempo effort and eeked out a 31:59.  I guess my fitness is still there to some extent, but lately I've been feeling like I'm just out there kind of jogging around not hitting the times on climbs that I usually would for a given effort.  It's just that time of year where it would make sense to really be taking it easy but the weather is so perfect that it's tough to not want to be chasing some really nice runs still.

09-14-2010
Tue-AM: 8 miles (1:05) Skunk Canyon+2.5mi barefoot on Kitt
Easy morning run.  Even on a shorter run like this I can get some great trails right from my doorstep.
PM: 14 miles (2:12) Green and Bear, 4100'
Pretty standard run but just tried to take it pretty easy on the climbing.

09-15-2010
Wed-AM: 8 miles (1:05) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
Legs felt way better than expected and I wished I had more time this morning to run longer.
PM: 12.5 miles (2:00) Green Mt., 3000'
Felt really flat this run so I just took it easy.  Ran up the back of Green and then down the NE ridge trails and then cut over to descend Flagstaff to Eben G. Fine.

09-16-2010
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:09) Green and Bear, 4100'
Felt good on this run, running a bit quicker than usual.  Really had the footwork dialed on the way down Fern, descending in a snappy 17:25.
PM: 10 miles (1:38) Green Mt., 3000'
Had only planned on an easy run up Flagstaff but the evening atmosphere was so nice that I was inspired to head over and up Green, too.  I was treated to an incredible sunset from the summit, which meant that much of the run back down to my house was in the dark.

09-17-2010
Fri-AM: 10 miles (1:37) Green Mt., 2700'
Ran early before yet another busy day at school.  Paused briefly to witness a bear rustling around in the pre-dawn light near the Gregory Canyon trailhead.  

09-18-2010
Sat-AM: 27 miles (4:37) Pikes Peak, 8000'
Perfect run on a perfect fall day.  Jocelyn was racing the CC home XC meet this morning so I took the opportunity to go run up my favorite mountain.  I feel like my climbing has certainly lost a few steps since this summer--things have just felt a bit off since Leadville--but I still enjoyed this run a great deal.  I was deliberately taking it pretty much as easy as I could while still maintaining a running cadence the whole way (except for a few steps on the 16 Golden Stairs), but it still felt like a little more effort than only a 2:45 ascent should be. Cruised the descent in 1:43 just enjoying the sun, the aspens, and the mountain.  There is no training reason to be getting out to do a longer run like this right now, but I can't resist the opportunity to go run up a 14er--especially Pikes--if I have the chance.

09-19-2010
Sun-AM: 15.5 miles (2:10) Green Mt., 3000'
Up the back and then down the NE ridge trails to Flagstaff where I went down the fire road that connects into Boulder Canyon and the creek path.  Another day of gorgeous weather.  Can see patches of glittering aspen everywhere up in the high country.

Total
-Miles: 141
-Hours: 21h 41min
-Vertical: 33,500'

Boulder 8ers 2010 (Day 261)
-Green: 216
-Bear: 22
-SoBo: 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------

And I guess that's how I do it in the "off" season.  Weeks like this show me just how important running is to me in and of itself.  Right now I have no imminent competitive goals, but I still feel compelled to get out and run up the peaks and log the time on the trails even without that end-goal impetus of racing.  Especially with the demands of graduate school picking up, my daily local summits are absolutely necessary to keep me sane and productive in other areas of my life.

Part of me knows that I should probably be taking it a bit easier--especially with a lot of my runs feeling like I've lost some of the pep from the summer--but until the snow really starts flying and making the trails a bit messier I probably won't cut back too much other than to continue to keep the intensity dialed back.  In the meantime, I'm going to keep enjoying fall and its perfect running weather.  Having said all that, I'm going to be traveling a lot in the coming week, so there's a very real possibility that I will actually scale back the running significantly for the next few days.

Wow.

After any trip back down to Manitou Springs and Pikes Peak, I often come away with some rather grandiose future plans.  Something about that mountain really draws me to it.  Actually, it's pretty obvious, really.  It's gigantic, its aesthetic as a summit is undeniable, and it's so close.  Last summer, Matt Carpenter--the undisputed mayor of that mountain--ran from his doorstep to its summit seven days in a row to celebrate his 45th birthday.  Running to the top at a casual pace yesterday, I could see--given the right circumstances, and enough time--committing to such an endeavor for, say, a full month.  Although I often get annoyed by the crowds on the first three miles of Barr Trail below the Incline turn-off, after this past year's acquaintance with Green Mountain here in Boulder, the idea of getting to know the Barr Trail and Pikes Peak with a similar level of intimacy really appeals to me.  Maybe next spring/summer I'll look at giving it a shot if I'm preparing for either Hardrock or the Pikes Peak Marathon.

Finally, I can't wait to see these guys next week here in Boulder, about four blocks from my house.

Week Summary: Sept 6-12

Wow, it took me a while to get around to this one, but I've been busy.

09-06-10
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green & Bear, 4100'
Really windy day, and as I was finishing up I saw the startings of the Four-Mile Fire.
PM: 8 miles (1:24) Walker Ranch Loop, 1500'
Great run with Jocelyn and Jenn starting from the Flagstaff TH. Finished up in the dark.

09-07-2010
Tue-AM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt. up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Started before the sun and ran embarrassingly slow up Green.  The extremely thick smoke in the air probably didn't help and probably wasn't so great for the lungs.

09-08-2010
Wed-AM: 13 miles (2:01) Green Mt. up front down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Took it really easy again in very smoky air again.  Just feeling kinda off this week, so keeping the effort on each run super-casual.

09-09-2010
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:13) Green & Bear, 4100'
Idyllic fall morning--looking to make this double-peak run a very regular thing from here on out.  The moisture last night made the trail surfaces perfectly tacky, making the Fern descent a lot of fun.  They'd been getting frustratingly slick with dust and loose rock after a long stretch without rain.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Skunk Creek+barefoot at Kitt
Nice run with good energy with Jocelyn.  Feel like I'm coming out of my funk a bit.

09-10-2010
Fri-AM: 16 miles (2:26) Green & Bear, 4200'
Got out with Jeff and George. We took a circuitous route up Green (Greg-Long-West Ridge) and then I tacked on Bear Peak.  Descent down Fern Canyon was dialed again this morning.  This vintage clip of a speed record on the Matterhorn (that's been making the rounds on the interwebs) has me re-motivated to keep growing my proficiency on gnarly terrain like what Bear and SoBo Peaks offer (although they are hardly race-specific in any way, at least here in the United States).  Efficient, quick, two-legged travel over alpine terrain is always my main interest and motivation.
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
Did this run with Jocelyn, but left her on the uphill and just met her on the top to run down together.  We went up Gregory to Crown Rock to the top and then just came all the way down the Flagstaff trail on the way back.  Definitely the best my legs have felt since Leadville--I finally feel mostly back to normal, now.  I love running in the evening as the sun is going down, too.  Great time of day.

09-11-2010
Sat-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green & Bear, 4100'
Up early in the dark before catching a flight to California. Definitely getting out of my funk, because even at the early hour I had a reasonable amount of spring and bounce in my legs. Another perfect fall morning.
PM: 8 miles (1:00) Santa Monica/Venice Beach
Last 20 minutes barefoot. I'm not a huge fan of running on the beach.  I know it should be idyllic and great, but I just rarely have a good run when I go running on the beach and a lot of the time I'm distracted and annoyed by all the other beach-goers, which was especially easy to have happen this afternoon as my run took me past the Santa Monica Pier, twice.  Jumped in the ocean afterwards, though, which is definitely the best part of running on the beach.

09-12-2010
Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:14) Santa Monica Mts., 3000'
Great run with my college buddy, Martin, who lives in L.A. now.  He picked me up and we drove the five miles or so to Temescal Canyon where we parked on Sunset Blvd and ran up into the mountains.  After a 1000' climb and descent that traversed us over to Will Rogers State Park on fantastic singletrack we climbed back up another 2000' on singletrack, breaking out of the very thick marine layer at ~1000'. The views up there were sensational in every direction as we could see all the way down to 10,000' Mt. Baldy in southern L.A.  Looped around on the popular Backbone trail and cruised it back down into the clouds on a mix of fire road and singletrack.  Amazingly nice mountain run for being so close to the ocean and the masses of Santa Monica.  Spent the rest of the day at the NB photoshoot where we were eventually regaled with a spectacular sunset from 3000' above the coast.

Total
-Miles: 132
-Hours: 19h 56min
-Vertical: 28,500'

Boulder 8ers 2010 (Day 254)
Green: 209
Bear: 19
SoBo: 4
--------------------------------------------------------------
I felt pretty terrible the first half of this week, which I suspect was at least partially caused by the smoky air.  However, the second half of the week I started finding some of my normal energy and was able to hit the Green/Bear run on a pretty regular basis.  I know that right now I should probably be taking some more extended/focused downtime but with the onset of fall weather it's really tough for me to not get out and run up a couple of peaks every day.  I have been sure to keep the intensity very low, though, and I find that is usually the key to me staying recovered and on top of my running.

Week Summary: Aug 30-Sept 5

08-30-2010
Mon-AM: 4 miles (:31) Kitt fields barefoot with Jocelyn

08-31-2010
Tue-AM: 10 miles (1:40) Green Mt. up and down back, 2700'
So great to be back on the mountain after a near three-week hiatus.

09-01-2010
Wed-AM: 13 miles (2:02) Green Mt. up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'

09-02-2010
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:13) Green Mt. & Bear Peak, 4100'
The trees leaves are just starting to change up high and bear sign is visible everywhere...getting ready for winter...
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Creek Path+1.5mi barefoot at Kitt

09-03-2010
Fri-AM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt. up back down ridges/Flag, 3000'
Tired after yesterday's double-peak route.
PM: 9 miles (1:07) Creek Path+2mi barefoot
Felt surprisingly peppy.

09-04-2010
Sat-AM: 30 miles (5:00) Buchanan-Pawnee Pass Loop, 6700'
Completed this 28ish mile Indian Peaks circuit in a flat-feeling, uninspired 4:50:40 (Long Lake TH to Long Lake TH).  But, man, even a bad day in these mountains is still a great day.

09-05-2010
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:10) Green Mt. up Greg-Gman down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Late start meant it was really hot.  Finished up super-dehydrated.
PM: 

Total
-Miles: 115
-Hours: 18h 28min
-Vertical: 22,500'

Boulder 8ers 2010
Green: 203
Bear: 15
SoBo: 4
----------------------------------------------------------

This was a good "get-my-legs-back-under-me" week, but I'm still fairly undecided about my immediate running/racing plans.  Right now I'm leaning towards a couple of exciting adventure runs in the next couple of weeks instead of racing.  A circumnavigation of Pikes Peak on the Ring The Peak route holds the most interest for me right now, mostly because of my relationship with that region and the geographic significance of running around a big mountain like Pikes.

August is gone

First, the numbers.

Miles: 459
Hours: 88h 06min
Vertical: 66,400'

2010 Totals
Miles: 4365
Hours: 664h 32min
Vertical: 740,600'

A quick scan of these figures makes me think that nice, round year-end goals would be something like 6500 miles (a convenient average of 125 MPW), 1000 hours, and a million vertical feet of running.  Or at least would be if I maintained roughly the same pace (in all three areas) that I have averaged for the first two-thirds of the year.

This past week I eclipsed the mileage figure that I achieved for the entire year of 2009, and I still have four months to go.  Jocelyn has commented to me that it seems I finally figured it out this year.  "It" being how to balance my running volume with my body's breaking point so as to maximize day-to-day happiness and race performance.  This is not easy.  Running is a tricky game because as runners we must repeatedly condition ourselves to ignore the little internal voices that implore us to stop, sleep in, walk, skip a run, so that when it comes time to actually listen very acutely to what our body and those little voices are saying ("you know, this tendon is a little bit sore...better back off here" etc., etc.) we're not very good at heeding their advice any more.  But, I think I'm starting to get it.

For the past 10 days since Leadville, I've been resting.  I've had a couple acupuncture sessions, my longest run has been 31min/4mi and I've done a run as short as 10 minutes.  After a long spring/summer of training and racing, my head tells my body that I need it even though my body doesn't seem to think so.  My legs have felt the best they ever have after a 100 mile event.  Duh, you say, you didn't run 100 miles!  You only made it 81!  Yes, but last August when I only made it 78 miles I was absurdly sore the first 3-4 days afterwards and tired for about two weeks.  I don't feel any of that this year, and, of course, that has me thinking quite animatedly about what my running plans might be for the remaining months of the year.

Right now, it's tough to say.  With the end of August comes the end of summer, in my mind.  Fall is likely my favorite season of the entire year.  The weather is perfect and the trails are still largely snow-free.  For these reasons it is tough to convince me that it is an appropriate time of year to take some serious down-time.  Now that I'm back in school, I do know that my running will mostly remain quite close to home, as in, from my front doorstep.  Chautauqua and all of its spiderwebbing trails are now a mere seven minute jog from my porch, so I imagine that Green Mt and very likely Bear Peak will once again figure quite prominently in my daily running scenarios.  (Over the summer, Green had fallen a bit out of favor--only making it to the top 3-4 times per week instead of my usual 7-8--because there was so much high-country to be explored.)

As for racing, I only know for sure that I am interested in heading out to Marin in early December for what has become the yearly end-of-the-season showdown at the North Face 50 mile Championships.  The prize money always attracts healthy competition and typically assembles a field whose depth can really only be rivaled by the Western States 100 in June.  Considering how much fun I had there this year, there's no way I want to miss out on the action in the Headlands this December.

Before that, I'm keeping my schedule flexible, but am thinking of taking a crack at a couple of the more classic 50 mile races on the circuit: Firetrails and Mt. Masochist come to mind.  Denver hosts a Rock 'n Roll Marathon in October as well, and seeing as I haven't run a proper road marathon in four years, it could be fun to pound the pavement for a couple hours.  And, before the snow really starts flying, there are a couple of high-country loops that I've been eyeing all summer but haven't had the chance to get around to just yet this year: the Four Passes Loop in the Elk Mountains near Aspen, CO and the Buchanan-Pawnee Pass Loop closer to home here in our very own Indian Peaks Wilderness.  No matter what, the change in seasons will certainly bring a change (even if only subtle) to my running.

Lessons Learned at Leadville, 2010

Here is an article I wrote for Running Times.com this week that offers a little more reflection on my race at the Leadville 100 this year.                                                                                                                                          
                                                          

Not even to the top, yet: A pretty accurate depiction of the suffering that was occurring on Powerlines this year for me at Leadville.  With pacer, Alex Nichols.  Rob O'Dea photo.

Leadville 100 2010 Race Report

I've got my report from this weekend's Leadville Trail 100 up over on Running Times.  Hopefully it helps clear up some of the apparent confusion about what happened on Saturday.

Also, congratulations to 2010 champion Duncan Callahan who ran a patient, steady race and earned his victory through admirable, dogged perserverance, and to the 362 other successful finishers.  Leadville is a special one and you should all be proud.

New Balance Interview

Here is a short interview I did with Newbalance.com earlier this week regarding tomorrow's racing of the Leadville 100.

Weekly Summary: Aug 9-15

08-09-2010
Mon-AM: 35 miles (5:41) Indian Peaks/Continental Divide, 6500'
Parked at Hessie with Scott and headed up to Devils Thumb in a pretty steady rain at 7am. What can you do? Just hunkered down in our lightweight shells and went for it. Above treeline the precip stopped and the sun came out intermittently for perfect weather at 12,000' on the CD.  Ran 9 miles south essentially free-form cross-country right on the CD at 12k' the whole time--hummocky grass and some talus--to Rogers Pass and then descended the SoBo Creek drainage to the Forest Lakes Trail at 9600'.  Ran that up to Rollins Pass Road where it started raining again and then hailing very hard (pea-sized) but only a little thunder and no visible lightning.  Popped over the tunnel ridge and then tempoed it to Corona Pass through intensifying rain, hail, and thunder.  Ran the King Lake Trail back down to Hessie to complete the loop. Another inspiring day in the mountains, for sure.

08-10-2010
Tue-AM: 15 miles (2:16) Green Mt up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Easy and slow after yesterday.
PM: 7 miles (1:01) Creek Path+2.5mi barefoot
Slow, easy run with Jocelyn.

08-11-2010
Wed-AM: 17 miles (2:38) Green Mt. and Bear Pk, 4200'
Good run on my favorite loop in the hills here. Looking forward to making this a daily run after I move into a new apartment much closer to Chautauqua next week and it turns into a duration of something closer to 2hr.
PM: 5 miles (:42) City Park in Denver
Quick spin with Jocelyn before hitting up the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros show at the Ogden. Which was incredible.

08-12-2010
Thu-AM: 15 miles (2:13) Green Mt up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Easy run and late morning after a late night. Ran into a plethora of folks all out enjoying the trails: Jeff, Brandon, George, Tim, and Tim. Finished up with a swim in Boulder Creek.
PM: 10 miles (1:53) Green Mt up and down Bear Cyn, 2500'
Started from Bear Mt Drive trailhead with Jocelyn...mellow pace with her, but on the last 1000' of climb up Green-Bear I went ahead on my own and then waited for her at the summit. Most of the descent ended up being slowed by darkness. Incredible sunset--even though it was a bit more than I'd planned, it was totally worth it to get out in the evening and share the run with Jocelyn.

08-13-2010
Fri-AM: 15 miles (2:11) Green Mt up back down Ridges/Flag, 3000'
Last run up Green for a couple weeks, I'm sure.  After Leadville I'll probably be hitting this very consistently again as I become more busy with school and the snow starts closing up the high country.
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Red Rocks Canyon, 500'
Great evening run in the Springs with Jocelyn. We love it down there--so many great trails all over the place.

08-14-2010
Sat-AM: 16 miles (2:13) Almagre Mt., 2800'
Parked at Rosemont Reservoir and ran up to Frosty's Park then over on 701 to the North Cheyenne Creek trail, up to Stratton Reservoir (which had zero water in it) at 12k' and finally over to Almagre's extremely scenic summit at 12,350'-ish (it sits southeast of Pikes Peak, across the drainage). Descended the FS road. This is a great run in COS where the only people I saw were a few rednecks camping near the reservoir drinking beer and shooting off really really loud guns.  The climb up Cheyenne Creek to the reservoir is fairly ridiculous: ~1600' in not much more than a mile on a very very little-known awesome reach of tiny half-track.  I was following Alex Nichols' Inov-8 X-Talon footprints the whole way as he had run it only two days earlier...plus he's one of I'm sure very few people who actually use this trail. I love it.
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Palmer Park with Jocelyn, 500'
Another example of the endless options for fantastic trail running in Colorado Springs.

08-15-2010
Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:13) 7 Bridges-701-Buckhorn Mt., 3000'
Jocelyn and I slept in the Roost on Gold Camp Rd just below the upper parking lot (10min from downtown COS), so that's where I started the run. Went up 7 Bridges (one of my favorite trails in the Springs, it climbs 1600' in ~2mi to 9100') and then continued up the N. Cheyenne Creek drainage on the secret trail to 701 which I then traversed (at 10,000-10,300') over to the Bear Creek drainage and ran the classic 667 trail down to the ridge and Buckhorn Mt and back to the Roost. It looks like the dirt-bike club has done a ton of much needed work on the trail between 666 and the beaver meadows: rock water-bars, re-vegetation, bridges...good stuff. I don't mind the dirt-bikes since they do this kind of significant trail work.  Didn't see a single person this entire run. Awesome.

Total

-Miles: 164
-Hours: 25h 01min
-Vertical: 26,000'

2010 Summits (Day 227)
Green: 198
Bear: 14
SoBo: 4
---------------------------------------------

Summer is nearing an end.  When I was down in the Springs over the weekend, the clearing of the clouds in the afternoon revealed a lightly snow-dusted eastern face of Pikes Peak.  As such, it must be time to race the Leadville 100!

If I had more time, I might give some more thoughts on the end of summer, running and racing, etc, but as it is I haven't done a thing to pack for Leadville yet, so I should probably get on it.  Nevertheless, the plan will be to stay relaxed, not worry about splits or time, and just enjoy the experience and spectacle of competing hard in what will be--in terms of participation--nearly double the biggest trail 100 ever held in North America.  I'm looking forward to it.

(Me and the savvy Leadville crew chief. jLu photo.)

Weekly Summary: Aug 2-8

08-02-2010
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:23) Green Mt up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Everything was less sore by the end of this very slow recovery run.

08-03-2010
Tue-AM: 13.5 miles (2:07) Green Mt up/down backside, 3000'
Sleepy run in the dark at 4:50am before catching a flight to SLC.  Ran into George and Jeff on the way down and felt bad because I was basically falling asleep while talking to them without having the stimulation of running to keep me awake.  Somehow made it to the airport intact and then passed out for essentially the entire flight.
PM: 3.5 miles (:28) Salt Lake Running Company group run
NB was hosting a fun gathering of folks at the store so I had the pleasure of meeting very many SLC-ians and talking shoes/running with a lot of people.

08-04-2010
Wed-AM: 13 miles (2:04) City Creek Canyon to Radio Towers, 2000'
Hit the singletrack (Bonneville Shoreline Trail) and headed UP to the closest, highest point I could find.  It was a nice little summit and the trails were excellent with the last pitches being extremely steep.
PM: 4 miles (:33) Treadmill Uphill Challenge, 1000'
Notched 1.92 miles on the death machine and got smoked by Timmy Parr.  Ended up finishing 4th overall behind Max, Timmy, and Rickey.  Which was fine with me; I'll never be able to beat those guys in a 2mi race and was mostly just happy to have not gotten "lapped" (beaten by more than .25mi) by Max. Definitely tweaked the right hammy when I finally cranked the pace up to 9-10mph the last 90sec or so.  Accomplished my one goal of not vomiting on any spectators, but I did finish feeling as if I was drowning in my own perspiration. Part of me sometimes wants to modify my training just a little so as to be more competitive/versatile at the shorter hillclimb/mountain races...but another (very big) part of me doesn't really care.  Plus, a treadmill race isn't a mountain race...

This must've been early because Timmy still has his singlet on and I'm not yet staring directly into the monitor with my head down in full-on suffer-mode.  Rickey Gates photo.

Later in the evening at the Brooks party with Jenny, Dean, Rickey, and Scott. Rickey Gates photo.

08-05-2010
Thu-AM: 10 miles (1:16) City Creek Canyon
Nice early morning singletrack where I had lots of energy. Really excited about the shoe developments we're working on at NB.  I think we're gonna have the perfect shoe nearly dialed with this next iteration, and I'm also really excited to start hearing some more widespread feedback on the Trail Minimus.
PM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt up front down ridges, 3000'
Up in 2nd-best time of 31:39 (6:30, 12:30, 15:00, 18:40, 22:15, 29:05), which was 10sec off PR.  I'd really like to get this under 31min before the snow starts mucking things up.  I was experiencing a little bit of an evening-run energy boost so I decided to go for it, but I ended up forcing it too much the whole way as opposed to just letting the trail/mountain come to me (which is what happens on the best/fastest runs).  OSMP has done a lot of appreciated trail work on this frontside route removing big rocks, rehabbing washed-out sections, and closing off various areas of mild route-cutting.

08-06-2010
Fri-AM: 18 miles (2:39) Green Mt. up Flatirons down Red Lion, 3000'
Nice alternative route this morning with Scott, both up and down. Pretty dehydrated by the end, though.
PM: 5 miles (:40) Creek Path

08-07-2010
SAT-AM: 18 miles (2:37) Green Mt. & Bear Peak, 4200'
Up front of Green in 31:41 (6:45, 12:45, 15:10, 18:52, 22:18, 29:10) then West Ridge of Bear in 23:40 (15:50, 4:05, 3:45). Felt pretty good on the climb up Green--not as high of an effort as on Thu. Caught Darcy on the steep last 500' of Bear and then we chatted for a long time on the summit just enjoying the about-to-get-very-hot, beautiful summer morning.  Footwork was dialed on the technical Fern descent (18:50) and I felt good all the way back home.
PM: 8 miles (1:01) Creek Path+2mi barefoot at Kitt
Results from Sierre-Zinal today. Kilian barely took an EXTREMELY close race in a time a couple minutes slower than last year (16sec margin of victory) with Joe Gray 7th and Megan Lund won (!!!) the women's race with Brandy coming in 4th.  Megan's winning time of 3:09 was the slowest in a few years, but that was mostly a function of Anna not running for the first time in many years, who basically always breaks three hours. Definitely a must-do race on my list, even though it's only 31K.  Sweet to see some Americans starting to represent over there (but don't forget Rickey's stellar 4th place run there last year).

08-08-2010
SUN-AM: 16 miles (2:15) Green Mt. up front down Bear Cyn, 3000'
A very mellow 34min ascent so as to rest the legs a little bit.
PM: 8 miles (1:03) Creek Path+1.5mi barefoot at Kitt

Total
-Miles: 144
-Hours: 21h 06m
-Vertical: 22,200'

2010 Summits (Day 220)
-Green: 193
-Bear: 13
-SoBo: 4

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was a really busy week with the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show out in Salt Lake City.  Which is a weird phenomenon that always leaves me with mixed feelings.  Part of me is excited about certain aspects of product development and support for the sport, and another part of me is extremely turned off by the blatant commercialization and commodification of nature.  I can't help but feel at least somewhat complicit in this--with being a sponsored outdoor athlete--but I like to think that hopefully some of this is balanced out by my being more focused on inspiring people to value certain things (i.e., the land) and do healthy things with their lives.

In any event, sometimes all you can do is put some worthy art out there and let people decide for themselves how they'll be affected by it:

Alpine Binge

Last week I was presented with the opportunity to get out and spend some significant time in the high mountains.  This is my favorite type of running to do, hands down.  The powers of precipitation only allow running travel above treeline for a few short months out of the year, so I always make a concerted effort to cram in as many miles as possible up there while I can.

The highlight of all this was a 50ish mile long run on Saturday (that we had intended to be 40ish miles).  Scott and I planned a "Super-Loop" of sorts up in the Indian Peaks Wilderness just west of Boulder.  Neither of us had much, if any, experience with these trails, so we were both eager to see as much as we could in a single day.  With that in mind, I devised the following admittedly ambitious route:

(Starting and finishing at Long Lake in the Brainard Lake Recreation Area.)

The start would be at the Brainard Lake Recreation Area at ~10,400'.  From there we would head up and over 12,550' Pawnee Pass down to Monarch Lake at 8400'.  Next would be a hump up to the Strawberry Bench and the High Lonesome Trail/CDT, which would take us to Junco Lake.  From there we would continue climbing up to Caribou and Arapahoe Passes back at 12,000', drop briefly to 11,200' and then climb again to the day's high point of 12,800' at the Arapahoe Glacier Overlook.  An enormously long descent would deposit us down at the University of Colorado's Mountain Research Station before we made our final 2000' climb of the day up and over 11,500' Niwot Ridge to drop back down to our starting point near Long Lake.  On the map it looked bold, but doable.  Of course, none of this was even remotely appropriate as a "taper" before this past weekend's White River 50 mile USATF National Trail Championships, which we both ended up running.

(A fairly intimidating profile.)

Scott was gracious enough to carry a camera all day, and it was completely worth it.  The breathtaking scenery and fantastic singletrack were the defining characteristics of this day's run.  Also, the stark difference between what a plan looks like on a map and the nature of the actual felt experience. 

There were at least two moments worth noting during the course of our eight hours and ten minutes of running.  After about four and a half hours of running time I topped out on our third 2000' climb of the day at Caribou Pass.  As I sat on the edge of the thin piece of singletrack carved directly into the rock mountainside, sucking on a gel and gazing out into the spectacular basin that spread out before me, I finally "got it".  This is why Boulder is a special place.  For the past year I've had a hard time accepting why Boulder garners so much more praise and hype as an outdoor mecca when someplace like, say, Colorado Springs had the nearly incomparable charms of Pikes Peak going for it.  Well, these mountains had to be it.  The Indian Peaks are as rugged, steep, remote, and scenic as anything I've seen in the San Juans or Tetons, two of my upper-echelon contiguous 48 states mountain standards.  Eventually Scott joined me and we trotted over to Dorothy Lake at 12,000' for a quick alpine dip before continuing with our run.

The second moment was more of an existential, despair-inducing episode.  Scott and I had just climbed to ~12,800' to a perch on the ridge overlooking Arapahoe Glacier when I pointed out to him the Niwot Ridge trail snaking over an alpine meadow waaaay over there.  We'd been running for over five hours at this point and I was trying to convince him--and myself--that we were only ~12 miles and two hours away from the crest of that final climb.  Of course, we were way off on the mileage and it would actually be another full three hours of running before the day's work was complete.  But that's a big reason why we were out there: to see a lot of country and in the process callous our minds and bodies to the demands of running all day.

The rest of the story is better told in pictures:

(Looking down the magnificent drop on the west side of Pawnee Pass.  Monarch Lake can be seen way off in the distance.  The only other place I've seen trail constructed on such precipitous terrain is in the Grand Canyon.)

(Scott, utterly dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape on the Pawnee Pass drop.)

(Who would've thought this was back there?)

(The High Lonesome Trail: where it seems only elk dare roam.)

(Wow. Sitting on Caribou Pass with Arapahoe Pass and South Arapahoe Peak in the background.)

(Scott cruising over to Arapahoe Pass.)

(A late-in-the-day desperate descent off of Niwot Ridge after not being able to find the trail back down to Long Lake.)

(We came straight down that.)

(Finally, back at the Roost, killing mosquitoes.)

(Scott expressing his love for Forest Service mileages after a longer-than-expected day.)

Weekly Summary: July 26-Aug 1 and July Stats

07-26-2010
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:28) Mt. Elbert, 4500'
Great run back on what still feels like one of my home mountains/trails.  Despite limited acclimation (compared to the perfect acclimation I had living in Leadville last summer) I ran to the top a full minute faster than before the White River 50 last summer. Bruised quad was decently improved.
PM: 9 miles (1:11) Area 57 in Leadville, 1000'
This is an exceptional area (between 5th and 7th St on the east side of town) of somewhat secret singletrack that eventually climbs up to 11,000'. It was designed by mountain bikers, so it's a bit sinuous but still really nice stuff for running. Legs felt great and kept a clipping pace. Love the running in Leadville.

07-27-2010
Tue-AM: 15 miles (2:16) Wason Park from Creede, CO, 3000'
Perfect singletrack right from main street Creede that climbs to a huge tundra meadow at 11,700' just below the Continental Divide and in the La Garita Wilderness. Love this trail, but after Inspiration Point at 11,000' it looked like hardly anyone else had been on the trail since I ran it last summer.
AM2: 8 miles (1:10) San Luis Pass, 1500' vertical
After running at 4:50am I was ready for the second run by 10am, especially since I knew I'd be driving back to Boulder all afternoon/evening. Parked near the Equity Mine (where I was placing a precipitation collector) at 11,000' and ran up to the 12,000' pass on the Continental Divide and then continued on the CDT/CT to the "north" to a high point of 12,500'.  Legs felt great.

07-28-2010
Wed-AM: 15 miles (2:09) Green Mt. up back down NE ridge, 3000'
Cruised easy but the legs had lots and lots of pep.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Creek Path
Got in about a mile of barefootin' while Jocelyn was hanging out in the law school.

07-29-2010
Thu-AM: 8 miles (1:07) Creek Path with Jocelyn
Random running of errands. Trying to get in a (very) small taper here before White River on the weekend.

07-30-2010
Fri-AM: 8 miles (1:03) Creek Path
Cruised around the Goose Creek loop with Jocelyn on her bike before hopping a plane to WA. Legs felt great and ready to race.

07-31-2010
Sat-AM: 51 miles (6:33); White River 50 in 6:25:29
New course record against a surprisingly deep field. One mile cooldown. 9000' vertical.

08-01-2010
Sun-PM: 5 miles (:42) Creek Path
Just an easy shakeout after a long nap. Legs actually felt really good--last year I could barely walk the day after WR and tonight my upper hamstrings were just a bit tight and my quads a little sore. Total recovery should be quick.

Total
-Miles: 142
-Hours: 19h 41min
-Vertical: 22,000'

2010 Summits (Day 213)
Green: 187
Bear: 12
SoBo: 4

July Totals
-Miles: 501
-Hours: 74h 23min
-Vertical: 77,700'

2010 Totals
-Miles: 3906
-Hours: 576h 26min
-Vertical: 674,200'
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I came into this week half-contemplating the thought of racing White River this weekend and by Wednesday night--after seeing that Jocelyn and I were, indeed, going to be capable of moving out of apartment by the end of the month--Scott and Jenny had talked me into it so I bought a plane ticket, instituted a super-quick, two-day "taper" and went for it.

I'm obviously pleased with the way this week turned out after not deciding to race White River until Thursday and going into the race with a 50 mile run and nearly 200 mile week in my legs on top of a pretty volume/vertical-heavy first half of this week.  It was a bit of a gamble to go to a championship event with a top-notch field not fully rested, but I felt this was an important week of training headed into the August 21st weekend of racing, so I didn't want to rest too much.  Thankfully, it all worked out.

This coming week I'll look to fully recover from White River in the next day or two, hopefully get in a couple nice mountain runs in the Wasatch while in SLC for the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show, and then hit a solid seven-day or so stretch of training before one final taper this summer.

In the meantime, may this induce some foot-tapping: