52 miles this week! I finally broke the 50 miles/week threshold and hopefully I can continue with consistently higher mileage weeks. Though, with the exception of my Sunday run on the Mesa, all of the other running has been at Teller Farms, which at this point has become really boring. I think the obvious next step is to start incorporating more mountain running during the week, rather than consigning this type of terrain only to my weekend long runs.
Wednesday – 12 mi (1:41, 787 ft) Teller Farms – With a late start to the week, I had some good energy to maintain a quicker-than-usual pace.
Friday – 12 mi (1:50, 787 ft) Teller Farms – Nice and casual pace. I had a really strange nervous twinge in my left foot.
Saturday – 12 mi (1:50, 787 ft) Teller Farms – I got a really late start (11 am) and the mid-day heat was horrendous. Granted, the temperatures were upper 70s, but I’m so accustom to the 50 to 60 degree early morning runs. This was certainly a grunt and I felt like I had a much slower pace than I really had.
Sunday – 16 mi (3:45, 4,200 ft) Mesa with a Green Mtn summit via Bear Creek Canyon– So, ever since doing the first couple Green Mountain ascents, I’ve been curious whether I’d be able to append this summit to my usual Mesa long run. Well, this was the day I had to give it a shot. I started my way up Mesa from the Eldo trailhead with a pace a tad quicker than I wanted. I am determined to tackle that first two miles and 900 ft of vertical quicker each chance I get, with little to no regard to conservation of energy for the remainder of the run at hand. After ditching my shirt in the brush, I got to the second Shadow Canyon trail marker in about 23 minutes. I then bounced my way over to the Bear Creek Canyon Trail. I really love the variation this trail offers. The beautiful, albeit small, forest canopy in the lower sections, to the narrow ledges on the north side of Bear Peak, it's a pleasant departure from the usual terrain on the Mesa Trail. I then made my way up Green Bear Trail, which I've obviously forgotten how challenging this climb can be. It's gnarly. Every time I make the push up the last ten yards, I keep glancing to the summit to spot the stack of rocks as an indication that I can almost tally one more summit. A few minutes on the top and then it was time to mosey on. I had been stopping here and there along the way mostly to check out the scenery, so I really need to buckle down to not make this run longer than it needed to be. I had briefly considered not continuing with the remainder of the Mesa Trail (particularly the damned blue bell service road at Chautauqua), but my thick skull prevailed and I pattered on. I did, however, compromise with myself a bit and decided to only go another couple of miles, since I only needed 16 miles on this run. So, I made it to Koehler Mesa and headed back. Thankfully, the clouds rolled in by the time I had to make my final descent down the mesa and to the parking lot. I really can't stand the sun beating down on me as I run on loose gravel after a few hours of running. I had time afterwards, to plop my feet in the South Boulder Creek and suck down some water and my last GU shot. A good way to end the week.
Totals for the week:
Miles: 52
Climbing Feet: 6,561
Time: 9:07
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