Tuesday PM (12/20) - 4.1 mi (35 mins) Twin Lakes - An easy spin around the lakes after work with my new headlamp (Petzl Myo XP), which is far superior illumination than my previous lamp. Very exciting. Maybe I'll do a little review on this at a later date.
Wednesday (12/21) - off
Thursday PM (12/22) - 3 mi (31 mins) Twin Lakes - Boulder received a heaping load of snow on Wednesday - about 1 to 2 feet's worth. This made for a seriously exhausting run this evening as I laid mostly first tracks through the trails behind my house. Total blast.
Friday (12/23) - (1:39, 2,300') Hike up Amphi/Saddle Rock, back down to Blue Baird up to 1st/2nd Flatiron Access - I initially intended to go the typical route up Green (Amphi/SR/Greenman), but once I reached Saddle Rock, I decided to go exploring and head back down to Chautauqua and check out the 1st and 2nd Flatiron climbing access routes. The massive amounts of snow made for pretty challenging hiking and running because the routes were not exactly soft and fluffy unpacked tracks, but rather a funky mix of quasi-packed, yet soft, deep stuff. I didn't summit taking this route because I was too unfamiliar with this route given the substantial snow on trail and had no idea how long it would take. I hadn't traveled the flatty access routes before, but from what I did hike, it all looked very enticing. I shall return.
Saturday (12/24) - 5 mi (50 mins) - Twin Lakes, 3 laps around East lake - Since the Achilles has been feeling fine, I decided to increase the distance a little and see how things felt. Nice little run with no pain at all. The snow finally packed down enough to keep a pretty even pace. I can't wait to get more miles.
Sunday PM (12/25) - (1:43, 2,400') Green Mountain hike via Amphi/SR/Greenman from Chat. - After the festivities at home, I trekked up the mountain in the PM just before sunset. The trail conditions are really nice with some packed out trenches. There is a ton of snow on Green right now. Got up to the Amphi/SR junction in 10 minutes flat and summited in 55 mins. I took it easy descending and avoided to run balls out down the mountain. The trails are still pretty loose in spots, which can make for precarious footing when cruising at speed.
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The last few weeks have been agonizingly slow, but very encouraging considering the circumstances. I'm at a good point to continue tacking on more running miles and more hiking miles.
This being my first Winter of trail running and consistent hiking has exposed a weakness that I need to work on - my efficiency when ascending and descending steep routes. The snowpack makes steep trails very steep and I need to better utilize my quads rather than allowing my knees to absorb the strain when stepping up high rocks. On the downs, I need to again, better utilize my quads and allow my legs to do more work than my back. After the hike on Thursday, my left knee was awkwardly irritated, which I'm assuming was some sort of meniscus strain, but it went away completely by Sunday. So, I think it was me simply doing a few things wrong because I adjusted my footwork on Sunday's hike and felt no weirdness the entire time. On the downs, I have noticed myself taking a few shots straight to the back when jumping off of rock drops rather than allowing my legs to take the impact. Things to work on.
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| Amphitheater on Thursday morning following a decent snowfall. |
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| At the base of 1st Flatiron |
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| Nestled up near Flatty 1&2. Downtown Denver can be seen between tree and rock |
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| 3rd Flatiron |
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| Beginning my PM hike up Green on Xmas |
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| Greenman nicely trenched out on the upper reaches |
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| Obligatory routine summit pic |
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| Longs Peak in the PM sun. |
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