Weekly Update: 7/23 - 7/29

Tue: 5 mi (1:09, 2,400') Green Mtn - Tagged the summit in :46, which wasn't stellar, but not complete crap, I suppose. The descent was a different story though; a couple guys were behind me, so I sort of kicked into race mode for the fun of it.

Wed: 13.4 mi (2:12, 3,250') Mesa Trail - I haven't run the full Mesa Trail before work in a long time. Felt great heading toward Eldo, but I could have used water on the way back.

Thu: 3.5 mi (:29) Twin Lakes - A quick little cruise before dinner

Sat: 10 mi (2:10, 2,130') Pawnee Pass Trail - So, after getting snubbed the last time I attempted this run, I resolved to take another crack at it and I'm glad I did. The rolling, soft tuft of the timberline trail is a great warm up to the much steeper pitches of the switchbacks above treeline. After powering through the switchbacks, the level alpine bench is a great area for recovery and affords pretty bitchin' views of the surrounding Indian Peaks. Upon reaching the sign at the top of the pass, hanging a right heads up another 500' to the summit of Pawnee Peak. Or one could continue on the Pawnee Pass Trail as it drops down into the West side of the Continental Divide into no man's land. I want to go to no man's land.

Sun: 21 mi (4:11, 4,510') Mesa Trail/Doudy/Spring Brook/Goshawk/ back on Mesa - It feels so good to get a nice 20-miler in. Even though it wasn't at altitude, the climbs still get me. Not too sore from the prior day. The heat was killer toward the end of the run though. I can't wait for Fall and Winter.

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Week Totals:
Miles: 53
Vert: 12,290'
Time: 10:11

Following a couple of weeks of tenuous inspiration, things turned around this week. I, frankly, haven't been interested in going into high gear in preparation for the race in a few weeks, so I've basically forced myself to lace up. Otherwise, I'd be forced to ditch out on yet another race this year, but not due to injury, just laziness, which is totally unacceptable.

I have fallen back into a solid groove of running especially following such inspiring efforts at the Hardrock 100 and Speedgoat 50k. If I can grab a couple more higher-mileage weeks with some more high-altitude long runs, I should be golden.

And because I am took absentminded to bring a camera on some of my more picturesque runs, what follows are some pics from protrails.com of Pawnee Pass Trail.

Weekly Update: 7/16 - 7/22

Mon: 5 mi (1:12, 2,600') Green Mtn via Amphi/SR/EMG - Hit the summit with a PR of 42:58. Hot dog!

Wed: 7 mi (:57, 1,400') McClintock/Mesa to top of Bear Creek Canyon - This is probably a PR on this route too.

Fri: 9 mi (1:23, 1,854') McClintock/Mesa to Upper Blue Stem

Sun: 8 mi (1:05, 800') Waldrop Trail at Brainard Lake, back on the road - A meandering run, no doubt. I intended to go up Audubon, but once I reached the junction to head up to the connecting trailhead, I just stopped, looked around, and headed back. This should have been a 15-miler—Bummer.

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Week Totals:
Miles: 29
Vert: 6,454
Time: 4:38

Not all that great of a week, especially after bailing on a long run.

Weekly Update: 7/9 - 7/15

Thu - 7mi (:52) Bobolink - Pretty snappy run after taking a few days off

Fri - 5.5mi (:55, 1,300') McClintock/Mesa to bottom of Bear Creek - Not too motivated today, turned around early

Sat - 9mi (3:03, 2,800') Green Mtn via Amphi/SR/EMG/down Bear Creek Canyon/Mesa - Hiked up with Mehri (this being her first summit of Green). I ran a few of the steeper sections and waited up for her. We ran down the back side together. Really fun morning.

Sun - 2mi (:25, 600') Amphi/SR - Not too motivated to run

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Week Totals:
Miles: 23
Vert: 4,717'
Time: 5:17

Hmm, this week wasn't terribly productive due to the general lack of motivation to push hard. Gotta get the miles up. Nevertheless, it was still fun to go up Green with Mehri.

Heading up Amphitheater

Mehri putting it down

Mehri's first official Green summit 

Coming down Bear Creek Canyon

Mt Audubon....Electrified

Having Friday off, I decided to head up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness to run up Mt Audubon. I figured since it wasn't a weekend day, the normal crowds would be rather sparse, plus I've been really anxious to get back up there since last Saturday's summit (my first of Audubon). Admittedly, I made my way out the door a bit late (8am), so I had to get a move on.

Rolling into Gold Hill I noticed some early signs of rain clouds lingering over the Continental Divide, which is pretty unusual so early in the morning on the Front Range unless there's a storm coming in. Nevertheless, I plowed on, figuring I could make a roundtrip effort on the mountain before any serious weather accumulated.

Upon entering the Mitchell Lake trailhead parking lot, I noticed there was already quite a crowd since there wasn't a single spot available, forcing me to park further down the road - that's what I get for heading out so late. Running back up the hill, I hit the trailhead in 4 minutes and immediately got right to work. 

My rhythm was on point all the way up the mountain and I had plenty of power in the legs the whole way. This was a much better ascend than last week, though I started last week's ascent 4 miles further down the road from the trailhead. As I continued up the mountain, I noticed some drops falling from the sky. I kept motoring and they eventually stopped. The sky was much darker than even an hour prior, with the whole area engulfed in clouds. The sun still found a little hole to peek through, but it would be the last I saw of it for the rest of the day. 

As I scrambled my way up the large boulder field to the summit, hail began to dump. Yikes. I hurried up to the summit and immediately descended, fully aware of what usually follows hail - lightning. Sure enough, after making it down from the boulder field, I heard a loud crack in the sky and it began to dump hail. Lightning has never really bothered me before, mostly because I've never felt vulnerable during a lightning storm usually due to the fact I'm typically indoors under such circumstances. However, at this particular moment, I realized I was in considerable danger - 13,000' atop the Continental Divide and roughly 2 miles of technical rocky singletrack to run before hitting treeline again.

I have never descended a mountain with such technical terrain so fast in my life. I was literally running for my life. A few more bangs came, this time within a half mile from me. I had previously known that it just wasn't safe to be above treeline during a lightning storm, but I always sort of dismissed it because I figured I would never be so stupid as to put myself in that type of situation to begin with. Here I am, soaked, pushing 6-minute miles, on the verge of breaking an ankle on one of several sharp rocks on the trail, hearing the spontaneous and utterly frightening sounds of atmospheric electrical discharge just above me. At one point I was convinced that I was probably running too fast and generating enough static electricity to make me even more of a target. Nevertheless, I kept going as fast as possible and just avoided looking up. It felt like treeline would never come.

Eventually, I reached treeline and reveled in the partial security it provided, but still kept a pretty aggressive (shit-scared) pace. Finally, I reached the trailhead in a round-trip time of 1:48 - 1:08 going up and 40 minutes coming down. I will never, ever start a high elevation run with even the slightest sign of moisture in the sky again.

That's Audubon and that's the storm.

Weekly Update: 7/2-7/8

Tue - 7 mi (1:17, 1,300') Mt Sanitas (summit :24) & PM run around Twin Lakes - Really slow morning up Sanitas, the air quality was really poor due to the fire in Wyo.

Wed - 7 mi (1:14, 1,400') McClintock/Mesa - Pretty quick run

Fri - 8 mi (1:45, 2,800') Mt Audubon - From Mitchell Lake trailhead, hit the summit in 1:08. Caught in a thunderstorm at the summit. Made it back to the trailhead in :44. Scary stuff.

Sat - 10 mi (1:32, 1,800') McClintock/Mesa to Bluestem

Sun - 15 mi (3:06, 3,700') Flagstaff Mtn (:31), Green Mtn (:108), Bear Creek, Mesa to Shadow Canyon, back on Mesa - Had a slow start up Flag, but picked up some energy on Ranger heading up Green. Definitely burnt heading back on Mesa in the mid-day heat.

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Week Totals:
Miles: 47
Vert: 11,000'
Time: 8:54

Playing Catch Up (6/11 - 7/1)

I've been a little incommunicado as of late, but that doesn't mean I haven't been running - just too lazy to do a blog post. So, here's a catch-up on the last few weeks to wrap June.

6/11 - 6/17

Tue - 6 mi (1:01, 1,200') McClintock/Mesa to top of Bear Canyon
Sat - 10 mi (1:30) Treadmill in Mexico, 8% incline
Sun - 10 mi (1:22) Treadmill in Mexico, 8% incline

6/18 - 6/24

Tue - 3 mi (:45) Treadmill in Mexico, 15% incline
Fri - 6 mi (1:39, 2,500') Flagstaff Mtn/Green Mtn - Nice to hit some real mountains after Mexico
Sat - 8 mi (2:09, 2,600') Green Mtn - Really hot out

6/25 - 7/1

Tue - 7.4 mi (1:24, 1,650') Chautauqua Trail/Mesa Trail - Another hot one, 85 deg.

Wed - 9 mi (1:17, 670') Teller Farms/White Rocks - Haven't run this for ages. Flagstaff fire kept me away from the mountains.

Thu - 9.5 mi (1:29, 670') Teller Farms/White Rocks - I realize why I haven't run this for ages - it's boring.

Fri - 3.7 mi (:28) Twin Lakes

Sat - 15.4 mi (3:46, 3,400') Mt Audubon (13,223') via Waldrop Trail from free parking lot - Hit the summit in 2 hours flat or 1:15 from the proper Mitchell Lake trailhead. This was my first summit of Audubon and it was actually somewhat easy. I did take it relatively easy since I didn't know what to expect from running up to 13,200'. Not only is the trail technical enough to make me pay attention, but on the summit the reward of being on the Continental Divide and seeing the rest of the Indian Peaks is worth the effort. With a few more trips above 10,000', I think I'll be ready to bag my first 14er pretty soon.

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June Totals:
Miles: 142
Vert: 27,268'
Time: 28hrs, 54mins

Mt Audubon with Blue Lake and Little Blue Lake seen from Pawnee Peak, pic: Protrails.com

Oh, and I have been totally digging this older, yet infectious track....