Tuesday, August 13, 2013

August 5 - August 11

Another seven days in (and around) Boulder - another series of quality runs. While this week was not as consistent as the previous, I managed two very solid outings and caught up on some much needed sleep over the weekend. Having my first Saturday off since early July, I took full advantage in the form of a Saturday morning romp up Longs Peak. My quads had something to say about the 5,000' descent back to the trail-head, but overall I feel good about my time on trail these past seven days. And off we go...

8/6/2013
:50, ??? - Road Run
I started the week feeling pretty tired, and decided that I would ease into things. Went for a very easy nighttime run through the streets of Boulder. It was cool, relatively quiet, and I kept things pretty relaxed. I occasionally have to remind myself that part of training and running involves easy miles and recovery time. It was nice to shake things out and wake up with the legs feeling fresh the next morning.

8/7/2013
1:25, 2,000' - Mesa Trail
Headed out the back door and kept a steady pace using Skunk Canyon to connect with Mesa Trail. This was the farthest south I'd taken Mesa, as I typically use it as a link-up to Fern Canyon for a trip up Bear Peak. I think more time on Mesa would benefit me for racing and longer mileage. The undulation of the Mesa Trail strikes me as good practice for "typical" trail-racing terrain - at least compared to marching up a peak for the first half of a run and then storming back down it for the second half. That said...

8/8/2013
2:15, 3,400' - Green Mountain
Got out on trail relatively late, so this outing required a headlamp for the last 30-45 minutes. Felt a bit out of it when I hit the trail and missed one of the junctions that I usually take. As a result, my time getting to Gregory Canyon TH was longer than usual, but once I hit that section I found a good rhythm. Used Gregory Canyon and Ranger Trails to reach the summit. This has become my standard route, but I think I should start exploring some alternatives to keep things fresh. This was my fastest ascent clocking in somewhere between 41-42 minutes from TH to summit. I'm pretty confident I could go sub-40 on this line if I hit it completely fresh. Almost ate gravel once on the descent, so I decided to slow down a bit and turn the headlamp up to max capacity for the remaining miles.

8/10/2013
~5:00, 5,000' - Longs Peak
When I found out I had Saturday off and my roommate would lend me his van, I decided it would be a good opportunity to drive to RMNP for a run up Longs Peak. I was pretty confident in my ability to do the ascent in reasonable time, considering I've done a handful of outings in Boulder with 5,000' or so of gain. Despite this, I was not naive to the fact that my runs in Boulder have hit max elevation of 8,500' - a modest altitude compared to topping out above 14,000'. Nevertheless, I was excited to challenge my heart and lungs while taking in some incredible views.

Woke up around 4:00 AM to eat breakfast and start the drive. All told, I arrived at the Longs Peak TH around 6:00 AM and was on trail by 6:15. The 'standard' line utilizes the Longs Peak Trail and the Keyhole route to get from the parking lot to the 14,255' summit. August and September are apparently the prime months for most folks to hike Longs, and Saturday's trail-traffic was telling of this.

I kept a decent running cadence for the entire trip up to the Boulderfield (~6 miles/3,000'+ of gain), save for a couple quick sections of rock steps. Once the Boulderfield Trail dries up, a good deal of rock-hopping is involved before one reaches the real start of the climbing. This involves a 400' scramble to the Keyhole in a relatively short distance. Stepping through the Keyhole (as I also remember it from last summer) is like entering another dimension. The wind picks up, Glacier Gorge comes into view, and I personally get a nice shot of adrenaline.

Up to the Keyhole the run had taken me roughly 95 minutes. The next mile is not terribly difficult, but it is slower going given the 1,000' of gain to the summit. Likewise, there is enough exposure that it behooves one to exercise caution in several spots. This is also where the weekend traffic tends to make itself known. While I was more than happy to take in the views, I was often doing so while waiting for opportunities to quickly pass handfuls of people. This continued for the entire last mile from the ledges, through the Trough, across the Narrows, and up the Homestretch. I was cruising where I could on these sections, but I would love to take a crack at this ascent on a weekday when I don't have to contend with crowds in the hundreds. The Homestretch is probably the most exposed part of the route. I found a bit of ice in a few sections, but nothing too difficult to work around. Finally stopping my watch as I touched my hand to the USGS summit-dial, I had made the 7.5 mile ascent in 2 hours and 18 minutes.

I'm unsure as to exactly how long I spent on the summit, but I estimate it to be somewhere in the realm of 30 minutes. I took ample time to breathe in the fresh air, admire the views, snap some pictures, and take in some calories. When I finally started down again, the descent of the homestretch was brutally slow due to the amount of people making their way up. Likewise, the Trough had its fair share of traffic jams. Again, I took these opportunities to enjoy the scenery. When I passed back through the Keyhole and began making my way down to the Boulderfield I could feel some soreness creeping into one knee. I took the rock hopping pretty slowly to avoid over-stressing things. As I reached the descending switchbacks after the mouth of the Boulderfield I gave the knee a bit more attention. I stepped off trail for a few seconds to stretch the leg and put a knuckle into my quad. As I did this, two runners caught up to me and the second one stopped to ask if everything was alright. I felt good enough and was eager to keep moving, so I accepted their offer to tag along back to the trail-head. I spent the next hour or so running and chatting with my new found trail-caravan, Joe and George. We spent a bit of time bushwhacking in order to locate an apparent shortcut. This was a nice alternative back to the car, as it avoided the weekend hiking crowds for a few miles before linking back up with the main trail. We cruised the last few miles back to the TH and took some time to sit around and chat before heading to our respective cars.

Somewhere between bushwhacking and filling up at a stream I accidentally bumped the 'stop' button on my altimeter. As a result, I have no solid post-summit data. I know my car-to-car time was just under 5 hours, considering we got back around 11:00 or 11:05. An email from George estimated about 2:25 for the descent. Perhaps this means I spent less time on the summit than I initially thought. I'd be interested to see how much time we could knock of the downhill, now knowing the location of the route we spent some minutes searching for. In any case, I would call the day an overall success. All told, I was happy with my time on trail, I met some fellow Boulder trail-runners, and I was able to stand on the highest point in RMNP. Not a bad Saturday morning in my book!

While I didn't feel too shabby afterwards, this run definitely reminded me that it is important to be strong and fundamental both uphill AND downhill. My lower quads and knees were pretty trashed for the remainder of Saturday, but some quality sleep and a few rest days seems to have sped my recovery. I'm undecided as to whether I'll run tonight or wait until tomorrow's BRC outing to get the legs moving again. In any case, I can't complain about having had the opportunity to channel my inner mountain goat on my first 14'er since moving to Colorado.

As a final thought and side-note:
Friday night I took it pretty easy, knowing I would be waking up before sunrise in an attempt to get out to RMNP as early as possible. It turned out that my roommate's van, The Blue Meanie, was parked near Pearl Street three or four miles across town. I went to meet up with him and grab the keys, at which point he warned me that it was low on gas. I decided I would stop and fill up on my way home to save time in the morning. Sitting in a turn lane about a quarter mile from the gas station, I attempted to accelerate and heard nothing but the sound of a stalling engine. I hopped in the car next to mine and got a ride to the gas station. Returning to the intersection, hazards flashing and fuel-can in hand, I began searching for the fuel-cap release switch. Not being able to find it after a minute of searching, I began browsing the car manual only to see red and blue lights flashing in the rear-view mirror. The end result was a very friendly Boulder police officer using his patrol car to push the Blue Meanie into a nearby parking lot. I found the fuel cap release a short time after that and filled up the tank. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Boulder does not want me operating a vehicle within city limits. I can't say that I understand, as my driving record is clean. Seriously, it really is...

Preparation or chaos? It's all the same at 4 A.M.
Fuel.

Views from the top...

Believe it or not, I tried to crop out some of the crowds...
Beautiful...




Recovery elixir and a medieval torture device (aka - the foam roller)
The Blue Meanie

Now for a little parting music, here's a favorite track from Junip's first release, "Fields." Their new album is right on par in terms of quality. If Junip doesn't ring a bell, Jose Gonzalez might...


No comments:

Post a Comment