Fri 7/30 - AM 7 hour hike/run at Longs Peak

Repeat of last year's excursion with a much better result in that the summit wasn't shrouded in the clouds. Ran for barely an hour at the start of the climb up, I could feel my body rebelling against the notion of that kind of effort at that early an hour, again. Walked the rest of the way up and down, no big deal since getting to the top and being able to see what's there was the goal of the day. The uppermost part of the trail was an engaging challenge both up and down with the scrambling. Got down just in time to avoid the cloud deck moving in and covering everything above the keyhole.

Thu 7/29 - PM 40 minutes easy

Slow putter along the creek path. Feeling it not so much from yesterday but from the days on end of not getting enough sleep, going back to last weekend.

Wed 7/28 - AM 6 hour run/hike on Pike's Peak

All the way up and down the Barr Trail, a bit over 3 hours up and 2.5 down. The stretch above Barr Camp is indeed difficult, a different world from the lower stretches. On top of the thinner air, I was surprised at how rough the trail surface was in places. It felt like I was sidestepping boulders much of the time. The uppermost stretch was a fight to keep moving forward, closest I've come to feeling altitude sickness, became tough to think straight. Summit was surrounded by rapidly developing clouds by the time I got there, a bummer. 30-40 degrees cooler at the summit than the base. A surreal experience to reach the top and find a restaurant/gift shop with all the amenities, but the bathroom and water fountain came in handy. Not planning on doing much if any running on the trip down, no wish to fall again like last week in the race, but after getting off the highest steeper stretch I found I was able to run at a moderate pace with a reasonable sense of security that I wouldn't eat shit. Finished feeling tired but nothing like Saturday's mega-hike. Post-run soak in the creek was maybe the highlight of the day, legs felt much better for it.

Tue 7/27 - AM 70 minutes

out and back on Magnolia Road. Cut the length of the run short due to my legs feeling a lot more flat and dead than I had expected. Started west of the 606 trailhead which meant the trip back was both uphill and into the wind, not exactly a masterstroke there. Pace varied somewhat but was at times very slow. Sitting in the creek after the run was one highlight of the day.

When I was here last month, I noticed this sign on the bulletin board where the pavement ends:


it has since been joined by this one, the other highlight of the day for me:

Mon 7/26 - AM 60 minutes very easy/easy

To Washington Park and back, an easy and flat run which was very necessary after the past two days. Quads feeling tender and sore, but improved over the course of the run to where the pace went from really slow to just slow.

Sun 7/25 - AM 90 minutes

Last run in Crested Butte, on the Green Lake trail the difficulty of which I severely underestimated. Had I read this beforehand I would have known what I was getting into. Climbing, climbing and more climbing. 50 minutes out, 40 on the return trip. Some stretches were better than others in terms of footing with a section of talus right near the top that was no fun whatsoever. How people ride bikes down this thing is beyond me but apparently it's quite popular. It occurred to me on the way down that this wasn't the best thing for my quads the day after yesterday's mega-hike, but it wasn't too bad. Back and shoulders at least as sore as my legs from carrying the backpack all day yesterday. The trip wouldn't have been worth it without taking pictures of course:

Sat 7/24 - 10 hour hike/run, Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop

Much-anticipated and feared excursion into the wilderness (literally) that ended up being mostly a hike. I would estimate only 2-3 hours of the total time was spent running, the rest of it was either too steep up or down or I was too tired (most of the last 4 hours or so). Starting at the Schofield Park trailhead and going counterclockwise, the first pass (West Maroon) went by the quickest. The descent to Crater Lake went by well enough although the footing was poor at times over talus fields. The climb up to Buckskin Pass was more punishing than I could ever have imagined, but the view was spectacular and the descent to Snowmass Lake was the most runnable and least insanely steep of all four descents. I thought at this point that I would be able to finish the thing in 8 hours but the effort took its toll and by the time I was climbing to Trail Rider pass it was clear I wasn't going to be doing much uphill running anymore. I had hopes of being able to run most of the descent off of Trail Rider but that ended up being a hideous and seemingly never-ending plummet to the valley floor. When I got there I encountered a stretch where every single tree had been blown down across the trail, instead of jogging it was necessary to clamber over tree after tree for a good 15 minutes. In addition, it became clear at around the 6 hour mark that the gallon or so of fluids I had carried along wasn't going to be enough and I had to break out the iodine tablets. This got me through but the rationing of fluid left me very close to being full-on dehydrated. By the time I got above treeline leading to Frigid Air Pass I was in a pretty foul mood. Still able to run some of the less steep parts of the ascent though, and I still thought I'd be able to run some of the last section back to the trailhead. However, another punishingly steep descent off the pass left my legs completely spent when it came to any kind of downhill running. Since I was too tired for any uphill running, flat ground was the only type of terrain I was going to be able to run on. Since there was no flat ground, I didn't run a step the rest of the way. Remained lucid throughout, and not even that sore overall while doing it, but it was perfectly clear the tank was empty. While peeved at how long it took to do the loop, I'm still glad I did it and was able to complete the loop and see one amazing vista after another, and I knew this even in the depths of my frustrations over quad-destroying descents, downed trees, and running out of water. It's worth pointing out that the scale of the landscape was totally unfamiliar, in that everything was so much larger, longer, higher, steeper, etc. Despite poring over maps and reading accounts of the loop, it took experiencing it directly for this to sink in. Useless to attempt to describe the scenery, but a picture from each pass is worth inclusion:

West Maroon

Buckskin

Trail Rider (w/Snowmass Lake)

Frigid Air

Fri 7/23 - AM 40 minutes easy

out and back along the Crested Butte lower loop. Looking for something flat and low-key before breakfast. Originally planned on doing an afternoon run but decided to save myself for Saturday's mega-loop.