October 12 - November 1
10/12, Monday - Green Mtn - 6 miles, 2600', 1:28
With RMR. Getting my heartrate up too high makes my teeth throb still, so I was really conservative. It doesn't cause damage (or so the doctor told me), but it can be quite painful so I kept it quite relaxed. On the bright-side, my ankle felt much stronger than it did a couple weeks ago.
10/13, Tuesday - Off
Teeth hurt a ton, school stuff, other crap.
10/14, Wednesday - TdF #5: 1st Flatiron - 3 miles, 1600', 0:57
As I should expect for these things, this was another disaster on my part. Felt pretty tired from the beginning then I could easily tell I hadn't scrambled in a couple weeks when I got on the rock. I split ~14:30 on the face, 3:30 off PR pace. Downclimbed in 2:30, 1 minute off PR pace. Took 10 steps then rolled my ankle really badly, I heard pops. I was on enough Advil for my teeth that the pain didn't set in right away, but I knew the damage was done so I humbly walked back down. I would have been happier just scrambling up to the arete and watching Matthias obliterate the FKT by a full minute, 32:14.
10/15, Thursday - Bike: SuperFlag - 20 miles, 500', 1:20
Since I'm back on the injury machine, I took a casual jaunt up the hill and ended up PR-ing the ascent (barely, but I did). Some nice autumn colors are showing in Boulder now, which made the ride a real pick me up from all the injury n' surgery annoyances.
10/16, Friday - Bike -Poorman Loop - 13 miles, 1200', 0:54
Easy cruise up the creek path and over Poorman Dr for a quick loop before dark. Comparing my splits from similar efforts from today and when I road this climb on my road bike is completely lopsided. Road bikes can just crank out miles so fast!
10/17, Saturday - Bike: North Boulder/Longmont - 34 miles, 1300', 1:41
Took the road bike out for a quicker loop out on the farm country northeast of Boulder. Tried to keep the pace somewhat tempo-ish, but since I'm still pretty new to this biking stuff, I'm not sure exactly what pacing is for me. Heading back into Boulder I thought I was moving alright at 22 mph on the flats, then some lady wheeled around me with ease! Only in Boulder!
10/18, Sunday - South Boulder - 15 miles, 500', 1:51
Met Jack on the creek path and we ran steady mile splits at 6:55 - 7:05 min/mi for the first 8 miles, then he wanted to throw in a faster 4 miles. He really broke away from me after the first 2 miles as he kept getting faster and I did the opposite. I circled back around (we were on a 2mi loop at this point), and met him on the backside after some recovery minutes and tried to hold on for dear life for another half mile or so before we ran an "easy" (for him) pace back to campus/home.
Week Totals: Running
24 miles
4,400ft
4:04
Week Totals: Cycling
61 miles
4,900ft
3:41
Has to be one of my lightest weeks in a long time. I've been averaging 17.5 hours cumulatively this year, so 7:45 is quite a step down. Then again, its reasonably warranted considering I had a surgery and an injury. I've also come to the realization that the short season of big alpine adventures is over, and the much longer season of grinding out miles, vert and workouts between homework is here. Its definitely the more miserable season, but I say that with endearment!
For the next week I rolled my right ankle on Monday prompting me to take a full week of rest and start really evaluating my downhill running technique as I'm obviously doing something wrong.
10/26, Monday - Treadmill/Track/Spin - 4 miles, 1:00
Messed around on the treadmill, indoor track and spin bike at the rec center for a couple hours. I wound up running about 4 miles. Good workout.
10/27, Tuesday - AM & PM Creek Path - 10 miles, 500', 1:20
4 miles in the morning at a slow lethargic pace then 6 miles in the evening feeling much better, weirdly.
10/28, Wednesday - Boulder Resevoir - 7 miles, 300', 0:50
With Jack and Kory, we did a lap around Boulder Res. I was feeling very tired which was bad because Jack and Kory usually run ~6:30 pace and today I was struggling to stay at 7:00 pace. I may have got back to the car last, but it was a fun time complimented with breakfast at Einstein Bagels afterwards.
10/29, Thursday - Boulder Canyon - 8 miles, 500', 1:02
Good ol' creek path to its western terminus. I was surprised to not see Sage since he's running this path twice a day right now. I checked Strava when I got home and I actually did just narrowly miss seeing him. Effort felt much easier than yesterday, easily held 7:20 pace average.
10/30, Friday - Creek Path - 8 miles, 300', 1:04
Cruise on the South Boulder bike paths.
10/31, Saturday - 2nd Flatiron, Sunset Flatironette, Green Mtn, Bear Pk, South Boulder Pk - 15 miles, 5900', 3:59
I hadn't planned on returning to trails yet, but it was a holiday and I wanted to enjoy it. I didn't have a big plan, so I headed for the default 2nd Flatiron. I scrambled easy in 12 minutes then decided to tack on Chase the Sun before the march up to Green. I took Bear Canyon all the way down the Mesa Trail, which winds a relatively flat path down for dropping 2500ft. Next, I enjoyed the 3000ft climb up Fern Canyon to Bear Pk and bop to South Boulder Pk. Descended Shadow Canyon for the first time in a long while then took the Mesa Trail back to Chautauqua.
11/1, Sunday - Challenger, Green Mtn, 2nd Flatiron, Chase the Sun, 2 x Green Mtn - 15 miles, 7500', 5:14
I started off heading up to Morning After, but after sitting at the 5.7 overhanging crux I couldn't find a sequence I felt comfortable doing without sticky rubber (I usually like wearing my re-soled shoes for anything over 5.4 excluding the 1st since I have every hold and sequence memorized). After a rather involved traverse back to dirt I romped up to Challenger which I scrambled before hiking up to Green. For the descent I chose Gregory Ridge a variant of the standard Gregory-Ranger route, which I essentially never go down since its so indirect. Up next I took on the Free for All route on the 2nd Flatiron, which although technically being 5.6, I've done enough times and the 5.6 is literally 5 or 8 feet long I felt fine in my running shoes. I tacked on Chase the Sun again, its a fun little addition after the 2nd. After summitting Green for the second time I was trying to convince myself to skip the 3rd lap, but I really was intent on getting to 99 summits of Green for 2015 today so I could do the 100th with my friends tomorrow night. So, after descending to the Amphitheater I did a u-turn and slowly hiked back up for summit number 99. I had almost forgotten how early sunset is with daylight savings last night, but I thankfully made it back to my bike before things really got dark.
Week Totals:
68 miles
16,500'
14:31
Got some good distance throughout the week and capitalized on barely healthy enough ankles to enjoy the best Boulder has to offer on the weekend. Not even sure what I'm trying to do looking forwards, Nolans or something of the like is certainly the objective for next summer, but I'd like to put a race or other objective on the schedule for the period of February - April to maintain motivation in the coming cold and dark months. Currently I'm thinking about the Mississippi 50 or Behind the Rocks 50M/50k but I normally throw all my plans in the trash and do something else.
With RMR. Getting my heartrate up too high makes my teeth throb still, so I was really conservative. It doesn't cause damage (or so the doctor told me), but it can be quite painful so I kept it quite relaxed. On the bright-side, my ankle felt much stronger than it did a couple weeks ago.
10/13, Tuesday - Off
Teeth hurt a ton, school stuff, other crap.
10/14, Wednesday - TdF #5: 1st Flatiron - 3 miles, 1600', 0:57
As I should expect for these things, this was another disaster on my part. Felt pretty tired from the beginning then I could easily tell I hadn't scrambled in a couple weeks when I got on the rock. I split ~14:30 on the face, 3:30 off PR pace. Downclimbed in 2:30, 1 minute off PR pace. Took 10 steps then rolled my ankle really badly, I heard pops. I was on enough Advil for my teeth that the pain didn't set in right away, but I knew the damage was done so I humbly walked back down. I would have been happier just scrambling up to the arete and watching Matthias obliterate the FKT by a full minute, 32:14.
 |
| Even a slow and disappointing day can still be quite thrilling on the 1st. Photo: Dan Mottinger |
Since I'm back on the injury machine, I took a casual jaunt up the hill and ended up PR-ing the ascent (barely, but I did). Some nice autumn colors are showing in Boulder now, which made the ride a real pick me up from all the injury n' surgery annoyances.
10/16, Friday - Bike -Poorman Loop - 13 miles, 1200', 0:54
Easy cruise up the creek path and over Poorman Dr for a quick loop before dark. Comparing my splits from similar efforts from today and when I road this climb on my road bike is completely lopsided. Road bikes can just crank out miles so fast!
10/17, Saturday - Bike: North Boulder/Longmont - 34 miles, 1300', 1:41
Took the road bike out for a quicker loop out on the farm country northeast of Boulder. Tried to keep the pace somewhat tempo-ish, but since I'm still pretty new to this biking stuff, I'm not sure exactly what pacing is for me. Heading back into Boulder I thought I was moving alright at 22 mph on the flats, then some lady wheeled around me with ease! Only in Boulder!
10/18, Sunday - South Boulder - 15 miles, 500', 1:51
Met Jack on the creek path and we ran steady mile splits at 6:55 - 7:05 min/mi for the first 8 miles, then he wanted to throw in a faster 4 miles. He really broke away from me after the first 2 miles as he kept getting faster and I did the opposite. I circled back around (we were on a 2mi loop at this point), and met him on the backside after some recovery minutes and tried to hold on for dear life for another half mile or so before we ran an "easy" (for him) pace back to campus/home.
Week Totals: Running
24 miles
4,400ft
4:04
Week Totals: Cycling
61 miles
4,900ft
3:41
Has to be one of my lightest weeks in a long time. I've been averaging 17.5 hours cumulatively this year, so 7:45 is quite a step down. Then again, its reasonably warranted considering I had a surgery and an injury. I've also come to the realization that the short season of big alpine adventures is over, and the much longer season of grinding out miles, vert and workouts between homework is here. Its definitely the more miserable season, but I say that with endearment!
For the next week I rolled my right ankle on Monday prompting me to take a full week of rest and start really evaluating my downhill running technique as I'm obviously doing something wrong.
10/26, Monday - Treadmill/Track/Spin - 4 miles, 1:00
Messed around on the treadmill, indoor track and spin bike at the rec center for a couple hours. I wound up running about 4 miles. Good workout.
10/27, Tuesday - AM & PM Creek Path - 10 miles, 500', 1:20
4 miles in the morning at a slow lethargic pace then 6 miles in the evening feeling much better, weirdly.
10/28, Wednesday - Boulder Resevoir - 7 miles, 300', 0:50
With Jack and Kory, we did a lap around Boulder Res. I was feeling very tired which was bad because Jack and Kory usually run ~6:30 pace and today I was struggling to stay at 7:00 pace. I may have got back to the car last, but it was a fun time complimented with breakfast at Einstein Bagels afterwards.
10/29, Thursday - Boulder Canyon - 8 miles, 500', 1:02
Good ol' creek path to its western terminus. I was surprised to not see Sage since he's running this path twice a day right now. I checked Strava when I got home and I actually did just narrowly miss seeing him. Effort felt much easier than yesterday, easily held 7:20 pace average.
10/30, Friday - Creek Path - 8 miles, 300', 1:04
Cruise on the South Boulder bike paths.
10/31, Saturday - 2nd Flatiron, Sunset Flatironette, Green Mtn, Bear Pk, South Boulder Pk - 15 miles, 5900', 3:59
I hadn't planned on returning to trails yet, but it was a holiday and I wanted to enjoy it. I didn't have a big plan, so I headed for the default 2nd Flatiron. I scrambled easy in 12 minutes then decided to tack on Chase the Sun before the march up to Green. I took Bear Canyon all the way down the Mesa Trail, which winds a relatively flat path down for dropping 2500ft. Next, I enjoyed the 3000ft climb up Fern Canyon to Bear Pk and bop to South Boulder Pk. Descended Shadow Canyon for the first time in a long while then took the Mesa Trail back to Chautauqua.
 |
| Clouds pouring over the Continental Divide, unfortunately my iPhone camera can't quite capture a lot of the expansive, but far away peaks. |
I started off heading up to Morning After, but after sitting at the 5.7 overhanging crux I couldn't find a sequence I felt comfortable doing without sticky rubber (I usually like wearing my re-soled shoes for anything over 5.4 excluding the 1st since I have every hold and sequence memorized). After a rather involved traverse back to dirt I romped up to Challenger which I scrambled before hiking up to Green. For the descent I chose Gregory Ridge a variant of the standard Gregory-Ranger route, which I essentially never go down since its so indirect. Up next I took on the Free for All route on the 2nd Flatiron, which although technically being 5.6, I've done enough times and the 5.6 is literally 5 or 8 feet long I felt fine in my running shoes. I tacked on Chase the Sun again, its a fun little addition after the 2nd. After summitting Green for the second time I was trying to convince myself to skip the 3rd lap, but I really was intent on getting to 99 summits of Green for 2015 today so I could do the 100th with my friends tomorrow night. So, after descending to the Amphitheater I did a u-turn and slowly hiked back up for summit number 99. I had almost forgotten how early sunset is with daylight savings last night, but I thankfully made it back to my bike before things really got dark.
 |
| I'm a big fan of Challenger |
 |
| Looking to Bear on the hike from Challenger to Green |
 |
| Mountains are looking white nowadays. |
68 miles
16,500'
14:31
Got some good distance throughout the week and capitalized on barely healthy enough ankles to enjoy the best Boulder has to offer on the weekend. Not even sure what I'm trying to do looking forwards, Nolans or something of the like is certainly the objective for next summer, but I'd like to put a race or other objective on the schedule for the period of February - April to maintain motivation in the coming cold and dark months. Currently I'm thinking about the Mississippi 50 or Behind the Rocks 50M/50k but I normally throw all my plans in the trash and do something else.