2 x 5 miles @ Mary + 15 on the Santa Fe today. Averaged out to 6:25's, HR kept creeping up throughout the workout. I felt great, though. I noticed the hip on my last two uphill miles, but it wasn't painful. I think another week of running full mileage/intensity on the flats and I'll be 100%. Hopefully, that happens before Cheyenne Mtn, but I'll pull the plug on that one if I have to.
I've been gone for a bit. I was hoping to stall on this entry until I had all the pictures from my latest little adventure, but most of the pictures will have to wait.
Nokhu Crags in the summer
Nokhu Crags in winter :)
I've had a lot of fun climbing Colorado's mountains over the past years - it has definitely grown from one of many hobbies to a pastime right up there with running. I've had the opportunity to climb some pretty cool peaks in the summer, and have been itching for more winter opportunities over the last year or so. While I've climbed a few peaks in spring conditions, I thought it best to take an actual winter mountaineering class. Combining formal instruction with appropriate experiences is the best preparation one can take.
atop Lake Agnes
My buddy Michael is climbing Denali in June, so he put this whole thing together through his Army post in Ft. Carson. Four of us and two instructors drove up near Mt. Richthofen, the highest point in the Never Summer Range north of RMNP. There, we practiced rope skills, self-arrest, rudimentary avalanche awareness and rescue for two full days. On the third day, we climbed up to about 12,000' on Nokhu Crags via a pretty nifty coulior. It averaged about 45' on the upper reaches, but what made it so much fun was that it kept twisting and turning. We couldn't figure out where it would end! There was one class 3+ mixed move just shy of our turnaround point. Otherwise, it was simply an opportunity to work as a rope team in a true alpine environment. Our instructors, Trevor and Carleton, were top-notch instructors and great guys to boot. If you're looking to learn more about winter mountaineering, this is the way to go!
where I ran Sunday
I was able to sneak in a run on Sunday - beautiful outing on a freshly powdered timber road near Cameron Pass.
One assumes that after a race like Salida, it'll take a few days for your legs to come back to you. Hell, when I was younger, the thought of "training through" a marathon was unfathomable. It's good news then to feel that I have bounced back faster than I did after Austin. That's a testament to the evils of concrete if you ask me. Anyway, I was a bit conservative with throwing in more work and waited until Thursday to test out the engine.
Warmed up by climbing to the reservoir. Goal was 8 x 1000 @ marathon pace(6:15/mi) with 200 recovery. Instead of hammering this stuff out on the track - I'm a believer in avoiding the track unless you're racing on a track - I make a couple of modifications. 1)I do a loop on hardpack around one of the Stratton reservoirs. It's 1000-"ish". My garmin measures it out to be .60, so probably a few seconds short. 2)I do them on the 5:00 and don't worry about how far I run in between, but again my garmin suggests I'm doing about a 200 shag. 3)I only allow myself to check my garmin once during each repeat, as I like trying to work on 'feeling' the correct pace. It was extremely windy yesterday, so I expected variability, which I got: 3:40/3:36/3:46/3:38/3:41/3:38/3:44/3:36, HR between 150 and 158. Felt not great but good.
Going forward, I'm expecting to start feeling tired as I do work. I've managed to keep that pre-season feeling in the legs, but looking ahead, I think there's gonna be some real work to do. 8 days until my 36th birthday run, 5 weeks till Cheyenne Mtn, and 7 weeks till Collegiate Peaks.
Today is a staff development day, then we're off on Spring Break. Should be some solid training. New Rise Against came out on Tuesday...the whole album is still growing on me, but definitely a few good "get off your ass and do something about it" tracks on it.
