With Hillary at a horribly early hour in For Collins. Muddy initially but got to be punchy snow up higher. This was my first time on the Quad Rock 50 trails, looks like a lot of runnable climbs, yikes. Finished up by cycling ~20 miles back to Boulder from her work.
4/19, Tuesday - AM: Mesa Trail - 6 miles, 1600', 1:16 || PM: Royal Arch - 4 miles, 2200', 0:55
Had a nice ride by headlight up to NCAR (900' in 5 miles) before suffering through a miserable excursion on the Mesa trail. Terrible snow. Luckily, the high temps turned most of it to slush or water for a muddy Salomon group run to Royal Arch in the evening. Managed to sneak in a loop of scrambling up the East Face and down the West while waiting to regroup.
4/20, Wednesday - AM: 30min Tempo - 9 miles, 1:00 || PM: Mt Sanitas - 12 miles, 2000', 1:50
In the morning I got towed by Kory on a hard 30 minute effort on the creek path. The goal was to hold 6:00 min/mi and the result was 5:55 min/mi, so I was quite pleased. Plus, I finally broke 18:00 in the 5km with a 17:53 in the first half (before I slowed down)! At night, I went out for a casual jog up and down the swoop on Sanitas under the full moon.
4/21, Thursday - AM: Poorman & Mt Sanitas - 14 miles, 1900', 2:03
Really stiff legs so I wore compression on my calves. Went easy up Boulder Canyon - Fourmile - Poorman's before heading up the swoop to Sanitas and down the East Ridge. Descending felt like a chore on my legs but the energy was good.
4/22, Friday - AM: 1st & 2nd Flatirons - 3 miles, 1600', 1:03 || PM: Green Mtn & Flagstaff Mtn - 9 miles, 2800', 1:48
Really tired. Up the 1st down the 2nd in the morning then failed to keep up with Hillary up Green and Flagstaff in the evening.
4/23, Saturday - 1st Flatiron, Green Mtn, SoBo Pk, Bear Pk - 19 miles, 5800', 4:05
Had a fun time trying out a twist on the more popular backside loop. After going through the motions of the usual backside route (well, the way I do it, 1st>Green>Flagstaff Rd>Myers Gulch>Walker Ranch) I left the Walker Ranch trail and hiked up a fine ridge to South Boulder Pk's summit. I stopped for a long while on the summit then tagged Bear before trotting down Bear Canyon and Enchated Mesa to add a bit more mileage.
4/24, Sunday - Jack's Peak (8,826) - Running: 4 miles, 1500', 1:14 - Biking: 35 miles, 2600', 2:05
I biked from home into Coal Creek Canyon but then realized I had barely studied at all where I should start hiking up. Eventually, I pulled over at "Chapel in the Hills" church where I hid my bike in the trees and changed into running shoes and shorts. Initially I found a fantastic trail but it petered out and soon I bushwhacking up in punchy snow. I didn't realize that I would be nearing 9k' but it makes sense now why I encountered the snow I did. Clearly, I only vaguely knew where I was but my goal was Crescent Peak. I ended up being too far west and didn't feel like dealing with the snow I could see to its summit. So, I settled on a nearby sub-peak whose name I only learned from the summit register. I descended the southeast slope off of Jack's and found a dirt road (which I will certainly use later to bag Crescent and Coal Creek Peaks) which I ran down to the road. The wind jerked me around on the ride home but at least this time it was downhill. Duathlons are fun!
Week Totals:
91 miles
20,900ft
16:34
Happy about the high volume week, I felt fantastic until Friday but I expected that given the days prior. I've heard somewhere that volume should peak 3 weeks out for optimal performance which (if true) will have me in a good position for Quadrock. I used salted white rice for my solid fuels this week and they worked just like gels, so there is a bunch of money I can save!
As an aside I read a couple related articles this week that I found especially relevant. They each offer somewhat differing opinions of which I agree and disagree with some of each.
Is Social Media Screwing Over Explorers?
Confessions of a Spray Queen
