After a decently successful and stressful first personal ascent up the first flatiron on Friday, Saturday morning I got into REI right at opening and after a bit of deliberation bought a pair of climbing shoes.Went essentially straight up to Chautauqua and got in a super solid lap on the first. Hiked down with a stereotypical nomadic climber. He was living out of his van and on his way from Arizona up to Montana for the summer. We had an interesting conversation before our paths split. I then took a more relaxed lap on the "freeway" rout on the second flatiron. Amazing the difference in difficulty both mental and physical between the two slabs.
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| The third never ceases to amaze |
Monday, 4/13
Great weather, took a somewhat adventurous 30 minute jaunt along the creek path before exploring some uncharted territory between campus and the South bank of Boulder creek. Really muddy, really fun.
Tuesday, 4/14
After trying to study the day away, I had to break off for 30 minutes for some barefoot on Kittredge field. My paces feel so dismal right now, and I can't even back them up with mileage. I know I can go faster, but I also know I shouldn't. Haven't had a good exhaustive run in months, most runs I finish wanting to run more than when the run began. Even starting to yearn for even a long road run right now. Too many unexplored roads, paths and peaks still loom around me.
Thursday. 4/17
Came to the conclusion that it may in fact be sitting which gives my hip the most grief. I figured taking Wednesday off would loosen up the hip, but in fact the opposite. So today I headed back out to the first and got in some time on the toes. About 40 or 50 feet up, someone shouted up to me "The top is covered in ice". I immediately had disbelief. First of all, downclimbing is public enemy number 1 - especially on the first , second, it was plainly visible from Boulder that the entirety of the rock was clean of Sunday's snow - that's why I was even there. "Just kidding" the hooligan shouted back up. Nonetheless, I felt like just that comment totally messed with my mental mojo. After that I missed a traverse and had to put in some creativity to get back on route, and then just felt "off". Anyways, made it to the top for my third summit in good spirits all without seeing a single other person on the wildly popular climb. 80% walking on this one. I love the first, but I think I should practice more on the 2nd, especially on parts where I can safely play around more with smooth slab climbing.
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| Regaining my mojo with another summit. And yeah I know I have a thousand picture of the third, deal with it! |
30 minutes barefoot, 4 miles. Actually pushed the pace a little bit on this run before settling back to my "trot" that I've adopted as of late. Put in a low 6 minute mile after a a half mile warm-up, to see how things felt with a harder pace. Actually felt pretty good, and didn't feel too out of shape.
Saturday, 4/19
Another flatiron jaunt, with some solid efforts. After climbing the first a few times I figured I'd see if I could get a new PR on the 2nd. Ended up getting up the route in 16:27, a PR by about 5 minutes. Amazing how confident I feel on its relatively innocent face after doing the first. Took a spill on the sneak route from the back of the first flatiron to Greenman, and had some nice carnage decorating my left knee for the remainder of the climb. Continued on up to Green Mountain for my my first summit of anything since January 23. My uphill running abilities right now seem non-existent, definitely have some work to do pending the healing of my hip. Took the downhill really easy as this was the first "long-ish" run in a while on the hips. 6 miles, but 2,500 ft of climbing kept me out there for 1:53.
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| You should see the other guy, he's 8,000ft tall and made of stone and immortal |
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