7/7 to 7/12

7/7, Monday - Short n' Fast, 3 miles, 20min, 80'

I finished Scott Jurek's Eat & Run at 10PM and had to go for a run. Went fast for a bit - initially going for a sub-19 5k - then remembered its night time and I ran a marathon two days ago. Technically it was 2.6 miles in 18:20, whatever, icky details :).

7/8, Tuesday - Track, 6 miles, 1:00, 0'

I've been afraid that I'm getting slow with all these long arduous runs that inevitably feature hiking so I don't mega-bonk (though I still often mega-bonk). So I headed over to the Boulder High School track and did some speed work: 5x100m, 4x200m, 3x400m, 2x800m, 1x1,600m. Trying to break 6 on the final mile it seemed I was too late with my kick and I crossed the line at 6:19. I suppose I can use the marathon as an excuse for that; wonder how many more days that one will be valid!

7/9, Wednesday - Boulder Canyon, 9 miles, 1:08, 500'

I certainly had something in my legs today I wasn't anticipating! Started off in a slight rain, which always gets me excited and I just never got too tired. Was able to hold a healthy 7:15 min/mi average the whole time (7:50's up, and 6:40's down). Got up the canyon in 34:32 (faster than I've ever run down!), then headed back down in 31:25 for a my first time up and down under 70 minutes. Had a nice conversation with a cyclist for about a mile too, which I guess shows how good I was feeling today. Someday I'll go for a sub-60, maybe... or something.

7/10, Thursday - AM: Second Flatiron, 3 miles, 1:40, 1,300' | PM: 3 miles barefoot

Didn't run a step and just felt off today. It was nice catching the sunrise on the rock though. I tried finding Baker's Way - a 5.3 up the First rather than the 5.6 standard. I ended up at the same stupid 5.8 "Kamikaze's Overhangs" thing I did on accident once - and will not do again. So I down climbed and trotted back home.

After work I headed over to a nearby field and did some barefoot laps. My gait has been feeling a bit off lately and I find some barefoot running usually provides enough ground feedback to make the minute adjustments needed.

7/12, Saturday - Loveland Pass to Bakersville: Mt Sniktau (13,234'), Cupid (13,117') [unranked], Grizzly Pk (13,427'), Torreys Pk (14,267'), Grays Pk (14,270'), 13 miles, 5:29, 6,300'

Another example of this blog's namesake "Glorified Walking", how much running do you think I (or anyone besides Kilian Jornet, who did something(s) special recently) could do with that much gain in a relatively small mileage. Big scenery and plenty of peaks in the bag. Started from Loveland Pass, snagging Mt Sniktau before setting off onto a rollercoaster of a ridge which stays at an average of 13,100' for 7 miles of horribly loose and steep scree.

Torrey's is the high point in the center, Gray's is behind it. We got work to do.

Even Grizzly was hard! despite only being 200ft higher than Sniktau you get ~1k' of gain going over (summitting the unranked Mt. Cupid on the way). Barely paused on the summit. I caught up with some other runners who were doing only Grizzly and Torrey's - though as an out and back which is very demanding. The traverse from Grizzly to Torrey's is insanely steep, it gains a little over 2,000' in about a mile (that's an average of 38% grade if you were wondering). There were 4 of us "runners" heading up and not a step was ran!

Appropriate reaction to impending doom climb

What is this crap? Other runners in the background.

Getting over to Gray's was far more arduous than it was last time when I took the "easier" way up. Hustled down as the sky broke into thunder and lightning and rain. Still, people were heading up the mountain casually into a death zone of wet rock and electrical storms like they wanted to get toasted. Personally, I heard thunder and I hit the gas.

The brighter arc of snow in center is the first 13er (Sniktau) I summitted, only one 14er left...

Summit of Torrey's at 14,267'

Looking west off of Gray's

I waited out the brief but heavy rain under a trail head shelter for maybe 10 minutes. I jogged 80% of the road down to the highway till I got a ride back to the highway (and my mommy who hiked and kindly drove the car down to pick me up while I ran). This actually had a net negative gain as I did more downhill than up (5,200' ascended, 6,300' descended). I count it though - so deal with it.

Long 4,000' descent.

GPS track

Hello, you're a pretty one. Summit of Mt. Cupid.

Not quite as much total volume this week (two days off), but it was good nonetheless. Retrospectively, it is weird to think I did a marathon a week ago, it seems like that was months ago.I'm planning on doing my Pikes Peak Marathon next weekend, so this week should feed into that nicely. That being said, I'll probably not be doing any vert whatsoever until next weekend so that my legs can carry me up and down that behemoth mountain. I'll be really trying to race on Pikes, under 5 hours would make me really happy. Really nervous but really excited for it!

Week Totals:
Miles: 37
Vert: 8,255'
Time: 10:08:25