Jackson met at my house early then after we both took full advantage of access to a flush toilet we warmed up over to Marshall Road. Jackson wanted to do some form drills first, which I was happy to do -- I should probably be doing this 3-4 times a week anyways, rather than zero. For the odd reps it was down and even were up, the miles were split 5:26, 5:41, 5:16, 5:51, 5:32, 5:52. The ups were really tough and I may have over extended my abilities on the third rep. Regardless, I was essentially just trying to stay on Jackson's tail the whole time! Went out for another cruise in the afternoon by doing two laps of the CU-XC course in opposite directions.
4/11, Tuesday - AM: Flagstaff-Poormans - 13 miles, 2400', 1:58
From Abby's starting at 5:40AM with a headlamp I jogged up Flagstaff Mountain to descend Chapman Drive. As I continued down Boulder Canyon then up Fourmile Canyon towards Poormans Dr it was pretty cold on the western aspects which were sheltered from the rising sun. I happily met the sun at the top of Poormans and jogged down Seven Hills Rd for a soft surface then joined the standard Sunset Canyon trail back to town. Easy Salomon Run Club in the evening.
4/12, Wednesday - Flagstaff Loop - 9 miles, 1900', 1:40
Felt pretty tired today so I kept it really easy. After running up Viewpoint and down to Gregory Canyon, I hiked basically the whole way up that then slowly jogged down Chapman Dr back home. The views of the full moon setting over the alpenglow of the Indian Peaks is pretty spectacular from Chapman Dr, which I have to believe why I gravitated towards it again today.
4/13, Thursday - Bear Pk - 10 miles, 3900', 1:57
I met Len at his place ~0.5 miles from the TH then we jogged to the Cragmoor trailhead. I could tell on the warm up that the workout we had planned of tempo-ing the ascent would be rough but committed myself to the effort even if my time was slow. The first 1.5 miles or so are on a super runnable and low graded path so you should be able to run pretty hard, but I couldn't quite get my legs to respond properly. I was relieved to get the base of fern, hastily shed my coat and start the power hiking. Len put a huge gap on me on the running section but I was able to close a bit to the summit. I summitted in 41:10 (Len in 40:56) -- a PR, but I know I can take literal minutes off of that time which encourages me to go for the sub-hour round trip (FKT of 0:55 by Dave Mackey). We took it real easy heading down but I realized I left my coat at the base of Fern Canyon so I had to jog all the way back up from the TH to retrieve that. Oh well, an extended warm down in that beautiful morning weather was nothing to complain about.
4/14, Friday - Bear Pk x 3 - 9 miles, 6000', 2:54
Started from Cragmoor with Nick with the heat beating down hard. We were excited to get off the long approach from Shanahan ridge which is far more exposed to the sun and into the cooler temps of Fern Canyon. I split each lap pretty evenly just under 30min with Nick a bit behind each time. Started to cramp up a bit in the heat on the way back to the TH; the bike cruise back downhill felt amazing!
4/15, Saturday - Jurassic Park Climbing - 1000', 3:57
Abby and I camped in the Park then realized a certain harness was forgotten so had to drive all the way back to Boulder and back to Lily Lake (which was otherwise ~15min from our campsite). First up, was the mega-classic "The Edge of Time" (pictured below) which we somehow got onto before a long queue formed behind us. Being a 5.9 sport climb I thought it would be total cake but it was put up in 1960-something by Layton Korr, so its a legit 9. Thin face climbing with a good bit of runnout climbing for a bolted line. Abby followed and we then went over to "Middle Toe" where I lead the route and set up the TR for Abby then in order to clean the route I TR'ed "Copradelite", a really cool, thin and balancy face climb. Once I cleaned that anchor and was lowered we hoofed it back to the car and Estes for some snacks!
4/16, Sunday - Poormans/Betasso/Green Mtn - 22 miles, 4700', 3:13
Got a leisurely start to Easter morning with a side by side comparison of a pour-over and an Aeropress coffee, I prefer the Aeropress. Kept a steady effort up Sunshine and down Poormans then dodged dozens of cyclists enjoying pristine weather in the Betasso Preserve. Technically foot traffic has the right of way, but its best to step out of the way -- you don't want to get hit by a bike. After a quick descent into Boulder Canyon I stared down the crucible of the day: Green via Chapman Dr. The ascent is 4 miles with 2300ft of gain; its not horrible but I wanted to run every step -- which is oddly slower than strategically hiking certain sections, and why I've never ran every step of Green before. I made it to the top without then turned right around to retake my CR down Long Canyon on the way back home. Pretty happy with the pace (8:45min/mi) on this longer effort over pretty hilly terrain.
Week Totals:
Running:
85 miles
21,000ft
14:08
Biking:
45 miles
2,100ft
3:21
I'm happy to have a high volume week heading into the last training block before Quad Rock 25. The weather is incredible right now too, which lead to the fantastic day of climbing on Saturday. Excited for racing, climbing and long days in the mountains!
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