Week in Review: October 1-7

Monday, October 1^st  

AM—None

PM—2 Miles—0:15—150’—Creek Path

Just a short and easy run to get my legs used to running again after several weeks of little to no running.

Tuesday, October 2^nd    

AM—None

PM—5 Miles—0:55—1,650’—Sanitas  

Ran into Tony Molina at Settlers Park and joined him up Sanitas rather than my planned trip up Flagstaff. Took the ascent really easy and then bombed down the descent in what was likely my fastest Sanitas descent ever (I wasn’t really watching my time though since I planned on a very easy outing).

Wednesday, October 3^rd   

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—0:59—1,650’—Flagstaff

Super easy run. Took the up and down both at a casual pace.

Thursday, October 4^th     

AM—None

PM—6 Miles—1:03—1,600’—Flagstaff and Mesa Out-and-Back

I met up with Tony Molina for an easy run up Flagstaff. We came down Gregory Canyon where I pushed slightly on the descent—not fast, not slow, but closer to fast than slow. I added on the initial climb up the Mesa trail from Chautauqua and turned around at the top.

Friday, October 5^th    

AM—None

PM—None (Bouldering at The Spot)

Saturday, October 6^th            

AM—10 Miles—3:00—2,900’—Green Mountain via Flagstaff and Middle Route

I continued with this week’s theme of casual climbing. I was making decent time up Flagstaff and all the way to the first set of rocky switchbacks on upper Greenman despite what felt like an easy effort. Once I hit the rocky sections everything immediately became covered in ice and I fell into a hike. I foolishly pushed to the summit not thinking about the logistics of getting down all of the ice-covered rocks. On the way down there were several instances where I just had to slide on my ass down the icy rocks—not fun. About 1:15 of the time from today’s run was due to slow-going on the ice.

PM—None

Sunday, October 7^th

AM—None

PM—13 Miles—2:24—2,900’—Green Mountain via Bear Canyon

I started with the intent of a Mesa trail out-and-back, but quickly scrapped that idea after the first climb up Mesa from Chautauqua—my legs felt like absolute shit. So I accepted that I would go out to some undetermined point and turn around for a much shorter run than planned. When I hit Bear Canyon my legs started feeling somewhat better. So, I decided to just go ahead up the canyon to see what would happen. My legs started coming to life and my pace improved pretty dramatically on the climb. I took the descent pretty easy. It felt great to get out and run in the usual short, shorts and no shirt with the brisk temperatures and frost-covered mountains around me. Much better than yesterday’s what-the-hell-am-I-doing-out-here outing.

Miles—42

Time—8hours 38minutes

Elevation Gain— 10,850 feet

                                                                                                                                             

After nearly six damn weeks of residual fatigue from my DNF at Leadville it seems that my legs are finally starting to come around. I used this as a “welcome back to running” week and took essentially all efforts at a casual pace (with the exception of a few downhill bombings). 

I’m heading to the Moab area tomorrow for a few days of running, climbing, and dirtbagging (not to be confused with teabagging) in the desert before rolling into Leadville for my buddy Jon’s “Welcome, Winter 50k” Fatass. Pretty stoked for 33 miles and loads of vert in the mountains around Leadville.

I’m putting together a pretty lofty list of things to do in the coming months. Of course, all of these depend on how my running comes along in the weeks to come. Here’s hoping to some solid weeks of training!  

The Aspens surrounded by a dense fog. Some foreshadowing for the conditions a little higher on Green.

First ice in my hair for the fall/winter.