JV's UpHill Adventures: Sep 19, 2011

Monday, September 19, 2011

Monday, 09/19/11 Green Mountain in 1.24 miles

Up Front (kind of), Down Front (a little bit more)

2.99 miles RT/2,282 vert./58:32 (37:52up) 155 avg HR Garmin Data

For kicks and something a little different (and partially inspired by GZ's joking at the party last night about me liking the steep stuff), I just felt like hiking in the woods and was able to explore some new territory that I had not yet seen (much of it within shouting distance of the usual route). Started up Amphitheater at a very easy jog/hike type of effort. About 90 seconds or so before topping out on Amphi, I spotted a relatively clear way up the steep hillside to the left and started doing an ascending traverse in a SW direction. Scampered over and around some large rocks, up a nice stable boulder field and eventually reconnected with the Saddle Rock Trail below the 1st Flatiron jct.. From there, I crossed the spring and immediately headed up the fall line toward the NE ridge trail. This by far was the steepest climbing of the hike and I was wishing I had gloves and microspikes. I could not even go up on my toes and had to cut the side edge of my shoe to not slip too much.

I continued up Greenman after NE for a few minutes, then after the "snow fence" and the two micro-switchbacks, I beelined for the summit, never crossing the trail again. This was by far the worst section and I got pretty scraped up crawling up and over deadfall and through/under a lot of bushes (I also got completely covered in burrs which took some time to extract). I was happy to see 1.24 miles on my watch, a full .76 less than the normal route. I still think I could shave another .1 or so with some work, but I will at least wear gloves and maybe long sleeve/pants next time.

Descended standard NE ridge route.

Thinking about it a little more, this ascent was a little shorter than Sanitas with ~1,000 more vertical. While on this hike/run, I kept thinking about the terrain that I love most and I narrowed it down to ~2,000-2,500 feet of vertical gain per mile (on a trail with good footing) is my absolute favorite. I am still dreaming of a 5 mile long incline.

Sunday, 09/18/11 No running, but lot's of eating

Brandon and family hosted the second annual runner/blogger gathering at their palatial estate in Longmont. Many of the usual suspects showed with their families/significant others/dogs, GZ, Justin, Lucho, JP, Jim P, Nick P, Nick C. It was great to catch up with everyone in person, where we did not talk about running once, we just discussed work, politics and religion ;). My only regret was that I did not get to chat with everyone a bit more, but I was getting pulled away often for baby duty, hopefully we can all catch up more on a run soon. Thanks again to Brandon and Kim for hosting, we had an awesome time.