Sunday, 02/05/12 Green Mountain

Up/Down front

4.07 miles/2,277 vert./1:05:43 (45:40 up)/160 avg. HR  Garmin Data

Was eager to head up Green and take advantage of the trench we worked on last night and bust out the new Microspikes for the occasion.  Snow falling off of the trees made the footing a little looser than I had hoped and made for a good bit of spinning out.  Not sure which option might have been best for today, running snowshoes, Microspikes, or perhaps Kahtoola running crampons (kind of wish I had remembered the running crampons).

I put in a solid effort, but was definitely not very efficient, as my legs were a bit tired and sore in unusual places from the snowshoeing the day before.  My back was also a bit sore from the 3+  hours of snow shoveling and those reasons excuses, combined with the loose snow made for a bit of a slog and I was often just simply governed by the inefficient footing.  Was surprised to be recognized on the trail by John R. who reads the blog and ran with GZ, Tim and I a few years back.

Pressed for time, I was hoping to make up a bit on the descent, but took it pretty slow and cautious on the upper 1/3 of the mountain (it was like running a balance beam at times and one mis-step would sink you in knee deep or deeper), then picked up the pace little by little as I descended.  I was moving reasonably well at times as I got lower, but was barely able to eek out a 19:58 descent with some hard work and sprinting at the very end.

Overall I am enjoying these conditions MUCH more than the mixed conditions prior to the storm and find it to be quite fun running in the fresh snow.  Hopefully things pack down a bit over the next few days, once they do, it will be absolutely epic.

Saturday, 02/04/12 Green Mountain, Local Run

Morning:  1:15 Shoveling

Noon:  4.02 miles/216 vert./39:16/9:46 pace

Easy run with the jogger on roads and plowed paths.  Conditions were decent considering the recent ~2 feet of snow, but there were sections of deeper snow/slush that made for some slow going at times.  Just needed a little fresh air and sunshine.

Late Afternoon/Early Evening:  Green Mountain

up/down front

4.06 miles/2,285 vert./1:24 RT (56:13 up)  Garmin Data

I was looking forward to some top notch wallowing on snowshoes in the several feet of fresh snow on Green Mountain (maybe 3+ higher on the mountain?), but as late as I was to get there, the trail was already well trodden.  As Sierra and I started up Amphitheater (at 4:42pm), I was thinking that my 30" expedition snowshoes were a bit much, as the trail was wide and well packed.  Homie had about a 7 minute head start on me and I was following his tracks with the plan being for me to catch up to him along the way, as he had a time constraint.  Sometimes I pushed hard, anticipating that I would see him just up around the next corner (not knowing at the time how much of a head start he had) and other times I backed off, thinking it was unlikely I would catch him (I was looking to go somewhat easy this evening).

Once above the Greenman/SR jct., I knew I was closing in, as Sierra stopped once or twice to look/listen across the valley with her ears perked up, then took off in hot pursuit.  Soon, I ran into them, as Homie had fortunately stopped to chat with somebody he recognized (who was skiing of all things).  Conditions above GM/SR jct. deteriorated a bit, as that section of trail had seen less traffic and I was now thankful for the larger snowshoes, so I could work on widening/packing the trail.

Spent a few moments on the summit and then headed down at what seemed to not be too quick of a pace, but was definitely a lot of work in the snow and with the big snowshoes.  This trip on Green was a bit more work than average, but was a blast as always and was great to get out with Homie.

Looking East

Bear Peak (and Sierra mostly hidden)

Homie on the summit (the dude on skis was telling us about dropping off the summit block and you can see confirmation of this.  Hope he was using his rock skis, no matter how much snow falls on these peaks, there are still a LOT of rocks and deadfall to hit.)