Sunday, 08/11/13 Vacation

Allison and I dropped off the kids at the grandparents house for 4 days/3 nights and headed up to the Aspen/Snowmass area for a little time to ourselves.  We debated camping, but the forecast was pretty miserable, so we figured a hotel would be preferable and the Stonebridge Inn in Snowmass Village had surprisingly reasonable rates (for the area) and was quite nice.

We got out for some great hiking every day, visiting Capitol Lake on Tuesday (13.5 miles from almost the trailhead).

On Wednesday, we hiked from Maroon Lake, past Crater Lake and part way up the lower slopes of Maroon Peak.  We had no plans to summit, as the weather was horrible and we were not prepared for it on this trip, but I was interested to check out the improvements the CFI was making.  The wildflowers were good and it was a bit of an introduction for Allison to the route of one of her 5 remaining 14ers.  It rained hard the entire time we were out and much of the trail was several inch deep water.

Wednesday afternoon, the weather broke for a bit and I got out for my only run of the trip, a run from our hotel at the base area of Snowmass at 8,500 ft. to just beyond the ski area boundary above the Cirque at 12,687 ft.  I started off sluggish, but soon got into a steady groove up the steep grass and wildflower covered ski slopes.  I had no idea where I was going, I glanced at a map earlier and knew the general direction I needed to trend, but it was fun just exploring the ski hill, with my hands on my knees pushing hard.

It took me 1:20 to reach the top of the highest surface lift at a decent effort with a pee stop and some wrong turns and willow bashing, then 4 more minutes to where I turned around beyond the boundary.  I was severely tempted by the rolling ridge and un-named gentle13er summits just beyond and I practically spun circles debating continuing on. BUT, this run was conditional on me getting back before too long and I reluctantly had to turn around.  My legs and coordination were feeling pretty good, so I got after it pretty hard on the downhill, mostly just following the steep fall line as if I were skiing, generally sticking to the line of the chairlifts and occasionally jumping on the access road when it seemed necessary or like it might get me to where I needed to go.  I typically estimate my descent to be 2/3 of my ascent time, but was surprised to cover the 4 miles and 4,100 foot vertical drop in 34 minutes for a RT of 1:58 over the 8.5 miles.  I was on such a massive high for long after the run, it was such a blast.

Thursday morning before heading home, we headed back up the ski hill, as it was a simple plan and I was anxious to take Allison back up there.  My legs were a little beat from yesterday's descent, but we made decent time, until we discovered some nice wild raspberry bushes which we spent a long time wiping clean.
We were not moving for long, then we discovered an entire ski slope of ripe blueberries, which once again delayed us for even longer.  Then we found the strawberries above that.  Slow going.  I tried to convince Allison to continue on to the 13ers I missed the previous day, but she wisely turned us around, as we needed to get back and pick up the girls.  I would later be thankful of this, as it all turned into a long day with the drive home and then dealing with tired toddlers.  Even though my legs were sore, I would run ahead of Allison on the descent, going fast, then waiting, only because it is just so dang fun.

All in all a great trip, it was nice to not parent for a few days (as much as we missed them).

Next up, Pikes Peak Marathon in one week.  Hard to believe.  Some days I feel very ready, other days I question that, but either way I will give it my best and just have a good time with the race and hanging out with good friends.

The aspen groves in the area are just nuts, need to go back in late Sept. some year.

We opted for the ditch trail, which was all slick mud and cow $hit.  I made the mistake of wearing my worn Hoka Mafates which levitated on the mud like a hovercraft.  Allison wore her Salomon Fellraisers and had not trouble at all.

Capitol Lake and Peak.  This was my 4th trip here, but my first without climbing intentions and it was really fun to not have the pressure or carry gear.  As nice as it was though, I really wanted to climb to the summit.

The wildflowers were a bit past their prime, but still pretty good.  Unfortunately, the columbines were long gone.

The calm before the storm.

Messing with the camera settings.

Socked in.  Many of the 14er summits got a good dose of snow.

Trying to re-create a picture I took of my buddy Ken on the same tree in July, 1998.

Pouring rain and although we wore our good jackets, our hands, feet and legs were soaked and cold after a few hours out.

Ziegler Reservoir above Snowmass Village (Capitol and Daly in the background).  This is the lake where they unearthed thousands of Mammoth and Mastadon fossils.  More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowmastodon_site
http://www.snowmassiceage.com/

Hiking up Snowmass on the last day

Great wildflowers and berries all the way up the mountain

We saw a herd of large bucks at the top of the ski area.

Saturday, 07/06/13 Grays and Torreys

Grays Peak, 14,270/Torreys Peak, 14,267
13.9 miles
5,057 vert.
2:52:22
167 avg. HR

Had a great run on Grays and Torreys, one of those runs that, even though I was working hard, flowed very well and almost seemed effortless.  It is runs like these that keep me inspired and the type that I always hope I can put together on race day.  Some of my splits may not have been my fastest, but I PR'ed on the descent and was only two minutes off of my accumulated split PR for this route (a day in 2008 that involved a lot of stopping and regrouping with others).

Started up the 3 mile dirt road to the Stevens Gulch TH from Bakerville at 6:20am and was happy to observe that the road was a bit damp from recent rain.  This tacky surface helped with efficiency and did wonders at keeping the dust at bay, as a near constant stream of cars passed me by.  Though these peaks are a complete zoo on busy summer weekends, I have to admit that I draw a certain amount of energy from the crowds as I get a fair bit of encouragement on these runs and it is fun to see people ahead as rabbits so to speak.

I started off at a somewhat conservative effort and just made a point to keep my breathing under control and not go into oxygen debt too early.  Even when I am at my most acclimated state, I always struggle with pace and breathing over the first mile or two of this run, but I was hardly feeling it today.

I arrived at the summer lot in 32:?? and reached the far side of the bridge exactly as my watch turned 33:00, which is where I normally begin my split for the ascent of Grays.  This is where I upped my effort a bit, somewhat deliberately, but it is also necessitated by the technical and steeper nature of the trail.

The crowds became thick, but I was able to work my way through without ever having to pause or slow down.  Most people graciously stepped to the side when they heard me give my customary throat clearing, cough or foot scuff.  Occasionally though, these tactics failed and I would, well in advance, give a cheerful and polite "on your left" and almost without fail, people move TO the left and get directly in the way.  As experience has taught me to expect this, in most cases I can cut left or right and sneak through without breaking stride, though it often involves stepping off trail or threading the needle between confused people.  I always say "thanks", "good morning" or "great day!" as to not look like an impatient jerk.

At one point, near the turnoff for Kelso, I passed a group of guys who I guessed to be their early 20's.  The guy in the back stepped out of my way, then yelled to his friends ahead that I was coming through and "showing off".  Yep, he busted me, I was just walking, then sped past to just show off for them and then started walking again once I got around the next corner.  Funny stuff.  This may have been the same group who last year or the year before told me I need to belly breathe, as if my method of running these mountains was totally incorrect and they held the secret to success.

Around 13,000 feet, I started to alternate between power hiking when necessary and running where possible, always keeping the HR consistently high.  As always, the altitude affected my watch, causing it to speed up a bit over the final switchbacks and I topped out in 1:36, a few minutes off a few of my better runs from previous years, but 3 minutes quicker than last year and it felt a lot easier.

The views were great as always and I noted how good the weather looked a few minutes before 8am, as the forecast of 50% chance of storms after 9am did not seem to be materializing.  I was pleased to have moved well beyond the crowds and shared my summit stay with 2 mellow hikers from Boulder/Ft. Collins.

I was eager to push the down a bit and test the Salomon Fellraisers I am reviewing and quickly took off toward Torreys.  Made it to the saddle in ~6 minutes and was surprised to see a runner coming towards me fast.  Turned out it was Eric Lee who had parked at Stevens Gulch and was running Torreys, then Grays before heading over to Quandary.  We had a quick chat and went on our separate ways.  The trip up Torreys was a bit slower.  I felt good, but was just not pressing the pace too hard and just enjoying the views and the unexpected tranquility of having this peak all to myself.

The descent off Torreys was a real blast and the Salomons stuck like glue in the loose dirt and rock.  I took it somewhat conservative across the well tracked and only patch of snow coming off the saddle, then opened up my stride a bit once back on dry trail.  The conga line of people heading up the hill were pretty good about getting out of my way as I darted down the hill, taking long strides and leaping across boulders and dancing through the talus and scree.  I just felt so dialed in and spot on during this descent, I felt as though I could do no wrong.  I wanted more of it.  Had I not had to get home, I very well may have gone for lap two.

I was not really looking forward to the 3 miles of running out the dirt road back to the car, as I have struggled with this section in the past.  This day however, I was still feeling fresh and kept up my pace very well, averaging 6:58 pace for this stretch despite slowing for a gel and stopping to clean my hands in a small side creek.  Occasionally I felt my pace flagging a bit, but was mainly due to mental drift and was easy to get back on track.  The best part of it all was that I hardly felt the least bit fatigued at the end and had a lot left in the tank which was very encouraging.

My running has been really erratic over the past month or two, almost always fun, but more often than not has me questioning my fitness, as my schedule has me either running super early in the morning, or during the hottest time of the day where I tend to struggle.  I needed this one.

Splits:

Bakerville to far side of bridge at Stevens Gulch TH:  33:00
Stevens Gulch TH to Grays Summit:  1:03:15 (1:36)
Grays to Torreys:  17:51
Torreys to Stevens Gulch TH:  37:31
Stevens Gulch TH to Bakerville:  20:42

Tuesday, 07/02/13 Update and Fellraising

June has been a month of ups/downs (literally and figuratively).  I have managed to get out a fair bit, mainly local stuff, with the exception of a few days in the mountains in Summit County, a bike ride/run up Mt. Evans and a race up Mt. Evans.

I had a terrible day at the Mt. Evans race (3rd year in a row) and pretty much gave up early on, just marched it in for the sake of not quitting entirely and ultimately, I got to a point where the mountaineer in me just wanted my 30th summit of Mt. Evans no matter what it took.

During the race, I was intent on a post race write up, scripting in my head all the negative things I could complain about, but then figured there was nothing to benefit from it and it would just make me look like reveal me as the sore loser that I am a sore loser.  Within a few days though, it became a distant memory that is long in my rear view mirror and I can now hardly remember what I was complaining about in my head.  Though it was tough to stomach on the day, it just does not really matter in the grand scheme of things and it is silly to relate athletic performance to self worth.  Either way, I don't think I will go back for that one again, as I don't really enjoy it or do well there (like algebra, not sure if I don't enjoy it because I don't do well, or if I don't do well because I don't enjoy it, perhaps a bit of both).

Despite the poor race at Mt. Evans, I still feel like my underlying fitness, though definitely not my best is still good enough that I am optimistic that I can improve upon it enough to have a good race at Pikes and I look forward to that journey.

I have also been inundated with test shoes as of late (which always adds a boost of motivation) and one pair has really stood out, the Salomon Fellraiser.

Though billed as an entry level shoe ($110) and admittedly a touch on the heavy side (guessing ~10.5oz), I am quite impressed with the fit, comfort, cushion, protection, but most of all the crazy traction this shoe provides.  I have never had a shoe stick so well on steep, loose terrain and I have found that the extra weight of this particular shoe is well worth the added benefits it provides.  I know that Salomon makes lighter shoes with the same sole (which I would love to try), but wonder if they would provide the confidence inspiring protection this shoe has.  Oh yeah, it has a 6mm drop and really looks sporty as well.

This tread grabs like velcro on the steep loose stuff.  It sticks really good on rock as well, but not quite like a good Sportiva.

Sunday, 06/09/13 Taste of Louisville 5k Race Report

Saturday, June 1st, 2013
3.3 miles (advertised as a 5k)
20:34 (19:29 for the 5k)
3rd Place Overall
2nd Master
Results

Last Saturday, on a whim, I decided to race the Taste of Louisville 5k.  After a few email exchanges with the race director about whether or not I could start at the front with the baby jogger, they eventually relented and allowed me to do so.

I took it out hard from the gun and was immediately in the lead and took advantage of the slight downhill grade through town and found myself running solidly in the low 5 range and even saw 4:51 at times.  Eventually, the road leveled and the real pushing began.

As I suspected, just before the first mile marker, I got passed by the eventual winner, yet stayed reasonably close.  I passed the first mile sign in 5:35, though my Garmin beeped the first mile 20 seconds later in 5:55.  It was about here that the course turned to dirt on the Coal Creek path.  The trail was in good condition, but I could feel that the dirt was slowing my pace a little as well as the minor rollers.

I soon got passed by 2 more guys, then another, but then they did not open a gap, so I repassed back into second place, then got passed by them again.  When I came to where the course description said the turn around would be, I was surprised to see no sign or cones and everybody was continuing ahead, up a short, but steep hill into a neighborhood (I was hoping to avoid this with the jogger).

I lost a bit of momentum here with the uphill and turn that involved some curb negotiation, but pushed hard on the downhill, barely able to keep up with my feet and the jogger.  I caught back up to 2nd, 3rd and 4th just after mile 2 and somehow found another gear and surged past them and kept going, slowly gaining time.  As I neared mile 3, I could hear somebody creeping up on me and as we hit the final straight.  He came along side of me, gave me some encouragement and we went back and forth all the way to the line, but he ended up edging me out by just a few seconds and we were only 30 seconds behind the winner.

The course measured long at 3.3 because of the misplaced turn around (apparently this happened last year as well, even though this was advertised as a certified course).  A few of the other guys with Garmins also measured it exactly at what I did, so hopefully they can get this straightened out, as some were using this race as a qualifier.

After the race, we later participated in the Kid's Fun Run.  We started at the back and soon the girls were trailing far behind.  Isabelle was struggling in last place, just behind Amelie who was starting to gain ground. Completely on her own, Amelie stopped, waited, then took Isabelle's hand and escorted her over the second half of the course all the way to the finish line. It was definitely one of the sweetest things I have ever seen, true love between sisters.

Friday, 06/07/13 Summit County Trip

Had a great 4 day retreat to Silverthorne with the family and managed to squeeze in a little bit of mountain running when I could between carrying toddlers on hikes and pulling the Chariot behind the bike.

On Tuesday afternoon, while the girls were trying to nap, I headed over to Peak 1 for a quick attempt, but to my amazement, the sky darkened and it began to rain the moment I pulled into the parking lot on what was up to that point an very nice, warm and sunny day.  I headed up the hill anyways, optimistic that the weather would pass, but as I gained the ridge ~35 minutes and 2,000 vertical feet later, I heard a few distant cracks of thunder.  I tentatively continued on in a mild state of denial, ruminating over the fact that on this day, at this moment, after 9.5 months of daydreaming of getting back to the high country, that it has to storm, right here, right now.

Optimism waning, I looked up valley toward Copper Mountain to see a dense wall of hail marching straight toward me.  Then there was a quick succession of very proximate flash/bang strikes that had me bailing immediately and just worrying about getting myself and the dog back down safely.  Of course, 8 minutes later and 1,000 feet lower, the hail stopped and the sun began to shine.  Grrr...

I debated heading back up, but I was on a tight timeframe and once back at the car, I was quite pleased that the sky opened up with another barrage of thunder, lightning, hail and rain and I was happy to be heading home and not stuck on an exposed ridge above treeline.

Sierra bailing quickly

Wednesday morning (very early), I headed over to Quandary for a quick lap.  Homie informed me that he heard most of the route was snow, so I was eager for nice Microspike conditions before things warmed up.  I made good time to treeline, stopped briefly to put on the spikes and then headed directly up the fall line across the snow.  It was mostly solid, but soft enough in spots to punch through, so it became a bit of a head trip, never really knowing what step might drop you through.

Having not been to higher altitudes since Pikes last August, I was sucking wind a bit on the upper 1,000 feet, but managed to maintain a little bit of momentum.  As usual, the summit was a bit higher than I expected and I topped out in a somewhat lackluster 1:10 (7 or 8 minutes slower than my usual pace while acclimated).  Nothing great, but I was not too disappointed all things considered.

The views from the summit were amazing and I was in awe of how white the surrounding peaks looked, much like Winter.  I was so stoked to finally be back at 14k, it has been waaaay too long and it was an added bonus to have the entire peak to myself aside from the 3 people I passed on the lower mountain as I finished up.

I really wanted to rip the descent, but knowing that there were some punchy spots had my taking short quick cautious steps instead of striding it out like I had hoped.  I did punch through to my knees in spots, but fortunately, my tentative stepping technique paid off and I managed to avoid a fall or injury.  I was able to go a bit quicker on the more solid middle section, then went really cautious on the quickly warming/rotting snow near treeline.  I removed the spikes and just cruised the mostly dry trail back to the trailhead.  Despite the slower going, I was able to go 34 on the descent for a 1:45 RT and was finished by 7:30am.

So amazing, I had the biggest grin on the summit and descent.

Cloud bank covering South Park, extending toward the Front Range maybe? (Silverheels)

Decalibron/North Star

Looking North(ish) toward Pacific, Crystal, Dyer etc...

Black and white Silverheels

If I only had skis, conditions were perfect.

I got clearance for a Thursday morning outing and debated whether or not to hit up Buffalo Mountain, or return to Peak 1.  I knew a failed attempt would gnaw at me, so Peak 1 it was.

On the trail by 5:15am, I now knew the best way up via a series of locals shortcuts that head straight up the fall line and occasionally on the still very efficient trail.  The ascent to the ridge was much like Fern Canyon on Bear Peak and gained me about 2,000 vertical in a mile and took about 30 minutes at what felt like a casual pace.

There was still quite a bit of lingering snow to circumnavigate near and on the ridge and any attempts to cross it had me sinking to my hip.  It was a constant debate, which was more efficient, to try to go around or plow through in hopes of staying on top, or just saving time due to a more direct line.  Once above treeline, the snow became more solid or was easier to navigate around.

The view of Peak 1 from Mt. Victoria was a little disheartening and at that point, I was absolutely sure that I would not summit, but figured I would see how far I could get.  The copious late season snow appeared (from afar) to render the summit pitch impassable without crampons and axe.

The ridge was occasionally exciting, but never really dangerous, though the snow added a certain level of spice.

As I neared the final pitch, I could see that I just might make it, with the crux being just a not too exposed ~10 foot wall of snow at the top and I was sure my Microspikes would see me through safely.

I was very excited and surprised to make the summit and contemplated Tenmile Peak, but was in a hurry to get back before anybody missed me.  The upper section of the descent was a little tricky, nothing too exposed or threatening, just slow going, even slower than the ascent, but once I was below snowline, I was able to open it up a bit.

This was mostly a casual hike (all the way up and about half of the descent).  The 5.5 mile/3,679 vert. route took me 1:26 up and :58 down with my HR averaging 136.

Peak 1 looking distant

Dillon Res.

Buffalo Mountain

Not so sure of my chances at this point

Zoom of summit pitch

Tenmile

Copper

HC

Copper Zoom

STEEP, my favorite, I wish all trails were like this.

From a distance