bike commute 5/incline 10

As much as I've been whining about the weather making me lazy I did tie my PR for trips up the Incline in a calendar month.  Biked straight to/from work on Wed and then headed over to Manitou.  Things are slowly starting to warm up here and it was a great night to be on the mountain.

run commute 6

I feel like every front range runner/blogger who doesn't have easy access to a treadmill is struggling right now.  Weather-wise it's been a tough January, with lower than average temps and lots of snow and ice.

It was 9F when I took the dog out, then 10F at 7AM when I ran to work.  Went straight there, four miles, once again just worrying about not wiping out on the ice.  Same way home, though by then it had warmed up quite a bit (28F). 

Another good lunch workout at CityRock.  The gym is saving me, as it's the only thing I'm giving any kind of decent physical effort at.

incline 9

I made a January goal of ten trips up the Incline and it looks like I might make it after doing the thing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Due to the crappy winter weather, I've been working real hard in the rock gym, and working real hard to avoid going outside.  Hopefully that starts to change soon.

run commute 5

Tuesday.  We got a nice snow/ice storm overnight.  And super cold temps.  Dog was having nothing to do with a walk.  Then work got cancelled.  I shoveled the sidewalks and went back to bed.  Would have been a complete waste on the workout front, but later in the day I took the bus downtown and hit up CityRock for a good climb.

Still cold on Wednesday, and the sidewalks and streets were a mess.  15F when the dog and I went out for an hour hike.  14F when I started my run to work.  Only objective on that run was to avoid frostbite and not break my neck.  3.5 miles in 35 minutes.  Good CityRock session at lunch.  Four miles back home followed by some yoga.

January is almost over.  At least in February I can start dreaming about warmer temps.

The Phish tickets change the summer schedule a bit, as I won't be able to do the Creede Mountain Run.  We were planning on a road trip in between Pikes and Creede.  We will still take a long road trip, but we are in new discussions as to where and when to go.

Phish

Just got the official e-mail, I will be attending three days of Phish at Dick's over Labor Day!

track

After a 5k hike with the dog on the Garden tails I headed up to the track.  6 x 400m, 4 x 200m.  Super windy, and the track, a mix of clay and gravel, was damp and slow.  The watch I use is an old Garmin Vivoactive HR, two generations old I believe.  I think there is probably someway to get my quarter mile splits, I just don't know how to do it.  Maybe someday I'll time my track workouts again.  But today's splits would not have been noteworthy.  The effort was there, but the conditions made for slower running than usual.

I signed up for the mile at the Air Force Open on Feb 15th.  I listed 5:29 as my predicted time.  They have taken my entry fee ($10) and haven't told me not to show up so this might go down.

incline 5 & 6

Good night on Friday.  Garcia and Kircher came down, and we hit up a few local dive bars.  Murhpy's, Robin Hood, and Navajo Hogan.  Varsity club shot number nine and ten, Jim Beam and Triple Sec.

After that crawl there isn't much to say about my fat ass run.  I did a seven miler over in Red Rock Canyon and was home in plenty of time to greet everyone else.  Great turnout.

Felt a bit better on Sunday morning so I did the incline twice.  Straight up, straight down, back up, and down Barr.  Eight miles in 3.5 hours.

For the week:

run - 20 miles, 6.5 hours
bike - 24 miles, 3:12 hours
hike - 16 miles, 6.5 hours

Two inclines and two trips to CityRock.

Bit of a down week, some of that due to taking off to Canon City on Thursday.

Canon City

Had a few days off work so the dog and I took the van down to Canon City for a quick overnight. 

Had big hiking plans but they were changed when we saw how much snow was still on the trials.  First stop was Oil Well Flats where we managed a 5k walk through mud and snow. 

Of course no trip to Fremont County is complete without a stop at Florence Brewing.

Then it was off to spend the night at the Royal Gorge.  Had a good night hike on some of the dirt roads there.  After a few beers it was off to bed early.

We came across this on our Fri morning hike up to the radio tower overlooking everything.  Somebody in Canon had a good time.

bike commute 4

Wednesday.   Another early morning session in Red Rock Canyon with Lance.  Though today was mostly pushing my bike through snow.  Close to a two hour ride with a stop at Rudy's for breakfast tacos.

CityRock 9 at lunch.  On Tuesday I did some leg blasters at the gym, the first time I've done those since before JFK.  My legs are still crushed as of Thursday morning.

Very unexpected blowout of UNLV by the fightin' Falcons on Wed night.

run commute 4

Mon - super hungover, but I did manage to pedal the klunker to work after an hour dog walk.  Bike commute three.  Felt much better in the evening after watching Pitt smack down #14 Florida State.

Tues - 2.5 mile dog hike followed by run commute four.  Four miles, with some two minute fartleks thrown in.  The winter (mostly the cold temps) has beat me down, the motivation to get out for a full hour before work just isn't there right now.  I'll ramp up my game once things warm up.  Also got to CityRock for a good lunch workout.

week in review

run - 22 miles.  Includes the one mile race, an incline, and a good fartlek workout.
bike - 16 miles, including the solid Red Rock Canyon pre-work ride.
hike - 14 miles, including a four mile snowshoe hike on Saturday.

Plus two sessions of yoga. and four sessions at CityRock.

Not much in the mileage realm.  But some good workouts.  And I also took the CMC showshoe class.  A night about backcountry travel, a night about showshoe specific stuff, and a Saturday AM trip up to Horsethief Falls, which had just gotten a ton of snow.  I am thinking of finally accepting the fact that global warming isn't going to end winters in Colorado anytime soon and perhaps maybe I should try to get outside more often between November and March.

Made it back just in time to head up to the Academy for the Army/Air Force hockey match.  The two teams played twice, one on Friday and one on Saturday, and both games ended up 2-2.

We (will probably turn into just "I") are going to the AF/UNLV hoops game on Wednesday.  Tipoff is 9PM.  Mountain West is terrible sometimes.

On Sunday I headed over to the Incline Club for incline number three on the year.  Despite the recent snow it was a great day to be out there.

varsity club

Ocho. Oof.

varsity club

Numbero seven.

5:37

Ran my first ever indoor mile up at UCCS this evening.  I listed 5:45 as my predicted time, but secretely I was hoping a fast field could possibly drag me to a 5:29.  They ended up having two heats, and my heat was much slower than I thought, especially the first few laps.  I went through lap one (200m) at 45, hit the quarter at 89, half at 2:55.  But I was up front, and I didn't want to take the lead.  After the half a few high school kids and I got after it.  I ended up finishing in second place after not being able to run down a kid and he finished about half a second in front of me.

Had a blast though.  They do these races once a month and I look forward to returning.

bike commute 2

Slowly trending back towards regular training after goofing off since JFK.  Ran to work twice this week, including some short fartleks (up to run commute three).  Seven trips to CityRock this year, hitting that 5.9 and starting to regularly boulder V3.  And another early morning super chilly ride in Red Rock Canyon with Lance (bike commute two).  And two yoga sessions.  Boom.

Of course, all that healthy stuff was countered by the four shots I did at Murphy's on Thursday night.

Can't remember if I mentioned it here but the Fat Ass is on January 19.

varsity club

Number seven. Emmets. Yum.

varsity club

Shot number six. Goldschlager.

varsity club

Shot number five.

varsity club

Number four. Barenjager.

5.9

Stayed up a little late on Monday night having a blast watching Alabama get crushed (Clemson had a harder time beating Pitt).  Then got up late for the Tuesday morning dog walk, putting me at CityRock behind schedule.  Wasn't expecting much, so I just tried a few laps on the 5.9 I've been working on.  It's the wall I need to be able to climb to get lead certified at the gym, and I have been struggling with the second to last move for quite some time.   But lo and behold I finally figured it out on Tuesday morning. 

For those who don't know anything about rock climbing grades, climbing 5.9 indoors is probably somewhere in the range of running one mile in eight minutes.  90% of the population could do it with less than two weeks of training.  It's not good by any means, but it's what I do.


But you know what I am good at?  Getting concert tix!  Super excited for both shows.

run commute 2

2.5 mile dog hike followed by five miles to work, 45 minutes.  Three miles of two minutes on, two minutes off just to change things up. 

Nice lunchtime CityRock bouldering session. 

Four slow miles back home, followed by some yoga at the house.

Looks like the local fat ass will be on January 21.  Details TBA.

incline 2

Bit hungover on Sunday as my Saturday ride included stops at Storybook, Murphy's, Goat Patch, Fossil, and Trails End.  But I got up for the Incline Club run and my trip up wasn't too bad.  Trail was in much better condition than Friday evening.

Weekly totals:

run - 24 miles, including two inclines
bike - 33 miles
hike - 17 miles
plus three trips to CityRock and two trips to CorePower

Pretty excited for this:

varsity club

Shot number three. Amaretto. Courtesy of Mr. Boston.

varsity club

Shot number two. Rumple Minze.

incline 1

Bolted over to the Incline after work on Friday.  Great night.  On the way up it was super dark, and you really feel out there.  Then I looked behind me and realized it was 6PM and I was a mile from an urban area with over half a million people in it.  Hit Manitou Brewing after the run.  I don't talk about them enough but they're definitely one of the better breweries in this area.  The High Ground IPA is one of my favorite Colorado beers.

Hit the Nielsen Challenge on Saturday morning.  12:28 for two miles.  Slower than I wanted, but I'll work on improving that.

bike commute 1

Awesome Friday morning ride in Red Rock Canyon with Lance.  Twelve miles in just over 90 minutes, most of it in the dark.  Loving these super early weekday rides, and I can't wait until the weather is a bit nicer.  Four miles back home after work.

Been to CityRock three times this year so far.

beer

Beers six through twelve.  Not sure what happened to number eight.  I probably left it at Marc & Amanda's in my drunken stupor.

Twelve was a disaster.  Some kind of blueberry beer.  Sometimes those bud light commercials where they make fun of the beer snobs really speak to me.

In general I got good beers this year, but nothing new that stood out as great to me.

varsity club

Shot number one. Jager.

run commute 1

It was 9F this morning and that felt balmy compared to the last few mornings.  30 minute dog walk followed by 3.5 miles to work, 33:30.

4.1 miles back home, 41:17.

Rescue Run

We were hit with some shitty weather the last few days and it was 6F at the start of the Rescue Run 10k.  That is so cold that the dog won't go outside.  I showed up, and that was all as I'm unwilling to give any kind of race effort in that weather.  Below 20F I feel like I'm just going to hurt myself, on top of a general hated of being cold.  Jogged the course in 47:36 and immediately retreated back indoors. 

Murphy's was closed today so my attempt at the varsity club will start later.

2019

Even though I'm going to drop what feels like several paychecks on Jan 1st to sign up for the Pikes double, I'm going to keep the race schedule super light this year.

One of my favorite outdoor writers, Greg Heil, often talks about adventure vs. fitness.  I thought about that a lot after our hike and before JFK.  I would have loved to have done more mountain treks, either hiking or biking, but instead I was doing a lot of running on the Santa Fe trail.  It was during those boring miles that I decided not to sign up for much in '19.  The plan is to use the time to make some progress on my 14er list, mountain bike more often, and continue learning to climb outside.

That does not mean I won't be racing.  Right now I am excited about the shorter stuff, and I can see myself jumping into a lot of our local races.  There will of course be my annual hungover 4:59 at Salida.  I can also envision finding another state for a marathon later in the year.  Or not.  But nothing is on the calendar other than Pikes and Creede.  And both of those are races I feel I can do without specific training.

We will also be taking a solid road trip during the week between Pikes and Creede.  Headed west.  A hike of Kings Peak, the highpoint of Utah, is on the docket.  Not sure what else we'll do.  Wyoming?  Idaho?  Arizona?  Who knows.  We have until late August to figure it out.

And on the drinking front, I'm going to take a year and gain access to the varsity club at Murphy's.  One shot of every bottle they sell.  Unfortunately it's looking more and more like Murphy's won't be there in a few years, so it's time to pull this off.