Waldo

Tues - run commute 39.  Five miles to work, 5.5 back home.

Wed - bike to work day here in Colorado.  I ate breakfast three times.  On the way home I got BOGO beers at Brass Brewing and Cerberus, then dropped by Trails End.

Wednesday was also our annual Waldo Fire reunion.  Been six years since that fire.  They are finally starting to talk about opening the canyon back up, but it's still going to be a while.  All pics by Peter M.

weekend

Fri/Sat - I took a gym to crag class at CityRock.  On Friday after work we met at the gym to go over some basic climbing stuff, such as how not to fall and kill yourself.  On Saturday we went out with a guide to Cheyenne Canon.  Great day climbing and we bailed just before a huge rain storm blew in.  Wanted to get in a run after climbing but instead I went to Fossil and Trails End. 

Sun - nice run up and down Barr Trail for a ten miler.  Would have liked to have gone further but I was time crunched as I had to get up to Red Rocks for the Umphrey's show.  UM brought the heat!  Such a great show, including a set full of Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums.

Pretty hungover on Monday but I got out for my favorite 7.5 mile loop in the Garden before grabbing a burger downtown for burger week.  Later in the evening $100 and I and our friend Amber went over to Red Rock Canyon for some climbing.  I lead up, set up a toprope anchor, made sure $100 and Amber didn't fall to their deaths, then climbed back up, cleaned the anchor, and rappelled back down.  Good times.

bike commute 39

Wed - ten miles to work on the bike via the Garden, Sinton, and Santa Fe trails.  Took my favorite route home via Bear Creek Park and Red Rock Canyon to Trails End.

Thurs - took the dog over to Red Rock Canyon to run our 3.5 mile White Acres loop.  After work, I hiked 1.5 miles over to Kindergarten Rock for the weekly CMC climb.  Had a great time, and made it up (barely) the first pitch of New Era.  Got my ass kicked on a few other climbs but it was a fun way to spend a Thursday evening.

Fri - bike commute 39, straight to work via the Midland trail.  Some bouldering at CityRock at lunch.

I have settled into a weekly routine that seems to be working for me.  20 miles of dog hikes, 50 miles of riding, and 30 miles of running.  Last week was 20 miles with the dog, 43 miles on the bike, and 36 miles of running.  This week will end up with roughly those numbers.  It's a good balance that I think lets me keep or improve fitness while giving me time to climb and pursue some other stuff - live music, van life, yoga, beer, making sure $100 doesn't leave.  I'll start climbing more on the runs to get ready for Pikes, and in July I'll do the Elk Park/summit run to get ready for the marathon distance.

Lettuce

Fri - we were watching Moose over the weekend, so Friday morning I took him and Hollydog over to the Bear Creek Dog Park for 75 minutes.  After work I took Mr. Moose out for a 10K run in the Garden.

Sat - Hour dog hike in Red Rock Canyon followed by incline number 18.  Then it was up to catch Lettuce at Red Rocks.  Fantastic show!

Sun - Hungover all day.  90 minute hike with the dogs in Old Colorado City, then my Garden trail loop, 7.4 miles in 80 minutes.  Later on Tom and I went for a quick ride in Red Rock Canyon before the shitty weather blew in.  I think half the folks who were at Fossil after our ride were at the show on Sat night.  Also caught the Jacob Jolliff Band at Stargazers.

Mon - bike commute 37.  Ten miles to work, four miles back home.  Shitty CityRock session at lunch.

Tues - run commute 38.  Five miles to work in 38 minutes coming right after a 75 minute dog hike and a good session of leg blasters. 

varsity club

27

varsity club

26

climb

Finally got back outside on some rock yesterday.  Met the CMC group over at Red Rock Canyon and we headed to the Whale.  I finished six climbs on three different routes and had a blast.  I think two of the routes were Whale Rider (5.7) and Tempest Toast (5.7), but it's hard to tell looking at pictures on the interweb.  Can't figure out the name of the third route.  I took a fall, and caught a fall while on belay.  Had a blast and can't wait to get outside again.

run commute 37

Monday - pretty sore from the Garden but I did have a good dog hike (3.2 miles) followed by bike commute 35.  Took the long way home and got in a 14 mile ride.  Went to CityRock at lunch but was fairly unmotivated to do much.

Tuesday - another hour with the dog, some leg blasters, then a 4.2 mile run to work in 34:37.  Really good climb over lunch with my buddy Mike.  My goal for the gym climbs is to get to 5.9 and V4, and some days I feel like I'm getting there.  Today was one of those days.

Shot of me at the Garden, suffering up the last climb.  Such a crazy race, my pace varied constantly between 5:40 and almost ten minutes per mile, which is the pace I'm running here:

This is year three of the new course.  The first year I ran 1:08:47.  In 2018 I ran 1:13:36.  And 1:09:48 this year.

Garden

Bittersweet day at the Garden ten miler.  I ran as hard as I could and did pretty well for about 6.5 miles.  From mile 6.5 to nine I really struggled.  The seven to nine splits for me were 7:36, 7:12, and 7:36.  These are the hilliest and hardest miles of the race but in years past I could find another gear to do this section quite a bit faster.  As an example of my fade over the second half at the five mile mark I was about five seconds behind my buddy Tom, but at the finish he was 37 seconds ahead of me. 

That being said, every year the goal is to break 70 minutes.  That gets a bit harder each year as I grow old as fuck, not to mention the new course which I think is slower than the old one.  I was able to rally somewhat over the final mile, running sub six (the final mile is a screaming downhill) to finish in 1:09:48.  And since they take out the top 500 masters runners, I scored a nice drinking vessel for first place in the 40 to 44 age group (I was sixth master and they pull the top five masters from the age group awards).  So while Tom may have won the battle, he got a shitty TV dinner tray that says 4th place on it while I got a mason jar that says first place on it.  So there's that.

Someday I will no longer be able to break 70 on this course.  But not this year.  (Probably next year unfortunately...).

Relive 'Garden'

       

bike

Found these on the interwebs today, proof that I did actually do a bike race recently.  And I signed up for another ride this morning, the South Boundary Big Ride.  Psyched for our trip to Taos in August, partly for the ride but mostly for the fact that we will get to park our van across the street from Taos Mesa Brewing.

Barr Camp

Good run up to Barr Camp today.  1:51 to Barr Camp, total time for the 15 mile round trip was just under three hours.

Relive 'Barr Camp'

       

run commute 36

Spent the weekend out at Buff Creek ingesting only aid station food and beer.  Good times.  Noticed a lot of us outdoor Colorado folks are starting to think about some kind of plan B since it's gonna be a while until the mountains melt out.  Luckily we did not pick this year to hike the Colorado Trail.  However, it looks like I did pick a shitty year to try to finish off the 14ers.

On Sunday after eating a bunch of donuts from the Donut Mill I did get out for 7.5 miles of Garden trails.  Then Bob showed up, and we hit up Red Leg, Fossil, and Front Range.

Mon - early Red Rock Canyon hike with Bob and the dog.  Run commute 35, straight to/from work.  CityRock 66 at lunch.  Bob and I then hopped on bikes and rode over for beers at Marc/Amanda's weekly garage run.

Tues - another Bob/dog hike but in the Garden.  Then some King's Chef before Bob left for Taos.  For lunch I hit up Food Truck Tuesday and had a french fry/cheese curd combo.  My diet has been on point lately.  I did bike to work today, so it's all good I guess.

Wed - run commute 36.  Via Sondermann.  Went by Holmes middle school, which is also where I do my track workouts.  But apparently I should be hanging in the parking lot as that's where the action is.

There is a band called Too Many Zooz coming to the Black Sheep in October and I am psyched for the show.

May

The numbers for May:

Run - 136 miles
Bike - 361 miles
Hike - 87 miles
Twelve trips to CityRock.  And four Thursdays that I was supposed to climb outside that got cancelled due to weather.

Been a good few months of easy flat running, and now I'll start to run uphill a bit more to get ready for Pikes.

Can't remember if I mentioned it but I am signed up for a road marathon.  The Soldier Marathon down in Fort Benning, GA, where I went to basic training and later airborne school.  The original goal was to run 3:15 to get my BQ, which I feel I could do fairly easily.  Then I noticed my age group BQ is 3:10, which I feel would take quite a bit of work for me.  So we'll see how things shake out there.  I do not want to run Boston again, but that BQ is a standard I haven't met in a long time.