recovery

Was a rough start to the week as my legs were trashed from Pikes, 99% of which was the downhill on Sunday.  Should be back to normal by Saturday morning, which is good because I hope to get in some miles this weekend in Chaffee County.

Few more pics.  Top one from Peter, about mile 25 just before you leave Barr Trail.  Bottom one from a hasher friend up at the summit on Sunday.

No pics from Ascent day as I wore a Pitt shirt, and we won't be discussing Pitt here very much until hoops season rolls around.

Pikes

Solid weekend on the mountain.  Had a good day for both races and my body is a wreck today, don't think I could have run any harder.

Was steady on Saturday.  41:32 to the W's, 61:43 to No Name, 2:36 to A Frame, and 3:43:54 at the top.

Sunday was 42:28 to the W's, 62:58 to No Name, and topped out at 3:47:12.  I started the downhill feeling sluggish and awkward, but things got better farther down and I ran really well after Barr Camp.  Descent was 2:08:42, pretty solid for me.  5:55:55 overall.  Accomplished the goal of a sub ten double.  Now sitting at 13 Ascents, eleven Marathons, and nine Doubles.

Always great seeing so many friends out there on the mountain.  Let's do it again next year!

the week so far

Mon - yet another big ruck.  Mookie and I and my 50 pound ruck headed over to Red Leg and back.  6.3 miles total.

Tues - bike commute 80, then four miles with the dog on the Garden trails.

Wed - run commute 31, five there and five back.  Guitar in the evening, then hit Red Leg (again) to catch up with an old San Antonio hasher buddy.

Thurs - not much.  Brother got to town for a visit, plus I had to make a rare drive to work so I could get my race packet for the weekend.

Fri - run commute 32, straight there and straight back.

Very easy week as I get ready for Pikes.  Excited as usual for the weekend but not expecting much.  I'm guessing I'll be close to four for the Ascent and around 6.5 hours for the 'thon.  Getting older and slower but at least I'm still getting out there.

ruck

Took the liver a bit to recover from the Minnesota trip.  Good times.

Mon - easy ten miler on the Garden roads.

Tues - bike commute 78.  Bob was in town so I met him at Goat Patch after work, then we headed to Fossil.  

Wed - early morning Red Rock Canyon hike with Bob and Mookie.

Thurs - run commute 30.  Six there, 5.3 back home.  CityRock 75 at lunch.

Fri - bike commute 79, ten there and eleven back.  Easy four mile run after all that.

Sat - 2.5 hour run over in Red Rock Canyon.  Hot.  Possibly the last day of summer.

Sun - Travis Manion 5k up in Denver.  I wore a 50 pound pack and went 27:22.  That shit was hard.  I can't even fathom how some dude ran in his EOD suit.  Hit So Many Roads on the way home, I'm guessing they go the way of Sancho's soon.

For the week:

run - 41 miles, 7.5 hours

ride - 35 miles, three hours

hike - 25 miles, ten hours

Fall weather has arrived.  Haven't had many chances to see the Peak due to cloud cover, but yesterday morning on my dog hike I got a glimpse.  Race weekend could be interesting.

pearl jam

Incredible time up in Saint Paul.  Got in some good hikes and runs along the Mississippi, visited lots of great dive bars and breweries, and Pearl Jam put on two fantastic shows.

Gonna take a few days to recover from this trip.

For August:

run - 137 miles, 28 hours

ride - 235 miles, 25 hours

hike - 98 miles, 41 hours

alpine 50

Mon - Rocky Mountain in the evening.  2.5 hours.

Tues - bike commute 76.  Ten there, eleven back.

Wed - run commute 27.  Seven there, four back.

Thurs - run commute 28.  Five there, four back.  Jumped in the van after work and headed down to Canon City for the evening.  

Fri - nice hour run at Oil Well Flats with Mookie before heading out to Lake City for the annual Alpine 50 bike ride.  Been quite a while since I've been to the Lake City Brewing Company.

The ride went well.  I finished a little slower than I wanted in 6:39, most of the extra time being blown by trying to descend on a rigid bike.  But I had a good time and it wasn't quite as hard as I was expecting.  I'm not a big fan of bike races, but this is one I'll most likely return to.

On Sunday morning the dog and I got in a nice early hike in Lake City before heading up to Crested Butte.  Always tough to find a van spot there, but we were headed in when everyone else was leaving.  Got a great spot out on Gothic Road.  Even got to see some mooses.

And, of course, some eats at Secret Stash.

For the week:

run - 38 miles, eight hours

ride - 71 miles, 8.5 hours

hike - 20 miles, 8.5 hours

Finally rolled back into town on Monday afternoon.  Unpack, recover, and get as much shit done in the next two days before it's off to Minnesota for the Pearl Jam shows.

sexbruise?

Nice van trip in the books.  Left Friday morning after a nice run with Mookie in the Garden, headed to Hotchkiss.  Caught the Sexbruise? concert and then headed to Longmont the next day to see the same band at Oskar Blues.  Lots of hiking and breweries and dog parks along the way.

For the week:

run - 33 miles, seven hours

ride - 47 miles, 4.5 hours

hike - 21 miles, eight hours

Baldy/Almagre

Real good long run on Saturday.  Started at the high parking lot in Cheyenne Canon and went up to tag Baldy and Almagre, two of the taller non-Pikes peaks that tower over the Springs.  21 miles, six hours, just shy of 6k of climbing.  Good times.

Pikes from Baldy:

Pikes from Almagre (Baldy is the second highest peak in this pic):

For the week:

run - 47 miles, 10.5 hours

ride - 63 miles, 6.5 hours

hike - 23 miles, 9.5 hours

Caught Black Joe Lewis over at Lulu's on Saturday eve.  Solid guitar player.

Got over to Manitou on Monday and slogged up Rocky Mountain via the Incline.

Mule

Monday - easy 60 minute run over in Red Rock Canyon in the AM.  No idea GZ was at the Mule show but I was apparently sitting pretty close to him.

Tues - 15 mile ride at lunch, 7.5 miles on the Garden trails in the evening.

Wed - bike commute 73.  Ten miles in the AM, seven in the PM.  Guitar lesson in the evening, I'm still not quite playing Warren Haynes level stuff.

Thurs - run commute 24.  Solid seven miles in the AM, 5.3 miles back home through Sonderman.  CityRock 70 at lunch.  Have a good routine going there of some good, quick climbing followed by a series of push ups and sit ups and some stretching of my old man lower back.

Fri - bike commute 74.  Ten there, ten back.  

Laid back weekend coming up, hopefully.  Long run on Saturday, long ride on Sunday.  Black Joe Lewis on Saturday evening.

Sherman/Sheridan

Another Brothers Comatose show on Friday.  So good!

On Sunday Amanda and I took the dogs over to hike Mt. Sherman and Mt. Sheridan.  My fifth time up Sherman, including a winter ascent, but my first time up Sheridan.  My sixth 13er, only 578 to go!  It's a fun hike and only takes another half hour, so I'll probably tack it on whenever I head out to tag Sherman.  Dogs had a great day.

BroCos

Lots of dogs lately.  Love it.

Got out to Buena Vista on Wednesday to see the Brothers Comatose.  Great venue at River Runners.  Right on the river, and van and dog friendly.  Very small, so we got to hang with the band for a bit.  Mookie's second favorite band ever, only behind Pearl Jam of course.

The BroCos keep it rolling tonight with a show right down the street at Lulu's.  

PPU/Ouray

It had been a while since I had a good long run so I decided to jump into the local Pikes Peak Ultra, starting not too far from the house over at Bear Creek Park.  Ran the 50k, which had just over 8100 feet in elevation gain, toping out at the summit of Mt. Rosa.  I was slow but steady, finishing in 7:34:47.

I hit Goat Patch Brewing right after the race to help them celebrate their six year anniversary.  Then it was off to Salida.  On Sunday morning I hiked off the Tres Litros hangover and bagged the summit of Mt. Ouray with $100 and Amanda and a bunch of dogs.  Not quite a 14er, but at 13,971 she's one of the centennial peaks, ranked as the 58th highest in the state.

For the week:

run - 50 miles, 11.5 hours

ride - 21 miles, 2.5 hours

hike - 23 miles, 12 hours

For July:

run - 30 runs, 189 miles, 39 hours

ride - 21 rides, 152 miles, 16 hours

hike - 31 hikes, 113 miles, 51.1 hours

Yale

Mon - easy incline/infinity loop.

Tues - quick five miler in the morning, ten mile ride on the Red Rock Canyon trails in the evening

Wed - bike commute 70.  CityRock 65 at lunch.  Went up to Pikes Peak Brewing after work to see Kircher and pick up his pup Ollie, who we'll be hanging with for the next week or so.

Thurs - run commute 22.  3.5 there, 3.5 back.

Fri - nada.  The rare rest day.  Good hike with Ollie over in the Garden, then hung out with him late enough that I had to drive to work.  Went home over lunch to let him out so no CityRock.

$100 and Mookie got up Mt. Yale today.  His fourth 14er (Elbert, Quandary, Pikes, and Yale).

Long run for me on Saturday morning then I'm off to join the fam down in Salida for a few days.  Hope everyone gets after it this weekend!