Anyway-
My goal for this short vacation (if it really is one when you still have to work) was to get into the hills! I didn't really have an idea of where I wanted to run- I just knew that I wanted to escape to the mountains.
A couple of guys from my work were heading up to ski Grays and Torres. I figured that I could just meet them and run while they skinned. Turned out that their plans changed though, due to snow conditions on the mountain. My plan stayed the same.
So Saturday, I was going to head up solo, but Derrick ended up joining me last minute. We had a great day on the mountain! It was a much needed romp in the high country (for both of us)!
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| 4 am breakfast. Ozo coffee and a Bobo's Bar! |
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| Derrick double checking his watch. Yep, that says 5:45 am. |
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| Just after alpenglow. |
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| Derrick approaching the saddle. |
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| We stopped just under the saddle to put on another layer. We were expecting wind at the saddle. |
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| My super sexy trash bag jacket from North Face. It was a great buy! |
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| A quick pick on the summit of Torres. |
We didn't end up bagging both summits. Derrick hasn't been training for the Leadville 50 like have. In fact, Derrick hasn't been training for anything at all. He did amazing on the mountain given the fact that he basically came straight off the couch. His legs didn't have any more gas at the saddle, so he waited while I went up Torres. I think he was going to take a nap, but I was at the summit in 15 minutes, and back down in 5. That made me feel better, because I honestly thought he was going to be sitting there freezing in the gale-force winds for an hour or something.
Trying to move quickly at 14 thousand feet was a rude awakening. The winds were high and cold, and I had to keep my hand over my nose while I walked because I was afraid of frost bite. That put an extra bounce in my step (there was actually no "bounce" at all to be exact) as I tried to get up, and back down to the saddle quickly.
The next day (Sunday), I was coerced into running Dakota Ridge and Matthews/Winters Park by my coworker. The legs were a little soft, and he was pushing a much harder pace than I was expecting. I hung in, but I was more psyched about the IPA we enjoyed after at GCB (so were my legs).
Monday I ran with the wife and we did hill repeats at the Westminster Rec Center. That is a great hill! Even better, it is only a half mile from her parent's house, which has a hot tub. Sure enough, we soaked for about 30 min after. Aaaahhhh...
Today, I took advantage of the day off from work and ran up Green Mountain. The trail was almost entirely dry, minus a few sections which are shaded at the top. I've only run this peak twice now. Last time it was snowy and amazing. This time was not as cool (pun intended)- but it was fun. My run up was 44 min (on the money), and my descent was 24 minutes (and change). Given that my legs are pretty gassed from the week, I think I could get my time on this run down quite a bit. I found a blog with the FKTs (fastest known times) on Green Mountain. The big boys (including Anton Krupicka) have some pretty amazing times on this peak. I think I'll attempt to get myself into the mid to upper 30 min range by next year. It'll be a nice goal for me, and keep me motivated to run the hills.
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| Summit pic on Green Mountain |
1 comment:
Fun spring break you had! Where are the pics from you and the wife running the hills?! :)
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