Monday, February 11, 2013

Week Ending February 10

Mon - Noon: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit. Audra/Southridge/north gap up and down.
PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop. Bumped into Elijah in the parking lot and circled with him.

Tues - Noon: 11 miles (2,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit. South/Audra/north gap, then Westridge - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls. Slept through my alarm clock this morning, thus missed my regular Tuesday morning workout. Figured I'd head down to Redstone and knock out a tempo run as a replacement effort, but as it was such a gorgeous day I chose to spend some time rolling around in the park instead.
PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Noon: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit. Up/down South/Audra. Tired legs: slogging.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hill tempo. The usual 5 mile out and back on Centennial. As always, we went out at a casual and social effort (this morning w/ Celeste, Ziggy, Slush, Mike, Sarah, Mary and Jen) followed by a hammer drop on the way back. I've been trying to keep these workouts at a true tempo effort over the past few weeks, but got a bit carried away this morning after a more aggressive start up North Dam hill put me at - or close to - PR pace. The North Dam hill mile went in 7:10 (I take the split at a downed reflective T-post right before the turn onto Soldier Canyon Dam, which is actually 1.1 miles), then 6:04 (cattle grate, right on a mile), 6:22 (sign past outhouse, 1.03 miles), 5:18 (right before turn off Spring Canyon Dam, .96 of a mile), 4:49 (Maxwell, .93 of a mile). 29:45 back, 45:00 out. Run is right on 10 miles, but the split distances are a bit random and pace is obviously impacted by grade (although I typically try to keep the effort even). One of the best workouts in town.
PM: 7 miles (1,700') easy. Towers in 36:30. Jogged up with Little Nick on a calm and beautiful evening. Huffing and puffin a bit for the effort; definitely tired from the morning session.

Fri - PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Horsetooth north summit. Up/down South/Audra. Felt  pretty good given Thursday's exertions.

Sat - AM: 18.5 miles miles (5,500') hills. Horsetooth Trifecta: south summit (up/down) via Southridge/Audra/Slush's Slit, middle summit (up/down) via Rock Trail/Middle Chimney (caked in bird crap), north summit (up/down) via Falls/Spring Creek/Wathan/North Gap, home via the Grim Reaper. Kept the effort easy but consistent on this one and felt great the whole way around. From the upper lot, total run is a bit under 17 miles with 5,200' climbing. My in-the-park time was 3:09; with a good effort this one could probably be done in the 2:45 range. Might be fun to get a group together one of these days and push the effort a bit to register a time worth shooting for. Made it home just as the snow was starting to fly: perfect timing.  

Sun - AM: 11.5 miles (1,900') easy. From home to Indian Summer junction on Bluesky and back. Legs were tired from yesterday's Horsetooth trifecta, but loosened up a bit as the run progressed. Cold headwind coming home made things a touch unpleasant, but the final 650 foot climb on 38e/Grim Reaper felt good and smooth, which was a nice way to finish out the week.

Total: 89 miles (21,300')

Got in the hills a little bit more this week, with seven Horsetooth summits and various other bits and pieces. I'll reverse that next week with next to no vertical and just a limited amount of running as I get ready for the Fuego Y Agua 100k, which includes at least two decent climbs up and down the two volcanoes that essentially form the island of Ometepe.

I found some time yesterday to look at a couple of race reports from previous years, and by all accounts the climb/descent of the first volcano, Maderas, will be pretty wild, while the second volcano - the active one - should be a bit more tame. According to race director Josue, 11 hours is the standard to beat, and while this trip is really not about setting things on fire (bada-bing), the goal - on paper - seems doable, but you never know until you get into the thick of the terrain. Really though, I'm just super geeked to be heading to a country I've never been to before in a part of the world I really don't know that well. Fly out Wednesday.

Not your average Colorado trail.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting Nick. You always give good insight into your runs and week recaps as to why you are doing certain things or not and I think your consistency and lack of any major injuries are inspiring to say the least. I've taken a lot from what you've shared on the blog to really flesh out a good healthy mix for my own training. All the best @ Fuego.

    David

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  2. Are you bringing a 'chete for the 'shwacking? Have fun in the tropics...hope the blisters aren't too big.

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  3. Thanks, David! I sometimes feel like I'm doing the same things week in and week out, but I guess if there's one thing to be learned from my ramblings, it's that consistency is key in this sport. That's the number one thing I tell anyone who asks (or doesn't for that matter).

    Shelby - I was putting in some good shwackin' hours the last few months of last year, so hope that pays some dividends out there in the jungle. Probably just leave the machete at home though.

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  4. Not sure if you're still connected to the world, but I just happened to be in Ometepe just this last week. I climbed Maderas, and that sh#t was crazy. Muddy and treacherous doesn't begin to describe it. If possible, stuff your bottles somewhere to keep your hands free to grab trees and hop side to side on what little rocks there are there. Not sure if you do the last descent into the caldera, but if you do, be forewarned. There's zero grip and it's nutso steep.

    Unfortunately, the trail up Maderas is just getting worse and worse. 15-20 people climb every day and it's always a ridiculous mudbath, so more terrain gets destroyed every day.

    According to the local guide I went on it with last week, he had climbed up Maderas 800 times and last Wednesday was about the worst he'd seen it.

    That said, I loved Ometepe. Great island. I'm sure the race will be awesome.

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  5. KRM - thanks for the update - sounds awesome! As I understand it, there will be an aid station in the caldera, so we're in for the full ride, I guess. Happy travels!

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