Training Log Archive: PG

Event: Rocky Mountain 1000 Day
 

Opening sprint of the 1000-day. A hard effort though not well paced, a bit too quick in the middle and dying towards the end. Lots of little mistakes, nothing big, maybe not quite a minute in all.

Sore throat afterwards, combination of hard breathing and dry air, at least not accompanied by a hacking cough like you can getting racing at an indoor track in the winter.

Tried out my new contact for map reading (the +1.5 diopter one). Still hard to read the map on the run, but it was a 15,000. And maybe it did help, the only time I remember stopping between controls was because of uncertainty if I had gone far enough (I hadn't), not because I couldn't read the map. I'll keep trying it over the next few days.

C • Best internet 7

A short warm-up, both physically and for map reading. Didn't take long to get the heart pounding. Helped, felt ok on the slight climb to #1, but should have done a little more.

Opening Sprint - Splits

Walker Ranch loop up in the hills above Boulder, altitude 6400-7400'. Nice trail, but almost no shade and felt very hot. Loop was about 8 miles, 2 good climbs, one about 1000', the other about 600. Going rather slowly, walked a few spots, not sure if it was my energy level or just the heat. Probably also a bit low on fluids.

Several signs warning to watch out for mountain lions. I'm not sure what order they come in but I'm pretty sure my personal wildlife "Axis of Evil" in the lower 48 states consists of grizzly bears, mountain lions, and poisonous snakes, with black bears, FDFs, deer ticks, and West Nile mosquitos not even close to being in contention. I haven't ever seen the first two, and really don't care to (I'm no fan of the bad snakes either, though I have seen a few closer than I wished).

So there were a few times as I passed below some rock outcrops that my attention was up above and not on the trail.

By the way, the signs said, if confronted with a lion, that you should "act big." Right -- I've been working on that for 6 decades and still haven't figured out how. And to think that Big Eddie figured it out in half the time....

C • No attack badgers 3

In Boulder, along a section of the Mesa Trail , up and down, up and down. The air didn't feel as thin as I feared, maybe I still have a small remnent of the Alps in me.

Two bear sightings, or probably two sightings of the same bear. The first time, on the way out, all I saw was its head poking out above the long grass, looking at me as I passed by no more than 15 yards away. Ten minutes later on my way back it was meandering up the hillside maybe 50 yards away. Both times it gave the impression that it just couldn't get too excited -- runners ... so what else is new....

C • Bears 2

A little more energetic pace than yesterday because the trail was more runnable. End of the Zealnd forest service road to Zealand Mountain and back. Still slippery and muddy. 1:31 up, 1:14 back. Rain overnight but cleared out as we were getting going and very pleasant.

Zealand Mt. is a totally worthless destination -- virtually flat, dense stunted spruce forest, rocks, mud, absolutely no views, but it's elevation is 4260' and Phil is collecting the 4000-footers in the Whites.

Sure makes me look back fondly on the Swiss mountain trails.

C • yeah, zealand is basically a s... 1

With Phil, up Nortth and South Kinsman from Lafayette Campround. Some rain, fog above 3500', pretty miserable trail, but the views at the top made up for it as long as you weren't hoping to see more than 50 yards in any direction. 1:48 out, 1:33 back, very slippery so taking it easy on most of the downhills.

C • Views 4