OFF
optional day of rest...decided to rest.
--- Tuesday - 07/17/12 ---
Pineridge - 33:13
easy running. felt good. Ready to take on my hill repeat workout tomorrow.
--- Wednesday - 07/18/12 ---
10 x Hill Repeats - Horsetooth Mtn
Workout went like this:
Parked down by the Horsetooth liquor store. Easy run up the hill to the TH. I then proceeded to run 10 repeats of the first half mile (roughly 0.55 miles), starting from the main trailhead up to the bench via South Ridge. An easy jog back down as a recovery. The hill gains about 250ft of vertical (according to mapmyrun) over the half mile distance.
Splits:
1- 4:47
2- 4:42
3- 4:45
4- 4:49
5- 4:45
6- 4:44
7- 4:45
8- 4:48
9- 4:43
10- 4:46
I hauled up 2 water bottles to the top on the first repeat and stashed them behind a small bush. Felt good during the run. The hardest part wasnt the hill, it was the 98 degrees outside temperature that was the rough part.. With zero shade, it made it that much harder. Both ice cold water bottles filled with gatorade became luke warm by the halfway point of the workout and the remaining few ounces of liquid I had left after the workout was down right hot... ugh!
The goal for this workout wasnt to run as fast as I could for each one, rather it was to run a hard effort for a total time of 90-120 minutes of continuous hill repeats without dropping significantly off pace as the workout progressed.
felt solid most of the way. That sun was brutal out there!
--- Thursday - 07/19/12 ---
Horsetooth Mtn Park - 1hr 11 mins
Workout went like this:
Horsetooth liquor store > main TH > South Ridge > Rock Trail > Westridge > Towers > Herrington > Soderberg > South Ridge > main Th > back down hill to truck
warm up to main TH : 8:45
cool down from main TH to truck: 7:25
Total Time : 1 hr 27 mins
Felt good after yesterdays hill repeats. Took the run easy. Easy effort on the ups and downs.
--- Friday - 07/20/12 ---
Pineridge - 32:33
Easy running through Pineridge starting from Maxwell TH.
--- Saturday - 07/21/12 ---
Lumpy Ridge Trail head > Lawn Lake > Gem Lake > back to Lumpy Ridge TH -- 3 hours 36 minutes (about 22 miles)
This was my first time running the Lumpy Ridge trail. One of the neat things about this trail is that it is a trail access route into RMNP -- free of charge!
Less than 1 hour from home, up in Estes Park, is the location of Lumpy Ridge Trail.
I pulled into the mostly empty parking lot at 6:40AM. One of the first things I realized after I was gathering my GU and water bottle, was that I forgot my camera! (AKA...my phone!) I must have put it down at our front door as I was leaving the house this morning, so I could tie my shoes. I gave it a solid 5 minute search in my truck, hoping it just slide under a seat cushion or onto the floor somewhere ....but nope, nothing.
The run over to lawn lake was nice: a meadow, nice uphill climbs and fun descents. I wish I had my camera, as the views were beautiful. I stopped at lawn lake (which tops out at about 11,000 ft) for a few minutes to take in the views before heading back. On my return trip I took a short detour over to Gem Lake. This detour was filled with dozens of rock steps all the way up to Gem. The lake was actually smaller...and wasnt quite the "Gem" appearance I had in my mind. It was more of an....."algae green/brown" in color. Back down the rock steps and cruised back into the Lumpy Ridge trailhead. (about 1.7 miles from Gem lake).
Running through the forest was nice and peaceful. I didnt see another soul for about a 2 hour span during the run. Isolated and loved every minute of it. I did feel a little sluggish on some of the climbs, but felt great on the way back down. There was a part of me that wished I had a running buddy with me, just in case I twisted an ankle, ran up on a bear....etc.
Once I got to Gem lake the trail was packed. It was of course later in the morning and Gem Lake is a popular tourist hike for most. By the time I got back to the trail head, the mostly empty park (which only had 2 cars in it when I arrived), was now packed and people were driving around in circles looking for an open spot. My advice -- Arrive early! and get a parking spot!
All in all it felt great to get away from some of my everyday running routes and try something new for a change. I will definitely be back on this trail at some point in the future.
Total Time : 3hrs 36 mins
Vertical Gain : ~4,700
Some pics via google search of lawn lake and gem lake for reference:
 |
| lawn lake via google search |
 |
| gem lake via google search |
Next time I wont forget my camera!
--- Sunday - 07/22/12 ---
OFF
Had family in town that I had not seen in about 8-9 years. My cousin Neal and my Aunt Mary Ellen flew in from Dallas and Florida to visit my Grandma for the weekend. They were planning to leave early Monday morning and so after church we had them and my parents and Grandma over for the rest of the day. We all went out to dinner together and came back to our house for coffee and dessert.
It was nice to catch up and have them meet Elli and Andrea for the first time. It was great to see family that I havent seen in a long time -- I wish their visit to Colorado lasted longer, but I really enjoyed the time they spent visiting us. It was very nice of them to come out this far to spend some time with Grandma as well.
Overall -- a great day with the family!
-------------------------------------------------------------
A nice week of running. Felt strong on my mid-week hill repeat workout and had a great run on Lumpy Ridge trail over the weekend.
- Had a great time with my family on Sunday.
- Leaning towards registering for the Run Rabbit Run 100 this September. I still need to find a few people to help crew me, if I decide to sign up.
- Next weeks mid-week run will most likely be 800's at the track -- upwards of 20 or more repeats, with only 100m recovery! --- gonna be fun!
- Not sure if I can fit it into my schedule but I might try to get down to Manitou next week and take a stab at running up the incline and running on Pikes Peak via Barr trail for a few hours. For those that dont know the Manitou Incline averages almost a 40% grade—gaining 2,011 feet in elevation over a length of approximately 1 mile-with the maximum grade being 68%! An uphill grunt!
No comments:
Post a Comment