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Up, Up, Up

Last weekend I decided to put together a long run from Boulder to my house in Superior that incorporated quite a bit of climbing. Now, I do a fair amount of hiking, and have certainly scaled some mountains, but my trail running has been on mostly rolling terrain, with a longer run (12+ miles) picking up under 1,000′ of elevation. The route I put together was a far departure from that–14.5 miles and ~1,600′ of climbing, with most of the climbing occuring within the first few miles.

Flatirons at first light. Time to run!

The run started in Chautauqua and followed the Mesa Trail to the S. Mesa Trailhead, then hooked into Dowdy Draw, Community Ditch, and Marshall Mesa. From there, it followed Cowdry Draw / Homestead back to Superior. The day that I chose to run it was going to be hot, so I took a Lyft to Chautauqua before the sun was up, waited for it to get light enough to run, and got going around 6:15am. The first 2-3 miles were honestly pretty brutal. Tons of climbing without anything resembling a flat and, to make it more interesting, all done on legs that weren’t quite warmed up yet. By miles 4-5, I had done the majority of the climbing and got to enjoy a nice ~2 mile downhill to the S. Mesa trailhead. Then it was all familiar, undulating trails with only one semi-notable climb that felt like nothing after the other climbs I’d done that day.

Strava data / route from the run:

I finished back at home around 9:15am feeling great and hooked on the idea of getting more vertical in my training. I’m going to start trying to do at least 2 runs a week with over 1,000′ of climbing–a short run during the week and I’ll make sure my weekend long run is a bit more painful than it used to be. I don’t think I’ll be doing this run again for a while, but I’ve found a couple 5-8 mile options that climb 1,200-1,800′, so I can certainly get my vertical in. If I hit 3k’ a week of climbing, I’d be super happy.

So why the climbing? As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m planning to do the Quad Rock 50 (25 mile option) in May 2019, which is 25 miles of technical trail running in Fort Collins with 5,500′ of ascent. I’ve got a lot of work to do before then.

Happy Climbing!

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Seeing a Hero, Feeling Inspired

An amazing thing about living in Boulder, Colorado is that you get to be around people with the same interests as you–running, cycling, hiking, climbing, you name it. Living in Boulder also means that you’re surrounded by world class, elite athletes. And sometimes, you get to say hi.

While buying groceries the other day at Trader Joe’s, I ran into Scott Jurek and his family. Now, I’ve never really been “starstruck” before, but running into Scott Jurek, author of one of my favorite books (Eat & Run), star of the book that got me interested in running in the first place (Born to Run), and just all around vegan endurance athlete inspiration, had me at a complete loss for words. I just sorta stared at him and stuttered out a “hi.” Good enough. I didn’t want to bother him, though I really wanted to tell him what an inspiration he has been for me, both as a runner and a vegan.

It felt like perfect timing. I’d been in a bit of a slump with running and, after some foot issues, a cold, and the increasingly dark mornings, it was starting to feel like a bit of a chore. The next morning, though, I went on my long run with renewed energy and focus. This morning, I felt it again as I put down my 7 miles, watching the sun peek over the horizon a mile into my run.

The inspiration continued and I think I found a race to run in May 2019; the Quad Rock 50 in Fort Collins. There are two options–a 25 miler and a 50 miler. I think the 25 miler is more my speed right now, especially given that I’ve never actually run a race before and 50 miles feels long for a first. That said, I’ll be sad that it’s not actually an ultra. Regardless, it will also be in known territory (I’ve hiked many of the trails outside of Fort Collins that it’s run on) and it just feels like the right first race.

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Running + Cycling?

I had a recent “setback” that actually turned out to be an amazing reminder of something that I haven’t done in a long time, but love. I was having foot issues and—while I didn’t go to a doctor because who does that?—I’m pretty certain I was dealing with a bit of extensor tendonitis in my left foot. To give my foot a rest, I cut back on miles and decided to hop on my road bike for the first time in years to maintain fitness and training load.

After one slow 15 mile ride to Eldorado Springs and back from my house, I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike again. There is something so joyful and childlike about being on a bike and I hadn’t experienced that feeling in much too long. I went on a two hour ride the next day and the feeling didn’t go away.
Entrance to Eldorado Canyon
Now I’m trying to figure out how to get a ride or two in while maintaining a schedule with at least 4-5 hours of running per week. I had one day that combined an hour of cycling in the morning with an hour of running with my wife—something we haven’t found time to do in way too long—later in the morning. It’s typically pretty hard to find an hour during the middle of the workday, but that’s just a matter of priority. How important is it to me? Something super interesting to me is that, while I’ve been on my mountain bike more than a few times this year, I didn’t experience the same rush that road riding brings. I don’t think it’s the speed. I don’t think it’s the sustained cardio. It’s just something else. Some reminder of riding in your neighborhood on your Huffy with your friends. There are just deeper memories there for me I guess. As far as I can tell, my foot is better. I went on a 13 mile run over the weekend with no pain, so it can’t be in too bad of shape. I guess I understand how runners become triathletes now. Luckily, I still have no interest in swimming. For now.