No time to stop

It has been 10 days since the Leadville 50 and I have somehow managed to cram in an absolute ton of amazing days. I have been to Boulder twice , Independence Pass , Aspen , Bergen Peak and also managed to get in another 14er. Today I am resting before another busy week ahead.

I rested the day after the Silver Rush 50 so the following day(Tuesday) myself and Kim went to boulder for a little 12km run to Green Mountain. This was my first time in Boulder and I was pretty surprised how technical some of the trails were. The trail up was good fun but pretty smooth so we took a different descent which was way more fun with roots and rocks everywhere for the whole descent back to the town. There are a ton of trails all over the place in the Flatirons area and they do all have names but I am afraid I was just following signs and cannot remember for the life of me what ones we were on. My legs were feeling good all day although my hamstring was a little tight so 12km was enough for a little cool down run after the 50.

Overlooking Boulder from Green Mountain

I rested my hamstring the following day and then on Thursday morning before it got too hot I went for a bit of speed work to the local Washington Park for 12kms. This is all new to my running. It's pretty common knowledge that I hate flat road running but last year I realised it is really something I need to improve if I want to stay strong in ultras when I get onto the flat sections. Washington park is ideal for this and it is not too far from where I am staying here so once a week I will be getting out to do this 12km loop.

The amazing Independence Pass

Friday we headed off to Aspen as we were racing the Aspen Half marathon(21km) on the Saturday. We stopped off to see the Maroon Bells mountain range on the way and squeezed in a very easy 8km just enjoying the awesome area around Aspen. Saturday was race day and yup a road race! Again this was more flat surface training and it went a hell of a lot better than I expected. The course is all on tarmac but it is a cycle route that is actually pretty scenic so it wasn't too much of a bore for me. I was going into this to just plod along and make sure my hamstring was okay but for some stupid reason when the race started I picked up a fast pace and just wanted to see how I got on. At the 10km mark I looked at my watch and I actually hit a PB for my 10km time of 37mins. I was pretty shocked by this although my legs were telling me that I was going a bit too fast and then my hamstring decided it was better if I slowed a little so I did. I wouldn't say I slowed down too much but a few people passed me from about 15km's in but I stayed content with my pace and just kept going. Now there is no way I was finding it easy. This pace was miles from my usual ultra pace but I was managing to keep going. I manged to finish spot on 1hr 30mins in 11th place overall and 2nd in my age category which I was pretty happy about considering I had ran the 50 a week before and my hamstring was giving me a little bit of bother. I did enjoy being out racing like that but can't say I will be rushing back to do a road half anytime soon but it does go down an an excellent training day. On the drive home over Indepenance Pass(3687m) I was feeling good so asked Kim to stop the car so I could go out and run again! I could not drive over past these views without going up something so I went for a 7km out and back. The weather was turning and the thunder was not too far away but if the skies had been clear then I could have kept going. The area is amazing and my legs felt great running up to nearly 4000m.

Under the Maroon Bells

On Sunday I joined a local running group to go and do a little peak just outside of Evergreen called Bergen Peak. The summit lies just short of 3000m and it was a cracking little morning out. It was a 17km loop car to car. My legs started to get tired on the long uphill section but on the down they loosened up and I was pretty happy with how I was feeling considering how fast I had run the day previous. I am sure I will be joining the group again whenever I am free to do so.

So feeling strong on Monday it was off to Boulder again. I met up with Angie. A girl who I had met at Leadville last year who is back again to attempt the 100 miler in August as she missed the cut off at Fish Hatch last year. We didn't really have a plan in mind other than just go and run somewhere. We first headed up the side of the 1st Flatiron for some awesome views out over Boulder. We descended and resupplied with more water and went for a run along the famous Mesa Trail. To be honest I wasn't that impressed with the Mesa. Yeah it's in a lovely setting but it made me realise just how good the Balcon Sud trail is in Chamonix. The Balcon Sud is way way better than the Mesa in my opinion. I have just taken it for granted the past few years and forgot just how good it is. We were both feeling good so left Mesa and headed up Bear Canyon Trail to Green Mountain and it all started going wrong. We were both low on water as we made our way up the trail but instead of turning around we both had summit fever and just wanted to get to the top. It was skortchin' hot by this point and my water was nearly out so it really was a tough tough climb to the summit. We finally arrived to the top and had to get down. It was 98f and we needed liquids. We made a rapid descent back down to Boulder and ran directly into a local store to purchase a ridiculous amount of Coke and Water. Yeah it was a bit silly to not have turned around and it was not a a particularly fun hike up to be honest but it was excellent training in that heat and running your body out of gas. I don't like to do it too often but a couple of training runs like that I think help a lot in the run up to an Ultra.

The Flatirons of Boulder

There wasn't anytime for a rest and the following day myself and Kim went to do another 14er to keep the high altitude fitness up. Mt Quandary lies near Breckenridge and sits at 14,270ft(4350m). Due to the previous days antics I was just treating this as a hike. The car park was jammed packed and we found out there was some group from Texas doing the peak also and to be honest once we reached halfway and looked ahead it seemed as though half of Texas had come along. It was ridiculous the amount of people plodding up. Now I won't be one of these people who moan about wanting Mountains to themselves as I have had plenty of amazing days to myself in the hills but this was unreal. We kept hiking up passing people left right and centre hunched over or sitting down breathing like crazy and moaning they would not make it to the top. I actually felt great. both my legs and lungs had not a problem at all and I was on the summit in a little under an hour and a half. From what I have seen doing a 14er is just like doing a Munro back home. The altitude for sure slows you down a little but the total elevation gain is about the same as doing a Munro. You start off here at anything from 3000m-3400m and go up to 4000-4400m so really most are climbs of 1000m give or take. The altitude must destroy a lot of people who come here from sea level for a weekend to do a peak as they will not be acclimatised at all but I have been lucky and up high a lot in the past three weeks I have been here so I have been doing okay. Since I have been here I can't really say if the Alps or Rockies are harder peaks to run. For sure the Alps is way steeper climbs and sometimes way more elevation but what the Rockies miss out on in elevation and steepness they make up for with the thin air so I think it all kind of balances out. The view from the crowded summit of Quandary was worth the hike but it was time to descend. The descent was pretty rocky and techy and I scared the hell out many hikers flying past them but loved the descent and I was down at the car 35 mins later and needing a rest.

View from top of Quandary

Wednesday(today) and I am finally having a rest day.The past week has been a brilliant mix of flat fast running and hiking at altitude so I am recharging the batteries and tomorrow we head to Crested Butte for the weekend to explore from Thurs-Sat and then I run a little local 7km summit race at Arapahoe Basin Ski area on Sunday and it looks like more 14ers Mon and Tuesday then possibly a rest day and I head to Steamboat for the first time to have a little look at what it has in store for me in September.

Rapid descent time from 4350m