Monday, 1/30/17 – Bouldering @ Movement 2 hours
Felt absolutely stiff, awful, horrible. I kind knew something was not right when trying to warm up – I just never did. Decided to just work up the grades, until I ran out of time: all the V0’s, then V1’s, etc. I didn’t event complete all the V3’s.
Tuesday, 1/31/17 – Gambit, 4 pitches, 5.8 , Eldorado Springs
C. and I decided to climb Gambit! An ultra moderate, ultra classic on Shirt Tail Peak in Eldorado Springs. The formation closes the next day, so this would be our last change until August to do the climb. Hike in was pretty uneventful, except it started getting warm quickly, and we had to stop a few times to adjust our clothing strategies.
Once at the base of the climb, stoke was high, but so was the wind out of the blue. What was a super chill, sunny day turned blustery, and we even decided to wait on climbing for just a little while to see if the wind was going to pick up, or cool down. We decided just to go for it, thinking that perhaps we were just in a choke point for the wind, and things would be much better higher. Surprisingly, they were! And we had a super enjoyable climb.
I may be a modicum better than the last time I climbed Eldo, but all the moves seemed way, way, more obvious than any other climbs I’ve done in the area. When I needed a foot, there were choices; the jams were super solid; the rock was easy to read; the hand holds: buckets. Even the offwidth on pitch 3 at least had options – in fact: that may have been the funnest part of the climb for me – it certainly seemed easier than any 5.7 pitch at Turkey Rocks. Somewhat scary-hollow stuff on the last pitch, but it all didn’t move… that much.
It was a long day – we took many hours on the climb from waiting on the base, to a leisurely climb up, to hanging on the top, to the raps. down. I think I made it to 6:30 pm before passed out. Look forward to climbing this again!
Wed, 2/1/17
I… don’t believe I did anything this day. Yesterday took all of yesterday, so I had to make up work time today.
Thursday, 2/2/17 Boulder @Movement, 1 hr spin bike
Bouldering sess – pretty disorganized. No core/hip mob. work.
Spin bike seemed pretty effortless, just an hour.
Friday, 2/3/17
I… don’t believe I did anything this day, either
Saturday, 2/4/17: Bouldering @ Movement; Green/Bear, 19.8 miles
Hit the gym first – I cannot really remember what exactly I worked on, so I’m guessing my session was pretty disorganized. No core/hip mob. work.
Then, went out for my run:
Started from Chautauqua again, and ran the same 6+ mile route to the top of Green via Flagstaff/Long Canyon/West Ridge at about the same pace, given the variable conditions. I really find this grade challenging to run at: I’m powerful enough that steep grades are handled easily power hiking, and my flat runs are looking like actual runs if you kinda squint and crook your head, but trying to run up a moderate grade still sort of blows me up. But, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility to take 15 minutes off my current time in a few months, once the trails de-ice and I lose a few belly bucks.
Once at the top of Green, I again went down Green Bear, then down more via Bear Canyon to ascend Bear via Fern Canyon but, whoops: trail closure. No work seems to be a-doin’, so I gingerly went across the few meters of actual closed off trail, and got on Fern just fine. Looks good though, and sorry for breaking the rules (just this one time, I swear!).
Fern was plastered in hard ice, and I broke a microspike simply putting in on (again!), which would have been terribly inconvenient, but I pack more than most, so I took out a spare microspike I had brought for just such an occasion… and the run was saved! Fern went fairly quick, although I was already feeling pretty fatigued from the run. Summited Bear just at sundown, and ran N. on Bear Canyon, back up Green Bear and decided this time to take the West Ridge west and descend via Long Canyon, as the conditions were mostly ice free, and given my experience last week on Saddle Rock/Greenman and today’s with Fern, that route was still probably not so good. Glad I did, as I got me a few extra easy miles. I should probably extend this route even farther by starting off the trail head at EB Fine for an extra mile or so.
Sunday, 2/5/17: Road Run + Sanitas 9.8 miles
Woke up today fairly sore, but had enough motivation to want to run today, at least on the roads. Wanted to target 10 miles, but thought I’d just see how the legs feel. Legs felt great, actually, so I ran all the way to Mapleton, where I hung a right turn. Thought, “Well, what the hell”: I had a head torch and trail runners on, it was fairly dry out, and not much ice, so a leisurely topped out on Sanitas, and a descent via the Goat Trail somewhat spiced my otherwise mellow road run up. Only a small portion of the east side of the trail was surprisingly too icy to do without traction (which I didn’t bring…), the rest was fine. Focused still more on my running form: trying to get those heals high on my kicks, and my foot landing right below me. I have a lot to learn, but today felt great form-wise, with my legs somewhat tired from yesterday.
Totals:
- Around 32.1 miles of running/hiking w/10,246′ in ~7:45:00 (in only 2 runs, 1 hike)
- Negligible actual cycling – to/from Chat., the gym, etc.
- 1 hour spin bike (down from 7 last week)
- 6 hours bouldering; 4 pitches @ Eldo
- 0 hours core/hip mobility work
14:45:00 total time for the week; (not counting the time climbing Gambit)
Somewhat failed on consistency of my aerobic conditioning this week, I guess. It’s so hard to gauge, right? 2 runs, a hike, and one hour of spin bike… but most every day is me doing easy bike miles around town. Do those help with maintenance? Should I count them with more importance? I don’t know. Happy to get in some running miles this week, but unhappy I weekend-warrior’d them. Unhappy also of not getting a bike ride in – I just couldn’t figure out the best time to do so. Unhappy to pull 2 full 0 days, which should have been easy running/cycling/something days. Lots of time climbing, still. (Maybe too much, at the sacrifice of aerobic conditioning, given time-constraints?)
No running goals for next week; only goal is perhaps take part in the Old Man Winter Rally, if I can afford to enter. That would also mean having to do a bike ride outside, which hasn’t really happened all year. We shall see!
