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Monday
“Rest”
Rest is a difficult word for me to use for today as it was actually a 14+ hour work day, without any time to really train in any effective way.
Tuesday
Bouldering, 1 hour
I was also going to do some sort of spinning, but I forgot my phone to watch something, so I just stretched a little bit.
Wednesday
Spin, 2 hours
Boooring.
Thursday
Coffee Shop Run
Ran to the coffee shop with Macbook in toe, then to the sports recycler. Sadly, the recycler was closed. Shuffled up a somewhat muddy Hogback Ridge Trail to get some sort of climbing in this year, then down towards Mesa Reservoir. The 36 Underpass was completely underwater. Do’h. Felt good yogging home.
Friday
Road Run
Ran to the gym and back, with a circuitous way back (planned). Felt a little sore starting out, so tempered my expectations on the route back – as in: could I?
But I know my body, and it feels far worse than it will actually perform at, especially when starting out. Made it all the way south to Arapahoe, which was the goal, then ran home. Not the worst loop in the world, but I’m not the biggest fan of concrete running. Guess I’ll have to grab a pair of Prodigios for my old man legs.
Bouldering, 2 hrs
Good bouldering session, much like last time – which is good for the slow stumble of progression, but not so for, I don’t know: entertainmet. Warmed up to try some V7’s. Thankfully, one of the problems seemed to be working for me – and it’s a real cool problem: essentially a long rail you have to shuffle up. Trick seems to heel hook with your right and toe off the bottom of the rail with your left, thinking it like tufa that’s not vertical, but at a 45 degree angle. Was able to repeat it, as I felt my first top I kinda dabbed a hold from another problem – that and it was just much so fun!
Saturday
Green Mountain
Have some gear to take photos of, so up Green Mountain with a big ol’ pack loaded with said gear and camera equipment. Maybe a little south of 20lbs, but a nice easy weighted carry enhanced I guess by the lingering mashed potato snowfields.
Took the direct way up, then West Ridge/Long Canyon/Flagstaff down for one of the longest way to get back to the Greg. Canyon TH. I took the Flagstaff trail all the way down instead of the Crown Rock trail for the first time in forever. Forgot how great that trail is. Will have to check out the bouldering right off trail some time. The trail ends at the beginning of the road up to the packing lot, so my “run” ended with a shuffle up the road.
Sunday
Bouldering, 1 hr
Didn’t feel the freshest, but thought I’d give it a go. Mostly worked on the 45 degree overhanging wall up to a few V5s. Left feeling mostly warmed up.
Green Mountain
Had somewhat of an itinerary to try. First up, was visiting Freeway/Second Flatiron for the first time in a long time. It makes a good approach to the real goal: checking out a new (to me?) boulder I’ve eyed for a while, but never had rock shoes with me. Well, coming right from the gym, I had them.
What struck me about this boulder was how many lovely, incut, puzzle piece holds were all over the face and how it’s probably going to be easy to link a good boulder problem at a difficulty I could do – and without a pad.
Plot twist is that between then and now, OSMP decided to cut a new trail that goes maybe 100 feet from this boulder. Now not so much a secluded little secret. So how does it climb?
From what I remember, there seemed to be two obvious lines to try out: one on the left, one on the right and the left one seemed easier (and lower). So that’s where I naturally started today. It climbed pretty well, and maybe felt too easy – V1? So I started on the right – the boulder rests lower there, so maybe I could traverse from the right to the left, and then go from there? That would keep me mostly near the ground, which is perfect for me, having again no pad.
That traverse seemed to add another V number, and that’s what I put together today. I repeated it a few times – it is a bit beta intensive, but all the moves are pretty easy – then it started to sprinkle, so I packed it in. I’ll have to come back from the harder, right side that goes directly up. Bet it’s more like a V4 or V5, with a nice thank-god jug almost at the top.
Sorry for such a crap video – one day you’re packing a camera, a tripod, and extension poles and whatnot, the next day you got like: a rock you find to prop up your phone.
Debrief
Happy to have gotten 3, ~10 mile days on the feet in a row, even if that feels like a lame thing to have completed. That’s actually more than I’ve done in forever. Four days on the feet felt good after a crap Monday and Tuesday.
Next, I hope to do a 20 mile day running. That seems pretty achievable without going to the well. I’m considering a 50 mile race in May and that’s quickly coming up! But, I also maybe doing a 100 mile bike race in < 3 weeks, so maybe a long bike ride is in order, too? And then there’s the new boulder! Maybe I’ll revisit that as well. But! I also want to do a backpacking trip to welcome in the Spring. I’m all over the place – I’m very much aware!
