Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Weekly Summary: Oct. 12 - Oct. 18

10/12 - Off.

10/13 - Off.

10/14 - 1:44:40.  10.05 miles. +1180'/-1220'v.  Stagecoach.  Nice and easy long(er) run.  From the house, I ran over to the field and down the single track to the gravel path.  There down to the fire station and turn right, then up the road and left on the dirt road to the Elk Run Trail that travels the south shore of the lake.  I ran the trail to the dam and then turned onto the dirt road that goes out to Sarvis Creek.  I ran the dirt road to a small section of single track, where I did a short climb before turning around and running back home via the same route.  I got to run in the sunshine after leaving the shop early and running some errands.  The weather was a perfect 60ish with a light breeze.

10/15 - 1:21:16.  4.18 miles.  +1040'/-1030'v.  Stagecoach.  Run-hike-run-hike-run starting at the "locals parking" and up to the top of the band of cliffs on Blacktail Mountain on the north side of the lake.  I used trekking poles for the approach climb/bushwack through tall grass, sage brush, short bushes and scrub oak up to a class 5 scramble to the top of the cliff.  In hindsight, I would've been fine without the poles and, instead, should have worn knee high socks to protect my lower legs from all the brush.  The off-trail climb and downhill were only slightlly gnarly and I found a cattle track at the top of the ridge to run on.  I was surprised to find a couple of cows at the top and stopped once I hit a fence line.  It appears that the top of the mountain is private property. I ended up coming down in a different section from the ascent and had to navigate some thick scrub oak for a couple hundred feet before I found some openings.  Overall, a fun run and good alternative to my usual routes.  My ulterior motive here was to scout out the terrain for some splitboard lines I plan on poaching sometime this winter.

10/16 - :56:43.  6.2 miles.  +490'/-470'v.  Stagecoach.  Down to the lake and back easy. 

10/17 - 1:00:38. 6.01 miles.   +690/-690'v.  Stagecoach.  What a beautiful evening for a run.  Partial sunlight through layers of grey clouds and cool temperatures in the high 30s.  New snow covering the tops of mountains above about 8500' but plenty of fall color below that.  Legs started feeling heavy about half way through the run.

10/18 - :38:51.  4.45 miles. +450'/-440'v.  Stagecoach.  Good up-tempo short run to bring my weekly total to 30 again.   Hills and thrills around good old Stagecoach.  Ran a couple of trails but mostly next to CR 16. 

Weekly Totals:  5:42:08.  30.89 miles.  +/-3850'v.

Another solid week as far as total time/mileage/vertical goes.  Feet feel slightly tender in the mornings but much better than they have over the past year.  Endurance and leg strength feel very good and I should increase my weekly mileage to thirty-five next week.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Weekly Summary: Oct. 5 - Oct. 12

10/5 - 1:08:29.  6.83 miles.  +370'/-380'v.  Stagecoach.  Easy out and back run next to the road down to the trail by the lake.

10/6 - Off.

10/7 - 1:07:25.  7.18 miles.  +620'/-610'v.  Stagecoach to Sarvis Creek Trail.  Awesome late afternoon run from the "locals parking" on South Shore to Sarvis Creek trailhead and then the first climb on the trail and back to the truck.  Yesterday was the first day it snowed in the valley and today was bluebird but cool.  Running the dirt road from the dam to the trailhead provided a great view of the Yampa River headwaters and there were a ton of cows out munching on the grass.   I only ran a little bit on Sarvis (or Service, or Sarvice) Creek but the first section of the single track was really nice, smooth and easy to run.  The entire run was either dirt road or single track except for the concrete on the dam and judging by my time/mileage/vertical, I ran faster than I thought I did.  I must've been jazzed about "something special."  Nice.

10/8 - Off.  Went to Leadville to ride the train.

10/9 - :46:xx. ~6 miles.  +510'/-480'v.  Stagecoach.  Easy run down to fire station on trail, followed by a little road and then a little dirt road and back to the house with a little extra uphill.  GPS battery died on the way down so I didn't get the exact mileage but it felt like an easy six.

10/10 - :27:26.  3.53 miles.  +380'/-370'v.  Stagecoach.  Hard run down to fire station and up the next hill, turn around and back up with a little on a side single track.

10/11 - 1:03:56.  7.01 miles.  +490'/-490'v.  Stagecoach.  Loop down the trail to the fire station, then right on the road and up and steep little hill.  Left on the dirt road with a few hills and then duck under the wire fence and down to the lake shore.  Couple of lake miles and then uphill next to the road all the way back to the house.  Got rained on after about twenty minutes but I could see some holes in the cloud cover that said it wouldn't last long.  Nice and cool, in the 40s and had a great run.  Thanks, BA.

Totals thru 10/10:   4:33:16+.  ~30.55 miles.  +2370'/-2340' vertical

Bumped up my mileage and managed 30 miles for the week.  Now, I need to slowly start building and stay consistent with my running.  I'm very seriously considering running the 24 Hours of Utah race in Moab next March and I should start working on my endurance to facilitate that goal.  I think it's soon going to be time to start running in the mornings.  I'm going to miss sleeping in.  Well, you got to pay to play!

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Weekly Summary: Sep. 27 - Oct. 3

9/27 - :45:38.  5.3 miles.  +/-1000'v.  Stagecoach.  Hill repeats on .26 mile trail, +/-100'.  1st 2.12 miles in :18:47, 2nd 2.12 miles in :18:22, last mile in :08:29.  Progressively faster and effort was hard.  .62 mile, +/-120' v. cool down. 

9/28 - :27:02.  2.58 miles.  +/-400'v.  Stagecoach.  Short night time run down to the fire station and back home.  Easy.

9/29 - Off.

9/30 - :28:10.  2.75 miles.  +/-330'v.  Stagecoach.  Quick run down to the fire station and back (:22:40) with a little cool down.  Wonder if I can do it under :22?

10/1 - 1:47:15.  12.19 miles.  +1540'/-1500'v.  Spring Creek Trail.  Steamboat.  Gorgeous late morning run up to Dry Lake from JDs house.  The leaves in the aspens were fully gold in some spots and still brilliant green in others.  The combination lent a stunning relief to the mountain sides, particularly up on Buffalo Pass.  The trail was busy with hikers and bikers.  Great run at a moderate pace with a couple of harder downhill sections.  1:02:31 uphill to Dry Lake and :39:02:25 downhill to trailhead.  :05:38:99/.65 mile cool down.  Super nice re-visit to a favorite near-town trail.

10/2 - Off.

10/3 - 1:11:xx.  6.89 miles.  +1600'/-1640'v.  Stagecoach Mountain.  After work hike-run up to within 200'v. of the summit.  The trail was littered with yellow aspen leaves in many spots.  Good easy effort for the whole run.

Totals:  4:39:05.  29.71 miles.  +4870'/-4470 vertical feet