Running in the Rockies

AM: 12.16 in 9:37 avg pace at the Boulder Reservoir. Avg elevation: 5,300, ~450 gain/loss. Avg heart rate: 153, Max heart rate: 175. 

 Decided to head down to the reservoir for a longish run this morning before work. Hubby and I decided to work this weekend so that we could take Thursday and Friday off next week and have a 4 day weekend. Really looking forward to that. The run was awesome. I really needed a nice easy long run over relatively easy terrain. I tried to keep my heart rate between 145-155, and I did pretty well except for the hills. Noticing some soreness on the outside of right ankle, so I think I will take tomorrow off and try to hit a couple yoga classes, lift, and do lots of stretching. 

AM: ~ hr hike with pups this morning. Pretty cold, but nice in the sunshine. Stretched and foam rolled when we got home. 

Work, work, then work some more! Looking forward to the 4 day weekend we have planned.

PM: Hot tub.. excellent.

AM: 5 on trails with pups + 3 more on roads alone near house in 11:22 avg pace. I forgot my heart rate monitor at work yesterday and it felt nice to run without it for a change. I should probably try to run sans watch a few times a week- would probably do me some good instead of looking at these incredibly slow paces. Avg elevation: 8,500', 1,170' gain/loss. Beautiful morning for a run. Legs felt pretty good, still some stiffness in lower legs- probably from all the trail running the last couple weeks. Need to do some stretching and foam rolling this evening. 

AM: 5 alone on usual route + 3 miles on trails with pups in 11:32 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500, 1,389' gain/loss. Avg heart rate: 149, Max heart rate: 169. Felt a little more tired than usual this morning. I think working 12 days in a row is pretty rough on me. Am really looking forward to this long weekend. A bit windy today and spitting some snow. The little one demolished one of my favorite smart wool trail socks. Such a bummer, I think I wore them twice and they were so comfy! My fault though- I left it within reach. Ah-well. 

Another unplanned day off. Maybe for the best. I don't want to push the mileage up too quickly and get injured. We worked on the house all day and then took a nice walk down to town to run some errands. We are removing the front deck because it's a terrible fire hazard (forest fire) and we've decided to replace it with flagstone instead. Upon removing the wood, we realized that it was actually redwood and in pretty good shape in most places. It was painted, so we had no idea what kind of wood it was, but assumed fir. Why anyone would paint redwood is beyond me- what a beautiful wood! So we were pretty careful removing the screws and sections and decided to plane it (and maybe rip it if we can find a place that will do it for a reasonable price) and use it as wood flooring in the house. Sweet! 

 Lower back and hamstrings were a bit sore from leaning over to remove screws all day. Good cross training I figure. 

AM: Headed to Golden Gate State Park this morning with hubby and older pup (younger one still getting too car sick and this road would not have been pleasant for anyone in the car). Wanted to preview the 12 mi course for the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty in a couple weekends and the hubby was going to hike with the pup. However, numerous warning signs of recent mountain lion sightings left us feeling uneasy. The hubby wanted me to take the pup (who is really a medium sized, sweet, but wuss of a dog who often hides behind me when we approach 'scary' tree stumps... ha! not a lot of protection from him). I didn't feel comfortable with my hubby hiking alone so I decided to just hike with them and do the top section and second half of the 12 mile course. I know if I would have been alone, I would have just run it- but having the hubby and pup there and feeling responsible for their well-being probably lead to a better/safer decision. The funny thing is that I KNOW there are mountain lions where I run with the pups every day.. but somehow by not having warning signs makes the threat seem less imminent I suppose. The one thing good thing about the trails near our house is that they are closer to 'civilization' and a bit higher in elevation, which may make it less likely for us to become a tasty treat for a hungry lion??

Anyways, the hike was nice although there are definitely sections of the trail /course that I may not be able to run.. pretty steep in some places. I'm actually a little more worried about the downhill than the uphill though. Likely to be a quad/knee killer.

Decided to run up Rollins Pass with the hubby biking this morning. Gorgeous day and warm temperatures may have obscured my memory for how long the snow sticks around in the high country. Needless to say, we were stopped by snow within the first mile (started around 9,200'). We pushed on hoping that the snow would let up a bit, but it was post holing for the most part with the hubby walking his bike. We made it to the first switch back (~2.5 miles) and decided to turn around. I really wanted to get a long run in, so I decided to run back down Tolland Rd to Rollinsville. It's mostly downhill with some rollers. It was too beautiful of a day to miss out completely. So, the total mileage was around 13.6 with an average pace of ~10:30. Although, the run up the pass was significantly slower (some miles were ~15:00 pace because of walking/post holing) and the downhill section once I hit the road was ~9:00 avg pace. Starting elevation: 9,200, max elevation: 9,400, Min elevation: 8, 500. Avg heart rate: 154, Max heart rate: 180. 

~6.5/7.0 mile hike with pups. We watched our neighbors dogs yesterday and last night, so we had our youngest pups' sister, a cattle dog, and a collie/malamute mix+ our two dogs. Didn't take the oldest one (collie/malamute mix) because he was limping a lot yesterday. Pushed the hiking pace to simulate an 'easy' run. I think it's still harder than the easy run down in Boulder. The two siblings were exhausted when we got home and took a nice long nap in the sun on the back deck. I was surprised that the cattle dog and our other dog (blue heeler/ collie mix) were still somewhat awake/active when we got back. They had to have run twice as long as I hiked because I was playing fetch with them the entire time. I wish I had that kind of energy!

AM: 5.0 alone + 3.0 on trails with pups. No watch and no heart rate monitor. Lovely morning for a run. Need to foam roll and stretch more today. Feeling some tightness.

AM: 6 on trails with pups in 11:57 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', 900' gain/loss. Avg heart rate: 153, Max heart rate: 174. Absolutely amazing morning for a run. Perfect running temperature- slightly warm in the sun, slightly chilly in the shade. Wore gloves- but didn't need them at the end. The snow-capped mountains are looking beautiful and inviting. Maybe a snow shoe  up to the high country is in order at the end of the week. 

PM: 2 miles easy in 9:22 pace.

AM: woke to ~2 inches of snow this morning and by the time I got out the door it was ~4-5"! Love a nice spring snow shower. Went out for a longish run alone: 11 in 9:45 avg pace. Felt pretty good, but the downhills are slower than they used to be and I'm not exactly sure why that is. Maybe just not really in that great of shape yet. Min Elevation: 8,250', Max Elevation: 8,715', Gain/Loss: 830'. No heart rate monitor today. Got thoroughly soaked on the run by really considerate people driving 10-20 over the speed limit and not moving over one inch for me. On the way back, it had warmed up a bit and all the snow became a slushy wet mess that came up almost over my ankles. With the exception of intended stream crossings, my feet have never been so wet.

Got home and the snow was so nice in our yard that I decided to take the pups out for a ~2 mile snowshoe in the woods (after a change of clothes, socks, and shoes because I was pretty soaked and starting to get a chill). It was a really nice cool down and they thoroughly enjoyed romping through the snow. It's still snowing up in the mountains- some forecasts call for another 5-8", which would be great because we still need the precipitation!

AM: 5 with pups on trails. Garmin was acting up this morning, it had 99% battery when I went to bed last night and I double checked that the GPS was off. This morning when I went to put the watch on it said the battery was at 0%.. what?! I suspect that either our cat put it on and went for a 3-4 hour hunt last night or that the watch battery is starting to fail. The bezel has been acting weird and the battery has also been draining a lot faster than it used to. A few days ago after the 11 miler, it started saying low battery on the snowshoe hike I was on the with the pups (only ~2.5 hrs of having the GPS and training on). The watch isn't even a year old yet..lame. 

 Anyways, we got another few inches last night, so ~6-8" total. Most of it stuck around this morning and the wind hasn't picked up yet so it was a winter/spring wonder land. All the trees are covered in snow and it was still snowing some during the run. The snow is a bit heavy and sticky, but not too bad. Some post holing but the downhills were nice and smooth. The pups also enjoyed themselves.

AM: 9.08 in 9:26 avg pace. Min Elevation:8,249'; Max Elevation: 8,659'; ~650' gain/loss. Another beautiful morning for a solo run. Ran up the canyon and realized that two days ago when I ran up the canyon, the wind was from the east. Usually the wind is down canyon (from the west) as it was this morning. I think that snow storm actually came in from the east, which happens occasionally. That would also account for slightly faster times uphill than usual a few days ago. Was a little over dressed, had to wear the warmer tights because the other ones are in the laundry and two long sleeved layers + baseball cap and gloves (the warmer ones again because the light weight ones are in the laundry.. really need to get on the laundry tonight). Felt pretty good overall.

 Went for a cool down walk/hike with the older of the pups. The younger one refused to put on her harness and leash, so after dealing with a spazing out puppy for 5 mins I decided to put her back in the crate. I felt guilty on the walk without her. I know she was just super excited to see me and to go for her walk but she was being impossible. When we got back I took them out into the yard for some playtime before leaving for work today.

Not sure why I decided to run colfax half again this year. I forgot about the 6am start and the 'need to be parked by 4:45am'. Ugh. Left the house at 3:30 am and drove on the very slushy canyon road down to Denver (it snowed 5-6" up at our place on Saturday night). Arrive without too much issue and parked. They changed the set up of the course a bit this year and it is terribly dark at 4:30am in City Park. They didn't have great signage directing runners to the start or to the port-o-potties. I saw lines of people just waiting to use the standard park restrooms, likely because they didn't know where the POP's where. It was a chilly morning, temps probably in the upper 30's, low 40's with some drizzle. I opted for tights, long sleeves mid weight shirt with a light weight t-shirt over it + gloves and running cap. Brought along the hand held amphipod water bottle with First Endurance EFS and a Gu (no caffeine) (only drank 1/2 the EFS and ate less than 1/2 gu).

Ran 5 mins of warm up to get to POP's, then over to start. Stretched a bit on the starting line. Probably could have warmed up a bit more. 

 They used corrals this year and placed runners w.r.t. anticipated finish time. I'd say about only about 1/2 the people in my corral were actually suppose to be there. Many were from slower corrals (supposedly not allowed, but no one was checking). Of course, one of my biggest pet peeves in these larger races is 1) people that run with ear phones (because 9/10 times they have no idea they are cutting people off left and right) and 2) slower runners and/or walkers that start in positions that do not in any way represent where they will finish in the pack or even what their paces are. Anyways, I digress, somewhat... The start was pretty long and it took a while for the pack to thin out enough to even run. As expected, within the first mile people were walking and breathing so heavily that it sounded like they would pass out. It just seems to me that if you are going to walk in the first mile, you should be in one of the last, if not the last starting corral. I have no idea why people do this, it can't be fun or good for motivation. I guess my goal should be to get faster and try to legitimately be located in the first few starting corrals. I bet the faster runners do not have these sorts of difficulties to deal with.

 I didn't have time to really think about a plan for this race. I had intended to do that this past week, but never found the time. So, as usual, I decided to start slow and try to get progressively faster throughout the nice, flat course, with significantly more oxygen than I typically have available.

The breakdown from the garmin:

Mile 1: 9:37- really packed, not able to even run at some points.

Mile 2: 8:58

Mile 3: 8:59

Mile 4: 9:08- slight hill

Mile 5: 8:53

Mile 6: 8:54

Mile 7: 8:45

Mile 8: 8:31

Mile 9: 8:37

Mile 10: 8:31

Mile 11: 8:19

Mile 12: 7:55

Mile 13: 7:51

Forgot to turn off watch after I crossed the finish line, so I have no idea what my ending pace was. I felt strong on the very last stretch and the last few data points from the garmin were 6:55- 6:35 pace and it didn't feel like a sprint, just a strong finish.

Total (from garmin) time: 1:54:04

Ave pace (from garmin): 8:38

Started raining just as I finished and my hands were freezing by that point. I grabbed a banana and some water and headed to the car to change. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, and I'm thinking that for the next race I may wear my watch, but set it into a mode so that I cannot see my pace. I'm thinking maybe I should try to race more by feel and see how that goes. I was running pretty easy (I doubt my heart rate was above 150) until about Mile 10, so I think if I adjust my race strategy and mind set, I'm probably capable of a sub 1:50 right now on a relatively flat course at lower elevation (5,000-6,000').

Ended up meeting an old friend for brunch down town after the race and it was great to catch up with him after ~5 years! ( I am just terrible at staying in touch.. really need to be better at that).

*I just looked back at my stats from this race last year and I ran a ~2:03, so I guess almost a 9 minute better time for this course is a good start to the season. Especially since I've only really been training for the last month after taking care of the IT band/ knee issues this winter.

AM: 5 with pups on trails in ~12:47 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', 800' gain/loss. Legs felt a little heavy this morning, especially on the uphill sections. Probably just some fatigue from the longer day yesterday (I don't deal well with less than 8 hrs of sleep per night). It was a beautiful morning though with the snow melting off the trees in the morning sunlight. In the deeper parts of the forest it felt a little like the trees were crying on us and in the open sunlit sections it was a brilliant display of sparkling gems falling. Really very pretty. There was not a cloud in the sky, so the views of the snow capped mountains against the brilliant blue was also a nice touch to the morning run.

The negative aspect of the run occurred on our way back when we met a gentleman and his rather large australian shepherd and the little one refused to come back when called. My older dog is really very nice and submissive to almost all dogs he meets on the trails. He used to get excited (and he still does somewhat) and go running up to strange dogs and I was always more worried about him than the other dog or person. We finally got him trained so that when we call him, he comes back 99% of the time even if there are other dogs on the trail. The little one is a bit more aggressive though. She barks like crazy with all her hair standing up, it's less of  'yay! another dog for me to play with' and more of 'I am really not happy to see you on this trail and I will protect my person if I need too' .. So this is no good. There is always the possibility of meeting other people and dogs on the trails near our house and her behavior this morning was unacceptable. At any rate, we let the dogs meet (because she was NOT coming back to me anyways) and the other dog was growling at her (I would too- she was being super annoying) and I managed to grab her and put her leash on. I apologized to the man and he seemed to understand that she is just a dumb puppy. I kept her on the leash the entire way back home, which was just as painful for me as it was for her because she is a handful on the leash as well. But, I think it is going to be necessary for the next few months until she learns to come back when called. It is probably a good thing to start getting her used to running with me on the leash anyways.

AM: ~6.5 with pups on trails in 12:14 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', ~930' gain/loss. Avg heart rate: 154, Max heart rate: 169. Goal for this run was 75 mins at ~160 bpm heart rate. It was nearly impossible to get 160 on downhill sections and almost as hard to stay under 160 on the uphill sections. Although it was a nice change of tactics and one that may come in handy for trail running in general. Go very slowly up the hills and maintain a quick leg turn over on the downhill sections. Nice morning run with the pups though. They were relatively better behaved today. Foam rolling for 10 mins after the run. 

* a few people on the blog keep track of miles run with their pups and I think that is pretty cool so am going to be a copycat and do this as well. The older pup (L pup) has probably done about 1/2 of my total mileage since I've joined the blog and I ran with him ~ 1.5 years before joining, so I think 450 is probably an underestimate. The younger pup (B pup) has probably only done 1/3 of the mileage since March, so probably ~50 miles? This will probably also be useful for me to see how much they are running- I worry that sometimes I run them a bit too much.

AM: 5 miles with pups on trails in ~13:14 avg pace. Goal was 60 mins at a heart rate of 145 bpm, but again had problems maintaining 145 on downhills (usually around 120) as well as uphills (~150). IT bands were also a bit tight on both legs, likely from the faster downhills yesterday so I decided to take it very easy today. Avg heart rate: 134, Max heart rate:154. Avg elevation: 8,500', 788 gain/loss. Started out in sleet that became rain towards the end of the run. We ran through the clouds in the upper sections of the trail. Very peaceful morning. Foam rolled and stretched afterwards. 

AM: We got 6-8" of snow last night and was still hanging around this morning. Very slushy/sticky heavy stuff. Decided against running and took the pups for ~hr long snowshoe. They really love the snow. Foam rolled when I got home. Will try for a run in the afternoon in Boulder. 

Afternoon:  6.77 mi in 9:00 avg pace on Boulder Canyon trail. Goal: 60 mins at 150 bpm heart rate. Did pretty well. I feel like it is much easier to run based on heart rate down in Boulder. Avg heart rate: 152, Max heart rate 162. Min elevation: 5,340; Max elevation: 5,754. Rained the entire run. Thoroughly soaked.

 PM: Another 45 min snow shoe with the pups. They have too much energy.

AM: Attempted a road run this morning, but within 3 minutes I had almost fallen twice and decided the roads were just too icy at 5:30am. So, I turned around and went back to grab the pups for a trail run in the snow (~8" this morning). Goal for the run was 75 mins at 160 bpm, but I knew this was going to be really tough to do while post holing up and down moderate sized hills. So, opted for the usual 5 mile run at a  moderate effort. ~5.03 in 15:09 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 150, Max heart rate: 164. Avg elevation: 8,500', 793 gain/loss. It was a tough run and my legs are pretty tired from the post-holing. Beautiful morning though. I do love the snow. Foam rolled, stretched, and hip/glut exercises afterwards.  

AM: 10 miles in 9:50 avg pace. Goal was 90 mins @155. Avg heart rate: 152, Max heart rate 172. Min elevation: 8,428'; Max elevation: 8,711'; 1,000' gain/loss. Fairly nice run after two days off. Lots of house/yard work over Saturday/Sunday and today. 

AM: 8.46 in 9:20 avg pace. Goal: 75 mins @160 bpm. Avg heart rate: 158, Max heart rate: 171. Min elevation: 8,225'; Max elevation: 8,673'; 695' gain/loss. 

B pup went in for her spay today. Poor little girl was pretty out of it all night and looked pitiful. But surgery went well and we don't have to worry about little ones now. No activity for 10 days is going to be awfully painful for her (and us).

AM: 5.43 mi in 11:00 avg pace. Goal: 60 mins no higher than 150. Avg heart rate: 144, Max heart rate: 168. Min elevation: 8,252'; Max elevation: 8,554'; 700' gain/loss. Really hard to keep heart rate under 150 on the hills. Ran with L pup. Chilly and windy morning run. 

B pup seems to be recovery really well. She was already pouncing on L pup this morning and ate her full breakfast without issue. Going to be a long 10 days for her without any hiking/running/playing. And she has to wear the dreaded cone.. poor girl. 

AM: 7.29 miles in 10:20 avg pace. Goal: 75 mins at 145-150. Right away I realized this probably was going to be difficult for me this morning since my heart rate was already ~90 when I started the run (probably too much coffee and dehydrated from 4 hour meeting last night in which I again forgot my water bottle). However, the garmin was returning heart rate data that was all over the place. It would spike to 165 and then drop to 100. On the final ascent towards home it was giving me readings of 80-95 (impossible since my heart rate even walking is 130 up the steep hill). So, the heart rate data is crap for today. Even though I couldn't get an accurate heart rate reading, I still ran pretty easy. My stomach was a bit off and I knew I was dehydrated. Min elevation: 8,249'; Max elevation: 8,584'; 634' gain/loss.

AM: 7.32 in 10:22 avg pace. Goal: 75 mins at 145.

Unfortunately, my heart rate again was pretty high this morning. Not really sure what is going on with that. My heart rate was immediately in the 165-170 range running slowly up the hills. Usually it's in the 150-155 range if I'm running slowly. Maybe I have a slight bug or something. I have been feeling pretty tired and worked lately. Avg heart rate: 154, Max heart rate: 176. Min Elevation: 8,251'; Max elevation: 8,575'; 878 gain/loss. Anyways, ran the usual subdivision loop(s) with L pup and one of the neighbor pups decided to run with us today. She's a sweetie; part great pyrenees and probably part pit bull. Although, she looks a lot like a great dane. B pup and L pup really adore her.

AM: Quick 3 mi run on trails with L pup in 12:00 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 153, Max heart rate: 173. Avg elevation: 8,500', 530' gain/loss. Lots of house work. 

AM: House/yard work.

 Afternoon: 15 mi to friend's house for small gathering in 9:53 avg pace. Max elevation was at our house (~8,520) and min elevation was at our friend's house (7,290'), so a net downhill. However, there are a few really gnarly uphills spaced throughout and the final descent was a bit rough on the knees. Elevation gain: 1,223'; elevation loss: 2,449'. Average heart rate: 157, Max heart rate: 176. Beautiful day for a long run and it was nice to try a new route. Definitely not an 'easy' route, but not too bad. I would probably run it again.

AM: ~6 miles this morning with L pup. Woke up to sleet/snow on the ground and a fierce wind. Headed out to the trails for 75 min easy run (140-145 bpm). Avg heart rate: 140, Max heart rate: 167 and 79 minutes total. Carried a rock this morning. Felt like something was watching me most of the way- probably just on edge because friends and neighbors have seen a few lions the past couple weeks. Guess it's that time of year.