Got a somewhat early start this morning as I headed out of the door around 6:15 for the incline. I could tell Baz was mad at me because he knew what I was up to but I wanted to get some good quality climbing in on the bike afterward so naturally he wasn't invited. After a brisk walk warmup, I began to jog once I hit Ruxton up to the incline. Thinking I wanted right at around 30 minutes I took off jogging the first several steps surprised at the amount of lingering snow from earlier in the week. Anyhow, Just kept pushing hard but not too hard. I realized after the false summit that I had a chance at a PR but still wasn't too interested. Just kept a solid effort. Near the top, I was still in range for a small PR so I ran the last 100 steps slipping up the ice to get a pr by about 7 seconds. Came in at 28:10 first to last step. Took the jog down barr easy as it was immediately icy even in the new connector. I sped up where I could and probably average just below 8 min pace on the decent. Once back to Ruxton, I decided to open it up a bit and was cruising in the low 6's all the way down. Apparently got a PR down that too. Once I got to Manitou Blvd, I jogged it in until I walked the last quarter mile or so. Ended up being 1:19 round trip and still feeling plenty spry enough for a bike ride.
Pulled the bike out of the car and put on the front wheel and seat to discover I had forgotten my clip in shoes. I wasn't about to drive all of the way home and back just for shoes and I needed to ride and not have excuses. Running shoes on the tiny pedals it was. Cruised down el Paso and up toward balanced rock. I headed up Rampart Range Road to get some good ells with no real plan other than to ride for 1:15 to 1:30 and then turn around and ride back. Luckily, a city truck was heading up to check things out because he made some sections much less of a nuisance in the lingering crusty snow. After several miles up, he had stopped around the water tower and I tried to go further and it was too difficult so I booked it down. Not wanting too short a day, I hung a left up towards the garden. Up, Up, Up I went and into the main loop. Made the mistake of thinking the trails would be in ok enough condition to ride and got so much mud stuck on the bike, I had to walk it back to the road. All the way back up and around the loop and back to the car, I was slinging mud and slipping off the pedals but a great ride overall. Right at an hour in time and 20 miles with 2.5k gain. Solid day overall.
Not sure what is in store for tomorrow. Supposed to run a 50k fatass on Sat in FOCO but I am tossing around doing a long run tomorrow in the nice weather and bailing sat. If I stick with the plan, I would like to get a couple hours on a bike (maybe road or trainer) and a 4-6 mile run around the hood. Either way, I will be groovy for time in the week.
Until next time,
See you at the top.
No comments:
Post a Comment