Category Archives: training
Leadville Training Run
Got up on the LT100 course for the first time this year. Enjoyed a perfect thunderstorm-free Colorado day on the trails. Ran out-and-back along Turquoise Lake and over Sugarloaf Pass. 34 miles in 7 hours at a low-medium effort.
Capped off my biggest training week ever with 101 miles running+25 on the bike for a total of 19.5 hours. If Leadville doesn’t go well next month, it’s not going to be due to lack of training!
Here are some pics from the day.
Gotta love the dudes that named this one. Eh, let's call it... Massive! Mount Massive, 14,421'. 2nd highest in CO.
First climb. Time to test out the lungs.
The shoreline of Turquoise Lake. Beautiful place.
Heading up the Colorado Trail/Continental Divide Trail.
Crossing over a full stream. Has been a wet spring/summer this year.
Ho-hum. Typical AWESOME view.
Up and over the pass. There were a handful of other runners and bikers out getting their miles in before next month's races.
The powerline descent. Bomb it if ya got the quads.
Looking down on Turquoise Lake and May Queen Campground.
Yep.
4 Seconds of Fame!
As I pulled into the Mount Falcon parking lot last night after work, I noticed a TV news crew interviewing some people. It was starting to rain and they were quickly wrapping things up. When I passed by while starting my run, I overheard the park ranger being interviewed say “it’s important to stay calm and not panic” or something to that effect. That’s all of the words I caught, but I immediately figured they were most likely talking about a snake bite.
I finished my first loop and came back to the parking lot to refuel and found the parking lot nearly empty, no more sign of cameras or people. As I started my second trip up the mountain the news helicopter showed up and hovered over me for several minutes. I assumed they were splitting off from their normal rush hour traffic watching and gathering some additional footage for the spot being filmed earlier. Turns out that was the case.
A lady had been bitten by a rattlesnake in the park that morning and had hiked out a mile and a half to get help. They were interviewing some other people and also the ranger for the story. Turns out I got 4 seconds of coverage! Yee haw. No matter that I’m all of about 3 pixels high and the camera is pulling back in the shot… Hey, it was the opening story!
Video here.
My part starts at 54 seconds into the clip. I’m wearing a white shirt and am just rounding the apex of the switchback on the right side of the screen, heading towards the camera.
Get out your magnifying glass!
Squint!
The hikers in the opening shot were one switchback above me, I passed them soon after the helicopter left. Scene stealers. I should have been running faster!
New Camera!
I’ve been without a real camera for far too long. I love taking photos outside, and of my kids. For 2 years I’ve just been getting by with my cell phone, but that all changed when I got a (really) early Father’s Day present. An Olympus Stylus Tough 6000. I did a lot of research, and while this one has a couple of shortcomings, overall it is turning out to be great. Waterproof, crushproof, freezeproof. Perfect for running the trails.
I took it out for a 12 miler on a beautiful day. The run was great. Despite doing basically no climbing workouts for months, I took almost 3 minutes off my time from last year up the Meadowlark trail to the top of Red Mesa @ Deer Creek Open Space. And felt good doing it.
Here is a little video I made of the day. The music is from a band called “The Dividers” that my brother Phil played in years ago. Perfect song for today.
Last night we went to a pool party for my nephew. I shot a ton of pics and vids while playing in the pool with the kids. Nice not to have to worry about a little water…
I’ll write up more about the camera in a couple of weeks after I’ve really put it to good use, but it looks like a winner so far!
The Scene Begins 