Me

I started this site to record my hiking adventures. I’m 55, live in Colorado, and have somewhat late in life discovered a love of the high mountains.

10/17/15 Chasm Lake with Kassidy

Great hike with Kassidy to Chasm Lake.

10/10/15 Huron 14,003

Fantastic hike with Maria. Weather perfect. Went off trail on the descent.

My fourteenth 14er, Maria’s 19th. Thirteen this year (including one repeat.).

My last hike with Maria as it turns out. 😦

10/4/15 Blue Sky Trail Marathon

Another placeholder post until I have time to update the site (life is busy). Ran the Blue Sky Trail marathon. Great race, good experience, but my time was disappointing – kind of fell apart in the last 10 miles. Combination of not enough of a base, poor pacing, and a (hopefully minor) knee injury. May refocus on hard half marathons (or similar distance) next year. Leadville Heavy Half again, Pikes Peak Ascent, Mt. Evans Ascent, etc.

September

This is mostly a placeholder post for now – more details later. I also need to update my August posts with pictures.

For a variety of reasons – life obligations, shorter days, Maria’s schedule – I haven’t been over 11,000 feet all month. Still Some great hikes and a lot of running. Some highlights:

9/6 Windy Peak (did not summit)

9/7 Baldy Peak

9/19 Bergen Peak (run)

9/19 Centennial Peak Trail

Training Update

I’ve modified my routine a bit to focus on my goal – the Blue Sky Trail marathon next Sunday. That has meant a little less elevation and a little more distance. My hiking has also fallen off for other reasons (see next post).

The training has gone well overall. Two 20 plus mile long runs – the first very successful, the second less so (hydration issues). About 120 miles running this month, despite tapering a bit the last two weeks. Still no major injuries, though the same minor aches (and one new one) persist. I’ve dialed back the intensity of my typical run, but when I do go all out, I’m still setting PRs. I’m still slow, even compared to my mid pack road running in my 30s, but for my age – on up hills especially – I’m putting in some decent times. I was especially happy with my Bergen Peak run last weekend. But of course the increased endurance is the main change over the past few months.

I feel like I’m ready for the marathon – better prepared than for my long ago road marathon. My goal is under 6 hours – which sounds slow, but given the course would not be a bad time. Ideally I’d like to be even a bit faster. If I can maintain the pace of my faster 20 mile run for the full marathon I’d run the marathon in just under 5:15. That would be 35 minutes slower that my previous marathon 20 years ago (which was a disappointing time itself), but, adjusted for the course, I’d be thrilled with that time. Last year it would have been just 4 minutes short of an age group podium finish. We’ll see.

Still hoping to do my first Ultra next year.

8/30/15 Colorado Mines Peak (12,493) and Mt. Flora (13,132)

With Kassidy. No summit picture because of camera malfunction. Pleasant little  hike along the continental divide.

8/22/15 DeCaLiBron

DeCaLiBron with Maria. GREAT hike. Four more 14ers. More details and pictures later.

More on goals – an ultra

I like to think of goals as either primary or secondary. The secondary goals are ways to help attain the primary goals. Artificial to be sure, but helpful for me.

The 200 K elevation goal is a secondary goal. I already talked about some primary goals – mainly enjoying the high mountains. Another primary goal which I am at least considering is becoming adept at distance running in the high mountains. Maybe even a shorter ultra.  I’m somewhat conflicted about this goal. At the most basic level, I enjoy running in the mountains, and would like to get better at it. The reasons to hesitate with the more ambitious goal of an ultra, even a short one:

(1) First, two lesser concerns – age and genetics. The fact that I’m 55 is less of a limit that one might think. Genetics (the fact that, despite certain genetic advantages, I’m not naturally an elite endurance athlete) ditto. Even with those limitations, I could accomplish a lot. Certainly running a decent 50K is possible with dedication. But my age does make recovery a bit more of an issue. Though ironically genetics helps there, I think. I’ve managed to progress very quickly from hiking only to being a decent mountain runner. But at the moment I’m seeing my progress stall, and I think that part of the reason is age related slower recovery.

(2) Other life responsibilities – this is the big one. Career and Kassidy.

(3) Do I want it enough to make the necessary sacrifices? I’m not sure. “Sacrifices” might include less hiking, as well as less time for other leisure activities. It will also mean a lot of early morning runs in the fall and winter (much harder than in the summer), running in the dark, maybe a lot of boring treadmill running, etc.  Also perhaps a little less “vertical” – but that’s not much of a sacrifice, more a matter of properly ordering priorities.

We’ll see. The “tests” – can I build up to a fall trail marathon (tentatively aiming for Moab), and can I sustain my training over the winter so that I’m not starting from scratch next March? If I can pass both tests, I’m aiming for the Dirty Thirty next June. And then maybe an attempt at Nolan’s 14 next summer – not with the goal of summiting all 14, but perhaps summiting nine, ending with Columbia.

With no hikes planned for the next week, I hope to start concentrating more on my trail running.

8/13/15 Square Top 13,794

Climbed it with a meet up group. Perfect weather. My fourth 13er of the season. Now I need to focus on other life responsibilities for the next week. Next adventure a week from Saturday (DeCaLiBron). Tentatively planning Father Dyer on 8/25, and hoping that Kassidy will be up for a 13er on Labor Day weekend – maybe Mt. Flora? Huron I hope in September, and a few more 13ers in the fall.

Goals

My mountaineering/running/fitness goals have changed a bit over the year. Not at the most basic level – I want to spend as much time in the high mountains as possible, climb mountains, and maximize my fitness. But I have a number of ever changing secondary goals. One of them is to gain 200,000 vertical from March through October. At this point I’m on track to easily exceed that goal, perhaps even hitting 250,000. (At 165 K now; I can hit 250 if I average 34 K per month through the end of October.)

Goals can have positive and negative consequences. They can be great motivators, and this goal has been that. But they can also have downsides. In this case, I think that perhaps my passion for vertical is interfering with my running. Specifically, I think I should be doing more miles and less vertical when running. Today, for example, I ran Flagstaff/Green. Eleven miles, almost 3000 vertical. It was a great run, but I think maybe I would have been better off longer with less elevation gain.