Monday I ran the Brook Loop in a pathetic 55 minutes or so. Yeah, I wasn't pushing from the start, but even with a couple of stops to enjoy the morning (pee), this is ridiculous. So much so, that I didn't even try after awhile. I just didn't have any pop. Wednesday I ran (hiked slowly is more accurate) South Boulder Peak. My best for the roundtrip is around 1h35m. I did 1h52m, feeling just dead, heavy, and slow. My coach (Sheri) told me to take the next day off. So Thursday, I didn't do squat. Today I just wanted to get in some exercise to end the year right. I felt more motivated at the trailhead and decided to go pretty hard. I hit my first split at 8:09 - a very good start. I was at 14:20 when I hit the service road. My PR to here is 13:20, but anything under 15 is good. I crossed the creek at 21:53 and knew I was now in a battle for a sub-40 time. This is a good and bad position to be in. Good because any time you get a chance to break 40 it is a fast day. Bad because it meant 18 more minutes of suffering. I dream of a day when I can go under 40 on a semi-comfortable tempo run, but I've never achieved it.

I had screws in my shoes, but the ice was very infrequent. When there was ice it was super hard ice, but there wasn't much. I was able to push things pretty well on the descent and got to the Mesa Trail at 34:56. It is usually 5 very hard minutes to the finish from here and I didn't slack off, running it in 4:42, and finishing in 39:38, which is maybe my best time of the year! Thanks, coach...


- posted by Bill Wright @ Friday, December 31, 2004

 
SBP Free Once Again!

This morning at 6:30 a.m. an army of one succeeded in liberating South Boulder Peak from the clutches of deep, untracked snow. Though only one was on the final assault, the beachheads were pounded yesterday by the advance team of Matson and HC. I followed their path for the first 50 minutes and then the going got tougher, but there was still a track (though not that recent) that led to the saddle between SBP and Bear Peak. From here on, it was virgin territory and clearly had not been trod upon since the storm last Sunday and Monday. It amazes me that SBP can go this long before someone (usually me) finally makes the assault and frees the summit. From the saddle up the snow was always mid-calf and sometimes over my knees. It was difficult to find the trail, in fact, as it was for the first folks lower down in Shadow Canyon. In the Canyon, I fixed some of the meanderings and corrected some of my own mistakes on the top section, when I headed down. The completely covered talus at the top was the crux, of course. Not wanting to bash my shins like I usually do, I picked my way very slowly and carefully here, up and down. I summitted in 1h21m. My best time is under 53 minutes for this 2800-foot climb.

Going in tights, but no gaiters, proved challenging on my feet given the 20 degree temperatures at the bottom and probably 10 degrees at the summit. Snow was packed into my new running shoes (wear testing for Nike again) and frozen solid. Twice I had to stop and chip it out of my shoe, as it restricted my forward ankle lean. This run felt like I was soaking my feet in the Boulder Creek, though not wet they were nicely chilled.

Coming down I still had a chance to break two hours, but didn't take the risks required for that time. I reversed my path until the Homestead junction and then took that back to the parking lot, as I usually do when I do this as an out-and-back. I finished in 2h10m (I came down in about the time it takes Kraig to go up). I didn't go that hard, running slowly to the mouth of Shadow and then just hiking, but I was pretty worked over nonetheless. The good news is that there wasn't much ice out there - there is still too much snow. It will get worse, ice-wise, but for now SBP is free!

This roundtrip can go under 1h30m. I've just 40 minutes to trim off...

Bill
- posted by Bill Wright @ Friday, December 03, 2004