Running in Colorado Springs

Yesterday was my last day in a HUGE slice of paradise, and I was lucky to need to do a 2 hour run. The photos were taken with my phone, which I forgot I had brought with me, so they aren't great, but good enough for being out on the trail.

The place I ran is called the Santa Fe trail. You can pick it up in boat loads of places, but I started from the office.

Let me back up a bit. Last week, since I wasn't going to bring a bike with me on the COS trip, I biked a whole lot, and I "only" ran about 28 miles total, including FOUR brick runs. My schedule for this week called for swimming Monday-Thursday and running Monday-Friday (and I've got one more run tomorrow, a brick, of course!).

Since I ran last Saturday and Sunday, this meant I would be running 7 days running! And not easy running, at that.

My Thursday evening "run" was a quad buster. I was supposed to meet a group at the base of Pike's Peak, run 30' tempo and then go up this thing called The Incline. Well, traffic in Manitou Springs and on I25 were a bit worse than predicted, so I arrived late to meet the people I was supposed to meet. However, there was another group of runners at the base waiting to go up, and since I was there to run, I chatted with them to figure out what they were doing and decided to join up from the rear. The objective was to run up for 30' and then down. Needless to say, as soon as you begin you are going up, up. I did run for a bit, but then it turned into a really fast hike. It didn't bother me, because I'd done something similar before--climbing the stairs of the John Hancock building. So it really didn't feel that bad to me, plus, I passed 3 people! They had asked if this was my first time on this trail, and I told them not only that, but my first time in this area ever, and that I was from Chicago. They told me I was doing great, and truthfully, I felt fine. When we were all about 30' up, they told me to mark how far I had gone, and I told them I had no idea when I'd be back and that I'd just have to start over! Anyway, I asked where was The Incline, and they pointed it out to me. OH.....MY....GOD!!! It was even steeper than where we just climbed, and it looked like someone had strewn railroad ties, rocks and asssorted rubble. I made an executive decision not to do it, because while I would have no trouble (except the usual) going up, my knees would not like the down part, particularly my left knee which has no ACL and is therefore not too stable. So I picked my way down on the trail I went up on (the Barr Trail), and let some of the runners fly by me. And I mean FLY. They were running and jumping over boulders, limbs and such. Of course, they must do this regularly in order to take it so fast! On the way down, I could feel my quads getting a bit upset at the effort, and when I got to base, I still had to walk downhill to my car, which sucked, let me tell you!

My quads didn't feel too badly yesterday morning. My biggest concern for yesterday's run was whether I had acclimated a bit more to the altitude. It seemed during the week that every other day I would feel crappy running. Since I had felt great Thursday night, I had a slight concern.

However, all concerns for my long run were erased when I woke up yesterday morning and looked out my hotel window at Pike's Peak while listening to the local weather forecast. It was almost 50 at 5:30AM with a scheduled high in the lower 70's and clear skies. Perfect! I stretched a bit, loaded up my bottles and went to my car.

As soon as I started the car, who should fly out from underneath it but a HUGE magpie? I tell you, those birds are magical! He/she mosied into a small tree next to my car where I could see the full, up close, size of the bird. They are nearly as big as a large chicken! Beautiful! I knew that once again, this was an omen that I was about to have a great experience.

I drove to the office, grinning all the while since I'd be parking there before 7:00AM not to work, but to RUN. I had the heat on in the car during the short drive, because there was a chill in the air. As I got outside, I could feel the chill, but knew that I would warm up quickly.

I started running easily, and I felt great. I wondered if there would still be flowing water in the tunnel, which is about .6 miles in. Yep! There's this short tunnel you run through to get to the main trail, and when it rains heavily, you probably can't even run through it, which is why I didn't use the trail on Monday. There was maybe 1/2" of flowing water in the tunnel, and I happily dance-splashed my way through it to the other side. Right after the tunnel there's a good sized hill to climb. No matter! One thing I learned on this trip is that I'm a pretty good climber--running or biking.

I must've begun the run yesterday with a huge grin on my face that never left the entire time!

The trail runs more or less parallel to the mountains, and parts of it are on the Air Force Academy grounds, so no matter when you are out during the day, you will see a glider being towed for practice or going solo, parachutists and assorted airplanes that I am not sure what they are. Yesterday I also saw a BNSF train, which made me laugh, since that line owns the commuter trains in my hometown of Downers Grove.

I also saw a Western Oriole, several magpies, goldfinches, red-tailed hawks and assorted bugs.

With all the running I'd done during the week and a revved metabolism from being at altitude, my body had been processing food pretty quickly, so I (gross filter on) had to poop twice and pee three times during my 2 hours out there yesterday (gross filter off).

I was on my way back in maybe :40 from finishing when I realized I had my phone with the camera with me, and serendipitously, a woman was running the opposite direction, so me being the un-shy person that I am, I asked her to take a picture. She shot the one of me. She didn't zoom it (click on it--it's halfway decent when viewed full size), but I am sure you can tell I have a huge smile on my face! My quads were already burning by that point, but no matter. I had started the run wearing a singlet which I removed right before the picture was taken. I definitely got my brown on during the run! How nice to be able to get a suntan before 10:00AM!

I managed to run about dead-on 10:00mpm for the run, which considering how hilly it was and the altitude and the fact that it was my 7th day straight of serious running, I couldn't complain!

As I neared the office to finish, I got all choked up. Not because of the effort, although my quads were telling me it had been great--but because of the beauty around me and that I was so fortunate to have been in it. Again, the stinky camera phone pictures don't do it justice, but you get the idea.

When I got back to my hotel, I immediately drank 3 8-oz. glasses of water plus my Endurox R4, so about 40 oz. total of fluids. My body just soaked it up, and then I quickly showered and headed to the airport, where I had to beg someone to let me cut into line to get some food!

So, from last Saturday through yesterday, I ran 7 days in a row like this:

• Sat: :40 brick off of 4:30 ride, ran slightly slower than tempo pace , moderate hills
• Sun: :40 brick off of 3:00 ride, ran slightly slower than tempo pace, moderate hills
• Mon: 1 hour easy (sucky, first day at altitude), averaged about 9:50/mile on treadmill
• Tues: 1 hour moderate on Santa Fe trail heading out south at lunchtime (felt great), averaged about 9:40/mile, hilly
• Weds: 1 hour moderate on Santa Fe trail heading out north after work (felt crappy), averaged about 9:20/mile, moderately hilly
• Thurs: 1 hour, up and down Pike's Peak to officially initiate quad busting! Um....WAY hilly.
• Fri: 2 hours LARGE, on Santa Fe trail heading out south, hilly

That's a lot of running, and the only one that was totally flat was the one treadmill run! It came to about 47 miles in 7 days. As I sit here writing this, my quads are aching--almost like I had run a marathon. But it feels great, and I'm glad to be back in the land of FLATNESS AND OXYGEN!!! I have to go ride 4 hours today, and it's gorgeous here back at the ranch--the trees leafed out while I was away. But I'll be riding out with a tailwind and back with a headwind. We shall see how my quads hold up today--I will back off on the intensity as necessary, plus I find I don't ride well the day after a long run, although 2 hours isn't really that long.

I already have a message from a realtor that my boss referred me to in COS, and I'll call him early next week just to get the lay of the land. I can definitely see myself living there, but for right now, I have some races to get ready for, and a lot of OXYGEN to soak into my lungs. It will be interesting to see if I get a fitness boost from the prior week, but thankfully, no running today--tomorrow I'm back at it with a brick run.

Have a FANTASTIC weekend--I know I will!