Hiking and the rest of the week

Since I haven't updated in a week, this will probably be a little of everything.

I guess I'll start with the weekend since it's fresh in my mind. Saturday I slept in until 9:30 which is really late for me, but was really needed! I haven't been sleeping well for various reasons and I guess Saturday morning seemed to be a good morning to catch up. I took my time getting out for a run and had a good 80 min run from the house to some trails. For the last few years longer runs I tend to feel worse as they go along, but this felt better the second half. I guess since I'm running more than 1-3 times a week and my body is accustomed to running, I actually warm up and feel good after 40 mins to an hour instead of ready to stop. The weather changes very quickly here. Maybe because it's fall or because it's close to the mountains, I'm not sure. One minute I was overheating, regretting the decision to run midday, the next the wind was blowing and the sky clouded over and it was sprinkling and I was covered with goosebumps. It turned out to be a very good encouraging run.

Adam and I wanted to go up near Boulder on Saturday for a hike, but he went for a group ride that ended up lasting until 2 and the weather was a bit iffy, so we decided to go Sunday instead. Adam's uncle called and invited us up to his friends house where he was staying just off of Deer Creek (where I biked last week), so we decided to go up there and see him and do a hike up there on the property. We got to see some amazing views of Denver, Chatfield Park and the whole surrounding area. It would be pretty amazing to live up there if it wasn't so far away from everything. Maybe if I didn't have to work. Living at 10,000 feet would probably be good for an athlete. We had fun but I got a little nauseous on the drive down--so many switch backs!

We went hiking on Sunday up near Boulder. A hike called Bear Peak. It was under an hours drive to get there and I was hoping to do the hike and have energy to take care of several errands after I got home. I underestimated how long it would take and how exhausted I would be.

We hiked up to the peak to either the right or the left of the "Devils Thumb" (that thing sticking up in the middle of the picture there) It looks far away...and it was.
This is the Devil's Thumb closer up.

We started off the hike and immediately two ambulances pulled up the trail behind us. It turned out way up the trail (which we passed an hour or two later) a girl fell on some rocks and hit her nose. At least it seemed that way, she had a bandage/brace on her nose. I felt good to start and the trail wasn't too tough for the first hour or so. Every once in a while we would look back and we could see better and better views. Cooper and Frito were full of energy. They love hiking
Cooper would run ahead and look back at us like "Come on guys! What are you waiting for!" After several hours, he was dragging way behind us :) Typical Coopy.

To start, Adam tied Frito to him. Once we got further up the trail to the rocks he was given his freedom to scramble on the rocks.
I felt pretty good at the start and had a big smile on my face.

There were photos from the rest of the hike but there were some technical difficulties with uploading them, so I will probably post some of my favorites from them at another time.

I did a good job of hydrating early and often and had a gluten free, rice free, everything free cookie that we bought at a gas station before the hike. You can tell you are in boulder when you can buy locally made gluten free treats at the gas station. But I ate the cookie at the beginning and decided I was going to eat a snack when I got to the top. Which I didn't realize was so far away. When we got to the tougher hiking section with the boulders and at higher altitude I was really not doing well. I was moving slow, huffing and puffing. I was cold, then hot. I was not having fun and I was enjoying the beauty of the hike, but really just wanted to be done.

Once I wised up and realized I needed to eat something because the peak was much further away than I thought, I felt much better. My legs still hurt, but I wasn't ready to curl up under a rock and sleep. I started moving faster and once we got up to the top the vies of the mountains to the west covered in snow, and the cites to the east were amazing. It was a nice accomplishment to get up there, but so tough! We didn't stay too long at the top. It was windy and cold and Frito was shaking.

Going down was faster, but it was still painful and it was a long time. Total of 4.5 hours and I was very cold. A White Hot Chocolate from Starbucks was in order!

I am so sore today. Definitely a beautiful hike, but I should have ate more, ate earlier, had a few more warm clothes and been in better hiking shape (or done a shorter hike).


The rest of the week training wise was mostly running. I felt really good running and overdid it on Thursday with strength training and ended up with a serious knot in my left hamstring that is still lingering and only got worse from the weekend's endeavours. I swam once, by myself in the warmer pool at the closer rec center. Warm pools make me sleepy. I decided at the beginning of the week that I was 95% sure that I wanted to race the rock and roll half marathon in phoenix in January and starting today would be a 12 week training block for it, so I let last week be pretty flexible with what I did. Going for a massive tiring hike the day before my training started probably wasn't the best idea, but at least the plan started with a rest day.

Adam rode with me Thursday from the house over to Chatfield State Park and to the start of the climb up Deer Creek. It was nice to know that it was so close (2.5 miles or so) and that most of it was on bike trail or low traffic roads in the park or roads with bike lanes. The busy road on the way there we skipped on the way back and explored to find a longer but lower traffic route. So now I know how to get to some good road routes from the house on my own which makes me feel a lot better. I don't like driving places to go cycling so it makes me feel better knowing where I am going now and knowing I have good cycling so close by.

Lot's of running ahead this week and some swimming too.