Barr Trail

My coach mentioned that he lived in Colorado Springs for a while and suggested Barr Trail. I have to say that the Barr Trail remains to this day the hardest single day physical endurance thing I have done.

I lived in the Denver area for 4 years in the late 90’s I was active with hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter. I did a few 5k’s and 10k’s too, but that was not my priority at the time.

I had hiked several other  14'ers (14,000 foot mountains) in Colorado and my friend and I decided to do Pikes Peak via Barr Trail. Barr trail is a 25 mile long out and back trail that goes from the base in Manitou Springs to the top of Pikes Peak with a 7000+ foot elevation gain. Some people take the option of riding the train down from the top, or catching a ride. We chose to hike up and down.

A long day even with as in shape as a couple of mid-20's guys. It was always a death march for me above 13,000 feet. Take 6 steps, catch my breath, repeat until you get to the top. Of course this was made worse after 11 miles and 6k vertical already done by that point. I remember passing a woman who was wearing helium balloons because she was doing the hike on her 40th birthday. Finally after reaching the summit, I remember running back down the trail to get back below the tree line as a thunderstorm was about to roll through.

One thing I learned in my 4 years living in Colorado is that they take their endurance sports to a whole 'nother level. With the pikes peak marathon up Barr trail, to the Leadville 100, to the triple bypass 100+ mile bike over 3 mountain passes, it is kinda crazy out there.

Maybe someday I will surpass that Barr trail hike effort with a half or full ironman, but it remains a very strong memory even 20 years later.

Work Trip Run

I walked outside the hotel in the morning to clear blue skies, 60 degree temps but actually a bit of humidity which surprised me. But a glance to the west and my view was filled with beautiful Pikes Peak. I had scoped out a run using google maps from my hotel to the south end of the sand creek trail and back. Google said 2.3 miles but it turned out to be 2 miles exactly. All downhill for the first 2 miles and all uphill on the way back.

The sand creek trail is a beautiful, quiet and a nice multi-use path. I only saw a few people while out on my run this morning. As I got close to the end of the trail, I came across a homeless encampment. I was not expecting to see that. The residents waved as I ran by and soon after I had to turn around and return as the path ended.

I was definitely not feeling it today. Humidity, altitude, hills, all conspiring against me. But here I was exercising twice on a quick 2-day work trip. My suitcase was half full of exercise gear! That’s not something that I have ever really done in the past.

Work Trip Swim

I had a business trip to Colorado Springs today, so after flying in and grabbing a salad for lunch I had time for a quick swim before a dinner meeting. There was a YMCA not far from the airport and my hotel so I stopped in there. It took a bit to get through the check in process but soon I was in the pool. This Y had a 5 lane lap pool and then a big separate play area pool. There were a few water walkers and there were swim tests going on for day campers in one the lanes too. After discussing with the lifeguard I snagged the middle lane.

The water was definitely warmer than I am used to. I had the lane to myself through my warm up before being joined by a woman. We simply split the lane and did our workouts. She was not a flip turn kind of person so I was able to do flip turns except when she was at the end of the pool which as timing worked out about once every 200 yards.

So Colorado Springs is at roughly 6000 feet of elevation. I haven't exercised at elevation in 20 years and I forgot how much it really does affect you. So my times were a bit slower than I would normally be swimming by probably 5-8s/100. That was probably a combination of the warm water and the altitude.

The run tomorrow will be interesting.

Hilly Bike

My training plan today called for finding some hills. So I asked around for some advice and a few people recommended riding through Jay Cooke State Park to Veterans Overlook and back again. A quick Google search showed that was about 22 miles which seemed perfect for what I had to do.

So after my swim class this morning, I ate my bagel in the car on the drive down to Carlton. The first mile of my ride was on the Munger trail until I hit Hwy 210 which continued through the state park.

It was a beautiful ride through dense trees, paralleling a river on a brand new road. But the HILLS!

It was mostly downhill for the first 40% of the ride and some of those hills were STEEP. I was pretty scared going down those hills with the turns and such and I was riding my brakes most of the time. One particularly long steep downhill I was sure I was going to have to walk my bike back up it.

So after the first 9 miles of mostly downhill, then it was a nearly 2 mile climb to the overlook. By far the longest continuous climb I have done. I had a brief stop at the overlook to snap a couple of pictures then back down the hill to the bottom and to begin the long climb back to my car.

I spent most of the next 9 miles in my small gear but I never had to walk my bike. Never even came close actually. It was hard work with power requirements that reminded me of the threshold workouts on the trainer that I hate.

Made it back to my car, laid in the grass in the sunshine and just relaxed a bit.

Dare I say it was a "fun" ride?

Lake Superior Swim

There were a few people who were getting together for a swim this morning in Lake Superior. So I met them there at 730am. It was a nice morning, right around 60 degrees, but the wind was starting to pick up a bit at the lake.

The lake was cold, but once in it with my wetsuit it wasn't too bad. Two people just stayed close, and me and another guy swam about a mile in the water. It was interesting going up and down in the waves and trying to time your breathing.

Zwift

So I was all set to do a 35 mile bike ride today outside on the lake shore, but mother nature conspired against me. The entire state was covered with rain and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon. Forecast said 6pm.

So that meant I had to put the bike on the trainer. Someone had recommended that I try a program called Zwift. Zwift is an online program that allows you to ride virtually with others. You can do easy rides or intense rides. So I created an account, put in my height and weight, connected it via bluetooth to my smart trainer and I was off and riding.

You get a cool little dude on a bike, you can wave to people, say hi etc. The whole thing seemed pretty accurate. At the power I was putting out, I average about 20mph in the real world and thats exactly what it had me doing in the virtual world. It was mostly flat with a few small hills along the way to keep things interesting.

So I expect I will be doing a bit more of this as time goes on. It is a nice distraction.

Humidity

It doesn't get very hot or humid here in Duluth very often. It makes it a great place to live in the summer most of the time. However, I had to get my run in this morning and the weather was gross. Temperature was 66, dew point was 65, so 96% humidity. There was a slight breeze which helped some because I don't run fast enough to create my own breeze.

Overall the run went well. I felt fine, I was well hydrated before I set out for my 5 mile run. I didn't break any records on this run, but I got it done. Oddly I spent a lot of my run trying to imagine feeling this good in two weeks at my next race. My first step towards visualization?