I managed to get up the incline a total of four times before we headed off to Vegas. Since then I hadn't really done anything aside from the Alex Hoag Run. That was until Sunday. The crazy bastard at work who talked me into signing up for the Ascent, Bucky, makes regular training runs on or around Barr Trail. He asked me to meet up with him Sunday morning to get some hill training in. I reluctantly obliged. Hills suck and I hate them. However, the 13 mile race that I'm signed up for in August just so happens to be straight up a hill. Oops!
We met at the Cog Railway Depot at 8am on Sunday and decided to go over to Ute Pass Trail instead of fight traffic on Barr. I hadn't been on Ute Pass before and was excited to see what it offered. The first 3 miles consists of two intense climbs back to back and then some rolling hills at the end before reaching the intersection with Long's Ranch Road.
I had worked in the yard on Saturday and made every effort not to bend at my hips to preserve my hamstrings and glutes for the hills on Sunday, but they were already sore when I woke up. It didn't take long for them to catch fire as right around the first bend in the trail is an insanely steep climb up to the Manitou Water Works station. I put in a good quarter mile of slow jog before having to slow it down and power hike the rest. Bucky and Josh waited for me at the top and we hit a nice little downhill before beginning another long climb. Again, they waited for me at the top. Yes, I'm slow. Once I caught up again, I had pretty much lost feeling in my legs so I was actually able to run for sustained periods without the burn. We ran to the Long's Ranch intersection and Bucky continued on, while Josh and I turned around and headed back.
The trail does gain a little over 1000ft vertically in those 3 miles, but there are still plenty of uphill sections on the way back down. Again, with little to no sensation in my legs, I set it on cruise control and motored down the hill. Even on the uphill sections, I was able to maintain a run up most of them and felt pretty good. It was a nice 6 miler to break me into hardcore hill training. I was still able to get out and play 18 holes yesterday afternoon and shot a 94, thank you very much. I'm quite positive that even a 6 mile run/hike would not have been possible back in March, and 18 holes of golf after that would have been laughable.
Definitely gonna put Ute Pass Trail on my regular routine from here on out.
alex hoag run for sunshine
Fast forward another month and it was time for another 5k. Can you see a pattern here? I'm trying to run at least one a month leading up to the ascent. It helps to keep me on task instead of losing focus during the months between registration and the actual race. This race was a bit more flat than the race at UCCS. I had just gotten back from Vegas the week prior where I had done some not so kind things to my body (who needs sleep?), but was finally feeling back to 100% when May 12th rolled around. It was much warmer than last month's race. Temps were mid 60s at 8:30 when the race started. The course started at the entry to Skysox Stadium and headed south down Tutt Blvd. We crossed over N. Carefree, past Springs Ranch GC, and made the turn right around where Staples is. We headed back up Tutt to the stadium and entered the stadium on the first base foul line, ran around the warning track and finished in front of the third base dugout. That was a cool little touch. I crossed with a time of 37:13. No hills makes a big difference.
uccs bash the bluffs
I've finished a couple more 5K races since the last time I posted.
Back in April, I signed up for the UCCS Bash the Bluffs 5K. This was my first hill exposure and it sucked. It was an out and back course with a downhill out (wow, that was easy) and uphill back (are you kidding me?!). If you are familiar with the campus, it started by the UC, went up to the police station and then followed the road behind the campus all the way down past the new dorms and onto Stanton Rd to the edge of the housing development. From there it turned around and followed the same route back to the UC. It was barely above freezing when we started, but felt like it was about 65 when we were done. It wasn't. It took about a half hour hanging outside after the race before I could actually tell it was still 45 degrees outside. Anyway, I finished in 42:31. A little slower than the St Pat's race, but not bad for fighting hills the first time.
UCCS also had the coolest shirt that I've received by far. Most races give out cotton T's to participants. UCCS handed us "limited edition" polyester blend performance shirts. The kind that wick moisture away from your body whne your running. Nice! Last thing I needed was another T-shirt.
Back in April, I signed up for the UCCS Bash the Bluffs 5K. This was my first hill exposure and it sucked. It was an out and back course with a downhill out (wow, that was easy) and uphill back (are you kidding me?!). If you are familiar with the campus, it started by the UC, went up to the police station and then followed the road behind the campus all the way down past the new dorms and onto Stanton Rd to the edge of the housing development. From there it turned around and followed the same route back to the UC. It was barely above freezing when we started, but felt like it was about 65 when we were done. It wasn't. It took about a half hour hanging outside after the race before I could actually tell it was still 45 degrees outside. Anyway, I finished in 42:31. A little slower than the St Pat's race, but not bad for fighting hills the first time.
UCCS also had the coolest shirt that I've received by far. Most races give out cotton T's to participants. UCCS handed us "limited edition" polyester blend performance shirts. The kind that wick moisture away from your body whne your running. Nice! Last thing I needed was another T-shirt.
