back on barr

The weekend after we climbed Pikes, I was ready to get firmly back into the groove.  I skipped the Incline during the week to be fully rested for the run up to Barr the following Saturday.  Josh had a wedding to go to up in Northern CO, so I was going it alone this week.

I was up at 4:30ish on Saturday morning and out of the house a little after 5am.  I stopped at the store for a couple of gel packs and a banana to eat on the way over.  I was on the trailhead a couple of minutes after 6am and headed for Barr Camp.  I brought my watch along this time since I wanted to take some time off from last month's run.  I got about a mile up and realized that I forgot to bring any cash with me to get a Gatorade or extra water at camp.  I started working the consumption rates in my head and almost talked myself into turning back at No Name Creek, but decided to stick with the plan.

I got up past No Name and into the "Hansel and Gretel" forest feeling great and was excited about the prospect of getting to Barr Camp under 2 hours.  I found the energy to run a good chunk of the flats in the forest.  I guess I didn't realize I hadn't come as far as I thought and kept waiting and waiting for the "1/2 miles to Barr" sign to show itself.  I finally found it right at 2 hours and started the push up the longest half mile in the world.  I got to camp in 2hr 11 minutes and was still pretty pleased since it was at least 10 minutes off my time a month earlier.

I ate a gel, talked with another guy training for the Ascent, and then headed back down.  I again ran most of the flats and moved quickly to the top of the 'Ws'.  I got a little past the Incline bailout and had to pull up with a nasty blister on my instep.  I had been having a bit of an athlete's foot flare-up and a particular inflamed area was right in my left instep.  The itching was gone, but there was still a nice little swolen dry patch when I started.  My shoes just happened to hit it right between the edge of the insole and the instep of the shoe and managed to rub a dime sized blister on the spot.  To make matters worse, my shirt was soaked and caused my nipple to chafe to the point of bleeding.  I looked down and saw it coming through my shirt and freaked!  I took the cutoff at the last W to take me down by the river for a change of scenery and to see what the first climbs of the race course were like.  That won't be fun going up on raceday!

All in all, it was a successful workout and I actually felt much better later in the day than I had after the last Barr roundtrip.