A Peek Inside the Ultra World

Breakfast is served

Kathleen was up early Saturday morning to get in a run before we headed out to Buffalo Creek for the North Fork 50.  She was able to get a nice 7 mile run in, while I took my time getting up and getting ready for the day.  She got chased by a doe on the trail, adding adventure to her run with graphic images of being trampled by her hooves!!  When she got back to the house, these guys were having a buffet in our Xeric garden.  We have been having more deer activity lately after several months of them not being around much.

Strawberry Jack Trail

After a nice drive up to the Pine Valley Ranch Open Space, it was time to get focused for pacing our friend Tim at the NF50.  He was able to pick up a pacer at mile 30.5 where the 50k runners split off for the finish and we would head out for a second loop of 19.5 miles.  Kathleen and I tried to stay in the shade at the trail junction as much as possible as it was already getting hot.

Preparing for the run

Game On!

Kathleen captured a great shot here!  Tim was just the second runner through the split - both 50 mile runners.  Uh-oh, the heat is on.  Literally.  It had already reached the low 80's by the time we headed out.  For some of you that is not much, but above 7000' with the overhead sun beating on you, it is a UV beat down.  The start of the second loop is also a repeat of the worst climb of the day where the race started.

Up, up, up they go...First set of switchbacks

In the photo above, Tim was giving me the run down:  "I have just spent 30 miles in a solid second place and I don't want to lose it."  As he was saying this, I was "force feeding" him the first round of mandatory food/salt intake.  He has some good stories about how I was nagging him and they are probably true - gotta keep him running, right?

At some point, about 4 miles into the second loop, I started to have some red flags.  Answers had changed to grunts and Tim was having some discomfort in his hips when we tried to start running after hiking the steeps.  Not good.  It is strange how your body can feel great one minute, and then things incrementally go haywire.  That is unfortunately what started to happen to Tim.  I felt bad because it was nothing I could help with. On top of physical issues, it was now in the low 90's.  By the time we hit mile 36 - 37, the goal changed to finishing the race.  The next 4 hours would be about making sure Tim stayed nourished (you can read all about that routine on his blog) and continued to move toward the finish.  As time ticked away, Kathleen was doing her own "pacing" - back and forth at the finish, worrying that one of us was on Flight for Life headed for Denver....

At the last aid stop, we ran into Ace, who had unfortunately missed the time cut.  I felt really bad for him as he headed down the trail back toward the finish.  At this point, I asked Tim if he could run the 2.8 mile descent to the finish and he was up for a try.  I let him run in front now so he could see what was left in the tank.   For everything that went wrong, for as bad as the conditions were, and for being in a really dark spot for quite a few miles, Tim really dug deep and drug himself to the finish.  He finished 6th and I was so proud when he ran through the chute to the applause of all the folks hanging out for post race festivities.  And it was a darn good thing we ran the descent - 7th place was 7 minutes behind us - whew!

I'll never run a 50 miler again!

That is a direct quote, repeated several times.  Two days removed, and some reflective time later, I had a nice chat with Tim.  "Maybe I'll look at Run Rabbit Run 50 mile in Steamboat in September - what do you think Steve?"  I don't know quite what the Ultra-bug is, but he has it.  I have not yet been infected, but I will say this:  there was a nice vibe hanging out with all the folks at the finish pavilion - lots of camaraderie and genuine good people enjoying their "scene".  It was great to be part of it for a day - Thanks Tim!

19.5 miles, 3500' climb, La Sportiva Wildcats and Drymax socks kept the feet happy.

Good Times!

Driving home through Woodland Park - Nice Pikes Peak view from the back side!

Sunday Recovery Run

More takers at the salad bar

After almost 5 hours in the baking sun on Saturday, we decided to get up early Sunday and run before the heat.  Not knowing what the legs would have after Saturday, we stayed close to home and ran at Ute Valley Park.  Mama and her playful little fawn were already making short work of our newest blooms....

Stopped by the arch

Group photo with that "Hill" in the background

It was a pretty non-spectacular run other than the fact that we both actually felt good, albeit a bit tired.  So we kept a little slower tempo and got a nice 10 miles in.  While we were out running UVP, there were a bunch of folks on "The Hill" - Pikes Peak that is, running the Barr Trail Mountain Race.  Lots of good stuff on their page and they have cool results with splits that show just how SLOW you are trudging up the mountain!  

Shoes - K Saucony Guide Trail

S - Asics Trabuco

Monday Ride

Ride day with HILLS for Kathleen on Monday

Happy Trails!

on the Comeback Trail...

On Monday morning, Tammy and I headed over to the Incline for a quickie climb and subsequent descent down Barr Trail.  I met Tammy through blog world around the Greenland race time.  As it turns out, we live only a few miles from each other.  How cool is that???!!!  I still wasn't feeling really stellar on Monday (but NEVER like to miss out on potential FUN) and have been hesitant about publishing anything about our outing - not wanting to jinx myself and have a relapse - LOL - until I was positive the sinus crud was gone, which I wasn't sure about until this past Thursday.  It's all good - the crud is gone so here is a short recap:

We headed out early and had been keeping our fingers crossed for a peak of sunshine, but alas, the sunshine proved elusive.  Here we are at the top of the Incline on a cool, cloudy-foggyish morning.  Tammy just completed her first 50k trail race in May and is now preparing for the Pikes Peak Ascent in August.  I am hoping to try to keep up with her on some of her training runs on the mountain between now and then!

It was a beautiful morning in spite of the cool and clouds - quiet with an aura of mystery.  I was thankful to have strapped my windbreaker on my pack at the last minute - the breeze felt a bit brisk on the way down and the jacket made things a bit more comfy.  Tammy and I each commented how lucky we are to live in this area with an endless array of beautiful trails to explore.  We finished off the morning with an obligatory stop for a mate' tea in Manitou. YUM!  We gabbed the whole morning and got to know each other a bit better.  Tammy is neat and I will look forward to future outings with her. It was a great way to kick off the new week!

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Training Day at Buffalo Creek

Our friend Tim is training for the North Fork 50 Mile race that is coming up in a few weeks.  He was wanting to get some more training out on the course, and since you don't have to twist our arms to get out on the trails at Buffalo Creek, we agreed to meet him there Saturday morning for a run.  Mind you, I have not run anything abundantly strenuous in a month and Kathleen was just coming off a heinous sinus outbreak, so we weren't sure what to expect.  We were starting at the Pine valley Ranch Open Space which is the race start area and we would get to see the remaining three trails in the Buffalo Creek area that we have never been on by bike or foot - cool.  After a very brief third of a mile warmup, the course gets right to business with an 1100' or so climb on the Buck Gulch Trail.  We then headed across the Skipper Trail and ran into several mountain bikers (we would see many on the day) as we made our way across to Strawberry Jack.  There was a group of gals on bikes and, much to Tim's horror, they commented on how colorful our outfits were!!! They were the first of several comments -  LOL.  Not again...

It was also here that a tremendous camera snafu occurred, thus leaving much of the said wardrobe documentation uncaptured.  I tried to catch a series of shots of Kathleen and Tim coming out of the forest on Skipper and inadvertently had switched the camera to video mode.  Oh well, as we continued on, it would seem all three of us were at times not having one of those blissful days on trail, where all the planets align and you run as if there were no gravity...  Not today.  So we headed down the Gashouse Gulch, one of our  favorite bike trails and looped over to Baldy.  Baldy is steep and it was starting to get really hot.  If you recall from past visits to Buffalo Creek, there have been several large fires and there are mass miles of trail that are very exposed.  Several periods of "power hiking" were in order on Baldy but by the time we rounded out the loop back to Gashouse, we knew that 4.5 miles of mostly descent awaited - and we needed it!

Captured a little video descending the Strawberry Jack Trail.  Mt. Evans is on the horizon, one of Colorado's Fourteeners and home to the highest paved road in the US.  They had a "little" event going on over there the same morning!

After the last outing with no photos of ME, Kathleen made sure to catch me coming off the descent of Strawberry Jack near the finish.  You can't tell from the photo, but I was tired of running at this point.  It was probably a good day for not having lots of photos, but it still was a very good run.  We finished just past 17 miles and 3000' of accumulated vertical.  Run profile is posted below. This was the hardest effort we have run in a month, so we were happy to survive it and still feel alive!  It was 86 degrees when we finished and we were baked.  So we hopped in the river for a cold soak and that helped us cool off and calm the muscles a bit.  Good times.  Always.

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail
S - LaSportiva Wildcat
T - LaSportiva Crosslite

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Sunday Recovery Run

Kathleen runs past our favorite local "bar"

Legs were most definitely feeling the 17 miler from yesterday, so we did a local run today - a little more "urban" than yesterday's.  we ran the dirt paths over Flying W road and around the front of Ute Valley Park for some easier spin.

Ute Valley

Cruising the front side of Ute, taking it easy...

Kathleen with Blodgett Peak in the background

We took it easy and did a nice 8 mile run.  We slept in and by the time we got out, it was nearing 80 again.  That may seem reasonable to some of you from warmer climes, however, you must factor in the we are 6800' closer to the sun and when it gets overhead, it is relentless.  It was a good week to get back at it a bit and hopefully, start building some consistent weeks again.  Happy Trails!

Shoes - K Asics 2150

S - New Balance 905

Perfect day at Buffalo Creek

With an awesome Colorado weather day on tap, we headed out to Buffalo Creek to introduce our friend Tim to the wonderful trails there.  He signed up for the North Fork 50 Mile there in July, so we volunteered to "tour guide" some of the trails.  Of course, there is no need to twist our arm to run Buffalo Creek - it has been one of our favorite places since we started mountain biking there 15 years ago.  Since it is almost an identical drive from Boulder and Colo. Springs, it was fairly easy to meet there for a run.  Our plan was to hit a nice loop with 14 to 16 miles for a good long trail run.

Kathleen climbing the Shinglemill Trail.

We started out on the Buffalo Creek dirt road for a warm up to the couple big climbs, then turned off onto Shinglemill for the first big effort of the run.  Shinglemill is quite exposed as much of it was burned in the '96 fire so you never, ever want to be climbing it mid day in the heat - been there, don't care to do it again.  There was a nice cool breeze but temps were already in the high 50's when we started and got near 70 by the time we finished.  You can't tell in the photo above, but it would be a rough day for the lovely Ms Kathleen.

Enough said...

Kathleen has been having some chronic GI tract issues for the last few months and it is really cutting into her recreational pursuits.  Despite having the Imodium IV on for the whole drive, it still put a bit of a damper on her day.  While the Imodium took care of the main "running" issue, the cramps and severe leg fatigue took it's toll.  She is a very good sport, so don't think I am making her the butt of the joke.  It's just gets frustrating when it acts up and we hope it is figured out soon.

My view of Tim Long most of the day.

We were able to get rolling pretty well, and despite Kathleen's struggle, she was a trooper and would not give up.  Springing off a good early season of training, Tim is definitely running quite well and pulled  away easily on most any climb.  He is preparing for the Miwok 100k in a few weeks so give him some encouragement if you stop by his blog.  We saw lots of bikes out today, which is the usual scenario at Buff Creek - we just don't see many runners there ... yet.  Hopefully the North Fork race will expose some of the Denver/CS area runners to this awesome venue.

Kathleen on the slickrock - Baldy Trail.

Now, Steve on the slickrock...

Guess what, Tim ran it too!

After the descent off the Morrison Creek trail and a short jaunt up Buffalo Creek road again, we hopped onto the Baldy Trail for the Big Climb.  The 1300' climb in 2.5 miles is not altogether abusive by Colorado  standards, however, the occasional ramps of 10 to 15 percent grade can really put a damper on the great, twisty singletrack that comprises Baldy.  Today it was manageable with the mild temps and we made pretty good time on the ascent.  After reaching the Gashouse Trail at 10.5 miles and the high point of 8075' elevation, there is quite a bit of descending on the return trip - WooHoo!  Aside from a couple rude, but short, climbs the final 6.5 miles were mostly going down, dropping 1300' and pounding on the quads a bit after a long day on the feet.  It was all good!

Group photo - Gashouse/Baldy intersection - still all smiles.

We finished up with 17 miles (Tim 19 due to a technical directional instruction malfunction - sorry!) and nearly 3000' of climbing on the day.  A new longest run on the books for Happy Trails, and coach Slavedriver Tim pushed us to run these trails more than a half minute per mile faster than our last trip!  We even "recovery" soaked our legs in the mountain stream for a bit - BRRRR!  It was a fantastic day and we finished with a nice tailgate picnic before heading home.  Good Times!

Shoes - K Asics 2150 Trail

S - La Sportiva Wildcat

End of Summer

Buffalo Creek Trails

With inclement weather in the forecast (and some rough family medical news during the week), we wanted to get some good trail time in this past weekend. We decided to hit the Buffalo Creek area Saturday and that meant a "mandatory" stop at the Donut Mill in Woodland Park on the way. The cinnamon roll needs no caption - it is hubcap sized!!! You have to earn that one!
We started out low, along Buffalo Creek, and then started to climb up Shinglemill trail. It starts in the trees ...
... and then out into one of the burn areas from the big fire in the late 90's. It was absolutely fabulous weather with bluebird skies and high 60's most of the run. Kathleen is nearing the top of the first big climb.

After cresting Shinglemill, we blazed down Morrison Creek trail.

Steve on one of the clearings on Morrison Creek - we really love this area!

Kathleen rounding one of the huge boulders on Charlie's Cutoff.

We climbed Baldy and were glad it was not any warmer. It is a steep climb and has a fair amount of exposure - not good on hot days. This is a huge slab of slickrock that you climb on the baldy ascent. It is good to reach this because it is almost to the summit - yeah!
We took Homestead over to Sandy Wash - this is the last climb! There were a couple bikes ahead of us but really not much traffic for such a great weather day. We saw maybe a dozen bikes and a few runners. After this climb, it is generally descending to the finish - nice!
One of the shady sections descending along the creek. Savor these - after the fires in this area, shade is at a premium.

Group photo on the Sandy Wash trail.

We have been scoping out some spots to do our cold soak in the creek - mountain stream water needs no ice! The toes were numb in about 2 minutes and we could only stand about 8 minutes total - quite refreshing! We had a great run - our longest ever - just a bit over 16 miles. It was a great day in the "low" mountains and we really enjoyed the day.

Shoes - K La Sportiva Wildcat
S Brooks Cascadia

More Sun and Fun at Ute Valley Park

A couple light dusted areas of snow on Pikes Peak ... and more to come. We were greeted to brilliant skies again Sunday morning at Ute Valley Park - our neighborhood trail running gem! We had a slight problem, though - we used up our "good" legs Saturday and were just plain tired! So we decided to roll with it, get in a short trail run, and then let the legs relax.

Kathleen cruises across the top of the bluffs at UVP.

Steve coming down through some of the sandstone maze on top of UVP. Look at those blue skies!
We ran down through the bottom of the park on our way out. Kathleen hops across the trickling stream - careful now, the moss is a bit slick! It was another awesome day but the legs only put up with about 7 miles. Still a great little run an a great way to top off the weekend trail runs.

Shoes - K Montrail Odyssey
S Asics Trabuco

The weather man was correct also - Monday we had snow - yes, that's right - snow and wind chill in the high 20's! Very cold last night, and rain today with more snow tonight. Don't feel too bad for us as we are supposed to be back in the 70's for the weekend, just in time for more Happy Trails!!

Buffalo Creek

Our original weekend plans had been to head up to Twin Lakes Friday night after work, catch a few winks in the Pilot, head into Aspen for a lope on the Government Trail, do some window shopping in downtown Aspen for the afternoon, head back over Independence Pass in the evening, get our zzz's overnight in the Pilot, again, do a scenic cruise along the shores of Turquoise Lake on Sunday morning, then head home. The weather forecast didn't look real stellar in the mountains for the weekend, so we decided to save our time, miles, and money for another time. Consequently, a change of plans . . .
We decided to head up to one of our all time favorite mountain bike areas - Buffalo Creek. This awesome network of trails is about an 80 minute drive from our house and is a mountain biker's paradise. We have thought it could potentially be a trail runner's paradise, also. With well over 50 miles of trail, the centerpiece for this gem is the Colorado Trail. Today we avoided the Colorado Trail proper due to its tendency to be a literal bike freeway on the weekends and stayed on the connecting trails to the north. We have done many epic 30 mile mountain bike rides here over the years - I think we may have even eeked out a 40 miler or two - and have been anxious to get a new look at the fabulous trails on foot. Today was our start.

***A little history, as you will see in the photos - This area has been scarred by several horrendous forest fires. The first major one was in '96 and nearly 12000 acres were burned across an 11 mile path. That was followed by mudslides that almost destroyed one of Denver's major watersheds. The area was also subject to fire in 2000 and again in 2002, when it was affected by the Hayman Fire - the largest in Colorado history. That fire burned 138,000 acres and 133 homes were lost. While it was spooky coming back to the charred forest after the fires, we now have an appreciation for the sometimes "lunar" landscape in parts of this area. It continues to be a wonderfully beautiful area in spite of the burn spots.
The first few miles are on a non-motorized two-track dirt road. Kathleen is enjoying the sound of the rushing Buffalo Creek. Most of the start is through a lush canyon. Parralleling the creek, the trees give way to this view below - showing the effects of the 1996 fire.
From the same photo vantage point above, Steve turned to snap the below pic of Kathleen at the start of the Gashouse/Baldy trail intersection. We get to head up the trail into the trees.

Steve cruising along the pristine Baldy Trail.

A shot of Kathleen a little farther up Baldy. Another burn area - notice the burn line up the hillside behind her.

Still climbing and back into the forest.

Slickrock, Baldy style. It looks flat but it is a fairly steep pitch.

Did we mention there are miles and miles of sinuous, flowing ribbons of pristine singletrack???!!!

. . . and more of the same with gorgeously blooming wildflowers. Trail eye candy!

A meadow along the Sandy Wash Trail.

Some of the lunar landscape singletrack. Still awesome.

Driving home with a view of the backside of Pikes Peak.

We ended the day with an awesome 14.5 mile loop. We had expected this area to be good trail running and we certainly weren't disappointed! We have been fortunate to mountain bike many areas over the years and are now having tons of fun re-exploring some of those areas on foot. Old trails are new again! Plus, we will be on the hunt for some new stash as well. Happy trails this week!

Shoes: S - Asics Gel Trabuco
K - Montrail Odyssey