Big Weekend

This past weekend ended up being quite the weekend with a lot of different things going on but two large back to back runs were the primary focus on the weekend.  Everything else will just have to sort itself out in it's own time.

Saturday's route.

Anyway... Saturday I drove down to Alvarado Campground just southwest of Westcliffe and I ran the Venable-Comanche loop, 2.3 times... This was a favorite place for me back in the 90's and I used to backpack there on weekends and fish.  I laughed as I remembered that in 1993 it would take us three days to do the whole loop.  I did two loops last weekend (including goofing off time) in eight hours and thirty minutes which is really cool since I am 20 years older.  

The trail up Venable is relentless.  It starts going up the moment you leave the parking lot and it doesn't let up until you are six miles and top out at 12,800 after traversing the Phantom Terrace.  Phantom terrace did two things to me on Saturday.  It reminded me that I am still not comfortable with long drops and exposure anymore and after going across it twice I was dead certain I didn't have the balls for a third crossing.

The trail meanders a bit on the west side of the Sangre range before dropping down east again past Comanche Lake.  Running the loop in a counterclockwise direction seems to be the best choice just by the nature of the trails.  Comanche smooths out towards the bottom and is more runnable than the Venable side either up or down. 

After two loops I was done.  After adding another hour or so on top of all of that up Venable and down I was REALLY DONE!

Saturday's fun squiggly lines.

Sunday morning at home was rough. I had no idea how I was going to get another run in that day.  I woke up, took a shower, went back to bed, got back up, ate breakfast, worked on getting things  unpacked from the day before but mostly just killed time waiting for my legs to feel a little better.  I had decided on my route from the house (Sonderman, down Fontanero, through GOG, Red Rocks, Section 16, Inteman, Ute Pass Trail, then head back and finish up in downtown Manitou.)  I had the route I just needed the nudge to get out the door.  Melissa and Annie were going to see a movie  in the afternoon so I waited until they left before I took off right after I did some creative/preventative foot taping for insurance. 

It was hot.  Everything felt shot.  I just mentally coaxed myself through the first five miles telling myself if I could do that then I could make the next fifteen or so.  In the end it wasn't a bad run.  From a strength standpoint it was an awesome run since it was packed on top of the fatigue and every thing else from Saturday.  It was also super-sweet knowing that I had today (Monday) as a rest day.

Sunday's sting.

Today I feel beat up but getting in that kind of time, mileage and vertical done over a two day period goes a long way in building my confidence for the LT100 run in four weeks. Overall, this weekend was a good investment but I still can't believe that Leadman is going to all be over in less than four weeks.  This might have been my last BIG volume weekend of training.  Wow.

It was all worth it to be able to look at this scenery all day on Saturday.  Definitely worth it.