Flattop, Hallett, Otis, Andrews

In early August a couple friends invited me to go on this run:

But, as I was in Nicaragua, I couldn’t make it. After we returned to Colorado I went up to Rocky Mountain NP to try to complete the loop on my own. I had run/hiked the ascent of Flattop Mountain in July, so that was straightforward enough. From there things got slightly more complicated as the route deviated from well established trails and veered off onto barely distinguishable trails, boulders, and tundra.

Flattop Mountain Trail

Hallett Peak

Rocky

View from Hallett Peak

At the top of Hallett peak I met two guys from Boulder, Jay and Scott, who were there running, get this, the exact same route I had planned to do. Apparently they saw AJ’s video on YouTube and had the same idea as me. So the three of us headed off together.

Peak

VIRB0034.jpg

Silhouette

First we came to Otis Peak.

View from Otis Peak

Then we finally reached the sketchiest section of the entire sketchy route. This is the part I was a bit worried about doing on my own, so I was fortunate to run into Jay and Scott when I did. We glissaded down Andrews Glacier.

Andrews Glacier

Glissade

Andrews Glacier

Andrews Tarn

Andrews Glacier

Once we reached the lake at the bottom we had several somewhat technical downhill miles until we reached some busier trails near Bear Lake.

Descending

Andrews Creek

Trail

We took a brief detour to see Lake Haiyaha, which also had a good view of Hallett Peak and Otis Peak (where we were a few hours prior).

Lake Haiyaha looking up at Hallett Peak and Otis Peak

Descent

This was a great route. We hit three 12,000+ foot peaks (Flattop, Hallett, Otis) and glissaded down a glacier. I’d recommend checking it out, though probably not by yourself.

Peach Festival 5K

Last weekend I ran the Peach Festival 5K around the nearby CSU football stadium. I hadn’t yet run such a short, fast race since moving to Colorado. I was kind of curious just how fast I could run at this elevation if I tried. I’ve done very little speed training, instead focusing more on distance and ascent.

Starting line

Half mile

1.5 miles
Photo by Melissa

3 miles
Photo by Melissa

It went about as one might expect. I ran quite a bit slower than my last 5K in March, but not embarrassingly slow. My 17:46 was good for 7th place overall (out of 536) and 2nd old man (30-39 age group), which earned me a free peach pie.

Peach pie
Photo by Melissa

A long warmup and cool down gave me about 12 miles on the morning, and we followed that up with a fun time at the festival. Since nobody could tell us whether the pie was vegan we ended up giving it to the college kids who just moved in next door. They partied all night and may or may not have vomited it up at 6 AM the next morning.

Peach Festival

Bounce

Cliff hanger

Meli

July 2014

Running

Rob + Meli

I rested a bit more than usual both before and after the Mt. Werner Classic 50K, so July had fewer runs than May or June. I did pack in more distance and ascent per run, so maybe that counts for something. I had a bit of a disappointing race, but after taking a couple days off I bounced back and did my fastest training run since moving to Colorado (9 miles at 6:20 pace) and that lifted my spirits a bit. I’ve still got it (whatever it is).

Month Workouts Total Dist Avg Dist Total Ascent Avg Ascent
January 19 192.03 miles 10.11 miles 9620. feet 506.32 feet
February 19 227.4 miles 11.97 miles 12301. feet 647.42 feet
March 17 192.96 miles 11.35 miles 10819. feet 636.41 feet
April 15 155.2 miles 10.35 miles 10947. feet 729.8 feet
May 24 252.5 miles 10.52 miles 20364. feet 848.5 feet
June 21 224.51 miles 10.69 miles 33782. feet 1608.67 feet
July 17 191.69 miles 11.28 miles 33466. feet 1968.59 feet
Total 132 1436.29 miles 10.88 miles 131299. feet 994.69 feet

Running 2014 7


Cycling

Open streets

As has become the pattern for 2014, there’s not much here. Cyclocross season will soon be upon us and I’m not ready. Last year my running fitness barely carried me through cross season, but I’m only riding a fraction of the miles I did last year.

Month Workouts Total Dist Avg Dist Total Ascent Avg Ascent
January 4 64.74 miles 16.19 miles 1114. feet 278.5 feet
February 1 15.9 miles 15.9 miles 0. feet 0. feet
March 2 51.18 miles 25.59 miles 2115. feet 1057.5 feet
April 6 148.91 miles 24.82 miles 6250. feet 1041.67 feet
May 4 73.05 miles 18.26 miles 2810. feet 702.5 feet
June 4 70.06 miles 17.52 miles 4901. feet 1225.25 feet
July 4 62.47 miles 15.62 miles 2986. feet 746.5 feet
Total 25 486.31 miles 19.45 miles 20176. feet 807.04 feet

Cycling 2014 7