Triathlon Training Week 3

This has been a big week. It certainly helped that I didn't have to work and the weather was really nice. It's also comforting that I was able to almost triple the swim and bike race distances this week (typical tri guidelines are to triple the mileage of each discipline during a week of training once you get closer to the race). It's also great that I have a lot of friends (and my hubby!) that I can ride and hike with. I rode bikes with five different people this week and hiked/snowshoed with three. If I'm actually going to do the half Ironman, I'm going to need a lot of training buddies! Next week I get to cut back as it will be the fourth week (build for three, cut back the fourth).

Swim: 5200 yds (2.95 miles)
Bike: 133 miles
Run: 9 miles
Hike/snowshoe: 11 miles (1800' vertical)

Skunk Canyon to Royal Arch hike

Nice warm sunny day today! We rode bikes to Chautauqua and hiked to Skunk Canyon. The bottom of the canyon was still a bit snowy and we just had sneakers so we didn't want to go too far up -- plus there was a raptor closure farther west. A faint trail going steeply up the north side of the canyon took us up to some unknown Flatirons (we heard people climbing) and then up to a ridge. From the ridge we saw swarms of people around the Royal Arch to the North. We bushwhacked a few hundred meters across the valley to the bottom of the Royal Arch rock. That wasn't too tough, but once we were around the north side of the arch the terrain was steep and snowy. Finally made the trail and hiked it to the arch. About 5 miles round trip and 1400' gain in 3 hours.

Bear Peak

On Labor Day we hiked up Bear Peak with Pete and Heather and her dog Bailey. It was a fun day out (and not too much music teacher talk :)

This is the first time we'd been up on Bear since the fire earlier this year -- from the summit you could see how badly South Boulder Peak got burned.

USA Pro Challenge

The USA Pro Challenge is a multi-day cycling race in Colorado, covering nearly 700 miles and 42,000 vertical feet. We caught the second-to-last stage, which started in Golden, rode through Boulder, then up to Nederland and Lyons before finishing back in Boulder on Flagstaff Mountain.

Donna and Rachel joined us to ride downtown. Lots of people out on bikes, Pearl St. was closed off for blocks for a cycling expo -- it was a zoo!

We all watched and cheered as the riders zoomed down Spruce St. (There were as many support vehicles, cop cars and motorcycles as there were cyclists!) Then Laurel and I headed up to Chautauqua for a hike. We hiked up and over the First Flatiron to the Gregory trailhead and then headed up Flagstaff Rd a bit to watch the end of the race. There were a LOT of people, probably 10s of thousands of people on Flagstaff, some in costumes, lots of cowbells.

I want to believe

Aliens are invading Boulder. With lasers.

Scrambling around Seal Rock

We were going to hike up Fern Canyon to Bear Peak but got sidetracked by hiking up to the Harmon Cave area and exploring a bit. There were some climbers starting up Seal Rock. We headed off to the right to see what we could find -- perhaps a way up to the Fern Canyon trail.

Seal Rock's north face

We hiked to the south end of Poot Ridge (or Gnome Rock?) and scrambled up for a view before continuing up and southward.

The west side of Seal Rock was impressive. We continued past and ended up stuck somewhere around the East Ridge of the Nebel Horn. There may have been a way around but we were running out of time so we turned around and headed back.

west side of Seal Rock

Dinosaur Mountain

Laurel and I parked at NCAR and started towards the Mallory Cave trail, as we did 10 days ago. At that time the goal was to reach the Square and Babyhorn rocks -- an easy 2-mile round trip; today we continued past our previous turn around point up the steepening trail. Following the guidance of Gerry Roach's Flatirons Classics, our objective was to worm our way through the tiers of rock scattered on Dinosaur Mountain to its summit.

Not far into the hike a huge snake crossed the path between us. Either I unknowingly stepped right over it or it hadn't yet entered the path when I crossed. Laurel cried "S-S-S-NAKE!!!" and made a mighty leap back 20' off the trail. We let it slither through the grass before continuing on.

Shortly after hiking around behind Der Zerkle we left the main Mallory Cave trail and started up the even steeper climbers' access trail. It brought us to a junction where the trail broke left and right. We arbitrarily chose the right branch which led under the summit of another rock. The trail faded but there looked to be good scrambling around the northeast side of this rock.

We found an exposed traverse to the east face of the rock and attained a sub-summit perhaps 20' below the true summit. Those last 20' looked like a bad idea in sneakers with no rope so we were content to look out over Boulder from this perch.

summit of The Box

From the pictures and description in the Roach book we discovered we were sitting on a rock called The Box. To the west were Fi, Fo, Fum, and Dum, forming the third tier of north-south ridges of rock. Knowing our exact position helped, since the book described a scramble over the third tier just west of The Box.

Fi and Fo

Fum

Before attempting that scramble, however, we checked out the west-side sub-summit of The Box, where I knocked my noggin pretty hard on an overhanging rock blocked by my hat's visor. The scramble up this hunk of rock was described as class 3. Perhaps if I had rock shoes on I could agree with that assessment!

The scramble through the third tier was straightforward; it brought us to a steep hunk of rock that we suspected was the summit we were looking for, but we decided to explore around its backside to be sure. Around back we discovered it wasn't the summit; we also found a neat tabletop rock perched on two others, forming a tunnel. Then through the tunnel...

Dum's tunnel

... and atop the rock, which was a gigantic surface, perfect for laying in the sun. This rock was the summit block of Dum. Lunch.

Dinosaur Mountain's summit was just another few hundred feet west, and a pretty simple scramble. From the ground we couldn't tell which rock was the actual summit. Laurel found it first while I scrambled up a northern sub-summit.

Double-exposure of Laurel summiting Dinosaur Mountain

Dan summiting Dino Mtn

Incredible exposure to the west -- the summit looked down into the huge bowl below South Green Mountain that drains into Skunk Canyon.

After a short break in the shade we hiked down the Bowling Alley to a break in Dinosaur Mountain's summit ridge. Scrambling down the west side of the ridge brought us to a steep meadow that we followed all the way down to the Bear Creek trail. Along the way we found a few antlers and a praying mantis crawled around Laurel's pants.

We got back to NCAR 4.5 hours later, completing our 4.7 mile hike. Elevation gain was around 1700'.

Triathlon!

Today I competed in the Boulder Peak Triathlon. It was a weird, wet, humid day but the skies cleared enough for us not to be rained on during the race. This course was harder than the one I did last year, as the cycling portion went up over Olde Stage road (900' over 2 miles; steepest section was 600' in 2/3 of a mile or 15% grade).

I finished in 3:07:06---9:30 faster than last year, despite the much more challenging bike ride. I'm very happy, but very tired :-)

The Dome

Tim and I tried some climbing in Boulder Canyon today. He wanted to check out the Dome and Elephant Buttresses right outside of town, so I came along as his belayer. We carefully navigated the poison ivy along the access trails and made our way up to the left side of the Dome. Here, Tim led a 5.6/5.7 route---perhaps part of it was the classic "East Slab Route"---but it's always hard to tell whether one is exactly on route when it comes to trad climbing. We topped out in two pitches, managing to stay in the shade for the majority of the route.

I found the Dome Boulder while looking for a "lady's room," so we climbed around on that for a while. Some fun little routes and a good traverse problem.

Then we went over to the Elephant Buttresses (lots more poison ivy that I adeptly avoided!). Unfortunately, Tim wasn't up for more leading, but it was cool to check out the very accessible area. I think Dan and I could go back in a few months and check out some of the 5.6s over there.

Rather than calling the day super early, we scrambled a bit on Rock Island and then climbed some stuff back at the gym.

Triathlon Training

Last week of tough training done! Now it's time to taper. Woo hoo!

Bike: 78 miles
Run: 17 miles
Swim: 2.2 miles
Hike: 7.5 miles
Climb: 3:00
YAYOG week 4 complete!

Boulder Fire

Lightning struck back behind Bear and Green Mountains yesterday afternoon and sparked a fire. Smoke is billowing over the mountains down Dinosaur Mountain, NCAR, and the Shanahan Ridge neighborhood. The fire has engulfed 230 acres. It's really scary and sad to see the flames and smoke. Here are some pictures from the end of our street.

Yesterday:

Today:

(Dan): We walked to the end of the road a few times tonight to check out the flames. There are spots on the NE face of Bear Pk. and along the ridge to the south. While looking through a small monocular I saw a fairly large flame burst into existence along Bear's N or NW ridge and within a minute die down again -- I imagine it was a long-dead tree igniting.

Triathlon Training

So, the Boulder Peak Olympic-distance Triathlon is in three weeks. I signed up a week and a half ago. Though I "train" year-round, it is nice to have a clear goal for my workouts. Here are last week's totals:


hiking: 10 miles (3500')
cycling: 71 miles
swimming: 2.7 miles
running: 18 miles (2400')
climbing: 1:40
yayog: week 2 complete!

First Flatiron wandering

While Laurel was hiking a 14er I wandered around the 1st Flatiron, scrambled up around the backside of it to look out at town, then scrambled up a bit of the Sunset Flatironette to look out at the Indian Peaks and the smoke from the Ft. Collins wildfire, then over to the 2nd Flatiron where I scrambled to the summit of the South Block and enjoyed the views for a while.

Twelfth Night

We saw Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the outdoor theater on campus. Fun time!

Sanitas with JJ

On Saturday JJ and I hiked up Mount Sanitas. It was his first time up this iconic Boulder peak. It was a great day, just a little haze in the plains. He did great on the steep sections!

SoBo & Bear Take 2

After hiking Shadow Canyon up to South Boulder Peak and Bear last weekend, I decided to run it today It was very cloudy, but not raining at the trailhead. However, that changed the higher I got. In the canyon I was fairly protected from the rain. The dense trees kept the trail dry in spots and just damp in others. Once I got close to the summit of South Boulder, I could really feel the wind blowing and the rain was pelting me. Actually, when I looked more closely I noticed it was actually graupel that high up. After the quickest summit rest ever (I literally just turned around), I ran over to Bear. Again, the trail was fairly covered, but once I got out in the open is was awful. Nasty winds, rain, sleet...it was awful. I quickly scrambled up the ridge and turned right back. On the way down the rain seemed to be picking up. The sour weather wasn't deterring any hikers, though. There were tons of people coming up Shadow and the lower trails. Surprisingly, many of them were in cotton sweatshirts and jeans. That makes for a soggy day! Stats: 2:47:28 overall--Mesa to Shadow and back.

Hooter Lookers

For a few weeks each spring many people come to look at the owls that nest and roost in our neighborhood cottonwood tree.

SoBo and Bear with JJ

Today JJ, his friend from work, and I hiked up Shadow Canyon to summit both South Boulder and Bear Peaks. It was a pretty good day--a bit overcast, but the clouds parted a bit when we were on both summits. There were tons of flowers blooming on the trail, but otherwise an uneventful outing.

Betasso Preserve

Hiked Betasso.

President Obama

We saw President Obama's motorcade as he left the Boulder airport headed for a campaign speech at CU.