I'm Only Human!

Training for Everest continues on a daily basis with two workouts on most days except on weekends where the efforts are usually more intense.  On a Saturday in the beginning of February, we decided to investigate a loop that we believed existed on Forest Service roads off the Fall River Road.

As it turned out, we had perfect conditions for snowshoeing.  Less than 6 inches of new snow with firmer stuff underneath.  There were no human tracks on the entire route which was a rarity for accessible routes in Colorado. We had about five hundred acres to ourselves from the looks of it.

After a half mile or so, we came across tracks from two Moose!  What a great surprise this was and the dogs were going completely crazy.  Based on the track condition, it looked like they came through the night before.

The stride on these animals is pretty impressive as you can see.  The size of their hooves is surprising up close.  Once you soak this all in, you also remember that Moose are not friendly and can be quite territorial.  We're thankful they've moved on and left only tracks for us to see.

Further up the trail, it became obvious that many forest animals were out the night before and earlier that morning.  We saw tracks from Fox, Rabbits, Squirrels and little mice or moles.

It really was a nice day to be outdoors training.  The weather was cloudy and threatening but never amounted to much.  At the high point of our loop we had some wind, but nothing like many of our recent hikes/climbs.

We managed to traverse a small ridge and enter a familiar drainage where the route back down was familiar to us.  The loop existed and was exactly what we were looking for!

 We will hereafter refer to this route as Moose Loop!  It's now one of our favorite snowshoe routes and we were fortunate to have it all to ourselves.  Stats: 4.5 miles, 1,061 ft elevation gain, 10,880 ft max elevation, 58# pack weight.  All in all, a great day!

The next day was Sunday and the pressure was off for a hard training day after Moose Loop.  I slept in, roamed around the house for a bit then decided to run the mountain loop where we live.  You've seen it before but for review, it looks like this

Okay two loops, one with each dog and my obligations for the day are over!  Mocha is first of-course because I want Tessa to pull me on the second round.  Well, for some reason my legs weren't feeling too bad from the day before and my lungs were working great.  At the high point of the second loop I decided to make the third loop just like last time. 

This is a classic training technique for me - commit to something reasonable, knowing full well that the stakes will change once the suffering has commenced.  So here I was, charging downhill towards the end of the second loop having ideas about turning in a world record for the triple loop run.  Tessa was ejected at the house and back out I went for #3.

The first 3/4 mile is downhill and I was an Olympic athlete showing my speed on snow covered mountain roads.  As soon as I turned the corner and started up the 1.25 mile long uphill stretch, the picture looked a little different.  Just breathe and keep a rhythm in the stride.  Watch out for the ice and don't get bit by the 5# mean dog at the little house on the left.  Pass the junkyard house and focus hard on the ridiculously steep section leading up to the crest.  Try not to drool too much as the breathing ramps up for the last 100 steep yards. 

Okay, the road is flattening out and I'm not dead.  Just one more gradual hill and I'm at the top.  Stay on the hard snow, avoid more ice, focus on breathing and foot placement.  Hurray, I'm at the high point!  It's all downhill from here.  Since I'm not planning much for the rest of the day except a little wood splitting, why not crank up the speed for the last downhill I ask myself.  There's really no reason as long as I don't fall and break a leg.  The last half mile is a running, breathing, grunting and drooling show of effort which nobody sees thankfully.  I pull into the driveway, run up the hill and stop the watch.  Holy crap, a world record!  The Triple Loop run is about 7.64 miles, 1,912ft elevation gain with max elevation of 9,621 and I did it in 90 minutes, 34 seconds, knocking 3-1/2 minutes off last time.

After taking a shower and eating 1,500 calories or so, something happened to me:

Apparently I'm only human, just like the rest of you earthlings.  It was the first nap I've taken in more than a year but I couldn't resist it any more than I can resist the constant pull of gravity.

Training stats to date:
Total Miles Running, Climbing & Hiking - 320
Feet of Elevation Gain - 89,143
Mountaineering Work - 875,475 PFM-HR
Push-ups - 5,531
Sit-ups - 7,660
Weightlifting - 29 Hours