Thursday, September 29, 2011

Go Green

Stopped by Green Mountain in Boulder on my way home (actually about the same amount of time for that detour than it would be for me to go to Horsetooth in Fort Collins) for my first timed attempt: 35:00 even for the "Front" route starting from the Gregory Canyon Parking Lot

Splits I remember:
6:26
12:06
19:26

Pretty happy with this as my only knowledge was that I wanted something below 40, and after a crappy 8x800 on Tuesday. The only bummer is I slowed slightly at the top when I saw hikers on the lower summit rock and I knew I was sub-35, thinking I was done and headed towards them, but then realized I had better scramble up to the actual summit which put me right at 35:00.

Otherwise, I figured "run at a 10k pace" and kept my effort accordingly, but plenty of power-hiking-to-run transitions which I somewhat enjoy for something different. I didn't feel like I was going to die like I do on Towers, but that's also because it was a baseline. Subsequent efforts will have to be harder. Cool to get an appreciation for those that run it way faster.

Great scenery, lots of red at the bottom especially, bear warning from Sep 17th. No camera, which I thought would guarantee a bear sighting, but didn't.

6 comments:

  1. Posted that time over here: http://georgezack.blogspot.com/2007/01/fkts-green-mountain-boulder-amp-saddle.html

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  2. That's a heck of a "baseline". Nice job.

    GZ saved me the trouble of mentioning his FKT page :)

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  3. Thanks guys!
    GZ: "HinteRberg"*, or just "MAH" -- thanks for keeping track!

    *Coincidentally, means "behind the hill" in German (hinter/hinder being cognates, and "berg" being mountain). Did my ancestors just hang out behind the mountain, or did they ever bother to go up or down?

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  4. cool, nice effort! I'll have to do an official attempt one of these days. Sorry I missed you last night; tapering for Blue Sky and needed to avoid the temptation to run too many miles!

    Hinterberg may be German for Underhill, indicating that your ancestors were Hobbits. Doesn't explain your height though.

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  5. Wow! Solid time for that route. That thing kills me every time...it always seems like a solid hikeathon for the first 1.2 miles until the junction of greenman, and then I'm already dead for the steep stuff near the top.

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  6. Thanks AK, I'll be back to try to improve before too much snow comes, it's still mostly hiking for me but I enjoy it.
    Can't wait to see how your personal marathon goes, that's a very cool idea and I agree with the frustration of $ and travel!

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