Overdid it! Winter Games and more.

This past weekend I didn't do much, because the weekend before I may have overdone it.  As I wrote in my last post, I was feeling very tired after the Nighthawk race on the 6th.  So I bailed on my workout the morning of the 7th and focused on the Teva Winter Games 10K snowshoe race at Vail, which was on the 8th.

Going in, I figured the course would be "easier" than the 10K I did at Ski Cooper in January.  It would be run completely on groomers.  No trekking thru snow.  No running thru the woods, jumping over logs, being smacked by branches.  However, I didn't know how hard the uphills would be.

Did a few laps at Keystone Friday morning and then headed to Vail.  Race started at 5:30.  So there was still a decent amount of light at the start line.


Start.  I'm in red between guy in blue and gal (918) in gray.

There was a little bit of pushing and shoving at the start, as I was trying not to trip over other people's snowshoes.  Quickly it became apparent who was winning this race.  A group of 3 guys formed a pack that pulled away quickly. Those 3 guys, eventual winner Josiah Middaugh, a multiple XTerra triathlon winner, Jason Delaney, last year's Pike's Peak Ascent winner, and Sage Canaday, winner of the Mt Washington Road Race.  A pretty stout group of guys. Not going to compete with that group.

But another group of 4 or 5 formed and I moved around them into 4th.  On the first climb, I was paced by eventual female winner, Hannah Williams and another guy.  I kept them in sight for the next mile.  The first 1.5 miles of the course weren't too bad.  Then it got interesting.

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The climb up to the Riva catwalk was rough. It was a power hike.  That's when 4th and 5th got away from me and another gal passed me.  The calves were screaming.  I was able to recapture 6th on the downhill along Mill Creek Rd.  Then hit the bear of a climb going up the Bear Tree run.  This went straight up the ski slope.  But I found a good rhythm and power hike this well.  By the turn off of Lindsey's Way onto Lion's Way, I had done a good job of putting distance between myself and 6th place.  I also knew it was mostly downhill from here.  And now it was completely dark. 

The descent down to the Vail Village Catwalk was pretty steep in sections.  It's amazing how a blue intermediate run feels relaxed on skis, but downright frightful on snowshoes.  You are just trying not to catch your front claw on the downhill and go tumbling. 

Along the catwalk, I had a moment to take in Vail Village below me, twinkling in the night.  With no one around, it was very peaceful and quiet.  A slight uphill after the 5 mile mark and then downhill to the finish.  6th overall, 2nd in my age group, with a time of 55:13.  Luckily this wasn't a true 10K, but more like 5.25 miles.  I was glad for the shorter race.

The following two days, I would get in over 60 000 vertical feet of skiing at Beaver Creek.  Which including my day at Ski Cooper put me over 300 000 feet for the season.

This all ended up taking a toll on my body.  The following Monday on my easy run, I felt a bit of tightness in my groin.  A few feet later, that tightness became a pull and my run was done. 

A massage from Jean Pierce on Thursday showed how tight my adductors had gotten.  A trip to Heather North at In Motion Rehabilitation was in order for Friday.  My achilles was starting to get a little sore and tender and I knew would need some work, so figured good time to get that taken care of and get the groin strain worked on.  She really worked the muscle over and then did some dry needling.  Neither was a very pleasant experience.  Then the same thing on the achilles, which is just the most painful thing I have to deal with.

But come Sunday, I felt remarkably better.  A few more days of running are in order to ensure all is well.  Plus have ski trip on tap for Jackson Hole.   So a little downtime from running won't be so bad.

So Tired ....

This past Sunday I felt great on the BTC run.  Relaxed.  Comfortable.  And would have pushed the last few miles if Brisco hadn't started to lag behind.  I had the thought, "I think I might be getting into some decent training shape."

Tonight I am reconsidering that thought.  Maybe it's the consistent workouts over the past few weeks, the skiing, or more likely too many stouts at Southern Sun, but I really felt tired today.  As I rode the bus up to Eldora for week 3 of the Nighthawk series, I took a little nap.  Lunch at the Southern Sun was sitting heavy in my stomach.  Upon arriving to a calm, warm Eldora, I didn't have much hop to my step.

I did a good 10-15 min warmup.  But it didn't help.  I still felt really tired.  Once again the start of the snowshoe race would be uphill.  About two steps into the race, I didn't care.  I had no desire to run hard, to hurt, to be the least bit competitive.  3 guys pulled away, including Shawn who had edged me out last week.  The course was the same as last week, but run in the opposite direction.  On the downhill half way thru the first lap, I caught 3rd place.  Maybe I would be a bit competitive.  50 meters later on an uphill, he pulled away, with ease.  I didn't care.

So the 2nd lap, I ran, slowly, by myself.  Afterwards, I didn't do any cool down. There are times when you listen to your body.  Mine is tired.  So I am watching this week's episode of The Americans on FX (my replacement now that American Horror Story has wrapped up for the year.), then go to bed.  Tomorrow is another day.

Nighthawk results

Friday Night Lites and Darks - Asher Brewing Company

So last Friday, our Happy Hour run started at Asher Brewing Company in Gunbarrel.  Asher claims to be the first all organic brewer in Colorado.  This isn't all that important to me, but is a nice touch.  What is even better is that I discovered the bus stop 10 feet from my front door puts me on a bus that drops me off about 20 feet from Asher's front door.  (and in the fall, about 1/4 mile from Avery).  This was the most significant find of the evening.

The run is actually quite nice.  (course map.) It runs around the Twin Lakes and picks up on a couple of other trails north of Gunbarrel.   It is one of my more favorite Friday runs from a brewery.  I hadn't done this run in awhile, and it showed as Andrew and I ended up missing a turn and running the loop clockwise instead of our normal counter-clockwise fashion.  It was a pleasant evening and a relaxed run.

Asher is located in a light industrial park.  That would suggest the ambience wouldn't be that great.  But that couldn't be further from the truth.   In the summer, it is a great place to sit outside and drink a few brews.  They have a number of chairs and tables out front and they will spill out into the parking lot.   But there are a couple of trees along the parking lot in front of the building, so it doesn't feel like your sitting in a parking lot.

Inside, even though it was originally built as office space, they have done a good job with the taproom. It isn't anything fancy, but it has the neighborhood, corner bar feel.  You just feel comfortable when you walk in the door.  Like this is home.  There is a back room with corn hole and pinball.  And they will have live music regularly.  While Asher has no food service, on the weekend there will be food trucks parked out front.  And they all are quite good.

Tonight I started with their stout.  Early in the day, I had kicked-off Stout Month at the Southern Sun with a couple of stouts for lunch.  My co-workers treated me for my birthday.  Stout Month will be a whole other blog entry.  But let me say the River North Belgian Stout was fantastic.  5 Tail wags for that one.  So coming off that, Asher had a big act to follow.  And maybe it was too much to ask, but the stout wasn't exciting.  3 Tail Wags.  No harm, though.  I sorta knew this wasn't a good idea.

Beer number 2, however, was great.  In partnership with the now opened Fate Brewing, they have brewed Cocoa Punk 'N Porter.   A good nutty flavor, with hints of cocoa.  4.25 Tail wags.  A really nice beer.  I wasn't planning it, but a birthday beer was bought, so I ended up with a Green Bullet I.P.A.  I haven't been drinking IPA's lately, but wanted something different.  Asher makes a good, hoppy IPA.  Solid 4 tail wags on this one.

Then it was back to Southern Sun to meet some out of town friends.  One more stout and this was turning into a late night.  A 5:30am alarm was beckoning.  A day at Vail on the slopes was on tap tomorrow for my birthday.  Gotta get up early to beat the traffic.  So I called it a night and headed home.

The morning wake up was rough, but it was worth it as Vail finally had some snow.  Lines were typical Vail size, but it didn't matter.  Bluebird day, soft snow, I'll deal with the longer waits.

Lines forming early at Lift #5, out of Sun Up Bowl.

Asher's ratings :
Food : N/A (But generally have good food trucks on weekends)
Beer : 4 Tail Wags (Their IPAs are solid.  The Porter was outstanding.  The stout fell a bit short)
Service : 3.5 Tail Wags (Just a couple of gals behind the bar.  Previously it seemed like they would be more interested in chatting with someone sitting at the bar, but lately been more attentive and serving you right away.
Ambience : 4 Tail Wags (while in a light industrial park, it really has a cozy, comfortable, neighborhood bar feel)

Overall Rating : 3.8 Tail Wags