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Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 4:50 PM
Subject: Incline Club V4 TH #16 LR #35
Howdy ICers!
I would like to put in a couple of requests for the upcoming Barr Trail
Mountain Race on August 6.
1) We need gallon containers for the Incline Aid Station. The high school at
that station is going to hike up the needed water so please save your milk
containers and bring them to me any Thursday or Sunday. Um, please clean the
milk out of them;-)
2) If you are not running the race please consider being a volunteer! If you
are running the race perhaps someone in your family can help out? Each
volunteer will receive the exact same packet that the runners get! In
addition volunteers are also eligible for the random prize drawings and will
receive their own T-shirt. To see the current list of random drawings just
go to http://www.runpikespeak.com.
Lastly, If you want to run and have not signed up there are still about 55
spots left.
####
Thursday, July 20, 5:30 p.m. meet at Soda Springs Park.
10 repeats or 40 minutes of Hwy 24 bypass whichever comes first.
Sunday, July 23, 7 a.m. meet just past the Pikes Peak Toll Booth.
Elk Park Trail to Barr Camp then to the summit 2-4 hours.
Or
>From the bottom to the top from Soda Springs Park
####
Steve B writes:
Thanks for the info on “climbing” Manitou Peak and Rocky Mountain. They
sound like good day hikes for me to take my daughter on.
You missed Laila Hughes on the results for the Aspen Sky half marathon. She
was 13th female in 2:44.
Next report will be the results of Jonathan Cavner and my attempt in what we
believe will be a record eight 14ers in 24 hours cross country in the
Sawatch Range.
----
Steve follows up:
Starting from Highway 82 at 12:02 A.M. on Sunday we made it up La Plata,
Huron, Missouri, Belford, Oxford, and Harvard (6 of the 8 planned) and were
on schedule to complete them all, but a severe thunderstorm drove us off
Columbia (#7) around 6:30 P.M. 500 feet from the summit. We had to break for
treeline and it took us 4 more hours to hike 12-14 miles in the rain and
thunder and lightning. Didn’t get back to the car we had positioned on North
Cottonwood Road until 1100 P.M. utterly exhausted and very cold. This was
the hardest thing I’ve ever done. We did fine, but suffered a lot of pain. I
think I injured my iliol tibia band pretty severely. The pain is now
constant.
Bottom line is we know we can do it, so once the memory fades of the how
hard it was :-) we’ll get right on it! As it stands we tied the record set
by Jefferson Wagener for the most Colorado 14ers in 24 hours by foot.
Steve follows up with more:
I’m not sure the rules for the record, but we did it about as hard as one
can. Starting from highway 82 added 1,000 feet of ele. and one mile in
distance over starting south of the peak at the 4WD road near Winfield. We
started there for “aesthetic” reasons, meaning to do it like a true north to
south trek without retracing our steps. I suppose an even more aesthetic
journey would have been to go all the way to the Cottonwood Pass road after
topping Yale, rather than our plan to come down the east ridge, connecting
to the Colorado Trail and returning north to our 2nd car at the intersection
of the Colorado Trail and N. Cottonwood Creek Road. With no support, the
bailout options didn’t look good enough though. As it turns out I’m very
happy we kept our bailout vehicle as close as we did.
Our intent was to summit Yale before midnight thinking that would meet the
criteria of 8 summits in 24 hours. I don’t see what the point would be of
going down the last one within 24 hours. It strikes me as a great place to
just party down for a while! (I was so tired hiking out in the rain last
night that I fell asleep on my feet a couple of times)
####
Mike K writes:
I ran Mt Evans this weekend and it was a good running environment, cloudy
and cool. I started at 7:30am instead of 11:30am like the previous time, and
traffic was not a problem at all. I was out there by myself at 4 miles
thinking I was doing real good then all of a sudden I hear “clomp clomp,”
the sound of footsteps behind me. I whirl around and there is a runner
behind me coming up fast. As he passes me we exchange greetings and he asks
me if I’m doing this for fun or training. Since we are already above
treeline I couldn’t think fast enough to come up with a witty response to
the “fun” part. I mumble about Pikes Peak and he replies that he is also
training for that event. As he quickly motors away I inquire about his ETA
and he says 2:15 to 2:20. Damm! I think, that is my final target pace and he
is far faster than me. however, since this is only my second time up here I
still have 3 more training runs to improve. I end up making it the whole
14.5 miles to the top without stopping. I improved almost an hour over my
previous time (3:23 vs 4:19) I took your advice and ran up the trail to the
top. A bicyclist who came to the top told me that a unicyclist was making it
up the mountain! I did not see him on the way down so he must have stopped
somewhere and either turned around or got a ride (the temp by that time had
dropped below 40) But it must have been quite a sight...
####
Tom K and Keith G write:
Keith and Tom’s Most Excessive Adventure
(with some help from Laura)
The parking lot was already half full when we arrived at the Barr trailhead
at quarter to four early Sunday morning. The light rain pelting the
windshield of Keith’s truck only added to the nervous feeling you sometimes
have at the beginning of a big challenge. For today’s big challenge, we
planned to “run” about 50 miles on and around Pike’s Peak. So what would
motivate us to get our butt’s out the door so early on this Sunday morning,
sacrificing precious sleep? We had both signed up for the Leadville Trail
100 mile race (again?!?!) after previous aborted attempts to finish (we
haven’t failed yet, since we’re still trying). We are both determined to
finish this year, and this would be our last major training run prior to the
race only 5 weeks away.
Our training plan was this: to run up to Barr Camp, then from there up to
Elk Park, back down to Barr, up to the summit of Pikes Peak, back down to
Barr, back up to Elk Park one more time, then return to Manitou via Barr
Camp one last time. We figured this would be somewhere between 48 and 50
road miles, and expected that it would take us somewhere around 14 hours,
including rest stops (13 hours running time).
So, here we were passing up a perfect chance to steal a climb up the Incline
at this opportune hour, and instead heading up Barr trail at 3:58 am. Now,
training for and “running” ultra-distances (distances>26.2 miles) is
essentially an exercise in energy management, damage control, and mental
fortitude. Energy management comes in the form of even pacing — alternating
running and power hiking depending on terrain and effort — and energy intake
in the form of food and fluids (bugs count!). The damage control comes from
minimizing muscle damage through “smart” running (i.e. power hike the
up-hills, run, but don’t pound the downhills). The fortitude comes from
lacking enough sense to stop when you should have a long time ago. So we
pretty much power hiked the first part of Barr Trail, running on some of the
flatter parts. Almost as soon as we started, the rain stopped. So did
Keith’s flashlight. Fortunately, one was enough to get use through to the
daylight. As we climbed, the sky cleared, and we caught a glimpse of the
moon shining like a great spotlight as it set behind Pikes Peak. The only
other humans we saw were a couple of lone hikers making an early start up
“America’s Mountain.”
We arrived at Barr Camp around 5:45 am, and stopped only long enough to
refill water bottles for the first climb up to Elk Park (~12,000 ft). It
was light enough now to enjoy the scenery, and with some conversation, the
climb seemed to go quickly. We arrived at Elk Park around 7:15 am, took a
couple of breaths, a little something to eat, then turned around for the
first return trip to Barr. The drop of 2000 ft back down to Barr only took
around 1 hour as we were able to run most of this.
The climb up to the summit of the Peak was done mostly at a brisk power
walking pace, but we did manage to squeeze a little running in on the
flatter areas above A-frame — metering out our energy pretty evenly. Some
of the first Incline members who were starting from Elk Park on the “Sunday
run” passed us just a little below A-frame, and others would follow between
there and the top. The lingering clouds kept things cool and made for good
running. So far, so good.
We reached the summit in fine shape, feeling pretty good, at around 10:30am.
This was one of our planned rest stops where we would replenish our energy
stores (the vegetable soup was awesome), catch our breath, and hopefully
meet up with Laura who had started up from Elk Park with the rest of the
Incliners. She had generously agreed to carry up food and fluid
replacements in her car, now parked at Elk Park which would serve as our
second major rest stop of the run. Laura eventually showed up 15 or 20
minutes after we got to the summit, and before long, the three of use were
on our way back down.
The summit was the mid-point distance of our outing, and it felt good to be
feeling as good as we were at this point in our excessive adventure. We
were also feeling the positive effects that food has on your energy stores
in an endurance activity such as this. The run down began pleasantly, in a
cool fog and mist, and we again saw many familiar faces and experienced
those brief social encounters one has when engaged in training on the Peak
this time of year. About half way to A-frame though, the run became
wearisome as it start raining, lightly at first, but with gathering
intensity. We kept moving The rain soon gave way to hail, and then the
thunder and lightening moved in. We kept moving. Petty soon we were
running in a monsoon type downpour, lightening striking once or twice not
too far above us. All I could think about was the people we had passed on
their way up dressed only in jeans and cotton t-shirts, and my own previous
encounters with hypothermia. We kept moving. We were soaked by the time we
reached A-frame, the rain lightened up for a moment, and then it really cut
loose.
We kept moving, making our way down through the rivers and ponds now forming
on the trail, passing a few hikers and runners heading up (and people were
calling us crazy). We must have reached Barr Camp shortly after 12 noon and
it continued to rain, but showed signs of letting up. Again, we lingered at
Barr only long enough to replenish water bottles (like we really needed more
water at this point), and headed back up to Elk for the second time.
We ran more of this leg than we had earlier that morning as we were feeling
fairly strong, but interestingly it ended up taking us about the same amount
of time. By the time we got to Elk, at around 1:45pm, the rain had ended,
but some light cloud cover lingered keeping the air cool. We got to Laura’s
car and snacked on food and drinks she had carried up for us. We had packed
enough food to feed probably 3 or 4 Incline clubs (sorry, no beer), but only
a small part of it was necessary to get us back down the last 12 or 13
miles.
We left Elk Park at around 2:10pm feeling physically and psychologically
refreshed, knowing this was the last, and “easiest” part of the run — it was
mostly down hill from here. The only problem was, it was mostly down hill
from here, and we already had 35+ miles on our legs. Though the downhill
miles took their toll, mostly on the knees, we still made pretty good time.
The sun was now out, and we were now dry again.
We made only a quick, last water stop at Barr Camp, then we were “out of
there” for the last grind back to the trailhead we had started at in what
seemed, well, only days ago. It was a hard push, and over the last couple
of miles, another rain shower moved in, though not as severe as the previous
one. This actually felt good, and was a welcome alternative to the heat
that would normally greet us at this time of day.
We arrived back at the trail head around 4:30 PM, 12 .5 hours after we had
begun, 11.5 hours of that time being “time on our feet.” And we were
feeling pretty human, though probably in need of another shower. We
speculate that our faster than predicted time was due to the cooler than
expected weather. Though it could very well have had adverse consequences,
the weather today had turned into our ally.
As we stood in the Barr Trail parking lot under the Sunday afternoon
rainshine, we snapped a few pictures to record the completion of this
special experience. Keith talked with Laura who had driven back down from
Elk Park to meet us there, and politely ignored Tom’s suggestion to run down
to Soda Springs Park and back to insure we got in a complete 50 miles.
Whether the total distance was 48 miles, or 50 miles, we left feeling
confident of our chances at Leadville this year. We had accomplished our
goal in relatively good shape, and experienced many of the elements we can
expect at Leadville: long hours on our feet, running in the dark, rain,
altitude. In several ways, this run was tougher, with more vertical gain
than the Leadville course, and higher altitudes. Ah, but if Leadville were
really that easy, everyone would be doing it.
A special thanks to Laura L for not only “crewing” for us, but also being an
inspiration to us as it was her first time to ever run from Elk to the Top
and back to Elk. She helped to make this excessive adventure a success.
Thomas K.(Author)
Keith G. (Chief Editor)
####
Gary H writes:
I’ve found that small groups of runners (2-3) tend to get rides quickly,
especially if there is at least one woman. A single male runner can
have a much more difficult time, however. Once, we had a large group
that was doing well getting rides until we got down to 3 people. The
next car only had room for 2, so I ended up alone waiting to get a ride
... and waiting, ... and waiting!! I suggest that we try not to leave
anyone trying to hitch down by themselves, even if it means leaving some
space in an earlier ride unfilled.
My experience hitch-hiking while working summers in Yellowstone Park is
that carrying a cardboard sign that says “I have M&M’s!!” works very
well, too! Just be sure you actually HAVE M&M’s before trying this -
getting thrown out of a car on the PP Highway can be very dangerous!
####
Phyllis Dean writes:
Yes!!! Tom K everyone was on the edge of their seat waiting for your most
resent report of the club’s Probation Officer. As Tom K so elegantly
reported, I have been lucky enough to do some high altitude training the
last few weeks. I hope it pays dividends, by way of Ascent PR. I can not
confirm nor deny weather or not I was abducted by an alien in Telluride. I
wish I could confirm or deny the spaceship size but I can’t, as I was or was
not abducted to begin with. Additionally, I can not confirm nor deny an
emotional spell as I have no recollection of that mental state. I can report
that I, as yet, have had no experience breeding hybrid Probation Officers.
However, I can surmise that a faster higher jumping Probation Officer that
is not easily offended and has a good sense of humor would be an asset to
all community members. I do believe though that this particular hybrid would
most likely have a strong taste for pork products, not bird seed, and would
wash it all down with a beer or water. Of-course, once again, I can not
confirm nor deny this. Regardless of the validity of this rumor I am sure a
“Thong Offender” is beyond the scope of my duties and is without doubt a
“gross kind” and my sympathies go out to Keith G.
In all seriousness, Tom K like many has been putting in some tremendous
training time for the Leadville 100. This is your year Tom K and you could
not have a better support person then Laura L. Best wishes for a successful
race.
####
Tim A writes:
Just a few thoughts to share about the value of running as exercise. My
brother and his family have been visiting from Atlanta. Basically, little
bro’ is a slightly smaller, faster version of me, without the reflector on
top of his head. He has always been quicker than me, and decades of rugby
increased his sprinting speed to the point that he was competitive with
ex-major-college track guys. Given the beer, that says something. He also
eats right, although as a diabetic he is a little light on the carbs. At
any rate, we went on a short few runs, including a couple in Breckenridge
this past week. Not only could he not keep up on the slopes, but his heart
rate was way higher than mine even though I was running intervals and he was
mostly walking. We both tend to a weight problem of not weighing anything,
but even so my heart was clearly in much better condition than his. What I
am trying to say, is that even if running isn’t making you faster or as
skinny as you want, it still is helping you tremendously. Guys like Glen A
are going to be kicking butt for a long time!
####
WWW posts:
7/16/2000 35 of us one again spread out all over the mountain. But the crazy
run on the day went to Keith G and Tom K who did a 48 miler by running up to
Barr Camp, out Elk Park, back to Barr Camp, to the summit, back to Barr
Camp, back out to Elk Park, back to Barr Camp and finally down. They also
managed to picked a pretty stormy day to do their last big training run for
the Leadville 100. Most of us just started from Elk Park and headed over to
Barr Camp and then the summit but as always some started from the bottom. 9
of us worked on cleaning a very trashed out section of the mountain. We took
out 12 bags full of old rusted metal and 4 more railroad ties. To date the
Incline Club has put in 51 people hours on the top mile of the trail. We
focused on the top because it was obvious that a big storm was coming and it
did not disappoint. Rain, hail, snow and lighting had us out of there in a
hurry!
7/13/2000 38 enjoyed cooler temperatures on a tempo run from Hydro Street up
the Barr Trail for 30 minutes or to No Name Creek whichever came first.
Several blew by their marks from two weeks ago! Having the tempo run every
other week seems to help some remember not to go out too fast. The workout
was concluded with 10 Hydro Street hill repeats.
####
Go out hard, when it hurts speed up...
Matt Carpenter
http://www.skyrunner.com
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