Pikes Peak, Week 6

I hiked my first 14er in Colorado this week. Woo Hoo. It was great training but I was also pretty dizzy once I reach 13,000 feet. Talk about zombie.

The view from the Barr Trail on Pikes Peak

I tried to keep up with Roger from the start of the trailhead and lost him 30 minutes in. I made friends at mile 5 with Jim from Colorado Springs. He’s training for Rabbit Run 100. It was a good day of meeting new friends and hiking with old ones (not old people, ha).

The hike was arranged by Whitney and Kathleen and included many people from Grand County. The dinner before was fantastic and I asked Roger if he would pace me the first, hardest section of Leadville. He’s thinking about it. Once I get his okay, then all the planning will be just about finalized.

But let’s talk about Week 6

Monday – Recovery Day
Tuesday – Breakthrough trail run – 10 miles.
Wednesday – Off (I wasn’t feeling it. Didn’t bike either. An off training day)
Thursday – 5 miles
Friday – Travel to Colorado, Running at 5,500 in Littleton 4.5
Saturday – Running at 5,500 in Littleton, 3.5, walking around Colorado Springs, CO
Sunday – Pikes Peak and 2 extra miles at the end 26 miles
Total Miles: 49.1

It was a good week. However, from talking to runners training for the 100 mile run in Leadville, I’m feeling a little behind. I haven’t done hill repeats and I’m not doing speed work. I haven’t run much at night and I haven’t done loops on Kearsarge like I promised myself.

I have some work to do. I have 3 big training weeks coming up and 2 weeks of recovery. Hiking Pikes Peak really made me question my ability to finish Leadville. Although I felt good this morning after the Pikes Peak hike/run and ran 10 miles today. I just have to do the hard training days, do the weights and core work and just freaking do the hill repeats.

My problem is that I don’t enjoy the workouts. I just want to run and hike and explore. I want to see new places and push the limits of what I think I can do. Stupid hill repeats. I’m going to do them. I will.

Hills, I will destroy hills.

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