It's been a lot of road running

But I knew that. I actually planned to do all my long runs in these past 2 weeks locally, without venturing into the mountains. I couldn't stand plowing through the snow, spending so much of my weekends out there - beautiful, yes, absolutely, yet leaving me with no time to tend to things normal people tend to when they have a break from work. In the past 7 years of my "whatever chronic fatigue" thing, it's been bad enough I worked through all weekends, even if I didn't commit to long runs. This sudden "I am training for an ultra, again" threw me off that nice zone I entered once we moved to CO and I got a 4-day work week. So, last 2 weeks barely saw any elevation gain in my weekly mileage, besides Incline - because, of course, I never drop my weekly Incline.

Which is not to say Colorado Springs had its favorite bipolar stretch.  On the 16th the Incline was clear and warm, but my God, the Barr trail was chewed up with snow-thaw-freeze-people cycle! Took me forever to get down.

I went through the week doing the usual street runs, and on Friday, for my planned 24 miles, went road-running towards and around Garden of the Gods. I forgot when I was there last time, so it was a nice venture out of the routine, and boy, what beautiful place it is! We are so incredibly spoiled. We watched some documentary, and apparently it (Garden of the Gods) draws the most people as an attraction in US! Or at least it did in some year that movie was made. The nature is the best museum of them all, and we have a top notch display. 

It was really nice to be done by 10:30 am (with a mere 1,600 ft of gain) and have a day to myself, while Larry was finishing work! Nothing fancy, a car wash, a donation to a local mission center of some clothes, a grocery shopping, and then an afternoon spent with our best neighbors and friends. Seems that once the weather establishes sunshine and we're on the porch, we attract visitors. Gotta love community!

Saturday Larry and I both popped another long(er) run, he made a 15.5 mile circle, while I stuck with Greenway hike and bike for 17 miles, all before breakfast. We committed the rest of the weekend to house chores - well, my darling husband did, I was mostly lounging in the sun with some knitting and some reading, while he trimmed our historical apple tree, and spent all of Sunday painting our living room. It was the last inside space (on the main floor) to be painted, so done and moving on other projects!  

You guessed it, Monday came...with a foot of freshly dumped, very wet snow. It was, again, my turn to shovel, which is what I did after my slow run. My right hamstring was getting really aggravated with the increase in running miles, and I shuffled in a wet snow in pain, contemplating my next step about it.

Didn't mean I was going to drop my leg workouts...but at least I began researching local physical therapy places. That said a lot, knowing myself. While I can keep going ok if I decide to pop some Ibuprofen before the long run (like I did on Saturday, made me almost fly, literally those 17 miles were the fastest run of the week), I don't like abusing it, definitely not daily, so those painful shuffles are getting on my nerves, not to mention make me very anxious about all my upcoming adventures. On Tuesday, even downhill on Barr trail after the Incline was a torture - and, by the way, Incline outdid itself in snow department, the whole way up there were no steps, just one big steep snowed in climb, while the down was a trenched up snow-path. Number 14 this year is done.

On Tuesday, I reached out to PT at my gym. He's sort of on staff there, part-owner. While I was doing my workout, I saw him from the corner of my eye and figured, better than nothing, it's a start. He pretty much did something close to deep tissue massage, utilizing his fists and some wooden tool, digging into my hamstrings and glut/piriformis group. I felt somewhat better, enough to not be super-focused on the pain during Wednesday and Thursday street runs.

Friday brought a 25 miles run. Since I wasn't going to the mountains, and didn't want to repeat my road circle with Garden of the Gods, I utilized my client/friend's suggestion of checking out a dirt path Santa Fe trail on the north side of Colorado Springs, stretching for 14 miles and connecting it to Monument, our next town up North. Thanks, Melody, for writing a great blog about local hikes and brews! Of course, I wasn't driving to the start of it, and according to her blog and the maps (and local knowledge) I was aware I can connect to it from the house, taking Pikes Greenway, that very hike and bike path I run as my second long run of the weekend. Both Greenway and Santa Fe trail run by a creek (at least as far North as I went), crossing over it numerous times on wooden bridges. I never ventured far North on Greenway before, sticking to mid-town section of dirt and packed gravel. It apparently later turns into a paved path for about 5 miles along some city roads and parks, while still maintaining a side dirt path to use if one wants to relieve effects of pounding (which I did). So much new territory to explore! I only went about 3 miles on official Santa Fe trail with all my pre-Greenway miles and side trips, but definitely want to return. The views didn't suck either! 

Friday also marked the day I finally got my butt to a PT office. After all the research, I came to learn none of the (respected, highly rated) PT places accept my insurance. It's all out of pocket for me. Lots of anxiety follows that as I hardly ever want to even pay co-pay for myself. Like, I don't deserve this kind of money spent on my body. Alas, I needed help, and I was desperate. I picked the office with a combination of the highest rating/closest/best cash option/friendliest front desk. My first visit was mostly evaluation, and then dry needling. It was my first experience with dry needling, basically an acupuncture with electric stim, and all my clients swear by it's help, while saying it's extremely painful. To me, it was neither, but it's a start. We're hoping to get more into tissue manipulation (Graston/ART style) to break my muscle scar tissue knots from old injuries and general lots of running at the future appointments, though between my job and their schedule, apparently I can't get in for 10 days. Boo. In the interim, I will do my best to continue with foam roller I started this week (fingers crossed) and get some "normal" electric stim treatment at my own chiropractor's office (pro-bono, thank you very much - got my first one on Thursday). I am doing something, and that in itself is already a lot.

Saturday came with the decision to make our final ski trip for the season. It's been amazing season for us, we didn't even think we'd hit the slopes 14 times (and the Nordic tracks another 6) so much this winter! We're not truly skiers in a big meaning of it, just all-season outdoorsy humans. Saturday was just perfect for our goodbye. We drove to Leadville, and as we were pulling up for a traditional cup of coffee prior the day, the rainbow around the rising sun circled the sky. It was truly magical, and a prediction of a great day ahead. As always, nearly first chair on the lift, we headed to the back of the mountain - basically no people for the first 2 hrs, maybe 50 total on the whole Cooper! There was a few inches of fresh powder overnight, and most of it wasn't even groomed. What a treat for our last day on the slopes! 

We zoomed for a few runs, enjoying the play, and then Larry proposed to get to the REAL backside - one served by a T-bar instead of a chair lift and showcasing double-diamond runs. He was eager to check it out for a couple of years now, so I tenderly agreed...um, yeah, about that. I haven't been that close to tears since my double-diamond in VT back over 20 years ago. Huge moguls on a narrow steep slope between the trees. No, I wasn't particularly fearful of dying (although the thought of breaking my skis certainly crossed my mind more than once). I was overwhelmed with a feeling of full incompetence, and I hate that feeling. To me, downhill skiing is for fun, speed in the air, gravity and some skill helping you to have a good time in a perfect place. I am not the one looking for the next challenge, and while I am definitely advancing slowly, I allow it to happen automatically, without forcing things - and I really never care to show off some crazy stuff I pretend to know how to do. Thanks, no thanks. But here I was, no other way down, swearing, focusing, sweating, and hating every moment of it. 

I didn't fall. Neither did Larry (who wasn't enjoying it much either, though getting small stretches under his skis a little faster and a bit more gracious than me). I snapped at the bottom, saying if he wants to be "all that", don't include me in it. Went straight to a T-bar, and while rode it up, and then took a normal "black" down, cooled off. Apologized on the lift. What did I do once off the lift? Offered to explore another one of those double-diamonds on the backside...

Knowing it'll suck was half the battle. I also wanted a different attitude. So, we got about half-way down, then took a deep snow line across between the trees, got to the very last drop, and slowly made it to the bottom. Not any prettier, but at least without hate. That matters. With that, it was a well deserved lunch break, right at the tope of the slope where all the lifts come crossing, with a view and smiles on our faces. Glad we put THAT behind!

After a quick break, we put a handful more runs on the blacks and blues in the powder, and enjoyed a long front side downhill. All in all, it was an amazing ending to a downhill skiing this winter. And only at Cooper can you ski straight to your car!

While it was 1 pm, our day skiing wasn't over. We planned it BIG! 20 min later we were at the Mt. Massive Nordic center, putting our cross-country skis on and going our for our favorite loop, one last time as well. Since we're here, might as well wrap up all the skiing! The day was simply gorgeous, Mt. Massive stood, well, massive, and while we were definitely tired (and the snow was a bit slushy and slow), we quietly made our way around the lake, without complains, and even with some smiles. Thank you, Colorado, for giving us year-round access to great outdoors!

With that, time to put all the winter gear away. Well, at least all that is ski-related. We're ready for some dirt, and other ways to spend our weekends! I went through the full season without a single fall on the downhill skiing, though I fell twice while Nordic skiing. Go figure. But no injuries!

Sunday wasn't anything worth putting a picture of. I went for a local run, doing my second long-ish for the week, all of 18 miles, right on Greenway near downtown, looping around on a dirt path until my brain swelled up. I am lucky that I can shut down the boredom and just do the thing that needs to be done. We're also fortunate to have so many urban trails and paths in this city! Not even a fraction is used by us yet, future exploring ahead. Mission accomplished, 80 miles is my biggest weekly mileage this year - and probably will stay as that. While a puny 4k of elevation gain (over half of which is Incline Tuesday), it is still a good week of pushing some boundaries, and still surviving.

I will leave you here with a close-to-my-heart picture of Pikes Peak from the West side (returning from our ski trip, once it appears, it always signals "home"), and an article/post of someone I have been following since their beginning, whether financial advice or life's stories. Lots of good nuggets!