Rocky Mountain High

Well, it's been four days since I returned from Colorado, and I'm just now finding some time (albeit past my bedtime) to write a quick blog on the trip--hands down, the worst part about vacation is the prep work and recovery work that has to be done...it almost defeats the purpose of the vacation in the first place. But, I digress...

All in all, the trip was awesome--it was great hanging out with Vardo (and, more importantly, we discovered that we could successfully travel together without killing each other--that's not always the case with good friends, but thankfully, it worked out well). We arrived in Denver, met up at the airport, and walked outside to view the snow...it had snowed about 10" in Denver the Sunday and Monday before we arrived. We drove to Vail to stay with Vardo's brother and sister-in-law Tuesday night, but before we actually stopped in Vail, we went to a bike shop in Minturn--guess it says something about our priorities that we made that our first stop in Colorado. After staying with her brother and sister-in-law, we took off Wednesday morning for Estes Park...only to get sidelined at an outlet mall (we both stocked up at the Nike outlet) and Vardo's Mecca (aka the Coors Brewery). So...my visions of a quick little acclimation hike in the Rockies were soon drowning in barley and hops--but it's all good (and the tour was awesome, even for a dark beer drinker like me).

We made it to Estes early that evening--just in time to light a fire, have some ice cream, and read IM training programs. It was actually sort of comical--for probably the first time in either of our lives, the TV was off, there wasn't a radio to be found, and we were just reading our respective books, plans, etc.--didn't really even pause that much to talk. Still seemed like a great way to spend the evening though...

Thursday morning, we set off hiking after being greeted by elk right outside our deck--we did two hikes (Deer Mountain and Bear Lake-Dream Lake-Lake Haiyaha-Glacier Gorge-Bear Lake) for a total of ~13 miles, 2500 ft elevation change, and about 2700 calories burned (we were both uber-geeks and wore our heart rate monitors...go figure). Awesome scenery--the aspens were at the tail end of turning colors, so I got some great pics of the aspens along with my traditional mountain scenery-type pictures. The second hike was more technical than the first...which was all good until my left IT band starting acting up when we were about 4 miles and 1000 ft up from the car. Such is life...but I'm still sort of paying the price for that, so hopefully that settles out soon.

The best part of the day, though, happened when we were headed out of the park. We had seen several elk through the course of the day, but as we rounded the corner to leave the park, we came upon a bunch of cars and about 150 elk in the meadow. We got out to take pictures and just watch them for a while--we could hear them bugling and even saw two bucks in head-to-head combat. It was elk mating season--gotta admit it's a great time to visit the Rockies.

We were both pretty wiped after hiking, so we went to a Roehr family favorite restaurant for dinner and ate way too much...personally, I was drowning my guilt in food and drink--tragically, I hit a raccoon in our lovely rental Hyundai Accent on the way to dinner and I think it is now living in raccoon heaven--a fact Vardo has taken upon herself to remind me of frequently.

Friday, we went for another hike--this one to Fern Falls and back by Cub Lake--much easier, but still about 7 miles. After changing into shorts (keep in mind there was still snow on the ground in some spots), we headed off to Colorado Springs. We met up with a former tri club teammate of Vardo's for dinner--he now works for Carmichael Training Systems and is a level one tri coach, so we spent the better part of the evening questioning him on things like bike equipment, IM training, IM WI tips (he's done it twice), etc. Great evening...plus they had Fat Tire on tap at the restaurant, which, in my world, is a little bit of heaven in a glass.

Saturday, I dropped Vardo off at her conference (on endurance training, of all things) and set off for a 6-mile run at the aptly-named Garden of the Gods. I'm sure I've been there as a kid, but I certainly don't remember the incredible beauty of the sandstone rock formations or of the view of Pikes Peak from the park. I ran primarily through the central gardens on Saturday--did a little trail running, but not too much...the elevation and the elevation change on the trails were enough to make my heart rate very tough to control, so I took it pretty easy. Absolutely gorgeous run, though--funny how being in a breath-taking setting can make everything feel better.

I met up with a wonderful woman and a friend of Sue and Michele that afternoon--she's done IM Hawaii twice (ona 10-speed both times) and has run more than 20 marathons and happens to live in CO Springs, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to pick yet another brain on the topic of endurance sports. She gave me some great advice, like viewing each IM event as its own thing, rather than the whole day as one event, and we had a great talk over an awesome cup of coffee. She's a fascinating woman, and I'm very glad I had the chance to meet her and learn from her.

Sunday morning, I again dropped Vardo off at NSCA and went to the Garden of the Gods again, this time for a 9-mile run. I ran the trails the whole time--probably not the best thing for my IT band, which started screaming about 6 miles in--but it was fun--sort of reminded me of the first time (and actually only time) I went mountain biking and the drastically different mindset that requires from road biking. It took forever--my average pace was something like 12:48--but it was fun.

I was wiped after the run, sleeping in hotels, eating random food, etc., etc., so I opted to forgo any additional sightseeing Sunday and camped out at a coffee shop then at Borders for the afternoon--got through several different IM training programs and a good chunk of several other IM and tri books. It actually was pretty much a great way to spend the day, so no complaints....

We trekked to Denver Sunday night, had another Fat Tire with dinner, watched the White Sox clinch the ALCS (Go Go Sox), and crashed...I think at that point we were both ready to get back to our normal routines and non-hotel beds. We both flew out Monday morning and returned to our respective realities.

This week has flown by--lots of catching up at work, among other things. It's also a fairly aggressive marathon training week--the mid-week stuff got stepped up, plus I have a 14-miler Saturday--that'll be the longest I've done yet. My left IT band is still bugging me, so I've been icing it and trying to take it as easy as possible...I've still been able to get in my mileage, but I have a feeling my pace run tomorrow will be another long, slow training run instead...but more to come.

Off to Iowa again this weekend...here's hoping the 'Clones can beat Oklahoma State...