Training Grounds

I had a good week of training last week.  I didn't get my long run(or any run) in on Saturday but still racked up 42 miles.  My training took one for the team as the family and I headed up to Palisade and Colorado National Monument for the weekend.  A bizarre dust storm mixed with smoke from a fire in Montrose made for a surreal scene on Saturday.  Fortunately, Sunday cleared up and we got to the Monument for a hike and drive.  The rest of the weekend was spent tasting wine, drinking beer and hanging out at the pool.  Palisade is Colorado's wine country.  Meanwhile Tim F was putting up an unbelievable time at Pinelands 50.  Congrats on a tremendous race.

Golden Gate Dirty Thirty is coming up on Saturday.  I'm treating the rest of the week as a normal week with the exception of cutting the Thursday run down to 5 miles.

We headed back Monday and I got a long run in on the Ken Caryl and Willow Springs trail systems.  This is where I do the most of my runs and I've really fallen in love with the trails.  The system is twice as big as I thought it was.  Here are some pics from the hills around my house.  

 Heading up Massey Draw

 Some 3 pt climbing.  700 ft in 1 mile.

 View back down Massey Draw

 View from Gothic Point

 Shaffer Trail from Gothic Point

 Old burn area on Shaffer Trail

 Newly rerouted section of Shaffer Trail

 Shaffer Trail down to Lost Canyon intersect

 Aspen grove Shaffer Trail after LC intersect

 Shaffer Trail

 Manor House Trail

 Coming down Beacon Hill Trail

 View back West on Bradford Trail

 Wildflowers everywhere.  Here is nice section on Bradford.

 view back to Gothic Point from high point on Bradford Trail.

 Millenium

 Dark Canyon

 looking up at Baldy Summit from Dark Canyon Trail

 Wild Turkey Trail

 Fence Post Trail back up towards Baldy

 Mountain Lion Killing Stone.  I carried this for about 3 miles in a high activity area.

 Coyote Cutoff

 Wild Turkey with 3 chicks on Millennium.  Mom was acting wounded to draw attention away from her chicks.  She came out on the trail and motioned toward me before retreating back into the woods.

 Shaffer Trail East side

 Shaffer Trail with Denver in distance

 Shaffer back down into the valley

View from Manor House of Lost Canyon and Manor House trails