Hmmm, this route looks to be about 50 kilometers long with enough climbing to trim up your holiday-inflated Chubby Cheeks (~8000').

Red = out
Green = back
Blue = short cuts

Short cut from Arthurs Rock = Marathon(ish) (~7,000')
Short cut down Mill Creek = 22-23 miles (~5,500')

Ummm, feel free to print and use for future reference:

Chubby Cheeks 50k

While there wasn't any racing going on, there was certainly some good conversation, plentiful killer peaks, and expansive mountain views. I'm still not sold on the Boulder trails, but I guess they were okay too.

In addition to a slew of cheery Boulder Trail Runners, the group this morning included Scott Jurek (in a vintage WS half-cut top), Geoff Roes, Tony Krupicka, Dave Mackey, Joe Grant, Dakota Jones, Jeff Valliere, Darcy Africa, and Helen Cospolich. Off the top of my head, that list is good for 8 Western States wins, 5 Wasatch wins, 3 Leadville wins, 2 Badwater wins, 1 Hardrock win, 1 Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim fastest known time, 1 American 24 hour record plus a ton of other ultra wins and course records. Not your average group run then.

The proceedings started from Phil's house a few blocks east of Chautauqua with a very mellow trip up Flagstaff, before heading to Green for a short repose on top to soak in the awesome views on what was warming up to be a fantastically beautiful morning. From there it was down Green-Bear to the end of Mesa (I think) to some historic-looking stone building that marked the turn back west for the climb up Shadow Canyon to South Boulder Peak.

As with most ascents up the front side of the Boulder peaks, Shadow is a steep, steep bruiser. However, the South Boulder summit was a worthy reward. With not a lick of wind in the air and a warm sun, the group - which at this point included Tony, Dave, Geoff, Joe, Scott, Johannes Rudolph, Dakota, Ryan Cooper and a couple of others whose names I didn't catch - lingered on South Boulder Peak for quite some time.

Once we got moving again, it was just a short bop down and up to Bear Peak, before the decision was made to round out the morning with a second summit of Green. I was a bit wobbly coming down the front of Green, so I let Tony, Dakota and Joe take off, content to close out the morning with an easy descent in company with Johannes. As always in Boulder, the vert racked up ridiculously quickly, with something over 7,000 feet of vertical gained in not much more than 20 miles.

From Gregory, it was back to Phil's for a fantastic luncheon spread, that would put most post-race food efforts to shame, and a couple of beers before heading back north to FoCo with Pete, Ross and Frank. Good times.

Mon - 10.5 miles easy (1,300'). Soderberg TH - Arthurs TH - Overlook trail - valley trail - Arthurs TH - Soderberg TH.

Tues - Noon: 6.5 miles easy (1,500'). Waterfall - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.
PM: 4.5 miles track. 2 mile warm up, then end of season relays with the Tuesday Night Track group: 800, 400, 200, 100. Slow again, but feeling motivated about doing the work to find some speed. 1.5 mile warm down.

Weds - AM: 11.5 miles easy (1,700'). Foothills trail from Maxwell with Fast Eddy and Young Money.
PM: 4.5 miles easy (700'). Falls loop.

Thurs - Noon: 4.5 miles easy (700'). Falls loop.
PM: 7.5 miles social at Pineridge with FCTR.

Fri - Noon: 8.5 (800'). To Redstone Canyon for a couple faster miles: 6:24, 8:00, 6:09, 6:07, back easy. Struggled again. Felt like I was working way too hard for these low-six-min miles. It was breezy, and fast miles never come easy on Redstone's rollers, but I definitely feel like I'm battling some sludge right now. Effort felt somewhere between 10k and half marathon. Ughh.

Sat - 6.5 miles easy (1,500'). Waterfall - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg.

Sun - 16.5 miles (4,000'). From Buckhorn Canyon, Pete and I scoped the middle loop of the current thinking on our proposed 100k race. Still some great color on the aspen on what was a truly sensational run. From Box Prairie we went northwest on Monument Gulch to Old Flowers, then east to the trail up the north side of White Pine Mtn, tagging the summit from the saddle, before taking FR 100 back down to Box Prairie. Both Pete and I were really impressed with this unexpectedly gorgeous route.

More at Pete's joint on today's route with tons of pics.

Total: 81 miles (12,200')

The weather this week was insanely beautiful, so there was really no choice but to pick up the miles a bit more than I otherwise would have. The faster efforts on Tuesday and Thursday were short and painful. Quite clearly there is much work to be done if I hope to get even remotely close to the kind of marathon time I'm hoping to post in Feb/March, but the good news is that I feel motivated to get it done. The mountain miles were of course a pleasure.

Since Wasatch, my weekly mileage has gone 26 (6,000), 41 (8,000'), 28 (4,000'), 50 (6,000'), 81 (12,000') which is probably about as easy as I'm realistically going to take it. The leg sludge on the faster stuff this week and last week is to be expected considering I've done no focused flat speedwork in about a year, so I'm not concerned ... yet.

Horsetooth open time trial again this Thursday at 6:00pm from the upper parking lot. This will be the last Horsetooth TT before we head back to Towers, so come on out and get a workout done, and then enjoy the views from the summit as the full moon rises. Anyone and everyone welcome.

We (Fort Collins Trail Runners) have been time-trialing Towers Road all year, so for a change of pace tonight we took on the landmark that commands the local Front Range skyline, Horsetooth Rock (7,255').

The ascent from the main parking lot to the summit varies from 2.4 miles to 2.6 miles, depending on the route taken, with close to 1,500' of vertical gain. The final 100 feet of vertical gain requires a good amount of scrambling, but the views from the top are well worth the effort.


We had 25 turn out for what was being dubbed 'The Assault on the Rock,' with runners choosing their own route from a range of possible options. The service drive option is a little longer, but way less technical than the singletrack route. With the service drive and trail intersecting each other in four separate places along the route, there are multiple route combinations to choose from, and the jury is still out on which combination is quickest.

From the trailhead map, I went trail up to the bench then Southridge service drive as far as it goes before hooking back into the trail for the last half mile to the north summit. The route is exactly 2.5 miles and I think probably the fastest, despite being longer than the more direct trail option. The Audra trail cut-off from Southridge might be a little quicker given that it is a little less technical near the top, but I think it's probably much of a muchness.


Anyway, the short and the long of it is that I managed to shave a half minute off my PR, despite pre-run sandbagginess about a hamstring strain from an overzealous return to the track two days prior. Jenn Malmberg set yet another area FKT with her 29:40 ascent, while most everyone else established or set PRs on what was a perfect evening for running.


North Summit TT details

Fastest Known Times

Nick Clark: 23:50 (12/29)
Jenn Malmberg: 29:40 (10/7)

Full 10/7 TT times .............................10/21

Aaron ........ 29:30 (to plateau).........N/A
Alex A ........ 35:15.............................34:20
Alex M ....... 33:16..............................??
Bard.............???................................34:00
Brian ......... Lost (!)..........................40:03
Cat ............. 38:20 (to plateau)........Ran home
Celeste ....... 43:00 (plateau)............43:00
Dan B ........ 34:10.............................33:41
Dan J ......... 34:10 (to plateau)........N/A
Don ............ 39:14..............................42:00
Don ..............N/A...............................37:00
Jennifer ..... 44:31..............................43:20
Jenn M ....... 29:40(!).......................N/A
Jocelyn...........N/A............................45:08
Kate ............ 35:06............................35:41
Kharah ....... 36:02.............................N/A
Laura .......... 36:38............................N/A
Laura ............N/A.............................42:00
Lindsay..........N/A.............................43:00
Marie .......... 37:45............................35:03
Mark...............??................................34:00
Mary ........... 34:37............................33:44
Matt...............N/A.............................30:00
Mike T.............N/A...........................39:40
Nick M ........ 28:58...........................29:30
Nick C ......... 25:26(!).......................25:38
Pablo .......... 37:32............................Ran Home
Pete ............. 28:54...........................30:23
Rob .............. 32:05...........................N/A
Ross.................N/A............................30:30
Sam ............. 26:04...........................N/A
Slush ........... 27:25............................27:31
Tracy ........... 53:00...........................N/A
Travis .......... 36:37...........................N/A

Total............... 27 .............................. 25

I think we'll have enough light for one more Assault in two weeks, before heading back to the Towers routine as winter darkness sets in.

Alistair and I had a fun time manning the Towers aid station and hanging out at the finish this weekend at the Bluesky Marathon. Some of the action: