More on that in a moment. First, I wanted to summarize my training over the last week.
Because last Sunday's Elk Park effort was almost 16 miles, and I was pretty tired after that, *and* because I was anticipating an even longer run this Sunday, I decided to take the week pretty easy.
I generally did just walking and a few yoga positions at home on Monday and Tuesday.
On Wednesday, I wanted a little run and some upper body strength work, so I decided to run down to the Memorial Park exercise station.
I added some mileage on the way down, so I could take the short way back and not feel guilty. Sometimes frontloading the mileage in an out-and-back is the best option.
I've noticed that my right side is lagging behind my left (likely due to my right ankle injury, affecting the whole side) so I did some single arm work. Single arm hangs off of the rope net did the trick, along with some single arm pushups at the inclined pushup station. I made sure to include some bodyweight lunge holds. Then I ran home, netting 9 miles for the day.
On Friday, I went to the gym. In the spirit of letting up on the heavy lifting to get better rested for more trail mileage, I swam laps for 45 minutes and called it a day.
But enough about all that!! The real highlight of my training this week was the long run I did today.
As a preface, I have to thank my husband Alex, who is so helpful and is a wonderful support system. We picked up my friend Jim in Manitou, and Alex drove us both up North Cheyenne Cañon, so that we could run the Lake Moraine trail as a semi-loop instead of the full loop (which is much longer).
We set out from North Cheyenne Cañon and went up Seven Bridges/ Trail 622 to 622A to the junction with 667.
Some of the aspens down along 622 are finally beginning to get light green growth.
From 667, it's very straightforward- follow the trail!
I can't resist sharing my favorite valley view along 667, of the Bear Creek drainage:
We made good time and a whole gaggle of other trail runners passed us along the way, doing this loop in the opposite direction as us. It really is quite the super loop of trail running!
I must commend the hard working volunteers who helped build the new 667 trail. The new bridge at this water crossing before the gate is very sturdy.
The view of Almagre behind us was beautiful as we approached the forest service gate. This gate was originally the place where all traffic turned around. It is now the new Lake Moraine trail, officially open to non-motorized use.
The Lake Moraine trail is a little more than 4 miles long. We were technically going "backwards" as the first sign post we encountered said Mile 4. Soon after the Mile 3 sign post, a huge rock outcropping provides sweeping views to the west.
The first 3 miles of the Lake Moraine trail (when coming from the south) are all rolling downhill, crossing through many open meadows. I couldn't resist taking tons of photos.
After 3 miles we came to the Cog tracks crossing, after which the last mile of the Lake Moraine trail is uphill once again.
Finally, at the end of the Lake Moraine trail, it was less than half a mile to Barr Camp, after which we jogged down Barr trail at a reasonable pace. Our total run for today was 5 hours and 39 minutes, with 4 hours and 3 minutes to Barr Camp along the Lake Moraine trail from North Cheyenne Cañon.
And 21 miles total! And I was so pleasantly surprised how strong I felt at the end of this run. I guess my "light" week did work out for me after all!
I have to thank Jim again for going with me on this adventure. And of course once more my husband for providing transportation. Dreams are made possible with friends.
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