Another smoky week along the Southern Front Range

Saturday, September 4th, 2021:

A rest day after my 28 mile Mt. Rosa loop yesterday. 

***

Sunday, September 5th, 2021:

Home gym day with barbell overhead presses (a favorite exercise of mine, make sure to engage the core), dumbbell press-outs, and leg raises on the captain's chair.

***

Monday, September 6th, 2021:

Early morning jog before the smoke came in too badly. First I went up to Palmer Park and jogged up West Cheyenne Trail to Grandview Overlook. I was treated with great views of all the balloons lifting off from Memorial Park for the Labor Day Lift-Off!

Might be tough to see with the level of photo compression on the blog, but there's dozens of balloons dotting the sky.

A slightly more zoomed-in photo of all the 🎈 balloons! So cool.

I then descended the road, connected to Greencrest Trail, ran west along Austin Bluffs to Union Meadows Open Space until its north end near Collegiate Dr, crossing Union and running up Collegiate Dr to Austin Bluffs Open Space. I went out to the overlook at Austin Bluffs. 

View from Austin Bluffs.

I spent a few minutes on top, looking at the clear view of the mountains without haze. It was a great day and a good perspective to see the whole Pikes Peak Massif. I had my small binoculars with me, and peered at Mt. Rosa and Almagre. I looked up at Blodgett and Lone Pine, where I may yet go on an adventure before the season is over.

Then I descended to UCCS and ran all the way through campus back to the intersection of Austin Bluffs and Union before going home along the Templeton Gap Spillway.

The day's total was over 15 miles, and over 1700 feet elevation. And a little faster than 12 minutes per mile, which is good for a slow runner like me, especially just a few days after my 28-mile adventure.

***

Tuesday, September 7th, 2021:

Today's home gym workout was kettlebell lunges and standing dumbell chest flies, followed up by lying leg raises. (Lay on a yoga mat, straighten your legs, engage the core and raise and lower without completely dropping your legs. Great core workout!)

Then, a casual hour on the exercise bike, just for a little cardio. I didn't plan it this way, but got to watch a livestream of Courtney Dauwalter talking about her UTMB win while riding the bike. What an inspiration!

***

Wednesday, September 8th, 2021:

A very smoky day. I woke up to find that it was not a good day to run due to the air quality. It's days like this that I'm extra thankful for the garage gym. Dumbell front raises, then an hour and five minutes on the exercise bike.

***

Thursday, September 9th, 2021:

Rest day. Still tons of smoke outside. I usually plan to use the garage gym most days like this, but some days get too busy. That's why I prefer to let rest days fall on those days where life gets in the way of regular exercise, rather than scheduling rest days. (Except for the day after a really long effort, which I'll typically try to take off.)

***

Friday, September 10th, 2021:

The day was a little hazy, but better than the last few days. Near the evening, the winds changed a little and the air quality forecast was posted as "good."

I took the opportunity for an evening run. I did a loop, mostly pavement, with a short trail section. Total was almost 11 miles with over 900 feet elevation.

***

Saturday, September 11th, 2021:

We took a nice afternoon drive, getting out of the heat of the day.

The afternoon drive turned into an evening walk at a nicely forested little trail near Elizabeth. 

The forest is similar in nature to the Black Forest, with fresh pine air and a cool breeze.

I may yet do some gym work either tonight or tomorrow morning, but I'm taking it pretty easy this weekend, because I may try to run in the mountains on Monday before the week gets too busy!