A wintery Pikes Peak summit via Barr Trail on 4/16, plus weekly log

Tue, April 11

30 minutes on the row machine, followed by a short 3.4 mile run with Pippin. He seemed to be getting hot, as it was pretty warm today, so we kept it short.

***

Wed, April 12

Push-ups (a good few sets) in the morning before our speedwork!

Then I met Sharon and we decided to do the short ladder: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4.

My times were 1:42, 3:49, 5:28, 3:32, 1:52.

Overall this constitutes a pretty slow day for me, although the second half-mile at 3:32 was closer to on-pace.

I felt somewhat pre-fatigued today. Next week I'll try to be a little fresher for our speedwork. Next week, we maybe even bump the 3/4 up to a full mile.

We got a total of 5 miles, including warm-up and cool-down.

***

Fri, April 14

50 minutes on the row machine at a moderately-high effort. My row machine said I rowed 15 kilometers, although I'm doubtful about the accuracy of that.

Then I did some lightweight dumbbell squats. At only 15 lbs total, these weren't much more than body weight - just to get the blood pumping in the legs on this rainy, non-run day.

***

Sat, April 15

I took Pippin for a quick one, getting 6.5 miles in the park.

It was a very picturesque day, with deep blue skies and sunny tan sandstone hillsides.

I want to put in a good effort for the Incline tomorrow, so this was just an easy day.

***

Sun, April 16

A big, unexpected adventure day today 😁!

I set out with the plan to do the Incline fast, then continue on to Barr Camp at a moderate pace. I thought I'd probably turn around at Camp, but I left the option open to go a little further if I felt good.

And, boy, did I end up feeling good!

My excitement level was elevated, as I hadn't been on Barr Trail above the Incline connection for years. I was so looking forward to heading up towards Camp.

But first, I had to tackle this Incline.

I set out with a solid start. I didn't feel like I was going quite as fast as two weeks ago, although my breathing was a little more controlled this week.

I didn't peek at my time at all, and didn't intentionally sprint the last few stairs, so I was very pleased when I landed at the top step in 32:24, cutting off 31 seconds from my time two weeks ago!

That sub-30 Incline goal is getting closer within reach for me.

At the top of the Incline, I actually spent more time than I intended to socializing, but it was a nice respite from the effort.

I met a man from Columbia who barely spoke a word of English, but had made his way up this grueling hike. I was so appreciative that I was able to have this international experience! The Incline seems to bring people from all walks of life.

Then, after this extended pause, I set out again at a steady, consistent uphill pace. This was mostly a jog with a few walks on the steeper parts of Barr.

Views from the uphill Incline connection to Barr, (near mile marker 3.) 

At No Name Creek, I put my nanospikes on. At this point, the trail was patchy ice spots with big patches of completely melted off trail in-between.

As I continued to ascend towards Bob's Road, the patches of melted trail became fewer and the ice slicks were longer, making me thankful I had the spikes for today.

I felt good, great even. I think the long rest I took after the hard Incline effort ended up being beneficial.

I pushed onward and upward, snapping a quick photo of Lightning Point before jogging on to Barr Camp. I was able to output a smooth jog, feeling like the ascents were nothing compared to what I'd just tackled.

I reached Camp in 2 hours and 2 minutes moving time, and I decided I felt well enough to continue onward for a while. So I skipped going into the cabin, since I thought I'd stop in on my way down.

I figured, depending upon snow conditions, I could reach Bottomless Pit junction.

The trail was packed in and treaded fairly evenly, so I kept jogging, even as my footsteps crunched into the powder more and more.

I started daydreaming about reaching A-frame.

The weather was warm, and I was down to a tank-top and shorts.

I just enjoyed the trail. It didn't feel too steep at all, and I jogged at a light pace.

Right before the Bottomless Pit turn-off sign, the trekked-in footprints that I had been following, turned around.

I was now going to be breaking trail from here on out.

With only nanospikes and shorts, would it be possible?

I'm not going to lie, with how solid I was feeling, and the warm weather conditions today, I was already dreaming of the summit.

On the big switchback after Bottomless Pit junction, the snow became deeper and deeper as the trail winds into the woods. This was the first time I questioned my sanity in today's adventure.

But I was not to be deterred. After the long switchback, the sunlight came out, and the unbroken trail lay ahead, waiting to be conquered.

I didn't look at the time on my watch at A-frame, but it felt fast.

I chilled at A-frame for a minute and enjoyed the view.

As I returned to the trail, I looked up the central gully of Pikes, and debated just scrambling right up. (Spoiler: I should have done this.)

Almost immediately after the gully, I already lost the trail.

I ascended a small snowfield and found it again, but the trail disappeared into a drift and I wasn't confident where it went.

This was going to become a pattern, unfortunately. The trail had been super solid all up until treeline, but the heavy amount of spring snow from the Friday night/ Saturday morning storm had frozen above treeline and become windblown across the vast open expanses that the Barr Trail crosses.

I ascended a small snowfield and spotted some mountain goats in the distance.

At this point I decided to ascend the ridge along the northeast face of the mountain, staying on the east face and trying to gain elevation before hopefully rejoining the trail further up.

I scrambled upwards as steeply as I could safely manage, bypassing "fins" and ridges that stood out along the snowfields.

Views of Lake Moraine and the South Slopes Rec Area stood out in the distance, beyond the stacked rocks of Pikes Peak granite.

Soon, I came upon a familiar sight. The classic ribbed rock formation near the 2 miles to go sign! A few poofy clouds floated behind the formation as the sky shone a true Colorado blue.

Even though this rock formation stands right off the trail, the trail itself was completely snowpacked at best, and covered in deep snowdrifts at worst.

After trying to stick to the trail as best as I could, I had to begin crossing massive snowfield after snowfield.

Fortunately I'd packed gloves. I dug my toes and fingers into the crunchy top ice of the snowfields, crossing the (at times) 35 to 45 degree slope on all fours, just like how I scramble up the steepest steps of the Incline.

Barr Trail is somewhere under all that snow.

At one point, I made a navigational error and ended up partway up a small cliff. So I backtracked down a little and then crossed the steepest snowfield of the day, getting my blood pumping a little. This was the only moment my fun went a little type 2.

Luckily, the weather felt exceptionally warm. There were occasional bitter gusts of wind. But the sun was so bright that I didn't even need both of the long-sleeve layers I had with me. And my legs were not cold in shorts, except when I fell through the icy top snow in a few spots.

As I looked up the massive east face of the mountain, I could see one of the metal signs directly ahead of me.

I gained some energy and scrambled upwards, hoping I'd found the 16 Golden Stairs sign, meaning the summit was really close!

Although I had somehow approached the sign from the wrong side, it was clear. 16 very snowy Golden Stairs.

At this point, I could see the summit. The train was just leaving.

There was no trail, just a rock-strewn snowfield, so I just scrambled directly upwards on the comfortable slope of big granite boulders.

I crossed the trail again, and it was just a snow gully this time.

But then barely a few steps more and, finally, there it was! The summit, the end of Barr Trail sign.

Since I hadn't been on the Pikes Peak summit since before the pandemic, I hadn't seen the new Summit House yet. The new Summit complex looks great.

Since the train had just left, the building was very quiet when I entered. The staff welcomed me but looked surprised. I was the only visitor in the summit house because the road was closed!

My downhill plan to grab a ride just went out the window! Luckily another train was still coming up for the day, so I had to buy a downhill ticket if I wanted a ride off the mountain today.

That was worthwhile for me, since I didn't want to down climb all those snow fields!

Summit view looking northwest.

Summit view looking southeast.

I had a fun conversation on the downhill train ride and enjoyed the views down into the South Slopes Rec Area.

Wow, what a day! I've done a handful of wintery-condition summits of Pikes Peak before, but this one was really fun.

It's also the second time I've summited Pikes Peak in winter conditions with shorts!

As far as training - today was an excellent training day, and so very mentally encouraging. I think I was under 3 hours at A-frame, although I neglected to check the exact time. Moreover, I felt very fast all the way up until treeline, where the snow conditions slowed me down.

Overall, my GPS gave me 10.1 miles today. That sounded short, but it's probably accurate as the Incline does cut off quite a bit of mileage.

What another great adventure on Pikes, and I can't wait to do many more summits this summer.

***

Mon, April 17

7.1 miles at a recovery pace, mostly flat.

I also did a few pull-ups at the bars at the park. When I got home, I did full sets of side lateral raises. This helped it feel like a well-rounded workout today.

My energy levels are quite good considering yesterday's adventure!

***

Tue, April 18

45 minutes on the row machine. Repeats tomorrow, no running today!

***

Wed, April 19

Interval day!!

Sharon and I decided to do the shorter ladder that we've done in the past, the 1/2 mile, mile, 1/2 mile.

I ended up running 3:35, 7:04, 3:36.

I really wanted to push the mile under 7 today, but couldn't quite muster the effort. 7:04 ties my best mile time since we began doing speedwork.

Although I felt less fatigued than I did for our speedwork session last week, I still had some residual tiredness. Pikes took a lot out of me on Sunday.

I still hope to run a mile in under 7 minutes sometime soon.

Our total distance for the day was 3.7 miles, as we didn't do too much of a cool-down.

***

The weeks have been flying by this year! Hard to believe how we're almost a third of the way through the year.

I had another very successful and adventurous week (and a half!)

Week after week, I keep feeling better and stronger. I hope I can continue to ride this wave by taking care of my health, eating well, and most of all - getting enough rest.