Dale Ball 45km

Crone and I put together a nice 45km-ish route on Dale Ball this weekend. Starting from the Upper Canyon lot we first headed north to Sierra del Norte, wrapped back around to Hyde Park Rd, and turned around at the lower Cerro Gordo trailhead. We were back at the car for 18 miles and change in what seemed like a quick three and a half hours. After a brief resupply we ventured up toward Picacho and continued on toward Atalaya. The climb to Picacho was mostly runnable but the snow got deeper near the Atalaya summit. And the hike became more and more tedious... although it's tough even in good conditions. The upper switchbacks on the way down were packed with snow and downright treacherous in spots, but the Kathoolas held well. After hammering the rest of the descent I turned around at the St John's parking lot and soon rejoined with Crone who had slowed a little. 

Our route. Click for larger version.

Our original plan was to return back over Atalaya, which would have added another 3 miles and 1500 feet of gain, but neither of us was thrilled at the prospect of trying to descend what we had just climbed up. Instead we took Wilderness Gate over to some lower trails and made our way north before popping out on Upper Canyon Rd about a half mile below the parking lot. Total for the day was a touch over 28 miles and 6200 feet of vertical. Not a bad day's work at all. The full route with a double crossing of Atalaya will definitely make for a tough 50km run later in the year when the trails are free of snow.
 
Some Atalaya pictures:

Almost there...

Summit view looking northwest, with Chicoma Mountain visible in the distance

Summit view looking east toward the Pecos

Overall the week was mostly easy running in anticipation of Sunday's effort, but good vertical and the volume is starting to come around. The numbers:

Mon PM (1): 5.0 mi / 1000 ft. About halfway up Camp May Rd.

Mon PM (2): 4.9 mi / 200 ft. Easy road loop. Note to self: going for a run after eating a plate full of tacos is not a good idea.

Tue: 6.0 mi / 2000 ft. Hill repeats, run as a strength workout: sprint up the hill for 10-20 seconds and then ease off to keep the heart rate in check. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Wed: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop easy.

Thu: 4.1 mi /  400 ft. Downtown loop easy again. Work conflicts put the kibosh on an afternoon run.

Fri: 5.9 mi / 1200 ft. Nail Trail to Camp May Rd. Nice conditions with a bit of postholing but otherwise quite runnable. Of course we haven't tried to run down Nail Trail yet...

Sat: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Same as Wed/Thur. I think I'm about due for a new easy route.

Sun: 28.2 mi / 6200 ft.

Total: 62.3 mi / 11800 ft.

Picacho

Crone and I capped off the week with a nice summit of Picacho on Sunday. As expected the bottom half of the climb was extremely icy, and the top half was mostly clear aside from what had fallen while we were running. Despite the conditions we made decent time, about 30 minutes up and 16-ish down. Round trip starting from the Sierra del Norte parking lot (10.7 mi / 2700 ft) was a touch over 2 hours.

Summit in the clouds. They were mostly clear by the time we got up.

Lots of ice on the bottom half of the trail.

View toward St. John's college, maybe 2/3 of the way up.

View from the 8500' summit looking north-east. The big peaks
are in the clouds.

Another solid week as the base building continues. The numbers:

Mon: 5.9 mi / 1200 ft. Nail Trail to Camp May Rd. Surprisingly good conditions on Nail Trail compared to the week before.

Tue AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop easy.

Tue PM: 6.0 mi / 2000 ft. 8 x hill repeats. Still keeping the effort in check.

Wed AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop easy.

Wed PM: 5.9 mi / 1200 ft. Nail Trail again.

Thu: 4.6 mi / 800 ft. Out toward S-Site until the snow got too deep.

Fri: 5.0 mi / 500 ft. East side road loop easy.

Sat: 8.9 mi / 900 ft. Another east side road loop. Ran this route last week and I'm really liking it as a longer easy effort.

Sun AM (1): 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop easy.

Sun AM (2): 10.7 mi / 2700 ft.  Dale Ball out and back: Sierra del Norte - Cerro Gordo - Picacho. Wasn't thrilled about splitting up the day's mileage but you gotta take what you can get sometimes.

Total: 59.2 mi / 10500 ft.

I love big dumps

Some steady precipitation has somehow resulted in nearly a foot and a half of new snow up at the basin over the last few days. Gonna have to get me some of that pretty soon. In town we had maybe 4-5" on Friday morning, and sporadic light snow over the rest of the weekend that didn't really accumulate. But it was enough to make for some fluffy fun on Friday afternoon, especially when it started snowing again. By Sunday the trails were largely back to their sloppy selves, with only some fresh packed snow on top of the icier spots remaining as evidence of the storms. I also saw on the news last night that the Sangre de Christo mountains were at 100% of normal snowpack. That was a pleasant surprise to hear. Hopefully it will be enough to avoid a repeat of last summer's tinderbox conditions.

Fresh powder on Dale Ball

No real long run this week but some good quality base work. I've been keeping the intensity in check and will continue to do so until I get my weekly volume up to around 70-80 miles. And so far so good. Sunday's run was at a pace that I would have considered ambititous not too long ago, yet it felt like an easy jog. That was a nice little confidence boost.

The numbers:

Mon: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop easy.

Tue AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop.

Tue PM: 5.5 mi / 1800 ft. 7 x hill repeats, aerobic effort.

Wed AM: 4.1 mi / 400 ft. Downtown loop.

Wed PM: 5.0 mi / 1200 ft. West Rd - LA Canyon - Perimeter - Water Tower.

Thu: 5.0 mi / 1000 ft. Camp May Rd about halfway.

Fri: 6.2 mi / 900 ft. Hyde Park - Dale Ball - Cerro Gordo.

Sat: 8.9 mi / 900 ft. East side road loop. Need an easy leg spinner.

Sun: 10.2 mi / 1800 ft. Dale Ball out and back from home.

Tota: 53.1 mi / 8800 ft.