There's an old saying that goes, "Injury is the mother of invention," or something like that. In that spirit, a dose of ITBS has forced me to come up with some new ways to get the heart rate up and the body moving.
This week I partook in a couple sessions of bikram yoga, including a great Valentine's Day evening session with JP at the
Evergreen Center for Yoga, weightlifting, the elliptical machine and hiking.
It's been a while since I intentionally set out to hike, rather than run. This week, though, I managed to get out and up Boulder's Green Mountain (42 minutes via Ampi-Saddle-Green) and Bear Peak (53 minutes via Cragmoor to Fern), and about halfway of Evergreen's Bergen Peak (the house to the second overlook on Bergen Peak Trail).
Trail conditions on all three mountains were great this week, for the most part. Bergen, Green and Bear up to the saddle were all well-packed snow with just a bit of ice. The climb up Bear from the saddle was a bit tough with lots of unconsolidated snow and drifting in a number of places. Even with Microspikes, the climb up from the saddle was a challenge, but enjoyable. Didn't see a single person beyond the Mesa Trail that day.
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| Green Mountain summit |
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| The Bergen Peak Trail |
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| An icy stretch in Fern Canyon on the way up Bear Peak |
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| Bear Peak summit. Looking north. |
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| Bear Peak. Looking southeast(ish) |
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| Can you see the inner light? |
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| Great late afternoon lighting. Had to add another shot. |
Didn't feel the IT band problem at all on any of the hikes, even moving at a pretty quick hiking pace up and down. I'm still continuing the nightly foam roller rolling, stretching and hip mobility and glute strengthening exercises. I'll probably give running a go later today with a run up Bergen Peak and a hike down. Fingers crossed.
Killian confirms plans to race the Pikes Peak Marathon.
Good luck to everyone running today's Moab Red Hot 33K and 55K!
Too bad you don't have nicer places to hike... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI CAN SEE THE LIGHT!!
ReplyDelete(blue brothers reference)
Glad to see you are staying active and still getting out. During my last significant injury, I pretty much just shut down - thinking some time off would be good. It wasn't. I'm still digging myself out of that hole I ended up in. If I had to do it again, I would do anything and everything I could to keep even a little bit of fitness and most importantly the musculoskeletal adaptations that seem to vanish so quickly. Hope you are back to running soon!
ReplyDeleteGZ - got the reference. Such great memories of that flick.
ReplyDeleteCB - exactly the mentality I'm trying to maintain...keep as much fitness as possible and be smart. The hardest part is the trying to be smart bit.