7.29.14 Boulder Creek Trail Run

The last week of taper is very light on the workout side.  Today was a 30 minute easy run.  I decided to drive to Boulder this morning and run the western section of the trail.  When I arrived downtown, the Boulder High School parking lot was blocked off by Ironman.  It looked like the circus had arrived in town.  Looks like the expo will predominately be held outside in a big open field next to the high school.  I don't know what they are going to do when everyone converges on Boulder race morning.  Well, I had to park on the street and ended up paying $1.25 for parking.  The weather is supposed to get bad today and for the next few days so it was important to get this in early.  Once I took off running to the west, I immediately felt more winded.  At first, I thought it was due to the 3-4 day aclimation downturn.  However, I quickly realized the grade was going up.  It was gradual at first and then is really noticeable for the two miles to the turnaround.  The course actual enters the foothills of the mountains.  I missed the turnaround point and ran an extra half mile or so into the mountains.  I'm glad the turnaround was further downhill.  Going back down was really fast.  I wasn't trying to go fast and still averaged below 10 minute pace for the run.  4.26 miles in 41 minutes.  The long grinding hill will be a problem on the run.  It will hit immediately on the run and again at about mile 13.  I will need a plan for how to handle that section of the run.  Good day overall.  The weather still hasn't moved in yet but it looks bad over the mountains.  My company bought a company headquartered in downtown Denver so I went to lunch with them today.  It's good to have something to do until everyone gets here.