Running in Boulder

With 300 days of sunshine, Boulder is a delicious place to run!  I was lucky enough to have time for two runs while we were there visiting the college boy.

On Friday I used MapMyRun and found a running route at a local park not far from our hotel. I love how easy it is to look up nearby routes logged by other runners. It's so helpful when we are in a new area ---> which we are often thanks to mrC! East Boulder Community Park was a great place for my interval run.

There was a path that looped around the entire complex. It circled the ball fields, the sand volleyball courts, the playground, dog area, the recreation center and a small pond. In some parts, the path was crushed gravel (my favorite) and other parts it was paved sidewalk. The view of the Flatirons was stunning from everywhere.

The temperature was perfect for this long sleeve and these capris.

After doing two loops around the complex, I veered off to the bike route just to see where it went. The Boulder Bikeways cover more than 300 miles in this bike friendly community. I ran down the sidewalk and through part of a neighborhood. When it looked like the bike route was going to become a paved shoulder, I turned around.

Even though my sea-level body could feel the Colorado elevation, this was by far my best interval run. Even after my 15 intervals ended, I continued running until I reached the car.

While I was running, mrC took pictures (he's the best blog helper) and made nice with the locals.

Interval run - 1 minute run:walk 1:1 x 15 plus about .75 mile finish. Longest run this year!

A couple of days later, on our last day in Boulder, I went to Coot Lake on the recommendation of my friend Jill who lived here for a couple of years. The Coot Lake Loop was even better than the park.

One loop around the lake was about 1.2 miles on a crushed gravel path surrounded by prairie and wetland. In the distance the Flatirons make a stunning backdrop.

The Coot Lake Loop is part of a group of trails at the Boulder Reservoir that overlap and connect extending route options. In the mood for a short run or a long run? It can be done on these trails.

The weather was perfect for an interval run, but I had picked up a head cold since arriving in Boulder and in all honesty probably shouldn't have been running. Like most avid runners, I just couldn't resist getting in a second run. I told mrC I would do one lap and see how I felt. I ended up doing two.

While I was running, mrC walked, took awesome photos (as usual) and chatted with the friendly locals. He said this pup had that happy pep in his step that reminded him of Booney.

Interval run - 1 minute run:walk 1:1 x 14 plus about 2 minutes straight finish. 2.44 miles. Better than I expected.

Boulder is definitely an active lifestyle city and I'm looking forward to exploring more when we visit the college boy again.

First Flatirons Hike in Boulder, Colorado

We've been in Boulder visiting the college boy and now we understand why so many people love it here. It is absolutely beautiful! We've been keeping ourselves busy during the day while he's in class and then enjoying the Boulder scene from his perspective.

One of the must-do things in Boulder is to go hiking in the iconic Flatirons at the base of the Rocky Mountains. You can see them from everywhere in Boulder as they loom up from plains and create a stunning backdrop to the city.

To get up close and personal, we drove about 5 minutes from the hotel to access the trails at the Chautauqua Park (free but limited parking). We stopped by the Ranger's Cottage where we received a trail map and a suggested route from the very friendly staff.

Our goal was to make it to the viewpoint at Woods Quarry and then loop back down. Armed with our map highlighting the route and plenty of water, we started our hike ---> Bluebell Road - Mesa - Woods Quarry - Kohler Mesa - Enchanted Mesa - Upper McClintock

The hike: the beginning was an easy incline on an exposed gravel trail. It was a warm day with temperatures near 70 degrees, so we warmed up quickly in the warm sunshine. It was heavenly.

At the first turn off, the trail headed into the woods. The shade was welcome as the real climbing started. It was easy climbing, although we were not acclimated to the higher altitude of Boulder yet so we were breathing hard.

No concrete here. Sometimes the trail blended in so much that it almost disappeared.

This spot just shouted out to us to take a water break (and a photo) here.

Lots of trail signage ---> here is where we should have realized that we missed a turn and were not on our planned route, but we wouldn't realize it for almost another mile.

While blissfully hiking the wrong trail, I had a little fun showing off my new Eddie Bauer backpack. I actually bought one at the North Face first, but returned it after finding this one because it was a better fit and a lot cheaper. I did keep the hiking shorts though.

Once we figured out that we were on the wrong trail, we backtracked a bit but finally made it to Woods Quarry and the promised spectacular view.

 At the top we enjoyed a nice little break on the rock benches.

Before we left the viewpoint, we modified the rest of our hike because we had plans with the college boy ---> Woods Quarry - Enchanted Mesa - Upper McClintock. I don't know if this really saved us that much time, but we felt pretty good about the fact that we could read the map successfully at this point.

The hike back down was easier. The path was wide and smooth. The descent was gradual and soon we realized that it was a popular trail for runners.

We were just starting to think how amazing it was that we didn't see any wildlife when we came upon three deer.

Our hike was about 5 miles and took us just over 2 hours. We had a great time hiking the trails and are excited to go back and do some more before we leave.


Ever hiked the Flatirons? What is your favorite trail?
Any suggestions for things to do in Boulder that we should know?

2 Workouts You Can Do While Doing A Load of Laundry

We've been living in a hotel for a week now and I'm running out of fitness gear to wear. I was forced to wear my favorite capris to the fitness room. I love them because they are buttery soft, but it's just so warm in there.

Tomorrow we are flying to Colorado to see the my stepson, so I really needed to do a load of laundry. Fortunately the fitness room and laundry room are right next to each other making it easy to work out and be close to my clothes at the same time.

During the wash cycle I did a 20 minute HIIT workout on the elliptical using a pyramid --->

5 minute WU (Set & keep the resistance at moderate)
30:30 seconds work:rest at 90% effort
60:60 at 80% effort
90:90 at 70% effort
60:60 at 80% effort
30:30 at 90% effort
60:60 at 90% effort ---> finish strong!!!
4 minute CD

Pyramid workouts are when the intervals get longer each set then work their way back down by the end of the round. The purpose is to challenge your threshold without breaking you. I love feeling like I cannot work another second, like I'm going to have to stop and then the break comes.

While waiting for the machine to finish, I filled the few minutes with planks and wall sits.

During the dry cycle I did a 30 minute LISS (low intensity sustained state) workout on the elliptical ---> I set my resistance to easy and aimed to keep my heart rate in the fat burn zone. It's hard to go slow after going fast. PS - add 45 calories to the total below because I forgot to start my watch.

I finished up with a round of planks and wall sits, then hauled the clothes back to the room. Instead of drying my fit gear in the dryer, I used Running on the Fly's great idea to hang dry it in the closet. It's still important to take care of your gear when you're traveling.

Hanging up my workout gear made me realize that I really need another pair of shorts. After my shower, I browsed online and found these, these, these, and these as possibilities.

Black is always my go to color choice, but these also caught me eye.

When we get to Boulder, I'm hoping to try them on and pick a pair.


Do you do laundry when you're traveling?
Dryer or line dry your fitness wear?
Do you prefer black or colored shorts?

More on Monday!

As soon as we arrived in Delaware, I did some research to see if there were any popular running routes around the hotel. Using MapMyRun I found a route that actually started at the hotel, went down the street and looped around the hospital  ---> turned out to be the Wellness Walking Trail at the hospital.

After I scoped out the route on a drive-by (tell me you do this too!), I had to wait a few days for the weather to warm up enough for me to run outside. It's been really, really cold here, but then the forecast for yesterday finally looked good.

I had breakfast (scrambled eggs and coffee) with mrC while waiting for the temperature to warm up. When it was time for him to go to work at 10:30, it had warmed up to 40, so I put on the warmest running clothes that I had with me!

What I'm wearing: long sleeve, capris, layered tank, and shoes

I walked to the trail as my warm-up and then used the same interval timer that I used on the treadmill a few days ago. I ran/walked 1 minute intervals x15.

As I neared the end of the timer, I was feeling really good so I pushed to do more and finish strong. Instead of walking back to the hotel, I continued running and walked through the intersections. I was hoping to get a 5k out of it.

It was awesome! I ran more miles than I have in a LONG time. And I'm hopeful that I can run/walk a 5k race in my future. The sooner the better!

I realize that I have been patiently building up my run time and working on strength training, but there were other factors that helped make this run go well.

1. The route was flat and that's what works best for me right now. Uphills are ok too, but downhills make my knee uncomfortable.

2. My new running shoes from Mizuno. It feels like my feet are home again. The Wave Horizon are super comfy and I think my knee likes the stability. Plus they are pretty snazzy to look at, right?

Something else I'm excited to share ---> are you thinking about Boston already too?




Do you know your route before you run or do you wing it? Do you do drive-byes of new routes? How will you do Boston this year? Running, cheering, watching on TV/online?

Workout Recap - Travel Edition

Last week started off a little slow because I had the worst case of jet lag ever! I guess 20+ hours of travel and then hitting the ground running in Springfield caught up to me. Things settled down once we got to Delaware for mrC's recurrent training ---> I worked out every day!

Monday - We woke up feeling pretty good so we ran a bunch of errands (have to pick up our favorite USA supplies and raid the storage unit), drove to see our favorite dog and then stopped to see my in-laws.

Tuesday - I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a truck, made it through breakfast and then literally slept off and on for the next 20+ hours. I have never felt like that before.

Wednesday - I felt much better! We drove four hours to Wilmington in a tiny rental car with mrC's coworker and somehow I did not get carsick. Win!

Thursday - RUN! I took my interval run inside because I didn't get a chance to scope out the area around the hotel. I did a 8 minute walking WU and then ran/walked 1 minute intervals for 30 minutes. I was also pretty excited to launch the new Wave Horizons I received from Mizuno.

Friday - I choose an elliptical workout on the Motion Traxx app called Need for Speed. It was a Tabata HIIT workout that got me sweaty fast! I finished off with a plank workout.

Saturday - I did another elliptical workout. This time I chose Elliptical Session - Level 2 and burned over 400 calories in 40 minutes.

Sunday - I wanted to run, but since the temperature was barely 30 degrees and I do not have winter weather gear, I did elliptical workout #3. Pyramid Pusher was a combo of two shorter workouts: Pyramid Power and Elliptical Pusher. Both are HIIT workouts designed to help burn calories fast.

I'm so glad that I found the Motion Traxx app since I'm missing my Bodystep classes while we are in the US. When I have enough space, I'll try the cardio HIIT workouts and maybe one day I'll try one of the treadmill workouts.

Ever have a bad case of jet lag?
What shoes are you currently wearing?
Have you tried Motion Traxx yet? (51% discount if you sign up with Groupon here)