I hit the infamous Incline
Feeling as motivated as I've been in years I was looking for a great way to "step up" my training in the early part of the year. When the invitation came to join Chris Carmichael and the CTS crew for a customer appreciation event in Colorado Springs, combined with a Lance Armstong style killer bike workout, I packed the truck. The perfect opportunity to kick off the year, spend a day with fellow inspired athletes and get a pep talk from the best coach in the business. I checked in with my coach, and friend, Mike Durner and fellow coach Jason 'Koop' about the trip. Mike offered to let me sleep at his house and Koop invited me to join him for a run the next morning, "Have you ever done the incline?" Koop asked. I hadn't. "You'll love it". What I knew he meant was,,, I will love watching you run it, whatever "it" is. The event was great. Chris inspiring. The update on Lance's progress to win his 8th Tour and the bike training session was everything I'd hoped for. 53 people in a room on trainers, 10 or so coaches yelling encouragement, refilling bottles and pushing us on. The greatest coach in coaching pushing us all to our limits... We wrapped it up at 9:30 p.m. I tracked down Koop and he asked that we meet at the incline at 6a.m. The morning came to early, my heart-rate was still running high from the bike workout and I knew this was going to hurt. It was dark, cool and perfectly ideal for suffering. We switched on our headlights and I started to jog up the gentle path. Koop, "It's better to walk". The incline is a regionally famous piece of mountain side. The private property, no tresspassing sign in the middle of the trail serves no purpose. What it must do is relieve someone from the liability that comes with the territory. 5000 shin bashing, missaligned, off kilter steps. 2,000' of elevation gain in 1.01 miles. average grade over 20% with a max of 60%! 29minute, 51 seconds of slipping, slapping and climbing the most epic climb I've ever seen. We watched the sun rise from the top then hit the Barr trail down. With Pikes peak welcoming the morning sun I wondered if perhaps my hope of stepping it up early this year was all to real...