Catching up on sleep!

It has been nine days since I returned form Colorado and the TransRockies run with an interesting recovery. 113 intense miles over six days was a weekly mileage PR by about 25 miles so I knew I would be dealing with some fatigue. However, the source of even greater lethargy was the lack of sleep compounded over an entire week in Colorado. Over the course of seven nights in Colorado, I slept no more than 35 hours total (5 hours per night) and that is being generous. Here are some reasons why a peaceful, fullfilling night of sleep was impossible to achieve:

• Altitude: Particularly on the first night, I found that it’s not as easy to sleep at 9,000 feet coming straight from sea level
• Thirst: Very dry air in Colorado made my mouth dry and lips chapped keeping me reaching for the water bottle
• Zippers: Constant opening and closing of zippers on people’s tents; between 200+ tents somebody, somewhere was getting up to go to the bathroom.
• Snoring: One night I was situated next to an epic snorer that sounded like he was starting up a chainsaw. I made sure to let him know he had some serious issues the next day and suggested he move his tent far way into the meadows. I ended up moving far away from him.
• Semi Trucks: The grand finale was the Ford Park camp in Vail which was no more than 100 meters away from Interstate 70 where semis blasted through at 70 mph at all hours of the night.
• Humping (?): I also heard that some people’s sleep was interfered by “intimate” noises, but fortunately I was not subject to this. I would have heckled and shouted this couple down if I had heard it. By that point I had lost patience with riff raff going on at night.

As you can see, sleep was a luxery I simply did not enjoy on the TransRockies. Somehow I pushed through the sleep deprivation (I might have been a bit cranky) on the trip, but it caught up with me when I returned to CA and for many days I had a general feeling of tiredness. I was hoping to get out to the high Sierra on this holiday weekend, but couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for a long mountain run, let alone the drive to get there. The lack of sleep, combined with the expected fatigue from the high volume, has led to a mixed bag of training. On some days I simply feel like crap, and on other days I feel great. I’m hoping the big week of running in Colorado will pay dividends soon. I’m also excited to do some adventure runs in the high Sierra in late September, hopefully coinciding with the famous fall colors.

There are tons of deer all over the San Carlos hills and all the places I run at in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Here is a phot of a large buck right next to my place. He was sitting in the shade directly underneath my dining room window and I noticed the antlers. I shot this photo as he was walking away. I’ve also seen numerous fawns on the trail runs.