Monday, September 29, 2014, 5:56 pm

4.11 mi, 38 ft gain, 30:01. Road in town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

A little achey in general yesterday and today. Planned to just keep it moderate today, but I started feeling better and better as I ran. Splits: 8:46 mi 1, 7:19 mi 2, 7:09 mi 3, 6:06 mi 4, 5:54/mi pace last 0.11. Strava estimated best efforts: 5k 21:12, 2 mi 13:01, 1 mi 6:03, 1k 3:39, 1/2 mi 2:56. It’s my actual best 5k, 2 mi, 1 mi. I’m not sure about 1k and 1/2 mi.

 

Tuesday, September 30, 2014, 5:38 pm

4.18 mi, 38 ft gain, 38:34. Green belt in town, with dogs. Alta Superior 1.5 Red.

Still slightly achey joints. Not sure what the deal is. Felt good after warming up. Sped up the last 1.5 mi or so. I heard a train whistle in the distance. The direction would put it in the next town, about 3-4 mi away. I wanted to get back to the RR crossing for my street before it got there. Trains often stop along the stretch of track next to the green belt/park. There are 3 or 4 sets of tracks, and they wait for other trains to go by. The train stopped there today was about 1.15 mi long with 2 engines on each end. I looked up the hazmat placard on the tankers. They were all full of crude oil.

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2014, 4:12 pm

6.37 mi, 740 ft gain, 1:38:14. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Alta Lone Peak 1.5.

Out to the little hill, Olney creek, part way over the bigger hill and then some off road wandering through the woods. Felt pretty good mostly. Still a little issue with my left achilles. Logging roads might be OK for now, but I’m itching to get back on actual trails. It might be a little while though.

 

Thursday, October 2, 2014, 4:22 pm

6.09 mi, 634 ft gain, 1:24:31. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Alta Lone Peak 1.5.

Some wandering mixed in today. Went off the logging roads uphill into the woods about 2.4 mi out or so. A little mossy forest floor running, but mostly finding my way through thigh high ferns and deadfall. Felt a little stiff to start, but good after warming up.

 

Friday, October 3, 2014, 5:52 pm

6.12 mi, 578 ft gain, 1:01:53. Sultan Basin Rd tree farm gate 1, with dogs. Alta Lone Peak 1.5.

Was going to do out and back on a couple routes on just one side of the road. When I got most of the way around the loop, someone started target shooting near where I’d have to run back by. I decided to finish the loop instead. I knew there was a trail from one road back to the one I started at, but this was my first time on it. Fun little section of trail somewhere between single track and game trail. I still had over 2 more miles planned for the day, so I crossed the road to the other gate and headed out. Found another cool spot for sunset views at the end of the road. Legs felt good.

 

Saturday, October 4, 2014, 6:05 pm

10.24 mi, 1684 ft gain, 1:35:53. Olney Falls DNR rd, solo. Alta Superior 1.5 Red.

A little late start, so I brought a headlamp and flashlight. I saw a smallish cougar about 2 miles in. I came around the corner and it was running up the road away from me. I wasn’t fast enough with the camera for a pic though. Legs were good after the first 10-15 minutes warming up. Climbing wasn’t very tough. I’ve definitely gotten better at extended downhills. Pulled out the lights with about 3 miles left back to the car.

 

Sunday, October 5, 2014, 3:12 pm

19.70 mi, 4037 ft gain, 4:04:26. Road to Wallace Falls, Upper falls, dnr road, Wallace Lake, solo. Alta Superior 1.5 Blue.

I think I’ve lost my climbing legs a little bit sticking to relatively flat runs for the last month +.

I decided to take a spur road off the dnr road before heading to Wallace Lake. I hoped to find a possible route up Mt. Stickney from the south side. More or less went straight uphill. Lots of small blow down, but not too bad. Rather steep though. Came across a couple abandoned logging roads. I’ll have to look at some satellite images again to see if it looks promising beyond where I turned around. Very fun to run back down.

Back to the dnr rd, I continued out to Wallace Lake. Decided not to go around to the beach on the north side. I wanted to make it back to the TH with light left. With leaves on the trail in some technical parts, I didn’t want the added difficulty of darkness.

It probably would have been better if I had brought a water bottle along, rather than just the 2L bladder. I didn’t drink as much as normal and still ran out a little before getting back to the TH. I knew I had enough to make it, but I prefer being well hydrated. Drank a bit at the fountain and added some more to my hydration bladder before heading for home.

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Weekly totals: 56.8 mi, 7749 ft gain

Feels good to get back to some climbing.

September total: 212.4 mi, 13,724 ft gain. Personal Best Monthly Mileage.