Monday, January 12, 2015, 4:37 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 29:17. Around town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

My left achilles is still achey and tight. When that happens, it always seems to tighten up even more in the first 0.5 mi or so, maybe my body trying to protect it. Then it starts to warm up and loosen up. It took almost 2 miles for it to loosen up all the way.

My legs are still sore, but not as bad as yesterday. I definitely felt better after today’s run than before. Looking forward to getting back to some climbing, probably next week.

Average HR 124 bpm. I don’t think this is at all accurate. At one point glanced down and my HR was supposedly over 190 bpm. Most of the rest of the time it was around 115 to low 120s.

 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 4:44 pm

3.19 mi, 38 ft gain, 28:41. Around town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I felt much better starting today than yesterday. My left achilles is still a little tight, but not bad. It loosened up much more quickly today as well. I only have a little minor muscle soreness left as well. I almost felt back to normal and was nearly running at my normal pace for this kind of run with the dogs.

I’ll probably go a little longer tomorrow.

Average HR 130 bpm. I think the Mio Link was wrong part of the time. I looked a couple times and it said my HR was in the 140s bpm, but I felt more like the mid 120s.

 

Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 6:08 pm

8.14 mi, 1136 ft gain, 1:16:47. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Very minimal left achilles soreness today. My legs felt great, nearly fully recovered. It was a little chilly, mostly because of the wind.

I warmed up within the first 0.8 mi or so. The logging roads were kind of sloppy from the trucks again, so I decided to go over the hill instead. So it was only muddy the first and last 0.8 mi, where the road forks. The intersection for the hill is another 0.2 mi from there. It’s just under 1 mi from there to the beginning of the hill.

The climb up on both sides felt pretty easy, which is awesome and will definitely help with some of the races I want to do this year. I felt so good that I might hit Wallace Falls for the first time this year. I’m going to have to get after it sometime if I want to make it up 50 times this year.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Thursday, January 15, 2015, 4:08 pm

11.14 mi, 2134 ft gain, 1:59:20. Through town to Upper Wallace Falls #1, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

A little tired today. I decided to get up a little “earlier” than yesterday and try to work my way toward sleeping and waking earlier, so I didn’t get a full night’s sleep. I’m also coming down with some sort of bug, runny nose, and a little bit of a sore throat.

My legs felt good the whole time. It was rather windy through town, but I didn’t really notice once I got back into the trees.

I pushed a little bit going up. I ended up getting my 2nd best time up. I used my headlamp starting a little over halfway up. There was still a little light from dusk, so I didn’t need much from the headlamp. For the descent, I switched it to medium (165 lumens). It was plenty of light. I didn’t push very hard on the way down, but still got my 2nd best descent time as well.

The rain held off until about the time I hit the roads on the way back home. I brought my new Outdoor Research Helium II jacket, folded up in its pocket, carried in the front pocket of my reflective safety vest. The wind and rain picked up a bit once I got back to US2 heading home. I stopped in at the grocery store to use the restroom and put on my jacket. I was so much warmer with the jacket.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Friday, January 16, 2015, 4:32 pm

10.08 mi, 1411 ft gain, 1:52:07. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

The cold has taken hold a little more today. Nose isn’t quite so runny, but throat is slightly more sore and a little more general head cold type discomfort. I think it had a little bit of an effect on my performance today, but not too bad.

The roads were sloppy again, though not at all once I turned off the main road. I didn’t want to deal with the mud, so I went over the hill. Once to the other side, I decided to go out and up the little hill on that side.

I was shooting for 10 mi. The extra out and back on the little hill didn’t quite do it, so I did a repeat on the steeper part near the top on the east side. It still wasn’t quite enough, so on the way back I went up the hill about 0.25 mi from the gate.

Other than the cold, I felt good. I’m hoping it doesn’t last too long though. While it hasn’t been too hard on my running, it’s taken a toll on my energy and will to get other things done.

Average HR 120 bpm.

 

Saturday, January 17, 2015, 3:05 pm

10.32 mi, 1668 ft gain, 1:40:43. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I waited too long to get out for my run today. It wasn’t raining earlier today. It was just starting a little when I started my run. I broke out the OR Helium II jacket again. I also took a handheld water bottle, which I haven’t been taking.

The plan was to do about 12 mi or so. I almost turned around and bagged it between 2-3 mi out. The head cold was bothering me. I usually feel better throughout the day. The wind and rain weren’t all that pleasant either. I wasn’t cold at the time, but I wasn’t sure how I’d feel later.

I’m glad I stuck it out, because I started feeling better a little past 3 mi. I went over the hill again today. I was going to maybe go over and back twice.

The OR Helium II kept me fairly dry for about an hour. After that, I was pretty wet, especially my arms. Maybe I keep my forearms above vertical. I had the hood on the whole time, but my body still got wet. It did keep me fairly warm though, and drier than without the jacket. The last 25 minutes or so, I started to get a little cold, mostly because my gloves were soaked through and the wind picked up blowing in my face.

I ended up going back up the hill far enough to break 10 mi by the end. I didn’t take a light with me, and I didn’t want to be out after dark, so that’s about all I had time for before the light went as well.
I think I’ll be looking for some waterproof gloves.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Sunday, January 18, 2015, 3:48 pm

11.03 mi, 2262 ft gain, 1:57:36. Through town to Upper Wallace Falls #2, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

This cold has me a little unsure about how much energy I have and how well I feel running. I’m past the sore throat and faucet for a nose phase. Now it’s just general malaise in and around my sinuses, and a little bit of sneezing. It’s not really slowing me down though.

The weather was pretty nasty overnight and earlier today. I got up around 9:30 this morning, hours earlier than I have been getting up for quite a while. I thought about getting out for my run and getting back in time to watch the Seahawks, but the weather was still pretty crappy. There were breaks in the rain and wind, but then it would start absolutely pouring. It even hailed like crazy for about 5 minutes, then slowed down. I’m glad I wasn’t out in it. So, I ended up waiting until after the game to head out. I almost left in the middle of the game, but glad I didn’t. I got some things done during the game as well, so it wasn’t wasted time. I may write a post about that.

Anyway, I always seem to go a little faster when I don’t have the dogs with me. I felt pretty good from the get go. I hit the Wallace Falls parking lot at about 26 min, had a brief pitstop in the restroom, signed the register and moved out. I took it a little easier than a few days ago. I think it was about 34 minutes to the Upper Falls. I spent a couple minutes there. I didn’t push myself that hard up the last climb, so I didn’t need the rest, but I wasn’t in a rush. I took a picture of the falls. They were roaring pretty good from all the rain. I got out my headlamp and headed back down the trail.

I also took it a little easier on the downhill than the other day. With the trail so wet, all the colors on the trail were pretty close, so it was a little harder to make out obstacles. I managed just fine, though. I’m not sure why I had so much trouble rolling my ankles last year. Maybe it’s just taken more practice.

I made it from TH back to the TH in 63 min. I finished off my water bottle and refilled in the restroom, then headed for home. A little over 25 min later, and I was home.

I felt pretty good the whole time. I had a little tightness up the inside of my lower right leg from the top of my foot over my arch. My shoe was a little tight across there, so I think that may have been at least part of the problem. I didn’t notice when it stopped, but it was fine by the time I got home.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the 50k was a couple weeks ago rather than just last weekend from how great I feel. Maybe I didn’t race it hard enough, maybe my body’s gotten used to it and recovers quickly, and maybe it’s a little of both.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Weekly Totals: 57.1 mi, 8611 ft gain