Monday, February 9, 2015, 6:18 pm

4.13 mi, 153 ft gain, 37:27. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

I got a late start to my run today. The legs are still a bit sore, but not so stiff. They warmed up within the first mile.

The logging roads were muddy again. It looks like they’re building some new roads for more logging in the area, because they have equipment out in one of the rock pits and a whole lot of crushed rock piled up along the road. Once they’re done, it should be more places to run. Unfortunately, it will also likely be clearcut along those new roads.

Anyway, I felt pretty good during the run and was pretty much back to my usual pace for relatively easy days. I still kept it short and without a lot of vert to recover more from the race and yesterday’s run up Wallace Falls.

I’m still thinking about one more long run before the Lord Hill 50k on Feb 22. If I do it, it will probably be Wednesday or Thursday, so I have time to fully recover before the race. I had wanted to get out and run at least one lap on the course, but I probably won’t.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 5:04 pm

6.25 mi, 685 ft gain, 1:12:59. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

My legs are mostly better today, just a little residual soreness. I warmed up within a mile.

I forgot my gloves today. I usually wear gloves when the temperature is below the mid 50s. My hands get cold and sometimes swell a little otherwise. It wasn’t too bad today, though.

The logging roads were muddy again. They’re also moving heavy equipment around some more. I got a good view of what they cut down on the mountain side. They pretty much doubled the size of the clearcut area. There was a section of trees on the road up the mountain toward Wallace Lake, but they cut that down.

It also looks like they’re working on the road at the gate before this one that’s been closed and overgrown since I’ve lived in the area, so I might have to start calling this one gate #2. Maybe that’s where the crushed rock they’ve been piling up is going.

I stopped quite a bit on today’s run. I took a couple photos, tried taking some video and did a little exploring and wandering. My moving time actually about 57 min.

I stayed straight on the road to avoid the muddy roads and then headed for the hill. I only went up and partway over today. I’m thinking about either going long or doing a good amount of climbing tomorrow, so I took it pretty easy today.

Just before turning off toward the hill, I saw an animal farther up the road. I couldn’t tell what it was. It was smaller than my dogs, but not a lot smaller. It wasn’t that light out, so I couldn’t really tell color. Based on shape and size, I’d guess either a coyote or bobcat. It was quite a ways off, though. I did hear some coyotes yipping a few minutes later.

Going faster on the descents is becoming more and more comfortable. I also did a short stretch at around my marathon goal pace, and it wasn’t that hard. It will likely be quite a while until I actually run a road marathon, though.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 3:00 pm

12.32 mi, 4942 ft gain, 2:44:35. Upper Falls, Greg Ball, Wallace lake, Greg Ball, Upper Falls, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

Last tough run before Lord Hill 50k. I didn’t quite go as far as I had wanted, but I got a little more vert than planned, so maybe it evens out.

I felt pretty good at the beginning. I went up the woody trail to the upper falls to start. I didn’t push very hard, but my HR was pushing up to the 160s.

I stopped briefly for a photo at the Middle falls. Once to the Upper falls, I took a short break. I had some water and food. I brought raisins and dates again.

I went up to the DNR road above the falls to get some more vert and maybe see how the bridge construction was going. There were guys working on it.

I went back down the way I came, turning off at the sign for the restrooms where the RR grade and Greg Ball trail meet. Then I went up the Greg Ball trail. I even bettered my Strava segment CR for the Greg Ball trail a little.

At Wallace Lake, I had some more water and more food while I pondered which way to go next. It had been about 90 minutes, and I had about 80 minutes of light left. I decided just to backtrack the whole thing and headed back out.

I made good time down the Greg Ball trail. It’s a lot of fun to run down too. Then I went back down the connector trail and head back towards the falls on the Woody trail. I ended up passing a couple who I saw on my initial trip up as they were heading down. The guy asked something about going up again, and I tried answering, but I don’t think I made that much sense.

I made it back up to the Upper falls without too much trouble, stopped briefly, then went up to the DNR rd again. That last climb from the Upper falls to the DNR rd was rough. At the top, I saw the bridge work crew driving their box van down the road. I had a little water and food, then headed back down again.

I took it easy on the way down. With the trees and clouds, it started to get dark. I purposely left my headlamp at home, but I had my handheld flashlight. I didn’t want to use it, though.

Once I made it back to the short RR grade between the woody trail TH and the parking lot, I opened it up a bit. I even hit 6:25/mi pace and felt pretty good. I still had a few minutes of useable light when I finished.

This was trips 8 and 9 to the Upper Falls for the year. At this rate I’ll hit my goal of 50 about the 2nd or 3rd week of October.

Average HR 148 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 12, 2015, 5:30 pm

3.25 mi, 132 ft gain, 33:36. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Well, I planned to keep it short and easy today, but not that short. I forgot to bring a light with me. Since I started just after sunset, I didn’t have that much time before it got too dark to see. I guess that’s one way to stick to my taper for the 50k.

I felt much better today than I expected with all the climbing I did yesterday. I’ve done more climbing before, so I guess it’s not as surprising as I thought.

I was a little bit sore, but I could move just fine. My legs warmed up about the halfway point. It was a pretty good run, even if it was so short.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Friday, February 13, 2015, 5:04 pm

3.18 mi, 28 ft gain, 28:12. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Just a quick spin around town. Legs were fine.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 14, 2015, 2:17 pm
11.13 mi, 875 ft gain, 1:39:56. Through town to RR grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

The weather was great. I headed for Wallace Falls State Park. I warmed up pretty quickly. I was moving pretty well.

I ran into a friend when I hit the parking lot. She was waiting for some friends to go hiking. I stopped for a very brief chat.

I stuck to the Rail Road Grade. I wanted some time in the woods, but didn’t want to do too much only a week out from the Lord Hill 50k.
I kept a decent pace up the trail. Once to the end, where the Greg Ball trail starts, I kept going a little to see if the old grade was still passable beyond there. It quickly stopped on the other side of a creek 20 yards out or so.

I was moving great on the way back down the trail. They laid some fresh crushed rock in a couple spots. It also looked like they graded a couple spots as well, then used the scraped up earth to fill in some mucky spots. However, the soil they used was sticky, mucky and had quite a bit of clay in it, so it seems like it just made it worse in those spots.

On the road back home, I saw another person I knew out pruning their apple trees, so I stopped and talked for a few minutes.
Once I started back up, my legs were a little stiff but loosened up quickly. My pace didn’t really suffer, and I actually slowed myself down a little.

I made pretty good time. In all, I ended up stopping for about 11 minutes between talking with people, signing the register and checking out past the end of the trail. The 50k next week is three laps around a 10 mi loop with 1700 ft gain. I think it’s fairly comparable to today’s run when you adjust distance and elevation gain. If I can maintain the same kind of pace I did, and minimize my stopping time, I could potentially finish significantly under my goal time.

Average HR 145 bpm. My HR was elevated compared normal for my breathing and pace. I think it was due in part to eating shortly before running. It calmed down a bit later in the run.

 

Sunday, February 15, 2015, 4:22 pm

4.45 mi, 600 ft gain, 47:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

I was a little sore from yesterday, but I warmed up quickly. My core was sore, as well, from using an axe to take down a tree yesterday and several more today.

I took it easy today. I’m supposed to be tapering. I considered going longer, but held myself back. I have a tendency to try to go beyond goals, plans and such, rather than just trying to reach them. It’s great in many cases, but it can also lead to burnout. As I mentioned before, I’m not great at moderation.

In an effort to work on moderation, I didn’t push the pace, I hiked most of the steepest part of the hill, which I usually run, and I took a couple minutes break at my turnaround point.

On the way back down the hill, though, I let gravity do its thing and got the legs turning over quickly. I used to dislike running downhill, mostly because I couldn’t do it very well. I think part of it was that I wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the speed that I would go if I went with gravity.

I expect more runs like this over the next week to get ready for the race.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 44.7 mi, 7387 ft gain