Monday, March 2, 2015, 5:16 pm

5.22 mi, 275 ft gain, 1:00:17. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

It was kind of rough starting out. My legs aren’t that sore from yesterday, but they were pretty stiff, especially my achilles. I really need to figure that out.

Anyway, I warmed up after about a mile. They’ve been doing some work on the logging roads, including opening a couple that have been very overgrown. I checked out some of what they’ve finished so far.

According to Strava I was not moving for about 12.5 min. But as I was heading back to the car, I saw that I could maybe come in under 1 hour on the clock, so I picked up the pace a bit for the last 0.4 mi. Then with about 0.2 mi to go, I sped up some more. Sigurd was running out in front of me and kept speeding up to stay in front. I kept going faster until just before the gate. I had him for a brief moment. My watch said I was going around 4:20/mi pace when I checked. I felt good, much less stiff but a little more sore when I was going fast.

I forgot to charge my Mio Link HR monitor, so I went without it today.

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 5:03 pm

3.17 mi, 28 ft gain, 30:06. Around town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Kind of stiff and achilles attachments still sore. Legs weren’t really feeling that great. They finally started feeling ok around 2.5 mi. I finished strong. I let the dogs off leash a little early and tried to beat Sigurd home. Almost, but I don’t think he knew we were racing.

Average HR 116 bpm.

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015, 5:04 pm

4.15 mi,  ft gain, 58:09. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#1.

Less stiff than yesterday. Achilles attachments still sore. I made another modification to my shoes. I don’t think it made much difference.

I ran out to Olney creek. My legs were mostly warmed up, but I really wasn’t feeling great. I hung out at the creek longer than I normally would. The dogs enjoyed splashing around.

When I started back the other way, I still wasn’t feeling it. I took a detour wandering into the woods for a while, just looking around and taking a couple photos. I probably spent 10 min or so wandering a bit. I felt a bit better once I got back to the road.

On my way back, I went up the hill to possibly catch the sunset. Just around the small bend at the beginning of the hill, I saw a good sized raptor flying overhead. I couldn’t tell what kind. A little farther up the hill, the dogs stopped and got all excited about something they saw on the side of the hill. I looked up to see a doe with a yearling. I pushed hard on the upper steep climb. I fixed the segment after last time, which did turn out to be a segment pr 1:28. I managed 1:20 today. I was rewarded with a great view of the sunset over the Olympics.

I went harder over the last 0.25 mi again. Sigurd kept pace no matter how fast I tried to go.

I definitely felt better by the end of the run.

Average HR 114 bpm.

 

Thursday, March 5, 2015, 4:47 pm

5.10 mi, 101 ft gain, 1:05:17. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #4, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I suspect my achilles issue might be Haglund’s. I read about things other people have done yesterday. I massaged the painful areas quite a bit, which helped a lot. It actually helped almost immediately. I also started some stretching. I haven’t done much stretching in a long time, maybe a little bit when I had specific problems. I guess I figured I didn’t really need it. I also cut out some foam in my shoes that sits over the affected area. I only had a couple minor twinges during the run today, unlike the usual starting stiffness and gradually warming up.

Cars were parked at the first 3 gates, so I went to the bermed off road instead. I took one of the early turns that doesn’t go very far, but followed a very minimal trail out near the end. I’d call it halfway between a boot path and a game trail. It was pretty fun, but kind of slow going being pretty overgrown. Fortunately, it was mostly just salal and ferns. I turned back when I lost the trail.

From there I went out to the single track cutting through the clear cut. Lots of twists, turns, little logs and fun. I hooked up with the next road and then some more single track through the woods that leads to the closed grassy part of the road from gate 3. I went out until just past 3 mi and turned back.

I caught some nice views of Mt. Persis, Mt. Index and Baring mountain. Right around sunset, the alpenglow on Persis and Index was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to an unobstructed view for a photo in time.

It was a great run.

Average HR 120 bpm.

 

Friday, March 6, 2015, 4:50 pm

8.09 mi, 271 ft gain, 1:12:27. Around town on May Creek Rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I was starting to feel pretty good and wanted a little longer, but still fairly easy test. So I decided take the loop around the outside of town. I started heading up US2, so I wouldn’t have to run on the shoulder later if I was still out after the sun went down.

I kept the pace fairly easy. I had a couple minor twinges, but overall, it went pretty well.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Saturday, March 7, 2015, 5:10 pm

7.28 mi, 1291 ft gain, 1:19:07. Olney Falls DNR rd, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

My achilles were still stiff when I woke up, like they have been for quite a while, though not nearly so bad. More massage and stretching today.

I headed out to the Olney Falls DNR rd. I checked out the falls, then went out the powerline access rd that I found a little while back. I followed it until I came to a private property sign and headed back. I still wasn’t done, so I went up the DNR rd some more.

My achilles were good today. My right hamstring is getting a little better too. It still just has a little tight spot that’s been there for over a month. I keep meaning to get a massage to have it worked on. I can’t seem to work it well enough with my foam roller.

It was a pretty good run. As much as I wanted to go long again this weekend, I’ll probably give it a while longer to let everything recover more fully.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Sunday, March 8, 2015, 6:47 pm

10.24 mi, 1674 ft gain, 1:56:12. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Less stiff waking up today than yesterday. The weather was beautiful as well.

I went the long way around the loop. The logging roads have finally dried out, so they’re not all sloppy muddy. I felt good, so I headed out to the road up the mountain toward Wallace Lake.

I turned onto a side road before making it through the clear-cut. They only left a few trees surrounding the stream down the hill. On the bright side, they cleared some roads that were very overgrown, so I have more areas to explore.

The frogs serenaded nearly my entire run, and horizon was lit up by the setting sun for well over an hour. With the low light obscuring the scarred mountainside, it made for one of those perfect moments, one that lasted much longer than most. One of those times that remind me how much I love running and being outside.

The turns that I took up the mountain took me to a landing just the other side of the ridge from Jay Lake. I plan to go back and find my way over to the lake another time.

I didn’t need a light until nearly an hour after sunset. I had my headlamp with me, but I ended up using my handheld flashlight instead for practice. It worked great. My only complaint is that the button can be hard to find wearing gloves. It’s on the side and not very prominent.

My legs seem to be mostly recovered from Lord Hill 50k and last weekend’s long run. The climbing wasn’t hard, and I still felt great at the end. I’ll still give it a little longer for my achilles and hamstring.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 43.3 mi, 4089 ft gain