Monday, June 1, 2015, 6:14 pm

4.31 mi, 271 ft gain, 48:57. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Today’s run was rough. My legs felt mostly ok, but my glute was not happy. It was definitely worse today than yesterday. Downhill was worse than uphill or flat. I think it’s the muscle contraction at that angle and the extra force going downhill. Other than that, I could move pretty well.

We ran out to Olney Creek. The dogs splashed around a bit. Then we finished the loop.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 7:24 pm

4.13 mi, 37 ft gain, 40:29. RR access rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt mildly better than yesterday. I still couldn’t go very fast because of the pulled muscle. I was going to run my normal 5k-ish loop or out onto May Creek rd, but I had to pee, so I crossed over to the green belt, across the RR tracks and found a spot in the bushes. Since I was already over there, I ran along the RR access road to a little over 2 mi out.

It’s times like this, dealing with injuries or being really sore during tough recoveries, that start to sow seeds of doubt. I started to think about just not running until the muscle healed, but remember giving up like that in the past and it sucked. Not running sucked, starting again sucked, and I’m not really sure it sped up the healing process that much.

Anyway, other than a sore right butt cheek, it was a pretty good run.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 8:41 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:53. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 White.

The glute is slightly better again. I didn’t feel it much at first, but when I tried speeding up some, it let me know. My legs are still a little bit tired in general too, not bad, though.

For some reason the muscle along the outside of my right shin was compensating and working overtime. It was really difficult to try to get it to relax. It started to loosen up a little toward the end of today’s run. I did notice early on that my right foot was turning inward a little, so I was much more mindful of my form. Going slightly faster helped a little too.

I’m hoping it’s good enough this weekend for one more long run. I ended up with a 3 week taper for Capitol Peak 50mi due to minor injury as well. I don’t want to taper that long for Rattlesnake, or for any other race for that matter.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Thursday, June 4, 2015, 8:01 pm

6.16 mi, 822 ft gain, 1:13:14. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

My glute is a lot better, but still has a little ways to go. My right shin muscle was tight again for the first mile or so. I took a couple breaks, concentrated on relaxing, and it loosened up. My right piriformis is acting up a little too. That should be alright though.

Once to the bridge at Olney Creek, the dogs decided to take the trail down to the creek. To keep from letting them think they’re in charge, I kept going over the bridge. Rather than go back up the trail and cross the bridge, they crossed the creek and scrambled up the bank on the other side.

We took a left after the bridge towards the mountains. I took the turn towards Wallace Lake, but stopped well short of it. There were a couple huckleberry bushes with berries starting to ripen.

This was a much better run than the last few days.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Friday, June 5, 2015, 7:34 pm

9.15 mi, 2014 ft gain, 1:50:11. Woody to Upper Falls (27), Upper Grade, Detour, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

My right glute felt ok, maybe just slightly sore. My lower legs, mostly the muscles on the inside between my calves and shins, were screaming at me for the first 3 mi or so. After that, they started to calm down pretty quickly. My right outside shin muscle was tight again for about the first mi.

I was kind of slow on the Woody trail, I stopped a couple times to try to stretch out tight lower leg muscles. I hiked a little as well. I usually try to run the whole thing, except maybe some of the stairs. I spent a minute or two at the Upper Falls trying to get my lower legs to calm down, then hiked most of the rest of the way to the Upper Grade.

I was still not feeling very good for a while after that. I walked a little bit, then took a brief pitstop in the woods. I started to feel better after that.

I didn’t have a lot of daylight left, so I turned at the detour road and didn’t go out to the lake. I had my headlamp just in case, though. I found myself a bit tentative going down the Greg Ball trail. It was kind of dark in the woods, and I had the trip and pulled muscle from Sunday on my mind. I was careful about foot placement and paid very close attention to the trail.

I kept the pace up a little bit on the way down, then kicked it up over the last 0.25 mi, and again over the last 100-200 yards. I managed to finish before needing to pull out my headlamp.

I am feeling kind of slow and tired, even though I finished quite fast. I hope the taper works out well.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Saturday, June 6, 2015, 7:06 pm

11.15 mi, 2082 ft gain, 2:18:25. Roads to WFSP & Woody to Upper Falls (28), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

After having such a rough time yesterday, I decided to run from home and use the 3 mi to the park as a warm up. It worked much better. My lower leg issues didn’t last as long and weren’t as bad.

I ran along the green belt instead of the sidewalk along US2. I tried to hit the grass and side of the road as much as possible the rest of the way. I felt good when I got to the park. I made a pitstop and refilled my water bottle then headed up the trail.

I felt better on the climbs than yesterday and walked less too. There was a little more foot traffic this late in the evening than I expected, but not too bad. I took the time letting people pass to rest a little. It didn’t really affect my time going up. It was pretty much the same as I’ve been doing recently. I took a minute or two to rest at the top before going back down. I also tightened my shoelaces.

I didn’t push the pace on the descent. Sometimes it seems a little easier to go faster on the descent. It went well.

I felt better on the road home than I did on previous similar efforts.

I didn’t take my phone, which I kind of regretted as I crossed the bridge over May Creek before getting to the park. There was a deer standing in the middle of May Creek with a duck in the still water nearby. It would have been a great photo. But it was also nice not having my UD belt around my waist or my pack on.

Average HR 134 bpm. The battery died after about 20 min. I forgot to charge it.

 

Sunday, June 7, 2015, 6:36 pm

12.04 mi, 2442 ft gain, 2:32:51. Woody to Upper Wallace Falls (29), Upper grade to detour to Wallace Lake beach +, down Greg Ball & RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I felt even better today than yesterday. I needed 12 mi to hit 50 for the week. I don’t know why it mattered that I hit 50.

Anyway, I was about as fast to the upper falls today again, even with a short pitstop off the trail. I also didn’t have any of the lower leg issues I’ve been having. There was a little soreness from the effort, but nothing else. I only stopped for a minute at the upper falls before heading up to the Upper Grade.

I find myself going kind of slow at first when I hit the Upper Grade, recovering from the climb I guess. Then I gradually speed up over the next 5-10 min. I stopped at around 3.5 mi when I saw a creek. I had my Sawyer Mini water filter and squeeze bag in the pocket of my Ultimate Direction Fastdraw 20. It took two bags to fill the bottle, with a little left over to drink before going again. I really like the Sawyer Mini. I prefer using my Platypus 1 liter soft bottle, but it won’t fit in the hand-held’s pocket.

I headed out to the lake, then around to the beach. It’s very tranquil and relaxing on the beach in the evening. It wasn’t quite far enough to hit my 12 mi mark, so I continued on the trail toward Jay Lake. I turned around once I had gone far enough.

Once on the Greg Ball, I went with gravity a little more than yesterday on the Woody trail descent. It was fun as always. I kept the pace up a bit on the RR grade and finished off the last bit hard. It was a great run.

I left my phone home again. Again, it was nice not having the belt or pack.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 50.1 mi, 7669 ft elevation gain