Monday, August 10, 2015, 7:58 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:32. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Just a relatively easy run around town. My legs were a little sore, but not all that fatigued.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2015, 6:59 pm

9.85 mi, 1465 ft gain, 1:49:07. RR Grade, Greg Ball, DNR rd, Bike path, RR Grade, solo. Altra superior 1.5 red #4.

The sky was pretty hazy today. I decided to run a different route at WFSP to hope to get some decent sunset views.

My calves were a little tight on the way up. I called a friend on the upper part of the RR grade. They’re able to take the dogs for me during Cascade Crest, which was a big load off.

Once I hit the Greg Ball trail, I ended up vlogging the whole way up. It helped keep the pace relatively easy. I may split it into a couple videos.

I turned left at the end of the Greg Ball trail instead of right to Wallace Lake. There are a few spots to catch a view of the sunset on the DNR rd toward Sultan. The sunset itself wasn’t that great, but the 20-30 min leading up to it were pretty amazing.

I took the bike trail turn off back down to the RR grade.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2015, 7:11 pm

11.08 mi, 864 ft gain, 1:41:18. Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I haven’t quite decided yet if I’ve started my taper yet. I might get in one sort of easy long run this weekend, but I don’t know. On days like this it’s a little more about getting out for the time, not as much the distance. And it’s not really like traditional thoughts about time on feet in regards to ultra training. I’m not sure how to explain it.

About 0.7 mi up the RR Grade, I heard something off the side of the trail, so I clapped a couple times. Then I saw a coyote going up the trail as I came around the next corner. I tried to pull out my phone to get some video or photos while running after it. Then there was a much louder noise from something moving through the brush not too far off trail to the left. It was a bear. It ran a few yards then climbed up a tree. I moved a little bit up the trail and stopped to try to get a good view for some photo or videos, but decided against it. I may not be that familiar with all the things bears do when startled, but I’ve never seen an adult bear climb a tree like that when there’s plenty of room to just continue running away. It didn’t look like a cub though. I kept moving up the trail a little farther when it started huffing at me. Then I heard another huffing sound coming from another tree on the other side of the trail. I wasn’t sure which one was the cub and which was the mama bear, or if they were both cubs and mama was nearby, so I started talking loudly and moved another 30-40 yards up the trail. I threw a few rocks down the trail to make more noise. Just around the bend, I started back to running again, back at my normal pace. I saw the coyote running up the trail again shortly after that. It was quite an exciting experience, if a little nerve racking.

I was quite alert for the rest of the run in the park. I made it up to the end of the RR Grade and turned around without anything else noteworthy. On the way back down, I saw the coyote again, running down the trail the other way. It went off trail into the brush much more quickly than the way up.

It was a great run. I felt good. I warmed up well after the first 10-15 min.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Thursday, August 13, 2015, 7:07 pm

11.18 mi, 858 ft gain, 1:45:25. Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Rerun from yesterday’s run. I warmed up about the same. As I came up to the Mexican restaurant, I saw someone had left their headlights on, so I went inside and let some servers know.

I saw some people on the RR Grade today, which isn’t usually the case this late in the evening. There was a group of two women on their way down, followed by another solo hiking woman who I’ve seen in the park before.

Sometime within the next mile there was another bear off the trail on the right side. This one kept running, though, making lots of noise crashing through the brush. There were a lot of birds on the trail as well.

On the way back home, there was a loose dog going near the highway. I walked towards it hoping that it would go back towards its home. It kept barking at me making a half circle around me. It sort of worked. It wasn’t actually very far from home. After a minute or so, a guy came out. It turned out to be his dog.

The rest of the run was just fine.

I felt good. It was a lot like yesterday’s run, beyond just the route.

Average HR 132 bpm.

 

Friday, August 14, 2015, 7:39 pm

3.18 mi, 34 ft gain, 30:16. RR access rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

It rained all day. It let up just a little before we started. I took the dogs out, since they haven’t been running in a while and it finally cooled down.

I ran through most of the puddles, and the puddles were big along the RR access rd. Vida didn’t really like that. She usually loves running through water, but I don’t think she liked being splashed by me. Sigurd was a little more tolerant of it at first, but eventually he started moving as far away to the side or front as he could on the leash.

My legs felt good, the rain felt good, and it was a great run.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Saturday, August 15, 2015, 7:10 pm

11.03 mi, 872 ft gain, 1:22:40. Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt pretty good from the get go. It was still a little cooler out too. I started a bit faster than normal and decided to go with it. I kept it comfortable out to WFSP.

I went slightly harder up the RR Grade and back down. I clapped periodically on the trail to warn wildlife I was coming through.

I pushed progressively harder on the way home. It was a good run. I’m still having a little piriformis discomfort, especially during faster runs like this. It wasn’t too bad though.

Strava says I set 10 mi, 15k and 10k PRs. I guess I don’t run fast for that long very often. I know I can certainly go faster.

Average HR 147 bpm.

 

Sunday, August 16, 2015, 5:31 pm

11.45 mi, 3779 ft gain, 2:32:07. RR grade to Upper Falls (55), Woody to Upper Falls (56), with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

One more good hard run before tapering. Well, I might do a fast shorter run sometime this upcoming week. I considered doing three laps, but, like all too often, I got a late start, so I didn’t have enough time before the park closed.

Instead, I extended the first lap by taking the RR Grade up and down, taking the connecting trail to/from the Woody trail.

My legs were kind of sore and tight starting out. The RR Grade was a good warmup. I had a brief pitstop at the restroom at the end of the RR Grade, then headed to the Upper Falls. My legs felt better once I hit the Woody trail, still kind of tired though.

I had some water and raisins at the Falls before heading down. I refilled my water, had some water, and sat on a bench eating some raisins for a couple minutes.

My legs were a little tired and heavy again when I started the second lap. They started feeling a little better as I went, but not great. I visualized myself toward the end of Cascade Crest as I was running, imagining myself feeling that good toward the end of the race. I think it’s possible, especially if the taper goes well.

Maybe instead of back-to-back long runs in the future, I should do long runs the day after a fast run. Might be worth a try, but it will be a while until I’m back to that point.

Bring on the taper.

Average HR 141 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 60.9 mi, 7874 ft elevation gain.