All posts by Brian

Running, Trail run, Training Log

February 9-15 Practice Running

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

Practice, Races, Running, Trail run, Training Log

February 2-8 Practice Running

Monday, February 2, 2015, 5:11 pm

3.22 mi, 28 ft gain, 29:03. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

My legs are mostly recovered from the weekend, except my left achilles is still really tight and a little sore. Just like yesterday, it got worse around 0.4-0.5 mi before it got better.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve felt a bit down today. The run definitely helped.

I still ended up not going as far as I had planned. It did start raining with a little bit of hail, but I actually kind of enjoyed that.

I’ll probably stick with this type of run for a few days. Maybe I’ll go into the 5 mi race this weekend on fresh legs. I’d like to get one more specific training run in for the Lord Hill 50k, probably this weekend or early next week.

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 5:16 pm

4.01 mi, 144 ft gain, 42:48. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

My left leg is even more sore today, but it’s actually my lower calf and not my achilles. I don’t know if that’s any better or not. It was stiff for most of today’s run. It loosened up for a few minutes around 2.5 mi, but tightened back up less than a mile later.

I had hoped to go longer today, but kept it short again. Everything else is fine, though.

I broke out a new pair of Superior 1.5s from my stockpile. I modified them last night. My other red pair have lost a lot of their cushioning ability, which isn’t unexpected with almost 600 mi on them. The treads still have plenty of life, so I’ll probably still keep them in rotation for less rocky terrain. I took some photos of my modification process and will post something about that soon.

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015, 5:33 pm

4.02 mi, 143 ft gain, 43:30. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

Yesterday was pretty rough. After the run, my calf was still bugging me. I broke out the foam roller, did some stretching and some manual massage. I also wore warm socks, used some heat and kept my lower legs under extra covers when I slept last night, all to promote blood flow to the area. Our bodies are capable of amazing things, like healing themselves. The trick is to help the processes.

It was still a little bit sore and tight when I woke up today, but much better. When I started my run this evening, it was fine, loose and not sore at all. My right hamstring is still a little tight, so I’ll do some work on that tonight.

Even though I felt better, I still kept today short and easy. I’d like to go into the 5 mi race this weekend with fresh legs. It’d be great to win one more, but I think I’m already guaranteed top 3 for the series. I know there are lots of people who could have beat me, even locally. But they weren’t racing. And it’s still a big confidence booster.

There wasn’t really anything remarkable about today’s run. It was still great, though. A little rain, no pain, and I felt like I just got started at the end.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 5, 2015, 4:12 pm

4.22 mi, 38 ft gain, 38:13. Green belt in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

The legs were a little heavy today. But it was still pretty nice to get out. Originally I was considering only about 3 mi, but felt decent so I pushed it out to 4 mi.

I stuck to the grass in the park mostly, with a little bit on the gravel access road on the highway side of the tracks.

I picked up the pace toward the end to try to get my legs going ahead of the race on Saturday. It wasn’t great.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Friday, February 6, 2015, 3:52 pm

6.33 mi, 265 ft gain, 51:29. To WFSP TH and back, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

My legs felt a lot better today. I didn’t know how far I was going to go until a little over a mile into the run, and I decided to head out to the Wallace Falls parking lot.

It was much easier running today, and I ended up going a little faster than most of my runs.

My HR was a little elevated, though. I either caught another head cold, or the last one has come back. It’s just a mild pressure on the left side of my head around my eye back to my ear, and it mostly goes away later in the day.

Even so, I’m pretty happy with today’s run. I opened it up down the hill from WFSP, reaching close to 4min/mi. I sped up for the last little bit to home as well, not quite as fast, but it wasn’t downhill either.

Bring on the race.

Average HR 143 bpm.

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 9:04 am

1.17 mi, ft gain, 19:18. Frost Eagle Warmup, solo. New Balance MT1010v2.

I ended up parking nearly 0.4 mi away from the parking lot. Lots of people and a small parking lot. I didn’t really have much time for that great of a warmup, but it was better than nothing. I forgot to stop my watch, it was much less time than 19 minutes.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 9:45 am

5 mi, ft gain, 35:57.8. Frost Eagle 5 mi Race, solo. New Balance MT1010v2.

I took the lead from the beginning. Another guy I know passed me for a brief period just so he could say he had the lead. There was a pretty good pack of guys right behind me. I dropped the hammer on the first downhill, and I don’t think many people followed.

The half marathon was started 7 minutes prior to the 5 mi race. The two races shared a good portion of the same course, with the half marathon turning off about 1.5 mi in. I ended up catching and passing quite a few half marathoners. Most of them were great about moving to the side, but a couple weren’t paying attention. When the rest of the people in the group they were in moved over, they decided to take the opportunity to pass right in front of me. It didn’t slow me down much though.

It was pretty muddy and really wet out there, with lots of standing water and some flowing water. I just plowed right through the mud and water. I may have accidentally splashed a few half marathoners.

I came up to one more group just as got to where the race courses diverged. From there out I was pretty much alone. I had put some time on 2nd place, one of my 2 competitors for the series win. I had backed off on the pace a little bit. At about 3 mi I looked back and saw that he had regained a some ground, so I attacked again.

I didn’t attack that much on the climbs, but opened up on some of the descents. I also tried to maintain speed through the turns, mud and puddles. I nearly crashed a couple times pushing the pace. About a mile from the finish, there was a pretty good hill that I tried to bomb down. The trail was fairly straight, but my legs were going all over the place from the mud. I just about did the splits trying to stay upright. I slowed down a little bit at the bottom briefly to make sure everything was alright. I was fine, so I pushed on.

After that, at nearly every turn I’d look back to see if I could see anyone gaining on me, but I didn’t see anyone. When I finally hit the gravel pipeline trail near the end, I saw the runner who wanted to say he had the lead. Apparently he took a wrong turn, and his knee was banged up pretty good from a fall. I asked if he was alright. He was, so I pushed on to the finish.

I won the race, and clinched the series win. Second place was about 45 seconds back, who ended up 3rd in the series. He also pretty handily beat me at the race when I lost my shoe by enough that my shoe didn’t make a difference. The half marathon winner ended up 2nd in the series by 3 points, just 5 points behind me.

I decided not to worry about my HR today and switched to view current pace, and I only looked at that a few times, once at the beginning before the first hill. I saw I was going around 5:40/mi pace and backed down a little. I looked a couple other times just out of curiosity.

Even not worrying about my HR during the race, I still wore the monitor to look over the data afterwards. My average HR was 181 bpm. I’m not sure how accurate this is. It looks like the reading dropped suddenly for a little bit early, then spiked over 200. Even if it is off, It’s probably not by much. My HR hovered around 180 bpm most of the time. My most recent bout of head cold has gotten better, but my HR is still a little elevated because of it. Running by feel and not by HR, I think I was also able to push harder than if I had looked. I may have backed off seeing it that high. I’m starting to get the feel for that edge between uncomfortably fast and blow-up fast. But I have lots more to learn.

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 4:29 pm

3.18 mi, 28 ft gain, 30:04. Around town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I took the dogs out for a little spin around town before dark. It started raining as soon as we started, but it wasn’t cold, fortunately.

Man, my legs were stiff. They loosened up a little by about 1 mi, but took until about 2 mi to feel ok. The same little spot in my right hamstring that’s been a little bothersome for over a week finally got to the point that I decided I’d do something about it.

This evening I sat my hammy on the foam roller, going back and forth for about 10 minutes. That was not pleasant.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Sunday, February 8, 2015, 3:36 pm

11.21 mi, 2307 ft gain, 2:07:03. Upper Wallace Falls via woody trail from home, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

My legs were a little stiff today but not quite as much as yesterday afternoon’s run. I loosened up a couple miles in. I was pretty sore as well, and that didn’t really go away. It wasn’t quite so bad later in the run, though.

This wasn’t exactly what I had planned for today, but it worked based on how I felt after yesterday’s race.

The trails were a little bit busy, but not bad. Most people were on their way back to the TH as I went out. The muscle soreness slowed me down a little. I made it to the Upper falls from the TH in about 33 min. I spent a couple minutes up there watching the waterfall, drinking some water and snacking on some raisins and a couple dates.

Since my legs were still sore, I took it extra easy down the steep, slippery steps near the top. I kept it pretty easy going most of the way down. I just wasn’t quite as surefooted with tired legs and didn’t want to push my luck with the wet conditions. It didn’t rain today, but there was quite a lot of rain over the last several days.

Once I hit less than 1 mi to the TH, I was feeling good again and picked up the pace. On the short road grade section at the end, I even hit 6:40/mi pace and felt good.

I passed 3 guys in the last little stretch who I had seen on my way up just below the Lower falls view point. As I went by, one of them said in a seemingly joking tone, “I hate you”. I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

Running the roads back home wasn’t too bad until I turned onto US2. I spent the last 1.5 mi running into a pretty stiff headwind. It only died down briefly a couple times. It was mostly steady, though, and even picked up enough to slow me way down. That’s part of the experience of running outside.

Average HR 143 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 42 mi, 3311 ft gain

Philosophy, Practice

Time for Some Changes

I’m not sure why, but I was kind of depressed for most of yesterday. Nothing bad happened. I was a bit sore from recent training. That’s pretty normal, though. I had some strange dreams last night, but I have strange dreams quite regularly and none were bad.

It wasn’t until a couple hours after I got up that it started. I think I was in the middle of packing some things that I sold on eBay over the weekend when it came on. To go along with that feeling, I had an overwhelming sense of needing to change something.

For immediate action, I started tackling one of the many things on my to-do list, going through all of my stuff and getting rid of things. I only spent an hour or so at it, but made a little bit of a dent. I have four boxes so far.

The biggest thing that helped with this little bout of the doldrums was my afternoon run. I almost always feel better after a run. To paraphrase Tony Robbins, your mental state follows your physical state. To change your mental state, make a physiological change, like exercise. Even smiling can cause a positive change in your state of mind.

While my mindset has improved, I still feel the need for change. I don’t know what it will be yet. In the past, cutting my hair or shaving my beard have both worked, but that’s not going to do it this time. For now, I’ll continue purging stuff while I figure it out.

Running, Trail run, Training Log

January 26-February 1 Practice Running

Monday, January 26, 2015, 2:51 pm

6.03 mi,  ft gain, 1:09:35. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I felt surprisingly good today. The sunny 60 degree weather was great too. My right hamstring was a little sore starting out. I also started a little slow, but I warmed up after about 2 mi.

After the first mile, I got out into the open and the sunlight. It felt great, so I took off my shirt. The sun felt awesome.

I went over the hill from the west side today. There was too much logging traffic on the road at the other gate. Up on the hill, I could see exactly where they were logging. It’s not that far past where they set up signs.

Once I got to the other side of the hill, in the hills shadow, it got much cooler. It’s always cooler in that area.

I picked up the pace a little bit on the way back. I had to get back home to make it to the post office before it closed.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 5:08 pm

6.72 mi, 1096 ft gain, 1:12:26. Olney Falls DNR rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I felt a little sluggish starting out today. I stuck with a pretty easy pace for most of the run. I started feeling better about 2 mi in, but still kept it easy.

It was raining the whole time, not all that heavily, but just a constant light rain. I used my Outdoor Research Helium II jacket. It kept me fairly dry for about 40-45 min, but the front of my body was pretty wet by 1 hour. My forearms were quite wet as well. I think that’s from water draining back from my hands as my arms come forward above parallel to the ground. My back was still mostly dry, though. And I was still warm enough.

Vida kept up much better today, though still lagged behind a bit when I sped up on the last descent. I might give the dogs tomorrow off, or do a double with a longer solo run and a short one with them.

Early in the run, I wasn’t really feeling it and almost cut it short to 3-4 mi, but I’m glad I kept going. I kind of wish I went longer, but I think another “easy” day was a good idea. It feels really weird to call 6.7 mi with over 1000 ft gain easy.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015, 4:56 pm

2.09 mi, 36 ft gain, 18:29. Warmup for solo 5k, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I took it easy to warm up. My right hamstring was a little tight again, but loosened up. I probably went a little faster than ideal, but it was cold out and I wanted to get warm faster.

Average HR 119 bpm.

 

3.14 mi, 20 ft gain, 18:29. Solo 5k through town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I started too fast, but I wanted to see what I could do. I set new PRs for 1 mi, 2 mi and 5k (1/2 mi and 1k too according to Strava).

My splits were 5:33 for mi 1, 5:50 for mi 2, 6:10 for mi 3 and 6:23/mi pace for the last 0.14 mi. I went hard from the start, wanting to see what kind of pace I could hold. I faded fairly consistently after the first mi. I just hung on to what I had over most of mi 3. I tried to finish hard over the last 0.3 mi or so, but I could feel my legs just about to burn out, so I backed off just a hair.

I’m really close to two of my goals for the year, sub 5:30 1 mi and sub 18:00 5k. My best estimated 1 mi time from Strava was 5:32. My 5k time was 18:12. Based on today, I know I can beat my 1 mi goal. I’m pretty sure I could do a sub 18:00 5k if I paced better. My 2 mi time was 11:22, which I also think I could do faster with better pacing. Even so, my 2 mi time today was nearly 3 minutes faster than I ever did in the Army. My best 2 mi for the APFT was 14:44, a couple weeks before my 21st birthday in 2002 while still in training. I hated running back then.

Average HR 147 bpm. I don’t think this is correct. The data shows my HR around 105 bpm for the first 1.25 mi, then suddenly jumping to the low 170s. It hit a high of 184 bpm near the end.

After I finished, I sat down on a curb by the elementary school to rest a little before heading home.

 

2.75 mi, 43 ft gain, 24:57. Cool down for solo 5k, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I went pretty easy on my way home. I wanted at least 2 mi for a cool down, but heading straight home was going to end up around 1.4 mi, so I kept going up US2 to the next street and then ran back along that one to get home.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Thursday, January 29, 2015, 4:46 pm

7.10 mi, 1235 ft gain, 1:09:46. Olney Falls DNR rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I might actually have been more sore today from yesterday’s 5k than I was the day after the first 20 mi of last weekend. But it’s a different kind of muscle soreness. I could still run pretty much like normal today. Soreness from a long run takes more out of me, even if it doesn’t hurt as much.

It took about 2 mi to warm up completely, but I still had some soreness in my legs. It was a good run anyway.

The orange of the sunset lasted from before I started until after I finished. I had some great views. I spent about 5 minutes at the turnaround spot.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Friday, January 30, 2015, 3:56 pm

16.01 mi, 2353 ft gain, 2:49:32. Upper Wallace Falls via Woody Trail to Wallace Lake & back via Greg Ball Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I decided to move up my long run by a day. I might do another B2B and go again tomorrow, but I was pretty tired today.

My legs were still a bit sore from Wednesday’s 5k. I guess I really went hard then. I don’t feel like my pace has suffered much from it, but I definitely feel it. I suppose running on tired legs is good practice for my first 100 miler, whichever I finally decide on. I still haven’t made up my mind whether to run Badger Mountain or wait for another one, maybe Lumberjack or Pigtails.

Even though my legs were sore, and I felt like I was running pretty slowly on the roads out to the trails, I was running in the low 8 min/mi range, which is fairly usual. I tried to take it easy up the climbs on the Woody trail, but caught myself going a little harder a couple times. Overall, it wasn’t too fast of a pace.

I was well ahead of sunset when I hit the Valley Overlook, and I didn’t want to wait around that long, so I kept going. I caught glimpses of the sunset through the trees, though. I had a nice view from the DNR rd above the Upper Falls. The horizon glowed orange for over an hour.

The DNR rd out to Wallace Lake was quite a bit drier today. The flooded section closer to the lake has receded, but where there was just one channel of the creek cutting across the road, there are now two. They’re easily jumped across, though.

Once I got to the picnic table by the bridge over the outlet of Wallace Lake, I got my headlamp out. While the sky was still glowing orange, it quickly got dark in the trees.

The road from Wallace Lake to the Greg Ball trail has dried out a lot as well. Though, I almost lost a shoe in the mud where a puddle had been.

Today was my first time running down the Greg Ball trail by headlamp. It was pretty fun. I missed switch backs, going a couple steps off trail, two or three times. When going downhill, I tend to keep my headlamp pointed down right in front of my feet, which means I don’t see the trail farther ahead very well.

My legs were pretty tired for about the last 1.5 mi, but I tried to maintain about the same pace. I did speed up for about .25 mi as I approached the turn for home, because it sounded like the train that was stopped was getting ready to get going, and I didn’t want to get stuck waiting at the RR crossing.

It was a little more tough of a run than either of last weekend’s 20 milers, mostly just because my legs were sore. Other than that, it was great.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Saturday, January 31, 2015, 3:48 pm

16.02 mi, 2437 ft gain, 2:56:24. Greg Ball to Wallace lake to upper falls & back via woody trail, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I’m writing this a couple days later, so it’s not the freshest thing in my mind. I was rather sore and tired from the day before, so I kept a pretty easy pace again.

I warmed up after about 2 mi. Since I went up the Woody trail and down the Greg Ball on Friday, I decided to go the other direction. Even going easy, I just about set another Strava CR up the Greg Ball trail. If I hadn’t stopped to pee, I would have made it by a little bit.

The trail was kind of busy, much more so than the day before. That was another reason for switching directions. The road grade and Greg Ball trail are usually a lot less busy than the Woody trail.

I pulled out my headlamp at the picnic table at Wallace Lake again. I didn’t turn it on for a little while though. I took it easy on the way down the Woody trail too. I only passed one group of people still on the trail on my way down, three guys with cameras and flashlights. I’m glad they had lights. I’ve come across several people on the trail without lights after sunset.

Running the roads home was kind of rough. But that’s why I wanted to do back-to-back long runs. I wanted to do some training on tired legs. And that’s what I got. I was surprised at how well my legs held up to the b2b long runs the previous weekend. I guess an all out 5k and a second week in a row with b2b long runs did the trick.

I might take it easy for the most part until Lord Hill 50k on Feb 22. Or at least a few days before another long run this upcoming weekend after the 5 mi race for the final NW Trail Runs Winter Series.

Average HR 132 bpm.

 

Sunday, February 1, 2015, 2:09 pm

6.20 mi, 67 ft gain, 58:25. Green belt and RR access rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

My left achilles is stiff again. Sometime I’ll finally figure out what the deal is. Maybe I need to do more stretching. It seems like when I have this issue it tightens up more around 0.5 mi into my run, sometimes making me consider turning around and going home. Then it loosens up just a short time later.

I decided to go through the little park between US2 and the RR tracks for a while, then hopped the tracks to the access road by the river. I went out past the gate on the road that leads out to Startup.

A little ways down the road there’s sort of a marshy area to the right. As I came up to it I saw 7 great blue herons take flight. It was pretty awesome to see. I wish I could have gotten a photo.

I continued out a ways farther before turning around. As I got back to the marsh, I saw more herons. I guess the 7 I saw fly off went back. A couple flew just around some trees, a couple more flew up into a tree on the far end, and several just stayed where they were. I counted a total of 8 this time.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 66.1 mi, 8315 ft gain

Practice, Running, Training Log

January 19-25 Practice Running

Monday, January 19, 2015, 3:59 pm

6.04 mi, 988 ft gain, 58:37. Olney Falls DNR rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Yay for running during daylight again. Although, I thought I had more daylight left when I started. I still got about the mileage I was looking for today anyway.

I was a little bit tired from the last few days and the cold, but not bad. I started feeling better after about 10 min.

The weather was a lot better today as well. I had some great views of the sunset on my way back to the car.

I started feeling pretty good on the return trip and opened it up pretty fast going down the last couple hills. It’s good practice for both downhill running and faster turnover. Other than that, I kept a pretty easy pace. Vida was lagging a bit at times. At other times she was running up ahead to see what Sigurd was up to. I think part of her hanging back might be her protective instinct. Sigurd is out front, so she takes up the rear.

The cold is getting better, no more sore throat, nose isn’t running so much and reduced malaise. I think my HR is still a little bit elevated because of it though.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015, 5:43 pm

8.16 mi, 1140 ft gain, 1:25:55. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

My legs were just a little bit achey to start, but not really that fatigued. They felt just fine after 10 min or so.

The logging roads are drying out just a little bit, enough that I didn’t have to wash Vida down when we got home. I still headed for the less used roads and over the hill.

Since I was feeling rather mediocre today, I wasn’t sure how far I’d end up going. I wanted to go at least 6 mi, but as I got up the hill, I felt good and decided to keep going. I kind of wish that I had gone a little farther, but I’m thinking about back-to-back long runs this weekend and want to go into it feeling pretty fresh.

I’m really happy that 8 mi has become a relatively short run for me. I remember when I first hit 5 mi for my weekly long run. It felt like an amazing accomplishment. I still think it was.

I took it easy on the downhills on the way out. After a brief pitstop at the other end of the hill, I headed back.

I ran the climbs with my HR in the 140s. My legs felt great on the climbs. On the way back, I let go on a couple of the downhills, hitting around 5min/mi pace for brief periods.

I picked up the pace a little on the final relatively flat 2 mi, HR in the upper 130s to low 140s, still aerobic.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 3:49 pm

11.21 mi, 2252 ft gain, 1:59:19. USPS package drop off on the way to Upper Falls, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I had one small package to send out today, so rather than drive to the P.O., then back home to get ready for my run, I just took it with me and dropped it on my way. The P.O. is just shy of a mile from my house and on the way to Wallace Falls.

Like most days when I go out without the dogs, I ran faster than with them. I made it to the TH at about 27 min or so, including the P.O. stop. I stopped briefly in the restroom. Before heading up the trail, I took of my fleece hat and windbreaker. I was sweating pretty good with those on. My windbreaker stuffs into it’s own pocket and then fits nicely into the front pocket on my reflective safety vest, which is a lot lighter than my Nathan pack. I had my headlamp in the pocket of my UD Fastdraw 20 water bottle.

I took it easier on the way up today than either trip last week, trying to keep my HR in the mid 150s or lower. I think I went up to 160 or so on the really steep steps. I made it up in about 35 minutes. I took a minute or two to take in the view, and get my hat and headlamp out.

I made it back down to the TH in a little over 25 min. The trail was drier, and I could see obstacles better than last time, so I went a little faster down some parts. I still took it fairly easy though.

I made it home from the TH in about 24 min, keeping the pace up and my HR in the low 140s. I sped up for the last 200 yds or so.

It was a great run. I love having such awesome trails so close to home.

Average HR 141 bpm.

 

Thursday, January 22, 2015, 4:23 pm

5.33 mi, 821 ft gain, 57:18. Olney Falls DNR rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I felt good today. Because I’m thinking about b2b long runs this weekend, I took it easy anyway.

I was still going to go a little longer than I ended up doing, but I forgot my headlamp. I didn’t realize until I was already halfway there.

The climbing was pretty easy again. I pushed the pace a couple times, once on a relative flat and once on the little hill up to where I turned around.

I ran out for 25 minutes then turned around and headed back. I took a couple short detours to check out some things on the way back.

Average HR 117 bpm.

 

Friday, January 23, 2015, 4:13 pm

5.07 mi, 53 ft gain, 54:32. RR access rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I felt pretty good today, but took it easy anyway. The plan was 6 mi, but I kept stopping for the dogs and photos.

Fortunately, the heavy rain had stopped by the time I headed out. I went along the RR access rd. The clouds had parted to the south and it made for some pretty great views with the sun going down.

I might give Vida a couple days off. She’s been a little slow. She also might have a very slight limp, I can’t quite tell. She’d keep going until she absolutely couldn’t, though.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Saturday, January 24, 2015, 2:02 pm

20.02 mi, 2567 ft gain, 3:32:20. To WFSP, Rd grade, Greg Ball Tr, Wallace Lake & explore, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

B2B day 1 went great. There was a little bit of a drizzle off and on. I’m glad it didn’t rain much.

I wore my Nathan Elevation pack with about 1.5 liters of water in the bladder. I didn’t quite drink it all, though I probably should have. I had to stop to urinate several times throughout the run, so I guess I wasn’t too dehydrated. I’m sure the water I drank before I left the house made a difference.

I took the road grade up to the Greg Ball trail. I don’t know why I hadn’t been on the Greg Ball trail yet, after all the times I’ve been out to Wallace Falls State Park. It’s a pretty awesome trail, lots of twists and turns, good climbs and nice tread, even when parts have standing water. The mossy trees and creeks make it even better.

It was about 8 mi to Wallace Lake from my house this way. The lake was quite high with the outlet, the Wallace River, nearly reaching the bottom of the foot bridge. From there, I headed on the DNR rd toward the Upper Falls. About 0.25 mi from the lake, the road is flooded by a stream for about 200 yards. I stopped, took a couple pictures and thought about whether I wanted to get my feet wet. They were already a little damp, and I wanted to check out another spur road, so I went through the water. Most of the way it was about ankle deep. The main channel of the stream washed about a foot deep section of the road out. My feet were pretty cold for a minute or two, but felt pretty good after that.

A little further past the flooded part, I took a left on an old logging road that goes up the western side of Mt. Stickney. I only made it about 0.5 mi up the road, though. A slide took out a 100 ft section of the road. I considered going around on the uphill side, but it was quite steep and didn’t look very stable. Thwarted again in my quest to find a route up Mt. Stickney from the Wallace Falls side.

I headed back toward the lake. Once there, I calculated that I was going to be short of my planned 20 mi, so I headed the other way around the lake to possibly go out to Jay Lake. However, the Wallace River on that side of the lake was running so high it was over the steps. I was still going to be a little short, but I could make it up later.

Going down the Greg Ball trail was even more fun than running up. I had a hard time holding back and keeping an easy pace. I might have to start doing loops to the Upper Falls on the Woody Trail, out to Wallace Lake, then back on the Greg Ball Trail, or the reverse.

I made it back the trailhead a little after sunset, not that I could see it through the clouds, but it was still light out. I turned on my Amphipod reflective led flasher. Then a little down the road I pulled out my headlamp.

Once I hit US2, I turned away from home to get the little extra distance I needed before heading home. My legs were a little tired the last couple miles, but not too bad. I’ve definitely felt worse at the end of long runs.

I think I only ate about 300 calories from the dates and raisins that I brought along. I ate 5 bananas about an hour before I started, and ate a lot yesterday.

Average HR 140 bpm. My HR was a little high compared to usual at the same efforts. I didn’t sleep that well and my stomach didn’t feel that well this morning. I was fine while running.

I feel pretty good, but tomorrow might still be a little tough.

 

Sunday, January 25, 2015, 1:54 pm

20.21 mi, 3233 ft gain, 3:53:50. To WFSP, rd grade, Greg Ball Tr, Wallace Lake, Jay Lake, DNR rd to Upper Falls, Woody Tr to TH, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Back-to-back day two. The flat 3 mi or so through town to the trail head wasn’t actually that much slower than yesterday, but definitely felt a lot slower. Legs were a little heavy, and my HR was up a little.

My HR was still a little elevated once I hit the road grade trail. I don’t think I was actually that much slower though. I still felt slow on the Greg Ball trail, but my time on that section was actually faster than yesterday and good enough for a segment CR on Strava. I think my HR calmed back down somewhere on that section.

The weather wasn’t bad yesterday, but today it was great, sunny and upper 50s. I think I was slightly overdressed, but it got a little cooler in the shade, and I wasn’t sure how long I’d be out or if I’d still be going when it got dark and cooled down. It was really just the skintight undershirt that I could have left behind. The long-sleeve shirt was fine.

I had my Nathan pack with about 1.8 liters of water in he bladder and some raisins and dates. I think I only had about 300-400 calories during the run. But I ate before I left too.

Wallace lake had dropped a little bit compared to yesterday. I went around the other end toward Jay lake and the Wallace River flowing into Wallace lake had dropped enough to expose the steps. Two of the steps were still under water, so I tossed a couple foot size rocks into them. The steps are sort of 2-2.5 ft diameter buckets filled with rocks. The next inlet channel has a steel grate foot bridge crossing it.

The trail up to Jay Lake had some water flowing over it in a couple places and some washout damage in a couple as well. I had Jay lake to myself. It was amazing with low hung mist over the water and the sun breaking through the trees on the hill to the south. I got a pretty good picture that I posted to Instagram.

Once I made it back to Wallace Lake, I decided to head out on the DNR rd toward Upper Wallace Falls. First, I wanted to check the flooded section of the road. I was going to need a little more distance to hit 20 mi, so if the water hadn’t dropped, I would have gone around another way that I haven’t been yet. But the water was down, and I could just barely get around it.

I took a short detour up the old logging road that goes out toward Mt. Stickney. Once I got out about 0.25 mi, there was a spot that looked like it could be possibly doable to go up the mountain. I made it up to the next sort of level spot about another 0.25 mi, which was about 400+ ft of gain. Unfortunately, I didn’t go back down the way I came and ended up going off trail a lot farther than I wanted, a lot was over and around windfall as well.

I wasn’t worried about getting lost. As long as I went away from the mountain, I would hit either the old logging rd or the DNR rd. I hit the old logging rd quite a ways back down toward the DNR rd.

Once I got to the junction with the Woody trail down to the falls, I wanted to check out the bridge construction that I saw a sign about down the trail. Apparently there was a bridge over the river above the Upper Falls in the past. I went and looked and it looks like they’re pretty much done with a new bridge to replace it. I’m pretty excited about all the possibilities on the other side of the falls. I hope there are some plans for more trails, maybe even one going all the way out to Lake Isabel.

Anyway, I made it to the valley overlook viewpoint just in time to experience another amazing sunset across the valley, with views all the way to the Olympics to the west.

I finished out the Woody trail without pulling out my headlamp. I probably could have gone a little faster if I used it, but it’s good practice and I wanted to keep it at an easy pace.

I did pull out my headlamp once I got back to the trail head, so cars could see me on the road as I ran home. I still felt pretty good most of the way home, but tired. My legs started hurting a little about the last mile, pretty comparable to the last 1-1.5 mi of the Bridle Trails 50k.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 76.1 mi, 11,053 ft gain