Monday, September 1, 2014, 3:06 pm

6.31 mi, 265 ft gain, 48:26. To Wallace Falls TH and back, Solo. New Balance MR10V2

Drenched in sweat. If I didn’t already know it, I’d guess I had a great run. Today was going to be an easy day. I felt good, so I kept going and kept the pace up a bit. At least I kept the terrain easy by keeping to sidewalk and roads. Went to the Wallace Falls trail head and back. It’s a good turnaround spot with a water fountain and restroom. Just a water stop today.

I’ve never done a 10k race, but this would count as my fastest. I’ve been thinking more about doing speed work, and I might have the bug. I’m not going to do too much for now. I still have some long run goals for the year. Strava best estimated 10k of 47:19. Maybe I’ll do some shorter races this fall or winter.

 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014, 4:06 pm

4.05 mi, 195 ft gain, 38:48. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Took it easy today. About 1.5 miles to loosen up. Rain let up for the run. Wet feet from overgrowth though.

 

Wednesday, September 3, 2014,  4:50 pm

3.3 mi, <20 ft gain, 29:36. Through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2

The dogs like to pull on leash for the first little while, which makes me go a little faster to start than I otherwise would. Made a slight detour around the block in town because there was a loose dog and people trying to catch it. I didn’t want to complicate the situation taking my dogs into the mix. Nice easy road run.

Wednesday, September 4, 2014,  6:05 pm

2 mi, unk ft gain, walk. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #2, solo. New Balance MT1010v2

Just a wander in the woods exploring.

 

Thursday, September 4, 2014, 3:10 pm

7.1 mi, 993 ft gain, 1:10:39. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #1, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Brief stop at Olney creek for the dogs. Headed up the hill towards Wallace Lake, but turned onto another road that I haven’t been on yet. Went to the top of the clear cut that two lower roads go across.

 

Thursday, September 4, 2014, 6:00 pm

2.1 mi, unk ft gain, walk. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #2, solo. New Balance MT1010v2

Just another wander in the woods exploring.

 

Friday, September 5, 2014, 1:42 pm

5.2 mi, 623 ft gain, 55:45. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

A little longer to warm up since I’ve been running everyday. But just fine once I do. Out to Olney creek for the dogs to cool down. It was warmer than the past few days. Then up the connector hill. Right at the top of the climb, the dogs scared up about half a dozen grouse hiding in the brush on the side of the road. About a half mile farther over the hill, the dogs scared up another 10 or so grouse in the brush. I’ve never seen that many together in the tree farm. The heat was starting to wear on the dogs for the last mile or so. Black fur in the sun will do that. I slowed down to accommodate them.

 

Saturday, September 6, 2014,  4:44 pm

20.02 mi, 3081 ft gain, 3:49:26. Wallace Falls, Wallace Lake, Jay Lake, solo. Altra Superior 1.5

I wasn’t sure where or how far I was going to run when I woke up. I had tentatively planned to go long Sunday, but decided to do so today instead.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way running to the trail head. Bought a bag of dates. Wore my hydration pack today. Stopped at the trail head (3.2 mi) to refill to 2 liters. Chatted with a couple guys who had just finished for a couple minutes. One was talking about recently going up Baring Mountain, something I’d like to do.

I took it easy to the upper falls (~5.5 mi). Stopped for a minute or two for a water and food break. Legs were a little heavy once I got up to the DNR rd. They felt better after another mile or so on the relative flat of the road.

Saw two people at the picnic table just over the little bridge by Wallace lake (8 mi). There was a tent by the beach on the other end of the lake, but I continued on.

I made it to Jay Lake (9.5 mi) and saw some more campers. I used the facilities and headed back.

Just a little ways back down the trail I saw a couple chanterelles just on the edge of the trail. I didn’t notice them on the way up. I brought a bag with me for just such occasion. I spent a few more minutes going off trail a ways and found a few more.

I stopped briefly at the beach at Wallace Lake and spoke with the couple camping there. There was a very nice breeze on the beach.

Doing some math in my head, I wanted to get a little more distance to make it an even 20. I decided to turn onto a logging road at one of the forks a little way back around the lake. However, my math was bad. I went out and back .25 mi. I needed closer to .5 mi.

The two people were still at the picnic table. A little farther, there’s a turn off for the camping area. Their tent was setup in one of the spots.

My legs still felt pretty good, so I picked up the pace a little on the DNR rd. All the stops I made ate up the extra time I thought I had before dark.

I made good time on the descent from the top. Farther down I had to slow down to be sure of my footing as it grew darker. I made it back to the trail head (16.6 mi) with some light left still.

I ran out of water a couple minutes before getting back to the trail head. My guess of 2 liters was pretty good. I refilled my hydration bladder with another 1.5 liters, filled out the trail log book, which I forgot to do when I got there, and headed for home.

I stopped under a street light about .5 mi down the road to get my headlamp out of my pack. I didn’t need it to see, but wanted to be seen by passing cars. I settled into a better pace than I expected that far into the run, 8:20-8:35/mi. I kept it up pretty well.

As I got to my driveway, I realized my math mistake. I was going to be about .2 mi short of 20. I turned around and ran back down the road for another lap past the neighbor’s property and then finally came back. It was just the moon lighting my way by the end. Plenty of light for road running.

Legs are a little sore, but it was fun. I had 3.5 dehydrated bananas, about 8 dates, 3.5-4 liters water and 4 salt caps. It was 90 degrees when I started, and much more pleasant by the finish.

Sunday, September 7, 2014, 4:50 pm

10.09 mi, 1096 ft gain, 2:17:51. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #2, solo. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Hip flexors were tight starting out. Loosened up after about .5 mi. Felt good after that. Kind of surprised how good I felt after yesterdays run. I still took it easy and stopped to explore a number of times. Ran out to the small hill, through the trail connecting to the next road, followed that road to gate #3 and back. Continued up the bigger hill. Scared up 2 grouse near the top of the first climb. Scared up about 8 more grouse just over the top on the other side. Mile 10 was my fastest.

 

Weekly Totals: 60.1 mi, 9h 40m, 6252 ft gain

Weekly mileage PR. Also most time spent running in a week.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014, 8:32 pm
6.6 mi, 594 ft gain, 1:10:45. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5
Ankle still a little sore from rolling it on Sunday. So I stuck to the more even surface of the logging roads. Let the dogs splash in Olney Creek. Took a different spur off the main road. Heard a bear crash off into the woods from the clearcut below the road we were on.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014, 8:03 pm
8 mi, 1327 ft gain, 1:36:47. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5
Had 10 miles planned. Ankle started loosening up after a few miles. Saw the same chocolate color phase black bear that I saw a few weeks ago in the same clear cut, on the uphill side of the road this time. It scampered up a downed tree and off up the hill. Cut the run short due to the dogs not behaving very well, not wanting to push my ankle too much, and I didn’t want to push the ankle as it got darker.

Saturday, July 12, 2014, 5:09 pm
15 mi, 3548 ft gain, 3:48:12. East Fork Foss River to Jade Lake in Necklace Valley. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5
I had planned 20+ mi. I wasn’t sure if I was going to just rest up or go for a run. My ankle was still sore, but wasn’t worse after either of the runs earlier in the week. I decided to go for at least 10 miles, and see how it went from there.

It’s the Necklace Valley trailhead on Foss River Rd off US 2 just east of Skykomish. The first 5 miles have some rolling hills, several small creek crossings, and an older log bridge over a larger creek. The trail is pretty well maintained, with some sections having recent brush work. However, a couple other sections have some foliage closing in, sometimes obscuring view of where I was stepping. I took those parts slow, still babying my ankle a little.

There are a couple camp sites at about 5 miles, just before crossing the east fork Foss River. The old single log bridge across the river has a short stretch of missing hand rail, not that I used the rest of it. I ran across on the way out, but the log started bouncing and I nearly fell into the water. Another bigger fallen log crosses a smaller branch of the river.

The trail immediately starts to climb. Most of the elevation gain starts at this point. My legs felt good and I ended up running more of the steep sections than I expected. The trail was fairly technical with roots and rocks. More technical than Wallace Falls, but less technical than the upper part of Lake Serene.

Jade Lake was beautiful. The water was high, covering portions of the trail that usually skirt the east side of the lake. The lake is in a narrow valley with rock coming down to the water on both sides for much of the length. I only went about halfway up the lake before I couldn’t go around the water covered trail. It was a good time to turn around anyway, so I’d make it back before dark.

My trusty Garmin Forerunner 305 may finally be on it’s way out after 6 years. It turned itself off three times, and lost satellite reception on the way back a little before making it back to the river crossing. Losing reception here and there wouldn’t have been that surprising with all the tree cover in places and being a narrow valley with mountains rising 2000-3000 ft on either side, but it didn’t have any reception problems on the way up. I tried sitting and waiting for a little while, but it just wouldn’t connect. About 4 miles later, it finally picked up reception again, just over a mile from the end. Fortunately, the straight line distance that it plotted wasn’t much shorter than the trail.

The trail wasn’t that busy. The parking lot was full when I arrived. I passed a father and son backpacking a couple miles in. I passed a couple guys with three puppies who were on their way out just before the river crossing. I passed a couple backpacking up to the lakes less than half a mile after the river. Lastly, I passed a group of three backpackers about another quarter mile later. I passed the two groups heading up to the lakes at about .75 mi and 1 mi from Jade Lake. The father and son backpackers had setup camp at one of the sites near the river.

I went with 2 handheld bottles and some iodine tabs to refill along the way. I drank from one at a time, so I could give the iodine time to work in the other after refilling. I had 80 oz water and 2 salt caps. I ate 5 medjool dates and 1.5 dehydrated bananas. After I got back to the car, I had 1 quart water, 1 salt cap and the other half of a dehydrated banana.

Thoughts:
Due to my ankle, I skipped a shorter run on Thursday and a 10-15 mi run on Sunday. Sunday was a little strange. I woke up early to let the dogs outside. As I walked out with them, not only was my left ankle still sore, though not anymore than before, but my right ankle sort of felt like it was cramping. It was super tight across the front, and felt like a muscle cramp. It hurt to move it. I went back to bed and when I finally got up, my right ankle was completely fine.

My left ankle rolled laterally, but it’s sore going the other way. Compared to my right, I haven’t lost any range of motion, and there’s no swelling, but it’s still sore. It hasn’t gotten any worse after running, so that’s promising. The next two weeks I planned to taper leading up to White River 50. I’m sure it’ll be fine by then, but I still worry a little.