Running, Trail run, Training Log

August 3-9 Practice Running

Monday, August 3, 2015, 8:27 pm

3.09 mi, 40 ft gain, 28:53. RR access rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs were a little sore, just the muscles, but not all that fatigued. I took the dogs out along the RR access rd and the park. I kept the pace fairly easy.

I didn’t wear my HR monitor.

 

Tuesday, August 4, 2015, 7:23 pm

4.04 mi, 37 ft gain, 38:44. RR Access rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

It was cool again today. I decided to take it easy again to let my legs recover a little more for one last long run this weekend before Cascade Crest. My legs were fine.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Wednesday, August 5, 2015, 4:55 pm

3.17 mi, 28 ft gain, 23:11. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I ended up doing another short run. I wasn’t really feeling up to it, but went anyway. It was raining a little when I started, but it got heavier about 5 min in. I considered going about 6 mi or so, but decided to run shorter and faster instead.

It felt good to go faster. Running in the rain was great too. It’s been a while since I had a good soaking rainy run.

Average HR 147 bpm.

 

Thursday, August 6, 2015, 7:46 pm

4.64 mi, 1745 ft gain, 55:57. Woody trail to Upper Wallace Falls (51), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I went out a bit late today. I kept it short again, but not so easy. My legs feel a bit flat and oddly heavy, like they do during a taper. Maybe I’ve taken it easy for too many days in a row.

I started out at a moderate pace for the first 0.5 mi or so, then sped up as I went along from there. I’d say I was running a moderately hard effort from about there until a little past the Valley overlook. Then I pushed a little harder. I made it to the Upper Falls at about 30 min. I took a few minutes to recover up there before heading back down.

I stopped after the descending the first flight of stairs to tighten my shoelaces. After that, I let gravity take over for most of the descent, slowing a bit down toward the bottom due to diminishing light.

It was great to put in a reasonably hard effort.

Average HR 155 bpm.

 

Friday, August 7, 2015, 6:50 pm

9.93 mi, 2:04 ft gain, 2:04:47. RR Grade, Greg Ball, Wallace Lake, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (52), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

My legs felt a little rough today. My shoelaces were too tight starting out. I stopped once on the RR grade and again on the Greg Ball trail to fix them.

At the top of the Greg Ball trail I saw a “Road Closed Ahead” sign. I decided to head out to Wallace Lake anyway. They still haven’t replaced the bridge. I crossed the Wallace River where the bridge should be quite easily, it’s so low.

I decided to see if I could get down to the lake by the campsites. There was a good trail down there. I passed three women with presumably their daughters who appeared to be coming from their campsite. I didn’t see them again on my way out.

I continued around the lake loop towards the falls. I saw another road closed sign at the fork for the detour and the Upper Grade. It was on the side toward the detour, but there were heavy equipment tracks going out on the Upper Grade. I took the Upper Grade anyway.

The excavator tracks were rather uncomfortable to run on. They only went to the edge of the more thick woods. I continued out to the falls. I didn’t see anyone or any equipment.

I tightened my shoelaces again at the Upper Falls before heading down. My legs were a little tired on the descent. I think I should have eaten closer to the start of my run.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Saturday, August 8, 2015, 6:20 pm

9.25 mi, 3476 ft gain, 2:07:00. Woody Trail to Upper Falls (53, 54), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I felt a little better today than yesterday. My calves were just a little tight on the first time up. There was a woman with a bunch of boys, a teenager and on down from there to about 5 or 6 at the youngest. I think there were 5 kids. The youngest one said, “You’re really skinny.” I chuckled and said that’s because I’m a runner. The oldest said something about running. Then the youngest said, “I mean it, you’re really skinny.”

I had some water and a couple dates, then tightened my laces before heading down. The descent was better than yesterday.

I refilled my water, had a couple dates and took a few minutes break at the TH. I chatted with a guy and his son for a few minutes. They asked about my running and asked something about if I do long runs in the mountains. I mentioned the upcoming 100 miler. They wished me luck when I started my second lap.

Both times up were pretty close. There were fewer other people on the trail, so that was likely part of it. Again, I had some water and dates at the Upper Falls. I left my laces tight on the way up and they pinched a little on the climbs. Even so, I felt better the second time up. I think the difference was being warmed up.

I was pretty close on times for both descents as well. I had fun, and it was a great run.

Average HR 147 bpm.

 

Sunday, August 9, 2015, 4:55 pm

20.12 mi, 5833 ft gain, 5:34:27. PCT to Icicle Creek to Chain Lakes, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I had so much fun on this run. So much that I’ve considered not running races anymore, or at least fewer, so that I can do more adventure runs like this.

I got a late start. I had wanted to attempt climbing up Bulls Tooth. At the very least, I wanted to make it out to Chain Lakes just below the mountain.

My legs were a little tight, especially my calves, on the climb up from Stevens Pass. They loosened up after that. I passed a few groups of hikers heading the other way on my way up. The downhill on the other side of the mountain was a blast. I passed two more groups on the descent, one heading north, the other heading south.

From the bottom of the descent, there was another smaller climb up to the junction with Icicle creek and a little more up and then down around Josephine lake. The sign for the Icicle Creek trail was easy to spot, as was the trail.

Once down into the Icicle creek drainage, the trail was a lot less rocky. There were some roots, but it was pretty smooth for the most part.

I had little trouble finding the next trail, mostly because I was looking for it. The sign for the Chain Lakes trail is on the other side of a tree facing the other direction. The trail is fairly apparent, though.
The Chain Lakes trail is quite steep, especially the first 0.6 mi or so, about 1000ft gain. It was about 1800 ft gain total over 1.8 mi. It was fun climbing. I practiced my power hiking.

It was absolutely beautiful when I got up to the lakes. I was going to make my way around to the third lake, but the path I followed sort of just disappeared up on a little knob. I had a view of the third lake, but ended up turning around. I had wanted to at least see if I could spot the route up the mountain. It was too late for me to attempt going up, though. I didn’t want to be scrambling in the dark. I also wanted to make it back down the steep trail to Icicle Creek before sunset. I went back to the second lake and went down by a campsite. I chatted with three guys camping there for a little bit and refilled my water. They were heading to Doelle lakes the following day.

As tough as it was going up the Chain Lakes trail, it was a ton of fun going back down. I made it to the Icicle Creek junction about 13 min before sunset. I went for quite a while before breaking out the headlamp. I was a little low on energy for a little while. I started eating a little more often and stopped to snack on some trail-side huckleberries on the final climb up the backside of Stevens Pass. The huckleberries were amazing. I ran out of water somewhere around the top.

I felt pretty good on the final descent to the parking lot. Even with all the rocks and stuff, I got into a pretty good rhythm. There were a lot of frogs and salamanders out on the trail in the dark. I had to watch my step to keep from squashing them. There were also quite a few trails of ants crossing the trail. They stopped moving when my headlamp was shining on them.

Like I said at the beginning of this, I had such a good time on this run. I didn’t run too hard and kept the effort pretty even. The trails were fantastic and tons of fun. The scenery was gorgeous. I wouldn’t call it a runner’s high. I never really understood what people meant when they said they were “high on life” until this run. I must do more of this.

Average HR 133 bpm. HRM battery died after about 4 hours.

 

Weekly totals: 54.1 mi, 13,162 ft elevation gain

Becoming, Learning, Philosophy

Looking Without Seeing

“I can’t find my glasses,” says the seemingly absentminded sitcom character. “They’re on top of your head,” says their levelheaded spouse/friend. It’s a common trope in tv and movies for a reason. I know I’ve been looking for things and not found them, even though I looked right at or past them. I’d imagine most people have had a similar experience.

Thoreau said, “Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray, i.e. we are not looking for it. So, in the largest sense, we find only the world we look for” [Journal, 2 July 1857]. The other day, I thought I was looking for my battery charger, all the while telling myself “I CAN’T find it.” How am I supposed to see something when I’ve convinced myself that I can’t?

He also said, “The question is not what you look at, but what you see” [Journal, 5 August 1851]. I’ve looked right at things without actually seeing them. It’s frustrating, but not surprising.

Zig Ziglar used to have his audience do an exercise to illustrate the point. He tells people to describe their watches without looking at them. Most of the time, they couldn’t say much more than the brand and analog or digital; their own watch that’s on their wrist. What do each of the buttons say? Are there roman numerals or numbers? What’s at the 12-o’clock position? And so on. Next, he has them look at their watch to see how much detail they’ve missed with something that they likely look at many times each day. Last, he asks what time it was, and most people couldn’t say because they were too focused on everything else.

The only watch I wear is my gps watch, and only while I’m running. I look at it quite often while running —probably too often— but I still find myself having to look again right away because I didn’t see something that I wanted to know. Without looking, I also couldn’t tell you much about any text or markings on the bezel, even after I’ve looked at it probably thousands of times.

The reason was that even with all that looking, I wasn’t seeing. It was certainly all in my “visual ray”, but most of it was outside of my “intellectual ray” at the time. That’s not always a bad thing, though. If we were perfectly aware of everything within our field of view, it could quickly overwhelm the mind. So our minds have to try to decide what’s important, what’s worth actually noticing.

All we can try to do is to be more aware of what we’re looking at to truly see it.

Running, Trail run, Training Log

July 27-August 2 Practice Running

Monday, July 27, 2015, 7:14 pm

4.02 mi, 36 ft gain, 38:34. RR Access Rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Still a little achey today. With the weather still a little cooler, I took the dogs out. They really enjoyed it, like always. The aches mostly went away about halfway through.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Tuesday, July 28, 2015, 7:02 pm

11.03 mi, 824 ft gain, 1:36:00 Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My left calf/shin is still a little sore. It felt better as I went along.

I ran fairly easy on the way to the park. I had a little water and signed the log. I went a little harder up the RR Grade, but not that hard.

The run back down to the TH was fine. I had a little water and signed out before heading home.

I picked up the pace a bit on the way home. I thought I might make it back under 1:38, but as I got closer, 1:36 looked possible, so I went faster.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 7:22 pm

9.94 mi, 3266 ft gain, 2:05:32. Woody to Upper Falls (45), R/T on Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

First run in a new pair of shoes. They arrived today. I cut them up to my liking. I forgot how much breaking in the uppers need. The lower portion is just fine. The uppers have so much padding that in order to get them tight enough for my foot not to slide around, I the padding can cause pressure at flex points. It was really only an issue on the uphills. Since I run on the balls of my feet going uphill most of the time, the flexing at the forefoot put pressure on the outside of my foot. It caused the front outside part of my right foot up through my pinky toe was a little tingly. It went away shortly once on the flats or downhills.

Other than that the run was pretty great. My right calf was a little sore on the climb up the Woody trail. Sore like the burn from really working the muscle. My left calf wasn’t as bad. I think they just took a little longer to loosen up due to the little break from climbing.

I stopped briefly at the Upper Falls before continuing to the Upper Grade. Unfortunately, there was a road closed sign at the post for the “leaving state park” sign. I considered ignoring it, but decided not to. I’m not sure if it was closed due to the bridge construction, which doesn’t seem likely for that part of the road, or if they finally started logging at the timber sale area that has been signed and marked for about a year. It sucks that the state park doesn’t own that land, at least along the routes from one spot to another in the park.

I felt pretty good going down the Woody trail. I turned at the cutoff for the Greg Ball trail and ran up there. I felt much better going up the Greg Ball trail than up the Woody trail. Once to the DNR road, I ran up to the bridge and the fork for Wallace Lake or the detour to see if there were any signs about the road closure. There weren’t.
I put on my headlamp for the run back down. I didn’t go too hard, but it was fun.

I took the RR Grade down to the TH.

I saw three small groups of people on the first half of the Woody trail when I started, but then didn’t see another person for the rest of the run.

My left calf/shin was definitely better today.

Average HR 144 bpm. I didn’t charge my HRM, and it died just before I made it to the Upper Falls.

 

Thursday, July 30, 2015, 7:23 pm

9.4 mi, 2794 ft gain, 2:07:17. Woody to Upper Falls (46), R/T on Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

The shoes were a little better today. I made it to the Upper Falls at about the same time as yesterday. I turned around there today instead of continuing the loop due to the road closed sign yesterday. My right shoe was still pinching my foot today. I think it might be the overlay band pushing into the top of my foot. I had the same problem with another pair of these shoes. With those ones, I just skipped the lower eyelet on the band on that side. It helped with that pair, so I’ll give it a try.

Again, the pinching went away on the downhills.

I turned up the Greg Ball trail again today as well. I also went out to the fork for the detour and the road to Wallace Lake.

I pulled out my headlamp for the descent down the Greg Ball trail and the RR Grade. The Descent seemed a little easier today.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Friday, July 31, 2015, 6:24 pm

9.33 mi, 3726 ft gain, 2:16:14. Woody Trail to Upper Falls x2 (47, 48), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I changed the lacing of my right shoe like that on an older pair. It helped a bit. The excessive padding in the upper is going to take a while to break in.

My right calf was tight on the first time up, a little less so than yesterday. I made it up slightly faster than the last two days. I had a couple dates and some water, rested for a couple minutes and headed back down. The descent was as fun as ever. I made the round trip in about 1:05. I refilled my water, used the restroom, had a couple dates and water and started off for another trip.

I felt better on the second time up. I think I was slightly slower. I had 2 dates and water at the top before heading back down. It was starting to get a little dark on the descent. I took it sort of easy. I made it back to the TH at just about the time of sunset.

Average HR 142 bpm.

 

Saturday, August 1, 2015, 6:26 pm

9.65 mi, 3940 ft gain, 2:22:30. Woody Trail to Upper falls x2 (49, 50), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I went back for round two today. I felt better for most of today’s run than yesterday. My right calf was better, and the shoe pinching wasn’t quite as bad.

I made it to the upper falls about a minute faster on the first lap than yesterday. It’s not that fast for me, but it’s a fairly comfortable pace. There were two couples up there taking photos. I spent a few minutes resting, drinking water and eating a couple dates. They left a couple minutes before I did.

On the way back down, I took the Greg Ball connector to use the restroom at the end of the RR Grade. It added a couple hundred feet of elevation gain and 1/3 mi.

At the TH, I refilled my water, had a couple dates and talked to one of the park hosts. I asked about the road closed sign on the Upper Grade. She didn’t know but said she’d ask the ranger and let me know next time I see her. She mentioned that there had been a fire in the area, so that might have been it, but she wasn’t sure. I asked about a few other things, the trail from Reiter, and the trail extension to Shaw Lake. She said they’re getting worked on, but didn’t know when they’d be finished.

Average HR 141 bpm.

 

Sunday, August 2, 2015, 4:55 pm

13.79 mi, 4654 ft gain, 4:16:11. Surprise Lake, Glacier Lake, Surprise Gap, Surprise Mountain, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #4.

I wanted to get some good vert in today. I wasn’t exactly sure where I’d go, but I wanted to hit at least one peak. I settled on the Surprise Creek trail. I ran on the same trail last year up to Peiper Pass. I enjoyed it then.

I stopped after about a mile to change the lacing on my left shoe. It was pinching my foot like the right one had been. I skipped the lower eyelet on the outer overlay band like I did on the right shoe. The pressure was immediately relieved.

I passed about half a dozen groups of hikers on their way out before Surprise Lake. I took a wrong turn at Surprise Lake and ended up crossing a boulder field at the south end. After checking my map again, I decided to just go off trail nearly straight uphill and rejoined the trail. It was very steep going.

I continued on to Glacier lake, where I filled up my water. I probably had enough to make it up the mountain, but wasn’t sure if I had enough to make it back down. There was a couple camped by the lake.

Last year I had trouble finding the abandoned trail up to Surprise Gap, which was why I ended up going to Peiper Pass. I found it quite easily this time. As I came up to the trail, I saw a hiker coming down from Peiper Pass. I didn’t wait around long enough to say hi, though.
For an abandoned trail, it was in quite good condition. Lots of loose rocks, but that’s to be expected in an area like that. The view from Surprise Gap was great. The trail from there to Surprise Mountain was easy to follow and in pretty good condition.

The views from the peak were even better. I could see Glacier Peak to the north, Mt Daniel and Mt Hinman to the south. I thought I remembered reading about a boot path from Peiper Pass to the peak, but I couldn’t find evidence of it.

I would have liked to go down the south side from Surprise Gap and then back up around to Peiper Pass, but as it was, I was already going to be running in the dark a bit.

I think I need some more practice on trails like the abandoned one up to Surprise Gap, a mix fixed and loose rocks surrounded by boulders. I like some technical downhills, but this was a bit much for me to go very fast. Just a loose talus field would have been easier. It was fun though.

A little past Glacier lake on the way back, I stopped and tightened my shoe laces. My foot was sliding around a bit on the steeper descents with a more firm footing. It was good after that.

I pulled out my headlamp for the last 1.5-2 mi.

I hiked a lot more than last year, but I still made good time. I definitely want to go back and attempt some of the other peaks in the area.

Average HR 130 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 67.1 mi, 19,239 ft elevation gain.

July totals: 279.5 mi, 55,042 ft elevation gain.

Uncategorized

July 20-26 Practice Running

Monday, July 20, 2015, 7:52 pm

3.16 mi, 34 ft gain, 33:31. RR Access Rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs feel pretty good today, slightly sore, but not much fatigue. I still took it easy anyway.

We ran along the river side of the RR tracks much of the way out, and on the highway side by the park a little more on the way back.

We stopped at the river on the way out for the dogs. Vida went right in. Sigurd wasn’t very interested.

On the way out, I stopped at the plum trees briefly and managed to find 4 plums on the tree still. I had to shake branches to get 3 of them. I also had an apple on the way back.

It was a little cooler waiting until the evening.

Average HR 121.

 

Tuesday, July 21, 2015, 7:14 pm

8.26 mi, 2386 ft gain, 1:44:01. Woody, Greg Ball, Detour, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (43), Woody, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

I was going back and forth between a shorter road run and a trail run. I decided on the trail run, but I kept it slightly shorter.

I felt a little sore and tight starting out, but warmed up within a couple minutes and felt pretty good for the rest of the run.

I started on the Woody trail, taking it fairly easy. I managed to keep my HR down more than usual on the climbs. I took the turn off up to the Greg Ball trail. Initially, I thought about doing a figure-8 sort of loop, but ended up not doing so.

On the Greg Ball trail, I checked out the possible waterfall that I looked at maybe going down to a little while ago. I made it down to one of the drops of the falls there. It was really cool. I think I can get to what looks like possibly two more drops below it. There also appears to be two more drops above it, but I’m not sure I can get there.

I picked up the pace a little after climbing back up from the waterfall. I took the detour route, still pushing the pace a little.

Somewhere along the Upper Grade, I pushed a little harder. I made pretty good time, so I didn’t need to pull my headlamp out on the Woody Trail.

Once to the Upper Falls, I took a quick look, but I felt good and didn’t really feel the need for a break, so I headed down. I started out a little faster than normal on the steps up high. Once down past the really rough top section, I opened it up. I stopped very briefly at the Middle Falls too. I ran fairly hard the rest of the way down to the TH. I set a PR on the descent from the Upper Falls to the TH by 0:45. I had a goal of going sub-20:00 and just missed it with a time of 20:06. So close. Now I know I can do it.

It was a great run, and a lot of fun.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015, 7:44 pm

4.70 mi, 2050 ft gain, 1:10:05. Woody trail to Upper Falls (44), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I was a little late getting out the door. I can already tell the sun is setting earlier. I’m not a fan.

Anyway, I thought about going to the Upper falls, then down to the cut-off for the Greg Ball trail and up there. But I just didn’t have time and didn’t feel like going in the dark. So I cut it short at just the Upper falls and back.

I took it easier than I have been. I kept my HR lower than usual as well. It was a good run.

At this rate, I’ll hit my goal of 50 times to the Upper falls in a couple weeks. I could hit other trails after that, or just stick to WFSP since it’s so close.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 23, 2015, 7:49 pm

8.36 mi, 273 ft gain, 1:17:38. May Creek rd loop, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs feel kind of beat up today. I think it really is time for some new shoes. I decided to take it easy and stick to the roads.

I kept the pace comfortable until the last couple hundred yards. It was a good run.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Friday, July 24, 2015, 7:20 pm

11.04 mi, 819 ft gain, 1:45:17. Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My lower legs were kind of sore, mostly the muscle behind the inside of my left shin. It felt mostly better after a few miles.

I kept a fairly easy pace most of the way. It was a pretty good run.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 25, 2015, 7:48 pm

4.24 mi, 40 ft gain, 45:00. RR Access Rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I was more sore today. I’m not sure why, I haven’t done any hard runs this week. Maybe just overall fatigue. I don’t really understand it. I haven’t been sleeping very well. Perhaps that’s it. I want to get two more solid weeks of training in soon before resting up for Cascade Crest. I’m hoping the lower leg fatigue is mostly due to worn out shoes. A new pair is on the way.

The dogs were happy to get out. I haven’t taken them out running very much while it’s been so hot. Fortunately, it’s cooled down a little.

On the way out, we ran along the highway side RR access road, then the green belt between the RR tracks and the highway. On the way back, we crossed the tracks and ran the access road on the river side part of the way.

I definitely felt better after the run than before.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 26, 2015, 7:42 pm

11.06 mi, 864 ft gain, 1:28:55. Town to RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt much better today. I wanted to get in a good hard effort, but not something too tough on the legs, so I kept the terrain fairly easy.

I started out a little faster than normal and felt good, so I sped up and kept the pace going pretty good all the way to the park. I had a couple minute delay from a train crossing, but it gave me time to take a couple photos and video.

I had a little water at the TH and signed in on the sign-in sheet. I stopped briefly at the viewpoint under the high-voltage lines just before the trail goes into the woods. The clouds around Mount Baring, Mt. Persis and Mt. Index looked incredible.

Clouds enveloping Mt. Persis and Mt. Index
Clouds enveloping Mt. Persis and Mt. Index

I kept pushing the pace a bit on the way up the RR Grade. I kept my HR in the low 150s bpm most of the time, though. I certainly could have gone faster. I continued to push on the way back down as well, maintaining about the same HR. I stopped for a little more water and to sign out at the TH before heading home. I eased back into it until I got back down the hill out of the park.

On the roads home, I gradually increased my pace the closer I got home. When I turned around at the end of the RR Grade, I thought I might finish around 1:35 or so. The closer I got, I realized I could got under 1:30 if I went fairly hard. I’d call it a comfortably hard pace for the distance.

According to Strava, I set a 10 mi pr of 1:19:25. I guess I just don’t run fast for that long very often. I know I can do better than that.

Average HR 147 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 50.8 mi, 6,467 ft elevation gain

Running, Trail run, Training Log

July 13-19 Practice Running

Monday, July 13, 2015, 6:36 pm

3.18 mi, 34 ft gain, 33:00. RR Access Rd, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs were a little sore, and my lower left leg was pretty tight. My ankles took a few minutes to loosen up. The dogs were super excited to go, since they haven’t been out as much with the hot weather.

I was surprised by our pace, it was probably 20-30 seconds faster per mi than I expected. At least part of that was the dogs excitement starting out. They slowed down a little toward the end.

We ran along the RR access road on the highway side until a little over 1 mi, then crossed the tracks to the river side. On the way back we went down to the river, so the dogs could get a drink and cool off. Vida jumped right in and started drinking. She stood there for a little while. Sigurd wasn’t all that interested.

There were a couple yellow plum trees that I hadn’t seen in previous years. They had dropped a lot of plums, but there were still some on the trees. I ate 5 or 6. They were pretty good. The dogs wouldn’t go anywhere near the fallen plums. I’m not sure what that was about.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Tuesday, July 14, 2015, 7:20 pm

11.05 mi, 847 ft gain, 1:46:28. Town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My lower left leg was pretty tight all the way up to the turnaround point. I made a concentrated effort to relax after that, and it felt much better.

I ran a comfortable pace. I still felt a little bit of the weekend’s runs in my legs, but not enough to slow me down much. I also ate a bit much relatively close to my run, so that slowed me a little for the first half or so as well.

I made a pit stop at the restroom at the end of the RR Grade trail. It took a minute or so for my legs to come back after that, but I felt quite a bit better on the way back down and home.

I had a little water at the TH both on the way out and back. It’s such a convenient spot for a water fountain and a restroom.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 7:28 pm

9.11 mi,  2195 ft gain, 1:44:10. Woody, Upper Falls (40), Upper Grade, detour, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

It might be time for some new shoes. I put 600 and 500 mi on my first two pair of these shoes. The two I currently have in rotation each have around 350 mi, but I’m starting to feel the same sort of lower leg and foot fatigue that I did in the now retired shoes. I could order some more of the same model, but they’ve gone on to the 2.0, so it might be time to look for something else instead.

I felt better than yesterday. My ankles loosened up more quickly. I felt better on both the climbs and the descents than on Sunday too. I still kept the pace moderate.

I had to make an off trail pit stop about halfway to the Upper falls. Even with that stop, my time for the whole loop was pretty good for the perceived effort.

This was my 40th time to Upper Wallace Falls for the year. I’m way ahead on my goal of 50 for the year. It’s just so convenient being so close to home. It’d be cool to do new trails all the time, but I don’t want to be driving that much.

The lower left leg was a little tight again today, but not as bad as previously. That’s one of the problems I had toward the end of my old shoes useful life. Focussing on relaxing helped some.

Descending down the Greg Ball trail was fun as ever. I had my headlamp on. It was still before sunset, but with the woods and cloud cover, it was kind of dark. I could probably have made it without, but there are enough rocks and roots to snag a toe on that I want to sure.

Unfortunately, someone threw and/or dragged a bunch of branches, logs and small dead trees over the upper part of the Greg Ball trail. They were easily stepped over, but it was obvious someone did it on purpose. I moved a few that were the greater obstacles, but didn’t have the time to move the rest.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 16, 2015, 7:19 pm

9.07 mi, 1989 ft gain, 1:49:19. RR Grade, Greg Ball, detour, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (41), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

I ended up running the same loop again, but in the reverse direction. I was moving pretty well up the RR Grade and most of the Greg Ball trail. I ended up stopping to check out a path leading off the trail down toward the river. I ended up finding a really cool little waterfall.

I had my first bear sighting of the year on today’s run. It was about halfway around the detour road when I heard crashing through the brush. It started about 5 yards off the road down the hill a little way. It ran off a few yards and stopped on a large dead log looking at me. It was still partly obscured by brush, but I could tell it was a bear. It wasn’t that big, maybe 150 lbs. It was colorphase brown, a cool looking bear. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough. It took off before I was able to get it out of my belt pocket.

I felt pretty good on the descent down the woody trail. There was just enough light to not worry about taking out my headlamp. It was a lot of fun.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Friday, July 17, 2015, 7:42 pm

8.88 mi,  1622 ft gain, 1:52:29. Woody, Greg Ball, DNR Rd, bike trail, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

Got sidetracked talking to a guy I met at the park a while back in the parking lot before starting the run. Because I had less time than I planned, I changed up my route. I went up the Woody trail to the cutoff for the Greg Ball trail. It was a good thing too, because the restroom at the start of the Greg Ball trail came in quite handy.

I kept a pretty consistent effort up the Greg Ball trail. Once to the top, I turned left instead of right toward the lake and lake loop. I headed down the DNR rd toward the bike trail. The sky was filled with color from the setting sun. About a mile down the road, I came across a deer a ways ahead. It was a buck, and it didn’t stick around long enough for me to get any good photos.

Another 1.5 mi or so, I was coming up to a switchback in the road and saw another deer feeding on the grasses on the side of the road. It was a younger deer. I slowly crept forward until I was about 15 yards away and stopped. I pulled out my flipcam, which I just started carrying with me. I stood there for about 2 minutes watching and filming. I guess the wind was in my favor, because after a little bit, he still hadn’t figured me out and started slowly moving towards me. As he got a little closer, I could see that it was a young buck, with his first antlers. The left one was about as long as his ear. The right antler was just a couple inches long. He kept moving closer until he was about 5 yards away, then ate a little grass from the side of the road near me. He seemed to lose interest and wandered back to the other side of the road. I started to move towards him, and he started to spook. I got to within about 5 yards again, then he turned tail and took off over the edge into the woods. It was incredible. I’m very glad I got held up talking before my run.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. The sky was still gorgeously colored. I put on my headlamp when I hit the bike trail. It gets pretty dark with the dense canopy. I saw a couple bats once I got the the RR grade.

The run started out kind of crappy, but turned out wonderful.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 18, 2015, 7:14 pm

9.16 mi,  2105 ft gain, 1:52:23. RR Grade, Greg Ball, Detour, Upper Grade, Upper Falls (42), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I wasn’t really into the run for the first few minutes. I stepped off trail for a brief pitstop and saw some portion of another trail down the hill. It didn’t look like anything that I recognized. Maybe it’s part of the small falls interpretive trail.

I felt a little better after that. I started feeling more normal once on the Greg Ball trail. I looked down the steep slope towards the river in a couple spots. One looked particularly promising for some cool waterfalls and pools, but it’s really steep. I’m not sure if I could make it all the way down.

I took the detour around to the Upper grade. No bears this time.

I stopped briefly at the Upper falls, and again at the Middle falls. I was a little earlier today, so I didn’t need to break out the headlamp. I made pretty good time on the decent. I made a hard kick for the last 0.16 mi or so. Once it hit 9 mi, I sped up. It felt good striding it out like that.

Average HR 132 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 19, 2015, 5:17 pm

19.85 mi, 3513 ft gain, 4:36:24. Loop to Reiter, Upper Grade, Detour, Greg Ball, Woody, Upper Falls (43), Woody, Home, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I finally did it. I connected the Reiter DNR roads over to Wallace Falls State Park. I ran from home and made it a big loop.

It was hot today. And much of the way on the roads to the Reiter gate was in the sun. The heat had my HR up a bit. I was also sweating buckets. It was nice to get into the woods once I passed under the high voltage lines.

I was very disappointed to see spray painted graffiti on a bunch of rocks, logs and trees at the May Creek crossing. The creek was super low. I dipped my chamois cloth and soaked myself a bit.

The first mile or so of trail after May Creek was pretty good. After that, it gets quite overgrown. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to get through, but my arms and legs took a bit of a beating. The old road bed was in fairly decent shape, so when they finally get to clearing it to finish the trail connecting to the park, it won’t take too much more work.

I had to hike a lot more than I wanted, not because it was all that steep, but because it was so overgrown. It’s probably a good thing, though. It likely helped me continue to feel strong much later in the run.

I still had some water when I crossed the bridge above the falls, so I didn’t stop to refill. I continued out the Upper Grade to the detour.

I filtered some water from the Wallace River under the bridge at the other end of the detour. Then I continued down to and on the Greg Ball trail. I had another bear sighting a little over 0.5 mi down the Greg Ball. I heard it crashing through the woods before I saw it. I stopped and moved around a bit so I could get a clear line of sight through the trees. I saw an adult black colored black bear running away. Later I talked to one of the caretakers. He said people have seen bears pretty much all over the park. The rest of the way down to the RR Grade was as fun as ever.

I wanted to go to the upper falls at least once, so I took the turn off from the RR Grade down to the Woody trail, then up to the Upper Falls. I didn’t see anyone all day until I hit the bridge down hill from the junction of the connector with the Woody trail. There were two women going down under the bridge to the creek. I saw four more hikers shortly after that on the climb up after that.

There were no more people up the trail above that. I made it to the upper falls, had a little water and food and rested for a minute before heading back down. I saw the two women again as they were hiking up the hill from the bridge on my way down. I had the rest of the trail on the way down to myself, besides a mountain beaver who frantically scurried off the trail as I ran by.

As I exited the woods near the high voltage lines nearing the trail head, the sky was beautifully lit up by the sunset. I enjoyed at least a partial view of the sunset for the next 1.5 mi or so.

Running along the road home wasn’t so bad, much better than it has been on past occasions. I ran out of water shortly after leaving the park. I could have made it home just fine, but I also wanted to pick up a couple things, so I stopped at the grocery store.

I was able to fit my couple items in my pack after taking the headlamp out. It was getting dark, so it was time to pull it out anyway.

I’m really happy about completing the loop from Reiter to Wallace Falls. I’d like to organize a race out here and that’s part of the course I have in mind.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 70.2 mi, 12,305 ft elevation gain.

A Wandering & Wondering Life