Tag Archives: practice running

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

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.

Running, Trail run, Training Log

July 6-12 Practice Running

Monday, July 6, 2015, 8:08 pm

3.16 mi, 681 ft gain, 49:21. Reiter gate #4, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

A little more vert than I planned, but good to get out and moving. My ankle was a bit sore, so the rocky trails at Reiter probably weren’t the best idea, but I took it very easy and was careful.

Average HR 115 bpm.

 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 7:52 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:13. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another recovery run. My ankle is still a little sore.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 8, 2015, 8:56 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 20:45. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another easy run. Ankle is still sore, but getting better.

Average HR 158 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 9, 2015, 7:42 pm

11.06 mi,  840 ft gain, 1:30:43. Town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Ankle is still a little sore, but feeling mostly better. I went up the RR Grade to test it out. It went just fine.

Average HR 142 bpm.

 

Friday, July 10, 2015, 7:32 pm

9.31 mi, 2093 ft gain, 1:52:49. Woody trail, Upper Falls (35), Upper grade, detour, Greg Ball, RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

Another ankle test run. I went up the Woody trail and down the Greg Ball because the Woody is steeper and rockier. I figured it was a little bit safer than going down the Woody trail.

Since I fell behind writing these, I don’t remember much else about the run. I’m pretty sure I pulled out my headlamp for the descent down the Greg Ball and RR Grade to be on the safe side.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 11, 2015, 6:36 pm

14.06 mi, 4066 ft gain, 2:58:30. Woody, Upper (36), loop, Greg Ball, Woody, Upper (37), loop Greg Ball, Woody, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

The ankle was pretty much better.

Another write up from a couple weeks later, so I don’t remember a lot.

I ran the loop, with the detour. The second time, I went from the Greg Ball down the cutoff to the Woody trail and around again.

Average HR 139 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 12, 2015, 5:29 pm

17.78 mi, 4451 ft gain, 3.54:41. Woody, Upper Falls (38), W. Lake, J. Lake, Greg Ball, RR Grade, Woody, Upper Falls (39), Woody, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

Ankle was good.

I tried going up the logging roads on Stickney, but they were massively overgrown with wildflowers and other things. After the bee sting the other day, and active bees on the flowers, I decided against it and turned around.

Before I turned around, I heard and saw a pika in the rocks on the side of the road. I watched for a little while. Then I went over and set my phone up next to its hole. I caught a little glimpse of it investigating things on video. It was pretty cool.

I continued out on the normal lake loop, even though there is still no bridge. The North Fork Wallace River leaving the Wallace lake is low enough that it’s really easy to hop across.

I continued out to the beach on the other side Wallace Lake for a few minutes then out to Jay Lake and back. I went down the Greg ball and RR Grade. Rather than going to the TH, I turned at the start of the Woody trail and ran to the Upper Falls and down again.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 61.6 mi, 12,131 ft elevation gain

Running, Trail run, Training Log

June 29-July 5 Practice Running

Monday, June 29, 2015, 7:36 pm

9.14 mi, 2154 ft gain, 1:40:30. Woody trail, Upper Falls (31), Upper grade, Detour, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

I’m still behind on writing these, and I don’t remember specifics. It’s a pretty good time, though.

Average HR 148 bpm.

 

Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 7:39 pm

11.13 mi, 2053 ft gain, 2:08:32. Through town to Upper Falls (32), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I remember that it was kind of hot. I only took one handheld water bottle. I refilled at the trailhead on the way in and out.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2015, 7:33 pm

6.88 mi, 1917 ft gain, 1:23:44. Upper Falls (33) via RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I wanted to go longer than just up the Woody trail and back, but not as long as a full loop. I took the RR grade up then went down the short connecting trail to the Woody trail and continued to the Upper Falls. I went back the same way.

Average HR 141 bpm.

 

Thursday, July 2, 2015, 7:55 pm

4.27 mi, 938 ft gain, 1:03:30. Reiter gate #3, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

More cars at the first gate. Decided to go to the third gate instead of the second. The trail from the second has become rather overgrown with grass and a few blackberry vines.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Friday, July 3, 2015, 7:27 pm

11.68 mi, 2178 ft gain, 2:16:35. Woody to Upper Falls (34), Upper Grade to Wallace Lake, DNR rd to RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

An extended loop. I felt like going longer, so rather than turning onto the Greg Ball trail, I kept going on the DNR rd down to the bike path connector, then the RR grade.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Saturday, July 4, 2015, 4:16 pm

12.74 mi, 4191 ft gain, 3:42:19. Tunnel Creek to PCT to Trap Pass to Thunder Mountain Lakes, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I had just seen a couple trail reports about the Thunder Mountain lakes and decided to check it out. I’m so glad I did.

The Tunnel creek trail is fairly steep. I wasn’t worried about time, other than not really wanting to run in the dark, so I did more hiking than I would have otherwise. It was good practice for Cascade Crest 100, and I wanted to save some energy for tomorrow.

I got to the junction with the PCT a little faster than I expected. I ran part of this portion of the PCT last year. Back then I turned around before getting to Trap Lake.

Running on the PCT was great. It was rolling, and the climbs weren’t too steep. Once to Trap Lake, the climbs got a little steeper.

At Trap Pass, there’s a boot path (not an official trail) heading up the ridge line. It’s quite steep in places and not much of it is actually runnable. It’s fairly easy to follow, though. There are some very rocky parts that involve a little boulder scrambling, but nothing too technical or exposed. There were cairns to mark the way, but they were occasionally hard to spot.

Any difficulty getting there was absolutely worth it. There are several craggy peaks and subpeaks along the ridge and around the lakes. The lakes themselves are gorgeous. It’s a high rocky basin with beautiful aqua-blue water.

I chatted with a couple guys who were camping. There were about 5 small groups camping up there. I guess other people saw the recent trip reports as well. I refilled my water at the first lake and headed down.

It was a little easier going back down the boot path than I thought it would be. The rest of the trails back to the car were just fine.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Sunday, July 5, 2015, 4:44 pm

17.5 mi, 4268 ft gain, 4:40:40. East Fork Foss River to Necklace Valley, Jade Lake, Emerald Lake, Opal Lake, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

The plan was to go up the Necklace Valley as far as possible in the time I had, possibly up to the La Bohn lakes. I didn’t have enough time, though.

I’ve been up to Jade Lake before. And I’ve been up to the bridge over the East Fork Foss before that as well. I knew the trail on the East Fork Foss section of trail very well. Most of it is rather boring, and way more so on the way out.

There was part of the trail that was a little overgrown and had a bit of stinging nettles. I definitely felt the nettles, but it really only lasted maybe 5 minutes after I finished passing through.

The climb up after the river was fun. I hiked much more of it than I did last year, and I still beat my time up handily.

The lakes were all pretty low. Last time I was at Jade Lake, the water was over part of the trail along the shore. It wasn’t even close this time. I ate a little at Jade Lake and took some photos, then continued up the valley.

I came across an old cabin, the Necklace Cabin. It was built in 1950, dedicated to Jack Streeter, a WW2 soldier. It’s seen better days, but it’s still standing.

Emerald Lake was absolutely gorgeous. I went down to the water and refilled my hydration pack. The bugs were thick, swarming around me whenever I’d stop moving. I tried not to stay in one spot for more than a few seconds at a time.

I continued up the valley looking for the next lake. I went right past it. Opal Lake was so low, the lake bed is mostly just grass land. That made it pretty easy to miss, since the trail doesn’t go right along it. I ended up finding my way down to what would have been the shore, but was really just the edge of the grass.

I figured it was about time to turn back to make it back to the car before dark. The descent down the steep trail to the river was mostly fun. The return trip along the river trail was not so much. I probably should have pulled out my headlamp for about the last mile. I ended up rolling both ankles. My right ankle was ok. My left ankle was sore for several days afterwards.

I’d still like to go back sometime to make it farther up the valley and maybe up Mt. Hinman as well. It might be a while, though.

Average HR 141 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 73.3 mi, 17,700 ft elevation gain.

Practice, Races, Running, Trail run, Training Log

June 15-21 Practice Running

Monday, June 15, 2015, 8:18 pm

6.11 mi, 581 ft gain, 1:15:03. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

We stopped at Olney Creek for the dogs to take a dip before continuing on towards the hills. I decided to take a different turn this time. The one shortly after crossing the small bridge at the bottom of the hill. I’m not sure I’ve been on that road before, maybe once a year or two ago.

It was fun. There were a couple shorter off-shoot roads that we went on as well. One had some tall grass and flowers growing on it. The dogs had fun running through them. The road ended at a logging landing, but some tracks from heavy machinery continued a little farther.

I wasn’t concerned with pace, with the upcoming race on Saturday. I looked around a bit and let the dogs sniff around too. There were lots of deer tracks on and around the landing.

I felt good on the run back to the car, imagining myself on the final miles of Rattlesnake Ridge 50k, running on the Snoqualmie Valley trail. If I stick to my race plan, the pace should be similar too.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015, 6:55 pm

4.16 mi, 37 ft gain, 34:55. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Feeling pretty well today, as far as tapers go. More visualizations of the final 9 mi of the race. I took the pace up a little bit today.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2015, 5:58 pm

4.91 mi, 186 ft gain, 1:12:54. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1 & up Olney Creek, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #3.

I’ve been getting kind of bored running the same routes around town and in the tree farm. But I want to keep it pretty easy for the taper. I had an idea recently about running up Olney Creek from one of the bridges, possibly all the way to the next one up stream. Today I decided to check it out.

It was a lot of fun. In the water, out of the water, rocks, sand, logs, fish. The rocks under water are quite slippery, but I managed to stay upright. There were a couple places where the creek splits into more than one channel, and one was completely dry. Some of the “rapids” were no more than a few inches deep, while nearby pools were 3-4 ft deep with that crystal blue colored water.

I went a bit over a mile upstream before turning around. I didn’t have the time, nor the inclination to find out how far it was to the next road today. Travel was relatively easy, with few blowdowns to navigate and only a couple places where the water was over my knees.

I didn’t bother emptying out my shoes before heading back to the car. There was quite a bit of sand and small gravel, but it wasn’t too bad for the short trip.

I wasn’t the only recent human traveler through the creek bed. There were at least two other shoe tracks, probably anglers. I also saw all kinds of deer tracks.

Looking at my track on Strava, it appears to be another 1.5 mi or so to the next bridge.

Average HR 116 bpm.

 

Thursday, June 18, 2015, 5:54 pm

4.81 mi, 183 ft gain, 1:08:03. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1 & up Olney Creek, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 red #2.

I had so much fun yesterday, I decided to do it again today with the dogs this time. They weren’t sure what was going on at first when I started wading through the water upstream from the bridge. After a little coaxing, they joined me.

The dogs had at leas as much fun as I did. We didn’t go quite as far today, though. They both love the water, but Vida is sometimes tentative to go into water where she can’t touch bottom. Once she’s in or if she’s really motivated to get a stick or something, she’s just fine.

Once back to the bridge, I took short look downstream to see if it was passable in that direction. There were a lot of blowdowns crossing the whole creek bed in the first few hundred yards. I’m not sure about beyond that.

I cleaned out my shoes before heading back to the car this time. I sat by the water, pulled off one shoe at a time, swished it around in the water to try to get the sand and gravel briefly in suspension, then dumped them out. Then I rolled my socks down to my toes (putting wet Injinji socks back on sucks), swished my feet in the water to get the sand off and out, rolled them back up, swished around again to get the sand off the exterior, then put my shoes back on and headed out.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Friday, June 14, 2015, 4:01 pm

3.18 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:30. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Last taper day. I ate shortly before heading out, so my HR was elevated, probably by about 10 bpm. My lower legs just above my ankles were a little tight. They loosened up before too long.

More visualizations of race day. I felt pretty good besides the early leg tightness.

Average HR 148 bpm.

 

Saturday, June 20, 2015, 7:33 am

50 km, 6439 ft gain, 5:20:03. Rattlesnake Ridge Run 50k, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I had a great race. I stayed fairly conservative going over Rattlesnake Ridge and back. My split was maybe a couple minutes faster than last year. I made up most of the 11 min improvement over last year on the last 9 miles. I’ll post a more detailed race report soon.

Average HR 153 bpm.

 

Sunday, June 21, 2015, 6:17 pm

3.62 mi, 944 ft gain, 1:13:37. Reiter gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I forgot about the terrible Sunday traffic westbound on US2, so I didn’t run where I had planned.

It’s getting pretty overgrown with grass and blackberries on parts of this route. Fortunately, the creeks are still running in the area, so the dogs had plenty of water to drink and cool down in.

I found some more old 4×4 trails up the hill. I ended up going much steeper today than I had planned, which ended up meaning a lot more hiking than running than planned as well. That’s ok. Just getting moving and keeping it a relatively easy effort was the goal.

Average HR 117 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 56.9 mi, 8370 ft elevation gain