Monday, May 25, 2015, 6:36 pm

5.5 mi, 1219 ft gain, 1:30:55. Reiter, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Legs were a bit tired, but I expected them to be after the last couple weeks. I forgot about end of the holiday weekend traffic, and didn’t want to deal with it, so we ran at Reiter instead of the tree farm. I realized I forgot my Suunto after I parked, and I didn’t want to go back for it, so I used the Strava app on my phone. None of this really helped get my head into it.

My legs warmed up reasonably quickly. We went up the 4×4 trail out to the trail that I originally thought was to Lake Isabel, but is actually to the east. I wasn’t feeling it, so we turned around after a while. Once back to where the 4×4 trail splits off from the powerline road, we went east on the powerline road.

I considered going up to the ridge, but something moving about 0.25 mi away, about halfway up, caught my eye. I stopped and watched for a little while. A smaller black spot moved into the brush while a larger black spot stayed still, watching us. Then the bigger spot moved. I figured it was a sow with at least one cub. I decided we’d keep going for a little while, and I’d keep an eye on them. We didn’t go much farther before I decided we’d turn around.

Once back down to the road we came in on, I decided we’d head the other way on the powerline road to make up the rest of the distance I wanted. We went up the short, really steep trail with all the loose rocks, then just a little farther. I wanted to get in 6 miles, but I finally just threw in the towel and headed back to the car. My legs were feeling fine, but my head never really came around and just wasn’t into it.

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015, 6:35 pm

10.41 mi, 2100 ft gain, 1:59:16. Wallace Falls (23) Loop, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

My legs felt really tired for the first 3 mi, especially my lower legs and feet. Then I made a pitstop in the woods. Shortly after I started going again, I started to feel pretty good. My legs were still a little sore, but I had plenty of energy.

The normal lake loop is closed. They’re tearing out the old foot bridge over the North Fork Wallace River as it leaves Wallace Lake. There were signs up, but I still went out to see what was going on. I spoke to one of the guys tearing out the current bridge for a minute. He had the hand railings down and was working on the posts. He said they’d be working on the footings for the new bridge tomorrow. However, the new bridge was being built offsite by another company and might take up to two months. It seems silly to tear out the old bridge so far ahead of the new one even being ready to be put in. He said I was welcome to cross over the bridge, but it might be down by the time I came back. I said that it was OK, I’d go the other way around.

I headed back the way I came and took the DNR rd that connects to the other one at the bridge just above the Greg Ball Trail. I met another guy on the bridge crew there. They had a camper setup and backhoe parked on the side of the road. We talked for a couple minutes.

I headed down the road for the Greg Ball trail, keeping the pace up a little. I didn’t bomb down the trail, but kept a good steady pace. Once I hit the RR Grade, I considered connecting back down to the Woody trail, but decided against it. I thought I might be able to make it back to the TH under 2 hours. I kept pushing the pace a bit, but I was still pretty comfortable. Once I hit the last half mile, I stepped it up a little, and again over the last few hundred yards.

It’s amazing how much better I felt today than yesterday. What started as another subpar run with me almost deciding to just head back down once I hit the Upper Falls instead of finishing the loop, turned into a great run.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 6:10 pm

10.72 mi, 2471 ft gain, 2:15:59. Woody, Greg Ball, Wallace Lake beach, Upper grade, Upper Falls (24), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Thursday, May 28, 2015, 3:37 pm

7.19 mi, 75 ft gain, 1:00:45. Green belt & RR access rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2 White.

I wanted to take a relatively easy day before the big day on my birthday. I ran though the green belt along the RR tracks, then crossed over to the river side on the access road. I went out to an open gate and sign farther out that I had been before. It turned out to be a no trespassing sign. Maybe I won’t run out that far on that road again.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Friday, May 29, 2015, 9:19 am

8 mi, 3526 ft gain, 2:28:14. Rock Mountain Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I haven’t been able to find any info on trail conditions for this or the higher elevations of Nason ridge, so I based my decision to give this a shot on a recent Round Mountain trip report. It didn’t work out that well.

The plan was for a long run going up the Rock Mountain trail, maybe up Rock mountain depending on snow conditions, east on Nason Ridge and maybe some other connecting trails.

The trail is steep with so many switchbacks. There are some rocky sections, but it’s mostly good. There are a couple easily crossed blow-downs. Snow patches started around 5500 ft. They were easy enough to cross. Above 5700 ft the snow was covering the trail with a couple patches of trail for the next hundred feet or so. I put on microspikes and kept going. I made it up to about 6200 ft on the ridge. There were tracks leading up to the ridge of Rock Mountain, but there was too much snow for a good trail run. Rock mountain and the Rock Lake basin are completely covered, as is Rock lake.

I headed back down the trail and went with a backup plan instead.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Friday, May 29, 2015, 12:21 pm

18.21 mi, 4644 ft gain, 5:42:01. Deception Creek to Tonga Ridge to Mount Sawyer, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Long run day. There seems to be a pattern lately. My first trail choice doesn’t work out, so I head for my backup.

I started at the Deception Creek TH. I passed a couple on their way out just past the bridge over Deception Creek. A mile or two later, a fighter jet flew down the valley overhead at a low altitude. It was incredibly loud.

There are a few minor blow-downs in the first few miles, but not bad. Starting around 4-4.5 mi, there are more blow-downs. There are some significant ones within the last 0.25 mi or so of the junction with the Tonga Ridge trail and Fischer creek crossing. There is beginning to be wear from foot travel a good ways off the trail to get around them.

I refilled my water at Fischer Creek before heading for the Tonga Ridge trail. It’s a little overgrown in the first mile or so, but not bad. Once up to Sawyer pass, where there are campsites and several trails convene, I could only find one sign pointing back down to Deception Creek. There were more trails than on the map, but two just go to campsites.

I continued out to Mount Sawyer. The trail up the mountain is narrow, steep and rocky in places. It was a lot of fun. I ran into snow and three hikers at around 5400 ft. I saw remnants of the old trail up the north side and headed that way. It was almost entirely snow covered, but I made it to the top without breaking out the microspikes. The views from the top were worth it. There are trees on top, so you don’t get the full 360*, but you can move around to see it all.

I found the newer trail on the south side on my way down, which was completely clear until it goes back around to the east. There were a couple small snow patches to cross.

I headed back out the way I came in. I had thought about going out to Fischer lake as well, but not far off the Tonga Ridge trail it became more overgrown, muddy and covered with water than I wanted to deal with.

I also considered heading farther up Deception Creek when I got back down. A thunder storm had been coming in and was getting pretty close, so I decided against it. Then the storm stopped a couple miles later. Oh well.

On my way out, not too far from where I saw the couple earlier, there was another couple with two small children in packs.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Friday, May 29, 2015, 8:42 pm

8.31 mi, 1131 ft gain, 1:37:16. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

After getting home from Deception Creek. I took about an hour and a half to rest, drink water and eat some food. Then I took the dogs out to finish my Birthday Miles. As tough and long as the day had been to that point, I could still hold a good pace.

We went out and over the connector hill. I kept my headlamp off as long as possible. I had forgotten to change the battery. I also didn’t bring my pack, just my UD belt.

Again I walked a little of the steeper parts of the hills. I picked up the pace a little for the last couple miles once I got back over the hill, and it wasn’t so bad.

I finished my Birthday Miles with about 34.5 mi and 9301 ft elevation gain. It was my biggest day training ever, and longest non-race day. It was tough. It took a lot longer than I expected, partially due to changing locations and trail conditions. But I felt much better than expected when I finished, as miserable as I was a few times.

No HRM.

 

Saturday, May 30, 2015, 6:58 pm

3.19 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:55. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I thought about running the Wallace Lake loop, but decided against it. My legs feel pretty good, not much muscle soreness. My ankles and achilles are sore. It took the a little over the first half mile for my achilles to loosen up. My ankles took a little longer. Then I was almost up to a normal easy pace. Maybe it was all the hiking on the hills yesterday, keeping the pace conservative, doing three separate runs, or a little of all of it. Staying hydrated certainly helped. I might be back out on the trails again tomorrow.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Sunday, May 31, 2015, 5:25 pm

12.43 mi, 4780 ft gain, 3:11:45. Upper Falls (25), Greg Ball, Wallace Lake, Greg Ball, Upper Falls (26) & down, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I wanted to finish a big week strong. It was pretty rough going, though. My legs felt ok, just tired. I ended up hiking some of the steps on the first time to the Upper Falls.

Then I headed back down and took the cutoff to the Greg Ball trail. I noticed while going up Greg Ball, that my pace to keep my HR down was slowing way, way down going uphill. I started to hike the steeper parts. After a while, I started to feel a little better and could run some of the uphill again. Once up to Wallace Lake, I found a spot to go down to the lake and walked out on some of the old logs. I watched the fingerlings swim around and feed for a few minutes.

I headed back down the way I came up . On the way back down, I tripped on something little and stumbled. I managed to stay upright, but in the process I tweaked something. I was falling forward, bending at the waist to try to keep my legs under me. I landed hard on my right leg bent way over and pulled a glute or something. I walked a little to test it out. There was a little soreness, but not too much. I stopped couple times and swung my leg back and forth to check range of motion and how it felt. There was more pain going forward.

Once back to the Woody Trail, I went back up to the Upper Falls again. It was rough going back up the second time. I hiked more of the stairs and really steep parts. I went to the upper grade above the falls. I took it easy on the way down, paying extra attention to foot placement. I’m a lot more prone to tripping or misstepping when I’m tired, and I was tired.

I was surprised that I could still run fairly quickly on the flat at the end. I guess it’s a sign that training is paying off.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 84 mi, 19947 ft elevation gain.

This was my biggest week of running ever, most miles and most elevation gain.