Tag Archives: wallace falls

Running, Trail run, Training Log

June 1-7 Practice Running

Monday, June 1, 2015, 6:14 pm

4.31 mi, 271 ft gain, 48:57. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Today’s run was rough. My legs felt mostly ok, but my glute was not happy. It was definitely worse today than yesterday. Downhill was worse than uphill or flat. I think it’s the muscle contraction at that angle and the extra force going downhill. Other than that, I could move pretty well.

We ran out to Olney Creek. The dogs splashed around a bit. Then we finished the loop.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 7:24 pm

4.13 mi, 37 ft gain, 40:29. RR access rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt mildly better than yesterday. I still couldn’t go very fast because of the pulled muscle. I was going to run my normal 5k-ish loop or out onto May Creek rd, but I had to pee, so I crossed over to the green belt, across the RR tracks and found a spot in the bushes. Since I was already over there, I ran along the RR access road to a little over 2 mi out.

It’s times like this, dealing with injuries or being really sore during tough recoveries, that start to sow seeds of doubt. I started to think about just not running until the muscle healed, but remember giving up like that in the past and it sucked. Not running sucked, starting again sucked, and I’m not really sure it sped up the healing process that much.

Anyway, other than a sore right butt cheek, it was a pretty good run.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 8:41 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:53. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 White.

The glute is slightly better again. I didn’t feel it much at first, but when I tried speeding up some, it let me know. My legs are still a little bit tired in general too, not bad, though.

For some reason the muscle along the outside of my right shin was compensating and working overtime. It was really difficult to try to get it to relax. It started to loosen up a little toward the end of today’s run. I did notice early on that my right foot was turning inward a little, so I was much more mindful of my form. Going slightly faster helped a little too.

I’m hoping it’s good enough this weekend for one more long run. I ended up with a 3 week taper for Capitol Peak 50mi due to minor injury as well. I don’t want to taper that long for Rattlesnake, or for any other race for that matter.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Thursday, June 4, 2015, 8:01 pm

6.16 mi, 822 ft gain, 1:13:14. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

My glute is a lot better, but still has a little ways to go. My right shin muscle was tight again for the first mile or so. I took a couple breaks, concentrated on relaxing, and it loosened up. My right piriformis is acting up a little too. That should be alright though.

Once to the bridge at Olney Creek, the dogs decided to take the trail down to the creek. To keep from letting them think they’re in charge, I kept going over the bridge. Rather than go back up the trail and cross the bridge, they crossed the creek and scrambled up the bank on the other side.

We took a left after the bridge towards the mountains. I took the turn towards Wallace Lake, but stopped well short of it. There were a couple huckleberry bushes with berries starting to ripen.

This was a much better run than the last few days.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Friday, June 5, 2015, 7:34 pm

9.15 mi, 2014 ft gain, 1:50:11. Woody to Upper Falls (27), Upper Grade, Detour, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

My right glute felt ok, maybe just slightly sore. My lower legs, mostly the muscles on the inside between my calves and shins, were screaming at me for the first 3 mi or so. After that, they started to calm down pretty quickly. My right outside shin muscle was tight again for about the first mi.

I was kind of slow on the Woody trail, I stopped a couple times to try to stretch out tight lower leg muscles. I hiked a little as well. I usually try to run the whole thing, except maybe some of the stairs. I spent a minute or two at the Upper Falls trying to get my lower legs to calm down, then hiked most of the rest of the way to the Upper Grade.

I was still not feeling very good for a while after that. I walked a little bit, then took a brief pitstop in the woods. I started to feel better after that.

I didn’t have a lot of daylight left, so I turned at the detour road and didn’t go out to the lake. I had my headlamp just in case, though. I found myself a bit tentative going down the Greg Ball trail. It was kind of dark in the woods, and I had the trip and pulled muscle from Sunday on my mind. I was careful about foot placement and paid very close attention to the trail.

I kept the pace up a little bit on the way down, then kicked it up over the last 0.25 mi, and again over the last 100-200 yards. I managed to finish before needing to pull out my headlamp.

I am feeling kind of slow and tired, even though I finished quite fast. I hope the taper works out well.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Saturday, June 6, 2015, 7:06 pm

11.15 mi, 2082 ft gain, 2:18:25. Roads to WFSP & Woody to Upper Falls (28), solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

After having such a rough time yesterday, I decided to run from home and use the 3 mi to the park as a warm up. It worked much better. My lower leg issues didn’t last as long and weren’t as bad.

I ran along the green belt instead of the sidewalk along US2. I tried to hit the grass and side of the road as much as possible the rest of the way. I felt good when I got to the park. I made a pitstop and refilled my water bottle then headed up the trail.

I felt better on the climbs than yesterday and walked less too. There was a little more foot traffic this late in the evening than I expected, but not too bad. I took the time letting people pass to rest a little. It didn’t really affect my time going up. It was pretty much the same as I’ve been doing recently. I took a minute or two to rest at the top before going back down. I also tightened my shoelaces.

I didn’t push the pace on the descent. Sometimes it seems a little easier to go faster on the descent. It went well.

I felt better on the road home than I did on previous similar efforts.

I didn’t take my phone, which I kind of regretted as I crossed the bridge over May Creek before getting to the park. There was a deer standing in the middle of May Creek with a duck in the still water nearby. It would have been a great photo. But it was also nice not having my UD belt around my waist or my pack on.

Average HR 134 bpm. The battery died after about 20 min. I forgot to charge it.

 

Sunday, June 7, 2015, 6:36 pm

12.04 mi, 2442 ft gain, 2:32:51. Woody to Upper Wallace Falls (29), Upper grade to detour to Wallace Lake beach +, down Greg Ball & RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

I felt even better today than yesterday. I needed 12 mi to hit 50 for the week. I don’t know why it mattered that I hit 50.

Anyway, I was about as fast to the upper falls today again, even with a short pitstop off the trail. I also didn’t have any of the lower leg issues I’ve been having. There was a little soreness from the effort, but nothing else. I only stopped for a minute at the upper falls before heading up to the Upper Grade.

I find myself going kind of slow at first when I hit the Upper Grade, recovering from the climb I guess. Then I gradually speed up over the next 5-10 min. I stopped at around 3.5 mi when I saw a creek. I had my Sawyer Mini water filter and squeeze bag in the pocket of my Ultimate Direction Fastdraw 20. It took two bags to fill the bottle, with a little left over to drink before going again. I really like the Sawyer Mini. I prefer using my Platypus 1 liter soft bottle, but it won’t fit in the hand-held’s pocket.

I headed out to the lake, then around to the beach. It’s very tranquil and relaxing on the beach in the evening. It wasn’t quite far enough to hit my 12 mi mark, so I continued on the trail toward Jay Lake. I turned around once I had gone far enough.

Once on the Greg Ball, I went with gravity a little more than yesterday on the Woody trail descent. It was fun as always. I kept the pace up a bit on the RR grade and finished off the last bit hard. It was a great run.

I left my phone home again. Again, it was nice not having the belt or pack.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 50.1 mi, 7669 ft elevation gain

Running, Trail run, Training Log

February 9-15 Practice Running

Monday, February 9, 2015, 6:18 pm

4.13 mi, 153 ft gain, 37:27. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

I got a late start to my run today. The legs are still a bit sore, but not so stiff. They warmed up within the first mile.

The logging roads were muddy again. It looks like they’re building some new roads for more logging in the area, because they have equipment out in one of the rock pits and a whole lot of crushed rock piled up along the road. Once they’re done, it should be more places to run. Unfortunately, it will also likely be clearcut along those new roads.

Anyway, I felt pretty good during the run and was pretty much back to my usual pace for relatively easy days. I still kept it short and without a lot of vert to recover more from the race and yesterday’s run up Wallace Falls.

I’m still thinking about one more long run before the Lord Hill 50k on Feb 22. If I do it, it will probably be Wednesday or Thursday, so I have time to fully recover before the race. I had wanted to get out and run at least one lap on the course, but I probably won’t.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 5:04 pm

6.25 mi, 685 ft gain, 1:12:59. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

My legs are mostly better today, just a little residual soreness. I warmed up within a mile.

I forgot my gloves today. I usually wear gloves when the temperature is below the mid 50s. My hands get cold and sometimes swell a little otherwise. It wasn’t too bad today, though.

The logging roads were muddy again. They’re also moving heavy equipment around some more. I got a good view of what they cut down on the mountain side. They pretty much doubled the size of the clearcut area. There was a section of trees on the road up the mountain toward Wallace Lake, but they cut that down.

It also looks like they’re working on the road at the gate before this one that’s been closed and overgrown since I’ve lived in the area, so I might have to start calling this one gate #2. Maybe that’s where the crushed rock they’ve been piling up is going.

I stopped quite a bit on today’s run. I took a couple photos, tried taking some video and did a little exploring and wandering. My moving time actually about 57 min.

I stayed straight on the road to avoid the muddy roads and then headed for the hill. I only went up and partway over today. I’m thinking about either going long or doing a good amount of climbing tomorrow, so I took it pretty easy today.

Just before turning off toward the hill, I saw an animal farther up the road. I couldn’t tell what it was. It was smaller than my dogs, but not a lot smaller. It wasn’t that light out, so I couldn’t really tell color. Based on shape and size, I’d guess either a coyote or bobcat. It was quite a ways off, though. I did hear some coyotes yipping a few minutes later.

Going faster on the descents is becoming more and more comfortable. I also did a short stretch at around my marathon goal pace, and it wasn’t that hard. It will likely be quite a while until I actually run a road marathon, though.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 3:00 pm

12.32 mi, 4942 ft gain, 2:44:35. Upper Falls, Greg Ball, Wallace lake, Greg Ball, Upper Falls, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

Last tough run before Lord Hill 50k. I didn’t quite go as far as I had wanted, but I got a little more vert than planned, so maybe it evens out.

I felt pretty good at the beginning. I went up the woody trail to the upper falls to start. I didn’t push very hard, but my HR was pushing up to the 160s.

I stopped briefly for a photo at the Middle falls. Once to the Upper falls, I took a short break. I had some water and food. I brought raisins and dates again.

I went up to the DNR road above the falls to get some more vert and maybe see how the bridge construction was going. There were guys working on it.

I went back down the way I came, turning off at the sign for the restrooms where the RR grade and Greg Ball trail meet. Then I went up the Greg Ball trail. I even bettered my Strava segment CR for the Greg Ball trail a little.

At Wallace Lake, I had some more water and more food while I pondered which way to go next. It had been about 90 minutes, and I had about 80 minutes of light left. I decided just to backtrack the whole thing and headed back out.

I made good time down the Greg Ball trail. It’s a lot of fun to run down too. Then I went back down the connector trail and head back towards the falls on the Woody trail. I ended up passing a couple who I saw on my initial trip up as they were heading down. The guy asked something about going up again, and I tried answering, but I don’t think I made that much sense.

I made it back up to the Upper falls without too much trouble, stopped briefly, then went up to the DNR rd again. That last climb from the Upper falls to the DNR rd was rough. At the top, I saw the bridge work crew driving their box van down the road. I had a little water and food, then headed back down again.

I took it easy on the way down. With the trees and clouds, it started to get dark. I purposely left my headlamp at home, but I had my handheld flashlight. I didn’t want to use it, though.

Once I made it back to the short RR grade between the woody trail TH and the parking lot, I opened it up a bit. I even hit 6:25/mi pace and felt pretty good. I still had a few minutes of useable light when I finished.

This was trips 8 and 9 to the Upper Falls for the year. At this rate I’ll hit my goal of 50 about the 2nd or 3rd week of October.

Average HR 148 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 12, 2015, 5:30 pm

3.25 mi, 132 ft gain, 33:36. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Well, I planned to keep it short and easy today, but not that short. I forgot to bring a light with me. Since I started just after sunset, I didn’t have that much time before it got too dark to see. I guess that’s one way to stick to my taper for the 50k.

I felt much better today than I expected with all the climbing I did yesterday. I’ve done more climbing before, so I guess it’s not as surprising as I thought.

I was a little bit sore, but I could move just fine. My legs warmed up about the halfway point. It was a pretty good run, even if it was so short.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Friday, February 13, 2015, 5:04 pm

3.18 mi, 28 ft gain, 28:12. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Just a quick spin around town. Legs were fine.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 14, 2015, 2:17 pm
11.13 mi, 875 ft gain, 1:39:56. Through town to RR grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

The weather was great. I headed for Wallace Falls State Park. I warmed up pretty quickly. I was moving pretty well.

I ran into a friend when I hit the parking lot. She was waiting for some friends to go hiking. I stopped for a very brief chat.

I stuck to the Rail Road Grade. I wanted some time in the woods, but didn’t want to do too much only a week out from the Lord Hill 50k.
I kept a decent pace up the trail. Once to the end, where the Greg Ball trail starts, I kept going a little to see if the old grade was still passable beyond there. It quickly stopped on the other side of a creek 20 yards out or so.

I was moving great on the way back down the trail. They laid some fresh crushed rock in a couple spots. It also looked like they graded a couple spots as well, then used the scraped up earth to fill in some mucky spots. However, the soil they used was sticky, mucky and had quite a bit of clay in it, so it seems like it just made it worse in those spots.

On the road back home, I saw another person I knew out pruning their apple trees, so I stopped and talked for a few minutes.
Once I started back up, my legs were a little stiff but loosened up quickly. My pace didn’t really suffer, and I actually slowed myself down a little.

I made pretty good time. In all, I ended up stopping for about 11 minutes between talking with people, signing the register and checking out past the end of the trail. The 50k next week is three laps around a 10 mi loop with 1700 ft gain. I think it’s fairly comparable to today’s run when you adjust distance and elevation gain. If I can maintain the same kind of pace I did, and minimize my stopping time, I could potentially finish significantly under my goal time.

Average HR 145 bpm. My HR was elevated compared normal for my breathing and pace. I think it was due in part to eating shortly before running. It calmed down a bit later in the run.

 

Sunday, February 15, 2015, 4:22 pm

4.45 mi, 600 ft gain, 47:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

I was a little sore from yesterday, but I warmed up quickly. My core was sore, as well, from using an axe to take down a tree yesterday and several more today.

I took it easy today. I’m supposed to be tapering. I considered going longer, but held myself back. I have a tendency to try to go beyond goals, plans and such, rather than just trying to reach them. It’s great in many cases, but it can also lead to burnout. As I mentioned before, I’m not great at moderation.

In an effort to work on moderation, I didn’t push the pace, I hiked most of the steepest part of the hill, which I usually run, and I took a couple minutes break at my turnaround point.

On the way back down the hill, though, I let gravity do its thing and got the legs turning over quickly. I used to dislike running downhill, mostly because I couldn’t do it very well. I think part of it was that I wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the speed that I would go if I went with gravity.

I expect more runs like this over the next week to get ready for the race.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 44.7 mi, 7387 ft gain

Practice, Races, Running, Trail run, Training Log

February 2-8 Practice Running

Monday, February 2, 2015, 5:11 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 5:16 pm

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

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

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

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

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015, 5:33 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 5, 2015, 4:12 pm

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

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

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

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

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Friday, February 6, 2015, 3:52 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Bring on the race.

Average HR 143 bpm.

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 9:04 am

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

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

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 9:45 am

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, February 7, 2015, 4:29 pm

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

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

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

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

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Sunday, February 8, 2015, 3:36 pm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Average HR 143 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 42 mi, 3311 ft gain