Over the hump at Mt Brown for some heat training, and averting an achilles problem

This morning I awoke late as I have the day off work-  got dressed and ran a nice light 10 mile recovery run on the local roads in my neighborhood.  I felt great, which was a relief.  Yesterday I did a middlin' longish run up Mt. Brown (14 miles) and it was a much tougher workout than I had anticipated.  

Because of the Independence day holiday I had the day off yesterday.  I had taken the kids to march in a parade in the morning, was on my feet for several hours and  had had lunch at a friend's noon time cookout.  What could be better than a little heat training with a belly full of hot dogs?   Good race specific training!  I hit the Mt Brown trail at 3pm in the afternoon and indeed I got my money's worth--it  was HOT!  That was expected but what was alarming was that the backs of my heels were very very tender where the achilles tendon attach, and my ankles and feet were very tender the whole run.  As I was working up the hill roasting in the sun and feeling my tired feet the thought occurred to me that this run was the crux of the week.  I had chosen this run as its sun exposed and hot, but with a runnable grade, so unlike many of the runs I've been doing in the San Gabriels lately, this uphill was an actual run as opposed to a powerwalk.  I wanted to work my ability to manage heat stress.  I wore my 2 bottle belt and carried 2 hand bottles;  I also donned my pack and put  half gallon of water in it.    I used up every drop in the course of the run either drinking or dousing my head and shoulders.

When I finished I went to my brother's place and jumped in the pool;  then massaged my heels for a bit and gorged on watermelon, chile;  and roast chicken.  I also stretched my hamstrings and calves.  The hamstring in particular was much tighter on the  left side than on the right;  the left side was the worse of the two legs for the heel pain I had experienced.  I took a couple ibuprofen before heading to bed and went to sleep concerned that the high mileage was taking its toll towards a tendon injury.  But a good 8 hours of sleep seems to have put the problem behind me.  My pal (the fella who won RAW) suggested that a good bit of this high mileage training has at purpose training the body's ability to recover quickly-  this seems to be the case and I am relieved and grateful for it.  Tomorrow I head up to the middle section of the Angeles Crest course to get in some higher altitude desert running, plan is a 30 miler up around Three Points/Sulphur Springs to Shortcut and back.