I topped off my training week this morning with my old standard Mt Wilson route from Eaton Canyon (6am start), walk up the Mt Wilson Toll Road to the summit, and then run down, for 20 miles. Given what I learned yesterday about the water spigots being taped off as non-potable, and not having streams along the route, I carried a lot of extra water this morning, not being sure how hot it might get. It was a warm and humid inversion layer up to about 2500 feet and then clear and cool above that, so I didn't need the extra half gallon of water I had lugged up. I hit the summit in 2:48- a bit slow. I spent some time talking to a couple of ultra runners that came up while I was shaking out my socks. Neither had heard about the Forest Service closing the spigots. I topped both of these guys off with my extra water and then headed down for a 4:10 total run time. One of the guys had 1 steel water bottle; the other had 2 hand bottles and indicated he was heading down through Idlehour to Lake- a 15 or 16 mile route depending on the path taken from the Idlehour trail junction with the Mt Lowe Railway bed. Thats a long tough run for 2 water bottles.
Today I was carrying 2 hand bottles, 2 spares in a belt and a light pack with that extra half gallon. I don't enjoy pain (much). Something about pissing blood just doesn't appeal to me: Here is a report I made last year of an experience I had of what can happen Not drinking enough-hematuria on a Mt Wilson run July 2013
Pete Sercel's ultrarunning training blog --my experience with running injury prevention and recovery, and training for the Angeles Crest 100.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Mt Wilson Loop again, hot and smoggy
This morning I hit the Sam Merrill Trailhead at Lake Ave at 6am to start the 28 mile Mt Wilson loop course. I was carrying a new replacement water filter cartridge for my First Need filter, which last week I had discovered was cracked. I had made that discovery at Idlehour, 18 miles in with 10 miles to go. (Some lessons are so good one just needs the occasional booster shot so to speak).
Today it was good thing I bought, and brought, the new filter! I got to the Mt Wilson summit and the spigots were red taped off and labelled "DANGER" . Being dry I used an empty bottle to collect water from one spigot that was flowing although marked DANGER. I used my First Need filter to pump this water and collected 2 bottles of clean water-- the First Need nominally filters down to 0.1microns, good enough for viruses. (I thought it unlikely that the well was contaminated with Uranium...still, not knowing the contaminant I took the minimum). I was able to fully reload later on the stream water at Idlehour.
The first part of the run was nice, the air was cool and clean. The smoke that had rolled up from San Diego yesterday had blown out overnight as the winds had shifted. By midmorning however, when I was climbing out of Idlehour, the wind had brought the wildfire smoke bad and it was a hot smoggy, chest-aching climb out of that canyon.
I was a bit vexed about the water situation at Wilson as I had checked the ANF website on Thursday for water availability just two days before. Ordinarily I would have simply assumed the water to be on at Wilson (as it has been, consistently, since as long as I can recall) and not bothered to check. But I'd been getting a bit tired of this route and was considering a run to Red Box instead of Mt Wilson summit- provided there was water available at Red Box. However, the ANF website listed no water there. I checked Skyline Park as a "control" and the ANF site listed potable water as available (which I believed--after all, it was on last week!). So I decided to run to Wilson/Skyline Park and run the usual loop course down the Toll-Road and cut back to the Mt Lowe railbed via Idlehour.
What bugs me about all this is that as I was running down the Toll Road, there was a veritable queue of hikers heading up. I feel bad for these folks, since its a good 7 to 10 miles up to Mt Wilson Skyline Park depending on the trailhead- a bad day for these folks to find no water at the summit; and I doubt many of them were carrying filters. Since ANF doesn't answer the phones on the weekend the only information available is via the website, which was carelessly not updated to reflect the water situation.
I just went to post the information about the Mt Wilson spigots being off to the AC100 Facebook page- someone had already done it.
Today it was good thing I bought, and brought, the new filter! I got to the Mt Wilson summit and the spigots were red taped off and labelled "DANGER" . Being dry I used an empty bottle to collect water from one spigot that was flowing although marked DANGER. I used my First Need filter to pump this water and collected 2 bottles of clean water-- the First Need nominally filters down to 0.1microns, good enough for viruses. (I thought it unlikely that the well was contaminated with Uranium...still, not knowing the contaminant I took the minimum). I was able to fully reload later on the stream water at Idlehour.
The first part of the run was nice, the air was cool and clean. The smoke that had rolled up from San Diego yesterday had blown out overnight as the winds had shifted. By midmorning however, when I was climbing out of Idlehour, the wind had brought the wildfire smoke bad and it was a hot smoggy, chest-aching climb out of that canyon.
I was a bit vexed about the water situation at Wilson as I had checked the ANF website on Thursday for water availability just two days before. Ordinarily I would have simply assumed the water to be on at Wilson (as it has been, consistently, since as long as I can recall) and not bothered to check. But I'd been getting a bit tired of this route and was considering a run to Red Box instead of Mt Wilson summit- provided there was water available at Red Box. However, the ANF website listed no water there. I checked Skyline Park as a "control" and the ANF site listed potable water as available (which I believed--after all, it was on last week!). So I decided to run to Wilson/Skyline Park and run the usual loop course down the Toll-Road and cut back to the Mt Lowe railbed via Idlehour.
What bugs me about all this is that as I was running down the Toll Road, there was a veritable queue of hikers heading up. I feel bad for these folks, since its a good 7 to 10 miles up to Mt Wilson Skyline Park depending on the trailhead- a bad day for these folks to find no water at the summit; and I doubt many of them were carrying filters. Since ANF doesn't answer the phones on the weekend the only information available is via the website, which was carelessly not updated to reflect the water situation.
I just went to post the information about the Mt Wilson spigots being off to the AC100 Facebook page- someone had already done it.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Merrell Trail Gloves on Mt Wilson, & How to train for a 100 miler on Mother's Day
After yesterday's 28 mile grinder on the Mt Wilson loop course, today's plan was a longish walk-up/run-down recovery workout on the Mt Wilson Toll Road. But I was conflicted since today is Mother's Day: How to get a long one in without leaving my wife alienated on her holiday, watching the kids with me out playing in the mountains? Yes, training for a 100 miler can be a highly self-absorbed enterprise...
The Plan: After polling the kids (and their mom!), my son and I went shopping for my wife yesterday; last night I armed each kid with a gift with instructions to present said gift with a note to their mother when she woke up today. As for me: I got out early this morning and was on the trail by 5:40am. While ordinarily this workout is 20 miles (to the summit and back), today I planned to cut the workout short at 16 miles and get home before my wife had been up long.
It all worked out! The family slept in 'till 8:30; I was home by 9:30am.
This afternoon my wife and I will go for a long hike (what she wanted for her Mother's day!). As it happens ....this works for me! The hike will round out my weekly mileage :)
Training for a 100 miler can be a highly self-absorbed enterprise, its true; its nice when it works out that it doesn't cut into the family life (much).
As for the run today: This morning I broke out my Merrell Trail Gloves. If you are not familiar with this shoe, its a fantastic minimalist shoe, zero-drop, with a thin vibram sole and a wide toe box; basically a highly breathable moccasin with about 4mm of rubber between your foot and the trail. Lately I have been doing my long runs in more heavily armored shoes with 3-to-6 mm heel-to-toe drop (like the Skechers GoBionic Trail, the Inov-8 TrailRoc 255, and the Merrell Ascend Glove with an extra heel pad); all to take the stress off my achilles on the uphills. Et viola, my knees have been a bit sore...not bad, but unwelcome. Today, wearing the Trail Gloves, zero knee pain. The lack of armor on the Trail Glove forces care and attention to foot placement and good form. It was a fabulous run and reminded me how much I love the Merrell Barefoot line. I credit these shoes (and the improvement in running form they facilitate) for saving my knees. Good thing: I have a stash of 3 pairs of Trail Gloves "in service", plus 3 pairs more in reserve in my closet. The darned things just don't wear out. While my first pair of Trail Gloves wore out within 500 miles, since then, as my form has improved, it seems that the Trail Gloves last forever. One pair I still run in has been my mainstay for in-week short-run mileage since the 2013 Leona Divide race -- I probably have about 1000 miles on that pair. I have 2 pairs of Ascend Gloves "in service" (both were my high-mileage mainstays during the 2013 AC100 training and race) with 2 more pairs in the closet reserved for the race in August.
The Plan: After polling the kids (and their mom!), my son and I went shopping for my wife yesterday; last night I armed each kid with a gift with instructions to present said gift with a note to their mother when she woke up today. As for me: I got out early this morning and was on the trail by 5:40am. While ordinarily this workout is 20 miles (to the summit and back), today I planned to cut the workout short at 16 miles and get home before my wife had been up long.
It all worked out! The family slept in 'till 8:30; I was home by 9:30am.
This afternoon my wife and I will go for a long hike (what she wanted for her Mother's day!). As it happens ....this works for me! The hike will round out my weekly mileage :)
Training for a 100 miler can be a highly self-absorbed enterprise, its true; its nice when it works out that it doesn't cut into the family life (much).
As for the run today: This morning I broke out my Merrell Trail Gloves. If you are not familiar with this shoe, its a fantastic minimalist shoe, zero-drop, with a thin vibram sole and a wide toe box; basically a highly breathable moccasin with about 4mm of rubber between your foot and the trail. Lately I have been doing my long runs in more heavily armored shoes with 3-to-6 mm heel-to-toe drop (like the Skechers GoBionic Trail, the Inov-8 TrailRoc 255, and the Merrell Ascend Glove with an extra heel pad); all to take the stress off my achilles on the uphills. Et viola, my knees have been a bit sore...not bad, but unwelcome. Today, wearing the Trail Gloves, zero knee pain. The lack of armor on the Trail Glove forces care and attention to foot placement and good form. It was a fabulous run and reminded me how much I love the Merrell Barefoot line. I credit these shoes (and the improvement in running form they facilitate) for saving my knees. Good thing: I have a stash of 3 pairs of Trail Gloves "in service", plus 3 pairs more in reserve in my closet. The darned things just don't wear out. While my first pair of Trail Gloves wore out within 500 miles, since then, as my form has improved, it seems that the Trail Gloves last forever. One pair I still run in has been my mainstay for in-week short-run mileage since the 2013 Leona Divide race -- I probably have about 1000 miles on that pair. I have 2 pairs of Ascend Gloves "in service" (both were my high-mileage mainstays during the 2013 AC100 training and race) with 2 more pairs in the closet reserved for the race in August.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Mt. Wilson Loop, 28 miles
This morning I awoke at 5am to tackle the Mt. Wilson Loop, 28 mile version, as the start of the next high mileage training cycle of my 2014 AC100 training season. The plan for this week and the next two weeks is to run 75 miles, then 80-85 next week, and then take a step back to 70-ish, before starting the next (June) cycle.
Last week I was battling some kind of cold or flu bug and felt pretty run down. Even small runs were leaving me sore and I felt pretty wiped out though to mid week. So today the plan was to get up early, take it easy and run conservatively to bag the miles and not hurt myself in the process.
I started the run pre-dawn, power walking up the Sam Merrill trail through a marine layer to Echo Mountain (2.5 miles) as a warm-up. Starting to run as I transited from Echo Mountain to the Mt Lowe railway, I broke through the marine layer. By this time the sun was up; it was a spectacular view west to Mt Lukens: I am so happy to be able to call this my back yard!
I made good time up to the Mueller tunnel and on up to Mt Wilson summit. There I took little water as it was quite chilly, and since I had brought my water filter and planned to pump water at the stream at Idlehour. I was right on pace as I reached Idlehour and started pumping water. As always, I put a drop of blue food coloring at the pump inlet to check the filter integrity: Surprise, the filtered water came out slightly blue, the filter cartridge was broken! Just last week I had met another ultrarunner on my Wilson walk up/run down workout, and he had relayed how a couple years ago he'd picked up giardia from drinking untreated water at Idlehour. So I tossed the water and started the climb out of Idlehour canyon to complete the remaining 10 miles without having picked up any additional water.
In the next 3 miles I lost about 20-30 minutes off pace as I was running dry and climbing now in direct sun. I'd eaten a Cliff bar and a Gu prior to pumping thinking I'd wash these down with new water- no joy. So this sweet mess went pretty well un-absorbed in my system. I finished the run in 5:53, a good 20 minutes off pace.
Next time I will remember to check the water filter BEFORE starting a committing run that depends on stream water.
Here is a GPS track for the run:
GPS tracks for May 10, 2014 Mt Wilson Loop run
Last week I was battling some kind of cold or flu bug and felt pretty run down. Even small runs were leaving me sore and I felt pretty wiped out though to mid week. So today the plan was to get up early, take it easy and run conservatively to bag the miles and not hurt myself in the process.
I started the run pre-dawn, power walking up the Sam Merrill trail through a marine layer to Echo Mountain (2.5 miles) as a warm-up. Starting to run as I transited from Echo Mountain to the Mt Lowe railway, I broke through the marine layer. By this time the sun was up; it was a spectacular view west to Mt Lukens: I am so happy to be able to call this my back yard!
In the next 3 miles I lost about 20-30 minutes off pace as I was running dry and climbing now in direct sun. I'd eaten a Cliff bar and a Gu prior to pumping thinking I'd wash these down with new water- no joy. So this sweet mess went pretty well un-absorbed in my system. I finished the run in 5:53, a good 20 minutes off pace.
Next time I will remember to check the water filter BEFORE starting a committing run that depends on stream water.
Here is a GPS track for the run:
GPS tracks for May 10, 2014 Mt Wilson Loop run
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Leona Divide 50 Miles
Last Saturday April 27th I ran the Leona Divide 50 mile race as my qualifier for the upcoming 2014 Angeles Crest 100. The race went well, with a 9:01 finish. I was delighted that I went negative in the second half by 3 minutes- a nice even, controlled pace though the run. All systems feel good since the race and my achilles feel better than they have in months.
The race was run on a new course due to fire damage on the route we ran in 2013.
Keira Henninger pulled it all together despite the adversity of a mandated course change, and put together a beautiful course with her usual excellent organization and friendly, helpful aid station volunteers (thank you guys!). A bit more climb and descent, and steeper grades than last year, much more single track (with about 45 miles on the PCT) and the weather couldn't have been more different: While last year's race saw a high temperature of 92F, this year we started the race with light snow flurries that persisted for the first 10 miles or so. The day emerged as blustery and cold starting out threatening rain and by the end, sun-soaked with azure blue skies.
I'd driven up by myself for the Friday bib pickup and stayed in Palmdale while my family stayed in Pasadena, planning to drive up Saturday to crew and see the finish. At the pickup it was positively freezing. Friday night there was a rain storm; hitching a ride in the next morning I got to the start around 5:30 and stayed bundled up and huddled with the other runners (like that scene in Happy Feet) until the 6am start.
I wore my Columbia zip pants long, and a Columbia wicking long sleeve shirt; on this day because of the cold and threat of rain I avoided cotton. I wore a pair of Merrell Ascend Gloves, my favorite trail model, broken in last year while training for AC100. I love these shoes, they fit like they were custom made for me. One twist though, probably anathema to some minimalist purists out there, was that I wore a pair of cheap gel heel inserts to add about 3-4mm of heel lift. My achilles had not been 100% since coming off of the tendonitis I picked up in my 2013 AC100 race and my thinking was that these lifts would take a bit of the stress off the achilles. This was something that worked for me ten years ago when I faced a similar (more serious) achilles issue. It worked out just fine in the race.
We started off in the pre-dawn dark and ran about a mile East up Spunky Canyon Road, turning north onto a fire road for a 2-1/2 mile gentle climb to the first checkpoint, which I and most others blew past. From there we turned East onto the PCT and began ascending the ridge separating Green Valley from Bouquet Canyon. The trail was fabulous and as the sun rose I saw there were pockets of snow or sleet on the ground from the storm the night before. I settled into an easy pace and ran for a bit with Jack Cheng, trading AC100 stories; Jack took off soon blazing the downhill. Soon I was running with Joe Seeley -- a fellow devotee of minimalist footwear, we traded experiences and had a great time talking. Cresting the ridge we blew down to the Bouquet Canyon checkpoint (mile 8), bottoming out, and then started up again to ascend the ridge separating Bouquet from Agua Dulce. The trails were occasionally steep enough to shift down to power hiking but mostly runnable. Patches of tall grass and poison oak weren't a problem with the long pants and I was running comfortably, on pace for a 9 hour finish. Finally, the crest, and then a long descent into Aqua Dulce. Soon the leaders were cruising past in the opposite direction and it was great to see Ruperto Romero cranking on the uphill in contention; this guy is a hero, but at age 50 he is an inspiration. Refueling at Aqua Dulce aid station (Mile 17) and shaking some grit out of my shoe I headed back up and spent a few miles chatting with new friends and then broke off to tackle the climb up the ridge, the longest of the course.
Cresting out there was a strong headwind and I was glad of the choice of the wicking shirt as it did a good job of blocking the wind and keeping me warm. Over the ridge and I dropped down the single track and soon realized I had been overtaken by a strong runner who was matching my pace down the twisty steep single track. "Pass when you're ready" I called out but the runner called back she was cool where she was. We got to talking in between steeper pitches; hit the Buquet Canyon checkpoint (mile 27) where I lost her as she went for a drop bag, but soon after I'd left the checkpoint, the runner, Laura Lingeman, had caught me again. We worked together up the ridge to Spunky Edison (mile 33) and then pushed each other, trading off point position and cranking the rolling downhill into San Francisquito aid station (mile 40) passing a few more runners along the way. I was delighted to meet my family at the aid station.
After family hugs and refueling, Laura and I joined back up and headed back out to tackle the 5 mile climb back to the ridge separating San Francisquito from Spunky Edison. Still picking up a few runners, we moved steadily up and Laura took the lead. Laura was picking up strength and slowly pulling away from me. I was beginning to feel a bit short winded and just couldn't keep up with her powerful surge. Seeing her on a hairpin bend I waived encouragement and she moved smoothly up and out of sight!
Finally I reached the descent and came to Spunky Edison to refill on some electroluminescent pink stuff (brrr!) and hit the last 2.5 mile descent on the fire road. I cruised in, hit the blacktop and finally saw the turn to the finish area just ahead. I was ready to be done running. Just as I was reaching the turn, Jason Emberger and Vincent Juarez came out of nowhere and blew past me at a full sprint; I accelerated to respond but it was too late and I was too done:
It was great to hit the finish and meet hugs with my family and see Laura. Laura had dropped me by 7 minutes in the last 5 miles, a powerful finish that earned her 2nd place among the ladies. I was delighted to introduce my daughter to this amazing young woman:
I am happy with the run as I ran a very even pace, with a time of 4h32m for the first half and 4h29m for the second half. I felt comfortable the whole way though.
Here is a link to my GPS track for the race:
Leona Divide 50 miles, 2014 GPS track
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but this 50 mile trail run did seem to burn in my achilles pretty well; as I wrote above, they haven't felt this good since AC100.
It was truly a fabulous, fun day. I am grateful to my wife Steph and kids who came out to cheer me on and crew; grateful to have made new friends at the race and grateful to the organizers and volunteers --Thank you all!
The race was run on a new course due to fire damage on the route we ran in 2013.
 |
| GPS track of the 2014 Leona Divide 50 mile race course |
I'd driven up by myself for the Friday bib pickup and stayed in Palmdale while my family stayed in Pasadena, planning to drive up Saturday to crew and see the finish. At the pickup it was positively freezing. Friday night there was a rain storm; hitching a ride in the next morning I got to the start around 5:30 and stayed bundled up and huddled with the other runners (like that scene in Happy Feet) until the 6am start.
I wore my Columbia zip pants long, and a Columbia wicking long sleeve shirt; on this day because of the cold and threat of rain I avoided cotton. I wore a pair of Merrell Ascend Gloves, my favorite trail model, broken in last year while training for AC100. I love these shoes, they fit like they were custom made for me. One twist though, probably anathema to some minimalist purists out there, was that I wore a pair of cheap gel heel inserts to add about 3-4mm of heel lift. My achilles had not been 100% since coming off of the tendonitis I picked up in my 2013 AC100 race and my thinking was that these lifts would take a bit of the stress off the achilles. This was something that worked for me ten years ago when I faced a similar (more serious) achilles issue. It worked out just fine in the race.We started off in the pre-dawn dark and ran about a mile East up Spunky Canyon Road, turning north onto a fire road for a 2-1/2 mile gentle climb to the first checkpoint, which I and most others blew past. From there we turned East onto the PCT and began ascending the ridge separating Green Valley from Bouquet Canyon. The trail was fabulous and as the sun rose I saw there were pockets of snow or sleet on the ground from the storm the night before. I settled into an easy pace and ran for a bit with Jack Cheng, trading AC100 stories; Jack took off soon blazing the downhill. Soon I was running with Joe Seeley -- a fellow devotee of minimalist footwear, we traded experiences and had a great time talking. Cresting the ridge we blew down to the Bouquet Canyon checkpoint (mile 8), bottoming out, and then started up again to ascend the ridge separating Bouquet from Agua Dulce. The trails were occasionally steep enough to shift down to power hiking but mostly runnable. Patches of tall grass and poison oak weren't a problem with the long pants and I was running comfortably, on pace for a 9 hour finish. Finally, the crest, and then a long descent into Aqua Dulce. Soon the leaders were cruising past in the opposite direction and it was great to see Ruperto Romero cranking on the uphill in contention; this guy is a hero, but at age 50 he is an inspiration. Refueling at Aqua Dulce aid station (Mile 17) and shaking some grit out of my shoe I headed back up and spent a few miles chatting with new friends and then broke off to tackle the climb up the ridge, the longest of the course.
Cresting out there was a strong headwind and I was glad of the choice of the wicking shirt as it did a good job of blocking the wind and keeping me warm. Over the ridge and I dropped down the single track and soon realized I had been overtaken by a strong runner who was matching my pace down the twisty steep single track. "Pass when you're ready" I called out but the runner called back she was cool where she was. We got to talking in between steeper pitches; hit the Buquet Canyon checkpoint (mile 27) where I lost her as she went for a drop bag, but soon after I'd left the checkpoint, the runner, Laura Lingeman, had caught me again. We worked together up the ridge to Spunky Edison (mile 33) and then pushed each other, trading off point position and cranking the rolling downhill into San Francisquito aid station (mile 40) passing a few more runners along the way. I was delighted to meet my family at the aid station.
 |
| At San Francisquito aid station, the best crew ever... |
 |
| ....what a beautiful day |
After family hugs and refueling, Laura and I joined back up and headed back out to tackle the 5 mile climb back to the ridge separating San Francisquito from Spunky Edison. Still picking up a few runners, we moved steadily up and Laura took the lead. Laura was picking up strength and slowly pulling away from me. I was beginning to feel a bit short winded and just couldn't keep up with her powerful surge. Seeing her on a hairpin bend I waived encouragement and she moved smoothly up and out of sight!
Finally I reached the descent and came to Spunky Edison to refill on some electroluminescent pink stuff (brrr!) and hit the last 2.5 mile descent on the fire road. I cruised in, hit the blacktop and finally saw the turn to the finish area just ahead. I was ready to be done running. Just as I was reaching the turn, Jason Emberger and Vincent Juarez came out of nowhere and blew past me at a full sprint; I accelerated to respond but it was too late and I was too done:
 |
| Rounding the former into the finish.. |
 |
| Jason and Vincent kicking in past me...great finish fellas! |
It was great to hit the finish and meet hugs with my family and see Laura. Laura had dropped me by 7 minutes in the last 5 miles, a powerful finish that earned her 2nd place among the ladies. I was delighted to introduce my daughter to this amazing young woman:
 |
| My wife Steph with my daughter in pink (hiding from the camera) meeting Laura |
 |
| At the finish with Laura Lingeman, 2nd place woman |
I am happy with the run as I ran a very even pace, with a time of 4h32m for the first half and 4h29m for the second half. I felt comfortable the whole way though.
Leona Divide 50 miles, 2014 GPS track
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but this 50 mile trail run did seem to burn in my achilles pretty well; as I wrote above, they haven't felt this good since AC100.
It was truly a fabulous, fun day. I am grateful to my wife Steph and kids who came out to cheer me on and crew; grateful to have made new friends at the race and grateful to the organizers and volunteers --Thank you all!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Millard to Mt Wilson, 24
Today I started my run late in order to enjoy the morning fun with the kids and their Easter baskets. I started out from Millard at 9:30 and ran up the Sunset Trail, then took the Mt Lowe railway through to the Mueller Tunnel, and the Mt Wilson Road up to the summit of Wilson (11.9 miles, 2:32); returning in a total time of 4:22 for 23.9 miles.
I felt OK although the air quality was not so good. Toda's run was 15 minutes faster than I ran on the same course 4 weeks ago. Achilles were OK. The pattern that's developed: Right achilles is a bit tender going up; left achilles is a bit tender going down.
Today I ran in a new-ish pair of Inov-8 Trailroc 255 trail shoes. These I picked up on-line as a clearance item; they have 6mm drop heel-to-toe and my thinking was that this larger drop might mitigate achilles stress. They are good shoes, a bit heavier and taller than I am used to; the 6mm drop posed no problems and I am considering running in these at Leona Divide next week. They are not as comfortable on my feet as Merrell Ascend Gloves and the Skecher GoBionic Trails and I wound up with a blister (rare for me); the stack height is a bit more than I am used to and I did turn an ankle today with no damage sustained.
Last week I found myself speeding up in my short workouts, which felt good, although speed is not a great idea with marginal achilles. Indeed the achilles were a bit sore by the end of the week although I had begun the week pretty much pain-free after the 28 miler I did last Sunday. I chalk that up to some ill-advised 7 minute miles run at lunchtime on the Sawcut Wash Trail.
I felt OK although the air quality was not so good. Toda's run was 15 minutes faster than I ran on the same course 4 weeks ago. Achilles were OK. The pattern that's developed: Right achilles is a bit tender going up; left achilles is a bit tender going down.
Today I ran in a new-ish pair of Inov-8 Trailroc 255 trail shoes. These I picked up on-line as a clearance item; they have 6mm drop heel-to-toe and my thinking was that this larger drop might mitigate achilles stress. They are good shoes, a bit heavier and taller than I am used to; the 6mm drop posed no problems and I am considering running in these at Leona Divide next week. They are not as comfortable on my feet as Merrell Ascend Gloves and the Skecher GoBionic Trails and I wound up with a blister (rare for me); the stack height is a bit more than I am used to and I did turn an ankle today with no damage sustained.
Last week I found myself speeding up in my short workouts, which felt good, although speed is not a great idea with marginal achilles. Indeed the achilles were a bit sore by the end of the week although I had begun the week pretty much pain-free after the 28 miler I did last Sunday. I chalk that up to some ill-advised 7 minute miles run at lunchtime on the Sawcut Wash Trail.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Mt Wilson loop, 28 miles, beautiful morning!
This morning I got up early, and after 3 double espressos to provide fortification, got out and hit the Sam Merrill Trail at 6am to do my benchmark Mt Wilson loop run: Sam Merrill to Echo Mountain (2.6 miles walk as a warm up); then run to the Mt Lowe railway and on up through the Mueller tunnel to the Mt Wilson Road and on to the summit (12miles); run down the Toll Road to the Idlehour trail (16.5miles), drop into Idlehour, and run/walk back up to the AC 100 Sam Merrill checkpoint (22 miles), run down the railway , traverse to Echo Mountain and take the lower Sam Merrill trail back to Cobb Estate (27.9 miles). The total time this morning was 5:31--the achilles behaved and the time is better than what I doing a year ago on this course.
It was cool with a marine layer blanketing the valleys, sunshine above 4500 ft:
The views this morning were spectacular:
Note Added May 5'14:
If you are interested in viewing a track of this course see the track I posted at the Garmin Connect site:
Mt Wilson Loop, 30 mile version
Note that the track linked contains a dog-leg that heads east from Inspiration Point, a work out I did on July 21, 2013 in preparation for the 2013 AC100. My track for the workout above (April13 '14) seems to be corrupted. Enjoy!
It was cool with a marine layer blanketing the valleys, sunshine above 4500 ft:
 |
| On the Mt Lowe Railway heading up towards the old Alpine Lodge |
 |
| View west towards Mt Luekens from the north side of Mt Lowe |
Note Added May 5'14:
If you are interested in viewing a track of this course see the track I posted at the Garmin Connect site:
Mt Wilson Loop, 30 mile version
Note that the track linked contains a dog-leg that heads east from Inspiration Point, a work out I did on July 21, 2013 in preparation for the 2013 AC100. My track for the workout above (April13 '14) seems to be corrupted. Enjoy!
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