Sunday, March 22, 2015

Mt. Wilson 28 miles

I ran up Mt Wilson via Echo Mountain and the Mt Lowe railway this morning and tacked on  a few extra miles by heading down the toll road from the top, until the GPS read 14 miles, and then backtracked up to the summit spigot for water and on down.  This is my "safe route":   Pending getting a satellite pager, I am staying away from remote single track such as Idlehour, where I fractured my leg last year.  If anything were to happen in a place like Idlehour...well, I hit the jackpot last May with a fall and fracture alone with no cell phone reception and it was a long and rather memorable hike out.

It was an awesome run today.  28 miles, 6071 ft of climb, total run time 4:48.  Amazingly this is a good 30+ minutes faster than any of my 28 mile workouts over the last three years.  I chalk this up to core strength training-  an unanticipated benefit of the fracture rehabilitation.

I ran in my new Merrell Trail Glove 3s this morning and they were sooooo comfy.

Here is the GPC track:

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/726673728

The run started at dawn in a marine layer but by Echo Mountain, 2.6 miles in, I had broken through the clouds:
The views were stunning heading up the Mt. Lowe railway:

On the way back, around 22 miles into the run, a bit south of the trailhead that drops off the railway bed towards Tom Sloan Saddle, the marine layer had expanded..
View to the west towards Mt Lukens




View towards Inspiration Point


Cruising past the Idlehour trail junction I soon dropped into mist for the last few mies down into Altadena.  Just beautiful.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Mt. Wilson 20 to top out a rest week

I hit the trail at 6:30am this morning for a power walk up Mt. Wilson/ run down, total time 4:06 for 19.5 miles to cap off a 55 mile week of relative rest.

I've been overdue for a power walk workout having focussed on moderate grade uphill running for the last three weeks, culminating in a fast-ish 26 miler in 4:28 last Sunday in the Verdugos.  That workout left me tight and sore, particularly  in the calves, for 2-3 days. My left calf in particular was a bit twitchy and I recognized from years past that it was time to slow down, use the foam roller and get the calf muscles sorted out.  By the end of the week the calves were feeling OK after a lot of foam rolling and deep tissue massage (self-administered) and a 10 mile uphill power walk was indicated to complete the muscle maintenance.

I started the run this morning under the  colorful bands of the dawn sky -- beautiful --  oddly enough the sky reminded me of images of Jupiter.  It was a humid, buggy walk up from Eaton Canyon Nature Center to the summit, which I completed in 2:47, a bit slow as I haven't done one of these power walks in a few weeks.   The run down was fast and everything felt solid, completing the round trip in 4:06.  

All told, 26 miles of the 55 miles total this week were walking.  It was a  needed rest to focus on muscle health.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Verdugos, 26 miles

The run plan today entailed 26 miles to round out a 60 mile week; and specifically, to  push on the uphills and see how fast I could run a 26 mile course on rolling hills.   I love running in the Verdugos because  the uphills are spread throughout any long run; unlike big runs in the front range of the San Gabriels, where the uphill is generally paid upfront with the back end of the run largely downhill, running the ridge line of the Verdugos gives a taste of extended climbs at relatively high mileage when I am feeling tired.  Great fitness training --plus the views are spectacular.

We lost an hour this morning with daylight savings, so I split the difference between physiological time and clock time, waking at 6am and getting out to the La Tuna Canyon trailhead for a predawn 7am start.  The run comprises a 3.3 mile climb to the ridge line, where I cache water; followed by a 6.2 mile largely downhill run to the west to a trailhead in Burbank; turnaround and run back uphill to the water cache; then run  largely downhill 3.5 miles to the west, turnaround and return to cache, finishing out with 3.3 miles down back to the trailhead:



I got my money's worth.  I held the same pace as on  last week's run up Mt. Wilson, completing the 26 mile course, with 5500 feet of climb,  in 4:28, much faster than comparable runs in the Verdugos last year;  but I certainly found my limits today.  I had to walk a fair bit of the last climb and felt vaguely nauseous for the final 10 miles.   My calves were sore from 7 min miles on the long downhill and by the end I was hurting.  It was warm and when I got home my weight was 150lbs;   I'd lost about 5 pounds despite having consumed about 8 pounds of fluid in the course of the run.  I think the  Spring Ultra Medical Team training I attended yesterday, which included a fascinating lecture on over hydration and its dangers,  was running in my mind!

I consumed no calories other than what is in Gu Fizz tabs during this run yet never felt hungry, so my metabolic efficiency is coming along well.

Here is are the pace and elevation charts for the run:

The GPS track and data are posted here:

Verdugos 26 mile course Mar 8, 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Mt. Wilson via Echo Mountain, Mt Lowe Railway, 23.5 miles

The weather here in Pasadena has reverted back to winter this weekend, with a good rain Friday night and again last night.  It was predicted to rain this morning with the snow-line dropping to 3500 ft. So this morning I got up  early, packed a day pack with extra clothes, donned my Goretex-lined Merrell Ascend Gloves, and headed to the Lake Avenue trailhead of the Sam Merrill Trail to Echo Mountain for a 6:30am start, intending to run to Wilson summit for a 24 miler and enjoy the snow:

                               

It was a beautiful morning!  Clear and cold, but no rain, just magnificent cloud walls over Los Angeles and the back range.  I fast hiked to Echo Mountain (2.7miles) and started running there on the traverse trail over to the Mt. Lowe railway.  I ran comfortably up to Markham saddle and took this photo looking east towards Mt Wilson and the Mt Baldy high country:



On through the Mueller tunnel and hit the Mt Wilson Road for the 2 mile run up to Wilson summit (11.75 miles, 2:25).   I was mindful of my footing as there were patches of ice on the road and it was COLD.   I picked up water at the faucet north of the summit snack bar and ran the return trip down after donning a windbreaker as my fingers had gone numb.

It was a fast run down and I felt solid the whole way;  total time was 4:06 despite the 4800 ft of climb and having walked the first 2.7 miles.   Wonderful morning!  Hip felt good as did the achilles; it felt to good to run reasonably fast.


https://connect.garmin.com/activity/709109236