M'kay

Grey Rock 50K

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Location:

Eatonville,WA,USA

Member Since:

Nov 01, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

Short-Term Running Goals:

Regain consistency.

Build up slowly and come out strong.

Regain "speed" (relative)

Finish WR50 again.

Improve at Cascade Crest. 

2013 Races:

  • Capital Peak Mega Fat Ass 17M (1/19) - 2:48:48
  • Yakima Skyline Rim 50K (4/21) - 7:16:20
  • Grey Rock 50K (5/13)
  • White River 50M (7/27)
  • Cascade Crest 100M (8/24-25)

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Find my true running potential, then exceed it.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Hoka Stinson B Lifetime Miles: 982.34
Hoka Stinson Evo Lifetime Miles: 452.95
Altra Provision Lifetime Miles: 139.73
Altra Torin Lifetime Miles: 380.08
Hoka Bondi 2 Lifetime Miles: 706.15
Hoka Mafate 3 Lifetime Miles: 81.12
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
199.0044.870.004.83248.70
NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 76.26NB 905 #2 Miles: 16.53NB 860 - Black Miles: 58.61NB 915 Miles: 84.74NB 860 - Blue Miles: 12.06
Night Sleep Time: 184.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 185.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.340.000.000.008.34

LM warmup, 8.34 miles in 1:08:37, 8:14/mi, HR 151 & stretching.

Waited too long to record this run so I've forgotten most of the details, but the early paces indicate that I'm still having issues with my left hip.  If I recall correctly, I ran for about 2.25 miles and nearly quit, stopped for a potty break, then resumed the rest of the run.

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.34
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.400.000.001.508.90

LM warmup, 8.4 miles in 1:12:51, 8:40/mi, HR 148, w/ 3 x 1/4 mile Hill Repeats & Fartleks throughout the run.  Stretching and core work.

Sunny and hot (78F).  Left hip/leg still tight and weak.  Combined with a 3 day no-running break and the sun, today was a run-walk day. Ran a few shorter fartleks during the warmup to try to get the hip loosened up, which worked a tiny bit.  Punted after 3 hill repeats when the left hip really started getting tired and my left hammy started whining.  Threw in a few more 1-1.5 min fartleks on the cooldown headed home just to compensate for the walking/stretching periods and to get it over with faster.

The 3 day break was a check to make sure I wasn't overtraining, causing the hip issues.  Nope.  Actually, not much actual rest, as we spent the 3 day holiday weekend working out butts off spreading about 35 tons of gravel, stretching no-climb wire for fencing, excavating some areas, and all kinds of other work around the house.  Exhausting. 

NB 905 #2 Miles: 8.40
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.1314.13

LM warmup, 14.13 miles in 1:57:15, 8:18/mi, HR 163 & stretching.

Sunny and hot (78F).  Felt much warmer than 78.  Did some extra hip strengthening and stretching this morning, then took some extra time to do a longer warmup with some more hip work before the run.  Marginally better, meaning still tight but mostly just weak, so I spent the early miles concentrating on running relaxed and steadily without stopping to walk/stretch as I've been doing lately.  By the 3.5 mile mark, the legs started gradually loosening up, and while the speed didn't increase much, I did manage the entire 7 mile climb and return without a walk break (aside from a quick 2-step to down some water without choking).  Legs eventually got tired all around and the body followed (especially the shoulders).  Tried to speed up to something resembling a sprint for the final .13.  More stretching and strengthening afterwards. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 14.13
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.080.000.000.008.08

LM warmup, 8.08 miles in 1:04:06, 7:56/mi, HR 153, 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

Mostly cloudy (62F).  Substantial improvement over yesterday.  The left hip tightness was significantly reduced, as was the muscular fatigue and improper muscular contractions.  By about 3 miles, the residual was nearly gone completely.  Even managed to keep the pace under 9 minute miles.  My turnover is still high (188 steps/min) so I focused on reducing that a tad and taking longer strides.  I even managed to get back to a semi-normal pace on the return and snuck below an 8 min/mi average.

Gotta give DLTheo a shout out.  Dunno if it was his suggestion of incorporating the Myrtl routine, or the addition of Hill Sprints, or the increased stretching, or the hip exercises with weights I've added, but whatever it is seems to have me on the path to recovery.  Finally. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.08
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.210.000.000.006.21

Myrtl/LM warmup, 6.21 miles in 52:39, 8:29/mi, HR 148 & stretching.

Sunny and warm (64F).  Well, 64 felt warm in the sun.  

Two steps forward, one step back.  Left hip was tight again and the gluteus medius muscle was almost immediately fatigued.  Not too worried.....instead of doing the Myrtl routine earlier in the day, I did it right before running and may have over-worked that muscle.  Or perhaps it was moving more gravel early this morning to get the barn stall leveled.  Whatever the case, not too worried about one day.  I did look back through my logs and found references to this tightness as far back as May, and recall my heels knocking the back of the opposite leg as far back as March, so this has obviously been going on for a while and won't get fixed overnight.  

Call me crazy, but I'm going to get up at ~ 2am tomorrow and drive 4 hours to go run a 50K, billed as the toughest in WA state.  At worse, it'll be a good, supported training run on nice single-track with plenty of climbing and descending.  At best, I'll have a good race and it'll jump my fitness up a notch or two.  We shall see....

NB 860 - Black Miles: 6.21
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Race: Grey Rock 50K (31 Miles) 05:42:09, Place overall: 4, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0030.830.000.0030.83

Decided a couple of days ago to run this race as prep for White River 50 and Cascade Crest 100, since it has a ton of climbing and descending (6800'), is mostly technical single track, and my legs needed to get beat up a bit.  It definitely lived up to its billing as the toughest 50K in the state.

Up at 2am, out the door by 2:30 to drive across the mountains to the Ahtanum State Forest near Tampico, WA.  Made good time (very little traffic, imagine that).  A bit tired since I didn't really taper much, wound up moving gravel yesterday, and only got about 4.5 hours of sleep.  Oh well.

The course follows the Grey Rock trail up and over 2 ridges.  It starts off at about 4600', climbs to 6200' then descends down to 4200' to hit the first aid station at mile 8.  Then it climbs to about 6400', rolls up and down for a bit to the turnaround aid station, then the climbs/descends occur in reverse as we retrace our steps. 

Race started a few minutes late as the briefing ran a tad over and some people showed up late.  New race director this year and evidently one call he made was to move the start line a few hundred meters from the trailhead to give the pack a chance to thin a bit.  He also split the 50K, 25K, and 12K starts.  I whole-heartedly applaud both moves as it made the start fairly reasonable.

First climb was pretty brutal.  Calves were screaming pretty quickly and I don't think my heels touched the ground much.   I was pushing a bit early, pretty much like everyone else, but I actually had a purpose.  My time in this race wasn't so important, but I wanted to push things early a bit to get the legs beat up a bit and to suffer.  I know, sounds crazy, but with a difficult 50 miler and then a still unfathomable difficult 100 milers on the schedule, I really need to get used to suffering.  And if my legs bounce back stronger, it'll all be worth it.  After cresting the first ridge, I let loose a bit on the descent and managed to pass some folks and was doing well until the GI issues hit and I had to make a pit stop.  Discovered later I lost about 4 places there.  Hit aid station #1 at the bottom of the next valley over in 1:22.

The second climb was seriously brutal.  First, it was longer, since the initial descent was longer than the climb.  Second, the rocks were everywhere.  They really should've named this grey rocks 50k because rocks were everywhere.  At times, it was difficult if not impossible to run.  My legs were already feeling pretty beat-up and I was tiring quickly.  I wasn't thinking this at the time, but really, that's what I was aiming for.  Dropped into the run all flats and downhills and reasonable uphills and power-hike the rest mode pretty quickly.  Hit some mud and then snow towards the top, but got rewarded with some nice views.  Finally broke out and hit the short dirt-road section out-and-back to the aid station and here's where I got a chance to size up the competition.  I was 7th when I hit the aid station and 6th when I left at 2:54.

The descent was definitely easier than the climb but the rocks really made things treacherous.  Took a couple of stumbles which made me really cautious since I didn't want to get seriously hurt.  Unfortunately, I had #7 & 8 hot on my heels and I really didn't want to give up a placing, so I pushed pretty hard.  It was warming up and I was putting away the water, but the stinger gels were starting to give me a nauseous feeling.  The boiled potatoes at aid #2 helped, but the feeling really returned on this stretch.  Very glad to hit aid 1/3 again so I could tackle the last climb and descent, but I was surprised (and skeptical) to hear that I was in 5th.  4:06.

As I left aid 1/3, #7 (now #6) came in so I knew lollygagging wasn't an option, but my climbing gear was shot.  I was basically running the rare flats and then running short stretches...a dozen paces here, 1/10th mile there, any time my HR dropped to about 145, even though I was really sucking down the O2.  This climb really hurt, but at least the really bad rocks were gone.  I caught and passed another runner and moved into 4th towards the top, then spotted and nearly caught #3 as we crested the hill.  Unfortunately, he still had a descending gear and mine was slipping badly.  I managed 8 minute miles on the last 2 miles down but I was really risking a wreck as my legs were just shot.  Fortunately, it was enough to hold off the pursuit, so I crossed in 4th place (3rd had me by at least a few minutes....said when he heard me come up from behind at the top of the ridge, he woke up and got busy holding me off, so at least I'm good for something).

So a successful (and pretty painful day).  My feet really got beat up by the rocks, and I was wishing I had a pair of those Hoka One One Bondi B shoes one of the guys was wearing for about 25 miles of the race.  A 10 minute stint in the 40F stream nearby helped, but the 3+ hour drive back home did not.  Time to rest up, heal, and get ready for WR50. 

NB 915 Miles: 30.83
Night Sleep Time: 4.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 4.50
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Recovery day.  Already feeling some pain in the quads and some other leg muscles from yesterday's poundings.  Ran thru the Myrtl routine, which was painful but helpful as it stretched out tight muscles.  Then did yardwork around the house.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.080.000.000.005.08

LM warmup 5.08 miles in 45:55, 9:02/mi, HR 138 & stretching.

Gimped my way through 5 miles with a couple of stretching and walk breaks thrown in.  DOMS in full force today.  The hip tightness was back with a vengeance for today's run, unsurprisingly.

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 5.08
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.110.000.000.008.11

LM warmup, 8.11 miles in 1:04:43, 7:59/mi, & stretching.

Left hip tight, legs uncoordinated again.  Didn't really get better the whole run, but managed to loosen up enough to keep the pace reasonable on the downhill return.  Myrtl routine and leg exercises later in the day. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 8.11
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.130.000.000.008.13

LM warmup, 8.13 miles in 1:10:22, 8:39/mi, HR 140, w/ 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 1 90 sec Hill Repeat & stretching.

Legs uncoordinated again today.  Stopped every mile for the first 3 to stretch.  Stopping allows the legs to recover the "normal" feeling briefly but the uncoordination returns quickly.  Ran strides/drills at the 3 mile mark, which went well.  Jogged another 1/2 mile to begin hill repeats, but the first one was a clear indicator that my legs probably aren't recovered from Saturday's race and the strides took what was available out of them.  Halfway thru repeat 2 I stopped and jogged to get 8 total miles in.  The return miles were slow and sprinkled with walk breaks.  The legs just didn't have it in them...

NB 905 #2 Miles: 8.13
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.300.000.003.208.50

LM warmup.  First run was 3.36 mi, 8:19/mi, HR 146 w/ 6 x 1 min repeats.  Trip to the chiropractor.  2nd run was 5.14 mi, 7:51/mi, HR 159 x/ 12 x 1 min repeats.  Stretching afterwards.

Tightness came on again at about 1/2 mile.  Left leg felt like it had no power, couldn't stride out, body tried pulling to the left.  Tried to do some repeats and they went okay, but form still didn't feel right, and about 1.5 miles in, I decided to hurry back home and see if I couldn't get down to see the chiro.  Short version is that my left hip was rotated forward pretty significantly, so I couldn't really stride correctly, tensing muscles that should've been relaxing, etc, etc.  Back home and attempted to finish the workout.  Much, much better, stride was back, virtually no muscle tension issues, and my left leg had power again.  The left hip felt a bit more tired as the workout progressed, but since I've been suffering with this for a while now, I'd suspect the muscles need time to readjust and strengthen, and another trip or two to the chiro will be needed.  But the good news is that I believe I found the problem and can now fix it.  Thank heavens for chiropractors that know what they're doing! 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.090.000.000.008.09

LM warmup, 8.09 miles in 1:04:27, 7:58/mi, HR 152, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

Humid.  Left hip wasn't quite as good as the post-chiro visit yesterday but still much improved.  Felt like the hip got a bit tight for about a mile or so and the uphill got a bit tougher after the first mile.  Occasionally the adductor would tense at the wrong time in a stride.  All things considered, still much better, but I need to hit the chiro again a couple of times next week to make sure the hip stays in the right place.  The hill sprints weren't too bad and its evident that the last couple of sets that I've got were really impacted by the hip. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.09
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
37.010.000.000.0037.01

37.01 miles in 6:38:12, 10:46/mi, HR 141.

Today's run got away from me a bit.  Was thinking this run would be in the 25-30 mile range.  I decided to run a loop to hit some sections of trail I hadn't before.  The plan was to start with the Anvil connector to Memorial East, Upper Elkspur, Buck's Crossing, Lower Elkspur, Upper Elkspur, Memorial East, Anvil connector and back home.  

Everything went according to plan for the first few hours.  The last section of Upper Elkspur before Buck's Crossing was pretty overgrown, but the section wasn't more than 1.5 miles so not too bad.  The trail crew had been out weed-eating Buck's Crossing recently, so it was nice and wide, although that trail is actually a fairly narrow gully so footing can be tricky.  Passed a couple of horsewomen, exchanged some trail condition info, and jumped onto the Lower Elkspur, headed onto a section I hadn't run before.  Conditions were pretty rough....muddy, some sections overgrown, and not the best trail.  The farther I went, the more conditions deteriorated overall.  Some sections weren't bad, others I couldn't see the trail, and still others took me through 6' seedlings that completely obscured the trail.  Then there was the fun stinging nettles and pricker weeds, so my legs felt like they were getting pretty torn up.  I passed the Diamond Trail intersection, which I had run most of a few weeks back, and was truly in uncharted territory.  The map I had wasn't to scale and I spent the next few hours running on trails that were barely marked and completely overgrown.  I wound up getting lost on a few occasions, came upon unmarked trail intersections, and eventually got to the western trailhead and couldn't find the link between the two Elkspur trails.  It was late and I knew I was going to be back after I'd told my wife, so I jumped onto what I guessed was the 5 road and headed back up the hill.  Something didn't seem right, so I turned around, re-ran some trail only to have it disappear, encountered some closed gates with fresh warnings about spraying some chemical, and had all kinds of other fun before finally committing to the road.  Fortunately, it was the 5 road.  Unfortunately, I was out of water and out of legs, so the remaining 13 miles or so was a real slog.  I eventually found another stream, jumped onto the 6 road, found the Memorial East trail, which was also now terribly overgrown, fought my way back to the Anvil connector, and headed down the hill for home.  Instead of a 5-6pm arrival I got back at 8pm.  My wife was not pleased.  I seriously didn't intend to run this many miles today, so this is definitely the last long run before White River, but the ups and downs of this run was good training for the 100 miler.  I still can't quite figure out how I'm going to survive that since these measley 37 miles kicked my tail.  At least my water purifier seemed to function properly.

NB 915 Miles: 37.01
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.040.000.000.002.04

LM warmup, 2.04 miles in 19:28, 9:34/mi, HR 125.

Even after taking yesterday off, legs were still completely dead.  Gave it the obligatory 2 mile warmup before calling it quits. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 2.04
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.110.000.000.006.11

LM warmup, 6.11 miles in 53:19, 8:43/mi, HR 131 & stretching.

Left leg/hip just as bad as last week before chiro adjustment.  Monday's adjustment doesn't appear to have helped any, or it already reverted.  Took to running short stretches with nice full long strides and slowing to walk when the hamstring and adductor would tighten up, making it impossible to stride correctly.  Did this the entire run.....not fun. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 6.11
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.0010.040.000.0014.04

LM warmup, 14.04 miles in 1:43:08, 7:21/mi , HR 159, w/ last 10 miles Moderate effort (3 uphill, 7 downhill) & stretching.

Today I discovered that when I stand and raise one knee up as high as possible while keeping my body straight, my right knee goes about 3 inches higher than my left.  Makes sense that the range of motion in my left hip isn't anywhere near my right.  So I went to my chiro and demonstrated.  He did some tests and remarked that even though I display fine mobility in both hips, its obvious from my test that something isn't right, so he made some adjustments and got my knees to the same height, told me to go for my run and if it reverted, to come back today.

So the run started out with the same hip tightness problems in the hamstring and adductor, so I wound up stopping to stretch periodically (1/4 mile increments to start, 1 mile increment at the 4 mi mark).  It did feel different, more like it was just muscles contracting when they shouldn't instead of a range of motion issue.  Finally, I did some lateral dynamic hip stretching at mile 4, something in my back went pop, and off I went without any issues for the rest of the run.  From that point on, I pushed the pace.  By the end, I was worn out but happy.  After stretching out, I retested the knee height and the discrepancy is back.  So back to the chiro. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 14.04
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.060.000.000.0012.06

LM warmup, 12.06 miles in 1:34:18, 7:49/mi, HR 147 & stretching.

Left hip tightened up at 3/4 miles and didn't loosen up until about 5 miles in, but the range of motion is still good so now its just getting the muscles trained in the correct joint position, I think.  Opened up the strides and turnover on the steeper portions of the downhill return.   

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 12.06
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.110.000.000.008.11

LM warmup, 8.11 miles in 1:04:34, 7:58/mi, HR 146 & stretching.

Hip tightened after about 3/4 mile at a very easy pace.  Stopped periodically to stretch.  Began some bounding strides which were fine, but as soon as I dropped back down to a normal easy pace, the tightness returned.  Did some strides to try to loosen things up and that made things somewhat better, but it wasn't until mile 6 on the return that the hip really loosened up, and never fully. The trigger point today seemed to be at the top of the hamstring where it attaches to the pelvis.....sciatic nerve territory.  Makes some sense, since it's extra muscle activations I'm dealing with.  Probably doesn't help that I sit for work most of the day.

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.11
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.020.000.000.002.02

LM warmup, 2.02 miles in 17:29, 8:39/mi, HR 132 & stretching.

Hip tightened up quickly today and I was just not feeling like dealing with it.  So I bailed early and spent the time stretching the hip well instead. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 2.02
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

LM warmup, 8 treadmill miles (1% incline) in 1:03:41, 7:58/mi, & stretching.

Late evening run at the hotel after traveling all day.  Hip was really sore initially and tightness hit for first couple of miles.  Probably my attempts at the pigeon pose...yes I'm desperate enough to try yoga.  Even just running on the treadmill seemed harder than it should have, but running outside in the 90F heat at 8pm was not appealing.  Eventually the hip loosened up and I ratcheted up the pace a bit to end things in the 7:20/mi range.   More stretching afterwards.

NB 860 - Black Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 4.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 5.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.004.000.000.008.00

LM warmup, 8 treadmill miles in 1:27:51, 10:59/mi, w/ 2 mile warmup (1% incline), 4 miles hill climber (15% incline) w/ 2 x 0.1 run, 6 x 0.15 run, remainder hiking, & 2 mile cooldown (1% incline), 3150+' ascent equivalent.

To give the hip a different stimulus, cranked the incline today and did some "power hiking" with some brief run intervals.  15% incline kicked my butt.  I think I sweated several gallons and my legs were jello by the time the cooldown arrived.  Good workout. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

LM warmup, 8 treadmill miles in 1:03:05, 7:53/mi, w/ 10 x Strides, Incline 1, & stretching.

Treadmill miles are tough.  By the time the run was over, my shirt was soaked and I was a couple of gallons of sweat low. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

LM warmup, 6 miles in 48:47, 8:08/mi & stretching.

Really disliking the treadmill miles, but running in 95+ weather with a heat index well north of 100 just isn't going to happen. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 6.00
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.010.000.000.006.01

LM warmup, 6.01 miles in 53:15, 8:52/mi, HR 156 & stretching.

Not wanting all my runs to have been treadmill runs leading up to White River, got out in the 90+F heat and high humidity.  More of a run/walk easy run.  Ran until my HR went way high and then walked.  Wound up running in bursts of 1/4 to 1/2 mile, a little more consistently at the end. 

NB 860 - Black Miles: 6.01
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Race: White River 50 (50 Miles) 00:00:00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.900.000.000.0016.90

My very first DNF.  Oh boy.  Despite the travel and sleep deficit, plus the left hip issues lately and feeling crappy at the start, it was really shaping up to be a good race.  Hit the first aid station in 33:32, over a 2 minute improvement from last year, and feeling at least as good.  Unfortunately, about 1/2 mile out of that aid station, I rolled my left ankle pretty severely.  Of course, I didn't quit there.  Oh no, I proceeded to shake it off and ran another 5 or 6 miles at a good clip on a stretch where there's quite a bit of climbing (2900' total) and was keeping a pretty good pace.  Unfortunately, on cresting the climbs, the flats made my ankle pain spike from not great to bad and short decents were even worse.  Backing off the pace didn't help much and before too long I knew I was DNF'ing at Ranger Creek.  Unfortunately, that was 2 more miles, which were slow.  I finished that section in 1:39 versus 1:31 from last year, but that was with a couple of miles of run/walk, so I was definitely on a good pace before the drop.

At Ranger Creek, the only options were to hike back the way I'd come (7.8 miles) or hike down another trail hit later in the race (5.1 miles).  I took option 2 and made my way down the mountain one painful step at a time.  Uli Steidl passed me about a mile from the road, 26 miles into his race.  

Medics put some ice on it until it started turning an ugly red, at which point they said go to the ER.  I did, and some Xray's later, diagnosed as a bad sprain.  Which probably nukes my plans to run Cascade Crest 100 in 4 weeks.  Yeah, a pretty crappy day. 

NB 915 Miles: 16.90
Night Sleep Time: 5.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.50
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
199.0044.870.004.83248.70
NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 76.26NB 905 #2 Miles: 16.53NB 860 - Black Miles: 58.61NB 915 Miles: 84.74NB 860 - Blue Miles: 12.06
Night Sleep Time: 184.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 185.50
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