On The Loose: May 26th to June 1st

Monday, 5/26--Sentinel/South Sentinel up and downs

7,082', 3:21

Some light rain and cloudy skies made this a pleasant run, and the legs were able to do okay. I'm not too concerned about having a slower pace, so long as I continue to feel good. Once I start my taper for Old Gabe I'm pretty sure I'd be able to cover this same kind of terrain I covered today in half an hour less.

Tuesday, 5/27

Morning--Up and downs on Pengelly/North Pengelly

4,107', 1:57

I was out the door by 7:15, and enjoyed running in the shade of South Sentinel for most of the run. I tried popping out at the Evans St. trail head, but couldn't find it, so I had a bit of wandering.

Evening--Sentinel x 2 plus a bit more

3,943', 1:42

Right after class I hit up some repeats on the hill. For the last bit, I ran down the steep section (left of the "M" switchbacks) for the first time--it's got a few short techy sections that are kind of fun, and it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

Wednesday, 5/28--South Sentinel, North Pengelly, Sentinel

4,131', 1:58

Another early morning (7-9 AM) outing on steep ground. The clouds formed a thick blanket just a few hundred feet above the summits. This was a really great morning, and my first day under two hours total in a while. It's needed.

Thursday, 5/29--Up Pengelly, Down Sentinel and back

4,173', 1:56

A beautiful morning with perfect running weather (cloudy, low 50s), and the legs felt a little energy coming back. It must just be that two hour cutoff--anything below two hours allows me to keep recovering. I keep running into Vo and Jenn all the time on my runs, so often that it's kind of becoming ridiculous. It seems like Vo is going to be well set for the Bighorn 50 in a few weeks.

Friday, 5/30--Sentinel and South Sentinel Repeats

7,146', 3:26

This was a hot one. It was in the mid-70s for the whole run (from 5 to past 8), and I came back kind of dehydrated, even with the 20 oz. of fluid I brought along. This week I've had very little free time that's gone to anything besides running. But I'm a few days ahead on homework, and still putting in 40 hour weeks, so I'm good so long as I can keep pulling off these big days.

Saturday, 5/31--Running up and down the steeps around Sentinel/Pengelly

6,076', 2:54

Today was a big day, not because it was over 6k, but because I've now done more up than ever before in a week. From Sunday morning to Saturday night, I've done 45,197' feet of up, and the same amount of down. Now that I've gotten through my megaweek, I feel pretty good about races this summer. Though some weeks might have more time spent running (my megaweek was a bit over 21 hours), it's doubtful I'll run this much hill in a week for the rest of the year. Of course, for some guys my megaweek might not be all that huge, but 45k feels really stout to me.

Sunday, 6/1--University Mt. via Pengelly

3,570', 1:48

A short and sweet outing up hills of wild flowers. I actually felt pretty good, hitting the summit at just over an hour. I'm kind of excited to start tapering, though, to get some speed back in my legs.

40,228', 19:02

Hills and more hills. Almost this entire week was spent on the same ten miles or so of steep trails between Sentinel and South Sentinel, and I definitely got a little exhausted at times (both mentally and physically). But I feel good, and feel more prepared than ever for some steep ultras coming up.