Weekly Summary: July 4 - July 8

7/4 - 9.06 miles.  2:04:15.  1800'v.  Black Mountain Trail.  Headed up to Sheriff Reservoir just outside of Phippsburg to check out a new trail and was blown away by the scenery.  Once I located the trail (after a few minutes of bushwacking around the res) I found a nice, runnable track on a gradual ascent that traversed a hillside packed with skunk cabbage and wildflowers that went on for nearly a MILE.  It was incredible.  Once I hit the ridgeline, the trail continued to snake uphill along a massive cliff line with an expansive view of the Flat Tops to my right.   The trail continued into the trees for a little while before cresting the mountain and offering panoramic views of more mountains, including Pyramid Peak, and a few big alpine meadows.   I found an old trail marker for Baldy Trail (FS 1200, which doesn't appear on any of the maps I own) and ran from cairn to cairn for about a half mile through a meadow until I picked up the trail again and found a tiny pond.  If I weren't tapering for my next race, I would've loved to continue exploring.  The return trip offered up the same spectacular views and I had to pause for a while to take it all in.  Although I only ventured a couple of miles on the trail,  I can't wait to go back and explore it further. 

7/5 - 3.51 miles.  :34:22.  Stagecoach.  Easy effort from the house down the trail to the fire station and back.

7/6 - 7.51 miles.  1:24:49.  Emerald Mountain.  From JDs house downtown, I cruised over to Howelsen Hill and jumped on the Emerald Mountain Loop.  From there, I climbed up to Lupine, then Larry's, MGM and Blair Witch before descending on Blackmere Drive to Lupine to Blackmere and down to Howelsen Lodge to refill my water bottle.   Wicked single track!

7/7 - Rest.

7/8 - 10.61 miles.  3:07:25.  2650'v.  Lower Bear Creek Trail.  Hooked up with running buddy Richard for an easy effort 10 miler on this trail by the Strawberry Park Hot Springs.  I had never been on this trail and rarely run with other people so I was stoked to get on the trail with Rich.  We maintained a fairly even pace on the ascent, hiking most of the uphills.  The trail started out nice and smooth and easy to run for the first 3 miles before it got rockier on the last 2 up to Summit Park.  There were some nice views from the top so we scrambled around on the rocky high point for a few minutes before the return trip.   The return trip went by quickly and I felt great when we wrapped it up. 

Weekly mileage:  30.69 miles.
In tapering mode for the Silver Rush 50 (which is only 46 miles) so I'm easing up on how hard I run while still getting in some quality runs.  Got to go out for over 2 hours on the Fourth and go in 3 hours today.  I'll rest tomorrow and run very lightly the middle of the week before taking a couple days off before the race.   Overall, I'm feeling really good and with a week of rest on my legs, I think I can finish the race in under 10 hours.   

Weekly Summary: May 21 - May 28

5/21 - Rest.

5/22 - 6 miles.  1000'.  Steamboat Ski Area.  Ran 10 minutes to warm up from The Lodge thru the base area and up Right of Way to Thunderhead.  From there, I did 5-minute hill intervals on Why Not Road up to Vagabond saddle (where the tepee is in the winter) before turning around and continuing intervals all the back to The Lodge.  Pretty hard effort both uphill and down for my first "speed work" session of the year.  My aerobic base is in good order after a solid winter/early spring of gradual build ups so I figure it is time to start adding some anerobic workouts. 

5/23 - 7 miles.  700'.  Spring Creek Trail.  Nice and easy steady state recovery run in some cool, wet weather on Spring Creek.  Kept the effort on the flats and downhills at 8 min/mile and did all the climbs without any hard breathing.   

5/24 - 7 miles.  400'.  Stagecoach.  A couple downhill miles warming up at 8:30 min/mile, then 3 miles steady at 7:00 min/mile on Elk Run Trail next to the lake.  Uphill back to the house at 8-9:30 min/mile.  Solid effort.

5/25 - Rest.

5/26 - 2.5 hours. 3000'.   Howelsen Hill, Emerald Mountain - Larry's - Quarry Mountain Trail - Ridge Trail (out) - Ridge Trail - Lane of Pain -Little Moab-Blackmere Drive-Howlesen Base area -roads (in).  Tough, hilly run from downtown over Emerald Mountain on several trails and out towards Cow Creek on the Ridge Trail.  Many, many healthy climbs this day, starting with Howelsen Hill face.  Ridiculous climbing at some points. Ran some good wooded single track on the ascent up Emerald with a couple of open meadows on the way.  Once on top of Emerald there are several brutally steep climbs afterward before finally hitting a couple miles of meandering downhill on the way out to Cow Creek.  It was warm and I went through a lot of water.  Long, long downhill from the top of Emerald via Lane of Pain, Little Moab and Blackmere Drive. 

5/27 - 6 miles.  Stagecoach.  Route County Road 18. - Easy effort across the dam and down the road for a few miles.  Super windy day and a little chilly.

5/28 - 12 miles.  1980'v.  "Mad Creek" (Swamp Park) Trail.  Six miles of gradual uphill on Mad Creek until I reached it's junction with Red Dirt.  Along the way, I crossed the creek a couple of times, spotted a deer and power hiked most of the ascent with trekking poles.  About 1:15 to the turnaround 6.2 miles up trail.  I ran just about every step downhill except for the most technical footing parts.  The trail is almost entirely in the woods with only a few small meadows and follows the creek the whole way and, aside from about a dozen really technical sections, is really smooth track.  Very easy to run on. 

8 day total:  50 miles.  6080'v.

A decent amount of miles and vertical this week made for some good running.  Almost all of it on trails, which makes me even happier.  Just more or less trying to mix it up and make sure my runs are fun and challenging with a little rest and easy recovery runs thrown in.