Trails and Travails

Mark B wrote:Solid work, Mike! You'll be well prepared to take on the Canyon next weekend.

If you're looking north, you can also hit the trails at Lassen Volcanic National Park, east of Red Bluff and northeast of Chico. You can set up a campsite, run all day at altitude (and maybe even run up Lassen Peak) in gorgeous terrain, come back to camp and bask in the alpenglow.

Good idea about Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mark. As for running to the peak of Mt. Lassen you can, there is a nice trail that goes all the way up to the peak. Me and some buddies have hiked up to the top and made lunch up there and took in the great views. If one was planning on running up it I would do it early in the morning when there is less traffic going up to the peak.

This is why I miss living in Chico so so so much, there is so much to do outdoors up there and so many beautiful trails all over the place! Darn why did I move back to Chicago? Oh I know I had to catch me a girl name Lisa

Schuey wrote:

Mark B wrote:Solid work, Mike! You'll be well prepared to take on the Canyon next weekend.

If you're looking north, you can also hit the trails at Lassen Volcanic National Park, east of Red Bluff and northeast of Chico. You can set up a campsite, run all day at altitude (and maybe even run up Lassen Peak) in gorgeous terrain, come back to camp and bask in the alpenglow.

Good idea about Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mark. As for running to the peak of Mt. Lassen you can, there is a nice trail that goes all the way up to the peak. Me and some buddies have hiked up to the top and made lunch up there and took in the great views. If one was planning on running up it I would do it early in the morning when there is less traffic going up to the peak.

This is why I miss living in Chico so so so much, there is so much to do outdoors up there and so many beautiful trails all over the place! Darn why did I move back to Chicago? Oh I know I had to catch me a girl name Lisa

See, Schuey? There's a good reason for everything.

Speaking of Lassen, and girls... Alita and I climbed Lassen Peak on our first date.

Lassen + Trinity = check.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

---

Just over 5 recovery miles this morning with Jess before leaving SB. I'm feeling last week, both in my legs (creeeeeeak) and in my attitude (irritable). Gotta try and get myself excited about this Grand Canyon trip... Right now, the only thing I'm looking forward to is the run. Eek.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Lassen + Trinity = check.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

---

Just over 5 recovery miles this morning with Jess before leaving SB. I'm feeling last week, both in my legs (creeeeeeak) and in my attitude (irritable). Gotta try and get myself excited about this Grand Canyon trip... Right now, the only thing I'm looking forward to is the run. Eek.

Pfft. Fuggitaboutit. Isn't life just that annoying recovery time we cram in between runs?

Mark - Exactly.

---

Thought I was "supposed to" do an hour with 4-5 miles at "new MP" (when will I start just calling it MP?), or between 6:40-6:50. Apparently the schedule said tempo, so 6:15-6:30, but that wouldn't have happened today.

Yes, Natalie (and those who tend to like the drinking stories... Chas, you still here?), last night involved a bit of booze and a lot of food. Seriously, I need to stop sabotaging my fast runs.

Luckily, I didn't sabotage this one. After a creaky 20 minute warm-up, I started in on the MP interval. This is on the hilly lake, so the fact that I never found a groove doesn't surprise me, but the fact that the entire interval was pretty easy DOES surprise me. Looks like those mountains are really helping the leg turnover and speed. Did 4.8 in the middle @ 6:44 average. Bombed the downhills at low-5 pace, surged just a tiny bit on the uphills at low-mid-7 pace.

Hour spin this afternoon.

---

Attitude has picked up a little for the Grand Canyon. Not excited about the weather forecast (low of 76?!), but I should be out of the ditch and done by the time it hits 85 on the rim. Glad there'll be water every couple miles.

Nice run after a creaky or is it creepy start. The man's got speed!

Great job Mike. It's always awesome when you can nail a purpose run.

Kenny B. wrote:Nice run after a creaky or is it creepy start. The man's got speed!

Hey now, I know I'm creepy, but I didn't think it was THAT obvious...

Alex Kubacki wrote:Great job Mike. It's always awesome when you can nail a purpose run.

Thanks Alex. It definitely felt good to be able to hit that one after last week's (relatively) huge mileage.

---

You know when you're at a CVS/Rite Aid/grocery store (Duane Read for you New Yorkers...) and you come up to the checkout with a really incriminating set of items? For example, Jack Daniel's, Ginger Ale, and vasoline? I think it's worse when the debauchery is somewhat implicit - the vasoline instead of condoms, for example. I almost explained myself - "I'm going to the Grand Canyon this weekend..." - to the cashier, but then realized that wouldn't help.

Runners get it, right? The vasoline, I mean. Poor man's Body Glide.

Anyway...

Good, mentally recuperating run today. 12.09 miles @ 7:42 average with only some minor (2-3%, for the most part) gradients. Entire run felt smooth, relaxed, and enjoyable. When I got home, I felt human and ready for this camping trip... Which is good, because I really wasn't last night.

I'm getting nervous about the GC River Run. I don't know why, though. By the time I pass Indian Gardens (3 miles from the river) on the way out, the heat index will only be in the high 70s/low 80s, and I've been running in that sort of weather a couple days per week since mid June. And the elevation isn't really that bad, considering what I've been doing lately. I don't know. Pre-race jitters, I guess... Minus the race.

So I'll be AWOL from tonight until Sunday. Hope to come back with a successful report and some trail beta for everyone.

Sounds to me like you're looking to get your lady intoxicated and have your way with her! Or, you could just be going for a long, sweaty run and then having a few cocktails, but what the hell do I know!

Yeah I always feel the need to explain why I'm buying what. I bought 1 gallon of vodka so I could make vanilla extract and I told the cashier what I was doing...

but seriously when you can afford it, body glide is so much better than vasoline at least it has been for me.

mul21 wrote:Sounds to me like you're looking to get your lady intoxicated and have your way with her! Or, you could just be going for a long, sweaty run and then having a few cocktails, but what the hell do I know!

Fortunately for me, she doesn't drink whiskey... or soda, for that matter (fortunately because it means she won't steal it!). She's a champagne girl.

Julie wrote:Yeah I always feel the need to explain why I'm buying what. I bought 1 gallon of vodka so I could make vanilla extract and I told the cashier what I was doing...

but seriously when you can afford it, body glide is so much better than vasoline at least it has been for me.

They sell vodka in gallon containers?! Wow. Gotta look for one of those, just for the hell of it. Or maybe I'll make Kahlua.
Vasoline has done me well. It's just when I forget it that it doesn't work.

---

In other news, I am my mother's son: I spent over an hour making a spreadsheet with all my food (by meal), including calorie counts, for the weekend. Normally wouldn't care, but I'm doing a mini carb-load for this run and want to make extra sure I hit 3100 calories/day. Silly.

I bought 2 1.75 liter bottles which is about a gallon, right?

Not putting body glide on has about the same effect on me, too. About 6 miles in I remember and then it's obviously too late.

Have fun with the spread sheet and carb loading.

Have you ever read Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook or Food Guide for Marathoners? They're both books I enjoyed and learned some practical things from even though I already had some pretty good knowledge in that area.

Mike MacLellan wrote:
---

You know when you're at a CVS/Rite Aid/grocery store (Duane Read for you New Yorkers...) and you come up to the checkout with a really incriminating set of items? For example, Jack Daniel's, Ginger Ale, and vasoline? I think it's worse when the debauchery is somewhat implicit - the vasoline instead of condoms, for example. I almost explained myself - "I'm going to the Grand Canyon this weekend..." - to the cashier, but then realized that wouldn't help.

Runners get it, right? The vasoline, I mean. Poor man's Body Glide.

Anyway...

Good, mentally recuperating run today. 12.09 miles @ 7:42 average with only some minor (2-3%, for the most part) gradients. Entire run felt smooth, relaxed, and enjoyable. When I got home, I felt human and ready for this camping trip... Which is good, because I really wasn't last night.

I'm getting nervous about the GC River Run. I don't know why, though. By the time I pass Indian Gardens (3 miles from the river) on the way out, the heat index will only be in the high 70s/low 80s, and I've been running in that sort of weather a couple days per week since mid June. And the elevation isn't really that bad, considering what I've been doing lately. I don't know. Pre-race jitters, I guess... Minus the race.

So I'll be AWOL from tonight until Sunday. Hope to come back with a successful report and some trail beta for everyone.

Have fun and we'll miss you! You know that clerk was like WTF and you know the Grand Canyon comment would not help AT ALL. hahahah Well if she's the Grand Canyon, why do you need vasoline? hahahaha oh hell that poor guy! Back in my days of drugs, I always thought it was funny I would buy foil and a lighter at 3 in the morning. I soon started buying some hamburgers just so they wouldn't call the cops on me! hahaha I know....I was young and stupid.

I can't wait to read about your trip! I hope you take lots of pics! Have fun!

Chas - Best post in this blog to date. Congratulations.

---

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for...
In a minute. Gotta get through the prelude first:

Wednesday night, we all met at Aileen's sister's house to finish packing and do a little pre-trip celebration. With a wake-up call of 5am, getting pretty drunk and having a game of Frisbee three-flies-up on her street might've been a poor decision, but I wasn't driving the next day, so... That's basically what we did until midnight.

Thursday was a long, long day, but the 10 hours in the car forced me to actually take the day off instead of squeeze in a couple miles. It was my first complete rest day in two weeks, and I knew that it would ultimately be helpful for Saturday's epic. We walked to the rim and they ooh-aah'ed at it. Like I told my parents tonight, I don't feel any association with a place unless I have a tangible experience with it, and looking at things just doesn't cut it. I knew my time would come on the trail, so I spoke a few quiet words to the canyon and asked it to see me through on Saturday.

Friday, I was a little ball of not-happy. No idea if it was the heat or the taper or what, but something got to me. I did an hour run in the morning, which was extremely slow... I forgot that we were at close to 7k' altitude, and I've been training near sea level. Then napped and woke up to Aileen and her sister quite loudly arguing the rules of Mancala. I completely flipped my shit on Aileen. Great. I more or less isolated myself the rest of the day with a book and/or my pillow. Came out of hermitism for food and that's about it.

Luckily, the group heeded my request - seriously, it was a request, a plea, not a demand - that they stay a little quiet Friday night so I could sleep. We were all up around 4am, the rest for the sunrise, me and Aileen to drive to the trailhead, and I thanked them for being so hushed. Sat in the car at the trailhead and waited for the sun to come up just enough to see, headed to the porta-potty for the usual morning business, got a "I'm-mad-at-you-but-I-still-like-you-and-I-don't-want-you-to-die" kiss, and I was on my way. A planned 6am start became 5:15am because, well, I was ready to go.

Now, the trail:
The first (and last) 3-3.5 miles of this trail are stupid. Steep, platform-like stairs that are the length of a mule's stride, not a human's, so it's impossible to find a rhythm or any speed. I was doing 10 minute miles down a 15% gradient for this section. What the hell? There goes my one-hour-to-the-river plan. The 5am trail crowd, however, is extremely cool and trail-savvy, heeding to my "on your left"s and offering words of encouragement, as it was pretty obvious that the only person running the trail was probably headed to the river. I made a quick potty stop at the 3-mile Resthouse and was happy that I was still feeling really fresh, since that marks ~1/2 the elevation loss on the trail.

Around Indian Gardens (4.6 miles), it softens up to 7-8% for about 2 miles, and it's smooth, smooth sailing. Nice trail, beautiful surroundings... Really enjoyed finding a groove on this part of the run.

Then there's the last part, which kind of reminds me of what Dante's stairway to Hell might look like, except really pretty. Easier than the top, but not as easy as the middle. About 11.5% for the first bit, then back to 7% for the last bit. I hit the river in 1:15 (plus about 5 minutes of stops for the restroom and water refills). The Garmin read 7.9 miles, but I'm not quite sure how long it actually was, because 1) I lost reception a few times, 2) every trail guide I've seen says it's 7.7 miles to the river, but 3) they say it's 7.9-8.1 (depending on the site) to the River Resthouse, and I passed that... So, let's say 8? Either way, I snapped a couple photos, filled two small water bottles with river water, and soaked my shirt to keep cool. Then it was back up.

I ran up and through Indian Gardens, which didn't really take much out of me, but I tried to keep up a good pace past that and, well, I paid for it. I think I blew up a little bit, but fortunately didn't completely lose it. There were parts of the trail that weren't runnable even if I had felt completely fresh, simply due to the steepness or condition of them, but I did have to walk a fair bit of runnable trail. I'd say of the last 3 miles, I probably walked close to half. I tried to keep a 15-minute pace while walking, but that slowed a little at times.

Fortunately, I saw most of the people I'd passed earlier, and they were offering more words of encouragement, so it was almost like a mini-race. I definitely allowed my pride to push me to run when I knew people were coming around the next switchback, but I think that helped me stay out of a walking-only funk.

I realized at the 1.5-mile Resthouse that I'd for sure make it in under 3 hours, so I decided to just bank as much time as I could without going too far into the red. Ran into tourist hell with a mile to go, and actually ran shoulder-to-shoulder into a girl who decided she'd rather walk straight down the wrong side of the trail than yield into the other 8' of its width, where the rest of her group was walking. Said a few choice words to a few people who actually forced me off trail (couldn't keep my balance if I went shoulder-to-shoulder with them, if you know what I mean...), but once I came through the first tunnel, I just put my head down, grit my teeth, and charged up to the rim. Ran straight up to the parking lot where Aileen was sleeping in the car and handed her one of the bottles of water.

"It's from the river."
"Can I drink it?"
"No."
"Then what's it for?"
"To keep."
"...oh."

Okay, fine, I'll just enjoy my almond butter/honey/banana sandwich and the fact that I finished the run in less than 3 hours (2:55!). (She later apologized for that reaction and said it was really cute that I brought her that.)

Felt like I ran a marathon the rest of the day - headache, complete fatigue, starving hunger - but was finally completely stress-free and able to enjoy the trip. Made amends with the group and all went well that ended well...

Final stats for the run: 15.75 (16?) miles, 2:55 running time, just under 7.2k' total gain/loss (4.4k' net gain/loss between the rim and river).

This morning I woke up and ran 3 miles in 30 minutes (hilarious run if anyone had seen it, considering I was limping when I walked...), then did a few 5-minute walks throughout the day during stops on the drive home. Each one started with more limping and eventually progressed into something resembling a normal walk. Did 3 miles in 25 minutes when I got home (that's better), but I'm still pretty laughable when I walk, particularly down hills/stairs.

So, what did we learn from all this? If anyone wants to attempt this run, make sure you train on some long, steep-ass mountains first. I'm really, really glad I've been running on similar terrain for the last 6 weeks, because I don't think marathon training alone would've gotten me through it. I'd never recommend hiking this in July, or any time in summer, but I can see it as a reasonable dayhike when it's not lethally hot down there. There's plenty of water on the trail (the longest section without fresh water is from Indian Gardens to the river and back, which is about 7 miles but the easiest 7 of the whole thing) as well as 3 bathrooms, and a good portion of it is actually shaded, particularly in the morning.

---

Last but not least, I did a little running accounting this weekend and think I've nailed down a prospective weekly schedule for the next however-many weeks until my 50-miler...

For "build weeks" (as in non-stepback weeks):
Mon, Tues, and Thurs will be doubles, with total mileage starting at 9, 10, and 10, and building to 9, 12, and 12, respectively. Wednesdays will be 12-16 mile runs, depending on the week. Fridays will start at 4 recovery miles and eventually become doubles totaling in 9. Saturdays will build from 2 hours to 4 hours, Sundays will build from 3 hours to 5 hours, mileage really depending on terrain, but my two peak weeks with 20/30 or higher. More likely to be in the 25/35 range. That'd give me 110-120 for my peak weeks (holy shit), which sounds right. Then it's taper time.

---

Okay, okay, here's the elevation chart:

And one of my mug smiling like an asshole at the river

Rocky start to a rocky run to being ROCKY!

I really commend you on your honesty and openness about your experience. Your report was great to read and it looks dam beautiful from the pic you posted.

I went to school in AZ and even was near the Grand Canyon one time but never went. Partying was more important at 19 then sightseeing or for that matter running.

What a wonderful experience and great run to boot. It sounded VERY difficult.

That's a helluva run!



Nice that you got the moral support from your fellow trail runners, I like that.



Way to go - keep going!

Great picture and scary elevation chart! That was a stud run Mike - great job. Your running plan sounds aggressive, but I guess that's what it takes for a 50M. How did you come up with your plan? I'm a few years behind you, but hope to follow in your footsteps someday...

Oh to be young again! Love, love love reading your stories Mike. I would have had an awesome time with that run (and the weekend) back in the day, but for now, well, I'll just enjoy reading about it. After all, I could be your Mom.

Kenny B. wrote:Rocky start to a rocky run to being ROCKY!

I really commend you on your honesty and openness about your experience. Your report was great to read and it looks dam beautiful from the pic you posted.

I went to school in AZ and even was near the Grand Canyon one time but never went. Partying was more important at 19 then sightseeing or for that matter running.

What a wonderful experience and great run to boot. It sounded VERY difficult.

Thanks Kenny. Indeed, the weekend was a bit rocky, but fortunately I have the type of memory that focuses on the better parts rather than the worse ones while still allowing my present focus to be on how to improve upon those worse parts. I guess that's a verbose way of saying that I like to learn from my mistakes.

My ex-girlfriend/current-really-really-good-friend went to NAU for a semester but didn't go to the GC either. I guess it's like when I lived in SD and never went to Mexico (sort of?) or when I lived in NYC and never went to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building... etc.

Michael Enright wrote:That's a helluva run!
Nice that you got the moral support from your fellow trail runners, I like that.
Way to go - keep going!

Thanks Michael. I was really shocked by the fact that people were so supportive and not at all... negative? Not sure that's the word, but no one seemed to have any argument against what I was doing. The two Rangers I passed on the way did look at me somewhat suspiciously, though. (The website says to never attempt the river and back as a dayhike, much less in the summer.)

John Kilpatrick wrote:Great picture and scary elevation chart! That was a stud run Mike - great job. Your running plan sounds aggressive, but I guess that's what it takes for a 50M. How did you come up with your plan? I'm a few years behind you, but hope to follow in your footsteps someday...

Ha, I still think it's an awful picture, but funny awful. That's what I get for trying to smile instead of just looking flat-faced at the camera (as is my MO).
My plan is actually really ambitious for what most people suggest for a 50. The majority of plans I've seen actually peak around 70-80 miles, but I just like running and like big numbers, so I decided to pad the mileage quite a bit. Plus, I wanted to break 100 this cycle. I basically took the weekend double-long and made it the most important chunk of the week, surrounded by two recovery days (hence the low-mileage double on Monday). The other 3 days would be my other important "block," with Tuesday having occasional tempo/MP work and Wednesday having the occasional fast finish or GA work. Thursday would just be higher miles. Since hour-long runs are pretty standard, I decided to not go much higher than that (7-8 miles) for any non-long run, and I wanted my second run on double days to always be slightly shorter than the first. Junk miles, basically, but I think I can still benefit a lot from sheer quantity. So that's kind of how it breaks down. I will definitely be running slightly fewer miles for my next marathon training with more emphasis on quality, but I figure this cycle will also act to buffer my base for next year.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Oh to be young again! Love, love love reading your stories Mike. I would have had an awesome time with that run (and the weekend) back in the day, but for now, well, I'll just enjoy reading about it. After all, I could be your Mom.

Glad the stories are entertaining rather than fear-inducing (are MY kids going to do this one day?!). My poor Mom, on the other hand, didn't sleep well the entire weekend worrying about me. She even slept in (6:45 instead of 5:30) this morning. Adorable.

---

More reflection on the weekend: I'm glad I've checked off that run on my "destination bucket list," but I'm not sure it was worth the insanity I unloaded on my friends. I know that the run wasn't entirely responsible for it - a lot of it had to do with the fact that the weekend before in Santa Barbara was pretty socially draining (as in, I just didn't want to be around people anymore) - but I know the stress and jitters had at least some responsibility for the way I was towards them. At the same time, one of the things Aileen mentioned when we were making amends was that I hadn't really seemed happy - at all - in the last week, and I realized that's not really as much of a symptom of training as I once thought... Sometimes, I'm just a very non-social (I wouldn't say antisocial, really) person and am best left to my own devices. Just something I've been mulling over and need to remember to take more responsibility for.

Either way, I did the run, and I wouldn't go back and undo it, I'd just approach it differently.

---

5 recovery miles this morning. Was still Limpy McGee - even worse than last night, actually - before and during my little pre-run walk... Essentially, my right calf needs a good 5-10 minutes to allow me to walk forward without hobbling over that foot, and both my quads are still completely shot to the point where walking downhill is a laughable sight.

So, got the run done at an 8:48 pace, had to continually remind myself that the purpose of the run was simply to loosen my muscles and get the blood flowing, not to "improve." Seems that discipline - or perhaps temperance - is the word of the day, and will be the word of the day tomorrow, as well.

4 more recovery miles to come this afternoon, then a 6/4 double tomorrow. Hopefully the legs will be back after that for a little GA interval in the middle of Wednesday's sorta-long.

Mike, great report, thanks for sharing! This is also on my list. I know a couple of people who did the rim-to-rim-to rim in April; took them about 16 hours. My browser at work won't display the pictures, so I look forward to seeing them when I get home.

Mike that's an impressive run. Hopefully your legs come back strong soon.

Jeff F wrote:Mike, great report, thanks for sharing! This is also on my list. I know a couple of people who did the rim-to-rim-to rim in April; took them about 16 hours. My browser at work won't display the pictures, so I look forward to seeing them when I get home.

Thanks Jeff. When I told my parents about the run itself, my dad said, "Three hours?! I thought it was going to take you 6-8." Mom replied, "That's not what you said. You said 8-10." I'm not sure I could've kept that sort of pace for a R2R2R, but I do think there's a lot of time to be saved by simply running down it and walking up it.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Mike that's an impressive run. Hopefully your legs come back strong soon.

They're making their way back slowly but surely. Just a lot of reminding myself that these next couple runs aren't going to make me any better of a runner, but they might make me a worse one if I push it too hard and get injured. I'm just looking forward to seeing a sub-8 pace and feeling effortless...

---

Did the 4 yesterday afternoon. Slower than I wanted, but as I've been saying, it's not important. What's important is that I felt better at the end of the day than at the beginning, and I tacked off 9 miles in the books. Another 10 (6/4) today and I'll be well on my way to another 80+ week.

---

Small personal aside: young love sucks. Especially when there's a 3-week deadline imposed on it because the parties in question will then be on opposite sides of the country for 2 years. Ugh.

So funny. I was at a party for the weekend at NAU that is when I was close to the GC. Back in 1992 NAU was a weird school compared to ASU. A bit backwards in many ways. I remember getting there and looking forward to leaving. Than it again it could have been those weird mushrooms I ate.

NAU is indeed a little weird. Kind of like the Santa Cruz of Arizona to me... I like certain things about the cities (mainly the scenery) but could do without the counterculture. Weird coming from a guy like me, but they're just over the top.

---

6.02 @ 8:08 w/ average HR of 141 (for reference, last week's GA was 7:40 with average HR of 146). The legs are coming back, as is the body. Effort level was next to 0, and at one point I found myself in this nice meditative groove, slight uphill, just over 8 minute pace, with a HR of 136. Talk about calm.

Very nice run. That meditative state is awesome.