Day before Hardrock

Holy crap. Its here. I'm scared poopless but confident at the same time. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's how I feel nonetheless.

I've spent the last 2 weeks in Silverton staying in a beautiful cabin at 10,500 feet and going out every day to mark the course. When I first got here, I headed out on Handies, the tallest peak on the course at over 14,000 feet, and promptly got chased off the ridge by a thunderstorm. Then the next day, I felt terrible with stuff flying out of both ends and still tried to get on the course. Bad idea. By that night, I was holed up with a 103 degree fever and feeling lousy. What confidence I had was in the hole.

But I took a few days off, and then on Wed., headed back out to start marking the course. Along with a whole host of new friends like Bob Crowley, Rich DiSimione, Buddy Teaster and others, we tackled the climbs in front of us day after day and my confidence slowly grew back again as I was often in the first group to hit the summit. I was either foolhardy or ready. Still not sure which. But I managed to see most of the last 60 miles of the course including Handies, Oscar's Pass, Virginius, Grant Swamp Pass and Putnam.

So I'm as ready as I'll get. I have lots more to say and lots more pics to put up over time, but tomorrow I will be out getting it done. Pray for my soul! And send lots of good vibes. I'll need every one . . .

Random pics from course marking . . .

I'll post explanations and more details in my way too long report after the race. Wish me luck!

Countdown to Hardrock

Well, its been a while, but to fill in the blanks - lots of running, then lots more running. This past weekend, I spent up in the Sierras. On Friday, I did a run up Baxter Pass. Then on Saturday, I crewed Gonzo at the Bishop High Sierra 50 miler. He did great, and I had a great time reliving my memories from 2 years ago. I was hoping to find someone to pace, and at the mile 48 aid station, I hooked up with Norb, who I proceeded to call Norm the rest of the night. I had been talking to his wife Lori at various aid stations, and Norb was struggling with his nutrition, so I was hoping to talk him out of dropping down to the 50 miler. Turns out I didn't need to. He came into the aid station ready to rock, so we both headed out on the Left, and he got stronger and stronger as we went, and he finished his first 100k in grand fashion. Congrats Norb! The first of many, I'm sure. 

From the trailhead at Baxter Pass

 Headed up Baxter Pass. 

 Waterfall towards the top. 

 Looking back down the valley. 

 Just happy to be here? I thought I was having a good time . . . 

Norb and Lori at the finish. Good job Norb!

Sunday was a run up Mt. Whitney. I got turned around just short of Trail Crest by a patch of snow and ice that I wasn't about to take in my microspikes, but great training at high altitude. And the burger at the portal tasted just as tasty. 

This weekend was the last big push before Hardrock. While I'm 6 weeks out, I will do a lot of trail exploration and not get my usual rest, so I have to be well rested when I get out there. Friday was my 10 mile course, and I cut 3 minutes off my best time. Saturday, I couldn't run until late, but got 10 miles in during the evening. I was nervous for Sunday with that time logged on my legs. The plan was 3 trips up San Jacinto which tops out at about 11,000 feet. It went surprisingly well. Two trips via Marion Mtn. and one via the tram station added up to about 35 miles, 12,500 feet of climbing in about 12:15. Duirng the run I entertained my self with the Great Gatsby in the morning, and then listened to the Angels game, the Dodgers game, the Kings game, and the 4th quarter of the Heat game. I was out there a while. 

But I think the result shows I'm fairly ready. My weight is down to 192. My knee tendonitis that was bugging me is in remission for now, and the legs feel alright today. Not too bad. 

I still have some hard work and hard miles ahead, but all signs are pointing up. Hopefully I can keep my fitness where it is now. We'll see. Ultrarunning is a funny thing. One day you have it. The next . . . 

Hopefully more soon. 

Tough weekend

So far, all is a go on training. The idea was to put in a little peak this weekend, 3 weeks after the 43 miler. So after a relatively straight forward week with a Tuesday canyon run, a Wednesday run with Pierce and his dad on the trails by the house, a couple of Kway Paay repeats, and the usual Friday nighter, it was a day off on Saturday.

Sunday was a triple Cowles. 22.5 miles and 7500 feet of climbing. Lots of up and downs, just like the day itself. What is great about Cowles is that it is technical, steep in places, close, and I can get reception on all my various audio devices. So I spent Sunday listening to hockey while getting some great training it.

The main downsides to Cowles are that the climbs aren't that long (2.2 miles and 1.5 miles respectively), and the place, especially the backside, is PACKED. The backside is a challenge being 1.5 miles and 900 feet of climbing, and makes a perfect target for weekend warriors, and those trying to date weekend warriors. There are crowds of families with little children, lots of meat heads from the gym, lots of women in full makeup and skimpy outfits (OK, that's not such a downside), dogs galore with many off leash, and just a cross section of all kinds of folks. It is like running downhill through a mall at Christmas, assuming that mall is strewn with rocks and uneven trail.

Of all those, the gym guys crack me up. If I do three laps, I do the backside climb three times, and usually on the third, I may get caught by one really fast hiker, but generally the only guys who catch me are at the bottom of the climb, when these gym guys shoot by in their tank tops with their hair on fire. Usually, they crash and burn by the time the get halfway up, and I end up with my fast hike passing 4 out of 5 of these guys before the top.

Every once and while you see a runner out there. For example, on Sunday, I saw a guy in a Noble Canyon 50k shirt (I had mine on as well) and a lady in a Miwok 100k shirt. So there are definitely people there trying to get their trail miles in, but it sure is a crush on that one side of the mountain. The other side is relatively quiet, and half of it is on fire road, which makes it easy to get around. Anyways, there's Cowles for you. One day I will just take pictures of people I see on Cowles. And dogs. So you can get the point.

Anyways, up and over and back three times. Finished a little over 5:45, so that was about right.

Yesterday was a double (almost) Holy Jim. From where I start, it is about 8 miles each way with about 4200 feet of elevation gain. The trail starts under cover of trees by a stream and is relatively mild up until the junction with the falls at which point it starts a grind up, never steep, but always steady. After a brief run on fire road, its onto a steep exposed single track that dumps you out on the same road about a mile and half up. Then its up the fire road to the top, with a few steep pitches but nothing too bad. Its a long day each way, so double duty is intimidating.

The day went well enough for being a back to back long run. It took a little while to get warmed up, but once I hit the climb, I put my head down and cranked it out. Radio reception was OK, so had some stuff to listen to, but phone reception was out, so no hockey. Bummer. Did the first up and back in 4:15 or so, which was slower than I wanted, but still acceptable given that it was going to be 50 miles in 2 days. But I also realized I was going to run out of water. The trailhead is about 25 minutes from civilization (which is really saying something in Orange County) and there is no water at the trailhead. I had brought 8 bottles, which I realized wasn't going to be enough. I can only carry 4 in my pack, but I should have brought water to drink before the run and at the car aid station. By the time I got done with my 1/2 subway and hit the trail again, I was down to 3.5 bottles of water and feeling parched. I knew I wouldn't make it up to the top again with my water situation, but decided to go as far as I could get. On the way up, there is a spring (not Bear Spring 1/2 way up, but a smaller spring under a tree at mile 3). I was iffy on taking too much water from there as I had no way to treat  it and didn't know how clean it was. In talking to other hikers, I decided to risk it (partly) and filled up a little bit mixed with water I knew was good, hoping if it was bad, it would at least be diluted. Doing that, I made it up to the start of the single track before I headed back down. I walked in the last 1/2 mile or so with a group of Asian hikers who I had passed a few times up and down. It always makes me feel good to pass people going up a second time, as it makes you feel like you are doing something unusual. I had fun explaining ultramarthons to the group and it was a good way to end the day. Even with that, I ended up doing this second part of the run in 3 hours and 15 minutes, and probably would have been around 3 hours even had I not stopped to chat. 7:45 for 28 miles, or 16 minute miles. The day before was 22 miles in 5:45 or 15.5 minute miles. The total for Sunday and Monday was 50 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing, in 13:30 which was about 16.25 minute miles. Given that this was after a full week of training, I feel pretty good. I definitely felt like I had more in the tank when I finished Holy Jim, so that's a good sign. As always, I could have gone faster in sections and would like to have brought enough water to finish off the second climb, but I will be back to see if I can better my double Holy Jim time. In the meantime, a relative success.

Don't know what this week will hold. I'm a little burned out, so want to have a fun week. It is supposed to rain tonight, so I will head out to enjoy that somewhere. Will stick to one long run this weekend. I'm thinking a couple of repeats on Cuyamaca on Saturday and then maybe a double grind up High Point, as it will have been a month since my last visit. 3 more weekends until my break! Gotta keep it up . . .

Three weeks of fun

Sheesh, three weeks have gone by since the latest update? This is not going as well as I had hoped. Let me summarize: Lots and lots of climbing. And then some. The highlight was my birthday run. As many of you know, I like to run a mile for every year. While this does not bode well for retirement, it is fun now. I turned it into a training run for Hardrock, deciding to do a triple High Point. That's 39 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. So to top it off, I did another 2 mile 1800 foot climb which is the start of High Point. 43 miles and 11,800 feet. This was after a week of training, so a good test of how things were going to this point. In short, it was very cold up top with a freezing wind. I tried walking sticks for the first time, and while I liked them, they were a pain to fiddle with, and I need a good way to stow them when I'm not using them, so something to experiment with. I was able to do the run in 11:45, so I'm right on  pace for where I want to be.

That was the Sunday before my birthday. The Saturday before Super Bowl I did 24.5 miles with Gonzo looking at a possible reroute for Noble Canyon 50K. Disappointing day. I didn't really feel like I had it and was hurting by the end. This was in the same week as the birthday run, and I had done a few runs in between, so it could just have been the strain of 80 plus miles of heavy climbing.

This week was relatively normal. Tuesday AM run which went well as my first "flat" run in a while. I did a nighttime Cowles Mtn. run, the Friday usual at my usual 2 hours, a Saturday run with Koa the puppy up North Fortuna which was as much of an upper body workout as lower as I wrestled with him around the single track.

And then today was Harrison Grade. I had not done Harrison Grade before, but had heard about it and even driven it once. It is 11.1 miles and about 4900 feet of climbing one way. So a long gradual climb just like I expect up until the final pass of both Virginus and Oscar's. It went better than I could have expected. I did the climb up in exactly 3 hours. The last 3 miles were complete snow and ice and in the low 30's as compared to the start in the 50's in the orange and avocado groves below. Towards the top passed an awesome old Chargers truck. Met the occupants at the top who were hiking with Rodney the Rottie. Very cute dog who desperately wanted a bite of my Carls Junior bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Sorry, doggy.

The trip down was about 1:40. Somewhere, I lost my phone. I don't know how I lost it as it was in a pocket in the front of my vest. Not sure how it pops out without me seeing it. But it did. And so from the bottom I drove back up to the last place I saw it, over 7 miles up the road. No dice. But on my way down, I ran into three folks in a truck who had found it and called Erica. When asked about what I looked like, she told them, "Tall, bald, and probably dirty." While accurate, I feel like that's somewhat pejorative. Whatever the case, they found me, so thanks guys!

Pics below from the last weekend of running. This week will be a long run Saturday and a long run Monday on the day off. Probably try to do multiple Cowles repeats on Saturday followed by double Holy Jim on Monday. We'll see.

Here's Koa on top of Fortuna. Good job, puppy!

Here's the Charger truck I talked about. I think it was an old F250. The guy's a good fan. I love that his tailgate section, E4 is on the truck. I hope they don't move to LA, or he's going to have to sell his truck.

 A picture of a tree on the way up. Note that the ice is frozen sideways on the trees. I've never seen this before. It looks cold just looking at it.

Here's Rodney the Rottweiler at top. He was super cute and friendly and not cold at all. 

Probably 6 inches of snow or more at the top. Good Hardrock training. 

 Looking up towards the summit and Boucher's lookout, the goal.

 And looking back down at the orange groves.

So, lots to catch up on. Training has been going as well as can be expected to this point. I used Christmas and New Years to really kick it off with a bang. The 23rd was 6 hours on Cowles Mountain doing repeats and a hike to the top of Cuyamaca with Erica, and the 24th was a fantastic soggy Christmas Eve AM run with the Desert Rats. It was 10 flat miles that I thought of skipping to enjoy the rain that was supposed to hit San Diego. Turns out it was all waiting for me out in the Cuyamacas. The run was 40 degrees, steady rain, and 40 mph winds. Awesome. Then a little jog on Christmas itself.

The weekend after featured the debut of my new Friday course. I added an additional climb of North Fortuna which added about a mile and 500 feet of climbing. My first rip through that course went 2 hours and 5 minutes. Saturday was more Cowles Mountain repeats, and Sunday was my last tailgate loop.

New Years was more of the same. The day after brought an Oriflamme climb. Here are some good fun pictures from the climb.

Lots of snow and ice towards the top of the climb.

Some of the switchbacks going down (and then back up). The climb up is steep, then very steep for the first 3 miles, then levels off for a flat section for a half mile before the last 2 miles, which is up but bearable.

I'm not sure how this got mixed in, but this is all the dog water on top of Cowles Mountain. When I was on my Cowles Mountain training, there was a big sign that said "CAN YOU CARRY 8.5 LB. OF WATER TO THE TOP?" Yes, yes I could. It really made me want to lose 8.5 pounds before Hardrock.

From the bottom of the climb, less than an hour after running through the snow and ice. I love San Diego County. Its nuts.

Fuzzy view from the top of the climb of San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. Hurry up and thaw! I need to get up at altitude!

The meadow at the top of the climb. I always feel like Clint Eastwood should be trotting across the field on a pale horse . . .

From the flat portion of the climb. You can see the trail cutting up along the face of the mountain in front for the last part of the climb.

Sorry these are out of order. About 1/2 way down the last section of the Oriflamme climb.

And another one from the bottom. Cacti abound.

I don't know what this is . . .


It is about 2500 feet over 5 miles. with 2 sections separated by about a half mile plateau. When I started, it was 38 degrees with about a 40 mph wind, so I was bundled up tight. The run went well and got done in 2:45. Friday was the new course again, where I lowered my time by 5 minutes to 2 hours flat. Saturday was a double Oriflamme with Gonzo. It was 28 when we started, but clear and sunny, and it quickly warmed up. On the second lap, Gonzo lapped me going down, but I was able to stick the final climb and get a few minutes on the top, so we both cracked it. Good sign. Even better, I did the home course on Sunday in my normal time. My legs had passed sore straight to numb, so it was just a matter of sucking it up and getting it done. Finally today was 2 times up Kwaay Paay. So hitting all the major training points early, but still over 7 months away, so I need to make sure I'm not blowing my wad early. Pacing will be important. But so far, so good. I'll put up some more stats next time . . .

Mission trail weekend

Well, it was an interesting weekend. The plan was to get in my usual Friday run, then 10 miles with Gonzo, then a long Sunday run, then 10 miles in the Cuyamacas. Well, Sunday didn't happen. I got to the trailhead from work, and realized I had forgotten my running shorts. My choices were to run in my work pants, run in my underwear, or go home. The first two promised chafing and threatened my running weekend, but I was mighty tempted. I had done the underwear thing before. There's even allegedly video of me running in the Cuyamacas in my Gator boxers and a long sleeve and a vest after I forgot shorts for a snow run. But I also remembered how cold it was and how I had chaffing issues for a bit after that, so I packed it in.

On Saturday AM, I met Gonzo at the Clairemont Mesa East trailhead at 7:30 AM. It was Gonzo's first run back after a little layoff and what I considered my kickoff run for Hardrock training. We did the Quarry loop, the Visitor Center Loop, South Fortuna, down the trail to Oak Canyon, then back up to the top of North Fortuna, then around to the rim trail and back to the car. Gonzo had one of those fancy wrist things, and it reported 11.5 miles or so and somewhere around 2:40. I don't know if it tracks elevation, but I would guess somewhere around 2800 feet or so. Not bad.

Erica wanted to go for a hike, so we ended up bringing Killer up to the top of Cuaymaca Peak. Its about 2.7 miles and something like 1700 feet gain to the top. The last third was essentially on and off snow and ice on the road, and Deeser took a good fall to the butt on a slick spot coming down. But she popped back up and finished strong. Fun afternoon and bonus climb!

For Sunday, it was repeats up Cowles Mountain. 6 of them, 3 up the front side, 3 up the backside. Could anyone get sick of this view?

I was about to find out.

Leaving at 10 AM, I enjoyed listening to the Chargers whoop up on the Jets. That whole situation was hilarious. Any little mistake, and the Jets fans would boo at the top of their lungs. False start? BOOOOO! Bad fair catch signal? BOOOOO! Bad hair day by the quaterback? BOOOOOOOOO! Those were some angry fans. It would probably be just as bad at the Charger game next week at home, but the stadium will be half Raider fans, so no one will get organized enough to boo loudly. They will be too busy beating the snot out of each other.

Anyways, I did my 6 repeats. For each set of two, I would start on the big rock trail, go over Cowles then down the Golfcrest trail, then repeat. If you haven't been on the Golfcrest trail, it is packed. All the time. Running down is tough to dodge everyone in your way, especially as the trail is really rough. Its like running through a trail in the middle of UTC mall at Christmas time. But going up, you always have people to chase and catch. The Big Rock side is relatively quiet. Each round trip was about 7.5 miles and 2500 feet of climbing, so, if I did the 3 round trips I had planned (6 trips up Cowles, three from Big Rock and 3 from Golfcrest), it would be about 22.5 miles and 7500 feet of climbing. Doing the math, it comes out to 33,333 feet per 100 miles, or almost exactly Hardrock. So it was like doing a quarter of hard rock.

The goal was 6 hours. I did approximately 1:42 on the first round trip, 1:57 on the second round trip, and 2:11 on the last trip, adding up to roughly 5:50, or ten minutes under goal. Weather was almost perfect at 60 and mostly cloudy. One of the problems was food. I was starving by the last round trip, but I had only brought gels. I need to bring a little real food next time. After finishing, I pounded a foot long buffalo chicken Subway which really hit the spot.

No real interesting wildlife or anything like that. Just a grind past a lot of odd people. One time I'll take pictures so you can see what I share the trail with there. Lots of women made up to the nines on their morning stroll. And lots of dogs.

Overall a good weekend. My legs are pretty tired, and I have a ten mile run with the bad rats courtesy of Matt Davis tomorrow. He said easy on the invite, so I'm going to hold him to it. I've only ever seen Matt drink beer. Rumor has it, he actually ran once upon a time. I'll believe it when I see it.

More soon!

Weekend of training number 1

So, not much to report so far. Fairly anti-climatic. Did my usual run on Tuesday. Got some bonus miles on Monday returning a friend's car and running home, but nothing dramatic. Thursday was a frigid (by San Diego terms) run in the canyon highlighted by a pack of 3 coyotes, big ones, that were not at all worried about me. Very pretty, but ominous to Clairemont cats. Everything was frosted over, and Wundermap said 31 degrees. Brrr.

So, the weekend. I've decided to add an extra hillclimb into my usual Friday night run. Why? Well take a look below.

Ok, that's kinda tiny. And not enitrely accurate as it has Hardrock being run in the opposite direction that is being run this year. But you get the idea. Its a graph of all the climbing and altitude of various races. See all the pointy stuff on top? That's Hardrock. So, extra climbing it is.

My Friday Night Run, which I've been doing for about 6 years to start virtually every weekend, is to run from the end of Clairemont Mesa into Mission Trails, down into Suyacott Wash, up South Fortuna, down to the saddle, up North Fortuna, down along the ridge at the edge of Suyacott Wash and finish up on the rim trail. I can do it in about 1:15 to 1:20 depending on daylight, etc. When I was feeling bold, I'd add the Quarry climb which adds another 400 or 500 feet of climbing and a few miles, and I can do that in about 1:40 to 1:50. If I had to guess, the Friday run is about 6 miles with about 1200 feet of climbing and so the quarry run maybe 8 to 9 miles with 1700 feet of climbing? So, now instead of going down to the saddle and up Fortuna, I'm going to go down the alternate powerline trail all the way down to Oak Creek and then up to the top of Fortuna. That should add about 700 feet of climbing in about 3/4 mile. Bringing the run to about 10 miles and 2400 feet of climbing. Multiply by 10, and that would still be way, way short of Hardrock. Gulp. Hopefully I'm short on my guess of how much climbing is in the run or long on the distance. Anyways, figure its good for me to add another climb. More than anything else it means a later dinner. Boo!

Anyways, Saturday will be 10 miles in Mission Trails with Gonzo, likely on many of these same trails. Sunday will also be Mission Trails, but I think I will do repeats up and down Kway Paay which is 950 feet over 1.25 miles. I'll just knock out however many repeats I can get done in 6 hours, or two football games. I generally climb and descend that between 45 and 50 min, but I'm guessing there will be some degredation. I would be stoked to get 8. We'll see.

Monday, I got an invitation forwarded from the bad rats group of a christmas eve day run out in the Cuyamacas. I'm not a very social runner or a very good group runner, but I think I'll turn out anyways. The guy organizing it, Matt, is a great dude, and the weather is supposed to be rough, so it should be fun.

On the race side, I'm looking at renting a cabin at about 11,500 feet for the 2 weeks of Hardrock. The town Hardrock is based in is at 9,500 feet, so I figure I can get a jump on the altitude. Got a great note from Scotty Mills that he and his wife and maybe Angela are going to be at Camp Hardrock and an offer to help with pacing. With any luck, Scotty is going to get in (he's 9 on the vet waitlist as a five time finisher), and I will pick up my pacers from another source. In any case its fantastic to know that I have such a fabulous resource to tap for info. He will be sick of me.

Hopefully I have a few pics and good times to report on Monday or Tuesday. Hit the trails!