Week Summary: Sept 6-12

Wow, it took me a while to get around to this one, but I've been busy.

09-06-10
Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green & Bear, 4100'
Really windy day, and as I was finishing up I saw the startings of the Four-Mile Fire.
PM: 8 miles (1:24) Walker Ranch Loop, 1500'
Great run with Jocelyn and Jenn starting from the Flagstaff TH. Finished up in the dark.

09-07-2010
Tue-AM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt. up back down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Started before the sun and ran embarrassingly slow up Green.  The extremely thick smoke in the air probably didn't help and probably wasn't so great for the lungs.

09-08-2010
Wed-AM: 13 miles (2:01) Green Mt. up front down Bear Cyn, 3000'
Took it really easy again in very smoky air again.  Just feeling kinda off this week, so keeping the effort on each run super-casual.

09-09-2010
Thu-AM: 14 miles (2:13) Green & Bear, 4100'
Idyllic fall morning--looking to make this double-peak run a very regular thing from here on out.  The moisture last night made the trail surfaces perfectly tacky, making the Fern descent a lot of fun.  They'd been getting frustratingly slick with dust and loose rock after a long stretch without rain.
PM: 8 miles (1:02) Skunk Creek+barefoot at Kitt
Nice run with good energy with Jocelyn.  Feel like I'm coming out of my funk a bit.

09-10-2010
Fri-AM: 16 miles (2:26) Green & Bear, 4200'
Got out with Jeff and George. We took a circuitous route up Green (Greg-Long-West Ridge) and then I tacked on Bear Peak.  Descent down Fern Canyon was dialed again this morning.  This vintage clip of a speed record on the Matterhorn (that's been making the rounds on the interwebs) has me re-motivated to keep growing my proficiency on gnarly terrain like what Bear and SoBo Peaks offer (although they are hardly race-specific in any way, at least here in the United States).  Efficient, quick, two-legged travel over alpine terrain is always my main interest and motivation.
PM: 7 miles (1:00) Flagstaff Mt., 1500'
Did this run with Jocelyn, but left her on the uphill and just met her on the top to run down together.  We went up Gregory to Crown Rock to the top and then just came all the way down the Flagstaff trail on the way back.  Definitely the best my legs have felt since Leadville--I finally feel mostly back to normal, now.  I love running in the evening as the sun is going down, too.  Great time of day.

09-11-2010
Sat-AM: 15 miles (2:18) Green & Bear, 4100'
Up early in the dark before catching a flight to California. Definitely getting out of my funk, because even at the early hour I had a reasonable amount of spring and bounce in my legs. Another perfect fall morning.
PM: 8 miles (1:00) Santa Monica/Venice Beach
Last 20 minutes barefoot. I'm not a huge fan of running on the beach.  I know it should be idyllic and great, but I just rarely have a good run when I go running on the beach and a lot of the time I'm distracted and annoyed by all the other beach-goers, which was especially easy to have happen this afternoon as my run took me past the Santa Monica Pier, twice.  Jumped in the ocean afterwards, though, which is definitely the best part of running on the beach.

09-12-2010
Sun-AM: 15 miles (2:14) Santa Monica Mts., 3000'
Great run with my college buddy, Martin, who lives in L.A. now.  He picked me up and we drove the five miles or so to Temescal Canyon where we parked on Sunset Blvd and ran up into the mountains.  After a 1000' climb and descent that traversed us over to Will Rogers State Park on fantastic singletrack we climbed back up another 2000' on singletrack, breaking out of the very thick marine layer at ~1000'. The views up there were sensational in every direction as we could see all the way down to 10,000' Mt. Baldy in southern L.A.  Looped around on the popular Backbone trail and cruised it back down into the clouds on a mix of fire road and singletrack.  Amazingly nice mountain run for being so close to the ocean and the masses of Santa Monica.  Spent the rest of the day at the NB photoshoot where we were eventually regaled with a spectacular sunset from 3000' above the coast.

Total
-Miles: 132
-Hours: 19h 56min
-Vertical: 28,500'

Boulder 8ers 2010 (Day 254)
Green: 209
Bear: 19
SoBo: 4
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I felt pretty terrible the first half of this week, which I suspect was at least partially caused by the smoky air.  However, the second half of the week I started finding some of my normal energy and was able to hit the Green/Bear run on a pretty regular basis.  I know that right now I should probably be taking some more extended/focused downtime but with the onset of fall weather it's really tough for me to not get out and run up a couple of peaks every day.  I have been sure to keep the intensity very low, though, and I find that is usually the key to me staying recovered and on top of my running.