Week Log: June 2-8

Mon-AM: 15 miles (2:03) Coast Ridge Road out and back

Jocelyn and I started right off Highway 1 at the Ventana Inn parking lot...sweet ~3000' climb with incredible ocean views the whole way.

Tue-AM: 28 miles (4:15) Cloud Burst past Islip Saddle and back on the Angeles Crest course/PCT

Great run. I really enjoyed getting back in the mountains after so many days running through the woods. The PCT is such a great trail---this run definitely made me want to get out to AC this year; we'll see. Ran ~15min past Islip towards Mt. Baden-Powell before turning around and making the journey back up and over Mt. Williamson and through Cooper Canyon. Probably ~6000' climbing. Loved it.

PM: 4 miles (:30) Lagoon and beach in Del Mar w/ Jocelyn in the Five Fingers

Wed-AM: 11 miles (1:31) San Elijo Lagoon w/ Jocelyn

Ran nice and easy, but didn't feel good until the last 1/2 hour or so.

Thu-AM: 15 miles (2:03) Bear Creek+barefoot

Pretty lame run. I was planning a long long run today but it rained the entire day (and during the run) so I decided to hold off a day...pretty tough to get psyched about 8 hours of running in the rain.

Fri-AM: 55 miles (8:01) Garden-Manitou-Elk Park-Manitou-Intemann-Section 16 Loop-Bear Creek+barefoot. Very solid run. This is my biggest run of the Western States build-up and it went pretty well. I could feel the altitude while climbing to 12,000' at Elk Park (spending a whole week at low-altitude in CA), but the run improved as the day went on. Bonked pretty hard going up the ~1500' Section 16 climb, but it was good to do a climb like that so late in the day. Rocked the green 790s and they felt great all day. ~8000' climbing

Sat-AM: 45 miles (6:10) Buckhorn-St. Mary's Falls-Buffalo Canyon-Rosa Saddle-Frostys-Pipeline-Jones Park-Buckhorn-Bear Creek-Monument Loops+barefoot.

This run started out pretty tough...I really considering only doing 4 or 5 hours today. The climb up to Rosa from the 381 Rd was brutal! That's a sweet trail, though, and I want to get on it some more. Pretty quick way to get to 11,000'. The run seemed to get better later in the day, though, and I was psyched to put in such a big back to back. ~6000' climbing

Sun-AM: 28 miles (4:00) UPT-Cascade-Waldo-Williams-Red Mountain+barefoot

After starting out pretty sluggish (to be expected) I really started feeling solid climbing out of Cascade up and over to Waldo Canyon and then felt good enough to tack on the Red Mt climb at the end. A very cool morning with almost no sun--I wore a long sleeve most the day. ~5000' climbing.

PM: 4 miles (:33) Monument Loops

Total: 205 miles (29:06)

Another very solid week contributing to the most important phase of my training going into Western States.  I was very pleased with my ability to pull off three solid days in a row over the weekend even if I didn't feel stellar for any of them.