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McKenzie River Trail

March 30, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s ->70

Comments:
Stayed up later than I'd like to, so I "slept in" til around 8ish. Left the house around 9ish for the hour+ drive up to the McKenzie.

The MRT is...amazing. Yet I rarely run there. The biggest reason is it's a solid hour away. However, I need to get out there more: it's SUPER runnable and a rare smooth singletrack that's challengingly winding, with only small climbs (most <100', if not <20'). In other words, it's a perfect training ground to learn how to run fast on trail. Period.

That wasn't the focus today, though - it was a long "B2B recovery" day. Wore the HRM again to enforce effort discipline.

Got to the ranger station around 1030 and was on the trail, rolling easy, at 1045. Started a bit cool, so I wore a jacket.

Ran from the finish of the MRTR 50K so I'd have a better idea of mileage. Kept it VERY easy - I was honestly hoping to keep the HR in the 130s range all day, but that wouldn't happen...

Took no water, but did take a "tube" of Trail Butter, an awesome nut butter product made in PDX. I met the owner at Hagg Lake and got a free sample. Low carb, high protein/fat, so a nice snack mid-run.

Pretty uneventful run: slowly rolled upstream, focusing on good form:

- "EEN Form" - good hip extension and arm swing
- "opening up the hips" - which became huge when the pace went down (more later)

Saw a few people, mostly hikers, and only a couple mtn bikers, which was nice (MRT is a hotbed for bikes). The weather gradually warmed to close to 70, but it was never uncomfortable.

Turned back at 1:4x; stopped for 5min to eat the nut butter, then rolled back.

The HRM is a great data source. It's noteworthy how the heart rate drifts upward, despite decreased effort! There's a couple theories on this: namely "cardiac drift", which apparently occurs due to decreasing blood volume (which I don't 100% buy, after reading Noakes' work). But what happened to ME was FATIGUE.

Out segment (6.1mi): 50:00, HR 127
Out segment (3.5mi): 28:00, HR 131
Out segment (2.6mi): 23:00, HR 132

In segment (2.6mi): 21:00, HR 135
In segment (3.5mi): 28:00, HR 143
In segment (6.1mi): 4x:??, HR 151

(incomplete last segment, stopped the watch).

The HR just kept creeping up and up. It was such a challenge to go for MAX EFFICIENCY and keep the HR down! It's like:

- Running out of gas, but trying to go as far/fast as you can (you can relate!)
- Or the teacher/lifeguard telling you NO RUNNING, yet you're trying to "speedwalk" as fast as you can.

It's a terrific training tool - exactly what I'd hoped for: the ability to monitor TRUE effort and try to moderate it with absolute efficiency.

BUT, it also has another good measure: OVERTRAINING. If you're gassed, the HR will climb up and up, despite perceived effort. And that was the case for me: I was just gassed, after literally five hard days in a row (in some respect). So I was really glad to have that data, and run accordingly EASY back in.

Pretty damn awesome 6-day stretch - I feel good about it. I felt like my mechanics rebounded after a shitty Thursday. I taped my back again today; interestingly, it was a significant challenge to keep things "open" in the low back and hips, running slow (like, 8:xxs on flats). SUPER-important!!

Post-run: hung out in the empty parking lot of the ranger station. It was SUPS nice, so literally "laid out" for a good 45mins for some "Vitamin D"!

Got back to the apt in the late afternoon (luxuriously lazy day!), but then threw down a 5-set of push-ups, abs, arm hang/leg raises, and single leg squats (another key training to fend off "Grandpa Joe"!).

Did some grocery shopping, then headed home. Had a couple beers, pretty chill day. It occurred to me that I spoke maybe 20 total words to other humans all day. Weird. Sometimes those days are OK.