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Rob Flat to MB

May 19, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: nice; a little warm in El D canyon

Comments:
Woke up a bit stiff, but nothing terrible. Had a big breakfast of eggs and toast, then snagged a banana for the drive up to Rob Flat.

The plan for today was "heart rate discipline" - to keep as much of the run at/under 135 BPM, which should be quite doable on the flat/downhill sections, but...pretty much impossible on the canyon ups.

Stashed the car key behind the shitter at Rob Flat, as we'd pick it up the next day. Ran with a full fucking jet pack today, and 600 calories - not fucking around today!

SLOW going - with some light heel pain - at the beginning of the run up Little Bald. Kept it SUPZ easy on those climbs, then opened things up a bit in the downhill clearing from Little Bald to Miller's - just AWESOME TRAIL!

Because of my knee pain, I was hyper-focused on form: strong R leg push off, "high and tight" L hip drive and "lateral" landing w/the L foot. As a result, the stride felt SPECTACULAR all day. Kept very discipined with the HR, and it was surprising to see how fast we could run on the flats and keep things at 135, even unacclimitized to altitude!

Split a 41:36 to Miller's on super-conservative uphill anything. Also very conservative on the ups toward Dusty. Felt smooth on the double track, focusing on "the firecracker"; BGD was looking real smooth, too! Not a lot of convo, just very "form focused".

Had to deuce just before Dusty (not allergy-related, I don't think - just a lot of In N Out and pasta from the night before), but still split a 27:26, including.

Pucker Point was amazing! Good trail conditions and great weather. Incredible views! Conversations were sparse; I got into a "winning Western States" fantasy there, which is always fun - a daily event, truly. Again, very form-focused, with diligent monitoring of the HR.

By the time we got out of the shade, it was warming up quite a bit as we approached Last Chance. Stopped there (40:18) (and I stopped my watch) and got a half-pack water fill at the spring), then carried on.

My race focus around LC will be to run FAST/aggressive on the flats and a bit more conservative on the downs. So I pulled out front (a teeny bit) and leg a strong charge down to Pacific Slab (9:33), then a moderate descent to Swinging Bridge (12:28), but even then, the HR spiked to 140s! The heat, plus the "stress" of a fast downhill is enough to cause that - good to know.

Told BGD as we started up Devil's, "gonna keep this VERY EASY"; as that turned out, the goal was to keep my HR under 160. Just hiking, it was 150, so up we went, super-shuffling.

It was an amazing race against the HRM: how fast could we go with the HR under 160? I went into FULL yoga-breathing mode: as deep and slow as I possibly could.

For the first time(?), I ran up the whole fucking climb, in a full super-shuffle! And, save about 20 seconds, I kept it under 160BPM!! Most incredibly, we split a sub-30! SO COOL! Got to the top feeling "effortless!" A true "race day" split, indeed!

We lingered maybe a minute (no watch stopping) at the AS, before getting into the jog. Recovered the run stride quickly and got a nice "form focus" stride on the descent to the cemetery, and kept it going down to El D.

I was bit more aggressive on this descent, but was crazy-form focused: trying to get a strong landing and push-off on the R side, noting that if - even on downs - pushed off strong on the R, I could "stretch out" my R trunk (which habitually cramps) and get my L foot directly beneath me. Felt so great, and sustainable! Very low stress (seemingly) on the feet and quads, with good loading of the gluts. Hit El D in 40:19, with BGD right behind.

From there, I declared, "I CHOOSE NOT TO RUN!". The elevated HR was over - any running would assuredly spike the HR, so we hiked the whole thing. Felt a little sluggish at first, but then felt good, having some good convos on the way back up.

Hit MB in about 4:19, total. GOOD DAY. Stride felt terrific and the L knee was arguably better than yesterday!

Post-run: had some happy hour beers, got the Nintendo going, and had two dinners (salad/chicken, then brats/cauliflower). Good day, but one more big one to go...

Wore the new PI M2's, which is their stability shoe...a bit heavier, but not much. Very comfortable and solid.