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Rob Flat to Duncan Creek to Foresthill

May 24, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s to >90?

Comments:
Pretty awesome day. EARLY wake-up, softened by a good Americano and Sausy-B as Mike drove BGD and I up to Foresthill to pick up Adam, then to Rob Flat for Day 1 of the Training Camp.

The idea today was to do the Run, with some extra credit: Duncan Canyon. So we got there early, under sunny, fairly warm conditions, and took off eastbound.

I was still pretty haggard from Wednesday's Hardesty blast, but the slow, easy, relaxed descent into Duncan was a welcome warm-up. What a beautiful day! The sun was fully out as we descended the canyon wall beneath "Duncan Peak". The trail was in solid shape: rocky, but no big wash-outs and few downed trees. It was a good 3.5-mile descent to the creek (about 1.5' deep), before we turned back. BGD led and set a solid, race-day pace on the climb, most of which we ran, until the second creek and first major switch. After those two switches, the trail leads to what becomes about a 10-12% grade, which is pretty much unrunnable on race day...unless you want to bonk, cramp, and eventually DNF. So we hiked it.

My hiking was solid - and only got better as the day progressed - and we made pretty good time to LRF, then the Flat itself. We stopped for water fill at the pump. The watch said about 8:20: a good 30+ minutes after all the runners left. A bit late. Oops.

After a quick chat with LB, we took off, catching the Safety Patrol at the top of the Little Bald ridge.

From there, it was nothing but open skies and open trails! What a blast! Outside a handful of back-of-the-packers, we had the trail to ourselves as we descended to the jeep road before Miller's. Beginning then, we began to reel in the training run pack.

It was fun to run into and past "Dr. Gordon", but...otherwise it was a bit annoying to have so many other runners around. I'm SO used to having that trail completely to myself (and, usually, BGD, or LB/Meghan, etc), even on race day, that it was a bit disconcerting to have so many other around.

Our split to Miller's was pretty solid (:45?) as well as our descent into Dusty Corners (:30?). Got some aid there: a bit of soda and a banana hunk, then pushed on. Tons of people at the AS, and just ahead.

I was feeling...so-so at this point. A little worn, a little heavy. We kept things easy and I monitored Adam's HR as we cruised along Pucker Point trail, into the periphery of last year's American Fire. There, we ran into TONS of people on the tight single track: some allowed us past, others ran along as if we weren't right on their asses. Constantly worrying about folks up front - then them reeling us in, should we slow or stop - was a little irritating.

The Pucker trail was in great shape, and the burn - only 6-8 months out - wasn't extreme. But as the years pass, it will only worsen when the snags eventually fall. The trail was in terrific shape, no doubt worked on my the WS and Americorps crew.

After we reeled in Bob Hearn, he hung along us and made our train a four-some, but we lost him again when we stopped to chat with Tropical John - a chat, of course, shortened by the pack of runners chasing us down that we'd just passed!

After that, BGD got out front of our group and pushed the pace into Last Chance. I was monitoring Adam's HR and since he was at 150 on the flat, I didn't chase after him. We kept it easy around Pucker Point and into the last horizontal canyon and clearing that precedes the road to Last Chance. TONS of people there - a fucking logjam - but we were able to sneak past.

Our Last Chance split was mediocre (mid-40s?), but we were feeling pretty good. Again, easy running and 15x HR leaving Last Chance. I was feeling worn and doing the mileage math in my head, as my leg wear accumulated. Energy was OK, despite the fact that I took nothing mid-run and only had water in the bottle.

We slowly reeled in runners en route to the Slab and had a pretty mediocre split there, but once we got on the trail? Damn, it was time to have fun!

The trail was in great shape - the whole thing graded and rebuilt, seemingly, post-fire. I couldn't help but let go and "dance" my way down! Having "Timber" in my head, thanks to BGD, helped, and - save a few times having to pass folks, fucking flew down the hill. We had more slow points after the new bridge and the open ridge, but otherwise were able to fly quickly - yet efficiently - down.

Our LC to SB split was a mediocre :24, but not bad considering the major slow-downs. From there, it was a wait to cross the rope-line across the Middle Fork. Refreshing!

From there, TONS of people going up the Thumb. We ran into Mr Roberts and Emily and hiked with them, but everyone was even hiking slow, so I powered past.

This was when I began to get a little selfish. I wanted to have some fun, and hiking slowly in a huge crowd was not fun. So I pushed it, just barely. I power-hiked 95% of the "rocky bottoms", passing several people, then, once we got to the "sandy middles", I ran maybe half of it. I started chatting to a guy wearing Pearls and found out it was Ben Zuelsdorf. I passed him, and we wound up leap-frogging each other for the next 20 miles!

I didn't have my HRM on, but the effort was VERY conservative. If anything, building ankle soreness was keeping me walking more than anything. Once on the "dick-tease" section, I hiked about half of it, jogging only the last switch to the top.

Still split a 30:20! That's awesome!! Great race day split.

At the top, I waited for BGD and Condit, only a few minutes. Once they arrived, I was a little surprised to see that BGD was feeling worn. I don't think he's actually lost fitness, but the neuromuscular/brain "preparedness" does go fast if you're not running those sorts of trails.

More super-easy running to the Pump AS, where I downed about 16oz of soda and another banana hunk. My energy was good, but I wanted to keep it that way.

We left, but the fellas were going pretty slow again, so I would pull away up front, only to slow and let them catch up. Ankles were so-so, so I was fine to keep it slow.

Still TONS of people around, sheesh! We all got onto the El D descent together and got stuck behind a foursome on the tight descent. At first, on the lighter grade, the pace was OK. I was watching Adam's HRM and seeing 140-145, so I was not too motivated to pass them. But I should have.

It was SOOO FUCKING SLOW! Honestly, it was embarassing. We were running 10 minute miles...downhill. What a waste! If it had been just me, I would've gone past, but I didn't want to push the pace and possibly blow out Adam's quads. So...we shuffled. At one point I simply started HIKING downhill, and I was able to keep up!

I'm not sure what our descent time was (Thumb to El D Bridge), but I was sure to push past those slow dickweeds for the ascent. Adam was behind me, but BGD was behind that. We hiked, but not very strongly, and I would pull away pretty easy. About midway up the canyon Adam got an energy spurt so we ran a fair amount of the climb and, once BGD caught up, I wound up drifting ahead once more, talking shoes with another random guy.

Side note: it was interesting taking in what everyone was wearing. A LOT of outrageous shit. I would say it that, on the women's side, it was like a Japanese middle school was having a field trip into the AR Canyons: tons of running skorts, high socks and arm panties, in pastel/neon colors. And "mini"-backpacks, of course!

On the guys side? TONS of Hokas. I chatted with nearly every guy who DIDN'T wear Hokas, which were few.

I summitted El D and waited for Adam, then he and I ran into the AS together. What a fun AS, with the Carol Hewitt/MB Old Skool Crew manning things! I finally introduced myself to Ann Trason (as "a coworker"). She was really nice and helpful. Got drawn into a long convo with Bruce LaBelle about my upcoming column, but pretty soon the AS split was approaching :15! I quickly said hi and happy birthday to Carol, then we bugged out.

Adam and I ran together down Gorman Ranch and walked/pow-hiked up to the top of Volcano. We ran into JB Benna again and had a good chat with him, then made our way into the canyon.

Another fun descent into Volcano. I let things go, and I was utterly shocked to find this little asian girl sticking right on my ass on the descent! I was fucking flying and there was nothing I could do to lose her! We got to the creek together and I told her, "You've got Top Ten descending skills!". She, too, said that running downs "is like dancing!". She disappeared while I waited for Adam to come, then we made our way across and up together. More hiking and slow running, then more hiking up to Bath (where we caught Asian Girl again).

The run up Bath was slow. Adam seemed like he was in race-day mode: fatigue, heavy legs, and having a hard time running very low grades. I cajoled (and ordered) him to run before he wanted to, as I could see what his HR was (a critical tool, in knowing how hard I could push him, versus him just being a pussy).

Once we got to the top, we opened things up and broke into a sub-7 pace, simply to "run normally", along FH Road. Felt good, though a little worn.

It the AS in just over 7 hours (probz 6:4x run time, had I stopped my watch at MB).

GOOD RUN. Good experience for Adam. I feel like he got a good, positive taste of the Canyons without too much physical or psychological damage. It got pretty warm, too: at least 90F, the hottest Camp run in my three years.

Post-run: did a big-time wash-out with Tecnu, drank a bunch of (diet) soda, got shit-talked by Dom Grossman (about the soda, "which causes cancer" - in two a week? - and how I "need salt, cause you have it all over your clothes!"), and otherwise hung out and chatted with folks.

I was worn, but I wanted to check in with Ian Torrence, since he invited us over, so the five of us - including Mr Roberts and Emily - headed over there to their little doublewide. Had a beer and a pretty good time, despite some rather annoying trolling by Dom. Once the "TRN" podcasters showed up, it was pretty clear it was time to go. So we left.

Fun day, capped by some great 'zza at Chicago Fire.

***
40 miles on the new Bajadas