View Workout (Joe Uhan)

Return to Log

"Eula Constitutional" with Nate and Alexis

April 1, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mid 50s, like perfect!

Comments:
Day 2 of skipping my SCS class, and this run completely made it worth it. Woke up early-ish, had a Picky Bar and coffee, then picked up Alexis and met Nate at the Hardesty TH for the run. The "Eula Constitutional" is South Willamette + Eula trail to the Hardesty summit (the triangle), which is about 10ish miles to the summit (whereas the proper Constitutional is only 5 to the summit, straight up Hardesty trail).

Alexis led, which kept things super-chill. She was a little slow on the downs, but I didn't make a stink about it. For the first 2+ hours, Nate and I spent time chewing on all things WSER which, for me, makes the time fly by!

South Willamette felt really good, and Eula was SUPER-easy: it seemed that Alexis was pretty tired from a couple big days of skiing, but - as it later turned out - I think she was dreading the idea of going up Eagles Rest, which we were NOT doing. So...there was some "death marching" going on.

Summitted Hardesty in just under 2.5hr (super-relaxed). I popped some 2013-vintage Gu CHOMPS (back when they were still called CHOMPS) for a little rest, then we kept on. I was feeling good.

Nate then led, and before long, we were strung out! The kid can just fly the downs. Along the way, he'd slow a bit, knowing that Alexis was off the back-end. We stopped at the Lost Creek junction, then at the creek-spring itself before bombing down Lost Creek, which I led.

Finally, nearly at the bottom, this is where we mostly parted ways, and when Alexis realized we weren't summiting Eagles! I was going to give it a push on the road, and we simply made plans to reconvene back at the cars.

Once on the dirtroad, I gave it a proper push. Not super-hard, but just quick, and strong-striding. My watch said I was getting into low-to-mid-5s, but - around midway - it suddenly malfunctioned, or said I was running mid-7s! Ummmm, no. So I kept hammering, not sure what I was running. My glutes were really burning on this, and - surprisingly - the foot was OK! Thanks, Sense Ultras!

Hit the TH at 16:35! WOAH. Crazy-fast! From there, I popped one more pouch of chomps (a 2016 vintage, so they're now "chews") then just ran "medium" back to the parking lot. I thought that'd get me some faster paces, but the downed logs and mud kept the split slow.

GREAT RUN. Felt very strong. Other than the road push, very little strenuous effort. CLUTCH run.

Nate and Alexis came in several minutes later, then we drove back into town - after running into Mike, who was "setting a route" for a wilderness hash! Lolz.

Right now, the fitness is as legit as it's been in a lonnnng time. It's better than pre-Waldo 2014, and nearly as good as pre-Sonoma '13. The only missing link I can see is uphill top speed-strength. I'm about a 62-minute Hardesty summit away from being in '13 fitness.

Rest of the day
- home to eat gigantic breakfast croissants
- chilled out - napped
- went to Thornton's to watch the Ducks [play and] lose a heartbreaker
- home

Excited for CA to finally get home!