What. A. Great. Day.
Todd Morse Tucker and I connected for a lap around Tiger Mountain and the fall colors were BLAZING. Not only was it a visual treat, the trail surface was freaking ideal! It had rained the night before and the some the day before but not this day so everything was spongy, grippy but not slick.
The only hiccough was I said let's start at 7 and boy was it still really, really dark at 7... so we sat in the car until 7:15 and then took off.
The first hill always is tough and after jogging a few blocks to get out of Issaquah you go UP. We were all until we hit the hill and then as usual there was silence for next five minutes. :)
I started off feeling like dirt. Nothing like a few drinks [And Jell-O shots! It has been ages since I tried one of those] the night before and not much sleep to make you want to bust it up a mountain. I just tried to get stuck in and enjoy the scenery because the scenery was amazing.
Slowly I started to come around. By the time we hit the wall leading up to the second summit I was finally feeling much better and actually tried to run the last 100 kinda quick.
Up here it was blowing hard and the summit was socked in so with not much to see and not wanting to flirt with hypothermia we gulped a gel and scooted back into the woods. And the trails just kept getting better. This section is a lot of fun it did not disappoint today. We were bounding down over beds of pine needles and the traction was perfect. At one point I was just telling Todd to watch out as there were some tricky sections coming up when this guy - with earbuds firmly inserted - appears out of the overgrown trail coming up at us. I had just turned my head back around from talking to Todd and was kind of startled but this guy almost jumped out of his skin he was so surprised to see someone. We all had a good laugh.
I kept feeling better and better as we ran and had to ease up a bit for Todd on the last couple of risers. I also let myself go on one descent to see how it felt and it felt super! I was doing my best to keep the cadence up and for once I felt like my legs were handling the impact with no problems. Note to self - train descents in addition to ascents. It helps.
On the climb I felt slightly overdressed but then at the top I was glad I had two layers on. Incredibly, as we neared the car the sun came out and the sky turned blue but I was still fine. Better safe than sorry I suppose when it comes to clothing. I also made a concerted attempt to take small sips from my bottles all the time and almost managed to finish them both. I think that's a good habit to continue. I had one gel half way up, one at the top and one half way down. I recall needing two at the top once when I pushed myself but not today.
Our time was not fast by any means but it was such an enjoyable run overall and I had no agenda so it was all good. And I have never felt that comfortable on the last mile as today. That alone was almost worth it.
I have been lacing my shoes looser lately to see if it helps or if it makes a difference and today in spite of the descents it was fine. Good to know I don't have to reef them down.
| Sleep | 5 |
| Waking HR | |
| Body Weight | |
| Body Fat | |
| Breakfast | 6:00 AM - banana, Clif Bar |
| Lunch | |
| Dinner | |
| Workout Food | 2 bottles each w/1 scoop HEED and 1 tablet Nuun, 3 gels |
| Injuries | |
| Therapy | |
| Time of Day | 7:15 AM |
| Workout Type | endurance |
| Weather | low 40s to 50, partly cloudy, sun at the end, dry ski, damp trails |
| Course | |
| Results | |
| Time | |
| Distance | |
| Pace | |
| Equipment | Brooks Cascadia 7 |
| Clothing | Brooks Infinity Short III, Craft short sleeve undershirt, Patagonia Merino 1 Silkweight Crew, Patagonia gloves |
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