Weekend Triple

Short story: I did three training runs this weekend.
1. About 3 hours of the start of the CCC100 course (12 miles).
2. One lap at the Lake Youngs Fund Run (9.6 miles).
3. The 2nd half the White River 50 miler (23 miles).
44.6 miles, more than my usual week.

1. We were out the door at 3:45 AM and at the start of CCC100 at about 5:00, just after it started to get light. We went out at an easy pace, Shawn was reminiscing about NB2V because we were on that trail. We quickly turned off the J.W. Trail and headed towards Goat Peak. Where did all these side trails come from? I don't remember a lot of these details from last year but I'm sure they were there. After 3 turns, we had to make some tough decisions on which path or trail to take. or
Luckily we only made 1 wrong turn and it was a Dead-End after a couple hundred yards of climbing. After seeing this sign we knew we were not lost.
Shawn and I took turns leading up the hill and beating back the spiderwebs. She decided to stop and go fishing. Maybe she thought she could catch some Trout with all those spiders. ;-) We paused a couple of times to take in the views, but we were still going a lot faster than on race day. We stopped just past the top after about 1:44 and after admiring the amazing views for 8 minutes we took off back down to the car. We didn't see any wildlife but did see some evidence that they weren't far. This was at least a few hours old so I'm sure the bear that made it is not still hanging around.
My original rough plan was 2 hours up and 1 hour down. Well this isn't the best trail for sub 8:00 m/m running so I was worried about being able to make it back to the car in under an hour. There's schlag, and hairpin turn switch backs and my personal favorite the rut you're forced to run in that's only 4" wide that is made from dirt bikes. None of these things are a factor then traveling up the hill at 3 to 4 mph, but that last one can really be tough on my ankles a high speed. And it was today. But it turned out that my estimate was right on and we finished in 2:51. After a quick break I drove down to Lake Youngs. I would have liked to have gone another mile farther but that will have to be another day.

2. We got to Tc's race right about 9:00. Everybody else had started at 5:00, 6:00, of 7:00 AM. After signing in, refueling, and a quick pit stop the 3 of us were off. I decided to go Clockwise because it has been over 9 months since I've gone that direction. Plus since today was a climbing day I wanted to finish with a climb. Right as we turned on to the trail there were 2 bucks right on the other side of the fence. Of course with Shela along they quickly stepped into the tall brush. We started out at a pace of 8:15 to 8:25 m/m which I thought was not prudent considering the run tomorrow but it felt go was we kept it. Since we were only doing one lap I used any excuse I could think of to run up the hills. We ended up running all or most of every hill. We did stop and talk to other runners half a dozen times but that was OK. We missed the prerace chatting so we had to at least say hi. Just as we had a mile to go another buck was walking down the dirt road right next to the fence. I held my camera over it but missed him, and missed him again, and .. Oh there he is. As we got closer he too stepped into the brush, darn Shela. I guess she looks too much like a predatorWow 3 bucks, and they were so bold and unafraid. Both times there was a walker (without a dog) right across the fence them. It's not the usual behavior around here. And off we go again. One climb left. I walked a couple of steps in the beginning and quickly changed to a jog. Dang that's a tough hill. Panting and sweating heavily we rounded the corner and coasted to the end in 1:42. That's not bad considering all the stopping and the 3000 foot climb already under our belt for the day. After a few minutes of chatting and waiting around for Van, I was off for a nice cold bath.

3.I needed another 4 or 5 hours of sleep, at least, when the 6:00 am alarm went off. But I had to meet up with Shawn and Van for a carpool down to the White River course. After Scott, the organizer of the race, gave his briefing we all headed out at about 9:00 am. That's pretty late for me to be starting a run but it's better than running it by myself. Some how I got up near the front of the fast pack and did the first section, Skookum Flats, at a brisk pace. After that I decided to take it a bit slower and save some for later in the day. After passing the airfield there's a climb lasts for about 7 miles. There are a few dips and very short downhills but for the rest it's up up and up. We were unlucky with the weather today. It was a bit cloudy so the long exposed climbs were easy, normally they're very hot. I like it hot, but for others this was a relief. The clouds also covered Mt. Rainer so this was about all the scenery we had. After 4 or 5 false summits we finally start to go down for real. What a relief. Time for me to stretch my legs. At the bottom of this section we cross a road. This is where Scott set up an A/S. We stopped and had a snack and chat and after 5 minutes we ran on, up to Suntop. It's only 3/4 of a mile back to the top. I pretty much ran this whole section. And right at the top Glenn was there taking photo's. Then back down 1/2 mile back to Scott and his roadside A/S. Again we took forever, 6 minutes. But I got some great trail shoe advice. And now for one of my favorite parts of the day, actually it already started 1/2 mile ago. 6.8 miles of downhill running. I love to be able to do a 7:00 m/m with no effort. With a little effort I took it down to a 6 m/m and at one point I looked down and my trusty watch said 5:14 m/m. That was where I decided this is too fast and slowed down. Most of the time I kept it down to around 6:25 m/m. Shela always lags behind at this point, she doesn't like to go faster than 7 to 7:30 depending on how far we're going. I guess she was getting tired. Shawn was running at the same pace I was but she was having to work a little harder. I guess her stride is a bit shorter than mine. We passed 1 runner near the bottom like he was standing still. I'm sure he was thinking, where the /heck/ did they come from. Once at the bottom there is a flat section that seems like it was 2 miles but I know it's not. We slowed down to about an 8 m/m and cruised to the end. I was surprised to see that my training run of 27 miles ended up to be 23 miles. I guess something has changed since they came up with that mileage. After getting some cold water and a coffee we went and sat in the White River which was more brown than white. On the ride home half the car slept.

Hopefully I will be moving enough to get some training in during this next week. My hamstrings are still tight from Seafair and after this weekend I'm sure they will be joined by every muscle below the waste and some above it.