Fri 3/16 - PM 45 minutes easy

Area 51. Very, very tired today. The bill came due from the travel what with jet lag and the clocks moving forward. Barely able to keep my eyes open on the trip home from work, fell into a deep sleep and from there I knew it was going to be a struggle just to get out the door. It was even more of a struggle than I thought, cut short the length of the run when I was only planning on going an hour tops to begin with. First 20 minutes were the worst, still in a fog. Some stiffness in left SI joint left over from yesterday's workout, spent some time on the ball after the run which helped. Weather continues to be gloomy, rain showers in the afternoon and cool temps overall. Makes the time spent in Arizona seem a distant memory.

Thu 3/15 - PM 65 minutes incl. 3x3k

Back on the track for LT-ish work. I felt some trepidation about doing this given lingering fatigue from the recent travel, plus of course whatever might be lingering from Monday's excursion. Lethargic and flat during the warmup, not sure at all if I'd have the energy to see it through. The modest pace of the reps certainly helped in getting the thing done, nothing awe-inspiring about the cumulative volume either but it'll have to do. Aiming to progress within each rep as well as between reps, took splits at each kilo:

1: 3:34.0 - 3:28.3 - 3:28.5 - 10:30.8
2. 3:32.7 - 3:29.3 - 3:25.5 - 10:27.5
3. 3:31.6 - 3:27.0 - 3:23.9 - 10:22.5

under control overall although I was working fairly hard on the last couple laps of the last two repeats. Some soreness in left psoas, nothing major though. Gloomy chilly overcast conditions, with a steady breeze.

Wed 3/14 - off

A long time coming I suppose. Got home late last night, got to bed even later. Made for a very tired and flat afternoon. The usual avalanche of errands after returning from a vacation as well. Top of right foot sore, but I think mainly from the pressure of shoelaces.

Tue 3/13 - AM 60 minutes very easy

Sentinel Peak, aka "A" Mountain. Last run in Tucson. Similar shorter out and back to Tumamoc Hill, not as steep or as long though. Suited me fine given what went down yesterday. Not just the enervating wilderness excursion but also the fact that I dropped my computer on the top of my right foot yesterday evening. Hopefully this will result in nothing more than a bruise but it hurt like hell when it happened. Cool  sunny morning.

 eponymous A

Catalina Mountains from Sentinel

Mon 3/12 - AM/PM 6 hour run/hike

Big loop in Saguaro NP east. Visitor center to Tanque Verde Ridge trail to Cow Head Saddle, down to Douglas Springs CG and then (eventually) back to the visitor center via Three Tanks, Carrillo, Squeeze Pen and finally, aggravatingly, the Saguaro Loop road. Looked good on paper, similar to this but in the opposite direction. turned out to be a minor ordeal the last two hours. Great views from the top at least. Climbed for a good 2.5 hours from the visitor center to the top of Tanque Verde. Took what seemed like forever to reach Juniper Basin, after passing one false summit after another. The final push to the peak was where it began to dawn on me that I maybe had bitten off more than I could chew. Also where I saw multiple mountain lion scats lying in the trail, all of them fairly old looking. Eventually made it to the summit and enjoyed the panoramic view.

What I should have done at the summit was turn back around and descend the way I came, but the opportunity to actually see Douglas Springs had an irrational pull and so I pushed on. Hoping the miles would go by a little quicker on the descent into Douglas Springs but not so much. Became clear I didn't bring enough water by this point, as the hour approached noon.

 Douglas Springs CG, finally made it, won't ever go back

Thankfully, someone had left water at the campground. In hindsight this prevented what could have been an ugly dehydration situation. Drank 48 ounces or so, which still wasn't nearly enough. Heading down from Douglas Springs, the miles got longer and longer, once back on the bajada they felt longer still. With minimal knee lift I knew a stumble was probably inevitable and sure enough, face planted and scraped up my hand. Not surprised or really that perturbed by then. Walking breaks became more frequent and longer, by the time I got to the lower "easy" trails I'd had just about enough. The final indignity was slogging along the meandering and rolling (mostly uphill) Saguaro loop road, which I came to despise with a passion. Mostly walking by this point, not really by choice. Cursing my poor judgment and trying to avoid becoming a statistic. At long last, the end was reached and many, many ounces of water, gatorade and even pepsi were consumed. Over a gallon of fluid in fact, which my body absorbed like a sponge. Set a new PR for amount of dried salt on my skin and clothes, in addition legs streaked with yellow from some plant I was brushing up against. Didn't bring enough food, enough water, didn't start early enough. Despite all that, worth it for the first 3 hours of mostly climbing and the lesson learned.

Sun 3/11 - AM 95 minutes, trail race

Out and back lollipop loop in Mesquite canyon. The past two days aren't exactly the best prep for putting it on the line, but I suppose it's more about the experience. Overall a decent one, the course included much of the trail I did yesterday. Thankfully not the part of Ford Canyon with the white tank. Ran alone most of the way, although a kid who looked no older than 15 (in fact he was 14) was feeling frisky early on and dogged me until we started climbing up the Mesquite canyon trail. The climbing suited me fine as well as the more gradual sections of descent. Got a little tired and frustrated with the curvy nonsense of the trail in the last mile (which was also the first mile, in the opposite direction), but at least it was flat. Minimal warmup and even less cooldown, took a shower in the campground next door to the post-race feed where I was staying and hit the road soon after that. Overall a mellow, low key experience, somewhat similar to the race in Glenwood Springs last summer in terms of field size and strength but with a refreshing lack of pretension from the race organizers. Some cloud cover at times, temps relatively cool with the easterly breeze kicking up again as the morning wore on.

Sat 3/10 - double, 2 hours total

White Tank trails. Up Ford Canyon to Mesquite Canyon, back on Waddell. At times sublime, at times ridiculous, but always scenic. Unsure as to what exactly the course layout is for tomorrow's race, eventually it became clear I was running part of it along the Mesquite Canyon trail. The ascent up Ford Canyon took me up one of the eponymous tanks, with the granite scoured of its weathering rind by annual flash floods.

 trail is in lower left corner

 trail = streambed

 standing atop abandoned dam

Finally the trail left the streambed and climbed through higher desert country, more grass less cactus:

 a dry wash runs through it

The Mesquite Canyon trail was quite impressive, long sweeping arcs hugging the edge of the drainage. The four shots show a length of the trail, from right to left:

This is most definitely not like the trails back home. The descent was smooth and gradual at first, got a little obnoxious further down as it became steeper with tight switchbacks. Final 15 minutes a slog along the bajada, where the trail curves back and forth pointlessly.

PM - 10 minutes,  plus drills and strides. The length may be pushing it as I jogged a few hundred meters down the road, did the drills, and jogged back to stretch. Quads not as destroyed as perhaps they should be after all the descending this morning.