Fri 3/13 - AM 4.5 hours run/hike

Tanque Verde peak round trip from the visitor center. In fact the whole thing took right about five hours including breaks, of which there were at least 30 minutes worth and probably a bit more. Just under 1:40 from the trail register to Juniper Basin, another 30 minutes of running to get to the peak from there. While I was prepared for the multiple false summits the rockiness of some of the upper stretches and overall curviness of the trail did start to take a toll on my nerves after an hour or so. Made a conscious effort to start steady and controlled to lessen the sting of the inevitable bonk. Quads are almost back to normal although the thudding descent did them no favors of course. Calf has been holding up better than expected the past few days. Descent was highlighted by a run in with a gila monster that was sitting across the trail when I came around a corner. Not happy to see me at all. It waddled away into the underbrush while I fumbled to get my camera which I had put away by then.

Thu 3/12 - double, 80 minutes easy

AM - 60 minutes or so, Horsefall canyon. Back up FR 356 for a second morning, only this time with a much better idea of where I was going. Various stops to check out the various derelict mine shafts in the area. Kicking myself for not bringing my headlamp. Some steep going in places, although not as steep as yesterday's run. Quad soreness is finally simmering down to a manageable degree.

PM - 20 minutes easy to Santa Rita park for stretching. Unlike previous times jogging down the street, I was actually able to move my legs without massive stiffness.

Wed 3/11 - double, 1:45 total

AM - 50 minutes easy, Horsefall canyon. Headed down the road from my rustic campsite to forest road 356, in hopes of finding relic mineshafts and tunnels. Instead I took the wrong turn at a cattle pen/windmill layout and soon found myself climbing obnoxiously steep doubletrack that seemed neverending. After various fits and starts, turned it around and headed back to take a closer look at the map for tomorrow. Quads still sore but getting better.

PM - 55 minutes, Chiricahua. Out and back to Heart of Rocks loop from the VC parking lot. Like yesterday, dealing with a closing window of daylight but not quite as pressed for time. The climb up Rhyolite Canyon just as much of an ass-kicker as I remembered it. The Heart of Rocks loop itself wasn't very runnable, which I hadn't remembered. Cool with a stiff breeze blowing. More pictures:

Tue 3/10 - double, 1:45 total

AM - 50 minutes easy, out and back to Sentinel Peak. Quads feel even worse this morning than yesterday, if that's possible. Some very tender steps at the start of this run, hoping they would come around at least a little bit. Thankfully things did improve eventually. In fact, after taking it very gingerly down off the peak I was able to pick up the pace rather substantially in the last few minutes, first faster running since Sunday morning. Obligatory photos:

PM - 55 minutes, Chiricahua. Squeezed in a run from Massai Point to Inspiration Point and back as the sun was about to set. Moving with some purpose as a result despite still moving awkwardly on stiff quads. In fact the quads no doubt contributed to rolling my left ankle on the way down the Riggs trail, bounced right back but I definitely stretched some ligaments. Finished feeling fairly spent. Obligatory photos:

Mon 3/9 - double, 75 mnutes very easy

AM - 55 minutes very easy, Saguaro NP. After a fair amount of lolligagging I made the drive across town to the Douglas Springs trailhead. Not feeling much in the way of motivation, mainly due to the truly wrecked state of the quads in both legs after yesterday. Extremely stiff and tender heading out. While the scenery on the Douglas Springs trail is always worth the visit the steep terrain and uneven footing weren't as appreciated. Originally thought I might do an out and back to Bridal Wreath falls but realized within a few minutes of starting that I was going far too slowly for that kind of thing. Instread, split off the Carrillo trail and came back on Wildhorse, which had far too many switchbacks for my liking in my current beleaguered state.

 some water in the wash

PM - 20 minutes very easy. Like yesterday, a twilight trip down the street to Santa Rita park for stretching and a modicum of core work. The morning's up and down was certainly a case of piling on, as the quads were totally fried by late afternoon. I had originally thought of going for a run on A Mountain but it would have taken two hours given how stiff the legs felt. Really, as bad as any time in recent memory, utterly useless in fact. At least they felt a little bit better on the return trip.

Sun 3/8 - double, 90 minutes total incl. 15k road race

AM - 70 minutes incl. 15k road race. A shining example of how not to do it, in manifold ways. Started with the past week's relentlessly poor sleep pattern, with anxiety induced pre-waking nearly every day and too wound up with trip preparations to even be able to take any kind of nap in the afternoons. On top of that yesterday's travel plan which had me arriving in Tucson at 9:30 and not able to think about getting to sleep until after 11. With a 4 AM wakeup call to drive across the desert to the race site. As usual sleeping on the plane a complete impossibility of course. As usual barely got any rest whatsoever and as such approached the race hoping to get through 9+ miles of hard effort on caffeine. On top of all this garbage there's the matter of my fitness not being anywhere near what it needs to be for an event of this length. So of course I went out much much too fast. While the nature of the course with the downhill first 5k results in positive splits for everyone, that doesn't adequately describe the turd I produced. To wit:

5:26.5 - gradual incline for 600m then bombs away
5:15.5
5:18.0
(16:30)
5:27.1
5:54.8
6:06.3
(34:55)
7:04.4
6:37.8
6:42.9
finish 55:52

Felt my quads turn to jelly soon after the 5k mark. The down-sloping ramp persisted until just after mile 4, then some roll until the infamous hill in the 7th mile. In fact it was a gradual grind and something I would have ate up in better circumstances. By the time I reached it was well past done of course and in full get it over with mode. While the right calf felt like it held up reasonably well to the pounding, a pleasant surprise, the right hamstring was plainly hurting by mile 5 and I could feel both sets of quads starting to turn to lead soon after it was over.

PM - 20 minutes very easy to Santa Rita park. Super slow shakeout to the park for stretching. Right hamstring and TFL feeling like absolute garbage, with the drive back across the desert to Tucson doing it no favors.

Sat 3/7 - AM 40 minutes easy

Levittown to Summerhill. Final shakeout before heading out on vacation. Not feeling especially energetic, wound up all week in preparation for the trip in fact. Calf more stiff from yesterday than I would have liked. Continued cold, of course. It'll be interesting to see how much change there is in the snowpack when I return.