Thursday

Well, yesterday was a solid back to work effort. 13 miles and 3500ft of vert (2:24) at the lovely Mission Trails Park. I did my 10 mile loop of 2500ft and added another little loop. One water bottle, which I put trail-side after the first big climb, was a perfect intersection for my loopiness.

These trails have very steep grades. Three of the hills were easily 30%. I have been smashed on these as recently as a couple of weeks ago. What I liked about yesterday was I was hiking more efficiently (faster, easier) and then recovering quicker as I easily got back to running (ran everything I could). So, I think it was a good day. Definitely a tough one. And along with the ascent, I got a lot of solid steep technical descents to keep me honest. The valley trail I used to get from N. Fortuna to South was brilliant. Rolling, soft, just perfect conditions.

I guess my only concern is still my feet. My left foot ankle was a little sore from all of the pounding (single track, tons of rocks, really the worst kind of run for a bad foot ankle), but my feet in general were very sore. This has been consistent on some of my long runs. My effort is holding-up (I'm not bonking despite very little fuel), but my body needs to get stronger.

Especially my feet. And it's not the shoes, since I have fixed that problem.