3rd Annual BPL Spring Run -Zion Training Thread

I really wanted the Inov8 Trailroc 255s to work, but trying them on again today, they just are a little weird in the toe for me.

I guess I'll be sticking with the Cascadia 7s for a little longer. Might go ahead and try the Cascadia 9s when I wear them out- supposed to have a little less drop than previous models.

The Cascadias are an awesome shoe- very comfortable, I've done some long runs and a good deal of backpacking in them. Like you said Art, they really shine when miles start getting high. I just wish they had a little less stack height.

I tried the Cascadia 9's on in the store last week.
I don't have the specs yet but the stack height feels similar to the 7's.
what I do like is a change in the front that seems to make you role onto the toe much easier. These could be the most runnable Cascadias yet.

I would not waste money on the 8's,go straight to the 9's.

Craig, what size do you wear? I have a pair of size 14 cascadia 8s with plenty of life left you can have.

The last two weeks have been a mixed bag for me. Last week was a bit of a recovery week with few miles run. Got in a solid 23 mile adventure run the week before last up in the Sacramento Mtns. and Dog Canyon, my first run back here in years, with a healthy 4800' of vertical up to the turnaround. We ran the first 3K' up to the top of the rim, but hit snow from that point all the way up to the Sunspot Solar Observatory which sits at 9200'. Weather conditions were absolutely perfect, but the crusty pow took it out of us on the climb. Running down was fun and we picked up the pace where we could coming back down. I love these runs far more than any obligatory training run and feel I gain much from these experiences.

Saturday's long run was pretty ho hum, but I still got after it and felt strong for the duration.

Here are a few photographs from our Sacramento Mtns./Dog Canyon run:

*Ran this in the Inov8 Trailroc 245. I had only done a few runs in the 245's prior to this one. I really like them for technical trail, but don't see myself running anything over a 50K distance without taking an unnecessary beating on my feet. Love the outsole more than any other feature of the shoe, second would be the low weight of the shoe. They feel damn fast. For dry craggy trail like we have here in the high desert, they're just about perfect for shorter hard effort runs. I also ordered the Trailroc 255 (* are you seeing the trend here? I went a little crazy on kicks the last few weeks) thinking they would have the same feel as the 245 but with some added cushion for training miles. These will work out for longer runs on technical trail, they just don't feel, to me, up for the task of higher volume training miles even with the added midsole cushion and durable upper. For running road to trail stretches, both shoes are bearable, but not for long. I haven't found anything out there this past year as good as the Pearl Izumi Trail N1 and N2 for general running, whether that be road or trail miles.

How far do you live from those trails Eugene ?
nice looking area.

Art, this area is about 1-1.5 hr east of my town. It's borderlining that distance from home where I start feeling a little guilty about driving to a trailhead for a run. These runs aren't a weekly thing. Most of the trails I run regularly are about 10 min from my door by vehicle.

How about you guys?

I get the impression Mike M. just hops out his front door to the trailhead up there in MT. Craig and Adan seem to be fairly close to the San Gabriels, but "close" by LA standards probably means some form of vehicular commute and traffic.

Do you guys ever hit the road out your door for miles?

local training …

I live in a very suburban setting, but right next to one of the largest urban open space parks in the country (Mission Trails Park). So lots of trails 5 minutes from my house for short to medium distance runs, and there are even 3-4 hills with up to 1,000 ft of gain. However the biggest one has gotten quite popular as an outdoor gym, I'll have to post a photo of the "conga line" sometime.

For long runs, the local mountains are 45-60 minutes away (6,000 ft elevation), with 40 miles of PCT running thru them. This is where our local ultra races are, SD 100 plus 4 others a bit shorter.

I have to run a minimum of 1 mile on concrete before I hit dirt.
I do sometimes run 4-10 mile road runs with rolling elevation gain/loss to try and increase my leg turnover. Lots of 20+ trail runs with power walking can really slow the legs down.

Most of my staple runs are out the door to the trail, no car needed. My house is less than one mile from a few different entrances to the Angeles National Forest/San Gabriels. If I don't run, I usually ride my bike to the trailhead. Many of the bigger peaks require driving to the trailhead, but I can do plenty without driving if I want to.

During the week, I use 5 trails within 10 minutes drive. A steep hill climb, a fun night-running rollercoaster, a woodsy creek, and a long runnable grind overlooking the city lights. Not spectacular stuff, but enjoyable enough that i look forward to them.

However, on the weekends? Hell no, I'm driving. Exploring new mountains is what fuels my passion for running so I feel it's mandatory. Besides, I drive an hour daily to work, and to me this is just as good a reason to pony up the gas money. I feel 2-3 hours of driving is not too much to ask for something that gives me so much in return and costs nothing otherwise.

Recent firsts for me:
Baldy night-climb. Friday after work, snowy and no headlamp. 1hr driving.
Baden-Powell with Craig. 6hrs fresh powder and ridge walking. 4hrs driving.
San Gorgonio Wilderness, a new favorite camp discovered. 3hrs driving.
Off-trail traverse of Baldy group, discovered some fantastic lines. 1hr drive.

Eugene- you're spot on, most of the trails I run are out my backdoor- not sure how many miles of different trail, but it's pretty substantial and if I want to make it long I link several trails together.

One of the reasons I moved from Southeast MT to Westcentral MT

I have a 50k Fatass this weekend, I feel underprepared, but the what the hell :) I do think I'm going to incorporate a run/walk regime ala Galloway; I think I'm going to try a 7.5 min run/2.5 min walk and see how that goes.

Mike

We all seem to have it pretty damn good.

Enjoy that 50k this weekend Mike! Your plan sounds foolproof.

Mike – Re. your Fatass strategy …
do it by heart rate.
just pick a heart rate that suits your mood, however much you want to stress yourself. you either run or walk to keep the heart rate constant. this is the most efficient way to get thru it.
you don't even need a heart rate monitor if you have paid attention to your body enough to go by feel.

Art- interesting, have never paid much attention to heart rate (at least not knowingly)- I do instinctively slow down when headed up hill- I'm sure that is somewhat related to elevating heart rate as you ascend

Mike

It's been quiet around here.

Dan Carter and I made it to Silver City, NM this past Saturday to catch a gig my father's band was playing at the grand opening of a new distillery/brewery downtown-it was a great excuse to drive to the Gila for some mountain running beforehand. Luckily, Eric Payne, an occasional BPL'er and online contact of mine for several years now, relocated to Silver City with his family and was up to lead us on one of his favorite running/training routes along a section of the CDT, just a few minutes from town. Saturday's run was about 3hrs. long with a fair amnt of climbing and some ice and snow thrown in the mix, along with one healthy sun break in a clearing along a ridgeline, overlooking the entire bootheel of southern NM down into Mexico. If you're ever considering moving to NM, don't, there's nothing to see or do here. ;-)

@Mike M. Are you running The Rut again this year? Dan Carter is registered, so you guys should connect at some point. I'm still trying to drag him into doing the ZT with us in April.

I'm afraid your secret is already out Eugene.

Eugene- my wife and I very came very close to moving to Silver City, still might one of these days :) nice pics!

I may be running the Rut again, but am leaning towards the Volcanic 50 which is about the same time. You can give him my email and I can certainly try to help in anyway I can

it's been too quiet for me, I tapered last week in anticipation of running our local Fat As 50k Saturday- I bagged that idea as I was still fighting a chest viral/hackshitup thingie, the weather was calling for 25-35 mph winds w/ rain so that sealed the deal

anywho last week was pretty much a bust, feeling better (less hackingshitup) so hope to get a good long run in this weekend

MIke

had a good week and finally feel like I'm over the flu (or whatever I had)

ran two 5.5 milers early in the week, it's a park near my work so I changed at work and ran- saves me from coming home and running out of daylight- it's laid out so there is ~ 1.4 mile loops, but it's almost perfectly flat. let me run much quicker than I usually do, a little under 9 min miles, which isn't fast, but fast for me :)

got two really good back to back 10 mile runs in the mountains Sat & Sun, ran it one direction on Sat and the opposite today- almost 3000' of elevation gain on the loop (a little more on today's run)

I have to give praise to my microspikes, the trails are almost solid ice and I can run like it's dry ground- best $60 I ever spent

had another pretty good week 0/0/6/6/0/15/10 37 miles w/ close to 9000′ of elevation gain

nice run this morning w/ a light snow

Crickets indeed.

Not much to speak of here. I think I totaled around 20 this week, including some backpacking miles.

10 weeks to go. I'll start stepping it up big-time as of today. Looking forward to being out there…southwest Utah is my favorite…

What's the headcount on this?
Everything's gone pretty quiet. I'm going to get started on some finisher's tiles and would like a general number.

Nm

me (Art) and John V. are still in … especially if there's a medal at the end :-)

Training
I've moved up to 45 miles a week with a 20+ every weekend
moving very slow but at least I'm moving.

"me (Art) and John V. are still in … especially if there's a medal at the end :-)"

I actually made a Joshua Tree CRHT 2013 tile but never finished glazing/firing them in time for the run. I'd still like to get them out to everyone though; in person at Zion or shipped (if people want to pay ~$5 shipping….).

Craig – if you'll be in Zion and we'll be in Zion, a personal handoff complete with congratulatory handshake sounds like the plan.

Hi guys. Just checking in. I've been training sort of quietly and sporadically, between remodeling and other things. Been getting in 4 runs a week with about 30-40 miles total. I'm doing 3x 7-10 miles, and 1x 12-15 miles. The shorter runs include about 1500 feet of climb, with the descent being the same. Longer runs are closer to 2000 feet of elev gain.

This was feeling pretty good until the instep/arch of my left foot began bothering me just recently. The trails I've been on are very much hard pan with uneven surface and I've been running them in my Pure Grits. I don't think the shoes are giving me enough buffer on these surfaces, although I do love them in the forest and loose sandy stuff. Anyway I'm trying something with a little more support. After chatting with Eugene and reading some reviews I'm giving the Salomon Sense Mantra's a try. Found them for cheap. So far I've just hiked about 20 miles in them but I like the feel. Outsole is noticeable more substantial than the Pure Grits (and has great traction!!) but the shoes still feel really nimble. I had some Cascadia 7's for a while and they just felt too tanky. I took them back to REI (they gave me a rash of shit about it, return policy has changed FYI) after 9 months.

I've gotta see the doc about my foot, actually I have to find a new doctor now that I've moved. I'm not really sure what's up with the foot, but I have a sinking feeling it might be a little stress fracture in there somewhere. Taking it somewhat easy until I get the word.

Jacob — the Sense Mantras are good shoes, except for me the heal is too narrow (not internally but externally where the tread meets the trail). I think the Sense are designed for toe runners, and I must admit to landing on my heals a bit on the downhills.

The Pearl Izumi N2 Trail have a fairly wide heal by comparison, are fairly light weight, maybe a couple mm more drop than the Sense though. A couple of people in this thread seem to like them.

Yes the Cascadias are tanks, but one of the few shoes you can run 50+ in and your feet feel fine at the end.