Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tiger "Dantes Inferno" Run

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I’m not complaining about the heat but as I was running long this weekend I thought, “who’s cooking bacon way out here in the woods”, then realized it was just me being cooked.

Being a melanin deficient Icelander I have learned to cover every exposed inch of my skin with sunscreen. Now if I could just swallow about a gallon of ice cubes before a run to keep my core temperature down I’d have it made.

I suppose choosing to do a 34-mile run on one of the hottest weekends we've had could make some folks question my sanity. I’ll defend my mental state by saying that it hardly ever gets past 90 here on the Western side of the state. It was 93 degrees when I made it back to my car.

The day started with me meeting Lesa a local runner training for one of the more difficult 50 milers in the country, White River. Lesa followed me to a trailhead at the turnaround for the 12 summits run on Tiger Mt. and we dropped supplies and her car. We headed up to the trailhead at the start and met tc, Shawn, and Jess.

Lesa and I started out in the lead, which lasted about 1/3 of the way up the first steep climb when tc and Shawn passed us. We could see Jess behind us so we kept climbing. Tc and Shawn soon were out of sight and Jess was nowhere to be seen behind us. When we made it to the first summit tc and Shawn were waiting for us. Shawn being a very giving person was busy sharing her blood with the local mosquitoes

We waited for Jess but she was nowhere to be seen. Tc decided to head back down to see how she was doing. He ended up having to venture down the trail much further than he had anticipated finding Jess feeling like crap. She made it to the top of the first summit but wisely called it a day and headed back the three miles to her car.

The four of us headed out from Tiger 3 to Tiger 2. Shawn and tc were again way out ahead of Lesa and I and ended up waiting for us again at the top of Tiger 2. At that point tc and Shawn decided to go on ahead and not stick together. This was Lesa’s first attempt at 12 summits and we were running and climbing at a moderate pace to save energy.

Having the nickname Trail Scat I need to report that we saw numerous bear droppings on the gravel road that leads up the south side of East Tiger Mt. I am providing photographic verification that bears do poop in the woods.

Although we started a 6:00AM it started to get warm in a hurry. I think the average temperature during the first half was probably 75 plus. That’s much warmer than we were used to so we started feeling it, especially on the climbs. Lesa was strong but tired by the time we made the half way point in 5 hours. She decided to stop at 6 summits and drive home.

I fueled, watered up, and headed out for the second half. I may have made a wrong turn somewhere along the line because I seemed to have hit the “Dante’s Inferno” trail on all the big climbs. Long story short I managed to complete the second half in another 5 hours for a total of 10 hours of running for the day. I’ll admit to being very woozy when I stopped running.

I changed my clothes and headed directly to the nearest Starbucks for a Venti black iced tea. In fact I ordered two of them thinking I’d drink them both on my drive home.

All in all it was a great training run that gave me some great heat exposure. Next week it will probably snow.

16 comments:

Leslie said...

We ALL poop in the woods, Trail Scat!! Are you sure it wasn't sasquatch scatt??

It sounds like you are totally on track for the Death Race. You have lots of big ups and downs under your training belt this past month! That's good. Practice your "Death March". Some call it a Power Walk, but I call it the Death March. And it's Death Race, right?

Hope all is well!

Journey to a Centum said...

Leslie - I'm thinking the "Death March" will be in my racing arsenal when I hit the Death Race course. They have Molsen and Labatts Blue at the aid stations don't they?

wendy said...

hey! Glad you finished up. Eric S. was asking me today how you held up with the heat, but I wasn't sure what your run plan was for this past weekend.

gotta love the PNW wx we have!

Anonymous said...

Your mental state is well documented as far as I am concerned Eric.

You may wonder about mine. I had the sound turned down low on my lap top. The birds in your sound track sounded for all the world like they were coming from my ac vents. For a moment there I actually thought there were birds in the attic.

Sounds like you guys have a big running weekend ahead.

Laura H said...

Ha - I kept thinking the same thing about those darn birds. I put my head down near my computer so I could verify it (did I think to turn the volume down - noooo!).

Nice work on your training. I hear the training run at WR next week might include some snow, so Lesa may have been smart to Tiger.

aquaasho said...

10 hour training run - savage stuff Eric!

Steve S said...

I think the monkey is a little to cute for a Mad Monkey. But I recognize you have your soft sensitive side as well. I doubt the Death Race will be any tougher that 12 summits in the heat.

Darrell said...

That's quite a load of crap.

What better way to enjoy the PNW version of a heat wave.

Unknown said...

I was thinking the same thing as Steve. That's no mad monkey! That's a soft furry little play toy. Only 30 more days until Death will be staring you in the face.

Gotta Run..... said...

question your sanity.... NEVER!!!! it is every one else that is crazy :)

Two starbucks coffee... now that would have me jumping out of my skin.

Olga said...

You call it heat training? You need to head out to Death Valley to train for Death Race - and then never have a Death March out on the course! OK, I can't wait for you to actually get you butt over there to tell us details about this Canadian gem:)

Sarah said...

Tough run! Glad you survived the heat. : )

Journey to a Centum said...

Wendy - I stayed standing if that's holding up in the heat!

Craig - Birds in the belfrey? I've taken a liking to the birds singing in the background.

Laura - I'm heading up to Corral Pass on Saturday before the official training run on Sunday. I'm going to report back to Lesa about the snow conditions.

Aisling - Savage, I like that! Nice work at the Euro trail runs!

Steve aka Putz - The monkey is a little too cute. We should have a monkey barbeque and take care of that problem!

Darrell - Yes that was a big load even for a bear! So are most of my stories.

Rob - I accept that death is an unavoidable certainty. Running the Death race is my way of cramming as much living into my life as possible before I reach the finish line they call death.

Robin - You sound like a coffee wimp! Cowgirl up and drink a quad shot tall soy mocha with whip! That should have you bouncng off the walls!

Olga - I hope that some day I'll be able to crew and pace for a runner at Badwater. I don't have any aspirations to run it myself.

Sarah - I can pay now or pay later at the Death Race. I'd rather work hard now and reduce the brutality later.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've got some blog reading and responding to do.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

It was a hot weekend! Can't believe you guys were out there hitting the summits.

Now that you've solved the mystery of whether or not bears poop in the woods, my next pressing question is. . . . did you down both iced teas? :)

Journey to a Centum said...

Annette - About 7/8ths of one of the ice teas made it home. Michelle finished it off for me.

Meghan said...

Well, we all know that bears poop in the woods. The real question is, when a bear poops in the woods and no one is around, does it still make a plopping noise as it hits the ground?

Man alive, you are doing some seriously tough training this year. Methinks you're not gonna have a death march at all up there in Canada, eh.

Nice job, Eric!

Meghan