Good day at the Office: A Gorge Run

As a "bonus" for the IBM Jazz and Eclipse teams shipping our latest software releases (Rational Team Concert 1.0 and Eclipse 3.4, part of Ganymede) on time, we get to enjoy other pursuits on the Fridays in July...wahoo!

So this morning I kicked out of bed early and headed out to the Columbia River Gorge to do my last major hill repeat workout before my PCT 50 mile race (and the Micah project fundraiser).

What a great morning to be out sweating in one of the great places God created!
Visibility was awesome, the air was cool in the forest shade, some wildflowers were out and I only had to share the trail with a deer :-)

I needed a long hill (45-55 minutes) that was not too steep but steep enough. The best my friends and I know of in this area is the Pacific Crest Trail from the Herman Creek trail junction. 3.5 miles of running from the intersection to the Tea Kettle Springs: steep but runnable with about 2400 feet of climbing (960 ft up to 3360 ft) as calculated from here. This picture shows the climb from Bridge of the Gods to Wahtum Lake which includes the section I did today.

I parked the car at the trail head at 7 am and did the warm-up run to the intersection..what Ronda calls the Pain Junction :-)
Then up and down, up and down with a short break to eat and take some pictures and a movie.
The full details:

1. 26:09 (123 avg, 166 max) (warm-up)

2. 48:57 (146 avg, 156 max) (up)

3. 27:25 (124 avg, 140 max) (down)

4. 49:58 (154 avg, 170 max) (up)

5. 27:33 (133 avg, 153 max) (down)

8. 16:30 (141 avg, 167max) (down to car)
The hill repeats I went to the same spot in sight of Tea Kettle Springs. Slightly slower on the second. Really happy how I was able to relax and pump out the downhills. As well, same times for my climb checkpoints as in the past but with a lower heart rate...progress! Then 3 miles of heat running on pavement with the kids on their bikes in the late afternoon. Total for the day ~22.5 in 3:47:31 with around 4800 ft of climbing.

Here is a little movie coming to one of the great views on the trail:

Shout out to all those doing SOB 50km tomorrow...most importantly my best friend Trisha!
Also don't forget to checkout the Hardrock 100 that is going on right now...go Team Oregon!