Training Log Archive: Trav

treadmill tempo. 1.5%. Started at 6mph, increasing by .1mph until 9mph, then steady at that speed until i'd run 5 mles.

Hill tabatas and weights.

Great SMT with Sudden and Anvil. Trix agreed to tag along. Just beautiful in the valley this morning.

three full artawhoops with Trix, who now knows enough to wait for me half way up. This gives her time to just sniff stuff. And sometimes a dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do.

Good TnT with lots of folks, but I didn't have the sparkle in my stride. 1,2,3,4,3,2,1

Sunday morning burner. In preparation for the annual 10k test. Got to the top of K2 and heard hammering. Someone was hammering out here? What the...and then I had to stop and watch a piliated woodpecker for a few minutes. Magnificent bird. Then on with the burner.

Totally gorgeous run around the valley along the classic SMT route with Katey Mac and Super. Supe pushed the pace a bit along the spine of the whale backs on account of how that's always the best and most enjoyable part of the run.

Hills! Back to Artaban with Trix.

Much better intervals with Turbo, Hammer and Christine. Sassafras out and backs. I like those. Super pretty out there.

C • always thought super pretty too! 6

Slowly ramping it up again.

Brisk hike with Balogna and Trix to Tiffany Falls. Realized from yesterday that I still needed a bit of rest. So this was most pleasant.

Heavy legged run with Katey Mac and the animals. Clearly I have some further recovery to do. Turdo managed to join us for the last 300 meters.

Back to gym. Still no snap. But good to push some weights.

Nice cruise in the valley with Trix. Legs and lungs are coming back. Way better than Tuesday.

Princess Point loops. Tough after a long flight.

After arriving at camp, situated across from the monumental ruins of Llactapata, we sorted our race kits, ate a hearty dinner and went straight to our tent. Wake up was promised for 2am and they did not disappoint.

The reason for the early rousting was the 4am start necessitated by the need to get the slowest runners/walkers in before dark. So Andes adventures had set up a hearty porridge and bread breakfast in the dead of night. We ate under a clear sky, full of the Milky Way and the southern cross.

At 3:35, headLights on, we started the 1k hike to meet the Inca Trail and the official start line. At 4am, as promised, we were off. My plan was to either be at the front or stay close to the front runners and so I trotted off with the two Danes, Thue and Frank. It almost immediately became clear that this was going to be a race amongst the three of us.

It’s actually 30k from our start point to Machu Picchu, and that was the route Joany had chosen. To get the marathoners to the required 42.2k, Devi, the race organizer had added a 6k out and back that went up an old clay path about 3000 feet to a turn around.

So after a cruisy 3k along the Cusichaca river, we split left and began to climb. Thue and Frank were running together and had decided to go hard from the get go. Since we were at 8700 feet already and this was promising to be a long day, I settled back a notch and watched their headlights fade up the trail.

Running hard uphill in the dark was surprisingly enjoyable--cool and silent and vaguely otherworldly. Now and then I'd see the Danish headlights bobbing above me until, after about an hour of climbing, I realized that I was only seeing one light. The Danes, it seems, had separated. I sped up just a nudge and soon caught Thue, who had just come to the understanding that he may have gone out too hard.

And then Frank whipped by us from above, having hit the turn around point. Five minutes later, Thue and I hit the turn around and I decided to test his descending speeds. It was just getting light and so I was able to put my headlight away and concentrate on descending. It was a whole lot like going down K2—for half an hour. But what fun; easily one of the great running descents of my life, made all the more enjoyable by the well wishes of all of the other runners still on their way up.

Just as soon as the decent was over the next, and hardest, climb began. This 4000 foot ascent was on the inca trail proper, which is almost entirely paved by flat stone. Which meant steps. Thousands of steps with irregular rises. The most amazing thing.

I felt surprisingly good and, though not able to run exactly, was able to make some distance on Thue, about 10 minutes back. The climb went through cloud forest and then passed the tree line. The view opened up to the Cordillera Urubamba. Stunning. It was a huge relief to get to the 13,779 foot pass and begin the descent.

I hadn't really noticed many people on the way up, but on the way down, I began to encounter hikers. They were easily enough avoided, but the trail is actually populated two porters for every person walking. At first I thought I'd have trouble getting past the porters, but was quickly put in my place. Even carrying 50 pound packs, these little guys could go down as fast or faster than I could with no pack and in full race mode. It was like watching water fall down hill. They just scampered down the stone steps.

At one point, I had four behind me. Like right behind me. I motioned to let them past, but that wasn't their idea of fun. They wanted to see what I could do. And so pounded down the thousands of steps on the back side of dead woman's pass with four porters (one with a lawn chair strapped to his pack) on my heels chatting and laughing and just plain enjoying themselves. Such a display of athletic ease. Such a blast to be part of.

Once down to 11,880 feet, it was immediately back up, this time to Runkurakay Pass. This was a bit more of a slog, but not as long. At the top, the hard climbing was done and so I began again with the stairs. From here, though, the steps were narrow and steep. Pretty much just enough for half a foot. Any kind of fall would have made for a really bad day. But I had learned a few things from the porters (in my mind)and had begun to feel comfortable. So I just zoned out and went down to where there was supposed to a checkpoint.

I got to the camp where the aid station most certainly was, but spaced and ran through it. When I realized I was on the down side of camp, I looked back and saw Frank, of all people, about 50 meters back. I waved, and he came running over, looking a bit messed up. I asked how he got behind me and he said that I had passed him on the descent. He asked where the aid station was, having also missed it. I said it had to be back thataway a bit, but that I had enough water and food and was just going to continue on.

He thought about it for few seconds and then fell in behind me. Hey, cool, we had maybe 12k to go, most of it downhill and so things were looking good. I dropped Frank a few times on the descents, but he kept fighting back. With about 7k left, we rounded some ceremonial Inca baths and I caught sight of Joany, lightly dancing down the steps looking like she was having the time of her life. Joany! How cool. To be there, then, in those circumstances in the middle of an epic (for me) two hour running duel and whistling past Joany was a superb moment.

I poured it on, hoping to finally crack Frank, only to hear him pounding down on me from above. And then from one moment to the next I ran out of gas. In one last attempt at maintaining control of the situation I called “truce?” truce, said Frank. And so we slowed and ran cordially together until the last checkpoint at Winay Wayna.

But Frank was clearly stronger, and pushing a pace I could no longer maintain. We stopped to take a whiz. He finished before I did and trotted down the trail. By the time I was running again, he was gone. Fair game. I was totally happy with my run and would now just do what I could to get it done. I was ready to for the run to end.

Until now, I had kept my watch from showing time. I just didn't want that affecting the day. But as I approached the Sun Gate 2k from and 850 feet above the Machu Picchu ruins, I was curious. I had had the notion that finishing under 8 hours would be cool and I wondered how I was doing. I flicked my Garmin to elapsed time. 7:42. I had 18 minutes left.

Although I knew what I had to do, the view of the ruins and the sheer mountains beyond from the Sun Gate is truly one of the most splendid on this earth, and so I paused for a moment to be overwhelmed by it. The reveal, physically exhausted as I was, made for a jolt of pure joy.

Ah, but to business. I stumbled and lurched down the steps as best I could, gently pushing by the growing hoards of walkers coming up from the ruins to the Sun Gate. To my relief, because I was seriously wasted, the finish came sooner than I thought as I suddenly saw our group standing off to one side waving me over.

8 minutes later Joany finished looking as fresh and delightful as if she had been out for a walk in the woods. What a day.

C • Thanks for the great story! 8

Good brisk hike from km 82 to km 88 to probably the most spectacular we've ever been at. And we've been at a few.

Hotel core

Run down a spectacular canyon lined with salt ponds and dropping us into the sacred valley of the incas. This place is pretty damn cool.

Acclimatization run above cusco. Ruins and ancient pathways. Pretty amazing place.

super chill smt with Anvil and Turdo. Woods are in tip top shape. Quick rain last night, pleasant sunny temps this morning. Perfect.