altitude training

so, in preparation for the salomon xt wings challenge, i'll be needing to spend the next couple months doing long runs at various altitudes and with mostly long inclines.  that 6,000' to 14,000' climb is going to be a challenge! 

this week it was time on the pacific crest trail with lambert.  i headed up to the black mountain trailhead and met him there at 6am (that meant a wake up call of 3:30 and on the road by 4am!).  we drove up to the pct trailhead at fuller ridge and headed out.  no sooner had we started toward san jacinto when we ran into a post on the trail saying that the pct was closed because of the apache fire.  well, our plans of running up and back down were dashed.  we turned around and at 7765' started heading down the mountain toward the desert.

we cruised along for a while, moving in and out of valleys, following the contour of the range.  as we chatted away happily about running philosophy, gps technology and integrating it into websites, teaching, dogs on the trail and a myriad of other topics, i began to realize just how effortless the run was.  i occasionally looked back to realize just how far DOWN we were running.

the trail wound us down out of the heavy pine and cedar forest into chaparral forest with oak, pine and manzanita and eventually into high desert scrub complete with yucca.  we ran through the exposed burn area where four fire fighters were killed in 2006.  the trail was beautiful and we were having a great time.  after a while, we decided to turn around and after a quick look at the garmin, realized that we had dropped over 2500'.  no wonder it had been effortless!

so, we turned around and began the long climb back up to where we'd started.  along the way we spooked quite a few lizards and the occasional garter snake out sunning themselves on the rocks.  we even came across a sun baked pct through hiker.  after about three hours out on the trail, we were back at the trail head.  it was a great day out on the trail and a perfect mix of company and nature.  pop by the scth website and take a look at the pictures lambert took.