changed) and Spooner Summit. (Funny - Spooner Summit was the lowest point of the run.) This is part of the trail that the Tahoe Rim Trail ultramarathon will me on in a few weeks, and I definitely wasn't the only one out for a training run up there. Saw a big group of 5 going the opposite direction that I was, and got passed by another guy while I was dumping stuff out of my shoes. (Note to self: gaiters.) (Another parenthetical comment: Sorry about the crap map. Go to the Garmin Connect page for this run and you can zoom in and stuff. I hope Garmin blog-friendlies their software pretty soon...)The last couple of times I've run this route, I've done it with my friend Chris. Chris is fast. He takes it easy on me, but I still push myself too hard trying to keep him in view/not embarrass myself. Today I got to run my own pace, which you can see here:
My trail running system is: walk the uphills, jog the flats, let it out on the downhills if I feel like it. It worked great today. Only felt the altitude (up to 9000 feet) on the uphills, when I was working hard even for a fast walk. Kept it to 10-12 minute miles for the first nine miles or so, including camera breaks (those big spikes on the pace line.) Slowed a bit on the big uphill section in the middle, but sped up again coasting down to Spooner. I think I'll stick with that plan for the race up there.
A few photos for the day:
Starting at Mt. Rose Meadows... Sorry, Tahoe Meadows. Six AM, a little chilly and windy, but that soon went away.
Still early season up there, and some snow left around. Most of the patches were like this, just a couple of careful steps over, but there was one later on that I got lost on and had to tromp around in the scrub to find the trail again...
There was one set of deer tracks along the whole first half of the trail this morning. Couldn't possibly have been the same deer all the way, but it kind of made me smile to think I was chasing a deer along the trail.
This could be one of my favorite places in the world. Click to enlarge, it's worth it. Marlette Lake in the foreground, Tahoe in the background.
Just another beautiful section of trail...
Oh, shoe report. First trail run with the Asics 2120 trail shoes. They performed just fine. I can't really rave about them; nothing special, but neither can I find any fault with them. Pretty solid. I did get a whole bunch of crap down inside them, so I think I'll augment them with gaiters, but outside that, they're good shoes.
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1 comment:
This is also one of my absolute favorite hike/runs! I recognize those photos, for sure. :) How was the snow up there? I saw some in your photos, but it definitely gets hard to run through in spots when it's covered... Thanks for sharing these pics! They are awesome enlarged.
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