What a great 16 miles on the Hill of Life today. Lynn and I met Tom at 6:00 AM at the top of the Hill of Life, temperature at that time in the 70's with high humidity, but it felt great. By the time we were done the temperature was in the 90's, but with great hydration the heat was no big deal. After the run we went down to Barton Springs and joined the people and the dogs in the spring to get cooled off and cleaned up. A great day.
During the run we saw the two guys who are training for the Mt. Whitney climb, and the guy who is training to climb the Grand Tetons in Wyoming and then do the rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon. We also met two guys, Andrew and Chris, who are training for their first Pikes Peak ascent. Met a young lady who is from Colorado who was biking the trail, she said she didn't take up biking until she got down here to Austin.
Our heart rates today were behaving very well with mine running 155 on the first 1/4 mile of the ascent and 145 to 149 during the rest of the ascent. I enhanced the electrolytes with the Nuuns tablets added to my sports drink. On the descent we have really picked it up over the last few weeks as our footing and pace have been feeling easy and smooth. In the past our descent was typically 5min 15sec but today on the last 8 descents our times were running from 4:09 (the last descent) to 4:12, 4:15, 4:32, 4:38, 4:39, 4:40, 4:42. Just a really nice workout where we felt strong the entire workout and walked away still very confident about our training.
Next week is the big one, 26 miles starting at Barton Springs Pool 7.5 miles up the greenbelt to the top of the Hill of Life, then finish 12 HOL, then return back to Barton Springs Pool.. That is going to be a great workout. | 