Pikes

Didn't even get a new Grid slot for this one. Must be training for something.

Started at 6:34 am. With Bill W.

Wore my Nathan pack (wind shell, balaclava, gloves, empty water bottle, space blanket, etc), carried a hand bottle, and tied a shirt and pants around my waist. Had planned to leave the pants behind, but the forecast for the summit had a 40% chance of snow in the morning, winds above 20 mph, and a high for the day in the upper 30s. Turned out to be quite nice up there. Cool, clear, and just a little breezy. Never made any clothing adjustments, going up and down in shorts and a t-shirt.

From the start, my goal was to run more than my trip two weeks ago. I started out a few minutes ahead of Bill. For sure, having Bill out there had me working harder than I would have otherwise. Ran much of the W's. I was working pretty hard here and was sweating profusely. I started taking S-Caps and Endurolytes and Shot Bloks early on.

Bill caught me right around the No Name Creek aid station and went by. On some steeper bits just past here, I lost about 30-45 seconds to Bill as I walked a bit. But I eventually got back to running and mostly kept Bill in sight until maybe five minutes below Barr where I walked a few sections again. I'd worked pretty hard to Barr and got there about 11.5 minutes faster than two weeks ago. Stopped to quickly fill/treat my bottle at Barr.

Between Barr and A Frame, I tried to run a bit, but my legs were pretty worked already. I mostly got into a fast power hike. Almost no snow remaining on the trail below tree line. I was about 16 minutes or so faster to tree line than two weeks ago.

Above tree line, I stuck with the trail. Turns out there would be almost no snow to contend with even above tree line. Just a few sections to pass through. The past two weeks had made a huge dent in the remaining snow up there.

Shortly above tree line, I caught sight of Bill, and he wasn't that far ahead. I was shocked! He'd had a few hard workouts in the days prior, and that must've caught up with him. I managed to run some of the more gentle grades above tree line and caught and passed Bill in the vicinity of the 2 miles to go sign (don't recall exactly when/where it was). Continued working pretty hard on up to the top. There was only one switchback that I cut a bit due to lingering snow. Otherwise, I was on the trail the whole way. My time was actually faster than my PPA PR, but of course, I started from the Barr Trail trailhead rather than the park down in town. Had I taken the direct route above tree line that I took two weeks ago, I'm pretty sure I would've been around 3 hours to the top. So a much harder effort this time.

Went over to tag the summit, then saw Bill topping out. He informed me that he was planning to hop on the Cog Railway to ride down. My legs were pretty worked, and I was very tempted to join him. I knew I'd be slower on the down than two weeks ago, but I figured the miles would still be good for something.

Started down after 15+ minutes on the summit. Had filled up two bottles on the summit so that I wouldn't have to treat at Barr (and then wait to drink it). Wasn't feeling great, but did OK running down to tree line. Between A Frame and Barr, I walked a number of times. Was feeling pretty worked there.

Stopped at Barr to fill up a bottle to pour on myself on the way down. I also poured water over myself again and again while there. I then decided to go chat with Theresa, et al, who were sitting outside the cabin, since I wasn't in a hurry to get back to the pain. I ended up spending almost 10 minutes at Barr.

Slow from Barr on down. Walked quite a bit; most of the uphills, some of the flats, and probably even some downhill sections. Tried to latch on when a runner went by me above the W's, but I couldn't hang for very long. Was pretty worked when I finished. I was glad that Bill had moved the car from near the PPM finish (the closest parking we found in the morning) to the Cog parking lot.

I ate 3 packs of Shot Bloks, a granola bar on the summit, and quite a few S-Caps and Endurolytes. Drank about 80 ounces of water, 60 of that with Nuun.

0:00:00 - Barr Trail TH
1:28:03 - Barr Camp
2:12:47 - A Frame
3:13:53 - race finish/turnaround
3:16:27 - Pikes summit (highest rocks in the middle)
3:31:48 - leaving the summit
4:06:20 - A Frame
4:32:58 - Barr Camp
4:42:53 - leaving Barr Camp
5:42:20 - Barr Trail TH

Suunto watch log data:

7220 up (+36), 7110 down (-54), 1 lap, 5:43

StreakNavyA with insoles from MountainMasochist