Green (roundtrip PR)

From Gregory TH, Amph, Saddle Rock, Greenman, Green; down the same.

Started at 6:33 am. Today I wanted to put the Hokas to the test on familiar terrain. I hoped to put in a hard uphill effort, and I was able to do that. Kept on the gas pretty hard all the way up and was just 11 seconds off my PR. Fastest time this year by 5 seconds. Given that, I don't think the Hokas are significantly (if any) slower on the up.

Knowing that I was putting in a solid effort on the ascent, I started thinking about putting in a hard downhill effort to go for a sub-hour roundtrip. I've only broken an hour once for the roundtrip from Gregory (59:33 on a 40:46 ascent), but that used the Northeast Ridge trail and lots of other shortcutting. I've been thinking quite a bit lately about breaking an hour sticking to the trail. While I don't think I could match my reckless 18:21 descent from a couple weeks ago after a hard ascent (that descent was after a slow hike up), I figured a sub-40 ascent and sub-20 descent should be doable on a good day right now.

Unfortunately, the last few switchbacks today did me in, so I plopped down on the summit and decided not to push for a hard roundtrip. Well, it only took me a minute to recover and change my mind. Started down and the legs didn't feel super-sharp, as expected. But the Hokas were working their magic and smoothing out the terrain. While I didn't feel nearly as quick today compared to the 18:21, I still managed 19:03 down, which is probably my second fastest descent time. So, not only did I get under an hour, I went under 59, and that included the minute on the summit.

Needless to say, a pretty satisfying run. Pretty happy with the Hokas at this point.

0:00 - Gregory TH
7:38 - Amph/Saddle Rock
21:35 - Saddle Rock/Greenman
38:49 - Green summit
39:56 - started down
58:59 - Gregory TH

HokaStinson