New Pitchell FKT by Mark Lundblad

Great "race" report here.

Read this just after listening to Lucho on EP answering the question about demons ;-)

This is an amazing course that Adam Hill came up with - hoping Mark's run will lead to more FKT attempts.

Some video experimenting

Wow! Just watched these after I posted them and they are far too pixel-ly. Nothing much to see here, really.

Headed over to Little Pisgah this morning, but didn't do enough prep on the route and ended up just running up, down and around for a while for about 2,500' of vert. I guess I thought the route to the top was going to be real easy to follow, but about 1.25 miles in I suddenly had 4 different colored trail markers to follow - white, blue, yellow and red. This area can be like the Bermuda Triangle sometimes, so with the heavy fog and my lack of clothing I decided not to take any risks and just stick to where I was comfortable finding my way back. In the meantime, I decided to see how awful I was at video. This takes a good amount of practice! The first thing I need to do is SLOW DOWN!!! I think I get a little side tracked with the camera and scenery and forget about what I'm actually running up. Anyway, the next available clear day I have to run I will certainly be heading to the summit of Little Pisgah with a little better filming.

Week 48 - 8,400' (560,200')

330 - 0'

331 - 0'

332 - 2,200' - Roads

333 - 2,100' - Mountains to Sea Trail

334 - 1,800' - Bear Wallow x 3

335 - 2,300' - Turkey Quarters on Bear Wallow - see previous post

336 - 0'

Not a whole lot has changed with the knee. Took 3 full days off and it felt even worse. Monday's run, day 332, was awful, then the next 3 days my knee felt great. Seems pretty simple at this point - the knee feels better when I run, so that's what I'll do. At my age I should expect some aches and pains that come with the pounding of trail/mountain running.

8 Turkey Quarters w/225' each

Windy Wallow

Shakin' the legs out this morning on Bear Wallow listening to the sweet sound of what was in my face on the climb.

Week 47 - 11,100' (551,800')

323 - 2,000' - Driveway reps - easy.

324 - 0'

325 - 2,300' - Back Roads

326 - 1,000' - Roads

327 - 2,200' - Driveway reps x 11 with 2 easy, 7 hard, 2 easy.

328 - 3,600 - Bear Wallow x 6 nice and easy.

329 - 0' - Plan to take this day off as well as Sat and Sun. Knee feels great for some reason, but I know that a little break won't hurt anything so this is a good weekend for that.

Runner's knee

I think I may have a case of runner's knee. My knee is at its best while I am running and at its worst a few hours after runs and sitting. Some mornings its achy and stiff as well; a little sweeling, stiffness and all around achiness. It's my right knee(the good one) and the pain is on the inside part that's closest to my left knee, mostly felt on that bone that sticks out there. I've done a little research on WebMD and have realized this could be caused by shoes. It was about 2 years ago that I had a hip problem that was corrected with some insoles. Any suggestions out there on treating the symptoms as well as eliminating the injury? My knee feels the best while climbing so I am still a happy camper!

Week 46 - 10,700' (540,700')

316 - 1,700' at Sleepy Gap

317 - 0'

318 - 3,300' on Shut-In

319 - 1,300' Mountains to Sea Trail

320 - 0' - Was hoping to make THIS RUN with Mad A and Mike, but for sure next time. Love the fell runnin' portion of this one guys! Shirtless in Nov. no less.

321 - 2,000' on Driveway reps

322 - 2,400' Bear Wallow x 4. Temps in the 20's with high winds, but skies were clear with some great views. Saw my first icicles of the season.

Week 45 - 12,100' (530,000')

Cool video and great song

309 - 2,000' - Roads

310 - 0'

311 - 2,300' - Back Roads

312 - 1,300' - Mountains to Sea Trail

313 - 1,300' - Mountains to Sea Trail

314 - 3,000' Driveway Reps x 15 hard

315 - 2,200' Driveway Reps x 11 easy

15 quarters w/200'

Had the urge to just go short and hard today and used my driveway rep route to accommodate my needs this morning. So I did 2 warm up reps and saw that I was at the 2:53 range for the quarter and about 200' climb. The 3rd I went balls out just to see what I could do and saw a 2:21 and decided I pick somewhere between for the final 12 and pretty much hit the 2:35-2:40 mark for each. Was enjoying some good music on the ups/hards and downs/easy. Here's a few of my favorites of the morning and I'm sure you can guess what was playing on the the times I was blissfully burying myself and when I was peacefully recovering.