2 Days to WSER: Two More Cycles of Nature

Two days prior to race day I would be relocating from Truckee, where I had spent a week resting and recovering, to the race village at Squaw Valley.

I woke up in the morning, had some breakfast, and wasted some time on the Internet. It was after 11 AM before I decided that I should really start moving for the day, since I had one last run to fit in before heading across to Squaw. I put on my running clothes and headed across to a nearby trailhead to complete two laps of the same loop I had run on my two prior runs. The loop involves a bit of ascent and descent without any sustained climbing, and two loops turn out at just over 3 miles (5 km), which is exactly what I had planned.

Having run the two loops the previous day in reverse direction, on this occasion I decided to run both loops in the clockwise direction which I had preferred. I set out for a casual run, allowed myself to briefly pick up the pace for a couple of short sections, and after what these days feels like an extremely short run (under 30 minutes) I returned to my car.

3 Days to WSER: The Return of the Sun

After 3 days of rain and cool weather the cold front passed over and the sun returned to California. It would be a warm and sunny day before the real heat started to move in over the coming days.

Continuing with my taper my plan was a simple 3-mile (5-km) run. A couple of days earlier I had completed a loop in the Truckee Donner area where I was staying, and then continued further to make up the 3+ miles I had run that day. Today I would start at a slightly different spot and run a lollipop route with two laps of the same loop. I decided to wait until afternoon and head out in the hottest part of the day for my short run.

In the morning I completed my final shopping and prepared my drop bags and some additional bags for the points where I will meet my crew. I was lucky enough to bump into Mariano, who I met at Leadville last year, at the night training run and he was kind enough to volunteer to crew for me along with another friend of his, Joe. It will certainly make things easier on the day, particularly with the predicted heat and the possible changes that will require to my race plan in terms of pacing and/or nutrition.

5 Days to WSER: Wet Days and Late Afternoon Runs

Already from 10 days out the extended forecast for race day was looking ominous. The cold front that had come through and shortened my run the previous day would stay in the area for a further two days before being replaced by a hot front. The forecast for race day had temperatures peaking at well over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

The forecast had it raining for the entire day so when I rose to look outside and see a steady rain falling I decided that I could afford an extra day off. I relaxed in the morning reading, surfing the internet and preparing some blog posts, before setting out to grab some lunch as well as some items for my drop bags and crew points. Then late in the afternoon I looked outside to see a lighter sky, and upon closer inspection saw that the rain had stopped for the moment. I immediately decided that I would squeeze in a quick run.

I was staying in a recreation area called Truckee Donner that provides plenty of facilities so a quick online search brought up a series of trails through the area. Unfortunately the trail map was not to scale and provided little information on distances, so I found a useful trailhead and mapped out a route to follow. I was only looking to run 3 miles (5 km).

I drove to the trailhead as my trail mindset has kicked in to a point where the thought of wasting mileage on road seems wasteful. I set off from the trailhead and reached a branch in the trail where a nature loop started. The two branches would rejoin and continue further along, and could therefore be used as a loop. I set off in a clockwise direction noting a sign mentioning a distance of 1.3 miles, hoping that the distance referred to the far end of the loop, which would thereby give me a distance of almost three miles. The trail gently climbed initially and then flattened out as it passed through some wetland areas. It consisted of some nice single track as well as some boardwalk.