Running on Mount Olympus at Dawn

One of my other upcoming goals, in addition to the Vertical K in Arizona on October 2nd, is another mountain running event in Utah on October 19 that is quite close in character to the run on Mount Olympus up to the creek and back from the parking on Wasatch Blvd.

There was a great opportunity to head in to work early and run on Mount Olympus. The office I work at is near the trailhead, so it was fairly simple to pack a bag of work clothes (casual is the norm at work) and drive in the dark at 5:30 AM to the trailhead parking.

I got out on the trail about 6:20 AM in the dark. Slowly the sky lit up and the city lights dimmed. Going felt slower than normal up the trail. I've been doing splits the past few weeks. That's a protocol in which you do two workouts a day. I've also been cutting, or trying to burn off some fat to be lighter for the Vertical K. My legs felt really dead. At the creek crossing, about 1.7 miles up the trail I paused to shoot a short video and then returned to the car. I did feel really fast on the descent. It felt really good. I got to work at 8 AM and spent the rest of the day burning fat. Great fun run.

Later I was able to check my Strava feed and while I didn't come anywhere close to a top personal finish for the ascent, I did get a PR for the descent. The Vertical K has quite a bit of descent to it to make up for the relatively short vertical of the Arizona Snow Bowl ski resort at which it's being held. I've been training a lot of descent for this. That felt really encouraging.

Video From Mount Olympus at the Creek Crossing

Mount Olympus at Dawn
Running in the dark, just as the sun rises, along the steep trail to the creek crossing on Mount Olympus. Training for vertical. Skyrunning. Article with pics: http://elbrusraceteam.blogspot.com/2015/09/running-on-mount-olympus-at-dawn.html
Posted by Seven Summits Body on Friday, September 25, 2015

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