Commuter Training: Week 2

 Willamette River, downtown Portland far right, Marquam Bridge, Tilikum Pedestrian Bridge, with West Hills in background

Sunday, June 7:
Trail run (94min, 9mi) - Took my buddy Colin on his first official trail run in Portland. We parked on Fairmount near the top of Council Crest, ran up to the spire, and then took the Marquam Trail off Dosch north towards the zoo. The Marquam eventually links up with Wildwood Trail near Hoyt Arboretum, which we took down into Washington Park and The Japanese Garden. From here we went back up Wildwood, across Burnside, and up to the Pittock Mansion for a quick break and turnaround. It was an absolutely perfect morning for a run, and there were lots of people out on the trail trying to get their runs in before the extreme heat of the day really set in. Colin held up alright considering it was a fairly tough run in terms of climbing, etc. Wish I knew how much vert we covered though. Guessing, I'd say 1500ft at least. (K4) 

Monday, June 8:
AM ride to work (21min, 5mi)

Lunch run w/ 10 x 30sec surges (36min, 4.7mi) - Ran along the east side of the river and threw in some surges since I haven't gotten the legs turning over in a while. First river run since I've been back. Lots of folks. Felt pretty good. Feel like I need to start mixing in some kind of speed work at least once a week now. (K4)

PM ride home (26min, 5.7mi) - Terwilliger, decided to take HWY 10 (Beaverton Hillsdale HWY) once I made it over the west hills, and then I blasted it up 42nd street.

View of Willamette River and downtown while crossing Hawthorne Bridge

Hawthorne Bridge with West Hills in background. I go over them each day to work. Look closely to see spires at the top of the West Hills.

Portland in all its glory.

Tuesday, June 9:
AM ride to work (14min, 3.5mi) - Wanted to get a longer ride in this morning, but I was running late, so it was straight up and over the hill.

Yoga (60min) - Yoga Tuesday at work. First yoga session for me ever. Not bad. 

PM ride home (60min, 12.5mi) - Took it straight up to Council Crest spire via OHSU and Fairmount Rd. Think it was roughly a 20 minute climb, and then I rode around Fairmount twice before taking 18th down the other side. This was a pretty tough workout as there are sections of the road with a rather steep grade, for me. The Fairmount loop is twisty and fun to ride, and a must for anyone who considers themselves a PDX cyclist. My next step is to figure out how to make SW Hillsdale/Multnomah Village a better ride. 

Top of Council Crest Park; looking west towards Coastal Mountains and Willamette Valley

Wednesday, June 10:
AM ride to work (22min, 5.5mi)

PM trail run (74min, ~8mi) - After work Colin and I drove to the Wildwood trail head off Cornell. We headed north on Wildwood through some of my favorite sections off the trail. It's a true forest of old, gigantic Douglas Fir trees and just about every other native plant to the PNW, and the trail goes on for 20 miles. We ran to the trail head on 53rd (~4min, 39min), and then turned around and headed back. The last push back to the car once you reach Birch Creek (idyllic) is a tough uphill slog for about 3/4 of a mile. The last 3min or so is real steep. There were a few sections of the run where pushed it pretty good for 2 - 5min at a time, fartlek style. It was a good workout. (P31) 

Thursday, June 11:
AM run to work (38min, 5mi) - I'm really starting to like the run commute. I have to get up earlier and carrying clothes, lunch, etc is obviously more of an issue than on a bike, but once I'm running all that goes away. If I can find the right backpack that's big enough to carry my supplies, and not so bulky it bounces around, I might try and bump up the number of days I run to and from work for the rest of the summer. It's just too beautiful running along Terwilliger in the early AM. (1500s)

PM ride home (22min, 5mi) 

Friday, June 12:
AM ride to work (20min, 5mi)

PM ride (47min, 9.7mi) - Easy ride around town and then home after that.

Terwilliger Blvd, looking south with Willamette River and Sellwood Bridge in deep distance

Saturday, June 13:
Speed workout (57min, 7.6mi) 8 x 200m/200jog w/4min set rest + 6 x 200/200jg + 1 x 400
-The Wilson High School track is the perfect distance from our house. It took me 14 minutes as an uphill (1.8mi) warmup jog to get there and then I did the workout and then I did an easy cool down jog back home. The track itself is perched on top of a hill so it gets a bit windy, but the view of the valley to the west on turns one and two is superb. This was the first time I've been on a track in about a month. It was nice to be out there, but I struggled a bit with turnover, and my legs were obviously fatigued from all the hill blasting the past three weeks. I didn't really have a specific workout planned and I decided once I got there I'd keep it to 200m repeats. I hit 39/40sec per 200m, which is okay, but I could feel I was pushing it ever so slightly. I actually started to feel better as the workout went on, not uncommon for me, so I guess that's a good sign. Rather than do the last two 200m repeats, I decided to bust out a 400 to test the system a bit. I hit 77sec and I'm okay with that. Felt reasonably smooth. Glad I made it to the track and I look forward to many more sessions there in the future. (LR3)

Weekly Totals:
- 531 total minutes
- 300 minutes run (5)
- 231 minutes bike (8)
- A couple real quality workouts this week with some nice touring of the city and trail running mixed in. Good stuff.