Another Evening Up

I used to do the first section of the HURT almost daily last year.  But in the end I tore myself up so bad that I ended up getting less out of it than I had hoped.  So this year I'm cutting back a bit, hoping to save my knees and trying to figure out where and when I am putting the stress on them.

For many this is just defeatist jargon for I'm looking to quit.  But I don't think so.  I'm just at the stage where it takes a lot of planning to get done what I hope to, and getting out there and putting it all on the line every time I go out is not the way.  I used to think doing the ups was not harmful but I've realized that anything stressful in the first few hours is harmful.

So the fast ups are going to have to be a little less frequent.  And on race day I'm going to go for a 7:00 hour first loop.  I'll worry about time after I get toward three plus.   I want to do sixty if only because I have twice done 40 and I feel I need to get something done just to prove I'm still in the game.

Anyway Fishy and I went out and did the up and clocked a 47 which is OK.  I was hitting 28 at the bottom of Mango's but my knees were bothering me a bit so I slowed on the step-ups and came in a few minutes slow.  But it felt good and we went on the go up to the yellow gate about 400 yards up Concretes.  We headed back in the dark and paced pretty good down Nahuina, Mangos, and Center trail.  NO running but some smart use of the lines and knowledge of the rugged areas.

The good cardio is doing my heart rate a lot of good.  Which is nice to see again.