"Running" above the Falls (this time with a bit of video).

Last week I went up to Cuevas on Thursday.  There's a bus I take which goes by my house in La Guardia around 1 PM.  It's really quite civilized a way to get up there.  I think that the cost of the round trip is actually less than the cost of driving (one person at any rate).

During the bus ride, I listened to some very interesting interviews I downloaded from Ultra Runner Podcast.  An interview with Hal Koerner, a very long one with nutritionist Sunny Blende, another with Goeff Roes - cool resource for sure...

Whatever the case, I got up to the cabins around 3pm.  Wilma and I dealt with some money issues, and then I went "running".  I think I got out around 4:30.

I've been having trouble staying motivated recently (see my last two posts), so this time I plugged myself into the tunes and that really helped.

The trail to the third waterfall has a bit of climbing, but the real hills hit after the third waterfall.

I wandered around above this place a bit trying to find a way around a section I feel is too dangerous to traverse alone up high, but eventually ended up summiting two peaks I always tag when I decide to go off road.  Between the two peaks there's a saddle where I shot some video...


Anyway, thanks for reading, send some positive thoughts to my home state of VT, and now I've got to go chase my son.
Jay

Run: Bermejo to Cuevas.

First off I'll start with a map.

In Google Earth, Bermejo is actually labeled Ceuvas.  Not quite right, but interesting.

Bermejo is a pretty little town in the foothills.  There's a restaurant there - Restaurante Oriental.  Nataly says it's been there since she was a little girl. We stopped there for lunch.  We ate outside, but inside there was a little girl who Deneb was flirting with.

I had milanesa - meat pounded flat, battered and fried - rice and some tomato.  Nataly and Deneb shared some chicken from the oven and Dad ate some milanesa too.  There was also some fairly disgusting juice at the table, but I don't think we finished it.

After I scarfed my plate, I went to change into my running clothes.  I'd used the head earlier and there was no way I was going to drop tro' in there so I just did it next to the street.  That usually wouldn't even warrant a mention, but in Bolivia, that's not something people are particularly used to seeing.  I was able to complete my wardrobe change without unduly shocking the locals and I headed out for my run.

I ran on the road facing traffic.  No headphones.  Anyone who's experienced the life of a pedestrian in Bolivia would think twice about crossing the street wearing headphones let alone go running on a twisty mountain road with them.  Only one time was I shocked by how close a truck came to hitting me and it wasn't even really that close.

No headphones didn't mean no tunes though.  I clipped my phone to my Camelbak and listened to the new Thievery Corp album and then The Unraveling by Rise Against through the built in speaker.  I actually prefer listening to music that way - I'm not a huge fan of stuffing crap into my ears.

The first 6 miles or so of the run are done in a pretty gorge, which eventually the road climbs out of and you get some pretty spectacular views.

This was the first run where I had real interaction with the people with whom I was sharing the road.  One truck driver in particular hauling a tandem load of something heavy and I played leap frog.  He initially passed me on the way out of Bermejo and gave me a bit of a look, but it wasn't, "Dude, get the hell off of my road!" it was more, "Huh, check that guy out..."

About 15 minutes later, I passed him pulled off the side of the road taking a bit of a breather.  We exchanged pleasantries and I continued on my way.

Finally as I was dropping the last 5 km or so into Cuevas, the trucker passed me again.  We waved, he shook his head and that was that.  Many other folks gave me a thumbs up as they went by and generally seemed impressed I was out there.

Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, this run climbed for something like 15 km before dropping the final 6 into Cuevas.  That makes this a very good road for tempo work or intervals too.  The climbing is gradual enough and pretty steady.  I'll absolutely be running this again - perhaps even regularly.

Thanks for reading and consider smiling at passers by, they might smile back.
J

Week in Review: Jun 27—Jul 3.

I'm feeling tired as I write this.  Yesterday was my longest run both in both time and distance since last year, and I know it...

As far as broken records, last week was another great week training wise.  Same structure as the week prior, but with an increase in the volume - from 8 to 9.5 hours running.  

I did notice my heart rate taking a while to respond on a couple of my workouts, but it wasn't so bad as to worry me.  I'll keep an eye on it though.  The Wednesday, Thursday combo of Tempo and long Endurance run had me run down going into my Saturday workout, but I felt good coming out of it.  It'll be interesting to see if I'm feeling recovered in time for my Wednesday effort.
Anyway - here's a chart.

More after the jump…

Cuevas.

Not sure what to say in this post.  Gotta get something down, but what it is...?

Cuevas is the reason I agreed to move to Bolivia.  It's spectacularly beautiful and now it's my job.  This past weekend I went up there by myself to visit with the caretakers, Vilma and Hugo.  Without their help, Cuevas would just be another beautiful curve in the road, with it Cuevas pretty much takes care of itself.

Hugo has said he wants to show me how to get on the highest peaks.  That'll be great: now to make the time.  It's my hope that after a few months of regular running and exploration with Hugo, I'll be able to take people on guided treks (or runs - anybody want to come with?).  English exclusively (or butchered Spanish I suppose).


The pictures attached to this post are from my run yesterday.  The road was quite muddy and probably wouldn't have been too terribly much fun to trek for prospective tourists, but the scenery wasn't very much diminished.

At no point would I say I was terribly "in" to this run.

I decided to try out some new/old gear for this one to see if it would serve for my longer runs when the weather gets hot(ter?).  It was an older version of the GoLite Hydro Cruise pack.

I have a GoLite Slant which I like very much, but this thing, while nice for the greater water capacity and day hiking, is an absolute no go for running.  Damn thing bounced around for my entire 2 hour run and I just couldn't stop fiddling with it.  Very distracting and now I have some chafing I have to attend to. CamelPack it is for my long runs this coming summer.

Anyway my run yesterday took me down a road toward "Palermo".  As near as I can tell Palermo is a town not on the map.  It certainly isn't on Google Earth, though you can make out the road.  Check it out:


If you click over to Garmin's site, you can also see the file from my run on Saturday.  I didn't take any pictures because I got out late and it was getting dark, I've done this run before and I've got some pics, but don't really want to look around for them - sorry.

Thanks for reading and be safe out there.
J

Wait! What was that bump?

Saturday was a big day.

I wore a suit.

No really, I did.  Eventually we got home at 3am Sunday and that kind of frakked my running plans for yesterday, but I'll just get out today instead (scheduled rest day).  Bolivians know how to party, Nataly and I were actually home early relative to the others.  Not sure how they do it, and not sure I want to...

Running wise, I decided to take a foray to the West in hopes of finding a road which I thought might have some hills on it.  I was actually looking for one road in specific.  I didn't find it, but had a good time looking for it.  The GPS track in Google Earth helps, and I think the next time I go out I'll get onto the correct track.


This run actually featured the most pavement of any run I've done since moving out of Santa Cruz, but that's mostly because I had to spend so much time on the Highway.  Eventually I wound up on roads like this...

And this sucker (in the distance) was at Mile 6 in my run.  It's short and sweet and slowed me down to little more than a grunt, but it will get visited on a regular basis for the next several months.

Thanks for reading,
Jay