Cowles Mountain

After work, I headed back to Cowles Mountain in Mission Trails Regional Park. I was feeling tired, and even considered taking the night off. I knew I would be out on Thursday though, and I needed to conquer the feeling of laziness.

I started the trek slow as usual. This is where I think I can eventually make up time. It is amazing the burst of energy you get when you hit a landmark. As I met the merge with the Big Rock Trail (0.7 miles) I walked much faster. I passed a couple people and one of them remarked "can you believe mom does this every Sunday?" I laughed since it was my third trek in 4 days. I left them in the dust and didn't run into them later, they never made the peak.

The final ascent was as tough as always. I focused on steady progress and didn't beat myself up for being slow or tired. I could feel I was moving better than even a couple days ago. I made the peak at 6:29 PM, meaning it took me 74 minutes. This was 2 minutes faster than yesterday.

Coming down, I also accomplished something else because I did not make any stops. I had to slow down and move out of the way of a couple mountain bikers, but I moved quickly down the hill. I made it to my car at 7:12 PM. This was a total time of 1:57, my best time in a long time. I also cleared a mental hurdle by getting under 2 hours.

I am taking the night off on Thursday, hopefully hanging out with a good friend if all works out. Then Friday I will be back at it and I will have more to say about that experience.

On a scale of 1 - 10, my confidence in doing Whitney would be about a 4 right now. This is an improvement though, so I will keep at it.

Cowles Mountain

Last night I climbed up Cowles Mountain in Mission Trails Regional Park for the second time in three days. It was 86 degrees outside but the heat didn't bother me. I didn't stretch as much as I should have, so I shouldn't have been surprised with the early beginnings of shin splints.

I got off to a very slow start which was frustrating. The view wasn't anything special, with marine layer mixed with smog. I kept a reasonable pace, albeit a slow one. I felt stronger than two days before, something I was cognizant of going up. I pick up something new about the trail every time I do it, and now I have a dozen ascents in me at least. I noticed that the last leg of the climb has a moderately steep section and a very steep section. I had always perceived it to be one strenuous stretch. The familiarity is helpful. I made the summit in 77 minutes which was pretty mediocre. This was not a good time for me and I long to get it closer to 60 minutes if possible.

I picked up the pace coming down and was back down in 45 minutes. I only stopped a few times, a couple times to slow myself down on the steepest part of the trail from the summit, and once to let a couple mountain bikers go by.

My overall time was 2 hours, 2 minutes, which was about 7 minutes off my best time. I believe I need to make that time up on the ascent, and to have any chance at Mt. Whitney I need to conquer Cowles Mountain like it's nothing.

The work continues, I will ascend tonight for the 3rd time in 4 days.