hiking; 14K

Yesterday: Hiked 11.2km with Calvin on the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park. I have to say that that trail was one of the most beautiful I've ever hiked, rivaling Observation Point Trail in Zion. It was a amazing, hiking along the edge of the Garden Wall above Going-to-the-Sun Road. We hiked the trail to the highest point at the saddle, and then went back. You can hike it as a loop, but then it's 11.8 miles, and Jim thought that'd be too far for me to hike with 14K racewalking planned the next day. And you know what? We got great views and it was honestly just the right amount of hiking. Awesome.

Highline trail hike data.



Today: 14K was the assigned workout. I was as ready as I was going to be. It was chilly here this morning in northern Montana - 43F (6C) - and I could see my breath. I wore a long sleeved shirt and gloves and took off both at about 3km when I warmed up. I decided to walk by Lake Five again because it was really beautiful out there, and though you can't see the lake from the road (lots of trees), the forest is lovely and the road is paved (mostly) and quiet. I say mostly paved, because there was about a 2km stretch each way (I did out and back) that was packed dirt with some gravel. Not the best for RW, but it wasn't awful either. However, the route was quite hilly. My Garmin says it was about 94-96m total elevation gain (and loss, since I did out and back), which is definitely significant. I figured it would be OK since I need to do some hills for Portland-to-Coast, and also there isn't much choice around here. Hilly, or nothing!

When I started out, I had a pretty serious muscle spasm in my upper left calf. I stopped to massage it but that didn't help much. I am not sure if it was from yesterday's hike or what, but it kept on and got worse until about 4.5km. I was considering whether to continue, and then it started to feel better and improved the rest of the time that I was out. I was thankful for that!

All in all, except for the hills (all of which were racewalk-able - barely, sometimes) it was a lovely walk. I couldn't ask for more.

Total time 1:30:12 for 6:26/km with ave HR 150. I was at 6:23/km through 12km but then that last uphill nearly did me in ;). Below, a photo of a typical part of my route today.

14K Garmin data here.