Back at Top 10 & Three 300k back to back to back Months

Recently I fell off the top ten list of the Bagger Challenge, so before I taper before my race I decided to climb back up in the list as well as tackle some training in. 

Last Wednesday morning I woke up and headed towards Grouse mountain, to bag Hollyburn and Strachan, and yes, I know Grouse is not really near either of those peaks. I was meeting up with Holly at the Cypress cross country area and I was already running late due to an accident on the highway (I hope every one was okay). I started my way down the hill towards Cleveland Dam to hop on to the Baden Powell towards Cypress. I did my usual run/walk all the way to Brother's Creek, checking out the scenery and as I approached Brothers Creek, when I received a text message from Holly. She was already at Cypress, I knew I had to really pick it up so she wouldn't have to wait. I climbed as fast as I could and shortly after I was in the cross country area I saw Holly making her way down to meet me. 

As we headed up the mountain, we came across a deer checking us out. She was beautiful and wasn't even scared off by us approaching. I'd say we were within 30 metres of her. As we made our way towards Hollyburn Mountain, we came along a grouse walking on trail. At this point I was wondering what other wildlife we might run into.

A friendly deer checking us out

Green, easy way to hind in the bushes

The day was hot, lucky there was a lot of tree cover most of the way up to help keep us cool and in the shade.  As we approached the top the tree cover opened up and could feel the hot sun coming down on us. At the top, we meet a couple that came up from the north west side of the mountain and were able to get some information about the trail, since we were going to go Strachan through the valley between Hollyburn and Strachan. 

View of Black Mountain from Hollyburn Mountain

Looking North on Hollyburn

The hike through the valley was beautiful with some amazing views. On the way up, we were treated to a plane crash from 1963. The wreckage was cool to check out but sad that two crew members from the air force died in that crash. 

Plane wreckage

As we made our way up, we were blessed with more awesome views that gave us a preview of what was to come. Once we made it to the top of the peak chair offloading area we knew we were close to the south summit of Strachan.

We took a short break at the south peak and took in the views. Holly by this time was a little tired, I had to convince her that it was worth it to go towards north peak. Lucky for me I made a pretty good estimate of how long it would take. It was a short 20 minutes to the north peak where we had a well deserved break to take in the sites and refuel.

View of Howe Sound

On the way back we decided to take a different way back, we went down Christmas Gully. I thought this was a good decision because we had some amazing views and it was nice to have a different way back. As we were reaching the Howe Sound Crest Trail, I noticed a group of 3 hikers. I waved hello to them and their little dog. As Holly and I got on to the HSCT we noticed that we could catch up and pass the hikers, it took a little bit of effort but we were able to pass them. As a reward for ourselves we stopped off at the Raven for some ice cream and cold liquids. By this time I wore Holly out so we took the road back to the cross country parking lot before I headed back to my car near Grouse.

Christmas Gully

Mt Baker with the new Port Mann Bridge

After getting home, I calculated out my distance travelled, I was still short of my 300k target for the month and had to make sure I did a minimum of 26k to make my target. Lucky for me there was still one more day left in the month.

Thursday morning, I started my day just after eight at Mountain Hwy. Instantly I knew my legs were still tired from the previous day so I took it easy along the Baden Powell trail to Grouse. I ran into a few other hikers and made some small talk before heading on my way. At the bottom of the BCMC I was asking myself why did I decided to do this today, but I marched up the hill with a decent pace until the half way point were a slowed down considerably and who do I see coming down hill but fellow bagger Andy, he was in 10th place and just finished bagging Crown. We chatted about our upcoming races. He's doing the Squamish 50/50 and to be honest, I'm a little jealous because it seems like a awesome challenge.

As I got to the top of BCMC, my legs and feet were hurting and I just wanted the day to end. I mustered up the strength to jog the down hill towards the trailhead for Fromme. This was the fastest I was moving all day and I was feeling good about it. I got to the trailhead and found it without any issues this time, this was my third attempt at Fromme so I couldn't turn back now. I slowly made my way to top through the beautiful forest. I was so tired at the top that I refuelled as quick as possible and headed back. As I got back to Mountain Hwy, I jogged most of the way back and felt a sense of relief to end my day. 

Smiley face coming down from Fromme

As of today I'm holding on to spot #8 on the Bagger Challenge, but I don't think that will last long and also I hit my target of 300k for the month of July.

Last 3 Months of Training:

May --> 298k

June --> 303k

July --> 300k

Time to just take care of nutrition, rest up and be ready for my race. As I'm writing this it is only 8 sleeps away. I wish everyone who is racing the weekend of August 16th, good luck and be safe.