This year's Lynch Canyon Trail Run will be the key to my success in 2014

 

 If you follow this blog then you know I am focusing in on the Ultra Half Series put on by Brazen Racing this year. Last year I did not run very many races in that series but I did run the Lynch Canyon Trail Run for the first time and it is very similar to the Ultra Half Series, in it's own way. (Click the link to read my race review) I challenged myself to run this race in under 2 1/2 hours last year and accomplished that goal in a big way, 2:16:30!!! I will run this race again this year and I will beat the 2 hour mark which is going to be monumental if I can pull it off. The end result will make me that much better in the Ultra Series and give me the reassurance that my training is on the right track.


The Lynch Canyon course has about 3000' of elevation gain and that (IMHO) makes it an "Ultra" half. Lynch Canyon is not technical single track on rock strewn and root covered trails, quite the opposite. This race is almost entirely on wide track trails cutting through pastoral grasslands with rolling hills for as far as the eyes can see. Sounds lovely doesn't it! It is a beautiful park but don't be fooled by its beauty. If it is a hot day you will need to have a strategy in place for that because this course is 99% exposed. If I were to describe it, I would say this course is the love child of the Contra Loma Regional Parks and the Marin Headlands with a sprinkling of Mt Diablo. Think steep, hot and super runnable with fast downhills. Chris Abess, the race director for this event described it perfectly to me last year when we were talking just before the start of the race, he said "This course is death by a thousand nicks" and that proved to be the perfect description!

Lynch Canyon Trail Run race review

June 1st 2013- If you have read my posts leading up to this race you know this race was presented to me as "the toughest trail run in Solano County" and I immediately signed up to see if it was just hype. I have run some really tough races over monster elevation gains and during tough weather conditions. Add that to the fact that I had never heard of this race before and I figured it was likely just hype.

Lynch Canyon Trail Run Part 2

So I signed up for "The toughest Trail Run in Solano County". Thats how it was first presented to me and I've been stuck on it ever since. If it's the toughest then I want to test myself against it. I searched the web to confirm this claim and found very little in the way of reviews on this race. I went to the website and one thing jumped out at me immediately, Dave Mackey was here. For those who aren't familiar with Mr Mackey he is a Boulder Colorado ultrarunning elite having won more races than I have ever entered. He is the current course record holder for the half marathon distance. Now I know why the race offers free New Balance shoes to anyone who can set a new course record. Good luck beating Dave's 1:31:28! For the ladies it is Penny Macphail that holds the record at 1:46:20. That too is smoking fast for a trail half no matter what gender you are.

Lynch Canyon Trail Run - June 1st

I received an email recently about this run and was instantly intrigued. The subject of the email read "Lynch Canyon Trail Run: The toughest trail run in Solano County". I like to search out tough runs on tough course and yet somehow this one has slipped by me over the years. The other reason for me to get out there and give it a go is the fact that I have never run in Lynch Canyon before. New trails that are challenging... who could refuse! So far my running in the North East area of the bay has been brutally difficult so to say that this is the toughest is hitting me in my sweet spot. I have recently drove I-80 on my way to the Vacaville Outlets and took a mental note of the beautiful rolling hills just outside of Vallejo. Just before you come into Fairfield you will see the sign for the Lynch Canyon Open Space Preserve. When I saw that I thought "Well that's a hell of a coincidence!" I took it as a sign that I was meant to run this race. If you are like me, looking for a challenge on trails you've never run, then read on my friend!

Ranch San Antonio route planner

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve

I thought this was so cool I just had to share it. Stevens Creek Software has a web page called Rancho Runner. On this page is a map of the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. All of the trailheads and intersections have been given either a letter or a number and what you are supposed to do on this page is write down your route. As an example, if you start at trail head E and run to intersection K, then on to intersection 3, over to intersection B and back to intersection 3 and back to trailhead E that would be written EK3B3E in the space provided on the web page and then you click the Show Distance button and each segment of your route is listed along with the segments distance and elevation gain or lose. At the bottom of the route segments list is the total distance and total elevation gain . To make it easier I have written down the "route" for the popular PG&E trail out & back; 1b2v454v2b1. You will see this route proves to be 8.52 miles long with a gain of 2155 feet.



Looking out over California
from Black Mountain Trail

Rancho is a beautiful park to run in and it satisfies both beginners and the more advanced. If you enter the park from any number of trail heads throughout the Los Altos neighborhoods just west of highway 280 and stay in this initial low land on the multiple trails running the length of this park you can avoid some really tough climbs. If you want a good mix of hills try the PG&E trail. If you want to fry your quads climbing all day start at the bottom and go all the way to the top on Black Mountain Trail. At the top you can fall into the Mone Bello Open Space Preserve and keep the adventure rolling.

Take a trip to Rancho San Antonio and plot it out before hand on the Rancho Runner webpage. It's a fun way to get familiar with an often overlooked trail system.

See you in the woods,
Jonathan

Thanksgiving holiday hikes in the bay area!

Mid Peninsula Open Space Preserve in fog

Everybody has heard of and probably participated in a Turkey Trot. Some did their annual run this last weekend while others will wait until the traditional Thursday morning or first Saturday following Thanksgiving to burn a few extra calories. Have you ever heard of a Turkey Trek? No, me neither but you can learn all about it in the Mid Peninsula Open Space Preserve's Fall 2012 newsletter. On page 16 they have 3 activities listed to help get you out of the house and into the woods over the holiday weekend.

Featured Trail Route: Los Altos Hills 24.5 miles

http://www.dailymile.com/routes/1324782-running-route

24.5 mile Los Altos Hills Route



This route takes you through several parks in the Palo Alto and Los Altos area. The run starts at the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve on Arastradero Rd near Page Mill Rd and Highway 280.