Today Tom, Doc, and I meet at the entrance to Tecalote Canyon to do the Tri-canyon loop. It is essentially running through 3 canyons and I don’t know the names of two of the canyons. The 15.3 mile run was about 80% trails and 20% asphalt.

When we started it was pretty cold… not as bad as the Marion Bear morning described below though. As mentioned above, we started out in Tecalote canyon. The first 2 miles are flat and were very cold. At mile 2 the hills start and that is when I began to warm up. I was dressed in the Saucony Boston Pants, long sleeve moisture wicking shirt, Asics beanie, and Asics MCT Liner Gloves.

After the first initial hills, the canyon flattens out and you run along a stream until about mile 3.5. After that, we ran up Genessee and hopped into another canyon that was gradually and deceptively uphill for about 2.5 miles. I was running along wondering why the hell my heart rate was so high running a 10 min/mi pace. Once we got to the top of that canyon we run on more asphalt up Balboa to the Fox Run area. After looping around we entered another trail which merged with the first canyon we ran. I know, its confusing… I still don’t get it.

Coming back I had to poo pretty bad… and I had no TP… so I had to run about 5 miles with a giant terd prarie doggin’ it. I was so relieved to finally get back to the car and eventually… take a dump.

As for nutrition on the run. I under-did it slightly. I drank 32oz of liquid with 6 servings of Nuun. I ate 3 Gu Roctane packs and about 200 calories worth of Carbo-Pro 1200. The Nuun, I love and the Gu Roctane is awesome. Carbo Pro has traditionally made me want to poop at inopportune time during runs so I have stayed away from it… I was giving the 1200 a trial run today and I wont be using it anymore. My stomache can’t muscle it. The next thing I amgoing to try is sunflower seeds for calories. Those little suckers are LOADED with calories.

Here is the course route.