Weekly Summary – 58 miles in 7 runs. Busy week w/ the Machu Picchu trek w/ the STRIVE gang and travel back to the USA! Got in a last long run in Pisac (where Calvin ran 15 miles at sub 6’00 pace and dropped me) and then tried my hand at trail-running on day 1 of the trek (at extreme altitude). Two zero-days, but lots of time on feet from the trek!

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Strava (GPS included!). Don’t forget to follow my adventures STRIVE – where I’ll be leading groups of students on a journey of running, service learning, and adventure in Peru. If you’re interested, join us next year for the summer of 2019, when we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families. Take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

Lunes, 30 de Julio, 2018 – 07:00: Ran w/ HSers on guinea pig long run. Jogged to Taray solo and then met up w/ the gang and ran all the way to Calca bridge. Lovely run except Sierra had some issues and had to drop early. Nice lil JV kick by Peanuts which was about a mile too early. Heh. Jogged into town after w/ Cal and Mar. Total run 20.5km in 1h38/

20.5km in 1h38

12:00pm: Early double. Ran w/ Calvin from Zaandra’s place down to dirt road and then out/back a bit. Felt a bit weak but pretty decent. Finished w/ 4x strides on dirt. Total run 8.5km in 37’

Martes, 31 de Julio, 2018 – Sparknotes: 24km in 1’30’12 (3’45/km) on Big Black Llama.

07:30: Cal really wanted to hit 15M at sub 6’00/M pace, so that was the goal today. I wasn’t feeling great from the gun – busy last few days plus being sick last week – but took on the job of rabbiting. I knew we’d need to be running 3’50s in the forest and then 3’30s on the road on the way back to do it. We were doing okay but it felt pretty hard. Stopped for quick pee break around 10km and then I was getting dropped on the road on the way back and asked to stop to regroup for a minute. Also had some very bad chafing in the Tanuki region.

Took Cal to the top of the big hill w/ 2K to go and then he went by and pushed very hard the last stretch while I maintained. Still ran 24km @ 3’45 which is pretty good for a not great day at 2950m…

Jogged back for 25km total.

PM: OFF – very busy afternoon getting out of Pisac and getting to Cusco. Lovely dinner at the Taray Overlook and then made it to CUZ by about 20:00.

Miercoles, 1 de Agosto, 2018 – 10:15am: Up at like 04:00 to leave for the trek. Drove out and stopped only very briefly in Mollepata to use bathroom, etc. On the trail by 10:00.

Goal was to do some amount of continuous trail running today. I had no idea what that would look like, especially at this altitude, but figured it was a good opportunity to try. Felt pretty good out of the gate as the first bit is gentle before a long steep climb up to Salkantay Pass. This was extremely challenging. I ran 12’ for the km going up the switchbacks (226m of gain up to 4400m). I made it to the pass at about 4625m in about 55’ w/o any stopping. It was a big goal of mine to see how far I could go w/o stopping.

The descent down the other side of the pass was actually the part I was more worried about. It’s steep and a bit sandy and rocky and so I was careful not to kill myself, though definitely still rolled a couple ankles lightly. Also had to pass a few groups of tourists and donkeys who were going up or down so had to stop a couple times, though kept the watch going.

Ran all the way down past campsite and down into the cloudforest valley which is extremely steep and then turned around to head back up. My goal was to meet the group at the top of the pass and I figured it’d take them about 3 hours.

The last climb back up what I’d just come down was extremely challenging – much harder than the first climb as this was now over 100 minutes of good effort. I made it up to the campsite and across the flat plain part and then began the long climb back up to the pass. This was so hard and I was running so slowly. I made it to about 2h20 minutes and then had to take a longer break (so stopped the strava track there). I did continue “running” up the trail but by the end it was like run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, etc. I was also bonking seriously hard as I’d only brought one gel and a NV bar.

Overall, this was actually pretty fun and an interesting datum for sure. Not sure exactly what it tells me as the altitude is pretty extreme compared to most trail race, but it’s good to have done.

Total run 18.3km in 2’18’07 (7’30/km).

PM: Walked down from the pass to camp. Got there early but hit a small snow-storm en route. Long day!

Jueves, 2 de Agosto, 2018 – AM: Walked down from Huayrac to Chaullay. Very comfy and easy. Nice and cloudy so not too hot or dusty.

10am: Waited a while to leave and then ran w/ the interns down the ol dirt road to La Playa. From 2900m to 2050m pretty continuous downhill. GPS said we were running pretty slowly (over 5’00 pace) which is possible but didn’t feel that slow w/ all the downhill. Nice fun conversational run and beautiful as always. Nice to crush this in 80’ and then be able to chill, soak in the river, etc. Total run 16km+ in 82’.

PM: Short walk playa to Lucma – 30’

Viernes, 3 de Agosto, 2018 – AM: Up early again and on the trail shortly after 06:00. Lovely morning and not too hot again, so made it up to llaqta by like 0800 and hidro by like 1000. Decided to walk the last stretch on the tracks to spend time w/ the group and since we were so early.

Sabado, 4 de Agosto, 2018 – 03:16 wakeup for MaPi Day. Same old, same old. Got up there easily enough and then got kicked off the tour since our group was too big so Nic, Scott, and I went out to sit and do some work until the kids came out. Went up to MaPi mtn which was fun w/ the whole group. Stayed up there a while and then came back down and hung around on the top grassy area for a while before heading out to meet the kids and walk down. Nice relaxing dinner and then train to ollanta and I got a cab out to Pisac. Long day but relatively smooth.

Domingo, 5 de Agosto, 2018 – 8am: Last run in Pisac! Ran around town to do some errands and shake the legs out a bit as I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to run in the afternoon. Nice little Tambo loop. Pretty morning w/ some clouds hanging over the mountains. Not too tired despite the long day yesterday. Total run 4.5km in 21’.

PM: Busy day getting out of Chaska, taking RP to Cusco, wrap-up meeting w/ the group, and then getting to CUZ airport early to check-in with RP. Smooth sailing there w/ lots of extra time and got a lot of work done in the lounge before flying to LIM, similarly pretty easy stuff there just lots of hurry-up-and wait. Didn’t overlap w/ the group at all, so kind of anti-climactic as I just boarded and headed out.