All posts by Brian

Running, Training Log

May 18-24 Practice Running

Still catching up. The last two runs are from my trip reports I wrote on WTA.org.

Monday, May 18, 2015, 6:57 pm
7.16 mi, 990 ft gain, 1:30:23. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Average HR 123 bpm.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 6:42 pm
9.72 mi, 2067 ft gain, 2:01:22. Woody trail to Upper Falls(20), Upper Grade, Wallace Lake, Greg Ball, RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 132 bpm.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 6:40 pm
9.73 mi, 2172 ft gain, 2:01:02. RR grade, Greg Ball, Wallace Lake Upper Grade to Upper Falls(21), Woody Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 135 bpm.

Thursday, May 21, 2015, 6:52 pm
7.62 mi, 1076 ft gain, 2:04:19. Reiter toward wfsp, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Average HR 116 bpm.

Friday, May 22, 2015, 6:36 pm
9.10 mi, 440 ft gain, 1:27:21. May Creek Loop & WFSP lot, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 125.

Saturday, May 23, 2015, 4:07 pm
18.46 mi, 5878 ft gain, 4:54:13. Woody, Upper Falls (22), Upper Grade, Stickney to ~4200ft, Greg Ball, cutoff to Woody, Upper Falls & down. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 136 bpm.

Sunday, May 24, 2015, 4:34 pm
4.67 mi, 1843 ft gain, 1:39:11. Kelley Creek Trail, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.
I was going to try to run up the Kelley Creek trail to Johnson Ridge. The FS website said the trail has not been maintained. They weren’t kidding. It’s probably been at least several years. It was overgrown from the beginning, but still not too difficult to follow. 

About 1.3 mi in, there’s a rotted out puncheon bridge going uphill (a terrible idea). I could still make out the old trail bed most of the way, but in many places the hillside above has reclaimed much of the trail, choking the path down to 10 inches wide or less and significantly sloped downhill, so you’re basically side-hilling much of the way. There were at least a dozen blow-downs in the first 2 miles, but none too difficult to pass. At about 2.25 mi, it looked like an amateur lumberjack went at it over the hillside. It seemed that 90% of the trees in the next 0.25 mi were down. Some trees uprooted, taking parts of the trail with. I made it through a couple hundred yards, then it looked even worse ahead. I turned around and headed back. With everything so wet and trail conditions so terrible, I wanted to make it back to the car with enough time to hit another trail (Beckler Peak, which was fantastic). There is flagging tape marking the trail in the difficult to follow parts up until that point, and I’d imagine the markings continue beyond. 

I wouldn’t recommend the trail unless you like bushwhacking, obstacles, route finding, being soaked from the foliage and traveling half as quickly as normal at the very most. Unless the trail gets some attention, it might not be too long before it’s no longer worth the ink to continue printing on maps.
Average HR 126 bpm.

Sunday, May 24, 2015, 6:58 pm
7.45 mi, 2299 ft gain, 1:30:55. Beckler Peak, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.
After trying (and failing) to run up Kelley Creek trail, the Beckler Peak trail was amazing. I got there around 6:45 pm. There was one other vehicle parked at the trail head, but I passed about 6 on the drive up. 

The trail is in great condition. There was one small patch of snow still on the trail around 4600ft. It was only about 10 ft long and will likely be melted out in a day or two. 

Shortly after crossing that snowy patch, there was a small patch of blue sky overhead. I hoped it would last until I reached the top. It had been grey and foggy all day. It only lasted a couple minutes, though. 

I caught up to a hiker about 100 yards from the top. We chatted a little about the area. There were no views to speak of. Visibility was 50-100 yards at the most. It was still a great climb. After a couple minutes, I headed back down. 

As amazing as the trail was going up, bombing down was even better. There are a couple mildly rocky parts on the decommissioned logging road section that took a little more care, but I made great time back to the trail head. 

I’ll definitely head back sometime.

Average HR 141 bpm.

Weekly totals: 74 mi, 16765 ft gain

Running, Training Log

May 11-17 Practice Running

Playing catch up more. This was a pretty big week for me.

Monday, May 11, 2015, 7:45 pm
5.26 mi, 96 ft gain, 40:10. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 146 bpm.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 7:24 pm
7.10 mi, 957 ft gain, 1:13:59. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with Sigurd. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Average HR 137 bpm.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 6:33 pm
10.80 mi, 2547 ft gain, 1:58:53. Woody Trail, Upper Falls(16), Wallace Lake, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 141 bpm.

Thursday, May 14, 2015, 6:38 pm
10 mi, 2152 ft gain, 1:53:46. Woody Trail, Upper Falls(17), Wallace Lake, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Average HR 140 bpm.

Friday, May 15, 2015, 6:47 pm
10 mi, 2065 ft gain, 1:48:18. Woody Trail, Upper Falls(18), Wallace Lake, Greg Ball, RR Grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 140 bpm.

Saturday, May 16, 2015, 6:58 pm
6.74 mi, 922 ft gain, 1:27:20. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Average HR 121 bpm.

Sunday, May 17, 2015, 4:54 pm
21.21 mi, 4185 ft gain, 4:27:00. Woody Trail, Upper Falls(19), Upper grade, Partway up Stickney, Wallace Lake, Jay Lake, DNR Rd, RR grade, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 138 bpm.

Weekly totals: 71.4 mi, 12924 ft gain.

Running, Training Log

May 4-10 Practice Running

I’ve fallen way behind writing my training logs. Rather than try to catch up, I’m just going to post what I have.

Monday, May 4, 2015, 7:30 pm
5.4 mi, 734 ft gain, 1:16:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with Sigurd. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 118 bpm.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015, 6:40 pm
3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:27. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 134 bpm.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015, 7:49 pm
3.17 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:58. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 133 bpm.

Thursday, May 7, 2015, 6:28 pm
11.10 mi, 815 ft gain, 1:55:39. Wallace Falls SP RR grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 135 bpm.

Friday, May 8, 2015, 6:27 pm
9.18 mi, 2330 ft gain, 1:59:33. Wallace Lake and Falls(15) Loop, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 143 bpm.

Saturday, May 9, 2015, 7:46 pm
4.04 mi, 632 ft gain, 52:29. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #3, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Average HR 130 bpm.

Sunday, May 10, 2015, 8:15 pm
3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:10. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Average HR 133 bpm.

Weekly totals: 42.2 mi, 4511 ft gain

Running, Training Log

April 27-May 3 Practice Running

Monday, April 27, 2015, 7:02 pm

3.12 mi, 136 ft gain, 51:12. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

Today was pretty rough, though not as bad as I expected. My left knee is pretty sore on the inside where I smacked it against a rock from a fall when I went up the Lake Isabel trail. My achilles attachment points are pretty sore too. Other than that, my legs are tired and generally fatigued. Overall, I felt a little better than after the 7 hour race in September.

I took it quite slow, not that I could have run much faster even if I wanted. We went out to Olney Creek. The dogs splashed around a bit. On the way back to the car, we went out the road in the clearcut towards the little hill. We went far enough to break 3 mi by the end of the run.

Average HR bpm 111.

 

Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 6:48 pm

3.19 mi, 28 ft gain, 30:56. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I was a little better today overall, but not much faster. There was a little bit of doms, though. I’m surprised my muscles weren’t a lot more sore.

I took my normal route around town. The first mi was about 10:20, second at 9:18, third at 9:05. I really had to use a restroom by the end, so I managed to speed up for the last bit, going 7:49/mi pace.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 6:53 pm

3.23 mi, 310 ft gain, 50:19. Reiter gate #1, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

I was better today again. My mental state wasn’t quite as good, though. I tend to go through a rough patch with motivation and emotions related to running for a few days up to a week or so after a tough race.
I don’t like being stuck doing short, easy runs. I wrote a little about that during my taper. It’s the same during recovery. The physical pain, discomfort and soreness suck too. But I think the biggest factor is my body not cooperating. The pain and discomfort would be tolerable if I could still move like normal. Being limited to less than I know I’m capable, and less than I’m used to doing is tough. I sometimes wonder whether it’s worth doing at all if I can’t perform up to my personal standard. It’s tough to moderate my expectations, even knowing how recovery normally goes and how long it takes.

Anyway, I didn’t want to run on asphalt and concrete, so I took the dogs out to Reiter. I stuck to the flats. Once out to the fork at the edge of the powerline cut, we went straight on the road into the woods instead of up the hill the other way. I wanted to see where it went. After a side trip on an older, partially overgrown loop, we followed the road out to where it meets May Creek. The road appeared to continue beyond, but there was no way to cross without getting wet, which I didn’t really want to do. I’ll check it out another time. Then we went up another fork in the road, which ran into the creek again upstream a ways. There was a little more uphill than I planned, but it wasn’t bad.

On the way back, there were two guys walking out towards the creek. Vida ran up barking, then backed away. Sigurd barked a little, but was more interested in the beer can one of the guys had in his hand. That it was beer didn’t matter to Sigurd. He’s always curious about things people carry.

I’m looking forward to being fully recovered and new adventures.

Average HR 118 bpm.

 

Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:34 pm

4.57 mi, 38 ft gain, 42:36. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I felt like going farther today. I thought about turning around at 20 min, but decided to go a little farther to the next road. I went a little faster today. Starting to feel a bit better.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Friday, May 1, 2015, 7:05 pm

6.3 mi, 65 ft gain, 1:08:24. RR access rd, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I wanted to go a little longer today and to get off the roads. I went for the railroad access roads instead. Gravel is better than asphalt and concrete. I wasn’t fast, but it was nice to go a little longer.

I had to make a brief pitstop, I waited until I was passed the gate a ways and found a spot in the woods. Shortly after I got back on the  access road I came across a deer up ahead. It ran ahead a little ways then jumped off the side onto someone’s driveway and into their yard.

I was a bit more tired than normal by the end. There’s definitely still fatigue from the race left in my muscles.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Saturday, May 2, 2015, 6:50 pm

4.64 mi, 204 ft gain, 59:10. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #3.

Out into the woods (well some woods and some clear cuts). A little better everyday. I still took it easy.

We went out to the seasonal ponds. The dogs played around a bit, then we went to Olney Creek. More playing around for the dogs. Then we finished out the loop and headed back for the car.

Average HR 111 bpm.

 

Sunday, May 3, 2015, 6:22 pm

11.16 mi, 823 ft gain, 2:01:09. Through town to WFSP RR Grade, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

My legs were still a little tired, but definitely getting there. I wanted to go a bit longer today and maybe get on the trails a little, so I headed for Wallace Falls State Park.

I’m getting kind of tired of the roads, even on the way to the park today. I kept it fairly easy. My time to the park was maybe a minute or two slower than normal. I got a little water, signed the register and headed out.

I went up the railroad grade. I saw a couple people in the first mile or so. It was nice to do a little climbing and get out on the trails, even if it was railroad grade.

I made a pitstop at the restroom at the end of the trail, then headed back. Going back wasn’t bad. The legs were still more tired than normal but felt fairly good. I feel like I’m getting back to normal with today’s run.

I’ve started to notice that this particular pair of shoes has a little bit of a manufacturing defect. The seem inside where the footbed meets the upper and lower around the outside is slightly raised in places. It’s not too noticeable on short runs. It becomes kind of apparent on longer runs, though. Maybe that’s why they discontinued the model.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 36.2 mi, 1576 ft gain

Running, Training Log

April 20-26 Practice Running

Monday, April 20, 2015, 7:02 pm

4.5 mi, 771 ft gain, 1:08:22. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Vida seemed ok all day while I was working in the yard and the dogs were outside with me. So I brought both with me on the run today.

I was still just a little achey overall, but certainly doing better. I didn’t notice any issues with my piriformis until about 0.75 mi in. Even then, it wasn’t much of a problem. I only noticed it for a minute or two, then not again until 2.66 mi.

We took the newer road at about 0.25 mi again. We stopped briefly to look at the tree I thought might be cherry. I looked again, and it looks even more like it to me this time. It’s way too tall to be a domesticated cherry tree. It’s probably some sort of wild cherry. I’m looking forward to seeing what it actually is, assuming they don’t log back there before then.

We went out to the end of the road. On the way back, I looked for a decent route to go up the hill off trail. We ended going up about the same place we tried last time. I decided that we were going to go all the way to the top. I’m not sure I’ll do that again. It was fine most of the way, even when it got really steep. But once I got near the top and it started to level out, we ran into the more recent regrowth that I knew was going to be there. The first part wasn’t too bad, lots of brittle, dry and rotten small deadfall and snags. Then came the blackberries. I saw at least 3 different types of blackberry vines. There were lots of Oregon grape too. They’re more of an annoyance than a hinderance though. The last 10-20 yards through last year’s clear cut was the worst.

We made it to the road across the top just near the top of the steep climb near the top on the east side. I briefly considered going out to the other end of the hill, but decided against it. If it weren’t race week, I would have. I’m getting a lot more patient with tapers.

I kept the pace pretty easy, even on the downhill. We stopped for a little bit at the seasonal pond. The water level was up a little bit. It was probably even higher after the rain early last week. There’s more rain in the forecast for the better part of the next week.

I threw a stick for Vida. She didn’t see it land a little behind her when she was running out in the water. Instead, she went for another “stick”, a 10 ft long 3 in diameter log. She struggled briefly to free it from a small tangle, then she pulled it about 10 yds across the pond. I tried to get my phone out quickly to get a photo. I managed to get one before she dropped it, but she was behind some bushes, so it wasn’t that great.

We continued back to the car at a comfortably easy pace. I sped up briefly just to see how my legs felt. They were ok. I think a little bit of the soreness is the new exercises I’ve been doing. They seem to be working too.

Average HR 120 bpm.

 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 6:28 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:31. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

I’m behind on my write-ups again, and I forgot most of the details.

I felt alright. My piriformis was a little irritated, but not bad. I ran negative mile splits and sped up a little more at the end.

Average HR 143 bpm.

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 5:42 pm

4.52 mi, 226 ft gain, 50:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

Vida seemed to be doing ok, so I took her and Sigurd out on an easy run today. We went out to the seasonal ponds. The water is still up a little. I put the log she grabbed the other day back in the water and threw a rock at it. I had my phone ready for a photo this time, and Vida grabbed the log again. I got a pretty good photo too.

Next, we went out to Olney Creek for a couple minutes. Then we continued around the loop. I haven’t felt very fast, and my legs are still a little off. I felt the same way before the Lord Hill 50k too. I was good on race day, though, at least until I blew up on the third lap from going too hard early.

I kept the pace pretty easy mostly. I picked up the pace a couple times to stretch out the legs a little.

The other day I thought I was good with the taper. Today it’s apparent that I’m not. I’m over the stage of being super anxious to run longer or harder. But I haven’t had the same desire to run. I’m a little short on motivation for these short runs. They just don’t seem to do it for me. Just a few more days to race day. But then I’ll be stuck back to short and easy for a while again. It won’t be too long though.

Average HR 124 bpm.

 

Thursday, April 23, 2015, 6:49 pm

4.17 mi, 33 ft gain, 34:33. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another day of little motivation. I had little issue with my piriformis starting out, it was a little worse later, but not bad.

I ran out to the road just past 2 mi and turned around. I had started feeling better by then, but kept it short again. The thought of not running in races has crossed my mind, just sticking to adventures of my own. It wouldn’t really change the need for a taper before a really long adventure, though. It would make scheduling and such more simple. If I do things on my own, I can do them whenever and wherever I want. When I run races, I have to find a race that I want to run, make sure I’m free when it happens, and go to the predetermined location. The location usually isn’t a problem. If it was, I wouldn’t sign up. But with something like the Capitol Peak 50 mi, I probably wouldn’t have chosen a race down there by Olympia if I didn’t need a qualifying race for Cascade Crest.

On the way back home, my legs were a little heavy and stiff. I realized that the backward part of my stride might have become a little exaggerated at the expense of the upward and forward motion of my knees. I don’t know, but I had less discomfort from the piriformis issue when I tried a higher knee lift, focussing more on raising my leg ahead of me than pushing off, which was how I ran in the past. I’m not sure about changing something this close to race day, but it’ll be something to think about if I have problems during the race.

When I got to about 0.3 mi from my house, the sun was shining through an opening in the clouds. It had been lightly raining for much of the run, and the rest of the sky looked pretty ominous. The sun breaking through was just enough to cast a rainbow ahead of me. It appeared to touch down in my back yard. It was kind of a weak rainbow, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Average HR 140 bpm.

 

Friday, April 24, 2015, 7:42 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 24:09. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

Another short run to get out and keep my legs moving. I ran a bit faster than normal. But my legs felt pretty good.

Average HR 145 bpm.

 

Saturday, April 25, 2015, 12:41 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:46. Around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2 white.

One more short run around town before the race. I went earlier in the day so I could finish getting things together and drive down to drop off the dogs at their mom’s place to play with other dogs instead of laying around my house all day with a couple short breaks let outside by the neighbor kid.

I think the HR monitor read too high for a little while, so the stated average is high. My legs felt ok. However, I haven’t felt that great for most of the taper. I felt better the couple times I ran harder with some uphills. Apparently, it’s normal to feel kind of crappy during a taper, and I remember feeling like this during a couple previous tapers too.

Average HR 145 bpm.

 

Sunday, April 26, 2015, 6:00 am

50 mi, 7864 ft gain, 10:21:11. Capitol Peak 50 mi, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red #2.

I’ll write a full race recap soon. The important thing was that I finished and got my Cascade Crest 100 qualifier.

Average HR 142 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 72.7 mi, 8896 ft gain