Cove Palisades

This past weekend, my dad and I, along with some of this friends and their sons headed down to a cabin on Lake Billy Chinook outside Cove Palisades State Park. We left Portland early on Saturday morning and arrive at the cabin at 10am to a sunny sky, but chilly conditions. We quickly got to work sweeping, racking, and burning a winter’s accumulation of pine needles other debris. We had three burn barrels going in order to clear the area of the highly flammable pine needles. The area had a huge forest fire a few years back and thanks to some heroic work by firefighters and stoic homeowners they were able to protect all of the cabins along the river. Since then lots of fire prevention tactics are regularly performed in order to prevent future fires. Hence the burning of all excess flammable debris.

After most of the work was done, while the rest of the crew cracked beers and ate lunch, I geared up and headed out for an 8 mile run along the Metolius River. I wasn’t exactly sure if I would find singletrack, but I was guided by some friends to head down past Motley Campground and look for singletrack off the dirt road off the back of the campground. After getting up early and working all morning, I was pretty tired by the time that I headed out. But the weather was perfect with clear sunny skies and warmish conditions. I would have been happy with any dry conditions. Oregon had just experienced its wettest and coldest March in all its recorded history! So I was desperately in need of dry, warm conditions. I was also trying out a new pair of shoes, Montrail Rogue Racers. I had just given back another pair of Montrails that I had been wear testing, with which I was very pleased so I wanted to get another pair of lightweight shoes to test out this summer.

The singletrack trail turned out to be more of a fishermen/game trail so I stayed on the old fire road for the whole trip. It was nice to get out and see some different scenery, but I quickly got bored as the road was mainly flat and straight. After the run, we headed out to chop down/scavenge some firewood and fired off some rounds with some of my dad’s guns. Typical redneck behavior, but it was fun. That night we made a huge fire, drank beers and ate like kings.

In the morning, we closed down shop quickly and headed back to Portland. I look forward to returning to Central Oregon on Saturday to run the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M this Sunday. We will be staying at our friends house in Black Butte just outside Sisters, OR. Looking forward to the whole weekend, just wish the race was on Saturday so I could spend Sunday in and around the Sisters area. Look for the race report coming out late next week.

UNT

Bryan

Tuesday Night Group Run

As some of you may have heard, I was granted the privilege of running the inaugural version of the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M after being wait listed earlier this month. Since will be my second ultra of the year and first try at a distance above a 50k. I am excited and nervous about this attempt due to my poor performance at the Gorge Waterfalls 50k this past March. I have attempted to gain as much hill training as I could in the past couple of weeks, but it’s hard to gain any real climbing fitness in that short of time. Hopefully my largest base mileage to date will help give me some edge, but my limited number of long runs will definitely not  help the cause.

This past Tuesday I was able to hook up with a friend of a friend from school, Jason Leman, who also competes in ultras, and he informed me that a group of ultra runners meet up every Tuesday in Forest Park at 6pm by the Leif/Thurman gate to do a 7-8 mile group run. I have been looking for a way to plug myself into the ultra community here in Portland, and this meeting looked like a great opportunity to meet some people. So I met up with Jason and this group on Tuesday to get a good training run in and to start introducing myself. I am still trying to learn everyone’s name, but one that I do remember is AmySproston, from the Montrail Ultra Running Team and winner of the Pine toPalm 100M. We chatted briefly about a pair of Montrail's that I am wear testing and how she is looking forward to their release. In the end, it was a great run, and I was able to push myself harder with more accomplished and experienced runners. I will definitely be meeting up with them as often as possible.

Tomorrow, I am briefly heading down to Central Oregon to help my dad’s friend open his lake home for the beginning of the season. My dad’s friend’s camp includes 1 larger cabin with 4 smaller bunk houses located on Lake Billy Chinook. The house runs off solar power and generator power when needed, has no TV, no cell service and no other ppl this time of year. In the summer, the area is occupied by a few other residents. Summer activities include watersports like wakeboarding, waterskiing and tubing, ATV riding and hiking. While the weather may be crummy, I plan to do at least 1 lap of the Tam-a-lau Trail and get some nice desert running. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can stay in the rainshadow of Mt. Hood and stay away from the precipitation, while also getting a much needed change of terrain.

UNT

Bryan

Storeyburn Photo/Video Shoot

 

Here are some shots from the photo/video shoot that Adam and I did last Friday. Adam wanted to practice using his camera some more and is in the process of putting together some content for his demo reel as he contemplates a move to the City of Angels. So I took him up on his offer as it gave me a chance to get on my mountain bike for a little while and provided me with some quality photos for my blog. Take a look at the link below and let me know what you think.

Location: Storeyburn Trailhead, Tillamook State Forest.

Gallery link: Here

See more of Adam's work at http://adamschwartz5.wordpress.com/

UNT

Bryan

Jackson Hole Slideshow

Forgot to upload this slideshow that adam put together. Take a look and see the jackson hole dispatches for more information.



Jackson Hole from Adam Schwartz on Vimeo.

Kings Mountain, Tillamook State Forest

This past Saturday my mother and I headed into Tillamook State Forest with our eye on the summit of Kings Mountain just off Hwy 6. I wanted to do a bigger training day on Sunday when the weather was supposed to be better, but didn’t want to sit around and do nothing on Saturday. A little climbing and descending would be good for the legs. Also, I wanted to scout out Kings Mtn to see how much snow was still on the top because I was thinking about doing the Elk Mtn-King Mtn Traverse this upcoming weekend. I picked up my mom from Biscuits café (yes I slept in) and we headed out to the trailhead. My mom didn’t really know what was in store, but she’s a trooper so I wasn’t worried. I also brought along Rylee Dog. I figured that if I was in training then he should be in training as well so I brought along his pack and filled in with his medium weight load.

The trail basically goes straight up about 2,800ft to the summit which rests at 3,226ft. Neither of us had ever been to the summity of Kings so we weren’t sure how long it would take us. The forecast called for rain showers so we brought appropriate rain gear. I also brought snowshoes just in case it was really deep at the top, although we talked to a few other hikers in the parking lot who summitted, and they told us that snowshoes were unnecessary. So with that, we ditched the snowshoes and headed up.

It was really bright after coming out of the darkness of the forest canopy so we were both squinting

The trail is very steep in some sections so going was relatively slow at times. Ry, on the other hand, proceeded to run up and mountain the trail even with his heavier pack on. The weather stayed clear most of the day and we summitted around 3pm. The top 500ft of the trail still has too much snow on it for any trail running so I’ll have to find another run to do for this weekend. Probably somewhere in the Gorge as I need to get some elevation.  We got a little hail on the return back to the car, but other than that, the weather held off on us for the most part. Definitely was a good trip and I enjoyed spending some time with my mom. She kept up like a champ as I predicted. I’ll have to come out here later in the spring when the wildflowers are blooming and run the Elk-King traverse.

UNT

Bryan

Heading back down from the summit

Gorge Waterfall 50k Race Report

Well my race is over and I am sitting here with very sore legs and slightly deflated confidence. This was clearly the hardest of my 50ks to date.  I’ll start from the beginning. Friday night, I packed up the green machine and headed over to Wyeth Campground in the Gorge. I got there around 11pm, pulled into the first open site and climbed into the back of my car and into my sleeping bag. I didn’t sleep very well, not that I ever do the night before a race, and got cold during the night. The alarm went off around 6am as I struggled to locate any other movement in the campground. It was still dark and not much movement in any of the other sites. I waited until 6:15am before I got out of my bag and headed down to the check-in. When I got there, the parking lot was bustling and there seem to be ppl everywhere. I waited in line for the restroom (which is always packed before these kinds of events) then headed back to the car to get dressed and get ready. Once I was all ready to go, I dropped off my drop bags, picked up my bib number and jumped on the bus.

Activity at Aid Station 1

It took about 40 mins to get to the Wahkenna Falls TH, where I then proceeded to stretch and mingle with some of the other racers. After 20mins, I maneuvered my way to the front of the starting line and listened to the pre-race briefing. A few minutes later the countdown concluded and we were off! I settled into 11^th place and prepared for the 1,500ft climb that started 200 yards into the race. I knew this climb would take a lot out of me if I hit it hard so I tried by best to take it easy and walked a little here and there. It was cool looking down from the top and seeing all 150 runners making their way up the steep switchbacks. I settled into a groove, taking it pretty easy. We quickly made it to the top and then headed down past Multnomah Falls.

Coming into Aid 1

Around mile 8.5, we popped out on a road, which we followed 2 miles into Aid Station 1. I came into the Aid Station chatting with a nice guy from the Seattle area. My mom and sister were waiting for me at the aid station and quickly refilled my water bottle with Nuun and gave me my waist pack with a bottle of Perpetuem. In a flash, I was back on the trail and feeling pretty good heading towards Elowah Falls. A group of runners made a wrong turn around mile 13 or so and I found myself in the top ten. This made me feel pretty good so I began to push myself as I could feel the pressure of the stronger runners coming up behind me. This part of the trail had a rolling section of shorter steeper climbs and I began to slow down as I could feel my legs getting unusually heavy. A handful of people passed me at this point as I began bonking at mile 17ish. At this point, I knew it was going to be a long day as I still had almost half the race to still complete. My legs were just taking a beating from all the unanticipated miniature climbs and descends.

Coming into Aid 2

Around this time, my sister Megan met me on the trail. She needed to do some training for her XC team so she ran from Aid Station 2 towards me then came back with me. I informed her that I wasn’t feeling very fresh at this point and that the last 10 miles were really going to test my resolve. I swapped the waist pack for another handheld, grabbed some more gels and more nuun then headed towards the finish a daunting 10-11 miles away. Around 2 miles from Aid 2, my wheels officially came off. My legs were feeling very tight and my quads and knees began hurting when I tried to run downhill. Also, at this point in the race, it had been awhile since I hadn't seen any other racers and I felt like I had a pretty good lead on the ones behind me. However, when I got to the OAB section up to the waterfall, which I don’t remember even looking at since I was so tired, I got passed by an older gentleman, which would be the first of many encounters over the remaining race.

Around mile 25.5, I headed down towards Herman Creek and was barely able to run downhill at all, grimacing the whole way down. My legs were officially shot and I was running on pure will power at this point. I started to feel the first twinge of cramping in my calves as my water bottle was empty. That was the end of my 3^rd bottle of nuun and I have never cramped in a race before. Luckily, the last water station was up ahead so I was able to fill my bottle and drop in my last nuun tablet. Once dissolved, I began drinking as much as my stomach would allow, but it wasn’t much. I knew I needed electrolytes and wished that I was grabbed some pills at the last aid station. In preparation, I felt that nuun would be enough and that endurolyte pills would not be needed. However, I can now see the benefit of them bc you can take a couple pills all at once without having to down half a bottle of nuun. Yes you still would need to drink lots of water after consuming a few pills, but this method would definitely get the electrolytes into your body faster. (Note to self!)

The last four miles of the race were torturous. I walked way more than I would have liked and ran only so much as my body allowed. Unfortunately, the last 5 miles of the race were all downhill which was VERY hard on my aching quads and calves. I got passed by a few people during my time in the pain cave, which was predictable given the wasted state of my body, but it was still very frustrating. With roughly ¾ of a mile to go, I saw a guy coming up behind me, who I recognized from earlier in the race. He was wearing all MHW gear with Montrail shoes so I figured he also worked for Columbia Sportswear. I decided enough was enough and no one else was going to pass me, especially not MHW man. All of a sudden all the pain lifted as adrenaline finally rushed into my body. I nearly sprinted (downhill) the last ¾ of the mile, cruised past my mom waiting by the bridge and pulled through the finish line with a time of 5hrs and 35mins. I was completely spent at time point and was humbled by the hardest thing I have ever down physically. I ended up getting 14^th overall and was 2^nd in my age group. The guy in my age group that beat me was the first place finisher overall and he beat me by over an hour!

Megan and I at the finish

I found out later that the guy who came in behind me (otherwise known as MHW man, was Ryne Melcher, a member of the Montrail Ultra Trail Running Team). I suspect he wasn’t going very hard bc he is racing Chuckanut in the next few weeks, but it still felt good to beat him, even if he wasn’t going all out like I was at that point.

So in conclusion, I was disappointed about how beat up I was physically at the end of the race considering how much training I put in. But my almost complete lack of hill training was clearly my Achilles heel in my train. Ill definitely have to hill the hills hard if I expect to finish the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40m in April.

Also big thanks to my mom and sister, who took all the pictures, but more importantly, came out to support me during one of the hardest things Ive ever done.

UNT

Bryan

Megan and Ry Dog

Gorge Waterfall 50k Prep

As you can see, I gave my blog a recent face lift. I might change it again soon depending on how I feel about this one after a week or so. Anyway, tomorrow I run the Gorge Waterfall 50k. This will be my longest run so far leading up to the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M on April 10^th. Originally, I planned this run as a mandatory long training run and wasn’t going to get after it all that much, but once you pin a number on your shorts, despite what you think, you are racing. So with that in mind, I have been thinking about pushing myself a little harder than originally planned. The only down side to this, is that my next and primary “A” race as some ppl call them, is only a month away so it might not be a good idea to push that hard… Who knows… The conditions aren’t supposed to be all the great either. Forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain with temperatures hovering in the mid 40s, with likely snow accumulated in the higher elevations. So not the fastest conditions. But hey, this is the Pacific North Wet so cant really be all that surprised. It is hard to imagine that tomorrow will be rainy, when as I look out the window, it’s blue sky and sunny. That’s all for now. Look for the full race report early next week.

UNT

Bryan