Oregon Coast Trail Run

"I behold the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed."

-Captain Clark, from the view atop Tillamook Head

The weather was looking good for the weekend so I wanted to get some camping and training in. Originally I had planned to camp along the Middle Fork of the Willamette, but my roommate Andrew suggested the coast. I remembered that I had mapped out a few runs on the Oregon Coast Trail, and after some quick calculations to see if I could get in a marathon distance, I agreed to the change of venue.

I left directly from work and arrived at Nehalem Bay CG around 6:45p on Friday night. After one too many loops around the CG looking for the best site, I settled with F21. Solid choice.

      

Leg 1: Tillamook Head Traverse OAB

The next morning I ate a quick bfast then headed out to Ecola State Park. I had somehow never been there before so I was looking forward to checking out the site and getting on a new trail system. The weather was cloudy, but in the high 50s. My first leg of the day was an OAB traverse of Tillamook Head. I guessed it was somewhere in the 12mi range so I only took one bottle of nuun and one of perpetuem to start the day off right. At the last minute, I threw on my Nathan pack just so that I could easily carry my iPhone in the front pouch.

Mobile Basecamp

I made a pact with myself not too take any pictures till the halfway point in order to keep moving, to give myself a few breaks on the return leg, and because the weather was supposed to get better later in the day = better pictures. Now I planned the runs of the day based on Mr. Sullivan’s Oregon Coast Guide Book, but too be honest, I didn’t really pay too attention to exactly mileage and elevation gain, I just knew I’d be over 26.1.



Took a few laps up this road looking for the trail



The run from Ecola Point to Indian Beach was short and scenic. I noted a few good spots to take pictures on the way back. I got a little confused on the correct path/trail/road to take in order to get the scenic path to the backpacker’s camp. After a few short OABs on the fireroad, I finally jumped on the correct “trail” and started climbing, and climbing. Whoa, more climbing than expected, more roots than expected, less mud than expected, but definitely lots of it.

Backpacker Camp

WWII Radio/Radar Bunker

Terrible Tilly standing fast

I passed the camp without stopping and continued climbing, tip toeing around roots and shoe sucking mud pits. I passed a few groups of backpackers and hikers, making their way towards the shelters. I soon realized that I was going to over shoot my 1:30 deadline by at least an hour. It wasn’t that hot and I wasn’t that thirsty but I started conserving water regardless. Luckily, my pack had lots of extra fuel in it so I didn’t have a trouble with fuel or electrolytes.

I bombed down the steep switchback to arrive at the end of that section, read a few historical signs then began the long trudge back up and over Tillamook head. I ran into a group of girls that I went to high school with. We chatted for a bit before I continued onward.

Halfway Point

Lots of boardwalk like this along the way

Skunk Cabbage

    

Cool Prayer Flags

 

This guy went from my chin to my shins

Eventually, I arrived back at the backpacker’s camp. I spent a few minutes taking pictures, checking out the old WWII bunkers and scoping out the views before heading back down to Indian Beach and eventually my car. In the end, it took me 2.5hrs of actual run time for the traverse. I did some quick stretching a fueling before jumping in the car and heading out to Oswald West State Park.

Weather getting better

Looking back towards Cannon Beach



Looking back at the Tillamook Head

Leg 2: OAB to a little past Cape Falcon

 

I was able to refuel and rest a bit on the drive between trailheads. I parked at the large parking lot leading down to Short Sands Beach in Smuggler’s Cove. I loaded up my hydration pack with 50oz of nuun, grabbed a few more gels and made a 2.5hr bottle of Perpetuem. (My goal was to use Perpetuem as my primary fuel source for the day to see how my body would react/perform.) I wasn’t planning on coming back to the car between legs 2 and 3 so thats why I carried so much water and fuel. Also, by this time the weather was pretty great so the view would be awesome.

 

Small waterfall overlooking Short Sands

Smuggler's Cove

I had been too Short Sands Beach many times, but never hiked out to Cape Falcon. I was blown away with how beautiful it was and really enjoyed the non rooty parts of the trail. Salal Meadows was really amazing and climbing down to the view point was awesome. Definitely have to take some other people out there some time. I continued on another 1.5 or so to get some extra mileage before turning around and setting my sights on the summit of Neahkahnie Mountain.

The tip of Cape Falcon

Cliffs

My next objective dominating the skyscape: Neahkahnie

Leg 3: Former Oswald West State CG to Summit of Neahkahnie OAB.

I started feeling pretty fatigued crossing the suspension bridge on the border of the CG. Next thing I knew I was starting up at a wall of trail. This section coming out of the campground is pretty steep so I jogwalked it to the top partly to save energy, partly because I was too tired to run. Coming into Elk Meadows, Neahkahnie loomed in front of me, daring me to attempt it. I strategically chose to attempt it at the end of run in order to see how my legs would react under fatigued conditions and to simulate a mental and physical challenge I knew I would face in the late stages of my races this summer. I’m sure Maiden Peak will make Neahkahnie look like an anthill when I crawl up it in the late stages of Waldo 100k.

 

Suspension Bridge towards 101

By the time I crossed 101 and headed up my last section of the OCT, I had lost my uphill gears. I power walked parts, hiked parts and jogged all the flatter parts (there weren’t many). Eventually, I made it to the rocky summit. Scrambled to the top and sat down. I soaked in the view for a bit. Then made a few calls to a few people to let them know that I was okay, but significantly behind schedule.



Looking back at Cape Falcon, about 1/3 of the way up



Summit Photo. looking out towards Nehalem Bay

I was worried that my quads would be shot and that the downhill might take longer than the uphill. Amazingly, my quads felt rock solid, and I was able to run down fairly easily and fairly quickly. I crossed 101 again and cruised back down to the CG and back up to my car. I sat down and drank some water for a bit then iced in the river before jumping into my car and heading to NB CG.



Tired Bryan

In the end, the run took 5hrs and 21mins. Longer than each of the 50ks that I done… When I got back to Nehalem Bay Campground, I did the math. 29.1 miles with 5,800ft of elevation gain with rocky, rooty and muddy conditions…. Okay that makes me feel a little better.

In the end, I had a pretty bad bonk climbing up Neahkahnie. I also had a pretty bad bonk using Perpetuem when I did my WRT OAB a month or so good. The things is is that I feel pretty good then just hit a wall or bonk suddenly. I think if I stay on top of my fueling, slightly increase my Perpetuem intake and take the occasional gel, I should be okay. Other fueling notes, 50oz of water with 2.5 nuun tablets was a little too sweet/strong, doable but strong. Overall, I was happy with my body structurally, aka no feet pain, knee pain, hammy pain, calf tightness. The only thing that bothered me was my lower back and upper glutes/hips. They just felt sore and tired.

That night Andrew and I polished off a few growlers, feasted on foil bombs, swapped manly yarns and howled at the moon.

The next morning, we lounged around a bit, ate a beastly breakie, drank gallons of Starbucks Via, and broke camp. Before Andrew ventured out on this town Sunday epic, I took him to a super secret spot near Falcon Cove for a little adventuring. We hiked and climbed around a bit, explored rocky shores and looked for whales/seals/pirates and buried Spanish Treasure.

Falcon Cove

Climbing down the cliff, not for the faint of hear. Yes you need the ropes

Wuss

All in all, Great fricken weekend.

UNT

Bryan

Onward and Upward

View from Pittock

Just a little update. Things have been progressing well for me in the last week. I have been able to increase my mileage back up to 50 miles a week thanks to the work of Dr. Brad Farra. I’d highly recommend him for any sports injuries or chiropractic needs.

I went out this past Saturday for a nice 17mi romp on the Wildwood. The weather was so great, and I was feeling so good that I extended my run and ended up putting with 21.78 miles. Recovered nicely so the next day after Easter brunch and festivities, I headed out for a 20mi mountain bike ride on the firelanes of Forest Park.

I look forward to this weekend, as I hope to put in a marathon distance. I want to go camping as well so I have my eye on the Middle Fork of the Willamette Trail outside Oakridge, OR. The snow should be gone and the weather should be okay so things are looking up. Still have to do some research as not exactly sure where to camp.

UNT

Bryan

Bouncing Back....

Back to the wildwood...

So my diagnosis was correct. Post Tib Strain, technically not tendonitis so that’s good. So a few weeks later and lots of Graston, icing and biking, I’m finally back running…on roads. I’m slowly bumping my mileage back up and should hopefully be able to start hitting the trails this week. I’ve had some residual tightness in my upper Achilles/lower calves, but I’ve been stretching them and really working it with The Stick.

What does this delay mean going forward? Well Sun Mountain 50M is currently on the chopping block. At this point, I’m not sure how quickly Im going to be able to bounce back. Hopefully I can get my mileage back up really quick. I’d like to get back up to 45-50 miles a week, then focus on some hill training. At this point, I think I have 5 training weeks with 1 taper week… So my main concern is whether or not Ill have the hill training in that I need. That is the big question mark. Yes I could just put up the hills, which is what I’d probably do anyway, but I’d like to think that I would have the ability to attach a few big climbs. I also don’t want to compromise my whole summer by entering a big race partially healed, then get really injured, have to take a month or so off then be poorly trained for Waldo. L

So I plan to spend the next two weeks testing my body to see how I’ll react. If I think I can potentially be prepared for Sun Mountain, then I’ll really focus in on that. If not, then I’ll settle into an easier progression. Maybe cross train a little on my mountain bike.

Oh and Sun Mountain could sell out before I make any moves so that could help make the decision for me…

That’s all I got for now.

UNT

Bryan

Post Tib Tendonitis



Post Tib Tendon

 Preface:
Towards the end of the week leading up to my run on the WRT, I was beginning to feel really fatigued and tired. I had really upped the climbing that week, and it definitely took its toll Thursday. I didnt really feel like running on Thursday, but I needed approx 10mi to hit my mileage for the week. I had also planned a hill day as well, but it didnt sound like fun. I decided to get some miles in on the road before heading up to do a few Pittocks. Even though it was actually pretty warm, but my head an body werent really into it. I contemplated sitting the day out, but rationalized that its on these days when you want to quit that you actually get stronger, mentally tougher, etc so I went out despite feeling tired.

I did my run, but cut it short in the end and only went for about 8.5. My body was just exhausted, and finally decided that I needed some rest. I had water, but definitely should have brought some calories as I bonked pretty hard on the last climb. I happened to meet Jason on top of pittock so we ended the run together.

The next day, Friday, I was still pretty tired. I did a mild strength workout in the Columbia gym as scheduled, but didnt push myself too hard as I had a big day coming up on Saturday. That evening I was grumpy and tired. I got to bed around 11:15-11:30pm, and decided to sleep in a little instead of getting a early start on my run. I knew that the sleep would help.

The next morning, I awoke feeling pretty refreshed and not too tired. I ate a quick breakfast, then began assembling my kit for the run. I got to the trailhead around 11ish I believe and was trotting to the CG in no time.

*See the previous post for more info on the run*

Post Run
Everything felt fine Saturday night. I was sore here and there, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It wasnt until Sunday evening that I finally decided that something was not right with my left ankle, around the medial malleolus. I took some NSAIDs that evening in hopes that it would cool the pain in my ankle. The pain followed me through Monday and on Tuesday I began doing my research on Google. I concluded in the end that I had some sort of Posterior Tibial Tendonitis/Strain, something so I scheduled an appt with my Chiro, who I was already seeing for my hammy luckily, for Thursday.

I rode the trainer on Tuesday night to see how it would react to a little physical activity, and it responded pretty well. Minor flashes of pain every once and awhile. I continued to ice regularly and laid off the Vitamin I, aka (ibuprofen). My ankle began feeling better on Thursday as I could start walking without any pain.

That evening during my Chiro Appt, my doc confirmed my Post Tib Strain diagnosis and performed some graston, ultra sound, ankle readjustments and slapped on some K-Tape. He told me that I could probably start jogging this weekend if I didnt have any pain, stay off the hills, but continue hard workouts on the bike.  I should be able to get back to full running soon enough, but I'll definitely take it slow. I rode the bike again last night, felt a little more painful, but that was primarily due to the brusing from the graston.

After Thoughts
What did I learn? This was just a stupid training error on my part. I was trying to ramp up mileage, while simultaneously ramping my my climbing training significantly. Only ramp up one thing at a time. Also, I failed to Respect the Machine. My body was telling me to rest and that it was tired, but instead focused foolishly on my almighty training log. Gotta stick to my plan. False! Gotta Respect the Machine!

I had a rest week planned starting this Monday so I rationalized that it was okay to push my body one last time before my rest week. While my body seemed to do fine on the run, what really screwed me over was the rapid increase in climbing. I probably would have been fine on a flatter run as it would have put less stress on my tendon, but regardless, my body was telling me that I was pushing up against my limits, and I tried to squeeze in one last big run and that came back to bite me in the ass.

In the end, I dont think this will effect my goal of running Sun Mountain 50M, but only time will tell how quickly I'll bounce back from this and how soon I'll be able to hit the hills again. This time however, I will take a more conservative approach to my hill training, although I fear that I won't have enought hill training in before Sun Mountain. I'll have to get my mileage back up to 50-55 miles a week before I can hold that constant and beging running some hills. I also want to get in at least one 50k before the 50M, doesnt have to be a race, might just be a wildwood traverse, but I would feel more confident going into SM with a 50k under my belt this year.

One Run Too Long



Overexposed shot of a bridge. Cant remember the name


With the snow level finally a little higher in the coast range, I headed out to Elk Creek Gate to do an OAB to the Tillamook Forestry Center for around 23-23.5mi and somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500-4000ft EG.

I completed the distance and actually felt pretty good till the end. Unfortunately, with about 2mi to go, I realized that I was already 30mins overdue to the "safety check-in" with the gf, due to an addition error on her part. Nevertheless, she would worry so I hustled it to the end. Around this time, I also bonked pretty hard. I had been trying a new fueling strategy with Hammer Nutritions Perpetuem mix. I mixed in a multi-hour bottle and one multi-hour flask, but also had gel in case the Perpetuem wasnt enough. Apparently, it wasn't, as all of a sudden I just hit the wall coming down to the Kings Mtn junction. I just got really sleeply so I popped in a gel that luckily had caffiene to carry me through.

Perpetuem Multi-Hour Bottle

The whole duration of the run I left very strong structurally speaking (aka no hammy issues, no tight hips, no tender feet, no tired quads, only slight calf tightness) which I took as a good sign considering this run was my longest yet and had lots of climbing and descending. Although, as mention, I was very tired towards the end, which I assumed was normal considering I was putting in big weekly mileage and was also scheduled for a rest/recovery week starting on that next Monday.

Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up some sort of foot/ankle injury, probably due to overuse. At this point, I think that it is Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, but my PT/Chiro appt today should confirm this. More on this soon.

UNT

Bryan

The bridge over the wilson river to the Tillamook Forestry Center

20+

Dry Creek Falls

Finally over 20 miles at one go!

Headed out to Cascade Locks this weekend to put in some longer miles. My goal was to run from the Cascade Locks AS of the Gorge Waterfall 50K course to its terminus at Wyeth CG. I ran this portion of the trail during the race, but was pretty worked at this point and didnt really appreciate it or remember all of it. Ended up with 22 miles in 3:28 with 2500ish feet of gain.



Looking back from the Pinnacles?



Pano view from the Pinnacles?

My Montrail Bajadas blew out on me. Bummer



Ran into a bunch of blowdown on the Gorge 400 trail after the Herman Creek/Gorton Creek junction. Tried to bushwhack for a half mile, but got frustrated and turned around and headed for Eagle Creek.



Bridge over Eagle Creek. I remember being pretty worked the last time that I was here.

Yours Truly

Victory Burger! aka Recovery Meal at Char Burger, C Locks, OR

 UNT

Bryan

Snowed Out at WRT

Headed out to the Wilson River trail looking to run around 19 miles with a good chunk of elevation gain. Got all geared up and just happen to check tripcheck.com before leaving and from the cameras, noticed that there appeared to be snow on the ground in Gales Creek and at the Tillamook Forestry Center. I debated whether to stick with the plan or go put in the miles on the Gorge Trail #400. I decided to stick with the plan since I wanted some elevation and light snow in the Coastal Mtns would be better than the windy, deluge in the Gorge.

Forgot to take pics at Elk Creek. Damn!

But by the time I got to Gales Creek, the snow was really starting to come down. By the time, I pulled off Hwy to park at the Elk Creek Gate, the mountains were in full on blizzard mode. With snowy slush on the ground, blizzard like conditions, I aborted my plan and headed back to the Newberry end of the Wildwood for an OAB there. Of course, when I got to Newberry, it was snowing like crazy, but at least there was no snow on the ground.

The Newberry End before the snow turned to freezing rain

In the end, I completed 18.4 miles in 2:40. I wanted 19.5, but in my tired, cold state my math skills failed me. I got to the end of the trailhead feeling pretty proud of myself for putting in bigger miles in the cold, snowy, freezing rain, muddy conditions, but just as I unlocked my car. I hear some yelling and Hip Hip Hoorays as a runner comes trudging up to Newberry, apparently completing the whole Wildwood Trail. All of a sudden my accomplishment didn’t seem all that great. Bubble officially burst. Congrats to him, more fuel for the fire for me.

You know you're putting in the miles when your shoes are beginning to fall apart

 ===================================================================================================

The next day, Adam, Andrew and I felt like a little adventure so we decided on hiking the Rock of Ages trail up to the Arch. The trail was nice and steep and a little under maintained, but its supposed to be like that and I enjoyed the adventurous nature of it given the wet conditions. We took a few photos along the way and ended the day with a little pub crawl as we were still looking to fill our second corney keg to round out our dual kegerator. In the end, we settle on Alameda’s Black Bear XX Stout.

UNT

Bryan

Accomplices



The top of Ponytail Falls - "We could definitely cross the log," said Andrew



Turned into pretty decent weather in the end

"How far down is it?"

Intrepid Explorers - Too bad I didnt get a shot of Andrew straddling the Rock of Ages...

For effect