Hours of Daylight

It occured to me this morning that I may not have enough hours of daylight to get to my campsite at 50 miles. I looked at Willy Weather (https://sunrisesunset.willyweather.com/wa/kittitas-county/snoqualmie-pass.html) for Snoqualmie Pass. The website tells the sunrise and sunset, plus first and last light. It only goes out to March 1 right now, but it looks like a half an hour on either end of the sun's journey. The website does give the sunrise and sunset times for August, 6:04 and 8:15, which is 14 hours 11 minutes of daylight. Adding in the light before and after, I figure I'll have about 15 1/2 hours of daylight.

I will have to start in the dark. With planned stops for rest, boiling water, eating dinner, and setting up camp, I am not sure what to expect. I will likely start at 5:00 and run the first half an hour with a headlamp. That will give me a little buffer. It's an hour and fifteen minutes to Steven's Pass from home, so it will be an early rise at 3:15.

I looked up a random 50 miler in Colorado (lots of elevation gain and altitude there) on Ultra SignUp to see the time of the slowest person running the race. She is 50 years old (I am 48), and she ran it in 13:38. I looked at her other race times, and she is similar to me in pace if not a little bit slower. It looks like I will be fine, but I would still prefer a buffer so I am not racing the sun. A 5:00 am start it is!

PCT Section J Stevens to Snoqualmie Water and Campsite Plans

Using the link to maps referenced in my previous post, I determined where I will mostly likely stop for water, to make and eat dinner, and to camp. There are stretches where water is plentiful, and then there are sections where water is not, likely due to climbing to high elevation.

My goal is to replenish my water at around every 15-20 miles. I want to make dinner a couple of miles before I eat it (boil water, pour it in, and keep going), and camp at least five miles after my dinner spot. I'd like to get to mile 50 to camp so that I only have 21 miles to go the second day. I can walk 20 miles if I am too tired and sore to run the second day.

Here's the plan:

Mile 14: creek; top off water
Mile 19: Deception Creek; refill bladder
several streams between here and the next stop
Mile 22: last water until mile 29 (also water at miles 33, 34, 35, 36)
Mile 36: Waptus River; refill bladder, can camp here if necessary; 3015 ft
Mile 37: last water until mile 48
Mile 41: potential campsite, but 5255 ft; possibly make dinner
Mile 45: eat dinner
Mile 48: stream
Mile 49: large creek; campsite 3241 ft
Mile 50: Lemah Creek; refill bladder, preferred campsite 3198 ft
Mile 52: Delate Creek; last water until mile 67
Mile 67: stream; replenish water as needed
Mile 68: stream; replenish water as needed

Bolded miles are planned stops

Next up, I'll study the trail junctions and find out from two friends to see if they had any difficulty knowing which way to go at junctions.

~LTR

Pacific Crest Trail Section J

I've spent some time looking at my course, using Google Maps for a virtual tour and examining Trail Run Project for elevation gain. The good news is that the run will be only (only!) 72 miles, not 78. I haven't found anything yet about running Section J of the PCT, as it is called, just many posts about backpacking it in five or more days. I have found little in the way of an actual trail description. I plan to spend some time chatting with the aforementioned friend who has done all of the PCT in Washington and will have good insight to water and campsites. I am hoping he can recommend a good trail book as well.

The elevation profile looks challenging. In all, I will ascend over 15,000 feet and descend over 16,000 feet. As far as relating it to my prior experience goes, that translates to a fairly challenging 50K two days in a row with an extra 11 miles tacked on for good measure.

The blue dot is where I'd like to camp. My goal is to cover 50 miles the first day and the remaining 22 miles the second day. I'll be camping somewhere near Deep Lake, which looks to be a popular camping area for backpackers. It looks like I'll have two hard climbs the first day, and only one the second day. I have run the first 13 miles before, and the last six as well, so I at least know what parts of it look like: sometimes rocky, sometimes packed dirt, sometimes scree or talus slopes. 

I found some detailed information about streams and campsites with mileage and elevation from PCTmaps.net: https://www.pctmap.net/wp-content/uploads/pct/wa_section_j_map_mobile.pdf. I'll need to study this in greater detail to plan out water refills. I noticed that while this source says that the distance is 71 miles, it also says the elevation gain is 18,000+ feet and the loss is 19,000+ feet.The WTA (Washington Trails Association) has been my source thus far for overall description.

I will need strong ankles, strong quads, and strong hamstrings. The endurance will be the easy part.

Vegan Fuel Update

Last Saturday, I ran 18 miles on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, a flat, easy run at a gentle pace. I took four different fuel options with me. I use gels about every 4 miles, so fuel at four, eight and 12, but the last one was at 15 miles. My first gel was a Huma chocolate. This is the first time I have had a non fruit flavor of this chia seed based gel. I loved it! I wasn't enjoying their fruit flavors, but I am definitely going to get more of the chocolate.

My second gel was Second Surge, which has milk in it. I broke my vegan rule, but I really wanted the protein--and I wanted to see if having 200 mg would make me light headed when combined with protein because the Clif gel with 100 mg of caffeine (with no protein) makes me dangerously light headed. The third fuel was 1 scoop of Hammer Perpetuem mixed with water to the consistency of pancake batter. Excellent. My final gel was a Clif chocolate. I also used Clif Hydrate Lemon-Lime in my water and Vega Sport Energizer right before I ran.

 


I did not experience much light headedness post run, so I think the secret is having protein with the caffeine. Something about how the body metabolizes it. Interesting.

Vegan Trail Runner

It seems a lot of ultra runners are vegans, and I am not sure why that is. There have been vegan options at the post race feast (or famine, as in the case of the Grand Ridge 50K) at every trail race I've participated in.

When I talk to people who are considering a vegan diet, their primary concern is how they will get their protein. There are many great plant-based protein sources; you just have to be a little more creative. It's pretty easy to ensure your post long-run meal has enough protein when you eat a chicken breast or a salmon fillet, but you can do just as well with some tasty vegan combinations. Your recovery meals after long runs and races are especially important, but it's equally important to make sure you get enough protein on a meal-to-meal basis so that you are satiated and don't eat too much.

Anyone can look up vegan protein sources, so rather than barrage you with a list, I'll tell you some of my favorites. One of the best breakfasts any morning or on a Saturday after my long run is a smoothie. I prefer fruits in my smoothies and some protein powder. My go-to smoothie is Vega chocolate protein powder with water, a ripe banana, and frozen strawberries. Blueberries are a good stand in as well. My favorite, though it's a treat, is to use two bananas, no strawberries, and a healthy dollop of almond butter or peanut butter.

I hear of a lot of people who put kale or another green in their smoothies to make them healthier. I don't for two reasons. One is that they ruin a perfectly good smoothie. The second reason is that I took a raw foods class and learned that it's best not to mix most vegetables and fruits because of how they are digested. If you eat veggies before fruits or with fruits, the veggies get digested first and take a long time, while the fruit sits in your stomach and ferments. That sounds terrible. Whether or not it's true, I didn't need much swaying to keep the kale out of my smoothie.

As for lunches, I usually eat leftovers, so that leads me right to my favorite vegan dinners. The night before a long run, I prefer to have spaghetti. I know it's cliche, but I really like it and it works well for me. Pre vegan, I would use ground buffalo, but now I use Nathan's Italian Meatballs. I've grown tired off them, though they are good, so I am trying out Amy's tomorrow. I should just make my own, but I haven't found a recipe I like yet.

I also really love using pinto beans (I actually grew them in my garden and dried them myself so they don't take as long to soak before cooking). I cook them in the crockpot while I'm at work. They are great mashed in a quesadilla, or whole in soft tacos or a burrito bowl. Some chopped greens or purple cabbage, diced red onion, diced tomato, and avocado make great toppings such that you'll never miss meat or dairy. It makes for a fresh meal with lots of different colors, a pleasure for the eye and the body.

I also love to make a quick tofu banh mi sandwich. I use hoisin sauce on the tofu, pickled carrots and red onions, cucumbers, and cilantro on a baguette. With a super greens salad with sunflower seeds, I get the essential combination of greens, seeds, and tofu. Pretty complete and very tasty! Tempeh is another good thing to use in a sandwich. I'll brown some and then season it with a little maple syrup, some tamari, and some liquid smoke and then make a Reuben (yeah for sauerkraut) or an avocado-tempeh bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich.

My Saturday dinner is usually a homemade whole wheat pizza with Miyoko's cashew-based mozzarella and lots of vegetables. A special treat dinner is a Beyond Burger. They're the best! It just so happens that buffalo burgers were my favorite post 50K dinner. I just loved them. The Beyond Burger would never fool a meat connoisseur, but if you didn't tell someone it wasn't meat, I don't think they'd notice. One day, I'll try the Impossible Burger, which is only served in restaurants. I found it on a menu in Vashon Island, but I haven't had one yet.

Ramping up my mileage this past fall and going into training this spring will be my first time doing so with vegan fuel during runs. I absolutely prefer Accel Gels and Second Surge made by Pacific Health Labs. I like them because they actually taste really good, and they have protein, but they contain milk.

In looking for a new gel, I've tried a couple of different ones over the last few months. Huma, which is made from chia seed, comes in many different fruit flavors. I don't really like them. They taste fine, but they are a bit strong and sweet, and it's like I am eating jam. It kind of gives me a little heart burn, which is not something I normally have.

For now, I've settled on Clif Gels. They taste good, but they don't have any protein. I have been having some issues when I use their mocha flavor with 100 mg of caffeine. I am disturbingly lightheaded in the afternoon after using them on my long run (I only use them for 16 miles or more about half way through the run). I didn't have this problem with Second Surge, which has 200 mg of caffeine. I am not sure if it's the caffeine or the lack protein in the gels or a combination.

This weekend, I may use Hammer Perpetuem. It's designed for more of an all-day effort, but perhaps it will help me more, as I believe it has protein. I also love Nathan's Maple Almond Butter packets. I use those on 20-mile and over runs.

This a new challenge for me, so as I discover new things that work, I'll post an update.

Ultralight Gear Update

Since my earlier post on the gear I will be taking on my August 2018 fastpack, I have changed my mind on a couple of things. I have found a super light headlamp (which I updated already on the previous post), I've discovered alcohol fueled ultralight stoves, and I've found down jackets lighter than my Woolies 3 top. Between the light and the jacket, I've been able to shave 8 ounces, and I am pretty sure my tiny stove and fuel are going to weigh in less than that! Plus, I figure I'll have to carry around freeze dried food with 2 cups of water in it for hours and hours, waiting for it to hydrate, and the water weight may just be the same as the stove. When it arrives, I'll compare and spill all the details below.

Four days later...

First, the stove, denatured alcohol fuel, and titanium cup. Together inside a bright orange stuff sack (which I think I will use just to keep everything together), they weigh 8 oz. A cup of water weighs 9 oz. I figure if I don't take the stove and rehydrate the food with cold water, I will have to let it soak for half a day, which means I'll be carrying 9 oz around most of the time when I am running. In that case, I may as well carry a stove set up and have hot food!

The titanium cup is made by Toak and the alcohol stove is the Trangia Spirit Burner with Screw Cap. 

The stove fits nicely inside the cup, which I will use to boil water. The handles are collapsible.

Five days later...

Now for the jacket. I decided on the Montbell Plasma 1000 Down Women's Jacket. It's 3.1 ounces! It doesn't have a hood, but I have a 1.3 oz. hood from ZPacks. Wow! The jacket sounds like a cellophane bag, but it's warm and light, just as I wanted. It has minimal features--just a zipper. No pockets, as they would add weight. It comes with a tiny stuff sack, which may be helpful to contain it in my minimalistic pack.

Once I've had a chance to sew my tivy (my bivy-sized tent), I'll pack the pack and weigh everything. Stay tuned!

Running Injuries

Injuries...I've had a few.

In my twenties, I had my first round of plantar fasciitis, (likely due to weight gain, not running), so I was quite familiar with it when I felt the classic bruised heel pain about eight years ago when I was training for a Grand Canyon backpack. However, the pain somehow changed, and I stopped running for a summer and saw a sports doctor. I actually had a stress fracture in my calcaneus. I rode my bike for the entire summer and finally healed that fall. I made a slow return to running. This was when I first ran 13 miles of the PCT that I mentioned in my first post.

As I worked my way to running marathons and training for an improved Boston qualifying time, I had a small tear in my hamstring two weeks before the qualifying race. After that experience, I decided to start running trails and doing ultra marathons (50Ks) for the enjoyment rather than trying to run Boston and being focused on time.

Training for my first 50K, I was taking surfing lessons and bruised a heel and my tailbone. I know it's not a running injury; however, I persisted in training before I was fully healed and ended up with an SI joint injury that plagues me to this day. I had to stop running for a few weeks and back off on mileage. Instead of running a race in September, I ended up running one in March.

My next running injury was an irritated pubic symphysis. I didn't even know what that was! I was training for the March 50K, running 22 miles in February in Eastern Washington...on pavement and frozen dirt roads. Ouch! I ended up just getting through it until after the race when I could back off on my mileage. That injury persisted for about a year and included six weeks off from running.

Then came plantar fasciosis in my right foot. Fasciitis means inflammation of the fascia. I didn't have inflammation anymore, just chronic pain. Because it's not inflamed, neither ice nor anti-inflammatories helped. In fact, during my treatment, I couldn't use either, not even for a headache. I did electro corporeal shockwave therapy. I took two weeks off from running, about four weeks before my race, and did the therapy. I rode my bike like crazy in the meantime. The therapy worked, and I was able to run my race and PR.

Then came the worst injury of all. I was done racing and I started to have some pain in my left heel. I wore my night boot religiously, iced, and backed off on mileage. I wasn't running more than 10 miles on my long run. I tried the shockwave therapy again, but it didn't help. In fact, it irritated the Baxter's nerve, which on my foot runs very close to the plantar fascia insertion and the calcaneous. At the recommendation of my sports chiropractor, I saw an orthopedic doctor, and he did an ultrasound, which revealed a large but thankfully partial tear in my plantar fascia. I scheduled a procedure for November 30 and had my last hurrahs. I ran 13 miles with a close friend, and did a snow backpack with my very best friends (my husband and my dog) to Long's Pass. The procedure involved going in through a small hole in the side of my heel and sucking out the dead tissue, which is apparently what causes the pain. The four weeks following, I was in a heavy boot up to my knee cap. I did Jillian Michaels DVDs to keep in shape. I finally got to remove the boot to do some cross country skiing. My recovery included running on an Alter-G treadmill starting at 60 percent of my weight. My feet barely touched the ground, not only because it was my birthday the day I started running again, but also because the harness lifted me so high my feet literally could barely touch. It took about four weeks to reach 100 percent of my weight, and then I could only run for 30 minutes, gradually adding 10% each week.

Carrying the extra weight training for the backpack and getting a stress fracture has made me wary of running with too much weight on my fastpack. I need to be lean and light, and so does my pack. I have learned to pay more attention to persistent pain and back off when something hurts. I even visited my orthopedic doctor again to make sure some pain I was having toward the other end of my arch on the foot that had the tear was nothing to be concerned about. It wasn't--just some tendinitis. He said my plantar fascia looked great and he even tooks some pictures for his teaching presentations.

Long story short: know your limits. Take some time off from training. It's hard when you're in the best shape of your life to dial it back, but if you don't, you may end up with an injury. I would much rather drop my mileage for a season than have to start from scratch like I did last January. Lesson learned.

Fastpack Training Schedule

I love having a goal to work toward; it gives me focus, purpose, and satisfaction. I always start with my goal date and distance, and then work backward. For years, I've relied on a training program from UltraLadies that works well for me. I used their plan to train for all of my 50Ks and plan to use an adaptation of the 50-mile plan for my 80 miler.

I have two training goals in mind. One is to be ready to run from the Cascade Pass Trailhead to Stehekin, which is 34 miles, the first week of August. The second goal, which is a more daunting 78 miles, is to run from Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) in mid August.

My husband stands on the saddle at Cascade Pass. Stehekin is downhill to the left.

Before I can start the program, I have to build a solid base. Since I started from running one mile on an Alter-G treadmill last January (recovering from a plantar fascia tear and surgery), I have slowly been building. Over the fall, I finally reached 20 miles for my long run and then backed off. Since then, I have been alternating between a 16-mile run Saturday with 6-8 on Sunday, and a 12-mile run with 6-10 on Sunday. During the week, I ride my mountain bike up a steep route on Mondays, and then run 4 miles Tuesday, 6 miles Wednesday, and 4 miles Thursday. I also do a core workout on Mondays and Fridays. Friday, I don't usually do any running or biking.

I will persist with this schedule until the beginning of March, when I will actually start my training. I'll alternate easy weeks with hard weeks, and gradually lengthen my long runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Hard week:
Monday: core, mountain bike
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: core, rest
Saturday: 18 miles
Sunday: 8 miles

Easy week:
Monday: core, mountain bike
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: core, rest
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 6 miles

I will repeat the 18-8 weekend and another easy week, and then increase.The next two hard Saturdays will be 20 miles each with Sundays being 8. Then 22-mile Saturdays and 10-mile Sundays, and so forth until I reach 26-mile Saturdays and 12-mile Sundays, after which time I've penciled in a couple of 50Ks.

When my Saturday run hits 22, I will increase the Wednesday long run to 8, then 10, and finally 12, stepping it up with the longer weekend runs. These will continue to alternate with the light week described above.  Alternating hard weeks with light weeks is going to be important for me to avoid injury.

One of the key components to this training plan is following a long run with another long run the next day, as well as having a longer run mid week. Since I will need to run at least 40 miles the first day of my fastpack, and then nearly another 40 the second day, I will need to be comfortable running when I am tired. Walk breaks, mental toughness, and proper fuel and hydration will be key.

As of last week, I am also running on trails once a week. I would prefer to run on trails every Saturday, but that may not always be possible because it takes longer, both to get to the trailhead and to run the distance. But I need to strengthen my ankles and get used to trails again. Running on a dirt road, which is what all my runs take place on right now, is just not the same. I have some pretty good hills but I need to eventually get to Grand Ridge where hills last for four miles without a flat spot to rest the legs. Come March, every Saturday and at least one run during the week need to be on trail.