Issaquah Alps Westbound Trail Run

I was finally successful with my Garmin Fenix 5X! I used it to navigate some unfamiliar trails southwest of Tiger Mountain's peak and also make my way on Squak and Cougar in the opposite direction I am used to. I noticed that it also gives me an ETA, and it was pretty accurate. In the beginning, it said 1:45, and then later 2:30 and 2:10 as my steep climbs, flat, and downhill running evened out; I ended up finishing at 2:00. Obviously, the longer I was out, the more accurate it got. Overall, I find the watch easy to use...now that I know how to use it. Getting there was challenging, though!

Speaking of challenges, my run was probably the hardest effort I have ever put forth. It was 22.3 miles with 6,900+ feet of elevation gain. Starting with Tiger and finishing with Cougar meant slightly more elevation gain than loss. I loved the Tiger Mountain part of the run. I went on a trail I had never been on before after the peak of West Tiger 3, and it was quiet, rolling, and soft. I did see nine other trail runners along this portion of the route, so it must be popular with trail runners. They were all running in the opposite direction, which made me wonder briefly about their routes. The trail dropped me down to Poo Poo Point for a quad-punishing descent to Hobart Road.

I fasten my vest and get ready to start at the base of Tiger Mountain. My husband likes to take a picture of me at the start just in case something happens to me. This way, he knows what I am wearing in case he has to described it to authorities.

I am happy with my accomplishment of descending to Poo Poo Point. It was a beautiful day for a trail run!

Climbing Squak from the east side is definitely steeper than climbing from the west. The East Ridge Trail was full off sharply slanted switchbacks I thought would never end. Fortunately, my watch tells me how far I am from my next turn, so I knew it would eventually come to an end, and in just how far. I had to power hike (fast hiking pushing on my knees to go faster) more than half of it. Once I got to the East Side Trail, it was completely runnable--rolling ups and downs and quite pleasant. I knew I had some solid descent and climbing ahead of me before I got to make my main descent down to SR 900. I dropped down quite a bit on the Bullit Fireplace Trail only to climb back up on the Chybinski Loop. I was relieved to finally get to Margaret's Way, which is fairly gentle until the last pitch downward.

One more mountain to go, and the shortest stretch. I knew the climb from the east was steep, but I was surprised at how much I was still able to run. Lots of power hiking up steep switchbacks and step-ups were a sign that my legs were simply dead; my quads hurt, but I just kept pushing onward. My mantra for the day was Jillian Michael's "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!" and I thought that many times on Cougar. I knew once I got to Shy Bear I was home free. The descent on the Quarry Trail was at times painful, but I plodded on and took it easy so I didn't trip. I was so happy to see my car!

Afterward, I forced myself to eat half a banana and a Clif Bar, and to drink my recovery drink from Pacific Health Labs. It's weird, but food just isn't appetizing after that much running. The last time I had eaten was at 4:00 am. My run, which I started a little late at 7:50, took six hours, 10 minutes. I used gels and an Endurox slurry, along with a Clif carb/electrolyte powder added to my water along the way. I finally ate solid food at 2:00.

I didn't take an ice bath when I got home this time. I am always cold when I finish a run like this, despite the 70 degree afternoon, and I just couldn't bare the thought of getting into cold water. I took a hot shower instead and it relaxed my tired muscles. I ended the evening with a soak in the hottub.

I slept HARD. Sunday morning, I had a six mile run to do, and I thought it would be awful, but I surprised myself. I had a great run. My legs were tired and burned with lactic acid, but they weren't that heavy. After a slow first mile, I managed a 9:43 mile with hills on the Tolt Pipeline. I finished with a trip down and back up 'the big hill' with a mile time of 12:01. That's better than I usually do. Huh.

Today, it was tough to get up before 6:00 for work, and I sleepily struggled through my core routine. Somehow, I managed to do the usual exercises as well as weighted squats and dumbbell deadlifts. I shook out my legs with a nice mountain bike ride in the afternoon with my good friend Nicole. My legs burned a bit on the climb up the High School Trail, but afterward, I felt great. My soreness is ebbing (DOMS). A few minutes with the foam roller tonight should take care of any residual soreness.

Next weekend will be another 20 mile long run. It will be the first time I have ever trained with back to back hard weeks instead of alternating easy and hard weeks. I am hoping to create a route all on Tiger Mountain. We shall see!

Using Map Navigation with the Garmin Fenix 5X

8/11/2018 update:
Since this post, I have used my Fenix 5X to navigate for three months. I now LOVE the watch and have no trouble using it. If you have recently purchased one, be patient. I takes time to learn to use the watch. If you are having trouble with it, please send me an email or post a comment with your question, and I am happy to help! The one thing I haven't used (because everything I've read says you can't) is waypoints. But I've followed courses I've created in Garmin Connect, GPX tracks that I've downloaded, and just used the map when out on the trail. I love the maps, and also being able to track my effort via my heart rate, which can be very useful when running for eight hours, the last several in in the heat.

Original post:
I had mixed success on today's run with my Garmin Fenix 5X. I made a route for Tiger Mountain, starting at Issaquah High School, doing a big outer loop partly on the mountain and a smaller loop inside the big one on the Lake Tradition Plateau to round out an eight-mile course. Oddly, I didn't get any course signals today at all, neither on or off course alerts. As I started up the West Tiger 3 trail, I decided to try to get the map to show while navigating.

My double loop route on Tiger Mountain

I read on the Garmin Forum that holding the menu button for three seconds AFTER hitting the up or down button would bring up the map. I thought I tried that last weekend on Squak Mountain, but the key was hitting the up or down button first. When I did that and then held menu for three seconds, I was able to choose "Show Map."

I had another surprising choice as well: turn-by-tun navigation. I tried that first, and it simply gave me a written direction for the upcoming turn on a specific trail. It seems you have to hit the down button to get the next direction, but I may not have given it enough time. Anyway, the next direction said to turn left on a service road, and then it said service road end. I thought it meant the end of the course, so I abandoned the turn-by-turn navigation. Looking back, I realize now that the watch may have actually been referring to the end of the service road (which does end at the parking lot nearby).

Anyway, I switched to map view instead. I was so excited because I could finally see my route and my progress on it while running. I was also wearing my new sunglasses with the new location of the reading bifocal half circles, so I could easily see the map. My only problem was I couldn't understand how to read it! I got to a junction and should have turned right but I didn't think that was what the course showed, so I didn't take it. Big mistake. By the time I confirmed my suspicion that I was off course, I was .9 of a mile (according to the helpful sign) from the summit of Tiger! Oops. A little more elevation than I wanted because I have a big elevation day this coming Saturday.

I started to continue the route to the top, figuring I may as well finish now that I was so close, but then I looked at the time. It was 7:52, and I wanted to be done by 8:20. I sped back down and took the turn I was supposed to take. It took me by the Talus Rocks and then down the Nook trail. I ended up doing nine and a half miles. One exciting thing happened as I got back on course. Even though I was no longer in map mode, it started giving me turn warnings and showing the map. It beeped at me and showed a big arrow for my upcoming turn, and gave me a countdown in feet as well. It gave me a second countdown and warning when I got closer, and went to zero feet at the exact moment that I should make the turn.

Originally, I thought that the watch was not set to track orientation, but when I checked it was. (The options are north orientation and track orientation.) Now that I think about it, I think it was doing exactly what I wanted and expected it to do but I just didn't realize it. I am pretty inexperienced with GPS tracking.

One thing that didn't work is the course points I put in to warn me of upcoming turns. The watch just beeped at me, but it didn't show the names of the course points so I had no idea which way to turn. It was a good idea, but I don't think it is needed.

Before Saturday's run, I am going to map out a simple course in my neighborhood to see if I can read it correctly. I also need to figure out how to get the course turns showing on the map, because they weren't doing that before. I am not sure what I did to get that to happen! It's a good thing I have the rest of May to figure out the watch before I hit the PCT!

Training in the Issaquah Alps: Cougar, Squak, and Tiger Mountains

What a great way to make the most of the foothills of the Cascade Mountains! My husband was worried I would get burned out from running Grand Ridge too much, so he proposed that I run up and over all three of the mountains of Issaquah.

I had a feeling the run would be epic, as so many of my ideas of what to challenge myself with next have actually come from him (running ultras, the Kendall Katwalk, Cascade Pass to Stehekin, and Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass, to name a few). It taught me that I need to challenge myself far more than I have been when it comes to elevation gain.

My route began at the Red Hill trailhead off Lakemont Blvd. in Bellevue. From there, I took the Wildside Trail, the Indian Trail, the Quarry Trail, Shy Bear Trail, and Whitaker Wilderness Trail, all up and over to the bottom of the east side of Cougar Mountain. This portion of the run was fairly technical, about a 4. There were some rocks and some really rooty areas, as well as some steep step downs. Since it was so wet, these step downs on rocks, roots, or logs were slippery, as were the foot bridges and log crossings. It was BY FAR the easiest climb of the three mountains.

John drops me off on Lakemont Boulevard for the start of my long run in the Issaquah Alps.

Then, I took a right onto SR 900 and in under one tenth of a mile, I was at the trailhead for Squak Mountain. I took Margaret's Way up to Chybynski Loop, where I took a left and dropped down. After that, it gets a little confusing. I think I took the Eastside Trail and eventually got onto the East Ridge Trail down to the Sycamore trailhead. Squak Mountain was also technical at times, around a 4. It was pretty steep, though 100% runnable. Just when I thought Margaret's Way had leveled off, I climbed switchbacks for another mile! I give it a 6 for elevation gain.

The photo doesn't do the view justice, but it's from Margaret's Way looking toward Renton. The sun was spotlighting the town in the distance.

I saved the toughest mountain for last: Tiger. From the Sycamore neighborhood, I ran down the pavement to Hobart Road, and in just over a mile, I was at the Chirico trailhead for Poo Poo Point on Tiger Mountain. It has been a long time since I have been on this trail, and I don't know it very well. I was hoping for a gradual climb, but that's not what I got. It pretty much goes straight up! Ok, there are switchbacks, but they are steep. It's also really rocky and has a long section of rock steps. By this time, my quads were pretty tired and I was stumbling on the sharp rocks. I power hiked at least half of this climb. I think I could run it (and I will) with fresh legs. Anyway, It seemed like it was only about two miles up to Poo Poo. 

The view from Poo Poo Point. Lots of people, most of whom came up the Chirico Trail.

I took the High School Trail route back down, veering off at the bottom toward the Lake Tradition parking lot. Next time, I will go up to the top of Tiger from a junction on the Poo Poo Trail (the High School Trail route) and then take a different way down. I went pretty slowly down Poo Poo, as the trail was almost as steep going down as it was going up even though it was a little longer. My quads were shaking--I was that tired. Due to rocks and steepness, I give it a 7 for technicality and a 7 for elevation gain. I can see I have several runs in store for me on Squak and Tiger before the snow melts from the PCT.

Overall distance was 20 miles, elevation gain was 5,423 ft, elevation loss was 5,534 ft, and my highest elevation was 1,895 ft. It took me 5:36--very slow. Average mile time was 16:48. I had ten minutes of stoppage time. Once nice thing was that I had cell phone coverage the whole way, so I could text my husband for directions and my friend for inspiration.

After my run, I treated myself to a 10-minute ice bath. It helped quite a bit! To distract myself, I munched on a nice vegan deli sandwich. Tomorrow's six-mile recovery run will be interesting. The Snoqualmie Valley Trail (a flat rail trail) may be in order. We'll see how I feel.

It's a good thing my fastpack adventure is over four months away. I've a long way to go before I am ready!

The elevation profile over distance. You can pretty much see Cougar, Squak, and Tiger!

Elevation profile zoomed in view

The GPS track of my route. It doesn't play. It's just a screenshot from Garmin Express.