McKenzie Pass and Parkdale Weekend Rides

Starting off the 15 mile ascent to McKenzie Pass (highway 242) out of Sisters, Ore. Why, you ask? Wait.

Anticipating a harder climb, hitting the Hammer gels early.

Mostly pleasant climbing after 5 miles of false flat.

The lava fields are why you do this. That's Mount Washington and the flank of Belknap Crater off to the left.

Approaching the Pass.

Dee Wright Observatory ahead.

The Sisters, near where the PCT crosses 242.

I was so cold on the descent that I consented to wearing Dr. B's Raph-tard jacket. I am ashamed to admit that it is awesome.

Self-explanatory.

From Windy Pass, about 12 miles up.

Dr B's sweet ride.

I'm in there somewhere.

This ride gets the Charles Atlas seal of approval.

Day 2, riding from Hood River to Parkdale, with Mount Hood at the end of the highway.

Bitchin ride.

Feeling pretty badass right about now.

My compatriots like this "beer" stuff. I don't get it.

Timothy Lake Test Run

Okay, so I didn't go all the way around Timothy Lake for my big practice run in preparation for the half marathon next month. Because apparently I'm an idiot, I accidentally looped back around to my car about 4 miles in. That's the kind of mistake you make when you're overconfident, not looking at a map, going "fast" and listening to headphones. When I realized what I did, I decided to explore about the same distance in the other direction and hit the PCT junction before turning back around. Essentially, I did an 8-mile figure eight. Great. My limited impression is that is was a) hot, and b) hillier than I expected. Parts were flat, sure, but some weren't, and that made me nervous. I'm hoping that I was just accidentally off-trail for those parts, otherwise it's entirely possible that I will be crawling over that finish line on June 2nd.

Otto Miller and Dixie Mountain Ride

Not the hell I thought it would be, and actually pretty awesome.

Loving Each Day

This week was pretty horrific for a lot of people in different parts of the country, and I spent a lot of time on my runs and rides thinking about how lucky I am just to get to do simple things like run down a country road for three hours listening to a podcast, or ride bikes for 45 miles with my husband, climbing hills together and coming home safely to a bottle of wine. It's a tough world out there, but as cheesy as it sounds I'm glad I get to experience it every day.

Rode up McNamee, up Rock Creek. The hardest part? Coming down Logie.

The .28 is the distance from my car into Starbucks.
Otherwise, I finally ran 13 miles and don't feel too shabby.

Despite my words of gratitude in this blog post, here I am telling Dr. B
to go straight to hell when he suggests we add Dixie Mtn road to our ride, already my longest
and most elevation of the year. Hey, you can't be gracious all the time.

Stats: The Rock Creek ride was only 25 miles, 1800 or so ft of gain. But, the Rocky Point Road ride was 45 miles and 4,500 +/- ft of gain. Starting to feel ready for our annual version of Tour de Blast and the soft opening of McKenzie Pass!

Assault On Saddle Mountain

Blasted up and down a completely-melted out Saddle Mountain yesterday. Unfortunately, it was entirely without wildflowers or views. And the drive took longer than the summit. Wait a couple weeks, preferably for a sunny day, and the flower show should be going off. Not that I took the good camera, but it's really too bad since some of my favorite photos are from our day hike here back in 2009.

70 miles from Portland on Highway 26.
5 miles RT.

Seven Mile Summit Ride

This ride was easier than I expected. The grind up to Seven Mile Summit was long and hot, but managable. Certainly not as bad as some West Hills grades, so I just curled my back and pumped my legs, and soon enough I was surprised to be cresting the top of the climb. After that it was a screaming fast downhill to the old historic highway, the easy climb to Rowena, and a sprint to the car parked at The Dalles Discovery building. Here's someone else's GPS route of the ride. This would be more challenging as a lollipop with the Hood River->Dalles ride.

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                                                               2,797 ft total gain, 25 miles.

The Twelve Mile Mark

I ran 12 miles today, although "running" might be stretching the truth a little. Technically, I jogged at a 12 minute mile pace the circumference of Sauvie Island. The good news is that my nine mile run on Sunday was in the 10 minute mile pace range, so I feel that I will be able to bring the time down soon. My concerns are that Sauvie is extremely flat, and the Timberline Half is not only a hilly unpaved trail, but an extra mile longer than a true half marathon. Tomorrow, Dog Mountain... because my legs need a break?

Shamrock Run 8K

My first race! Super fun, perfect weather, 9.5 minute mile pace. Over way too soon.

A Full Weekend

I packed the last couple days full, with a nine mile running loop over the Sellwood Bridge, a surprisingly easy ride to the Vista House (didn't that used to be really hard?) and then a double whammy ski-and-run today. Trillium Lake conditions were icy and lame this morning, which just goes to show that bluebird skies do not equal prime conditions. Reluctantly, I returned to Portland and headed down to Helvetia to run on some country roads until I got bored. And so far, the carb-protein combo is doing the job of helping me keep my energy and immunity up. And all of this is to get me ready for what I really love to do - hike my ass off. I've been plotting the two challenging hikes to Tank Lakes (via the east Fork Foss River through Necklace Valley) and Jade Lake (via Deception Pass) in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and hoping I'll be ready by summer. Good times, good times.

Hagg Lake Run

I set out to test myself today at Hagg Lake, a week after the flu took me down. I initially wanted to run the entire loop on the dirt trail, until I realized halfway in that the trail is fifteen miles as opposed to my familiar road biking loop, which is only ten. After five miles of struggling up and down muddy inclines, following elk tracks and scaring huge ospreys, I opted to pop out onto the pavement. Still hilly, but manageable. According to the pedometer, I did just under 12 miles by the time I got back to my car. Not all of it was running, but that's okay. My brain is already used to managing long, boring distances from years of hiking - now it's a question of getting my body in tune with my mind. It took me a couple hours to complete this loop, and granted, I wasn't going for speed: I tinkered with my iPhone, took many "stretching" breaks, slowed down to unwrap cough drops, etc. The point was to finish, having run most of it, without getting sick afterwards. Both before and after, I had carbs and protein in the form of my sweet potato/protein powder/glutamine/blueberry shake and... a tuna sandwich from a gas station. Because it wouldn't be me if I did everything right.

Exercise-Induced Immunosuppression, Or: WTF Is This Shit?

In case you haven't noticed, I'm not an elite athlete. I sleep well, have a job that couldn't be less sedentary,  and try to exercise a little during the week. But I also like to eat and drink, and as a result have to push myself really, really hard on the weekends to do the things I want to be able to. This weekend, for instance, I felt great after two bike rides, and kept telling myself how awesome it was that I was kicking ass on those Gorge hills in February. I couldn't wait to hit the trail today and try to run 10 miles for the first time, and spent all night looking at the weather report to try and find the best spot. And while that was going on, little by little, my body started to deteriorate until I was hacking and feverish.  Instead of charging hard another day, I stayed in bed.

This isn't the first time this has happened, either. Last summer, any strenuous hike of more than 4,000 feet of elevation gain or a distance of more than 12 miles could end in me feeling like I was kicked by a horse. I was embarrassed by it, at first, thinking it obviously reflected poorly on my fitness. But eventually I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started doing research. Apparently, it is a very common thing for even trained athletes to experience suppressed immune system function after a race, match or any strenuous physical event lasting more than a few hours. This leads from symptoms ranging from simple flu-like aches and pains lasting only a day to full-blown upper respiratory infections.

From what I've been reading, I could combat this by managing my pre-workout carb intake better. I tend to not eat as much before a big ride or hike because it seems counterproductive to gorge on calories when trying to lose weight. But I've read several places that carbs can help, so there you go. Also, supplements to reduce inflammation are supposed to be effective, so I guess a trip to the vitamin store is in my near future. It seems that it's all tied to adrenaline and cortisol stress hormones somehow. I usually flail about megadosing on vitamin C after I start to feel sick, which sometimes seems to work despite a lack of hard scientific evidence in its favor. I'm obviously drinking a shit-ton of liquids, resting, and eating well, but none of this changes the fact that I have lost a day off to illness simply because I went for a sunny but cold bike ride. So I'm going to try some of these solutions I've been reading about, but if that doesn't work it's time to talk to a pro. Because this lying around crap is unacceptable.

Rowena Ride

 

Stats here: http://thegorgeismygym.com/road-biking/hood-river-to-rowena-crest-out-and-back