Lunch Run

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Humpday Hustle - Heavy Metal Brewing

Afternoon Ride

Went for the unsupported FKT on the Deschutes Railbed Trail.  Missed it by 11 minutes, with significant heat being the biggest factor. Happy with the effort, bummer on the outcome, but they don’t all roll your way and the adventure was worth it. Thanks Dan Beel for being road trip buddy and the post-run water and ice.  

The trail itself is pretty runnable in the first and last 18 miles; the middle 11 (5 miles before and after the turnaround at Macks Canyon Campground) are very rough. There are several missing bridges, which means descending into and out of the canyons on bad footing. Then stretches where the trail is fairly unimproved, with the railroad ties ripped out but the resulting holes not filled in.  And then long stretches on a narrow path along a significant drop to the river below, which does not inspire confidence. Ha ha.

The heat was the biggest issue.  Early in the week, the forecast topped out around 70, but by the actual day went up a bunch, and temps ended up being well into the 80s (maybe 85?).  Even first thing in the morning, the intensity of the sun was apparent and by the afternoon the heat was radiating strongly off the trail.  I planned to carry 3.5L and refill at Macks Canyon; I did that, but also stayed at Macks to drink another 2 L before I left. Still ran out of liquids about 90 minutes before the end.  A note about water: despite the river being fairly near the trail for long stretches, I didn’t see many places where it was easily accessible, and I’m unaware of other reliable water sources.  I refilled at Macks Canyon Campground from the river, using a Katadyn filter.  

I think I did everything I could to deal with the heat, but there was just too much. Once I hit about 10 miles to go, I couldn’t consistently run, and could only intersperse walking and jogging.  Any more than about 30% running left me pretty on the edge. Were this supported, I could have justified pushing, even in this weather, but as an unsupported run with no bail-out option, the calculus gets a little different. So, basically just walked/jogged the tolerable-pace line, and knew about 6 miles from the end I wouldn’t be able to keep an FKT pace.  

Thoughts for the future? Would be nice to try this again, but it’s quite an undertaking (tressel canyons and rough trail in the middle), and weather really needs to be a consideration.  Willie McBride’s FKT was set in November, which starts to look pretty good in view of today.  :-)

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Bryan Beel

Deschutes Railbed Trail #FailKT

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Humpday Hustle - Heavy Metal Brewing

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